Returning to GURPS
 

I played GURPS about fifteen years ago for a few years as a player and found the experience to be satisfying. Especially when things got weird. So I've picked up the 4th edition looking to start a GURPS game with my current group, who's gaming experience is limited (D&D 3.0 only). My knowledge is also pretty limited as I was just a player and relied on experienced friends to help me get through character creation and didn't really get heavily involved in the rules. Well no matter here we go. A few questions at this point soon to be others I'm sure.

1. Templates - I could see how these could help my group understand GURPS and get started with their characters. It would remind them very much of D&D and feel familiar I think. The problem with this is I want my players to feel the endless possibilities of GURPS which I think is the charm of the whole game. What have your experiences with templates been? When did they introduce templates I don't remember them from the 90s?

2. Monsters - where is the 4th edition Bestiaries books? Are they in the works? I'm happy to run a monster-light game if that is the publisher's intent, but that seems contradictory to the nature of GURPS.

3. Banestorm - This seems to be the fantasy setting for 4th edition, right? Any suggestions for a campaign hook set on Yrth?

4. Books - What should I start with? This always seems to be the hardest part of GURPS for me. I want to use them all at the same time (then it's like the super-complicated RIFTS). Any "must-haves" for a newbie?

Re: Returning to GURPS
 

1.templates = these i have found help take the fear factor out of char gen for beginners. Most players grow beyond them quite quickly however.

2.there is not a "monster" book yet. I am not 100% sure how this is going to be handled i suspect it will be a series of PDF releases. However there are a surprisingly large number of usable critters spread through the current releases. GURPS fantasy has a selection of basic fantasy races and a few critters. The dungeon fantasy pdf ( i think from memory number 2) has some monsters in it too. Banestorm has a fair number in there too.
3. banestorm is not the only fantasy world but it is the main one. There is roma arcana in gurps fantasy as well (one i am thinking of giving a go myself). then there are all the 3rd ed world books which will only need a few rules tweeks to be usable in 4th ed.
4.books
the basic set is a must (characters and campaigns)
gurps powers is considered by most to be the third book of the basic set but may not be needed in a straight up fantasy game.
gurps magic is a complete magic system. It is a very close clone of the third ed system you may have been familiar with.
the dungeon fantasy pdf's are great for doing D&D style games with gurps
gurps fantasy is a genre book that gives advice on running fantasy games and creating fantasy worlds. It is not required but i think it is a good read.

Re: Returning to GURPS
 

In my recent one-shot, I offered my players some templates, but stressed that they were optional and primarily intended as a time-saving device for those who didn't want to read through all the rules.

In the end, the players decided to custom-build their characters after all, after drooling over all the options. Still, I don't think it was wrong to offer them - they served as a useful example of what characters might look like.

In addition to what has already been said, I also want to point out the GURPS Repository, a quickly growing online collection of user-submitted material.

That largely depends on what your players want to do - Yrth is a vast and varied place, and many campaigns are possible...

GURPS Basic Set, with GURPS Magic if you want to play a "standard" fantasy campaign. Either GURPS Fantasy or GURPS Banestorm are nice for racial templates of "standard" races.

That's about it. There are a lot of books which are nice, but with a newbie group it's best to leave those for later...

Re: Returning to GURPS
 

The first item in my signature is a collection of stat conversions from GURPS 3e to 4e. The second item is a collection of monsters created by folks on the forum.