GURPS as a High Fantasy Game?

Sure, why not?

Give them a pile of points and let the players go to town crafting fun, high-magic powers, special fighting abilities, and racial innates. This is an easier game for those used to the GURPS system, especially those who have played superheroes in the system before, but this is completely possible. Or, do your first game like this, make the powers all minor ones that aren't on a cosmic power scale, and have fun with it.

I saw a video on a GURPS Fantasy game that skipped GURPS Magic (and Dungeon Fantasy) and just gave clerics a "healing power" that cost fatigue points, almost like a superpower. It just works, and that power can be improved and enhanced with character points later. You don't need a full 5E "power tree" and class system to do high fantasy powers; you can just buy them "as powers" and assign whatever magical power source you want to them.

You don't even need Dungeon Fantasy or the GURPS Magic book. This is one of the easiest things to do, and it is pretty simple to do with just the two core books. GURPS Powers just gives you a lot of premade powers to pick and choose from, along with suggestions for making them interesting.

In fact, you can do better in GURPS: design your "fantasy vampire hero" with all sorts of classic fantasy powers, like mist form, turning into a bat, hypnotism, strength, limited invulnerability, and just play your character like that. No "character class," no "race that levels up" - just a powered fantasy hero that can do all sorts of cool stuff, and you begin from there.

In GURPS, you are less of a character in a video game, and more of a character in a movie. You have starting versions of "all your cool powers," and you go from there. If your "high elf magic archer" has power shot, storm of arrows, long jump, stealth, dual wield, whirlwind, and arcane shot as powers, that is what they have. Design those (it is easy), get permission, and give them to your character. She does not "get those from a class"; she just "has them because that is her unique archery style," and she is unique and cool.

Every character in the world can have a unique power set and type of abilities, or you can create standardized templates and give them to everyone who trains like that, thus creating something like a "class." This is your choice. Or, you can start her with "the archer class" and add a bunch of unique powers to her, and have something like a "hero character" out of the Warcraft universe. Maybe she is a banshee archer with "spirit shot", "soul blade", and "bone storm" as special powers, in addition to the standard archery template.

While 5E doesn't require you to think and gives you powers from a list, your choices are very limited, and you end up the same as everyone else who made the same choices.

GURPS is far, far better than 5E when it comes to customization and crafting special powers. Anything you can imagine, you can do. Some don't have the imagination to play like this, and that is fine, but there is a part of me that wants to play a unique hero with a custom power set. Imagine if a 5E crowdfunded book promised you could "design your own class" and "design your class's powers and abilities?" You would be all over that book and excited!

Well, GURPS does all that today. And it isn't that hard to learn. All you need are the core books, and I would recommend GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Powers to make it all easy and give you a list of sample powers to start with. You will have far more than 5E gives you in terms of characters, and you may want to pick up a GURPS Fantasy bestiary as well to have a few monsters.

From there, your high fantasy game could begin tonight, and you could be adventuring in an entirely new world. And honestly, you will have far more customization than 5E gives you, and far better characters that support GURPS' inbuilt roleplaying mechanics without external narrative dongles like inspiration, hope/fear, or story points.

The only hurdles are getting used to the game's core rules and understanding the power system in GURPS. Once you get a basic understanding here, there is nothing holding you back.

GURPS is a far better high fantasy game than many realize.

Dungeon Fantasy Magic vs. 5E Magic

On my SBRPG blog, I went at length to prove that the magic in the B/X and AD&D versions of D&D was far more potent than either D&D 4E or 5E. Relative character power (as you level) is also far better preserved in the original editions of the game.

The problem with "Wizards D&D" is that they scale hit points on a curve as you level, and they have to artificially boost character damage as well, but it never keeps up. This has been true since D&D 3.0. Where in AD&D a single fireball spell can wipe out a room full of ogres, in D&D 5E, it barely touches them. In AD&D or B/X, the fireball is mighty. Is it anything 3 HD or less? That is vaporized with a 6d6 fireball spell when you get it at 6th level, and it scales up as you level.

In general, you are doing half the damage in D&D 5E than you are in AD&D or B/X, and it gets worse as you level up. You need to optimize everything to "keep up," or you will fall behind, and if you focus on roleplaying feats and other non-combat abilities, you will be useless in high-end play. Have fun, and you will be punished for it.

