GURPS News Archives

Subscribe to the GURPS News mailing list by going here and clicking on "Join Group" or "Subscribe to this group" or by rss.

November 28, 2024: Thanks!

While yours truly is Canadian, SJ Games is in the U.S.A., which is celebrating Thanksgiving as I write. So, I'd like to take a moment to thank everybody who has given me something to talk about in this spot for almost 17 years, and who has directly or indirectly supported me in my role as GURPS Line Editor for close to 30 years:

First and foremost, GURPS players like you! Your loyalty to the game – especially through long delays, periods of sparse releases, and rumors that "GURPS is dead" – is why GURPS still exists after 38 years on the market.
Everyone who has written or otherwise contributed to four decades of GURPS publications. Unlike many game systems, GURPS relies almost entirely on bottom-up efforts – the brilliance of freelancers – as opposed to top-down decrees from the publisher. Without you, GURPS would be a tiny handful of products or, more likely, nothing.
My colleagues, past and present. I'm the sole SJ Games staff member devoted to GURPS full time, but I'm strictly the rules-and-text guru. Layout and art, contracts and licenses, budgets and schedules, sales and payments, marketing and web pages, . . . all of that and more is the labor of other people. Often invisible, this team is the essential bridge between contributors and gamers.

Recent Releases

Speaking of periods of sparse releases, November was one. We do have things ready to go, but they are on the schedule for December and later. Sorry about that!

Upcoming Plans

And speaking of December and later, trust me when I say that we made much progress in November! Here is everything I can safely talk about right now. As usual, I mostly avoid dates – and the realities of publishing freelance content with a small team limit me to informed guesswork – but you can fairly assume that anything I am sharing is reasonably solid (or I wouldn't mention it!).

GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, is slated for December.
My two most recent How to Be a GURPS GM volumes and my newest Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure are all completely finalized. Keep your eyes open in January and February 2025.
GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters, is also a wrap. It should be out in April 2025 if all goes well.
My own GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 24 has made it to the end of the process, too, but we haven't put even a vague date on it yet.
Two additional manuscripts from your faithful servant are in the early stages of production: GURPS Power-Ups 11 (the full title will show up on the Internet soon, but not here!) and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 6 (which deals with a theme, not a class or narrow type of monster).
GURPS Hot Spots: Istanbul (by Matt Riggsby) and GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung (by William H. Stoddard) are with their writers to create final drafts.
GURPS Guns, by David Pulver, has entered playtesting.
We firmed up the playtest queue a bit: GURPS Martial Arts: The Bolognese School, by Nathan M.M. Meluvor, in January or February; GURPS Banestorm: Whispers of Tohrent, by Thomas Pugh, in February or March; GURPS Locations: Faculty Library, by John Shimmin, in March or April; and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Fishmen, by Anders Starmark, in April or May.

Then there are the Sekrit Projekts, 11 of them – projects new enough or sufficiently fraught with complications that I want to keep them to myself until they firm up. Moreover, two proposals are almost sure to get contracted and join that list. Hints regarding these sorts of things sometimes show up in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

As you can see, the reserve is filling up. However, we are still interested in rules-light 12- or 21-page supplements. Given the distance in time between today and the first free slots in 2026, we will continue to insist that those submitting queries know our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and limit themselves to items mentioned on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 18, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 18, 2024). We may make exceptions to all of this, but only for the established freelancers I thanked above.

Share This Post!

| More

October 31, 2024: The Best Update

Let's face it, the October installment of the GURPS news is the most awesome one because it falls on Halloween. You're free to disagree – but if you do, you're wrong. Okay, I'm just being silly! We'll work on new GURPS stuff for you even if you're one of those people (but we'll still make monster and pumpkin jokes).

Recent Releases

October slithered in with a scaaary addition to the GURPS library:

GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire (October 24, 2024; PDF)

It's challenging to write adventures for GURPS Monster Hunters, because it's horror but also high-powered, and the latter tends to take the edge off the former. To challenge heroes who can often work magic or are halfway to being monsters themselves, one needs scarier magic and monsters. This adventure delivers those, believe you me! More than that would be a spoiler, but it isn't giving anything away to state that this is a sandbox that could give rise to a story arc or possibly an entire campaign. In fact, even if the players sneak a peek, there's enough here that they'll probably still be in the dark until it's too late . . .

Upcoming Plans

You don't have to be in the dark, though: October saw our good progress from September continue; sticking to a schedule and keeping crunch down to sensible levels is paying off for us. Here's where everything I'm allowed to talk about stands at the end of the month. Dates and even the general order of these items are best guesses, don't forget.

GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, remains a lock for December.
My two How to Be a GURPS GM volumes are laid out, with all corrections, quotes, and art in place. In fact, the only things missing are publication dates.
This month saw my upcoming Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure join the previous titles on the "all done but for a date" list.
GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters, is in production – albeit a little further back than all of the above.
The editorial queue still holds two forbidden manuscripts from your faithful servant here: GURPS Power-Ups 11 (hint: it's skill-related) and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 24 (hint: it's the more "meta" of the two).
Peer reviews of GURPS Hot Spots: Istanbul (by Matt Riggsby) and GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung (by William H. Stoddard) officially end today.
In the playtest queue are GURPS Banestorm: Whispers of Tohrent, by Thomas Pugh, and GURPS Martial Arts: The Bolognese School, by Nathan M.M. Meluvor – one of which may get a call for playtesters in November.
Three projects are with their creators for revision from first to second (playtest) draft: Anders Starmark's GURPS Fantasy Folk: Fishmen, John Shimmin's GURPS Locations: Faculty Library, and something I can't name by David Pulver (rumor control: not GURPS Vehicles).

As well, there are 12 Sekrit Projekts that I refuse to identify with even a series or author name, because they aren't sufficiently far along. Any leaks regarding those would show up in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Join Us! Join Us!

The schedule I mentioned is looking full before 2026. With that kind of lead time, we're going to be sticklers about proposals demonstrating knowledge of our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. We continue to favor rules-light 12- or 21-page supplements, which should bear some relationship to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2024) unless your freelance writing experience with SJ Games runs to double-digit numbers of years and titles.

Share This Post!

| More

September 30, 2024: Across The Equinox

It's autumn, and certainly feels like it where your loyal GURPS Line Editor lives. The Harvest Moon (when y.t. was bitten by a cat) is behind us, and the Hunter's Moon (when y.t. hopes he won't turn into a cat) will appear before the next report. But work on GURPS knows no seasons, and like the new moon, is there even when you can't see it.

Recent Releases

September blew in with one new GURPS goody:

GURPS Power-Ups 10: Skill Trees (September 26, 2024; PDF)

Many gamers like the fact that GURPS is skill-based. That doesn't always equate to enjoying hundreds of skills, arbitrary difficulties that don't make a difference in play, a discontinuous cost progression, and the complexity of defaults, specialties, and techniques. This stuff can swamp new players – and "fixes" such as Talents and wildcard skills tend to get added to the heap, rendering matters more complicated, not simpler. This rules hack replaces all of the above with a unified, telescoping "skill tree" system that also helps focus character concepts and reduce the temptation to inflate attributes. As it totally transforms the game for GMs and players alike, it's better for new campaigns than for existing ones, but it's worth a look if you've ever had players complain that they can't understand skills.

Upcoming Plans

Behind-the-scenes progress was excellent in September! In rough order by how far along projects are, here's the status of everything I'm allowed to talk about. As ever, remember that these are informed guesses, not firm promises. Somebody could always turn into a were-cat.

GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice, is through editing and in production, and on target for October.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, is laid out with art and a final review, and looking solid for December.
My two How to Be a GURPS GM volumes are both laid out with art and final reviews, while my Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure isn't far behind. All are in the pipeline for 2025.
I edited GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters, moving it into the 2025 lineup, too.
The editorial queue presently consists of two items by y.t.: GURPS Power-Ups 11 (I can reveal only that it's sort of a companion to GURPS Power-Ups 10: Skill Trees) and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 24 (no hints yet, but it's sure to be controversial).
GURPS Hot Spots: Istanbul, by Matt Riggsby, and GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung, by William H. Stoddard, both moved into peer review.
The playtest queue now consist of GURPS Banestorm: Whispers of Tohrent, by Thomas Pugh, and GURPS Martial Arts: The Bolognese School, by Nathan M.M. Meluvor.
Anders Starmark hopes to have GURPS Fantasy Folk: Fishmen revised and into the playtest queue by December.
And the editorial review queue consists of just GURPS Locations: Faculty Library, by John Shimmin, which is now in my sights.

Then we have the Sekrit Projekts I can't discuss, of which there are 12. If something moves from "Can't tell you yet . . ." to "Now I can gossip!" during October, you'll read about it in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Join Us! Join Us!

While the 2024 and 2025 schedules are looking full, we aren't closed to the idea of more supplements if they're rules-light and either 12 or 21 pages long. The Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2024) explain what we're most interested in seeing. As usual, we expect query letters to show awareness of our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. With accepted proposals being for late 2025, if not sometime in 2026, there's no excuse for not taking extra time to inform yourself!

Share This Post!

| More

August 30, 2024: A Briefly Vacated Vacation

Your faithful GURPS Line Editor here is not, in fact, here, but on vacation. However, the end of the month is the end of the month . . . I can't leave you all in the dark! So, here's what's going on for GURPS – although I have only a limited ability to report on things I haven't thought about or worked on for a couple of weeks.

Recent Releases

August saw one new GURPS item slither in:

GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races (August 29, 2024; PDF)

Fantasy seems to have humanoid reptile-folk in its (often) cold blood: There are the straight-up lizard men who lurk in deserts or swamps, and then the stronger, tougher reptile men who resemble upright dinosaurs. Both races often claim distant draconic ancestry – but for the fire-breathing dragon-blooded, that isn't in doubt. Last but definitely not least are the serpent lords, magical infiltrators who are to fantasy as "reptoids" are to science fiction and modern-day conspiracy. Whether you're a player seeking a roleplaying challenge or a GM populating an adventure with monsters, you'll appreciate this guide to the origins, abilities, equipment, and story roles of all of the above.

Upcoming Plans

Here's what went on under my nose in the first half of August, supplemented by what our all-knowing database tells me happened during my absence. Despite the patchwork nature of the information, the details are as reliable as they ever are. Which is to say, I'd rate them as better than educated guesses but not quite promises.

GURPS Power-Ups 10, by y.t., and GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, have passed through final production and received art. Expect those in September and December, respectively.
My remaining Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure and two How to Be a GURPS GM volumes are all but finalized and still looking good for early 2025.
The editorial queue presently consists of three projects, also for 2025: GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters; GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice; and GURPS Power-Ups 11, by y.t.
The playtest queue holds three manuscripts as well: GURPS Banestorm: Whispers of Tohrent, by Thomas Pugh; GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung, by William H. Stoddard; and GURPS Martial Arts: The Bolognese School, by Nathan M.M. Meluvor.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Fishmen remains with author Anders Starmark to revise into a playtest-ready draft.
And the editorial review queue consists of GURPS Hot Spots: Istanbul, by Matt Riggsby, and GURPS Locations: Faculty Library, by John Shimmin.

As for Sekrit Projekts I can't reveal just yet, there are 13 of those in my files. Once I'm back from vacation and working on them again, hints and leaks might appear in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Warlock Knight

You have until September 14, 2024 to back Warlock Knight, from Gaming Ballistic. This is a full-color, two-volume Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure for a group of up to three delvers. Want to see even more adventures? Back this one!

Join Us! Join Us!

Rules-light supplements in the 12- to 21-page range remain the order of the day. For specific ideas, see the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2024). Successful query letters will show more than casual knowledge of our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. The 2024 schedule is now a done deal and even the 2025 schedule is fairly full, which means that you can and probably should take your time with this . . . an unambiguous exception to the usual editorial obsession with "sooner is better."

Share This Post!

| More

July 31, 2024: Lucky Seven

Months, that is . . . here we are, already at the end of July. I'll be taking some (unpaid, and thus jealously guarded) time off toward the end of August, so the next roundup might be a tad late. Consequently, I'm going to fill you in on everything I think I can get away with!

Recent Releases

July delivered two GURPS-related items, one new and one old but newly available:

GURPS Meta-Tech (July 4, 2024; PDF)

GURPS enables a legendary level of character customization. It also provides many catalogs of equipment, realistic and speculative. If you want to pay points instead of dollars for your stuff, that's covered, too – use Signature Gear for standard goods or gadget modifiers to turn traits into devices. And now you can pay dollars rather than points for gear based on character abilities! This supplement presents a detailed system for converting traits into artifacts with cash prices, assigning them standard stats and explaining how they're operated with ordinary skills, complete with a huge range of options for what makes them tick (or zoom, go pew-pew, or sit silently and menacingly).

Pyramid Volume 2 HTML Archive (July 11, 2024; HTML)

Pyramid Volume 1 (1993-1998) was originally in print, so between converting old DTP files and scanning paper, it was straightforward to offer in PDF form. Pyramid Volume 3 (2008-2018) and Pyramid Volume 4 (2021-) were both born that way, and remain available. The missing volume was another matter, as it existed only as messily organized html files. Well, now it's a proper and reasonably orderly collection available on Warehouse 23. You can buy individual years between 1998 and 2008, or the whole shebang as a single package.

Upcoming Plans

Lots of movement occurred here since my last report. I can't think of any noteworthy setbacks, either. (Did I just curse myself? Probably!) Here's the very latest I'm allowed to share:

GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, and GURPS Power-Ups 10, by y.t., have passed through final production and received art. Expect those in August and September, respectively.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew has a preliminary PDF with art, which is with Paul Stefko for auctorial review. It's still looking good for the end of the year.
The status of my remaining Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure and two additions to the How to Be a GURPS GM series has not changed from "sometime in 2025."
GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters, is reviewed, revised into its final draft, and queued for editing.
Playtesting ended on GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire. It's with authors J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice to create the final draft.
Revised first drafts of GURPS Banestorm: Whispers of Tohrent (Thomas Pugh), GURPS Infinite Worlds: Gotterdammerung (William H. Stoddard), and GURPS Martial Arts: The Bolognese School (Nathan M.M. Meluvor) are all in and awaiting playtesting.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Fishmen is reviewed and back with author Anders Starmark to revise into a playtest-ready draft.

Moreover, 14 Sekrit Projekts aren't yet at the point where it would be wise to share details, but 5 of them inched closer to the mark. Should any of them cross the line over the coming weeks, I'll let you know in the GURPS thread in my blog one fine Friday morning.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're still seeking short, rules-light manuscripts that meet the specific needs spelled out on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 29, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 29, 2024). Query letters that demonstrate familiarity with our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template will fare much better than those that do not. Be aware that I will be absent for much of August and that the 2024 and 2025 schedules are mostly settled, so there's no rush . . . if you're interested, take sufficient extra time to get +5 to skill (if you don't know what that means, you might want to brush up on your GURPS as well).

Share This Post!

| More

June 27, 2024: Sommar

And just like that, it's summer! Often seen as the season of slow living and vacations, it isn't so tranquil for those of us in the games business – it comes with huge conventions and the expectation of major releases. So, GURPS isn't slacking off beside the pool with a Margarita in its hand (Generic Universal Relaxing Pool Sippers, anyone?).

Recent Releases

June brought one GURPS-related item which, while not new new, is available to all for the first time:

Pyramid #4/5: Modern/Action II (June 27, 2024; PDF)

Backers of Steve Jackson Games' 2022 GURPS Pyramid Scheme already have this issue of Pyramid, Volume 4. Now everybody can get it. It offers organizations, tech, vehicles, adventures, and even an entire city suitable for TL5+ campaigns, such as those that use GURPS Action, GURPS Monster Hunters, or GURPS Steampunk. Did you like Pyramid #4/2: Modern/Action II? If so, then you're sure to want the sequel!

Upcoming Plans

Our efforts to support GURPS on a more predictable basis continued, though not without the predictably unpredictable hitches. Since we're on the theme of predictions, here's how things look from where I sit:

I was optimistic that we'd see Christopher Rice's GURPS Meta-Tech in June . . . but putting GURPS on a schedule after decades of "it's done when it's done" involves matching ambition to reality, which in this case led to a delay of a week or two. In the meantime, check out the cool cover. Thank you for your patience!
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, and GURPS Power-Ups 10: [Redacted], by y.t., are in production and looking good for August and September, respectively.

GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew has been revised, edited, and kicked to production. December now seems quite likely.
The status of my Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure and two How to Be a GURPS GM installments is still "sometime in 2025, barring an emergency with another project."
GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice, is headed into its final week or so of playtesting.
GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters, entered peer review.
First drafts of titles in the GURPS Banestorm and GURPS Martial Arts series are with their authors for revision prior to playtesting.
Another GURPS Fantasy Folk manuscript just arrived and is slated for editorial review at my earliest convenience.

And 14 Sekrit Projekts remain in states where naming or even hinting at them would be truly premature. Work is getting done, though, so if I change my mind about sharing details . . . well, I'm going to do so in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Join Us! Join Us!

Short, rules-light material demonstrably runs into fewer holdups, so that's what we're seeking right now. Does something like that from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 29, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 29, 2024) interest you? Feel free to send us a query letter! Please be aware that we expect even earliest correspondence to hint that you're conversant with our Freelancer FAQ and Submission Guidelines, and know your way around the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. A manuscript that's misformatted and wildly out of synch with our preferred voice and structure is almost a bigger problem than one that's too "crunchy." Thanks for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

May 30, 2024: Ah, May � Zing!

When you live in the Frozen North – as I do – you marvel at how a landscape of puddled snowmelt, bare soil, and leafless trees fairly explodes with birds, foliage, and flowers in less than a month. May is when that happens here, which is what I like best about it. (My love doesn't extend to the squirrels that eat my plants . . . I encourage the neighbors' cat to take up the slack there.) Things also happened for GURPS, albeit mostly behind the scenes.

Recent Releases

May saw one GURPS-related item, which will be new to some:

Pyramid #4/4: Fantasy/Magic II (May 23, 2024; PDF)

Originally available only to backers of Steve Jackson Games' 2022 GURPS Pyramid Scheme, this issue of Pyramid, Volume 4 is now on Warehouse 23. It offers a wagonload of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy support, plus thoughts on more general fantasy concepts such as alchemy, doppelgängers, noble blood, sinister tomes, and technomagic. If you enjoyed Pyramid #4/1: Fantasy/Magic I and the fantasy issues of Pyramid, Volume 3, this one is for you!

Upcoming Plans

Our focus throughout May was on working hard to ensure that genuinely new GURPS content arrives more often and more predictably, so that we're able to honor our 2024 and 2025 promises. Here's where progress stands at the end of the month:

Christopher Rice's GURPS Meta-Tech zoomed through production and production review. We now have a final PDF with proofed text and approved art, which you should be able to get in June.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, is close to being in its final form. It should hatch and slither into the GURPS library in August.
Surprise! I wrote GURPS Power-Ups 10: [Redacted] in a spare moment. Chances are you'll have it for September.
My other recent writing ventures – a Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure and two How to Be a GURPS GM expansions – are far along but being held for 2025 or a hole in the schedule, whichever comes first.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew left playtesting and is now with Paul Stefko to revise into its final draft.
GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice, moved into playtesting.
New titles in the GURPS Banestorm and GURPS Magical Styles series are with their authors for revision prior to playtesting.

As well, there are 15 Sekrit Projekts – that is, projects that aren't far enough along or moving quickly enough to name at this juncture. If one of these suddenly leaps ahead, I'm most likely to mention it in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Join Us! Join Us!

The Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 29, 2024) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 29, 2024) remain active, so we've updated them. If an idea there interests you, be sure to read our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template before you submit a query. Nothing is strictly off-limits, but your odds are far, far better if you propose something short (12 or 21 pages) and "fluffy" (near-systemless content, descriptive setting material, advice, or anything else rules-light) rather than "crunchy." Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

April 30, 2024: Good Riddance, Tax Season!

That's what I always think as April comes to a close. Leave it to governments to spoil a perfectly lovely beginning of spring with bureaucratic drudgery . . . Here, have a flower: 🌷. Or, if you prefer, have a report on what happened in the world of GURPS over the past month.

Recent Releases

April saw a new GURPS supplement sprout up:

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa (April 25, 2024; PDF)

Damming up the Mediterranean to get a quarter-million square miles of land and enough hydroelectricity to light up everything on and around it might sound like science fiction, yet it was actually proposed in 1928. It never came to pass, but that was because it was deemed economically, politically, and technologically overambitious, even dangerous – not impossible. This GURPS Infinite Worlds setting presents Atlantropa-1, a timeline where the will to take on the challenge and the drive to develop the necessary knowhow overcame caution. That doesn't mean the concerns and misgivings were unfounded . . . while the results were impressive, they came at the price of tense geopolitics, social upheaval, and significant climatic and ecological damage. That's part of what makes this world of megastructures, spy vs. spy, and divergent tech perfect for adventure!

Upcoming Plans

We continued to pursue our 2024 and 2025 plans. I can now suggest at least months of publication for things close to the present. All of our hard work to develop a firm GURPS schedule is starting to pay off.

I edited Christopher Rice's GURPS Meta-Tech and submitted it to production. If all goes well, expect that in June.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, is in the final stages of production and has approved art. Look for it in August.
The last few short items I wrote – the second of two Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventures, and two How to Be a GURPS GM volumes – are not on the schedule yet, but are in good shape to be dropped in if openings appear.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, moved into playtesting.
Next up for playtesting is GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice. There's still time to get involved – here's the call for playtesters.
I reviewed the first draft of GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles, by Phil Masters. It's now with him for very minor revisions before it goes to eventual playtesting.

There are now 17 Sekrit Projekts – projects so early in the development process, or facing such serious challenges, that I don't dare discuss them yet – including 2 that we contracted this month. Hints about these may show up here on the last workday of each month, or even in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Friday mornings.

Join Us! Join Us!

We haven't taken down the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 10, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023) because we're still settling 2025 and might need gap-fillers. However, smart money is on us temporarily pausing the submissions process soon-ish. If you want to gamble on us saying "yes" to a proposal to write something on those pages, please take the time to read our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template first. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

March 29, 2024: Rest At The End Of The March

That's in a manner of speaking, what with the month ending on a weekend and all. There was little downtime during March for those of us who work on GURPS, though. We were busy with items for the rest of 2024, and even planning the 2025 schedule. So, what does that mean?

Recent Releases

After some struggles to keep it in print, we've finally made every possible printed version of both volumes of the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition available via GURPS on Demand. You want B&W? We have it. Prefer color? That, too. Softcover or hardcover? We have you, um, covered.

If my dodgy html and css skills have served me well, you should see convenient links to all of this stuff to your right. (How things look on the Amazon site when you click through is beyond my control!)

Upcoming Plans

Most of our work was on upcoming titles for 2024 and 2025. I cannot promise exact dates – or even a general publication order – because too much could happen to make us shuffle them around. We continue to work toward a firm schedule for GURPS, however, so that might change.

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa, by Joshua Kilburn, is looking solid for April.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, moved through editing and into production, and is likely to attack this summer.
The second of two Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventures I wrote remains in production for later in 2024.
Christopher Rice submitted the final draft of GURPS Meta-Tech. This is now with me for editing.
Two additions to the How to Be a GURPS GM series, both by Yours Truly, are now queued for editing.
We're still seeking playtesters for GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko.
We posted a call for playtesters for GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice.
Phil Masters submitted a first draft for the GURPS Magical Styles series, and I started my editorial review.

Beyond all that are 14 Sekrit Projekts, including 3 new contracts this month. As these are either at the very start of the creative process or temporarily on hold, I'm not cleared to talk about them . . . yet. To keep tabs on those, check in here at the end of each month, or read the GURPS thread in my blog every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

With everything above, 2024 and 2025 are looking settled. We prefer not to plan too far ahead; the answer to "What do we want for 2026?" will depend on "What sold well in 2024 and 2025?" Thus, we may temporarily take down the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 10, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023). Then again, maybe we won't. If you feel like taking a risk on something on those pages, please review our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template before sending a query.

Share This Post!

| More

February 29, 2024: February Then Has One Day More

Thank goodness for the leap year! (Not just any year, either, but one that factorizes as 2×2×2×11×23. Yes, 23.) It gave us an extra Thursday, which as you probably know is "release day" for GURPS.

Recent Releases

February stretched to let us bring you a new GURPS supplement:

GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits (February 29, 2024; PDF)

Many cultures, and a lot of speculative fiction, identify certain entities as "spirits": angels, demons, djinn, elementals, genii loci, ghosts, nymphs, totems, and countless others, ranging from vague presences on up to true gods ruling over vast dominions. The lines often blur – one might almost suspect that the spirits prefer things that way! A game doesn't always need stats for these beings, but when it does, it can be a lot of work to get them just right. This guide is like a specialized version of GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races intended to help you with that. It includes individual abilities, new powers, and a system of stackable templates (corresponding to several overlapping typologies) that let you create any kind of spirit, however weird. Guidelines on spirit magic and spirit realms complete the picture.

Upcoming Plans

Meanwhile, work continues on the rest of what we have planned for 2024 (and a bit beyond). As ever, I'm going to be vague and make few promises, because I lack the power to consult with shades from the future.

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa, by Joshua Kilburn, is through production, has art, and thus is close to ready for publication.
Another Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure, written by your faithful servant, remains in production as a drop-in item.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, and a volume in the How to Be a GURPS GM series, by Yours Truly, are both queued for editing.
GURPS Meta-Tech has left playtesting and is with Christopher Rice to create the final draft.
We're seeking playtesters for GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko.
J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice submitted their revised first draft of GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, meaning it can move into playtesting as soon as its turn comes.

Beyond all that are 13 Sekrit Projekts, including 3 relatively recent additions. All are either very early in the creative process or on hold for various reasons we're working hard to address, so I cannot provide details right now. Like a spirit, I can be fickle, and might reveal more in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Saethor's Bane

As I write this, there's a little over a week left to back Saethor's Bane, from Gaming Ballistic. This is the first-ever solo adventure for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, so its performance will establish exactly how marketable such things are, with all that implies for the future. Please help make it a success!

Join Us! Join Us!

Not much has changed here: We're moving rules-heavy ("crunchy") content along to make room for the rules-light ("fluffy") kind, which should allow us to quicken the pace of the release schedule. If that appeals to you, review our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template; pick something from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 10, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023); and shoot us a query. As you can see from my mention of 3 additions to the docket, we're definitely open for business in this regard. Good luck!

Share This Post!

| More

January 31, 2024: Leap Into 2024

That's a goofy joke – and the month with an extra day is yet to come – but 2024 did hit the ground running, as far as GURPS is concerned. Thanks to a newer and evidently better approach to line scheduling (thanks, Allison!), projects have been moving more smoothly than in the past. For instance . . .

Recent Releases

January brought one new GURPS-related item:

Dungeon Fantasy: The Devil's Workshop (January, 2024; PDF)

The mission of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is to bring GURPS to newcomers by focusing on what's arguably the most popular genre in gaming, paring the system down to just the essentials for that genre, and using a friendlier layout. Another aspect of that is providing more ready-made adventures, which are tricky to create and sell for a generic game that boasts, "Anything You Want. Any World You Can Imagine." They're quite workable for a single-genre game with well-defined assumptions about character abilities and actions, but until now, there have been just two: I Smell a Rat (in the box) and Against the Rat-Men. So, here's a third, which is set above ground, not down a sewer, and doesn't have rats, only The Devil. More than that would be a spoiler.

Upcoming Plans

Perhaps more important, we've made excellent progress on our offerings for the upcoming year. I still feel it wise not to promise publication dates or order, but if we manage to hit our internal milestones for a few more months, I might relent on that. That is, if The Powers That Be sign off on it . . . announcing dates is a question of their permission, not my confidence level!

GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, is in final production and looking good for February.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa, by Joshua Kilburn, is through editing and into production as well.
Another Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure that involves neither sewers nor rats is in production, too, but not on our schedule and thus not a priority.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, left peer review and now awaits an editor.
The latest addition to the How to Be a GURPS GM series is also queued for editing.
GURPS Meta-Tech, by Christopher Rice, has had a month of playtesting and seems likely to get a few weeks more.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, is next up for playtesting. We're already seeking playtesters.
J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice continue to revise the first draft of GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire before its playtest.

That leaves 11 Sekrit Projekts that I'm not yet cleared to talk about . . . and a few of these were not among the 11 mentioned in my last roundup (some of which appear above). Should I change my mind on sharing details about these and other things, it will be in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

While we're pushing a lot of rules-heavy ("crunchy") content through the pipeline, please understand that much of it has been there for years. Current needs are decidedly more rules-light ("fluffy"). Is writing such material one of your strengths? Are you familiar with our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template? If so, then pick something from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 10, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023) and send us a query!

Share This Post!

| More

January 2, 2024: Good Riddance, 2023!

Happy New Year! Yes, it's 2024 . . . but your faithful GURPS Line Editor was taking his customary (and much-needed) winter break from December 21 through January 1, which delayed the December 2023 roundup. Let's catch up.

Recent Releases

Holiday absences and chaos meant nothing new in December, but there was some GURPS-related action:

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Bundle of Holding (December, 2023; PDF)

Upcoming Plans

People taking time off didn't prevent forward movement on lots of 2024 offerings. I'll preface my hints with the usual "Everything is subject to change without notice!", because who knows what a new year will bring? That said, I have access to insider info, so I feel fairly confident about most of this.

GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, moved from editing to production. My prediction is for a February release.
Not one but two Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventures by y.t. are also in production.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa left playtesting and is with Joshua Kilburn to prepare the final draft.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: The Reptilian Races, by Phil Masters, is in peer review.
GURPS Meta-Tech, by Christopher Rice, goes into playtesting this week. We already have enough playtesters, but . . .
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, by Paul Stefko, is next in the playtesting queue, and it isn't too late to get involved.
The first draft of GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire, by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice, remains with its authors for revisions.

There are still 11 Sekrit Projekts on the books – though not the same 11 as in November. All of these must remain unnamed for the time being. Check the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday for signs of weakness.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to ask for rules-light ("fluffy") content for a variety of reasons, and in fact are corresponding with several authors who have queries in to us. The lucky few will be those who obviously understand our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. In general, we'd prefer choices from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 10, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023) unless you're a long-established writer of GURPS supplements.

Share This Post!

| More

November 30, 2023: Into The Final Stretch For '23

Only a month remains in 2023. That's kind of sad if you're fond of your 23s, though perhaps good news if the year was a rough one and you're looking forward to a better 2024. Here in the Great White North, the end of November marks the beginning of 4-5 months of cold, ice, and snow; I'm hoping for the low end. However it all goes, we'll always have GURPS.

Recent Releases

November shot a hot-loaded GURPS supplement from both barrels:

GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (November 30, 2023; PDF)
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (November 30, 2023; Paperback)

If you think that realism and guns are two great tastes that taste great together, you'll know that firearms aren't magical wands of death – partly because drilling holes in people isn't instantly fatal, but mostly because so many factors make shooting tricky: heat and cold, humidity and actual precipitation, wind, sand, poor visibility, and more. Endless misfortunes can happen as a result, from frustrating misses to catastrophic equipment failures. Underground, at sea, in the air, or out into space, the list of woes grows long indeed. This expansion for GURPS Tactical Shooting lets you go into depth on all this in your games, discussing the problems, defining them in rules terms, and providing solutions in the form of new perks, techniques, and gear. The long list of inspiring examples from the big and small screens is pretty sweet, too.

Upcoming Plans

What's to come, mostly in 2024? Bang goes my shotgun, blasting hints and clues everywhere. The extreme conditions of the past year mean my precision is about as good as that of an Imperial Stormtrooper, but at least I'm pointing the boomstick in the right direction. I think.

GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, is still in editing.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa, by Joshua Kilburn, entered playtesting.
Paul Stefko sent back the revised first draft of GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew, which is queued for playtesting.
The first drafts of GURPS Meta-Tech (by Christopher Rice) and GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire (by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice) got their editorial reviews and are with their authors for revisions.
I wrote two short Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventures. No ETA on those yet.

