July 5, 2008: Illuminated Site of the Week: Someone Had To Commission It
We may be building it, dreading it, or trying to prevent it, but Dezeen architecture and design magazine finds it cool and so should you. Whether anticipating the coming ecological disasters or trying to get above them, there's wonder and mystery to be had. And it won't hurt to make friends with one of the visionaries involved. Hey, that animal has another animal on its snout. -- Suggested by Tori Bergquist
Warehouse 23 News: Something Cool? Oh Yes. Very.
Shadows Over Camelot: A Company of Knights takes your usual SoC game and pushes it to the very peak of Neatodom. The peak! Look up. See anything? Of course not! This is the peak. "Why," you ask? Well, dear friends, simply click yon beckoning hyperlink and see for yourself.
Here in the States, it's the Fourth of July, which means we're all out enjoying grilled meats and fireworks. Or perhaps we're inside on the couch looking for that last 10% in Lego Indiana Jones. Whichever suits you best.
No matter the recreation of choice, we're not in the office. Feel free to leave a voice mail, or send us an email, but more than likely, we're not going to hear/see it until Monday, which will be a little crazier than the normal start of the week.
Sharp-eyed folks will have noticed that we weren't real responsive yesterday, either. We snuck in a Game Day, right before the long weekend. Who says game companies don't have time to play?
-- Paul Chapman
Warehouse 23 News: Catan And On And On
So what do you call the expansion for an expansion? An "expanansion?" An "extraspansion?" How about just "extension?" Yes, that rolls off Mr. Tongue quite nicely. If you need to make a big game of Settlers of Catan even bigger, pick up Cities & Knights 5-6 Player Extension and Seafarers 5-6 Player Extension.
July 3, 2008: GURPS Thaumatology PDF Now Available
Errata are the bane of a publisher's existence. No matter how many
editors and proofreaders go over a manuscript, words get misplaced or
misspelled. And in game books, the potential to misstate a rule, or to switch
two entries in a table, creates even more possible problems.
And when the book is over 270 pages long, with dozens of tables, the
"possibility" of errata grows into "probability."
Modern technology offers a solution: let the book out as a PDF a couple weeks before it is sent to print. The loyal fans will provide extra eyes to track down and stomp those annoying errors. Thus, we have released GURPS
Thaumatology.
(No, we're not the first publisher to do this. But as this is a first
for us, we figured we should mention it.)
If you're a retailer, and worried about the effect on sales, we
understand. However, we have had both digital and print versions of our
GURPS Fourth
Edition line available during the last year, and all the evidence indicates that digital sales do not significantly affect print sales. Basically,
customers who want PDF won't be satisfied with print, and those who need pages
in their hand aren't happy with electrons. If we thought this would slow the
sales of the print version, we wouldn't do it. We believe this will result in a
better book; that's why we're doing it.
If you're one of the aforementioned loyal fans, we'd like to send the
files to the printer in mid-July, so if you find errata, please submit it
before July 11. (We do, of course, want any errata you find after July 11, but we won't be able to incorporate it into the first print run.) And thank you!
(All errata will be corrected in the PDF as soon as possible, and registered purchasers can always re-download the file to get the most current version.)
This is an experiment, of course. We're testing the waters, and have no
immediate plans to make this our standard operating procedure. But if it works out well . . .
--
Paul Chapman
Need some dice for your Fudge games? Find pips revolting and just want a change for your six-siders? Never sure if you should add, subtract, or do nothing at all? The buddy, do we have the dice for you!
Forsooth, me hearties! Wait, I think I messed up the accent. Let me try again.
How y'all doin', landlubbers? Wait, wait . . . okay, wait . . .
Oh, yah, yo ho ho, donchaknow?
Oh, just forget it. I'm never gonna get this right. But you! You fine folks know how to get the pirate groove thing going. You're well versed in the swashing of buckles, the lockering of Davy Joneses, and the imbibing of copious bottles of distilled molasses. You, unlike my terminally ninja-oriented self, are ready, willing, and quite possibly even eager for a little something we like to call Munchkin Booty.
Well, sword-swinging ladies and hatch-battoning gentlemen, I'm pleased to announce that you can now preorder Munchkin Booty from the world's favorite not-at-all-local-but-nonetheless-friendly game store Warehouse 23. So go ye forth, and prove that you, unlike I, are cool and have good taste and are a suitable candidate for mating prospects! It awaits on the other side of that most hyper of links in yon paragraph above.
-- Fox Barrett
Warehouse 23 News: Now In Glorious 3D!
While not strictly new, the Munchkin Miniatures have returned from their long hiatus. While you could use them with a certain upcoming game or with the world's most generic RPG, we've heard there's been a recent upheaval in the fantasy gaming world. Who better than these guys to drop in for a visit?
Tom Smith has a badly messed-up leg and is in the hospital. Here are the gory details. It's going to get very expensive. You can help him (the man is a self-employed musician, for gosh sakes, and has no medical insurance) by donating here. As a thank-you, you'll be able to download a BUNCH of covers of his songs, donated by his filker friends.
When I typed that, I was assuming you know Tom. Hmm, maybe not. What can I say? Tom is not only a hugely talented singer and songwriter, but a really great guy. He likes GURPS, which is of course a sign of keen judgment and sterling character. He's the one we tapped to do the electronic music for the Fnordcast theme. Whenever I'm at a con with Tom, I'm easy to find . . . I'm the one near the front of the filk concert, laughing hysterically. Hmm, okay, that describes a lot of people, but I'm one of them. (One of my absolute finest all-time convention memories: the day Tom invited me up to the stage to "help" him perform Talk Like A Pirate Day. I put "help" in quotes because, well, Tom is a singer and I am not. But wow, it was great.
If everything goes according to plan, I'll get to see Tom early next year at Chattacon. By then he ought to be out of the wheelchair. And by the time you read this, I will have fed the donation kitty, and if you're a fan of Tom's, you should go do the same.
-- Steve Jackson
PS: If you love funny songs and are not yet a fan of Tom's, I kind of envy you, because it means that some really great pieces are going to be new to you. Where do I start? Superman Sex Life Boogie. Rocket Ride. I Want My Flying Car. Yeah, Yeah, Transitions. Destroyer of Worlds. Lars Needs Women. I Wanna Be Peter Lorre. Rock Me Amidala. Five Years. Sonuva. And dozens of others. And, of course, Talk Like A Pirate Day. Arrrr.
This timeline's version of GURPS Infinite Worlds differs from most. Due to the actions of Centrum agents, the setting known as GURPS Infinite Worlds: Collegio Januari was omitted. However, thanks to the sacrifice of many agents, we now can offer it to you.
Written by Kenneth Hite, this 13-page campaign setting brings world-hopping to the traditional fantasy genre. It can be dropped into either a GURPS Infinite Worlds or GURPS Fantasy campaign, and can be easily adapted to any low-tech game featuring wizards and knights.
-- Paul Chapman
Wired's Alt Text gives us a look into an alternate reality where cookbooks are discussed like roleplaying games are here. This story has been over the industry mailing lists, so we thought we'd share.
As the cartoon says, "It's funny because it's true!"
-- Paul Chapman
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