Here are a few things I'd like to see for GURPS.
- I'd really like to see some additional sourcebooks on Japan. We have GURPS Japan, which is Edo-period with some supernatural stuff thrown in. It's fine, but my first interest in actual Japanese history sprung out of the game Nobunaga's Ambition by Koei, which takes place in the Sengokujidai.
Before that you have all of the bloody battles and political fights of the Heian period, the war between the Minamoto and Taira, the legends of Benkei and Yoshitsune, etc. All the good stuff that happened long before Sekigahara in 1600 effectively unified Japan.
I'd be happy to write this stuff but I can't read sufficient Japanese to tackle historical research with any kind of speed. So it's better that I act as a peer reviewer than a solo author.
- GURPS Martial Arts support, with new styles or with campaign settings much like Gladiators. I could write this stuff if I didn't basically have a full time job and a half, which kills a lot of my time for research.
- Short DF Adventures like 2-Page Dungeons, soon to be released. Again, I'm not the ideal author for this, but it's useful stuff to have and I'd be willing to support it with my money and time.
One of the unfortunate things about Two Page Dungeons is that, since it's only available as part of the 2021 Challenge, I have no idea how well it would go over by itself, and therefore no idea whether or not more would be in order. Which is too bad, since they're easy to write.
ReplyDeleteI did a one page dungeon a while back and posted it on the Pyramid boards. Folks liked it but it wasn't exactly a barn-burner.
DeleteMatt - true, that. A couple thousand people have DF21: Megadungeons but I don't know how many actually wanted it enough to buy it on its own.
DeleteMartinl - I always wonder when it comes to free stuff, do people value it less because it is free?
With GURPS GMs and dungeons, I think it's an Inverted Bell Graph, with "GMs don't want premade dungeons and want to do all the work" on one side, "GMs who want completely premade dungeons, APs, etc" on the other, and "GMs who want simple dungeons that leave them plenty of space to work with" in the slump.
DeleteNote, I'm in the in the very small Venn overlap off "Don't want Dungeons" and "Want to use premades as idea generators"... which means as a rule I don't buy adventures unless there is something 'special' going on in them. But I have backed every KS Douglass Cole has run for Nordlond, so I'm willing to go the distance for GURPS at least, even if I don't really //need// them.
As dull as this might sound, I could really use a title like Boardroom and Curia: Asset Management.
ReplyDeleteWhy so?
DeleteIn my particular and limited case, an asset management blurb would be helpful for my group's planned Corporate Autoduelling campaign. Each player runs a corporate duelling team with a specific starting budget, and has to keep tight control of expenditures such as drivers, pit crew, equipment, vehicles, repairs, ammo, medical, clones, etc, lest they run short by the end of the season. Could be used elsewhere, but this is my particular use case.
DeleteAt one point I'd had a mental draft for a short article dealing with assets, but just as a breakdown of "cash flow" (which is positive and negative independent income), "fungible assets" which were things you could readily liquidate or expected to be able to obtain or trade away...basically gear...and "fixed assets" which were things like "house." Because it's GURPS, you'd need to deal with things like plot-protected gear as well.
Deletethat neglects the management side of it of course. But more depth than just "wealth" was on my mind.
We played Corporate Car Wars back in the day, but didn't use anything but tracking expenses and income from prizes. We didn't do anything more complex than we saw in the article back in ADQ 4/4. How complex are you making the money part of the game?
DeleteNeither did we, most of our records were kept on post-it notes!
DeleteThe details of the campaign are still in discussion, but we're leaning quite heavily toward the Team Management/Corporate Sponsor side of things rather than the autoduelling... so it'll be *mostly* about the money and league oversight.
The complexity is really what's up for discussion, most of us want something more than "reload spent ammo, repair damage, activate clone if necessary", but far less than requiring annual tax returns from each employee and assigning serial numbers to every piece of equipment. I'll probably end up writing it myself and post it in the forum after we've found our happy medium and playtested it for a "season".
Personally I think someone else needs jump on the longform "Adventure Path" bandwagon with Douglas Cole.
ReplyDeleteAs a few people have mentioned over the years, having those is what is keeping their group playing D&D/Pathfinder when they'd actually rather play other things but the GMs just aren't up to designing thier own over-arcing plotline adventures.
I'm not a big "adventure path" guy myself, but I bet Doug would be able to put one together for DFRPG.
DeleteI'd say the Nordlond adventures structure is basically the GURPS equivalent to Pathfinder APs, and it would take very little to turn into "something a bit more like an AP", and that's more of what I think most GURPS GMs are into, at least those that are into premade dungeons. But then, Doug has a very small slice of the GURPS online pie, a fraction of the overall online backer presence, which is why I don't think most GURPS fans are into premade adventures.
