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Illuminated Site of the Week
May 31, 2007: 'Tis The Season For Surveys!
Ohio State University's School of Communication, working with GAMA
and The Wargamer, have a new survey, looking at "patterns of motivation and usage" by gamers. Whew! That's pretty high-brow stuff, but it only takes about a half hour.
Some of you may remember a similar study last year, by the same group. This is the follow-up, designed to expand and build upon their current data. If you're interested, here's the link to The Wargamer's non-academic analysis – definitely an interesting read for anyone looking at the hobby games industry as a whole.
And on a lighter, but no less survey-related note, don't forget about the Munchkin Quest survey! Over 1,000 gamers have already given us their feedback on the cards, figures, and packaging of Munchkin Quest, but we want more! Our survey's a little shorter, a lot more focused, and will help us build the ultimate Munchkin boardgame.
-- Paul Chapman
If you can stand the smell, working for a necromancer isn't so bad. Unless you screw up. Which, being a goblin, you did in impressively short order. Now you get used as something of an impromptu bomb squad. Over and over again. But hey, maybe you'll get lucky and next time something goes Badaboom in your face there won't be enough matter left to use as a base component in your resurrection. Dare to dream!
Yes, we're in yet another language. You can now download the Simplified Chinese version of GURPS Lite from e23. Thanks to Martin Barela and Linda Wang for creating (and laying out) this translation!
Warehouse 23 News: Intrigue! Romance! Um . . . Bards!
Bard's Gate is a really popular tourist stop for bards. It was really a good call on the city board's part to put "bard" right there in the name. It really speaks to bards, saying "hey, bards, come to our city, because your profession is right there in the name." They probably have some nice parks and historic sites too, but boy do they cater to bards.
GURPS Ultra-Tech is now available in PDF via e23. It won't tell you what that nanomorph assassin is dreaming of, but you may sleep a bit better yourself with a personal force screen.
-- Thomas Weigel
Warehouse 23 News: Seriously, We Haven't Eaten In Three Days
Jaunty Jalopies is a card game. It has a sequel called Motoring Madness. You will buy them both, right now, because we are shooting microwave beams through the monitor and into your brain. Normally, we'd lie to you about this sort of thing, but the Advertising and Subversion portion of the budget was diverted to the extremely expensive microwave beams. Along with everything else. Including salaries. Buy something.
May 28, 2007: Playtest Call: GURPS Spaceships Series
We are seeking playtesters for GURPS Spaceships (a series of 32-50 page e23 GURPS Space supplements), the first of which will focus on spaceship design and combat. Playtesters must be willing to use the system's rules -- for the first book in the series, that means building ships or playing out combats, not just reading the manuscript! As it is a multi-part series, the Spaceships playtest is expected to stretch over a longer period of time than most recent playtests (about two weeks per book).
However, no familiarity with prior GURPS space design or combat systems is required; this system is not based on Traveller or Vehicle Design rules! Playtest will start soon and participant slots will be more limited than usual, so please respond quickly. The deadline for submissions is May 30, and we expect the first book's playtest to run from June 1 through June 15.
As customary, playtest participation is via a closed e-mail list limited to Pyramid subscribers. To apply, please e-mail the Lead Playtest, Jeff Wilson (jwilson@io.com), with "GURPS SPACESHIPS" in the subject, and include your name, pyramid username, preferred e-mail address for the mailing list, and any qualifications you feel make you suited for the playtest. Inexperienced GURPS players and never-before playtesters are encouraged to apply.
-- Thomas Weigel
Warehouse 23 News: A Card Game No Longer!
Warlords of the Accordlands is an RPG based on the Warlord CCG. Like the card game, it's a dark fantasy setting full of war and conflict and icky-badness. Unlike the card game, it's, um . . . it's not printed on cards.
This . . . is fun. Sort of like a cross between checkers and Strange Synergy, only not very. And it does not seem to be the product of a big studio, let alone a huge soul-eating corporation; it was done by a Game Design Guy and a Graphics and Sound Guy.
It's a two-player game. The site will match you with an opponent, or you can just talk somebody else into logging in at the same time you do, and learn together.
