|
Home |
Past columns |
Illuminator by E-mail |
XML |
Illuminated Site of the Week
More than a hundred copies of GURPS Spaceships sold in the first 24 hours of sales - it appears that the companion piece to GURPS Space is good!
The last product to do this well was Changing Times . . . could a POD version be far behind?
-- Thomas Weigel
Warehouse 23 News: There Are No Small Parts
Just small microbes. In fact, being microbial sorta means they are, by their very definition, small. The latest batch of GIANTmicrobes are a liiiiittle bit above the can't-see-with-the-naked-eye level, which means they aren't really microbes at all. They just play them on TV. Still, cuter than the real thing, and in this crazy, mixed-up world, isn't that what really matters?
If you live in Maplewood, Minnesota, that is.
John Nephew, president of Atlas Games, is running for the City Council of his community. He just passed the primary with flying colors and now has a very good shot at winning the general election, though, as you can see from his blog, he's not taking anything for granted.
John got a lot of support, including actual campaign contributions, from his friends in the industry . . . and he has a LOT of friends among the people who are technically his competitors, because he's that kind of guy. I hope he gets elected. He's smart, hard-working, and a genuinely nice person. That's a rare combination, and if he wins, we should all hope that the demands of public service don't make him crazy.
And, as a small personal snark: I've thought for years, as I read the laws that our various governments pass, that they should bring in some game designers to check them out beforehand. I mean, anyone who wrote rules as vague and leaky as the average American law would be bankrupt in a year. I'm just saying.
Go John!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Kuroneko-Sama Is A Small, Black Cat
And the Trigun: Plush Kuroneko, Small is a small, black, plush cat. Art imitating art imitating life. Deep stuff, that.
September 28, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: No Blood For Evian
Drag yourself into the 21st century. According to the Water-Powered Car website, all our internal combustion technology is based on outmoded ideas from the time of Faraday. You've heard about vehicles that run on steam or H20, but the waters run deeper than that. We'd tell you about the 9/11 plot, the oil companies, and the Department of Energy, but you can probably work most of that out for yourself. -- Andy
Warehouse 23 News: Coincidence? Read The Book
The first plush, Nightmares: Mothman Plush, is built around an urban legend. The second plush, Posers: Baked Baked Plush, is styled after someone who is most likely to believe, perpetrate, or otherwise "witness firsthand" an urban legend.
Adventurers need a wide variety of equipment, not just firearms. GURPS High-Tech aims to cover the spectrum of gear, as this excerpt illustrates.
I mean, how can you be a hoopy frood without a towel?
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Free Worlds. Book'll Cost Ya.
If Classic BattleTech: Handbook - House Marik doesn't provide you with all the information you could ever conceivably want about the Free Worlds League, then . . . well, then you're probably asking a really obnoxious question. Shame on you.
Moray eels have two sets of jaws.
Any similarity to the creatures from Alien is a coincidence.
Just a coincidence . . .
Thanks (I think) to Pascal Godbout for the link.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Dial V For . . . Monster?
Now that doesn't really make any sense. Maybe Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual V covers velociraptors and vulpanthropes and veeholders and - oh, is that a five? Oh. Uh, nevermind.
Gone is the dreaded blister pack; long live the tuck box!
Yes, we've upgraded Illuminati Y2K to the new, improved tuck box style that we showed you a few weeks ago. The cards retain their brilliance (and humor), and retailers have a better package to display.
Isn't it great when things work out?
-- Paul Chapman
Are your bespandexed heroes all statted up with nowhere to go? From a doomed planet far beyond the reach of our yellow sun comes GURPS Supers to the rescue! Or maybe it was bitten by a radioactive manuscript. Or maybe it's a figment of our collective imaginations. Or maybe it's just hoppin' mad at the Nazis. Or maybe - well, let's just say it's generic, universal, and super.
"Emperor Wu wished to publish a game. He consulted his advisors, asking them, How can I best accomplish this?"
