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Illuminated Site of the Week
July 31, 2007: If You Can See This, We Must Be Back Up
On the other hand, if you cannot see this post, then probably our servers are still down. Unless, of course, you're not trying to look at our site at all. In which case, we'll be home, petting Schrodinger's cat.
No, wait, sell! Specifically, we want to sell Owner's Choice and you want to buy it. See? Just like the stock market. One of us gets money and the other goes home happy. Hmm. So, maybe not quite like the stock market . . .
We expect to be announcing some fairly extended downtime soon, for a server upgrade . . . probably Monday or Tuesday.
Update: Our web and game servers will be offline tonight starting at midnight US Central time for emergency maintenance. We expect them to be offline for three to four hours. During this time the websites for Steve Jackson Games, Warehouse 23, e23, and UltraCorps will be unavailable. We apologize for the short notice, and hope that you will bear with us and try us again in the morning.
Warehouse 23 News: You're Not Old. You're Experienced.
Just because you're the sort of person who read the books behind the setting of RuneQuest: Hawkmoon when they were first released doesn't mean you're an old fogey. Would you call Gandalf an "old fogey?" Or Elminster? Or . . . some other cool old guy (who is probably also a mage of unfathomable power)? No! You would not! Because they would ensmotifiy you.
July 29, 2007: Proof That Gamers Will Game Anything
Doing the dishes. Vacuuming. Dusting. Dull, dull, dull. Unless . . . you could get XP for it.
Chore Wars (seriously!) lets you log in, create a character, and join a party with your house/flat/roommates. Together, you create XP awards for household tasks, and level up as you tidy up.
It's just crazy enough to work.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Monstoramalammadingdong
Monsters! Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head, they're all here in Iron Kingdoms: Monsternomicon Volume 2.
July 28, 2007: GURPS Supers Available On e23
GURPS Supers has been uploaded to e23.
What? You want to know more? All right, here are the important bits:
GURPS Supers is 151 pages of comic history, campaign advice, character creation variants, and wildcard skills. William Stoddard (Steampunk, GURPS Fantasy) has created a genre guide unlike any other in GURPS, showing you how to tweak advantages, disadvantages, and skills and even the combat rules themselves to fit the four-color world of Golden Age heroes, or the grim and gritty world of modern comics.
Need more info? Here's the table of contents for a complete listing of what's where (and the playtester list, if you care about that sort of thing, and I know many of you do!).
GURPS Supers is available for download as a PDF file via e23 for $14.95.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Know When To Fold 'em
There's pretty much no joke to be made about Exalted: War for the Throne that doesn't involve the restroom, so we shan't try.
July 27, 2007: Another Nail In The Coffin Of The Free Press
The Weekly World News is ending its print editions. How, now, will we learn the truth about alien invasions, psychic predictions of the end of the world, and of course Bat Boy, all while standing in line at the supermarket? Truly, the world will be a poorer place. Read the sad, sad Reuters story.
Warehouse 23 News: Danse, Yes. Macabre, Less So.
So, you're one of the gods. You want to rule over All What Is. You pick a fight with the other gods. Here's the hitch: your fighting is destroying, well, pretty much everything. The solution? Get a bunch of dancers together and hold a Masquerade. Look, if it makes sense to the gods, who are we to question it?
The Associated Press reported on Monday the discovery of a triangle on the side of a building built in 1832.
Any resemblance to this building is purely coincidental.
Fnord.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Miniscule Malevolence
The Monty Python: Plush Mini Black Beast of Aaaarrrggghhhh is, despite appearances, perfectly safe. Unless you're a very, very short Knight of the Round Table on a quest for the Holy Grail. Then you're pretty much screwed.
Ok, perhaps "madness" is a bit of hyperbole, but it's definitely snappier than "More Bibliographies Have Been Posted."
Which they have, by the way. Four new bibliographies, linked to Amazon for your purchasing pleasure, have been posted one each for GURPS Dinosaurs, GURPS Discworld, GURPS High-Tech for Third Edition and GURPS High-Tech for Fourth Edition.
