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-- Bob Apthorpe
It's arrived - GURPS
Alternate Earths has returned from the printer and
is rocketing it's way toward a retailer near you. Boasting 6 detailed alternate timelines,
Alternate Earths is designed to integrate with
GURPS Time Travel
or can be used alone.
And speaking of GURPS Time Travel, Time Travel and Time Travel Adventures have been bundled together into an Instant Campaign Pack with a suggested retail price of only $17.95.
Time is of the essence - get GURPS Alternate Earths and seize the day!
-- Bob Apthorpe
Steve Jackson Games officially announces the release of In Nomine, the oft-promised, much-awaited roleplaying game of angels and demons in a perpetual battle for the future of mankind. "I don't want to bore people with the whys and wherefores of all the delays, but we now have the manuscript in shape and the team in place to finish the project off," Managing Editor Scott Haring said.
In Nomine is based on a pair of French roleplaying games, In Nomine Satanis and Magna Veritas, both written by a game designer known only as Croc. In Nomine is not part of the GURPS roleplaying system (though it will have GURPS conversion rules included), making it the first new roleplaying game released by Steve Jackson Games since Toon 12 years ago. "Some people are saying roleplaying is on the way out," Steve Jackson said, "but I think it's just a matter of finding the right game to capture players' imaginations again. In Nomine is perfect for the job, and we look forward to kicking off an entire roleplaying line with its release."
In Nomine will be 240 pages and full color throughout, with great art by Dan Smith. Because of the mature treatment of many religious themes, In Nomine will have a parental advisory on the back cover.
-- Scott Haring
![[Pick A Number, Any
Number]](http://Syninfo.COM/crier/regions.gif)
Just in case you've been asleep for, oh, the last hundred years or so,
you might have missed out on this whole New World
Order thing. But fear not, The Pennsylvania
Crier will set you straight.
Everything you ever wanted to know (and less) about Andrew Carnegie, The Rhodes Scholarship and the Evils of One World Government can be found here.
Special thanks to "TP" [?] for the postcard - the Black Helicopters will be visiting shortly...
-- Bob Apthorpe
![[Ring
Ring!]](http://museum.nttinfo.ntt.jp/parts/HT_idx_cgr4.gif)
No, this isn't a pyromaniacal variation on Where's Waldo?, this
is one of the truly goofy links I found in the NTT Digital Museum. For
those of you not up on international phone service, NTT is the Japanese
equivalent of Ma Bell. They have a very pretty website full of odd
trivia about Japanese phone service through the ages, including:
Tokyo citizens are, however, irresistible rubberneckers for fires and street fights and each time there is a fire, switchboards are jammed with calls asking "Where is the fire?"
Is this true or is NTT testing how gullible we foreigners are? Still, I'm certain that American culture probably baffles the Japanese as well ('Hey, our local sports team just won the National Championship! Let's celebrate by burning our city down and rioting!')
All I know is that I wish my long-distance company was as amusing as NTT...
-- Bob Apthorpe
Today's big news is that we've received the sample copies of
GURPS Alternate
Earths from the printer today. They're pretty spiffy
and our normally cheerful staff has been fighting over them (printers
never send enough copies to go around).
Derek immediately understood the situation, grabbed one of the copies, scampered off and locked himself in his office before anyone else caught on. Bruce (our art director) tried the same trick, but was set upon by Monica (our print buyer), Susan (the book's editor), and Claudia (our sales guru). Bruce shrugged them off and almost managed to escape until Managing Editor Scott Haring drop-kicked him and took off with his copy.
![[Jim]](/~jimr/pix/jimr_t.jpg)
General Counsel and Network Guy Jim Robinson
picked up a copy and left. For some reason, people let Jim do whatever
he wants...
Steve used his amazing telekinetic powers to whisk away the last copy which he shared with the rest of the business office (for a modest fee).
As for me, I was too busy to participate in the tussle. Instead, I was rummaging around the NTT Digital Museum . It's pretty weird for a site devoted to Japanese telephones. Don't ask why I was looking at Japanese telephony through the ages - I just was. Leave me alone.
