What can I do now

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

What can it be done without them, only with the basics?

As a guess, about 80%.

For a new player, my choices for "must have" supplements would be Powers (and possibly the Powers series) and Martial Arts.

From there, it depends on what sort of campaign you're trying to develop and the number of additional rules you and your players are willing to put up with.

Fantasy: Magic and the Dungeon Fantasy series. (Banestorm and other supplements are good, but aren't as heavy on new rules and powers).

Modern/17-19th c. Historical: High Tech and then either the Steampunk or Action series depending on your interests.

Science Fiction: Space, Bio-Tech, and possibly the Psionics and/or Spaceships series.

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

If one is prone to have fun tweaking and inventing new stuff, let's say a submarines setting, or more spells and magic systems, without using any other book than the basics, in which extent can he do that?

Magic spells are relatively easy to invent, especially if you've got GURPS Magic as a base to work from. The more recent supplements to Magic provide more information on how to develop new spells. If you really love rules for developing new spells, the GURPS Sorcery or Ritual/Path books are for you.

For vehicles, there isn't anything in the GURPS 4E library that suits, although Spaceships has a nice modular spaceship design. If you aren't afraid of simple mathematical formulas GURPS 3E Vehicles might still be useful, although you will need to convert the results to GURPS 4E.

If you're interested in developing house rules or introducing new equipment, also check out the GURPS Resources sticky thread at the top of the forum topics. It will take you to dozens of fan sites run by people who have written material for the game.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

What can it be done without them, only with the basics?

Welcome! As other have said, you can do a great deal with only the Basic Set. How to be a GURPS GM has lots of practical guidance on running games, and will save you a lot of time.

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

If one is prone to have fun tweaking and inventing new stuff, let's say a submarines setting, or more spells and magic systems, without using any other book than the basics, in which extent can he do that?

We're much better provided with magic systems than submarines:

• GURPS Magic extends the spell-as-skills magic system in the Basic Set.
• GURPS Thaumatology is about designing magic systems in general, and includes several systems.
• There are several supplements for Thaumatology that provide more magic systems.

For submarines, the skills characters need are in the Basic Set, but we donlt have a lot of vessels with stats. There are some very early ones in Fantasy-Tech 1, a elven mini-sub in Transports of Fantasy, Steampunk-era ones in Steampunk Conveyances, a 1970s Swimmer Delivery Vehicle in SEALS in Vietnam and SF mini-subs in Ultra-Tech.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by johndallman

For submarines, the skills characters need are in the Basic Set, but we donlt have a lot of vessels with stats. There are some very early ones in Fantasy-Tech 1, a elven mini-sub in Transports of Fantasy, Steampunk-era ones in Steampunk Conveyances, a 1970s Swimmer Delivery Vehicle in SEALS in Vietnam and SF mini-subs in Ultra-Tech.

GURPS Low-Tech has Cornelius Drebbel's diving boat on p. 143.

[dcarson]

For underwater Gurps Atlantis is also a possible.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

What can it be done without them, only with the basics?

I would say a relatively limited amount, using only the Basic set - you have general systems, sure, and a fairly strong Advantage/Disadvantage system, but you have a pretty limited set of magics for a full-on fantasy game and pretty sparse technological gear-lists for a modern game. You can do either, but there are things you would need to avoid to not run off the edge of your books.

However...

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

If one is prone to have fun tweaking and inventing new stuff, let's say a submarines setting, or more spells and magic systems, without using any other book than the basics, in which extent can he do that?

You can make up anything. Not hyperbole, you really can make up literally whatever you want, and if you try to you can probably make it fit well into the system you already have.

A number of the things you might want to invent are things that already have official published versions, but if rolling your own is more accessible or more appealing than using those there's certainly nothing to stop you.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by johndallman

For submarines, the skills characters need are in the Basic Set, but we donlt have a lot of vessels with stats. There are some very early ones in Fantasy-Tech 1, a elven mini-sub in Transports of Fantasy, Steampunk-era ones in Steampunk Conveyances, a 1970s Swimmer Delivery Vehicle in SEALS in Vietnam and SF mini-subs in Ultra-Tech.

I think there is a language issue here. I'm pretty sure by "submarine" Hrafnagudh meant "underwater," not subs.

[Hrafnagudh]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

I think there is a language issue here. I'm pretty sure by "submarine" Hrafnagudh meant "underwater," not subs.

No it's ok, I was actually meaning the vehicles, thinking of both a sci fi setting (Barotrauma like) AND a fantasy underwater setting with magic :)

For the subs my idea was likely to use basically some spaceship building tecnique, adding ballasts and a water pressure mechanic.
So for now I think I will try to do a test run with the basic set, and from there seek for the supplements that feel more apt to plug what I cannot manage to "invent" myself. If I understood correctly that is the way to invest in supplements, on a "what am I needing this time" basis :)

Also a stupid idea I had was to making a oneshot of something like a cooking contest rpg with GURPS. Just to try out that "can do anything" thing 😁

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

No it's ok, I was actually meaning the vehicles, thinking of both a sci fi setting (Barotrauma like) AND a fantasy underwater setting with magic :)

For the subs my idea was likely to use basically some spaceship building tecnique, adding ballasts and a water pressure mechanic.
So for now I think I will try to do a test run with the basic set, and from there seek for the supplements that feel more apt to plug what I cannot manage to "invent" myself. If I understood correctly that is the way to invest in supplements, on a "what am I needing this time" basis :)

Also a stupid idea I had was to making a oneshot of something like a cooking contest rpg with GURPS. Just to try out that "can do anything" thing 😁

While you certainly can do it, I would not recommend Spaceships for designing submarines. It's a mass-based design system coupled to mechanics intended for a basically realistic scale for space. Submarines are far more bound by volume than mass and operate in enormously different environmental dynamics.


...The relevant published material on using Spaceships for submarines is mostly in Pyramid 3-34, plus a little from Spaceships 7. Because finding the references is sort of fun.

[Hrafnagudh]

Ok guys, for wrapping this thread up,
I bought Atlantis, because even if third edition, I love Atlantis itself and I love the fact it has many different "explanations".

I made a wishlist, to slowly fulfill in time, of what I think may be the most "fundamental" generic supplements, in order of importance (to me):
Martial Arts
High Tech
Powers
Thaumatology
Magic

Does it make sense?

Thanks again for all the feedback, it was very appreciated, helpful and inspiring. I regret only to have found GURPS so lately :P

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Hrafnagudh

I made a wishlist, to slowly fulfill in time, of what I think may be the most "fundamental" generic supplements, in order of importance (to me):
Martial Arts
High Tech
Powers
Thaumatology
Magic

Most of those are core books that extend the mechanics in important ways; there is also Social Engineering, but that may not be relevant to your plans. The exception is High-Tech, which is a gear book; there are also Low-Tech and Ultra-Tech, depending on what era you want to play in, and perhaps Bio-Tech.

After mechanics books and gear books, there are genre books (Fantasy, Horror, Space, and so on) and setting books. And there are some adventure books for lines such as Dungeon Fantasy. But I would consider those to be lower priority in general.