[gurps] Re: How has 4th Edition changed your game?

[Ben Finney]

Emily Smirle <smirle4498 at rogers.com> writes:

> Bret Indrelee wrote:
> > Now that 4th edition has been out a while, I'm curious what
> > people's experiences are with it.
> 
> I can't say much comparing to 3e, because I couldn't get anyone to
> PLAY 3e.

That applies for me also. 3e was a treasure trove for me, with a huge
number of supplements published by SJ Games, with such a good average
level of quality that I was able to buy many of them with almost no
investigation and usually feel the purchase was worthwhile. Yet, all
this feeding of my GM brain never actually resulted in a 3e game.

Only after I bought 4e, and digested the elegance with which the same
underlying system had been trimmed and realigned into a much more
smoothly-operating whole, did I manage to get several GURPS campaigns
started.

I also found that 4e's markedly higher level of standardisation allows
me to customise it much easier. As one significant example, it allowed
me to write “GURPS Metric” <URL:http://gamesdiner.com/gurps_metric>
with a low enough barrier that I was actually *able* to write it
coherently (I hope; feedback appreciated! :-). I tried the same with
3e but gave up after a lot of effort. The same can be said for many
other tweaks and house rules.

So, like Emily, I found that 4e has *allowed* me to set up and
actually run a GURPS game, which never happened with 3e. That can be
explained as a combination of a change in the system as published, an
improvement in the chances of getting people to play it, *and* a
resulting change in my GM style; but it's definitely a positive for me
and my gaming groups.

-- 
 \        “Consider the daffodil. And while you're doing that, I'll be |
  `\              over here, looking through your stuff.” —Jack Handey |
_o__)                                                                  |
Ben Finney