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Illuminated Site of the Week
November 30, 2004: If Textbooks Are Going To Be Labeled For Content...
We can, at the very least, choose the labels.
Swarthmore College's
Natural Science department has a wonderful set of labels you can print
for yourself to supplement or cover the content labels required by some school boards in
this country.
Warehouse 23 News: Wizards In Spaaaaaace
Always wanted to send your sorcerer to the stars, but never knew where to start? The Dragonstar: Essential Collection collects five handy books that can let you play the the spaceships-and-magic game you've been missing out on.
Woot! Nice cover, too.
There are now several translated versions of Munchkin out there.
In the Netherlands, PS Games has translated the original game and Munchkin 2 - Unnatural Axe.
In Germany, Pegasus has translated those two and Munchkin Bites! Their version of Bites came out the same time that ours did, which was cool.
In Italy, Raven has done those three and Munchkin 3 - Clerical Errors as well!
A Spanish version should be out before too long, and others are on the horizon.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Find Holy Places, Take Their Stuff
Masterwork Maps: Temples and Shrines presents a variety of holy (and unholy) grounds for your characters to go tromping through. Does it really matter which forgotten god that statue depicts when the statue is made of gold? I didn't think so.
Dianna Tong has created a number of Munchkin icons, suitable for LJ or other use, from John Kovalic's card art. Is this cool, or what? Use them with our blessing. Thanks, Dianna! Here's the icon page.
Warehouse 23 News: Bunnies Are Boring
Everyone's done plush bunnies. Toothy bunnies, cutesy bunnies, happy bunnies, grumpy bunnies. But who's done a bunny that goes beyond the call of bunnyhood? That's when you need the Bunnywith, Bunnywith Tentacles, Bunnywith Baby. They're so much more than ordinary bunnies.
Before too long we're going to announce a supplement to Ninja Burger - illustrated, once again, by Greg Hyland.
What I don't have, at the moment, is a funny title for the supplement. I've got some unfunny ones. You don't want to hear them. Contest time.
Mail your suggestions to me at sj@sjgames.com. Be sure that "Ninja Burger 2" is in the title of your e-mail. (If you don't do that, the miracles of spam filtering may prevent me from seeing your entry.) Feel free to include multiple suggestions in a single letter. All entries become property of SJ Games, none can be acknowledged, blah blah. If we pick a title from the contest, the first one to submit it will be credited in the product, will be invited to playtest the new cards, and will get a half-dozen free copies.
Don't make me call it "Death by Wasabi," okay?
You have one week from today. Think hard, grasshopper!
-- Steve Jackson
You've done horror, jungles, kung-fu. Your movies have bored millions to tears. But it's time for a new genre, your tiny director's heart calls out to you. It's time for B-Movie Card Games: Bell-Bottomed Badasses on the Mean Streets of Funk.
November 26, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: From The Turkey's Point Of View
Stop complaining about dinner around the table with your in-laws and consider the plight of Wayne Manzo. When he goes to the shelter for the holiday, the psycho aliens cut into his feet or take him down. At least they did in 2000; he hasn't updated his Notes (beware the pop-ups) since then because he's being censored and kept prisoner on the streets with nothing but a camera and web access to fight the good fight in Cincinnati. Watch his lawsuit against a population of aliens and dead people, with English, grammar, and web coding all vying for his attention. -- Andy
What, you thought only stone dungeons held adventure? Take a walk through the Haunted Woods of Malthorin or go poking around in the Den of the Wererats, and see if you've changed your mind. Dungeoneer card games can also be combined, so if you really want a forest inside a den, it's all good!
I see terrible writing all the time. I see it in unsolicited manuscripts from people who hope to become writers. I see it in drafts from people who already consider themselves professionals, who have created this stuff under a contract and expect me to pay for it. I see it, perhaps most horrible of all, in applications for editorial jobs.
And occasionally I see a how-to-write-better article that I think might actually help someone who paid attention to it. Here's one.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Handier Than A Vulcan With A Tricorder
The Klingon G1 Gunboat brings you eye-to-hex with a staple of the Klingon Deep Space Fleet, with the first deck plan for GURPS Prime Directive.
