Steve Jackson's Blog, page 6

August 31, 2025: The Daily Illuminator Post About A Single Letter

A funny thing happened as we've been working on the next batch of Fighting Fantasy gamebooks. I'm obfuscating this anecdote slightly to not give anything away, but the core is true.

Because creating these books relies on careful attention to the original print editions, we do a lot of checks to ensure the text is as accurate as we can make it.

One element we have to do manually is a formatting check, where we confirm that the bold, italics, and capitalization is retained from the previous printings.

This is done with two people: one person carefully skims the original book, and the other double-checks the current version of our document based on what the first person finds. Most of the time, I'm in the "read the old book" role, and Nikki – Production Artist extraordinaire – is seated in front of InDesign, verifying or fixing as needed.

The way this normally goes is I'll say something like, "[section] 217, end of the section: You pick up the Book of Hidden Spells. 'Book of Hidden Spells' is italicized." Nikki will make an affirmative noise indicating that it's correctly formatted in the file and I'll go on.

When it comes to italicized text that isn't a title, I'll use my voice to inflect the emphasis: "About the middle of the section: 'You try to find the path.' The 'try' is italicized." I use my "lecture/teacher/actor" cadence to really highlight what's formatted, so we reduce the back and forth as to what text, exactly, needs something special done to it.

That's all background for this anecdote.

So, I get to one part in the book we're working on, and I say something like: "187, about one-third from the top: 'It's clear that you are in trouble.' Just the 'are' is italicized."

Nikki pauses. "Just the 'are'?"

I nod. "Is that a problem?"

"It's just . . . weird."

There's a moment's silence between us as I figure out how to progress, when Nikki chirps: "Oh! I get it! The word 'are' is italicized!"

"Yes?" I ask, confused.

"Sorry," Nikki continues. "The way you emphasized it and then said just the 'are,' I thought you meant the letter 'R' in the word 'are.'"

This wasn't as farfetched as it seemed, since sometimes the text does use partial emphasis in words, such as how the original text might emphasize "something" or "undead." We have to be careful to make sure only the correct bits receive special treatment.

The confusion cleared, and we correctly formatted the word "are." Then we continued with making sure the remaining sections of that book received our letter-by-letter attention, pausing only to jot down a note as a reminder to share this anecdote with you all . . .

. . . which I have now done.

– 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!

August 30, 2025: Parasocial Racing

I am not generally a sports fan, but there are some things that are so visceral that they speak to your deep subconscious in an irresistible way. A race is probably one of the most basic sports-related things that we have, and I was surprised a few years ago when I saw content about inanimate objects racing and it hooked me.

Marble racing was the first of this kind of thing that I found, and Jelle's Marble Runs is one of the best examples of it.They do a variety of creative tracks, but the narrative of the teams and play-by-play commentary makes it almost feel like the racers have some sort of true independence.

More recently I discovered my favorite implementation of the concept. The Diecast Racing League videos from 3Dbotmaker use toy cars instead of marbles and custom racetracks. The added sound effects and characterization can pull you in even deeper, and I've watched hours and hours of small cars doing some sweet jumps.

The most recent video in this theme that has come across my feed is from Corridor Crew. If you haven't seen their videos before, they're a team of digital effects artists who critique movies and make their own digital effects videos. They decided to make a CG marble run using a physics engine that breaks the rules of reality. It's a great video, and you can watch it here.

– Will Schoonover

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!

August 29, 2025: Why Illuminati Online Is Better Than The Government

This is a deep cut . . . those who joined the Conspiracy in the last couple of decades will not remember Illuminati Online, the ISP that grew out of the SJ Games BBS. It was born, it grew, it thrived for a while. But it was definitely a thing. We gave a lot of people their first connection to the net, and we had fun.

While unpacking this afternoon, I found a stash of old IO T-shirts, including one that I am definitely going to wear again.  Alas, IO is no longer with us, and the government . . . well, it is more like it was than it ever has been, if you get my drift. So I stand by my T-shirt.

Why IO Is Better Than The Government

10. Our eye in the pyramid is cooler than theirs.

9. IO really DOES know what's good for you . . . 

8. IO is open 24 hours a day.

7. IO costs millions of dollars less per hour.

6. You can complain about IO without getting your tax return audited.

5. When mail.io.com goes crazy, nobody gets shot.

4. IO does it on line; the government does it off budget.

3. IO was against the CDA.

2. When IO shuts down, people actually care.

1. You can hang up the phone and IO GOES AWAY!

– 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!

August 28, 2025: Covers I Love – Sean Punch Edition

After 30+ years as GURPS Line Editor, you know I'll pick a GURPS cover. We've seen one or two famously so-so ones, several merely serviceable ones, a vast number of good ones, and more than a few truly excellent ones. Excellent like the GURPS Illuminati cover, which with its simple-yet-flashy gold pyramid and barely visible background text (the web can't do it justice!) is a masterful merger of medium and message.

But I'm picking my winner based on nostalgia. While I've written a lot of GURPS books, The Book I Most Wanted To Write was GURPS Undead.  And for the cover, I wanted not yet another vampire or zombie . . . I wanted something that touched on one of my work's core conceits: Undead are potentially playable characters. Rogério Vilela captured that perfectly by depicting a living human, bent on grave-robbery or black magic, from the undead point of view. How awesome is that?

– Sean Punch

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!

August 27, 2025: Covers I Love – Michelle Richardson Edition

Marketing Manager Michelle Richardson (who recently chatted with us about different topics) was eager to share some of her favorite covers (like some other folks have recently):

Deadly Doodles (both editions): We say the game's goal is to defeat the dragon for points, which may make him sound a bit scary. But when looking at his picture on the cover – illustrated by Katie Cook – he instead seems silly and quite shocked that the monster is looking at him with a big smile . . . and an axe! If you also enjoy his adorable and not-so-threatening face, check out his enamel pin - on sale now for $3. Or, you can take advantage of a discounted bundle, which includes the first edition, Deadly Doodles 2 , the pin, and some cute dice!

