-- Gene Wolfe's science fiction is acclaimed for literary excellence. -- Cover by award-winning science fiction and fantasy artist Don Maitz. -- Includes maps and a comprehensive glossary of the "New Sun" background...a valuable resource for any Wolfe fan, gamer or not!
Let the adventure begin with this straightforward guide to GURPS! This is it—the key that unlocks the riches of GURPS (Generic Universal Role Playing System) and gives you a wealth of information on how to create your character and fine-tune your play. Produced in partnership with Steve Jackson Games, the game's creator, GURPS For Dummies is the ideal companion to GURPS Basic Set, 4th Edition that explains the rules. It gives you insight into the choices you’ll make in everything from creating a fun, dynamic character using the allotted number of points, to playing in an adventure, to becoming a GM. Whether you want to be an Amazon princess or a stalwart warrior, an old-fashioned swashbuckler or a modern investigator, a tough cop or a cat burglar, a sorcerer casting spells or a cosmic ranger, fighting lawlessness in the asteroids, this guide will help you: Determine your character’s basic attributes: IQ, DX (dexterity), ST (strength) and HT (health) Figure out your character’s secondary characteristics Choose advantages (including powers and perks) and disadvantages (including quirks and disadvantages with a self-control roll modifier) Optimize your points by using talents Select your skills based on functional area or the campaign setting Enhance your character with spells, magic items, magic staves, and powerstones Strategically purchase equipment for different characters, tech levels, and campaign types Create and manage a character sheet, write a character background, keep a character log, and more—all with samples Choose good combat techniques and play with your character If you want to become a GM, this guide gets you going with advice on creating the adventure, managing the character creation process, managing combat, and interpreting the rules. There’s even a handy Cheat Sheet tear-out GM screen in the front of the book. There are tips throughout, plus advice on how to: Create your very own GURPS universe for your campaign, whether it’s dungeon-crawl, high-adventure, combat-focused, puzzle-focused, or masquerade-type Provide a basic write-up of the world for your players, including technology level, supernatural and supernormal abilities and powers, races, setting, character templates, cultural and social information, and limitations Create an electronic combat grid, a battle log, a tactical map, and more—with samples Do mapping, planning, and plotting Create memorable NPC (nonplayer characters), both good guys and bad guys GURPS For Dummies helps you create more detailed, exciting, and interesting characters and take your game to the next level. That’s important whether you’re saving a princess or saving the planet...searching for hidden treasure or for secrets to eliminate disease... fighting crime or combating armies of evil robots...casting spells in medieval castles or destroying terrorist cells in modern day milieus. With GURPS, the only limitation is your imagination.
The Student's Guide to Ultimate Power GURPS! A game with infinite possibilities. Even those familiar with this award-winning system may not feel they've mastered the fundamentals . . . and those just starting with this game may feel lost amid the possibilities. You want help. You could use a guide. You need How to Be a GURPS GM. For the player, this supplement offers insight into how to create the perfect character to fit your vision, plus three examples of character creation and two new fantasy templates. The chapter dedicated to customizing combat and using various options can be particularly helpful for new and veteran players in making aggressive altercations even more exciting. For the Game Master, the supplement discusses everything needed to run a campaign: how to prepare the game setting, assist the players with the creation of their heroes, create challenging and engaging encounters, and design and run the first adventure. The included overview of the Fourth Edition line, plus recommended resource lists for eight popular genres, can help the GM decide which supplements will be most helpful to craft a new campaign. This supplement also provides canonical insight from Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch, who draws on decades of experience answering questions and providing clarifications as the GURPS Line Editor. Throughout, it follows a group of example players new to GURPS, from when their GM first opens the Basic Set through the starting session of their inaugural adventure. How to Be a GURPS GM is an invaluable aid for getting started with GURPS, bridging the previously perilous step between reading the Basic Set and participating in your first game. Half of power is knowing how to use it. With How to Be a GURPS GM, you'll be on your way to unleashing the full potential of GURPS like never before!
-- Based on the best-selling MYTH computer games from Bungie Software! -- A gripping add-on for anyone who enjoys Myth, whether he plays GURPS or not. -- Includes guidelines for using the computer game's world-generation software for GURPS simulation.
Welcome to the land of Yrth, a magical realm of incredibly varied races and monsters - including people snatched from our Earth and other worlds by the cataclysmic Banestorm! Whole villages were transported - from such diverse locales as medieval England, France, Germany, and the Far East. Now humans struggle with dwarves, elves, and each other. The Crusades aren't ancient history here - they're current events! Characters can journey from the windswept plains of the Nomad Lands - where fierce Nordic warriors seek a valiant death to earn a seat in Valhalla - to Megalos, the ancient empire where magic and political intrigue go hand in hand. Or trek south to the Muslim lands of al-Wazif and al-Haz to explore the forbidden city of Geb'al-Din. This book updates the original Yrth of GURPS Third Edition Fantasy and Fantasy Adventures. It provides GMs with a complete world background - history, religion, culture, politics, races, and a detailed map - everything needed to start a GURPS campaign. Phil Masters (Discworld and Hellboy RPGs) and Jonathan Woodward (Hellboy and GURPS Ogre) have added new peoples, places, and plots, as well as lots more on magic and mysticism, all of which conforms to GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Magic. So prepare to make your own mark on Yrth. Plunder elven ruins while evading the desert natives. Play a peasant-born hero . . . an orcish pirate . . . a Muslim double agent commanded to infiltrate the Hospitallers. Yrth awaits the legend of you!
-- A "sleeper" worldbook that has just continued to sell and sell. -- Martial arts are applicable to every sort of campaign...fantasy, SF, or modern! -- Detailed discussions of over 50 different fighting styles.
Feel the Power! Fantasy settings are defined by their magic . . . so different worlds need different magic systems. GURPS Thaumatology has GURPS Fourth Edition updates of the best Third Edition magic variants, plus many all-new options. This mighty tome includes: Minor tweaks for the spell-based magic of the Basic Set: restructuring prerequisites and colleges, modifying Magery and mana, new magical energy sources, adapting spells on the fly, and more. Radical revisions of spell-based magic, including detailed versions of the clerical and ritual magic options hinted at in the Basic Set, and the return of that Third Edition classic, "unlimited mana." Traditional alternatives to spells, such as ceremonial, spirit-mediated, and runic magic. World-shaking freeform magic. Magic as inherent powers. An in-depth look at material magic, with new alchemy, herbalism, and enchantment options; rules for free-willed items and magical gadgets; and guidelines for "the stuff of raw magic." Notes on adapting real-world occult concepts - such as the Laws of Magic, astrology, and traditional material components - to any magic system. Guidelines for running magic-oriented games, advice on combining magic systems, and detailed outlines for four distinctly different fantastic campaigns. The softcover reprint contains the same material as the earlier print run (updated for the latest errata, of course!), with black-and-white interiors and a lower price. GURPS Thaumatology requires the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. GURPS Magic is recommended but not required. The discussions of different magical styles would enhance any game that features magic.
Adventure in any world you can think of, with GURPS, the Generic Universal RolePlaying System - the most flexible roleplaying system you can use. If you haven't yet upgraded to the Fourth Edition . . . you're a completist . . . or you're looking for a dose of nostalgia, here's the previous edition! It's easy to learn - you can jump right in with the included quick-start rules, pre-designed characters, and an easy-to-play solo adventure. The Basic Set is designed to be "Game Master-friendly," with Table of Contents, Glossary, Appendix, and Index, as well as lots of examples.