These stories have been rounded up from all over the internet but many of them come from GamingReport which, as a partner site, remains GameWyrd’s number one choice for industry news. Direct quotes from GamingReport appear in blue text.
- Topics
- Corruption at Wizards
- Chainmail left to rust
- Online retail branch hacked off and sold
- GURPS makes it online
- No mystery behind Maryann Siembieda’s departure from Palladium
- The World of Darkness threatens us with Demon: the Fallen
- Just when you thought it was safe to turn off your computer
After years in the meat space wilderness GURPS has made it into an online computer roleplaying game. The company on the computer game side of the deal is Words Apart who produce text based games and are probably best known for the Eternal City running at Skotos.
The press release was as follows.
GURPS … ONLINE!
Austin, TX and Denver, CO . August 19, 2002: Steve Jackson Games and Worlds Apart Productions today announced an exclusive partnership to develop multiple online games based on Steve Jackson Games. widely popular GURPS system. GURPS — which stands for Generic Universal RolePlaying System — provides a set of rules and guidelines for playing RPGs in any genre or time period. First released in 1986, it is still one of the best-selling RPG systems today, because of its highly modular and adaptable system and its extensive library of hundreds of source books, covering everything from Aliens to the Old West to World War II.
“We’ve been wanting to take GURPS online for a long time,” said Steve Jackson, President of Steve Jackson Games. “Until now, we just hadn’t found the right partner. Worlds Apart understands the importance of taking care of the player community, and we’re excited about what we’re going to be able to do together.”
Immediate development plans have not yet been announced, but a number of titles are being contemplated, with an emphasis on making the best use of the ability of GURPS to provide a common gameplay foundation for a wide variety of settings.
“There is no richer or more powerful system to use as the basis for an online universe,” said Scott Martins, President of Worlds Apart. “Steve Jackson and Steve Jackson Games are pioneers in the games industry, and we’re honored to be working alongside a company with such an illustrious history.”
About Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games was founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, and is currently one of the top five publishers of role-playing, strategy and card games and metal miniatures. The company is best known for the INWO trading card game, for the GURPS roleplaying system, for Car Wars, for Illuminati, for Ogre and its sequels, and for the current card game hits Munchkin and Chez Geek. It also publishes an online magazine, Pyramid, which covers “The Best In Gaming” in all genres and from all companies.
About Worlds Apart
Based in Denver, Colorado, Worlds Apart is a six-year-old company specializing in the development and operation of multiplayer online games. Primarily involved in text-based titles to date, its flagship product is The Eternal City (TEC), a critically acclaimed and commercially successful Roman-themed RPG currently published by Skotos. It is still one of the only text-based products to be reviewed in PC Gamer (July 2001, and again in August 2001). It has been particularly praised for many of its innovative social gameplay features. Worlds Apart’s latest title is Grendel’s Revenge, a text-based hybrid RPG/RTS in which players get to play as the monsters.
Palladium
Back in July GamingReport received anonymous news that said Maryann Siembieda, wife of Palladium’s founder, was leaving the company. It was a rather short note and the link to the Palladium message boards that came with the post turned out to be pointing at a mysteriously deleted thread. There was much in the way of ominous whispering.As luck would have it, it turns out to be a storm in a tea cup. Maryanne’s simply found the time to return to college, there wasn’t any need for public fanfare over this and old threads at the Palladium Books forums are frequently tidied up. Maryann continues to be a regular on the forums there. We found a short questionnaire set by Palladium forum user “mcweezle” and we’ll repost it below:
Hello Maryann, Diva of Palladium,
I’ll ask you some questions just because, I can, it got me wondering when someone asked what Kevin listens to, and even though you asnswer questions out the hoo-hoo, I didn’t want you to feel left out.
1) Now that you’re changing careers, will you still have time for gaming?
I hope so but not for a while.
2) Do you listen to the same music as Kevin or do you prefer words in your music?
No Kevs and my musical taste are very different, I’m more comfortable listening to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones or some other “older” SKA band. But then again I love opera and classical music too.
3) If you could be rifted into your favorite PB system, which would it be?
Fantasy
4) What would you be/ become?
I would be a mind mage of course.
5) If you could take your favorite cereal with you what would it be?
Captain Crunch
6) Will you ever grab Kevin by the hairs on the back of his neck and drag him to Hawaii or somewhere tropic?
I highly doubt it.
7) When you are old and grey, MANY, MANY years from now, will you still be gaming?
I hope so.
EverQuest
Sony’s famous MMORPG (Massively multi-player online roleplaying game) has gone back to basics and has recently hit the shelves as a book.The game has been written by d20 publishers Sword and Sorcery Studios who are known for their Scarred Lands campaign line – and for being owned by White Wolf.We’ve yet to see how well it does but as one Wyrdling asked, “Does it have PK as a prestige class?”
