Anyway, Finland is beautiful and this is a great con. I'm taking along a couple of unpublished things to sneak-preview them there . . . the Chez Geek expansion, and a new card game which must remain nameless for now . . .
-- Steve Jackson
And the hits just keep on coming! Unexplained tones, strange voices and enigmatic messages flood "numbers stations," radio signals anyone with a shortwave can pick up. Once they were the purview of spies and moles. So why, now that the Cold War is frozen solid, do these rogue transmissions continue unregulated? The Conet Project is only the tip of the iceberg; sister site The Numbers Game has the audio evidence.
-- Suggested by Ted Skirvin
Roger Cline has just joined our staff. In his own words:I'm 31 years old. Until recently, I was a newspaper reporter at the Port Arthur News in Port Arthur, Texas, where I have lived most of my life. In a week, though, I'm moving to College Station. I've been a gamer since I was 12, starting out with D&D, Gamma World, and Boot Hill. In high school I discovered Car Wars, Illuminati, and Man to Man (the first GURPS release). Other than gaming, I like to write poetry, watch movies, and play pool (which is, I guess, a kind of gaming :).
My favorite color is blue.
A sample chapter is available on Greg's website, and you can order direct from Amazon.
I've read the book and I liked it . . . check it out.
-- Steve Jackson
Our newest staff member is Shawn Havranek, print-buyer-in-training. Up until 1994 (with occasional relapses since) Shawn worked with various high-tech companies and engineering firms. He soon came to realize, all television and film evidence to the contrary, that an engineer is usually nothing more than a glorified, if well-paid, handyman. After leaving engineering in disgust, he moved south to Texas. Now he lives in Austin with his lovely wife and the mandatory SJ Games’ two cats (picked them up yesterday).
Shawn was a contributor to GURPS Villains. In addition to gaming, he also does various freelance theater projects.
They've built a robot that eats meat.Terrific.
-- Suggested by Owen Kerr
To celebrate our Origins awards, we flew our entire staff, plus Jon Darbro, designer of Chez Geek, to a mountain resort for a week's paid vacation away from the Texas heat. Everyone got new ski outfits - at company expense, of course - and we played all day and partied all [SLAP]Okay. We ordered out to Papa John's for pizza, ate it in the shipping room and sent Jon a note of congratulations. A guy can dream . . .
Seen at our non-mountain resort, left to right: Loren, Kelly, Deanna, Gina (unsuccessfully hiding) and Alain.
-- Steve Jackson
Look on the bright side. We may not need a furnace for the miniatures operation. Just set the metal on the sidewalk and stand back . . .
-- Steve Jackson
At this past weekend's Origins 2000 in Columbus, Steve Jackson Games was
honored with two Origins Awards. The Origins Awards recognize
excellence in several different fields of gaming; nominations come from
members of the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts & Design, and final voting is done by gamers and game designers. Chez Geek, designed by Jon Darbro, was voted Best Traditional Card Game of 1999, and
GURPS was named to the Adventure Gaming Hall of Fame.
That makes this a great time to announce a Chez Geek expansion set . . . new jobs, new stuff to buy, new things to interfere with your precious sleep, and, yes, new nookie. Look for it in November.
Other Origins Award nominees from SJ Games were Tile Chess, Best Abstract Board Game; Cardboard Heroes, Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniatures; and Pyramid, Best Professional Game Magazine.
Congratulations to all our nominees and winners! We're proud of you!
Of course, if the $12K price tag is out of your reach, there are close to 300 others for sale on eBay right now.
Scooby-Doo's quarry turns out to be yet another mundane con artist...or is it a double-blind? Is it harmless but hokey animation, or is our favorite Great Dane an occult demagogue?
-- Suggested by Bill Hamilton
I've also got a new game eating at my brain; we will probably be scribbling playtest cards during the convention. Please don't point and laugh unless you really want to.
-- Steve Jackson
But now, at last, we are making some progress. We’ve decided to bite the bullet and create our own casting division right here at SJ Games Secret Headquarters. This requires time and investment . . . but most of all, setting up a casting shop requires a s ignificant number of clues. I’m very proud to announce that we have acquired those clues in the person of Richard Kerr, former head sculptor for Ral Partha and creator of the “Off The Wall Armies.” Richard is a master sculptor and painter (and an old friend). He will be heading our casting division . . . and I’m confident that he will create figures that I’ll be very proud of.
Richard’s timeline has us pouring metal by this time next month. It’s a little bit early to say when that will translate into products on sale. We’ve set up a web page for the miniatures division – check it every so often to see our progress. There will be photos . . .
Thanks go to a lot of people for making this possible, including:
"I've been a fan of Bujold's novels for years," Steve Jackson said. "It's an honor and a thrill to be allowed to produce a GURPS book based on the Vorkosigan series. In particular, we're going to take special care with the art, to make sure that both Lois and the fans feel that Miles and the other characters are p roperly illustrated."
Bujold has won the Hugo award for Best Novel three times, second only to the legendary Robert A. Heinlein. The Hugo is voted on by fans of science fiction, and is the top honor in the field. She has been nominated three additional times for Best Novel (including this year, for A Civil Campaign); she also won once for Best Novella. She has also won two Nebula awards; the Nebula is voted on by science fiction writers.
GURPS won the Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game, and several of its supplements have also been award winners or nominees. The Miles Vorkosigan sourcebook is tentatively scheduled for an early 2001 release. A writer has not yet been cho sen.
