Open navigation menu
Close suggestions
Search
Search
en
Change Language
Upload
Sign in
Sign in
Download free for days
100%
(3)
100% found this document useful (3 votes)
775 views
52 pages
The Space Gamer 074
The Space Gamer 074 (1)
Uploaded by
Andrew Fulton
AI-enhanced title
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content,
claim it here
.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
Download
Save
Save The Space Gamer 074 (1) For Later
100%
100% found this document useful, undefined
0%
, undefined
Embed
Share
Print
Report
100%
(3)
100% found this document useful (3 votes)
775 views
52 pages
The Space Gamer 074
The Space Gamer 074 (1)
Uploaded by
Andrew Fulton
AI-enhanced title
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content,
claim it here
.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
Carousel Previous
Carousel Next
Download
Save
Save The Space Gamer 074 (1) For Later
100%
100% found this document useful, undefined
0%
, undefined
Embed
Share
Print
Report
Download now
Download
You are on page 1
/ 52
Search
Fullscreen
10S ts $3.00 i Space Gamer New Un “New Rules Uae The Magazine of Adventure Gaming #74A Major New Challenge in Roleplaying: ‘Hwiicut: 2000 Everything from a kick In the head to an artillery barrage on an MIE2 tank is settled by answering three questions: did you hit? where did you hit? and how hard did you hit? Coolness under fire is a major factor in ‘combat—inexperienced characters may panic and freeze, ‘Skills: There are nearly 50 skills. Any task can be resolved by determining its difficulty and the applicable skill or at tribute. Many tasks are described in the rules, and it's easy to resolve others, Skills can be improved by experience, study, and observation. ‘Survival: Rules are provided for everything needed to keep people and vehicles running: finding food and fuel, repair ‘and maintenance, avoiding radiation and disease—every- thing from alcohol distillation to grenade fishing, Encounters: Immense variety of encounters results from @ few die rolls: people of all kinds—enemy units, traders, bandits, refugees—plus towns and farmhouses, animals, wrecked vehicles, and more. Rules for NPC motivations auickly flesh out important NPCs with complex motives, ‘Game Designers’ Workshop 0. Box 1646 Bloomington, llinois 617024646, robler® 2) pow Yani you ‘HivisiO™ vive d yo gth ON to sure aroun ght als ape wor The real trick in game design is to produce detailed, accurate effects with simple systems. That's what we did in Twilight: 2000. Equipment: All Kinds of equipment—the advanced military ‘gear of 1995 and the primitive makeshifts of 2000—are Covered. Because vehicles are rare, they can be described in great detail without slowing the game. Background: Extensive background notes are included: 2 Tengthy chronology of the war's first five years and notes on conditions in central Europe. A beginning adventure, Escape from Kallsz, forms the basis of a whole campaign, with information on enemy units, nearby towns, rumors and prisoner interrogations, and radio traffic, plus an ac- ‘cOUNt of the death of Sth division and the division's last issued intelligence briefing. ‘Modules: GDW will be issuing a series of adventure modules, ‘with new background information for your campaigns, Watch for the first soon: The Free City of Krakow. With a large city militia (once the Polish 8th Motorized Divi- sion), working factories, and—so the rumor goes—electric power, Krakow is strong enough to declare its neutrality. Ir’s a major center for what trade remains and like Istan- boul in the 30’s—is crawling with the espionage services of both sides. ‘$18 at your local hobby shop or direct from GDW. (Add $1 for handling.) Send $1 for catalog,Space Gamer Edtortn-Chiet: Warren Spector Assistant Editor: Allen Varney ‘News Ealitor: Scott Haring ‘Contributing Ealtors: Wiliam A. Barton Matthew J. Costallo. erry Epperson Bob McLain Rick Swan Publisher: Production Manager: Production Stat: Stave Jackson Marie Mahoney C. Mara Lee kyo Miter Kim Strombo Business Manager: Mark Chandler Advertising Manager: Caroline Chase CCitculation Manager: Croede Lambard ART IN THIS ISSUE ’21,23,30,34. Kyle Milo. 4, 14, 16-19, kim Stiomibo: 10-18, 95. Allon Varney: TFWM, 2. Dan Willems: 32, Game An: Columbia Games: 43. Gare Designare’ Workshop: 9. Gaming Universal 38, Stove Jackson Games: 34 Most game names are trademarks of the companies publishing those games. In parte: ‘lar: Dungeons & Dragons, Advanced Dun- geons & Dragons, DAD, ADD, Star Frontiers, {and Dragonduest ara radomarks of TSR, Ine-; Marve! Super Heroes and all Marvel charac: tors, of the Marvel Comies Group: Indiana Jones, of Lucasti Lid.; The Fantasy Trip, of Motagaming; Timemaster, of Pacesotor Lic; ‘Star Trek, of Paramount Pictures; Twilight: £2000 and Traveller. of Game Designers Work- ‘hop; Thieves" Gulld, of Gamelords Lid; Para- role, ot West End Games: Callor Cthulhu and ‘Masks of Nyariathotep, of Cnaosium: Tunnels 4 Trolls and Nuclear Excalation of Blade/Fly- ing Buffalo; and Champions and Justice Inc. ‘of Horo Games. Use ofa trademark to dently product commented on in this magazine should ‘at be construed as implying the sponsorship ofthe trademark holder. Ogre, G.E.V., lumi ‘nat, Autodue!, Convoy, Cardboerd Heroes, Undead, Killer, tne altsesing pyramid, and he distinctive tkeness of the Ogre are registered trademark of Steve Jackson Games Incerpo- fated, AI names of other games published by Stove Jackson Games Inc. are trademarks of ‘Stave Jackson Games Inc., or used under ‘conse. Use ofthe name of any product without ‘anton of tademark status should notbe con- sttued a8 a challenge to such status. Number 74 May/June 1985 SPECIAL SECTION Ogre/G.E.V. ‘The giant cybernetic tanks of 2085 are now just 100 years away. The “ante-centennial”’ of the very first minigame is observed in a battery of articles, beginning on page 24. Operation Newspaper * Steve Jackson . . Baclands » Steve Jackson, Creede Lamberd, ar dim Gould Left This in Our Mailbox ................ 28 New Units for Ogre/G.E.V. » Jeff Bolton... || aga ¢ 28 24 ARTICLES Cthuthu Sixty Ye Lovecrattian horror never goes out of style .........-.. ee 00 11 ‘Now Museum, Now You Don’t » Allen Varney ‘ATOON Adventure of bewitching attractions ..... 16 Useless Tables Redux More silliness from a long-ago contest .......--.... 226.0464. 20 Roleplaying Count Dracula « W. Peter Miller ‘Vampiric guidelines for Traveller, Champions, or any RPG ...... 21 New Cards for Nuclear Escalation * Richard Hell More ways to kill innocent millions ...... cnn 82 Adding Lite to Undead In AD&D * Collins & Schabilion Making them more sensibly dangerous . 4 ‘A Simple Critical Hit System + Tom Alley Usable with any roleplaying game ...... 36 Keeping Posted: The Rise & Fall of Gaming Universal » Bob McLain The publisher tells the bittersweet story of the late PEM mag ..... 38 REVIEWS Twilight: 2000 * Rick Swan ........ Masks of Nyarfathotep + Matthew J. Costello Capsule Reviews .. ‘GAMES: The Arcanum, Tho Palladium a ‘Queen's Park Afar, Encyclopedia Hamnica 3-11, Ace of Clubs, Catapuft Run, The. Cleopatra Gambit, Capit D'Yvolre. PLAY-BY-MAIL: Capitol, PUBLICA: ‘TIONS: Playing Win Fie, PLAY AIDS: Car Wars Expansion Set 6, Ticorde/ ‘Starship Sensors interactive Display. MINIATURES: Star Frontiers Molal Matures. REGULAR FEATURES Counter intelligence * John M. Ford : Lotters < aati Where We're Going * Steve Jackson Finieous Fingers * J.D. Webster . Writer's/Artist’s Guide ....... ‘Scanner/Convention Calendar Index to Advertisers Murphy's Rules » Michael von Gl ‘Subscriber Bonus: 10 6 Talents for TFT + Michael E. lacca . ‘Spaco Game SSN 0104-9077, USPS 494280) publehed bs monty by Stove Jackaon Games Icomporaed, P.O. Box 18057, Aun, 1X 78780-7057. Second suse postage pat at Auctn, TK. POSTMASTER: Sera addross changer 19 Space Gerrar, P.O. Box TO9S7, AUS, TK TB7ED 857. “At matoals copyright © 1985 by Stove Jackson Gams incomerated. Al ighisresoved. Print in U.S.A. by Futura Press, Austin. ‘Suteerpton rate, ofocive 10/1/88 to Unie State — 6 month (ius) $5: ono yaa (6a 5200. In Canada, 20a 808 pr issuo fr postage and herelng; fo adcroseos ouside the US. and Cana 2344 51/09 sles ta. International ats ubject to change as postal rates change. Not: Al payments MUST ‘Socks dawn on 6 U.S of Canadian bank $1; 2 yoare (12 iesves) $23. A ittimesubsernon is 'S poison fr surtacn mail, Toxas sions please In. dotars, made by ternational Money Ore: oFCounter Intelligence John M. Ford, Oc.D. (Occasional Designer) RPGSpeak Character: A set of numbers created for the purpose of killing things. ‘Things: Sets of numbers created to be killed by characters. Monster: A subset of Things that may occasionally kill charac- ters in retum, as determined by Dice (which see) Character Creation System: There are two varieties. In Die~ Rolling Systems the player rolls dice until an acceptably large set of values appears. Point-Allocation Systems save time by permitting the player to make up the numbers. ‘Combat System: A method of dramatically postponing the kill- ing of things. Dice: Small objects used to generate excuses for poor performance. Magic System: A method of dramatically increasing the nom- ber of things that may be killed in one game-tum. Attributes: Points scored for successful play of the Character Creation System (which sec). Attributes come in many ‘named varieties, each of which measures the character's abil~ ity to kil things. (Exceptions are Hit Points, which measure things’ ability to kill the character, and Wisdom, which ‘measures nothing.) Experience Points: 1) A mathematical expression ofthe design- fer's awe at his latest monster. 