MAY/JUNE 1983 pi . SPACE CAMER THE MAGAZINE OF ADVENTURE GAMING a es oe) THE HAUNTING OF‘HARKWOOD: Relat ailed a tae aie TOP SECRET DAMAGE Meal SOLITAIRE SF GAMING Lara ee Medd nd 1982 GAME SURVEY RESULTS AND 7 PAGES OF REVIEWSDawn breaks over a secluded glade on the outskirts of Paris. ‘Two master swordsmen stand face to face, poised for battle. One has offended the other's honor. Now, he has been challenged to a ct ‘> ALL NEW! SECOND EDITION! THE MOST REALISTIC PERSONAL COMBAT SYSTEM IN GAMING Two 3-D Fencing Masters © 58 Playing Cards @ Easy to Follow Instructions © Fencing Strip ® One "Die ¢ Two Mahogany Card Holders © Ail in a Stunning Black and Gold Case $12.50 at Better Game and Hobby Stores, for send check or money order to: mysterious mouse games, PO Box 832, Phoenixville, Pa. 19460 Pa, residents add 6% sles x) Theatre Of the Mind Enterp1 presents DEATH IN DUNWICH A CALL OF CTHULHU ADVENTURE The Nightmare Continues © The Police Aren't Talking ‘© The Coroner is Terrified ‘¢ But It’s Business As Usual in Dunwich! FULLY ILLUSTRATED THE STAGE IS SET THE CURTAIN RISES . . . $8.00 at Better Game and Hobby Stores, ‘or send check or money order to: ‘Theatre Of the Mind Enterprises, Ine., 2706 Hamilton Drive, Dept. S Kirkwood, NJ 08043 ew Jersey Residents add 6 Sis Tax) By Permission of Arkham House Approved by Chaosium, InePublisher: Editor: Aasistant Editors: Steve Jackson Aeron Alston CChrstonner Frink Fichora Steiner Denis Loubet Pet Mualer 2 Tonya Cross Vic, Armineout Wiliam A. Barton lonald Per Lenis Pulsipher John Rankin Nick Schaveter Elton Fewel! Shirley Min = Llena Brumiey Elienboth 8, Zakoe ART IN THis ISSUE (Cover: "Rim of Space” by K.C. Eli Line Art: John Borkowski; 19, 20,25. Denis Loubet: 2,10. Photogrephe! Courtesy Cheoslum, 36. ‘coursoy Fantasy Games Unlimited, 24,36, Gourtesy Universal Pltures, 29. Courtesy Warner Brothers, 38, Trademark Notios Most game names are wademarks of the companies publishing those games. In particuler: Top Secret is a trademark of ‘TSR Hobbies, Ine? Gataeric Conflict and Sterlord, of Fiying Butfslo Ine: ond Star Venture, of Snubel& Son. (Use of a trademark to identify a product commented upon in this magazine should not be construed es imolying the sponsor shin ofthe trademark hoiaer ‘All names of games published by Steve Jickgon Games ate ademarks of Steve Snckson Games, of used under Hieense by ‘Stove Jackson Games ‘Use of the name for any preduct with: cout mention of trademark status should not be construed ay @ challange to such status. THE SPACE GAMER (ISSN 01949977, USPS 434.250) is published monthly by ‘Steve dackson Games, P.O. Sox 18957, [ustin, TX 78760-8987. Second clos pos ‘sid st Austin, TX, POSTMASTER. ‘Send address changes 10 84 Garnet, P.0. Box 18967, Austin, TX 78760-0957 ‘Al moterial_is copyright © 1983 by Steve Jsckson Games All rights reserved, Printad in USA by Futura Pres, Austin Subscription ates, effective 6/15/83: Tn tho United Statee — 8 monthe (3 lesuse) $8; one your (6 suse) $13; 2 yeore (12\tssues) $23. A ifecime subscription is '§200. In Caneds, ede S0g/sue for pastege ‘and handling for adres outside the U.S. 304 "$1.00/iive for surlace mail. Inver” ational rates subject to. change 26 posta fetes change. NOTE: All paymonts MUST be in US. dollars, mode by Internstionl Money Order, or checks drawn on 3 U.S. oF Canadian bank. NUMBER 63 — May-June 1983 IN THIS ISSUE We've got a nie grab-bag issue for you this month: solitaire SF boardgaming, spy RPG, fantasy RPG, PSM featured reviews, survey results, and more. Since, ‘next month (as you probably all know by now), Space Gamer will be bi-monthly and feature only science fiction gaming material — alternating with its sister publication, Fantasy Gamer, which will concentrate on fantasy gaming pieces — we docided to give you as even a mix as possible this time, Of particular interest to you industry watchers this month will be John Rankin’s Interview with TSR’s Kevin Blume (learn all about conventions, minis tures, GAMA negotiations, bendable toys, and more) and this issue's Scanner. (There are times when I wish for a dull month to come along...) Aaron Allston ARTICLES ‘Alone in Space * Mathew J. Costello ‘An overview of science fiction for the solitaire gamer... ewe ® ‘Take That! And That! * W.G. Armintrout Tafliting damage in Top Secret - 10 ‘The Kevin Blume Interview * John Rankin ‘Our Metal columnist talks to one member of TSR's triumvirate ....... 12 1982 Game Survey Results Find out who's hot and who's nat 18 : ADVENTURE GAME SUPPLEMENT The Haunting of Harkwood * Aaron Allston a Intrigue and action amidst the pageantry of a prize tourney REVIEWS ‘Star Mail (Galactic Contict, Sterlord, Star Vonture) *W.G. Armintrout .... 6 Capsule Reviews... sig GAMES: Battleiult, Dragon Rage, Starfleet Voyages, SUPPLEMENTS: Crisis at Crusader Citadel, Darling Ship, Opponents Unlimited, Scorpion Hall, Truck Stop. PLAY’ AIDS: Morrow Project Role Playing Expansion and Personel and Vehicular Basic Loads, PUBLICATIONS: The Oracle MOVIES: Blue Thunder, High Road to China, Videodrome COLUMNS Counter Intelligence * Aaron Allston + 2B Murphy's Rules * Ben Sargent. z Where We're Going * Steve Jackson . DEPARTMENTS ~ indo AdvertiseALONE IN SPACE Science \AIRLOCK Fiction and the Solitaire 1 was supposedly in a place called Davie, Florid, I guess that there must have been town somewhere, but Davie appeared to be nothing more than a strip of highway on the way to the Seminole Indian Reservation. And 1 doubt that many people driving by on their way to purchase tax-free cigarettes from the Indians ever noticed the small shop near the center of a shabby six- store mall Te was, unbelievably, a branch of The Compleat Strategist — the gamer's Mevea in Now York City. But what in the world ‘was it doing in Davie? For some reason, I never asked. But I id stop and browse. 1 was to be alone in Florida for quite a walle and T wanted something to keep me busy. After look ing around, 1 asked the clerk if he could recommend some good solitaire games, He went to the shelves and returned with three games: Barbarian Prince, Intruder, and Osre. ‘Now, Dwarfstar’s Barbarian Prince, as ‘roat as it is, was familiar tersitory. The Metagaming MicroQuests were similar, even though Amold Hendrick provided some unique mechanics in Prince. But Intruder and Ogre were something, brand-new forme. B, Dennis Sustare’s Intruder (published by Matthew J. Costello 5 by Task Force Games) was obviously ‘pased on the film Alien, An alien Is Tbrought onto a space ship; it escapes, metamorphoses, and eats almost every- body up. Susture took the basic situation and created a nailbiter of a game. More ‘often than not, after the Intruder was immune to freezing, immune to fire, and cloning all over the place, Pd panic. I'd gather my beleaguered band of humans Together and tear off for the escape shuttle and guess who'd be waiting there for them? Steve Jackson's Ogre provided a dit ferent kind of science-fiction play. You could program the Ogre to attack your Command Post in a variety of ways. Then you tried to stop it with your Heavy Tanks, Missle Launchers, infantry, and those blessedly useful GEVs. And the Ogre was only as good as your program. Send it straight towards the Command Post and it was pretty easy to stop it. But have it zigzag, ramming on some occa: sions, using its missiles for maximum effect, and then the Mark V Ogre was almost unbeatable, So solitaire gaming became my thing. ‘went on to devise ways that multi-player games could be played alone, and contin ‘ually searched the hobby store shelves for a promising solitaire game. Recently there has been a rash of new solo games with science-fiction themes. There have also been some multi-player games that work excellently as solos, Let’s look at the new designed for-solitaire games, In Dvvaristar’s Star Smuggler, 1 had suspected a “cosmic rehash” of the system used in Barbarian Prince. But that’s before 1 knew B, Dennis Sustare had designed it. True, there's a rulebook for procedures and an events book for er counters, just lke BP, But Sustare has added elements of role-playing and in: ‘rigning rules that pertain to the prob: Jems of interstellar travel. ‘There ate, for example, many different ways to travel in this game. You can hhyperjump from one system to another. You can use a land scooter to get around ‘on the surface of the planet. You can walk around, if you have to. There's even ‘smaller ship, should you lose your star- ship to the repossessors ‘And while 1 agree with the recent review in The Space Gamer ~ tipping between ules and ovents books grows ceumbersome — I think the range of play makes up for it. As Duke Springer, Star Smuggler, you have a lot of options Which give the game a real role-playing feel, You begin to think that there's & ‘way to beat the game, make the “big deal,” if only you can stay out of trouble. (1 fmow how to win. . . I've just got to smuggle the religious funaties back to their home planet of New Karma without los- ing my ship. Somehow, I just never get there...) Fantasy Games Unlimited is heavily involved in the role-playing field and even their boardgames reflect this. Star Explor: er, designed by Leonard H, Kantezman and Douglas Bonforte, is designed for solo play with rules and victory con: ditions t0 govern multicplayes games. It uses a system similar to FGU'S Oregon Trai, namely rolling for encoun- ters as you enter a hex, but it has a vastly enlarged scale of decisionmaking. One has verious options for every encounter Asteroids, Radiation Storms, Pirates, Traders, Zengid Battleships, etc. Once you make it to a planet, you have three encounters on the planet, determined by the planet’s basic makeup. There are ten different Kinds of planets, from Aquatic. to Voleanic, each with its own aay of possible events. Resolving these ‘events suocessfully is what the game is about and there are plenty of options for the player to consider and utilize. In addition, Star Explorer provides a simple and exciting combat system that's ‘more than just rolling dice and looking atpamoouen ANS A TOTALLY NEW APPROACH TO FANTASY GAMING! Another revolutionary breakthrough in Adventure Game Design from Avalon Hi In these dark times of violence. fear, and destruction, in which every aspect of life is tainted, a ray of hope has finally emerged! Gne which can carry you on beyond the mundane turmoil of life into the reality of Fantasy, a mystical place which has true power to affect, for good, the struggles which surround us. WIZARDS!sa revolutionary breakthrough in adventure gaming, For here, and here clone, can you dwell in a land whose true goal is peace and goodwill forall, where your efforis of servitude not only improve your character and abilities, but they also help the whole of the Enchanted Islands in iis struggle against that ominous shroud we call Darkness and its hungry desire to devour the lana, Here is. a game which draws its strength ftom the reality of the powers beyond, where ritual, at. and music have the ability 1o change the course of events, and where mystical enchantments become real, not only in the world of WIZARDS, but in our world as well WIZARDS is a beautiful game, with an exciting purpose, and a spelibindingly captivating ‘aural, which is bound to mystify anyone who enters its realm! For two to skx players (including ‘options for both solitaire and partnership playing), it retails for $20.00 Available wherever Adventure/Fantasy Gar an, ee mes are sold! — Siuvesy 4547 HARFORD ROAD ® BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21244 « 304 254-92004 a chart, You can choose what weapons 10 use, how many shields to employ (and when 10 employ them) and you can even use overdrive to try andzun from a Zangid Dreadnought. How you marshal your fuel will often determine success in battles A critical hit feature adds flavor 10 the space battles. While Stor Explorer may lack the varioty of situations found in Star Smuge ler and its role-playing aspects, it offers. fan interesting challenge with plenty ‘of room for risk taking. And the combat display on the mapboard gives a real feel of interstellar conflict Boarding Party (by Task Fosce Games) is, to some extent, a followup to an cartier, successful Task Force game esign — Inaruder. Boarding Party uses a random (and hidden) movement system like Intruder. ‘The situation has similarities with the previous game, except that the situation hhas been reversed. Now there are guard robots hunting the human invaders (as ‘opposed to the humans chasing the Intruder). The human player has to enter the fourlevel Destructor ship, open the computerdocked doors, and enter the Computer Center to destroy it. Mean- while, the sobots try to find them Which Ieads to the game’s biggest CLUSTER Cluster is a P.B.M game of command management solitaire problem. 1 found it to0 easy £0 get into the Computer Center while avoiding robot contact. When you enter the Center, the robots 2e70 in on the humans, But its too late. The humans vill uauslly have enough time to destroy the computer and win the same. Nevertheless, I've returned to the game even though I. scored an easy vieiory Why? Because the situation is interesting Sneaking into the ship, trying to get to Level Three before the powerful guard robot stumbles upon you ... i's fun and 2 good example of what solitaire gaming isall about. But to make the game more challeng ing I would add somo rules to the game: 1) Whenever combat occurs on 2 level, all obots on that evel should nea directly fot the scene of combat. This will make picking off the robots one-by-one a litle harder. 2) Requite the humans to get off the Desiructor Ship by exiting the ailocks that they entered. This rule could be a tough one. There'll be a lot of robots heading for the humans once they're in the Computer Cente. '3) Lastly, to make the game really tricky, require that all the repair robots be destroyed as wel. ‘And what about multi-player games that work well as solos? I've enjoyed Metagaming’s Invasion of the Air Eaters but found that the invaders became too easy to beat. Fortunately, Metagaming’s sequel, The Air Eaters Strike Back, 's a tougher game altogether. Car Wars plays well solitaire, especially if you use an arena scenario and a variety ‘of vehicles, Mix up a Joseph Special with a couple of monster cycles in a debris. strown arena, and you've got yourself « real demolition derby Yaquinto’s Attack of the Mutants was one of the first multi-player games 1 tried solo and, due 10 the mindless rapaciousness of the mutants, it worked wonderfully. ‘On a tactical level in deep space, Yaquinto's Shooting Stars has some exciting solitsire stenarios. However, the realistic control panel is rather complex for solitaire play, rendering the advanced scenarios for multi-player use only. ‘And I'm sure there are more potential solos out there that I haven't seen, One thing you can be sure of is that there will be moze games designed for solitaire play released in the future. The solitaire gamer might be alone in space, but down here on terra firma he’s got lots of company. writ against the stellar vastness. Players assume the role of a’world leader” of a planet of one of the seven primary, or starfaring races, You have control of the economics, diplomacy, exploration, colonization, and military affairs of their world. Each race has its own strengths and weaknesses. Races have different weapons, propulsion,social order, and technology. Planning and realistic,logical,decision making are the tools of success - and survival. Each turn costs $1.50 and there are no deadlines to meet; moves are resolved as they come in. Cost for rules, game materials and initial set-up is $10.00, the first three turns ate free. For more information write. OTTO SCHMIDT II RD 4 Box 381 Newton New Jersey 07860 PRODUCED BY THE GAME ANVIL “SBTHE COMPLEAT STRATEGIST THE FANTASY GAME CENTER THAT HASIT ALL! If you're into Fantasy, then come magazines and figures for the to THE COMPLEAT STRATEGIST —_hiistorical gamer tool where you'll find the largest There's a friendly atmosphere at selection of fantasy related items THE COMPLEATSTRATEGIST and our ever assembled. We carry all Role- ayste: Playing Games, a Rainbow of colored dice, every Fantasy and Science-Fiction Gaming Magee Roorté™are located in our stores so you >” can start your “adventure” right away. Ifyoucan'tvisit one ofourstores, we accept mail AND phone orders. Mail fe also stock the _orders are accepted ONLY at our 33rd newest fantasy products as soon as Street location; or by phone during they're released, When we call ‘business hours at (212) 685-3880-1 ourselves THE Please use VISA or MASTERCHARGE THE COMPLEAT for phone orders. STRATEGIST we're OMPLEAT Send fora free Catalog not just boasting TRATEGIST to the store location ‘because we have nearest you. games, books, WE'VE GOT IT ALL! “No game roomat the S7HSt store IN NEW YORK: We are proud to announce the 11 B. 33rd Street opening of our newest location N.C. 10016 (212)685-3880-1 320 West 57" Street 10:30-6:00 New York, New York Mon. to Sat. {| Thars. til 9:00 8 IN NEW JERSEY: 215 Glenridge Ave. ‘Montclair, NJ. 07042 (201) 744-6622 1:00-7:00 ‘Tues. to Sat. ‘Thurs, till 9:00 5406-8 Stirling Rd. Davie, Fla 33314 (305) 961-5660STAR MAIL: Three New PBM Space Games by W.G. Armintrout Galasticscale science fiction games seem to do well in play-by-mall. There certainly have been a lot of them, and ‘many afe among the best games the PBM field has to offer. The past few months hhave seen the debuts of three exciting new space games, ll different. In alphabetical order, they ate: Galactic Conflict From Flying Buffalo, Inc. $5 setup fee, $3.50 per turn. Designed by Charles Gaydos, Moderated by computer. At least two players per game; monthly, biwookly and weekly tusn-around times are available. (Weekly is possible only if you can get access to the Source com puter network and there's a SO/ charge pper turn.) Game length is random but at Teast 15 tums. Begun 1982. Galactic Conflier must be the “ugly duckling” at Flying Buffalo, There as been litle advertising for the game. Turn- sheets haven't been printed. No one at FBI seemed enthused when Schubel & Son suggested a comparative review between this game and Star Vensure (the people at Flying Buffalo carefully explained that Galactic Conflict was an “outside” zather than an “Yinshouse" design). ‘Therefore I didn't expect much when 1 entered the game, Fortunately, 1 was surprised — Galactie Conflict is one of the best little science fiction games I've seen in @ long time. Bach player starts out with a photo- copy of @ computerdrawn hex-map of the galaxy, and a computer prini-out listing his possessions: one homeworld {worth 10 Economy points), 30 Attack Forces, 20 Defense Forces, 10 Probes and 100 Fortifications. The goal Is to have the most points at the end of the game. Civilian Projects produce one victory point per tum for their current owners (and do nothing clse). There are three ways to get them: ind them on neutral worlds, build your ‘own, ot (of course) steal them from yout neighbors, ‘A player's strength can be measured by the Economy (“econ”) points he can muster, These points may be used each ‘tum to bulld military forces: Probes, one ‘way ships which provide data on unowned worlds; Fortifications, immobile static defensive units; Defense Forces, mobile defense units; and Attack Forces, mobile but expensive units which both attack ‘and defend, Econ points may also build Civilian Projects or, if left entirely idle, may raise their world’s econ value by All units except Fortifications and Civilian Projects may travel from world to world, Forces travel three hexes per turn, and may not change their course en route, There is no way to intercept ‘moving forces, so these is no such thing a5 a perimeter defense in the game, Units Which move to a world owned by another player are captured, unless they ere Attack Forees specifically attacking that world. Combat is simple, but with a twist. ‘The number of Attack Forces is compar- ed to the number of all defending forces. The greatest number wins the battle. All losers are destroyed. But here’s the rub: the