Steve Jackson's Blog, page 332

October 24, 2016: Use Your Brains: Buy Munchkin Zombies Guest Artist Edition

Munchkin Zombies Guest Artist Edition is shambling toward a store near you!



We've talked before about the great, unique art in this game, so you already know there's plenty of reason to pick up Greg Hyland's undead work, even if you already have the original, John Kovalic-drawn version. The basic idea here is: Greg Hyland's Guest Artist Edition is kind of gross. But isn't that what you want in a zombie?



You probably get the point by now: Guest Artist Editions have cool new art.



So now we'll remind you about how fun any version of this game is. (Fun, in this particular instance, is defined as: Stuffed to the gills with dead things and misused household items.)



First, you can read the designer's notes from the original release of Munchkin Zombies . They're written by Steve Jackson.



Second, some facts:



This is the only Munchkin game where players are also zombies.


This is one of the few games in existence period where you can collect and utilize weapons and armor that are actually a Saucepan, Xmas Lights, a Pogo Stick, a Mailbox, Mousetraps, or . . . you get the idea. Zombies aren't terribly picky about whether their battle equipment is ridiculous or not. In fact, it's almost like they're trying to be ridiculous.


The zombology of this game is impeccable. Three major classifications of zombie, as identified by the Nonexistent Institute For Zombie Science, are represented: Atomic Zombie, Plague Zombie, and Voodoo Zombie. A lot of other zombie games lack that level of scientific accuracy and rigor.


All the major, verifiable zombie attributes are included: Strong, Fast, Smart, Rotting, and Stealthy. At last, you can emulate your favorite zombie heroes, to become (for example) a Rotting Stealthy Voodoo Zombie.
To summarize: Munchkin Zombies Guest Artist Edition should be in your friend local game store soon, and is available on Warehouse 23 now.  It combines fresh (not-so-fresh) art with our fan-beloved game of scientifically accurate, ridiculous-on-purpose zombies.



Go buy it. We promise it won't stink.



– Ariel Barkhurst



Warehouse 23 News: Boost Your Munchkin Game This Halloween Season



It's Halloween, and you know what that means: It's time to dress up, kill monsters, and take their sweet, sweet CANDY!!! Grab your Favorite Machete, and show that Sparkly Vampire who's boss with Munchkin Tricky Treats , a 15-card booster pack for Munchkin . Available now from Warehouse 23!

October 23, 2016: WashingCon 2 Was A Success!

Here's a riddle: What's full of games, super fun, and happens in Washington, D.C.?



Okay, we lied. It's not a riddle. It's just a regular question. And the answer is: WashingCon!



The second iteration of this annual convention took place at the end of last month, and it was fun for all. Steve Jackson Games didn't have a booth there, but we sponsored the event. Here's some pictures!



The show saw 1,000 attendees over two days. There were games, demos, five panels, dozens of special events, and 12 tournaments – including a giant, 30-person game of Catan . Now that's impressive. 



The con is slated to happen again next year. So if you missed it, you've got another chance! 



– Ariel Barkhurst



Warehouse 23 News: What's This?! What's This?!?!



Believe your eyes . . . It's a ghoulish new twist on the classic game of Munchkin ! Banish foes like Oogie Boogie, Doctor Finkelstein, and Lock, Shock, & Barrel from Halloween Town once and for all in Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas ! Play it on its own or add it to other Munchkin games for more monster-mashing, treasure-grabbing action. See for yourself by getting your very own copy from Warehouse 23 today.

October 22, 2016: Sign Up For The Holiday Retail Kit!

Want your favorite friendly local game store to get even cooler? Have them sign up for our Holiday Retail Kit!



We like to give away things to improve game stores' standing on the coolness ladder – just like this Holiday Retail Kit! Store owners and managers can sign up to receive a collection of exclusive cards, unique bookmarks, a demo game, and a handful of posters.



If you play your cards right (heh), you could end up with some of these goodies! Especially if you are free on November 19, 2016. We are inviting every store that receives these kits to hold a #PlayMunchkin Event where people can play Munchkin and win these promotional cards, bookmarks . . . and potentially posters, if you're nice enough to the store owner!



