Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions - Page 3

pieclone · 03-23-2011, 02:16 PM

I bought both as dead tree editions from my FLGS last year and have read and re-read them multiple times. Ken Hite is directly responsible for me spending several hundreds pounds* on books since then thanks to his recommendations, bibliography and general awesomeness. Two of the books on my desk right now are suggestions from ST1 and my Kindle has another half dozen from ST1 and ST2.

His brief mention of "The School of Night" sent me off on a spiral of spending that is still ongoing right now and in fact was what preempted my decision to run the most detailed GURPS game I've ever run. They are probably my favourite non-crunchy GURPS books and have given me endless ideas for short games and pushed me in directions I would never have thought of in a million years.

In addition to all the roleplaying goodness they are an excellent read in general for trivia, entertainment and have expanded my reading horizons, not just in "High Weirdness" but also in all the supporting subjects. My renewed love for the works of Shakespeare, my reading of Marlowe's Doctor Faust, the discovery of Tim Powers and Frances Yates are all attributable to Mr Hite's excellent books.

I wish I could afford a Pyramid subscription on top of all this expenditure and would love to get access to all the ST articles outside the collected editions but I'd only end up spending thousands more if I did gain access to the new columns...

Roll on 4e Horror and then let him loose on GURPS Gloriana ;)

*it's too shameful to admit how much but it's over £500 but not quite £1000...

Lord Carnifex · 03-24-2011, 06:23 PM

Thanks for reminding me! I'd been meaning to buy a set of the softcovers for a friend of mine. Not a gamer, but into high weirdness. He'll love these.

Of course, my dream is to get Ken Hite and Neil Gaiman into the same room together - maybe at a con - and let them pick each other's brains (one hopes not literally!) Heck, even an online chat session might be something to behold.

If the world as we know it doesn't collapse under the strain, that is...

Jürgen Hubert · 03-25-2011, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pieclone

I wish I could afford a Pyramid subscription on top of all this expenditure and would love to get access to all the ST articles outside the collected editions but I'd only end up spending thousands more if I did gain access to the new columns...

Uhm... The uncollected Suppressed Transmissions are now completely unavailable even with a Pyramid Subscription, thanks to the shift to the new PDF format. Which was sort of the point of me starting that thread - to get enough impetus to encourage Steve Jackson Games to release collections with the remaining transmissions...

Lord Carnifex · 03-26-2011, 02:15 AM

In case it wasn't clear earlier, either, let me address the Powers that Be directly. Juergen's efforts prompted my buying additional copies of the first two printed compilations from Warehouse 23. If more of the uncompiled Suppressed Transmissions find their way into either a soft-cover or PDF compilation, I will buy them as well. Prossibly multiple copies.
[End transmission]

And if either Mr. Hite's library or brain is compiled into PDF form, I'd probably buy that, too. Flash drives are cheap right now.

Jürgen Hubert · 03-31-2011, 07:11 AM

It's the end of March, and I have just finished reading through all the Suppressed Transmissions collected in the two printed volumes in my RPGNet thread - though I still have to read through all the uncollected transmissions. Time to take stock.

When I started this thread on February 24th, the PDF version of the first collection had been sold 66 times. Now the number is 116, which means that 50 more sales occurred - presumably thanks to the activities of myself and other people who pushed it in that period. The second volume also saw an increase of 41 sales (from 56 to 97). Sales of the remaining print copies might also have increased, but the effect on these remains invisible for outside observers.

I don't know how much the sales numbers of the Suppressed Transmission have to increase until Steve Jackson Games is willing to consider publishing further collections. I do know that I will continue that thread until I have read through all 300 transmissions I have, and hopefully it will be enough by then...

Bogie1494 · 03-31-2011, 08:21 AM

I bought dead tree copies of both volumes after reading your reviews. Thanks for making me aware of such compiled awesome weirdness!

Jonas · 04-07-2011, 08:56 AM

This may sound silly, but what exactly are the Suppressed Transmissions? I recall reading one or two back when Pyramid was still a yearly subscription but I could never make heads or tails of them.

Jürgen Hubert · 04-17-2011, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonas

This may sound silly, but what exactly are the Suppressed Transmissions? I recall reading one or two back when Pyramid was still a yearly subscription but I could never make heads or tails of them.

Basically, they were Kenneth Hite (author of GURPS Horror 3rd Edition and GURPS Cabal, among other things) discussing Alternate History, Conspiracy, Secret History or High Weirdness in essay format - and showing how to put it all into a game.

And he was good at that - there are few other texts that have such a high gaming idea to word count quotient...

pieclone · 05-11-2011, 04:23 AM

I bit the bullet and bought the pdfs of ST 1 & 2. Anything to help encourage the release of further columns. I've been reading the short reviews on RPG.net and there are enough columns that I would find useful that haven't been printed that I am more than willing to spend $16 to increase the chances of an ST 3 & 4.

Philosopher Rogue · 07-17-2011, 01:03 AM

I have dead tree copies of both as well, but nothing compares to the hyperlink versions the old articles, being able to have multiple tabs open to the references of previous articles when the link was right there on the page. Can't do that with the dead tree.

Which is what brought me to this thread. Someone posted a link to a fully working old Pyramid V2 article in the GURPS threads and I was wondering if the the Suppressed Transmissions were still hidden somewhere. I subscribed back then and I buy almost every issue now.