A bit of good news, or what passes for good news these days: Washington's negotiators at the UN have reportedly backed away from their previous attempts to get an international treaty against all research on cloning human cells. Here's the CNN report.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Monsters In The Closet
And under the bed. Sitting next to you in the subway. Lurking in the sewers. Smiling at you across the counter at the grocery store . . . They're out there, and you don't know where they are, who they are, what they can do. Welcome to the World of Darkness. Watch your step.
Penny Arcade launched this drive last year and raised over $250,000 worth of toys and games for the Seattle Children's Hospital. This year they're repeating the campaign for five children's hospitals across the country. This is a Good Thing. Will you help? Visit Child's Play.
Angst. Horror. The terror of giving in to the beast that lives within you. Yes, it's time for the newest version of that classic game of modern urban horror: Vampire: The Requiem! (Werewolves not included. Dice sold separately.)
November 22, 2004: One Small Step Toward Space Travel For YOU
Space advocates in Congress have been trying to lighten the regulatory load on the fledgling passenger-carrying space industry. As of last week, it looked as though the bills would die in committee, due to the vagaries of a "lame duck" Congress. But compromise language was reached, and HR 5382 passed the House on Saturday morning by a vote of 269-110.
The next step is the Senate . . . and time is short. We strongly urge you to call your Senators and tell them to pass the Senate counterpart to HR 5382 before the session ends. The official title of the House bill is "Proposed Amendments to the Commercial Space Launch Act"; it will be named something similar in the Senate.
To find the office number of your Senator, go to:
www.senate.gov
Select the state, call the office number (it begins with area code 202), and tell the staffer that you strongly urge them to pass the legislation corresponding to HR 5382.
If asked for a reason, say something short -- "It's important to the
success of the commercial space flight industry".
And if you're going to call, do it now -- if it doesn't get passed this session, the entire process has to start over next year!
Warehouse 23 News: Completing The Collection
The Hail Mary T-shirt for Lunch Money has been around a while, but now it's available all the way up to 5XL. We just thought you might want to know.
GURPS Powers is the guide to creating characters with superhuman gifts using the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. It deals with using modifiers to customize existing advantages into abilities, and then grouping related abilities under overarching powers similar to the psi powers in the Basic Set. It also provides variants for existing advantages, several new advantages, and rules for using abilities and powers. This rules material, written by Sean Punch, is now ready for playtesting. (The remaining material covers genres and campaigns, and isn't ready for testing.)
We will conduct the Powers playtest on a closed mailing list. Only Pyramid subscribers are eligible to participate, and list membership is limited. Interested parties should write to Sean Punch by no later than November 24, 2004, and should include a brief note describing past playtesting experience and familiarity with GURPS, Fourth Edition. As we anticipate many replies, we cannot reply to individual applications.
Interested but not a Pyramid subscriber?
Subscribe today!
If neither the anime nor the BESM games can convince you to become a Trigun fan, perhaps you need to go back to the manga that started it all. Trigun Volume 1 and Volume 2 introduce you to the planet Gunsmoke, where science fiction and westerns collide with a well-intentioned man who leaves a vast trail of destruction behind him.
The following products are now shipping from our warehouse and will be in stores in the very near future, depending on shipping times and the luck of the Thanksgiving holiday:
GURPS Fantasy
Create a world that could never be! GURPS Fantasy is the complete toolkit to let you build a campaign of heroic deeds and wondrous magic. It discusses the genre in depth -- with all its subgenres and inspirations (myth, novels, movies, etc.) -- allowing you to handle any
kind of fantasy.
GURPS Fantasy gives detailed, concrete advice for assembling fantasy settings -- from the basics of the landscape itself, through its inhabitants and cultures, to the details of believable histories and politics. It also examines the nature of supernatural forces, and discusses the impact of wizards, monsters, and gods. And, of course, it looks at the many different ways that magic and users of magic can work in a fantasy world.
And, perhaps most importantly, it advises GMs and players alike on the kinds of characters appropriate to fantasy -- including ordinary folks, people with fantastic powers, and nonhumans.
Whether your model is Tolkien, Jordan, or Leiber, this book will let create a town, a country, or an entire world. Like all Fourth Edition books, it's a full-color hardcover.
(This is not an update of the Yrth setting presented in the old
GURPS Fantasy. We're going to give that world its own book, GURPS
Banestorm, sometime next year.)
240 pages. Hardback.
Stock #01-1001,
ISBN 1-55634-519-4.
