SJGames Layoffs 83
Robotech_Master writes: "Citing financial difficulties (stemming from a CFO who apparently didn't keep the books in sufficiently good order), Steve Jackson has announced the layoff of 13 employees from Steve Jackson Games today. (Long-time Internetters will recall that the FBI raid on SJG was one of the first causes celebre of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.)" Update: 07/07 12:32 PM by michael : It was the Secret Service, not the FBI, of course. We've had several stories mentioning the raids on the Illuminati Online bulletin board and SJG.
Fnord. (Score:1)
Re:I had gotten worried... (Score:1)
So is SJ Games over-extended? We won't know until the books are brought up to date. So it's too early to blame Steve for over-extending. (Though I think we can blame him for not insisting on keeping the books current.)
SJ was also one of the first on the net (Score:1)
He may not be making the buckets of cash he deserves to, but SJ has been net-savvy longer than almost anyone around. Its just a shame that he can't find some aging gamer geek with a CPA to help him do all that nasty money stuff.
-reemul
who, by an amazing coincidence, happened to be chatting with SJ in the Metaverse when the settlement check from the Secret Service came in
Hero systems is quite flexible (Score:1)
CW and computers... (Score:1)
Internet *and* BBS, thankyouverymuch... (Score:2)
There was a knock at the door. Looking through the peephole, I saw two young men in dark suits, carrying briefcases. "Oh, crap!"
Visions of search, seizure, and other fun things in my mind, I opened the door. One of the men spoke. "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal savior?"
GenCon? (Score:1)
If so, there will probably be some long faces in the booth.
The 'Traveller' curse (Score:2)
Re:I Remember the EFF (Score:1)
Re:FBI? (Score:2)
I blame the Slashdot person for not catching my mistake when he posted the article. Yeah, that's the ticket! ;)
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Re:Fun things at SJG website (Score:2)
Okay, the tenth dentist still has me stumped...
rark!
How is the pencil-n-paper business these days? (Score:2)
These days, however, when I can play some pretty absorbing computer based RPG's like Deus Ex, or go frag a group online, the lure of the game store and trying to get a group of gamer geeks together to play an adventure just doesn't have the same pull as it used to.
Anyone who still follows the business able to tell me what the current state of the industry is?
Let me guess . . . (Score:3)
Re:no offense, but (Score:1)
TMNT was Palladium based. And yes, the game came out when the TMNT genre was more dark scifi oriented instead of the kiddi-fied "gay" version it became. I spent many hours creating mutants and playing the system.
Re:I Remember the EFF (Score:1)
Re:Fun things at SJG website (Score:1)
A cat slowly rotating in midair. There is a slice of buttered toast strapped to its back.
Hmm....Cat...
Re:The 'Traveller' curse (Score:2)
I always thought GDW was the prince of wargaming companies, but unfortunately they started well, improved a bit, and then went through a long demise of dumbing down their games and/or not providing ongoing support for big series that they had launched. They also suffered quality-wise when they expanded, because some of the new developers they brought on board were not made of the same stuff the originals were.
However, what finally killed them is when they hired Gary Gygax to do an RPG game for them and foolishly named it "Dark Dimensions" or something to that effect, and gave his ex-wife-of-very-nasty-divorce, then owner of the latter-day D&D system, who had vowed that GG would never work in the gaming industry again, a pretty legitimate excuse for suing GDW on trademark infringement issues.
GDW was already in decline, but the suit killed them off. However, Frank Chadwick was able to announce a simple closing of the doors rather than going into bankruptcy.
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Re:Another Michael Screwup (Score:1)
The illuminati was the name of his BBS... so, yes you are correct. Plus in online computer age he has been around as long as those you refer to..
Download GURPS Lite for free (beerwise)! (Score:1)
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Geeze, and I just read all my old ADQs (Score:2)
Sorry as a long time Car Wars fan this really dissapoints me. Not at SJgames (kick ass game company) but at the industry in general I guess. It's them newfangled collectable card games that are out there these days. Sucking up all them kids disposable income. No more money to spend on GURPS or Vampire or even good 'ole D&D (oh, your book says 'demon' in it. Let's ban it!). Magic cards are like the crack rock. There are never enough. I think I sold my soul for an 'Ancestral Recall' and a Lotus once. Okay I got bit by the Magic bug. But I'm clean now.
okay back on topic. Sorry about that. Anyway, when I played magic I still played other games. Car Wars, D&D, even Some Warhammer RPG. Oh, wait. There was some Twilight 2000 in there too. Sure I worked in a comic shop (discount) but we had a pretty big game selection. We had everything from Avalon Hill to Warhammer. We had a huge wall of Warhammer 2k minis. Talk about inventory overhead. Eventually the place went under.
