05-06-2012, 04:43 AM | #21 |
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Göttingen, Germany
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
In my own games I didn't have problems with an occasional tiny character (like a Pixie in DF), overall it worked well. I also had a campaign with a whole group of small creatures - the GULLIVER expansion for GURPS can be quite helpful for something like that.
GURPS is very good in realistic settings like modern world action or mystery games and it's also my favorite system for medieval fantasy, because of the great flexibility for characters, the detailed and fast combat system with many tactical options and the availability of several cool magic systems fitting different styles. Last edited by OldSam; 05-06-2012 at 04:46 AM. |
05-06-2012, 05:15 AM | #22 | |||||||
Wielder of Smart Pants
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ventura CA
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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IME it does so better than any other universal system I've played. Anyway, I'll attempt to do so: Quote:
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*Although it would be interesting to run a game where you can't actually say where your character is exactly, but only how likely it is to be. :) |
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05-06-2012, 06:16 AM | #23 |
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: OK
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
One of my favorite things about GURPS is that it only rarely forces you to take abilities that you don't want.
I prefer to start with a blank slate and build from that, rather than using a level-based system like Dungeons & Dragons where I have to give the character the abilities the system says he has to have. You can make a character who can swing a sword without having him able to survive a thunderbolt from Zeus, or the other way around. Now, GURPS isn't perfect here. Sometimes it heavily incentivizes you to take package deals where you might get more than you want, like with IQ or DX or Unkillable 2. But you can try to work around those with things like Talents or Incompetence quirks or limitations on advantages. On the other hand, due to the skill pricing, Talents are a big part of the problem as well. Why dump forty points into Philosophy when I can spend a few more points to raise five other skills with a Talent? But those issues are minor when compared to the complete lack of freedom in level-based systems. |
05-06-2012, 07:20 AM | #24 | |
Join Date: Aug 2009
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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05-06-2012, 08:27 AM | #25 | |
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: France
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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How does GURPS do it? Indeed, as it has been said above, GURPS can handle anything (except a few exception, maybe). It is really a universal (any game world you want) and generic (in any genre you like) role playing game. Now, there are several other universal and generic role playing games... So, what makes GURPS different? First, as it has been said above, GURPS emphasizes realism - contrary to other role playing games which are much more heroic. You can play a heroic GURPS campaign, but you will have to add some optional rules (included in the Basic Set) to do so. In GURPS, without hte heroic options, one bullet can kill any warrior, no matter how experienced he is... So, if you want to run realistic, heroic and super heroic campaigns, GURPS is made for you. But if you want to play exclusively in heroic and super heroic genres, GURPS may not be the best choice...Second, GURPS is as detailed as you want. You can play it with very few rules, to make things fast and simple, but you can also dozens of very specific rules. For the character creation (advantages, disadvantages, modified advantages and disadvantages with enhancements and limitations, quirks, perks, specializations, techniques...) and also during play (hit locations, bleeding, harsh and realistic options...). So, if you like very detail rules from time to time (they all are optional), GURPS is made for you. But if you hate detailed rules and want all your games to be very light, it may not be the better choice...Finally GURPS is a game in which the player has a lot of choice to make. During his character's creation (he is free to create exactly the character he wants to play without the least restriction, except the point total) but also during the game. In GURPS, you never content yourself to say "I hit him with my sword." You have to choose a maneuver (attack, all-out attack, deceptive attack?" and to describe it with some detail: a swinging or a thrusting blow? As if you were your character, in the situation described by the GM... And doing it is very important: choosing the wrong maneuver at the wrong moment can make your character lose the combat, or even the life... Brief, in GURPS, the players choices are as important as their characters' abilities, and have as much importance on the result... Some people like that! They can feel what feel their character and are free to do exactly what they would do if they were there in his place... But some players hate that! They want a more narrative manner of playing. They just want to describe vaguely their action and let the dice, and their character's ability, govern the result. After all, they may be right: if their warrior is a much better in the Sword skill than they are, he must be able to make all these maneuver choices much better than they can do it... That is why these players like more narrative and less detailed games. So, as you can see, the question is not really what can GURPS do... It is: do you like how GURPS do it, an do your players also like it? |
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05-06-2012, 08:55 AM | #26 |
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
Agreed on the nunhumaoind thing as well. As you drift from a nonhumanoid body type a lot of the combat starts to get wonky.
However it still handles it better then any other system I have played. |
05-06-2012, 09:00 AM | #27 |
"Gimme 18 minutes . . ."
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Albuquerque, NM
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
You can kludge together something that kinda works. It's just not anywhere near as seamless as something that dpesn't start from a base of "mostly realistic adventure fiction".
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05-06-2012, 09:12 AM | #28 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dayton, OH
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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GURPS takes a far more literal approach than most other games. So, in my experience, players can translate what they want to do into how the system works without having to reconcile it with countless abstracted meta-rules that serve no greater purpose than to create a balanced playing field. There are few exceptions to what a character can do beyond what the normal human brain would assume is possible anyway. Loss of hit points is an actual injury, a skill is actually the ability to do something, etc. For example: Player: Can I pick up that gun? GM: Sure. Player: Can I fire it? GM: Sure. Player: I only have one shot at this before he attacks my friend. Can I aim for the head? GM: No. Player: How can I take him down quickly? GM: Do enough damage to kill him in one shot. Player: Is that possible? GM: No. Player: What if I shoot him in the leg? Would that at least slow him down? GM: No. Player: So all I can do is attack him? GM: Yes. Do it! Compared to: Player: Can I pick up that gun? GM: Sure. Player: Can I fire it? GM: Sure. Player: I only have one shot at this before he attacks my friend. Can I aim for the head? GM: It'll be tough, but sure. Player: Will that do enough damage to kill him in one shot? GM: Probably, but consider the difficulty of the shot. You'll probably miss. You might want to aim for a location that will be easier to hit, but will cause enough pain to stop him in his tracks. Player: The leg? It won't kill him, but he won't be advancing anymore. GM: Yes. Do it! This same literal approach has advantages in character creation too. No need to find the class that sort-of, kind-of fits you character concept if you multi-class 4 times and wait until your 8th level. If you want to be "that" you just build "that." Sure, these points could be argued as "more realistic," but I think that perspective on realism can be somewhat subjective and can get us mired in debates that, frankly, miss the point. I think any realism we see tends to be coincidental to the literal approach.
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A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." |
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05-06-2012, 09:21 AM | #29 | |
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: Oregon
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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05-06-2012, 09:55 AM | #30 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dayton, OH
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Re: What does GURPS 4e do well?
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A literal approach does not have to be realistic. It simply needs to follow a somewhat transparent line of cause and effect. That's the most important thing, I think, and what GURPS does best over all other things. The player doesn't need to learn how to "game the system" in order to figure out how to do something they feel is "in character" or simply a logical course of action. They just say what you want to do in plain terms and the GM tells them how they can do it. And they can almost always attempt it, even if they'll be bad at it. The outcomes are predictable even if they're not always successful. There's an insular quality in that respect and therefore the player becomes more comfortable to extend themselves and become more heroic.
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A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." |
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