GURPS Cliffhangers, 2nd Edition

Designer's Notes: GURPS Cliffhangers, Second Edition

Pen and Paper Award Best RPG of 2002 Runner Up

Shortly after GURPS Cliffhangers, First Edition was published in 1989, plans were laid to produce a series of short adventure supplements entitled GURPS Cliffhangers: The Black Diamond. They were to be serialized 32-page adventures, but the Secret Service raid on Steve Jackson Games put a stop to any new projects that weren't tried and tested. So my writing career with SJ Games came to a temporary - albeit 10-year - standstill.

Sometime around 2000-2001, SJ Games started considering a second edition of the long-out-of-print GURPS Cliffhangers, but nobody knew how to contact the original author (i.e., me). Steve sent out some feelers online: "Anybody know how to get ahold of Brian Underhill?" In an odd quirk of fate, an old gaming friend of mine had relocated to the Austin area, and was working at the Texaco where Steve got his morning coffee. She knew how to reach me, and so she managed to put Steve and I in touch again.

The original contract called for a fairly short turnaround for a Second Edition of the book; a trend that has (unfortunately) carried over into subsequent GURPS projects. The original manuscript had to be pruned of material that now existed in core GURPS products (e.g., Gadgeteering, Cartography, Contacts). The remaining material then had to be made current with Third Edition Basic Set, and expanded from its original 96-pages to the new 128-page format.

The final product came in over word count, so it was cut before going through playtest and layout. Once the manuscript reached final draft stage, however, and went into layout and production, it was discovered that the work was not over word count; the program at SJ Games had included the Quark layout codes as words, and miscounted the manuscript! I got some emails from my editor, Andrew Hackard, and the project was expanded to correct the problem. Material cut from the first draft was added, and new information was created to fill gaps (the sections on the Spanish Civil War, and large portions of the new material on Asia were created especially to fill holes).

Like all GURPS authors, I have little control over the artwork, other than providing suggestions for what types of pictures belong where. During the production of the art work, I recieved an email from Art Director Phil Reed, saying that the interior artist was having difficulty figuring out what kind of splash page belonged with the chapter on Adventure Design. The original text of the art suggestion read as follows:

"Splash (Chapter 9)- The splash page for this chapter is a wonderful place for a Deathtrap. The hero and heroine are tied back-to-back, bound hand and foot. They stand precariously balanced atop a stone pillar in what looks to be a dungeon room of sorts. Below them, a pair of ferocious lions prowl, ready to devour them should they fall. At the same time, two giant spiked platforms hang to their left and right, held in place only by a thin rope being burned through by a candle. When the rope burns in two, the platforms will swing toward each other (and the heroes), impaling them on the spikes as the two pieces slam together."

Phil's email said the artist needed clarification, so I complied. My hastily drawn sketch gives ample reason why I'm an author, not an artist. Despite that, the final splash page (GURPS Cliffhangers, Second Edition, p. 95), with snakes instead of lions, turned out top-notch.

ADDENDUM: In April 2003, GURPS Cliffhangers, Second Edition recieved a runner-up award for the Pen and Paper Awards as Best Roleplaying Game Supplement of 2002. Thanks to all the fans for making it happen!

The official Steve Jackson Games website for GURPS Cliffhangers, Second Edition can be found here: GURPS Cliffhangers Website