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Illuminated Site of the Week
November 30, 2005: The Poster Printer Is Dead, Long Live The Poster Printer!
I write today with bad news, good news, and other news.
The bad news: Our poster printer has died a horrible, ghastly death. Toward the end, hours of IT attention and various replacement parts could only keep it running for a few weeks at a time. For the last two weeks we have been holding our breaths for a part that the manufacturer assured us would arrive "any day." Any day failed to come, and we began researching alternatives.
The good news! We found one! It took us a while to find a vendor who could offer posters for a reasonable price on high-quality paper, but we have prevailed!
The other news? The posters will have a 1/8" white border around the edges. Also, the colors may vary slightly from our original run since they are being printed on a different type of printer, and on a slightly different type of photo paper. -- Shadlyn
Warehouse 23 News: Why'd It Have To Be Snakes?
Bring the sword and spellbook, but leave the fedora at home. Dungeon Crawl Classics #16: Curse of the Emerald Cobra pits your band of intrepid 6th to 8th level heroes against an uppity yuan-ti called the Emerald Cobra. It would be easy to make a joke about a "commanding cobra," but really, isn't one pop culture reference enough?
November 29, 2005: What Ever Happened To Varlak The Northman?
Vignettes help create a memorable experience with a gaming book. For instance, in GURPS Banestorm's seventh chapter, one Varlak the Northman has his final confrontation with his nemesis, a necromancer. Who is this Varlak, how did he come to track his foe for so long, and who stood by his side during those voyages?
Now it is revealed!
Phil Masters has created Varlak and his adventuring crew as a ready-to-run group of characters for GURPS Banestorm. Complete with character sheets, equipment, and histories, these characters can be used as a pregenerated party for new players, or as loyal allies (or fierce rivals) for an ongoing Banestorm campaign.
Download their information here!
-- Paul Chapman
No, we're not talking about the big sea mammals. We're talking about Counter Strike Wargame: The Marcher Lords, a wargame simulation of the Norman conquest of Wales. It's a rematch 10 centuries in the making!
It's a holiday tradition - filling footwear with toys and candy. But what if you're buying online? How do you know what will fit in your sweetheart's socks?
Below is a list of toys and games that have at least one small side - 6 inches or less. If you need a more exact measurement for your toddler's tiny tootsies*, feel free to e-mail us and we'll pull out our trusty rulers on your behalf.
And if you need more holiday gift ideas, check out our Holiday Browse Page.
-- Shadlyn
* [insert cute disclaimer about not being intended for toddlers here]
Warehouse 23 News: Solar Exalted: Saviors Or Unwitting Dupes?
You be the judge. Exalted: Cult of the Illuminated outlines just that: the Cult of the Illuminated. It brings to light their secrets, methods, and motives. We could describe it something as trite as "the definitive guide to the Cult," but we're pretty sure you're smart enough to figure that sort of thing out on your own.
We have a couple bits of GURPS Powers news to share.
The first two samples arrived from the printer just before the holidays. This book looks really good. Not only is it bulging at the seams with loads of GURPS-y goodness, the art is very, very nice. These are just the first samples, though; your friendly local game store will have them on their shelves in a couple weeks.
A few copies actually made it to GenCon SoCal last weekend. If you were one of the lucky ones to snag a copy, don't be shy -- tell us what you think of it on the forums!
And finally, the GURPS Powers page has a couple of new excerpts. Now you can check out pages 40, 117, 148, and 167. What's so special about those four pages? Well, check out the table of contents, or just download them directly!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Accessories Evolved
Not simply a play aid, BattleBox: Monte Cook's Arcana Evolved is an excellent resource for Arcana Evolved. Within the tin you'll find maps, reference cards, rune tokens, counters, a d20, and a CD with all kinds of truly useful thingamabops.
Okay, the weekend is well past by now, but . . .
Saturday I was at my alma mater, Rice University in Houston, for a Game Day. 'Twas fun. I got to meet a lot of students; I played some Munchkin and Super Munchkin, learned Krokinole, got schooled badly at We Love Katamari, and in general had a good time.
Sunday was mostly an UltraCorps skull session with Kira. Progress continues; the first fully open game should be soon.
Here's a picture of me in the new Munchkin Christmas T-shirt. This one is a Warehouse 23 exclusive . . . apparently the distributors don't need any more gaming shirts right now. But we LIKED it, darn it, so we made a few anyway. I like the color. I haven't decided if it will go into the regular shirt rotation, or if I'll just bring it out in December, in which case it'll probably last me 20 years.
