Some GURPS 4e Traveller news

[Hal]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
From gleamings of the comments of the principles involved and some random speculation on my part:

IW will be out sometime next year, I think. And it will be a Powered By GURPS 4th edition product. The other GURPS book you may want to look for is Vorskgian. And yes, it will be full color hardback.

And both the 3I book and IN book are on indefinate hold. Mostly because neither have a author at this point.

That's a shame regards to the 3I & IN books. I would have loved to see in print some information on subsector navies - along with data on various ships within the Imperium that weren't TL 12 ships (Trav tech 15). I'd have also liked a little more background on squadron organization etc... Ah well. If my chances of seeing IN are about equal to my chances of waking up in bed next to <fill in breathtaking beauty of choice> tomorrow morning - I guess I can live with that...

Maybe someday I will get a signature that reads "Get used to disappointment" from THE PRINCESS BRIDE.

 

[MJD]

What?

Who's saying GT IN has no author?

I've been the co-author (with Neil Frier) for 3 1/2 years. I keep telling those people that I'm STILL willing to finish the book despite being put on hold for a long, long time.

 

[Jame]

Originally posted by MJD:
What?

Who's saying GT IN has no author?

I've been the co-author (with Neil Frier) for 3 1/2 years. I keep telling those people that I'm STILL willing to finish the book despite being put on hold for a long, long time.

Actually, I'd like to know how something being "put on hold" works. Does it depend upon how finished the book is? And can an author work on it even though it's on hold?

(Pardon me, but I'm very interested in GT:IN. As I'm sure many of us are.)

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by MJD:
I've been the co-author (with Neil Frier) for 3 1/2 years. I keep telling those people that I'm STILL willing to finish the book despite being put on hold for a long, long time.

And, unfortuantly, I believe it is going to be on hold for even longer.

SJGames has, with the publication of GT:Nobles, formally closed the production of GURPS 3rd edition books. So "finishing" this book would require turning into a 256 page full-color hardback book compatible with the GURPS 4th edition rules.

 

[Morte]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
SJGames has, with the publication of GT:Nobles, formally closed the production of GURPS 3rd edition books. So "finishing" this book would require turning into a 256 page full-color hardback book compatible with the GURPS 4th edition rules.

The only out would seem to be a PDF for e23, which isn't subject to the "all 4e books will be 256 page full colour" rule...

 

[Malenfant]

Actually, I'd like to know how something being "put on hold" works. Does it depend upon how finished the book is? And can an author work on it even though it's on hold?

I think it means that the publishers either aren't happy with the draft they've received (I think that was the case with GURPS India and Abydos, which have been in limbo for ages and ages), or they changed their mind about publishing the book for marketing reasons (no perceived demand) or because they want a new approach.

I dunno what an author can do about it, other than to talk to the company and find out what's going on. I'd have thought it'd be fairly unprofessional for the publisher not to tell the author why they have the book on hold though.

I do think SJG have made their lives much more difficult by insisting that every book be a 256 page colour hardback though. I think they've closed a lot of doors for themselves there if they stick to that (plus the format makes the books unnecessarily expensive IMO). It may be OK for corebooks, but I can't help but think we'd end up with supplements that are needlessly padded out to fill up all those pages.

 

[MJD]

I feel that is is best for me not to discuss GT:IN on an open forum any further.

Suffice to say that as far as I know I am still co-athor with Neil, we've exceeded the contract obligations, and we're just waiitng for clarification from SJG about how to proceed.

 

[hunter]

Let's put it this way when it comes to MJD and Neil's IN material. If SJG doesn't print it, we (QLI) will for T20 and CT.

Hunter

 

[Malenfant]

Just generally speaking (I'm not specifically referring to this case, I'm just curious here), there must be some point whereby an author can say to a publisher "look, you've been hanging on to my material for far too long and done nothing with it, I'm taking it elsewhere", right? Does anyone know how that works (eg is it any more involved than just saying that to them and offering it to someone else, or do you have to go through nasty legal challenges to get control back?)

