Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I use lulu.com to convert PDFs into print books. There are doubtless other options. (And hardback is doubtless nice and robust, but softback is cheaper.)

Thanks for your choice of game!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Apparently amazon PoD does color now? Is there some extra manhours required to produce the print on demand in color? I would love to buy some sourcebooks, and i would much prefer them to be in color rather than black and white. And i would not mind paying a little bit extra for it.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Yes. A lot of hours, plus the expense of printing/shipping proofs and then again when fixes are made . . . and then again.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Does Amazon PoD offer an option for both hardcover and softcover? Or are we limited to softcover only for the foreseeable future?

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

These books are softcovers. I do not know of a hardcover option through Amazon. If there is, it would fall in the same camp as color: A lot of energy that may not have a strong enough return to be worth the investment.

If something changes, we will make an announcement. For now, our focus is on getting the library uploaded and available as best we can.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I appreciate what you are doing. I have to admit if I couldn't get some of the basic 4e books in print I probably wouldn't have taken up GURPS. I think the PoD books from amazon are pretty nicely done. Color would be nice but they are decent and very usable as is. I appreciate your efforts.

I do wish a few of them were upgraded to 4e in terms of rules. I know for many it's not that hard to adjust the rules as a GM but have a 4e version would be nice. I'd probably favor that over color or hardback versions of 3e.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Thanks for that! I figured something like this would be the reason. I'm just happy to get a few of the 3e books I missed the first time around. It's a pity we won't see many of the licensed books again, but getting a fresh copy of GURPS Conan was a pleasant surprise.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

That would be even more expensive and complicated, for possibly little to no actual return on the investment. Sean and Steven know a lot more about this than I do, but I see sales numbers vs costs and know that we would need to take a risk to make this happen.

There may be some things we can do over the next year or so, but updating older books to 4th edition isn't likely.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

We are making as many arrangements as possible. And will keep making older titles available when we can cut deals. (Deadlands, for example, is now part of the program.)

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ondemand/

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I get the impression that if the book didn't exist that in most cases it wouldn't be created. That tells me you all didn't think the book was all that viable in hindsight. With exceptions of course. The real big sellers are all there.

I just wish in a way there was some way for there to be a community effort to get these translated over. In cases where the book is primarily rules like a vehicles book then it's likely hopeless but if it were a book like alternate earths (just as an example) that is primarily about the flavor and ideas, I'd think it could be done. I'm not a games publisher though so I am not stating that opinion as an authority on the matter. I'm just seeing the amount of rules in the book and giving an armchair guess. Definitely not intending to insult what you do.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Although GURPS isn't nearly as math-intensive or rules-heavy as its detractors let on, it's a huge system that offers much to choose from, meaning that new stats and rules – and for that matter, new clarifications and interpretations of existing stats and rules – require extensive checking against the library, if only for page references (but usually for more). Our freelancers and playtesters sometimes help us with that, but few have access to all GURPS supplements ever, or the incentive of hourly pay to re-skim them . . . so that job mostly falls on me, and I am paid by the hour. Thus, producing a GURPS supplement gets more expensive with every new release, and most supplements are barely profitable in part due to this expense.

All of this applies even within an edition. Just as GURPS Fourth Edition supplements must be checked against the entire Fourth Edition catalog, which makes them only marginally profitable in many cases, GURPS Third Edition ones had to be checked against the Third Edition library, and thus were barely profitable at the time. Checks across editions are extremely labor-intensive, and adaptations add almost the price of original development . . . to things that most GURPS fans won't buy because they already have them. There are also costs associated with updating the layout of another era to be compatible with modern software and printing solutions, with unearthing old contracts to revisit royalties (not just for writing, but also for art and in some cases typefaces), and with simply creating database entries both for internal use and to support the website.

So, the only way re-releasing Third Edition materials is worth our trouble is if we can kick them out the door untouched save for the least of efforts to update layout. That way, we can keep prices low enough that the effort might earn back a bit of what it cost – both way back when and just the other day when we played with the layout and spent time chasing down contracts.

