In Conspiracy X, players take the role of certain governmental officials, from FBI agents to CIA spies to NSA codebreakers to Army Rangers and many more. The bond between these professionals is a super-secret organization called Aegis, formed in the aftermath of the Roswell, NM alien sighting and dedicated to countering alien and supernatural menaces wherever they may arise.
While no firm release date has been set, the game book will be available from Eden sometime in 1999.
* * * * * fnord * * * * *
SJ Games has also licensed Hero Games to produce a GURPS version of its Creator character-building software. More details as they develop . . .
But once I get there . . . ahh, once I get there. This will be a great chance to check out gaming Down Under. In particular, ConQuest is big on LARP, which is a style of gaming that I haven't experienced nearly as much as I'd like. So it's a chance for me to play and learn . . . because I really do want to publish some LARPs of our own, before too much longer.
I hope Australian customs has a sense of humor, because I'm taking a footlocker full of Nerf weaponry for Kill Evil Stevie.
And my hosts at ConQuest are putting me up (and putting up with me) for several days after the con. I'm going to get to see a bit of the country, and visit a dinosaur dig. Mmmmmmmm . . . dinos.
I'll do my best to send an interim report or two.
-- Steve Jackson
Subscribers to Pyramid will have the chance to talk with Mike Stackpole this Thursday at 8pm CST.Out there in the real world, Mike is the NY Times-bestselling author of several Star Wars novels. Among gamers, he's remembered as one of the creative talents that made Flying Buffalo happen . . . and, later, as an author of Battletech novels and of supplements for many different systems.
He remains a keen observer (and incisive critic) of the gaming hobby. Here's an article he wrote for Comics Retailer, which was reprinted in Pyramid, on When I Own TSR. Check out his plans, and then come talk to him in the Pyramid chat room on Thursday, April 1, at 8pm.
If you aren't already a Pyramid subscriber, sign up now!
GAMA was very good. The mood was upbeat all the way down the line, from manufacturers through distributors to retailers. Things really seem to be getting better for the hobby.
-- Steve Jackson
GURPS Magic Items
Enchanted swords . . . marvelous rings . . . animated armor . . . wands and staffs of devastating power. Here is a catalog of hundreds of original and imaginative enchanted items for use in any campaign, from exotic trinkets to mighty artifacts. Categories include swords and weapons, armor, wizardly tools, thief's supplies, clothing, jewelry, healing tools, necromantic items, and curses, tricks, and traps.
GURPS Magic Items also describes the eldritch shops that sell these wonders, with a complete and realistic guide to the economics of enchantment in a medieval fantasy world, including profiles of the typical enchanter, enchanter's patron, and magical merchant.
This is a reprint; GURPS Magic Items has been unavailable for several years.
Stock #6038, ISBN 1-55634-190-3. $19.95.
GURPS Traveller: Far Trader
Next to the mercenary game, the "independent trader" campaign is the most popular among Traveller players. This new book is the complete support volume for the Trader campaign. You can:
Stock #6606, ISBN 1-55634-373-6. $20.95.
GURPS Psionics
Spies and police who can read your thoughts. New Age mysticism merged with ultra-technology. Psychic vampires. Mass minds of terrible power. Telepathic computers. Gifted children killed or kidnapped by a power-mad government. This is the world of GURPS Psionics.
This is the ultimate sourcebook for psi powers. It includes a complete world background - and the GM can use it as a resource for campaigns in any background.
This is a reprint; GURPS Psionics has been unavailable since May 1998.
Stock #6040, ISBN 1-55634-196-2. $19.95.
GURPS Ultra-Tech 2 (reprint)This sequel to the popular GURPS Ultra-Tech offers a wide variety of new science-fiction personal equipment, along with rules for building combined gadgets, variant-technology campaigns and more!
Stock #6525, ISBN 1-55634-337-X. $19.95.
"Born and bred Californian, I first became hooked into roleplaying games in 1980. After surfing my way across the luckplane, I eventually graduated University of California at Davis. I graduated UCD with an English degree with a Religious Studies minor (or as my father called it an "unemployment degree"). After graduating, I got at job at UC Davis as the wageslave/webmaster of the Section of Plant Biology. My introduction to Steve Jackson Games was the old Pocket Box of Illuminati and Car Wars, and occasionally checking out the old BBS.
"I recently married my long time girlfriend and fellow gaming addict, Robin. Together, we are manipulated by two cats and Izzy, coolest dog in known space."
This was taken at a Dino Hunt demonstration we did at the Nature Company store in Baltimore. Clockwise from top: Seth Cohen, Susan Rati, Steve Jackson, T. Rex.
I did a roundtable presentation yesterday on building fan communities, online and off; I'll repeat it today. I'm also looking for that Perfect Computer Game Partner so we can (finally) bring you digital versions of GURPS and Ogre and Car Wars and on and on . . .
And tomorrow morning, way too early, it's off to Biloxi for CoastCon.
-- Steve Jackson
The Sacred Chao Ranch is a typical Erisian page, full of fnord to stimulate your pineal gland. I especially like the banner ad for the Orbital Mind Control Lasers and Operation Mindfuck.
Go to the Apple Orchard and talk with other Illuminated beings.