You can approach the learning process in two ways. If you turn off your pop-up blocker so you can read all the docco in advance, it'll be a while before you actually play, but you're less likely to see a game go down the drain while you say "Huh? What?" On the other hand, if you just dive into it, you'll have the fun of learning about all sorts of interesting powers. Half the time you'll learn by getting something awful done to you.
Aaaaand here's the link.
-- Steve Jackson
The Monty Python: Black Knight Talking Bop Bag. He gets knocked down, but he gets up again. You're never gonna keep him down. Well, unless you run him through. That'd take care of him, but good. And really, he's not hard to pass. You could just walk around him. Come to think of it, he's actually quite a useless little git, isn't he?
May 26, 2007: GURPS Martial Arts Is At The Printer!
After months of meticulous research, thousands of hours of writing, innumerable playtest posts, more thousands of hours of editing, weeks of layout, and a light dusting of art direction, GURPS Martial Arts is now at the printer.
This is a big one, folks. Written by martial arts expert Peter Dell'Orto and GURPS Fourth Edition architect Sean Punch, Martial Arts pushed the covers beyond a normal GURPS book, expanding to 256 pages. Even at the new page count, there's a lot more text than art, making this one of our most substantial tomes in years. If your game includes combat, be it gritty special forces action or way over-the-top wuxia monks, Martial Arts has what you need.
Don't believe me? Check out the Table of Contents and Index, or the Glossary. That's a meaty list of topics! Watch for more upcoming excerpts, with spine-tingling peeks into techniques, weapons, and even ninja!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Won't You Take Me To . . . Dungeon Toooown?
Adventurers are dumb. If you waved enough shiny gold objects in front of an adventurer and asked him to run head-first into a granite wall, chances are they'd be big, wet stains on the rock before you could utter the word "go." Dungeonville expands on this on this a bit, but the premise is mostly the same. Hero = gullible, greedy moron.
May 25, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Pole Position
The Zetas are coming, or maybe they're already here. Hard to tell when they send a representative named Nancy to deal with humanity and all we can find out is that there was supposed to be a twelfth planet ripping away our crusts back in 2003. You can find - or perhaps just hunt for - the details you want at ZetaTalk. Make sure your Third Density is up to snuff if you want to claim a place after everything goes to pot. -- Suggested by David Smallwood
Drat the timing! SurveyMonkey, the host of our Munchkin Quest poll, will be down between Friday, May 25th at 6:00 PM (PST) until Saturday, May 26th at noon (PST), for an upgrade. If the poll is out of service when you try it, please try again Saturday afternoon. Thanks!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: A Game 2000 Years In The Making
That's actually a complete lie, but we've always wanted to say that. It makes everything sound so important. We probably could have just said "Parthenon: Rise of the Aegean is primo keen," but that's so blasé. We want to be unblasé! Antiblasé! We're gonna deblasinéte the whole darn planet! Just you see!
The long-rumored Munchkin boardgame, Munchkin Quest, is in production. This is no ordinary release -- we haven't done a full-sized board game for years, and times have changed.
As you might expect, we'd like some feedback. If you would like to share your opinions with us, please take our survey. We'd love to hear from both boardgame enthusiasts and casual players, as well as Munchkin fanatics, and pretty much anyone interested in a tile-based dungeon crawl, Munchkin-style.
Feel free to pass on the link to others who may be interested. Thanks!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Fish (With) Sticks
If you're the sort that typically runs standard-fare dungeon crawls, you may be wondering "why do I care about these Off the Wall Armies Fish?" You think you've no use for them. Well, you're wrong. Next time you're running an adventure and some smart aleck starts making with the "ooooo, orcs, I'm so scared" malarkey, whip out these babies. That'll learn 'em.
From our own David Morgan-Mar – creator of the Irregular Webcomic, co-author of GURPS Bio-Tech, author of GURPS Casey & Andy and other amazing game material, bon vivant and man about town – comes the Intelligent Design Sort. This algorithm is not only blazingly fast but theologically correct, for certain values of "theologically" and "correct."
