The Inside Scoop on Gaming

History? "Yawn," you say. "An incessant series of battles, revolutions, and economic dullness. I don't want any history in my game," you say.

You're wrong.

GURPS Who's Who is a collection of 52 characters. These aren't just the usual collection of boring old fighters and mages. ("How can we make the third knight interesting?" "Um...he only has one leg and he's paranoid. And he likes oranges.")

No, these 52 characters are guaranteed be successful, because they already have been. Phil Masters, the compiler of Who's Who, selected the best entries from gamers who submitted write-ups of the most interesting, influential, and useful people in history.

(I was lucky enough to be a playtester, so the more skeptical readers may wish to take my advice with this in mind. To the less skeptical readers: Hey, my name's in the list of playtest credits! How could you not want to buy something with my name on it?)

Anyways, Phil Masters was conscientious about choosing folks other than dead white males. Nine of the characters are female and about a dozen or so are non-Europeans. (All 52, however, are dead.)

The characters available run the gamut from Vlad Tepes, a psychopathic dictator who is the basis for Dracula, to Tycho Brahe, the only famous astronomer with a copper nose, to Albert Einstein, everyone's favorite pacifistic physicist that was ever offered the presidency of Israel.

Besides being in a variety of different roles (scientist, politician, monarch, explorer) the fifty-two characters come from all sorts of different times, ranging from 1300 BCE up to 1970 CE. If your party is time travelling somewhen, your GM can find at least one interesting encounter just by opening this book.

"But wait!", you claim, "I don't play time travel adventures. My play group only does fantasy games."

Ah. Here's where the real selling point of GURPS Who's Who is.

The secret is to use these 52 characters as NPCs, without telling your players that you are! Instead of having another stereotypical scientist in your Black Ops campaign, use a brilliant but wildly eccentric Croatian -- Nikola Tesla. Instead of having another Maniacal Conqueror in your fantasy campaign, have an amazingly charismatic and driven strategic genius -- Alexander the Great.

This technique can be extended almost indefinitely. You don't even need to stick to characters from the same Tech Level. Characters such as Xenophon, Richard Burton, and Richelieu can be used anywhere, and any time.

If this wasn't enough, each character has a "What If" sidebar, giving even more ideas about how to use him or her in your games, listing some alternate histories involving the figure, and even how to use the character in a conspiratorial or magical world. (My personal favorite is using Joan of Arc in a fantasy setting. Your tastes may vary -- you can do some fun things with Aristotle or da Vinci.)

Artistically speaking, the book is pretty good with a few exceptions. The page layout and general design are excellent. The entire page is used in an aesthetically pleasing manner. (I personally appreciate the fractal watermark in the upper right hand corner of the page.)

The art is usually pretty good. The Dan Smith portraits are consistently very nice. The post-card like collages for Mozart and Darwin are quite good, and the picture of the bust of Julius Caesar actually works. On the other hand, the pictures used for Benjamin Franklin, Elizabeth I, and Catherine di Medici are frankly unattractive and don't fit in well. Plus, someone tell whoever drew Harriet Tubman and Emperor Norton to go easy on the facial highlights.

So, GURPS Who's Who is interesting and thought-provoking to read through. It's eminently and easily usable in practically any game, and is filled with opportunities for interesting characters. I highly recommend it.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS Who's Who 1
Author: Compiled by Phil Masters Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: $19.95 Page count: 128 ISBN: 1-55634-367-1 SKU: 6088 Playtest Review by Sam Lindsay-Levine on 08/05/99. Genre tags: Historical Generic	History? "Yawn," you say. "An incessant series of battles, revolutions, and economic dullness. I don't want any history in my game," you say. You're wrong. GURPS Who's Who is a collection of 52 characters. These aren't just the usual collection of boring old fighters and mages. ("How can we make the third knight interesting?" "Um...he only has one leg and he's paranoid. And he likes oranges.") No, these 52 characters are guaranteed be successful, because they already have been. Phil Masters, the compiler of Who's Who, selected the best entries from gamers who submitted write-ups of the most interesting, influential, and useful people in history. (I was lucky enough to be a playtester, so the more skeptical readers may wish to take my advice with this in mind. To the less skeptical readers: Hey, my name's in the list of playtest credits! How could you not want to buy something with my name on it?) Anyways, Phil Masters was conscientious about choosing folks other than dead white males. Nine of the characters are female and about a dozen or so are non-Europeans. (All 52, however, are dead.) The characters available run the gamut from Vlad Tepes, a psychopathic dictator who is the basis for Dracula, to Tycho Brahe, the only famous astronomer with a copper nose, to Albert Einstein, everyone's favorite pacifistic physicist that was ever offered the presidency of Israel. Besides being in a variety of different roles (scientist, politician, monarch, explorer) the fifty-two characters come from all sorts of different times, ranging from 1300 BCE up to 1970 CE. If your party is time travelling somewhen, your GM can find at least one interesting encounter just by opening this book. "But wait!", you claim, "I don't play time travel adventures. My play group only does fantasy games." Ah. Here's where the real selling point of GURPS Who's Who is. The secret is to use these 52 characters as NPCs, without telling your players that you are! Instead of having another stereotypical scientist in your Black Ops campaign, use a brilliant but wildly eccentric Croatian -- Nikola Tesla. Instead of having another Maniacal Conqueror in your fantasy campaign, have an amazingly charismatic and driven strategic genius -- Alexander the Great. This technique can be extended almost indefinitely. You don't even need to stick to characters from the same Tech Level. Characters such as Xenophon, Richard Burton, and Richelieu can be used anywhere, and any time. If this wasn't enough, each character has a "What If" sidebar, giving even more ideas about how to use him or her in your games, listing some alternate histories involving the figure, and even how to use the character in a conspiratorial or magical world. (My personal favorite is using Joan of Arc in a fantasy setting. Your tastes may vary -- you can do some fun things with Aristotle or da Vinci.) Artistically speaking, the book is pretty good with a few exceptions. The page layout and general design are excellent. The entire page is used in an aesthetically pleasing manner. (I personally appreciate the fractal watermark in the upper right hand corner of the page.) The art is usually pretty good. The Dan Smith portraits are consistently very nice. The post-card like collages for Mozart and Darwin are quite good, and the picture of the bust of Julius Caesar actually works. On the other hand, the pictures used for Benjamin Franklin, Elizabeth I, and Catherine di Medici are frankly unattractive and don't fit in well. Plus, someone tell whoever drew Harriet Tubman and Emperor Norton to go easy on the facial highlights. So, GURPS Who's Who is interesting and thought-provoking to read through. It's eminently and easily usable in practically any game, and is filled with opportunities for interesting characters. I highly recommend it. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS Who's Who 1