2) An award of no intrinsic value, which may be exchanged for the ability to accumulate such awards at an increased rate. See Wage-Price Spiral. Money: See Experience Points (defs. 1 and 2). Alignment: An acceptable form of prejudice in RPG societies, leading to random violence, political overthrow, and occa~ sionally genocide. (Class: An arbitrary set of union rules that influence the players selection of numbers in the Character Creation System, (The history of roleplaying games is a history of class struggle.”” — Gandalf Marx, 14th-level philosopher.) Level: Method of counting Experience Points for those who ‘cannot cope with three-digit numbers. NPC Class: A class (which see), forbidden to players, which is 0 effective at killing things that all players immediately ac- Quire such characters. Modifier: Any number which may be ignored. ‘Table: A graphic device consisting of a numbered list of vaguely related words, intended to save time and enhance play by en- suring that the same three goblins appear every fifteen minutes, Gamemaster Screen: A graphic device that combines fre- quently-used reference materials into a form they should have had to begin with. Theoretically intended to stand erect, shielding GM documents from view: in practice, designed to topple over when subjected to such game-table events as roll- ing dice or breathing. Player Satisfaction: Calculated by the neo-Lanchester formula: (TKICK x NSICP)*? x BC ‘where TK = number of things killed by character CK = number of characters killed by things CP = cover price of rules and supplements NS = number of supplements ND = number of types of dice required for play BC = beers consumed during session Basic Set: The first three volumes of a game system, always packaged as an independent unit whether or not they are ade~ quate to begin play. ‘Advanced Sets: Volumes that must be added to the Basic Set to make play possible, unless advertised as an Entirely New Game (which see). Supplements: Method of avoiding Revision (which see). Publisher's Magazine: Method of ensuring that errata, rules modifications, discussion, etc. go out of print in the shorest possible time. Miniatures: A time-consuming and expensive art form which many roieplayers indulge in, in the same hope of eventval utility that leads others to save pieces of string, Computer Roleplaying: A technique for enjoying all the tedi~ ‘ous mechanical aspects of gaming with none of the human response or interaction. Revision: See Entirely New Game, Entirely New Game: Revision, Liar: Favorite hangout of game designers. John M. Ford is the author of Web of Angels, The Dragon Waiting, Princes of the Air, and The Final Reflection; his latest game projects are a Star Trek game (with Greg Costikyan) ‘and a Paranoia adventure, both coming soon from West End Games. In other incarnations he wrote the noted Elizabethan comedy 'Tis Pity She’s a Whore and directed many of John Wayne's best films. aADVENTURES IN FAR SPACE Oe Now Available from Green Dragon Hobby: for TRAVELLER’ from FASA ADVENTURES $4.50 HIGH PASSAGE $3.00 Ordeal By Eshaar High Passage #2 Action Aboard High Passage #3 Uraqyad’n of Seven Pillars High Passage #4 Legend of the Sky Raiders High Passage #5 Rescue on Galatea Trail of the Sky Raiders Fate of the Sky Raiders The Harrensa Project SHIP PLANS $8.00 Adventure Class #1 Adventure Class #2 FAR TRAVELLER $3.00 Merchant Class Far Traveller #1 & #2 Aslan Mercenary RECECECECEE CECE CEC CE CECE CCEEES To Order: Please include . $1.00 for shipping Send check or money order to: and handling. Ohio GREEN DRAGON HOBBY residents please P.O. Box 2573 include 512% for Sandusky, Ohio 44870 sales tax. TRAVELLER IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF GAME DESIGNERS’ WORKSHOPLetters Correction "We a FGU woul like to correct wo errors that appeared in reviews of our products inthe ast issue of Space Gamer. As always, we have n6 objection to material within a review, whether favorable oF unfavorable, bu we Would like to see the corret ries listed for ave prod, Your reviews of The Dragon Lord (C&S adventure) and From the Deeps of Space (V&V Adventure) listed prices of $6 and $5.95. Though recognize that many FGU products look lke $6 ‘Product from many other publishers, both of these products have arecommensed real price of $3. A ‘Correction would be appreciated. Thank you, Scott B. Brat Fantasy Games Uaiimited Mineola, NY ‘The State of the Art Dear alle, Well, ow tha I've gotten that out of my system {see pag 2), here's the serious commentary on your exchange with Warzen (Counter Inieigence, SC 7 ‘Character generation. 1 think this depends on the word-image the system is irying 1 reat. Ina ‘superhero game, random selection of powers isin appropriate, and deliberate allocation of points ‘seems ight. In fantasy. 1 prefer to have random. ‘character who have to choose a Hle-path based 08 their umbers. Ie scence fiction, it Seems eight to have @ set of base parameters based on genotype {hd work of origin, with some room for vartion (otto mention genetic engineering). Bus form fal Jows fonction, and a case could be made for any 5 tem — of combination of systems. as in Dragon ‘Quest. One possibilty would be to have both dice nd ponrallocaton avaiable: dice would offer the ‘hance for both great and terble valves, Ultimate Iy, of curse, no sane refer would force a player to sea character s/he detested, so all ystems need Serve kindof limit on how roten a resul a ap- pen No clases, alignments, levels: Absolutely. If the thieves want to unionize, they ean hire & hall ‘Waren's commen aboit That Game seem to me fnrlevant— itd ot "poner" those subsystems, ‘ced them ata subst for something beter, and inthe yeas since has refused to oven coosider an’ thing beer. The soe virtue of clases and levels that they clearly deine character bites — infix: ibly, but clearly. ligament has 90 virtues, uness the GM chooses to design a Moorcockian cosmos in Which Law and Chaot are tel elemental powers (ich they ate ot in D&D), “Aniibutes “and number crunching: 1 think, again, form has to follow function. Ifthe system relies heavily an tribute checks, then each ype of ‘pttude needs number. I the system is aced on skill, only few basic physical scores are needed. ‘As for your distinctions ~ a watchmaker with polio has a high Dexterity but low Agility. Imeligence and Education barely correlate these days: 1 Know eniuses who never finshed high school abd cod Seth doctorates, Warren is quite right about Charisma, and the same argument may be applied to any atrbuce, ‘even such things a8 Bravery (Hhough I personally ‘refer to let players decide that for themteles) a En RPG wel are not ourselves, we are what the umber say we are. AS fr formulas, I don't know where perfection ies. Tike derived numbers — they make me feel ‘hat the characte system has an internal logic — and 1 don't Tike spending an hour on every character Shee, nor equations that seem intended to impress ime with te designer's cleverness (ike Chivalry ‘and Sorcery Dice shapes: { would see for sixes an perce tiles, Some things neal flat curve, ad percentage chance of sucess is easy to understand. AS forthe argument of history, the oldest of al dice are wo Sided; the Kings of Ur had tevahedral foursiders; and the Romans had twenties (and foureens — ve Scen them in th British Musoam). Sivsied dice, sccording to Murray's History of Board Games, ‘were the ast to be developed, in Asia Minor, 2700 Years ago. (AMI auhors have to know useless iivia like tis.) Incidentally, Waren, Yam tld that Lou Zocehi ‘about wo amounce a handredsided die I presume 4 fits ina bowling bag ‘Adaprbily don't dou that his is possible. 