Printable Version of Topic

Posted by: Cryptkeeper Nov 28 2003, 08:26 AM

Who here plays gurps and likes it or has used the system and enjoys it.

i find that this system is fantastic in the sense that i can write whatever the hell i want for it and it still works.

Does anyone here like the system?

Posted by: hobgoblin Nov 28 2003, 08:56 PM

kinda like, kinda hate.

it have all the same problems that d&d have, but at the same time i love the fact that you dont have to worry about targetnumbers as your rolling against skill (mutch the same that blue planet, another favorite of mine does)...

ok, so whats the problem, well you need a setting book for one and the combat rules have two variations, one is to simplistic and the other is overloaded. neither fits me nicely...

other then that i find it nice...

oh, and i have nevery realy played it,just messed with it

Posted by: Adam Nov 28 2003, 09:15 PM

I haven't played it -- own a bunch of books for it [nearly everyone who works in the industry does, it seems...] but have never really had the desire to actually play in it. It's a little too crunchy for my tastes.

Posted by: Scarab Nov 29 2003, 01:21 AM

Bought the Basic, liked the rules, never played it.

Posted by: Cryptkeeper Nov 29 2003, 01:39 AM

i quite simply love the system cuase its mechanics are made in such a way that for me they work smoothly and allow more "obvios room for true rp" where other systems at times can tend to bog things down with too much die rolling.

Posted by: TimeKeeper Nov 29 2003, 07:48 AM

I first heard about Gurps a couple of years ago when a Zombie-minded chummer wanted me to play Resident Evil RPG with him (Gurps rules). I made the character and he eventually moved, but I kept the character (A bounty hunter).

Later, I bought some of the books myself (include a first print of Auto-Duel) since I was into Fallout and Mad Max and wanted to make a game on that. No one want to join (and I didn't have any vehicle rules so it was kinda difficult to play). I even had my original character ready as an NPC for this new adventure.

So then I converted the Desert Rider into DR (or Doc) for Shadowrun and use him as a character in my stories.

Posted by: The Question Man Nov 29 2003, 09:13 PM

Hello Cryptkeeper . I have played and GM'ed GURPS for roughly 14yrs years and quite enjoy the systems flexibility , but with the Revision of HERO System I have found a new favourite .

I still enjoy the GURPS Fantasy campaign I have played everyother Friday for the last 10yrs and three Generations of Characters .

Continue to enjoy

Posted by: moosegod Nov 30 2003, 10:13 PM

I have GURPS Myth.

Not the main.

So, I have no idea what to do with it.

It's Myth though, so that's cool.

Posted by: Fortune Nov 30 2003, 10:43 PM

I find the GURPS books very useful for background material for other games I am running, but have no real use for the system itself.

Posted by: Ulfgeir Nov 30 2003, 11:30 PM

I have played GURPS in a couple of different settings, and as soon as some other people have cretaed characters will play GURPS steampunk.... =^_^=

What I like with the game is the flexibility to play any setting you watn. The disadvantage is that it gets very broken if too high-powerd, or mixing tech-levels too much.

/Ulfgeir

Posted by: Ancient History Dec 1 2003, 12:10 AM

I GURPed Nexus: the Infinite City once. Interesting campaign.

Posted by: Kagetenshi Dec 1 2003, 01:06 AM

I've got a copy of GURPS Myth. Beautiful stuff. I'm currently considering what system to use it with, as GURPS is the devil.
I mean that quite literally. See? It has horns and a tail! And how do you explain the pitchfork and flames?

~J

Posted by: moosegod Dec 1 2003, 01:52 AM

You could try Earthdawn. Same era.

Posted by: Tiralee Dec 5 2003, 06:49 AM

Heh.

Ok, ran an insane DnD crossover with the GURPS engine, had an absolute blast, monty-haul be dammed.

(I'll admit the inclusion of Largo from Megatokyo.com as an NPC warrior minion was..interesting... "Is it beer?" "Uh, no..wait! It's MAGIC BEER." "Mine, NOW!" (Chugs the potion of Storm-giant strength, smack-down ensues.)


Thinking of trying for an IOU/Shadowrun feel for the next game. Sort of a cross between "Goonies", "The Skulls", "Big Trouble in Little China" and "Ghost in the Shell".

Heh, the craziness....

Posted by: Lantzer Dec 9 2003, 07:15 PM

Like the sourcebooks. Dislike the stats /rules.

I'd probably use gurps sourcebooks for a Hero system game.

I wonder what I did with my Gurps: IOU book?

Posted by: Maxxi Dec 29 2003, 03:45 AM

I bought a copy of Transhuman Space, my new favorite Sci-Fi setting. It works pretty well with GURPS, but one thing bothered. I was reading the Starship chapter, and GURPS is notorious for bad starship rules. Well, it has these things so hypothetical you wonder why anyone would roll for them. The thing that really stood out was for Antimatter damaging a ship, and the effects of a ship dropping the containment fields around antimatter. It says something like this does 300.000d6 of damage per lb of antimatter. If another ship is touching it, to determine the damage to that ship multiply by 5.75 square it, subtract 100.550 and take the Square root for the amount of damage done.

