One Great Character Versus Many Simple

First up, I love OSRIC, Old School Essentials, Basic Fantasy, and all my B/X and First Edition games. These are S-Tier games for me; the math is correct, they don't use silly video-game number scaling, and the characters are simple. If I am playing a d20-based fantasy game, these are my go-to games. And I play a lot of solo, so having these "books full of data" makes the game easy for me.

But, in playing solo, why do I want to play simple characters? If I think about this in terms of computer gaming, this is the difference between a Skyrim character and one from an RTS game. I would rather have a fully detailed "CRPG character" in a solo-play tabletop game (with full gear, skills, backpack, magic systems, and ability scores) than a simple "RTS unit" with a few ability scores and no ability to equip or change them (attack, armor, speed).

Granted, playing GURPS solo with six characters begins to overload my will to manage that amount of complexity, as this is like running a six-person party of Skyrim characters and drowning in micromanagement and wishing things were simpler.

But for one to three characters in a "small party" game, GURPS does that fine and gives me a greater level of detail to each, which provides me with a greater level of satisfaction "per hour spent gaming." Running one character in a B/X-style game is a "thing," and I would probably get bored with it pretty quickly. Even four is not that hard, but when it comes down to those "small choices" that I love to make in GURPS, like what eight character points can be spent on, given what my character needs, it's excellent stuff.

In B/X games, so what? My bard has 1,600 XP out of 2,000, and there's nothing I can do with it except wait. What will happen in 400 XP at level two? My combat modifier and saving throws remain unchanged. I gain 1d6 more hit points and a level one spell.

Really?

The character does not get interesting until level five, and most games end around level ten. Even if you accelerate leveling to a rapid pace of one level per session, that is five 4-hour sessions to get to level five, or about 20 hours of solo play, with most of the "small choices" being around treasure and gear. Most of your interactions will not be rules-based ones. By that point, we get our first bonus to-hit, our first second-level spell, better saves, and a few class abilities open up.

An accelerated rate in GURPS is about five character points per session of play, with one to three being normal, but we are going on an accelerated pace to match our "level per session" that we used in B/X. This is a total of 25 character points in GURPS for our theoretical five sessions of play.

GURPS typically "levels up" character power every 50 points, so this is halfway to increasing a tier of power. The wonderful things I could do with 25 character points in GURPS blow my mind. If I engage in more social and performance activities, I can improve those skills; otherwise, I will apply my skills that I learned in combat. I could develop my magic, learn new songs, or improve the ones I have. I could create a new advantage based on my experiences and the story. If I went on a harrowing survival adventure, I could develop new survival skills.

The actions of my character will be reflected in their improvement.

That does not happen in B/X. 5d6+CON hit points, a few spells, some save numbers, and a few class abilities. Gear and treasure will reflect the most significant differences between fifth-level bards.

My bard in GURPS? Specialized in social, combat, magic, survival, or any other area relevant to the campaign I am playing and "what is going on." The character will morph and change to reflect the game I am playing, and be specialized in those areas of campaign interest. If I am doing more of a social campaign, guess what? My bard's skills will improve in social areas, and my character will reflect the campaign. And remember, in GURPS, there are a few areas of social skills, so these can be specialized social interactions (with supporting advantages, and an expansion book focusing on the area).

MS Paint strikes again. -Hak

In B/X? Level five bard, extra hit points, slightly better to-hit, a few class abilities, and spells. No better social skills, magic is a fixed path, and I may get some magic items to help me out? If I need survival skills, I need to find a ranger, and the improvement can't happen inside my character (without houseruling it).

In 5E? Forget it; find a Kickstarter book for $60-100 that improves the social aspect of the game, and add it to the pile of books to fix the system. 5E is notorious for shipping a basic tabletop game that requires a few thousand dollars' worth of add-on books to play the way you want. The grift is so high here that it is off the charts.

GURPS works perfectly, even with just the core books.

And it gives me greater satisfaction with fewer characters.

GURPS is the Better Game for Powers (and Combat)

When comparing GURPS and Mythras, I had that typical "is this better?" feeling in the back of my neck. Mythras offers several advantages, including an easy d100 system, 3d6-ranged attributes, and excellent combat special effects applied to either offense or defense. If you're familiar with BRP or Call of Cthulhu, you'll likely be familiar with Mythras. It is as easy to pick up as B/X in complexity, but it has layers of depth that surprise me.

The combats in Mythras are fun, with a level of unpredictability in the results and the combat specials you can stack up, or have used against you. This is dependent on relative skill levels, with lucky hits still possible for unskilled fighters, and everyone having low hit points, so every hit matters.

Mythras is an easy game to use when transitioning away from D&D 5E and the OSR, and it gives you a look into a "whole new world" of tactical possibilities. However, GURPS has greater depth to tactical combats, and marries that with a complete character and power design system.

In GURPS, you are much more "close to the metal" when it comes to combat specials, but you need to declare them before you roll. You need to know what is available, when they apply, how much of an attack penalty they give you, and you need to declare them before your attack. To players who like to control a character "down to every move," this is ideal, since they want to call for a trip and try that, and not have it come up due to a lucky roll with a high result differential.

If I am tripping someone, or someone is trying to trip me, it has to be declared, attempted, and rolled for. No randomness or stacking special effects due to an attack and defense total difference, please.

That said, Mythras is miles better than D&D combat, by far, and this is starting to kill my interest in my B/X games, OSE, AD&D, and Shadowdark. If a game offers a B/X level of simplicity but a far deeper combat system, that is a winner for me.

Mythras is a D&D and OSR killer for me.