– Joshua Surfus



Warehouse 23 News: Come For Them, Before They Come For You



Do battle with deadly living foes like Rick, Michonne, and Negan! Whack them with a deadly Katana or the brutal Lucille! Get your zombie fix with Munchkin Zombies: The Walking Dead , an expansion for Munchkin Zombies . Find it now on Warehouse 23, and shamble toward victory today!

October 21, 2016: Munchkin Comics Is Kicking It, Undead-Style

Issue #22 of Munchkin comics drops next week, and we have an exclusive first look at this fist-fighting, undead-biting compilation!



"Munch Fu: The Legend Continues" features Flower, who craves vengeance . . . and tea. Following a clan of unruly ninjas, Flower must confront Master Bai, and have at least one dramatic monologue along the way. Can she find her ultimate power? Or will she just annoy tea-house owners? Probably both. This Munchkin Fu -inspired legend is written by Sam Sykes and illustrated by Munchkin Guest Artist Edition artist Ian McGinty.



Things get scary in the second tale, "We're Safe Here – This Is A Bowling Alley," wherein a ragtag group of survivors are holed up in a bowling alley, complete with concession-stand nachos. Actually, these humans are pretty annoying . . . I think it's time the zombies had their turn to bowl! Do zombies know lane etiquette? We'll find out . . .



This shambling story is written by Dave Scheidt and illustrated by Greg Hyland, who is featured in the recently released Munchkin Zombies Guest Artist Edition .



Of course, there is a new bookmark code as well, so make sure you get your free promo on Warehouse 23 when it comes out. Look for this gruesome twosome of stories in your friendly local comic shop next Wednesday, October 26.



– Hunter Shelburne



Warehouse 23 News: The Future Awaits



Add to your futuristic GURPS campaign with Pyramid #3/96: Tech and Toys IV . Construct tomorrow's buildings, shoot ultra-tech arrows, don cutting-edge armor, and more. Pick up this issue individually, or subscribe today for this installment and many more months of gaming goodness . . . only from Warehouse 23!

October 20, 2016: Comic Promo And Cards With W23 Orders

What do you call a cool free thing inside a cool free thing? A metacoolfreething? A 4-D cool free thing? A baby kangacoolfreething?



There's too many choices. Let's just call these cards-in-a-comic-in-an-order "a Munchkin comics promo on Warehouse 23."



Right now, and until supplies run out, you can get two short and sweet Munchkin comics from BOOM! Studios with any order of physical items from Warehouse 23. 



But there's a twist. There are also two cards – Hireling: Brown Nose and the Dominant Genie. The nose is in a lot more limited supply than the genie. So if you want to be sure to get your very own free, sentient floating nose, you'd best buy something now.



Genies will still get included in comic orders when noses run out. Now, if you're in public, please read that last sentence out loud with enough volume to be heard across the room. (Just kidding. Don't do that, you'll make Munchkin fans look like crazy people.)



Did we mention that the comics are short tales about the creatures on the cards? The Dominant Genie story involves a clever Flower outwitting a less clever Elf and Gnome after they discover a magic lamp. The Brown Nose comic is a little more informational; it's an introduction to the biology and habits of the proud floating-nose people. Very helpful.



Click here to order some cool stuff, and get free stuff thrown in, today! 



– Ariel Barkhurst



Warehouse 23 News: Munchkin Madness? This Time, REAL Madness!



Face your greatest Munchkin challenge – Cthulhu! Will you survive? Will you retain your sanity? Will you . . . level up? Munchkin Cthulhu lampoons Lovecraft's Mythos and the horror gaming that surrounds it. Join in the fun and lose your sanity now, from Warehouse 23!

October 19, 2016: Announcements For February

February is the month of love, but we don't care about that mushy stuff – so we decided to make it the month of Dredd. Our announcements are light for the month, but this booster packs a punch!

Munchkin Apocalypse: Judge Dredd



I am the law.



The wastelands of Munchkin Apocalypse are a lawless land full of killing and looting – you know, a normal day for a munchkin. But that all changes in Mega-City One. This is the turf of Judge Dredd, where no crime goes unpunished. Wait, looting is a crime? Oh, man, we're in big trouble . . .



This booster pulls from 30 years of Judge Dredd comic lore. It includes iconic Judges to face, as well as items like Judge's Badge to even the odds. Plus, you'll get a brand new Seal card to bring on the end times. This pack mixes perfectly with Len Peralta's recent Munchkin Apocalypse Guest Artist Edition , available at Barnes & Noble!



