Steve Jackson's Blog, page 28

January 26, 2025: Explore The History Of The UK Video Games Industry With Kim Justice

When I was a child, I always assumed that video games came from either Japan or the United States. I had no idea that there was a huge video game industry across the pond, ranging from bedroom coders to major players. I've been spending these cold winter days catching up on this fascinating history thanks to Kim Justice, a UK YouTuber whose channel covers the history of British gaming, among other things. Kim's work is truly remarkable. Each video features an impressive collection of archival footage, photographs, and gameplay to tell the stories of companies, industry luminaries, and even the rise and fall of genres like the text adventure. These videos may be a walk down memory lane for some, but for me they're a fascinating look at a time when computer gaming was in its infancy. Thanks to the proliferation of "microcomputers" like the BBC Micro, the ZX Spectrum, the Amstrad CPC, and the Commodore 64, amateur coders of all ages could create their own games and market them to their fellow enthusiasts. This cottage industry would lead to a revolution in computer gaming that reverberates to this day. These days, the video game industry is a multi-billion dollar juggernaut, though it wasn't always this way. Kim Justice shows us how it all started. If you love gaming, check it out! You'll be glad you did.

– Katie Duffy

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!

January 25, 2025: Help Out Rodger MacGowan!

Rodger B. MacGowan is one of the most skilled and prolific cover artists that the boardgaming hobby has ever seen. He founded Fire & Movement Magazine and, later, C3i Magazine. He is a member of the Origins Hall of Fame. And, at the moment, he is practically a refugee.

Rodger's home and office/studio was completely destroyed by the Palisades Fire in California. Work on his projects has halted. He needs your help.

If you can contribute to his GoFundMe, your donation will be going to a pillar of the hobby. Thousands of people have been displaced by the fires, and every one of them is deserving of help, but I ask for your help specifically to Rodger because he and his family – for it's a family business – have done so much for gaming for so many years.

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!

January 23, 2025: FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE: A David Lynch Game Jam

David Lynch passed away on January 16. His work was surreal, often challenging, and deeply influential. Over on Itch.io, user Jellyfishlines is paying tribute by hosting FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE – A David Lynch Game Jam. What is a game jam? It's a competition where designers aim to create games that fit a specific theme in a limited amount of time. In this case, it's a game jam in which designers need to make games based on or inspired by Lynch's work. The full details are here, but the most important things to remember are: 1) You'll need to create an account on Itch.io to participate, and 2) the game jam ends on February 20. So if you're a fan of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune, or Lynch's weather reports, consider signing up today.

– Katie Duffy

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!

January 24, 2025: Who Uses A 835374663 Anymore?

As I was speaking with company cohort Irene Zielinski recently, she revealed that a number she uses was actually devised from a word that's meaningful to her, tapped out as digits on a telephone keypad.

It's a cool idea, but – as she explained it – I realized that it took a few moments to realize what she was talking about, because it'd been so long since I'd looked at a telephone keypad. Sure enough, they were still on my iPhone's telephone screen.

It's a cool "old-school" technique I want to use in my tabletop games. So, when the adventurers are sifting through an online forum looking for Dr. Chaos, maybe they should pay attention to username 24267 . . .

– 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!

January 23, 2025: FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE – A David Lynch Game Jam

David Lynch passed away on January 16. His work was surreal, often challenging, and deeply influential. Over on Itch.io, user Jellyfishlines is paying tribute by hosting FIX YOUR HEARTS OR DIE – A David Lynch Game Jam. What is a game jam? It's a competition where designers aim to create games that fit a specific theme in a limited amount of time. In this case, it's a game jam in which designers need to make games based on or inspired by Lynch's work. The full details are here, but the most important things to remember are: 1) You'll need to create an account on Itch.io to participate, and 2) the game jam ends on February 20. So if you're a fan of Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Dune, or Lynch's weather reports, consider signing up today.

– Katie Duffy

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!

January 22, 2025: Bandai Announces Gundam Miniatures Game

A new year always means new games, but it isn't usually this literal. If you missed it, on January 6th Bandai announced a new miniatures game. They haven't revealed a release date, but they have shared a teaser video and promo images that have gotten a lot of people excited. Miniatures fans have been looking at the Gundam model kits that Bandai produces for years, wondering what the company could do if they decided to make minis. Now that we've seen this preview, the most interesting difference between the larger mecha model kits and these miniatures is the size and complexity. The minis will be cast in a single color of plastic and will not be posable. The tradeoff for that simplicity will likely be reduced prices compared to the larger models. The other interesting thing about the Gundam Assemble model line is that they will also tie into the upcoming Gundam Card Game as tokens available with certain products. These game packs with included minis are scheduled for release this summer, so even if the minis game doesn't come out until later in the year, we should be able to get our hands on these little Gundam before then.

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!

January 21, 2025: Help The Internet Archive Keep It Clean

For decades, the Internet Archive has performed a valuable service by preserving our history.

Recently, SJ Games ran into a situation where we could have had beef with the IA. We do not WANT beef with the IA. But we found literally hundreds of PDFs of our games – the same ones we sell – posted on the IA, many organized neatly by game system or "Steve Jackson Games."

Not a pretty sight!

Long story short, the IA depends on volunteers to do its work, and clearly some of those volunteers have run up the black flag and gone a-pirating. This is not the fault of the organization as a whole. But it makes them look bad!

