Quote from: Battlemaster on June 20, 2022, 06:29:27 PM
As a serious question, does anyone think gurps would have done better if it had a more serious name?

Nah. Geeks are generally fine with silly names. But GURPS might have done better if they stuck to more of a Car Wars level of detail, instead of going all-in on the vehicle and gun wankery. But I don't think that was ever in the cards.

Quote from: Battlemaster on June 20, 2022, 06:29:27 PM
As a serious question, does anyone think gurps would have done better if it had a more serious name?

Generally Useless Role-Playing System for 30 years counts for something maybe. People that watch CNN seem to adore it.

Oh, you mean people who have an interest in the world outside gaming?

Quote from: Battlemaster on June 20, 2022, 10:45:29 PM
Oh, you mean people who have an interest in the world outside gaming?

Yes. People that can't role-play.

  GURPS is neither the favorite of CNN watchers or people who "cannot role-play"....people who watch CNN can certainly role play that much I am 100 percent certain of.  I do get where people are put off by what is a steep learning curve and investment in time early on to learn the system.  Add in the fact you can walk into game stores all over the country (and if there are many like the ones near me, with 100 people playing various games at tables on a busy night) and you probably will not even spot a person reading a GURPS book, much less anyone playing it.  The easy way to learn any game or hook an interest is someone playing it and you watching or joining in a group.  GURPS has zero presence any where I have ever been in a game store in the past 18 years I have taken an interest (I started up with it at the 4th edition printing, knew about it before and bought 4th edition for Conan games). 

  I do not know what it is like for most people running the game, but I know in the case of my group (we play a few games/rules --Savage worlds, D&D, DCC, Mutant Epoch and GURPS) the players have by far the weakest grasp of the rules and how their characters can operate in GURPS  than any other system, despite having a play time advantage of 4 to 1 over any other ruleset.  They have great fun while playing...but zero interest in reading even a little about how to best play their characters (options in combat and so forth can be extensive, but I mean even the most basic of things here) because the books are simply not engaging in the least.  I have tech cert exam prep books that are far more engaging than the GURPS core rule books.  The art is bad.  The layout is pretty bad.  The examples of game play are non existent.  The lore/iconic characters are bad.   

   The rules are IMO....very very good.  One second rounds annoy the hell out of me, but I do think they are overall fantastic and I can run anything seamlessly.  I think it does slow down a bit in melee fights with 5+ players and lots of enemies (IME most games do, but GURPS more so with the active defenses).  The learning of the system is HEAVILY front loaded for a new GM, making a new character without a template is damn near impossible for a new player unless they want to spend a day on doing it, and the core rules have no "hooks" to draw a curious potential player or GM in to want to read and learn the game. 

  At this point I think SJG is happy to provide a bit of digital content and the occasional printed book to the faithful (and the people who seem to like GURPS *really* like it) and make his real money from Munchkin.   I guess if they had a middle man (like the movie office space) to do some work between the engineers and the customers it could improve on it's "curb appeal", but right now it is like trying to sell a haunted house.

Quote from: Pat on June 20, 2022, 07:01:06 PM
Nah. Geeks are generally fine with silly names. But GURPS might have done better if they stuck to more of a Car Wars level of detail, instead of going all-in on the vehicle and gun wankery. But I don't think that was ever in the cards.

Car Wars eh?  Tenth of a second phases?  Two dozen characters and half a dozen vehicles per player? I'm down with that.

Quote from: David Johansen on June 21, 2022, 09:46:20 AM

Quote from: Pat on June 20, 2022, 07:01:06 PM
Nah. Geeks are generally fine with silly names. But GURPS might have done better if they stuck to more of a Car Wars level of detail, instead of going all-in on the vehicle and gun wankery. But I don't think that was ever in the cards.

Car Wars eh?  Tenth of a second phases?  Two dozen characters and half a dozen vehicles per player? I'm down with that.

Entire game can fit in a little click box. Entire character can fit on a single half-sheet of paper, including art.

Well, that's interesting:

https://bundleofholding.com/presents/GURPS4Essentials

SJG has always been very controlling about their IP, and as a result were very late in moving to DTRPG. They've also been highly resistant to sales. But now they're allowing BoH to sell their core and tech books in bundles that, while still pricey by BoH standards, are far cheaper than buying the books individually.

It's probably the smartest thing they've done to promote GURPS in twenty years.

Quote from: David Johansen on June 21, 2022, 09:46:20 AM

Quote from: Pat on June 20, 2022, 07:01:06 PM
Nah. Geeks are generally fine with silly names. But GURPS might have done better if they stuck to more of a Car Wars level of detail, instead of going all-in on the vehicle and gun wankery. But I don't think that was ever in the cards.

Car Wars eh?  Tenth of a second phases?  Two dozen characters and half a dozen vehicles per player? I'm down with that.

It was always one vehicle per player in our games. All the killer pedestrians were run by the GM.

Yes. There will be a 5th edition. It is nearly done. They've been working on it for a while.

Quote from: Thor's Nads on February 13, 2023, 03:53:02 AM
Yes. There will be a 5th edition. It is nearly done. They've been working on it for a while.

Source?

I hope SJG can change their minds on that.

Partnerships for stretch goals:

Setting books:
Marc Miller
James M Ward
Sandy Petersen
Kevin Siembieda

Adventures by:
OSE, LotFP, RPGPundit, you already have that list...

Let the wokesters think what they want, the waves would be titanic.

The last GURPS book I picked up was the Phil Folio Girl Genius RPG that uses GURPS 4e.  I have the 4e books but haven't read them in quite a while.  My last big GURPS game was 3e using Bloodtypes to have PC vampires that weren't stuck in the WoD cosmology.  I was a fan of the library of 3e source books.  It was cool to have a source book for a genre/theme for games that you wanted to play vs have to make everything from scratch.  I figure we may see more "Powered by GURPS 4e" releases before we see a 5e.