GURPS

[Adon]

GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System, by Steve Jackson Games

Chances are, if you've been hanging around pencil-and-paper role-playing games, you've heard of it.  Some people love it, others hate it, but it's definitely one of the big names in the game, along with D&D and the Storyteller system.  Here I'll give a very basic overview of it.

GURPS uses a point-buy system for character generation: you're given a pool of points with which to buy up stats and skills.  You can also buy Advantages: non-skill, non-stat things that improve a character, and can gain points from Disadvantages, which are supposed to hinder your character in some way.  Like any point-buy system, it is possible to abuse this by claiming a lot of points for an obscure disadvantage which is unlikely to ever come up in actual play.  They also vary the costs of skills according to their rarity in some cases, or their usefulness in others.  I personally would prefer they pick one or the other.  Finally, there's a neat little feature called Quirks: you get one character point for each of them.  They aren't disadvantages so much as little things which define your character: "Hates brocolli," or "Always wears something white" would be examples.  I do dig the idea of rewarding a player for coming up with a concept that will stand out in some way.

The use of skills is simple: roll 3d6, apply any modifiers the GM may assign to the task at hand, and if you get under your skill number you succeed.  One should note that all skills are based directly on a character's stats, which is a point of criticism: if you buy high stats, you can spend the minimum amount on the skills you want to get a high default, but with low stats your skills start low and you need to spend more points overall to raise them to a satisfactory level.  In other words, the game is skewed to favor high stats.

The holy grail of GURPS is realism.  The designers are firm in the belief that combat is dangerous and deadly in real life, and it certainly is in GURPS: no combat should be entered lightly because it's depressingly easy to get killed, no matter how experienced your character is.

It is also one of the big stickling points of the game: it's supposed to be a generic, universal system, but it shows its limitations the farther one moves away from gritty realism.  Creating the characters from Ranma would be hideously expensive if one wanted to be accurate, and it is known for breaking down at high power levels: GURPS Supers (their comic superhero sourcebook) is almost universally regarded as one of, if not the, worst.

Plus, while GURPS has a simple standard mechanic, it has a whole host of specific rules that tend to get bogged down in details.  In my experience, combat in GURPS is boring... there are simply too many details and exceptions around to keep track of, and way too much dice-rolling.  I just find it tedious and that it takes too long, which defeats the purpose.

While I've bitched a fair bit about this system, I haven't really touched on GURPS' strongest point: the sourcebooks.  There are tons of them, each dealing with a specific genre, and with a few notable exceptions, they are well-researched useful to just about anyone.  They generally give a nice, concise view of a genre or setting in a manner that is handy for a gamemaster.

GURPS is pretty much at the opposite end of the spectrum from Storyteller: it cares about exacting detail and mechanics.  And GURPS definitely has its share of supporters: many gamers swear by it.

I'm not one of them.  While I do like a certain level of detail, too much number-crunching gets tedious for me.  I would recommend their sourcebooks to anyone, whether they actually play GURPS or not.

In summary: GURPS is a game well suited for people who like low-powered, gritty realism and a lot of mechanical detail.  If that's your preference, you'll probably like this game.

If you prefer looser, higher powered, play-it-by-ear games, save yourself some headaches.  And don't even think about trying to come up with GURPS Dragonball Z.  Your brain will be oozing out of your ears when the numbers come rolling in.

[Halbarad]

My first experience with a tabletop RP was a GURPS system. Yes, it's definitely slanted towards high starting stats, but of the four main stats it's near impossible to get more than one of those more than 5 points higher than average. The GM who ran our games always allowed 200 point characters ("cinematic" levels; a standard off-the-street person is considered a 100 point character), and my usual character types-the brainy inventor or scholar-couldn't make it even to the maximum allowable IQ value without some HEAVY disadvantages (but as mentioned, there are a few high-value disad's that almost never come up in gameplay, like Anosmia-no sense of taste or smell).

The points and combat system aside (I agree wholeheartedly about GURPS combat) it's a good system for non-combat oriented games. It's got a vast array of skills across the dozens of supplements available, and if you want to make your own it's really not too hard to class its difficulty and key it to a stat-I had to make a "Billiards" skill for one of my characters to fit with one of his quirks.

In short, I'd recommend GURPS for any exploration- or puzzle-based game; the skill systems come in VERY handy for creating almost any kind of character in detail. But if you want a good hack 'n slash game, or even something with more than occasional combat, look elsewhere.

Final note: Check out the GURPS IOU (Illuminati University) supplement, even if you're not interested in the system itself. Utterly hilarious. :D