Bundle of Holding - Pyramid Collections

I was a fan of the early print version of Pyramid and later subscribed to the digital version for several years. It was more than just a Steve Jackson Games house organ, but was an excellent resource for other RPGs with its systemless articles.

Bundle of Holding has Two Bundles of Pyramid, both priced at $49.95 each.

Adventurer! This Pyramid Bundle 1 is the first of two offers (the second is the new companion offer, Pyramid Bundle 2) featuring Volume 3 (Nov 2008 - Dec 2018) of Pyramid, the Steve Jackson Games magazine for tabletop roleplaying gamers. Each issue of Pyramid magazine focuses on a specific theme, like fantasy world-building or epic magic – the whole range of prehistory, historical and modern exploration, steampunk, cyberpunk, aliens and spaceships – martial arts, action adventures, and gunplay – weird science, urban fantasy, psionics and thaumatology – and it wouldn't be a Steve Jackson Games magazine (fnord) without a roster of conspiracies. Each issue is about 39-40 pages, so the 60 issues in this offer bring you nearly 2,400 pages of varied gaming articles for a bargain price. Most of Pyramid's articles are either generic, suitable for your game system of choice, or designed for GURPS, SJG's Generic Universal Roleplaying System. (New to GURPS? Check our revived June 2022 GURPS 4E Essentials offer in progress.)

Pyramid magazine Volume Three Issue 59 ConspiraciesFor just US$49.95 you get all sixty-two titles in our Pyramid V3 - First Collection (retail value $556) as DRM-free ebooks. The complete list of Pyramid issues in this offer – the first 60 issues of Volume 3 (Nov 2008 - Oct 2013), with links to their sales pages on DriveThruRPG – appears in the book entry below. (On DriveThruRPG, Steve Jackson Games has posted a free 282-page compilation previewing the covers and contents of all 60 Pyramid issues in this offer.) We also include SJG's two collections of star designer Kenneth Hite's acclaimed Pyramid column of history, alt-history, occult conspiracy, fringe pseudoscience, and High Weirdness, Suppressed Transmission (both previously in our November 2020 Worldbuilder's Toolkit 7).

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Kickstarter - Groo: The Game Returns!

Bring Groo back to the game table! Sergio Aragonés' hapless comic hero wants your support! And cheese dip!

I've been a fan of Groo since the Pacific Comics days. I've even tried to stat him out as a fighter or barbarian, depending on the edition of D&D I was playing. There is just something wholesomely funny about Groo the Wanderer.

I missed the Groo game release back in 1997. I'm sure there were a lot of game releases I missed back in that era. Well, I can soon fix that mission with Groo: The Game Returns! Kickstarter from none other than Steve Jackson Games. The buy-in is 30 bucks for one copy (plus shipping). I'm already in ;)

Groo Returns To The Gaming Table!

Comic fans love Sergio Aragonés, and they love his character Groo the Barbarian. Now this classic comic character returns in Groo: The Game, a fast, fun card game that plays in under an hour and is great fun for two to six players.

A hit when it was first released, this game has been unavailable for many years. This new release of Groo: The Game includes both the original game and the supplement, with cards illustrated by the great Sergio Aragonés himself and featuring Groo and his friends and foes!

GAMEPLAY

Groo the Barbarian is the classic fantasy hero – brave, daring, and completely brainless. When Groo comes to town, armies melt away and buildings fall. He doesn't MEAN it. It just happens!

In Groo: The Game, players try to build a town without having it stomped to rubble by Groo himself. Roll dice for resources and use them for buildings (which create victory points) and armies (which knock down other players' buildings and defend your own). Groo moves randomly, always with the best of intentions, destroying all that he encounters. The player with the last town standing wins!

 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Kickstarter - Delvers to Grow (Dungeon Fantasy RPG, Powered by GURPS)

Fast, modular character generation. Would-be heroes from 62 points and higher as player characters, henchmen, or supporting cast.

I've been a fan of GURPS from the time I found the Man to Man rules, along with the Orcslayer supplement. The only problem was that designing characters was always a pain in the ass as a player. As a DM, it is literally a compounded player. Still, the GURPS sourcebooks have always been a thing of beauty.

