|
Home |
Past columns |
Illuminator by E-mail |
XML |
Illuminated Site of the Week
was what Michelle called it, as we all dug through the huge box full of Styrofoam peanuts, feeling around for the Stuff. But it was neat Stuff, not junk at all. A plush penguin. A huge impeller that might someday become part of a Chaos gadget. Lots of nice little bottles. And a Grabbing Claw Thing that will be very handy in Warehouse 23 if it's not used for Purposes of Evil (tm). And lots and lots of other things. How can this be junk?
In fact, it was my latest order from American Science & Surplus, purveyors of much neat Stuff since, as their catalog puts it, "about 1937." I recommend them highly. Honest advertising, an incredible variety of surplus items, fair (and sometimes really cheap) prices, good customer service . . . I occasionally find things there that I quite need. And I very often find things there that I don't need at all but that make my life immeasurably weirder. I like these people.
-- Steve Jackson
Berate your minions, discover powerful artifacts, and smear other magic-users into a bloody paste; it's the joy of mage battles. Tower Siege is a card game that lets you take the part of a mage trying to reduce other towers to rubble, while keeping your own standing. There's no adrenaline rush quite like spell-casting.
Time flies, so today I'm going to repeat a couple of announcements . . .
Cover Contest
There are still a couple of days left. Until midnight CST on March 31, we will accept suggestions for GURPS Fourth Edition cover designs at covers@sjgames.com. The suggested design should be attached to the mail in 72-dpi JPG format. Scan back to the March 26 Illuminator for the legal blah and the prize.
The Great Toy Swap
I did get one taker on my offer to swap game goodies for Chaos stuff -- thanks, Andrew F.! And I did grab one huge set, brand new and still in shrinkwrap, on eBay. And there's a collection of loose parts on eBay now that I have hopes of winning . . . since it has no motor, fewer people will want it. But I'm determined to create a really monster layout at Penguicon, with the help of everyone else who's as easily amused as I am. So my offer remains open, for both Chaos and Frigits stuff. What have I got that you want?
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Multitask Like Never Before
Life is full of hard decisions. Watch a movie? Play a game? Sit around and talk? How about doing it all at once? Say What? is a card game designed to be played while doing something else entirely. So long as someone - anyone - is saying or doing something, the game can go on.
Giles, Andrew, and Fade have returned from Aggiecon, and report that all went well. Good con, many games were played. And there was much rejoicing.
New Style Update
Thanks to those who commented on the new style. Glad you like it! Apologies to the user who saw black type on black :-) Netscape 4.x isn't quite supported these days, but Kira was able to fix it for you.
-- Steve Jackson
You probably noticed it already. . .
For the last few months we've been using the blue-purple page design in order to test some ideas. Some worked, some didn't. But the relatively simple graphics let us check them out without doing and redoing a lot of art/design effort.
Now here's something we really like, created by webgoddess emeritus Kira. We've carried the design over to the sub-pages and the Our Games page. The decorative typeface is Mason, which seems to be the flavor of the month . . . but my, isn't it pretty?
-- Steve Jackson
Tired? Depressed? You need something . . . positive. A pink cat face on your torso! Try the Murr Crop Top. Or an off-off-Broadway musical about Jesus: try the Nailed T-Shirt. Maybe what you really need is a way to put Something Positive pictures directly on your skin; luckily, we have Temporary Tattoos.
March 27, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: He Who Steals My Name Steals A Shrewd, Aggressive Business Nature
Numerology by any other name might be the Kabalarian Philosophy. The site takes pains to distance itself from this comparison, but the basic idea remains the same: Enter your name and find out how your name creates your mind. The founder, for example, "[does not] tolerate interference in [his] own affairs, [but] this characteristic does not prevent [him] from interfering in the affairs of others." Fair enough. -- Suggested by Paul McCann
Another company takes a shot at the Legend of the Five Rings setting with Paradigm Concepts' roleplaying supplement Bloodspeakers. It's all about the dark blood magic of the Bloodspeakers, who are out, like most everyone else, to corrupt the throne of Rokugan. Bloody adventure included.
We were very surprised at the amount of attention that fans have been paying to the GURPS Basic Set covers we displayed on announcement day. Okay. Not surprised. Boggled.
