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Illuminated Site of the Week
And how does this connect with gaming, you might ask.
And if you ask that, you don't know, so we'll tell you. Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling is a very serious wargamer. He created Multi-Man Publishing to keep the classic Advanced Squad Leader alive.
Way to go, Curt!
-- Steve Jackson
If you haven't heard of Apples to Apples, where have you been? If you have, note that there's now a conveniently bundled Party Box available, as well as the Expansion Crate One supplement for the limited-edition version that was packaged in a spiffy wooden box.
We did our own at the office. Second year in a row . . . this has all the makings of a Halloween tradition. Attendance is voluntary (but on the clock for those who play). It's not a playtest - I'm not sure anybody played any of our games all day. This is to see what everybody ELSE has come up with that's fun. I finally got to play Puerto Rico, for instance. It's as good as everyone says. And I had been saving the Pyramid review copy of The Big Idea just for today (sorry, SMarsh, but the review will appear in your mailbox shortly). I liked it a lot!
Some of us dressed up, but all the cameras caught fire when they were pointed anywhere near Wayne or me. Too bad.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: All Across The USA
The FBI may not have the spies and legal powers outside the United States that some government agencies do, but within its jurisdiction, it's a force you don't want to underestimate. FBI d20 details the organization and its uses in roleplaying games, along with related classes, feats, and the like.
October 29, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: I Knew I Shoulda Taken That Left Turn On This Mortal Coil
The tourist trade is dead, and that's a good thing as far as The Necronautical Society is concerned. They're determined to map out the Other Side (how else will they follow through on their plans for colonization?), and "die in new, imaginative ways." Incidentally, Austria has an Office of Anti-Matter.
-- Andy
Green Ronin Publishing takes the d20 System to new places with its line of campaign settings. Trojan War is set in the heroic age of mythological Greece, while The Red Star Campaign Setting pits revolutionaries against the Skyfurnaces and armies of a corrupted regime.
October 28, 2004: Great Pumpkins Man Was Not Meant To Know
It's that time of year, and one of the great Halloween stories of all time gets a classic Lovecraftian retelling in "The Great Old Pumpkin" by John Aegard, the lead story in this week's issue of Strange Horizons.
Strange Horizons is an online weekly magazine of "speculative fiction." By accepting charitable contributions and corporate sponsorships, they can pay professional rates for great fiction and art, and you can read it for free! Well worth bookmarking and checking out on a regular basis.
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: Squeezable Diseases
Collect, cuddle, and contaminate with yet more plush diseases; GIANTmicrobes has come up with a whole new list of squishy germs of various types. Ear Ache, Cough, Flesh Eating Disease, Sleeping Sickness, and the informative Hepatitis and H.I.V..
Another Linucon snippet . . . Sam Jones took video of the Chaos Machine, and did . . . this. Ain't it cool?
-- Steve Jackson
The plush GIANTmicrobes are cute, but perhaps not practical for toting around outside. Show off your appreciation for unusually large and surprisingly cuddly microbes with the GIANTmicrobes Hat and GIANTmicrobes Removable Tattoo.
SJ Games is looking for a full-time Print Buyer in our Austin office. If we find a good candidate, the current Print Buyer will move to an editorial position and will remain available for training, consultation, and shoulder-crying.
Duties will include researching print bids (and bids for other goods, like dice, as well); working with the chosen printers to make sure our requirements are understood and met; approving invoices when the job is done; and maintaining complete files throughout the process.
The ideal candidate will possess at least two years' experience in
similar work, but we realize we may need to accept less. Any
candidate will need excellent organizational and administrative
skills, a general knowledge of print media, and the ability to be
critical and assertive when appropriate! Computer literacy is a must. A reliable car and a valid driver's license are also required.
Physical Requirements: Some typing is necessary. A candidate should
not suffer from any condition which makes typing difficult or painful
(and should take appropriate ergonomic precautions to avoid the possibility of repetitive stress injury).
For more information, or to send in your resume (in Word or PDF
format), please contact Monica Stephens at monica@sjgames.com.
If you've ever had a pet eat a section of your miniatures terrain, you'll be happy to find the Dirt Cheep Keeps. Print as many pieces as you need, and don't worry about stepping on the castle gate.
