Does anyone use the GURPS system?, Who plays gurps? Options

[Cryptkeeper]

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? :)

[hobgoblin]

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 :)

[Adam]

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.

[Scarab]

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

[Cryptkeeper]

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.

[TimeKeeper]

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.

[The Question Man]

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 :)

[moosegod]

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.

[Fortune]

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.

[Ulfgeir]

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

[Ancient History]

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

[Kagetenshi]

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

[moosegod]

You could try Earthdawn. Same era.

[Tiralee]

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.... :rotate:

[Lantzer]

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?

[Maxxi]

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).

[Tanka]

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."

$&*#!@!

[grimshear]

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."

[tete]

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

[Fahr]

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.

[Maxxi]

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! :eek:

[PuyallupSquatter]

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 :D 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?

[Connor]

[Fortune]

[Birdy]

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