Flashy Builds and Repetition

Regrettably, many modern game designs have fallen into the pitfall of overdesign. We've all encountered these 'wham bang' classes in 5E and its numerous clones, designed to do a 'few cool things'—and then very little else. This trend of 'cool-powers' design theory, which originated in the D&D 4E era, has persisted, leaving us dissatisfied, like a lingering smell we just can't get rid of.

D&D 4E's powers were all "cool powers" that you could pull out like a card game card and play and say, "Cool power!" Everyone got sick of them on the 20th use against the same boss monster since the design team had no clue how tough it was to make fights, and they tripled the B/X hit point scale to break compatibility with every previous version.

You never had to think or set up an advantageous position with tactics and good play; the 'cool power card' always works in these games. In 4E, they often missed, so YMMV. In 5E and later games, these things hit much more effortlessly.

You don't have to think; just declare you are playing the 'cool power' card.

Contrast this with the older games based on tactical movement and play. The Fantasy Trip is one of them, but a few others in the 1980s did great tactical combat. You never "pulled a power card" and auto-did something. You had to use movement and intelligent play to outthink and outfight your enemies.

And in every 4E fight, it was the same rotation of powers. Some complain this is how it is with 5E and Pathfinder 2, that MMO-style game design has taken over the hobby, overshadowing the importance of roleplaying, story, tactics, and creativity. With an MMO, you go to "a place," do "some numbers to a 3d shape," and "get an item that makes your numbers go up slightly."

And I look at the 5E games, like Tales of the Valiant, D&D, and Level Up 5E, and what strikes me is how "cool" some of the class powers are and how cool they make you feel.

For the first half-dozen times.

And then you are back into the MMO-style repetition and grind. A good referee recognizes this and varies the action, but the characters, in their core design, fall way too quickly into repeating the power X, power Y, and power Z rotations, all too familiar to MMOs.

However, the novelty quickly wears off when you realize this is the extent of your character's abilities. The same 3-6 combos, bonus action attacks, and other character actions become a monotonous routine, akin to a broken record that keeps replaying the same part of a song. Even spellcasters, who should offer diverse abilities, often fall into the 'cantrip blaster' role, repeatedly casting the same spell.

Those "MMO rotations" begin to pop up, and the game gets mechanical.

Give me a simulation game that allows me to fully customize my character any day over these rigidly defined class-based games. The combat in GURPS is a breath of fresh air, the action economy is unparalleled, and every second of a fight holds significance. The game offers so much more than combat, and you can even engage in gameplay that has nothing to do with combat and still have a meaningful character build and experience.

Combat is deadly in GURPS, and it is ideally best avoided. If you walk the combat path in GURPS, you better devote yourself to it to have a good chance of surviving - just like in real life. The idea many of the more escapist games and movies sell you is that "anyone can be good with zero training; all you need is the weapon." This is a dangerous lie throughout the history of warfare and conflict.

The way of the warrior is a serious one. I get that in GURPS. You give up a lot to be good at battle, and you need to commit yourself to that grim task. 5E characters get everything handed to them for free. GURPS characters are forced to give up X for Y and make hard choices during character improvement.

Death isn't a flippant "roulette game" with death saves designed for "fun." There are HT saves to avoid death in GURPS, but character death isn't some silly mobile phone minigame. Many of the mechanics of 5E intentionally hide what is happening and gloss over things like we were back in "safe for kids" AD&D 2nd Edition days.

You get a battle axe swung at your cute houseplant leshy, which should be like getting a weed whacker or machete swung at the undergrowth. Cutesy games hide this with "hit points" and "getting knocked down at zero," which hides the severe consequences of actions. In 5E, as a DM, I can't say a character's arm gets cut off from a battle axe because my players would revolt and say, "That is not in the rules!"

It's in real life.

Yes, there is a place for kids games.

But I am an adult.

GURPS can be played like a kid's game and "get knocked down at zero HT." But it can also reflect real life. This is what I want in a game. And I don't want the game to fight me and tell me I need to "do the death save minigame" or tone it back if my game's settings are highly realistic. At times, 5E doesn't have settings. The community assumes it is a safe cosplay game that doesn't let anyone get hurt.

Using a gun, bow, or blade is severe and grave. A game that hides that is disingenuous and willingly hides the consequences of violence, or it is designed for a juvenile mindset. You see this in story games, too, where "using a rifle" becomes an abstract concept like "rolling your force attribute" to "apply effort to a situation." When in the real world, pulling that trigger or stabbing with a blade ends a life.