''GURPS The Prisoner'' 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 ...

in 1990 for the role-playing game ''

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 ...

'' that is based on the 1960s TV series ''

The Prisoner ''The Prisoner'' is a British television series created by Patrick McGoohan. McGoohan portrays Number Six (The Prisoner), Number Six, an unnamed British intelligence agent who is abducted and imprisoned in a The Village (The Prisoner), mysteri ...

''.

''GURPS The Prisoner'' is a rules supplement that uses the setting of "The Village" from the British TV series ''

''. Like the TV series, the player characters wake up in a village they are unable to leave, punished for infractions of multitudinous rules, and unable to find out where they are or why they are there. The book is divided into two sections. The setting is laid out in the first section, and includes a map of The Village, as well as village protocol such as dress and appropriate greetings. The second section provides hints to 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 ...

about how to develop suspense, how to answer players' questions, and how to pepper the adventure with weird encounters. The book also contains the introductory adventure scenario "Arrival".

Publication history

''GURPS The Prisoner'' is a 96-page softcover book written by

David Ladyman David Ladyman is an American game designer of board games such as ''Car Wars'', and role-playing games such as ''GURPS''. Career In 1977, while studying linguistics as a grad student at University of Texas at Austin, Ladyman began playtesting ga ...

with additional material by Stephen Beeman, with illustrations by John Robinson. It was published by

in 1990.

Reception

In the February 1993 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 #190),

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' ...

was surprised at the choice of ''The Prisoner'' for a setting, given that "the TV series didn't give designer David Ladyman much to work with." However, Swan admitted that "Ladyman manages to ferret out the best concepts, sweep away the debris, and patch it all together with his own imaginative touches." However, Swan warned that "''The Prisoner'' won't be everybody's idea of a good time, what with its near-powerless player-characters, absence of action, and unsolvable mysteries." He also noted that "On occasion, Ladyman’s writing becomes aggravatingly vague, as if he’s not quite sure what’s going on either." Swan concluded by giving the book an above average rating of 4 out of 5 stars, saying "''The Prisoner'' provides all the raw material a creative referee needs to put together a campaign rife with psychological terror, sort of like the ''

Paranoia Paranoia is an instinct or thought process that is believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety, suspicion, or fear, often to the point of delusion and irrationality. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of co ...

'' game without the laughs."

References

{{reflist

Prisoner A prisoner, also known as an inmate or detainee, is a person who is deprived of liberty against their will. This can be by confinement or captivity in a prison or physical restraint. The term usually applies to one serving a Sentence (law), se ...

Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1990

Contents

Publication history

Reception

References