STEVE JACKSON GAMES, DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN

by Paul Cardwell, Jr. and Steve Jackson Games

I was undecided as to which of two leads to use for this story, so I will do both, and let you decide.

• Having finally gotten paid by the U.S. government for the illegal raid on their publishing operations, Steve Jackson Games is now having problems with the Swedish government.
• If gamers in Canada think they have trouble with Customs trying to figure out a gaming magazine, or the threat from a Parliamentary bill, they should be glad they are not in Sweden.

Choose one and I will let an account from their July 1994 newsletter, Where We’re Going, fill in the rest of the details.

A funny thing happened when we tried to import the Toon Ace Catalog into Sweden. The Swedish Customs Authority attempted to levy an 11 % tax on the shipment, because they considered the latest supplement for Toon to be “advertising materials.”

Fabian Fridholm, the Swedish retailer who ordered the game supplement, had to wade through several levels of cus­toms bureaucracy to try to convince somebody that Toon Ace Catalog was not advertising. Of course it was a mail-order catalog, the customs representative replied, because it said so in the book When asked if she thought that the products listed in the Toon Ace Catalog (including such zaniness as a “Hair-Styling Moose” and an “Exploding Anvil”) could actually be ordered from Steve Jackson Games through this “advertising material”, the customs representative applied [sic] in the affirmative.

After much further discussion, the parties reached a perfect bureaucratic compromise; Swedish Customs decided not to levy the tax on the shipment, though they would not waver from their contention that the Toon Ace Catalog was, indeed, “advertising.” It Boggles the mind…

NEW FROM THE PUBLISHERS

STEVE JACKSON GAMES

In Nomine; game system (originally from France, this one is in English); $29.95.

TSR

Mystara; Karameikos: boxed campaign setting with audio CD; $30.00.

Mystara; Monstrous Compendium appendix; accessory; $18.00.

Planescape: Planes of Chaos; campaign expansion boxed set; $30.00.

Forgotten Realms: City of Splendors; campaign expansion; $25.00.

Forgotten Realms: Marco Volo: The Journey; adventure; $6.95.

Al Qadim: Corsairs of the Great Sea; accessory/adventure; $6.95.

Ravenloft: Van Richten’s Guide to the Ancient Dead; accessory; $12.95.

All companies are welcome to submit listings for this column.

FINANCES

Onnand, i July 1994: $44.76

Income: $7.50 subscription

Outgo: $11.32 ($3.75 postage, 7.57 paper)

Balance: $40.94

NEW MATERIAL

TIM KLEIN

Lexis

Steve Jackson Games, Inc. v. United States Secret Service. 816 F.Supp. 432. This is the original district court decision. One point has been appealed by SJG (the only one they lost) and the government has dropped its appeal on the remaining points. 13 pages.

Gardiner v. State, 1994 Ga. Lexis 459. [This does not have a final citation yet, as the rehearing period had not expired.] Three Fort Stewart soldiers, Kenneth Eric Gardiner, Dominic Lucci, and Mark Jackson Jones, went to Savannah and killed a man at random. Racist overtones. They tried the D&D defense, but all got a life sentence. This is the Georgia Supreme Court decision upholding the trial court verdict and sentence. Noted, but not commented upon was that a witness said they were D&D players. 3 pages.

Nexis

Tobin. Thomas C., Seaton, Ned, and Meinhardt, Jane (1994, March 8). Older lover mothered bank killing suspect. St. Petersburg Times, 1A. Bailey/Hauss case update. 2 pages.

Bryan, Bill (1994, May 29). Trail in 1980 murders leads to prison; inmate a suspect in St. Louis Hills slaying. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. ID. Ronald G. Adcox (co-defendant with Darren Molitor in death of Mary Towey, the second (after Sean Sellers) murder on the trophy list) is suspect in another murder. D&D mentioned as a Then popular” game in connection with Towey killing. 2 pages.

West, Phil (1994, June 3). New Woodinville Club: role-playing gets a home. Seattle Times, D15. Mall game center separate from store.

Rust, Carol (1994, June 7). Gathering for the games. Houston Chronicle, “Houston”, page 1. Magic: the Gathering. 2 pages.

Glasgow Herald (1994, June 9). Fantasy game ends in murder, author, page 4. Spanish case. Claims it was D&D.

Atlanta Constitution (1994, June 14). Sentences upheld in murder, author, D6. Gardiner case. D&D mentioned in story.

Meeks, Nia Ngina (1994, June 15). Fantasy on deck. Dallas Morning News, 1C. Collector cards in RPG. 2 pages.

