D&D 3E/3.5 GURPS 3e vs 4e

[Flexor the Mighty!]

So how much of an upgrade is the current ruleset over the prior one? I have a bit of 3e GURPS stuff but never really looked at the new stuff. How much conversion would be needed to use the old stuff with the new? Were any glaring flaws corrected, or left in?

My group is running a Fantasy Trip game, which is kind of proto-GURPS. When this ends I was thinking of firing the old C&C game up but one player hates the lack of customization and was never a D&D player to begin with so he has no nostalgic connection to the game like I do, and half the group are long time fans of the GURPS/TFT system as it is. I was also thinking of 3.5 but the more I think of it the more I think that is a bad idea, the game has 6-7 players and grew to hate 3.0 when running it with just 4, plus there are just some of the parts of the game I don't like. So now I'm thinking of firing up GURPS for a quick campaign and I'm not sure if it would be worth buying the upgraded version.

 

[Kafkonia]

I haven't played 4e myself, but SJ Games has a 3rd edition to 4th edition upgrade pdf available from their website that should make conversion pretty simple, as well as the 3rd ed. quick start rules.

But why not just run it with 3rd ed GURPS if you already have the stuff?

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I haven't played 4e myself, but SJ Games has a 3rd edition to 4th edition upgrade pdf available from their website that should make conversion pretty simple, as well as the 3rd ed. quick start rules.

But why not just run it with 3rd ed GURPS if you already have the stuff?

Well there were some issues with the character generation and stat values that needed fixing IMO.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

So how much of an upgrade is the current ruleset over the prior one? I have a bit of 3e GURPS stuff but never really looked at the new stuff. How much conversion would be needed to use the old stuff with the new?

Not much. Well, the Vehicles stuff will get a major overhaul, but most other things port over fairly well. Don't expect to end up with the same point totals, though.

The Update File can be found here.

Were any glaring flaws corrected, or left in?

In my opinion, pretty much all of the major annoyances of the old edition were removed. Some highlights:

- Attributes now cost a flat amount of points per level. 10/level for ST and HT, and 20/level for DX and IQ. That makes min-maxing attributes a lot more difficult.

- Though there are still differences between easy, average, hard and very hard skills, they now all have an identical point progression, whatever attribute they are based on: 1 point for the first level, 2 for the second, 4 for the third, and +4 for every additional level.

- A reworking of the costs of Damage Resistance and Extra Hit Points that make more sense.

- All Advantages and Disadvantages are now in the Basic Set, including supernatural and really weird ones. Two stand out: Innate Attack, which finally allows you to model any kind of damaging attack, and Affliction, which allows for all kinds of other neat effects.

- There is an all-new system for creating new, united groups of "powers". Some examples are given in the Basic Set as the new psionic powers, but to really understand how flexible this system is and what you can do with it you should take a look at GURPS Powers. I normally dislike "crunchy" RPG books, but this book is sheer brilliance.

- The whole system has also been reworked so that it works well for more cinematic or high-point games. Characters with 300-400 points shouldn't be too troublesome now.


Really, I think the new edition is just an all-around improvement over the old (which already was pretty good). But if you have more specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

Not much. Well, the Vehicles stuff will get a major overhaul, but most other things port over fairly well. Don't expect to end up with the same point totals, though.

The Update File can be found here.



In my opinion, pretty much all of the major annoyances of the old edition were removed. Some highlights:

- Attributes now cost a flat amount of points per level. 10/level for ST and HT, and 20/level for DX and IQ. That makes min-maxing attributes a lot more difficult.

Thanks for the reply. That there is my main problem, it was too easy to spend the points on IQ/DX and really min-max like crazy.

Do you need both "core" books to run a game?

hey is Interstellar Wars the new Traveller book for 4e? Do you need anything else to run a Traveller game?

 

[Sir Brennen]

Do you need both "core" books to run a game?

To run the game, yes. The splitting of the 4E material into two volumes is pretty much a PHB & DMG approach.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

To run the game, yes. The splitting of the 4E material into two volumes is pretty much a PHB & DMG approach.

Cool. Thanks!

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

hey is Interstellar Wars the new Traveller book for 4e?

Yes... and no.

It's set in the Traveller universe, but in an earlier age - to be specific, the time when humans from Earth developed interstellar starflight, encountered the Vilani Empire, and gradually took it apart.

The older GURPS Traveller books haven't seen the 4E treatment. It is unknown when or if they will get it.

Do you need anything else to run a Traveller game?

If you want to run games in the "classic" GURPS Traveller era, you need the classic GURPS Traveller books. In this case, I recommend you stick with the starship rules from those books...

 

[Thanee]

That sounds pretty good. Gonna have to take a closer look at the new edition of GURPS eventually, I guess.

Not that I don't have enough rarely-used RPG books lying around here...

Bye
Thanee

 

[LoneWolf23]

I also believe 4e is a substantial improvement over the already great GURPS 3e. Jurgen's pretty much covered all the reasons why.