What do you want for the 35-year anniversary?

[TGLS]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I am almost afraid to even mention the possibility of GURPS Marvel for fear that Disney would offer to purchase SJG. After all, if Disney offered $20 million for SJG, I am not sure what would happen.

Worst Case: Disney buys SJG to get at Munchkin IP and the company is otherwise ground to dust.

Best Case: Tons of money is thrown at SJG, and GURPS catches a little of it.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

I am almost afraid to even mention the possibility of GURPS Marvel for fear that Disney would offer to purchase SJG. After all, if Disney offered $20 million for SJG, I am not sure what would happen.

Best bet would be Kevin Fogey who is a big nerd and understands creativity. Approach him with a proposal that included a variety of his favorite or high profile Marvel characters to get his interest and reference Munchkin and a bunch of the old book license's to show SJG credibility at meeting contracts and being a good faith partner.
Trouble is I doubt they would do it for just a royalty and the licensing fees would be too expensive for a GURPS line.

[scc]

Originally Posted by RedMattis

Well, that and basically being a "Isekai", since the Banestorms basically just drop off people from across the multiverse.

Isekai is only popular in Japan/Anime circles and even there it seems to be something of a fad that's dying out, and that still doesn't help the problem of not having a story to develop

Originally Posted by Michael Cule

I want an improved GCA (one that makes designing your own settings and templates for the program easier and actually documented) and to combine it with support for at least one of the popular virtual tabletops.

I think you could do a BANESTORM tv series if you set it in Tredroy and made it clear that to the protagonists 'Crusader' is a synonym for 'dangerous idiot'.

More likely to happen, but still has problems.

Originally Posted by Kromm

That is really what it comes down to.

There might have been a time when RPGs were a "hobby industry" that people who were mostly not professional writers did as an adjunct to their days jobs (a bit like the situation many freelance writers are in today). When nobody much had a full-time job in RPGs. When the products looked a little like the typewritten leaflets of political radicals at the university.

I'd argue that this is still somewhat true outside of big publishers, at least the hobby industry bit.

Originally Posted by Kromm

On the customer side, gamers now expect the products to look polished. There are big players who can afford seriously glossy production values, support in the form of things like miniatures and computer applications, and involvement in video games and even movies. They set a very high standard. On some level, every gamer wants their favorite game to compete with that.

This is fine, as long as the polish adds something to the game. I mean artwork is nice, but we don't need expensive art every 4 pages or so.

Originally Posted by Kromm

There's a bit of a disconnect between the two: A lot of longtime gamers seem to buy into the second but not the first. That is, they want everything to be polished, they don't want to wait for the products they desire, and they are constantly disappointed when various licenses or new technologies don't materialize . . . but they don't see that getting what they want requires paying a lot of full-time salaries, which means either accepting regular and sometimes significant price increases, or buying higher volumes at more modest prices.

Wage stagnation is something you grouse about later on

Originally Posted by Kromm

I think in some ways this is a result of those who have the most money being the elders of the gaming hobby, whose vision of how stuff works froze in time back in the 1970s, 80s, or perhaps 90s.

Their wages most certainly have stuck in this time period, there's also another factor, but I'd be tempting a warning, at least, if I brought it up.

[Polydamas]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Basically, there's just me, plus whatever fraction of Steven Marsh and Nikki Vrtis GURPS is allowed to borrow from other projects. That means certain huge initiatives – notably lengthy printed books and complicated design systems – are now impractical.

I thought Steve Jackson Games hired Rev. Pee Kitty as a full-time GURPS assistant line editor?

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Polydamas

I thought Steve Jackson Games hired Rev. Pee Kitty as a full-time GURPS assistant line editor?

As far as I know he, for reasons I don't know, is no longer in that job.

[David Johansen]

When you think about it, every decent historical movie is already a GURPS movie.

[apoc527]

Originally Posted by Kromm

That's my daily struggle, to be honest: Keeping a positive attitude that leads to fun gaming materials despite my personal economics not really supporting that attitude (after 25 years, I'm still a contractor!).

What about a Kromm Patreon? Would that be allowed? I can (being a lawyer) see all kinds of potential issues with it, but creative work requires a certain level of morale, as you say. I'd be totally down for sending a few bucks your way every month to make GURPS better. And if there are 50 or 100 or 200 of me, that adds up quick. You'd probably want to do something for the Patrons, but since everyone would want GURPS content anyway, it could be interactive things like Polls for the next product or something.

Alternately, more Kickstarters.

I guess what I am really getting at is that there simply isn't that much GURPS left for me to buy and while I DO support SJ Games as a matter of course, not being a Munchkin player limits my opportunities to throw money at the company. I don't believe SJ Games as a corporate entity can use Patreon, but I see no reason why Kromm-the-Contractor couldn't!

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

There's plenty of GURPS left for me to buy, and I'm slowly buying it. :)

[Polydamas]

If GURPS has become a one-man shop plus the freelance writers, a Patreon / paypal dot me / KoFi could be a good solution to help tide things over at Dr. Kromm's until we find a better solution. Those sites don't have to be for specific services delivered at a specific schedule, I treat mine as a tip jar.

I think gaming books are shamefully underpriced.

[seycyrus]

Not much Gurps left for me to buy either.

But, I'd buy it all again if it was incorporated in some way as part of Fantasy Grounds Unity.