2 comments about GURPS Fantasy.

1. GUPRS players have long known that its sourcebooks are treasure troves of information and GURPS Fantasy is no exception. It is skillfully crafted to help you either build your own fanasy world or adapt an existing one.
   
   GURPS Fantasy is logically broke down into sections beginning with the level and type of fantasy you want. It then by chapter does in how the supernatural can work, how magic and tecnology interreact and even how magic can replace technology, explores using history as a template, goes into the use of localities from isolated hamlets all the way to cities and empires, the different forms, types, and systems of magic, and finally storylines.
   
   The final chapter brings it all together but in a different form from the old magical psudo-Middle Ages Europe familar to many people. Instead we are treated to Roma Arcana - a Roman empire filled with magic both archane and divine.
   
   Even if you do not play GURPS, GURPS Fantasy will provide some insights to things your campaign may be lacking and provide a breath of fresh air because it goes into things often missed in other Fantasy worldbuilder books.



2. I love GURPS... the "anything you want do, you may do" RPG game. This book is a must for those who like fantasy campaigns!

2 comments about GURPS For Dummies (For Dummies (Sports & Hobbies)).

1. After having read the lackluster reviews of D&D for Dummies, I was a bit hesitant to purchase this title sans any exisiting reviews, however, I took the leap anyway, and was not dissapointed.
   
   The first thing you notice when you open the book is the great three-panel double sided pullout cheat sheet containing a ton of information that is invaluable to have at your fingertips during play! This alone is worth almost the cost of the book, and for new players gives them their options in a succint little package.
   
   The book basically appeals to two audiences: Players and Game Masters and the six sections of the book are divided amongst the two.
   
   PART ONE introduces GURPS and gives a player tips on how to come up with the foundation of a character, that is the concept and role the character will play in the story. This information is applicable to any role playing game, and the advice is clear and uncomplicated. This section continues on to describe how to use the GURPS rules as the building blocks of the character, not by teaching the rules or by repeating the rules (you need the GURPS books for that) but by telling you how the different elements work in the game and interact together. In other words, they tell you how to use the game mechanics to recreate what is in your imagination. Its almost like having an experienced player actually helping you through the process step by step, explaining what each thing in the rulebook REALLY MEANS and how it will REALLY WORK (or not work). You are told how high is high, and how low is low.
   
   PART TWO builds on Part One by going into more detail on magic, powers, technology, and non-humans. This section is basically a much deeper exploration of all the different ways the elements of the game (advantages, perks, talents, skills, etc) can be put together, and how each one works. The authors also provide insight on how to use the different game mechanics to achieve the vision you have for your character, and the possible ways to get there (as there is usually more than one).
   
   PART THREE gives solid advice on role playing, again, relevant to any RPG. Combat is explained, with very detailed information given to how different elements works together in combat and how combat flows in GURPS (which can be much different than other RPG's). I would have liked to have seen more information regarding the various reach ranges, because they can have a major affect on swords and sorcery type games. The combat chapter teaches you how to choose armor, what choices there are in combat and more importantly, why you would want to choose certain options, when and how to defend yourself, and how to make wise weapon choices. In fact, there is an excellent chart describing what the solid weapopn choices are for each character strength level. This is perfect for those countless times I have heard players say "What weapon should I choose?". There is a great section on how to solve common combat problems (too many opponents, can't penetrate armor, etc) and a section on how best to use healing magic. This section also describes good ways to keep track of all the information used in GURPS.
   
   PART FOUR is where the Game Mastering (GMing) section begins. This section and the next should be read by every GM, no matter what the game they run. I've been GMing and playing for almost 30 years, and I found the advice in this section and the next to be invaluable. Part Four describes how to be a GM, gives an EXCELLENT chapter on how to design an adventure with an example of how that would play out.
   
   PART FIVE describes how to build the campaign, that is the world, or epic, or whatever that will be the focus of why the story is, what the story is, and why are the players even creating characters to begin with. The advice is once again solid, and while there are references on how to use GURPS, as in Part Four, the information is applicable to any Role Playing Game/GM.
   
   PART SIX are three short chapters containing the authors' preferences for spending points, their top ten favorite advantages, and top ten favorite disadvantages. There was to be a chapter on the "10 skills no PC should be without" but it was apparently cut. Seeing the chapter released in electronic format would be a great addition to the book.
   