Suggested by Hieronymus Jacobin
Deluxe Illuminati enters the new millennium with 110 more cards bringing the global conspiracies in synch with (or slightly ahead of ...) the times. The set includes new Specials, new groups, more blanks to let you create your own groups Ð and two new Illuminati, Shangri-La and the Church of the SubGenius! This is a supplement to the recently re-released Deluxe Illuminati.
#1325, ISBN 1-55634-374-4. 110 cards. $14.95.
Put the amazing flexibility and power of the GURPS roleplaying system at your fingertips with this fact-packed GM Screen. Two two-panel screens feature up-to-date charts, tables, and other essentials. Also included will be a copy of GURPS Lite, the 32-page synthesis of the GURPS rules designed to provide a simple introduction to the system. It's everything the enterprising GM needs in one compact package.
#6403, ISBN 1-55634-397-3. 2 screens and 32-page booklet. $10.95.
-- Gene Seabolt
There are a lot of online resources for Nerf fans (There are a lot of online resources for everything. Isn't the web great?) I'm adding links to the Killer page for two of them:
Here we see MIB John Sabean ready for action in the Kill Evil Stevie game at JohnCon. Despite the best efforts of my bodyguards, I died repeatedly, but it was fun.
But you see that gun? I want one. It's a Nerf weapon . . . it makes a very loud noise, and throws its huge foam projectile a good distance in a straight line. This is what all the Nerf imitators are trying for and not getting. And Nerf doesn't seem to make this one any more . . . or do they? Info would be appreciated.
-- Steve Jackson
If you're interested, check out the draft procedures. It links to a draft license . . . look at that too, but don't fill it out yet. If you have comments, send them to me at sj@io.com. In a week or so, we'll post the final versions.
We are also looking for a coordinator for this program. If you want to apply after reading the information online, let me know!
-- Steve Jackson
The Fortean Times, the Journal of Strange Phenomena, has a nicely designed web site. This month's issue has an article on the conspiracy to conceal the location of Noah's Ark, and a profile of the Professor of Transcendental Magic, Eliphas Levi. They've archived articles as well: Did NASA Fake the Apollo Shots?, Bat-Winged Sex Dwarf, Is Santa Really Satan? and more.
Lots to love here.
Below left: Lori Bossert and her "You're Not Cleared For That" cookies, complete with fnords. Can you taste the fnords?
Below right: Our littlest MIB, Megan Cowper. She took a turn as an assassin and slew John "Fuzzface" McMahon while he was being Evil Stevie. (Megan is quite adept at bringing down prey many times her size; she is a fully qualified Dino Hunt demonstrator.)
And, to the right, just some of the MIBs who made it to JohnCon!
What you didn't know about Steve Jackson.
Steve Jackson is a nerd. But did you know that he is a Lego-nerd? He is. Just take a look on his private website: (here), where you find data about all the different ships made in the Lego Pirate series. Steve Jackson has told Xkapist that he has been playing with Lego since he was a little boy. When he got too old to play, he called it a hobby.
But it gets better. Because he promises on the same website that he will write rules for playing with the Lego-ships. So maybe you shouldn't give your Lego-bricks away to your seven year old cousin. Maybe you are going to use them in a tournament in the near future. Steve Jackson promises that the rules will be released on the web.
Xkapist is keeping a eye on this project and will tell the readers the
second we anything happens. We are looking forward to the game. It is
funnier than painting miniatures - isn't it?
-- Adam Bindslev
This is a neat-looking zine, too. I can't read it, but I like the graphics :-)
-- Steve Jackson
Below left: Admiral Derek Schin explains his strategy in "Evil Stevie's Pirate Game."
Below right: Just a few of the Lego ships ready to go . . .
Right: It takes a lot of bookkeeping to run a pirate fleet. Monica Stephens, our Convention Manager, put in a 12-hour day as "Sutler" for the Pirate Game, handing out gold and dickering with the pirates as they came into port to sell their captured shrubberies. Yes, shrubberies. Don't ask.
-- Steve Jackson
The Silicon Valley Tarot continues to gain recognition. After making the Netscape What's Cool site, SVT was named as Network Week's site of the week for March 3-10, and a USA Today Hot Site on March 3.
The Gothic Martha Stewart site is a humorous take on the ultimate stylemaker of TV fame. It is filled with recipes (try Faux Absinthe), projects (how about Decorative Black Bedsheets), Home Decor Motifs (Cemetary Gothic, anyone?), wedding suggestions (Gothic Weddings on a Budget), and more.
It's a Goth Thing!
- Brett Slocum
It's spring in Austin. The iris are out, the bluebonnets are opening, and everything is turning green. The nights are getting warm, but the days are not yet hot. This is a nice place to live, but spring is the best time of all.
Tom, for you The Price really Is Right , since you've already paid it. As one of the three winning bidders in our auction to be a GURPS Discworld wizard, you're awaiting one of the signed copies of the book, which recently returned from England.
If anyone else out there knows where Tom might be -- or can fax me the back-page newspaper clipping that shows he passed his expiration date, relocated to Vanuatu to take up hang-gliding, or disappeared one night in a flash of greenish light smelling of strawberry-scented Lysol -- then please let me know.
-- Gene Seabolt
Our Silicon Valley Tarot website was listed this weekend on Netscape Netcenter's "What's Cool" page, scoring high for both content and design. Hits on that page jumped to well over 1,000 a day over the last few days. It's good to be cool . . .
