GURPS: I don't wanna play it, but I wanna buy it.

[Michael Silverbane]

The historical books were EXCELLENT sources of information for anyone, regardless of system. The Rome, Greek, Russia books were all beyond awesome. Also I highly recommend GURPS Voodoo, even though it (and most likely the other three) are OOP.

This. The historical books are very good.

 

[Argyle King]

I haven't actually looked at GURPS since before 4e (that's 4e GURPS, not 4e D&D) came out.

But I used to be a big fan of the books. The historical books were EXCELLENT sources of information for anyone, regardless of system. The Rome, Greek, Russia books were all beyond awesome. Also I highly recommend GURPS Voodoo, even though it (and most likely the other three) are OOP.

As for the system... it has a GREAT character generation system, but from what I saw of 4e's combat system, it did nothing to fix the gaping holes that made it a nightmare to run as either a DM or player. I wouldn't personally touch it with a 10' pole.

It's not that bad really. I just picked it up and actually started playing maybe a year and a half or so ago. I think the initial jump into the game takes some getting used to, but that was mainly because I was so accustomed to D&D terminology for things, and it was a bit of culture shock for me to transition into a different way of looking at rpgs. I found it to be fairly intuitive once how it worked clicked in my head. I'm by no means an expert, and I wouldn't consider myself particularly smart either, but I could probably run something from my head without too much trouble.

The two rules I usually have to stop and look up are explosions and rapid fire. Since I know those two give me trouble, I usually jot down a little cheat sheet for myself.

I think one of the pitfalls to be avoided is assuming you need to use every rule.

 

[prosfilaes]

Also I highly recommend GURPS Voodoo, even though it (and most likely the other three) are OOP.

They're working on getting their OOP stuff on e23.sjgames.com; they don't have GURPS Voodoo up, but they have most of their historical books.

 

[Kzach]

They're working on getting their OOP stuff on e23.sjgames.com; they don't have GURPS Voodoo up, but they have most of their historical books.

I hope they get Voodoo up for sale as a PDF. Then I can stop trying to explain how awesome it is* and just point people at the PDF for sale


*It's something I regularly harp on about 'cause nobody seems to have ever heard about it, much to my dismay, as it's a seriously awesome setting concept.

 

[Zelda Themelin]

I own around 50 gurps books, oldies and goldies mostly, I stopped getting around time when they started doing World of Darkness to gurps, and that wasn't very good job.

I like(d) a lot their setting books. Very inspiring, my favories were gurps time travel and ultratech. Generally speaking gurps tech and superpowers books were IMO always far better than what they did with fantasy. Speaking of gurps fantasy (races, magic) here. Their settings based on literature made awasome reading. I got and read many of those books because of those gurps books. Yes, in that order.

I never really liked the system. Ok I did like the advantages/disadvantages thing, but stats were boring, and everything as skills was painful. Especially with magic/psi, which was hard to learn and boring to do.

I use to run gurps but only for scifi/modern/supers/horror.
I don't know the newest edition, though. Some of this stuff might have changed.

 

[sjmiller]

But I used to be a big fan of the books. The historical books were EXCELLENT sources of information for anyone, regardless of system. The Rome, Greek, Russia books were all beyond awesome. Also I highly recommend GURPS Voodoo, even though it (and most likely the other three) are OOP.

Just so everyone knows, most of the GURPS3e books are available as pdfs at the SJGames site in the e23 Store. Quite a few are available as physical books too. Those can be found at your FLGS or from Warehouse 23 at the SJGames site.

 

[prosfilaes]

One of my personal favorites is GURPS IOU, an any-thing-goes university setting. Unfortunately, I just can't see GURPS as the right system for a world with free resurrection, by whatever means the bored and multi-disciplined health works can come up with today. (Coming back as a giant daisy is a suggestion for students who abuse the privilege.)

GURPS also has some of the most awesome alternate history books; I'd suggest G: Alternate Histories 1 and 2 for anyone interested in the field. G: Time Travel is also an awesome generic handbook to time travel.

 

[Crothian]

GURPS has some great books. Mysteries is not as well known but is an excellent resource for running mysteries in an RPG no matter the genre. Aztecs is also one that they did a great job on the culture and history and it is about the Aztecs with very little on the Conquistadors. I am also a fan of many of the licensed products like GURPs Prisoner. I have dozens of the source books but I don't think I own any version of the main books.

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

The GURPS material has been a very good set of stuff for me over the years. I have never really run it - but did play in GURPS supers years ago. The system is not too bad, but the real value, as mentioned, is the sheer volume of source material. You can really get a lot of it as the material is usually well written and informative.

 

[sjmiller]

I have to make a confession here. I am a big fan of GURPS, have been for years. In the 90s and early 00s, I played GURPS almost exclusively. I even did playtesting and writing for GURPS.

For that reason, I am always baffled when people say that GURPS is too complex, or too realistic, or not playable. I learned something very important about GURPS that makes it easy to play, easy to run, fun, and usable for any game type. Here's what you need to know:

You don't have to use all the rules! Most of GURPS is optional. Lots of combat rules are optional. Look at GURPS Lite. It is a completely functional version of GURPS that uses only a small portion of the rules. If you find that is not enough, can keep adding options until you reach a level you like.

As for GURPS books I think everyone will like, I suggest any of the historicals, especially GURPS Russia. Sourcebooks like GURPS Religion are a goldmine of information for creation religions and religious groups for any system. Technical books like GURPS Vehicle are more for hardcore GURPS Gearheads, but that's ok, because that is what makes GURPS fun fun for them.