A to Z 10 Year Update: G is for GURPS

This post has been updated from the version originally uploaded on April 7, 2012.

A to Z 2012: Gaming in the 1980s

GURPS

Several of the products from Steve Jackson Games were played quite frequently by the members of our gaming group.  It all started with Car Wars.  We were thrilled to find a game and play experience that reminded us so much of Death Race 2000.  The price of the game -$3.95 - was enough to lure us quickly into snatching up more of the SJG pocket box games.  Some of our favorites included OGRE, G.E.V., Illuminati and One-Page Bulge.

One of my favorite contents included in the SJG game boxes was the catalog.  It was like a miniature SEARS catalog of gaming goodness with sections devoted to each product.  There are several I would have liked to have tried like Raid on Iran, Kung Fu 2000, and others.  The catalog also included a little blurb about the upcoming products by SJG that were going to be released sometime soon.  I enjoyed reading about the products I did not have and the products that were coming soon and then one day I noticed the product spotlight for an upcoming product that grabbed my attention - GURPS, the Generic Universal Role Playing System.  The announcement promised that this one system was all a group would need to play in any style of game they wanted.  Most companies did not do that and expected you to buy a new game with new rules for fantasy, western, science fiction, supers, or other gaming.  I read the further previews with great interest and waited for the release of the game.    

When the original boxed set of the rules were released I bought them at the game shop I used to frequent as much as possible at the time.  I took it home and started reading through the rules.  The more I read, the more I liked and blazed through them pretty quickly.  I thought it was extremely revolutionary that you actually designed your character from points, used advantages and disadvantages to "balance" your character, and also had a basic combat as well as advanced combat system; there was also tons of GM advice available in the rules.  I played through the included solo adventure - Caravan to Ein Arnis, I think? - and was pretty excited to see more.  In short time I purchased GURPS Man to Man (basically a slimmed down fantasy combat version of the system), GURPS Autoduel (roleplaying in the Car Wars universe), GURPS Cyberpunk, GURPS Fantasy, and GURPS Supers.  With these additional rules volumes it became apparent that not every genre would use the exact same rules - some would be added or changed from the core - but all of these different genres did use a basic starting point that was the same.  Everything else could be figured out or dealt with in a reasonable fashion since the core was intact.  I began jotting down notes and ideas for a campaign that I wanted to run everybody through.  I was next up in the Game Master rotation and I wanted to introduce the rest of the group to this awesome new system I had just learned.

It turned out that GURPS would become my single biggest disappointment in my gaming experience.  No, it wasn't from play experience or any other dissatisfaction with the system.  My gaming group had one simple problem with GURPS - they believed that all of those rulebooks were mandatory and voiced opinions such as "if we're going to need all of those rulebooks then we might as well just keep using D&D, Gamma World, and Star Frontiers".  I tried in vain to convince them otherwise but Jamie was the only one that would listen.  We played around with Man to Man a few times but never did get a GURPS campaign going.  I would occasionally pick up future GURPS supplements - they are generally so informative that they can be used for other games - and even bought GURPS 3rd Edition even though I knew that none of my gaming buddies would give it a shot.  It remains a system I am highly interested in using.  Perhaps I will get the chance someday?

I never have managed to get a GURPS game up and going.  I eventually gave all of the material I owned to my cousin. He seems to have a pretty steady group and they play several games.  I need to check with him and see if he has had any luck bringing it to the table.  I never bought into GURPS 4th Edition just because of the bad luck I experienced in finding interested players of previous editions.  It doesn't seem to me that it reached the same level of popularity as 3rd but since my finger isn't on the pulse of the GURPS fandom, that is purely conjecture on my part.

One thing that always stuck out to me when reading through the GURPS rules was the mention of his earlier work, The Fantasy Trip.  I was just old enough at the time it would have been in the stores, but I missed out on buying the game.  I would catch glimpses about TFT over the years and I could see that GURPS was basically an evolution of that earlier game.  Eventually, Steve Jackson obtained the right to the game and launched a kickstarter for The Fantasy Trip: Legacy Edition.  I backed it and got everything.  Although I have only used TFT for solo play - and I'm about to introduce it to my teen son - I am NOT getting rid of it.

