Steve Jackson's Blog, page 74

November 8, 2023: Fantasy Fighting Fun For Free?! Does That Even Make Sense?!

We've released a bunch of amazing products for The Fantasy Trip over the years. (I'm personally a sucker for the solo adventures such as Red Crypt or Death Test and Death Test 2 .) But I'm still somewhat amazed that we're continuing to give away a complete, ready-to-print-and-play version of the game, in the form of  The Fantasy Trip: Melee .

Sure, I imagine we're hoping that you'll become so enamored with this fast-paced, quick-and-easy game of tactical fighting fun that you'll be inspired to spend your hard-earned treasure on even more items (like the complete Legacy Edition in print or PDF). But you can have a boatload of entertainment with just this set and some dice! Like, you can have as much fun as you want with it, and the authorities can't stop you.

I don't know . . . the whole thing feels like a giant loophole – one that THEY might plug at any moment. So if you haven't downloaded your own copy of Melee yet, you might want to do so – before THEY figure out what's going on.

– 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!

November 7, 2023: Headless Macs At The Gaming Table

I inherited a not-terrible older MacBook Air from my wonderful father-in-law, after he upgraded his system. The system had only one teeny problem: The screen didn't work.

Admittedly, that's usually something of a dealbreaker for a laptop, and thus the device sat on my shelf for a while while I tried to think of a use case. I knew that I could get it to work as a quasi-desktop – by hooking up a keyboard, mouse/trackpad, and monitor – but that didn't wasn't useful to my daily life, since "working computers" already outnumber humans in our household by a concerning ratio.

But not too long ago, I realized that there might be a solution: Can I somehow remove the screen and still end up with a working laptop?

It turns out that, yes, you can totally do that, and about a billion other geeks have been me to the punch by years. I am not so much a "trendsetter" as a "trend observer."

The idea is this: By removing the screen, you maintain the use of the keyboard and the trackpad, only needing to hook it up to a monitor (and laptop power, if the battery isn't great or if you'll be using it for a while). This results in a "headless" computer that only requires an external display.

The actual process is beyond this post; if you search YouTube and the Internet for "headless Mac" (no quotes), you'll see a number of tutorials and guides. I'd never poked around inside a Mac laptop before, but this model was surprisingly straightforward. (Again, this isn't advice, you know your own skills better than I do, and don't poke lithium batteries with screwdrivers.)

Still, once I'd created it, I realized that this was a near-perfect tool for me as a gamer. More and more games need an online component, but they're a pain to set up in a way that everyone can view the info easily. And, lo, one headless Mac hooked up to our living-room television, and suddenly everyone can see the game's website in 55" hi-definition glory. (This particular game is Detective: A Modern Crime Board Game , from Portal Games.) The setup worked great, and we're looking forward to trying it with future games.

– 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!

November 6, 2023: Explore The Art Of Board Games With Senet Magazine

Are board games art? That may sound like a rhetorical question, but it's one that an independent print magazine in the UK seeks to discuss. First published in 2020, Senet covers, "the craft, creativity and community of board gaming," according to its website. Past issues have featured interviews with game designers, artists, and writers, as well as reviews and examinations of social themes within games. Each issue also features a puzzle from designer Ira Fay, CEO of Fay Games and Learning Game Designer in The Education Arcade at MIT. As befits a magazine dedicated to the art of board gaming, Senet is a beautiful, full-color publication that would not look out of place in a fancy bookstore or art museum gift shop. While those outside of the UK may have trouble finding it at their local FLGS, there are a few places in the United States, Canada, and Europe where you can pick it up. You can also order issues of Senet via their website, which is good news for those of us who enjoy independent print publications. I have yet to order an issue of Senet myself, but it's something I've been meaning to do. I've long felt that games and gaming can be about more than just entertainment (though there's nothing wrong with fun!), and I know I would appreciate a deep dive into Senet's examination of gaming as an art form, muse, and vehicle for social change, among other subjects. It's a new way of looking at a pastime that's often considered mere child's play, and I think that's something that we can all appreciate.

– 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!

November 5, 2023: Quick-And-Dirty Name Generator

Here's a quick RPG tip: Do you use a password manager (such as Bitwarden or 1Password)? Do you need some random names for a weird/alien/fantasy game and have a hard time coming up with interesting ones? Use the password generator!

