Steve Jackson's Blog, page 14
June 13, 2025
June 13, 2025: Physical Dementia For Digital Munchkin
You might know that our friends at Dire Wolf have made a really great digital adaptation of Munchkin that's available on Steam, phones, and tablets. You should play it! It's fun, and very faithful to the original.
What you might not know is that there's also a Munchkin Digital Pixels & Paper Pack that takes a unique approach to the whole digital-board-game-adaptation thing.
The Pixels & Paper Pack is a physical product that comes in a small box. It contains a Steam key for the video game (that's the Pixels), along with 5 new promo cards that you can use at your table (that's the Paper).
There's also a collectible Orc-B-Gone Key-Chainsaw that comes in the box and will help keep monsters from stealing your car keys. If that's a concern.
You can get the Pixels & Paper Pack from Dire Wolf. Have fun in the dungeon!
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 12, 2025
June 12, 2025: What To Do When You're Not Doing Anything
When it's not your turn in a game, do you have an etiquette for what is and isn't allowed at the gaming table? It's the sort of thing that doesn't tend to cause problems until it is a problem – at which point it's often too late to easily soothe the ruffled feathers.
If you think having cell phones or other devices is distracting, or getting up to wander around should be kept to a minimum, it can be useful to make that known ahead of time: "Hey, we have a hard time with distracted players slowing down the games, so it works out great if we can all turn off the phones ahead of time." It's even better if there are actual repercussions known before the session: "If you're not here for the 'going once, going twice . . .' part of the rules, then you just won't participate in that even if you could've done something cool in response to a player's game-winning move!"
Of course, not all games need to have hard-and-fast social guidelines for the "downtime" when the other players are doing their thing. But sometimes even being reminded that it's an option to discuss can create a useful tool to deal with troubles. Games are all about having fun, and that includes doing your part to help everyone else have fun – even if it's not your turn.
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
If you think having cell phones or other devices is distracting, or getting up to wander around should be kept to a minimum, it can be useful to make that known ahead of time: "Hey, we have a hard time with distracted players slowing down the games, so it works out great if we can all turn off the phones ahead of time." It's even better if there are actual repercussions known before the session: "If you're not here for the 'going once, going twice . . .' part of the rules, then you just won't participate in that even if you could've done something cool in response to a player's game-winning move!"
Of course, not all games need to have hard-and-fast social guidelines for the "downtime" when the other players are doing their thing. But sometimes even being reminded that it's an option to discuss can create a useful tool to deal with troubles. Games are all about having fun, and that includes doing your part to help everyone else have fun – even if it's not your turn.
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 11, 2025
June 11, 2025: A Productive Prop
Some props are more elaborate than others. One arrived in today's mail: the
Brindlewood Bay Community Cookbook
.
Brindlewood Bay
is a cozy mystery game with a Lovecraftian twist, published by The Gauntlet.
Each of the recipes was "contributed" by one of the town NPCs, and it's "annotated" (in a sometimes nearly unreadable scrawl) by another. Those annotations are the important part: they give information about those characters. Clues!
You can make something similar. Find some recipes you like and print them out to be folded in half; your word processor should be able to do this. Then staple the whole thing together, print a suitable cover on cardstock, and glue that over the booklet to cover the staples. You can trim the edges away from the spine with an X-Acto knife for neatness. Add some notes about the fictional "contributors" of the recipes. You now have a compendium of clues!
A player who actually cooks one of the Brindlewood Bay recipes and shares it with their group gets a bonus clue to the current mystery. Could someone make me the chocolate chip banana bread, please?
– Jean McGuire
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
Each of the recipes was "contributed" by one of the town NPCs, and it's "annotated" (in a sometimes nearly unreadable scrawl) by another. Those annotations are the important part: they give information about those characters. Clues!
