GURPS - translate in other languanges

[Perssek]

Man, Devir ain't that bad. They brought a lot of good RPG stuff to Brazil, comics, card games, board games, the works! But the publishing maket around here (Brazil, of course) in very unfair to its companies (unless you happen to be a BIG one, which is not Devir's case). They have a lot of people that pratically give their blood to the hobby (to use a not very well translated saying), and basically try to survive.

Yeah, they did a lot of mistakes with GURPS, but they brought GURPS to Brazil. And Cyberpunk 2020, and Castle Falkenstein, and several other cool RPGs that just writhed and died because nobody would play them (gamers here seem to enjoy just regular and average fantasy stuff).

I am glad that they finally released the basic books, and I hope to see more, but it won't be soon, because a new generation of players has to be presented to GURPS, and has to enjoy it.

GURPS is crunchy, it's part of its lineage, there's no denying or arguing it, but it's not hard to game. Well, maybe harder than other titles, like, let's say, Risus or PDQ, but it's at least an equal to the D&D family or Storyteller in detail and learning curve.

Personally, I love it. Was my first gaming system, and has been the main until today (and there goes 20 years of gaming). But there are tastes and tastes. Like any other game, it's not for everybody.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Perssek

They have a lot of people that pratically give their blood to the hobby (to use a not very well translated saying), and basically try to survive.

Actully that translated pretty well, as we have a similar idiom "blood, sweat and tears" for "a lot of effort and hard work"

[D10]

it took them 10 years! in that time one could complete a college course before the books arrive here, and when its finally done it has a lot of bad translations.

Paying thrice as much as an imported book for something 10 years late mistranslated and with a very poor quality cover that destroys itself in a few years is a far cry of what a small publisher like Devir should be

[Kuroshima]

Well, the situation in Spain is even worse. We still don't have a Spanish version of GURPS. We used to have 3rd ed, but of course it's long sold out, and translations are, to say the least, creative... (Quality control is totally absent, BTW. I remember that on the sheet they gave you to photocopy, on the speed range table, there was "Esto no lo entiendo pero ocupa cuatro lineas"->I don't understand this, but it takes 4 lines and "Modificador de noseque"->Don't know what modifier). Then again it's the state of the industry. D&D 3.x books (by Devir, BTW) came with at least an error per page, sometimes quite significant. I cringe on thinking the size of the errata for D&D 4th ed, because between the official errata, and the errata for the translated version, it will start becoming rather substantial...

[Carlos]

Originally Posted by Druida

Carlos, you are rigth in part. I don't defend the Dragão Brasil, but I thing that the GURPS's fame is responsabilite of players of Vampire and D&D that talked bad of GURPS and doesn't know nothing about the sistem.

One of the most common anti-GURPS arguments I've heard for several years in the third edition era (although it can be heard even today!) was the rule of "to dig a hole", therefore meaning that GURPS was a over-complex system. Now, guess where that "argument" came from?

I can't blame Dragão Brasil at all. They published some stuff to GURPS system. But its widely known among GURPS players where that fame came from.

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by Kuroshima

Well, the situation in Spain is even worse. We still don't have a Spanish version of GURPS. We used to have 3rd ed, but of course it's long sold out, and translations are, to say the least, creative... (Quality control is totally absent, BTW. I remember that on the sheet they gave you to photocopy, on the speed range table, there was "Esto no lo entiendo pero ocupa cuatro lineas"->I don't understand this, but it takes 4 lines and "Modificador de noseque"->Don't know what modifier). Then again it's the state of the industry. D&D 3.x books (by Devir, BTW) came with at least an error per page, sometimes quite significant. I cringe on thinking the size of the errata for D&D 4th ed, because between the official errata, and the errata for the translated version, it will start becoming rather substantial...

!!! MY G.O.D.... "Esto no le entiendo" is the end! You convinced me to rethink my opinion about Devir =)

[Refplace]

I understand that there may be local issues with certain companies havign a distribution monopoly. However if such books were translated and sold independently like through E23 orW23 would there be enough of a market for them to justify the costs?

[Mateus]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I understand that there may be local issues with certain companies havign a distribution monopoly. However if such books were translated and sold independently like through E23 orW23 would there be enough of a market for them to justify the costs?

Well, as someone have already said in Brazil fill people thinks that made ANY sense to pay for something that you can "download free" on internet. I even have heard the argument that: "why I will pay $15 for the original product, if I can pay $12 for the pirate version" ... Sad but is still largelly true.

Edit: This is valid for software, music, pdfs, games, magazines, movies, etc...

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Refplace

I understand that there may be local issues with certain companies havign a distribution monopoly. However if such books were translated and sold independently like through E23 orW23 would there be enough of a market for them to justify the costs?

Apparently there isn't any current culture of paying for PDFs and other online stuff in many different countries, including Brazil. I don't know what the copyright laws are like down there, but if they exist they are mostly ignored.

At one point I emailed Devir to try to buy PDF versions of the Portuguese publication, so that I could stay consistent with their terminology in the translations I've done as a hobby, but they said that they won't be selling it in PDF due to the piracy/freeloading issues they have down there.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Ze'Manel Cunha

Apparently there isn't any current culture of paying for PDFs and other online stuff in many different countries, including Brazil. I don't know what the copyright laws are like down there, but if they exist they are mostly ignored.

At one point I emailed Devir to try to buy PDF versions of the Portuguese publication, so that I could stay consistent with their terminology in the translations I've done as a hobby, but they said that they won't be selling it in PDF due to the piracy/freeloading issues they have down there.

well that would be an issue then.