The Inside Scoop on Gaming

GURPS is as much a cornerstone of this hobby as any other game on the market. It has hordes of fanaticly devoted fans, staggering amounts of supplement, and lots of other nifties. However it also suffers from it's share of flaws, as well.

Action resolution: A rather simple and easy to use dice mechanic. 3D6 vs. target number(Usually a skill or attribute) plus or minus modifiers. Viola! You can now roll dice the GURPS way.

Charcter Creation: The important thing to remember here is that all stages of Character Creation use Charater Points to build a charcter. Start with a concept(remember to pick an age at this point, it will be important later on), then buy your attributes. Simple enough, yes. You then move to Status/Wealth/Appearance advantages/disadvantages. After that come the rest of the Advantages and Disadvantages. Here you may hit a few bumps as there are a heck of a lot Advantages and Disadvantages to choose from and not all of them may be appropriate for your game. You can also choose quirks for a paltry amount of extra character pointsAfter this comes the real confusing part. Skill purchase requires your character's age. You can only spend twice your character's age for skills. It is here that I encountered the most confusion as the skill system seems to be immense. It has skills covering every little possible thing. Then comes the hard part, defaulting. Buying up a default confused me the most. After skills comes charcter calculations, which are relatively simple and mostly time-saving devices. The only saving grace is that they provide a sample charcter for your to follow along with. I would have been completely lost without it. There is also a method for random charcter generation, but I wouldn't recommend using it.

Combat: The next section covers the "least important" part of many role-playing games, combat. It comes in two flavors basic and advanced. My first thought upon reading the basic combat section was that I didn't want to see the advanced. It is easily the most complicated part of the entire game.

Nifties: After skipping through the next 9 chapters(mostly combat-related), I get to my favorite part. Now it is here that I must make a confession. I use role-playing as the metaphor for the violent, male-driven society and lack of sensitvity in today's culture. Yes, friends, I am a semi-reformed munchkin. The nifties are kinda hit and miss on this part. The magic system is complicated beyond belief and severe on the character if you roll poorly(summoning demons on a bad roll=severe ouch. The psionics chapter is lot more easy to use and a hell of a lot less painful for the poor charcter.

As a related nifties topic, they have included a small pamphlet. Now I know this small pamphlet has had different stuff from printing to printing. My first copy had extra Ads, Disads, and Skills. My second copy came with GURPS lite. GURPS lite helps a little with my confusion. It doesn't make everything clear but I'm sure I cut through it given time.

To end the nifties section, we have technology chapters which are suitably generic.

GM Stuff: Those nice fellers from SJG also include the typical GM advice chapter and a solo adventure for training newbies. There is also a full adventure, which differs from my last copy but I can't remember what was included in the last copy.

General opinion: It's not a bad system. There is a lot of info there that just about anyone can use. If you can understand the system better than me, tell me what I've misunderstood. As a review, by nature, is subjective(as humans are, by nature, subjective), I may have missed some things.

Style: 2 (Needs Work)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GURPS: Basic Set, 3rd edition
Author: Steve Jackson with lots o' others Category: game Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: 12.95 (for my copy) Page count: 256 ISBN: 1-556340-127 SKU: SJG6022 Capsule Review by James Myint Jr. on 03/16/00. Genre tags: Generic	GURPS is as much a cornerstone of this hobby as any other game on the market. It has hordes of fanaticly devoted fans, staggering amounts of supplement, and lots of other nifties. However it also suffers from it's share of flaws, as well. Action resolution: A rather simple and easy to use dice mechanic. 3D6 vs. target number(Usually a skill or attribute) plus or minus modifiers. Viola! You can now roll dice the GURPS way. Charcter Creation: The important thing to remember here is that all stages of Character Creation use Charater Points to build a charcter. Start with a concept(remember to pick an age at this point, it will be important later on), then buy your attributes. Simple enough, yes. You then move to Status/Wealth/Appearance advantages/disadvantages. After that come the rest of the Advantages and Disadvantages. Here you may hit a few bumps as there are a heck of a lot Advantages and Disadvantages to choose from and not all of them may be appropriate for your game. You can also choose quirks for a paltry amount of extra character pointsAfter this comes the real confusing part. Skill purchase requires your character's age. You can only spend twice your character's age for skills. It is here that I encountered the most confusion as the skill system seems to be immense. It has skills covering every little possible thing. Then comes the hard part, defaulting. Buying up a default confused me the most. After skills comes charcter calculations, which are relatively simple and mostly time-saving devices. The only saving grace is that they provide a sample charcter for your to follow along with. I would have been completely lost without it. There is also a method for random charcter generation, but I wouldn't recommend using it. Combat: The next section covers the "least important" part of many role-playing games, combat. It comes in two flavors basic and advanced. My first thought upon reading the basic combat section was that I didn't want to see the advanced. It is easily the most complicated part of the entire game. Nifties: After skipping through the next 9 chapters(mostly combat-related), I get to my favorite part. Now it is here that I must make a confession. I use role-playing as the metaphor for the violent, male-driven society and lack of sensitvity in today's culture. Yes, friends, I am a semi-reformed munchkin. The nifties are kinda hit and miss on this part. The magic system is complicated beyond belief and severe on the character if you roll poorly(summoning demons on a bad roll=severe ouch. The psionics chapter is lot more easy to use and a hell of a lot less painful for the poor charcter. As a related nifties topic, they have included a small pamphlet. Now I know this small pamphlet has had different stuff from printing to printing. My first copy had extra Ads, Disads, and Skills. My second copy came with GURPS lite. GURPS lite helps a little with my confusion. It doesn't make everything clear but I'm sure I cut through it given time. To end the nifties section, we have technology chapters which are suitably generic. GM Stuff: Those nice fellers from SJG also include the typical GM advice chapter and a solo adventure for training newbies. There is also a full adventure, which differs from my last copy but I can't remember what was included in the last copy. General opinion: It's not a bad system. There is a lot of info there that just about anyone can use. If you can understand the system better than me, tell me what I've misunderstood. As a review, by nature, is subjective(as humans are, by nature, subjective), I may have missed some things. Style: 2 (Needs Work) Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GURPS: Basic Set, 3rd edition