Report To The Stakeholders

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by jspade

I'm also oddly pleased to see GURPS support shifting toward e23;

I'm not. I like paper. But, of course, if that's what the economics of the situation and the availability of labor dictate, I can live with it.

Originally Posted by jspade

As far as digital games go, I'm not sorry to you stop making such an effort in that area. Frankly, there are plenty of publishers who do the digital side of things adequately well. I think e23 plays to your strengths, excellent writing and game design, and doesn't require developing new expertise.

Here, I agree. I gather that electronic games are, generally speaking, expensive and time-consuming to write and risky to market. And, on a more selfish basis, I don't go in for computer games. I'd much rather see that effort going into things I do play, which means just about everything else SJ Games has published except In Nomine. Now if only the odds were better of getting Car Wars back out there...

[Qoltar]

I also would prefer some more "Real book" GURPS products.
My printer/Scanner just went kaput day before yesterday.

Its also much easier to sell GURPS at a store if there are new hardbacks being released for it.


- Ed Charlton

[El Guapo]

I was disappointed to see that we'll only be getting two GURPS hardcovers this year but happy to see that they're planning more e23 releases. I like my GURPS. I'd rather have it on paper, but I'm more concerned with the number (and quality) of releases than the format.

My wishlist for this year's e23 releases is:

1) VDS
2) Action!
3) Cyberpunk or THS (tie)

[Kromm]

I'll miss having shiny books to point at and say, "Yeah, that's my line." On the other hand, I'm happy to have an RPG line to develop when so many other RPG lines have ceased to exist. If PDF is what it takes, then that's what it takes. And PDF actually means I get to write sometimes, which is cool all by itself. So as an "inside" stakeholder, I must admit that SJ's words made me happy overall.

[Libris]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'll miss having shiny books to point at and say, "Yeah, that's my line." On the other hand, I'm happy to have an RPG line to develop when so many other RPG lines have ceased to exist. If PDF is what it takes, then that's what it takes. And PDF actually means I get to write sometimes, which is cool all by itself. So as an "inside" stakeholder, I must admit that SJ's words made me happy overall.

While I'm not a pdf convert I did like the GURPS Spaceships and THS Changing Times. Very nice.

Until the appearance of VDS (soon?, soon(ish)? not soonish?) I'll keep myself amused by writing a spreadsheet for THS spacecraft.

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'll miss having shiny books to point at and say, "Yeah, that's my line." On the other hand, I'm happy to have an RPG line to develop when so many other RPG lines have ceased to exist. If PDF is what it takes, then that's what it takes. And PDF actually means I get to write sometimes, which is cool all by itself. So as an "inside" stakeholder, I must admit that SJ's words made me happy overall.

Absolutely. It's good to see GURPS as a line continue to thrive and grow. And I'd rather see two good books than four mediocre ones. But if those two could somehow grow to four in '09 or '10, that would be wonderful. Like many others here, I much prefer physical books -- because of the convenience, because of the feel, and because I used to own a really crappy printer.

Since it seems to be Munchkin's profits that drive GURPS's development, may '08 be a banner year for killing monsters, stealing treasure and stabbing your buddy.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Kromm

So as an "inside" stakeholder, I must admit that SJ's words made me happy overall.

What made me happy overall is knowing that the company is doing well. Revenues are up at a time when the industry as a whole is in decline, and the things which didn't go well are all internally-generated new things that didn't get off the ground rather than structural problems with the industry or big mistakes they made in their core business. They're operating well while maintaining their high quality and have some time to diversify their product line. The people who make my favorite games aren't going anywhere any time soon.

(And, yes, more selfishly, the number of e23 projects means a greater chance of my getting stuff into print, so I suppose there's that.)

[t@nya]

There's a thread about the 2008 report over on rpg.net

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?t=379479

There's a bit of negativity there, with people predicting that the percentage of GURPS sales will continue to drop and then GURPS will be extinct, or that it'll only be available as a lot of PDF (no hardcovers at all).

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Kromm

And PDF actually means I get to write sometimes, which is cool all by itself.

Why would this be?

[philreed]

Originally Posted by Rocket Man

Since it seems to be Munchkin's profits that drive GURPS's development, may '08 be a banner year for killing monsters, stealing treasure and stabbing your buddy.

I think Munchkin Quest will help with this. We put together a nice, color playtest set last week (and a mock-up of the box) and seeing the pieces on chipboard and in color really showed just what a leap in component quality this is going to be for us.