There are 11 Sekrit Projekts on the books, too. For now, I cannot say more about those. I might relent in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated on Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're trying to publish more support more quickly, so despite the newest publication and several projects in the pipeline being fairly rules-heavy ("crunchy"), we're seeking rules-light ("fluffy") content that's quicker to review, playtest, and edit. Another thing we've learned shortens turnaround times is working only with writers who've clearly absorbed our Freelancer FAQ, Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and who respect the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 19, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 10, 2023). Could that be you?

Share This Post!

| More

October 31, 2023: Everything's Gone Orange

Your faithful GURPS Line Editor lives in what some call the Great White North. Right now, though, the North is orange: the color of the leaves on the trees, of the Halloween jack-o'-lanterns, and, here in la ville de Montréal, of the endless road cones and detour signs. White will arrive soon enough – we've already had a touch of snow to warn us. But you're here to learn what will arrive for GURPS.

Recent Releases

October brought a GURPS supplement that might be timely for Halloween, depending on whether you find extraterrestrial invaders, giant insects, and atomic bombs scary:

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (October 19, 2023; PDF)

The mad science of GURPS Atomic Horror meets the marginally less mad science of GURPS Infinite Worlds, answering the question, "What if the future as imagined in 1950s and 1960s science fiction had come to be?" The vision was superficially hopeful – often even utopian (where's my jet car?) – yet included technology that threatened to change humanity (not always for the better) or outright supplant it, and the menace of monsters ranging from subterranean horrors, through mutants created by Science! and The Bomb, to things from the stars. This volume examines the historical origins of this outlook, offers timelines illustrating where it might have led, and tosses in a healthy (?) dose of stats for wild gadgets and otherworldly visitors.

Upcoming Plans

What of the future of GURPS as imagined in late 2023? I have some ideas of how that might look. The details may mutate, but that's just a minor complication! What could possibly go wrong?

GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, got art, went through production, and is now in production review. It's looking promising for November.
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, moved into editing.
The first draft of GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.
The first draft of GURPS Meta-Tech, by Christopher Rice, entered editorial review.
First drafts of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa (by Joshua Kilburn) and GURPS Monster Hunters Adventure: The Face of Fire (by J. Edward Tremlett and Christopher Rice) await editorial review.

A total of 10 Sekrit Projekts have to remain hidden in the shadows for the moment, and we continue to review proposals for others. Want more crazed speculation? See the GURPS thread in my blog, updated on Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

I'll remind people again that we presently want rules-light ("fluffy") content more than the rules-heavy ("crunchy") kind. So, we're favoring such queries – and also those where it's clear that the potential author has read our Freelancer FAQ and Submission Guidelines, learned the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and picked an idea from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 15, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 15, 2023). Thanks in advance for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

September 29, 2023: Health Check-In

Last month you got a "stealth check-in," because I was on vacation. This month you get a "health check-in," because I had COVID-19 for a second time (I'm fine now). Who knows? Maybe this rhyming trend will lead to a "wealth check-in," because I'll win the lottery! In the meantime, I continue to work for a living . . .

Recent Releases

September came with a GURPS goodie that was previously available only as a BackerKit add-on for the Steve Jackson Games' GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge:

GURPS Boardroom and Curia: The Sospital Group (September 28, 2023; PDF)

GURPS Boardroom and Curia provides a system for assigning stats to organizations and using them in play. For this kind of supplement, it's nice to have ready-made examples – whether as illustrations of how to use the rules or as campaign elements. Here we offer a group that's a bit different from the usual run of military, espionage, law-enforcement, and criminal organizations, and from the mysterious Secret Masters behind half of what goes on in the typical game world. It's a modern-day global medical consortium that could patch up the heroes, employ them, or . . . yes, it could also play a part in a conspiracy. And it comes with all the necessary stats, right down to pay scales and service fees. The jury is out on whether they can cure COVID-19.

Upcoming Plans

Now on to guesswork about the future! I say "guesswork" because nothing below is so firm that its status or title can't change, and of course there could be surprises (like my recent illness) that hold things up.

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror, by Matt Wehmeier, is through editing, into production, and looking good for October.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, is also through editing and into production. Maybe November?
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, is next up for editing.
After a long pause, Paul Stefko is back to revising GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew in accordance with my first-draft review comments.
First drafts of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atlantropa (by Joshua Kilburn) and GURPS Meta-Tech (by Christopher Rice) continue to await editorial review.

Current Sekrit Projekts comprise one in editing, one in first-draft review, and nine in various pre-first draft states. We also have contracts in the pipeline. The GURPS thread in my blog, updated on Fridays when I'm not ill, is where to look for interim hints and leaks.

Join Us! Join Us!

Recent internal meetings have confirmed that we still want rules-light ("fluffy") items more than rules-heavy ("crunchy") ones. Sound interesting? Then please read our Freelancer FAQ and Submission Guidelines first. After that, study the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Finally, pick something we're looking for from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 15, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 15, 2023).

Share This Post!

| More

August 31, 2023: Stealth Check-In

Officially, I'm on vacation, so this update never happened. Unofficially, I can't sit around and ignore the end of a month . . . I imagine that psychologists have a name for it. So, here's a quick roundup of what happened in August. Read it, then look into this gizmo. Flash.

Recent Releases

August brought one new GURPS supplement:

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (August 24, 2023; PDF)

GURPS Fantasy Folk for GURPS Third Edition introduced a race of flying, human-like beings suitable as PCs. That was risky because flight without the downside of being either a beast without hands to hold weapons or pixie-sized and too weak to wield serious weapons poses a serious challenge for fantasy GMs. At the same time, it was undeniably cool – enough that it should come as no surprise that the winged folk have returned for Fourth Edition! This volume focuses on more than their mobility and tactical advantages, delivering a lot of information on culture, language, religion, and worldview. Consequently, the winged ones aren't simply "humans with wings"; indeed, they're different enough that you might be tempted to play one for reasons other than ". . . and then I drop a rock on his head" (though you can do that, too).

Upcoming Plans

Now, on to the fortune-telling. As usual, everything listed here is an educated guess. Despite being an insider, I cannot guarantee that titles won't change, nor offer firm dates or even an order of publication. In a year that has seen ice storms, forest fires, tornadoes, and floods strike my little corner of the world, I would be hesitant to promise anything!

GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, is in production and a safe bet for the autumn.
Editing continues on GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror, by Matt Wehmeier.
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, will move into editing as soon as Worlds of Atomic Horror moves to production.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew is still with Paul Stefko for revision.
First drafts of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atlantropa (by Joshua Kilburn) and GURPS Meta-Tech (by Christopher Rice) showed up and are awaiting editorial review.

Then there are 11 Sekrit Projekts: one in editing, one in first-draft review, four being written, and five at the concept stage. As those move forward, it's always possible that I'll reveal more in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated on Fridays when I'm not on vacation.

Join Us! Join Us!

We remain more interested in rules-light ("fluffy") items than in rules-heavy ("crunchy") ones. If that appeals to you, the first steps are to read our Freelancer FAQ and Submission Guidelines, and get familiar with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then check out what we're looking for on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 15, 2023) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 15, 2023).

Share This Post!

| More

July 31, 2023: And The Heat Goes On

The summer continues to be weird. For those not in the know – about where your faithful GURPS Line Editor lives or the usual state of affairs there – the recent forest fires were extinguished by vast amounts of rain, which came with tornadoes. Needless to say, none of this is exactly normal. Since we had no takers on GURPS Disasters: Forest Fire, maybe Tornado would be more interesting? Meanwhile . . .

Recent Releases

In addition to natural chaos, one new GURPS supplement blew in with July:

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (July 27, 2023; PDF)

Kobolds seem to get the short end of the stick. That's a joke. Not entirely, though . . . gamers tend to treat kobolds as little more than fodder monsters to be slain in bulk lots. That take is offered here, but so are others, including the traditional folkloric version and the (nominally) playable race found on Yrth – that is, in GURPS Banestorm. Unlike Elves and Goblins and Hobgoblins, this volume doesn't have a lot of culture to talk about, so it's, er, shorter. You still get all the traits, templates, gear, and so forth you've come to expect in this series.

Upcoming Plans

Which brings us to the hints. I'll preface this list with my customary caution: We cannot guarantee titles, dates, or even a general publication order. Things can get twistered by unforeseeable events, both natural and human.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk, by Anders Starmark, is through production and its production review, and should be out this summer.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, is in production and looking good for the autumn.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror, by Matt Wehmeier, has moved into editing.
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, is now at the top of the editorial queue.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.

Over at the Department of Sekrit Projekts, one final draft is in editing, two items are at the first-draft stage, five are being written, and five are more-or-less at the concept stage. For the curious, I recently explained – right here – why I refuse to name certain projects. On the other hand, sometimes I tip my hand in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated on Fridays when my comms and electricity connections aren't headed to Oz.

Join Us! Join Us!

Would-be freelancers might want to note this new FAQ (hosted by y.t. until our webmaster gets around to sticking it on sjgames.com). It's probably as important as our Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template – and the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). As usual lately, please be aware that we prefer rules-light ("fluffy") over rules-heavy ("crunchy") at this time.

Share This Post!

| More

June 29, 2023: Summer Heat

Less the heat of the summer sun and more that of forest fires: Your loyal GURPS Line Editor has spent much of the past month barely able to see up his street owing to the smoke. It also makes breathing, well, interesting. Anybody want to write GURPS Disasters: Forest Fire? Yet work goes on.

Recent Releases

For instance, there's a new GURPS supplement:

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (June 29, 2023; PDF)

"Goblin" means many things to many people. If you're an old-school gamer, it refers to a nasty little monster that lives in dungeons, sets traps, and attacks in hordes. If you're really old school, it suggests a supernatural creature related to faeries and bogeymen. Novels and games offer many other interpretations, too – including those found in GURPS Banestorm and GURPS Goblins. This goblin guidebook includes all of these and more, providing traits and racial templates for each type, along with signature professional templates, martial arts, gear, and mounts.

Upcoming Plans

What's next? I'm happy to provide hints! Please remember that while my guesses are educated, they are guesses . . . I cannot guarantee that titles won't change, or that factors beyond anyone's control (say, fires) won't radically change a project's status without warning.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, by Phil Masters, should show up in the next couple of months.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark) and GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch) are both officially in editing. Progress!
The editorial queue now consists of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (Matt Wehmeier) and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler).
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.

Behind the scenes, one final draft is in editing, one first draft is being revised, four items are being written, and five more are barely out of the concept stage. I hear there are some contracts afoot, too. For various reasons, I cannot spill the beans on any of this just yet. Curious? If I do drop clues, it'll be in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated every Friday when I can breathe.

The Path Of Cunning

Longtime GURPS fans and contributors Roger Bell_West and John Dallman have published issue #4 of The Path of Cunning. Do you miss Pyramid? Download this free GURPS zine to get your fix!

Join Us! Join Us!

Want to write for us? We're still looking for rules-light ("fluffy") rather than rules-heavy ("crunchy") material, we're still asking everyone to stick to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022), and we're still favoring queries that demonstrate a strong grasp of our Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. We cannot promise quick turnarounds on query letters and proposals, but yes, we are assessing them.

Share This Post!

| More

May 30, 2023: Looking Toward Summer

Your loyal GURPS Line Editor has arrived at his new address. So has the famous Wall o' GURPS . . . which filled most of 19 moving boxes. There's still much to do (the Wall o' GURPS got priority treatment), but a process that started unexpectedly in November and got intense enough to fill April and May is finally winding down. Unfortunately, that did affect the GURPS publication schedule for the past seven months – especially the past two. The fact that there were no releases in May doesn't mean that no work was done, though.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins, by Phil Masters, has jumped through all the hoops and should be published in the next couple of months.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds is also by Phil Masters and also due to show up in the next month or two.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (Matt Wehmeier), and GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch) are still in the editorial queue, but an editor has been assigned. The question is no longer "Who?" or "When?", but "Which one first?"
Rory Fansler has another few weeks to polish GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, and then that, too, will go to an editor.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.

There are 11 other projects open – one in production, one in first draft, four in design, and five in the concept stage – not to mention proposals under review. I'm not yet cleared to share details about any of these. However, I've been known to leak information in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated every Friday when I haven't fallen from a ladder (yes, really . . .) or been crushed under boxes.

Join Us! Join Us!

I am once again reviewing queries and proposals, but it's slow going. That doesn't mean would-be writers should give up! It does mean that rules-light ("fluffy") rather than rules-heavy ("crunchy") choices from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022) are strongly favored. It also means that there's no good reason not to take the time to become 100% conversant with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Thanks for your patience!

Share This Post!

| More

April 28, 2023: On The Move

Your faithful GURPS Line Editor is moving – and not because he wants to. Switching to the first person: I am a tenant (yes, a dread "rentoid"), my building was sold, and the new owner wants my apartment. Unexpected notice of that shortly after my bout with COVID-19 in November, a court date to settle the schedule and indemnities, searching for a new place against the backdrop of a 20-year-low vacancy rate, and an intense month of moving preparations all conspired to leave me limited time for GURPS since late 2022. Packing, moving, and unpacking will continue to distract me through May. I hope to return to my former level of focus by summer. In the meantime . . .

Recent Releases

As backlogs thawed, we got another new GURPS supplement:

GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (April 27, 2023; PDF)

Historical worldbooks have long been a strength of GURPS. If you're fond of the Italian Renaissance, you're almost certainly familiar with GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice, its follow-up GURPS Renaissance Venice: Spies of Venice, and the related (rival?) GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Florence. With the release of this volume, Venice is officially at the center of not just intrigue and commerce, but also its own series! Merchants of Venice provides everything you need for a "galleys & gold" campaign based in this great city: maps, stats for ships, rules for shipping and trade, and a great deal of painstakingly researched supporting detail.

Upcoming Plans

Now for the hints. I can offer no dates – and even titles have a habit of changing – but here's what's in the pipeline.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, by Phil Masters, remain queued for publication. Expect those in next month or so.
The current editorial queue consists of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (Matt Wehmeier), and GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch).
Rory Fansler continues to polish GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits as it awaits an editor.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew is still with Paul Stefko for revision.

Progress has been made on six other projects, too – especially three of them recently – but I'm not cleared to name those yet. For weekly peeks that might reveal more clues, read the GURPS thread in my blog. I normally post there every Friday, but with my upcoming move, I cannot promise that in May.

Join Us! Join Us!

Queries and proposals are particularly unlikely to get reviewed in May – I'm the reviewer, and my personal life will be utter chaos for the month – but that doesn't mean would-be writers can't prepare them as they wait. The usual tips apply: Stick to rules-light ("fluffy") rather than rules-heavy ("crunchy") choices from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). Comply with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Most of all, please be patient. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

March 30, 2023: Sprung

That's "sprang" if you're of the British persuasion. You know, the past tense of the current season, were the current season a verb, which it is not. But it has been here for over a week, so it started in the past. Thank you, I'm here until summer! Er . . . look, GURPS!

Recent Releases

The past month marched in one genuinely new GURPS item:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (March 23, 2023; PDF)

Do your GURPS Dungeon Fantasy thieves feel robbed after buying both DX and IQ, and a long list of skills besides? Do they worry about being the shankee rather than the shanker in a fight? Are pesky spellcasters stealing their spotlight? If so, you've come to the right place! This manual of stealthy pilfering offers ways to specialize, optimize, and – yes, we'll say it – cheat in order to claim your rightful role in the party and, eventually, the Thieves' Guild.

Upcoming Plans

There was a fair amount of behind-the-scenes movement this month. Here are all the clues I'm allowed to give. As usual, I offer no dates and everything is subject to change without notice . . . the world remains inconveniently weird.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, both by Phil Masters, and GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, are ready for release according to whatever mysterious schedule the Illuminati have in mind.
The current editorial queue holds GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (Matt Wehmeier), and GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch). We're actively talking about how to make those happen.
Based on the length of the above list, Rory Fansler has asked to make improvements to his GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits before the editor gets it.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.

I'm tracking six projects in addition to the above, but it's too soon to talk about those. For updates, leaks, and clues of the weekly rather than monthly variety, read the GURPS thread in my blog. I do my very best to post there every Friday, though I have major life events (moving house) coming up that might interfere with that in April and May.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS Powers is now available in color via GURPS on Demand.

Join Us! Join Us!

We still have enough final drafts waiting on editors that queries and proposals aren't likely to enjoy swift responses and fast movement. If you want to take your chances, you can maximize your odds by sticking to rules-light ("fluffy") rather than rules-heavy ("crunchy") titles from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). It also never hurts to show us that you're conversant with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

February 28, 2023: 1, 4-6 On 1d, 1d

That's straight off the official Random Month Table:

1, 1-3	January	3, 1-3	May	5, 1-3	September
1, 4-6	February	3, 4-6	June	5, 4-6	October
2, 1-3	March	4, 1-3	July	6, 1-3	November
2, 4-6	April	4, 4-6	August	6, 4-6	December

Hey, there are only so many ways I can announce the month! At least this one has Real GURPS Feel™. Speaking of which, you're probably here to learn about what happened with GURPS over the past month.

Recent Releases

Our focus continues to be GURPS on Demand, though we do in fact have several "Any day, now!" items chambered.

GURPS Gun Fu (February 23, 2023; Paperback)

The essential handbook of cinematic gunplay is now available in print! It describes the "gun fu" genre, offers character traits and combat rules for emulating it, adds a few tacticool guns and accessories to the ol' drag-bag, and rounds it out with a filmography heavily annotated with tips on giving your games the right look and feel. Think of it as GURPS Tactical Shooting for GURPS Action.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

DriveThruRPG is GURPS on Demand's partner in this buddy flick. If you're more of a drive-thru shooter, pick up your printed copy of GURPS Gun Fu there instead.

Upcoming Plans

Yes, it was another month characterized by "most of the action was behind the scenes." I know that's not as exciting as new releases, but we are hard at work. Here's the latest on where things stand.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, both by Phil Masters, and GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, just need trigger pulls. All holdups are administrative. We're working to resolve them.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice) moved onto the magical line between editing and production on February 15.
The editorial queue now consists of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (Matt Wehmeier), GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler).
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew is still with Paul Stefko for revision.

Then there are six other projects that I'm not cleared to talk about. For breaking news on those and everything else that's in the wings, check the GURPS thread in my blog. I strive to update that every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

We have a lot of final drafts queued up and so cannot promise rapid responses to queries and proposals, but if you're willing to roll the dice: Don't depart from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). From those lists, pick suggestions that lean to the rules-light side; "crunchy" manuscripts full of rules and stats are responsible for our current slow progress. Finally, your odds are best if it's clear to us that you know our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template inside and out. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

January 31, 2023: 20 . . . 23

We like 23! Let's hope that it brings us good luck after, well, 19, 20, 21, and 22. As we wait for a sign (any day, now . . . any day), let's review what has happened for GURPS so far in the new year, and look at what's coming up.

Recent Releases

As with last month, our focus was on GURPS on Demand.

GURPS Action 2: Exploits (January 25, 2023; Paperback)

This isn't a new product, but it is now available in print. This handy guide condenses all the rules you need for modern-day investigation, sneaking, chases, fighting, and other thrilling activities into a simpler form specifically tailored to cinematic adventure. Forget about weighty tomes and endless page-flipping! Just jump straight into the action.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand isn't the only place to get printed versions of your favorite GURPS supplements. We sell through DriveThruRPG as well. Our latest offerings there are GURPS Action 2: Exploits, GURPS Monster Hunters 1: Champions, GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission, and GURPS Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy.

Upcoming Plans

There was considerable progress behind the scenes this month! As usual, I cannot promise specifics beyond title and author, but I can share where each project is in our process.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (P.J. Masters, and totally not Phil Masters), and GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby) are all edited and laid out, have art, and have passed their production reviews. Expect them Real Soon Now.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice) moved into editing . . . yes, at long last. Sorry for the long wait.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) make up the current editorial queue.
Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror (formerly The Atom Skerry) is getting a bit of extra playtesting to finalize a few details, but is well on its way to a final draft.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko for revision.

I have half a dozen other balls in the air, too, but I cannot reveal information at this time. Will I relent and give up my secrets? Who knows! If I do, the place for that would be the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

Given the solid editorial and production progress this month, I'd say that queries and proposals might be welcome again after a very long time. My desire to keep these light on "crunch" (rules and stats) and heavy on "fluff" (descriptive material that could in theory work with any RPG) remains – as does my insistence that you stick to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). Also, please check out our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template before sending us anything.

Share This Post!

| More

December 29, 2022: 1,023 Days Later

That's the count from March 11, 2020, when the WHO declared the ongoing pandemic, to December 29, 2022, when I'm writing this. We hit binary 10000000000 tomorrow. We didn't get zombies, though I felt like a zombie after failing my HT roll. For GURPS, this period – also ongoing – saw us focus on smaller commitments that we were sure we could honor despite sporadic illnesses among our creators, and frequent supply and shipping hiccups. So, what did that mean for December?

Recent Releases

This was another month without new new GURPS-related items. However, we weren't asleep at the wheel. We got a huge number of things out via GURPS on Demand! Rather than blather about them individually, I'm going to throw up a grid (some dates are in November due to the mysteries of Amazon):

Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game

Everything Old Is New Again Department

You've seen all the stuff we've added to GURPS on Demand. We've also made some of these titles available in print via DriveThruRPG: GURPS Action 1: Heroes, Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game, and Man to Man.

Upcoming Plans

Many projects are still in the pipeline, hopefully to be published in the new year. I cannot pretend to know when, or even the most likely order, but here's where they all stand.

GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, is . . . done! The only holdup is people taking time off, so it should show up very early in 2023.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins, by Phil Masters, moved into editing.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) remain in the editorial queue.
Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry and Hans-Christian Vortisch's GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions are with their respective authors to turn around final drafts.
Paul Stefko is still revising GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew for playtesting.

Six other dossiers are advancing slowly; I cannot talk about them just yet. For further clues and perhaps even leaks, visit the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays (but not Friday, December 30, 2022 . . . I'm taking time off!).

Join Us! Join Us!

I cannot say what 2023 will look like in terms of unjamming jams and restarting stopped machines. I leave it to potential writers to decide whether they want to roll the dice on queries and proposals. As ever, if you choose to contact us about possible GURPS writing, it's important that you know all about our Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and that you stick to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). The lower the likely level of "crunch" – rules and stats – the better your odds of getting somewhere.

Share This Post!

| More

November 30, 2022: I Asked For "November" With An "N" . . .

. . . but I got "Covember" with a "C," which is a dorky way of saying that I caught COVID-19. I hate failing HT rolls! As the GURPS Line Editor was hors de combat for a three weeks – oh, and since SJ Games' CEO, Phil Reed, was also down with the sickness at around the same time – little changed for GURPS during the month. The few things worth mentioning are all "upcoming."

Recent Releases

Thanks to the joy of illness, this month brought no new GURPS-related items. I am very sorry for that.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

As a consolation prize, if you like, we'll soon make available color printings of many GURPS supplements formerly published in hardback. Keep your eyes on GURPS on Demand for GURPS Banestorm, GURPS Bio-Tech, GURPS Dragons, GURPS Fantasy, GURPS High-Tech, GURPS Infinite Worlds, GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS Magic, GURPS Martial Arts, GURPS Space, GURPS Thaumatology, and GURPS Ultra-Tech. Most of these are only in PDF or B&W softcover right now. While I can't help lovers of paper or color get color hardcovers, here's your chance to grab color softcovers.

Upcoming Plans

Remember how I've been warning that unforeseen events could derail progress, especially since the debut of the pandemic? Well, illnesses at SJ Games proved the point recently. Work does continue, and I'll hint at what's going on, but there hasn't been a lot of change.

GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, is through editing and production, got art, and just had its production review. Expect it soon.
All of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark) remain in the editorial queue, but . . . we are taking steps to clear the blockage. We even have a Plan B as well as a Plan A.
The final draft of GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, arrived and went directly into the aforementioned editorial queue.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions is still with Hans-Christian Vortisch to produce the final draft by year's end.
Playtesting of Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry concluded.
Paul Stefko continues to revise GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew for playtesting.

Six additional projects exist but aren't ones I can talk about. Which said, the latest internal update on five of them was during the past month, so they aren't just rotting. For hints regarding ongoing work, visit the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

Will we stop getting sick? Can we clear the editorial queue? There are so many questions! It's up to you whether you think the answers mean it would be wise to submit a query letter or proposal right now. You can certainly improve your odds by being completely fluent in our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template, and by limiting yourself to the recommendations of the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 3, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2022). I'd suggest aiming at less "crunchy" material, because that has demonstrably moved through our pipeline about twice as fast as content with lots of rules and stats.

Share This Post!

| More

October 31, 2022: You Can't Spell "October" Without "Boo"

Just don't ask me what to do with the leftover c, e, r, and t (it's a good start on "certifiable"). However, if you're anything like me – you know, certifiable – the last day of October is your favorite. You'll be invested in what's new for GURPS, too.

Recent Releases

This month saw one new GURPS-related item, refreshingly unrelated to pumpkins and zombies:

GURPS Vehicles: War Galleys (October 20, 2022; PDF)

From TL1 through TL4, ships were the pinnacle of transportation technology – and then as now, the military-minded saw tech's leading edge as its bleeding edge. There were certainly inland powers far from the nearest coast, but anyone building a genuine empire – political or economic – had to contend with rivers, lakes, and seas. And throughout this period, there was no better way to move around troops or goods than with a fleet of oared warships. This supplement takes you from the mouth of the Mediterranean to the shores of East Asia, with stats, deck plans, crew templates, and other "crunch," plus a boatload of background information and adventure seeds.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

October saw many efforts to bring things to print come to fruition. As hinted at last month, we made GURPS Combat Cards printable on demand at DriveThruRPG. In keeping with the Halloween theme, we also brought GURPS Monster Hunters 1: Champions, GURPS Monster Hunters 2: The Mission, and GURPS Monster Hunters 3: The Enemy to GURPS on Demand.

Upcoming Plans

Work continues on all-new content and on reanimating past hits in new forms. It's hard to make promises – global events continue to be scarier than any Halloween spook, making our job harder – but I can at least hint at what's coming.

An editorial slot has opened up and smart money (heh) is on GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby.
That leaves GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark) in the editorial queue.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions is still with Hans-Christian Vortisch, and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits with Rory Fansler, to produce final drafts, both expected before year's end.
Playtesting of Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry begins today.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko to prepare for playtesting.

I must veil six further projects from the living for now – though I can confirm real movement on at least three of them this month. For hints regarding these and all GURPS works in progress, visit the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Nightmare Fuel

As I write this, there's still about a week left to support Nightmare Fuel, the latest from our friends at Gaming Ballistic. In keeping with the Halloween season, these three bestiaries bring you all the snakes, bugs, and killer plants you could want (for your games . . . you probably don't want them under your bed at night).

Join Us! Join Us!

As the attentive reader has doubtless noticed, things are moving faster than they were for most of 2022. Does this mean it's a good time to submit a query letter or proposal? I'm reluctant to say. If you're willing to take the risk, be sure that you're on top of our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. To learn what we're looking for, check out the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022) . . . the fact that we haven't felt the need to update those recently speaks for itself. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

September 29, 2022: Post-Equinoctial Pondering

September raced past without even stopping to ask, "Hi! Could I interest you in some apples?" Up here in the Great White North, leaves are turning yellow and red, flocks of geese are honking past overhead, and we've put away our sandals for another year. Work on GURPS never ceases, however.

Recent Releases

The highlight of the past month was the appearance of the remaining 2021 GURPS Pyramid Scheme issues on Warehouse 23.

Pyramid #4/2: Modern/Action I (September 8, 2022; PDF)

The second issue of Pyramid, Volume 4 offers both inspiring ideas and solid crunch for those who like action, conspiracies, guns, and vehicles suited to the present or adjacent eras. Think of it as support for GURPS Action and GURPS High-Tech. Its dozen articles bring you nifty gear, cool rides, locations, organizations, and many, many adventure ideas.

Pyramid #4/3: Sci-Fi/Tech I (September 22, 2022; PDF)

Maybe you prefer cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic, and space sagas? Say no more! The third issue of Pyramid, Volume 4 has you covered. Tech, worlds, and adventure seeds abound, covering the gamut from near to far future and from "hard" to "soft" science fiction. GURPS Space and GURPS Ultra-Tech fans are sure to find something they like here.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

This is a bit of a leak at the time of writing, but GURPS Combat Cards will be available via print-on-demand at DriveThruRPG very, very shortly. Bookmark that link.

Upcoming Plans

We continue to plug away as the days shorten. At the same time, the world continues to be a mad, mad one, so we're reluctant to make promises. I can offer only hints.

The three 2022 GURPS Pyramid Scheme issues are finalized and staged, so backers should see them before too long.
We retitled Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein's GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes. It's now GURPS Vehicles: War Galleys. Perhaps more important, it's through editing and in production.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and now GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby) are in the editorial queue.
That leaves two manuscripts with their authors to produce final drafts: GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch) and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler).
Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry is still awaiting playtesting, and should be up next.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew remains with Paul Stefko to prepare for playtesting.

Six further projects are on the books but either too early in the writing process to name, paused while we settle details, or just plain secret. I cannot say more. For changes to the situation as it stands right now, keep your eye on the GURPS thread in my blog. I strive to update that as soon as possible each Friday.

Nightmare Fuel

Our friends at Gaming Ballistic are working up to launch three new bestiary volumes, in the same vein as the Nordlond Bestiary! If you're in the mood for snakes, bugs, and killer plants, sign up to be notified when the Nightmare Fuel campaign launches on Backerkit Crowdfunding.

Join Us! Join Us!

Things continue to move slowly, but at least we're getting through query letters and signing the occasional new contract. My advice is to get very comfortable with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template; then visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022) to learn our current needs; and finally, if you feel up to the challenge, send your query. Good luck!

Share This Post!

| More

August 31, 2022: Octavian Has Left The Building

Which is to say, that's the end of August. It seemed to fly past quickly – possibly because I was on vacation for two weeks of it. Where I live in the Great White North, some of the trees are already showing signs of changing color. Meanwhile, in GURPS . . .

Recent Releases

August brought the last GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge title and the first 2021 GURPS Pyramid Scheme issue to Warehouse 23.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists (August 11, 2022; PDF)

Not all GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaigns – or even adventures – are alike. Fittingly, the genre itself likes to loot, shamelessly swiping ideas from every genre and real-world culture. In that spirit, this supplement looks at three topics that fall somewhat outside the traditional: delvers as legitimate authorities who have adventures in polite society, horror that's scary even to hardened monster-slayers, and higher technology than "TL Olden Tymes." While it's too short to do all the work for you, it provides advice on how to introduce these elements in a streamlined fashion that meshes well with hack 'n' slash.

Pyramid #4/1: Fantasy/Magic I (August 25, 2022; PDF)

The dozen articles in the inaugural issue of Pyramid, Volume 4 offer additional goodies for your GURPS Dungeon Fantasy or any fantasy game. Whether your thing is yet more magic, strange new places to explore, or off-the-wall surprises, you're sure to find inspiration here!

Everything Old Is New Again Department

While we were bringing formerly inaccessible stuff to you in PDF form, we also got a popular PDF into print via GURPS on Demand: GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier, by Kenneth Hite. You're welcome.

Upcoming Plans

What's next? Work on new content is afoot, but the pace remains modest . . . a variety of curves like illnesses, vacations, and plain old overwork continue to crop up. Such is life. Here's what I can share right now.

Getting the three 2022 GURPS Pyramid Scheme issues finalized and out to backers is our top priority.
GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes, by Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein, moved into editing. Yes, that's progress!
On the other hand, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark) remain in the editorial queue.
Three manuscripts are still with their authors to turn around final drafts: GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby), GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler).
Matt Wehmeier submitted his second draft of GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry (yay, more progress!), which now awaits playtesting.
GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew is with Paul Stefko to prepare for playtesting.

Beyond those projects are five others that I'm not cleared to discuss at this time. If you're a newshound, be sure to keep your eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update Fridays.

Like Our Store, For Instance

As you might have read here, we have a new online store you can try out. It's still in the testing stages, but if all goes well, that'll be where to look for GURPS releases in the future.

Join Us! Join Us!

