Steve Jackson's Blog, page 106

December 28, 2022: Subscribe To The Steve Jackson Games Newsletter

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Warehouse 23 News: It's A Wish List With Ominous Music

Didn't get what you want for the holidays? Then destroy the world! No, wait; we mean do something fun and inspirational, like reading GURPS Magical Styles: Horror Magic . This assortment of three magical flavors delves deeply into realms that should perhaps remain hidden. Get what you want, with a download from Warehouse 23!

December 27, 2022: Dice Pre-Orders Coming To A Close

We're running a dice pre-order store at BackerKit, and you're almost out of time to take advantage of the offers. !n addition to several new dice designs – including Munchkin polyhedral dice sets and the giant Bad Luck Die   – we're also offering many older dice, accessories, and dice games as a part of the store. 

Please click through to visit the pre-order store today and take advantage of these offers. Many of these dice will be available again later, at our online store and your favorite local game store. We'll post to the Daily Illuminator as the new sets are released to the wider world.

Visit the pre-order store!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Don Your Tophat!

And get those gears ready! Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe is chock full of clockwork monsters that want to stop you in your tracks. Grab a copy from Warehouse 23 today!

December 26, 2022: Supporting Eric Dow

Eric has been with Steve Jackson Games for more than 10 years, wearing so many hats we don't know how he balances them all! He's currently our Events Coordinator as well as our Building and Safety Manager. He lovingly (?) moves bee colonies from under the containers. He can run a 3D printer and the laser cutter. He knows which key goes to which door, how the magical solar panels work, and how long it takes to get a pallet to Indianapolis. Along with his wife, Denise, Eric used to own Wonko's Toys and Games in North Austin – and is up for a game or a playtest any time he's asked! He also, in his spare time, drove the Pan-American Highway from Alaska to Argentina in a Volkswagen Touareg. (Well, not by himself.) He's a man of many talents . . . If you follow any of our SJ Games Facebook groups, you have probably seen Eric's GoFundMe. In November, Eric was diagnosed with ALL (Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia). He's been in the hospital for almost a month now – on Christmas Day and probably for New Year's. He's handled it in typical Eric style – he's kept an incredibly positive outlook, posting smiling pics from the hospital while urging folks to donate blood. Eric has been a passionate blood donor since he was 19 years old. So he's also using his diagnosis as a platform to encourage people to donate blood. There's a current blood shortage, as there almost always is, and it's these donations that keep cancer patients, among so many others, going. If you'd like to donate to Eric's GoFundMe, we think that would be great. Share it with your friends, if you would. If you can spare a pint or two of blood, please do so. And hold your people close this holiday season – and always.

– Susan Bueno

Warehouse 23 News: Exercise Your Noodle With A Doodle!

It's a common situation: You're sitting down, minding your own business, when killer robots barge in and say, "WE WANT TO PLAY A GAME, HUMAN . . . IM-ME-DI-ATE-LY!" What do you do? The answer is obvious: Download and print Deadly Doodles – a fast-paced, fun game that lets your pen mark a path to victory! Of course, if the robots are a smidge more patient, you can also buy a physical copy. But either way, you can get it today, thanks to Warehouse 23!

December 25, 2022: Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas from the team here at Steve Jackson Games! Enjoy the holidays and play some games! 

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Base Your Game!

From Dungeon Fantasy and The Fantasy Trip to Munchkin Quest and beyond – no matter what your RPG or boardgame of choice may be, these Hex Bases will hold your characters and game pieces securely in place. Includes 14 plastic bases, two each of seven different colors. Order yours now on Warehouse 23!

December 24, 2022: Out Of Time And Need A Gift? We've Got You Covered!

It 's Christmas Eve, which means that we're all effectively out of time for our holiday shopping. If there's a gamer in your life and you still need to grab them something special, our Warehouse 23 gift certificates are available and ready to be delivered within moments. It's not as much fun as opening a new game Christmas morning, but with a gift certificate, they can choose from our extensive library of games, expansions, and accessories.

Buy your Warehouse 23 gift cards before it's too late!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Good Plus Bad Equals . . .

You take the good, you take the bad, you mix them up, and then you have . . . really interesting treasures! GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 4: Mixed Blessings is an assortment of ready-to-use items that are helpful but quirky, powerful but dangerous, or otherwise not completely trouble-free. Download this trove today from Warehouse 23!

December 23, 2022: Last-Minute Holiday Shopping Needs? Visit Your Favorite Local Game Store!

We're only days from the big event when many across the U.S. will settle down with their friends and families for laughter, meals, and the traditional gift exchange. If you still need to find presents for those gamers in your life, we recommend visiting your favorite local game store today! Shopping local will help the game stores stay healthy and strong, which is vital to every community as well as every game publisher (including us!).

If you're traveling and unsure of where to find your local store, you can use our handy store finder and discover the stores closest to you. When you are checking out at the store, please let them know that you found them using the Steve Jackson Games store finder. Thanks, and have a wonderful holiday!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Cooking With Munchkin!

Munchkin Crazy Cooks  puts the adventurers in the only place with more backstabbing and treachery than the dungeon: the kitchen! This stand-alone game seats 3 to 6 foodies who can try to stomach corny jokes from Steve Jackson, with a ganache of John Kovalic illustrations. Order up now on Warehouse 23!

December 22, 2022: Munchkin Witches Preorders Open On BackerKit

Munchkin Witches was wicked successful on Kickstarter, but if you missed out, you can still pre-order on Backerkit through January 9! This 30-card mini-expansion features the incredible art of Len Peralta (the artist behind Munchkin Clowns , Apocalypse Guest Artist Edition , and more)! It gives players enough cards to add some spooky spellcasting to a game of Munchkin , plus a number of monsters, Items, and other cards to make your witches feel right at home. (The BackerKit bundle also includes 10 bonus witch-themed promo cards for a little more toil and trouble.) You'll also find several other expansions available for pre-order, such as  Munchkin Squids  and  Munchkin Cows  (both previously available in Munchkin Unicorns & Friends). Or you can get back to nature, sort of, with the brand-new 112-card  Munchkin Druids ! Add these to your Munchkin collection today!