DeleteThe problem is a nested one, first he's only drawing from the Fantasy market, which is a fraction of the GURPS market, then he's only drawing the Norse Fantasy enthusiasts, and on that, he's cutting out the GURPS fans who hate DF. It's nothing like writing an AP for D&D/Pathfinder where the majority of the fanbase will be onboard with the genre and they're only loosing people who hate particular settings.
Yeah, my main interest (Japan-wise) is the Ōnin War, which of course is what set off the Sengoku-jidai. The roughly 150 or so years from the roots of the Ōnin War to Sekigahara is way more interesting than 17th century Japan to me.
ReplyDeleteI'm also really interested in the pre-Heian eras, especially the Yamato-jidai, but I doubt that there will ever be a GURPS supplement about that, unless I end up being the one to write it (and that is unlikely to happen).
I'd be happy to read any of those, honestly. Japanese history is especially fascinating to me, especially the same period that interests you.
DeleteI got interested in the Sengoku-jidai by playing the old Avalon Hill game Samurai, which is basically Kingmaker in Japan. I got interested in the Yamato-jidai in part because it was a notable ellipsis in the old RQ3 Japan supplement, Land of Ninja. So I blame Avalon Hill in general.
DeleteI hear you. I picked up the box for Nobunaga's Ambition and read the back and I was hooked. I paid a lot for that game, and played the living hell out of it. I eventually purchased NA II when it came out, and similarly played the living hell out of it. And damn it, Akechi Matsuhide was too good of a general to just kick out, but with that very high Ambition score he was always a problem eventually . . .
DeleteAmusingly when I lived in Japan I lived in what was Echigo province in the game. People were shocked I knew all about Uesugi Kenshin . . . duh, he was province #10 or #11 in the original game and one of the real viable positions to play. Of course I knew about him.
There is one title I am surprised hasn't been updated to 4e- Dinosaurs. The original is so dated, or out of date, it isn't funny.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing I would give my eye teeth for is a file on the discovery and study of magical phenomena. Dusty old scrolls and spirits are nice, but sometimes the best way to learn of a specific type of magic is to find it in the field and study it there.
I wonder if Dinosaurs would sell well enough to justify a hardback? A well-illustrated one would be awesome. It's Steve's personal pet interest, and so it would take some doing to get it done . . . he'd likely be especially demanding on all aspects of the project.
DeleteThe second bit sounds like it might make a good article in an upcoming Pyramid kickstarter issue.
If I wanted to do GURPS More Japan I would like to see GURPS Japan - Meiji Era at top of list
ReplyDeleteOn 'licenses I doubt they can ever get' I'd love GURPS WinX Club
On 'who knows maybe they could get it, I don't think the license would be to crazy and the author is legit gamer' GURPS Gold Digger - very over the top kitchen sink nature of the comic series plays well with 'it can do anything' Nature of GURPS
Doug's threatened Book of Bjorn
Doug still has not written DFRPG How to Train Your Dragon despite this being the most obvious and logical thing to write for Vikings, and D&D got Council of Wyrms so we really need the DFRPG 'how to be or hang out with dragons' supplement to make the product line complete
Grave of the Pirate Queen and You All Meet in an Inn are superb adventures and I want more like that
GURPS Anything with a Page Count - it would be neat to see an actual big book again
“we really need the DFRPG 'how to be or hang out with dragons' supplement to make the product line complete.”
DeleteDon’t we already have that, in the hardback Dragons book and the DF Monsters PDF of the same name?
Those two books are DF, not DFRPG, so technically, we don't. A Viking spin on those would probably fit in Doug's license.
DeleteHey Peter, is there any way to create a naruto rip-off with gurps? I don't know the system and don't own any books yet and I'm a bit overwhelmed by all the content... I guess your martial arts supplement would help me and... what else?
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I don't know. I've never seen even a minute of Naruto. Maybe a reader of this blog can help point you the right direction? Anyone?
DeleteI don't watch it extensively, but I have seen a couple of episodes. My impression is that it's basically martial arts supers soap opera, so probably Basic Set, Martial Arts, Powers, Supers, mmmmmaybe Chinese Elemental Powers just for some examples, but the powers are far more over-the-top (Naruto might be best modeled with Duplication, probably with Super-Effort to cover the insane amounts of Dupes he can manage, for instance).
DeleteI'll check this out, thanks!
ReplyDelete