1 wonder if i's desirable — and I'm speaking here ‘ore as an author/artist than a rules mechanic. A Tarasy world i not just a mock feudal society with magic on op, because te existence of magic ales the course society takes just as completely a8 the Industrial Revolution di. 1's easy to run the Old West and WWII and modern espionage withthe sare rules, because one evolved imo the nest — but 2 word with widespread magic is diferent, and fur- thermore differem from a fantasy with diferent veohnigues and rituals of magi. Aad te sume i ‘toe ofa scence-fietion World, because the nature ‘fan interstellar eivilzavon (if sn) depends on the presse hardware characeristics ofits transport Son — FTL? Not as fas as igh? Teleporation? — and weapons, and biology. Look at what happened 1 Car Wars when people realized the consequences of cheap Gold Cross cloning, "You mention the Hero Games system. like that system alot — and sil Thave aise problems with 1 Spider-Man webs sometody. Dr. Stange wraps them in the ‘Crimon Bands of Cytorrak, Reed Richards uses a Stasis Ray (pat. pend.) ~ all of them are Entangle stacks, jet the processes in- volved areal very different. Sure, lots ofeolorfel Sescription by the GM and players is what makes the game ~ makes any RPG — but it seems to me ‘bar e Waly universal system would be universally bland. 1 would be quite happy to be wrong abou this, ‘ofcourse, nd Tmay wellbe. Thee are two Qpesat tales design numbercrunching and inspirations Every gume system conains some of both. TAS problem will not be solved through crunching: i falls for large swoop of inspiration, followed by patient and tedious hardware ork “Anyway, there hasbeen an argument ike this in the pro press for to long. and it's necessary a imervals, jst to clear the cobwebs. Thanks or sag it Yours &e, John M. Ford New York, NY When you sate it 50 badly, the idea thar we ‘must ploy the characters the numbers dictate Becomes even more reprehensible. Roleplaying ‘should be an oullet for our repressed impulses to ‘advenure and exuberance ~ a catharsis. more than an acting challenge. The antiquity of polwedral dice seems tomea conclusive Indicomen: Were they ss ‘any more than fad hey would have remained pop- lar though the cenuries as scsiders have. ww Dear Mr. Varney: “Tis lener Is being wren in response to your ‘tooght-provoking "Counter Inelligence"” essay which appeared: in Space Gamer’ #72. Whi Warren Spector has beaten us all fo the punch (amazing what you ein do when you share an office), I'd like toad few thougls of my own, Customized Character Generation: Vil agree ‘ith you that a customized character generation ss- tem smo enjoyable than a andom number genet stoe. However, rust dsapre that the only reason {play RPGs is for wish-follllment. A second aspect 'play-ating, Iam given a string of random nue ‘bers, T must ae f0 breathe life into those cold numbers. Some of my mos enjoyable roleplaying fxperince has come from Bari Dumarest (Fores (Commander, Retired) who grew ffom a sting of sumbers generated from the Mercenary character (generator in Traveler 10 a Clint Eastwoodsike Fero, bent on 9 quest acrots the Spinward Marches to return tos home plant of Earth sure, i's Been ore before — but it was fn!) ‘Siesided Dice: A point of disagreement. agree that some designs ae a line sly — sity ‘ven sed dice, three-sided dice, one-sided dice ut Tals fc hat use of some ofthese strange Shapes helps to introduce 2 litle more Mlexibiiy ia ‘ming systems. Also, how can you wish wo see Euelidean solids only in math books and praise the ‘ell cure atthe same time? Both belong inthe ath ook. MAR. Barker has told me dha he fel, in ‘many ways, thatthe rules are superfuous — tat the storyteller andthe people listening to the sory are the imponant factor. A great gaming system, fn- taste support, and all the clea syle and sensible ‘organization inthe world will ot help ithe referee ‘and the players are not making an effort, or don't have the imagination, or just Gort care. On the ‘other hand if te players are interested and care about their characters, andthe eferee has a riliant imagination ~ even fhe game mechanies are hot- ‘endows that game wil sparkle and grow for along ‘ime. To use another example, good special effects ‘n't make a good sere fiction fim. Good char- {acters and a good sory will be enhanced by good Special etfs. "You can't say definitely what the best is — as there will always be acrowdto challenge your state= ment. Infinite diversity. as a Vulcan oace sted, Teads to ifiaie combinations. Having & wide-open Field of different gaming systems ay be frustat- ing, but Td rather ave that han have panes stifled due to lack of creativity. Frederick Paul Kiesche I East Brunswick, NI 1 just received Space Gamer #72. It was an in- teresting issue, and ried a ot of interesting points to lk about, Such as — ‘Courer Incligence: tend 10 share a Jot of Allen's prejuices about game mecbanis. (Sorry, Warren.) However, no all my creria fora "state ofthean" RPG were included in the column. ‘Counter Intelligence filed to del with he "sof" ‘de of RPGS ~ personlty and gamemaser ad. (L realize that these aren't 38 clear-
harness the so-called “international markt by pliting overage tetween American and foreign gues, With the help of his partner, Chis Harvey, heFlagship's US. di to bea lesser coup than it should have been — Loomis lethargic marketing was a valueless asset, and his cloak of credibility had lost its ast ‘selling power). 1 relied on my own sails" to sel the 100% U.S. oriented Gam- ing Universal. A red-blooded Yank hawking ‘American literature apparently struck the right chord here in the patriotic Stes: T was out- selling Palmer/Loomis by 2:1 The two premieres of Gaming Universal and Flagship gave PBM the impetus it needed to burst the private cocoon that had shielded it from true expansion. By their very look both ‘magazines trounced the long-standing axiom that anything PEM must be amateurish. In- deed, 1984 saw a bumper erop of new moder- ators, among them several woll-financed, well-managed operations. The GAMA direc tors finally gave play-by-mall a category on the Origins Awards ballot, and Rick Loomis ‘organized a moderator’s association to dls- ‘courage the unhealthy business practices that have traditionally ravaged the hobby. But pe haps most significant, major articles about BM appeared in such widely read magazines as Games and Analog. Hobby pundits pre- dicted 1984 tobe the start of a “Golden Age. Good times for al, happy days are here again. Realization So why has Gaming Universal — the co- Inpirator of this joyous rebirth — hung 2 “ceased publication” sign on is front cover? ‘Marketing research would have given me ‘the answer. The play-by-mail industry eannot support a slick, professionally produced maga- zine that has as its base policy “no expense spared." Mainstream gaming is much the same. Look at Gameplay, a fine publication with a similar policy that crashed afier 14 {soues. The smart operators are Steve Jackson Games, which subsidizes Space Gamer with a successful line of products, and TSR, which created an appetite for Dragon and now just leans back and feeds all those hungry D&Decs ‘monthly portions of their favorite meal. Makes ‘my mouth water ‘While it’s trie the publishing racket isn't all moonlight and roses, there are pockets of good times mixed in with the printer bill flaky deadlines, and defective typesetting equipment. I had my share of enjoyment. T also hed my share of edueation under fire, and the deceptive feeling that I “profited intl- Jectually” from this venture saved my sanity ‘when Gaming Universal's year-end financial report was delivered by my accountant (who will never work in this town again) Recollection But let's backtrack. Let's return to those thrilling days of pre-publication, when the world could be conquered by anyone with a grammar handbook and a ten-page article bout Feudal Lords. Now that was living. The PBM moderators were pelting me with free ‘game postions, requests for advertising rates, and ftiendly words of encouragement. Rick Loomis phoned to chat. Larry Niven sent me a two-page letter all about why he couldn't possibly take time out of his busy schedule 10 ‘write short articles for 4¢/word, Robert Silverberg used friendlier language to reject ‘owice that sum. And Fritz Leiber, fantasit that he is, thought T was offering 40¢/sord (oot leven & strategy picec on Ganglords by Frank ‘Sinatra is worth that much). ‘You can see my problem. Undue fixation ‘on “big name" authors can be disastrous to a Aedgeling magazine's budget. If Thad, for in- stance, matched Omuni’s rate of $1000 and bought myself a chunk of attention from Larry Niven, chances are the issue that contained his story would have been a big seller (given proper advertising and promotion, which don’t ‘come cheap either). But then what? How do I top if? Maybe put the wife to work and use her salary to bait Stephen King? Or cash in. my negotiable securities to hook Norman Mailer? ‘guess you could say I compromised. Issue 2 of Gaming Universal featured an “epic pocm"* by L. Sprague de Camp. What a stinker. Readers warned me never to veer from