Warehouse 23 News: Little Big Cthulhu
Were there a counter on Lovecraft's grave, it would probably have just clicked over to its one-millionth spin. My Little Cthulhu is so terrifyingly cute, so mind-blisteringly saccharine, so soul-crushingly "awwwwww" inspiring that human minds go mad, mad from the merest glimpse of the thing. Which, come to think of it, would probably make ol' H.P. happy. Win-win!
We've been trying to fill this position for some time. It wasn't easy. But it's the first step to ramping up our game production just a bit, so wish her luck. Meet Shelli Galey, who says . . .
So . . . I have been asked to write my introduction to you . . . in other words, “ILLUMINATE” you as to who I am. With that sentence, you should know I feel right at home here at Steve Jackson Games. I was brought in to be the Print Buyer, although I was not 100% sure that was what I was coming in to interview for.
I was introduced to SJ Games by my husband, who has played with Steve’s toys for . . . well, let's just say a long time for both HIS and Steve’s sake . . . When we moved here to Austin I saw the website said feel free to send in a resume, so I did. My background is what I would call a major in customer service and service quality analysis with a minor in printing and graphics. I didn’t really expect to hear from them other than the “Thank You” I received from Steve when I sent it in.
As the newest kid in the SJ Corral, now it is my turn to say Thank You . . . the staff here has made me feel welcome and included right off the bat. I have seen Munchkins, Black Swallowtail Caterpillars, and Mockingbirds and I have only been in the office 3 days now. I can MOO and log into my email, and I have seen the most efficient filing system in my life. I think I am going to LOVE it here.
. . . And we hope she does!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: We're Not Making Another Stupid Plane Joke
Nope. We're just gonna tell you about the latest batch of Off the Wall Armies Snakes and let it be. Someone has to draw the line, and we don't want any gosh darn plane jokes on our gosh darn advertisements.
Lloyd Alexander, author of the Chronicles of Prydain, died last week.
I encounted Prydain in my high school library, reading The Black Cauldron first. Yes, that's out of order, and ever since I've been extremely careful to research series before starting.
My misadventures aside, the adventures of Taran, Assistant Pig-Keeper, have stuck in my head. I guess it's time to track down those books again, and give them a re-read.
Kind of like raising a glass in salute, but more fitting for an author.
-- Paul Chapman
When it comes to randomly determining a number, dice do the job splendidly. However, they could use a little work in the visibility department. They're so tiny and hard to read. And Eris help you if they roll under something. Well, no more! To solve all these problems, we present these giant novelty Foam Dice! Giant and novelty? Such a combo cannot be defeated!
May 20, 2007: GURPS High-Tech Progress Report
The third GURPS book scheduled for release this year has just hit an important milestone -- the transition from "editing" to "production."
Sean Punch, the GURPS Line Editor himself, personally took the editing responsibilities for High-Tech. This was a big job, because Hans-Christian Vortisch, Shawn Fisher, and Michael Hurst all know their stuff . . . and there's a lot of stuff to know.
Last week, Sean polished off the last few details, and handed it over to Managing Editor Phil Reed. Now the text enters preliminary layout, and art specs get written.
We're still many weeks away from actually sending this project to the printer, much less releasing it, but this is the point when the project moves from "text-like" to more "book-like." It's a big step.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Come For The Hot Dogs
Stay for the giant, face-eating monsters. Coney Island has long been a site of merriment for hundreds of thousands of tourists. Now, Xcrawl: Coney Island Crawl turns this slice of Americana into a place of thrills, spills, and kills. And bills if you keep throwing fireballs into the attractions like that . . .
May 19, 2007: An e23 Original! GURPS Creatures Of The Night, Vol. 1
The creatures encountered in an adventure set the tone for the game. They should be appropriate to the genre, but still a surprise for players. GURPS Creatures of the Night, Vol. 1 provides the GM with an assortment of monsters, animals, and unnatural beings that are both versatile and specific, designed to create unforgettable conflicts and unexpected alliances with the characters.
The tellanode (a secrets-discovering growth under someone's house) and pool beast (a dungeon-crawl creature whose only purpose appears to be jumping out at people and eating them) are already in my home campaign (don't tell my players). But you can also find the harriad (a hot little number who tempts greedy and ambitious men), nerloch (a different kind of zombie), ptallant lizard (earthquake on the half-shell), shoulder giant (earthquake by the pound), and a bunch more.