So, the question is, where do Dungeon Fantasy wizards fall in comparison to a B/X magic user or a 5E wizard? As a player who wants to play a spellcaster, what game gives me the most power? Which game preserves my power versus higher-level foes? Which game gives me the most flexibility when casting spells, the types of spells I can cast, and how many times I can cast them? What game gives me the best wizard I can play?

First, we need our baselines for comparison, so let's use the classic 3rd-level spell, fireball, as it is iconic. For B/X, let us use the excellent Old School Essentials.

• Fireball (B/X)
• 3rd Level Spell
• 240' range, 20' sphere
• Gained at level 5
• 1d6 damage per level, save for half, no damage cap
• 5d6 damage total
• 18 points of damage average

For 5E, let's use the SRD:

• Fireball (5E)
• 3rd Level Spell
• 150' range, 20' sphere
• Gained at level 5
• 8d6 damage total, save for half
• 28 points of damage average

For GURPS, let's use Explosive Fireball (DFS29) as our spell.

• Explosive Fireball
• Many spell prerequisites, Magery 1 minimum
• 1/2D 25, Max 50
• Two rolls to cast:
• Spellcasting Skill Roll
• Innate Attack (Projectile)
• Costs:
• Any amount of energy up to twice your spellcasting talent per second
• Up to three seconds
• 1d explosive burning damage per 2 points of energy

So, what does that mean? Looking at some of the starting spellcasting characters in the game, we see they have about 12 mana to use, so if we have magery 2, we could dump 4 points of mana per second into that fireball, for three seconds, and cast it at 12 energy, for 6d6 total explosive fire damage (21 average). This needs a little breakdown, so let's open the Exploits book (DFE46):

• 6d6 damage in the target hex
• Everyone out to 6 x 2 = 12 yards takes damage
• Divide damage by 3 x hexes to the center
• 1 hex = 2d6
• 2 hexes = 1d6
• ...and so on.

Add to this the chance to be set on fire (either one location or all, see DFE68), and there can be some nasty consequences for fire spells in GURPS in general, along with ongoing damage. The GURPS fireball is far more of a "simulation spell" than it is one that just does damage in an area equally.

Additionally, as GURPS, the referee is free to rule on the effect of fragmentation based on the environment. Let's say my wizard casts an explosive fireball into a dining room full of goblins. I am throwing a [2d] fragmentation effect on there (B414).

Yes, this is a sim. As a GURPS referee, you need to "sim when you need to sim."

It is also worth noting that the GURPS fireball scales, and a character with Magery 6 and enough mana can dump 36 energy into the explosive fireball in a 3-second casting, for 36d6 damage. If you have the skill and the mana, the GURPS spell will scale to an insane level of damage, and that is like the blast of a 120mm modern-day mortar.

What does any of this mean? Let's pull a few sample monsters from each game and go up the level chart with them. Let's do B/X first:

• Goblin = 3 hp
• Orc = 4 hp 
• Gnoll = 9 hp
• Bugbear = 14 hp
• Ogre = 19 hp
• Mummy = 23 hp
• Green Dragon = 36 hp

Let's do 5E, from the SRD:

• Goblin = 7 hp
• Orc = 15 hp
• Gnoll = 22 hp
• Bugbear = 27 hp
• Ogre = 59 hp
• Mummy = 58 hp
• Green Dragon (adult) = 207 hp

Let's do GURPS:

• Goblin = HP 12
• Orc = HP 14
• Hobgoblin = HP 16
• Ogre = HP 20
• Troll = HP 20
• Vampire = HP 20
• Green Dragon = HP 50

GURPS hit points tend to be between 10 and 20, and armor and resistances make a huge difference. When you get above 20 HP, you are talking big creatures. The B/X fireball is the most powerful of the group, since monster hit points are constrained and do not scale on a curve. The range is impressive, too. The 5E fireball is the weakest, with most of the monsters alive on a save, and the dragon laughing off the damage.

