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Illuminated Site of the Week
We've been working on Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game for a long, long time. (For those with long memories: As long as In Nomine? I'm not sure, but it may be close.) There have been delays . . . artist changes, and even an edition change, as it fell in the cusp between Third and Fourth edition rules. It's been one of Steves *personal projects,* because he loves the series so much.
And now the book is entering the final hour. The light at the end of the development pipeline can be seen. The fat lady is warming up. Feel free to add whichever euphemism for "it's nearly done" you prefer.
There is one more piece of art to tweak, and then Lois' final approval of page proofs -- a vital stage, I might add. No matter how impressed we are with the project, if it doesn't match the characters and worlds she envisions, it isn't done.
That said, we've kept Lois in the loop throughout the development of this project, so we're confident things will go smoothly from here. Which means we anticipate having a PDF version available on e23 in early summer, and the hardcover a few months later. You can expect the usual sneak peeks to start up Real Soon Now.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: No Short Jokes
Seriously. No short jokes with Paper Miniatures: Dwarves II. We're a serious gaming company. We aren't ones to do things by halves. That would be low of us. We're sorry that this advertisement is such a stump, but we just didn't want to reach for the typical humorous fare.
May 30, 2009: John Kovalic Came And Visited!
Earlier this month, our offices were graced with the humble prescence of John Kovalic. I say "humble" because, frankly, the guy's a rock star, but you'd never know it to look at him. He's drawn thousands of Munchkin cards, a couple of games so successful Mattel snatched them up, and a comic strip that's practially a cornerstone of the hobby. Yet he's as nice and quiet a gamer as you'd ever meet. Not that he's opposed to a little foam combat, in front of hordes of Chibithulhus, of course.
We used his visit to spend many "meetings" eating at some of Austin's best restaurants, like Whole Foods and the Salt Lick. Past, present, and future Munchkin products were discussed, and plans were made for . . . you know I'm going to put one of those [FNORD] bits right here, don't you? Let's just say we talked about many topics, and we think you'll like the results.
Thanks for coming to visit, John! We loved having you, and hope you'll return soon!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: It's All About Priorities
Battlemaps Lairs: Vampire's Inner Crypt - Because, honestly, nobody cares about the outer crypt.
After many weeks of work, the new shipping area is finally ready! The walls are up and painted (and insulated!), the lights are on, and the AC is working. Now we just need to move in!
Even though we're just shoving our tables and supplies a few dozen yards, it will take a bit of time to get everything back into order. Please forgive any delays in responding to email or voice mail. This shouldn't slow down orders -- we'll process them all before we start moving -- but there's always the possibility.
Oh, it's going to be so nice . . .
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Get Your Drinkius Maximus On
For decades, there has been one barrier to entry for fantasy roleplaying in the Roman Empire. That, of course, was the lack of information on Roman drinking establishments. No tavern, no Mysterious Stranger, no adventure. No longer! Behold: Roman Taverns.
Chez Goth
Angst. Nookie. Roommates. Just another Friday night at Chez Goth.
This stand-alone game puts a new spin on the award-winning (and all too realistic) Chez Geek. You're still living with a bunch of roommates . . . but now you're a Goth!
Work at your dreary job. Spend your hard-earned money and precious time to accumulate Slack points . . . or collect Gloom when life turns against you. As it will! You can earn Slack for buying Clothes, Shinies, and Booze . . . or you can just Cough, Complain, or even Faint Dramatically, especially if you have an audience. And if you get very lucky, there might be some Graveyard Nookie in your future.
The second edition features a larger, sturdier box and includes Slack and Gloom counters and a die.
Yes, you can combine these cards with Chez Geek and have a house full of Goths AND slackers. Fortunately, it's just a game . . . isn't it?
112 cards, die-cut tokens for Slack and Gloom, a six-sided die, and a rulesheet, in a box. Stock #1396, ISBN 837654320181. $19.95.
Munchkin Fairy Dust
Meet the Sparkly Good Fairy. She wants all the munchkins to play nice, and she's willing to bash heads to make sure they do. Play her way, and she'll bribe you with Fairy Dust. Otherwise, you might end up fighting her instead. And if you don't take her out, she'll be back again and again . . .
Fairy Dust is a 15-card expansion for classic Munchkin. It introduces the Sparkly Good Fairy and her deck of Fairy Dust cards -- extra rewards for munchkins who are willing to help each other. (It's perfectly munchkinly to be nice . . . as long as you get something cool for doing it!) Every card in the set is full-color, with added glittery pink and silver Fairy Dust.