winner’s losses are figured by squar- ing the number of losingunits and dividing by the number of vietorious units. Ten Attack Forces would win against six Defense Forces and three Fortifications, but the victor would lose (6+3)7/10= 8 ‘of his attackers! In short, you need good ‘odds to avoid being whittled away — and the higher the nomber of enemies you expect, the higher the odds you'll eed. ‘Other deiails: Econ points may build a one-way, one-turn Gate to any other star, Players may destroy their own Civil- Jan Projects and Econ points to keep them out of enemy hands. Diplomacy, essential t0 win, is done on 3x5 cards (diplomatic messages") exchanged be- ‘ween players (who can also trade tele: phone numbers and addresses for faster communications). Playersmay also choose any eightetter label as their player name. Each tumn’s instructions are sent t0 Flying Buffalo in a simple, easily learned code. "M,27,231,A,3" translatesas “Move three Attack Forces from world 27 to world 231." Flying Buffalo then responds with a plain but serviceable print-out listing the player’s overall forces, status of each world owned, probed or fought at, and a listing of players met and their cusrent Galaetie Conflict is» homely but ele- gant game of science fiction conquest. There 4s a masterful blend of options in production, military campaigning and logistically ‘structuring an empire. I give it my highest recommendation — par ticularly for those who have never played PBM before. I do wish the price were tower. Starlord From Flying Buffalo, Ine. $5 setup fee, $2.50 per tum. Designed by Mike ‘Singleton. Moderated by computer. Up to 50 players per game; turn-around time ‘two weeks, Open-ended game, Begun 1983 in America From ugly duckling to Cinderella. Suarlord is the game, originally run by Mike Singleton in England, which I raved about in TSG 49. Flying Buffalo is now running the game in this country. From the 22-page crystal-clear rulebook to the color computer print-outs, this is obvi- ‘ously the game Flying Buffalo is pushing. Each player represents a starlord in the days of a dying “empyr.” The even- ‘ual goal is to capture the Throne Star and become the Emperor, after which you get ta play for free and receive a 5° ‘square galactic map printout. Until someone else dethrones you, that is. ‘The game is built around each player's “Command Ship.” Each player receives ‘each tum, a computerdrawn map (not a st!) of all stars within seven astrals of his Command Ship, and detailed informa tion on his forces and worlds within that range. Ships within range of the Com- mand Ship may move and attack, but cannot move further than seven astrals from the Command Ship. Ifthe Command Ship runs out of fuel, none of the litle ships may move. ‘All of this means that the player knows nothing beyond seven astrals of his Command Shipt To conquer, he mustforay away from his Base Star... leaving it open to pillage (which he won't even know about until he returns!) ‘The combat system is simple but fun. Al ships in range of the Command Ship ‘ust be given a tactic each tum, in case ‘combat occurs — Probe, Raid, Advance, or Attack (offensive) or Retreat, Ambush, Defend or Stand (defensive) — indicating acceptable losses before retreat, But retreating ships may be captured if their setreat star is captured — a prime way to bolster forees. Production and other logistical points are handled automatically by the com- puter — there are no Raw Materials to shuttle. Stars are classified by function: Data Stars, Supply Stars, City Stas, ete. Starlord was designed to be easy to play. The tumsheet is printed at the end of the computer print-out, with every ‘option listed. The player has only to fl in the numbers of ships and their tactics; there are mo codes, and this takes less ‘than three minutes. ‘The printout itself is the finest I've seen. It's in color, with different colors marking each player's stars and forees Flying Buffalo has even made some slight improvements over the English yersion’s printouts, listing everything in 4 convenient place on the sheet, ‘The rules are identical to the English version. Players do not automatically receive the name of any player whose ‘Command Ship eppears on ther print-out; Diplomatic Messages may be exchanged, however. Starlord continues to receive my high- est recommendation — a masterpiece of game design, ridiculously easy to play yet moderately challenging, Those who have never tried PBM could start here. I hhave only two quibbles: You can’t choose your player name (you are named after your Base Star), and the map should have a cireular frame, Star Venture From Schubel & Son, $5 setup fee per ship, 25¢ per action ($2. minimum per turn), $1.50 per battle report, 50¢ per message. Rulebook is $5. Designed by George V. Schubel, Moderated by com- puter; instructions sent on bubble cards. Al players are in the same game; no turn deadlines (turmaround times of less than two weeks can bo achieved). Open-ended game. Begun 1982 In the 125-tar Star Venture galaxy, ‘each player is the captain of one or more starships. I's almost a role-playing game; there are no victory conditions, and players may utilize their ships to achieve whatever goals they desire. Players start out with their new ships at the starport of Imperia, a GM-enforced hhaven from combat. They may buy as many ships as they can afford (one set-up for each), but are limited to starting with destroyers or medium freighters, (Other ships — everything from scouts and light freighters to tankers and battle lobes — must be bought with game wealth, a8 opposed to the real-world kind.) Players name their own ships (with & variety for which Star Venture is becom- ing notorious), and decide what to carry con board, Ships are divided into six sections — control, exploration, weapon, engine, support and cargo — which are cach rated for interior space. Items which can be carried on board — crew, ‘troops life supports, shields, labs, engines, 7. Worlds form the setting for the two other units in Star Venture: ground parties and colonies, Ground parties ean explore planets, recruit aliens, collect biological samples, and fight. They are a cheap way to explore a planet (you need only feed the explorers, not the entire ship’s company), Colonies are what people fight over. A colony is the center for production. A colony with a starport also contains a reasonably free markeiplace where play- ers may buy and soll goods. Colony owners may keep their goods “active” (ready for immediate use) or “inactive” (for sale, if the colony has a starport). Owners have only limited control of their ‘marketplace, but may establish a secret code controlling discounts for those who know it “Many players have come into the game from Schubel & Son’s Tribes of Crane, and a more competitive and cunning collection of players would be hard to find.” —————— weapons, vehicles, food and fuel — are rated for the space they take. (A medium freighter, with 50 points of engine section, could take three engines — leaving 20 points for fuel ~ or four engines and only 10 fuel spaces.) Ships are rated in terms of the damage they can take in battle before detonation and minimum crew size necessary. Once the ship has been configured, it 4s controlled by the “actions” its player files, There are 30 possible ship actions: movement (in-system, star jumps, landing and takeoff), scanning (eight’ types), combat (versus ships, colonies or ground parties), transfer and marketing of goods, repairs, and starting new ground parties or colonies. Many actions require food, fuel, or both. ‘The exact amounts are figured using the simple algebraic equations pro- vided, though a random factor is always present. Speaking as a captain who lost one ship stranded in space without fuel and a second ship left without a crew, it is crucial to watch your supplies. ‘The universe consists of 125 solar systems in a 5x5xS cube, inconveniently numbered from 1 to 125, Solar systems contain any number of worlds, each com- posed of ten sectors. When explored, each sector yields ratings for life density, food, mining and fuel potential, and friend: liness on the part of the locals. Players start the game knowing litle about combat, learning only by painful experience. There are three weapon sys tems in ship-to-ship combat; missles, one- shot weapons which are immediately launched upon combat; fighters, similar to missles but reuseable; and’ beams. Shields provide limited defense, absorbing damage in theit ship section, while jam- mers may destroy incoming missiles or fighters. Once combat is initiated, it is controlled by the computer. The results are sent ina special Battle Report, @ well-done plain language report on the combat. ‘Ships may also attempt boarding oper- ations, or bombard colonies and ground parties. Colonios equipped with forts may counter-bombard the ships. Given the open style of Star Venture, where players can do as they please, one of the key factors of the game is its body of players. Many players have come into ‘the game from Schubel & Son’s Tribes of Grane, and a mote competitive and cunning collection of players would be hard to find. The game is already filled with alliances mapping the universe, staging “friendly” combat to lean the basics of battle, and even batting an Imperial. starkiller to see if the OM- enforced ban on combat in the Imperia system means pursuit out of the system. ‘At least one group has its own computer8 file of game data. With incredible du- plicity, there are even alliances within alliances which are not at all what they seem. My alliance brothers prevent me from revealing more, But pethaps I can quote others: “Do not, under any circumstances, show up at my colonies!” wrote one player I had agreed to help. “I am currently haying pirate trouble (they destroyed both colonies) and it could ‘be dangerous! 1 am (possibly) going to relocate to another system, farther out...” hhear you were involved in the Rox raid,” wrote another. “IP this is true your ship is dead meat, My allies are not, Tepeat, not pleased! From ship number 848, cruiser Rebel Lord.” What, me involved in the Rex raid? ‘Course not If there is a problem with Star Venture, it has to do with the extreme compet itiveness of its players. They trust no one. It can be very, very difficult to get into one of the established alliances. | managed to enter one only because another player championed me, checkmating his allies’ attempts to bamboozle me. There is also the option of starting a fresh alliance, always fun but somewhat risky. What if you can't ge into any alliance? One of the odd things about this game is that if you are not in en alliance, you have no idea of what’s going on. Some- fone might have captured Imperia itself, for all you know, while you plod about the galaxy looking for something to do. Given the scale of the game, there are not a Tot of things a single ship or two can do by themselves, ‘The turn system is similar to that used in Schubel & Son's Catacombs of ‘Ghaos, with one important improvement. Actions are filed on bubble cards, one per card, Unlike Catacombs, however, any number of actions can be filed for a ship in a tum (e limit of 15 per ship per um fs recommended), Actions are given smumbers in the order you want them performed. This system works very wel though postage for the cards may we exceed the usual 204 stamp. There are no deadlines, but if you spend four months without doing any thing the Gamemaster wil ask you if you'e sil in the game. This can be very nige — it allows you, for instance, to explore the galaxy with your destroyer while leaving your mediumn freighter safe (and not using any tuons) at Imperia ‘The printouts are impressive in size, often tee feet or more in length per ship. A typial print-out might consist of a scan report or two, market prices at a colony and ground ‘party and colony status reports. ‘Star Venture is 4 fascinating game. 1 recommend it, with a few warnings (2) This is not a game for novices, and (2) ft requites some mathematical ability and a blazing competitive will. also commend Schubel & Son for their lightning speed {in publishing errata and in implementing player suggestions (already adding convoy and special message rules), The price is very fair, ‘Star Venture marks one more step in Schubel & Son’s drive to supremacy in the grand diplomacy field. Galatic Con- flier and Stariord mark Flying Buffalo's resurgence, picking up “outside” designs and siming at the novice player. Both companies have new games waiting in the wings — Schubel & Son with six new in- house designs for 1983, Flying Buffalo with its newly-acquired Feudal Lords formerly from Grand Simulations) and 2 mysterious elaborate inshouse design stil ‘months from starting. But what about the other companies? What about Mobius Fr’ What of Enter tainment Concepts with their striking Sitverdawn and Star Trek — The Corre- ‘spondence Game? Watch this magazine for further detalls Inthe Dak Ages people are scattered, and heroes ate sarce [Arhut s dead ard Rome wafer ram the chacsandrubble strueleader could carve new xe Y ZERIT oF SWORD AND THUNDER Two games in one! Control barony onthe path to policl power Pay 2 hero on the quest fe petsoal glo an open world of wizardry ad inaue gives Youtndins posbiliies in this new ply-by-mal ‘Gursyster ee you ge ur fl page of pessora choices in ever tt SPECIAL OFFER Only $10 buys you the rulebook “setup for your village {eatup for your hero rune ret (usual pce of 3 per tum cludes both your barony's turn and your heres tue. Sendo: EMPIRE GAMES 7.0. fon 6483 Benwer, Colorads 40206UNIVERSE III eT enc ee ed Pon C ne mec omc Pec at eee eae Rec cmt mame Se Pea eeu Rec B Sto you send in a turn, the computer evaluates it with respect to the current game situation and other players’ moves, and sends you a printout showing the current status of your ship, plus any territory you control. When you “meet” other players, you can send them messages — to Eee en en a em Why is UNIVERSE III the “state-of-the-art” in play-by-mail games? Sal eee ee ea Cee eee! Pera) SMUD ets Sea eat iy receipt, You'l be in a game within two weeks or your Da oR vu Rel eer ea ny move every week if you like — or take as Jong as you want De Ree ee ed Re eco eee eae one eel Dee ae eee koe ee eee met ep en sa eee ee een Oe which covers a setup for one ship, a copy of the rulebook. potency Da Ree Ce Rd assigned as soon as you send your name, address. and eae CENTRAL TEXAS COMPUTING 710-S SOUTHWEST TOWER, AUSTIN, TX 7870110 Take That! And That! Damage Variant for TOP SECRET by W.G. Armintrout ‘The worst problem with Top Secrer is all those agents killed by a single shot to the foot. If you've played the game, you know what I'm talking about: “You hit him,” says the Administrator. “Location roll?” “Loft foot.” “Damage rolls?” ‘Internal damage. Serious, injury points.” “Phusses?” “Plus three for Smm dum-dum ammo, none for body location. That's fifteen total injury points.” ‘And, since the average enemy agent Twelve has only 10 Life Level points, the Admin- isator crinkles up the stat sheet and tosses it away Dead, From a wound in the foot. What makes the matter worse is that there is a table in the back of the mule- book which looks like it could help. It's called the Temporary Losses Chart, back in the optional rules; it lists body Tocations across the top and types of wounds down the side, so that the two can be crosschecked to determine the effects of the wound. Nice idea, no? ‘Unfortunately, the rules that go with the chart are all screwed up: they don't even explain how to use the thing — a8 “OP SECRET trea tT Hebe, ‘a replacement for the main game rules, asthe prologue implies: (Nope. You can't Kill anyone with the temporary loss ues.) ‘Are the percentages taken off current or eriginal attbute stengtha? (Neither is good answer =. Using percentages was 4 bad idea to start with, since tequalzes All characters, no matter thei level.) ‘After long study, 1 think the Tempor- ary Lows tule are merely a way 10 add @ lite more Bloodiness tothe gume. (When average enemy agents have 10 life level points and average player characters have 13, do we need more bloodiness?) Not nly that, but the system is difficult, tmplayabl, and useless But itis a sep in the sight direction. 1 Zowere talked into designing & better damage system for Top Secret (don’t ask me t0 [have better things to do) Td stat withthe same sort of table: loca: tions along. one side, types of wounds along the other P@-add the die roll numbers along with the locations and wound types, right on the main table. That would condense the three tables used. now down into one, (Cou have to alter “right szm/hand” to Sveapen anm/hand”, but that's no ig deal) Td sorap the percentages busines, naturally Instead ‘of deducting. things from the main attributes, which takes too much bookkeeping, I'd ust list the hfe Tovel loss that each combination of ‘wound and Tocation cause, “The Loses rules had good idea when they had wounds downgrading speed and accuracy, though I'd simplify them quite 2 bit, Instead of deducting percentages from Coordination and then recomputing Offense and a halidozen other derived secondary and tertiary attebutes, 1 would ‘merely class a few wounds as “-10,” "-20,” fr "30" to accuracy scores. 