Steve Jackson's Blog, page 79

September 20, 2023: Joyce L. Jackson

Joyce Lairmore Jackson, my mother, passed away yesterday evening. She was 95. She is survived by a sister, two children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren . . . and the oldest will remember knowing their great-grandmother.

Mother taught me to read and write. A writer herself, she encouraged everything her children did in any creative field. When I developed a taste for science fiction, she took me to the library and checked out the books I wanted – they were in the adult section, of course!

She offered more than moral support, though. When I started Steve Jackson Games, she kept the books . . . fastidiously, longhand, on big sheets of lined green paper. Soon we had a business staff and she graduated to CFO and the Board of Directors. Eventually she retired, but until the last days of her life she read the Illuminator and took an interest in the company.

Mother grew up during the Great Depression, and went to college at a time few women did. She graduated with both her diploma and an actual "Putting Hubby Through" certificate – I've seen it! With my father Richard, she built a flat-roofed house in the country, raised three kids, and put them through school. Their first car was a war surplus Willys Jeep named "Folly."

She was a quiet person but an amazing one, who expected decency and compassion in others without ever making a show of her own. She was always learning and was good at whatever she set her hand to. I am privileged to be her son.

– 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 19, 2023: Talk Like A Pirate Day Sale

Avast, ye hearties! Set sail with Steve Jackson Games and our "Talk Like A Pirate Day" Sale! From September 18-20, you'll get 15% off select merchandise! Celebrate the scurvy scallywags of the Seven Seas by becoming one of them! In Munchkin Booty , you'll face off against monsters like fearsome Viking Kittens, an entire Skeleton Crew, and even Blackbeard himself! Looking for even more fun? Munchkin Booty Guest Artist Edition features art from Tom Siddell and a gameboard to help you keep track of all of the hilarious hijinks! And don't forget about Munchkin Booty 2 – Jump the Shark , which introduces the Explorer class . . . as well as the terrifying Moby Duck!Every pirate needs something in their treasure chest, which is why we're offering 15% off a wide range of dice! Pick up a Pirate d6 Dice Set for rolling with your mateys, or bring some tropical flair to your games with our Shark , Octopus , Seahorse , Starfish , or Turtle d6 Dice Sets . Not sure where or whether to set sail? Pick up a Direction Die or a set of Weather Dice so your crew can navigate the briny deep. You can even get deals on dice for The Fantasy Trip and Munchkin ! Looking for something to do on your long sea voyage? Pirates played with dice in their spare time, and now you can too! Our "Talk Like A Pirate Day" Sale includes fast, fun dice games like Gelatinous , One Roll Quest , and Zombie  Dice  – perfect for playing with your crew. Need a way to carry your polyhedral treasure horde? Choose from one of our Dice Bags to keep your dice safely stowed away at home or on the go.

Yo Ho Ho! Don't delay! This sale heads over the horizon on September 20!

– 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 18, 2023: Fond Memories Of Weekly World News

Supermarket tabloids have a dubious reputation for a reason. Most of them are full of lurid celebrity gossip or exaggerated tales of political intrigue. But there is one tabloid that I will always love for its amazing ability to satirize American society and poke gentle fun at Fortean reporting. I speak, of course, of the legendary Weekly World News . My first vivid memory of the paper involves me being terrified of Bat Boy as a small child. My parents assured me that he was not real – that all of the stories in the WWN were fake, in fact. But the truth is a bit more interesting. Founded in 1979, WWN did originally report on factual news, mostly by way of sorting through reports from other papers and selecting stories about the strange, unusual, and downright weird. These stories would be interspersed with satirical articles as time went on; eventually, the paper shifted more and more of its content toward the weird and satirical. While some people turned their noses up at the bizarre headlines and creepy cover photos, there were plenty of people who became devoted fans of WWN's breathless style and fearless devotion to fun. During my time at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism, even the most serious students admitted that having a job at the WWN would be an absolute riot. (Unless you could get hired by The Onion , of course.) Weekly World News ceased print publication in 2007, but its website is still going strong. Check it out the next time you need an escape from the serious – or if you just need some ideas for creating wacky headlines of your own. 

– 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 17, 2023: Emergency Game Kit

We have an emergency game kit in the trunk of our car. Basically, it's for those situations where we find ourselves in a place without anything much to do, and we don't want to mess around on our various electronic devices. Its contents vary depending on our whims, but we've often kept Zombie Dice in there, Cthulhu Dice , a print-out of an "escape room" from Escape This Podcast, and – in the past couple of years – a grocery-store find of lateral-thinking-type puzzles (filled with "there's a cabin in the woods full of dead people, with no footprints around it" types of riddles). We rotate out games or elements as our whims and collection inspires us, but our criteria is small, portable, quick, and replaceable enough that if we forget an element at an I-65 fast-food joint, it won't be too challenging or expensive to replace.

If you have your own emergency game kit, feel free to swing by the forums and share what you find indispensable; we're always looking for ideas! If this post inspires your own EGK, it'd be fun to hear about that as well.

– 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 16, 2023: Photograph Your Collection!

I suspect many folks reading this have sizable gaming collections. (At the very least, I like to imagine we're not alone in having a home full of game-laden bookshelves.) If this describes you, then, here's a tip: Every year or so, photograph your collection. This doesn't need to be extensive; simple (clear) snapshots of what's on your shelves should be good enough and should only take a few minutes, depending on how spread out across the house or accessible your goodies are.

Modern phones have good-enough cameras (and enough storage space) to take decent photos of complete shelves so that individual titles are quite readable if you zoom in.

