Daily Illuminator Archive for April 2004

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April 1, 2004:
A Gaslamp Fantasy with Adventure, Romance, and Mad Science! Steve Jackson Games is delighted to announce that a 2005 release will be the Girl Genius RPG, set in the world created by Phil and Kaja Foglio in their Girl Genius comics and graphic novels. To be written by Kaja Foglio (assisted by Michelle Barrett on the crunchy bits), and illustrated by Phil and Kaja Foglio, the Girl Genius RPG will be a complete, self-contained gamebook using the Fourth Edition GURPS rules . . . read article

April 2, 2004:
We got well over 50 entries in our cover design competition, and we're very glad we did it. We've narrowed the field to three concepts . . . it was not easy . . . read article

April 3, 2004:
Whether they try to clone dinosaurs, launch death rays into low orbit, or create armies of superbeings for world domination, mad scientists always seem to have one thing in commmon: fabulously strange forces beyond mortal ken at their beck and call . . . read article

April 4, 2004:
For years we've been bringing you the Illuminated Site of the Week. We like telling you about the strange, the offbeat, the silly, and, quite often, the Definitely Not From This Planet . . . read article

April 5, 2004:
Romanian police are investigating allegations that a man dug up his dead brother-in-law, cut out his heart, burned the heart to ashes, then mixed the ashes with water and gave it to sick members of his family, all to stop said brother-in-law's vampire attacks against them. No, really . . . read article

April 6, 2004:
Regular Pyramid readers have already discovered the "prank" we pulled this week for our annual April Fool's issue. Six of our regular contributors swapped features, resulting in . . . weirdness . . . read article

April 7, 2004:
The winner was #2, created by Victor R. Fernandes, a graphic artist who lives in São Paulo, Brazil . . . read article

April 8, 2004:
One of our deep cover operatives on the West Coast snapped this picture, showing clear evidence of Illuminati infiltration of Hollywood. Not that this came as a surprise to anyone . . . . . read article

April 9, 2004:
Judge him by his make and model, do you? Obi-Shawn has spent the last four years channeling the Force into his Honda del Sol, turning it from an ordinary street car into the H-Wing Carfighter, darling of car shows and charity events across the gala...er, California . . . read article

April 10, 2004:
Greg Rickards, widely known in roleplaying and gaming circles in Australia, died March 10 of a heart attack brought on by undiagnosed diabetes. His funeral was held in Sydney on March 29th . . . read article

April 11, 2004:
The GURPS Fourth Edition Frequently Asked Questions have been online for a little while now, but it seems that with all the excitement about the cover competition I forgot to write an Illuminator about it. Special thanks to Andrew Hackard and Paul Chapman for compiling these . . . read article

April 12, 2004:
Few of our readers will be qualified for this one, and fewer still will be jobhunting and ready to relocate . . . but it never hurts to ask. If we find someone with game industry experience, that would be a plus! . . . read article

April 13, 2004:
The good news is that, thanks to the inimitably talented Greg Hyland, Pyramid has had a Murphy's Rules installment at least every other week for months! The bad news is that . . . umm . . . thanks to the inimitably talented Greg Hyland, Pyramid has had a Murphy's Rules installment at least every other week for months! . . . read article

April 14, 2004:
We had several out-of-house playtesters for GreedQuest whose addresses we -- uh, I mean our loyal but inept minions -- failed to obtain. If you are Dianna Bennett, Brian Cook, Jeff Graber, or Matt Westmoreland, and you playtested GreedQuest, send your address to Andrew Hackard so we can get your well-deserved comp copy out to you . . . read article

April 15, 2004:
You can play 20 Questions against a computer. And you might lose . . . read article

April 16, 2004:
Michelle and I are in Detroit as you read this, for Penguicon, the combination Linux and SF convention. Two great tastes that . . . aww, you've heard it already . . . read article

April 17, 2004:
With a few simple bits of data, the Earth Impact Effects Program tells you the predicted results of various collisions with the Earth. Although they make no guarantees as to accuracy (for scientists, they sure seem to skimp on the experimentation phase), it should be close enough for Transhuman Space aficionados, Roswell enthusiasts, and science alarmists . . . read article

April 18, 2004:
Here's what's coming from Steve Jackson Games in July, 2004: Munchkin Blender Stir Things Up! It's the ultimate party kit for Munchkin fans! Munchkin players really like to combine their sets . . . Munchkin, Star Munchkin, Munchkin Fu, all in one game . . . read article

April 19, 2004:
I'm sure SJ and Michelle will have many nice things to say about Penguicon soon enough, but Giles and I attended Chimeracon in San Antonio this weekend, too. Much fun was had; many games (some new, some old) were played . . . read article

April 20, 2004:
Okay, this combination Linux/SF convention was a lot of fun. And me without a digital camera . . . read article

April 21, 2004:
We've had a lot of questions about the status of our miniature figures. At last we have some answers, and they're good ones . . . read article

April 22, 2004:
Here's what's heading to distributors this week. Look for them on your local game store shelves any time now: GreedQuest Greed Is Good! . . . and there's treasure to be won, so what are you waiting for? . . . read article

April 23, 2004:
During the GAMA Trade Show, we discovered that a major character in GURPS Infinite Worlds (due in December) has a parallel version here in our own timeline! Baron Janos Telkozep, agent of ISWAT, and Jeff Mackintosh, Art Director for Guardians of Order, are seen here . . . read article

April 24, 2004:
Some of our peers from the University saw yesterday's Illuminator, and laughed! "Ha!" they said, "That Canadian looks nothing like the Baron!" But behold! Photographic enhancements highlight the mind-boggling similarities . . . read article

April 25, 2004:
John Kovalic is finishing up the Munchkin Blender art, and he gave me a heads-up about something really cool he did on his trip to Vienna. If you're a Kovalic fan but don't read his blog . . . you ought to go look at this one . . . read article

April 26, 2004:
Unless you've been living under a rock (or were chased there by a drifting cloud of radiation), you'll recall Chernobyl is the Russian town where a nuclear accident killed off or chased out all the citizenry. The streets are wide open, but to go cruising through it on a motorcycle, you'd have to be crazy . . . read article

April 27, 2004:
The search engine on this site hasn't been everything it should be. In particular, searches didn't reliably find Daily Illuminator material, because of the way the files were stored . . . read article

April 28, 2004:
The Warehouse 23 Basement is finally open again, after a long absence. Those who remember the Basement are now leaping with joy . . . read article

April 29, 2004:
Sometime around 10am Wednesday, our provider, Birch Telecom, suffered a beaut of an outage, affecting Austin, Houston, and other parts of Texas. We didn't get our service restored until around 8pm . . . read article

April 30, 2004:
Sure, the site is mostly shameless promotion for the Chip of the Month Club, but they do have the even more shamelessly named Paranormal Potato Chip Gallery of All-Stars . . . and isn't a potato chip shaped like Elvis really what it's all about? -- Suggested by Lynette R . . . read article

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