Many things that were better-than-marginally profitable the first time around become money-losers if must adapt content, redo layout, and spend time digging out old contracts. A big reason for that is, again, that existing fans are reluctant to buy stuff twice, even if it's "improved."

Another, more game-design-related reason is that adaptation is harder than writing a new supplement from scratch, because it's about searching one edition for the closest equivalent in another, and thus working with two editions on a technical level. Writing from zero involves half the technical research. All of which leaves aside possible lost sales to the few existing fans who would re-buy but decide not to because they disagree with the adaptation . . .

And of course just because something sold well enough to make sense (and dollars) in 1991 or 2001 or 2011 doesn't mean it's a hot topic in 2021! GURPS has been around for a long time, and the hobby, the market, and the media environment in which those things, gamers, and designers live has changed many times. For instance, who'd want GURPS Alpha Centauri – a 2002 book based on a 1999 video game – in 2021? (Which reminds me: Licensed supplements are in their own hell, because they add the extra, usually very expensive layer of relicensing.)

Our experience is that the quality isn't there. I lurk everywhere GURPS is discussed, blogged about, and in some cases pirated. I see the things the community creates. They're long on ideas but too often short on execution. There's a reason why SJ Games pays professional editors, indexers, production artists, and project managers, after all. Yes, we could lower our standards and say, "Close enough is good enough," but Steve has never settled for that and isn't about to start – and frankly, my admiration for that is a big part of why I've remained his employee for 26 years.

Flavor and ideas need no cross-edition adaptation. This is why we stand by our decisions in this area. Nobody who calls themselves a gamer should have any problem using GURPS Alternate Earths, GURPS Mars, GURPS Places of Mystery, etc. with any edition.

Which leaves books of rules (like GURPS Mecha, GURPS Robots, and GURPS Vehicles) and stats (like GURPS Spirits, GURPS Supporting Cast, and the GURPS Who's Who volumes). Those come with all the problems I just outlined. Where we believe that the current edition can't work as a generic, universal roleplaying system without the needed content, we basically redo from start, which describes the current editions of, say, GURPS High-Tech and GURPS Supers. But we won't do that if previous-edition sales were so mediocre that we can't justify another huge editorial headache (which is the problem Vehicles faces . . .).

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Players being unwilling to by a 4e copy when they have a 3e copy is one of the reasons I was thinking you wouldn't want to do it if the cost is very high.

And I hope it is clear I do appreciate that they are available on demand at all.



Yeah I think I can agree that 100% conversion is not a goal.

I would not want you to start degrading quality.


It would seem to me there are people out there who using 4e would not buy a 3e book. I admit I do not understand the scope of work so I'm not claiming to know better than you or anyone else for that matter. I thought, perhaps wrongly, that if it were really easy that it might be worth it for a book where the rules are scant and easily converted.



I realize some books are actual nightmares. I also realize that a LOT of these sorts of books have been done. GURPS space and magic were done so obviously they sell well. Not surprised. I thought GURPS 3e space was one of the best books ever. Magic is essential to almost any fantasy campaign.

I'm not hating on you guys for not doing it. I realize you make business decisions and I assume you have reasons. That doesn't mean I can't wish and in some cases wonder. I appreciate all of the explanations. That is more than you had to do.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Wouldn't that be a feature of the GURPS fan subculture? Because in other RPGs, like D&D and WoD/CoD, until recently it wasn't uncommon to re-release books for recent editions. In Werewolf, The Apocalypse, for example, if I'm not mistaken, the Book of Wyrm has versions for 2E, 3E and W20. In Mage, The Ascension, there was recently M20 version of the Technocracy book.

I know that each case is different, each with its own peculiarities. D&D has drastic rule changes, WoD has setting updates. And I also know that aside from occasional exceptions (such as vehicles), GURPS tends to be much more compatible between editions than in other RPGs (which is a good thing). But it doesn't get out of my head that there may be a certain "cultural" factor involved. I don't know, I'm just thinking about it.