$34.95.
Munchkin 2 - Unnatural Axe
(Reprint)
Back in print! (Sorry . . . we sold out again.) Created by Steve Jackson and illustrated by John Kovalic . . . 112 more cards for the game of killing monsters and taking their stuff. Play a new race: Orcs! Face foes like the Hydrant and the Tentacle Demon. Equip yourself with dread armor like the Spiked Codpiece. Recruit allies like the Shoulder Dragon. Wield mighty weapons like Druid Fluid, the Catapult and, of course, the dread Unnatural Axe . . . and show them who’s the greatest munchkin of all.
112 cards. Stock #1410, ISBN 1-55634-554-2. $16.95.
Warehouse 23 News: This Weirdness Is Not Approved By The Government
Hellboy fans can find a whole slew of new shorts and stories in Weird Tales - Volume Two, B.P.R.D. - The Soul of Venice and Other Stories, and Odder Jobs. Or if you've had enough plot and just want pretty pictures, see The Art of Hellboy (also available in hardcover).
November 19, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: Tickle Your Whiskers
The cat ban in many homes may be coming to an end. Allerca claims by 2007 they'll be able to start putting hypoallergenic cats into households everywhere. Come sniff out the deals, though the price tag is nothing to sneeze at. -- Suggested by Carl D Cravens & Bob Portnell
Warehouse 23 News: Mythos Motor Sports Madness
If you've ever wanted a "Nyarlathotep Is My Copilot" bumper sticker, strap yourself into your Satanic Pushcart and get ready for the Cthulhu 500. It's time for the card game where you can finally win the race for The Sponsor That Must Not Be Named.
As a test of our new FNORD codes, we added GURPS Character Assistant to our "March Releases" announcement yesterday. Most of you didn't see it, but will feel the undeniable urge to want it in about a month.
What? You saw that? Blast, back to the drawing board . . .
(No, we didn't test any FNORD codes. GURPS Character Assistant is actually scheduled for April; only the most intense wishful thinking ever put it in March, but we missed correcting it in the database. Sorry for the confusion; consider it an early teaser. And it has now been removed from that announcement, so you'll just have to follow the link above to see what we're talking about.)
The gods meddle in human affairs, and the humans meddle right back. Heroes are at each other's throats on the battlefields, and the Fair Folk wait in the forests to take the unwary. Enter the world of Exalted, an epic fantasy like no others.
Steve Jackson Games will release the following products in March, 2005:
SPANC
SPANC Them All!
Life is good when you're a Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirl. Enjoy a life of larceny and mayhem as you embark on one Caper after another. Defeat every challenge the galaxy throws at you, from the Friendly Guard Puppies all the way to the Fiendish Death Trap. Pick up Toys (and the occasional Poolboy), grab more Fame than anyone else, and watch your tail . . . because the other catgirls want what you've got!
Lovingly illustrated by Phil Foglio, SPANC is a fast-paced card game of space pirates, ninja, amazons, and catgirls. All at once.
108 full-color oversized cards, counters, rulesheet, and dice in a 6" x 9" box.
Stock #1390,
ISBN 1-55634-738-3.
$24.95.
Munchkin Dice
There are lots of ways to keep track of your level in Munchkin – coins, pretty glass stones, even candy (which has its drawbacks if your rivals eat your levels when you look away). You could just "remember" your level, but would you trust some other player who tried that? We didn't think so. In the end, most gamers use a good old 10-sided die. And now we've got the ultimate, creme de la creme of 10-sided dice – six of them, all different colors! – in the brand-new Munchkin Dice set!
These oversized (35.6mm), swirly-shiny 10-siders all have the victorious Super Munchkin's picture in place of the "0". When you reach Level 10 and claim victory, everyone will see that YOU are the ultimate Munchkin!
And new dice just cry out for a new random-results table. So here it is. You'll like it (heh, heh) . . .
And finally, there are 14 brand-new, never-before-seen Munchkin cards to make your character even more overpowered. Try adding "Master" to your Class, earning you extra Treasure! Or become a "High" or "Dark" member of your Race! And when your opponent sells Treasure for a Level, now you can "Mug the Shopkeeper" and take the best Treasure item for yourself! There's more – of course – but you're going to have to roll the Munchkin Dice to get them!
