My GURPS Shrine

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A friend introduced me to these shelves, and I got one completed last week that now houses my entire GURPS collection. This is also a sturdy wood-and-steel shelf, capable of holding a significant amount of weight without sagging. These are put together with wood screws, and are not those fiberboard cheap pieces of junk with shelves of books held up by tiny plastic tabs. I have had many of those break apart over the years under the weight of books; it's not funny.

These are pretty shelves, more like display stands, but they give me what used to be three packed shelves of GURPS books, now loosely populated, but still on the mostly-filled side, with books.

The bottom shelf fits all my GURPS 3 books, which are still very useful. The second shelf up is for GURPS 4 and those eras of books. The third shelf up is filled with Dungeon Fantasy, which is my most-played version of the game, conveniently situated at eye level.

That third shelf should be your "star game" to keep it always the first thing you look at when you walk by. I'll wander by and say, "Hey, that looks fun!" There is a reason the highest-priced shelves in grocery stores are located at eye level, since humans will focus on that first every time they go by.

The fourth shelf up is for dice and figurine storage, adding some style and character to my shelf. If I play mecha-suit anime games with GURPS, what is going on that shelf? All my impressive figures to help tell me, "GURPS does this too, come and play!" I can do my fantasy figures, or any of my others, to set the tone of that shelf and the infinite fun it provides me.

This way, I don't need a GURPS: Mecha Suit Gundam book, and I have the figures up there to inspire me to find out what happens next in those characters' stories.

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Since this is a free-standing shelf, I will place most of the softcover books in these handy file holders, which are large enough to accommodate even the hardcovers. Once these are full, they act as bookends, and I never have the problem of all my books flopping over to one side or another.

I can also create focused groups of books, such as fantasy or sci-fi, and label them accordingly on the holder. I can also pull the whole file holder out and put it on my table, which means less searching through the shelves, less looking for the book I need, and everything is all together for me in one organized place.

The only downside is having to slide the holder forward and pull a book out, but that's a minor complaint considering the benefits of becoming so hyper-organized and keeping my GURPS shelf clean and organized. The focused collections, with everything not flopping to one side or the other, save me a lot of time, frustration, and keep my shelves more open and airy. 

I find a packed shelf is a shelf I do not use, since I rarely want to pull something out once I cram everything in there. Shelves with some open space and room to breathe are far more usable and playable than an archive shelf packed full to the brim.

Each organizer holds 8-10 of the GURPS books thick enough to have a title on the spine, or about 6-8 of the thicker hardcovers. The very-thin books it can hold are 14-16. This is without being packed too tightly, as I leave some breathing room to pull things out when I want a book.

My loose-leaf folders, containing notes and character sheets, are stored in these organizers, one per shelf, to keep my notes and papers organized. One folder is used for each campaign. This keeps all my notes and campaign information hyper-organized. I would still like to find a Trapper-Keeper-type solution with room for sheets and a legal pad or spiral notebook for my game notes, and I will continue to look for one so I can get my campaigns hyper-organized.

My old shelves fit five of these on a shelf; these new ones can fit seven wide, which allows me to use the lowest shelf as an archive, and the upper shelves can be more open and user-friendly.

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Having a more open shelf means I can store dice on it! I use these clear plastic candy jars, which allow me to sort dice into collections based on color and style, and I place the jars on the shelves next to the books. Nothing gets me in the mood to play like seeing a massive container of pretty dice, ready to grab-and-go. I have a Fall and Earth-colors set for Dungeon Fantasy, as well as a more modern, red, black, blue, and white GURPS set for science fiction and contemporary-day campaigns. The dice for that shelf go on the shelf next to the books, since I have the room.

Yes, I have genre-themed dice sets. What else do you do with this many dice? Sort them and create play sets based on themes! After years of collecting, you eventually end up using these buckets of dice as display shelf kitsch.

Clear containers mean I see them out, all beautifully organized, screaming at me to play with them! They look like candy in there, which is a positive mental reinforcement, and it is another "come play with me" thing that I do on my game shelves.

Additionally, all other games are prohibited from this shelf. There are no 5E books, Cypher books, or any other games listed here. My only exception is Basic Fantasy, which I use for conversions for my GURPS: B/X games.

I also have the excellent Solo Game Master's Guide from Modiphius Entertainment, which is a fantastic book of inspiration that keeps me gaming. This one includes the gem "everything is playing," which helps alleviate the guilt of not being in a game. If you are thinking about campaigns, messing with character designs, or otherwise doing things for the game, that is equivalent to playing GURPS on the hex grid.

I needed a shelf system that was organized and far easier to clean. Here, if I want to completely wipe down and dust the shelves, I pull the organizers out, wipe the whole shelf down, and put them right back. I am not hauling books out and putting them on a table, clearing space to clean another space, only to have the stacks fall over. Cleaning these types of shelves is trivial and takes me far less time and effort since it is so open, and there are minimal surfaces to wipe. Additionally, the Roomba can navigate right under here on its own.

Does any of this have anything to do with GURPS? Yes and no. I call this new, beautiful, amazing creation my "GURPS Shrine," and it keeps me busy. It is designed to be used efficiently and to pull books from. It has room for my figures that represent the games I play. It holds all my dice.

