Kickstarter: GURPS Mission X

[dbm]

IIRC Dr Kromm (GURPS line editor) is currently working on a supplement with guidance on how to re-jink the GURPS skills system so there are a smaller number in use. There is a whole series of supplements (Power Ups series) on making more or less extensive changes to the system.

 

[John Dallman]

60+ skills does seem rather excessive, and it makes me think a good number of them won't be all that useful for "adventurers."

Oh, they aren't. But what an "adventurer" needs varies by genre, setting and tech level. If you're playing a fantasy air force game where the characters ride (or are) giant flying creatures, then Dropping skill is important for dropping rocks, barrels of boiling oil, and the like on-target. That's about its only use.

 

[thullgrim]

IIRC Dr Kromm (GURPS line editor) is currently working on a supplement with guidance on how to re-jink the GURPS skills system so there are a smaller number in use. There is a whole series of supplements (Power Ups series) on making more or less extensive changes to the system.

It’s out. GURPS Skill Trees. It’s a good book about reconfiguring the skill system through a skill tree approach. It there’s also some Information about reducing the number of skills without resorting to the Bang! Skills solution.

 

[MGibster]

Oh, they aren't. But what an "adventurer" needs varies by genre, setting and tech level. If you're playing a fantasy air force game where the characters ride (or are) giant flying creatures, then Dropping skill is important for dropping rocks, barrels of boiling oil, and the like on-target. That's about its only use.

You're preaching to the choir here. Even my players understood the number of skills in GURPS is simply the natural result of having a universal set of rules designed to cover, well, everything. It's still a bit overwhelming for those new to GURPS and I see similar problems in other games with much fewer rules. When I ran my first Trail of Cthulhu campaign, one of the players was shocked that Architecture was such a frequently used skill. In ToC, Architecture is used to figure out where hidden rooms are and other oddities of a building. Very useful in a Cthulhu type game.