Munchkin Fairy Dust is fun whether you stick with the core Munchkin set or play with all the expansions you can get their hands on. And at less than four bucks, it's a no-brainer!
Fairy Dust is a finseal pack, sold to stores in a POP of ten packs. All packs contain the same 15 cards.
Finseal pack containing 15 cards. Stock #1427, ISBN 837654320211. $3.95.
GURPS Ultra-Tech (Reprint)
Weapons, Vehicles, and Gadgets
GURPS Ultra-Tech is the sourcebook for science-fiction technology, from the near future to the farthest reaches of the imagination. It's a valuable companion to GURPS Space, GURPS Bio-Tech, and GURPS Infinite Worlds, and an exceptional resource for any character or campaign that needs technology from tomorrow . . . and beyond. GURPS Ultra-Tech is full of personal equipment for heroes and superheroes from TL9 to TL12, including:
- Weapons - from caseless assault carbines and monomolecular swords to antimatter warheads and disassembler nano.
- Protection - How do you stop a nanomorph assassin with a field-jacketed X-ray laser rifle? Try a dreadnought battlesuit and a personal force screen . . . .
- Medicine - Superscience can heal, rebuild, and improve on nature. Death itself can become a temporary inconvenience. With cybernetics and neural interfaces, ultra-tech medical equipment and mind uploading, "medical miracles" become everyday occurrences.
- Transport - Air cars, hovertanks, tilt rotors, grav belts, supercavitating minisubs, matter-transport booths - lots of ways to get where the action is, for the adventurer on the go!
- As technology advances, the line between man and machine may become increasingly blurred. GURPS Ultra-Tech provides rules for establishing the capabilities and limitations of artificial intelligence, as well as templates for robotic or total cyborg bodies, from handy technical 'bots to shapeshifting nanomorphs.
And still more! Living biosuits, computer implants, holographic projectors, psionic amplifiers, neutrino communicators, nanofactories, hyperspectral goggles, chameleon suits, repair paste, Dyson spheres - there's something for every adventure at every tech level.
GURPS Ultra-Tech was written by David L. Pulver, co-author of the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition, and author or co-author of over 60 other gaming books, and Kenneth L. Peters, the author of Transhuman Space: Spacecraft of the Solar System, and a co-author of Transhuman Space: Under Pressure.
This is the third edition of GURPS Ultra-Tech; it has been revised to the GURPS Fourth Edition rules. The oldest material included here dates back to the first edition of GURPS Space; other material was revised from the GURPS Third Edition versions of GURPS Ultra-Tech, GURPS Ultra-Tech 2, GURPS Cyberpunk , GURPS Psionics, GURPS Robots, and Transhuman Space. The softcover reprint contains the same material as the earlier print run (updated for the latest errata, of course!), with black-and-white interiors and a lower price.
From the edge of tomorrow to the star-flung future, GURPS Ultra-Tech can equip your characters and your campaign!
240 pages. B&W softcover. Stock #01-6104, ISBN 978-1-55634-799-3. $29.95.
GURPS Psionic Powers
Behold the power of the mind! GURPS Psionic Powers takes the freeform options of GURPS Powers and turns them into ready-to-use packages of psychic strangeness. You can use the abilities as presented, confident that they are built from -- and entirely compatible with -- the rest of the GURPS Fourth Edition character-creation system (including GURPS Powers, which is not required to use these packages, but is recommended).
Even better, you can use the entire system in a campaign: GURPS Psionic Powers distills the complexity of hundreds of possibilities into individual powers and power groups. Why bother trying to figure out what advantages, enhancements, and limitations you need to describe psychic netrunning (part of the Ergokinesis group) or dream-stealing (just one aspect of Psychic Vampirism)? This book does all the work for you, and each power is described in levels, making it easy to represent stronger psychic gifts. In addition, the new rules and suggestions allow the entire system to work together to simulate many types of psychic ability.
Whether you take it for individual parts or use it as a cohesive whole, this supplement is your one-stop shop for mental mastery. With GURPS Psionic Powers, the mind is an open book!
88-page B&W softcover. Stock #01-6198, ISBN 978-1-55634-798-6. $19.99.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Lose Something?
We're not certain how you can misplace your access to a state of being, but that must just mean that Advanced Adventures #10: The Lost Keys of Solitude is more metaphysical than most canned adventures.
It's time for the quarterly round-up of e23 releases. (Well past time, actually. Where has this month gone?) As usual, this is a count of just the brand-new material. Here's the list:
The grand total is 10 releases with 407 pages, or about 1.7 hardcovers. Of course, we also released 15 GURPS Classic products, as well as The Ogre Book. All in all, not a bad quarter.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Smash! Chop! Dissertate!
