40th Anniversary EditionPrevious thread: >>98094907GURPS is a modular, adaptable system, capable of running a wide range of characters, settings, and play styles, with a level of detail varying from lightweight to completely autistic.Optional rules allow you to emulate different genres with a single system, or even switch genres within a single game.A nearly complete archive of GURPS books can be found by using the image. Never post direct links to the archive anywhere in plain text.If you're wondering where to start:- The Basic Set covers everything, including a lot of optional rules you probably won't use.- A genre guide can be found in the archive, under Unofficial/GURPSgen. It tells you what extra books and articles you may find useful for many common genres.- How to Be a GURPS GM is a good read even for players.- GCS (gurpscharactersheet.com) is an excellent character-builder software, with page references to all the books and the option to export to both Foundry and Fantasy Grounds.The GURPS Basic Set Fourth Edition Revised is supposed to come out on 2026-07-31.TQ: How long have you been into GURPS? Are you a 40-year true believer? Or are you a newfag who's been around only for the 20 years of Fourth Edition?
>>98303023https://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/2026-07-03
I have been playing only since 2009 but D&D and GURPS are basically all I know
>>98303023>TQI am a newfag, please forgive me. Only started around 2022 and hosted a few short games for friends. I need to get back into it.
>>98303023>TQ: How long have you been into GURPS? Are you a 40-year true believer? Or are you a newfag who's been around only for the 20 years of Fourth Edition?27 years. I remember the hardtack-biscuit armor memes (back then they were known as 'in-jokes'). The great tomahawk debates. The horrors of third edition superpowers. The joy of vehicle design with only paper, pencil, and abacus.
>>98303023Got into GURPS about 4 years ago.
So you know how Power-Ups 5: Impulse Buys has Impulse Points and an optional rule that lets PCs buy refreshable IP?I'm planning to try out the opposite for my next game. I call them "Doom Points": basically a disadvantage that PCs can take to give refreshable IP to NPCs to spend (but only for things that directly negatively affect the PC), or to inflict temporary disadvantages on the PC that last for one scene (at a rate of 1 DP per 5 points worth of disadvantages; preferably a worse version of an existing disadvantage, or something that makes sense given the situation or a character's backstory; e.g., spend 3 DP to inflict Bad Back (Mild) after a PC fails to lift something). This differs from the GM planning bad stuff to happen that's just simply part of the adventure, because this bypasses any Appearance/Reaction/Resistance Roll and can afford to be more narratively contrived. This is also how I run ambiguous disadvantages like Unluckiness and Cursed, treating these disadvantages as refreshable Doom Points equivalent to their character point value.I wonder if anyone else has ever tried something similar to this?
>>98303023I'm new, been playing since 2006. It was my algebra teacher in high school who was my first GM. I've been playing ever since then. Very excited to read the new revised version. I'm wondering how they'll ruin it.
>>98305707I really don't like any extra resource management in my GURPS
The last thread talking about how GURPS is missing out on not having any video game adaptations got me thinking. How exactly would character progression and points be rewarded in a GURPS video game? Since there aren't any levels or experience for characters to gain by default, would most points be acquired through milestones and achievements? Beating main and side quests could be the main source of new points, but there could also be plenty of hidden challenges to discover that are also rewarding.
>>98307584I think it would have to be mission-based like the Shadowrun games, and then you get to pick stuff after a mission
>>98307584GURPS already has video-game-esque rules for character-point rewards. See Dungeon Fantasy 3 p. 42 (kill-based) and Dungeon Fantasy 21 p. 10 (loot-based).
>>98307707I believe something kill-based would detract from the experience that makes GURPS stand out from other systems (this is purely in reference to the idea of making a video game adaptation for it). Getting rewarded for kills would be just the same as most of the existing titles out there. You would want something that plays to the strengths of GURPS more, something that emulates its average tabletop experience.Loot-based is interesting and the game Underrail offers that as an option compared to traditional experience. But I've seen other players say it's not the most popular option because a lot of the curios you have to find for xp are well hidden and annoying to get. A different game could improve upon that formula.