If I were migrating recovering players from D&D-style games to Mythras, running them through the System to get them used to combat actions would be helpful and show them another world. If they liked that, we could stay here. Eventually, I would like to bring them into GURPS, where we have the most freedom. But showing them a world where it is more than just d20 vs. AC and roll damage would be an eye-opener. Even Shadowdark suffers from the d20 curse of bland numerical combat.

But what about GURPS?

Well, GURPS is the "everything else" killer.

To be fair, GURPS offers more combat options and a broader range of "combat specials" than Mythras, once you consider all the Martial Arts options and utilize a combat cheat sheet resource. One of the problems with GURPS is that many special combat actions are scattered across different books, making it hard to find them in one place for easy reference.

In Mythras, you get to "choose them from a menu" after a roll, and this is honestly easier for D&D players to start with to "expand their thinking" around combat. In GURPS, you'll need a cheat sheet to fully utilize the combat system's details. It's also a good idea to practice these moves a few times to get the hang of them, as many will change factors (like not being able to defend with all-out attacks). I added a cheat sheet section to the sidebar with a few of these, since they do come in handy.

Combat specials are easier in Mythras.

Combat options are better in GURPS.

It's not GURPS, but it is my MS Paint art. -Hak

Powers are the clear place GURPS wins. Suppose I have a monster with a special attack ability, such as eye beams, charm, confusion, entanglement, push back, blindness, darkness, stun, or any other special attack. In that case, this is far easier in GURPS than in Mythras or D&D. In those games, you just sort of need to "wing it" and "say what it does," but in GURPS, I will design that as a power, and guess what? 

Suppose a character gains an extraordinary power from touching a runestone, becomes corrupted by demons, is sanctified by the holy, acquires a power from an ancient master, passes on the legacy of the king, or experiences any other special campaign event. In that case, this can be just designed and added to the character, just like any other power.

GURPS makes the 5E-style "superpower abilities" almost stupidly easy to create, design, and balance with limitations and disadvantages. That demon corruption? That is a template package that also gives adverse social reactions and a "hunted by demon hunters" disadvantage. It is far easier to do this in GURPS since it has a power design system with full advantage and disadvantage support, and I can balance these powers right down to the last die of damage and special effect.

And, many of these powers come pre-designed with examples in GURPS Powers. Just drop them into a character or monster and go.

And GURPS works for any genre, so my superhero, Gamma World mutant, science fiction adept, fantasy wizard, air elemental, or kung-fu master can all use that "concussive air blast" power (GURPS Powers, p. 137). I can slap on a power source modifier there for magic, mutation, training, superpower, or wherever it comes from, and I am done. Any monster in any GURPS bestiary, or one quickly created using GURPS Ultra Lite, can have these powers tacked onto it.

My MS Paint art strikes again! -Hak

Yeah, this air elemental has super breath and can push all of you off the cliff. I know that is not in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, but hey, this is GURPS, and this air elemental is "The Windlord" and special. Boss monsters in GURPS can have superpowers, use special combat attacks, and have martial arts!

But that isn't fair in 5E! Air elementals only have a double slam attack and a whirlwind that throws in random directions. They don't have a line attack! Or throw an air blast area effect attack! Or blind people with dust! What is this thing? Stupid custom monster not in the Monster Manual and cheating DM! Play the game right and only use things we know!

I go by the Dungeon Crawl Classics theme of "Every monster is unique."

Have fun as I look up the falling rules.

In making a custom power for GURPS, I am not guessing, copying an existing spell, wondering how many times a day it can be used, or worrying if it breaks my game. I have the point cost in GURPS, and that keeps it relatively balanced. If something is overly powerful, I can either add a use limitation or reduce the damage; it's no problem. In B/X, Mythras, or other games, I am left winging it for monster powers. I have to borrow one, and then it is guesswork.

In GURPS, I have tons of powers in my books to use as-is.

Yes, if I am playing "dungeon games" with Mythras, I get those combat specials, but I lose so much character depth with what GURPS gives me for free that I wonder if it is worth it. I get "combat specials" in GURPS, but I have to preannounce and try them, closer to the metal, so I am not losing those, and the ones in GURPS are comparable (and more expansive) once you find a cheat sheet and print that out. It does take more system knowledge in GURPS to get what Mytras gives you for free, but in the end, it is probably a better feeling to have greater control of your combat options than to rely on the dice.

Mythras is still a fantastic game, mind you, and still an easy D&D replacement that drops right in.

However, if I want to tell the types of stories I envision, where the whims of a game designer, class designer, or someone else dictate powers and sources, GURPS offers me more control. With games that go beyond the ordinary, GURPS is far better when it comes to special powers, and lets me be the game designer.

Mythras and GURPS

Mythras is loved by its fans as much as GURPS is loved. I have been reading this lately and am surprised by how similar it is to GURPS.

• Deadly combat
• Skill-based play
• Hit locations
• Combat maneuvers 

The first three points are a given and can be easily seen. Getting into combat is a serious matter, so characters go out of their way to avoid it or take precautions. The skill-based play is fulfilling. Mythras has hits per location, while GURPS does full body hits. GURPS limits damage to the minimum required to cripple the extremity, so it sort of does have "hits per location" in a way.

The last one is combat maneuvers. This is where the games differ significantly.

With Mythras, the difference in success levels gives you several "combat specials" that you can apply to an attack, and these are things like damage armor, trip, choose location, and so on. You get these when there's a significant difference between an attack and a defense roll. With a greater difference in combatant skills, the number and severity of effects will increase.

