 GURPS Autoduel cover | |
| Designers | Christopher J. Burke, Rob Garitta |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Steve Jackson Games |
| Publication | January 1997 (2nd ed) |
| Genres | Post-apocalyptic science fiction |
| Systems | GURPS |
GURPS Autoduel is the GURPS genre toolkit book which details the post-apocalyptic world of one of SJG's other popular games, Car Wars . The initial publication was in 1986.
GURPS Autoduel is a supplement for GURPS describing role-playing in the world of Car Wars , a dark future society where adventurers battle it out on the super-highways with armed and armored cars and trucks. This book covers character creation guidelines, new equipment, and rules for vehicle design and combat, plus two miniscenarios and cardstock miniatures. [1]
In this setting (by tradition, fifty years ahead of the current time), characters are involved in autoduelling: combat in armed and armored motor vehicles such as cars, motorcycles, or semis. The sourcebook contains rules for designing vehicles, additional skills used by autoduellist characters, and new technology and social conditions of the world. Additional rules for conversion of Car Wars vehicles to GURPS Autoduel are included.
GURPS Autoduel was written by Aaron Allston and Scott Haring, with a cover by Denis Loubet, and was first published by Steve Jackson Games in 1986 as a 96-page book. [1] Additional material is by Steve Jackson and Allen Varney with editing by W. G. Armintrout. [2] Interior illustrations are by Mark Angeli, Angela Bostick, Graham Chaffee, Norman Doering, C. Bradford Gorby, Denis Loubet, Dan Panosian, Kim Strombo, Michael Surbrook, Jason Waltrip, John Waltrip, and George "Speed" Webber. [2]
GURPS Autoduel was the second GURPS setting published, after Yrth in GURPS Fantasy . [3] Seven volumes of the AADA Road Atlas were published for use with GURPS Autoduel and Car Wars between 1987 and 1989. [3] This set of sourcebooks for the Autoduel world detail different parts of the US and Australia:
Each book contains descriptions of major cities and roads, and includes maps of some cities' arenas.
Autoduel has many scenarios available and the system allows for players to make their own. The objectives of scenarios vary: sometimes the only objective is to make it successfully through a harrowing gauntlet, other times the players compete in a dueling arena to win virtual cash prizes with which to upgrade their cars.
Ken Rolston reviewed GURPS Autoduel for Dragon magazine #127 (November 1987). [4] He comments: "The Autoduel game has all the mechanics it needs to support roleplaying in the ultraviolent world of Car Wars games. The GURPS game is strong in game values (Steve Jackson Games has always been strong in game values), and the Car Wars game, the inspiration for Autoduel material, has been a very successful board game, so I wasn't surprised to find lots of detailed rules for blowing cars, driver, passengers, innocent bystanders, and neighboring real estate into tiny bits." [4] Rolston concludes by saying, "I didn't expect that the Autoduel game would also have a fleshed-out campaign world, extensive notes on designing and presenting adventures and campaigns, and plenty of GM staging tips, both in the text and in nice marginal essays. Entertaining, impressive, and just plausible enough as a setting for vehicular homicide on an epic scale, this supplement is definitely worth a look." [4]
Jim Bambra reviewed GURPS Autoduel for Dragon magazine #149 (September 1989). [2] Bambra comments in his evaluation of the game: "The GURPS Autoduel game presents an interesting and detailed setting for near-future role-playing. The well-presented background and the emphasis on role-playing rather than combat makes the GURPS Autoduel game much more than it first appears. As an added bonus, the GURPS Autoduel game has received consistently good support since its appearance [...] As a near-future setting, the GURPS Autoduel game scores high. Its game mechanics are detailed and mesh nicely with the GURPS Basic Set . If you love the Car Wars game, you can't afford to be without this. If you're not a fan of Car Wars, don't let its initial appearance deceive you; this game can be played without the characters ever coming anywhere near an armed car." [2]
J. Michael Caparula reviewed GURPS Autoduel in Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer No. 81. [5] Caparula commented that "I would recommend GURPS: Autoduel with some qualifications. GURPS players with a budding interest in Car Wars would do well to pick it up. Everything necessary for Car Wars is here, including an improved combat system." [5]
GURPS Autoduel received the Origins Award nomination for Best Roleplaying Supplement of 1986. [6]
GURPS Supers is a superhero roleplaying game written by Loyd Blankenship and published by Steve Jackson Games. The first edition was published in 1989.
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 the gaming magazine Pyramid.
Car Wars is a vehicle combat simulation game developed by Steve Jackson Games. It was first published in 1980. Players control armed vehicles in a post-apocalyptic future.
GURPS Basic Set is a role playing game publication written by Steve Jackson, Sean M. Punch, and David L. Pulver. The first edition GURPS Basic Set box was published in 1986, a standalone third edition book in 1988, and a hardcover, two-volume fourth edition in 2004.
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GURPS Magic is a source book for the GURPS role-playing game from Steve Jackson Games that provides in depth coverage of magic in the context of GURPS. The first edition was published in 1989. The book expands on the material outlined in the Basic Set, provides alternative forms of magic for gamemasters to use, and contains much more material. A second edition of the book was published in 1994, and a third edition for the fourth edition of GURPS was published in 2004. The first two editions received positive reviews in game periodicals including Games International, Dragon, and White Wolf.
GURPS Fantasy is a Genre Toolkit source book which was first designed by Steve Jackson and published by Steve Jackson Games in 1986 for the GURPS role-playing game. It presented a magic system for the game as well as background information for the fantasy campaign world of Yrth. A second edition by new writers was published in 1990 as GURPS Fantasy: The Magical World of Yrth. These two editions received mixed reviews in game periodicals including Dragon, Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer, and Games International. The fourth edition of GURPS separates the fantasy parts into fantasy and a setting book called GURPS Banestorm.
GURPS Space is a sourcebook published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) for use with GURPS, published in four editions from 1988 to 2006.
GURPS Discworld and the related supplements are role-playing game sourcebooks set in Terry Pratchett's Discworld fantasy universe using the GURPS role-playing game system. GURPS Discworld was designed by Phil Masters and first published in 1998.
Conan Against Darkness! is a 1984 adventure module for the first edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy roleplaying game, set in the Hyborian universe of Robert E. Howard's character Conan the Barbarian. It is designed for four player characters at character level 10-14 and uses some minor rule variations in an attempt to recreate the setting's atmosphere. It was publicized as containing a "journey of epic proportions".
Denis Loubet is an artist who has worked on several pen-and-paper role-playing games and video games, including the MMORPG Ashen Empires.
GURPS Horror is a sourcebook for GURPS. The first edition was published in 1987.
The AADA Road Atlas and Survival Guide was a series of supplements for GURPS and Car Wars published between 1987 and 1989 by Steve Jackson Games.
GURPS Fantasy Folk is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1990 for the GURPS role-playing system.
GURPS Players' Book is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1988 for the role-playing game system GURPS.
GURPS Vikings is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1991 for GURPS.
Harkwood was published by Steve Jackson Games (SJG) in 1988 for the GURPS rules. Written by Aaron Allston and J. David George, the supplement was designed for the setting of Yrth introduced in the first edition of GURPS Fantasy.