So now you know what to do with that Amazon gift card you get for your birthday.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Start From The End
First, you're alive. Then, you're dead. But only briefly. 'Cause then you're undead. Then you get all mopey. Then you read Vampire: The Requiem - The Blood and find out you get powers. Then you pretend to be mopey to fit in, but deep down you really enjoy jumping around on rooftops and beating up people.
Warren Spector, one of our most distinguished alumni, has just sold his development house, Junction Point Studios, to Disney. This is especially cool because Warren is a longtime Disney fan. One of the things he did here, for instance, was develop Toon!
Read the Business Week article. Yes, Bizweek is covering the game business. That's pretty cool all by itself . . .
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Gaming Is Mandatory. Living Is Not.
In its infinite benevolence and wisdom, your friend The Computer has issued an order for you to purchase Paranoia: Flashbacks II. This high-quality book contains three compulsory missions that your friend The Computer expects you to complete. It goes without saying that your friend The Computer will kill you if you do not. What is still up for debate, however, is in how many ways.
True to my plan, I was up way too late Friday, and was way too distracted on Saturday, but I finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows less than 20 hours after I purchased it. I managed to avoid all internet related news sources, and listened to the CD player instead of the radio on the drive to the Saturday game.
On our forums, RevBob started a thread devoted to speculation on the book, with no spoilers for Book 7 (but plenty for Books 1-6). For those of you who have finished the book, here's the spoiler-filled thread. Please make sure you double check which thread you're clicking over too; I wouldn't want to accidentally have anyone get an eyeful until they're ready!
Without going into details, I'm happy with the book, and the series overall. It's always a pleasure to see a long-term, over-arcing plot come to fruition. Unlike some other mediums I could name Lost, I'm looking at you.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: If Ya Do And If Ya Don't
The tricky thing about government conspiracies and shadow agencies is every once in a while they're the only thing standing between you and a horrifying, tentacle-fueled death. Of course, like any other secret group, they'll still stomp all over you in order to protect you. Oh well. Call of Cthulhu: Delta Green has all that and the usual dose of Go Crazy And Die you expect from the Mythos. Bonus!
Recently a Chinese dolphin species, the baiji or Yangtze River Dolphin, was declared "functionally extinct" that is, scientists can't prove they're all dead, but they couldn't find a single one. It was wiped out by habitat destruction, accidental entanglement in nets, and deliberate illegal fishing. A North American porpoise is about to follow it.
The vaquita is the world's smallest porpoise. It is found only in the northern Gulf of California. Estimates of the surviving population range from 100 to 300. The vaquita, or Gulf of California Porpoise, is not a deliberate target of fisherman, but several dozen are killed every year by entanglement in fishing nets. The Mexican government, which controls its waters, has issued regulations prohibiting gill net use, but does little to enforce them. As a result, fishing, and destruction of porpoises, continues. Researchers extrapolating from reported vaquita deaths estimated that 78 vaquita die each year from gill nets more than one every week. At that rate, the species probably has about two years.
According to an article in the July-August 2007 issue of Natural History Magazine, $25 million would make it possible to eliminate all vaquita bycatch, by buying out fishermen or re-equipping them with fishing equipment that doesn't kill dolphins. U.S. and Mexican economists and marine researchers are working on such a program, but they don't have the funding to implement it. See www.vaquita.org for more about their group - or to contribute.
The authors of the Natural History article point out that $25 million would be a drop in the bucket to a corporate sponsor. Is there a corporation out there willing to direct a donation toward actually saving a species? Or to redirect part of their ad budget toward doing some good that would be worth advertising?
There's also a vaquita article at the Cetacean Society Incorporated website. As it points out: for the species to survive, one thing has to happen. The deadly nets, already illegal, have to come out of the water now. That would require the government of Mexico to enforce its regulations. As I write this, I do not know what the most effective way might be for citizens of Mexico to address this issue with their government, or for citizens of other countries to address this issue in a way that will reach the government of Mexico.
