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I love watching Zombie movies...well I shouldn't say love because they scare the Hell out of me, but I like'em. Halloween is also one of my favorite times of the year, all sorts of scary stuff, and we ought to celebrate it! Steve Jackson Games has aided in this celebration with a wonderful book on the undead, which is titled appropriately enough GURPS Undead.

Ooh, its nice. It looks nice, and has some of the finest historical/cultural background that I have ever found in a product of its type. It covers religion and the undead, awakening the undead, dealing with the undead, all sorts of stuff that will have you nailing boards across your windows at night. Then the book goes into a discussion of all sorts of undead types of things: zombies, vampires, ghosts, revenants, wraiths, and other critters that go bump in the night. This is good well-written game information, but it pales next to the background information for two reasons. Number one, it refers to a lot of other GURPS books. Now in all fairness the back cover says that GURPS basic set, and Compendium I are required, while Grimoire, Magic, Religion, and Voodoo are recommended. That's still a lot of books to sort through, and while this book summarizes some information from the other books, sometimes it offers just a brief comment...which means you've got to crack open another ! book to understand exactly what's going on. I do complain and fault this, but it is a nice effort toward being comprehensive and for that it should be applauded. Number two, this information on undead type critters is repeated in a number of other GURPS books: Atomic Horror, Black Ops, Blood Types, Creatures of the Night, and Horror. I kind of wondered, "Do we need another undead book?" These things just keep rising up out of the ground.

This is a good solid book, which summarizes a lot of information in other parts of the GURPS line, some of which is out of print. Is this book essential? No, but it makes a nice resource. If you like Halloween, then you'll like this book. You may find yourself leafing through your first Compendium and other books, but that's a price worth paying. This book gets a solid "B."

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)