Steve Jackson's Blog, page 373

September 10, 2015: MIB Report: Beware The Mini Munchkins!

The Joys of Teaching Little Munchkins



As a proud MIB, I find it my personal goal to corru-I mean teach little ones how to be complete and utter munchkins, especially when it comes to decimating their parents. My store, The Spot , had a rather large crowd for game night. This included a family with two adolescent children ages 9 and 11.



I sat the family down and taught them how to play Munchkin , utilizing one of my regular players to assist with the education process. The children picked up the game very quickly and wasted no time in utterly demolishing all adults at the table as well as each other. Both rose to level 8 before they had to leave the store, leaving all four adults in the dust at level 2 and 3.



– Coleen Webber, MIB



Warehouse 23 News: Join The Martian Fleet and Destroy Humans!



The Martians are back and looking to conquer Earth in ten minutes or less! Grab your flying saucer and take aim at the puny Earthlings. Mars Attacks: Ten-Minute Takedown is the latest dexterity game from Steve Jackson Games in collaboration with Topps. Get yours from Warehouse 23 today!

September 11, 2015: Coming Soon: Zombie Dice In Shiny New Packaging!

Zombie fans, rejoice! Remember when we talked about the cool new redesign of Zombie Dice ? It's shipping to distributors, starting next week, and still at a suggested price of $13.13!



Are you ready to blast some zombies? I played Zombie Dice last week with Steve Jackson Games Community Manager Rhea Friesen and Marketing Director Brian Engard. It's fast-moving and your fortunes can turn with . . . well, with a roll of the dice! Brian collected the most brains, leaving Rhea and me eating dust. At least, I hope that was dust.



If you've never played it, I highly recommend it!



– Anna Meade



Warehouse 23 News: Be-Trade Amid The Stars?!



Get three adventures and a 20-minute demo for Ashen Stars , with Ashen Stars: The Justice Trade . Become involved in a political feud, learn the secret of a doomed survey crew, and investigate a ill-fated luxury liner. This great cargo is available for download from Warehouse 23!

September 9, 2015: Preorder Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas!

Do you want Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas ? Of course you do. But it's not coming out until November! What to do? Fear not, fellow munchkins; we have a solution! Here's what you can do today to make sure you get a copy of the game.



Step 1: print this PDF out.



Step 2: write your contact information on the back. This is whatever contact information you think your local game store might need to tell you the game is in. Phone number, email address, mailing address . . . write whatever works for your local store.



Step 3: take the printed sheet to your local game store and tell them you want to preorder a copy of Munchkin The Nightmare Before Christmas . The sheet you're handing them has all the information a store needs to order the game for you, and the contact information you provided on the back gives them everything they need to contact you once it's in. They're getting a guaranteed sale, and you're getting an awesome game. It's a win/win!



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: Where Dungeon Adventures Meet Pay-Per-View!



Take your Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG heroes in a whole new direction, with a world of superstar dungeon-delvers, corporate sponsorships, and martial mayhem, thanks to Xcrawl: Dungeonbattle Brooklyn . Download this adventure today from Warehouse 23 and get ready for a Full Lethal Division IV event!

September 8, 2015: Munchkin Guest Artist Edition Preview - Ian McGinty

Throughout 2016, we will be celebrating Munchkin 's 15th anniversary. One of our favorite parts of this celebration is our Guest Artist Edition series of Deluxe-style Munchkin games, where we get to work with some of our favorite artists and see their interpretation of some classic Munchkin sets.







Our first guest artist is Ian McGinty, the fantastic artist of BOOM! Studios comic, 


On the left is John Kovalic's original art for the Pit Bull. On the right is the direction Ian took it. It's a real PIT BULL! It slays me! (OK, only that one time I failed to Run Away, but still.)



Ian McGinty's Munchkin Guest Artist Edition has 168 re-illustrated cards; you just saw one of them. There are lots of surprises still hidden in the box.



– Carl deSoto



Warehouse 23 News: Star Fleet Thinks You're Ready For Trickier Missions



The Star Fleet Battles Basic Set gets energized with more rules, ships, terrain, and a whole bunch of scenarios, thanks to the Star Fleet Battles Advanced Missions Rulebook . Download it today from Warehouse 23!

September 7, 2015: Don't Forget: Snag Those Expansions Now!

Remember when we told you the MSRP for the tuckbox expansion is increasing?



The new reprints, the ones shipping to stores now, carry the higher prices. Some stores still have copies at $10.95, so if you're fast and lucky you have time to save yourself a buck. You can buy dice! Well, one die.



– Anna Meade



Warehouse 23 News: A Whole New World Of Printable Minis



If you like the idea of downloadable, printable miniatures like those from Arion Games but prefer a slightly different art style, look no further! Artist John Kapsalis brings the idea to life, with Villagers and Monsters . Explore the possibilities at your gaming table, with Warehouse 23!

