2 comments about GURPS Cabal.

1. I really like the concept of this book. It creates a world where life seems "as normal" but behind the scenes is a group called the Cabal that are full of sorcerors and mythical creatures. It also includes planar travel and ancient Gods. This book also provides a recounting of history starting from Ancient Eygpt, with what "really" happened and to what extent the Cabal was involved. Another nice feature of this book is the detail of Hermetic magic, which helps to make ritualistic magic more focused in the game. This book also gives several campaign options whether to be with or against the Cabal.



2. The worst parts of this book are at the beginning. The first chapter has a history of the Cabal that bored me to tears. I don't know what the author was talking about. Then, at the end of the first chapter, he mentions a guy named Dr. Selden Graves, and that was interesting.

   It gets better as you go along. The next chapter covers the structure of the Cabal. That was a little too dry. It's basically just as you imagine it, with concentric circles of higher power, ranks, and lodges that work together and sometimes against each other. I could have written that part myself without research; so could anyone else interested in the subject. Then he goes on to cover hermetic magic, which is nothing more than a series of spell-casting skill modifiers based on conditions. It's simple and effective, but not creative.

   The chapter on other planes has the same problem. On the one hand, it's just right. It fits the Cabal and hermetic magic. On the other, it's predictable. You can travel to the astral plane where you'll see astral beings, some of which are analogues for things in reality. Okay. I've seen that before.

   When the author gets to the characters, campaigns, and monsters, you get the goodies. The new advantages and disadvantages are good. The creatures are good. The set of defining characteristics for the campaign is good, too.

   This is a professional, predictable GURPS book. It describes what I expected. I didn't get anything new from it, but I don't feel ripped off because the author wrote exactly what he was supposed to.

   I would've given this book two stars, but . . . well . . . believe it or not, I was originally contracted to write this book years ago. But I just couldn't do it; I couldn't figure out how to write it. Kenneth Hite did something I couldn't do, so he gets an extra star.

No comments about GURPS Screampunk.

No comments about Personnel Files (TransHuman Space).

1 comments about GURPS Deadlands: Weird West.

1. This version of Deadlands is a licensed version from PEG made with GURPS rules. The book actually is in desperate need of being re-built as some things are out of order but regardless this version I actually like far better than PEG's version. It seems to be far more flexible for what the GM wants the DL world to be like and seems to take a more "D&D in the old west" style than PEG's. It's more "overt" horror than "covert" like PEG's. Specifically it seems the battle or conflict is about keeping the Reckoning from spreading east even if it means sealing off the borders to expansion. Maybe I'm wrong but that's the impression I get from it and actually like better because it gives the GM more latitude in what she wants to do for a particular adventure or campaign.

No comments about GURPS For Love of Mother-Not: Solo Adventure in Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth.

No comments about GURPS WWII: All the King's Men.

No comments about GURPS Fantasy : Magic System and Game World.

3 comments about GURPS Infinite Worlds (GURPS 4th Edition Roleplaying).

1. But the scale only goes up to 5 stars!
   
   I bought this book because it is advertised as the new "official" setting for GURPS fourth edition. The first thing I need to do is dispel that myth. This book contains that information but it contains so much more that you have troubles believing that the authors managed to cram so much information between the two covers without it exploding.
   
   This isn't really a "background" book that describes a single well thought out campaign, it is more of a "background generator" book that provides the basis of literally thousands of possible campaigns. The scope of this book is so gigantic that I have troubles believing that the authors managed to finish this project anywhere near on time.
   
   Want cross-time adventuring? It's in there. Want alternate histories? Boy is it EVER in there! Want Time Travel adventures? Yep, it's there too. Don't want to have to worry about blowing up the space-time continuum? There's suggestions on how to suspend disbelief without damaging gameplay.
   
   Say you want to create your own alternate history but don't want to deal with all the icky stuff of guns vs. swords. There's a very detailed chapter that assists you in filling out your vision before your players go mucking around and spoil things by emphasizing the one thing you didn't think of.
   
