|
Home |
Past columns |
Illuminator by E-mail |
XML |
Illuminated Site of the Week
Must be something in the ether around here, but we've had a couple of notable weddings among the staff.
Wil Upchurch, editor extraordinare, was married earlier this month to Bree Zastrow, who served a stint here in the SJ Games offices as receptionist. Yes, they spent part of their honeymoon at GenCon.
Steven Marsh, Pyramid editor, also got hitched, to Nikola Vrtis. Fans of West End Games will know her as the D6 Line Editor. They also spent some time shortly after their nuptials at GenCon, but since they were both occupied by the WEG booth, I doubt they counted it as "honeymoon."
Congratulations to both couples, and may all your rolls be critical successes!
When Darkness Comes . . . The Nameless Mist adds additional tiles, scenarios, rules, and terror to the already frightening When Darkness Comes . . . The Awakening. It will seep into your soul and haunt your every waking moment! It will destroy your mind, erode your sanity! It is a horror unspeakable!! It will- . . . wait, this isn't a very good sales pitch, is it?
I'm typing this from the lobby of the Yokohama Prince Hotel, that being where the hotspot is. The tenth Japan Games Convention is over. I had a wonderful time. Now it's back to Tokyo for a day of meetings and shop visits. Tomorrow: Narita Airport (properly pronounced with the accent on the first syllable), many, many hours in the air, and then home.
This was a big convention . . . over a thousand people. They kept me busy, and it was always a good kind of busy. Along with Mr. Yasuda of Group SNE (who was my twin brother and the priest of the opposing faction) I acted as a kindly old priest in a LARP based on their newly GURPS Yuell fantasy book. We were training the adventurers who were going out to defend the city from the Red Dragon (played by a really great puppet which is now riding in my luggage) and the Elder God (played by Santa Cthulhu).
As it turned out, Yasuda-san was possessed by Cthulhu and I was possessed by the Red Dragon. In the final battle, our factions were both defeated by the people of the city. But, heh, we might be back!
Yesterday, I ran a GURPS adventure for four players chosen at random. I got very GOOD random players! Though they did not complete the adventure, they got a long ways and left things set up so that the authorities would come in and set things right, and the Shadowy Manipulators would be discredited. I won't give any more details, because I'm going to expand my notes into coherence for e23, and Yasuda-san wants to translate it for Role & Roll magazine over here.
So everything is good. More later, including pictures.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Heaven Or Hell - Let's Rock!
The war between beings angelic and beings demonic continues to tear across creation. Symbolic of this conflict is the beautiful artwork on the much requested In Nomine: Burning Feather Poster.
Astronomers have determined there is a bar at the center of the Milky Way Galaxy, but apparently NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope doesn't have enough resolution to read the drink list.
In the two years the telescope has been aloft, it has located hidden black holes, seen evidence of an asteroid belt in a different solar system, and taken some pretty cool infrared pictures.
Warehouse 23 News: Cars, Trains, And Gravitic Aeroplanes
The Traveller20: Yiarn Caardee Vehicle Catalog covers just about every conceivable shape, size, and color of vehicle in the T20 universe. Alas, it doesn't cover stats like "availability of manufacturer's warranty" or "satellite radio compatibility."
But NASA has found dust devils on Mars. The Spirit Mars rover has driven nearly three miles on the surface of the red planet and recently reached the summit of Husband Hill. As of this writing the rover is 497 sols (martian days) "out of warranty," and still working.
Warehouse 23 News: Conspicuous Consumption Makes Us Stronger
Your friend The Computer knows you like stuff. Knows you want stuff. Knows you need stuff. Help the Computer help you by buying Paranoia XP: Stuff. The other way you can help The Computer is to start digging your own grave, for that is the fate of those who fail to purchase the book.
You can start by setting up an air force, thanks to this bargain basement sale from South Korea. And every so often an aircraft carrier shows up for sale . . . that one's gone, but there'll be another . . . isn't it wonderful how things come together?
Warehouse 23 News: The Mighty Fist Of God, Now Pocket Sized!
Pull the pin, count to five, and let 'er rip! The Monty Python: Plush Mini Holy Hand Grenade lets you carry Your Lord's Wrath around with all the same ease you would have in carrying something very small. Perfect for weddings, birthdays, and uppity rabbits.
August 26, 2005: Illuminated Site of the Week: The Journey Of Twenty Centimeters Begins With But A Single Micron
Tired of letting your blood do all the work? Then let Douglas Weibel's "microoxen" do the job. They've found ways to move microscopic things using other microscopic things. The BBC has some of the story, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America has a "little" bit more.
