June 30, 2001: And Sometimes We Play
In our Company FAQ, we write, "It's not a madcap all-day games session - it's an office, and most of us spend all day on the computer or the phone."
Not true today. A bunch of us are here, taking a few last playtest shots at Car Wars and Frag Expansion 1 - Death Match, trying to find the nasty little corners where things might still be broken . . .
So, we do play. Sometimes. Of course, we do it on our day off . . . Monday, we'll be back at the computers and the phones.
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: Saddle up partner . . .
. . . and keep your gun fully loaded. The Knuckleduster Firearms Shop provides everything you need to know about Wild West firearms, from six-shooters to gatlings.
June 29, 2001: Deluxe Ogre, G.E.V. Honored
The folks at the online magazine The Wargamer have bestowed The Wargamer Award for Excellence on Deluxe Ogre and Deluxe G.E.V..
My favorite bit: "This game is a classic and should be on every gamer's shelf, or better, on their gaming table." You can hit these links to read the Deluxe Ogre review and the Deluxe G.E.V. review.
Thanks for the kind words, guys ...
-- Scott Haring
Is the local roleplaying community conspiring against the gang? Find out in Knights of the Dinner Table, Issue 56.
June 28, 2001: Now Shipping!
Several new things are shipping this week:
Combine Set 6 - Mechanized Infantry Company with Escort Squadron (for Ogre
Miniatures)
This set features a brand-new unit: the Combine's "Roadrunner" GEV-PC. The Mech Infantry Company has four Roadrunners, each carrying
three squads of battlesuited infantry. The escort squadron is made up of four "Gremlin" light GEVs. Together, they can strike quickly to
take ground and hold it. This set is packaged in a reusable plastic box and adds 60 points to your Combine force.
#10-2106 ISBN 1-55634-470-8. $19.95
Planetary Survey 4: Glisten (for GURPS Traveller)
The "Jewel of Deep Space," the Glisten system has no habitable world, yet it is the capital of the Glisten subsector, site of a Scout base and a major shipbuilding yard, and home of the Mining School of Glisten. Its rich asteroid belts combine an advanced technology with an almost inexhaustible supply of raw materials. Glisten is a major industrial and economic powerhouse in the Spinward Marches.
This book concentrates on the five asteroids which make up "Glisten City," the government and business center of the system. Trade, business, scientific investigations, and high-level politics rub shoulders with gritty asteroid miners, huge factory complexes, shipyards, and interstellar intrigue.
32 pages. Stock #6804, ISBN 1-55634-511-9. $8.95.
GURPS Spirits
The creatures of the Other World are all around us. Some were once alive. Some were created by human imagination. And some are
completely inhuman but thirst for our souls.
GURPS Spirits is a complete guide to the spirit realm and its inhabitants. It includes a catalog of spirits from around
the world: angels, demons, djinn, dryads, ghosts, loas, manitou, raksasha, and many, many more. It is also a campaign guide for
characters who see spirits, serve them, use them . . . or fight them!
Also included: an expanded version of the ritual magic rules first seen in GURPS
Voodoo, as a system for spirit-mediated magic.
128 pages. Stock #6537, ISBN 1-55634-516-X. $22.95.
GURPS Basic Set Hardback (reprint)
GURPS, the Generic Universal RolePlaying System,
is the most flexible roleplaying system you can use. Adventure in any world you can
think of. Supplements covering many genres are already out -- and more are coming!
But you don't have to wait; the GURPS system is
easily adaptable to your favorite game world. It's easy to learn . . . you can jump
right in with quick-start rules, pre-designed characters, and an easy-to-play solo
adventure. The Basic Set is designed to be "Game Master-friendly," with Table of
Contents, Glossary, Appendix and Index, as well as lots of examples.
#6031, ISBN 1-55634-159-8. $29.95.
-- Keith Johnson
Warehouse 23 News: All Hail Dream Pod 9
With the recent addition of Jovian Chronicles, Warehouse 23 now carries the full line of Dream Pod 9 roleplaying games.
