Gurps Basic Set Book One Fantasy Edition

[David Johansen]

For a while now, some of us have been chanting that we want an entry level product along the lines of a GURPS FANTASY LITE or some such thing.

Especially with D&D 4e coming out.

Today at work, while stoned out on varsol fumes (and people ask where I get my ideas) I realized something:

The GURPS BASIC SET BOOK ONE could be retooled for a special fantasy edition if SJG happens to be re-printing by this summer. Drop the iconic characters for some races from Bane Storm and a few more monsters, tack on a short setting (say the Caithness material from Harkwood or Fantasy 1e) and it's good to go.

Much less work than a whole new book I suspect and it puts an entry level product that runs fantasy in the under $50 range. It could even be done soft back and stuffed in a box with a set of Cardboard Heroes and Card Board Heroes Dungeons.

Yes, I know March to June is a very tight publishing deadline but it's certainly an interesting thought.

[Witchking]

<shakes his head sadly>

[Fabricati]

You miss the point, young padawan. Further, it's a lot more work than you'd think. Not only do at least four other chapters need to be rearranged because of this (remember, if it 's FANTASY, there's little point in having those pesky TL8 armors in there, it'll just confuse people!), but there's a distinct possibility that no one would actually buy it in favor of D&D4e, especially with it being brand spanking new.

Better, I think, to build on the release frenzy in a calm, quiet manner. SJGames is already in Borders, they need some distribution elsewhere where D&D 4e is going to be sold.

Second, 1e was three editions ago; conversion... Could take a while. A LONG while.

[David Johansen]

Text is text, copy and paste. SJG's been using Macs for as long as I can remember. I'm not talking about a complete retooling of the book, just a version that includes some extra fantasy material in the place of the completely useless iconic characters.

Not as good as a dedicated fantasy entry point true. But more realistic given the time frame.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

Not as good as a dedicated fantasy entry point true. But more realistic given the time frame.

No, it's not. Speaking as a professional editor with a pretty good idea of SJ Games' development process, I assure you that there isn't time to accomplish this with the deadline you propose, and it's not as simple as you claim it is.

[robkelk]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

Text is text, copy and paste.

With all the "see pg. 00" style cross-references that are in the book, "copy and paste" is only the beginning of the job. The entire book would have to be re-proofread and re-typeset at the least.

[AOTA]

As much as I find it an interesting idea. If SJG were to do something like that they would rather do it right. Not just reformat existing text but reedit the complete Basic Set to become an all around Fantasy book. Doing something like that would take some time and if it was published most D&D players would think it was a cheap knock off of their game. I don't think of GURPS as really competing with D&D, I think of it as when players are ready for something different/better then GURPS will be ready and waiting for them. ;)

[David Johansen]

Fair enough...I'm overly Optimistic.

The layout and printing are beyond my experience but I have noticed that "the boat" seems to take well over a month.

I don't think there's a lot of see pg xx that refer specifically to the pages in question though.

Still, I'm not talking about competing. I'm just talking about selling to the people who are walking away from D&D over 4e, which from my limited perspective is around 50%. Sure, 90% of those'll go back eventually but even 1% of D&D's market would be a huge boost for GURPS.

[LoneWolf23k]

Wanna make a Dungeon Fantasy package for GURPS? Just take the Basic Set - Characters PDF, and sell it in an ensemble pack with the Dungeon Fantasy series.

[demonsbane]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf23k

Wanna make a Dungeon Fantasy package for GURPS? Just take the Basic Set - Characters PDF, and sell it in an ensemble pack with the Dungeon Fantasy series.

If they would do something as a Basic Set Fantasy (and I doubt it), I think something as that and/or with Stoddard's 4e Fantasy book material would be a lot better.

I don't like Banestorm, for some reasons. I'm not expanding them here. It is clear the book have quality in a technical sense, but my reasons have more to do with its assumptions, development and ideas put in it. Too quirky for me, and not very representative of fantasy fiction or even fantasy gaming.

I even abandoned GURPS for some years because almost all GURPS "Fantasy" was, due the management in the days of 3º edition, synonimous from "Yrth". It was only the release of Bill Stoddard's 4e Fantasy, a non-banestorm, generic and good fantasy sourcebook approach, what made me to return to GURPS. Because I'm interested in the system not for quirkiness but for genericness, "fabulisimilitude" and universality.

No ofense intended for fans, though. 4e Banestorm can, however, be relatively useful for people thinking as me, for pillaging chunks of material and using them in tweaked ways outside of the setting.

But that doesn't make necessarily a good or atractive basic fantasy book, IMO.