Set the number of characters to a value that you think is suitable for a name; between five and nine is a fine place to start. Turn off numbers and punctuation; for readability, you can make it all either upper or lower case as well. (You don't care that these aren't good "passwords," because that's not what you're using them for.) Then start generating. You'll get a lot of duds, but you'll also get some that look inspiring.

If one seems "close" enough with only a few tweaks (change or delete a letter or two, split the password into two parts, etc.), go ahead and do that. You now have a new name just waiting for a character to go with it.

With just a few minutes of "rolls" – literally generated as I wrote this entry – I now introduce you to Jegsuld, Nyr Pendra, Xxzeeth, Ugelfak, Kyptance, and Lessy Sceff. That's enough for a six-member party!

– 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!

November 4, 2023: Help Jennell Jaquays Recover From Guillain-Barré Syndrome

I've been playing RPGs since I was in high school, but I'm a bit ashamed to say that I'd never heard of Jennell Jaquays until recently. Her work spans decades, genres, and game systems, and her Wikipedia page reads like a greatest hits list of 80s and 90s classics: Dungeons & Dragons , Pac-Man , Donkey Kong , Age of Empires , and Quake . In other words – if you're a gamer, there's a good chance you've experienced or been influenced by her work. Sadly, Jennell has recently suffered a major health setback. After suddenly falling ill on October 15, she was rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome. This serious autoimmune disorder causes rapid-onset muscle weakness that can affect breathing muscles and leave patients dependent on ventilators. According to Rebecca Heineman, Jennell's partner, she could spend up to four weeks in the hospital and face six to twelve months of rehabilitation.  A GoFundMe has been set up for Jennell to help with medical and rehabilitation costs. While the fundraiser has reached its initial goal, there is a good chance that Jennell will need more help as time goes on. If you want to help her on her road to recovery, head to the GoFundMe page and donate what you can.

– 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!

November 3, 2023: One Weird Nintendo Switch Tip

I love handheld video-game devices; I have a literal bookshelf of them. I particularly enjoy portable gaming on the Nintendo Switch. However, a lot of times – especially on games ported from desktop platforms – the text is too small to read comfortably on the handheld screen, at least for my mole-esque eyes.

I recently discovered that Nintendo has added a new feature to their operating system: Zoom. With a double-tap of the Home button, the screen zooms in as if by magic. Double-tap again, and it zooms back out. Buttons and the joystick allow you to control how much the screen zooms and the position of the window.

Enable this feature by going to "System Settings" -> "System" -> "Zoom."

It's not a perfect fix; the zooming doesn't add any additional pixels to the screen, so if a letter is only made of six pixels then they'll be six bigger pixels when zoomed. But it's still helpful for some apps . . . and, as a free built-in, it's worth twice the cost.

– 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!

November 2, 2023: Game Day Is Back!

Happy Halloween, Feliz Día de Los Muertos, and a peaceful All Saints Day to all!

We had an amazing turnout for our annual Halloween Game Day earlier this week. Obviously, we had to put this tradition on hold during the worst of the pandemic. And since March of 2020, most of us have been working from home, so it was great fun to have several of us in the office all at the same time again. With the advent of so many ways to communicate outside the office, it's no wonder so many of us have switched over to remote. It does make me miss the "before times" when seeing everyone in person didn't feel like such a risk. My dad, Eric, used to say that seeing people in person was the most important part of community – that it helped solidify those relationships that we hold most dear. It was bittersweet playing games and missing the staff we have lost since 2020.

We did play, though! Mostly we use these Game Days to share and enjoy games from other publishers, so we all brought a stack of our favorites. Several of us even dressed for the occasion, as you can see from the photos!

We also ate! Starting with bagels and coffee, and moving on to a spread from our favorite caterer, we pretty much ate all day.

Tell us about your day – or your favorite Halloween story – in the forums!

– Revka Dow

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!

November 1, 2023: Travel To Worlds Of Atomic Horror . . . If You Dare!

'Tis the season of weirdness! What better way to put the troubles of the real world behind than to hop to a dimension next door and battle giant ants or citywide amorphous oozes? GURPS Infinite Worlds: Worlds of Atomic Horror lets you do exactly that! Building off the genre foundation of GURPS Atomic Horror , this supplement by Matt Wehmeier brings 1950s B-movie mayhem to GURPS Fourth Edition.

