The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Designing Characters in Steve Jackson's GURPS can be a very involved process. The Advantage/Disadvantage/Skill system works very well but is full of exceptions and optional rules that can be very difficult to keep track of, especially after initial character generation. Thus, several programs have been written over the years to aid players and GM's alike in designing and keeping track of their characters.

After downloading a full unregistered version of GURPS Character Assistant v2.12 from www.teleport.com/~armin/gca/index.html and entering some of my favorite characters into it, I can honestly say that I've finally found a worthy replacement for the aging MAKECHAR by Bill Seuer.

GCA is an impressive character creation engine that runs in Windows 95 (as opposed to MAKECHAR's DOS home) and has a library of data files covering virtually every GURPS rulebook and worldbook, all available on the homepage both individually and in package form.

In the spirit of GURPS' broad spectrum of genres, GCA's star feature is its customizeability - skills, advantages, and disadvantages can all be modified extensively, including renaming them completely and manually changing their point values on the fly. This is a great step forward in flexibility from older software packages, which generally required that you edit the data files first, outside the program.

GCA's data files can also be modified directly, of course. They are editable in any standard text editor, such as Notepad. The GCA website also features a free add-on program that assists you in modifying or creating your own data files.

The data files are loaded through the program's preferences section, which remembers your last-used data set and stores it for fast program loading. You can also create custom data sets which make organization of data files easier.

Printing is very clean and well set-up, including support for a BMP-formatted character portrait (GCA's web site also has numerous links to character portrait templates and full-blown artwork). Printing can also be customized through the program preferences.

The program isn't absolutely perfected yet, however. There is currently no support for equipment (though this is planned for version 3.0). Related to the lack of equipment is a lack of any weapon data on the character sheet.

I'd like to see a bit more on the character sheet print-out as well. A widow/orphan control for advantages and disadvantages would help to keep things clear, as lone disadvantages tend to be overlooked at the top of the second page when printed and the option of printing a "grimoire"-style list of spells would be helpful, too.

Still, the core character-building mechanics of this program more than make up for these drawbacks. The copy I reviewed was a shareware full version with a 30-day trial period, but I've already bought my own copy after just a few days.

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

GURPS Character Assistant v 2.12
Author: Armin D. Sykes Category: Computer Character Creation Program Company/Publisher: N/A Cost: $17.00 Page count: n/a ISBN: n/a Capsule Review by Morgan Davey on 03/13/98. Genre tags: none	Designing Characters in Steve Jackson's GURPS can be a very involved process. The Advantage/Disadvantage/Skill system works very well but is full of exceptions and optional rules that can be very difficult to keep track of, especially after initial character generation. Thus, several programs have been written over the years to aid players and GM's alike in designing and keeping track of their characters. After downloading a full unregistered version of GURPS Character Assistant v2.12 from www.teleport.com/~armin/gca/index.html and entering some of my favorite characters into it, I can honestly say that I've finally found a worthy replacement for the aging MAKECHAR by Bill Seuer. GCA is an impressive character creation engine that runs in Windows 95 (as opposed to MAKECHAR's DOS home) and has a library of data files covering virtually every GURPS rulebook and worldbook, all available on the homepage both individually and in package form. In the spirit of GURPS' broad spectrum of genres, GCA's star feature is its customizeability - skills, advantages, and disadvantages can all be modified extensively, including renaming them completely and manually changing their point values on the fly. This is a great step forward in flexibility from older software packages, which generally required that you edit the data files first, outside the program. GCA's data files can also be modified directly, of course. They are editable in any standard text editor, such as Notepad. The GCA website also features a free add-on program that assists you in modifying or creating your own data files. The data files are loaded through the program's preferences section, which remembers your last-used data set and stores it for fast program loading. You can also create custom data sets which make organization of data files easier. Printing is very clean and well set-up, including support for a BMP-formatted character portrait (GCA's web site also has numerous links to character portrait templates and full-blown artwork). Printing can also be customized through the program preferences. The program isn't absolutely perfected yet, however. There is currently no support for equipment (though this is planned for version 3.0). Related to the lack of equipment is a lack of any weapon data on the character sheet. I'd like to see a bit more on the character sheet print-out as well. A widow/orphan control for advantages and disadvantages would help to keep things clear, as lone disadvantages tend to be overlooked at the top of the second page when printed and the option of printing a "grimoire"-style list of spells would be helpful, too. Still, the core character-building mechanics of this program more than make up for these drawbacks. The copy I reviewed was a shareware full version with a 30-day trial period, but I've already bought my own copy after just a few days. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

GURPS Character Assistant v 2.12