Steve Jackson's Blog, page 16

May 25, 2025: In Remembrance Of The Glorious Revolution Of The Twenty-Fifth Of May

Before I get below the fold on my first-ever Daily Illuminator post, I ought to tell you that we're offering 15% off  Discworld Roleplaying Game  PDFs on Warehouse 23 until May 28. It's not truth, justice, or freedom, but it is reasonably priced. Plus, we still have deals on dice games and game accessories going on for a couple more days as well. Now . . .

For some, the 25th of May is a celebration of geek culture in general .

Others are grabbing their towels for a celebration of geek culture in particular .

And then there are those who are wearing lilac .

Wearing lilacs is how the survivors of the Glorious Revolution of the Twenty-Fifth of May quietly remember the Night Watchmen who fell in the 29th Discworld book by Sir Terry Pratchett, Night Watch . Since his death 10  years ago, lilac has also been how fond fans encourage the memory of the great author and offer support for research on Alzheimer's, the illness which ultimately claimed his life.

While many consider Night Watch to be one of the grimmest Discworld novels, it happens to be my personal favorite. A copper finds himself in his past, reluctantly participating in revolutionary events, and must become the ethical influence on his younger self. The humor of the other Discworld books isn't absent, but becomes instead, as Pratchett put it, "the humor that comes out of bad situations." In Night Watch are observations on law and justice, power and corruption, the revolutionary cycle, and deciding the right thing to do when the lines seem to keep changing. The themes are relevant to our past, present, and future, and they're what I choose to reflect on for this Glorious Twenty-Fifth of May, along with my belief that humor is an essential survival tool.

What lessons have you learned from the Disc? What are you celebrating on this glorious day? Let us know on the forums!

"Tomorrow the sun will come up again, and I'm pretty sure that whatever happens we won't have found Freedom, and there won't be a whole lot of Justice, and I'm damn sure we won't have found Truth. But it's just possible that I might get a hard-boiled egg."

– Nicole

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!

May 24, 2025: Flying Friends

Walking my neighbor's dog has become a pleasant ritual these past few years, a bright spot in my week. It's not just the joy of spending time with his Malinois, but the surprising connections forged on those quiet journeys back and forth.

These aren't your everyday friendships – unless your inner circle has a desire for unsalted peanuts! Over the last few months, I've found myself in the delightful position of earning the trust of several cardinals who grace my usual route. I never imagined myself as a "bird person," yet these particular cardinals have captivated me. Their keen awareness and surprising boldness became apparent with each passing day; now a bonded pair greets me regularly, readily accepting treats from my outstretched hand.

I'm not suggesting you embark on a quest to befriend the first cardinal you spot! Instead, I encourage you to carve out some time for that walk you've been delaying.

You never know what unexpected companionship – feathered or otherwise – awaits! 

– Darryll Silva

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!

May 23, 2025: The First Game's The Hardest

We recently gathered with some family to play a new game, because that's how we roll. (Literally! See, because there were dice in the game, and . . . )

Anyway! It was the first time I'd played the game, and it'd clearly been a while for the others. So, due to a couple of misunderstandings of the rules, I ended up missing out on one of the core scoring functions, and — long story short — I can happily say I came in dead-last place owing to that rules error, not because of any colossal strategic blunders on my part.

I'd found my footing after the game ended, and felt reasonably confident for a rematch . . . but by then we were out of game-playing time. Hopefully I'll retain all that knowledge for a future session of that game.

What I found interesting in thinking about that experience is how often the first time participating ends up feeling so weird and different compared to subsequent plays, after everyone's gotten used to the rules — or, if it's one new player, how that player not knowing basic strategies can throw the entire balance of the experience off. And it seems odd to me because it's a fairly rare form of entertainment that involves sensation. It's not like, "Oh, the first time you watch Iron Man the odds are decent you'll spend most of the time staring at the ceiling, but future viewings of the movie will make sense." Or: "Yeah . . . the first time someone drives the S-class Hesportra Sedan, everyone tends to crash into a tree." But for games, it's just sort of common and assumed that the first game or two are going to be a mess.