This is an investment in my hobby, and one of the hindrances I found in actually making me want to play my games was that they were so packed into shelves they would collect dust, be untouchable since they would constantly flop over, and look unappealing, like a hoarder's book collection with junk all over the shelves. Dust would collect, and I would not want to touch the entire mess.

Also, we are GURPS players. We are used to lengthy mental calculations, keeping our character sheets organized, optimizing our designs, and calculating every blow in melee combat. The organization appeals to us on a fundamental level. We have the "nerd gene" in our DNA, and I find that having a premium shelf that is amazingly organized sits in my play area like a beacon of light. It resembles a high-end gaming store's shelf, filled with endless fun, including dice, figures, and a variety of other gaming-related items.

If one reason you don't play more is that you wish you were more organized, with your shelves being more attractive and cleaner, this is the way to go.

The Cinematic Campaign

"The 'cinematic' campaign is one where realism doesn’t rule – because if it did, it would constantly get in the way of the story. In a cinematic campaign, swashbuckling heroes can defeat dozens of foes because the story calls for it. Spacecraft whoosh or roar in the silence of space because fast things whoosh and powerful engines roar. Rightness always overrules mere correctness." - GURPS, Basic Set, Campaigns, page 488.

Cinematic here seems to imply "pulp adventure," but in reality, it can refer to any cinematic genre. The rules favor pulp, as it is the best example of a cinematic style, but I argue that any style is a valid one, as long as it is established, adhered to, and agreed upon when the game begins.

If you are playing a GURPS: Back to the Future game, you need that fish-out-of-water, time-travel, slapstick humor level of genre. I usually have three qualifier words to describe my settings, and I stick to those as a universal rule. If something conflicts with a rule, then it "gets in the way of the story" and is changed. In Back to the Future, people aren't getting shot and stabbed, so that does not happen like it would in real life. If it does (in Doc's case), it is the "bullets make someone fall down" sort of moment, like an old-time Western TV show, and it gets later retconned.

However, GURPS gives us the freedom to establish these cinematic parameters and reach an agreement on them before play. Unlike modern "dramatic narrative systems," this is done more traditionally, and the narrative parameters affect every aspect of the game, allowing players and the referee to equally adjust outcomes, actions, and suggestions on what happens next.

In a GURPS: Looney Tunes game, the destructive weapons from ACME, Inc. would not be treated as realistic weapons or devices of destruction. If a player wanted to come up with a slapstick gag of their own, it fit with the theme, and it made people laugh, then let it be.

Since society, for the most part, has lost its imagination (due to the Internet, AI, YouTube, smartphones, and so on), we see newer games go out of their way to replicate a theme through their rules. Games require the "training wheels" of narrative control to establish a theme and tightly control the action through extensive lists of "dos and don'ts," along with mechanical systems, in an attempt to reproduce free-form imagination. In a modern Looney Tunes game, you would likely use a currency of "Looney Points" that allows you to make toon-based special attacks, and have to look through long lists (or desks of cards) of "gags" and "slapstick moments" to throw a pie in someone's face.

You see this in Daggerheart with special attacks from characters needing "hope points" to trigger. The cool attacks, best special moves, and other narrative moments are controlled via in-game currency. In my GURPS: Looney Tunes game, if my fire-breathing dragon has a "fire breath," I buy that as a power, give it a fatigue cost, and we are good. Now, my dragon can breathe in everyone's faces and turn them into a charcoal briquette. Yes, fire breath is a "narrative power," but it is just a power, and we can put any cost on it we want, as long as it fits the theme.

But note this game design strategy. You give up something, your ability to use your special attacks and powers, and give control of that to an in-game system. In GURPS, we are used to "characters being the master of their destinies" and being able to spend FP for powers, and those resources being internal character components. In Daggerheart, we are in narrative game land, and now parts of our characters exist externally and within the current context of a game and session.

Internal versus external designs, make note of this. GURPS primarily relies on the former.

GURPS being GURPS, you could invent a "hope" secondary ability score, start it at zero, and throw points in there on even rolls, give the referee fear on odd rolls, and use it as an alternate fatigue source. Or you could make some abilities "hope-powered" for a -20% modifier to their cost, since this pool controls activation. There, now we have GURPS: Daggerheart.

It is not as elegant or "design slick" as the Darrington Press game, but GURPS exists in a tinkerer's universe, where we love our strange, bolted-on, and hacked-together creations. We are more like coders on this side of the hobby, and we will kludge together rules and subsystems to simulate any experience in our game, since the tools we have been given are amazing and powerful.

Where other games give you these "drag and drop" game creation tools that can't do much beyond what the creator allows, GURPS is more like a full C++ or Java coding environment. GURPS is one of the first "Professional RPG systems," with Champions being the other.

I saw a GURPS Fantasy mod that gave clerics a "healing touch" superpower that cost fatigue instead of using spells. No skill roll needed, no buying spells as skills, just pay the fatigue cost and heal. Is this a valid way to do magic? Shouldn't we be using the systems in the book in the magic chapter, or Dungeon Fantasy spells? This is GURPS. If it works, it is magic. Whatever way you want to do it is right.

