Steve Jackson's Blog, page 23

March 17, 2025: In Search Of Dave Martin

We seem to have lost track of artist David L. Martin (Dave to his friends, and I count myself his friend . . . he and a bottle of wine were key to the genesis of the Illuminati game, for instance, which is one reason I asked him to do the cover). But we have not spoken in a while, and the email address in our records is now bouncing.

Dave, are you out there? It would be, as our British friends say, "to your advantage" to check in. I have interesting news. My signature on this Illuminator is a mailto link.

As for the other several billion people in the world: If you are in touch with Dave, kindly call this to his attention!  Thank you very much.

With my fingers crossed, I remain yours sincerely &c &c . . .

– 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!

March 15, 2025: Imaginary Cards Jam On Itch.Io

When you're sifting through your TCG collection, do you ever find a card that you don't recognize? An artifact from a totally unfamiliar game, maybe one that doesn't exist in this reality? 

. . . No? Just me, then?

If you would like an excuse to create such an artifact, look no further than the Imaginary Cards Jam on itch.io, with submissions open through March 24, 2025. The contest is hosted by Sharang Biswas, Pam Punzalan, and Viditya Voleti with bonus mystery judge John Harper (!!!), and the itch page promises that there WILL be prizes for the winners.

I love this sort of open-ended prompt; my first attempt at creating something similar was for the System Fictional Game Jam back in 2022, and I had a blast.

So go forth and make some weird art!

– Irene Zielinski

Warehouse 23 News: Why Is The Darkness Blinking?

They're trapped between the realm of the living and the dead . . . and they're not too pleased about it. The Book of Unlife adds 44 unliving monsters to your The Fantasy Trip campaigns, along with a complete adventure setting. Live like there's too many tomorrows thanks to Warehouse 23!

March 16, 2025: Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter – The End Is Nigh!

We're in the final stretch of the Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter, the start of our journey to deliver the beloved British gamebook series to the brave adventurers of the United States.

In case you missed the news, we've announced a new pledge level: the beautiful Slipcase Set. Give your five-book set a snazzy home with the full-color slipcase. As I mentioned in a recent Kickstarter update, these are very challenging to work out logistically, so the odds are unlikely they'll be reprinted. If you're the sort whose future-collector self kicks your past-collector self for missing out on goodies like this, consider this your notice from the . . . um . . . present (which will eventually be the future's past).

But the stars of the campaign are clearly the first five gamebooks: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain , Deathtrap Dungeon , City of Thieves , and two others. Created by famed designers – and Games Workshop founders – Steve Jackson and Sir Ian Livingstone, these books have delighted fans for decades with gripping stories, difficult choices, easy-to-learn combat gaming, and riveting artwork. (That last one is especially awesome, because part of this campaign's effort is bringing back the original classic interior art that hasn't been seen in over a decade!)

As a final treat, if you'd like to hear more about the genesis of this series, there's an interview with Sir Ian Livingstone from the BBC that's available to listen to until March 23. (Sir Ian's insight about Fighting Fantasy begins about 28 minutes in, but the whole program is worthwhile if you're a fan of classic gaming.)

We thank everyone who's made the Fighting Fantasy Kickstarter a success so far. Whether you've been a fan of the series for years or are experiencing its delights for the first time, we're so grateful for helping us bring these books back to the States. If you've been curious about the series and want to join the millions who've enjoyed the books previously, there's never been a better time to start . . . but hurry, because the Kickstarter ends this Tuesday!

– 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!

March 14, 2025: MidSouthCon

MidSouthCon is an ancient and honorable science fiction convention with a heavy gaming slant. I was a GoH at MSC in 2013, and had a great time . . . and I'm going back!

The event this year is just outside Memphis. The dates are March 21 through 23, right around the corner! I will be there with Irene Zielinski; we'll be running a lot of games, both new stuff and classics. As, I hope, you would expect by now! And for my GoH talk, she's going to interview me for "Grognard Story Hour." We did that bit at Granite State Comic Con and it was a (slightly embarrassing) blast.

By all means, come see us. The con is not sold out. The author GoH is Keith R.A. Candido, who has written – among many other things – some really fun fantasy police procedurals (check out Dragon Precinct and its sequels at your local bookstore or at some giant company that sells books on the Internet). The other guests are lurking in the wings to surprise and delight you. It will be a great weekend!

– 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!

March 13, 2025: Yazeba's Is A Nebula Finalist!

Hard on the heels of the Yazeba's Bed and Breakfast nomination for a GAMA award comes more awesome news: this innovative RPG from Possum Creek Games is a finalist for the 60th annual Nebula Awards, in the Game Writing category!