Judge for yourself whether the above situation suggests a climate in which you want to risk submitting a query letter. There has been some movement, but there are some really long waits as well. If you aren't certain, consider learning the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template inside and out, and keeping an eye on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022) for what we want. It never hurts to be able to show us that you are prepared.

Share This Post!

| More

July 28, 2022: The Month Formerly Known As "Quintilis"

I've always liked July, probably because (1) it's warm where I live, and (2) it's my birth month. This July proved to be quite busy . . . behind the scenes. Which is to say, the GURPS news I can report is a small portion of the total.

Recent Releases

July saw three of the remaining GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge offerings hit Warehouse 23.

GURPS Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield

GURPS Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold

GURPS Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield (July 1, 2022; PDF)

A game can never have enough ready-to-use real estate. In this case, the real estate has been used more than a few times. Welcome to Venus Field Air Force Base: aircraft boneyard . . . and much more. In the interest of saving a few surprises for GMs to spring on players, that's all you get. But yes, there are surprises, suited to any genre of campaign set in the time period from WWII to present. And yes, there are maps.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 22: Gates (July 14, 2022; PDF)

Doorways to other times, places, and worlds have been a part of dungeon-crawling fantasy from the beginning. However, they pose a lot of tricky questions for GMs. This Dungeon Fantasy supplement aims to provide solutions to these problems – practical, supernatural, and meta-game. It also primes the pump with three sample destinations for portals, in case one pops up and you have no earthly idea where it should lead.

GURPS Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold (July 28, 2022; PDF)

The present doesn't have a lock on Action. Welcome to Paris, 1919: your starting point in a hunt for Templar treasure that'll pull you into the devastated and dangerous Red Zone. To learn more, play the adventure – but rest assured that there will be secrets, fights, chases, and explosions. This is two-fisted pulp at its finest!

Everything Old Is New Again Department

Looking for content you can hold in your hand? Check out GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1: Mirror of the Fire Demon via GURPS on Demand!

Upcoming Plans

Progress on shiny new things rather than reprints or rereleases continues to be slow but steady. As I've been saying for a couple of months – and will say for a month or two more – nothing has been lost to time. We're simply doing the best we can with what we have.

The editorial queue remains full with GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein).
Three manuscripts are with their authors for revision into final drafts: GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby), GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions (Hans-Christian Vortisch), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler).
And two first drafts are with their authors to prepare for playtesting: GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry (Matt Wehmeier) and GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew (Paul Stefko).

Beyond those are eight other projects – including the four that are causing the long editorial delays – which I cannot talk about that this time. But you never know! Check out the GURPS thread in my blog on Fridays, just in case.

Join Us! Join Us!

As all of the above should make clear, it's a gamble to send in GURPS proposals right now. On one hand, we did sign a contract as recently as last month. On the other . . . well, you can see for yourself. I'd recommend really getting know the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, as well as the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022). That way, you'll have a better shot at one of the few slots we have open and you'll be prepared when the logjam breaks.

Share This Post!

| More

June 30, 2022: Half Something

The past few years haven't been the stuff of cheerful news reports, and 2022 is shaping up in a similar fashion. Many of us are happy to see it half over already. On the other hand, if you're a "glass half full" person, perhaps you see matters differently. I won't judge. I'll simply deliver the full scoop on GURPS in June – no half-measures!

Recent Releases

June brought three of the remaining GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge titles to Warehouse 23.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 4: Two-Page Dungeons

How to Be a GURPS GM: High-Powered Origins

GURPS Space Atlas: Grissom (June 2, 2022; PDF)

Lost colonies are the stuff of adventure. Lost space colonies are especially cool because they're by definition sufficiently advanced to keep moving down the path that put them out there – which, due to the sheer distances and hence times involved, might diverge considerably from their origin society's trajectory. Renewed contact can feel like first contact. Grissom is an example of such a locale, complete with a planetary map . . . and, of course, a secret. You'll probably want GURPS Spaceships to get there.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 4: Two-Page Dungeons (June 9, 2022; PDF)

Adventures are tricky: They must be sufficiently well planned to be interesting, but too much detail can make a published adventure incompatible with a specific campaign – or any adventure too long to run in the available time. This collection of five mini-adventures offers skeletons to flesh out as needed (including one with actual skeletons in it . . .). Each provides the essentials, notably maps, but is light enough to fit into almost any GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game by virtue of leaving space for whatever the GM feels like adding.

How to Be a GURPS GM: High-Powered Origins (June 16, 2022; PDF)

GURPS promises to let you play any character you can imagine in any world you like. That includes high-end heroes whose sheer power can break the world, sometimes even by accident. This add-on to How to Be a GURPS GM looks at the tricks needed to GM fun high-point-total campaigns – and the courtesies expected from those who play in them.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

You can now get GURPS Adaptations in print on GURPS on Demand. If you prefer DriveThruRPG, click here instead.

Upcoming Plans

We made slow-but-steady progress on our regular-season publications as well. Yes, we're acutely aware that most of the items on this list have barely budged – our reasons for this amount to "the world has been crazy and we're only human." However, nothing has been abandoned or forgotten.

The editorial queue holds GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein).
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits is playtested and with Rory Fansler for revision into its final draft sometime in July.
GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, is through peer review, meaning a final draft shortly.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions is now un-stuck and with Hans-Christian Vortisch for revision into its final draft before year's end.
First drafts of Matt Wehmeier's GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry and Paul Stefko's GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew are still with the authors to prepare for playtesting.

Eight other projects – including a newly contracted one – are not at stages where it would be wise for me to share just yet. That said, I might let something slip when I update the GURPS thread in my blog some Friday . . .

GURPSing For Good

Until July 18, Bundle of Holding is offering the GURPS 4E Essentials bundle, the GURPS 4E Fantasy bundle, and the GURPS 4E Space bundle, 10% of the proceeds from which help to support the fight against the pandemic.

Join Us! Join Us!

We remain hesitant to drum up proposals too vigorously, as we already have plenty to work on. To have any chance at all of getting through the screening process, your correspondence with us should show that you've read and taken to heart the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and shouldn't stray from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022). Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

May 30, 2022: Heading Into (Meteorological) Summer

Where Yours Truly lives, May brings warm weather – and with it, leaves and flowers, bugs to eat the plants, and birds to eat the bugs (we have so many swallows this year!). It seems to fly past quickly, leaving us at the doorstep of summer. I'll even own up to having worked a little less hard in order to spend a little more time outdoors. Nevertheless, GURPS happened.

Recent Releases

May brought a long-awaited hardcover and saw two more GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge items debut on Warehouse 23 (for those who missed the Kickstarter).

GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Osiris Worlds

GURPS Renaissance Venice: Spies of Venice

Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game (May 3, 2022; Hardback)

The world of Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius comics as a complete, standalone game (you do not need the GURPS Basic Set). Compiled with input from the creators, this tome not only summarizes the story so far, but also reveals secrets and includes an all-new eight-page comic! And everything is lavishly illustrated in color . . . yes, by the Foglios themselves. This is a must-have for Girl Genius fans, and a beautiful addition to the collection of any GURPS devotee.

GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Osiris Worlds (May 5, 2022; PDF)

Many gamers find that ancient Egypt has a certain je ne sais quoi – and not only for historical gaming. Religious beliefs that almost casually embrace necromancy, massive monuments that invite theories about alien assistance, and undeniably cool imagery and iconography make it attractive in general. These three timelines for GURPS Infinite Worlds dig into several of the . . . stranger possibilities.

GURPS Renaissance Venice: Spies of Venice (May 19, 2022; PDF)

Venezia wielded great power during the Renaissance, one cornerstone of which was an exceptional focus on diplomacy and its shadow, espionage. This supplement reveals the methods of the city-state's secret agents. It's all but necessary for a GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice campaign (unless for some incomprehensible reason it features no spies), and a great source of ideas for any game of low-tech intrigue.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand was absolutely hopping as well: You can now get the Discworld Roleplaying Game and GURPS Discworld Also for GURPS Third Edition, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown and GURPS Template Toolkit 1: Characters for GURPS Fourth Edition. If you prefer, you can get all of these on DriveThruRPG instead.

Upcoming Plans

But wait, there's more! At least, there will be, even if the pace isn't always lightning-fast. Here is my monthly list of insider guesses. The way the world has been lately, please understand that the only promise here is, "We will publish this eventually."

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters), and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) remain queued for editing.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark) and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) are both playtested and with their respective authors to be revised into final drafts.
First drafts of GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry (Matt Wehmeier), GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew (Paul Stefko), and GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby) remain with their respective authors for revisions to get them ready for playtesting.

Eight other projects I know of are so far out or uncertain that I don't feel comfortable sharing at this time. But hey, I update the GURPS thread in my blog every Friday, so who knows? I might leak something between now and the end of June.

Gaming Ballistic

It may be old news to some of you, but for those who missed it: Our good friends Gaming Ballistic have a shiny new store where you can buy Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game goodies (among many other things).

Join Us! Join Us!

Editing remains backlogged, so we're being cautious about encouraging proposals. We're not saying, "Don't send them!", but we are being picky about ensuring that would-be writers have read the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. If that's you, please note that we're being strict about sticking to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 2, 2022), too.

Share This Post!

| More

April 28, 2022: Terciles And Tertiles

The end of April marks 1/3 of the year (by month count, you math geeks!). We make a big deal out of quarters, seasons, and such, but not thirds. Now that at least a few of you have looked up a couple of rarely used words, let's see what's going on with GURPS.

Recent Releases

April put a couple more GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge items on Warehouse 23.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 4: Ring Fort (April 7, 2022; PDF)

Not all interesting encounters in a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy campaign happen in holes in the ground, abandoned temples, and other places far from settled lands. When a civilization isn't your civilization, its settlements can be places of adventure, even conflict. For instance, imagine a fort where delvers might get work bringing the countryside under control . . . or whose forces see the adventurers themselves as a problem to control! This supplement presents a Viking-style fortified town, complete with maps. It's up to the heroes whether they go shopping, sneaking, or (if they're powerful enough) pillaging.

GURPS The Green Madonna (April 21, 2022; PDF)

Many a game features pirates, and this adventure is no different. Except that it is, because it adds spies, the Spanish Inquisition, and alchemical secrets to the mix. Oh, and a flaming dwarf . . . maybe you had to be there. Anyway, if the 17th-century Caribbean appeals to you, pick this up! While you're at it, you might want – though don't absolutely need – GURPS Classic: Swashbucklers and GURPS Supporting Cast: Age of Sail Pirate Crew.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

At first glance, it might appear that April was another month without GURPS on Demand or DriveThruRPG re-releases. Yet I assured everybody that wouldn't happen! What's going on? I'm a little early with this update, that's all. Keep an eye on this page and this one.

Upcoming Plans

That's what was, so now for a few words on what will be. As ever, this list is informed speculation. The world is more chaotic than ever, meaning that anything here could change without notice.

Good news! The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback is in house, meaning it will soon be turned loose.
All four of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters's evil twin), and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) are now in the editorial queue.
GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler, has had its playtest. It is now with Rory to revise into its final draft.
We are planning the playtest of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk, by Anders Starmark. The call for playtesters is liable to fall in the void between months as far as this newsletter is concerned, so keep your eye on the GURPS forum for that.
First drafts of GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry (Matt Wehmeier), GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew (Paul Stefko), and GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice (Matt Riggsby) have all had editorial reviews and are with their respective authors for revisions prior to playtesting or peer review.

Eight additional projects are in the database but not at points in their journey where I'm free to share details. I cannot promise hints any time soon, but the GURPS thread in my blog – updated Fridays – is where I'm most likely to change my mind about that or announce interim progress on everything else that's in the works.

FnordCon 5

FnordCon 5 is this weekend (April 29 to May 1). It's a live convention, not an online one, but it will have something like a parallel existence on Discord (link expires May 5).

Join Us! Join Us!

Lately, we've made excellent progress when it comes to getting first drafts reviewed, revised, and playtested. We're also doing a good job of getting Kickstarter titles onto Warehouse 23. But editing . . . yeah, we're a bit behind there. So, although we can look at query letters and proposals, we need to be sensible about going any further than that, because the process isn't 100% unstuck. If you want to write, my advice is to watch the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 11, 2022); study the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template; and wait for signs that manuscripts are moving from editing to production before inundating our inboxes with ideas.

Share This Post!

| More

March 31, 2022: March Of Progress

The title isn't entirely punny – a lot happened this month. Promises were kept. Old things finally saw the light of day. Work on new content progressed. At any rate, it sure felt like a forced march at times (okay, that was mostly a pun).

Recent Releases

March saw the last of the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge goodies and the first of the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge items turn up on Warehouse 23, as well as a new tome for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game.

GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale (March 3, 2022; PDF)

Horror adventures are arguably among the hardest to write, because a good one combines all the subtlety of a mystery with one or both of supernatural elements similar to fantasy and adrenaline-charged moments right out of the action genre. You could say it's an art. This adventure for GURPS Horror is all about the art. Saying more than that would be a monstrous spoiler.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons (March 10, 2022; PDF)

Back in the good (?) old days of hack 'n' slash fantasy gaming, many a campaign wasn't about dungeons, plural, but the dungeon, singular: a subterranean realm with dozens, maybe hundreds of levels, encompassing countless chambers ranging from closets to entire underground cities. This supplement brings that style of play to GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, offering thoughts on rethinking magic and character-point awards to better support such a game, along with advice and (of course!) tables for creating and stocking memorable megadungeons.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 (March 23, 2022; PDF and softback)

Speaking of dungeons . . . Like much found in the depths, Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game support sometimes takes considerable delving to find. However, that quest is over when it comes to the material published in Pyramid – here's everything from the nine issues that supported the game, leveled up with better art, text lightly revised to reflect developments over the intervening years, and an improved layout that reformats the print version to match the game's other books. This is no hasty compilation! A unified table of contents, an index, and new intros link professions, monsters, traps, advice for both players and GMs, and six ready-to-use adventures into a solid read.

GURPS Action 8: Twists (March 31, 2022; PDF)

Unlike its heroes when they get behind the wheel, GURPS Action tends to stay in its lane. Just like them, though, adventures can veer off in . . . unexpected directions. This short guide looks at three such angles that turn up in the movies: the social (money, jobs, and social status), the exotic (be it mad science, aliens, or the outright supernatural), and the wild outdoors (without the fast cars and fancy gadgets).

Everything Old Is New Again Department

With all we had going on, we didn't re-release anything via GURPS on Demand or DriveThruRPG. I can assure you that will change in April. In the meantime, why not complete your collection?

Upcoming Plans

Life was just as busy behind the scenes. Here's my not-at-all-official report on that. These are hints and clues only! None of it – not even the titles – is a promise (although the information on the pages behind the links is reliable enough).

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback remains in transit. Smart money is on April, but we'll see.
Both GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice) and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) still need editing. They are queued – not forgotten.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins and GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, both by Phil Masters, have moved into concurrent peer review.
We are preparing to playtest GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits, by Rory Fansler. Want to get involved? Here is the call for playtesters!
Thanks to the two previous points, GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk, by Anders Starmark, has moved into the next playtest slot.
The first draft of GURPS Renaissance Venice: Merchants of Venice, by Matt Riggsby, has had its editorial review and thus gets the next peer-review slot.
The most recent GURPS Loadouts installment awaits revision by author Paul Stefko, in preparation for playtesting.
The first draft of GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Atom Skerry, by Matt Wehmeier, just arrived and is awaiting editorial review.

Depending on how you count, up to eight other projects I know of and in some cases have read are at stages where it would unwise to say more at this time. The GURPS thread in my blog, which I strive to update Fridays, is by far the best place to look for leaks related to those . . . not to mention breaking news regarding the bullet points listed above.

FnordCon 5

This isn't March news, but a look ahead at April: FnordCon 5 will run from April 29 to May 1. Yes, live in Austin. Click for registration and hotel info. I cannot be there, but friend and fellow Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game master Douglas Cole of Gaming Ballistic will represent . . . so, see if you can make it!

Join Us! Join Us!

We've managed to get a few products out the door and unstick our playtests, but there's still a delay in reviewing first drafts and editing final ones. Thus, dealing with query letters and proposals remains a low priority for us – sorry. Were I a freelancer, I'd keep my eye on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 11, 2022), and maybe refresh my knowledge of the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Thanks in advance for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

February 28, 2022: 28 Days Later

I've probably used the title already, but hey, it suits February and refers to a film about beings that should be dead but aren't (like the title itself . . . is this what the cool kids call "meta"?). So, why not? Also, it has in fact been 28 days since the last update. Right, I'll get to the month's news.

Recent Releases

February saw something old (from the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge) and something new for GURPS.

GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides (February 10, 2022; PDF)

A common question about GURPS Boardroom and Curia is, "Okay, so, what do I do with this?" Here's what: Create a cool organization that serves the needs of adventurers worldwide! The good (?) folks at Tomorrow Rides provide all the vehicles you could ever need for unusual or secret missions. For free – well, for the price of a review. Seem too good to be true? There's only one way to find out . . .

GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign (February 24, 2022; PDF)

It has been a while since the last GURPS Infinite Worlds volume. So, here's a long and detailed timeline to make up for it. In this one, the big "What if?" is "What if the participants of the American Revolutionary War dabbled in magic and really made a mess of it?" The answer is a world without light, dominated by monsters. Monster hunting is a lot tougher without the aid of modern hardware. Of course, you could dabble in magic yourself . . . but the corruption could turn you into that which you fear most!

Everything Old Is New Again Department

We got GURPS Social Engineering back into physical form, both via GURPS on Demand (get it here) and on DriveThruRPG (get it here).

Upcoming Plans

So, what's next? Here are the customary teasers. As usual, titles, publication order, and the like are subject to change without notice. Given events since this time two years ago, the only safe thing to say is that it's best to expect the unexpected.

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback is still in transit, but looks like something we can count on before the end of the quarter.
The Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 is another thing that may well happen in the first 25% of 2022. We'll see!
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice) and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) remain in the editorial queue.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) remain in the playtesting queue – in that order.
The latest GURPS Loadouts item remains with its author, Paul Stefko, for revisions so that it can join the playtesting queue.
And first drafts of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters) and new material for the GURPS Hot Spots series (Matt Riggsby) remain in the queue for editorial review. GURPS creators have a lot of queues, Jack.

My secret files contain six other bullet points – not quite the same list as last time, so progress does happen! Be sure to check the GURPS thread in my blog every Friday for possible leaks, hints, and hype regarding those and all GURPS projects.

Where Is My Blog?

It isn't way out in the water . . . I just moved it from LiveJournal to DreamWidth. My motivations can be found in the breaking news toward the end of February. If you've bookmarked me, you'll want to update the URL.

Join Us! Join Us!

With so many manuscripts in various wait states, I won't lie to you: This isn't the best time to propose anything new. We really, really need to clear the pipeline first. In the meantime, please monitor the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 11, 2022) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 11, 2022) for what we'll eventually be looking for. Oh, and keep your mind fresh on the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template so that when you do submit something, we'll be impressed. Thanks once more for your patience.

Share This Post!

| More

January 31, 2022: Welcome To 2×3×337

So, here we are in a new year. Let's hope this trip around the sun goes better than the last two. I'll kick it off with the news for January, which is a little short because I stole some of its thunder with the December update at the start of the month.

Recent Releases

January saw a trio of GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge items join the general catalog.

GURPS Reign of Steel: Read the Sky (January 6, 2022; PDF)

GURPS Reign of Steel offers a very cool robot apocalypse, but figuring out what to do with it can get tricky. GURPS Reign of Steel: Will to Live author Roger Burton West is here to give you an example in the form of an adventure, complete with generous maps. Welcome to Tenby, a small Welsh village where nothing is as it seems . . . and you can't blame the robots for all of it.

GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1 (January 13, 2022; PDF)

GURPS Monster Hunters is another interesting setup that sometimes leaves you asking, "Okay, but how do I use it?" How about not one but two examples? These encounters have the advantage of being useful in just about any modern-day monster-hunting campaign; they stop short of being adventures that make sweeping assumptions about your game.

GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries (January 27, 2022; PDF)

GURPS Action has room for all sorts of heroes: super-cops, super-spies, military commandos, . . . you name it. Yet not every group wants to work for a government – many are happy to take the money and leave the paperwork, to be mercenaries. This supplement covers character creation and adventures for soldiers of fortune, and includes an abstract small-unit engagement system.

Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game Update

Thousands of copies of the printed book are in transit as I write this. We haven't announced an official ship date, but to be annoyingly vague: Expect to see it sooner rather than later. In the meantime, you can get the PDF version here . . . and if you already have that, check that you have the December 23, 2021 revision, which is what we sent to the printer

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time for the hints. You know the drill: Nothing here is a promise, except insofar as you'll eventually see the content. Titles, publication order, vague dates, etc. are "to the best of my knowledge right now," and not set in stone.

As I boxed off above, the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback is in transit.
The Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 remains in production, in expectation of a Kickstarter sometime this year.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, has art and is through production. I'm betting on a February release.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves (Christopher R. Rice) and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) continue to await editing.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) are still queued for playtesting, in that order.
Paul Stefko's GURPS Loadouts volume is in revision in preparation for playtesting.
First drafts of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters) and new material for the GURPS Hot Spots series (Matt Riggsby) both need editorial review.

There are six other bullet points in my secret files, but they're too far out to reveal at this time. I will let slip that we signed another contract. Be sure to check the GURPS thread in my blog – updated Fridays – for interim reports on all of the above.

We've Lost The Only Mook Who Mattered

For those who missed it in the Daily Illuminator and my journal: We recently lost Warren "Mook" Wilson. That's probably the saddest GURPS news I've shared in a while. Mook is perhaps best known for How to Be a GURPS GM. If you don't have it, consider picking it up – I checked and confirmed that Mook had a royalties contract, so any earnings will benefit his estate.

Join Us! Join Us!

Our human resources remain strained, leading to long waits for editorial review, playtesting, editing, and production. At the risk of sounding like a politician: I'm sorry about that, but there's not much I can do. I hasten to add that this is a good time to watch the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 4, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 4, 2021), and to read and reread the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. An excellent proposal in the second half of the year would be at no disadvantage relative to a hastier one sent our way during the first half. Thank you for your patience.

Share This Post!

| More

January 3, 2022: The Third Time's The Charm

Globally, 2020 wasn't all that great. And 2021? Not exactly wonderful. I'm sure that 2022 will break the curse! But first, let's close 2021 by recapping December (a few days late because I was taking a much-needed break on December 31).

Recent Releases

December brought another pair of GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge items and something new.

GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World

How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic (December 2, 2021; PDF)

GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic is a very powerful and very popular freeform magic system. However, with great flexibility comes a difficult learning curve. The players need to figure out how to make the rules do what they want . . . and it's the GM's job to assist them (and to veto anything really troublesome!). This guide helps the GM navigate those challenges, making the game more fun for everyone.

GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World (December 16, 2021; PDF)

You may ask yourself, "Well, how do I actually use all those GURPS Steampunk supplements in a campaign?" Here's one proposal: An alternate reality where two worlds collide, bringing magic and steampunk together! With support for adding GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms, GURPS Infinite Worlds, and GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier to the mix.

GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya (December 23, 2021; PDF)

Welcome to the Malay Archipelago! It offers great riches, haughty empires, dread pirates, deadly animals, an extreme climate with often scary weather, and terrain where one misstep can end you. And this supplement provides all the background, maps, and game stats you need to spin this realm into an adventure or an entire campaign – or simply to use it as the origin story of your hero from far away across the sea.

Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game Update

The final, corrected PDF of the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game – the one that we sent to the printer for the upcoming hardback – is now available. Already bought it? Be sure to download the updated file posted on December 23, 2021. Don't have it yet? Go get it today!

Upcoming Plans

Given how the last couple of years went, it's probably best that we make no promises for 2022. Still, I suppose it's safe enough to name what's in the works. As usual, please bear in mind that while the list below does its very best to arrange things in the most likely release order, it doesn't come with any guarantees other than, "One of these days, we'll publish this!" Thanks for understanding.

As noted above, the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback is at the printer.
The Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 Kickstarter is biding its time behind other Kickstarters. We have not forgotten about it . . . the last internal update was on December 9, 2021. We just prefer not to compete with our own campaigns.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, is still being edited (much as it was before its editor took a holiday break!).
Final drafts of Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves and Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein's GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes remain in the editorial queue.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) are queued for playtesting, most likely in that order. Steven Marsh and I are aware that this is a conversation we need to have soon-ish.
The latest first draft in the GURPS Loadouts series remains with author Paul Stefko for revisions prior to playtesting.
First drafts of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds (Phil Masters) and something for the GURPS Hot Spots series (Matt Riggsby) await editorial review.

Five or six other titles are floating around, too, but they're not things we want to discuss at this time. The best place to look for security leaks is in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

We didn't expand our GURPS on Demand or DriveThruRPG offerings in December, but don't despair – there's always more to come. In the meantime, be sure to check out those options if you haven't taken a look recently, because 2021 was a very active year for both!

While I have your attention: We're also working on bringing all the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge and GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge content to Warehouse 23. In fact, all that stuff was recently added to our secret database.

Join Us! Join Us!

I cannot lie . . . our editorial and production resources are stretched thin. As I always recommend during times like these, please keep your eye on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 4, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 4, 2021) to find out what we want, and review the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template to learn how we want it. At least for the first quarter of 2022, the hallowed freelancers' tradition of getting in early and often is not the way to go. We'd prefer midyear proposals that look as if their writers clearly followed the above instructions.

Share This Post!

| More

November 30, 2021: Giving Thanks (And Waiting For Snow)

Due to its celebrations and commemorations – and those that follow it – November is a month when we think more thankful thoughts than usual. Or at least holiday thoughts. But as a denizen of the Great White North, my thoughts are mainly of scarves, heavy boots, snow shovels, deicer, and making sure the windows seal properly! Which doesn't mean I don't think GURPS thoughts . . .

Recent Releases

November came with two more GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge items and a completely new volume.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star

GURPS Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew (November 4, 2021; PDF)

Starships are a big deal in many futuristic settings. They're often flashy enough to overshadow those who crew them . . . unless those people are so capable that their heroics win back the spotlight. This integrated set of character templates aims to help with that. It's consistent with GURPS Spaceships, but flexible enough to work with any mix of tech assumptions, power levels, and realism levels. And as is our custom, we didn't fire off a spread of stats and hope for a hit – there's plenty of advice on using everything.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star (November 18, 2021; PDF)

Speaking of space, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventures machine Matt Riggsby takes you there in his latest outing. Your conveyance is more a ship ship (well, kind of) than a starship, but you'll be asking an age-old question: What's between the stars? Trouble . . . but then, you knew that already! The question is whether your heroes have what it takes to boldly go where no delvers have gone before, kill what they find, and take its stuff. Oh, and save the world.

GURPS Action 9: The City (November 24, 2021; PDF)

GURPS Action tries to keep things more down to Earth . . . except when the heroes fire two guns whilst jumping through the air, hit a ramp during a high-speed chase, or engage in rooftop parkour. And most of that happens in places that have suitable scenery, traditionally the city. What this handy guide does is reimagine all the information in GURPS City Stats in terms of what it can do for ready-to-rock adventure.

Nordlond Bestiary and Enemies Book

The Nordlond Bestiary and Enemies Book Kickstarter for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is in full swing. Ever wanted a bestiary for your fantasy campaigns? Well, here you go. Act fast . . . time's up on December 7!

Upcoming Plans

And now for our feature presentation: baseless speculation! Okay, the speculation is informed by inside knowledge, but my usual disclaimer still holds, which is that the list below is honest about progress but cannot promise dates. While things nearer the top are closer to being ready, real-world setbacks happen. Please bear that in mind.

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game hardback is at the printer.
The Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 Kickstarter is keeping station behind other Kickstarters. Notably, we don't want to steal the thunder of the Nordlond Bestiary and Enemies Book Kickstarter ('cause they have some serious thunder gods over there!).
Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya is getting some last-minute text tweaks before we upload it.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, is still in editing, but I've been told that progress is good.
We have final drafts of Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves and Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein's GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes. Both are in the editorial queue.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins (Phil Masters), GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk (Anders Starmark), and GURPS Template Toolkit: Spirits (Rory Fansler) all remain in the playtest queue. We know people are anxious to playtest . . . but this is a busy season for us, so we'll do our best but cannot offer any guarantees.
Paul Stefko continues to revise his GURPS Loadouts-series first draft for playtesting.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, by Phil Masters, awaits editorial review.
More GURPS Hot Spots support arrived from Matt Riggsby, and needs editorial review as well.

Five other would-be bullet points are hidden due to your security clearance. I may or may not let slip details about those or anything else here in the GURPS thread in my blog. Lately I've been veering between Thursday evening and Friday morning with the updates.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand has also been very active since my last report! The Discworld Roleplaying Game is now available via that channel, and GURPS Ultra-Tech and GURPS Ultra-Tech 2 for Third Edition are up, too.

Join Us! Join Us!

If you've read this far, you know that there are many bottlenecks in our process just now. The reasons for this are good but not ones I can share at this time. Please consider taking advantage of the forced pause by digging into the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and by keeping your eye on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 4, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 4, 2021). A truly excellent proposal in 2022 is more interesting to us than a hasty one we can't act on right now!

Share This Post!

| More

October 28, 2021: 🎃 Octoboo! 🎃

While there's more to October than Halloween, I'm one of those weirdos who sees things like this: People eat tortilla chips as a vehicle for salsa, or maybe guacamole. Sure, the chips are crunchy and good, but it's all about the dip. Similarly, October is mostly an excuse to revel in jack-o'-lanterns and horror-movie trappings. But you're probably here to read about GURPS . . . so now what's the chip and who's the dip?

Recent Releases

October brought two GURPS tidbits that – though not new – have just gone on sale for the first time since the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge.

GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides (October 7, 2021; PDF)

GURPS Action needs car chases . . . and car chases need, well, cars. This short-but-solid volume covers subcompact, compact, mid-size, and large cars – plus SUVs, pickups, and vans – in enough detail for action realism. However, the real stars are the modifications (like "armored," "fuel-efficient," and "luxury"), the gadgets and accessories (yes, including weapons), and the rules and advice for customization. Because what kind of action hero drives a stock vehicle? Still, if you're in too much of a hurry to pick your options and paint job, there are examples waiting for you to drive off the lot.

GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail (October 21, 2021; PDF)

GURPS Hot Spots maestro Matt Riggsby strikes again! This time he takes us to the Incense Trail, one of the earliest major trade routes to cross empires. Venture across the Arabian Peninsula to explore challenging terrain, be pulled into political intrigues, and of course get rich. Oh, and you can even attach this to Matt's GURPS Hot Spots: The Silk Road, if you feel ambitious. And really, isn't ambition the whole reason to become a globe-trotting merchant?

⚙⚙⚙ Girl Genius! ⚙⚙⚙

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game Kickstarter is live, and there's still time to get in on it. But hurry . . . you only have until November 8!

Upcoming Plans

I suspect that a lot of readers see my hints of things to come as the dip and the rest of this update as the chip. Fair enough! As ever, please remember that the list below consists of informed guesses – not promises. True, the closer something is to the top, the greater the odds that it'll be published soon . . . but sometimes, it's as if the world is more random than any dice roll in a game.

Publication plans for Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 are still a secret, but the content is ready to go when The Powers That Be pull the trigger.
I approved art for Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya, so that's likely to be the next "regular season" release.
My own GURPS Action 9 is also in the final stages of production.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, moved into editing.
GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes is with Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein to create the final draft.
Playtesting on Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves went into overtime.
Two first drafts in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (one by Phil Masters, the other by Anders Starmark) and one in the GURPS Template Toolkit series (by Rory Fansler) wait in the playtest queue.
A first draft in the GURPS Loadouts series is with author Paul Stefko to revise for playtesting.
Yet another first draft in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series – by Phil Masters again – awaits editorial review.

Six other projects are either too new or too complicated to talk about with any confidence here. For possible developments on those or on anything I've teased by name, watch the GURPS thread in my blog. I try to update that on Thursday evening or Friday morning these days.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

On the GURPS on Demand front, we got GURPS High-Tech and GURPS Low-Tech for Third Edition back into physical form. Meanwhile, on DriveThruRPG, we made the Discworld Roleplaying Game available.

