[gurps] 4e Books-- Comments?

[hal at buffnet.net]

At 06:20 AM 1/15/2008 +0000, you wrote:
>Hi all!
>
>Gosh, it seemed like I blinked and there are a whole slew of new 4e books
out.  I guess it HAS been a tough year.  Is this an appropriate forum to
ask people's opinions?  Or is there a blog somewhere?
>
>I'm interested in:

Hi Vk,
  As you're asking for opinions, I figured I'd toss in my two cents worth.
Note that these assessments are all "In my humble opinion" as it were ;)  I
will be rating the books on a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is "I Felt cheated
BADLY that I even spent the time to read it" to 10 "This is a must have,
don't wait to buy it, buy it NOW!".  

Bio-Tech: Rated 5.
  While the book was not a total waste of time and/or money, it didn't
strike me all that much as a really good book either.


High-Tech: Not Rated.

I've not purchased this as yet due to Christmas stuff and all that.  I'm
not overly gung-ho in having to buy the book, and at one point, I could
have gotten a copy for $25 including S&H, but I figured I'd wait for a bit.
 Right now, I'm running both a cyberpunk campaign and a fantasy campaign
(two separate campaigns) such that I don't need the book just yet.  Knowing
Hans as I do, I've no doubt that this will be a tightly written book chock
full of GOOD information.  One thing I was annoyed greatly about was
witnessing Sean Punch and Hans discuss what looked to be errata where the
Line editor said that a given datum was not in error, while the author
chimed in that it was an error.  When the Line editor explained how the
data should be "understood" rules wise, the Author then had to state that
if the Line Editor's intentions were as stated, then other data in the book
was wrong.  This kind of miscommunication after the book was playtested
bodes ill in my opinion.  Knowing both Sean and Hans, I'd say it was one of
those "little ironies" where both individuals thought the other knew what
was going on in their minds - and leave it at that.

Ultra-Tech: Rated 6, maybe 7.

One of the problems in my opinion, is that some of the Ultra-Tech stuff is
waiting for GURPS VEHICLE DESIGN system to come out.  As mentioned by
another, the power cells and power generators aren't all that well defined.
 Much of what was already released in 3e's versions of Ultra-tech I & II
were contained within the book.  I found that the vehicles included in the
book were pretty bland and it turned me off overall.  As a guess, I'm
betting that SJGames couldn't really do much with vehicles until they
release the PDF version of the Vehicle Design System.  That it still isn't
out makes me wonder what is going on behind the scenes - it has been HOW
long since it was slated to come out?  Suffice to state however, that
Ultra-Tech has its share of good things and bad things.  One GOOD nugget I
found in the book pertained to the concept of cybernetic installations.
There are rules for operations, costs of operations, duration of
operations, and even modifiers to the surgeon's skill when installing a
gizmo based on whether it is a simple operation, minor operation, major
operation, or even Radical operation.  Recovery times from said operations
are based on the classification (ie simple, minor, major, or radical) that
can range from one hour to four weeks.  Much of what you will find in GURPS
CYBERPUNK is contained within, as well as rules regarding computers and
such.  I was NOT all that happy with the software rules contained within
the book.

Martial Arts: 10

Of them all, GURPS MARTIAL ARTS for 4e is a true gem.  The material
contained within can be applied for both GURPS 3e as well as GURPS 4e.  The
material contained within makes for a fun read overall.  One thing I would
mention here is that after having watched King Arthur with Keira Knightley,
Clive Owen, Ioan Gruffudd to name but a few - I noted that GURPS MARTIAL
ARTS could be used to describe many of the "moves" used within the movie
itself.

Thus:

If you have Biotech from 3e, I'd not rush to buy 4e's Biotech.

If you have a need for cyberpunk stuff, UT 4e is ok and has some good stuff
in it, but also not all that hot either.  Flip a coin to decide ;)

If you're running a gun heavy campaign, then by all means, pick up High
Tech.  It has some other fun stuff in addition to the guns to be certain,
but hey, what can I say, I've not gotten it yet.

GURPS MARTIAL ARTS is by far, the one book I would urge you to buy.  I
don't have any reservations against the book and is one of the few books
from the 4e series that I have purchased that I am glad I did.

As long as I'm talking about rating books (again on a scale from 1 to 10):

GURPS BANESTORM: 1
GURPS MYSTERIES: 8 (I loved the material, I just don't expect to use it for
my gaming group)
GURPS MAGIC: 3 (and you know how much of a GURPS MAGIC for 3e fan I am!)
GURPS FANTASY: 4 (while it had good writing and nice presentation, it
wasn't all that useful to me)
GURPS INTERSTELLAR WARS: 3
GURPS SPACE: 5
GURPS POWERS: 3
GURPS CAMPAIGNS: 7
GURPS CHARACTERS: 4 

Any book I rated at a 3 or less, is a book I could divest myself of and not
miss not having them.  I know that's harsh, but that's how I feel about
them :(