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Warehouse 23 Wish List for GURPSUpdated August 6, 2024Are you a writer who's familiar with GURPS Fourth Edition? Interested in creating GURPS items of short to medium length (12, 21, or 30 pages) for digital publication? Confident that, handed the seed of an idea, you could grow it into a quality product on a deadline? If you answered "yes" to all three questions, you're the kind of person we're counting on to help us meet our commitment to support GURPS on Warehouse 23. Read on . . . The wish list below describes product ideas that have passed the first hurdle – namely, we're interested – and for which we're seeking proposals. That doesn't mean we'll accept the first pitch we get. We might act immediately if we really like what we see . . . or we might hold out for several offers and then pick the best one. All we're promising is that we'll read and seriously evaluate your proposal. If it looks good, we may have something to talk about! There are four steps to the proposal process:
Good luck! Projects and SpecificationsBelow is the list of projects currently of interest to us, along with their specific requirements. Some general guidelines apply to all of them:
See any recent GURPS publication for examples of all of the above. Don't forget to allocate space for these elements in your outline! Some diagrams, illustrations, and quotations are vital to the project; be sure to indicate those in your outline, too. We'll send you a rough PDF toward the end of the production process to request any additional art specs or quotations needed to fill layout holes. If there are big holes, we may request an extra box or two. Without further ado, here's the list . . . Action (Series)Gamers love action movies . . . but GURPS sometimes feels like "too much game" for cinematic capers, chases, and shootouts. Enter GURPS Action! This series summarizes only what's essential for over-the-top modern-day thrillers, with each volume offering a bite-sized chunk of rules and stats. Action 1: Heroes is a quick-start guide to characters, while Action 2: Exploits boils down task resolution. Future installments will continue the trend. Each will tackle a single, well-defined aspect of the action genre, summarizing all the necessary "crunch" while paring away unnecessary complexity to give gamers ready-to-rock goodness. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and the GURPS Action series to date. All supplements from GURPS Action 3: Furious Fists to GURPS Action 9: The City offer good worked examples of what we seek. Recommended Reading: GURPS Gun Fu, GURPS High-Tech, and GURPS Martial Arts. Outline: To be provided by author. Adventures (Series)GURPS is famous as a toolkit RPG that can handle any kind of game in any genre . . . if the GM has the time to prepare. Unfortunately, not every GM has that kind of time! The goal of these adventures is to help GMs spend more time playing and less time on prep. Each will describe an interesting plot or set of plots, supported by lovingly crafted locations, events, and NPCs. Rounding it out will be a summary of important elements and notes on adapting the adventure to different power levels and play styles. For complete details, see the outline linked below. Would-be writers should be aware that the goal is to provide complete, ready-to-go scenarios that can be dropped into ongoing campaigns as side-quests or diversions. They should have enough detail to work as one-shots, but shouldn't depend strongly on history or locale (with the exception of Banestorm Adventures and Transhuman Space Adventures), or generate far-reaching outcomes that could ruin an existing campaign. It's also important that each adventure use GURPS as written, showing (not hiding!) how the system works and demonstrating how a game that's often perceived as "complex" can be a load of fun. Finally, take heed that we're not seeking anything self-consciously clever or cute – just meaty challenges, mysteries, and missions to entertain puzzle-solvers and tacticians! Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and any GURPS supplement essential to the adventure's genre or setting. Recommended Reading: GURPS Big Lizzie and GURPS Lair of the Fat Man are published adventures, albeit ones that deviate somewhat from our current preferred format. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 1: Mirror of the Fire Demon, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 2: Tomb of the Dragon King, and GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star hit closer to the mark. Outline: To be created by author using this preapproved template. After the End (Series)Everybody loves the end of the world! At least gamers do – what's not to love about spiky deathmobiles, mutants, and football played with skulls? But not everybody loves having to dig through all of GURPS for their post-apocalyptic gaming. The GURPS After the End series digs deep into the system and pulls together only what you need to game in civilization's ruins. After the End 1: Wastelanders is a template-driven guide to quick character creation, while After the End 2: The New World provides straightforward rules for essential tasks (like scavenging and jury-rigging) and classic dangers (such as radiation and mutated animals). Future volumes will build on this, tackling specific aspects of the post-apoc genre in a way that provides maximum flavor with minimal fuss. