|
Home |
Past columns |
Illuminator by E-mail |
XML |
Illuminated Site of the Week
June 30, 2007: Call Of Cowthulhu – At The Printer!
The cards for Munchkin Cthulhu 2 – Call of Cowthulhu are at the printer. And there was much rejoicing!
This set includes 56 of the most sanity-blasting barnyard puns you'll see this side of Kadath. John Kovalic illustrates each, of course – his ability to withstand the raw, unfiltered jokes of Steve Jackson is legendary, and he draws real purty too.
Call of Cowthulhu is an expansion for Munchkin Cthulhu, available now. Munchkin and Cthulhu go together like peanut butter and fried eggs – yummy!
Look for the finished cards (and the rulesheet and tuckbox) on store shelves in August!
– Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Arrrrrr-Right, Already!
Ye be thinkin' ye can escape from tha piratey speach? Bah-hah-har! Ye be mistaken! Avast! Hearty! Rum! Me timbers! Doubloons! Scallywag! Um . . . Aye! Er . . . Lubber! Ah . . . did we use 'hearty'? Hmm, we seem to have run out. Sheesh, we ran out of pirate words before we could even get to Walk the Plank.
June 29, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: There's No Such Thing As Bad Publicity
Why else would there be over a dozen stories a week at Signs of Witness about the end of the world? They have a couple of years of this stuff, and the site was updated as this was being posted. Rapid-fire disasters litter the newsfeed: Deserts swell, deities give up, those stingray attacks are no fluke, and if you get the date wrong for the endtimes it's an offense that'll get you arrested. At least you won't languish in jail for long . . . -- Suggested by The Church of the SubGenius
Warehouse 23 News: "Special" Vampires
Special like "forces," not special like "keeps trying to suck blood from Chia Pets." The Befanged Ones described in Bloodlines: The Chosen will give your Vampire game just a little more Awesome, pushing the chronicle up from Pretty Awesome and into the Totally Awesome category.
We've been rained on every day for the past week. Currently, we're about 14" over normal levels for this time of the year. We're actually under a flash flood watch, and several roads were closed briefly due to water flowing over the bridge. However, if you have been reading the news about "18 inches of rain falling near Austin, Texas . . ." no, it's not THAT near. We have no reason to believe the office will wash away any time soon (cross your fingers). But right now we're really short on dusty trails and tumbleweeds.
There will, however, be some at Origins next week. SJ will be bringing a playtest deck of The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin for one of his events. If you're in Columbus on July 5-8, stop by and see what the munchkins are up to now.
– Paul Chapman
We're told that it's short for "dimensional beings," but wouldn't it be more fun if D-Bees of North America were actually about little buzzy mutants with machine guns? Eh? Wouldn't it? No? Oooookay, fine, have it your way. But don't say we never tried to spice things up, Rifts fans! If you do, we'll release our deadly bees! With machine guns! See if we won't!!
We got our printed sample copies of GURPS Martial Arts today. The main shipment is still somewhere in the Pacific, but it's on the way. The book looks good . . . lots and lots of text, but enough art to make it pretty. Still, the text is the important thing here. This book is definitely About The Words. I like it – I hope you do!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Refusing To Go About It By Halves
That's Uberplay for you. It's either Double or Nothing. None of that pansy, in-between, wishy-washy malarkey! This is a malarkey-free zone! All malarkey will be shot on sight!
. . . may possibly be the best name for a game/comic store in the entire history of the world.
That's where I went Saturday to show off the brand new Munchkin 5 – De-Ranged and run a pre-release game of The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin. Which was a lot of fun, and even showed me a couple of places the cards need tweaking. The youngest munchkin at the table found an unexpected card interaction and DROVE A TRUCK THROUGH IT. Am I going to close the hole? NO! I'm going to leave it for others to find . . . if they're munchkin enough.
Here I am with Owner/Admiral Charles Leake.
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Fantasy! Imperiums! This Book Has Both!
We really don't have any idea what's in Fantasy Imperium (or its deluxe equivalent), but it's probably pretty cool. Think of it as an adventure. Think of it as some grand, unexplored island. Think of it as your great-grandmother's ashes if that's what it takes. Just buy the silly thing. That's all we want. (Hey, at least we're honest!)
This YouTube video bills itself as "Theme from Tetris* played on a Solid State Musical Tesla Coil built by Joe DiPrima and Oliver Greaves and the Austin, TX Chapter of The Geek Group."