   My head was spinning by the time I was 90% of the way through the book. There was too much to grasp. The scale of the author's efforts had caused my brain to go into meltdown and I couldn't figure out whether I wanted to:
   1) Run screaming from the room (did I mention that there's lots of Cthulu-oriented stuff in here as well?)
   2) Ignore the book for a year or so until I could clear my head enough to think logically
   3) Introduce my players to a tiny spoonful of this fascinating universe (my head ached from the thought of even trying to work out all of the causality-related issues)
   
   Then I hit Chapter 7 (Infinite Campaigns) and the authors addressed all of my concerns and self-doubts in a few clever paragraphs. They pointed out that the big thing that the GM needs to do first is figure out what he and the players want to do. This needs to be in alignment or the game won't work (trying to force a locked-room Agatha Christie mystery down the throats of a bunch of combat-oriented gamers is a recipe for disapointment for everybody). Once you've got that down, determining which rules to follow becomes much more obvious. My sole complaint is that the authors didn't introduce this concept much sooner in the book.
   
   I haven't checked the index yet but I suspect that it isn't that good compared to the normal GURPS standard simply because it is 2 pages long and this book should have at least a 20 page index.
   
   The artwork is up to the usual very high standard for GURPS 4th edition and the authors have included a small selection of example stories that help you envision the possibilities (my favorite is about a group of Roman Legionaires who are attacking Rommel's tanks in the desert. You think the struggle would be uneven until you realize that all of the Legionaires have genetic modifications). I wish there were more stories, those stories made a huge difference in my appreciation of GURPS Magic but there's so much here already I can easily understand why the authors made the decision they did.
   
   This book will help a GM enhance just about any campaign you can think of; fantasy, modern, science fiction, supers, horror, etc.
   
   In short, buy this book!



2. I was so excited to get this book. Imagine a book that combines all of the GURPS time travel books and information from 3Ed. Everything looks beautiful down to the hard back spine and cool new look and layout. When it arrived from Amazon I cracked it open and started to read. When I got to the section on explanations for time travel my heart sank. Could the idiot writers not come up with anything more original than a demon abusing you in the most fowl way in order to time travel? Steve Jackson should be ashamed. I love roleplaying books but not that much. I still have some values I'd like to live up to. Oh how the mighty have fallen. I'm glad Amazon let me return mine. I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS BOOK.



3. GURPS Infinite Worlds is truly one of the best tools created by GURPS. It comes with descriptions of dozens of worlds to use, and gives every thing you need to make new ones. Infinity, the corporation that travels through the worlds (and the books main route to exploration)is incredibly detailed, all the way down to day-to-day operations. It evens includes a handy guide for timetravel. And, of course, infinite enemies to run into are described, complete with templates to use. It deserves its award.

3 comments about GURPS Robots: Bold Experiments, Faithful Servants, Soulless Killers (Steve Jackson Games).

1. This is a great GURPS book to use as a guide in futuristic campaigns. Adds new rules, new features and some do not appear in Compendium I. Teaches how to make any type of robot your imagination desires.

   But nothing is perfect...
   Did you ever think GURPS' rules are complex? Well, think twice before reading this book. There is an entire new chapter to cover new rules for size and shape, power matrix, type of body (humanoid, submarines, "snake" types, etc.). Oh and don't forget your calculator to build a new PC or NPC. I like rules, they make the game very realistic, but I have to say that after the second character the rules become a pain...

   Thank to the Gods of roleplay, there is an example of making a robot character: A dangerous female robot that serves as bodyguard.




2. This book has everything you need to design robots, either as NPC or as player characters. From tiny microbots to huge warbots. You can also use the book to design cyborgs, androids and biomorphs. Need GURPS Basic Set to play - this is just a supplement. Cool bibliography of novels, nonfiction, movies, plays, comics, manga and anime that have to do with the subject or come close to it.



3. The original purpose of GURPS was to be simple and realistic. This supplement is quite realistic, but not at all simple. You will need a calculator to create any bot in a reasonable time, and you will need to go over the stats for mistakes. That being said, they do offer a good selection of pre-generated bots, including two warriors and a evil man-eating bio-bot. My advice is to only create actual stats for major characters and anything entering into battle. Just treat anything else as a skill and a set of tools. I mean really, do you really need the exact stats of a robot janitor-especially when creation of said stats will take 1-2 hours?

No comments about GURPS Prime Directive: Klingons.