Indeed, those covers were put together a few days before the show, using figures from the GURPS GM Screen painting. However, we liked them (or we wouldn't have posted them), and the final versions probably would have looked pretty similar. Clearly a lot of people disagree . . . even if they don't agree at all on what should change.
(And we have to say it: Those of you who spent more time looking at Sora's rocket launcher than at Sora . . . [chuckle]. You really need to get out more.)
Nevertheless. We have a tiny bit of slack in our deadlines. And the fact that some people actually started creating and posting different cover ideas . . . Wow. Again, we're boggled. And complimented. So here's what we are going to do.
From now (March 26) until March 31, we will accept suggestions for cover designs at covers@sjgames.com. Those who have already created and posted designs are welcome to enter them, of course. (Except for the bar-code one. You automatically get Honorable Mention, but we're not gonna use it.) The suggested design should be attached to the mail in 72-dpi JPG format.
Standard contest rules apply: all submissions become property of SJ Games, none can be individually acknowledged, yada, yada. You are welcome to use existing SJ Games cover graphics, or pieces of them, to build your design. However, if you plan to post your design anyplace else, please make sure that the company name says "NOT REALLY STEVE JACKSON GAMES" so bibliographers and collectors won't get confused and write us lots of letters asking when that edition will appear . . .
After the end of the contest period, we'll take 24 hours to pick our favorite few. We'll then post them in a format that allows for voting, and leave the poll up for another 24 hours. To prevent bias, the results will NOT be publicly viewable till after the poll.
Then we'll decide. We will not necessarily use the one that got the most votes (indeed, we may not like any of them better than what we have, or better than something we come up with in the meantime) - but if one gets a LOT more votes than the others . . . well, that'll be important.
If we base the final covers on a design submitted in this contest, the winner will get a signed Deluxe Edition, and, of course, title page credit.
(By the way: The font used on the new GURPS Fantasy and GURPS Magic covers is called Mason. You don't have to use Mason for the GURPS Basic Set covers . . . we didn't, before . . . and we don't plan to use it on every GURPS book no matter what, but if your vision calls for that font for Basic, we'll save you the work of researching what it is.)
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Taking Babylon 5 Further
Mongoose expands its Babylon 5 RPG (and a few other lines they publish) with their house magazine, Signs & Portents. Find out more about Mr. Morden in Signs & Portents 5, serve the Centauri Republic with new prestige classes in Signs & Portents 6, or check out the most recent issue in Signs & Portents 7.
The Illuminati are pleased to announce that Paul Chapman is now our Marketing Director. Mark Schmidt has resumed the position of MIB Control. And everything is, indeed, under control.
Warehouse 23 News: Because You're Still Stuck On Earth
Rapture brought a very literal type of post-apocalyptic gaming to the d20 System, and now Fist of God takes that premise even further. Heaven and Hell war across their chosen battleground of Earth, and all of humanity is caught in the middle, between powers they can barely begin to comprehend.
These products are on their way to distributors now, and will appear on your local game store shelves in the very near future:
Illuminati: Crime Lords
Rival mobs battle for control of the city. Take over the rackets, rake in the dough, and rub out the opposition. It's the American dream.
You'll start with a few gangsters and some cash. Recruit more crooks and take control of income-producing operations like bordellos, chop shops, and loan sharks. The police and the Feds are after you, but your biggest threats are your fellow mob bosses. Scheme, negotiate, backstab. You can share a victory, but it's much more satisfying to say "There can be only one Boss. And it's me."
Illuminati: Crime Lords is based on the Illuminati system. It's not a supplement, but a separate stand-alone game created by Steve Jackson.
Boxed game with 112 cards, rules, die-cut money and status counters, and dice.
Stock #1375,
ISBN 1-55634-720-0.
$34.95.
Star Munchkin 2 - The Clown Wars
The Munchkins take to the stars -- again!
Star Munchkin 2 brings the epic saga of The Clown Wars to life, except with better acting . . . Star Munchkin took the rules-bending, power-gaming, dungeon-crawling insanity of the original Munchkin and put the whole thing in space, where the monsters are more alien, the weapons more zappy, and the treasure -- well, there's still piles of treasure.
Strap on the Sprayser or X-Rayser and go ray-gunning for new monsters like the Nerds of Prey! Play a new race (the Bugs) or class (Space Ranger!), and do it all with Ralph, the Wonder Dog by your side. Star Munchkin 2 - The Clown Wars also has a new card type: Rooms. Just open the door, and . . . "oh, noooooooooo . . .!"
Star Munchkin 2 - The Clown Wars is a supplement to Star Munchkin; you will need the original game to play. Or you could add it to a game of Munchkin or Munchkin Fu instead, or mix them all together for a Munchkin-fest of truly mind-bending proportions!
112 cards and rules sheet in shrink-wrapped folder.
Stock #1418,
ISBN 1-55634-724-3.
$16.95.
GURPS Egypt
(Reprint)
When Greek historians first declared the Pyramids to be one of the Seven Wonders of the World, they had already been ancient for almost 3,000 years. The nameless Pharaoh confronted by Moses before the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt was only one out of an unbroken string of 200 "living gods" in that country. Tutankhamun, Cleopatra, Rameses, mummies, evil priests of Set: the names have resonated in the Western world for five millennia.
There's a lot of adventure to be found in 5,000 years . . .
128-page book.
Stock #6083,
ISBN 1-55634-342-6.
$24.95.
Warehouse 23 News: Ninja Of The Future
Sneak into the future with Burger Tech, a Ninja Burger RPG expansion of giant robots, schoolgirls with magic powers, supervillains from outer space, and, of course, fast food delivery. Even when the world has changed, there is need for the tasty Ninja Burger delivered straight to the door of your space fortress.
As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I'm planning to build an insanely large Chaos structure next month at Penguicon. I've been keeping my eye open for more bits . . . the bigger, the better, after all, and the sets are out of stock at the manufacturer! Just got sniped on one on eBay, darn it. (There's another one up. Don't outbid me, okay?)
At any rate: If you happen to have some Chaos stuff around that you no longer want, then (a) Too bad . . . it's cool. But also (b) Hmm. What do I have that YOU want? Drop me a line . . .
Come to think of it, that goes for Frigits stuff, too. Not quite as neat, because you have to feed the marbles by hand, but still noisy and fun, and I'd like to get some more.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Vacationing In EverQuest
Up for a lunar expedition? Take a jaunt on Luclin, with an eye out for monsters in the wilderness. If you're more in the mood for an idyllic nature trip, visit the Forests of Faydark, but try not to trip over any orcs. Or interact with some of the colorful native peoples of this lovely land, guided by the Monsters of Luclin.
We returned from the GAMA Trade Show Friday night, touching down sometime after midnight. Intended to post this report Saturday, but, well, unpacking. And 1,000 spams to delete, and about 50 legitimate e-mails to answer. And so on.
At any rate, it was a really great show. The GURPS Fourth Edition announcement was well received. I was proud of the way our booth looked and the way our team performed. We were giving the retailers copies of Cardboard Heroes Castles: Walls and Towers (and showing off prototypes of the next set, The Keep) . . . and, of course, Star Munchkin 2.
So it was an excellent week. But my, it's good to be home.
Cold Turkey Update
Actually, I'm feeling fine. Had a slow few days, yes, but I'm functioning better now without the caffeine and sugar than I was two weeks ago WITH it.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Because Non-Euclidean Monsters Need Love Too
It's squishy, it's slurmy, it's just a little creepy, it's the Shoggoth plushie toy. Cuddle up with an amorphous many-eyed horror at night and dream of cities beneath the sea. Just make sure to keep it away from pets, children, neighbors, valued houseplants . . .
The BLEEX (Berkeley Lower Extremity Exoskeleton) is, not to put too fine a point on it, a pair of robotic legs that you strap on to let you walk with heavy loads. Here's the BLEEX homepage, and here's a BBC article about the neat new toy.
Warehouse 23 News: For Honor. For The Franchise.
Now you can show your dedication to the Ninja Burger fast-food chain with T-shirts that will bring honor to your household. Creep about in the black Dim-Mak shirt, or hide your ninja qualities with the gray Guaranteed Delivery shirt.
March 20, 2004: This Heavenly Display Brought To You By . . .
A Russian inventor has patented a device for displaying advertisements in space that will be visible from Earth.
See the CNN story for more details, including quotes from Alexander Lavrynov, the marketing genius in question. </sarcasm>
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor
Celebrate the USA's favorite illicit mind-altering substance with a new variation on the game of Fluxx, Stoner Fluxx. Because some games are a little bit better when you're a little bit high.