The second thing that's neat is that I learned about this via e-mail from Marcus L. Rowland, in London. Despite the fact that it was created here in Austin. And we take this kind of instant worldwide communication for granted now. That's even cooler than sparky music.
- Steve Jackson
* Academic geek note: Tetris has had a number of different "themes." They are playing the music most commonly identified with the game: the Russian folk song Korobeiniki.
Warehouse 23 News: Hey, It Might Work
Ever tripped over a log and bumped your head on a rock? And while you were lying there, dazed, getting your bearings, did you think about Diomin? Did you think about how you didn't own Acceptance of Fate? About how you need to rectify that situation? No? Well, perhaps it's time you went for a walk . . .
So we have all these cautionary tales about the interesting ways robots might malfunction given a bit of intelligence. There's even the Mickey Mouse "Sorcerer's Apprentice" cartoon on the fantasy side. But it already happens in real life. For instance, there's the story of the squirrel and the beet root pellets. I'll remember that one the next time I have my wistful dream about an intelligent house full of little cleaning and maintenance and security bots.
Silly mortals. Walking around with your lattes and MP3 players and your Web 2.0. You think you're so great. Great between two pieces of bread with a light spread of mustard, maybe. Just you wait. When the Monster Mayhem breaks out, then shall we see who is greatest!
What's deadlier than sharks?
Holes in the sand. Really. The big hole that you dug for fun may kill you . . . or somebody else.
What's Illuminated about this? It's a great example of the way we (mis)perceive dangers. Sharks are exciting. The media loves sharks. Blood! Screaming! Blurry videos with the theme from Jaws dubbed in! My baby was eaten by a fish, aieeeee! But your kids are more likely to die because some energetic twit dug a hole and the walls collapsed.
Read the interesting story on CNN and think about real dangers versus exciting ones. For extra credit, which is more dangerous – Jaws or Bambi? Google and find out how many people a year are killed by DEER . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: A Book Doomed To Repeat Itself
Glorantha: History of the Heortling Peoples is the latest offering from Stafford to fans of Glorantha. Unless we all learn something from it, however, there's a fair chance we'll be seeing the book again someday.
June 22, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: It Must Be Something In The Air
Not to be confused with BBC Radio, BBS Radio is an on-line radio webcast; in fact, it's a few of them. They offer five channels, some of which are music and some of which are . . . not. Missing Art Bell? Coast to Coast AM not long enough for you? The same subjects get the business on the BBS, and they're on most of the day on the West Coast (adjust for your time zone as necessary). Herbal therapy, mind expansion, and Voice of the Ashtar Command. There are a lot of frustrating dead-ends on the site, but that's where new consciousness comes in. -- Suggested by Gerard
Warehouse 23 News: 1,001 Adventures. Give Or Take.
True20: Tales of the Caliphate Nights might not be quite that vast, but it still presents an admirable look at roleplaying in the Golden Age of Islam. A handful of jinn, a bushel of heroes, and a whole honkin' heap of Evil-Yucky-Bads await!
June 21, 2007: Your Oxcart Is At 87% Capacity; Consider Compressing Or Discarding Unwanted Material
We live in a fast-paced information age, with unimaginable amounts of data stored on CDs, DVDs, hard drives, and other forms of media. But have you ever wondered what the conversion of that material would be into . . . oxcarts?
Readers of Pyramid got some insight into this puzzler in this week's Omniscient Eye, where we look at information density throughout the history of the written word. How much can you fit on a clay tablet? How many words can you fit on a scroll, and how big would it be? What's the practical upper limit of readable text? And how much data can an oxcart lug around in the form of books?
To help generate answers for the last question, Pyramid has created a handy website that should satisfy the world's data-to-oxcart conversion needs. This converter is open to the public, but if you'd like to read the article that inspired it – or the many other questions that The Omniscient Eye has answered – you should subscribe to Pyramid today!
– Steven Marsh
Editor of Pyramid Magazine
Wondering what wicked witches would want? Why wonder when Wicked Witches Way waits! It's what witches wistfully wish for! With that, the worriment is worked out. Will wonders never wrap?
June 20, 2007: Introducing Duncan Wright, W23 Shipping Clerk
Meet your new shipping clerk: Duncan Wright. Now you know whose name to scream at the sky when you receive damaged merchandise.
I fancy myself a gamer and a writer, but in actuality I'm just a hopeless game freak. My parents reared me to be a strong and powerful gamer, whether they intended to or not. I would like to think that I've spent more time gaming than anything else . . . but I don't want to elaborate too much on that lest I seem a space case to my brand new employers. Let's just say that if you sometimes fall asleep thinking about a game or seeing the afterimages of video game armies burned into your retinas, then I'm here representing you.
