We refer you to The Onion for the gory details. Well, actually, not even that gory. Perfectly credible, though . . .
After the con, we followed tradition (hey, in fandom, anything you have done twice before IS a tradition) and took a few days hiking. Bjo and her husband John came too, and they were great company. We looked at arches and dinosaur bones and petroglyphs and many, many, many rocks, and it was over far too soon. Mega thanks to our Keen-Eyed Native Guides, Mark Dakins and Mike Oberg, and to all the other Conduit folks who helped to set up the post-con trip.
On the other hand, it's good to be back, and it's time I wrote you some more games. I'm on it . . .
-- Steve Jackson
If you're tired of standing in line for The Phantom Menace, why not stay home
and enjoy the original? There's nothing like a classic, especially when it's
rendered in stunning ASCII-Mation! Requires Java 1.1 (hint for Mac 8.0+ users: use the Apple Applet runner).
-- Suggested by Anthony Salter
Honda has developed a humanoid robot that walks and moves like a person. It can even climb stairs. Visit the Honda website to see movies of the robot in action.
We also have quite a number of other books in playtest now:
Visit the playtest page to access the files (Pyramid subscribers only), or click here to subscribe to Pyramid.
"SETI@home is a scientific experiment that will harness the power of hundreds of thousands of Internet-connected computers in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). You can participate by running a program that downloads and analyzes radio telescope data. There's a small but captivating possibility that your computer will detect the faint murmur of a civilization beyond Earth."
Visit SETI@home for more information . . .
-- Steve Jackson
And, as I type this, I'm at ConDuit in Salt Lake City. This afternoon we ran what might have been the best session yet of Evil Stevie's Pirate Game. The MIBs are MIBbing brilliantly, filksongs are being sung, belly dancers are shaking everything that isn't nailed down, and I'm having a great time.
-- Steve Jackson
The Voluntary Human Extinction Movement has the no-muss, no-fuss answer to the problem of Earth's burgeoning population: stop.They contend people are the biggest problem on the planet, and the only sane and humane way to save it from us is to remove ourselves by simply letting the species die out.
Possible? Sure. Feasible? Seems so. Likely? Depends how long you want to wait in line at Disneyland.
-- Suggested by Reid Simmons
Please vote! Voting for the Origins Awards is open to the public; you can download the ballot from the GAMA website.
Also, GURPS Discworld received a nomination for Best Graphic Presentation of a Roleplaying Game, Adventure, or Supplement for 1998. This category is one of several where voting is not done by the public, but by the members of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design.
Winners will be announced at Origins, which takes place July 1st-4th.
If you're in or near Austin, and interested, write to Control and explain why you are natural MIB material and a wonder to all gamers everywhere.
-- Steve Jackson
We got our first samples of the 109-card expansion for Illuminati - looks good! It will be shipping in June . . . make sure your retailer knows. In the meantime, check out the auction if you want one of three advance copies. Yes, the Secret Masters are shameless, and we know what you want . . .
Worthwhile. Very hot and sweaty (game warehouses don't have air conditioning, and guess where we were set up) but definitely worthwhile. We do several distributor open houses a year . . . basically, all we can reach . . . and we plan to keep it up.
-- Steve Jackson
Page A15: "Bill would double salary of president."
Page A17: "Clinton expected to sign measure doubling money for Balkan conflict."
-- Steve Jackson
Remember the scanner that pinpointed Arnold Schwarzeneggar's pistol in "Total Recall"? We're one step closer to colonizing Mars, thanks to americansecurity.net and its Conpass x1280. It will X-ray fully clothed people in 10 seconds, and with less radiation than they receive on an hour-long plane flight. americansecurity.net can also plant a package scanner on your floor or desktop, and it has plenty of other scary devices like chemical sniffers and bomb blankets. The future's so bright, you gotta wear lead.-- Suggested by Myles
Then I come home and get back to what I laughingly call "work," assuming that I have enough energy left to roll a die.
-- Steve Jackson
The least-liked included In Nomine: The Disfavored, IN: Judgment Day/Alternate Earths, and In Nomine Hell.
We had many write-in votes for ethereal-oriented books, and historical books... and lots of requests for GURPS In Nomine, which is in the works already. Look for it later this year.