   Overall, this book is a "must have" for anyone even contemplating playing or running a GURPS game. New players will find the answers and help they need to bring their imagination to life, and old veterans will find an angle they hadn't thought of. The GMing section really could have been "Game Mastering for Dummies", because the tips and advice here go beyond what do do in GURPS. I wish I had seen this advice when I first started GMing oh-so-long-ago. This book should be considered the third of the core books (Characters and Campaigns being the first two) and is a book no gaming library should be without.



2. It's a great view of role playing in general. GURPS is already an easy system, and GURPS For Dummies makes it idiot proof. A must for folks playing or running GURPS games.

2 comments about Gurps Powers, Fourth Edition.

1. I had real problems deciding whether or not to buy this book. The biggest stumbling block was the lack of information about the book from anybody besides SJ Games. What would I be getting for my hard-earned money? SJ Games tried to help by showing some pages on their website but they didn't help me make up my mind because I just couldn't get a good feel for what the book was about. I finally decided to buy the book because I'm contemplating running a campaign with Psionic and/or Super powers and this book seemed to cover those topics in greater depth than the basic books did and I've had good experiences with the previous books in this series.
   
   Now that I've read the book I can see why people have been reluctant to try to describe it. GURPS Powers is very much more than a simple repackaging of the 3rd edition of GURPS Supers and GURPS Psionics. The authors have put considerable thought into the whole concept of "Powers" (what they are, what they can do, why they exist, etc.) for all roleplaying genres and have developed a radical new structure for how to implement them within the GURPS rules without doing more than adding a few enhancements to the existing system. This is a truly astonishing accomplishment and frankly I don't have the skill as a reviewer to do justice to their work but I will try anyway.
   
   The first couple of chapters lay the groundwork of their basic concepts, it's necessary to at least skim through these details but it's pretty dry stuff and leaves the reader wondering why they bought the book. Then chapter 3 (Examples) starts to weave the whole meaning of their work together in a very readable fashion and things start to fall into place. The book gets better and better from that point forward.
   
   The key to their revolutionary thinking (and I don't have near enough space here to explain it at length) is that most roleplaying games have some sort of extra-ordinary powers at work. This could be cybernetic, psionic, magic, gods; the list is pretty near endless. These extra-ordinary powers are frequently the key to making the game enjoyable for the players. What would Banestorm be without magic? Or most of the Infinite Worlds without the super-science and dimension-crawling aspects? Would "Carrie" be as interesting if the protagonist could only play practical jokes on her tormenters?
   
   Stepping forward from there, the authors show how to use their theories to create new roleplaying worlds or enhance existing ones. How about creating a mage who has superpowers rather than spells? In many ways that works better for simulating some author's magic systems than the standard "wizards cast spells" model that GURPS Magic uses.
   
   The strange thing that kept occuring to me as I read this book was that I couldn't figure out who was the intended audience for this book. Although it is very interesting and useful for generating super-powered characters, the lack of new abilities means that the book isn't absolutely necessary. On the other hand, this book is an absolute must-have for any GM who is contemplating a campaign with anything more exotic than historical or modern adventuring. But the book is almost exploding with good ideas for generating new characters...
   
   One of the things I've already assimilated from the book is that, as with all GURPS 4th edition books, the GM needs to carefully decide what level of complexity they are willing to tolerate and stick with it. There was an example in the book of what a group of Supers needed to do to move 10 tons of concrete rubble that left me completely in the dark. Not because the example wasn't clear, it was perfectly clear, I just couldn't figure out why anybody would want to go through so much paperwork in their roleplaying.
   
   Although this is true of GURPS in general, it is particularly true of Powers because of the implications of superpowered roleplaying. It's obvious that a sword can parry a mace, but Mr. GM, can a flamebolt parry a laser beam? The players are all looking at you and want a reasonable answer as soon as possible.
   
   As the authors point out, modern science is frequently not useful in answering superpowered rules questions so consistency on the part of the GM is vital. One of the most important parts of the book is a couple of chapters that help the GM think through the implications of their decisions BEFORE they will occur in play. This is a godsend and is easily worth the price of the book by itself.
   
   Another valuable section of the book assists the GM in figuring out how powers will affect their campaigns and helps the GM to find interesting plots that will keep the players coming back for more. The final section of the book briefly discusses nearly all genres that use powers and the conventions that govern playing in them. Although I thought I knew most of them, I found enough interesting material to keep me going for a surprisingly long time.
   
