What do you want for the 35-year anniversary?

[Proteus]

Originally Posted by Anders

Next year is GURPS 35-year anniversary. The game was first published in 1986, although I couldn't find a specific date. No doubt someone will enlighten me.

Wikipedia claims of first edition that "The boxed GURPS Basic Set appeared at Origins in 1986," citing Shannon Appelcline's reasonably authoritative Designers & Dragons.

Wikipedia also claims that Origins in 1986 ran from July 3–6.

So July 4, 2021 is as reasonable a date as any for GURPS' 35th anniversary.

"GURPS offers you FREEDOM to game in any genre, any setting, any level of difficulty. Come and play it!" (with a snake made of d6?)

[Been]

You know, to celebrate the anniversary how about a history of gurprs,

Or a round table interview with SJG and Gurps grandees about the history and future of the game, maybe live so you can have a Q and A

[Anders]

Maybe have a FNORDCON on July 4th 2021? But again, that's mainly for those who already play.

[Proteus]

Products to spread the word:

• GURPS Basic Bestiary: a free PDF containing a small assortment of opponents usable with GURPS Lite, ranging from wolves to highwaymen to zombies to goblins to Greys to giant insects to an ooze. Include a clear listing of the various monster books GURPS has instead of a single, behemoth bestiary, so interested readers can find more.
  
  
• All in a Night's Work for 4th edition — and, ideally, a second, new, programmed solo adventure for a modern-caper or space-opera setting.
  
  
• One or more GURPS "how to play" videos (whether officially produced or just with an official imprimatur) showing not the complexity offered by the system, but its speed of play and flexibility of use.
  
  
• I know video is king for Kids Today, but I always liked the how-to-play narratives in older RPGs. Classic Traveller had an exceptional one, with internal monologues and descriptions of die rolls. Spin a GURPS vignette or two from various genres into such a hand-holding example and make the system all the friendlier-looking to new arrivals and potential players.
  
  
• While I'm dreaming, how about prominently situated scene-setting PDFs with nice color covers, "35 years of GURPS" corner banners, etc., so that potential buyers get greeted with settings just as much as system. Tales from the Solar Patrol seems like a great potential example, offering character pointers, gear, opponents, and plots. Yes, it's already available; I'm just talking about pushing it further forward so that it's an obvious product rather that one the buyer has to find. A mini-setting for Monster Hunters would seem another obvious choice (perhaps with bits from Cabal?), as would a rewrite of Tredroy or Harkwood for fantasy, perhaps Kromm's campaign world of "The Agency" for Action. I'm thinking of something that does the basic lifting for a new gamer, such that they get the clearly labeled, ready-to-play kernel of a game world from which they can grow their own campaign.

Products for the faithful:

• Official support for one or more of the major virtual-table-top platforms.
  
  
• Third-party-printed swag like GURPS-logo t-shirts, bumper stickers, canvas bags, etc. Pinnacle Entertainment Group already does this for Savage Worlds, for example.
  
  
• A snazzy sliding-lid dice-box with 6d6, probably in colors with the Illuminati symbol and "35 years of GURPS" on the lid.
  
  
• A licensed GURPS fez?

[AlexanderHowl]

Originally Posted by CarrionPeacock

The alternative character creation methods seem in Action 4: Specialists and Pointless X series could work well to introduce new players to GURPS.

Those are probably too complex for older children, as they are quite customizable, though they are simpler than the standard GURPS system. For example, Specialists has a six stage character creation process, and that is not including any advancement packages or any equipment packages.

For example, a fantasy setting may have a choice of 20 genre templates worth 100 CP, 20 universal lens worth 50 CP each, 20 advancement packages worth 25 CP each, and 20 equipment packages worth $1,000 each. If a GM wanted to run a 200 CP adventure, they would allow players to choose 1 genre template, 1 universal lens, 2 advancement packages, and enough equipment packages to spend their starting wealth.

[benz72]

Originally Posted by apoc527

What about a Kromm Patreon?-snip- You'd probably want to do something for the Patrons,

• GM lessons? Either a short duration of expert advice or subscription viewing to a well prepared/well run session/campaign?
• Hire a VTT GM? (seriously, if you had the option to bid for one of ~5 spots in a short duration game run by the good Dr. himself, wouldn't you?) Virtual GENCON, but whenever it needed to be held.
• Author coaching? or extra help on a not quite good enough submission?

This list just popped into my head, thought I'd offer it up on the slim chance anyone might find it useful.

[benz72]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

The Accidental Travel subgenre is quite old in Western fiction, dating at least back to 1726 with the publication of Gulliver's Travels, though I would argue that the tales of Sindad the Sailor are actually the ur-example. .

Not the Odyssey? Maybe I'm misunderstanding the fundamentals of Isekai

[Alden Loveshade]

What do I want for GURPS 35th anniversary? Easy.

The publication of my first GURPS book (currently awaiting playtest).

[Phantasm]

an "I've been playing GURPS for 35 years and all I got was this lousy T-shirt" T-shirt. ;)

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Phantasm

An update of GURPS IST.

Yeah, that. Some other stuff that's been on my wish list for a while...

• Voodoo for 4E
• that Phoenix Project worldbook that David has mentioned a few times