June 27, 2001: Another Nice Review
I'm really starting to like the kind folks at RPG Action. They've posted another complimentary review, this time of GURPS Traveller: Planetary Survey 2 - Denuli - The Shrieker World.
-- Scott Haring
June 26, 2001: Spoke Too Soon
Okay, our systems are back on the net, because they're at the IO facility . . . but our office's ISDN connection is still down. So we couldn't reach our own website, MOO, etc., during the day, or read e-mail from the office, or all those little things you take for granted about a wired world. Feh.
Ah, well, tomorrow will be better. We hope.
-- Steve Jackson
June 25, 2001: A Day Offline / Now Shipping
If you tried to reach us any time Sunday before about 10pm, you couldn't. IO ran into some difficulties with their own server move . . . we don't know
the details yet . . . but for a long while all SJ Games functions were completely offline. We think it's all fixed now. Maybe.
Meanwhile, several new things are shipping this week:
Deck Plan 4 - Assault Cutter (for Traveller)
The Assault Cutter is an armored, reinforced version of the Modular Cutter, popular in military applications. This package includes 8
two-sided maps . . . hexes on one side and squares on the other, to fit any campaign! Included are the cutter itself and seven
modules: boarding, ECM, fighter, Marine command, Marine firebase, medevac, and sensor. Also included is a sheet of full-color Cardboard Heroes miniatures to crew the cutter, including a Rampart fighter for the fighter
module.
Stock #6622, ISBN 1-55634-509-7. $16.95.
GURPS Horror GM's Screen
Four cardstock pages are all that stand between you and your rabid players
. . . On the front is the full-color art from the four new "Summer of
Horror" covers, by Christopher Shy. On the back is a selection of GURPS
charts and tables chosen especially for the Horror GM, with special
attention to Fright Checks and magic. This screen is four panels in one
solid piece (no two-panel bits to paper clip together!) with a durable
gloss finish on both sides. Also included: a 17" x 22" floorplan of a
deserted country farmhouse and a sheet of Cardboard Heroes miniatures . . .
heavy on the zombies, because zombies always attack the farmhouse . . .
Stock #6417, ISBN 1-55634-514-3. $14.95.
Paneuropean Set 2 - Panzer Company (for Ogre Miniatures)
Build up your Paneuropean force with these hard-hitting reinforcements. Four troops of three units each . . . six "Jaeger" heavy tanks
and six "Hammer" light tanks . . . 12 vehicles in all! The set is packaged in a reusable plastic box and adds 54 points to your
Paneuropean force.
Stock #10-2202, ISBN 1-55634-487-2. $19.95.
-- Keith Johnson
June 24, 2001: GURPS Deadlands Conversion Rules Now In Playtest!
These conversion rules will tide you over until the release of GURPS Deadlands: Weird West, later this fall. Please note that they are designed not to convert every Deadlands hero to a standard 100-point GURPS character; emphasis is on maintaining the feel of the PC, rather than balancing point totals across the board. These rules are designed to go one way, from Pinnacle Deadlands to GURPS, but could be retrofitted to take a posse the other direction. When making comments, please bear in mind that this is not meant to be a comprehensive conversion guide, but to cover the majority of situations that Marshals and posses will encounter; Weird West will contain more complete rules. This conversion document will appear as a 16-page supplement to GURPS Deadlands Dime Novel 1: Aces And Eights, coming out in August. The playtest will run for two weeks.
Pyramid
subscribers can access the playtest files. And if you're not already a subscriber, subscribe today!
-- Andrew Hackard
June 23, 2001: Life Is Cool
Well, at least the office is. Finally.
Our upstairs air conditioner has been on its last legs for quite a while, and the reception area and my office were getting rather warm each afternoon as summer approached. A few days ago, the compressor died, and "rather warm" turned into "sauna." But sadly, sauna dress is incompatible with an office atmosphere. More to the point, if you stay in the sauna for 8 hours, you die, and that's incompatible with getting the new books to the printer.
So we bit the bullet and put $1,300 into a new 3-ton compressor, and the place is actually liveable again. Now you know what game company execs REALLY think about . . .