These ten maxims on game design, published in the online magazine Chimera, were mentioned on an industry mailing list. I read, was delighted, and read again. Not only are the Ten Points presented with both wit and brevity . . . they genuinely constitute more good advice on game design than I've seen in some entire books. Without further ado: General Tso: The Ten Points, with the Commentaries.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: How Now, Foul Cow?
We enjoy milking the Munchkin franchise for all it's worth, so it probably won't come as an udder surprise that we released another expansion. Munchkin Cthulhu 2 - Call of Cowthulhu will beef up your Munchkin Cthulhu decks, so hoof it to our order page, lest you be forced to cow before the haynous barnyard demons of Arkham!
The official reference kilogram kept in Paris appears to be losing weight, relative to the supposedly-identical copies kept elsewhere in the world. Only about the weight of a fingerprint, so far . . . but who could be behind this? Is there an adventure hook here? Sure there is! What super-criminal, what shadowy consortium of illuminated manipulators, could stand to benefit from making everything in the world officially heavier? To start with, the gold in Fort Knox is now worth more . . . and all those dieters are that fraction of a kilogram chubbier. Relatively speaking . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Exalted: The West is all about boats, the people who ride them, and the wacky, zany, kooky misadventures that plague the seafaring peoples of Creation. Or that's what we got from skimming the back cover, anyway. Kind of a busy day. If the book is actually a chemistry textbook, we humbly apologize.
September 22, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Coin Of The Realm
Nothing kills a vacation to the South Pole faster than hitting a snag with the exchange rate at the bank or customs office. No longer need visitors fear this, as Antarctica now has its own currency. Dream Dollars shows off the new coin for the way-down-under wayfarer. There's also some information about lucid dreaming, presumably in case you end up freezing and hallucinating in a snow bank. But at least you'll never short-change the penguins again. -- Suggested by Matt
Warehouse 23 News: Kick The Yin Outta Someone's Yang
Not every GURPS session is going to end with a peaceful discussion about flower arrangements over a nice cup of tea. More often than not, it'll be Xragmouar, Dark Savior of the Uncountable Damned Legions from Jersey, and his obvious need for a head-kicking. Enter GURPS Martial Arts.
GURPS Spaceships is the first book in an e23 series intended as companions to GURPS Space. Spaceships covers spaceship design from tiny pleasure yachts to dreadnaught space stations, as well as combat and travel. Later books will cover everything from piracy to sentient spaceships!
-- Thomas Weigel
Sure, bunnies seem innocuous, what with the floppy ears and the cotton tail and the over-active sex drive. But the dark, malevolent soul of the rabbit betrays this squishy-soft exterior. These Killer Bunnies are armed to the buck-teeth and ready to rend in twain all who would stand between them and the Magic Carrot. It's a bunny-shoot-bunny world.
Lost? Trying to find that one reference you remember, somewhere on our site? Curious if we've ever published a game about undead gunslingers, cow-to-cow combat, or Imperial Rome?
Well, you're in luck! We've just upgraded our website search so that you can find the answers to those burning questions. We are now using a custom search engine from Google to power the searches. Now when you need to find something on our website, you'll have all the power of Google, but none of the ads, and all the lovely fnords that you're used to.
-- Jimmie Bragdon
Warehouse 23 News: A Series Of Broken Tubes
With all these world-shattering, society-destroying, brain-melting Crashes the Sixth World keeps going through, you'd think that everyone would just call the whole technology thing a wash and go back into the trees. But no, they'll keep running head first into brick walls for as long as it keeps you amused. So here, chummer, take Shadowrun: Emergence and enjoy. And, uh, bring a crash helmet.
Looks like I spoke too soon. The Iron Man trailer is online.
I've always been a big fan of genius superheroes -- Reed Richards, Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne -- because they'd inject a science fiction flavor into the "tights and capes" sundae. Similarly, I've often been disappointed in the movie adaptations of these heroes, as the studios don't want a big brain crowding the screen with techno-babble in the middle of their flashy fight scene.