You can make something similar. Find some recipes you like and print them out to be folded in half; your word processor should be able to do this. Then staple the whole thing together, print a suitable cover on cardstock, and glue that over the booklet to cover the staples. You can trim the edges away from the spine with an X-Acto knife for neatness. Add some notes about the fictional "contributors" of the recipes. You now have a compendium of clues!
A player who actually cooks one of the Brindlewood Bay recipes and shares it with their group gets a bonus clue to the current mystery. Could someone make me the chocolate chip banana bread, please?
– Jean McGuire
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 10, 2025
June 10, 2025: The Gift Of Games: Romantic Edition
I recently offered a tip about giving a game along with a snack to turn it into a gift of a game night. But what if the recipient is a bit closer to you – either someone you're dating or in a long-term relationship with? What do you give them?
As a tangential purveyor of fine games, my answer is the same: Fine games. (Honestly, as a tangential purveyor of fine games, I cannot overstate how much "give fine games" is my default go-to. Don't tap the "25% tip" button at a coffee shop; hand over a copy of Deadly Doodles Second Edition ! Pet groomer did a great job? Thank them with a copy of Munchkin Tails ! Is your postal carrier fantastic? Surreptitiously slip them a copy of the Car Wars Core Set !)
However, my insight for those in a relationship goes a bit further. A challenge with many gaming couples is not just "the physical game" but also "the time and plan." In other words, a stand-alone game without a plan could well end up in the closet of shame, along with myriad other games that you just haven't gotten around to yet. You may even have other closets or garage nooks full of yet-to-be-played games that you hope your spouse won't find out about when she's editing a Daily Illuminator post. Hypothetically.
So, rather than a game, or even a game and a snack, consider giving a game and a plan.
Go with dinner and a meal. Include an invitation to a proposed "date night and time" . . . or a few options if one of you is exceptionally busy. Provide a menu of foods you can make and/or provide. (Even a carry-out menu from a beloved restaurant will get the point across.)
Then, do the heavy mental lifting as much as possible to make the game happen. Learn the game as best you're able, sleeve the cards if you do that, check out any "how to plays" (or have a video cued up), look for any FAQs . . . Basically, if there's any mental resistence that tends to keep you from playing a new game, eliminate that as much as possible.
In other words, you're not giving your snugglebunny (say) a copy of Groo: The Game . . . you're giving a complete, ready-to-go "date night" that includes Groo: The Game .
Of course, if you do have a "closet of shame," you don't even need to buy a new game; you can do the above with something from your stash that's maybe been languishing too long. The important thing is to make the runway as clear as possible to enjoy it together. A meal, a plan, a game – it's a date!
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
As a tangential purveyor of fine games, my answer is the same: Fine games. (Honestly, as a tangential purveyor of fine games, I cannot overstate how much "give fine games" is my default go-to. Don't tap the "25% tip" button at a coffee shop; hand over a copy of Deadly Doodles Second Edition ! Pet groomer did a great job? Thank them with a copy of Munchkin Tails ! Is your postal carrier fantastic? Surreptitiously slip them a copy of the Car Wars Core Set !)
However, my insight for those in a relationship goes a bit further. A challenge with many gaming couples is not just "the physical game" but also "the time and plan." In other words, a stand-alone game without a plan could well end up in the closet of shame, along with myriad other games that you just haven't gotten around to yet. You may even have other closets or garage nooks full of yet-to-be-played games that you hope your spouse won't find out about when she's editing a Daily Illuminator post. Hypothetically.
So, rather than a game, or even a game and a snack, consider giving a game and a plan.
Go with dinner and a meal. Include an invitation to a proposed "date night and time" . . . or a few options if one of you is exceptionally busy. Provide a menu of foods you can make and/or provide. (Even a carry-out menu from a beloved restaurant will get the point across.)
Then, do the heavy mental lifting as much as possible to make the game happen. Learn the game as best you're able, sleeve the cards if you do that, check out any "how to plays" (or have a video cued up), look for any FAQs . . . Basically, if there's any mental resistence that tends to keep you from playing a new game, eliminate that as much as possible.