Wanderhome: Wanderhome , an award-winning RPG from Possum Creek, is a new addition to the Steve Jackson Games library. The cover art, by Sylvia Bi, perfectly encapsulates the game's storyline of a group of traveling animal-folk embarking on a pastoral fantasy journey through the magical realm of Hæth. It makes the game feel friendly and accessible to all, which it absolutely is. If you'd like to try it, it's available as a beautifully-bound hardcover, a softcover, and as a PDF.

– 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!

August 26, 2025: Where In The World Is Jay Dragon?

Hi folks, it's Jay here! I'm extremely honored to be traveling to Auburn University in a week as a visiting artist. It's a really exciting opportunity, and I'm extremely grateful to Dr. Emily Friedman for inviting me and having me as a guest. I'll be giving a talk on Thursday, September 4th, with open attendance, and if you come, please do say hi.

After Auburn University, I'll be at Metagame Con in San Francisco from September 11th-13th, Metatopia in Morristown, NJ, from November 6th-9th (hopefully), and MPAX Unplugged from November 21st-23rd. I hope to see you there!

– Jay Dragon

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!

August 25, 2025: A Dictionary Of Chivalry

Where was this book when I was eight years old? Or even when I was an active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism? It's hugely informative but also marvelously readable. Sure, it's alphabetized, and you can look things up, but it begs to be read from cover to cover . . . and then dipped into again and again, forever.

Written by Grant Uden and beautifully illustrated by Pauline Baynes, this was written in 1968 (okay, so it didn't quite exist yet when I was eight, but whatever). Yet the text is as enduring as the Matter of England and as fresh as your dreams. It deals in history and heraldry, war and peace, daily life of the nobles and the commonfolk, agreeable fictions like Amadis the Gaul and tragic truths like Agincourt. And, of course, arms and armor. So much arms and armor . . .

The copy I have in hand is ex-library, and stamped in the front "OBSOLETE." So wrong, so very wrong.

– Steve Jackson

PS - After writing this, I charged onto the net and got my own copy. It was spendier than I had anticipated. If the mini-review above makes you want your own, write yourself a note and do it in a few months, after more copies have leaked onto the market, because the next-highest price after the one that I snagged was simply insane.

 

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!

August 24, 2025: High Tide

I really like two-player abstract strategy games. When I saw High Tide at the Underdog Games booth at Gen Con on the first day of the show, my interest was immediately piqued. What with one thing and another, I didn't make it back around to check it out until Sunday. And I lucked out – not only did they still have five copies left, but the designer, Marceline Leiman, was at the booth! She was lovely, and I snagged an autographed copy of the game. I had glanced at the rules, but hadn't actually played a demo; the tables were packed every time I went by (admittedly a great sign).

Now I'm not necessarily one to judge by a cover, but I will absolutely judge a game by its components if they communicate something compelling. And  my god,  does High Tide ever. I mean, look.



Now that I've played, though, I can give a better recommendation than just "look at this." It shares a couple elements with Hive – stackable hexagons, and a rule that they must stay connected – but the gameplay is a lot more streamlined and can be taught in under a minute. If you liked Hive, you'll like High Tide. If you wanted to like Hive, but found the movement rules too arcane, you will probably like High Tide a lot better. Beyond the beautifully simple rules and quick, tactical gameplay, the game is a delightful tactile experience. The painted wood tiles are incredibly touchable and the game comes with a cute printed canvas bag, which I'll be using to carry it everywhere for a while.

I can't wait to play a game (or five) on the beach this summer!

– Irene Zielinski

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!

August 23, 2025: Tales From The Floating Vagabond

Originally published in 1991, Tales from the Floating Vagabond was one of the first comedic RPGs. Long story short: There's this interdimensional bar in an asteroid, see, and people from all over space and time get yoinked into it, and this naturally causes them to drink heavily and have adventures. Now, that's a concept you can take to the bank.

Back in the day, although not many people had played TFV, everyone had heard of it and knew the story. Like Toon , TFV asked a lot from its Game Master. (Improvised comedy is hard. Staying ahead of a roleplaying group is harder.) But in the right hands, it was an engine for fun.

The game was originally published by Avalon Hill. After an IP dispute about which I wish to know as little as possible*, the rights reverted to designer Lee Garvin. Tragically, Lee met with medical problems and died with the second edition still incomplete. But TFV lives on, thanks to the dedication of Kira Woodmansee, who pulled together the people, resources, and chicken-fried newts to realize Lee's vision. It's now available at DriveThruRPG.com.

If this sounds like your cup of tea**, you should read all the words, starting with the legal stuff at the bottom of Page 2. That's all I'm going to tell you about Page 2, except that there are llamas.

– Steve Jackson

* Because I do not like to wake up screaming.

** If you actually order a cup of tea in The Floating Vagabond, you deserve whatever you get served.

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!

August 22, 2025: Everybody Loves Last Shot!

If you haven't played Last Shot yet, now is your chance to learn more about this riveting game! Several of our friends have shared their thoughts – and even how to play – on their channels. Click below to hear their perspectives, see what's inside the box, and delve into the gameplay.Let's Table ItSettler of the BoardsThe Panik GamesGood Morning SocietyThe Board and BarrelWant to hear some behind-the-scenes info about the game's creation from its designer, Ryan Whisenhunt? Read page 98 of Around the Table.

If you already have your copy and have loved playing,then checking out these videos and the article will surely remind you why this Cold War-era thriller is your favorite spy game!

– 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!