Of course, Iron Man is directed by Jon Favreau, who is better known for talking pictures than "action'ers." And I have a good feeling about Robert Downey Jr. as the playboy industrialist.
Plus, the trailer's scenes of the suit flying are really, really cool.
-- Paul Chapman
Nephandum. It's, uh, it's a setting . . . it . . . a horror setting . . . for d20 . . . and . . . oh, no, it's - the horror is just too horrible! Aiyeeeee!!
It won't be here till next summer . . . but we told our distributors last week that the much-demanded pirate Munchkin game is really going to happen. Here's the Kovalic cover art . . .
Yes, Talk Like A Pirate Day isn't till this Wednesday, so consider this a head start on the celebrations.
Warehouse 23 News: Big Guns: Now Even Bigger
Sometimes, "state of the art" means a phone that plays music, sends e-mail, and takes pictures. Sometimes, it means decimating your foes from miles away by means of an ion cannon that fires a beam of charged plasma, which melts into a tiny puddle anything that isn't blown apart by the initial impact force. Classic BattleTech: Technical Readout - 3050 Upgrade should help with that second one.
September 17, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Flivvers To Set Your Heart Aflutter
If there were such a thing, the wondrous world of Steampunk would be well represented by Brass Goggles, a combination blog and resource for all things steam-tech. It could almost be said it's too much steampunk. If there were such a thing.
-- Suggested by Conrad Noche
Conflict improves everything. Example: compare an axe to a waraxe. See how "war" gave it a sort of Cool infusion? So it is with BattleDragons. In this case, appending "battle" to the front of something already itself Cool makes the whole thing Totally Sweet. And who wouldn't want to play a game that's, like, totally sweet, dude?
But nobody calls it that. It's COSI, a fantastic, hands-on museum for kids - and the young at heart - in Columbus. I spent the afternoon there, the day after Origins, and had a great time. Only now do I write about it; well, better late than never!
The executive summary is: if you like children's museums, this is a very, very good example. It's big, clean, bright, airy, and full of extraordinarily neat stuff . . . some to look at, some to touch. I didn't have any kids to take, so I didn't get the FULL experience, but there were plenty of littles running around, having a ball and probably learning a thing or two. High points:
- The 3-D dinosaur movie.
- The outdoor patio with giant machines, including a huge lever with which you can actually lift a car all by yourself.
- The "Ocean" exhibit, with lots of moving water, including jets you can direct and fountains you can dip a hand in.
- The "Progress" exhibit, which recreates a small-town street from 1898 and 1962.
If you go to Origins next year, think about making the time to visit COSI. You might like it as much as I did.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Problem With Mind Readers
. . . is that they always know the punchline before you tell the joke. Babylon 5: The Lurker's Guide to Telepaths doesn't have any advice about being a comedian, but it does outline several ways to ruin one's day.
And today on the headlines at CNN.com, we see that while they're eating their pets in Zimbabwe, the U.S. Department of Justice is holding conferences at which it pays $5 per meatball and $4.55 per can of soft drink to feed the attendees.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: To Live And Get Canceled In Starlight
Alas, some things are simply never meant to be. Which is why it's so darn handy we have these imagination thingies. Babylon 5: Legend of the Rangers takes the juicy tidbit we were offered with the film and drags it through 96 pages of discussion, dissertation, and dissection. Experience at your gaming table what JMS might have had in store for us. Or a reasonable facsimile thereof, anyway.
Steve Jackson Games announces for release in January, 2008:
Munchkin Cthulhu 3 -- The Unspeakable Vault
Kick open the Unspeakable Vault!
For years, Goomi has been unleashing his own vision of Cthulhu upon the world,
in his comic "The Unspeakable Vault (of Doom)!" Now his
unique take on the Elder Gods comes to
Munchkin, in the form of
Munchkin Cthulhu 3 - The Unspeakable
Vault.
