Returning to GURPS Cepheus

Why not Traveller? I don't want the Imperium or all that framework. I get more enjoyment out of these at-cost, bare-bones framework games than I do from huge encyclopedic volumes that span shelves, with book after book of stuff I won't use. 

This Cepheus Engine SF-RPG, Basic Fantasy, and White Box FMAG are my current "go-to" GURPS references. Why? I simply need the basics, and nothing else. No fluff, little art, and few settings or examples of play. They are inexpensive and very fast to flip through and reference, almost like a rules appendix that I can dive into to pull a few systems and items from, and then duck out without spending a lot of time in the book.

SRD-based gaming feels so good to me. It is not because I don't like supporting creators; I will pick up the book and support it, but I appreciate complete, excellent SRDs, and they are very fast to use. I love the survivalist, holistic, DIY aspect of SRD gaming. Just give me the basics, and I will make the rest myself.

I don't want a coffee-table art book; I want a game manual. The fancier these books get, the harder they are to use at the table. But I get it: companies want to push us online and onto VTTs, so printed book quality suffers as the market shifts to collector sets. The VTT website will be the "real copy" of the game, the one most people see and use, while the physical book is just something to sit on a shelf.

Shifting back, why this? Also, why GURPS with this?

For one, I could play with a 2d6 system just fine, Cypher, or any other. What would happen is that after a few sessions, because I didn't invest much in the character, I would lose interest, and the game would fade away. For others, a convention, quick play, hotel distraction games, or one-shots? Cepheus is fine and works.

I love the simplified ship designs here, and the 2d6 starship combat. It works and stays out of the way, giving me enough crunch and detail to feel satisfied, but staying relatively generic and aggregated so I am not wrestling with vehicle designs in GURPS or huge range modifiers in space combat. GURPS benefits if you can park a wargame on top of it for the big stuff, be it Battletech, Car Wars, Cepheus, Knight Hawks, or any other macro-system tactical game.

If I can play "real Battletech" and then convert the pilot and gunnery skill levels from my GURPS characters, I am happy. Just because a game "isn't GURPS" doesn't mean we need to convert it, or it can't be fun on its own. Same thing with Car Wars or any other tactical miniatures game. If they work, we can play them and have fun, and we can play these wargames with others without any interest in GURPS; it is a win-win.

For characters? GURPS gets me invested. This is the same sort of thing that happens with some people and 5E. While they bounce off BX characters, 5E gives them enough choice and depth to keep them coming back for the next session. For me, 5E is a game I always try to like, but every time it fails, I end up storing the books again. Depth that leads to immortality and choice paralysis is a horrible game for me. I'll solo-play characters with a dozen printed character sheets each, and I will give up. With level 8 characters, that can easily go up to 16-20 printed sheets (with spells), and suddenly my collected character sheets are longer than a typical 64-page game from 1980.

With GURPS? Two sides of one sheet of paper, and you rarely get onto a third or fourth, unless you have spells or a lot of special powers. GURPS has relatively easy characters with an amazing amount of depth, which is a winning combination for me.

And Cepheus gives me a built-in sandbox where I can iterate through play. If I have no ideas and I am not using an AI, then just give me a book full of tables and let me run with it. While GURPS is the perfect game engine for a simulation, Cephus is a fine sandbox to play it in. This is also sort of the Battletech effect: I love giant mech combat, and adding the personal side of it with GURPS makes both sides that much better.