"Dungeon Majesty" is a cable-access TV show in Southern California (where else?) of four young women sitting around a table playing Dungeons & Dragons with a male DM. Except intercut with the video of them playing is more video of the women in costume as their characters, acting (sort of) with not-so-special effects and . . . well, you just have to see it to believe it. Fortunately, you can, at the Dungeon Fantasy website. Don't forget to check out the QuickTime video teaser . . . if you dare.
-- Scott Haring
With all of the drow running around on the surface, you'd almost wonder if there are any left underground. But apparently they're all holing up at Dezzavold: Fortress of the Drow, gearing up for war. Good thing you went looking for them, no?
SJ Games is looking for a full-time editor in our Austin office.
Duties will include both copy editing and fact checking, as well as some
liaison with writers. Word-processing skills are required: Word, on Mac, will be most compatible with our systems, but we can put you on a PC if we have to. Quark skills would be a definite plus.
The ideal candidate will have experience as a professional editor and be familiar with the GURPS system. (It's all right if you are not yet up to speed on Fourth Edition, provided you can GET up to speed quickly.) Any candidate will need a good knowledge of gaming, especially roleplaying, and a wide background of general information.
Significant management experience could substitute for the GURPS skills, in which case your final job description would be somewhat different.
Whatever your other qualifications, please do not apply if you suspect that your grammar and spelling are less than perfect; you will be responsible for correcting others' work, and your own work must not need checking. Illiterate applications for editorial positions are posted on our office bulletin board for general mockery. A new hire whose work contains spelling and grammatical errors will simply be a drain on others' time, and will be dismissed quickly and with minimal apology. You have been warned.
Physical Requirements: Constant typing is necessary. A candidate
should not suffer from any condition which makes typing difficult or
painful (and should take appropriate ergonomic precautions to avoid the possibility of repetitive stress injury).
For more information, or to send in your resume (in ASCII or PDF
format), please contact Steve Jackson at sj@sjgames.com.
It's bleak. It's barren. It's hopeless. Big Eyes, Small Mouth d20: Everstone - Blood Legacy presents a setting where no one could possibly make a difference against the magical and mechanical terrors that reign. Er, except for the PCs, of course, who will have only moderate difficulty in changing the course of history.
The playtest for EABA Dark Millennium by Blacksburg Tactical Research Center is happening now. It is open to all Pyramid subscribers.
Dark Millennium is a gameworld of 11th century zombie terror with Biblical
overtones. In a world fraught with "millennium fever", the dead -have-
risen, the first seals in the Book of Revelations have been broken, and
well, all Hell is breaking loose. The backdrop is a near-historical western
Europe of the 11th century, with noticeable divergence due to that whole
antichrist-being-born-and-dead-walking-the-earth kind of thing.
Looking for both playtesters and blindtesters. Knowledge of the EABA rpg rules is useful, but not required.
Warehouse 23 News: Kung-Fu Triceratops
Rifts is full of magical and dangerous places to tromp through; take a look at a few more with China 2, where you find out how to stop the deadly Yama Kings, and Dinosaur Swamp, which speaks for itself. No guarantees of what will happen if you combine the two.
October 22, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: President Bush...Er, Gore...No, Cheney...Wait...De Niro?
If the world today has you down, just remember things could be worse. Or better. Today In Alternate History keeps track of all the potential threads of history. Does he have some sort of political agenda? Check in again tomorrow, it'll probably be different then. -- Suggested by R. Emrys Gordon & Chris Rose
Forget dungeon crawl spells; what about when you're trying to bust up a drug deal, or during a high-speed car chase? And how are you going to protect your hard-earned cash from hackers who can dive into your bank's computers? d20 Modern: Modern Magic gives you the edge in the magical modern age.
The Chaos Machine was a great success at Linucon . . . this incarnation was even bigger and better than the Penguicon one. Among those having Too Much Fun with it were Howard Tayler, who you ought to know by now as the creator of Schlock Mercenary, and his friend and co-CONspirator Chalain. They are both very web-savvy guys . . . so now www.conchaos.com exists, specifically to share ideas about Chaos stuff. It has both a PHPBB forum AND a wiki. (I had never used a wiki before, except when a search result sent me to Wikipedia. Wow. I would like to buy a drink, or several drinks, for the people who created that concept and made it work.)
At any rate, www.conchaos.com is open to everyone who thinks the Chaos Machine is fun and would like to see it come to more conventions. There are photos, and there will be more . . . I have wikified all my notes and documentation . . . and now the site is what fandom makes of it.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Did We Cancel The Civil War Again?
