Does GURPS need original-setting world books?

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Sorry, I was unclear. By "big setting" I meant a setting that is extensively supported and widely played, like Traveller, Greyhawk, Ebberon, or the Warhammer 20K universe. If you wrote a list of the ten settings that it'seasiest to find players for, and the ten settings you can GM for longest without doing your own prep, the Champions Universe wouldn't be on either.

So you think SJG is intentionaly doing things to limit how many people play their games?

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

I think you are probably right.

This brings us on to KROMM's point. SJG work on GURPS has been stressing "generic" for twenty years. It has collected a contingent of fans who are attracted to genericity because they like variety in their RPG, or because they favour settings that happen to be little-known or little-liked, or both. We are a heterogeneous bunch with wild and wacky tastes, and no one setting is going to appeal to even a tenth of us.

ANd any adventure in that setting likely would sell a tenth at the rate of the setting itself.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

So you think SJG is intentionaly doing things to limit how many people play their games?

No. I think they are playing to their market as best they are able. They have chosen a niche which happens to have certain characteristics. SJG chose to publish a generic game (because, I think, that's what Steve Jackson feels or felt passion for and commitment to). It has been modestly successful, but it has naturally attracted a motley crew of fans whose preferences are not enough alike that any great number of them would buy any one setting or any stream of ready-to-run adventures.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

ANd any adventure in that setting likely would sell a tenth at the rate of the setting itself.

Unless, perhaps, each adventure contained vital, need-to-know setting information that rendered previous material slightly out-of-date. Which would drive customers like me into a tooth-chattering fury.

[blacksmith]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

No. I think they are playing to their market as best they are able. They have chosen a niche which happens to have certain characteristics. SJG chose to publish a generic game (because, I think, that's what Steve Jackson feels or felt passion for and commitment to). It has been modestly successful, but it has naturally attracted a motley crew of fans whose preferences are not enough alike that any great number of them would buy any one setting or any stream of ready-to-run adventures.

The thing is that only a handful of games ever really hit that level. DND and WOD would seem to be about it.

[Mgellis]

Hmmm....

It's an interesting problem. SJG could potentially increase both sales and recognition by supporting one or more original settings along with the GURPS system--some people like a system because it provides a tool kit; others like a system because it supports their favorite setting. But SJG does not have the resources (editing staff, art staff, etc.) to do so. Even if writers were supplying new material, SJG only has so many people and can only put out a certain number of books, etc. each year. And hiring new staff is risky--is a new setting going to bring in enough income to make hiring the new staff needed to support it worthwhile?

Is there a solution?

The only thing I can think of seems like a long shot at best.

I've heard that some publishers are not happy with the license associated with the new version of D&D. Could this be an opportunity to convince some of them to start producing "Powered by GURPS" titles to supplement (or even replace) their other lines? SJG would handle the core system and the other publishers would handle new settings. Is this feasible?

Mark

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by blacksmith

The thing is that only a handful of games ever really hit that level. DND and WOD would seem to be about it.

I would have thought that Call of Cthulhu (before WoD stole its "genre of the victim" angsty players), Traveller, and Warhammer were in that sort of league as well, but perhaps I'm wrong.

[Mysterious Dark Lord v3.2]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Hmmm....I've heard that some publishers are not happy with the license associated with the new version of D&D. Could this be an opportunity to convince some of them to start producing "Powered by GURPS" titles to supplement (or even replace) their other lines? SJG would handle the core system and the other publishers would handle new settings. Is this feasible?

Mark

Seems feasible to me. So should we hunt down game publishers and persuade them, or pass the hat and start our own publishing company of "Powered by GURPS" settings?

[Gamer_Zer0]

Originally Posted by Mgellis

Hmmm....
I've heard that some publishers are not happy with the license associated with the new version of D&D. Could this be an opportunity to convince some of them to start producing "Powered by GURPS" titles to supplement (or even replace) their other lines? SJG would handle the core system and the other publishers would handle new settings. Is this feasible?

Mark

But owuld it be worthwhile to them to do so? thats the kicker

[Gamer_Zer0]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

How is the "Powered By GURPS" program going?

"Powered By GURPS" never was an open licence. To publish something "powered by GURPS" you have to negotiate a licence and pay a royalty. SJG doesn't just sit back and sell GURPS &c. to your customers, it actively administers the licence to some extent, and company insiders have explained that it is not worth the effort (in view of limited editorial resources) unless the licensed materials sell well.

I think you would find in the first place that if a swarm of game companies applied to publish settings "powered by GURPS" that SJG wouldn't have the resources to deal with their applications and vet their products promptly. Rather than put up with deals in the legal and editorial departments of SJG, and pay a royalty on sales out of their already-meagre margins, most game companies would rather attach an un-playtested wart of a game system onto to the side and sell a stand-alone game. The more so because every man and his dog seems to think that he can dash of the world's best RPG in about a week.

Publishers might flock to publish supported settings "powered by GURPS" if SJG declared an open licence, waived its royalty/fee, and shouted "caveat emptor" to the product quality. And SJG might get an increment of revenue from extra sales of the GURPS core books and equipment books, Martial Arts, and Powers. But there's a lot that can go wrong with that program, and I can't blame SJG for not betting their shirt on it.

And thats why i said would it be worth it to the other publishers....