"Essential" Books for Supers

[Zarathustra]

After looking through this thread, I was wondering what all of you would consider the "essential" books for running supers in GURPS. Obviously, you'd have to have Basic Set, Powers, and Supers. What else would you get?

And when I say "essential", I don't literally mean "can't do without". I mean, what books would you get if you wanted. I just used the word "essential" because it tied into the other thread.

The campaign assumption would be traditional four colour at nearly any power level.

[Archangel Beth]

I'd suggest Psionic Powers; psi Supers are pretty common, from what I recall... Plus, whether you call it Psionics or some form of Mystical Ability, some of the abilities are conveniently statted up already, and all you have to do is change the origin.

[sir_pudding]

• I'd recommend the entire Power Ups series, but especially 1, 4, and 5.
  
• Depending on what you want to do about magic, you might want Magic and/or Thaumatology. You won't need them if you want to just treat magical abilities as another power Source.
  
• Psionic Powers is extremely useful (especially if you want Psi to be Source in the game). Even if you don't have Psi as such it's a completely worked example of how to create a Power using the rules in Powers.

[Kalzazz]

High Tech and Ultra Tech would be high on the list, even if your Supers dont use all the gear themselves, enemies may well do so

[Refplace]

It depends on the style and nature of the campaign and interest of the players.
Martial Arts is probably the most common add on.
UT if you have any gadgeteers.
Magic or Thaumatology if you have any magic types.
Social Engineering if you have Charismatic leaders.
City Stats can be used to help build cities and corporations which is sueful.
Psionics for Psis but also the elaboration on how to Power Stunt using rules in Powers. I never really saw how useful that section was until I saw GURPS Psionics.

EDIT: Oh and Power Up series is a good add as stated above but especially Power Ups 4 which adds and clarifies some enhancements.
Vision and that villain from the Hellfire club are a lot easier with that for example.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Martial Arts is probably the most common add on.

I think this greatly depends on how much detail you want from combat. If you and your players want to be able to have a character who knows Taijustu or Krav Maga or whatever and have it actually mean something, then yes absolutely use Martial Arts. If you just want to have a few more options in combat, then maybe use Martial Arts.

However if do think that stuff is important, for Iron and Bronze Age games, I'd also recommend Gun Fu for the Deathstrokes, Frank Castles and Red Hoods of the world.

[Zarathustra]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm pondering all of your suggestions.

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

High Tech and Ultra Tech would be high on the list, even if your Supers dont use all the gear themselves, enemies may well do so

Ultra Tech is already on my "Must Get" list, but I'm not sure about High Tech. Are game stats for different types of guns important? If there's more to it than that, I'll definitely put it on the list. :-)

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Zarathustra

Ultra Tech is already on my "Must Get" list, but I'm not sure about High Tech. Are game stats for different types of guns important? If there's more to it than that, I'll definitely put it on the list. :-)

There's more to High-Tech than just guns. Most pieces of individual gear that adventurers are likely to encounter: computers, locks, climbing gear and so on is covered. The weapons go beyond small arms too: when the heroes have to fight tanks and missiles, High-Tech has the stats. Furthermore it has expanded rules for firearms, hiking, and a few other things that might matter. If you are going to get Gun Fu, it assumes you have the rules in High-Tech.

[Zarathustra]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

There's more to High-Tech than just guns. Most pieces of individual gear that adventurers are likely to encounter: computers, locks, climbing gear and so on is covered. The weapons go beyond small arms too: when the heroes have to fight tanks and missiles, High-Tech has the stats. Furthermore it has expanded rules for firearms, hiking, and a few other things that might matter. If you are going to get Gun Fu, it assumes you have the rules in High-Tech.

Thanks. I'll take it under advisement. :-)

[whswhs]

When I ran my last GURPS Supers campaign, a rather high-end one with PCs built on 1,500 points, I used Powers, Supers—and High-Tech. When PCs can do damage comparable to that from a tank or a battleship, you need information on conventional weapons on that scale. And one of the PCs carried a variety of heavy weapons into combat, using her super-strength. High-Tech was really useful.

Bill Stoddard