There is a built-in "surprise factor" to Mythras combat dice rolls where a huge difference happens, someone picks the best combat specials for the situation, and the death spiral begins. This is where Mythras stands far apart from D&D, and provides "pool ball English" to the melee combat that so many enjoy.

With GURPS, you choose what "special attack" you make and roll for it. You decide ahead of time, know what you are doing, and hope your skill is high enough to overcome the negative modifier. You don't get "a number of them" to apply, since the combat round is shorter, and you have to pick the best one to make in the moment and try for it.

With GURPS, you need to know the combat system well to understand your capabilities. While there is a "list of attacks" you can make, you are not getting them as a bonus to a high-difference attack and defense. You pick the one you want, and you try for it.

Both of them have melee combat far better than D&D; they just get to the same place in different ways.

 

Like GURPS, Mythras does not convert the classic "D&D adventures" that well. If we are talking B2 Keep on the Borderlands and 40 Kobolds in one of the first rooms you enter, that is a slog of a fight in either Mythras or GURPS. Adventures in both GURPS and Mythras tend to feature smaller, more tactical combat encounters. D&D has always been a game about "shoving around mass amounts of monsters," and it suffers from over-relying on quantity of enemies and not quality.

Mythras adventures feature highly tailored fights that require you to use combat specials wisely to open up weaknesses and take advantage of them. A greater number of foes than the party begins to shift the action economy in favor of the enemies, and single boss monsters, once overwhelmed, will go down faster than in D&D or GURPS. This is due to the game's action economy driving the impetus of attacks and defenses.

In GURPS, having a low skill means you are not attempting anything special. In Mythras, having two low-skilled opponents, one rolling a crit and the other a fumble, a lot of cool stuff is happening. So there is a high degree of surprise in Mythras when it comes to rolls and the effects that occur in them.

Mythras publishes these mini-game-like "combat modules" featuring a few foes and pre-gen characters, and they highlight features of the combat system that players need to take advantage of to win the fight. These double as combat mini-games and player training, and I wish GURPS had these. Given that Mythras gives away its basic Imperative rules, a GURPS version of a product like this would need to rely on GURPS Lite, which would not have all the options required to train people on the system's finer points.

These are excellent books for Mythras, both serving as training and fun scenarios to use on a VTT as a standalone combat game. I wish GURPS had similar pre-gen characters and interesting combat encounters that featured tactics and strengths of the system.

GURPS is the more simulation-heavy game, with the one-second turn. The action economy is the ticking seconds on the clock. For the most part, everyone does one thing per turn. The action economy versus 40 Kobolds becomes a nightmare, and you need to start holding 75% of that force back just because the entire room would not act like "stupid video-game sprites" and rush the players all at once in the first second of contact.

Watch YouTube videos of firefights in war. Count the seconds soldiers stay under cover. Sometimes it is 1d6 seconds, other times it is more like 2-3d6 seconds of inactivity under cover. This is how most firefights go. In melee combat, nobody will pause that long when faced with a threat, but many will not all charge in on that first second of meeting an enemy, and many who will take cover or try to get into an advantageous position. Some may even stand there confused for a few random seconds before their brain kicks in and they act.

In GURPS, we think second-by-second. This isn't to say "make the kobolds stand there doing nothing," but make allowances for the chaos of combat, the relative skill of combatants, and a confusing melee where everyone may not have perfect information.

Even in Mythras, I will give the Kobolds a "training level" on a d6, and if a combat special comes up, using the "best one" will require them to check that first. Not every Kobold will fight like an elite fighter, always using the best option every chance they get. These special effects in Mythras are deadly when used against the characters. Untrained would be a 6+, and it would go down to elites on a 2+.

I may even do that for GURPS, since we tend to fall into this "videogame mode" when running monsters and optimize every fight to an unrealistic degree. In GURPS, it would be a d6 roll or lower.

But GURPS tends to be the game where you make more of the "combat maneuver" decisions before you commit to the attack. In Mythras, a higher skill difference will create more situations, but these can't be predicted. You will have more of these happen in Mythras since they do not reduce the attack chance, and the dice give them to you for free, depending on the difference in attack and defense rolls.

GURPS is more planned and conscious. A trip does not happen out of nowhere unless it is ruled by the referee or initiated by the player. Mythras has a level of randomness. A trip could happen at any time, as the opportunity arises and the player chooses to seize it.

Both games are very deadly and force players to take a step back before violence becomes the only option. Deadly combat increases the need for smart roleplay! D&D is becoming too much of a "numbers versus numbers" game, and the roleplay is not needed if a bandit stands there pointing a crossbow at someone. I have 40 hit points! What could he do? Even if I get hit, a 10-minute rest will "sleep it off." In Mythras and GURPS, you have a crossbow bolt sticking out of your character's eye.

There is no parlay and roleplay in D&D when it comes down to it. It is all a performative, fake, and pretend way to waste time. Nothing matters when you can kill everything in your path and take a quick nap to heal from a shotgun blast to the face. Look at the game from an MMO player's perspective. Roleplay "wastes time" to "get up the XP and treasure track." It is a brutal way to see it, but it is ultimately true if there are zero consequences to actions.

The GURPS and Mythras games are similar in deadly realism. Still, in combat, they have apparent differences in implementation, where GURPS requires a hard choice to be committed to and made before the attack. Mythras has a softer "chaos factor" where the skill difference creates more opportunities and options for a high-difference roll.

GURPS: Space Opera

Okay, first up, why?

Space Opera in itself is generic enough science fiction; the early FGU attempt at "D&D in space" was inspired by classic science fiction novels, TV shows, and movies. Why would we even need to play a GURPS: Space Opera when we have much more solid and compelling settings such as Star Frontiers, Star Trek, Star Wars, or even Traveller?

