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Old 02-12-2018, 06:29 PM   #6
Kelly Pedersen
 
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Saskatoon, SK, Canada
Default Re: A Dungeoneering Fan, but a Total Gurps Newbie

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrothgar Rannúlfr View Post
I've seen GURPS mentioned on the forums at Paizo and Enworld. Some say that it is more complicated than Pathfinder. So, my first question is, is GURPS really more complicated than Pathfinder?
Well, this is a slightly tricky question, I'd say. First, my own experience - I've never played Pathfinder, but I've read through the core rules, and I've played D&D 3.5 extensively. So I think I can make a reasonable comparison. I would say that GURPS' basic resolution mechanic - roll 3d6, get equal or under your modified target number - is as easy or easier than D&D's basic "roll d20, meet or exceed your target number". Moreover, GURPS tends to be a bit less exception-driven than D&D and its variants are. That is, it generally lets most people try various things, but imposes penalties unless you've specifically invested in them. Compare that to D&D/Pathfinder's style of gating various tricks behind class abilities, feats, and so forth.

Where GURPS is more complicated that Pathfinder is really in two places. First, character creation. This is legitimately more complex, I'd say, because GURPS aims to give you many more choices and flexibility when building characters. This has the necessary consequence of making someone, either the players or the GM, make more decisions. The second area is in the optional details and rules. GURPS has quite a lot of these, and if a group allows all of them, or even a lot, the complexity can increase quite a bit. My advice for new GURPS players and GMs would be, don't do everything the book says you can do. Keep it simple at first, until you've learned the rules, and even then, don't introduce new rules unless a) the players are interested in exploring that particular area of the game, and b) the added complexity will actually help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrothgar Rannúlfr
I've read GURPS Light, but haven't totally understood it, but I think the 3d6 system appears to be somewhat more balanced than Pathfinder and other forms of D&D. Is it more balanced?
Again, "balanced" is a tricky question. "Balanced against what" is what you have to define. If you mean "characters with similar numbers of points will have similar amounts of things to do", I'd say that yes, GURPS is better balanced. Points in GURPS really represent "spotlight time" - characters with similar numbers of points have a pretty good chance of having roughly equal amounts of time to show off their abilities and skills, and have a similar impact on the game (someone with lots of points in a single thing will rarely have an impact, but it will be big when it happens, whereas someone with the same points spread out over a bunch of different things will have a more-regular, but smaller impact).

This comes with a couple of caveats, though. First, the GM has to be on their toes and reactive to the players' needs and desires, as expressed in their character builds. Unlike Pathfinder/D&D, where there's a solid "campaign default activity" built into the game (crawl through dungeons, fight monsters, take their stuff, become heroes, bask in glory), GURPS, being generic, has no such default activity, meaning the GM has to take care to establish what the campaign is about to start, and then ensure that the players' various abilities and skills are being used. If you're running a game set in Feudal Japan, and someone takes the Artisan (Flower Arranging) skill, it's up to the GM to notice that and put some opportunities to impress people with artistically-arranged flowers into the game.

The second caveat is that points are not a balancing mechanism between PCs and NPCs, whether humans or monsters. A 500-point character can be taken down by a 25-point one in combat, if the 500-point one has all their points put into wealth, social connections, and being super-attractive, while the 25-point one put all those points into being good at swords. And, conversely, five 500-point characters can find themselves stymied by one 25-point one, if they've sunk all their abilities into combat and the 25-point NPC has social traits that let them put combat off the table.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrothgar Rannúlfr
Am I correct in thinking that GURPS makes it easier to realize a concept because it's not class and level based?
I would say, yes, absolutely. One of the nice parts of GURPS is exactly that - you can customize a character with much finer detail than class/level systems generally allow.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrothgar Rannúlfr
If I start with the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set will it provide the guidance I'd need to get used to the GURPS system, character generation, combat, exploration, etc... and prepare me to move to other genres using GURPS?
I haven't got the DF RPG yet myself, but from what I understand, it probably will suit you for those purposes, yes. It does change a few things from "core GURPS", and doesn't include all the optional rules by a long shot, but it should get you used to the basic principles of GURPS well enough. On the other hand, if you're really looking for something to get into GURPS, and only thinking of Dungeon Fantasy as an intro to that, rather than a game to play long-term, you might want to just bite the bullet and buy the GURPS Basic Set (Characters and Campaigns), and pick up the first couple of the Dungeon Fantasy PDF products, Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers and Dungeon Fantasy 2: Exploits. Those PDFs are what eventually "evolved" into the Dungeon Fantasy RPG. They'll give you much the same experience, I'd say, and they do a pretty good job on their own of boiling down the GURPS rules into something easily grasped and already tuned for the dungeon crawling genre. And that way, once you go for other GURPS campaigns, you don't need to buy the DF RPG and the Basic Set.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Hrothgar Rannúlfr
That said, there are a lot of supplements to GURPS. Am I right in guessing that these forums would be a great place to ask for guidance on which supplements are recommended for a given genre?
That you are! I'd go so far to say this is probably the best place to ask such questions.
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