GURPS China: Magic and Adventure in the Empire of the Dragon

GURPS Third Edition

by Thomas Kane

Book by

Genres: Role Playing Games, Gaming, History

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Nickolas · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little rushed and disjointed in the telling, but interesting overview of Chinese history and beliefs.

[David Wurtsmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This sourcebook is not only an invaluable roleplaying tool, it's also a concise and fairly complete overview of Chinese history, culture, geography, technology, mythology, philosophy, and folklore. That's a LOT of information to cram into a mere 130 pages, but somehow they managed it. Also invaluable is the bibliography, which points the curious reader towards further reading. In fact, the only complaint I have is that the illustrations are not graceful; in fact, they're sometimes even blocky or blunt, almost like woodcuts. Maybe this was a limitation of the printing technology available at the time (it was published in 1991), but I would have liked to see illustrations which favor the classical Chinese aesthetics of graceful, flowing lines and creative use of negative space. Other than that small complaint, this is an excellent resource for any roleplayer, author, or just anyone who's curious about the oldest continuous civilization on Earth.