GURPS 4th Edition Revised

From the GURPS Discord and the SJ Games forum here:

https://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=205432

We are getting a 4th Edition Revised GURPS rulebook. This is a good change, and they are preserving page references while making a few adjustments to keep the book more of a rules reference than a new edition. We have two posts from Kromm on the GURPS Discord that are worthy and of note:

Originally Posted by Kromm on the Unofficial GURPS Discord

Since the GURPS Fourth Edition Revised monkey is out of the sack:

Zero. It won't be years. Most of the work is already done.

1. By far the biggest differences are major changes to physical layout and design. I'm not sure what SJ leaked at Gamehole Con, so I'm not going to go into detail here beyond saying, "The thing will be easier to use and read." It will not look the same, despite #3 below.

2. It is definitively not GURPS Fifth Edition, or even a GURPS Third Edition to GURPS Fourth Edition-level change! It is a GURPS Third Edition to GURPS Third Edition Revised-level change. It will not make edition-level changes to point costs, modifiers, prices, weights, etc. All rules changes will be additions, in clearly marked addenda "chapters," so that people can easily decide what to retcon into Fourth Edition campaigns.

3. Top priority is to preserve page references so that whether you use the Basic Set, Fourth Edition or Basic Set Fourth Edition Revised, an internal "p. 00" or external "p. B00" points you to the same rule. This brooks little to no rewriting outside of the addenda mentioned in #2.

4. Inasmuch as there is some rewriting, as in #3, it will be to remedy some particularly offensive or unclear passages. Not to change rules!

5+. And other minor stuff while we're at it. The above will inevitably change the size, shape, and location of art and quote boxes, so expect art and quotes to change, too. We'll update the credits to reflect additional material in the addenda, and the creatives who created the revised book. I'm sure there are 100 things like that.

#3 is the single most important element in living up to the promise of compatibility. There are literally millions of page references in 21 years of supplements and articles, not to mention community discussions. Invalidating them would mean a huge slap in the face. But #1 is the main reason to do the thing. So, it isn't a conflict . . . it's a visual upgrade that doesn't insult customers, while still providing both enhanced readability AND some extra "best of" addenda.

I can say without shilling or exaggerating that it is far, far more than a new printing. It just isn't a full edition. There are things between the two. A revision is one of those things. If all a reader cares about is the rules . . . well, there will be lots of addenda, but no, not a full revision. However, lots of readers care about readability, sensitivity, design aesthetics, being aware that it's 21 years later, etc. even if not a single rule changes.

Well, that's it for my needless leaks to follow SJ's leaks, but the takeaways:

• Better, more readable layout with different art and quotes.

• Mostly less controversial words, excepting indefinite pronouns (for economic reasons).

• More than 25 pages of "best of" rules skimmed from 21 years of system growth.

• Incidental glitch cleanup (e.g., mistaken "damage" for "injury," or "than" for "that").

• Promise of NO rules or page-reference changes to maintain total compatibility.

And this:

Originally Posted by Kromm on the Unofficial GURPS Discord

Just dropping in to reiterate that, no, we're not going to be changing important rules. Or even unimportant ones. 😉 When it comes to rules:

* We'll be adding 27 pages of rules. Those will get edited from their sometimes-obscure, often two-decades-old originals to speak modern ***GURPS.***

* We'll be fixing rules errata that people have reported. Not "Wah, this isn't how it *should* work!" but actual 1+1=3 and using-HT-to-mean-HP errata. Plus some errata I noticed at a glance as I was looking for sensitivity issues. Very, very minor stuff here.

* We'll be clarifying a few rules to set FAQs to rest, but only where there is space to do so. No new rules. Just adding belts to a few suspenders (or suspenders to a few belts, if you prefer).

* We'll correct a few obviously outdated things, like thinking it's 2004 when it'll be 2026. This may influence a few rules-related examples, but not the rules per se. Closer to being a minor erratum or light edit, really.

But people who want new core magic systems, TL definitions, armor stats, and so on will not find them here. Sometimes there are things like that in supplements, but we're taking those as alternatives to an established core, not the new core. I've made an effort to point out supplements where quote boxes allow me to do so. Where they don't . . . well, at least I updated the *Ludography.*

Combat Lite will not be in the book, so it will only be found in GURPS Lite. Iconic characters are being kept alongside Infinite Worlds. Some words, like 'slave,' are being changed, and the 'slave mentality' disadvantage is being renamed and clarified. This is still useful for hive-mind bugs and similar creatures, but it is not really great for intelligent beings.

Please don't get rid of the Bulletproof Nudity rule (B417)! Just change the no-top rule to 'any gender,' since I use it for both my Conan and He-Man games, as well as Rambo and Schwarzenegger Commando-type movie games. Another option is to put the +1 on a STR 14+ to focus the rule on showing off a perfect physique, regardless of gender (keeping the +1 but making the toplessness optional). I need those big oiled pecs in my shoot-em-up adventures, and that silly +1 bonus still in the game as a 1980s action-movie nod. You have my permission to rename the rule to a more genre and reader-friendly: "No Armor? No Problem."

Overall, I am liking this new direction: an update of the language and art, elimination of dated references, and a new edition of the game that focuses on ease of use.