Steve Jackson's Blog, page 50

June 25, 2024: My Computer Is Smarter Than Me

This is a footnote to the post I made about Arcadian Chain the other day. For it, I wanted to be precise about how long I've had my beloved dice bag. Based on the years that Arcadian Chain listed on their website for having attended Who's Yer Con, I guessed I'd picked mine up either in 2019 or 2023. But 2019 seemed impossibly far away (the "Before Times"), while 2023 seemed much too recent.

However, after a moment's thought, I realized I could just search my email for "Arcadian Chain." Sure enough, two digital receipts popped up for the store. (My kiddo got his own dice bag at the same show.) And the receipts confirmed it was . . . 2018. I've enjoyed it for longer than I thought! Time has no meaning anymore.

Anyway, I just found it interesting how the computer era – decades old at this point – can still amaze me in relatively simple ways.

– 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!

June 24, 2024: Join The Quest To Become A Warlock Knight!

Warlock Knight is a programmed solo adventure for starting characters in  The Fantasy Trip . Battle strange monsters in the wild, explore labyrinths, face danger on the high seas, and meet brave companion in the always-dangerous Warlock Kingdoms of Sedra.

The campaign for David Pulver's sixth solo adventure for The Fantasy Trip with Gaming Ballistic, Warlock Knight , launched on Backerkit Crowdfunding on Tuesday, June 18. It funded in only 22 minutes.

Warlock Knight is more of a sandbox campaign than some others. It is targeted at brand spankin' new characters and makes for a great way for a new GM and player(s) to get used to The Fantasy Trip and kick off a new set of adventures. While not required, it is set on the Isle of Sedra, a self-contained setting that also plays home to Ironskull Castle, Dragon Hunt! , the adventures of Belladonna (vampire and monster hunter extraordinaire), and the Scorpion Labyrinth . There's lots to do . . . and lots of Decks of Destiny- style NPC and monster cards to help you do it!

Pledges include digital and physical offerings, including Warlock Knight and supporting card decks, the Sedra setting and support materials (useful but not required), and of course, the other solos from Gaming Ballistic by David. If you're new to The Fantasy Trip , there's a Give Me Everything level that includes 10 books and well over 500 double-size monster and NPC cards.

As one of SJGames licensing partners, the campaign also offers some of the limited number of remaining physical copies of Old School Monsters , and is currently the only way to get a copy of The Fantasy Trip Bestiary if you didn't get it during the Kickstarter! The "more things with which to scourge your players" trifecta is rounded out by The Book of Unlife . And if you're new to The Fantasy Trip , you can of course obtain the core rules: In the Labyrinth is available in both PDF and softcover print format; Melee is always available for free from SJGames, but the Gaming Ballistic material is all written assuming you have In the Labyrinth .

This is a short-lived campaign: It ends Friday, June 28, at 8:30pm Central.

Check out the campaign details, and jump on board with a suitable pledge!

– Douglas Cole

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!

June 23, 2024: Itty-Bitty Data

I know we've all grown kind of inured to the general advancement of technology, but isn't it weird how you can store, like, a terabyte of data on a tiny memory card about the size of a fingernail? That fact still amazes me (as someone who grew up in the era of floppy disks trying to figure out how to cram one more 12-kilobyte document on a medium that was the size of a piece of toast)!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to try to find a terabyte of data somewhere on my very cluttered desk . . .

– 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!

June 22, 2024: Arcadian Chain In My Campaign

Here's a better-late-than-never plug: Arcadian Chain. I bought this dice bag from their booth at Who's Yer Con way back in 2018. I loved it when I saw it, and I still love it. As you might intuit from both the company name and my scintillating photograph, it's a dice bag made of chainmail links.

I find it so satisfying as a dice bag because, when empty, it makes a perfect fidget toy. Since I usually generate enough nervous energy to power an orbital satellite, it's a huge boon to have something to distract me while I'm trying to get my dang dice to roll the right way at conventions or our own gaming table.

This bag probably holds about three dice sets and still closes comfortably. (I just checked; it currently contains 23 assorted dice . . . how illuminated!) If you check the site, the one I have is "small rings"; although a bit more expensive (because it's got more chains and thus takes more labor), I found it more pleasing in my grubby little hands.

Arcadian Chain makes a boatload of other cool things as well; check out their site. There's also a list of shows they attend, and you can order stuff off their website as well. If you want something special, they may even be able to custom-make something; I've had my mind brewing on getting a bigger bag for a few years now . . .

– 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!

June 21, 2024: CONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!

Convention season is approaching! Or, depending on your world view, it's always here, because there's usually something cool happening someplace.

Hey, did you know we have a handy-dandy web page with all the cons we'll be at? Oh, and if you're looking to meet the one-and-only Steve Jackson himself, there's a different page that reveals the secrets of where he'll be attending . . . including trip reports from past cons.

Plan your travels of gaming goodness accordingly!

– 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!

June 20, 2024: June 22 is Free RPG Day

I've been madly in love with roleplaying games since my high school boyfriend introduced me to the Dragonlance novels, Dungeons & Dragons , and Final Fantasy VII . That's why I'm excited about Free RPG Day, which is coming up Saturday, June 22. This annual event is a great way to learn about new tabletop roleplaying games, systems, and settings so you can bring something new to your game night. This year's list of participating publishers is impressive and includes Magpie Games and Goodman Games, as well as our friends at 9th Level Games, Paizo, and R Talsorian Games. A complete list of publishers can be found on the Free RPG Day website. There's a decent chance that your Friendly Local Game Store is participating in Free RPG Day, so be sure to stop by if you can. Every store is unique, so you may want to check out their website or call ahead to see if they're hosting demos, in-store gaming, or other fun events. After all, the only thing better than picking up a new RPG is finding a group of people to join you! 

