INTRODUCTION Aren’t Generic Systems

Inherently Dull and

GURPS stands for Generic Universal Roleplaying System. The name was Lacking in Flavor?
originally a joke, used as a placeholder while the writers tried to think of something To some extent, that is
to call it. Somehow they never came up with anything better and decades later, they true. GURPS mitigates this
are still using it. inherent weakness by
having optional rules which
change the way the game
Why Should I Try GURPS? feels. While the default
Because it’s a generic system, you can run almost any game in it and there is rules set is roughly intended
really, really good support for a lot of genres. The books are written by people who to simulate realism with a
know what they are talking about and have some of the highest editorial standards in slight bias towards heroic
action, you can easily add
the industry.
‘cinematic’ rules to make
The rules are comprehensive, with detailed systems for not just combat and magic, things more dramatic or
but social engineering, chases, inventing strange devices, crafting, managing an army meta-game options to give
and even farming. However, they mostly use a few simple mechanics and almost all players more control over
of them are optional. You can pick the rules you want to use in order to give detail to the narrative.
things you care about and gloss over other stuff with simple generic mechanics.

Where Do I Start?
A good first step is to try the free version of the rules GURPS Lite. That should
give you a basic understanding of most of the important rules. Note that the games
you can really run in GURPS Lite are kind of limited to medieval historical or low
fantasy, which is only a fraction of what GURPS can do.
Once you’ve looked at that, you can move on to the two books of the Basic Set.
These have most of the rules material for the system.
If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed, there are a couple of books just to help
people understand the system better: GURPS for Dummies and How to Be a GURPS
GM.

What Other books do I need?

You don’t really need any more than the Basic Set, but the following are some of
the best of the system:
• Powers is the basis for a lot of exotic abilities written up elsewhere and adds
considerable detail to the Advantages from the Basic Set as well as some new
rules and loads of examples. Any Books to Avoid?
• Action 2: Exploits adds a lot of rules for making GURPS less realistic and Magic and Ultra-Tech
more abstract, which speeds the system up a lot. It also includes excellent both suffered badly from
chase rules and a bunch of good advice. being some of the first
books published for fourth
• Power-Ups 3: Talents compiles all the various Talent advantages published in edition and rushed editing.
a bunch of different books and adds interesting new rules which make them Although most of the
more than just a way of getting skills cheaper. content is usable, there are
a few balance issues and
• Low-Tech is the gear catalog for ancient, medieval and fantasy settings, but screwed-up tables. Be sure
also has a load of stuff which will be useful in any game since almost every to check the errata.
 PC eventually finds themselves having to survive with primitive technology. It
I Heard There Was also re-balances some of the weapons from the Basic Set.
Ridiculously
Complicated Math I Don’t Like the Default Magic System, What are my Options?
Involved… Alternative magic systems are generally found in the Thaumatology line. The main
GURPS reputation for Thaumatology book has a couple of complete systems (notably Path / Book Magic,
mathematical complexity is which gives a great low-fantasy feel) and options for customizing the default system a
a bit overstated and mostly lot plus guidelines for writing a new one.
a hold-over from the 3rd
edition Vehicles Or you can pick up one of the supplements which add new magic systems:
supplement. However there • Sorcery is an Advantage-based system which gives casters some flexibility.
are quite a few points The downside is that it has an incomplete spell list, so you will have to do
during character creation some work, or use unofficial sources.
where you will have to
• Chinese Elemental Powers is also advantage based, but considerably less
multiply or divide some
numbers, so you may want flexible. It is however a complete ready-to-go system and has a very
a calculator when doing interesting feel.
that. Some optional rules do • Ritual Path Magic is probably the most popular of the alternative magic
have a fair bit of difficult systems. It allows casters to come up with spells in play, defining their effects
stuff, but you never need to based on a flexible set of rules.
use them.
There are also systems which are similar to Ritual Path Magic in the Discworld
The Skill List is Huge! Roleplaying Game and Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic.
Yes, but don’t be alarmed.
Most skills can be used at
default and there are
Advantages like Wild Talent
and Jack of All Trades
(from Power-Ups 3) which
make that easier if you
forgot to get something you
need.
But if you want a much
shorter skill list, check out
Power-Ups 7: Wildcard
Skills. Wildcard skills are
much broader than normal
skills and allow you to What Settings Are Available?
bypass a lot of fiddly detail. Pretty much any setting you like can be run in GURPS, but the official, published
Where Can I Find ones include:
More Detailed Combat • The Madness Dossier, a horror world where the heroes are trying to defend
Rules? reality against monstrous beings who want to return it to the original timeline
Mostly in the Martial Arts where they ruled the Earth.
line (in GURPS the term • Banestorm, a fantasy setting populated by people snatched from across the
‘martial arts’ includes multiverse. Notable for having real world religions alongside elves, etc.
basically all forms of • Lands Out of Time, where dinosaurs and cavemen live alongside each other.
combat training, including
• Alchemical Baroque, a fantasy world more based on fairy tales than Tolkien.
Western weapon forms and
even firearms). For gun • Tales of the Solar Patrol, retro space opera.
rules, check out Tactical There are also a number of adaptations of existing franchises, such as Mars
Shooting (realistic) or Gun- Attacks, Discworld and the Vorkosigan Saga plus some sourcebooks which don’t
Fu (cinematic). exactly have a setting as such, but provide detailed guidance for running games is a
particular genre, such as Dungeon Fantasy (old-school dungeon crawling), Monster
Hunters (modern-day urban fantasy where you hunt vampires, demons, and other
horrors) and After the End (post-apocalyptic).
Official Sources

LINKS If you illegally download

GURPS products and find
The GURPSgen MEGA archive contains many GURPS books. In order to avoid them entertaining or useful,
bots taking down the archive, the link is presented in a human-legible format which consider paying for legal
is difficult for machines to read. Manually type the following into your browser’s copies from
www.warehouse23.com
address bar:

If you want to add material to the archive, the logon details are:

GURPS Character Sheet

This useful app manages your character traits:
www.gurpscharactersheet.com
Simple user guide:
• Create a character sheet using 'file – new character sheet'.
• Open a trait library by clicking in the menu on the left.
• Select a trait you want to add to the character from the menu on the right.
• Copy it to the character sheet by using 'item – copy to character sheet'.
• Edit it by double clicking on the character sheet.
• Traits and items can be placed in 'containers', to group them.
• Create a new container by using the item menu.
• Existing traits and items can be dragged and dropped into containers
Wikis
gurps.wikia.com
gurpswiki.wikidot.com