I buy a lot of 3E books. Several remain useful or easy to adapt, especially the setting ones. You can use Arabian Nights, Alternate Earths 1 & 2, Cops, Egypt, Greece, Illuminati, Imperial Rome, Middle Ages, Vikings just fine. Even Who's Who 1 & 2 can be useful. The WW2 line is also easy to use, just be careful with things that are obviously out of date, like weapons and vehicles (and the new High-Tech update most of them just fine).

As Kromm said, the biggest problem is those books that are very rule-oriented and with rules that no longer work the same way in the new edition.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Yes, it's a feature of GURPS fandom. Our industry is competitive but not that competitive; we talk to other companies, and we don't sell games in a vacuum. There are two major effects at work:

• GURPS, by being generic and universal, and having a ton of optional "rules switches" and a modular approach to genre, is more of a toolkit than a game you play out of the box. It can handle anything . . . if you're willing to do a fair bit of work. This attracts people who prefer doing to buying, who very often think of GURPS as "the last game they have to buy." This skews the game's natural market toward people who don't want to spend money, for whatever reason (poor, frugal, stingy – I have no clue).
  
  
• GURPS lacks things like specially bound limited hardbacks, branded miniatures and accessories, associated media features, and whatnot, and doesn't have a high-pressure adventure pipeline. (This is because of the above: That stuff is profitable when you support one genre and a few settings, not at all profitable when you purport to support all genres and all settings.) This skews the game's natural market away from people who want to spend money on showy and prestige items, or to have somebody else support the official setting for them.

So, GURPS attracts small spenders instead of big spenders. The various forums, chats, social media sites, etc. for GURPS aren't constantly filled with pictures of huge gaming dens with floor-to-ceiling bookcases, lit display cases for miniatures, special gaming tables and chairs, digital map tables and devoted LANs for gamers' laptops, decorative weapons and armor, etc. Whereas if you hit, say, a D&D area, you'll totally see that stuff.

And small spenders tend not to buy every printing, revision, edition, and limited release version of the same supplement. If we had more fans who insisted on re-buying just the Basic Set in every single printing, we'd most likely think about anniversary and thematic bindings. If those were picked up en masse, we'd do it for everything. But the reality is that even when there's an entire edition shift that invalidates 90% of a supplement's content, GURPS fans seem to say, "Eh, I'm good. I'll just convert." I think that's just part of the fate of a toolkit system.

While I love you guys for your motivation and ingenuity, I won't lie: I don't love the tight purse strings, because that's the one thing most likely to put me out of a job. When it comes to work, my nightmares are about that; my dreams are about all the people with accounts on these forums buying all GURPS stuff in every slightly new version, the day it's released. ;)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

It wouldn't surprise me to learn PoD reprints from the GURPS back catalog offer a better profit margin per unit than the production of new material. I suspect there are some production costs involved in preparing older works for PoD - anyone who has to wrestle with old Quark files has my sincere condolences - but I assume these are less than the effort of producing new work. Given the skyrocketing cost of international freight, I suspect distributed PoD operations such as the one offered by Amazon are the way of the future. This allows books to be printed close as possible to the consumer and limits the amount of inventory sitting around in warehouses. But it might make quality control tricky. Unfortunately, there are only a few companies offering an international PoD service at the moment. In the meantime, I expect a lot of companies in the RPG industry will be forced to embrace distribution via PDF as the primary method of getting products to consumers at a reasonable cost. The availability of cheap tablets and smartphones means people increasingly use them at the game table. I get a sense the effectiveness of Kickstarter as a fundraising method is starting to wane. The shot of adrenaline crowdsourcing gave to the industry will presumably decline over time as people become jaded.

