OLA d NUMBER 35, BA SPACE GAMER THE MAGAZINE OF ADVENTURE GAMING ; | UXO) Te) 0.) | NOTES FOR NOVICE DMS Bee enon Nery aits7 SOLITAIRE OGRE ca AND 9 PAGES OF REVIEWSWHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS BEAST IN YOUR ADVENTURE? a constipated unicorn in heat CO a pyemy with a backfiring blowgun a Ci a frostgiant that has reloceted a eross-eyed wizard with the evil eye to Miami Ti I plead the fifth amendment; CO a nazgul with diarrhea evil spirits may rise Oi a onelegged giant with bunions C1 All equally dangerous CO Saruman’s mother-in-law CO None of the above Answer: None of the above. It may he YOU or it may be someone you know, What de you look for? A emer who i locking for some game but can't find it. A gamer who hee read about a game but no one is stocking it. A gamer who is desperately tying te find some 20 sided dice. How cons gstemaster or character rid himself of such a dangerous beast? Send him to THE COMPLEAT STRATEGIST. We can calm the beast with a selection that would be o treasure trove fit for @ wiser. IF he's not near any of our shroo locations, then let him call or write our New York store ond we wall gladly help the beast THE OMPLEAT TRATEGIST WAR GAME HEADQUARTERS In New York: II E, 33rd St., NY, NY 10016 212-685-3880-1 10:30-6 M-S, Thusstl 9:00 In New Jersey: 209 Glenridge Ave., NJ 07042 201-744-6622 11-7 Tue-Sat, Thurs-il 9:00 In Florida: 5406 Stirling Rd., Davie, FL 33314 305-961-5660 117 Tue-Sat, Thurs-al 9:0009282 XL ‘uysny 1-S088L xog YAWVD JOVdS JHL swan aWvis avd “pavdiassnyy 40 Ws14, sno 0132 afunyo pun *** Aopos aquosqng YAWV) TOVAS HHL J anss} uv ssp J,uoqeSubscribe to The Space Gamer and help stamp out turkeys! THE SPACE GAMER is doing its part to wipe out “turkey” games — to help everyone in the hobby. We review every fantasy or s-f game printed. If a game is good, we say sO . ..and give its strong and weak points. If it’s not so good, we're honest about it. You deserve fair reporting on games before you buy them, Read the TSG reviews — THEN buy. ‘And there’s much more in TSG. Every issue contains game variants, strategy articles, computer game information, art, letters, humor, and more. We do “Company Reports” to let you know - what's new in wargaming. TSG covers the entire s-f and fantasy game field — without bias. Don’t miss an issue — subscribe today, Please send me THE SPACE GAMER for (circle applicable rate): * Us. Addesses Canadian & other Outside North America ‘paruarsoyy 10 vs14 anos (0) 11 akuoy9 pun °° Aopo) aquosams -YTWVD AVES TAL $0 anssy uo ssput 1,uog. Foreign adresses SURFACE, Am One year Uss21.00 US$ 24.00 Uss 41.00 g Two years USS 39.00 US$ 45.00 ss 79.00 Lifetime subseeption US$ 280.00 US$260.00 varies - 1 tls ipa resubserption, please check ere (_) Payment isby ( )oheck (money order _() credit card. Total enclosed: ‘ALL PAYMENTS MUST BE IN U.S. DOLLARS Name. csee ees addres. Gieara: “i StatefProvinee. 2. eee cess vee CHARGE MY MASTERCARD. ‘Account number Card expires... Signature. «2 ‘If you ae charging your subselotion to Mestercard or Visa, just puta stemp or thts card ‘and mail i If you are payne BY check or money order, please put the check end this, tind tn an envelope and send 10 the address on the other sideTHE SPACE CAMER NUMBER 35 — JANUARY, 1981 Articles SOLITAIRE OGRE * by George Collins ‘Humans against the Ogre ~ programmed to kill)... . HE NOTES FOR NOVICE DUNGEON MASTERS * by Lewis Pulsipher Finding and remembering good adventuring ideas... .. . =A WINNERS OF THE CHARACTER CONTEST Characters no one would want in a untverse! INSANE VARIANTS ON “STOMP!” ® hy John ‘Combining games — in rather offbeat ways se MORE PSIONICS FOR “TRAVELLER” * by Kenneth Burke Expanded abilities for psioniousers f 1980 GAME SURVEY Your chance to cheer your favorites and shoot down the turkeys...» GAME DESIGN: THEORY AND PRACTICE * by Schuessler and Jackson Part IX: Deriving combat results tables Computer Gaming DEUS EX MACHINA * by Bruce Webster Play-by-phone games with computers Morrison Reviews THE WAR OF THE WORLDS * by Tony Watson CAPSULE REVIEWS (GAMES: 4th Dimension, li, Knights & Magick, Later Tan, Stagie Wood, RuneQuert, 10 “ 18 20 19 22 ‘Skull & Crossbones, Starfire IL SUPPLEMENTS: Apple Lane, Circe f Ie, The City of Care, ‘Encounter fn the Corellon Quadrant, Mission to Zephor, Queen of the Demonweb Pits, ‘Slave Pits ofthe Undercity, Tanered, The Toughest Dungeon inthe Worl, The Village of ‘Homme, PLAY AIDS: Campaign Sevis Grid Sheets, D&D Player Character Record Sheets COMPUTER GAMES: Beneath Apple Manor, Glax) Invasion, North Atlantic Conroy Raider, ‘Space and Sport Games, Super Tnvsion|Spacowar. HISTORICAL GAMES: Operation Pesos. ‘BOOKS: How to Sell Your Wargame Design, Departments WHERE WE'RE GOING ERRATA... ADVERTISERS . . GAME MASTER CONTEST ABBREVIATIONS ‘READER ADS... CALENDAR .