GURPS 4th Edition to be Released at GenCon

[d4]

- ST and HT cost a flat 10 points/level, IQ and DEX 20/level.

interesting. no more escalating costs for attributes. does this mean we're more likely to see stats above a 14 for a change? how does this affect the bell curve?

- Hit Points are based on ST, fatigue on HT.

we'd been doing this since the Compendium came out. good to see it's official.

- Skill point progression is 1/2/4/+4 for all skills - no 1/2-point level. Whether the skill is Easy/Average/Hard determines what exact values this turns into.

same price structure for both mental and physical skills? this might have a big impact on combat, if high levels in physical skills are easier to attain.

- Language familiarity and Literacy for various alphabets will be handled though (fairly cheap) advantages, not skills.

interesting. GURPS language rules were always a bit confusing.

- New GURPS books will be 256 pages and full color, and released one per month. Shorter books will be released as PDFs on their "e23" website (think RPGNow).

not being a pdf purchaser, i hope they have a "print on demand" option for those smaller books.

the full-color hardcover treatment looks to me like a direct reaction to WOTC.

 

[Stone Dog]

Wow. It sounds like a good solid number of changes going down. I hope the update for the character builder is free for those of us who bought it way back when it first came out.

The attribute costs are a little strange though. ST and HT being 10 points each isn't much of a thing, but IQ and DX being 20 points for an 11? Well, if the new price structure for skills have changed too maybe this works out. I wonder if both skill sets have easy/ave/hard now and mental dropped the very hard part. Hmmm...

I was hoping they changed their language rules. The skill=accent thing was just clunky and I always liked the Hero system a good deal better for languages.

The only thing that I know I don't like is color art. Color art in a GURPS book seems like corperate sponsorship for a greatful dead concert. Just not right. I suppose it will make them more interesting to flip through, but d4 is right. It seems that it is a direct reaction to WotC.

I am glad to hear e23 is coming soon though. I am a big fan of PDFs and I've been waiting to see what e23 has to offer for some time.

I don't mind Eidetic Memory being the way it is though and I hope that the 75% limitation is optional. Eiditic memory doesn't get you much when you can dump those points into IQ instead and get the same skill bonus and a better will, but then again 60 points sounds like it would get you a 13 IQ now, so EM might need to be reworked under the new points to be balanced.

Thanks for sharing Mr Hubert! Anybody else have any tasty tidbits?

 

[Altalazar]

Who cares what the covers look like? This may sound strange, but for non D&D and non Shadowrun, I really never care about covers, only content.

I did get GURPS when it first came out, and even played once - a rather interesting game. But I never really knew anyone who did it. I got a bunch of the supplements that looked interesting and read them, but never went much beyond that. That must have been 1st Edition. I guess it has been a while if they are already up to 4th...

 

[Altalazar]

Who cares what the covers look like? This may sound strange, but for non D&D and non Shadowrun, I really never care about covers, only content.

I did get GURPS when it first came out, and even played once - a rather interesting game. But I never really knew anyone who did it. I got a bunch of the supplements that looked interesting and read them, but never went much beyond that. That must have been 1st Edition. I guess it has been a while if they are already up to 4th...

 

[tauton_ikhnos]

Covers matter to those of us who want SJ Games to do well, and crappy covers don't sell as well. I'm going to buy these books regardless of their cover. But not everyone will. So I fret

 

[buzz]

Covers matter to those of us who want SJ Games to do well, and crappy covers don't sell as well. I'm going to buy these books regardless of their cover. But not everyone will. So I fret

Indeed. Considering that GURPS sales have been in a slump, and that SJG supposedly wants to make quality aesthetics a priority for the new edition, it seems bizarre to me that SJ want to go with a series of covers that make the line look like sometihng from a mid-'90s GDW catalog.

In terms of appealing to gamers who don't already play GURPS, not to mention younger players looking to "graduate" from D&D to other RPGs, the new covers scream, "Hey! Don't buy me!"