September 6, 2015: MIB Report: San Diego Comic Con

I am almost ashamed to say that after 6 years of living in San Diego, this was the first time I've been to San Diego Comic Con. After braving the crowds, I arrived at a wonderful bay side game room, an amazing collection of games and a great group of MIB's from all over Southern California. We were even given an advanced copy of Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe to preview before its October release. This game drew a great deal of attention all weekend, with a full table running almost all day, every day of the convention. We even used it the final round of the tournaments we held each night.



Prizes included Castellan , Munchkin Pathfinder , Trophy Buck , Boxes of Holding , Munchkin Jumbo d6 , accessories and a plethora of promos and bookmarks over four fantastic days. The highlight of the weekend was having Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe artist Phil Foglio stop by to play a round with his son. This was such an amazing weekend. I don't know if this first year can be outdone, but I can't wait to see.



– Travis Otteson, MIB



Warehouse 23 News: More Maelstrom Mayhem



Are you a fan of the cult-classic Maelstrom RPG from 1984, but wished for more supplements? Yearn no more! Follow-up material includes The Maelstrom Companion , three new adventures, two issues of the Maelstrom Quarterly , and more! Your library is just a download away, with Warehouse 23.

September 5, 2015: Anne-Marie De Witt Of Fireside Games Talks Munchkin Panic

When we licensed Munchkin to develop a hybrid version of it with Castle Panic , Justin was occupied with designing The Dark Titan , the second expansion to Castle Panic. That's when it occurred to us that it might be better to have a third mind creating the combination. I jumped at the opportunity. At that point, I had designed Bears! and co-designed Bloodsuckers . Mashing up Munchkin and Castle Panic as my next challenge sounded both interesting and simpler since existing, tested mechanics had been established.



The easiest solution would have been a repaint, just slapping John Kovalic's art on Justin's game design. But that's not what we wanted for our Panic line variations. We wanted to build on some basic mechanics but provide players with a new experience, a new way to feel about their play. With Dead Panic, we changed up the objective and introduced characters. Instead of defending towers from relentless monsters (as in Castle Panic), players search a hunting cabin for items and weapons they can use to hold off zombies while survivors come with radio pieces that are used to call for rescue. As the players engage in hand-to-hand combat with the zombies, their characters can take damage. If they are wounded a third time, they die and reanimate in the game as zombies. Then they fight against their former teammates, who are struggling to get to the rescue van. The feel is very cinematic.







I knew the feel in Munchkin Panic would be equally important and that it would need to draw its inspiration from Munchkin . Legacy Munchkin fans would need to experience a new way to stab their buddies that still felt familiar in some way, and Castle Panic fans would need to experience new mechanics and be able to dial the treachery up or down. During playtesting, I noticed that a significant number of Castle Panic players winced at the idea of backstabbing but loved getting treasure for killing monsters and using the new card combos. So I focused the base game on the treasure cards and added four new Curse cards, both of which were inspired mechanically by Munchkin , and introduced negotiating. Because Munchkin is organized around attaining levels and Castle Panic is built to protect towers, the card specifics had to be adapted. My favorite change is to how the Chicken on Your Head Curse works. (I won't give the joke away here.)







These modifications were a way to introduce the Munchkin player to the Panic world and to ease the Castle Panic player into backstabbing. The full experience comes with the More Munchkin Mini-Expansion , which is included in the base game. With that, the players have character abilities and nemeses (adapted from Munchkin ), cards to enhance monsters, and a new rule: no more defending the castle. That means the towers have become a second timer on the clock, which players can help manipulate. All that matters in the end is who has the most points in monster kills, regardless of whether a tower is left standing. In true Munchkin form.



The whole experience was not as simple as I thought it would be, but a whole lot interestinger (as Steve Jackson would say).



– Anne-Marie De Witt, CEO Fireside Games



Warehouse 23 News: Your Maelstrom Games Just Got More Fantastic



The cult-classic Maelstrom RPG shows its versatility with Maelstrom Classic Fantasy Deluxe . This bundle includes Maelstrom Classic Fantasy Toolkit – adding Warriors, Thieves, Wizards, and Clerics – plus  Maelstrom Classic Fantasy Bestiary , an adventure, battlemat tiles, and paper miniatures. All that's missing is you . . . and we can fix that with a quick download from Warehouse 23!

September 4, 2015: MIB Report: Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe

I carried out a Sooper Sekrit Mission for the MIB: to demo Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe as much as possible.



Here are my findings:



1. Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe is really popular! I've had a lot of requests for demos from new players who were interested by the genre, or experienced munchkins who wanted to check out the new game in town. Everyone has enjoyed it.



2. It is easy to learn: With no powers or races, Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe presents fewer complexities for new players. New players can catch on after a few rounds and almost inevitably finish either on top or with the rest of the pack.







3. Paramagnetic Fixative Vapour is deadly! Sure, you can use it to lock in your own victory, by preventing interference from your "friends." But you can also use it when the MIB teaching you is facing the Land Leviathan to stop him from buffing up to defeat it.



4. Corollary to #3: The Needs Lubrication card can be hilarious when the MIB needs to escape from the Land Leviathan.



5. General Principle: Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe can be deadly. I've seen a fairly large number of munchkin deaths and been the unwilling participant in one. One game had two deaths, and was won by the second fatality immediately after respawning.



