Daily Illuminator Archive for November 2004

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November 1, 2004:
Yesterday I did something that I've only done a few times in the past 20+ years . . . I attended an SCA event . . . read article

November 2, 2004:
Well, in the United States, anyway . . . so if you're one of our faithful readers residing in another country, you can take today's Daily Illuminator off and move on to some more relevant part of our website. But for you Americans, please take the time to exercise your right to vote today . . . read article

November 3, 2004:
Seen on the net: "Teach a man to play Settlers of Catan and he'll complain for an hour . . . read article

November 4, 2004:
Just last week, Pyramid ran this article about using the GURPS rules to easily create animal companion characters, animals with special abilities and talents. But when it comes to special abilities and talents, any animal in a roleplaying game would have a way to go to match what Faith, a 4-year-old Rottweiler in Richland, WA, did . . . read article

November 5, 2004:
In the market for a new deity? Godchecker has them by the chariot-load . . . read article

November 6, 2004:
I'm in Houston this weekend, for college class reunion stuff and to scheme e23 things with the evil, evil Kira. In totally trivial local news, it quite suddenly got chilly here . . . read article

November 7, 2004:
Rat brains fly planes! Okay, not quite yet, but they're working on it . . . read article

November 8, 2004:
Flash game I've seen in quite some time. It's cute, slightly complex, slightly challenging, and cute . . . read article

November 9, 2004:
The good folks over at Games Quarterly came up with an excellent idea, a way for the gaming industry to help gamers spread their love of gaming to their friends and family. NGW™ is a coordinated nationwide promotional campaign to raise awareness of games as positive, social entertainment . . . read article

November 10, 2004:
Whenever one of the Austin Steve Jackson Games crew talks about "FLGS," chances are we're talking about David Wheeler's Dragon's Lair Comics and Fantasy. David first opened his store 1986, and has been growing steadily ever since . . . read article

November 11, 2004:
Good news for Jeff Johannigman was bad news for us: he was here half-time while searching for a full-time position, and an amazingly good one came amazingly fast. He's now at Dell . . . read article

November 12, 2004:
Ever have one of those college professors who regaled you with tales of a misspent youth, involving the throwing of a chunk of sodium into a large body of water? In this day and age of rampant Homeland Security crackdowns, it's good to see someone still thinks enough of the scientific process not to wuss out when doing something incredibly dangerous . . . read article

November 13, 2004:
We've got more coming this month, but because it's ready now and we know you just can't wait, these products are on their way to distributors and will be on the shelves of your favorite local game stores in a matter of days, as modified by the phase of the moon, the mana level in your particular area, and how many points you put into the Luck advantage during character creation: Burn in Hell Cleopatra. Blackbeard . . . read article

November 14, 2004:
GURPS Fantasy is coming to a game store near you this month. But you want to know what this compendium of the fantastic covers now! . . . read article

November 15, 2004:
Games Magazine has an annual "Games 100" list, in which they highlight the best in board and card games. You may note a couple of familiar faces on this year's list . . . read article

November 16, 2004:
Author Robert Sarmast has announced that he has discovered the lost continent of Atlantis, lurking just 80km southeast of Cyprus in the Levantine region of the Mediterranean. He says he has sonar pictures to prove it, with more proof to come . . . read article

November 17, 2004:
Steve Jackson Games will release the following products in March, 2005: SPANC SPANC Them All! Life is good when you're a Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirl . . . read article

November 18, 2004:
As a test of our new FNORD codes, we added GURPS Character Assistant to our "March Releases" announcement yesterday. Most of you didn't see it, but will feel the undeniable urge to want it in about a month . . . read article

November 19, 2004:
The cat ban in many homes may be coming to an end. Allerca claims by 2007 they'll be able to start putting hypoallergenic cats into households everywhere . . . read article

November 20, 2004:
The following products are now shipping from our warehouse and will be in stores in the very near future, depending on shipping times and the luck of the Thanksgiving holiday: GURPS Fantasy Create a world that could never be! GURPS Fantasy is the complete toolkit to let you build a campaign of heroic deeds and wondrous magic. It discusses the genre in depth -- with all its subgenres and inspirations (myth, novels, movies, etc.) -- allowing you to handle any kind of fantasy. GURPS Fantasy gives detailed, concrete advice for assembling fantasy settings -- from the basics of the landscape itself, through its inhabitants and cultures, to the details of believable histories and politics . . . read article

November 21, 2004:
GURPS Powers is the guide to creating characters with superhuman gifts using the GURPS Basic Set, Fourth Edition. It deals with using modifiers to customize existing advantages into abilities, and then grouping related abilities under overarching powers similar to the psi powers in the Basic Set. It also provides variants for existing advantages, several new advantages, and rules for using abilities and powers. This rules material, written by Sean Punch, is now ready for playtesting . . . read article

November 22, 2004:
Space advocates in Congress have been trying to lighten the regulatory load on the fledgling passenger-carrying space industry. As of last week, it looked as though the bills would die in committee, due to the vagaries of a "lame duck" Congress . . . read article

November 23, 2004:
Penny Arcade launched this drive last year and raised over $250,000 worth of toys and games for the Seattle Children's Hospital. This year they're repeating the campaign for five children's hospitals across the country . . . read article

November 24, 2004:
A bit of good news, or what passes for good news these days: Washington's negotiators at the UN have reportedly backed away from their previous attempts to get an international treaty against all research on cloning human cells . . . read article

November 25, 2004:
I see terrible writing all the time. I see it in unsolicited manuscripts from people who hope to become writers . . . read article

November 26, 2004:
Stop complaining about dinner around the table with your in-laws and consider the plight of Wayne Manzo. When he goes to the shelter for the holiday, the psycho aliens cut into his feet or take him down . . . read article

November 27, 2004:
Before too long we're going to announce a supplement to Ninja Burger - illustrated, once again, by Greg Hyland. What I don't have, at the moment, is a funny title for the supplement . . . read article

November 28, 2004:
Dianna Tong has created a number of Munchkin icons, suitable for LJ or other use, from John Kovalic's card art. Is this cool, or what? . . . read article

November 29, 2004:
Woot! Nice cover, too . . . read article

November 30, 2004:
We can, at the very least, choose the labels. Swarthmore College's Natural Science department has a wonderful set of labels you can print for yourself to supplement or cover the content labels required by some school boards in this country . . . read article

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