Schmidt, Steve (1994, July 5). Whole virtual world is lurking in the MUD. San Diego Union-Tribune, “Computer Link”, page 1. Intro to MUD.

Cordon, Gavin (1994, July 15). Bogus festival warning. Press Association. Scam uncovered to sell ticket to nonexist­ent game convention.

Clifford, Jane (1994, July 16). No headline given. San Diego Union-Tribune, E2. Interview with Joseph (Joey) Gordon-Levitt, star of Angels in the Outfield. He is in a D&D class this summer. 3 pages.

In addition, there is material announcing a new newsletter in British Columbia (contact name but no address); two UseNet reviews of Inter* Action; announcement of computer group for heavy metal (worth monitoring as we are both often attacked by the same people); and some background research on Thomas Radecki (in addition to being a psychiatrist (medical license currently suspended), he has a MA in political science, and a PhD in sociology of education with a dissertation on status and collective bargaining attitudes at Western Michigan University.

FROM JEFF FREEMAN

Harris, Kristina (1994, July 18). Godhood: not all fun and games. News week, page 12. Intro to MUD. (Arrived one day ahead of Jason Vorbeck contributing the same document.)

Adams, Michael (1994, July). Playing for Keeps. Successful Meetings, pp 48,50,55-57,59. Use of role-playing and other games in business training sessions. 6 pages + cover.

FROM OMAR DINIZ

Cabral, Alexandre (-1994, July 3). Aventura de Tarek e Amon pelo deserto de Aakar. Globo, page 13. AD&D scenario review.

Motta, Aydano Andre (1994, July 3). Lazer alem da iniagina^ao nas “Viagens” do RPG. Globo, pagel3. Intro to RPG.

FROM JENNIFER CLARKE WILKES

Wilkes, Christopher (1994, June 27). Letter of the Day. Ottawa Sun, page 10. Proposed law targets out-of-print prod­ucts but hits Clue and maybe O.J. Simpson football cards.

Cervantes, Alejandro (1994, June 29). Longer account of the Spanish case. 2 pages.

AP (1994, July 15). Video game drove teenager to insane stabbing, judge rules. Ottawa Citizen, E8. Mortal Kombat wins insanity verdict.

White, Richard (1987). Dungeons & Dragons. Reprint of B.A.D.D. material now offered by “Overstated by 34”. This is not the classic “green folder”, but a later one of the same title with the Egbert, Pulling, Loyacano stories and the Sanchez hoax.

Robertson, Pat (no date). Answers about angels, demons, and the end time. Standard Robertson distortion of Christian­ity. D&D labeled a form of demonic possession. Rest would be even more hilarious except that people believe it. 8 pages.

[You can get these last two at 700 Club expenses by phoning 1-804-420-0700 (ed.).]

FROM DALE MEIER

Rost, Richard (1992, December 17). In defense of Dungeons & Dragons. Adventurer’s Guild, ffl, page unstated (UseNet posting). CAR-PGa type material, well done and some new references. 9 pages.

AP (1994, June 15). Industry will rate computer games on sex, violent content. Sioux City Journal, B5. Software Publishers Association announces plans for ratings. Educational games will be exempt, but major chains say they will not carry unrated games!

Guild of Adventure Gaming (no date). Important information from The Guild of Adventure Gaming. Mail order game company goes out of business in protest against direction gaming is going. This is their announcement to their customers. 2 pages.

UseNet

The expansion of this BBS has made it impractical to continue to list each posting as a separate citation. A full listing of all these postings (like we used to run in the Newsletter before there were too many to tit), runs six pages but will remain available in the files. However, low interest in getting copies of what is basically a gamer opinion survey led us to drop the detailed listing in favor of the summary.

There was extensive traffic on the mainline “These D&D Rumors” thread. The discussion ranged from the basis of religious attacks to a discussion of DragonRaid (an attempt at a “Christian” RPG), to various benefits of gaming. It fre­quently got off on a tangent when a couple of militant atheists joined in claiming “Christian” had been stolen and can only mean what Pat Robertson and the mass media have defined it to be, therefore Christian gamers must get another name since one cannot be both. One of the targeted agreed, stating that is why she calls herself Roman Catholic instead of Christian. [Karol Wojtyla will be surprised to learn that he is not Christian (ed.).] This basically left Andrew Rilstone (editor of Inter*Action) the main one defending both gaming and Christianity, which, for the most part, he did quite well.

