In this review, we will take a look at GUPRS Greece, a GURPS supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1995.

What is GURPS?

The Generic Universal RolePlaying System (GURPS) is a tabletop role-playing game system designed to work with a wide range of game settings. Prior to the launch of GURPS in 1986, most role-playing systems were story-specific or at least genre-specific. Steve Jackson Games changed this by creating and publishing a more flexible system: GURPS.

In the 1990s, Steve Jackson Games stopped publishing adventures and elected to focus on standalone GURPS books. This lead to the release of titles such as GURPS Camelot (1991), GURPS China (1991), GURPS Old West (1991) and GURPS Middle Ages I (1992).

Published in 1995, GURPS Greece is one of these books, created for use with the 3rd edition of GURPS.

Basic info about GURPS Greece

The theme for GURPS Greece is ancient Greece, especially the Heroic Age (1600-1150 BCE) and the Classical Age (800-323 BCE). The material included in this expansion comes from both Greek history and Greek stories, myths and legends. The book does not include any full adventures, but some campaign outlines are present that can be used as a starting point.

GURPS Greece was published in 1995, as a 128-page long perfect bound softcover book.

Author: Jon F. Zeigler

Editor: Susan Pinsonneault

Publisher: Steve Jackson Games

Cover art: Jeff Koke

Interior art: Jean Martin and Shea Ryan

ISBN 1-55634-096-6

Review

I like that the creators of GURPS Greece has kept the mechanics in the background and the Greek content in the foreground. It is also nice that GURPS Greece comes with the two sections Heroic Age and Classic Age, since that makes it possible for the gamemaster to chose between a more fantasy-based adventure (Heroic Age) and an adventure with a more real-world, historical feel to it (Classic Age).

GURPS Greece should not be seen as an authoritative source on Ancient Greece. Ancient Greece is the inspiration for the expansion, but – understandably – the creators of the book has not been able to keep up with every possible new archaeological or historical find. Therefore, some of the ”info” might irk those who are really into the subject matter.

Overall, I like GURPS Greece and I look forward to using it for more adventures.