It's not that it's hard, it's that it's really complex. There are so many options it overwhelms people that aren't used to Pen and Paper RPG's.

As the DM/GM you should be focused on the story as you're playing not every rule mechanic and how it's going to alter the game. :)

The picture below is an exaggeration, but it sums it up perfectly. When you go for realistic you end up with complexity.

[url=http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost245-Motivation-GURPSVehicles.jpg]http://wiki.rpg.net/index.php/File:MPost245-Motivation-GURPSVehicles.jpg[/url]

Haha! You're right! I remember the big plastic ships for that. That was probably the only cool thing about it though.

Also, I'll have to check out Ikusa. I loved Shogun and the Sengoku Jidai period in Japanese feudal history is also one of my favorite historical periods.

It is hard, though, you have to work with players very deeply to come up with characters and then work them into a story. In AD&D you don't ever end up with an eleven ranger that has a seeing eye dog, but that's a valid GURPS character. If you want your players to be engaged in GURPS you have to give them a lot of freedom and then work with it. They don't have nearly the source material as far as pre-done stories to work with.

With that said, I love GURPS, but it's not the easiest game to GM and keep it interesting to everyone.

The advantage of GURPS is that it's flexible. It can be nice for experienced players.
I would only use GURPS with newbies if I was giving out premade characters. This is a good practice with newbies anyway.

My favourite P&P is based on 2nd edition AD&D rules (w/getting rid of some silly rules like some race & class restrictions - and even some race & class benefits). The best & most cost efficient way to start that up is (believe it) to simply buy Baldur's Gate 2 Complete from GoG.com here, and print out the rules pages & spells pages from the manual (I also have a retail copy of the game so I don't have to do that), and load up the game & also load up a game editor like ShadowKeeper - then use ShadowKeeper to look into the creature files so you can get to know how tough each creature is for your tabletop fights! And also look at the equipment & stuff for the misc. stuff in your campaign.

And people who like 3/3.5e AD&D seem to really like Pathfinder, as was mentioned before. People everywhere say Pathfinder is a better variation of 3/3.5e AD&D. I still prefer 2e type stuff though, but I'm happy for those who like Pathfinder.

I think you can even read the Fallout manuals and make a tabletop game out of those, if you wanna try something other than AD&D fantasy. In fact I know it, b/c Chris Avellone said he did tabletop w/Fallout rules before making FO3.

Try World of Darkness. The Vampries The Masquerade games were fun. RPG's I can give you good sets but only based on certain things.

There's also a Shadowrun PnP game out there somewhere. Sorry, but I don't have a PDF of that one :P.

Of you're interested in First Edition Descent, get it now. 2nd Edition is coming out soon, and 1st Edition stuff isn't ever seeing a reprint.

As someone who has gotten in to board gaming in the past year and a half, let's see what I can come up with for suggestions...

Warhammer : Chaos in the Old World - Yes, it's a board game (not a minis game). Up to 4 players (5 with expansion), each playing as one of the demonic gods of Chaos, racing to be the first to despoil a planet. It's a great game with a lot of strategy and 4 (or 5) completely asymmetric sets of abilities : different unit numbers and skills, different card decks, different everything. It's a terrific game and you don't need to be a big WH fan to get in to it. It does REALLY need 4 players, though. You can play with 3, but then you're leaving someone out.

Survive : Escape from Atlantis - A reprint of a classic game from the 80's. It's a fun, quick little game for up to 4 (or up to 6 with a mini add-on). Each player is trying to get their islanders off the main isle and to the safety of the corners of the board before the island sinks and the volcano explodes. Lots of screwing each other over with whales, sea serpents and sharks (and giant squid with another little mini add-on). I've played this with buddies, and I've played it with the little nieces and nephew, and always have fun.

Galaxy Trucker - Up to 4 players. It's split in to three segments. The first section of each segment involves the players grabbing component tiles and trying to build their ships. It ends in hilarity and chaos. Then you actually go through your 'run' with the ships you built, encountering positives (planets to be harvested for cargo, ships to plunder) and negatives (pirate attacks, slaver attacks, war zones) from the cards you randomly shuffle together to form the decks for each segment. At the end, the one with the most money wins. It's chaotic, and it's a lot of fun.

Cosmic Encounter - Up to 5 players. Very simply game, with each player trying to be the first to get 5 colonies on the planets of the other players through battle. 50 unique alien races with unique powers, attack value cards dealt out from a common deck, tons of chaos. One caveat : this game will ONLY work if you and your friends like table banter. The game is very simple, and it thrives on negotiation, back stabbing, treachery and the like. Two expansions for it that add a lot more stuff for pretty small costs.

Earth Reborn - Crazy game for 2 people (can be played with 3-4). Simple minis combat game (all minis in box. You don't need to keep buying more) with a ton of tiles in the box from which to build the map. There are a lot of things you can do in the game, but the rules are gradually introduced as you play through the scenarios. Once they're played, you can build your own maps and play your own missions using the scenario generation system in the game. It would take me an eon to type out a description, so do yourself a favor and take a look at it. I'll happily answer any questions.

Anyway, that's a good start. :)

Ugh, does that mean I'm going to have to pay the price gouging EBay rates for road to legend? (The only Descent expansion I'm missing)

Indeed it does. Road to Legend is pretty much gone at any store you can check. You could wait and see if Fantasy Flight does a sale rate on their leftover stock during the holidays, but your only other option at this point is pretty much going to be eBay.

You can't go wrong with Ascension or Munchkin.

Yea... the more I thought about it though the more I realized that I really don't think I'd do a long campaign with Descent. When you get right down to that if you want a campaign just do a combat heavy D&D 4e game. Save descent for the one off board game nights. :)

Now Earth Reborn is another game I've been looking at and may pick that up. I've been kicking around the idea of getting the terrain and models for Necromunda but perhaps I can find the same sort of fun in a board game. :)

Here is a system I like but haven't really played:

http://antipaladingames.com/store.html


It looks relatively simple and comes a few stock settings to choose from.

As for D&D 4e I don't really have any experience with it sorry.

If you and your players have never played before you can start with something as simple as the redbox...

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Fantasy-Roleplaying-Game/dp/0786956291

If you enjoy the first couple games, I'd immediately get the following 4 books and start the campaign over.

http://www.amazon.com/Rules-Compendium-Essential-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786956216/ref=pd_sim_b1
http://www.amazon.com/Monster-Vault-Essential-Dungeons-Dragons/dp/0786956313/ref=pd_sim_b4
http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Fallen-Lands-Essential-Supplement/dp/0786956208/ref=pd_sim_b3
http://www.amazon.com/Heroes-Forgotten-Kingdoms-Essential-Supplement/dp/0786956194/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b


If you want to get involved heavily or plan on keeping at it for a while you could get the 3 core books;

http://www.amazon.com/Dungeons-Dragons-Core-Rulebook-Gift/dp/0786950633/ref=pd_sim_b10

And follow it up with at least the 2nd Player's Handbook. :)