July 3, 2003: GURPS Iron GM

Origins 2003 was, for me, a hoot. From what I have heard, everyone who attended Steve Jackson Games' events had a great time and walked away with "something," be it a game they won, a supplement, or a bookmark. I would especially like to thank all the cheerful MIBs that devoted their time to run some spectacular games and Alex Yeager for his excellent organizational skills.

Of our events at Origins, one of my favorites is the GURPS Iron GM Competition. Nine players squared off for a challenge that lasted way into Saturday night/Sunday morning. Six randomly selected GURPS books were divided between two groups of players. The "green group" created characters using GURPS Traveller: Planetary Survey 4 - Glisten, the Hellboy RPG, and GURPS Magic Items 3. "Blue group" struggled with GURPS Illuminati, GURPS Alpha Centauri, and GURPS Blood Types. Whew! Let me tell you it was not easy. As celebrity player and judge, it was a struggle for me to come up with a character for each, and I had all the time I needed before Origins even started! My bouncing every hour from group to group made the GMs work overtime this year. This year's GURPS Iron GM was Dave Choat.

Congratulations to all who played. Every player won a GURPS item and the GM contestants won their respective random titles. Dave was awarded the Grand Prize of any GURPS book in print . . . he selected GURPS Alpha Centauri.