GURPS Combat

The GURPS for Dummies book is still one of the best casual references to the rules ever written. It strips down the complexity of the rules and makes much of the game more accessible and easier to think about. After reading this book, superpowers and other special abilities became much easier to use in the game. I gave this book to a friend, and the game became clearer for her, creating excitement for playing the game.

After she had read the character creation chapters, she was not intimidated by character creation and started coming up with great ideas for the characters. Yes, you can do that in GURPS. In 5E, there is at least sixty dollars for that one character option you want in a 300-page hardcover. After she read GURPS, she shared my opinion that the entire D&D market is a rip-off designed to pull thousands of dollars out of each player. GURPS is a bargain compared to a 5E habit; you can do much more with it, and it is a far better game for creative types.

That won't sit well with her D&D group, but at least she is out of Plato's Cave.

This is the best book to give to borderline GURPS players who are interested but sit in the "where do I start?" camp. She wants to get her own copy. The book lightly touches on many areas, so it is not an in-depth replacement for the core books, but it touches on the best places in each chapter and gets you interested in exploring more.

If there were ever a second revision, I would love a section in each chapter telling you "where to look for more" and giving an overview of advanced options, including links to other books in the series.

Combat is also an area this book covers well and demystifies. One key omission is the shock rule (B381), which you must use if you are into moderately advanced combat. It is mentioned in the section on disadvantages, but not in the combat chapter under damage. Pencil that in!

GURPS combat is better than Rolemaster's. Once you play with all the advanced wounding rules, crippling, knockdown, stun, shock, damage modifiers, blunt trauma, injury levels, wounds, unliving modifiers (zombies, golems, etc.), and critical hits - you have a game that can produce all of Rolemaster's chart results without the charts. If you want to be extra descriptive, buy an anatomy book and know when a femur or scapula can be broken. It takes a little extra effort when a target takes damage, but I would rather have a system that can recreate those results without needing charts and works for any target type.

You can also play with basic combat: hit plus damage. Rolemaster does not scale or simplify as well, and if all you want to play is "roll to-hits and do damage" - just like in any d20 game - that is an option. It is nice to have a combat system where you can shift from "it doesn't matter, handle it quickly" to "full bore wounding and realism" in the drop of a hat.

GURPS has an internal rules flexibility that most other games dream they could have.

Want to say "a month goes by, give me a skill roll for constructing the cabin" to "every second matters, your life depends on it?" GURPS does that seamlessly, and with as many levels of detail as you want.