GURPS is an interesting animal.  On the one hand, it’s a kitchen sink game, where you can crunch as many numbers as you can get your hands on, or trim it down to a skeletal structure.  Frankly, it’s not my thing.  So, why did I collect the books so avidly?  Because the sourcebooks were unlike anything else out there, and exceptionally useful beyond the game.

With Old West, Ann Dupuis, Lynda Manning-Schwartz, Robert E. Smith, and Liz Tornabene have put together an excellent, well researched look at the American West.  The book covers the things you expect from a GURPS historical supplement.  The history is boiled down and rewritten in an easily digestible format, with plenty of things to inspire a GM.  In the days before the ubiquity of the internet and easy to find ‘popular history,’ these books were my way to start building an understanding the world without having to spend nights and weekends in a research library.  While there’s system-specific statistics and rules, you can skip it without much trouble to find material useful for any game you might want to run in a Western setting.

As usual, the authors have provided an excellent bibliography and filmography.  And they’ve included lots of interesting ways to use the book in your own game.  I’ve used GURPS books for many of my non-GURPS games many times in the past, and plan to use the information from this one in the near future.  Great stuff.

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