Gurps? Where do I start?

[Henry]

Long story short: Try GURPS Lite, 'cause it's free, and if your players balk, then True20 is the next best stop, because they'll at least be using the core D&D mechanic.

Good luck, whichever direction you turn.

 

[mcrow]

So is D&D, and you cannot try that one for free. It's not a terribly valid arguement, since just about every RPG is expensive to get into. To buy the four key books to run fantasy in GURPS (Characters, Campaigns, Fantasy, and Magic) would cost $144.80 at cover price. To buy four key books to run D&D (Players Handbook, Dungeon Masters Guide, Monster Manual, and one accessory book averaging $34.95) would cost you $124.80. The $20 difference won't buy you another book. It really all boils down to preference in game style and system mechanics.

SRD is free

D&D basic is $25

and yes, you can buy other games that cost much less than both of these. I know of many that are $40 or less for a complete game. Some as less than $20.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

SRD is free

D&D basic is $25

and yes, you can buy other games that cost much less than both of these. I know of many that are $40 or less for a complete game. Some as less than $20.

However, it should be noted that even with the Basic Set alone GURPS is far more flexible than most of these. The D&D Core Rules, for instance, are mostly intended for a specific subset of the fantasy genre. On the other hand, you can do pretty much any fantasy genre with just the GURPS Basic Set, as well as contemporary settings, science fiction, and quite a few other things as well.

GURPS is great value for money, if you are comfortable with the system. Though I agree that testing the game with GURPS Lite is probably wise...

 

[bento]

I can't help but think there might be a better solution than jumping into another game system that your players might balk at. I think you should ask yourself the following questions and let the answers guide your next steps:

1) What parts of D&D do my players enjoy the most? The least?
2) Do my players like lots of supplemental materials to choose from, or something simple and streamlined?
3) What kind of adventures do I run the most and get the most enjoyment from my players?
4) Do my players want to try some other kinds of genres, or are we looking for another Fantasy-based system?
5) Do we like long drawn out campaigns or shorter adventures?
6) Do I expect a game to come complete with a setting or make it up as I go along?​

When I did some soul-searching a couple of years ago because I wasn't too happy with 3.5, I investigated a lot of different systems in the review section of this site and rpg.net. It led me to Blue Rose and then True20 when it came along. I've also heard very good things about Castles & Crusades, Savage Worlds, and Warhammer Fantasy RPG.

 

[Nikosandros]

Long story short: Try GURPS Lite, 'cause it's free, and if your players balk, then True20 is the next best stop, because they'll at least be using the core D&D mechanic.

Good luck, whichever direction you turn.

Best advice in the thread... get the free download and try it. It will give you a decent feel for the game. Plus, you can have the rules in Interlingua, how cool is that?

 

[Nikosandros]

However, it should be noted that even with the Basic Set alone GURPS is far more flexible than most of these. The D&D Core Rules, for instance, are mostly intended for a specific subset of the fantasy genre. On the other hand, you can do pretty much any fantasy genre with just the GURPS Basic Set, as well as contemporary settings, science fiction, and quite a few other things as well.

Agreed. Much as I love D&D (both this and the previous editions) it's a game that's good at doing a very specific thing, namely D&D fantasy. With games such as GURPS and HERO there is a lot of flexibility in the genre and the sryle of the campaigns. The price to pay, is that more work is needed for the GM in order to decide how to build the campaign itself.

 

[DungeonMaester]

Thanks every one for the post.

As I said before, I had Downloaded Gurps lite, however, I do not find it that impressive because it focuses mainly on the rules and does not give to many options for character creation. However, I am not going to judge gurps based of this blurp.

Yes, my players are stupid in there ways which dictates that anything non d2o is not worth the paper it is printed on, but having played D&D and d20 for so long, I am just burned out completely. Unlike other games I have tried to get them to play and failed, I see a opening with gurps because of the seccess of BESM which uses the same point buy system but with d20. I am hoping that will give me the lee-way to squeese a good one shot gurps campaign off to get my players interested.

One of the big turn off my players had was playing games like WoD and Shadow Run which implement the use of millions of d10s and d6s respectively. the idea of adding up tons of dice was boring unless it was a roll of a epic fireball or a flurry of greatsword cleaving through a opponent.

