What's your opinion of GURPS?

[Halivar]

I just got sick of the "I swing... I swing... I swing..." style gameplay D&D seems to favor and went looking for a more RP-intensive ruleset.

I downloaded GURPS-Lite, and I must say, I am impressed by the thoroughness of character creation. The mechanics seem a little clunky, but I've never played with them. My first instinct was to roll... err... buy up a character.

Anyhow, I wanted to ask: what are your experiences with GURPS compared to D&D e3? What about 2e? What are the settings like?

If you don't like GURPS, what kind of RPG do you play to "get away" from D&D for a bit?

EDIT: By "get away" from, I really mean, "In the four campaigns your currently involved in, one isn't D&D"...

 

[kengar]

GURPS is one of the more consistent systems out there. By that I mean the mechanics are fairly well-grounded in logic and/or reality. That said, I don't care for it because it's a bit too much the min/maxer's dream system and the mechanics are a bit too slow if you want to take advantage of the detail it offers; IMHO, of course.

The other big plus to GURPS is the plethora of supplements out there. Different settings and genres abound.

Currently, my group has abandoned d20 & 3e enitirely. I don't forsee a return to it any time soon, either. The system we are using instead?


SAVAGE WORLDS

Ye gawdz, I love this game! It gives you detailed character creation like GURPS. Its combats are fast and fun yet allow for a variety of manuevers and special abilities, it fits any genre. I highly recommend checking it out. http://www.peginc.com

 

[drnuncheon]

When I moved away from 1e, I went to GURPS. The ease of crossing genres appealed to me, and the fact that it was skill-based and not class-based was a real change.

Some people will say that it's 'too realistic' and you can't do 'epic' or 'cinematic' but it's all in which pieces of the rules you decide to use.

Also, GURPS historical supplements are pretty much the best historical supplements in the gaming field. Lots of people buy the supplements without using or even owning the main rules, simply for the wealth of detail.

I haven't run GURPS in a few years, but it's a great game.

 

[Belphanior]

I've had some brushes with GURPS, but I can't say it's really my cup of tea. As you said, the mechanics are a bit clunky.

System does matter, and I'd rather play with a system that was designed for a specific genre than with a system that can handle every genre a bit inadequately.

I am also not sure why all physical skills are so damn much harder than mental skills. Learning to become a master climber is apparently far harder than learning to become a master weaponsmith. (For "Ability+3" it is 16 points for climb, and 10 for armourer.)

I play Exalted when I get away from D&D. I like the epic/anime feel of it, and I love stunts. (You get bonuses to your rolls for describing what you do.)


Edit: spelling

 

[WizarDru]

I just got sick of the "I swing... I swing... I swing..." style gameplay D&D seems to favor and went looking for a more RP-intensive ruleset.

I downloaded GURPS-Lite, and I must say, I am impressed by the thoroughness of character creation. The mechanics seem a little clunky, but I've never played with them. My first instinct was to roll... err... buy up a character.

I used GURPS as my core system for about 15+ years, prior to 3E. I think it's a great system...but I don't use it any longer. For one reason, GURPS requires a lot more work on the part of the DM...and with my free-time rapidly decreasing, it becomes a priority. Second, the combats in GURPS can become more tedious that d20's "swing...swing...swing". They could become "I swing...he parries...I swing...he blocks...I swing...he dodges". I have one-on-one combats that lasted over an hour...and still only took about 20 seconds of real time.

GURPS is extremely flexible, and has some of the best written supplements available. The system allows you to have some very gritty combats, and develop very unique archetypes.

What doesn't the system do well? Well, first two of the four primary stats are more valuable, namely INT and DEX, since 95% of all skills are based on these...and in a skill-based system, that means an awful lot. Parts of the system can be dull and flavorless, without significant contributions, and the system is very vulnerable to min-maxing, which leads to the increased DM responsibility.

GURPS does more realistic genres far better than cinematic ones, and breaks down at higher-power levels. Having run a fantasy game for over 10 years and a supers game for 8 in GURPS, I can say this from experience. Particularly in SUPERS, where the feel is very different from the four-color feel of, say, M&M or Champions. It can be made to work that way, but only with a large amount of tweaking.

Overall, I'd recommend the system, especially if you prefer a realistic game, or like to try different campaigns or settings on a regular basis.

 

[Vaxalon]

I played GURPS for a LONG time.

I even wrote a few articles for Pyramid magazine.

Pros:

Very detailed setting information. Some of the best supplements in the business. Lots of crunch, lots of cream, always well organized, with great bibliographies.

Very detailed, but at the same time, unified resolution mechanic.

Cons:

Clunky, slow combat resolution system. Depending on the options you choose, it can take as many as nine die rolls to resolve one combat action. One-second combat rounds mean that cinematic, long-running action scenes are VERY hard to create, and even harder to complete in a single session.

Character generation system very prone to one trick ponies and minimaxing. In DnD, you can tell people, "fifth level character, 32 point buy, standard wealth" and they can pretty much be trusted to make a balanced, useful character. You can't do that in GURPS... you have to hold people's hands through character creation.

No good "threat" system, that is, no way to adjust how threatening a particular encounter is to the combat abilities of the PC's.

"Disadvantages" are handled in a fashion that many games have, rightly, been moving away from in more modern games. Disads give you points at character creation, which rewards "forgetting" about them. Check out Nobilis for a better system, whereby REMEMBERING the disads, and working them in, is rewarded.

 

[Henry]

My experiences run alongside Vaxalon's - great supplements, mostly sound rules, and plenty of adventure ideas for more than character-improvement-based motivations - because your characters improve fairly slowly at the recommended advancement.

The main reason I don't play it is because our players don't like the feel that they are 1st to 2nd level D&D characters perpetually.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

I loved the Gurps supers concept.
They handle super strength very well.

 

[nsruf]

One of these days, I have to write up my huge rant why I don't play GURPS anymore

The short version is that it adds a lot of complication and doesn't follow up on its promise of balance which is implied by the character point concept.

The genre sourcebooks are another matter, as they are usually well researched and contain enough non-specific info to be worth it even if you play other RPGs.

For a fast and easy system that is very un-D&Dish and rewards creative maneuvering in combat, I would recommend Pinnacle Entertainment's Savage Worlds.

 

[Arnwyn]

I've had some brushes with GURPS, but I can't say it's really my cup of tea. As you said, the mechanics are a bit clunky.

System does matter, and I'd rather play with a system that was designed for a specific genre than with a system that can handle every genre a bit inadequately.

Wow. This covers pretty much *exactly* how I feel.

When I want to "go away" from the fantasy genre, I use the FUZION rules.