GURPS EverQuest: Lessons Learned

Using old strategy guides, a few others and I worked on converting EverQuest to GURPS. A friend wanted a Shadowdark conversion first so she could play with her friends and a few EverQuest players, so we started that conversion. Shadowdark is like "rules light" 5E, and I get why it is popular; it is 5E without wasting all the time and money.

Shadowdark is simple enough that once EverQuest characters are boiled down to basic abilities, we can use that as a framework for a GURPS conversion since we won't need to dig through our source material and all these ancient, yellowed strategy guides we picked up on eBay.

We are avoiding the D&D 3.5E version of the game to keep D20 out of the conversation. The strategy guides are the source of truth here. The spell lists will be the ones from the game, and we will make a formula to convert those into each game, which is easy because we can just make a guideline chart based on levels and what the spells should do.

So, we got the first five classes converted, and...?

Umm...

Let's stick with Dungeon Fantasy characters. Even the spells are "meh," and the Dungeon Fantasy ones are better if you choose each class spell list with a theme. A shadow-knight with a pain, stun, and wither limb power is much more thematic and fun than the EverQuest spell lists. I can design good GURPS characters and stick to a theme when picking spells. In any D20 game, you design all the options first and tell players, "This is all you get."

My GURPS characters feel more like real characters in this world, and honestly, the setting is better than the EverQuest game rules and spells. Even in our Shadowdark game version, we must make up "cool thematic powers" for each class to give them some "zing" and playability. Otherwise, these are straightforward B/X style classes with a hit die, progression chart, and a skill list.

As-is, the Shadowdark version of the conversion feels plain, and it needs sprucing up outside the rules of EverQuest to make it attractive and worth playing. Let's invent an extraordinary power for a druid, like animal friendship? Let's give the necromancer special powers, too. We must give them more than a spell list and an allowed set of weapons and armor.

Also, casters in the Shadowdark version of the game will end up with hundreds of spells from the strategy guides and be far more potent than the martial characters. Even if you only say, "Pick ten memorized," and cast them with Shadowdark rules, they will still be insanely powerful.

GURPS and Dungeon Fantasy?

The characters as I designed them are perfect, thematic, and feel realistic and gritty. Even my friend says she likes the GURPS characters better than our converted ones, even though our Shadowdark version is much more faithful to the game. My GURPS characters are much more open to different progression paths, whereas my Shadowdark characters are stuck in a class and five rolls on a talent chart over ten levels, and that is it.

Using GURPS eliminates playing with her friends, but given people's time and attention these days, it may be a lost cause, hoping they will play any pen-and-paper game with her. I will jump at the chance, of course! But for those in her online gaming circle, I severely doubt they will even play Shadowdark. Most people who play 5E will play D&D on the Beyond platform and have no interest in Shadowdark or EverQuest, nor would a complete 5E conversion even be worth doing.

GURPS is better for characters; even if you use stock GURPS spells and powers, you can get closer to feeling than design. That is the thing with GURPS conversions, stick with GURPS stuff first, and you may find it does the job better than an item-by-item perfect total conversion.

My druid could learn to become a bard in GURPS. Just spend the points over there and sing to woodland creatures, if you want. In Shadowdark, you are stuck in one class with minimal customization options.

The EverQuest setting is still a classic, and the strategy guides have maps, monsters, and zone information. We are sticking to the first three expansions in the classic, maximum level 60 era of Kunark, Luclin, and Velious. Even with zero EverQuest spells and powers and just using stock Dungeon Fantasy and designing for "close enough," the conversion is already a home run. Monsters? The level is just "toughness" or a point value; we can use GURPS Ultra Lite to create them.

The only advantage Shadowdark has is that the monster list works well and fits EverQuest's game world. The exploration and play systems are tight. The game is D20. It is easy to hand a player a character sheet and just play. Getting friends to play Shadowdark is easier.

The advantage of GURPS?

Everything is better here, even without a complete conversion. The characters feel better, play better, advance better, and feel realistic and fantastic. The world is just "the setting we play in." The classes are just "frameworks we design within." The different spells aren't a problem since the Dungeon Fantasy spells are better than the MMO's math-based, button-mashing, circa 1999 computer game standards. If you wanted one spell, designing it would not be a problem.

Do you play with GURPS fans or solo?

Choose GURPS.