Scott Maykrantz, author of the original GURPS Creatures of the Night, is back with more beasties you (or more importantly, your players) have never heard of. Scott did the primary design and art (who knew he was so talented?), and Jason Levine (better known as Reverend Pee Kitty on our forums) collaborated to produce the crunchy bits.
And does that say Volume 1? Why yes, yes it does . . .
Buy it today. Make your players weep tomorrow.
-- Thomas Weigel
More or less. As Good as anyone in this crazy, mixed-up Sphere can be, at any rate. Military specifications, culture, maps, history: Classic BattleTech: Handbook - House Davion has all the little details a BattleTech grognard needs. Needs. Lest they start drooling and twitching from lack of BattleTech.
May 18, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: The Power Of Rumor
Did Swamp Thing rip off Man-Thing or was it the other way around? Did someone's letter of resignation really end up in a comic panel? Or perhaps you're thinking of the joyful little note someone snuck in when his disliked editor left his job. The Comic Book Urban Legends Revealed history keeps track of these and many more rumors from the funny-book mills. The most amazing part seems to be how many of these things turn out to be true. -- Suggested by CthulhuBob Lovely
Warehouse 23 News: Mothra: The Gross, Ugly Version
Sure, everybody knows that big, buggy, protector-of-the-Earth in her imago stage, but what about her more formative years? Though not as pretty, the Godzilla Origins: Mothra Larva is still a formidable kaiju in her own right.
The Miniatures Page reports that Angus McBride is dead at 76 of a heart attack. McBride was best known to gamers for his detailed and accurate illustrations in the Osprey Men-At-Arms series. He also created many illustrations for ICE's Middle-earth Roleplaying books. Richard Kerr cited him as the inspiration for many of the Off The Wall Armies figures.
Warehouse 23 News: Clash With The Titans
Imbued with the power of a god, the life of a Scion is many things. Boring isn't one of them. Scion: Hero will get you started on the secret war with the biggest meanies that ever were big and mean: the Titans. Mechanical owl sold separately.
It was an idea that fell into the "Of course! How clever!" category. I don't remember who came up with it; I remember it being mentioned in a post-GAMA Trade Show brainstorm in 2006, but it could have been brought up even earlier.
But we finally found a bottler who would print custom labels for us this year, and Munchkin Water was born. Yes, it has in-game benefits. Even the empty bottle has in-game benefits.
Sadly, the facility hosting GTS this year had fine-print rules against bringing in outside beverages, which they interpreted to include give-away water. We managed to hand out just a couple dozen before being shut down; if your retailer got one, he's very lucky!
And while we managed to hand off several cases to our friends in distribution, to pass on to the retailers in their area (or to help them win in their weekly Munchkin games - I didn't ask), we've still got a few extra cases. Hop over to Warehouse 23 for your bottle now; supplies are limited.
Note: Not available for sale to addresses in California, Hawaii, or Maine - sorry!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Deranged Duergar Do Dastardly Deeds!
Devious and deadly, duergar dig in the darkness. Dumb do-gooders dungeon-dive and discover dirty duergar. Do-gooders and duergar duel. Dungeon Crawl Classics #44: Dreaming Caverns of the Duergar, a Dungeons & Dragons document, delivers delightful, deep down dogfights.
Munchkin Cthulhu 2 – Call of Cowthulhu
Aw, shucks! Y'all loved Munchkin Cthulhu so much, we jes' had ta bring ya more of that down-home Munchkin craziness!
Munchkin Cthulhu 2 – Call of Cowthulhu puts the Great Old Ones out to pasture, Munchkin-style! In this 56-card supplement you'll find:
- More monsters! Hog-Sothoth, the Sheep Ones, Shoggoats – even Cowthulhu itself!
- More whackers! Squish unnatural creatures with the Rolling Pin, chop them down with the Scythe, or clean them up with the Super Duper Pooper Scooper.
- A new card type – Madness! These are played like Curses, but every Madness has its advantages as well!
