GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Throughout my career
I've learned that one thing is true:
Everybody delves.

— Ryōri no Tetsujin, Part-Time Delver and Full-Time Chef

It's difficult to imagine the parent of a mighty-thewed barbarian or cackling necromancer asking, "What do you want to do with your life?" Yet every successful delver had to choose a path at some point, because a career spent meandering through trap- and monster-filled dungeons without focus comes with only one guarantee: It'll be short! And the choice isn't an easy one – each academy, guild, and order claims to offer The One True Way, and of course cultures, faiths, and races try to impose their traditions. How's a young adventurer to decide?

As few fantasy worlds have career counselors, the answer to that question is left to the player, who faces a difficult choice between almost 50 professions scattered across 36 GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volumes (so far . . .) and 122 issues of Pyramid. The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide aims to simplify the selection process. It lists all the professions so far, describing each in sufficient detail to help you decide what supplements to buy, and indexing its main and alternate templates, lenses, special abilities, and much more. It also provides lists of general lenses, henchman templates, and henchman lenses.

Because puzzles belong in the dungeon, not in character creation!

—

Store Link: http://www.warehouse23.com/products/SJG37-0361

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

This come just in time for me, I should meet potential new players soon. (Covid permitting ...)

Thanks for this !

It also show I am missing a pyramid issue with relevant content for my DF incanter !

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

So will this be updated for free or is the 2020 edition part something to think about?

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

I briefly hesitated, because it's repeating a lot of stuff I already have, but...
I mean, it's $5. Sold.

Thanks for compiling this! It will be useful.

I should note, it doesn't appear to contain the actual templates. It's page/issue references and advice. You still need the book with the actual template/rules you want to use.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Yeah $5 for a good index of relevant books and Pyramid issues seemed a decent deal to me.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

That's exactly the kind of thing it exists to help with. I mean, I'm the GURPS Line Editor and the primary author and developer of the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series . . . and each time I go to write an article or supplement, I waste time looking for some little tidbit that I know exists in only the vaguest sense. I had to compile the data anyway, so I figured gamers would want it.

"2020 Edition" is just fluff intended to follow the pattern of real-life course catalogs and career guides. If we update it in another year, we'll change that on the cover. :)

It is NOT "all the templates and their related content in one place." That would fill 10 times as much space, render a ton of other products significantly less relevant, take a lot longer to edit, and for all of those reasons cost a great deal more than $5.

Its description makes very clear that it's an index: "GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide indexes all the stuff in detail. It lists every profession [...] For each, it offers a brief description and then extensive page references [...]."

The price pays for all the hours of research I had to do and double-check. And believe me, that was serious work.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Not complaining. It's $5. I've paid more for a sandwich!
The sheer amount of time I've spent going 'wait, which pyramid has the power-ups for this class?' or 'where was all the mystic knight stuff again?' or 'where was that beastmaster? I remember the article name doesn't say anything about beastmasters but that doesn't really help...'

It's really useful to have this. Again, thanks. It's already been useful since I'm doing a DF game with an Imitator and that class really needs all this information indexed.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Oh, I realize that! I just want to make clear to those following the thread that this is indeed just an index.

Keep us posted!

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Thank you, this sort of $5.00 pdf is well worth the money. If it is periodically updated, that is a bonus.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Very useful indeed: the kind of thing I vaguely wanted and had created about 20% of on my own, but this version is far better and worth the five bucks. Thanks, Kromm.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

I don't see the Saint or Warrior Saint from Pyramid 3/36 DUNGEON SAINTS by Antoni Ten Monrós.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

They're listed as a lens of Cleric and Holy Warrior respectively, rather than as separate templates.

I've been interested in the Imitator since I first read the article, but the complexity puts me off - something this supplement definitely helps with. I'd be interested in hearing how you get on!

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

An useful add-on could be a table indexing the racial templates and cost.

Besides DF3, I know of undead and monster ones in a couple Pyramids, but I wonder if there are more ?
(Also a couple ones in DFRPG monsters 2 and Companion 2, if we are willing to cross-pollinate)

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Douglas Cole has released an entire book filled with racial templates for the Nordlond setting.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Those are lenses, not professions. Nowhere do they offer full templates. Therefore, they appear as lenses; see the cleric and evil cleric for the saint lens, and the holy warrior and unholy warrior for the warrior-saint lens. Even the warrior-saint-saint made it in!

