Gaming Ballistic - GURPS Content Posts

[DouglasCole]

I took a vacation over Labor Day, and also was very head-down launching the new Tower of the Moon product. Here’s what’s happened since then.

• Delvers to Grow books are all out the door; international orders finally cleared customs in the UK with no small amount of headache and pain.
• The inns and taverns systemless book is progressing, hopefully on its way to being handed in at the end of September
• A set of systemless companion volumes, settlements worked up like Ring Fort, but without page count restrictions, is also taking shape. The first is tentatively called Two Warring Houses. I’ve got an outline worked up.
• Tower of the Moon launched on Backerkit on September 3. We’ve gotten 244 orders so far a week into the campaign. I’m hoping to add another 250 by the time September ends and the launch closes. Shipments have already begun.
• Placed a large retail restock order for 10 of my Dungeon Fantasy RPG books. The size and quantity really emphasize the importance of retail outreach.
• I recorded an interview with GMShadow over in the UK; he's starting an Actual Play using the Nordlond Setting. Look for that interview and those sessions in upcoming weeks.

Read more here: https://gamingballistic.com/2021/09/...nding-sept-10/

[DouglasCole]

A great review of my Delvers to Grow book set, by Kevin Smyth (SMEYETHE, like writhe). I'm biased, but his take on the books matches my design goals: get in playing with the Dungeon Fantasy RPG in minutes.

From his comments:

"Delvers To Grow solves the biggest problem in GURPS – namely that character creation using Character Points is time-consuming and a genuine barrier to new players – with an innovative system of interconnecting mini-templates which help you to build a character from some common Dungeon Fantasy tropes."

"It’s my belief that this idea from Doug and Kevin – to break the standard GURPS template into modular pieces and help new players spend points in thematic blocks – is going to change the experience of starting to play Dungeon Fantasy (and by extension GURPS) once everyone who’s not already into GURPS catches a taste of it. It’s a step forward that is long overdue."

Read more at The Roleplay Rescue Blog

[Emerikol]

Maybe this isn't the right place but one thought that has crossed my mind with these products is that it would be nice to have a booklet (pdf?) of non-character specific "lens" that would apply to any character.

For example, if you want to be the "face" then here is a template (or several) for how to do that.

I know it's a "feature" that after you choose your class that there aren't a lot of extra choices but it seems like there might be a niche for such add-ons. Maybe not as a full book but as a pdf perhaps.

I also think another book on designing NPCs using templates and lens might be useful. Beyond just the character archetypes. I'd see this being used to define the non-classed NPCs. Maybe even an NPC burner where you do the early childhood, and then their profession. This would make each one somewhat unique.

Just brainstorming ideas.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Emerikol

For example, if you want to be the "face" then here is a template (or several) for how to do that.

I know you were just throwing out examples, but for a "Face" type, there's Fixer, Fixer II, and Agent. If you want to be mega-face, taking all three (with GM permission) on top of a thief or bard will get it done pretty well.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

From his comments:

"Delvers To Grow solves the biggest problem in GURPS – namely that character creation using Character Points is time-consuming and a genuine barrier to new players – with an innovative system of interconnecting mini-templates which help you to build a character from some common Dungeon Fantasy tropes."

Well, he's right. Similar kickstarters adapting the same idea to other genres might do pretty well, we just need someone (or a few people) to pick one and give it a go. I do wonder which would be best to start with. GURPS Banestorm or another fantasy product has the advantage of needing very little adaptation from DF. Some sort of Steampunk variant could also work well, especially as it would need little adaptation for a non-'punk game in the same era (e.g. GURPS Old West), and from there adapting for the WWI to WWII eras might not be terribly difficult. Given how popular WWI movies seem to have gotten recently, a DtG-equivalent for WWI and the general 'Early 20th Century' era might be profitable if done fairly soon.

EDIT: The more DtG-equivalents we get, of course, the more mix-and-match options are available for rapid character creation.

[Farmer]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

Well, he's right. Similar kickstarters adapting the same idea to other genres might do pretty well, we just need someone (or a few people) to pick one and give it a go. I do wonder which would be best to start with. GURPS Banestorm or another fantasy product has the advantage of needing very little adaptation from DF. Some sort of Steampunk variant could also work well, especially as it would need little adaptation for a non-'punk game in the same era (e.g. GURPS Old West), and from there adapting for the WWI to WWII eras might not be terribly difficult. Given how popular WWI movies seem to have gotten recently, a DtG-equivalent for WWI and the general 'Early 20th Century' era might be profitable if done fairly soon.

Perhaps DtG IW? I guess the options are endless, but as you suggest the profits might not be. The concept is excellent - it also helps with key NPCs, not just PCs (at least that's my key interest at the moment for a straight GURPS fantasy campaign I'm running - the players are well experienced, but it's such a time saver to rustle up an NPC with depth).

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by Farmer

Perhaps DtG IW? I guess the options are endless, but as you suggest the profits might not be. The concept is excellent - it also helps with key NPCs, not just PCs (at least that's my key interest at the moment for a straight GURPS fantasy campaign I'm running - the players are well experienced, but it's such a time saver to rustle up an NPC with depth).

An NPC and/or Townsfolk version of DtGr is on my "must-do" list. My license for the moment is confined to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, but will expand to "modern near-future sci-fi action" when Mission X hits ... and you better believe it'll use the DtGr methodology in one form or another.

[DouglasCole]

As part of a run-up to an actual-play podcast by Shadow of the GM, he first looked around for a setting, and much to my delight, he chose Nordlond and the Dungeon Fantasy RPG as its base.

Naturally, I was thrilled, and offered to help in any way; he asked if we could chat for a bit, and the resulting interview is below.

We chat about Delvers to Grow, some TFT stuff, Nordlond, etc. It’s a good chat, and we both talk fast so there’s a lot there. Give a listen!

Shadow of the GM - S2E6

[DouglasCole]

Delvers to Grow added to the Master Library for GURPS Character Sheet.

See the release history here.

User "Fantell" on my blog worked hard to put these together, and my Patreon Subscribers put them through some initial paces to their satisfaction.

Most of the time I spend in generating characters with Delvers to Grow is writing down the bits. This saves you from that. I have to imagine we're talking five minutes or so instead of the usual fifteen.

Armin has taken up the task himself of writing GCA (5, I think) modules for these books. My thanks to Fantell, Rich, and Armin for lower the difficulty of the on-ramp to the Dungeon Fantasy RPG and Powered by GURPS even further.

[sparcipx]

Originally Posted by DouglasCole

Delvers to Grow added to the Master Library for GURPS Character Sheet.

See the release history here.

Perfect timing, as I just bought all four Delvers to Grow PDFs from your site last weekend (and use Wilkes' GCS almost exclusively for building characters). I gotta do a better job of supporting you two...