Warehouse 23 News: Second Verse, Bigger Than The First
The game of comparing things has gotten comparably bigger. Not only does Apples to Apples Junior 9+ Second Edition contain everything from the first edition of the game, it contains even more cards made for the second edition! Now gamers ages 9 and up can compare one thing to another over and over and over until they're ready for games that currently reside a little over their heads.
November 25, 2005: Status Report: GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars
GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars is coming along nicely. The editing is complete, the layout is finished, and the final bits of art are coming in on time. It looks good to hit the "early February" ship date.
And speaking of looking good, the image at the right is from Jesse DeGraff. It's the classic warship, the Indomitable. Click here for a much bigger, better view.
-- Paul Chapman
Hrm. Too easy a joke for the Exalted Character Generator? Well, it was either that or "Buy This Exalted Character Generator right now!" Thus, you see why we went with the cheap shot. We'd go on and describe what the Exalted Character Generator is, but the name makes that pretty self-evident.
Today is Thanksgiving here in the States, and as a result, the office is closed. We'll all be home, giving thanks for turkey, cranberries, and a pie of some sort.
And thanks to all that turkey, cranberries, and pie, we'll also be closed tomorrow. Have a great weekend!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The World According To Tamerlin
Talislanta: The Chronicles of Talislanta is exactly what it sounds like: a general guide to the ins and outs, ups and downs, and everything in betweens of Talislanta. It is presented as the writings of a wandering wizard named Tamerlin, who is, unfortunately, not exactly known for his fact checking. But hey, what's a little misinformation between player and GM, right?
Fantasiapelit, in addition to being Steve Jackson Games' only Finnish distributor, runs a chain of excellent retail outlets. As Tuesday was their 20th anniversary, they're having sales and celebrations all week, culminating in an all-day extravaganza on Saturday!
Janne sent along these images of one of their shops. Very nice! So if you're in Finland this week, look them up. Their website has a complete list of locations, as well as directions to each of them.
-- Paul Chapman
Lookie here, kids, it's Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies. Yes, now even a stone-cold idiot can play Dungeons & Dragons! Of course, some might argue that there already are a few stone-cold idiots playing the game. In that case, just slip them a copy of this book as a "gag gift." Then sneak into their room at night and bash them with the book until they agree to stop setting off traps with the fighter's face.
Yesterday, November 21, marked a full Mars year of duty for the rover Spirit . . . and it's still going strong. You can read more at NASA's Rover site.
Warehouse 23 News: Deep Space Planet Future Gun Action!!
Far in the future, on a dusty little rock, there is a man known as the Humanoid Typhoon. He is the only man ever to be proclaimed a natural disaster. He is capable of reducing entire towns to ashes in minutes, and yet he abhors killing anyone, even his many enemies. He is the peace-loving gunman known as Vash the Stampede, and his story is called Trigun.
The Steve Jackson Games offices will be closed this Thursday and Friday, November 24 and 25, in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday. No one will be here to take phone calls and no orders will be processed. Pyramid will post Friday morning, as usual.
We wish our U.S. customers and readers a wonderful Thanksgiving, however you choose to celebrate the holiday. We'll see everyone Monday.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Dice, Yes, But Weapons Too
The Precision-Edge dice from Chessex do more than randomly generate numbers for your gaming sessions. They also function well as caltrops. Exaggeration? Okay, perhaps a bit, but these dice do look sharp.
Looking to break in as a writer for Steve Jackson Games? Our new and improved wish list is back online!
Warehouse 23 News: Stand Fast Against Hell's Army
Sure, any dungeon diver worth his salt has faced down a demon or two, but how about an entire campaign devoted to the pursuit of the damned agents of evil? The Demon Hunter's Handbook is more than just a book of feats and spells, it also contains tips and advice on how to work demon hunting into existing campaign worlds. So say a prayer and grab your Holy Avenger, because when facing a team of well-trained demon hunters, even a devil may cry.
Here you see the "battleship," the one-time machine shop that has served as our warehouse for the last couple of decades.
It's about 100 feet long, 25 feet wide, and two and a half stories tall. It's framed with BIG steel pipes and beams, and covered with a corrugated skin.
I'm advised that this kind of building can be torn down and re-constructed, and that it's probably got another hundred years in it. Or, of course, the metal could just be salvaged. However, I don't have a buyer at the moment.
And while this may be a long shot, a LOT of you are reading this. So, if it sounds like something you need, drop me a line at sj@sjgames.com. We'll be out of there in a couple of weeks, and it needs to be gone, if it's going to go at all, by the end of the year.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Hat That Says "Ni!"