– Hunter Shelburne



Warehouse 23 News: To Bite Or To Howl? That Is The Question!



In Munchkin Bites! , you and your fellow munchkins are now vampires . . . or werewolves . . . or changelings! Bash through the haunted house and slay the other monsters. You can't dispatch your fellow munchkins, but you can curse them, send foes at them, and take their stuff. Get your copy from Warehouse 23, just in time for Halloween!

October 18, 2016: Munchkin Sketch Edition: The Ultimate Mixable Set

We've been talking about mixing up your  Munchkin  sets here on the Daily Illuminator, and making suggestions about which sets to combine. But if you're a creative type who wants to fully customize your melded menagerie, you want  Munchkin Sketch Edition .



To make this game, we took all the cards from original  Munchkin  and removed the art, leaving you a blank canvas to make a masterpiece. So if you've got sick art skills, use 'em.



And if you don't? That's when things get truly glorious. Because there's nothing quite like enthusiastically drawn Munchkin stick figures. Go buy Sketch and make some now, and you'll see what we mean. We'll wait.



Great. Now that you're initiated into the ways of DIY Sketch Edition , we can make some suggestions.  



If you're a fan of  Munchkin Oz  (or its  Guest Artist Edition ), and you want to add the classic cards,  Sketch Edition  is a perfect way to make them Oz-themed for your game! Make your Boots of Butt-Kicking a set of silver slippers, or throw some wings on the Net Troll to make it a minion of the Wicked Witch!



(Pro-tip: The Net Troll is particularly convenient to draw because it's pretty much an egg shape with a face.)



And why stop with Oz?  Munchkin Grimm Tidings , recently released at Walgreens, is just begging to be mixed with other sets. We've mentioned how well it combines with Munchkin Legends Guest Artist Edition and  Oz , and  Munchkin Sketch Edition  makes a trifecta. The original cards already sport the fairy-tale theme. Maybe the Plutonium Dragon is keeping a princess captive, or perhaps your Duck of Doom yearns to be a swan (which, for sketching purposes, we will call "a duck with a longer neck") . . . The choice is yours!



Munchkin Sketch Edition  is available exclusively through Warehouse 23. Pick up a copy today to create your dream  Munchkin  mash-up!



-- Hunter Shelburne



Warehouse 23 News: More Braaaaiiinnssssss . . .



Celebrate 15 years of  Munchkin  with our newest addition to the lineup – Munchkin Zombies Guest Artist Edition! Greg Hyland, creator of Lethargic Lad , as well as illustrator of Munchkin Fu , Burn in Hell , and Chez Guevara , shows us what Munchkin Zombies looks like from his perspective. It's sure to be gruesome! Get yours from Warehouse 23 now!  

October 17, 2016: The Wizard of Oz and Moop: A Match Made of Munchkin

What's better than one wizard?



Two wizards.



But how, you ask, am I to get two whole wizards? Well, it's very simple. Grab  Munchkin Oz Guest Artist Edition  (from Amazon.com) and Moop's Monster Mashup, and shuffle the decks together to make one set.



Bam. A game of two wizards. Who will do more crazy nonsense – the malevolent magician Moop or the hapless Wizard of Oz?



It's that easy to combine these two recent Steve Jackson Games releases, and it's worth doing because the two mix so well – and not just because of that great wizard-versus-wizard action.



For one thing, both games are full of absolutely cra-a-a-zy monsters. Moop's Monster Mashup is a game about magicking monsters into amalgam monsters, yet somehow it's Munchkin Oz Guest Artist Edition that features the Li-Mon-Eag (a lion/monkey/eagle).



Second, Moop's and Oz both have Classes, but they're different Classes. Moop's are like classic Munchkin , and Oz has its own Class profile. That means you double your classy fun when you combine the games.



Finally, Moop's has Races (again, the ones from classic Munchkin ) . . . but Oz has Allies. So when you combine them, you have Classes, Races, and Allies, all in one game. The Races and Allies might be a little rarer than if you'd played each game on its own, so keep that in mind.



Go forth now and shuffle. Because the world needs a scenario where an insane alchemic wizard overruns the land of Oz with his malformed creations almost as much as it needs honeybees*. 



– Ariel Barkhurst



* Fact-checker's note: Absolutely not. But it sounds amusing.



