Steve Jackson's Blog, page 410

August 27, 2014: GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . . Phil Masters

Giving GURPS a new edition implied many different requirements. Sean and David handled the fundamental duty of writing the core rulebooks, but a whole bunch of us were involved in other tasks. To begin with, it seemed like a good idea to bring some preexisting GURPS settings up to date, which is how I ended up co-writing GURPS Banestorm . But the updated line would have seemed terribly backward-looking without some new setting material, so I'm also proud to claim credit for the likes of GURPS Infinite Worlds: Britannica-6 and GURPS Thaumatology: Age of Gold . And while the new core books are comprehensive, there was scope for some new rules material and for bringing old-edition options into the 21st century, which for me meant hammering together GURPS Thaumatology , as well as contributing some embellishments to Sean's magisterial work on GURPS Powers .



Sometimes these categories of contribution overlapped, not least in the Transhuman Space line, for which I became the editor. Mostly, that's about setting update and expansion, but there were a whole load of templates in need of updating, which occasionally took me into the borderlands of rules expansion. I'm still amused that a disadvantage of my creation – No Legs (Portable) – ended up being needed in two completely different places.



But the next big product with my name on it is something else again. Sixteen years ago, I had the honor of working on the Discworld Roleplaying Game . I think that worked out okay, but in the time since, I've learned more about creating licensed setting books, the Discworld has evolved, and we've gone to Fourth Edition. So there's a new edition of that game coming up soon, which might help bring GURPS Fourth Edition to more readers.



So, much as I enjoy looking back, here's to looking forward.



Warehouse 23 News: The Ultimate Dungeon Dressings



What do you get when you combine 34 installments of a popular series into one dungeon-aiding supplement – and then add material never before seen? Something amazing. In particular, GM's Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing ! This meaty supplement lets you create details for pits and pools, for traps and tapestries, for wells and walls. Just roll some dice and your dungeon comes alive. Download it today, from Warehouse 23!

August 25, 2014: Designing The Munchkin Messenger Bag

Having never designed a bag before, I thought you might like to see some of the iterative process I went through to take the Munchkin Messenger Bag from "cool idea" (see "Where Did The Munchkin Messenger Bag Come From?" for that story) to "actual product." My first sketches helped determine the size of the bag and how much Munchkin goodness we could stuff inside it:

Once I settled on the components that the bag needed to hold, I made a new sketch and mockup image to send to our manufacturer:

I also came up with two designs for the zipper pulls, and we decided on the rubberized version for the final bag:

After seeing the first tooling sample of the bag, I added a few more design tweaks, including the screen-printed logo, collapsible dividers (in case you wanted to use the bag for other purposes), and the hidden zipper pouch in the top flap. I sent the manufacturer one more Photoshop mockup:

I'm incredibly proud of the final product, and I know Munchkin fans will enjoy it! Plus, it includes four new Munchkin cards and a unique jumbo D6!

– Samuel Mitschke



Warehouse 23 News: Tell Me The Secrets ...



The secret masters have instructed us to share our closely guaraded secrets about being an awesome GURPS GM. All compiled in one far too easy to download PDF entitled How to Be a GURPS GM. Usually $10.99 – now only $8.46. ...because we love random irregular numbers. Download one quickly – our GURPS sale only lasts until noon on Wednesday August 27.

August 26, 2014: Website Downtime

Our various sites have been hit by a lot of traffic of late, so we're upgrading our servers to accommodate the load it's under. The bad news is that our websites will be down for a few hours on Wednesday the 27th. The good news is that, when they are back up, they should be quicker and more stable!



Specifically, Warehouse 23, SJGames.com, and the forums, will be down from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Wednesday the 27th.



Thanks for your patience!



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: Looking For Fun? Improvise!



The best GMs have long relied on a secret skill called "make stuff up." The wisdom of this ancient tradition is compiled in Unframed: The Art of Improvisation for Game Masters , featuring essays by Kenneth Hite, Robin D. Laws, and 21 other luminaries. Whatever game you're playing, you'll fly higher if you wing it! Download it today from Warehouse 23.