° NEWS & PLUGS THE GOOD GUYS ART IN THIS ISSUE: Virginia Campbell: 3; Corky Caraway: 2; Joanie Chladek: cover; George Goracz: 28; Janet Jackson: 2, 22; Denis Loubet: 10; Richard Mather: 25; Will MeLean: 21; Patrick Owens: 8; Roman Scott: 4; Roger Stewart: 12, 31; ED. Webster: mailer cartoon, 6, 32. In This Issue Te’ survey time again. This year, we've put the survey on the center four pages Of the magazine, rather than the back cover — s0 you don't have to tear things up to retum the survey. OF course, 2 Xerox copy is OK, too. ‘As usual, los of reviews, The featured roviow is Task Force Games’ new The War of the Worlds, I’ about time some- body worked up a good game based on that old classic; good show, TFG! And, ‘wending your way toward the back of the ‘magazine, you'l finde generous sampling of capsules. (Thanks to all of you who hhave been sending those reviews in — and keep them coming!) ‘What elso have we got? Well, you can’t go wrong with @ Traveller article or an Ogre variant; there’s one of each. Lewis Pulsipher, that notorious raconteur of ERP gaming, has contributed some thoughts on the refere’s role. And Nick Schuesser, in Game Design, tells you ‘more about CRT design than you thought there was to know. Gripe of the week: Why doesn’t eny- ‘one send us some good D&D material? Or RuneQuest, T&T, or C&S? T mean, TET is fine ~ but there are other games out there ... How about it? -83 THE SPACE GAMER Publisher: Steve Jackson Editor: Forrest Johnson ‘Art Director: Denis Loubet Contributing Editors: William A. Barton Ronald Pehr Nick Schuessler Bruce F. Webster Business Manager: Elton Fewell Circulation Manager: Aaron Allston Utility Infielder: Elisabeth Barrington THE SPACE GAMER (SSN 0194-9977, USPS 434-250) is published monthly by The Space Gamer, 7207 Onion Crossing Dr., Austin, TX 78744, Second class postage paid at Austin, ‘TX. POSTMASTER: Send address changes 2 ‘Tho Space Gamer, P. ©. Box 1880S, Austin, 1K 78760. ‘All maiezial is copyright 1981 by The Spece Gamer. All sihts reserved Printed in U.S.A. by Futura Press, Austin ‘Subscription rates, effecdve $/15/80: US. Canada Other foreign Oneyear $2124 ur Twoyesrs $39. $45 $79 Lifetime $250 $260 NIA All prices are in U.S. dollars; payment must bein US, dollars,Errata Contrary to what we reported in our sur- vey, Bouthug Entorprios does sell by mall. A fatelog is avilable. Write them at POB 12, Mls slon, Kansas 66201 or call 913/262-4453, Where We’re Going T am sorry to have to report that my differences with Metagaming are appat- ently going to have to be resolved in court, Attempts at negotiation have failed and new problems continue to arise. On October 15 — the scheduled re lease date for ONEPAGE BULGE — cour attorney received a letter from How- ard Thompson, in which he claimed that “ONE-PAGE BULGE is the property of Metagaming” and demanded that we not publish it. ‘Thompson subsequently obtained a temporary restraining order which pro- Hbited our selling or advertising ONE- PAGE BULGE. Since advertisements for that game appear in all our products, this order effectively closed down our busi- ness for about a week; it also delayed the appearance of the last TSG, For tunately, our attorney was able to get the order modified, allowing us to ship the magazine and the other games. ‘On November 26, a hearing was held con the restraining order and on Meta- gaming's request for a permanent injunc- tion, After heating from both sides, the judge ruled in our favor, dissolving the ‘TRO and refusing to grant an injunction. [As reasons, he cited testimony indicating ‘that (1) since the date in late December ‘when Thompson hed seen an early draft fof the game and apparently rejected ft, Metagaming had demonstrated no interest in. publishing or working on the game unt F hod announced my own plans to publish it, and (2) during the intervening time (on May 9) Thompson and I hed entered into & contract which very clearly disposed of all game-design matters Next Issue Our February issue will include an alternate ship damage system for Star Fleet Battles; “The Pawn of the Fire Web,” with a new artifact for Traveller; A featured review of the new computer