Review: GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2: Weapons of Fantasy

Periodically I like to review game materials I found useful or I just enjoyed a lot. Here is another one of these.

Full disclosure: The author of this one is Sean Punch, my friend, sometimes co-author, and editor of the game line I write for sometimes. I'm not remotely impartial.

For more reviews, see my consolidated reviews page.



GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2: Weapons of Fantasy
by Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch
Published October 2017 by Steve Jackson Games
14 pages
$4.99

GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2 is the second of the Fantasy-Tech line of books, which covers improbable, unrealistic, or fantasy "low tech" weapons. Where Fantasy-Tech was a bit more of a catalog, Fantasy-Tech 2 is more of a line of options for weapons.

These are:

Full-Metal Weapons. For axes with metal handles, metal quarterstaffs, metal dusack and bokken, all-metal maces, etc.

Double-Ended Weapons. For two-ended swords and axes and whatnot. First seen in Pyramid 3/61.

Giant Swords. For anime or Soulcalibur-sized swords.

Absurd Rapiers. Very long rapiers - as in, 3-4 hex long rapiers!

Serpent's Fangs. Blades which deliver venom on a successful hit.

Quicksilver Swords. Weapons with a hollow core filled with mercury for more impact. If your campaign really needs its own Terminus Est, this is where to go.

Diabolical Whips. Actually weapon-effective whips that defy the logic and physics of whips . . . and which have other Hell-born advantages.

There really isn't a lot to say about this book except what's in it. Like all of Sean Punch's work, the writing is clear and effective and entertaining. The rules are rock-solid, make perfect sense with the rest of GURPS, and are easily to grasp and use. It's everything you'd want in a book of weapon options for a fantasy game.

And as a bonus, it shows how to back-port Cost Factor (CF) to cost multipliers.

Overall: I found this book immediately useful for my GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaign. For a less fantastic game, I'd probably have gotten use out of full-metal weapons but not all that much else. In a game with an even looser grip on reality than mine, it can dramatically expand your options. I bought it solely for the full-metal weapons rules but found I liked and would be using more than just those. Recommended.