My favorite game from SJ Games is Greed Quest, both for the humorous concept and elegant (and sometimes humorous) gameplay. I have hopes of bringing my own game ideas to playtest, but given my newly hectic schedule, that might take time. If everything goes according to plan, you'll be seeing my name a lot more, perhaps listed as a designer and not a clerk.
I'm very glad to finally be working among people who want nothing more than to make games. That's all I've wanted to do for a long time, and now I finally get to see if I'm any good.
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Warehouse 23 has posted an updated Top 10 page for May. Check it out, and see what all the cool kids are buying . . .
Michelle Barrett, who was our Warehouse 23 Goddess during the period when W23 really grew up, has returned from a sabbatical in Seattle. Shadlyn has W23 well under control, so Michelle's new posting is twofold. In the first place, she's my new Executive Assistant. She has enough experience as part of Senior Staff that she knows at least something about every part of our operations, so I can delegate to her. Delegate, Steve, delegate!
And in the second place, she's Playtest Coordinator, a job title that didn't exist before. (Glad cries from Michelle: "After eight years in the gaming business, I finally get to play something!") She's about to find out that the playing part can be work too . . . I need someone in this job, because playtesting is a very serious thing indeed, and if we're going to ramp up our production, someone other than me has to take charge of that part of the operation.
I know from her time at W23 that Michelle is capable of great attention to detail. Now she gets to use it to make our games better.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Third Time's A Charm
Now here's a book we can sell: Citadel of Fire. We don't know if it's actually on fire, but we certainly know what a citadel is! And you shan't take that from us! Uh, but you can have the book, though. Provided you present us with adequate monetary compensation, of course.
Having added a couple of new people (to be precise, re-added a couple of old hands) in the past few months, we're beginning to ramp up the non-Munchkin development. More on that anon. But the Munchkin goodness is definitely on a roll. For one thing, every one of the card game products is back in print, and Munchkin Dice will be reprinted in the next few months.
You saw the announcement about The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin. Yeah, that's a long name, but we couldn't resist. Around here we usually call it just "Good Bad Munchkin."
Call of Cowthulhu is partially at the printers now (cards yes, rulesheet and box no).
And I'm about to take another hard swing at Munchkin Quest.
Fun times . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Booze is a time-honored remedy for the stress induced by a horrific situation. For a list of fine liqueurs and alcoholic indulgences in a horror setting, we recommend World of Darkness: Book of Spirits. As refreshing as it is informa- what's that? What do you mean, "wrong kind of spirits?" Oh, for crying out loud, not again . . .
In spirit, anyway!
Take a look at the new offices of Three Rings Design, the folks who run Puzzle Pirates. Are they having FUN with the doubloons earned from their piratical endeavors? Aye!
-- Steve Jackson
The definitive guide to getting a date in Dragon Pass, RuneQuest: Player's Guide to Glorantha contains a number of pick-up lines guara- huh? What do you mean, "wrong kind of player?" Oh. Um, never mind.
The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin
The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin opens a whole new frontier – the Wild West! Forget dragons and goblins – Jackalopes and Davy Croc have just as much treasure. Those plains may seem wide open, but there's lots of monsters to kill, and lots of stuff to take.
Become a Cowboy with a Twenty-Gallon Hat, or an Indian on a Catamount. Fight Wild Bill Hiccup, the Killer Jalapeno, and a Barber Shop Quartet. Take The Annual Bath for an extra level. Or just pal around with your sidekick the Greenhorn, until you sacrifice him to distract a monster.
The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin is the next stand-alone game in the award-winning Munchkin line. Steve Jackson and John Kovalic have teamed up again to put puns to paper like no one else can. Head 'em up and move 'em out, and get ready to wander the Grim Roper into somebody else's combat and make him "Rootin' Tootin'" for +10 . . .
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Heortling Histories
Glorantha: History of the Heortling Peoples has heaps of help for HeroQuest-ers having harrowing headaches when happening upon the Heortling. Happiness happens when heroes have this high-class handbook.