The other complaint I used to have is that GURPS never seems to do traditional fantasy tropes as one would expect from a D&D-type background. Sure, you had the Fantasy and Magic sourcebooks, but they seemed to lack flavor, unlike many of the other GURPS sourcebooks.

That is until Dungeon Fantasy was released. It literally was the GURPS rules with the D&D tropes that I have come to expect from a fantasy RPG, and my God, it does the genre well. Character generation of NPCs still sucked though, and become one of the intimidating factors that kept me from truly giving the Dungeon Fantasy rules a proper shake.

All this leads me to Douglas Coles' new Kickstarter, Delvers to Grow. Doug takes the most intimidating factor of GURPS, creating characters, and makes it easy as pie for the GM. No stress GURPS. Never thought I'd see the day. Of course, Doug is selling Delvers to Grow as a Player aid, but in my eyes, it's an amazing tool for the Dungeon Fantasy GM ;)

Even the mightiest delver started somewhere. An apprentice, a squire or man-at-arms, a backup singer with The Backstreet Bards.

Delvers to Grow allows you to take the part of those starting characters, supporting starting play as low as 62 points.  Delvers to Grow provides pre-built modules and packages enabling a player to create a capable, playable character in minutes. 

Fully compatible with the professional template system in the Dungeon Fantasy RPG Adventurers book, Delvers to Grow lets you start much earlier in the hero’s journey, letting both players and GMs ease into the full breadth of capability that the professional delvers of the Dungeon Fantasy RPG bring to the table.

Explore different challenges or use the modules to effortlessly assemble henchmen...or create a starting character to replace the dearly departed.

Doug has an amazing track record of fulfilling his Kickstarters on time and is one of the few third-party publishers licensed by Steve Jackson Games. In truth, he MAY be the only third-party publisher licensed by SJG, as I can think of no others offhand, but I could be wrong. 

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar

Kickstarter -Steve Jackson Games' GURPS 2020 PDF Challenge (11 PDFs 3 Bucks)

Can we unlock all twelve PDFs before the clock runs out?

I've been a fan of GURPS since the Man to Man and Orcslayer releases. I actually love the supplements, as they convert to other RPG systems nearly painlessly. This means 11 - potentially 12 PDFs for 3 bucks is something I can't pass up on, and neither should you.

Just 5k away from 12 PDFs :)

The GURPS team, under the direction of GURPS Line Editor Sean Punch, has prepared a dozen different PDFs . . . and this is your chance to possibly grab all twelve of the new PDFs for only $3! 

Starting with the latest expansion to the GURPS Action series (see Warehouse 23), your pledge of $3 secures you a PDF copy of GURPS Action 6 - Tricked Out Rides. This 10-page PDF, written by Sean Punch, is a quick-and-dirty toolkit for adventures where sports cars pack more gadgetry than fighter jets, and miniguns fit behind headlights! 

One new PDF is great, but the project gets more exciting for all of the backers as stretch goals are unlocked. With each unlocked stretch goal (see below), we'll add another one of the twelve new PDFs to your rewards . . . that $3 pledge becomes an even better deal as more backers join the campaign.

Kickstarter - The Fantasy Trip: The Book of Unlife & Red Crypt

New books for The Fantasy Trip! A guide to many of the known kinds of unlife and a new solitaire adventure. Choose one or choose both!

Not all Kickstarters are suffering during the Pandemic. The Fantasy Trip: The Book of Unlife & Red Crypt is successfully funded with 10 days to left.

The Book of Unlife includes 44 creatures for The Fantasy Trip (visit the official website), a guide to the general powers and vulnerabilities of the unliving, and a complete adventure setting, The Haunting of Holner House. 

Red Crypt is a programmed adventure for a single character. It is designed for The Fantasy Trip: In The Labyrinth (available in both hardcover and print-on-demand softcover). If you instead have both Melee and Wizard, you can still play, with a few simplifications. 

This adventure establishes locations, gives you decisions to make, and tells you the outcomes of those decisions. You will need six-sided dice, a straightedge, and scratch paper, along with counters and megahex tiles.

Kickstarter - Car Wars Sixth Edition by Steve Jackson Games

"A complete redesign of the original game of autoduelling. Car Wars Sixth Edition plays faster and includes new plastic miniatures."

