First GURPS game

[kolikeos]

Hi, me and 3 friends are going to start playing GURPS soon with me as GM. I've never played GURPS before, although I have been the DM in a D&D game for some time. Of the players, only one has played GURPS in the past, one has been in my D&D game and one is completely new to roleplaying.
I don't have any of the rulebooks and probably won't be able to buy any, so all I have is GURPS lite.
The first session will probably decide if we continue to play at all, so I need to make it as exciting and fun as possible. I was thinking of having a one shot with a short pre-written adventure. Can you suggest a good adventure for a new group that I can download (preferably for free)?
If you have any other advice for me I'd be most thankful.

 

[SuStel]

Caravan to Ein Arris, a free introductory adventure on e23. This adventure was originally published in the GURPS Basic Set (third edition).

 

[sjmiller]

Caravan to Ein Arris, a free introductory adventure on e23. This adventure was originally published in the GURPS Basic Set (third edition).

I agree with that suggestion. The Caravan adventure is easily usable with GURPS Lite. Make sure both the scenario and your GURPS Lite are 4th Ed, and you will be fine! Have fun with it. It's a pretty darn good scenario and a great game system. Of course, I am a bit biased.

 

[Deuce Traveler]

I think GURPS is a great system for its flexibility and character generation, but combat can be a nightmare due to its complexity. Then again, combat is not desireable in GURPS due to the high character mortality rate.

 

[Eltharon]

Combat requires maybe 3 more calculations then DnD3.5
(Hit, Defence Roll, Damage Roll, Subtract DR, multiply by damage modifier)
After one of two combats, it won't be any more complicated then DnD combat. Then you add things like hit location as you become more comfortable with the system. Which, personally, I love. If I were to ever to play in Faerun again (we're doing a homebrew now), I would do it in GURPs, no question.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I think GURPS is a great system for its flexibility and character generation, but combat can be a nightmare due to its complexity. Then again, combat is not desireable in GURPS due to the high character mortality rate.

Actually, characters can be rather tough, especially in GURPS 4E. Even buying HT up to 12 means that the odds of survival even in the face of serious injuries are quite good. Frankly, it's more likely that characters fall unconscious than that they die.

Although dumb combat tactics will kill. And armor is, of course, a life saver.

And combat, at least at the level of complexity shown in GURPS Lite, really isn't all that complex. Start with those, and once you are familiar with these rules you can always add more stuff later on...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

If I were to ever to play in Faerun again (we're doing a homebrew now), I would do it in GURPs, no question.

A poster on the Steve Jackson Games forums ("Icelander") has been GMing a long-running and very successful Forgotten Realms campaign with GURPS. I have run quite a few Eberron games with it, too...

 

[Aus_Snow]

I have run quite a few Eberron games with it, too...

Hm. How did these go?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Hm. How did these go?

Quite well. Actually, I think GURPS may be even better than D&D for Eberron in some respects, especially when it comes to the higher power levels. After all, in the pulps the heroes were often highly competent, but not really immune to damage, and their focus was on avoiding to get hit instead of just soaking up hits - something that GURPS models quite well.

I've written up a conversion with the help of a few other posters on the SJG boards - you can download the PDF here.

You can also read a chatlog of an online game I ran here.

 

[Greg K]

I used to run GURPS 3e. I really enjoyed it overall and the sourcebooks are second to none,imo. There were a few things (e.g, skill resolution and the default magic system) that got in the way of my enjoyment. However, my issues came down to personal aethstetics (e.g., I prefer rolling high and adding a skill bonus to rolling under a certain modified number on 3d6).

Oh, and as for lethality, I still recall a friend's GURPS 3e space game. An alien had taken over the minds of the other party members and they were attacking my character. My character had limbs blown off and was still fighting thanks to High Pain Threshold and an another advantage that escapes me now (it might have been Iron Will).