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Old 02-01-2023, 01:59 PM   #1
Refplace
 
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default What we love about GURPS

First and foremost is the company and people (including freelancers) behind it.
Modularity
As a GM I like building my own settings and GURPS lets me mix and match what I want and it just works.
Combat
As a player or GM I can usually stick to a simple process or go into more tactical detail.
If I (or my players) want it simple just roll to hit and defend. Modifiers such as lighting, range, etc. are easy to reference and apply in the Foundry VTT.
Yet if I want to target specific hit locations I can, no relying on random critical hits. Plenty of other options if desired for that campaign too.
Predictable
Using a single die is very swingy as you have the same chance to roll any specific number. But with the 3d6 GUPS uses your odds tend toward the middle.
So you still have outliers and the chance that helps keep things exciting but overall its far more predictable.
Multiple Options
Some hate this, and it can be overwhelming. However, I like having choices and different ways to get a similar result is very nice. It also helps flavor
things.

There is more of course but thats a good start.
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My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
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Old 02-01-2023, 02:28 PM   #2
Silverblade
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Germany
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

Realism
I love GURPS for sentences that start like...
"Realistically..."
"Historically..."
"(Stuff) wasn't invented until..."

Cinematic-ality
"... but you can ignore...."
"Cinematic characters often..."
(Let's you ignore things established immediately after that first sentence - I love that!)
What is realistic -> but that's not fun -> (Cinematic rule for emulating movies/comics/....)

Generic-ality
"You can...., but..."

Adaptability
"GURPS is generic, but .... (niche protection)"
(Honestly, Dungeon Fantasy is great, it allows games to start out simple but it can "mature" into more Generic things after that)

Universality
It's equipped to handle most, if not all, of conceivable scenarios.
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Old 02-01-2023, 02:28 PM   #3
Alden Loveshade
 
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Location: Hmm, looks like Earth, circa CE 2020+
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

My list would largely be a reflection of the above lists.

The primary reason I got into GURPS was because I'd designed a galaxy for stories that I wanted to "playtest" to see how it worked. So I looked for a science fiction RPG I could adapt to my galaxy. I looked at RPG after RPG. All of them would be more work to adapt than to create my own RPG, which I really didn't want to do. So I gave up.

Then later a friend told me about this game called GURPS. I was rather, "Whatever." But he insisted I check it out, so loaned me his Basic Set on a Friday. About two pages in, I was hooked. I saw I could use this game to run and play virtually any kind of adventure or genre i could imagine! By the end of the weekend, I'd read the Basic Set from cover to cover, and was starting to design my campaign.

Since then, I reffed and ran GURPS for science fiction, medieval fantasy, supers of World War II/modern day/medieval fantasy, espionage of modern day/outer space, rock band of the 1960s/futuristic interstellar, wild west, prehistoric, horror, Victorian London, ancient Egypt, TV shows (Monty Python, Gilligan's Island, animated series, etc.), etc. And I have an unaging, world-jumping PC who's been involved in most of those!

Not many game systems let you do all that!
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Top 12 Clues You're a Role-Playing Old-Timer My humorous (I hope) article that also promotes SJGames/GURPS
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves My first GURPS supplement
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Old 02-01-2023, 04:44 PM   #4
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Default Re: What we love about GURPS

Detail. GURPS lets me have lots of it. It's not necessary, but it's there when I want it.
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Old 02-01-2023, 05:03 PM   #5
Purple Snit
 
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Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I'm happy to see this thread!

I enjoy the modularity - I can customize between detailed gladiatorial battles to cinematic starship combat and not need to learn a new system.

I always appreciated the 3rd edition historical supplements, and the detail in them.

The new rules options in the Pyramids and the assorted new supplements (like Action or Monster Hunters) keeps things fresh.

The consistency - advantages and disadvantages are defined, and even if you don't always agree with the values, you know that Berserk or Combat Reflexes should work the same way in any campaign.

There's more, but I'm on a work break, so...
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Old 02-01-2023, 05:22 PM   #6
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Location: Winnipeg, Canada
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I love GURPS because it will handle every single bat**** idea I can throw at it and, in most cases, requires only the Basic set to do so.

I especially love the depth and breadth of GURPS supplements, for the times I've needed something more (or different) than the Basic set can provide.

I love that I can take characters from one campaign setting and drop them, unedited and unchanged, into a completely unrelated campaign setting without breaking stride.

Lastly, I love that I can model something to excruciating detail, or handwave it entirely without breaking my game.
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Old 02-01-2023, 05:42 PM   #7
Dave_67
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Toronto
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I have to agree with all of this and more.

When the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG" came out, by buddy asked another friend of ours to pick up a copy for him at GenCon that year...but he couldn't wait so wrote up things and ran it in GURPS. He pulled a vampire template out, wrote up a Slayer template - which I helped him tweak a bit - got another friend to help him put together a paper magic college because one player wanted to play a Sailor Mars-like Shinto Priestess, and away we went.

Along the way we had werewolves, devil dogs, fae, Japanese mysticism and political intrigue, American occult and business intrigue, AND visits to magical lands. The game lasted for a good four years before it imploded, and I have a good memory of most of it because I had my character write up a diary that I wrote up after each session to help me summarize what happened.

It was great, and after having read through the actual BtVS RPG when he wanted to run another game for our other group, I realized that if he had waited the first time, the game may not have lasted even 6 months.
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Old 02-01-2023, 08:14 PM   #8
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Location: New York City
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I agree with most of what everyone above said. Two things that stand out for me compared to D&D 3.5, which is where my group of friends came to GURPS from is:
1) Low level threats in D&D can't harm a high level PC. They just can't do enough damage to make a difference even when they hit.
2) The skills of gurps & non-class based character building gives a lot more options to the characters.
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Old 02-02-2023, 05:25 AM   #9
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I really like the core gameplay mechanic being so easy to grasp:

Roll 3 dice, compare to the target number

a) You don't have to go to a specialty store to get those dice.
b) It's few enough dice that most people can add them up reasonably fast.
c) 3 dice makes a probability curve that isn't as swingy as 2 (or 1) dice.
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Old 02-02-2023, 05:50 AM   #10
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Location: New England
Default Re: What we love about GURPS

I love GURPS because I enjoy playing RPGs, but I don’t enjoy having to buy them or learning lots of new rules. This feeling goes back to the 1970s, when, as a kid with only the modest income of a paper-route, I saw alongside D&D a the hobby store games like Boot Hill, RuneQuest, Tunnels & Trolls, Traveller, Gamma World, etc. I recall a scene a few years later, in which I stood in another local game shop weighing the merits of BRP and the newly-released GURPS boxed set. GURPS won, partly due to my familiarity with The Fantasy Trip, and I’ve been pretty pleased. One rule set to learn gives me what I need to unleash my imagination while holding on to some coin and not filling my shelves with games built for niche play. A better name for GURPS might have been Adventures. Unlimited.
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