What makes orcs tick? No, not the clock he strapped to his head in a naive attempt to always know the time. We mean what makes orcs orcs? What do they eat? What are they superstitious about? What do they do on weekends? Monstercology: Orcs is just the sort of book to fill in the gaps between the stat blocks.
Yup, that's us. Classy. None of that fantasy with all those mucky dungeons or explodey monsters. No, sir, it's all high-society with us. I'm sorry? "Urban?" Oh.
Hm. Well, anyway, we've got issue number (lucky) seven of Pyramid up for your purchasing pleasure. It's Pyramid #3/7: Urban Fantasy, a collection of PDF'd pages about fantasy functioning in a decidedly more cosmopolitan setting. You know, stuff like how different gangs might use magic. Or how the Egyptian pantheon might be strolling around without our knowledge.
And if that's not enough to get you interested in purchasing this fine magazine, then . . . um . . . did I mention that the PDF is enchanted? Yup. It, uh, acts as an astral . . . repellant for, um . . . demon owls. Enjoy!
-- Fox Barrett
Here in the States, it's Memorial Day, the day dedicated to the memory of the men and women who have fallen defending this country.
We're not in the office. Voicemail and e-mail will be dealt with Tuesday.
Today seemed like a good day to show you a picture of your new flag. The cover letter said "This flag is to thank Steve Jackson Games MIB for the games sent to the soldiers of Delta Company 237th Brigade Support Battalion while they were deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom." It was flown by Delta Company over Camp Virginia, Kuwait. Thank you, guys. We are very proud to display it; it's on the brand new white wall enclosing our ALMOST-finished W23 space, and it will oversee a lot more "care packages" in the years to come.
Later edit: Yes, when the flag is hung on a wall, the union should be to the viewer's left. To the MANY people who pointed this out: thanks for caring, and thanks for letting me know. The photo above shows the corrected display.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Remember Them, The Best Way We Know How
As gamers, we've usually always got our mind in one place: "I wonder what it would be like to run a game like that?" It's almost second nature. So since today is Memorial Day (for us United American types), thoughts might turn towards running a military game. Our obvious shill here would be the GURPS WWII line (in paper or digital forms), of course. Which might seem in poor taste, but hey, we're gamers. What better way to honor our fallen than by doing what we hold most dear?
May 24, 2009: Fun With Shipping Containers
We've known how useful shipping containers can be for years. Before moving into our new office space back in 2005, we used them as additional warehouse space. But converting them to living spaces? That is, dare I say it, thinking outside the box.
And that's exactly what a growing number of architects are doing. Bark Design Collective from Canada has designed the All Terrain Cabin. It can be transported by truck or helicopter to nearly any location. Quik Build has created a 2,000sf home from six containers. From the time your order is processed, you'll barely have enough time to get your foundation poured before the components arrive, and assembly takes about a day. Too bad there's a six month backlog of orders.
They aren't the only ones. Yahoo Green has an article on the topic, and a slide show.
(One minor grump -- and this isn't limited to just weirdly cool "reclamation housing" pieces, but very broadly applicable to pretty much every architectural publication I've seen -- is it so hard to include floor plans? Yes, I know that the full versions are expensive to create, and the architect doesn't want them reproduced without a significant fee. But I can't visualize the space without an idea of the size of each room relative to the others. I don't need details, just walls and doors and the basics.)
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: We Sell Other Stuff, Too!
Not just books! For example, Warehouse 23 also sells plushies. Heck, we even sell our own homegrown plushies. So come buy some plushies, already!
With the release of Pyramid #3/6: Space Colony Alpha, we come to a milestone in the life of Pyramid. As we announced back in November, customers with a current (at that time) Pyramid subscription were given a six-month subscription to the new version. And #3/6 was the last one.
The question on our minds now is "Do you like the new version?" To that end, we've created a survey. If you'd take a couple minutes to hit all the buttons on the form, we'd be grateful. Afterwards, you can always share your opinions in a more freeform environment, namely the Pyramid forum.
The more specific question is, of course, "Will the new format be sustainable?" That can only be answered by you, voting with your dollars. Feel free to cast your vote with a three-, six-, or twelve-month sub, or just pick up the individual issues that meet your gaming tastes.
-- Paul Chapman
They say it's "good" news, but we have our doubts. News brings all kinds of, well, new things to your life! It's right there in the word and everything! But, things have been quiet, so we'll just take this opportunity to ask you if you've bought a GURPS book lately. So have you? Though e23 is going strong, the Warehouse still has quite a few dead trees.
