Is a 5th Edition coming soon? [Answer: NO, it isn't!]

[Thrasher92]

Originally Posted by Kromm

An unequivocal "no." We haven't even thought about a "Fourth Edition Revised," much less a Fifth Edition. If people are still playing pen-and-paper RPGs in 2017, ask again then. ;)

Well, it's 2017... Any new answer now?

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Thrasher92

Well, it's 2017... Any new answer now?

Purely as an outside observer and fan, a new edition doesn't seem to be needed.

The current trend in the business seems to be towards GURPS 4e as a game engine that can be customised for specific settings, like the Discworld Roleplaying Game or the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. The latter apparently has some rules tweaks that have been referred to as a lightly revised 4e, but we won't see how significant those are until it is published. SJG has also mentioned the possibility of doing other packaged customised versions of GURPS, but has not announced any plans.

Meanwhile, the fanbase continues to buy incremental supplements in PDF and develop writers to create them, plus Pyramid articles. This gives SJG a fairly low-cost way of developing the game, matched with its fairly low sales. The fanbase's play is spread over a very wide range of genres and settings, and wouldn't respond well to GURPS becoming more tightly focussed, in my opinion. However, that tight focus would be necessary for a new edition to be publishable at a reasonable cost.

Sometime in the past decade, Kromm said that the most likely cause of a new edition would be some new publishing technology. The idea of something computerised that lets you add rules modules and fold them into a single reference cleanly is quite attractive, but it would not be simple to implement, and SJG isn't in the publishing software development business. So until someone else invents something applicable, this probably won't go anywhere.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Thrasher92

Well, it's 2017... Any new answer now?

There are no plans for a fifth edition.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by philreed

There are no plans for a fifth edition.

It's the RPG equivalent of "are we there yet?" on a road trip. :-)

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

It's the RPG equivalent of "are we there yet?" on a road trip. :-)

Except we are there, and having fun - perhaps it's more like "when does the bus leave to go to the next fun place"?

[Mark Skarr]

Originally Posted by philreed

There are no plans for a fifth edition.

I'm gunna go out on a crazy-tree limb here and say that maybe you should make a sticky on the SJ Games Discussion sub-fora about GURPS 5E.

There you could have something to the effect of "Steve Jackson Games is not, at this time working on, nor planning, an edition update to GURPS Fourth Edition. If this changes we will update this thread to inform all stakeholders at once." Add as much, or little, additional detail as you deem necessary.

Then lock the thread so people can't add comments to it and you guys can just point any questions you receive about GURPS 5E to that thread.

Once the singularity hits, everything changes and we get 5E, in whatever form the new technology has updated the fora into, you can simply add the same thing for GURPS 6E.

That's just my opinion. I could be wrong.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I'm gunna go out on a crazy-tree limb here and say that maybe you should make a sticky on the SJ Games Discussion sub-fora about GURPS 5E.

I'd rather have a virtual tip jar with a sign that says: "5E planning starts when $25 million is reached _or_ we feel it is time."

[Buzzardo]

Originally Posted by philreed

I'd rather have a virtual tip jar with a sign that says: "5E planning starts when $25 million is reached _or_ we feel it is time."

Honestly, I wouldn't put money in that jar. 4e suits me fine. I will continue to spend money on Dungeon Fantasy, and I'd spend money on a space setting given similar treatment.

[GM Joe]

Originally Posted by philreed

I'd rather have a virtual tip jar with a sign that says: "5E planning starts when $25 million is reached _or_ we feel it is time."

That would be hilarious!

Or start up a SJ Games GURPS Patreon, with the $100k/month level (or whatever) being GURPS 5e production.

[ArchonShiva]

Even if it made financial sense to publish a fifth edition, what would you want in it, seriously?

The biggest things I can think of are just as needed for fourth edition anyway (rebuilding the GURPS Magic spell list, the vehicle design system, etc.), and a new edition would only push these back as existing books need to be touched-up for the new edition.

Compendia in a few years, with 5th edition after the singularity.