Steve Jackson's Blog, page 138

February 15, 2022: Recycling Cardboard With Warehouse 23

Steve Jackson Games has endeavored to go greener over the years; we've installed solar panels at our office and changed our plastic mini-expansion packaging to cardboard tuckboxes. It's not superhero-level stuff, but we try to make green changes when and where we can, and our shipping team will soon* begin reusing our incoming shipping cartons to ship games to you!

After years of seemingly wasting the good boxes that our games come in (well, we've always recycled them, but this is better!), we've designed a sticker system on the exterior of those boxes that will allow our web store, Warehouse 23, to reuse the cartons without causing issues with the mail system. So if you see a sticker on your next Warehouse 23 order, you'll know the reason! It's a small thing, but over time it will help us re-use a bit more of the scrap we generate.

– Hunter Shelburne

*This just in. The first re-used carton shipped yesterday!

Warehouse 23 News: Unleash Your Inner Genius

Does "science" have four exclamation points, or five? Let the Spark within you come to life with Girl Genius Sourcebook and Roleplaying Game. It brings the beloved gaslamp-fantasy world of Phil and Kaja Foglio's Girl Genius comics and graphic novels to your gaming table. And getting it from Warehouse 23 is 99.87% free of dimensional calamity!

February 14, 2022: FnordCon Events, Last Chance At Swag For Non-Attendees

FnordCon, our in-person game convention held in Austin, is coming! The pre-registration page went live earlier this year, and now you can get a look at the preliminary schedule of events. There will be game sessions, of course, as well as chances to meet Steve Jackson, John Kovalic, and some of our team who spend their days making games and supporting our creative efforts. (None of this works without the ability to handle business needs, pack and ship games, and manage the technical and administrative requirements of producing games.)

For those of you who cannot make it to Austin this year, today is your last chance at the FnordCon swag project at Indiegogo. Including Munchkin and Car Wars Sixth Edition promos, dice, and a crabman miniature, the swag package is overloaded, thanks to the support of over 400 gamers who have already joined the campaign. To secure your swag, please join us on Indiegogo before the project ends later today.

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Beep Prepared

GURPS Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides puts you behind the wheel of some amazing vehicles . . . with just a few strings attached. Tomorrow Rides provides details on a mysterious organization: their history, what they can supply to adventurers, and even some ideas for darker secrets that might lurk beneath the surface. The key to excitement is just a download away from Warehouse 23!

February 13, 2022: New FnordCon Swag – A Thumb Drive Full Of Stuff!

Thanks to the great response to the "I can't come to FnordCon but I want the swag!" campaign on IndieGoGo, now with over 400 supporters, we've added a great new goodie. This is not a stretch goal - we just dropped it in.

It's a 4-gig USB drive in credit-card format, with the FnordCon 5 logo. But it's what's "inside" that counts.

• From SJ Games: The complete Melee game; the winners of the Fantasy Trip postcard adventure contest; GURPS Lite and Ultra-Lite ; Car Wars kill stickers and the new game rules; a Munchkin coloring book and face mask. Plus music (the Ogre theme) and a free STL miniature file (octopus!!) Plus the #1 issues of Pyramid and Hexagram. Plus the "Great Salt Flats" hex map. Plus two coloring books: O is for Octopus and the Munchkin Alphabet .

• From Gaming Ballistic: No matter what your game system, Gaming Ballistic has (a preview of) something for you. Are you a TFT fan?  Three solos, a five-book "adventure path," two one-shots, a setting book, and four volumes of ready-to-play characters. Dungeon Fantasy RPG ? Thirteen different books, from the Delvers to Grow quick-starts supporting play from zero to hero, five different setting/adventure books, three small supplements for character generation and rules, and a preview of the brand new 192-page, full-color Bestiary . Finally, if your friends only play That Other Game, help them take a half-step to GURPS or TFT with the Dragon Heresy RPG. Set in the same world as the Powered by GURPS Nordlond setting, Dragon Heresy is what happens when 5e gets tweaked out by an SJG fan and author. Includes the Dragon Heresy Basic Combat rules, showcasing low-level heroes of the melee variety with completely playable combat rules, so you can take it for a test drive.

