What is GURPS?

[pawsplay]

Lets face it: nothing as complex as a real moral code is ever really going to be well modelled in an RPG.

In GURPS, you just guesstimate a value based on how restrictive it is. Then you roleplay it.

You can take Pacifism (Cannot Kill) with all the guilt stuff, but it's not necessary. Superman might have Code of Truth and Justice, that requires him to use necessary force, to refrain from evil, to act on behalf of good, to respect the autonomy of free moral agents, and so forth.

 

[Matrix Sorcica]

Guys, can we take the Superman talk to another thread and to a certain degree the GURPS vs. HERO way of modelling quirks too?

Thanks.


Ok. 1 second rounds. How does this work out? I mean - hey we're attacked by monsters. I'm 50 meters from my pals, so the fight will be over before I'm there. Or what? (An equally long time ago we played futuristic gurps and they got ambushed by snipers with HMGs. One of the players wanted to sneak up to the second floor of a nearby building. That would take approx. one minute. He looked at me when I told him it would take 60 rounds, and then just dropped it started shooting back.....)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Ok. 1 second rounds. How does this work out? I mean - hey we're attacked by monsters. I'm 50 meters from my pals, so the fight will be over before I'm there. Or what?

If your group starts that far apart, then that's a real possibility. Of course, you could use ranged weapons, if that is an option.

The "right" answer here is that parties that travel in a dangerous environment shouldn't walk that far spread out that they can't be ambushed individually. The same goes for NPCs, of course - if the party can sneak up on lone enemies that get separated from their group, they should feel free to pounce them while their allies are far away.

(An equally long time ago we played futuristic gurps and they got ambushed by snipers with HMGs. One of the players wanted to sneak up to the second floor of a nearby building. That would take approx. one minute. He looked at me when I told him it would take 60 rounds, and then just dropped it started shooting back.....)

In such a situation, it's entirely appropriate to have long wait periods in which the bulk of the party hides behind cover, while the lone PC tries to sneak away undetected. The snipers can't fire all the time, either - HMGs use up a lot of ammo.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

GURPS (3E anyway, as implied above haven't tried 4E) has a shopping list style of advantages, powers, disads etc. This just appeals less to me than the HERO method of 'imagine something, then work out how to model it.' Of course the GURPS way is handy if you want a quicker and easier start and is more accessible for new RPGers who have suggestions to work from.

Which is a significant issue. After all, you might not even realize that you want a specific advantage until you read about it - so being able to turn something you imagine into game mechanics is not enough.

This is part of the brilliance of GURPS Powers. The 4E GURPS Basic Set is an amazingly flexible and powerful tool (much more powerful than 3E), but when you read GURPS Powers, you suddenly see just how flexible it is.

 

[DrunkonDuty]

Jürgen Hubert wrote:
Which is a significant issue. After all, you might not even realize that you want a specific advantage until you read about it - so being able to turn something you imagine into game mechanics is not enough.

Agreed. The inspiration that an RPG gives you is an important part of it. Of course one can get one's inspiration from ANY game or literature. Me, I like stealing from everywhere. Hence my love of GURPS source books.

 

[hong]

GURPS is a state of mind.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Agreed. The inspiration that an RPG gives you is an important part of it. Of course one can get one's inspiration from ANY game or literature. Me, I like stealing from everywhere. Hence my love of GURPS source books.

Some of my old 3e favorites (many of which are now available at $10 each);

GURPS Cabal: Like the World of Darkness... but with less angsting about being monsters or ruthless mages! The setting works better for different types of monsters/mystics working together as well...
GURPS Creatures of the Night: Some really disturbing monsters here. The author wrote them up after various nightmares he's had, and it shows.
GURPS Horror: The definite treatment of the horror genre for role-playing games... at least, until they create a new edition for 4E.
GURPS Technomancer: Fun modern-day Alternate Earth where magic returned to the world in 1945. It has a somewhat unfortunate US-centrism, however...
Transhuman Space: The definite proof that "hard SF" doesn't have to mean "boring" - and reminds us that our own future might be stranger than anything we can imagine...
GURPS War Against The Cthorr: One of the best "alien invasion" scenarios I have seen - and one that doesn't even have any active intelligent aliens that anyone has seen. For a really disturbing and depressing alien invasion, accept no substitutes.
GURPS Warehouse 23: It's not just the Ark of the Covenant that's hidden in there...
Suppressed Transmission 1&2: Not GURPS books themselves, but still very, very inspirational. Weirdness at its best.

 

[Steely Dan]

GURPs was something every role-player I knew in the early 90's would make fun of.

That fact that the word generic is in the acronym is enough to leave a bad taste in my mouth for some reason.

As for the actual game (mechanics etc), I have no idea, could be awesome.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Ok. 1 second rounds. How does this work out? I mean - hey we're attacked by monsters. I'm 50 meters from my pals, so the fight will be over before I'm there. Or what? (An equally long time ago we played futuristic gurps and they got ambushed by snipers with HMGs. One of the players wanted to sneak up to the second floor of a nearby building. That would take approx. one minute. He looked at me when I told him it would take 60 rounds, and then just dropped it started shooting back.....)

The one second round lets you play out action in exacting detail and this can be both a blessing and a curse. One of my first GURPS combat experiences involved our party getting ambushed by some bad guys during a fantasy adventure. My big warrior started taking off his backpack to drop weight and increase his move. This took 3 seconds-a virtual LIFETIME in combat. While I was busy getting ready, our wizard was busy getting his foot pinned to the floor with a dagger. I learned that a few seconds is long time. As Jurgen stated, being far apart from your friends is dangerous. In the movies its usually the one wandering alone that dies first.

One mechanic that can help with the tight timeline is the use of combat lulls. These are breaks in the action when opponents are taking a breath, evaluating thier foes, and planning thier next moves. In the situation with the sniper, there was the possibility of a lull if any cover was available. The PC's hide behind cover which could begin a lull. One player starts to sneak away while the others give the sniper targets to shoot at such as a helmet on a pole (a cinematic classic) The GM can rule that 5-10 seconds go by between potshots from the sniper. This is a fairly accurate way to portray events assuming the sniper is a regular guy, mentally speaking, and not a crazed nutjob that just shoots nonstop until all ammo was expended.

So with a couple of lulls thrown in you can model that scenario very well. Things can be even more interesting if the sniper has allies that are doing some sneaking of thier own during this same time.

 

[hong]

GURPS combat is perpetual bullet time.