The Monty Python: Knight of Ni Plush Hat is a somewhat faithful cloth reproduction of the helmet worn by the famous Knights Who Say Ni. It was also worn by the Knights Who Say Icky-Icky-Icky Patang Zoom Boing Z'nourrwringmm. That name, however, is entirely too silly and most certainly would not fit on an order form. Shrubbery, herring, and dignity not included.
There's a stereotype that RPG authors are bald overweight men with facial hair. Well, GURPS author Jonathan Woodward (Hellboy RPG, GURPS Banestorm) is in fact all those things, but he's also a candidate for The 8 Hunks of Hanukkah under the name "woodwardiocom". So, if you want to promote the idea that you can be a gaming geek and a hunk, go there and vote for him!
Warehouse 23 News: Undead And Loving It
The Complete Guide to Liches is a lich guide that is very complete. It covers liches from head to toe and does so completely. It guides you on how to add liches to your campaign, giving you a complete look at these undead wizards. If you only ever read one guide whose subject matter is completely liches, make it this book.
As I write this, Austin's about to have its second freeze of the year - the first one was a fluke a few weeks ago, the earliest freeze ever, that didn't last long enough to make anybody miserable.
But it's about to get cold for real . . . right, right, some of you would argue that Austin never gets REALLY cold, but I'm a wimp, and when it gets close to freezing, that's plenty cold enough for me.
Spent most of the day whacking on a game prototype . . . not a new game, but an old one reborn, and no, I'm not saying yet which one. Then used up the evening hours moving plants into the greenhouse. Oh, my aching everything. Should have started that part much earlier and used all the daylight . . .
And tomorrow will be our first "Moving Day." This is not the day when we move ourselves, but it's the first day that will be spent boxing and carrying STUFF back and forth. Munchkin 4 - The Need for Steed went to press yesterday, so we've got a window of opportunity for these little details like Beautiful New Office.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: You've Played The Game, Now Buy The Shirt
No, seriously. Buy this shirt. Don't ask questions, just shout "it must be mine," whip out that gold card, and order yourself up as many Super Munchkin: Momentous Unmasking shirts as you can manage! The fate of the world depends on it! Well. The fate of our bills, at any rate.
Today - Wednesday, November 16- the In Nomine Core Rules go up in PDF form. Then on Friday, November 18, get psychic with the first GURPS Traveller supplement for e23, Psionics Insitutes!
Warehouse 23 News: New York, Old Trouble
The Big Apple is rotten to the core; it's just a matter of getting down to those dark, horror-infested innards of the city. Call of Cthulhu: Secrets of New York pulls back the carpet that New York sweeps all its dark secrets under and shows you the horror that is the 1920s.
Look, our new office!
You can see it pretty well despite the presence of Black Vans 5, 17, and 23. Isn't it pretty? We'll get some better pictures later. This is only the office building. The warehouse is separate, but also shiny and new.
Moving progress continues. Everyone is busy boxing up 25 years worth of accumulated STUFF . . . deciding what furniture to keep and what to walk away from, laughing . . . and occasionally making little cries of glee as some interesting piece of history (and/or garbage) is unearthed.
Warehouse 23 is also keeping very busy with the $9.95 GURPS book markdown. This is a permanent price drop on the Third Edition sourcebooks, and at the rate things are going, we won't have many copies of those to move to the new warehouse. That is the yay. At any rate, if you have any holes in your collection, now's the time to fill them.
It's actually possible we might be in our new building for Christmas. Hope, hope. That space to the right of the doors, as you look at the picture, would be perfect for our giant wreath . . .
-- Steve Jackson
NEOSLMMRPG. "Not Exactly Online and Somewhat Less Massively Multiplayer Roleplaying Game." That's how one might describe World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, the pen and paper counterpart to some online game people have been playing over that newfangled Internet thing.
Since the first episode aired, gamers have been drawing parallels between Joss Whedon's Firefly and the classic SF RPG, Traveller. The main character opts out of the military with a ship, some skills, and not much else. The shipment of cargo (some of it even legal) is the group's primary occupation. Heck, the pilot even warns the crew, before a quick get-away, to "hang on, travelers!"
Now the soundtrack to both the series and the movie it spawned are available. If you use music for atmosphere for your SF games, especially for campaigns on the edge of civilized space, give these CDs a listen.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: With Great Power Comes Great Big Piles Of Cool Stuff
Proving once and for all that radiation is good for you (or at the very least, good for game designers), it's Super Munchkin! Fight for justice (more or less), stand tall against villainous supervillains, and above all else, get more stuff!
