Steve Jackson's Blog, page 161

July 2, 2021: Bonus PDF At Warehouse 23: How To Be A GURPS GM: Combat Encounters

As a part of our Warehouse 23 Summer Sale, we've got an amazing deal for GURPS gamemasters: Order $30 or more at Warehouse 23 before the sale ends on July 5th and you will receive a copy of the new How to Be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters PDF – written by Sean Punch – at no extra charge! This PDF will be added to all eligible accounts at Warehouse 23 late this month, and you will not want to miss this newest addition to the ever-popular How to Be a GURPS GM series.

Almost all roleplaying games involve combat – sometimes a lot of it. And the GURPS library, starting with the Basic Set, provides plenty of rules for this. An RPG isn't a wargame, though . . . there's far more to a satisfying battle than plunking units on a map and then following the manual.

How to Be a GURPS GM: Combat Encounters offers almost rules-free advice to go with the rules. It opens with pointers on reasons to fight at all, and then moves on to selecting suitable foes, laying out an interesting battlefield, determining what everybody is doing when violence breaks out, adjusting the challenge level on the fly, and picking up the pieces afterward. While the examples come from GURPS, the concepts are portable to any RPG.

Click here to learn more about the Warehouse 23 Summer Sale! Act now, though, because this bonus PDF offer ends on Monday, July 5!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: "M" Is For Munchkin!With the Munchkin Alphabet Coloring Book , you can read alphabet verses written by Steve Jackson while coloring 26 all-new illustrations from Munchkin artist extraordinaire John Kovalic. If that isn't enough, the book also contains 10 new Munchkin cards! Pick it up for your little munchkins (or yourself) at Warehouse 23.

July 1, 2021: Are You Ready For The GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge?

Last year, we took the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge to Kickstarter and your support unlocked a total of twelve new GURPS PDFs. Best of all, as little as $3 scored backers all twelve titles and was the best GURPS deal of the year. Even now, a year later, those who missed the Kickstarter campaign are asking: "When can I buy those PDFs?"

We have an answer, gang: You can snag those PDFs next week . . . when we launch the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge!

Just like last year's campaign, we're pricing the basic reward level at $3 and, if all stretch goals are unlocked, every backer who selects the $3 and higher rewards will receive all twelve of the new PDFs that were created for this campaign. Higher dollar reward levels include the GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge titles, the GURPS Pyramid Scheme issues, and there are even a handful of reward levels that include print editions of GURPS games.

You aren't going to want to miss this one, so please follow the GURPS 2021 PDF Challenge on Kickstarter today!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Plan For Trouble!

If you're getting together a Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game campaign, you need to plan accordingly. We can help, with the Dungeon Fantasy Dungeon Planner . This supplement includes plenty of space and inspiration to make the dungeon of your dreams . . . or nightmares. It's just a download away from Warehouse 23!

June 30, 2021: Summer Sale On Warehouse 23!

We're beating the heat with some sales and freebies on Warehouse 23! The discounts are fire, and hitting different purchase levels unlocks even MORE free items. Check out this lineup: 

SALE13% off most  Ogre (print and PDF) titles13% off most  Car Wars/Autoduel PDFs23% off all In Nomine PDFs23% off all Space Gamer PDFs13% off Munchkin Crazy Cooks and the Moop titles FREE WITH ANY ORDER OF $30 OR MORE (PHYSICAL OR DIGITAL): A brand-new GURPS PDF – written by Sean Punch and delivered to your inbox in late July! BONUS ITEMS IN PHYSICAL ORDERS$25 and more - Star Munchkin Blank Cards $50 and more - One random Fantasy Trip Pocket Folder $75 and more - Le Boomb!  (We pick the color.)$100 and more - Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering

 And if you spend $100 you get ALL the extras (physical orders only)!

These deals won't be around long; this sale ends on July 5, so be cool and get your orders in soon! 

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: The Perfect Gift!

Don't know what to get for that person that seems to have everything? Get them a Warehouse 23 Gift Certificate! Let them choose their own Munchkin games and accessories, GURPS titles, dice games, SJ Games classics, and more! You can get a digital gift card for any amount. We'll send the recipient an email with a code to redeem the gift certificate. Gift certificates are redeemable for store credit and expire in one year. Get one today at Warehouse 23!