For more information, contact Andrew Hackard at (512) 447-7866.
-- Andrew Hackard
Cool though it would be to see New York City protected by a web-slinging goat, Nexia Biotechnologies didn't have crime prevention in mind when they stuck spider genes in a pair of goats. The goats, so the story goes, will now produce web silk in their milk for ballistic-armor and medicinal purposes.Click here for the ABC article.
-- Suggested by John Macek
And no, this has nothing to do with that funny purple glow coming from the Warehouse. You didn't see anything there. Look into this little light, please...
Quite a trip! Loren and I made it back to Austin on Monday evening, alive and . . . well, alive is good enough. Special acknowledgements go to the many MIBs who helped us in Atlanta, including Bill Sides, John Mion, John Hurtt (who brought the original Ogre Macrotures set) and TJ Jensen (who ran a lot of 1/300 scale Ogre). Also at Dragon*Con was the SE Regional AADA Tournament (thanks, John Blaylock) and the Pirate Game (thanks, Franklin Cain).Special non-thanks go to UPS, which once again managed to misplace a Saturday delivery package until Monday. Thus, the estimable Jonathan Woodward was NOT able to sign copies of GURPS Ogre. (Sigh. WE know better than to sh ip UPS when time matters, but our printers didn't. They do now. They worked very hard to make that date, and it went for nothing thanks to UPS.)
Aside from that, though, it was fun . . . at a couple of points, we had four different big SJ Games events going in our corner of the room, all full of people. Good going, everyone!
-- Steve Jackson
Superiors 3 (In Nomine)
Dreams, Faith, Destiny, and Fire. These are Words of imagination and inspiration, Words that burn and Words that heal. The Archangels who embody these ideals are as disparate and diverse as the Words themselves. Gabriel, the flame of divine inspiration, the scourge of cruelty, smoldering in self-imposed exile. Khalid, newly returned to Heaven's fold, nursing his own new-found faith. Yves, seemingly benign, but with the power to name God and set man on the path to righteousness. And Blandine, protecting the dreams of humanity while clinging desperately to her own.
Within the pages of Superiors 3, Hope and Prophecy, you will find out the origins of these powerful beings, learn their secrets and fears, and explore the Tethers and secret organizations that support them. You will discover what it is like to serve as one of their messengers on Earth, battling ignorance, brutality, and terror against fearsome opposition. And you will find seeds for adventures to launch you into a campaign against the forces of evil.
Hearken well, ye bringers of the light, for the way is hard, and fraught with danger.
144 pages, #3322, ISBN 1-55634-428-7, $20.95.
GURPS In Nomine
A GURPS adaptation of the
In Nomine setting, featuring the epic
struggle between Heaven and Hell, between angels and demons -- both here in
the mortal world and in the realms beyond. The focus will be on converting
the setting -- all of In Nomine's
Bands, Choirs, Superiors, and realms will be adapted for use with
GURPS -- but
GURPS conversions of In
Nomine mechanics will be included as well, covering artifacts,
attunements, Discord, dissonance, disturbance, Essence, Intervention,
resonance, Rites, Songs and more. Get ready to play with the big boys!
#6093, ISBN 1-55634-400-7. 224 pages. $24.95.
Battle-ready replacements for dog-eared counters and well-used maps, and four new multi-map scenarios! New rules include towing options, random Ogre damage, and the variant Ogres previously seen only in The Ogre Book. Fight to recover crippled Ogres on "The Day After," deliver a crippling punch to a Combine industrial complex in "Body Blow," or "Fake Out" the Paneuropeans by concealing your true objective until it's too late!
Components include a rule sheet with scenarios, two duplicate Ogre/G.E.V counter sheets, two duplicate Shockwave counter sheets, and one each Shockwave and G.E.V maps.
ISBN 1-55634-440-6, #7202, $11.95.
GURPS Robots (reprint)
GURPS Robots contains detailed rules for designing,
building and playing robots -- from the tiniest nanobots to
the mightiest megabots. You can create cyborgs, androids, and even
biomorphs -- deadly fluid-metal machines that can take any
shape. The advanced design rules are compatible with
GURPS Vehicles,
2nd edition. Choose everything from the
frames to weapons to the tiniest accessories!
Also included are rules for robots as player characters; artificial intelligences and battlesuits; and over 30 completely worked-out sample robots.
#6511, ISBN 1-55634-233-0. $19.95.
GURPS Compendium II (reprint)
GURPS Compendium II is full of material
from scores of GURPS worldbooks published in
the last eight years - many of them out of print - about how to run a
better GURPS game, how to handle roleplaying
problems that come up (some universal, some particular to
GURPS), expanded rules for character combat,
injury and illness, mass combat, spaceship combat, and much, much, more!
#6522, ISBN 1-55634-327-2. $23.95.
All of the game aids above -- plus many more! -- are available on our Game Aids page!
-- John Aaron Schmidt
-- Game Aid Coordinator
Want more? Okay. My, what an awful lot of people.
OK, I admit it . . . there's a bit more to it than that. For instance, today will be the first day of release for GURPS Ogre - we're having about 30 copies shipped straight from the printer - and author Jonathan Woo
dward will be here. Some lucky people are going to get first-day autographced copies. It's great when this stuff works out. So if you happen to be at the con today, come by the booth . . .
-- Steve Jackson
