Quote from: Kaz;630037Hey guys, many thanks for the answers!

Can any of you speak to the binding issues I see popping up here and there?

I've had no problems with the two volumes of the Basic Set or High Tech after over a year of ownership and five months of heavy use.  I bought High Tech used and it was in good shape to begin with.  My copy of Tactical Shooting is softcover perfect bound and has held up well, although it doesn't get used nearly as often as the other 3 books do.

I picked up Powers and Low Tech for Christmas and they seem well put together, but I haven't had a chance to use either of them beyond a cursory skim.

Anecdotally, I've seen SJ Games be pretty responsive to complaints about binding issues when they have popped up.

The first printing of Characters had terrible bindings and SJG replaced them for anyone who asked.  They haven't cheaped out on bindings since.

If only Battle Front was half as respectable.

Quote from: David Johansen;630064The first printing of Characters had terrible bindings and SJG replaced them for anyone who asked.  

Not for me

Three emails and I never got a response

9 years later I've still got a book with a broken spine (on the plus side pages haven't actually ever fallen out, so that's good I suppose :/ )

Mine fell apart the first time I opened it but I never bothered to ask for a refund.  On the other hand Battlefront is my best selling line and their soft backs fall apart within a day of being touched by human hands.

You guys are awesome. Again, thanks.

Another question: What are you doing or have done with GURPS? Which supplements do you make the most use out of? (Martial Arts looks swanky and very attractive to me.) You doing homebrew stuff? Rocking some conversions?

Regale me with GURPS experiences!

Nothing at this moment, but plenty over the years:

A fantasy game where one PC was a fairy dragon obsessed with food.

A modern x-files style game with the characters investigating the paranormal.

An urban fantasy game where all the PCs were totally normal but weird shit was happening all around them.

A supers campaign where one of the characters was a Native American god reincarnated and another was a computer hologram (Automan!).

A 40k game were we were agents of the Inquisition, taking on Chaos, 'nids and meeting an Eldar Farseer

Martial Arts is a great book if you want to turn the dial for melee combat up to 11. It covers both armed and unarmed forms of combat. If you want a similar treatment for guns then there is Tactical Shooting which add extra realism or Gun Fu which adds extra cinematics.

What kind of game do you think you might run first and we can give you some more suggestions on useful supplements?

Quote from: Kaz;630111You guys are awesome. Again, thanks.

Another question: What are you doing or have done with GURPS? Which supplements do you make the most use out of? (Martial Arts looks swanky and very attractive to me.) You doing homebrew stuff? Rocking some conversions?

Regale me with GURPS experiences!

Some past campaigns:

A GURPS Fantasy campaign set in Tredroy. The campaign began with the PCs being in the middle of a gang war featuring Irish, Russian, Italian, Chinese, and Arabic mafia groups. Gang warfare led to finding out about some very dark powers at the heart of the conflict and stopping a major demon invasion.

A GURPS Swashbuckler campaign which began with the PCs as highwaymen in 17th century England. The PCs stumbled upon some strange happenings, saved an accused witch from the stake, and became drawn into an ongoing war between two different races of immortals. They struggled to survive and find out which race was striving to save mankind and which was trying to destroy it.

Another GURPS Swashbuckler campaign set in France during during the Fronde. The PCs were in the guard of Cardinal Mazarin and carried out missions as his secret agents. It was a great blend of swashbuckling and espionage.

A Old West campaign featuring the PCs as bounty hunters in 1878 New Mexico. Chasing down outlaw gangs, encountering ancient indian magic, corrupt politicians, and troubled homesteaders.

Good times.

My current GURPS game:  the PCs are the Sheriff's Department for a sleepy and underpopulated county in the bootheel of New Mexico.  They're combating Mexican drug cartels, corrupt local politicians, the mysterious disappearance of the previous sheriff, the odd murder in the desert and the fallout from their own brand of investigation.  It's heavily influenced by Elmore Leonard, the TV adaptation of Justified and the outlaw country musical genre.

It could have been run successfully with just the basic set, but I've used snippets of High Tech, Mysteries, Tactical Shooting and Social Engineering to make it happen.  The more supplements I read through, the less I feel that they're absolutely necessary.

Quote from: Dave;630220The more supplements I read through, the less I feel that they're absolutely necessary.

This is the sense I got from GURPS, which is counter to what one might expect.  It is a sign of system mastery really I suppose.  Justified as a part of a setting.  Very cool.

