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GURPS 4e - Combat Examples

Welcome to my depository of combat examples using the GURPS 4th edition rules.

I'm doing this partly to ensure that I fully understand all the GURPS combat options myself, and partly to assist others in learning the same.

With that in mind, I hope to get a lot of feedback on these examples - the more GURPS players who look them over and check for errors, the better! Each example has its own forum thread for discussing related rules and suggesting changes - you can also email me directly at the address below, or post to the thread on the official GURPS Forums.

When reporting any rules errors, a page reference from the Basic set would be very helpful - "Turn Three of Ranged Example One has the wrong Accuracy bonus, B364 says it should be +2" is very helpful; "The first Ranged example has the wrong Accuracy bonus", not so much.

I'm hoping to continue adding even more examples here over time. I notice that the GURPS Wiki contains a section for Sample Combats too, but as of this writing there are only two of them, and they are in different formats.

It is very important to note that I have purposely tried to include every combat option possible from the Basic set. Though in my opinion the GURPS combat rules work very smoothly even at this level of detail , it can add a lot complexity to the examples - in actual game play, many groups do not use all possible combat options, and thus combat would progress even more quickly. (A collection of examples illustrating this type of 'fast and light' combat is in the works.)

Some other things to note:

  • The examples are somewhat basic - as time passes and I'm sure they are solid, I will build on them to include more advanced options.
  • My goal is to use GURPS exactly as written in the 4th edition ('Rules as Written', or RAW), with all possible options, including 'Dual Weapon Attacks' on page B417 (but not the other cinematic combat options on that same page, like "Bulletproof Nudity", etc). I figure it's easier to ignore options you don't use than to try and fit them in to an example that doesn't have them.
  • For now, the examples will include only those rules contained in the Basic Set 4th Edition, the Characters and Campaigns books. In the future I may incorporate options from other books such as Martial Arts, High-Tech, etc. (but see this FAQ entry for more).
  • Eventually I may accept combat examples submitted by others; but again, not until I'm sure these initial few are error-free (see this FAQ entry for more).
  • In addition to viewing the examples online, you can download them in PDF format either individually (on each example's page) or collected together in a single .zip file. This was frequently requested so copies could be printed and handed out to players, so I've done my best to accomodate, but please be aware that the formatting may be a bit 'quick and dirty' (though certainly usable).

    VERY IMPORTANT: not all of the PDFs are as up-to-date as the corresponding web pages! Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope to bring all the PDFs current soon.

I hope you find these examples useful, and if you notice any errors please take a moment to help me correct them. Any corrections, comments, suggestions can always be posted in the appropriate forum, or emailed directly to me at:

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I'd like to give a huge and sincere "Thank You!" to all the fine folks of the official GURPS forums - they have been immeasurably helpful in getting these examples together.

Thanks for visiting!

It's not the critic who counts. It's not the man who points out where the grown man stumbles, or how the doer of deeds could have done them better; the credit belongs to the man who actually is in the arena, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause, who, if he wins, knows the triumph of high achievement, but who, if he fails, fails while doing so greatly, so that his place will never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.
-- Theodore Roosevelt