   I haven't looked at the index simply because the book is superbly well organized and I don't think I'll have any problems finding anything I'd need to know on short notice. The authors have made excellent use of color to help organize the information and highlight important items. My only quibbles are that the artwork is somewhat lacking in both creativity and quantity and there are fewer roleplaying examples than I'd like, I find the examples to be extremely useful in understanding the points the authors are trying to make.
   
   In conclusion, this isn't an easy book to comprehend but is well worth the reader's time if they are willing to invest enough of it.



2. I just ran a GURPS Powers campaign, where we went through several adventures using the system detailed in this book.
   
   The players were very pleased with the system, and we had a lot of fun for several months. After each adventure, I would award them with a few character points, to allow them to buff up their characters. The idea was to start the campaign with characters about as powerful as the X-Men, and to gradually develop them until they were about as powerful as members of the Fantastic Four, which is of course, a much more powerful group.
   
   As the players grew their characters, I compensated by raising the point totals of their opponents. This worked for a while, until some of the damage totals from energy attacks became so high that the heroes who used energy damage became much more powerful than the slugfest types, who used their fists instead of energy blasts.
   
   It got to the point where if an energy blast hit someone, they were reduced very far in hit points and the combat didn't really resemble a comic book like setting. I have to wonder how much playtesting the makers of this book really did.
   
   All flaws aside, it is a very comprehensive system with a rich array of powers and ways to build a super hero character. In fact, the possibilities are almost endless. You can create a character like Superman, Wolverine, The Hulk, The Human Torch, etc. Everything is there, with the usual point system that GURPS is famous for. This also means that you can link up campaigns of super heroes with other campaigns, as all of the rules are pretty much the same.
   
   We then attempted to create a campaign which resembled the "Dragonball Z" comic book series. We tried to build a frieza character with 1-million points, just to see what he would be like. I found that at these astronomical totals, the entire system would have to be overhauled in order to have the types of battles depicted in the comic books. Otherwise, you would have characters instantly killing anyone with less than say, 50,000 hit points (by using either a high powered energy attack or a series of multiple attacks with their 50,000 point strength).

4 comments about GURPS Martial Arts.

1. Exhaustively researched and painstakingly compiled, this compendium is a must read for both gaming enthusiasts and also martial arts practitioners.



2. GURPS Martial Arts for 4th edition is a mature product that embodies the professionalism and attention to detail found in all GURPS products. This hardbound volume encompasses all previous editions of GURPS Martial Arts, and more than just updating them to 4th edition, matures them by keeping what has worked and cleaning up issues found from previous editions. This places GURPS Martial Arts among the most thoroughly play tested supplements on the market today. I consider this product to be one of the GURPS "core" books in my collection.



3. Well organized, clearly written, and chock full of information.
   
   This book contains a great deal of material any melee character will find useful, regardless of if their preferred kind of combat involves empty hands or a weapon. Unlike the 3rd Edition softcover, this book does not focus on hand-to-hand styles to the exclusion of all else.



4. I can't possibly do this book justice. I've barely skimmed the sections on martial-arts history, campaign ideas, or sample characters: all my time has been spent thinking about tactics with the new combat possibilities. New rules come mostly in the form of new combat techniques and options (Committed Attack, Defensive Grip, etc.) and are nicely modular so you can use only the ones that support the flavour your group is looking for (cinematic, chambara, unarmed, etc.) without an combinatoric increase in complexity. The new techniques are intended primarily as new combat options and only secondarily as something to spend points on--Jeet Kune Do specializes in feints and counterattacks, for instance, but it's made clear that that's as much a combat-roleplaying guideline as a rule for point-allocation (you may choose to just raise Karate instead of Karate/Counterattack technique, and that's fine). The section on Style Perks is really neat, and fixes some GURPS Basic annoyances (in Basic, buying Off-Hand-Weapon technique is crazy because it's always cheaper to buy ambidexterity; in GURPS: MA e.g. Off-Hand-Shortsword is a perk costing 1 point instead of a technique) as well as having some cool new perks (shtick: flicking blood off your sword as a free-action Intimidation attempt). In several cases, GURPS: MA supplies optional rules that let me throw out my house rules by providing the flavour I was looking for but couldn't create with GURPS: Campaigns rules (heroic D&D-style combat, for instance, with Chambara rules + Combinations + Counterattack + Targetted Attack + Multiple Blocks + Special Exercises for extra HP). At the same time, the principled approach toward new rules, such as favoring techniques over ad hoc special abilities for styles, avoids balance problems that plagued the old 3E approach toward martial arts while maintaining the "coolness" factor of super-skilled martial artists. (In 3E, for instance, Combinations were basically a too-cheap Extra Attack; in the new book Combinations are a variant of Rapid Strike which allows you to buy off the -6 penalty but are easier to defend against if used multiple times).
   