And more of everything else. Watch out for Old Man Nodens with his faithful Doggoth, resting on the porch. Defeat the Arkhamster with your Prize-Winning Preserves. And fear . . . Bovine Intervention!
Call of Cowthulhu. Country life will never be the same.
Note: This release will also be available to retailers as a "six-pack" -- six copies of Call of Cowthulhu in a single, easy-to-order SKU. If you really need six copies, however, feel free to ask.
-- Paul Chapman
There are other ways of resolving our differences besides just running at each other with swords. Legend of the Five Rings: Art of the Duel offers a few alternatives. Like, for example, running at each other with spears. Or running at each other bare-handed. See? Lotsa ways.
Warehouse 23 has contracted with FedEx, and we are now offering FedEx shipping in place of UPS. We're very excited about this change in carriers. FedEx will allow us to provide less expensive shipping to our customers, along with a new shipping option: FedEx Home Delivery.
Home Delivery means that packages will be delivered Tuesday through Saturday, making it even easier to schedule deliveries when you will be home. Shipping to the office instead of your home? Just note that the shipment is going to a business during checkout and you'll get Monday-Friday delivery and an even lower shipping cost!
But in any new relationship, we expect to encounter surprises. If you encounter a surprise of the unpleasant variety (error messages, inaccurate website information, or anything else that might slip past us) please drop me an e-mail at manager@warehouse23.com and I'll look into it right away.
-- Shadlyn
Warehouse 23 News: The Obvious Truth (Unless It's A Lie)
Dungeon Crawl Classics #43: The Curse of the Barrens is, without a doubt, the forty-third book in the Dungeon Crawl Classics line. Unless the cover is lying. That would make us very sad. Awww.
At Penguicon (and no, this still isn't the last "Wow, Penguicon stuff!" post), I saw a presentation by RepRap, which is short for Replicating Rapid Prototyper. The gimmick here - and I don't mean 'gimmick' disparagingly, but with delighted respect - is that the goal is to build a fabricator that can create the key parts for . . . itself. So once the first one is built, there will be a LOT of them around, making whatever their owners need . . . for a hobbyist in Austin, an isolated ranch in Australia, or a village in the Third World.
Here's another project . . . similar idea, different approach. The Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories Candyfab 4000 is already up and running. It uses sugar as a manufacturing medium, and creates very large low-res objects that can be used (for instance) as originals for lost-wax casting.
How long before you can download patterns for tools, toys, and miniatures over the net, and make them at home? Not all that long . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Only Available In Kenya
Where can ya see eldritch horrors? Only in Kenya. Yeah, we got horrors and secrets in Kenya. Forget Norway! See the horror Kenya has to offer in Call of Cthulhu: Secrets of Kenya.
May 12, 2007: "Austin's Thirty Little Secret"
Yes, that title is in quotes. Those aren't my words -- I'm much more likely to be the one groaning in pun-offs.
If you, however, are a regular pun-ster, inflicting clever wordplay upon friends and foes alike, then check out the thirtieth O. Henry Pun-Off later this month, right here in Austin.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: It's, Like, Full Of Stars, Man
What Orbit lacks in science fact it makes up for in space-bound hot rods, raygun-slinging catgirls, and a supply of guitars great enough to allow for both rock and roll. You don't need no rocket science when you've got style in excess.
May 11, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Pick A Period And Stick With It
The Museum of Jurassic Technology may be somewhat inaptly named. If you're looking for a source on the big lizards, you may be disappointed. They take their time getting around to telling you what it is they do offer, which includes information on the dogs Russia sent into space and collections from L.A. mobile home parks. They mention more than they show, so some of it is obviously intended to lure you into the brick and mortar building itself. And who wouldn't be enticed by cryptic mentions of Noah's Ark? -- Suggested by Brad Finch
Warehouse 23 News: Interior Decorating Of The Damned
More dangerous than the End Table of Malcontent. More sinister than the Hammock of Blight. Titular item of the latest Descent expansion, The Altar of Despair is truly the greatest threat humankind has ever faced. From furniture.
May 10, 2007: The Church Of The FSM In Lego
Yeeeeees!
(And yes, it's another Penguicon post, and I'm not done with 'em quite yet.)