(On a side note, even if you're not a big Munchkin fan, go check out Goomi's page. It's weird, funny, Mythos-ishly blasphemous -- often in the same panel. If you like plush Cthulhus, you'll like Goomi.)
This 56-card expansion brings Great Cthulhoo, Dagoon, Narly, and Tindaloo into
the pun-filled world of Munchkin. Feed
your friends to Cthulhoo, grow Footicles, and use your Inhuman Moan to defeat
the Teeny Weeny Mi-Goo.
What darkness lurks in the Vault?
- More Madness! Fear books (logical enough, given the number
of tomes that can eat your face), ichor, even phobias themselves!
- More Monsters! Face Goomi's versions of the Mythos gods and creatures
. . . Ygo, 'Zathoth, Nightgaunts, Ghouls, Deepoines, and many more!
- More Things That Put The Hurt On Monsters! Wield the Roman Candle,
the giant Hypodermic Needle, and the . . . Can Opener? Sure, why not? After
all, this is Munchkin!
The Unspeakable Vault - more "yum yum"
for your Munchkin Cthulhu game.
-- Paul Chapman
Not nearly as neat sounding (read: marketable) as Oshi, but that's what oshi means. Though it could also be read as "authority" (as in, Warehouse 23 is the authority on what is worth owning, so buy the game) or as "pressure" (as in, buy this game because all the Cool Kids are doing it, and you need to be Cool).
I'm back from the Alliance show in Baltimore. Other than the weather (upper 80s and high humidity is no fun when you're dragging display materials for blocks between the hotel and the convention center, and the thunderstorms made the flight out rather bumpy), the show went fantastically.
As usual, this show had more of an emphasis on comics. As a result, I was able to put the Rigged Demo in some brand-new hands, which is always a "win" in my book. There were a good number of gaming retailers as well - it gives us a great feeling to hear some of the Munchkin success stories out there.
On a personal note, I got to see the Iron Man trailer during Marvel's presentation. Flippin' sweet! It doesn't seem to have hit the net yet (officially), but when it does . . . well, it still won't be as cool as seeing it with two hundred hollering geeks.
-- Paul Chapman
We thought it was a book of pleasure maps. But no, it's Dungeon Crawl Classics #46: The Book of Treasure Maps. With a "T," as in Dungeon Crawl Classics #47: Tears of the Genie. Come to think of it, if he made the same mistake we did, no wonder the big bottle-dude is so bummed out.
Check out the pictures of Britain's new Type 45 destroyer class and ask yourself if you haven't seen that silhouette somewhere before . . .
B-Movie Card Games: Bushwhackin' Varmints Out of Sergio's Butte is the most rip-roarin', straight-shootin', cattle-rustlin', range-ridin', gold-minin', drawl-speakin', spur-wearin', poker-playin', tobacco-spittin' card game to be found north, south, east, and west of the Pacos.
September 11, 2007: Where In The World Is . . . Marketing Director Paul Chapman?
(Fans of the Daily Show with Jon Stewart can insert the appropriate music. For everyone else, it's a "Where's Waldo" joke.)
This week, I'm in Baltimore, at the Diamond/Alliance Retailer Summit. I'll be flying the Steve Jackson Games flag, talking up our current new releases like Munchkin Cthulhu, Munchkin Cthulhu 2, and GURPS Martial Arts. I'll also be giving hints and showing off playtest prototypes of upcoming products -- no, I'm not going to list them here. We haven't officially announced a couple of them, so you'll just need to ask your retailer about them.
The retailer summits are a great way for publishers to get face-to-face time with retailers, both to show off titles and to get front-line feedback on what works, and what doesn't.