-- Suggested by W. Blake Smith
Warehouse 23 News: Who Do You Serve And Who Do You Trust?
The dawn of the third age of mankind may well turn to dusk if Captain Gideon and the crew of the Excalibur can't find a cure for the Drakh plague. Little do they realize, however, that the plague is only the beginning of their troubles. Join the Crusade. The fate of Earth hangs in the balance.
If you're not familiar with Pen & Paper, it's the ultimate resource for tracking down who wrote that obscure adventure you remember from high school, figuring out which artist did that awesome robot on the cover of GURPS Robots, or finding that game by that guy.
Each year, the Pen & Paper Fan Awards asks visitors to its site to vote on the best in our industry in several categories. This year, Steve Jackson Games has been honored with several awards and runners-up slots.
Many thanks to the fans who voted for our products, and to Pen & Paper for hosting them, as well as just being a Darn Cool Website. The complete list is here.
Warehouse 23 News: Unfathomable Crime In The Deep
Atlantis may be below sea level, but that doesn't mean it isn't a bustling port of call. Judge Dredd: The Rookie's Guide to Atlantis & the Black Atlantic takes you inside the most dangerous and exciting city under the Black Atlantic! Admittedly, it's the only city beneath the Black Atlantic, but that hardly belittles its potential for adventure.
Gen Con Indy was the most exhausting experience in my year so far, and my feet are very glad it is over. During the next month or two, Warehouse 23 will be adding a large number of new (and new to us) products. I have a notepad that is filled cover to cover with notes, but I've included the highlights below:
Adventure Retail represented us at the show, sold lots of our products, and offered their own unique brand of fun. Every time I stopped by the booth they were swamped, and I want to thank everyone who supported us. More thanks to those who recognized the SJ Games logo on my shirt and stopped to chat.
Shadlyn's Best Display Award goes to Wizards of the Coast for the Axis and Allies Miniatures display. There is nothing quite like playing a wargame on the hood of a jeep.
Shadlyn's Best Booth Award goes to Fantasy Flight Games. Not as big as the Wizards of the Coast booth, but well laid out, attractive, and filled with gorgeous, high-quality games. Even better, they had comfortable chairs set up around all of their tables, letting me rest me aching feet while I watched a demo. I visited them at the end of every day! The games I liked best were Arkham Horror and the upcoming World of Warcraft Board Game.
The best moment of the show for me, personally, was getting to meet Ron Glass (most recently Shepherd Book of Firefly/Serenity fame). While I only spoke to him briefly, he was funny and charming. Every time I walked by the booth where he was giving autographs he was smiling and laughing. His presence definitely helped to boost the pre-release sales of the Serenity RPG being offered at the Sovereign Press booth.
As always, it was a pleasure meeting with John and Michelle Nephew, of Atlas Games. I also had the opportunity to meet face to face with our Sales Manager, Ross Jepson (he's based out of Canada). We had some great discussions about *fnord* and hopefully you'll be seeing even more improvements to our site and our service before the end of the year.
Finally, the product that most caught my eye was the Paranoia Card Game from Mongoose Publishing. I never got to play it. In fact, I never really got close enough to watch it played. Why? Because every time I walked by the demo table it was absolutely packed with giggling players and observers. This tells me very little about the game - only that it's probably very good!
-- Shadlyn, Warehouse 23 Manager
Warehouse 23 News: Many Much More Munchkin
Just when you thought you had every conceivable piece of Munchkin merchandise . . . surprise! It's the Munchkin Cover Poster.
It's time to remind SF, gaming, and Linux fans in the Austin area that Linucon is coming. Just announced as a guest this year is James Ernest of Cheapass Games. This is the yay. Howard Tayler of Schlock Mercenary is still tentative, but we can hope. I will be there with the Chaos Machine - just like last year, but bigger and better. And we will be running some not-completely-random playtest games. Of what? Come see.
-- Steve Jackson
So just as I'm coming up for air and realizing that it's time to post an Illuminator and nothing I did today was even marginally interesting except the part I shouldn't talk about yet . . . what shows up in my mailbox but a link to this spiffy Lego Serenity. If you are neither a browncoat nor a Lego geek, you did not get an Illuminator today. I'll try to do better tomorrow.
-- Steve Jackson
Next week will be an exciting one for me. I'm going to have the very great pleasure of visiting Japan as GoH for the tenth Japan Game Convention. This is also the scheduled release of Kadokawa Shoten's edition of GURPS Fourth Edition. I will get to meet with Kadokawa Shoten editorial staff, as well as the editors of Role & Roll magazine . . . and a lot of gamers!