So where does this leave GURPS? It can probably survive for a while on a combination of PoD re-releases and occasional new PDF products, but shiny new hardcovers will be few and far between. Perhaps original PoD softcovers could happen in the future, but that would depend on projected sales. Despite the growth of D&D 5e as a cultural phenomenon, I suspect other RPGs will suffer as margins get tighter. GURPS isn't as visible to the general public as it was there were books in physical game stores. But it's not the only game system in this boat. I don't think anybody has a good answer for the impending industry shakeout.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

This is interesting. I admit I came from a D&D background most of my life. I also think that if I weren't a very experienced DM/GM that GURPS would be daunting. I'm loving it now though and I think with the direction that D&D keeps taking there may be an opening for people like me.

I don't have a massive gaming table but I do have bookshelfs full of books. Some of those are GURPS. I do have a network and I do have four running computers in my "office" / "game room".

I like your current approach. A limited selection of printed books even if on demand and a lot of focused pdfs. Is there any thought to just going PoD from the get go? I know this would mean black and white interior but those books seem fine to me. I want you to keep your job and SJGames to continue doing what it does.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Well...that's what Delvers to Grow is for. Seriously. The on-ramp needs to be easier, and this is one (of several) ways to get 'r done.

You can do color POD through DriveThru, Amazon, and Lulu. You can also do short-run printing at Mixam, which is what I do and Phil has done for some of his personal projects. (I'm still going Mixam as much as I can, especially since DriveThru eliminated staple binding).

The issue with color is that it's something like twice as expensive to get color art AND 50-100% more expensive per copy to print (those are not compounding costs, but they are costs).

But, to wrench myself back to the "tight purses" thing, the customer is not willing to pay a directly proportionate amount of that cost. They will pay more; they won't pay more such that color works are more profitable than B/W ones.

So: it's a sacrifice to do color.

POD is also almost always "and the vendor takes a hefty cut." DriveThru, for example, takes 35% of the post-cost profit for a non-exclusive sale.

Finally, the BIG BOOKS folks want to see will generally bring in twice the revenue at four times the page count...

So big, color books via POD are basically non-starters.

Big, color books via short-run printing are marginal unless you get a hit. Like "can order and immediately move 1,000 or more copies" hit, and even then international shipping makes this a big-ol' question mark (and I do my longer-run printing in Eastern Europe thus far, so this isn't even a China question).

Color books via short-run printing are what Delvers to Grow is. Up to about 48 pages (the limit on staple). I did the Omnibus as a 96-page perfect bound book...but even Peter Dell'Orto wished it would have been lay flat. (For what it's worth, so do I, but that's something I can only do long-run printing, with a sewn binding and literally 10x more sales than the book got from the project).


In any case. I babble a bit. But I've done books ranging from 8 pages (Fantastic Dungeon Grappling) to 128 pages (Citadel at Nordvorn and Hall of Judgment) and not seen appreciable differences in sales and backer counts for them: 400 to 600. That puts the longer works simply out of reach for me, and those long works are - as noted by other authors and layout pros before me - more than proportionally difficult to get right.

In short: going POD only doesn't really help much for getting a book made and out the door. It DOES help with a notional long-tail that hasn't existed in this industry to speak of for going on 10-15 years. Because you don't have to carry any inventory.

But for making NEW stuff, you need that cash flow coming directly to you, not stopping along the way for half of the money to be extracted to "middlemen."

I'll stop now. If you're curious about details, ping me on my Discord. I'm always around. (Link expires after 7 days)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Yes, putative customers like to armchair-quarterback what we "should" release – more stuff in print, more color, more full-length books, various licenses, fewer PDFs, Vehicles, etc. – but that's a very shrill, self-selecting minority found on specific forums, Discords, subreddits, 4chan threads, etc. devoted to pet interests. Whenever we break down and test the waters, we relearn the lesson that these mouths don't come with money. To be specific, people want the moon but are only willing to pay for a few grams of green cheese. They're generally ready with anecdotes about how Joe Blow over at My Personal Game Company, or The Biggest Fish in the Pond, makes it work . . . which are nice and all, but not relevant to our business, which is decidedly mid-sized and thus neither a vanity operation nor an industry giant.