Back on topic. Okay so far we've established
-CCG = Bad
But out of all the games I listed above, Car Wars was my absoulte favorite. Maybe its a math thing. All those gridlines and calculators. Mmmmmm....gridlines. I know it wasn't a favorite, but it seem to circle the drain for years before they finaly put it to death. It's been out of print for a while now, but check it out on ebay if you've never tried it and if you like
- Car Design (but with .50 cals!) in a Mad Max sort of setting
- have paitence
- Enjoy the thrill of a good dice roll (I'm not kidding!)
Anyway, get the Compendium or Delux Car Wars. Good stuff.
Sorry about the randomness and the spelling and/or the HTML. Stoned stream of conciusness sort of thing
Oh yea, ADQ stands for Autoduel Quarterly. The Car Wars magazine. Ran for about 10 years. Also good stuff. Even if you don't play.
Pete
Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:1)
Too true. (And especially, for me anyway, since I've been dealing with someone who deludes herself regarding some of her, err, habits.)
However, the guy I was trying to convince knew that Windows was crap and crashed and caused him all sorts of grief. He was/is an structural engineer for a small company. Either by choice or by fiat (I think it was the former, but can't remember) he became his firm's ``computer guy'' - he knew first hand just how irritating Windows' fallability was.
One excuse he used was that clients were billed for time working, even if that time working had to be done more than once due to computer unreliability, but he was only rationalising by that point, trying to get something good out of the situation.
Still leaves me puzzled that he would prefer to be lied to.
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Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:1)
Oops, make that ``...especially apropos...''. There is no such thing as ``especially true''. :)
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Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:3)
So would many other people, apparently. For some reason, a reason which is totally beyond my power to explain, people like being lied to. I wish I knew why.
Once, back when I used to attempt to play Linux advocate (btw, it seems that media manipulation, something I never tried or even considered trying, has been the most successful method of advocating free software) I spent quite some time extolling the virtues of Linux to someone I knew. One point I mentioned was that the producers of Linux systems are more likely to admit mistakes (securty flaws were less important to this person, but basic things like bugs in the OS that would cause a crash) due to the nature of openly developed software. He told me that he would prefer a vendor who did not admit mistakes. It was the kind of statement to which I could never really refute. It still is. It's pretty difficult to refute a statement which is totally beyond one's comprehension.
Why do people prefer to be lied to when they know the truth? I really can't understand it, but it does seem explain some otherwise apparently irrational actions by people and/or organisations who want to pretend that they can't be held accountable for anything.
Having said that, kudos to PJG for being forthright about their problems. I respect them much more for it.
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Gaming isn't as dark as seems (Score:1)
ps. And yes, I'm play plenty of videogames but those don't hold a candle to a good gaming session
Re:Wasn't it the SS? (Score:2)
(Long-time Internetters will recall that the FBI raid on SJG was one of the first causes celebre of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.)"
It wasn't just one of the first causes, it was the reason for the founding of the EFF [eff.org]. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, for all those who are new here, is the organization dedicated to protecting all internet-related civil liberties, and they generally fight injustice in the electronic world. Think ACLU without the penchant for being rabidly anti-religious or doing other silly things occasionally.
Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:1)
This is exactly what happened to me at my first professional programming gig. My first year was great, I was hammering out projects left and right. But then our projects became more long term and more individual, less directly supervised. And the last one had a schedule of about six months, with just me. Combine that with telecommuting and you can imagine what occured.
I've spent the last several years wondering if there was anyway for me to have gotten out of that situation before it became a nightmare. So far, not really.
In the future, I would suggest to all those who manage projects with long deadlines: Demand to see progress. Stick to the milestone plan. You can be the guy's friend, and yet still stick to professionalism; ask to see the code(/work). No matter how awesome you think the developer/worker is, check.
Because he's one of us! (Score:2)
Perhaps all of we old farts are irrelevant today, but Steve's works inspired most of we early game designers, and I'd like to think that, in turn, we passed the torch that thereafter "stood on ye shoulders of giants"
Steve was such a giant. This is not only "news for nerds." Its also stuff that matters.
Re:Paper & dice RPGs rule. (Score:1)
Maybe rpgs were better because they never got so tedious as to require this kind of automation. At any rate I agree that the best part of all non-computer games is the ability to bend the rules to make gameplay more fun.