Fortunately, space combat is not the main facet of Transhuman Space.

Other then that, I absolutely loved GURPS: Voodoo and GURPS: Cyberpunk (which mentioned Shadowrun).

Posted by: Tanka Dec 29 2003, 04:25 AM

I got a bit turned off to GURPS because the person who GM'd it for my first go decided to be a very bad GM.

He randomly changed stats on NPCs.

"He's got average Str."
"OK, I slug him."
"He hits you first and you go through a wall."
"Average, huh?"
"I changed my mind. He has superhuman Str."

$&*#!@!

Posted by: grimshear Dec 29 2003, 01:55 PM

I picked up Transhuman Space too, and decided that it is one of the best written settings ever.

It's detailed (right down to brand names for some of the silly, day-to-day things), but only so far as to give flavor to the setting. They also did a really good job of doing the effects of the environments in the solar system.

As for starships: the main thing is that you don't have to fight. Detection ranges are soooooo much higher then combat ranges that you can just say "We have some extra fuel right? Perfom an burn and run away." Space is rather big after all.

Grim Shear
"Don't hate me because I'm a pimp."

Posted by: tete Jan 21 2004, 09:28 PM

GURPS its a love/hate with me (as well as many others)
good: the rules are wonderful if you know them all
bad: no one seams to know them all
good: very flexible you can create any concept you can think up
bad: players who cant come up with a concept other than "im a fighter" or like to get the most pluses
good: create you own world
bad: create you own world, the system doesn't add to the world (like deadlands for example)
good: you dont have to buy new editions much
bad: thus i buy other games on a whim that suck
good: the detail and study put into each source book
bad: ok this didnt have a bad, really they are the best source books by any company. The people who write them at leased write down their sources and have a decent understanding of the topic rather than just making stuff up.

So in the end I would love to play nothing but GURPS but I have not found a group of serious enough roleplayers to ever pull it off

Posted by: Fahr Jan 23 2004, 08:28 PM

the basic 3d6 bug me. it always has, why have a skill over 18 maybe once in a blue moon you'll get a high enough penalty to make it worthwhile, but it mostly is pointless...

but they do have the best researched source books.

-Mike R.

Posted by: Maxxi Jan 24 2004, 03:22 AM

If you had a skill over 18 you can start to do really insane things without worrying about the penalty affecting you.

I tend to think they have the best researched books as well, but coming from White Wolf games, I notice they don't pull any punches. "GURPS: Covert Ops" has rules for crashing planes into buildings. Not the lightest steps. It's even worse because the number is like 10d6x102,345 damage. They pretty much came up with "accurate" damage!

Posted by: PuyallupSquatter Jan 25 2004, 12:57 PM

I have a smattering of GURPS books, and I do enjoy the system quite a bit, niggling faults aside.

IMHO, their magic system is quite nice. I like how rather than having D&D style spell levels, you have a progression of prerequisites. The idea of having to know how to shape fire before you can toss a fireball at someone is quite cool, plus it lets you build a specialty mage more effectively than in other systems Ive played. If I only want to learn a college or two, Im going to get better at my chosen field alot faster than someone who dabbles everywhere. Magic does tend to get outclassed by higher tech level firearms, tho.

Their Psionics system has to be my favorite out of all the psi systems Ive used. I like how each power is related to a skill, and neither is obliged to be related. I can make characters who have little power and great skill with it, or uncontrollable pyrokenitics who can blow up a building, just not when they mean to.

The advanced (at least for me) mathamatics can be kind of a pain, tho. Building a mecha, vehicle or robot can be quite time consuming especially if your like me and taking math for dummies at the local college. 9 more classes, and I should be up to Algebra Fortunately, all that is done out of the game, so most in game stuff is simple.

Heck, half of why I like the books is for the entertaining read. Its not often that I learn a thing or three when I read an RPG sourcebook. Thanks to Steampunk, I know what those little lace things that were draped over the back of couches were for, and who knew that crocadile dung was used as an early barrier contraceptive?

Posted by: Connor Jan 25 2004, 01:21 PM

Posted by: Fortune Jan 25 2004, 11:01 PM

Posted by: Birdy Jan 28 2004, 09:18 AM

GURPS is a great system (FanPro: please switch!) but they should start selling the main book with a mace/sword/MG42.

Why? Well, every gaming group seems to have a MinMaxer that abuses the rules to build himself a "power" character. So if you find one, you pick up your recently bought mace/sword/MG42 and use it on him, bettering the roleplaying world.

