Steve Jackson's Blog, page 140

January 26, 2022: Chez Cthulhu Returns From The Deeps!

After a timeless time out of print, Chez Cthulhu has made its long-awaited return to store shelves! Taking the slacker theme of the original Chez Geek and giving it a Lovecraftian twist, Chez Cthulhu throws the apartment dwellers into morbid occupations like Morgue Janitor and Gravedigger to pay rent and get Nookie. And maybe sacrifice roomies to Cthulhu. Maybe.

You can read more about the creation of the game in Steve's Developer Notes, where he details how he and John Kovalic created the vibe and characters in the game, and the spawning of the idea way back in 2009. Personally, I'm a big fan of Deep Juan; he can crash on my couch any day.

Now you can get your tentacles on Chez Cthulhu at your friendly local game store, or on Warehouse 23!

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Go Elf Yourself

GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves explores and expands the possibilities of everyone's favorite forest-dwellers in GURPS , with templates, options, gear, outlooks, and more. Grab your bow and download this today from Warehouse 23!

January 25, 2022: Now I'm 3D Printing (Part 5)

One of the things you can do with a STL file is scale it . . . either up or down. Today I experimented with scaling the scorpion from the Scorpion Handler set.

At the right is a skeleton (no, he's not finished yet) for scale. To the left is a scorpion in the original size. Next is a print at 200%. And then I wanted to see it just a bit bigger, so the biggest one is at 250%. Pretty impressive. Hope your party has some crossbows.

Lessons learned: First and foremost, this works. But the cube-square law comes into play. A figure gets a lot bigger when it's "only" twice as long. The scorpion at 200% takes 2 squared (that is, 4) times as much surface on the table, and has 2 cubed (or 8) times the mass.

Second, note that the supports enlarged just like everything else. The cross-section of each support on the middle scorpion has been multiplied by 4. They can still be cut, even on the biggest one (where they are 6.25 times as wide!) – but it would have been better practice to start with the unsupported file and generate new supports, which would have been much skinnier, easier to cut, and less wasteful of resin. That is not a terribly advanced operation, and soon I will try it.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Get Your Motors Running

GURPS Action 6: Tricked-Out Rides lets you head out to the highways with an assortment of ready-to-use vehicles perfect for GURPS Action campaigns. The keys to excitement are a download away from Warehouse 23!

January 24, 2022: Hack & Slash Second Printing And New Retail Price

The second printing of the Hack & Slash game is currently on a container ship and expected to reach our primary warehouse next month. As previously announced, several games and expansions are seeing a price increase this year, and Hack & Slash is one of the affected titles. At the moment, the suggested retail price of the game is $19.95. That price is changing to $24.95 on February 1, 2022, making this your opportunity to add this fast-playing card and dice game to your library before the realities of the world push the price up to the new MSRP.

The second printing of the game also includes a new bonus bit of game content: solitaire rules! No need to wait for the new printing, though, since we're packing these same solitaire rules for the game in many Warehouse 23 orders. Or, if you wish, you can download the solitaire rules as a free PDF today.

You can find Hack & Slash at your favorite local game store, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and many other places where our games are sold. If you're a retailer who would like to add Hack & Slash to your selection, please check with your distributor or contact retailers@sjgames.com to arrange a direct account.

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Find Your Fortune

GURPS Hot Spots: The Incense Trail details one of the greatest trade routes of history. This companion to GURPS Hot Spots: The Silk Road brings additional historical flavor to your gaming table, with more opportunities for intrigues, dangers, and riches. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

January 23, 2022: Hexagram PDF Bundle For The Fantasy Trip

Adventures! Monsters! Rules and options! Talking heads in cages! Explore it all, if you dare!

Are you looking for over 300 pages of content for use with The Fantasy Trip roleplaying game? Hexagram, our semi-regular zine dedicated to The Fantasy Trip , is now entering its third year, with issue #9 in the works and coming . . . real soon now. (We don't have an exact date at the moment.) For those of you who missed out on the first two years of the zine's life, we now offer a bundle collecting issues #1 through #8 in a single zip file, making it easy to download the first eight issues at once.

