Quote from: ConfessorRelevant articles for those curious:

Steve Jackson: http://groups.google.com/group/io.games.sjg.gurps/msg/511f6282403667bc?&hl=en

Stephan Wieck: http://groups.google.com/group/alt.games.whitewolf/msg/4b75ae9525a52d4e?hl=en

Frankly, from what I saw and heard, SJ was right to be frustrated, though he did take it out publically, which is a no-no to me.

From those it looks like joewolz was pretty close, only WW did "you [effectively] only get to do the core rules book" through a shellgame instead of straight up and out front.

Quote from: Dominus NoxThe steve at wod replied in a very calm fashion.

...that makes me want to retch. Seriously. Yeah, if you've just fucked someone over you'll be pretty calm about it. Not to condone Jackson's rant, but I'm glad someone linked those because you post seems a rather poor colouring of them. Especially "It was pretty unprofessional of jackson, and pretty much killed any possibility of the two companies ever working together again." Because it sure looked like it was very good and dead already long before Jackson hit the keyboard for that post.

Well, if jackson didn't come off like an arrogant ass so much on his forums I might be inclined to be more sympathetic to him, but given his arrogance and my experience with it I tend to side with WW in this case.

Quote from: Dominus NoxWell, if jackson didn't come off like an arrogant ass so much on his forums I might be inclined to be more sympathetic to him, but given his arrogance and my experience with it I tend to side with WW in this case.

He's not arrogant.  He's weird, seriously weird.  I don't mean like creepy weird, or even bad weird, but he's certainly an odd person to talk to.

Quote from: joewolzHe's not arrogant.  He's weird, seriously weird.  I don't mean like creepy weird, or even bad weird, but he's certainly an odd person to talk to.

Steve Jackson is an arrogant Weirdbeard. Plain and simple. Closest thing I've ever met that matches Pundit's Swine.
 
He is, most certainly, an asshole. I've never been to his messageboards, but I've chatted with him a few times at a con or a show. To make a long story short, I wouldn't invite him to one of my games.
 
SJ Games is pretty much an Indy publisher. But he likes to pretend he's a big deal. I mean the guy has to sell other peoples games mail order to make ends meet.
 
I do like a lot of SJ games though. Besides CAR WARS and INWO though, none of them were actually designed by him. I give him credit for publishing some of the btter games I've played. TOON being my favorite RPG of all time

Quote from: KrakaJakSJ Games is pretty much an Indy publisher. But he likes to pretend he's a big deal. I mean the guy has to sell other peoples games mail order to make ends meet.

As a point of fact, Warehouse 23 (our online retail arm) is indeed a profit center. However, it is a small drop in the bucket compared to what the Munchkin, GURPS, or Chez lines bring in.

Is Steve Jackson Games a "big deal"? Last year, we reported a gross of $2.4 million. I think that moves us out of the "indy" catagory.
 

Quote from: KrakaJakI do like a lot of SJ games though. Besides CAR WARS and INWO though, none of them were actually designed by him.

In reality, SJ has a significant list of design credits to his name: Ogre/G.E.V., GURPS, Illuminati, Hacker, and Munchkin. He has done a significant amount of development work on Car Wars, but the original designer was Chad Irby.

Quote from: KrakaJakHe is, most certainly, an asshole. I've never been to his messageboards, but I've chatted with him a few times at a con or a show. To make a long story short, I wouldn't invite him to one of my games.

Couldja make with the long story, please?

At the moment, you're making vague statements about his personality without really pointing to anything and saying "there, look, that's why he's an asshole". If you have a beef with him, the least you can do explain exactly why he is a weirdbeard (you never know, I might agree with you).

Quote from: KrakaJakSteve Jackson is an arrogant Weirdbeard. Plain and simple. Closest thing I've ever met that matches Pundit's Swine.
 
He is, most certainly, an asshole. I've never been to his messageboards, but I've chatted with him a few times at a con or a show. To make a long story short, I wouldn't invite him to one of my games.
 
SJ Games is pretty much an Indy publisher. But he likes to pretend he's a big deal. I mean the guy has to sell other peoples games mail order to make ends meet.
 
I do like a lot of SJ games though. Besides CAR WARS and INWO though, none of them were actually designed by him. I give him credit for publishing some of the btter games I've played. TOON being my favorite RPG of all time

Plus one must remember he really got his big break by suing a classic games, company, I think it was metagaming, out of business and taking their assets.

I mean, I won't deny he's a game legend, and if I were a total stereotypical game geek I'd let that fact outweigh his personality traits, but I'm not so I don't.

Quote from: Dominus NoxPlus one must remember he really got his big break by suing a classic games, company, I think it was metagaming, out of business and taking their assets.

Actually, that's incorrect. SJ's "big break" was Ogre. He was employed by Metagaming for a period, and his departure did involve a lawsuit. However, Metagaming continued to exist and publish for several years after SJ left.

I'm surprised to see Jackson's minion, chapman, is still posting here. I wasn't sure he could handle people being able to say thyings he found disagreeable without being to ban them and delete all their posts, kind of in a stalinist fit of pique.

I don't read his posts, he's on my TF, I'm just surprised he's still posting....

Quote from: Dominus NoxI'm surprised to see Jackson's minion, chapman, is still posting here. I wasn't sure he could handle people being able to say thyings he found disagreeable without being to ban them and delete all their posts, kind of in a stalinist fit of pique.

Translation: I can't argue what was said, so I will do a personal attack on the person in question and hope it sweeps what was said under the rug.

Gotta love that.

To return to the original topic, the GURPS line was pretty good.  I enjoyed the GURPS: Mage the Ascension a lot, and still use parts of it in my magic house rules.

I "worked" directly with Mr. Jackson about a million years ago playtesting "Autoduel Champions" - helped with the first couple of iteratons of what would eventually become helicopter rules for Car Wars. It was only for a day at a con in Dallas, but it was enjoyable. Admittedly, this was probably 1983 or so (age has robbed me of my once-famous recall), so I can't add anything about his character after that point. I can tell you, he was intensely interested in feedback and seemed to genuinely care about what he was doing. From what I've heard over the years, I'd say he's retained those traits, although HIS feedback can be bursque. Or so I've heard.

Also, GURPS was the ONLY system used by my gaming group from about 1st Edition on (aside from some on-and-off flings with D&D 3rd). Its still in use to this day, in fact. Make of that what you will.