''GURPS Mecha'' is a supplement by

David Pulver David L. Pulver (born 2 November 1965 in Kingston, Ontario) is a Canadian freelance writer and game designer, author of more than fifty role-playing game rulebooks and supplements, including the award-winning ''Transhuman Space''. Early life and e ...

, published by

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

(SJG) in 1997 for ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal RolePlaying System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to allow for play in any game setting. It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems w ...

'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System'').

''GURPS Mecha'' is a supplement that allows players and

gamemasters A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are m ...

to design

mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

for use in a ''GURPS'' campaign. The book includes a campaign, "Cybermech Damocles" in which the

player characters A player character (also known as a playable character or PC) is a fictional character in a video game or tabletop role-playing game whose actions are controlled by a player rather than the rules of the game. The characters that are not control ...

are members of a secret agency fighting alien invaders.

Publication history

In the 2014 book ''Designers & Dragons: The '80s'', game historian Shannon Appelcline noted that Steve Jackson Games decided in the early 1990s to stop publishing adventures, and as a result "SJG was now putting out standalone ''GURPS'' books rather than the more complex tiered book lines. This included more historical subgenre books. Some, such as ''

GURPS Camelot ''GURPS Camelot'' is an Arthurian supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1991 for ''GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System''). Content ''GURPS Camelot'' details how Arthurian legend can be used as a setting for a medieval ''GUR ...

'' (1991) and ''GURPS China'' (1991), were clearly sub-subgenres, while others like ''

GURPS Old West ''GURPS Old West'' is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1991 for ''GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System''). Content ''GURPS Old West'' provides details of how to introduce a Western (genre), Western setting to ''GURPS'' ...

'' (1991) and ''

GURPS Middle Ages I ''GURPS Middle Ages I'' is a sourcebook for running a Middle Ages themed ''GURPS'' campaign. It is a part of the extensive ''GURPS'' "generic" roleplaying system. Contents ''GURPS Middle Ages I'' covers English history from the Dark Ages to the R ...

'' (1992) covered genres notably missing before this point." ''GURPS Mecha'' is one such standalone book, designed to use previously published rules in ''

GURPS Robots ''GURPS Robots'' is a supplement for ''GURPS'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System''). Written by David Pulver, it was published by Steve Jackson Games in 1995. Contents ''GURPS Robots'' includes rules for players to design robots, and then ...

'' (1995) and ''

GURPS Vehicles ''GURPS Vehicles'' is a sourcebook for ''GURPS'' by David Pulver. The first edition was published in 1993. Contents ''GURPS Vehicles'' explains how to build and operate an array of conveyances, from sailboats to starships to witches' brooms. Ste ...

'' (1996). It is a 128-page softcover book designed by

, with additional material by John Nowak, and interior art by Alex Fernandez and Dan Smith. Smith also supplied the cover art. The book was published by SJG in 1997 for use with the 3rd edition of ''GURPS''.

Reception

In the January 1998 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'' (Issue #243),

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote ''The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin's Pre ...

liked the concept, but warned that the design process required "solid math skills." He concluded, "Clearly this is best-suited for anime fans who aced algebra."

Other reviews

*''

Alarums & Excursions ''Alarums and Excursions'' (''A&E'') is an amateur press association (APA) started in June 1975 by Lee Gold; publication continues to the present day. It was one of the first publications to focus solely on role-playing games. History In 1964, B ...

'' Issue 262 (June 1997, p.29) *''Ringbote'' Issue 13 (July/August 1997, p. 11, in German)

References

{{reflist

Mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...

Mecha role-playing games Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1997 Science fiction role-playing game supplements