1's the same fea, but taken into a form that can be played by normal people ‘When it eame f0 figuring injury points for each type of wound, of course, I ‘would be careful to make the new dam- age rules wore out 40 be as bloody as the origital mies, That way. players ‘could freely alternate from the original: fules to my advanced rules and back, ‘without being thrown off by having them work differently. The optional Pistol, Rifle And Submachine Gun Aromunition Injury Mogifiers table would work with both systems, although the optional body Iocation modifiers would obviously not be needed with my hypothetical system And if I'were going to write up such an Advanced Damage Chart ~ since T've gone this far, T might as well do it — it would look something ke this:11 ‘Type of Wound ean 240 digo” igo 4190 91-100 abraioa lueuionLeseation notte tlre Ine Locator Danase ADVANCED DAMAGE CHART Tbe oc wher eaee 1 gals a 109 12 24 47 eut a? 123 12% To uso this table, roll percntle —Hesdeck dive for Wound Location and then for : spines Wound Type. I'the Wound Type voll i462 3 #86 ET is even, the wound is serious (S): if the ane roll wodé,i?salight wound(L).Crose: 745 1 Say |t gemma ean! Oe) ted eater teference the two rllson the chart. Weapon Hand The resulting mumber is the damage . taken by the character (plus or minus 12-25 12034 se 66 Toa oe normal modifiers). If there is a raised OAT number beside the damage total, the 6-27 12 23 33 34! agg wounded character subsequently has Other Hand fan accuracy penalty equal to ten tim the raed nue und the wounds 2246 4 oss 7e 90 un nn healed. oe Example: Scot Bitch isshot witha 27.4 12047 88 90 un nn 357 Magnum. The fst percentile oll Abomen is 15 Gneapon am) and the second roll ji 4s 82 (fracture), and the 82 was even, $572, 12 ie Fe eee eee indicating a serious wound, Scot takes 9 points of damage (7 for the wound 80.82 120023 g4 44 55 5 gt plus 2 for a Magnum) and suffers a -20 Beis Foot: scours penalty. sor 12033 56 67 78 9 wt Lit Les 98-100 12 us 34 44 s st ss Left Foot ZF is now available from the good folk at: ARMORY - 4145 AMOS AVE. BALTIMORE, MD 21215 Games UNLIMITED - 115 MURRAY AVE., SQUIRREL HILL, PA 15217 ZoccHt DistRiBuTorRs - ©1956 PASS ROAD, GULFPORT, MS 3901 ¢@an easy-to-learn game for beginners— @an expandable game system to challenge the experienced— @ Cis in one book complete with maps &in€roductory scenario * Seek us at your Favourite game shop-ema Castle Perilous ‘The TSR convention display is a huge ray castle, with eight-foot walls decorated ‘with animated gargoyles. Atthe HIA trade show in Anaheim earlier this year, many were comparing it with the siege mental ity that had grown up between TSR and the rest of the adventure gaming industry. (Mayfair Games even had a small catapult set up facing the eastle walls.) ‘On the last day of the show, I was summoned to Dragon Castle by a member of the resident royalty, Keyin Blume. Kevin’ his brother Brian, and Gary Gygax. run TSR. Kevin had just read the Feb- suary Metal, He wanted to talk. Ub huh, sure, However, the bearer of this message was none other than FBI's trusty Mike Stackpole, He assured me that I wouldn't be set upon by ores and that there were no trap doors in the private offices atop the castle’s towers. So I went. Tean’t really say I was surprised at the man I met, Thos: who know Kevin speak well of him. He describes himself as a “cold fish” in the business sense, and yet he's as pleasant a fellow as you could over hhope to meet — charming, in fect, in a reserved sort of way. I was impressed with his willingness to address most any subject ‘that came up, and also by his apparent desite to improve communications with the rest of the industay. Needless to say, 1 ‘was delighted when he agreed to do an interview. But I also worried just alittle whether i¢ would actually come off. Top- level executives are very busy people. Kevin, however, was as good as his word. Despite short warming of our dead: line, and a schedule that had him about to leave on his first real vacation in years, he graciously camo through. My sincere thanks to go Kevin for his time and to his administrative assistant, Tish Lux, who helped set things up. And now Straight from the Dragon’s Mouth TSG: When we spoke at HIA, you took issue with some points I had made in the February issue of The Space Gamer. Would you like to address that subject here? KB: The first paragraph makes refer ence to Duke [Seifried) and myself “We did not go down to Dallas to talk to Heritage about acquiring assets; that expectation was solely on Heritage’s side.” ‘being in Dallas, which is correct. We did not go down to Dallas to talk to Heritage about acquiring assets; that expectation was solely on Herftage’s side. We went down to present our toy line to a cus tomer and we went down because Duke was attending the meeting of the (Heri- tage) creditors, but we had no intention of stopping in at Heritage. We did not. TSG: Are there other points you want to address on that column? KB: Okay, the Grenadier situation TSR reportedly attempted to gain control of Grenadier in return for nothing more than the right to continue produc- ing licensed figures. A very small cash payment was later thrown in.” That is not true. The offer thet TSR made to Grenadier was that the two of us would jointly form a thied company in which Grenatier would place all of its assets and liabilities and TSR would place four times Grenadier’s net worth, én cash, so that TSR would own 80% and Grenadier 20%. And I don’t think four thmes Grenadier’s net worth is a very small cash payment. TSG: No, thet payment was in refer fence to a figure I was told was actualy offered to the prineipal pariners. in Garona. KB: No money was offered to prin: cipal partners. A venture was being formed that would have been a merger. type arrangement. Okay — now the situation from my perspective as to Why it didn’t happen was that T waited for an interminable amount of time for a set of financials from Grenadier that never arrived. And, of course, we had to make a decision to'go forward in another 5.0903) MED Systems Software QMED) © ||| 6.31 (55) Metagaming (MET) 537 (02) Microsomes Games OCC) « «$4018 Microb (IC) 42961) Miakomia Pres OID) $2263 Minis OMIN) = ¢ Mobius Games (108) 3.513) Mase Software (MUS) © °° 1226.37) Mysterious Meuse (AMS) | | 333 65) Myste Swamp GAYS) «222. 15.71.63) North Pole Productions (NP 411 (66) 677.08) Nova Game Designs (NGD) Oracle Press CORP)... « (risk Industries (ORS) + Palladium Books (PAL) || Phosnix Software, Inc. (SI) 400440) Prince August (PRA) 624657) ‘Raf Miniatures (RAR) «<2. 2 669.46) Ragnarok Enterprises (RAE) 1 |< 1 3.58 29) ‘Ral Partha Enterprises (RAL) | © >| 7.33 (08) Reilly Associates (REA) $3.00 (57) Keron bling Co. (RES) <<.) RPG, Ine (RPG). vs. 22 545 48) Saxon (SAX) . OT s87 asp Sehubel & Son (CH) £4.70 05) Sintains Cards (Sc) 5.63 36) SipTech (SIR) 2. + $666.) Sirs Software Bis): ¢ 5.16 G8) Skyttex (SKY) 6:44 (59) Stove Jackson Gare (SIG) 765 (01) Sate Simuatios, ns, (SSD « «+ 6.60 2D) Supedior Models, Ine. (SUP) 74525) Sapedior Simulations (SUS) . 420 (49) ‘Task Foroe Games (TFG) 6.36 (04) Terra Games Company (TGC): + - 4.00 ($8) ‘Threshold Games (THR) 5.00 (59) ‘Tiger Publications CTTG) 1 740(61) Timeline (TML) [641 3) ‘TSR Hobbies, ne. (TSR) 14.49 (01) ‘West End Games (WEG) 53939) ‘Westond Simulations CWS). << 4.28 59) Wiimack Dymsty CWID) £32 (69) Wind Warsior Co. (WWO) © 2°11 14:43 62) ‘Yaquinto Publications (FAQ) <<. 6.01 (04) Zovehi Distibutors ZOC) $25 (14) Zorph Enterprises LPH) «| 40.481) Magazines and Publications Adventure Gaming QMZK) $2300 Breakout (CSA) = + 51463) Computer Gaming Wor 6.00 41) Dirforent Worlds (CHS) . 6:37 (08) Dragon (TSR)... - 5:36 (01) Far Travelee (FAS) 2 2. 634 08) Flying Buffalo Quartely (FBN) << 4.19.06) For Yout Eyes Only (T1G) 514 G3) Game Merchant (GMR) - 469.04) High Pasege (FAS) 6.16 G3) Interplay (MET) 4558 04) Soup fhe Tee's Aid Sci > Fantasy Taetleal Games « Eantasy Board Games «| ¢ Fantasy Rolo-Piaying Games Fantasy Role-Playing Supplements Fantasy Miniatures Games 3 Pantasy Computer Games... < Other Role-Psying Games’ (Other Role-Playing Supplements ¢ Pre-1982 Role-aying Games. Play-By-Mail Games =. + © £4.79 02) 05 (02) 55 (02) 23 (02) 99 (01) 6.04 (01) 21 (03) £53910 Miscellaneous Games| <> Play Aids Mintsized Games Moderatosized Games = << 222.7203 (0) Monstersized Games == 1453 03) SF Tactical Games Asteroid Pirates (VAQ) = 4.8906)16 Berserker (FED) 51502) Boarding Party (TG) 6.00 0) rape rot Ata CFG) 463 43) GEV. (SIG) 7.56 (06) Geay Armor (OWE) 732 (09) ‘Gray Ball FAS) 6300), Hellank (MET). Plt s36a, Helltank Destroyer (MET) os4sa7) Highway 2000 (THR) «2222 14.79 42) ‘Moon Base Clavius (TRG) - 52703) Ogre (SIG) 7.60 (06) Rescue from the Hike SPD) = 538 (24) Space Empires (MAY)... 0... 1688 G8) Star Smuggler DWE) 6.84 (26) ‘Supecvlans (TFG) 3.40 (25) SF Stratepie Games Federation Space (TFG) . $60.14) ‘Freedom in the Galaxy (AVII) © - + 6.03.08) Starfie IU = Empires (TFG) « .-- 6.19 28) SF Board Games ordeslands (EON) +7445) Invasion Barth (GDW) «| 649.06) Star Explorer (GU). 6.0064) ‘ralblazer (MET) 5527) ‘SF Game Supplements Bate Damage Code Red (TFG) « . 6.09.25) Borderlands Expansion Set 1 (EON) . 6.13 Q1) ar Wars Expansion Set 1 (SIG)... | 646 (08) Cosmic Encounter Exp. Set 8 EON)” 6.16 (03) ‘Star Fest atts Evp. Set 2 (TFG) - 6.57 (08) Star Flest Bates Exp. Set 3 (TFG) . 6.38 (07) SF Role Paying Games Champions (Revised) (HER) 7190) Phase Yl (CHE) 50943) Star Ponders (TSR) = 4.8806) ‘The Traveller Book (GDW) 7:10 05) Villains & Villantes (essed) (FU) -5:18 0D ‘Wools of Wonder (CHS) 63809) SF Role-Playing Supplements Adventure Class Ships 1 (PAS)... 6.44 20) Adventure Class Ships 2 (FAS) |. - 6.82.22) Aslan Morcenary Ships (FAS). ©! * “645 (18) Breakout (HER) Toon) Bronésword (GW) 6.60022) ‘Chamax Plague/Borde (GW) ¢ 17.12.30) Death Duel withthe Destroyers D 6.04 G0) eseton/ f Commas (CDW)... 7180) Enemies (HER) 694 G9) asolt in Perl (EGU) 222221 16.86 49) Fate ofthe Sky Raiders GAS) |. 1.6.71 G8) FCI Consumer Guide (PAS): <* 6.6238) PORCE. GU) [66 (45) GGarima World Refeie's Screen tnd MiniModule (TSR) 49200 Homeworld (PAL) 2157168) Hotel Complex (FAS) | 735 (40) Inceds [1 (GU) SAL) Island of Doctor Apocalypse (FGU) 5.68 (29) ‘The Journey (PAL) 555 (41) Library Data NZ GGDW) «121 638 25) Maranatha Alkahest Sector GUG) || 5.00 (46) Master of the Ming JUG) 5.00 (49) Morchant Cass Ships (FAS). |<. 6.69 (22) COperacion Morpheus (FGU). | <<< 6.25 (45) Personal Bate Loads (TML) 6.86 47) Prison Planet (GDW) 7.00 (24) Rescue on Galatea (FAS) «12+ 16.787) -esiomel (TUG) 31 G7) Rowslin Il (GU) 5.00 (53) Seldon's Compendium of Starcraft GU). 741.40) Shadow of YogSctioth (CHS) | -- 72064) Simba Safari GUG) .. +. «1 7165069) Solomani Rin (CD) 714 21) Star Sector Alls Il (FGU) 66003) Sunday Devers (SIG) 7.40 (09) “Tarlkins Landing SUG) 6.25 89) ‘Top Secret Adminisrator’s Sereen and ‘MinkSedule (TSR). 74.96 (18) ‘Trail of the Sky Raiders (PAS) ©" || 6.86.27) Vault of the N'er Queyon (FGU) 6.75 (44) ‘Vericalar Buse Loads (IML) . . . 6.53.46) SF Minintures Suiker (DW)... 7.73.04) ‘SF Computer Games Alien Garden (EPX) « 5.25659) nite Conquest 406). «+542 48) Cosmic Balance GSI)... - >. + 15.86.82) Cytron Masters (S51) 63907) Guat Gants Si) 64203) Galaxy (MCG). « co sa4 ad) GIFS. Sorcerers ICG) © {soos Kionke 2000 (HAY) 3.20 54) Moon Patol (MCG) 667 (44) Rendezvous EDU}. SisaLao SEUIS. 3D) {163 G2) Siat Traders (HAY) 450041) Voyages I (MCG) 554 (43) Fantasy Tectical Games Dragon Hunt (AVED « 6.25 40) Dragon Rage (DWF) - 5.81067) Gobiin (DWF) 6.08 (28) Fantagy Board Games Sanctuary (MAY) 5.86 34) Titan (AVE 6.79.26) Fantasy Role-Playing Games ‘The Book of Mars AGC). 6.33.43) Bushido (FGU) « «. I T6o2.a6) Man, Myth & Maple (FAQ) | 2.1. 15:64 (09) Rolemaster Series (CE). 2)" 6.92Q7) Runoquest (CHS) 1.04 9) ‘Swordbearer (FTG) 53763) Yeearth Rule System (RAE) 1111537 Gey Fantasy Role-Playing Supplements ‘Amazon Mutual Wants You Vol, 1 (ct) = 436 (40) omar Ln of ne Wishing OE ge « 6.11 42) ‘Ass Law/Claw Law Boxed set (CE) 640s Ascent to Hell (YAQ) | 4.00 (56) Beastmaker Mountain (MAY) |: 5.09.9) Book of arifiets(DGT). «22. 13.78 43) Book of Treasure Maps Im GUG)” | | 4307) Borderlands (CHS) . Ta9 a6, (Caves and Caverns GUG) 3.00 43) ‘Character Law (CE) 15.86 08) GityBook LOB). « 646 04) (Gty State Warfare GUG) 43.6 (Caw Law (CE) [66005) Corsais of Taller (UG). 1.1: 14°50 48) (Corse on Hareth (CON) "430 (4) Dark Assssin (PAS) 155 (9) DDexth to Setanta (YAQ) - £15.88 (53) Demons of Dundurn GUG) 15.00 (54) Druids of Doom (UG) - 625.63) Dwarves (MAY) 68760) ‘The Eayptian Tilogy (FAQ) |. : $20.63) antasile Personalities (UG)... 14.2047) F'deck Fo's Tomb GUO) - 45067 Fer (MAY) .- 6.0045) Game Masters of Kesar Fal) =<. 5.50651) ‘The Glastonbury Labyrinth (FAQ) | 6.0057) Glory Hole Dwarven Mine JUG). . 3.46 42) Heroic Expeditions TUG) ‘The Mhiedrin Book JUG)’ Impecil Infantry Squad JUG) * Kingdom ofthe Sidhe (YAO). - Midale Earth Guidebook (ICE) «<< istywood (FBD « .. $ [Nanozien Stones (HAY) [Newrange Reactivated (¥AQ) Pirates of Hagrost JUG) Prey of Darkness UG) - ‘Quostworld (CHS) Batons Sick GUO)" + Hall (CHS). 7 iden of Sea Rune UG) | King’s Bride (CHS) - Sologuest CHS) The Spit Stones (FAS) - Staravee Trek GUG) Tome of mighty Mai (8?) ‘Traps Too (FB) ‘Treasure (FAS) ‘Teolipace (CHS) ae Umber — Haven of te Corsis cl Valley of the Mists (FGU) ‘Witches Court Marshes (UG) Wondrous Relies GUG) ‘Wondrous Weapons (UG) 46763) Wraith Overlord UG) 3.67 (69) Fantasy Miniatures Games By the Sword! (LEG) 554.61) Fantasy Computer Games Curse of Ra BPO = 5.00 40) CCoypt of the Undead (EPX) . 33 (40) ‘Dango in Drindisti(EPX) 1450654) Dungcon (TSR). .« 43362) [Escape from Vuican’s lle (PX) « - 7.6062) King Arthuts For (EPX) « 165067) ‘The Nightmare (EPX) « 6.00 66) Sword of Fazgoal (PPX) 5.00657) Swordthrust 6 ~ Eternal Curse (CES) Penn ss 1 667 6) Swordtheust 7 all of Aiciemie (CES) vena e s 56746) ‘Telengard OCG) 46940) ‘Theseus nd tho Minotau: (FSR) . | | 3.67 42) Wizardry Revision 2(SIR) 76705) Wizardry ~ Knight of Diamonds (SIR). ‘ ++:7.23.89) Other Rote-Haying Games ‘Alma Mater CORP). - = 41004) ‘Behind Enemy Lines (FAS) 2: < + 6.1022) Daredevils (GUD 6.79 (35) Ganabusters (TSB) 462410) Phrates & Plunder (HFG). 2589 (5) Recon (RPG). « T1885 60 ‘Other Role-Paying Game Supplements Lith Commandes (FAS) 121 43) Guns of Navarone (FAS). 12.16.82. G8) Pre-1982 Rote-Paying Games Advanced D&D (TSR) + $.08 (02) ‘Adventizes i Fantasy (ADG) ||| 14.1024) ‘Aftermath (FGU) = 515209) ruin Advoncure (GRID) [445d asic DED (TSR) 7 {a's (03) Champions HER) « ° 1685 00) ‘Chivaley & Sorcery (EGU) 573 (08) DragonQuest SPD « 115.65 006)‘The Fantasy Tp MET)... «6.75 (03) Gamma World (TSR). 22 1439.05) igh Fantasy (RES) . © la39an Land of the Rising Sun (PGU) «<1 492.08) Mere (PGU) . 4920) Skull & Crossbones (FGU) i521 ap ‘Space Opera FGU) . « 553400 Star Rovers Module 1 (ARG) | | ** 3.94.07) Superhero 2044 (GSC) 40900) ‘Thieves’ Guild (GLL) £6.26 008) ‘Tunnels € Trolls OFBD | 2.2 1480005) Universe (SPD. NN isizay Villains & Vigilantes GU} 47940) Play y-Mail Games Batle Plan BD 3.8167) Beyond the Stella; Empite (ABM) . «5.96 (20) Catacombs of Chaos (SCH) - .. . | | 343 (12) Earthwtood (GSI) 34701) Feudal Lords (GRE) 29162) leet Mancuvers (FSM 3.03 4) GalacTac (CAP) « 314.4) Galactic Confit ) 293.05) Ganglords (BIC) 26820) Herole Fantasy (Bi) 2143768) [Nocleas Destruction (Fi 3.84 06) Realm of Sword and Thunder © EMG). +3316) Siverdawn (CD * 133203) Stat Tek (ECD) 324.44) Star Venture (SCH) 43900) StarMaster (SCH), 143900) ‘The Tubes of Crate (3C1D) 42206) Universe 1 (C&A) 37801) Universe 11 (CTX) 4.0001) ‘Warboid World (ABI) < 6.5434) ‘Misellsneous Gamat CCvilzation (AVE) 736 26) Encounters (MAY) 52339 Gunslinger AVE) 6:26 (25) Hexchess (HEX) 655 04) urninat (SIG) 7/3008) Robin Hood (AVE) 216.0008) ‘Shootout atthe Salon (NGD) :¢ << | 5.2941) Play Aids ‘Adventure Board (AVA). 3.8242) ‘Companion Pieces ~ Fantasy Pusnihings| (Com, 46040) Dungeon Floors GIG) 630022) ‘TFT Character Record Sheets (FSA) 4.24 23) World Board (AVA). +--+. 24741) ‘Your Comments on TSG Capsule reviews of gumes «+. «+ 7.87 Foamured reviews of vames. 5.2221 17:55 Game reviows in general «22201222 .7.76 Complete games insome iss * 645 Complete game adventares) eonaros for spocficwames 6.10 Complete game adventures! ‘cenarios in enerie RPG toms... 6.10 Game variant atices| 1659 Gamerelated etion « 79 Selence feton 5550 Fantasy fletion © 5.00 ‘Strategy hints for specie games << 1... 6.59 Devizes arleles om ther new games ©" "6.48 ‘Actwork 5.60 “Artelae om how io dedi ga Selence fact articles in general Science fact articles specially 1 10 SF gaming « Monsters for role-playing games| | Advertising 26639 News about gaming companies «© << 126.72 News about tournaments and elubs’ 25.73 Reviews of new miniatures ures 469 Contests ts Humorous ariles eeneeeer ert ondnung somists « 60 Canoon = Ter ‘Accounts of acta game sesions 478 Interviews with designers/publishers .-<5.41 ‘icles on computer gaming... ++ - 5.08 Somputer programs for sames «++: +480 Editors =. 6.07 Articles on wargames other thant SF of fantasy 430 ‘Anisles on board games © + 1532 ‘Aiticles on miniatures construction and painting. . 4a ‘Auticles om minitice paming = 1433 Convention news - saa Convention reports Movie eviews Book roviows => Rogular TSG Features hese Were Going Mette. 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FulhColor Art| a Cover Paintings 20222 Subseiber Bonuses Murphy's Rules Specific Arties Metamnorphosing Monsters 5.23 (05) ‘The Splet Gun 5.44 (08) Unnigne PITT S67 00) Piratos and Plunder Review 6.05 (08) [New Chiatactrs for TFT 5.62 (03) More Handicaps for TET» 5.89 (08) rete to Submit. 595 03) ‘The Hobby in Australia 1513.03) Westway « 5.76 (02) ‘The Worm Di l6a1 a3 ‘Trivial Spell Contest Remais| © | 1 5:52.02) Massacre at Midile 2111635 02) Street Leas 636 (02) Street Lepal Gaming Notes 1° 6.18 (03) Winning Heroic Fantasy 1103) Last of the Fat Man 6 (02) Rolesids Review 58 (02) Grav Armor #30 62000) Mluminatng the Post Ottice 6209 (00) Battloait . .-- 6.98 (00) ‘The Traveller Book Revie 633 (00) Rapidtze Line Review 5.85 (00) ‘The Return of ICDRIP - 5.80 (00) 1982 Game Survey . . - 749 17 Other Topics On the question of what readers would do Sf The Space Gomer soit into one SF and one fantasy. magazine, 42% sald they would buy ‘both magazines; 32% sald they'd buy TSG exclusively; 9 sald they'd buy the fantasy ‘magazine exclusively; and 14% said they'd give itp. (Give ita ty, guys.) In sesetion to Autaduel Quarrel), 26% sald thoy dsubserbe; 11° would buy icegularly Bt the siose; 26% would buy it occasionally; find 32% sa they'd ignore tently ‘And the idee of our publishing « house ‘organ similar in format to ADQ was rested ‘vith 19% who said they'd subsebe, 10% who Sid they'd buy Ht regulaly at the sore, $1% ‘who'd buy Tt occasionally atthe stare, and 16% ‘who'd teat st with disdain. Comments (Ours and Yours) ‘We made « change in the survey-results format this year, for no special reason except to try it out, Last year everything ‘was listed in order of rating, highest frst. This year they are alphabetized instead. Which do you think is easier to use? ‘As for the results themselves: There ‘were no big surprises. The most popular game vas GDW’s Striker, which scored an incredible 7.73 (9 being a perfect score). Other high scorers included Ogre, G.E.V-, Grav_Armor, Eon's Borderlands, “and ‘Mluminati. In‘erestingly, AH?’s Civilization scored an excellent 7.36 ~ anditis nether sf nor fantasy! Revised Champions and The Traveller Book also id el. The highest-rated companies were SI anes (but keap in mind that our readers ae likely to be biased), GDW, Hero, Eon, ‘Avalon Hill, Chaosium, Tiger Publications (publishers of FYEO), and twominiatures companies, Superior and Ral Partha, ‘Among magazines, Space Gamer and the Journal of the Travellers’ Aid Society ‘were the high scorers. That is perhaps not too surprising — but the extremely low scores of some other game publications ‘were surprising, $o it goes. The feedback on TSG's contents was litle changed from last year. You stil like reviews best. News, cartoons, varisnts, and strategy articles also rate high. Movie and book reviews sil rate very Tow. We didn’t print the complete demo- graphic results, but I can tell you a little Dit about the average TSG reader; he’s around 20 years old, either currently @ student or already well-educated, spends more than seven hours a week gaming, and probably has access t0 2 personal ‘computer if he doesn’t already own one. Our average subscriber has been reading ‘TSG for 32 months — s0 it Looks like you're loyal, too. ‘And, as always, your comments at the bottom of the surrey were interesting18 Some samples, with responses: “... Dwould be unhappy if you split Into two mags, but I would buy both of them...” As you know by now, we are splitting - but each new magazine will be bimonthly, so it is, in one sense, a re- arrangement rather than a doubling in size and cost. I know we'll lose some people with the change, but we think most of you will like it once you see it. Give usa chance, anyway. “Why don’t you do a sequel to Bartle- suit, called Business Suit — man-to-man combat in an advertising office?” Well, if ‘you'd be willing to buy 14,500 copies, we ‘might be able to sell out of a 15,000 press “1 didn’t see Chaosium’s Call of Cihuihu in the survey.” You're right. It should have been there, on the pre-1982 RPG listing. Ouch, “Where is Traveller on the pre-1982 same list?” Ouch again. “Why not list Empyrean Challenge? It's my favorite PEM game.” No! No! Have mercy! “Where was Starweb under PAM games?” Ail... As you have no doubt realized by now, several games got left off the survey, not because they weren't signif- fant, but because the compilers goofed. AIL wo can do is grovel. Seriously: This survey is interesting to a lot of people, including us, but it gets harder each year. If we can’t figure out a way to streamline it next year — possibly by using computer cards for responses ~ we may not be able to continue. Tt takes too much time, and mistakes erawd in anyhow. The responses as tabulated have been carefully checked but we sure wish we had been able 10 enter the data automatically. “ really appreciate ‘Metal’ and ‘Scan- nner.’ They are intelligent and informative and don't degrade me with neophytic language. Thank you. And Irealy love the fiction, ‘Street Legal’ was wonderful.” Well, some people like the fiction “Your gamevelated fiction really bites the green weenie,” And some people dont. “4s the player and occasional GM of an orphaned game — TET ~ I am always looking for TFT articles, Also, when might the rumored RPG by Steve Jackson be coming out?” We'se interested in good TFT material for Fantasy Gamer. (That is another Subtle Hint.) As for the new RPG: work continues to crawl along. “The weather here has been crummy lately.” Yeah, 1 know what you mean. “More Champions and Star Fleet Battles, please! ... If Mr. Jackson and Mr, Stackpole ever get together, watch out!” We want more material on both of these for Space Gamer, (Subtle Hin time again.) ‘As for Stacker — you're right, but he wants me to move to Phoenix, and I want him to move to Austin, so we haven't gotten much done together. “Love your magazine! We only have cone game store in town, and TSG isn't available there, so 1'm probably the only ‘one in my school who gets 10 read it. Tt ‘makes me feel superior! Some questions: (1) What happened to the ‘what game are you playing most?” survey? (2) When do Wwe get the naked elf women?” Wel, why not twist their arms unt they ‘carry TSG? The “what ere you playing most” uestion was 2 victim of massive non- feasance during compilation, Translation: We goofed again. We may try to do it as 8 special minisurvey question. The naked elf women will appear when you least expect them, “Keep up the good work.” We must have gotten that exact comment from thirty or forty of you, and something like that makes i all worthwhile. Aaron and I, and the rest of the staff, are glad you think i's g00d work; we'll do our best to keep itup. Thanks. —Steve Jackson Adventure in the classic realms of J.R.R. Totkien’s Middle Earth™ as detailed in The Hobbit” ana The Lord of the Rings” ‘MIDDLE | EARTH”SERIES - MIDDLE EARTH POSTER/MAPS:... MIDDLE EARTH CAMPAIGN AND: ADVENTURE GUIDEBOOK with poster/map.......5+4¥ + ANGMAR, Land of the Witeh King: . “UMAR: Haven of the Corsairs.. + THE RIDERS OF ROHAN... ‘The entire line will bear the copyright « CHANDISING, INC., Berkeley, Ca. THE HOB! rout, aoe and Sara ie ant tsucmare over of TOLKIEN ENTER deacie Send check or money order (in U.S. dollars) for proper Pains Iron Crown Enterprises, Inc., Dept. ‘postpaid; Canadians add $2.50. Send S.A.S.E. f. » P.O. Box 1605, Charlotte Va. 22902 more inforiiation.A Generic Fantasy Adventure by Aaron AllstonThe Haunting of Harkwood is 4 gener- fe fantasy role-playing adventure for four to six players plus referee. As a generic, or “universal,” adventure, Haunting is presented with game terms and statistics Which can be easily translated into most RPG systems. This adventure is not a standard epi sode of dungeon-crawling, questing through wilderness, or even city encount- ers, It's sot against the backdrop of a small prize tournament, and the tournament itself is half the adventure. It requires a gamemaster who tends to improvise a good deal, ons who is capable of making an interesting outing of an event which would be fascinating to the char acters, but which might bore their more jaded” players. Characters of medium ‘experience are recommended, ‘Another caveat: The scenario would be of most interest to fighting characters Thieves can prowl the crowds and cut purses. Magicians will probably find the ‘whole thing rather boring, unless they're tourney fans. Craftsmen may spend most of thelr time selling wares in the mer ‘chants’ bazaar, Priests and other religious torts can spend their time converting heathens in. the crowd. But the meat of the adventure is for fighters, as the GM will swifly see. Persons who intend to play in this adventure should read no farther. GMs, fon the other hand, should probably continue Statistics All characters in the adventure are presented with scores ranging from 1-20 ‘on their primary characteristics, scores ranging from 01-100 on skills and weapons talents, and notes on equipment carried and. petsonal histories and personalities. 1-20 scores for characteristics are used because they translate easily into the most systems — especially D&D, Rune- quest, end The Fantasy Trip. (For sys tems which use percentile — 01-100 — characteristics, simply multiply the 1-20 characteristic by 5; thus, a score of 15 ‘becomes a percentile score of 75.) When translating 1-20 scores into systems using 3-18 (rolled on 346) scores, simply round 1 and 2 up to 3 and 19 and 20 down to 18. ‘Skills are shown with percentile suc- cess seores — thus, a character with Long- sword at 66% would probably strike successfully whenever making a roll of 66 or less on percentile dice. Some game systems — notably TFT — use dexterity rolls (or intelligence rolls, or strength rolls, or whatever) on 346 against the eppropriate personal char acteristic to accomplish an attack or skill use, Shown below are charts which translate 346 and 2d6 rolls into percentile scores. Example: A character with a 25% success in tracking would actually have a 8 roll for success on 346 or a 9 roll on 246, and a character with e Bow rating of 85% could bo presumed to have an Adjusted Dexterity or attack roll of 13- 346 Roll Probability of rolling ‘number or less 3 0.46% 4 1.85% 5 462% 6 9.26% 7 16.20% 8 25.93% 9 37.50% 10 50.00% i 62.50% 12 74.07% B 83.80% 4 90.74% 18 95.37% 16 98.15% 17 99.54% 18 100% 246 Roll Probability of rolling number or more 100% 97.22% 91.67% 83.33% R22 58.33% 41.67% 27.78% 16.67% i 8.33% 2 2.78% Spells are more difficult to render into game terms. Presented with magicusing characters are listings of fairly universal spell terms, so that a GM can assume that "Mind Control” actually means "Charm. Person” in D&D or “Control Person” in TFT. “Experience level” and “hit points” are also topics which the GM will have to determine. Assuming for instance, that the GM is going to be running Sth- to 7th level characters through Harkwood, the GM should make the highestlevel NPCs around Tth-8th levels and give them average or slightly above-average hit points for their levels. TFT level and hits {o kill are dependent upon Dexterity and Strength, of course, so use the appropri fate personal scores listed for the NPCS.In RuneQuest, weapons ability scores are 1 good indication of level of competence (in fact, if the weapons scores presented. for NPCs threaten to overwhelm the player-characters, you may wish to tone them down) and points are dependent upon CON (with some modifiers); use the “health” score listed for each NPC. ‘As for weapons damage and the like — simply use the correct damage for the appropriate weapon from the appropri ate game system. MUP h tata) Fenmarc, Baron of Harkwood (s fainly insignificant barony in a forested section of the game-world kingdom being used) has called one of his periodic prize toumeys. Baron Fenmare’s tour: eys are usually twoday allats consisting of a jousting list (for nobles), » foot list (for commoners), an archery com- petition (for anyone) and a lastday Grand Melee (also for any entrant), plus a merchants’ bazaar, an open-ait feast and court (on the night of the second day), and other entertainments Typically, ten to fifteen knights compete in the joust, twenty to thirty commoners compete in the footmen’s list, and thirty to forty people compete in the archery tourney; overall, upwards of four or five hundred people typically attend the event. Playersharacters can become involved in any number of ways. I they are noble (or if some of them ate noble), the high: ranking sorts might have been invited to participate — as a courtesy if they are from the ares, or by personal invitation from Fenmare if they happen to be trav- clling through Harkwood. If none of the PCs is noble, they might be competing in the footmen’s or archery toumey, or simply attending the bazaar and feast ‘or watching the fighting. Of course, an adventure is not likely to be a simple aba tournament and feast ‘There are two complicating factors. Since long before the arrival of man {nto this part of the continent — perhaps since before the emergence of man into the world — the Bilythey have lived in the Harkwood forests. Eilythry are race of longlived manlike beings possessed of translucent white skin, tall and spec trally thin bodies, and unnatural grace and fleetfootedness — and it is thetr pres ence which has for centuries given rise to legends of the wood being haunted. ‘The Eilythry, a peaceful and vegetar ian race long divorced from violence, have watched bemusedly as mankind invaded the forests, cutting down trees, saying and eating’ wildlife, and creating ugly permanent structures and hideous beaten toads and smelly colonies, Isolated pockets of Eilythry gradually became cut off from one another. The old race slowly, slowly began to fade ~ for while they ate extremely longived, the Eilythry bred seldom and the despondency they began to feel occasionally interrupted or suspended their mating rituals. ‘And now has come the final atzcety — the Eilythry lord, eldest of the clan, has been found hacked and gutted near 2 human road, obviously by human wes- pons. The presence of red blood (the Blytiny’s is pinkish and. transparent) indicates that the attacker was wounded, but the remaining elders consider that things have gone too far and the human invader must be driven forth. And, while the Eilythay have not known violence in many hundreds of yeats, they have pre- served one warlike art — to-Rera, 2 styl: ized martial art utilizing the spear. To- era jg ritualized and daneelike, but still a dangerous martial art, relating to the oxiginal Eilythry spear combat as Kendo does to the swordsmanship ofthe samura So. the Eilythry have taken up their spears There is yet another complicating factor. Lord Telberan, one of Baron Fenmarc’s two closest advisor, i quite the opportunist and issecretly determined to be the next Baron of Harkwood; he Js currently the most ageressve suitor for the hand of Lady Aylara, Fenmare’s Gaughter, and has for some time now been placing himself in situations pleasing to the eye of the Crown while occasion- ally embarrassing or otherwise incon- veniencing Fonmare. Yes, Telberan will be able to make use of some of the up coming situations Components Included with this adventure, along with explanatory text, are several things which will enable the GM to improvise the adventure around the player-charact- ers? choices of actions throughout the course of the adventure. Included are a map of the general area of Haskwood where the tournament is taking place, a map of the tournament site, (showing the list field, the archery field, Fenmarc’s retreat manor, the merchants’ bazzar, and other points of interest), a sheet of Card- board Heroes miniatures bound into the ‘center of this magazine (showing all the major characters of interest, some Eily- thy, and a couple of mounted knights), universal descriptions of all the major non-player-character perticipants, and a timeline showing what will probably happen when. Bite Day 0 (The Day Before the Toumey’s Start): By dusk, all the major participants {in the toumament should have arrived at the Harkwood site. The higher-ranking of these, of course, will be quartered in Fenmark’s retreat manor; the rest will ‘camp on a field slightly removed from the fields used for the tournament. A large ‘canopy has been set up in the merchants? bazaar by a tavernkeeper, who is busily dispensing beverages and choer into the night, Player-characters should be arciving fon the scene by now, if they are not here already. Shorly after night has fallen, a Tocal hunter will stagger out of the forest and toward the nearest light he can see ~ that selfsame taverner’s tent, The hunter, a burly man named Morgis, who was chief contender in this year’s footmen’s tour- ney, is so n0 more; when he staggers into the taverner’s tent, he is moxtaly wound: ed, with spear wounds and a pale pinkish syrupy stuff splashed all over his body. He manages to croak, “It was 2 h’ant/ In the forest/I killed it” before messily expiring — this, in full view of all the ‘people in the ent and anyone who charged ‘ver from the manor to investigate Lord Dorlyn, Fenmare’s other (more trustworthy) advisor will order the corpse put in @ wagon and taken back to Morzis’ village. Agrast, a local lunatic who pre tends to be a wizard (but whom every: ‘one knows to be a charming charlatan with knowledge of sleight of ftand and stage magic) seems unnaturally disturbed by the goo all over Morgis and takes some in a small phial before leaving the scene. He wall not discuss his perturbation with anyone who notices it and asks, Natur. ally, it’s a little while longer before the parly in the taverner’s tent resumes its somal cheerfulness . Day 1 (The Joust, the Drama) ‘An hour or s0 after dawn, Anin, Baron Fenmarc’s personal herald, will ris life and limb by avakening all those encamped in the field. Two hours after that, he will announce the opening ofthe Prize Tournament of Baron Fenmae. The knights, in armor and wielding blunt lances, will begin their ousting ansRefer to the map of the toumey field Low wooden barricades run the length of the joust field, Each knight starts at one end of thelist, charging toward his, ‘opponent with the barricade to his left As they're using lances ranging from fourteen to seventeen feet, they will roll to hit when they're in range with the weapons (about five hexes apart on the toumey-site map), not when they're adjacent to one anather. If a to-it roll is successful, the target has been struck. If the to-hit rll is unsue cessful, the target has obviously been missed. Consider both to-hit rolls simul- taneous — that is, both opponents get to roll before effect of damage are calcu- lated, Roll normal damage for a lance attack, then divide by half (the weapons are blunted). But if the initial damage roll was in excess of 6 points of damage (Gefore dividing), there is a chance that the person struck will be knocked from his horse by the force of the blow — he must make 2 Horsemanship or Dexterity zoll (or whatever sort of ral is appropri- ate 10 the game system) to keep to his saddle. If the damage roll was much in excess of 6 points damage (before divid- ing), Keeping esiddle will be more difficult: -1 (or 5% for every 2 points damage the character actually takes.) If the Horsemanship or Dexterity roll fils, then the rider falls to the ‘ground and has lost the bout EXAMPLE: Sir Danek and. Sir Cacti are TAT. characters Davrek is DX. 16, chainmail end ange set (hus 5 hits sonped, ADK 14). Careth is DX 419, pate armor and nye shield (hus “Tits stopped, ADX 12) AC the heralds Gey, they bring thle hors 29 eaop. AL the sange of thee lances ~ § hones apart Toash knight rolls o hi, Dassek sls 3 439 and Mis. Cet lle an 41 and also hits. With his higher ADX, Derek ros damage fist, for 10, points on Careth. This divdoy to $ “aetual™ pola of dmnave on Cueth,Caeth Tol posts | of damege on Danek, which rounds to 4. In cach eas, the armer ha stopped all ‘he damage, Now ech must ke a Dox toll to say in idle Dasek must rll a 4 (his ADX) minus 1, (becatse the Janes exceeded the necesary demaye by I,and 12 1) fora net roll of 13~ He roll a 12 and thus isl in he sade de But doubtes reeling from the near | fall Nowe Carethanist ris ADK (12). ances roll on him wae 4 eater then ecessry, 9 #2, 0 Cath rst tll fe He follsan 14, and thus fls rom his saddle; Danek fas won the tout. (Noe: ifthe gamesystem being used has 4am adequate Jousting proved, use insesd: thie fe intended as a sopsaD system for games with no joust rues) If two knights make a pass with neith- er being knocked from his saddle, then they return to their respective ends of the field, pick up fresh lances (if their previous ones hit, presume they broke); and charge one another again. This joust is « double-elimination con- test, so a Knight will still be in the run- hing until he has been defeated twice; at that time he is out of the competition, Scuttlebutt has it, for newcomers to the area, that Sir Actys and Dame JJaenyth are the knights 10 beat in this list; of course, one or more of the player- characters may be better and walk away with the tourney. The field this year will ave 16 knights competing (inchiding any PCs in com- petition). Thus, the first round will be eight bouts, and the second round will also have eight bouts (as no one could have been defeated twice in the first round). By the end of the third round, some knights wall have been defeated twice and will drop from competition. ‘The contest so continues until one winner is chosen, In any round which has an odd umber of competitors, one fighter will “fight the bye” — a defeated fighter will be called in to combat him, but if the fighter stil in competition is unhorsed, i does not count as a defeat. The bye is fought simply to keep all contestants ata similar stage of exhaustion Tincidentally, the GM need not go through the Gie-rolling rigamarole on each bout not involvinga player-cheracters hhowever, the GM should definitely give a bout-by-bout account of what is going fon and who is still in competition, any spectacular bouts, et. It makes the whole adventure seem more rel ‘The whole joust will take a number of hours, with frequent breaks being called in the action at the later hours. Pages will roam the stands with waterbuekets and ladles, and the taverner’s tent will no doubt be in operation, with ranners bringing drinks to thirsty customers on or around the field. At the joust’s end, Fenmare’s daughter, Lady Aylara, wll award to the winner the prize for this toumey: « matched weapon set of dress saber and dress Knife, both with etched blades and inlaid hilts. The Dlades themselves are of average fighting quality. ‘The assemblage will break up after the awarding of the prize, with Arvin, the herald, announcing that a “drama will be held for the enjoyment of the assembled ‘oodfolk” at dusk. This willleavea couple of hours for the assembled goodfolk to retire to their camps or the taverners’ tents to dine and clean up. "At dusk, the selfsame stands from Which the spectators watched the joust will be filled by spectators present for the drama, First, Agrast the charlatan performs # nice display of stage magic, with fire-cating and disoppearing/reappear- ing birds and other such nonsense. Then the drama, entitled “The Woodbeast” (¢ melancholy — some say dreary ~ moderne ization of a local legend about a man who is cursed to change into a beast) is per- formed But the playercharacters probably won't be able to sit through and enjoy the presentation. The most sharpxighted of them will notice Agrast packing up from his performance, leaving his mater als beside the stands, and heading off ‘remusedly into the woods. The same sharpsighied individual will also observe, off to the side of the point Agrast enters the woods, a pale shape flitting through the trees. If any PCs follow Agrast into the ‘woods, they will find him a hundted feet ‘or so in from the forest's edge, standing perfectly still, staring off into the tres. ‘The instant. ‘they catch sight of him, though, they'l see a pale shape flit away from behind Agrast ¢ shape the charlatan wwas evidently unaware of. Ifthe chara ters ask him what he's doing here, he'll talk, in a detached and troubled kind of ‘way, about Them — They're here, They're avenging Their dead, i's been so long df the characters ask him what They are, he'll ead them out of the woods and to his tent, where he'll scrabble sround, looking for = book he says he had out just a while azo. After a few more moments’ search, he will confirm that the book is missing — and what a loss, one of the few surviving copies of Remants in the Deep Woods by Alfinvius of Hotast ... It will become evident to the party that Agrast is more than a little off the deep end. If there are any serious students of magic among the group (not just field magicians, but indiv {duals who've spent time and interest on a study of magic and magic folklore), they'll remember that Remnants is & genuine tome, a detached and garbled Bestiary of deepwoods horrors, written some 2,000 years before. ‘Agrast will disappear that night, after the player-characters have left Day 2 (The Surprise, the Footman's Contest, the Archery Contest) ‘The ‘next moming, probably before the playercharacters wake, the tourney: ‘goers will have an unplessant surprise: Several folk were slain in the fringes of the woods last night, sometimes within feet of the locations of others left alive ‘Two guards were found slein; two pairsPLACE, 20-CENT STAMP HERE STEVE JACKSON GAMES BOX 189857-T Barone AUSTIN, TX 78760: 21 os 2s it —_ = — —— sms acute een 90 og — min oe aoe Seehof yen tn day 20 Sob abn toate ems hap cassie epg pag sas vy nara omg wenn by | spear