March 19, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: They'll See Right Through This Story
Anyone who thinks teenagers can't be insightful hasn't traveled to Russia lately. Ananova tells us 16-year-old Natalia can look right into a person's body. The site also describes people that try to pay their shopping tabs with fake (!) million-dollar bills, Czech porn queens, and...well, the list goes on. -- Suggested by Erik Bergman
Warehouse 23 News: Power Games And Mind Games
When it comes to power, it's all about making other people bend to your wishes. Rule from on high with the blatant political power of The Noble's Handbook, or manipulate more secretly with the powers of The Psychic's Handbook. One way or another, they'll do what you want . . .
The promised FAQ will be delayed, due to the logic board in my iBook having failed yesterday morning.
Argh.
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor
Cheapass Games takes on computer games again with Dr. Blob's Organism, a fast-paced game of blob-blasting as bad bacteria try to escape from their petri dish prison. Everyone loves a game with squishy, moist sound effects.
Many people have asked about a chat log of yesterday's four-hour Pyramid chat.
That's four hours of questions, server troubles, and more questions - often the same questions. We've decided to spare you that. Instead, we'll edit the log down to a comfy FAQ and post that. No ETA yet, but probably not until late next week.
Thanks to everyone for coming and for making me feel like the last two years have been worth it.
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor
Warehouse 23 News: Evolution Gets Aggressive
You don't have millions of years to change; if you want to survive after the apocalypse, you'd better start adapting fast. Exploit ancient tech, avoid radiation sickness, make use of your mutations, and try to survive when twisted creatures come after you. Darwin's World will do its best to kill you. Are you going to let it?
March 16, 2004: GURPS Fourth Edition To Release In August!
In August 2004, at GenCon, Steve Jackson Games will release GURPS Fourth Edition,
starting with the two-volume Basic Set. Fans have been asking about a
new edition for years, and we've always said it wouldn't happen until we could
justify the change in terms of both rules and presentation. Well, we're there.
Sean Punch, GURPS Line
Editor for the past nine years, and David Pulver, a key contributor responsible for
many of the core GURPS
supplements, took two years to break the system down and rebuild it, guided by a
decade and a half of gamer feedback. The new rules are designed to enhance the key
strengths of GURPS:
compatibility with all genres and flexibility for the GM. You'll still recognize it,
but a lot of little things - and a few big ones! - are different.
The physical quality of the line will take a big jump with the Fourth Edition. All
books now on the schedule (and we're scheduling three years ahead) will be hardcover,
with full-color interiors. And we won't accept any art that's not
gorgeous. The two Basic Set books, for instance, will have cover
art by John Zeleznik, who has done a lot of our best covers over the years.
The new-style GURPS books
will be bigger - most of them over 200 pages - because fans continue to ask for more
depth, and tell us "Get it all into one book." So after the Basic Set
and GURPS GM's Screen are out, we'll release one BIG book per month, every month, like
clockwork.
What About All My Third Edition Books?
We know that our fans have a significant investment in the current edition of GURPS. One of our goals in the
Fourth Edition design process was to make sure that our entire library would not
become obsolete overnight.
While the new edition is different, it's still GURPS. Many Third Edition
books will be good to go for Fourth Edition play with a minimum of conversion - and a
conversion guide will be one of the first things we'll release. Most of the
information in our typical worldbook or sourcebook - the thorough historical
research, the detailed setting descriptions, the roleplaying advice for both players
and referees - is usable with any other game system. That's still true now that the
"other game system" we're talking about is GURPS Fourth Edition.
Of course, the very "crunchy" rulebooks, such as the old Basic Set
itself, the two Compendium volumes, and GURPS Vehicles, are outdated. There's no
way around that; that's the point of a new edition.
But most of the collection will still be completely useful. We'll keep a lot of them
in print for at least the next couple of years; in fact, even as you read this, some
older Third Edition books, like GURPS Greece, are going for reprint.
The Fourth Edition Schedule
Here's our schedule for the rest of 2004. We have books planned all the way through
2006, and our best writers have been working on them for months. We will be
announcing upcoming GURPS
books farther in advance than we do most of our products.
- August 2004: GURPS Basic Set, a two-volume set with ALL the rules you need to
run the game.
- September 2004: GURPS GM's Screen, with six panels of useful charts and tables and
a gorgeous two-panel John Zeleznik painting. Also includes GURPS Lite.
