Yesterday, I was ridiculously happy to receive a copy of the 1987 Second Edition of the GURPS Basic Set generously sent over by Jason from the Nerd’s RPG Variety Cast! Massive thank you to Jason! This completes my collection of GURPS editions, now that I have all four plus Man-to-Man.

This sparked the natural question in my mind of what the differences between these editions might actually be. While I initially sat down with both boxes and was all set to do a page-by-page analysis (because that’s what I am like), I suddenly remembered that I have all the issues of Roleplayer and wondered if that old newsletter would speak to the differences.

Roleplayer Issue 5 tells us that the change to Second Edition was sparked by selling out of the initial GURPS Basic Set print run. It also details the changes as:

• Covers on the two booklets
• A Combat Modifiers Table, which was also published in that issue of Roleplayer
• A second Character Sheet with a female outline image
• All the corrections from errata up to that point

The bigger changes came with the 1988 release of the Third Edition, which is detailed in Roleplayer Issue 12 in a longer article entitled, “GURPS 3rd Edition – Bigger and Better”. This is described as being, “a complete reworking and re-editing of the system.” It was also $5 cheaper than the earlier editions because it eschewed the box.

But here’s the significance for me: I always get super-excited to look through and mess around with the older editions of GURPS! I didn’t get into GURPS until the Ninth Printing brought forth the 1994 Third Edition Revised rulebook – still available today – but I respond powerfully to the aesthetic and “feel” of the older game.

I’m very grateful to Jason for helping me complete my collection but I am also grateful for re-sparking my interest in GURPS. Despite currently running a game using the Dungeon Fantasy RPG (powered by Fourth Edition), I recognise the energy that I derive from these old boxes and books. I’m going to have to play with them some more.

Game on!