Another week in the life of GURPS

[dr_kromm]

Caramba, but this was a busy week in the little world o' GURPS. Highlights:

• We reviewed the PDF of David Pulver's GURPS Spaceships 4: Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha. This is just the thing for gamers who like small spacecraft . . . or huge vessels that carry swarms of them . . . or spaceships with arms and legs (what?!). Look for it in early May.

• Steven Marsh (waitingforgo) posted the call for playtesters for GURPS Urban Magics, by Bill Stoddard (whswhs). If you're into magic in urban settings, and meet the playtest requirements, why not jump in?

• I reviewed and wrote up comments on the first draft of GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1: Philosophers and Kings. Those who like thoughtful low-tech games – especially historically accurate ones – will love this GURPS Low-Tech add-on.

• I reviewed and commented on the first draft of GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2: Weapons and Warriors, too. Gamers whose idea of historical accuracy is highly detailed violence will prefer this item.

• And then I started my review of GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3: Daily Life and Economics. This veers back into the "thoughtful" category, but at the level of farmers and masons rather than thinkers and leaders.

• I turned in more content for GURPS Gun Fu, which I'm writing with Hans-Christian Vortisch and S.A. Fisher. It'll be in the review and playtest queues before we know it. I need to learn how to review two manuscripts whilst jumping through the week to keep up with all this stuff.

Comments

[greatbuddah.livejournal.com]

Man, the Low-Tech suite is looking sweet! Go, go, go!

[greatbuddah.livejournal.com]

Oh, and how long are those Companions? 16-32 pagers?

[dr-kromm.livejournal.com]

Each looks to be in the 30- to 34-page range, pre-playtest, so I'd say 32 pages or so. Tables can lead to surprises, though.

[cut-copy-paste.livejournal.com]

Just trying to figure out what's in these compared with the main book. Is the main book going to be basically a tech catalog a la High Tech with the supplements filling in the historical info that we all loved so much from the 3e book? or how's it all spacing out? Nonetheless, I royally can't wait. 240+90 pages? sweet. (although looking back it's been a while since a 4e book didn't get bumped up to at least 256)

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

The Companions are a mixture: part historical context, part optional complicated systems for aspects of adventuring gear and game mechanics, partly catalogs of equipment that doesn't have a lot of adventuring applications. Different mixes in different volumes.

Spaceships 3...

[amesjainchill.livejournal.com]

So if 4 is out in early May...3 might be out in late April... Hmmmmmmm.
Having new Spaceships after a year, and close to my birthday? Awesome.

And all the other stuff looks great, too.

Re: Spaceships 3...

[dr-kromm.livejournal.com]

Hm, I thought I had hinted at this in a previous week's report: Spaceships 3 is aimed at the first third of April.

[xambrius.livejournal.com]

While updating my PDF wish list to include the Low-Tech Companion series, I typed Low-Tech Companion 3: Artisans and Engineers before noticing that was not, in fact, the correct name. I have no idea why I typed what I typed, but now I'm actually curious. Just how astronomically slim are the chances of such a PDF being written and released? I know Low-Tech will cover artifice and engineering, but how much information will it provide on the mechanical geniuses who maintained and advanced the tech of "stuff" through the ages? Just curious.

--
Tim Harris
The Seeker
Time Lord

[dr-kromm.livejournal.com]

Low-Tech and its support PDFs won't be Who's Who items, so they won't go into any great depth on specific inventors or scientists – they'll mainly name-drop in passing. However, the tools used by such people will be present, and Low-Tech Companion 3 will include some rules for practical craftsmanship.

[xambrius.livejournal.com]

That's great. I was thinking not so much a "Who's Who" as a roleplaying guide for players who want their own characters to be artisans and/or engineers (or better yet, beleaguered GMs who want to accurately represent artisan and engineer period-appropriate NPCs). If Low-Tech and the Low-Tech Companion series doesn't do that, it's not horrendous omission. I have no doubt that the entire Low-Tech suite will be chock full of very useful info both crunchy and fluffy. But if it can also be used as such a character guide, WOW! That would be a tremendous bargain indeed.

It's stuff like this that reassures me that my fractional contribution to your paycheck and the paychecks of SJG's many authors is definitely money well spent.

--
Tim Harris
The Seeker
Time Lord