Which circles back to cinematic campaigns. We had to go down the "design rabbit hole" to prove a point; any method to get to a desired outcome is valid in GURPS. You can design a magic system a hundred different ways, and as long as it works for you and fits into the game's framework, it is a sound system.

So if you establish your cinematic campaign parameters and use them to move results to "rightness" rather than "correctness," then you are on the right track. In Looney Tunes, if you put your face in front of a pirate cannon, humor will result! You won't be simulating realistic terminal ballistics and rolling tons of damage dice, just say "something silly happens" and make up the funniest result, and move on.

Similarly, if you are playing a GURPS: Rom-Com game, you will abide by the "romantic comedy" cinematic campaign parameters, and everything in the game will be seen through that lens. Don't just think this is for pulp adventures or comedy, GURPS can do it all.

Note the use of the word "lens" here, which is a constructive framework for describing cinematic campaign parameters to players. People understand "we are using a comedic lens" to grasp that concept.

Also, if you are playing a GURPS: Slasher Movie game, you could force everyone to take a "do something stupid" disadvantage, which requires a self-control roll. The Final Girl (or Guy) does not need to take this one, either. Now you will have someone heading down to the basement when the power goes out, looking for the fuse box. Here is a hint: don't always kill off the character who fails this roll. Let them turn the lights back on, make it back upstairs, and kill off a character who was smart and stayed upstairs but wandered off to grab a snack.

That is an example of using the tools GURPS provides to simulate a genre within the design system we were given. The "cinematic parameter" means all but one of the characters at the table must take that "do something stupid" disadvantage. Roll for it, or draw straws. Let players decide how many points they will get for that disadvantage, too, whether they are "slightly stupid" or "completely foolish." If you play this right, the most foolish of the group will be getting everyone else killed, and the players will be rooting for that character to get it next.

In a Rom-Com game, you could use similar disadvantages to shape character actions, and create a pool of character archetypes with templates, such as: the too-cool guy, the wing man/girl, the bestie, the cheerleader, the nerd, the jock, and so on. Yes, they are stereotypes, but they are also genre conventions. In a modern narrative game, they will create these for you and put them on cards for you to use, fill them full of special rules, and invariably sell you more in expansions. In GURPS, we have the tools to do this all for free.

However, we only put in the work when we need to. If we're playing a Rom-Com with these character archetypes, go ahead, put in the work, and make it happen! If all you want to use are "cinematic parameters" to achieve the same effect, that is fine too; save yourself some design work and just get started with those ground rules. If you want to create custom disadvantages with "compulsive behaviors" like jock, cheerleader, and so on, do it that way. When a character has a moment to do something "the most nerd way," and it would make things more difficult or hinder the character (these are still disadvantages), then make a roll when it feels right.

In a way, the default parameters of GURPS are characterized by "hardcore realism," which is how the game earns its reputation. However, the game needs to start from this point to reach every other, and you are often paring back the rules to make things work as you want them to. The game instructs you to do this on page 489, under the rule "Damn the Rules, Full Speed Ahead!" Run a game with wildcard skills (page 175), talents (page 89), and ability scores. Ignore most of the rules and run GURPS Lite combat and skill resolution. Now you have a B/X-style game that is simple, fast, and fun.

You can develop your Rom-Com game the same way: make a list of talents, wildcard skills, archetype disadvantages, and let players throw together characters out of those parts. You do not need to spend a few hours building characters with the character creation tools and worry about buying levels of driving, languages, fashion sense, and computers. Doing this will likely turn players off. If the genre says "simple, archetype characters," then that is how you will play the game and build characters.

Doing things this way also dispels the biggest myths about GURPS: that the game takes forever to create characters, is overly complicated, forces you to sort through hundreds of skills, has complicated combat, and only supports hardcore realism. None of that is true.

Play the game straight from the book, just like it is in 5E? That will happen. But the game goes out of its way to tell us not to do that. Every rule is optional. You build games with these rules. You pick and choose. The game is a toolbox, and you don't always use every tool in the box to do a job. If all you are doing is hanging pictures, all you need is a hammer, perhaps a drill, and a screwdriver for mounting picture studs. Do you need to use the pipe wrench, strap wrench, or blowtorch? For most nails, the hammer will do.

Taking a little care in setting up your game and deciding how you want to play it will make the game more enjoyable to play and share with others.

GURPS in 2025

I am starting a few new GURPS campaigns in 2025, but the end half of 2024 has been tough. Right now, I am cleaning out 40 years of games and putting things in storage. I will unbox a game, put it on a shelf, see if it interests me, and then box it up and realize I don't have time for it or I have better.

Some never go away and never get boxed up. GURPS is one of them.

OSRIC and first-edition dungeon gaming are another. The entire D&D concept has been warped into an unrecognizable state today. This isn't even the same game I remember. When I go back to basics, this is where my inspiration and truth lie.

There is one fork of modern D&D that I like. It started in D&D 4th Edition for us, with the "tabletop dungeon board game" playing a central role in the game. This fork started in D&D 3.5E, went to D&D 4E, and today, it lives on in Pathfinder 2E. The whole "figures, dungeon tiles, and d20 gaming" only exists in that form here, and to be honest, the genre is very close to GURPS' hex-based adventuring.

