Gurps: Egypt is a guide to creating adventures set in ancient Egypt within the GURPS game system. The book begins with a chapter on daily life in Egypt and Egypt’s geography, including the cities with their descriptions and transliterated names. It also presents the economic activities, agriculture, cattle farming, trade, but also social and religious aspects. The book shows multiple images that replicate Egyptian art: scenes of fishing in the Nile, hunting in the marshes, the iconic images of flute players, and others. These visual materials seek to describe all the elements of daily life in ancient Egypt that a master needs to set the scene for his adventure and to give the players as “realistic” a sense of ancient Egypt as possible.

Chapter II focuses on the history of Egypt up to the Roman conquest. In addition to a detailed summary of historical events, manly focused on the pharaohs and theirs exploits, the book deals with tangential issues, such as the dating problems derived from the use of Manetho's royal lists. It delves into specific events, such as the Battle of Megiddo or the Battle of Qadesh. The book also relates these historical events to various contemporary issues, such as the Rosicrucians' desire to link their origin to the cult of Osiris or Hitler's obsession with the Indo-Europeans and linking his Reich to the Hittite world.

The central chapters (3-5) show a gradual change as fantasy elements are introduced into the design of the adventures. For instance, in the character design section, characters/players are endowed with magical abilities typical of ghosts and undead, linking this edition of the game with GURPS UNDEAD. Another example of this mixture is the bestiary, in which the Egyptian fauna is described in detail, but where a section on mythological beings is also included with mummies, sphinxes, ghosts, etc.

The last chapter focuses on campaign models, where adventures are described. Players participate in tomb raiding, palace intrigues, diplomatic missions in distant lands, and many others.

Author: Víctor Sánchez Domínguez