Steve Jackson's Blog, page 33

December 9, 2024: Aquatic Dinosaurs?

If you're anything like me, you've called Elasmosaurus or Mosasaurus a dinosaur only to be immediately excoriated by the nearest paleo nerd, quick to tell you why that's dead wrong.

You see, those are merely dinosaur-like reptiles (big ol' fossil guys with names ending in "saur"). There weren't any aquatic dinosaurs . . . at least, not contemporary with the dinosaurs we're thinking of.

But you know what'll leave your paleo pedant gobsmacked? Naming an aquatic dinosaur alive right now.

You see, the fact that modern birds are living dinosaurs means that penguins are also dinosaurs. Aquatic dinosaurs, QED.

– 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!

December 8, 2024: The Joys Of The Non-Digital

A recent article notes that automaker Hyundai is planning to move back to physical buttons in cars, after customers seem to be rejecting touchscreen controls.

Speaking as someone who doesn't much care for tapping on a screen while I'm driving 70mph on the interstate (and owns a Hyundai!), I'm intrigued by this news. But I'm also interested in it as a continuum of the return to the analog world as a whole. As much as I love video and computer games, there's also something to the experience of shuffling a nice deck of physical cards, or moving real pieces around a board.

But don't try to play Munchkin Shadowrun while you're driving next to me on I-69; I'm likely trying to tune my radio.

– 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!

December 7, 2024: The Great Game Escape

World War II history has always fascinated me, as have tales of spycraft and subterfuge. That's why it's been so cool to learn how Monopoly was essential to the Allied war effort. Yes, that Monopoly . It turns out that a game about acquiring property and getting rich was a great way to help soldiers escape from POW camps in Europe. The story starts with Christopher Clay Hutton, a man hired by the British Secret Service in 1939 and tasked with inventing devices that could help British soldiers escape from their German captors. While he came up with many ingenious devices, he had to innovate constantly. Things like false shoe heels and cloth maps sewed into uniforms were eventually discovered, but Hutton would soon find an unlikely means for transporting escape kits to soldiers. It turns out that the Germans allowed charities to send boardgames to POWs, assuming that they would keep them distracted, docile, and less likely to ruminate on escape plans. Hutton turned to the British boardgame company Waddington's and asked them to put together special versions of Monopoly to send to prisoners. These versions would feature essentials like silk maps (they were quieter and more resilient than paper), knives and files, miniature compasses, rope, and real money hidden in the gameboards themselves. Incredibly, these "escape boards" were designed to be the exact weight as standard Monopoly sets so as to avoid suspicion. According to one website, up to a third of all successful escapees in the European theatre were aided by these British-made boards. (You can watch this video to learn more.) Though World War II is well behind us, learning the history of these escape sets makes me wonder if similar technology is being used today, or if it was used during the Cold War. After all, no one suspects a deck of cards or a simple boardgame to be anything more . . . right?

– 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!

December 6, 2024: Check Out Games At The Library!

If you're a gamer on a budget – or just want to try before you buy – see if your local public library loans boardgames.

Speaking personally, my own nearby library has dozens of great games: a diverse collection of various themes, play styles, and complexity. A library checkout was how we decided that our household really liked Mysterium !

Our library also features an occasional "game trade table," where visitors can bring in unused games or puzzles and exchange them with others' offerings. (Oh, and as I was double-checking this post, I discovered that my library also hosts an adult Scrabble club!)

If your library doesn't have such offerings, considering chatting up the librarians or ordering caretakers and see if any of these ideas are feasible for them to do. Who knows? If enough of the community expresses interest, maybe your local gamers together can get . . . a loan! (See, like, "a library loan," but it's also "alone" but it's "together" and . . . Oh, just go enjoy your local library!)

– 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!

December 5, 2024: A Shanty For Your Table

A Drop of Nelson's Blood (also known as Roll the old chariot along) is a well-known sea shanty with a catchy melody and a ridiculously simple structure. If you want to get the vibe, I really like the Longest Johns version. Just one warning: this is an earworm that won't go away.

The predictable pattern and heavy repetition make it very easy to teach to a new group, as well as make up verses. Recorded versions are typically a few minutes, but I've heard this go on for dozens of verses around a fire with a few drinks.

Anyway, here's a version for your tabletop roleplaying group. Do with this what you will.

Well, a session off the rails wouldn't do us any harm
And a session off the rails wouldn't do us any harm
And a session off the rails wouldn't do us any harm
And the GM wouldn't mind!

Come on and roll the old character along
We'll roll the old character along
We'll roll the old character along
And the GM wouldn't mind!

Just one evening with the bard wouldn't do us any harm
No, an evening with the bard wouldn't do us any harm
And an evening with the bard wouldn't do us any harm
And the GM wouldn't mind!

Come on and roll the old character along . . .

It goes along like that, alternating between the verses (which change each time) and the refrain (which is consistent), until you get tired of it. Seriously, one of my favorite bits about this song is that you can just keep it going as long as you can come up with silly verses and everyone's having fun.

