Advice on using GURPs to replace 4E?

[mach1.9pants]

Hi all

Since WotC have got rid of PDFs I am thinking of moving to a system which offers them. GURPs has been offered to me as they have hardcover, PDF and a char builder program. (I have been so spoilt by the CB I would really like to keep it!). So reading through the list of books in RPGnow I have come across 2 questions:
1. We play a pretty RP lite style, and love the tactical aspect of 4E (we all are/used to be wargamers), of game. Is that 'tactical' combat going to be OK in GURPs?
2. What books are needed to make a DnD clone, it is what we have all played for 25 or 30 years so we are after high fantasy sword and sorcery. GURPs obviously does every type of RPG, or attempts to, what books are required to give loads of fantasy options.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Plane Sailing]

While you were editing it, I was already moving it!

I've put it in General Rules because that is the most appropriate place to get GURPS rules advice.

Quick reminder - I don't expect anyone to use this thread as an opportunity to take cheap shots at 4e. Concentrate on the wonder of GURPS and certainly include compare and contrast, but without any drive-by postings.

Thanks

 

[mach1.9pants]

While you were editing it, I was already moving it!

Cheers PS. Great service
Yeah this is definitely not a shot at 4E, I am really enjoying it and will probably stick with it, in the short to medium term. I really want to run WotBS in 4E, and that will be PDF!
However when I want to run my own adventures I have gotten spoiled by the awesomeness of PDFs for a DM. So I would be happy to convert my (slowly emerging) own campaign and world to another system 'cos I haven't done much on the rules side yet, just the story. So GURPs looks good, we have had enough of 3E (more to the point I have as DM!) and I don;t need much of an excuse to buy more RPG stuff and read and try new systems
Thanks for any advice in advance.

 

[ScaredofScissors]

Most people who want a D&D experience with GURPS go for their Dungeon Fantasy set of .pdfs. It gives you templates for D&D style classes as well as suggestions for emulating dungeon crawls using GURPS. If you like tactics, you'll probably like GURPS, since most people say you have MORE tactical options using it than with D&D. Good luck!

 

[Aus_Snow]

Check out this list, and in particular (in PDF, which it sounds as though you'll appreciate ), the Dungeon Fantasy line (5 of them so far). They're actually really good, for making it much easier to 'do D&D' with GURPS.

Tactical combat? Yeah, shouldn't be a problem either.


edit --- ninja'd by SoS!

 

[jdrakeh]

I went through this same purchasing process back in December!

Honestly? I'd ignore the Dungeon Fantasy line for now. It's a nice set of options for emulating D&D but hardly necessary — and almost completely useless without the rule books that it heavily references. In fact, that's where I would start. Get your core books first and worry about options later. So. . . I would start off with:

Basic Set: Characters
Basic Set: Campaigns
Fantasy
Magic

Those for are pretty much necessary unless you choose to go with the lighter (but still tactically rich) combat system in the GURPS Lite 4th rules. If this is the case, you can skip Characters and Campaigns for the time being and run an entire campaign with the Lite rules.

Alternately, you may want to look at the GURPS Lite 3rd rules which are really built for D&D-esque fantasy (they contain brief rules for magic and a bestiary). Since most of the GURPS 3e books are available in PDF, this is also a valid place to start (although no future books are being written for GURPS 3rd).

FWIW, both versions of the "Lite" combat rules are fairly robust despite being trunicated in form — they include multiple attack and defense options, as well as rules for things like shock and knockouts. I'd say that they're more tactically rich than many combat systems in much larger RPGs, in fact.

After you have decided on what core books to pick up, then I'd start looking at supplements such as the Dungeon Fantasy line and maybe other time-savers like the GURPS Bestiary or specific settings like Banestorm.

 

[kitsune9]

Hi all

Since WotC have got rid of PDFs I am thinking of moving to a system which offers them. GURPs has been offered to me as they have hardcover, PDF and a char builder program. (I have been so spoilt by the CB I would really like to keep it!). So reading through the list of books in RPGnow I have come across 2 questions:
1. We play a pretty RP lite style, and love the tactical aspect of 4E (we all are/used to be wargamers), of game. Is that 'tactical' combat going to be OK in GURPs?
2. What books are needed to make a DnD clone, it is what we have all played for 25 or 30 years so we are after high fantasy sword and sorcery. GURPs obviously does every type of RPG, or attempts to, what books are required to give loads of fantasy options.

Thanks in advance.

You'll like GURPS 4th if you like a lot of tactics and options. It provides that in spades though one thing about combat in GURPS and combat in D&D is that I think GURPS is a bit more deadly. Of course, you resolve this by giving more points at character creation.

I have the two core rulebooks for GURPS 4th, but was a real big fan of GURPS 3rd. I would like to run something from it, but my gaming group is definitely D&D only.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I don't like GURPS, but I greatly respect it. Like any other "toolkit" system- M&M, HERO, etc.- GURPS should be able to model the playstyle of any RPG you throw at it.

The one sourcebook I'd add to those listed above would be the GURPS Martial Arts book. That way you'll get your Monks and Swordsages etc. up to full speed very quickly.

And as others have said- as a wargamer, you should really appreciate GURPS. Its combat is crunchier by far than any RPG released in the D&D product line.

 

[jdrakeh]

The one sourcebook I'd add to those listed above would be the GURPS Martial Arts book. That way you'll get your Monks and Swordsages etc. up to full speed very quickly.

Good recommendation!

 

[coyote6]

The 4e Martial Arts book also has styles for knights, archers, and the like; it's not all kung-fu. Also, IIRC, there's a separate PDF coming out (if it isn't out already), on Roman gladiators -- styles, weapons, templates, rules for crowd participation, etc. I think they plan on having more PDFs like that, too.

(In GURPS, a martial arts style consists of skills and techniques that can/should be bought up -- techniques are special maneuvers, like arm locks, drop kicks, etc. In most cases, lots of people can try a particular technique, but you'll have to have invested some points in it to be good at it, which usually requires knowing a style that features that technique.)