From: kbos@carina.unm.edu (Kurt "Some Guy" Bose)
Subject: Re: SJ Games Licenses White Wolf's Vampire
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 92 08:27:40 GMT
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque

In article <1992Nov16.004635.24540@snow.geology.wisc.edu> drew@snow.geology.wisc.edu (Drew Novick) writes:
>
>And somewhat off the topic, it appears that many of these Vampire lovers
>dislike SJG publishing GURPS:Vampires.  Why?  One the the primary points of
>the Storyteller concept (and any good GM does anyway) is to deemphasize the
>rules.  Why would the system make any difference in a well run game?
>
Well, a big part of it is the uncertainty of it all.

Will all future WW products be "GURPS-playable", with two sets of mechanics
for every pre-gen character?  If every future supplement has GURPS stats in
it as well, that'll take lots of space, space that the consumer will have
to pay for, even if he doesn't play the other system.  The same holds true for
the GURPS books.

Or, will GURPS simply print one book with the necessary errata to let someone
with WW supplements just look up the mechanics in the GURPS book while 
getting background from the WW material?  Great...if you have both systems,
and enough WW books to justify the expense of the GURPS book...

Or, will SJG publish GURPS versions of CBN, MBN, the Sabbat book, and the
Clanbooks?  I've already got WW books; and they're beautiful _books_.  I see
no reason for anyone who plays _Vampire_ to spend $100 or so to outfit a
GURPS campaign with all the flexibility of the ST chronicle already outfitted.

Or, will GURPS simply abandon WW supplements like CBN, WoD, and the adventures,
and simply commission their own people to write seperate supplements?  In 
which case, what "game world" are the SJG people licensing?  If the GURPS
material is not canon, what's the idea?  Loyd wrote that one of WW's benefits
would be that "the 100,000 GURPS players will be exposed to one of the 
richest published backgrounds in all fantasy gaming" or something like that;
it's not a direct quote.  Still, if that is the idea, then one would hope that 
the world that the GURPS players are being exposed to is, in fact, the "World
of Darkness".  So GURPS games, even the original material for SJG, should
be canon.

Which brings up another point.  Who will write the GURPS supplements?  One of
the good things about WW has been the relative cohesiveness of the game in
terms of the similar worldview of the authors.  The concept behind the ST
universe as it appears in published form is much the same, whether the book
is written by Greenberg or Wieck or Rein*Hagen.  If GURPS contracts their
work to someone who isn't completely in tune with this worldview, I fear for
the success of the author in capturing the proper atmosphere, and the
charm, of the background.  On the other hand, if WW personnel spend a good
deal of time working GURPS material into playable form, then that's going to
impact heavily on the WW production schedule for its own work.  Already,
we've seen a large number of upcoming projects postponed or scrapped. (Hmmm.
According to this press release here, I should already own ClanBooks for 
Brujah and Gangrel, Undead: Children on the Inquisition, San Francisco by 
Night, and the Anarch Cookbook...*sigh*)  And if GURPS books significantly
outsell WW books, or if they provide a gig enough source of revenue, how hard
will WW continue to push to keep their standards high?  Will Success Spoil
White Wolf?  Already three signs of the Apocalypse are here (no pun intended):
A production schedule that would make TSR blush, heavy delays in meeting that
schedule, and now, merchandising and licensing up the wazoo.  What next, a
movie and comic deal?  (I'm afraid to ask...)

I'll be honest.  When I first bought _Vampire_, it was the best-kept secret
in fantasy gaming.  It wasn't a game put out by a company just so that the
company could have "its" take on a genre.  Its creator was on the net, and
even posted upcoming rules changes to the list to get players' responses to
those changes.  Now, White Wolf has a hit on their hands and I, for one, am
not so sure I like the company's direction the last few months...

-- 
Kurt Bose (as in Daisy, not Rose) * kbos@carina.unm.edu * Make outs, not walks!
TONIGHT-In "Ryecatcher", Holden Caulfield foils a plot to turn his old prep
school into a right-wing military acadamy run by Neo-Nazis. 8PM(7PM C/M) Ch. 7
                                                        -The Book of Sequels...
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc