Steve Jackson's Blog, page 86

July 12, 2023: Avast! Evil Stevie Sails Again!

Evil Stevie's Pirate Game , a hybrid roleplaying/skirmish game designed to be played with (many) LEGO® or similar toy pirate ships, has charmed convention-goers for a quarter of a century, but it had been some ten years since Steve had run the game . . .

Until Brick Rodeo 2023.





Last weekend, pirates once more prowled the high seas around Rum Island, out for booty and blood. Few found Glory, and many an unlucky crewman became a snack for the sharks on their journey down to Davy Jones's Locker. 

Could there be updated rules for Evil Stevie's Pirate Game on the horizon? With new Ship Record Sheets designed by yours truly? Even a new Golden Age of Brick Piracy? Arrrrrrrr, perhaps, depending on which way the wind blows . . .

– 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!

July 11, 2023: Visit GURPS Hot Spots

I've been a GURPS fan for a looooong time. Not quite the beginning, but certainly my entire adult life and then some. Many GURPS books have a reputation (deservedly earned, in my opinion) of being great resources even if you're not a GURPS player.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the future: the Internet. In particular, Wikipedia, which put literally billions of words of information (in English alone!) at your fingertips, for free. Getting lost in its web of widely accessible information is a cliché at this point. Does this mean that supplements like the GURPS Hot Spots series – which focuses on interesting locales throughout history – have been rendered moot? We don't think so!

Nowadays, the most important element of the gaming historical supplement is "gaming"; that is, presenting information that's useful to gamers. Sure, you might be able to find a description of rulers and years for (say) Constantinople. But quickly getting the most important details about a specific location's food, its sights and smells, its lived customs, possible plot points and mysterious happenings . . . that kind of information is much more scattered, and even harder to synthesize for the gaming table.

History isn't inert dust; with GURPS Hot Spots , it's alive, exciting, and waiting for you to visit. Book passage to Renaissance Florence, Sriwijaya, or the Silk Road today!

– 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!

July 10, 2023: Now Available On Demand: GURPS Gun Fu

Sliding across a marble floor as shards of tile explode around you, finding your aim and taking two-handed shots. Welcome to the excitement of GURPS Gun Fu !

This beloved sourcebook of high-octane high-tech heavy-hitting cinematic gunfighting joins your gaming bookshelf in print, for the first time, thanks to our popular On Demand program. It includes over-the-top rules for emulating your favorite feature-film feats, character options to match the genre, new weapons and gear possibilities, and more.

With Gun Fu , your GURPS gunfights are more breathtaking than ever. Get it as you like it, delivered to your door . . . on demand!

– 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!

July 9, 2023: Liberty Con Supplemental Report

Steve's report on Liberty Con 35 was packed with highlights and yet barely scratched the surface of my own first Liberty. So here's a supplemental report! With more photos, naturally.

Steve and I tried something new for the What's New panel this time: we streamed the whole thing on TikTok! It went well; we were able to take questions from the livestream audience as well as the IRL attendees, and I plan on doing it again at small cons in the future (with more advance warning so more of you can tune in). If you're interested in joining us next time, follow us on TikTok. The other advantage to streaming the What's New was that I was able to retrieve most of the panel from the cloud and chop it into a few highlight videos. More of those will be appearing periodically on our TikTok page as well.

Liberty was a wonderful con with a ton to offer, but my absolute favorite part was the hobby and crafting area. There were craft supplies and scheduled workshops throughout the weekend, on a variety of subjects including terrain building and weaving. The minis area was where I spent most of my free time . . . 3D printed miniature dragons, dinosaurs, and figures were all up for grabs. There was a dazzling array of bits, with sci-fi, military, and fantasy miniatures all ready to build and paint. And of course everything was pre-primed. It was paradise! Enormous shout-outs to Jonna and James for making that room such a success. MIB Misty Kat ran a very tight ship in the game room; it's thanks to her efforts that I was able to spend some real time in crafting!

I unearthed a little figure of the Dungeon Master (from the old cartoon) and had a great time painting him up. I ended up giving him to my friend Jeremiah (who, in addition to being a fantastic dungeon master, is a TTRPG content creator on TikTok). And of course I'm already planning a workshop for NEXT year – a Car Wars build-and-paint-and-take using printed CARnage STL bits.



This was also my first public appearance as Car Wars Line Editor, and it was a blast. Naturally, there was much autoduelling in the game room. And several of the authors behind the new  Car Wars  fiction from Three Ravens Publishing were in attendance – we had a great panel, and I was able to pick up a physical copy of  Burning Roads  and get it signed! Next in that lineup is  72 Hours to Graceland  by David W. Hensley, and I can't wait to dig into that draft when I get a minute . . .

As a bonus, my favorite piece of  Car Wars  terrain saw more than just the game room on this trip; after the convention, it came along to the real Rock City and had a mini-photoshoot atop Lookout Mountain!



Other notable firsts this year include: my first game of Terraforming Mars (a runaway success) and my first karaoke performance (survivable). I can't wait to see what Liberty Con 36 has in store!

– Irene Zielinski



P.S. I had been threatening planning to share my video of SJ's LC karaoke performance, but Alyce seems to have beaten me to it, and then Steve went ahead and dropped the link in his report  . . . so I guess my bit of comedic insubordination will have to be providing you with this photo of Steve posing as Lady Liberty from that same night, in cutout form if you're inclined toward custom Discord emojis. Please use this irresponsibly.

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!

July 8, 2023: Illuminated D20

I need to brag about some very talented friends of mine . . .

