Steve Jackson's Blog, page 96

April 5, 2023: Klaus Teuber, Catan Creator, Passes Away At 70

Klaus Teuber, esteemed designer of Catan , has passed away at the age of 70. Whether "gamer" or not, a great many people have played Catan (formerly Settlers of Catan ). Without Catan and its mainstream popularity, the boardgame and tabletop industry would not be where it is today. Catan is one of the first "hobby" weight board games that reached that kind of popularity, and it allowed future games like our own Munchkin to follow suit. 

Of course Klaus was more than Catan.  Of his many designs, four won the German Spiel des Jahres. I'd personally recommend checking out Hoity Toity and Entdecker . Let's all play a game in memory of Klaus. I think he'd appreciate that. 

– 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!

April 4, 2023: Kickstarter Reports, April 2023 Update

Our stockpile of projects waiting for their turn at Kickstarter continues to grow, with the exact schedule in a state of flux as we focus on different games and ideas. Some larger projects –  Groo , new Pocket Box games, Pathfinder Revolution!  – keep sliding as we wait for the bigger open campaigns (such as Wiz-War and Munchkin Witches ) to come to a close. On top of that, we sometimes respond to opportunities when we see an opening, which also pushes those lying-in-wait projects down on the calendar.

Read on to see the active projects . . . and please follow us on Kickstarter – Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23 – to see what comes next.

Choose Cthulhu  – Solitaire Gamebooks by Steve Jackson GamesMarch 27 to April 6960 backers and on scheduleThis campaign is bringing six gamebooks to life in PDF and print-on-demand, meaning that backers can come from almost anywhere in the world to support the campaign. These solitaire adventures require only your time and imagination; no dice or other playes needed!Steve Jackson Games' Hack & Slash Game, Plus New Promo CardsMarch 8 to March 16586 backers and on scheduleThe campaign closed successfully and we're now collecting shirt sizes and waiting for the surveys to close. The promo cards are complete, the playmats are at print, and the T-shirts will head to print just as soon as we have closed the surveys. Hexagram #11, an Old-School RPG Zine for The Fantasy TripFebruary 20 to February 28585 backers and on scheduleThe project is at print. Now we wait for everything to arrive, and then we start the fulfillment process.Steve Jackson Games' Box of AstonishmentsFebruary 13 to February 16402 backers and on scheduleThe boxes have landed! The team is working on packing boxes this month, and we hope to finalize everything ahead of schedule.Wiz-War, Tom Jolly's Classic Boardgame Returns!January 23 to February 21,769 backers and on scheduleThe game is on the water and all we can do now is wait. Fulfillment may start in May, and we expect everything to be shipped no later than June.Munchkin Witches, 30 Cards for Steve Jackson's MunchkinOctober 31 to November 10984 backers and (maybe) on scheduleThe expansion is on the water and headed to our fulfillment warehouse. The shipment is expected to land in May, but then we need time to process and ship everything. It looks like this campaign will slide into a June delivery.For more news on upcoming projects, please join our mailing lists by visiting this page and signing on today!

We do not yet have exact launch dates for our next Kickstarter campaigns, so please follow both Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23 on Kickstarter so that you don't miss anything.

– 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!

April 3, 2023: A New CEO For SJ Games

After almost a decade at the helm, steering us through choppy waters and growing the company dramatically, Phil Reed is taking a well-deserved rest from the CEO position. He will continue to lead our crowdfunding effort, act as Art Director, and serve as a member of our Senior Staff and Board of Directors. But he will be doing this on fewer hours a week, devoting more energy to his health and personal work while still being available to his successor to answer questions.

Please join me in welcoming Meredith Placko as our new Chief Executive Officer.

Meredith is no stranger to the tabletop game business. She joins us from Turbo Dork, the acrylic paint company known for its bright metallic and color turbo-shifting hues. Her leadership has helped grow TD into a favorite of mini painters across the globe. She has brought new and innovative ideas to the hobby, while successfully managing a collective of creatives who know no bounds. With that experience, she is well prepared to step into her role at Steve Jackson Games.