Being a time traveler is tricky; when you're not fixing the fabric of history, you're trying to get back to your own timeline and the people, pets, and potted plants you left there. Early American Chrononauts is a clever little card game of taking an active interest in history.
A couple of special Munchkin cards from Linucon . . .
"Heart of the Anomaly" was given to every Linucon attendee. Many of them got theirs signed by Wil, for the extra bonus. I have one of those, too, but I didn't scan it . . . get your OWN signature, munchkins.
"Secret Service" was a one-off card created by Howard Tayler for the Celebrity Munchkin game. I got to take it home, woo hoo. There were others, including "William F'ing Shatner." If you follow wilwheaton.net, or have read Wil's books, that will make more sense to you. But "Secret Service" is MINE, and may find its way into games that I play in the future . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Does This Sound Familiar?
Two factions of morphing giant robots wage battle across the face of the Earth, in a secret war that threatens to destroy any human unlucky enough to get caught up in it. No, not that series; it's Mechamorphosis, a complete campaign setting for the d20 System.
October 19, 2004: Illuminated Site of Last Week: They'll Let Anyone In Here
He's a microbiologist, he worked at Area 51, and - when he's not busy disappearing, being kidnapped, or having his memories wiped or altered - he's willing to speak the truth before Congress. The Mystery of Dr. Dan Burisch will all become clear if some junior senator can just clear a few minutes on the schedule. -- Andy
Warehouse 23 News: The Director's Cut
You already know that anime and the d20 System make for a clever mix of levels and point-buy, complete with flashy powers to really set your game apart. But if you've been waiting for the anime version to catch up with the d20 revision, wait no longer: Big Eyes, Small Mouth d20 Revised is already here.
These are the latest games winging, rolling, and rocking their way to distributors across the globe from Steve Jackson Games this very minute. Look for them on the shelves of your local game store in the very near future:
Munchkin Bites!
It's the World of Dorkness!
The Munchkins are now vampires . . . and werewolves . . . and changelings. Bash through the haunted house and slay the monsters. The OTHER monsters. You can't slay your fellow munchkins, but you can curse them, send foes at them, and take their stuff. Of course . . .
This is a stand-alone game, which (of course) can be combined with other Munchkin games. And it's illustrated by John Kovalic. OF COURSE. See Igor, Gilly, and all the other Dork Tower characters in their munchkin-vampire finery . . .
So bring along your Coffin (+3!) and wield The Sword Of Beheading People Just Like In That Movie. Face foes like the Banshee, the Heck Hounds, and the dreaded Were-Muskrat. Smite them all, and be the first to Level 10 . . .
Boxed game with 168 cards, rules, and die.
Stock #1419,
ISBN 1-55634-735-9.
$24.95.
Chez Geek
(Reprint)
Beer. Nookie. Roommates. Just another Friday night at Chez Geek, the fun new card game that lets you set up house with your friends -- for as long as you can stand them. Get a job at the beginning of the game, and spend money and time to accumulate Slack points. You can have a party, hang out with friends, dodge losers, and play with the cats. Borrow from your roomies so you can have snacks while you watch TV. What other game gives you points for sleeping? Just look out for the car alarm. Drink, party, and sleep late as you pursue Slack points to win the game.
Just remember, when your roommate and his S.O. keep you up all night: You can't throw them out. They live here.
112 cards in a tuck box.
Stock #1329,
ISBN 1-55634-476-7.
$16.95.
Warehouse 23 News: Thou Impertinent Beef-Witted Lout!
Nothing is sweeter than heaping gratuitious invective on your friends. And now, there's finally a game that gives you an excuse for such vituperation! Abuse: The Final Insult.
Steve Jackson Games will release this new product in February, 2005:
Murphy's Rules 2
Murphy's Rules is back with a vengeance! Since the original Murphy's collection was published in 1998, games have gotten bigger and more sophisticated, the components have gotten fancier, the boards and cards more colorful, the graphics more dazzling . . . but the boneheaded mistakes keep on coming. And that's where Murphy's Rules comes in.
In the virtual pages of Pyramid magazine, Murphy's Rules has gone right on skewering everything that is mind-boggling, ridiculous, and just plain silly in gaming. Like armor that's too heavy to wear, but you can carry it in your backpack . . . or presidential candidates who don't know what state they're from . . . or traveling across the desert by raft . . . they're all in the pages of Murphy's Rules 2, with many, many more!.
