June 9, 2025: Paper Dreams . . . Play-By-Mail Lives!

Graph paper. #2 pencils. Floppy disks. Paper instruction manuals. It was a different world when play-by-mail games were everywhere.

You can read about this "underdog" genre – popular in decades past and still with a heartbeat – in Paper Dreams: A History of Play-by-Mail Gaming, now available. I was a fan of PBM and was happy to contribute the foreword.

And don't just read it to hear more about our own (free!) PBModem game UltraCorps (www.ultracorps.com). Dig in to reminisce about the classics of yesteryear. Explore games ranging from space operas like Starweb (a favorite of mine and still playable today), fantasy RPGs, wargames, sports games, games of intrigue and crime, and many others. But it's not just a book of lists. The author, Dave Spencer, tells us about the strange and controversial angles of PBM . . . pub brawls, blackmail and mail fraud, the moral panic of the times, obsessive players, the "adult" side, and more.

Check it out on Amazon. Reminisce. Maybe even try one of the classic PBM games still available 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!