The Hexagram PDF bundle is available at Warehouse 23 and DriveThruRPG, and please don't forget to follow Warehouse 23 on Kickstarter; there's a good chance that issue #9 will be a Kickstarter project, soonish, and you won't want to miss out on adding the next issue to your collection of support titles for The Fantasy Trip .

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Help Wanted To Explore The Stars

Create the GURPS Spaceship crew you need for an exploration-style space game with GURPS Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew . Get the skills and fill the roles that guide your helm and form your away teams. Beam it to your device with a download from Warehouse 23!

January 22, 2022: Get In Touch With Your Inner Elf, With GURPS

The forest comes alive with GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves . This is a meaty (vegetarian?) GURPS guide to the foremost fantasy forest dwellers. It includes templates, character options and abilities, equipment, extensive details on their culture, and more.

So pick up your longbow, mount your mighty elk, and party like it's your 200th birthday. Perk up your ears to the possibilities and download GURPS Fantasy Folk: Elves from Warehouse 23 today!

– Steven Marsh

Warehouse 23 News: Oh No . . . Demons

A small group of heroes is all that stands between our world and demonic hordes. Step into these adventurers' shoes, or place your bets. GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Adventure 3: Deep Night and the Star is an adventure for GURPS Dungeon Fantasy that charges the heroes with solving a mystery and kicking some demonic butt. Grab your sword and download some excitement today from Warehouse 23!

January 21, 2022: Munchkin Babies Arriving Via Stork

Sometimes beating your friends in Munchkin feels like stealing candy from a baby. Unfortunately for you, Munchkin Babies puts the kids in charge, and they're taking their candy back by force. This 168-card game features the cherubic art of Katie Cook ( Munchkin Puppies , Munchkin Tails ) and introduces a cribful of new monsters, races, and classes themed around the half-pint heroes.

Recognizable yet unique roles like the Orcling, Dwarfling, Elfling, and Quarterling combine with new takes on the original classes with Wiz Kid, Ankle Biter, Crumb Snatcher, and Holy Terror. But sometimes all you need to take down a kid is a trip to the Pediatrician, or a babysitter like the Hootin' Nanny. When you play from the perspective of a baby, lots of things can be monstrous! You can see more of the cards in our #SJGamesLive unboxing, where we check out the entire game.

Munchkin Babies is hitting local game stores now, and we're loading up our storks at Warehouse 23 to make a special delivery to your home, complete with promos. Ready your rattles!

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Unleash Your Inner Magician

GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic remains an amazingly popular choice for GURPS games looking for a freeform magical system. How to Be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic walks you through the nuances of getting the most out of these options, with insight and examples that make it easier than ever to tap the power of the cosmos. Your lessons begin with a download from Warehouse 23!

January 20, 2022: John Kovalic Joining Us For FnordCon 5 LIVE: Registration Open!

As Events Coordinator, sometimes I get to announce some really fun stuff. Today is one of those days.

John Kovalic has agreed to join us for FnordCon 5 and registration is officially open!

As a long-time fanboy of Dork Tower and John's work for us here at Steve Jackson Games, I look forward to seeing John again, and maybe getting a shirt signed for that extra Munchkin bonus. Yes, we do sometimes try to get the upper hand on Steve when playtesting with assorted signed cards and swag.

Not only has John done thousands of images for us on Munchkin  and other games (such as  Munchkin Warhammer 40,000 ,  Munchkin  Age of Sigmar , and Chez Geek ), he's also an editorial cartoonist for the Wisconsin State Journal, and has had his work appear in the New York Times and Washington Post. John's Wiki page lists even more of his work.

Registration has officially opened as well. Badges are $50 per person, and any health and safety requirements can be found on the page, but in short we will be requiring masks and proof of vaccination. Of course, we'll have a great swag bag for attendees as well! 

So register now, book your room at the Austin Southpark Hotel, and join us for FnordCon 5 LIVE! on April 29 - May 1! Don't forget to pack up your John Kovalic swag for a signature opportunity, or get some new goodies at the show, and we'll see you there!

