Meet the Trainees

“Red Ace High,” the introductory adventure included with the Timemaster boxed set, provides eight pre-generated characters.  Original characters may be played; however, the pre-gens “are specially designed for” the adventure.  By examining these characters, we see how the game's designers intended beginning characters to be crafted.

Much of the art in Timemaster consists of woodcut illustrations from the Dover Pictorial Archive.  Given the time travel theme, this is perfectly acceptable.  However, the quality of the character portraits varies to a distracting degree.

Alan Anderson

(Date of Birth:  May 18, 1964)  Anderson's “good grades and athletic ability in high school, combined with his experience flying the family crop-duster, made [him] a natural choice for appointment to the U.S. Air Force Academy.”  Anderson's listed age is 20, so he must have been recruited by the Time Corps before he completed his studies at the Academy.  In any event, his elective skills are Pilot and Martial Arts.  (All trainees start with four skills:  A specialty in the regional history of the trainee's pre-recruitment life, use of the Time Corps stunner, and two elective skills.)  Each character has two paranormal talents; one is Paranormal Memory and the other is chosen.  (Paranormal Memory “allows characters to remember what 'should' have happened in history after history has been changed.”)  Anderson's chosen talent is Memory Restoration which “allows agents to 'restore'  the memory of a historical character 'remembers' what he or she is 'supposed' to remember.”  It also causes the subject to forget any time travel shenanigans to which he or she was exposed.

Dmitri Yurovich Boruskov

(Date of Birth:  March 23, 1881)  At the age of 35, Boruskov was recruited by the Time Corps in October, 1916.  (We are not told if these are Julian or Gregorian dates.)  After enlisting in the Tsarist army, “he saw action during the Russo-Japanese war of 1905.”  He managed to survive the Battle of Tannenberg in 1914.  Finally, he participated in the Brusilov Offensive in 1916.  Boruskov “retains a strong dislike for Germans in uniform and officers of any nationality.”  This might be problematic during the course of the introductory adventure.  Anyway, Boruskov's elective skills are Long Barreled Gun and Machine Gun.  His second Paranormal Talent is Time Shift.  We learn that, “Characters with this talent can 'shift' the time around them back to the beginning of the prior round.” [original emphasis]

Elaine Desmond

(Date of Birth:  June 27, 1954)  Desmond “earned an academic scholarship to Penn State, where she majored in English literature.”  Because “academic life proved too tame for her,” Desmond discontinued her efforts to obtain a doctorate.  (Was she expecting the study of English literature to be anything other than tame?)  Because she is a fictional African-American, she is naturally “street-wise.”  She eventually became a pilot, so one of her skills is Pilot.  As a result of Desmond being “a semi-pro class [softball] pitcher,” the Time Corps taught her the Grenade skill.  Her second Paranormal Talent is Adaptation, which allows characters “to become social 'sponges,' absorbing all the intangibles of the culture and lifestyle around them.”  They can “soak up sights, sounds, manners, customs – things that natives to a culture may not notice until they are missing.”

Sarah Little-Bear

(Date of Birth:  July 17, 1868)  We are told that Little-Bear “could perform the typical duties of an Apache wife...”  This statement implies that Little-Bear is an Apache and that she was married before she was recruited.  No comment is made concerning the fate of her husband or any children they may have had.  She “compares the Corps' secret struggle against the Demoreans to her own people's struggle against the white man; to Sarah, the two are very much alike.”  Little-Bear's elective skills are 'Dagger/Knife (melee)' and Stealth.  Her second Paranormal Talent is Telepathic Probe, which allows a character to “probe the mind of another character and establish that character's true identity.”  We read that, “Agents often use this talent in the field to discover Demorean or renegade infiltrators.”

Ferdinand Rivera

(Date of Birth:  October 17, 1480)  Rivera is the oldest of the trainees, both in terms of his date of birth and his age relative to the other trainees.  Rivera's Strength score is 80, the highest possible value.  The formula for determining Basic Ability values is:  20 + (2 × 3d10), for a range of 26 – 80.  Rivera “took part in the Cortez expedition to Mexico,” but the “Time Corps recruited him from the year 1520, just before Cortez overthrew Montezuma.”  Rivera's elective skills are Long Barreled Gun and Sword.  His second Paranormal Talent is Ignore Pain.  Normally, when a character suffers a critical wound, he or she must attempt a Willpower check.  If failed, he or she cannot engage in further activity until he or she receives medical treatment.  With successful use of the Ignore Pain talent, a character can forgo post-critical wound Willpower checks.