- October 2004: GURPS Fantasy, by William H. Stoddard. This book is all you need to
build a fantasy game of any type, whether your model is Tolkien, Jordan, or Leiber.
- November 2004: GURPS Magic. Hundreds of spells for GURPS Fourth Edition,
including almost everything from the old GURPS Magic and GURPS Grimoire, plus dozens of
entirely new spells!
- December 2004: Infinite Worlds, the first core setting for GURPS! Jump between timelines
and explore weird alternate Earths!
What Else Is New?
- Both Pyramid and e23 will support the new edition. (Right, we still
have no ETA on e23, but it's moving forward.) However, there's also lots of
perfectly good Third Edition material in the pipeline, and we.re not going to throw
it away.
- Worlds Apart is moving forward with GURPS Online, and when it appears, it
will be Fourth Edition compatible.
- There will definitely be some "sneak previews" and early looks as we approach
August. The upcoming GURPS Dragons, for instance, will have an appendix in the
back to bring it up to Fourth Edition speed. And there'll be Pyramid chats, and
occasional postings of sample material.
- Our Men In Black will be presenting a lot of Fourth Edition game sessions at
GenCon, to accompany the launch of the Basic Set.
- Because we know some of you really like super-nice books, we'll print a Deluxe
Edition of the Basic Set . . . nice, stamped, faux-leather covers, and a slipcase
to hold the two books. This will be a one-shot; when they're gone, they're gone. But
even the "ordinary" Fourth Edition books will be pretty darn deluxe, with hard covers
and full color interiors.
I've Got More Questions . . .
And we've got answers, we hope. For the rest of the afternoon (that's Tuesday the
16th; if you're reading this on some later day, you missed it), Andrew Hackard will be in Pyramid Chat to
discuss the Fourth Edition. If you're not a Pyramid subscriber, the new GURPS pages have a lot of
information, and we'll be adding more . . . lots more . . .
Steve Jackson Games will release the following games in June, 2004:
Burn In Hell
No Rest For The Wicked . . .
Collect the souls of the damned! Each player in Burn In Hell tries to assemble the tastiest combinations (called "Circles") of history's sinners. Collect groups of Mass Murderers, Cannibals, or even Musicians . . . or grab sets of the Seven Deadly Sins.
Each card includes a great Greg Hyland caricature and a biography of the soul. Players will have a lot of fun reading (and arguing) about why each of these people was invited to the Permanent Pitchfork Party.
Check it out . . . but remember to bring your asbestos underwear!
168 full-color cards plus rulesheet.
Stock #1420,
ISBN 1-55634-666-2.
$24.95.
Cardboard Heroes Modern Characters
Enough full-color miniatures for every modern game you'll ever play! Over 400 human figures, plus hundreds of weapons, accessories, corpses, and other lie-flat counters. Soldiers and cops, Nazis and gangsters, cowboys and Indians, and lots and lots of modern-day civilians for all your games.
16 sheets; over 400 characters.
Stock #2120,
ISBN 1-55634-437-6.
$24.95.
GURPS Dragons
Dragons! The most fabulous of all fabulous beasts. Throughout history, around the world, tales of fire-breathing monsters have stirred awe and terror. Now . . . play a dragon. Take to the air with prodigious wingbeats, soaring effortlessly for hundreds of miles. Terrify your foes with fire, claws, and teeth. Gather your hoard. Study ancient lore and magic . . . and take human form to walk in the world of men!
GURPS Dragons includes:
- Origins of the dragon, through myth and legend and even true history.
- How do dragons fly?
- How to hunt dragons . . . and survive.
- Creating dragon characters in GURPS.
- Dragon-specific combat maneuvers.
- Templates for Firedrakes, Naga, Chinese Dragons, Sea Serpents, and others.
- Ideas for dragon-centric campaigns, including two campaign backgrounds!
144 pages. Full-color.
Stock #6540,
ISBN 1-55634-599-2.
$29.95.
Sail the high seas with Savage Worlds: 50 Fathoms, where pirates plunder the treasures of a land long ago buried deep beneath the waves. While you're down there, get the Customizeable GM Screen, and decorate it with your own watery art or the downloadable images Great White Games offers for all its settings.
