PDF Recommendations

[Sangtraït]

I've been away from GURPS for some years ( I admit it, I'm a heretic) but now I have embraced this system more strongly than ever. I thought that the flame of GURPS was extinguishing because there aren't in my FLGS any new manuals, but going to the website of Steve Jackson Games, Warehouse 23 and on the forums I have found a mine of supplements in PDF format. Right now I am overwhelmed by the wide range of supplements for GURPS 4th Edition.

And my question is, and I know it is very generic, but I want to know the opinions of GURPS fans: Of all the supplements that exists in PDF for GURPS 4th Edition, which one do you recommend me due to their quality? Mainly for fantasy and / or science fiction campaigns.

Thank you!

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Sangtraït

Of all the supplements that exists in PDF for GURPS 4th Edition, which one do you recommend me due to their quality? Mainly for fantasy and / or science fiction campaigns.

For anything with magic that's intended to be the least bit complex or subtle, Thaumatology. It's really good: the number of smaller PDFs that have spun off from it are evidence of that.

For anything that involves talking to people, Social Engineering.

For anything that involves hand-to-hand fighting, Martial Arts. For anything with realistic guns, Tactical Shooting.

For all character building, Power-Ups 2: Perks, Power-Ups 3: Talents and Power-Ups 6: Quirks.

[Ji ji]

I don't own a lot of GURPS publication. I still recommend you:

- Low Tech
- High Tech
- Transhuman Space
- Martial Arts

[Refplace]

Rally depends on the type of GM you are.
Do you want a prebuilt world? Look at the various world books, and most of the Third edition ones work just as well in Fourth Edition.
Do you want to build your own? Then Fantasy and Space are good for the genres you are interested in.
Powers is awesome but unless your looking at Space Opera it probably belongs low on your list.
For Fantasy what type of magic do you want? Let us know that and a specific system can be more accurately recommended.
The Tech lines are mostly gear but include lots of other goodies.
The GURPS Books page lists the complete thing and most books have a preview PDF your will likely find useful.

[Sangtraït]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Rally depends on the type of GM you are.
Do you want a prebuilt world? Look at the various world books, and most of the Third edition ones work just as well in Fourth Edition.

This is good to know :) I have GURPS Planet of Adventure and I like it very much. What about Blood Types? Is it playable?

Originally Posted by Refplace

Do you want to build your own? Then Fantasy and Space are good for the genres you are interested in.

I own GURPS Fantasy 4th Edition and it really sparks my imagination. Is GURPS Space as good?

Originally Posted by Refplace

For Fantasy what type of magic do you want? Let us know that and a specific system can be more accurately recommended.

I have no idea about it. I like the magis system of the Basic Set. This is enough for me.

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Sangtraït

I own GURPS Fantasy 4th Edition and it really sparks my imagination. Is GURPS Space as good?

I have no idea about it. I like the magis system of the Basic Set. This is enough for me.

Gurps Space is hard to say. There is much useful stuff about campaign design but this is repeated from earlier editions. The major new contributions are elaborate systems for randomly creating alien creatures and star systems/planets. I never use these myself.

There are also some Templates for character types but probably fewer than Fantasy.

There is nothing at all in the area of equipment or spaceships. If I was listing priorities for running a Space game I'd get Ultra-Tech, quite possibly Bio-tech and Spaceships in that order and then Space last.

Gurps Magic uses the system in Basic and greatly expands its' spell lists. Gurps Thaumatology shows ways to modify that systems and includes other systems as well.

[Refplace]

I dont remember wht I thought about Blood Types and my copy was lost in a flood. Since I never replaced it and cant recall much about it probably it did not ring my bell.
Space is decent but if you already have a good idea on what you want it is less useful. Gear books like Ultra Tech or Bio Tech probably more useful.

[shawnhcorey]

Originally Posted by Sangtraït

I have no idea about it. I like the magis system of the Basic Set. This is enough for me.

Then get GURPS Magic. Spell charts for all ts spells are available free.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by shawnhcorey

Then get GURPS Magic. Spell charts for all ts spells are available free.

One thing the op might consider as an alternative is GURPS Classic: Magic. Even though it is for 3E, the mechanics are the same, the spell descriptions that are in the newer edition are essentially the same, and the slight increase in alternative magic systems in that newer book may not be of much interest to him. You will lose a lot of new spells, but many of those are the problematic ones that lead to frequent interpretation questions. The older book is a pretty good value if you don't mind losing some content.

[Not another shrubbery]

For fantasy: Fantasy, Thaumatology.
For science fiction: Ultra-Tech.

Powers might help with either, but it depends on the types of games you're interested in. Bio-Tech and High-Tech might help with some science fiction, and Low-Tech could be useful for some fantasy.