The Mayan calendar says the world ends this year. If ancient cultures could predict the end of the world thousands of years in advance, then forecasting a year of GURPS should be a piece of cake, right? I'll take a stab at it, but please be aware that mad stabbing – whether at blood sacrifices or publication schedules – is squarely in the realm of wild-eyed speculation! Reviewing my 2011 predictions and then reading the list below, you'll see that several things I promised a year ago have rolled back to 2012, and several GURPS supplements released in 2011 came out of the blue. Such is the lot of oracles. Those who can't get enough hints and leaks should keep tabs on the GURPS News (updated quarterly, more or less) or even my blog (updated weekly).

I'll start with hints about releases in existing series, as these build on foundations as solid as a Mayan temple, and are unlikely to run into fundamental problems like "Can we even sell this?" and "I thought you were handling the new logo and page design!":

• GURPS Dungeon Fantasy will get its first adventure, Mirror of the Fire Demon (by Matt Riggsby), as well as at least one more core volume, Dungeon Fantasy 15 (by Peter Dell'Orto and myself).
• There will be a second GURPS Hot Spots item (by Matt Riggsby).
• I hope we'll be able to push GURPS Loadouts: Low-Tech Armor (by Dan Howard) out the door.
• We should see as many as three new GURPS Locations installments, depending on how reviews and cartography go.
• Jason "PK" Levine and I have at least two more GURPS Power-Ups titles in the pipes (his Power-Ups 4 and my Power-Ups 5).

Speaking of series, we plan to kick off at least one more quick-start genre treatment in the vein of GURPS Action, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy, and GURPS Monster Hunters. I really shouldn't give out too many clues. However, I'll hint that it has monsters without being traditional horror or fantasy, and guns and knives without being action per se. For that matter, it has autogyros.

Beyond series per se, there's supporting material for major releases:

• For GURPS Horror, an as-yet-unnamed Ken Hite oeuvre.
• For GURPS Low-Tech, Low-Tech: Instant Armor (by Dan Howard).
• For GURPS Martial Arts, Martial Arts: Technical Grappling (by Doug Cole).
• For Transhuman Space, Transhuman Space: Wings of the Rising Sun (by David Chart).
• For GURPS Ultra-Tech, Ultra-Tech: Weapon Tables.

There are also GURPS Banestorm and GURPS High-Tech follow-ups in the works, although those are longer shots for 2012.

Then there are the deep secrets about which I'm reluctant to give away even as much as "it's a series." One of these, for instance, will have "GURPS" in the title but not in its customary place at the start of the title. Another is a Bill Stoddard project whose name has yet to be breathed in public. And then there are the things that are so long-awaited that I have a brand manager's natural reluctance to discuss them; for instance, I would like to see GURPS Vehicle Design make headway, and there are signs that it might . . . but that could just as easily be news for 2013 or 2014.

There will be the usual collection of reprints and updates, too. These have not been announced, so out of respect for retailers, I'll name no names. It suffices to say that we'll do what we can to keep existing items in the line current.

Oh, and we have one little marketing freebie in the bullpen. I keep hinting at this, and it keeps slipping back, but just today there was news that means this can move forward. Keep your eyes peeled and get ready to grab the free stuff!

-- Sean Punch

Last week I wrote about our new releases in 2011. Now it's time to take a look at what was reprinted throughout the year. If you read Steve's Report to the Stakeholders you'll see that our top priority was to keep Munchkin and its core expansions in print. With a total of 28 reprints during the year, 24 of which were Munchkin-related, I think we succeeded. And not every reprint was Munchkin! By month:

January -- A powerful salvo of reprints ate at our cash flow but guaranteed that Munchkin fans wouldn't have problems finding their favorite core sets and expansions. Munchkin Cthulhu, Munchkin Bites!, and Super Munchkin were the core set reprints while Munchkin 2 -- Unnatural Axe, Munchkin 5 -- De-Ranged, Munchkin 6 -- Demented Dungeons, and Munchkin Bites! 2 -- Pants Macabre kept our supply of expansions fully stocked.

February -- Only two reprints this month, but when one of them is Munchkin Quest, that's enough. (And our next reprint of Munchkin Quest -- scheduled for release in the third quarter of 2012 -- is already at print.) Whew. Getting that out ahead of schedule clears the decks for new 2012 releases like Munchkin Conan and the new edition of Ogre. Munchkin Impossible was our second reprint for the month (and will also be reprinted again in 2012).

March -- Originally produced in PDF and then POD, GURPS Mass Combat made its way to store shelves, where it performed quite well. We'll have to try more B&W softcover GURPS releases in distribution.

April -- Only one reprint, and not even a Munchkin item. The Stars Are Right is a puzzle of a game that always eats my brain. Sales are strong and we continue to get great feedback whenever we teach it at conventions, so it was well worth keeping on store shelves.

May -- We reprinted our two biggest, non-Munchkin sellers, Illuminati and Zombie Dice. Star Munchkin reached shelves just in time for the summer blockbuster season. Munchkin players everywhere shouted "Pew! Pew!" as they fought their way to level 10 in this classic . . . or maybe I'm the only one running around shouting "Pew! Pew!" these days. (SJ note: No, Phil, you're not alone.)

July -- The Munchkin Zombies hit store shelves. But . . . the original release was only in March! It sold so well that we ordered a reprint immediately, and it barely got here in time. July also saw reprints of Munchkin, Munchkin Booty, Munchkin Cthulhu 2 -- Call of Cowthulhu, and Munchkin Cthulhu 3 -- The Unspeakable Vault.

August -- Two fantasy expansions -- Munchkin 3 -- Clerical Errors and Munchkin 4 -- The Need for Steed -- and one core set -- Munchkin Fu -- made it a light month. We more than made up for that with all of the convention travel in August.

September -- When we sent Zombie Chibithulhu to print, we took advantage of timing and shipping savings to bring the original Chibithulhu Plush back to store shelves. Plush has actually done quite well for us -- the Cthulhu Dice Bag may see new colors in 2012 -- and we'll be revealing more plush toys next year.

October -- A big month. with a total of five Munchkin releases returning to store shelves in time for Halloween. The big surprise for the month was the Munchkin Cthulhu Crypts of Concealment reprint (it sold very well when it was released earlier in the year). Joining it were Star Munchkin 2 -- The Clown Wars, Munchkin 5 -- De-Ranged, Munchkin Cthulhu 4 - Crazed Caverns, and another printing of the Munchkin Boxes of Holding.

And for 2012? The first 17 reprints of the year - yes, seventeen -- are already at the printer or on their way back to us. I'm only hoping that we've ordered enough. The 24th printing of Munchkin is 100,000 copies! But the way you munchkins keep buying them, and sending your friends to get their own, is amazing. Don't stop.

-- This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

Even in a world of horror, some are champions. And they mean to break some fangs.

Eyes flash open and just as quickly snap shut again. The light is too bright.

I decided to solicit specific questions from Twitter and have been doing this for several years. This Feedback Week submission now stands as my favorite Top Decks column of all time. It was so fun to write! I am so thankful for the participation of my readers over Twitter (and I'm sure you were thankful for the change of pace).

We're taking a two-week holiday break and will be back with new stuff on Monday, January 2, 2012. Until then, please enjoy our favorite Arcanas of 2011. This article originally ran July 20, 2011.

Once upon a time there was a young Magic player from Australia...

Most of the people in Magic R&D like playing Magic a lot. Many of us like drafting. Unfortunately, not being able to play in sanctioned tournaments or on Magic Online makes it hard for us to get our drafting fix. In order to get that fix, we sometimes play one-on-one Limited formats over lunch at restaurants.