Join Us! Join Us!

As I recently told one of our freelancers, the pipeline from initial query to the editorial-production process is fraught with bottlenecks. We might not need more stuff for a couple of quarters, at least. If you're thinking of submitting a proposal anyway, you can greatly improve your odds by knowing the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template by heart, and especially by sticking to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 18, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 18, 2021). Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

September 30, 2021: Serotinal-Autumnal Transition

That's a wordy, imprecise way of saying "September." Which is now over, giving way to the month mostly famous for its final day. It's also my favorite time of the year. Oh, and GURPS stuff happened, too!

Recent Releases

September brought one new GURPS-related item.

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves (September 30, 2021; PDF)

It seems fitting that the first race covered by the long-awaited GURPS Fantasy Folk series is the "first race" of many fantasy worlds. Whether you prefer the take on elves in GURPS Banestorm, that found in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, or something else again, you're sure to get a lot of use out of this one.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand, like many elves, doesn't sleep and goes way back. This month brought GURPS Conan: Moon of Blood and GURPS Martial Arts for Third Edition. These will need some tweaking if you plan to use them with Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time to turn toward the future – to youthful things to come. Below are my customary hints, which come with my customary warning: Plans change, sometimes hourly, and dates are difficult or impossible to predict. All I can promise is that the closer something is to the top of this list, the nearer it is to being published.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion 3 remains in the post-production stage, awaiting publication plans.
GURPS Action 9, by y.t., has been laid out, illustrated, and proofed. It could crash through a plate-glass window at any moment.
Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya is nearing the end of its scheduled editing period.
GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez) and GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (by Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein) are with their respective authors to create final drafts.
Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens: Thieves is now in playtesting.
Not one but two first drafts in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series – one by Phil Masters, the other by Anders Starmark – wait in the playtest queue.
First drafts in the GURPS Loadouts series (Paul Stefko) and GURPS Template Toolkit series (Rory Fansler) are with their creators to revise for playtesting.

I could talk about six other projects, but I won't because their status is more tenuous than that of anything of the above. If you're hoping I might relent, keep an eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, updated at the end of each week.

Join Us! Join Us!

We have a fair bit of content awaiting either a playtest or an editor, and it'll probably take us until year's end to clear our desks, but that doesn't mean we're ignoring queries and proposals. It does mean that we're being strict about only looking at requests to work on the titles on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 18, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 18, 2021). It also means that we're being sticklers about holding would-be contributors to the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template.

Share This Post!

| More

August 31, 2021: 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!

Share This Post!

| More

July 30, 2021: Would I July To You?

Ah, July – the month of my birth and the month when SJ Games picked up my contract! Has it really been 26 years? Yes, the years do pass, each month bringing new things for GURPS. This month was no exception.

Recent Releases

July was ludicrously busy for GURPS.

GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge (PDFs)

Thanks to 2,153 backers who pledged $38,439, all 12 PDFs were unlocked. These aren't strictly speaking released yet, but BackerKit is chugging along, with a deadline of August 9, 2021. Close to that date, the new PDFs will be delivered. The titles, for those who missed them:

GURPS Action 8: Twists (by Sean Punch)
GURPS Action Adventure 1: Templar's Gold (by S.A. Fisher)
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 22: Gates (by Peter V. Dell'Orto)
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 23: Twists (by Sean Punch)
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 4: Two-Page Dungeons (by Matt Riggsby)
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 4: Ring Fort (by Douglas H. Cole)
GURPS Encounters: The Mysterious Airfield (by Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein)
GURPS Infinite Worlds: The Osiris Worlds (by Phil Masters)
GURPS Renaissance Venice: Spies of Venice (by Matt Riggsby)
GURPS Space Atlas: Grissom (by Roger Burton West)
GURPS The Green Madonna (by David L. Pulver)
How to Be a GURPS GM: High-Powered Origins (by Christopher R. Rice)

GURPS Boardroom and Curia: The Sospital Group (PDF)

We snuck this one into BackerKit for the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge. Here's the official blurb:

The Best Care Money Can Buy

Technology marches on, bringing deadlier weapons and poisons, more-resistant microbes, and such incidentals as taller buildings to fall from and faster cars to crash. But medicine advances as well, increasing the odds of surviving these and many other fates. It can sometimes achieve results that seem like science fiction, even magic – if you can afford treatment.

GURPS Boardroom and Curia: The Sospital Group takes a close look at a global consortium of private clinics, hospitals, and research labs that offer the best care possible, for a price. It provides GURPS Boardroom and Curia stats for its eponymous organization, which it presents as a potential employer for scientists and medical professionals, as a lifesaver for well-heeled heroes in risky jobs, and as a possible villain. While nominally meant for the modern world as seen in GURPS Action, there are . . . other options, not all of them healthy.

When you're advancing science in private, ignoring national borders, and catering to the wealthy, little things like ethics can become casualties . . .

Again, to get it, you must have backed the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge. Then you can add it in BackerKit. It will eventually turn up on this product page – which doesn't yet exist – but I cannot say when. (How to Be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters is in a similar situation.)

Everything Old Is New Again Department

Meanwhile, GURPS on Demand rolled out GURPS Conan: Beyond Thunder River, GURPS Space, and GURPS SWAT – all for Third Edition. We also expanded our DriveThruRPG lineup, adding GURPS Goblins and GURPS Grimoire for Third Edition, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 2: The Room, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 4: Mixed Blessings, and GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells for Fourth Edition. (Just a reminder: Third Edition material needs a little adaptation to work with Fourth Edition.)

Upcoming Plans

While all of that was a lot of work, we continued to think of the future. Here are all the hints that I'm cleared to give. They come with my usual disclaimer: Though informed guesses, they are guesses all the same, and I cannot provide even the vaguest answer to "When?" or "In what order?"

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is finished and in the hands of those who devise strategy.
The same could be said for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game supplement I mentioned last month.
GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, by Alden Loveshade, is through editing and in preliminary PDF form. Expect it soon-ish.
Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya and Bill Stoddard's GURPS Future History are both still in editing.
The playtest of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, winds down today (July 30, 2021).
We just posted the call for playtesters for GURPS Vehicles: Biremes and Triremes (by Carolyn Stein & Stephen Kenneth Stein). You have a couple of weeks to apply!
Left in the playtest queue is Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens project.
Rory Fansler and Paul Stefko are revising first drafts in preparation for playtesting.

I have eight other entries in my files, but it's too early to say more about those . . . well, okay, I'll note that two are new contracts as of July, and yes, I've been writing again. For leaks and revelations between now and the end of next month, check out the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to accept queries and proposals, but I cannot promise rapid turnaround. One look at this report should be enough to explain why our editorial resources are stretched a little thin right now! I'd advise would-be writers to visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 3, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 3, 2021) to learn what we're actually looking for. Then spend time with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template getting that proposal perfect.

Share This Post!

| More

June 30, 2021: June Summery

No, that isn't a typo . . . it's June, and where Your Faithful Servant lives, it's definitely summer. The plants, the birds, and the scorching, unshielded fusion reactor in the sky all say so. Yet I almost didn't notice, because we've been busy cooks in the GURPS kitchen (which generates only metaphorical heat, fortunately).

Recent Releases

While June brought no "traditional" publications, a recent bit of news very definitely delivered something for GURPS:

How to Be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters

Fight The Good Fight

Almost all roleplaying games involve combat – sometimes a lot of it. And the GURPS library, starting with the Basic Set, provides plenty of rules for this. An RPG isn't a wargame, though . . . there's far more to a satisfying battle than plunking units on a map and then following the manual.

How to Be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters offers almost rules-free advice to go with the rules. It opens with pointers on reasons to fight at all, and then moves on to selecting suitable foes, laying out an interesting battlefield, determining what everybody is doing when violence breaks out, adjusting the challenge level on the fly, and picking up the pieces afterward. While the examples come from GURPS, the concepts are portable to any RPG.

Suddenly, ninjas burst through the wall and attack!

To get it, take advantage of the summer sale now! Since it will be asked: If you opt out of getting the PDF this way, it will eventually show up for sale on its own, with a product page here (which doesn't exist at the moment). I cannot give you a date at this time, however.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

There's more big news, this time for GURPS on Demand! We added GURPS All-Star Jam 2004, GURPS Magic Items 3, and GURPS Screampunk to the lineup. But the real announcement is . . . GURPS Conan! Yes, after being out of print for decades, it's back for your reading and gaming pleasure. All of these are for Third Edition, so some adaptation is needed to use them with Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

Many other things have been simmering, too. I cannot specify dates, but I can drop hints. Please remember that while this list is based on insider information, everything on it is still a guess. The more moving pieces we have (and we have a lot of them right now), the less certain we can be that there won't be a jam or collision.

All 12 creations for the upcoming GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge are done (more on that below).
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is also done for all practical purposes, but remains a special project that demands special plans.
Further support for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is well along in the production process and will be yet another exception to our usual monthly sequence.
I wrote a supplement for the GURPS Boardroom and Curia series, which is now in the production queue as well.
Alden Loveshade's GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya, and Bill Stoddard's most recent manuscript are all in editing.
The playtest of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez, is now in progress.
Still in the playtest queue are a volume in the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein), which will be followed by one in the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens series (by Christopher Rice).
Rory Fansler continues to revise his latest first draft.

Six further items are even further back in our process, so I would prefer not to offer clues at this time. I might leak information about those, or about anything that hasn't been published yet, in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated every Friday.

Kick(start)in' It!

The GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge is going to happen very shortly, and will be an ultra-fast campaign like the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge. To avoid missing your chance to get as many as 12 completely new PDFs for as little as $3, please follow the campaign by clicking here. Thank you!

Oh, and while on the topic of Kickstarters, kudos to Gaming Ballistic LLC for their success with Delvers to Grow for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. It's in the Backerkit phase now, and Gaming Ballistic already has more in the works – please support them.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to accept queries and proposals, with the caveat that, well, everything else in this report has eaten up virtually all of our editorial clock cycles. Cunning writers will hang back and reread the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template . . . because the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge titles do cover some of what's on the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 3, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 3, 2021). Once all 12 are revealed, though, that's another story!

Share This Post!

| More

May 31, 2021: Come What May

And go what May. Right, that makes little sense, but May is over and I needed something more interesting than "May Update" for a title. Nobody is here for lessons on creative workarounds for writer's block, though, so let's review what happened in the world of GURPS over the past month.

Recent Releases

May conjured up one new resource for GURPS.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 5: Demons (May 20, 2021; PDF)

Demons are the perfect monsters for Dungeon Fantasy. They can show up anywhere there's an unwise, powerful, or powerful-but-unwise magic-wielder (hardly a stretch on most adventures), a cursed artifact or altar, or a gate to Hell. They can survive, even thrive locked in a dungeon for years, centuries, millennia, or longer. And nobody is going to hesitate to fight them because it's against their principles – even the dreaded "evil adventurer" is more likely to get rid of potential competition than to make friends. This handy guidebook shows you how to create demons of all types for all occasions.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand picked up the pace again, delivering GURPS Magic Items 1 and GURPS Magic Items 2 – both for Third Edition but easily adapted to Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

As usual, providing an actual publication schedule is beyond my power. What I can do, though, is offer hints. Please don't forget that these are the educated guesses of an insider – not promises. While life is slowly returning to normal after more than a year of panic, we're far from being able to guarantee anything!

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game remains in the final stages of preparation.
Progress on the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge has been excellent! We currently have six of 12 items so close to done we that could release them if we had to, two more in production, and one in editing. The last three first drafts are due today (May 31, 2021).
A "backup" title for the PDF Challenge – by Yours Truly, for the How to Be a GURPS GM series – is also in final production, and likely to show up sooner than the 12 supplements I just mentioned if all goes well.
Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya and Bill Stoddard's most recent work both arrived in house and went into editing.
The playtest of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, by Alden Loveshade, is now in full swing.
Still in the playtest queue are, in order, volumes in the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein), and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens (sub-)series (by Christopher Rice).
Rory Fansler continues to revise his latest first draft.

Seven more projects are at various stages in the creative process but too far out for detailed clues. To keep an eye on those and everything mentioned above, follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to accept queries and proposals, with the caveat that a full pipeline (including the entire GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge) almost ensures that we'll move slowly on those. I strongly advise would-be writers to prioritize absorbing the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then check out the recently revised Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 3, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 3, 2021) to discover what we're looking for. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

April 30, 2021: April Showers

March winds and April showers bring forth May flowers. We've had winds and showers in earnest around here, so I'm expecting a veritable jungle of flowers. Do you hear me, universe? A jungle! In the meantime, I'll focus on what April brought and May will bring to GURPS.

Recent Releases

April saw one new GURPS-related goodie sprout up.

How to Be a GURPS GM: Managing Expectations (April 22, 2021; PDF)

You choose a game system, you create a campaign and write up the first adventure, and you invite your gaming group to create characters – and within seconds, everybody is arguing. About power and realism levels, about how to interpret some rule, about when to roll the dice and for what, about who's hogging the spotlight with their pet mini-game, . . . you name it. This is at least in part a question of expectations: The game designer has one set, you have another, and each player has theirs. Managing Expectations provides useful guidance on bringing those into line with one another, in general and for GURPS in particular.

Buy Our Stuff!

Beyond Warehouse 23, SJ Games' in-house store, don't overlook SJ Games' storefronts on Amazon – home to GURPS on Demand – and DriveThruRPG. Look for additions to all three catalogues in May!

Upcoming Plans

While I can't promise specifics for May – or for any month, really – I can at least provide hints. Please remember that while these come from an insider, they're based on hopes as much as anything else. And we all know how those have been working out for everyone since this time last year . . .

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game has seen very recent internal movement that I am not yet at liberty to reveal. I can say that we now have release plans.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 5, by Yours Truly, is 100% done. You might even see it in May.
Those who were at FnordCon 3 (April 10-11) will know that we admitted to another Kickstarter similar to the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge. That's where the short David Pulver and Matt Riggsby projects I've been mentioning will go. To those, add finished content from me for both GURPS Action and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.
We're expecting two final drafts in May: Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya and a Bill Stoddard item that's still a secret for the moment.
On the other hand, the playtest queue remains stalled because of everything above this entry on the list. In order, we should be playtesting drafts for the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein), and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens (sub-)series (by Christopher Rice).
Rory Fansler is still revising his latest first draft.

There's also material further out (notably eight more titles for the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge, written by your favorite GURPS writers, and an unrelated two-volume set from David Pulver), on hold, and in planning. To be the first to know about new developments, watch the GURPS thread in my blog, updated every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

We are accepting queries and proposals, but I'll be honest: The GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge and major playtesting backlog mean we can't promise fast turnaround times. The smartest approach is to bide your time and perhaps review the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template in depth. At any rate, please don't stray from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 22, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 22, 2021), and strongly consider sticking to the less "crunchy" side of things. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

March 30, 2021: Spring Has Sprung!

Well, it sprung earlier in March, but I'm not complaining! Here in the Frozen North, we now have birds, buds, the first flowers, and even some bees . . . and no snow. Best of all, the sun is still in the sky at the end of the workday – a workday that in my case is used to create more GURPS.

Recent Releases

March brought one new GURPS publication.

GURPS Realm Management (March 25, 2021; PDF)

While RPG campaigns are ultimately about the PCs, heroes normally come from and live somewhere. Those "realms" – from the tiniest villages to the greatest empires – can generate endless plots and adventures. War, espionage, diplomacy, trade, and political maneuvering have need of people willing and able to act . . . people who might eventually take a shot at running things. It's far easier to handle all that when you have stats for the relevant territories, along with rules for day-to-day management and extraordinary events. Which is precisely what this supplement provides.

Just a Reminder

Looking for GURPS content, new or old? Here's where to find it:

  • Warehouse 23 (all the products SJ Games sells through its online store)
  • GURPS on Demand (everything offered via "print on demand" on Amazon)
  • DriveThruRPG (the PDFs currently available through that store)

Upcoming Plans

What does "create more GURPS" actually mean? Here's my monthly snapshot of the process! It's a list of guesses, albeit from an insider. We're living in interesting times, so even more than usual, nothing below is a sure thing – radical changes of plans aren't merely possible but likely.

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is in its all-but-final form, awaiting release plans.
Two short items from me – a contribution to the How to Be a GURPS GM series and another GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters volume – are also in final form and likely to show up soon, probably in that order.
The short David Pulver and Matt Riggsby projects I've been teasing about are both through production . . . and yes, we're saving them for something. Stay tuned.
The final draft of GURPS Hot Spots: Srivijaya, by Randy Huegele, has moved out to May at the author's request.
Bill Stoddard's most recent manuscript remains in peer review.
The playtest queue is still moving slowly. My apologies for that. Starting with "next up," it holds works in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein), and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens series (by Christopher Rice).
Rory Fansler is still revising his latest first draft.

There's also stuff further out (notably David Pulver's two-parter), on hold at the author's request, and of course in the planning stages. To be the first to know when that news breaks or anything above changes, watch the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to accept queries and proposals – and we continue to ask would-be writers to stick to ideas from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 22, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 22, 2021). Right now, the less "crunchy," the better. Before even considering that path, though, please review the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

February 26, 2021: Short And Sweet

February doesn't just have fewer days than all the other months – it really, truly feels shorter, because the days rapidly gain sunlight, reminding us that we're over the hump of winter and sprinting for spring. It's almost like a prize for surviving January! But it doesn't mean we slack off on our work on GURPS.

Recent Releases

February saw one new GURPS publication.

GURPS Magical Styles: Horror Magic (February 25, 2021; PDF)

GURPS Magic sometimes seems too flashy and fantasy-oriented for games of horror, mystery, and occult weirdness, where magic is meant to be secret or forbidden. Yet it provides a huge list of ready-to-use spells, where most other magic systems offer fewer examples and place the onus of creating more on the GM or players, leading to a mini-game that takes time and that can cause arguments at the gaming table. This supplement uses GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles to adapt "standard" spell-magic to genres and worlds that call for something a little darker, creepier, and less obvious.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

Over in GURPS on Demand, GURPS Who's Who 2 just missed the cut last time. We also banged GURPS Classic: Space, First Edition into PDF form. These are for earlier editions of GURPS, so some stats conversion is needed to use the NPCs and spaceships, respectively, with Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

As I said above, we haven't slackened our pace. Here's the latest on what's still in the pipeline. Please remember that these are educated guesses and nothing more. As recent meteorological events in Texas (home of SJ Games) should make clear, the unexpected can throw a wrench – heck, the whole toolbox – into our plans.

The stars of the GURPS Pyramid Scheme Kickstarter – three new issues of Pyramid – should be in the hands of backers by now, and we're working hard to deliver the other rewards.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is basically done, save for a few production tweaks. I've seen proof in the form of a near-final PDF.
Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is almost certainly going to be a March release.
I submitted a final draft of a short item (no clues yet, sorry!) that's very likely to come out in April.
The short David Pulver project I've been teasing about remains in production. I confess that we might be saving it for something.
We expect the final draft of GURPS Hot Spots: Srivijaya, by Randy Huegele, in March.
Bill Stoddard's most recent work remains in peer review.
The playtest queue hasn't advanced since last time . . . sorry! It still contains content for, in order, the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), and the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein).
Rory Fansler's mystical manuscript and Christopher Rice's newest for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy continue to receive loving revisions from their authors.
Yes, that first draft from Matt Riggsby still awaits editorial review. We might be saving this for something as well.
Yours Truly has started something sinister for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy.

Everything else is either too far out to talk about (including David Pulver's two-parter) or on hold at the author's request. Could that change? Could any of this change? But of course! The GURPS thread in my blog, which I update faithfully on Fridays, is where to look for gossip about that.

Join Us! Join Us!

So far in 2021, we've been entertaining queries and proposals more often than we did during 2020. While some aspects of the GURPS machine are still operating more slowly than I'd like, I'm not as inclined to encourage would-be writers to wait. Preparation remains important to keeping things moving, though, so if you're interested, please review the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. I beg you to limit queries to what the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 22, 2021) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 22, 2021) ask for; we still have too much on our collective plate to catch hits into left field. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

January 29, 2021: 43×47

Happy belated new year! I must be a total dork, because whenever I say the date aloud, I can't help but think, "2021, 22, 23, . . . huh-huh-huh!" That's why I led with a prime factorization: to avoid making that joke. Oh, my – I really am a total dork.

Hey, look! Over there! It's GURPS!

Recent Releases

January started the year off right with new support for GURPS.

GURPS Furries (January 28, 2021; PDF)

Ever wanted to play a character who enjoys everything that's great about being an animal and being a human? Not by turns, like a werewolf, but all at once – say, a talking tiger or fox or rabbit who walks upright but still has handy fur and claws? If so, this is the supplement you've been waiting fur! It covers all manner of anthropomorphic animals, giving you the tools you need to create furry racial templates, cook up furry game settings, or bounce right in and start playing your fursona.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand celebrated the new year with GURPS Who's Who 1 and GURPS Y2K (I guess we were off by 20 years . . . well, hindsight's 20/20). Both of those are for GURPS Third Edition, so you'll need to convert the stats to use them with Fourth Edition (that's especially important for the character sheets in Who's Who 1).

Upcoming Plans

We hit the ground running after our vacation! Here's where things have advanced to. As ever, this is a list of guesses – by an insider, to be sure, but please don't read them as promises. Given how 2020 went, I think we can all agree that "then again, we could all be eaten by zombies" seems almost plausible.

The GURPS Pyramid Scheme Kickstarter went live, got funded all the way to its final stretch goal, and closed. I'd like to offer a HUGE thanks to the 1,570 people who pledged $34,547 to make that happen! All three issues are well on their way to being finalized for rapid delivery.
I've been warned to leave space in my schedule for the production review of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management. Could it be next?
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game has Foglio art and is back in production.
The short David Pulver item I've been teasing about remains in production for now.
GURPS Hot Spots: Srivijaya, by Randy Huegele, has had its playtest and is now with the author to create the final draft.
Bill Stoddard's most recent project moved into peer review on January 20, 2021. We anticipate that process shouldn't take more than a month.
The current playtest queue boasts volumes in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), and the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein) – in that order.
Rory Fansler's mystical mystery manuscript and Christopher Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy joint remain with their respective writers for revisions.
A first draft from Matt Riggsby awaits editorial review.
Yours Truly is about 75% of the way through writing something short but stylish.

All the rest is either too far out to talk about (including a two-parter from David Pulver) or on hold at the author's request. Since a lot can happen in a week, keep tabs on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update faithfully on Fridays.

Meanwhile, In Norðlond . . .

Our friends at Gaming Ballistic LLC have been busy as well: The four books for the Nordlond Sagas Kickstarter campaign are now available on Warehouse 23! Pick up both new Norðlond adventures, Forest's End (by Merlin Avery) and The Dragons of Rosgarth (by Kyle Norton). For character creation, look for Hand of Asgard to make your Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game cleric more flavorful, while Norðlondr Folk adds new races to the mix, including the totally-not-tieflings eldhuð, the triger, and new takes on some old friends. Both books were penned by Kevin Smyth. And check out the Ballistic's Report to see what Gaming Ballistic has been up to this week.

Join Us! Join Us!

The intake end of the product pipeline seems somewhat less clogged, now: I've been bouncing a couple of promising proposals back and forth with writers, and we'll probably sign contracts shortly. That isn't a call to jump in unprepared! I strongly advise all would-be contributors to absorb the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template before sending even the most tentative of queries. Also, we're still asking writers to stick to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2020) for now; our decks aren't so clear that we can entertain blue-sky ideas. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

January 4, 2021: 2020 Hindsight

This is the December 2020 update. It's a few days late because I was on vacation on December 31 and I'm just getting around to it now, on my first workday of 2021. There will be a second installment at the end of the month (in about four weeks' time). Hopefully, this year won't be a second installment of 2020 . . .

Recent Releases

December brought with it a single all-new GURPS release.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 4: Mixed Blessings (December 22, 2020; PDF)

Dungeon delvers crave loot – but while no true munchkin would turn down such goodies as scrolls, potions, and armor and weapons that grant bigger plusses, most secretly hope to stumble across the rare or even the unique. Such treasures offer bragging rights and, better, powers that aren't as tightly constrained as those of generic items. At the same time, magic systems exist for reasons like "keeping things vaguely predictable" and "curbing abuse," so exceptions to them can give the GM headaches. This collection contains 13 artifacts that finesse the issue by combining positive departures from the rules with negative ones; they're good, but not too good. It also provides brief-but-pithy general advice on crafting one's own "mixed blessings."

Everything Old Is New Again Department

GURPS on Demand kept on rolling through December with GURPS Undead and GURPS Warehouse 23. We also made GURPS Goblins available in PDF form, at long last. Please remember that these are GURPS Third Edition supplements, so some conversion is needed to use them with Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

December was a short work month, what with most of the staff on vacation for half of it, so we didn't get that much done. I'll share what I can, though! Just remember that these are informed guesses, not promises. Especially at the start of a new year, predicting what will actually happen is next to impossible.

The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game remains with the Foglio clan for art.
Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is still in production, as is that short David Pulver item I keep hinting at.
Phil Reed let the cat out of the bag regarding the three Sekrit Projekts that occupied much of my time in late 2020, first on the forums (where discussion is ongoing) and then on Kickstarter. In short: More Pyramid. Please follow the campaign.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries remains in Nikki's editorial inbox.
GURPS Hot Spots: Srivijaya, by Randy Huegele, is largely done with playtesting.
Next up in the playtest queue are volumes in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), and the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein) – in that order.
Bill Stoddard's latest effort passed editorial review and has been revised, so it should go to peer review shortly.
Manuscripts from Rory Fansler (a mystery . . . to you) and Christopher Rice (yet more for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy) are still being revised by their authors in preparation for playtesting.
A first draft from Matt Riggsby – sorry, no clues yet – awaits editorial review.

Then there's the stuff that sits so far out that I prefer to wax vague indeed, including a project that's on hold at the author's request and a couple being written by David Pulver. For weekly summaries and progress reports, be sure to check the GURPS thread in my blog every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

I continue to hold out hope that by the end of this month, we'll see enough movement at each step in the product pipeline that we can focus more attention on intake. To get a head start on that, consider blocking off time to pore over the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template to learn about what we expect from queries, proposals, and manuscripts. Then click on over to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2020) to find out what we're looking for. That last bit is especially important: While we're not totally against wild new ideas, they're a hard sell to an overtaxed editorial department.

Share This Post!

| More

November 30, 2020: Crazytown!

November was certainly an . . . "interesting" month: a dramatic and divisive U.S. presidential election, more COVID-19 lockdowns, announcements of COVID-19 vaccines, far too many cases of people "going postal" (sometimes as a result of those things), nasty earthquakes and hurricanes for good measure, and much, much more. My unsolicited, unprofessional advice? Invest in publicly traded news services. Returning to my area of expertise, here's the scoop on GURPS.

Recent Releases

November saw but one completely new GURPS release.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 3: The Carnival of Madness (November 26, 2020; PDF)

Most adventures require the adventurers to accept quests and then show up in the right place at the right time to pursue them. The catch is that no adventure – neither the GM's own nor the clever Dungeon Fantasy Adventures – survives contact with the players. Sometimes, the heroes don't turn up at all; they wander off to play in their sandbox instead. When that happens, it's useful to have an encounter that finds the delvers rather than waiting around for them to find it. And what roves the countryside, promising spills, thrills, and chills? Why, a carnival! Coulrophobia has never been so fun.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

Our GURPS on Demand initiative was on fire (in a good way!) through the month of November. You can now obtain these GURPS Third Edition gems: GURPS Deadlands: Varmints, GURPS Mecha, GURPS Religion, GURPS Robots, and GURPS Villains.

Upcoming Plans

Managing the product pipeline has been significantly harder than usual in these interesting times . . . indeed, that chaos was one of many recent inspirations for the Carnival of Madness. Which means that I cannot promise dates or even a publication order for future supplements. But I can offer some juicy hints.

As it has been for a couple of months, now, the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is with the Foglios for art.
Both Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management and that short David Pulver item I've noted here in the past remain in production.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries is waiting for Nikki to get the time to swap her production hat for her editorial one.
We posted a call for playtesters for GURPS Hot Spots: Srivijaya. Apply now!
Coming up in the playtest queue are works in the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez), and the GURPS Vehicles series (by Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein).
Manuscripts from Rory Fansler (no clues yet) and Christopher Rice (for the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series) are still with their authors for revisions from first to second (playtest) draft.
A first draft from Matt Riggsby and another from Bill Stoddard await editorial review.

More vaguely, one project is on hold, three more are being written (including two by David Pulver and one by Yours Truly), and I finished detailed reviews of not one, not two, but three Sekrit Projekts. For interim summaries and additional gossip, follow the GURPS thread in my blog, which gets a new post every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

As you can see, things are starting to move – if only a playtest here and a first-draft review there. I have hope that by the end of January 2021, we'll have the breathing room to resume reviewing proposals and signing contracts in earnest. If that interests you, then please use the time between now and then to absorb the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and to pore over the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 3, 2020) for ideas we're likely to say "yes" to. Thanks in advance for understanding.

Share This Post!

| More

October 30, 2020: Pumpkin Season

Writing this on October 30, I have spooky thoughts on the brain (mmm, braaains!) – though pandemic-related rules where I live forbid trick-or-treating this year, or even lurking in the bushes in zombie makeup. The latter is probably for the best in 2020; somebody might mistake me for an actual zombie. That's a good reason to stay in and play GURPS.

Recent Releases

October came with two new goodies for GURPS.

GURPS Combat Cards (October 26, 2020; Boxed Cards)

GURPS offers gamers great freedom of choice in combat, and translates their decisions into character tactics that can win or lose the battle. But for greenhorns – and veterans who are pressed to decide quickly – it can be difficult to remember all the possibilities and select the best ones under the circumstances. This deck of 36 color-coded cards concisely explains every combat maneuver in the Basic Set, the most important attack and defense options, and several conditions commonly inflicted by injury. By keeping the cards that describe their characters' current status in front of them, and declaring actions in combat by "playing" others, every player can fight like a master.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 2: The Room (October 1, 2020; PDF)

Dungeon delvers live to kick down doors, fight monsters, and loot rooms. For this to work, though, the GM has to have a dungeon all mapped out and ready to go. There are times when the players get ahead of the planning, leaving the GM scrambling to figure out what comes next. This special room offers a quick way to stop the gap. Saying more would give away its secrets, but trust us on this: The $3 price tag buys you a lot more than 11 pages' worth of fun!

Everything Old Is New Again Department

So, what did we add to GURPS on Demand since last time? Quite a lot for GURPS Third Edition: GURPS Deadlands, GURPS Deadlands Dime Novel 1: Aces and Eights, GURPS Deadlands Dime Novel 2 � Wanted: Undead or Alive, GURPS Deadlands: Hexes, GURPS Shapeshifters, and GURPS Spirits (shoot, a fella' could run a pretty good Halloween game with all that stuff!). Oh, and we also made GURPS Classic: Grimoire available in PDF.

Upcoming Plans

Now to consult the Ouija board and learn what's coming up. The spirits never provide a publication order, much less firm dates, because Dark Forces are anything but predictable. Here's what I managed to see before things got . . . weird.

The preliminary PDF of the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is with the Foglio clan to fill the remaining art holes. How cool is that?
GURPS Realm Management, by Christopher Rice, and that short item from David Pulver that I keep mentioning both await production.
I found time to write something else for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy (hmm . . . that, too, would work for Halloween). It has jumped through all the hoops to land in the production queue as well.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries remains queued for editing. Nikki is the editor, but she's super-busy right now.
The playtest queue still contains volumes for the GURPS Hot Spots series (by Randy Huegele), for the GURPS Fantasy Folk series (by Alden Loveshade), and the GURPS Infinite Worlds series (by James Amaral & Joshua Lopez). We have not yet posted calls for playtesters.
First drafts from Rory Fansler (no clues yet), Christopher Rice (for the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series), and Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein (for the GURPS Vehicles series) are all with their authors for revisions from first draft to second (playtest) draft.
The short first draft from Matt Riggsby continues to await review.