Anyway, I've yet to see any evidence that short B&W PDFs with the option to print certain ones on demand aren't the best option for the majority of GURPS support.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I thought the on demand was cheaper and less of a risk. That is why I said I thought the on demand books you are putting out right now are very acceptable to me. I don't need interior color.

And I'm really happy with the small focused pdfs at a small price. I hope no one was thinking I disagreed with that approach for tons of things.

In the last six months, I've bought magic, powers, martial arts, thaumatology, fantasy, low-tech, psionic powers, mass combat, how to be a GURPS GM in book form. So I am not unhappy. As far as I can tell these are all color covers with black and white interiors. Those suit me fine. I also bought characters, campaigns which of course are in hardback and are color interiors. I've also bought a good number of pdfs: Magic, Thaumatology: Sorcery, GM's Screen, Boardroom and Curia, City Stats,Magic: Artillery Spells, Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic, Magic: The Least of Spells, Dungeon Fantasy 7: Clerics, Template Toolkit 1: Characters, Template Toolkit 2: Races

I also got the pdfs from both kickstarters though I missed the first one so paid 18 for the 2020 and 3 for the 2021.

I also bought the Dungeon Fantasy RPG boxed set. It's the only thing I regret buying and that is only because I realize now that I really don't want to play THAT style of fantasy game exactly and I'm better off just buying the GURPS dungeon fantasy supplements combined with other stuff.

I confess that if the work is longer I prefer the book even though at times (Magic I'm looking at you) I may end up wanting the pdf also.

So I like your format. Don't take any suggestion or question as a criticism overall. I'm not a Steve Jackson Games hater who just lurks on here and complains. If I ask it may be because I am ignorant. I absolutely do not want you all to lose money or go out of business. I appreciate the explanation for why you do or don't do something. I admit to not understanding the industry all that well. I'm a computer programmer by trade. I understand that industry. I find the insights you give to be fascinating. I find it refreshing that someone from the company even gets on here and answers questions.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

POD usually is more expensive per copy. It's less of a risk because you don't have to guess how many copies you're going to sell.

(Traditional print runs come in thousands, with significant setup costs compared to POD. So, you need volume to amortize those setup costs, and you need a market that will purchase thousands of copies -- which RPGs simply aren't, unless you're WotC. Notice Douglas' comment upthread about a mere 1000 copies being considered a hit. You have to pay to produce those thousands of books, even if you guess wrong on how many you're going to sell, and you have to pay to warehouse them until someone actually does buy them. If you operate out of Texas, say, I think there's also an inventory tax involved. So, you avoid sinking a lot of money into producing the books up front with POD. The advantage, if you can sell out, is that the average cost per book winds up being lower than with POD. Like so many things, mass production makes things cheaper, but only in volume. In small volumes, POD is cheaper since you can avoid a lot of those setup costs in favor of some smaller setup costs. And of course the writing, editing, layout, artwork, project management, and so on will be present in either method.)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

That´s the old problem with small production lines and scalability. A printed version allways needs more money pre production work and investment, even if all runs well and you even sell enough to make another print of the same version viable, downloads are by far cheaper in production.

You have to pay only for the writing, editing and layout, no further costs than the serverinfrastructure SJG already has. The costs for SJG are nearly the same if SJG sells 100 or 10K of a product, it´s nearly worldwide available with no shipping costs and hazards, if there is a update you just swap the file to the new version on the server and that´s is. Yes economical it makes a lot of sense to go this way.

While I love paper books there is little chance that I buy ever a POD product, because I can print my personal version, If I need it and that´s just due to bad eyesight and easier reading.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Yes I realized that if you are going to sell out everything you print then PoD is not the way to go. But when measuring risk you take into account everything you said. So maybe for the basic set books you print them yourself but for other books maybe PoD is the way to go.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I guess we differ on that. I think if absolutely nothing could be bought in physical form that would be a big negative for me. I like the small focused pdfs though because I know I probably have zero chance of getting them in physical form anyway. The DM focused books are far easier as pdfs. That is why I bought magic in pdf and physical. And I'm not sure I can print my own book that cheap but I suppose I should look into lulu.com as it's been recommended.

