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Old 05-06-2021, 08:45 PM   #51
Donny Brook
 
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I don't consider Powers a core book. To my mind, there are several books that are major extensions of the core books: GURPS Martial Arts, GURPS Powers, GURPS Social Engineering, and GURPS Thaumatology, at a minimum (and I suppose GURPS Magic, but it really needs to be cleaned up). But I wouldn't pick any one of them out as THE third core book. And having six or seven core books seems a bit much.
To me Powers is a direct extension of Characters. So much so that I am working on interleaving them into a single PDF.
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Old 05-06-2021, 10:20 PM   #52
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

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... 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.
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I fear that you'll discover that the tastes of forumites are very eclectic.
We are united in our dispersiveness.

Currently, I'm using the following:

GURPS After The End 1: Wastelanders Templates and setting suggestions.
GURPS Action 4: Specialists More template ideas
GURPS High Tech Great source of bibs and bobs for dressing up a setting, a dilemma for the players, or just a nice shiny Macguffin.

If I ever get my Bronze Age Campaign up, I'll be leaning heavily on GURPS Low Tech, and possibly GURPS Realm Management. And the whole GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series is a gold mine if you just want to run an old school dungeon crawl.

tl;dr Ask again in two years, and there's a good chance that you'll get some people with new answers, and some that are sticking with the same books. For me, GURPS's attraction is I can pick and chose what I want, and over the years those choices have changed.
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Last edited by Luke Bunyip; 05-06-2021 at 10:22 PM. Reason: Lack of boldness
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Old 05-07-2021, 03:12 AM   #53
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

Some faves:

Action 5: Dictionary of Danger is a gold mine. (Runner up in the same series: Action 2: Exploits)

Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventure is, again, a gold mine of stuff usable in so many games. (Runner up in the same series: Dungeon Fantasy 15: Henchmen)

As a third choice, I'll go with Banestorm. Just an all-time favorite inspiration for my own fantasy gaming.

(A shout-out to older books: Hard to pick three, but I really liked Cthulhupunk, Fantasy II, and Black Ops.)
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Old 05-07-2021, 05:43 AM   #54
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

I did get a lot of use out of Wilderness Adventures while back when my SF game had the characters stuck on a low-tech world and having to do a lot of cross-country travel in hostile country.

Dictionary of Danger gets referred to when I need inspiration for more 'exciting' scenery for fights.

Both are more situationally useful and don't hold quite a same ranking for me as HT, Bio-Tech, and Spaceships, though.
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Old 05-07-2021, 08:34 AM   #55
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

If I were to list the books that get the most use or add the most content to my games, I would say:
  • GURPS Powers
  • GURPS Martial Arts
  • GURPS Low-Tech
But if I were to go with the ones that spark the most joy and inspiration:
  • GURPS Thaumatology
  • GURPS Psionic Powers
  • GURPS Madness Dossier
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Old 05-08-2021, 09:30 AM   #56
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I don't consider Powers a core book.
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Teasing aside, I guess I thought this perception was more than just a "me" thing.
Since it appears you keep missing it pr misunderstanding it, the line about "teasing" is from the original post. Not a later addition, not a follow up comment.

"Teasing aside" doesn't mean I wasn't teasing at all. In American English, it actually confirms I was teasing with my initial "criticism". I wouldn't have to "put it aside" for the rest of that sentence if I was being dead serious the entire time.

That you found my attempt at humor not funny, or even confusing, is understandable, but I hope this finally cleared things up. If not, I can take it to PM.

Edit: Didn't want to clutter the thread up with another post saying... oh, I understand now. Hard to believe I never encountered this kind of situation with whswhs before, so I probably already knew this and had forgotten. XP Thanks for 'splaining, whswsh. To everyone, sorry for the distraction!

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Originally Posted by Žorkell View Post
I really think you're the only one who considers Powers a core book.
Thankfully, a few others chimed in, so I don't have to look up old threads where others expressed similar sentiment.

Getting back on topic, I am enjoying seeing what people list. Most are very different than what I would pick, and that is in no way a problem. :)
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Last edited by Otaku; 05-08-2021 at 07:39 PM. Reason: Oh... that explains things nicely.
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Old 05-08-2021, 11:05 AM   #57
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

Action 2: Exploits is the best book for figuring out how GURPS works in my opinion.
Powers greatly helps building anything my crazy players come up with.
After that...I dunno Dungeon Fantasy 16: Wilderness Adventures is really helpful for expanding campaigns to the great outdoors (if you don’t mind Rule of Cool).
But I found the templates in Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers and Action 1: Heroes as the best for first figuring out how to make characters when I was first starting out. They also provided a solid addition to the equipment that said characters would need. I rarely , if ever, have done a campaign without flipping through those books after I got them.
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Last edited by A Ladder; 05-08-2021 at 11:47 AM.
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Old 05-08-2021, 12:55 PM   #58
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

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That you found my attempt at humor not funny, or even confusing, is understandable, but I hope this finally cleared things up. If not, I can take it to PM.
I don't think that's needed, thanks. But it's probably better not to try doing that with me; my sense of humor isn't reliable, not in the sense that I'm likely to find things offensive, but in the sense that I may well not even perceive that humor was intended. In no way is this your fault!
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Old 05-10-2021, 05:01 AM   #59
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

For Third Edition:

GURPS Vehicles 2Ed: I poured untold hours in high school designing vehicles.

GURPS Ultra-Tech 2: Some of the technology ideas in there were so good I was disappointed they weren't in Ultra-Tech for 4th Ed. (I loved the variety and options for conventional guns, "power cartridges" for beam weapons and the new armor options.)

GURPS Mage: The Ascension: Got me into the World of Darkness setting, which as the Chronicles of Darkness is one of my favorite roleplaying settings a huge source of inspiration for stories I write.

Honorable Mention is GURPS Mecha. Reading the book in the lunchroom in high school is how I met my best friend. Otherwise, the book was kinda so-so.

For Fourth Edition:
GURPS Biotech: Some of the templates and color text has been big inspirations for stories I write.

GURPS Spaceships series: Took something potentially complex and made it quick and easy. It's not without flaws, but still good.

GURPS Action 1: Heroes: With some tweaking the templates can be used for just about any relatively modern or futuristic genre. I've used them for Cyberpunk and Space Opera games and I'd imagine they'd do well for action games set in the early 20th century onward.

For both:
Transhuman Space is part of what got me into The Expanse as well as a source of ideas for fiction I write. To the point I wrote a "Hallmark Christmas Romance" set in 2116 with a Mind Emulation Ghost riding a deer-woman Bioshell as the love interest. Plus, Transhuman non-fiction is a fascinating subject to read about.
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Old 05-10-2021, 08:39 AM   #60
RyanW
 
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Default Re: Name your top 3 Gurps books of all time and why?

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Originally Posted by whswhs View Post
I don't consider Powers a core book. To my mind, there are several books that are major extensions of the core books: GURPS Martial Arts, GURPS Powers, GURPS Social Engineering, and GURPS Thaumatology, at a minimum (and I suppose GURPS Magic, but it really needs to be cleaned up). But I wouldn't pick any one of them out as THE third core book. And having six or seven core books seems a bit much.
I'd call those the expanded core. Not necessary for all campaigns, but almost any campaign will sort of need at least one of them.

I think I'd say almost any GURPS campaign will gain a huge benefit from (but not necessarily requires) one or more of those extended core books depending on the focus of the campaign, and the relevant Tech book.
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