How to do "Advanced GURPS"?

[Embassy of Time]

I am still helping a (slowly growing) group of teens sink their teeth into roleplaying via GURPS, since they want to break out of the pure fantasy stereotype. However, they have become increasingly demanding for very detailed, a.k.a. "advanced", expanded rules on all kinds of stuff. Ironically, the current focus is magical wands and staffs a la Harry Potter / LotR, but more is definitely waiting to be requested.

Due to this, my skills in making homebrew rules in GURPS are being severely tested. I am tinkering with the limits of Techniques, Talents, and strange variations on advantages and disadvantages out there (Reputation among inanimate objects has become a fan favorite....). Do any of you have default tricks for adding detail to rules, like some template homebrew method that can be applied to many things? I prefer using variants of existing, proven rules, but I am fairly open at this point. These teens are hungry....

[whswhs]

I've done various elaborations, but I don't have a general method for doing so, at least not in terms of the rules. What I tend to do is think about the nature of what's wanted in terms of the way the world works, what you might call its "physics," and once I have that thought out, I think about how to represent it in GURPS terms. That is, world model first, narrative second, and rules mechanics last.

[cavesalamander]

We gotta get these kids to chime in on the ‘math and complexity’ thread!

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Embassy of Time

I prefer using variants of existing, proven rules, but I am fairly open at this point. These teens are hungry....

So, you've got a pack of budding munchkins/contract lawyers/engineers.

Turn the swottiest of them onto GURPS High Tech, Low Tech, Martial Arts, Powers, Thaumatology, or whatever other "crunch books" they're most interested in and have them choose the advanced rules that they want the most. Make them choose, don't just add entire books worth of rules at once.

It's best if they want the sort of complexity that can be player-designed outside of play time and GM-approved before play begins, like spaceships, powers, or customized weapons. Adding complexity to combat or other routine play actions has to be approved by group consensus with the understanding that slowing things down too much might make things less fun.