Because with GURPS, we can.

First up, what is Space Opera? What can we even call this? Generic science fiction in space? Even the cover is strange enough. Goggles Guy, space southpaw with a bad haircut, Buck Rogers girl from the NBC Studio Lot, Raptor Man, Badger Wookie, green bald psionic guy with the high collar, not a furry lion guy, and Robbie the Robot. The Death Moon and starships that look like women's razors. Is that a pink space castle back there?

Okay, we are on some serious drugs here.

This is going to be good.

What is Space Opera? Let's check out the introduction.

"The original concept was to create a game that would not need the usually innumerable supplements to its rules but that would be a complete science fiction role playing game. Thus, we wanted a game that would allow players to role play all of the most popular roles for characters in the entire genre of science fiction literature. This called for a game to handle the future warrior and mercenary, the free-trader, the asteroid miner, the planetary explorer and first contact man, and the member of the diplomatic corps/spy service. We needed science and the possibility of scientist characters with medicine playing a major role.

As if this were not enough, the decision was made to base the game on the grand tradition of Space Opera, in the vein of E. Doc Smith and most recently Star Wars from George Lucas. This meant that we would also have to allow for the psionic powers so prevalent in the Lensman series and in Star Wars with 'the force.'" - Space Opera, FGU, page 6

So we have: Lensman, Foundation, Starship Troopers, and other classic science fiction books. We cross that with the Star Trek original TV show, Star Wars, the Buck Rogers TV show, the original Battlestar Galactica TV show, 2001, Flash Gordon, Logan's Run, Alien, Dune, Westworld, and a few other influences, and we have Space Opera.

My MS Paint Art, not Space Opera -Hak

Psionic powers are our "magic."

These inspirations are the "science fiction AD&D" we have always been looking for. They blend a chaotic mix of pop-culture influences, stir them together, and create a generic science fiction universe that should be capable of anything.

And this is not "Mass Effect" since that in itself has become something of a trope for generic science fiction these days, and endlessly copied when nobody has a better idea. The new 5E science fiction game Wizards, which was quietly released to be drilled full of lasers by Starfinder 2, is a prime example.

You see, D&D got in early, so they could mix Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Arthurian, and all sorts of other fantasy influences and create a genre. Science Fiction was late to the party, and the franchise players split up science fiction and movies between themselves. We never really got a great "universal science fiction" genre like we had in fantasy. Star Wars took its piece of the pie, Star Trek had theirs, and everyone else was left to scrounge for scraps of the audience.

If we ever had "generic science fiction," Space Opera would be the first known combination of all science fiction genres and the unified universe where it all takes place.

Or, simply put, GURPS Space.

Wait! There is more to this than just saying GURPS Space is your thing. While GURPS Space and GURPS: Ultra Tech will be beneficial, they are not the primary reasons for this mod and conversion.

Or, simply put, GURPS Traveller.

No! Not again! Traveller did indeed beat GURPS out in the early 1980s, then Star Frontiers came and went like a flash, and only Traveller survived. What is even the point of a GURPS: Space Opera? This is just "generic science fiction," right?

Okay, let's check out the back cover of the game. Hey, that is a cool starship, too. We have a couple more clues here.

"For you, as a player, Space Opera offers a selection of species for your character. From a basis of randomly determined characteristics (slanted to favor your character) you take him through his career up to the point when his adventures start. This development system results in a complete and rounded character with skills chosen in a non-random fashion to suit his or her needs.

For you as StarMaster, SPACE OPERA offers rules covering a wide variety of topics from which you may pick and choose those that will best suit the universe in which you wish to play. In this way you can simulate situations from virtually any part of science fiction literature. SPACE OPERA gives you a framework within which to set and develop the adventures which you conceive for the characters. The only limit is your imagination." - Space Opera, FGU, page 2.

We have OSR-like language here. Pick and choose rules? Simulate situations from any part of science fiction literature? A framework to develop adventures for the characters? Okay, we have a few more clues. Still, why play this? And why simulate this with GURPS?

One, I love the world-building in this game. They describe it as a "generic space game," but they actually create their own world. Beyond that, this is a new universe with its own organizations, factions, worlds, and aliens. Granted, very few people even know about this universe and care about it, but it is here and an interesting place.

Our character classes are: Armsman, Technician, Scientist: Research, Scientist: Medical, Scientist: Engineering, and Astronaut. They are an interesting mix, mirroring Star Trek, but not really. I like that Astronauts are the pilots and commanders, while Techs are the higher skill-level technicians, navigators, med-techs, and other non-science specialists. Armsman is a classic 1950s science fiction throwback, like a Starship Troopers-style space soldier. There are lots of scientists, too, which means a lot of science is happening in adventures.

My MS Paint Art, not Space Opera's -Hak

This is like Star Trek if Kirk wore a spacesuit all the time and flew the ship, Scott sat in the engine room in a radiation suit, Bones, Spock, and some new Engineering scientist researched in the lab all day, and another new Armsman character named Carter manned his powered armored suit with a nuclear rocket launcher on the shoulder and a Blaster HMG to use as a personal weapon, along with a flame unit and defensive grenade launcher tubes on the back. One of them, a green trans-human named Jar'Jeel, has psionic powers and acts as the ship's precognition expert.

What a strange crew.

It is like Starship Troopers Trek Wars.

