Reaching Out to Potential and New GURPS Gamers

[Christopher R. Rice]

I've been reaching out to new and potential gamers for GURPS lately on social media and I wanted to crowdsource some ideas on how I might do further that. I'm looking for maybe ideas on general micro-posts once a week along with links for websites or blogs that are active, actual plays, etc.

So what do y'all think? How should I best go about this to try and grow our fan base some? Obviously it should also be a resource to existing fans as well.


(Following @ActualGurps on Twitter would be a start so I can disseminate posts to GURPS players who can retweet them further. Also, if you have any ideas on who this account should follow on Twitter that would also be helpful.)

Thoughts?

[Mark Skarr]

I've joined a couple of Discord servers for TTRPGs/TTRPG software and have been slowly advertising openings in our GURPS group.

That may be an avenue as well.

[Farmer]

To me, the G and the U are key. Material for GURPS is therefore mostly very easy to use across systems, which could be a key way to interest other TTRPGers into looking at some of the material which might then draw them into wondering what else it can offer.

Similarly, the ability of GURPS to draw in and use other material means a lot of other ideas are easily represented under the system whilst at times also offering a broader opportunity to tell stories because of the open nature of the system. This also applies to 3E material being used.

Introduction to GURPS Lite, showing that the system itself is actually not overly complex and that it can be built up as desired.

GURPS has been around for a long time - that means the amount of material available is vast.

These all point to the "why" of GURPS. A passionate desire to tell stories and play them, and a passion to create deep and interesting characters, and the passion to have fun! Done through a flexible and broad lens that enables players and game masters alike to tailor their worlds and explore their own creative questions in unique ways.

So any snippet or link or resource that showcases this could be interesting and could start interesting and open discussions that reach across genres and systems.

[trechriron]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

...

(Following @ActualGurps on Twitter ...

I could not find this account on Twitter to follow?

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by trechriron

I could not find this account on Twitter to follow?

Should be here.

[benz72]

Meet them where they are.

By this I mean provide a solution to the ‘what do you want to do tonight’ problem that ends in fun.
The less coordination required the better.

A potential solution could look something like:
Post an adventure with pregens to Foundry so that the barriers to setup and play are lowered (presumable something already made, not creating new work)

Or run it like a CON, where you advertise a time and a table for those who want to show up (but preferentially select for new players)

[Christopher R. Rice]

Originally Posted by Mark Skarr

I've joined a couple of Discord servers for TTRPGs/TTRPG software and have been slowly advertising openings in our GURPS group.

That may be an avenue as well.

Links?

Originally Posted by Farmer

To me, the G and the U are key. Material for GURPS is therefore mostly very easy to use across systems, which could be a key way to interest other TTRPGers into looking at some of the material which might then draw them into wondering what else it can offer.

Similarly, the ability of GURPS to draw in and use other material means a lot of other ideas are easily represented under the system whilst at times also offering a broader opportunity to tell stories because of the open nature of the system. This also applies to 3E material being used.

Introduction to GURPS Lite, showing that the system itself is actually not overly complex and that it can be built up as desired.

GURPS has been around for a long time - that means the amount of material available is vast.

These all point to the "why" of GURPS. A passionate desire to tell stories and play them, and a passion to create deep and interesting characters, and the passion to have fun! Done through a flexible and broad lens that enables players and game masters alike to tailor their worlds and explore their own creative questions in unique ways.

So any snippet or link or resource that showcases this could be interesting and could start interesting and open discussions that reach across genres and systems.

All good points.

Originally Posted by benz72

Meet them where they are.

This is why I'm starting with Twitter. There are LOTS of people who want to try generic RPGs from what I've seen.

Originally Posted by benz72

Or run it like a CON, where you advertise a time and a table for those who want to show up (but preferentially select for new players)

Not bad. Might need to do some recruiting because I don't think I'll personally have time to do this.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Christopher R. Rice

(Following @ActualGurps on Twitter would be a start so I can disseminate posts to GURPS players who can retweet them further. Also, if you have any ideas on who this account should follow on Twitter that would also be helpful.)

Thoughts?

Not a who but it could follow this list.
https://twitter.com/i/lists/47548558
I made that so I could have a twitter filter to focus just on GURPS stuff and people. Any suggestions to add to that list are also welcome.

Lists are something I found out about a few years ago and let you organize things in different ways, kind of like a mailing list serv.
I have about a dozen different lists, some public some private that let me see the type of material I am in the mood for or have less prolific posters not get overwhelmed by the sheer volume of things on wide open twitter.

[Tinman]

For many years I've been running GURPS games for my friends scattered all over the US (Over 3 time zones). I use RP Maptools for the maps & Skype for voice. It works really well.

This past summer because camps were shut down & ran a GURPS game (maptools & skype) for my friend's kids & my little cousins. They are all about 14 yo. It went really well & the kids loved it.

[Tinman]

I think the biggest challenge to new GURPS players is until you play a bit it looks very overwhelming, intimidating, and rules heavy. Getting players into a game is the best way to get them into GURPS.