The biggest appeal of GURPS has always been the idea of learning one set of rules to be able to play any type of roleplaying game. As Steve Jackson writes in the Introduction:

I’ve always thought it was silly for game companies to publish one set of rules for fantasy, another one for Old West, another one for science fiction, and another one for super powers. GURPS is one set of rules that’s comprehensive enough to let you use any background. There are world books and supplements that “fine tune” the generic system for any game world you want. But they are still compatible.

GURPS Basic Set Characters, Page 5

The challenge with learning this particular set of rules is choosing where to begin. My view is this is best done incrementally and from a very simple starting point. There are innumerable options but, at heart, GURPS has a simple and light set of core mechanisms. Once mastered, those simple beginnings can be built upon readily.

As I move towards teaching new players the system, I feel the wisest course would be to choose a genre, style, and power level that facilitates learning from the ground up. Thus a game without too many weird powers played in a realistic and grounded world with a rules-light approach is best.

My group shows interest in two primary genres: one is investigations into the paranormal and weird in the modern world; the other is a low-fantasy swords-and-sorcery realm of adventure. Both of these are ideal for learning GURPS because they dial the power level and complex options down.

I am beginning with simple scenarios gleaned from Justin Alexander’s excellent, “So You Want To Be a Game Master”. Setting up a one-shot adventure either using a simple mystery or basic location crawl matches well with the goals of learning new rules. Reducing the bandwidth for both myself and the players is sensible.

We’ll learn how to make Success Rolls, run short combat scenes, and utilise the Reaction Roll table in GURPS alongside presenting straight-forward scenarios that are easy for me (as GM) to run. Low points characters mean there are fewer moving parts and options to worry about at the beginning.

Knowledge grows incrementally and through repetition. As we seek to develop a game world, we can easily add options for magic or psionics, or other weird abilities, as they arise. Sticking to the Basic Set means we can apply the core of the game – those simple rules – before we try more ambitious concepts.

My sense is that GURPS is a solid set of rules for what I want to get from my games. Putting myths about complexity aside, the trick is to present a palette based on what you need from the wider toolkit. Learning to describe the world first and then draw rules as needed is the secret. I’m intrigued to see how quickly things develop.

Game on!