> The only danger with scenarios is that they don't sell as well -
> because only the GM buys them. Mixing them with scenario material
is
> one way around the problem, but could crippe sales for a source
book.
> For sales, I suspect that a background book should be seen as the
> information a player wants to play a character from that culture,
> perhaps at most at the complexity level of GURPS Vikings.
You're right that scenario books don't sell as well as background books, but I think this is missleading. You still need the scenarios to give GMs a leg up in running their own games. Even if they don't run the actual scenarios, they still act as valuable examples of how to use the setting and system together. As such, they act as a catalyst for campaigns.
Campaign/setting packs usch as Pavis and Big Rubble are ideal because they provide gameable setting and seed scenarios. Players and GMs can both buy them, but the level of detail is high enough and the focus narrow enough that you cat start gaming almost streight away.
Fortunately I think the new supplement format better serves such supplements, and I hope we see such things coming down the pipe in the next year or so. The Unspoken Word's Tarsh material is the kind of thing I have in mind.
Simon Hibbs
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