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Undead are a common feature of horror and fantasy RPGs - and usually they fall into two categories: shambling mindless cannon fodder, or vile super villains that have cheated death. Well, Sean Punch's thoroughly researched Undead Worldbook is here to free us of those tired cliches.

The book follows the established layout of GURPS worldbooks - background, details, characters and campaigns. It opens with an indepth look at the folklore and history of undead around the world. It's worth highlighting that this book doesn't just look at the corporeal undead like zombies and vampires, but also the incoporeal undead like ghosts and specters.

Next up is a detailed discussion of the different types of undead entities, along with their particular strengths and weaknesses. This is followed by a chapter on how to codify you undead creations in GURPS terms, with discussions on appropriate advantages and disadvantages, and how to interpret them in this context.

The wonderfully entitled 'Morturary' chapter is next, with detailed writeups on the most common types of undead - this is much more than just a bestiary though, with a double page spread given to each type of undead, and treats them as characters rather than cannon fodder.

The characters chapter looks are the living characters to interact with the unded - priests, chanellers, slayers and the like. Finally the campaign section gives clues on how to incorporate the undead into your campaign, or build an entire campaign around them.

Artwork throughout is good quality line art - the usual GURPS fair: ie. nice enough but not particularly insipring, and the general layout will be familiar to anyone who's ever picked up a GURPS book before.

The book refers heavily to other GURPS world books - Compendium I and Magic in particular. Personally I don't mind this as it prevents wasting space duplicating rules in different books.

If you have any passing interest in the Undead, and intend to use then in your games at all - no matter what system you use - this book is highly recomended.

GURPS Undead
GURPS Undead Capsule Review by Gee4orce on 10/06/02 Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!) Excellent and thorough treatment of this poular RPG subject. Product: GURPS Undead Author: Sean Punch Category: RPG Company/Publisher: Steve Jackson Games Line: GURPS Cost: £12.99 UKP Page count: 128 Year published: 2001 ISBN: SKU: Comp copy?: no Capsule Review by Gee4orce on 10/06/02 Genre tags: Fantasy Modern day Horror Conspiracy Vampire Gothic Generic	Undead are a common feature of horror and fantasy RPGs - and usually they fall into two categories: shambling mindless cannon fodder, or vile super villains that have cheated death. Well, Sean Punch's thoroughly researched Undead Worldbook is here to free us of those tired cliches. The book follows the established layout of GURPS worldbooks - background, details, characters and campaigns. It opens with an indepth look at the folklore and history of undead around the world. It's worth highlighting that this book doesn't just look at the corporeal undead like zombies and vampires, but also the incoporeal undead like ghosts and specters. Next up is a detailed discussion of the different types of undead entities, along with their particular strengths and weaknesses. This is followed by a chapter on how to codify you undead creations in GURPS terms, with discussions on appropriate advantages and disadvantages, and how to interpret them in this context. The wonderfully entitled 'Morturary' chapter is next, with detailed writeups on the most common types of undead - this is much more than just a bestiary though, with a double page spread given to each type of undead, and treats them as characters rather than cannon fodder. The characters chapter looks are the living characters to interact with the unded - priests, chanellers, slayers and the like. Finally the campaign section gives clues on how to incorporate the undead into your campaign, or build an entire campaign around them. Artwork throughout is good quality line art - the usual GURPS fair: ie. nice enough but not particularly insipring, and the general layout will be familiar to anyone who's ever picked up a GURPS book before. The book refers heavily to other GURPS world books - Compendium I and Magic in particular. Personally I don't mind this as it prevents wasting space duplicating rules in different books. If you have any passing interest in the Undead, and intend to use then in your games at all - no matter what system you use - this book is highly recomended.

GURPS Undead