Pathfinder 2E is a sister game to GURPS. It has pre-chewed character options and adopts polyhedral dice as randomizers. If you want it "on the table" and like that tactical hit, play GURPS or Pathfinder 2E and forget everything else exists.

Everything I like about gaming is lost when you go to the rules-light or theater of the mind games.

Also, a lot has been "done for me" in a game like Pathfinder 2E, and I can spend weeks converting it to GURPS with time I don't have or just open this and play for a while, exploring what the designers did with the game. They have good ideas and fresh takes here, improving the characters I build in GURPS since I have external inputs and things to reflect upon.

GURPS, for me, with the fantasy genre? I am still reflecting on what I like about it. There is a "thing" there, a place I want to be; I just haven't found it yet. I don't want to simulate kitchen-sink fantasy, nor do I want to convert endless spells and monster lists. GURPS can do much more than emulate; it can create something new. If I play GURPS in the fantasy genre, I want magic to be strange and mysterious, something that reflects the person. I want monsters to be myth-like representations of human weaknesses and sins. GURPS tells those stories much better than it does, emulating other games.

At least for me.

I am also playing the excellent American Truck Simulator (ATS) on my PC over the holidays and reflecting on how stupid the "Traveller cargo model" is. Science fiction RPGs have been stuck with this 16th-century "the captain buys the cargo and sells it somewhere else" model of merchant campaigning, and compared to ATS, it makes the entire "space game cargo model" seem stupid.

In ATS, you aren't randomly buying air conditioner units in one town and taking them to another, praying somebody wants them. No, a company is hiring you to haul them and get them from place A to place B intact because they need these units there, and they need them there now. You can see why when you drop these cargoes off at job sites, factories, food processing plants, truck dealerships, and every other location in ATS.

You are a part of a larger economy.

And all the while, you are dealing with the little things that could mess this up: fuel, sleep, idiot drivers, produce inspection stations, weigh stations, local laws, what lanes trucks can drive in, and how fast, hazardous cargoes and getting certified to haul them, trailer types, jobs that are just not available, or there are too many good ones, and you need to pick and choose your destination, repairs. You learn the terrain and the skills required to get across it safely. You know all the things truck stops and garages do and need to keep this truck running well.

Even using mirrors, lights, and turn signals is essential knowledge.

And you get to run a company with drivers, and you need to manage garages and trucks.

If you are into space gaming, and your merchant campaigns fall flat because they fall into the "roll cargo, fly somewhere, and sell," play this game to the point where you buy a truck and learn the game. Learn how to back up. Learn how to repair your vehicle. Learn when to gas up and rest. Obey the rules for weight stations and produce inspection stations. Learn the laws and read the signs. Learn how to navigate.

You could "work" for just a company in this game, take their loads, and learn how it feels to be a company hauler. In a space game, if a company is terraforming a world, that is an almost insane amount of cargo, machinery, construction equipment, habitation pods, and other "stuff" that isn't made locally in that target world. And terraforming operations can last hundreds of years, and the "flavor" of the cargo will change over time.

You could just play that as a part of a single campaign and get to know the drop-off points, who lives there, the local space militia and law enforcement, what problems they have, what they need, the company managers on-site, and you will build this world in your mind as you haul there.

Many of today's science fiction games have this "hop around" mentality where "new backdrops are fun!" While ATS has "varied backdrops" in the places you go, it focuses on more than one part of that experience, changing how I think about science fiction gaming.

Just replace the trucks with starships, and you have an excellent science-fiction game.

GURPS would do this type of game exceptionally well, and you don't need Star Trek or Star Wars to support it. Fantasy, for me, is the same way. I don't want D&D to prop up my GURPS Fantasy game. I want to find something GURPS can simulate well, without emulating anything, and focus the experience on that.

GURPS also has "fine-grained" skills, and I will need a crew to cover what I don't know but need. GURPS Ultra-Lite can fill those NPCs just fine, and I don't need to spend days creating a crew. Are we hauling hazardous materials? Let's hire a hazmat specialist for this trip only. Do we know any, and are they on-planet? Would hiring them as a permanent position make sense, since we haul these high-paying loads often?

Let's do the math.

For me, this is where GURPS shines. I get a world model and concept built in my head, like, "What if ATS was a space trucker game?" GURPS makes that dream come alive. However, the idea for the game comes from the outside and doesn't originate in emulating other games. The entire ATS concept "in space" is mind-expanding and strong, especially diving into the level of detail this game forces you to think about.

To me, the kitchen sink fantasy is like the Traveller cargo-hauling model. We assume "it works there" so "we can port it in" without looking elsewhere and asking, "Can't we do better?" ATS has forever changed my mind on merchant campaigns and cargo hauling. Better models exist that can tell better stories. Recycling other games is not how we find them.

I want to find that in the fantasy genre, which must come from outside of "fantasy roleplaying."

Genre and the Centralization of Character

What is a genre? Does character serve genre? Or is it the other way around?

GURPS takes a unique approach, placing the character at the core of the game. Everything in GURPS, including the genre itself, revolves around the character sheet. The core of GURPS is character creation, which is the game's heart.