A new thread was started on Role-Playing and Religion (presumably to get that from cluttering the mainline RPG discussions) with Rilstone opening with the question of why games have a generally major religious component. This brought an excellent discussion of the subject (evoke powerful feelings, connections with etemality, help delineate friend/ foe, gods help explain what happened, religion is common in real life so makes characters more realistic, etc. There were some excellent discussions of free will, function of myth, Tolkien and Lewis were evoked, but the two militant atheists came in with their party line again, but this time more of the others were replying and identifying their religion. There was even one responsible atheist in that bunch. [Yes, there are such things, it is just that they, like most religionists, do not barge in identifying themselves solely or even primarily in that way (ed.).]

In smaller threads, there were widely spread opinions regarding the GURPS Religion book with it getting very mixed reviews. There was a good, but brief discussion of the opportunities for employment in RPG (the consensus was that they exist, but you are better off free-lancing). There were two postings on the Spanish incident; one from White Wolf on Wargames West refusing to stock part of their line; a question and reply on how to set up a children’s adventure at a convention; and one suggestion to call 1-804-420-0700 to get the “Overstated by 34” [700 Club] booklet attacking RPG. It is free and will help diminish their funds.

JORNOL DA GLOBO 28 May 1994 TV news magazine program

transcription and translation by Omar Diniz

Lilian Witte Fibe (anchor): RPG: the game of fashion. The new hobby blends luck, theater, and adventure. It’s amazingly like a videogame, and as real as a theatrical play. A different game where what counts is to embark on the adventure, and is already known by the initials RPG. The fans of the new hobby are in Sao Paulo for an international meeting. Get a lift with them to know the novelty.

Mario Rezende (reporter, at the convention): Forget all you know about videogames, children’s games, and cartoon magazines! The “wave” now is RPG or Role-Playing Games [in English], that could be translated as “Game of the charac­ters” . Of course, to participate, you don’t need to be between 12 and 18 years old, and neither do you wear strange clothes . You just need to have a group of partners and a good dose of imagination . In this game, each participant represents one character of a story that has only a beginning. The rules serve more to define the plot, and what each one can or can’t do. But what conducts the story, what defines what will happen in it, is not the luck, but the fantasy of the characters . In a world populated by monsters and warriors, there are no losers nor winners, but so, what’s the charm of the game?

Paulo Henrique Ditoro (gamer, student): This is more or less like a book, but you are a character in the book.

Andre Luis Moreau (gamer, student): It is little bit of theater, a little bit of war, it’s fun, lots of fun.

Rezende: Spread in the U.S.A, and Europe, the “RPG fever” began to contaminate the Brazilian youth. A meeting concluded in Sao Paulo, brought together 3,000 players in this weekend. The game publishers are already translating into Portuguese the better selling books from overseas, such as Vampire, by the American Mark Rein Hagen. The line to get an autograph from him shows that the sales here will be a success!

Witte Fibe One more thing to “addict” [in the sense of make fans, not derogatory] the children. Good night.

[Obviously this was the final segment of the show, second only to the lead item as a favorable position.]

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES FROM ALL OVER

Dan Richards reports a Houston religious radio station is attacking RPG. As with most of these, they try to generate a mailing list and he answered. The first reply included a survey with the standard loaded questions. He reports the skill of loading is quite high and requires some examination to notice the loading. RPG was not mentioned in the mailing, but he answered in the appropriately incorrect manner and will continue to monitor the situation.

Omar Dirdz clarified earlier comments on the first anti-game TV spot in Brazil by saying it was not directly anti-game. However, it put games in a bad light by including them in a list of things that can take over one’s life: gambling, alcohol, drugs, etc., an association hardly justified by the facts.

He also reports that finally Brazil has a full-fledged commercial game magazine (rather than just a fanzine or APA), and HeroQuest was released in a Portuguese translation. A very supporting TV show was broadcast recently throughout Brazil and into adjoining countries. The program is sometimes excerpted in rebroadcast in Portugal too. It gave particular attention to the Brazilian games (Tagmar, Desofio dos Bandeirantes, and to a lesser extent, O Abismo). [Can you see Norte Americano networks doing that? (ed.)J

MEMBERSHIP UPDATE

New Member

B. Vince Heuschkel, Huslodsvej 46 kid tv, DK-7000 Fredericia, Denmark (+45) 75 91 35 65.

Also add her to the list of CAR-PGa members with games or periodicals, as she publishes Fair Tidings, a nice little game magazine – in English, too!).

Computer Addresses:

Tun Klein: timk@meaddata.com or klein@cis.ohio-state.edu. The first one is more likely to remain valid.

David Millians: Internet: dragon@netcom.com.