August 24, 2014: Madness, GURPS, And A Hidden War Throughout History

What you think you've known about history is a lie. There's a war going on over control of reality itself. And the horrors of confronting the truth are almost as bad as the consequences of remaining ignorant. It's time to join Project SANDMAN and fight for your beliefs. Welcome to the world of GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier !



From the realm-crossing mind of Kenneth Hite comes a campaign setting that mixes thrills, intrigue, and a clash of realities to prove that "high power" and "horror" can merge for insanity-inspiring possibilities. It includes the real history of the world (and other truths that have remained hidden); templates, roles, tools, and gear for the heroic protectors of reality; detailed information and GURPS game-stats for the terrifying forces that threaten humanity; and more. Tap arcane forces, alter minds, and shift perceptions – either to reinforce our reality, or help it slip away to an alternate history where humanity is enslaved.



Download GURPS Horror: The Madness Dossier today, and join the fight to keep the horror at bay for another day. The madness awaits . . . and it's only at Warehouse 23!



– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: A GURPS Sale?! But That's Never Happened Before...



Must hoard all the GURPS! It's the 10th anniversary of Fourth Edition, so we're celebrating with 23% off all GURPS products published by SJ Games. Just check out the Sale! section on Warehouse 23. Hurry - we're only running it until noon on August 27.

August 23, 2014: Announcing Munchkin Apocalypse: Judge Dredd!

I am the law!



Want to move your apocalypse to Mega-City? Good, because we want to, too! Last weekend Rebellion announced that they're partnering with us to make Munchkin Apocalypse: Judge Dredd , and now we're confirming it: a 15-card booster pack for Munchkin Apocalypse , complete with new Seals. You'll be able to take the law into your own hands in 2015!



– Brian Engard



Warehouse 23 News: Only A Few Copies of GURPS Magic Left



We only have a handful of GURPS Magic (soft covers) left in the Warehouse. And with our 23% off GURPS sale, you can get them at a whopping discount! When they're gone, they will be gone for a while. So hurry - only 11 copies left! Wait, make that 10 now.

August 22, 2014: Warehouse 23 GURPS Sale!

As mentioned earlier this week, August 19, 2014 marked the 10th birthday of GURPS Fourth Edition. In honor of this achievement, Warehouse 23 is offering a whopping 23% off the price of all – yes, all! – GURPS products published by SJ Games until noon CDT on August 27, 2014. What better time to complete your collection? The sale is on right now – consider it our birthday present to you!



– Sean Punch



Warehouse 23 News: Munchkin Card Hoarder?



You are the self-appointed Munchkin King. You've got every set, every booster and every special release card. That's a ton of Munchkin cards piling up in your home. Never misplace a single one with these Munchkin Boxes of Holding . Available on Warehouse 23.

August 21, 2014: Crowdfunding Focus: Eight-Minute Empire

I got to play Eight-Minute Empire , by Ryan Laukat, at the game room here at Worldcon. I got back to my computer and turned to the Internet to learn more, and found out that not only is there a second version called Eight-Minute Empire: Legends, but a supplement for Legends is on Kickstarter now.



If you have the game already, the supplement would be a good bet. And if you've never played Eight-Minute Empire , I recommend it! It takes several standard Euro mechanics and blends them elegantly, making for an area-control game that's very easy to learn but still challenges the players to make good decisions. From the very first turn, you see the end of the game looming, and you can't do everything at once! I haven't been in a game that finished in eight minutes yet, but we've never taken more than 20.



– Steve Jackson



Warehouse 23 News: More Reason To Explore The Stars!



More ships! More options! More possibilities! It must be a new issue of Captain's Log #36 on Warehouse 23! Boldly go with more of what you love about Star Fleet Battles . And for even easier, faster play, pick up the color SSDs of the ships from this supplement. It's all just a download away, from Warehouse 23!