On top of all that, one project is on hold at the author's request, while six more are being written (including two by David Pulver, one by Bill Stoddard, and three Sekrit Projekts). To keep track of what we're owning up to – and to glean additional clues about the rest – follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

Working on our various Sekrit Projekts while keeping all the not-secret-at-all jobs moving has at times proved a real challenge – especially with the added wrinkle of a global pandemic. I must continue to advise would-be writers to use what remains of 2020 not to work on proposals, but rather to focus on learning the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and on analyzing the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 4, 2020) for ideas that appeal to both them and us. That way, everybody will be able to move quickly when the dam breaks! Thank you for understanding.

Share This Post!

| More

September 30, 2020: New Tech

I had a major computer blowout since I last reported in. Now I'm back on a PC built in this decade, and almost caught up on my work – the fact that you're reading this is proof. You aren't here to read about my digital woes, though!

Recent Releases

At least in part due to my high-tech headaches, September didn't bring anything new for GURPS. In the world of GURPS on Demand, though, we managed reprints of two GURPS Third Edition books: GURPS Monsters and GURPS Psionics.

Upcoming Plans

Despite my computer catastrophe, I managed to advance a few projects . . . and my stalwart colleagues did even more. Here's where we stand as of now. As usual, I cannot provide firm dates or even a reliable order in which you're likely to see things. My personal setback is a great example of one reason why, and of course the ongoing global health crisis isn't helping at all.

The GURPS Combat Cards went out to Kickstarter backers. Yes, they will eventually show up for people to buy, but the company has higher priorities on its "to do" list.
My latest GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volume – the short one I mentioned last time – is also simply awaiting a release date.
We have a preliminary PDF of the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game! Phil Foglio reviewed it and now Steve Jackson is tweaking it. Next stop: art.
I edited GURPS Realm Management, by Christopher Rice, and sent that along to production.
The short, nameless work from David Pulver that I keep dangling here remains in production.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries is queued for editing. We've assigned an editor, so it's mostly a matter of finding time.
The playtest queue now has three items in it: a manuscript from Randy Huegele for the GURPS Hot Spots series, then one from Alden Loveshade for a new series, and finally one from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez for the GURPS Infinite Worlds series. All have been reviewed and revised, and are just waiting their turn. Look for multiple calls for playtesters over the coming months.
First drafts from Christopher Rice (for the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series) and Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein (for the GURPS Vehicles series) remain with their respective authors for revisions before joining the playtesting lineup.
That short first draft from Matt Riggsby still awaits review.

Aside from all that, one first draft is on hold, four more are in the writing process (one by Rory Fansler, two by David Pulver, and one by Bill Stoddard), and there's a Sekrit Projekt in the wind. For further hints and clues, and even the occasional concrete news, follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

With all of that stuff in the pipeline, and the complexities introduced by the pandemic, everything is moving more slowly than normal. Thus, this isn't the optimal moment to send us proposals. I strongly counsel would-be writers to use this time to study the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and then to scan the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 4, 2020) to learn our needs. An excellent query regarding a supplement we actually want, sent our way when we have breathing space (say, in early 2021), is much more likely to get a green light than something that comes out of left field or that's fired off in haste tomorrow!

Share This Post!

| More

August 31, 2020: Coming Soon: Autumn!

As I write this from my secret lair in the Northern Hemisphere, I cannot help but notice a definite coolness in the air – and the trees turning yellow outside my window. It's that time again! Setting aside my inexplicable Canadian fascination with red maple leaves, I do love autumn. So, what's happening with GURPS as we head into the season of apples and pumpkins?

Recent Releases

August came with one new release for GURPS.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Career Guide (August 27, 2020; PDF)

A career in killing monsters and taking their stuff is doomed to be short if you lack focus! It's wise to weigh all your options before you choose a specialty, though. The catch is that there are nearly 50 professions strewn across 36 GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplements and 122 Pyramid issues. The Career Guide aims to simplify the search by listing them all, briefly describing them, and indexing their main and variant templates, lenses, special abilities, and much more.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

For GURPS on Demand, August brought two reprints of GURPS Third Edition material – GURPS Old West and GURPS Places of Mystery – as well as GURPS Space for GURPS Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

Despite your faithful servant here taking a week off, we made good progress in August. As ever, I can tell you where items are in our workflow, and often mention titles and authors, but not provide firm dates. In the current global climate, scheduling something that isn't essentially done is all but impossible.

The GURPS Combat Cards have started going out to Kickstarter backers! I should be reporting them in the section above shortly.
A short GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volume by Yours Truly is in production, and just waiting on us to finalize the art.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game lingers in production, where it's likely to stay for a while because it's big.
The short work from David Pulver that I've refused to name a few times remains in production, too.
I have (just barely!) started editing the final draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management.
GURPS Furries, by Bill Stoddard, is out of playtesting and in house as a final draft, queued for editing.
A GURPS Hot Spots-series manuscript from Randy Huegele is next up for playtesting. Keep your eyes peeled for the call for playtesters.
First drafts from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for the GURPS Infinite Worlds series), Alden Loveshade (no hints yet!), Christopher Rice (for the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series), and Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein (for the GURPS Vehicles series) have all been reviewed and returned to the authors for revisions.
A short first draft from Matt Riggsby (again, no hints for now!) still awaits review.

There's also a project that has passed the first-draft stage but been put on hold, and four more in the writing process. Want more clues? Newer news? Follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge: Update

The GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge products continue to go out to backers. They aren't on Warehouse 23 yet, but should eventually turn up at the following URLs:

  • GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides
  • GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries
  • GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides
  • GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star
  • GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons
  • GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale
  • GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail
  • GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1
  • GURPS Reign of Steel: Read the Sky
  • GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World
  • GURPS Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew
  • How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic

Join Us! Join Us!

My advice to would-be writers until the end of 2020 is this: Read our Submission Guidelines. Study the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Peruse the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 4, 2020) to discover our needs – and yes, off-list is off-limits for the time being. Then take the time to write a really great query letter.

Share This Post!

| More

July 31, 2020: More Than Half Done

I am speaking, of course, of the year – we crossed the halfway point at the start of July. I think most of us are hoping that 2021 will be better. At least, we're hoping that it will see the global pandemic brought under control, and maybe have less in the way of brain-eating microorganisms and murder hornets, too. But more GURPS!

Recent Releases

July brought one "regular season" new release for GURPS.

GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells (July 23, 2020; PDF)

Even low-powered spellcasters who use the least-impressive spells in GURPS Magic are fairly capable magic-users. Yet many game worlds are home to casual or impetuous dabblers, truly junior apprentices, and hedge magicians with minor-but-practical tricks up their sleeves. That's the focus of this expansion. It introduces trivial spells that work for anyone as long as there's at least normal mana. While these probably won't revolutionize society, they might just perk up your campaign!

Also this month, the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge did far, far better than we had hoped, with 2,781 backers pledging $57,663, which was well past the amount needed to unlock all 12 PDFs. Thank you! And what were those PDFs? Here's the full list. The links are NOT live as I write this, but keep checking back; the supplements are already going out to backers, and should turn up on Warehouse 23 in the not-too-distant future.

Everything Old Is New Again Department

Our GURPS on Demand efforts continued, adding GURPS Fantasy Folk and GURPS Mars. These are reprints of GURPS Third Edition material, not new for Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

Meanwhile, work proceeded on many other things. As usual, I can almost always provide author names, and often titles, but only rarely dates. Committing to a firm schedule is tricky at the best of times and nearly impossible with all that's going on in the world right now.

The GURPS Combat Cards are in house. They should be available before end of summer.
Not one but two short GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volumes from Yours Truly are in production. One is close to ready to go, while the other is waiting on a final piece of art.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game is now in production as well; indeed, Kaja and Phil Foglio have seen some sample pages. Progress!
That as-yet-unnamed short item from David Pulver that I've mentioned a couple of times also went into production.
The final draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management remains in the editorial queue because my focus has been on reviewing first drafts.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries went into playtesting. The playtest will run until August 17.
Randy Huegele's manuscript for the GURPS Hot Spots series is slated for playtesting after GURPS Furries.
I reviewed a first draft from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for GURPS Infinite Worlds), and another from Alden Loveshade (no title reveal yet!).
I am better than halfway through reviewing the first draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens installment.
A short first draft from Matt Riggsby (sorry, no hints right now!) and a first draft from Carolyn Stein & Steve Stein (ditto!) still await my review.

Another project has moved past the first-draft stage but been put on hold, while three more are in the process of being written. To keep tabs on all this stuff – and perhaps glean more clues! – check out the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We remain swamped, so I still counsel would-be writers to use what remains of the summer to study our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Queries can come later . . . say, in the autumn, after I've cleared away the first-draft reviews and taken a vacation. When the time comes, see the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 4, 2020) to learn our current needs. We continue to insist that you choose from those lists rather than pull ideas out of nowhere. Hopefully we'll be able to ease up on that restriction before the end of 2020. Thanks!

Share This Post!

| More

June 30, 2020: Summer!

Here in the Northern Hemisphere, we've crossed that astronomical and meteorological line into the sunniest, warmest part of the year. When you live in the Great White North (as I do), that's a big deal! Why, it inspires me to wax poetic . . . which is a sign that I should start talking about GURPS at once. (My poetry is far too Vogon for this venue.)

Recent Releases

Because we were ramping up for the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge (more on that below), we didn't publish anything genuinely new for GURPS in June. In the absence of such, I'll mention the things we worked hard to make available via print on demand after an absence in the physical, printed world.

For GURPS Fourth Edition:

For GURPS Third Edition:

You can find those books and many more at our new Amazon storefront!

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

Not that we're limiting ourselves to selling our re-releases on Warehouse 23 and Amazon! We've continued to add GURPS PDFs on DriveThruRPG, most recently GURPS Flight 13 and GURPS Terradyne.

GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge

The single biggest piece of upcoming news deserves its own section: We'll be running a GURPS Kickstarter from July 1 (tomorrow!) until July 13 that could unlock up to 12 PDFs for as little as $3 for the lot. You read that right: 25 cents apiece if there's enough funding. Don't believe me? Let Phil Reed explain and explain more.

But what are these mythical PDFs, and why should you want them? I've secured special permission to let the cat out of the bag a day early!

GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides (by Sean Punch) . . . A system for quickly customizing cars, SUVs, vans, and pickups.
GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries (by S.A. Fisher) . . . A look at freelance military action, from the 1970s to present.
GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides (by Steven Marsh) . . . An organization that encourages you to drive dangerously.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star (by Matt Riggsby) . . . A cosmic fantasy adventure.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons (by Peter V. Dell'Orto) . . . Tips and advice for designing dungeons-as-campaigns.
GURPS Horror: Beyond the Pale (by Christopher R. Rice and J. Edward Tremlett) . . . A truly creepy modern-day adventure.
GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail (by Matt Riggsby) . . . A visit to historical trade routes linking the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean.
GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1 (by Christopher R. Rice) . . . Mini-adventures for modern-day monster slayers.
GURPS Reign of Steel: Read the Sky (by Roger Burton West) . . . An SAS adventure set after the robot apocalypse.
GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World (by Phil Masters) . . . A setting that smashes together the modern and the steampunk.
GURPS Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew (by Sean Punch) . . . A complementary set of templates for those who operate big spaceships.
How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic (by Christopher R. Rice) . . . A guide to using GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic.

Need another reason to back this? Your faithful servant here celebrates his 25th year at SJ Games on Sunday, July 5. If you've ever found my hand on the GURPS tiller to be a good thing and would like to support the game going forward, why not mark my silver anniversary by putting a little silver toward this campaign? The more that's pledged, the more PDFs you'll get!

Other Upcoming Plans

Of course, there are still many other goodies in our various queues. Here are some hints regarding those. All are best guesses and nothing more – I cannot promise anything resembling dates.

The GURPS Combat Cards are now at the printer. Look for them this summer.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game remains in the production queue. If you've read this far, then you can probably figure out why it hasn't moved more quickly.
Remember that first draft from David Pulver I mentioned last time? It jumped through editing and now awaits production. The title is still a secret.
My two short GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volumes and that supplement I wrote for the GURPS Magic series all await production as well . . . and have nothing to do with the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge.
The final draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is still in the editorial queue.
We posted a call for playtesters for Bill Stoddard's GURPS Furries. The playtest will run from July 10 to August 17, so it isn't too late to get involved.
Randy Huegele's contribution to the GURPS Hot Spots series awaits playtesting behind GURPS Furries – probably in late summer.
I've started reviewing that first draft from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for GURPS Infinite Worlds), while first drafts from Alden Loveshade (no clues yet!) and Christopher Rice (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens) continue to await editorial review.

Yet another project has moved past the first-draft stage but been put on hold, while five others are in the process of being written (we signed two new contracts since May). To stay abreast of developments and perhaps learn more about the items I left vague, follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're a little swamped – and at least in theory I'd like to take some time off over the summer – so we (okay, I) can't promise fast turnarounds on proposals. That means there's time to spare, so I'd strongly encourage would-be writers to internalize our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template before even thinking about sending us a query. After that, visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 4, 2020) to discover our current needs. And yes, we're still sticking strictly to those lists. Thank you for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

May 29, 2020: Things Are Heating Up

Lilas, par Genevieve

At least where I live, that being an inland bit of North America. We finally have sunny days, songbirds, flowers, and all that good stuff. It looks, sounds, and smells like spring – heck, like summer. But that doesn't mean we can take a break (even if we're sorely tempted!).

Recent Releases

May brought one genuinely new GURPS-related title and another in a form different enough to merit mention:

Dungeon Fantasy Dungeon Planner (May 22, 2020; PDF and Softcover)

Collections of forms and record sheets for RPGs aren't to every gamer's taste. "Isn't that what paper is for?" But this might change your mind! It's a notebook with space for a dungeon map, a structured adventure overview, individual room maps and descriptions, wandering monster tables, and monster and trap records – in short, everything you need to keep all your notes organized and in one place as you design and then run a dungeon adventure. The price is right, so you might want one for each dungeon, or even for each level of a big dungeon.

Dungeon Fantasy Monsters (May 21, 2020; Softcover)

By popular demand, we've made the bestiary from the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game available on its own via print on demand. Like Dungeon Fantasy Adventurers and Dungeon Fantasy Spells before it, this is not a standalone game. But if, say, you're deeply invested in GURPS Dungeon Fantasy and want just the monsters from the DFRPG box . . . well, here you go!

"Everything Old Is New Again" Department

Our GURPS Third Edition archiving initiative kept chugging along, bringing the long out of print (and thus anxiously awaited) GURPS Terradyne back from obscurity. We also added GURPS Psionic Powers to our print on demand offerings, for those who missed it on paper the first time.

Upcoming Plans

Most everything mentioned in the last couple of roundups remains in various queues, so these hints are largely reruns. As ever, they're sneak peeks at works very much in progress, subject to all manner of changes and shake-ups . . . especially with the world turned upside down by pandemic. Thus, I can drop names but not promise a publication order, much less specific dates. Thank you for your understanding!

A general GURPS game aid streaked from discussion to production. It should go to print shortly and ship this summer.
A ton of shorter supplements await production. In rapid succession: two for GURPS Action (one by S.A. Fisher, the other by me), one for GURPS Boardroom and Curia (by Steven Marsh), two for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy (one by Peter Dell'Orto, the other by Matt Riggsby), one for GURPS Hot Spots (by Matt Riggsby), one for GURPS Magic (by me), one for GURPS Monster Hunters (by Christopher Rice), one for GURPS Steampunk (by Phil Masters), and one for GURPS Template Toolkit (by me). Yeah, all that.
I found the time to write something for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. That joined everything else in the production pipeline this week.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game remains in the production queue behind items we can turn around more quickly (see above). Its time will come!
I took a solid swing at the editorial queue, editing three more manuscripts – one for GURPS Horror (by Christopher Rice and J. Edward Tremlett), one for GURPS Reign of Steel (by Roger Burton West), and one for GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic (by Christopher Rice).
The final draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is still in the editorial queue, because again, we're prioritizing the short and the fast.
Both William H. Stoddard's latest effort and Randy Huegele's contribution to the GURPS Hot Spots series await playtesting, which unfortunately must take a back seat to editing and production.
First drafts from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for GURPS Infinite Worlds), Alden Loveshade (no clues yet!), David Pulver (ditto!), and Christopher Rice (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens) continue to await editorial review as the editors tackle . . . well, all the rest.

One further project is past the first-draft stage but on hold, while three others are in the process of being written. The landscape is in constant flux. To keep tabs on this, check out the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

I continue to beg would-be writers for patience. We're barely keeping up with what we have! Please focus on making sure your eventual proposals are perfect. Study our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then take a look at the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated May 4, 2020) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated May 4, 2020) to discover our current needs; for the time being, we're sticking strictly to those lists. Thanks!

Share This Post!

| More

April 30, 2020: Real Life Is Science Fiction

Global pandemic! World leaders invoking emergency powers! Livin' in the Forbidden Zone! It's like a 1980s or 1990s science-fiction film about the 2000s and 2010s, or perhaps a futuristic RPG campaign, though we don't have zombies – yet. Speaking of RPGs . . .

Recent Releases

Like countless other businesses during these extraordinary times, SJ Games has asked its employees – including the good folks at Warehouse 23 – to work from home. Moreover, getting physical components (such as cards, counters, and dice) created and shipped for product lines other than GURPS has proven to be a challenge that falls somewhere between "tricky" and "impossible." In light of these realities, we've prioritized games that need more help than GURPS does, and focused our GURPS energies on making lots and lots of older content available online.

Thus, April brought no 100% new GURPS-related items but was hardly a dull month:

We went all-out with our print on demand effort, bringing five GURPS Third Edition reprints to market:

We started selling Dungeon Fantasy Companion on Warehouse 23.

And we pushed the GURPS PDF archiving initiative hard to get all of these GURPS Third Edition (and earlier!) classics into PDF form:

Upcoming Plans

Despite taking significant time away from reviewing, playtesting, editing, and laying out all-new material in order to prepare everything listed above, there have been modest developments on those fronts. Here are a few hints, which you should take with whole sack of salt – it has never been less possible for me to offer dates or even a likely publication order. Thanks for understanding!

A surprise Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game idea fairly fell out of a recent discussion and jumped straight to production.
The Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game continues to await production.
I edited a GURPS Action supplement by S.A. Fisher and wrote another myself. Both are in the production queue.
I also wrote more for the GURPS Magic and GURPS Template Toolkit series. That stuff is in production, too.
Yet other manuscripts now in production are ultra-short volumes for several series: one for GURPS Boardroom and Curia, two for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, one for GURPS Hot Spots, one for GURPS Monster Hunters, and one for GURPS Steampunk.
The final draft of Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is now in the editorial queue.
William H. Stoddard's latest oeuvre is still in the playtesting queue.
Randy Huegele's contribution to the GURPS Hot Spots series is queued for playtesting as well.
First drafts from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for GURPS Infinite Worlds), Roger Burton West (for GURPS Reign of Steel), David Pulver (no clues yet!), and Christopher Rice (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens, GURPS Horror, and a third series) all await editorial review.

In addition, one project is past the first-draft stage but on hold, while four others are in the writing process. As I look over those notes, I have this nagging feeling that one or two other works in progress slipped my mind, because there's a lot in the hopper right now. I might get my memory back in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

Given the obvious backlog, honesty demands that I admit this isn't our finest hour for responding to query letters or proposals. If you'd like to write for us, please use this period to learn our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template forwards, backwards, and sideways. After that, swing by the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to find out what we're looking for – we cannot even think off-list right now – and start putting together really convincing queries. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

March 31, 2020: ...

Global events being what they are, I'm at a complete loss for a clever title this month – and I do this whole "writing" gig for a living. Let's leave it at "...". You can fill in your own words, or imagine the ones I'm thinking but don't dare write. At least I have some news to lighten things up.

Recent Releases

March brought one new GURPS-related release:

Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 (PDF and Softcover)

The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game places a strong emphasis on "more stuff." Well, Companion 2 certainly delivers in that department! It offers more foes in the form of six monsters and 14 villains, more magic items in the shape of 16 rare or unique artifacts, and a whole lot of extras in the boxes in and around the main features, including more character abilities, more professions, more racial templates, and even more pieces of mundane gear. If your campaign has started to feel predictable, this ought to shake things up!

"Everything Old Is New Again" Department

Our efforts to make everything available via print on demand continued this month with GURPS Cabal, GURPS Faerie, and GURPS Atlantis. Please remember that these are reprints of GURPS Third Edition classics, not GURPS Fourth Edition supplements.

Upcoming Plans

Now for the fun stuff: Hints as to what's coming up. Given the state of the world at this time, "I can guarantee nothing but eventual publication" has never been closer to the truth. Everything is up in the air right now, and the health of our writers and staff is a higher priority than any deadline or delivery date.

I have completed my edit of the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game! It now awaits production.
Several ultra-short drafts have leapt into production as well, including new volumes these series: GURPS Boardroom and Curia, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, GURPS Monster Hunters, and GURPS Steampunk.
Yours Truly wrote a little something that should join the above in production shortly. Sorry, no more clues just yet!
Christopher Rice's GURPS Realm Management is through playtesting and on target for a final draft in April.
William H. Stoddard's most recent manuscript remains queued for playtesting while the author moves house. Good luck, Bill!
Randy Huegele's GURPS Hot Spots draft is also queued for playtesting.
First drafts from James Amaral & Joshua Lopez (for GURPS Infinite Worlds), Roger Burton West (for GURPS Reign of Steel), Peter Dell'Orto (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy), Christopher Rice (for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens), and Matt Riggsby (for GURPS Hot Spots) all await editorial review.

On top of all that, one project is past the first-draft stage but on hold, while eight others – including works from S.A. Fisher, David Pulver, and Christopher Rice – are in the writing process. Wow, but that's a lot of lists! For title and author reveals, and hints about what's moving ahead, be sure to follow the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

Join Us! Join Us!

To state the obvious: Our entire process – from first-draft review, through playtesting, to editing – is backlogged in the extreme. With the chaos we're all facing right now, that's unlikely to be resolved soon . . . or even soon-ish. My advice to all would-be writers is to thoroughly read and absorb our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template, and then visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to learn what we're looking for. Thanks in advance for confining queries and proposals to titles on the lists – we really can't entertain blue-sky offers at this time.

Share This Post!

| More

February 27, 2020: This Goes To 29

Channeling Mr. Tufnel, because all the good leap-year jokes have already been made. At any rate, it's the end of February already, not that people where I live are going to miss it – that's enough ice and snow and cold, thanks! But like the postal service, neither snow nor rain will slow us down (much).

Recent Releases

February saw one new addition to the GURPS library:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Cold Shard Mountains (February 20, 2020; PDF)

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy is generic "kitchen sink" fantasy filled with vague references to "the King," "town," "the Steamy South," "the Merchants' Guild," and so on. You can use it with any fantasy background that supports hack 'n' slash tropes. Not all gamers have the time to create or adapt worlds, however – and for them, there's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Settings. The second volume in that sub-series, Cold Shard Mountains offers a rocky region with a long history, plenty of danger, and more than a few mysteries. It's big and complex enough to serve as the setting for an entire campaign. Even better, it's perfectly suited to megadungeons and hex crawls, and comes with guidelines for both.

"Everything Old Is New Again" Department

The GURPS PDF archiving initiative continued this month, bringing GURPS Autoduel: Car Warriors into the digital fold. We also reprinted GURPS Alternate Earths 2 for print on demand (actually at the very end of January, but after my previous report). Both are for GURPS Third Edition, not GURPS Fourth Edition.

Upcoming Plans

That brings us to the Ministry of Rumors, Leaks, and Hearsay. As ever, I can guarantee only that everything here will be published eventually. I cannot promise firm dates or even a publication order . . . technical snags and sick days happen, especially during the winter months.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 looks to be on target for delivery to backers.
I continue to edit the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game, and I'm likely to be saying that for a couple of months to come.
Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Realm Management is in its final two weeks of playtesting, and we've set a final-draft deadline.
William H. Stoddard's most recent manuscript is now revised and queued for playtesting.
The first draft of the latest GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure, by Matt Riggsby, continues to await editorial review.
Ditto the first draft of the newest contribution to the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens sub-series, by Christopher R. Rice.
Ditto the next installment of the GURPS Hot Spots series, by Randy Huegele.
And ditto a setting for GURPS Infinite Worlds, by James Amaral and Joshua Lopez.

Further out, one item is past the first-draft stage but on hold, while six others – including one by Peter Dell'Orto, two by David Pulver, and one by Matt Riggsby – are in the process of being written. To learn what's happening each week with these and other projects, watch the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays before noon Central time.

The Path of Cunning

Many lament the passing of Pyramid, but GURPS fans are loyal and their 'zine game is strong. I'd like to use my soapbox to point everyone to an excellent example of this: The Path of Cunning. Issue #2 came out in February, and to be entirely self-interested, it includes my Designer's Notes for GURPS Power-Ups 9: Alternate Attributes.

Join Us! Join Us!

Our editorial review and playtesting queues are rather long right now, with the unfortunate consequence that we simply cannot prioritize dealing with proposals and query letters. Would-be writers might want to use that pause wisely – namely, to read our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then pore over the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to learn what we hope to see once the dam breaks. In the interest of sidestepping avoidable delays, please stick to titles on the lists. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

January 30, 2020: J-J-January

That's the sound of teeth chattering – your faithful agent here lives in the Great White North, where January is among the coldest of months. No matter! There's always gaming to keep us warm. (And as promised a few weeks back, this is the second installment in the same month; the previous one covered December, but was a week late due to holidays.)

Recent Releases

January brought with it a single new GURPS-related product:

GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy (January 23, 2020; PDF)

There's a tendency to assume that fantasy games don't need vehicles. And in some play styles, that's true – transportation is a question of "How do we get to the dungeon?", typically answered by either "on horseback" or "on foot." Yet fantasy also encompasses nautical adventures involving pirates and sea monsters, missions to escort merchant wagons and royal coaches, and wars where siege engines have to be rolled to the enemy's gates. Then there are the truly fantastic rides, such as flying ships and anachronistic dwarven steam-engines. But even adventurers who just raid dungeons might want a cart to haul treasure back to town. Transports of Fantasy is where to find all of this and much more.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

The Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 Kickstarter opened and closed this month. It drew more than twice the funding needed to bring it to life, so it's a go! I cannot name a date, but I can confirm that everything is ready for the next step.

Upcoming Plans

Now for the part most of you come here for: a glimpse behind the curtain! I'll preface this with my customary caution that while I can deliver the informed guesses of an insider, I cannot offer guarantees regarding publication dates or even the general order of things on the schedule. I've had two colds and a power outage this month, and I'm just one link in the chain; stuff like that can introduce surprise delays.

I am editing the Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game. That's a lengthy commitment, so it's liable to sit on this list for a few more months.
Largely because of the previous item, the final draft of a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting from Matt Riggsby awaits editing.
We extended playtesting of Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Realm Management into February.
The next GURPS Hot Spots volume, by Randy Huegele, remains with the author for revisions.
The most recent first draft from William H. Stoddard is still being revised by the author as well.
The first draft of another GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure by Matt Riggsby arrived and is in line for editorial review.
The first draft of the latest for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Denizens, by Christopher R. Rice, also showed up; it, too, is waiting for editorial review.
The first draft of a setting for the GURPS Infinite Worlds series is queued for editorial review as well.

In addition, one manuscript is past the first-draft stage but on hold, and a further three – including a couple by David Pulver – are being written. For week-to-week progress reports, keep an eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays before noon Central time.

"Everything Old Is New Again" Department

The GURPS PDF archiving initiative made progress in January, adding GURPS Supporting Cast to the digital library. As for print on demand, we reprinted GURPS Alternate Earths. Those two are for GURPS Third Edition. For Fourth Edition, the seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Characters is now available.

Join Us! Join Us!

We have many projects queued for editorial review and editing. So it goes . . . we're a small number of people wearing a large number of hats. When this happens, responses to proposals and query letters tend to be slow to come. Thus, now would be a good time to read our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template, and then peruse the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to learn what we'll be looking for in upcoming months. As our resources are limited, we're going to be strict about insisting that you stick to those lists – thanks for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

January 6, 2020: 2020 Foresight

Despite the date, this is the December 2019 update. I was on vacation at the end of December, which is why I'm publishing this on my first day back to work in the new year. Don't worry – there will be a second installment at the end of January!

Recent Releases

December came with two new GURPS-related products:

Pyramid Dungeon Collection (December 5, 2019; PDF/Softback)

Over the years, Pyramid magazine contained a lot of material that would be suitable for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, much of it long before that series came to be – indeed, before GURPS Fourth Edition. This compendium compiles the highlights and revises them for compatibility with the aforementioned series and edition. As a bonus, many of the articles have been expanded with all-new content from the original authors. Also available in print.

GURPS Disasters: Hurricane (December 19, 2019; PDF)

A raging storm could spice up any ongoing campaign . . . or be the backdrop for an exciting one-off game, just one catastrophe among many in the serial adventures of a disaster-management team, or even the genesis of an extended tale of rebuilding. Whatever your goals, this supplement brings you a torrent of ideas, along with rules for high winds, flooding, and rough seas.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

December saw us reprint Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2. In addition, we let slip that Dungeon Fantasy Companion 2 is coming in the first half of 2020. Stay tuned!

Upcoming Plans

In keeping with the title of this roundup, here's a look at what's on the horizon. As usual, this is an educated guess rather than a promise. For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere – particularly in the Great White North, where Yours Truly lairs – 'tis the season of nasty weather that can delay shipments and cause power and Internet outages, and of respiratory infections that can hold up writers and editors.

The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Characters shipped today (January 6, 2020) and should be available almost at once.
GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy, by Phil Masters, has art and is in final production. Look for that a bit later in January.
The final draft of the second GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting, by Matt Riggsby, still awaits editing but shouldn't be waiting too much longer.
Christopher R. Rice's latest oeuvre, GURPS Realm Management, is in playtesting. The playtest is slated to end in mid January.
The next GURPS Hot Spots volume, by Randy Huegele, is still undergoing auctorial revisions.
The newest first draft from William H. Stoddard is in the process of being revised by the author as well.

On top of all that, two items are past the first-draft stage but on hold for the moment; another is in house as a first draft and awaiting editorial review; and a further five, including works by David Pulver, Christopher Rice, and Matt Riggsby, are being written. Those who can't wait a month for a full progress report should monitor the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays before noon Central time.

"Everything Old Is New Again" Department

As part of our GURPS PDF archiving initiative, December brought GURPS Best Of Pyramid 1. And for those seeking physical reprints, the month delivered GURPS Horror and GURPS In Nomine via print on demand. All of these are for GURPS Third Edition.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're still rather pressed to get All The Things approved, reviewed, playtested, revised, edited, laid out, illustrated, approved again, and shipped out the door. That means proposals and query letters are often growing moss, although I made an end-of-year push to clear my inbox for 2020. That also means it's a great time to review our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to get a fix on what we're looking for. Thanks in advance for understanding that unless you've worked with us a lot in the past, we must insist that you don't depart from those lists!

Share This Post!

| More

November 28, 2019: Happy Thanksgiving!

Being Canadian, I usually wish people a happy Thanksgiving in October, but this roundup falls on the American holiday, so hey. Besides, SJ Games is in Texas, and the last I heard, Texas was still part of the United States. (There's my political controversy for the year! Tune in for more sometime in late 2020.) But what GURPS stuff are we giving thanks for?

Recent Releases

November saw the publication of one new GURPS title:

GURPS Power-Ups 9: Alternate Attributes (November 21, 2019; PDF)

GURPS is famously a toolkit; indeed, many gamers have opined that it's a system for creating a game rather than a game in its own right. By deciding which supplements your campaign will draw on – and within those, which traits and optional rules you'll use – you can make it work for almost any setting, genre, or style of play. Yet a few elements are so fundamental that they'll always be there unless you delve deep into house-rules territory; e.g., using six-sided dice, building characters on points, and rolling low for success. Attributes are one of those cornerstones. Alternate Attributes aims to help you get the gaming experience you want by renaming, repricing, rescaling, subdividing, adding, and subtracting basic attributes and secondary characteristics; recalculating the latter from the former; and then adjusting other traits, point budget, and behavior in play to accommodate your tinkering.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

November also brought reprints of two of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game core books: Dungeon Fantasy Adventurers and Dungeon Fantasy Spells. Just the thing for groups that want extra copies so that several players at once can create delvers or look up abilities!