Deborah Schwarz

(Date of Birth:  December 18, 1959)  Schwarz “was born to an American Jewish family who emigrated to Israel in the early 1950s.”  We learn that “she joined a kibbutz and was soon recognized as a natural leader.”  Also, “The wars and terrorism that plagued the Middle East motivated her to study the history and cultures of the region...”  Her Historical Specialty is described as “Israel and the Middle East, 1859-1974.”  However, this would seem to be in error.  Having been born in 1959 and recruited at age 25, the time range should extend to 1984.  Her elective skills are Long Barreled Gun and Military Leadership.  Her second Paranormal Talent is Significance Sensing, which “allows characters to sense how important an unknown NPC or event is to history.”

Konrad von Streicher

(Date of Birth:  November 19, 1730)  When the Time Corps recruited him at age 30, von Streicher had attained the rank of captain in the forces of Frederick the Great.  Von Streicher is tied with Schwarz in having the highest Luck  value (50) among the trainees.  Among other uses, a successful Luck roll allows a character to survive when, “according to all other rules of the game, the character should be dead.”  Only player characters have Luck.  Also like Schwarz, his elective skills are Long Barreled Gun and Military Leadership.  Von Streicher's second Paranormal Talent is Telepathic Sending.  This talent permits a character “to send a short message of no more than 10 words per round to another character” at any distance.

Amanda Weston

(Date of Birth:  September 6, 1934)  We learn that, “Her family's wealth and position enabled her to study medicine in both England and France during the 1950s.”  Although Weston is the only child of a wealthy family, she “has remarkable and selfless concern for the welfare of others.”  Weston has the highest Agility of any of the Trainees.  Her elective skills are Medical and Pilot.  Weston's second Paranormal Talent is Ignore Pain, just like Rivera above.  Depending upon how well a character succeeds with an Ignore Pain check, the effect can last from as little as one minute to a maximum of twelve hours.

Adventures in the 4th Dimension

Art by Jim Holloway

TRAVEL to any place, any time, in this universe and beyond!

FIGHT in the midst of any battle, and change the outcome yourself!

SEE the greatest people in history. . . Caesar, Cleopatra, Leonardo — whomever you desire to meet!

JOIN THE RANKS OF THE TIME CORPS,

AND YOU CAN BE THE MASTER OF TIME!

So reads some of the copy on the bottom of the TIMEMASTER Role Playing Game boxed set.  Other copy includes a listing of contents:  “64-page TIMEMASTER™ Travelers’ Manual, 32-page Guide to the Continuum, 16-page exciting adventure, 140 colorful counters printed on both sides, 3 durable ten-sided dice, and 1 large, full-color map.”

Looking at the components in reverse order, the map is 20.5" × 27" and displays one-inch hexes.  One side is colored and the hexes are numbered.  This side is rather versatile; the scale is variable as are the features.  There are three keys that can be used:  an elevation key where the different colors indicate various elevations, a terrain key where colors indicate terrain features, and a second terrain key where the same colors indicate a different set of terrain features.  The other side is black and white and represents a location from the introductory adventure.  On this side, each hex represents five feet.

The dice are indeed durable and come in a patriotic assortment of red, white, and blue.

The counter sheet contains sixteen 'colorful' counters.  These are shown below.  The remaining 124 counters are colorful only in the sense that blue is a color.  The reverse side is printed in black and white.

With regard to the adventure, “exciting” is open to interpretation.  While the booklet is sixteen pages, four of them are devoted to describing the eight pre-generated characters.  Also, the last page is meant to be cut apart to represent trenches on the color map.  (The adventure, “Red Ace High,” takes place during World War I.)

Among other topics, the Guide to the Continuum devotes 3 – 4 pages to each of six settings:

• Athens:  5th Century B.C.
• Rome:  61 B.C. – 37 A.D.
• Angevin England:  1154 – 1216
• Tudor England:  1509 – 1603
• Napoleonic France:  1804 – 1815
• France, 1940 – 1944

The Travelers’ Manual contains ten chapters:

• The Game (4 pages)
• Welcome to the Corps (4 pages)
• Characters (7 pages)
• Basic Action (14 pages)
• Heavy Weapons (6 pages)
• Battles (4 pages)
• Skills (10 pages)
• Paranormal Talents (4 pages)
• Tools of the Trade (2 pages)
• The People You Meet (4 pages)

Pacesetter was established by TSR veterans in January 1984.  By the end of that year, Pacesetter had published Chill, Star Ace, and Timemaster ; three role-playing games that share a common system.  While the 'Original Design Concept' is credited to Gali Sanchez and Garry Spiegle, the 'Design' of Timemaster is attributed to Mark Acres; 'Additional Design and Development' is ascribed to Andria Hayday and Carl Smith.  In Space Gamer #75 (July/August 1985), Smith discussed some of the design philosophy behind Pacesetter's role-playing games:

     Our games are aimed at a wide audience.  Many roleplaying games either consciously or unconsciously parallel the demographics of D&D.  In addition to expanding our demographics, we wanted to include greater use of investigation and interaction in roleplaying, positive ethnic role models, and emphasize plot-oriented adventures.  We chose game themes which were fun and which filled market positions that were largely empty or at worst, inadequately filled.
     Pacesetter games emphasize using wits and not just brawn.  In fact, player characters who act rashly without thinking often run afoul of the law.  Too many games ignore skills and devices which prove useful in a gamer's hands such as impersonation, modelling, acting, and forgery.  Often games dwell on skills which are strictly male and combat-oriented.

