Do you have a "litmus test" setting for generic rule sets?

[MGibster]

I struggle with this concept. Part of that is I dont like universal systems because there isnt one that does heroic, Star Trek, and Cthulhu in one go. There simply isnt. Though if we examine the list given to us, we see one of these things is not like the other, one of them just dont belong here.

I approach universal games like GURPS or Savage Worlds with the belief that they're not necessarily the best at every genre. Savage Worlds has Realms of Cthulhu and given how broad skills are in the system I think you could do a credible Star Trek as well. In truth, though I love SW, I'd rather use BRP when playing Call of Cthulhu. Partly because playing BRP helps put me in the right frame of mind for some Cthulhu action.

I tend to think of my limitus test for a generic game to be how many settings. I can use Savage Worlds to run games in the following settings: Star Wars, Star Trek, Fallout, Wild West, Weird West, Weird WWI, WWII, and even Vietnam, Cthulhu, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Traveller, The Expanse, lower tiered super powers, generic fantasy, Rifts, Conan, etc., etc. When I say I can use SW for all these settings I mean the system doesn't fight me and we can have fun.

 

[MGibster]

In fact I think that a system without some kind of slant/bias/opinion/agenda would be so dull it would have no value.

There's a reason the popularity of GURPS has plummetted over the years. Reading the core GURPS: Characters and GURPS: Campaigns is like reading a university level textbook. It's drier than toasted white bread without butter. It's so dry, when you crack open a GURPS book you automatically hear the song "Missing" by Everything but the Girl. I guess the thesis of this paragraph is GURPS is boring and it's one reason it isn't popular.

 

[Thomas Shey]

There's a reason the popularity of GURPS has plummetted over the years. Reading the core GURPS: Characters and GURPS: Campaigns is like reading a university level textbook. It's drier than toasted white bread without butter. It's so dry, when you crack open a GURPS book you automatically hear the song "Missing" by Everything but the Girl. I guess the thesis of this paragraph is GURPS is boring and it's one reason it isn't popular.

There's a certain degree of "functionality will always lean into dry", but its hard to deny that GURPS seems to take that farther than most. Probably because it relates to the problem that clarity often works against ease of reading; in other words, you have it dead right that GURPS is, even by the standard of rules-heavy books, very much a textbook in practice.

 

[chuckdee]

I guess the thesis of this paragraph is GURPS is boring and it's one reason it isn't popular.

I'd disagree. The reason GURPS isn't as popular is that this style of TTRPG has gone out of style in general - not just GURPS.

 

[MGibster]

I'd disagree. The reason GURPS isn't as popular is that this style of TTRPG has gone out of style in general - not just GURPS.

I didn't say being boring was the only reason it wasn't as popular. You're right, being out of style is another reason it isn't as popular as it used to be.

 

[aramis erak]

There's a reason the popularity of GURPS has plummetted over the years. Reading the core GURPS: Characters and GURPS: Campaigns is like reading a university level textbook. It's drier than toasted white bread without butter. It's so dry, when you crack open a GURPS book you automatically hear the song "Missing" by Everything but the Girl. I guess the thesis of this paragraph is GURPS is boring and it's one reason it isn't popular.

It's not the driest out there; Tri-Tac went further. So did Web Games. Both of which are defunct.

It also has a 200+ entry skill list. A significant number of which have subskills by TL.
Further, each of those has a discrete default formula or two.
It has multiple pseudo-attribute advantage/disadvantage (Will and Charisma come to mind), and 3rd had optional split core attributes...

The dryness isn't the primary reason, I suspect - it's the overwhelming details.

The dryness never bothered me; the excess detail coupled with changing settings to fit the rules that drove me away.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I didn't say being boring was the only reason it wasn't as popular. You're right, being out of style is another reason it isn't as popular as it used to be.

Is there a reason folks have decided to diss GURPS? Plenty of people like it, and simulative games in general. Why is popularity so important?

 

[Fenris-77]

Is there a reason folks have decided to diss GURPS? Plenty of people like it, and simulative games in general. Why is popularity so important?

People are allowed to dislike things and explain why. You do it all the time...

 

[Micah Sweet]

People are allowed to dislike things and explain why. You do it all the time...

Does that answer my second question? And I don't use insulting terms for games that aren't for me, or make jokes about their perceived shortcomings.

 

[Fenris-77]

Does that answer my second question? And I don't use insulting terms for games that aren't for me, or make jokes about their perceived shortcomings.

This is the internet and we are nerds. There are going to be jokes.