Murphy's Rules 2 features nearly 150 cartoons from John Kovalic, the Origins-award winning talent behind Dork Tower and the artist behind the Munchkin and Chez Geek line of card games. The book also features 30 or so cartoons from Greg Hyland, the latest Murphy's Rules artist and the artist behind the Lethargic Lad comic book and Ninja Burger. And there's other stuff . . . silly stuff . . .
Invite Murphy to sit in on your next game. He'll make you laugh.
80 pages.
Stock #9012,
ISBN 1-55634-483-X.
$19.95.
And In January . . .
This product was just added to our January, 2005 release schedule:
Munchkin Fu 2 - Monky Business
Munchkin Fu won the Gamer's Choice Award at last year's Origins convention for the Best Card Game of 2003. How do you follow something like that? With more mooks, more mayhem, more monsters, more munchkins, more monks – especially more monks – in Munchkin Fu 2 – Monky Business!
Munchkin Fu 2 has more of the Hong Kong martial arts chop-socky action you crave – Munchkin style! Try out some new martial arts styles, like Kong Fu, Fee Fi Fo Fu, Sna Fu, Haiku Fu, and the ever-perilous Stomach Fu! Pick up dangerous new weapons, like the Auspicious Ivory Gutting Hook or the Hong Kong Sarong, and take on frightening new monsters, like General Tso and Genghis Cong.
The team of Origins-Award-winning designer Steve Jackson and mad cartoonist Greg Hyland (Lethargic Lad, Munchkin Fu) are back again for Monky Business. And of course, like all other Munchkin products, this supplement is completely compatible with the original Munchkin and all its supplements and spinoffs, including Star Munchkin, Munchkin Bites!, and Munchkin Blender.
So if you want your Munchkin game to be more fun than a barrel of monks, be sure to get Monky Business!
112 cards in shrink-wrapped folder.
Stock #1441,
ISBN 1-55634-739-1.
$16.95.
Warehouse 23 News: The Important Things In Life
Every child at ps238 knows what's important: life With Liberty and Recess for All. The first collection about the super-powered children at that very special public school covers issues #0-5, and ps238 #7 is already out for even more precociously powerful fun.
A couple of years ago, I was introduced to an online game named UltraCorps. It had been running on MSN's Zone, but by the time I started playing, it had been dropped. The development house that owned the game allowed a few employees to keep running it on a limited basis from their offices, for free, in hopes someone would be interested in relaunching it.
Someone was.
Steve Jackson Games has bought all rights to UltraCorps and will be relaunching the game soon, first as an open beta and then as a full-featured pay-to-play project. Details of the schedule will be announced as we figure them out!
I bought this game because I really liked it. It's challenging and fun. It was ahead of its time and ahead of its market, but we're going to give it a good home, and I think a lot of our fans will like UltraCorps as much as I did.
-- Steve Jackson
Gasp! The horror! Your precious Mutants & Masterminds Character Record Folio has been stolen! Who could have done such a dastardly deed? Only the Foes of Freedom! Naturally, you'll want to pick up a copy of each by dashing to your superhero-appropriate vehicle to pursue the evil-doers.
October 15, 2004: GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars Playtest
The playtest for GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars will be starting soon. It will take place on a private mailing list. You must be a Pyramid or JTAS subscriber to take part. If you'd like to playtest, now's your chance; subscribe to Pyramid or JTAS today, and watch the playtest discussion group for signup instructions.
Chat Rescheduled!
If you get the Illuminator by newsfeed, you saw the announcement that there would be a Pyramid chat Friday (that's today now) at 6pm. It's been rescheduled to MONDAY.
Warehouse 23 News: Obligatory Dragon On The Cover
Nodwick and his employers tumble through yet another round of fantasy mayhem in Nodwick Chronicles IV, including the musical issue! (Yes. With lyrics and notes as to what tunes they're being sung to and everything. Really. Look, just go see for yourself.)
October 14, 2004: What's New With Steve Jackson Games?
If you were wondering what was new with us, you'd likely ask Steve Jackson, Sean Punch, or Andrew Hackard. But what would you ask Jeff Johannigman and Wil Upchurch?
