Game RPG GURPS:Main Page

"GURPS" stands for "Generic Universal Role-Playing System", and indeed GURPS was the first major role-playing system designed from the outset to not be tied to a particular setting or type of game and specifically intended to be used with any genre. (Basic Roleplaying and the Hero System preceded it as generic systems, but these both began as the systems of specific games—the fantasy game RuneQuest and the superhero game Champions respectively—that were then adapted and expanded for use in other genres.) While its combat system was published as a standalone supplement in 1985 (under the title Man to Man), along with a companion adventure (Orcslayer), the complete GURPS core rules first came out in 1986. The first and second editions of the game were short-lived and had only a handful of supplements, but with the third edition, released in 1988, the line really bloomed, releasing hundreds of supplements for myriad settings and genres, including many licensed properties like Terry Pratchett's Discworld, Mike Mignola's Hellboy, E. E. "Doc" Smith's Lensman, Philip José Farmer's Riverworld, Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, and Andre Norton's Witch World. As of 2004, GURPS is now in its fourth edition, though the changes between editions have not been as drastic as in certain other role-playing games.

Getting the Books

Unfortunately, most of the GURPS books are no longer in print in their original form, although they may be obtainable from used bookstores and other resellers. However, Steve Jackson games still sells all their fourth-edition books, along with supplements that were never physically printed, in PDF form through their webstore Warehouse 23. Sometimes physical copies of some books are reprinted and made temporarily available on Warehouse 23; as of September 2024, the core books, GURPS Basic Set: Characters and GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns, are once again available in print there, but I'm not sure how long that will be true. Most of the numerous third-edition GURPS books are also available as PDFs from Warehouse 23, rebranded as "GURPS Classic", with the exception of some of the licensed properties for which the licenses have presumably expired (plus GURPS Classic: Time Travel Adventures which I'm honestly not sure why it's not available in PDF). Conversion guidelines to adapt this material to fourth edition are available in a GURPS Update booklet that originally came with the GURPS GM's Screen and is now available separately for free download on Warehouse 23. (You can also get print-on-demand versions of many books if you'd like, though the POD books are offered through a certain notoriously worker-unfriendly company that I personally prefer to avoid patronizing.) The GURPS Character Assistant is useful to facilitate character creation, especially if you're the GM and will be creating a lot of characters.

If you're new to GURPS and want to get a taste for the game before deciding whether to spend money on it, there's a 32-page "Lite" version of the fourth edition rules available for free—as well as a free adventure, Caravan to Ein Arris.

Abbreviations

Occasionally some pages in the GURPS space in the Wongery may make reference to specific GURPS books where certain rules or materials may be found. If the book in question is only referred to on one or a few pages, its title will be written out in full in bold italics, and will link to its listing on Warehouse 23. For books that may be referred to in multiple locations, however, the title may be abbreviated for brevity (and not bolded). The following abbreviations are used:

AE

GURPS Classic: Alternate Earths

AE2

GURPS Classic: Alternate Earths 2,

B

The fourth-edition GURPS Basic Set

H

GURPS Horror

IW

GURPS Infinite Worlds

LW

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Lost Worlds

M

GURPS Magic

OW

GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Osiris Worlds

P

GURPS Powers

P# (where "#" is replaced by a number)

Pyramid Magazine, the number indicating the issue number. If the number has one or two digits, then the reference is to a "Pyramid Classic" issue; if the number has three or four digits, then the first digit is the volume number and the remaining digits the issue. For example, "P28" would refer to Pyramid Classic #28, while "P320" would refer to Pyramid #3/20 (volume 3 issue 20).

T

GURPS Thaumatology

TT

GURPS Classic: Time Travel

WH

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror.

The page number or range of page numbers referred to will follow the title abbreviation, separated by a space if the abbreviation ends with a number; for instance, "B24" would refer to page 24 of the GURPS Basic Set, and "P363 12" would refer to Pyramid Issue 3/63, page 12. "AE2-4" would refer to Alternate Earths pages 2-4, and "AE2 4" would refer to Alternate Earths 2 page 4.

