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Old 06-05-2009, 11:42 AM   #31
Gavynn
 
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

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Originally Posted by robertsconley View Post
1) A stripped down rulebook focusing on the options needed to play generic fantasy.

2) A Keep on the Borderlands chapter/module bundled with #1 that has

a) a town with associated plot and NPCs
b) a surrounding wilderness with locales
c) a Dungeon site fleshed out with 3 to 5 levels
d) two more adventure sites fleshed out

3) A Monster Manual bundled with #1 with GURPS version of the classic D&D monsters (at least those that can be legally used)

4) A standalone GURPS Fantasy Adventure for experienced characters that can be used as a follow up for #2

5) A standalone GURPS Fantasy Adventure that is an epic adventure for high point fantasy characters that can be used as a followup for #3.
I think your #1 - the rulebook is not really all that necessary, but I concur with the adventure ideas, with a book that ties them into a common world. And yes, we are still hurting for a full fledge Bestiary/Monster Manual/etc. be they real world critters or fantasy creations, for dungeon fantasy or otherwise.
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Old 06-05-2009, 11:51 AM   #32
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

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I think your #1 - the rulebook is not really all that necessary
I'm inclined to agree. While a stripped-down rules set (the long-mooted "GURPS Medium") wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, it's vastly more common to hear someone say "there's not enough [product]" instead of "there's too much [product]."

So, anyway, is it therefore proposed that three adventures, a monster book, and perhaps some character-building advice are "enough" to constitute a meaningfully detailed setting which currently reluctant gamers would be willing to adopt? That doesn't strike me as quite right. I should think that at the very least there should be an overview of the setting.
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Old 06-05-2009, 12:12 PM   #33
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

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I should think that at the very least there should be an overview of the setting.
Oh, I think so too. I think there should be a book to accompany them that extends the world in which the adventures are set for sure.
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Old 06-05-2009, 02:44 PM   #34
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What I'd like to see: Dungeon Magazine for GURPS.

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, Dungeon was a TSR* magazine that contained freelancer-authored adventures. The adventures were occasionally tied to a particular setting, but often were not. They contained just enough setting to assist with placing them on a game world, making them pretty "pluggable," at least within the confines of a typical AD&D/d20 game. Quality was varying of course, but usually at least on par with "official" adventures published at that time.

I fully understand the difficulties in doing this (both as a business venture and as a vehicle for GURPS in particular), and do not expect to see it. But part of me still remembers back to being a teenager, and the awesome feeling of getting that magazine in the mail every month...

I would happily subscribe to such a thing for GURPS, even if every adventure was prefaced with a "settings" section, detailing which optional bits of GURPS are best considered "on" for the particular adventure - which would be handy for GMs who want to integrate it into their own world.

I don't need (another) detailed fantasy setting for GURPS. In all likelihood, the author will use optional bits I don't want anyway. Give me a broad swath of adventures that I could drop into any reasonably-familiar fantasy setting. Sure, some of those wouldn't be usable... but some would be, and I could steal cool ideas from those I couldn't use directly.

I know I could just use published AD&D/d20 adventures and convert. I could also grow my own food, repair my car and house myself, etc.

I would add that for such a thing to work, a (ahem) Manual of Monstrosities is almost a necessity. Perhaps such a tome could be fan-driven, like Villains and Who's Who were.

* My understanding is that after TSR, Dungeon was farmed out to Paizo, then lately either went in-house (and online only) or died entirely (I'm not sure which).
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Old 06-05-2009, 03:51 PM   #35
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

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What I'd like to see: Dungeon Magazine for GURPS.
We have Pyramid. But before you can have lots of adventures, people have to write them.
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Old 06-05-2009, 04:03 PM   #36
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We have Pyramid. But before you can have lots of adventures, people have to write them.
Oh, absolutely. TSR had Dragon, which ran adventures occasionally. I'm not sure what precipitated the decision to break off adventures into their own magazine. Were they receiving so many that they felt it was justifiable? Did the idea come first, and they approached known freelancers to get the first issues out (before the unknown freelancers were able to supply enough material to keep the ball rolling)?

I suppose the question for our purposes boils down to, "why aren't GURPS GMs submitting adventures to Pyramid?"
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Old 06-05-2009, 04:26 PM   #37
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I suppose the question for our purposes boils down to, "why aren't GURPS GMs submitting adventures to Pyramid?"
I design adventures around the specific player characters and the consequences of their past actions. These are quirky enough and tailored enough so I can't see my way to genericizing them.

On the other hand, Roma Arcana, in GURPS Fantasy, was inspired by a fantasy campaign I ran quite a few years ago, in a different system. And I have made several proposals for e23 books based on more recent campaigns, including recent GURPS campaigns. But that's "campaigns" rather than "adventures."

Bill Stoddard
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Old 06-05-2009, 04:29 PM   #38
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

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Originally Posted by Juballa View Post
Oh, absolutely. TSR had Dragon, which ran adventures occasionally. I'm not sure what precipitated the decision to break off adventures into their own magazine. Were they receiving so many that they felt it was justifiable? Did the idea come first, and they approached known freelancers to get the first issues out (before the unknown freelancers were able to supply enough material to keep the ball rolling)?

I suppose the question for our purposes boils down to, "why aren't GURPS GMs submitting adventures to Pyramid?"
partly because D&D is a single genre game with very tight in game assumptions where as gurps is a generic game with many genres and near unlimited assumptions. Thus publishing adventures is much harder for gurps. The small size of the gurps fan base and its fragmented nature make for tiny returns on published adventures for the auther as well as for SJG hence less incentive to send them in.
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Old 06-05-2009, 04:57 PM   #39
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partly because D&D is a single genre game with very tight in game assumptions where as gurps is a generic game with many genres and near unlimited assumptions. Thus publishing adventures is much harder for gurps. The small size of the gurps fan base and its fragmented nature make for tiny returns on published adventures for the auther as well as for SJG hence less incentive to send them in.
Sure - this is exactly what I meant in my first post when I mentioned, "I fully understand the difficulties in doing this (both as a business venture and as a vehicle for GURPS in particular)..." Trooper6 replied that we have Pyramid, which is apparently willing to consider adventures even in the face of such difficulties as you enumerate.

So why aren't they tripping over huge piles of adventure submissions?

Bill brings up the excellent point of adventures designed around specific characters (although I'd point out that plenty of adventures published back in the day included sample characters). I'd also mention that such an adventure would be great for someone looking for something to run as a sample at a store, or to introduce a group to GURPS.

He also mentions "the consequences of their past actions," which I admit I don't see a way around, except the dreaded railroading.
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Old 06-05-2009, 05:46 PM   #40
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Default Re: Fantasy Setting for GURPS

im in the same camp as bill on this one when i run a campaign the stories are all tailored to the pcs and probably would not be very useful to anyone else.
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