Upcoming Plans

I suspect that most visitors to this page come not to read about the past but for hints as to what the future might bring. I am your servant, so here are my best guesses as an insider. As ever, I must preface these with a reminder that the unexpected can throw a wrench into our efforts, causing projects to go on hold, change order, or (rarely!) disappear mysteriously.

The Pyramid Dungeon Collection is still slated for December 2019. Patience!
GURPS Disasters: Hurricane, by James P. Howard, II, has art and has passed its production review. Look for that in December, too.
The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Characters is in transit, and on schedule for the promised January 6, 2020 release.
GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy, by Phil Masters, is in production and has an ETA sometime in January as well.
The final draft of the second GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting, by Matt Riggsby, is in house and awaiting editing.
Christopher R. Rice's latest manuscript awaits playtesting. Look for a call for playtesters in December.
The next GURPS Hot Spots volume, by Randy Huegele, remains with the author for revisions.

In addition, one item (by Yours Truly) is in production but Top Secret; three more are past the first-draft stage but paused for various (good) reasons; two others are in house as first drafts, awaiting editorial review; and a further four, including works by David Pulver and Christopher Rice, are in the process of being written. If you're itching to know about those or anything else I've mentioned, keep an eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday before noon Central time.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

For the collectors out there, we continue to labor away on the GURPS back catalogue, converting old products never before available in digital form to PDF. November's upload was the GURPS GM's Screen for GURPS Third Edition.

Join Us! Join Us!

"Patience," "in production," "awaiting editing," "awaits playtesting," "paused," "awaiting editorial review" . . . as you can see, we're a little slammed right now. Proposals and even query letters are likely to sit in our inboxes for longer than usual. If you're thinking of writing for us, why not use the Thanksgiving-to-New Year stretch to get acquainted with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template? Once you're a pro at that, check out the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to learn our needs. Especially right now, with all we have going on, we must insist that you stick to those lists. Thank you for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

October 31, 2019: Boo!

The cool thing about the end of October is that we get Halloween. And autumn weather, which is a different kind of cool. And GURPS stuff.

Recent Releases

October brought two new GURPS-related products:

GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics (October 17, 2019; PDF)

Despite what GURPS High-Tech might suggest, there's more to the TL5-8 world than guns, guns, and more guns. Indeed, there's a case to be made that electrification is what separates "high-tech" from "low-tech," and that advances in electronics are the biggest factors differentiating TL6, TL7, and TL8. At any rate, engineers, gadgeteers, and techies of all sorts now have their very own tech book!

Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2 (October 31, 2019; Softcover & PDF)

You can never have enough magic items for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. These ones offer more than just plusses and standard spell effects, though. They're interesting, and often unique.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

Work continues on bringing the world the GURPS back catalogue in digital form (PDF). October saw us upload GURPS Vehicles Lite and GURPS Horror GM's Screen, both for GURPS Third Edition.

Upcoming Plans

Time to put on my spooky fortune-teller costume and stare into the creepy crystal ball! As ever, these are educated guesses, not promises. Unexpected hitches can thwart the best-laid plans. We're mortals, not undead, meaning we catch colds and flus – and curses are real, at least where computers are concerned.

The promised seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns is shipping and should be showing up shortly.
The Pyramid Dungeon Collection is staged for release in December 2019.
GURPS Disasters: Hurricane, by James Howard, is in production and on target to see light of day in 2019.
The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Characters is in transit, and we've announced it for January 6, 2020.
GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy, by Phil Masters, is in production and looking good for early 2020 as well.
Our second GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting, by Matt Riggsby, is with the author to revise into a final draft.
I have a manuscript in peer review, though it may be some time before I can tackle the feedback and revise it.
The latest GURPS Hot Spots supplement, by Randy Huegele, is with the author for revisions as a prelude to playtesting.
Christopher R. Rice's most recent oeuvre is also in authorial revisions prior to playtesting.

In addition, five projects are past the first-draft stage but waiting on various people or decisions, and five more are in the design phase (including works by David Pulver, Christopher Rice, and me). I might just leak hints about these or anything mentioned above in the GURPS thread in my blog. I update that before noon Central time on Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're hardly short on props to occupy our time, but today's interminable wait is tomorrow's "It's out already?" If you'd like to see something of yours in the news eventually, please review our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template first. Once that makes sense to you, head over to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to see what we want. Please be aware that only writers who've published with us many times in the past have much of a chance of selling us anything that isn't on those lists.

Share This Post!

| More

September 30, 2019: Autumn Leaves

It's the fall, we publish books, and there are leaves in a book, so those are autumn leaves. Would it help if I said they're "read" (homophone for "red," like autumn leaves)? Am I trying too hard? Probably! I'll stick to being an editor – hey, I did slip "homophone" into a casual sentence – and write a few words about GURPS.

Recent Releases

We published one new GURPS-related product:

GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells (September 19, 2019; PDF)

Not everybody who includes wizardry in their games likes spells as skills. If you want to balance magical powers against other powers, the best way to go about it is to build them as actual powers (in the GURPS Powers sense). The leading system for that is in GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery. Sound Spells supports those rules with sound magic – a subject near and dear to the hearts of bards, banshees, and occult-tinged heavy metal bands everywhere.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

We continue to convert the GURPS back catalogue to digital form (PDF) as resources permit. September brought with it GURPS Villains. That licensed work I mentioned last month is still in production, as is another old gem. Watch this space!

Upcoming Plans

Now for the peek behind the curtain. As usual, please understand that this information – though as accurate as I can make it – comes with no guarantees. My allergic response to those decaying autumn leaves reminds me that we're headed into cold and flu season, for instance, which usually comes with a few delays due to illness.

Physical copies of Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 are in house and should ship shortly.
The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns has been announced for October 2019 and is in transit to us as I write.
GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics, by Bill Stoddard, is through editing and production, and has art, making it a good bet for the near future.
The next GURPS Disasters volume, by James Howard, is in editing and also looking strong for an autumn release.
The Pyramid Dungeon Collection is ready to go before the end of 2019.
The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Characters has been announced for January 2020 and is at the printer.
The latest item in the GURPS Vehicles series has been reviewed and is with its author, Phil Masters, to turn into a final draft.
The first draft of our second GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting, by Matt Riggsby, is in peer review.
The first draft of a new supplement in the GURPS Hot Spots series, by Randy Huegele, is in editorial review.
The first draft of Christopher R. Rice's most recent work is with me for editorial review.
My newest manuscript awaits peer review.

Three other projects are past the first-draft stage but on hold for various reasons, and six are in the design phase. If there's movement on any of those – or for that matter, on anything I named above – the most promising spot for an interim status report is the GURPS thread in my blog. I update that before noon Central time each Friday.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

The Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2 Kickstarter opened, was funded in short order, and closed. As of the last week of September, the book was at the printer, meaning we should be able to get it to backers in short order, too. I can't provide an ETA at this time, but I can say "Thank you!" to everyone who supported us.

Join Us! Join Us!

We continue to have enough on our collective plate that we aren't beating the bushes for proposals, but while movement is slow, it's steady – sooner or later, we'll need more. If that interests you, please take the time to review our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then you'll be ready to peruse the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) for our current needs. Please understand that unless we've worked with you a lot in the past, we're unlikely to pursue queries that fall outside those lists. Thanks in advance!

Share This Post!

| More

August 30, 2019: He's Baaaack

I was on vacation for more of August than I wasn't (a first, by the way). Now I'm back. Like some of you, I missed what was going on with GURPS this month. So this roundup is a refresher for me as well as you. Let's get started!

Recent Releases

We published two new GURPS-related products:

GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races (August 1, 2019; PDF)

Almost every interesting game world has nonhumans. That includes ours – just ask a bear or one of those creepy stair-climbing robots. But fictional settings really pull out all the stops, featuring aliens, androids, elves, spirits, "toons," zombies, and much more. The tricky part? The GM has to design racial templates for all these beings . . . but thankfully, there's now a complete guide to the subject to help with that!

GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact (August 22, 2019; PDF)

The Contacts advantage – along with its big brother, Contact Group, as well as their crazy cousin, Contacts! – offers a lot of untapped potential. It's no secret that many GURPS players feel these traits are overpriced or underpowered. That's yesterday's news, because this treatment of the subject gives Contacts a much-needed shot in the arm, offering expanded rules to make them more interesting and additional applications to make them more useful.

While I'm at it, I want to mention that our friends at Amarillo Design Bureau also published some goodies for GURPS:

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

There have been two developments on this front:

1. The physical copies of Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 are now in Austin!
2. The Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2 Kickstarter is live. Back it soon!

Upcoming Plans

Despite all that, we're still working on more. Here's my customary behind-the-scenes look, which comes with its customary warning: Nothing here is guaranteed. Delays happen. And yes, we keep secrets.

The seventh printing of GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns is on target for September.
The Pyramid Dungeon Collection hasn't been forgotten, and requires no further work that I know of.
GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells, by Aleksei Isachenko and Garrett Norman, awaits its final edit and production.
GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics, by Bill Stoddard, remains queued for editing.
The final draft of the next GURPS Disasters volume, by James Howard, is in house and also awaiting editing.
The first draft of something else for the GURPS Vehicles series, by Phil Masters, is still is in the playtest queue.
The first draft of a new supplement in the GURPS Hot Spots series, by Randy Huegele, still awaits editorial review.
The first draft of the latest work from Christopher R. Rice, which shall remain unnamed for now, is also in house and awaiting editorial review.

As well, four projects are past the first-draft stage but have special needs that make me reluctant to say more at this time, and six more are in the design phase, including one I'm writing myself. If you're just itching to know what those are, or simply what's happening in the month between installments here, check the GURPS thread in my blog. I strive to update that before noon Central time on Friday.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

Our efforts to convert older editions and printings of GURPS publications to digital form (PDF) continue. August was convention season, so we slowed down some, but I happen to know that there are two items just about ready to go for September, including one that devoted GURPS fans have been waiting a long time to see (hint: it's a licensed work).

Join Us! Join Us!

As all the "awaiting" and "in the queue" above should make clear, we're a little swamped, so we aren't seeking queries and proposals all that aggressively at this time. Eventually, though, we will be. This means it's a great time to become thoroughly familiar with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once you've done that, by all means check out the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019) to find out what we'd like to publish. We beg you to understand that unless you're one of our regular GURPS writers, we're unable to consider anything that isn't on those lists at this time. Thanks!

Share This Post!

| More

July 31, 2019: Dog Days

No, I'm Sirius! It's hot here at Dr. Kromm's Secret Lab. But it's time for a roundup nonetheless, so while my colleagues are off to Gen Con and so forth, let me enlighten you on the latest developments for GURPS.

Recent Releases

One new GURPS-related product went live:

GURPS Monster Hunters Power-Ups 1 (July 18, 2019; PDF)

While the champions of GURPS Monster Hunters are powerful, The Enemy is all too often more powerful. To prevail, the heroes sometimes need bigger guns – perhaps literally, but just as often meaning swords, specialized supernatural countermeasures, or snazzier abilities. This supplement offers a wealth of new capabilities for hunters without powers, who are typically the ones wielding or even inventing those weapons I mentioned. As a bonus, it includes a system that lets techies bash together exactly the gear the team needs, when they need it. As I said: big guns!

Breaking News: More For The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game

We just announced the next book for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game! Specifically, we revealed the existence of Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items 2, which goes to Kickstarter in September. Those of you lucky enough to be at Gen Con can even see the mockup at the Steve Jackson Games booth (#1401).

Upcoming Plans

So what are we working on for GURPS? Lots of stuff, much of it behind the scenes. As always, I'm willing to offer a peek backstage. Please remember that nothing here is set in stone – interruptions (like summer cons) happen, and of course we're only human.

GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races, by Bill Stoddard, has jumped through all the hoops necessary to get on the schedule for Real Soon Now.
The print version of Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 is in transit, and our goal is to deliver that in September, as hinted at here.
For those who missed the announcement, an errata-fixed reprint of GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns is also slated to arrive in September.
The Pyramid Dungeon Collection is a little further out (mostly to avoid clashing with all of the above), but definitely ready for an autumn release.
GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, by Kelly Pedersen, has moved into editing.
GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells, by Aleksei Isachenko and Garrett Norman, is now in preliminary PDF form and undergoing review. (Yes, that's unusual . . . we're experimenting.)
The final draft of GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics, by Bill Stoddard, is in house and queued for editing.
The next GURPS Disasters volume, by James Howard, is through playtesting and with the author to create the final draft.
The first draft of another item in the GURPS Vehicles series, by Phil Masters, has been reviewed and is in the playtest queue.
The first draft of the latest for GURPS Hot Spots, by Randy Huegele, has arrived and awaits editorial review.

In addition to that list, five projects are past the first-draft stage but not at a point where it would be wise to name titles (that includes the long manuscript I keep teasing about), and seven more are in the design phase (one of which we contracted in July). Your best bet for leaks about these and other nameless plots is the GURPS thread in my blog, updated before noon Central time every Friday.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

We continue to digitize older editions and printings of GURPS publications that have never been offered in PDF form. July's conversions were Floor Plan 4 – Mall of the Dead and GURPS Classic: Supers (a two-PDF bundle of a couple of different printings).

Join Us! Join Us!

We're hardly short of work around here (au contraire), but there's always the future to think of. So you think you can write? We'd ask you to become familiar with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template first. Next, pore over the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 2, 2019) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 2, 2019), and pick something that matches your interests as well as ours. Please be aware that unless you're a long-established GURPS writer, we have to insist on that last part – we cannot accept proposals for things we haven't solicited. Thanks for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

June 27, 2019: Summer Is Upon Us

. . . and it's warming up, at least in the Northern Hemisphere. Even in the Great White North, where your faithful GURPS Line Editor dwells in a new apartment. The move explains why the June report is a bit early: When life is in disarray, one must seize the time available! You're not here to read about that, though, but to find out what's happening with GURPS.

Recent Releases

We published two new GURPS-related products:

Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 (June 20, 2019; PDF)

When somebody says "Too many monsters!", you know they're a delver, because any gamer knows there's no such thing. In that spirit, here are 24 more monsters for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Each gets a two-page spread that features full-color art, complete game stats, notes on using the creature in the game, and a couple of adventure seeds. And yes, with minimal effort, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy players can benefit as well. (If you prefer paper, the softcover book is at the printer . . . stay tuned for that.)

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 3: Artifacts of Felltower (June 20, 2019; PDF)

A hack 'n' slash campaign cannot have too many treasures, either. This collection of rare and unique items comes from the mind – and campaign – of frequent GURPS Dungeon Fantasy contributor Peter V. Dell'Orto. Needless to say, this loot is anything but generic!

GURPS On Demand

As I mentioned last month, our editorial and production energies are currently focused on new stuff, like the two titles above. That means we have less time for our print-on-demand (POD) efforts – for the moment. Think of this as a breather during which you can visit the GURPS On Demand page and fill a few more holes in your collection.

Upcoming Plans

Our energies are indeed focused on growing the GURPS line, and now I'm going to prove it. The following projects are definitely making progress, though I cannot promise dates or even a specific release order. 'Tis summer, the season of conventions and vacations (and around here, relocations), so we must do what we can with what we've got.

Although the Pyramid Dungeon Collection remains in prepress, it really is nearly ready and should show up soon.
GURPS Monster Hunters: Power-Ups 1, by Christopher Rice, is essentially through production and looking strong for July.
GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races, by Bill Stoddard, is through peer review and headed to production.
GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells, by Aleksei Isachenko and Garrett Norman, awaits production.
We received the final draft of GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, by Kelly Pedersen. That's queued for editing.
GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics, by Bill Stoddard, is through playtesting and with the author for a final draft.
The first draft of the next GURPS Disasters volume, by James Howard, entered playtesting.
The first draft of something else for the GURPS Vehicles series, this by Phil Masters, still needs an editorial review.

On top of all that, the long first draft I've been talking about remains in the review phase; seven items are now in the design stage (authors include David Pulver, Christopher Rice, Matt Riggsby, and me); and there are three or four things in the works that require sufficient problem-solving that I can't get specific. But who knows? I might just leak a clue about these or other matters in the GURPS thread in my blog, updated before noon Central time every Friday.

GURPS PDF Archiving Initiative

A lot of older editions and printings of GURPS content have never been converted to PDF. We're working to rectify that. This isn't a fancy venture with its own master web page, but I'm going to keep you posted in this space each month. June's offering was Floor Plan 1 – Haunted House.

Join Us! Join Us!

Queries and proposals continue to roll in; we have almost un embarras de richesses (I think that sounds better in the original French). In light of that, I'd like to remind would-be writers to become completely familiar with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template before even thinking about contacting us. Then move on to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) to learn what we're looking for. If you've never written a GURPS supplement, that last part isn't optional – we must insist that you limit yourself to those lists. Thank you for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

May 30, 2019: You May Be Right, I May Be Crazy

. . . but May is just about done. Though it wasn't a month filled with new releases, a lot got done behind the scenes. I worked more than a few 14-hour days – and I know my colleagues did, too. Skip down to Upcoming Plans if you want to see the fruits of our labor.

Recent Releases

We uploaded one new GURPS-related product in May:

GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits (May 23, 2019; PDF)

It's common in fantasy – and not uncommon in "real world plus the occult" stories – to posit that animals, locations, and forces of nature have spirits. In settings where this is true, there are usually people whose vocation is to interact with these beings. This is often just an excuse for magic, but the notion of voluntary possession shows up as well. This supplement examines that phenomenon and the resulting abilities. It's perfect for gamers who want shamans and similar spirit-workers to be something other than Yet More Spellcasters.

GURPS On Demand

Due to most of our editorial and production efforts this month being directed toward new content, we had nothing left for reprints. Thus, there are no updates on the print-on-demand (POD) front – but we have by no means forgotten our commitment to such things! Be sure to stop by the GURPS On Demand page on occasion.

Upcoming Plans

So what have we been working on? Here are some hints – minus dates, of course. As usual, everything here is subject to the vagaries of people being absent for conventions, vacations, moves, illnesses, and alien abductions.

The Pyramid Dungeon Collection moved from production to prepress, meaning it should go live in the near future.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 3, by Peter Dell'Orto, entered production. Expect that in the next month or so.
GURPS Monster Hunters: Power-Ups 1, by Christopher Rice, is also in production. Look for it over the summer.
Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 has gone from "we're negotiating with a printer" to "at the printer."
GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells, by Aleksei Isachenko and Garrett Norman, received its preliminary edit.
GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, by Kelly Pedersen, more-or-less completed playtesting.
GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races, by Bill Stoddard, advanced to peer review.
GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics, also by Bill Stoddard, went to playtesting.
The first draft of the next GURPS Disasters volume, by James Howard, is still in the playtest queue.
The first draft of another title in the GURPS Vehicles series, by Phil Masters, continues to await editorial review.
The lengthy revised first draft that SJ was reviewing remains with him. He reports good progress – it isn't stuck, it's just long.

Plus we have six items in the design stage (including projects by David Pulver, Christopher Rice, Matt Riggsby, and me), and a few more whose status is complicated enough that it behooves me to say nothing more. If you prefer weekly hearsay to the monthly variety, remember the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday – usually before noon Central time.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

Re-releases of past GURPS PDFs remain available through DriveThruRPG. If that's where you do your shopping, bookmark this page to keep track of what's for sale via that channel.

Join Us! Join Us!

A lot of writers must pass by here, because Steven Marsh has forwarded me tons of queries and proposals over the past month. In light of that, a reminder: Before contacting us, please make sure you're familiar with our Submission Guidelines, the GURPS formatting guide, and the GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once you're up to speed on how we do things, you can learn what we want from the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018). This is especially important if you've never written a supplement for us, as we ask first-time writers to restrict themselves to those lists. Thanks!

Share This Post!

| More

April 29, 2019: Less Cold, More GURPS

April will soon be water under the bridge. Actual liquid water, because where I live (in the Frozen North), we've finally entered the part of the year where temperatures are above freezing. We even have buds on the trees, and little crocuses pushing up. Wherever you may be, though, you're going to start to notice a thaw in the GURPS schedule.

Recent Releases

April saw us upload one GURPS-related publication:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 20: Slayers (April 18, 2019; PDF)

Every Dungeon Fantasy hero kills monsters, but most aren't fussy: If there's loot to be gained, they'll slaughter anything from a one-eyed kobold on up to a dragon. Yet there are delvers who specialize in particular types of prey, and these are the subject of our latest supplement. Demon-, mage-, and undead-slayers give even adventuring parties that are a little wet behind the ears the oomph to take down powerful supernatural bosses. Of course, loot is still in the picture . . . there's an entire chapter on relevant gear, too.

GURPS On Demand

Although April didn't bring any new print-on-demand (POD) offerings, we continue to work on making reprints of past GURPS products available. To keep abreast of developments on this front, look no further than the GURPS On Demand page.

Upcoming Plans

As I've been saying for some time, we have a lot in the pipeline. Here are a few hints. As always, I cannot offer dates. We made excellent progress on several projects over the past month – but at the same time, we had to shuffle some internal deadlines in response to Real Life™.

The Pyramid Dungeon Collection just needs its cover approved, making it likely to show up in the not-too-distant future.
We're in the process of negotiating with the printer to make Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 a reality.
GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits, by Rory Fansler, has been edited and passed along to production.
GURPS Template Toolkit 2: Races – Bill Stoddard's follow-up to GURPS Template Toolkit 1: Characters – has also been edited and passed along to production. It needs a quick peer review before we finalize it.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 3, by Peter Dell'Orto, has been fast-tracked through review and into editing.
The GURPS Sorcery series is getting another college of spells, from Aleksei Isachenko and Garrett Norman. This has also been fast-tracked through review and into editing.
GURPS Monster Hunters: Power-Ups 1, by Christopher Rice, is through playtesting and awaiting an editor.
GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, by Kelly Pedersen, is on the eve of its playtest.
Two manuscripts are queued for playtest, probably in this order:
- A volume for the GURPS High-Tech series, by Bill Stoddard.
- Something else for the GURPS Disasters series, by James Howard.
A first draft in the GURPS Vehicles series, by Phil Masters, awaits editorial review.
We continue to discuss the next step for a lengthy revised first draft. This is currently with SJ for review.

Plus we have four items in the design stage, and a few more with special needs that make teasers and predictions unwise. If monthly roundups just aren't enough for you, don't forget that I update the GURPS thread in my blog every Friday.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

If you're looking for re-releases of past GURPS PDFs, remember that we sell these via DriveThruRPG as well. For what's new there, visit this page.

Join Us! Join Us!

With everything we have to review, edit, and get out the door, I won't lie: We're swamped. That's just the nature of spring thaws. Eventually, though, things will dry up enough that we're looking for more. Why not plan ahead and pore over the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template? If you think you have what it takes to write for SJ Games, see the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) to discover our current needs. Thanks in advance for understanding that if you've never written for us, we must ask you to stick to the titles on those lists.

Share This Post!

| More

March 31, 2019: No April Fool

I am writing this on the last day of March – mostly because it covers March, but also because I know that if it goes live on April 1, nobody will take it seriously! Perhaps it's unwise to take anything I write too seriously, but I'm mostly not that crazy. Mostly.

Recent Releases

March was a good month for progress on GURPS-related publications (as you'll see in Upcoming Plans), but we had too much going on to manage a new release. As I noted in the previous update, we do plan to use the resources freed up by the closure of Pyramid to produce more GURPS content, but that won't be an overnight transition. For instance, we devoted most of our energies over the past month to the Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 & Game Reprint Kickstarter – which was funded with time to spare, thank you very much! Thanks again for your patience.

GURPS On Demand

We did issue several reprints via print-on-demand (POD), however: GURPS Japan, GURPS Middle Ages 1, and GURPS Russia. To see everything available through this channel, visit the GURPS On Demand page. Don't forget that these aren't new editions, just new printings.

Upcoming Plans

We have a lot in the works . . . that's partly why it's taking us so long to crank out new stuff. Here are some teasers about what's coming up. Please remember that these are strictly guesses (if informed ones), so the order may change without notice and actual dates are unknown even to me.

The Pyramid Dungeon Collection has art, and the PDF has passed review. It is in the running to become an April offering.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 20, by Yours Truly, is also through the art and production-review processes, and in contention for April.
Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 is back in production for length adjustment and to receive a cover.
GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits, by Rory Fansler, is with me for editing.
GURPS Monster Hunters: Power-Ups 1, by Christopher Rice, is in (indeed, almost through) playtesting.
Three first drafts await playtest, probably in this order:
- Something for GURPS Social Engineering, by Kelly Pedersen.
- Then another tool in the box for GURPS High-Tech, by Bill Stoddard.
- And after that, the next GURPS Disasters manuscript, by James Howard.
First drafts in the GURPS Sorcery and GURPS Vehicles series await editorial review.
The revised first draft of a longer project is in house, too. We are discussing how to proceed with that.

As well, we have six items in the design stage, plus a few that are on hold for the moment but not forever. If you want the weekly blow-by-blow, or crave leaks and clues, the GURPS thread in my blog gets updated every Friday.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We also sell GURPS re-releases in PDF form on DriveThruRPG. To see what's available – newest products first – click on this link.

Join Us! Join Us!

We have a lot to review, playtest, and edit . . . but sooner or later we'll get through it all, and then we'll need more! If you want to write for us, now would be an excellent time to read and absorb the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once all that makes sense to you, go to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) to learn what we're looking for. Please understand that without Pyramid as an entry point, we must insist that writers new to SJ Games stick to the titles solicited on those pages. Thank you!

Share This Post!

| More

February 28, 2019: 28 Days Later

February is "special" . . . I've never truly understood why the Great Minds of an Earlier Age didn't settle on five 31-day months and seven 30-day months (with the option to promote one to 31 days) instead of this weirdness with seven 31-day months, four 30-day months, and a poor little 28/29-day month. Or heck, why not a dozen 30-day months plus a five- (sometimes six-) day festival period that isn't a month? Who's the GM of this mess – and why can't I have more character points?

Err, sorry for the digression.

Recent Releases

February brought with it one GURPS-related publication:

GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists (February 28, 2019; PDF)

For many gamers, steampunk is about a certain look. Others see it as a historical genre when it's probably closer to wild sci-fi with a Victorian veneer. Either way, it's easy to get stuck coming up with characters that do more than wear goggles and behave like hackneyed 19th-century stereotypes. Campaigns that use GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style, GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire, and GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances can have a lot more depth than that, and this supplement is intended to help you create adventurers who live up to that potential. It offers traits and combat styles, over 30 character templates, and of course plenty of roleplaying advice.

And while I have your attention: We've had only one new GURPS release a month since Pyramid ended its run in December 2018. Many people have expressed the hope that we'll use the resources that closure freed up to deliver more GURPS goodness. I want to assure you that we're working toward that goal. Much like a factory, though, we have to retool – a process that takes time and isn't seamless. I figure we should be back to multiple goodies per month before the end of 2019. Thank you for your patience!

GURPS On Demand

To keep current on our print-on-demand (POD) offerings, pay the occasional visit to the GURPS On Demand page. Please bear in mind that everything listed there is a new printing but not a new edition. The latest reprints are GURPS Cliffhangers and GURPS Egypt.

Upcoming Plans

My note about retooling provides a nice segue into the part of the update where I talk about what's in the pipeline. The answer is "Lots of stuff – see below!" As ever, these hints are informed guesses and nothing more. A winter storm, a virus (biological or computer), a tax audit, or some other uncooperative bit of Real Life can change everybody's plans without notice.

The Pyramid Dungeon Collection has been laid out and is now with me for production review.
Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 has also been laid out at its maximum length; how well the eventual Kickstarter does will decide how long a book we can actually print.
GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 20, by Yours Truly, is in final-draft form and awaiting layout.
GURPS Powers: Totems and Nature Spirits, by Rory Fansler, has entered playtesting.
Four first drafts await playtest, most likely in this order:
- Something else for GURPS Monster Hunters, by Christopher Rice.
- Then more for GURPS Social Engineering, by Kelly Pedersen.
- After that, support for GURPS High-Tech, by Bill Stoddard.
- And finally, another volume in the GURPS Disasters series, by James Howard.
The first draft of a longer project is presently with its authors for revisions. They inform me that work is going well. No, I'm not sharing details just yet.

Further out, we have eight items in the design stage, plus three others whose special needs mean they're unlikely to show up in 2019. For incremental reports, subtle clues, and outright leaks, keep tabs on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I've been updating on Friday mornings of late.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

Many GURPS PDFs – re-releases, not new products – are now for sale via DriveThruRPG. To keep track of these, stop by this page.

Join Us! Join Us!

By now it should be clear that we have a very full dance card, but that doesn't mean we've stopped looking. If you think you might want to write for us, the first step is to familiarize yourself with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template – without Pyramid to use as a proving ground, we're necessarily being much pickier than we used to be about style and formatting. If you think you can work with us, move on to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) and start working on a proposal for one of the titles solicited there.

Share This Post!

| More

January 28, 2019: One Down, Eleven To Go

Wow – we're a month into 2019 already? Time flies when you're rushing to catch up with work after the holidays! I wouldn't mind flying either . . . say, to somewhere much farther south than my home office here in Montréal, where it's currently -20°C (that's -4°F in GURPS). Still, the deep freeze won't prevent me from keeping you up to date.

Recent Releases

We kicked off 2019 with one new GURPS-related publication:

GURPS Action 5: Dictionary of Danger (January 17, 2019; PDF)

After a few years of silence, the GURPS Action series is back with a bang! Fans of action cinema know that if a scene is set in a hazardous environment, or a menacing object appears in sharp focus, somebody is going to demonstrate exactly how dangerous it is before long. As well, things that normally aren't all that worrisome sometimes manage to surprise us (or the poor villain who meets his doom in, say, in a styling salon). This supplement provides rules and advice covering hundreds of hazards in this vein, in whimsical categories arranged from A-Z . . . because what's an action story without a gimmick?

GURPS On Demand

Our latest reprints are GURPS Greece, GURPS Imperial Rome, and GURPS Swashbucklers. To stay up to date on all our print-on-demand (POD) offerings, stop by GURPS On Demand each month. Please don't forget that – for the moment, anyway – this channel is for new printings, not new editions.

Upcoming Plans

What are we scheming for later in the year? It's anybody's guess, but my guesses are somewhat more informed than most. Please remember that these hints are exactly that . . . with ice, snow, flu, and people fleeing those fates on vacation, we have to be flexible. Now that everyone is on the same page, here's a peek at what's in the pipeline.

GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists, by Phil Masters, is still in editing but almost surely going to be what's next for GURPS.
Editing continues on the Pyramid Dungeon Collection, too, but as that's a compilation of articles from multiple authors, it's more involved and likely a little further out.
I've written enough material for the putative Dungeon Fantasy Bestiary that we can create a mockup and decide whether it's viable.
Four first drafts await playtest, but there's now enough breathing space in our schedule to start planning. The most probable order hasn't changed:
- Something for GURPS Powers, by Rory Fansler.
- Then more for GURPS Monster Hunters, by Christopher Rice.
- Followed by an expansion of GURPS Social Engineering, by Kelly Pedersen.
- And finally content for GURPS High-Tech, by Bill Stoddard.
The first draft of the next GURPS Disasters volume is reviewed and with the author for minor revisions before we add it to the playtest queue above.
The first draft of something longer also just went back to its authors for revisions to the first draft. It's too early to name-drop the title – but as a manuscript exists, I'm willing to tease.

In addition, we have seven projects in the design stage (one of them contracted since last month), plus a couple more that might take a while to become reality. If you want interim status reports, or clues about the stuff I'm being elusive about, keep a close eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

Be sure to visit this page to see what GURPS PDFs we've uploaded to DriveThruRPG. Just bear in mind that these are re-releases via an alternative channel, not new products.

Join Us! Join Us!