dt at ee ump tn dB oeaisset to campsite (50 meters) Joust Field ‘STANDS: TOE STANDS. ROYAL BOX” Joust Field BARRICADES. SCALE: 1 hex =1 meterof trysting couples wore likewise found murdered; and a merchant who'd awak ened late’ to answer Nature's all never rade it back to his tont, All were found at the edges of the wood by morning guards, end all were pierced through as ‘though speared to death. Baron Fenmare announces that he believes there to be a madman at work in the forest da nat be alarmed, foresters and guards will track the man down, and for the time being people should stay in groups of three or moze — thore is litle chance that the madman would attack several people at once. Two guards are immediately assigned to Lady Aylara for protection. The ovent goes on uninter Tupted, and the bodies are removed. Word does fly, though, about tho death of Morgis the Hunter the other night ~ the fact that he, too, was pieced with spoar- like stabs, and had claimed to have killed a “H'ant” — and the rumor of haunts 200s up, especially among the commoners. The archery competition and foot men’s tourney are held simultsneously, ‘appointing any who'd wanted to attend both. In the archery toummey, the contest ants — 4 total of 32 entranis, including player characters — are adjudged by point totals acerued throughout the contest rounds. Each round consists of ten arrows shot at targets the size of round-shields; the targets are painted in the semblance of eyes, with a white band to the outside, a smaller blue band between outer ring and inner, and a black dish-ized “dot” in the center. Missing the target entirely gains the archer no points; hitting the ‘white guins him 2 points; hitting the blue gains 5, and hitting the black gains 10. ‘The first round % fred from 30 paces (about 30 yards), the second from 60 paces, and the third from 100 paces. At the end of the match, point totals are tallied — each contestant has & page, similar in funesion to a golfer’s caddy, to keep track of his sore — and the contestant with che highest point total wins, In case of a te, the two winners continue with subsequent rounds at the 100-pace distance until, at the end of round, one contestant has more points than the other. He is the winner, and is awarded a handiooled and matching sot of archor's accoutrements: quiver, belt, baldric, and bracers, plus a place at the baron’s table at tonights feast. A young lady named Mara of Toren isthe favorite for this competition. (Referee’s Notes Many RPG systems axe limited in that they do not provide for more than combat bowmanship — fastmoving and closexange archery use, If there's no way in a specific system for a character to make a lengthy shot — despite the fact that it was done in genuine history — you might find it advisable to delete this entire competi: tion from the adventure. As a rule of thumb, say that, if a character can make a lengthy shot and barely makes his to-it roll, he has hit the white; if he makes his roll by 3 oF more — that is, 15% better than he needed — he has hit the blue, and if he makes it by 7 or 35% better than necessary, he has struck the black.) The footmen’s tourney is fought some- what like the joust, but is sweater and bloodier. Only blunted weapons ere allowed; blunied weapons do one-half listed damage. The double-limination rules from the joust are in effect heres @ competitor is not eliminated until he has been beaten in two bouts. ‘A bout is over if (a) one opponent yields, (b) if character has lost over one- fourth his hit points (this is for systems which do not differentiate between damage to body parts, nd presumed that there is a marshal governing the fight, like boxer’s referee, who can call for 4 fight to be halted when he perceives that one fighter has lost, or (c) if the marshal perceives that one fighter has been wounded to the point that he should no longer be fighting (this can be used in systems where determination is made between damage to different areas of the body. Examples of a fighter who should not be on the field include one ‘who has lost half the hitpoints to two of his limbs, one who has sustained any sort of critical wound, one who is so tired that he cannot defend himself — for those systems which have some sort of endur ance considerations — etc.). Remem- ber that only blunted weapons are used, weapons which do one-half (rounded down) listed damage. No armor heavier than chainmail is allowed in tho fooimen’s tourney, and armor as light a a leather euirasis allow. ed but discouraged. All swords and axes (if blunted) and mace-type weapons are allowed; flail weapons and pole weapons (Gacluding spears) may not be used. The object of this tourney is not to kil one’s opponent, but to beat him, and to win the pouch of silver that is the toumney’s prize, (The exact amount would vary from game system to system, but should be sufficient to allow the average com rmoner to have two or three substantial nights on the town.) Twenty-seven footmen, including player-characters, will be competing in this list; Gaeris, a thick- set youth from 2 nearby village, is the favorite to win (he used to be the per petual second-place winner, after the unfortunate Mors) But here's where the event gets com- plicated — Lady Aylara, who was supposed to award the pouch’ of silver to the tourney winner, has not shown up, & ‘vial faux pas — but where is she? ‘A search called by her father reveals, in the space of a few minutes, the bodies ‘of her to guards under the stage where ‘Agrast performed the night before — the stage had been drageed off to an unfrequented area of the tourney ground, next 10 a copse of trees. The two guards hhave been stabbed to death, as though by. Forceful spear-blows. And the word “haunt” is repeated back and forth among all assembled... What Happens Next Now that we have gotten to the point where there are so many random elements in play that « further timeline would be out of the question. The GM must rely on his knowiedge of what is going on and improvise around his char- acters’ actions. Lady Aylara has, in reality, been kidnapped by henchmen ofthe opportun- istic Lord Telberan, who had her guards speared from behind to foist the blame fon the supposed “madman” of the night before. He has her hooded, gagged, and bound in a very well hidden glade in the forest, now garded by the three men who ‘killed her former guards. She was gagged, hooded and tied so quickly thet she cannot identify her attackers, Lord Telberan intends to wait for an opportune time in the search he knows is to come, and then will stage aight with the “mad: rman” to “rescue” Aylara ~ she wil only be able to hear the fight, and will suppos- edly believe Telberan’s story that he attacked and drove off her kidnapper. So Telberan ends up a hero — or $0 he thinks, For he stil thinks thatthe killings wore indeed the work of a madman .. ‘Agrast the Charlatan isn't really mad; faced with the prospect of spending too much time with a band of inquisitive adventurers last night, he simply lapsed into his typical “Senile Old Faker” act until they’ wandered off bored; then he began. his own investigations. He is no magician, but is a talented woodsman and sage, and suspects that these events are the result of Eilythry vengeance. He will stick to the woods, relying on his phenomenal stealth and woodsmanship toprotect him from the Eilyshry hunters until he can observe the best way to escape — whether 'tis on his own or with 2 party of people attempting to leave. One thing that remains # mystery to him Js: Who took his book? Which brings us to Tekker the Usly, another NPC who can be thrown in any time as an encounter or a good ally for the PCs to have. Tekker’s not his real name, nor is he in reality uglyshe’s a spy for the Crown, on the site to see if Fen: rare is really as inept as he’s appeared ‘these last several months, or whether he’s a vietim of some sort of political maneuy: ering, He doesn’t know the answer to that yet, but he knows that he’s stumbled onto a mystery. It was he who found and stole Agrast’s book after watching the old man behave erratically several hours before, and now he’s aware that there's something out in the forest — no mad killer, but a race of woodsbeings. (Note to GMs: If one of the player-characters Just happens to be a spy for the Crown, hhe might serve in this role in place of Tekker, making for a more complex venture), The Eilytiry, forty-three in sll — the last survivors of a race that once boasted a hundred thousand — are operating in the forest, just outside the humans’ range of vision. They operate singly, attacking anyone they find and then ting off to the next vietim. Eilythry are supremely confident and willing to singly engage up to five or six individuals. How: ever, as removed as they've stayed from humankind, they still regard man as being little more advanced than his fur-wearing lub-bearing ancestor, and are not yet prepared for heavily-armored, competent swordsmen of the sort they'll be encount ng. A problem with the Eilythry mind is its slow adaptability to change; it would take the average Eilythry years to reorient itself to the thought of man as @ techinological, toolusing creature, and that will prove the Eilythry’s undoing They'll attack groups of seatchers, do massive damage, and be brought down one by one. This day, the Eilythry race will be progressively, inevitably wiped out by searchers out to find Aylara and combat “ants.” Baron Fenmare, of course, will order ‘an immediate search for his daughter and the “mad killer” promising @ rather formidable reward to the individual or individuals who find them. Of the five hundred or so attendees of the event, about 30% will arm up and head off into the woods in bands of five or six — hopefully, the player-characters will be among those, probably forming 4 group unto themselves. The remaining 70% of the attendees will gather in the camp area, with lots and lots of guards posted around, too many for even Bilythry to assault. Fenmarc will be with one of the parties in the woods, accompanied by Sit ‘Actys and Dame Juenyth and thelr squires. ave ube) beaiele heron) ‘As noted, there are any number of ways the adventure can progress, depend: ing on the player-characters' actions and the GM's sense of confusion or vicious. ness. What will happen, though, is that about half of the people searching in the ‘woos will not return alive. Most groups of five to six will be encountered by at least one Eilythry. The Eilythry will be able to kill half the members of an average group before being dragged down, by the vest. (This presumes that the player-characters constitute an above. average group, as is Baron Fenmarc’s group.) Some groups of humans will be encountered by more than one Bilythry (one after another) and be utterly wiped out, Still more infrequent groups will encounter no one but corpses. This presents the opportunity for a good GM to present a chilling and ominous running Fight, as the player-characters tramp through the forest, are confronted and pethaps injured by an Bilythty before killing it, continue on, stumbling across the occasional unlucky band of searchers, hearing screams far off in the distance as the afternoon thickens toward dusk and they meet another Eilythry . and another ‘What may happen (some sug for the creative GM) Lady Aylera’s captors could be assault ced by an Eilythry, and the scene of that ght be stumbled upon by the PCs just as the young lady is about to be killed, Lord Telberan may escape just before the heroes? arsival, or may use their timely arrival and combat with the Ellythry to carry Aylara off yet again The playercharacters could be sur prised by the silent arrival of Agrast, who explains what's going on to. them, Depending on their normal operating pro: ‘cedure, they might just decide “No reward is worth this,” and begin battling their fay cross-country to the nearest plains ritory, a mere day’s walk away through deep forest... gestions26 Lord Telberan might try to pin the “mad kiler” tide on one of the player characters after staging his “rescue” of ‘Alara, requiring that individual's escape not only from Eilythry but from Fen- PNacaucla) Of course, as most groups of searchers encounter their first Eilythry (or batch of corpses), they'll probably turn around and head their way back tocamp. Whether for not they make it there is another matter. The people left behind will see the searchers depart into the woods in late afternoon, immediately after Aylara’s disappearance is noted. Within half an hour after that, the first survivors will start staggering back to camp, armed with wounds and acounts of their com- rades dying and of the grim, pale, silent haunts of the Harkwood. AAs the hours progress, more and more survivors will stragale back. As the day tums to night, most of the action will have resolved itself — per the suggestions above, or as the GM wishes. Throughout the early hours of the evening, the last of the Filythry will be dying in the woods a tragedy felt, pechaps, only by Agrast = but the humen survivors wil be return- ing until after dawn of the next day, in various degrees of health and sanity Fenmare and his escort will probably survive the night’s terrors, somewhat the worse for wear. Depending on the GM's choice for the course of the adventure, ‘Aylara may make it back alive — with player-characters or non-player-character rescuers, or pethaps even (let’s hope not) with a smug Telberan. As promised, her sescuer(s) will be amply rewarded. Fenmarc’s forces — both among the knights and footmen — will have been depleted by the night's rigors Any playercharacter seen. showing con spicuous gallantry and ability will be cffered employment in Fenmarc’s service. ‘Minor nobles and squires showing excep- tional ability might be knighted somewhat later on, once word has reached the Crown, ‘And Harkwood will remain a setting for adventures, should the GM wish, ‘though mainly for adventures of the cloak and dagger. or intrigue variety. ‘Tekker the Uply, after making his report to the Crown, will probably be assigned ‘o continue his investigation of Fenmarc’s capacity. Player-characters may be requested to assist him, or may be hired by the baron to find out who is spying on him and why. If Telberan has escaped the night unharmed and undiscovered, he will immediately begin his political ‘maneuvering again, He may even be a few steps further toward achieving his goal. if he was seen to rescue Aylara. Clues dropped by the GM — such as the over- hearing of certain incriminating senten- ces from Telberan — could alert PCs that something is not right about the sleeay nobleman. Agrast could flee into the woods to study what he can find of the Eilythry, and emerge months later with some relic of their lost magic, cata pulting the characters into some other adventure. One of the player-characters could have designs on Aylara; if he is nobly-born, Telheran would perceive him as a throat and attempt to arrange for his, removal from the scene ‘And so on. But use The Haunting of Harkwood any way you please — perhaps as just a ‘tournament in the middle of any other sequence of adventures, without the Filythry or Telberan’s plans ever entering into it. ela joa oh ato) ity Below are the vite statistics for the major NPCS ‘in Haunting. Esch character is sepse- sented by a 1-20 score in the characteristics Strength (STR), Grace (GRA), Health (HLT), Intelligence (NT), ‘Willpower’ (WIL), Attac= tiveness (ATT), and Chatisma (CHA). Strength defines raw plisical power: Grace (also known as. Dexterity) defines quickness, handines, balance, etc; Health (also known as Const ‘utlon) defines resistance to shock, disease, e., fad frequently modifies hit point totals; Inti: ligence is x measure of the charactor’ ability 16 learn and utilize information: Wilpower is the charactors sense of self (often used as a function of the magle system); Attractiveness Js the charactee’s physical beauty; and Charisma inthe character's raw personal magnetisn “The characters Baron Fenmare: STR 13, GRA 12, HLT 14 INT IL, WIL 15, ATT 13, CILA 15. Broadsword Df Olher Swords 60%, Court Behavior 75%, Specchmaking 65%, Horsemanship 55%, Lance 40, Literate Ledy Ayla: STR 8, GRA 14, HLT 11, INT 13, WIL 15, ATT'17, CHA'13. Court Behavior 70%, Horsemanship 45%, “Literate (in four aditonal lave) Tord Telberan: STR 11, GRA 15, HLT 9, INT 15, WIL 14, ATT 14, CHA 11, Brcadsword 50%, Other Swords 40%, Polesrms 40%, Long- ‘bow 85%, Court Behavior 60%, Slight of Hand 45%, Sir Aciye: STR 17, GRA 15, HLT 14, INT. 13, WIL 12, ATT 10, CHA 14. All Swords 90%, Other HTH weapons generally 756, Bows 70%, [Lance 80%, Horsemanship 70%, Court Behavior OF, Law ‘50%, Speechmaking SO%, Literate, fone extra langue, Dame Jeenyth: STR 13, GRA 10, HLT 11, INT 14, WIL 13, ATT 14, CHA 15, Broadsword 90%, Othor Swords 80%, Other HTH weapons usually 65%, Lance 90%, Bows 30%, Horseman- ‘hip 88%, Court Behavior 70%, Salling 50%, Literate, “tree additional languages, instane taneous translator, “Aaratt the Charlzon: STR 11, GRA 14, HLT 10, INT 16, WIL 14, ATT S, CHA 16. Acting 75%, Slight of Hand & Pickpocketing 90%, Spoochmaking SOS, Stage Magic 75%, Animal Tesiner 68%, Woodsnanship 95%, Stealth 90%, Magic Study 45%, Historian 40%, [iterate four adaitional languages. Tekker the Usl) (actually Merzn of Halsu): STR 19, GRA 10, HLT 17, INT 13, WIL 12, ATT 10, CHA 11, Broadsword 808 most other HTH weapons 70% pole weapons 50%, bows 30fe, Acting 65%, Dispute 70%, Hossemanship 45%, Detection ‘of Lies 40%, Stealth 60%, Enhanced Hearing, Literete, one. additional Janguage, thre additional eodes. ‘Bilyzhry (common): STR 10, GRA 17, HLT 10, INT 8 (wisdom and experience more than counterbalanced by lack of inventiveness for curjosiy), WIL 16, ATT 7 (o humans), CHAS (dito), Speat 80%, Woodsmanship 95%, Stealth 90%, Porest™ Survival 95%, Enhanced Hoating, infrared Vision, Running, ‘cannot understand human tongues. (For a zeal ‘geal, you ean ve your characters an especially nasty Eilythry* Spear and Stealth up 10 100%). ‘Other names to. dr0p for NPC encounters and random opponents: oust) Sir Dark, Siz Cateth, Sit Ambish, Siz Loel, Squire Anya (Actys), Squire Kand”(Actys),” Squire Ellyn Gaenyth'y),‘Squize Hovard (Dares); (Foot men’s) Palin, Arik the Loud, Stafforth, Dseth, Waller of Tarmoor; (Archery, Bazaat) Dana Korsdatte, Lord Bisthyn, Lady Tuese, Owin the Bard, Lyana, Janier, and Mocking Myzddis Final Notes In case you're curious, the arrange- ‘ments for the three types of competitions described in the text don’t necessarily match tournament practices of any particular time in real-life history. How- ever, they make for a simple way to resolve such tournaments, one which can bbe expanded upon or altered by GMs wishing to do s0 and which can provide for an interesting alternative to dungeon- mashing — an alternative which makes the characters feel more at home in their culture Little attention has been given in this scenario to the other major function of the tourney event, the Merchants’ Bazaar. ‘This is because twas not integral to the adventure, and not all adventurers. will spend time there, The GM is encouraged to go wild with improvised and spon- taneous descriptions of the interesting folk encountered therein, of random events and perhaps short-iempered duel for two between NPCs and PCs, as the player-characters’ actions dictate,vs ty CONSPIRACY CONTINUES pe eo ale amen cue oe Ce Ua eC eeaC oe a ee PCC ee om eh Pee LS mtd Dro Rye Cae Cae Now the webs of intrigue grow even more complex — with the ILLUMINATI expansion sets. Set 1 brings you the Pentagon, the Phone Phreaks, the Flat Earthers — and that useful device, the Swiss Bank Account. So ee Ue eo Be aes et Oke Nuclear Power Companies, and (gasp!) the Orbital Mind Ce Meee eee mn g SE eu e meme CLC E Loa the Network in Set 2) and two blank cards, to let you Roe Ce cE to eos vos aro SET 1: 27 game cards, ziplock bag, 8"/,” x 14” De ea ee ce ee une SECU cu ec oe eee eS ee eae Pocket Box, and a special “I’ve Been Illuminated” button, Strike back at the Conspiracy . . . or join it . . . or both. The ILLUMINATI expansion sets are the perfect tool for