I'll be honest. I had heard that the Car Wars Sixth Edition Kickstarter was launching and I was kinda like "eh". I have it from back in its pocket box days and later boxed sets, and while it was always a blast to play, I haven't played in years.

Over 3k backers. Over $440k pledged. 32 days to go in funding. WTF!?! I may need to ride the wave myself ;)

The first car combat game, and still the best . . . Car Wars returns in a bigger, faster edition. The detailed 1/64 scale cars move, shoot, and catch fire the way you remember, with faster car creation and play. Once again you can rule the roads! 

NOTE: All miniatures are pre-assembled at the factory and packed unpainted. Miniatures shown in the photos are prototypes. Miniatures painted by Ben Williams. 

You Got Your Fantasy Trip in My Lost Lands - Announcement From Steve Jackson Games and Frog God Games

No foolin' either! When I had lunch with Phil Reed from SJG a month or so ago, I mentioned that there were many backers of The World of the Lost Lands Kickstarter that were posting in the comments that they planned to use the Lost Lands with The Fantasy Trip rules (The Fantasy Trip was a large part of the lunch conversation and I left with a review copy - thanks Phil!) Hopefully I had some small influence in putting this event into motion ;)

Note - there are two days left to support The World of the Lost Lands Kickstarter from FGG.

Frog God Games

Apr 1, 2019

STEVE JACKSON GAMES and FROG GOD GAMES are excited to announce a new horizon for The Fantasy Trip! The Frog God Games LOST LANDS setting will now contain adventures and resources for those who want to use The Fantasy Trip in the framework of this ancient and storied world, filled with places to find vast caches of treasures or die trying! The first adventure in this series will be the Crucible of Freya, with many more to follow by popular demand. We are always listening to our fans, and there has been tremendous demand for a joint venture between The Fantasy Trip and the Lost Lands. Fear not, because it’s in the works right now!

Details will come later on products that will be converted and included in this. This is not an April Fools joke.

BW

040119

PS--I could not be more geeked...my inner 12 year-old just about fainted!

Kickstarter - Pocket Box Games of the Eighties (Steve Jackson Games)

There were a number of really cool Kickstarters already in my browser tags ready to get highlighted at The Tavern before TotalCon (and I intended to post more from TotalCon but that simply wasn't in the cards.) So, here we go with the first of a short series of highlighted Kickstarters.

I remember well the Pocket Box Games of the Eighties. I had each one pictured above. They were great when you lacked a full group to play "the RPG of the week" or were meeting up with one or two others on a non-regular gaming day. Hell, OGRE rarely needed an excuse to play, it was simply fun.

Now Steve Jackson Games is bringing pocket games back. I'm thrilled that a new generation will get to play these games in the manner that they were intended - on a paper board with pieces that could get moved by a light wind. Trust me, it never stopped us ;)

20 bucks (plus shipping) gets you one game in a box. 145 gets you eight (free US shipping at this level and above)

I need to check how many i stillown...

Guest Post by Phil Reed - Kickstarter and Steve Jackson Games, A Response to Michael S

I'm always excited to present guest posters here at The Tavern. When that guest poster is none other than Phil Reed of Steve Jackson Games, I'm well beyond thrilled - Tenkar

Kickstarter and Steve Jackson Games, A Response to Michael S

Thank you, Erik, for sharing our recent "Kickstarter Projects Report" with your readers. We try to share as much info as we can (please see our annual Stakeholders' Report), and with Kickstarter, where so many gamers are helping us to create the things, we thought it essential to continue that transparency.

I noticed that Michael S commented on your share of our report and wanted to answer as best we can. In the comment, Michael wrote:

"I would really enjoy hearing how they manage their KS projects from the inside. Do they have dedicated KS staff? How much of the item is completed before they run a KS? How do they manage all their stretch goals?"

Taking each question one at a time:

* "Do they have dedicated KS staff?" We do not. In most instances in the past, Steve and our marketing staff handled constructing and managing active/ongoing campaigns. Since the Munchkin Unicorns project last summer, I've taken on a large percentage of the Kickstarter management -- including outlining and planning -- with assistance from Steve, Susan, and others as appropriate. (Andrew Hackard, for example, is involved in each Munchkin project.)

