by Samuel Jones

Created on: May 02, 2008

The name GURPS originated as an inside-joke, a working title that perfectly expressed the finished product.

Of all the Role Playing Games ever published, GURPS stands alone in one regard: It is a completely integrated system beyond arbitrary 'rules'. There are other games that boast non-linear character advancement and detailed yet streamlined combat, a wide range of source material and numerous game settings, but none that matches the flexibility of the GURPS system.

For a Games Master familiar with the system, GURPS provides a structure where coherent rules become self evident to any situation that might arise. As a result, GURPS is the one-stop-shop for gamers, capable of handling any background, genre or scenario.

Based on the 3d or 3d6 system, that is, using three ordinary six-sided dice rather than the multitude of vari-sided dice used by other Role Playing Games, GURPS is a simple and consistent game that can, at a pinch, be played with pencils and paper, without access to the rule book. The complexity of the game can be tailored easily to player preferences, from simple 'roll-to-hit, roll-to-defend, roll-to-damage' turn based combat, to cinematic sequences of action governed by strings of dice rolls and penalties. Characters can be deep and complex individuals, or simple two-dimensional combat monsters; Non-Player Characters can be as detailed as the Player Characters themselves, or stock extras generated on the spot under one comprehensive system.

There is no need to refer to lists or tables with GURPS, and while the range of source-books comprehensively covers a wide spectrum of backgrounds and support material, it is not necessary to accrue a large collection to run a game of GURPS in a detailed and lively setting. From Fantasy to Sci-Fi, murder mystery and cyberpunk, the GM at short notice can reach for his GURPS manual or, if necessary, recall the principles of the rules without reference. Police procedural campaigns in the far future or werewolves infesting Victorian London; GURPS can handle it.

The flexibility of the system has led to a vast amount of user-generated material being available on-line; new settings, guidelines for new advantages and disadvantages, even character generation rules for horses and animals; someone, somewhere has applied the GURPS method to every permutation the rules can throw up.

GURPS stands for Generic Universal Role Playing System; exactly what it says on the tin.

Learn more about this author, Samuel Jones.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.