Anyway, I think this was all a plot by our Shipping Department to cause trouble. They control every box that enters or leaves this building and they might well have 'lost' some of the sample copies just to see what would happen. They're kinda sneaky that way. Once, they FedExed my desk to Borneo. But since Shipping controls all the tape guns in the office, there's not much anybody can do about it. Except Jim. But he's a quiet guy; keeps to himself mostly and meticulously changes the backup tapes...
Oh well.
-- Bob Apthorpe
On a lighter note, we've found a few copies of Hacker hiding in the warehouse. Don't ask how we missed them; hackers are wily and our warehouse is very big. Suffice to say, you should buy a copy of Hacker right now if you want one because I expect they will go away very soon.
-- Bob Apthorpe
Ahem.
Anyway, after tearful goodbyes we sent GURPS Dinosaurs off to the printer to help fill the emotional void left by Sean's absence.
Sean, we miss you, wherever you are...
-- Bob Apthorpe
All the Knightmare Chess
components have gone to press. We expect to
have this one for GenCon release. The really good news: the card artist,
Rogerio Vilela, will be coming from Brazil for the game's launch, and will
be signing games and cards at GenCon.
We have also been notified that GURPS Dinosaurs has received its final Dinosaur Society approval, so it will go to press Monday. It might make it to GenCon.
-- Steve Jackson
So put on your tinfoil hat and ask those voices in your head to keep it down, they're bothering the neighbors.
-- Bob (buy more products) Apthorpe
Got telekinetic powers and a pathological hatred of flatware? Then head over to
Uri Geller's Psychic Spooncam and torture that spoon with your
prodigious mental powers. Bend that spoon and walk away with $1,000,000 - fail
and no one's the wiser. Except for maybe Uri Geller.
For the benefit of younger readers and others not familiar with Uri Geller, he's the Efram Zimbalist Jr. of the psychic world.
Hopefully that clears everything up.
Seriously, Uri Geller became a household name as the famous
spoon-bending psychic of the 1960s. Along with the Amazing Kreskin (not
to be confused with the low-budget knockoff, the Amazing Kresge), Geller
was a role model to thousands of youngsters who wished to find their
special paranormal talent. Or ruin Mom's cutlery. Or both.
But times have changed. Uri Geller has joined the ranks of aging Baby Boomers and turned his attentions to the business world. No longer content to fold, spindle, and mutilate kitchen utensils, he now offers The Uri Geller Business Consultancy. Now you, average millionaire or large corporation, can hire Mr. Geller for a tidy sum to help predict your businesses' future (and bend competitors' spoons.) That'll teach 'em. A satisfied customer remarked "I will never drill an oil well without asking Uri Geller's advice first."
And, oddly enough, neither will I...
(Big thanks to Illuminator Newshound Mark Bassett! )
-- Bob "The Marginally Astounding" Apthorpe
Let's peruse the amazing and wondrous treasures in RALPH EPPERSON'S ELECTRONIC PRIZE VAULT:
After all, everyone knows there's no such conspiracy...
-- Bob Apthorpe
>From: Aaron Allston <allston@io.com> >Subject: Thunder of the Captains Signing >MIME-Version: 1.0 > >A quick note: I will be signing THUNDER OF THE CAPTAINS at Adventures in >Crime and Space (Austin, TX; address below) on Saturday, July 27, from >6:00-8:00 p.m. > >THUNDER OF THE CAPTAINS, a July release from Baen Books, is set in the >world of the BARD'S TALE novels and continues that fantasy series. >Co-authored with Holly Lisle (SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL), it tells the >story of powerful warring rulers locked in grudging peace negotiations >who find themselves shipwrecked on a remote island. Faced with eerie >supernatural enemies, they discover that their own longstanding >grievances and inability to cooperate are even greater dangers. > >At the same event will be Martha Wells (signing the paperback release >of CITY OF BONES) and Susan Wade (signing WALKING RAIN). > >WHO: Aaron Allston > >WHAT: THUNDER OF THE CAPTAINS > by Holly Lisle and Aaron Allston > Baen Books, July 1996, $5.99 > ISBN 0-671-87731-3 > >WHEN: Saturday, July 27, 6-8 p.m. > >WHERE: Adventures in Crime and Space > 609-A W. Sixth Street > Austin, TX 78701 > (512) 4SF-BOOK > >Hope to see you there.So, if you're in the Austin area, drop in and say hi to Aaron; he's a neat guy. Watch out for the puns, though.