I have also been advised that I will be an evil NPC in a LARP. That should be fun . . .
I'll have a full report, and no doubt some new sushi experiences to share, when I get back.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Hail To The Queen, Baby
What's worse than an 8-foot, silent, alien killing machine that bleeds acid? How about its 16-foot mommy? Get a huggably-soft taste of that horror with the Alien Queen Chestburster Plush Replica. It may not be full grown, but at least it fits in the front door.
August 20, 2005: The Best News This Year, With More To Come
As those who have read my Report to the Stakeholders know, one of my long-standing goals has been to step down from day-to-day management of the company so I can concentrate on making games.
SUCCESS!
I am delighted to announce Stephen Sopko has joined SJ Games as Chief Operating Officer. I have known Steve (who will go by Sopko around the office, to avoid confusion) for several years, and he's given me some valuable advice in the past. His background is international business, high technology R&D, military, oil & gas, and startup companies - sometimes all at once. He's played roleplaying games for 20+ years, and, as he puts it, is "tremendously excited to leave a steady job with a Fortune 50 computer giant to run a gaming company." But he's not here to play games, or even to make them . . . he's here to organize those of us who DO make them.
This has already paid off for us in two ways. I'm getting more design done, because I can spend about four times as much time DOING it . . . so you'll see more new stuff next year. And other people are getting more done too, because Sopko is an enthusiastic professional manager, not a self-taught amateur who would rather be writing. So far, we're all happy.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. We will announce more evil plans soon . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Plush Rulebook Not Included
A plush d6 or d20 may suffice for the sake of novelty, but when it comes to getting the job done, two dice just aren't enough. Toy Vault recognizes this and has released the Fuzzy Dice: Plush Polyhedral 7-Die Set. Fully compatible with popular fantasy roleplaying games that are in their third (and a half) edition!
August 19, 2005: Illuminated Site of the Week: Who Delivered These?
They claim We Are Family. Well, better them than us, yes? -- Suggested by Stefan
Space pirates? Check. Amazons? Check. Ninja? Check. Catgirls? Check! Batten down the hatches (and the poolboys), SPANC (Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls) drops you into the frenetic, furry, and funny world of space pirate amazon ninja catgirls, their toys, and their boys.
We have made an offer on the best prospect yet. It has both a shark tank AND a helipad. You may think I jest, but should this be our final decision, photographic evidence will be provided.
Furthermore, there are two separate buildings and the lot is fenced, so technically we can call it a "campus." And there is an electronic gate, so if the spirit moves us, we can also call it a "compound."
It doesn't GET much better than this fnord.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Lesser Of Two Evils. Kinda.
Savage Worlds: Necessary Evil presents an intriguing scenario: An alien force is invading Earth. The superheroes of Earth attack the aliens. Naturally. They are summarily annihilated. Oops. This leaves all the supervillains with nobody to beat up. So, they turn on the aliens. And then it gets really interesting. . .
As mentioned yesterday, GenCon will be a wee short on Steve Jackson Games staffers. However, our MIB are running a full spectrum of events. There are multiple Chez games from the entire line, Frag in "regular" and "cartoon" flavors, and Munchkin from every genre, as well as GreedQuest, Illuminati: Crime Lords, and SPANC.
But wait! There's more! Once again, GenCon Indy will host the Munchkin World Championship. Are you Munchkin enough to stab the best of the best in the back, and take his stuff?
New this year is the Ninja Burger World Championship. Take orders, deliver burgers, and maintain your honor. With the world watching, how can failure be an option?
And less you think roleplaying is being forgotten, GURPS Fourth Edition will be well supported. Are those GURPS Banestorm adventures I see?
Straight from the thirteenth Godzilla episode comes the principal villain: Plush Megalon! He has spades for hands and shoots laser beams out of his head! (Note: Plush does not actually shoot laser beams out of its head. We think. Warehouse 23 is not liable for damage from imaginary laser beams.)
As usual, those in search of our wonderful Stuff in the dealer room will find it at the Adventure Retail booth.
I won't be at the con (sigh . . . it's been a LONG time since I've made it to GenCon . . . some year). However, our Director of Sales, Ross Jepson, will be walking the floor and looking at the new stuff, along with Warehouse 23 Manager Shadlyn Westrich and our new COO, Steve Sopko.