At Penguicon . . . in the same room as the Chaos Machine, where I could see it any time I looked up . . . was Chris Doyle's "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" in Lego.
You can see it online - and I'm glad I did, because it's so full of details that even an enraptured Legoholic who has in fact been Touched by his Noodly Appendage can miss some, and the site has lots of pictures and descriptions - but actually seeing it in front of you is even neater.
Too cool. Thanks, Chris!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: This Deck Is Stacked
When it comes to Munchkin, some people just don't get it. We call these people "sane" "unhappy gamers." To rectify this problem, we bring you the Munchkin Rigged Demo. Now it's easier than ever to help us pay the rent spread happiness to gamers everywhere!
For GTS, the nice folks at Chessex created several engraved dice boots for those exhibitors doing demos. As you can see, ours has the famous Eye-In-The-Pyramid.
Dice go in the top, bounce around, and roll to a stop at the toe guard. A nifty and controlled way to give your randomizers a good shake without losing them in the sofa.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The Good. Bad And Ugly Sold Seperately.
Small-scale, larger-than-life, and Eurasian, the Anima: Tactics - Light Faction Starter provides an entry point to mini metal combat with fast-paced flair. We've also got Anima: Tactics - Dereck Shezard if you find silly alignments like "light" or "dark" to be a bit extreme. You cheeky fence-straddler, you.
May 8, 2007: Tom Smith Made Me Laugh Again!
He handed me some disks at Penguicon. I listened. That did it.
Tom's now doing a song a week and distributing them as a free RSS feed. If you like one, you can pay the standard 99 cents and get a better quality recording. The DRM is the honor system; I like that.
You can check things out at Tom Smith Online. Which ones did I like? Well, most of them. Which of them did I like most? Hmm. "I Want My Flying Car." "Destroyer of Worlds" (it's a love song). "Lars Needs Women."
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Found A Thesaurus!
New! Exciting! Wondrous! Striking! Magnificent! Phenomenal! Unreal! Glorious! Astounding Hero Tales delivers more exclamation points per hour than is probably healthy!
There are now 11 different implementations of the Fnorder, including two new ones in Ruby - our thanks to their demented creators!
Sure, old-fashioned characters like mother used to roll up are great, but in today's on-the-go, fast-paced, take-no-prisoners world, you just don't have time to slave over a hot rulebook making characters. Fret not, Mutants & Masterminds players, for salvation is at hand! Instant Superheroes gives you homemade taste in dog-eat-dog time!
So it appears that DARPA is working on binoculars that will, basically, read the mind of the troop using them, so it "knows" what he's seeing before his conscious mind does. Here's the good part: this might be only three years out.
The Wired article doesn't speculate about civilian applications for the technology, so I will. What if a car on the freeway could correctly react to a problem situation up ahead before the driver had consciously noticed it?
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Thingie Of Something
Oh no! A princess/holy relic/mystical energy has been kidnapped/stolen/sealed away by an evil warlord/cult/dragon! It's up to the heroes/mercenaries/bored people with swords to lead the charge into the cave/tomb/underground temple and battle the cultists/monster hordes/carbon monoxide within and save the day/town/plane of existence. Ready your sword/staff/pepper spray for Dungeon Crawl Classics #42: The Secret of the Stonearm!
May 5, 2007: Origins Award Nominations
This year, Steve Jackson Games got three nominations for Origins Awards, in two different categories.
In the Non-Collectable Card Game or Expansion of the Year category:
Cowpoker, designed by James Ernest and Mike Selinker, illustrated by Greg Hyland.
Munchkin Impossible, designed by Steve Jackson, illustrated by John Kovalic.
In the Roleplaying Game Supplement of the Year category:
GURPS Bio-Tech, written by David Pulver and David Morgan-Mar, edited by William H. Stoddard, cover art by Abrar Ajmal.
The nominees this year represent a broad sampling of our industry, from the very established (Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf) to the rising stars (Burning Wheel, Shifting Skies). If nothing else, these nominations highlight the wide variety of products we as gamers have available to us.
