January 5, 2016: What Does 2016 Hold For GURPS?

Thanks to changes to our approval processes going into and throughout 2015, I was able to resume accepting proposals from writers who weren't on the short list of "staff plus a few old hands who've worked with us forever." Consequently, our bench is comfortably deep as the new year dawns. Though that doesn't immunize us against bad luck (or the flu) -- even finished products can be put on hold for a hundred reasons -- it does let me hint at what's coming up. Just remember that even with my access to the Secret Files, these are ultimately educated guesses!

Our top priority will continue to be supporting existing series. Foremost among these is the extremely successful GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. That currently has a main-series volume by y.t. and a second Treasures installment from Matt Riggsby near completion; a new Denizens item by y.t. and a main-series work by Christopher R. Rice and Antoni Ten Monrós in editing; and Peter Dell'Orto's next Monsters project awaiting review.

None of which means ignoring other series, of course. A GURPS Powers supplement by Bill Stoddard awaits production. Matt Riggsby's latest for GURPS Hot Spots is about to enter review. And Jason "PK" Levine is almost done with his first draft of GURPS Monster Hunters 6.

Then there's the groundbreaking stuff, about which I have to be more circumspect. In the "new series" department, PK has one project laid out and awaiting art, and a second in review; Roger Bell_West has cracked the seal on something from our wish list, which is now in production; and Phil Masters has submitted the final draft of support for a genre that's had no love since Third Edition. In the "standalone" category, Bill Stoddard is revising the first draft of a very "meta" (and very GURPS-y) manuscript, while David Pulver is still revising GURPS Vehicle Design. Somewhere in between, Hans-Christian Vortisch is working on serializing one of his past publications.

Naturally, we'll continue to do our best to solve the profitability problems surrounding Phil Masters' second edition of the Discworld Roleplaying Game and PK's GURPS Mars Attacks. If anyone is sorry these didn't appear in 2015, it's me . . . but business is business. We appreciate your patience and understanding.

Interested in tracking these predictions? I give out similar hints quarterly in the GURPS News and weekly in my blog. And you can join in the daily, even hourly speculation on our forums.

-- Sean Punch