Six big 10-sided dice and 14 Munchkin cards, plus rules, in a clamshell display pack.
Stock #1442,
ISBN 1-55634-737-5.
$14.95.
Warehouse 23 News: Into The Iron Kingdoms
In a time of war and conflict, take up your saw-toothed blade and forgelock pistols. Dodge the steamjacks or control them. Lurk in the ash-covered cities or step out into the snow-covered battlefields. The Iron Kingdoms Character Guide: Full-Metal Fantasy Volume 1 is waiting.
Author Robert Sarmast has announced that he has discovered the lost continent of Atlantis, lurking just 80km southeast of Cyprus in the Levantine region of the Mediterranean. He says he has sonar pictures to prove it, with more proof to come. It's all on his website, of course. Check it out and decide for yourself.
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: The Very Model Of A Modern Urban Vampire
If you feel the undead have been inadequately represented in today's comics, Matchsticks #1 and Matchsticks #2 will give you more vampires than you can shake a cross at, along with assorted mysterious pasts (and futures), scantily-clad mistresses of darkness, and the odd undead assassin.
Games Magazine has an annual "Games 100" list, in which they highlight the best in board and card games. You may note a couple of familiar faces on this year's list. (They don't seem to have a website; you can see the complete list by buying their magazine or visiting Funagain.)
Spooks, with design by Jason Wittman and illustrations by Alex Fernandez, was a selection in the category of Family Card Game.
The Dork Tower board game, with design by Phil Reed and Steve Jackson, and illustrations by John Kovalic, was a Family Strategy Game selection.
And in the "hey, look what else cool made it onto the List" category, Timeline from James Ernest was listed under Family Games, and Whad'Ya Know?, designed and illustrated by John Kovalic, was listed under Party Game.
Congratulations to all the nominees and winners!
Warehouse 23 News: Itty Bitty Muskrat
Dork Tower readers no longer need to be satisfied with T-shirts alone for showing off their fannish devotion: walk around with the Carson the Muskrat Cloisonne Pin on your chest, or Gilly Cloisonne Pin on your bag. (Not recommended for piercings. No, really. We mean it.)
GURPS Fantasy is coming to a game store near you this month. But
you want to know what this compendium of the fantastic covers now!
Never fear. Now available from the GURPS Fantasy page is the Table of
Contents, the Index, and the Introduction chapter, all in PDF. Check out the chapters (what's a "wug," and what's it doing on page 59?), be amazed at the "About the Author" (quick, when did he start roleplaying?), and be the first to know the credited playtesters.
Need more info? No one knows more about the book than the author, so William Stoddard will be chatting with one and all in Pyramid's auditorium on Friday, 19 November, at 7pm (Central). You can find out about the wugs, which games he started with, and where Roma Arcana came from (pages 195-232).
Pyramid is our online zine, now with more chats and sneak peeks at upcoming GURPS Fourth Edition supplements. 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: Like Mecha, But With Teeth
Dragons lurk in the realm of fantasy, mecha stride through science fiction. But why not put the two together? DragonMech lets you go stomping across the continent in tons of mystical or steam-powered metal, and The Shardsfall Quest gives you a reason to do so.
We've got more coming this month, but because it's ready now and we know you just can't wait, these products are on their way to distributors and will be on the shelves of your favorite local game stores in a matter of days, as modified by the phase of the moon, the mana level in your particular area, and how many points you put into the Luck advantage during character creation:
Burn in Hell
Cleopatra. Blackbeard. Attila the Hun. Richard Nixon. John Wilkes Booth.
Collect the souls of the damned! In Burn in Hell, you try to assemble the tastiest "Circles" of history's sinners. Trade souls with your rivals . . . or just steal the ones you need. Collect groups of Mass Murderers, Cannibals, or even Clerics . . . or build sets of the Seven Deadly Sins. Burn in Hell will keep you on your toes – can you see the sets that fit together for the most points? Can you steal a rival's key card before he can make a Circle?
Each card includes a great Greg Hyland caricature and a biography of the soul. You'll have a lot of fun reading (and arguing) about why each of these people was invited to the Permanent Pitchfork Party. And to rule in Hell, you must use strategy and cunning, because this game's not over until the last soul is snatched . . .
168 full-color cards plus rulesheet.
Stock #1420,
ISBN 1-55634-666-2.