– Eric Dow

Warehouse 23 News: If It Isn't Fixed, Don't Break It!

GURPS Steampunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World features a campaign setting for GURPS Steampunk, where reality is falling apart. Can the heroes find out what makes the universe tick? Secrets await a download from Warehouse 23!

January 19, 2022: Now I'm 3D Printing (Part 4)

We're about ready to run the BackerKit for the Foes campaign (it may have started by the time you see this.) I am pleased to have helped detect issues along the way. There is no substitute for actually making the stuff. (Playtest, playtest, playtest.) Jean, of course, prints everything multiple times during the process; I'm just another layer of fault detection. And I have detected darn few faults; Spyros, Facz, and Jean are doing fine work.

And I've started painting, and I've started studying techniques. Three recommendations if you, like me, are a new student:

(1) Our own Ben Williams is GOOD at this stuff, as you know if you followed the campaign. Here's a painting video he did. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JU7pi2X1Drw. This one is about cars, but the techniques are universal.

(2) Of the many mini-paintings tutorials online, my favorite so far is the series by Squidmar (www.squidmar.com). He's very good at what he does, and he can explain in one minute more than some of the other folks do in ten. (I appreciate it when a teacher is respectful of my time and doesn't stall and babble to stretch out the video!) He's also not shy about recommending what equipment he likes and showing us why. Thanks, dude!

(3) The "dip tone" stuff from Army Painter really works (and so, no doubt, does its Games Workshop equivalent). I need to gain experience with it, but for shading it's a minor miracle.

– Steve Jackson

Warehouse 23 News: Keep Watching The Skies

Uncover the mystery and save the day! At least, as safe as it can be in a robot apocalypse . . . GURPS Reign of Steel: Read the Sky is an adventure for GURPS Reign of Steel that has the heroes as the last, best hope to discover what happened to the tiny Welsh village of Tenby. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

January 18, 2022: Set Sail For Sriwijaya

The latest volume of GURPS Hot Spots is also its biggest yet! GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya is your guide to the Malay Archipelago at the height of its power and influence. Like all entries in the Hot Spots library, this one includes a guide to history, geography, and cultural details designed to make the setting come alive for gamers.

This supplement also offers extensive campaign insight, whether designing heroes who call this thriving thalassocracy their home or showcasing it as an exciting locale to visit. It meshes well with GURPS Hot Spots: The Silk Road  as part of the land and sea routes that define the era's most famous international trade network. With GURPS Hot Spots: Sriwijaya , the past has never been more present, thanks to a futuristic digital download from Warehouse 23!

– Steven Marsh

Warehouse 23 News: Burn This Download After Reading

GURPS Classic: Espionage is your guide to the world of spies and schemes . . . codes and crises . . . martinis and mayhem! From cinematic spy games to realistic ruses, this supplement is sure to have you checking the shadows. [YOU'RE NOT CLEARED FOR THAT] awaits a download from Warehouse 23!

January 17, 2022: Prepping Pocket Box Reprints

As we've mentioned a few times now, we have a new Pocket Box campaign planned as a Kickstarter project for . . . well, we're working on that. Date to be announced.

In addition to the new Pocket Box titles, we're also prepping possible reprints of four existing Pocket Box games. While these are not definitely on the reprint calendar, all four are in line to serve as project stretch goals for the upcoming campaign, because we're running very low on existing inventory and a restock would be useful as the world slowly returns to normal and we start attending conventions again.

The four possible stretch goal reprint titles are: Car Wars Illuminati Melee/Wizard Ogre These four are key titles in our catalog, and extending the lifespan of each as a plastic Pocket Box game will make it easier for those who have missed out to add these games to their collections over the next few years. If you're looking for the existing Pocket Box reprint games and expansions, please see this Warehouse 23 page.

To receive notice of this and our other upcoming Kickstarter campaigns, please follow both the Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23 accounts on Kickstarter.

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Hare-Raising Adventure!

Become the best bunny you can be with GURPS Classic: Bunnies & Burrows . From rabbit-making rules to battle-bunny basics to furry foes and more, this is your guide to cotton-tail escapades. And it's just a hop away at Warehouse 23!