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 were story- or genre-specific.

Players control their in-game characters verbally and the success of their actions are determined by the skill of their character, the difficulty of the action, and the rolling of dice. Characters earn points during play which are used to gain greater abilities. Gaming sessions are story-told and run by "Game Masters" (often referred to as simply "GMs").

''GURPS'' won the Origins Award for ''Best Roleplaying Rules of 1988'', and in 2000 it was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame. Many of its expansions have also won awards.

History

Prior RPG history

Prior to ''GURPS'', most roleplaying games (RPGs) of the 1970s and early 1980s were developed especially for certain gaming environments, and they were largely incompatible with one another. For example, TSR published its ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game specifically for a fantasy environment. Another game from the same company, ''Star Frontiers'', was developed for science fiction–based role-playing. TSR produced other games for other environments, such as ''Gamma World'' (post-apocalyptic adventures), '' Top Secret'' ( spies and secret agents), '' Gangbusters'' (Roaring Twenties adventures), and '' Boot Hill'' (American Old West). Each of these games was set with its own self-contained rules system, and the rules for playing each game differed greatly from one game to the next. Attempts were made in ''Advanced Dungeons and Dragons'' to allow cross-genre games using ''Gamma World'' and ''Boot Hill'' rules; however, characters could only be used in a new genre by converting their statistics. Although GURPS was preceded by '' Basic Role-Playing'' (Chaosium, 1980) and the Hero System ( Hero Games, a system that expanded to multiple genres starting in 1982), ''GURPS'' was the most commercially successful generic role-playing game system to allow players to role-play in any environment they please while still using the same set of core rules. This flexibility of environment is greatly aided by the use of technology levels (or "tech-levels") that allow a campaign to be set from the Stone Age (TL-0) to the Digital Age (TL-8) or beyond.

The GURPS concept

Role-playing games of the 1970s and 1980s, such as ''Dungeons & Dragons'', generally used random numbers generated by dice rolls to assign statistics to player characters. In 1978, Steve Jackson designed a new character generation system for the microgames ''Melee'' and '' Wizard'' that used a point-buy system: players are given a fixed number of points with which to buy abilities. (The Hero System first used by the '' Champions'' role-playing game published two years later also used a point-buy system.)

''GURPS''' emphasis on its generic aspect has proven to be a successful marketing tactic, as many game series have source engines which can be retrofitted to many styles. Its approach to versatility includes using real world measurements wherever possible ("reality-checking" is an important part of any ''GURPS'' book).

''GURPS'' also benefits from the many dozens of worldbooks describing settings or additional rules in all genres including science fiction, fantasy, and historical. Many popular game designers began their professional careers as ''GURPS'' writers, including C. J. Carella, Robin Laws, S. John Ross, and ''Fudge'' creator Steffan O'Sullivan.

GURPS history

The immediate mechanical antecedents of ''GURPS'' were Steve Jackson's microgames ''Melee'' and '' Wizard'', both published by Metagaming Concepts, which eventually combined them along with another Jackson game, '' In the Labyrinth'', to form '' The Fantasy Trip'' (''TFT''), an early role-playing game. Several of the core concepts of ''GURPS'' first appeared in ''TFT'', including the inclusion of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence as the core abilities scores of each character.

By April 1984, the core rules for ''GURPS'' (at that point referred to as the "Great Unnamed Universal Role-Playing System") was being playtested in preparation for a GURPS question-and-answer seminar at Origins 1984 in Dallas. The combat system for GURPS was published in 1985 as '' Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS'' to meet the deadline for Origins 1985 and was followed up later that year by the adventure supplement ''Orcslayer''.

The ''Basic GURPS'' set was published in 1986 and 1987 and included two booklets, one for developing characters and one for Adventuring.

In 1990 ''GURPS'' intersected part of the hacker subculture when the company's Austin, Texas, offices were raided by the Secret Service. The target was the author of '' GURPS Cyberpunk'' in relation to E911 Emergency Response system documents stolen from Bell South. The incident was a direct contributor to the founding of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. A common misconception holds that this raid was part of Operation Sundevil and carried out by the FBI. Operation: Sundevil was in action at the same time, but it was completely separate. See '' Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service''.

The 1995 supplement '' GURPS Illuminati University'' introduced Agatha Heterodyne, the character who would go on to star in the popular comic series ''Girl Genius'' in 2001.

A free PDF version of the ''GURPS'' rules was released in 1998 as ''GURPS Lite''. This limited ruleset was also included with various books such as ''GURPS Discworld'' and '' Transhuman Space''.

Steve Jackson Games released ''GURPS Fourth Edition'' at the first day of Gen Con on August 19, 2004. It promised to simplify and streamline most areas of play and character creation. The changes include modification of the attribute point adjustments, an edited and rationalized skill list, clarification of the differences between abilities from experience and from inborn talent, more detailed language rules, and revised technology levels. Designed by Sean Punch, the Fourth Edition is sold as two full-color hardcover books as well as in the PDF format.

Mechanics of the game

Character points

A character in ''GURPS'' is built with character points. For a beginning character in an average power game, the 4th edition suggests 100–150 points to modify attribute stats, select advantages and disadvantages, and purchase levels in skills. Normal NPCs are built on 25–50 points. Full-fledged heroes usually have 150–250 points, while superheroes are commonly built with 400–800 points. The highest point value recorded for a canon character in a ''GURPS'' sourcebook is 10,452 for the Harvester (p. 88) in '' GURPS Monsters''.

In principle, a Game Master can balance the power of foes to the abilities of the player characters by comparing their relative point values.

Attributes

Characters in ''GURPS'' have four basic attributes:

* Strength (ST): A measure of the character's physical power and bulk, ability to lift, carry, and do damage
* Dexterity (DX): A measure of the character's physical agility, coordination, and manual dexterity
* Intelligence (IQ): A measure of the character's mental capacity, acuity and sense of the world
* Health (HT): A measure of the character's physical stamina, recovery speed, energy and vitality, ability to resist disease

Each attribute has a number rating assigned to it. Normally they begin at 10, representing typical human ability, but can go as low as 1 for nearly useless, to 20 (or higher) for superhuman power. Anything in the 8 to 12 range is considered to be in the ''normal'' or ''average'' area for humans. Basic attribute scores of 6 or less are considered ''crippling''—they are so far below the human norm that they are only used for severely handicapped characters. Scores of 15 or more are described as ''amazing''—they are immediately apparent and draw constant comment.

Players assign these ratings spending character points. The higher the rating the more points it will cost the player, however, assigning a score below the average 10 gives the player points back to assign elsewhere. Since almost all skills are based on Dexterity or Intelligence, those attributes are twice as expensive (or yield twice the points, if purchased below 10). In earlier editions (pre–4th Edition) all attributes followed the same cost-progression, where higher attributes cost more per increase than attributes close to the average of 10.

Attribute scores also determine several ''secondary characteristics''. The four major ones are each directly based on a single attribute:

*Hit Points (HP): how much damage and injury can be sustained, based on ''ST'' in 4e. In previous editions it was based on HT.
*Will (Will): mental focus and strength, withstanding stress, based on ''IQ''.
*Perception (Per): general sensory alertness, based on ''IQ''.
*Fatigue Points (FP): a measure of exertion, tiredness, and hunger, based on ''HT'' in 4e. In previous editions it was based on ST.

The other secondary characteristics (Damage, Basic Lift, Basic Speed, Dodge, Move