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

One thing gamers will have to live with here is "officialdom": Everything that's indexed is cited as originally published, with its original name and original status as a primary template, variant template, or lens. Only primary templates get top-level entries – i.e., headings. Variant templates (like buccaneer, Iron Mage, rogue, and savage warrior) and lenses specific to templates (like alchemist, life-force wizard, saint, samurai, sea raider, and songshaper) are all there, but under the relevant primary templates. Fortunately, a single PDF is easily searched . . . far more easily than "all the PDFs on my hard drive."

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

I’m thrilled with this book. Among other things, it’s a great bridge for players from DFRPG to GURPS DF. I’ve sprinkled some DF into my DFRPG game but haven’t had an easy way to show people what sorts of options have been developed already.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

As someone who owns the entirety of Pyramid Vol. 3, this is a must-have. I've tried to make a guide to DF in Pyramid for my players, but I always knew I was leaving out stuff because I didn't really have time to carefully check the less-obviously-relevant Pyramid issues for material. Great resource.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Honestly, even though I own all the stuff mentioned, I was surprised by at least half a dozen entries (Troubadour? Blob? Carnie?). I guess thirteen years is a long time to remember every little detail. This will appeal mostly to people who already own a lot of the relevant books, but the more books you own, the more useful it gets. If you use DF as a quarry for ideas and rules, it doesn't get any less useful. Wouldn't have spent much more than $5 on it, but it will definitely pay for itself in a short enough time.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Great idea for a book and fine execution, with some nice bonuses like locations of sample characters and special gear, and the "General Type" and "Preferred Environment" labels. Those simple labels look great for eyeballing the readiness of a team for a specific adventure.

I was surprised at the number of professions, including a few I'd forgotten about or never heard of in the first place. Gotta complete my Pyramid collection!

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Yeah the labeling was a nice touch.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Bought it immediately, when I saw it. Thanks Sean, that is really helpful.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Is there a distinction between Dungeon Fantasy and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy line products?

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, Powered by GURPS are two different product lines.

This volume addresses the broader line which is GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is a series, not a line; it's part of the GURPS line. To use it, you need the GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons; it's hard to get very far without GURPS Magic as well. It's extensively supported, with almost 40 supplements devoted to it and nearly 40 Pyramid issues supporting those. This is why a guide to all the professions is very helpful!

The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is a line, not a series; it's based on GURPS but has some differences to speed up game play. To use it, you need only the 100% self-contained boxed set. While there are a few supporting supplements, they aren't numerous and they're all highly optional. Notably, none add professions.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Although Companion 2 includes detailed notes for tuning a Holy Warrior into an Unholy Warrior on p.57.

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Will there be new professions added or do you intend to keep it simple?

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Terminology noted.

Out of curiosity, what do you call titles like Denizens or Treasures within the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series? A sub-series?

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

At SJ Games: Undecided at this time.

At Gaming Ballistic: Already decided in the affirmative. I'll let Doug Cole speak for himself.

Yes. The general progression is this:

Line (e.g., Car Wars, GURPS, Munchkin, Ogre, or TFT)

Series (e.g., GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, GURPS Hot Spots, GURPS Monster Hunters, or all the supplements supporting a given core book, like GURPS Magic)

Sub-Series (e.g., GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventures, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Settings, or GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures)

Lines have line editors, top-level web pages ("title.sjgames.com" will find the game), and distinctive trade dress (logos, typefaces, colors, page designs, etc.). This is the only level with significant commercial importance, in that we hire people, register trademarks, offer event support, etc. in the name of lines.

Series might have lead creators or developers, but those are roles, not job titles – they're essentially honorary. Series lack top-level web pages, though they may have landing pages in their line's web hierarchy. They share their line's trade dress with only minor variations in title typeface.

Sub-Series lack almost all of the above. At most, they share a title graphic that gets stuck in front of the title of all the products (e.g., a specially styled "GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures"), and perhaps a distinct section on their series landing page.

Gamers often say "line" when they mean "series," and sometimes vice versa, but SJ Games staff are instructed not to do that. There is a certain legal and commercial importance to getting that right. But even staff often say "series" rather than "sub-series," as any sub-series is by definition a kind of series (and "sub-series" doesn't roll off the tongue).

People are free to say what they want, of course! We're equally strict about avoiding "book" when referring to a PDF (the one you're reading or another). We prefer the more generic "item," "supplement," "volume," or "work," or simply "PDF." That's because "book" has a formal meaning in the market and the courtroom: something printed on pages and bound between covers. But we understand that fans will refer to PDFs as "books."

Re: GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide
 

Guilty! So, as one of the many gaming bloggers hanging around here, I appreciate the usage overview. I've made quick fixes, including to the blog post currently noted in my sig (a post that was abusing your preference regarding "book" usage about 50 times over. : )