May 22, 2009: Illuminated Site of the Week: . . . And That Jonas Brothers Music Follows Me Everywhere
We know what you're thinking: Everything is a conspiracy. We know this because our spies report it back to us. But with Freedom From Covert Harassment and Surveillance, at least you know the early warning signs like alienated friends and a prickly sensation on your skin. You also discover the evasive value of wet blankets, hear instructional videos (find out if you are a "Manchurian candidate"), and get to join the class-action lawsuit.
You know, these guys are asking for a lot of personal information . . .
-- Andy
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Axe-Spansions!
See, because we got a whole bunch of expansion sets for Battle Axe. Like the Elven Outrider and the Goblin Warg. Expansions for Battle Axe. Axespansions! Heh heh . . . heh . . . sorry.
Stilts are cool. Stilts that give your legs the "backwards knee" look are very cool. Kim Graham's digitigrade leg extensions -- which add 14 inches, weigh less than 7 pounds per leg, and have optional hoof-like attachments -- are very, very cool.
(Digitigrade: a form of locomotion in which the animal walks only on its digits; e.g., dogs. This gives the impression that the knee is actually bending backwards.)
Right now, there's a 60-day backlog for orders, but heck, Halloween isn't for five months. You've got plenty of time to order and then procrastinate building the rest of the satyr or werewolf costume.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: What, No Sisterhood?
Perhaps the people who built the facilities in Dungeon of Terror #2 Assassins' Brotherhood just didn't have the cash to spring for separate male and female locker rooms? It makes sense, then, that it would be exclusivity one sex. You really wouldn't want people who have no qualms about killing in a co-ed bathroom.
I just finished a massive overhaul of our FAQ file. Old cruft was swept out, and new items (hopefully not just new cruft) were added. Then I invited our staff to nitpick, and oh my heavens, they certainly did. Now it's your turn. Would you care to take a look and give me your feedback? If something's incorrect, I want to know. If you think I've overlooked something important, I want to know that too. (Though note that this is intended as a general FAQ . . . one of the questions points to a whole list of specific FAQ files for individual games, the webstores, and, of course, the Illuminati fnord.)
Thank you for helping us keep the site useful, up to date, and slightly surreal.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Big Poofy Pants
If you're looking to get your hands on some printable minis for a game of Maelstrom, the Paper Miniatures: Maelstrom Set is just about perfect. It's also not bad if you're playing any other game set in 17th century Europe. Or perhaps you're just an aficionado of bizarre-looking pants. Whatever the case, this set has you covered.
On Wednesday, May 20, at approximately 10:30am CDT (GMT -5) the Steve Jackson Games Forums will be shut down for maintenance. We expect the upgrade to take most of the day, and the forums should return by 7:00pm CDT.
We will be upgrading our forum software to the current version, partially in order to make use of the newer anti-spam features. User logins, posts, and settings should all be retained during the upgrade.
-- Jimmie Bragdon
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Demons Can Be Critters, Too!
Just because it doesn't slither, make "ook-ook" noises, or live in a burrow doesn't mean it can't be a critter. Daemons, like those featured in Critter Cache: Daemons, are more than welcome to refer to themselves as "critters." We certainly aren't going to tell them otherwise. Because they're daemons. They can call themselves "cookie cutters" for all we care, just so long as it keeps them happy.
Or at your computer. Or at the dinner table. Or on a plane. Whatever. It's a portable document file, take it wherever you want.
Like spaceships? We do too. So we held a gun to David Pulver's head and demanded more books about them! This resulted in GURPS Spaceships 4: Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha (. . . and a 4-hour-long police standoff). This time around, Pulver's techno-muse brings us the essense of what made those last 15 minutes of A New Hope so cool. It also includes some of what makes Galactica so darn cool. If that's not enough, he snuck in some Macross, too! Not bad for just 42 pages.
The optional rules for cinematic combat will help keep your dogfights as fast and furious as the silver screen has told you it should be. You know, more "zoom-zap-kerblooie" and less "coefficient of the what now?"
-- Fox Barrett
Warehouse 23 News: e23: The Cool Part
Traders. Dreadnoughts. Deep-space exploration. Bah! Who cares! The really cool spaceships fly down trenches, zip between capital ships, and are piloted by aces. GURPS Spaceships 4: Fighters, Carriers, and Mecha has all this and more! But not much more. Because, as established, "all this" is the cool part.
Over the years, we've published quite a few GURPS titles -- well over 300. Some had broad appeal; some were firmly "niche." Blogger siskoid had created a Top Ten list of what he considers the "strangest" supplements we've ever released.
