Steve Jackson's Blog, page 42

September 10, 2024: Sometimes The Lack Of A Story Is A Story

I've been fascinated by the standoff between X (formerly Twitter) and Brazil – mostly because it meant a huge influx of people came onto Bluesky for the first time. The social-media platform has added millions of new users in the past few days, with some activity seeing a 10-fold increase from a week prior.

What's really interesting from my perspective is that the Bluesky computer systems have continued to remain functional during the surge. Minor glitches have arisen, but certainly nothing to indicate that their servers are on fire; it's continued to just work.

As much as we'd be thrilled if two million new folks were suddenly interested in (say) Gelatinous , I'm not at all sure our web server could handle that many folks curious about the wandering-slime dice game – certainly not without our IT folks furiously rejiggering aflame computers amid a shower of sparks like a Star Trek engineering scene.

If you're new to Bluesky, we have an account over there. It's not terribly active at the moment, but things can change quickly in the social-media space. Just ask Brazil.

– 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!

September 9, 2024: How Do The Orbital Mind Control Lasers Fit In?

Here's an article with a truck advertisement that proudly proclaims: "Pizza Hut: Official Sponsor of Dominoes." I'm sure you can guess what's going on, but it still made me do a double take. I'm not saying I see Illuminati games everywhere, but I'm not not saying that, either . . .

– 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!

September 8, 2024: Theft Of Fire

At Imaginarium last month, I heard a couple of dozen quick pitches for "You should read this book!" I gave in to just one of them. I read the first chapter immediately, and hated the antagonist so much that I set the book down to finish later. (I didn't want her to have a redemption arc. I wanted her to go out the airlock.) When I finished the book, it was in one long sitting, and you know why? It's very good!

Theft of Fire is set in the fairly near future. Humanity made it to space, mostly out of desperation. The Asteroid Belt is being mined, and this story is about one of those miners and the worst day he ever had. Except things go downhill from there.

Devon Eriksen writes well and engagingly. There's no obvious comparison; I can't say "This is like so-and-so's work." He writes like Eriksen, and that's fine with me! From what I can see (he is an engineer, and I am not), the science is solid. But what matters more is that the characters are solid. I can well believe that these idiots are out there, yelling at each other when they ought to be . . . Well, read the story!

Or listen to it. There's a Kickstarter right now for an audiobook version, with a few days left to support. The story is told in first person present, so it has an immediacy that should lend itself well to audio.

Theft of Fire reaches a reasonable conclusion, but it is absolutely not the end of the story. Eriksen's working on a sequel now and plans two more.

Recommended!

– Steve Jackson

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!

September 7, 2024: 8-Bit Music Theory

One of the first musical genres that caught my attention as a kid was soundtracks/film scores. I've always been fascinated by the way composers work with directors to give a movie an overall feel, as well as adding tension or depth to individual scenes. This interest deepened when I was introduced to Final Fantasy VII , my first RPG of any sort. It has a sweeping score that includes numerous leitmotifs and a surprising amount of depth for a first generation Playstation game. (Yes, I'm old.)  If you also enjoy video game soundtracks, then you'll definitely want to check out the YouTube channel 8-Bit Music Theory. Hosted by a music fan with a deep knowledge of how (and why) music works, this channel is a must-view for people who want to learn more about their favorite gaming tunes. I'm an especially big fan of his videos about Castlevania and the above-mentioned Final Fantasy VII , but fans of the Super Mario , Pokemon , and Zelda franchises will find some great content here as well. There are also some great videos for less well-known scores, such as those of Cuphead , Civilization VI , and Pikmin . Now if only there was a video covering Borislav Slavov's work for Baldur's Gate 3 . . . 

– 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!

September 6, 2024: You Unleashed WHAT, Son?!?

Here's another "pulled from the headlines" item for modern RPGs . . . A four-year-old broke a Bronze Age jar in a museum.

File off the serial numbers and use a similar premise in your own campaign. Was the millennia-old vessel used for wine or olive oil – or to store Something Else that may have been let loose onto an unsuspecting world? Sounds like a great hook for a GURPS Monster Hunters adventure . . .

– 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!

September 5, 2024: Join The Army Of Dorkness To Fight Food Insecurity

Munchkin illustrator John Kovalic will be hitting the road once again, this time to support the FairShare CSA Coalition. This unique non-profit supports community-supported agriculture (CSA) farms in John's home state of Wisconsin as well as helping low-income households access fresh produce through their Partner Shares Program. Their annual Bike the Barns event is the largest fundraiser for FairShare CSA Coalition and the Partner Shares Program.  This year marks the 12th time that John has participated in this event, and a quick glance at his team page (appropriately titled Duck the Barns!) shows that he hasn't lost any of his enthusiasm over the years. But then, it's easy to see why – his fans, also known as the Army of Dorkness, have helped him raise over $205,000 in that time frame. That's a lot of fresh fruits and veggies for people in need! Bike the Barns doesn't begin until September 15, but the Duck the Barns! page is already accepting pledges for this year's ride. You can learn more about the ride itself, pledge level rewards, and more over at John's official site. 

– 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!

September 4, 2024: Chex Mix Is Easy, Actually

I remember growing up thinking that Chex Mix was a real pain in the keister – like, a once-a-year kind of treat. Turns out, life's moved pretty fast, and my preconceived notions from last millennium are outdated. It's actually really easy.