PEM topies again. Lesson | had been leamed: Don’t morgage the farm when Te/word will satisfy the demand. My Writers’ Guidelines listed pay rates of 1-3e/word, on acceptance."" Of the other PEM magazines, only Flagship actually paid their authors. However, what left me with a surplus of 75 articles wasn't the amount of pay, but the fact that I sent checks immediate ly; standard practice, I found, was to wait until publication before squaring the accounts, This doesn’t faze amateur writers, who many times cate only about seeing their names in prin, but the professionals I contacted — Steve Jackson, Matthew Costello, Dana Lombardy, Forrest Johnson, etc. — were more interesed in top salary, payable yesterday. It was a tough deci sion 1 make. I could save hundreds by relying ‘on amateurs, or I could supplement the stan- dard menu with expensive gourmet entrees. Lesson 2: Be frugal with everything except good prose it this: A magae zine must achieve a balance between sparkling and semi-spariling articles — the more funds faz" an editor may put in each issue. Too much fizz and the magazine quickly evaporates to nothing; too lite fizz and the magazine turns flat. How simple. ‘Gaming Universal had too much fizz. The {$600 color separations, the $1000 layout design, and the $100 columns bubbled over the rim of my budget, soaking through my check book and foretelling an early demise. I like to think [ couldn't see the writing on the wall ‘That's what I lke to think. Ifthe truth mast be told, I was “riding the wave" and having too ‘much fun to come down. Every isue of Gam ‘ing Universal had to be better than the last; T ‘wouldn't compromise the quality. Once people tell you that you have the “best PBM maga- ine,” it's hard to risk losing their interes by cutting back. In the end not doing so was my downfall T have a right to be thoroughly soured on PBM in general and PBM magazine produc- 9 tion in particular. Gaming Universal cost me ‘two years of effort and thousands of lost dol- lays. And what do I have to show for it? Boxes ‘Fold magazines, about 300 pay-by-mail rae books, plemy of expensive stationery. and (maybe) a $20 check for this article. ($17.40 ‘= £4,} Funny thing is, I'm nota all soured by the way things turned out. Id do it over again = with slight modifications — if T had the chance. A lite self‘flagellation never hurt anyone, right? Evaluation So what did 1 gain from this two-year fiasco? Fun, that's what. Lots of fun. And a ‘good deal of satisfaction, too. 1 found myself able to affect the course ofthe PBM industry, both through private conversations with mod cerators and the magezine itself. Only months ‘earlier Thad been “just another gamer."” Same Ideas, same opinions, but no platform from which to orate, Gaming Universal was my soapbox. ‘Also, Gaming Universal paved the way for ‘ther, afcillary ventures like the PEM Mass Mailer, which enabled moderators to reach 10,000 prospective customers. That was prof- itable. (Ironically, though, without the mags- Zine to lend me credibility, I never could have organized a Mass Mailer.) "The 1984 Origins convention was another highpoint — rather than rent 2 booth like everyone else, I hited two former Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders to pass out GU flyers 10 the mostly male, mostly single attendees. The response, as you might expect, was phenome- ral. So was the expense. ‘Seo? We're back to expense again. The ci cle completes. And for this one-man opera tion, that was all she wrote. Conclusion ‘Since Gaming Universal was a fairy tle of sons, it had to have a happy ending. Nothing so dramatic as the wealthy white knight riding in onhis great steed, Investment Capiual, but a happy ending nonetheless. My subscribers are all receiving a free copy of Flagship and a $10 certificate redeemable for any products mar~ keeted by Advent Games. (Totalled, that’s $13, ‘worth of merchandise — far above the $5 most fof the subscribers were due.) My advertisers ‘will see their ads printed in Flagship, and my authors have been approached by other maga Zines anxious to tap ito their typewriters. No loose ends. ‘Gaming Universal remains in limbo, right ‘where it belongs. Contrary to some of the printed reports, I never sold the magazine, nor did T conclude merger deal with Flagship's ‘Nicky Palmer. Why not? Because, on certain ‘quiet nights, when common sense and business avy have sneaked off arm-in-arm to the Hilton, I get these recurrent flashbacks — creative urges that were never properly exor- cised, demanding outlet. Only difference is, this ime Ihave things well in band: Ijust urn (on Hlll Street Blues. “Roll Call: 7:03 A.M." oSometimes I go into @ game store and sigh. Not because there isn't lots of good stuff out there, There is. But one of my favorite genres is being neglected. What do I mean? { mean silly. We aren't being silly enough. Like ‘Nova has something really great with their Lost Worlds series. But why don't they do some modern-day booklets? I'd like to play the "Hood with Bicycle Chain"” against the “Red- ‘neck with Broken Beer Bottle.” Waiting inthe Wings would be the “Lite Old Lady with Umbrella," the “Drunk with Halitosis” (need some special abilities there), the “Berserk Executive with Briefcase and Folding Chair." ‘and even the dreaded “Linle Kid with Pea- shooter.” ‘Hero Games was dropping hints the other day about a combined game of Justice Inc. and TOON, I don't know how tha: would work, but it sounds silly enough for me, SF Games isn't exempt from all this. We should get up our nerve to combine Car Wars and TOON, Call it CarTOON. Lots of funny ‘animals driving. around shooting each other and running each other down. ‘West End bas Paranoia, which is already about as silly as you can get. More supple- ‘ments! Flying Buffalo could be having more fun with their T&T solos. I heard a great story fonce about an adventure the staff ran over there — ‘"Preppies in the Mayan Tombs,”” or something ofthe sort — Biff and Bufly slaying Have We Heard From You? Every s0 often we like to remind ‘you that a magazine — especially this ‘one — depends on its readers — es- pecially you — for anicles, reviews, ‘variants, and strategy tips. Like what you've been reading here? Then send us more of the same things you've en- Joyed. Don’t like what we've been running? You must immediately rec- tify this disastrous situation. Send us the articles you would have liked to For more information about what we're looking for, see the Writer’s Guide on page 46, The Editors Where We’re Going by Steve Jackson monsters with hard-driven raequetballs, and all that. Sure would beat "Deep Hole Fall of Generic Monsters, Part VI." Go tit, guys. ‘And 1 saw something great the other day. It ‘was a litle tiay book, about 32 pages, called Dinky Dungeons. Roleplaying carried toi lowest common denominator did have a (sort of) complete RPG in that litle bag, complete with tiny character sheets, tiny adventure, tiny gamemaster screen, tiny map, tiny errata slip, and two feeny tiny dice. And it all fits in 3" x 5" bag! Now thats silly. For a buck, how can you go wrong? Late last year, we carefully worked out a schedule. A couple of weeks ago, foaming at the mouth, we changed it. . to include a cou- ple of new projects that we were suddenly hot (oo. ‘The first one you'll see is TOON Strikes ‘Again, the frst TOON supplement. Propelied boy a half-dozen great reviows (all the major ‘game magazines reviewed it, and they all loved 1), TOON sales have gone through the ceiling Not being idiots, we decided it was supplement time. So TOON developer Warren Spector vanished for afew weeks, to return witha silly manuscript... after which the office re- sounded with questions like “What do you do afier he shark eats you?” and "Can you think of ten funny things to do on a desert planet?" Anyway, TOON Strikes Again is probably out now — it was in the queue ahesd of this magazine. Look for it. Ifyou don't buy it, at Teast take a good long look atthe cover. ‘You'll know why when you see it. - . maybe. Not too far behind is the long-awaited Un- cle Albert's 2035 Catalog. This is acoliection fof the “Uncle Albert” gadgets from the first couple of years of ADQ ~ most now out of print — along with some new siuff, Look for Uncle Albers honest face leering at you from the shelves around May. Sill on track for an Origins release is the Car Wars Deluxe Edition; Scox Haring is meeting his deadlines just fine. (He'd better: ‘e's using my office to work in, while I'm at home working on GURPS.) We're looking at $16.95 for a set that includes everything from Car Wars, Crash City, and Truck Stop, plus the copter rules from Aufoduel Champions, and more — all heavily edited, made more logical, compiled into a single rulebook, and indexed — plus all the original maps) and counters, and improved, heavier road sec- tions. We may release a few packets of these 0 “Deluxe Road Sections” separately; they are printed on glossy cardboard, and look much better than the original versions. GURPS Update ‘And then, of course, there is GURPS. No ill working away. But “new news" — Tm ‘we have finished cola Price. About 78% of you would like 2 $19.95 (or higher) price tag . . . 