* "How much of the item is completed before they run a KS?" That varies from project to project, but we try to have the majority of the work done before even launching a Kickstarter project these days. That both provides us will more info to share -- in Munchkin Steampunk: Girl Genius, for example, the team finished all of the cards and prepared them for final review before the campaign launched -- and helps us to avoid the temptation to over-complicate a project.

We don't always have the work completed before going to Kickstarter -- the Hexagram zine project, for example, is still being created -- but we try to have a lot finished. This makes it more likely that we can deliver on schedule . . . or at least close to on schedule.

* "How do they manage all their stretch goals?" Just like everyone else: A mix of marketing and magery. Stretch goals serve to maintain excitement as a campaign unfolds and to improve the final product. The trick is in balancing momentum while, more importantly, not transforming a financial success into a failure.

The majority of our stretch goals are written down and planned before we push the "launch" button -- here is where it helps that most of the work is also done at this time -- but then we're flexible with positioning those stretch goals in the project. We know roughly how much each one adds to the project's expense, so we can shift them around as necessary in reaction to a campaign's performance.

Additionally, some stretch goals are "we must do this," so we try and push those to the front of the campaign. The last thing we ever want to see is that one of our "we really want this to happen" stretch goals fails to unlock. That would lead to more crying than we've seen since the Ogre Designer's Edition project.

Michael, I'm not sure if this properly answers your questions, but I hope that we've provided you with a little more info that helps you to better understand how we approach Kickstarter.

Thanks, Erik, for allowing me to share this with your readers, and for sharing our Kickstarter campaigns on your site! -Phil Reed

Steve Jackson Games has Posted its Most Recent "Kickstarter Projects Report" (Transparency for the Win)

Phil Reed sent me a PM this morning to let me know he had just posted the Steve Jackson Games "Kickstarter Projects Report". Not only is it an interesting read but its a fine example for other companies that fund projects via Kickstarter. Transparency and Accountability for the win.

You can read the original here (it has the links and such) - Tenkar

We posted a report on our 2018 projects back in November, and that proved to be as valuable a tool for us as it was informative for you . . . so here we go again! With the addition of a second Kickstarter account – you're following both the Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23 accounts, right? – we've got more flexibility when it comes to Kickstarter and we'll continue to expand on our experience with and use of crowdfunding this year, making reports like this one more and more important as we learn.

In 2018, we ran a total of nine Kickstarter campaigns, three of which are now completely closed and added to the "done" list. So far in 2019, we've run three campaigns (two of which are active today). Here's a look at all of the open campaigns, in reverse chronological order.

Pocket Box Games of the Eighties
January 30 to March 1
861 backers as of this writing, and still collecting support
We wanted to celebrate the company's past, and what better way than with a return of several of the black plastic Pocket Box games from the 1980s? The project has met its goal and is unlocking stretch goals. Best of all, there's still time for you to join in! Car Wars, Illuminati, Ogre, and more!!!

Hexagram #1, an Old-School RPG Zine for The Fantasy Trip
February 1 to February 13
535 backers as of this writing, and still collecting support
Kickstarter is running Zine Quest this month, so we've taken the leap and have a retro-style TFT zine in the works. There's still time to participate!

The Fantasy Trip Adventures
January 2 to January 14
1,375 backers and on schedule
After releasing a couple of PDF adventures for The Fantasy Trip late last year, we realized that we could accelerate the process – and make many of you much happier – if we took the adventures to Kickstarter. Thanks to your support, the finished book will be a hardcover and include die-cut megahexes and counters. Steve, Guy, and Ben continue to work on the book and everything is still on schedule. If you missed out, you can preorder today at BackerKit.

Ogre Battlefields
December 5 to December 28
1,401 backers and on schedule
This expansion for Ogre Sixth Edition and the Ogre Designer's Edition did much better than any of us at the office anticipated, and you kept us on our toes as your support kept breaking stretch goal after stretch goal. We wrapped up our work and submitted the files to the factory before Chinese New Year, so everything is still on track to release as promised in the campaign. The only items not yet at print are the playmats, but the work is done and we'll be submitting those files in a month or so (the playmats are printed in the U.S., so we have a little more time to spare).