June 15, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: The Spirit Of Scientific Inquiry
Sparing you the Ghostbusters quips . . . If you have a problem at home or work with spooks and ghosts, Orion Paranormal is ready to step in and help. They employ everyone from poets and organic chemists to professional tarot readers, just to cover all the bases. Their assistance is free, and not limited to shades if you have something more interesting to offer (say, demons). And if you'd like to BE a professional paranormal investigator, they're recruiting! -- Suggested by Mike Krozy
Warehouse 23 News: Super-Cute Super Beastie
The Godzilla Origins: Super-Deformed Rodan plush can't fly at Mach 1.5, doesn't weigh 60,000 tons, can't shoot radioactive beams, and can't create hurricane force winds . . . Darn cute, though.
The stated purpose of Twitter - to out-blog blogdom by letting you spam your friends with the minute-to-minute trivia of your life - arguably falls somewhere between "pointless" and "reprehensible."
But, as William Gibson noted, the street finds its own uses for things. Check out the way Phil and Kaja Foglio have turned this tool of Banality into a force for Silliness . . . Othar's Twitter.
If you're not already a reader of Girl Genius, then
(a) why not? Start, already; (b) Othar Tryggvassen is a secondary character who is rarely on screen . . . but, as we see, he's off having his own exciting and demented adventures. Somehow, I fear that Othar is the only Twitter user who will be reporting the defeat of giant flying stoats. More's the pity.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Hot Time In The Old Town Tonight
Y'know what'll really ruin your day? A volcanic eruption. You're just sitting there, minding your own business, being Roman, when right out of the blue a volcano blows. Now there's lava and ash and people screaming and panic and chaos and, gosh darn it, you really wanted to finish this sandwich before you died. Still, at least The Downfall of Pompeii wasn't boring.
Mr. Wizard, who started teaching science on TV when TVs were little tiny black-and-white things, is dead at 89. Read the excellent L.A. Times obituary. As befitted a man of science, Mr. Wizard kept up with technology; a new generation of kids watched him in color on Nickelodeon, and when the Web came along, he created Mr. Wizard Studios. By making science fun, he left the world a smarter place.
-- Steve Jackson
Those nutty Goa'uld, always gallivanting across solar systems, enslaving the local populations, and generally mucking up the universe. Someone really ought to put them in their place. Well, now you can, with the Stargate SG-1 Board Game. Albeit in a somewhat abstract, two-dimensional sort of way.
June 12, 2007: The Whole World Is Listening...
The Steve Jackson Games Forums have added a new board: Game Reviews.
This is your chance to stand up and tell the world what you think about games. Any games. All games. Share with your fellow fans what they should be playing - or not! - if they want to be a cool kid like you.
-- Shadlyn Wolfe
Any sufficiently advanced blah blah blah. If our magical friends in Mage: The Awakening - The Free Council are to be believed, Clarke was much closer to the mark than he or anyone else realized.
Okay, these little guys are just neat.
Warehouse 23 News: Sorry, All Sold Out Of Joy And Goodness
We've got plenty of Forces of Darkness, though. It's Dungeon Twister-flavored, too. We're sure you'll like it. Or, um, not. What with the evil and all.
First, a blog that features way more neat Lego stuff in a week than I will point to in a year: The Brothers Brick.
Second, an amazing Lego spaceport. So pretty. But I don't see any monorails. This really needs movement. Specifically, it needs a monorail. Regardless of whether George Lucas believes in monorails or not.
Third, a new site devoted to classic Lego pirates. Looks like it's still under development. I'll be watchin' it, arrrr.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Legendary Journeys
We picked up a hitchhiker with a hook for a hand on the drive back from Mexico (where we'd just lost our kidneys). He was drinking Pop Rocks with soda, but before we could warn him, the mothman started chasing us. We made it home okay, only to find Bloody Mary microwaving a poodle. And then things got weird. World of Darkness - Urban Legends has the details.
I got more mail about the Charles Stross pointer than I have for any Illuminator in a long time. A lot of you are fans who wanted to point out Other Cool Stuff he's done, and a lot more of you went "Ooo, this looks interesting." No, I didn't know about the book club edition that collects all the "Laundry" stories. It must be mine! Yes, he also invented the githyanki. Yes, one can also read online his short story "A Colder War", which is understated, convincing, and creepy, and the novelette "Missile Gap", which keeps popping up in my memory and making the day a bit colder.
Thanks also to the kindly correspondent who corrected my spelling on the Tentacle Protector report. It's "Tentakelschoner," not "Tantakelschoner." My original informant will be beaten. (Wait? What's that? He likes that? Okay, my original informant will NOT be beaten for a week. Sheesh.)