With a mature group that goes concept first, stats second and a GM that has an idea what he wants (so he can give hints at chargen) GURPS is quite flexible and actually quite cheap. Say you want to play Fantasy and don't want to build your own world:

GURPS/Basic Set
GURPS:Fantasy or Conan (at least in Germany it's still available)

and you are off. Cyberpunk is three books (Basic, Punk, Cyberworld) but again, thats all you need. Say 60-90€


Now if they just pack the weapons,

Michael

Posted by: tete Jan 30 2004, 11:23 PM

Posted by: atoga Feb 19 2004, 08:43 PM

I used to play GURPS a lot. I love the system, because it's as simple as it needs to be - unlike in other games, you can throw most of the complicated combat rules out of the window with no real difference. Plus, the character generation system is quite interesting (great for creating misfit characters). I've played GURPS Old West and Cthulhu, plus I'm interested in starting a fantasy GURPS Steampunk game but, quite sadly, my group isn't into that.

Posted by: Fahr Feb 23 2004, 11:21 PM

Posted by: Dim Sum Mar 2 2004, 08:21 AM

GURPS is a fantastic system - it can be as complicated or as simple as a GM wants it to be to suit his gameworld and his players' tastes. My condolences to those who played GURPS with bad GMs or bad players but I'd encourage you to give it a try again with a good group of role-players. Don't let the idiocy of a few ruin your enjoyment of a good game system. For example, I'm GMing Star Wars d20 for my group at the moment - something that they refused to play for a long time because it "sucks" compared to the WEG version but they're having a blast right now 'cos the group is good and the GM is better!! Bwuahahaha! Okay, okay, modesty is not my strong suit ... I'm just honest! Mwuahahahaha!

My recommendation for any GM would be:
GURPS Basic Set
GURPS Martial Arts
GURPS Low-Tech
GURPS Hi-Tech
GURPS Ultra-Tech
GURPS Psionics
GURPS Magic [edit] (Oops, missed this one out the first time) [/edit]
GURPS Compendiums 1 & 2

You don't need anything else than the above to run ANY genre. What would be nice to have in addition are:
GURPS Special Ops
GURPS Black Ops
GURPS Fantasy
GURPS Vehicles
GURPS Space

You can add the various "world" or "culture" books to add flavour.

Posted by: Stumps Mar 2 2004, 02:36 PM

I think it's called GURP's Modern Weapons or something like that...maybe it said something about Small Arms in the title...can't remember.
Anyways, it was a book that was nothing but a complete compilation of gun after gun after gun (there was other weapons in there too, but we didn't care).
We always felt that it was sad that SR didn't have more weapons, and we really liked pretty much everything we saw in the GURP's book so....yep, we translated a shitload of weapons from GURP's stats into SR stats.
The original stat crossing was real damn difficult, we had to find at least 3 weapons that existed in both books and were in different classes of firearms so that we could make sure our math was balanced.
After that though...take what you want, plug in the number and load up.

A 12 round autoshotgun that shoots shotgun ammo, cannister ammo (grenades, gass grenades, etc..) with a tommy gun style drum loaded onto the rear of the stock. The drum can be removed, placed on the ground, and armed with ammo of choice to be turned into a mine.
...think about that last part... ... ...12 rounds... ...mine.

Posted by: Mimick Mar 14 2004, 12:29 PM

I played in a homebrewed Pirates of Dark Water setting, if you can believe that. I did quite well, up until that large pirate's hammer became lodged in my ribcage at the same time my saber got stuck in his neck vertebrae. Should've taken some skill in pistols, dammit...

But yes, GURPS is awesome for playing absolutely whatever you want. The downside being you have to decide what the hell you want to play, what with the pretty much limitless possibilities and all...

And I recommend the Illuminati book.

Posted by: Tzeentch Mar 14 2004, 08:05 PM

* GURPS is awesome. I've written quite a bit for the system, and while it does take some getting used to, it's a very flexible set of rules and is well-suited for conversion because it's so detailed in areas.

* I don't think the 3d system is all that big a deal, and while I personally prefer limited dice pool systems (much handier to handle certain mechanics) it's no more strange then the "bucket o' dice" you get with some Shadowrun characters.

Posted by: Tzeentch Mar 14 2004, 08:21 PM

Posted by: Maxxi Mar 14 2004, 10:12 PM

Posted by: Tzeentch Mar 15 2004, 01:36 AM

Cyberpunk is well written?! Ugh, it's not a book that has aged well IMO.

GURPS Fantasy ... eh... it's more properly "GURPS Yrth" just like GURPS High Tech is "GURPS Lots of Guns"

Posted by: MYST1C Mar 15 2004, 08:34 AM

Posted by: Tzeentch Mar 15 2004, 09:50 PM

GURPS Cyberpunk almost makes me physically ill reading it ... ok it;s not that bad. But there's no way that book would have been as popular if the Secret Service hadn't been a bunch of dumbasses and thought it was a hacker manual. Blarg.

Posted by: Maxxi Mar 16 2004, 01:14 AM

No book on Cyberpunk can age well since perdicting the future is hard to do. I agree the computer things, and even drawings of them are laughable, but I never liked the setting Cyberworld provided, and Cyberpunk provides an excellent jumping off point for people who want to play a Cyberware themed game.

Hell, alot of the stuff in Shadowrun hasn't aged particurally well either.