Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 08-27-2014, 07:25 AM   #1
PK
 
PK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
Default [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

Just in case anyone missed it, we're celebrating the 10th anniversary of GURPS Fourth Edition this month with a series of Daily Illuminators. Countless authors and editors have helped make the system what it is, and we've asked 10 of them to share their thoughts and experiences with us:This thread is the place to share your thoughts on all this! Are these glimpses behind the curtain interesting? Was there something you never realized until seeing one of the authors say it here? Should we do stuff like this more often?
__________________
Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ)

MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.

#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more!
{Watch Video} - {Read Transcript}

Last edited by PK; 10-23-2014 at 10:34 AM.
PK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-2014, 09:19 AM   #2
evileeyore
Banned
 
evileeyore's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Location: 100 hurricane swamp
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

From Phil Masters: "But the next big product with my name on it is something else again. Sixteen years ago, I had the honor of working on the Discworld Roleplaying Game. I think that worked out okay, but in the time since, I've learned more about creating licensed setting books, the Discworld has evolved, and we've gone to Fourth Edition. So there's a new edition of that game coming up soon, which might help bring GURPS Fourth Edition to more readers."


GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
evileeyore is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-27-2014, 11:00 AM   #3
Kuroshima
MIB
Pyramid Contributor
Mad Spaniard Rules Lawyer
 
Kuroshima's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: The ASS of the world, mainly Valencia, Spain (Europe)
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by evileeyore View Post
From Phil Masters: "But the next big product with my name on it is something else again. Sixteen years ago, I had the honor of working on the Discworld Roleplaying Game. I think that worked out okay, but in the time since, I've learned more about creating licensed setting books, the Discworld has evolved, and we've gone to Fourth Edition. So there's a new edition of that game coming up soon, which might help bring GURPS Fourth Edition to more readers."


GLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Trust me, I was a playtester, and I must say that it's truly awesome. I sincerely can't wait to have it in my hands (and unfortunately, I won't get it in my tablet, because there will be no PDF)
__________________
Antoni Ten
MIB3119
My GURPs character sheet
My stuff on e23
Kuroshima is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-28-2014, 02:26 AM   #4
Mailanka
 
Mailanka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

I remember when GURPS 4e first came out. I was skeptical, because I really enjoyed 3e and I didn't really see where it could be improved. However, around the same time, I was working on a setting (that I still haven't finished) called Resplendent Star Empire. Originally conceived as "So what does a TL 11-12 setting actually look like," it quickly turned into a cross between Dune, Star Wars and Shonen Anime, and I dropped GURPS in favor of BESM 2e, which handled powers better than GURPS 3e did.

When 4e came out, reading the powers section and the new combat rules was like light went on, and I was able to dump BESM to return to GURPS... only, I had to wait, because my setting required Martial Arts, Spaceships, Powers and Ultra-Tech, none of which I had. So I waited and tinkered around. I don't think I seriously started running things until I ran my first G-Verse campaign in 2009, so around the 5-year mark. In part, I think that's the learning curve at work, and in part, it's the fact that I need a huge volume of GURPS work before I hit critical mass.

The biggest paradigm shift for me came with the release of GURPS Action. Dungeon Fantasy was an excellent work, but Action inspired me far more, and contrasting and comparing it with Dungeon Fantasy showed me what I had been missing from my designs, and working out "How I want this game to run, and what templates I want" became the base for my Cherry Blossom Rain game, which has served as a stepping stone to all of my recent work.

Now I'm bursting with GURPS ideas, more than I can ever reasonably put together. I'm slowly getting them out onto paper, but I'd say this is probably the best point in my GURPS career yet, including some of my highly successful GURPS 3e experiences.

In a way, I find 4e frustrating and I'd like to see it pushed even further, into 5e, but at the same time, if SJGames did that, it would destroy the creative high I'm in and throw me back to the point where I'm waiting for releases again. So I say give it another 10 years, and then see where we are.
__________________
My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars.
Mailanka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-28-2014, 07:28 AM   #5
Tomsdad
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

I never played/ran any GURPS before 4th, but for all the time I have played and run GURPS 4th. ed. It has always had my back in many tight GMing corners.

So cheers to GURPS 4th Ed.

And cheers to the folks that made it and keep making it.

"IF you can keep giving answers when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you...

...then my system
you'll be GURPS 4th Edition"
Tomsdad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-28-2014, 08:35 AM   #6
Mailanka
 
Mailanka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tomsdad View Post
I never played/ran any GURPS before 4th, but for all the time I have played and run GURPS 4th. ed. It has always had my back in many tight GMing corners.
I know what you mean. I find that many games require my constant effort to make them work, and if I screw up, or slip up, or god forbid someone actually looks up a rule and sees how it actually works, the house of cards comes tumbling down.

There's a few games, though, where the closer to RAW I run it, the better it generally gets, and if I ever fall into a bad place, I can just turn to the rules, and they'll pull me through. GURPS is one of those games.

