ames-company out of the gate, with a
product boldly called "Cyberpunk" in defiance of possible
infringement-of-copyright suits, had been an upstart group called R.
Talsorian. Talsorian's Cyberpunk was a fairly decent game, but the
mechanics of the simulation system left a lot to be desired.
Commercially, however, the game did very well.

The next cyberpunk game had been the even more successful Shadowrun by
FASA Corporation. The mechanics of this game were fine, but the
scenario was rendered moronic by sappy fantasy elements like elves,
trolls, wizards, and dragons--all highly ideologically-incorrect,
according to the hard-edged, high-tech standards of cyberpunk science
fiction.

Other game designers were champing at the bit. Prominent among them
was the Mentor, a gentleman who, like most of his friends in the Legion
of Doom, was quite the cyberpunk devotee. Mentor reasoned that the
time had come for a REAL cyberpunk gaming-book--one that the princes of
computer-mischief in the Legion of Doom could play without laughing
themselves sick. This book, GURPS Cyberpunk, would reek of culturally
on-line authenticity.

Mentor was particularly well-qualified for this task. Naturally, he
knew far more about computer-intrusion and digital skullduggery than
any previously published cyberpunk author. Not only that, but he was
good at his work. A vivid imagination, combined with an instinctive
feeling for the working of systems and, especially, the loopholes
within them, are excellent qualities for a professional game designer.

By March 1st, GURPS Cyberpunk was almost complete, ready to print and
ship. Steve Jackson expected vigorous sales for this item, which, he
hoped, would keep the company financially afloat for several months.
GURPS Cyberpunk, like the other GURPS "modules," was not a "game" like
a Monopoly set, but a BOOK: a bound paperback book the size of a
glossy magazine, with a slick color cover, and pages full of text,
illustrations, tables and footnotes. It was advertised as a game, and
was used as an aid to game-playing, but it was a book, with an ISBN
number, published in Texas, copyrighted, and sold in bookstores.

And now, that book, stored on a computer, had gone out the door in the
custody of the Secret Service.

The day after the raid, Steve Jackson visited the local Secret Service
headquarters with a lawyer in tow. There he confronted Tim Foley
(still in Austin at that time) and demanded his