I hadn’t realised that Steve Jackson Games had updated GURPS Lite (4e) back in March 2020 but when I went to get a couple of copies printed up, I noticed it right there on the cover. That got me curious to re-read GURPS Lite and, well, that led to some other thoughts.

In the section entitled, “About GURPS Lite” we read:

This is the boiled-down “essence” of GURPS: all the fundamental rules, but not the options and embellishments that often confuse new players.

GURPS Lite (March 2020), SJ Games, page 1

This basically true with the annoying caveat that it doesn’t contain any rules to allow you to run any genre except the most grounded of either no-magic fantasy, very simple medieval and earlier historical, or modern-era and 20th century games. There’s no science-fiction gear, no magic, and no psi. Ho hum.

What GURPS Lite is, of course, is the “fundamental rules” for running a pretty grounded roleplaying game. You wouldn’t be prevented from using other GURPS titles alongside as long as you don’t mind the simpler core of the game Lite provides. Personally, I enjoy having things stripped down and all at the price of zero dollars.

There’s a lovely line in GURPS Lite that got me thinking:

The rules are written to make true roleplaying possible – and to encourage it. In GURPS, you pretend, for a little while, to be someone else.

GURPS Lite (March 2020), SJ Games, page 1

Roleplaying is pretending to be someone else. This was always my understanding of the term and helped me to realise that what truly made these games come alive was the freedom to choose, in character, what I wanted to do. Roleplaying is about making decisions while pretending to be someone else.

As a player, this is what I enjoy: imagining my character in the fantastic Otherworld and then making decisions as-if I were them. That’s my goal whenever I play. Anything that distracts me from this experience of imagining myself as-if and making decisions spoils that experience.

With this in mind, it’s curious that GURPS Lite also makes a rare methodological statement:

In general, the player makes the die rolls for his character’s actions.

GURPS Lite (March 2020), SJ Games, page 2

I am not opposed to this statement but I don’t feel like it’s entirely a necessary method for the enjoyment of play. While it’s nice to feel the sense of imagined control that comes from rolling one’s own dice, I recognise that this is – if we are honest – an illusion. Unless the dice are weighted, I have no more control over the numbers that get rolled than would any other person.

Which brings me back to thinking about what it means to be roleplaying in a game. The key is to have the agency as a player to pretend to be my character within the Otherworld. I don’t need the rules in front of my eyes distracting me from this experience of lived make-believe. Nor do I need to roll the dice.

I simply need to get to know, understand, and play my character. I feel that trusting the GM to handle the rest is a liberating bonus… if only I can be brave enough to trust them at the table.

Game on!