Technical Configurations: Directed Energy Attacks & Mind Assault gives you a good idea what mind control is like from both sides. The hapless puppet's brain is an open book, ripe for abuse by soulless hidden masters; the puppeteers get a pension plan. And YOU will get popups if you hit the link, because it's on Tripod. Fair warning.
-- Suggested by Aaron Hiebert
Authors David Morgan-Mar, Kenneth Peters, and Constantine Thomas will discuss the project. Transhuman Space: Blue Shadow is the underwater source book for Transhuman Space, detailing the technology, organizations, and activities taking place in the oceans of Earth - and elsewhere in the Solar System.
Our offices will be closed Monday. We'll be back Tuesday.
-- Steve Jackson
And it's by no means sure, given the bureaucracies involved, that the Navy will even get the domain back, even though they've at least managed to disconnect the pornster. So, again . . . if you have a domain registered with Network Solutions or Verisign, move it while you can. Unless, of course, you WANT it re-registered to an Estonian smutmonger named "Bog" . . . :-)
-- Steve Jackson
The winners of our Frag tournament for the first quarter of 2002 were Daniel Imm and Sean Henry (9 frags each). They each get a $25 certificate from Warehouse 23 and a copy of Fire Zone!
If you want to get in the act for this quarter, visit the Frag High Scores page.
-- Sage
Transhuman Space: Fifth Wave
The first supplement to Transhuman Space is an overview of our home planet at the end of the 21st century. Humanity and its partners may be scattering into deep space, but Earth is still the center of the human universe . . . crowded, busy, fast-moving, and still picking up speed.
Transhuman Space: Fifth Wave includes new racial packages, plus rules for cutting-edge technology: virtuality nodes, software for network intrusion and defense, and various land, sea and air vehicles of interest to adventurers.
144 pages.
Stock #6701,
ISBN 1-55634-459-7.
$24.95.
GURPS Mars
The Red Planet. To the ancients, it was the God of War. To early astronomers, it seemed to be a world much like ours. To today's space explorers, it's the next step after the Moon . . . a harsh world that we might someday bring to life.
GURPS Mars describes Mars as it's been seen through the ages . . . as science now believes it really is . . . as it may be someday, mankind's first colony . . . and as the wild imaginations of science fiction writers have pictured it!
Four different settings provide a Mars for every campaign, from hard science to "Attack of the Bug-Eyed Monsters."
128 pages.
Stock #6715,
ISBN 1-55634-534-8.
$22.95.
Thanks to everybody who wrote to share their own Netsol horror story. You're right, I could have had it MUCH worse.
-- Steve Jackson
But moving wasn't easy. Netsol demanded redundant confirmations, managed to introduce various delays, repeatedly lost the faxes they demanded we send, and and in once case lost our e-mail and demand that WE start the reregistration process over . . . but having made this demand they were glacially slow to notify Enom that the original change request had been killed on their end, so Enom couldn't start a NEW change request on the same domain.
And their "help desk" -- and I use the term facetiously -- let's not go there. Has anyone else noted the disturbing trend, among online companies of all types, to try to minimize the attention given to the customer once he's paid his money? It's not just Netsol . . . it's a growing problem. The net offers the potential of efficient, smart customer service, but that potential is not being reached.
Back to the public grumpiness. My advice to anyone with a domain registered with Netsol would be . . . change it now, before anything happens to put time pressure on you. Because if you ever need speed, you might not get it.
-- Steve Jackson
We're not exactly thrilled with the credit card processing company we're using right now for Warehouse 23. (We won't say its name, but it rhymes with Fardservices.) We'd like to believe that with as much money as is spent every day on credit cards, there's a processing company that can get the math right and send comprehensible bills. So . . . is anyone out there delighted with their card processor?
If you have a suggestion, please mail Michelle directly!
Ain't No Way To Go is the Internet's way of telling you to slow down. Herein find any number of odd and unfortunate ways to shuffle off this mortal coil. It's a collection of news stories from around the world, but that doesn't mean sensitive readers shouldn't exercise caution . . .
-- Suggested by Brett Slocum
You will notice that both Chez Geek 2: Slack Attack and Chez Geek 3: Block Party got nominated. There's been a lot of controversy over "dueling nominations" in the past couple of years. Some people strongly feel that companies should be able to control what is eligible for nomination just so they won't "split their own vote." I'm strongly in the other camp. Nomination itself is a great honor, and when a company picks one product to be eligible, they are cheating the creators of the games they disfavor.
So it's entirely poetic justice that SJ Games should be in this position, with two great supplements both nominated and no doubt splitting the Chez Geek vote.
As it happens, though, the exact same creative team worked on both supplements. So I felt no qualm at all about polling the staff and John Kovalic and asking "Which one should we ask people to vote for?"
The undisputed winner was Chez Geek 3: Block Party because, though the supplements are otherwise very similar, Block Party has that cool box.
So, Chez Geek fans - if you're going to vote for one or the other, don't flip a coin; vote for Block Party. And if you're not going to vote for either one, blessings on you anyway, because the competition is cool, too. And it IS an honor to be nominated, and we're quite gleeful that BOTH Chez Geek supplements got nominated.