Warehouse 23 News: Get Your Munchkin Comics Now!



Follow all the best Munchkin adventures in our comic collection from Boom! Studios – 21 different adventures take Spyke and Flower all over the place and back. Buy each comic individually, or choose from our trade paperback volumes. Either way, you'll have fun reading about all the shenanigans. Get yours today, only from Warehouse 23!

October 16, 2016: We Appreciate You, Yes We Do! We Appreciate You, How 'Bout . . . You?

We recently ran an event to show our appreciation for those honorable men and women who are in the thick of it every day, battling day in, day out, roughing it out in the trenches . . . I'm talking about friendly local game store owners, of course!



We had gaming, food, laughter, gaming, announcements, mingling, gaming, and food. Listening to store owners and managers talking with each other, passing industry secrets in confidence, bragging about their event numbers, and playing games like normal people was more exciting than you could imagine!



Over the last month or so, I've run around the office making sure everything was perfect for the big day. My co-workers, Maryland and Jane, and I shared tears, laughter, stress, and restless hours of work. But who's counting?! We did it! We even had high-quality demo copies of games that aren't set to be released for months, thanks to our Production team forfeiting sleep.



Car Wars Sixth Edition and Munchkin Collectible Card Game both saw so much use that day that we're more excited than ever to share them with the public! (Keep your eyes peeled for more on these over the next couple of months.) Not to mention all the play time that Simon's Cat Card Game saw! If your local store is out, remind them a reprint is coming before Christmas.



Here on the third coast, we only expected local Texas stores to come to our event, so we were excited to see folks from the other two coasts, too – Rainy Day Games from outside Portland, Oregon, and Elite Battlegrounds from Green Brook, New Jersey.



Last but not least, we started talks for some secret projects at this event (because we just love being sneaky!). I understand that there was the [redacted], which will be great fun, and one of our friends from California came over to talk about [redacted] as well!



And for those store owners, managers, employees, volunteers, and guy-who-never-leaves-the-store-seriously-how-does-he-pay-rent who couldn't make it, THANK YOU! You guys make what we do worth it!



– Joshua Surfus



Warehouse 23 News: Keep Track Of The Monsters With Our Newest Kill-O-Meter. . .



You don't have time to stop and count when you've got monsters to kill . . . With the Munchkin Kill-O-Meter Guest Artist Edition , when a card hits the table, you turn the dials to keep track of your total. Sporting all-new art from Ian McGinty, you can track effective Munchkin levels in style! Get your very own from Warehouse 23, and become more efficient at killing monsters now.

October 15, 2016: Top Ten In Warehouse 23 For September

Another month, another top-ten list for Warehouse 23! You may notice that we have a bit more GURPS  this month. That may be due to our Dungeon Fantasy RPG Kickstarter (it funded, woo!), which allowed Warehouse 23 sales of GURPS product go toward the funding goal. It's great to see fans supporting the project!



The fact that it almost completely beat out Munchkin , even for a month, is a crazy sight! I say "almost" because the top seller (it seems perpetually) was Munchkin promotional cards. So to give some other games a bit of spotlight, I've moved those off the list. We'll consider them our lifetime Honorary Mention.



Anyway, on to the list!



GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic


Pyramid #3/95: Overland Adventures


GURPS Adaptations


Simon's Cat Card Game


Discworld Roleplaying Game


GURPS Sorcery: Protection and Warning Spells


I Hate Zombies!


GURPS Character Assistant


Bill & Ted's Excellent Boardgame


Pyramid #3/94: Spaceships III
Thanks to everyone who visits Warehouse 23! And we'd like to remind you not to miss our current promotion. Until the end of the month, when you buy $125 of physical stuff, you get a FREE Halloween Munchkin Monster Box with your order! That's a super deal for a spooky month, so take advantage before it disappears. Like a ghost. BOO. 



– Hunter Shelburne



Warehouse 23 News: Any Superstitious Munchkin Lover Will Adore This Deal!



It's scary how well this monster-sized box can hold all your Munchkin loot, and yet the art by Len Peralta is somehow even scarier! The Munchkin Halloween Monster Box comes with 12 holiday-themed cards that shuffle into any Munchkin game, plus space for over 2,000 cards and other swag. Spend $125 on Warehouse 23 physical items, and we'll throw in a Munchkin Halloween Monster Box  for free! Get yours now!