G is for Game Systems

G is for Game System(s)

There are several game systems that I have debated about using for the campaign world of Toldara.  I discussed some of the original design in the 3E system and the evolution to a Pathfinder based campaign on my About Me Me page.  I discussed the decision to change my Toldara game to the B/X system in my earlier post, Back to the Basics. At other times, I have thought about using other game systems but ultimately decided against doing so.  Maybe one or more of these will happen in the future?

GURPS 3E or Hero 5E

I am fascinated by the amount of detail in both of these systems.  These are two of the games in my collection that I have never gotten to play.  It seems that none of the people I have ever gamed with are interested in that level of detail. 

Palladium Fantasy
I played just as much Palladium Fantasy as I played AD&D back in high school.  I made up some classes for the old first edition rules back then also.  Unfortunately, all I have is the second edition of this game and I have no practical experience playing or designing items for use with this version.  There seem to be enough differences that I would not feel comfortable converting my campaign over to these rules.  Of course, it might be easier to convert the player information over with the inclusion of all of the available OCCs, RCCs, and races.  For instance, the Wolfen could be re-skinned to be the Karnin as one quick example.  Hmmm…. 

Talislanta

I discovered Talislanta with the second edition.  We played quite a few games back in high school.  Future editions added quite a bit of detail.  If I was going to convert to the Talislanta system I would probably use the second edition due to my experience.  At the time of starting the campaign I was concerned with the out of print status of Talislanta so I skipped it; yes, I am aware that a large amount of formerly printed Talislanta products are available for download in free pdf form at the Talislanta Library.  I was the only person with a printed Talislanta rulebook but all of us had a B/X rulebook so Talislanta was eliminated.   

USR

This game system is even more rules-light than the B/X rules and someone else has already started doing a Moldvay Era conversion.  A Toldara campaign using this system is highly likely to happen at some point.

G is for GURPS

***********Just for the sake of clarity - the theme for my A to Z postings is gaming in the 1980's with my friends.*************

GURPS

Several of the products from Steve Jackson Games were played quite frequently by the members of our gaming group.  It all started with Car Wars.  We were thrilled to find a game and play experience that reminded us so much of Death Race 2000.  The price of the game -$3.95 - was enough to lure us quickly into snatching up more of the SJG pocket box games.  Some of our favorites included OGRE, G.E.V., Illuminati and One-Page Bulge.

One of my favorite contents included in the SJG game boxes was the catalog.  It was like a miniature SEARS catalog of gaming goodness with sections devoted to each product.  There are several I would have liked to have tried like Raid on Iran, Kung Fu 2000, and others.  The catalog also included a little blurb about the upcoming products by SJG that were going to be released sometime soon.  I enjoyed reading about the products I did not have and the products that were coming soon and then one day I noticed the product spotlight for an upcoming product that grabbed my attention - GURPS, the Generic Universal Role Playing System.  The announcement promised that this one system was all a group would need to play in any style of game they wanted.  Most companies did not do that and expected you to buy a new game with new rules for fantasy, western, science fiction, supers, or other gaming.  I read the further previews with great interest and waited for the release of the game.    

When the original boxed set of the rules were released I bought them at the game shop I used to frequent as much as possible at the time.  I took it home and started reading through the rules.  The more I read, the more I liked and blazed through them pretty quickly.  I thought it was extremely revolutionary that you actually designed your character from points, used advantages and disadvantages to "balance" your character, and also had a basic combat as well as advanced combat system; there was also tons of GM advice available in the rules.  I played through the included solo adventure - Caravan to Ein Arnis, I think? - and was pretty excited to see more.  In short time I purchased GURPS Man to Man (basically a slimmed down fantasy combat version of the system), GURPS Autoduel (roleplaying in the Car Wars universe), GURPS Cyberpunk, GURPS Fantasy, and GURPS Supers.  With these additional rules volumes it became apparent that not every genre would use the exact same rules - some would be added or changed from the core - but all of these different genres did use a basic starting point that was the same.  Everything else could be figured out or dealt with in a reasonable fashion since the core was intact.  I began jotting down notes and ideas for a campaign that I wanted to run everybody through.  I was next up in the Game Master rotation and I wanted to introduce the rest of the group to this awesome new system I had just learned.