There aren't any real conclusions or action items here, outside of my stroking my goatee and saying, "That's interesting." Mostly, it gives me an appreciation for games like (say) Munchkin , where even if I don't know what I'm doing for the first few turns, I'm laughing and having a good time.

– 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!

May 22, 2025: Build Your Own Language, Part Deux

If you were intrigued by my earlier insight into designing fictional languages, I have a couple more computer options for your consideration to help track your own creations.

I briefly considered the database options at Lexiconga. This website (which works on my Mac desktop and my iPad) offers a simple interface and database presentation. Unfortunately, it lacks many features that ConWorkShop has; for example, Lexiconga lacks the ability to customize fields or to automatically generate pronunciation or inflections. It can, however, easily import and export spreadsheets. The way it presents its dictionary entries weren't ideal for me, so I went hunting for another option.

My current favorite is Polyglot, which is desktop software for Windows, macOS, and Linux. (I use it on my Mac currently.) It has a steep learning curve because it's so customizable, and the help files are sometimes confusing and reference an older interface. Fortunately, I have a bit of programming knowledge, and many tricks I learned for customizing the ConWorkShop site I mentioned previously could be used with slight tweaks on this site. The biggest downside is that the program doesn't run on my iPad, so I can't make adjustments when I'm struck with linguistic inspiration on the road. (However, being stored locally might be a bonus for you.) Fortunately, it can import from spreadsheets, and the different export features work well enough for my purposes.

Much like writing tools and computer setups, keeping track of constructed languages is very much a matter of personal preference. Even if I don't use sites currently, I still recommend you try various options to better sort out for yourself what you're looking for. Building a language is a way for you to express your own creativity; don't take my word for it!

– Nikki Vrtis

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!

May 21, 2025: Beware The [Illegible]

Read me first! If you somehow missed the first three installments of Jean's great advice on making props, you can catch up , here, and also here! 

Creating a good prop isn't just about displaying information; removing information can be important, too.

You can, of course, tear off part of your map. Scoring a line with the back of your scissors where you want it to tear will help with the control. You can print your map with water-soluble ink (aka an inkjet printer) and drip water on the parts you want to smear.

You can also burn it (in a very controlled way!), with nothing more than a black marker, a magnifying glass, and a sunny day: Draw your desired burned edge with the marker. Outside, use the magnifying glass to focus sunlight on the black line. Since it's black, it will heat up faster than the paper around it, giving much more controlled results than other methods. It's also considerably safer! I've never set my paper on fire doing this, which is more than I can say for dorking around with a lighter. (Do it on concrete anyway, just in case.)

The justification for having maps readily available in a fantasy world is simple: Maps are easy to print – much easier than books. Our would-be map printer simply does a woodcut of the map (more or less accurate, as the GM desires!) and uses it as a stamp; this requires a lot less precision than printing books, so long as they have access to a supply of proper ink. Your graphics software, if you're drawing on the computer as opposed to using paper and then scanning, might have a "woodcut" filter to give it the right look. Many civilizations, including that of ancient China (where this process was invented), have printed in this way.

Handouts and props really enhance a game. Try making some simple ones for your next session and see for yourself!

– 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!

May 20, 2025: The First Glimpse Of The . . . Robot Commando?!

Our ongoing work with bringing the Fighting Fantasy books to the United States continues apace. Even as we make plans into the future, it's still fun to look into the past. Case in point: a recent Facebook post from Museum of Games Ireland showing the cover page of a Fighting Fantasy book entitled "Robot Hero" . . . which eventually saw life as Robot Commando .

Along with Scorpion Swamp and Demons of the Deep , Robot Commando is one of the three Fighting Fantasy books written by the American-born Steve Jackson (who may well be editing these very words I type). As a fan of older tech, it's a thrill seeing what I believe is a dot-matrix printout – along with the perennially popular red ink indicating editorial tweaks.

I can't confirm or deny at this time that our publishing plans include  Robot Commando , but – speaking as a fan – I'd certainly love to get as many reprinted volumes on my own bookshelf as I can . . .

For the latest happenings in the world of our Fighting Fantasy reprints, please keep an eye on either our Fighting Fantasy web page or right here on the Daily Illuminator. And for the latest happenings at the Museum of Games Ireland, you can check out their website or their Facebook page.

