The 2020 Digital W23 Speculation and Discussion Thread

[Paulon]

Given that I'm an international customer, that news worries me a bit, given that recent SJ GURPS kickstarters have had physical rewards for US backers only.

[mehrkat]

I suspect there is a digital tier as well.

[Paulon]

No doubt, but having to back just for a PDF, then needing to go make a separate order, whether through Warehouse 23 or another vendor like Amazon for a physical copy is annoying. I understand the financial reasoning, but it still makes me feel like a second-class customer. I'd pay more on shipping through the kickstarter, or afterwards in Backerkit to avoid having funds for the book wasted in shipping, both to support SJGames and reduce my inconvenience in getting the physical book - the recent digital only method also means I pay less towards actually creating the book.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Paulon

No doubt, but having to back just for a PDF, then needing to go make a separate order, whether through Warehouse 23 or another vendor like Amazon for a physical copy is annoying. I understand the financial reasoning, but it still makes me feel like a second-class customer. I'd pay more on shipping through the kickstarter, or afterwards in Backerkit to avoid having funds for the book wasted in shipping, both to support SJGames and reduce my inconvenience in getting the physical book - the recent digital only method also means I pay less towards actually creating the book.

As I understand it, SJGames have determined that the international shipping cost they can offer via KS is so high that very few people will opt for it, in return for a lot of staff time spent on chasing up international orders, and so it's better for them just to say "physical orders to North America only".

They do charge a lot more for international shipping than other North American kickstarters, but we are not privy to their shipping volumes and internal policy decisions that make this inevitable. We know that Phil and others have tried to find ways round this and not managed to come up with anything they're happy with.

What I would like to see is a reshipping partner in the EU (and now, another one in the UK) so that while the shipping costs might stay high we could at least pre-pay the customs charges and avoid the "collection fee" which might easily double the price of an RPG book. But it may well be that the costs to SJGames of this would be excessive.

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by Refplace

From todays Illuminator it appears Girl Genius will be a kickstarter. My guess is that means a physical product.

Steve Jackson confirmed both those points in response to a question I asked a while back at his GenCon panel (on the SJGames Discord server).

[Proteus]

Alas, I wasn't able to attend any part of FnordCon 2.3.

Would anyone else like to offer a summary of any interesting new information from the GURPS session?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Proteus

Alas, I wasn't able to attend any part of FnordCon 2.3.

Would anyone else like to offer a summary of any interesting new information from the GURPS session?

Lets see...
Alden Loveshade got his upcoming book revealed, part was hinted at then the remaining guessed at.
David Pulver has 3 books, I think were covered on that in the spec posts. But one book likely to be part of upcoming PDF challenge. No progress on Douglas Coles Mission X as he is still wrapping up other projects.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Lets see...
Alden Loveshade got his upcoming book revealed, part was hinted at then the remaining guessed at.

And who did the guessing? None other than Refplace! Refplace noticed a certain title was taken off the SJGames Wish List....

My first GURPS book is GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves. It's awaiting playtest, but I'm sure that will be announced when it happens. It may be a while as SJGames, as always, has a lot of cool things in the pipeline. (And no, I have no inside information. I'll have to wait until they're revealed like everybody else!)

[ULFGARD]

Does anyone know why the new Dungeon Fantasy book never showed up on the main GURPS page? I stumbled across it while looking for a TFT item.

[Ewan]

I wonder if the Realms Management book will be out this year, I know its in production according to the latest update. Thanks