The B/X and GURPS HP ranges being so close means the games are more closely compatible than you think. If you use B/X "rolled hit points" in GURPS, you will get some very weak "mook" creatures at the low end, but some pretty nice fights when you go above 5 HD, and challenging for parties. Ogres and mummys become "boss creatures" that require a party to take down.

With GURPS, that 6d6 fireball at 12 energy tends to be in the B/X level of power, but once you start dumping 20 or even 40 energy into the attack, you begin vaporizing the toughest monsters with a direct hit. While B/X is the most powerful, GURPS can scale to even more powerful, just because the hit points have a tighter constraint.

Damage in GURPS will drop faster to targets farther away from the center of the explosion, so the overall power of a single blast will still be less than B/X. If you averaged damages, the GURPS fireball feels about equal to the 5E counterpart. Still, if you are going to hurl a 36d6 blast, that will be 12d6 to targets in one hex, and 6d6 to two hexes, and so on - out to 72 hexes.

It gets to a point where, uh, if you cast explosive fireball at a particular power level, you are also taking damage since the range is short. At that point, just begin to use GURPS Powers and design them like a superpower, since Dungeon Fantasy is closer in spirit to The Fantasy Trip and meant for fun "hex crawl" dungeon battles. 12d6 is the practical limit for the Dungeon Fantasy fireball because of range.

That is another wonderful thing about GURPS: if you wanted to ignore Dungeon Fantasy entirely and just design "magic superpowers" as your game's spells, you could. Your fantasy world's magic may work a different way. Collect character points, create the spell, buy it, and put a roleplay cost on learning it. In GURPS, you can do that. In B/X and 5E, you are stuck with whatever TSR or Wizards gave you.

Dungeon Fantasy is just one way of doing it. And it is not always the right way. In fact, Dungeon Fantasy may be how just one world in a multiverse of worlds works. The rest may work completely differently, with different rules and laws of magic.

You are free to say "mages can design powers given this framework of limitations" and just let the players go wild, with the referee approving the designs to fit the world's theme. Very few games give you that amount of creativity.

GURPS is the Better Game for Powers (and Combat)

When comparing GURPS and Mythras, I had that typical "is this better?" feeling in the back of my neck. Mythras offers several advantages, including an easy d100 system, 3d6-ranged attributes, and excellent combat special effects applied to either offense or defense. If you're familiar with BRP or Call of Cthulhu, you'll likely be familiar with Mythras. It is as easy to pick up as B/X in complexity, but it has layers of depth that surprise me.

The combats in Mythras are fun, with a level of unpredictability in the results and the combat specials you can stack up, or have used against you. This is dependent on relative skill levels, with lucky hits still possible for unskilled fighters, and everyone having low hit points, so every hit matters.

Mythras is an easy game to use when transitioning away from D&D 5E and the OSR, and it gives you a look into a "whole new world" of tactical possibilities. However, GURPS has greater depth to tactical combats, and marries that with a complete character and power design system.

In GURPS, you are much more "close to the metal" when it comes to combat specials, but you need to declare them before you roll. You need to know what is available, when they apply, how much of an attack penalty they give you, and you need to declare them before your attack. To players who like to control a character "down to every move," this is ideal, since they want to call for a trip and try that, and not have it come up due to a lucky roll with a high result differential.

If I am tripping someone, or someone is trying to trip me, it has to be declared, attempted, and rolled for. No randomness or stacking special effects due to an attack and defense total difference, please.

That said, Mythras is miles better than D&D combat, by far, and this is starting to kill my interest in my B/X games, OSE, AD&D, and Shadowdark. If a game offers a B/X level of simplicity but a far deeper combat system, that is a winner for me.

Mythras is a D&D and OSR killer for me.

If I were migrating recovering players from D&D-style games to Mythras, running them through the System to get them used to combat actions would be helpful and show them another world. If they liked that, we could stay here. Eventually, I would like to bring them into GURPS, where we have the most freedom. But showing them a world where it is more than just d20 vs. AC and roll damage would be an eye-opener. Even Shadowdark suffers from the d20 curse of bland numerical combat.

But what about GURPS?

Well, GURPS is the "everything else" killer.