$24.95.
Chez Goth
(Reprint)
Angst. Nookie. Roommates. Just another Friday night at Chez Goth.
This stand-alone game puts a new spin on the award-winning (and all too realistic) Chez Geek. You're still living with a bunch of roommates . . . but now you're a Goth!
Work at your dreary job. Spend your hard-earned money and precious time to accumulate Slack points . . . or collect Gloom when life turns against you. As it will! You can earn Slack for buying Clothes, Shinies, and Booze . . . or you can just Cough, Complain, or even Faint Dramatically, especially if you have an audience. And if you get very lucky, there might be some Graveyard Nookie in your future.
Yes, you can combine these cards with Chez Geek and have a house full of Goths AND slackers. Fortunately, it's just a game . . . isn't it?
112 cards in a tuck box.
Stock #1354,
ISBN 1-55634-728-6.
$16.95.
From the opening minutes of D-Day to the liberation of Paris and beyond, take command of the battles that changed the course of World War II. Memoir '44 is a board game of tactics and warfare that puts you in charge of the forces that shaped history.
November 12, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: ...And Everyone's Invited
Ever have one of those college professors who regaled you with tales of a misspent youth, involving the throwing of a chunk of sodium into a large body of water? In this day and age of rampant Homeland Security crackdowns, it's good to see someone still thinks enough of the scientific process not to wuss out when doing something incredibly dangerous. And make no mistake, the Sodium Party is as perilous as such stunts get. -- Suggested by Ed Elder
Fantasy Hero Grimoire II is packed full of even more spells for the Hero System than before. With ten new categories, you'll be set for anything from Arcanomancy (a rather meta magic) to Song Magic, where words really can harm you.
Good news for Jeff Johannigman was bad news for us: he was here half-time while searching for a full-time position, and an amazingly good one came amazingly fast. He's now at Dell. Johann may not have been here long, but he gave us a great kick-start to our efforts, and will still be giving us advice to which we'll definitely listen.
The good news for us: Johann's last act was to bring us a great replacement. Chris Maka will be taking over where Jeff left off . . . our full-time Executive Producer, leading our digital game development efforts. Chris has six years' experience as an IT project manager and comes to us from NCsoft, where he worked on City of Heroes, Guild Wars, Lineage, Lineage II, Richard Garriott’s Tabula Rasa, and Auto Assault.
Chris got hooked on gaming back in 1980 when he discovered both Dungeons and Dragons and the Atari 2600, and claims to have played “nearly everything” since then. His first Steve Jackson Games love was Car Wars in the small, black plastic box circa 1983. Chris will be around for the long haul (“Coming here was the offer I couldn’t refuse!”). He can be reached at cmaka@sjgames.com.
Gamma World isn't exactly a setting full of warm fuzzy feelings and easily trusted people. Of course, if it were, it wouldn't be so much fun. Cryptic Alliances & Unknown Enemies gives you allies, rivals, and communities that may help you or hate you. Now if you could just figure out which was which . . .
November 10, 2004: Dragon's Lair, Now In Four Locations!
Whenever one of the Austin Steve Jackson Games crew talks about "FLGS," chances are we're talking about David Wheeler's Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy. David first opened his store 1986, and has been growing steadily ever since. I remember the little house on 38th Street back in 1996, with the comics and games crammed into every nook and cranny -- heaven!
Recently, Dragon's Lair opened their fourth store, and completed a move of their main location to an even bigger building. So they're celebrating November 12 - 15, with demos, prizes, and general fun for all.
If you're in north Austin, Round Rock, San Marcos, or San Antonio this weekend, stop by and say "hi!" You just might bump into a game designer or two.
Warehouse 23 News: Somewhat More Deluxe Than Ever!
If you've ever found yourself trying to convince your friends to invest in Moisturized Radios, Addictive Sushi, or Mentholated Umbrellas, you've probably been playing The Big Idea. Now you can hone your marketing skills with The Big Idea: Semideluxe Edition, with new cards and an actual box.
The good folks over at Games Quarterly came up with an excellent idea, a way for the gaming industry to help gamers spread their love of gaming to their friends and family.
NGW™ is a coordinated nationwide promotional campaign to raise awareness of games as positive, social entertainment. The industry and game players will achieve this together, by creating a weeklong series of events that get people's attention- a celebration of games. The staff of Games Quarterly is the coordinators. NGW even has its own official U.S. postage stamp!