In other words, you're not giving your snugglebunny (say) a copy of Groo: The Game . . . you're giving a complete, ready-to-go "date night" that includes Groo: The Game .
Of course, if you do have a "closet of shame," you don't even need to buy a new game; you can do the above with something from your stash that's maybe been languishing too long. The important thing is to make the runway as clear as possible to enjoy it together. A meal, a plan, a game – it's a date!
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 9, 2025
June 9, 2025: Paper Dreams . . . Play-By-Mail Lives!
Graph paper. #2 pencils. Floppy disks. Paper instruction manuals. It was a different world when play-by-mail games were everywhere.You can read about this "underdog" genre – popular in decades past and still with a heartbeat – in Paper Dreams: A History of Play-by-Mail Gaming, now available. I was a fan of PBM and was happy to contribute the foreword.
And don't just read it to hear more about our own (free!) PBModem game UltraCorps (www.ultracorps.com). Dig in to reminisce about the classics of yesteryear. Explore games ranging from space operas like Starweb (a favorite of mine and still playable today), fantasy RPGs, wargames, sports games, games of intrigue and crime, and many others. But it's not just a book of lists. The author, Dave Spencer, tells us about the strange and controversial angles of PBM . . . pub brawls, blackmail and mail fraud, the moral panic of the times, obsessive players, the "adult" side, and more.
Check it out on Amazon. Reminisce. Maybe even try one of the classic PBM games still available today.
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 8, 2025
June 8, 2025: Turning The Tables?
Question for you all: What do folks like as far as game tables? Our household doesn't have one of those dedicated game tables; most of our discretionary income goes toward buying more games. (Besides, whenever I think about it, the "game table of my dreams" quite possibly won't fit in the "house we can afford in the game biz.") However, in thinking it through, we actually have three different game tables we use for varying purposes.
Our most pick-up-and-go option is the venerable black square folding card table which we received as a wedding present a couple decades ago. It's perfect for smaller games in our living room, especially games heavy on the reading material, like the myriad "You're hunting a serial killer in an escape room"-type experiences we appreciate. (We recently completed the four-part Batman: Everybody Lies game on this table.) The squishy top has been a classic for poker players for generations, and it's still great for various card games. Probably the biggest advantage this table has is that it's lightweight and small, such that it's trivial to pick it up with a game in progress and tuck it into some corner of the room – all set up and ready to play, but otherwise out of the way. However, its relative portability is also its biggest drawback; it's light, so one errant kick can send game components flying.
Our "middle-ground" choice is also our least-used option: a long, white, plastic folding table. This one's rectangular and sturdy, with an adjustable height that lets us tweak it to various game needs. It's not quite big enough for most three-player games, but it's a nice alternative to the black folding card table. Probably its most-common use case for us is either games where we need a bit more "wide" space to play on a couch, at the expense of "depth" that the black square card table offers. Its "tied for second" use case is "there's already a game set up on the black square table, but we want to play a different game." It currently has a kit-bashed game controller set up on it – the product of a class project.
Our final option is the wood dining table. Parentally bestowed and almost as old as we are, this table is large, solid, and perfeos or RPGs), but not good for people sitting near each other. Being in a central room but otherwise not essential for daily activity, it also tends to accumulate stuff . . . meaning that, to play on it, we often need to clean it off. Still, it's sturdy and heavy – so much so that it will be all that remains drifting in the infinite cosmos when the rest of the planet is atomic debris floating in the void. Well, it, along with the junk mail that accumulates upon it.
None of the above takes into account our multifunction TV trays, which tend to get popped up whenever we need a bit more horizontal space in just the right place. Or, I suppose to eat "dinner," since we don't seem to have a table for that. (Please don't reread the first line of the previous paragraph.)