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and the GURPS After the End series to date. Recommended Reading: GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS High-Tech, or GURPS Ultra-Tech if focusing on gear; GURPS Bio-Tech, GURPS Psionic Powers, or GURPS Zombies if writing about mutant freaks. Outline: To be provided by author. Aliens (Series)Space-based science fiction needs aliens, and the Aliens series will deliver. Each volume will detail a single extraterrestrial species. Most supplements will update and greatly expand the racial descriptions in GURPS Aliens for Third Edition, but we'll also consider other proposals. Inspiring players to play members of the featured race is an important goal, but we also want to support the GM who needs mysterious visitors or sinister invaders for a GURPS Horror or GURPS Monster Hunters campaign! Each installment will describe:
Material from GURPS Aliens, GURPS Black Ops, GURPS Horror, and so on is considered canonical where existing GURPS races are concerned. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Aliens: Sparrials, as well as GURPS Aliens, GURPS Black Ops, GURPS Horror, and so on for races adapted from existing works. New gear must be compatible with GURPS Ultra-Tech; spacecraft, with the GURPS Spaceships series. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. E-Texts to be Provided: Any Third Edition text being adapted to Fourth Edition. Banestorm (Series)We're seeking supplements that support GURPS Banestorm with creatures, guilds, knightly orders, plots, towns, and almost anything else specific to the world of Yrth. These must obey the specifications for Adventures, Encounters, Locations, Magical Styles, Martial Arts, or Supporting Cast – as applicable – but be specific to the world of Yrth. Where Yrth canon and these other specs don't quite line up, canon takes precedence. When in doubt, ask us . . . because Banestorm projects that depart from canon without explicit permission from SJ Games are subject to summary rejection. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Banestorm. Recommended Reading: GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Magic are strongly recommended – and so are GURPS Banestorm: Abydos and GURPS Martial Arts: Yrth Fighting Styles. Depending on your topic, the editor may deem any of those "required." Outline: See specifications for relevant series. Boardroom and Curia (Series)Organizations can be as important to a campaign as characters. In a sense, they are characters: Each has a "personality" of sorts and is better at some tasks than others, and GURPS Boardroom and Curia even makes it possible to assign them advantages, skills, wealth, and other stats. But as every GM knows, the need for a group can arise suddenly – say, thanks to unexpected player actions. The Boardroom and Curia series is intended to help by providing ready-to-use organizations, possibly sets of related ones, each with the following details:
Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Boardroom and Curia, and either GURPS Boardroom and Curia: The Sospital Group or GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides. Recommended Reading: Any of GURPS Mass Combat, GURPS Social Engineering, GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, or GURPS Social Engineering: Pulling Rank you intend to include support for – and possibly even GURPS City Stats. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Disasters (Series)The Disasters series will cover horrible events ranging from local catastrophes (meltdowns, quakes, tornadoes, volcanoes, and even severe industrial fires and spills) to global apocalypses (meteor strikes, pandemics, global freezing or warming, etc.). Each volume will give the GM everything he needs to know to use a particular disastrous occurrence as a mere obstacle . . . as an adventure to shake up an existing campaign . . . or as the basis of an entire "rescue" or "survivors" campaign! Content should include:
The supplement should give the GM the information needed to toss a disaster into his campaign and get a fair idea of what this would do to the setting, the PCs, and the current adventure. Rules and guidelines shouldn't assume a particular time or place, but should address TL differences, as low-tech societies will have less warning and often less understanding of disasters, technology can mitigate damage and speed recovery, and some events are completely TL-dependent (e.g., a continental EMP simply won't affect a medieval culture!). And because there's no denying that most disaster movies are set in the here-and-now, the work should briefly explore the disaster in the context of 20th- or 21st-century Earth, examining real-world areas that are especially at risk and recommending gear (including vehicles) of special value to modern-day survivors. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set; either GURPS Disasters: Hurricane or GURP S Disasters: Meltdown and Fallout; and any book with relevant rules content, such as GURPS Bio-Tech for plagues or GURPS Space for astronomical disasters. Outline: To be created by author using this preapproved template. Dungeon Fantasy (Series)Most gamers got their start playing larger-than-life fantasy heroes who smash their way into dungeons, slaughter the monsters within, and grab the treasure. GURPS supports this kind of fantasy gaming, but it can be hard to figure out what bits and pieces are needed to do it right. The GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series summarizes what's vital and what isn't for hack-and-slash goofiness. Dungeon Fantasy 1: Adventurers explains how to build delvers, Dungeon Fantasy 2: Dungeons shows the GM how to set up and run adventures, and future volumes will tackle more-specialized topics – especially new character archetypes, loot, monsters, special abilities, and traps. We're also seeking items for the Dungeon Fantasy Adventures, Dungeon Fantasy Denizens, Dungeon Fantasy Encounters, Dungeon Fantasy Settings, and Dungeon Fantasy Treasures sub-series! Page Count: 12, 21, 30, or 48 pages (6,800, 14,450, 22,100, or 37,400 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series to date – especially the Adventures, Denizens, Encounters, Settings, or Treasures subseries, if proposing to write for one of those – plus GURPS Magic if covering spellcasters or GURPS Powers if presenting new character types with powers. Recommended Reading: GURPS Fantasy has great advice on every fantasy subgenre, including this one. Outline: To be provided by author. Encounters (Series)Encounters are short adventures designed to be dropped into ongoing scenarios and existing campaigns. Examples include a battle in an unusual tactical situation, a broken-down vehicle with interesting passengers, a chance meeting with a powerful supernatural being who poses riddles and grants minor wishes, an opportunity to win or lose money in a contest or a bet, and a roadside market with colorful merchants and goods. The specifications are broadly identical to those for Adventures – be sure to read those notes! – but the number of events, locations, and NPCs will be smaller. Some Encounters won't need all of those elements, of course, but all Encounters will include one extra section: advice on recycling and reusing the encounter again and again without it being (too) obvious to the players. Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, at least one worked example from the GURPS Encounters series to date, and any GURPS supplement essential to the encounter's genre or setting. Outline: See the Adventures outline. Fantasy Folk (Series)The Fantasy Folk series will provide detailed information on individual fantasy races. Some volumes will start with the racial descriptions in GURPS Fantasy Folk for Third Edition and update the stats, while others will describe all-new races . . . but all will go far beyond the two- to four-page entries seen in earlier GURPS products. A Fantasy Folk supplement should leave players itching to play members of the featured race, and inspire GMs to come up with interesting NPCs of that race. Each installment will describe:
For races found on Yrth, the material in GURPS Banestorm is considered canonical. The same goes for material from GURPS Fantasy Folk, where Third Edition races are concerned. If both conditions apply, the first takes precedence. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set; one of GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves, GURPS Fantasy Folk: Goblins and Hobgoblins, or GURPS Fantasy Folk: Kobolds, or GURPS Fantasy Folk: Winged Folk; plus GURPS Banestorm for Yrth races and/or GURPS Fantasy Folk for races adapted from Third Edition. New spells must be consistent with GURPS Magic; new fighting styles and weapons, with GURPS Martial Arts; and new powers, with GURPS Powers. Outline: To be created by author using this preapproved template. E-Texts to be Provided: Any Third Edition text being adapted to Fourth Edition. Fantasy-Tech (Series)While GURPS Low-Tech offers extensive detail on real-world TL0-4 equipment, fantasy set at these TLs is often full of impossible items that aren't realistic yet aren't precisely – or at least purely – magical. Each Fantasy-Tech catalog will describe a selection of such wonders, both artifacts (improbable weapons, vehicles, etc.) and enabling technologies (such as astonishing materials and power sources). This is your chance to examine divergent (TL(x+y)) and superscience (^) tech in a context other than futuristic sci-fi! No particular pattern is required . . . much as old-time alchemists and artificers kept haphazard journals and logs, Fantasy-Tech projects can exhibit whimsy, as long as they keep the weapons with the weapons, the ships with the ships, and so on. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Low-Tech, plus at least one of the worked examples in the GURPS Fantasy-Tech series to date. Recommended Reading: GURPS High-Tech and GURPS Ultra-Tech for futuristic technologies that would seem fantastic if adapted to low TLs, and GURPS Magic for enchanted items. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. High-Tech (Series)GURPS High-Tech is a huge book, jam-packed with gear . . . but human ingenuity, especially in modern times, could fill an entire library! Each volume in the High-Tech series will select a field of endeavor and then expand the narrow selection of relevant hardware from High-Tech (such equipment will be considered canonical, and reproduced in the supplement for completeness' sake) into a detailed catalog of tools for pros who work in the chosen area. It might even include a vehicle or two, presented according to the instructions under Vehicles. The aim is to give specialist PCs all the kit they need to do their jobs properly – and of course to help GMs run campaigns that focus on such experts. The value of this series resides almost entirely in the quality of the research. "Make stuff up" won't be acceptable. Would-be authors who have extensive real-life experience with the subject matter will get preferential treatment, so don't be afraid to send a résumé! Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS High-Tech, plus GURPS High-Tech: Electricity and Electronics as a worked example. Recommended Reading: GURPS High-Tech: Adventure Guns, GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns 1, and GURPS High-Tech: Pulp Guns 2. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. E-Texts to be Provided: Relevant excerpts of GURPS High-Tech.Hot Spots (Series)The Hot Spots series will view swaths of Earth's history through the eyes of both the opportunists who seek to benefit from political or social upheaval (black marketeers, bounty hunters, grifters, kingmakers, mercenaries, etc.) and the individuals tasked to keep order. Each Hot Spots supplement will visit a specific locale – which might be a city, a nation, or a general geographical region – that has major criminal, espionage, guerrilla, and/or military activity that stops short of open warfare. If the hot spot is a city, even wartime is fine, provided that the focus is on city life rather than the battle at the city walls. Important elements will include:
The goal is to set up the hot spot as a major destination for adventure or even as the backdrop for an extended campaign, so the focus will be on plots and events, not game mechanics. Hot Spots volumes will remain extremely rules-light, leaving armaments, character sheets, and the like to other works. Thus, they're a good choice for experienced writers with limited GURPS rules familiarity. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, plus at least one of the worked examples in the GURPS Hot Spots series to date. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. How to Be a GURPS GM (Series)How to Be a GURPS GM is a key work in the GURPS catalog. It takes a big, powerful game that can handle any character, genre, or setting – one with an absolutely immense library of supplements – and breaks things down to make it accessible to GMs who've never run it before. Once those GMs get comfortable with the basics, they're going to explore that library . . . and quickly discover that many books and series add subsystems and mini-games to the GURPS Basic Set. The solution? Follow-up volumes that simplify those specific topics! Rules experts only, please – there will be a quiz! Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, How to Be a GURPS GM, at least one worked example from the How to Be a GURPS GM series to date, and any specific supplement(s) being demystified (e.g., GURPS Powers if explaining powers). Outline: To be provided by author. Infinite Worlds (Series)The world we know today is the product of pivotal events in the past . . . but what if some of the outcomes had been different? What would the world look like now? That's what the Infinite Worlds series aims to explore! Each installment will visit one or more parallel Earths where history took a different turn at a crucial "decision point" in the past. It will present ready-to-use worldlines for use with the GURPS Infinite Worlds setting, each with the following details:
If the setting requires maps, then the author must provide these as well. Everything in GURPS Infinite Worlds is considered canon. Infinite Worlds projects that depart from canon without explicit permission from SJ Games are subject to summary rejection. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Infinite Worlds. Recommended Reading: GURPS Infinite Worlds: Atlantropa, GURPS Infinite Worlds: Britannica-6, GURPS Infinite Worlds: Collegio Januari, GURPS Infinite Worlds: Lost Worlds, GURPS Infinite Worlds: Nightreign, GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror, and GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Horror are good worked examples. Also consider the Third Edition supplements GURPS Alternate Earths and GURPS Alternate Earths 2. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. E-Texts to be Provided: Relevant excerpts of GURPS Infinite Worlds. Loadouts (Series)Specialist PCs often need a lot of gear . . . but knowing what's required and where to find it can be tricky. Loadouts supplements will do for equipping characters what character templates do for creating them: make the exercise a simple matter of picking items off a menu. A Loadouts catalog will provide several sets of carefully cost- and weight-checked equipment for members of closely related professions, with "lenses" for a range of budgets and situations. Each will include armor, clothing, tools, weapons, and all the accessories – down to the smallest battery and last round of ammo – along with holsters, load-bearing gear, and packs to carry it all. It will give items default locations ("on belt," "in vest pocket," "in pack," etc., and even "in vehicle" and "in camp") and work out the weight of common configurations for easy use with the encumbrance rules. The value of Loadouts items covering real-world gear resides almost entirely in the quality of the research. Prospective authors should be ready with a bibliography and be prepared to defend their knowledge of the subject matter. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, plus whichever of GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS High-Tech, or GURPS Ultra-Tech is appropriate to the tech level. Recommended Reading: GURPS Loadouts: Low-Tech Armor and GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters are good worked examples. So is GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 13: Loadouts, despite using a different title structure (and we would be equally flexible if we received a sufficiently interesting proposal for another series!). Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. E-Texts to be Provided: GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS High-Tech, and/or GURPS Ultra-Tech, if required. Locations (Series)It never fails . . . if the GM has plans for Mr. X's secret hideout, the Wombat Liberation Army training compound, and the Dungeons of Doom, then the players will steer the action toward the local bus station, golf course, or blacksmith's shop. Locations aims to solve this problem by providing "generic" ready-to-use buildings and outdoor scenes that are likely to come up in play. Each installment will include:
We're also interesting in battlefields, which would be very similar but with more focus on tactical considerations such as concealment, cover, elevation, and obstacles. Whatever the nature of your location, be sure to identify the broad era and/or setting for which it's intended when you propose it: ancient Rome, generic modern day, medieval Europe, Old West, Prohibition-era America, Renaissance Europe, Tokugawa-era Japan, WWI, WWII, etc. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, plus at least one of the worked examples in the GURPS Locations series to date. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Low-Tech (Series)GURPS Low-Tech contains piles of TL0-4 equipment, and the GURPS Low-Tech Companion series stacks the hardware even higher. However, history is long and marked by constant innovation, meaning that those supplements are necessarily overviews that offer only the most "generic" versions of items. Each Low-Tech volume will take a particular class of artifacts touched upon in those works (whose write-ups will be considered canonical, and reproduced for completeness' sake) and refine, interpolate, and expand to give the topic its full due. Goals include exploring the evolution of technologies within a TL, showcasing variations unique to particular cultures and regions, and offering optional detail on how gear was used, maintained, and modified. The value of this series resides almost entirely in the quality of the research. "Make stuff up" won't be acceptable. Would-be authors who have extensive academic or reenactment experience with the subject matter will get preferential treatment . . . if they can offer a publications list or other proof! Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS Low-Tech Companion 1, GURPS Low-Tech Companion 2, and GURPS Low-Tech Companion 3. Recommended Reading: GURPS Low-Tech: Instant Armor is a worked example of how to take a class of items and flesh it out in a useful direction. Outline: To be provided by author. E-Texts to be Provided: Relevant excerpts of GURPS Low-Tech and the GURPS Low-Tech Companion volumes. Magic (Series)GURPS Magic contains hundreds of spells, but wizards are always looking for – or inventing – new (or very old!) magical secrets. Most Magic volumes will expand the spell list for one of the 24 canonical magical colleges defined in Magic, adding dozens of spells and spell variants. Some may instead offer closely related spells that cut across colleges. All will present any new stats or rules their spells need; e.g., if your plans for GURPS Magic: Body Control Spells involve afflictions that aren't on pp. B428-429, you'll need to define them . . . and if you intend to take a crack at GURPS Magic: Meta-Spells, you'll want to elaborate a bit on mana. Advice on creating casters who specialize in a particular kind of magic is always welcome, and may even include a small number of perks, meta-traits, spell techniques, etc. All items in this series will have a title of the form GURPS Magic: <College Name> Spells or GURPS Magic: <Narrow Topic> Spells. If you can't word the title that way, then you're proposing something that would fit better in the Magical Styles or Thaumatology series. Rules geeks only, please! Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Magic, and either GURPS Magic: Plant Spells (an example that stays within a college) or one of GURPS Magic: Artillery Spells, GURPS Magic: Death Spells, or GURPS Magic: The Least of Spells (examples that cut across colleges). Recommended Reading: GURPS Thaumatology and GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Magical Styles (Series)Creating wizards freeform, while fun, doesn't suit every setting that features spellcasters. In many worlds, spells are the closely guarded secrets of academies, brotherhoods, guilds, and the like, and most or all students of magic hail from such backgrounds. This is the premise of GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles, which offers "styles" built by reorganizing the standard spell list and adding other teachings – including magical perks, unique spells, and mundane skills. The Magical Styles series will present worked examples of such schools of magic. Each volume will provide the following information for at least three related styles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Magic, GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles, and either GURPS Magical Styles: Dungeon Magic or GURPS Magical Styles: Horror Magic. Recommended Reading: GURPS Thaumatology. