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Steve Jackson Games Shows Off Their Latest Tabletop Games at SXSW (Video)
Steve Jackson Games occupies a special place in the history of gaming, not only for publishing some of the best-known tabletop games ever published, especially their distinctive microgames, but the company's failure to roll over in the aftermath of an FBI raid more than 20 years ago led to the creation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Since 1980, Steve Jackson and company have been publishing games -- and a magazine, and even a book. The company is based in Austin, Texas, so while I was at SXSW, I had a chance to meet up with SJG's Chief Operating Officer and Managing Editor, Philip Reed, who gave a quick overview of what's new on the table. (Har har.)
pretty cool stuff.
I really want the oger poster
It's hard to believe that's how Micronians are made. Why don't we see it right now by having you both kiss one another?
Hillbilly mutt 20 is now an existentialist Armageddon.
Now use Gamemaker.
I miss Car Wars.
I had lots of fun playing that after school and playing the cheesy computer game based on it (which came with a mini-toolkit in the box - no more swag like that in games any more!).
SJG stopped publishing supplements and revised the system. Unfortunately, they over-simplified it and effective killed it.
Isn't it funny how, while manufacturers outrace Moore's Law in their efforts to deliver the most impressive "gaming experience", Jackson continues to produce engaging and entertaining titles running on pre-1980 hardware?
According to Steve Jackson's page that the summary is linked to, the raid was conducted by the Secret Service, not the FBI, which seems odd to me. Why would the SS be involved in a data piracy investigation, unless it involved national security?
Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
SJ Games will have a special place in my heart because of GURPS. A great roleplaying system that really helps bring about the roleplaying aspect, instead of just the tabletop wargame aspect. Plus you gotta love an RPG that sticks with a version for 15+ years, vs. other systems that try to get you to replace all your books every 3 years.
Car Wars and Ogre.
Come on man, stop hording your games!
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Just made my friday, thanks, I'm off later tonight to get my D&D4e fix which I do every friday night so it's perfect that THIS article would show up on /. on a friday, making me wish it was 7pm instead of 9am... :( (I just crit my pants!)
...had the displeasure of exchanging emails with him many years ago. That's when he informed me that if you play his games everyone playing the game must own a copy of the rules else he will sue the players without rules for copyright infringment. There are more details involved but that nicely summarizes it. Beyond that, he assured me that if you were to play any of his games via any of the online board game interfaces (there are several options including WebRPG and OpenRPG), then you need to pay him thousands in royalties else he will sue you for stealing his games and creating a video game with it.
Growing up I was a big fan of his games, including Car Wars, Ogre, and Traveler. I've never played nor purchased another game of his since. I encourge everyone to stay away from this very irrational and greedy person until such time he stops beliving everyone who plays his games using modern technology owes him tons more money, or worse, are in violation of copyright simply simply playing a game with friends.
Too bad it had a short running time, Castellan might be worth a look for somewhat older kids.
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Title: Timothy Lord Checks Out Steve Jackson Games' Latest
Description: Fun Fact: Steve Jackson made games before there were computers to play them on
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[00:01] Timothy>
Not all the gaming action at south-by-southwest (SXSW) was electronic.
The Catan folks were on hand, and so was Steve Jackson Games.
Steve Jackson Games has been around since 1980; It's a real Austin stalwart.
Philip Reed COO of the company took a few minutes to lead us through the company's new tabletop game offerings.
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The view changes to that of the interviewee, Philip Reed, sitting behind a desk with various board game items on it.
[00:18] Phil>
I'm Phil Reed with Steve Jackson Games and I'm gonna show you a couple of our upcoming releases.
[00:24] Phil>
Right this year we'll have Dino Hunt Dice out.
This is for kids 10 and up.
In the game you are going to go through and look for dinosaurs.
Like our Zombie Dice game, you will roll the dice, and you want to find dinosaurs so you capture them and bring them back to your zoo.
This dinosaur's hiding in the leaves, so if you keep going you're gonna roll the die again.
This dinosaur stepped on me.
If you get stepped on 3 times, your turn is over, and you don't get to take any of the dinosaurs home with you.
This is really quick, simple, should be out later this fall.
[01:05] Phil>
Also this year we have Castellan.
This is a two plaer strategy game where each player has cards, [...]
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[01:17] Phil>
[...] and each player will have the exact same decks of cards.
The cards allow you to play [...]
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[01:20] Phil>
[...] pieces to build a castle.
On your turn you'll play a card, you'll add pieces to the castle.
You're trying to score locations, so you wanna fill a courtyard completely, so it's totally walled in.
At the end of the game this courtyard is worth 5 points - one for each tower.
The game takes about 30 minutes.
I think it's my favorite new game we have coming this year.
[01:46] Phil>
For things available in stores right now we have the latest Munchkin expansion; "Munchkin 8 - Half Horse, Will Travel".
This was designed by our Munchkin Tzar, Andrew Hackard and illustrated by John Kovalic.
It's stupid, silly, fun - it's everything you expect from Munchkin.
[02:07] Phil>
Hitting stores in the next couple of weeks is "The Good, The Bad, The Munchkin 2 - Beating a Dead Horse".
