GURPS

The General Uuniversal Role Playing System has been designed to provide players with the largest possible flexibility in regard of tailoring their protagonists. Rather than being a RPG system which includes a background or setting the GURPS Basic Set just provides the rules, that is, tons of them, to generate all kinds of characters. To be able to weigh up characters against one another, each trait, ability and skill costs a certain amount of development points. Consequently, two different characters who have been built based on the same amount of points should be roughly equal in regard of their powers, although their actual chance to survice in a special situation heavily depends on whether or not they possess the applicable powers which they can make use of, respectively.

The basic rules are quite simple and, to give an example, all characters are based on four basic attributes only. What makes an individual stand out are her skills and her advantages and disadvantages, traits and powers that make this character unique. Depending on what level of detail a GM prefers to deploy, he may confront his players with countless additionals tomes and volums, containing optional rules for specific settings and situations. While the basic rule set is already compiled of several hundred pages to cover all and every possibility, numerous secondary books have been released to deal with selected topics even more exhaustively. These books range from fantasy-related settings and horror genres to space operas and adaptions of successful third party material.

GURPS is especially interesting for players who prefer their favourite genres being covered thoroughly while enjoying the flexibility of customized character design.