I would use the species here, since that matches the strange mix on the front cover. I would also use the random home world generation in Book 1, and then skip to the careers. And this is where the next significant bit of world-building is done with all the organizations in this universe. We have:

• Star Force
• Marines
• Commandos
• BOSS (external intelligence agency, civilian)
• BRINT (internal state security, military)
• IPA (interstellar police)
• Survey (space)
• Scout (planetary)
• Explorer (independent, corporate)
• Contact (government civilian)
• Merchant
• PDF (planetary defense)
• Police (planetary)
• Mercenary (independent, corporate)

That is a lot of world-building! This surpasses the achievements of both Star Wars and Star Trek, forming an interesting mix of agencies and organizations that can interact and undertake missions across the galaxy. And this is just the Terran faction! There are more human factions than just the Terran one, as well as alien factions. This universe is enormous. The factions and organizations are very deep.

The split between Survey, which focuses on space exploration, Scouts, which specialize in planetary survival and exploration, and Contacts, which deals with alien cultures and linguistics, is a fascinating division among the scout factions. Having independent scouts is also a cool division.

And this book has a lot of fun expansion books. One of the ones we loved was the Ground and Air Equipment book, which gave you all sorts of tanks, planes, star fighters, rocket launchers, heavy blast cannons, and other toys to play with. This one even features WW2-era old-tech vehicles, making it a fun guide across a few tech levels for the heavy metal gear in the universe, all the way up to 500-ton Continental Siege Unit tanks like something out of Ogre.

This is a book packed full of toys. 

There is an Orc-like race of space baddies, space Soviets, bug armies, a human supremacist empire, space Roman merchants, Hisser snake people, Mekpurr tech-cats, space China aliens, Transhuman knights, and all sorts of strange factions in the universe with room to make your own.

Also, if you ever wanted to use Space Opera ship combat, the game's skill levels from 0 to 10 map easily to GURPS skill levels by subtracting 10 from your GURPS skill, so a 18- skill in GURPS becomes a level 8 skill in Space Opera. So the whole ship combat system is open to you if you want to break out the d100 and do things with this game's naval-war game-like space combat tables. For personal gear and armor, use GURPS Ultra Tech.

This is all of a sudden looking less and less like a generic space game and more like its own setting. 

Okay, still not enough. Sure, you can break down the universe into all these groups, give me a bunch of aliens, stat out a few armored vehicles, and even give me a dozen stellar guides, but why? It is not Traveller, it is not Star Frontiers, it is not Star Trek or Star Wars, it is not Dune, and it was never compelling enough back in the day to really catch on and endure. The system is so obscure and complicated that we need to replace it with GURPS. So, why play this?

One, the concept of a universe that pits a Star Trek-like Federation against a Star Wars-like Empire is a fun one; just a little reskinning, and you have the ultimate fan-fiction universe. You have a group of Space Romans that could easily sub in for a Dune-like faction. You have space bugs, similar to those in Starship Troopers and the Marines. There are places to put Battlestar Galactica's Cylons and Buck Rogers in here, or even Ming from Flash Gordon. If you're looking for the ultimate "clash of the fan fiction" science fiction universe, this is it.

My silly art, not Space Opera's - Hak

If you wanted to play it straight, this is an entirely new universe to explore, with plenty of the work already done for you! This is far more than you get in many GURPS source books, and having a whole science fiction setting that has nothing to do with anyone's movie or TV show is a remarkable thing. It has similarities, but this is a ready-made universe with plenty of factions, aliens, worlds, and adventures to use as a great GURPS setting.

The thing is, with Star Wars and Star Trek, and even Traveller, new players will want to play the "official game" before a GURPS conversion, and that is understandable. With Space Opera, you can come in with GURPS players and have a ready-made setting with plenty of lore, planets, aliens, and work done for you. You can tweak most of this to whatever you want.

Plus, the character types are cool and different. I like the concept of an astronaut being a space pilot and eventually a fleet commander. I love that there is such a heavy focus on science. I really like the focus on the armsman and having a dedicated soldier class that can fill many roles. I even like that technicians are anything from engineers to doctors, all with a non-science focus, but highly capable.

Space Opera, Star Sector Atlas 2, page 49

Downsides? The setting is extraordinary. There is an incoherence to it. Nothing feels connected, and the planet descriptions feel disjointed. The organizations lack identity; they are merely names without history or personality. The setting lacks a cohesive flow or history. The universe thinks like B-movie science fiction, making it hard to relate to or grasp what it's genuinely about. The setting hinges on a false feeling of self-importance. Players will sit there saying, "I don't know what this is or how to act."

In trying to be "all science fiction," the game comes out feeling like "none of it."

I could say the same thing about D&D and fantasy. 

And Traveller is a far more complete and well-laid-out universe. Star Frontiers is a tighter and more focused sandbox. Any "IP science fiction" is easily relatable and instantly playable.

Space Opera, Star Sector Atlas One, page 45

On the plus side, the game features some of the most interesting early 1980s science fiction line art by classic fantasy artists. These are rare and fascinating works from some of the greats we know elsewhere, doing a science fiction flex and doing some fantastic work. This art reminds me of early D&D, and these are rarely seen pieces. They offer amazing glimpses into the hobby back then and the "what could have been" if science fiction had not been dominated by a few big movies and instead been embraced by gaming.

This universe of open, engaging, and speculative science fiction in gaming is entirely owned by Traveller these days. Flipping through the sub-sector guides that Mongoose puts out regularly, I see so many ideas and concepts being expressed, interesting planets and factions crafted, and a universe of possibilities expressed and delivered to an ever-expanding setting.