-- Paul Chapman
Ships are for kids! And by "kids," we mean "Havenites," "Manticorans," and "people familiar enough with their bodily orifices to distinguish them from a hole in the wall." Well, okay, you can have some ships, if only because you blow up so nicely. Here, take Honor Harrington: Ship Book 2 and go nuts.
The tenth Fnordcast is now available for download, either directly, via RSS, or via iTunes.
This time around, we've got interviews from Origins, an Ask Dr. Kromm bit, and our annual interview with Ken Hite.
Enjoy!
-- Paul Chapman
You there! Why haven't you purchased Bleeding Edge Adventure #5: Temple of the Death Goddess? Don't you know what's at stake!? Don't dally, man, buy the book! Quickly now, before it's too late! Oh no! Here it comes! Buy the book and save your-
The title's not particularly punchy, but everything will be happening too early to say "A Very Illuminated Holiday," or even "A Very Illuminated Thanksgiving."
What's all the Illumination about? Well, Deluxe Illuminati has returned to print after a brief absence, and should be shipping out of our warehouse next week. Additionally, Illuminati Y2K is at the printer, and will be returning to store shelves in October.
But the big news, as you may have guessed by the image, is Bavarian Fire Drill. This long-awaited expansion to Deluxe Illuminati is not only at the printer, we've got proof, in the form of . . . er, proofs.
No, technically, it isn't necessary to glue the box proofs together to check them, but it was Arts 'n Crafts Day, so we figured "what the heck."
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Turns Out Freedom Wasn't Free
Freedom Station cost several million credits to construct, in fact. Babylon 5: The Lurker's Guide to Freedom Station is only about 25 bucks, however. So if you can't afford to put together your own deep-space transfer point, you can at least read about one. Unless you only have about 24 dollars. Then you can only afford to read about reading about the station. Sorry.
I actually got back to the office on Tuesday, but just briefly -- Monday was a long, long day.
Dragon*Con was great fun, even though I didn't get much beyond the Adventure Retail booth. Many Exact Change Dances were danced, many gamers filled holes in their collection or found new fun, and many incredible costumes were worn. This year was the best Dragon*Con, sales-wise, in history for our little collection of games, and likely in the top five of all conventions.
In general, the national conventions seem to be seeing a resurgence in attendance. Is this a reaction to fewer active local game stores, or perhaps a rebellion against the pervasiveness of digital communications, with gamers seeking out face-to-face contact with those of like interests? Either way, I'm fully in favor of the results. Conventions are great ways to try a wide variety of new games, both to discover hidden gems and to discover that, no matter what the reviews say, you don't like Ticket to Ride.
(Note: Ticket to Ride is just used as an example. Personally, I think it's a great game, and I'm not just saying that because I hold a nigh-perfect winning streak on Ticket to Ride: Europe. But it definitely isn't everyone's cup of tea.)
-- Paul Chapman
Glory and Honor are all well and good, but they pale before the monolith of Fame. Why save some piddly little tribe of dirt farmers when you could be on national television? Superstardom, fabulous prizes, and multimillion-gold-piece endorsement deals all await you if just stop crawling and start Xcrawl (um, -ing)! Just remember, this is a truly x-treeeeeme dive, with no room for wussy little spells like true resurrection. When you die . . .
September 7, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: A Little Learning Is A Dangerous Thing
People scoff when someone cites Wikipedia as a resource; who wants to trust important matters to a freely editable document that depends on average people to nail down the truth? But in the fight against the Lovecraft Mythos, any intelligence is useful. Hie thee to the Uncyclopedia article on Great Cthulhu. When are the end times? What can be done? Can the evil be stopped? What does the Great Old One like to drink? Hint: It ain't seawater. -- Suggested by CthulhuBob Lovely
Warehouse 23 News: It's A Madhouse (Or So They Say)
Sometimes, players square off against unfathomable horror and triumph, +3 Holy Avenger in hand. Other times, they need a little stay at the Happy Home with trees and flowers and chirping birds and basket weavers who sit and smile and twiddle their thumbs and toes. World of Darkness: Asylum is a book about a place where life is beautiful all the time and your players will be quite happy to see the nice men in the clean white coats.