world domination. Don’t wait . .. THEY are PRU Ree Cr ba Se es ordered for $6 each from Steve Jackson Games, Box 18957, Austin, Texas 78760. Lee ea ee ace en eee estes NO ter hee ane eee meaner ees Oe 2 STEVE JACKSON GAMES28 We have some more details for you on ‘the upcoming split of The Space Gamer, ‘Since Stove and I sat down to tripewriter and wrote our respective columns last month, we've had lots of planning and ‘meetings to iron out the petty details of the transformation ‘of TSG into Space Gamer and Fantasy Gamer. ‘The first, minor, change (as the above sentence hints), is that we've dropped the ruisancy article — the “the.” The article tended to get in the way, like untied laces on your shoe, and led to interesting manhandling of the language — was it ‘The TSG Approach? The SG Approach? The Space Gamer Approach’ The Space Gamer approach? Now we can be sure Tl be editing both magazines, at least for the time being, That may change as frequency increases. My assistant editors each will have a specific responsibility IEMAPPING AlDS 3 “Streets of Gems EROLE PLAY GAME AIDS £ SRE FOR FRP GAMESMASTERS << | sgonal Grid Mapping System Very wort the price" ma scase tc rman “An'impressive product know of no beter id” tens ow: eae inevest ‘Companion Pieces ~ Fantesy Furnishings 82 designs for figure sized maps I MODULAR ADVENTURES FOR ANY RFP SYSTEM Counter Intelligence Richard Steinberg will be the Space Gamer assistant editor, and Chris Frink will perform those chores for Fantasy Gamer, ‘The two magazines will have different approaches to layout and graphics to reflect their different orientations. How. ever, they won't descend to excessive floweriness or tiresome hardware jargon, nor will we go in for illegible Old English ‘or computer typefaces. And, as for the Most Important Ques- tion of All: Yes, Murphy's Rules will, for the time being, be in both magazines. Heard Around the Office Every so often, a stray comment of peculiar import comes floating through the office. I'l pass these on as they accu- ‘ulate. This month's batch; THE COMPANIONS 245 Water St, Bath, ME 04590 The Curse on Hareth +The Brotherhood of the Bolt ZS" nteriocked adventures, secret societies, NPCs, and monsters for advanced layers, discriminating gamesmasters, ané sophisticated campaigns gp “Treasure Troves | ~ Cards of Power Over 80 new treasures ~ five complete magical decks Places of Mystery -- Alluring Alcoves ‘Twenty enticing rooms ~ figure scale maps ~ fully described traps by Aaron Allston “naide every thin person is a fat one ‘yearning to breathe free..." “What's this trilobite doing in my martini?” “If you ever have to barbecue your laundry, you don’t have to explain it.” Marching off to War We're about to enter the glorious Convention Season smong gamers. Our next stop (long over by the time you read this column) is Agsiecon, one of Texas’ premier SF conventions. I may write a few lines about it next month, Our crew returned a week or two ago from Microcon in San Mateos, TX. There, they had a good time, met some good folk, and groused that the good movies were on too early in the day. Recreation is no easy life : NEXT ISSUE Next month will see the debut of the frst ‘new look” Space Gamer, Weil have for you “Big Lizzie,” « cowboys vs. din- osaurs adventure from the skewed perceptions of W.G. Armintrous; Featured Review and Designer's Notes for STAR TREK: THE ROLE: PLAYING GAME; “The Andy Chernak Interven,” as ‘our Metal contributing editor talks to the president of Grenadier ‘At tong last GOLIATH, latest in series of second-generation Ogres; and Hybrid hemen.PROBABLY WITH A POUND OF FLESH ~ A player who las betome expert: at Yaqintos NSoal A Spe not fermbed toalhie ED postin. ries or stati thay lee pe Re or the leet DOES DE MECOY KNOW? FASA’s STAR TREK: THE ROLE-PLAYING GAME describes the ieee ema bend “lel desce “applied to shoulder just shove where the ear is located in humans.” NOT TO MENTION PERFORMING THE. CARD-CARRYING CONFUSION > From Schubel & Son's CATACOMBS OF CHAOS: comes this word: “If the. card reader cannats read your card, we will take a look at it to see if we know you're. trying, to do. If, despite. ined, we or the [aera Mer ern a recsive 2 notice on your tam result tat MINUTE WALTZ +: in 5S Games! CAR WARS, i is possible fora driver; in He space of six seconds, to accelerate From O to SO mph, perform as. many as 25 driving, maneuvers Safely, and / Freon three ive tay swash fp roweive a sind: ePo ton30 Where We’re Going Over the last few years, wargaming (or adventure gaming, or whatever you want +o eall it) has been increasing in popular. ity. One welcome side effect has been ‘the increased recognition that the world of science fiction fandom has given to the gaming hobby. Science fiction gaming is ‘now an accepted part of fandom; almost ‘every convention has a couple of game tournaments, and some SF cons are now inviting game designors and publishers as guests. ‘The science fiction media are respond: ing to this increased interest, as well. An ‘occasional mention of games in a science fiction magazine is nothing new . . . but we have now hit the big time. The two top magazines in the science fiction field — Analog and Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine — have started regular coverage of SF games. Both magazine's columns are waitten by Dane Lombardy, the designer of ‘Streets of Stalingrad and essociate pub lisher of Game Merchandising magazine Incidentally, though both SF magazines are owned by Davis Publications, the two CLEMENS AND ASSOCIATES, the columns are not “clones” — Dana writes now material for each magazine each month, Sometimes the columns deal with things that any Space Gamer reader is likely to know — ice, an explanation of game conventions — but more often they consist of reviews and commentary that you don’t want to miss. 1 encourage all of you to pick up both Analog and Asimov's to take a look at ‘these columns (the rest of the magazines read pretty well, 100). And, if you're already a faithful reader, you “might want to write to the editors, thanking them for covering games and encouraging them to keep itup. Autoduel Quarterly The first issue of Autoduel Quarterly went to the printers a few days ago (as 1 write this, that is). By aow, it should certainly have reached subseribers” mall ‘boxes, and probably your local hobby shop, a8 well. T apologize for the delay We had originally planned it for late January . .. we changed that to February to Keep it from interfering with the schedules of the other magazines .. .and its actual debut will be late March. Oh well ... the next issue (Summer, 2033) is scheduled for late May, and should really come out about that’ time. The 2033 Gating? Simple. The Car Wars universe is 50 years in our future ~ so ADQ carries 1 date 50 years ahead of the present one, Speaking of Car Wars, we're about to go into a third printing. The new male- book will have a number of changes — mostly small ones — to make the game un more smoothly. There will also be (aallelujah!) an index, so that you don’t have to buy a new tule set (unless you want to). Well be collecting the changes to mn in ADO. Ogre is about to be re- printed, as well, but there will be no changes at all AThip toL-S AAs this isue goes to press, [ll be leaving for the L-5 Space Development Conference in Houston. Some of the topics to be discussed there include Private Enterprise in Space, Military Space Systems, Terraforming, and Inter- stellar Migration; if it's as interesting as it promises to be, TM report on it in a future Where Wee Going are proud to announce their new Play-By-Mail game - The ice age has made your village uninhabitable and you have been selected to lead part of the tribe to a warmer area. ‘You must now choose who is to go with you and what: equipment. to take. 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Mon. to Sot 10:306:00 Thurs ti 9:00 11 East 33rd Sureet NYC 10016 212 685-3880 ‘Mail order hotline: 800 / 225-5344 THE IPLEAT eve Got It Allt Mon 10 Set, 10:30:00 Thurs ti 9:00 320 West 7th street NYC 10016 212/ $824272 Wal otder hotline: 800 / 225-4344 ‘Adventure Gaming Specialists GAMEMASTERS HOBBIES, INC, 4627 Geary Blvd. ‘San Francisco, CA 94118 415 | 387-4118 Catalog. available for $2.00 ~ Phone orders accepted with Via or MasterCard GAMES OF BERKELEY anrecen” ery Goawae I e THE TIN SOLDIER 9 Court House Place Springfield, Mass. 01103 413/737-8543 catalogue available for 75¢ phone orders accepted with VISA or MasterCard ‘THE LITTLE SHOP OF WAR 5 Morriman Road 216) Akron, OF 44300, s7aa814 Ohio's mast completa adventure game headquarters Catatogue $1.60 THE IPLEAT We've Got It All! Tue to Sat. 11:00-7:00 Thurs. 9:00 5406 Sting Rowe Davie, FL 35314305 / 961-660 Mal onder hotline: 800 / 225-4344 YANREE DOODLE GAME 6 HOBBY 100s of boardgames — 1000s of indatures, paints, accessories — Write Catalog $1.50 op call 6831 Longview Road 816/ Kansas City, MO 64134 761-1113 ARCHAIC HOBBIES Speciolizing in fantasy and science fiction role-playing games 1700 South Solano 505 / Las Cruces, NM 88001 522.2335,32 LETTERS ‘Please don’t publish games in TSG. It is my favorite magazine, I gladly pay the admittedly high subscription rate (for 1 gaming magazine) because, as far as I'm concemed, you're number one. Games ‘are great, The whole gaming world focuses on games, But they detract from a magazine if they are directly enclosed, Tam not an inexperienced gamer. T ‘watched Ares come and go. I saw SET go. I don't want to be eritical, but SPI had the greatest ability to make regularly. published games. You have about the poorest Don't got_me w1ong. You are the best company in gaming, and don’t you forget it, But you just can’t expect to do even a third of what a corporation like SPI could Robert Hayes I'm afraid that I can't tet @ couple of points you make side by unchallenged. First, it wasn't Ares{S&T games ‘that killed SPI; it was nonsurvtval bus: ness practices. In contrast, SJ_Games has no significant outstanding debts and hhag seen continuous expansion during FOREVER A squad level game of a 1,200 year war based upon the novel by Joe Haldeman = 10 Scenarios Varying Tech Levels = Geomorphie Board Games Ine. P.O. Box 5987 Chicago, IL. 60680 diy the worst recession in recent memory. ‘Second, T cannot see any evidence for our having the poorest ability to make regularly published games, Poorest of ‘whom? Wich a massive backlog of market- able game design ideas, a horde of willing contributors, and a talented fulbtime production staff, we rate poorest? Third, as for not accomplishing a third of what SPI could ~ well, give us time, Well se. AA 11s always # useful deflation of an author's ego t0 find people who have never oven heard of his work, let alone read it, (Ref your Editor’ Introduction to Russell Grant Collins’ recent review of my Man, Myth & Magic.) All the same, 1 can't help wondering if $JG staf might not benefit ftom a little broadening of their usual reading selection. ‘With just shade more effort than asking around their “immediate environs” they will find that my last three novels, The Greythors Woman, Dream of Destiny and Dark Moon, were brought out in hardback and paperback in the US. and Britain, tht the publisher involved in the first two was Doubleday, Inc the world’s largest, while Holt Rinehart & Winston, one ‘of the most prestigious publishing houses in the States brought ‘out Dark Moon. Out of the eight further nonfiction books, most have seen simultae neous British and US. publicetion in hhardback and paperbeck and one, Occult Reich, has gone into Spanish, Portugese, Mexican and Japanese editions. Foreign language editions of other titles are on sale in Israel, France, Holland and Italy. "As seience fiction readers, unless they axe very young, your staff should really have known that until about four years ago my work was appearing in US. magazines like Analog, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, Worlds of 1, and Galaxy. Naturally they would have had no way of knowing my short fiction has also been published in Britain, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Bek sium, Holland, Zambia, ‘South Africa, Franco, and Germany as wll. (Or that Pm founder member of World SF.) None of this makes me another Hemingway, but it does, I think, deserve ait better than the implication in your review introduction that Yaquinto's reference to my professional background in thor advertising was 8 baseless hype. Herbie Brennan County Kildare, ireland Thanks for the self-Introduetion, Inck dentally, my intro to the MM&M review did not imply that Yaquinto's mention of ‘your professional background was “base less ype" — rather, I was commenting upon Yaquinto’s habit, in lis advertise- ‘ments, of promoting your virtues without introducing you 10 ihe gaming public. still feel that such an inaroduction is necessary, in light of that advertising campaign. AA Robot Safari (TSG 60) was the best adventure you've printed yet, even better than Lair of the Fat Man, and also the ‘most creatively presented. (Nice pseudo- photos by Denis; the one on page 28 makes me think he's been studying the great Will Fisner’s clasic Spint tales.) ‘Safari lends itself to interesting tinkering Suppose Buck is really an agent for the smugglers, only posing as a drunk? When the expedition radios its news back, Buck could prepare a little weleoming commit- tee to greet it upon its retum to the main cache point, If he does this, the players would need help, so maybe Skukie had a remote-control box that could. direct the actions of the robot ‘animals; or maybe the Hauler fortuitously ‘conks out a few miles away from cache point and the party allies with a Zalika sect which wants to drive Robot Sefari from their land; or maybe with the 15 enslaved Zalika natives is a captured lawenforcoment agent, operating under. cover, who will help the party. All sorts of realy neat options. You know, if you published « mage azine full of these adventures, for one {game or several, I would probably buy it Gf they weren't simply reprinted from TSG). I say this, even though I don't play FutureWorld) 1 don’t mean a regular periodical of them, I mean # one-shot of, say, 60 pages for $5 or $6. Another, even more intriguing possibil- ity, would be a TSC-sized role-playing game complete with selicontained adver tures and. simple mules. Suppose you have an RPG concept that doesn’t lend itself to an openeended campaign (say Hugoes & Harlans). The first 16 0: 20 pages would detail the rules, and then there would be three ot four S-page adventures, possibly eonneeted, counters and map bound in the middle, all for six or seven dollars. A good value, a much better way to package interesting but limited conceptions like Pirates & Plunder or that high-school RPG [Alma Mater — AA], and with a magazine format you might bo able to break into a new market. ‘Allen Varney Stanford, CA33 CAPSULE REVIEWS THE SPACE GAMER reviews board games, roleplaying games, computer games, video games, and game supple- ments, We review play-by-mail games if a reviewer is enrolled. We will review any science fiction or fantasy game if the pub- lisher supplies a copy. We do not guaran tee reviews of historical wargames, TSG may publish @ review of @ game we are nav sent — IF a reader submits a review. The staff will make reasonable efforts to check reviews for factual accuracy, but opinions expressed by reviewers are not necessarily those of the magazine ei Game itoms for which Space Gamer reviews have been assed or received include Adren- ture Class Shine Volume I, (The) Alien, Cops, Crooks, & Chilons, Droits, Final Confer, FORCE. Fringeworthy, FIL 2448, Galae-Tac, Gangiord, GI Assault Teom, Hiandvook of the Manel Universe, Mumineti Expansion Sets 1 ‘nd Il, Operation Morpheus, San Suce!, Shuttle Intercept, Soldiers of Fortune, Siar Trek (PBYD, Star Trek (RPG), end Warboid World, ‘Game items for which Space Gamer is seeking reviews dnelude Autoduel Quarterly, Boarding Ports, Cassiopeion Empire, revises Champions, Espionage, Famine in Far-Go, Faso i Perl, Galactic Adventurers, ‘High Ranger Guard, ‘Mumivat, Interstellar Ware, MIS.S1.0.%., Rae in Space, Spectre, Star Explorer, Star Sector ‘Atlas 2," Star Sentry, Castie's Super Heroes, Castle's Survival Force, Traveler Starter Edition, Volturus(Planet of Mystery, and Voyerer Game items for which Fantasy Gamer reviews have been atigned or rcaived include Arena Combat, Ascent 10 Hell, Batlemis, Cards of Power, Crystal Caverns, Dark Crystal ‘miniatures, Death 10 Setanta, Eardhwood, End tess Quests, Feudal Lords, ‘The Glastonbury Labyrinth, Kingdom of the Sidhe, Lords ofthe Dark Horse, ‘Newarange Reactivated, Role ‘master, Sitvrdav, The Sunken Lands, Swords Dearer, Tere If, Tinugh Dungeons Deep, Tome of Migiey Matic, Treature of Unicorn Gold, ‘nd Zork ‘Game items for which Faniagy Gomer is seeking reviows include Against the Cult of the Reptile God, Aluring Aleoves, Ardor, Aztec, ‘Basenlon, Biszard Poss, Book of Trearre Mop Ml, Chiling. Chambers, Complete Duntson of ‘the Bear, Corsirs of altar, Curse of Xana- ‘thor, Dark Folk, Demons of Dundurn, The DM's Book of Nasty Trieks, Druids of oom, ‘Dungeon Maps, Gamemester, Choulesh, Gobtin, Heroes and Vitis, Kemaksra, Monster Squash, Necromancer, Orscie, avis, Phares of Hesrost, Quester, Question of Gravity, Questwortd, RuneQuest “Companion, Runes, Sanctuary, Scorch for she Lost City, Shield Maidens of Sea Rune, Soctety of Sorcery, The Tarot Quest, Thieves" Guild 7, Warior, Wartor-Lords of Darok, Weapons '& Castes, Witches Court ‘Marshes, Wizard's World, Wondrous Weapons, and The World of Sverdewn. BATILESUIT (Steve Jackson Games); $5.00. Designed by Steve Jackson. 24-page rulebook, 275 doublesided, oversized counters, 21" x 32° map, ziplock’ bag for counters, Plastic Pockst Box. Two players. Playing time 50 minutes to 2 hose. Published 1983. BATTLESUIT is tho ktest in the line Of OfFe/G.E.Y. games, set in the same 2isi ‘century mulear war, Where Ogre and G.E.7. oncentzate on vehicles, BATTLESUIT deals ‘with the man-toman conflicts, Both sides @aneuropean and Combine) use powered amorelad infantry with micro-nuke firing weapons. The game Is every bit as deudly as sounds. Rules for movement, combat, spotting, target painting, indirect fire, limited fight (sing jerpacks}, and robot drones for fighting, Spotting, and mess destruction are included Optional sues for command contol augment the morale rules, andthe ruleabout sit integrity rakee the otitield even more hellish, The fume moves quill and precively. ECB, rather than armor plating, decides who survives and ‘who dics, Against x heavy weapon, no-one i fate BATTLESUIT, the frst vesion of which was published in "TSG 58, achieves what it st fut fo do: Show smallanit combat inthe world OF Opre/G.E.¥. and does $0 excellently. The rues re prove, the counters «tefl iagsr than sal for handling, and the line of sight rules, although a Bit complex, are inred {Bly accurate ‘wish that the map had been as nie a the Ovre{6.8.¥. maps; the brown-on-green creation Is not worthy of Denis Loubet, she arts And Where are the vehicle, the pride and joy (and mainstay) of the armies of 2085? Not moze ‘han one mention se made of them (although Tam ‘old that $1 Games plans to put out an expanson sl adding vehicles), In all, BATTLESUIT quite accurately epresents'one hex of oferrin combat from GEV, and is just as doadly, For thos whe Would’fellow’ the progress of the world of 2085, this game isa must. = Onis Shetey DRAGON RAGE (Heritage / Dwartstar) 84,95. Designed by Lewis Pulspter. 