I like the strong psionic focus for the setting's "magic." Rarely do you get such a strong focus on the psionic part of the setting, and even in Traveller, the power feels muted and pushed to the back. FGU was never fearful of leaning into psionic powers, and they even have an entire game (Psi-World) on the subject. Psionic individuals are this setting's "magic users" and a significant part of the action. In Star Wars and Star Trek, they are pushed to the back or pigeon-holed into a few roles (in Star Wars, forced to be Jedi or Sith). In Traveller, they are infrequent and the exception.

Space Opera, page 24

In Space Opera, by the rules, 5% of the population are potentially potent psionic users. They can be "awakened" by psionic attack or exposure to psionic power sources (during the game). The awakening process only happens in-game and can never be started with, so this entire system is built into the role-playing and is a pivotal character moment. This is a very cool system and mirrors the science fiction of the day, where a Star Force astronaut goes on a mission to an ancient temple, meets a dying alien master psionic, "unlocks their secret potential," and "everything changes!"

If you love classic heroic science fiction novels from the 1950s to 1980s, with stories of heroism, awakening, and transformation, then Space Opera will resonate with you. Many of today's "class-based games" lack surprises, with every power planned out 20 levels in advance, and there is no mystery or alteration to your character's path or future. You look at Starfinder, and your technician has 20 levels of power planned out for them, and there is no mystery or discovery to the character. Even in Traveller, you are set in stone. Star Frontiers is the same thing; you spend XP to go up boring skill trees.

Only in GURPS and point-based systems do you have that "open character sheet" to freely develop your character. The only "open character sheet" game in d20-land is original B/X, where you can freely add powers to your sheet, such as Old School Essentials. The minute you go to AD&D, those level-based charts start to take over the game, and you lose your open character sheet. By the time you get to 3.5E, the open character sheet is gone completely. Modern games like 5E or Pathfinder? Forget it, your character is centrally planned by a committee.

Today's over-designed, over-planned, go up the pre-programmed level chart games have no mystery or discovery in them. They are tedious and often impossible to balance. They control your character's story. All you are doing is going up the planned power chart and checking boxes. Nothing unexpected or extraordinary can happen to you because of the story.

More of my silly art, enjoy. -Hak

In GURPS? Even in fantasy, my bard can become a mage. My fighter can become a druid. My thief can become a paladin. My cleric can learn archery. Whatever happens in the story is reflected on my character sheet, no clunky multi-classing required. My Star Force medic needs to learn how to fly a ship? I can do that. In class and level systems? Forget it, the designers know better than you.

The different branches and divisions of space forces in Space Opera are not only very cool but also instant inspiration for your own science fiction universes. What if there were independent explorers and they hired mercenary forces? What would a space police force do, especially with their own ships to fight space pirates and work alongside local navies and Starfleet vessels? Even if you do not use the setting, there is enough here to give you a wealth of world-building ideas on your own.

Just drop in GURPS, let me run an open character sheet, and go. 

GURPS: Aftermath

Aftermath was our game in the early 1980s, and it did everything we wanted in a hyper-realistic set of survival-focused rules in a DIY post-apocalyptic setting. This was "AD&D for survivalists," and the rules skirted the line between real-world Cold War survival manuals for nuclear war, and it had that "scary element" to it that put the fear of God into you.

This game is going in the bunker with me. This game could be handy someday if the Soviets ever decided to threaten Western democracies.

Why is that so familiar? 

These days, Aftermath still survives, and you can still get this in print and PDF, but GURPS has replaced the game for me almost entirely. GURPS offers a more complete, easier, and less math-intensive set of rules, making it easier to simulate gritty realities than slogging through the flowcharts and fractional math of Aftermath. The Aftermath PDFs are an excellent source book for the genre, too, and get you into the specific weirdness and world the game tries to create.

GURPS can get plenty detailed and gritty enough, and as long as I have hit locations, sectional armor, critical damage, and results for severing limbs, I am fine.

I love the setting of Aftermath; the world was destroyed in 1980, so there was no "consumer Internet" and no cell phones. There is some advanced science fiction technology in here, but the baseline tech is that late 1970s post-Vietnam-era technology with M-16A1 rifles, UH-1 Huey helicopters, M-1911A1 0.45 pistols, and M-60A1 tanks. The highest-capacity commonly available 9mm pistol was the Browning High Power with 13 rounds, and the SMG of the day was the 9mm Uzi. Many World War II weapons remained in use. The guns were this 1970s retro-tech and iconic for the TV shows of the day. The game also had advanced laser weapons as rare finds.

 

The game features intelligent mutant rats, killer AI robots, rad-zombies, wild zoo animals, androids, AI computers, and a selection of "Not the Ape Planet" humanoid apes. It also had "walkers" like those from War of the Worlds. It was somewhat reminiscent of D&D in that it combined familiar post-apocalyptic tropes into one game, creating a "fantasy" world with all the best options. Just as D&D simulates any fantasy, Aftermath could easily simulate any post-ruin world.

And the world hated you in Aftermath. An old ATM with security systems could try to kill you, before the bears sneak up on you, you are forced to run, you hole up in an old building, accidentally trip a grenade trip wire, and the building is so old it can't stand the force of the explosion and collapses on you. If you survive, you will be buried alive in the water-filled basement, drowning, and the water is contaminated with cholera and radiation. Maybe there are rad-piranhas in there. The flamethrower and M-60 machine-gun equipped killer robots will be by later to torch the pile of rubble and fill it full of lead.

In D&D, traps are typically found in dungeons.

In Aftermath, the whole world is a sadistic trap.

Even if you were lucky enough to be a super character frozen before the end of the world, you would wake up in a cryogenic pod and have to fight off laser-pistol-armed war-bots with a rolled-up copy of Playboy and a jar of Vegemite.