Munchkin Steampunk: Girl Genius
November 1 to November 21
2,195 backers and on schedule
Steve worked with Phil Foglio to adapt the Girl Genius comic to Munchkin Steampunk, and then you joined in and unlocked every stretch goal that we had to offer. The game went to print and is, at the moment, in the final stages of manufacturing and expected to deliver on schedule (if not a little early).

Illuminati Coins
October 9 to October 17
722 backers and on schedule
The coins have completed the manufacturing stage and are now on a ship and headed to our fulfillment warehouse. We expect to deliver the coins slightly ahead of schedule.

Ogrezine II
September 13 to September 28
843 backers and on schedule
Articles are still being posted, U.S. physical rewards have been delivered, and the international physical rewards are on their way to backers. This campaign was affected by our difficulties with international fulfillment (see Munchkin Unicorns, below, for more info).

The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition
July 23 to August 24
3,379 backers and mostly on schedule
The game is complete and on a ship. We will start fulfillment next month, and expect U.S. backers to start seeing the rewards in the last weeks of March. International rewards will ship as soon as we can manage, but the difficulties that struck Munchkin Unicorns (see below) have affected our expectations for international fulfillment of The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition.

Munchkin Unicorns and Friends
July 3 to July 20
2,423 backers; international delivery running late
U.S. rewards delivered on schedule and went smoothly. International rewards, unfortunately, have proven a challenge. We're a few months behind on delivering the international rewards, but expect to see everything in the hands of backers in March. What happened? Working to ship rewards from in-country to make delivery less expensive for international backers became a complex web of paperwork that caused delay after delay. How are we handling this going forward? For future campaigns, we're estimating international delivery at two to three months after U.S. rewards are delivered. This will better align with the realities of international Kickstarter fulfillment.
That's nine open Kickstarter projects, two of which are on the water, two at the factory and in manufacturing, two affected by international fulfillment delays, one in the final stages of office work, and two still funding on Kickstarter.

One thing that expanding our use of Kickstarter has done is given everyone a closer look at how the sausage is made; in addition to these nine projects, we have dozens more in various stages. For example, there are two Kickstarter projects on the water . . . plus another five on a ship. And as for those two Kickstarter projects at the factory, they're currently accompanied by another 16 active projects at the factory.

As you can tell, Kickstarter is a growing part of our plans, but traditional distribution is still the majority of our business. With the market always changing, we'll do what we have to in order to adapt and keep making games for a long, long time to come.

-- Phil Reed

GameHole - Day One Wrap Up - Day Two Preview

For the first day of a convention, yesterday was busy. Sales of Swords & Wizardry was surprisingly strong, which makes me feel really warm inside. Even better, I got to shake hands with a number of Taverners. Nothing quite compares to putting a face to someone you've known via comments or voice chats. Cons are great for such. Huzzah!

Industry-wise, I got to meet Steve Winter, chat some with Phil Reed and got to shake the hand of Steve Jackson himself. It was like the teen me finally got to meet the man that brought hundreds of hours of gaming fun to my group and me via OGRE, GEV and Car Wars in the 80s. Need to mark that on my bucket list.

Today its back to slaving for the man... I'll be working at the Frog God Games table from 10 am to 6 pm. Tomorrow from 9 till 1 pm I'll be running Rappan Athuk with the Swords & Wizardry Light rules, then back to the table. If you are at the con I'd love to meet you. Heck, we have copies of the new printing of Swords & Wizardry Light to hand out. If you are not at the con and you'd like a copy mailed to you, email mikeATfroggodgames.com and the Frogs will send you some goodies for free.

As for industry news...

Interview with Steve Jackson (SJG) regarding The Fantasy Trip RPG

Before the launch of The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter, I had an email exchange with Steve Jackson (of Steve Jackson Games, not the other one ;) regarding The Fantasy Trip. Steve answered some questions and I suspect some of the answers may lead to questions from my readers. If you do have some questions, leave them in the comments section and I'll forward them to Steve Jackson Games.

Tenkar: Here is the initial round of The Fantasy Trip questions. I expect some answers to generate further questions. There is no specific reason for the order of the questions.