In the end, we get to play lots of games in different configurations, all to best suit our immediate needs and situations. What's your game table situation like? Feel free to share on the forums!
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
Our most pick-up-and-go option is the venerable black square folding card table which we received as a wedding present a couple decades ago. It's perfect for smaller games in our living room, especially games heavy on the reading material, like the myriad "You're hunting a serial killer in an escape room"-type experiences we appreciate. (We recently completed the four-part Batman: Everybody Lies game on this table.) The squishy top has been a classic for poker players for generations, and it's still great for various card games. Probably the biggest advantage this table has is that it's lightweight and small, such that it's trivial to pick it up with a game in progress and tuck it into some corner of the room – all set up and ready to play, but otherwise out of the way. However, its relative portability is also its biggest drawback; it's light, so one errant kick can send game components flying.
Our "middle-ground" choice is also our least-used option: a long, white, plastic folding table. This one's rectangular and sturdy, with an adjustable height that lets us tweak it to various game needs. It's not quite big enough for most three-player games, but it's a nice alternative to the black folding card table. Probably its most-common use case for us is either games where we need a bit more "wide" space to play on a couch, at the expense of "depth" that the black square card table offers. Its "tied for second" use case is "there's already a game set up on the black square table, but we want to play a different game." It currently has a kit-bashed game controller set up on it – the product of a class project.
Our final option is the wood dining table. Parentally bestowed and almost as old as we are, this table is large, solid, and perfeos or RPGs), but not good for people sitting near each other. Being in a central room but otherwise not essential for daily activity, it also tends to accumulate stuff . . . meaning that, to play on it, we often need to clean it off. Still, it's sturdy and heavy – so much so that it will be all that remains drifting in the infinite cosmos when the rest of the planet is atomic debris floating in the void. Well, it, along with the junk mail that accumulates upon it.
None of the above takes into account our multifunction TV trays, which tend to get popped up whenever we need a bit more horizontal space in just the right place. Or, I suppose to eat "dinner," since we don't seem to have a table for that. (Please don't reread the first line of the previous paragraph.)
In the end, we get to play lots of games in different configurations, all to best suit our immediate needs and situations. What's your game table situation like? Feel free to share on the forums!
– Steven Marsh
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 7, 2025
June 7, 2025: Wiz-War Developer Notes
Yep, we released
Wiz-War
over a year ago.But, you see, I wrote this nice Developer Notes piece and due to an unfavorable alignment of the moon and Sagittarius, or something, it didn't run.
Better late than never! And if you have not seen Wiz-War , well, I still think it's a heck of a good game, and if you read this and think it sounds interesting, your friendly local retailer will gleefully take your money. Or so will Warehouse 23. It's the circle of life!
***
Wiz-War , by Tom Jolly, is a tactical game of magical combat in a dungeon. Up to six wizards draw cards, cast spells, steal treasures, and do their best to cut their foes off at the knees.
And . . . we are now shipping our big, beautiful ninth edition of Wiz-War . As a very-long-time fan, I think it's the best yet. If you missed it on Kickstarter, you didn't really miss it . . .
You have one character, two treasures to guard, and one to five foes. You draw cards, cast spells, and die horribly . . . or, preferably, make your rivals die horribly . . . or maybe you steal two treasures from other wizards and win that way! The components are, literally, solid. It has heavy map boards and full-color rules, and it's awesome. There are eight character standies, so the last person to choose is never "stuck with Orange" (or whatever). The requisite d4 is a double-numbered d8 for easier rolling.
What's the play like? There is a lot of "You do that? Well, I do THIS!!" – the whole spirit of the game is bloodthirsty but good-natured. In my headcanon, the survivors bring their defeated rivals back to life after the game, and everybody heads to the local tavern.