I think stuff like city stats, boardrooms and curia, etc.. are very GM focused and I can get by just fine without a physical copy. That is true for most adventures but if the map were really nice then that would be a reason to have a physical copy but that would be the only reason and the pdf advantages probably outweigh that most of the time.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

One "On Demand" question I've been meaning to ask: Why use Amazon for POD rather than DriveThruRPG for POD, since the PDFs are already available through DriveThruRPG?

I realize the answer is a business reason of some type, but I'm just curious. And if the answer is "We won't discuss that part of the business," that's cool, too.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Amazon PODs come from Poland, this means NO Customs tariffs for EU customers like me (to my knowledge, DriveThruRPG PODs are printed in the UK, and Brexit turned most books from the UK into a bad deal...).

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Complexity. The DTRPG process is fiddly and requires more effort.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Complexity combined with a small number of employees with better things to do equals business reasons. I figured it was something like that. Thanks, Phil.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

A lot of the V20/W20/M20 stuff has been Kickstarter driven, I bought into a lot of them before I faded because I realized I never actually read them, much less played them. But with Kickstarters I assume the big advantage is that not only do you find out how many people want it in the concrete "will pay for it" sense, they pay up front, even at the risk that the end item may never materialize.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Amazon PoD is great for those of us in Australia, as it means we don't have the international shipping costs and delivery times associated with printing in the USA or Europe. I've bought a couple of PoD books recently and have been happy with the quality. I'm looking at picking up Ardonirane for TfT and a couple of the GURPS Conan solo adventures when I get paid next. I simply wouldn't be able to afford this so often if I had to ship them in from another part of the world - the shipping costs are a killer.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Thank you for posting that! This is exactly why we've been trying to find ways to get titles into the GURPS On Demand program. We want the books to be available across the world, and this approach means more can be spent on the actual books and help many save money on the shipping side.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ondemand/

We will absolutely keep adding books to the program when possible.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Like! I appreciate this happening. I don't live in foreign countries but I have to think making it more affordable overseas just helps GURPS to thrive and continue on which is a good thing.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I admit..I've just ordered a couple more. My main issue now is maintaining the spousal approval level high enough to keep doing this :)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Oh, absolutely. The shipping costs are murder.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Mine too, especially since I use her Amazon account...

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

My copy of GURPS Conan arrived yesterday, and I'm so pleased to have this in book form again! This was one of my most-used books for a long time before losing it with a box of other books during a move years ago. The quality of the printing is good and it arrived in a reasonable amount of time.

Now to replace my PDF version of Powers and GURPS Japan and ...

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

And apparently, now it is.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Are we allowed to talk about how GURPS Social Engineering is now available for POD on DriveThruRPG?

This is the first of its kind, right? With a new cover and everything?

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Kind of. A few other 4e PDFs have had experimental POD versions, which has involved new covers. I've got a couple on my shelf. That said, I think this may be the first general release of what was previously a PDF-only book as POD.

And, of course, I've purchased it. There are a number of 4e PDFs which I'd like to have in physical form, so I'd like more of this, please.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

It's also available on Amazon! (I still need to update websites...)

This is the first item with this specific trajectory, yes. We've had other PDFs that have made the conversion to print (GURPS Supers for Fourth Edition, GURPS Spaceships, etc.), that have later been made available as POD; and we've had items that have only existed in print as POD (Pyramid Dungeon Collection, several of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG items).

Hopefully you all like it! Your reaction will determine how much we pursue this in the future. :-)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

May I say that I'm very grateful to all the people who've bought electronic copies and made this appear to be a viable choice for POD? I thought of it, when I wrote it, as another GURPS core book, like Martial Arts or Powers; it means a lot to me that I seem to have succeeded in making it so. And now I can have a beautiful print copy on my own shelves!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Just picked it up on amazon.ca along, with GURPS Faeries which was on sale for $14.99.