90 we are ceurrently shooting for $19.95. 41% of you would buy at $24.95, so that is our fallback position ‘Subjects. We analyzed this two different ways be sure, and they check out. To nobody's surprise, fantasy was the strong leader. followed by science fiction. After that the surprises started. Horror, after-the-holocaust, and Car Wars were all pretty moch tied for third place. Superheroes and Mluminati/conspiracy were trailing behind, with espionage, Wild West ‘and WWII bringing up the tear, We were sur- prised at the weakness of superheroes, since that’s one of the “in subjects right now. Does their poor survey showing mean (a) SG readers doa’t care about superheroes, oF (0) ‘SG readers ace all playing Champions, or (¢Y ‘superhero games are about to die, or (2) none of the above? ‘Another interesting point: We asked for separate ratings for Mluminai, horror, and espionage. But the “luminati"® mythos def nitely includes both espionage and Ciulhoid horror . . . and allows settings ranging from the 1700s to the modern era. And if you com. bine the votes for those three subjects, you [get a sitong third place. So we just might do that “There were very few requests for subjects not mentioned; among those received, the ‘most often mentioned were time-travel, black powder piracy era, “pulp” era crimefighting, and Japanese robots. hole punch. The vote was YES, by a 2to-1 margin, Ifthe budget allows, we'll try to oblige. ‘Support publications. Most preferred were full-scale supplements, game-world back- ‘grounds, and refereed adventures — but the programmed adventures were not far behind Looks as though almostanything goes. C)" DEEP A PARKING TICKET ON DUNE? ne SPACE. PREED anne, BUT” THAts NET] aS UAPORTANT RIGHT NOW, FRED! ar PIRATES THE DAMAGE covTROL. CHECK or J D WEBSTER Mer E. eS itere The scewe: CHAOS IWSIDE A BLASTED Scot, “ ° r (OKAY! SO THE HOBBITSKYS art 7, Reno f ‘WHAT! NO WAT, Ih & }. CompRors | - LA sreike cavisée! ANY WANTED MAN ON DIK ge “ns 1eAs BEFORE we PANIC Ji, systems! PY Ay! 2 NN 4 ae GH REALLY 5.0 Goose GRAV “SYSTEM 7 ma | A SYSTEMS 2} Y ; Gy Ee eed a AuricnT, sox (( S. LASERS! Me Gor A PARKING, - i x * rrexer_ on "DUNE"| A = 33 suor | wi CES SURRENDERS) y/ once... |gere “DRIVES? “ale! THEY RE BLOWING ie WARPED! THE HATCH! Sav, 1svT TAR NY ns . Ste SHECKLIST A a Lirtes conw¥? TOOK, = ‘ Dipat aaire S ¢ pec quis scarry Oe BON are Ye coNTROLS DON'T RESPOND! re S aman GO AHEAD PUNKS, )D. ps 5 PINKS, <= moO 71a ut MAKE MY DAY ! S00 & ‘Oi! WooR Geariee t bg Sr (ate ts ANSINGs BT rexcron EGS “iG! WwHar! THATS Beam P loans! Terie, is a oanune sock Toueee I! Gor US. So RATS!, L FORGOT MR. FINGERS, YOUR’ THESE Guys are L, SPACE PIRATE DAYS =, (wees ! ney! Pe SHORT! HEY ! ARENT, ARE OVER}... Hun] How Humusar- YOU ?.., ry wel YES, DWARF VADER! § . (NO, 7 OAS Zs "J les seen Ht NN ai160- s Rist GOR LORD | a Luck , THESE Go VADER! eure ‘tonren ee IR TRES remoomre{ LooK! RE-AUNES Bin60?, 4 ‘A 768 Gase!. ‘FIN, ohur UP AND HED RUN AWAYID|| me! evo may o7HER 8S FP.wi RUBBER EAR... Be a THE END...( MAYBE)ory mii Space Gamer reviews boardgame, role- Playing games, computer games, play aids, Publications, and. game supplements. We review play-by-mail games if a reviewer is enrolled. We will tempt to review any sci- ence fiction of fantasy game ifthe publisher supplies a copy. We do not guarantee reviews af historical games. Space Gamer may publish a review of a game we afe not seat if reader submits 4 review ‘The staff will make reasonable efforts 10 check reviews for factual accuracy, but opin- ions expressed by reviewers are hot neces sarily those ofthe magazine ‘Games and game items for which we are seeking reviews include Battlebikes, Crasinof?'s World (BM), Flashing Blades, The Last Starfighter Combat Game, The Last Starfighter: Duel in Space, Margin of Profit, Moria, Offworld (PBM), The Oui- casts, Rangers of the North, RHAND, The Romulans, Sologames, Starbattes, Star Fleet Batties Supplement #2, and Star Trek III Starship Combat Game. THE ARCANUM (Bard Gunes) $12. Designed by Stephan Michae! Seah and Verne Taylor. 614" x 11 1S8-page book. For gamemastr and several players; plying time indefinite. Published 1985, "The Arcanum isthe fst book in Bard Gases" ambitious Atlantis Trilogy. ad ithe following two ‘ae a5 well conceived and execued, the Talogy Should prove a signifiant contribution to FRPG lore. The Trilogy is designed 0 be wsed either a8 a fulldlown RPG set in antedluvin Adants (he Second Age, folowing a greter First Age), of asa supplement wo existing FRDGs, allowing them 19 be pled in an Atlantean seting. As the first inthe Series, The Arcanum does prety good job tthe firs goal a on bad all fling he second either (ough subsequent volumes will probably prove more useful tan this ne for those who wish imply to se Alans as te Background for their artem FRPG) Idescebes how wo create an Alan- teas characte, diving 100 + 2D6 points berween Set characteristics and offering eight different Dliyercharacter races and some 27-professions, from Alchemists and Assassins to Warriors and ‘Wieards, pls ditional background material © further define an acverturer, A wie vary of skills and spells avaiable, depending on prfes- Sion and background. Came mechanies and combat ‘we covered briefly, but adequately forthe relatively Simple, playable system presented — tasks are ae- ‘complished mainly by TD20 saving rolls chara teristics, modified by profession, race, et, of by percent rolls for various silt, ee "The Arcanum's usefulness asa supplement ies mainly in is extensive sections on magic. ad alchemy: more than @ third of is toal pages are Gevoted to these, The alchemy section in particular is if aot the Dest coverage of the myste art ever Presented, prety close tt. Players of FRPGs hat imp over this afea could find much of use here (Otter miscellanenu rales, sch a8 those on oni ‘atin, are ice touches, a bth character's Tame Score, which determines how wellknown You may be throughout the aneiuvian world. The map, taken mostly from the theories of Spence and ‘hers, 188 welcome addon for Aatcophiles, if abithard wo read (a complete alias willbe presenied in the second volume af the trilogy) ‘The oaly ral fal Tan ind wah The Arcanum {sits mixing of tadtional FRPG elements, such 38, dwarves and elves, nto an Aameanseting, which ‘certainly isn't justified secording to any books 7've ‘ead on the subject (of couse, the authors do note they are, in effect, creating their owm theory of ‘Alans here). Alo, 1 find the inclusions of Druids fa profesnon inthe anteuvan ape somewhat Incongrocus, ince they were a istorc priesthood, rot simply a type of generic woods soreror, 5 109 ‘many FRPGs have misporrayed ther. ‘Overall, The Arcanum seers quite adequate 2s volume one of a new FRPG, an could prove valo- able a5 2 supplement for other FRPGS, especialy ‘hose defiient in alchemical information. look forward tothe remaining volumes inthe tlogy William 4. Baron THE PALLADIUM ROLE-PLAYING GAME (Palladium Books); $19.95, Designed by Kevin Siembieda. One 61°" x 11° 272-page sofbound rulebook. For two or more players; playing time ‘aries, Poblished 1983, The Palladium Role-Playing Game is fantasy roleplaying system that allows payers o adventure tn the colorful and deuiled Palladiam world. Char ‘eters ean be anyone of 13 ffeent racial type and ‘choose from over 25 different character occups: tions, The racial type governs the number of si Sided dice rolled bythe player foreach of the eight anribates anywhere from two w five dice), wat bonuses awarded for exceptionally high rolls, The ‘ceupation selected for the character determines he ‘ils and mitaons derived from the class. AS ‘hariter gains experience levels the expertise of erin sili also Inereases (an interesting rite fev and percentage based experience). Combats fae relatively simple to handle, wih very few maxl- fers applied 1 the 120 roll obit. ‘The siengih of The Palladium Rote Paying Game ress mainly on the plethora of materia i= chuded in ats pages. While the game system as a whole gives the impression that Palladium is just note roleplaying game, is ehock fll of edapr fable information. The tuber of magical spells, {YpDS, and wards aloe is staggering (a well over 5380). The deity and religious sections are informs tive and imerestng, complementing the Palladium ‘word, ks history, and inhabitants (something that ‘anol be sud fora umber oF RPGS which atempt to addon religions aran afterthought cr gnore them akogether == - both producing les