Reading over his list, I really can't disagree with any of his choices, except GURPS Vehicles. That's extremely crunchy, but not really strange (in my opinion, of course). Now, Cabal . . . that's strange. It's like Cal MacDonald put on a suit and got elected Secret Mayor of the World. Or Cthulhupunk! Let's take a fairly realistic cyberpunk world, and infest it with Mythos horror -- that's pratically the definition of strange.
What books would make it onto your Ten Strangest list? For that matter, what's your favorite "Ten X-iest GURPS books" list? Hop over to our forums and share!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: So It's Not Just A Clever Name
The Four Color Deck is a set of cards, colored cyan, magenta, yellow, and black, for use with M&M Superlink. See what they did there?
The Geekdad blog, published by Wired, published a list of 100 Geeks You Should Be Following On Twitter, and we're following three of them:
Congratulations, guys! You're in worthy company. Check out the rest of the list, and take a look at the SJ Games Twitter stream while you're at it. (Hey! That's 101 . . .)
-- Andrew Hackard
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Coop's Complete Comp
The literal alpha and the omega of OGL beasties is now collected in all its alphabetized glory! If you want to pick up all of John Cooper's compendiums (and save a buck or two in the process), point your browser at the Cooper's Compendium of Corrected Creatures Bundle. All the critters, smaller dent to your wallet.
May 15, 2009: Illuminated Site of the Week: Art Imitates Lifeforms
If the purpose of art is to hold the mirror up to nature, the world must be one freaky-deaky place . . . at least according to artist Elisabeth Buecher. Most of her work is done with the intention of sparking environmental discussions. Some of it, like Stepparquet, is actually a bit practical, while other items are outright disturbing. And the cherry on the sundae? A few pieces allow your shower to attack you. And no, we don't have GURPS stats for that. Yet.
-- Suggested by Warren Okuma
Ugh. This is what happens when you don't put out traps. Looks like someone is going to have to go clear out Dungeon of Terror #1: Orcs' Nest. Say . . . you're someone, right?
Holy cats! Are we in the middle of May already? If the weeks are flying by for you like they are for me, you may have missed an e23 release or two. To prevent this tragedy from depriving you of an opportunity to get your GURPS on, here's a recap of what hit the digital shelves last month.
Wow, that's a lot of SF for just one month. No wonder I've been surfing NASA's site more often lately.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Wizards! (Fireballs Optional)
Canned adventures needn't be just gore-filled, dungeon-based, splat-o-ramas! Ars Magica: Tales of Mythic Europe presents a handful of adventures less about blowing people up and more about murder mysteries, political intrigue, and troublesome fae. All of which, honestly, you probably could probably throw a fireball at. But the idea here is that you have options.
Sometimes talented people leave us. Sometimes they come back. But in only one case have they ever returned on the anniversary of their departure.
On May 12, 2006, Justin DeWitt left us to reenter the high-paying world of advertising. He went on to do some game design of his own, and now, on May 12, 2009, he's back!
He'll be doing the same sorts of production work he did before, along with some coordination duties to help Phil out. (Phil will be filling the extra time with more print buying, so we can get more [FNORD] into our games.) He'll also be bringing back a slightly more mature sense of humor to balance Alex's jokes. Well, not too much more mature. Ok, they're both pretty much 15-year-olds.
Welcome back, Justin! We missed you and your cheesy grin.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: The Hills Are Aliiiive
With the sound of flesh-eating monsters! A sensible Maria would run away from this situation, rather than dancing into the middle of it. But, if you've got the sort of Maria that shoots lightning and can crush an orc's skull with her bare hands, then you might just want to give Lands of Darkness #6: The Wild Hills a look.
For years, I've watched the various forms of demolition derby, and wondered why no one put guns or rockets on the vehicles? Playing Car Wars was great, but watching real live cars blow each other up would have been better.
And now Discovery Channel is taking a step in the right direction, with their new mini-series Weaponizers. Two teams modify vehicles to deal with an obstacle course, followed by a head-to-head duel.
The previews make the pyrotechnics look more "flash" than "bang," but those guns look serious, and who doesn't love a nice explosion. The first episode aired last night; hopefully the series gets enough interest to expand the three episodes into a regular series.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Honestly, It's Probably Pretty Violent
Battle Axe! What is it? A card game? A minis game? A game called Battle Axe? You'll have to scare up seven bucks to truly see for youself, but we think the title can give you a pretty big hint. It's probably not about engaging in civil discourse over the nature of a dispute with the goal being to resolve the issue at hand without incident. After all . . . an axe is involved.