Magic

Despite its status as a generic role-playing game, GURPS does have a detailed default magic system which relies on very different assumptions from most arcana described in the Wongery. (It unfortunately also makes heavy use of the word "mana" for magical energy, which I find objectionable for reasons I eventually intend to write a lengthy blog post about.) Perhaps most notably, the default GURPS magic system assumes the existence of a quality called "Magery", those without which can't cast spells outside of (ugh) "high-mana" areas. Most Wongery arcana do not have any concept corresponding to Magery, and this advantage does not canonically exist on most Wongery worlds. (Contrary to the word's use in GURPS, in the Wongery in general the word "mage" may refer to anyone who uses magic, and is interchangeable with "wizard", although on some worlds one or both of these words may have more specific meanings.) Nor do magic staves exist as described in M13. (Other kinds of magic staff may certainly exist on some Wongery worlds, just not staves fitting that description.)

There are some alternative magic systems briefly described in M199-209 and GURPS Thaumatology, but none of them are a particular good match for most Wongery arcana either. Of course, for a loose conversion you're free to use the default GURPS magic system, or any of the alternative magic systems from GURPS Magic, GURPS Thaumatology, or other sources, but for a strict conversion the Wongery pages for various arcana will give new advantages and rule systems for magic that can be used instead.

The Wongery and the Infinite Worlds

As of its latest edition, GURPS has a default setting, the Infinite Worlds, where agents of the Infinity Patrol hop between parallel Earths exploring new frontiers, putting down otherworldly threats, and foiling the plans of their rival Centrum. (The Infinite Worlds setting was first introduced in the third-edition book GURPS Classic: Time Travel, and further developed in the third-edition books GURPS Classic: Alternate Earths and GURPS Classic: Alternate Earths 2, but it wasn't until the advent of fourth edition that it officially became the game's default setting.)

Because the Infinite Worlds setting is all about traveling between different worlds, it may at first blush seem that it would be easy to fit any of the Wongery worlds into an Infinite Worlds campaign. In practice, it's not as good a fit as it might first appear; most of the worlds of the Infinite Worlds setting are alternate Earths, and even most of the alternate Earth described in the Wongery aren't really good fits for it for various reasons. Still, if you want to use the Wongery worlds in an Infinite Earths campaign, it's certainly not impossible to do so.

The canonical assumption in the GURPS Gamespace here is that most of the worlds described in the Wongery lie entirely outside eight-dimensional space as Homeline and Centrum researchers know it, and are inaccessible by projection. Effectively, eight-dimensional space is a separate esture, distinct from those described in the Wongery. (There are exceptions; Nuclearth, for instance, is on quantum 6 and known to Infinity Patrol as Teller-2.) That doesn't mean those worlds are completely unreachable, however; there may be nexus portals connecting them to known worlds, and characters with the World Jumper advantage might be able to get to them, perhaps requiring the Interplanar modifier (P57), or some variant thereof. Mages might be able to use the Plane Shift (B248/M83) or Create Gate (M85) spells (or possibly Planar Visit (M82), for travel in spirit only). For worlds explicitly set in the past or future (such as the SKE or the Dupliverse), spells such as Timeport (M81) may be required.

Each world entry in the Wongery will include suggestions for how the world could be used in an Infinite Worlds game. As with all the other information in these Game pages (and the mainspace, for that matter), of course, you don't have to follow these suggestions; these can be considered the Wongery's "canonical" assumptions, but you're free to ignore them and use these worlds differently in your own campaigns if you have an idea you like better. You can put in every world of the Wongery as a separate pocket universe in Quantum 6 if you want to, if you think it would work for your campaign. And of course you don't have to use the Infinite Worlds setting at all; each of the worlds of the Wongery is intended to stand on its own as a campaign setting without requiring any travel to other worlds.

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The material presented here is the original creation of the Grandmaster Wongers, intended for use with the GURPS system from Steve Jackson Games. This material is not official and is not endorsed by Steve Jackson Games.

GURPS is a registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games, and its rules and art are copyrighted by Steve Jackson Games. All rights are reserved by Steve Jackson Games. This game aid is the original creation of the Grandmaster Wongers and is released for free distribution, and not for resale, under the permissions granted in the Steve Jackson Games Online Policy.