But aren't other games centered around character creation? Not really. I like GURPS because of the moment when the movie is blurry and the director focuses the lens on the main character in the film—the character. GURPS gives this "deep focus" where the hero is the most important element of the game. Experience, genre, and even the rules of "life" serve the central character concept.

Some games that use a generic-style character creation system tightly tie themselves to the genre and game world. Examples include Runequest, Traveller, and other games that tightly tie the experience to a setting.

GURPS's design has an almost "old school Hollywood" feel. The player is an actor taking a role, and the character on the sheet is the role being played. It doesn't matter if James Earl Jones is playing an evil sorcerer in Conan or a government official in a Tom Clancy movie; he is the player and brings everything he can to each role he takes on. Those two characters are so different, showing the actor's grasp of the role, character, depth, and range of this actor's profession.

Contrast this with modern games, which assume "you are the character" and the rules never allow you to live beyond yourself. Or they enable you to cosplay an internal identity, but it still is you under that face paint and foam rubber facade.

There is a massive difference between costume and make-up, who the character is on the inside, and their life experiences. Many players will say, "A dwarf is someone with a Scottish accent," and stop there. There isn't a life experience; you aren't acting; it is just a silly voice.

In GURPS, the character sheet is the "actor's notes" on who this person is. A part of the experience is living "outside the genre," and the character and how that character is played define the role and go beyond genre. An actor brings so much more to a role than a face and a voice, but the character the actor plays is also "not the actor."

In GURPS, I give myself a kleptomaniac or greedy disadvantage. I may not have a greedy or thieving bone in my body, but as an actor, I need to figure that out and use my life experiences to make this "role" come alive at the table.

That dwarf in GURPS will have a list of advantages and disadvantages outside of that silly accent. He may feel guilt over a loss in his past life. He may hold a grudge. He may have dreams. He likely has deep flaws.

Another troubling part about today's games is that they "sell a life experience" as the game. Life experiences happen outside the game, and they are what you bring to it to enjoy the game better. You end up playing every game with yourself as a character actor, playing yourself. You don't have range; if someone hands you a character sheet with something outside your life experience, you can't play that character.

Even if a game is about a list or a subsystem experience, you still need to bring your "acting chops" to a table and not let the game - or even your own self - define the character you play. That character sheet is the heart of the game; in GURPS, this focus is built into the game.

It's interesting how some games prioritize different elements over the character, like most generic fantasy games, many sci-fi genres, and even some modern Euro-style fantasy games. In these games, the 'lists' they provide are the core experience, and the collection of things 'is' the experience. D&D has embraced this approach, with licensed IPs taking precedence over generic fantasy elements. Mind flayers, beholders, and copyrighted content are featured as the 'bad guys' rather than generic villains like dragons or evil sorcerers. This caters to the players' preferences, but it's important to note that not all list games' are 'generic fantasy.'

This also covers Star Wars, Star Trek, and other sci-fi games that feel more like the 'list' of licensed IP gets put before the character. You play those games to experience the genre simulation. Understanding this variety of game elements can make you a more knowledgeable RPG player or designer. Many GURPS games fail since referees need to convert everything to have a complete experience.

Some games are such vast lists of stuff that it would take decades to convert them all over. Yes, you do not need to convert for a great experience, but there is still that feeling that a phonebook's content needs to be converted to have "all the options."

A mechanical system is built and placed before the characters in some games. In a game like Forbidden Lands, this fantastic "world generation engine" is mixed with preset encounters in the book, creating a dynamic game experience. The characters are the impetus of action and change, but the character sheet is not the "center of the world." You can still bring your "acting gravitas" to a game like this, but the natural appeal of the game is experiencing the "random systems" inside of it and seeing what world it creates for you.

These games aren't bad or wrong; they are just different. Games like The Walking Dead or Twilight: 2000 are incredibly fun, like a hybrid role-playing wargame and board game. They are the closest we can get to having a video game of the experience, and they give us resource subsystems and abstracted mechanics and deliver a more extensive simulation than "just a character."

You can play Twilight: 2000 with GURPS, sure. But the game delivers so much more than just one character. Again, this is a focus thing. Are we more focused on a character or the entire event around them? For some, playing through the whole event without the "character as focus" delivers the experience they want.

We can also borrow these generation systems and play the game using GURPS rules. This works as long as you can define where one game stops and the other begins. You still lose something, but you gain what you like about GURPS.

But there are times when I want my experience to center on that character and how I bring them alive with my ability to translate what is on that sheet, through my life experiences, to a character in the game who is not me.

Most of what is in GURPS, the advantage and disadvantage lists, are things outside my experience, the "not me" things I need to translate to make a character come alive.

This is why when I play a genre with GURPS, I focus more on the character than a generic list of stuff I need to convert over. I drill down on a character; the world and "junk in it" are secondary. I have books with stuff in them that I can use, and all the GURPS sourcebooks provide 90% of what I need. Most of the other 10% is something reskinned and "flavored" as something else. Converting things becomes an impediment to the fun of the game and also does not play into the strength of the system.

