Day 243
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Day 243
. . . otherwise known as the last day of August. We've certainly had, er, interesting times in the news. The hits don't stop coming, do they? So, let me distract you with a few words about GURPS, which are unlikely to infect you, drown you, or blow you up.
Recent Releases
August brought two new GURPS-related goodies.
Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game (August 20, 2021; PDF)
This complete, standalone game lets you step into the gaslamp fantasy world of Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius comics and graphic novels. It contains first-time revelations and color illustrations from the creators themselves, so it's as "official" as these things get! And you don't need GURPS to play; while the game is Powered by GURPS and compatible with GURPS Fourth Edition, it's far more than a mere GURPS supplement. Please note that this is a prerelease PDF and that we plan to follow it with a Kickstarter for a hardback version in the not-to-distant future; click the "Notify Me On Launch" button on this page to stay abreast of that.
GURPS Future History (August 26, 2021; PDF)
For a setting to be engaging, gamers need to know its history, what it looks like right now, and where it's headed – and they'll want answers to a long list of questions! That's a tall order for futuristic science fiction, because when the past is today, tracing an arc from now to then is an exercise in tricky extrapolation and trickier guesswork. This toolkit for building plausible futures (whether near or distant) helps you choose the key events and forces that gave rise to your campaign's status quo, and then identify themes, technologies, stories, and characters that make sense in that context. Think of it as GURPS Fantasy for science fiction.
Everything Old Is New Again Department
GURPS on Demand was active this month, bringing back GURPS Conan and the Queen of the Black Coast, GURPS Conan the Wyrmslayer, GURPS WWII: Dogfaces, GURPS WWII: Frozen Hell, and GURPS WWII: Motor Pool for Third Edition. Over on DriveThruRPG, look for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 3: The Carnival of Madness for Fourth Edition, and the standalone Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game.
Upcoming Plans
Looking toward what's next (would this be future history?), here are all the clues I can leak without getting in too much trouble. As ever, these are subject to change in response to global, local, and personal events. The list is in descending order by degree of completeness, which is only loosely related to eventual publication dates.
- Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 is complete and in the scheming-and-plotting stage.
- GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, by Alden Loveshade, is also finished and looking good for September.
- GURPS Action 9, by y.t., is in the production bullpen.
- Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya remains in editing.
- GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, is with the authors to crank out the final draft.
- GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes, by Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein, is in playtesting.
- Next up in the playtest queue is Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves.
- First drafts in the GURPS Fantasy Folk, GURPS Loadouts, and GURPS Template Toolkit series are with their respective authors – Anders Starmark, Paul Stefko, and Rory Fansler – to revise for playtesting.
- I am currently reviewing the first draft of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins, by Phil Masters.
My secret files include five further entries, but I cannot say anything about those at this time. Who knows what I might say in the GURPS thread in my blog, though? I update that every Friday.
Join Us! Join Us!
As the above notes should make clear, our processes are moving more smoothly than they were in 2020 and early 2021. Still, resources are tight, so we're prioritizing projects already in the pipeline and tackling queries and proposals only in the gaps. That means we cherry-pick the ones that look the most streamlined – the process most assuredly is not "first come, first served." Thus, it pays to internalize the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and to stick to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 18, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 18, 2021). Good luck!