Now off to read this glorious sounding thread on RPG.Net!

03-23-2011, 02:16 PM	#21
pieclone Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Sheffield, UK	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions I bought both as dead tree editions from my FLGS last year and have read and re-read them multiple times. Ken Hite is directly responsible for me spending several hundreds pounds* on books since then thanks to his recommendations, bibliography and general awesomeness. Two of the books on my desk right now are suggestions from ST1 and my Kindle has another half dozen from ST1 and ST2. His brief mention of "The School of Night" sent me off on a spiral of spending that is still ongoing right now and in fact was what preempted my decision to run the most detailed GURPS game I've ever run. They are probably my favourite non-crunchy GURPS books and have given me endless ideas for short games and pushed me in directions I would never have thought of in a million years. In addition to all the roleplaying goodness they are an excellent read in general for trivia, entertainment and have expanded my reading horizons, not just in "High Weirdness" but also in all the supporting subjects. My renewed love for the works of Shakespeare, my reading of Marlowe's Doctor Faust, the discovery of Tim Powers and Frances Yates are all attributable to Mr Hite's excellent books. I wish I could afford a Pyramid subscription on top of all this expenditure and would love to get access to all the ST articles outside the collected editions but I'd only end up spending thousands more if I did gain access to the new columns... Roll on 4e Horror and then let him loose on GURPS Gloriana ;) *it's too shameful to admit how much but it's over £500 but not quite £1000...

03-24-2011, 06:23 PM	#22
Lord Carnifex Join Date: Oct 2005	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions Thanks for reminding me! I'd been meaning to buy a set of the softcovers for a friend of mine. Not a gamer, but into high weirdness. He'll love these. Of course, my dream is to get Ken Hite and Neil Gaiman into the same room together - maybe at a con - and let them pick each other's brains (one hopes not literally!) Heck, even an online chat session might be something to behold. If the world as we know it doesn't collapse under the strain, that is... __________________ An ongoing narrative of philosophy, psychology, and semiotics: Et in Arcadia Ego "To an Irishman, a serious matter is a joke, and a joke is a serious matter."

03-26-2011, 02:15 AM	#24
Lord Carnifex Join Date: Oct 2005	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions In case it wasn't clear earlier, either, let me address the Powers that Be directly. Juergen's efforts prompted my buying additional copies of the first two printed compilations from Warehouse 23. If more of the uncompiled Suppressed Transmissions find their way into either a soft-cover or PDF compilation, I will buy them as well. Prossibly multiple copies. [End transmission] And if either Mr. Hite's library or brain is compiled into PDF form, I'd probably buy that, too. Flash drives are cheap right now. __________________ An ongoing narrative of philosophy, psychology, and semiotics: Et in Arcadia Ego "To an Irishman, a serious matter is a joke, and a joke is a serious matter."

03-31-2011, 07:11 AM	#25
Jürgen Hubert Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Oldenburg, Germany	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions It's the end of March, and I have just finished reading through all the Suppressed Transmissions collected in the two printed volumes in my RPGNet thread - though I still have to read through all the uncollected transmissions. Time to take stock. When I started this thread on February 24th, the PDF version of the first collection had been sold 66 times. Now the number is 116, which means that 50 more sales occurred - presumably thanks to the activities of myself and other people who pushed it in that period. The second volume also saw an increase of 41 sales (from 56 to 97). Sales of the remaining print copies might also have increased, but the effect on these remains invisible for outside observers. I don't know how much the sales numbers of the Suppressed Transmission have to increase until Steve Jackson Games is willing to consider publishing further collections. I do know that I will continue that thread until I have read through all 300 transmissions I have, and hopefully it will be enough by then... __________________ GURPS Repository • Sunken Castles, Evil Poodles - translating German folk tales into English!

03-31-2011, 08:21 AM	#26
Bogie1494 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Kansas, USA	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions I bought dead tree copies of both volumes after reading your reviews. Thanks for making me aware of such compiled awesome weirdness! __________________ -- "What monstrosities would walk these streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds." Eric Hoffer

04-07-2011, 08:56 AM	#27
Jonas Join Date: Mar 2006	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions This may sound silly, but what exactly are the Suppressed Transmissions? I recall reading one or two back when Pyramid was still a yearly subscription but I could never make heads or tails of them. __________________ Waiting for: Gurps VDS Gurps Armory (One can dream) ---- Per ardua ad astra "Through hard-work to the stars."

05-11-2011, 04:23 AM	#29
pieclone Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Sheffield, UK	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions I bit the bullet and bought the pdfs of ST 1 & 2. Anything to help encourage the release of further columns. I've been reading the short reviews on RPG.net and there are enough columns that I would find useful that haven't been printed that I am more than willing to spend $16 to increase the chances of an ST 3 & 4.

07-17-2011, 01:03 AM	#30
Philosopher Rogue Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Lexington, KY	Re: Reading through the Suppressed Transmissions I have dead tree copies of both as well, but nothing compares to the hyperlink versions the old articles, being able to have multiple tabs open to the references of previous articles when the link was right there on the page. Can't do that with the dead tree. Which is what brought me to this thread. Someone posted a link to a fully working old Pyramid V2 article in the GURPS threads and I was wondering if the the Suppressed Transmissions were still hidden somewhere. I subscribed back then and I buy almost every issue now. Now off to read this glorious sounding thread on RPG.Net!