Steve Jackson
Talking ones, too! Also intrigue and adventure and conflict and smog and all the standard issue Cool Stuff that comes with a fantasy city of epic proportions. But without a doubt, the really cool part about RuneQuest: Lankhmar - Nehwon is the talking rodents. It's like NIMH. Only eeeevil.
July 21, 2007: One Step Closer To Dinosaur Island
A reindeer breeder found a extremely well preserved mammoth, in Russia. The Deputy Director of the Russian Academy of Science's Zoological Institute has squashed the possibility of cloning, pointing out that the frozen cells have burst, damaging the genetic material.
Of course, that's just what They told him to say . . .
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The City That Never Sleeps
Probably because everyone was too busy building steam-powered monstrosities to think about developing ear plugs. Then again, clockwork ear plugs are sorta self-defeating. In any event, while The Clanking City is loud and obnoxious, the book covering said city is very informative, very interesting, and very, very quiet. At least until the players in your RuneQuest game get their mitts on it, anyway.
July 20, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Kids, Don't Try This At Home
If you're tired of getting sand kicked in your face, give yourself over to Berzerker - Viking Fighting Arts. Learn to spear, spike, hit, scream, and slam like the Norsemen. Can't make the seminars? Buy the DVDs. Can't afford the DVDs? May we shamelessly suggest GURPS Vikings? We're "crazy" about them, too. -- Suggested by TheOneTrueSpongeOfDoom
Warehouse 23 News: Now With 400% More Tree-Hugging
At first, there was Munchkin, and that was good enough. But soon, the rabid desire to kill things and take their stuff grew. So, we brought forth a sequel. And a sequel to that sequel. And so on down the line, bringing us to Munchkin 5 - De-Ranged. Surely this will satiate the previously unslakeable bloodlust of our rabid (though greatly appreciated) fans . . . Right?
Spoilers happen it's a fact of modern society. And given the modern marketing professional's need to interact with that society, I'm in a high risk group for discovering the endings of my favorite fiction well before I've finished the media on my own.
And so, with this in mind, I'll be at a local bookstore near midnight this Friday, picking up Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'll likely read the first chapter in the parking lot, drive home, pop open a four-pack of Red Bull (the 12-ounce cans, not the "for newbies only" original 8-ounce ones), and read until I collapse, or dawn arrives whichever comes first. After a few hours of sleep, I'll get up and finish the book.
At no time will I answer the phone, turn on the television, or log onto the internet. The wife is similarly forbidden from these potentially hazardous acts, unless I'm protected by a closed door or two.
It'll be rough, but avoiding spoilers takes effort. And getting to the final pages, knowing only what the author wanted you to know, makes it all worthwhile.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: I Only Have Petrifying Gaze For You
Bring your Peril Sensitive Sunglasses, because a medusa is on the loose-a. Sorry. That was supposed to be funny. We don't know what happened. We'll go check the machine. In the meantime, enjoy Dungeon Crawl Classics #45: Malice of the Medusa.
July 18, 2007: The Good, The Bad, And The Update
We've been playtesting The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin around the office for the past couple weeks, and SJ even took the prototype deck to Origins for showing and telling (and some playing). But now the art specs and card titles have been sent over to John Kovalic and the production team, respectively.
This is the stage when John adds his inimitable humor, and the cards actually begin to look like actual cards, and not cardstock of varying colors. In some ways, it's my favorite stage, as "that wacky game idea" coalesces into a Real Game.
All in all, we're making excellent progress toward that October release date. Keep watching this space for art previews and further progress reports.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The Play's The . . . AIYEE!
Well, at least yellow is a festive color. The latest Call of Cthulhu: Arkham Horror expansion brings everyone's favorite (very) off-Broadway production to the burg voted America's Most Damned Vacation Getaway. With new rules for Heralds and a mind-shattering mass of new cards, The King in Yellow will be many things. Boring won't be one of them.
While my camera was nigh-useless, our old friend J. Hunter Johnson was more responsible than I. His collection of photos from around the show is here.
I don't recall even seeing him take my picture, but I'm just glad I only had one pen attached to my head. I sometimes accidentally hoard one behind each ear, and end up looking like a literary bull.