   The book is packed with content and even better than the old 3E Martial Arts book by at least a factor of 2. When I put it together with rules from GURPS GULLIVER I have practically everything I want in terms of combat verisimilitude. The best GURPS 4E book I have seen yet.
   
   -Max

4 comments about Gurps Bio-Tech.

1. In this age of cloning and genetically altered crops it's hard to create a game book that won't seem hopelessly outdated by next year. David Pulver (GURPS Psionics, GURPS Vehicles and other) has done an excellent job with GURPS Bio-Tech! Rather than a simple list of advantages and disadvantages available, David takes advantage of existing rules to explain how select gene-mods would work in game mechanics.

   Also covered are modifications to animals, plants, alien organisms and a extensive section on germ warfare. (Better make sure that the target genome doesn't appear in your population!) Addition information discusses specific changes that bio-modification could bring to a society.

   This book is tailored to the GURPS game system, but with a bit of thought could be used for virtually any game system.




2. Bio-Tech has been re-written and expanded for GURPS 4th Edition, and is physically impressive -- full colour, some reasonable art, twice as many pages. The text divides between theory and game-specific material.
   
   The theory part is a fairly detailed and, so far as I know, up to date discussion of medical technology, selective breeding, genetic modifications to animals and plants, genetics, and cellular biology, with interesting speculations on gene therapies, genetic engineering and gross surgical alteration. Although interesting and instructive, the theory part is, from a game point of view, mostly fluff which explains the origin of some of the exotic advantages that characters can have in a hard-SF background.
   
   Bio-Tech also touches on, then skirts around nanotechnology, presumably because this will be covered in more detail in the forth-coming Ultra-Tech, which is referenced throughout the volume.
   
   The game-specific part lists genetic alterations to the human genome by tech level, surgical and therapeutic procedures to upgrade characters during play, provides new spells for magically based backgrounds, and provides rules for and examples of current and futuristic drugs and medical nanotech. It also features geneered animals and plants. The best and most immediately useful part is a chapter devoted to templates, human and para-human, that has been updated from the previous Bio-Tech book, and from Transhuman Space.
   
   All the foregoing material is excellent stuff. Sadly, the final part of the book, which features two capsule backgrounds, is less good. One has clones of Alexander the Great ruling the world, the other is a short account of a slower-than-light colonisation fleet on its way to Lambda Serpentis. Neither of these parts is particularly well detailed, and I'd have preferred more information on bio-vehicles and bio-buildings. It is a minor gripe, though -- the meat of the book is more than worth the cover price.



3. The new Bio-Tech is a wonderful addition to the fourth edition of Gurps. It covers rule for physical modifications of species as well as medicine, and the use of magic in the field of biology. Overall a excelent product



4. Hi There,
   
   I have been reading RPG supplements for a long time. This one is a very handy supplement, even if you're not playing GURPS. This book is well researched, and seems to add a lot along the lines of Genetic Engineering, and Medicine to the game, while distilling materials into SJ Games Excellent 4th Edition.
   
   I am not an author, but in the interests of disclosing my affiliation with the product, I was a Playtester of the product, prior to release.
   I was very impressed with how this product turned out.

5 comments about Munchkin Cthulhu.

1. If you're a fan of Steve Jackson Games Munchkin (the card game that spoofs D&D) and know something of HP Lovecraft's Cthulhu stories (perhaps you've played the very excellent Call of Cthulhu) then you MUST get this card game. It's a fun, easy-to-learn, non-collectible card game.
   
   It follows Munchkin rules and could be used as an expansion, but it's even better stand-alone. There are some new Cthulhu specific rules. There's a new cultist class that's hard to get rid of. And the rule for summoning in -goth monsters is a very special new way to mess with the other players.
   
   But, for me, it's all about the puns. Just hysterical.



2. Another wacky and fun Munchkin version, this time into the mind bending world of HP Lovecraft's Ancient Evils From Beyond The Stars (and possibly under the bed). The best feature is the "cultist" mechanic, that speeds play and adds a few great twists to stabbing your buddies in the back! The jokes are not as fun and inspired as in "Impossible", the classic Munchkin sets or "Bites!", but there are still plenty of chuckles, puns and groaners.



