GURPS - a matter of style and setting.

[ColonelHardisson]

...but in this case it's unsolicited advice. Read the first post. Psionicist said he was going with GURPS, and asked people to suggest GURPS supplements and settings to him. How is it your burden to convince him otherwise. He didn't ask if it could be better done in d20. He didn't ask for a debate on the comparative merits of either setting. That means, again, that to do so was a hijack.

Y'know, with the way flame wars can erupt at the drop of a hat, I think a civil discussion of a topic, whether it's on-topic or not, should be welcomed. Besides, there were suggestions given about the original topic - wouldn't a GURPS board be able to sustain a discussion of GURPS a bit longer and more vigorously than a D&D/d20 board? The original topic was very nebulous, which makes it tough to remain on-topic. I'm not saying to never try to discuss GURPS, or whatever game system, but you have to expect people here to begin discussing the main game the board was created to discuss, eventually. Call it a hijack if you want, but if a conversation evolves into something else from what it was originally, and remains civil, I think chastising folk for it is mean-spirited. I could see complaining if the discussion had devolved into spiteful argument, but it hasn't.

So, to address Psionicist's original question - try Atomic Horror, which SJG just re-released. I always liked 1950s horror films, and the milieu is fun and familiar. Or, try to find GURPS The Prisoner, based on the British TV show from the 60s. But, to play it properly you'd really have to watch the show.

 

[mmadsen]

As I've asked in the past, why is it OK for GURPS to try to cover every genre, but not d20?

I'm not disagreeing with you, ColonelHardisson -- I'm certainly not saying d20 shouldn't reach out to new genres -- but I think we have to accept the central reason for the general sentiment that GURPS can/should handle mulitple genres and d20 can't/shouldn't: GURPS was designed from the get-go for multiple genres, and it uses reality as it's baseline (even if it's not a perfect simulation).

As we all know, D&D has a long history of numbers that don't make sense (one-minute rounds, weird movement rates, etc.) and rules that only fit D&D (hit dice, AC reducing chance of being hit, strength increasing chance of hitting, strict classes, etc.) -- and d20 is just getting away from that history.

Witness the arguments about hit dice in Call of Cthulhu and about armor-as-AC vs. armor-as-DR in Star Wars. The D&D baseline isn't well suited to many genres, because it makes particular, not-very-generic decisions about combat, magic, etc.

 

[coyote6]

So, to address Psionicist's original question - try Atomic Horror, which SJG just re-released. I always liked 1950s horror films, and the milieu is fun and familiar.

Atomic Horror 2e also has swell extra stuff by Ken Hite.

<shameless plug>
And those templates are nice!
</shameless plug>

 

[Psionicist]

Thanks for all replies! There are LOTS of great ideas in this thread. And I who thought the character generation system was annoyingly complex, choosing setting is.

 

[The Cardinal]

well, for someone named Psionicist...
...get yourself
GURPS Psionics (I *love* the psionic system - and there's a great enhancement idea for the Healing power in the Pyramid archives)
GURPS Martial Arts (or use "Chi Magery" from Pyramid for simplicity)

*then* get
GURPS Horror 3e
- and while you shouldn't forget to admire <start plug> the palefaces, the rippers, and the wolfman <end plug> the truly great part for you is towards the end of the book: a highly condensed setting called "The Madness Dossier"
- this rocks so hat that it hurts!
Think: Planetary
Think: The Invisibles
Think: Snow Crash
THINK: strange powers of the illuminated mind, mesopotamian gods, combat linguistics, fallen angels, reality wars, and all-around Kenneth Hite weirdness...
...god, I hope SJG will turn this into a book of its own...

 

[The Traveler]

...god, I hope SJG will turn this into a book of its own...

Read GURPS Cabal yet? It's also by Ken Hite, and includes the Reality Quake concept as a minor theme. GURPS Horror tells how to combine the two, so that almost makes a full Madness Dossier setting.

 

[Kichwas]

As I've asked in the past, why is it OK for GURPS to try to cover every genre, but not d20?

GURPS has sort of proven to a number of people that it is unwise for a single system to try and cover all genres.

GURPS Supers is the usual case in point. But a number of people feel the system has shown that you need to make a couple of core choices about your system in regards to power levels and realism vs. cinematic.

GURPS has tried to go all over the board on these issues but not everyone feels it has had much success with the results it has shown.


I used to be a one system fits all advocate. But GURPS and Hero both convinced me that a system should instead be tailored around it's chosen genre to give a tight fit.

 

[Desdichado]

arcady:
I used to be a one system fits all advocate. But GURPS and Hero both convinced me that a system should instead be tailored around it's chosen genre to give a tight fit.

I still am, I just haven't seen the system yet that proves it can handle all genres. As some have pointed out on this thread, the fact that d20 Call of Cthulhu had to make some "core modifications" to they system shows that it can't handle that kind of genre well. In my opinion, that's the kind of changes GURPS should have been more willing to make here and there to get the right feel for a given genre.

 

[Psion]

GURPS was designed from the get-go for multiple genres, and it uses reality as it's baseline (even if it's not a perfect simulation).

That is a meaningless point. The only thing you should consider is what d20 is doing now. d20 is NOT the game that existed in the 1970's.

More importantly, the d20 model is a lot more variable that GURPS. GURPS has a sachel of variant and optional strap of rules, but really doesn't stray far. d20 variants enjoin some more fundamental alterations than any GURPS books are willing to do.


Inasmuch as GURPS is suitable for anything, it really sputters when you take it out of gritty/realistic settings. I really don't think you have a leg to stand on.

 

[Psion]

Don't get me wrong, I like d20, and buy a lot of d20 stuff, but I don't think it's the one true way, so it's not like all gaming companies are destined to convert to it.

No, but a lot are. And with good reason, I think. A lot of comapanies where re-inventing the wheel because they had no real good reason to do otherwise. If it saves me from seeing one more overly convuluted dice pool system, the d20 system will have been a good thing.

Not my point. Fact is, the thread's been more or less hijacked from its original topic.

Ah, quaint notions of thread ownership. How cute.