Quote from: dbm;630164What kind of game do you think you might run first and we can give you some more suggestions on useful supplements?

I have some ideas. I'm thinking anything NOT fantasy since I have like nine versions of D&D for that. But I do remember really liking magic in GURPS 3E as a player. The freedom outside of Vancian casting was a lot of fun and the creativity I felt I had was freeing.

But I was thinking maybe some kinda GIJoe-esque commando squad and some 80s action movie style adventure stuff. I also thought about some future-space gaming that steers close to Mass Effect and Star Wars. Maybe some modern-day ninja (but man, copies of Martial Arts are pretty expensive). That stuff, mostly. If'n I love the shit outta the system, I'll use it for whatever the hell I feel like running.

I have run GURPS for 25 years with 95% of the campaigns set in the Majestic Wilderlands.

The only major downside of GURPS is the lack of prepared content including a decent monster manual. Although that getting better with the Dungeon Fantasy Line.

I use the following books

The Core Books
Magic
Thamutology (for some magical options)
Martial Arts
Low Tech
The Dungeon Fantasy line

The Dungeon Fantasy line is based around 250 pt character which I dislike. I think GURPS works best with 150 pt fantasy characters roughly equivalent to a mid level D&D character. Dungeon Fantasy Henchmen has a lot of useful templates for lower point characters. Just about the entire line is useful in one form or another.

I have to say that Dungeon Fantasy Treasure Table is one of the greatest treasure generation table I have ever seen.

Quote from: estar;630258I have run GURPS for 25 years with 95% of the campaigns set in the Majestic Wilderlands.

The only major downside of GURPS is the lack of prepared content including a decent monster manual. Although that getting better with the Dungeon Fantasy Line.

I use the following books

The Core Books
Magic
Thamutology (for some magical options)
Martial Arts
Low Tech
The Dungeon Fantasy line

The Dungeon Fantasy line is based around 250 pt character which I dislike. I think GURPS works best with 150 pt fantasy characters roughly equivalent to a mid level D&D character. Dungeon Fantasy Henchmen has a lot of useful templates for lower point characters. Just about the entire line is useful in one form or another.

I have to say that Dungeon Fantasy Treasure Table is one of the greatest treasure generation table I have ever seen.

It would be nice to have a dungeon fantasy line that covered the whole zero to hero range, perhaps 75 to 300+ points.

Quote from: Kuroth;630226Justified as a part of a setting.  Very cool.

I was really lucky to find players who bought in to the idea and then also walk the line between cinematic police work and absolute mayhem.

Quote from: Kaz;630236Maybe some modern-day ninja (but man, copies of Martial Arts are pretty expensive).

Martial Arts is available as a pdf through the SJGames e-store.  Normally I'd balk at paying $30 for a pdf, but I balk harder at paying $50+ for a used book.

Quote from: Kaz;630236I have some ideas. I'm thinking anything NOT fantasy since I have like nine versions of D&D for that. But I do remember really liking magic in GURPS 3E as a player. The freedom outside of Vancian casting was a lot of fun and the creativity I felt I had was freeing.

But I was thinking maybe some kinda GIJoe-esque commando squad and some 80s action movie style adventure stuff. I also thought about some future-space gaming that steers close to Mass Effect and Star Wars. Maybe some modern-day ninja (but man, copies of Martial Arts are pretty expensive). That stuff, mostly. If'n I love the shit outta the system, I'll use it for whatever the hell I feel like running.

Action is good for tweaking towards more gung-ho adventuring and the 3rd PDF includes elements of Martial Arts to cover your kung-fu action heros.

High Tech is good for modern fire arms and other gadgets, whilst Ultra Tech would help with sci-fi. There is a series on Spaceships if you want that to be significant. In terms of pre-baked sci-fi there is Traveller and Transhuman Space - not sure if either would be very helpful for a Mass Effect style game. You can do psychic powers straight out of the basic book, but there is a series of Psionics PDFs which could help reduce the amount of power building you need to do yourself.

Quote from: Exploderwizard;630267It would be nice to have a dungeon fantasy line that covered the whole zero to hero range, perhaps 75 to 300+ points.

It kinda does, with templates for heros, top-up to get to the 300pt level and henchmen for the lower points totals.

GURPS 4/e is Better.

 In the past 10 years - it has been the easiest game for my new players and 'new to RPGs in general' to adapt to.


- Ed C.



(also its the only game that had a 'Kung Fu Fire-breathing Jesus' as an illustration)