>>98307741>the game Underrail offers that as an option compared to traditional experienceWhen I say "loot-based", I mean OSR-style (based on the value of loot recovered), not Underrail-style (based on finding unique "oddity" items).
brvtal...
>>98307942I see.
>>98308004One child policy moment
>>98307584I like the idea of tying it to success rolls. Each time you succeed you get rewarded with character points. Seems fair to me.
How hard is GURPS to learn? I want to try it with friends but they have never played a TTRPG before.
>>98312002As a player, trivial. As a GM, it can be pretty daunting, depending on your game concept. There's a lot of published material, and you'll want to figure out what you want to use, in addition to learning the system so you can run it for other people.However, from my experience spending a very long time fine tuning every little aspect of a modern action game to my liking, the Basic Set has 80-90% of everything you need, and additional books are typically either gear books and reference works, guidance on how to use the Basic rules for specific cases, or an expansion of the existing rules.You can ask the thread what books you should look at for your campaign concept, but as mentioned Basic Set has most of everything you need, and you can start by reading it and picking what you'll omit from it.
>>98312002What TTRPG have you game-mastered for already?
>>98312298None.
>>98312002If you have a good memory for rules it's no harder than anything elseI'm good at improvising but my brain is Swiss cheese when it comes to rules so my games have always had a distinctly Calvinball quality, doesn't necessarily bother the players though
>>98312002Series like Action, After the End, Dungeon Fantasy, and Monster Hunters can do a LOT of heavy lifting for greenhorn GMs looking to run those sorts of games (modern fast-paced action, post-apoc, not!D&D, and WoD/Buffy/Supernatural, respectively). Other Anon is right that all you need is 90% in the Basic Set, but a series helps a) get that last 10%, b) organize it in a useful way for both players and GMs, and c) give a lot of very useful shortcuts.Strongly recommend checking them out. IMO Action and AtE are the best but check whatever you think your players would like the most.
>>98312304Yeah. I found that the 3d6 universal mechanic was elegant. If you're not sure how to decide on an outcome, its good for that. GURPS gives you rigorous rule to manage whatever you want to make happen in your game and then you the GM use what you like and remove what you don't if you feel it it too simulationist for you or your players. The game give you all types of means to roleplay many scenarios and doesn't let you down in a "you can roleplay that" kind of way. It is not, however an easy rpg to get into, but learning to be a GM with this system is like getting a degree in rpgs (It is 600 pages after all).
Can picrel read gurps pdf files comfortably with the 7" screen? Or is the 10" Elipsa better?
>>98315829I'd reccomendo to transform the into epub with a curated index.PDFs in ebook readers are bound to cause problems.
>>98315829The PDFs are of pages meant to be printed on something around 8.5x11" pages (roughly 14" across), and GURPS text is generally on the smaller end with a thin font. Once you crunch down a page to fit on a 10" screen, let alone a 7" screen, it'll be a hard-to-read mess. Zooming is technically possible, but most ereader UIs aren't responsive enough to make it not feel like total ass to use (at least in my experience).Converting to an epub is possible, but I haven't messed with it recently enough to say it's viable. It certainly wasn't when I tried it, but that was forever ago when I tried to put my GURPS books on my firstgen kindle paperwhite. Hopefully text parsers nowadays are a bit better at handling things like multiple columns, tables, and insert boxes.
>>98312002>How hard is GURPS to learn? I want to try it with friends but they have never played a TTRPG before.GURPS is extremely modular in design, so it's only as hard as you want it to be. What kind of game do you want to run?
>>98312002Not that hard, you can probably learn how to play GURPS. It's been done before. Read the books and then remember where the rules are so you can reference them as needed.
How much DR does Thanos have? Remember when Iron Man rocket punches him and he just bleeds a little.
