Steve Jackson's Blog, page 18

May 5, 2025: Deadly Doodles Returns!

[image error] Dragons and drawing and dungeons, oh my! Deadly Doodles returns with a Second Edition, and it has more dungeon-crawling fun than ever before!

This family-friendly Draw 'n' Draw game for one to four competitors challenges players of all ages to make their way through a dungeon. Flip over the path cards and simultaneously doodle the segments shown on individual maps. Compete for the most points by matching Monsters with Weapons, entering the Dragon's den, and, of course, collecting Loot. Just be careful not to fall into a Trap – those take away points. At the end of seven quick rounds, whoever has the highest score takes the victory!

For anyone wanting to doodle a solo adventure and beat their own high score, solitaire rules are now included. And best of all, the two all-new maps in Deadly Doodles Second Edition are beautifully printed in full color for the first time!

Journey to your FLGS or Warehouse 23, gather your friends and family for a game night, and start drawing!

Will you be brave enough to conquer the Dragon and claim the prize?

– 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!

May 4, 2025: Dying To Be Creative

I admit that sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough with my life. Well, that fear just got amped up to 11 by learning that experimental composer Alvin Lucier is still creating new music . . . despite the fact that he died in 2021.

According to an article from Popular Mechanics , an art installation has hooked up some of his "brain matter" to various electrical doodads (that's the technical term) to strike a mallet across various plates, making music (of a sort).

In addition to the implications of what is "creativity" or "art," this also means I need to come up with a better excuse for not getting projects done than my fallback "Sorry, Susan, I'm dead . . ."

– 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 3, 2025: Please Help Rick Hershey's Kids

Many of you, like me, are fans of artist Rick Hershey, who does most of the illustration for The Fantasy Trip.

Recently his family was touched by disaster that could easily have become tragedy. All four of his kids were in a car which was struck head-on by a median-crossing vehicle going 70 mph. Miraculously, they all survived! But they all suffered serious injuries. They are home now and out of danger, but expenses are huge.

I'm about to go put some money in this GoFundMe, and I hope some of you will do the same. Thank you!

– 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!

May 2, 2025: Shoot For The Stars And Save BIG On Galactic Treasures!

Happy National Space Day! Today we honor all things in the solar system, and possibly beyond. Initially established by Lockheed Martin in the late 1990s, Space Day was formalized by astronaut and Senator John Glenn. It's now recognized and celebrated internationally!

We at Steve Jackson Games have always been fascinated by the galaxy, and we've created tons of fun ways to journey into outer space. Well, through RPGs and board games, anyway. Our massive collection of space-themed titles and accessories is now on sale!

Kick off your cosmic adventures with a huge selection of GURPS PDFs, including GURPS Classic: Space Adventures , GURPS Spaceships , and over 20 RPGs from the Transhuman Space line!

Munchkin fans can battle the Creature from the Pink Lagoon by putting together a Laser-Raser-Dazer-Shmaser-Maser-Bobazer-Bananafanafofaser (really) in Star Munchkin Deluxe , while the Munchkin Starfinder I Want It All! Box is the best way to grab every physical item from that original Kickstarter campaign.

If it's space rocks you're looking for, check out the d6 sets themed to Rayguns , Robots , and Rockets – now 25% off!

This sale runs through May 8, so start your engines, prepare your spacecraft, and blast on over to Warehouse 23 today!

 

– Michelle Richardson

P.S.: And check out the recently released  GURPS Loadouts: Starship Crew , available exclusively on Warehouse 23. It's not on sale yet, but we know you want it.

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 1, 2025: Dungeon Slimes . . . Fun In A Can!

Philip J. Reed is one of SJ Games' most distinguished alumni, and since he went freelance he has continued to produce Cool Stuff. His latest, Dungeon Slimes , is a Kickstarter project closing today. Don't miss out!

It's a soda can, with green bubbly stuff on the inside (you could drink it if you wanted to) and RPG rules on the outside (you could play it if you wanted to).

Really! Have I ever lied to you? Except for fun or money?

This world-shattering idea has already met its goal several times over. And you have but a few scant hours to join the fun. Can you back all the way up to a six-pack? Yes. Yes, you can.

– 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!

April 30, 2025: The Classics Are Always Chic, With GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles

GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles makes the core GURPS magic system even more flexible and flavorful with the addition of thematic collections of spells – including secret spells. Expand those possibilities with GURPS Magical Styles: Traditional Styles .

Written by GURPS mastermind Phil Masters (co-author of the Discworld Roleplaying Game , GURPS Thaumatology , and many others), Traditional Styles presents five new traditions that can be added to many campaign settings. From Bodily Magic that draws arcane inspiration from martial arts, to Dream Magic and its secret spell Create Dream Bubble, to The Way of the Mystic Assassin whose secrets we dare not reveal but probably relate to something innocuous like knitting.

Keep magic magical with new ideas, outlooks, and abilities, thanks to GURPS Thaumatology: Magical Styles . Download it today, only 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!

