Steve Jackson's Blog, page 2

October 9, 2025: What's Next – Rocket Fuel?

I've been a gamer for a long time. When I was growing up, the beverage of choice to indicate a hyperkinetic over-caffeinated state of being was any variety of mountainous sodas. (I generally got the "generic" stuff from the grocery store, with names like "Mojave Mist," "Sierra Rain," or "Bornhardt Precipitation.")

Then, a couple decades later, the caffeinated zeitgeist seemed to shift more toward coffee drinks. This allowed for myriad possibilities: iced or hot, tall or tiny espresso-like shots, black or enough sugar to make rock candy on a stirring spoon.

In recent years, the gaming tables I frequent always seem to have someone who's drinking an energy drink . . . which makes sense mathematically, because that "someone" at least includes me. Not only do these seem to be even more caffeinated than what I'd enjoyed previously, but there is a greater possibility of danger because it's much easier to accidentally chug a can or two absentmindedly than if the beverage in question is a coffee that's 523° or has enough ice to immediately trigger an ice cream migraine.

Still, I can't help but wonder: Where do caffeine aficionados go from here? Am I going to write a post in another 10 years about how all the cool kids are drinking coffee made with distilled energy drink? Or, at least, will such a post be scribed posthumously by whoever finds where my heart landed two states over?

– 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!

October 8, 2025: It's Not Really Fair, Because She Had A Teammate

I can't do better than the headline from : "Florida woman wins Mortal Kombat tournament playing with newborn baby in arms." But the article is worth a read, especially for the adorable picture.

Our household doesn't have quite the same story; we were eight months' pregnant when our kiddo attended Gen Con. (That may be the most load-bearing "we" I've ever typed, and one that'll quite possibly get me smacked.) However, we still have fond convention memories with our youngling. If you have any similar "winning a tournament with a baby in tow" stories (or even fun with the next generation in arms), I'd love to hear 'em 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!

October 7, 2025: Why Does The Cat Know Our ATM Card PIN?!

Thought experiment, and possibly a hook for folks playing a super-heroic game: A supervillain has gained the ability to immediately access all information said directly to pets. Not near them . . . to them: "Don't let me forget that the money's hidden in the coffee can in the cupboard, Mr. Whiskers!"

How much trouble are you in?

Speaking as someone who's used cats, fish, hamsters, and rabbits as sounding boards, I personally would be in a lot of trouble . . .

If this sparks any useful insights (or you want to reminisce about past encounters with your pets), feel free to hop on over to 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!

October 6, 2025: "Convoy Of Chaos" Released

You can now buy the latest Car Wars book from Three Ravens, Convoy of Chaos, from Amazon. Intro by Wil Wheaton. This anthology is available in both softcover and Kindle editions. Go do it!

– 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!

October 5, 2025: Don't Forget To Bring Some Offline Internet!

I discovered something fun recently: Kiwix, an offline reader for various appropriately licensed content you typically find online, such as Wikipedia, Wiktionary, Project Gutenberg, TED Talks, and more.

It's all completely free (although they take donations) and seems to be limited primarily by the storage space of your device. (I downloaded a complete 120 GB version of Wikipedia with images to my iPad over the weekend.)

Kiwix is available for just about all major varieties of desktops, portable iOS/Android devices, and browser extensions. So if you've ever dreamed of lugging around your own ready-to-access information archive in your own pocket, give it a try!

– 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!

October 4, 2025: Check Your Accounts For Fishy Activity

Whatever you may expect to read on a Wikipedia entry for a random fish – say, a black neon tetra – you quite probably aren't prepared for a subheading entitled "Credit Card Fraud."

The whole entry is worth reading (it's short!), but the summary is that a YouTube channel rigged motion-tracking software to let fish play video games by mapping their motion to inputs. The fish managed to crash a game of Pokémon Violet they were playing and open the Nintendo eShop, committing some financial hijinks in the process.

In the meantime, I think I need to ask Irene Zielinski if she has any ideas for a "Black Neon Tetra" card for Hacker . . .

– 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!

October 3, 2025: Gamehole Con - And A Big Announcement!

Gamehole Con is coming up very soon: October 16-19 in Madison, Wisconsin. As usual, SJ Games will be there to run games and enjoy your company. And, of course, the company of Madison native John Kovalic, he of the muskrat and the many, many Munchkin cards.

