System Synopsis: GURPS

So I figured I would periodically go through and offer my opinions on different gaming systems out there. This is the first attempt, so we'll see how this goes.

It took me a long time after getting my first roleplaying game books to end up running my first campaign. Despite starting my RPG life by consuming the AD&D 2E books, my first game used Steve Jackson Games' Generic Universal Roleplaying System, or GURPS.

GURPS has been around since the 1980s and is now in its 4th edition. The system does not feature classes or levels. Instead, you're allowed a certain number of points with which to build your character. Virtually every mechanic in the game boils down to a either a skill check or, less commonly, an ability check. In either case, roll 3d6, apply any modifiers, and succeed if you're at or below your character's skill level or ability score.

With such a simple mechanic at its core, the game flows remarkably smoothly. All that is needed is the occasional reference to your character sheet (or notes, if you're the GM) to determine what the roll's target number is.

The potential failure point is when you have to establish the roll's modifier. Often, the case of no modifier is reserved for your average adventuring scenario. (You know, a thief picks a lock in a dungeon.) Players get a bonus for something being easy or low-stress, and a penalty for something being difficult or rushed.

For example, a gun attack is a check against your gun skill, with an additional modifier based on how many yards away your target is. Add another modifier if your target is moving (the modifier depends on its speed), and then another if, say, it's nighttime. It's for this reason that when I GM GURPS, I typically hand-wave modifiers based on how difficult the attempted action "feels" to me.

Additionally, the base target numbers of your skill levels are sometimes a pain to determine due to the math involved at character creation. Fortunately, GURPS Character Sheet is a free software package that will let you build characters with the right point-buy costs, and print everything out to your character sheet.

Some would consider that combat also has an advantage over D&D and similar systems. Rather than Armor Class being the catch-all statistic of how difficult something is to hit, your character has active defenses (dodge and parry, for example), and armor simply takes away a set amount of the damage that's dealt to you. Others would argue that these factors, while more realistic of how combat works, are unnecessary and bog down the combat experience.

In conclusion, I do believe that for any game I wish to run, I could use GURPS if I wanted to. Its default flavor is one of realism, and all the deadliness and grit that that implies. There are also many other ways, outlined in the GURPS material itself, to incorporate certain optional rules and disregard others to tweak the flavor of the game - make it more "cinematic" or "heroic," for example. But all these require up-front preparation on the GM's part. Once the game is underway, though, it's usually a breeze.

As for me, however, I'm something of a game system junkie. I like playing around with different games to see what they have to offer, and choosing a game to run based on what sort of experiences I've come to expect from them, whether I've had those experiences myself, or heard how others have experienced them, or consumed various actual play recordings on the internet. For me, GURPS will be a reliable standby, but usually ignored while I try out everything the wide world of gaming has to offer.

Pros:
One Game to Play Them All - GURPS was designed to be able to handle any genre of game. It doesn't matter whether you want a Western, Medieval Fantasy, Space travel, or whatever. GURPS has some way to accommodate it.
Simplicity through Uniformity - As I mentioned above, there is one simple mechanic with a few exceptions. Roll 3d6 and get under a specified target number. (By the way, the game uses d6's and nothing else. If you're a fan of polyhedrals, this is not your game.) With the simplicity of the underlying game mechanics, you can quickly get past the system and get to telling the story. The system is quite capable of getting out of the way and fading into the background.
Tons of Support - Got a question on how something works? The SJGames forum is incredibly active. If diving right into GURPS seems too intimidating, The Mook has a very informative website, particularly his New To GURPS Series

Cons:
The Reputation - Those who have heard of GURPS but have not played it have probably heard that it was terribly complex. It certainly can be if the GM tries to use all the optional rules. It's better to read How to be a GURPS GM and figure out what kind of game you want to run first. Odds are, things aren't going to be as complicated as GURPS' dreaded reputation would imply. Nevertheless, you might have a hard time convincing some potential players.
Misconceptions about Options - There are a lot of options presented to GURPS players. But just because there's a character point value associated with having an extra limb doesn't mean that your character gets to have one. The GM needs to clear everything to make sure the character concept fits in the game s/he is trying to run. I think it's crucial that the character concepts be determined first, and only then should you start shopping for Skills, Advantages, and Disadvantages.
Time Investment - GURPS can handle any game fairly well, but it will take some time to determine which rules will be used, and to build player characters for the game. The more you want to tweak the feel of the game, the more you're going to have to play around with incorporating the optional rules. If I want to play a specific type of game, I'm honestly most inclined to try a game system that's specifically designed for that type of game than start assembling the system together from the wonderful toolkit that is GURPS.