Call for Playtesters: GURPS Urban Magics

[Steven Marsh]

Call for Playtesters: GURPS Urban Magics

Welcome to the Big City!

Fantasy stories are filled with great cities: Baum's Emerald City, Leiber's Lankhmar, Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork, and many others. A city can be an adventuring party's base of operations, the destination of their quest, the place they have to defend in a war – or a ruin that someone else failed to defend. Or an entire campaign can take place in an urban setting.

But fantasy's about magic, and fantasy cities will have their own kinds of magic. William H. Stoddard's GURPS Urban Magics explores the interaction of magic and cities. New optional rules provide many distinctively urban magical practices and supernatural beings. Other sections discuss how to run campaigns in magical cities and provide templates for magically gifted city folk, from the urban shaman to the thaumatological scholar.

We need playtesters for this new supplement. Playtesters should have access to the GURPS Basic Set, and to one or more of GURPS Fantasy, GURPS Magic, and GURPS Thaumatology. Close examination of the new magical rules will be a major part of the playtest. Comments on plausibility and dramatic effectiveness will also be welcome. Playtesters aren't required to have previous experience; how well this material comes across to new readers is important information that will help make this a better book! We encourage first-time playtesters to apply for a reserved portion of slots available, as well as those with professional or other real-life experience with the subject matter. Prospective playtesters will also need to be registered e23 customers who have spent more than $50 at e23 in the past 12 months.

Prospective playtesters should e-mail jwilson@io.com with [UM] (for "Urban Magics") in the subject, and include your preferred e-mail address for the closed playtest mailing list, correct spelling of your name as it may appear in print, your e23 login name, and a few words about your qualifications, experience, and current gaming group(s). Please submit in this format:

jwilson@io.com
Jeff Wilson
jeff_wilson
I'm a long time credited playtester and lead playtester for 3rev and 4e, plus I have an ongoing game featuring magic set in the domed cities and ancient pyramids of Mars and one of the my regular players is a city planner here in Texarkana, complete with surveyed ley lines and the crossroads of 17 major highways...

Thank you for your interest. Adventure awaits!

[transmetahuman]

Dangit! $13 short. Another reason I shouldn't have waited for Thaumatology in print. :p

I was hoping this would be about Urban Fantasy the subgenre, though this sounds like fun too.

(Is it cheating if I go buy something now?)

[Steven Marsh]

Originally Posted by transmetahuman

(Is it cheating if I go buy something now?)

Not at all! We don't make the spending threshold check until the list of prospective playtesters is submitted to me, which is probably a few days away at the earliest. (You might want to make a mention in your playtest application that you're attempting to buy something in this "interim period" so I can remember to keep an eye out in case there's a problem... but that shouldn't be necessary.)

[alduc]

I wonder if this is in any way related to the "Fantastic Cities" hardcover that which was announced a few years ago.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by alduc

I wonder if this is in any way related to the "Fantastic Cities" hardcover that which was announced a few years ago.

It's about 32 pages of optional crunch, systems, and professions taken from that project.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

It's about 32 pages of optional crunch, systems, and professions taken from that project.

Mostly taken from that project. I wrote a bit of new material here and there. The "campaigns" section is basically new.

Bill Stoddard

[Plasmabunny]

I've never been involved in a playtest before, so I was wondering how exactly does the playtesting work? Do you receive the information and get to test it on your RPG group, is it play be post, or is it only in cities where groups of people who qualify can be put together?

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Plasmabunny

I've never been involved in a playtest before, so I was wondering how exactly does the playtesting work?

If you're accepted as a playtester, you will be subscribed to the playtest mailing list, and you will get access to the playtest files. Having a group who can do an actual test of the rules is generally considered a plus, but not critical by any means. As a playtester, your main job is to read the files and comment on any issues you think there are - unbalanced rules, unclear text, things that need to be added to the manuscript, etc. Of the four projects I've gotten playtest credit for, I only had a group capable of doing "hard" playtesting for one of them - the other three I tested simply by reading the manuscript and thinking about the rules.

I should note that I'm not an SJGames employee in any way, and I'm not giving the official word - just my experience with the playtest process. Check out the playtesting page for more information.

[Plasmabunny]

Ok, cool. Thanks for the info Kelly.

[Crispythemighty]

I would love to get into another playtest, but last time in GURPS:Supers; I stopped checking my e-mail one weekend and was drowning in the relies. By the time I caught back up the playtest was over.

If someone knows a way to make handling all the back and forth communication easier, I'd love to apply.