Re:Fnord. (Score:1)
Fnord.
Re:FBI? (Score:1)
Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:2)
But a few weeks ago, our CFO left. Our financial reports are over a year out of date (that is, it has been more than a year since any accounting period was fully closed to show profit or loss). Our inventory is a mess. I have been writing personal checks to keep our bank account in the black. It is hard to describe the problem in more detail without using technical accounting terminology and really bad language.
I never understood why a company (and I have seen this happen before) hires incompetent personnel, and allows them to do whatever suits them. I honestly feel bad for the company, but how much of the blame can be pushed off the the CFO, if no one is managing the company, and its workers.
Now I've never owned my own company, so I don't know the ins and outs of running a business, but if I didn't have my books on point to show what I am spending on, what I am getting in returns on a quarterly basis (not yearly) heads would roll.
Its easy to cast blame on someone who's walked out, or been fired, but the ignorance, or negligence (take your pick) of not running a company properly is not an excuse to throw out when firing someone, personally I would rather hear a "Sorry but we're tight right now" and not some "Oops my bad I didn't watch so and so"
Re:OT: sig (Score:2)
Clarke's Laws (in order):
When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is very probably wrong.
The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible.
Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
Re:Non-computer games having a tough time now (Score:1)
Padding Pockets: Rev 0.1 (Score:1)
Same old story, been told *many* times before. I'm guessing Steve didn't bother to have his books auditted at least yearly by an outside CPA, either.
Gaming in general (Score:2)
One positive thing about a tougher gaming market, quality, and not marketing, becomes the driving economic factor...
Or maybe it's just the many, many beers talking...
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Re:SJG can weather the storm (Score:1)
Back in the Day Fnord (Score:1)
I remember using The Mentor's hacking guides to help me learn the Net. The Mentor was an infamous hacker at the time. He was Lloyd Blankenship and he wrote GURPS Cyberpunk, which was later seized by the SS as a guide to hacking.
I remember the day that the Federal Judge (Sparks, I think) ruled against the Secret Service. I was in the courtroom. The only people I remember are Steve and Paco Xander. That was a long time ago. I still have my copy of Cyberpunk.
And I will forever be grateful to Steve Jackson for including my first writing efforts in his edition of the Principia Discordia.
Hail Eris. All Hail Discordia.
Good luck, Steve.
Paper & dice RPGs rule. (Score:1)
It's a totally different gaming experience with paper RPGs. Lots of imagination goes into these games, and the gameplay is much better than on a computer. You aren't bound to the strict rules of a computer game (as long as you have a good GM running things, at least).
Bah... Before I moved halfway across the country (USA), I had friends and family at my house every Wednesday night to play an RPG into the night... Much fun, much fun. I'm now trying to figure out a way to play from my remote location.
Interested in weather forecasting?
Steve Jackson is a great guy (and my proofreader) (Score:5)
Steve Jackson (the same Steve Jackson) is my proofreader. Despite the fact that he's a giant in the gaming industry, and really busy, and about ten years or so older than I am, he takes the time twice a year to go over Nova Express proofs with a fine-tooth comb so I don't look like an idiot due to the dozens of typos and tiny details I can't see because I've read every article and review 14 times already. And like all the rest of my contributors, he doesn't get a dime for doing it. He does it just because he thinks Nova Express is a worthwhile zine and is happy to give back to the SF community, for which he has my Eternal Gratitude.
So dig deep, me brothers. If you have any teenage nephews and nieces you've been looking to introduce to role-playing games, now's the time to get them that GURPS or Illuminati set...
Frag (Score:2)
Looks like a winner to me!
steveha
Non-computer games having a tough time now (Score:4)
I have no way of knowing how true his comments are (and of course he is prejudiced a bit!) but it does seem to me that the games business has fallen on hard times. I remember when Dungeons and Dragons outsold Monopoly to become the top-selling game of the year; I doubt this is true any more!
P.S. Speaking of non-computer games: I saw a special edition of Dungeons and Dragons... on the cover it said: "Diablo II" (fine print) "Non-computer version" On the back it said something like "No computer required. Play Diablo II with your friends!"
The circle is complete.
steveha
Magic did it... (Score:3)
However, Magic eliminated other games. When I started hanging there, it was trying to get into a good RPG. A friend played there for years. However, I never saw anything but Magic (except the occaisional wargaming league games). It was simply easier to play Magic for hours where people could pop in and sit down, then try to coordinate an RPG. Hell, even the RPG group I played with would rarely play a session, because Magic was easier to play with no need to plan out an adventure.
