GURPS Characters Feel Real

GURPS will always be in my top five games. It is evergreen and a place where I can express my creativity. GURPS will never be a "mobile phone game" where "Fortnite and video game character minifigures will be available for microtransactions."

The game's lower level of popularity and higher learning curve ensures that only the most dedicated players, those truly committed to learning and understanding the game, will be part of this unique community. While I sometimes wish GURPS was as big as 5E, I also appreciate the special bond we share in our smaller, but more connected, community.

But this isn't about 5E. No other game gives me the in-depth character simulation of GURPS. I don't get the same feeling from OSR games as I do in GURPS. While I run an OSR blog that covers Old School Essentials, Shadowdark, and Dungeon Crawl Classics - I like those games for other reasons. They are amazing games that have a strong sense of "design for gameplay" that draws me in. They are simple, like a Monopoly, and do that "dungeon crawl" thing well. They aren't this "superhero railroad" power-accumulation game that 5E has morphed into.

When I design a GURPS character, I feel I know them in real life. This isn't some 7-hit-point fighter with a +1 to hit and chainmail. With my GURPS character, I know their upbringing, their profession, their strengths, their weaknesses, their hopes, and where they want to go in life. I know how they are weak, what they fear, and their strengths. I know how the world sees them.

No other game gives me that.

Many on YouTube will sit there, point at GURPS, and say, "You don't need all that to roleplay!" And they are right. I can do all this with OSE or Shadowdark. I can do all this with a B/X or BECMI character.

But while I certainly don't "need" it all, I appreciate having it all.

And I like having it all.