A friend of mine ran his first GURPS game as a GURPS Action game. He was ill-prepared, the story was somewhat weird, and the group was a random mishmash of players (it was at our local RPG association)... and even so, the game is one I often cite when discussing how action games should be run. It wasn't because of him (He freely admits that) but because GURPS Action was structured in such a way that we were forced invariably down a path of cinematic excitement and action movie awesomeness. The best scene was completely unplanned, and played out exactly like a heist, complete with planning, unique rolls, everything going to hell, total panic among the players, epic action as the characters rev up for victory, followed by explosions and a car chase.

I'm a picky man. There's a reason I keep coming back to GURPS.
__________________
My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars.
Mailanka is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-28-2014, 08:52 AM   #7
Tomsdad
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Brighton
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mailanka View Post
...

I'm a picky man. There's a reason I keep coming back to GURPS.
Yep I started rpgs in 1988 (wfrp & AD&D2e) and while I certainly haven't seriously run half the systems on my shelves, I've run campaigns in at least 12*.

But GURPS has been my Goto for 5 years, moreover when I do pick up a new system or setting, I generally tend to find myself musing, yeah, GURPS would do this better, or even GURPSifying it while I read.



*that's with 5 seconds thought (it's probably more) Edit, yeah it's more.

Last edited by Tomsdad; 08-28-2014 at 02:29 PM.
Tomsdad is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 08-28-2014, 02:00 PM   #8
apoc527
 
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Seattle, WA
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

GURPS 4th Edition is responsible for me getting back into GURPS and I couldn't be happier with it.

I first got into GURPS 3rd Edition in 1999 with GURPS Traveller (also my first edition of Traveller come to think), but by 2003 or 2004, I was burned out on it. I found it very hard to use to build stuff without a degree in engineering (ahem Vehicles 2nd Edition), there was no unified powers system back then, and the costs of templates and basic abilities made designing aliens harder than it is now. In short, the toolkit wasn't as user-friendly as I had wished. (I also had serious misgivings about UT energy weapons--they were hideously overpowered IMO in actual play.)

Then, a few years ago now, we were playing Mongoose's new Traveller and the gear book lacked masses for most equipment. This drove me nuts. So I bought Ultra-Tech for 4th Edition and noticed a lot of changes. Weapons lacked SS ratings, their Acc were lower, the Rcl stat was different. The gear provided more systematic-looking bonuses (+1, +2 +TL/2, etc).

It was evident that 4th Edition was a pretty substantial change and so I bought Basic Set. Well, that was 3 years ago and now I've been running nothing but GURPS and my library is embarrassingly complete.

RE: GURPS Action -- I really need to spend more time with this book, as every time I look at it, I love it, but then I forget about it. I am specifically not trying to run really cinematic action movie type games, but I think the book still has a lot of value.
__________________
-apoc527
My Campaigns

Currently Playing: GURPS Banestorm: The Symmetry of Darkness

Inactive:
Star*Drive: 2525-Hunting for Fun and Profit
My THS Campaign-In the Shadows of Venus
Yrth--The Legend Begins
The XCOM Apocalypse
apoc527 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-2014, 02:24 PM   #9
PK
 
PK's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Dobbstown Sane Asylum
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

David's post went up today. So now there are perspectives from both of the writers behind GURPS Fourth Edition, plus quite a bit on David's projects since the Basic Set. Has his Mass Combat done for you what it's done for him (allowing for epic battles)?
__________________
Reverend Pee Kitty of the Order Malkavian-Dobbsian (Twitter) (LJ)

MyGURPS: My house rules and GURPS resources.

#SJGamesLive: I answered questions about GURPS After the End and more!
{Watch Video} - {Read Transcript}
PK is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-02-2014, 02:29 PM   #10
Mailanka
 
Mailanka's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
Default Re: [DI] GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . .

Cherry Blossom Rain used a lot of Mass Combat, and it worked very well. I handed players the unit sheets and their stats, let them fuss over where to place the soldiers, where to send the heroes, how to manage the strategy rolls and the logistics rolls. Kept them busy for over an hour. And then, oh the battles. They won two out of three, and then triumphantly held their ground at Sword Mountain itself.

I was able to give the players a sense of what each unit was like, what the enemy armies were like, what the enemy commanders were like. It wasn't quite as Dynasty Warriors as I would have liked, and I would have liked to have given them more of a sense of more generals and more commanders, so I had a few issues with Mass Combat, but by and large, I'd call it an overwhelming success.

Incidentally, I'm always surprised when someone reminds me that David Morgan-Marr wrote a GURPS book. Must have been a happy day to see his name on the cover of Bio-Tech.

For what it's worth, while I know many people complain about it (rightly so, in many ways), my favorite GURPS book is still Ultra-Tech. I have two copies (the hard cover and the soft cover) and both are worn thin. It has inspired many, many settings and adventures.
__________________
My Blog: Mailanka's Musing. Currently Playing: Psi-Wars, a step-by-step exploration of building your own Space Opera setting, inspired by Star Wars.
Mailanka is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 10:06 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.