For some of you, though, that wasn't enough. So we are offering Knightmare Chess Blank Cards in packs of 20, available only by direct mail. To order, just click here.
-- Scott Haring
LL: "Of course, from the beginning, my goal was to totally infiltrate popular culture."
TVG: "In other words, world domination."
LL: "Exactly. (Laughs)"
GURPS Discworld has been a little delayed while we waited for Paul Kidby, the consummate Discworld artist, to come through with his illustrations.Boy, has he come through.
Here's the cover: judge for yourself. GURPS Discworld will be available in August.
-- Scott Haring
"At the close of the millennium the Supermodels of the world are at war. Forces of light and armies darkness struggle for conquest. Now
you will know the story..." – from the
Soldiers of Fashion web site
I bet you didn't know that Claudia Schiffer was a general in the secret, elite U.S. Army Supermodel Corps, charged with keeping America safe by neutralizing the evil Supermodels in the world. Read about the exploits of The Company, whose evil plans include world domination, cloning Supermodel DNA, and establishing an orbital nuclear platform. See the dossiers of the supermodels in The Supermodel Mafia; their mission is to utterly destroy The Company.
So, all those fashion shoots in exotic locations across the world are just fronts for clandestine operations of the most nefarious kind. I knew it!
– Submitted by Ed "Overload" Davis
A couple of CD-ROM drives have died here at the center of the universe, and the simplest proposition would be to swap them out with identical models, right?
Right.
The catch is that no one markets these drives anymore. (After all, they're at least 18 months old.) So, I can go and spend top dollar for new units that I have to hassle with drivers (and perhaps lack throughput) for, or I can offer real value for real value:
If you're the proud owner of a functioning Toshiba XM-5401 and/or Matshita CR-8005 being used as a coaster, e-mail me and let's cut a deal. These are SCSI quad speeds that saw life as original components in PowerComputing and Apple boxes respectively. If you own the Matshita because you had it pulled out of an early 7200, try again. I'll ask.
If you can supply both, I'll throw in an ultrarare copy of GURPS Black Ops with a special illustration of Dr Kromm being eaten alive by a pack of axe-wielding raccoons. Or I'll keep it to myself, if you prefer ...
-- Gene Seabolt
Which is as good an excuse as any to remind you that GURPS Russia is available only by our Direct Mail department, either by mail, phone, or by our online catalog.
-- Scott Haring
Dino Hunt is a 1998 Parents' Choice Silver Honor award winner. Previous honors for Dino Hunt include making the Games 100 list for 1997, and the Dinosaur Society seal of approval.
-- Loren Wiseman
But the plug is just the half of it. After Shadis paid Spike for his articles, he sent us photocopies of the articles and the check, and we matched the payment. That's right, it's our Matching Payment Policy, and you can read all about it here.
-- Scott Haring
A little while after we announced that Knightmare Chess, Set 2 would soon arrive back from the printers, people started asking if it was the same as the earlier Knightmare Chess 2nd Edition.
Since there seems to be some confusion, let me clear things up:
Knightmare Chess, Set 2 is a completely different set of 78 new cards (plus two blanks, and rules for playing them as Knightmare Chess cards if you don't want to use them to make up your own). The set can stand alone, or it can be added to the original Knightmare Chess cards.
Knightmare Chess, Set 2 will be in stores near the end of the month.
-- Loren Wiseman
Yes, I will be running The Pirate Game there. DARN, I wish I had my Pirate page built and ready to link in. Oh, well.
By the way, I'd love to get e-mail from any other Austin folks who are planning to go. We can discuss matters of Mutual Interest, fnord.
-- Steve Jackson
If you ever need to know what plants attract bats, which flowers bloom at night, how to make a blood garden, or which plants are carnivorous or poisonous, the Gothic Gardening site is for you.
This stylish and fun site has thirteen theme gardens, Ye Olde Gothick Herball, folklore, mythology, a message board and much more.
– Submitted by Ember Blackwell
Anyway – I'm thinking seriously about doing some SHORT runs of cards and rulebooks – say, 1,000 or so each – in other languages. French, German, maybe Italian, Spanish, Portuguese . . .
But I need to decide soon. Real soon. And to pull this off, I would need perfect, idiomatic translations of the cards and rules. There's not much text on the cards, but there's not much time to translate them, either. (We would have considerably longer for the rules.)
