GURPS/4E... could be more attractive?

[griffin]

Originally Posted by Rev_Pee_Kitty

I just got back from my store liaison visit, in which I
...
So we started talking about why they thought that was, and both of them were quite sure that one of the reasons is that the GURPS books, "though they've improved, just can't compete visually with most of the D&D books. They're not as attractive, and when I see people making the decision to buy, a major factor is how the book looks."

".... the GURPS books just don't grab anyone. The new books look better than the old edition, sure, but they're still boring and the little bit of art that there is isn't that great."

Is this having an effect on sales? According to one FLGS, the answer is a definite yes. Old-school GURPS fans might not mind a book with no (or bad) art as long as it's crammed with useful text, but any product lives on new blood -- the maxim of the business world is "grow or die". Does GURPS need to get more attractive?

Yes, I believe he's right. This is especially true of the cover art. I remember seeing the first edition of Shadowrun from across the room. The striking Larry Elmore cover art really grabbed me. I went across the room and picked the book up. I was impressed more by the look of the book and the cool concepts than the game design. I only played Shadowrun (SR) a couple of times but I bought several SR books and converted them to GURPS to play. But I probably never would have given SR a look if it hadn't been for the covers.

Of course, the only reason I ever gave GURPS a try was due to Steve Jackson since I'd played the In the Labyrinth line from when Steve was designing games for Metagaming.

The art work for 4e, isn't bad, but it really isn't really doing a good job of competing with a lot of stuff out there. The old CP 2020 books had much better artwork. I remember one of my players picking up one of my Cyberpunk books (might have been the original boxed set that had Friday Night Fire Fight) and saying "nice art ... this looks cool, why don't we play this". Since I pretty much standardized on GMing using GURPS rules, it had to wait until I could do some conversions into GURPS.

I think improved art work, especially for covers would help direct sales at retail quite a bit. I've never seen a GURPS cover as striking as the old GURPS Fantasy one (1st edition demon cover by Denis Loubet). That picture was so cool it was reused multiple times including Space Gamer (which I think was its first appearance) and later for one of the Ultima computer games.

I just bought GURPS Dragons and the art is nice - stylized with an attitude. The layout is really nice. I like it much better than the GURPS Basic books. The two columns are much nicer to read and the boxes and they way the art work is presented are very nice. Personally, I would have liked to have had a couple of different artists doing the dragons, but the Alex Fernandez illustrations are definitely better than a lot of the older GURPS books. The style is vaguely reminiscent of "SMIF", but bolder and more well -- artistic.

If they do a GURPS Beastiary I hope they get Heather Burton and Shae Ryan to illustrate most of the creatures. I especially want Burton to do the griffins.

[jman5000]

I'm a brand new consumer of GURPS - never before had any dealings with SJG, or any of it's products.

Whatever that may mean :) (already my opion should be someone suspect, 'cause I'm one of those who actually participate on forums, unlike the vast majority)

I purchased basic set sight unseen, based on my desire to find something new that was different from D20 OGL sameness. This was an online purchase, from a Canadian book store and I only had the cover images to go off of. I decided to go with GURPS because I wanted crunchy and I wanted lots of timely releases. and reviews seemed to be generally positive.

Getting the books, and flipping though it, I was struck by just how NOT like other RP books this one seemed to be. Very colourful, though in a primary colour sort of way. The pictures felt retro for me. I thought immediatly that GURPS must really focus on the pulp fiction aspect of story telling - be it mystery or fantasy, or sci-fi.. The front cover art was so-so, but I really liked the stark black background colour. Nothing on my shelf even comes close to this.

Today I went to a FLGS to pick up a GM Screen (advise from another thread), and there was a wall of RP Books. all the spines seemed to be white, tan, shades of brown, with gold lettering - otherwise known as "safe" styling in RP hard cover books I think.

But waaaaaay down there, on the bottom shelf, part of the floor even, tucked away in the farthest corner where these 7 or 8 thicker than average hard back books which were pure black with this very contrasting bold text saying BASIC SET CHARACTERS, or BASIC SET CAMPAIGN etc. it stuck out like a sore thumb. I saw them immediatly as I was browsing the shelf, and just by the spine, they looked like nothing else on the shelf.

That's got to be worth something?!?!

I agree, if you don't know what GURPS is (like me) and don't take the time to research, then looking at these books for the very first time might be taken aback by it's design.

I'm growing to like it very much, I like how different these books are from all my other books.

someone else above made a really great point about coming up with Lite versions of some of the core books. I feel utterly daunted, adn that would be a great idea. Use the lite version as the gateway drug. Give it to them cheep, give it to them with lots of splash, get them hooked so that by the next time the addiction needs to be sated, the 'feel' or 'look' of the non-lite volumes matters less than if you are a brand new consumer.

Sorry for the ramble.

cheers,

J.

[Archangel Beth]

Originally Posted by griffin

If they do a GURPS Beastiary I hope they get Heather Burton and Shae Ryan to illustrate most of the creatures. I especially want Burton to do the griffins.

ooo, Heather Bruton... Also Sandra SanTara, if she'd be interested: http://windwolf.com/ ...

EDIT: Just in case anyone thinks I have an "in" with the art people... Nah, not really. I just saw Sandra's stuff at Arisia recently.

[David Johansen]

I'm still a little unclear on what GURPS for Dummies will actually contain. However it does look promising and cheap. :)

Anyhow, I just miss the old days when Fantasy, Horror, Autoduel, and Horse Clans were all under $15. Well that and I think a specialized rules subset is a good thing to have as a handout.

[Brorgan Wanch]

Personally, I enjoy the look of the 4E Characters and Campaigns books. They are easy to read, lots and lots of info, and the artwork is decent. One problem I have is that the other 4E books look exactly the same. To me, it makes Magic, and Infinite Worlds and so on feel sterile, because they all look identical. Also, I do enjoy varied artwork, although that is not necessary. I just recently got my hands on the Transhuman Space book. It is the most beautiful, gorgeous, stunning roleplaying book I have ever seen. The artwork is just amazing, especially the cover. It gives the setting a feel that seems to me to be lacking in many of the 4E releases.

[Fenikso]

Originally Posted by Rev_Pee_Kitty

GURPS/4E... could be more attractive?

Simply: I think so.