FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 12, 2003
Issaries makes distribution deal with Steve Jackson Games
Austin, TX and Oakland, CA
February 12, 2003
Issaries, Inc. and Steve Jackson Games Incorporated today announced that SJ Games will handle sales and distribution of all Issaries releases, effective immediately.
"We're proud to be associated with a product line as fine as Issaries', and it's a great privilege to work with Greg Stafford," Steve Jackson, founder of Steve Jackson Games, said. "We're a couple of 'gaming graybeards' – two of the last few to make it this long while remaining independent."
Steve Jackson saw his first game design published in 1976, and started the company that bears his name in 1980. Greg Stafford founded Chaosium, Inc. and published White Bear & Red Moon, a boardgame set in the world of Glorantha, in 1975. "That's 55 years of combined experience," Jackson said proudly.
"The opportunity to get our products into more outlets is a win-win situation," Stafford said. "Like Steve and his GURPS, we have a roleplaying game for people who want to move beyond the d20 craze – we just need to get it in front of more fans. This deal lets us do that. The real winners are gamers everywhere."
Stafford founded Issaries, Inc. four years ago as a company specializing in games set in his mythic world of Glorantha. His RuneQuest roleplaying game was first published in 1978, and legions of Glorantha fans have been devoted to gaming in this rich, distinctive game world ever since.
All existing Issaries back stock will be sold through Steve Jackson Games beginning immediately. Future products will bear both the Issaries and Steve Jackson Games logos, starting with Imperial Lunar Handbook, Vol., 1 (ISS 1302), and HeroQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha (ISS 1001). New products will be solicited and sold as part of the regular monthly SJ Games releases. SJ Games' Warehouse 23 will also become the official online source for all Issaries products.
About Steve Jackson Games
Steve Jackson Games was founded in 1980 by Steve Jackson, and is currently one of the top five publishers of role-playing, strategy and card games and metal miniatures. The company is best known for the INWO trading card game, the GURPS roleplaying system, Car Wars, Illuminati, Ogre and its sequels, and the current card game hits Munchkin and Chez Geek. It also publishes an online magazine, Pyramid, which covers "The Best In Gaming" in all genres and from all companies.
About Issaries
Issaries, Inc. is a publishing house for mythic material. Its flagship game is HeroQuest: Roleplaying in Glorantha. The HeroQuest core rules system, created by noted game designer Robin D. Laws, is an elegant story-telling tool, with scalability and keyword-defined characters that take roleplaying to the next level. Orlanth is Dead!, an epic struggle to liberate the gods and defeat the hated Lunar Empire, is the latest release. Imperial Lunar Handbook, Volume 1, the first release in the new HeroQuest line, is due in early March.
Issaries, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 through the blessings of Issaries, the Gloranthan god of trade and mercantilism; the good graces of the state of California; and, most importantly, with the support of loyal fans around the globe who raised money through the Glorantha Trading Association (GTA).
Contacts
Steve Jackson Games:
Ross Jepson
Issaries:
Stephen P. Martin
