I happened to be in several game stores this week and I noticed that GURPS material has almost disappeared. Most of what’s out there is old. Is the system still active or has its time passed? The last new material I remember seeing was their WWII line but that was two or three years ago.
The Steve Jackson website is still advertising it but it’s hard to tell what’s new and what’s reprinted and when things were released. They are saying the Vorkosigan book is out but I haven’t seen a copy.
Here’s the Vorkosigan Saga book on Amazon. There are no other hardcover GURPS books with a 2009 publication date.
It’s hard to say if they’ve run out of steam or what. I can’t really think of anything their existing source books can’t cover. I think complicated tabletop RPGs have lost a lot of players to WoW. Steve Jackson Games just came out with some dice-based games, at least.
Yup, it is, though it seems like they’re moving to more PDF releases, and fewer dead-tree books.
I’d also note that, these days, Munchkin probably accounts for the lion’s share of SJG’s sales.
I picked up GURPS Vorkosigan at GenCon last summer for my wife (a big Vorkosigan fan). That’s one that was in development for, literally, years.
SJG is still going, but tabletop RPGs in general are at a low point. Five years ago, I could go to a con and there’d be at least a dozen new games, all with interesting or at least gimmicky twists. GURPS was getting long in the tooth last decade, and the 4th Edition didn’t so much overhaul the system as clean it up a bit, so I can’t imagine they’re growing their base much. The main GURPS competitor, HERO, seems to be doing all right and has just released a 6th Edition, but finding the books for either system in stores can be a pain.
Tabletop RPGs lately seem to be needing a boost. WotC decided to gamble that people wanted a more streamlined playstyle that more resembled MMOs, and thus far 4th Edition D&D is doing pretty well. It’s hard to say if that’s due to the focus shift or sheer marketing inertia, though. GURPS seems to be going the opposite direction and attempting to keep their base rather than go after younger gamers.
I didn’t know you still read these boards. 
Yep, GURPS is around. It’s never been easy to find in traditional bookstores, leaving only RPG specialty stores and online shopping. And there are fewer and fewer RPG specialty stores…
But I’ve been to four different RPG specialty stores in the last couple of weeks and none of them are carrying any new GURPS material. GURPS might as well be Traveller or Torg for all the products you’ll find in a RPG store.
Maybe GURPS didn’t sell well for your stores?
My local game store (Games Plus, in Mount Prospect, IL) has a lot of GURPS product on the shelves…but then again, it’s a big store, and they carry a lot of stuff that you might not find in a smaller store.
Gurps is sputtering here in Oahu. I’m running it on every other Tuesday.