I am also advised that I may wear as many as I have tentacles. I am not sure how to take that.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Uhhhhhhhhnderground
What, you honestly thought there wouldn't be any zombies in the sewers? Let's do some quick math. Zombies are dead bodies. Dead bodies are normally buried. Buried things hang out underground all the time. And where are the sewers? Yeah. Armed with this new knowledge, we invite you to try Zombies!!! 6: Six Feet Under.
All good things must end, and so must our Munchkin Quest survey. We will close the survey on Monday 11 June, at midnight Central time (10PM Pacific, 5AM Greenwich). So if you haven't given us your feedback on the Munchkin boardgame yet, what are you waiting for?
For those of you who already have taken the survey, or are about to, we thank you greatly; we're certain the game will be better for the efforts.
This, of course, will not be the last survey we do. We're already planning a follow-up to expand on several answers as they relate to future products in the Munchkin line, and elsewhere.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Grave Robbing In The World Of Tomorrow!
By the year 2160, we'll probably have dug up, uncovered, and ransacked every grave, tomb, mausoleum, burial site, and pet cemetery this side of Io. It'll be time to expand operations a bit, lest museums and rich people lose their ability to one-up each other. Babylon 5: IPX answers the call.
It's really great to see what our translators do with our games, and the folks at Pegasus, in Germany, may be having more fun than anyone. These Tentakelschoner (not mere embroidered socks, but tentacle protectors) are the promo item for their edition of Munchkin Cthulhu. I have to get some of those when I'm in Essen. Hmm. How many can I wear at once?
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Out With The Olds, In With The News
Like it or not, Time trundles on. A tireless juggernaut, Time marches us all steadily along the road of life. Day. After day. After weary, dreary day . . . Oh, your RPGs are getting older too. Even when you weren't looking. However, Champions Universe: News of the World will fill you in.
Don Rapp, author of the GURPS adventure The Old Stone Fort and one of the founders of Pentacon, died last week at age 70. Read the Fort Wayne News Sentinel story for more details.
Warehouse 23 News: The Big Just Got Bigger
First, there was normal Dungeoneer. Then, there was the Epic Dungeoneer. Now, Wrath of the Serpent Goddess threatens to destroy the very cosmos with its overwhelming awesomeness, as it is the first Legendary set. But why stop there? Why not Colossal, Ultra, and Supermegafantasicostravaganza? Or might that sunder existence itself with its unfathomable coolness? Let us hope we never find out.
As in, "a moment when I got to be a scary fan." To set the stage:
A few years ago I acquired, as a convention freebie, a science fiction magazine: Spectrum SF 7. I dropped it into a to-read stack, and didn't get around to it for quite a while. Eventually, though, I read it. Some good stuff there . . .
And half of a novel. Half of The Atrocity Archive, by Charles Stross.
I quite enjoyed it. Basically a modern-day spy thriller, in a world where magic works all too well, especially with computers to help it along, and governments do their best to suppress the inevitable rediscoveries of Bad Things.
But all I had was the first half. So I added The Atrocity Archives (it seems to have become plural in the course of book publication) to my rather long Find This list, and went about my business.
Except that not many months later, as I prepared for Penguicon, I noticed that Charles Stross was going to be one of the guests there. "Cool!" I thought. "His books will be on sale in the dealer room." I also hit his Wikipedia entry, just to see what else he might have done, and found out that he used to do quite a bit of game writing. Among other things, he created the slaad, a now-popular race of AD&D monsters.
So at this point I was definitely looking forward to meeting him.
Flash forward to Penguicon. I'm in the dealer room. Where no copies of The Atrocity Archives are for sale.
So I bought some other Stross books . . . more on this in a moment . . . because we're approaching my Scary Fan Moment. Which was when I introduced myself to Charlie and told him that I really liked his work, even though I'd never actually finished the book.
To his credit, he did not flee screaming. We had a pleasant chat, I got him to sign a couple of the books that I had bought, and we went our separate ways, though I had the pleasure of hearing him on a couple of panels, where his comments were just as interesting as the novel that I still hadn't gotten to finish.
Further flash forward: I'm at home, reading the newly-purchased books, The Family Trade and its first sequel, The Hidden Family. Very good stories . . . and nothing at all, in tone or plot, like The Atrocity Archives. The covers call it fantasy. This is marketing. These books - Stross calls the series "The Merchant Princes" - are what I'd call straight SF. No magic in it anywhere, just the ability to "worldwalk." He makes one far-out assumption and proceeds from it logically, which is a style I like very muich. You could campaign these stories perfectly well with one existing GURPS power and a couple of historical sourcebooks. And if you're looking for a new campaign world, I recommend the series! Good stories. He's written two more in the series.
