GURPS Takes On the Ring of Fire Alternate History Series

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Publisher Steve Jackson Games is digging into an iconic alternate history sci-fi series as source material for their next major TTRPG project. The upcoming GURPS Ring of Fire supplement is based on the bestselling “1632” novels (also known as “Ring of Fire”) written by Eric Flint. The series (which now includes over 30 standalone novels and several anthologies) chronicles what happens when the small, modern day town of Grantville, West Virginia and its inhabitants are suddenly transported back to war torn 17th-century Europe.

A crowdfunding campaign for the GURPS Ring of Fire supplement will officially launch in May 2026, but you can sign up now for notifications on BackerKit. Below, we take a closer look at what to expect from this TTRPG blast from the alternate past.

What is GURPS?

GURPS (Generic Universal RolePlaying System) was first published by Steve Jackson Games in 1986, and over the past four decades has became one of the most well known and flexible tabletop RPGs of all time. Designed to accomodate virtually any genre, time period or type of play, the game offers a single unified rules system for everything from hard science fiction and superhero adventures to fantasy epics and historical simulations.

Over the decades, GURPS has spawned hundreds of supplements and sourcebooks (many now considered classics) including GURPS Space, GURPS Cyberpunk, GURPS Horror and GURPS Traveller. In many cases, they’ve also developed supplements for popular IPs and brands.

The current GURPS Fourth Edition was released in 2004 and introduced a number of significant changes, including a streamlined yet detailed ruleset built around 3d6 roll-under mechanics. Players build characters using point-based creation, spending points on attributes, skills, advantages, and disadvantages to customize nearly any concept imaginable. Combat emphasizes realism and tactical depth, while the modular design allows groups to choose how “crunchy” or simplified their campaigns should be.

More recently, in October 2025, Steve Jackson Games announced that are at work on a Revised GURPS 4th edition. This updated version will use the same base rules, but will include new art, errata from the past 20 years, and an easier-to-use format.

What is the Ring of Fire (1632) book series?

Ring of Fire is a series of alternate history science fiction novels focused around a cosmic anomaly that causes a massive time-displacement event. This titular “Ring of Fire” physically transports the fictional town of Grantsville, West Virginia from the year 2000 back to May 1631, dropping the buildings, vehicles and inhabitants into the Thuringian Forest of central Germany. The residents soon find themselves caught up in the midst of the Thirty Years’ War.

The core narrative focuses on a collective protagonist (namely the town itself) as union workers, truck drivers, farmers and ordinary Americans use their 21st-century knowledge, grit and the resources of their local library to introduce modern concepts like sanitation, democracy and advanced medicine to a world barely out of the Middle Ages.

The series began with Eric Flint’s standalone novel, 1632, which was released in February 2000. What was intended to be a single story quickly exploded into a massive collaborative effort due to overwhelming fan response.

In 2003, the first Grantville Gazette was launched, starting as a fan-driven forum that evolved into a professionally edited, canonical magazine published bimonthly. This unique “open-source” approach to world-building has led to over 100 books and anthologies to date. Following Flint’s passing in 2022, the series has continued to evolve with author Charles E. Gannon named as “showrunner” in October 2025. A new online magazine entitled 1632 & Beyond was also launched in September 2023 to continue the “1632-verse” and help flesh out ongoing plot threads.

What is GURPS Ring of Fire?

GURPS Ring of Fire is a new sourcebook for both players and GMs based on the material from the popular Eric Flint book series. It includes:

• Detailed lore and timelines: A breakdown of how history diverges after the Ring of Fire incident.
• Tech-uplift rules: Mechanics for recreating modern equipment with 17th-century materials (a major hallmark of the books).
• Characters and organizations: Stats and lore for nine major factions and dozens of key figures and NPCs from the books.
• Maps and campaign seeds: Guidance for GMs on how to run a campaign in the unique Ring of Fire setting.

When Will the GURPS Ring of Fire BackerKit Launch?

The GURPS Ring of Fire campaign is scheduled to officially launch on May 27th, 2026. The project is being hosted on BackerKit and already has several hundred people signed up for notifications, which suggests a relatively healthy launch.

The project is, however, a bit more niche, so it remains to be seen just what kind of overall funding Steven Jackson Games expects and what it will likely hit.

Why We’re Excited About GURPS Ring of Fire

• More GURPS goodness: It’s been awhile since we’ve seen a new GURPS supplement, so it’s great to see the game still going strong at Steve Jackson (especially given that we’ll soon seen a Revised GURPS 4th edition)
• A solid system match: GURPS is flexible enough to handle almost any type of setting and technology, so it feels like exactly the kind of system to support a West Virginian mechanic trying to build a steam-powered gattling gun in 17th century Germany.
• The creative team: The project features contributions from series veterans like Griffin Barber, Charles E. Gannon, Walter H. Hunt and Robert E. Waters, so it’s definitely a labor of love.
• The lore and setting: Ring of Fire is easiily the largest alternate history setting ever written, with a massive amount of material to draw on. For GURPs fans that means a ton of potential for adventures and larger campaigns.

Final thoughts

GURPS and the Ring of Fire series actually seem like a great fit. Both have rapid fan bases and both are often shadowed by more popular and well known mainstream titles. It remains to be seen, however, if the supplement is a little too niche or if it’ll manage to pull in some new fans along the way.

We’ll be keeping a close eye on this story in the days ahead. In the meantime, the official GURPS Ring of Fire crowdfunding campaign will kick off in May and you can sign up now for notifications on BackerKit.