For the Newbie: What to buy?

[Fleameat]

I'm tired of AD&D. Very tired.

So, now I'm looking into GURPS. One problem...what do I buy to get started?

I looked at the "Basics" and have found that there are multiple basics available (character, campaign, etc.).

What I'm looking for is the basic book with the basic rules. Then, I'd like to know what to buy for a fantasy campaign.

Coming from AD&D, the large library of rules books is a bit confusing to the novice.

I've looked at GURPS Lite and love what I see.

So, what is the next (purchasing) step?

[CorpBoy]

Well, I'm involved in a fantasy campaign (as a player), and I've bought the following:

Characters 4e
Fantasy 4e
Magic 4e

And that has more than I need in it. If you're playing as the GM, you would need to add Campaigns 4e and maybe the GM Screen. If not, Fantasy may be optional for you (I bought it just to have it).

[Breck]

Originally Posted by Fleameat

I looked at the "Basics" and have found that there are multiple basics available (character, campaign, etc.).

What I'm looking for is the basic book with the basic rules. Then, I'd like to know what to buy for a fantasy campaign.

Coming from AD&D, the large library of rules books is a bit confusing to the novice.

Actualy there are only the 2 basic books (charicters and campaigns) so you should have no reason to get confused by a large number of books.

If you are only going to play (not GM) then get charicters, and thats all you will need. If you are running the game then you will also need campaigns.

Fantisy is a good book for giving you ideas and tips on making your own fantasy world but it has verry little in the way of crunchy bits (rules) and should not be seen as nesasery. Magic is for the most part a huge spell list, good if you have PC mages but also fully optional.

the 3rd basic book (Powers) is still not out yet, but down the rode you might look at getting that as well.

[naloth]

As a GM all you *really* need is Characters and Campaigns.

G:Fantasy covers a lot of detail about building the campaign world of your dreams. If you already have a campaign world in mind it might help you flesh it out better.

G:Magic expands on the magic system in the basic book. The basic book gives a nice excerpt that's very usable if somewhat limited.

On the horizon this year are G:Powers which offers more rules for building *anything* out of points (that's what I read) and G:Beastiary which should include a bunch of animal/monster stats and animal/monster rules. Both would probably be useful, though if you're happy with Characters you might not need Powers.

[CharlesGriswold]

GURPS Basic Set Fourth Edition comes in two parts; Characters and Campaigns. It's really one big book broken up into two parts. Even the page numbering reflects this; Characters ends with page 336 and Campaigns begins with page 337.

If you're a GM you'll need both books, but players only need Characters (or not even that, if they can borrow one). The upcoming GURPS Powers is jokingly called GURPS Basic Set: Powers. It will contain a lot of advanced powers-related stuff that they couldn't fit into the Basic Set.

Both Basic Set books together will cost you about $75, which isn't bad considering that you'll pay $90 for the D&D Core rulebook set.

[Luther]

Originally Posted by CharlesGriswold

Both Basic Set books together will cost you about $75, which isn't bad considering that you'll pay $90 for the D&D Core rulebook set.

I think GURPS is well worth $75, but comparing with D&D is like apples and oranges.
First of all one is fantasy the other generic, then one include a bestiary while GURPS still doesn't.

So for $90 invested in D&D you get everything to play D&D, for $75 invested
in GURPS you get a lot (but not everything) to play lots of different genres.

I choose GURPS, but again GURPS Basic Set + Magic + Bestiary will be $145!!!

[MikeJW]

If your going to be a GM all you really need is Characters and Campaigns. Those two books are about $75 and you can run any sort of campaign you can imagine. I also suggest the GM shield. I'd get GURPS Magic if you are interested in a high magic world but it's entirely possible to go magicless in GURPs. The Fantasy book is nice but not an essential and GURPS will come out with a fantasy setting later when Banestorm is released. If you want to run a historical campaign there are a lot of 3rd ed. source books that are great and are easy to convert, such as GURPs Middle Ages, GURPs Rome and my fav GURPs Vikings.

[TheDS]

If you have any sort of imagination to inspire, and any sort of work-ethic (and time) with which to create worlds and stuff, then the two-book basic set is all you *need*. Choose additional books if you are lacking in any of the areas mentioned above, or just wanna see ideas of how far the system can be taken. As mentioned above, GURPS is useful for a number of different genres all at once, for when you decide to try something completely new, while D&D isn't.

[Ack]

Just to add my 2c:

Characters helps you make up characters (hence the name). You can build stock-standard characters, as well as mages, psionics and low to medium-level superhero type characters.

Campaigns helps you run the characters; it contains many of the basic rules of how to interface the characters with the world (and also explains many references in the Characters book). Things like jumping distance and how to deal with Fatigue (among other things) are found in Campaigns. The full combat system is also there, but there is an abbreviated version at the back of Characters.

It's perfectly possible to create and run viable characters in a viable game with just those two books. Campaigns also includes a world(s) setting which is useful but not mandatory.

Cheers,
Ack

[Fleameat]

Thanks for all of your responses, folks.

Based on what I've read, and my growing frustration in buying book after book, revision after revision, I'm just going to create my own rules and own worlds.

Roll high and duck low.