• From Wintertree Software: A demo version (limited to short tables) of TableMaster; example output from all the tables in the Table Packs; the program TextJiggler; four 1001 Things sampler collections; the full Cowboy, Crowley, and d12 with Pips fonts; the Adventurers and the 1001 Things story collection; an assortment of PDF borders for making handouts; ready-to-print hex paper in both US and UK sizes; the Business Card Dungeon in both human and TableMaster form; and an Alberti cipher disc to print and assemble.

Again, the campaign for the swag, now including all those lovely files, is right here on IndieGoGo. But I would be remiss if I did not encourage you - if you can make it, and if the country is less plagued in a couple of months - to come to FnordCon in person. Austin, Texas . . . April 29 through May 1.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: The Best That Money Can Buy

Sometimes the world needs help that only money can buy. You take cash. GURPS Action 7: Mercenaries provides insight into soldiers of fortune in GURPS Action , with a new lens plus guidelines for how to make mercs work. A possible career change begins with a download from Warehouse 23!

February 12, 2022: New Colossal Munchkin Level Dice Now On Indiegogo!

If you missed out on the giant Munchkin d10 we released last fall, now's your chance to add one of these almost one-pound dice to your collection! At Indiegogo, as a part of our FnordCon Swag campaign, we're offering three colors of these giant dice . . . and these new colors include game cards! 

We have a limited number of the new Munchkin dice available at the moment, so please act fast if you want to be one of the first in your game group to receive this giant level die.

You may join the Indiegogo campaign today. Project ends on Monday, February 14, and the dice are scheduled to ship in May.

– Phil ReedSay "Be Mine" With Candy Heart Dice

Valentine's Day. A day of passion, romance . . . and surprisingly mediocre candy. On this day, more than any, one must make a bold move, and sometimes even roll the dice on a new love. And boy, do we have the dice to roll for this one! The  Candy Heart d6 Dice Set  is one of our most popular sets: a truly inspired interpretation of the classic candy heart colors and messages. They look so good you could eat them.*

They're so iconic that we even included them in our February Freebies sale on Warehouse 23! During this month you can get them with an order of $75 or more, for free (along with a lot of other swag). So there's really no excuse not to show your sweetheart that their love is a critical hit.

Pick up a set on its own, or check out our sale to get your own Candy Heart d6 Dice Set . I know you'll love them.

*Please don't eat the dice. I know candy hearts taste bad, but dice taste worse.

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Fear Awaits

The need for heroes now, methinks, is when from shadows something blinks. GURPS Monster Hunters Encounters 1 presents two ready-to-use hooks and encounters for GURPS Monster Hunters. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

February 11, 2022: Now I'm 3D Printing (Part 7)

The big question this week was: what would "crunch" production look like? I tried Monday and Tuesday to run the printer as many times as I could. I wanted to see what I could expect, and we need a LOT of crabmen for FnordCon. (How many is a lot? Well, one for each attendee and one for everybody who supports the FnordCon Swag campaign on IndieGoGo. So it'll be well over 300.)

I would have liked to show you a whole HORDE of crabmen, but (a) they're not all done yet, and (b) most of them are not cleaned up; they still have their supports. So feast your eyes on the example to the right. That bad boy comes in eight poses, in varying sizes. And there might be a horde photo later.

Anyway; it proves to be possible, without too much pain, to run the printer five times a day. Each run of the crabmen produces eight figures, one of each pose. It takes the printer a couple of hours to finish. Then there's time required for washing, drying, and curing, but that happens while the printer is doing the next run. So it is doable, and best of all, I had zero failed figures during the crunch.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Munchkin Petting Zoo!