To our fellow gamers in Spain, and to all their fellow citizens: We share your pain and grief. No, this sort of thing makes no sense. May it end, everywhere, soon.
(Thanks to John Kovalic for the ribbon.)
-- Steve Jackson
Kimara Bernard has been an editor at SJ Games for about a year. (Many of you know her as the cheerful and efficient Queen of Comps.) She and her husband, Kayn, are about to move to China, where Kayn will be spending a year teaching English.
We're sorry to see Kim go, and wish her and Kayn the very best of luck on the other side of the planet.
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor
Warehouse 23 News: Not Quite Lord Of The Flies
Abandon your kids on an island with The Kids of Catan, the children's version of the Settlers of Catan board game of island colonization. With big bright playing pieces and incredibly simple rules, even itty-bitty children can play this resource-gathering game.
March 12, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: Three Eyes Are Better Than Two
Do you want your consciousness expanded? Do you wish to understand mysteries that elude others? The International Trepanation Advocacy Group suggests drilling a hole into your forehead. It allows you to broaden your horizons - at, it would appear, the expense of being able to put together a more navigable and straightforward website. -- Suggested by Geoffrey Brent
Warehouse 23 News: Scene Of The Crime
Two new Crime Scene supplements give you more places to take your modern d20 campaign. Stick to the rational world of science with the attention to detail of Forensics. If that's a bit too ordinary for you, investigate crimes that make much less sense with the otherworldly twists in Supernatural.
So I'm going to see whether cutting out caffeine and processed sugar makes a difference in my energy levels, sleeping habits, and so on. So no more Coke (sigh). No more morning Frappucino. No more yummy desserts. Heck, no more McDonald's ketchup.
Oh, the GAMA trade show coming up is going to be a WAY FUN week.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Made From Super Metals
Silver Age Sentinels has its archetypical superheroes. Now you can have them too, with the pewter miniatures line. Show off the Iron Duke, the Robot Army, the Red Phoenix, or the Green Ronin. (Some painting required. Superpowers sold separately.)
Just a quick reminder: Most of the senior SJ Games staff will be in Las Vegas all next week at the GAMA Trade Show. If you're trying to contact people, responses may be delayed by several days.
I'll be staying in Austin, tending the fort and plotting the nonviolent overthrow of the established regime . . . uh, I mean, making sure everything goes smoothly in Steve's absence. Yeah, that's it.
-- Andrew Hackard, Managing Editor
Warehouse 23 News: Anything For A Price
All upright and loyal citizens follow the laws of the Dragon Empire. But for those times when you need something that's not quite legal, there's always someone willing to deal . . . for a price. Smuggler's Run gives you the rundown on smugglers for Dragonstar, from government spies to black-market weapons dealers.
March 9, 2004: So That's Why We're So Smart!
Scientists think they have identified the gene that mutated to give us such big brains. Read the Discover story.
Warehouse 23 News: But Of Course There's A Thieves' Guild
There are always ways of keeping people in line, whether they're blacksmiths, wizards, or thieves. Guilds make sure each craftsman keeps to his proper place. Pay your dues, climb the ranks, learn the secrets of your craft, and make sure the guildmaster always gets the cut of your profits that he's expecting.
User Friendly has a new Illuminati card for you. I predict this one will get destroyed a lot.
-- Steve Jackson
Horizon d20 supplements offer self-contained settings for unusual campaigns. Outwit the Big Bad Wolf in Grimm's fairy-tale setting, but be careful; the stories aren't as squeaky clean as you remember. Or explore the insides of virtual reality with Virtual, where you don't just use computer programs, you are one.
Here's a French cartoonist with his own take on Cthulhu.
March 6, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: I'd Like To Teach The Web To Sing
They make beautiful music together, "they" being pretty much everyone. If you'll Let them sing it for you, this site will unite vocal talents cobbled from a multitude of sources. Type in your own lyrics and hear it sung by everyone from Tom Jones to Aerosmith. And if they don't have the words you're looking for, feel free to help improve the database. -- Suggested by Jeff Raglin
Forget the surface. Forget the sunny meadows, the snowy mountains, the bustling cities. There's another world down below, and it's darker, deeper, and more deadly than anything you'll find above. Fortunately, you have the Underdark Adventure Guide to show you the way. But don't get lost in the dark . . .