And my sleeve does say "Dance Instructor" "Exact Change Dance" to be specific.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: The Dice With Six Faces
Your current stock of d6 dice are, sad to say, not up to the task of rescuing distressed damsels. Nor are they fit to prop up a toppling building, stop an evil genius from completing his doomsday device, find the lost city of Atlantis - heck, they're not even fit to save a kitten from a tree. So take all your d6s and throw them in the trash. Yes, all of them. What you need are Hero Dice: the only dice with the word "hero" right there in the name.
After a bout of technical difficulties, the ninth Fnordcast is now available for download, either directly, via RSS, or via iTunes.
This episode covers our experiences at the GAMA Trade Show. We've got conversations with Fantasy Flight, Damage Control, Comfy Chair, Smirk and Dagger, Battlestations, Privateer Press, and Black Industries, as well as our booth crew. Whew! It's a big show this time, but jam-packed full of industry news!
-- Paul Chapman
Valiant and vindictive heroes are but a vestige of their veridical visages without vermin to violently vanquish. Champions: Villains, Vandals, And Vermin contains a variety of such vicious vagrants. It is a very verbose work, not at all vacant: a veritable verisimilitude of vipers, varmints, and vandals.
July 15, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: The Numbers Go Round And Round
Is it really illuminated, or just really pretty? Visit NumberSpiral.com to see the numbers rolled up into bigger and bigger patterns. The text becomes more impenetrable with every page, but the accompanying illustrations look like they might . . . mean . . . something . . . -- Suggested by lilith
Sometimes, it's good to be bad. That's what RuneQuest: Trolls - A Guide to the Uz is all about. Of course, in this instance, "bad" also sorta entails "ugly." And not just ugly, but hit-every-branch-on-the-ugly-tree, doctor-slapped-your-parents, makes-blind-children-cry ugly. So come check out the Dark Side, but, um . . . bring a paper bag.
Steve Jackson Games announces for release in November, 2007:
GURPS High-Tech
All the Gear Is Here!
In 256 meticulously researched pages, GURPS High-Tech gives descriptions and stats for hundreds of kinds of historical weapons and personal armor, vehicles from the stagecoach to modern helicopters, and much more.
GURPS High-Tech also has the gear and gadgets characters need. Communication, from early telegraphs to modern computers; tools of the trade for detectives, spies, and thieves; camping equipment, rations, and first-aid kits; business cards, watches, and fashionable duds this book has everything, for encounters from the wilderness to high society and everything in between.
GURPS High-Tech is the complete resource for equipment from the 18th century through the modern age, and will be appreciated by Game Masters no matter what system they use!
256 pages. Hardcover.
Stock #01-0106,
ISBN 978-1-55634-770-2.
$37.95.
Illuminati Y2K
(Reprint)
Even though the Y2K bug failed to knock civilization into a new stone age, it did inspire 109 cards for Illuminati inflicting another layer of weirdness on the already terminally weird. Add Alien Abductors, Cattle Mutilators, Gamers, and 73 other groups to your power structure. Twenty-six Special cards and two Illuminati groups Shangri-La and SubGenius further the frenzy.
Illuminati Y2K delivers even more ways to beef up your Illuminati and its puppets. Use High Fashion to channel megabucks to Discordia, or Computer Dating Services to add extra cards to the Network's hand. Play Red Scare, May Day, or Political Correctness to generate additional income or pump up Resistance, but only for one Alignment. Add your favorite organization, urban legend, or personality with the six blank Group cards. Plus: Ninjas!
110 cards.
Stock #1325,
ISBN 978-1-55634-374-2.
$17.95.
-- Paul Chapman
Are the contents of the main BattleLore box enough? Nay, say we! For one thing was left out, one thing cast aside, one thing . . . amiss. And that would be the contents of the expansion Epic Battlelore. Upon joining the two, you shall witness an unstoppable force of gaming the likes of which mankind has not seen in an age! Behold its glory, its wonder, its . . . epicness! At least, that's what the pamphlet says, anyway.