-- Bob Apthorpe
Pete has now been named a partner at GD&F. Congratulations!
-- Steve Jackson
-- Bob Apthorpe
Between the many excellent ideas submitted, and the renewed inspiration and FNORD which Evil Stevie and our staff got from reading them, it is very likely that 1997 will see a new INWO supplement.
-- Steve Jackson
![[Chinese Gold Bar]](http://www.swcp.com/~iacr/china/10.2.jpg)
But buried among the obligatory Calls for Papers, conference
announcements and other academic goo, I came upon
the Chinese Gold Bar
Mystery.
. . .it seems that seven gold bars were allegedly issued to a General Wang in Shanghai, China, in 1933. These gold bars appear to represent metal certificates related to a bank deposit with a U.S. Bank. The gold bars themselves have pictures, Chinese writing, some form of script writing, and cryptograms in latin letters.
Running low on adventure ideas? This is a perfect adventure hook for GURPS Cliffhangers or GURPS China or any number of modern-era GURPS campaigns.
Or sharpen your pencils, warm up your Cray, dig our your number theory text and crack the code. Rumor has it that over $300,000,000 is involved in this deal. . .
-- Bob Apthorpe
Boom.
And while I find the grenade launcher to be the most amusing element of their new arsenal, others will undoubtably derive great joy from the Nailgun. With greatly expanded three-dimensional terrain, Quake allows you to play out your role as a Crazed Roofer, gleefully driving nails into many things other than structural material.
And on a related note, the Naval Research Lab has built an interesting little device akin to Quake's Nailgun - their 0.5 MJ railgun. Capable of moving something at 2 km/sec, the NRL's railgun is truly a high-tech toy every budding Evil Genius has on their Christmas wish list. Or combine both the nail- and railgun to protect our economy from strikes by roofers on the moon. Or something.
All I know is they're both pretty neat and I want them.
-- Bob Apthorpe
Why?
Simplest reason in the world: we lose a lot of money when we go to Origins. It's been at least five years since we could break even at that show. This seems to be true for all but the biggest companies . . . attendance at Origins has become so low that sales just don't come close to covering costs. It's great to meet people, but not if it sets us back thousands of dollars. When we go to GenCon or DragonCon, we meet more people, and we make money too. Those conventions are well-run and well-attended; they prove that game conventions can still succeed.
Other game companies have dropped out of Origins for the same reason . . . though some are more loyal, or stubborner, than we were. We lost money for three years (at least) before calling it quits; others are still hanging in there. It's quite true that if the companies drop out, attendance will never pick up. On the other hand, we can't keep on coming forever, throwing money away, and just hoping it will get organized again.
We'll continue to send observers and hope for improvement. Origins used to be a great convention; the people who are running it have been saying "This year's the turnaround" for years and years, and if it ever happens, we'll applaud and come back.
In the meantime, we'll see you next month at GenCon.
-- Steve Jackson
The plot seems simple enough, though:
Aliens arrive from space and destroy Washington. But later they turn out to be hostile.
-- Steve Jackson
-- Bob Apthorpe
While the Illuminator Staff lacked the motivation to uncover additional
factual information, they speculate that Ross's absence has done him a
world of good and that his new email address of
sjohn@cybercity.com will do
more to prevent alien abduction
than his previous practice of carrying around that small box of chocolate
Cadbury eggs left over from last Easter.
Welcome back!
-- Bob Apthorpe