Thanks for voting, everyone! We'll be setting up an In Nomine wish list (similar to the GURPS wish list) soon.
-- Beth McCoy, Demon Princess of Line Editing
We've got a new production artist on staff: Alex Fernandez. Alex was raised in a small town of about five hundred people where there were no traffic lights, movie theaters, police, or art classes. He decided to make a living as an artist anyway, so Alex moved to Waco, where he look Commercial Art and Advertising classes. His first job out of school was at an advertising agency where he worked as a production artist. After that, he spent his days as a starving artist, working for anyone who would give him a chance. Finally, he showed up at Steve Jackson Games, where he impressed us with his artistic ability, uncanny wit, and fashion sense.
Welcome, Alex!
Big con, and a lot of fun. A big, busy gaming track, and lots and lots of MIBs in attendance, running games and playing. Highlights included an INWO Master's Game that pitted six of the universe's best players against each other; a dance DJ'd by Dr. Demento (who also dropped by our booth along with Mrs. Demento . . . nice folks!); a short (only 4 hour) but fun Pirate Game; some amazingly large, loud parties; several great filk concerts; a big, varied huckster room (with lots of new Star Wars stuff); and a great dead dog party with huge quantities of chocolate and pizza. We even worked in sneak previews of a couple of unreleased games. No, I'm not telling what they were. You had to be there.
Yea, verily, this was a good one. Now back to work.
-- Steve Jackson
Corporeal Players' Guide (for In Nomine)
The Angelic and Infernal Players' Guides are our top-selling In Nomine supplements. This finishes the trilogy. It gives lots more information about Servants of God, evil Sorcerors, undead, and all those other more-than-human, less-than-divine character types.
#3315, ISBN 1-55634-389-2. 128 pages. $19.95.
GURPS Who's Who
1
History is full of people who were stranger than fiction. People you'd want to meet. People you'd pray to avoid. People who changed the world.
This book gives complete descriptions and character stats for 52 of the most interesting people in history, ready to serve as patrons, allies, enemies or role-models. From the man who united China to the REAL Dread Pirate Roberts; from the voice of an empire to a roistering aristocratic astronomer with a silver nose; from a doctor so brilliant that his foes ran him out of town, to a king with 1,200 wives but not a single heir!
It's written for GURPS, but it's easy to translate into any system.
#6088, ISBN 1-55634-367-1. 128 pages. $19.95.
First In (for
GURPS Traveller)
Beyond the borders of the Third Imperium, the Interstellar Scout
Service seeks out strange new worlds! A Scout has to be ready for anything . . . or die. This book describes the Scouts' organization, equipment, starships (with deck plans) and typical missions. To make running a Scouts campaign easy, it also details the whole process of exploration, from the initial sighting of a new star system to the integration of a world into the Imperium.
First In includes a world-building sequence based on the most recent scientific discoveries. Game Masters can now design realistic star systems, worlds and civilizations. The system can be used for GURPS Traveller, or easily adapted to any other science-fiction RPG.
#6605, ISBN 1-55634-368-X. 144 pages. $20.95.
GURPS Lite
GURPS Lite is a distillation of the basic
GURPS rules.
It covers the essentials of character creation, combat, success rolls,
magic, adventuring, and game mastering.
The purpose of GURPS Lite is to help GMs bring new players into the game, without frightening them with the Basic Set, Compendiums, and a stack of worldbooks! With GURPS Lite, you can show your players just how simple the GURPS system really is. It can also be used as a neophyte's stand-alone introduction to roleplaying . . . but it is really designed as a tool to let the experienced player bring his friends into the game.
Download it free off of the web! (Acrobat viewer required.)
You can also now order a printed copy of GURPS Lite. If you order it along with something else, it's free; if you order it by itself, there's a $2 charge for shipping.
Yes, I'm mad. I'm entitled.
Other than that, Marcon is going very well. Large, helpful convention staff; around 2,000 members, maybe more, having a noisy good time; lots of guests, lots of parties. Lots of MIBs, too; big thanks to Alex Yeager, the Regional Director here, for putting together a great presence with a whole lot of games. I'm even getting in a bit of gaming myself . . . I just ran a cameo as the venal, brutal, lecherous Lord King James James in GURPS Goblins. Great fun, despite the fact that I got kicked in the head and left for dead. These things happen when you're a goblin.
