Does GURPS need original-setting world books? - Page 29

Collective_Restraint · 07-10-2008, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Now if you could get all 25,000+ forum members to vote on that Poll it'd really mean something, but I'd be surprised if you got more than 250 votes total in that poll.

Still, I think a little bit of feedback from GURPS players is better than none at all. I'm sure the poll won't be 100% accurate but saying that it's worth nothing at all is also false. The forumites here are pretty diverse. There are toolkit GURPS fans but also people complaining that there isn't enough books to help you bring the GM work down (like beastiaries, etc.). A lot of D&D refugees seem to pop up every now and then on the forums. How else could SJ Games gather feedback on their GURPS line anyways ? WotC does online surveys for their Magic : The Gathering expansions. Does everyone that plays Magic go to www.wizards.com ? No. Will everyone that visits the site dedicate time to answer the survey ? No. Still, they think it's a good way to gather feedback.

Collective_Restraint · 07-10-2008, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Besides, it isn't the settings that are lacking. SJ Games has four 4th ed. settings in print (counting Changing Times), and a positive swarm of easily-converted 3rd.-ed settings are available through e23.

I wouldn't count any of the 3e settings for new customers. Why would someone switch to GURPS while being stuck converting a setting ? They would simply choose anyther system.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agemegos

As for commercial prospects, the situation is like this. SJ Games has a fantasy setting, a hard SF setting, a sci-fi setting, and Infinite Worlds in print.

I'm not the only one that doesn't seem to qualify Yrth for "pure" fantasy. Sure, it has elves, orcs, humans but it seems to much of an alternate Earth as it features Christian/Muslim conflicts. I just feel there is not enough escapism in Yrth. I'm not saying that Banestorm is a bad setting, not at all. I'm just saying that probably a lot of fantasy fans might get turned down by a setting with Christians and Muslims.

Agemegos · 07-10-2008, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaldrin

No one said it wouldn't be. An 'incomplete' setting wouldn't be a problem if posted on the forums here. I think most people who enjoy GURPS are more apt to tinker with it anyway.

The manic tinkerers are already aboard. The topic of discussion is whether GURPS can pick up significantly increased market share by making a play for the time-constrained casual gamers.

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This I completely agree with. My main problem is that in order to write an adventure for an existing setting I need to want to play in it. Quite frankly the settings aren't what I want to play in... which is why I write my own.

I am just the same. And so I guess are most forumites and many current GURPS fans. But that's beside the point. Fussy folk like us aren't a good market for settings and adventures anyway. The plan would have to be to appeal to a much larger number of gamers who are readier to be impressed and readier to play games the way they buy them, glad that someone has done the tedious prep for them.

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Whoa, there. I never said anything would be for sale. I'm talking a resource you can go to and see what other fans of the game are doing. Maybe you'll use what they are, maybe you won't. You will certainly walk away thinking about how you would go about it though.

That sort of thing is never going to produce a successful, well-supported setting of the kind that would make the slightest difference to GURPS. GURPS in no sense needs amateurish, half-finished, original settings languishing in the obscure corners of the InterNet, not sufficiently complete to run, and lacking in all follow-up.

Agemegos · 07-10-2008, 05:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Collective_Restraint

I'm not the only one that doesn't seem to qualify Yrth for "pure" fantasy. Sure, it has elves, orcs, humans but it seems to much of an alternate Earth as it features Christian/Muslim conflicts. I just feel there is not enough escapism in Yrth. I'm not saying that Banestorm is a bad setting, not at all. I'm just saying that probably a lot of fantasy fans might get turned down by a setting with Christians and Muslims.

Yep. And a lot of sci-fi fans are turned off by the flat space and bizarre Vilani empire in Interstellar Wars, and a lot of hard SF fans are turned off Transhuman Space because the unfathomable non-human characters leave them with no confidence of being able to construct an adventure. And Infinite Worlds is a one-note wonder.

But SJ Games thought they were cool when it commissioned them. And there is absolutely, positively nothing to suggest that if they try again with another original setting they won't get the same result: a bunch of carping fans making querulous complaints.

Collective_Restraint · 07-10-2008, 06:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Agemegos

But SJ Games thought they were cool when it commissioned them. And there is absolutely, positively nothing to suggest that if they try again with another original setting they won't get the same result: a bunch of carping fans making querulous complaints.

And this is why I'm rooting for a unoriginal, typical fantasy setting. This doesn't mean that it needs to be boring. Were Mystara, the Forgotten Realms and GreyHawk "original" ? No. But they sure were successful.

robertsconley · 07-10-2008, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Collective_Restraint

And this is why I'm rooting for a unoriginal, typical fantasy setting. This doesn't mean that it needs to be boring. Were Mystara, the Forgotten Realms and GreyHawk "original" ? No. But they sure were successful.

Well I am trying to learn how to write them with Goodman Games. Using standard fantasy tropes in imaginative, interesting, and fun ways. One of the four lands I am writing is direct from my GURPS Campaign. The other three are original but use themes I used in my main GURPS campaign.

My secret sauce is that along with DMing GURPS I also ran events (and owned) at a NERO LARP (boffer) chapter. Unlike tabletop, LARPS are a intensely collaborative experience in all phases. Also feedback is relatively immediate.

If you want to succeed at running LARPS events you need to check your ego at the door and listen to your audience. Not hold on to the sacred cows of your own great ideas. Be flexible in presentation and plot.

While I have to change my techniques for tabletop RPGS. I bring the same attitude to my writing. August we will see how well it works with my latest product.

But I rather be promoting this 4th edition rather than the other 4th edition.

Rob Conley