Unfortunately, WotC needed constant infusions of cash, so they ruinned Magic with bad expansions and attempts to remove the dominance of the older players. Eventually CCGs started to die off.
Unfortunately, when the CCGs slowed, there wasn't anywhere for people to go. RPGs need to be restarted with a young crew. Existing groups died off. Also, I loved the place in my life for RPGs, but I've never been able to reestablish them. It's easier to spend my few spare hours computer gaming than getting a group together.
I'm one of the lucky ones, my girlfriend would play in a game that I ran. If you have someone in your life and they aren't into gaming... good luck.
Honey, I don't want to go hit a local hot spot, I want to throw some odd-shaped dice around...
Laugh,
Alex
Re:Shared experience (Score:2)
Re:How is the pencil-n-paper business these days? (Score:5)
The game insustry has always worked in cycles though, although a lot of the quality games are dissapearing it seems to me (GW giving up Fantasy Roleplay was a killer for me, arguably one of the best fantasy rpg's ever made). But a lot of that may be a function of getting older. Along with feeling silly sitting around a table an basically just telling stories with other adults starts to lose it's appeal. Akthough I personally still long for those all day sessions once in a while, the few times I've tried playing as I got older the magic of the game seems to have faded away with my youth. And it's like you said, it's hard to get players together regularly to play an rpg. Nowadays I keep a collection of one night games (Settlers of Cataan ect.) that anyone, even non gamers can sit down and have fun with. I don't know it seems to me that the older I get the more 'beer and pretzels' games take over. If I want to play an RPG I just duck into a pc game. (But from what I've see of Neverwinter Nights it looks as though some of pen and paper rpg elements may make it to the pc screen)
Get a stick and beat yourself with it... (Score:1)
shouldn't happen to such a cool guy. (Score:4)
The hell he went through with the Govt. and now this would put most businessmen out of work. It's good to see someone who loves the hobby sticking in there, and I'll have to take a look at some of their new products...(haven't bought one since "Killer" in the mid 90's at college.
Whereas most people would have just canned and moved on, he posted to the website, offered to help those laid off find new jobs, and in general has been the king of CEO's, (if that's what he actually is - maybe a better term is head honcho) - we should all be so lucky.
I had gotten worried... (Score:2)
Unfortunately, I guess I was right all along. They were stretching themselves thin, they just didn't realize it because of poor bookkeeping. That's really too bad, Steve Jackson has always been an exceptionally cool guy. I think I'll head over to Warehouse 23 [warehouse23.com] and buy myself a copy of Deluxe Illuminati, since I've always been curious about that game.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:5)
The fact of the matter is, when you work at a small company, you grow to trust people. When you grow to trust people, you manage them less (and generally speaking, that's a good thing, if someone is competent, they shouldn't have to have you giving them anally retentive directions). Unfortunately, good people can get locked in destructive cycles such as the one above, where they tell themselves "if I just work extra hard tomorrow, then I don't need to work on this today," making the task ever more daunting, until finally the whole thing falls apart, as in this case.
I've seen this happen in high school (our yearbook was a year late once, because the faculty coordinator, who was a really great guy, suffered from the above problem), I've had it happen to me in college, and I see it all the time on a smaller scale in people's personal lives. Good, competent people sometimes fuck up, and fuck up big time, and so the only solution (which is not a solution at all) is to trust no one.
The only "intuitive" interface is the nipple. After that, it's all learned.
HoLY SHIT! (Score:2)
OT: sig (Score:1)
Wasn't that an Arthur C. Clarke quote?, not Asimov?
Re:FBI? (Score:1)
FBI? (Score:5)
No, I recall that it was the Secret Service.
BBS not Internet (Score:3)
What does the Internet have to do with it? You mean longtime modemers, because this was a case involving e-mail [eff.org] on SJG's Bulletin Board System (BBS) and the rights entitled [sjgames.com] to electronic publishers.
Re:Geeze, and I just read all my old ADQs (Score:2)
Especially as they are/were about to come out with a new version. Though I'm not sure I'm altogether happy about it; they've thrown some anime-style covers out and announced that that reflects the style of the new version. Car Wars has always bordered on not-quite-gritty-enough (I would really rather see the Chassis & Crossbow timeframe done right), and happy big-eyed goofy-armored anime characters just push it over the edge for me.