Get outside, and bandits are riding kangaroos and firing poison crossbows at you. You may find a box of sweaty TNT to throw back at them, but be careful not to drop it or fall down. The game ended when you stepped on a land mine. Finding a case of canned beans was a magic treasure, and you put those on a bandoleer on your vest as extra armor and a statement that you were a bad-ass.

The world was like AD&D through the lens of the old Soldier of Fortune magazine, mixed in there with High Times. Everything could kill you, show no mercy, what is mine is mine, and always be prepared. As I said, there is a weirdness to the entire genre, like a paranoid drug trip through the end of the world.

Trust is the best currency in the world. Just finding a survivor village where you could sleep was worth more than a magic sword or bag of gold in D&D. Often, you traded helping them out for food and shelter. 

We have solid sourcebook support for the genre, too, including the excellent After the End 1 and 2 books for GURPS. These books are like a "best of the best" of topics the Aftermath game covers, and are indispensable. The first book covers characters, and it is a great resource and inspiration for building your survivors. We get barter and standard gear tables, along with reloading rules.

There are rules for mutations here, but not the freaky superhero mutations that Gamma World has. You could easily do a Gamma World with Ultra Tech and GURPS Supers.

The second book covers worlds. They even suggest other GURPS books for "killer robots" or zombies, and have topics on diseases, gangs, survival, scrounging, repairs, and other post-apocalyptic concerns. This is all great stuff, and it goes beyond the original Aftermath rules in many areas. We also get speculative tech in here, like nano-tech disasters, which is a significant modern update for the genre.

Aftermath is a sub-genre of post-apocalyptic fiction from 1950 to 1980, encompassing works like War of the Worlds and Planet of the Apes, as well as 1980s nuclear war movies such as The Day After and Threads. Mad Max was not a popular part of the genre yet, as that is the start of the modern "hero era" of the post-apocalyptic genre, but it is an influence.

There is a theme of the downfall of civilization, and the "original sin" of the Vietnam War serving as a catalyst for the punishment for the coming final judgment of mankind. This is mirrored today by the "original sin" of the Iraq War, and many internalize that guilt and try to destroy today's society in a subconscious guilt response.

Don't laugh; this is a larger societal shift that occurred during the Vietnam War, and it is happening today. You see this manifested by population shifts and encouragement from enemies on the world stage who finance these destructive forces. Like the Cold War, this is a shrinking world pitting history and societies against each other.

You need the almost puritanical and quasi-religious guilt, along with the concept of overseas enemies of a nearly alien society, to have this genre. Otherwise, we aren't being punished for anything, there is no "big bad" who caused this, and we might as well be playing opiate fantasy games to relieve the pain of daily life.

In contrast, today's zombie post-apocalyptic genre does this without the "overseas enemy" and "we did this to ourselves." This is why the Walking Dead genre intentionally portrays humans as worse than walkers, as if to say, "we did this to ourselves," and "we will keep doing it." Zombie stories tap into the self-hate of mankind, a theme you even saw in the original 1950s Living Dead movie.

There is always an enemy responsible in these stories, be it the Reds, aliens, apes, nature itself, or ourselves. In Aftermath, it can be all of the above. Today, we can add AI to that list.

Another game close to Aftermath is the excellent Mutant Epoch (ME). This game leans into that weirdness of the genre and is one of the best examples of that feeling of "strangeness after the end of the world" out there today. If you are not trying to simulate Aftermath in GURPS, this is also one of the best games in the genre today and is worth your time. If you prefer not to have intelligent plants, holographic AI characters, or X-Men-like superheroes, consider staying more grounded in GURPS.

Aftermath walks a line between realism and strangeness, and GURPS does that very well. GURPS handles the aspect of "mental survival" much better than ME, with internal mental disadvantages driving character motivation. In contrast, ME characters tend to be more collections of random skills and powers. GURPS does the "realism" very well, and the skill system is also much more detailed and flexible.

Plus, GURPS gives you far more source books to pull from for the fantastic and strange. I could incorporate GURPS Horror in a post-apocalyptic game for a unique twist, and make the world beset by vampires and werewolves, which brought down society. GURPS will have a greater range of disasters and strangeness to put into the mix.

GURPS is my choice here; the rules are modern, consistent, but have enough grit and depth to satisfy the deadly crunch and medical detail of wounding the genre requires. Aftermath itself is the inspiration of the strange fantasy of that post-apocalyptic genre, and is one of the hallmark games in the genre. Gamma World and Mutant Epoch lean too heavily into fantastic and science fiction elements, whereas Aftermath and GURPS can capture the realistic tone that this specific genre requires.

Story Mechanics

Story mechanics sound like something you call in when your story is broken.

We have so many new games now with "narrative mechanics" as if tens of thousands of years of human storytelling were somehow broken, and game companies need to reductively sell us the most basic of game activities. 

Storytelling does not need narrative mechanics. 

GURPS gets it, since it is more an old school game, it puts all the focus on the most important pieces of the puzzle - the characters. My character has a weakness or compulsive behavior, and these are the same things an actor needs to know when making a movie, then the game gives us rules for that. There is a slight gamification on the power of these "inner motivators" and the story is the combination of the referee reflecting the current state of the environment, the plot the NPCs are trying to drive, and the natural chaos of the characters inserting themselves into the situation.

While there is no "script" in GURPS since the game is more of a "simulator" - there is a "script" for the adventure for NPCs, motivations, maps, keyed locations, and events that will happen in the future at certain times. So it is not a "set story" that the referee is trying to tell, and there are no "pool mechanics" that players use to alter the course of events.