June 29, 2021: International Shipping Issues Continue

Some of you may have heard about the shipping container shortage and other logistical issues affecting shipping, but if not, there is a highly informative article making the rounds sharing details and even featuring the board game industry. These are the new realities facing shipping in all industries, and board games are feeling it as well, but they've created a domino-like effect with inflation. NPR interviewed our friend John Nephew from Atlas Games about the situation, and expands on it further. 

This isn't a "woe is me" type of post, but it's important to share this kind of information, as it really is changing the landscape of gaming with new and upcoming releases. SJ Games is doing our best to navigate these new waters, and has been for over a year now, but we are also in a situation that allows us to do that and still meet as many of our release goals as possible. Many of our fellow companies don't have some of those luxuries, and a lot of smaller creators trying to make their dream games a reality are now going through nightmare scenarios with increasing costs. 

So be patient with creators and new releases. Be aware that things like release dates may continue to be flexible over the coming months, at least until 2022. And with such uncertainty, potentially longer. 

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: Can't Get Enough Of Those Tasty Brains?

Get your fellow zombies together and see who can eat the most brains in Zombie Dice ! Push your luck and see how much cerebral matter you can get, but watch out for those shotguns! Includes 13 custom dice that two or more zombies can use to play. Available from Warehouse 23 today.

June 28, 2021: The Fantasy Trip: Old School Monsters BackerKit Pre-Order

Have you not yet added the Old School Monsters hardcover, counters, and cards to your collection of expansions for The Fantasy Trip ? Created under the Open Game License, this 64-page hardcover brings classic old-school fantasy RPG monsters to The Fantasy Trip , giving you the chance to completely devastate the PCs with some of the weirdest monsters yet introduced to the game!

Offered as a part of our current Quick Quests pre-order campaign at BackerKit, Old School Monsters is only one of several expansions for The Fantasy Trip that you will find listed on this page. Pre-order today!

NOTE: Pre-orders are only open to U.S. addresses. In the future, once we have shipped out the existing orders, we will list the book on Warehouse 23. We'll post a Daily Illuminator update once the book is on Warehouse 23, so please check back each day for the latest news!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Rick And Morty Are Back!

Munchkin: Rick And Morty is back in stock! Do you have what it takes to beat The Council of Ricks? Well, grab your Purge Suit and Laser Gun to find out. Get your copy today from Warehouse 23!

June 27, 2021: Release The Demons!

Just when your GURPS Dungeon Fantasy heroes think they've seen it all, the forces of chaos stand ready to prove them wrong! GURPS Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 5: Demons presents not just preconstucted demons (although it has those, too), but an entire system to create them quickly and easily, using either the chaotic nature of dice or the maelstrom of your own imagination to unleash an endless variety of infernal servitors.

Any adventure is more memorable with Demons ! And you can download it today, thanks to Warehouse 23!

– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: Welcome To Midville!

If you don't like the way we drive, stay off the streets and the sidewalks, the lawns, pretty much anywhere! Crash City Pocket Box brings roleplaying action to Car Wars . The town is rife with autoduelists, trigger-happy pedestrians, and heavily armed police, but if that weren't enough, the local biker gang wants to burn it all down. Find out if you can survive Midville by picking up your copy from Warehouse 23 today!

June 26, 2021: Now On Warehouse 23: Sounds From The Edge

Great news for those fans of Over the Edge who have missed out on the Sounds from the Edge trilogy! Each of the three releases in this  Over the Edge soundtrack series are now available at Warehouse 23!Sounds from the Edge Vol. 1: UrbanSounds from the Edge Vol. 2: DangerSounds from the Edge Vol. 3: WeirdProduced and created by James Semple, I managed to score all three volumes during the Over the Edge Kickstarter campaign a few years back and I can report that they're incredible works of art and make for a fun listen. Highly recommended!

– Phil Reed

Warehouse 23 News: Don Your Top Hat!

