That's right folks, GURPS is on DTRPG/OBS (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games)!
This has come as a shock to those in the know...
In related news, temperatures in Hell dropped below 15 degrees Fahrenheit today with widespread snowfall and severe icing, we go now to Brock who is reporting live from Hell.
"Brock, how are the people of Hell handling this odd change in the weather?"
"Thank's Les - it seems that most residents of Hell today have hunkered down in their basements and are playing a type of Dungeons & Dragons called GURPS."
"That seems Strange Brock, tell us more."
"Right... when the freezing started it was reported that GURPS books were available electronically in a marketplace that, and I quote, would never be sold there unless 'Hell Froze Over'."
"So... Brock, it looks like the folks in Hell are winning double today!"
"You bet they are Les! Back to you!"
It's strange of them not to have done so before.
They have their own storefront. Expanding their potential purchasing audience should offset any people who otherwise would go to their store (instead going to DTRPG, losing whatever the fee-cost is). However, I imagine it is a bitter pill to swallow.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1008058It's strange of them not to have done so before.
They were an early internet, Illuminati Online, and ecommerce pioneer, e23.
So it not strange that were and are doing their own thing. But their rate of innovation stalled out, like every else at the company, when Munchkin became a megahit. Now OBS is king. Likely it was manpower issues as to why they waited so long to work with OBS.
Good, I've long wanted to check out their settings books but held back from purchasing from their site because the last thing I need is another online account.
Quote from: Voros;1008230Good, I've long wanted to check out their settings books but held back from purchasing from their site because the last thing I need is another online account.
I understand but I will say that their IT work is pretty top notch. Not the pain in the ass or afterthought that I see at other company stores.
Quote from: trechriron;1007844That's right folks, GURPS is on DTRPG/OBS (http://www.drivethrurpg.com/browse/pub/12199/Steve-Jackson-Games)!
This has come as a shock to those in the know...
Steve Jackson's fear of computers must be subsiding. And he has less handlers now that were enabling him.
I have always found it odd how companies so often try to limit the ways in which you can give them money. Particularly when so many of them complain that they're so broke because people are acquiring their content in other ways, or competitors have unfair practices, etc.
"We're broke! Life is tough! Give us money! No, not that way..."
No GURPS Space or Interstellar Wars, as of yet, no Toon, In Nomine and no GURPS Discworld either. I wonder whether all the other companies on SJGames' online W23 will be transferring over to Drivethrurpg too (although many of them are on both already).
The prices are what the softcovers should be. Way too expensive.
Quote from: brettmb;1008409The prices are what the softcovers should be. Way too expensive.
Yes... I have no real interest in using PDFs but for me to even consider buying one it would have to be much cheaper than an actual book.
Well, with Dark Albion, I know Dominique Crouzet put it on OBS, on Lulu, and on Amazon, and that wide effect certainly seems to have made it a good amount of money.
I haven't played GURPS in a long while, but I hope this will keep it afloat. I love the scientific and well researched approach that their companion books tend to have. I use GURPS space on all of my SciFi games even when not playing GURPS.
Quote from: brettmb;1008409The prices are what the softcovers should be. Way too expensive.
Holy shit, yes. Chaosium has the same problem.
Quote from: brettmb;1008409The prices are what the softcovers should be. Way too expensive.
They are looking at it from the standpoint of cost. The way they publish, the physical cost of the book is fraction of the total unit cost of a book for them. They considering writing, editing, layout, art, and a profit margin for the PDF.
The problem is that the market fairly or unfairly doesn't value PDFs as much as physical books. For example if a $10 book cost me $4 in art, editing,layout, writing, and $1 per unit to print. Hobbyists are going to look at me funny if I charge $9 for the PDF and $10 for the book.
My personal view is that you need to focus on maximizing profit. For example if I sold only 10 PDFs at $9 I make $50 profit. If I instead price it at $6 and get four times the sales (40) then I made $80 despite not making as much profit. A publisher need to figure out what the point of maximum profitability for PDF sales.
Quote from: ArrozConLeche;1008800Holy shit, yes. Chaosium has the same problem.