I'm hoping this experiment proves successful, as there are a number of PDF titles I'd buy on POD.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I immediately jumped on it. I would appreciate if PODs would be organised thematically in omnibuses. As an example, I would have preferred Social Engineering to include "Back to School", "Pulling Ranks" and "Keeping in Contact". No reformatting, just a collection of books. As Bill Stoddard says, SE feels like another core book, the social equivalent of martial arts. That being said SE is already 80+ pages so it's already sizeable.

Understanding that any combination proposed below are most likely non-starters, I'd like to see:

The Madness Dossier
After the End (1+2)
Action (1+2), alternatively a character book (1+3+4+7) and campaign (2+5+6+8).
Monster Hunters (1+2+3) or a similar split character/campaign
Realm Management+City Stat+Boardroom and Curia
Template Toolkit (1+2)
Power-Ups

I am sure I am forgetting a bunch.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I am very happy about the social engineering pdf becoming a PoD book. I think i will be buying it shortly. There are other pdf's i would like to see to get the same treatment.

I like the suggestions of the above poster.
Additions to those, i would like a combined volume of the low tech companions.

Another vote for the power-ups as well.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I'm ordering this one as soon as I get paid. Incidentally, that is a really cover. I'm wondering if the PDF version will be updated with it too?

Also, now that SJ Games is offering PoD via Drivethrurpg as well as Amazon will they consider bringing back hardcover versions of older 4e releases? Some of mine are getting a bit tattered. I'm wondering if the market would support this or if the additional effort required is prohibitive.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Same here, ordered from Amazon.it this morning.

I *DEFINITELY* want to see the POD versions of Dungeon Fantasy Exploits, Delvers to GO! and I Smell a Rat.

Also interested in the old Transhuman Space books (I have the rulebook, Broken Dreams and Fifth Wave).

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

A re-release of Changing Times on POD would be nice, as would POD versions of Bioroid Bazaar, Shell-tech, Bio-Tech 2100, and Martial Arts 2100.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Does anyone have any thoughts on the relative quality of DriveThruRPG and Amazon POD books? I'm deciding which company to order from, and would be grateful for any comparison of or comments on print quality, durability, and the like.

Edited shortly after: I suppose I'd also like to know, given that the DF Companion 3 costs the same on DriveThruRPG and Amazon, whether one service or the other earns SJG more money. But simple comparisons of print quality would be welcome.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I always buy thru Amazon, and the books have been very high-quality. Got no complaints...

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I was a little sad to see I cannot get color hardcover of GURPS Magic 4th Edition.

Is there a reason why the color PDFs cannot be used as the source for a hardback color magic book instead of a B&W one? All the SJ Games POD I have gotten from Drivethrurpg have been B&W, when I often buy other companies books in color hardback.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Interesting. Does Amazon have a color or hardback option?

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I know, me too...your best bet is to haunt Ebay looking for a used hardback copy; or go to local used bookstores and look in the gaming section. I've scored 3-4 hardbacks that way.

thom

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Bummer, but I will try that.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Bookfinder.com searches most of the book sites. https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?a...ic&st=sr&ac=qr

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

More titles have been released. I think we're over 100 books now.

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ondemand/

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Which now includes GURPS Adaptation!

I am very happy with this program. It gives me access to books that I missed in the past, books that I lost and now to books that were only available as PDF. Well done SJG!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Paper prices continue to rise. This is relevant to print-on-demand. Steven has things to say: http://www.sjgames.com/ill/archive/J...autionary_Tale

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

And Madness Dossier is now available POD!!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I owned a PDF of Madness Dossier, but had only briefly skimmed it. Now that I own a print copy, I've read it cover-to-cover. I love PDFs for reference... but for me, nothing beats a hard copy for actual reading.