My development goals for Wiz-War were:Get rid of the FAQ. There should be no questions so predictable that they aren't answered in the rules! We shall see how well I succeeded.Restore the game to its purely tactical, single-character roots. The 8th edition, by Fantasy Flight, is a fun game, but it changed the direction of play, introducing deck-building and subsidiary characters to a game that played just fine, and faster, without them. (Fantasy Flight graciously allowed me to use card ideas from their edition, which I appreciate hugely.)Get a great cartoonist to illustrate the game, to fit the humor of Tom Jolly's original creation. 100% achieved! Phil Foglio did the cover, counters, and standies, and they look fantastic.And the overarching goal was to present this classic game in a way that would please the fans of the original (four decades of them), and attract new players. I think we have a success here!This is one you'll easily be able to get me to play at conventions. Please?
– Steve Jackson
PS – Another great thing – we have STL files to let you 3D-print the eight wizards (including the one who floats!), sculpted by the amazing Kim Beaton. This is a W23 exclusive now.
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 6, 2025
June 6, 2025: Bundle Of Holding: Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast
Roleplaying fans can now score a specially priced copy of Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast by Possum Creek on Bundle of Holding! In honor of Pride Month, June's Bundle of Holding features LGBTQ+-friendly RPGs.
Played over 48 quick chapters, Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is a unique fantasy TTRPG with innovative mechanics, pre-generated characters, and genuine depictions of queer found families. The scenarios take 1-2 hours to play, and each is full of surprises like scary nights, quirky competitions, and so, so many chores!
Included in the Starter Collection are Thirsty Sword Lesbians by Evil Hat Productions, Moonlight on Roseville Beach by R. Hook Games, and Star Crossed by Bully Pulpit Games.
Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast is part of the Bonus Collection, which also features Advanced Lovers & Lesbians – an expansion to Thirsty Sword Lesbians – plus a scenario and three supplements for Moonlight on Roseville Beach : Mysteries of Rose Island VI , Characters , Entities , and Bracknell Horror .
This special Bundle of Holding set is an amazing value, but it's only available until June 23, so grab yours today!
– Michelle Richardson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 5, 2025
June 5, 2025: Sign Up To Ride The Last Train To Bremen
Signups are now open on BackerKit for
Last Train to Bremen
by Possum Creek, now an imprint of Steve Jackson Games!Last Train to Bremen is a one-shot storytelling game about four cavalier musicians and their questionable decisions. Things go awry after they make a deal with the Devil, which causes them to go on the run. The edgy tale is full of tense secrets, elements of treachery, and ultimately, backstabbing. It utilizes a push-your-luck mechanic based on Liar's Dice and other such games. Hopefully, one musician will make it out alive!
Award-winning designer Caro Asercion composed Last Train to Bremen along with other RPGs including i'm sorry did you say street magic and Exquisite Biome . Renowned artist Conor Fawcett beautifully illustrated the game.
Last Train to Bremen was first released digitally and won a 2024 The Award and an IGDN Groundbreaker award. This crowdfunding project will feature the first-ever print copies of the hardback game in a boxed set.
RPG enthusiasts can sign up now to be notified the moment pledging opens in mid-June.
– Michelle Richardson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
June 4, 2025
June 4, 2025: That Ogre Just Keeps Going
Almost 50 years in, and people are still playing my first game,
Ogre
. This is unspeakably cool. It's a huge compliment to me . . . and also to my inspirations. Renewed thanks go out to James Dunnigan for showing us all what to do with a hex map, and to Keith Laumer and Colin Kapp for their stories about impossibly big and unspeakably horrible tanks.
Here's a blogiation from Joseph A. McCullough, the designer behind Frostgrave , Stargrave , and others:
You know, there will be a genuine 50th anniversary for Ogre before long. Gotta think of something cool to do for that!
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
Here's a blogiation from Joseph A. McCullough, the designer behind Frostgrave , Stargrave , and others:
You know, there will be a genuine 50th anniversary for Ogre before long. Gotta think of something cool to do for that!
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action
There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!
Steve Jackson's Blog
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