plete, are usually so bland thatthe DM mut call ‘pon great creative reserves o spice them wp. Also, encounter N is missing from the map key — unless thats tat he top ofthe compas ose in which ase ‘hse bandits are faraway from ary potential vi tims! ‘Catapult Run isa respectable product, but lacks imagination, replay Value — Be race i run once every seven years — and a useful story line Wheter it might have been improved had TSR ‘authorized and supervised is production is prob Tematic. Anyway, i's okay for 2 first effon. allen Varney THE CLEOPATRA GAMBIT. (Paceseter uc.) $6, Designed by Ethan Sharp and Garry Spiegle. Module for Timemaster. 3-page 8%" x Tr" booklet. For three or mare players, playing time indefinite, Published 1984 “The shape-shiking Demoreans have inflated ancient Egypt. Do they plan te kill Cleopatra, of is there more to ti ncureon? To find out he Time Corps have dispatched pavol, whatever the Demoreans have done, the patrol mast sop ther. and se hings righ. This adventure presents rues ‘on gladitril combat, chariot aces ala Ber Pr and ramship combat ll of which the gamemaser vu use if he sets many of his advemtres inthis er. All work wel inthe system ar dont slow the {ame too much, although the arena aps ackany of the markings refered tin the extom chariot acing {and I would have preferred the gran ofthe arena ‘ap to allow the long suaightaways o be suaigh, ‘ot zigzag), ‘This sdvenure lacks sublety, logic coher nce, and Menibilty. The players’ briefing the ‘beginning fly screams out ha there's more ere than meets the eye; even if the players manage to ‘overlook this, the fact that the Demoreans ae sctng ‘openly seems like misdirection of the " Hey-look- ‘overshere!”variey And Wall ese fis, here sa ‘lve s obvious even comes with ite own map and ‘imeabe, Tal ose why the first two sections are fn the adventure at ally even if the players are stupid ‘enough fo overlook all the evidence pontng tothe, restof the adventre and head straight home, igs" ae obviously sill wrong when they get back, s0 ‘more agents willbe dispatched. This Seems wo make the idea of afeine absurd. have a ecing thatthe ranrship section was included just node bose rules aed se the skirmish ules from the gare, de- signed wo allow roleplaying in the mit of (this ase, small) banles. Tis section has eo “Sigil ‘cae ral at "When the players get ro where shey're heading, they fae the lack of flexibility 1 mentioned. IF ie players do one thing, they get aresed and sent 10 Unitrays Storage traye with the arena: if they do something else, they get ar- ‘ested and cent othe arena; if, on the other hand, ‘ey ty something unexpected, they get arrested and ‘With work, the GM can make a decent session of play from tis module, but If he or she doesnt have the time or inclination to do 40, Ht certainly fst worth Russell Grant Colts CAPTIF D'YVOIRE (Blace, $5.95. Designed by Steven Estvanik, Solo adventure for Tunnels & Trolls. 36-page 84°" x 1" book. Playing time 15 ‘minutes 10 one hou. Published May 1984 “aking a break from the continent of Rhalph, Blade ses tis adventure in France. Your character auempted 10 asist the rightful Due d"Yvoire, ‘Gastar d'Alene, but was cat and imprisoned in the dungeon of the Chateau d"Yvoie. Your mission {sto escape and continue to the camp ofthe right uke “This adventae is definitly different fiom the standard fae from Blade. Although they have done ‘apes without your old favorite weepons (Naked Doom), and city adveoures (City of Terrors), this scenario works well by combining the two. Your sppearance inthe town affece the manner In which {te NPCs react to you. Losing all of your stuff before begining the adventure does make it ough, but iteresting ‘As with any product, this one does have ts problems. Many ofthe choices are by luck. Only ‘one of many loglealehoies of spells wil defeat the ‘Yiu Elaith. New spells and NPC magic ae meant to cock you when you make decisions the designer fidat want you to make. The new eight level spell fof “Rusler Holding” prevents te character from {aking one ofthe easy vanes out, Finally, most of he magic lems have their disadvantages. and are limited in power. Mega-chaacters this adventure oes not bull "This adventure is average for Blade, Ts not a5 ‘Monyy Haul" or diszomneried as Weird World, nor as rich as Clty of Terors. Stil if you woold like w sole ouside of Rhalph and have characters that are 001 that heavily dependent on their magical tools, tis adventure is for you. Personally, Fm Keeping "Jack the Clover,” my megacharacter, ‘out of (ASK any FBI convertioner about him.) Philip L. Wing PLAY-BY-MAIL CAPITOL (Adventures by Mail); $2.50 rules, $2.50/tumm, $16.00 — res, setup, 4 tas. Designed by Jack Everin, Robert Cook, and “Mictael Popliio. 20-page 8" x 11" rulebook, ‘raph paper, 10 plastic overlays, Computer ‘A superb gaming aid...’ FANTASY GAMER 3 tor $5.25 ‘sak tor thom at your local Nabe store ¢ Close eile Inte SOR Pouge nos ences ean seats smoderie, variable ending, play-by ai game, 96 stone pee game i 12 ret of tight postions En; up © twee tm pr mont, ts rocesed Shey come in one of two postions per player. Begun in 158, "You snd up 0 seven ober players are pied against leven oer ems in ae to cong tie fly: ins case the aly is 098 by 98 Each race stars om in wo areas onthe mep ed ty a "stg" Ships ate designed by he owner sd consist of weapons, shies, and cargo Bas; they move from sarto strand can ary probes to kup now aes ofthe gala. Each worl an pro- ice raw marl, Which ae used by bes to fake ship and exablh or large bases. Viewry ‘based on liming ter aces (who wl always be amackod by yur ships) and capturing words. ‘A few special features make Capital sand cut ftom most empire bidng. PEM games, Fest ayers ar teamed iogter, and victory cn gonly {Dade ear as1 whole oto anvil Second Sve ofthe payer Is designate the Capa word pPlyer ancl consol the “Enpeot” of he ace, AS Eel payer is cies stop tine determine the cos of sips" components for the ret of the tae. The Frperor ean be moved around the mip nd bathe power gab worl from ober Pay ars, bac on his experience. The capitol payer's ‘zrmined by who Sed inthe best blu” the Sam ofthe pune: however, he ca be replaced if syne else Inthe race bul a base big than his ingest. giving you & new Enperr and capil player. The mapping sjtem is ungue. Each tine So fre off probe, ap ofthe ares around your Bhp pt on your prineat. Using past overlays from the fle, you can ase hs map 0 grape pape given youn the stop. This graph paper nap ised nth oe of he overlays wo coe our mave- ‘ent orders forthe tun sheet, At abou! sx mons ie the game, the advanced ules Sar, lowing players o build stargates snd bigger ships. final Interesting featre — if you encounter anothet player, you get his eal name and address om your Print "These unique features include both the strong and weak points of Copitol If the race You are in ‘oes or cooperate from the very sar, you wil {quickly fall behind. the capitol player of your race does not keep in close coract withthe other lay~ fs, you will probably be plked apart by your neighbors. However, if you race does work well together and has srong leader as capo! playes ‘you willbe in fora tense ad exciting sugfest. Me, mapping system, ‘while allowing the automatic Printing of maps on your turn results, is camber Some and dificl to ase. I would rather use Care ‘an coordinates than te relative eooedinats used fon the overlays. Another feature Tdilke isthe rules, which are offset pintd copes of dot-matrix printer oupat tis hard to read and unpleasant to Took a — come on, guys, ever hear of tpeseting from word-proceser ouput? 1 woald recommend Capitol ony for teams of players who ask to beset up together inthe game. [Note tata team can be from fou to eight player, a each player can have (wo postions. If you end ‘tp, ike Idi, ona "pickup" team of players from “lerent parts ofthe country who da no know each othe, you ar likely tobe infor an uphill struggle However, as team game wiih your fiends, Cape tol canbe challenging and excling. PUBLICATIONS PLAYING WITH FIRE (Moody Pres); $4.95. 