Although aiming “at a wide audience” and having a professed desire to provide “positive ethnic role models,” all of the settings described in the Guide to the Continuum are nonetheless European.

Smith continued:

     Some Pacesetter systems appear too clean to the casual observer.  A game should have simple and elegant mechanics.  After all, more complex is not necessarily better.  Some gamers equate massive charts and tables with a detailed game system.  We achieve detail through multiple use of some charts and tables.  It is more difficult to design an economical game system which allows the referee to handle many situations with one set of mechanics than it is to design a score of different tables which handle as many different actions.  Games with too many tables often reflect that the designer did not work on the problem long enough to boil it down.

The fundamental mechanic for the Pacesetter system is a check.  “Checks are percent rolls that determine how an action turns out,” according to Chapter One of the Travelers’ Manual, “when the outcome is in doubt.”  A general check offers a binary outcome, either success or failure.  If the result of the roll is equal to or less than an established score, the character succeeds.  A specific check offers a range of success outcomes.  If the result of the roll is equal to or less than a target value, the amount of the difference is referenced on the Action Table is consulted.  There are five possible grades of success for combat checks and four possible levels with regard to skill or ability checks.  These 'grades' or 'levels' are identified by letter codes as shown below.

With regard to Timemaster, Smith stated:

     Timemaster is a different kind of roleplaying game appealing to the gamer who likes more reality with his particular fantasy.  In general, the player who enjoys historical fiction or wargames also enjoys Timemaster.  It is a game of historical as well as speculative fiction aimed at a different segment of the science-fiction audience than Star Ace...
     In addition to the investigative parts of a Timemaster adventure, many scenarios include a mass combat where a player character can affect the outcome of a battle.  To facilitate mass battles, Timemaster counters [that do not represent individual characters] have movement and identification factors printed on them...

Each of the settings included in the Guide to the Continuum has a 'military summary' of mass combat rules.

Timemaster is currently a property of Goblinoid Games.  Hardcopy rules are available as a print-on-demand product and most of the original assortment of Timemaster publications are available in digital format.

Interview with Mark Acres

He knows your name.

You don't.

He knows where you are.

You don't.

He knows what you have done, and why you must die.

You don't.

For a gamemaster, the only mystery is what his players are going to do.  He knows everything else he needs to know; it's his world after all.  With Sandman, published by Pacesetter in 1985, things were different.  The identities of the characters as well as the identity of the main antagonist, the Sandman, were unknown.  The gamemaster (known as the Storyteller) and the players were supposed to piece together clues provided among a series of Sandman installments.  A $10,000 prize was offered to the first person who could provide the solution.  Alas, Pacesetter went out of business and only the initial installment (Map of Halaal) was published.

I contacted Mark Acres, one of the designers, and he graciously agreed to an interview via electronic correspondence.  It so happened that during my communications with Acres, Goblinoid Games announced the acquisition of the rights to Sandman.  The game is now available, in PDF form, for less than $6.

So, without further ado, I present the interview.

Thoul's Paradise: The rights to Sandman have been acquired by Goblinoid Games. They have made the game available in electronic format and are considering a reprint and “future expansions.” Are you surprised at the interest in Sandman after 27 years?

Mark Acres: Well, I'd say I'm gratified at the interest in Sandman after 27 years. It was a groundbreaking product in several ways, taking role playing games in the direction of more pure interactive storytelling and away from complex game mechanics. It was also an experiment in role playing in a surreal world made up of seemingly random (but secretly structured) elements of popular culture from the 1930's up until the mid-80's, when Sandman was published. 

           Of all my published works, which include 14 books and more than 80 role playing products, I am personally more proud of Sandman than of anything else I have done. 

           Surprised? Sure - but gratified.

TP: The designer's notes say that you (i.e., Pacesetter) debated as to whether Sandman “qualifies as a role-playing game...or whether it is a close relative, totally new.”  In fact, the term 'role-playing game' does not appear anywhere on the box; instead we see the terms 'Instant Adventure' and 'A Dramatic Entertainment Game.'

           Your target audience was certainly not limited to experienced role-players.  In fact, the whole point was to allow people to partake in the more creative aspects of role-playing with as little as possible of the technical 'baggage' associated with traditional RPGs.  What sort of audience were you aiming for, given the $10,000 contest, the box design, and whatever other marketing efforts you implemented?  Ultimately, were you attempting to bring people into the traditional RPG hobby or were you attempting to establish a distinct Dramatic Entertainment / interactive storytelling game paradigm? 

