(TFT) GURPS (was I'm new and clueless.)

["Brett Slocum" <slocum@skypoint.com>]

From: "Marty Brown" <marty@mythicgames.com>
> Would I be far off the mark if I picked up
> the latest GURPS basic set?  I read somewhere that GURPS "uses" and
> "improves" on the MELEE rules.  

GURPS is definately Son of TFT. In some ways it improves TFT, but mostly 
it just adds more complexity without much return. I personally like changing 
TFT's Talents into Advantages and Skills. The addition of Disadvantages was 
started in TFT articles in The Space Gamer. The tactical combat system of 
GURPS is not as good as TFT's. Each turn in GURPS is one second, where 
a turn is 5 seconds in TFT (or is it six). I think the combat turn is too short in 
GURPS. The problem with TFT is that if you want to move outside the 
Fantasy genre, you either find someone who has created their own set of 
rules and equipment, or you make it up on your own. GURPS is designed to 
be multigenre and universal (whether you feel it succeeds is up to personal 
opinion -- mine is that it is more universal in some genres than others), so 
this isn't a big problem. One nice thing about GURPS is that it has several 
levels of complexity to choose from (Basic Combat, Advanced Combat, and 
options). Another advantage to GURPS is that there are about 200 books 
published (though many are out of print), so you have coverage for just about 
any genre you wish, and lots of great sourcebooks, conversions and literary 
worldbooks.

My personal opinion is that TFT is the best game for fantasy. If you move 
outside of fantasy, GURPS is decent. Not near-perfect, like TFT is, but very 
useable.

---
Brett Slocum  --  slocum@skypoint.com  --  ICQ #13032903
Home page: http://www.skypoint.com/~slocum/
"Ah'm yer pa, Luke." -- if James Earl Ray was the voice of Darth Vader
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"