Here are some more verses to get you started:

And a homebrew grapple rule wouldn't do us any harm

Now, the deck of many things wouldn't do us any harm

And a podcast of our game wouldn't do us any harm

And a THAC0 through the roof wouldn't do us any harm

And a brand new set of dice wouldn't do us any harm

And this potion that I found wouldn't do us any harm

(Lest the GM lose their mind!)

Of course, now that I've written these, I have a mighty need to see someone perform an in-universe shanty at their gaming table the next time their party enters an appropriate establishment . . . so if you've got any shanty parodies of your own, share them with me in the forum?

– 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!

December 4, 2024: Get Gruntled!

Apparently I've never recommended this site that's been pinned to my Bookmarks Bar for over a decade?!? Weird . . . Anyway, are you feeling disgruntled? There's a website to help. Gruntle.me will serve up a cute animal picture to help you get un-disgruntled.

As an aside: As I was writing this, I discovered that "gruntled" doesn't trigger my red-underline spellcheck warning. Why? Because it's in the dictionary! Apparently it was added in the 1930s as a "back-formation" of . . . some other word that's no doubt lost to history.

– 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!

December 3, 2024: Celebrate The Season With The Steve Jackson Games Holiday Sale

The Steve Jackson Games Holiday Sale is here! Now through December 16, you can get up to 23% off select games and accessories. It's a great way to finish up your holiday shopping . . . or snag a few deals for yourself. (Don't worry – we won't tell anyone!) Deals include:Up to 23% off select Munchkin games and accessoriesUp to 23% off select GURPS and The Fantasy Trip merchandiseUp to 23% off select Car Wars merchandise15% off select Ogre games, supplements, miniatures, and playmatsStocking Stuffers – up to 23% off select dice, pins, and accessoriesGame bundles that make holiday shopping fast and easyAnd more!This is our biggest sale of the year, so don't miss out! Head to the Holiday Sale page and explore these selections 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!

December 2, 2024: You Take The Good, You Take The Bad . . .

A real quick-and-dirty way to get inspiration for your tabletop RPGs is "good, but bad." That is, you start with a premise of something advantageous to the heroes (or others in the campaign world), but couple it with something troublesome. You make the two aspects intrinsic to each other, such that you can't have one without the other.

For even easier inspiration, use two different GURPS supplements as the foundation or spark. So, for example, you might have:

• Mecha that can only be interfaced with and piloted by vampires, possibly inspiring otherwise healthy folks to turn themselves into the undead.

• Strange fantasy weapons that can only be purchased with special coins the adventurers have to track down.

• A new form of magic that – each time it's used – provides more arcane data for a shadowy organization.

I'm sure you can come up with your own good/bad combos; if so, please feel free to share your ideas 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!

December 1, 2024: Flames On The Sides Of My Face

One of my very favorite movies is the absolutely hilarious 1985 cult classic Clue. The boardgame of the same name (originally called Cluedo in the United Kingdom) was released an unbelievable 75 years ago and was an instant hit.  Starring Tim Curry and Madeline Kahn, Clue was released nearly 40 years ago and still stands up as a cinematic masterpiece to those who love it. All of your favorite characters from the original game are present: Mrs. White, Professor Plum, Colonel Mustard, et al. The film is set in a mansion where six guests are invited for dinner – and surprise!  –  a murder occurs! The guests are then trapped in the house trying to find the culprit while attempting to save their own lives. Chaos and hilarity ensue while other visitors, including a cop and a singing telegram girl, arrive, and are one by one . . .  well, I won't spoil that for you. In true whodunit fashion, viewers are challenged to put together clues as the movie unwinds in order to determine the weapon used, the location of the murderm and, of course, the murderer.  The most unique feature of the film is its multiple endings – a truly unexpected twist. When Clue originally played in theaters, audiences were surprised to find that the endings were randomized and no one knew which of the three completely plausible versions they would see. However, when viewing the movie on DVD or streaming in the present day, all three endings will play. If you've never experienced this fantastic film, hurry over to Paramount+ or PlutoTV and watch it tonight! 

– 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!

November 30, 2024: Make Your Own Mysterious Song

I recently told you all about how the Most Mysterious Song on the Internet had been found. That news continues to delight me, so my mind has drifted to it again for inspiration. Namely, I realize how easy it would be to make one's own mysterious song for a tabletop RPG.

Of the countless ways to do it, one is to find a song that fits the game's themes and that doesn't have too many views or likes online. Record it with a phone's "memo" function (audio fidelity is not important and is probably a detriment!), and then run it through whatever filters in the free audio-editing software Audacity make it sound suitably grungy, mysterious, or tantalizing. If need be, chop it to just a clip – maybe one without enough discernable lyrics to be searched online. Now let the players be intrigued.

What might the song mean? That's up to you! It could be a distorted clue left by an imperiled ally, evidence of a shifted Mandela Effect universe, or an arcane threat disguised as music in a horror campaign. Or maybe it's just something weird but (probably) harmless.

– 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!