-- Steve Jackson
June 22, 2001: "Did Not!" "Did Too!"
Every fantastic phenomenon has its skeptics. Now every skeptic has his critic. It's getting to be a shoving match on the Internet, and the bell for the latest round has been rung on PsyZone. Folks like James Randi take it on the chin, and Winston Wu offers his refutation of the scientific method.
-- Suggested by Brett Slocum
Warehouse 23 News: WHO ate your WHAT?
Eat, kill, and destroy your way through the Kobolds Ate My Baby roleplaying game.
June 21, 2001: Down And Up Again
We were offline for a little while Wednesday afternoon, moving our servers to IO's new facility. Everything should be under control now, though if you are using a script to connect with us you may continue to experience problems until the new IP addresses propagate, but then again, if you're reading this, you're probably all right . . .
And the new facility is beautiful, and has better connectivity, and we're about to get a T-1 installed to the SJ Games office. Life is good.
-- Steve Jackson
June 20, 2001: New Hardback Basic Set
Samples of the new hardback version of the GURPS Basic Set are back from the printers. They look nice - better than last time we did hardbacks.
There was so much demand for the hardback Basic Set that we're retiring the softback version - the ones now in the stores are the last ones there will be for a while, if not forever. So if for some reason you prefer softback, go grab one now.
Otherwise, revel with us in the nice shiny hardbound book!
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: All Hail the Holy Pail!
Wingnut Games presents its first expansion for Battle Cattle, the fantasy based Quest For The Holy Pail.
June 19, 2001: The Reviews Are In!
OK, well one review . . . but it's a good one, so we'll take it.
The folks at RPG Action have posted a review of GURPS Traveller: Planetary Survey 1 - Kamsii - The Pleasure World on their site. My favorite line: "A perfectly executed exercise of how to get the most into a little book."
Thanks for the kind words . . .
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: . . . 65 . . . 66 . . . 67 . . .
Sixty-four different Pro Paint colors not enough? Well, we've got four new ones, so no excuses for not finding the right shade!
June 18, 2001: Well, It *Would* Explain A Lot ...
The folks at The Gaming Report recently put up one of their wacky polls, asking:
What Fictional Character would you choose for President of the U.S.?
Leading the poll handily is our own Steve Jackson, besting the likes of Elminster, Lex Luthor, and even Great Cthulhu himself.
Of course, you're probably thinking you didn't know that Steve Jackson was a fictional character. Well, there's lots of things about Steve you don't know, and most of them you're not cleared for, anyway. Fnord.
-- Scott Haring
Warehouse 23 News: The dollar/mark/franc/etc. is mightier than the sword.
Become European merchant princes in this week's special, Medieval Merchant.
June 17, 2001: At Last, Gaming Awards That Mean Something
. . . not much, maybe, but something . . . and don't pretend to be anything they're not. Check out the HorriDjinns Awards - and vote, if you're so minded. Remember, a bad attitude is better than no attitude at all :-)
-- Steve Jackson
Warehouse 23 News: Wouldn't a knife work better?
The Untouchable Trio (plus one) strike again in KODT: Illustrated, Issue 7.
June 16, 2001: More Murphy's
The new computerized Murphy's Rules spinoff will start today, Saturday, at DorkTower.com.
This will be a place for all the computer-related Murphies that get sent to John, since the Pyramid readership seems to hate and despise these. This also means all Pyramid ones can now concentrate on card, roleplaying and board games.
If that's your normal response to seeing a mouse, you probably don't want to read the newest BESM supplement, Big Ears, Small Mouse, their first based on American cartoons.
June 15, 2001: Which Part of "Be Prepared" Didn't You Understand?
Science is always fun until someone gets irradiated. Dangerous Laboratories is all in favor of combining learning and entertainment, but all it takes is one mad scientist Boy Scout to spoil nuclear materials for the rest of us.
-- Suggested by Sean Dalziel
Warehouse 23 News: Take it to the next level.
Bring your Gear Krieg miniatures game into the realm of roleplaying with the Gear Krieg RPG.