National Games Week is now established as the fourth week of November every year. This year that makes it November 21-27, a Sunday through Saturday, when families and friends are coming together. It is a perfect time to play games.
NGW™ events will take place, for this inaugural year, in an expected 15,000 homes, schools, churches, colleges, community centers and retail stores. Game Retailers will run events, but otherwise events will be run when people such as you decide to take up the challenge. You have a keen interest in games and therefore are our best ambassador- we hope you will decide to Host a Games Day during National Games Week, invite friends and family, gamer and non-gamer alike. The more people that hear the message the more new game players there will be.
Make your own event wherever you like- your home, school, church, or community center, and invite lots of people. Or, contact your local game retailer to find out what events they are going to run- they might even want your help with their events.
You are going to be provided with the tools to make a fun, successful event- posters, invitation cards, official stamps, and information for teachers, even games. The NGW™ web site is www.nationalgamesweek.net. On this site you can get lots of information. Then, should you decide to become a member of National Games Week (there is no fee), you can log in to the secure part of the web site and find all sorts of resources that you can order. Some are free, some have a shipping and handling charge, while others have a minimal cost. Stock up on all the supplies you need, including promotional packages of products from the publishers themselves.
During your Games Day be sure to have both your favorite games and some games suitable for newcomers. Be prepared to teach the games to them so they can start enjoying games right away.
For Educators
On the NGW™ web site there is lots of information plus some special resources for your Games Day at school. Also, in each issue of Games Quarterly Magazine there is a good article on teaching games- you can download previous articles on the NGW™ web site. You can also get a How To Host a Games Day kit at no cost, by ordering it on the web site.
The legal fine print:
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
ngw@gamesquarterly.net
National Games Week is coordinated by:
Matthews Simmons Marketing
80 Garden Center, Suite 16, Broomfield, CO 80020 USA
Phone 303-469-3277 Fax 303-468-6174
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Games Quarterly Catalog, Games Quarterly Magazine, GQC, GQM, National Games Week, National Games Day, Games Day and NGW are trademarks owned by Matthews Simmons Marketing. All Rights Reserved.
Warehouse 23 News: Real Physics, No Waiting
For those who want the gritty crunch of real physics in their tactical space combat game, but don't want to take several years off to acquire a degree in astrophysics, Attack Vector: Tactical gives you amazing 3-D space combat that even elementary school kids could play.
has to be the neatest Flash game I've seen in quite some time. It's cute, slightly complex, slightly challenging, and cute. Did I mention cute? Once you beat the last level, there's a bit of a letdown, because that's all there is and you want more. But "leave 'em wanting more" isn't the worst way to approach a game.
It won Best Game at this year's Flash Film Festival. Here's the whole list of winners.
Click right here to become the savior of a whole planet of Micros . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Crank Up The Volume
The competition is fierce (and odd), and now it's back for a better, badder battle with Battle of the Bands: Encore Edition. It comes with dice! There's a card tray! Fifteen more cards means more rock 'n' roll!
Rat brains fly planes! Okay, not quite yet, but they're working on it. See the CNN story. Isn't it cute in its little dish? Now imagine a BIG one. Insert obligatory Tech Level comment here. Fnord.
Schlock never went anywhere, but if he had, he'd be back now, and he's on a Schlock T-Shirt that you really ought to buy. I mean, do you want to be the one to tell him no? Especially when he's pointing that at you.
I'm in Houston this weekend, for college class reunion stuff and to scheme e23 things with the evil, evil Kira.
In totally trivial local news, it quite suddenly got chilly here. From "a bit too warm" to "a bit too cold" in one day. Ah, well, that's Texas.
-- Steve Jackson
Off the Wall Armies are miniatures of a different sort, with anthropomorphic animals in classic historical military garb. The Otterman Light Cavalry Bowman and the Otterman Heavy Cavalry are the weasel-riding cavalry of the Otterman Empire.
November 5, 2004: Illuminated Site of the Week: Is Shub-Niggurath Hyphenated?
In the market for a new deity? Godchecker has them by the chariot-load. Scan through the world's selection and find one that smites you just the right way. -- Suggested by Tom Bolenbaugh
CyberGeneration is the roleplaying game of the children of cyberpunk, and how the kids are fighting back long after the corporations won. The first supplement for the game in years, Researching Medicine sends you into the murky depths of medical research and how far people will go to get the information they want.