It includes genre insight, rules, and gear, plus four alien groups with their own agendas and outlooks (and, of course, GURPS templates and stats). These pieces come together to form the basis of an unforgettable campaign destination, designed within the GURPS Infinite Worlds framework but perfect for stand-alone stories. Creature-fighting pyrotechnics, Cold War paranoia, and captivating poodle skirts feature prominently in an era where anything could happen – for good or ill.

Find yourself aglow with excitement; download  Worlds of Atomic Horror . . . only from Warehouse 23!

– 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!

October 31, 2023: Steve Jackson Games Attends Adobe Max

Hey there, I'm Meredith Placko, the CEO of Steve Jackson Games, and I guess it's about time to write a DI post! Three of our production staff and I took an unforgettable journey to Adobe Max 2023, and it was nothing short of amazing!

Imagine a massive creative playground filled with like-minded individuals – designers, artists, and creators galore. The atmosphere was electric, and the enthusiasm was contagious. I couldn't help but feel inspired from the moment we walked in. 

Our mission? To dive headfirst into the world of Adobe's latest software. As a company deeply rooted in creativity, the prospect of learning new techniques and tools was thrilling. We eagerly soaked up the wisdom shared in the captivating keynote presentations, delved into hands-on workshops, and immersed ourselves in practical labs.

While Adobe's big talking point of the show was Generative AI, it was really the quality-of-life upgrades across the whole Creative Suite that really stood out to me, like Photoshop's Generative Fill and Generative Expand features. Generative Fill, in particular, blew us away with its ability to intelligently generate image content to fill gaps or expand areas seamlessly. The updated software now offers advanced AI-driven filters, making image enhancement and retouching a breeze. These tools are game-changers, promising to supercharge our design capabilities and creativity.

And speaking of game-changers, Adobe Express 2023 introduced an array of exciting new features that showed us a new path forward to working together across marketing and production departments. The inclusion of intelligent layout suggestions and the ability to generate customized templates will streamline our workflow like never before. Our team is eager to leverage these new features to efficiently create visually stunning social media graphics.

Of course, this leads to a larger discussion about where machine learning should live in the world of creatives, and specifically here – but that is for another post! Suffice it to say, the ability to spend more time being creative while keeping our artists employed, and most importantly, leading the discussion where AI stands in the creative process, is important to me.

On a more personal note, I was really grateful for the chance to spend time with the folks that make up our production department. Since most of us work from home, I haven't gotten to really know a lot of our staff since I came on board. Zoom meetings are efficient, sure, but face-to-face time really helps you gel as a team. It was really nice to have the week with (almost) everyone to find better paths of working together!

– 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!

October 29, 2023: The "Einstein" Tile - Now A Puzzle/Toy/Thingie!

You probably read about the "einstein" (one stone) tile a few months ago. Mathematician David Smith discovered a single shape – complex but strangely appealing – that could be repeated indefinitely to tile a surface without ever falling into a pattern. This is way cool and, as far as I know, has no practical application at all. Yet. (Okay, maybe bathroom floors, but there are other solutions to that problem.)

But trust me, we all looked at it and said "Somebody is going to make a game out of this!"



Somebody did.

Atlas Games has launched a Kickstarter for InFUNity Tiles in two sizes. They are molded from recycled plastic (yay) and have a good feel in the hand. Right now the application is "freeform puzzle," but they are thinking about practical ways to use it to build a gameboard.

Anyway: Please check out this Kickstarter. Support it if you think it's cool (it is). But help spread the word! This is a math geek's dream toy, and it is not (yet) getting the Kickstarter love that it deserves. So I need for you to post links where math geeks hang out, so they can find out about it, and make the project succeed, and have fun and be happy. That's not a big ask, is it? Math geeks should be happy too. I have supported it, and I'll be happier if I get my einstein toys.

– Steve Jackson

PS - If you had NOT heard about the "aperiodic monotile" problem and its brilliant solution, you can catch up by reading this beautifully illustrated Scientific American article.

Warehouse 23 News: Why Is The Darkness Blinking?

They're trapped between the realm of the living and the dead . . . and they're not too pleased about it. The Book of Unlife adds 44 unliving monsters to your The Fantasy Trip campaigns, along with a complete adventure setting. Live like there's too many tomorrows thanks to Warehouse 23!