"My excitement at joining the team at Steve Jackson Games is something I cannot express in words," says Meredith. "Mostly dinosaur-esque screeching noises. I hope to earn your trust in the months going forward, as we keep on making the games everyone loves."

Meredith got her first taste of RPGs in a telnet D&D campaign with her mighty 9600kbd modem. After that wrapped, everyone decided to try another system: GURPS . She was hooked. Now she gets to play TTRPGS every other week with friends, in a real-life setting of a comfy game room. When not playing her cleric, who is going through a crisis of faith, Meredith can be found cuddling in a pile of rescue cats.

Now, how do I, personally, feel about this? I'm over the moon! We get to keep Phil's experience and skills where they count the most . . . and, I hope, quit burning my friend out. And we get Meredith's energy and talents. Huge win.

I should also note that Meredith is not leaving Turbo Dork in the lurch; she'll continue her duties there as well. She is mighty; she can do it. And we are not acquiring TD; I say this to nip rumors in the bud. The companies remain independent . . . just even better friends than before, if such a thing is possible.

Please send both Meredith and Phil your best wishes as we open a new chapter at SJ Games!

– 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!

April 2, 2023: We Love Cats Tooling Samples

We mentioned Steve's We Love Cats game last month, and today we have factory snapshots of the dice included in the game. (Although four are shown in the images, the game only includes two dice and not four.)

We Love Cats is on our schedule for release the second half of this year, and so far everything looks to be on schedule. Our plan is to make this available to stores worldwide through our distribution partners, which will mean that so long as your local store stocks Steve Jackson Games titles, you will have no trouble getting a copy of We Love Cats once it is published.

Of course, we will also offer the game in our online store, Warehouse 23, and we're sure to make it available in a Kickstarter campaign or two as a project add-on.

We Love Cats joins our growing selection of dice and dice games later this year! Please watch the Daily Illuminator for news of this and all of our upcoming games, expansions, and accessories.

– 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!

April 1, 2023: Four Decades Later, Autoduel Champions Still Has My Favorite Summary Of The Car Wars Setting

To this day, I stand by my opinion that Aaron Allston's work on Autoduel Champions led to the creation of one of the best summaries of the Car Wars universe. Within that book, Allston wrote:

"North America, A.D. 2033. It's a new American frontier. The collapse of the U.S. government plunged the country back into the good old days - days of wilderness lawlessness, banditry, regional dictators, and of the men and women who combat them. Modern-day knights and gunslingers are in demand; but the automobile has replaced the horse, and the machine-gun and recoilless rifle have made the sword and Winchester obsolete.

Welcome to 2033. It's a rough world, but it's the only one around . . ."

And that's just the opening to the first chapter! Mixed throughout the game rules in that chapter are more tidbits of info on the Car Wars world, and I often direct people to this book – and specifically this chapter – when I'm asked for a snapshot of the Car Wars setting. Several articles and books that were produced after Autoduel Champions build on the core setting – and add a lot of depth – but I constantly return to that opening text when I need a reminder about what makes the universe so very fun.

With Car Wars Sixth Edition now in stores, fiction on the way, and something potentially much bigger that we're not ready to discuss, now's a great time to revisit Autoduel Champions and Aaron Allston's fantastic work on a Car Wars sourcebook that was, as Steve said in Space Gamer #65, "As far as I know, Autoduel Champions is the first supplement ever produced to seriously combine two different game systems, from two different publishers, in two different genres . . . "

You can grab a print copy of Autoduel Champions today! Yes, even though the book was first printed four decades ago, we have factory-fresh copies available. Some things truly do never go out of style.

– 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!

March 31, 2023: Free Easter Dice On Warehouse 23

Peter Cottontail may bring eggs and candy, but Steve Jackson Games brings free dice, and I know I need dice more than eggs. We're starting off Spring with a free Easter d6 Dice Set with physical orders of $50 or more on Warehouse 23, now through April 9. Plus, you still get awesome swag like Munchkin promos and other freebies with physical orders. No bunny has better deals and loot than we do!

