The best annual livestream about the worst video game ever made is back for 2024! 

• Munchkin Gift Pack
• Knightmare Chess
• Munchkin Starfinder: I Want It All!
• The Awful Green Things From Outer Space
• GURPS Girl Genius Sourcebook & Roleplaying Game

We recently asked a two-part trivia question: What is the last Steve Jackson Games item alphabetically we're currently still selling, and what is the last Steve Jackson Games item alphabetically that is a complete game we're currently still selling?

The (coded) hint was that the two items were closely related. Fans of Steve Jackson Games are probably quite familiar with the complete game – and any sense of suspense was no doubt thwarted by the images included with this post. It's none other than the super-selling Zombie Dice Horde Edition (though give yourself a pat on the back for any variation of Zombie Dice).

And the last still-for-sale item of any flavor? That'd be the Zombie Dice Pint Glass – still on Warehouse 23!

We're hope you didn't strain your braaiiiinnss too hard on that one, and perhaps we'll do this again in the not-too-distant future!

– Steven Marsh

Warehouse 23 News: Colosseum To Believe 'Em

If the real world's got you down, consider an exciting new career as a gladiator! GURPS Martial Arts: Gladiators presents all the details you need to add this era to your historical adventures . . . or mine it for ideas to include in other campaigns! With historical insight, rules, weapons, character options, and more, it's never been easier to bring gladiatorial glamour to your game. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

Over the next few weeks and months, you'll see social media posts discussing how companies cannot offer holiday bonuses or will have to cut employees due to Trump's tariffs (proposed or enacted).

Some of these stories may be fiction or cautionary tales that illustrate the price the average American pays for a politician's decision.

But I can 100% tell you this is a reality many business owners in the manufacturing sector now face.

If you aren't aware of how tariffs work, it's relatively simple. The company importing the goods from a foreign country pays the fee. If a company has to pay 20%, 60%, or 200% more to bring that item into the United States, who ultimately bears that cost? The American people.

Over the last few days, I have been talking at length with my factory representatives, figuring out how much of an item I need to order now to offset any expanded costs later. In addition, we are looking at where we can move manufacturing to outside of China (hard mode, not a lot of places outside of China or Europe produce boardgame components at the scale our industry uses).

I've been speaking with my shipping representatives about the increasing freight costs we expect to see with a rise in tariffs. We're already paying extreme freight prices, which will only go up as demand increases. The last time tariffs were levied on Chinese manufactured goods, freight costs went up.

Now I am in a position that forces me to examine how much we may need to raise prices if the most extreme of the proposed tariffs goes into effect.

I'm also trying to do right by my staff. But I can only do so much, you know? How long can business owners incur these costs, protect our staff, and not have consumers pay through the nose? Can I accept breaking even for the time being to keep my people employed and our games affordable? But what happens when the company starts losing money?

Many CEOs and business owners are staring down this reality right now. This isn't just a theoretical exercise. We have to plan for the worst.

So, what do I plan to do about this? I will be even more present in my local and state business associations that have direct links to policy makers in D.C. I will take every opportunity to speak directly to those who have a say in this new administration about why this isn't good for the economy. I'm just a tiny player in the world of manufacturing. But I do know the power of my voice. And more importantly, I know the power your voice holds as well.

You can start putting pressure on your elected (or newly elected) officials by writing, calling, or contacting them through their open channels (many of them love social media). Tell them you do not want these proposed tariffs, and let them know how these cost increases will impact you. Hold them to their promises. Make your voice heard. 

We are all in this together. 

– Meredith Placko

Warehouse 23 News: A Great Deal Of Adventure!

Excitement is in the cards with the Decks of Destiny for The Fantasy Trip. This collection of resources and reference material contains adversaries, rumors, combat options, and more to make your games of TFT fast and furious. Download this set today from Warehouse 23!

I recently asked the question about which Steve Jackson Games product and game is last alphabetically, which we answered here. In that earlier question, I alluded to the other question. Namely:

• What is the first item alphabetically that is currently available for sale, and . . .