I must confess to not owning a copy of the original rules. Not for lack of interest, simply lack of desire to be shaken down on Ebay.

Steve: Yes, totally understandable.

Tenkar: 1 - Steve, what was your inspiration for The Fantasy Trip? What were you trying to accomplish with the rules when you wrote them?

Steve: For the original Melee, the inspiration was OD&D and I wanted to create a better combat system, for “suits me better” values of better. I like hexes.  For the later material, the inspiration was all the fun we were having playing Melee, and the goal was to see if I could create a coherent but simpler rules system.


Tenkar: 2 - Are you surprised by the amount of nostalgia and love there is for The Fantasy Trip?

Steve: In a word, yes!


Tenkar: 3 - I believe GURPS is an evolution of The Fantasy Trip, much like AD&D was of OD&D, perhaps with more divergence in the case of TFT / GURPS. With the new printing of TFT, will we get to see a “what if" version of The Fantasy Trip if it had been allowed evolve on its own?

Steve: It won’t be the same as 40 years of natural evolution,, but yes, it will at least be a lot like it would have been if I’d had another few months and Metagaming’s print budget had been greater, back in the day.


Tenkar: 4 - Rob Conley raised a question in The Tavern’s weekly voice chat session - Will there be something similar to OneBookShelf's Community Content Program for The Fantasy Trip, so that third-party publishers could publish content for TFT and share the profits with SJg?

Steve: Maaaaaaaaaaybe?


Tenkar: 5 - What kind of initial support can be expected after the core rules are released? Adventures, campaign setting, etc?

Steve: Yes and yes. We’re working on a neat GM tool, and an introductory one-character solo.


Tenkar: 6 - I see $60 is going to be the "I want it all" cost for TFT on KS. What are the plans for distribution aside from KS?

Steve: Not fully formed. Melee and Wizard will be in stores. If the whole Legacy box is in stores, it will be considerably more than $60.


Tenkar: 7 - Related in part to Question 4, are there any third party publishers that have asked or have lined up to support TFT (understood if this is confidential - yes or no may suffice)?

Steve: Confidential and yes.


Tenkar: 8 - With Melee and Wizard being published at the same time this time around, has that enabled you to ensure both books work seamlessly with each other?

Steve: I have certainly given it the old college try.


Tenkar: 9 - Will Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard be a part of the initial core books, are they something for later or is it something that hasn’t been considered yet.

Steve: They will be subsumed into ITL, which will go up to 160 pages. (Note: "ITL" is "In the Labyrinth" and will be inside The Fantasy Trip Legacy Edition box.)


Tenkar: 10 - Which, if any, of the original supplements that you no have the rights to will be reissued?

Steve: All of them, eventually. Everything but the Death Tests is in the basic set, and the DTs are stretch goals that I really hope will be hit. If not, they will be part of the first supplement package.

Feel free to ask follow-ups.

Kickstarter - The Fantasy Trip RPG (Steve Jackson Games - Funded in Hours - Blowing through Stretch Goals)

I've been looking forward to The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter from the moment I heard it was in the works. More accurately, the moment Steve Jackson regained the rights. Apparently, that applies to others too, as it literally funded in hours. As I type this it is well over $55k in funding (with a $20k goal left in the dust).

So, what's in the Legacy Box? ($60 pledge level)

• The two original mini-games, Melee and Wizard, each in its own mini-box.
• The three roleplaying books (In The Labyrinth, Advanced Melee, and Advanced Wizard), combined and updated into a single volume of 160 pages, with the index that the original release lacked.
• The classic dungeon-crawl adventure, Tollenkar’s Lair, with a full-color labyrinth map.
• Maybe more, depending on what stretch goals are reached. 

The Legacy Box is definitely the sweet point to back. Although, for $30 you can back for just the two mini-games - Melee and Wizard - and forgo the extras.

Damn it! They've already blown through their stretch goals. We need more! Steve! Phil! Get on that! ;)

I have an interview ready to be posted about The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter. Steve himself was gracious enough to answer my questions. If you have any questions, comment below and I'll see if I can get answers and I'll add them to the interview :)

Use the link tenkars-tavern.games/TheFantasyTrip to learn more and back The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter.

