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[Neruz]

As fair warning, GURPS does have a habit of getting very complicated very quickly. It's deliberately designed to basically be able to do everything, and if you know how to use it it works just as well as any other PnP RPG, but it's very easy to get carried away and end up with half an hour's paperwork required for a character to walk across a road.

[MrWiggles]

That why I suggested Fuzion in the end. It however has a reality simulation limit. The closet you can get is a low action movie with Fuzion.

GURPS can get as mundane life simulation as bathing cat to traveling through time and characters able to move planets. Its a good system, just very crunchy. I would stick with Fuzion.

[Aqizzar]

As fair warning, GURPS does have a habit of getting very complicated very quickly. It's deliberately designed to basically be able to do everything, and if you know how to use it it works just as well as any other PnP RPG, but it's very easy to get carried away and end up with half an hour's paperwork required for a character to walk across a road.

And that is why I've almost never been able to get anyone to play it!  They take one look at the rules and think the session will implode under the combined weight of modifiers and skill-defaults.  The same basic principles of difficulty-checks apply to every PnP game, you just need a GM who knows how to play as fast and loose as required.  And since GURPS can assign a quick 3D6-check value to any conceivable situation, it's a great system for playing fast and loose.

Not to mention there's at least one rulebook designed for every setting and licensed property you can imagine.  (Of course, most are designed for early 3rd edition and long out of print, but still.)

[MrWiggles]

As fair warning, GURPS does have a habit of getting very complicated very quickly. It's deliberately designed to basically be able to do everything, and if you know how to use it it works just as well as any other PnP RPG, but it's very easy to get carried away and end up with half an hour's paperwork required for a character to walk across a road.

And that is why I've almost never been able to get anyone to play it!  They take one look at the rules and think the session will implode under the combined weight of modifiers and skill-defaults.  The same basic principles of difficulty-checks apply to every PnP game, you just need a GM who knows how to play as fast and loose as required.  And since GURPS can assign a quick 3D6-check value to any conceivable situation, it's a great system for playing fast and loose.

Not to mention there's at least one rulebook designed for every setting and licensed property you can imagine.  (Of course, most are designed for early 3rd edition and long out of print, but still.)

QFT.

Gurps does live up to its name. Heck it even has some web comic source books. I like GURPS, but its not a newb system. Unless its where every newb is outnumber by 4 vets.

I've been a fan of IOU, myself.

[Aqizzar]

I've been a fan of IOU, myself.

Still the only university ever seized by the Secret Service.  Mind the squirrels.

Can't say I have a particular favorite setting myself, except that the few people I could shove it on preferred fairly conservative settings.  The default rules are great for a grim, low-fantasy romp, where one good axe-blow can kill a man while casting fireballs takes three rounds and could knock the mage out from exertion.

[Neruz]

As fair warning, GURPS does have a habit of getting very complicated very quickly. It's deliberately designed to basically be able to do everything, and if you know how to use it it works just as well as any other PnP RPG, but it's very easy to get carried away and end up with half an hour's paperwork required for a character to walk across a road.

And that is why I've almost never been able to get anyone to play it!  They take one look at the rules and think the session will implode under the combined weight of modifiers and skill-defaults.  The same basic principles of difficulty-checks apply to every PnP game, you just need a GM who knows how to play as fast and loose as required.  And since GURPS can assign a quick 3D6-check value to any conceivable situation, it's a great system for playing fast and loose.

Not to mention there's at least one rulebook designed for every setting and licensed property you can imagine.  (Of course, most are designed for early 3rd edition and long out of print, but still.)

The thing is, the GURPS RAW is incredibly dense, and GM's playing fast and loose with the rules is, to most PnP gamers, even more terrifying than the dense rules. Many gamers have nightmares about the GM playing fast and loose with the rules. The fact that in order to run a GURPS session in any reasonable timeframe pretty much requires the GM to do this is enough to cause mass hysteria at the merest whiff that someone is thinking that they might possibly mention it in passing.

Personally, i prefer Savage Worlds over GURPS, like GURPS the ruleset can easily fit pretty much any setting and it has rulebooks for lots of the more common ones as well as some SW unique books for some rather interesting settings indeed. Unlike GURPS it's deliberately designed to be incredibly fast, efficient and streamlined, and i'm yet to find a system that's more streamlined without losing functionality.

Ultimately with PnP RPG systems though, it's each to his own.



Paranoia is also hilarious fun if you have players who understand the point behind the system.

[MrWiggles]

My circle of gamers dont like Paranoia, but its so freaken awesome. I have first edition somewhere around here.

I havent much of a chance to play Savage World myself. Though I wouldn't mind trying it out. Its Deadland universe is intriguing.

I am however a fan of my own generic RP system.

http://gamersincdesign.blogspot.com/2010/02/adaptive-role-playing-system.html

It doesn't do vehicle combat well. It can handle meka well enough, if the meka themselves are treated like characters. It also have a reality system. It can handle moderate action movie, like Die Hard to Super Heros, and Travel like sci fi setting.

[MrWiggles]

Hrm...

I think I am going to review Fatal, little bit at the time.

[Aqizzar]

I think I am going to review Fatal, little bit at the time.

S'been done.  But hey, give it a shot.  I've always wanted to try playing it, as a actual semi-series RPG that is, just to see if it actually works.

[MrWiggles]

I think I am going to review Fatal, little bit at the time.

S'been done.  But hey, give it a shot.  I've always wanted to try playing it, as a actual semi-series RPG that is, just to see if it actually works.

I'm aware; I read it last night. The reviewers were having so much fun at insulting the author and game itself that it didn't really seem to discuss the game. What made me interested in giving a fair shake was the calm rebuttal by the author.

I was thumbing through it last night, and it seems to confuse tedium with difficulty. The rebuttal to the review explicitly states that the point of Fatal is not the diverse sex acts, even though adult lechery is represented from the very front of the book, and on the first page.

I also so far cannot find a reason to show the races in the nude.

Sex seems to be important to the game system as it is a part of intended actions. There no reason to provide rules for actions if they are not intended. Any misc. actions not cover by the rules can be abstracted.

Such as Rape. I've been in a varity of table top, where that has happen to either players from other players, or to NPCS or just to players. It never needed detail for the action to have happen.

[Grakelin]

I happen to have the FATAL character generator.

Good stuff.

There is nothing calm and composed about the author's response, though. And when you look throw the 900 page guidebook, you realize fully that he is an idiot.

[MrWiggles]

I happen to have the FATAL character generator.

Good stuff.

There is nothing calm and composed about the author's response, though. And when you look throw the 900 page guidebook, you realize fully that he is an idiot.

oO

He seems fairly calm. I do not like his sniping at the reviewer and intentionally misunderstanding the reviewers to be condescending. Its pretty passive aggressive.

[lordnincompoop]

GURPS Lite, your own homebrew (really hard to do), and some others.

[dwarfguy2]

seriously, beyond the supernatural.

[Sean Mirrsen]

I haven't read the rebuttal, but I found the reviews hilarious. Partly because I have read through the whole thing, only skipping the most boring tables. What I understood about it was that it needed one HELL of a restructuring. It also needs a lot of trimming and optimizing - not least the awful parts of it that, really, have their own place in this game. For example, there are separate rolls for some things (like rape) when it could all boil down to grapple and strength checks. Reading all of the DnD 4e manuals prior to reading the FATAL rulebook also helped a lot in understanding how to improve it.