• What is the first item alphabetically that is a complete game and currently available for sale?

This one is trickier for a couple of reasons. As Magesmiley noted on the forums when talking about the "Omega" question, somewhat of a software-sorting question hides here. There's also a bit of an oddity in the second question we're asking today that makes this more challenging. Still, let's see if we can't muddle toward an answer . . .

. . . Which we'll divulge sometime soon. As ever, feel free to share your answers on the forums!

– Steven Marsh

Warehouse 23 News: The City Never Sleeps Because Of All The Action

There are a million stories in the city, and they're all exciting! GURPS Action 9: The City shows how you can add GURPS City Stats to your GURPS Action campaigns. It also features six sample cities to use with your own action-packed adventures. Download it today from Warehouse 23!

Sir,
Please advise. My son is an NRI for last 9 years. When he was in India, he was filing ITR. Now he has no income of any kind in India. Is it compulsory now to file nil tax returns in India, as he has not filing any return. Thanks for early reply.
He is holding Indian passport

Hi,

I had bought a RHP1 on 04/01/2024 (FY 23-24) for 50 lakhs. I have sold a RHP2 on 10/11/2024 (FY 24-25) and computed a capital gain of 45 lakhs.
1. Can I take exemption u/s 54 by showing the capital gain of 45 lakhs in RHP1?
2. Any particular details to be mentioned in ITR of FY 24-25?

Thank in Advance.

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8005/20946A day that will go down in history as the Great Fire of Hitchin. Almost the whole town was burned down overnight and it was only the intervention of the fire brigade that kept the flames at bay in the industrial estate where the conflagration had started.  So only maybe one building was affected, but it's horrible to think of what might have happened if no one had called 999. Apparently the industrial estate has about four fires a year, so they are especially lucky that the fire fighters show up.

This small vegan lemon drizzle cake packs a big flavor. Optional pomegranate seeds add a tart crunch as well as a festive appearance. It can be soy-free or nut-free depending on the type of milk or yogurt you use. It’s been a while, almost 2 1/2 years, since I’ve updated this blog. I’ve been working...

Read More

The post Vegan Lemon Drizzle Cake appeared first on FatFree Vegan Kitchen.

As I layered up for the snow today, I figured out why I had these plain Jane earrings in my collection. They’re the companions for this Karen McCorckle beautifully caned angel pin that I love. Oh, that goes back a couple of interesting decades! Karen told us that she conditioned clay when she went to […] Read more

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The Army, The Navy “BBIDGI” The Army, The Navy are a folk duo with the same basic set up as Simon & Garfunkel – two singers, one guitar. The interesting thing with them, most especially on “BBIDGI,” is how their melodies and vocal harmonies are much closer in style and tone to mid 90s through […]

Katrina Ford “World On A Wire” I’ve been writing about songs most days of my life for over 20 years and one thing I’ve learned from this is that a lot of the music I love most resists description. And of course it does – music is ultimately an abstract medium, something that exists to […]

When processing HTTP requests, you frequently need to check the parameters which were sent along with that request. Those parameters are generally passed as stringly-typed key/value pairs. None of this is news to anyone.

What is news, however, is how Brodey's co-worker indexed the key/value pairs.

For i As Integer = 0 To (Request.Params().Count - 1)
    If (parameters.GetKey(i).ToString() <> "Lang") Then
        If (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("ID")) OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("new")) OrElse _
             (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("open")) OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("FID")) _
         OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("enabled")) OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("my")) OrElse _
         (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("msgType")) OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("Type")) _
         OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("EID")) OrElse (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("Title")) OrElse _
         (parameters.GetKey(i).Equals("ERROR")) Then
            URLParams &= "&" & parameters.GetKey(i).ToString()
            URLParams &= "=" & parameters(i).ToString()
        End If
    End If
Next

The goal of this code is to take a certain set of keys and construct a URLParams string which represents those key/values as an HTTP query string. The first thing to get out of the way: .NET has a QueryString type that handles the construction of the query string for you (including escaping), so that you don't need to do any string concatenation.

