Something that's been on my mind

[alanschu]

What exactly does GURPS mean?

 

 

And what type of PnP design is it?

 

Everyone's going "GURPS this" and "GURPS that" and "oooh, would you like GURPS with that" and I feel out of the loop.

 

 

I cannot maintain my elitist attitudes unless I have reason for my elitism.

[Darque]

Generic Universal RolePlaying System.

 

It's a generic gaming system, with sourcebooks, setting books and world books added in so you can play almost any kind of setting.

 

Think of it as the Lego system of PnP gaming.

[alanschu]

Interesting......I am now much geekier having read that.

 

 

Thanks (w00t)

[Darque]

[Lancer]

GURPS by Steve Jackson Games is a universal roleplaying system which stands for "Generic Universal Roleplaying System." It is a "universal roleplaying system" because as a ruleset it can theoretically accommodate any style of play.. Be it, fantasy, sci-fi, super-heroes, or barbie the RPG. After the core books any number of "sourcebooks" can be bought in order to expand upon certain aspects.

 

It is a skill-based system (yeah, you would like it) that has arguably the best character creation system ever devised. You basically are given a a single pool of character points ( the number of points depends on the campaign style) and these points are invested in attributes, skills, and advantages however you wish. It is a very flexible system that (combined with the compendiums) allows the player to pretty much make any character he wants.

 

My praise ends there. The combat system is a whole 'nother matter. More than most systems the emphasis on GURPS is on realism so there is a painfull tradeoff: Quick combat resolution for painstaking realism. Some people find the tradeoff beneficial in the long run though I am not one of those that shares that viewpoint.

[metadigital]

But What Does It Mean?

 

(j/k) "

 

But that surely means that automating GURPS would take away the pain, doesn't it? Or is the combat compexity due to other factors beside the weight of calculations, like interaction with the players to poll them for their moves?

[EnderAndrew]

I believe GURPS was the first major universal system marketed, but that doesn't make it the best.

 

GURPs really thrives on the disadvantages/advantages system which became a merit/flaw portion of so many other systems. GURPS isn't a particularly good system. FUDGE, FUZION, D6 and D20 are probably better ways to go.

[metadigital]

Tell me, Oh greybearded one, about the mysteries of D6.

[GhostofAnakin]

I always thought GURPS looked like a funny word. I had a hard time not laughing whenever I see someone suggest a game should use the GURPS system.

 

Tee hee hee

[EnderAndrew]

D6 had six attributes, and skills fell under attributes.

 

You rolled your skill against a difficulty number, and you always had one wild die. A 1 one the wild die meant a complication, and a 6 on the wild die could be rerolled.

 

That made for 1 in 3 rolls having some sort of dramatic effect. The rules were very simple, fast and fluid. Most games have a core mechanic that isn't complicated, but really that was it. There weren't twenty new mechanics for combat or anything.

 

Roll your dice pool against a difficulty.

 

One thing is that your attribute and skill ratings weren't entirely static. Instead of having a 12 or 18 STR, your STR would be something like 3D.

 

If you put 1D into Brawl (under STR), you would then have 4D in Brawl (as it adds to your attribute). Raising your attributes raise all skills under them, but is very expensive.

 

You simply rolled to hit, damage and soak. You do have to add up dice, but there isn't a bunch of subtraction. For some reason players seem to prefer adding numbers over subtracting them. Don't ask me why, but players complain about THAC0, and Gurps for that very reason.

 

There are no complicated armor rules. Armor just adds dice to your soak roll.

[metadigital]

it does sound like a bodily function. Te He.

[Lancer]

I believe GURPS was the first major universal system marketed, but that doesn't make it the best.

 

GURPs really thrives on the disadvantages/advantages system which became a merit/flaw portion of so many other systems.  GURPS isn't a particularly good system.  FUDGE, FUZION, D6 and D20 are probably better ways to go.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

All those systems are better than GURPS.. Lemme add one more.. Savage Worlds looks pretty nifty too.

 

EDIT: I am not too sure that d20 is better than GURPS though :darque:

[Lancer]

Regarding d6...

 

If West End Games were to come out with a D6 Post-Apocayptic and/or D6 Cyberpunk sourcebooks, you better believe I'd be getting them.

[GhostofAnakin]

it does sound like a bodily function. Te He.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I GURPSed on you.

[EnderAndrew]

Sadly WEG went out of business as far as I know. I wonder if someone could get the rights to D6.

[Lancer]

Sadly WEG went out of business as far as I know.  I wonder if someone could get the rights to D6.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Hmm.. I don't see here that it went out of business but merely that its assets were sold to Eric Gibson and Purgatory Publishing. But they will continue putting WEG products on the shelf. The press release is here:

WEG press release

 

Unless something happened very , very recently that I am unaware of.

[EnderAndrew]

They went bankrupt, but they could have come out of bankruptcy. I learn something new every day.

[Lancer]

They went bankrupt, but they could have come out of bankruptcy.  I learn something new every day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

As do I. That's good news though isn't it

[Lancer]

Is anyone familiar with the WEG d6 Space or d6 Adventure sourcebooks? Is there any cyberpunk or post-apocalytic setting material in there? Or are they mainly for traditional space opera and modern settings respectively?

[Darque]

Sadly WEG went out of business as far as I know.  I wonder if someone could get the rights to D6.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You, are, wrong.

[Darque]

http://www.westendgames.com/

[EnderAndrew]

Lancer corrected me as well.

[Darque]

oops should have read more

 

I have a special intrest in WEG (I love their TORG system) so I pounced first and looked later

[EnderAndrew]

I've never played TORG.

[Darque]

I've never played TORG.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

You haven't done a lot of things it seems

 

They just released a new and revised book for it, you should check it out