GURPS Holds Playability

GURPS is a system I can return to, and it is instantly playable. With many other games, it takes time to get up to speed, and I fumble through mechanics when I feel the system should flow naturally. Even though the system complexity is moderate, getting back into GURPS feels like putting on a glove you have broken in and that fits you perfectly.

Once you know the system, it is as easy to slip back into as any older edition of B/X D&D.

The generic nature of GURPS means it can adopt the flavor of any setting you put it in, and it feels like "the game." With Savage Worlds, everything I put that system in feels more pulp and action-oriented. I can play Miami Vice and the classic Warhammer Fantasy setting in GURPS and Savage Worlds. With GURPS, they feel more like themselves. With Savage Worlds, they feel more like Savage Worlds. I love Savage Worlds, but that pulp-action feeling tends to seep into the setting, changing how players approach problems, especially combat.

Combat in Savage Worlds has a "fun factor" that I don't want in either of those settings to have that feeling. I know you can do a more gritty and deadly Savage Worlds, but that "fast, furious, fun" design turns my Savage Worlds games into shoot fests. That said, Savage Worlds is another of those "fits like a glove" systems for me, but it has a distinct movie-like style and play that is fun, but not for every setting.

Other games, such as 5E, require a lot of "content sorting" since they are unplayable with more than two shelves of books and expansions. Pathfinder 2 falls into the same area for me; I can't "break into" this game as I keep stumbling over the constant book references and chains of tags. Rolemaster is another challenging game; the charts and math drag down character creation. I want to get into these games, but the amount of homework I need to do, plus the difficulty of character creation, makes them white elephants for me. I keep them around, always want to play them, and end up disappointed that I never have the time to.

But all these games come with a "preset style of play" - just like Savage Worlds. Warhammer Fantasy is grim and gritty. D&D 5E is high-fantasy superheroes. Pathfinder 2 is a fantasy tactical map combat game. Rolemaster is a realistic fantasy game with preset "best paths" to discover. Dungeon Crawl Classics is D&D 3.5E light, packed with gonzo art and effect tables. AD&D is the classic, deadly dungeon-crawling game.

GURPS can be any and all of these.

And it is so easy to slip back into GURPS and pick up where I left off. The language of the game is consistent and straightforward. The writing is excellent. The systems are the best-designed in gaming. They don't need to change. I am back in the game once I have those three dice in my hand.

GURPS is a nirvana, a blank sheet of paper that becomes anything you put on it. To the uninitiated, a blank paper is nothing, bland, and nothingness. To those who can see the potential and use creativity, a blank sheet of paper is infinite possibilities.

I can use GURPS to create anything.

It will have any feeling or style I want, whether pulp, gritty, realistic, lighthearted, high-action, horror, speculative, strange, gonzo, comedy, or any other style and look that I can imagine.