I've written a report about the state of our business; if you have a stake in Steve Jackson Games as a gamer, retailer, distributor, or creator, it's for you. It's far too long to post as an Illuminator; read it here.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: A Little Dork Inside Us All
Dork Tower #26 follows the lives of your typical gaming group (muskrat player aside); the Clicky Special explores the wonderful world of little clicky miniatures; and 1d6 Degrees of Separation includes multiple issues of the comic, for convenient compact hilarity.
Or something like a producer, in the computer game sense. We have all these great games that OUGHT to become videogames, and we are actually working, in various poorly coordinated ways, with various developers and programmers on various projects. That's not good enough; in 2004, we seriously want to make REAL progress toward releasing, or licensing, some computer games.
And the best way to do that, if we can afford it, would be to hire someone with experience and clue to join us and take over that whole area.
I don't have a job description; the successful candidate will know more than I do about what has to be done. The qualification would be "Significant experience in managing the successful development of computer games." And the mission would be "Work with our existing contacts and properties to make computer games happen . . . and see how far you can take it."
In other words, we want someone who has worked for a computer game publisher, and did well at it. But we are not (yet) a computer game publisher. There are significant differences. On the one hand, we don't work with million-dollar budgets. On the other hand, we don't spend millions of dollars on projects and then cancel them and fire the staff, which is one reason we've been around for close to 25 years and are, perhaps, more likely to survive for the next 25 than the average videogame studio . . .
If you're interested, send me a letter and resume. (If the resume is an attachment, please name it with your name; a stack of files all called resume.doc is a Bad Thing.) And if you know somebody who might qualify, please point them at this page. I'm thinking, for instance, that there may be people at Origin Systems who want to stay in Austin when their office here closes . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: For A Little Taste Of Everything
Set your campaigns in any genre from cyberpunk to comedy, and add something from everything else in-between; the Silhouette CORE Deluxe Edition gives you the rules used in all the Dream Pod Nine games, wrapped in a shiny hardcover binding.
Okay, it won't actually launch until May, but check out the MESSENGER probe project which will go to Mercury.
MESSENGER stands for "MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging," which certainly took some work to put together. Had they but known about the Brunching Shuttlecocks Cyborg Name Generator they could have saved time and had the altogether neater "Mechanical Electronic Soldier Skilled in Efficient Nullification and Galactic Efficient Repair."
-- Steve Jackson
Blood of the Valiant takes a look at the Shaolin Monks of Feng Shui, in a new edition full of merry monkly mayhem. And whether you're a monk or a mook, Iron & Silk will give you plenty of scenery to hurl at your approaching enemies between your witty one-liners.
We had a really great time at ConDFW last weekend. Played games, demoed games, showed off the new Cardboard Heroes Castles, and enjoyed a truly excellent small con . . . big enough to have a great guest list, small enough to give people the chance to meet the guests.
The GAMA Trade Show is not exactly a convention, but then again it is . . . it's just not a fan convention. It's coming up frighteningly soon . . . March 15-18 in Las Vegas . . . so several of us will be out of the office for nearly a week. Andrew will get to hold the fort; lucky Andrew. We do plan to make an interesting announcement during the Vegas show; stay tuned.
And in April . . . Penguicon. A combination SF and Linux convention. Is this cool, or what? With a guest list that boggles the mind . . . go to the site and look. REALLY. Warehouse 23 goddess Michelle Barrett and I will be going. On the Penguicon web page, follow the Special Events link to see what MY special event will be.
-- Steve Jackson
What do you do when evil threatens reality itself? Kick up the power level of the campaign and face it, of course. And now you can do it in style, with the CORE Command Player's Handbook Deluxe Edition. Because when you're facing ultimate evil, a hardcover book makes it easier to beat the evil to death.
Did you know Jupiter is broadcasting radio signals? The interaction of gas from Io's volcanos and Jupiter's magnetosphere sends magnetized plasma . . . oh, like I understand. Fortunately, the folks at Science@NASA know what's going on, and they explain it quite nicely. Don't miss the links to live listening posts to hear what Jupiter has to say today!-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: A Deck Of Many Modifiers
When you're rampaging through a dungeon, sometimes the dice work for you and sometimes they don't. For those times when the game isn't quite what you'd like, there's the Dork20 Deck to give you a card-slamming competitive edge. Snatch victory from the maw of defeat, and make the rules do what you want them to do.
|
|
