Mwhs opin Nace) erasGURPS BEYOND THUNDER RIVER Solo Adventure in Robert E. Howard’s Hyborian Age By W.G. Armintrout Edited by Beverly Hale, C. Mara Lee, David Ladyman and J. David George Cover by Denis Loubet Interior Art by Dan Carroll Maps and Graphics by C. Mara Lee, Carl Manz, Czeslaw Sornat, Ken Trobaugh and J. David George Production by Carl Manz, Melinda Spray, Monica Stephens and Ken Trobaugh Sharleen Lambard, Managing Editor; Ken Trobaugh, Art Director GURPS System Design by Steve Jackson System Development by David Layman Playtesters: Anthoay Affrunti, Jovy Armintrout, Norman Banduch, Stephen Beeman, Donald Brodale Il, Ben Ellinger, Robert N. Gilson, ‘Roa Hauser, Michael Hurst, Alex Koponen, Jeff Morgan, John S. Olson, David Pulver, Tim Robinson, William D. Seurer, Paul Toney and the Bozeman Game Association GURPS is opisered trademark of Steve Jackson Games Incorporate, Conan Beyond Thunder Rivers copytighi © 1988 by Stove Jackson Games Incorporated. Conan an Hyborian Age™ are exdemarks of Conan Propeties, Ine, amd are used under license “Al ighs reserved. Prited inthe United States Instructions vaca warattee comarva nics endl “Beyond the Black River”... 3 Getting Stared 2 Designing Your Owe Chracer 2 Adventure ........eeeeeeeeee How Ply 2 Introduction ‘Curent Tine 2 Character Points PraWords 2 Parners 3 Characters. ee Charicter Points 5 Cee Repeat Games 3 Conan of immer Aang «OM 3 ‘Aguilonians snd Tie Ais teres HE yeeeleetiees "ie Ties 3 Piet Tabs 3 meee 3 Maps pesessseseesreetes Random Vic Tibia 3 ra Ma Page References 3 Combat aps Danger Sono, Vision and Heasing Rots 3 MapTexain Healing 3 Mentaly Siumed 3 Conan Character Sheet .. .. For a current GURPS errata sheet, and a free catalog of our products, send a legal-sized self-addressed stamped envelope to: Steve Jackson Games, P.O. Box 18957, Austin, TX 78760 STEVE JACKSON GAMES ISBN 1-55634-106-7 10987654321INSTRUCTIONS Conan Beyond Taunder River is a solo GURPS adventure. ‘You'll control a Player Character — Conan or a hero of your ‘own design — and this book will serve as the Game Master. ‘As you move through the adventure, you'll be called upon to rake Various choices. Each choice will send you toa different numbered paragraph, which will give you more information, ‘mote instructions and possibly call for more decisions. Sometimes you will have to fight the savage Picts, or other, stranger foes. Run these combats according to the normal GURPS nies, moving and rolling for your opponents as well as, for your own character. ‘The object is, of course, to survive and complete the adven- ture, Ifyou don't make it the fist time ... try again, Good luck, and may Crom defend you Getting Started You will need a pencil, scratch paper, three six-sided dice and the GURPS Basic Set. You will also need hex paper and markers to fight out the combats — we recommend GURPS Battle Maps and Cardboard Heroes. (Figure 2 in Cardboard Heroes Set 1 and Figure 10 in Set J make good Conans!) ‘You will also need a character. A character sheet for Conan the Cimmerian can be found on p. 64. If you would rather use ‘one of your own characters, or design anew one, go ahcad. Just follow the guidelines in the next section, Designing Your Own Character Obviously, an adventure that is challenging for a great hero like Conan will be instant death for the typical 100-point charac- tes. Therefore, we recommend a more heroic base of 400 points for PCs in Thunder River. Do hold to the normal limit of -40 points in disadvantages and -5 points in quirks, though. Regardless of who your PC is, he must be the commander of the scouts at Fort Tuscelan, in the Aquilonian province of Con- ajohara. Thus, he must meet the following requirements: Military rank. Though the scouts at Fort Tuscelan are not part of the formal organization of the Aquilonian army, their com- mander holds the rank of “‘officer in charge of scouts.”” This Position is equivalent to a regular army captain, and requires the advantage Military Rank 4 (cost: 20 points), Because of your rank, subordinate soldiers are generally obligated to do as you ‘command. This advantage also includes one free level of Social Status, as well as a +1 reaction from those of lower rank and from