Where else can you find adorable animals, screaming children, and the most awful smells?  Munchkin Petting Zoo  lets you add a menagerie of surprisingly friendly fauna to your arsenal! But you should probably still wash your hands after you pet that . . . giraffe? Pre-order now on Warehouse 23!

February 10, 2022: The Stakeholders' Report Is Up

How did we do in 2021? Well, it was an awful year, but you knew that. We're still here, and that's the biggest win. You say that a few more details would be good? Okay, we've got you covered. Read it here.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Somebody Set Up Us Le Boomb!

Le Boomb! is a blast from the past. Literally! We've brought back this quick little classic dice game, with updates to add to the fun. There are only two components: the custom die and the 'boomb.' Roll the die, and hope the 'boomb' is not in front of YOU when the explosion comes up! Grab your copy from Warehouse 23 today!

February 9, 2022: Get FnordCon Swag Even If You Can't Make It To Austin!

We've opened FnordCon pre-registration, but we understand that not everyone can make it to Austin the end of April to join us for the in-person convention. For those of you who won't be at the show, or maybe you'll be there and just want extra STUFF, we have an Indiegogo project running right now to have the swag shipped to your door. This project includes stretch goals that, as they fall, pack more into the swag, so please visit the Indiegogo page today and take a look at everything you can get delivered to your house.

Hurry, though, because the project closes on Monday, February 14. There's not a lot of time to take advantage of this opportunity to get new Munchkin promos, Car Wars Sixth Edition promos, and much more!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: The Autodueling Continues . . .

. . . with the  Car Wars Pocket Box Bundle 2 ! Visit Midville and Black Lake to see its sights and colorful citizens, or take your chances in the Armadillo Autoduel Arena! Will you find glory or defeat? Find out by picking up this Pocket Box from Warehouse 23 today!

February 8, 2022: Steve Jackson's Munchkin Presents Batman Coming To Kickstarter!

Steve Jackson and John Kovalic are at it again, teaming up to bring the Caped Crusader to Munchkin tables everywhere in this new stand-alone game!

Coming soon to Kickstarter, this new game features over 250 cards, and the Kickstarter edition only gets heavier as project stretch goals are unlocked. We're not yet ready to show everything that's packed inside the box, but you can follow the Kickstarter page today, and then join Steve and Hunter on Thursday, February 10, at 2 p.m. CST for a livestream where they'll unbox a production sample of the new game!

This new Kickstarter campaign will be open to gamers in the U.S., Canada, UK, and the EU.

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: True Love!

Here's a little something for that special munchkin in your life! More monsters to slay, more treasures to steal, more curses to dodge . . . all in the name of True Love. (Love of loot and levels, that is!) Order Munchkin Love Shark Baby now on Warehouse 23!

February 7, 2022: Crowdfunding Focus: Iain Lovecraft's Treasure Island

The amazing Iain Lovecraft has launched another minis Kickstarter, and this one is pirate-themed. Huge support already, because this one combines a great sculptor, a classic theme, and a 5e adventure. And it links to some really excellent painting instructions.

X marks the spot, mateys.

Arrrr.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Steal Treasure . . . And Hearts!

You can do both with these  Munchkin Valentines ! Each package comes with five valentines and envelopes, so you've got five chances to make someone like you. We believe in you! (Kind of!) Order now on Warehouse 23!

February 6, 2022: Preliminary FnordCon Schedule Posted

It's at www.sjgames.com/fnordcon/schedule.html. Seemed like a logical place for it.

And it IS preliminary, but we wanted to get it up there to give you an idea of what we had in store for you.

You'll note that one panel slot is unfilled. If you care to make a suggestion in the comments to this Illuminator . . . we're listening.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Valentine Candy! Or Not!

The  Candy Heart d6 Dice Set  includes three different resin dice inspired by the classic Valentine's Day candy. These pastel dice look good enough to eat. Note: Not real candy, DO NOT EAT! Order a set now on Warehouse 23!