Dungeon Fantasy Boxed Set – Q&A with Phil Reed

Everything you need to roleplay dungeon adventures. Five books, Cardboard Heroes (with plastic stands), a large combat map, and three six-sided dice. The idea is a big box of fun that gets you into the adventure as quickly as possible.

GURPS needs an introductory product on the market, something that makes it easier for people to learn the game than the two Basic Set books. Those two big books, constructed after years of GURPS development and player feedback, are fantastic for existing GURPS fans, but the two books are overwhelming to some.

The decision to create this box set was made before reports came in that RPG sales were growing, but that news certainly didn’t make us regret our decision.

As to Discworld and GURPS Mars Attacks, this box set is absolutely a strong part of why we sent the books to print when we did. We knew that we would be ready to announce the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game during the pre-order window for those two books; having this Kickstarter project happen at the same time that gamers can go into their favorite local game store, and pre-order two new GURPS hardcover books allows us to use the marketing strength of each of the three projects to, as they say, “lift all boats.”

That there is enough demand for printed roleplaying game material to continue directing company resources at roleplaying games. Roleplaying game sales, as has been reported, are increasing, and if this succeeds then, we’ll know that the type of RPG games we create — detailed, rich, and well-researched and edited — are in demand today. If this succeeds then, you can expect to see an increase in our output of printed roleplaying game supplements.

We’ve already discussed companion boxes to Dungeon Fantasy, more rules options, monsters, and adventuring material that builds on the Dungeon Fantasy box. If this succeeds, and if one or two companion boxes perform well, then we’ll look at a completely new boxed game. Space Opera, Powered by GURPS, is one such possibility for the future.

Rather than invest a lot of our time into planning for possibilities, though, we’re concentrating on this Dungeon Fantasy box. We have to see success here before we devote more staff time to in-depth planning for entirely new games using the GURPS rules.

Sean “Dr. Kromm” Punch also posted an informative blurb on the SJG Forums, an appropriately-titled thread:

What This Is: A standalone roleplaying game, Powered by GURPS – a game created using GURPS as a toolkit. To create it, I had to rewrite big chunks of the GURPS Basic Set, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy (mostly the first three volumes), and – have no fear – GURPS Magic. I also had to write more original material than I realized back in January . . . Whether you’re a GURPS fan, a player of other RPGs, or a total newbie to gaming, there’s something in the box for you.

What This Is Not: An “update” or a “repackaging” of anything. This is not “all the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy supplements and related Pyramid issues in one place for existing GURPS fans.” That would intimidate the living crud out of newbies, who we hope will buy the game! In fact, you don’t have to know what a “gurps” is to use this. (Depending on how many house rules you use, you might even be better off if you don’t!)

More on this in upcoming weeks . . . I’m still writing the Designer’s Notes articles.

And now more  . . . a new photo reveals two new book titles

Looks like we can confirm four of the five titles, based on prior statements and this picture

• Adventurers
• Exploits
• Spells
• Monsters
• An Adventure

I’m going to bet it’s a campaign book, because “ready to play” means something you can just go do, and that means some some sort of adventure.