Speaking of dice, we've got a number of new releases that can help you reach that $50 goal, such as the Kitten Polyhedral Dice for your favorite roleplaying games. Or maybe some of our specialized dice like The Elder Futhark Die and Seven Deadly Sins Die , perfect for adding some flare to any game you play. You could even grab some dice bags while you're there to store them all in!

This deal hops away on Easter, April 9, so fill up your baskets on Warehouse 23 now! 

– 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!

March 30, 2023: Zombie Dice 19th Printing!!!

Over the years, hundreds of thousands of copies of Zombie Dice have sold worldwide . . . and now we can report that the 19th printing has landed and is shipping to our distribution partners. 

One of our top sellers since it was launched in 2010, Zombie Dice continues to be a favorite with families, with the game's push-your-luck style appealing to players of almost any age. We've also released expansions, accessories, and expanded editions of the game, but that classic version of Zombie Dice continues to be the winner when it comes to time on tables.

If you're unfamiliar with Zombie Dice and want to learn how to play, we recommend checking out this episode of Tabletop. If you're familiar with the game but haven't played in some time, then today is a great day to pull Zombie Dice off of the shelf and teach it to your friends. As always, this makes a fantastic "game before we play a game" entry into any player's library.

– 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!

March 29, 2023: GURPS, The Fantasy Trip, And More In Print-On-Demand At DrivethruRPG

We've expanded our print-on-demand offerings quite a bit over the last few years, pushing the GURPS On Demand program to over 100 different titles that you can order right now and receive in print within a matter of weeks. Time and again, one of the biggest benefits of our efforts at building the print-on-demand catalog has been a single thing: how very easy – and inexpensive! – it is for gamers across the world to get their hands on these books. With the print-on-demand operations printing books as close to their delivery address as possible, this has reduced the cost of shipping these games. After all, wouldn't you rather most of your gaming budget go to the games themselves and not postage costs?

Recently, we've started releasing more out-of-print and hard-to-find books as print-on-demand titles at DrivethruRPG. You can find the current listing of print-on-demand books available at DrivethruRPG right here. There are only a few different titles available at the moment, but we'll keep adding to the DrivethruRPG print-on-demand catalog and (eventually!) get our full selection of print-on-demand books listed there as well as at Amazon.com.

Please click here to see the books – and cards! – that are currently available in print-on-demand at DrivethruRPG.

– 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!

March 28, 2023: Choose Cthulhu Live On Kickstarter

Choose Cthulhu , the acclaimed solitaire gamebook series of gothic horror, is live on Kickstarter! Six books based on the mythos of H.P. Lovecraft are part of this project, featuring first-person action in a horror setting.  Originally published in Spanish, the Choose Cthulhu series brings some of Lovecraft's most iconic stories to life, with you as the main character. Stories featured include:  The Call of Cthulhu At the Mountains of Madness The Shadow Over Innsmouth The Nameless City The Dunwich Horror The Dreams in the Witch House This is a new realm of interactive horror, and we're excited to bring it stateside for fans of the genre.  The Choose Cthulhu campaign runs through Thursday, April 6. Join your fellow fish-people . . . I mean normal human backers! 

– 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!

March 27, 2023: Munchkin Curses (Fourth Printing!) Now At The Factory

We've published several Munchkin mini-expansions over the years. Ranging in size from 15- to 30-card decks, these tiny supplements to the core Munchkin games bring all sorts of weirdness and fun to the table. From Knights to Princesses to Dragons to Squids , we've covered a wide variety of subjects . . . and several of them have performed well enough to receive multiple printings!

One such set that's back at the factory for more is Munchkin Curses . First released in April of 2017, the expansion has proven popular enough that we've sold through three printings. We hope that we've ordered enough in this latest (fourth) to last a couple of years, but it's impossible to judge demand for many game titles these days. Will we sell 500 or 5,000 units through distribution? It's a roll of the dice! If we get lucky, we're on the 5,000 end of the scale. If we roll poorly . . . well, don't roll poorly.

If all goes well, this latest printing of Munchkin Curses will reach stores this summer. Of course, a lot of it depends on how we roll the dice. Wish us luck!

– 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!