My idea of the ideal translator to (for instance) Italian is someone who speaks good, fluent English, but is a native speaker of Italian. So if there is anybody out there who is a native speaker of language X, but has excellent English, and plays Illuminati, and would like to see this happen . . well, let me know right now, OK? Thanks!
-- Steve Jackson
We've got Knightmare Chess, Set 2 a completely new set of cards guaranteed to make your chess game stranger than ever. We've also got Issue #30 of Pyramid Magazine, the final paper issue of that magazine, plus reprints of GURPS Martial Arts, 2nd Ed. and Deluxe Car Wars.
Look for these products in stores near the end of the month.
-- Scott Haring
![[cover art]](https://www.sjgames.com/ill/img/1998/brin.gif)
I had the pleasure of reviewing early versions of this nonfiction book by Dr. David Brin (best known for his award-winning science fiction, including the Uplift series). Now The Transparent Society is on the shelves. This is a must-read for anyone concerned with freedom and privacy in our society.But it's not another hand-wringing, oh-my-gosh-what-have-we-done, computers-are-robbing-our privacy screed. And it's definitely not another "Crypto Will Save Us!" manifesto. Quite the contrary. The Transparent Society argues that our society pays too much lip service to the ideal of "privacy," in a way that benefits only the rich and powerful . . .
Brin's core argument is that the coming generation of technology will make our present ideas of privacy impossible anyway. The only question is whether we are entering an age of universal surveillance of the population by the government – or of universal accountability of the government to the people.
Criticism and accountability, say Brin, are keys to truth. And Brin encourages others to comment on and criticize his book at a website sponsored by The Foresight Institute.
I don't like Big Government, and I have thought of myself as a privacy advocate. But this book made me think. Specifically, it makes me think, "Damn! He may be right!
Read it.
-- Steve Jackson
"It's always fun to use narcotics, or so I have been told. The only problem is, they can cause annoying side-effects, such as death . . ." So begins the Fictional and Useless Narcotics (FUN) page, dedicated to extolling the comparatively safe virtues of drugs that do not, in fact, exist at all. Point your local War Against Some Drugs crusaders at this page; bonus Illumination Points if your community is the first to launch a well-publicized battle against the growing threat of soma and melange.
– Submitted by Orville Eastland.
And while I'm talking about upgrades - Pyramid subscribers can now take advantage of our new and improved message boards. We currently have 18 groups for discussions about Pyramid, playtest files (including GURPS Traveller and the new GURPS Undead playtest draft), a marketplace for buying/selling/trading games, and game-specific boards for talk about INWO, In Nomine, and others. Check 'em out, and if you're not currently a subscriber, sign up today!
-- Kira
Celeste Hollister is our new Production Artist and Editor, helping pick up the slack of a busy summer production schedule. Lori Schwartzberg, who used to do production part-time when she wasn't keeping our computers going, is shifting over to Multimedia to help Gene Seabolt with the GURPS CD-ROM project.Welcome, Celeste!
-- Scott Haring
Check it out.
-- Scott Haring
![[img]](https://www.sjgames.com/ill/img/1998/livefishcamsmall.jpg){kind=small}
-- Scott Haring
They claim to be the World's Largest UFO Website, and who are we to argue?
Of course, it's available only to Pyramid magazine subscribers . . .
-- Scott Haring
E3 has come, and E3 has gone, leaving Atlanta's electrical utility and modeling industries that much richer for the experience. Let's just say overkill is the starting point for aesthetics in this venue. A lot of new first-person shooters were previewed, a lot of market trends were prognosticated, a lot of potential business for SJ Games was discussed. More on that soon, I hope.
The new Legos also were the near Wintermutian wonder I cracked them up to be. (Though our conversation didn't progress very well. Talking to them is like talking to a brick wall ...) Look up http://www.legomindstorms.com/ for a preview.
-- Gene Seabolt
After a few delays, the final paper issue of
Pyramid magazine, issue #30, is on its way back from the printer. The preview copies arrived earlier this week.This issue will ship along with the GURPS Martial Arts, 2nd Ed. reprint. Look for them both in a store near you in the middle of June.
-- Scott Haring
