Reddit reviews GURPS Basic Set Campaigns

For up-to-medieval era combat, you have (in my opinion) four top contenders for great combat systems:

Blade of the Iron Throne:

• Single pool per turn to allocate between attack and defence
  
• Turns only switch when something "dramatic" happens — feels like movie fights
  
• Good amount of manoeuvres to choose
  
• Hit locations
  
  Rolemaster Classic, you will need Character Law, Arms Law, Spell Law and for non-human opponents Creatures & Monsters
  
  
• Every weapon affects different types of armour differently — rapiers destroy chainmail
  
• Very granular damage
  
• Critical hits can create many different effects
  
  Mythras, with Classic Fantasy if you want classes back
  
  
• Fatigue tracked separately from hit points
  
• Hit locations, with actual hit points spread across them
  
• You can choose "special effects" when you succeed well enough — e.g. choosing location, disarming etc
  
  GURPS, with Basic Set having Characters, plus Campaigns. You can also use the older third edition, which is a single book.
  
  
• Only uses 3d6, easy to calculate modifiers
  
• Weapon types affect not only effect on armour but actions available — e.g. axes unbalance after a swing, needing a turn to be brought back in position
  
• Turns are 1 second long, and feel fast. You can shiv someone multiple times before they can rearm a crossbow or switch weapons if disarmed
  
  Out of all of them, I would suggest the following guidelines:
  
  

• Blade of the Iron Throne if you want hits to count and be meaningful, with whiffs being more tense than boring
  
• Rolemaster if you want to choose who attacks which enemy and how to approach them based on strengths of team, and granular damage — print the weapon tables for each character and give it to them. It should be considered part of their character sheet
  
• Mythras if you want a middle-ground experience, with enough detail and a focus on where you get hit and how to protect those parts
  
• GURPS if you think the flow of actions should correspond to expectations — you can’t fire an arrow every time someone swings a sword
  
  I tried to not play on stereotypes for each system but more on actual gameplay feeling. People will say GURPS is too crunchy, but it will only be if you choose every optional rule (it's super modular). Start with basic combat and choose components from advanced as you find them useful. They will say Rolemaster has too many tables, which is why you print the subset you use and give to players, but because of them it plays super fast. Mythras has a strong following, so there will be praise and hype. Plays really great, but the text is awfully tiny on print and gives me a headache after reading too long. Blade of the Iron Throne is a successor to the out-of-print Riddle of Steel, which was also legendary, and improves it in many ways. Its only disadvantage in my opinion is that it uses pools of d12s. You should find cheap bulk packs. You want 2 colours, so you can count attack and defence easily.

Buy some dice.

Buy some books.

Honestly, it depends what kind of game you want to play. I think here you're going to get a lot of weird niche games suggested but for starters you're better off sticking with the a more 'traditional' experience. D&D is an excellent starting point if you want to play a fantasy game, you can even pick up one of their adventures if you don't want to write your own material.

If you're unsure about spending that much just to get started you can pick up this starter set that will include the basic rules, a set of dice, some pregenerated characters, and a short adventure. From there, if you like the game, you can pick up the full rulebooks and some more dice and whatever else you like. Alternatively you can try out the free basic rules by downloading them from the Wizards of the Coast website. All you'll need is a set of dice to get started.

If you don't like or don't want to play D&D you can check out a bunch of other systems that will let you play other games or settings. [Edge of the Empire] (https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Edge-Empire-Rulebook/dp/1616616571/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=edge+of+the+empire&qid=1563883870&s=gateway&sr=8-1) is a really cool Star Wars game, but it requires custom dice. My personal favourite sci-fi rpg is Traveller though, and it has the advantage of only requiring six sided dice.

A lot of people really like Savage Worlds, it's fun, it's cheap, and it's generic enough that you can run almost any setting you like with it. Unfortunately there's a new edition due out really soon so take that in to consideration. If you want a more in depth generic system then I can recommend GURPS, although you'll also need the Campaigns book. This system is absolutely not beginner friendly, it slaps you in the face with tables and rules for all sorts of scenarios, but I adore it and it's not really all that hard to figure out.

If you want an alternative to D&D Green Ronin has the "Age" series of games, starting with Fantasy Age, continuing with Modern Age, and the recently released The Expanse RPG covers Sci-Fi. I will admit that I've not actually had a chance to play any of these games, but I've read the rules and like the system.

Honestly you can find a game to cover practically any genre you want, whether it's Grimdark Fantasy, Martial Arts, Space Exploration, Lovecraftian Horror, Anime Cyberpunk Space Opera, or almost any other thing you can think of.

Don't fall in to the trap of playing a game because someone suggests it's 'easy', play something that really grabs your interest and inspires your imagination.

These?

Or, on Amazon.. this and this?

GURPS is a generic system that uses a simple skill system plus an Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic to define characters. There is a basic rulebook for 4th Edition GURPS (Characters) but there's also a GM book (Campaigns).

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Unisystem is similar, except that there's no generic rulebook, rather it's broken down by genre (or IP). There's also two flavors of Unisystem: Classic (Rules Heavy) and Cinematic (Rules Light).

If you're looking at Unisystem for Fantasy, I would suggest All Flesh Must Be Eaten + Dungeons & Zombies, or Ghosts of Albion.

The best thing to do is have a good time preparing the material, but don't drive your players crazy sticking to the script. For a first adventure, an open setting like a city adventure can be very rewarding. Let your players develop a character according to whatever restrictions you like, but make sure you outline them clearly.

I am always nervous when DMing; my biggest fear is keeping all the PCs involved and doing something special. My main concern is keeping each player happy by keeping them involved. Obstacles and challenges for each character can be tough to integrate, so make sure you know know their skill sets inside and out. Once again, especially for low-level characters, a city adventure is a great way to get this going.

I have read a few excellent DM / Storyteller books over the years. GURPS Campaigns and the Mage: The Ascension Storyteller's Handbook are both good intros to running a game in general; lost of solid advice.

I will always be a little on edge DMing; for me, it's actually comfortable. You'll find your own comfort zone after a while. Good luck!