August 19, 2014: GURPS Fourth Turns 10 With . . . Sean Punch

I've been doing this for a long time – by which I mean "working on GURPS ." I'll have been at it for 20 years come August 2015 (or November 2014, if you count my first freelance project). But August 19, 2014 marks another anniversary: the 10th birthday of GURPS Fourth Edition. In other words, I've spent more than half of my career as a game developer working on Fourth Edition!



To quote


Asking me to pick a favorite Fourth Edition moment is like asking someone to pick a favorite child, but I have a few: When Steve Jackson asked David Pulver and me to revise his game into its fourth edition in 2002. When the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition actually came out a grueling two years later. When SJ Games published my first original hardback, GURPS Powers , in 2005. When I kicked off the first "genre redux" series in the form of GURPS Dungeon Fantasy in late 2007. When Pyramid, Volume 3 launched in November 2008, giving GURPS what I feel is one of the best supporting 'zines any RPG has had, ever. And especially when the GURPS book I most wanted to write when I hired on in 1995, GURPS Zombies , finally went to print in 2013.



But it isn't all about me. A whole bunch of writers have helped to build GURPS Fourth Edition into a successful game system. Without them, I wouldn't even have a job. So in honor of Fourth Edition's 10th birthday, I'm going to ask some of these creative minds to share their thoughts about the edition. And as we're celebrating a 10th birthday, there will be 10 candles on the cake – 10 Daily Illuminators, starting with this one.



Watch this spot . . .



– Sean Punch



Warehouse 23 News: A Pyramid That'll Blow Your Mind



Tap the power of the mind with Pyramid #3/69: Psionics II . Add new psi abilities, more options, and even character enhancements for GURPS Horror: Madness Dossier with this issue. Download it individually, or subscribe today for many more mind-blowing months – only from Warehouse 23!

August 20, 2014: Attention Munchkin Numismatists!

We uncovered a very small stash of the original 2008 Munchkin Silver Piece  and a somewhat larger stash of the 2011 Munchkin Silver Piece . They aren't doing us any good languishing in the back of the warehouse under the Potted Plant, so we're making them available to you!



For a limited time (i.e., until supplies run out), orders for physical items on Warehouse 23 of $50 or more, excluding shipping, will receive either a 2008 or 2011 Silver Piece , chosen randomly from a pile of coins on our shipping table.



There aren't that many coins – fewer than 200! – so we expect these to run out very quickly. You have been warned!



– Andrew Hackard



Warehouse 23 News: Pledge Allegiance To Cthulhu!



Hail the Greatest of the Old Ones! Wear this Cthulhu patch with pride on your bag, shirt or jacket. Use it to find other like-minded cultists, and maybe if you're all devoted enough you won't be eaten. No promises though. More aspiring cultist gear available on Warehouse 23.

August 18, 2014: Classic Tech, Now Downloadable Via Warehouse 23!

If you're a fan of classic GURPS Third Edition supplements – or just love to mine those volumes for new ideas – then two must-haves are now available digitally on Warehouse 23. GURPS Classic: High-Tech is your guide to modern-day equipment and weapons, while GURPS Classic: Ultra-Tech goes through the possibilities and permutations of more far-flung fare.



Both guides are essential for their genres, packed with gear and options for Third Edition players. (Really, they're useful for just about all campaigns; science-fiction games can make use of high-tech gear just fine, and what low-tech fantasy heroes wouldn't love finding a force-field generator or laser pistol?) Download both of these goodies today and peruse them the high-tech ultra-futuristic digital viewer of your choice!



– Steven Marsh



Warehouse 23 News: You Can't Throw Them Out, But ...



You can keep track of all the annoying things they do in the Chez Geek Journal .  Did they take the last hotpocket or is their dirty laundry all over the place?  Write it down in this nifty 48 page journal, it even has a pocket to keep a card.  Available from Warehouse 23 .