Next Monday, at 6pm CST (7pm on the East Coast, 4pm on the West), you'll get your chance to ask all your questions of our head honchos on Pyramid's fabulous Chat! Say goodbye to Andrew, greet the new guys, ask Steve about Linucon, and poke Sean about GURPS Powers!
(Yes, we realize this isn't the best time for you West Coasters, but we promise to hang around for a while, and the log will be posted ASAP. Look at it this way -- at least you're not in Tokyo's time zone!)
Pyramid is our online zine, now with more chats and GURPS sneak peeks. As always, Pyramid has Ken Hite's Suppressed Transmission, weekly comics (including John Kovalic's Dork Tower and Murphy's Rules, drawn by Greg Hyland), and reviews from every area of gaming. Click here to subscribe!
Warehouse 23 News: Sorcerous Supervillains
Take your Champions game to strange and powerful places with three new books. Galactic Champions sets you up for ultra-high-powered conflict, The Mystic World gives you a place to play, and Arcane Adversaries tells you who you'll be meeting while you're there.
GURPS Fantasy did go to press today. Moe, Monica, Alex, Scott, and Andrew all got to be heroes. Takes a lot of heroes to get a 240-page book to press when it doesn't want to go . . . It will be a very fine book. It just had a difficult birth. GURPS Magic is much, much more under control, and a good thing, too.
-- Steve Jackson
For the dedicated chess aficionado, Warehouse 23 offers three different complete hand-made chess sets based on historical pieces: the Isle of Lewis, Medieval German, and Victorian Pattern chess sets. These are all large resin-cast pieces done in careful detail.
Writing this Monday night after returning from Linucon. My living room is filled with boxes of Chaos and Pirates stuff which needs to be checked and sorted before going onto the shelves. I'm pretty whipped. But, amazingly and happily, not dead-miserable-sick tired. Just "wow, long week" tired. I take this as a good sign . . . I'm not sure that six months ago I could have handled a week like the last one, and definitely not without spending a couple of days at home afterward, twitching. (And having said that, I have no excuse not to get right back to my exercise. I slacked . . . not skipped, but slacked . . . over the weekend. Tonight I owe myself the full program. It is very nice to feel healthier, even when the only benefit is that it keeps me from falling down and twitching.)
Because there is no time in the schedule for twitching. Must get GURPS Fantasy to press; must deal with the unplanned downsizing of the editorial staff; must spend quality time thinking about digital projects now that Johann is on the team.
Linucon wrapup: The con finished up successfully, and those of you who missed it should try harder next year. Everyone had a great time, including the guests. Much liquid nitrogen ice cream was eaten, and many geek toys were played with. The Pirate Game went very well. The Mad Game Design went very well. And the Chaos machine went INCREDIBLY well. I will have pictures.
Followup: This didn't run last night; the playtest announcement took precedence. So: It was a productive day. There is now less stuff in the living room. GURPS Fantasy didn't go to press, but tomorrow I think it will. I'm closer to caught up on sleep; another night should do it. And I'm deep in conversation that will probably culminate in the creation of an organized Chaos Toy fandom (Organized Chaos. What a name.) But I won't blab more till the site is up.
And, blogsurfing, I see that both Howard Tayler and Wil Wheaton are feeling just like I am. They both report having a great time, and being too pooped to write about it . . . yet. Heh! Mission accomplished!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Who Let The Zombie Dogs Out?
It's been a long hard night, but the saga of Zombies!!! is finally coming to The End. All that stands between you and the conclusion of your terror and hard work is an empty forest. Well, mostly empty. Did we mention the barking?
In order to be able to give more people the opportunity to be a part of the GURPS Banestorm playtest, we will be reopening the call for
playtesters on Tuesday, October 12. This playtest will take place on a private mailing list, but you still must be a Pyramid or JTAS subscriber to take part. If you'd like to playtest GURPS Banestorm, you still have a chance: subscribe to Pyramid or JTAS today, and then visit the .playtest message board for instructions on how to apply! We apologize for the confusion that has surrounded this playtest, and thank you all for your patience.
--Stephan Pennington, Lead Playtester GURPS Banestorm
Warehouse 23 News: Fly, My Pretties! Fly!
For those who wish to avoid political debate, biased arguments, and one-sided rants deriding the opposition . . . Attack of the Political Cartoonists probably isn't for you. But if you'd like to see a wide array of political cartoons leaping upon various topics with the intensity of rabid winged monkeys, this book is for you!
Short note from Linucon:
• It's going well. Having fun.