CALENDAR

August

1. 21; GenCon, Milv aukee, WI; Box 756, Lake Geneva, WI 53147.
2. 21; DallasCon, Sl-eraton Grand Hotel, Irving (at DFW airport); Boa 367623, Piano, Ta 75OSO

Zo-28; DragonFlight, Seattle, WA; Metro Seattle Gamers, 1139 NW Market St., Seattle, WA.

24-28; Intersection, Scottish Exhibition & Conference Center, Glasgow : Box 15430, Washington, DC 20003-0430.

26-28; Bubonicon, Howard Johnson East, Albuquerque, NM; Box 37257, Albuquerque, NM 87176.

26-28; Demicon, Sheraton Conference Hotel, Towson, MD, Strategic Castle. 114 N. Toll Gate Rd., Bel Air AID 21014.

26-28; Omagacon, Howard Johnson Universal Tower, Orlando, FL; John Martello, 3417 Silverwood Dr.. Pine Hills, FL 32808-2847.

September

1. 5; Vertigo Games, Chicago, IL; Brad Wilson, Apt-1 Rear, 3306 N. Southport, Chicago, IL 60657.
2. 4; Nancon, Ramada Hotel Northwest, 12801 Northwest Freeway, Houston, TX

2-4; Sioux City Game Con, Sioux City, IA; 737 NE 3rd, Madison, SD 57042.

2-5; Gateway, Los Angeles, CA; Jeff Albanese, Box 3849, Torrance, CA 90510-3849.

2-5; Pacificon, Dunfey Hotel, 1770 South Amphlett Blvd, San Mateo, CA 94402; 39189 Farwell Dr., Fremont, CA 94538.

2-5; Texicon, Weschase Hilton & Towers, 9999 Westheimer, Houston, TX; Box 631462, Houston, TX 77263-1462

• 5; War!Zone North, Embassy Suites at Baymeadows, Jacksonville, FL; Wolf Ent. Box 1256, DeLand, FL 32721-1256.
• 4; Legends – Gainesville, Lakeshore Mall, Gainesville, GA; 514 Broad St., Rome, GA 30161.

9-11; Norman Conquest, O.U. Student Union, Norman, OK; Room 215-A, OMU, 900 Asp Ave, Norman, OK 73019.

9-11; ShoreCon, Monmouth City, NJ; Andrew Durston, 142S St. #9C, Red Bank, NJ 07701.

10; Maelstrom, City Campus Building, Lincoln, NE; Chris Dekalb, 6015 Huntington, Lincoln, NE 68507.

14-18; AndCon, Kent, OH, Box 3100, Kent, OH 44240.

16-18; Calgary Gaming Con, Calgary AB; 207 Bernard Dr. NW; Calgary, AB, T3K 2B6.

16-18; Tacticon, Lakewood, CO; Box 440058, Aurora, CO 80044.

1. 18; Western Front Seminar, Lisle, IL; Box 604, Bloomington Hills, MI 48304.
2. 18; Americon, Clayton American Legion hall, Clayton, NJ; Carl Thunder, Box 125, Mullica Hill, NJ 08062.
3. 25; Gateway, Los Angeles Airport Hyatt Hotel: Strategicon, Box 3849, Torrance, CA 90510-3849.
4. 25; Cogcon, Miner Rec. Building, University of Missouri in Rolla; GEAR, Box 1939, Rolla, MO 65401.

23-25; Foxcon, Larsen Middle School, Elgin, IL; Mike Woodward, 636 Center St., Elgin, IL 60120.

• 25; Kaleidoscope, Holiday Inn, Lynchburg, VA; LSFA, 300 Harrison St., Lynchburg, VA 24504.
• 25; Kennel Con, USO, Fort DeRussy, Waikiki, HI; Eric Kline, Box 90182, Honolulu, HI 96835-0182.
• Oct 2; Dire Consequences, Howard Johnson, Plainville, CT; Box 251, Bristol, CT 06011-0251.

© Copyright 1994 by the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), ISSN 1071 7129. The CAR-PGa Newsletter is a monthly publication of the Committee for the Advancement of Role-Playing Games (CAR-PGa), Inc. It is available by subscription of $7.50 per year or 75 cents per copy ($12.00 per year or $1.25 per copy overseas). Back issues are available. The editor is the Chair, Paul Caidwell, Jr. The address is 1127 Cedar, Bonham, TX 75418. Contributions of material from the membership are urged. We go to press on the last day of the month, so get the material in as much before that time as possible. The size of the Newsletter depends on what is submitted. Permission is granted to copy anything in the Newsletter, provided we are given a credit line in the publication copying it, and it doesn’t have someone else’s copyright on it.

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