February 19, 2003: SJ Games To Distribute Issaries Line

Steve Jackson Games will take responsibility for sales and distribution of all Issaries releases, effective immediately. 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. Warehouse 23 will also become the official online source for all Issaries products.

"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," said Steve Jackson. "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.

Stafford's 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. "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. The company 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).