I'm glad that this excellent title made it to POD!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I agree with that. I find it much easier to absorb information by reading a physical book.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Just wondering, I think I heard during the FnordCon RPG panel last week that we'd be getting some hardcover/color GURPS On Demand books. Anyone have any idea when that could be? I currently don't own any physical GURPS books and I'm wondering if I should wait for the hardcovers to show up or just buy the current black-and-white paperbacks right now. I think I heard that hardcovers would show up by the end of the year, but I'm not 100% sure.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

These are not hardcovers. These are softcovers.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Hi,

will Gurps Vehicles be a POD soon? Thanks

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I'm also looking for GURPS Vehicles and GURPS Supers (3e) on demand. Any idea when these vital books will be available???

Thanks!!!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Several titles have been added as full-color print-on-demand books:

http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/ondemand/

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

As a quick update, GURPS Ultra-Tech for GURPS Fourth Edition is now available in full color as print-on-demand. (It joins the 11 other color volumes that were released earlier this week.)

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I got "GURPS Conan" as POD and was disappointed in the quality -- the text is slightly blurry, which I suppose comes from the fact that this version was produced from scans of the old book? Is this expected? And if so, is there a way to know which PODs are produced from scans vs PODs produced from better sources like the original layout software files?

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Each scanned item should denote its origin. For example, all the GURPS Conan supplements have this information at the bottom of their Amazon blurbs:
In general, anything that was previously published prior to the mid-1990s will be based on a scanned copy. (At present, I believe the only scanned items we're offering as POD are the GURPS Conan books and Man to Man.)

I hope this helps!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

That is a problem with a lot of scanned PDFs not only with SJG. There are computer programms which sharpen the text and remove any creases in the original, including all the little problems with scratches and dust particles, or yellowing paper.

A friend of mine has the job to scan old maps and plans for a big company, shove ist through the big scanner and the computer does the rest.

Sadly that hardware and software has a very nice price tag. I guess way out of range for SJG.

The alternative is scanning the text, running a OCR software and cut out the pictures, and redesign all that into a new copy for sale, including a modern typo. Sadly - again very time consumig and to expensive.

I tried this method with a old Scan from a friends habilitation, it took me 4 weeks of free time to get it right.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Ah thanks! It didn't occur to me to look for that information on the Amazon page. I was looking for it on the SJG website's own page. Maybe it could be added there too?

I want to make it clear that I totally understand why it's like that. I just want to be able to manage my expectations in the future.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I see that the POD titles continue to come out at a steady stream, which is great!

Is there a timeline for when some of the core books of the Dungeon Fantasy series would become available? I'd consider

DF1 (Adventurers),
DF2 (Dungeons),
DF 16 (Wilderness Adventures),
DF 8 (Treasure Tables)

to be the "core" rule books. Followed by,

DF Treasures 1 (Glittering Prizes)
and the Dungeon Fantasy Monsters line.

Are any of these books in the queue?

Thanks!

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Any estimate on when Powers will be color POD?

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Hi just seen action exploits has hit in demand

Will the other action books be coming, especially specialists

Would also love to see after the end

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Finally! :D

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Hello, everyone.

Hoping that GURPS Arabian Nights is on the list for POD treatment some time soon.

I tried GURPS POD on Amazon and was amazed. I placed an order for GURPS Atlantis yesterday and it was in the Amazon collection locker at the train station today.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

We're experimenting with a Kickstarter campaign to add multiple print-on-demand titles to the catalog at once.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...d-extravaganza

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I was really happy to see Ritual Path Magic in the deal, as well as the After the End titles.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

I will certainly pick up After the End 1&2.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Any chance of more GURPS WWII Classic books coming out?

I imagine maybe it's not a popular line of books, but it would be nice to have one or two more, like All the King's Men, Hand of Steel or Return to Honor.

Particularly, I would buy almost all of them, including the "antagonist" books, but if I had to prioritize release, I would choose in that order above.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

SJG needs to have a POD of (3E) Vehicles 2nd edition.

Re: GURPS On Demand
 

Does anyone know when After the End will be on POD for the wider world. I made a mistake on my end and only got book 2. (And yes, it was my fault, not SJG's).