11-17-2017, 10:50 PM | #1351 |
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
Besides what Eric, Joe and JMason said, probably many others, which I mostly agree with (Eric's calling "GURPS Core" was exactly the name I was going to drop here before I read his post, though I think it should include some low-tech, low fantasy even...you kinda have to), GURPS needs a top-notch, quality, consistent look.
Not just with the illustrations, mind you. It needs good editorial design. Give me more whitespace, bring the sidebars back, don't be afraid of using more than one typeface, use at most just two columns of regular body text and do not try to cram in as much as you can onto those 128-160 pages. Pages that are too dense are awful to read. And please cut out those thick borders. As for illustrations, don't have your artist(s) make generic art. Have them make awesome looking scenes! Dramatic! Meaningful! Cool! Exciting! In different genres like low-fantasy (think Conan), modern (think modern day They Live), sci-fi (space opera), to show what GURPS can do, or what you can do with it. But don't mix in futuristic characters with medieval characters... Unless it's about time travel, but a true Core GURPS book shouldn't have that IMHO. So get yourselves a good art director and graphic designer. GURPS is a great game, it deserves a great graphical treatment. Also, throw in 3 new(!) short(!!) adventures, each in one of those 3 different genres. People need to get the book, gather a bunch of friends and play what's in it. By the end of the book you can put an ad saying that you can do much, much more with the GURPS Basic Set™. Give them exciting examples! And yes, absolutely, GURPS needs worldbooks -- with built-in adventures so people could go on and play those to experience those settings with minimal effort. But don't be too generic. Although, I know, that word is in the name of the system... just don't take it too literally. Be focused. Have a number (6-8?) of Template characters ("Archetypes") in each of those, and the main characters of those worlds with respective (easy to parse!) stat blocks, backgrounds and "how to roleplay [main character]" sections. Think of World of Darkness' "Antagonists". So not just a solid system to support their games, something to play with, right away, and to have longer term campaigns. |
11-17-2017, 11:51 PM | #1352 |
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: Central Texas, north of Austin
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
allluckyseven:
Good post. I can really feel your enthusiasm. |
11-18-2017, 09:32 AM | #1353 |
Untitled
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
I'm currently re-reading various Third Edition books (including GURPS Technomancer), just because. I'm finding myself reading extended sidebars over many pages then going back and reading the main body text, or reading the main body text then going back and reading extended sidebars over many pages... and it's annoying to need to do that.
Getting rid of the sidebars was the best design decision they made for Fourth Edition.
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
11-18-2017, 09:49 AM | #1354 | |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Binghamton, NY, USA. Near the river Styx in the 5th Circle.
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
Quote:
However, without sidebars almost everything winds up going in the main text, which is itself annoying for some kinds of information. It would be nice to see a better balance of information split up in the main text and in boxes (which basically took the place of sidebars).
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Eric B. Smith GURPS Data File Coordinator GURPSLand I shall pull the pin from this healing grenade and... Kaboom-baya. |
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11-18-2017, 11:39 AM | #1355 |
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Ronkonkoma, NY
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
I found the sidebars to be both charming and annoying. Charming, because they were SJG's signature layout trait and they look kind of neat; annoying, because it's really hard to know when you're supposed to read them in conjunction with the main text, and sometimes you have to finish the relevant main text on one page before flipping back to read the sidebar—if you remember to do so.
I miss the austerity of the older stuff but not the sidebars. If I had infinite time it would be an amusing project to lay out the fourth edition stuff in the style of the early third edition. |
11-19-2017, 04:57 PM | #1356 | |||
Join Date: Nov 2017
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
Quote:
Or have different page layouts for when you don't want or need any sort of a sidebar. 2-page long sidebars could a problem, though, if they're not in the same spread. They need to be succinct. Keep they short and sweet. Quote:
Quote:
Boxes could (should?) assume a different function than the sidebars. The former being for something like important or alternate rules, the latter for "in brief" stuff, tips or any other supplemental information. |
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11-19-2017, 05:52 PM | #1357 |
Untitled
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: between keyboard and chair
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
What would go into a sidebar that doesn't currently go into a box?
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Rob Kelk “Every man has a right to his own opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts.” – Bernard Baruch, Deming (New Mexico) Headlight, 6 January 1950 No longer reading these forums regularly. |
11-20-2017, 10:24 AM | #1358 |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lancashire, UK
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
Have you seen the layout Monte Cooke Games uses for their games (Numenera, Cypher System etc.)? They have a side bar used for short notes and cross references; it works well in my opinion. There is quite a bit of white space but that is not necessarily a bad thing.
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11-20-2017, 10:32 AM | #1359 | |
Munchkin Line Editor
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
Quote:
And the sidebars were VERY inefficient. When I went back to the original GURPS Lensman manuscript to work on GURPS Lensman 2E, I discovered entire sections of text (including a major character writeup) that had been removed because there wasn't room in the sidebar-main layout. Switching to two columns plus boxes added enough space that we could restore all of that text.
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11-20-2017, 11:01 AM | #1360 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
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Re: What GURPS needs... now
If there were separate layouts for electronic and physical books (which would increase layout cost substantially so it probably isn't going to happen), the electronic book could be as inefficient with space as it wanted, but if you're paying per page to print a physical book, you don't want a lot of white space.
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