June 14, 2001: Watching The Cards Roll Off The Press
Phil Reed is in Kingsport, Tennessee this week, at the Carta Mundi plant, watching as several games get printed. He's already seen the Munchkin cards come off the press, and he says they're perfect. Next up, Frag and Chez Dork. Carta Mundi prints most of the cards for the game hobby, but we haven't used them much until now. Clearly, this will be changing . . .
June 13, 2001: GURPS Alpha Centauri Now In Playtest!
Earth is dead -- but in the last years before the catastrophe, the starship
Unity was launched. The ship carried a few thousand colonists to
the nearby Alpha Centauri system, where they were to build a new Earth
on the world called simply Planet. Then disaster struck. Mutiny split the crew into factions, each of which
had its own plans for the new world. After the landing, the colonists were
plunged into a centuries-long struggle against hostile nature, horrific alien
life-forms, and each other. Only one faction could win control over Planet
and the destiny of humanity. . .
GURPS Alpha Centauri is now in playtest. Pyramid subscribers can access the playtest files. And if you're not already a subscriber, subscribe today!
-- Keith Johnson
Warehouse 23 News: The grass is rarely greener . . .
. . . on the other side of an interplanetary dispute. Colonial Expeditionary Force provides Earth's perspective on the Heavy Gear conflict.
June 12, 2001: Chez Geek Wins InQuest Fan Award
Chez Geek won InQuest Magazine's 'Best Card Game of 2000' title. Congratulations to Jon Darbro, John Kovalic, Alain Dawson, and everybody else who worked on that puppy . . .
Warehouse 23 News: Difficult to fathom . . .
. . . but important to know. Word of the Dancers invites you into the mystery that is the tribes of the Child and the Trickster.
June 11, 2001: Look At All The Pretty Lights!
Behold the first six-sided die sophisticated enough to be a true
product of the computer age: Electrodice!
Not only does it produce a random number between one and six
with merely a light tap, but flashes and beeps in an entertaining
and almost hypnotic manner while doing so. You needn't worry
about running the batteries down, either, for replacements are
easily found and even more easily installed, so play with your
Electrodice to your hearts content! Electrodice come in packs of
two for the low, low price of only $5.95 and are available in seven
pleasing colors.
June 10, 2001: Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue-Glowing Mars
Real life just gets weirder all the time. Not that we're complaining.
"An invasion of an alien species with plant and animal
attributes could take place within years. But Earth would be the
departure point, not the destination." Read the CNN story.
June 9, 2001: Job Openings - Senior Staff, No Less . . .
We have two top-level job openings posted now, both in Austin. One is for a controller (no Illuminati jokes, please . . . ) This person doesn't even have to be a gamer, though it wouldn't hurt.
The other is for Managing Editor. No, Alain isn't leaving, but she's going back to editing and working on a new special project fnord. We need to find a really good administrator to pull the levers of the Game Making Machine. If that's you, get in touch.
Warehouse 23 News: All in a day's work . . .
. . . for a posse in the Weird West: run a breakneck chase through the Great Maze in Rain o' Terror or investigate an unholy alliance in The Black Circle.
June 8, 2001: The Goddess Must Have Seen Him Coming First
Is it Discordian wisdom hidden in poetry, or the ravings of a disenfranchised artist? Only his webmaster knows for sure.
-- Suggested by Jonathan Vasque
Warehouse 23 News: Get back to nature . . .
. . . but try not to be eaten by it. Natural Selection details Poseidon's untamed, and hungry, wilderness.
June 7, 2001: GURPS Transhuman Space: High Frontier Now In Playtest!
In the year 2100, Earth-Lunar space is the most densely populated area of the solar system outside Earth itself. Come visit:
- Earth orbit, buzzing with busy space factories, bustling space ports, under the
watchful eye of rival orbital weapons platforms. But the biggest danger is not the
threat of war but the ravages of 150 years of space junk, moving at 25,000 miles per hour!
- Lagrange 4, where giant cities in space glitter like jewels in the night, presided
over by the massive O'Neil colony Islandia.
