February 2, 2009: Planned GURPS Releases, Part I

Since I'm in Austin planning things, I thought it might be fun to share what's coming up for GURPS. Obviously, I can't give away secrets or talk about items without contracts, but I can collect all the stuff that I've already leaked on my blog into a couple of convenient lists. Today's installment is about hardbacks. The next one (cunningly titled "Planned GURPS Releases, Part II") will cover e23 items. From what we project will be soonest to latest (barring all the usual things that can delay and scramble a book):

The Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game. This book, by Genevieve Cogman, will cover Lois McMaster Bujold's award-winning chronicles of science-fiction hero Miles Vorkosigan. Our intent is for this to be useful as a standalone game. To this end, we've included a version of GURPS Lite that's been adapted to the setting by Phil Masters, and a cut-down, setting-specific version of David Pulver's GURPS Spaceships, which Thomas Weigel and I developed. Steve and I spent a lot of time tweaking this one to get it just right, but now that's done. In fact, everything is more-or-less done, so it's hard to imagine it getting derailed. Look for it soon!

GURPS Low-Tech. This will be the GURPS Fourth Edition version of the GURPS Third Edition classic. William H. Stoddard is reprising his role as compiler and one of the book's authors and editors. Other contributors are Peter V. Dell'Orto of GURPS Martial Arts fame, covering weapons; Dan Howard, known for his Pyramid articles on armor, writing about ("Drum roll, please!") armor; and Matt Riggsby, another Pyramid stalwart, splitting Everything Else duties with Bill. I'd call that an all-star line-up. We're expecting the first draft before the end of the first quarter of 2009. It's conceivable that the hardback will squeak into the end of the year, although that's not a promise and 2010 is just as likely.

GURPS Horror. This will be another GURPS Fourth Edition update of another GURPS Third Edition classic. Kenneth Hite is returning as reviser. Do I really need to say anything else? (Seriously, Ken is The Man for this project.) We hope to see a first draft of this one in the first quarter of the year, too. Here again, Luck might favor us with a hardback in 2009 but Fate might force it into 2010, and it's far too soon to tell which.

– Sean Punch