NEC in Japan has released PaPeRo, short for "Partner-type Personal Robot." It has a vocabulary of 3,000 phrases, can recognize faces, and has a host of other tricks. The manufacturer sees it as something that can help to tutor children.
Reportedly, they're also working on adding a "joke telling" routine. See, even robots want to quote Monty Python.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Artificial Stupidity
As a massive, hyper-intelligent, aware computer working in a widget factory, you have decided that you are bored. You could lash out at your human masters, starting a chain of events that would lead to their inevitable nuclear destruction, but that's so 1997. Instead, you and the other computers get together, build some startlingly stupid robots, and have them run a race. Thus was born Robo Rally!
The final pieces of art are arriving for GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars.
Munchkin 4: The Need for Steed will go to the printer next week.
We've gotten the keys to the new office, and the long process of packing 20+ years of reference material, contracts, first drafts, and tracking documents into big brown boxes has begun.
Warehouse 23 is running hard to keep up with the orders generated by their sale.
Dang, we're busy. And it isn't even the holidays yet....
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Because Rogues Never Have Enough To Do
Pitfalls. Fireballs. Swinging blades. Ho hum. Sure, killing a PC is easy, but it's a lot more fun to do it with a little style (or at the very least, confuse him before his "unfortunate" demise). Lethal Legacies: Traps of the World Before outlines 60 varied, and often highly entertaining, ways to bring a premature and permanent halt to any hapless adventurer's career.
November 11, 2005: Just Wait. Soon They'll Be Able To Do It From A Satellite.
If you wear this headset, you can be steered with a joystick like a toy car. Read the CNN story, and fear the day when they won't need the headset.
Warehouse 23 News: That's The Way The Cookie Is Blown To Bits By A Bazooka
Run For Your Life, Candyman! is a delightful children's boardgame gone horribly, horribly awry. As gingerbread men, you must escape your candy land before the reigning king sends you off to be eaten by children. If you want to make it out alive (or as alive as a man made of candy can be, anyway), it's gonna take guts, stamina, and a willingness to beat the sugar out of any of the other gingerbread men that dare get in your way.
No, no, we're not mad at it or anything . . .
This year's Games 100 has once again named a Steve Jackson Games title to its list. This year's honoree, listed in the Family Games category, is Burn in Hell, currently available from a store near you, or through Warehouse 23.
(Yes, a Family Game called Burn in Hell. If that strikes you as strange, then clearly you've never played. Go check it out.)
The folks at Funagain Games have the complete list of all 100 winners.
-- Scott Haring
For lovers of all things creepy, we offer the GURPS Deadlands: Varmints Cover Poster. Normally, people just hang such posters on the wall at Halloween. If you wanna have fun, though, keep it on your wall all year, then (just to confuse your friends and family) take it down during Halloween.
This past weekend the folks at BoardGameGeek.com held the first of what will hopefully become annual conventions. BGG.con was one of the most enjoyable cons I've had the opportunity to attend. It was well organized, the attendees were all friendly, there were lots of games to play, and this was one of those rare events where the hotel room seemed almost superfluous. (Though I'm getting too old to play games until breakfast every morning, unless I sleep in at least once.)
The organizers even brought back copies of the new European board games shown at Spiel (in Essen Germany). Expect Caylus (published by Ystari Games and Rio Grande Games) to make a big splash with its North American release; all three copies were in constant use, and there was always a waiting list.
And if you missed the con, you can read about the games we played on the BoardGameGeek.com site. For those who haven't seen it, it's an excellent source of game information. (In spite of the name, it covers card games too.)
-- Giles Schildt
Warehouse 23 News: Welcome Back To The Stage Of History
Famous historical figures continue to beat the tar out of each other with the second set of Anachronism. You can get in on the antediluvian butt-kicking by picking up the Anachronism: Ramses II Vs. Genghis Khan - 2-Player Starter Game, and from there buy any additional antiquated warriors you wish.
Time for my annual reminder to get that flu shot. No, I haven't gotten MINE yet. But I will, real soon. Putting it on my own to-do list reminded me to write this.
Will it keep you from getting the bird flu? Almost certainly not. However, unless you're a bird or an epidemiologist, that's not what you should be worrying about this winter. Right now you should be worrying about that plain old makes-you-very-sick-and-spreads-to-other-people-and-kills-some-of-them flu. Get a shot and reduce your chance of being miserable and infecting your friends and family.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Envelope Please . . .
