GURPS 1st Edition Box Set (1986): The Ambitious Universal RPG Rules System

Back in the 1980s, roleplaying games were typically a rules set mated to a setting. For example, if you wanted to switch play from Advanced Dungeons & Dragons to Top Secret – both by TSR – you had an entirely new set of rules to learn.

There were exceptions. Chaosium had separated the core rules of Runequest into a stand-alone Basic Roleplaying booklet around 1980, which would form the basis of many of their games going forward.

But it was Steve Jackson Games that released its universal rules system with great fanfare. Called “Great Unnamed Universal Role-Playing System” in development, simplified at release to “Generic Universal Role Playing System”, and simplified even more into GURPS in 1986.

Steve Jackson created GURPS using some of his experience in his Metagaming days developing The Fantasy Trip. The GURPS combat system was released as standalone Man-to-Man in 1985. The rules were D6-based, and played on a tactical hex grid much like TFT.

GURPS debuted with the 1st edition box set in 1986, which is the subject of today’s reference post.

I reckon that old school gamers will be much more familiar with all the GURPS world books that came in the years after. Far more people owned the GURPS subject books than actually played the game itself.

Above photo shows what remains of my GURPS collection. I used to have many times this number.

Everyone is spoiled by the internet these days. Want to set your game is a specific place or genre? An embarrassment of riches awaits you online: Concise info summaries, actual plays, and several already-existing games to pull from.

But in the 80s and 90s, if you wanted to set a campaign among the Aztecs for example, off you went to the library to check out some books on the subject. And you did your homework in adapting the info into an RPG setting.

…or… You could skip all that and buy the GURPS Aztecs book.

The GURPS subject books were fairly rules-light, and easy to adapt to your favorite rules system.

Wisely, the setting books had notes on combining settings. GURPS Cliffhangers with GURPS Dinosaurs to create a pulp Lost World game, as an example. SJG even introduced a multidimensional campaign, hopping through time and space. Pure awesome.

GURPS Basic Set (1st edition) [BOX SET]

1986 … Steve Jackson … SJG 6000 … ISBN 1556340516

• 72-page Characters book
• 80-page Adventuring book.
• 24 page Charts & Tables.
• 32-page adventure booklet. One side has a solo adventure (“All In A Night’s Work”), with a multiplayer scenario on the other side (“Caravan to Ein Arris”).
• 3 small sheets of Cardboard Heroes miniature figures and bases.

Check Wayne’s Books Inventory

Noble Knight | Amazon

2nd edition (1987) is mostly identical, with the same box. The differences are the rule books now have cardstock covers, with previous errata incorporated into the text, plus new advantages and disadvantages. Don’t worry, new errata was discovered!

The box sets didn’t linger around long. 3rd edition (1988) was a standalone book – probably the best-known version of the GURPS core rules – and 4th edition (2004) split into two hardcovers.