There’s no shortage of odd GURPS source books. It seems like the more I look for them, the more I find, in endless supply. This one is Atomic Horror (1993), and it basically gives you everything you need to run a 1950s B-movie campaign. As someone who has undying love for the movie Them, I think this book was written as a gift to me.

You’ve got several fun types of aliens – brain eaters, time travelling brain stealers, human-possessing fogs, among others – Soviets, Nazis, think tanks, spies, all manner of giant radioactive animals and more. There’s a pre-fab task force that your players can be a part of (which, eh, its OK) and the requisite secret history of the world. There’s also plenty of historical and cultural context – about the movies, the politics and the hysterias of the “fifties” (which the book rightly identifies as being the period from 1945 – the end of World War II – to 1963 – the assassination of JFK).

Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Can I use this book to run a Mars Attacks or Dinosaurs Attack-style campaign?” The answer is yes. The answer is always yes in GURPS. Godzilla, XCOM, Lepis, zombies from outer space, if you’ve seen it on Mystery Science Theater, yes, you can run it with this book.

Art? So-so. I like that GURPS has mediocre, generic art, though, so. It’s part of the vibe.