GURPS Autoduel 1st Ed; Car Wars Roleplay

[jimmylogan]

I'm thinking of running a Car Wars campaign using the FFG Star Wars RPG rules & dice...

[josephrey]

As you know, sign me up!

Additional note on the Gurps Autoduel book: I skimmed it pretty good, and it looks like this is just the extra bits and ideas needed for running this TYPE of campaign. You'll still need the Gurps Basic Set for all the base rules to flesh out the rest.

[LokRobster]

Originally Posted by josephrey

I was just gonna download the book, but noticed there are two editions. The first edition as referenced above:

http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...-first-edition

And a second edition:

http://www.warehouse23.com/products/...assic-autoduel

I've never delved into the RPG Gurps aspect of the Car Wars world, so am not familiar with either book, but it sure sounds like I should only buy the second book, as it contains everything in the first plus some extra?

(Though, the strange difference in file size has me wondering what's up as well. The first is a 101-page PDF at 73MB, and the second is 130-page PDF at 10MB.)

Thanks in advance!

(File size: you're seeing the difference between a digital graphics file based PDF and a paper book scan. The First Edition was from the 80s!)

I am a fan of the Road Atlas and Survival Guides: (frex: Vol1 East Coast)

I think the First Edition sets up the 7 volume series better than the Second; more direct tie-ins, and all the car stats match. Second Edition is cool too, for different reasons: it updated the weaponry to 3e GURPS and was compatible with GURPS Vehicles (book didn't exist in First Edition era).

Neither books' stats convert directly to modern 4e GURPS; after 10 years I still haven't gotten around to making 4e vehicle stat-lines for Autoduel cars. I think about it but then move on to something else. It's so much easier to use CW for car combat!

I think there's enough stuff in the First Edition to make it worth $5... but the Second Edition PDF has been available since (not sure date but it has been years) and so it was fun to see an old book available new. Most 3e GURPS books that had a 2nd edition don't have their 1st Edition available, so this is a rare thing.

[ColBosch]

No, the GURPS Autoduel titles are not stand-alone and will require a copy of the Basic Set. Also, I should note that the book was VERY heavily rewritten for its second edition. If you're short on cash, just get the second edition, but the first does include some material that was outright cut.

[copeab]

There are some possibly important differences, depending on what you are going to use the book for.

1e includes a car design system similar to the one Car Wars used, but replacing spaces with cubic feet. It includes movement and vehicle combat rules also adapted from Car Wars, with changes for GURPS. Multiple vehicle DR by 10 and its close enough for GURPS 3e. For vehicle weapons, I just used damage from High Tech or Vehicles. The only other GURPS rules you have to have is the GURPS Lite for WWII.

2e does not have a vehicle design system (the sample vehicles used GURPS Vehicle 2e). It also uses the movement and vehicle combat rules in VE2e.

I have AD 1e, Car Warriors and all but one of the Road Atlases.

[Jetman]

Autoduel 1st edition was one of the very first GURPS books and a lot of the system was still being developed... like guns and modern body armor. Light pistols did 1d, heavy pistols 2d and heavy rifles 3d, mirroring Car Wars hits. DR was much lighter too.

[LokRobster]

I ran across an extremely in-depth review of GURPS Autoduel 1st Edition:

link

Very complete look inside, including spoilers on the adventures. A lot of discussion about Gams Styles of the 80s and how this fits in.

The author really goes deep into the politics of the world, which I found amusing. I don't agree with many of his assessments but I did enjoy reading his views. Discussion of Car Wars comes up as well, (spoiler alert, dude hated 5th Ed) and he really didn't like Car Wars the Card Game...

[ak_aramis]

Originally Posted by ColBosch

No, the GURPS Autoduel titles are not stand-alone and will require a copy of the Basic Set.

Absolutely

Also, I should note that the book was VERY heavily rewritten for its second edition. If you're short on cash, just get the second edition, but the first does include some material that was outright cut.

The 1st edition was adapting CW to GURPS. The second was doing CW in GURPS.

1st Ed, building cars is based upon CW tropes, only in CF instead of spaces.

2nd, you use G:V instead, and thus need both Basic AND G:V to make it play. For a typical GURPS-head, no problem. For anyone else, a problem, tho' not always a big one.

In part, it's "What do you want to do with it?" - if it's "Use GURPS Characters in a campaign using CW combat", neither works, but 1st is a better fit. If it's "Run a GURPS rules campaign in the CW setting, go with 2E+GV, because things will then work as expected in GURPS. The results may bear little resemblance, however, to how they'd work in CW.

GAD1, however, things work VERY much like CW. Adapting new stuff in from is a very small problem; most road-worthy designs can simply be rebuilt in the new system, and duel-cars can be very closely mimicked, and the outcomes of two similar designs will be normally similar to their CW counterparts.