It's been a while coming, but we have finally woken GURPS Dragons from its thousand-year slumber and pushed it out onto the e23 stage. It wasn't easy. Fires were started, interns were lost, Fright Checks were made. But, as you can see, we triumphed over the beast in the end. So don't say we never did nothin' for ya! (...Unless it would require that you mention those interns. We'd really appreciate it if you kept that on the QT.)
So what gems await in this book-shaped hoard? Dragons, mostly. We love our truth in advertising, we do. More specifically, there's guidelines for working those fabulously freaky lizardfolk into just about whatever setting you want. That's where the "generic" and "universal" comes in. Traditional fantasy dragons, slightly-less traditional eastern dragons, decidedly untraditional space dragons - wherever you are, we've got a dragon for it.
And that's not just in the fluff. No, siree. It was originally released right at the end of Third Edition, so this book caters to both kinds of gamers: players of GURPS Third Edition and players of GURPS Fourth Edition. So no matter what kind of GURPS you play, this book is "universal" enough to support it! Wow! Amazing! Exclamation points!
-- Fox Barrett
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Arrrrr-ion Games!
Pirates! Who doesn't love 'em? The way they . . . uh, steal stuff and . . . er, kill people and . . . okay, so maybe they aren't the funnest people to hang out with. But even if you're just looking to slaughter the scurvy sea-devils wholesale, you'll need lots of miniatures to do it! As it happens, Arion Games literally has all the pirates you could ever need! Their recently released Pirate Bundle contains all of their pirate sets (included Pirate Set III), and the only thing stopping you from fielding a swashbuckler legion is your toner cartridge.
May 10, 2009: Deluxe Illuminati Status Report
Deluxe Illuminati has been the dreaded "OOP" (Out Of Print) for a couple months now. But fear not! A reprint has been ordered from the printer.
Or so we thought. Turns out there were a few color issues. This sort of thing happens as layout software evolves, printers upgrade their hardware, and ink pigments shift. It's annoying -- and time consuming! -- but all part of a day's work for Phil and Alex, the Wonder Team of Productionopia.
You know, "Productionopia." The mystical land where layout happens, where rainbows have dozens of pantone shades, and . . . and maybe I've stretched this too far.
Back on topic: Deluxe Illuminati should be returning to our shelves in July. Don't worry; if you forget, we'll remind you.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: No, We Ain't Gonna Take It
It seems Terra Nova just can't catch a break. When the inhabitants aren't blowing each other to smithereens, someone else has to come along and blow them all to smithereens.But, resiliant as they are, the Terra Novans aren't the types to take this sort of thing laying down. They're more the "let's sneak around, spy on the enemy, and then shoot them in the face with big, big guns attached to big, big robots" types. Heavy Gear Blitz! Black Talon – Return to Cat’s Eye will get you up to speed.
May 9, 2009: Illuminated Site of the Week: Their Mind Oeuvre Matters
Bad enough the economy is in the dumps; now we're having to import our news of weird happenings from overseas. The British Psychological Society's Research Digest blog tracks stories of just how amazing the human brain can be, especially when there's a screw or two rolling around loose. Ghostly self-images, stroke victims in denial, and people who speak in tongues are just a few of their fascinating case studies. Some of the stories are fine fodder for a GURPS Illuminati, Horror, or Psionic Powers game, but they're all good for pointing up that the greatest journey most of us can take is inside our own minds.
-- Suggested by Ben Edmans
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Come Sale Away
The Warehouse isn't the only place with stuff on sale. For Mother's Day, Tabletop Adventures has marked down all its product 20%. Mother's are gamers, too, after all. And if your's isn't, well, as a good child it's your responsibility to bring the nice woman who birthed you into the wonderful world of dice, 'Dew, and dungeon-diving.
May 8, 2009: Want To Geekify Your Mom's Day Gift?
The largest growing target market for video games is not teens -- they all have their favorite platforms already, and there's rarely anyone under the age of 20 who can't handle a controller. No, the population that's picking up video games for the first time is adult professional women -- in other words, your mom.
Nintendo has come up a nifty package for this Mother's Day: a lime green Nintendo DS Lite, packaged with a carrying case and a copy of Personal Trainer: Cooking.
(You did remember that Mother's Day is this Sunday, right? He said, with an evil grin.)
Will it turn your mom into a Penny Arcade reading, Steam-lovin' computer nut? Not likely. But it might help her understand why you spend all those nights on Left 4 Dead.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Fire . . . Good?
Everyone loves dragons, right? Who doesn't want to play a dragon? Or a half-dragon? Or have a shoulder dragon? Or have a dragon dragon? Or have a patron dragon whom they serve in return for phenomenal cosmic power? Or be a dragon who was reborn in human form and can tap into the primal - Look, point is, people dig dragons. So why not have a whole darn GURPS book dedicated to 'em? Why not indeed. Here's GURPS Dragons. Enjoy!