• It had NOT been a good week going into the event . . . much stress, not enough sleep. The con is a great break; that's good. Much more sleep was lost in completing preparations. That's . . . interesting. The con is giving away little bars of caffeine-laced soap and right now I really wish I'd picked one up.
• The celebrity Munchkin game was a hoot. Howard Tayler drew some new cards, and I got to keep the Secret Service one. I'll scan it for you later. I got killed by Cthulhu. Wil Wheaton won with a couple of good plays.
• The Chaos Machine is simply incredible. As of Friday night it was already larger and neater than the last time it was out. Not as densely filled with track, yet, but give it time. Oh, I hope I hope I hope that somebody's getting good photos.
• Today: 12 hours of Pirate Game. We were working on setup till about midnight last night. Arr.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Zombies And Conspiracies And Spaceships, Oh My
Eden Studios Presents: Volume 1 is Eden Studio's new in-house magazine, packed with Unisystem goodness from All Flesh Must Be Eaten to Conspiracy X. The first issue includes a stellar little mini-setting about spaceships and prairie folk.
It is with great regret that I share the news that Andrew Hackard is leaving us. He's been an invaluable part of the team for the last few years, and he's one of the people without whom the Fourth Edition of GURPS would simply not have happened. He's also a great deal of fun to work with; the place will be darker without him. But he has been offered a very sweet gig editing math textbooks: more money and less stress. For him, I'm delighted. For us . . . well, we'll sort it out.
I am not going to say that this will not affect our schedule for the next year. It will. But I say again, we'll sort it out. And Andrew won't turn into a stranger; depending on how the new job works out, he may even pick up some editing work on a freelance basis.
There is as yet no job posting because Andrew and I were both consumed last week with getting GURPS Fantasy to press, and with preparing for our responsibilities for Linucon. Something should be posted soon. Actually, since we already had an empty slot in the editorial department, we'll probably be looking for two people. The first one will need to have at least two of the qualities "GURPS 4e god," "experienced editor with immaculate English skills," and "can work in the Austin office." The second posting, I expect, will call strongly for whichever of those we don't get with the first hire.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Holding Up Icosahedrons
Babylon 5, Conan, Paranoia . . . Mongoose Publishing has grabbed up all sorts of licenses for its RPGs, and continues to support them with the latest issues of their in-house magazine: Signs & Portents #11, Signs & Portents #12, and Signs & Portents #13.
October 8, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: Rather Sensible Vehicles In Disguise
Don’t be fooled by the innocuous Mini Cooper – you don’t know the kind of firepower this thing can field.
Some of the secrets have now been revealed, and this may be only the tip of the iceberg. How many of these things are on the road already? -- Suggested by Jason Mical
Insanity and technology go together like peanut butter and jelly. Get a taste of both in a wild steampunk setting with Girl Genius #11 and Girl Genius #12, featuring full-color Foglio art.
The SJ Games crew will be out in force at Linucon this weekend, since it's (a) a neat idea, and (b) right here in Austin. The Chaos machine will be up. I will be running a large and long session of my Pirate Game all day Saturday. And at all times the Pirate Game is NOT running, we'll be doing Evil Stevie's Mad Lab of Game Design, with playtests and sneak peeks at things you Have Not Seen. So come check us out!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Touching The Divine
Paladins and clerics and druids and shamans . . . Flex your spiritual powers and take control of your own destiny with Hunt: Rise of Evil - The Pantheon and Pagan Faiths, a d20 System sourcebook for all things holy and profane.
We are proud to announce that Jeff Johannigman (known as “Johann” to his friends), has joined us as our first “Director of Digital Game Development.” It will be his job to bring our paper games to electronic form, and to develop new computer game titles as well. (And another computer-related project, a couple of years in progress, is about to bear fruit just in time for Johann to lend his skills to it. But that's a story for next week. Stay tuned.)
A long-time computer game industry veteran, his first game was published in 1982 by Atari, on cassette tape for a 16K Atari 800 PC. Since then, he has worked as a programmer, designer, and producer for such companies as Electronic Arts, Sierra/Dynamix, MicroProse, and Origin. He has worked on over two dozen published computer games including Ashen Empires, Master of Orion, This Means War!, Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire, Lords of Conquest, Demon Stalkers, The Ancient Art of War in the Skies, and Ultima: Runes of Virtue.
