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Old 05-27-2023, 01:09 AM   #41
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

I recently brought a bunch of new players over to GURPS from DnD/Pathfinder. They liked the customization; the ability to improve the skills you want instead of having levels; the opportunity for less-lethal combat; the flexibility in character creation; the "one core ruleset for all genres" adaptability. It's been my go-to system since 3rd edition ( I actually have a box set from an even earlier iteration), and I don't see that changing - UNLESS they simplify it to something else. Then I will stick with 4th edition, and pass on "GURPS Easy". If I want something else, there are lots of other systems to use.
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Old 05-27-2023, 05:44 AM   #42
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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I have to wonder in all this discussion if anyone has considered what it is like coming to GURPS based upon it's base premise (any game etc.) and how it feels to make that actually happen? For a new GM.

This will probably segue into a discussion into "Powered by" but in the end GURPS is just really hard to use as promised. Without, you know, as Bones said to Spock: "You mean I have to die to discuss your insights into death?"

Going beyond that, there's a reason that I use Fudge as an overlay or model for character generation when using GURPS.
I’ve been saying for a while that GURPS needs an easier on-ramp for new players and GMs. How To Be A GURPS GM is helpful, and Powered by GURPS games can be too. Third edition’s Basic Set was a better introduction to the system as a learning tool, but it was less of the promised ‘generic and universal’ without extra spending on supplements.

GURPS big selling point is that it lets you play in any world, as any character you can imagine. However, in my opinion, it takes a good amount of familiarity and system mastery to learn how to prep a GURPS campaign to be the game a GM envisions. What I think GURPS might benefit from is explicit, specific advice to new GMs about how to pare down GURPS, and choose the options and alternatives that it offers to fit the genre, setting, play style, and mood they are trying to achieve. I’ve recently started a blog where I’m hoping to show at least how I do it.

I think a tool that would be helpful would be a list of various axes of game design: power level; realism vs cinematicism; grittiness; abstraction vs. detail; etc., as well as different play styles and ‘feels’ you can get from a game, and what choices to make when setting up and running game to achieve them.
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:03 AM   #43
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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I think a tool that would be helpful would be a list of various axes of game design: power level; realism vs cinematicism; grittiness; abstraction vs. detail; etc., as well as different play styles and ‘feels’ you can get from a game, and what choices to make when setting up and running game to achieve them.
The first chapter of How To Be a GURPS GM touches those topics -- though it could certainly be expanded for more depth and detail.
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:34 AM   #44
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

Maybe we'll finally get Cabaret Chicks on Ice
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:36 AM   #45
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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The first chapter of How To Be a GURPS GM touches those topics -- though it could certainly be expanded for more depth and detail.
I agree HTBAGGM helps. I just think something that is so central to GURPS main attraction should be more explicit to new GMs and not cost them extra. I’m envisioning a small PDF, free to download like GURPS Lite. It would both help new GMs, and give people who are GURPS-curious a glimpse of how flexible it can be.
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:37 AM   #46
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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Maybe we'll finally get Cabaret Chicks on Ice
Or a thick hardcover book of detailed hiking rules that have been rigorously reality-tested.
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Old 05-27-2023, 06:39 AM   #47
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

Or the Vehicle Design System. I don't think it will sell very well, but some people will be to the moon.
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Old 05-27-2023, 08:20 AM   #48
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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Or the Vehicle Design System. I don't think it will sell very well,
Check the number of printings for the 3e version. It sold pretty well.
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Old 05-27-2023, 10:04 AM   #49
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

I hope he's trolling.
GURPS is so uncomplicated that they had to write a gazillion books to create the illusion that it is.

But GURPS Lite is still GURPS, or it wouldn't have the trade/brand name.
And that thing is "too simplistic" for many.

Not to mention ultralite.

No need for 5e
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Old 05-27-2023, 10:23 AM   #50
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Default Re: Has SJGames been working on GURPS 5th edition for 2 years, or is Steve just troll

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Check the number of printings for the 3e version. It sold pretty well.
Unfortunately, the consistent SJGames line on this has been "the RPG market is different now".
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