Steve Jackson's Blog, page 68

January 7, 2024: A History Of Victories?

One of our favorite games when visiting out-of-town family is 7 Wonders , published by Repos Production. I could extoll its virtues from a number of angles, but suffice it to say it sees a lot of table time. One of the aspects that isn't quite as fun about the game is the need for accurate post-game scorekeeping; fortunately, this is made easier by the existence of an app on the iPad that tallies up all the points and score calculations for everyone. I always imagine an actuary or bookkeeper smiling at that part: "Ahh, at last, the best part of the game!"

One underrated aspect of this app is that it records each player's name and what civilization they were playing, along with how they did in the game. It occurs to me that – if there's a competitive game you enjoy a lot with your friends and/or family – consider keeping track of who won what when and how. This doesn't need to be particularly elaborate; even a tiny notepad fits into many game boxes, and can easily list the date, players, who won (or an order of victory or final scores, if appropriate). If you're curious about more details, you might jot down (say) which class they won with in a Munchkin game, or any other notes to help refresh your memory in the future if there was anything particularly exciting about the game. However, this might be a case where "less is more," in that only needing to record the bare-bones facts is more likely to actually get done each time.

An attractive journal might also make a nice gift choice for a data-driven friend you don't know how to shop for. We used to sell Munchkin Journal Packs ; they've been out of print for a while, though some friendly local game shops might still have them if you look. But, honestly, there are loads of cool "blank book" options to fit just about any size and price range.

Who knows? You all might start realizing that maybe letting Aunt Mary get to Level 9 as a Cleric is a risky proposition for the rest of the table . . .

– 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!

January 6, 2024: The Works Of Travis Baldree

I admit it – I'm one of those people who gets way too involved in creating characters for TTRPGs. It's not enough for me to optimize their stats so it works well for their class. I have to know why they're so strong, charismatic, or intelligent. (I'd say wise, but I'm fond of playing characters who lack street smarts. It's led to some hilarious moments.) I think this love of character is why I've become so fond of the works of Travis Baldree. He's published two books so far – Legends & Lattes and Bookshops & Bonedust – both of which focus on an orc mercenary named Viv. The genre is cozy fantasy, but don't let that dissuade you. While the books are good natured and feature kind characters, the stories themselves are anything but twee. So what's the appeal of a fantasy novel that doesn't feature epic battles, terrifying villains, or gratuitous violence? If you're someone who wonders what your adventuring party would get up to between fights, these novels provide some fun answers. It's a delight to watch a character like Viv subvert expectations, and Baldree does an impressive job of imagining what a fantasy world would be like for everyday people. Game masters who struggle with worldbuilding and creating NPCs can take inspiration from these books when creating towns for their players to explore. Travis Baldree's books are available at major booksellers. You can probably find them at your local independent bookstore too.

– 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!

January 5, 2024: The Curious Countdown: Number 1 – When In Doubt, Add Zombies

Here we are, at the end of the journey of our curious countdown, as we discuss the number 1. (If you're very late to this party, please see the first post in this series.)

One of the hats I wear around here is " GURPS Project Manager," because I keep various parts of the GURPS train running smoothly, doing what I can to get new and classic projects in the queue and on the shelves (virtual or physical).

It'd be a gross abuse of my power as a Daily Illuminator writer to reserve the #1 spot on this series for a product line that holds a place near and dear to my heart.

So, with that in mind, let's talk about GURPS Zombies: Day One . . .

No, wait. Let's step back a moment. GURPS Fourth Edition has been a popular and well-expanded game line for nearly 20 years. We've tried mightily to ensure it lives up to the Basic Set back-cover headers of "Anything You Want" and "Any World You Can Imagine." So there's a lot of power crammed into these books.

But that leads to a problem. When you can do anything, what do you do? Or, perhaps more accurately, how do you do it? In the later years of Fourth Edition, we've put effort into showing you how to make the infinite a little more manageable, with self-contained ready-to-play "kits" such as the GURPS After the End series for post-apocalyptic gaming, or GURPS Monster Hunters for high-octane critter-getter action.

We've also taken this approach to other corners of GURPS . For example, when GURPS Zombies came out, it was arguably the most comprehensive supplement for creating nearly any type of zombie you could imagine: mystical, technological, fast, slow, infectious, brain-eating, you name it. But the trouble remained: Once you have the amazing power to add zombies in just about any manner imaginable, where do you start?

Enter GURPS Zombies: Day One .

This supplement (written by the original GURPS Zombies mastermind Sean Punch) provides eight zombie settings in broad strokes: genre, power level, background . . . and, of course, what parts of the Zombies rules to use to create the campaign you want. From fantasy to horror to science fiction and more, a wide variety of ready-to-use ideas are waiting for an enterprising GM to . . . errr . . . flesh them out into a full game.