May 7, 2009: Call For Playtesters: GURPS Low-Tech Series
GURPS Low-Tech will be taking players and GMs on a guided tour of past technology. If you're well informed about tools, weapons, armor, vehicles, and other technologies, in any era from the Stone Age to the Age of Sail, come join the expedition. Help us find our way through the winding paths of technological evolution -- and keep us from getting lost.
The playtest will cover GURPS Low-Tech itself as well as three GURPS Low-Tech Companion PDFs to be released on e23. The core book is devoted to equipment lists and game mechanics; the Companion volumes provide cultural and historical context, additional and alternate rules, and construction systems for several types of equipment. Thus, while we'll expect a careful review of game mechanics and historical accuracy, an additional important goal is to check for consistency between these four related works.
Places will be reserved for new playtesters, both to find out how clear the books are to readers with less GURPS experience, and to expand the pool of experienced playtesters for future books. Don't hesitate to apply!
The one-month playtest will depart on May 15.
Playtesters will need access to and familiarity with the GURPS Basic Set, and we'll give extra weight to applicants who are conversant with GURPS High-Tech (for cross-TL comparisons) and/or GURPS Martial Arts (to check weapons, of course!). Familiarity with Bio-Tech, Ultra-Tech, or the Third Edition version of Low-Tech can be an asset, as well. Prospective playtesters will also need to be registered e23 customers who have spent more than $50 at e23 in the past 12 months.
Prospective playtesters should e-mail jwilson@io.com with [LT] (for "Low-Tech") in the subject, and include your preferred e-mail address for the closed playtest mailing list, correct spelling of your name as it may appear in print, your e23 login name, and a few words about your qualifications, experience, and current gaming group(s). Information about preferred submission formatting is in the forum post for this playtest call.
-- Steven Marsh
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 . . .
Last month was a good one for e23 releases. Here's the ten items you voted -- with your dollars -- as the best of the bunch!
#1: GURPS Spaceships 3: Warships and Space Pirates Honestly, this one is no surprise. If there are two things we GURPS-heads love, it's spaceships and David Pulver. His Spaceships series just keeps getting better and better (and having seen the drafts of Spaceships 4 and Spaceships 5, I have no reservations about saying that).
#2: GURPS Psionic Powers We knew Jason Levine (aka Rev. Pee Kitty) was good; we didn't know he was this good. Of course, everybody loves cool powers . . . from your brain!
#3: GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles Sean "Dr. Kromm" Punch writing about customizing magic? How could that not be a top seller?
#4: GURPS Mass Combat For a release with as basic a title as "Mass Combat," David Pulver crafted a supplement of surprising depth: not only does this book cover "hordes of orcs vs last defenders of mankind," it handles "battlesuited troopers vs bug-eyed aliens" with equal deftness.
#5: GURPS Character Assistant After nearly four years, this program continues top the charts month after month. That's a testament like no other to the quality of this software.
#6: GURPS Classic: Traveller: Starports When your tramp freighter has just spent six months hauling a herd of cattle between the stars, you're going to pay attention to the starport. And although Starports is written for the Traveller universe, it has more than enough advice to be applicable to any starfaring game, which is, I suspect, why it appears on this list.
#7: GURPS Spaceships 2: Traders, Liners, and Transports The second installment in the Spaceships series, and Pulver's third product on this list. I told you we liked him.
#8: Pyramid #3/6: Space Colony Alpha The lastest release from the new incarnation of Pyramid, with a spacey theme. I guess April was SF month all 'round.
#9: Pyramid Subscription - 12 Months April was the last freebie for subscribers of the previous incarnation of Pyramid, and it looks like the renewals bumped the subscription up. Thanks, and if you're not sure about a full year, the subs come in three-month and six-month flavors as well.
#10: GURPS Locations: Metro of Madness It's underground, is full of weird stuff, and features a railroad. No, it's not the latest adventure from that company we're blowing out, it's Metro of Madness, a Location with more strange plot hooks than you can shake a stick at.
-- Paul Chapman
You might know there's a sale going on over at Warehouse 23. You might not know that we increased the discount, and all Wizards of the Coast products are now at 20%-off. The gettin'? Yeah. It's good.
May 5, 2009: Happy Anniversary, Alex!
This week, Alex has been with Steve Jackson Games for a full decade. In the gaming industry, where talented people like Alex usually move on, lured away by bigger dollars at more mundane companies, this is a milestone to celebrate.