– 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!

June 19, 2024: A Fragment Of Underdone Potato... Or A Chance To Go Back In Time?

Every so often I'll forget to back a crowdfunding campaign and don't remember until it's over. Then I'll go, "Oh, no!" and race to my browser to find the tab. Occasionally, I'll discover that there's a late-pledge option of some sort. That's when I can live out my Ebenezer Scrooge fantasies: "I haven't missed it. The BackerKit Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like; of course they can! Hello, my fine web form! Do you know the CVV of my credit card?"

Oh, hey, incidentally, the BackerKit for CARnage 2 is now open, in case you missed its original successful Kickstarter campaign and want to get some awesome printable STL files for your Car Wars campaign. Good Gaming, Everyone!

– 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!

June 18, 2024: Charity Miles

Walking in nature is its own reward, but it's nice to find a way of putting all those miles to good use. Many years ago, a friend who learned about my love of trails recommended that I check out Charity Miles, an app that allows you to raise money for various causes while you walk, run, or bike. It's been my go-to walking app ever since. Like most other exercise tracking apps, Charity Miles keeps track of your step count, as well as the number of miles you've walked. What sets Charity Miles apart from similar apps like Strava and Map My Run is that your miles can be sponsored by family, friends, or corporate sponsors (the default). The process is fairly simple – after downloading the app and creating an account, you choose the charity you want to support with your activity. Every time you use the app, you'll earn up to 25 cents per mile (or 10 cents per mile if you bike). You can also create teams so you and your friends can walk and earn together. If you're a serious runner, then be advised that this app may not be the best for you. It lacks many of the features that other running apps have, such as a map of your route, heart rate monitoring, or leaderboards. But if you're a casual walker or runner who likes the idea of doing good when you're out and about, Charity Miles offers a simple way to give back with every step. 

– 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!

June 17, 2024: Questions Three: Sabrina Gonzalez

Another brave soul has graciously agreed to answer our Questions Three! Today's participant is Sabrina Gonzalez. As the overseer of all things production-related at Steve Jackson Games, Sabrina has been instrumental in bringing hundreds of products and projects to life. If you haven't heard much about her before, it's probably because she does such an amazing job at keeping problems from ever being noticeable. She's also quite likely one of the Hidden Masters, which may explain her relatively secretive nature.



What's the biggest challenge you remember overcoming to bring a project to fruition?

Car Wars Sixth Edition has had multiple challenges bringing the base game and its expansions to life. In this past year, we revisited the packaging when developing the Orange/Purple expansion. First, we updated the packaging to reduce waste. Then we found that a color update was needed with the orange bases because they were originally too similar in hue to the red bases (when the colors were initially chosen for the Red/Yellow bases, an Orange/Purple expansion had not been in the plans!), and we also added a very handy player aid to the back of the Orange/Purple rulebook to assist in gameplay.

Little challenges and improvements like that can crop up from time to time across any games that we continue to develop, but we find ways to adapt and work through them as quickly as possible. Though they can occasionally cause delays in our release timeline, we do them to bring an improved playing experience to our fans.



SJ Games publishes a lot of different types of games: card, dice, RPGs, etc. Is there one type of project that you're always excited to see?

I am a big fan of dice games. I carry a set of dice in my car at all times for a quick game of Farkle . I also really enjoy a quick "downtime" game that can be easily explained and quickly played – oh, how I miss Super Kitty Bug Slap! [Editor's note: It's still available via DriveThruCards!] And Chupacabra: Survive the Night is one of my favorites – I introduced that one to my nieces and nephews years ago and it's one of their favorites – they often ask me to play when they visit.

Can you give a "sneak peek" as far as something awesome your team has been working on?

I hate to be vague about teasing anything Munchkin , but especially after the success of Munchkin Big Box , I have to say – fans of Munchkin should be especially eager to know that there are even bigger things brewing in the world of Munchkin . Multiple big things – epic things to be revealed in 2025 . . . and also some super secret [details redacted] . . . I've said too much already, but there will be even BIGGER announcements about 2026, which is the 25th anniversary of the first printing of Munchkin , so keep an eye out!

* * *

Sabrina didn't mention it by name, but this seems like a good time to remind folks of the existence of Munchkin Farkle, which combines two beloved ideas. Naturally, Sabrina was the Production Manager for that one, as well . . .

– Sabrina Gonzalez, interviewed by 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!

June 16, 2024: More Munchkin And Car Wars Upgrades – Coming Soon!

We're just a few months away from autumn (already!), and we'd like to share October's new releases with you. Some exciting things are coming for Munchkin and Car Wars ! With 56 brand-new cards, Munchkin: Taken for Granite is the newest expansion for the classic game. Fight the Level 10 Inflatable Golem by using your Automatix Chisel. Or, if a friend is fighting the Golem, stack on the Hard As A Rock card for +10 to the monster's level! You backstabber . . . We've also planned three more great single-player card sets for  Car Wars Sixth Edition:  Car Wars Offensive Ordnance lets you stay a step ahead of your opponents and increases your firepower. Included are the hazard cards from Road Tiles as well as all the cards found in Miniatures Set 2 .  Car Wars Gonzo Gear brings 40 all-new cards to your autoduelling arena! You'll add extra thrills around every turn while targeting opponents with the Wrecking Ball, possibly while carrying a Fake Passenger and swinging a Katana. Finally, Car Wars Albert's Advances includes 45 cards originally found in the Uncle Al's Upgrade Pack . You can customize your car with a Drag Chute and other fun accessories, and stop your foes with a Turreted Heavy Rocket. It's going to be difficult waiting until October for all these goodies, right!? 

– 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!