News from Steve Jackson Games - New The Fantasy Trip Logos for Melee and Wizard

In the Better Late Than Never category of gaming news, it seems I missed Steve Jackson Games releasing the new logos for their The Fantasy Trip Melee and The Fantasy Trip Wizard games (for those that missed the announcement, Steve Jackson regained the rights to The Fantasy Trip late last year.

Coming soon(?) to a Kickstarter near you (around 15 bucks each for 2 mini boxed games)

News - The Fantasy Trip - Melee & Magic - 14.95 Price Points on Each

Steve Jackson Games made an announcement about The Fantasy Trip at GAMA and followed up with more info over at the Steve Jackson Games website:

At the GAMA Trade Show, just ended in Reno, we announced that the relaunch of The Fantasy Trip will start with miniboxed editions of the two combat games, Melee and Wizard, each retailing for $14.95.

The Fantasy Trip was Steve Jackson's first RPG. Its first part, Melee, was published in 1977. TFT was published by Metagaming, which went out of business about 1982, and TFT has been unsupported since then, and only available on the secondary market. 

In late 2017, Steve regained the rights to the eight TFT releases that he had written himself: Melee, Wizard, Death Test, Death Test 2, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In The Labyrinth, and Tollenkar's Lair. 

Most if not all of this material will be republished. The format is totally up in the air right now . . .

You can find more details at the link above.

Steve Jackson Games regains rights to The Fantasy Trip RPG

There's an announcement today over at Steve Jackson Games regarding Steve's earlier work for Metagaming and The Fantasy Trip RPG:

At the beginning of my career, long before GURPS, I created a roleplaying game called The Fantasy Trip. For decades, the rights have been held by Metagaming, a publisher which is no longer in operation. I'm very pleased to announce that I have regained the eight TFT releases that I wrote myself: Melee, Wizard, Death Test, Death Test 2, Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, In the Labyrinth, and Tollenkar's Lair.

Head over to Steve Jackson Games for more info (and an opportunity to discuss on the forums)

Kickstarter - Car Wars Classic Arenas (Steve Jackson Games)

Car Wars.

I started with the pocket sizes rules and a few of the supplements before moving onto the boxed set. Fun times and fun stuff, but probably not a good fit for the picnic table in the backyard on a windy day ;)

I still have my boxed set.

I'm getting both the boxed classic Car Wars rules and the Arena Box - $40 plus shipping is a steal for the fun within.

I want to see a proper computer version of this. Turn based, just like the original. A man can hope, can't he?

Steve Jackson Games is Looking For Companies to Buy

Steve Jackson is looking to put his Munchkin money into other peoples companies - as investments / acquisitions. Oh, and it has to be a "real" RPG publishing company. Which really doesn't put many targets in his possible sights:

April 4, 2013: Would You Like To Be Acquired? 

To make a long story short: I'd like to plow some Munchkin money back into the game hobby. Here's a very direct invitation. 

If you've been publishing good games, and you know it, but you would like to cash out . . . or if you want to keep creating games but would rather be part of an operation with a 30-year track record and a good health plan . . . talk to me. 

This is not "Hey, everybody, I'm looking for random submissions!" Really, it's not. It's for established publishers. If you've never sold to Alliance or ACD, or had a booth at the GAMA Trade Show, or had whole BGG threads arguing about whether you were secretly the Spawn of Satan, then this is probably not aimed at you. 

I figure this announcement, posted this way, will get a bit of talk, which makes it a good way to reach out to the whole hobby. I just wish I'd done it on April 1 so I could have gotten some viral "Does he mean it?" repostings. Hindsight is 20-20. 

Phil Reed will do the initial screening for me. Write to him at phil@sjgames.com. We will keep confidentiality. In fact, only four of us at SJ Games will even know who has responded until and unless we sign a non-disclosure agreement, and then we'll work according to the agreement. If the deal doesn't work out, it officially never happened. 

If it does work out, you could cash a check, or join the Illuminati, or both. 

Let's see what happens. 

-- Steve Jackson

WotC has Magic the Gathering (and possibly still Pokeman) and SJG has Munchkin as their money makers. Heck, if it wasn't for Munchkin, I expect GURPS would be long dead...