To be fair, GURPS offers more combat options and a broader range of "combat specials" than Mythras, once you consider all the Martial Arts options and utilize a combat cheat sheet resource. One of the problems with GURPS is that many special combat actions are scattered across different books, making it hard to find them in one place for easy reference.

In Mythras, you get to "choose them from a menu" after a roll, and this is honestly easier for D&D players to start with to "expand their thinking" around combat. In GURPS, you'll need a cheat sheet to fully utilize the combat system's details. It's also a good idea to practice these moves a few times to get the hang of them, as many will change factors (like not being able to defend with all-out attacks). I added a cheat sheet section to the sidebar with a few of these, since they do come in handy.

Combat specials are easier in Mythras.

Combat options are better in GURPS.

It's not GURPS, but it is my MS Paint art. -Hak

Powers are the clear place GURPS wins. Suppose I have a monster with a special attack ability, such as eye beams, charm, confusion, entanglement, push back, blindness, darkness, stun, or any other special attack. In that case, this is far easier in GURPS than in Mythras or D&D. In those games, you just sort of need to "wing it" and "say what it does," but in GURPS, I will design that as a power, and guess what? 

Suppose a character gains an extraordinary power from touching a runestone, becomes corrupted by demons, is sanctified by the holy, acquires a power from an ancient master, passes on the legacy of the king, or experiences any other special campaign event. In that case, this can be just designed and added to the character, just like any other power.

GURPS makes the 5E-style "superpower abilities" almost stupidly easy to create, design, and balance with limitations and disadvantages. That demon corruption? That is a template package that also gives adverse social reactions and a "hunted by demon hunters" disadvantage. It is far easier to do this in GURPS since it has a power design system with full advantage and disadvantage support, and I can balance these powers right down to the last die of damage and special effect.

And, many of these powers come pre-designed with examples in GURPS Powers. Just drop them into a character or monster and go.

And GURPS works for any genre, so my superhero, Gamma World mutant, science fiction adept, fantasy wizard, air elemental, or kung-fu master can all use that "concussive air blast" power (GURPS Powers, p. 137). I can slap on a power source modifier there for magic, mutation, training, superpower, or wherever it comes from, and I am done. Any monster in any GURPS bestiary, or one quickly created using GURPS Ultra Lite, can have these powers tacked onto it.

My MS Paint art strikes again! -Hak

Yeah, this air elemental has super breath and can push all of you off the cliff. I know that is not in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, but hey, this is GURPS, and this air elemental is "The Windlord" and special. Boss monsters in GURPS can have superpowers, use special combat attacks, and have martial arts!

But that isn't fair in 5E! Air elementals only have a double slam attack and a whirlwind that throws in random directions. They don't have a line attack! Or throw an air blast area effect attack! Or blind people with dust! What is this thing? Stupid custom monster not in the Monster Manual and cheating DM! Play the game right and only use things we know!

I go by the Dungeon Crawl Classics theme of "Every monster is unique."

Have fun as I look up the falling rules.

In making a custom power for GURPS, I am not guessing, copying an existing spell, wondering how many times a day it can be used, or worrying if it breaks my game. I have the point cost in GURPS, and that keeps it relatively balanced. If something is overly powerful, I can either add a use limitation or reduce the damage; it's no problem. In B/X, Mythras, or other games, I am left winging it for monster powers. I have to borrow one, and then it is guesswork.

In GURPS, I have tons of powers in my books to use as-is.

Yes, if I am playing "dungeon games" with Mythras, I get those combat specials, but I lose so much character depth with what GURPS gives me for free that I wonder if it is worth it. I get "combat specials" in GURPS, but I have to preannounce and try them, closer to the metal, so I am not losing those, and the ones in GURPS are comparable (and more expansive) once you find a cheat sheet and print that out. It does take more system knowledge in GURPS to get what Mytras gives you for free, but in the end, it is probably a better feeling to have greater control of your combat options than to rely on the dice.

Mythras is still a fantastic game, mind you, and still an easy D&D replacement that drops right in.

However, if I want to tell the types of stories I envision, where the whims of a game designer, class designer, or someone else dictate powers and sources, GURPS offers me more control. With games that go beyond the ordinary, GURPS is far better when it comes to special powers, and lets me be the game designer.