More About GURPS

GURPS is the "Generic Universal RolePlaying System." It starts with simple rules, and builds up to as much optional detail as you like. The basic rules system is designed to be playable in any background: fantasy or historical; past, present, or future.

The GURPS Basic Set contains the complete core rules for character creation and advancement; task resolution; physical and mental feats; NPC reactions; combat and injury; and technology. It also provides basic rules for equipment; animals and monsters; magic; and psionics. Finally, it includes a plethora of practical advice on designing and running campaigns.

Character creation is point-based – there are no random rolls. You can build any character you can imagine by selecting his attributes, advantages, disadvantages, and skills. GURPS supports characters ranging from "ordinary folks" to "gods"; the GM can choose the power level by specifying the players' point budget. And you can make character generation even simpler by using GURPS Character Assistant, the official character-creation program for GURPS.

Almost everything else in the game – from swinging a sword to firing a laser rifle to negotiating a good price from a merchant – boils down to a 3d6 "success roll." There are lots of rules, sure, but they're all variations on the same theme; GURPS is easy to learn.

But the key to the GURPS universe is its wealth of supplements! GURPS is truly a system – over 250 different GURPS books have been published (with editions in eight different languages so far!). Sourcebooks provide additional rules for hard-core gamers interested in extra detail, and include:

• Collections of special abilities for characters, ranging from spells (GURPS Grimoire and GURPS Magic), to cinematic kung fu (GURPS Martial Arts), to psychic powers (GURPS Psionics), to divine miracles (GURPS Religion), to super-powers (GURPS Supers).
• Quick-start books of character templates for fighters (GURPS Warriors) and mages (GURPS Wizards).
• Race-creation manuals that let you create characters of any "species," be it science-fictional (GURPS Bio-Tech), fantastic (GURPS Fantasy Folk), or completely supernatural (GURPS Spirits and GURPS Undead).
• Encyclopedias of beasts (GURPS Bestiary), fantastic creatures (GURPS Fantasy Bestiary), and horrific monsters (GURPS Monsters).
• Catalogs of ready-to-use equipment for your ancient and medieval (GURPS Low-Tech), Age of Steam (GURPS Steam-Tech), modern (GURPS High-Tech), and futuristic (GURPS Ultra-Tech) campaigns.
• Detailed design systems for those who prefer to build their own anime fighting machines (GURPS Mecha), robots and cyborgs (GURPS Robots), and vehicles and weapons (GURPS Vehicles).

Worldbooks provide actual campaign worlds. Some worldbooks discuss popular genres:

• GURPS Fantasy – Magical worlds inhabited by mighty heroes and fell monsters.
• GURPS Horror – Terror, suspense, and splatter.
• GURPS Steampunk – "Retro-tech" science fiction in the spirit of Verne and Wells.
• GURPS Illuminati – Conspiracy, tabloid realism, and the weird.
• GURPS Cops – Modern-day police drama.
• GURPS Special Ops – Cutting-edge military adventure.
• GURPS Cyberpunk – Hacker-and-cyborg action in Earth's near future.
• GURPS Space – Starfaring science fiction and far-future space opera.

Other worldbooks cover specific campaign settings, ranging from fascinating historical and legendary periods in the real world . . .

• The Bronze Age and Iron Age, in both myth (GURPS Atlantis and GURPS Celtic Myth) and reality (GURPS Imperial Rome).
• The medieval world, from west to east (GURPS Arabian Nights, GURPS Russia, and GURPS Japan).
• The Age of Sail (GURPS Swashbucklers).
• The expansion and warfare of the 18th and 19th centuries (GURPS Age Of Napoleon and GURPS Old West).
• The modern era, from the 1920s and 30s pulp (GURPS Cliffhangers), through 1950s B movies (GURPS Atomic Horror), to turn-of-the-millennium paranoia (GURPS Y2K).
• Along with GURPS Time Travel to tie it all together!

. . . to our own, fictional milieus . . .

• GURPS Alternate Earths – A sextet of campaign frames for those who want to game out history as it might have been.
• GURPS Cabal – Hermetic magic and supernatural conspiracy throughout all of time and space . . . and beyond.
• GURPS In Nomine – Angels and demons meet in a cosmic war of good vs. evil (based on SJ Games' In Nomine).
• GURPS IOU – A university campus where nothing is too weird!
• GURPS Black Ops – Play elite secret agents fighting sinister aliens, conspiratorial psis, and fearsome Fortean monsters.
• GURPS Autoduel – Armed cars and marauding cycle gangs duke it out in Earth's post-apocalyptic future (based on SJ Games' Car Wars).
• GURPS Ogre – Giant cybernetic tanks and global thermonuclear war, set in Earth's future (based on SJ Games' Ogre).

. . . to licensed GURPS treatments of many great fiction series and games:

• Lois McMaster Bujold's adventures of Miles Vorkosigan (GURPS Vorkosigan).
• L. Sprague de Camp's stories of planet Krishna (GURPS Planet Krishna).
• Terry Pratchett's Discworld books (GURPS Discworld).
• E.E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman novels (GURPS Lensman).
• Jack Vance's tales of Tschai (GURPS Planet of Adventure).
• Gene Wolfe's New Sun chronicles (GURPS New Sun).
• Bungie Software's Myth (GURPS Myth).
• Firaxis Games' Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri (GURPS Alpha Centauri).
• R. Talsorian Games' Castle Falkenstein (GURPS Castle Falkenstein).

Finally, GURPS offers a number of multi-volume campaign settings, each supported by a constant stream of new books that detail the locations, creatures, technology, and special powers specific to the game world:

• GURPS Deadlands – The GURPS adaptation of Pinnacle Entertainment Group's Deadlands game, where horror and magic meet the American West.
• Transhuman Space – A high-realism take on the near future, featuring biotech, nanotech, memetics, and the colonization of the solar system.
• GURPS Traveller – Based on Marc Miller's all-time classic space-opera setting, one of the richest and most developed game settings in roleplaying history.
• GURPS WWII – Detailed, theater-by-theater treatment of the men, battles, and equipment of World War II.

Like what you see? Download a free copy of the basic GURPS rules right now! GURPS Lite is a printable, 32-page PDF file containing a fully functional subset of the core rules. It's all you need to get started! (And while you're at it, don't forget to download the demo version of GURPS Character Builder, too.)

• See our GURPS Resources page for general GURPS tools.

Some books – from SJ Games and other companies – carry a special "Powered by GURPS" logo. What does that mean? Follow the link and see . . .