Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

[deanjday]

Being quite new to Gurps and feeling a bit overwhelmed by all the books over the many editions, I thought it might be useful to get some solid recommendations from you veterans as to some of your favorite books.

I have no preference for genre, edition, printed or pdf. Please just list your top three favorites and explain why if you have the time, so I understand from your point of view what made it so great for you.

This will be really informative as to what purchases to make going forward in a general way and also get a good feel for what the community feels was the highlights of whats been published over the years.

[whswhs]

Well, leaving out the core rules books, I'm going to pick the following:

GURPS Alternate Earths 2: It has a variety of really imaginative timelines, more interesting than those in GURPS Alternate Earths 1, and with a lot of texture.

GURPS Powers: The single most useful of the major system expansion books, with its extremely detailed treatment of special abilities, helpful for everything from supers campaigns to "magic as powers." The concept of power modifiers is a really great unifying mechanism.

GURPS Power-Ups 2: Perks: It's hard to choose just one of this series, but I consult this constantly in creating new characters, and I'd find it harder to get by with just the perks in the Basic Set than with just the quirks.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by whswhs

Well, leaving out the core rules books, I'm going to pick the following:

Originally Posted by whswhs

GURPS Powers: The single most useful of the major system expansion books, with its extremely detailed treatment of special abilities, helpful for everything from supers campaigns to "magic as powers." The concept of power modifiers is a really great unifying mechanism.

I thought you were not including core books?

Third Edition, Revised had GURPS Basic Set (a single book), Compendium I, and Compendium II as its core three books.

GURPS Fourth Edition has GURPS Basic Set Characters, GURPS Basic Set Campaigns, and GURPS Powers as its core three books. :) Teasing aside, I guess I thought this perception was more than just a "me" thing.

Answering the question myself:

• GURPS Mecha (for Third Edition): This was my first GURPS book, purchased for me by my mother. Yeah, before any core books, because I was just borrowing my friend's score stuff at the time. We actually used very little from it, but I still have a soft spot for this book.
• GURPS Fantasy Folk (for Third Edition): I loved the different fantasy races this book presented. I am still tinkering with a setting I'll probably never use, heavily inspired by the Fantasy Folk presented here.
• GURPS Warriors (for Third Edition): This is the book that made me understand occupational (or similar) templates, and their value. I also enjoyed reading many of the example characters.

Don't mistake this as a preference for Third Edition over Fourth. Almost all... maybe all... of my actual play experience is with Third Edition. Plus, I was using Third Edition in high school, with my high school friends. Nostalgia is strong. Plus, the books I mentioned don't have Fourth Edition counterparts, though adapting them to Fourth Edition is actually kind of fun. :) Time consuming, but fun. XD

Honorable Mentions are

• GURPS Powers: To me it is the third core book for Fourth Edition.
• [B]GURPS Compendium II (Third Edition): While not falling to bits like my copy of Compendium I, this was ultimately the more valuable of the three Third Edition core books. Better detail for things like Hit-Location, more equipment options, some great alternate rules... it had so much to it.
• GURPS Supers (for Third Edition and Fourth Edition): I love my superheroes! The Third Edition version introduced a lot of Advantages (namely superpowers) that weren't even available in Compendium I. I also enjoyed most of the example characters. Fourth Edition also includes some new advantages, but also glorious, glorious templates!

I almost went on and on because there are easily a dozen GURPS books that have shaped me over the years, some I never even used to game. XD

[David Johnston2]

Dungeon Magic Styles: I love magic styles (I'd add Magic Styles itself but that would be a tad redundant), and I found that this magic style book in particular to be the best world-building GURPS has ever done. I love the relationships between the different chromatic styles, including the white robes pretending to be good, when they're actually the most evil.

Weird War II: I've been obsessed with creating a world war II superhero setting forever.

Gurps Space 4E: Rolling up worlds is a great time killer and I love the random creature generator too.

[Willy]

GURPS Banestorm and the 3rd Ed precursor
GURPS Fantasy Folk 3rd Ed.
GURPS Fantasy Adventures 3rd Ed.

If I have to choose 4th ed. then together with Banestorm

GURPS Biotech
GURPS High Tech and Low tech are a very close decision throwing a coin I take High Tech

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Otaku

I thought you were not including core books?

I wasn't. I excluded Characters and Campaigns. Those are what I consider the core books.

[maximara]

For me it is

*Magic: a more logical magic system than what existed when it first appeared.
*Fantasy: An excellent expansion that brought all its chapters together in a fantasy world what was not another Tolkien rehash.
*Thaumaturgy: the book that allowed one to create any magic system one wanted

[malloyd]

Undoubtably the one I've gotten the most personal entertainment out of is Vehicles 2e, for 3rd edition. But as a freestanding toy more than anything - it's been almost useless for actual use in *GURPS*.

Most inspirational, I still have to give it to GURPS Voodoo - origin point of the system that's since turned into Path/Book Magic, Sorcery etc. and full of a bunch of other cool mystical stuff I at the time mostly didn't know.

Most useful now, tough call. I refer to Power Ups 2 Perks probably more than anything outside the core books (or I would if I hadn't done it so much I remember most of it without needing to...) but I think for most actually useful I'd have to nominate one of the GM focused books for one of the PDF lines - like Dungeon Fantasy 2 or Action 2 - these are quite helpful GMing aids well outside the lines they are specifically for.

[tshiggins]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I wasn't. I excluded Characters and Campaigns. Those are what I consider the core books.

Agreed. I seldom use Powers for anything, myself.

My favorite three are High Tech, Thaumatology, and while I've gotten considerably more use out of Cabal, I think Transhuman Space is just wonderful. :)

I've actually spent a lot of time pushing a modified THS timeline out for a Transhuman Stars campaign I'm unlikely to ever run.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by whswhs

I wasn't. I excluded Characters and Campaigns. Those are what I consider the core books.

Originally Posted by Otaku

I thought you were not including core books?

Third Edition, Revised had GURPS Basic Set (a single book), Compendium I, and Compendium II as its core three books.

GURPS Fourth Edition has GURPS Basic Set Characters, GURPS Basic Set Campaigns, and GURPS Powers as its core three books. :) Teasing aside, I guess I thought this perception was more than just a "me" thing.

Emphasis added. Or maybe I'm the one not getting the joke?