well im here to address a question ive had for along time…why do some people who play gurps hate D&D and why do some D&D-ers hate gurps…both systems seem to work just fine…so wheres the tension?
D&D and GURPS have had a rivalry going since the old days. GURPS was one of the first game systems to stress more realism, while D&D was not only fantastic, but many of its rules (like characters achieving ridiculously high levels of hit points) made no sense. Not to mention that they ARE competitors, since GURPS covers Fantasy as well as all other Genres. It’s just a matter of taste.
In my opinion, GURPS’ system is better, but D&D’s campaign material is WAY better. And hey, we don’t HAVE to use one system or the other- we can use D&D campaigns with GURPS rules, or even mix-and-match our favorite elements from each game!
see ive never played D&D cuz no one where i live plays…so i tned to run gurps games…ive heard good things about D&D tho, but ive also heard one of my friends complain…cuz it was his first game and in the first battle he died…but one thing i dont like about gurps is the fact that there is no real system for advancement its just make a hardcore character then hope you survive… :fungah: :booster: (becuase of this smiley i must now go play super mario rpg…)
There IS an advancement system in GURPS; it’s just not as simple (or grandious) as D&D’s, where all you have to do is gain a certain number of Experience Points and suddenly OOOOMP! your character 's level, HP, etc. goes up, AND you gain new powers too! (Just like in video games, except D&D came BEFORE Final Fantasy etc.). In GURPS you also gain Character Points but not as many as in D&D, and you have to EXPLAIN your character’s changes before you can buy them. You can’t just say “OK, I got X characters points, I know this spell now!” you have to play your character as actually going to learn magic first. Yes, it’s slower than D&D, but it’s more realistic. Note however that since GURPS is so flexible, you CAN adapt its rules if you want an “instantaneous” system of leveling up like D&D’s. Many websites tell you how.
On the other hand, D&D characters always START at pitiful levels; In GURPS you can choose to play in a campaign were all the PCs are of a certain power level, even Super-Heroic levels. No need to play a dozen games before your hero gets really strong! As I said: matter of taste.
No, Have you even read the rules of the game?
me no i havent…
but i have adapted a pretty easy way of gaining points i tally kills and then award points per kill and after you have a certain amount you get 10 points usually its like 20 or so kills but yeah it works pretty well
Oh yeah, I think in the newest versions they changed that. But originally, you HAD to start at first level. That meant that, if you played a Mage, you had ONE spell memorized per day, little hit points, pathetic strenght, no armor, and weak weapons. You fought things like goblins to start with, but even then, you’d better have a Fighter by your side, or you weren’t going to last long.
I have played both systems, though I have only played GURPS once. I can’t really determine which of the two is better: I like both, its just that the systems are hard to compare. DnD allows for greater character advancement (statswise), but focused. Character creation rules are simple. Combat rules are easy to follow. The game has become very user friendly (at least that’s what I’ve heard from people who have played 2nd edition). The characters advance at fast rates. However, the game feels somewhat restrictive. Alignment is a fine example: there are different meanings of good and evil, different levels of good or evil between people, and what one may think is good another may not (or evil, in that sense). Also, the characters seem a bit too “perfect”; heck, even the core rulebooks tells the heroes are above average.
GURPS, on the other hand, is all about imagination. Virtually every single possibility of gameplay can be added as long as it fits the rules. Character creation is very open, and characters end up balanced. The advantage/ disadvantage/quirk system adds more customization to roleplaying. The magic system is complex, yet "realistic": in order to learn new spells, you must understand the mechanics of it, which comes as lower level spells. Character advancement seems to be slow, but really depends on how do you spend the points. The biggest difficulty for the DMs and players in the game is the openness and liberty of it: since you get so many options, and none of them can be considered wrong or right, players who have little imagination or do not tend to use it often get somewhat drawn back.
In my opinion, DnD is an easier format to play, and very entertaining. It alllows for lots of options for gameplay, and it is apt for novice and expert players alike. GURPS is more for people who have played pen & paper RPGs before, and have lots of imagination and know how to use it.I remember when I once played a 1E game for nostalgia, my wizard started out with 1 HP, and due to ridiculously low constitution, never gained any. He died fighting a Lich at sixth level.
Now, personally, as a not-really-certified-plothole-fixing-God, I can explain away basically any advancement in GURPS, and make sense of the two hundred hit points in DnD, almost.
Now, I like both systems for different things. I certainly prefer DnD for fantasy settings, because, honestly, if I’m fighting a caravan of octopiod telepaths, I don’t care about realism. I prefer GURPS for realistic-settings, and I think they’re about tied in Sci-Fi settings.