3 Jon Well and Fae Borsa: Tradl paper back. 8 pages plus bibliography, Published 1966 i“This book, by a religious publishing house (af. fated with the Moody Bible Isitae of Chicago), isa act that opposes roleplaying games! Weldon the suhor of Paychic Healing, wile the book's cover ientfies Bjornsed. ab acalemie dean of NNorteasiern Bible College and “involved in cat research for eighteen yeas.” ‘Strangely encugh. this book has 2 few good pins for RPGers. it demelishes the legent of Tames Dallas Egber. IM of the University of ‘Michigan. Ifyou've heard he story of a college su- ‘dent who became so infatuated wth DAD tht he ‘lsappeard inte sewers, his is the ease, Weldon and Bjorstad state — and this surprised me since 1 heard the legend — dst 0 conclusive evidence was ver found lisking DAD to Egben's disappearance or latr suicide, This will be valuable ammo for those defending RPGs, This book also performs a service for RPGs. If they noe carefully he exit lars of RPGS they have heard, they wll fn, 3 1 ‘id, Uat most ft under the objections given by Weldon and Bjornstad. These are: (1) RPGs can Jead to unhealthy involvement with the occult (he authors object o TSR’s providing a bibliography of. ‘occal-elate books in Deities and Demigods): 2) ‘he games may cause young people 10 spend 100 uch time with RPGs to the detriment of oer thing, like schoolwork; and (3) immoral acs i the RPGs inay encourage aca immoral cs ler. The ‘ook als has though provoking moments, suck a when it questions te Vlence found in some gxmes (Arduin Grimoire was cites, bu acheck of Fringe: worthy ana Rolemaster reveals bloody hit tables). ‘The book, a5 might be expected with its ant- RPG viewpoint, does have flaws, Many claims sre ‘weakly documented (example: “On a major net Work radio tlk show a year ago, ote prominent Dungeon Master admited to one ofthe authors that the personally knew of several no had gone on Io become involved in witcheraf and spttism as & result of playing D&D"). The book i almost oper season on E. Gary Gygax. Twenty-five times the ‘authors uke quotes from Gygax's waiten works to ‘how thatthe game, for example, ean promote in terest inthe occult. But the authors do hot mention that the DAD gure, since being marketed for people, has toned down this element (check the decreasing significance given to deities com- pared to when the game fist came ou). 'And it should be mentioned that Moody Press ‘was somewhat dishonest. Despite the authors" a> ‘sBWving D&D of blame inthe Egbert case, the back over mentions te 1979 eisappearance of 2 ‘allege student involved ina bizarre DAD ple. ‘Uke i or nt, RPGs, parents are reading this book or hearing from those who have. It hss been prominealy diplayed in religious bookstores snd {a some regular bookstores. If gamers want wo see the spe ofa threat o their hobby, this bok i. Because ofits informational value — plus 2 good Dibliography of RPG newspaper and magatine ar cles gamers may find it wortawhile investment oftheir time and money, especially if RPGs are Under stock in thelr home town, Sieve LaPrade PLAY AIDS CAR WARS EXPANSION SET 6 (Steve Jackson Games) $3.95. Ariss: Kim Stombo, Jeff George, David Welling, C. Mara Las, Denis LLoubet, Jeff Hayes, Dan Willemt. Expansion se for Car Wars. 153 counters, 8%" x 11" counter sue, in ziplock bag. Published 1984, ‘Car Wars Expansion Set 6 should please mary Car Wars fans who dough The AADA Vehicle Gulde, for te expansion Is very apy tied The ‘AADA Vehicle Guide Councers. A counter for ‘every vehicle in the Guide isin this expansion, representing the major sellers in the Car Wars ‘universe. Incladed ate vehicles ranging from eyes through care ofall testo a seletion of semi and teller couniers, plus the boaus of helicopters and tricycle! Each counter usirates the vehicle in (pestion in Back on 2 white mate surface, and i, rck-printed withthe same vehicle, wrecked, on a slick Surface. Why black on white? So you can color your own vehicles as you choose! Suggestions for the proper coloring mea ae included. ‘This expansion fs much eadod asa companion to te Vehicle Guide, for you realy can't ake ‘sivanuge of the wonderful design in the Gulde ‘without counters forthe crs, Tsuspect cht his wil ‘be the major selling point ofthe expansion altough the opportunity 10 personalize your own vehicles very ce. Whether you eolor the counters or rot, they are irtrate qualy. The material is tong, tnd he printing is crys clear, I's almost a shame to cu them apart. Unfortunately, the counters will look drab ‘anong the mul-
_>_ ‘STAR FRONTIERS METAL MINIATURES: “Robots” and "Federation Shipe™ (ISR); $6 and 10.95, respectively. Boted ses of leadalloy mii- turer, No sculptors credited. Released 1988 “These two sets seem typical of TSR's recast rminiatres releases. After really unimpressive sta, the boys in Lake Geneva have gotten their at together produce some (to say the leas) decent Jooking lead. Moze power io them. ‘The “Robots” et ineades & halfdozen met men — not giant Japanese-sive. monsters, but humanize "droid" kn 25mm scale. AU ae smi Tar, but no two are alike, The sculpting (and machining) is fy clean, and de unnamed sculp- tor obviously had a sense of humer. Most ofthe robots have long, joined rms that can be repos ‘oned if you are careful about it.I like this sett ‘The “Federation Ships” package incades some ‘miniatures rales for “Knight Haws,” as well asa ery simple, but plyable, stand-alone combat 5 tem. Then thre are the ships themselves — six es sels of scored sie, wth bases. The larger ships re ‘quire simple assembly. The biggest i the diameter (of a good cigar and about half te length, while the ‘salle can st on a hal dollar without overapping. Design, sculpting, ad casting ae all about average; this i almost a generic lead spaceship set. Of the two sets, “Robots” i my favorite: more imaginative, beter executed, and a beter buy TOF the money. Bat check out the ships if you hike mink ‘ores bales, They arent bad tall — just unepec- tacular and a bit expensive, The combat system Imight bea good way t9 Introduce anew player to the miniatures genre, Seve Jackion TREASURE ‘Thats what'll about, Getthe treasure and sititon home. It sounds easy enough but youve goto contend with Tike res tradewinds and sity gs that wil gay, eet and steal your treasure my. Thisis Povsteet. 2s, Intriguing and highly orginal boardgame that wil give vou and your fiends hoursof quality ‘terainment. andreas, PRIVATEER: lore Lane Meno Pu CA9025__ Space Gamer. WRITER’S GUIDE SPACE GAMER accepts articles and an from ts readers, All materials must be oriented toward seience fiction or fantasy gaming, PAYMENT: SG pays 40 cents per column {inch for most copy. (That works out to about one cent a word.) If an anicle must be extensively rewriten by the S) Games editorial stat it wil be published under both bynes. The orignal author tril be pid les than one cent a word. (The actual amount ‘will vary with the amount of editing re ‘quired, One-half cent 2 word f average.) IF your ‘heck would come to less than $5, we wil round it wp ws. SUBLECT MATTER: A look aout back issves sive you an idea of the kind of material we regulary print. Specific (Game variants — An aricleon variation fr 3 popular game will aways be carly consiered ‘Thebeter-known the game, dhe more ikely we are to print a varia. Submisions should be playtested by the autor they will sho be playtestad by she afl ‘Strategy articles — if you think you consistently vwin a popular game, and are wiling o share your secrets, go ahead! We never have enough strategy anices. Roleplaying game material — Be original on’ ‘ve us another tehash of Tolkien or Siar War Readers tke play hints, new creates and words. and anifacs, Preference Is ven to the more Popul games, and to material which can be esd With more than one game. Sometimes. SG wil vows the center ofthe magazine to 2 pull-out sup- plemest. These can un up to 8,000 words “Humor ~ Keep i shot. Designer's Noe — SG definitely solicits esignr's ances on newly-rleased games! Company Reports — By invitation only — but inguire! Publishers are weloome t write general a- teks on gaming ‘Other Sm ~ SC sometines runs commentaries and survey ates, Sometimes we run designer's articles on old hobby favorites, These tll how dhe tzame has developed over the years, and what ex- pansion i planned. We do not regularly un, but do rot rule ut, fet antl, materia on historical taming, miniatures fr display. game psychology. ‘or movies, There is strong. editorial bias agaist poetry. songs, and ariles which consist Solely of hans and tates, RIGHTS: Unless etherwise specified, SG boys a published material as "work for hire.” tht, ‘we buy all rights, From professional athors we can buy fist North American serial eights Inquire with submission, SPECIFICATIONS: All writen submissions should be typed. double spaced. on white, leer- Slzed paper. Do not write on the back. The fist page should include your name and adress. and [Bie an approximate word count. Each page shout be nunbered, and include the author's name. Each Submission must include w self addressed envelope with return postage, Te your ale requires lusteations, draw them as well as you ean. Out staff artist wil erender them if necessary ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: We uy 10 acknow- tesige submissions within 30 days of receipe. IF yeu have not goren an acknowledgement wich 90 days, send us a query. We 69 not usualy acknowledge pres releases, games sent for tev. aendar ters, oF letere 10 the elon (Capsule