GURPS is a system that puts a character sheet first in an infinite plane of blank hexes. How those hexes appear, what is in them, and how you interact with them is the lens that genre and worldbuilding create.

But the character sheet is the pivot point in which everything else revolves.

What Controls Your Actions?

I have always felt a limiting factor in my actions whenever I play D&D. This is especially true with the newer game versions, where I stare at a character sheet and a "list of powers and spells."

What do you do this turn?

I don't know. What powers do I have?

The question would be the same in older game editions; my answer would be either attack, cast a spell, or something else. The older versions were better because your options were more limited, and you had more room to improvise and create crazy strategies. This is also like GURPS, where you have a list of skills, ability scores, maybe some magic, and anything goes.

But between adventures, what drives me when I think about my character? Of course, the story, but there is that XP chart. The next level of powers is coming up, and my gold pieces drive me. What motivates me in any version of D&D is power and attaining it. It is always there, hovering over my choices, driving me forward, and controlling my decisions.

Our party will be in town for a week, what do we do?

Wander around the wilderness and find a dungeon. Hope some scenario comes up in town with combat and treasure. Go somewhere and do violence on some evil humanoids.

You look at almost any mega-dungeon module, and this is the base motivation of most D&D games: clean the map, get the loot, and rack up as many XP as possible to unlock incredible powers. These are easy motivations, so the game is popular.

But I don't really care about killing rooms full of evil humanoids. I keep trying these games and get the "pulp swords and sorcery vibe" (one that the newer editions of the game have abandoned for cosplay), but none last long. That level chart feels like something I will never attain and nothing I really wanted in the first place. Who cares what some Seattle game designer made happen at level three? It is cool compared to the last two levels, but it gets to be the same.

The higher I go in levels, the more limited my choices feel to what the game designers give me. The higher I go, the worse it gets, and the more my actions are limited until choice paralysis sets in at level eight, and the characters become unplayable (in terms of being able to think outside the character sheet).

GURPS feels different. What do we do if we are in that town for a week?

Wow, anything.

Some may look at their skill list and say, "What next?" I look at it and ask myself, "Can I get training?" Could I learn a new skill? Can I earn a wage somewhere? Is there a new skill I want to learn? Are there problems in town my skills can help with? Can I earn money by entertaining, smithing, making maps, leatherworking, skinning, or any other trade I have worked on?

Do I have the social skills and languages to communicate with different factions in town? What can I find out? Is there some history to learn here? If we are into dungeon crawling, do we research local lore and find the place ourselves without having to randomly wander into it? In a mega-dungeon adventure, typically, you wander hexes, and the referee has you "find the hole in the ground" when you walk in the hex, just to keep things moving. In GURPS, my party is hitting the books, reading journals, asking people in town, and putting the clues together to "find the place where the lone tree stands at the meeting of the two rivers and 300 paces from the confluence to the west is the lost crypt."

We are working to find this place. When we are there, we look for clues about other places around here. We take rubbings of etchings, pick up scrolls and books, and look at the artwork carved on the walls. A map made by a lost adventuring party or ancients is a treasure.

We are a group actively seeking information and seeking to gather and decipher it. Our skills unlock those doors. We don't have to be "given" anything by an adventure writer or referee; we earn it through sleuthing and history work.

We found that.

Now let's go there and find out more.

This is my turn-off to most of today's fantasy gaming and a massive part of the OSR. Most adventures are written like a TV show; turn your brain off and let the referee "read the shaded story box" or "make you find the next place to keep things moving." Many games do not even allow you to "find that next place" through investigation, collecting clues, and using skills.

If the dungeon is there, you will find it.

If I fail a roll and don't find the place, so what? It does not automatically mean a "dead end," as many of these writers would have you believe. Might as well throw out your books; the party hit a dead end! The game is broken now! They act like they are hitting a dead end, like someone unplugging the television. What do we do now? We can't be entertained! Can't we just "fail forward?"

No, your options have just changed. You must figure out a way forward or find a new place to go. That route is no longer available. Find another way. Or find a new place to go. Solve another problem; this one is blocked.

Failing forward protects systems with limited options where skill and abilities are your only choices, and players aren't allowed to think outside of them. This is the MMO with "action buttons," and that concept protects the game from free thinking and free actions.

If we do not find the crypt, that is a delay or setback, or we must find another place. Maybe it never existed. We may see a new clue later. Failure changes the direction of the narrative; it doesn't stop it. Failing forward is a gimme, an admission the game you are playing can't handle situations out of the normal, and a "fixed story" is more important than player (and referee) freedom.

It's Just Roll 3d6

Some people play GURPS by just "rolling 3d6." For example, in a d20 game where the group does not care about the rules, they ignore most of them and "just roll a d20." Character creation only exists to generate skill and ability levels, and 90% of the rules are ignored to just "roll 3d6" or less for things that come up during play.

This is the GURPS Lite model of play, where the Lite rules are just a system to generate skill levels, make rolls, and run a simple combat system. Most GURPS groups stay close to the Lite combat system and ignore most of the book's advanced (and optional) rules.

Attack with a sword? Roll 3d6. Did you hit? Damage minus armor, next player goes.

