GURPS has a LOT of settings, though some older ones are out of print. GURPS has a web page for each book (linked in the title) and you can get a good description of the book and other possible books in that setting or genre. Also GURPS Books that are available in PDF have a preview page that gives you the Table of Contents and some sample pages which is plenty to get a good feel before you buy. One of the valuable qualities of GURPS is there are few surprises and the company lets you know what your buying!
A lot of people underestimate just how much is really out there for GURPS because they come from a system that uses adventure paths or splat books to expand a setting, such here is a new class of magic users with a few new spells or maybe a change to how spells are cast and call it a setting book.
GURPS takes a broader approach and addresses that with books designed to be used in multiple settings. For example Magical Styles and various Thaumatology supplements give you worked examples for new mages and rules to build or tweak your own but can be used in any setting that has magic. The Social Engineering series can be used in any kingdom or genre rather than limited to one specific setting. The fact is the majority of GURPS books can be used in any genre and multiple settings, though some such as Ultra Tech or a Thaumatology (magic) book will not be useful in all genres.
A Forum writeup/listing of settings
A lot of people underestimate just how much is really out there for GURPS because they come from a system that uses adventure paths or splat books to expand a setting, such here is a new class of magic users with a few new spells or maybe a change to how spells are cast and call it a setting book.
GURPS takes a broader approach and addresses that with books designed to be used in multiple settings. For example Magical Styles and various Thaumatology supplements give you worked examples for new mages and rules to build or tweak your own but can be used in any setting that has magic. The Social Engineering series can be used in any kingdom or genre rather than limited to one specific setting. The fact is the majority of GURPS books can be used in any genre and multiple settings, though some such as Ultra Tech or a Thaumatology (magic) book will not be useful in all genres.
A Forum writeup/listing of settings
GURPSLand Book Index
That is a real pretty looking index that shows you all the covers.
GURPS Settings
GURPS has a lot of published settings, some from Third Edition and others are licensed and out of print. The below list is of Fourth Edition only, though converting from an earlier edition is pretty easy.. Furthermore there are many fan conversions or original settings out there.
- GURPS Banestorm The first setting for GURPS, has ben updated for Fourth Edition.
- GURPS Casey and Andy
- GURPS Discworld
- GURPS Girl Genius
- GURPS Horror: Madness Dossier
- GURPS Infinite Worlds
- GURPS Prime Directive This is a third party publication adapting the Star Fleet Battles and original or animated Star Trek universe.
- GURPS Reign of Steel The computer AIs won World War III, Started in Third Edition but updated to Fourth.
- GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World
- GURPS Tales of the Solar Patrol A Pulp era style Space Opera.
- Thaumatology: Age of Gold 1930 era action with magic.
- Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque Based on the Known Lands a nice drop in setting.
- GURPS Transhuman Space
- GURPS Traveler This is actually Third Edition but it has several supplements and is still available and a popular license.
- GURPS Vorkosigan Saga
- Citedel at Nordvorn by Gaming Ballistic is the foundational mini-setting publication of a setting for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. DFRPG was a Powered by GURPS fantasy product and is easily used with full GURPS. If Dungeon Fantasy is your gig there is a lot of great material put out by this company!
Covered Genres
Published settings can save a GM a lot of time and get players up to speed quickly as they may already know the setting. But GURPS is a toolkit that lets the GM build their own setting and gives them a lot of great tools and guidance to do just that. So here are some common genres that are covered by GURPS.
- Action
- After the End (Post Apoclypse)
- Cliffhangers and Pulp
- Comedy
- Conspiracy
- Cyberpunk
- Fantasy
- Historical
- Horror
- Martial Arts
- Monster Hunters
- Mysteries
- Noir
- Romance
- SciFi
- Space
- SteamPunk
- Supers
- Time Travel
- World Hopping
Support Material
So you decided on your genre and either used an existing setting or built your own. Next is fleshing it out and adding optional material to tweak it to suit your group.Some books will help you with prebuilt locations or adventures which are great for saving time or providing worked examples.
Monsters and foes can be found for specific genres such as Creatures of the Night (Horror), Dungeon Fantasy Monsters (Fantasy), the genre world building guides like Fantasy and Space; and finally in Third edition books such as Fantasy Bestiary or Space Bestiary which will require a little bit of conversion but not much. Gametools include software for building characters or vehicles and various game aids such as GM screens
Other books are more GM guides that help you run a certain style or build your world.
GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Space give world building guidelines. GURPS Adaptations gives guidance for converting your favorite book or movie to a GURPS setting.
GURPS Mysteries helps with creating and handling player investigation stories. GURPS Cops and GURPS Covert Ops, or Espionage are all good Third edition books that can help.
The GURPS Social Engineering series goes over the social interaction rules in loving detail to provide help in running anything in that vein, Court Intrigue, finding a fence or informant, corporate espionage, or even finding a good party. Additional books in this series include Back to School (Dojos, High Schools, college, and more) and Pulling Rank (Working as a member of an organization).
Boardroom and Curia and City Stats help you build organizations or cities with short easy to read templates. Dungeon Fantasy 17: Guilds is great for building DF guilds.
GURPS Martial Arts and Technical Grappling as well as more setting specific books flesh out the combat system with both realistic and cinematic options.
Like Guns? Gun Fu (cinematic) and Technical Shooting (realistic) expand the options for gun users.
Need equipment? Low Tech focuses on pre-industrial, High Tech is up to the modern age, and Ultra Tech explores Science Fiction.
There are tons of specialized gear and equipment books and even Loadout books for quickly equipping your character.
Magic your thing? Look at the Thaumatology line for options other than the default magic system (which has its own line of books). Rules for designing your own system, tweaking an existing one or already battle tested systems catering to virtually any taste.
The Powers books go over new abilities and even include a few that can be used as your magic system (GURPS Chinese Elemental Magic, Divine Favor, Power Ups 1 Imbuements, or Sorcery) or for a supers or epic Space Opera setting.
And of course there is the support of the forums where many GURPS authors, staff and fans regularly read and offer answers to questions or ask their own. The GURPS Forum includes a subforum of fan sites. These include blogs, animal encyclopedias, fan conversions, House Rules. settings, game recaps and much more.
Spammers and Flamers are not tolerated and quickly dealt with by the mods so its a friendly place.
I want to call out The GURPS Repository as a special resource here as it also provides an index and many other resources.
Another great one for animals
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