Roleplayer #26, October 1991

In This Issue
Letters
Short Notes
Ice Age Stalker: Horror From the Dawn of Time (Andrea Sfiligoi)
The Gift of Tongues: Optional Language Rules for GURPS (Steffan O'Sullivan)
New for GURPS
Errata
GURPS Q&A
Building a Better 'Borg: Advanced Bionics Rules (C.J. Carella)
A Whole New World: GURPS on Hârn (Michael Cule)
Make your Best Better: Okinawan Martial Arts Styles (J.C. Connors & Brian McAuliffe)
The Snagger: A Surprise for Science Fiction or Fantasy Campaigns (Charles Oines)
Do You Want To Live Forever? Immortal Characters And Campaigns (Henrik Martensson)
Demons! New Summoning Spells and Expanded Generation Tables (Scott Paul Maykrantz)
Primary Sources: Reviews of Gameable Fiction: Bruce Sterling's "Mechanist/Shaper" Universe (Ben Iglauer)
Coming Attractions

Universal -- and International, Too

Wargaming started in France and Germany; miniatures gaming, as a hobby, began in England. Roleplaying was born in America, but belongs to everyone now. Dungeons & Dragons has gone around the world, and other RPGs have followed.

But we're seeing something a bit different with GURPS, something that we're proud of. We have always encouraged "our" gamers to write. Now, more and more, we're seeing good submissions from outside North America. (We've never been a U.S.-only publisher. Several of our best writers and playtesters live in Canada.)

In this issue, for instance, we have an adventure by Andrea Sfiligoi, of Italy -- he not only wrote it, but drew the two main illustrations. We also have an article by Henrik Martensson, of Sweden, and letters from James Steel of England and Brian Rasmussen of Denmark. And that's not unusual -- we have a number of regular correspondents in England, and a few in Germany and Scandinavia. And the occasional letter and submission comes in from just about everywhere.

And I'm getting to do more international travel, meeting gamers from everywhere. Last year I visited France, and met GURPS players from Italy and Germany there too. Next year I'll be at a convention in England. I've found that gamers are similar everywhere -- but not just the same. And the differences are interesting.

Spreading the Word

Still, the game won't really be international until it's available in languages other than English. Right now, GURPS is being translated into Japanese and Portuguese. We are negotiating with French, German and Italian publishers. The Spanish rights have been sold, but we don't know when that edition will actually appear.

We have also corresponded with would-be publishers in Poland, Yugoslavia and Lithuania. The problem, of course, is that there's no hard currency or free-enterprise expertise in Eastern Europe . . . yet. But they're learning, and we hope to be able to work with them as they learn. (Of course, that still doesn't cover all the major languages . . . we don't have a toehold in Russian, Chinese, Arabic or Hebrew, for instance. Give us time.)

The other great thing about the translations is that, once the game has appeared in another language, the publishers are likely to produce original material in that language. Some may eventually be translated back into English, which will let us present adventures with a truly international flavor. I'm looking forward to that!

-- Steve Jackson

Editor: Steve Jackson

Managing Editor: Loyd Blankenship

Editorial Assistant: Monica Stephens

Production Manager: Carl Anderson

Production: Carl Anderson and Manuel Garcia

Cover Art: C. Brent Ferguson

Illustrations: Carl Anderson, Michael Barrett, Angela Bostick, Steve Crompton, Evan Dorkin, Rick Harris, Michael Hernandez, Eric Hotz (by courtesy of Columbia Games), Andrea Sfiligoi, Ruth Thompson, John Waltrip

Circulation Manager: Mike Hurst

Roleplayer (ISSN 1050-3609) is published bimonthly by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated, Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760. Roleplayer, AADA, Illuminati, GURPS, Autoduel and the all-seeing pyramid are registered trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. Other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of Steve Jackson Games Incorporated or their respective publishers. Copyright © 1991 by Steve Jackson Games Incorporated. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA.

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