GURPS Questions

[weswood]

I've been looking into the GURPS sytem for a while now, thinking of getting into it. I've got my patched together bastardized game rules, but I'm not happy about some of the rules, and I'm not coming up with anything better.

I'd like a game system that is easy to play & learn; flexible so that I can have post WWIII characters run into strangeness- lost islands filled with extinct mammals & dinosuars, enclaves in Europe where the locals are reduced to medieval style weapons & armors, maybe even throw some aliens at them.

I've looked over the GURPS 4th ed, I really like the Advantages and Disadvantages for characters, but I'm not real fond of the price. The GURPS 3rd ed is about half the cost (online @ e23, SJ games vendor) and seems to be more supported at this time than the 4th ed. How does the 3rd ed face up to the 4th? I know several of you use GURPS, what would you advice as far as an initial steps? Somethting to run a T2k campaign.

Thanks

[copeab]

I've been using GURPS 3e since 1990. While I have a long list of house rules for it, I decided not to switch to 4e since 4e made changes I didn't like and didn't make changes I thought were needed.

The 3e Basic Set has stats for plenty of modern small arms, although it has no stats for vehicles or heavy weapons. High Tech has stats for quite a few military weapons, but still no vehicles (however, you can fudge this by multiplying T2K armor by 13 to get GURPS DR, and just use the T2K vehicle damage charts).

The rules I use are very similar to the Lite rules in GURPS WWII, with a few significant exceptions:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ww2/

[spielmeister]

Weswood, Copeab is quite right. Although I've switched over to 4th ed, 3rd ed is still a good game and it is very liberally supported in terms of rulebooks and background material.

You can try securing a copy of Gurps Lite for 3rd ed and using that with Gurps WW2 lite. These are quite enough to get you up and running for a few intro games so you can decide whether or not you are ok with gurps for the long run.

Or, you can try downloading 4e lite and try it out first to see if it works for you.

As to using gurps in the t2000 setting, I managed to download a gurps 3e twilight 2000 conversion sometime back. It was a PDF file with quite an extensive detailing of gear, vehicles and even character stats (civilian pre-war careers included) all made out in 3e. I'll go check my hard drive tonight when I get home and see if I still have it. I also recall that an update of the same document (or something very much like it) was made for the 4th ed. In any case, I'll try to secure both and email them to you if you want them. I'm not sure if they are still available on the net (they are fan-generated documents) and I've lost the site from where I got them.

If you are after a system that allows post WWIII characters running into "weirdness" then Gurps allows this a lot. There is really no limit to how far you want the weirdness to go. It's a strength of the system.

[Marc]

Bon dia!

I have no experience with the 4ed of Gurps. But I agree totally with Copeab and Spielmeister about the 3rd Edition. I use the 3rd Edition rules to play games in ancient/medieval historical settings. From my point of view, no house-rules needed in this settings. For World War II scenarios I'm studying the possibility to use GURPS 3rd Ed, too. In fact, Spielmeiser has convinced me in a previous thread !

I think that the 3rd edition set or rules is very solid (and extensive). And the advantages/disadvantages/quirks system is a very good way for the players to imagine his/her own character and make it different from the others. You will find that every player has a clear vision of his character previously to the first gaming session.

Ah! And don't miss any chance to get the GURPS Character Builder! A great software to help the GM making characters and knowing the game!

[Targan]

Most people know what system I use but I will say one thing in support of GURPS - its supplements tend to be top notch. I have the GURPS Special Forces book and it is a really good read. Obviously for someone like me who has collected lots of info on spec ops world wide it doesn't contain anything new but for people who need a good overview for gaming purposes I can definitely recommend it.

[spielmeister]

Originally Posted by Marc

Bon dia!

I have no experience with the 4ed of Gurps. But I agree totally with Copeab and Spielmeister about the 3rd Edition. I use the 3rd Edition rules to play games in ancient/medieval historical settings. From my point of view, no house-rules needed in this settings. For World War II scenarios I'm studying the possibility to use GURPS 3rd Ed, too. In fact, Spielmeiser has convinced me in a previous thread !

I think that the 3rd edition set or rules is very solid (and extensive). And the advantages/disadvantages/quirks system is a very good way for the players to imagine his/her own character and make it different from the others. You will find that every player has a clear vision of his character previously to the first gaming session.

Ah! And don't miss any chance to get the GURPS Character Builder! A great software to help the GM making characters and knowing the game!

I agree about Character Builder. It saved me oodles of prep time.

hey, tell me about how your WW2 game goes ok? I'm always open to hearing good gaming/war stories of fellow players.

[weswood]

I've looked at the Gurps Lite for 3rd ed, it states there is not enough room in the lite version for wounds to idividual body areas. Is there provisions made in the full version of either 3rd or 4th?

[Marc]

Originally Posted by spielmeister

I agree about Character Builder. It saved me oodles of prep time.

hey, tell me about how your WW2 game goes ok? I'm always open to hearing good gaming/war stories of fellow players.

Ei Spielmeister! I will keep you informed! Surely, next week we will run the "What if" Pegasus Bridge scenario. It will be my first experience with GURPS in a military setting.

[copeab]

Originally Posted by spielmeister

I agree about Character Builder. It saved me oodles of prep time.

Be careful, there are 3e and 4e versions of the program.

hey, tell me about how your WW2 game goes ok? I'm always open to hearing good gaming/war stories of fellow players.

*My* weird WWII campaign is going quite well

[copeab]

Originally Posted by spielmeister

You can try securing a copy of Gurps Lite for 3rd ed and using that with Gurps WW2 lite. These are quite enough to get you up and running for a few intro games so you can decide whether or not you are ok with gurps for the long run.

I should probably explain why I suggested Lite and WW2 Lite. Normal Lite is more "complete" with a full page of medieval type weapons and several firearms -- WWII Lite has much fewer melee weapons and no firearms (these are covered extensively elsewhere in the WWII book). Lite also has basic rules for magic and 14 common spells (Lite for 4e has no rules for magic or spells). All the versions of Lite use the Basic Combat System for melee combat -- WWII Lite, however, uses the Advanced Combat Rules for missile weapons, which I consider much more realistic without adding undue complexity. WWII Lite also includes rules for indirect fire and explosives. Also, the skill list for WWII Lite is more "modern" than regular Lite.

I'll also add that G:WWII has templates for quickly building several types of military characters (rifleman, armor crew, artillerist, sniper, commando, etc) which are for the most part suitable for use in a T2K setting (the main difference being more skill in electronic gadgets).

EDIT: Since you mentioned possible sueprnatural elements, I'll also add that over the last few years I've come to greatly perfer ritual magic (introduced in Voodoo and greatly expanded and genericized in Spirits) over the default spell magic.

Oh, and GURPS Dinosaurs rocks