Re:SJ was also one of the first on the net (Score:2)
That wasn't Steve's doing so much as it was geeks working for him talking him into it, though, wasn't it? I mean, I remember asking Steve when the Illuminati BBS was going to get a QWK packet option, and he told me it sounded good but he "wouldn't know a QWK packet if it committed an indiscretion on [his] shoe." Heh.
Re:Paper & dice RPGs rule. (Score:3)
Oh, if you're geeky enough, you find a way to devote fifteen years of your life to automating RPG's, like, say, running the Phoenyx. [phoenyx.net]
Re:Another Michael Screwup (Score:2)
Like the illuminati, or the masons, or the stonecutters. . .
Padding Pockets? (Score:2)
I don't know anything about the people at this company so I hope I'm not totally off when I wonder if the CFO was pocketing some money. Has anyone heard about an investigation of the CFO? It's mighty suspicious. Then again, it could just be gross incompetence.
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info (Score:3)
http://www.2600.com/secret/sj.html [2600.com]
Re:How is the pencil-n-paper business these days? (Score:2)
I was too dumb to stay out of the industry forever, so I am publishing stuff for 3rd Ed. D&D. On the one hand I like having a well-known system for which it is legal to print new materials... on the other hand the D20 System has come to really dominate the marketplace. Lots of upcoming games are being released under this (somewhat retarded) rules system when they would be better off doing their own thing.
There's a Farscape RPG on the way, for example... and it will use the 3rd Ed D20 rules. But I can't really blame the publisher completely for that, the system is so popular you'd probably be crazy not to use it, even where it doesn't fit.
I wish that GURPS had opened up their system. If they did that a while ago they'd be reaping the benefits today, and I wouldn't be stuck playing 3rd Ed rules so much!
Third Edition has followed AOLs example and dumbed the game down slightly.
I wouldn't put it that way. 3rd Ed is more simple, yes, but mostly in good ways. Like one experience table for all classes... getting rid of special-purpose rolls like "listen at doors" in favor of a generic roll-and-add skill system... making AC an additive system... It still has PLENTY of warts but it's an improvement on 2nd Ed, IMHO.
I still don't think it's the best choice for sci-fi games. Heck, I don't think it's the best choice for fantasy, but I seem to be in the minority.
Re:Gaming in general (Score:2)
Then you aren't paying attention. The RPG market is growing. It's more popular now than it has been in years.
It will never be a mass-market activity, but it does have its little booms and busts. Right now it's on the upslope. Where it tops out remains to be seen but I think the plateau is in sight.
Question is, where will the crash come and what will start it?
Selling out (Score:1)
Re:The 'Traveller' curse (Score:2)
You missed the Imperium Games edition and Far Future Enterprises (aka Marc Miller Rides Again) edition currently going nowhere.
T, MT, and TNE were all Game Designers Workshop products. GDW went down some years ago, when the collecting card games industry took off, roughly. Oweing a bunch of us for contributions, too, though not nearly as badly as IG screwed people.
My impression, based on Steve's report on his website, is that there's gotta be financial chicanery going on with his ex-CFO. Steady fundamentals but a lack of closed accounting periods equals something rotten in Denmark. This would be unlike what took GDW down (fundamentals faded as industry changed) or IG (never had 'em to start with...).
Re:How is the pencil-n-paper business these days? (Score:1)
"// this is the most hacked, evil, bastardized thing I've ever seen. kjb"
Darn it! (Score:2)
Good luck and I hope you prosper...
Re:Don't mean to sound the troll here but... (Score:1)
Deception starts with the individual, and feeds on itself. Note the drug addict.
I love every SJG product I've ever had. OK, Up Harzburk was not a shining moment. Hope they recover.
weblink (Score:1)
Re: Because he's one of us! (Score:2)
My memory could be faulty, because my magazine collection has been archived. The only ones I keep around are the copies with my articles in them :)
heh (Score:1)
p.s. - you missed, moron.
Re: Because he's one of us! (Score:1)
Metagaming, now SJG
Oh god, I envision Steve reading that and clutching his chest and gurgling in total revulsion. Howard Thompson founded Metagaming in the mid-'70s, and he published Steve's early designs (OGRE/G.E.V., The Fantasy Trip, and a few incidental works). Jackson and Thompson had a somewhat public falling-out in the late '70s, and the dispute over rights left SJ with Ogre/G.E.V. and Thompson with The Fantasy Trip. Steve left and started SJG in 1980. Metagaming lingered on until about 1986, when it voluntarily ceased operations.
Given the bitter blood between them, phrases like "Metagaming, now SJG" carry the risk of heart attack.