Just last week, Pyramid ran this article about using the GURPS rules to easily create animal companion characters, animals with special abilities and talents.
But when it comes to special abilities and talents, any animal in a roleplaying game would have a way to go to match what Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler in Richland, WA, did. Check it out.
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: Informative, Yet Stylish!
Queen of Wands is not only a snazzy webcomic, it has a shirt for every need. Too many lawsuits for assaults? Warn people off with Bites When Provoked. People forgetting to look you in the eye? Point them in the right direction with Me. And you can proudly proclaim your origins with Made In.
Seen on the net:
"Teach a man to play Settlers of Catan and he'll complain for an hour. Teach him to play Traveller and he'll complain for the rest of his life."
Warehouse 23 News: Down In The Jungle
If it bleeds, you can kill it. But not everything bleeds in these jungles, and there are some things lurking behind the foliage that can do worse than kill you if you disturb them. Weird Wars: Tour of Darkness takes you into a Vietnam War that's even darker than you thought.
Well, in the United States, anyway . . . so if you're one of our faithful readers residing in another country, you can take today's Daily Illuminator off and move on to some more relevant part of our website.
But for you Americans, please take the time to exercise your right to vote today. In case you haven't been paying attention the past couple of years, there's a lot of stuff going on, and the differences between the two major parties over what to do next are the most pronounced they've been in many, many years. No matter where in the U.S. you live, there are races all up and down the ballot that are vitally important to your future. So please go vote. Thanks.
-- Scott Haring
We now present a somewhat contrary opinion:
I'll vote today, but I'll be grumpy about it. Like - if one believes the polls - a majority of Americans, I am dissatisfied with the choices that the two-party system has thrown up (and that turn of phrase is no accident). And like the majority of Americans, I am in a very significant sense disenfranchised with respect to the Presidential election. I live in Texas. Texas is clearly in the Bush column. My vote doesn't count; even my local effort wouldn't count. If I want to support Bush, he doesn't need it. If I favor someone else, I cannot tilt the scales his way by as much as a hair. The only way I could have affected the election would have been to send somebody a lot of money. What's wrong with this picture?
Ironically, the whole electoral college system was designed to prevent this kind of problem; it was intended to give candidates a reason to spend proportional effort in the countryside and the less populous states, so every vote would count, even if indirectly. But it no longer works. Thanks to ubiquitous polling, strategists know exactly where to advertise and campaign to get the most bang for their buck. The "battlegrounds" are hotly contested; other areas are conceded by one side, taken for granted by the other, and ignored by both.
I would dearly like to see our President elected by a simple national nose-count. The old arguments for the electoral college system have all been trumped by cable and the Internet. A candidate's physical location isn't relevant to his ability to get his message out. (Case in point: It doesn't matter where the third party candidates go; nobody listens to them.)
If, in the course of one of our nation-building exercises, we encountered an Afghan clan or Iraqi tribe that chose its leaders by a method akin to our Electoral College, we'd shake our heads and lecture them on democracy. Then we'd make them change. And we'd be really self-righteous about it.
I wish WE could change.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Check out Warehouse 23's top selling items for October at the Warehouse 23 Top 10 page.
Yesterday I did something that I've only done a few times in the past 20+ years . . . I attended an SCA event. Back in the day, I was very active in the SCA, but around 1983, give or take a year, I said "No more." But the Austin barony was holding a 25th-anniversary event, and they invited their old Baron to come back and see how things were done these days. Pretty spiffy. I had a good time.
And today was Halloween, so a bit of house-decorating took place for the trick-or-treaters. Not as many as there used to be in this neighborhood, but I had an even 30 cute visitors, plus one (but only one) hulking teen with no costume. They all got candy. (Ahh, for the time to do it RIGHT. I've always thought it would be great fun to set up a haunt. There aren't enough hours in the day or weeks in the year for half the silly stuff that really deserves to be done.)
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: So A Guy Walks Into A Bar . . .
Kick. Love Tap. Freedom. Sound familiar? Must be another night at the bar, and Beer Money is at stake. You've played the game; now put on a shirt to keep that annoying slippery blood off your chest.
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