Ahh, yes. Steve S. gets an Illuminator of his own, Real Soon Now!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: It's Not Offensive. It's Honest.
Maybe they don't realize that acting like a stuck-up, self-centered, self-righteous, egotistical, obnoxious, overbearing, rude, malicious, fnord for brains isn't a viable lifestyle option. Explain the situation to them subtly with the Something Positive: Alternative Lifestyle shirt.
Archie McPhee would appear to have a direct line to Eris. Behold: Bacon Bandages.
Warehouse 23 News: Who's Who, What's What, And When's When
Bring yourself up to speed on all the happenin' happenings in Talislanta with The Chronicles of Talislanta. What it lacks in elves it more than makes up for in . . . other stuff.
August 14, 2005: Like The Dinosaurs, Like The Trilobites
As a species, we just don't get something about backups.
Here's a sad story that rings all too true. (Not worksafe, if your workplace is twitchy enough. So throw a blanket over yourself and your monitor, and look. Hit the NEWS button at the bottom for the equally heartrending non-comic version of what happened.)
I've been there. I've had friends go there. I've had staff go there. God help us all, I have had professional IT staff go there.
One day we will be replaced by creatures who look just like us, and who probably have as little taste in mates, clothes, or TV shows . . . but who back up their data every day. They will outcompete us and we will become extinct.
-- Steve Jackson
The Illuminati: Someone You Trust Poster looks innocent enough, with its black and red coloring, its bold, black lettering, and the unblinking, all-seeing eye. . . hey, wait a minute, it doesn't look innocent at all!
August 13, 2005: Illuminated Site of the Week: Disconnect The Dots
Some web games just fall flat, but this one doesn't work unless it does exactly that. The puzzles at Planarity have more twists than a Mason plot, and get increasingly difficult. At least until someone uses Flash to create a Gordian game complete with sword. -- Suggested by Richard H Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Tasteless, But Catchy
It's hard to write a joke about a game called Spank the Monkey without going completely beyond the bounds of good taste. So, in the interest of maintaining dignity, we will just say this: please buy Spank the Monkey.
Early Thursday morning a UPS in our server room failed, and took a server with it, so our web site was down for about six hours. Our apologies to those who tried to reach us during that time.
Continuing repairs will require more downtime (planned this time, really) for the website Friday evening. This will happen about 8:30 p.m. CDT, and we hope to finish in less than 30 minutes. Those of you planning to download large e23 items like GURPS Character Assistant would be well advised to avoid that time.
Warehouse 23 News: Your Word Of The Day
Anachronism. Noun. 1. The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order. 2. A really fun game in which famous historical figures beat each other up in gladiatorial combat.
(1) He very much appreciates all the good wishes. Thank you, everyone.
(2) He's at home, keeping his weight off the bad leg, but staying in touch - and even getting a bit of work done - via the net. e23 is not unmanned.
(3) No word yet on when he'll be back in the office. We'll be glad to see him back, but the important thing is to give nature time to do its job.
-- Steve Jackson
Despite the game's name, cards in Blue Moon are hardly rare. Indeed, you can buy a set such as Blue Moon: The Pillar or Blue Moon: Emissaries & Inquisitors - Allies and know precisely what you're getting into every time. If only the rest of life were so convenient . . .
GURPS Cyberpunk, written in 1989 and 1990 and released in 1990, described futuristic (for the time) computer systems. Its extrapolation of (for the time) incredibly large hard drives was based on Moore's Law. This is not an actual law of man or nature, but an observation about the wonderful, wonderful speed with which the feasible complexity of integrated circuits increases, and therefore the speed with which the price of processing power declines. Storage and other aspects of hardware have followed a similar path.
At any rate: in GURPS Cyberpunk the price of a terabyte of storage, at Tech Level 8, was $10,000. It weighed 500 lbs. and took up a cubic yard of space. At the time, this appeared to be a reasonable prediction.
I have in front of me a copy of a mass-market computer catalog. I can go online right now and use my credit card to buy a terabyte of storage. It will cost me $989; they'll deliver it free. Size and weight aren't given, but extrapolating from the size of the visible ports, it's about the size of a phone book and probably not much heavier.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Fully Compatible With Any Flat Surface
The Chez Geek Poster is a remarkably useful item. Use it to cover an escape tunnel on your cell wall. Shield yourself from the harmful rays of the sun. Flag down a passing ship. Use it as fuel for your campfire. Or, if you like, simply hang it on your wall and look at it. The possibilities are endless!
Wow.
The GURPS Character Assistant has passed 100 digital sales in just three days on e23.