Here is our latest release, now shipping to the shelves of a game store near you:
Munchkin 5 De-Ranged
More of the twisted humor of Steve Jackson and John Kovalic in a 112-card supplement for Munchkin!
De-Ranged has everything you love about Munchkin, including:
- A new Class! Rangers can tame monsters and ride them!
- Treasure! Track down the Philosopher's Scone, put Racing Stripes on your Steed, and fill your Canteen of Spleen with Carbonated Holy Water!
- Monsters! Beware the Telemarketer, the Poultrygeist, and the Undead Clowns.
- And more monsters: imports! That's right, unique monsters created by the European Munchkin publishers, available for the first time in English. Quake in fear at the Brothers Grimm and the Snerks! Or just kill them and take their stuff. Your choice.
Munchkin 5 De-Ranged. All the munchkin-ism of a prestige class, with none of that annoying roleplaying stuff.
112 cards in a tuckbox. Stock #1450, ISBN 978-1-55634-764-1. $17.95.
Some houses have a southern exposure. Some have phantasmal portals to a hoary netherworld from which eldritch horrors emerge to spew death, insanity, and terror upon the world. Guess which houses are featured in Call of Cthulhu: Mansions of Madness.
I can't believe I'm giving a testimonial for a RAZOR.
But it works. When I got the Gillette Fusion freebie in the mail, I laughed. FIVE blades. Riiiiight. Two blades are better than one, so three must be better than two, so five . . . is a marketroid's dream. I didn't even keep the coupon to buy more blades. I just stuck the silly five-blade razor in the medicine cabinet.
. . . and eventually ran out of blades for my old razor, and reached for the silly one to use it up.
And . . . I don't know exactly what is going on here, but the silly five-bladed razor really DOES give a very smooth shave, and the blades last a long time. I should have saved the coupon. But I'll buy more anyway. Live and learn!
– Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Universally Standoffish
Don't let Mexico have all the fun. Buy a copy of CA$H'n GUN$ and spread the gun-pointing fun of a firearm stalemate all over the globe!
I'm sure SJ will have his impressions of the overall convention shortly, but here's an important bit: the Origins Awards list.
The vast majority of my experience at Origins centered around the Adventure Retail booth. But I did gather a few observations, which I'll share in list format.
- Remembering the digital camera is good. Remembering the memory card that allows you enough space to capture the Exact Change Dance would have been even better.
- A couple bottles of water can substitute for lunch, if you're busy enough . . .
- . . . But Munchkin Water isn't allowed in the Columbus Convention Center, either.
- Sky Galleons of Mars looks awesome when the ships are 12" long, and mounted on microphone stands, putting the entire battle at eye level (for me, at least for Ross, they were at chin level).
- The MIB proved, once again, the maxim of "demos sell games."
Overall, Origins was a good show. But I'm still kicking myself about the camera . . .
-- Paul Chapman
While we may know a thing or three about mankind's greatest struggle, there's still plenty of battle-worn ground to cover. With almost ten pounds of box, Tide of Iron certainly covers a lot of ground. As an added bonus, you can use it for cover when Germany starts making their push into France.
GURPS High-Tech has moved out of the "editing" phase of its lifecycle, and has entered "art." During the early part of this stage, the raw text was poured into a Quark template, and art holes were identified. Those art holes are now being filled with cool art designed to help readers visualize the information more clearly.
The picture here is from Chapter 8, which covers transportation, from kayaks to motorcycles, as well as helicopters and the HMMWV.
GURPS High-Tech is another "overweight" project the topic was just too big, and the authors wrote too much awesome description (is that possible?) that we needed to up the page count from our standard 240 pages, up to 256. Watch for it around the end of the year.
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Heh Heh . . . "Attributes"
For many of you, the word Attribute brings to mind things like Dexterity or IQ. The rest of you probably associate it with . . . innuendo. Well you're both wrong! It's a card game about sheep! So there!
July 9, 2007: Origins Report, Short Form
It's Sunday night as I write this. I'm alive. I won't fly back until tomorrow. Maybe I will be in the office on Tuesday.
