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Message: <blockquote data-quote="underthumb" data-source="post: 4774935" data-attributes="member: 21390">I've read a number of threads pertaining to dissatisfaction with D&D 4e's treatment of HP, powers, and the like. The general thrust of the criticism is that many of the mechanics of 4e do violence to one's intuitions about how a given effect would manifest in the game world (e.g., HP as non-physical injury, enemies being pulled near you...somehow...via "Come and Get It", etc.). I share these sentiments, but I wonder whether those who are presently dissatisfied are playing the wrong game entirely. I wonder whether they should try <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/" target="_blank">GURPS 4e</a>.I've been a D&D player for decades, and it's only in the last year or two that I've picked up GURPS. While you can read plenty about GURPS elsewhere (<a href="http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG31-0004" target="_blank">and the starter rules are free</a>), I think a number of complaints about 4e are expertly addressed by GURPS, rather than by D&D 3e.For instance:GURPS starts by trying to model what would happen in mundane reality. Thus all of its baseline rules exist to generate believable, realistic interactions within this reality. GURPS provides rules to completely bypass these expectations and use more cinematic rules (not to mention magic) but the point is you can always fall back on “what would likely occur in real life”. Should you choose to use the basic, “realistic” rule set, it means (among other things):-Losing HP always represents some kind of physical injury, HP is mostly determined by strength, and HP can never go much higher than strength. This means that normal humans can be killed by just a few hits. GURPS Combat, like real world combat, becomes a matter of avoiding injury, rather than soaking it up.-In combat, there are a collection of maneuvers that allow you to precisely specify how you will attack (or defend), in a way that is highly granular. So rather than simply “narrating” how some combat interaction happened, you can literally choose to lunge forward towards an enemy, land on one knee, and stab for his groin. There are specific rules for each of these maneuvers (see <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/martialarts/" target="_blank">GURPS Martial Arts</a>) allowing you to specify a complex set of actions for dealing with your foes, including feints, beats, ruses, called shots, disarms, acrobatic moves, etc. GURPS is also careful to note which actions are and are not “realistic” in terms of whether highly skilled humans can actually perform them. You decide whether you want to integrate them into your campaign.Anyhow, these are just two examples. Have any of those who are dissatisfied with D&D 4e tried playing a fantasy game with GURPS 4e? If so, what were your experiences?For the record, I’m presently GMing a Forgotten Realms game using the GURPS rule set.</blockquote>

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