GURPS: Lite Fantasy Characters

One project I have been working on is a set of generic GURPS: Lite characters that cover the archetypal fantasy roles, so I can put them out for free and give people "something" they can use to try GURPS. GURPS Lite is great, but it needs pre-gen characters and a few monsters to have stuff to play with. Otherwise, this is just a design system, skill rules, and a combat engine with no toys to play with.

I got a sample "fighter" done for about 200 points, and I want a ranger, rogue, monk, and maybe a non-magical bard. There is no magic in Lite, so these will be martial characters, but that is fine. I need a few classic OSR monsters, too, like goblins, orcs, a giant spider, and a few other classics.

Keeping magic out of the game will keep it mysterious, and also allow us later to choose our magic system, so that feels like a better way to move forward. I would love to have a pre-gen cleric and mage, but I am sticking to what we have in Lite.

I am only using what they have in GURPS: Lite, which are the project's ground rules! If a skill, piece of gear, or advantage is not in there, I don't use it. People need to be able to download Lite, grab a few pre-gens, and play along for free.

Once I have these, I can use them as examples of play here on the blog and have a standard set of characters for those examples, rather than getting so deep into theory and game planning.

You know, I would love to see a new version of GURPS: Lite called GURPS Fantasy: Lite, more focused on fantasy gaming and including a bunch of OSR standard monsters and magic items, plus a small magic system to try out. Put that out as a free product, and let people have toys in the box to play with, and directly compare the GURPS experience against D&D 5E.

That is, in essence, what I am trying to do here with GURPS: Lite. Partly for others, and partly to have standardized characters to run play examples with.

And I know once people see the difference, they will likely stick with GURPS and have a better game and character experience.

It does not need all that much, just a handful of archetypes and a few spells, a sampling of monsters, and some treasures to grab hold of. It needs a few rules for running a GURPS dungeon. We need rules for light, searching, breaking down doors, torch times, disarming traps, and the dungeon standard tasks. It needs to cover the basics and nothing else. It needs pre-gens to "grab and go" with, and monsters to throw down on the table on night one.

Focus on "factors that ensure a game's success" and the questions that will come up at a table of inexperienced players (think of how Shadowdark addresses these sticking points for players), and you will have a winning product that serves as an entry point to our hobby.