Discussion on GURPS 4E Revised or Database

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by fartrader

Others mention making the game a database-driven app, generating your own customized GURPS pdf/book for whatever you happen to run. That would be neat and all in theory, but a lot of gamers I know (including myself) still play TTRPG's because they don't require technology. They like physical books. They like physical dice. They like the fact that when the power goes out, they can plug a light in the generator and play a game. If GURPS were dependent on the net or an app, they'd be stuck playing something else, which I admit, isn't that big of a deal (after all, how often are we really without power nowadays?). Overall, I might be able to get behind this, if done right, but I still hate reading pdf's on tablets and prefer physical books, so printing all these custom books would get ridiculously expensive pretty damn quick, likely meaning I'd just go play a different system altogether. Therefore, I'm still largely a "no" to this idea as well, until I have a device where reading pdf's isn't such a pain anyhow, and at this rate, I'm expecting that to be 2020 at the earliest.

I'm also rather fond of physical books, although the low, low cost of PDF's certainly makes me like them quite a bit as well.

The idea of a "Build your own GURPS!" product would be awesome, although I'd imagine it would be very difficult to pull off. I'd imagine the ideal situation would be to have a Basic Set that has a lot of the options/rules/equipment already in it, then release modules - comparable to all the additional books we have now, so you'd have a Low Tech Module, High Tech Module, Tactical Shooting Module, etc. - that contained additional options/rules/equipment. Possibly make it possible for users to also build modules (for houserules).

A solution might be to have each Module actually have a physical book, for those who prefer that. Purchasing the book would be more expensive than the module (printing costs and all that), but perhaps could come with the module for free.