- Lagrange 5, the ghetto of the solar system, colonized by dreamers, ideologues
and undercapitalized entrepreneurs. Sometimes a dream and a prayer aren't enough.
- The Moon. We're back, and this time with bulldozers. Luna is the solar system's
industrial park, with Helium-3 mines that feed the fusion reactors on Earth, and more
cybershell robots than people. But it's not all machines: the north and south poles
are home to the pleasure domes of Moonshadow and thriving transhumanist Luna City. And on
Luna's farside, a massive telescope array unravels the mysteries of the cosmos...
GURPS Transhuman Space: High Frontier is now in playtest. Pyramid subscribers can access the playtest files. And if you're not already a subscriber, subscribe today!
-- Keith Johnson
Catch up on the latest doings of the KODT gang with Knights of the Dinner Table, Issue 55.
June 6, 2001: Moo
Aldo Ghiozzi has gone home, but awful schemes were laid while he was here. Hamburger fans rejoice . . .
June 5, 2001: Play Ogre Online!
Andrew Walters has created an Ogre area within the Pyramid Chat Room. If you've ever played Ogre by e-mail, this is even better. It not only gives you instant response, it will also resolve attacks, keep track of your Ogre record sheets, and provide reference tables. Now in beta test, the new Ogre rooms let you play the game of cybernetic tanks in the cybernetic world.
One optional rule that works particularly well with computer
moderation is hidden Ogre damage: the results of an attack can be
reported only to the Ogre's owner, leaving the defender in the dark
about just how many tread units are left...
Each player will need their own rules, map, and counters. The computer does the rest.
Warehouse 23 News: New Ogre Miniatures!
Another batch of individual Ogre minis is up for grabs, including the Ogre Mark III, the Yankee Light Tank, and Combine Heavy Infantry.
June 4, 2001: GURPS Steampunk Catalog Now In Playtest!
The Mad Scientists, Illuminated Thinkers, and Inspired Tinkerers of the Steampunk Age have brought their finest, their deadliest -- and their strangest -- work together in one place. The GURPS Steampunk Catalog has it all, from weapons and armor to analytical engines, automata, vehicles, pharmaceuticals, and even living plant and animal creations!
GURPS Steampunk Catalog is now in playtest. Pyramid subscribers can access the playtest files. And if you're not already a subscriber, subscribe today!
-- Keith Johnson
Warehouse 23 News: Build a better mousetrap by booking a better band.
"Great blues lures fat mice", so lure the most by booking the hottest bands in Katzenjammer Blues, on special this week.
June 3, 2001: Okay, No Kidding, Car Wars Is Now Real
The Army is building a truck that's straight out of James Bond (they admit that's what inspired it) . . . or Car Wars. Here's the BBC story . . . with photos!
Warehouse 23 News: I'm not evil, I'm just misunderstood.
Explore you bad side with The Way of the Shadowlands, the first supplement for L5R that allows you play a minion of Fu Leng or other assorted Shadowlands nasty.
June 2, 2001: ... And Boy, Are Their Arms Tired!
Managing Editor Alain Dawson is in town from Chicago this week, as is Sales & Marketing Director Ross Jepson, in from Calgary. Wingnut Games' Aldo Ghiozzi (of Battle Cattle fame) came in from California and is is also hanging around, along with writer Genevieve Cogman, all the way from England.
What could such a diverse group be up to? Sorry, you're not cleared for that ...
The Warehouse 23 Top 10 List for May is up. Come take a look at what all your friends (and enemies) are buying.
June 1, 2001: We Shall Eat Them In The Kitchen, We Shall Eat Them In The Dining Room . . .
The indignities suffered by marshmallow peeps in the pursuit of scientific truth were but a prelude to war. Now the hardy little candies are getting their marching orders in Peep War, a tabletop game that pits the glutinous chicks and their jellybean minions in no-holds-barred battle. History is written by the winners, and the losers get eaten.
-- Suggested by Rus Hall
Join Los Vagos in his crusade to free Castille from the grip of the Inquisition in this brand new 7th Sea sourcebook.
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