Possum Creek Joins Steve Jackson Games as New RPG Imprint

Possum Creek, the award-winning publisher behind Wanderhome, is now a Steve Jackson Games imprint. Steve Jackson Games announced the news today, with Possum Creek's editorial director Jay Dragon becoming SJ Games' Lead Game Designer and board member, and Ruby Lavin becoming SJ Games' art director. Possum Creek will retain full creative and editorial control of its games while assisting SJ Games design and visual branding teams. Wanderhome, described as a "pastoral fantasy RPG about traveling animal-folk", won the Best Family-Friendly Game and Best Cover Art ENnie back in 2022.

While Steve Jackson Games is probably best known for publishing the long-running Munchkin series of card games, it's also the publisher of GURPS, a game system meant to be used with any genre of story. GURPS Fourth Edition was released back in 2004, although Jackson has long hinted at developing a 5th edition of the game system. SJ Games continues to publish new GURPS material on a regular basis.

 

[Panzeh]

SJ Games feels like a dead end when it comes to game design. I'm glad for Jay Dragon et. al. and hope it works for them but does SJ want to do anything other than iterations of Munchkin?

I would love to see SJ Games publish a big new rpg that has nothing to do with Gurps (which also feels like a dead-end). Hopefully this is a step in that direction.

Honestly, I see GURPS as something that has a lot of potential if it's marketed correctly, as unlike most other games put out today, it actually does the work to try to be both 'universal' and 'sim' in its sensibilities, which runs against almost everything else in the market. It's not pretty, but i think there's ways to make it work. This was far less unique in the 90s, but today, the effort that goes into it i think is a great differentiator.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Seems you are a bit outdated yourself. They migrated to a new website a couple years ago.

Warehouse 23

Warehouse 23 is your online source for games and geek toys. Fronted by Steve Jackson Games on behalf of the Illuminati, it offers a wide variety of roleplaying games, card games, and board games from many different companies. Fnord.

warehouse23.com

What's Hot at Steve Jackson Games

 

[aramis erak]

Honestly, I see GURPS as something that has a lot of potential if it's marketed correctly, as unlike most other games put out today, it actually does the work to try to be both 'universal' and 'sim' in its sensibilities, which runs against almost everything else in the market. It's not pretty, but i think there's ways to make it work. This was far less unique in the 90s, but today, the effort that goes into it i think is a great differentiator.

The problem is that the window for that was 20 years ago, when attribute scaling was changing in use, but not in stated value range, due to changes in how the game was representing key characters, and in Templates. And 4th was just coming out.

As is, Dungeon Fantasy is a rebrand/subset of GURPS. It's making money. Other GURPS are set for breakeven.

 

[Oryzarius]

The problem is that the window for that was 20 years ago, when attribute scaling was changing in use, but not in stated value range, due to changes in how the game was representing key characters, and in Templates.

I'm an experienced GURPS 4e player and referee, and that sentence sounds like gibberish to me. Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

 

[aramis erak]

I'm an experienced GURPS 4e player and referee, and that sentence sounds like gibberish to me. Are you sure you know what you're talking about?

If you aren't familiar with the 1st and 2nd ed supplements, you started after the change in how exemplars were being written - a change to higher attributes and fewer points in skills, during the 3rd to third revised era. I started with GURPS 1e, and most NPCs were not stats in the 14+ range; late third and early 4th materials I have are. It's a case of optimization taking over from the center. So, yes, I do know what I'm talking about.

 

[Oryzarius]

If you aren't familiar with the 1st and 2nd ed supplements, you started after the change in how exemplars were being written - a change to higher attributes and fewer points in skills, during the 3rd to third revised era. I started with GURPS 1e, and most NPCs were not stats in the 14+ range; late third and early 4th materials I have are. It's a case of optimization taking over from the center. So, yes, I do know what I'm talking about.

No, you don't. Fourth edition did away with third edition's age-related cap on skill points and increased the cost of attributes, both of which changes would, if anything, encourage spending more points on skills.

If the materials you have deal with high-point-level, cinematic settings, then, duh, the templates and NPCs will probably involve high attributes. But my experience in 150-point campaigns, in game discussions, and in reading supplements for a wide variety of power levels suggests that, again, you're grinding an axe rather than pushing a legitimate point.

Fourth edition came out over twenty years ago. Third edition came out over fifteen years before that. That's quite a grudge you're clinging to there.

 

[aramis erak]

Fourth edition came out over twenty years ago. Third edition came out over fifteen years before that. That's quite a grudge you're clinging to there.

Mid 2004. Close enough to 20 years. Not enough change for many, not enough press for enough new blood.

 

[Panzeh]

The problem is that the window for that was 20 years ago, when attribute scaling was changing in use, but not in stated value range, due to changes in how the game was representing key characters, and in Templates. And 4th was just coming out.

As is, Dungeon Fantasy is a rebrand/subset of GURPS. It's making money. Other GURPS are set for breakeven.

I really don't think the details of how templates and attributes are used in NPCs and templates are really what drives the sales and attention to GURPS, as a big deal thing, as most people don't even know the details of that stuff- it's inside baseball for enthusiasts.