It is probably a strong statement to say something like "the death of GURPS," but I generally feel like it (says the guy who likes the game that inspired GURPS, The Fantasy Trip). But I just see a general trend in how Steve Jackson Games is supporting GURPS over the last few years–and I’m not the only one.
The latest revision of the rules came out 10 years ago, in 2004 (4th Edition). The promised premium support for new rulebooks just is not really happening–and never mind that many people were unhappy with 4e versus 3e. Even with the Dungeon Fantasy product line, it just does seem like anything impressive has been done.
The most obvious reason for my belief is the fact that SJG has moved most of their production to Munchkins and away from GURPS. GURPS is not even in the top 20 revenue makers for the company.
Some of this may be due to the declining tabletop RPG market, in favor of online video games. I think most younger folks are just more geared towards video games than us older fogies. And that is sad to me.
Another reason why I believe GURPS is dying (at least for me) is the rules complexity and ongoing cost of the rules and world books that kept coming out. These don’t seem to be coming out as much these days, but the rules bloat is still there.
The bottom line is that when I got back into gaming recently, I found that GURPS just had not kept up and seemed, well, dated. Obviously there are die hard fans who will keep playing, but the question for longevity is this: are beginners picking up the game? Sad to say the answer may be no.
What do you think? Is GURPS dead? Is there a better game you like to play?
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 2/27/2015. A lot of time has passed since I first wrote this. Nothing about GURPS has really changed, though…)
GURPS is alive and well, though it does not enjoy the popularity I think it deserves. SJG continues to support it with new publications, such as the PDF challenges and Girl Genius. The fact that the 4e rules are now twenty years old is a plus, in my opinion. My gaming groups regularly play D&D5e and The Fantasy Trip, but I’d much rather be GURPSing.
Sorry, man. I have to say that I don’t think that SJG is supporting GURPS as well as they should. They may make a token effort, but their primary support obviously goes to Munchkin and now TFT. Don’t get me wrong–I fell in and out of love with GURPS. I love the basic system itself. It just got overly complicated, in my opinion. I think the best thing about GURPS is the wide range of splat books it has. Those are fantastic! But I have to say that I still feel the same today as I did when I originally wrote that article: GURPS as a product from SJG is dead. Maybe undead, but still not what it could or should be.