This week and next week will continue the string of “rah rah!” GURPSDays. Still looking to rally support for the two Kickstarters going on that influence the future of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG specifically, and GURPS more broadly.
Let’s start with the big one.
This one’s important, and it’s 83% funded! It’s been having some very good days, but it can use more. It’s on track to hit about $50K, but it has to fund before it starts hitting stretch goals. I think it’s important, especially for those that passed on the first Kickstarter, to pay attention to this one. Why this? Why more fantasy? Why not leverage GURPS to do something that isn’t D&D?
There have been GURPSy releases that are not Fantasy. Even sub-lines, such as Monster Hunters and After the End. Many volumes of Spaceships! Steampunk now has three releases. Good stuff, all. But there have been 20+ volumes of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy. Other genres clearly didn’t generate the sales, the inspiration for authors to step up and write books in those genres, or both.
I like other stuff too! I’d dearly love to see some modern-day boxed set/subline love. I’d also like to see characters of 100-200 point variety featured more prominently. But between what folks are willing to write, and what folks have been buying, Dungeon Fantasy has been the obvious and repeated winner. Winner and still champion, as it were.
So they’re not just handing the ball to the guy and having him slam his face into the scrimmage line. There’s their own sales data and feedback from shows, cons, reviews, emails to the SJG staff, etc. that back it up. Which comes back around to “PLEASE back both DFM2/Boxed set and (self-interest alert!) Nordvorn. If these do well, someone like myself could ask to do something not-Fantasy. If they don’t . . . there might be nothing at all.
We funded!! We hit the $13,000 goal – the highest of any Kickstarter of mine to date – and are now past $14,000. Going strong! At the current trajectory, we’ll likely pass the first stretch goal. We have enough backers following but not yet pledged to go all the way to the offset print run at $25,000 . . . in fact if all the latent backers came in at the current average pledge, we’d have over $26,000 now! My best ever latent conversion rate was 41%, on Hall of Judgment. That’s 95 people who are statistically likely to come over, which is $3,400. So it looks really good for the first stretch goal . . . and we’ll see about more!
If you can manage to throw in early, please do so. The latest updates can be found below, in the Gaming Ballistic section.
Share Early, Share Often
As noted above, the key to success for both campaigns is new folks. In particular, retail stores and bulk orders are really key. They are more likely to bring in new players, and they tend to order many copies, which helps push up the numbers for print runs, and large print runs are better on a marginal cost basis. That means more financial success for the line, which means we want to do more, better, and faster.
So, what can you do?
- Reshare this post. Seriously.
- Jump over to this thread on rpg.net, and let folks know about Citadel (the new set discussion starts on p. 88). Tell them about Hall of Judgment, if you have it or have played it, or point them to reviews if you haven’t.
- Share this Facebook or this tweet. The more folks see it, the more attention, and the more backers we can get. This has knock-on effects! More than one site, like Kicktraq, uses the number of comments and the general buzz about a project to decide how to feature it.
- Do the same thing for the Boxed Set. I can’t stress this enough: without the Boxed Set and continued interest and support from both backers and Steve Jackson Games, there’s no product line for me to support. Share play stories. Talk to your local game stores this weekend. Both the Boxed Set and Nordvorn have retail levels where you can get more than one copy of the game at a significant discount.
Back to GURPSDay
A quick note: I’m getting five blogs that pull up empty each time. I’ll contact the owners, but check your settings, too!
GURPSDay is starting its sixth – GURPSDay started in February 2013, a year after I started Gaming Ballistic. Things have slowed down a bit, and I’ll be considering how to revitalize this weekly activity. I’d like to see an average of 100 posts here per week – one per blog, ish – so we’ll see what we can do to get creative juiced flowing.
If you just started a GURPS blog – and I know that some of you have – email me and get on the list! With the advent of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS, there’s even more reason to write.
How? Two action items: post more, recruit more. It’s really that simple. More posters is more posts, and more interest in GURPS.
Below you can find the blog activity for the last week. There’s a whole lotta awesome GURPS going on. Read all the posts.
Not every blog posts about GURPS every week, but some are ridiculously prolific! The list is randomized, so different bloggers will be highlighted at the top of the post each week.
As always, if you’re interested in having your blog consolidated here, navigate over to The Instructions Page and drop me a line. Take special note of the RSS Settings Fix if you’re on WordPress.
Continue reading “Thursday is still Dungeon Fantasy Day! March 8 to March 14, 2019” →
After thinking about it for a bit, I know what to do. At 35,000, I will get a reprint of Hall of Judgment done in the same style and quality as the offset run for Citadel at Norðvorn. Sewn and lay-flat binding. Heavy paper (100-105#, or 150-157gsm).
