Returning to GURPS after 8 years

[Ndreare]

So, I am coming back to GURPS after about 8 years away and looking at fourth edition. My players and I are thinking of running a long-term sandbox campaign with a traditional fantasy vibe to it.

I see the ads for Dungeon Fantasy and am curious if there is a good reason to use that as opposed to just using fourth edition? What are the differences, is it a whole new game, or just a skin with some assumptions built in?

We plan to use roll20 and will generally be playing theater of the mind. So any feedback on that would be awesome also.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

The DFRPG is, technically, a separate game which runs on a GURPS engine. There are some slight tweaks (for example, things like slam damage are streamlined and simplified) but it's basically GURPS shorn of things not relevant to dungeon-crawling fantasy and including templates, monsters, treasures, and the like to flesh out that premise.

Consequently, it's maybe not what you're looking for. If, in this sandbox game, you think you may end up doing wilderness exploration, social interaction, kingdom-building, and the like, you want orthodox GURPS. The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy line (which is not the same as the DFRPG) can help, but you might also want the social skills, overland travel, and so on which are in Basic and other GURPS books but not the DFRPG.

[Refplace]

There are two similar names but the difference is very important.
DFRPG or Dungeon Fantasy Role Playing Game is a streamlined version of GURPS or a "Powered by GURPS" item designed ot hide complicated builds and tosses out things not relevant to a typical fantasy game. No need for scifi or modern skills and equipment for example.

Dungeon Fantasy is a series of supplements aimed at expanding the Fourth Edition rules with gear, templates, monsters, and more for a typical fantasy campaign. For a sandbox campaign I would go with Dungeon Fantasy and GURPS not the DFRPG.
It just gives you far more to work with.

[Blind Mapmaker]

Skin is a good word for it, whether it's the DFRPG or the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy line. It's still GURPS, but it has a couple of edges filed off and a few spoilers added. It think choosing which one to use (if you're playing a general dungeon-delving fantasy game that is) depends heavily on your players and playstyle.

If you're all old GURPS hands, just go with GURPS an throw in a couple DF supplements to give people ideas. Same goes if you like detailed modding of your NPCs, encounters etc.

If your players are new to GURPS, but you don't want to hold their hands during character creation DFRPG is the way to go. Douglas Cole's Nordland setting (or at least his Delvers to Grow book) is also good for that. Same goes if you need to convince people to try GURPS in the first place. Both the streamlining and the consistently high-quality art make DFRPG an easier sell on outsiders.

Both GURPS DF and DFRPG come with a nice supply of ready-made monsters, equipment, powers etc. though with DF you need to look in more books to get everything. If you only want to buy a few select pdf volumes DF is cheaper. If you like actual books and don't mind paying $80 DFRPG is probably the way to go.

[mehrkat]

Let me mention that GURPS character sheet program (that I remember using in 2000 to create characters) still exists and has been updated to GURPS 4th and has improved and grown. It will really help the character creation and it remains free.

As to the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. I really like Dungeon Fantasy set and I use it as the bones of many of the fantasy games I run just adding stuff from GURPS set to that bones. Its incredibly complete as is.

For instance it as base includes the Low Tech style armor books that made armor much more complete in an easy to use way but wasn't part of the basic set but with more Fantasy type armors.

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Ndreare

So, I am coming back to GURPS after about 8 years away and looking at fourth edition. My players and I are thinking of running a long-term sandbox campaign with a traditional fantasy vibe to it.

I see the ads for Dungeon Fantasy and am curious if there is a good reason to use that as opposed to just using fourth edition? What are the differences, is it a whole new game, or just a skin with some assumptions built in?

We plan to use roll20 and will generally be playing theater of the mind. So any feedback on that would be awesome also.

Welcome back. :-)

Sandboxes can be a lot of fun, just don't build a crapton of stuff to start. You'll burn yourself out that way. Work by accretion. Spend your time doing 1-3 set pieces per week and get with your players on what they find most interesting so you can really spitshine those things.

From the way you are talking I'd probably say DF for GURPS is the way to go. DFRPG is great, but you seem like an old hand and could probably benefit from pulling in GURPS books vs. playing DFRPG and pulling them in. It's not that much harder if I'm being honest, but there is just more stuff with regular old GURPS.

I use ROll20 for my three groups (Saturday, Sunday, and Monday) and we like it just fine. Maybe I'll switch to something like Foundry at some point, but Roll20 is so easy for everyone to use I doubt it.

[Fred Brackin]

To add to hat so0em other people have said:

Gurps 4e is the full flexible game with some significant points where it has been cleaned up mechanically over 3e.

Dungeon Fantasy is a line of supplements for Gurps 4e but if you use the templates and magic rule alterations from DF you'll have given up some of the flexibility of Gurps to emulate some peculiarities of D&D. For example:In DF Mages can not cast Healing spells or most Plant College Spells. Those are limited respectively to Clerics and Druids.

DFRPG is mostly a refined and polished version of the DF supplements but it is not just a complilation of them. It is more like one stop shopping on the subject.

If you don't want your Gurps to play as much like D&D as possible you want the full Gurps. If you want character concepts that you can't really do in d&D you also want full Gurps. You'll still be able to use some DF supplements like the magic item books.

[whswhs]

It really depends on whether by "a traditional fantasy vibe" you mean "like Dungeons and Dragons" or "like literary fantasy."

[Ndreare]

Awesome, it sounds like GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is more what we would be looking at for resources.

The players are already familiar with GURPS and we are being motivated to return after reading the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. I read them and thought they were good, got my buddy to read them and we both think it feels like a world that can easily be represented by GURPS better than any other system.

[Christopher R. Rice]

That's because the book series is based on a GURPS campaign. :-)