And unleash the power of gear-grinding SCIENCE! with Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe ! The greatest era that never was comes to life, so grab your Jacob's Ladder and get ready to take on the Land Leviathon! Get it today from Warehouse 23!

June 25, 2021: (Re)Introducing Will Schoonover!

A wise man once said, "Time is a flat circle."  So, it isn't much of a surprise that I find myself back at the beginning again. Just over 15 years ago I started my career in the tabletop games industry by accepting a job at Steve Jackson Games, and after being away for almost exactly a decade, I've done it again. If you don't know me, you may have seen some of my work at your friendly local game store. I cut my game design teeth on things like Munchkin Quest and Revolution! . In the years I was away from SJ Games I made a few boardgames like Level 7 Omega Protocol and Widower's Wood . I also worked on some miniatures games like Company of Iron and Monsterpocalypse . I've come back to help out with Munchkin and the development of other games. I'll also be helping out at cons, so you can expect to see me at a demo table in the future. 

– Will Schoonover

Thanks to Tony Konichek for the photo!

Warehouse 23 News: Wash, Rinse, Repeat!

It's Brainwashing time! Twist the emotions of your opponents to your will and warp their weak minds with Propoganda. Make the whole world more Criminal or Conservative or Weird with Illuminati Expansion Set 3 ! (This is a bagged expansion set.)

Get your copy from Warehouse 23 today!

June 24, 2021: Support Your Local Game Shops

In the course of a random conversation with my friendly local game shop, I discovered that they were gently clearing their throats in the hopes that folks would come in and pick up their special orders and standing gaming subscriptions sooner than later. Apparently all those items that got stuck for the longest time due to Covid, that sideways boat (that was, like, two years ago, right?), and other production delays finally got unstuck at the same time, so the store was looking at a bunch of inventory coming in all at once.

It made me recall my days working at my FLGS, where every so often huge batches would show up at once. So if a store bases its sales on selling a certain amount of new product every week, then it's challenging to have little to sell for months only to have everything come in at the same time . . . along with the bill.

If you like your local shop, consider checking in and seeing if your favorite games aren't waiting for you. If you know of some anticipated game arriving soon, consider putting down a deposit or otherwise seeing if you can help out the business. It can often make a big difference to a little store.

– Steven Marsh

(If you need help locating a local game store, please visit our store finder today! -PR)

Warehouse 23 News: Munchkin Dice Bag!

Only a munchkin would bring more than a couple sets of dice to a game day. Fortunately, we cater to munchkins! This fancy, satin-lined, 7-inch square  Munchkin Dice Bag  will hold all the dice you need for every possible situation: good dice, bad dice, probationary dice one fumble away from being thrown into the resin caster for your next artsy paperweight . . . or maybe that's just us. Order this Dice Bag: Munchkin now on Warehouse 23!

June 23, 2021: Choose Cthulhu Coming To America!

The international smash success Choose Cthulhu book series is coming to the United States, via Steve Jackson Games! We're proud to announce our partnership with Edward Riker and his team to bring this series to a wider audience. A series of gamebooks in which readers choose their own path (I'd recommend Cthulhu, personally), Choose Cthulhu is modern, but has tremendous respect for the 80s progenitors of the genre. Edward himself explains: 

"We want to revive the 80s feeling in every aspect; our books are intended for the adults who enjoyed original gamebooks during their youth and for the new generations that missed the incredible feeling of interactive reading. [Our] gamebooks for mature readers have an excellent narrative style, even using many passages from the original H.P Lovecraft masterworks."

We'll have more news about availability and release information soon, so stay tuned for more Choose Cthulhu!

– Hunter Shelburne

Warehouse 23 News: The Conspiracy Continues!

If you liked the original Illuminati . . . you'll love this expansion set. Now you can deal with the Pentagon, the Phone Phreaks, the Flat Earthers, and the Video Games . . . set up a Swiss Bank Account, or unleash a Senate Investigating Committee on your foes . . . and face the dreaded new Illuminati group, the Society of Assassins! Order Illuminati Expansion 1 Pocket Box now on Warehouse 23! 

This set is NOT a complete game; you need the Illuminati Pocket Box game to play.