GURPS Horror 4th Edition (GURPS: Generic Universal Role Playing System) 4th ed. Edition

Speedy delivery and I know my son will love this for his belated birthday party. We love role playing games and I’m excited to introduce this one to him. I’ve played GURPS many years ago and it was a fresh break from D&D. I love both games. I’m interested in this version of GURPS. We are a horror movie loving family so this is right up our alley. So, when we start playing I’ll come back and continue my review and give you more details. However I have peaked into the book and I’m really interested. I read a blurb on Jack the Ripper! Werewolves, Vampires and SO much more....

I bought GURPS Horror 2nd edition a long time ago and was very impressed with how it spiced up my gaming sessions with great advice. But a lot of the book was given over to introducing the new (at the time) GURPS Magic system and an insanity system. Both of those systems are now part of the core rules so I wondered what the author would do with the extra space if Steve Jackson Games ever republished the book for 4th edition.The answer: Amazing things!!!My sole argument with the author is how he describes horror. My definition of horror is defined by all things gross and disgusting, Cthulu crossed with a thousand slasher movies. His definition is much broader and covers any sort of situation that causes a strong emotional response. This means that suspense situations (very common in roleplaying) most mysteries, most well-done dramas, and most combat situations (some campaigns are nothing but combat) all fall into this area. I wondered how the author could handle such a broad range of topics well. I shouldn't have worried, this IS Ken Hite we are talking about here.At the heart of the book, he recognizes that Horror is all about the emotions. From there he simply starts by describing how to generate each of the emotions he is trying to reach. From there it surprisingly simple to build out the rest of the book. At 176 pages, I was originally concerned that this book wouldn't be a good value for my money.But the opposite turned out to the be case instead, I had a serious case of information overload by the time I was done with this book and the beginnings of an absolutely BRILLIANT campaign concept that I will start running in the next few months.One of the author's best ideas for hooking the players into the game is have them help write up part of the background and make sure there are plenty of plot hooks in the characters to get the players fully enmeshed in the game. Avoids the famous and semi-ridiculous roleplaying trope where the group wanders into a town and all of these adventures just happen to be waiting for somebody with their particular skill-set to come by and resolve them. The characters are intimately involved in the background and are not necessarily well-equipped to deal with the problem as it arises. This concept was worth the price of the book all by itself.My sole gripe about the production values of the book are the lack of color pictures inside this hardcover book. I understand that publishing costs are going through the roof but SJ Games has been doing a very good job of jumping over to eBooks already and color doesn't cost anything in eBooks and adds a great deal of value. This is more of a something-to-think-about situation than a reason to fail to purchase this outstanding book.

GURPS 3E splatbooks have a way of being just chock full of good information and inspiration! More, despite being a quarter-century old, they do a good job summarizing and distilling themes in the literature of a given genre as it appeared at that time; which is usually pretty resistant to becoming outdated. Most of the horror story tropes we all know and love haven't changed in centuries. What's one quarter more? If you're an Old School Grognard like me, who doesn't think game books can even become interesting until they're out of print, this one will make a good edition to your collection.In particular, GURPS: Horror gives a great overview of a Things Man Was Not Meant to Know theme for a campaign. I've long-felt the Lovecraftian stuff was dated if not outright corny for a modern audience. But this book shows how it would retain more of its original horror experience when one is a participant and not safe outside the story as an observer!Frankly, I like this book.

More on my fault for not reading it, i accidently ordered the second edition instead of the 4th. I will still use it, it was just more of a shock on my end. Mislead by the description

To be honest, I was hoping for a bestiary catologue, but as with most of GURPS' splat books, this is still helpful, providing rules and templates for your every monstrous need.

Love Ken Hite’s writing. This is a great tome of knowledge

Always been a fan and I'm super happy to finally have a copy of this on my book shelf.

Amazing quality and price.

Quality

Mr. Hite knows his stuff. One the best rpg book about horror ever.