So I went looking for more Stross. And what did I find but Accelerando, a near-future SF story that touches the standard posthuman/Singularity bases very nicely, and then tosses the reader a couple of curves. Furthermore, although the above link will let you buy hardcopy at Amazon, you can download it free, with the blessing of author and publisher, at the novel's website. Which makes excellent thematic sense, when you read the story. And, in tone and plot, this book is nothing like either of the others.
This Mr. Stross, he demonstrates rather impressive flexibility.
So I'm really looking forward to reading more . . . he's done several others, both stand-alone novels and continuing series. And he's clearly an author who's got a lot to say, and a lot of ways to say it. We will be hearing more from this Mr. Stross.
And having posted all those nice Amazon links, I'm going to use the first one myself, and buy my own darned copy of The Atrocity Archives.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Whose House? Hermes' House!
Ever wondered about the Societates houses? We sure have. In fact not a day went by when we didn't think "just what is up with those guys?" With Ars Magica: Houses of Hermes - Societates, our sleepless nights are no more. In fact, we're gonna go read it right now, and then look down our noses at you as we lord our newfound knowledge over you. Better get your copy soon.
Ray Bradbury is now on record as objecting to those who say Fahrenheit 451 is about censorship. He instructs us that the villain, the true enemy of literature, is supposed to be television. The story is in the L.A. Weekly.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Move Over, Mos Eisley
There's a new dump in town, and it's the sort of place even cockroaches wouldn't want to live in. Arcanis: Theocracy of Canceri brings us a land of torturous days, unholy nights, and the worst public transportation system this side of L.A.
June 3, 2007: Another Reason Why We Likes The Kovalic
There are reasons OTHER than cartooning talent and personal niceness why we like working with John Kovalic.
Today, for instance, HE was the one to realize that a fiddly change in a Munchkin Cthulhu 2 - Call of Cowthulhu card was going to invalidate the art. And he volunteered to do a fix.
(Game publishers take note . . . this is a reason to give your artists as much information as possible about the game, not just a stack of specs. We sent John a whole playtest set. Now we're happy.)
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Graaaahg! Stabby Stab Whack Stab Smash Kill Stab!
Wicked Fantasy Factory #1: Rumble in the Wizard's Tower is a roleplaying adventure so intense, so crazed, so extreme, that combat goes into slow-motion to help you keep track of everything. You can't really call it "bullet time," what with the swords and all, so we'll just go with "holy-hopping-hasenpfeffer-did-you-just-see-what-he-did-to-that-orc's-head time."
June 2, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: And The Lord Synthesized Saying . . .
Today's lesson comes from the book of Turing 1:19-32. Artificial Intelligence from the Bible! The title really says it all (they brought their own exclamation point), but to whet your appetite: The seven churches set forth in Revelation correspond to sections of the brain. The Good Book is a blueprint for creating a self-aware neural construct . . . but is God trying to program himself out of a job? -- Suggested by lilith
Warehouse 23 News: We Have No Idea What You're Talking About
Spycraft: Conspiracies is full of deranged mumbo-jumbo about aliens and Freemasons and mind control and all other sorts of trivial hogwash. Really, now, it all seems quite silly to us. A shadow-government conspiracy that spans the globe and singularly determines the course of human history? Why would anyone believe such preposterous fnordery?
June 1, 2007: Kicking Butt In Outer Space, And More!
The proofs for GURPS Martial Arts are in the office, and look really, really cool. Fans of the art of putting fist to face, in all its myriad forms, are going to get much mileage from this book.
And as an example of the coolness, we've posted a new excerpt on the Martial Arts page, showing off two fictional styles -- Freefighting and Smasha.
However, if you just can't wait, we did create a nifty "prototype" version for the GAMA Trade Show last month. Now that we've got the proof, we're auctioning off the prototype. It's black and white, coil-bound, and missing a few pieces of art, but if you'd like to get your hands on the ultimate GURPS combat book two months before anyone else, this unique item (literally -- we did just one!) is exactly what you need.
Martial Arts will be shipping to a friendly local game store near you in late August.
-- Paul Chapman
These are not just regular machinations, the sort of which you might find out on the street in your day-to-day life. No, these are Machinations of Doom. When Rifts does machinating, it does not mess around. We are talking about a machinatery of Biblical proportions.
|
|
