Old-School GURPS

2025-04-05

What happens if we lean back into the roots of our hobby - which for me is largely the 1980s - and realise that the kind of roleplaying we enjoy the most is in fact the Old-School variety?But instead of landing back in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, what if we find the kind of system that emphasises the roleplay is actually found in the emergence of a game designed to encourage just that: roleplay?In 1985, Steve Jackson Games published the combat system from their forthcoming roleplaying game system and they named it, “Man-to-Man”. A year lat...

What happens if we lean back into the roots of our hobby - which for me is largely the 1980s - and realise that the kind of roleplaying we enjoy the most is in fact the Old-School variety?

But instead of landing back in the realm of Dungeons & Dragons, what if we find the kind of system that emphasises the roleplay is actually found in the emergence of a game designed to encourage just that: roleplay?

In 1985, Steve Jackson Games published the combat system from their forthcoming roleplaying game system and they named it, “Man-to-Man”. A year later in 1986, they published the full game system as it then existed. It’s name was GURPS - the Generic Universal Role-Playing System.

40 years later, GURPS is still around… and so is that earlier incarnation. And it turns out that it’s a far more accessible and playable role-playing system than I ever imagined.

Thanks to Steve Jackson Games for continuing to keep GURPS Third Edition in print:

Amazon POD: amazon.co.uk/GURPS-Basic-Set-Third-Revised/dp/1556348266/

Warehouse23 PDF: warehouse23.com/products/gurps-basic-set-third-edition-revised

Big thanks to Spencer and Evil Jeff for calling in with their experiences and thoughts!

Game on!

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