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Unique Items Wait For You

Grimslaughter! The name of this weapon sparks fear and intrigue among adventurers. Its secrets are revealed – along with dozens of other items – in the pages of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 3: Artifacts of Felltower . . . just a download away from Warehouse 23

December 21, 2022: Zombie Dice, 11 Years Later

When zombies started to become A Big Thing, rather than merely a Thing, I wanted to do a zombie game. I quickly got to a couple of different prototypes. In one, the zombies were invading a neighborhood, a house at a time. The other one involved chasing down the individual victims . . . who shot back! Respect to Randy Scheunemann for arguing persistently and correctly that the second one was better, and for good suggestions on making it better yet!

So that became Zombie Dice . Like Munchkin , it was a little game that just took off. My original design notes are here. http://www.sjgames.com/dice/zombiedice/notes.html

There's no way in Zombie Dice to directly affect the other players . . . you can't shoot at them or steal their brains. But it is not an isolationist game. Your table talk and bad advice can get your opponents to do things they shouldn't, and make them forget the maxim "Eat brains. Don't get shotgunned." So it works just fine as a party game.

Where do we stand, more than a decade after the first zombie ate that 13th brain and went to Zombie Nirvana?We've re-skinned it more than once to fit other themes. The re-skins didn't come close to the popularity of the original, though. The mechanic is good, but clearly the "lightning in a bottle" came from combining it with the zombie theme.Other people have also re-skinned the game, without permission, and sometimes without even a token attempt to cover their tracks. This may be aggravating, but it is legal; you cannot copyright a game mechanic. Forgive me, though, if I don't link to them!We released an app version of the game – code (and artificial undead intelligence) by Kira, sound by Tom Smith. Although intended mainly to promote the dice game, it actually turned a profit.We did some shotglasses, and a big bar glass, featuring the zombie character drawn by Alex Fernandez. And there are T- shirts, of course. Zombie lifestyle products for the win!It was translated to German, as Zombie Wurfel – "wurfel" meaning "die" – and was also a success.We released two supplements. One of them features Santa Claus, among other zombie-fighters. The other has a big yellow 12-sided die that represents a school bus. Lots of little brains there (yes, I am a horrible person). But also lots of shotguns, because in Zombie World the kids can shoot back.Then we released a Horde Edition which is the original game plus the two expansions. You can still get this version in Warehouse 23.Howard Tayler wrote a great article on roleplaying Zombie Dice . http://www.sjgames.com/dice/zombiedice/roleplaying.htmlMost recently, The Last Gameboard has released Zombie Dice on their new game system. And it was the most popular offering there during October!What's next? Zombie Dice, The Movie? There have been worse concepts. Not enough movies tell the story from the point of the zombies? Hollywood, you know where to find me . . .

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Pocketbox Autodueling!

Car Wars  is a game of the freeways of the future – where the right of way goes to the biggest guns. Players choose their vehicles – complete with weapons, armor, power plants, suspension, and even body style. Return to the classic that started it all with  Car Wars Pocket Box Bundle 1 now on Warehouse 23!

December 20, 2022: Warehouse 23 – Holiday Shipping And Closing

The final countdown is upon us! I hope you have all of your gifts purchased and wrapped and all of your little munchkins in a row. So to speak. (If you still need a little something, though, you might want to consider a Warehouse 23 Gift Certificate. They're one-size-fits-all!)

Our Warehouse 23 elves will continue to ship all this week, up until Friday afternoon. Those packages won't arrive before Christmas, of course, but post-Christmas presents are nice, too! 

Dates to keep in mind:Warehouse 23, and the rest of our office, will be closed for the holidays beginning Saturday, December 24, through Sunday, January 1.Tuesday, January 2, W23 will begin shipping orders received between December 23-31.W23 will then be closed for our annual inventory from Wednesday, January 4, through Friday, January 6.Monday, January 9, W23 will reopen and begin shipping orders received in 2023.Check out the W23 pages for those perfect treaures you might have overlooked. Better late than never!

– Susan Bueno

Warehouse 23 News: TREASURE! Eight Letters, All Caps

GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Treasures 2: Epic Treasures is an assortment of nonmagical items that are just plain cool. Spark yearnings among your GURPS Dungeon Fantasy adventurers, and give them something to quest for. Loot awaits a download from Warehouse 23!

December 19, 2022: Enter The Rose Labyrinth On Kickstarter Today

The thorny gates of The Rose Labyrinth  open today, and you're invited to explore its mysterious paths on Kickstarter! Our newest project for The Fantasy Trip features vibrant map boards featuring the labyrinth, scenarios to use it in your games, and over 100 double-sided tokens representing monsters, obstacles, and much more. Plus you get lore and background on the setting to help ignite your creativity. While designed for use with The Fantasy Trip , this makes an excellent backdrop for any hex-based tabletop game.

This is also a great campaign to catch up on your collection of The Fantasy Trip , with multiple add-ons pulled from our recent campaigns and new releases. Fill your shelves with incredible supplements for even more world-building! The campaign ends January 2, so pledge your support before the vines close back in on The Rose Labyrinth ! 

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Gift Certificates Make The Perfect Present!

You don't know what games your friend(s) want to add to their collections? We can help! A Warehouse 23 Gift Certificate is the perfect gift for every gamer on your list. You provide us with their email, choose the amount you wish to spend, and we'll do the rest!