But the real WTF is everything surrounding that. We opt to iterate across every key- not just the ones we care about- and use the GetKey(i) function to check each individual key in an extensive chain of OrElse statements.

The obvious and simpler approach would have been to iterate across an array of the keys I care about- ID, new, FID, enabled, my, msgType, Type, EID, Title, ERROR- and simply check if they were in the Request.

I suppose the only silver lining here is that they thought to use the OrElse operator- which is a short-circuiting "or" operation, like you'd expect in just about any other language, instead of Or, which doesn't short circuit (pulling double duty as both a bitwise Or and a logical Or, because Visual Basic wants to contribute some WTFs).

Eagle-eye fans in Discord spotted new tshirts and sweaters for the anime feature film coming in December.

Over at Hot Topic you can now order (or buy at the mall) new apparel and merch for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, which just had a big kickoff at NYCC weekend of Oct 18-20. We previously reported on new Rohirrim Warhammer sets and other movie tie-in merch.

More LOTR Merch now available

There are even more Rohan inspired options at WB Shop!

Looks like the studio merch machine is ramping up like the days of old, which for many fans is a sign of confidence in the movie which is coming to cinemas in December. You can chat with fans in our dedicated Rohirrim channel on Discord.

Nerdist got the exclusive reveal of the official theatrical poster for the big new anime film coming in December.

All the details are spelled out over on Nerdist as they revealed the official new poster for The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim coming to cinemas worldwide December 13, 2024.

Hot dwarves to hot horse lords?

Fans of course are finding their own inspirations!

Originally theorized by Happy Hobbit, a music industry blog seems to confirm the song name.

While there is still no official confirmation from the studio, the folks over at Film Music Reporter seem to have found the song track title for a new Paris Paloma song attached to The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim:

English folk-pop artist Paris Paloma has recorded an original song for the upcoming anime feature The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. The track, entitled The Rider, written by Phoebe Gittins (who co-wrote the project’s screenplay with Arty Papageorgiou and Jeffrey Addiss & Will Matthews) & composer David Long and performed by Paloma, will be featured in the movie.

Where is the Horse and The Rider

Paris Paloma is fresh on the music scene having released her first album earlier this year. Kellie from Happy Hobbit is a huge fan and in this TikTok posted a few months ago she speculated that Paloma was involved in The War of the Rohirrim. Just last week at NYCC, Executive Producer Philippa Boyens teased a great new song without revealing the artist. You can watch the full panel on our YouTube.

On this week's TORN Tuesday, Kellie explains who Paris Paloma is and why she is perfect to be involved in the story of Rohan's shieldmaidens. Segment starts at 1:17:00

The Regal North Hollywood is holding a showing of the new feature-length anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim from 1.00pm on this Saturday (November 9) open to children aged nine to 14, and their parents. It's not entirely clear whether adult-without-kids can also attend, but I took a few moments to run through their pre-booking survey and it does seem that you get screened out if you state you're attending without kids.

T&Cs also state that no-one under the age of nine will be admitted (presumably because of MPAA ratings).

If this tickles your fancy (and you have kids 9 to 14), you can reserve (free!) your tickets here.

If you're unaware of the story, The War of the Rohirrim is set many years before the events of The Lord of the Rings and follows a historic event described by J.R.R. Tolkien in Appendix A of the book. As the filmmakers describe it, "...a sudden attack by Wulf, a clever and ruthless Dunlending lord seeking vengeance for the death of his father, forces Helm Hammerhand, the King of Rohan, and his people to make a daring last stand in the ancient stronghold of the Hornburg."

The anime debuts worldwide (in most locations) on December 13.

Early free screening details

Saturday, November 9th, 2024
Regal North Hollywood
6150 Laurel Canyon Blvd # 200, North Hollywood, CA 91606

1:00 pm. Open to children 9-14 and their parents
No one under 9 will be admitted.
Check-in will begin 60 minutes before the start of the show.

RESERVE YOUR TICKETS

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