Being a curious and historically-minded gamer, I have been (finally) getting around to reading through the thirty issues of Roleplayer, the GURPS Newsletter. You can download digital scans of these documents from Warehouse23 and I love to peruse these artefacts.

As the modern digital cover says:

Before there was Pyramid, even before there was a GURPS, there was Roleplayer. It was originally produced as a free supplement for Man to Man and as promotion for the soon to-be-released Generic Universal Role-Playing System, GURPS. From there it grew to a newsletter, and then a full-fledged magazine, devoted to roleplaying, GURPS-style.

Roleplayer #01, SJG (1986, 2004), digital cover

The first three issues of Roleplayer bring us through from February until November 1986, although Issue 2 tells us that the first one was late due to the printers sitting on it for a month. It was an ad-hoc publication, open to submissions, and initially free. The whole thing was dedicated to promoting and building a community for GURPS.

Issue 3 celebrates the release of the GURPS Basic Set at Origins in 1986. It also informs us that the GURPS Fantasy world book had been printed and that GURPS Autoduel was going to press soon. Issues 1 and 2 let us peek inside the development of that Basic Set box over the course of the year.

Man to Man (MTM), the published combat system from GURPS, came out in 1985 as an initial release in the GURPS line. The book tells us it was released as an introduction to the whole GURPS system and because it is an excellent stand-alone board game. Roleplayer #1 addresses a whole bunch of questions about the system and gives us the first NPC Record Card.

Of personal interest are the rules for the Minotaur in Roleplayer #1, giving stats for the “nonhuman race for MTM” but also teasing the Acute Hearing and Hideous Appearance rules from full GURPS. This issue also has a revealing “Questionnaire Responses” article summarising results from 271 MTM questionnaires that had been returned; one example:

How hard were the rules to learn? Too easy: 1. Fairly easy: 76. Just right: 153. Fairly hard: 37. Too hard: 1. No response: 7.

Roleplayer #1, page 3

There’s also a lovely article in Roleplayer #1 introducing the concept of Disadvantages in GURPS, along with some examples that can be used in MTM too. Inevitable errata are collected in each issue through the entire series, making it a great reference for any fan.

Discussion in Roleplayer #2 turns to the question of whether to release the forthcoming GURPS Basic Set with or without the combat system rules. The practical upshot is Steve Jackson’s decision to make sure the new game is complete while offering MTM purchasers the opportunity to claim a $5 discount on the new boxed set to offset the repeated rules.

MTM gets a much-needed Index in Roleplayer #2 over a two-page spread alongside a modified set of rules for the Pick (or other swinging/impaling weapons) as revised for GURPS. I was impressed by the openness and honest tone that the development of this game took over the course of that first year.

In the same issue celebrating the release of GURPS Basic Set (1986), there’s an errata article in Roleplayer #3. The addition of five College of Knowledge spells that got cut from GURPS Fantasy was a nice touch, under the title of “The Grimoire of Gathianol”. GURPS Q&A rounds out that issue.

Overall, I have been fascinated by the evolution of the GURPS system throughout that first year after MTM was released. I was also impressed by the friendly, open, honest, and most of all curious attitude taken by Steve Jackson Games as they sought to develop and market the game.

There’s an optimism and energy in Roleplayer that I feel is very often missing from RPG companies today. It makes you want to play the game!

Game on!