Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 10-01-2016, 09:13 AM   #41
RogerBW
 
RogerBW's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_coffin View Post
There's no legal issue with running an adventure in a licensed world even though the original publisher no longer has the license. Those books are still legally valid and you can continue to use them for running adventures, even in a public arena like a con.
Not "legal", perhaps, but the Men in Black have been actively discouraged from doing so. One example was the combination of Star Munchkin and The Good, The Bad and the Munchkin, which was often run under a title suggestive of a popular single-season SF TV series from 2002-2003 - which could be taken to imply that SJGames held a game licence for that series, which is not only not true, but could impair negotiations in that direction.
RogerBW is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2016, 10:00 AM   #42
robertsconley
 
robertsconley's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jul 2006
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by lachimba View Post
What do those with experience think would work best as a convention game?

I'd like to have the whole game done in less than five hours. Ideally about three would be great. So I'd ideally have characters made and take some short cuts.


Any other advice would be appreciated.
Look at the various D&D 4e convention adventures. Not so much for the fantasy genre but the plot structure. The reason is that D&D 4e combat takes the same amount of time as GURPS combat. And there are dozens of adventures covering all kinds of plot.

The typical pattern is

1) The initial roleplaying
2) A combat encounter
3) A roleplaying encoutner
4) A 2nd combat encounter
5) The final roleplaying encounter.

Pretty done and over with within a 4 hour slot.
robertsconley is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2016, 12:16 PM   #43
Zarmonic
 
Zarmonic's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Seattle, WA
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

I had a very odd and unexpected success running GURPS at a convention this year.

I'm a big fan of Ritual Path Magic and, being frustrated by the fact that no one in my group seemed willing to learn it, I planed a game specifically designed to teach it. In it the PC's are all students of magic and the first half of the session takes place in class where they are all assigned tasks to accomplish with improvised spells. The second half is the adventure they where they get to try using their skills. The idea was to have it open for people who already played GURPS since RPM is kind of considered an advanced optional system for the game.

To my surprise, no one who signed up for the game played GURPS at all, but these were people who go to conventions looking to learn new things. They seemed to be attracted to my game for the novelty of the concept. And they were indeed really fast learners. People got into the characters and story and delved into the challenge of making their own spells! Everyone had a good time.

My takeaway: I think it's kind of a mistake to try to design introductory GURPS games by stripping it down to only basic elements. A major strength of the system is it's ability to accommodate unique environments and situations. Try to come up with an adventure idea that showcases this.

I don't know if this helps, but I thought I'd share. Good luck!
Zarmonic is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-01-2016, 12:18 PM   #44
Refplace
 
Refplace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Yukon, OK
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by lachimba View Post

Also they are asking for an image to promote the game? is it usually ok to use the cover of the RPG system book without interfering with copyright?
That should fall under Fair Use as long as your using the cover to promote the product not sell something else or imply you wrote it.
Covers really are just advertising copy.
__________________
My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
REFPLace GURPS Landing Page
My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
My GURPS Wiki entries
Refplace is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 06:17 AM   #45
lachimba
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

So I finish my very first convention missing out on GMing because I was too late. Two CoC games down. One adventure so garbage and NOT CoC that I can't believe a publisher would put it out under CoC license. The other ok, by Sandy Petersen no less. Neither remotely scary, I think they could have learnt a lot from GURPS Horror in how to make a scary monster.

Thoughts:
  • Players reacted well to pregens. They are more than willing to roleplay characters that they had no hand in designing. Even providing handouts with "your secret is..." "your motivation is...." "you have a rare...." "you should attack with the your..." is good.
  • There's plenty of time in a three hour slot to get through an adventure including with multiple combat sessions.
  • Its easy enough to get a full session. I had 6/6 and 5/6 at each session (yet the 6/6 session felt more crowded)
  • I really don't understand the repeat the same scenario thing, but it was common enough.


I think that I'll be in good stead come December.
lachimba is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 11:26 AM   #46
OldSam
 
OldSam's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Göttingen, Germany
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zarmonic View Post
I'm a big fan of Ritual Path Magic and, being frustrated by the fact that no one in my group seemed willing to learn it, I planed a game specifically designed to teach it. In it the PC's are all students of magic and the first half of the session takes place in class where they are all assigned tasks to accomplish with improvised spells. The second half is the adventure they where they get to try using their skills.
Really nice idea and congratulations that it worked out well! :)
Definitely a good inspiration, probably I'll come back to this at some point...
OldSam is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 11:44 AM   #47
kmunoz
 
kmunoz's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: Seattle, Washington
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by Refplace View Post
That should fall under Fair Use as long as your using the cover to promote the product not sell something else or imply you wrote it.
Covers really are just advertising copy.
Fair Use is not a panacea and it is not a shield against lawsuits. Fair Use is a kind of affirmative defense. It will protect you at the end of the day, but first you have to get to the end of the day. And that can be really expensive.

Also, despite common misconception, Fair Use is not merely synonymous with "non-commercial use." Fair Use requires more than that: it requires that the use be limited and that it be transformative. Merely displaying a book cover on a flyer promoting a non-commercial activity does not in any respect count as transformative. (The "Big Three" transformative uses are Commentary, Criticism and Parody. There are other marginal uses, but usually to protect yourself you'd need to pay a lawyer to make sure you're right.)
__________________
Natural Encyclopedia: 660 GURPS bestiary entries
It Came from the Forums: A Community Bestiary with 160 entries
(last updated 2009...someday I will revisit.)

Last edited by kmunoz; 10-02-2016 at 11:49 AM.
kmunoz is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 03:37 PM   #48
lachimba
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by kmunoz View Post
Fair Use is not a panacea and it is not a shield against lawsuits. Fair Use is a kind of affirmative defense. It will protect you at the end of the day, but first you have to get to the end of the day. And that can be really expensive.
I've already resolved what Ill do. Ill just give the convention the link to the company web page with cover art etc. They can make a decision what they can put on their webpage vs just provide a link to. They can get their own advice on fair use rather than me doing any work. We can drop the discussion.
lachimba is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 05:05 PM   #49
nick_coffin
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Quote:
Originally Posted by RogerBW View Post
Not "legal", perhaps, but the Men in Black have been actively discouraged from doing so. One example was the combination of Star Munchkin and The Good, The Bad and the Munchkin, which was often run under a title suggestive of a popular single-season SF TV series from 2002-2003 - which could be taken to imply that SJGames held a game licence for that series, which is not only not true, but could impair negotiations in that direction.
The behavior being discouraged isn't the same. What is being described above is using a licensed name for a game that never had the license. SJGames never had a Munchkin Firefly license, so that is clearly infringement of intellectual property.

Hellboy, Powered by GURPS was produced with a valid license. Even though the license has reverted, it is still perfectly legal (and not discouraged by SJGames) to run games using that book. What you can't do is sell new books or source material set in a licensed world that you no longer have the license for.
nick_coffin is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 10-02-2016, 07:40 PM   #50
lachimba
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sydney
Default Re: GURPS as a convention game

Unfortunately I doubt I'll get regular players out of the convention. People came from hours away. No way could I expect regular travel like that. I might try distributing a survey to every player who participates to see what's possible.
lachimba is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
convention, gurps

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 05:33 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.