Now it can be told: I will be a guest at OrcCon next year. Los Angeles. February 15-18. There will probably be Piracy. Arrrrr.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The City That Never Torpors
Running a chronicle in a podunk, no-name, off-the-map Anytown can really undermine the epicness of your bite fest. It needs to be a city. A big city. A brooding city. A big, brooding city. Vampire: The Requiem - Damnation City is a big, brooding book about cities, so it seems the logical place to start.
Just think how much more you'd enjoy your time online if this were the license test for the information superhighway!
Sadly, I only know one person right now who is actually writing new forum software. And she has what amounts to a religious objection to captchas. But I can dream.
-- Steve Jackson
What happens when your city planning committee takes the phrase "let's get down to brass tacks" a hair too far? You get The City of Brass. It's a good thing they made a campaign setting out of it to stimulate tourism. Commerce is expectedly stagnant when your city slogan is "Lookit All That Brass!!"
Shaenon K. Garrity has created a brief retelling of "The Trouble with Tribbles" in the manner of Edward Gorey. There is a good little story behind why she chose to do this, but I shall not retell it, but rather invite you to see for yourself. Ah, if only . . .
Monte Cook's World of Darkness is a world unlike any you've ever seen before. Unless you've seen the World of Darkness. Then, um, yeah, you've probably seen something sorta like it before. But this is still good. See? It's got polyhedrals and everything!
Mattel has acquired several games from Out of the Box Publishing's lineup: Apples to Apples, which broke three million units sold recently; Snorta, the game of barnyard noises; and Blink, a game that moves so fast, you'll miss it if you . . . uh, blink.
The work of our old friend, John Kovalic, can of course be seen on these games, and we're happy as a clam for his success. Of course, this is all according to the Secret Master's plans -- first, "The John Kovalic Craze," then . . . something, something . . . and finally, world domination.
Ok, we need to work on that second step.
-- Paul Chapman
Changeling: The Lost is the roleplaying game of shapeshifters with bad directional sense.
Shiny new PDFs keep popping up on e23, and now they all have official product pages just like any printed book. These give you information about errata pages, names of artists and editors, links to other products in the line, extra resources, and more! Products with both PDF and print versions give information about both on their pages, so you can check on whether your favorite out-of-print book has made it to PDF yet. You can also see the PDF preview directly from the product page.
If you want an example, take a look at the page for GURPS Supers, the newest GURPS release to come to e23.
Warehouse 23 News: Heh Heh . . . "Stones"
And they're pink, no less. Nope, we're not touching the jokes for the Gaming Stones - Pink Opal with a standard-issue ten-foot pole. Wait. "Pole?"
After years as a volunteer position, the errata coordinator job is being moved to staff. Conveniently enough, I'm on staff, so I'm the one who will be taking care of errata now. (When the job description includes the line "Other duties as assigned," they really mean it.) This also includes errata for Steve Jackson Games products on e23; for instance, if you've been sitting on some error you noticed in the In Nomine Superiors: Litheroy writeup, now's the time to send it in!
Andy Vetromile, our former errata coordinator, will be forwarding all errata in progress to me. (He'll also be helping me out with the procedures, so that I can avoid having a nervous breakdown the first time I try to deal with errata for GURPS Vehicles.) However, if you've submitted errata that hasn't received a response yet, please send it again to errata@sjgames.com. That way we'll be able to make sure nothing's missed in the shuffle.
-- Fade Manley
Much like the song, but funnier. Nodwick Chronicles VI: Nodwick Goes Hollywood brings the Nodwick print comic to a close. Though Nodwick yet lives on through a series of tubes, this truly is a book not to be missed. Because, y'know, it's got the ending and stuff. It would be silly to come all this way and not see what happens. Bad silly, not silly silly.
|
|