As you can see, our editors are busy but we're still trickling contracts into the system. If writing for us interests you, please become thoroughly familiar with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template before contacting us. Once you think you're ready, check out the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018). When dealing with writers who've already published with us, we're open to unsolicited proposals – but if you're a newcomer, please limit your queries to solicited items. Thank you for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

January 4, 2019: Goodbye 2018, Hello 2019

First, Happy New Year! My last update was on November 30, 2018. In the end, I didn't have time to shoehorn in a December 2018 installment before I went on vacation. But now I'm back with a roundup of what you might have missed toward the end of last year.

Recent Releases

We ended 2018 with two GURPS-related publications:

GURPS Monster Hunters 6: Holy Hunters (December 6, 2018; PDF)

The latest addition to the GURPS Monster Hunters series undertakes the tricky task of adapting real-world religions to games where the gods and spirits worshiped by the devout grant champions real power . . . and the demons and other horrors feared by the faithful pose real dangers. It adds depth and color to heroes built using the crusader, brother, or gifted template, mystic lens, or clergy motivational lens, making the monster hunt more believable – and more intense!

Pyramid #3/122: All Good Things (December 20, 2018; PDF)

Sadly, Pyramid, Volume 3 has reached the end of its 10-year run, closing 25 years of Pyramid in one form or another. This final, jam-packed issue is a testament to the magazine's unwavering support for a game (GURPS) that ranges all over, featuring articles on mad science, dungeon crawling, space exploration, alternate history, monster hunting, and more.

GURPS On Demand

The print-on-demand (POD) projects we had lined up toward the end of 2018 didn't quite make it out the door in time to appear here, but keep an eye on the GURPS Greece, GURPS Imperial Rome, and GURPS Swashbucklers product pages . . . To keep current on all re-releases via this channel, visit GURPS On Demand from time to time. Just remember that these are reprints, not new editions!

Upcoming Plans

Now we come to the guesswork. These clues are even more tenuous than usual, as half the company is still on vacation and I haven't had time to reconnect with most of our writers. With that said, here are some possibilities for 2019.

GURPS Action 5, by Yours Truly, is chambered and likely to be our opening shot of 2019.
GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists, by Phil Masters, remains in editing but stands a good chance of being the year's second GURPS creation.
Nikki is working on the preliminary edit of the Pyramid Dungeon Collection, which makes it another contender for early 2019.
First drafts from four authors await playtest, most likely in this order:
- A GURPS Powers title by Rory Fansler.
- A GURPS Monster Hunters volume by Christopher Rice.
- A GURPS Social Engineering supplement by Kelly Pedersen.
- A GURPS High-Tech item by Bill Stoddard.
I continue to write content for the Dungeon Fantasy Bestiary hinted at by Phil Reed.

Beyond all that are one first draft awaiting review and seven more in the process of being written, plus two or three things that are too slow-moving to make plans around. I occasionally slip up and mention this kind of stuff when I post to the GURPS thread in my blog on Fridays.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

You can keep track of GURPS PDFs uploaded to DriveThruRPG by visiting this page. While we haven't added anything of late, we do intend to make all existing material (not new releases) available via this channel for those who prefer it to Warehouse 23.

Join Us! Join Us!

Our editors have full dockets at the moment, making this an excellent time to study the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. If you think you're up to the challenge, visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) to learn what we're looking for. Please be aware that without Pyramid as a test bed for aspiring writers, we must insist that those interested in "breaking in" follow our instructions to the letter and restrict their queries to what's on our wish lists. Thank you for understanding!

Share This Post!

| More

November 30, 2018: 2018.915

I posted my last update on November 1 . . . and we're already at November 30, in the hectic stretch to the end of the year and associated holidays. Wow, time flies when you're busy! I'll try to squeeze in another mise à jour before year's end, but if I miss it (the flipside of being busy is taking much-needed time off), you'll hear from me at the start of 2019.

Recent Releases

Since I snuck GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire into my October roundup, I have only one GURPS-related publication to report on:

Pyramid #3/121: Travels and Tribulations (November 21, 2018; PDF)

Most roleplaying adventures involve the heroes going somewhere interesting (in one or more senses of the word . . .) to do things they can't or shouldn't do at home. Of course, the GM has to dream up all those locations and scenarios. Then there's the travel, which all too often ends up swept under the carpet ("A month passes aboard ship. Nothing happens."). This issue offers a variety of content that should reduce the workload of campaigns where adventurers travel to exotic distant lands, meet exciting people, and kill them.

[For those who missed my notes on GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire, I'll simply quote:

"This is the newest installment of our revision of GURPS Steampunk to GURPS Fourth Edition (previous works in that effort are GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style and GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances). It covers historical gear, speculative tech, and outright mad science for Steam Age heroes and villains to use and invent."]

GURPS On Demand

The latest additions to our print-on-demand (POD) library are GURPS Illuminati, GURPS IOU, GURPS Ogre, and GURPS Spaceships. Please remember that these are reprints and not new editions! Those looking forward to future re-releases in ink-and-paper form – say, to complete a collection – should monitor the GURPS On Demand page.

Upcoming Plans

Oh, so now you want to know why I've been busy, and with what? I suppose I can offer some educated guesses. Just bear in mind that we're entering the season of holidays, sniffles, and (for those of us who live sufficiently far north) stuff getting stuck in snow and ice. Everything here is tentative in the extreme!

Pyramid #3/122 – the final issue, sadly – is in editing, with an ETA of December 20 if all goes well.
GURPS Monster Hunters 6, by Jason "PK" Levine, remains in production but is the leading contender for the next GURPS supplement.
GURPS Action 5, by Yours Truly, is reviewed and at the same stage of readiness as the previous item, so it's the other candidate for more GURPS in the short term.
GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists, by Phil Masters, now has an editor.
We still have four first drafts in the "awaiting playtest" bullpen:
- One by Rory Fansler, for the GURPS Powers series.
- One by Christopher Rice, for the GURPS Monster Hunters series.
- One by Kelly Pedersen, for the GURPS Social Engineering series.
- One by Bill Stoddard, for the GURPS High-Tech series.
Nikki continues to receive revised articles for the Pyramid Dungeon Collection.
Oh, and fans of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game should check out Phil Reed's hint at a possible Dungeon Fantasy Bestiary. I'm listing that here because, yes, I've actually done some writing for it.

And there's more. Seven projects I'm not going to name just yet are contracted and being written, and a couple of others are dealing with hurdles that push them sufficiently far out that I'd rather not raise false hopes. Still, I may leave clues in the Friday posts to the GURPS thread in my blog.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We did not upload any GURPS PDFs to DriveThruRPG this month, but work is ongoing. You can keep track of it here. Just be aware that the products we're making available through this channel are existing material – in effect, we're stocking a second store for those who have difficulty with Warehouse 23.

Join Us! Join Us!

Our editorial staff have a lot to chew on right now, which means that if you're thinking about writing for us, you may want to take the time to peruse the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated November 30, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated November 30, 2018) to get an idea of what we're looking for.

Share This Post!

| More

November 1, 2018: Allhallowtide

I delayed the October round-up by a day because while Thursday is release day, the month ended on a Wednesday – so our final GURPS publication of the month fell on November 1. Chalk it up to spooky ghosts. (That's good general advice when something runs late: While "Unsettling supernatural entities messed with the schedule. Sorry!" is hardly the best explanation, it makes most people back away slowly rather than ask follow-up questions.)

Recent Releases

Two new GURPS-related goodies have materialized since my last rundown:

Pyramid #3/120: Alternate GURPS V (October 18, 2018; PDF)

GURPS is as much a toolkit for building a game as it is a game. It offers a huge catalog of resources to choose from in order to get exactly the campaign you want. But sometimes it's fun to tinker with the tools themselves . . . not necessary, but fun. That's where the^I Alternate^II GURPS^III issues^IV of Pyramid come in. The latest one tackles task pacing and vehicle stats, and proposes a new attribute, an abstract injury system, and mutable skill levels.

GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire (November 1, 2018; PDF)

This is the newest installment of our revision of GURPS Steampunk to GURPS Fourth Edition (previous works in that effort are GURPS Steampunk 1: Settings and Style and GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances). It covers historical gear, speculative tech, and outright mad science for Steam Age heroes and villains to use and invent.

GURPS On Demand

Our most recent print-on-demand (POD) offerings are GURPS Bestiary, GURPS Vikings, GURPS Celtic Myth, and GURPS Atomic Horror. These are reprints of GURPS Third Edition classics, not new editions. Keep an eye on the GURPS On Demand page for future re-releases that will help you fill the gaps in your collection.

Upcoming Plans

With the known out of the way, let's leap into the unknown, the hopeful, the speculative. As always, these are my best guesses – no more, no less. Inside information goes only so far . . . I don't control the Fates, or even sniffles, tech hiccups, or last-minute changes. If you try to hold me to any of this, I'll blame the ghosts!

Pyramid #3/121 is in editing, so it'll most likely show up on November 15 or 22 (this November has five Thursdays).
GURPS Monster Hunters 6 remains in production, but the smart money is on November.
GURPS Action 5, by Yours Truly, is in preliminary PDF form, awaiting my review and a few extra words.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists has left playtesting and now awaits an editor.
The current playtest roll is:
- A GURPS Powers volume from Rory Fansler.
- A GURPS Monster Hunters item from Christopher Rice.
- A GURPS Social Engineering expansion from Kelly Pedersen.
- A GURPS High-Tech manuscript from Bill Stoddard.
The Pyramid Dungeon Collection is with Nikki for assembly.

It's too soon to talk about the rest by name. I can confirm that five other projects made progress in October, though, and that there are still others on the "active" list (which we recently reviewed, actually). If you want hints about that stuff, check out the GURPS thread in my blog, updated Fridays.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

One of our longer-term ambitions is to upload the GURPS PDF library to DriveThruRPG. Visit this page periodically to see what we've added. Remember: These are not all-new supplements, but existing material made available via an alternative sales channel.

Join Us! Join Us!

As my comment above imply, we have a fair amount of content in the pipeline; realistically, our editorial staff will be pushed to the redline until the second quarter of 2019. That doesn't mean we aren't interested in more – it just gives you a breather to become familiar with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. After that, see the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2018) to discover what we're looking for. (Both of those wish lists should be getting their quarterly housekeeping sometime in November.)

Share This Post!

| More

September 28, 2018: Shorter Days Mean More Time For Gaming!

I blinked and missed September thanks to being rather busy. But I didn't fail to notice that the nights were getting longer – and here in the Northern Hemisphere, colder. Which spurred me to put together this monthly round-up, which also wraps up a quarter and starts a season.

Recent Releases

September delivered two GURPS-related goodies:

Pyramid #3/119: After the End II (September 6, 2018; PDF)

This issue supports both the GURPS After the End series and the upcoming The Fantasy Trip (which you can preorder, by the way!). The post-apocalyptic pleasures include creatures, encounters, adventures, and even a setting, most it with a horror twist. The fantasy fun consists of solid advice on characters, money, labyrinths, and traps . . . which almost sums up the hack 'n' slash subgenre, if you think about it.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 4: Dragons (September 27, 2018; PDF)

I said "almost sums up" because hack 'n' slash also needs monsters. Yours Truly was mostly responsible for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 1, and entirely to blame for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2: Icky Goo and Dungeon Fantasy Monsters. But I'm constantly thinking of even more nasty critters, and there's nothing like the classics.

GURPS On Demand

Be sure to visit the GURPS On Demand page once in a while to see what GURPS Third Edition classics we're bringing back via print-on-demand (POD). If you missed something the first time, this offers a way to remedy gaps in your collection without paying premium prices on the secondhand market. Four more reprints didn't quite make the cut for September . . . but keep an eye on the above page and on the product pages for GURPS Bestiary, GURPS Celtic Myth, GURPS Ogre, and GURPS Vikings. (Shhh! I wasn't supposed to tell you that!)

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time for informed guesses that are better than baseless speculation but not as good as promises. Please bear in mind that works in progress can be delayed, rethought, and on occasion even canceled. In particular, 'tis the season of flu and cold (like the lurgy I have as I type this), which can lead to all kinds of chaos.

Pyramid #3/120 entered editing on September 17, so it looks to be on target for a timely October release.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is all sorted out and queued for upload.
After a long delay, GURPS Monster Hunters 6 has moved through editing and into production.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 3: Soldiers and Scientists is just about through playtesting.
Manuscripts supporting four series await playtest, in approximately this order:
- A GURPS Powers supplement from Rory Fansler.
- A GURPS Monster Hunters expansion (not GURPS Monster Hunters 6, for those placing bets) from Christopher Rice.
- A GURPS Social Engineering volume from Kelly Pedersen.
- A GURPS High-Tech add-on from Bill Stoddard.
Yours Truly has started writing GURPS Action 5, though that's nowhere near done yet.

There's more, of course. There's the Pyramid Dungeon Collection to assemble, we have three slower-moving projects in the pipeline, and we're juggling contracts for five further items. You might be able to glean more information on these things from the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update each Friday.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

If you prefer to get your GURPS fix via DriveThruRPG, be sure to swing by this page every so often to see what existing material we've added. We skipped September, so you might want to take advantage of the pause before you're drinking from the hose again.

Join Us! Join Us!

We have a lot of new contracts to deal with, so we're not dying for proposals. That doesn't mean we're not interested; it just means you have time to absorb the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. If you think you're up to the challenge, your next stops should be the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2018).

As we're phasing out Pyramid, the options there are more limited. Still, the Pyramid Wish List does still exist and Steven Marsh might have need of one or two small pieces to fill out the final issues.

Share This Post!

| More

August 30, 2018: I Won't Be Late This Time!

I still feel guilty about delivering July's GURPS News a day after the end of the month . . . so I'm going to make it up to you by delivering August's update a day before the end of the month. You can see this as getting two installments in one month or as me making amends. Or as Thursday. I've always been fond of Thursday.

Recent Releases

There were two GURPS-related uploads in August, both with a fantasy theme:

Pyramid #3/118: Dungeon Trips (August 2, 2018; PDF)

This issue supports both the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game and the upcoming The Fantasy Trip with a ton of fantasy goodness: two adventures, a table-driven encounter-design system, a new Dungeon Fantasy profession, and all the usual monthly features. While designed for two games in particular, everything but the character template is readily adaptable to just about any fantasy RPG.

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2: Tomb of the Dragon King (August 16, 2018; PDF)

A new scenario from Matt Riggsby, author of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1: Mirror of the Fire Demon, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 1: The Pagoda of Worlds, and Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men. Matt knows a thing or two about hack 'n' slash adventures, so anything with "tomb" and "dragon" in the title is going to be good. (We obey Margaret Atwood's rule: "If I pick up a book with spaceships on the cover, I want spaceships. If I see one with dragons, I want there to be dragons inside the book.")

GURPS On Demand

We continue to rerelease GURPS Third Edition classics via print-on-demand (POD). Since my last update, we've added GURPS Steampunk, GURPS Steam-Tech, GURPS Black Ops, and GURPS Autoduel, Second Edition to the lineup. I'd love to see the campaign that uses all four! Remember that these are not new editions, but reprints with no changes other than errata fixes. See the GURPS On Demand page for past offerings and to keep abreast of future ones.

Upcoming Plans

And now for the speculation! As always, the tidbits below are more like informed guesses than promises. There are many reasons why projects might be delayed, shuffled around, or even canceled (though we do our very best to avoid that).

Pyramid #3/119 is in editing, and I've been warned it will move to production and land on my desk for production review Real Soon Now.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is in production. Given that I've already approved art, it's on the short list for the next release.
A little GURPS Dungeon Fantasy scribble I had on the back burner is also in production and also through art approval, so you can expect that before long as well.
Manuscripts supporting five series now await playtest! In roughly the order we hope to playtest them, those are:
- A GURPS Steampunk volume by Phil Masters. Have you responded to the call for playtesters yet?
- A GURPS Powers item by Rory Fansler. If (and only if!) you are a published GURPS author, and you would like to be the lead playtester, contact Steven Marsh.
- A GURPS Monster Hunters goody by Christopher Rice. If (and only if!) you are a published GURPS author, and you would like to be the lead playtester, contact Steven Marsh.
- A GURPS Social Engineering work by Kelly Pedersen. We have a lead playtester, so keep your eyes open for the call for playtesters.
- A GURPS High-Tech supplement by Bill Stoddard. We have a lead playtester, so keep your eyes open for the call for playtesters.

I've limited my teasing to things that (1) have at least a first draft and (2) aren't currently stalled for some reason. I prefer to keep a lid on stuff that fails one test or the other, because I hate to offer hope and then dash it into a million pieces except when I'm the GM of a GURPS Dungeon Fantasy game. But if you're willing to trust tavern tales and rumors, take a look at the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

August saw us send another seven PDFs to DriveThruRPG. These are not new products; they're existing material being sold via an out-of-house channel that many gamers find convenient. This page sums up the GURPS-related titles.

Join Us! Join Us!

Interested in writing for us? First, take the time to absorb the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then visit the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2018) to learn what we're looking for.

Sadly, we're phasing out Pyramid, but if you had a fantasy-related article in Volume 1 or 2, you still have a couple of days to bring it to our attention for the Pyramid Dungeon Collection.

Share This Post!

| More

August 1, 2018: Julius And Augustus

Strictly speaking, this is the July 2018 installment of the GURPS News. I'm publishing it on August 1 because I had a pressing deadline – I hope you'll forgive me! In any case, this is probably a better date for rounding up all of July.

Recent Releases

The two GURPS-related publications that arrived in July seem to suit the summer heat, at least in name:

GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice (July 12, 2018; PDF)

The fourth and most recent GURPS Hot Spots volume from Matt Riggsby returns to Renaissance Italy (last seen in GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Florence). It offers a city ideally suited to historical adventure, whether your tastes run to conspiracies, mercantile ventures, or out-and-out military action. And if you prefer drama and a slice of life, there are few settings more inspiring than Venice, a true capital of the arts and the mind.

Pyramid #3/117: Hot Spots (July 19, 2018; PDF)

This issue supports the previous work and its series with stops in early 20th-century Paris (in three distinct periods, no less); Cold War-era East Berlin; a futuristic version of Victoria, British Columbia; a Renaissance Italian villa; and revolutionary Cuba. It also includes designer's notes for GURPS Hot Spots: Renaissance Venice, plus all the monthly features.

GURPS On Demand

We've reprinted yet more GURPS Third Edition classics via print-on-demand (POD). The latest – uploaded at the end of June, a day after my last update – are GURPS Special Ops and GURPS WWII, which are great resources for military-themed gaming. As usual, we've fixed errata but made no substantial changes to the content; these are not new editions. To keep up with all our POD offerings, look no further than the GURPS On Demand page.

Upcoming Plans

My sources tell me that the real reason people read this page is for hints of things to come. Fair enough! Just be warned that nothing here is a promise . . . projects move around for all kinds of reasons, and their creators are mere mortals, with all the foibles that entails.

Pyramid #3/118 is in production. In fact, I've already done the production review, so it might debut a little earlier than usual.
Matt Riggsby's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 is all but through production, and a strong candidate for our next release.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is quite far along, too, so it's in the running as well.
Four manuscripts await playtest. Those are by Christopher Rice, for the GURPS Monster Hunters series; Phil Masters, for the GURPS Steampunk series; Rory Fansler, for the GURPS Powers series; and Kelly Pedersen, for the GURPS Social Engineering series.
Bill Stoddard should be delivering the revised first draft of a GURPS High-Tech item shortly.

Then there's the stuff that's still being written, or that's delayed. I prefer not to get too specific about that because anything could happen. Still, if you read the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday, you might be able to glean a few clues.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We're always uploading PDFs to DriveThruRPG, for those who prefer to buy their games there. All are existing products, not new material. Everything GURPS-related appears on this page. July's additions were the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game and its supplements.

Join Us! Join Us!

It's still convention season, so please be aware that we're going to be slower than usual getting back to would-be writers. On the other hand, that affords a great opportunity to become familiar with the Submission Guidelines, GURPS formatting guide, and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once you've done so, the next couple of stops are the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated August 6, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated August 6, 2018).

Then there's the Pyramid Wish List (updated April 19, 2018), but be warned that we're winding things down, which limits the number of articles we have space for. Sorry about that. On the other hand, if you had a fantasy-flavored piece in Volume 1 or 2, you might be interested in helping us with the Pyramid Dungeon Collection.

Share This Post!

| More

June 28, 2018: May June Move You

I'll come out and say it: I was bad and didn't post a May 2018 installment. That's because I was moving house. When normally I'd have been rounding up May's releases, I was quite literally up to my ears in boxes, and my computer and modem were in those boxes. But I, I will survive; as long as I know how to write, I'll keep you all apprised.

Breaking News: Hall of Judgment

Gaming Ballistic LLC – brainchild of longtime GURPS fan and contributor Douglas Cole – is developing a Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure, Hall of Judgment, under license from SJ Games.

You knew that already, but what you might not know is that there's a Kickstarter in progress to fund that. As I write this, it's over 300% funded after just 10 days, with better than half the allotted time left to go! Yes, it's successful – but why not make it more successful? The stronger the support, the greater the odds of SJ Games giving a green light to similar initiatives in the future.

Recent Releases

The months of May and June brought three new GURPS-related goodies:

GURPS Magic: Artillery Spells (May 17, 2018; PDF)

Honest question: Have you ever wanted to blow somebody up? Even a little? Wizards often ask themselves that, but many find GURPS Magic somewhat lacking in the mass-destruction department. Lament no more, oh wielders of mighty magic, for now there is an entire grimoire filled with creative ways to annihilate legions and burninate the countryside!

Pyramid #3/115: Technomancer (May 24, 2018; PDF)

Most longtime GURPS fans are familiar with GURPS Technomancer, which presents the modern world with a twist: With the Atomic Age came the dawn of magic. The only hitch is that the original worldbook portrays the world as of 1998, using GURPS Third Edition rules. This issue explores other time periods and provides a much-needed update to GURPS Fourth Edition.

Pyramid #3/116: Locations (June 21, 2018; PDF)

One of the hardest things to do in a hurry is come up with interesting backdrops for your campaign, whether we're talking about the site of a quick encounter, the setting for an adventure, or an entire game world. Helping GMs with that is the raison d'être of the GURPS Locations series . . . and this issue. Within are locales suited to fantasy, historical, modern-day, and futuristic gaming – you're sure to find something you like!

GURPS On Demand

Our print-on-demand (POD) efforts continue with more reprints of GURPS Third Edition classics. The latest are GURPS Cops and GURPS Covert Ops, giving you everything you need for games of stealth and investigation. As with all rereleases via this channel, the only content changes were errata fixes. To keep abreast of future POD offerings, stop by the GURPS On Demand page from time to time.

Upcoming Plans

And now for something completely speculative: A look at what's coming up in the (relatively) near future. As ever, nothing here is a promise. My recent move is a great example of the kind of thing that can cause delays. Even game designers get the blues (or in my case, bruises . . . it's funnier en francais).

Pyramid #3/117 and #3/118 are in editing already. Both issues support upcoming publications, so we have concrete plans for more months in advance than usual.
Matt Riggsby's newest GURPS Hot Spots travelogue is on my desk for final review and looking good for July, if all goes well.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is in final production and quite likely next in line.
Matt Riggsby's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 is on its way from editing to production, and thus also quite close to done.
Queued for playtesting are manuscripts in several series: a GURPS Monster Hunters volume by Christopher Rice, the third part of GURPS Steampunk from Phil Masters, more for GURPS High-Tech courtesy of Bill Stoddard, and a GURPS Powers supplement by Rory Fansler.
I'm presently reviewing the first draft of something for the GURPS Social Engineering series.

In the words of shills everywhere, "And that's not all!" It's just everything I feel comfortable mentioning at the moment. To get wind of what else is up, be sure to read the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday (except when I'm moving house or otherwise discommoded).

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We continue to upload PDFs to DriveThruRPG. These digital "reprints" are a great way for DTRPG customers to complete their collections of SJ Games products. To see what's available for GURPS, check out this page. Fans of the GURPS WWII series will be especially happy with June's additions!

Join Us! Join Us!

Summer is hectic for us: We have all of the above on the drawing board, the year's busiest convention season to contend with, and staff taking vacations. That gives would-be writers breathing space to read our Submission Guidelines, and to download and absorb the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. When all that makes sense to you, visit the Pyramid Wish List (updated April 19, 2018) and try your hand at an article or two. If you've already done that – or if you're an established writer – jump directly to the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 1, 2018) and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 1, 2018).

Share This Post!

| More

April 30, 2018: Nobody's Fool

Nobody trusts anything dated April 1, which makes me glad I'm writing this on April 30. That, and the fact that the last update was on March 30, which would make an April 1 report a little foolish. But enough fooling around – you're here to read about the evil clowns.

Recent Releases

Two new GURPS-related items showed up in April:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown (April 5, 2018; PDF)

The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series is fun but generic – it isn't known for its world-building. This supplement changes all that, providing you with a fantasy town that can serve as resting place, a home base, a source of quests, or an adventure in itself. Because when you're a delver, "A bowshot away from the dungeon!" is just another way of saying, "Great location! Short commute."

Pyramid #3/114: Mind Over Magic (April 19, 2018; PDF)

This issue is all about subtle occult power – that of rituals, True Names, sinister artifacts, secret brotherhoods, and the line between magic and madness. If you've ever wanted less flashy, more nuanced wizardry in your games, you're sure to get great use out of this bundle of ideas. (Warning: Evil clowns inside. We couldn't completely resist the siren song of April 1.)

GURPS On Demand

In the realm of print on demand (POD), April saw the reprinting of three GURPS Third Edition gems: GURPS Reign of Steel, GURPS Technomancer, and GURPS Voodoo: The Shadow War. None are new editions; the only significant changes we made were to correct errata. For the latest news about our POD offerings, bookmark the GURPS On Demand page.

Upcoming Plans

With the past out of the way, let's peer into the crystal ball. My usual disclaimer applies: Everything in this section is a hint, a teaser. It would be disingenuous of me to say that your guess is as good as mine – I spend every day immersed in this stuff, after all – but I cannot promise dates or even a specific publication order. "It's ready when it's ready" is par for the course in the games biz.

Along with May flowers, expect Pyramid #3/115 in the coming month. Its theme was to be April's – one we've never explored before, as I promised last time – but we ran into delays ("it's ready when it's ready" in action). Several articles are already edited and reviewed, so we ought to see this on time.
Matt Riggsby continues to work on the final draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2.
Playtesting of Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Monster Hunters supplement should begin this month.
My new mini-grimoire for the GURPS Magic series remains in peer review while I read first drafts.
Speaking of which, I've just about finished my comments on the first draft of the third volume of Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk series, titled Soldiers and Scientists.
When that's done, I'll move on to the first draft of Matt Riggsby's newest GURPS Hot Spots installment.
And then on to the first draft of Bill Stoddard's addition to the GURPS High-Tech series.

That is not the full list. Many other things are in the works. I might just let further details slip in the GURPS thread in my blog, where I scrawl a few words every Friday (except when the evil clowns get me).

Special Feature: Hall of Judgment

This news reaches beyond SJ Games and concerns another publisher's upcoming plans:

We did in fact take advantage of April 1 to get a "No . . . really?" out of the gaming public. We announced a deal with Doug Cole of Gaming Ballistic LLC to develop a Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game adventure: Hall of Judgment. This will be an adaptation of Doug's Lost Hall of Tyr.

Yes, for real – despite the date, it's no joke.

To support this development, Doug and I did a segment on Geek Gab. We discussed our partnership, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Setting: Caverntown, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy in general with our gracious hosts. You can listen to that here.

Join Us! Join Us!

We're a little swamped at the moment, which means that soliciting for proposals isn't a top priority. Still, if you're interested and don't mind being asked to wait, please read our Submission Guidelines – especially our style guide, which was completely overhauled on April 17, 2018 – and then download the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. When you're comfortable with all that, visit the Pyramid Wish List (updated April 19, 2018), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 1, 2018), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 1, 2018) to discover our current needs.

Share This Post!

| More

March 30, 2018: Spring!

March marks the start of spring, which matters even to those of us you imagine as pasty editors with screen tans. And based on the number of things on my "to do" list, it isn't just the plants that are going to be sprouting and blossoming soon. But I'm getting ahead of myself!

Recent Releases

March brought with it two new releases related to GURPS:

Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (March 1, 2018; PDF)

This is the third and final stretch-goal PDF created for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Kickstarter backers and those with the Dungeon Fantasy Companion have this content already. If you don't have it, though, your players will never forgive you, because this is the big collection of cool magical treasures they've been waiting for – a reward for suffering through all those monsters and traps!

Pyramid #3/113: Dungeon Fantasies (March 22, 2018; PDF)

This issue supports the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series with more character-creation options, new monsters galore, and a host of other goodies: spell components that give casters a small boost, additional traps and treasures, and even another spell.

GURPS On Demand

We also reprinted three GURPS Third Edition supplements in softcover via print on demand (POD): the GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition, Revised, GURPS Compendium I, and GURPS Dragons (which includes GURPS Fourth Edition stats as well). None are new editions; the only interior changes are errata fixes. For a roundup of these and all our POD offerings, click here: GURPS On Demand.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items

This PDF is available right now . . . and with that, this section of the news has outlived its usefulness for the moment. But before I shut it down, here's a summary of the product line:

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen
Dungeon Fantasy Companion, which includes these items, available separately:

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We continue to add GURPS PDFs over at DriveThruRPG. These aren't new products but simply digital "reprints." Still, if you use DTRPG and are out to complete your collection, be sure to bookmark this page.

Upcoming Plans

First, a special disclaimer: Despite this update's proximity to April 1, nothing here is a joke. That said, the usual disclaimer applies as well: These hints are guesses – educated guesses, but guesses nonetheless. We've been a bit swamped around here, so delays are probably inevitable.

April will definitely bring Pyramid #3/114 – and I'll hint that its theme is one we've never explored before. Review of the first few articles is on my "to do" list for the start of the month.
My latest GURPS Dungeon Fantasy creation breezed through review, editing, and production. Expect to see that in April, too.
We've come up with a way to get that grimoire I wrote for the GURPS Magic series reviewed quickly, so we can publish that sooner rather than later.
The second volume of Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk series, Steam and Shellfire, now has an editor. I'm currently reviewing the first draft of the third volume, Soldiers and Scientists.
Matt Riggsby's GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 just made the transition from playtesting to revision into its final draft.
Christopher R. Rice's GURPS Monster Hunters supplement has had an editorial review and interim revision, and should be going to playtesting before too long.
The first draft of Matt Riggsby's newest GURPS Hot Spots oeuvre is in my hands and awaiting editorial review.

There are many other projects at various stages of completion, but they are still being written or have been held up temporarily, so I'd rather not fan the flames of wild-eyed speculation. Which doesn't mean I won't give in and share in the GURPS thread in my blog some Friday evening.

Join Us! Join Us!

As I said, we're a little swamped, so we're not aggressively fishing for proposals right now. If you're interested anyway and don't mind a short wait, please read our Submission Guidelines, and then download and get familiar with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once you're ready, visit the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 1, 2018), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 1, 2018) to learn about our current needs.

Share This Post!

| More

February 26, 2018: Time Flies . . .

. . . when it's the shortest month of the year. We're at the end of February already, and the days are getting longer in a visible, easily appreciated way. For those of us in icier regions, that's good for morale. For everybody else: Humor us!

Recent Releases

February brought two new releases related to GURPS:

Dungeon Fantasy Traps (February 1, 2018; PDF)

This is the second of three stretch-goal PDFs created for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. If you backed the Kickstarter or bought the Dungeon Fantasy Companion, you have this. Otherwise, here's your chance to pick up a handy-dandy collection of traps and tricks with which to torment the players in your fantasy campaign!

Pyramid #3/112: Action II (February 15, 2018; PDF)

Fans of GURPS Action (aren't we all?) will want to leap through the air and snatch this issue from the villain's hands. Or, you know, download it. It offers additional skill sets for specialists, new options for chases, advice on using combat to help tell the story rather than merely interrupt it, a ready-to-run adventure, and a location to use as a one-shot scenario or permanent campaign feature.

GURPS On Demand

We also reprinted GURPS Banestorm in softcover via print on demand (POD). We fixed errata, but this isn't a new edition. Get it here – and keep an eye on GURPS On Demand for future POD offerings.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Traps

This PDF is available right now . . .

Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)

. . . which makes this the only unreleased PDF created as a stretch-goal item for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Kickstarter campaign. Barring disaster, you should see it at Warehouse 23 before the end of March.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We added more than a hundred GURPS PDFs on DriveThruRPG in February. These are digital "reprints," not new products – in fact, many are GURPS Classic titles, for GURPS Third Edition. But if DTRPG is your shop, this is good news, and you'll want to check out this list regularly for even more.

Upcoming Plans

When time flies, the future hurtles ever-closer. Here are a few hints as to what it might bring. As always, everything in this section is guesswork – people hit their head (that really happened), receive bad personal news, and just plain get swamped by work.

Reprints of the GURPS Basic Set, Third Edition, GURPS Compendium I, and GURPS Dragons should make their way to GURPS On Demand before too long.
The third week of March will bring Pyramid #3/113. In fact, we're working on it right now.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire continues to wait in the editorial queue because we're busy.
Hans-Christian Vortisch informs us that he aims be done revising GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions in March, so he can set his sights on something else.
My first draft of a new GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volume is in peer review. I hope to be revising my work sometime in March.
Matt Riggsby's first draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 remains in playtesting, where we're in the process of assigning an additional test group.
I just turned around my review of the first draft of a GURPS Monster Hunters supplement from Christopher R. Rice.
The first draft of a grimoire I wrote for the GURPS Magic series still awaits Jason "PK" Levine's review (see "because we're busy").

There are more projects in the works, but they're far enough out that I'm not going to risk speculation at this stage. I might let something slip in the GURPS thread in my blog some Friday between now and the March installment of this news report.

Join Us! Join Us!

While we're busy enough that we aren't dying for proposals, we're not ignoring them. If you're interested, please take the time to read our Submission Guidelines. Next, download and familiarize yourself with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. After that, head over to the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated February 1, 2018), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated February 1, 2018) to learn what we need.

Share This Post!

| More

January 25, 2018: January . . . For Real

Wait, two updates in January 2018? Has Kromm lost his mind? Yes, he has . . . but not like that! The earlier post was actually for December 2017; this one covers January. (And anyway, it was the other Kromm who wrote the previous article.)

Recent Releases

January saw the release of two GURPS-related PDFs:

Pyramid #3/111: Combat II (January 18, 2018; PDF)

Let's face it: We all love roleplaying (or why would we be spending time on this page?), but most of us like to liven up our games with some fisticuffs and explosions. If that includes you, you'll want this issue, which looks at animal-inspired martial arts, arms dealing, dueling spaceships, guns and the supernatural, and good ol' rasslin'.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (January 11, 2018; PDF)

If you bought the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game but didn't back the Kickstarter or buy the Dungeon Fantasy Companion, then you won't have this adventure. It picks up where I Smell a Rat leaves off, the two forming a mini-campaign when run back-to-back.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We added another 48 GURPS PDFs on DriveThruRPG this month! As always, these are not new supplements but digital "reprints." If you prefer to shop at DTRPG, the list of available titles is growing all the time.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men

As noted above, you can get this PDF right now!

Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

These PDFs, originally stretch-goal items for the Kickstarter campaign, are all we still owe the world for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. Look for these on Warehouse 23 before the end of the first quarter of 2018.

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time for rampant speculation! Here are some clues as to what to expect in the relatively near future. Things closer to the top are likely to show up sooner . . . but ultimately, everything below is guesswork. We're only mortal, so setbacks like computer glitches, illnesses, and crummy weather can snowball into delays.

Print-on-demand (POD) reprints of GURPS Supers and GURPS Banestorm should show up shortly.
Expect Pyramid #3/112 on the third week of February – that prediction is pretty darn reliable.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is still awaiting editing owing to all the available editors having other assignments.
Hans-Christian Vortisch is still revising GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions into its final draft.
Matt Riggsby's first draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 should conclude playtesting sometime between now and the next update.
The first draft of my newest spell collection for the GURPS Magic series awaits internal review by Jason "PK" Levine, but only after he finishes a writing job of his own.
I'm just about finished the first draft of a new GURPS Dungeon Fantasy volume; I just have to do my final read-through.

As well, a couple of other freelance projects have almost reached the first-draft stage, we just signed deals for three more, and I'm helping writers plan a handful of others that have yet to be contracted. It looks like the pace of publication will pick up toward mid to late 2018. Read the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday for weekly hints and clues about all this.

Join Us! Join Us!

With all we have coming up, the demand for further proposals isn't quite as strong as it was for a while there. Still, if you're thinking of jumping in, please take the time to read our Submission Guidelines and download both the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. After you've absorbed all that, check out the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated October 30, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated October 30, 2017) to find out what we need.

Share This Post!

| More

January 2, 2018: December (Okay, Early January)

It's time to round up December 2017 . . . except that it's January 2018. Happy New Year, and I hope you'll forgive me: With SJ Games being closed for the end of December – not to mention all the usual end-of-year/start-of-year chaos – I'm running a couple of days late.

Recent Releases

Given that December was a short month for much of the company, the news is relatively light:

GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms (December 7, 2017; PDF)

A lot of speculative fiction has its protagonists travel between the real world (more or less) and a fantasy realm. Such "portal fantasy" can be fun at the gaming table, too. This guide helps the GM tackle the world-building challenges and sticky questions that arise when you give gamers two settings to mess with.

Pyramid #3/110: Deep Space (December 20, 2017; PDF)

Space is big, mysterious, and dangerous – you don't know what (or who) might be out there. When it's the GM who isn't sure, it's nice to prime the pump with a few ideas! This issue delivers, offering space merchants, space pirates, space wrecks, really alien aliens, and even magic in spaaaace.

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

We added 48 more GURPS PDFs on DriveThruRPG in December. These are existing publications – not new ones – but if you normally shop at DTRPG, you'll welcome the additions. Here is the current list, and we're always adding more.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

With the release of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen, and Dungeon Fantasy Companion, this section has almost outlived its usefulness – don't expect to see it for too much longer.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

The three PDFs created as Kickstarter stretch goals are the remaining pieces of the puzzle. We'll be making them available for general purchase through Warehouse 23 in the first quarter of 2018.

Upcoming Plans

Though we may take vacations, work on upcoming releases proceeds afoot. Here's a list of guesses at what to expect in the near future; the closer an item is to the top, the sooner you're likely to see it. As always, everything here is subject to change – aside from vacations, the season brings the flu, difficult weather, and a host of other foils for the best-laid plans.

Expect GURPS Supers and GURPS Banestorm to show up on demand – that is, printed as softcovers via Amazon – in January. These will be reprints, not new editions.
Pyramid #3/111 is slated for the third week of January.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is in final-draft form and awaiting editing.
Hans-Christian Vortisch continues to revise GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions toward its final draft.
Matt Riggsby's first draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 remains in the hands of two trusted gaming groups for actual playtesting.
The first draft of a spell collection I wrote for the GURPS Magic series awaits internal review by Jason "PK" Levine, but he has Higher Priorities right now.

That's not all of course – far from it. Jason and I are both writing, several freelance projects are not quite far enough along that I want to name them right now, and I spent considerable time in December assessing proposals and query letters. Check the GURPS thread in my blog each Friday to learn how all of the above is progressing and look for hints of other things.

Join Us! Join Us!

My mention of proposals and query letters just now touches on something I want to reiterate: Although GURPS has a couple of staff writers, freelancers write the majority of products in the line. If you think you would like to join the ranks, please read our Submission Guidelines and download both the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. After you've studied all that, head on over to the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated October 30, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated October 30, 2017) to learn what we're looking for.

Share This Post!

| More

November 29, 2017: Novembrrrrrr

If it's warm where you are, great – send along a plane ticket and I'll be right over! Yours Truly lives in Canada, however, where November marks the start of the subzero season . . . not an according-to-Hoyle season, perhaps, but notably colder and darker just the same. That's outdoors, of course. Fortunately, we gamers famously know how to make the best of things indoors.

Recent Releases

We've been busy since the last update:

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (October 30, 2017; Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (October 30, 2017; Printed Screen and Booklets)

Both of these are now in general distribution, which means you should be able to find them in your Friendly Local Game Store. If you can't, then either order them (using this form) or buy them directly from Warehouse 23 (click the links above).

GURPS Encounters: The Harrowed Hearts Club (November 2, 2017; PDF)

We launched the new GURPS Encounters series with a supplement that isn't quite an adventure or a location, but rather a number of tightly woven seeds for both. Use it to add an ordinary bar or nightclub to your GURPS Action campaign . . . or an extraordinary establishment, with a touch of the supernatural, to your GURPS Horror or GURPS Monster Hunters game.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (November 8, 2017; PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (November 8, 2017; PDF)

Listed separately for the record-keepers out there: You can also get these in PDF from Warehouse 23. Make sure you select "PDF" from the drop-down menu before clicking "Add To Crate."

Pyramid #3/109: Thaumatology V (November 16, 2017; PDF)

This issue delves into magic in many forms, offering an alternative alchemy system, a professional mage-hunter for the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, a magical style (in the sense of GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles), a dangerous wizardly tome, and more.

GURPS Archive Mystery Bundle (November 17, 2017; Softbacks/Hardbacks)

Due to a change in our archiving methods, we're making hundreds of GURPS books – dating from the 80s to present – available in bundles of random titles. As they're archive copies and thus not always mint, the price is right ($30!). Ever feel like you missed out on a long out-of-print item? Want to own a piece of RPG history? Why not roll the dice?

GURPS On DriveThruRPG

Yes, you can now buy GURPS goodies on DriveThruRPG! While these are existing products rather than new releases, this is definitely an important development and big news. We uploaded the first 24 PDFs on November 13, 2017, and then added 12 more on November 20 and a further 12 on November 27; you can browse the current list here. We hope to add another dozen a week in the future (and not always on Mondays), so check back often.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set or PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets or PDF)

As noted above, you can get these right now in physical or PDF form (so I won't be mentioning them in future updates) – just follow the links.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

Backers have already received these. Everybody else should be able to purchase them at Warehouse 23 in the not-too-distant future.

Getting Started With The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game

If you're new to GURPS and especially if you're new to roleplaying in general, you might want advice on how to play the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game. The Daily Illuminator has you covered! Tips so far include:

• Opening The Chest (October 26, 2017): How to come to grips with All The Things, find players, and join the growing online community.
• Creating Your Own Character (November 6, 2017): A few words to players on moving beyond pre-generated characters and making cool delvers.
• Creating Your Own Dungeon (November 15, 2017): Suggestions to the GM on cooking up well-designed homemade adventures.
• Superior Spellcasters (November 29, 2017): Some thoughts on building better bards, clerics, druids, and wizards.

. . . with more to come!

Upcoming Plans

Not all the action happens on the publishing and sales fronts! Your loyal writers, editors, and production artists toil constantly behind the scenes. I can't provide firm dates for works in progress – I can say only that the list below is sorted according to my best guess at publication order. Please remember that everything here is subject to change.

Pyramid #3/110 looks to be in good shape for December 21.
Bill Stoddard's GURPS Fantasy: Portal Realms is through editing and into production.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire has left playtesting, and the final draft is due at the end of November.
Hans-Christian Vortisch continues to move toward finalizing GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions.
Matt Riggsby's first draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 is currently in playtesting.
The first draft of my latest spell collection for the GURPS Magic series still awaits review by Jason "PK" Levine (who has Something Bigger on his plate).

As the saying goes, "There's more where that came from!" But those projects are sufficiently far from done that it's best to wait a while before mentioning them. I update the GURPS thread in my blog weekly, on Fridays, so if you're itching for information more often than once a month, that's your best bet.

Join Us! Join Us!

"There's more where that came from!" holds only for as long as freelancers want to write for us. Interested? Then read our Submission Guidelines and download both the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Once you've absorbed all that, check out our current needs on the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated October 30, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated October 30, 2017).

Share This Post!

| More

October 25, 2017: Happy Not-Quite-Halloween!

For me, October = Halloween. I'm not one of those nuts who lives the other 364 days of the year (365 on leap years) waiting for the chance to dress like a zombie . . . but I am the author of GURPS Zombies, which is probably just as bad. Friend Computer tells me we need this update today, though, so let's get this show on the road! Saint Crispin's Day is the anniversary of the Battles of Agincourt, Balaclava, and Leyte Gulf, which makes it plenty scary if you're the French in 1415, British in 1854, or Japanese in 1944.

Recent Releases

This month saw a significant uptick in output:

GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2: Weapons of Fantasy (October 5, 2017; PDF)

We grew the GURPS Fantasy-Tech series with this arsenal of crazy melee weapons for your fantasy games (and horror slashers). This stuff goes against the principles of rational economics and tactics, if not the laws of nature . . . but who cares? When your sword is bigger than you are and your whip is braided from the souls of the damned, it's the Rule of Cool that matters!

How to Be a GURPS GM (October 12, 2017; Softback)

This essential handbook for gamers who want to run GURPS was originally available as a PDF on Warehouse 23. Now you can get it as a softback on demand, which gives you something to chuck at unruly players (a free tip that isn't in the book!).

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (October 19, 2017; Softback)

A compilation of all three stretch-goal PDFs offered as part of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Kickstarter campaign – Dungeon Fantasy Traps, Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items, and Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men – in one printed volume, available on demand.

GURPS Mass Combat (October 19, 2017; Softback)

Another Warehouse 23 publication that you can now buy in print on demand. For those not in the know, this supplement lets you use GURPS to run large-scale battles involving entire units, bridging the gap between RPG and wargame.

Pyramid #3/108: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game III (October 19, 2017; PDF)

The third of three Pyramid issues promised as a stretch goal during the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game Kickstarter campaign. It brings you a bundle of monsters, scenarios, and more to help you get a different kind of campaign – your roleplaying campaign – off to a strong start. As a bonus, it includes designer's notes for How to Be a GURPS GM, if you need help deciding whether that's for you.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets)

Shipping to Kickstarter backers worldwide continues apace. These products should reach distribution toward the end of October, unless Halloween decides to bring more tricks than treats. Don't forget that you can also preorder at your Friendly Local Game Store or from Warehouse 23 (click the links above).

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

These are ready for upload when the game enters distribution, but backers have already received them.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (October 19, 2017; Softback)

As noted above, you can get this right now on demand (so I won't be mentioning it as news in future updates).

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time to take stabs in the dark at who's behind the zombie mask. Hmm, that didn't come out right . . . I meant, "Let's hazard a few guesses at what's coming up." Please don't take any of this as set in stone. At least in the publishing business, curses are real – in the sense that setting a deadline invites hard drives to fail, writers and editors to catch the flu, and hurricanes to flood low-lying areas.

The first of what we hope will be many GURPS Encounters offerings is on target for early November release.
Barring disaster, Pyramid #3/109 should show up on November 23.
Hans-Christian Vortisch continues to work toward a final draft of GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions.
Bill Stoddard's latest GURPS Fantasy project remains in review. That should wrap up in November.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is in playtest. That, too, is slated to conclude in November.
Matt Riggsby's first draft of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2 arrived and received its editorial review. It should enter playtesting in November.
My first draft of another grimoire of spells for the GURPS Magic series is finished and awaiting review by Jason "PK" Levine.

There are more titles behind the scenes, but mentioning things that don't even have first drafts is like walking under a ladder to avoid stepping on the black cat who just ran across your path, only to fall through a mirror (probably put there by the same fool who left a ladder sitting around). Still, the GURPS thread in my blog is updated weekly (on Fridays, even Friday the 13th) rather than monthly. Like the clown in your closet, what shows up there might surprise you.

Join Us! Join Us!

Interested in writing for us? Read through our Submission Guidelines, and then download and absorb the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. If nothing there is a deal-breaker for you, check out the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated June 1, 2017), and the Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated June 1, 2017) to learn what we want.

Share This Post!

| More

September 29, 2017: Fall Begins

"Fall begins." That's what it said on my calendar last week when I got the reminder "GURPS News page needs an update." For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere – especially the chillier parts – autumn brings falling leaves, cool nights, and ever-shorter daylight hours. For games publishers, it also marks the end of the hectic summer convention season and the return of a certain degree of normalcy.

Recent Releases

We continue to build up the line again after the big Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game push. That remains a work in progress, so September was a light month:

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Encounters 1: The Pagoda of Worlds (September 7, 2017; PDF)

We kicked off yet another GURPS Dungeon Fantasy sub-series with a fantasy location you can use as scenery, an adventure seed, or even a full-on mini-adventure. This cool set piece from Matt Riggsby offers new puzzles, loot, and monsters. It includes everything you expect in a hack 'n' slash scenario – notably, tables for random encounters and treasures, and of course maps.

Pyramid #3/107: Monster Hunters III (September 21, 2017; PDF)

This issue supports the GURPS Monster Hunters series with additional cinematic rules, new monsters, low-powered templates, and more.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets)

We got these to U.S. Kickstarter backers this month. They're still expected to reach distribution by October if all goes well. For the latest news, see the updates we posted on September 13, 14, 21, 25, and 28.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

These are ready for upload just as soon as the game goes live, but as with the box and screen, we've delivered them to backers already.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (Softback)

The softcover compilation of all three stretch-goal PDFs remains on target for publication in October.

Upcoming Plans

Now it's time for the educated guesses. Don't forget that all of this is subject to change. We're mere mortals here at SJ Games, after all, and things don't always work out as planned. Remind me sometime to tell you all about the month when two authors lost work to computer disasters . . . or the year when three key people needed surgery.

I just dashed off the web blurb for GURPS Fantasy-Tech 2. We have that pegged as an October release.
Pyramid #3/108 is on schedule for October 19.
GURPS Mass Combat will be coming out via POD sometime soon as well.
The inaugural GURPS Encounters volume has had its production review. We're aiming to get that to you for November.
Hans-Christian Vortisch continues to revise GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions into its final draft.
Bill Stoddard's newest GURPS Fantasy project is currently with reviewers.
Phil Masters' GURPS Steampunk 2: Steam and Shellfire is about to go into playtest. The call for playtesters is here.
Matt Riggsby should be getting us a first draft of another GURPS Dungeon Fantasy title in early October.
I'm close to finished my first draft of something for the GURPS Magic series, though running an entire product line means I can't always prioritize this.

There's more, of course – there's always more. For hints and leaks, keep an eye on the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday except when I'm away on a secret mission (or more likely sick with a cold).

Join Us! Join Us!

Interested in writing for us? Start with our Submission Guidelines, then download and get comfortable with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and finally check the wish lists: the Pyramid Wish List (updated September 21, 2017), the Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated June 1, 2017), and the Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated June 1, 2017).

Share This Post!

| More

August 28, 2017: Gen Con: Survived

August consisted mostly of getting ready for Gen Con, "We're at Gen Con!", and catching up after Gen Con. All that is behind us now, though, so it's time for the monthly update. The wheels turn even when a big chunk of the company is away at a huge convention, after all.

Recent Releases

Between Gen Con and continuing to push on the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, we had enough on our plate that the August lineup was fairly light:

GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances (August 3, 2017; PDF)

You need more than cool goggles and the latest difference engine if you plan to engage in steampunk adventures. Getting from A to B calls for steam-powered trains, ships, and more . . . like airships, for instance! This catalog of vehicles – which range from whimsical inventions to downright terrifying engines of war – kicks off the long-awaited GURPS Vehicles series.

Pyramid #3/106: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game II (August 24, 2017; PDF)

The Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game isn't here yet (well, not quite – see below), but we can at least give you a taste: designer's notes, gear, monsters, traps, a dungeon, and more!

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets)

These are now en route from the printer to SJ Games! We should be able to get them to Kickstarter backers by September and into distribution by October, if shipping goes well. But in a surprise move, backers who signed on for a private game session at Gen Con received autographed advance copies. We also ran combat demos at Gen Con. And while our Gen Con crew was off taking care of that, we provided PDFs of these products to people who backed at the appropriate level. For more details, see here and here.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

These are in staging (i.e., ready for upload just as soon as the game goes live) – but as with the box and screen, we've delivered them to certain backers already.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (Softback)

The softcover compilation of the three stretch-goal items remains at the printer but looks to be on target for release sometime in October.

Upcoming Plans

Let's move on to the rumors, shall we? Okay, more like informed guesses – but please remember that this section of the update is hedged with "maybes." Projects can suffer setbacks such as illnesses, crashed computers, floods, and (gasp!) simply proving to be more work than anticipated. They can pass one another along the way, stay parked for a long time, or even race ahead unexpectedly.

Pyramid #3/107 is in production and on schedule for September 21.
Matt Riggsby's newest GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplement is just about through production and should be released Real Soon Now.
My little contribution to the GURPS Fantasy-Tech series has received art and a production review. I imagine it will be another autumn publication.
The first GURPS Encounters volume is awaiting production review. That's on my "to do" list for September, so we're looking at being all done by late autumn.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, remains in post-playtest revision.
Bill Stoddard's most recent entry in the GURPS Fantasy series and Phil Masters' next installment in the GURPS Steampunk series are both poised for playtesting, which should commence in September.
PK has more GURPS Monster Hunters in the works, but a larger, unrelated obligation is currently eating up his time.
Matt Riggsby is writing even more GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, with a first-draft ETA sometime in October.
Yours Truly is working on something else for the GURPS Magic series as time permits.

And of course there are things even further out. If you absolutely, positively need to know what's what, check out the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday except when I'm on vacation or a business trip.

Join Us! Join Us!

Those interested in working with us should be aware that I've updated Submission Guidelines: Roleplaying Games and will be blowing the dust off pages linked to that one as my schedule allows. I foresee no major changes, but it's always smart to keep current. That includes downloading and familiarizing yourself with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template, and checking the Pyramid Wish List (updated August 11, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated June 1, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated June 1, 2017).

Share This Post!

| More

July 27, 2017: Happy Birthday All Around!

Perhaps I exaggerate, but this update does hit extremely close to the 13th birthday of GURPS Fourth Edition and the 31st birthday of GURPS – not to mention the 22nd work anniversary and 50th birthday of your Line Editor. Because it covers a mere month, not an entire quarter as in the past, the news is going to be short and to the point.

Recent Releases

We're still gearing up the GURPS machine after devoting most of 2016 and the first half of 2017 to the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, so we had only one release in July:

Pyramid #3/105: Cinematic Magic (July 20, 2017; PDF)

Magic is impressive – but with care, you can fit it into a plausible game world. Sometimes, though, you want to go right over the top! That's the focus of this issue, which explores arcane arts suited to adventure-movie "realism," superheroes, and even gods.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets)

These are at the printer, with the aim of reaching shops in autumn 2017. However, we should have something to show off at Gen Con (August 17-20), where I will be running the game for the Kickstarter backers who scored private sessions with me. I've also created a quick, simplified combat demo for complete newbies to the GURPS rules set.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

These are in prepress. All that's left to do is release the kraken – err, the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game – so they have a product to support!

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (Softback)

The official status of this softcover compilation of the three stretch-goal items is "printing." It, too, remains on target for autumn 2017.

Upcoming Plans

Now we come to what's still in the creation process. Please remember that everything here falls somewhere between an educated guess and a hope. I cannot normally provide exact release dates, and there's always the chance that something could take months to progress to the next step, for any number of perfectly valid reasons.

Pyramid #3/106 is in editing and on schedule for August 24.
The GURPS Vehicles series of ready-to-go vehicles catalogs will launch with an offering from Phil Masters. This has passed its production review, so it should be out before too terribly long.
Matt Riggsby's next GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplement remains in production. All is going well, and this ought to see the light of day sometime in the autumn.
The inaugural GURPS Encounters project has made it through editing and into production. I imagine it will be another autumn publication.
I found time to write a short GURPS Fantasy-Tech volume. My reviewers have provided me with great feedback and I foresee turning around the final draft sometime in August.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, will be a follow-up to GURPS Tactical Shooting – think of it as a double-tap. It had a good playtest and is now in revision.
Bill Stoddard's newest resource for GURPS Fantasy and Phil Masters' next installment in the GURPS Steampunk series both continue to await playtesting.
PK's work on more GURPS Monster Hunters continues . . . but other things are a higher priority. Big things. Things I cannot reveal just yet.

As ever, there are projects much further out – I cannot talk about those that don't even have a complete first draft, for instance. I can say that we aim to step up content creation to where it was prior to the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game; I've been talking with Matt Riggsby, Christopher R. Rice, and Peter V. Dell'Orto, among others. I might let clues slip in the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update weekly.

Join Us! Join Us!

Speaking of content creation . . . If you're interested in working with us, please download and familiarize yourself with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then see the Pyramid Wish List (updated March 24, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated June 1, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated June 1, 2017) to learn what we're looking for.

Share This Post!

| More

June 29, 2017: Updating The Updates

This GURPS News installment is special for two reasons:

It marks the transition from quarterly to monthly updates, just because we think GURPS fans would appreciate that. (Also: Quarters are for accountants.)
It's the first update to go out by email as well as be posted to the website. We used to inform GURPS fans by email ages ago, so depending on when you got into GURPS, this idea will seem either very new or very old.

Doing things this way should make it a lot easier to keep tabs on what's going on with GURPS.

Since this is a special update, we're going to change the format just a little. However, the GURPS News will remain a hotline from my virtual desk to yours. That means it's about as official as this kind of thing gets -- but also informal, because editors gotta editorialize!

Recent Releases

Newsletters are supposed to tell you what's new. Since this one is going through a renewal and some readers are joining us for the first time by email, let's set the clock back to the start of 2017. That way, everybody will be on the same page next month.

Pyramid: Dungeon Fantasy Collected (January 5, 2017; PDF)

This special 165-page Pyramid issue bundles together 28 of the best articles written for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. It delivers more of everything: templates, power-ups, monsters, treasures, adventures . . . Because delvers can never have enough stuff!

GURPS Classic: Autoduel (First Edition) (January 12, 2017; PDF)

Originally released as a softback in 1986, this is a classic in the truest sense, adapting the world of Car Wars to GURPS First Edition. The vehicles and weapons might be a little tricky to convert to GURPS Fourth Edition, but the setting remains as cool as ever.

Pyramid #3/99: Death and Beyond (January 19, 2017; PDF)

Death can be the end, but it doesn't need to be the end of a campaign. It might even be a new beginning. It certainly doesn't have to be boring! This issue looks at ways to give death a bigger role in your game than simply "something to avoid at all costs."

Pyramid #3/100: Pyramid Secrets (February 16, 2017; PDF)

This is our "black album," the one to get if you're just getting into Pyramid and want a look at its versatility. For the 100th issue, we had some of our best-known contributors submit articles on anything they wanted.

GURPS Roleplayer Bundle (March 22, 2017; PDF)
Pyramid Classic Bundle (March 22, 2017; PDF)

With all 30 issues of Roleplayer magazine in the GURPS Roleplayer Bundle and the first 30 issues of the original printed Pyramid magazine in the Pyramid Classic Bundle, you can revisit GURPS' past to see where it all started and how it evolved.

Pyramid #3/101: Humor (March 23, 2017; PDF)

Humor in roleplaying is easy to do badly but very difficult to do well. This issue takes a shot at helping you do it better -- because even the most serious campaign can use some comic relief. (And don't worry, there are no clowns.)

Pyramid #3/102: Epic (April 20, 2017; PDF)

Subtlety is great, but sometimes it's fun to cut loose with the big, the loud, and the overpowered. This issue looks at exactly that, helping you crank your campaign to 11 without losing control over it.

GURPS Hot Spots: The Silk Road (May 11, 2017; PDF)

Matt Riggsby's third Hot Spots opus looks at the trade routes that brought goods and merchants from the Eastern Mediterranean to the center of China and back again, with a focus on the 2nd through 10th centuries A.D. (Now that's an epic campaign right there!)

Pyramid #3/103: Setbacks (May 18, 2017; PDF)

The essence of adventure is overcoming adversity. Well, here's a whole bunch of new adversity for adventurers to face. There are enemies to fight, of course, but machines can break, heroes can go nuts, and not every foe wants to settle things in combat.

GURPS Mars Attacks (June 8, 2017; PDF)

By popular demand, we got the rights to rerelease this hardback in PDF form. Grab it and get ready to invade Earth as a Martian. Or protect Earth from the Martians. Either way, it's all about the giant bugs, killer robots, mutants, and ray guns -- and it's a blast!

GURPS Classic: Bestiary (June 15, 2017; PDF)

A big catalog of creatures! Be aware that it's for GURPS Third Edition -- it needs conversion before being used with GURPS Fourth Edition.

Discworld Roleplaying Game (June 22, 2017; PDF)

Another hardback we got permission to rerelease as a PDF! This edition of the game combines the setting content of the original and its supplement, GURPS Discworld Also, updated to reflect the Discworld novels released since then and to use GURPS Fourth Edition rules.

Pyramid #3/104: Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (June 22, 2017; PDF)

This sneak peek at what the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game has to offer includes pictures of game components, a sample delver on a Dungeon Fantasy character sheet, quotes from the pregenerated heroes in the game's Adventurers book and the Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen's Delvers To Go! booklet, and of course, great articles.

GURPS Martial Arts (June 26, 2017; Softback)
GURPS Powers (June 26, 2017; Softback)
GURPS Classic: Rogues (June 26, 2017; Softback)
GURPS Classic: Warriors (June 26, 2017; Softback)

These four out-of-print books are now available via print on demand (POD). They aren't new editions but softback reprints with known errata corrected. For details on how to buy these and other POD offerings, visit the On Demand page.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game News

This bonus section will show up until we've released everything below. It's separate from Upcoming Plans because nothing here is a secret -- we've already shared titles and other details with the world. Also, the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game, while based on GURPS, is its own game.

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game (Boxed Set)
Dungeon Fantasy GM Screen (Printed Screen and Booklets)

Wow, this was a long haul! Work in earnest started in January 2016 and we finalized the files in April 2017. We were still putting finishing touches on the art and layout in the final weeks, but now both products are at the printer. They should be in shops by the autumn of 2017.

Dungeon Fantasy: Against the Rat-Men (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Magic Items (PDF)
Dungeon Fantasy Traps (PDF)

The three Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game stretch-goal items are all in the final, err, stretch. The PDFs are done and reviewed, and will be fully finalized by the time this update goes live. Oh, for those wondering about Against the Rat-Men: It's the second dungeon, which follows up the adventure in the box, I Smell a Rat.

Dungeon Fantasy Companion (Softback)

This add-on to the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game is a compilation of the three stretch-goal items above -- in print. It, too, will be finalized by the time you're reading this. It should be available via CreateSpace in the autumn of 2017, around the same time as the game itself.

Upcoming Plans

Here's what I can share about what else we're working on. Please remember that while we take our deadlines seriously, we aren't perfect and life happens: computers crash, people get sick, and so on. Nothing here has a precise date on it, and some of it might take a while to show up in future Recent Releases.

The GURPS Vehicles series will be PDF catalogs of ready-to-go vehicles (not a design system, which is still in the works). The first of these, by Phil Masters, is in production review.
A GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplement by Matt Riggsby is in production. I really shouldn't give away too many details, but I will say that it's more on the adventure side than the abilities-and-stuff side.
The first GURPS Encounters project is in final-draft form and awaiting editing.
GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions, by Hans-Christian Vortisch, is in playtest. This follow-up to GURPS Tactical Shooting will tackle the difficulties of gunplay in less-than-ideal environments: desert, jungle, rocking ships, even outer space.
Bill Stoddard's latest supplement for GURPS Fantasy has passed its first-draft review and is on its way to playtesting.
Phil Masters' second installment in the new GURPS Steampunk series is also through first-draft review and on its way to playtesting.
PK is working on a new GURPS Monster Hunters volume when he isn't editing or reviewing other GURPS content.

There are several items even further out, which I ought to keep secret for now, but rest assured that we're keeping the ball rolling. For interim news, check out the GURPS thread in my blog, which I update every Friday.

Join Us! Join Us!

Just how do we keep the ball rolling? We write some of this stuff ourselves, but even more of it comes from our loyal freelancers. If you're interested in working with us, the first step is to download and familiarize yourself with the GURPS formatting guide and GURPS WYSIWYG template. Then check out the Pyramid Wish List (updated March 24, 2017), Warehouse 23 Digital Wish List (updated June 1, 2017), and Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPS (updated June 1, 2017).

Share This Post!

| More

Subscribe to the GURPS News mailing list by going here and clicking on "Join Group" or "Subscribe to this group" or by rss.