residents of the frontier. (A complete discussion of ‘Military Rank can be found on p. 62 of GURPS Horseclans.) ‘Scout skitis. The character must have Tracking and Stealth at 12 or better, and Arca Knowledge (Black River environs)-10 or better. (Area Knowledge is a Mental/Easy skill affording a character familiarity with a specific geographic region.) Combat skills. He must have two weapon skills at 12 or igher, one of which must be with a ranged weapon, He must also have Tacties-12 or better. Character Background Possible backgrounds for your Hyborian PC include: Aquilonian noble. Most iobles in the Aquilonian army dis- dain command of irregular troops as scouts. Thus, a PC who is an Aquilonian nobleman would be unusual for his breed. ‘Aquilonians have strict notions of honor and right, according to ‘code of chivalry. Recommended skills and advantages: Social Status; Wealth; Savoir-Faire; Area Knowledge (Aquilonia). Instructions Aquilonian warrior. Typical troops of Aquilonia include Gundermea, a race of tough, blond soldiers who favor sword, pike and chainmail; and Bossonians, a short, swarthy people Tegendary for archery. Recommended skills and advantages: ‘Area Knowledge (Aquilonia); Streetwise; Leadership; Tactics Barbarian mercenary. Just like Conan, your character could bea moneyfighter from a less-civiized nation, Good candidates fora homeland include Cimmeria, Vanaheim and Asgard, Most barbarians often suffer from Social Stigma (sce p. B19), though well-traveled barbarians — such as Conan — may have their rough edges smoothed over. Recommended skills and ad- vantages: Toughness; Alertness; Survival; Naturalist. Civilized mercenary. The countries of Ophir, Argos and Zin- ‘zara are all good homelands for mercenaries. Recommended skills and advantages: Combat Reflexes; High Pain Threshold; Area Knowledge (Hyboria); several languages. Fromtiersman. ‘There are two types of woodsmen in Con- ajohara province: veteran settlers, who come from almost any background and have developed fighting and survival skills from harsh experience against the Picts; and the Tauran, an Aquilonian people who have @ tradition of woodslore but not of practical combat. Recommended skills and advantages: Animal Empathy; Danger Sense; Naturalist; Tracking. Half breed Pict. A half-Pict certainly has survival and com- bat skills. Being a half-breed, however, is a -15 point Social Stigma (Barbarian) in Aquilonia. Recommended advantages and skills: Aleriness; Combat Reflexes; Survival; Pct language. Female Characters: Due to the strict chivalrous notions of Aquilonia, being a female warrior will bea struggle — probably the only military command possible for a woman is one over scouts and irregulars. A woman warrior carties a Social Stigma (Second-Class Citizen) among Aquilonians, suffering a -1 on reaction rolls, Recommended advantages and skills: a8 appro priate to character's background as described above. How to Play The adventure is divided into numbered paragraphs. Do not read them in order — they will make no sense at al, Rather, read the “Introduction” first, then turn to the paragraph to which it directs you. Read that paragraph, decide your course of action from that point, and then turn to the paragraph that your current Paragraph directs you to. And so on. ‘Most paragraphs offer you at least two choices, and some- times several. Sometimes you may choose frely; sometimes a roll against one of your skills or attributes will send you to other paragraphs. Sometimes you will fight a batl, the outcome of ‘which will determine which paragraph you will tur to nest Current Time Certain events in the adventure occur at predetermined times, 0 you'll need to keep track of the time as you play. To do this, ‘make a ‘‘Current Time” heading on a piece of scratch paper. At various points throughout the adventure, you will be instructed to add a certain number of hours to your Current Time. When this occurs, simply update your Current Time as needed. ‘The adventure begins at 6 a.m. on Thursday moming. PlotWords Conan Beyond Thunder River can be different every time you play it. To stay on the same storyline for an entire run ‘through the adventure, you will be asked to write down various -2-—