The IA is cooperating with us fully in removing pirated material as we find it. But there are a few things you can do to help them keep it clean . . .

- If you run across copies of professionally-published game material there, especially in PDF, it's probably not legit. You cannot send the IA a DMCA takedown notice for someone else's work – don't try. Just advise the publisher, and if the material is problematic, the publisher can send a takedown notice.

- If you yourself are a publisher, take a few minutes to make the obvious searches – your company name, your big game titles - on the IA, just to make sure. (And if this is material you actually intend to give away, well, the IA is doing that, so thank them.)

- Whether you are a publisher or not, if you use and value the work the IA does, a contribution would not be out of line. Just saying!

– 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!

January 20, 2025: Calling All Agents: Pre-Order Last Shot Today

As a secret agent, you've been part of some history . . . March 11, 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party and leader of the USSR. June 12, 1987: In a speech at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, United States President Ronald Reagan gives a speech in which he exhorts Gorbachev to "tear down this wall!" November 9, 1989: The Berlin Wall falls, reuniting the city for the first time since 1961. While preceded by the fall of communism in Poland and Hungary, it is a potent symbol of the collapse of the Soviet Union. December 25, 1991: The Soviet Union formally dissolves, bringing an end to the Cold War.  Or does it? Your handler has just let you know that you need to tie up loose ends – and avoid becoming one yourself. Will you make it out of the cloak-and-dagger trade alive? In Last Shot , you take on the role of a secret agent in the waning days of the Cold War. Your mission: To stay in the game long enough to draw (or steal!) a Terminated card and use it to "retire" your adversaries. But remember to watch your back – play your cards wisely to outmaneuver other players and come out on top.  Designed by Ryan Whisenhunt, Last Shot is a competitive game of intrigue and strategy for 3-6 players, featuring fast gameplay and unique mechanics. Best of all, each session uses only half of the cards, ensuring that it's never the same twice.  Think you have what it takes to come out on top in this game of spycraft and subterfuge? Don't get left out in the cold – head to Warehouse 23 to pre-order your copy of Last Shot, or pick it up at your Friendly Local Game Store beginning February 5. 

– Katie Duffy

 

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!

January 19, 2025: Who Goes First, Gamers' Choice!

I recently posted about how games determine who goes first. Of course, this doesn't account for the myriad ways that players can decide that all-important question.

I mentioned that rules for some games say "roll to see who goes first," but players can decide to use something other than six-siders. In the world of randomization, rolling dice, flipping coins, or rock-paper-scissors are obvious choices. For those who prefer high-tech variations, there are any number of randomizer apps on your device of choice. Chooser! seems to be a quick and fun option where each player puts a finger (presumably one of their own) on the device's screen, and the app will select the "winner." Chooser! can even pick multiple winners . . . perfect (for example) to determine which two out of four players are on the same team.

If you would rather not rely on a randomizer to decide who has the first turn, it's not like the Game Police are going to arrest you if you do something other than "roll dice." Rotate first player throughout the get-together, have whoever lost (or won!) the last game go first, or whoever brought the best snacks . . . the possibilities are endless.

Should you have specific options your game group enjoys, tell us about them!

– 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!

January 17, 2025: The Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra 3D Printer: Best Beginner's (Or Expert's!) Resin Printer: Part 1

The first 3D printer I ever saw in action was one of the early MakerBot filament (FDM) printers. It was for sale in a Sam's Club. They had a demo running, which consisted of a couple of feet attached to a spaghetti monster – that's what it's called when a filament print fails and the printer just spews filament in a big stringy ball. I was not impressed. (Nor was I impressed by the price, around $1k.) Fast forward to about 2018. I was at Con Nooga and a vendor was selling STL files for making 3D printed cavern floor tiles . . . hexagon tiles! And he had an Ender 3 setup printing out demos. Now I was impressed. I was extremely impressed. I bought the CD of the tile STLs, went home, and ordered an Ender 3. Then I promptly lost the CD. I never found it again, nor have I ever found the vendor. (If you're him, please let me know!) My first print, by the way, was a walking octopus. (This was long before ours – one of which is available as a free sample.) About a year later I took my first tentative steps into resin printing. Since then, I've accumulated seven printers from three different manufacturers. One manufacturer is somewhat decent, one doesn't have anything I'll ever touch again, and one is Elegoo, my favorite. They're affordable, reliable, and good. A few months ago, after seeing YouTuber Uncle Jessy's videos about it, I bought an Elegoo Saturn 4 Ultra. And I couldn't be happier with it. I love that printer. It's not their cheapest, butmfor the average home user, it's by far their best. It's also the most newbie-friendly. It's blindingly fast. I've compared the Saturn side by side with the Mars 2 Pro, and the Saturn is more than twice as fast. The build plate on the Saturn is about 2.5 times the size of the Mars, which means I get about 5x the throughput (I'd recommend a second build plate, available from Elegoo, for quick turnaround, so you can wash one while printing on the other). This might not be important at first glance – but if you're planning on printing enough gpb;ins to do a nice horde for Friday's game, it definitely matters. Another great feature is the onboard camera. I can run the entire print job from right here at my desk – sending the file to the printer, watching how it's coming along, etc. This is particularly handy if your printer is somewhere inconvenient, like in your basement . . . Tune in tomorrow for Part 2!

– Jean McGuire

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!