Steve Jackson's Blog, page 89

June 12, 2023: I'm Going To ConnectiCon!

I don't get to the Northeast as often as I would like . . . but we are remedying that in July with a visit to ConnectiCon, in Hartford, CT.

This is a fairly big show - lots of featured guests, lots of tabletop gaming. I will of course be running some of those games, and playing in some more, and I'd love to see you. And they've been kind enough to provide a discount link for 10% off your membership. Use this, save money, and put up a flag that "Steve sent you" - it's a win-win.

They have things I like to see in a fun and well-organized con . . . a big dealer room, disability services, cosplay events . . . Looking forward to this! We will NOT have a dealer room booth; I'll be supporting the game dealers there, maybe doing some pop-up autograph sessions. Whatever works.

See you there, I hope!

– 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!

June 11, 2023: Munchkin 2 – Unnatural Axe Is Coming To Munchkin Digital

Earlier this year, Dire Wolf delighted Munchkin  fans with their cross-platform multiplayer video game adaptation of everyone's favorite backstabbing dungeon adventure classic. And now, the game is getting its first expansion!



In addition to the 112 cards from Munchkin 2 – Unnatural Axe , the expansion will add 14 new in-game achievements, allowing fans to gloat over their Munchkin exploits digitally as well as in person. And rumor has it there may be more where this came from . . .

Tell us in the forums: which  Munchkin  card would YOU most like to see in digital form?

– 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!

June 10, 2023: 168 Hours Of Car Wars on Warehouse 23!

This week, you can drive off with some out-of-control  Car Wars Sixth Edition  deals on Warehouse 23.  Two-Player Starter Sets  are just $39.95, and that's only the beginning! With Father's Day right around the corner, this is a perfect opportunity to grab a last-minute gift for Dad.



In addition to discounts, we've brought two NEW  Car Wars items to the webstore:The Car Wars Vehicle Guide , formerly a KS Exclusive, is now available in PDF and print-on-demand paperback formats. Our sponsors at Uncle Albert's Auto Stop & Gunnery Shop have brought you the  CARnage Amateur Night Starter Pack,  a FREE collection of six 3D-printable weapon STLs to customize your  Car Wars  vehicle.  



In other autoduel news, Burning Roads is out now on Kindle! I had a great time reading it and would highly recommend it to any Car Wars fans, gearheads, or anyone else looking for a fast-paced and thrilling read. 

– 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!

June 9, 2023: Munchkin Dice Bag: Duck Of Doom Available Now

Gather your clacky-clack math rocks and carry them proudly in the Duck of Doom dice bag! We know gamers love dice – trust us, we've been right there with you drooling over the dice booths at conventions – and we're very, very aware of what happens when you don't have a bag big enough to contain the collection. Fortunately, this 7-inch square dice bag can help!

You should know better than to pick up a duck in a dungeon . . . even if it's on a dice bag!

This 7-inch square dice bag can hold all the Munchkin dice you can stuff into it without quacking – and thus ensure that all your friends' Run Away attempts are appropriately doomed.

Includes the two Munchkin cards (fittingly modified) that came with the original Duck of Doom. Keep your trusty duck by your side to get extra bonuses when you play these cards!

– Phil Reed

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!

June 8, 2023: Play On The Table Interview With Steve Jackson

Italian gaming site Play On The Table, probably better known as Il Gioco In Tavolo as they are originally an Italian language site, have recently launched their English site. We're honored that they have selected their recent interview with Steve Jackson as one of the first posts to be translated! You can check out the interview here.

Thanks again to Play On The Table for featuring us on the new site! Give them a follow there and on social media for more content in both English and Italian. 

– 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!

June 7, 2023: Murphy's Rules Available In Print-On-Demand

For many, many years, Steve Jackson Games published Murphy's Rules . Exactly what, you may ask, is Murphy's Rules ? I'll let the book's sales text answer that question for me.

"Some game rules are good, some are bad, and some are Murphy's! From the pages of Space Gamer and Pyramid, this is the cartoon feature that takes those rules and skewers them, bleeding, for everyone to mock. (Us? Attitude? It's all right; we pick on our own stuff, too.)"

Over the years, Murphy's Rules has featured a great roster of artists, including multiple-Origins Award-winner John Kovalic and Pulitzer Prize-winner Ben Sargent!

This edition includes everything from the original 1988 compilation, plus all the Murphy's Rules that came out in the 10 years after!

Available now as a print-on-demand softcover book!

– Phil Reed

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!

June 6, 2023: Jean's Rant About Tools

Jean McGuire wrote this for the README file that goes with our STL releases. I thought it was of general interest, so here it is!  – SJ

Many people, when getting started with a new hobby, want the cheapest tools they can get. I get asked about tools a lot . . .

I used to manage a craft store. We sold two styles of beading looms: A good hobby loom, and one that was little more than a toy. Over and over again, I had customers who wanted to learn loom beading wanting to buy the toy loom. It was the cheapest, certainly. But it was difficult to use, even for me, and I knew what I was doing. For a beginner, that difficulty added to learning a whole new set of skills would make using it nearly impossible. It's not surprising that it was the people who got the good bead loom who came back again and again to buy more beads. The ones with the toy loom gave up; they decided it was too difficult, but it wouldn't have been if they weren't fighting their tools.

The same is true of any skill. A good auto mechanic can do minor car repairs with little more than a bent screwdriver and the wrong size of wrench. But a novice is going to need a complete tool set, and a good one. The novice can't compensate for unsuitable, misfit, or difficult tools because they haven't yet learned enough to know what they're compensating FOR. Never start out on a new hobby by shortchanging yourself on tools. You're learning something new; you want it to be as easy as possible.