Because, well, that's what we like to do with things.
[02:19] Phil>
Also coming out at the same time will be Zombie Dice 2.
It's the first expansion for our Zombie Dice game.
These three dice fit right inside this cup.
You get Santa Claus, who might bring you presents or he might shoot you.
You also get the The Hunk and The Hottie - these two work together and if you've got one in your brains pile with the other one comes up a shotgun, the brains are rescued, he goes back into the cup, so they're dangerous.
Notice her fashionable high heels(!)
[02:52] Phil>
That's what we've got new.
Also this later year we'll have Munchkin Conan and Munchkin Apocalypse.
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I don't get the chance to get together w/ others and play games very often, but I've always enjoyed playing Ogre, and it would work well w/ role-reversal (human plays the part of the Ogre, computer micro-manages the horde of defending units).
You could even up-date it by putting the game on the iPad (or some other tablet) ---
- the iPad function as a game board
- there's a physical miniature for the Ogre on the center of the display --- tap the displayed hexes around it to move
- a row of icons at one edge of the display which allow one to select weapons (tap a weapon, then tap a target w/in range for each attack) (the icons would go away as the Ogre was damaged)
I'd buy an iPad for that.
William
Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow.
Remember, one of SJG first games was 'Raid on Iran' that was published only weeks after the failed attempt to recuse the hostages from Iran in 1980. We used to say that game was the real reason the FBI first raided them.
A MMOFPS version of Car Wars. The game I've been waiting for since I bought my pocket box version of Car Wars back in '82. I understand they've been waiting till it can be done right but I really want to see this before my time is up.
Also, an updated version of Ogre for PCs or even tablets.
If you really want Steve to go ballistic, ask him about Howard.
The split between Steve Jackson and Metagames (the company that first published Ogre and the proto-GURPS Fantasy Trip) was not pleasant,
Its saddening dice games and decade old card games have become SJG's main product. I should probably buy more GURPS stuff.
Let me try this again - forgot to log in for the above post:
(Disclosure: yeah, I worked for SJG back then - guess what product I worked on. No, I don't make any money from it nowadays. I never had any problems with Steve at all - most of the people who have issues with him are, well, idiots.)
So, when someone was talking about taking his games (which are what he makes his living on) and handing them out for free, he reacted in a rational manner, and those people who were wanting something for nothing got their feelings hurt?
Gee what a shame.
It reminds me of the time right after Car Wars came out, and a guy I knew showed up to a gaming session with a photocopy of the game. Now, you have to remember that this was the early 1980s, and the copies cost him about 25 cents a page - he paid more for the crappy black and white copy than he would have for the nice, full-color, well-made game. The idiot couldn't understand why that was wrong.
Of course, about the same time, there were at least three different automotive combat games hitting the market, and all three were directly because of Car Wars. I talked to the maker of one of them, and he happily told me that it was a poor quality copy designed purely to rip off the Car Wars brand.
I suppose that's one way to put it. But another way is - why does EVERYONE who plays need a copy of the books?
And that's the key.
I get a basic hang of the game and its rules, maybe borrow the books from my friend to get the nuances, but we can otherwise share a set of books amongst the few of us.
The problem is, SJG basically says that's illegal, and of my N friends, N-1 will be sued because we don't have N copies of the books.
And that apparently extends to online play - if you make an online game server so everyone can play without having to be physically close, every one of them better own a copy of the books. No sharing amongst friends, no lending out, etc.
That's the fundamental issue - sure some books may be useful if everyone had a copy, but most of the time it isn't necessary. Hell it makes introducing the game possibly difficult - you bring your books, teach people the basics and set up a scenario. That situation could get eveyrone else sued for copyright infringement.
I think you're missing a very important point: If you're sitting around the table, passing the rulebook around, you still only have a single copy of the rules that you paid for. If everyone is sitting in their own home, and you've got the only copy of the rulebook, and share it with them online, you have to make a copy of the parts you're sharing. While I do believe that there needs to be some grey area (consider the situation where you use the rules for "back-end" decision handling without the players involvement, but the players are effectively playing a mechanic-less story), if you're having them use the mechanics, ESPECIALLY on a public server where you don't personally know all of the other people to potentially share the rules in person, it's a valid question. And while Steve may be a little overprotective of his IP on occasion, he's also earned some of that based on his experiences with various situations, and you can't really fault him from actively protecting his own interests.
Think about it from another perspective - if you and a bunch of friends want to all play WoW together online, and only one or two of you bought the game, would you think it was unfair that the rest of your group was required to buy a copy for themselves? I know it's not exactly the same, but it does make a reasonable parallel (including the fact that if your friends are there with you, you can use your copy to show them the game and even let them play it without violating any copyrights...).
So, when someone was talking about taking his games (which are what he makes his living on) and handing them out for free, he reacted in a rational manner, and those people who were wanting something for nothing got their feelings hurt?
So if I buy a game of monopoly, which only comes with one set of instructions, and let my guests read those instructions, you think it's rational to threaten me with a lawsuit?
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