These products will be voted upon by the attendees at the Origins International Games Expo on July 5-8, 2007. So if you're gaming in Columbus, Ohio, in early July, remember to vote! (And remember to come meet Steve, since he'll be there running the Pirate Game and showing off early prototypes of the new Munchkin boardgame.)
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The Lunatics Are On The . . . Page
If you find your Exalted game strangely short of loonies, The Manual of Exalted Power - Lunars will provide an ample supply. And they'll even be delicately seasoned to match second edition sensibilities.
May 4, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: You're Not Thinking Fourth-Dimensionally
The DeLorean Motor Company has take a lot of kidding over the years, and there's nothing better than a site that can laugh at itself. In fact, there are in-jokes within the in-jokes if you're in the market for vehicular upgrades. The search engine can help you find a flux capacitor, a Mr. Fusion home energy reactor, and the versatile hover conversion. -- Suggested by Kim Schmidt
The tricky thing about killing everybody is that when you get done, there's nobody left. How bothersome. To help reverse this annoying trend, Atlas Games has released Let's Kill: A Pretty Corpse. How nice! Now where's that machete.
The eighth Fnordcast has arrived! This one is jam-packed with gamer goodness.
First off, we've got an interview with Ross Jepson, long-time gamer and our Director of Sales. Next up, we've got a Shameless Plug from Nicholas -- his final act before being dragged away by the fnords. Finally, I took some time out from my Games Expo activities to interview White Wolf's Oscar Garza and Indie Press Revolution's Brennan Taylor.
Oh, and a question for Dr. Kromm's Lab ties up the episode with a shiny Canadian bow.
Check out the episode here.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Warehouse 23 has posted an updated Top 10 page for April. Check it out, and see what all the cool kids are buying . . .
May 2, 2007: Five Things I Learned At GTS '07
#1: Read the fine print. No, finer than that.
#2: Spell- and number-check your addresses. Especially for time sensitive pallets containing your booth and all your promotional materials.
#3: Personal fans with blinking LEDs that spell out words will attract more attention than a 9' by 15' wall of colorful posters.
#4: If you have an awesome crew, a six-hour setup process can be completed in half that time. (See #2, above.) And I had an awesome crew.
#5: Planning helps. Telling your crew about your plans before the show, and having printouts of the plans to remind them at the show, helps even more. And the combination of planning and an awesome crew makes for a spectacular event.
Despite a couple major problems (see #1 and #2, above), this was one of the best GAMA Trade Shows I've attended, largely thanks to Randy Scheunemann, Will Schoonover, Mark Schmidt, and Andrew Walters, with assistance from Steve Jackson, Ross Jepson, and Thomas Weigel.
Thanks guys, for making GTS '07 a great show!
-- Paul Chapman
Wanna go halvsies on that can of adventure? One on One Adventures #6: The Shroud of Olindor serves two and yet has 100% more rogue than the next leading brand!
. . . recorded in between working on cards for the Munchkin Cthulhu supplement . . .
- It's raining. Not a hard rain, but a serious one. Yay rain. Everything is so green right now, it looks like Oklahoma. (If you are from one coast or the other, or farther away, your image of Oklahoma may be based on Westerns, and you may imagine that it's brown. Trust me. Green.)
- At Penguicon, I bought this very cool shirt and look, they sell it online too, and there it is!
- When I came home today, I found a junk call from AT&T on my answering machine. A completely robotic junk call. Do these people really think it's earning them any goodwill at all to have a RECORDING call their customers? Of course, I'm on the no-call list, but hey, they're the PHONE COMPANY. Funniest thing is that when I called the number they left in their attempt to sell me more services, in hopes of sharing a thought or two with them, I got another recording that told me the wait would be about ten minutes. So they're uniformly inept. I need a new phone company.
- Origins is coming closer all the time. I need to inventory some chests and rebuild some pirate ships!
And yes, I really thought about photographing some prototypes for you today, but I fear they may still be on the pallet coming back from GTS.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Fantasy Shop 'til You Fantasy Drop
This tumultuous tome tarries not in transmitting tempting and terrific tools and toys to tight-fisted travelers. The Tome of Artifacts trumps that terrible thought that your temples and tombs are totally tapped of treasure.
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