But this year we've got a very BIG announcement to make during our 3pm Saturday talk. I hope you're planning to come to the show . . . if you are, please vist us Saturday when I take the wraps off! Because seating is limited, there is a signup link. 

I'll also be running a couple of sessions of The Fantasy Trip . This is an introductory game, meaning you don't have to know the rules when you sit down . . . but veteran players won't be bored. In fact, I expect I will do my usual evil stunt of enlisting the veterans at the table to help teach. 

– Steve Jackson

PS - Feel free to post your "What's he going to say?" guesses in the forums. If you guess right, I won't say a THING till after the show, but then you'll get bragging rights.

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!

October 2, 2025: So Many Possible Secret Lairs, So Little Time For Global Plots

For nearly 40 years, architectural critic John Margolies photographed attractions and buildings along the roads of the United States. The Public Domain Review has a neat article about how his pictorial archive was donated to the Library of Congress, which put the material in the public domain (although individual artwork may still be copyrighted).

I found poking around the article (and lightly through the archives) to be a fun traversal across time and space in America. Of course, the gamer in me couldn't help but wonder, "What kind of encounter could I set amid the windmill of the Log Cabin Motel, a dinosaur-shaped auto center, or a carwash shaped like a whale?"

– 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!

October 1, 2025: Prepping For Halloween Gaming!

Like many geeks and gamers, our household has always loved Halloween. Candy, get-togethers, candy, spooky stuff, candy . . . what's not to like?

Since 2025 has certainly been a stressful year for us, I thought it'd be fun for our household to revive our "Halloween gaming" spirit (which I wrote about here a couple years ago) by making the holiday really special.

To that end, Nikki Vrtis and I are taking advantage of Halloween falling on a Friday with a three-day game. Starting October 31st, we plan on playing through the first two parts of the six-part Hunt A Killer mystery, Renfaire Regicide . We'll get decked out in some little-used Renaissance Faire apparel from our closets and thus be in cosplay regalia for trick-or-treaters . . . and more immersion in the game! We'll play the other parts on Saturday and Sunday – with different outfits – because we're adults, and we can wear costumes all the time if we want to.

We're crafting themed meals – how close to the Ren Faire and/or Medieval Times experience can I recreate at home as a chef? – and find some filler games to make each day extra special. (We have new scenarios for Arkham Horror: The Card Game I've wanted to play, and I'm hoping we'll have a copy of Purrfect Potions by then, since it looked amazing at Gen Con.)

I mention these plans to you, gentle reader, as a call to action: Play games with us! Well, not us, specifically; our house is small and cranky. But, y'know . . . in spirit. My plan is to document our game-playing online using the hashtag #HalloweenGaming.

If our forthcoming festivities have inspired you, tell us your plans! What games are you thinking about diving into on Halloween weekend? Are you doing anything cool for food, locale, or atmosphere? Please share your thoughts with me privately, post to our forums, or use the #HalloweenGaming hashtag online. For that last one, feel free to tag Steve Jackson Games on Facebook, Instagram, or Bluesky. If I catch wind of nifty ideas you come up with, I'll post a follow-up here.

We want to hear from you whether you're playing the fine offerings of Steve Jackson Games or another company. Just about all of us here love boatloads of games from every corner of our kooky industry. My hope is to get folks to forget their woes for a day or three through the joy of play.

The time to plan is now! Halloween will be here before you know it, so visit your favorite local shop or online retailer for what you need – especially candy. Let's make this a holiday a real treat!

– 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!

September 30, 2025: Charming Cats Have Arrived On Warehouse 23!

Purrfect Potions , a magical dice game from Steve Jackson Games, is now available for pre-order on Warehouse23.com! Become whimsical witches brewing elixirs alongside their clever – and often chaotic – cat familiars. On a player's turn, both the moon die and cat dice are rolled and the felines will decide which concoctions to assist with, while bending to the phases of the moon. Although they're trying their best to help the witches, not everything goes according to plan. They'll work together to create Major and Minor potions until all are complete, and the player who earns the most points will claim the valiant victory.  Naomi Lord's stunning, pastel gothic illustrations on the tiles and dice designed by Katie Cook bring this adorable game to life. Family friendly and fast playing, Purrfect Potions will be a purrfect addition to any game night with gamers and non-gamers alike. Visit Warehouse23.com or your FLGS today to adopt your copy before all the kitties go to their furrever homes! 

– 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!