-- Steve Jackson
It sounds like science fiction, and it is . . . John Varley predicted this system exactly in his Demon, written more than a decade ago. Now reality is catching up.
For more information, see the ABC News story online. While you're at it, here's another relevant ABC News story – it seems to be a good week for proto-Ogres . . .
Click and cover! It's not a question of whether or not to run for the hills when the Big Flash arrives, but of how far to go. The Nuclear Blast Mapper lets you enter a location and bomb size, then shows you how far the blast radius will reach. Is that old coal mine far enough away from ground zero? Wonder no longer. Other educational tidbits include tips for teachers, historical footage of bomb blasts and a panic quiz.
-- Suggested by Dan Simpson
Jackie's tweaking the code and working on the specials routines. And we're probably going to add a couple more companies to the catalog before long. More neat stuff, coming soon!
-- Steve Jackson
A classic becomes classier in this updating of the definitive guide to science-fiction roleplaying. GURPS Space was already a comprehensive set of tools to design your own starfaring campaigns, from space opera to hard science with any stop in between. Substantially revised and expanded, the Third Edition will:
* Upgrade the spaceship-design and space-combat systems!
* Ensure that popular science-fiction settings will be easily simulated!
* Update the rules to conform with changes since the last edition brought about by GURPS Compendium I, Traveller, Ultra-Tech 2, and Vehicles.
GURPS Space also offers science-fiction equipment from lasers to force swords, lots of classic science-fiction character types, advice on creating planets and the cultures that inhabit them, and much more!
144 OTA-bound (lie-flat) pages.
#6005. ISBN 1-55634-390-6. $21.95.
Enter a land of white snow, red blood, and black humor. Explore the world of Russian folklore and fairytales, where all sorts of interesting -- and often chillingly malevolent -- creatures dwell. Visit the many seats of Russian power, where a slip of the tongue won't lose an emissary his head -- that would be far, far too painless.
Within, you'll find the history, folklore, and daily life not of the Soviet Union or of the Imperial Age, but of medieval Russia -- a culture all but forgotten in the 20th century. GURPS Russia offers a unique opportunity to explore these forgotten times and people from the mundane to the magical.
128 pages.
#6082. ISBN 1-55634-258-6. $19.95.
Written by Genevieve R. Cogman
From Heaven to Hell and all points between, navigate the unique universe of In Nomine with this guide to nearly 70 locations of interest. Each location detailed in You Are Here provides a wealth of NPCs, adventure seeds, and ambiance -- from the trendiest cybercafe to the heavenly academy in which angels learn to wage war.
It's a vital resource for exploring the geography of regions divine and infernal, for peeling back the mundane masks of places of power in our own realm, and for peeking into the fantastical back corners of the ethereal realm of dreams. Current In Nomine players will benefit from You Are Here's highlighting portions of the Symphony they have yet to explore. New players will enjoy a vast sampler of the many settings and tones the system supports.
128 pages.
#3316. ISBN 1-55634-595-7. $19.95.
GURPS Magic Items 2 once again opens the doors to shops full of arcane artifacts and enchanted objects. From magical weaponry to marvelous trinkets, this book provides detailed descriptions of over 450 completely new items.
All of the familiar magical shops from Magic Items 1 are here, with new items for armor and protection, magical weaponry, mystical healing, necromantic magic, curses, tricks and traps, and more. In addition, this book introduces eight new shops that magic-seeking adventurers can visit, including bardic magic, adventuring items, holy magic, and toys and entertainment.
Bonus sections include expanded rules on methods of enchanting, more information on magical quirks and how they can affect any sort of magic item, and rules on the creation and use of spellbooks!
128 pages.
#6512. ISBN 1-55634-207-1. $19.95.
-- Gene Seabolt
Remember, the right to buy fine toy weapons is the right to be silly. Or something like that.
-- Steve Jackson
It already has the Cruel Site of the Day award; now Scott's Page of Evil is our Illuminated Site of the Week.Scott Glazer offers up his views on a variety of wellsprings for evil - Andie MacDowell, the Spin Doctors, France - in a sly and backhandedly illuminated way. He's also side-splittingly funny, a rarity on the Internet these days, especially for someone on the front lines of the Eternal Struggle.
– Suggested by Max Minkoff