111” x 14” fullcolor mapboard, 24page sulebook, one damage record shect, 154 fulkeolo: counters, to dice. Two playerssplaying time one to four hours. Published 1982, In DRAGON RAGE, various groups of sxeatuces, including Dragons, Giants, Goblins, id the omnipresent Ores, ty t0 break into 8 walled city. They seek to avenge the wanton destruction of some Dragon okas by a few thoughidess city dwellers. The sequence of play is very straightforward. The invaders and the chy-dwells follow the sine playertum sequence of spell casting, movement, missile Ike, and melee, Movement is quite simple, since all hexes have « movement point value of one” How far a unit moves depends on how many movement point is alloted; the only exoeo- tions ae road travel" whieh i faster, and walls tnd gates — walls must be seled and gatos mashed, and thorein Hes the ‘suspense, The diffrent invaders have ifforont sealing and suathing abilities, while Dragons and Roos can Ay right over the wall. There are some intsrosi- Jing touches... Giants cam walk on river hexes (de to their height), Dragons whose legs have been destroyed can ‘ther, and bridges can be ruined asa les resort, Combat isin two modes, Normal troop and misile combat is resolved by dividing the defender’ strength into the atac e's strength, That number i dhe number that ‘ust be rolled ona single de to eliminate the Gefender, Monsters ae atacked by rolling a die to determine a hit (usually a $ or 6) and, if it the monster suffers a damage point los equal tots attacker's strongth, Wizards have hand fof spells, but magi not an important faetor in the game. The Jnvaders.win by ecupying ‘and “destroying key positions “whlch yield victory points. DRAGON’ RAGE is a step in the sight icection. It offers a deceptively simple game system that provides exciting play anda realistic feel, The rules for scaling and smashing can rake the siege quite sspenseful. David’ Hel ‘er's map is especially attractive. ‘One problem T experienced in_ playing was the relative ease of hacking at a Dragon's legs and immobilizing him. The fist scenario, with just two Dragons, didn't really test the ciy’s met. On the other hand, the scenarios ft featured Giants, Ors, Goblins and Trolls Ina he defenders runing let and right to stem the tide, A Giant, though, seemed too vulnerable. DRAGON RAGE i 2 worthwle. gum. ‘To some extent, [ felt ike I wes playing out & ‘ileal skirmish from Chaostum’s Dragon Pass. RAGE is an intiuing game, drawing you back for another go and its a quick setup. One can only bemoan the passing of Heritage and the warts line of ses, ~ Mathew 4, Costelto ‘eran cues conan STARFLEET VOYAGES (Terta Games); Designed by *Michael Scot." One 815" page rulebook (with erat slips), 1W0 BA" x 1d lighe eazdstock template sets,34 character sheets starship data sheets and dice, boxed. Published 1982. STARFLEET VOYAGES Is something fen oddity. 1's obousl en afer to capitalize fn the renewed interest in Star Trek adventure fuming thas followed Star Trek 11, while voiding the high licensing fees sssocisted ‘with any “official” Star Trek game. The heart Of the fulos is @ reprint of che old Heritage Star ‘Trek RBG of several years back, with Some extra material on skills, Star” Fleet ‘crdanietion, ranks and uniforms, lus updates from the two movies, all wih the specific character names omitted, Thus Kik is now “Captain.” Spock ie *Vulean Selenee Officer," McCoy “Chief Surgeon,” etc. (hough die Kiingon, Romulan and Keind sample characters retain er orignal names). The section on Sarflght seems 10 bea modification of Game- seionco's Star Flee Bare Manual with some Adaptations from the same company’s. Star Pairol for sysem and planetary data geneetion, ‘What i really odd (or not so odd, depending on your viewpoint), is that the designer of STAR- FLEET VOYAGES is listed a8 Michael Scott, nom de plume of SEEM and Star Patol desin- OF Michael Soot: Kurick. What's good about’ STARFLEET VOY- AGES is tat it brings beck into. print the original StarTrek RPG rules, which. were rot a bad Le aysiem, Nearly every piece of equipment, weapon, ship, race or ereatue from the rogulat and. animated series is covered at feast Briefly, with updates in this edition from the movie (with the obvieus exceptions of Veer and the Genesis Deves) — more than are covered in FASA's offical Star Trok REG. ‘Another thing SV as that the FASA set doesn't is a system for determining inter The most sophisticated state-of-the-art computer-moderated play-by-mail game now available to the discern- ing wargamer or role- playing enthusiast. For a free information kit, write .dventures Design Group, Inc. P.O. Box 821072 Dallas, Texas 75382 or send $17.50 for rules and setup. Ploate specify: Nomad GNorthman stellar distances for the purpose of inflight time, which should please those concerned with such detail. Unfortunately, the game suffers fom very poor production, coupled wih arlatvely Tigh ‘price for what t contains. The rues are reproduced from typewritten copy,_ several pages of which were faded into nearobscurty ‘in my copy, witha fir amount of typos. The paper whieh the lee and character and ship {data sheets are printed om appear o be merely ‘ahigharade newsprint. Tae ahip silhouettes on the templates ar crudely printed, too. The worst flaw in the mules concerns generation of a huraters Hand-tosland clay hie was omitted in ‘the Heritage edition, and STARFLEET VOYAGES has falled to ‘take the oppor tunity to explain it A halfsentence insert on it only serves to confuse the issue further, If you own the Hesse Star Trek es, ‘Star Patrol, and the SFBA, I see no reason 10 ‘waste $17 on the couple of pages of new material fn STARFLEET VOYAGES. Bron If you don't have al or any of the luce, ualess You just have to have every Stor Trekelated fume in print, Pd stil recommend pasing on {his one and golng the extra amount for the FASA Star Trek same ~ Wit A. Barton ‘Supplements CRISIS AT CRUSADER CITADEL (GU); $5.00, Designed by Jack Herman and Jeff Dee. One 4" x 11" 20page book. For GM and bout six players; playing time indefinite. Published 1982 CRISIS AT CRUSADER CITADEL fs an introductory adventure for FGU's superhero RDG, Vian and Vigilantes, and is old both as ‘separate scenario and as part of the boxed ‘dition af the reveed PV, Unlike FGU' to provious V&V" scenatios, CRISIS is designed ‘only for vie with the revised game systom: those playors ‘using the original rules. will have 10 make thele ovn conversions for this fone, The plot centers seaund the dssppearance fof the Crusaders, the area's prime superhero ‘rou, and a resulting orime wave by the super villainous Crushers. ‘The players are all new fupetheroes who meet at Crusader Citadel t0 Apply for membership. There they lear of the Crusaders" disappearunce and are enlisted to ‘op the Crushers from hitting their next target, Manning Enterprises. I the heroes are successful {in this, it may lead then to a superbatie with the remaining Crushers in the very heart of CCnusader Citadel for possession of a super- ‘computer, The seenaro incides maps for both Manning ‘Enterprises and Crusader Citadel, slong with V&P stats fot NPCs — it doesn't reaiize 2 lot of ickinest or devious thinking, just 2 couple of good old supethero(villain ‘ashes. Tt could also be fun for a group of experienced players who ust want. to. get involved in a good fight. The NPCs, villains and ‘heroes alike, are nicely characterized and could prove useful in almost any other scenario. The possiblity of some of the Crusaders showing up {0 ald the players wil help balance the eame 5 100 many villains escape the frst part of the scenario And the plans for Crumder Citadel are excellent as a guide for players in crea ‘thei own siperhero headquarters, sd did find the severarpege description of all the rooms in Manning Enterprises a bit {edjous, sie there litle thereof real value ‘The motes on structural points for the wall, doors, ete, are okay, but there was a Lot of fextzancous details thal could have been Ie for {he GM to work out Overall, though, CRISIS AT CRUSADER CITADEL iss fine introduction to VAY and ‘could be mined for ideas for any of the other supethero systems on the marke, tam A, Baron DARKLING SHIP (Judges Guild; $3.98 Designed by Dave Sering. Approved for use ‘with Pave. One 8% x 11" 32-page book, For four to soven players playing time indefine ite, Published 1982. DARKLING SHIP is Judges Gull’s latest approved Trovelleradveniuro, the third inthe Borer Prowler series, following Amyeus Probe snd Rogue Moon of Spinstorm, This adventare ‘oncemn the eazeh for and discovery of a 25, tlinsfon (yen, thats million) goneration ship by she erew of the commando transport, renca Going on elaee obtained in the previous scenar- fos (contsined in # Mission Briefing for those who haven't played the caler adventures, the Honenca-must scan several sat systems in the Setyrossia and Dashing subsector of the Ley and Glimmordsitt sectors, respectively, for ‘Of the intruders who But the bassin Ampeus ‘and Spinetorm. “The discovery of a Body. in space with 2 magazine containing an article ‘om generation ships may Iead the Hruta tothe fhip of the adventure’s tile. Included in the ‘ook are dell an, and deck: plans of, an old bandoned arteoid woskboat and the hge gene Staton ship itself, with Keys and explanations, ‘pace encounter tables ané data on the various systems, and many artifacts to be found in ‘ach, Also provided are a map of the region to be explored, and several pregenerated hac ters with equipment. ‘DARKLING SHIP is probably the best of the thee inthe Border Prowler series, in sms ‘of completeness and how much is provided for the pce of the scenario (52 less than previous 3G adventures ~ mos likely due to the dropping fof the gaudy color ilstations that plagued its ‘predecessors. Te offers several toms of interest, Partculsly the Sirerdesigned stav scooters nd ibe Ubrary data info on the Kancers, = rablike (what else?) alien rave native to the ‘quadrant, The Bussard-powered generation ship certainly gifterent enough from the gener tion ship in FASA's Fate ofthe Sky Raiders to ine some vurety to those who may play both ventuzes, And the posibiity of pzate activity fluring the search should eallven that part of the adventure.DARKLING SHIP suffers somewhat from ity organization, For example, the actions of ‘wo NPCS aze discussed in the scenario several pages before the explanation of who they azo fn their part in the adventure, Also st is quits ‘ile co visualize the layout of the genera- tion ship from the text description and draw ngs, This is mainly due toa faulty rendition of, the front view of the hexagonal rim of the ship. Once I ignored this drawing and put the others land the text together in my mind, 1 had it — ‘ut wnt dien, whew! Aside from these and some typos, however, the main problem ofthe fdventure fe that #9 really tither du, Afr setting past the posible of pzates and space encounters (Some of which have to be tinkered ‘with to work), once you're in the ship, there's not much thereto find! The whole main focus Of the adventure becomes anticlimactic com pared to its bulla, If you don't mind adding some extra en counters, ote, dunia the exploration ofthe es fl, DARKLING SHIP may be salrageablo — fnd could even be tumed into an interesting fadvonture, However, I hope the next in the ferls (yes, there are Toose ends left inthis one, 00) wil havo a bit more action in the offering. ili A. Barton OPPONENTS UNLIMITED (FGUD;, $5. Designed by Stefan Jones. One 815" x 11” 26- page book, Published 1982, ‘OPPONENTS UNLIMITED, a pay «id for FOU's Piles & Viglumtes supechero RBG, fe primarily 2 book of supervillains for use in VAP, similar in nature to the Enemies books for hamptons. The book is divided into three scons: 8 brit two-page section on encounters, ULNA ‘A VaV PLAYING AID ‘ach ranging from a single sentence to several pagtupher one on several frelance opponent that F&F superheroes might have to faes; and the latest, on evil organizations, their hideout, fand the vasiows superisine that belong. (0 them, Each opponent fe completly outlined in VAY suatisics and wrms, including notes on coring, powers, motives nd quirk, The orzan- feations are. described in terms of members, goals and resources, and the headquarters of ‘ach is mapped out and fully explained in case Fetoes wish to inflate or ocherwie enter the remiss. “The abvious valio of a book of opponents for any RPG Isis use in those siuations when 35 the GM has to come up with an adventure on ‘the spot, with litle or no propaation. Many of the pregeneraied NPCs in OPPONENTS UN- LIMITED will serve adequately in such a ‘tuation; for example, the Shroud, with his darkness contra and ability to summon spectres for zombies, tho dimenslor-ravelling Set. Ramble, or the aquate Wavemistrest could offer intresting opposition to «group of herort. The headquarters maps of the organizations prove Useful in various scenarios, too, even if their wets aren't involved. And Jeff Deo’ illus trations, a always, add much to the comic book "fee ofthe product, There are, howover, problems with OPPO- NENTS UNLIMITED. Most of the encounters ‘offered are s0 brief or vague that, With the exception of the Komodo dragons, the robot ods, and the Prankster encounters, Which sie Stats for theantagonist, they are next towels, Suck srt ideas work sm an adventure frame wotk (asin GDWs Twilghr’s Peak), but alone, with, nothing. to which to relate, they don't provide enough info for a GM 16 work with Also, the majosty of the vllsins and organlza- tions prescnted in the book are too tongue chek or just downright hudierous to be of use ‘inmost “Scious” suporhoro campaign te pie throwing Prankster, Bea Jakmoka and his ee cream truck, the Amaring Floop Brothers, Sit Lemur (an inteligentIemur, of eoure), Rocket ‘Ma'am, and Proditor Cappella, a. "Greatest Ametican Hero” rip-off, fe name a few. Ths fot to say that some tongueivcheck humor fan’ a good thing in a campaign from time to time, but when a good half of the book's ‘opponents are in this mold i eeztinly reduces ‘ts value, unless your entre campaign i far clea fom sare to neh ra b Ga pees .«. take a science fiction odyssey to the distant worlds of the galaxy, with TRAVELLER The Game of the Far Futur ee eA36 Thowah, its usefulness is lessened by its excessive silliness, OPPONENTS UNLIMITED ould be of valve to these V&V GMs wino don't have time to ereate thelr own vilns and don't tind tossing opponents named Cosmic Zoom, ‘who wear deeprea divers gear a their heroes: I gues it all depends on which comes you read “bile A. Berton ere peed SCORPION HALL (Chasm); uneguet SoloQuest 2. Designed by Alan LaVe Sé-pase tulebook, For sobsake play, ublised 1982, SCORPION HALL is the second solo sdventure published for RQ. Tho orginal SofoQuest vias divided into three independent sections, one of which was merely a succesion of combats which a character could attempt Several times. The other two were esentaly dle situations which s player would only attempt once (unles, of count, the charactor ‘215 Killed too eary in the course foe it to make ‘uch difference). SCORPION HALL, oa the other hand, sa single adventure whi a player may enter ar often as he kes, using the same ‘haeacter if desired. Tt is impliod by the intro- ‘dctory mated, however, that sooner or later the character wil dic and the next adventurer will have io be a tougher sort. Beyond that, there 3s no guide given as to how powerfl = character it fs appropriate to start with. I doubt that any, esinning chatscter, even rolled Up with “tive years experince,” will get t00 faz, and suspect that even a lnvishly equipped ‘une Lord would need several expeditions to thoroughly explore the Hall — and he'd stil be ‘none too sure of surviving all the encounters. 'An intresting aspact ofthis adventure sits ‘consistency. An action resolved In a gion room may result ing diferent encounter i any fab all, the next time a character enters that ‘oom. Foes who ae slain are gone, though they ‘may be replaced by others. Those not sin are allowed experience rolls that cam alter thelr Stats for future encounters, and they ean obtain treasure from defeated playercharacters. Some of this is accomplished within the low of the adventure, but some require the player to ‘make notes or alterations to paragraphs inthe book, Escape the “dungeon” routine into HEART OF THE SUNKEN LANDS 100,000 sq. miles of ready-to-run wilderness adventure For all Fantasy- Role-playing systems — Complete encounter tables — — Anew, unique movement system — — New monsters, new treasure— Explore it at your local game store oF order it argetly rom: Mickemia Press 2691 Murray Ridge Re. San Diego, CA 92123 GUIDES TO ADVENTURE SH has some flaws, ehiey regarding time lags etwoen visits, This usually ia the form fof “if action A. takes, place, then after one month event B oceuss," wien in other parts of the book, itis made clear that event B has fecurred within haar, iF not minates, of action ‘AL This requires ad hoe adjustments by the player if he should return after a game-time lapse of, for example, one week, Tn general, SCORPION HALL is well constricted and extremely challenging, Tt cannot be fully explored in any one session, ‘Winle not afinte, it contains many sessions! worth of play valve, and inthe event 2 player does exhaust its possibilities (and probably & stable of characters in the process), i zemains ‘an extremely good guide for running a refereed aadéenture. = Steve List, TRUCK STOP (Stere Jackson Games); $5.00, Designed by Steve Jackion. Supplement to Gar Wars, 24-page Tales booklet, vehicle ecordsheat, 37 fulkeolor counters, 23" by 32” ‘map, ziplock bas for counters, plastic Posket Box! Number of players: infinite (two to eight work best); playing time indefinite, Published 1983, "TRUCK STOP adds 184vhoo! rigs 10 the ‘wild world of Gar Wars, Along with rles for ‘the constsicloa and purchase of tactortnailor gs, bases and heavy RVs are also added to the numbers of dreadnanghts roaming the highways ‘of 2033. Also included azo dovaled rules for ‘manevrering the big sis, ming and armoting ‘oversized vehicles, boasding them from above for from the side (la Road Warrior), and what hhappens when one of the behemoths Alls @ smaller vehicle, New rules for character gener- tion and sls for character are presented, as ‘well 4s how to. ropair ventilated vehicles Information on tucker ‘ect, 2 ‘medical plan that goes beyond Red / Blue Cross and = detailed map of typical track stop round out ‘the supplement.