Steve Jackson's Blog, page 391

March 15, 2015: Band Together, With GURPS!

GURPS Fourth Edition has provided a plethora of options for codifying various elements with stats: cities, armies, spaceships, and more. Now, we're bringing at-a-glance stats to organizations and groups, with GURPS Boardroom and Curia . This supplement will help you describe organizations, stat out their abilities (and limitations), provide their response times and resources, and other essential intel.



Written by Matt Riggsby (author of GURPS Fantasy-Tech 1: The Edge of Reality ), Boardroom and Curia also includes rules for how to use these stats when the heroes work for or against an organization . . . or even decide to found one!



It further offers seven sample groups, including the Medici bank, Biotech Euphrates from Transhuman Space , a superhero alliance, and more. With GURPS Boardroom and Curia , you'll get organized like never before!



– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: Get Screened!



Get ready for your Pathfinder Roleplaying Game sessions like never before, with the GM's Screen Insert from Raging Swan Press. Download it in landscape or portrait modes, print it out, and have fun – thanks to Warehouse 23!

March 14, 2015: Another Printing Of GURPS Is Coming

Having trouble finding GURPS Characters or GURPS Campaigns ? Good news! They're getting reprints in August, so they should be widely available again soon.





GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns



With GURPS , you can be anyone you want – an elf hero fighting for the forces of good, a shadowy femme fatale on a deep-cover mission, a futuristic swashbuckler carving up foes with a force sword in his hand and a beautiful woman by his side . . . or literally anything else! GURPS has been the premiere universal roleplaying game for almost two decades. The new Fourth Edition makes it even better!



GURPS Basic Set: Campaigns combines information from the Third Edition GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Compendium II – plus our new core setting, with infinite possibilities for timeline-hopping adventure! (You don't have to play in the core setting – there isn't some game-altering metaplot – but it's there if you want it.) This 240-page, full-color hardcover contains everything a GM needs to create and run a GURPS Fourth Edition campaign.



 





GURPS Basic Set: Characters



GURPS has been the premiere universal roleplaying game for almost two decades. The current Fourth Edition makes it even better!



 



With GURPS , you can be anyone you want – an elf hero fighting for the forces of good, a shadowy femme fatale on a deep-cover mission, a futuristic swashbuckler carving up foes with a force sword in his hand and a beautiful woman by his side . . . or literally anything else!



GURPS Basic Set: Characters combines material from the Third Edition GURPS Basic Set and GURPS Compendium I , plus hundreds of new and updated rules! This 336-page, full-color hardcover contains everything you need to create and play a GURPS Fourth Edition character.



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: Add Some Enchantment To Your Game!



Inspired by tales of Snow White and Cinderella, Once Upon A Time: Enchanting Tales lets you tell a rag to riches story of your very own. The 38 story cards and 17 ending cards in this set can be shuffled into your Once Upon A Time game to add new themes and endings. For even more enchantment, remove some of the core story and ending cards. Available from Warehouse 23.

March 13, 2015: Sir Terry Pratchett

Literature - NOT just "fantasy," but modern literature - has lost one of its greats. Sir Terry Pratchett is dead, of early-onset Alzheimer's, aged only 66.



See, this is why we need better medicine. Need better medicine NOW. Need better medicine YEARS ago. Not the stupid, piggish American insurance-profit-driving system, and not the earnest British "Get in line, it's cheap and you get what you pay for" system, and not the "Sorry, nothing can be done, lie down and die now" system that so much of the world suffers under, but actual medicine. Death is NOT a divine plan, or a natural plan, or any other plan. It's a bug in the system. Most deaths are tragedies, and when a great talent dies, it's a great tragedy. Yes, I digress. I'm a tiny bit angry right now.



I had the privilege of sponsoring some work in the Discworld, though the actual writing was by Phil Masters and by Sir Terry himself. I might have something else on the burner, but you don't know about it, and I'm not telling, and I'm typing more than I should right now because I really AM upset that Sir Terry won't see it and - perhaps - laugh and tell me how to make it funnier. And don't bother asking me tomorrow what I meant by this.



I have enjoyed the Discworld books since The Colour of Magic. But I didn't love them until much later. Let me say this: if you by some awful accident have never read any of the series, don't judge them by the first book. Read it, appreciate it, but be aware that the stories get much, much better. Sir Terry was still finding his way. The Colour of Magic is wonderful fun, but it has very little to do with the stories in their full flowering. Colour is a farce, a simple send-up of the fantasy genre. Once Sir Terry hit his stride, the Discworld became much, much more. It was stories about real people who didn't happen to actually exist. If you know why you like a Discworld character, you know something about what makes people the amazing things they are. Vimes, Vetinari, Granny Weatherwax - they all embody something important about humanity. Moist Lipwig, Nanny Ogg, Tiffany, even Death himself - same thing.