It turned out that GURPS would become my single biggest disappointment in my gaming experience.  No, it wasn't from play experience or any other dissatisfaction with the system.  My gaming group had one simple problem with GURPS - they believed that all of those rulebooks were mandatory and voiced opinions such as "if we're going to need all of those rulebooks then we might as well just keep using D&D, Gamma World, and Star Frontiers".  I tried in vain to convince them otherwise but Jamie was the only one that would listen.  We played around with Man to Man a few times but never did get a GURPS campaign going.  I would occasionally pick up future GURPS supplements - they are generally so informative that they can be used for other games - and even bought GURPS 3rd Edition even though I knew that none of my gaming buddies would give it a shot.  It remains a system I am highly interested in using.  Perhaps I will get the chance someday?

[Rant] My Experience Using D&D Meetup

*Note: this is just my experience with using the local D&D Meetup service one time. I'm sure some others have had similar experiences but I'm also sure that many others have had a good experience using this same service. Put simply, the experience was pretty lame but it was the person encountered that was the source of my disappointment and not the service itself. ****

I used to play a ton of RPG's.  I started with D&D/AD&D back in 1980.  Over the years, I tried many other games from DC Heroes, Marvel Super Heroes, Champions, Fantasy Hero, Villains & Vigilantes, Super World, Car Wars, GURPS, RIFTS, Talislanta, Palladium Fantasy, and many other numerous titles.  The old faithful lineup of RPG's that I continuously played through the 1980's until I graduated high school in 1991 consisted of AD&D, RIFTS, Talislanta, Villains & Vigilantes, and Palladium Fantasy.

A month after I graduated from high school I left for the Army.  I didn't play a lot while I was in the military but I did keep up with gaming in general, discovered Magic: The Gathering, and did actually play a few sessions of AD&D.  I left the Army in 2000 and returned home.  Most of my old gaming buddies had either left the hobby or moved out of town.  I had virtually no face to face gaming available.  One bright spot is that I did introduce my cousin, Alex, to 3E and we still hook up to play occasionally. We have also been developing a shared campaign world, Toldara, for several years.

I tried to overcome this absence of face to face role-playing by finding other outlets.  After some internet searches, I ran across some PBP games, message board games, PBEM games, and also heard of MEETUP. I don't know the exact time frame but I registered for the local D&D meetup around the time of 4E's release.  IIRC, the Pathfinder Alpha was out but the completely playtested Pathfinder Core Rulebook was not released yet.

I was on the D&D Meetup site for only a short time before I got contacted.  It sounded pretty good to me because the people were in Tulsa; about 25 miles from my location. We agreed to meeet halfway between our locations at Panera Bread.  We ordered some drinks and discussed our RPG experience and what kind of gaming we enjoyed.  It seemed like a really good match so we decided to meet again and try to gather some more people.

The next meeting took place at their house.  I brought my cousin, Alex, with me as a recruit.  At this point, there were 4 of us - Alex, me, and the two players we met.  The guy - I'll call him "Dick" - was interested in being the DM. He had all sorts of ideas for a campaign world, some adventures, and even some house rules.  Dick mentioned that his girlfriend - I'll call her "Jane" - would be playing her first game with us so it might be slow going at first.  No problem there. Dick also mentioned that he was talking to 2 other players about joining the game.  At the end of that meeting, we had decided on the rules system (3.5E with some early Pathfinder stuff), made characters (Alex, Jane, & me), and decided to meet again in 2 weeks for our first game session.

Two weeks pass and we (Alex & I) show up at Dick & Jane's to play.  The other two players - I'll call them "Will" and "Wendy" - had showed up earlier so they could create characters with the house rules available to them during the process.  I remember that Will and Wendy had printed out some really cool character sheets from some website.  It was nice to see everyone was ready to start playing before the start of the game.  We introduced ourselves, had some idle chit chat, and then got ready to play.

The game session lasted for approximately 4 hours.  The length was just about right. It wasn't too short for the drive involved. It also wasn't too long and drawn out either.  The session was fun with no rules lawyering or any of that silliness.  Everyone appeared to have a great time.  We ended the session and then agreed to have another meeting in two weeks again. 

One week passed and I was looking forward to another game session.  I checked my email and received a message from Dick.  He explained that the group "just wasn't working out for him" and decided to tell Will and Wendy they would not be invited back.  I tried exchanging messages with him and getting a good reason but he wouldn't give one.  Eventually, I got pretty irritated because he didn't give a group of strangers a chance to gel and didn't even give the other 4 of us a chance to continue playing with a new DM or one of us taking over as DM.  I promptly unregistered from the D&D MEETUP group and have yet to take another chance on gaming outside my circle of friends.

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edit - some text got erased when posting - d'oh!