Re: Because he's one of us! (Score:1)
didn't Steve end up with The Fantasy Trip? I thought it evolved into GURPS
No, Howard Thompson (founder and president of Metagaming) kept The Fantasy Trip after Steve Jackson fell out with him in 1980. Thompson offered TFT for sale; rumor says his asking price was $250,000. Nobody bought. Steve developed GURPS (the Generic Universal Roleplaying System) because he couldn't get TFT. It's very much the same design approach, though GURPS more strongly emphasizes nominal realism.
SJG can weather the storm (Score:5)
Steve Jackson Games has been around since 1980, which makes it one of the oldest surviving companies in the adventure gaming hobby. With TSR absorbed into Wizards of the Coast a few years back, only Flying Buffalo, Chaosium, and possibly Palladium are older than SJG, and even Chaosium exists only as a shadow of its former greatness. The others, though of widely varying size, are essentially one-man shows, tied to the will and whim and stubbornness of their founders.
I worked for Steve Jackson Games from 1984 to '86, under Editor-in-Chief Warren Spector (a great guy who later blossomed into "the legendary" Warren Spector, at least in the eyes of PC Gamer magazine, for his pivotal role in the development of such computer games as System Shock, a couple of Ultimas, both Ultima Underworlds, Deus Ex, and many others). While I was there, SJG went through a financial crisis startlingly similar to the current situation, though without substantial layoffs. Then, some years after I left, I heard the company suffered another almost identical episode. In each case an incompetent financial officer drove the company into the red, sometimes deeply.
It keeps happening because Steve has arranged his company so that he can exercise absolute control over those matters that interest him -- the creative side, scheduling, print-buying -- while paying as little attention as possible to matters that don't -- mainly accounting. This wouldn't be much problem if the company had a deep bench of talented business people, but company turnover has always been a problem.
Still, I have no doubt SJG will once more weather this current crisis. It's like the old saying about the difference between monarchy and democracy: Monarchy is a proud ship, sailing untouched through the storm, but if it hits a rock it sinks utterly; democracy is a raft, which never sinks but your feet are always wet. Except for a glorious year during the trading-card game boom -- when Illuminati: New World Order singlehandedly pushed annual sales above the million-dollar mark for the only time in company history -- SJG's feet have always been wet. Their feet will still be wet, but above the waterline, a decade and more from now.
Re:Another Michael Screwup (Score:1)
Re:Padding Pockets? (Score:3)
To help Steve out, purchase the Car Wars Card Game [sjgames.com] (unfortunately, non-collectible), or my favorite, The Awful Green Things From Outer Space" [sjgames.com], which Steve picked up the rights to a few years back. Despite the unpopularity of real-live face-to-face board games nowadays, Awful Green Things was just a dang good Beer & Pretzels game.
Fun things at SJG website (Score:4)
RPG's in general (Score:1)
I'm always a little saddened when I walk into a gaming shop and I see most of the younger crowd playing Magic ( or, *shudder*, Pokemon ), Warhammer, and the various Vampire games... that's all well and good I guess, but too many times I see nothing but Hack-n-slash/Monty haul campaigns being played, be it DnD or any of those other games. It's much more fun, and challenging, to not just run in and kill everything in the room.
Whatever happened to actual "Role Playing"?
Why is this on Slashdot? (Score:1)
Re:How is the pencil-n-paper business these days? (Score:1)
Well, there's more than just you. I personally prefer the Shadowrun rule system, with a close second to White Wolf's Storyteller system. (I realize this may tarnish my image with many roleplayers, but so be it).
While I have serious issues with what was taken out, and put back into 3rd edition, on the whole it certainly is an improvement on the basic D&D game. My own bias, just gets in the way. I am _very_ glad that they opened up the system in the way that they have, allowing for people to legally publish their own home-brewed campaign worlds and even make some kind of profit off their labors. (Or at the very least, not recieve mounds of threatening mail from T$R lawyers, accusing them of theft). However, I really think someone should've pulled the plug before they took on Star Wars for D20. $30 better spent on beer, that book was.
Re:Wasn't it the SS? (Score:5)
Yes, it was the Secret Service. And if you don't know what we're talking about, their ordeal is well documented here [sjgames.com].
I Remember the EFF (Score:1)
Thankfully he was aquitted, but now faces another bleak challenge.
Does anyone thinkg it would be a good idea to start a PayPal donation system?
Here's to hoping it is not the end of an era (Score:1)
Re:Geeze, and I just read all my old ADQs (Score:1)
How to help SJ Games (Score:1)