September 6, 2004: Three Reasons To Be Happy

(1) I had some very different fun in Puzzle Pirates. A ruffian who goes by the name of LeJerque set up a huge and completely unofficial puzzling contest (with the gleeful approval, of course, of the game's operators). He spent a great deal of time crafting some really killer puzzles . . . word puzzles, riddles, math, even one 3-D puzzle. And he wrote a story to wrap them all up, and ran the whole contest in the game's forum area. And he got donations from other players and created a very hefty prize pot. All unofficial! This is the kind of thing that HAPPENS in this game community. I entered, teaming with one very clever friend . . . We didn't win. We were two points short of a perfect score, but ten teams were perfect. But we had a great time and we'll enter again.

(2) I had the great pleasure of reading the first draft for the Fourth Edition book GURPS Traveller: Interstellar Wars by Jon Zeigler (with Paul Drye and Loren Wiseman). And it was simply excellent. Best first draft I've seen in a long time, better than some FINAL drafts, and a huge morale boost for Stevie.

(3) I was reading Howard Tayler's blog under the latest Schlock Mercenary, and there he was, saying nice things about Warehouse 23. Wow.
-- Steve Jackson