Coming back to GURPS... and I could really use a hand.

[RGTraynor]

You'll certainly get a lot of responses, that's for sure! Anyway, here are some of my tips:

* Use GURPS Lite. Seriously, just GURPS Lite. The easiest way to reduce crunch overload is to cut back on the options.

* Templates and lenses are certainly useful in cutting down on chargen overload as well. But ultimately, that's just a matter of discipline. As a GM, I insist that characters be designed with me in the room, and my SOP is to ask the player to describe the kind of character he/she wants in as much detail as possible. In so doing, I've a pad of paper in my hand, and I'm filling in the blanks as we go. And voila: now someone's down to only a fraction of points left to spend.

* Handwave modifiers. A big slowdown is in flipping through books parsing every last number in using a skill. Don't do it. If a player wants to write down, in advance, the standard modifiers for Climbing (say), sure, whatever. But I'm not going to bother. A 70 degree slope with lots of handholds and in good weather? Sure, pluses. A sheer brick wall in an ice storm? Yeah, roll at -5 or so.

* I'm unfamiliar with the Outer Worlds setting you describe, but my own experience with running very high TL space is that GURPS doesn't handle it well: you have a syndrome where the weapons are so potent and the ultra-tech armor so good that either a target's unharmed or he's flash fried, and problems are solved with widgets, not with wits or tactics. (By contrast, GURPS handles a Firefly campaign just dandy.)

* So, combat. Alright. GURPS combat being sequential, not only does everyone have their spot in the order, they all know when it is, and they've had several minutes at least to mull over what they plan on doing when their turn comes around. An ironclad rule has to be that there is neither excuse for, nor tolerance of, dithering. When someone's turn comes around, I give them about six or seven seconds -- and I really mean that little -- to tell me what they're doing. Then I hold up a fist, and begin to extend a finger every second thereafter. If I hold all five fingers up, the PC just blew his action, and he's standing there gaping. If my players are faffing around on their electronics instead of paying attention to the combat, that's not my problem, and I don't make it my problem.