We've all heard of GURPS Mars, GURPS Age of Napoleon, GURPS Aztecs, GURPS Russia, but what's the best GURPS book you never see mentioned? (Also, why.)

I lean toward GURPS Goblins, but, as the my subject title implies, I can't ever see using this one in play. Amusing and based on things I love, but not something I want baked in the cake.

What's your favorite GURPS book you never see recommended, or for that matter, you cannot recommend because you don't see the direct usefulness in it, despite your affection?

GURPS Fantasy II: Adventures in the Mad Lands:  Unique fantasy setting where PCs come from a tribal culture.  Unique monsters and magic system outlined for the setting.

GURPS Fantasy Tredroy:  City set in the world of Yrth where humans and their cultures from earth have been transported there via the Banestorm.  Tredroy mixes fantasy tropes, medieval Christian cultures, and medieval Muslim cultures together well.

GURPS Humanx:  Worldbook set in Alan Dean Foster's Humanx Commonwealth.  Good stuff if you're a fan.

GURPS Terradyne:  A setting book detailing earth's early interplanetary space exploration in the 22nd Century.  Much more realistic than fantastic in the application of new technologies for space exploration.
 
GURPS Uplift:  Another worldbook set in David Brin's Uplift series of stories.  Great stuff if you're a fan.

GURPS Witch World:  Another worldbook set in Andre Norton's Witch World series of stories.  Worth a look if you're a fan.

Sorry, bored at work.


Serious answer: I liked the Alternate Earths books, if only because I like to play "what-if".  And Ice Age was a breath of fresh air at a time when most historical and fantasy sourcebooks only went back as far as ancient Greece level at the earliest.

Quote from: FASERIP;656893What's your favorite GURPS book you never see recommended, or for that matter, you cannot recommend because you don't see the direct usefulness in it, despite your affection?

Urg.  For me, how much I enjoy a book is directly related to whether it's at all useful at the table - fantasy and SF novels are a lot cheaper than game books if all I want is an interesting read - but how about GURPS Ogre?  Wonderful treatment of the setting, and generally unusable for an actual game.

I'm tempted to say GURPS Supertemps, as a brilliantly done four-colour-meets-real-world implied setting that's much more palatable than Wild Cards, but the GURPS system just doesn't work for four-colour superheroics.

Hm, I like GURPS Arabian Nights, but I don't think it's *that* rare to see it recommended.

GURPS Religion sucks major balls, by the way.

As a Jack Vance fan, I enjoyed GURPS Planet of Adventure.

Contrary to the OP, I'd love to play in a real GURPS Goblins game.  So my take on this is these are books that are rarely recommended, but are still excellent reading.  I've never played a game set in these settings straight, but I'd love to try it.  

GURPS Goblins: A hilarious parody of Georgian England.  

GURPS Fantasy II: Adventures in the Mad Lands:   Like Drohem, I think this one is great.  Among other things, it reverses the

GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War:  A cool alternate take on urban fantasy (like World of Darkness and so forth) centered on Caribbean mythology.  


GURPS Religion was a curious thing.  I got it expecting to hate it, and found I didn't hate it for the reasons I thought, but I do think it's basically useless as a role-playing supplement.  So I guess this would be the one that I'd cite as a real case of a GURPS book that nobody recommends.

I wouldn't say it's never recommended, but Fifties horror is a really rich yet rarely utilized campaign idea.

Vehicles?

Oh well no, I really liked GURPS Ogre.  It's Orwell's 1984 with nukes and cybertanks.

Quote from: David Johansen;656988It's Orwell's 1984 with nukes and cybertanks.

Sure, but what do you do with it with a group of four to six adventurers?  If I want to play a more modern techno-1984, what happens on the battlefield is kind of irrelevant, and if we're playing on the battlefield the campaign stops dead the minute one of the Mark V's main guns scores a hit.

GURPS Places of Mystery

Never see this recommended, but tons of great ideas.

Quote from: Technomancer;656932

Sorry, bored at work.


Serious answer: I liked the Alternate Earths books, if only because I like to play "what-if".  And Ice Age was a breath of fresh air at a time when most historical and fantasy sourcebooks only went back as far as ancient Greece level at the earliest.

Hey, if any game system would have an ALF sourcebook...it's GURPS.

Does any other system have as many?

So many to choose from.  I'm a fan of Gene Wolfe, so GURPS New Sun.  Lots of layers to it.

GURPS Horseclans.  You will never find it mentioned and the series is out of print, but the gaming material (bought on a whim) made me buy and read the whole series.  

But I would be astonished if anybody else had even read it.

Quote from: Votan;657098GURPS Horseclans.  You will never find it mentioned and the series is out of print, but the gaming material (bought on a whim) made me buy and read the whole series.  

But I would be astonished if anybody else had even read it.

Are you kidding? Back in the day Horseclans novels and the GURPS books were, if not exactly first tier, at least known by most of my peer group.

There really wasn't much choice back in the mid to late 80s. You'd go down to the book store for a fantasy fix, there was Tolkien which you had already read, Stephen Donaldson, Shannara, Conan pastiches, and stuff like Horseclans.