Fantasy RPG: GURPS or D&D?

[WizarDru]

Glad to hear it, and glad we were able to help.

GAME ON!

(and believe me, I know exactly what you're talking about when it comes to job, kids and a lack of free time).

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If you want high magic anime heroism then D&D.

Nah. If you want high magic anime heroism, then play Exalted. After all, that's what it was designed for.

D&D doesn't really fit all that well into any classical literary or fictional genre. It has effectively invented its own, ne genre, though a fun one.

 

[d4]

GURPS has been using the same ruleset for over 10 years, you don't have to worry about buying a new set of core rules every few years.

actually, this is one of the reasons why i don't play GURPS anymore.

if GURPS 4th edition had come out in 2000 instead of D&D 3e, i'd still be playing GURPS.

like WizarDru said, the system is getting a little long in the tooth and is IMO in need of a serious revision to bring it into the 21st century.

And I tend to feel slightly guilty when I just make up stats for D&D NPCs instead of deriving them in the proper manner.

i totally know what you mean... but i felt the same way with GURPS NPCs. if i didn't give them their 40+5 disads and give 'em a handful of advantages and skills, i'd feel like i wasn't "doing it correctly."

Both systems have their loopholes, powergamer exploits, vague rules and 'dump stats'.

you mentioned Eidetic Memory, which was a good one. my last GURPS GM wanted to add an advantage called "Physical Adept" that worked liked EM for physical skills! hoo boy!

my "favorite" GURPS exploit was the old "hmm... if i lower all of my Dex-based skills by one level each, i free up enough points to raise my DX by 2 points! so each of my Dex-based skills will be one point higher than they were originally for the same number of points!"

i really like point-buy RPG systems, but stuff like that can destroy any semblance of "game balance" you might think the points are bringing you. a 100-point character created by a newbie and a 100-point character created by a 10-year veteran powergamer are not going to be any near balanced.

i find that while powergamers can exploit D&D pretty badly as well, the difference between the high end and low end of characters is much smaller -- mainly because D&D mandates combat skill increases (BAB, saves, hit points) for all characters, whereas in GURPS, some people might actually forget to sink points into the corresponding things!

 

[Belgarath]

I really like GURPS and if given the choice I would play it before any other game. It has a lot more flexibility than any other system that I have ever seen.

My only real problem with it is that is was designed for mental character. It is really easy to make a smart character with a lot of high knowledge skills - only one stat and the skills are the easiest to learn. Fighters on the other hand require 3 good stats and the skills are the hardest to learn. To deal with that, I have changed the points needed for skills, but still have to deal with more stat points. Does anyone have a possible solution to this?

 

[med stud]

I would play GURPs over D&D for a gritty game, if the defenition of gritty is that the danger of dying is always there and that a PC, no matter how good he is, has a reason to fear being outnumbered. It's really hard to do that with D&D; a level 6 fighter with great cleave, high constitution and AC 22+ can really take down a smaller army by himself, if that army consists of lvl 1 warriors without exceptional stats. Especially if he carries healing potions as well.

That style of playing is entertaining (and the reason why I play D&D) but it is not gritty. For a more "dagger in the dark" kind of political campaign I wouldnt use D&D. It would be too much work fitting the system for the campaign. GURPs is much better in that aspect (thats the reason why I play, not GURPS, but TRoS which is another gritty system (I play both D&D and TRoS)).

It's about what the system is made for and about chosing the right system for the kind of play you are looking for. Either that or Im just bad at modifying systems for different kinds of play

 

[Umbran]

It's about what the system is made for and about chosing the right system for the kind of play you are looking for. Either that or Im just bad at modifying systems for different kinds of play

No. There's a great deal to be said for solutions that take the least work on the part of the GM. Sure, it can be entertaining to give a rules set a major overhaul in order to beat it into the shape you want. However, in many instances that is "reinventing the wheel".

Personally, I'd rather use the same time and energy creating my plots, NPCs and adventures, and at the same time have a rules set I can be more sure will work more smoothly than a thing that is effectively hacked together in the garage out of spare parts