Taking such photos serves a few purposes:

• First, having the photos on your phone is convenient if you come across a game at a Friendly Local Game Shop that looks interesting. "Did I buy this already?" you might wonder. If the item's on the store shelves and you can see its spine, then you should be able to check for the same spine in your own collection. (Similarly, I've had situations where a friend has asked, "Do you have [Game X]?" And I'll stare blankly at them until I remember my photos . . .)

• Second, it can tell you if you have the base game of an item you're considering. "Oh, Munchkin Apocalypse: Kaiju looks adorable; do I own the core game?" It's easy to know if it's on your shelf if you bring your shelf with you!

• Finally, if there's ever an incident of damage in your home and you have insurance, it's much easier to establish what you have and what needs replacing with such evidence.

Obviously, you could do a much more thorough and in-depth inventorying of a collection if you wanted to. However, as I've gotten older, I find being too obsessive about cataloging gets in the way of my gaming time. But photos? I can take photos while I'm waiting for leftovers to reheat.

– 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 15, 2023: Tabloids Launches On Kickstarter

Breaking news: Bigfoot Kidnaps President! No wait, we're getting an update. Martians Attack Fort Knox! Wait a minute . . . is this true? It must be; I read it in the Tabloids ! Tabloids is the new headline-making party game designed by Steve Jackson. It launched on Kickstarter yesterday and has already met its goal!

In Tabloids , players take a hand of word cards, and each round they create their best headline; then each intrepid journalist votes for their favorite.  Tabloids is zany, just like the source material, so we made the cards over the top as well so you can create the wildest headlines. 

Coming from someone who has had a chance to playtest the game . . . this is my favorite new party game! You're given loads of words to work with, so all you have to do is put them in the silliest order you can think of. Because in the fast-paced world of Tabloids , the front page goes to the freakiest headline!

The Kickstarter runs through September 30; support local journalism and make your pledge today! 

– Hunter Shelburne

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 14, 2023: San Japan Report

While Jean, Steve, and Irene were at Dragon Con Labor Day weekend, Jimmie and I took a short drive down to San Antonio to demo some games at San Japan. San Japan is one of the biggest anime conventions in the central Texas area, with over 25,000 fans partaking this year in cosplay, video games, tabletop games, RPGs, sword fighting, car shows, and almost anything else you can think of. They even had a "Fans of Buc-ee's" meetup!  We had two demo tables going with Zombie Dice , Gelatinous , Deadly Doodles , Hack & Slash , and of course,  Steve Jackson's Munchkin Presents Batman being played all weekend! Zombie Dice and Gelatinous were instant hits, and at one point our table erupted as someone rolled 13 brains in one turn in Zombie Dice to win the game! Overall, San Japan was a huge success. Thanks to San Japan for inviting us down to play some games, and Andy in particular for running an awesome tabletop hall! We hope to see the tabletop section grow even bigger in the upcoming years. 

– Philip Villarreal

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 13, 2023: Dungeon Fantasy Monster Seeds Now Available On Warehouse 23

Monsters appear. Monsters attack. Is there more to life?

Yes, actually! There are all kinds of interesting ways that cunning critters can confound crypt-crawling heroes. Dungeon Fantasy Monster Seeds presents to you a collection of ideas to bring new life to some of the most memorable menaces of the original Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game boxed set. From the minds of Matt Riggsby and Peter V. Dell'Orto, and originally created as part of the Dungeon Fantasy Monsters 2 Kickstarter, these seeds will spice up your encounters.

Previously only available via its successful Kickstarter, you can now find Monster Seeds as an instantly downloadable PDF and a zine-sized booklet. It's quick, it's fun, and it's all just one click away on 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!

September 12, 2023: Take A Sonic Journey With Radio Is A Foreign Country

My first encounter with shortwave radio came many years ago. My parents inherited one from a relative and explained to me that this seemingly normal device would allow me to listen to broadcasts from all over the world. I was ecstatic – I imagined myself telling friends about hearing music from France, India, or even Japan. I'd be the most sophisticated kid in my class! My parents plugged the radio in, turned it on, tuned the dial . . . and found out that the shortwave receiver no longer worked. We were all very disappointed. Fortunately, I found what I was looking for many years later via Radio Is A Foreign Country. This unique online radio experience isn't a live broadcast. Instead, it's a 24/7 stream made up of a collection of recordings from a wide range of countries, eras, and musical styles. As the About page states, Radio Is A Foreign Country, ". . . exposes listeners to obscure regional folk and pop music from the global hinterlands. Our collections feature cut-ups of international radio broadcasts, field recordings, ethnographic film, vintage records and cassettes, and digital ephemera from the far reaches of the internet. Our mission is to explore forgotten and new ways of making radio and to facilitate greater access and exposure to sounds and music not sufficiently documented by industrial music curation." Radio Is A Foreign Country is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, with donations going toward operating expenses, purchasing recordings, and launching new projects. Donors can also get access to unique digital mixtapes featuring music that you've probably never heard before. I highly recommend checking out the site and listening for a while. You may find a new favorite sound!

– 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 11, 2023: Hexagram #11 Now Available On Warehouse 23

Lightning flashes in a darkened room. The shadow of your brooding silhouette briefly illuminates the inky floor. "Why?" you ask yourself again, for the thousandth time. "Why did I miss the Kickstarter for Hexagram #11?"

There's no need to brood; just lighten your mood with the news that Hexagram #11 is now available for purchase on Warehouse 23!

With articles by Steve Jackson, Jean McGuire, Howard Kistler, and more, this issue gives tools to generate random books, insight into how to use the Bad Luck Die in play, new threats and monsters you can inflict on hapless heroes, and even some fiction to tickle your fancy.

Let inspiration spark like lightning with Hexagram #11, available as an instantly downloadable PDF or a fun-packed zine for your collection . . . all thanks to 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!