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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nsruf" data-source="post: 57187" data-attributes="member: 872">I played GURPs for several years, so I am probably qualified to identify some pros and cons. Let's start with the cons and the reasons why I don't play GURPS anymore:1. Complexity: GURPS features a point-buy character creation system using a single, rather large (100+ pts) pool to buy all of a PC's abilities, including attributes, skills and special traits. The large number of skills, advantages and disadvantages available can be confusing, especially if you own many sourcebooks.Apart from character creation itself, GURPS offers a very realistic and rather deadly combat system (which in itself is no disadvantage, at least IMO), but using the full rules can be cumbersome (you don't have to, but the group I played with more or less insisted). In essence, you get a quite detailed tabletop combat game.2. Balance Issues: The point-buy character system appears balanced on the surface, because it sets a value for everything. But it is not and IMO, real balance is unachievable in this way, so all it does (and did for my group!) is to invite min/maxing. Getting extra points to spend for taking mental disadvantages that have only roleplaying effects is just the tip of the iceberg here. I removed this option from my game, clearly separating PC personality and statistics, but was still not happy with many of the traits with game-mechanical effects.The skill system is also problematic, as new skills are rather cheap to learn. So PCs tend to have a longish list of "standard" adventuring skills, whether they fit the character concept or not. I really got fed up with discussions like "So you are a bookish mage type - WTF have you learned "Running" skill?!" (a skill which makes you faster, even if you put just 1/2 a point in it<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f61b.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue    :p"  data-smilie="7"data-shortname=":p" />).So these are the reasons I don't play GURPS anymore. While it worked ok with my old gaming group at school, when I tried introducing it to a new gaming group at university, it turned out that it was confusing the players and detracting from the fun.What I liked or still like about GURPS:1. Flexibility: It has been mentioned by other in this thread that there are a lot of sourcebooks for various genres and settings, as GURPS is a generic system. The advantage of the character creation system is obviously that you can create exactly the character you like (at the power level set by the point total).2. Quality: The setting-specific sourcebooks are usually very well researched and full of good stuff. And they contain lots of non-rule information, making them valuable for GMs using other game systems. E.g. I would recommend GURPS "Discworld" as resource to anybody planning a Discworld campaign, though I would not recommend using the GURPS rules, which are far too "heavy" for comic fantasy.</blockquote>

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