This year, for my birthday, I received hands-down the most beautiful die I've ever seen. It's bright and clear, with turquoise numbers and ethereally fine gold-flecked glitter, and a double-sided card in the middle. One side featured a personally significant tarot card, and the other – 



Isn't that the  coolest thing ever?

Anyway, these friends work at Die Hard Dice.

Did you know that in addition to their dazzling array of metal and polymer wares, Die Hard sells gorgeous handmade resin d20s at conventions? Well, they do – and they'll be at Gen Con. If you're going, and you like artisanal math rocks, you should definitely stop by their booth. And tell them I sent you!

– 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!

July 7, 2023: Geek Tropical Munchkin Shirts Available Now

Summer is here, and Geek Tropical has the shirts to make your drip a little more Munchkin -y. Geek Tropical's new Munchkin Hawaiian shirt line features 18 designs based on the iconic characters, classes, monsters, and loot from the game. These stylish fits are not only covered in Munchkin memes, but they also have a rule on the tag, packing some extra in-game punch with the shirt on your back. Speaking of, Steve sold the Geek Tropical shirt right off his back at LibertyCon, raising an additional $200 during the auction! 

You may have missed out on that shirt, but you don't need hundreds of bucks to get yours: youth sizes start at $33.99 and adult sizes start at $39.99. Order today and let Geek Tropical kick down your closet door! 

– 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!

July 6, 2023: LibertyCon Report For Reals

I always have a good time at LibertyCon. Chattanooga is a wonderful little city and, for me, Liberty is the crown jewel. This was the 35th year of the show and possibly the best ever. From my admittedly-skewed point of view, having Gaming get double the area was a win. (Shout out to MIB MistyKat Gutierrez, who runs Gaming very well indeed.) It was great having Jean McGuire and Irene Zielinski there – we put our best foot forward. I already told you that Munchkin raised $3,400 for the show's charity, which this year was the Ronald McDonald House. The group's representative hunted me down in Gaming to thank me, which was classy of him! But the real thanks should go to the bidders who outdid each other for charity.

Snapshots . . .

• Demonstrating Wiz-War using the wonderful pieces sculpted by Kim Beaton and painted by Ben Williams . . . on the lighted board built by Jean and husband Joel.



• Getting to play no fewer than three games that were new to me. (And so many people wanted to pitch me games that next year there will be a program slot just for that.)

• Watching Jody Lynn Nye's wonderful xenoarchaeology panel and helping the learned professors speculate on the purposes of various human artifacts.

• Getting my butt royally kicked (not unusual) in Rich Groller's traditional game of Terraforming Mars , but the kicking was done by a first-game newcomer rather than Rich himself (unusual). Quit that smirking, Irene! (I got pretty badly beaten up in Munchkin Cthulhu , too. Had fun anyway.)

   

• The second karaoke performance of my life. At least, this time I had the words.

• Making a big Munchkin announcement. Technically, citizen, this information is available at your clearance, but for reasons that are not available at your clearance, it cannot actually be released to you at this time. IYKYK. I'm sure you understand and will comply . Until we get the art colored and post the announcement, of course.

• After the con, doing tourist stuff with the gang . . . riding the Tennessee Valley Railroad, and exploring Rock City, which has, you know, ROCKS.



Seriously: if you live anywhere near Chattanooga, you should stalk Liberty and, when membership sales are announced, buy your membership during the couple of hours it is available.

More cons are upcoming for me! This weekend I'm going to Brick Rodeo in Sugar Land . . . the biggest Lego event in Texas. We will run little trains. And, after more than ten years, I will once again run Evil Stevie's Pirate Game .

I will also be going to DragonCon. And to ConnectiCon in Hartford, which has actually supplied a URL that gives you 10% off a membership if you use it. I approve of this idea! Everyone should always get a discount for being associated with the Illuminati, am I right?

– 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!

July 5, 2023: Proteus Pre-Orders Available Until July 7

Chess and dice collide in the classic two-player abstract Proteus , returning in our Pocket Box format! Proteus combines the strategy of classic chess with dice representing your pieces, all starting as the lowly pawn. But fear not! Over the course of the game, players will upgrade their pawns into better units to unlock more power and strategy. Capturing those advanced pieces is also worth more points to the opponent, so make sure to protect them!

This new edition brings back another awesome chess variant in the vein of Knightmare Chess . Pre-orders for Proteus are open now and close on July 7, with shipping planned for the first week of August. Get your orders in soon and get ready to customize your forces!

– 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!

July 4, 2023: Happy July 4th!

The Steve Jackson Games offices are closed in honor of Independence Day. Enjoy your day off if you have it, stay cool if you're in the heat like us, and if you're taking advantage of our current sale, please be patient as Warehouse 23 takes a day off as well. Shipping will start up again tomorrow! 

– 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!

July 3, 2023: Do Not Dial In With Your 300-Baud Modem

Poking around various old items as we prep them for Warehouse 23, I'm always amused when I can see the ghosts of past communication methods. There was a certain delight in the late '80s and early '90s to see how cutting edge Steve Jackson Games was – they had their own computer system you could dial into with your modem!

Times change, and digital-discussion methods come and go. But one thing that hasn't changed is our commitment to keep you up to date with the latest and greatest info with the company . . . or even to share cool geeky goodies that strike our fancy. For decades, one of the best methods has been the Daily Illuminator – right here! If you don't receive it automagically already, you can do so via email, with RSS, or by following us on Twitter.

But please, don't try to dial in with your Commodore 64.

– 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!