Another aspect of games they did not like, was the inability to have a large amount of control when customizing characters. Most games made the Pcs feel like cookie cutters only having a single set of abilites, although I personally thought that skills made two of the same class very different, along with equipment.

As far as the most realistic for combat? I say Palladium. Maybe I am biased, but S.D.C before HP damage had a real easy conversion rate for wanting to cut off limbs along with a easy to do/hard to secceed ways for 'auto death' (Choking, Cut throat, ect.)

Looking on Amazon.com, I found that GURPS basic was $11 dollars used. Will this get me a decent amount of races/Customization stuff?

Thanks foe posting every one.

---Rusty

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Thanks every one for the post.

As I said before, I had Downloaded Gurps lite, however, I do not find it that impressive because it focuses mainly on the rules and does not give to many options for character creation. However, I am not going to judge gurps based of this blurp.

Well, GURPS Lite focuses on mundane humans for space reasons. With the full Basic Set, you can create pretty much any character you can imagine. From mundane humans to dragons to immortal spirits to talking animals to sapient artificial intelligences with multiple robot bodies... the list is inexhaustible. Basically, if you know what your character should be able to do and you have enough character points for the concept, you can create it.

Another aspect of games they did not like, was the inability to have a large amount of control when customizing characters. Most games made the Pcs feel like cookie cutters only having a single set of abilites, although I personally thought that skills made two of the same class very different, along with equipment.

With GURPS, you have an enormous amount of control over character creation - more than in pretty much any other game.

As far as the most realistic for combat? I say Palladium. Maybe I am biased, but S.D.C before HP damage had a real easy conversion rate for wanting to cut off limbs along with a easy to do/hard to secceed ways for 'auto death' (Choking, Cut throat, ect.)

I've played Palladium as well, but IMO it doesn't even come close to GURPS in terms of realism.

Looking on Amazon.com, I found that GURPS basic was $11 dollars used. Will this get me a decent amount of races/Customization stuff?

Remember, the Basic Set consists of two volumes - Characters and Campaigns. But yes, these books will allow an amazing amount of customization.

The character races listed in the Basic Set, on the other hand, are fairly limited - but they serve more as an example on how to create your own racial templates anyway, which is a snap to do. Basically, you simply need to figure out which traits a certain race is going to have, and then calculate the point total. Take a look at my GURPS Eberron conversion, for example - I've written up the warforged of Eberron like this:

Warforged
96 points
Attribute Modifiers: HT +2 [20].
Secondary Characteristic Modifier: HP +2 [4].
Advantages: Blunt Claws [3], Damage Resistance 3 (Cant Wear Armour, -40%) [9], Doesn’t Eat or Drink [10], Doesnt Sleep [20], Machine (Immunity to Metabolic Hazards [30], Injury Tolerance (No Blood, Unliving) [25], Unhealing (Total) [-30]) [25], Unaging [15].
Disadvantages: Social Stigma (Minority Group) [-10].
Features: Healing spells and similar effect will only heal half as many hit points as normally. The Mechanic skill allows the skill user to function exactly as a doctor with the appropriate medical skills, however.


I came up with this with only a few minutes of work, and the file contains plenty of other examples of playable races. This system makes sure that even very powerful races are balanced against less powerful ones - they simply cost more character points to play than, say, a normal human, and thus the player of a member of such a race will have less character points available for other abilities when compared to humans and other weaker races...

 

[DungeonMaester]

Very Interesting. I am sold on Gurps Basic, but what do I get when I buy Campaigns?

---Rusty

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Very Interesting. I am sold on Gurps Basic, but what do I get when I buy Campaigns?

---Rusty

"Characters" is about creating characters, and little else - it has endless options for that.

"Campaigns" explains everything else - combat, environmental hazards, running campaigns, and so forth. While "Characters" has a short summary of the combat system, in the long run you'll want the in-depth explanations of "Campaigns".

Both books constitute the GURPS Basic Set - their official titles are "GURPS Basic Set: Characters" and "GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns". The page numbers of "Campaigns" even starts where those of "Characters" left off, and the two books have identical indexes referring to elements in both books.