You can check out (see what I did there?) the recipe from their website. But, basically, the two big differences from my earlier days of snack-making are:

1) Microwave. Seriously, it seems to turn out as good as the oven-baked stuff, and it's a boatload easier. Provided you have a microwave-safe bowl that's big enough to hold about 12 cups of stuff, and a microwave able to hold said bowl, you should be in good shape. Personally, I use two such bowls to make it easier to mix while heating. (Every two minutes or so, I just kind of toss around the cooking snack mix between the two bowls, to "stir" it easily.)

2) Don't care about ingredients. Honestly, no small part of me thinks this snack is just a Worcestershire-sauce delivery system. But, in my earlier years, I'd get hung up on making sure I had just the right ratio of the proper ingredients, no matter how difficult it was to find (say) bagel chips or appropriately sized pretzels. Nah. It works fine with just cereal. If you can get close to the 12 cups of "stuff" the recipe calls for, it turns out great. We default to the super-easy (and lazy) "eight cups of wheat cereal to four cups of rice or corn cereal." That's it . . . just two types of Chex. It's so tasty that we have to pace ourselves to keep from stuffing our tummies like overzealous boardwalk seagulls.

Sure, you can get a lot fancier with all of this. But, with those two tips, I found that about 10% of the effort gets me to 90% of the snack experience I'm looking for – which is a huge win in my book.

No, this isn't any kind of paid endorsement or anything; I know that it'll work fine with any close-enough cereal. But our household likes Chex Mix (especially on game days!), and we liked it even more once we realized how easy we could make it!

– 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!

September 3, 2024: Andrew C. Greenberg

Andrew C. Greenberg, co-creator of the Wizardry computer-game series with Robert Woodhead, passed away on August 30, per a Facebook post by Woodward.

The Wizardry series was incredibly significant in bringing the tabletop hack-and-slash experience to home computers. This was especially true in Japan, where that early floppy-based game heavily influenced classic releases such as Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy . Originally made for the Apple II computer, the series began with  Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord . Those seeking a contemporary perspective on that first Wizardry game can check out a review in Space Gamer #46.

Andrew is also immortalized in the game series itself as the adversary Werdna (get it?) in  Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord and as the protagonist of 1987's Wizardry IV: The Return of Werdna – one of the first computer RPGs to put the player in the role of a villain.

Speaking personally, it's difficult to explain how magical those earliest computer RPGs felt at the time, delivering an aspect of the tabletop experience in a format that could be enjoyed immediately whenever the gaming mood struck. Many days were spent getting lost in a world of scribbled graph-paper maps and infinite possibilities – and I'm grateful to Mr. Greenberg for his efforts in helping to bring those realms of imagination to life for a great number of people.

– 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!

September 2, 2024: Get Ready For Halloween With Steve Jackson Games

It's barely September and quite warm for most of the country, but there is no denying that spooky season is nearly upon us. Pumpkin spice items are beginning to arrive in stores and coffee shops, and many places are already selling Halloween decor.  To help you get in the mood for All Hallows' Eve, we've put together a list of slightly scary items! One of our classics, Zombie Dice , lets you play as a zombie while eating brains and attempting to avoid an untimely (second) death. Play Zombie Dice Horde Edition , which includes the base game and both expansions, for even more undead fun!  Munchkin Zombies and its six(!) expansions promise hours of punny play in which you'll be a zombie battling live humans, some who are helpless and some who are hazardous. Equip mousetraps on your feet, wear your Xmas Lights armor, and face off against the not-so-terrifying Level 2 Slacker. Be careful not to get hit by the Curse! Grave Doubts? card. Please note: braiiiins are not included. The red eyes of the ghastly, bloodsucking Chupacabra have appeared! In this quick and easy game for two to four players, your goal is to continuously steal dice from your opponents and collect all 24 to secure victory. Can you survive the night? Fans of spine-tingling, chilling, supernatural beings, can check out GURPS Horror, Fourth Edition . Horror master Kenneth Hite has composed advice on running an absolutely horrifying, hair-raising, bloodcurdling campaign which includes themes of Gothic, survival, and J Horror. It is available as both a hardcover book and a PDF. Finally, grab the 19mm Halloween d6 Dice Set for seasonal dice-rolling fun. Not only do these dice boast a fun theme, but they also come with a free, downloadable bonus game!  Whether you're a fan of zombies, mythical creatures, or intense horror, we have something to help you have your best Halloween yet!

– 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!

September 1, 2024: My Corn Is So Elegant, It Perspires

I recently saw an article on "corn sweat" and how it's affecting the weather in my Midwestern part of the world. The article goes into more details, but basically, growing corn lets off a lot of moisture, which increases the humidity, which makes things hotter.

It's one of those terms that gets tossed out every so often and then immediately forgotten by me, until I remember it the next year as a thing that happens.

Thinking through this gaming-wise, I just love the idea in RPG worlds of weird, random events effecting big changes that folks just vaguely know about and have an assigned term for. It's getting hotter? Corn sweat. Is it harder to breathe in the kingdom? Must be cave-fume season. All tech in the cyberpunk world is on the fritz? That'll happen on patch day.

Maybe there's an explanation, maybe not. It's especially flavorful to have locals in an area nod knowingly at something they refuse to elaborate on: "That's what you get for wearing boots during the possumunk heat!" the townsfolk mutter as they throw buckets of water on the heroes.

Perhaps this'll spark ideas for you; if so, feel free to share on the forums. In the meantime, I need to go adjust my air conditioning . . . what with all the sweating corn.

– 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!