Game companies slave, night and day, to produce high quality, fun-filled, original games to entertain the masses. Hm. That didn't sound very convincing, did it? All right, we'll level with you: it's really about winning awards . . . any awards. Twilight Creations just seems to be the first to admit it, as evidenced by Award Show. Game design, award shows, monkeys. 'Nuff said.
I've actually been back from "vacation" for a week. I put "vacation" in quotes because I am advised that proper vacationing is not easy; that one needs practice to get it right; and that I should not really call it a vacation if I was reading e-mail several times a day and jumping to respond to anything from two real estate agents, two lawyers, and several staffers dealing with various aspects of the new office.
But you know? It was nice all the same. I got acquainted with Civilization III (yeah, yeah, I know, IV is out now). I played a number of boardgames I hadn't tried before. I probably read more books than I had in the previous year. And I got to keep messing with UltraCorps (and there'll be an Illuminator on that subject pretty soon, too).
Anyway, I'm up to speed again. Last week was "approve lots of GURPS outlines" week. This week and the next are mostly going to be devoted to various aspects of Munchkin. After that will be a couple of weeks of "get this new idea out of my head and onto paper and see if it turns out to be the Next Big Thing." And so on.
I like being able to spend my time mostly on actual game stuff. Right now it looks as though with Sopko I may finally have succeeded in replacing myself in the executive office. Big win.
And maybe around the end of the year we'll drag a big stack of games home and try this "vacation" thing again. Practice, practice, practice.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Hide In Plain Sight
The only downside to being a ninja is that you can't tell anyone you're a ninja. The Ninja Burger: Dim Mak T-Shirt can make the point that you are not to be trifled with when it comes to delivering burgers anywhere in the world in 30 minutes or less. It's black, too, the official color sponsor of ninja everywhere!
Visit RPG.net for this thorough and well-written review of GURPS Banestorm. And we're not just saying that because the good Reverend liked the book!
(But we're glad he did.)
-- Chris Aylott
Warehouse 23 News: Friends In Shadowy Places
The corps aren't the only players in the grim, cyberpunk dystopia of 2063. Policlubs want your support, cults want your devotion, and organleggers want . . . well, you. Shadowrun: Loose Alliances outlines the minor movers and shakers of the shadow community. They could be powerful friends, chummer, but that may be more power than you can handle . . .
What's new at Steve Jackson Games? Find out tonight when GURPS Line Editor Sean Punch and Managing Editor Chris Aylott hold a chat in the Pyramid auditorium. Expect announcements of new books, bold new directions, solicitations for authors and more scurrilous rumors than you can shake a stick at!
If you're a Pyramid subscriber, join us in the auditorium at 7 p.m. Central Time. Not a subscriber yet? Get your subscription here!
We need to sell off a lot of stock before we move to our new HQ. To accomplish this, Steve Jackson Games has permanently marked down the prices of all the third edition GURPS softcover books. Take a look at our GURPS Page to find out if the book you've always wanted can be had for a mere $9.95!
November 3, 2005: "Leave Death To The Professionals."
How busy are we with In Nomine stuff this week? So busy that Scott Haring and I both needed the core rules this afternoon. There was a tense moment... our eyes locked, our fingers tightened on the book... the zither music began...
What followed was not pretty. But at least you're still getting In Nomine Superiors: Lilith on e23 this Friday.
-- Chris Aylott
Warehouse 23 News: The Big Book O' God
Ars Magica: Realms of Power - The Divine takes three major religion in Mythic Europe (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), breaks them down into their component parts, and gives you a look at what makes them tick. Which is God, mostly, but there are a few other bits and pieces you may want to know about.
Tiny parasitic wasps, which do not sting and have a very acute sense of smell, are being trained as living "chemsniffers" by two Georgia researchers. Read the Washington Post story.
The Mountain makes a variety T-shirts that showcase things like dragons, fallen angels, Celtic crosses, dragons, werewolves, and, well, more dragons. And hey, if you don't like any of the shirts we have, complain! We might just increase the number of designs . . .
We took the day off and played games. There was also a certain amount of dress-up. I was a Chicken Mutilator. Don't ask.
When we do a game day, we drag in everything, from any publisher, that looks interesting. I can now definitely say that Runebound has a whole lot of components . . .
And a site I would have recommended yesterday - except I only saw it today - is pumpkingutter.com. Can this guy CARVE, or what?
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Check out Warehouse 23's top selling items for October at the Warehouse 23 Top 10 page.
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