MA: I can't speak for the entire Pacesetter team back then, but I personally had always thought that role playing would be a much better experience the closer it moved to an interactive story-telling process. After years of listening to debates about the effects of magic spells on THACO and whether or not a 17th level Bard should be able to do so such and such, I realized that the the times players really remembered, really savored, and really cared about, were the key story telling moments - not being right about the time required to swing some arcane medieval weapon. 

           In fact, building on that insight, in my own role as a gamemaster I began to dump tons of rules in favor focusing on the dramatic situation and genuine character development through tough decision making rather than the traditional forms of “advancement.” I didn't tell my players this; I just took over rolling the dice and before long I wasn't even paying attention to what I rolled - I went with the flow of the story at that instant to make it exciting and challenging. 

           I can remember times when I was running a Gangbusters RPG campaign with 30 or more players all playing at the same time - and they all came week after week after week - these were TSR designers and editors - because it was fun. I can remember several saying it was the best role playing experience they ever had. 

           So I think I was very committed to changing the paradigm for this type of entertainment. 

           And it was my hope that a product like Sandman could vastly expand the audience for this type of entertainment. 

TP: The Map of Halaal adventures include easily recognizable elements of movies, literature, mythology, and – as you say – pop culture.  I would think that this allowed inexperienced players to more readily relate to (and interact with) the fictional setting; yet at the same time – as you also say – it was “a surreal world.”  Was there a concern that the more surreal portions of the plot (e.g., The Enchanted Theater in Adventure Three and Dionysus' transformation in Adventure Four) might be off-putting for players, new or experienced? 

MA: An interesting question about the surreal elements being “off-putting.” I believe that at that specific time, surrealism was a strong element in popular culture, especially in film. I know at the time we didn't worry about that question at all. I do know we very much wanted players to have a sense of wonder or even awe in those sections of the adventure- although awe was probably too much to shoot for. 

TP: Sandman is limited to three players at maximum (excluding the Storyteller).  I perceive this is a drawback.  What was the rationale for this limitation?  Did the amount of props and cards necessary for each player preclude more than three players? 

MA: Our data at the time indicated that adult gamers often had trouble coming up with more than four players. We thought a four player story telling game would be ideal. 

TP: One of the ‘new player friendly’ aspects of Sandman is the absence of a character sheet.  In fact, character creation consists of the Storyteller describing the introductory scene.  Representation of a player character (other than in the Storyteller’s notes) is limited to skill cards and, possibly, item cards and props.  With regard to character advancement, characters may gain new skills or improve existing skills.  Since the adventures can be played in any order, isn't there the potential for characters to be 'overpowered' for a given adventure? 

MA: Aha! Great question! Therein lies part of the challenge of the design. To be honest, we never intended for there to be character “death” in the usual sense. I can't remember all the rules right now and don't have a copy handy - but I believe the intention was that the worst that would really happen is that a character would lose some skills and come back sans their accomplishments. After all, given the solution of the mystery, that would be logical. 

TP: When you say, “given the solution of the mystery, that would be logical,” are you suggesting that the 'dead' character enters the waking reality, but may participate in future adventures as a result of resuming sleep and entering a new dream? 

MA: No - not that exactly. Can't say much more without giving it all away. 

TP: If the world is not yet ready for the secret of the Sandman, perhaps you can tell us a little about some of the adventures for the installments that were never published? 

MA: I would love to; however, I am not free to do so. The copyright is now held by Dan Proctor and so both the secret and the unpublished material are legally his to dispose of as he sees fit. 

TP: My last question is hypothetical.  Let's say that – for whatever reason – Sandman had not been published in 1985, but that you had an opportunity to publish it for the first time now, in 2012.  Today's world is different and today's role-playing games are different.  Would you want to release Sandman now?  If so, what – if anything – would you change about the game or the marketing of the game?  Would you offer the same cash prize or would you use that money to promote the game in a different way?

MA: I think if I were doing it today, I wouldn't call it a role playing game, for starters. Instead, I would market it as an interactive story game. I think I'd include much more artwork to go with the adventures, including old movie stills and full color art; perhaps character portraits, and perhaps some kind of board to focus player's attention. I would keep it small - three or four PC's tops, with one storyteller. All in all I'd want to market it as more of a Euro-type game product. And of course marketing is totally different now. No, I wouldn't  use the contest - I'd play up the storytelling element and the references to pop culture as much as possible. Naturally the adventures would be different to account for the changes that have occurred since 1985 - new movies, new technologies, new science, etc.

           Thank you for giving me a chance to share my views on your excellent questions.

TP: Thank you for your insight into this very interesting game.