April 29, 2025: Drawing A Blank?

If you ever want your own blank card for a beloved card game (say, for making a custom card, "popping the question," etc.), you can usually take an extra card from the set and rub it lightly with nail-polish remover to remove the ink.

Make sure not to be too aggressive with the amount of remover; you don't want the liquid getting on the other side of the card and wrecking it.

Of course, that destroys the card, so be certain it's one that you won't want in the future or that you have an extra of . . . or play it safe and buy another copy you're okay with destroying.

– 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!

April 28, 2025: Can I Pet The Mayhem? You Can Try . . . With Munchkin Warm Fuzzies!

We warned you they were coming, and now they're here! The cuddly carnage of Munchkin Warm Fuzzies has arrived – ready to augment your Munchkin games with 56 new cards that put the "cut" in "cute": new gear like Bunchucks, new threats like the Dust Bunnies, and new curses like Badger the Witness!

The threats found in Munchkin Warm Fuzzies probably aren't enough to stop a determined munchkin – but they're more than enough to give you paws! Get it today from your favorite local game store, or pick up a copy 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!

April 27, 2025: How My Brain Works – A Cautionary Tale

There are a lot of pieces I'm putting together here for a long anecdote. You have been warned.

I recently had reason to sort through a number of comics I've purchased in the past several months. Some of those comics included the Crisis on Infinite Earths "Facsimile Editions," reprinting the original 12-issue DC miniseries from 1985-1986 with snazzy foil covers. Crisis on Infinite Earths is, briefly, a comic story about a super-powerful good guy – called the Monitor – bringing together all the heroes he can from across the multiverse to fight against the even more insanely powerful (and evil) Anti-Monitor. The story was also adapted a few years back for the various "Arrowverse" TV series on The CW; I haven't watched the whole thing, but the images I've seen for the Monitor and Anti-Monitor looked pretty cool and comic-accurate. (Nikki Vrtis is a big Arrowverse fan, and she enjoyed the series.) They were cool cosmic characters who made an impression on me as a young comic fan.

The other day, I was poking around various reprints we've done recently and came across Munchkin Pony Excess . On the Warehouse 23 page for Munchkin Pony Excess , there's a link to Munchkin Babies (at least, it was there when I clicked on the page . . . I'm not sure how dynamically generated those are). For anyone who isn't aware, Munchkin Babies is about beloved Munchkin action, only the heroes are babies. It's an adorable concept.

Still with me? I'm so sorry.

Anyway, I also recently came across an article on Slate about using baby monitors to keep tabs on kids while at a hotel restaurant or bar on vacation. It was an interesting article, including deepish dives into the history of the devices, the morality of using them, and so on.

Some of you might know what my brain did . . . but – if not – I'll connect the dots.

Munchkin Babies –> characters as babies –> baby monitors –> Crisis on Infinite Earths —> character named "Monitor" and "Anti-Monitor" —> "Baby Monitor."

My cursory Google searches of "Crisis on Infinite Earths" and "Baby Monitor" have not revealed this to be a common connection; I'm not sure anyone has explicitly made it. But now I can't help but think of baby versions of that series' villains.

And now I've inflicted it on you. Again, sorry. If you'll excuse me, I need to dig up my copy of Munchkin Babies and Super Munchkin and see if that's enough to knock it loose from my brain.

– 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!

April 26, 2025: In Pod We Trust?

I just had an idea for GMs of modern-day or near-future roleplaying games. Actually two ideas.

First idea: It's always fun to make players sift through clues. But making up clues is often boring. Who's got time to create a fake newspaper — or even a convincing newspaper article?

If you're not the sort who can crank out 85 words a minute and who's married to a professional editor who can turn it into actual quality material (or if you are but just want to shake things up), why not consider making a fake podcast?

All it really takes is finding a friend who's not part of the gaming group to help you record for 15-20 minutes (or however long you want to babble). Give the friend the scope of what the podcast is ("weekly psychic-phenomenon researchers"), some details on your characters ("the two hosts are 30-somethings who've been friends for a decade; I'm the skeptical one, you're the credulous one"), and give you each a few plot details to drop into the conversation . . . then go to town. If you're a chatty sort, it's quite likely you can create a convincing-enough low-budget-feeling podcast in less time than it'd take you to make a fake newspaper/website article.

Second idea: Do the reverse – start with a real podcast that talks about an incident you found interesting, and then work backward to incorporate those details or clues into your campaign. Did you find an episode about the Oak Island money pit, aliens on the moon, or any of a billion other topics that are out there? Have the investigating heroes discover that webpage pulled up on the computer of a mysteriously absent person at the end of a game session, let the players listen to it on their downtime, and begin the next session with a bang.

Bonus half-idea: If you go with the "let's make a fake podcast" suggestion, have the incident talked about during that episode be a red herring, but have the real clue be related to the sponsor at the beginning . . .

– 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!