So the referee is like the director of a movie, but the script does not lay out what is to come as strictly. That is up to the players.

GURPS gives the players the best character backgrounds in role playing. This is the stuff actors need, the strengths, weaknesses, skills, history, and background of the character. Who they are. Where they came from and what they have done, and the choices made during character creation reflect that. A game like Traveller may have random tables for life events and service terms, but GURPS goes a level deeper, not using the charts but giving us full control to "write" a character and reflect that with our choices for them.

There are times I am struck by a typical B/X style OSR character, you know, class, race, and 3d6 down the line for character statistics, and how hard that is to role play. Who are they? What got them here? What are they like?

We need to fill that in ourselves, and nothing in the rules reflects our choices. Sometimes this "100% role playing" is hard to get started with, and I can see why people like the "life-path generators" of Traveller, or even the funnels of DCC. We are taking nobodies and turning them into somebodies.

The "nothingness" of D&D is what makes the game great for some, and impossible for others. 

But past that, when we have our character, and we are like the actor trying to bring that "person only on a sheet of paper" to life, we have complete freedom. We don't need pools, dice, story points, or anything else to interact with the world around us. The world acts as it should. Just like the world.

We have a generation of games with "doom, fear, malice" or other points that gamify the story and world, as if we needed to put another set of training wheels on creativity. Perhaps being a game master is that hard, and nobody really knows "how to do it" and the industry is dumbing down the experience to a board-game where everyone has rules for what they can do.

Refereeing isn't refereeing anymore, it is the "story master" who has cards and can never imagine something into existence, they can only pull a card from a deck and "make the text on it happen." I can just see the Kickstarter for that game now, and it making a few million dollars as another snake-oil solution for all our imagined role-playing problems they keep telling us we have.

This is also why D&D YouTube is so toxic, the constant barrage of referee advice makes you think you are not doing it right, and that you are somehow inferior to the anointed masters. YouTube advice channels hurt your self-esteem and willingness to "just get out there and do it" and force you into a dependent habit of buying more and more advice. These charlatans of self-improvement and professional advice came from the books telling writers how to write, and how to unlock the magic formula for a bestselling novel. Amazon is flooded with them, and they all end up endlessly complimenting you and telling you the same thing: get out there and do it.

All the "how to write a story" frameworks are horrible. You will follow a scaffolding and your story will be just another similar empty shell. The story won't come from you, it will come from the framework, and the author of that supposed self-help book. Same thing with story mechanics. While you may "fill in the blanks" the story tools tell you to make happen, the story won't be yours anymore. Or the players. The story will be what the game wants it to be.

Humans don't need to be told how to tell stories.

We are born with that ability. 

GURPS: Battletech

A GURPS: Battletech conversion is surprisingly easy mod to create. First up, use GURPS for all personal combat and character rules. Second, play Battletech using Battletech rules. Why change a good thing? This is a fun tabletop game, and if you have the hex maps, figures, and rules, why not just use that?

Battletech uses the six-sided dice we already have. The game is tested and works. We are not designing hundreds of mechs in GURPS Vehicles. Things work and fight as they do in the real game. Why change a good thing?

The real problem is mapping the skills. Battletech uses a skill system of 8 down to 0. This is your base target number for a 2d6 roll, such a gunnery skill of 4 meaning the pilot hits on a 2d6 roll of 4+, and this most always get modified up for range, movement, terrain, and so on. I would map the GURPS to Battletech skills like this:

• GURPS 3-6: Battletech 8
• GURPS 7-9: Battletech 7
• GURPS 10-12: Battletech 6
• GURPS 13-15: Battletech 5
• GURPS 16-17: Battletech 4
• GURPS 18-19: Battletech 3
• GURPS 20-21: Battletech 2
• GURPS 22-24: Battletech 1
• GURPS 25+: Battletech 0

Skills in Battletech cannot go below zero, so the game does have a hard cap. In GURPS, a skill level of 14-18 is an expert, which maps into a Battletech skill of 5-3, and masters are 20+, which covers the 2-0 range. GURPS says skill levels of 25+ are extreme (B172), so setting zero to 25+ makes sense.

Battletech skill rolls do not change.

Could you, inside the cockpit, need to make a self-control roll or some other GURPS skill roll? Yes, you could. Anything that does not touch the Battletech rules and dicing systems is fair game. 

The only two skills you need in Battletech are piloting and gunnery, and those would map into GURPS as Driving/Mecha/TL 11 and Gunner/Mecha/TL 11. That Gunner skill is different than GURPS' specialties in rockets, machine guns, beams, and so on, so this is a minor rules tweak to group all mecha weapons as one skill.

The only two other skills in Battletech are Driving Skill and Anti-Mech Skill, and those can be easily mapped from GURPS skills, with combining all anti-mech weapons under a Guns/Anti-Mech/TL 11 skill.

That skill mapping table is all you need. Now play Battletech as Battletech, and when you are outside the cockpit, use GURPS for everything else. Since mech combat is at a different scale, the conversion works well and both games coexist nicely.

The Tech Level of Battletech is about TL 11, with typical personal weapons and armor covering a few levels below that. The Battletech RPG does have lasers, blasters, and Gauss weapons, so this is firmly TL 11 in personal weapons and armor. Just use GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Ultra Tech for your weapons, armor, and gear list, it will be easier.

This is a quick, easy, simple, and fun mod that lets GURPS be GURPS, and Battletech be Battletech. Now go forth, make your mercenary band some credits, fight for your house, and repel the clan invasions with some heavy metal gaming!

And, of course, have the best RPG powering the personal game.