Or perhaps the companies aren't the problem...
Pricing is not JUST a calculation of "cost". The cost of paying authors, editors and illustrators far exceeds any "cost" associated with printing. Hell, the printing part is easy. Toss in taxes, tariffs, payroll, logistics, utilities, warehousing... Don't you believe in supporting companies so they can thrive? If every venture into the gaming industry is a zero sum game, how long do you think we'll have gaming companies?
I probably have $1000 in GURPS PDFs and hardcovers (easy, probably much more). There is not a single publisher who creates this quality. I always find errors (spelling and grammatical) in most works and I have a hard time bumping into them in a GURPS book. Not only that, but the GURPS books are aimed at roleplayers, not just GURPS gamers. They have tons of useful advice on how to emulate genre, mood and bring adventure to every corner of the universe you can think of. They are considerably "universal" in their application. I can use plenty of GURPS in other games without much trouble.
Every GURPS PDF I own is well worth the price. Even better, my support of GURPS helps keep a crack team of freelancers GURPSing all the livelong day!
You get what you pay for. GURPS focuses on quality writing and quality rules that work well. They have high standards. GURPS is not the Chevy Volt bro, it's the Mercedes Benz.
At some point, publishers will price themselves right out of market. It will no longer be a viable side-hustle much less a intelligent business opportunity. Instead we'll just have enthusiasts producing quick vanity projects. Having witnessed the metric ton of crap sauce the d20 boom produced, it's easy to see where that leads. It takes considerable focus, time and effort to produce a quality RPG product. Most hobbyists don't have the dedication, time, skills or resources to make that happen.
I support the games I love because they are good. I'm happy to pay a reasonable price to keep those companies healthy, thereby netting me more quality works.
It's the same philosophy as the village economy. I'm a programmer and software tester. I also design websites. I'm pretty good at it. I can easily command $50/hour in my job, and twice that freelancing. Instead of inventing my own game, or trying to compete in a crowded market, I am WAY better off supporting a company that is not only dedicated to making games, but is really good at it. Instead of wasting time making my "generic heartbreaker", I can instead build a website for someone and then spend that on awesome high quality books. Then run a game with an awesome high-quality game. I work hard to make some cash and then patronize awesome hard-working fellows with that cash.
Even better, because I can make GOOD cash, I can afford higher quality works. Which then encourages more creators to make high quality works to sell to me.
We create the marketplace. Our buying habits drive demand. What demand do you want to encourage?
Well, it was about time:)!
But the pricing is still the same. I guess I'd have to wait a bit longer.
Trechiron, that's true from one point of view. From another point of view, GURPS is a system with two $50 corebooks;). And no, the research that went into those might be considerable, but they aren't orders of magnitude better than all the competition.
The competition that sometimes has cheap or free corebooks.
In other words, what you say is not the logic of economy. The right question is, what can you get for the same price?
Well, you could get one of FFE's CDs with a whole edition of Traveller, sourcebooks, adventures and all.
Or you could get EABAv2 for less than a single corebook costs. And that's a system that's quite comparable to GURPS, system-wise. I'm not even sure the comparison would be favourable to GURPS, much as it's like a "first love" to me, being the first RPG system I actually liked:p.
Now I only have to decide whether I want anything at that price. But I can at least get Technical Grappling now:D!
But it's definitely going to be supplements, not corebooks;).
Quote from: estar;1008805They are looking at it from the standpoint of cost.
And profit, obviously.
Neither of which are my concern as a consumer.
Quote from: trechriron;1008814Don't you believe in supporting companies so they can thrive?
Nope.
Quote from: trechriron;1008814If every venture into the gaming industry is a zero sum game, how long do you think we'll have gaming companies?
Could not care less if they all went out of business tomorrow.
Quote from: trechriron;1008814You get what you pay for.
A common misconception promoted by the seller to fool the buyer. A fool and his money are soon parted.
It's just a reality of commerce that an electronic file can't be priced as highly as a dead-tree book. It's crazy to me that big companies don't get that.