3. My sons (11 and 14) really enjoy playing this game. As a long-time reader of the Cthulhu Mythos stories, I get all the jokes although they're lost on my sons. I look forward to playing the other Munchkin games.



4. I was very happy to see a Cthulhu addition to Munchkin... well, besides the level 20 Cthulhu monster in the Munchkin Bites set. This set adds in cultists, which is a nice addition when you have more players, as cultists get bonuses for other cultists being in the game, though it's very difficult to stop being one. The other classes are investigators, professors, and monster whackers. There are no side-kicks in this set, which was kind of a bummer. It would be nice to include some research assistants or something like that. You don't have to have read any Lovecraft to appreciate this set, though it helps if you want get the jokes and puns.



5. Just when you think Munchkin can't get any more fun, they release this eldritch spawn of a card game. Lots of clever as well as painful puns. Those who are familiar with the Mythos will have a special fondness for this game. The introduction to Munchkin of the Cultist class, as well as special rules for how cultists affect game play, are most welcome (though, it does make the length of time for a 3 player game far faster than normal). My only regret was that the set wasn't twice as large, but that's what expansion decks are for.

3 comments about Gurps High-Tech.

1. Like many 4th edition GURPS books, this is a major rewrite of an existing book. Like Ultra Tech, this book goes so much further beyond its original material that it is essentially a whole new book.
   
   The greatest weakness of the original High-Tech book was that it was primarily about guns and their history and it was organized as an historical reference rather than a roleplaying reference. Another issue was that one slender volume attempted to cover all equipment from the beginning of the age of gunpowder to the modern era.
   
   In spite of the authors best efforts, this was simply too much material for a single book and it tended to either get lost in the details or was so vague as to be nearly useless. I bought the original book and loved it for quite a while because it fit a niche in my military history library, not because it was useful for roleplaying (although the authors added some desperately needed charts that did help considerably on that front).
   
   The new book reduces it's area of coverage to about 225 years instead of nearly 500 years and does a tremendously better job of explaining the effects of the items on roleplaying. The book has marvelous illustrations and quotes and the now-ubiquitous short stories that add a lot of interest to their rules explanations. Admittedly the history suffers a bit but that's a price I'm willing to pay.
   
   Another advantage is that the new book is a lot bigger as well, with 256 pages instead of the original 128. This provides room to give detailed histories for particular items such as the AK-47 that the characters are likely to encounter more frequently.
   
   There's still a LOT of weapons and the nicely written descriptions don't cover all the weapons in the book but the enormous effort that went into this book was most definitely NOT wasted. This is another welcome addition to the GURPS universe!



2. Gurps High Tech is a great sourcebook for historical or modern gaming set from the mid 1700's to today. Unlike previous editions of the book High Tech isn't just about firearms (though the chapter on weaponry is half the book) it also includes information on a wide variety of other historical technology. There's information technology from printing presses to word processing software, information transfer tech from hand caried mail to e-mail, and protective gear from summer clothing to space suits. Best of all the book doesn't just list game stat's for everything (although it has them too) it describes it in real world terms so you can create your own stats for other games.



3. GURPS attempts to satisfy campaigns across pretty much every genre, in pretty much every time period. The standard basic characters/campaigns books, plus perhaps Magic, Fantasy, and Banestorm make life pretty easy for a fantasy GM, while the basic books plus perhaps UltraTech, Infinite Worlds, Space, BioTech, or Traveller Interstellar Wars make life easy for a sci fi GM. Until now, it has been a bit problematic running a campaign set between the civil war and near-tech cyberpunk.
   
   High Tech addresses this time period. It concentrates on ironmongery, with real world examples of weapons and ammunition as used throughout history. It includes dates of introduction and wide reproduction for time travel games, and enough information for people generally unfamiliar with firearms to sound the part of their gunslinger characters.
   
   It also has many, many pages of non-weapon/armor equipment, and frankly, that was the part I liked the most. My players enjoyed being able to look up a diving bell, a WW2 tank, and a napoleaonic-era timepiece.
   
   For what it is worth, my minimal set of GURPS books is the main two, plus magic, ultra tech, and now high tech. With those, I can generally convert items from other systems or wing it, regardless of era.

2 comments about GURPS Ultra-Tech (Gurps).