My personal interactions with Sir Terry were brief and pleasant. Here's an essay by someone who knew him much better. Sir Terry wasn't ready to go. He was gracious about it, but he was also really hacked off, and that's as it should be. Still, he left with a grin, and he Tweeted on the way out the door. Amazing man.



If you want to read more about Sir Terry, Google is your friend. If you want to read some really amazing stories, well, he wrote them, and there's one more, just one, on the way. That makes me angry, because we ought to do better by our geniuses, but I'm glad for what we got.



– Steve Jackson



Warehouse 23 News: Deluxify Your Munchkin Game!



Grab the Munchkin Level Playing Field and do just that. It comes with a double-sided board, player tokens, and bonuses! Play to Level 10 like usual or flip it over and go for Level 20 with Epic Munchkin . Grab a copy from Warehouse 23 today.

March 12, 2015: A Short History Of Games In Brazil

Gamerati sent us this article, and it was a good read, so I thought I'd give it a signal boost. If you've ever been curious about how boardgames and roleplaying games have developed in other countries, this article will give you a lot of insight into that, as far as Brazil is concerned, at least. Despite its title, the article is quite long, but it's worth the read.



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: Bones: Collect Them All?!



A well-loved adventure has returned with a new downloadable expanded and enhanced Collector's Edition. Behold, the Dwellers Amid Bones Collector's Edition ! Deadly forest drakes terrorize the region, and the heroes have a bone to pick with them. Your chance to become heroes or more lining for their nests is a download away, at Warehouse 23!

March 11, 2015: Farewell, Leonard Nimoy

Those of you who are Star Trek fans do not need to be told: Leonard Nimoy passed away on February 27 2015. I never met him, although I did see him once across a huge hall, while he was heading for a sold-out seminar. Interestingly enough, his first screen appearances were in 1951, the year I was born. Those who want to find a listing of his appearances and a short biography should consult the


I was asked to write this short essay because I am one of the few workers at SJ Games who watched the original Star Trek when it was first broadcast on television, and Leonard Nimoy is thus more "alive" to me than he is to someone who knows his original performances only from recordings. Mr. Nimoy will always be Spock to me, and there can be no other. He created the role, and set down what it is to be a Vulcan, and he will be known primarily for that, even though he accomplished a great deal else with his life. In addition to his role as Spock (for which he received three Emmy nominations), he appeared in dozens of other film and television parts (including that of Paris on Mission Impossible), on stage (in Fiddler on the Roof, Oliver, Camelot, and Equus) hosted In Search of . . . and Ancient Mysteries, and guest starred on two episodes of the Simpsons. He authored several books of poetry, and was a photographer (specializing in black-and-white), and gave several exhibitions of his work.



In researching this article, I learned several things about him that I hadn't known previously:



His birth name was Leonard Simon Nimoy.


He had a pet store in Canoga Park, California during the 1960s.


His father had a barber shop in Boston, where one of the more popular haircuts given was the "Spock cut."


He received a Masters in Education from Antioch University, and graduated from Boston University in 1953. He was later given honorary doctorates from both institutions.


He served in the US Army receiving an honorable discharge in 1955.
It would have been nice if he had managed to live another couple of decades, but he managed to live a full and happy life, and could be said to have lived up to his most famous line as Spock: "Live long and prosper."



– Loren Wiseman



Warehouse 23 News: Vacation In Lovely Roanoke!



Actually, a Roanoke vacation may not be a great idea . . . unless you're a heroic colonial investigator trying to uncover the horrifying secrets there. Then you may have the adventure of a lifetime, thanks to Colonial Gothic: Roanoke Island . Unspeakable evil is just a download away, awaiting at Warehouse 23!

March 9, 2015: SJ Games And Free RPG Day

Do you like roleplaying games? Do you like free things? Then you should go to Free RPG Day in June at your local store! We plan on participating this year, to the tune of a brand-new Munchkin bookmark! And, in the meantime, if you're hankering for a free RPG right now, here, have GURPS Lite !



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: More Ships To See The Stars



Fans of Star Fleet Battles can get 100 Alpha Octant SSDs to add to their shipyards, with Star Fleet Battles: Module R11 - Support Ships SSD Book . It's available in classic black and white or upgraded color. Getting shipshape is a download away with Warehouse 23!

March 10, 2015: Munchkin News

Did you know there's a news page dedicated solely to Munchkin ? We post a new item every Monday morning (not right at midnight like the Illuminator, so don't get antsy!) and it's a great way to find out what's going on in the World of Munchkin . Check it out!



– Andrew Hackard



Warehouse 23 News: There's Color Off The Starboard Bow



Calling all Star Fleet Battles fans! Engineers have taken the SSDs and ship cards from Captain's Log #36 and enhanced them with color, making them even easier to use. Set phasers to "buy" and download Captain's Log #36 Color SSDs from Warehouse 23!

