Game in the Brain

In the Philippines Books suffer 7% Customs duties AND 12% Vat that is applied inclusive of the Shipping Cost and Insurance! (from the US it can be from $10-20). If your big nice book is around $30 which can cost around $45-50 then applied the taxes $54-$60.

My PDF cost me about $24 usd and about 0.04USD to print per page and 2.3USD to bind. Printing and Photocopying costs about $12.3 for a 250p book a total of $37-38usd about 1/3 cheaper than ordering the book and the pain of going through customs.
So it works out to just the same… BUT to have another physical copy costs just $12.3. So it works out that for the same cost of time and effort, I can have 2 physical copies.

I kept the original printout for my Qin, in case a friend wants to print it out after getting their own PDF copy.

Having two books is advantageous for any book hoarder but it is also so bulky. Still, some books I really believe in and I would want people to get into the hobby so I lend them my “Players” copy. For those who are not satisfied, well they had a copy and they can always buy the online edition and photocopy my copy despite how “shady” it might seem.

These days though, I’m making a GURPS lite that includes material from martial arts and other books. It helps introduce new players, and it brings down the “barrier for entry”. The biggest barrier for entry that i struggle with is the Data barrier for GURPS. You really need to play and learn, and our gaming mindset soaks the rules up like a sponge… but you still have to break that initial doubt and concern over the reputation of GURPS.

I also summarize the rules in a shorter format that hopefully is dense enough, through my personal GURPS lites. I’m not saying I am better in explaining than the book, the freedom of LITE is that I can describe in a less “technically correct” way than in the Book.

If I were to have a lot of copies, about >2 copies, it would be GURPS Lite or a modified GURPS LITE+ with all the rules I use from different books built into it. Such a tool would be indispensible when teaching newbies to gurps. It may reduce the Data Barrier to entry, at least make it look less intimidating in perspective.