I had a good time. We had 50 players -- two batches of 25 -- for the Pirate Game. I showed off the final playtest set for The Good, the Bad, and the Munchkin and the new prototypes for Munchkin Quest. I talked to a whole bunch of people about a whole bunch of different things. Munchkin Impossible won the Origins Award for Best Card Game Not Sold Like Crack, whatever they are calling that category now.
Stevie tired, and won't do this again for a while, but it was fun.
-- Steve Jackson
That joke is still funny, right? Well, just pretend it is and buy a copy of Thieves' World: Black Snake Dawn anyway. We've got stuff to do today, and we can't be bothered to find some way to help keep silly Internet memes on life support. We've got [TEXT REMOVED] to clothe and [CENSORED] to feed. Also, [FNORD].
Pinnacle Entertainment Group has seen fit to provide me and mine with the best Old West game I know aught of: Deadlands. And who doesn't like to run steampunk ghost stories set in the Old West . . . with a dash of alternate history, Poker-based spell-casting, and super-technology powered by what just may very well be the souls of the damned?
We're pleased as punch to welcome Pinnacle Entertainment into the fold establishing an e23 partnership with them is like bringing an old friend home. If you need me, I'll be out back with my Winchester and a pack of cards, preparing for the nightmare that was and hoping the Men in Black Dusters don't take too much of a dislike to me.
– Thomas Weigel
Warehouse 23 News: The Title Too Unwritable To Write
This is the Unreadable Advertisement for Unspeakable Words. We'd describe it, but it's one of the Games Not to Be Described. We also have some Jokes Man Was Not Meant to Tell, but . . . we can't tell 'em. Don't take this to mean that this is a Game That Shouldn't Ever Be Played, though! It's really That Which Makes Great Mirth At the Expense of Timeless, Unfathomable Horror.
July 7, 2007: Diana Jones Award Shortlist
The shortlist for the 2007 Diana Jones award has been announced. The Diana Jones Award is given to whatever the Diana Jones Committee believes has best demonstrated excellence in gaming in the previous year. In alphabetical order, this year's shortlist comprises:
- The Great Pendragon Campaign by Greg Stafford (White Wolf)
- Pieces of Eight by Jeff Tidball (Atlas Games)
- Stefan Pokorny, creator, sculptor and painter of the Master Maze line of miniature terrain from Dwarven Forge.
Congratulations to all three! The winner will be announced at GenCon.
Warehouse 23 News: Trang! Pang! Klang!
Sure, it's annoying. Kang! But consider the situation. Chang! It's exactly not like there's a quiet way - bang! - to forge a spear from the - tong! - very ether of the cosmos. Spang! One capable of parting the heavens and - frang! - sundering the earth. Snap! "Snap?" You know what? On second thought, let's just order something out of Exalted: Oadenol's Codex.
July 6, 2007: Illuminated Site of the Week: Snakes . . . Why'd It Have To Be Snakes?
Aliens and UFO Art is an odd thing to call your site when your contention seems to be that the artwork actually serves to reveal a sinister alien side to your subjects. People in the highest echelons of power hide their true origins, and some websites one views at one's peril. Some are still infested with snakes, helping to keep the influence brokers on the top of the food chain. Even worse, it looks like Gurdjieff was right about Santa. Huh? -- Suggested by syberghost
We may have just squashed Beowulf. Well, sheesh, when we decided to answer the distress signal, we didn't expect the ship to be so small! Come to think of it, all these Traveller starships are kinda smallish. There's only one reasonable, rational explanation for this. Someone's embiggened us with a gargantuafier. Again. How bothersome.
As you've heard for a looong time . . . but it's true now, really . . . Bavarian Fire Drill, a new expansion for Illuminati, is going to press, and should be shipping in August. One of the Artifact cards is "Hitler's Brain," using the great illustration from INWO.
Except we already used that illustration in Illuminati Y2K on a "Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know" card.
But Hitler's Brain is one of the archetypal artifacts of an Illuminated world. So it gets the art. But I hate to duplicate art. So . . .
