I have been asked from time to time what I've learned from my experiences with roleplaying games. When pressed for an answer, I can rarely think of anything specific. Instead, I usually say I enjoy role-playing because it forces me to think. It kick-starts my brain into activity and as far as I'm concerned, an active brain is a healthy brain.

I have long been a fan of Steve Jackson Games' GURPS, largely for that reason. GURPS is arguably the best multi-genre system out there, and the versatility it is built on forces potential GMs to think very carefully about what they want to do and how they want to do it.

Fortunately, the kind souls at SJG are old hands at gaming, and know that creative GMs can think up some pretty wild stuff. Accordingly, they have produced dozens of supplements and sourcebooks for the game, each dealing each dealing with a particular genre or game world. Nearly all of them are well researched, well-written, and well organized.

GURPS Dinosaurs is no exception. Written by a former education officer for the Western Australia Museum, it is chock full of information. Noted Paleontologist Dr. John Horner wrote the forward to the book, and perhaps he sums it up best: "GURPS Dinosaurs is an integration of scientific detail, derived from the professional and popular writings of paleontologists, with the imaginative speculations of its author".

The book is imaginative as well as informative; not only does Dedman know his stuff, he has a good time imparting it too. You can feel how much the writer enjoys this subject just by reading it. He opens with a brief timeline and some rough maps depicting Earth's geography as far back as the early Cambrian period, 590 million years ago.

From the introduction and map section, the book moves into the real meat (no pun intended). Dedman starts in the Paleozoic period (540 mya) and moves through five more: Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Pliocene, and Pleistocene. The first four periods get their own chapters, and Dedman supplies stats for every major creature that existed in that period.

The last two periods are grouped together, along with a chapter on early mammals. Each chapter provides highlights and suggestions on ways to use the various beasties in different roleplaying settings. Examples include the Compsognathus (which Dedman suggests would make an interesting house pet), Utahraptor ("the perfect dinosaur for a horror adventure - a killing machine small enough to hide in alleys, sewers and subways"), and Andrewsarchus (the largest mammalian predator ever, believed to be the ancestor to modern whales), as well as the more traditional Velociraptor, Triceratops, and the venerable T. Rex.

The last three chapters are my favorites. Here, Dedman touches on primitive man, addressing lifestyle, technology, and language. He even spends some time on shamanism and magic. From there, he moves into the actual rules, and obviously had a good time applying them to prehistoric life.

Does playing a Cro-Magnon appeal to you? Does one of the players in your time-travel campaign want to be an uncommonly intelligent Tyrannosaur with a two-pack-a-day habit and a machine gun? Have you ever wanted to run a campaign based on Ringo Starr's Caveman? All these are possible, and though GURPS Dinosaurs is meant more as supplemental material than as a game-world in itself, Dedman has fun discussing the possibilities.

What makes GURPS so much is the versatility brought out by the large number of sourcebooks available for it. GURPS Dinosaurs is a fine addition to its stable.

Other Reviews

Beyond the Boundaries and Heart, Mind, and Soul
Battletech Field Manual: Draconis Combine
The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (CD)
Gurps: Dinosaurs
Star Wars: Endgame
Witchcraft
Gurps: Vehicles (2nd Edition)

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