Many of its expansions have also won awards. ==History== ===Prior RPG history=== Prior to GURPS, roleplaying games (RPGs) of the 1970s and early 1980s were developed especially for certain gaming environments, and they were largely incompatible with one another.
This flexibility of environment is greatly aided by the use of technology levels (or "tech-levels") that allow a campaign to be set from the Stone Age (TL-0) to the Digital Age (TL-8) or beyond. ===The GURPS concept=== Role-playing games of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Dungeons & Dragons, generally used random numbers generated by dice rolls to assign statistics to player characters.
In 1978, Steve Jackson designed a new character generation system for the microgames Melee and Wizard that used a point-buy system: players are given a fixed number of points with which to buy abilities.
Many of its expansions have also won awards. ==History== ===Prior RPG history=== Prior to GURPS, roleplaying games (RPGs) of the 1970s and early 1980s were developed especially for certain gaming environments, and they were largely incompatible with one another.
Although GURPS was preceded by Basic Role-Playing (Chaosium, 1980) and the Hero System (Hero Games, a system that expanded to multiple genres starting in 1982), GURPS was the most commercially successful generic role-playing game system to allow players to role-play in any environment they please while still using the same set of core rules.
This flexibility of environment is greatly aided by the use of technology levels (or "tech-levels") that allow a campaign to be set from the Stone Age (TL-0) to the Digital Age (TL-8) or beyond. ===The GURPS concept=== Role-playing games of the 1970s and 1980s, such as Dungeons & Dragons, generally used random numbers generated by dice rolls to assign statistics to player characters.
Although GURPS was preceded by Basic Role-Playing (Chaosium, 1980) and the Hero System (Hero Games, a system that expanded to multiple genres starting in 1982), GURPS was the most commercially successful generic role-playing game system to allow players to role-play in any environment they please while still using the same set of core rules.
Several of the core concepts of GURPS first appeared in TFT, including the inclusion of Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence as the core abilities scores of each character. By April 1984, the core rules for GURPS (at that point referred to as the "Great Unnamed Universal Role-Playing System") was being playtested in preparation for a GURPS question-and-answer seminar at Origins 1984 in Dallas.
The combat system for GURPS was published in 1985 as Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS to meet the deadline for Origins 1985 and was followed up later that year by the adventure supplement Orcslayer. The Basic GURPS set was published in 1986 and 1987 and included two booklets, one for developing characters and one for Adventuring. In 1990 GURPS intersected part of the [(computer security)|hacker] subculture when the company's Austin, Texas, offices were raided by the Secret Service.
It was created by Steve Jackson Games and first published in 1986 at a time when most such systems were story- or genre-specific. Players control their in-game characters verbally and the success of their actions are determined by the skill of their character, the difficulty of the action, and the rolling of dice.
The combat system for GURPS was published in 1985 as Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS to meet the deadline for Origins 1985 and was followed up later that year by the adventure supplement Orcslayer. The Basic GURPS set was published in 1986 and 1987 and included two booklets, one for developing characters and one for Adventuring. In 1990 GURPS intersected part of the [(computer security)|hacker] subculture when the company's Austin, Texas, offices were raided by the Secret Service.
Still, it's an adaptable system with some superb supplements." ==Reviews== Adventurer (Issue 6 - Jan 1986) Casus Belli #71 (Sep 1992) The Games Machine ==See also== List of GURPS books GURPS Basic Set Pyramid, a monthly online magazine with GURPS support ==References== Review of the French translation ==External links== Steve Jackson (American game designer) games Universal role-playing games Origins Award winners Steve Jackson Games games Role-playing games introduced in 1986
The combat system for GURPS was published in 1985 as Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS to meet the deadline for Origins 1985 and was followed up later that year by the adventure supplement Orcslayer. The Basic GURPS set was published in 1986 and 1987 and included two booklets, one for developing characters and one for Adventuring. In 1990 GURPS intersected part of the [(computer security)|hacker] subculture when the company's Austin, Texas, offices were raided by the Secret Service.
Gaming sessions are story-told and run by "Game Masters" (often referred to as simply "GMs"). GURPS won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1988, and in 2000 it was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame.
The combat system for GURPS was published in 1985 as Man to Man: Fantasy Combat from GURPS to meet the deadline for Origins 1985 and was followed up later that year by the adventure supplement Orcslayer. The Basic GURPS set was published in 1986 and 1987 and included two booklets, one for developing characters and one for Adventuring. In 1990 GURPS intersected part of the [(computer security)|hacker] subculture when the company's Austin, Texas, offices were raided by the Secret Service.
Still, it's an adaptable system with some superb supplements." ==Reviews== Adventurer (Issue 6 - Jan 1986) Casus Belli #71 (Sep 1992) The Games Machine ==See also== List of GURPS books GURPS Basic Set Pyramid, a monthly online magazine with GURPS support ==References== Review of the French translation ==External links== Steve Jackson (American game designer) games Universal role-playing games Origins Award winners Steve Jackson Games games Role-playing games introduced in 1986
United States Secret Service. The 1995 supplement GURPS Illuminati University introduced Agatha Heterodyne, the character who would go on to star in the popular comic series Girl Genius in 2001. A free PDF version of the GURPS rules was released in 1998 as GURPS Lite.
For instance, characters travelling through the Amazon may count every waking moment as study of jungle survival, while living in a foreign country could count as eight hours per day of language study or more. ==Licensed works== The computer game publisher Interplay licensed GURPS as the basis for a post–nuclear war role-playing video game (Fallout) in 1995.
In the long run, GURPS and all its supplements may cover more ground than other systems, possibly at less expense, but in the short term there isn't enough support material to run a fully rounded game of any type, apart from gladiatorial combat and medieval adventures." GURPS was ranked 14th in the 1996 reader poll of Arcane magazine to determine the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time.
United States Secret Service. The 1995 supplement GURPS Illuminati University introduced Agatha Heterodyne, the character who would go on to star in the popular comic series Girl Genius in 2001. A free PDF version of the GURPS rules was released in 1998 as GURPS Lite.
Gaming sessions are story-told and run by "Game Masters" (often referred to as simply "GMs"). GURPS won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Rules of 1988, and in 2000 it was inducted into the Origins Hall of Fame.
United States Secret Service. The 1995 supplement GURPS Illuminati University introduced Agatha Heterodyne, the character who would go on to star in the popular comic series Girl Genius in 2001. A free PDF version of the GURPS rules was released in 1998 as GURPS Lite.
This limited ruleset was also included with various books such as GURPS Discworld and Transhuman Space. Steve Jackson Games released GURPS Fourth Edition at the first day of Gen Con on August 19, 2004.
Stuple, Bjoern-Erik Hartsfvang, and Adam Griffith, was published in 2006. ==Reception== Marcus L.
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