It's the kind of supplement I was personally delighted I got to read before anyone else (and get paid for the effort, no less!). It's the sort of thing I love to point to when I have to explain how to harness the breathtaking breadth of GURPS . I also think it's one of the overlooked gems in the GURPS catalog. Regardless, it's available just a couple of clicks away as a download from Warehouse 23.

Thus concludes our curious countdown, ending the way it was perhaps destined to do – with zombies. Speaking personally, I was delighted that I (more or less) did what I set out to do in the first place. In the process, I rediscovered some interesting parts of my own collection. If you have any thoughts on this series, I'd love to hear 'em on the forums.

– 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!

January 4, 2024: I Imagine Little Bunnies In Police Outfits

I have a lot of ephemera rattling around my skull. As one trivial example: I realize that February 2025 will be the 10th anniversary of a post on the Steve Jackson Games forums that has made me smile whenever I recall it (which is pretty darn often).

The scene: We are discussing rules for illumination levels in GURPS , especially how they'll be referenced and used in GURPS Powers: Enhanced Senses .

Part of the discussion revolves around the concept of "crepuscular," a word which I don't recall having ever heard before that discussion. It's such a crisp word in my mouth, and I used it for years afterward to refer to our rabbit: "Uh-oh! It's dusk and the bunny is feeling playful. That's because he's crepuscular." [Wife sighs a sigh powered by infinite patience.]

One post, by longtime contributor Bruno, was talking about how some animals are difficult to peg down whether they're nocturnal, diurnal, or crepuscular. The post concludes: "Crepuscular creatures can come out in the daytime, as can nocturnal creatures. Diurnal creatures can come out at night. It's not like the biology police come after them if they misbehave."

Fom that moment forward, whenever I caught our rabbit being active during the daytime or middle of the night, I would blurt out: "Watch out, Kagan! The biology police are gonna get you!" The rabbit always ignored my whimsy, instead seeking paper goods to chew.

If you have any favorite memories or turns of phrase from among SJ Games fandom, I'd love to hear about 'em . . . err . . . on the forums!

– 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!

January 3, 2024: Explosive Developments In Nuclear Fusion!

No, wait . . . that's bad. Let me try again.

According to CNN.com, scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California (LLNL) have successfully replicated their efforts at achieving nuclear fusion "at least" three times in the past year. I added the quotes around "at least," but that phrase is in the original article and is a hole in which I could plant a dozen different sci-fi/supers/horror/ Bunnies & Burrows adventure ideas. "Hey, Tracy! How many times did you all bend the laws of physics?" "Ohhh, y'know, three . . . four-five-six. Something like that."

Obviously there's still more to do before we're flying cars like the Jetsons, but I like to be optimistic, and innovations can happen quickly. It makes me wonder if, someday soon, we'll need to update GURPS Ultra-Tech or – depending on how weird things get – maybe even Illuminati . . .

– 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!

January 2, 2024: The Curious Countdown: Number 2 – Roll Dice; Gain Fun.

We are in the penultimate part of our curious countdown as we research the archives and Warehouse 23 for number 2. (If this isn't ringing a bell, please see the first installment of this experiment for the explanation.)

Today I want to focus on Random Fun Generator 2 . This is an assortment of over 20 dice games that make use of your amazing collection of six-siders. It's the sequel to the popular Random Fun Generator , which itself presented another 21 games that incorporate everyone's favorite randomizers.

So, if you buy two books, you get over 40 awesome games that run the gamut from "lucky, breezy larks" to "in-depth strategy contemplations." That's a bargain! And one or both of these collections are perfect to keep in the car or backpack (along with some dice, of course), to have a ready-to-play collection in those quiet moments.

With that, the final installment of our curious countdown is almost upon us . . . And I will be honest: although nothing I pick at this point would compete with Octopus Pin - Three Broadswords, I will do my best . . .

– 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!

January 1, 2024: Take Me To Your Liter

What lives rent-free in my brain? Many, many things; my neurons do not enjoy letting go of things. Today I'm going to talk about a recipe that's probably one of my most-used, and is also one of my most annoying.

It's a recipe for lemonade. What's most interesting about this recipe is that it calls for mixing one cup of simple syrup, one cup of lemon juice, and one liter of water (plain or carbonated).

Yes, the recipe notes you can use either a liter or quart of water, and – for the ratios we're talking here – no one is going to notice the difference. I also know that water (especially carbonated) is often sold in one- or two-liter bottles. But still! This recipe mixes two different measurements! Thus, for years, "1 cup syrup/1 cup lemon juice/1 liter water" has rattled around my skull . . . and now it may rattle around yours.

– 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!

December 31, 2023: Hello, 2024!