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Martial Arts (Series)GURPS Martial Arts builds extensively on the combat rules in the GURPS Basic Set. Just as important, it introduces the concept of fighting styles, which bring roleplaying to the battlefield by giving warriors distinctive moves, tactics, and weapon preferences. The Martial Arts series will take this idea and run with it, describing additional styles for interesting fighters, exploring the culture behind them, and examining associated honor codes and lifestyles. Each supplement will include:
We're seeking both real and invented styles. Martial Arts volumes that feature real-world martial arts will be held to high standards of research. Prospective authors should be ready with a bibliography and be prepared to defend their knowledge of the subject matter. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Martial Arts, and at least one of the worked examples: GURPS Martial Arts: Fairbairn Close Combat Systems, GURPS Martial Arts: Gladiators, GURPS Martial Arts: Technical Grappling, or GURPS Martial Arts: Yrth Fighting Styles. Outline: To be created by author using this preapproved template. Monster Hunters (Series)The most popular flavor of urban fantasy in the late 20th century and early 21st depicts the secret war waged by brave heroes against paranormal evil lurking in the modern world. The GURPS Monster Hunters series summarizes just the parts of GURPS you need to run a campaign that pits humanity's champions – not all of them entirely human! – against everything from cultists through cryptids to outright supernatural monsters. Monster Hunters 1: Champions is a one-stop guide to heroes and powers, while Monster Hunters 2: The Mission covers how to go forth and stomp the Enemy with spells, silver bullets, and a liberal application of shoe leather. Future works will tackle new aspects of this specialized genre, offering "crunch" and detail without so much complexity that the mighty hunters end up paralyzed with confusion. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and the GURPS Monster Hunters series to date. Recommended Reading: GURPS Horror, GURPS Loadouts: Monster Hunters, and GURPS Zombies. Outline: To be provided by author. Social Engineering (Series)GURPS Social Engineering greatly expands on the rules for social interaction. However, societies are large and complex enough to support plenty more detail. Each volume of the Social Engineering series will select a specific sphere of social activity (economics, politics, religion, etc.) or a particular class of social institutions (such as kinship systems, organizations, or polities), and present new rules and guidelines for integrating this aspect of human interaction into interesting adventures and campaigns. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Social Engineering, plus one of GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School, GURPS Social Engineering: Keeping in Contact, or GURPS Social Engineering: Pulling Rank as a worked example. Recommended Reading: All of GURPS Boardroom and Curia, GURPS City Stats, and GURPS Mass Combat touch on larger-scale "social" topics in ways that could prove enlightening. Outline: To be provided by author. Sorcery (Series)GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery defines a system of magic that presents spells not as skills but as innate abilities created using GURPS Powers. It provides a few example spells for each "college" of magic found in GURPS Magic, and then GURPS Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells converts the entire Protection and Warning college . . . but that leaves all the other colleges. Future Sorcery volumes will tackle the remaining 23 colleges one at a time, offering balanced sorcery abilities that reproduce the effects of the spells in Magic. We shouldn't need to say this, but: Rules geeks only, please! All items in this series will have a title of the form GURPS Sorcery: <College Name> Spells. For example:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Magic to convert from, and GURPS Powers and GURPS Thaumatology: Sorcery to convert properly – plus either GURPS Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells or GURPS Sorcery: Sound Spells as a worked example. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Spaceships (Series)Space gaming needs spaceships, and the GURPS Spaceships series aims to deliver. Each installment will focus on a particular category of spaceships – from sexy starfighters and mighty cruisers to mundane-but-vital industrial vehicles and freighters – and offer ready-to-go spaceship stats generated using the design system in the first volume. It will also include any new components needed to do the job. Rounding this out will be rules for using all these specialized spacecraft and technologies in a science-fiction campaign. Page Count: 12, 21, or 30, pages (6.800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and the GURPS Spaceships series to date. Recommended Reading: GURPS Space and GURPS Ultra-Tech. Outline: To be provided by author. Supporting Cast (Series)Sometimes the GM needs a small- to medium-sized group of NPCs who work together in a logical, complementary fashion. This can be challenging and time-consuming to pull together, because while hordes are easy – create one NPC and clone as necessary – teams require the careful crafting of very different individuals with particular roles and abilities. The Supporting Cast series assists the GM by describing generic teams that are likely to show up during adventures. Each supplement will include:
Each Supporting Cast team is a lot like a party of PCs, and could even be used as pregenerated PCs in a demo or a convention game. As such, the NPCs should be reasonably efficient, interesting characters with no abilities that would be completely unsuitable for PCs. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Supporting Cast: Age of Sail Pirate Crew (the only published volume in the series), plus any GURPS supplement needed for NPC equipment or special abilities. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Thaumatology (Series)GURPS Thaumatology offers numerous variations on the magic rules in GURPS Magic, along with entirely new magic systems that have little or no connection to mana or spells. However, it's more toolkit than catalog, and applying its ideas can entail significant time and effort. The Thaumatology series will remedy this, giving the GM ready-to-use magic variants and putting them into context. Some volumes will consist entirely of worked rules examples, while others will demonstrate the versatility of Thaumatology through genre or setting material. Rules geeks only, please! Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Thaumatology – plus GURPS Magic if the supplement covers spell-based magic, GURPS Powers if it covers innate abilities, and any existing GURPS Thaumatology-series item it is intended to support. Recommended Reading: GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles and GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic are good examples of pure rules; GURPS Thaumatology: Chinese Elemental Powers and GURPS Thaumatology: Urban Magics show how to offer rules alongside genre material; and GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold and GURPS Thaumatology: Alchemical Baroque illustrate rules embedded in settings. Outline: To be provided by author. Vehicles (Series)Without vehicles, how could adventurers and their foes chase each other along roads and cross-country . . . over and under water . . . through the sky . . . and out into space? Vehicles are a vital part of adventure fiction! The Vehicles series will deliver the goods. Each supplement will describe 7-15 closely related vehicles of a particular era, nation, and/or class (preferably all three). Vehicle format will be identical to that used in GURPS High-Tech and GURPS Ultra-Tech. Stats will be assigned in line with real-world performance and with the vehicles in print books (mainly the aforementioned tech books and the GURPS Basic Set) – not calculated using the as-yet-unreleased GURPS Vehicle Design. Contents will include:
For real-world vehicles, the author should also attempt to locate photos or historical art in the public domain to illustrate the work. If the vehicles are fantastic or futuristic, the author will instead have to provide detailed art specs, and be willing and able to work closely with an artist. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12, 21, or 30 pages (6,800, 14,450, or 22,100 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set; at least one of the worked examples (GURPS Vehicles: Steampunk Conveyances, GURPS Vehicles: Transports of Fantasy, or GURPS Vehicles: War Galleys); and whichever of GURPS Low-Tech, GURPS High-Tech, or GURPS Ultra-Tech is appropriate. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed. Who's Who (Series)History's movers and shakers make great NPCs for both real-world and parallel-history campaigns. The Who's Who series will continue the tradition started by the Third Edition sourcebooks GURPS Who's Who 1 and GURPS Who's Who 2. Each Who's Who supplement will provide descriptions, character sheets (consistent with the guidelines established in the original Who's Who books, suitably updated to Fourth Edition), brief biographies, adventure seeds, and "what-ifs" (e.g., "What if they saved Hitler's brain?") for several historical figures connected by deeds, events, locale, profession . . . and preferably several of these things. Good candidates include artists, generals, inventors, reformers, scientists, spiritual leaders, and statesmen, but there are dozens of other possibilities! The value of this series resides almost entirely in the quality of the research. Prospective authors should be ready with a bibliography and be prepared to defend their knowledge of the subject matter. Sample Titles:
Page Count: 12 or 21 pages (6,800 or 14,450 words). Required Reading: GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Who's Who 1, and GURPS Who's Who 2. Outline: To be provided by author. A preapproved template may eventually be developed.
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