GURPS is as rules-light as you want it to be. You can get in groups and games that make you feel you need to follow every wounding rule, every by-the-book modifier, and every "how to play this right" sort of feeling coming at you - but in practice, you really don't need to live up to a "perfect play" standard in this game. This is an old-school game, and the rules are suggestions.

Is there always a by-the-book way? Yes. But, from the How to Be a GURPS GM book:

Everything in GURPS is optional – we say so all over the place. We specifically say things like “as long as the GM is fair and consistent, he can change any number, any cost, any rule,” “everyone must realize that an epic story is apt to transcend the rules,” “don’t let adherence to a formula spoil the game,” and “if there is only one ‘right’ answer to fit the plot of the adventure– then that’s the answer.” The rules are only there for when you need them to help advance the game. Most of the time, you should be doing that by talking and roleplaying and telling a story.

Make a ruling and move on. You, your group, and your game will be fine.

You will also find GURPS to be much more flexible than your average 5E game due to the above.

GURPS Lite is all about efficiency. It follows the same 'gameplay loop' as a d20 game but without many action types and bonus actions that can bog down a 5E turn and drag out combats. The one-second combat turn in GURPS Lite is a game-changer, allowing a single action to significantly accelerate gameplay. In contrast, games like Pathfinder 2 and DC20, with their three and four actions per turn per player, can lead to a sluggish pace as players strategize and execute combos and multi-attacks.

Consider this: in GURPS Lite, a simple action like 'I draw my sword' or 'quick draw skill roll and attack' can be executed in a single one-second turn. Compare this to the time-consuming process of planning movement, a spell, a few attacks, another action, or any combination of three or four actions during a turn.

The time taken during a turn in tabletop games is directly proportional to the number of actions allowed, squaring the time taken to the number of actions allowed. One action takes one unit of time, two actions take four units of time, three take nine units of time, and four take sixteen units of time. One-action and one-second turns are the peak of efficient game design.

When you determine that each monster has multiple actions during a turn, six goblins now have 18-24 actions for the GM to decide every turn (and roll for!). Where do people find the time to play these games? They sound great on paper, but I doubt these games can be played quickly. They make B/X and GURPS look like rules-light games during play, which, comparatively, they are.

Modern games love to "ignore the referee" regarding ease of play. While character creation is straightforward and fast in many d20 games, the time taken per turn is atrocious and a complete slog. People think GURPS is a slog during turns, but it isn't. Character creation is the slog, but this is why we love the game. No game gives you this much control and customization.

GURPS skill rolls and combat turns are no different than a B/X-style game. In most turns, you decide on an action; often, you don't need to roll for it - just say what you do.

Also, with a one-second turn, there may be long pauses between attacks. If you watch modern battlefield footage, count the seconds between shots soldiers take. In many cases, there is a 1-6 second delay between every shot (or even 2-12). Not every combat will be this "video game alpha attack," where an attack happens every second.

In many cases, "do nothing" is a valid turn action, especially for untrained fighters, and it is also pretty standard in real-life warfare.

If you are doing a "dungeon combat" and have a bunch of goblins, you could roll a d6 for each one of them and delay their actions, or a d3 if they are more skilled at battle. Goblins engaged in combat on the frontlines would attack every second, but the ones in the back would often delay actions randomly. Even an archer supporting the frontline troops will delay firing for the best possible shot and throw in an aim action or two as they wait for an opening.

Those delays also open up opportunities for players to roleplay. What do you do if the battle quiets a few turns while everyone repositions? Demand surrender? Surrender? Propose a truce? Disengage?  Refortify? Intimidate the enemy? Bring up a heavy weapon or call for help? Ask for help against a common enemy? Offer gold to stop fighting? Does the enemy make those offers? Combats may not last "until death," and in many real-world fights, this is true, too.

Also, the best possible action isn't always what happens. A few goblin archers may fire arrows down a hall to deter movement. They may shout insults, bang drums, or hide to wait for a better opportunity. They could throw food, rats, or chamber pots at the party. They could be arguing with each other. These "delays" are great roleplaying moments with a lot of personality. Not every enemy is this "programmed AI bot" that moves towards every enemy and attacks at the first chance like a computer controls them.

This happens with modern d20 games, where multiple actions encourage "micromanaging and optimizing turns." These games are based on card-game design, not reality. GURPS is reality-based, and the dis-optimization of player and enemy actions increases the game's realism. It feels incredibly counter-intuitive, but it makes sense when you step back and consider real-world battles and hand-to-hand fights.

Wake up from this modern d20 gaming "mind lock" of turn optimization and to-the-death battles.

Inspirations: Index Card RPG

Index Card RPG is one of the most impressive rules-light d20 games. It simplifies the complexity of d20, offering a fresh and innovative approach to encounters and challenges. It's like untangling a mess of cords, making d20 gaming more accessible and enjoyable.

The game's mechanics are refreshingly straightforward. The GM sets a single 'target number' for a 'room,' and characters roll a d20 against it. If successful, they apply an effort die towards the room's 'hearts' (1 heart = 10 hits of damage/effort).

If a room has 6 goblins and a pit trap, they are rated the same number (12); you give them hearts and go. Characters have a "defense" number, which can be used to defend against room hazards or as a target number (10 + defense) to serve as an AC for monsters to attack.