 

[Anthony]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
Just generally speaking (I'm not specifically referring to this case, I'm just curious here), there must be some point whereby an author can say to a publisher "look, you've been hanging on to my material for far too long and done nothing with it, I'm taking it elsewhere", right?

Wrong, unless the contract specified otherwise.

 

[MJD]

There is a manuscript, but we own it. We received a contract and were told a revised outline would follow. As the months passed and deadline approached, we wrote most of the book on-spec and second-guessed the revised outline. The idea was tio be able to deliver on time despite everything.

Now, 3 years after the deadline, we still have not received that revised outline and therefore cannot be expected to have done anything. The MS we created is ours, though out of goodwill we've sat on it in case SJG decided to push ahead.

 

[Jame]

How's this: hopefully, SJG will (eventually) publish IN. Whatever else happens depends on that. I do look forward to it, in whatever form it takes, because I enjoy the writing of MJD and NAF.

And in any case, I look forward to more quality products from both companies. What other SJG GT products have been announced, besides Nobles and the Interstellar Wars stuff?

 

[MJD]

No idea.

 

[Malenfant]

Sounds like you should ask Loren (or whoever is at the helm of Traveller at SJG nowadays) what's going on then... the situation sounds a little odd.

As for other GT products - Nobles it out next month I think, the IW book is supposed to be out early next year, and presumably there will be supplements for that. Jon Zeigler mentioned that he wanted to do a "Grand Frontiers" book which is a book that covers the Aldebaran sector, but I don't know whether that's anything more than just an idea.

Besides Nobles and IW, I don't think anything else has been announced.

 

[MJD]

Been asking for a long time now... SJG has not come to a decision.

 

[vutpakdi]

Maybe SJG is trying to decide where they want to take GURPS and how profitable GURPS Traveller will likely be in the future, particularly since QLI has come on the scene with T20?

Either way, I'd love to see an IN book.

Ron

 

[tjoneslo]

Originally posted by Jame:
And in any case, I look forward to more quality products from both companies. What other SJG GT products have been announced, besides Nobles and the Interstellar Wars stuff?

None. Not even a whisper, hint or rumor of anything new.

If you are a subscriber to JTAS or Pyramid, look in the SJGames.gurps.Traveller newsgroup for a thread titled "GT and GURPS 4th ed". Andrew Hackard has some rather depressing things to say.

Perhaps the e23 project (when it finally arrives) will provide GT with new products.

 

[Malenfant]

"depressing" as in they won't support it unless they get more people buying it? Or is it unrepeatable outside JTAS?

That said, they've done a very good run of Traveller books, and given how the customer base apparently drops as you release more and more supplements, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be wanting to scale back on Traveller releases (if that's what they'd decided). Again though, I can't see them doing many 256 page colour hardback Traveller supplements though.

 

[Jame]

Originally posted by tjoneslo:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Jame:
And in any case, I look forward to more quality products from both companies. What other SJG GT products have been announced, besides Nobles and the Interstellar Wars stuff?

None. Not even a whisper, hint or rumor of anything new.

If you are a subscriber to JTAS or Pyramid, look in the SJGames.gurps.Traveller newsgroup for a thread titled "GT and GURPS 4th ed". Andrew Hackard has some rather depressing things to say.

Perhaps the e23 project (when it finally arrives) will provide GT with new products. </font>[/QUOTE]I'm not a subscriber, so I can't go look. (Indeed, I submitted, and significantly revised, an adventure to Alain Dawson; after the revision she told me that Loren Wiseman was now the editor. I emailed him to ask last month and haven't heard, so that makes me wonder...)

 

[vutpakdi]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
"depressing" as in they won't support it unless they get more people buying it? Or is it unrepeatable outside JTAS?

That said, they've done a very good run of Traveller books, and given how the customer base apparently drops as you release more and more supplements, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be wanting to scale back on Traveller releases (if that's what they'd decided). Again though, I can't see them doing many 256 page colour hardback Traveller supplements though.

Basically, SJG sees the trends lines that indicate that GURPS Traveller is (or will be) not making them enough money to be a commercially viable line (ie, profitable). There is some hope that the latest/upcoming releases (GT: Nobles and Intersteller Wars) will perk things up.

Ron