An Aside, related to the Decision

As I’m currently thinking about what system to use for the new campaign, this post by internet humorist Lore Sjöberg struck my fancy.

I’ve been reading Lore’s stuff for upwards of ten years now, including a purchase of The Ratings, from which my gaming group used to read excerpts as a kind of a warm-up to the gaming.

(Lore, if you should happen to find your way here, I’d love to see another book.)

Decisions

Here’s the thing.

I’ve lately been seriously considering making the Volara campaign GURPS-based, instead of the D&D 3.5 I have previously stated.

As you may (or may not) be aware, many of Volara’s NPCs have been adopted from previous games.  This means that there are Vampire: The Masquerade characters, GURPS characters, Marvel Super Heroes characters, AD&D characters, Shadowrun characters, and D&D 3.5 characters running around in the background (Okay, I may be lying about one of those systems, but maybe not).

Obviously, these characters have been/will be modified (sometimes heavily) to fit into this new world.  You need have no fear of Spider-man or Lestat clones popping up.

But, from a GM perspective, it would be a heck of a lot easier to adapt these characters to the GURPS setting than to 3.5, as the previous is a universal system specifically designed to accept and work with numerous settings, while 3.5… is not.

Beyond that, I like the idea that GURPS is a role-playing system designed around skills which are used sometimes for combat, while 3.5 is a combat system with a bit of role-playing tacked on.

What do I mean?

Well, GURPS 4th Edition, chapter one deals with character concept and what role-playing is before it describes stats, skills, or other aspects of play.  From there it delves into character types, as there are no set character classes in the system.  The D&D 3.5 Player’s Handbook, by comparison, doesn’t delve into the same questions until chapter 6, as the last thing to do before you play.

In any case, I am toying with using GURPS, but I haven’t made a decision yet.  Technically, if all my players don’t react vehemently to the idea, I might choose it,even though it would mean a lot more effort on my part (there seems to be a lack of generic monsters to throw at the party, and I would need to specifically design the PC races).

Technically, character creation is more complex in GURPS, as the players do have to completely design their characters from the ground up (though there are templates as guidelines).   Past that, however, the game mechanics are fairly simple.

Yes, you will have to forgo all but your cube-shaped dice.

In GURPS, there are no class levels.  Your character never ‘levels up,’ it simply develops over the course of the game.

Since, to my knowledge, none of my players are familiar with the GURPS system, here is a link to GURPS Lite (just add to cart, then check out without registering) which is designed as an introductory guide to the game.  The .pdf is free, and it’s complete enough that you can make characters and run a simple game with nothing but the information in it.

All I ask is that you give the rules a fair once-over before you give me your yea or nay.