‘Theplysical quality smupecb, Denis Loubet’s counters sro works of art. The rales on vehicle ‘mainienance have been Jong aveited. The new ‘Weapons incude a heavier laser and a tank gun, New turset designs and siats are quite useful, But the crowning touch is 2 small glossary of ‘meer terms, including sich phrases as ‘pizza tuck’ (ambulance), and ‘Polish ir force™ (icicopters andjor crews). ‘The only things lacking from Truck Stop are rules om the intermediate trucks: Damptracks, sarboge trucks, ete — anything bigger than a Pickup but smaller than a semi. Gor Wars players have been waiting for this ever since the game came out, and their wait is justified. If you liked the movie Road ‘Warrior, it you iko the idaa of an unstoppable comoy, If you just like the idea of armed rigs, jet ths, But you must have Gar Wars to ue it = Giag Sheeley Play Aids MORROW PROJECT ROLE. PLAYING EXPANSION AND PERSONAL AND VEHIIC- ULAR BASIC LOADS. (Timeline); 36.95. Designed by HN. Voss. One BH" x 11" 6-pag0 booklet, five SP/BP Breakdown sheets, four character shes, si personal basi load sheets, fine vehicular base load. sheets, Published 1965, For those Morrow Projeet players snd project diectors who always wanted fo know hhow to determine whether & character knew a Coriain fact, could. repair a ceriain tem, of could carry out task, Timeline has released THE MORROW PROJECT ROLE PLAYING EXPANSION AND PERSONAL AND VEHIC ULAR BASIC LOADS supplement. This package consists of copies ofall the basic loads Tor Morrow personel and vehles, with slthouettes of the vehicles or main weapon in ‘the loadin question atthe top of eacha st of computergenersted breakdowns of sivetuzal points for each part of the body based on the ‘overall SP rating and a booklet on determining ‘What skills nd degrees TMP personnel posses, slong with a now character sheet or masking Skil tevels with ll other pertinent infore mation. The new sl system is, a the booklet scknoledges, based on that used by Chacsium in its RumeQuesr/ Basic Role Playing svar. Shils are rated as a percent which can range from 5% to 100%, Many of the familar Chaos- Tum skils, especially those in the degree and knowlege areas asin Call of Cihulan, axe represented, along with particular Mostow skills such as driving and repasing MP vehicles and Skil in the weaponry used by the Prot. Die rolls ae provided for determing whether or not a characters a military or combat veteran, ‘based on which type of team he is essened to, and. what type of device he has received Bechelor’s, Masters or Ph.D. Degree areas sue up 10 the PD ot players to. determine. Based ehtaness are provided for sil, based on Whether the character isin a Mars, Recon or Science team, and can be inroased (oF decrasea) by pxlor mitary taining and the values of fkrinn character stats new stat Intelligence, fs added, and an old one, Accuracy, removed in favor of persone chances tit based on st ‘Several components in this package should prove of use to Morrow fans. The SP break down chars will sve @ lot of tne in figuing fut these values, and it's helpful having the Shouetts ofthe wehles and weapons right on the basic load sheets, The dezres sreas in the 37 rules seem adequate in ther descriptions, and the. fact that most TMP. membets have at least 10% training in all degree areas (except ‘the various mediea skis that roqune specie Aogree work) gives every team atleast a hanes 42 have the nevesryKnowedgo in ay sen Unfortunately, there are some flaws in the tlebook, most of them relating to combs, Some players probably won't Hike the loss of Accuracy, since it gave characters up to a Desfect base chance to hit (with an average of 'S0%), while under the new system, the best ven a Mars. team member starts outwith fon any weapon Js 408 — and only If he's combat vet with Dex of 16+, Furthermore, 20 ‘kill areas have been provided for any hand-to- hand’ combat except knife or bayonet, leaving ‘unarmed combat, of fighting with elubs, ete, up to the PD to figure out on his ov. Cetin is skis such as Demoliions ve been ‘omitted ~ od, considering that all teams have at least one demo pack. The base chance for Rifle skill was forgotten, too, though the skill, itself is included. And simply’ altering combat ‘mosis from +i or inthe old system to 410 for 440 as the new rules instruct wil gte ‘modifiers twice as high in DIOO terms a8 they ‘were in B20. Also, while modifiers ae provided for the new Inteligence siat, nowhere is one told exactly to. whieh sls these may be applied, though T assume the degree areas and Knowledge skils are among them. If you prefer the original Morrow sys tem, oF youNe azeady adapted 2 sil systom from snother game, you may not fnd this supplement worth buying I'not, you may wish ‘0 look into the TMP RP EXPANSION ~ bat Do ready to cover its eaps youre. = Wiliam A. Barton WRITING REVIEWS FOR SPACE GAMER AND FANTASY GAMER Capsule Reviews Most of the reviews we print will be “capsule” reviews — 400 words or less. We pay $5 for each capsule review accepted. We want to run a review for every new SF or fantasy game or supplement. Each capsule review should be five paragraphs Jong and contain: (1) Basic information, Present these facts, in this order: NAME OF GAME (Publisher); price. Designer. (if applicable: “Supplement to", “Companion il st of compo~ nents, with sizes of maps and rulebooks, number of counters, ete. Number of players; playing time. Publication date. (2) General description of the game: background, the sides, course of play, special features, etc. (3) Strong points. Discuss what is good about the game; in every game, there és something worth- while. “Fun” is a useless adjective. Be specific. (4) Weak points. Every game has its problems, too, If the only faults you can find are minor ones, say so. If the game is fatally flawed, come right out and SAY SO. If you can phrase your criticisms as suggestions for improvement, do so, (5) Summation. Your overall opinion of the game. Who should and should not buy it, and why. Is the game worth its price? All reviews must be signed; the reviewer's name will be printed. No game may be reviewed by its designer, by a playtester, or by an employee of the publisher. (Designer’s articles are welcome, but must be billed as such!) Final note: If you can write a complete review in less than the full 400 words, by all means do so. This review format is designed to encourage fair ness and to give the reader enough information to let him decide whether he wants to buy that game. Keep that in mind when you write. This is a short review, not a complete analysis. For those who want to write longer reviews, each issue will have one or two — Featured Reviews These will be game reviews 1,000 to 2,000 words long. They should contain all the above informa- tion, plus whatever else the reviewer wants to say. They may be written in any format. A featured review may cover either a new game or one that has been on the market for some time. If we have not already printed a capsule review, write one and submit it at the same time.38 Publications THE ORACLE (lforizon International, ne.) $1.50 cover price, $8 for 8 issues. SA" x 8” 32.page magazine. Published 1982. ORACLE ‘was an amatevr/somipro maga zine covering DAD-ype zoleplaying games, It had impressive graphies and artwork and competent editing, which made it superior to ‘most amateur “vines. Much of the artwork consisted of excellent reproduction of photo- fripls, Some of the content was done bY well Known professionals in te hob Tts content was a Dragon clone: new char- toter class, magic sword, and six pages of cartoon. Ii also had. extensive (12 pages) reviews of books, PEM. games, films, and amateus ‘nines, ORACLE had potenti But the magazine ceased. publication with fssue number 3.17 may guess why, 1 sy: (1) Despite the artwork, the content didn't ill any needs which existing publicstions did't (2) It Talled to advertise effectively. 3) It had unrealistic expectations of growth in ci ulation, which were compounded by the failure fo advertise. 4) Tis high production costs (cemember all that artwork) and few fubscrbers meant they spent all all tho cash, ‘To sum it up: bad management and no smurketing judgement, = Ton L Straus Gameable Movies BLUE THUNDER (Columbia Pictures). Di seeted by John Gadham. Produced by Gordon A tense, exciting game as 2 ‘sonlceck rome ee & Close Simulations terrorists attack nuclear armed bombers. 112 thick die-cut counters, a large 12x14 inch map, a 16 page illustrated rule book and a zip-lock storage bag all in a handsomely illustrated box. $5.00 HOVERTANK: Tactical Combat 20542115 smuitaneous combat & oes. ‘he Falklands War: Naval Gonfictin te Missle Age. ‘Storage trey with snap-on li its Bookease boxes) PO. Box 2247 Dept A Northbrook, IL 60062 Carrol, Sereenplay by Dan O'Bannon and Androw Fogelson. Muse by Asthur B. Rubioe stein. Cast: Roy’ Scheider (Murphy), Warzen ates Craddock), Candy Clark (Kate), Malcolm ‘Mebowell (Cochrane). Released 1983. Stuffed full of hheartstopping moments, BLUE THUNDER is one of the most exciting ‘ims of the last ten years. The scene is Los Angsles, Fest we are introduced to che LA police helicopter patrols. Following Murphy (oy Scheider) nd his partner, we get taste ‘of helicopter police work, and of whist a good team these two are. Ener into the pletore Bie ‘Thundsr, the code mame of the military's newest anthterorm "Weapon, the ultimate ‘watcopter. ‘Murphy £9 be sts tesipllot, ploked by his bos, Braddock (Warren Oates) The military, represented. by an officer Murphy knew in ‘Vietnam, diststs him, and does not want him to test the ‘Thunder over the city. Braddock opports Murphy. During the terting, Murphy and his partner begin co put together the facts they have, and discover that Blue Thunder is rot being prepared as an anti-esrorism device 4s much a it is being readied to control the “American people. The idea of a Oeet of Thunders potroling America to keep its citizens inline isa chilling proposition. Murphy decides to go public vith ‘he Information. Before he and his partner ean act, thovgh, his pariner i killed, and Murphy is forced into hiding Taking chance, he decides to steal the Blue Thunder and turn over the Information ho has to the media in the hope of serediing the military program which created it~ before the Thunder ean be used on the i 14.00 1467820 or tor $8.65, Tne 8 for postage lina residents Please 8cd Oot sales a5 residents of Watts. This leads tou grand climax. ‘with Murphy battling eveything the goverment ‘can thzoW at him, The ensuing bustles, withthe ‘Thunder combatting helicopters and jet igters, are everything the audience could hope for. [Everything about BLUE THUNDER is, topnotch The plot iv prc und, hough provoking. The acting is superlative, wi Warren Oates staling the show. The musical seore Is ttt; never overshadowing the action, Ht sys in the background, helping to build crery moment to its climax. There are no problems in the eating or photography, both Of which are nealy state-oF heart. This movie ‘would provide for an exciting background of ‘ventures Tor espionage roleplaying. games, fand the Blue. Thunder could be wetten up 15 a formidable piece of equipment for any Contemporary or post-holocaust roleplaying ame, BLUE THUNDER is this year's must sc seton fl. See. = GJ Henderson HIGH ROAD TO CHINA (Warner Brother. Directed by Brian G. Hutton. Produced by Fred Wointraub. Screenplay by S. Lee Pogostin and Sandra W, Roland, Musi by John Barry. Cas: ‘Tom. Selleck (O'Malley), Bess Armstrong (Eve), Taek Weston (Stu), Wilford Brimley {Bradley Tove), Robort Mody (Rentik), Brian Blessed (Suleknan Khan). Relesed 1983, ‘Warner Brothers’ new HIGH ROAD TO CHINA sdverties tslf as Af 3t were Reldert of the Last Ark If; bo not be fooled, Although ‘many things are zisht with this one, just ax ‘any are wrong. Tn HIGH ROAD, Eve, a spoiled socal ite, dlscovers that Af she’ dooy not get her father te Brida court within 12 days, she will Tose everything she has. The last word on her rising dad is five years old, She isin Istanbul, fn he disappeared on the other sie of Afghan fstan, The only way’ to get where she has to 20 and get back in time is by plane and the only planes around belong. t0 8. drunken exact, Patrick “O'Malley. Eve tes hm; they, along swith. Struts, O'Malley's trusted aide and riechanic fly off to find Daddy. One plane is esroyed, and Suuts is left behind while Eve fand O'Malley press on. They find Daddy, ‘iscover there was no reason forthe tp in th firs place, and fal In Tove, and thos ends the ploture THIGH ROAD TO CHINA is not the action- adventure thir ft purports to be It sa weak, at times senseless love story with only a dash of. ‘movement here and there to Keep the pace plodding along. The action sequences, few and Fir betweon, ate tized, slow Hite sosries which do not bolster te film's languid pace, O'Malley never realy becomes 2 heto. He plods along, Enebrlated most of the time, letting Strus take care. of him, following. orders or rebelling fgainet them 9s the mood stikes. Although Selleck is susprisinaly good in the part, thethings he is foreed to do by the sexipt Keep OMalley twordemensional from beginning to end. Eve and Struts are given much more todo; unfortunately, neither” is the story's main charter, {As for gmat, there fs perhaps something of use for pulpera RPGs lke Daredenils ~ bai ‘he wiewer ml find Better elsewhere. Unless one it looking for & pleasant, harm- tess, nonsexy, non-violent, diinteresting film ta take tho grandparants to its est to pass this one by. = Gu, Henderson VIDEODROME (Univers Studios), Directed by David Cronenberg. Produced. by Claude Hecous, Photography by Mack Irwin, Make-up Special Erfects by Rick Baker. Starring James Woods (Max Renn) and Deborah Haney (Nicki ‘Brand, Releasod 1983. "The story, impossible to explain fully in capsule form, goes a8 follows: Cable TV station oo-owner Max Renn needs more product his violence-and-pornogrephy-loving audi ‘Max finds out about a new show, Vileo. rome, which looks like the bloody, sadistic nse to his prayers. The closer he gets tothe show, however, the les it looks Uke a program fand the moze it Jooks Like reality, With the help Of poppsychorist Nicki Brand, Max Finds Videodrome ~ 01, more to the point, it finds fhm. MBX discovers that the peopie behind the show have been using him all along, walting for ‘he moment when they could reel him in as their puppet. Max soon finds that Videodrome is not e program — its a technological break ‘through Which makes viewers mutate, causing them to hallucinate and fake on new ables Like all Cronenbery pictures, thisisnot ordinary fins fre Despite came and his bullet, ‘the fact_ thet VIDEODROME went fasier than Superman and 4s stil an excellent picture, It isa pence film oF high caliber, posing a number of Important questions. Max isthe herojhe pedles smut and violence, Nicki is a paycholosist Deople twin to for help; she i also a sedomas- Dchistic punchingbas intezested only in people who treat her violently. Television is supposed fo be the most powerful medium in our age, and yet most of the characters use 3 for al he rorst reasons. At thst, nothing in the Sk 8 all that disturbing ~ but the more you think about it, the more disturbing it becomes. ‘The hish-tech aspects of the film, coupled with theall-powerfuland farzeaching conspiracy ‘behind the Vedeodrome program, would make fora fascinating sot of avenaues for charac ers in espionage or supechero™ roleplaying fumes, However, it could provide fora depre- Ssingly grim eampaign, Though the film i now gone from most ‘theates, don't mss tis rereleased or airs on HBO. Although possesseed of some faults, i fone of the best SF horror Fims made. ‘Cd. Henderson GALAC TAC- a galactic scale space conquest PBM game; + Design all shins that make up your ster fleet N Move some, none, or all of your units in @ single turn Full color maps: ‘Reports are color enhanced ‘Form alliances, negotiate deals (and break them!] ‘Moderated by computer and humans! TO GET STARTED SEND S20 TO: How do you say ‘You're our Prisoner‘ in Azurian?|| 39, Feudal Lords The first pm gome of. economie development, Iluary conquest, and ‘medieval miique FEUDAL LORDS is 4 computer ‘moderated correspondence game in which up to 15 players vie to become King of Arthurian England, You, as head of ¢ fiefilom, have 30 types of military, economic, and diplomatic orders available. — You provide for your knights, townspeople and peasants = You may make an assortment of investments t0 build your economic sand military base, = Fou can acquire vassals ond Influence through force or diplomacy = You can spy om other fiefdoms (CAN YOU BECOME THE NEXT KING? GRAAF SIMULATIONS 27530 Harper St. Clair Shores, MI 48081 ENTRY: $10.00 for the rulebook, set-up, and figt thre turns, $250 per sur. RULEBOOK only: $2.50 BASIC GAME Setup and premove 7.00 t CAPPS S& CAPPS Bisex 10.00 First move 3.00 PO. Box 280237 ¢ Dallas, TX 75228 Each move thereafter 3.00 (40 SCANNER: — *\s from run wortp or ADVENTURE GAMING : Metagaming Ceases Operations Metazaming, the longtime producer, of Merogame® minigames, has ceased operations effective tho Dosing of Apr. The company ‘ill be song rights to is line of Boardgames and The Fantasy Tripzelatd line of product. “Bifective right now, Metagamine Concepts Inc. has ceased marketing and production servos," confirmed Metagaming president ‘Howard Thompson. "It's basically a decision on my part," he added, “It [boardgame produc- tion} hasn't been fun for me for a couple of years” "Thompron intends to take the revenues senerated from the sale of existing game stock and game sights and rotura tothe field ina year fr so as. producer of computer game software. “The Journal of 20h Century Wargaming has bbeen returned to Nick Schueslr, its editor, Interplay is being sold toa group in Irving, TX. ‘Treatre of Unicorn Gold is up forsale with the ‘company’s other ties, but Metagaming wil fain responsibilty forthe prize; anyone finding the unicorn, rogazdles of who owns the game file, will be able to collect the prize from ‘Metagaming Moore Leaves TSR for Vietory Games TEXSPI staffer Michael Moore has left his postion at oditorinshie? of Siraregy and Treties and Aves at TSR 10 take a postion ‘with Vietory Games, “These are no hard fel- Ange at all" sald Moore, “Tin just not a srall- town porgon. The magazines aye up and ‘inning, Pve got two good managing editors, fand T vant to got back to New York.” Moors ‘sll be doing game eding, marketing, and PR Work, AC TSR, S@7'assstant editor Charles Ramsay wall now be managing that magszine; ‘exOnmi staffer Geotfey Golson il be man- aging Ares Th other Victory Games news, John and ‘Trish Butterfield have left chat company’ John {is now working for Coleco, a majot computer and arcade games fim, Starfall BM Game Planned ‘Adventures Design Group, moderators for the PBM game Lorde of the’ Dark Horse, has fquited the rights to Yaguinto’s Starfall for play-byrmall, “T's going to be the boardgame valable in’ a PEM format,” stated ADG's Nolan Band. “Possesion of the (boxed) game ‘wll be @ must for playing the game.” The PBS. Starfall will be olfered in Wo formats: one package with the Yaquinto boxed version, and nother without the boxed game ¢for players ready ovining the boxed Starfll). The PBM ‘esion is due fo Begin toward the end of May News Briefs [New Software Company Formed Richard Garriott aka Lord British, who has ‘been designing computer games for soveral years, hat formed new software company ‘ith five other designers Origins Systems Inc. will publish arcade and roleplaying softvare and eventually will expand into business and cational software makes. The Ht less Stine i tees St computer roleliying adventures, Garett hd purines Chade Bute, Keith Zabalou, ieen“arnoi, and Foe Kennedy, ate seeing ‘Redunce ‘hogan for sftwae”xme sine New & Upcoming Releases Game Desianess’ Woskshop has released a ‘Starter Edision Traveller. These zues, a strea~ lined and revised version of Traveller, are for movies and inclade introductory material snd the adventures Shadows and Meson om Mic. Ie will tetall for $10.00. Also from GDW is Nomads of the World Qccan, adventure #9 for ‘Traveller. Seton the waterwerld of Bellerophon, {twill etal for $5.00. GDW has also released ester Desert. This, the latest release in the Europe series, prosonts an indepth study of ‘the campaigns in Eaypt and Libya, from Tobrake to EI Alamein and Tripol [ti playable inde- ently o as pert of the Buropa sores it costs 515.00. ‘Droids, a sobot roleplaying game, has been selensed by Integral Games, Ie retails for $7.95. More Dros products are wpeomin Infinity Limited has released gent of Death, Ken St. Andre's noveblength solitaire dangeon sdventure supplement for Tunnels & Trofs. It 4s the longest solo scenario yet published tnd can be played as one long adventure or ‘three sorter ones eels fr $3.95. TEPYX/Automated Simulations” has intro- duced Jumpman, mow science fiction computer game. Jumpman must dodge bullets ‘and battle robots, dragons, and flying saucers in bie quest ¢o disarm bombs planted by the ‘Auenators. The game hat five cifcaty levels, ight speed settings, and. randomizer option that can be used to ineease the diicuty. The Suguestod retail price is $39.95; itis available {or the Atari 2K) and the Commodore 64 Convention Calendar “april 29-Moy 1: TREASURE-CON I. SF and taming on. Contact Tyeazare-Con 1, 306 ‘tt Avene, Laurel, MT S904, spr 29-May 1: TRISTATE CON 83. Gaming . For information contact Cincinnati ‘Adventure Gamers, 11020 Reading Roxd, Suite 175, Sharonvile, OH 45241, phone 513 | 984-8011 May 20-22: CWICON'83. Historical and fantasy amting con, Contset Chicago Wargaming Inc, P.O. Box 217, Tinley Pat, IL 60477. May 27.30: GRIMCON V. SF and fantasy game ng con. Contact Grimeon P.O. Box 4133, Bexkeley, CA 94704, May 27-29: SWAMPCON4. SF con, Send SASE to BRSFL-SwanpCon, P.O. Box 14238, Baton Rouge, LA 70898. May 27-29: CONQUEST IV+10. SF con. For information contact ConQuest 1V#10, P.. ‘Box 36212, Kansas City, MO 64111. May 29: MLGS. IV. A fre day of wargaming. Contact Len Scanian, 473 Upper Wentworth Street, Hanilion, Ontario, Canads L9A 5%, Sune 35: DALLCON 88, Gaming eon. Contact @ P.O. Box 59899, Dept. §, Dallas, TX 15228. Sane 3-5: WARGAMER'S WEEKEND. Gaming ‘on. Contact Chas" Game and Hobby Shop, 1 Hlles Court, Newburyport, MA 01950. June 10-12: X

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