1. Customizable armor! Like energy cloth baselayer with the fit and feel of spandex (scuba lycrasuits or the compression shirt you wear under football pads) with DR 20 (melee attacks from non-superscience weapons from non-giants, handgun bullets) to replace the star trek turtlenecks for non-combatant military crew. Personal defelector shields, neural interface helmets, chameolon armor, printed computers on armor+clothing, particle beams (GURPS blasters), plasma weapons (star wars blasters), nanotechnology and all. covers TL9-12, strict. Scale is personal to small vehicles. Superscience items (shields, contragravity, time manipulation, psionic devices) are clearly marked.
   
   This has been rushed-through the editing process, but SJGames is pretty good with errata updates.



2. The third edition of GURPS Space was an amazing effort. One slim volume included all rules needed to run a very wide range of SciFi-oriented roleplaying campaigns. This included a lot of information about: how to generate star systems, create and run starships, economics of trade between star systems, lots of science fiction equipment, character archtypes, campaign backgrounds, etc., etc. Literally to infinity and beyond. The book was like the old saying about the Platte river, a mile wide and an inch deep.
   
   While it was an amazing effort, the lack of space left the game feeling very generic and somewhat incomplete. This could be overcome with dedicated effort but most GM's didn't feel it was worth the extra work. The third edition Ultra-tech books attempted to address this problem but were not SJ Games finest efforts.
   
   I bought both 4th edition GURPS Space and Ultra-Tech with this background in mind and was surprised and pleased.
   
   The new GURPS Space doesn't cover nearly as much as the original book, it just deals with the background material necessary to set up and run a good campaign. Many people felt cheated by this because they enjoyed browsing through the old third edition's plentiful charts and building starships using the surprisingly detailed (and sometimes painful) variant of GURPS Vehicles.
   
   But I felt this was a good decision because Science Fiction can have such a large and varied background that is so important to the story that the GM is trying to tell that it deserved the coverage it got. Imagine trying to describe all of the technology and background used in both Keith Laumer's Bolo stories and David Brin's Uplift novels in less than 50 pages.
   
   The bigger surprise was the new version of GURPS Ultra-Tech. This is really well thought-out and interesting and fixes a lot of the weaknesses of the old system. The vastly larger space for the topic was very well used and the illustrations and short stories are worth the price of the book all by themselves. Another pleasant discovery was the extensive bibliographies in both books. The people who wrote the books knew their topics well and loved to share.
   
   Yet another piece of the puzzle in replacing the old third edition GURPS Space book was recently published in electronic format at SJ Games e23 store. I haven't bought it yet but the new GURPS Spaceships is supposed to be much easier to use and more interesting for generating ships to have adventures in. Which is the point of all three books.

5 comments about GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns (4th Edition).

1. While the book is great, I have received no less than 3 damaged versions of this book from Amazon. Clearly their entire stock is messed up as each replacement they have sent has the same problems. Namely, sticking pages where glue leaked from the spine during binding, scuffed and soiled covers, and heavy dings or crushed spines. Order from someone else!



2. 
   The "Gurps 4th Edition" just fixed all "Gurps 3rd Edition" weakness. The two books are so great. The color and hardcover look and feel are some big diference between the books and the the old versions.
   
   The bad comercial thing: are two books, and you need to have both if you want to be a Game Master.
   
   The "Characters Guide" have lots of resources to make a rich character and the "Campaigns Guide" have a good Game Master stuff.
   
   If you want to have some good RPG System, well, you need to buy "Gurps 4th Edition", but you need some time and practice, cause the game system is so rich, then the rules number is high.



3. An awesome upgrade to GURPS 3rd Edition. Full colored and illustrated book, some new rules added and some old rules banished, creating a better balanced and understandable system.
   Five stars again to SJG.



4. GURPS is one of the most, truly, generic systems around... and that's no suprise since it's the first. In this fourth edition, SJ games brings to bear their 20+ years of experience with this system and delivers an excellent addition to the GURPS line. The system is fully able to be employed in any genre from fantasy, science-fiction or horror and it flexible enough for even the most creative of gamers. If it has any weaknesses they would be:
   1. too many options: some gamers might be overwhelmed by the number of options available. Keep in mind that the game can be as simple or as complex as you like.
   2. all of the "flavor" is on you: GURPS (since it is generic...duh) is not set up to convey flavor through the design of its character sheets, the naming of abilities or the graphics in the books. Flavor is ALL up to the game-mast
   
   ... on the otherhand, perhaps those are strengths.