Alex started as a Production Artist . . . and he's still our Production Artist. He's laid out a ridiculously huge chunk of the print products we've released this century, and provided hundreds of illustrations. Remember the cover for GURPS Steam-Tech? That's Alex's. He did all the art -- cover and interiors -- for GURPS Shapeshifters, Dragons, and Faerie, as well as Spooks.
When he's not here, Alex has a huge pet lizard that he lets swim around in his pool like a horror film. He also gets into costumes (check out his Halloween pictures!) and . . . well, he does art too.
Thanks, Alex, for the last ten years! Here's to the next ten!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Fusion Beam
Space, at a casual glance, is a cold, empty, quiet place. It's not the most happenin' scene out there. So why not liven things up a bit with Star Fury, Set #1 ? It has stars (like space), but is also furious (like a more exciting version of space that has lasers and stuff).
May 4, 2009: We All Live In A Similar, But Legally Distinct Yellow Submarine
Ours is cooler, anyway. It has robots with grandpa's brains floating around inside 'em.
Transhuman Space. I think we can all agree on something about this setting. It's all about space right? Wrong! Everyone who thinks that must now leave the room and report for Punishment! Okay, are they gone? While true, space does feature prominently in the game we chose to call Transhuman Space, it would be decidedly shortsighted to limit ourselves to just the stars. No, we have seen the future and it is the oceans! Or maybe that was an episode of seaQuest. Regardless, we've got a book called Transhuman Space Classic: Under Pressure for you here at e23, and it's chock full of undersea adventure!
I just looked up "chock" to make sure I was using it correctly. Turns out "chock" is a nautical term. Woo-hoo, I'm the best salesman ever! (You . . . you are going to buy the book, right?)
-- Fox Barrett
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Come Sail Away
And by "sail," we mean "use those big rocket thingies in the back." The 30-Ton Slow Boat, despite its name, is less like the Kon-Tiki and more like this big winged metal thing with engines that can fly into space. So not what one might traditionally consider boat-like. Which, as luck would have it, also means that its quite cool.
May 3, 2009: Many Mighty Plots Will Be Plotzed
Next week, John Kovalic will be visiting us in Austin. Barbecue will be eaten, Munchkin played, new Munchkin stuff discussed, and upcoming Munchkin stuff* will be gloated over in a most unseemly way. It'll be fun.
John is celebrating three important milestones at the moment. First, he recently drew his 2,500th Munchkin card. Second, he participated last night in his first gallery show (read about it on his blog) and it was an utter triumph. And third, last night his daughter Louisa waved at him for the first time.
We can't wait to get him here, show him the new gazebo, and introduce him to the mascot . . .
-- Steve Jackson
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* Which you haven't even seen yet, but we'll leak at least one when we post the trip photos - count on it.
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Treants And Xills And Vargouilles, Oh My!
Looking for revised d20 stats on a creature with a name that falls somewhere between the letters T and Z? Cooper's Compendium of Corrected Creatures: OGL Monster Stats T - G could not be more perfect for you, then! Sure, the situation may seem overspecific, but we choose to think of it as "offering unprecedented personalized service." Because, well, that looks really good on paper.
The swine flu (or H1N1 as the kids are calling it) is sending terror into the hearts of millions. One man, however, saw the potential for music.
Stephan Zielinski took the DNA of the Terror Of The Week, programed a very complicated algorithm into his computer, and created four minutes, 46 seconds of ambient music.
I wonder what the human helix would sound like? I'm hoping for Henry Rollins . . .
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: e23: Not So Much "The Stars" As "The Starfish"
Transhuman Space Classic: Under Pressure may be somewhat lacking in spaceships, but it more than makes up for it in shipships. And since that's twice as much "ship" as you get with a spaceship, this book is obviously twice as good.
May 1, 2009: Illuminated Site of the Week: "Search-And-Rescue" Missions . . . Riiight
It's mind control . . . if you call what a bug has a "mind." As if the oversized flower beetle wasn't imposing enough in its own right, it now frightens the world with a cybernetic hookup from the University of California and DARPA. Sure, they can "only" manage to make it go left, right, start, and stop, but with the potential to carry cameras and heat sensors, it's already in danger of becoming a bad "bug" pun in intelligence circles. Read all about the declassified bits in MIT's Technology Review.
-- Suggested by Pascal Godbout
Maybe it's a history lesson. Maybe it's a twisting, turning game of political maneuvering. Maybe it's both? Maybe it's neither! Unless you click this link to Footsteps of the Prophet, you'll never know. Maybe you can live with that. Maybe you can't.
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