March 5, 2015: Illuminated Site of the Week: Two Flus Over Cornell's Test

All right, everyone's on board with the need for zombie defense - that's a good start. Usually some doctor played by Brad Dourif has to do something horribly wrong before the government heeds the crazed warnings of a fringe action-scientist played by Casper Van Dien. We've told you about how some scholars figured various authorities and governments would react to an outbreak of the undead (back on April 10, 2011), and Canada (being Canada) has worked out how the infection would spread (from August 29, 2009), but now . . .
 
Now Cornell University suggests there are two ways the zombie threat could go, and they've married their research with influenza insights only to find the two diseases map to each other with uncanny accuracy. Which means science may get a leg up from zombie flicks.
 
What a time to be alive . . . and stay alive.
 
– Suggested by Christopher Thrash



Warehouse 23 News: Need A Ride?



Grab Munchkin 4: The Need for Steed and mount up. This expansion for Munchkin comes with 112 cards for killing monsters, taking treasure, and back-stabbing your buddies. It also comes with lots of Hirelings! Available from Warehouse 23 .

March 6, 2015: Retailer Party At GAMA

Are you a retailer? Are you going to GAMA in March? Then you should come hang out with Brian, Randy, Phil, and Andrew at the penthouse at Bally's Las Vegas (they haven't assigned us a room number yet, but if you go to our presentations at the show, Phil will give you that information)! We're going to eat good food, play good games (some of them brand new ones!), and enjoy good company, starting at about 9:00 p.m. We'll also have some new promos to give away at the party! 



This is an opportunity for us to find out from you, the retailers, what the best way is for us to help you sell our games. Come with suggestions; that's what we want!



Also, if you'll be at the show, our CEO, Phil Reed, will be giving presentations at 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday the 17th. 



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: The Order Of Hermes Considers Themselves To Be The Undisputed Masters Of Magic In Mythic Europe.



There are those who would beg to differ. Ars Magica: Hedge Magic Revised Edition looks into the lives of those who ply their magical trade in villages. Will you be an elementalist that controls the building blocks of creation or will you patiently wait in the north as a viktir rune wizard? Available in print or PDF from Warehouse 23.

March 7, 2015: Drama And Dracoliches

I once spent several minutes exchanging pleasantries with a dracolich, causing my family to convulse with laughter. We were playing Castle Ravenloft , a rather fun cooperative boardgame distillation of the Dungeons & Dragons Fourth Edition ruleset that sends the heroes on missions where they have to work together to accomplish their goal. In this case, the goal was "kill the dracolich"; we'd gotten halfway to that goal by finding the dracolich, and then it boiled down to combat primarily between me (the best fighter of the party) and the undead beast.



Unfortunately, neither the dracolich nor my fighter could roll above a 6 on a 20-sided die (and we each needed at least a 10), so we both just kept missing each other. After about four rounds of this, I started making up both sides of the conversation about what the hellbeast and I were really doing instead of hitting each other.



"Sooo . . . How's it going? You like it here?"
"Oh, it's not bad. Get to kill a lot of heroes; that's fun."
"I bet it is! Yep. [rolls a 5] Say, nice weather we've been having."
"[rolls a 3] Is it? I can't tell; I'm trapped here in a castle serving my evil master."
"Oh sure, that makes sense. [rolls a 6] Say, do you like cinnamon rolls?"
"Not a big fan. I don't have a stomach, so anything I eat just rolls out the ribcage. [rolls a 1] Whoops; almost tripped and fell on you!"
"No worries! Anyway, where were we? Ummm . . . Who's your favorite Beatle?"



(etc.)



My son and wife – while trying to maneuver their heroes to my area to help – were cracking up at this improvised drama.



But that's why my favorite games have a strong narrative pull to them, encouraging players to make up their own stories, like the time a Zombie Dice green die rolled five footprints in a row, and I concluded he was some kind of marathon runner who didn't even notice he was being chased by a zombie. Some of the games I find most fun make it really easy to imagine the story that's taking place, such as the entirety of the Munchkin line. (And, of course, I help keep things running smoothly on the GURPS line, which strongly supports storytelling as its raison d'être.)



So for everyone who makes up the stories that take place behind the games, I salute you all. And a special thanks to all those at my gaming table who find my improvisational antics amusing – or at least don't get so annoyed that they feed me to the dracolich (who, I've learned, is actually a Ringo fan . . .)



– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: Go Dungeon Delving, With Pyramid!



More GURPS Dungeon Fantasy adventure awaits with Pyramid #3/76: Dungeon Fantasy IV . Become a psychic slayer, explore living dungeon rooms, get new magical items for martial items, and much more. Download this treasure separately or as the first issue of a subscription; adventure awaits at Warehouse 23!