5. I've been contemplating the purchase of this book for a couple of years now, and finally broke down to make the purchase. The physical object itself is a thing of beauty. It has the lovely full color design and quality printing and binding that past purchasers have come to expect from GURPS products.
   
   This isn't a product for somebody who wants to buy it and run a game the next weekend. GURPS itself is less a game than a toolkit for making your own game. Once you have the rules, you need to either create your own setting and character archetypes (what GURPS calls templates), or you need to purchase one of the many game world books published for use with the game. Fortunately the book provides a lot of good guidance and examples. The published material that describes game worlds is also excellent. The high quality of this supporting material is what helped me decide to purchase GURPS Basic Set: Characters, Fourth Edition and GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns (4th Edition).
   
   Given that caveat, I recommend this product for any gamer who wants to expand their gaming into new directions. There's nothing revolutionary here, but this toolkit gives you what you need to produce any other kind of game that you want to play. You might want to play ghost hunters right now, but in six months you can switch to a space opera, and six months after that to cape-wearing super heroes. And for any of those options, you can purchase additional supporting material, or just wing it on your own. The number of games you get by purchasing this one set of books makes it an excellent bargain for the serious role player.

5 comments about GURPS Basic Set: Characters, Fourth Edition.

1. Well written, nice arts, easy to understand system, easy to learn and flexible. Much much more flexible than d20, and also much more realistic. Having played d&d for some times now, I was getting rather frustrated about the lousy you-hit-me-I-hit-you combat system. With Gurps, things are much more dynamic. Give it a chance, you won't regret it.



2. The idea behind GURPS is that it provides a set of core rules that can be adapted to any setting (thus the "universal" part of General Universal Role-Playing). It does a good job of this, although it is better suited to a somewhat more realistic feeling than heroic wackiness. A human isn't going to take too many sword hits and shrug them off.
   
   The strong point of GURPS is character generation. Players are allotted a number of points to build their characters, and may buy characteristics, skills and "Advantages" (things like the ability to use magic, being wealthy, or any of hundreds of other things), and may get additional points by taking "Disadvantages."
   
   This new 4th edition is in by far most ways an improvement over 3rd edition. They closed a lot of loopholes and fixed a number of less-than-optimal things. I like the changes to combat especially.
   
   There are a couple of things I would have done differently.
   
   1) They took the skills out of psionics (and every other supernatural system, for that matter), making it purely advantage based, but they left magic as skill based. They really should have made each magic spell into an advantage too, because now it's not as well balanced with the rest of the system as it could be. Couple this with the fact that you can now take IQ at 10 points a level if you don't take the associated Will and Perception, and you can easily have a Wizard character with an IQ of 17 or so in a 100 point campaign, who can buy spells at a very high skill level with 1 point.
   
   2) They should have dumped the "earn character points through study" system. Yes, it's easy to just ignore it, but if you get stuck with a GM who goes by the book you may very well find yourself wasting a lot of time with tedious accounting issues.
   
   4th edition institutes a good set of rules that allows the GM to create powers and abilities by modifying Advantages with an extensive set of Enhancements and Limitations. This is really nice for the workaholic GM, but the GM who lacks huge amounts of free time is going to be hoping for supplements with a lot of sample powers worked out for him or her.



3. 
   The "Gurps 4th Edition" just fixed all "Gurps 3rd Edition" weakness. The two books are so great. The color and hardcover look and feel are some big diference between the books and the the old versions.
   
   The bad comercial thing: are two books, and you need to have both if you want to be a Game Master.
   
   The "Characters Guide" have lots of resources to make a rich character and the "Campaigns Guide" have a good Game Master stuff.
   
   If you want to have some good RPG System, well, you need to buy "Gurps 4th Edition", but you need some time and practice, cause the game system is so rich, then the rules number is high.



4. An awesome upgrade to GURPS 3rd Edition. Full colored and illustrated book, some new rules added and some old rules banished, creating a better balanced and understandable system.
   Five stars again to SJG.



5. I have played GURPS since it first came out and I was shocked and horrified by this version. I can't believe people are raving about it. The new version barely addresses the problems of the previous one, is poorly laid out and hard to read, and many changes were made to parts of the game where there were no problems to address. There's none of the humor of Steve Jackson's original work. The book reads like a technical manual. Thank you, but I'll stick with the old version or switch to a different system.