It's been . . .  A. Year. Hasn't it, SJG Community?

First off, I want to thank the wonderful staff at Steve Jackson Games, and all of you who play our games, for welcoming me to the company. We, and I mean I, simply couldn't do this without the support of the folks who really believe in Steve, Steve Jackson Games, and all the crazy and fantastical games we make.

I know when news broke that I would be stepping into the role of CEO, a lot of industry veterans and long-time fans of the company were simply WTF?! I'm a relative outsider, if you only go by what the Internet says about me, and there was a lot of trepidation about what impact I would have on Steve Jackson Games as a whole.

I can't say I have run things flawlessly, but I can say I am proud of the things we have accomplished since I came aboard in April. Most of it has been internal company structure and procedure. One of the biggest behind-the-scenes tasks was getting us to a place where we can really plan ahead and look forward to not just the next game, but the next year, two years, and beyond.

Last month we released our 2024 schedule. We are now working on our 2025 and 2026 offerings, and, well . . . I wish I could tease what we have in store! I promise you, it's gonna be rad.

My plans for 2024 are to continue with a lot of the behind-the-scenes work, stuff you may never really see, but I promise the effects will be felt throughout everything we do. And they will have a positive impact.

One thing I am excited to talk about, which is a completely internal thing, is our Winter Summit. The collective SJG staff will descend upon our Austin offices and spend a week working on all those new games for '25/'26. It's wonderful that we can work virtually from the comfort of our own homes, and that is something I am committed to. However, I know it's equally important to get people together in the same room and just jam. Good ideas can come from the smallest of conversations – and a whole week dedicated to design and development should generate some Really Great Ideas.

And with that, it's time I got back to wrapping up my work for 2023, making some pies for the office Game Day/Holiday Party, and maybe, just maybe, taking a day off!

See you all in 2024!

– Meredith Placko

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!

December 30, 2023: The Curious Countdown: Number 3 – A-Sworded Accoutrements

Hello, friends! We're deep in our curious countdown, as we begin the "final three" – this time looking at number 3 itself. (And if you missed the previous seven installments, the first post can fill you in on what we're doing here.)

There are certain items we sell for which I cannot do much more justice than literally copy-paste the title and walk away. Like, Octopus Pin – Three Broadswords . I didn't even know we were selling this cutie until I started poking around for candidates for my countdown project. And, look what a search for "three" turned it up. It is – indeed – an octopus pin, and the octopus in question is indeed wielding three broadswords.

You have the image. You have the title. There's nothing I can do to make this more appealing, and honestly my biggest fear is that you'll be unable to click and buy this pin because I will have purchased a jillion of them by furiously clicking "Add to Cart" each time I go back to that tab to research it.

I guess I can give a bit more detail on it: This art is from the exceptionally well-received revival of The Fantasy Trip . It was illustrated by the inimitable Liz Danforth. And it's an octopus that is holding about two or three more broadswords than I can comfortably wield.

Anyway, I'm not sure if the curious countdown can possibly live up to " Octopus Pin - Three Broadswords ," because few four-word phrases in my life can compare with that. Still, I'll do what I can, as we wrap up with the final two installments. In the meantime, if this post has inspired you to adopt your own triple-threat octopus, please feel free to share your experiences on the forums.

– 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!

December 29, 2023: The Weather Outside Is Frightful? That Sounds Like Extreme Conditions!

The real world is messy and complicated; that's one of the things that makes it so amazing. Case in point: tactical encounters. Sure, as an adventuring hero, it'd be a lot more convenient if the weather stayed nice, every location had adequate lighting, and "sand" was nonexistent except for bad dialogue in sci-fi memes. Reality, however, is filled with complications. Now, the supplement and opportunity of uncooperative climes comes to the gaming table, with GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions .

Written by GURPS Tactical Shooting architect Hans-Christian Vortisch and building off that book's foundation, Extreme Conditions provides a plethora of environmental problems to give heroes new opportunities to adapt and overcome. From the effects of extreme cold to jungle warfare to fighting near and under water to combat in the vacuum of space, this supplement delivers rules for a multitude of milieus mundane and maximal. Although of perhaps most interest to those who arm and upkeep guns amid inhospitable realms, this supplement can surely spark new ideas and inspiration for anyone (regardless of the genre) who dares to trek through terrible terrain.

Plus, for the first time ever, we've made a GURPS supplement available upon release as both a PDF and as a softcover book in our ever-popular On Demand series. You can choose your preferred format just like you might choose the right gear to survive a dangerous domain.

Regardless of your format of choice, GURPS Tactical Shooting: Extreme Conditions is sure to add to your adventures. And remember: If you're looking for another way to make your GURPS games more interesting, you can't spell "climactic" without "climatic"!

– 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!