Reviews "Mest of the reviews we print are “capsule” reviews ~ 400 words of less, We Bano run 8 review forever: new SF o fantasy game or supple Each capsule review should be five paragraphs tong and contain 4) Basic information. Present these fois, ia this order: NAME OF GAME (Publisher); price Designer. (If applicable Supplement to —. ‘Companion 1," of similar note.) Format list ‘of components, with sies of maps and rulebook, rumber of counters, et. Number of players: pay ing time. Publication dae (2) General description of the game: back- round, the sides, course of ply, spacial feares, (©) Strong points. Discuss what is good about ‘he game; in every game there is something wort- hile. "Fun" is selss adjective. Be specific 4) Weak point. Every game has ts problems. too. If the only fats you ca fred are miror ones. sy so Ifthe game is fatally flawed, come rig out ssa 50. If you cn pase your evicisms as sug- ‘estions for improvemert, do so, (3) Summation, Your overall opinion of the ‘game. Who should and shoul ox buy it and why? Ts the game wort its price? All reviews must be signed: the reviewer's ‘ame wil be printed. No game may be reviewed by its designe, by a playtstes, or by an employee of. the publisher. (Designer's ancles we welcome, bat must be billed as such) Final ote: If you can write 4 complete review in ess than the fll 400 words, by all means do so. “This ceview format is designed 10 encourage fairest and t give the reader enough information to let him or her cece whether he ar she wats 0 hy tit game, Keep that in mind when you wete “This i a short review, nora complete arly Featured Reviews These ate game reviews 1,000 to 2,000 words long. They should contain all she abore informa- fon plus whatever eke the reviewer want 10 sa ‘They may be writen in any format. A featured view may cover either anew game oF one that has been onthe market for some ine. If Space Gamer has not already printed a capsule review, write one and submit atthe same time, We may even ate toh ARTIST’S GUIDE PAYMENT: SG pays on publican. Payment {for cover asians a $40 and goes up. depending on guality ofthe work. Interior (b&w) art ears ibe ar Ist flat $1 per column inch — thas, a alfpage i= lusttation would pay $15. If your check would come to les than $8, we will round it up t0 5, a6 for writers, SUBJECTS: All at should be oriemed toward fanasy, sclence fleon, and/or gaming. Either a Serious or humorous approtch is acceptable — ‘whatever fts your style. Don't send us a barbarian hero witha clinging maiden a his feet: we have loss slready. Cover art — Can be full-color painings or black-and-white Musrations suitable for two-color reproduction, Fine deta is a must. Artists must use 1 veri format, leaving room forthe SC logo and. list of contents. Look at our past covers. Interior art = At preset we necd only black- andsvhie material for interior Wes, Line ant eprodaoes much beter than water-
You might also like
Revolt On Antares Compilation
PDF
No ratings yet
Revolt On Antares Compilation
12 pages
The Space Gamer 069
PDF
100% (7)
The Space Gamer 069
52 pages
The Space Gamer 057
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 057
51 pages
The Space Gamer 030
PDF
100% (3)
The Space Gamer 030
38 pages
The Space Gamer 075
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 075
56 pages
The Space Gamer 055
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 055
58 pages
The Space Gamer 032
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 032
36 pages
The Space Gamer 072
PDF
100% (4)
The Space Gamer 072
56 pages
The Space Gamer 041
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 041
48 pages
The Space Gamer 078
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 078
56 pages
The Space Gamer 037
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 037
40 pages
Voyages SF 14
PDF
100% (3)
Voyages SF 14
36 pages
The Space Gamer 038
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 038
44 pages
Space Gamer 05 PDF
PDF
100% (1)
Space Gamer 05 PDF
16 pages
Space Gamer 06 PDF
PDF
100% (1)
Space Gamer 06 PDF
16 pages
The Space Gamer 018
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 018
32 pages
The Space Gamer 066
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 066
52 pages
The Space Gamer 063
PDF
100% (3)
The Space Gamer 063
52 pages
The Space Gamer 019
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 019
32 pages
The Space Gamer 001
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 001
10 pages
Space Gamer 20
PDF
100% (3)
Space Gamer 20
38 pages
The Space Gamer 017
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 017
32 pages
The Space Gamer 056
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 056
46 pages
Space Gamer 02 PDF
PDF
100% (4)
Space Gamer 02 PDF
12 pages
The Space Gamer 081
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 081
56 pages
The Space Gamer 068
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 068
60 pages
The Space Gamer 035
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 035
40 pages
The Space Gamer 028
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 028
36 pages
The Space Gamer 033
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 033
48 pages
The Space Gamer 014
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 014
52 pages
The Space Gamer 025
PDF
100% (2)
The Space Gamer 025
34 pages
The Space Gamer 058
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 058
60 pages
Space Gamer #67
PDF
No ratings yet
Space Gamer #67
48 pages
The Space Gamer 042
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 042
48 pages
Space Gamer Magazine #59
PDF
100% (1)
Space Gamer Magazine #59
53 pages
The Space Gamer 029
PDF
67% (3)
The Space Gamer 029
36 pages
The Space Gamer Cumulative Index of Game-Related Articles in Issues15-49
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer Cumulative Index of Game-Related Articles in Issues15-49
3 pages
GDW Challenge40
PDF
80% (5)
GDW Challenge40
84 pages
Space Gamer #40
PDF
100% (1)
Space Gamer #40
50 pages
Space Gamer 31
PDF
100% (1)
Space Gamer 31
40 pages
GDW - Challenge #70
PDF
100% (7)
GDW - Challenge #70
92 pages
Space Gamer 08
PDF
100% (2)
Space Gamer 08
16 pages
Ares Magazine 09 - DeltaVee - Text
PDF
No ratings yet
Ares Magazine 09 - DeltaVee - Text
55 pages
Challenge Magazine 031
PDF
100% (1)
Challenge Magazine 031
68 pages
Traveller - Comprehensive Index of JTAS & Challenge Magazine (Dewm)
PDF
100% (2)
Traveller - Comprehensive Index of JTAS & Challenge Magazine (Dewm)
55 pages
Space Gamer 07
PDF
100% (2)
Space Gamer 07
16 pages
The Space Gamer 081
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 081
56 pages
Robots in Traveller Dragon Magazine Aug1982
PDF
100% (2)
Robots in Traveller Dragon Magazine Aug1982
7 pages
Frontier Explorer 07
PDF
100% (2)
Frontier Explorer 07
45 pages
Courtesans in Traveller
PDF
100% (3)
Courtesans in Traveller
5 pages
Ares Special Edition 02 Star Frontiers PDF
PDF
100% (2)
Ares Special Edition 02 Star Frontiers PDF
64 pages
From Microgame To Maxigame:: The History of Ogre and Gev
PDF
100% (4)
From Microgame To Maxigame:: The History of Ogre and Gev
95 pages
Challenge Magazine 027
PDF
100% (2)
Challenge Magazine 027
52 pages
The Journal of The Travellers Aid Society 16
PDF
100% (3)
The Journal of The Travellers Aid Society 16
26 pages
Challenge Magazine 074
PDF
100% (5)
Challenge Magazine 074
89 pages
The Space Gamer 038
PDF
100% (1)
The Space Gamer 038
44 pages
52 - Special Ogre
PDF
100% (5)
52 - Special Ogre
52 pages
DragonMagazine051 Djvu
PDF
No ratings yet
DragonMagazine051 Djvu
291 pages
Killer Text 4
PDF
No ratings yet
Killer Text 4
44 pages
DragonMagazine120 Djvu
PDF
No ratings yet
DragonMagazine120 Djvu
320 pages
1942 - The Pacific Air War - Pilots Handbook - PC
PDF
No ratings yet
1942 - The Pacific Air War - Pilots Handbook - PC
82 pages
PCPowerplay 053 2000 10
PDF
No ratings yet
PCPowerplay 053 2000 10
116 pages
PC Powerplay December 2015 AU PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
PC Powerplay December 2015 AU PDF
100 pages
PC Powerplay December 2015 AU PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
PC Powerplay December 2015 AU PDF
100 pages
PCPowerplay 085 2003 04
PDF
No ratings yet
PCPowerplay 085 2003 04
116 pages
PC Powerplay May 2015 AU
PDF
No ratings yet
PC Powerplay May 2015 AU
100 pages
CGW 90 PDF
PDF
100% (1)
CGW 90 PDF
130 pages
CGW 263
PDF
No ratings yet
CGW 263
120 pages
CGW 55 PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
CGW 55 PDF
74 pages
CGW 135
PDF
No ratings yet
CGW 135
320 pages
S311 Erules PDF
PDF
No ratings yet
S311 Erules PDF
16 pages
CGW 88
PDF
100% (2)
CGW 88
162 pages
CGW 66
PDF
No ratings yet
CGW 66
106 pages
CGW 100
PDF
100% (1)
CGW 100
196 pages
The Space Gamer 071
PDF
100% (3)
The Space Gamer 071
68 pages
The Space Gamer 079
PDF
100% (3)
The Space Gamer 079
56 pages