Hey total newby here

[Gef]

Originally Posted by whswhs

There are a lot of genres for which GURPS isn't the best choice; but for many of those it's quite a reliable second choice

Every time I think that, I wind up wishing I'd used GURPS.

[Mr_Sandman]

Originally Posted by Gef

Every time I think that, I wind up wishing I'd used GURPS.

I get that. GURPS seems to fit with the way my brain works. I'd prefer it as a system over most others even if it weren't so flexible as to genre and setting.

I often see comments on other RPG forums about how generic games can never capture a particular setting or genre as well as a game specifically designed for it. That makes m think about the times I have played or run a game designed for a specific genre and missed something that GURPS does in a simple, straightforward way, but isn't even covered by the game in question.

[Apollonian]

Originally Posted by Mr_Sandman

I get that. GURPS seems to fit with the way my brain works. I'd prefer it as a system over most others even if it weren't so flexible as to genre and setting.

This. I don't know if it's because I've been playing GURPS off and on for twenty-plus years, but it's the easiest game for me to "think in". We tried Fate, which I think is a great game... but we just couldn't get the narrative engine to click for us. So it went back on the shelf despite our best hopes. Savage Worlds, which I recommended earlier, is kind of like a focused, light GURPS in that it's vaguely generic and simulationist... but it's not as flexible as GURPS, and the dice mechanic irks me no end. So back to GURPS...

[WingedKagouti]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

This. I don't know if it's because I've been playing GURPS off and on for twenty-plus years, but it's the easiest game for me to "think in".

Familiarity is very likely the cause of this. Someone who has tinkered with (a version of) D&D mechanics for 10+ years without looking (much) at other systems would likely find it easy to think in D&D terms. Even for other genres.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Gef

Every time I think that, I wind up wishing I'd used GURPS.

That hasn't been the case for me. Sometimes I want specific effects.

* I've run three campaigns using Big Eyes Small Mouth, which I like for its very visual quality: one in Middle-Earth, one on Barrayar, and one in an original fantasy world with a small group of aristocratic sorcerers living in an isolated castle in the wilderness. I've run two campaigns using FUDGE, which gave me a really strong "narrative causality" mechanic: one on the Discworld and one in the 1920s of a world with covert supers. I found the game mechanics a good fit in all those cases.

* I sometimes run a campaign to test out a rules system by running a game in the intended world. Results have been mixed, and there are some systems I would never use again for any purpose. But I was happy with campaigns using Mage: The Ascension and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

* Occasionally I use a rules system for a setting different from what it was intended for; for example, I ran a campaign set in E.R. Eddison's high fantasy world Zimiamvia using Amber Diceless. At least some of these experiments have worked well, even though I might not use the rules system for any normal campaign. Amber Diceless, for example, did very well at giving me avatars of divinity who bestrode the world like colossi and at running epic combat scenes without realistic details or errors.

With all that said, I do keep coming back to GURPS for a large share of my campaigns. I could get along without FUDGE and probably without BESM, but I would not want to get along without GURPS.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Gef

Every time I think that, I wind up wishing I'd used GURPS.

I never have that problem... no one in my group ever wants to play FATE (the only other system I've ever wanted to try).

[JMason]

Originally Posted by Apollonian

This. I don't know if it's because I've been playing GURPS off and on for twenty-plus years, but it's the easiest game for me to "think in". We tried Fate, which I think is a great game... but we just couldn't get the narrative engine to click for us. So it went back on the shelf despite our best hopes. Savage Worlds, which I recommended earlier, is kind of like a focused, light GURPS in that it's vaguely generic and simulationist... but it's not as flexible as GURPS, and the dice mechanic irks me no end. So back to GURPS...

For me, it isn't so much that I can just "think in" GURPS, it's that GURPS "makes sense" in a way that other games just don't. When playing other games there is always some rule or some moment in play where a clear "game-ism" appears. Things like "you can only perform this action once per day", why? Because rules! Or "Your out of meta-currency so you're not as good at pirate-y things now." That sort of thing bothers me.

With GURPS, I always feel the explanations make sense. I can frame the actions in my mind as if it were "real". I get that not everyone wants that out of a game... but I do. It's what makes the game interesting to me.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by JMason

With GURPS, I always feel the explanations make sense.

GURPS has it own 'gameism' moments, take Luck only being useable once per game hour for instance.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

GURPS has it own 'gameism' moments, take Luck only being useable once per game hour for instance.

It has options, but in many cases you can take or leave them. You can make 1/day abilities too, after all. Luck is pretty gamey no matter what you do, but if the real-time connection bothers you you can switch it over to in-game time.

[Antiquation!]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

It has options, but in many cases you can take or leave them. You can make 1/day abilities too, after all. Luck is pretty gamey no matter what you do, but if the real-time connection bothers you you can switch it over to in-game time.

I personally always do this. Regulating any in-universe trait by real-world time measurements or restraints pushes my "ick" button every time.