For the November reprinting of Illuminati Y2K, we will have new art on that "Secrets" card. And we're having a contest to pick it. The rules:
- The first prize is $200, plus two copies of the new edition of Illuminati Y2K.
- There are no other prizes . . . but if you send us something we think is neat, we may make you an offer on it.
- Submissions do NOT become the property of SJ Games, except for the winner. If you do something cool and we don't pick it, it's yours.
- The only hint we are giving on the theme is the name of the card: Secrets Man Was Not Meant To Know. The style should be compatible with the existing Illuminati cards. You don't have to copy Dan Smith, but the card has to play on the table beside his work, and that of Shea Ryan and that Kovalic guy, and look like it fits.
- Format: 300 dpi CMYK TIF or layered PSD file. 2" x 2" square.
- Deadline: July 30, 2007.
- How to enter: Send your file, zipped, to Will by the deadline date. Earlier is better. Later will be ignored.
Let's see what evil you can come up with!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Bringing Magery To Mage
Universal Understanding and Infinite Power of the Cosmos is neat and all, but magic is about something else, too: abracadabra. Without the arcane rituals, the incomprehensible utterances, or the chicken entrails, what fun is there to be had? Thus, Mage: The Awakening - Magical Traditions. And remember, casting spells is serious business. Even if you are dancing naked in a field in the middle of the night with a dead raccoon on your head.
On this day, in 1776, the United States of America declared independence from Great Britain.
Here in the States, we'll be celebrating this anniversary in a wide variety of ways:
- Not being in the office (that includes Warehouse 23 and e23!)
- Decorating anything that'll stand still with red, white, and blue ribbons.
- Enjoying fireworks (and maybe setting off a few of our own).
- Having picnics with the family.
- Setting up the booth for Origins.
(Ok, that last one isn't strictly traditional, but that's where I'll be anyhow.)
However you chose to mark this occasion, be safe and have fun!
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Y'know, Where The Demons Dwell
In ancient times, hundreds of years before the dawn of history, there lived a strange race of people: game designers. No one knows who they were or what they were doing, but their legacy remains . . . hewn into the living rock of Stonehenge.
July 3, 2007: The Crew Heads To Columbus
A bunch of us are heading to Origins Games Expo. SJ will be doing the Special Guest schtick, running the Pirate Game, showing off Munchkin previews, and chatting about Steve Jackson Games. Phil will be going as a civilian, and I'll be revisiting my role as "SJ Games Rep" for Adventure Retail. Our MIBs will be in full force, running everything from GURPS to Illuminati.
Oh yeah, Ross, our Sales Director, will make an appearance too.
So if you're in Columbus, stop by the AR booth for the Exact Change Dance, one of SJ's events for piratey goodness, or just sit down and play one of the thousands of games being run. It'll be a good time.
Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Warehouse 23 Top Ten
Warehouse 23 has posted an updated Top 10 page for June. Check it out, and see what all the cool kids are buying . . .
July 2, 2007: Vampire Destroyed In New York
A quick-thinking hero saved a group of New York fast-food workers who had been charmed by a disguised vampire. Read the CNN story.
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: The Hills Are Alive . . . Aiyee!
On the one hand, you could say that Taluva has a "booming" real estate industry. On the other hand, you could say that lava is constantly shooting out of active volcanoes and pouring down on the hapless villagers below as it reshapes the island. It's all a matter of perspective.
July 1, 2007: The Third Container On The Left
As SJ mentioned last week, GURPS Martial Arts is on the water. Specifically, our pallets are on the NYK Athena. If you magnify the image, and look closely . . .
. . . You still won't see which container has GURPS Martial Arts in 'em. Google isn't quite that good yet.
In honor of this auspicious milestone (even if you can't see it), here's another excerpt from the book.
Paul Chapman
That joke is more apt than one might think. See, Polarity uses black and white discs, much like the ones in Reversi. And on Star Trek, they're always flopping polarities around willy-nilly. And . . . and that's . . . um, it's funny, you see. Or we thought it would be, anyway. Look, they can't all be Webby material, okay?
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