– 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!

May 19, 2025: Jam In Silence 2025

While in the midst of a game design discussion on Discord, I was thinking about the difference between TTRPGs and LARPs. When I was younger, I used to do a lot with silence and speech in LARPing. One of my proudest games from my teenage years was called "Silence Blooming" – a horror LARP where no one could talk out loud, only write notes to each other. But TTRPGs are different, and sound works differently. It's hard to have silence be part of a TTRPG without it feeling like a pause in the game or a disruption of play. I have a couple ideas on how to approach this, but I was more interested in seeing how other people could take a stab at it. So I launched a game jam! It's called Jam In Silence and it'll be running from May 19th to June 19th. I'm hoping to see a lot of really interesting art emerge from it, and maybe even some playable games! If you're a game designer and you want a challenge for making a small game, this is a good opportunity.

– Jay Dragon

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!

May 18, 2025: Build Your Own Language!

My cheapest hobby is collecting random interesting words that I find when digging into the etymology of modern vocabulary, sometimes fiddling with them to make them look part of a cohesive yet fictional language for that fantasy RPG campaign kicking around my head or that Star Trek fan fiction I might someday write.

I very soon realized that I wanted to keep track of my notes in something more than a spreadsheet, which lead me to discover all manner of useful tools for designing and documenting constructed languages.

Whether crafting some entirely new tongue for fiction, or as a way to keep track of different common phrases in other languages that you want to use to give your roleplaying characters some extra pizzazz, there are quite a number of different kinds of tools to help with organization.

The first one that I came across in my initial casual search was Vulgarlang. I like this website because it has a way to create a custom language based on the sounds you want to appear in it. Unfortunately, I already had many words that I wanted to keep, and I discovered that adding to the dictionary is more difficult than I'd hoped. The upgraded versions might make the process easier, but I haven't experimented with them because I haven't justified the monetary or time expense to myself yet.

The next database/language construction site I found was ConWorkShop. I love how robust the features are, including the option to program autogenerated pronunciation and inflections. It also works on my iPad and on my desktop, and it has a busy Discord community. Unfortunately, each word can only have one definition, and adding custom definitions is tricky. My wordlist became bloated with duplicate words with subtly different definitions. Moreover, the ability to import a spreadsheet was broken when I tried it a few years ago, though it does a decent job with exporting.

I have a couple more recommendations that I'm hoping to share in the future, but these are good baselines to start a constructed linguistic journey. As we say on Vela III, Bon voyage!

– Nikki Vrtis

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!

May 17, 2025: Harvest Your Fears On Warehouse 23

Life is idyllic on this British isle . . . but what is the cost? The answers are yours to form and discover, in Harvest .

Written by Luke Jordan, this GMless folk-horror RPG has the players take on the role of the members of the community. Each has their insight to share about the island and its customs. All will take part in what unfolds. And what unfolds will be memories that last a lifetime.

The horror, the intrigues, the secrets – all await your creation and revelation. If you think you're prepared for the coming of the Harvest , your destiny lies ahead . . . and your ticket is a download from Warehouse 23.

– 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!

May 16, 2025: Thrifty Prop Ideas

Here's a quick tip for tabletop roleplaying gamers. A lot of times, GMs will think of a nifty prop idea after coming up with a character concept: "Oh, it'd be awesome if this guy had a black briefcase," for example. But then it can be a pain to track down the exact prop you had in mind (or even something similar).

Instead, why not try the reverse? Go to a thrift store, garage sale, or any other source of cool stuff. See what you can find there that you can turn into a character concept. That 2000s Nokia flip phone? It can be a defining characteristic of an old-fashioned no-nonsense commander who's still barking orders on that bulletproof tech. Once they associate the phone with the character, the players' eyes will light up each time you pull it out and crack it open to detail some new plot point.

Or did you find a "Don't Ask Me About the Last, Best Crab Shack" hat? What kind of character would wear a themed hat like that? What if that's the defining headgear of a wry technician you just made up?

A fake-flower boutonnière, a monocle, or a scuffed coin can all form the basis for a memorable character, if you start with the cool (cheap!) prop and then decide on the NPC.

– 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!