James Nicoll Reviews

Steve Jackson’s GURPS, 3^rd Edition (Revised) is (as one might expect) the third, revised edition of GURPS, whose first edition was published in 1986. Also, as one might expect, it is published by Steve Jackson Games¹, founded by GURPS designer Steve Jackson (human Texan)².

In a previous review, I discussed the sad history of the venerable tabletop roleplaying game The Fantasy Trip (TFT). It was doomed to decades of oblivion by a combination of clashing personalities and business setbacks. But all was not lost. We soon heard that Steve Jackson was working on a great unnamed roleplaying system, to be given a shinier name once Steve Jackson thought of one. In 1986, that shiny new name was revealed: GURPS. Which stood for Generic Universal Roleplaying System.

GURPS prevails. While a 4^thedition is available, this is a (commissioned) review of the 3^rdedition.

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Steve Jackson’s 1977’s Melee, 1978’s Wizard, and 1980’s In the Labyrinth are three games that together form The Fantasy Trip tabletop roleplaying system. Originally published by Metagaming, these games languished out of print for decades before Steve Jackson Games acquired the rights and reprinted them.

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