GURPS Compared to...

There are only a few old-school games I compare GURPS to. I would not compare this to 5E since 5E is less of a role-playing game and more of a tabletop MMO. This started with 4E, and you see it today with the lists of "best and worst classes in the 2024 PHB." MMO culture has taken over 5E, and it is in its "peak World of Warcraft" phase where "you play the game because your co-workers do." You don't like it or would stick with it; it is just the "hot thing" to do to be active in social circles. Most of the YouTube content I see for 5E isn't story or lore; it is all MMO theory-crafting.

GURPS doesn't compete with 5E. They're games, but the reasons for playing GURPS differ entirely. GURPS is a platform for creativity, character building, power crafting, and world creation. GURPS's focus on realism and simulation sets it apart, which can truly immerse you in the game. The depth of this game can keep you engaged for years, making the old-school games I compare seem vastly different.

The first would be Old School Essentials, standing in for the game GURPS replaced in the 1980s, which would be D&D and AD&D. OSE is a fantastic game, and I still play it as my B/X game of choice. But given the same characters, a cleric in OSE versus a cleric in Dungeon Fantasy - the GURPS-based game will always win. Level-based games could do better in terms of realistic character simulation.

GURPS will be my primary go-to game if I spend serious time in a fantasy setting with a few characters when playing solo. The characters will be more profound, the combat better, and they will feel real to me. Running a sizeable solo game with 4-6 characters in GURPS is challenging, so this may be when I use OSE instead. I could always create the rest of the parts as GURPS Ultra Lite characters, which I do for most NPCs.

However, most people gave up on AD&D and D&D in the late 1980s because the level-based system with Vancian magic felt old and could not express people's characters well. Contrast that with today, when people have an idea for a fantasy character, they run to D&D Beyond, and that game defines what a fantasy hero is in their minds.

Today, I hold OSE and Shadowdark on equal footing, and they are both classics.

Rolemaster is another game I compare GURPS to, and this game makes GURPS look like a rules-light B/X implementation. We played this (and Rifts) in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the universal reaction to it was, "Why are you playing this?" They were excellent, and we enjoyed the depth that Rolemaster gave us. We loved the charts.

Rolemaster takes a lot more time to learn, create characters for, and play than GURPS. I still like the system; it feels like an old "auto repair manual" that diagrams how a transmission is taken apart and rebuilt. The game has that "complexity level" that GURPS has, but the downside is the time needed to invest and play this game.

Rolemaster ended for us in the late 1990s when it was revised to RMSS and RMFRP and bloated to hundreds of skills. The "how to play" parts were all given flowcharts, and the characters became hyper-detailed and unmanageable. Rolemaster is still fun, even if just to read and imagine.

Basic Roleplaying competes with GURPS for my interest and playtime these days. I love the concept of needing to use skills to improve them, and while you can simulate this in GURPS by disallowing improvement on skills you did not use, in BRP, it is a core feature of the system. BRP is generic, it does every genre well, and combat and characters are straightforward and simple.

BRP invites tinkering and adding to the game, and it is very hackable and modifiable. People say this is a "game you build games from," but that isn't all true. The book, as-is, is very playable and runs any genre perfectly. If you mod "after play starts," you save yourself building things no one will use, and you are in and playing without investing too much time in creating a game and pushing people to play it.

Like GURPS, BRP will do anything to make the characters feel complex and realistic. They will learn as they go, forcing them into dangerous situations where they need to rely on skills they aren't good at but want to improve. The "character sim through story" in BRP is one of the best in gaming since you watch those skills level up and risk yourself next time doing something you pray you can improve. That "character sim" is even better than GURPS since it is organic, happens naturally through play, and does not rely on balancing points and builds.

BRP's not using point-builds is a huge plus, and there are times when I just want to create a character, not worry about points, and just play, having the characters learn and grow as they go. BRP is also easier to run 4-6 characters in than GURPS, so I can do a "party sim" here like in OSE.

BRP also drives Runequest (we played 3rd) and Call of Cthulhu (5th). Both games were fantastic in the 1980s and 1990s and opened doors for us that D&D could not. Considering CoC is the 2nd most popular RPG in the world, the rules have staying power and appeal to many.

BRP needs the genre support books and options of GURPS, forcing you to do a lot of work if your conversion is extensive (which is usually a mistake). You can also use the GURPS sourcebooks with BRP. I didn't say that! Well, I did. GURPS works well with many games, even as just sourcebooks.

BRP is one of the games I have that takes away time and attention from GURPS, and that says a lot about it. And yes, it is worth playing independently without needing "game design beforehand."

BRP works as a game and a toolkit, playing very well.

Rifts is another game I compare GURPS to, along with the entire Palladium Megaverse and the Palladium FRPG. This was another game we loved in the 1980s and 1990s. It belongs in this group; even though I am not playing it currently, I have fond memories.

A few other 1980s and 1990s games, from Shadowrun to Vampire, need to be included here. I am going by my feelings of the time and era; if this were a list of games in the modern context, I would have Savage Worlds on this list. 

Sorry, Stranger Things kids. If you want to do a final season right, you will all be dropping D&D in the late 1980s and playing GURPS or one of the other games on this list (or BattleTech). By 1989, D&D wasn't cool anymore, and the sanitized AD&D 2nd Edition was hitting the shelves (just like sanitized 5.5E today). Level-based games were inferior and limiting.

Magic The Gathering took off in the mid-1990s, and I remember local game stores dropping RPGs for MtG space. Roleplaying has never recovered since then, and part of me feels the hobby died then and never really came back—not like it was. You can only live through an era once.

GURPS is still my go-to game for most solo play. It best captures what I love about the hobby.