''GURPS Greece'' is a supplement published by

Steve Jackson Games Steve Jackson Games (SJGames) is a game company, founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, and card games, and (until 2019) the gaming magazine ''Pyramid''. History Founded in 1980, six years after the cr ...

(SJG) in 1995 for ''

GURPS The ''Generic Universal Role Playing System'', or ''GURPS'', is a tabletop role-playing game system published by Steve Jackson Games. The system is designed to run any genre using the same core mechanics. The core rules were first written by St ...

'' (''Generic Universal Role-Playing System'').

Description

''GURPS Greece'' is a supplement that describes details of

Ancient Greece Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically r ...

, particularly the Heroic Age (1600–1150 BCE) and the Classical Age (800–323 BCE). Material covered includes equal parts historical background and mythologies, allowing the

gamemaster A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, storyteller, or master of ceremonies) is a person who acts as a facilitator, organizer, officiant regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer r ...

to design a campaign based strictly on historical accuracy or on myth, or using a combination of both. Notable persons of the period are also detailed. The book includes some campaign outlines to get the gamemaster started, but does not include any full adventures.

Publication history

In the 2014 book ''Designers & Dragons: The '80s'', game historian Shannon Appelcline noted that Steve Jackson Games decided in the early 1990s to stop publishing adventures, and as a result "SJG was now putting out standalone ''GURPS'' books rather than the more complex tiered book lines. This included more historical subgenre books. Some, such as '' GURPS Camelot'' (1991) and ''GURPS China'' (1991), were clearly sub-subgenres, while others like '' GURPS Old West'' (1991) and '' GURPS Middle Ages I'' (1992) covered genres notably missing before this point." ''GURPS Greece'' is one such standalone book, a 128-page softcover designed by Jon Zeigler, with interior art by Jean Martin and Shea Ryan, and cover art by

Jeff Koke Jeff Koke is an American writer, graphic designer and business owner currently living in Austin, Texas. He is best known for his writing work for Steve Jackson Games in the 1990s, including '' GURPS Vampire: The Masquerade'', an adaptation of the ...

. It was published by SJG in 1995 for use with the 3rd edition of ''GURPS''.

Reception

In the May 1996 edition of ''

Dragon A dragon is a Magic (supernatural), magical legendary creature that appears in the folklore of multiple cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but European dragon, dragons in Western cultures since the Hi ...

'' (Issue #229),

Rick Swan Rick Swan is a game designer and author who worked for TSR. His work for TSR, mostly for ''Advanced Dungeons & Dragons'', appeared from 1989 to 1995. Swan also wrote '' The Complete Guide to Role-Playing Games'' (1990), published by St. Martin' ...

liked the presentation of both historical and mythic information, giving the gamemaster more flexibility in designing a campaign, but did note that it would mean "more work for the referee." He found the content a bit dry, likening it to "notes for a term paper." He also noted that this wasn't the most creative content, commenting, "It's interesting, but hey, I know how to use an encyclopedia, too, and could probably have found most of this myself." He criticized the lack of any adventures, and noted "The skeletal campaign outlines aren't likely to inspire many memorable adventures." Swan concluded by giving the book an average rating of 4 out of 6, saying that it stood "as a solid xampleof history-based role-playing, must-havefor fans of ''GURPS''."

Reviews

*''

Casus Belli A (; ) is an act or an event that either provokes or is used to justify a war. A ''casus belli'' involves direct offenses or threats against the nation declaring the war, whereas a ' involves offenses or threats against its ally—usually one bou ...

'' #93 *''

Australian Realms ''Australian Realms'' was an Australian magazine featuring role-playing games (RPGs). Its first issue was published in 1988 by Planar Games at Willeton, Western Australia with Corey Swallow as editor and Mark Hendley as assistant editor. Th ...

'' #27

References

{{reflist

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Historical role-playing games Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1995