I could not teach my sister how to play GURPS. We ended up playing Cypher System together because it was much easier for me to communicate with her, show her how to play, and explain the character creation and combat systems. With GURPS, it was always another explanation of "why" and me trying to "sell" her on "why this is better."
She is the sort of player who just wants to roll a d20 to see whether she can do something. She understood Cyber's pool systems and the concept of reducing difficulties to avoid rolls. She loved the concepts of GM and player intrusions, and that whole "storyteller meta" framework the system is built around with XP as narrative currency.
Cypher, in some ways, is very close to being a "narrative card game," and I bet the entire system could be card-based and played from them.
Granted, the difference between GURPS' 3d6 and Cypher's d20 is that the latter is adding dice together, and a roll-under versus a roll-over. The largest difference between the games is rating challenges, and Cypher being more of a meta-currency pool system for abilities. GURPS is the far better simulator, where Cypher is so heavily abstracted that it is closer to a FATE.
Where Cypher shone for her is the "I do anything" nature of the system. She could pull a Player Intrusion for any whacky idea, or pull out a one-use Cypher to do something incredibly stupid and hilarious. GM Intrusions were "uh-ohs," and she debated whether to accept them. She loves to laugh and joke around, and Cypher, being an extremely improvisational system, worked very well for her.
I played Call of Cthulhu with her once, and that system is closer in GURPS to being a "sim," and she wasn't as engaged. I had to prod her into different tasks, and she felt she didn't have as much agency in a simulation-style system. For the most part, she was "waiting" to be told what she could do, rather than taking action. Part of this was learning a new system, but the speed of a more narrative-focused system gave her instant engagement with Cypher.
Granted, in GURPS, my skill with the system gives me as much "narrative engagement" as I have in Cypher. I know I can "do anything" and "attempt any action" to shift the narrative. I don't need the narrative pool systems in Cypher for GURPS, and I can create challenges where the pass-or-fail nature shifts the narrative accordingly.
Fail at convincing the town guards you aren't a threat, and they will let you in the gate.
In Cypher, I would set a difficulty, determine the pass/fail paths, and let the players bid it down and roll, if needed. Rolling for anything is a potential "failure state," so avoiding rolls is a part of the game.
In GURPS, I would do most of the same, though there is no pool or bidding down involved, unless good roleplay warrants a bonus on the roll. Rolling for things in GURPS isn't really a failure state unless you treat the potential for critical failures as a complication.
There is also an argument to be made, "In GURPS, don't roll, but roleplay."
In Cypher, this event is more of a milestone, which can create complications or shift the narrative, so "being let in the gate" becomes a more important event in the scheme of a narrative game. Be aware of simulation games that push the action "closer to the metal" in combat and skill checks, while narrative games float on the surface and place greater emphasis on cause and effect through narrative elements.
So, with experience, the "critical path" of narrative decision and outcome is very similar across the games, with Cypher inserting pool mechanics between the player and their actions, creating a translation layer that is both good and bad.
Some players hate narrative pools since they force your mind outside of the game, causing you to "step out of character" a moment to "deal with the rules," and then you need to "jump back into the character's headspace." For new players, they are not as into "character headspace immersion" as we hardcore players are, so that translation layer with the pools helps ease them into the concepts of narrative control and manipulation.
With GURPS, I can stay mostly 100% in "character headspace" and do not need to "jump out" to deal with pools and the rules. I can stay in-character, make my skill rolls, and use my referee-mind or an oracle to control the narrative. Each GURPS character is a miniature game design, and capable of the things that we design them to do. Do I want a social character with a few combat abilities? I can easily have that in GURPS.
I can stay immersed and make decisions based on character headspace. I can navigate the narrative and try to direct it in my favor with successful skill rolls, actions, and roleplay.
This is also why some players, when they report how it feels to play a game like GURPS Traveller, say they feel they are "putting on a VR headset" and "actually being in Traveller" for the first time, versus the more abstracted 2d6 system. That deep sense of immersion is where GURPS wins many over.
Where Cypher shines is the gamification of narration. A new player knows, "if I trip a Player Intrusion, I get to say what happens." Also, "If a GM Intrusion happens, things may not go my way, but I will gain a resource for later." New players are trying to find their way, and the game around narrative control gives them a good handrail for navigating games where characters plus randomness in a situation creates story.
Where my sister, as a new player, did not care as much about "deep immersion" as about "what can she do" and "what is happening next?"
In GURPS, we are closer to the sim level, and where this shines is in the blend of light-skill-roll gameplay and one of the best and most detailed combat systems in gaming. As an experienced player, I don't need the narrative systems in Cypher, but I still find them enjoyable, even in solo play. Where GURPS shines is in giving me "perfectly defined characters," whereas Cypher uses archetypes to abstract and generalize characters. Again, archetypes are easier for new players to grasp, and GURPS and its point buy are better for a more skilled player.
I love new player experiences in games, especially when contrasted with experiences in the games I like. Our next game together will be GURPS, and I will report back on how she felt about the game. Now that she knows a little more about our hobby, will she latch onto the sim and immersion elements of GURPS, or will she be happier with Cypher's gamified narrative?
I guess we shall see.
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