The Nebula is an old and prestigious award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association (SFWA). It's right up there with the Hugo in significance; the difference is that the Hugos are voted on by fans at the World SF Convention each year, while the Nebs are awarded by a vote of SFWA's membership – that is, your fellow professionals are judging your mastery of the craft. The Game Writing category is fairly new and is almost always dominated by computer games (for their dialog, not for the coding). This is largely, in my own opinion, simply because the pros doing the nominations are more familiar with computer games than tabletop RPGs, and not because of any bias against the written word. SFWA's members, after all, are mostly writers! Be that as it may, the nomination for Yazeba's is, to use the technical term, a Big Deal! I am even prouder to be associated with its creators than I was this time yesterday . . .

Fun fact: this is the second Nebula nomination for Jay Dragon, one of the authors of Yazeba's . Jay's Wanderhome was nominated in 2021. And (sweet agony) the winner that year was Thirsty Sword Lesbians , another written work. But it really looks like Jay is making a habit of this.

By the way, many of the game creators reading this are eligible for SFWA membership . . . and that membership has benefits both professional and practical. I put my money where my mouth is many years ago and joined as a Life Member. Visit SFWA.org to learn more.

Congratulations!

– 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!

March 12, 2025: The Psychic Danger Society

The Psychic Danger Society, now on Kickstarter, is a cozy tabletop roleplaying game of mystery, psychic prediction, community, and tea.

I'm particularly intrigued by the dice mechanic – you roll all of your dice in a "seance" at the beginning of the session, and use those results however you can during play. I'm a sucker for finite outcomes and the sort of metagaming where you're using your outside perspective to get your character into interesting trouble. If you've been looking for short roleplaying games to introduce some non-gaming friends to the hobby, this looks like a great excuse to throw a tea party and host a one-shot! Check them out and throw them some support if you are so inclined.



At the time of writing, the campaign is a hair's-breadth from reaching its goal . . . and I foresee success in its future.

– Irene Zielinski

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!

March 11, 2025: The Headline Is The Adventure

If I needed to come up with an adventure at a moment's notice, I could do way worse than spending 20 seconds extrapolating on this New York Times headline: "Thieves Blow Up a Dutch Museum Door to Steal a Golden Helmet."

They apparently made some arrests a few days later, but – as far as I can tell – the Helmet of Coțofenești still hasn't been returned. Fingers crossed this gets resolved as well as possible, and the Wikipedia page about the heist gets updated with a happy ending.

– 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!

March 10, 2025: Solitomb

Recently, while I was poking around itch.io trying to fill out tax forms to get a payout for a fun and interesting reason, the site's front page directed me to Solitomb. It's a wee roguelite card battler (which you can even try on the game page, right from your browser!), and I was instantly charmed. It's a delicious mix of solitaire, poker, and dungeon crawl.



The rules are simple, but it packs a tactical punch – if you enjoy Balatro and Slay the Spire, I'd recommend playing a few rounds. Right now, the game is pay-what-you-want on itch, with your money going to support development on an expanded edition (which you can wishlist on Steam to stay updated).

– Irene Zielinski

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!

March 9, 2025: Origins Award Nominations

The nominations for the Origins Awards have been announced! Congratulations to all the nominees. It's an impressive list.

There are two in particular that I want to talk about. The first is our newest Car Wars starter set, Orange/Purple . It was very much a team effort. First props go, of course, to designers Sam Mitschke and Randy Scheunemann. That vibrant cover was painted by Kurt Miller. Line editor at the time, and responsible for the cover design and art direction, was Irene Zielinski. And Sabrina Gonzalez, working with Ari Hutchins at GPI, made it all a reality. Finally, a shout-out to Meredith Placko, our CEO. It was our first big project under her leadership, and it came together very well indeed.

I am SO proud. Thank you, everyone.



The other game is Yazeba's Bed & Breakfast, by Possum Creek Games. Design and writing were by Jay Dragon and M Veselak, art direction was by Ruby Lavin, and the beautiful cover was created by Katie Hicks. I should make it perfectly clear that SJ Games had nothing to do with this one . . . it was finished and printed before the companies became associated . . . but it's awesome. We are over the moon about the connection and look forward to the next project from Jay and Ruby!



– 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!

March 8, 2025: Distraction Makers

If there is one thing I love almost as much as talking about game design, it's listening to other people discuss game design concepts. I recently discovered the YouTube channel Distraction Makers , hosted by two veterans of the gaming industry, Forrest Imel and Gavin Valentine. In each episode, they break down a topic from gaming with a mix of tabletop and digital games. They use Magic: The Gathering as an example in a lot of their conversations, but the ideas they talk about have wider implications for all the people who create games and the players of those games. A recent episode I enjoyed a lot is about the differences between implicit and explicit rules. Implicit rules are the things clearly defined by the core rules of a game and any other supplementary materials like organized play documents. These are usually straightforward, but struggle to cover every possible situation without becoming too bogged down in minutiae. Explicit rules seem even simpler on the surface, but they can be a lot more complicated since they are influenced by regional differences in a community and the basic social contracts many of us take for granted. Give them a listen if that kind of thing sounds like something you might enjoy.

– Will Schoonover

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!