I just have the incredible urge to tell all the role-playing geeks (and I do include myself in that category) that GURPS 4th Edition Lite is out, and the 2MB pdf is available for download at http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/lite/
Hmm. Guess what I’ll be doing this weekend…
I’m interested to see if they actually fixed any of the problems…
DX and IQ cost 20 pts per increment now, and being a non-human race doesn’t give you an edge in your stats. Languages are 3pts to achieve fluency (and I’ve already seen some debate about people who think that’s absurdly cheap, but they’re GMs who don’t believe in training time). And they’ve made the optional rules about hit points being based off of ST the norm.
Oh-- skills top out at 4pts/lvl, no matter whether physical or mental.
I looked at the Lite Edition - basically, my problems with GURPS were:
Overloaded IQ stat - used for too many thing - still a problem.
Defense divorced from Attack - If defense gets high enough (such as in a Supers game) then the world’s greatest marksman will hit you about as often as a day-old chimp firing a gun with its toes. - Still a problem.
Well, it’s easy to break the IQ stat into its components (weak or strong will, acute vision, etc…) because it really is more than someone’s ‘intelligence quotient’. And the changes in advantage costs have really affected character building.
The math rejiggering also affects the Stats vs. skills spilt. Skills are now much cheaper than they used to be, especially at higher levels.
And your reading about defense is incorrect-- a PC with high skill will make a critical hit 10% of the time according to the Lite rules-- and there is no defense against a critical hit.
I got into the GURPS books somewhere around 7 years ago. I love the books, and reading about the rules, and even now and then making a character. I’ve never actually played a game though…
I haven’t met a GM who was worth my time, and so my interest in these sorts of games has dwindled to as low as it can get without being gone. I have no clue really how to play GURPS, but I still love the books!
As compared to the 2% chance for a complete incompetent to achieve a critical hit. It’s not a wide enough margin.
Given your particular example about a marksman, and the knowledge that there is no defense against an attack you don’t know about (which is usually how snipers perform their trade), what do you use as an alternative?
I’ve always found that in Gurps, if dealing with PCs who have scores in the superhuman range it becomes more important to deal with the relative strengths of their attacks and defenses (so that someone with a 60 attack skill going after someone with a 50 defense can be played as if they had a 12 and 10, respectively).
HERO 5th Edition.
Is that a suggestion in the rules somewhere? Because honestly, if it is, I must’ve missed it.
I believe it’s in Compendium II, but it could be in Martial Arts as well.
Aaand I’m unfamiliar with Hero, so I don’t know how those rules work.
What GURPS modules would you like to see?
I’d like to see one based on Larry Niven’s Known Space series and John Varley’s Eight World series. I’d also like to see one based on Napoleonic era naval combat - Hornblower, Aubrey, and others.
Actually, I believe it’s in both. C2 reprinted some of the material from MA.
My friends and I refer to it as ‘GURPS Done Right’ - seriously. It is entirely point-based, has a broader selection of stats - uses the same basic skill mechanic (3d6, roll under target number) but the target values are calculated more sensibly - and the combat doesn’t involve a defense roll… just the attacker’s roll.
I can expand on it if you like, but don’t want to lead us too far into left field.
Okay, I’ll give it a pass for now.
I don’t know about any Gurps books based on the Honorverse, but Gurps Vorkosigan is currently in production, and hopefully will be out in the next year…
GURPS Vorkosigan will be out in January. And it’s rumored that Lois McMaster Bujold will be in the vicinity of Virginia Tech in late March.
w00t for me.
I’ve been looking forward to GURPS 4th Edition. I love the supplements, best damn supplements in all of gaming, but the core system does have some problems. I always thought they should have upped the abstraction by one level with Attributes, Skills, Advantages, etc. being built out of more primitive components. I’ve heard a lot about HERO but never got a hold of it. I’m going to be giving GURPS 4th Edition and the redone WoD a nice, long look next month. Both seem interesting, but with high potential to disappoint.