This is really rules-light and abstract. You see this high level of abstraction in rules-light games, where the opposition is not fully fleshed out (like in an old-school game) and is instead given a target number to beat. GURPS does simulation well, and "giving it all one number" is not why we like the system.

One of the standout features of the Index Card RPG is its 'plug-in' system on page 88, which allows you to seamlessly integrate its unique systems into other games. These concepts, designed to accelerate play in d20 games, can also be effectively applied in GURPS to streamline gameplay. This adaptability and innovation are what make the game genuinely exceptional.

The goal here is not to abstract away the system we love. The goal is to use abstraction to help us tell our stories while making more time for the things we love, which can vary wildly in GURPS. Some love simulation combat, others like character designs and roleplaying, others non-combat tasks, some treat GURPS as a rules-light game, and others treat it as a unified system where they don't need to keep learning (and buying) the latest "hot thing" on the shelf.

Knowing what you love about GURPS is the key to using abstraction mechanics successfully. We want to condense and standardize the way we handle most of the boring stuff, saving time at our tables for the things everyone came here to play. And what is fun varies depending on the group and game.

The notion of "clean stats" is the same one that GURPS Ultra Lite uses; just apply an "N-minus" to an ability score and use that (modified by a skill, if you need it). If a monster attacks, roll DX, modify by skill and difficulty, and roll the dice. Use the Ultra Lite ability score values for every NPC and monster.

Hearts? They can be used as-is. Rate a monster in hearts, and give them 10 hits per heart. Note that in GURPS, the hits scale is a little slower than hit points in d20 systems, but GURPS weapons are deadly, so it should all work out. Plus, if you are playing a party, throwing 20 hits at a 2-heart enemy to take it down in one turn won't be too tricky, especially if you are playing modern or sci-fi.

Keep GURPS-isms in mind, such as armor values and damage effects. You don't want to veer too hard into rules-light; just mix the best parts into your game, and use it in places you don't want to spend a lot of time. The goal is to streamline play while keeping the parts of GURPS we love.

Abstraction is a time management skill.

ICRPG is a lesson in reducing the time you spend on the parts of the game you enjoy less and saving time for the parts your table wants to see most.

Frankly, you can use "hearts" to convert B/X monsters easily. Assign them a few Ultra-Lite stat levels,  special attacks, and defenses as needed, and you have any B/X monster ready to use. Does a spider have an entangle attack with webs? Give it an Ultra-Lite DX number (12) and a +4 skill in "web attack." Use this for attack rolls in GURPS. Want to break free of the web? Use the quick contest rule, web attack number versus whatever skill you use to break free (weapon attack, escape skill, or brawling/wrestling to tear them off).

Effort is an ICRPG concept using different dice for different effort types. The d6 is used for melee weapons, the d8 is ranged, and so on. The idea of "rolling effort" in GURPS is alien to the system, but the idea of "level of success" is not. You could total up the level of success of rolls and use that to whittle down the "hearts" of the task.

Note that on a 3d6 "N-minus" system, the level of success will be smaller, and you may need to double the level of success before applying it to the "heart level" of the encounter. So, if you get three levels of success, you contribute six "hits" towards solving the room. For long-term tasks, like hacking complex security systems, don't double. If it is a "bust the door open" short-term thing, double or triple since you want the action to flow faster.

Then again, if an action is one-and-done, just make one roll and move on.

Target numbers? Use one difficulty number for everything in the room (0, -2, -4, -6, -8). This room is a "minus two," and everything is rolled against using that modifier. Alternatively, assign the room an ability + skill number (this is a 14-minus room) and just roll quick contests against that. This hallway has dart traps, 14-minus, roll QC's against that, or take 1d6 damage per 2 points you fail the roll by.

Making up custom rules on the spot for a particular room is what every great AD&D module did back in the day. You could design a whole "room" as an Ultra-Lite character and fight to defeat that. A room full of flying bats? Give it a DX and a swarm skill, some low-damage attacks per turn, assign it a heart value to "defeat" it, and you are good to go. Waving a torch around to scare them off works to "damage" the hearts of the encounter and "defeat" it. The situation is solved at zero, and we move to the next room.

All of the above? Nothing in GURPS says you shouldn't do things this way. A lot of it is just using the tools the game gives you in exciting ways. It is an ICRPG and GURPS hybrid, but who doesn't customize their rules?

ICRPG simplifies ranges, which is easy to do with GURPS.

They also use the tables in the book for "loot rolls," which can be converted to GURPS pretty easily.

ICRPG is an excellent, rules-light game that will inspire the next generation of d20 clones. It is also worth playing as-is by itself and is a more flexible and adaptable d20 system than D&D. Simplifying numbers and rating challenges help keep the game moving and avoid getting into too much detail. It is not the "new kid on the block" anymore in the d20-sphere, as the D&D replacement games are attracting many people's attention. It is still an awesome d20 game and worth sticking with or using as a plug-in for other games, as detailed in the ICRPG rules.

As a tool for streamlining GURPS, especially regarding saving time at your table for the "good stuff," ICRPG is an excellent addition to your gamemaster's toolbox.