-- Steve Jackson
And while we wouldn't presume to tell you who or what to vote for (who, us?), we would be remiss if we didn't mention these fine SJ Games products on the ballot:
Best Game Accessory
Floor Plans 3 -- Underground Lab
Designers: Heather Oliver, Zach Howard, Tom Biondolillo, Phillip Reed, and Alexander Fernandez
Best Professional Game Periodical
Pyramid
Editor: Steven Marsh
Best Game-Related Short Work
Aces and Eights (in GURPS Deadlands Dime Novel 1: Aces and Eights)
Author: Micah T.J. Jackson
Best Science Fiction or Fantasy Miniature
Ogrethulhu Mk V
Sculptor: Richard Kerr
Best Abstract Board Game
Frag
Designer: Phillip Reed
Proteus
Designer: Francis K. Lalumiere
Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement
Chez Geek 2: Slack Attack
Designer: Alain H. Dawson
Chez Geek 3: Block Party
Designer: Alain H. Dawson
Best Traditional Card Game
Munchkin
Designer: Steve Jackson
Best Illustration
GURPS Steam-Tech cover
Artist: Alex Fernandez
Game of the Year
Frag
Designer: Phillip Reed
Munchkin
Designer: Steve Jackson
Proteus
Designer: Francis K. Lalumiere
Also, several people with strong SJ Games connections have been nominated for the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design Hall of Fame:
Aaron Allston
Robin D. Laws
Loren Wiseman
Congratulations to all our nominees!
So this month GURPS is in fourth place for unit sales among RPGs. Not amazing. Sometimes it's fifth, sometimes third; once this year it was (woo hoo!) second.
And SJ Games is ranked fifth among companies, overall. Again, no surprises. Sometimes we're higher; very rarely we're lower. WOTC and White Wolf always beat us; Palladium sometimes does; others come and go.
But in 17th place among RPGs was . . . Robin's Laws of Good Game Mastering. Beating out, among other things, BESM and Mage.
Skipping for a moment the question of why so many retailers seem to assume that Robin's Laws is a game . . .
Way to go, Robin!
-- Steve Jackson
Acme Klein Bottle has real Klein
bottles for sale. How can they offer these fantastic prices? Volume, volume,
volume.
-- Suggested by Mike Barnes
Witty follow-up line.
Semi-careful segue to a mention of one of our products.
Reminder that you really should buy it at your local retailer, but if you have no such creature, well, Warehouse 23 will take your money.
Another witty follow-up line.
Obligatory "fnord."
-- Signature Of A Staff Member
"During a Q&A we were talking about the importance of designer name recognition in selling books. One of the attendees spoke about being on a streetcar and overhearing two teenage boys talk about teenage boy stuff - soccer, girls, video games. Then they started talking about RPGs. One mentioned this really great game called GURPS.
"It was designed by these two American guys - Steve and Jackson!"
-- Mark Cogan
So show up today to your local participating comic book shop and get your free loot. Bring friends; bring relatives; bring friends' relatives!
-- Steven Marsh
We are, therefore, extremely pleased to announce that Atlas has contracted Warehouse 23 to handle their mail order fulfillment. If you've used Warehouse 23 before, you'll notice very little difference: a handful more products will be offered and fewer items will be "on order." If you've ordered from Atlas Games in the past, you'll still be able to browse and select items on their website, but you'll check out using the Warehouse 23 shopping cart and we'll ship the games to you.
This will be good for everybody! Warehouse 23 customers will enjoy better access to Atlas Games products; Atlas Games customers benefit from Warehouse 23's experience, services, and product selection; and the folks at Atlas Games get to put more of their time and energy into their wonderful products.
-- Michelle
See the CNN story.
-- Steve Jackson
GURPS Cliffhangers 2/e
Adventure on the crumbling brink of disaster! This is the world of the dauntless heroes of the "pulp" adventure tales. Visit the exotic trouble-spots of a world in peril, and travel the trackless wastes of unexplored continents!
GURPS Cliffhangers includes background material on the world of 1925-1939; new hazards to be faced by the intrepid adventurer; suggestions for campaigns and adventures, and adapting the cliffhanging style to other milieus . . . and, of course, a guide to the style, rhetoric, and fiendish cunning of pulp-era villainy.
128 pages.
Stock #6027,
ISBN 1-55634-589-5.
$22.95.
Car Wars Division 15 Set 1 - Hotshot vs. Piranha
This is the first of three Division 15 starter sets. Each one gives you rules, full-color 2-sided counters, a turning key, and two evenly matched car designs. Get one and play; get all three for a high-powered free-for-all!
The Hotshot is a luxury car that spits fire in all directions, with twin machine guns to the front, twin flamethrowers to the rear, and another FT on each side. The classic Piranha is a carload of trouble, with three front machine guns, plus a rocket launcher . . . and three gunnersm to fire them all at once.
16 pages with full-color counters.
Stock #40-1201,
ISBN 1-55634-583-6.
$5.95.
Car Wars Division 15 Set 2 - Lightstrike vs. Banshee
This is the second of three Division 15 starter sets. Each one gives you rules, full-color 2-sided counters, a turning key, and two evenly matched car designs. Get one and play; get all three for a high-powered free-for-all!
The Lightstrike is a heavily armored compact that mounts a single computer-targeted laser. The screaming Banshee is a mid-size that shatters its foes with a sonic cannon!
16 pages with full-color counters.
Stock #40-1202,
ISBN 1-55634-584-4.
$5.95.
Car Wars Division 15 Set 3 - Vindicator vs. Dragon
This is the third of three Division 15 starter sets. Each one gives you rules, full-color 2-sided counters, a turning key, and two evenly matched car designs. Get one and play; get all three for a high-powered free-for-all!
The Vindicator features a turreted recoilless rifle with an extra magazine, a machine-gun to the front, a minedropper, and a gunner . . . and over 200 points of armor! The deadly Dragon breathes fire with twin front-mounted heavy flamethrowers . . . and its tail carriess a deadly sting, with a heavy rocket and a micro-missile launcher.
16 pages with full-color counters.
Stock #40-1203,
ISBN 1-55634-585-2.
$5.95.
