Steve Jackson Games GURPS – Generic Universal RolePlaying System

ERRATA – GURPS Arabian Nights (First Printing) – Updated October 11, 1999

Copyright © by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated.

P. 3, sidebar. At the end of the paragraph on Page References, add: "Similarly, references beginning with FB refer to the GURPS Fantasy Bestiary, those beginning with FF refer to GURPS Fantasy Folk, and those beginning with V refer to GURPS Vikings."

P. 5, sidebar. Drop the word "Basic" from Scheherazade's Disadvantages.

P. 30, sidebar. Insert at the beginning of the last paragraph: "Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 AD."

P. 31. The map shows The Achaemenid Persian Empire; its key is slightly confused. The route marked with a dot-and-dash line is in fact the Silk Road; the Royal Road is the thin dashed line running from Sardis to Susa.

P. 35, Timeline. In place of the word "filler", insert: "1071: Battle of Manzikert. Seljuk Turks, under Alp Arslan, defeat and capture the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes, and found the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia. Byzantium goes into a decline."

P. 41, sidebar. Saladin's Charisma should be +1 and his Chess skill should be 16.

P. 50. Under PC Djinn change the cost to play a Lesser Djinn to 469. Change Increased Strength to Enhanced Strength +10 (110 points). 3 Extra Hit Points costs 15 points. Damage Resistance 3 costs 9 points. Change Bite Attack to Sharp Teeth.

P. 52. In the first paragraph describing the Destiny advantage, the cross-reference to p. 74 is NOT to a sidebar!

P. 55. The last paragraph relating to the Cursed Disadvantage has unbalanced parentheses. Drop the one immediately before the words "Oh dear."

P. 58. Under New Skills, there should be a reference to the new Augury skill described on p. 74.

Board Games defaults to IQ-5.

Move Horse Archery from New Skills to its own section as a Maneuver. See GURPS Compendium I, pp. 152ff., for more on maneuvers. The heading becomes:

"Horse Archery (Hard)
Defaults to Bow-4; Prerequisites: Bow 12+, Riding 12+.; Cannot exceed Bow skill.

Change the second paragraph to read:

"This reduces the penalties for using a bow from horseback (p. B137). For example, 1 point decreases the penalty for turning in the saddle to fire to the rear to -3 (and removes the Riding penalty); 2 points will reduce the penalty to -2, and so on. Other trick shots will take only half the usual penalties (round up) if the archer can make his Horse Archery roll. The character can also use horse-archer tactics and will recognize others' use of them on an IQ roll."

Wrestling is Physical/Average and defaults to DX-5 only.

P. 67. In the notes on weapons, immediately after the paragraph beginning "Spear: Both the javelin . . .", insert the following:

"Some troops use much longer spears, represented on the table by the Long Spear (8'-12') and the Kontos (about 12'). The latter is physically identical to many knightly lances, but used differently. Both of these are too heavy to parry with."

P. 68. In the Missile Weapons table, change the sub-heading "Throwing (DX-3)" to " DX-3 or Throwing Skill". In the same table, immediately above the line for the Mace, insert the sub-heading "Axe Throwing (DX-4)" (i.e., this is the appropriate skill for these two weapons).

P. 70. Replace the paragraph beginning "Arquebuses changed the face of battle . . ." with the following:

"The weapon detailed here – the Midfa – is very experimental; for details of rather more sophisticated arquebuses, see GURPS High Tech. If gunpowder is still at the introductory stage in a campaign world, but guns are being developed by competent armourers, and troops are becoming more practised with them, characteristics such as RoF and range will evolve slowly towards those of a TL 4 arquebus."

P. 76-77, sidebar. Note that Nizam has more than 40 points in Disadvantages, which is nominally only acceptable for NPCs. This can be dealt with by adding the following text to his description: "(Nizam's player spoke nicely to the GM to get permission for his exceptional Disadvantage level. In truth, as an Arabian Nights magician, he may be expected to be a little strange . . .)"

Raise Mathematics to 15, Research skill to 15, Detect Magic to 15, Seeker to 16, and Trace to 16.

P. 82. The Alter Visage spell has "8 Body Control Spells" as a prerequisite, which is hard for those who don't own GURPS Magic. In that case, allow "Any 10 Spells" instead.

P. 83. The Entrap Djinni spell has Magic Resistance given as a prerequisite, which is, of course, impossible (at least for human characters). Replace this with "Effective Will Roll (IQ modified by Strong or Weak will) of 15+".

P. 93. The section on "Prices of Animals" has a reference to "Obedience Modifiers". These are explained in the GURPS Bestiary, which is a useful reference for anyone planning to use domesticated or trained animals in a game.

P. 98. Under Lesser Djinn, add after "never suffocate,": "never require food, drink, or other sustenance".

P. 102. The first type of Sea-Born should have the extra racial advantage "Amphibious (10 points)", but Sonar Vision is not compulsory for them – mark it as "optional". As for the second type; change the paragraph to the following:

"The other race is more surface-dweller-like, being able to spend an indefinite time out of water, and even more magically powerful. To follow the stories, the only compulsory features for this race are Amphibious (20 points) and Pressure Support (15 points), although they are always citizens of the undersea realm, and may have Duties there, treat their own nature as a minor Secret, or be pestered by land folk with special interests in the sea (minor Enemies). Alternatively, they may be played as like the fishmen in Fantasy Folk (see p. FF60) – but these are all Unattractive, and have other features that don't fit the Arabian Nights tale. They speak certain names of power over their new-born children, which are said to grant them their water-breathing ability (and pressure support) for life; they may also lend ordinary humans magic rings, inscribed with the same names, which grant the same abilities temporarily."

P. 104. Immediately between the chapter heading ("Campaigns") and the start of the text, insert the sub-heading, "Pre-Islamic Fantasy".

P. 106. In the first sentence under Within Wider Worlds, change "has been picked" to "has often been picked", "a corner" to "corners", and "world" to "worlds".

P. 107, sidebar. In the first line, replace "world" with "worlds".

P. 110. In the third paragraph from the bottom of the page, insert after "North Africa", "is the destination". Also, in the first line of the last paragraph, replace "focuses" with "focus".

P. 122, sidebar. There is no "Bedouin NPC archetype" in the book; change the first part of the first sentence on The Beni Shazzarin to:

"These desert rogues are ST 12, DX 13, IQ 10, and HT 12, with the skills Broadsword 14, Spear, Spear Throwing, Shield, Animal Handling, Area Knowledge (local desert), Riding, Survival (Desert) 14, and Tracking 12, all at characteristic level except where noted otherwise; they are armed with . . ."

P. 122, sidebar. The chapter reference under "The Djinni" should be to chapter 5, not 7.