What GURPS needs... now

[tbone]

Originally Posted by Gollum

GURPS Lite is already a very good tool and it is hard to do something better... So, what does GURPS really need to attract new people?... Game worlds and adventures! That is, really ready to play stuff.

I have to agree with you (with the caveat that, out here in the peanut gallery, I haven't a tenth the knowledge of what "GURPS needs" that SJG has).

GURPS LITE is a fine work as it stands.* However...

Over the years, the go-to description of GURPS, from both fans and detractors, has become "It's a toolkit, not a ready-to-play game." True enough. So it's not surprising that GURPS LITE turns out to be... a toolkit lite.

That makes LITE an honest introduction to GURPS, and I appreciate that. But for the newcomer looking to sit down and quickly play GURPS... There's a nice toolkit lite but still no ready-to-play game (other than that old Caravan adventure).

A handful of "lite" play supplements for use with LITE, each a combination of a brief setting and an adventure, sure sounds like a good welcome for newcomers. Just combine LITE with one of the play supplements, and boom, instant ready-to-play introductory game (with free built-in toolkit, too! : ).

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* Small tangent on LITE: I'd like to see an updated LITE, and jotted down ideas here. I only suggest a freshen-up, though (the "current" LITE is 13 years old!), not a big reworking.

(In pondering improvements to LITE, anyone smart would have also looked at LITE for 3e for inspiration; I didn't think to do so until later. Turns out that LITE 3e packs in far more than I'd remembered! With no more pages than LITE 4e, LITE 3e managed to include more weapons, a bigger character form, a full-page sample character, basics on non-humans and animals, a Tech Level table, a little section on jobs – and the magic system! That's quite a feat!)