Johann says, "It was a plastic baggie copy of Ogre, back when I was in high school in the 1970’s, that first got me into gaming. I'm proud to have come full circle to work on the games that were my first love."
You can reach him at johann@sjgames.com.
Warehouse 23 News: Chicken Soup For The Superhero's Soul
Multiple-personality disorders are bad enough when you can't split into multiple copies of yourself and argue each side. And what about the super-strength superhero with anger issues? Fortunately, Dr. Blink: Superhero Shrink is here in the first issue of his new comic, ready to ease your mind! (Extra charge for telepaths.)
Pyramid Magazine, the award-winning online publication devoted to the best in gaming, published its 5,000th article this week.
And what's going on this week in Pyramid? Why, no less than the last semi-final round of our third Iron Ref competition! In Iron Ref, we pit three competitors against each other, each representing a specific genre. Our mysterious Iron Ref benefactor (who bears a curious resemblance to Kenneth Hite) comes up with three mysterious ingredients -- plot elements that need to be utilized. A harried 24 hours later, our compactors emerge, each with a 2,500-word adventure.
Our three competitors and their genres are:
| Greg Porter | | Time Travel |
| Aaron Rosenberg | | Western |
| Owen K.C. Stephens | | Fantasy |
And the secret ingredients are . . . well, that would be telling.
This week we've also got Part Two of Kenneth Hite's meaty Suppressed Transmission about Route 66, another installment of John Kovalic's Dork Tower, and more!
If you're a Pyramid subscriber, head on over now and check out this week's issue. Remember that your votes will help determine who shall emerge as the Iron Ref. And if you're not a subscriber already, subscribe today and see what we've been doing for our first 5,000 articles!
-- Steven Marsh, Editor of Pyramid Magazine
Warehouse 23 News: Into The Deep Dark Forest
Fairy tales just got a little spookier. Dark Tales introduces new cards for Once Upon a Time, full of trolls and curses and terror in the night. Not happily-ever-after enough for your tastes? Then write your own stories and endings with the Create-Your-Own Storytelling Cards.
Our Internet provider, Birch, had a bad day over about half of Texas. As a result, our site was unreachable for some of Sunday, and dead slow for some of the rest. As I write this, it's supposedly fixed.
In the long run, we need a multi-home solution (translation: T-1 lines from at least two different providers, so we've still got some sort of connection even if one of them has an outage). Right now we have a single T-1, but every month we get a little closer to needing more capacity. We may just have to co-locate at a facility that's already multi-homed.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Barbarian Action Hour
Conan's really gotten around. Traveling along The Road of Kings, sailing among the Pirate Isles . . . But you can still put fiendish traps in his way, and cackle from behind the Conan Game Master's Screen.
Long, long ago, when SJ Games was just getting started, Denis Loubet did some fantastic covers for us . . . as well as all the original Cardboard Heroes. He eventually moved on to computer game illustration, creating a lot of covers for the Ultima series and other games. And occasionally we'd say hi at conventions.
So I ran into Denis at the Austin Game Conference a few weeks ago, and we said hi . . . and it turned out that HE had a free spot in his schedule right when WE needed some illustrations for GURPS Fantasy. Sometimes things just work out!
And check out Denis' own web page, with lots of images of the work he's been doing.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: After The Dead Rise
You're One of the Living. Society collapsed, you crawled out of the rubble and fought to survive against the encroaching undead - or maybe you didn't. Maybe zombies show up on Zombie Smackdown on pay-per-view every night. All Flesh Must Be Eaten. Hope it's not yours.
October 2, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: And Here I Thought You'd Done Something Clever
Turns out Tolkien was just painting by numbers. If you really want to know how to write a best-selling fantasy novel, you need only familiarize yourself with this quick guide. Let the cash cow moo. -- Submitted by Jeff Kyer
EverQuest: Realms of Norrath - Dagnor's Cauldron presents another area for high fantasy adventure. There's no cooking involved, but you may get a chance to go up against the greatest mortal wizard in the setting's history, which is probably even better, assuming you're not all that hungry at the moment and in the mood to fight for your life.
October 1, 2004: And You Thought Webcams Were Just For Bored College Kids
Now geology is getting into the act, with the Mount St. Helens webcam. Refresh the page 10 times a minute so you can be the first one in your cubefarm to see it when it blows!
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Check out Warehouse 23's top selling items for September at the Warehouse 23 Top 10 page.
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