And GURPS Mysteries . . . you remember that not long ago we announced it had hit 400 sales? Well, it just broke 500.
Wow.
Fresh from the ugly tree, having hit every single branch on the way down (some twice), it's the Call of Cthulhu: Plush Gug. He's pink, mean, and ready to terrify your friends, family, pets, and probably your plants.
The shortlist for this year's Diana Jones Award, promoting excellence in gaming, is up at the Diana Jones site.
We're sending Burn in Hell back to press; the initial run is almost sold out, and demand continues high enough to warrant a reprint. This makes me happy. My thanks to those who bought it and recommended it to their friends!
No "We're using this in history class" letters yet, but I can still hope.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Here Kitty, Kitty- Argh!
Who wouldn't want an 11" by 17" poster of a creepy black cat with piercing yellow eyes that follow you around the room? We certainly can't think of anyone. That's why we sell this Spooks: Cat Poster.
GURPS Character Assistant is now available for download on e23.
For those of you who haven't immediately clicked thru in a mad dash to purchase the digital version, GURPS Character Assistant is the official character creation software of GURPS Fourth Edition. Now available for just $14.95 as a download from e23, GCA has every character creation rule from the Fourth Edition GURPS
Basic Set. You can create and save any character, and print it out on an official Fourth Edition character sheet.
GURPS Character Assistant will also let you save and share character files with other players who have GCA. Join the GCA community on our forums to learn of the most recent updates.
The version for available for download is 4.0.237, the most current version, and also includes data files for GURPS Fantasy, GURPS Infinite Worlds, and GURPS Magic.
New Orleans. Those two words conjure many images: Cajun cooking, gothic architecture, voudoun spirituality. And vampires. Vampire: The Requiem - City of the Damned - New Orleans is a Kindred's guide to a city of old beauty and even older evil.
August 5, 2005: Illuminated Site of the Week: Touched By His Noodly Appendage
What we really need is a third party to bring its views to the table as regards the origin of "life, the universe, and everything." That won't necessarily solve any problems, but it will sure make them more fun to watch. Robert Henderson's Open Letter to Kansas School Board throws fuel on the fire and raises the intellectual level of the conversation by raising the possibility that the world is the work of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Sound like crazy talk? Sure does, until he points out the pirate angle. At that point, he had us. -- Suggested by Thorin Tabor
Warehouse 23 News: The Countdown Has Begun
A specter of the past looms over Mega-City One, threatening to annihilate the entire city in an act of devastation the likes of which have never been seen. Judge Dredd: The Sleeping Kin, Russian Roulette, and Target: Mega-City One are three parts of one arc that culminate in the greatest challenge your Judges will ever face.
OK, we all thought it would happen, but this quickly? Read the BBC story.
You may think that Tékumel: Seal of the Imperium Volume 1, Issue 1 is just a fanzine for M.A.R. Barker's famous science fiction setting Tékumel. Well, we're here to tell you that if you do indeed think that . . . then you are absolutely correct. Give yourself a cookie. You deserve it.
August 3, 2005: Chris Aylott. Managing Editor. September.
Chris has been playing our games since the late eighties, and knew he had a GURPS problem when he started buying extra lending copies of rulebooks for his players so that he could keep his own set clean. After a decade of retail management, freelance writing (including a regular Pyramid column), and professional editing, he's honed his skills to a fine edge and developed the kindly disposition of a pit bull. He suspects SJ has hired him for the latter quality. Chris is currently telecommuting from Massachusetts and will be joining us in Austin in September. He can be reached at aylott@sjgames.com.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Mind Over What Matters
Why go through the trouble of knocking a confession out of a perp when you can just rip it from his unwilling synapses? Judge Dredd: The Rookie's Guide to Psi-Talent details everything there is to know about being a Psi-Judge: how to levitate objects, pierce the dimensional wall, and determine your lucky lotto numbers.
The Pants Macabre cards went to press today, and with any luck, GURPS Banestorm goes tomorrow. Feels very, very good to get some of these new products out the door, even if it's only "out the door to the printers."
"Out the door to you" then becomes only a matter of time . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Check out Warehouse 23's top selling items for July at the Warehouse 23 Top 10 page.
Where are you, Laird? I have an Evil Plan (tm) that should interest you.
If you are reading this and you are not Laird, but know where he is these days, kindly call it to his attention.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Dead Boat, Dead Boat, Dead Boat
Whew! That's hard to say. Fright Night: Ghost Ship is a lot easier to say. Which means it's also easier to order. Give it a try!
|
|