While you don't want to go the other way and buy something more elaborate and expensive than you can take advantage of, you don't want to get started in anything with tools that make it harder rather than easier to get the job done. If you get tools that make it harder to do the job – whether it's a cheap screwdriver that strips out or a cheap 3D printer that won't give you good prints – the odds are that you're going to be unable to do what you set out to do. The money you spent on the cheap tools will be wasted.

In the case of 3D printing, the money you will save by printing your own miniatures is worth the slight extra cost of getting started right and not giving up because your cheap printer isn't giving you good results. Whether it's weaving beaded bracelets or printing 3D miniatures, you don't waste money buying good tools – you only waste money buying cheap tools.

– Jean McGuire

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!

June 5, 2023: Multi-Tribe Tribes

In its basic form, Tribes represents a single community of early humans or near-humans. They live together and know each other intimately. They are, after all, the only Real People in a world of disasters, horrifying sabertooths, and child-snatching hyenas! But what if the People are not the only people? What if there are . . . Others?

In a large enough group – for example, in a convention setting – multiple tribes can be created. The largest such meta-community that I have ever refereed was five tribes . . . slightly over 40 people. The game lasted about four hours, plus some setup. We decided that the tribes lived around a very large lake. Each tribe would be only a day's travel from at least one close neighbor, but would know their most distant neighbor only by rumor. They were all of the same species and shared a common language. The highly stylized countryside allowed tribes to co-exist in the same hunting grounds, if and when someone had to move . . . but two tribes hunted areas out very quickly. Things got interesting . . .

• One tribe had some successful years and tried to breed its way to victory; they were asking for rules to let their children breed as well. Then they had some bad years and most of their children starved. Cannibalism was discussed but did not occur.

• One tribe, made up entirely of male players, became warlike and tried to conquer a neighbor. There was a lot of blood and a few deaths, but no conquest; in an early tribal society, no one has the time to specialize in "soldier skills," and the peaceful tribes were just as adept at stalking and hunting as anyone else. It was clearly a few tens of thousands of years too soon for Empire. (Interestingly, we found that although the majority of the players were male, those playing women tended to be less martial; they had babies to care for! And even one female player in a group, at least in this very small sample, seemed to be enough to discourage really stupid levels of group aggressiveness.

• One cave-woman (played by a woman, as it happens) became unsatisfied with her lot in life. She did not want to be a gatherer and breeder, but her tribe wanted her in that role! So she ran away. The dice were kind, and she made it to a neighboring tribe . . . which valued her as a fertile female but was willing to let her hunt when not actually pregnant. After all, she had demonstrated both that she could handle the wilderness and that she would leave if unhappy! As referee, I gave the host tribe added victory points for successful exogamy.

• The imperial tribe, now reduced in numbers, heard about this and decided to steal some female children. It did not go well. The parents were on guard against hyenas, and the raiders were both noisier and less formidable. The survivors ran for home, but they had at least solved their tribe's problem with gender balance – one wounded warrior did not survive the return, and only two males were left!

• Two tribes developed religions, similar but different. One voted for prescriptive rules enforced by the stronger tribesfolk, while the other was peaceful and animistic. The other three had no official spiritual beliefs at all (perhaps it is just as well that this was before the advent of the Flying Spaghetti Monster). The spectators expected to see religious strife, but it didn't happen. Not in this generation, at least.

• Every one of the five tribes ended up as a group of mostly stable couples. Mostly. Because there was a referee, adultery was possible, and even the woman knew only who might be a child's father. This led to a lot of very mercenary discussions, in the bushes late at night, about who would feed the prospective babies!

• All five tribes survived and even grew a bit, though several of the original cave-folk died during the decades of play. The "imperials" were often on the edge of starvation. The most successful were the tribes that avoided drama and overbreeding.

All in all, it was great storytelling. The Tribes campaign is almost done, so please visit the Kickstarter today!

– 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!

June 4, 2023: Follow Us On Twitch!

Folks that watch our weekly #SJGamesLive stream may have noticed that we're now streaming exclusively to Twitch, with the recordings uploaded to our YouTube channel afterward for those that missed it. And if you didn't know, now you do! We're doing this in order to allow more people to find the stream on the platform, and it lets us use a few more of the fun tools that Twitch offers for streaming. Not to mention, it's a bit easier to keep track of live comments and actually interact with the audience!

While you don't need an account to watch our streams, we do recommend signing up so you can Follow us on Twitch, which will give you an alert when we go live. We have plans for live-plays, hobby streams, and much more in the works. Join us each Thursday at 2 p.m. Central time and chat along with the #SJGamesLive crew! 

– 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!

June 3, 2023: A Summer Of Autoduel!

Many fans of Car Wars have also played and loved Twisted Metal , a game series for Playstation consoles first published in 1995 and most recently rebooted in 2012 – and now, the latest hit video game series to be adapted for the small screen! At the end of April, Peacock announced a Twisted Metal show, starring Anthony Mackie and set to release all 10 episodes for streaming on July 27. And the teaser looks awesome:

Between the new show, the release of Burning Roads from Three Ravens Publishing, and some Car Wars updates you'll hear about next week, this is looking to be a very exciting summer for car combat aficionados! Burning Roads will the first novel in a planned 15-book series, "Dead Man's Run" . . . which will only be the opening salvo of a mega-series: Car Warriors: The Autoduel Chronicles. If you're curious about that project, we announced it last November, and Steve and I had an interview back in February where we joined WJR and five other series authors to talk about their plans for the series. While I was writing this article, I also found out that Car Wars and Twisted Metal have another cool connection: Jay Barnson, one of the Autoduel Chronicles authors, actually worked as a programmer on the first two Twisted Metal games! Any if there are any fans who stream Twisted Metal on release day and are itching to do some autoduelling of their own . . . Gen Con begins just a week later and we will be running a LOT of  Car Wars. 

– 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!