6. Some versions of Munchkin have enough obscure puns that an insider really enjoys it on a much different level than a novice. If you've never played Dungeons and Dragons , you won't get the point of the Misplacer Beast, for example. You will still enjoy the game, but you likely won't get why the other players are groaning, giggling or whatever.



Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe has its share of genre-specific puns too, though a general knowledge of history will be almost as helpful as direct experience with steampunk games or culture. But much of the humor depends on pseudo-Victorian language, using complicated technical terms for things that today (or then) have simple names. Unnecessarily erudite and inessential nomenclature is perpetually humorous. This helps make Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe more accessible even to new players who have to ask, "What is 'steampunk'?"



Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe is nanty narking for novice munchkin and experienced backstabbers alike!



– W. Glen Kirkconnell, MIB 1617



Warehouse 23 News: A Maelstrom From The Past Is Back!



Maelstrom , the cult-classic RPG from 1984, is back! Adventure in a magical 16th-century England, using Maelstrom 's character-creation rules, guides for equipment and herbs, solo adventure, short scenario, and more. And if you're curious what the fuss is about, there's also a free quickstart and adventure – thanks to Warehouse 23!

September 3, 2015: Pre-Morteming

On Monday and Tuesday we did something that we talk about a lot, but all too rarely pull off: a couple of "pre-mortems."

When we POST-mortem a game, we take a fresh-from-the printer copy, open it up, and go through it piece by piece, talking about how it could have been better. The post-mortem copy gets marked up and goes into the file, and if (when!!?) there's a second printing, we drag it out and ask ourselves how many of these changes we should really make.



We don't post-mortem as often as we ought to, and not nearly as often as we did 15 or 20 years ago, but it's a thing.



A PRE-mortem is different, and just what it sounds like. Instead of post, it's PRE. When the game is about to go to press, we sit down and look at it piece by piece in the most critical way we can imagine. That can be both difficult and painful for the people who have been working on it all along, but it's worthwhile. Monday we did a pre-mortem of Ian McGinty's Guest Artist edition of Munchkin .



What did we find that was wrong? Not a lot. What did we find that could be improved? Lots of little things! Some card text was reformatted to allow more art space. Some coloring was changed to better show off Ian's original line work. We spotted a rule that could be clarified – yes, rule tweaks still happen, and this one, relating to standies, will carry over into all future printings of Deluxe sets. And we decided that the artist's signature, which was already being used as the icon on this set, would become a standard graphic element on all the Guest Artist covers.



Tuesday we pre-mortemed Len's Star Munchkin – you read the interview with Len on Tuesday. There were fewer changes to make, because the Production team had spent the morning going "If they changed xyz on Munchkin , they're going to change it on Star Munchkin too." (Good for them! – sometimes we forget to tell them when fixes should propagate through multiple sets, but they're getting better at reading our minds.) But we did go in and change the setting on the cover from "Lots Of Stupid Jokes" to "Great Huge Increased Lots Of Stupid Jokes." That poor planet . . .



The pre-mortem is a lot of work, and it makes scheduling more complicated. But it brings you a better game, especially when it's the first of a series of REDACTED. Maybe only slightly better. But if we can catch something horrendous, or even aggravating, before it happens: Big Win. And if we can spot problems that carry over to future games and fix them before the last minute, Even Bigger Win. So I hope we can manage to keep this up.



– Steve Jackson



Warehouse 23 News: Exterminators Needed!



A master Wererat has taken hold of the city and is making more minions every day. Can you conquor your fear and save the town? Dungeoneer: Den of the Wererats comes with 55 cards, including maps, curses, and new characters for the Dungeoneer series. Get a copy from Warehouse 23 today.

September 2, 2015: Let Warehouse 23 A-Sale You With Ken Hite And Robin Laws!

You may know Kenneth Hite from such masterpieces as GURPS Horror or the two Suppressed Transmission volumes. You might know Robin Laws from his best-selling Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering . You could know both from their Gold-ENnie-award-winning podcast Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff – and in recent years, they've made a collection of coolness at Pelgrane Press, having created more than 70 neat games and supplements between them.



Now Warehouse 23 is proud to team up with Pelgrane Press to present a 25% off sale on everything they've written for Pelgrane. Act as interplanetary law enforcement and troubleshooters amid the Ashen Stars , investigate eldritch horrors while on the Trail of Cthulhu , weave epic high-stakes sagas among the Hillfolk , wage a shadowy war against Night's Black Agents , and much, much more.



Check out the full list of everything that's on sale and grab stuff from Ken and Robin that you'll be talking about for years to come. But hurry; the sale is only from now until September 9. Let's face it, bookhounds: There's never been a better time to expand your Pelgrane Press library than now!



– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: Printable Minis For Maximum Fun!



The latest sets of downloadable, printable miniatures from Arion Games are here! Fantasy gamers can enjoy hanging out with mercenaries, sorcerers, Dark Elves, and monsters; Western lovers can ride into town with cowboys; and science-fiction folks can encounter alien warriors. Get any or all of these today, from Warehouse 23!