adventure game Akalabeth; A company report from Eon Products; The winner of the computer graphics contest; The 81 Origins Awards nominations ballot; And enough capsule reviews to choke a sand worm.pending between the two of us ~ and this contract did not mention ONE-PAGE BULGE. His conclusion was that Meta- ‘gaming had no right to enjoin our publi- ‘cation of the game. This is nor a ruling fon the merits, though; Metagaming still has the right to press a claim before a trial court, So — if your order for ONE-PAGE BULGE was a litte late, that’s why. But things are back to normal — for the ‘moment — and all orders are being shipped as soon as we receive them. Thanks for ‘your patience. T apologize to those of you who don't ike reading about lawsuits in TSG. Be- lieve me — I don’t like having to write about them, But I think that people have a right to know what's happening ... and Thave nothing to gain by concealing mat- ters. Td much rather everyone knew exactly what was going on than have rumors flying all over the hobby! If any- ‘one wants to know all the details, they're public record; check Cause No. 314,286, Howard Thompson v. Steve Jackson, in the District Court of Travis County, Texas. A brief note on $} Games: everything seems to be going pretty well. The games fare now being distributed in shops across ‘the US., a5 well as Canada and Great Britain, RAID ON IRAN has been the best seller; the other three seem to. be about even with each other at this point. One interesting note: The big distrib- tutors have been very leery of CARD- BOARD HEROES — a couple of disiri- utors that gave us big orders for the other games wanted no Heroes at all. But the shops that ordered them seem to be doing pretty well. .. | know both of the Aus- tin shops sold out of their first order very quickly. I don’t know wht that means, but it’s interesting. Futuze plans: still up in the air: We're ‘working on several games; when it looks like one of them is a sure thing, Til Iet you know. In the works are a ‘couple of space games, a couple of fan- tasy, a historical game similar to ONE- PAGE BULGE, and one wholly unelas- siftable little diversion. Watch this space for more info. As you see, this issue is back to 32 pages. We had a couple of ads cancelled, and ® couple more delayed until next issue — which took us back below the point at which we can afford 40 pages. We hope to be back up to 40 soon — cross your fingers. 83 Hil This is the editor, I'm not shy, 1 just don’t use this space unless I have something to say. This month, I do: 1, The use of art in the gaming in- dustry Teaves a lot to be desired. New publishers often get by the first couple of years with third-rate art obtained from friends or playtesters, because they don’t know of any artists less eminent (or ex- pensive) than Frazetta, Meanwhile, a lot of talented but little-known artists are ‘wasting their abilities, doing portraits of their D&D characters, because they have no contacts. Starting yesterday, I am compiling list of recommended artists, who are interested in working with game publish- crs. The list will be available to publishers ‘on request. They will be able 10 see sum GAME GAME MASTER exists t0 answer questions on your favorite games. I you have @ rules {quettion or play problem, sed It in. Questions {2 be anrwered wl be chosen om the bass of eneral interext, They vil Be fst refered 1 the game publisher or designer. 1 no response is recetved, CAME MASTER wil offer tts own Interpretation of the rule. Sorry ~ no individual replies are possibe. GAME MASTER also invites publishers 10 send errata orearifeations jor thetr new game. ‘They will be printed as space allows. A. woent review of Task Force Games’ Spellbinder raised twvo questions. concerning ‘apparently loglcal rules Task Force has since Informed us that those rules don't say quite ‘what they were supposed to, R. Vance Buck ‘writes with aclusfication that solves both prob- Toms 1) A wicard does not exert a Zone of Con rol on an army tnt; neler does an army unit exert @ ZOC on a wlzard. Armies do exert @ OC on armies and iteards do exert a ZOC on other wizards. (2). The Spellbinder and Regeneratton salle are “cast” on an opponents wleard or ‘army, but the results of the spell apply 10 the layer casting the spel. A player may tell an fy that he is going to tse one of these spells tnd the aly might agree 20 allow the player fasting the spell to cast it on his (the als) 3 ples of the artists’ work in the magazine before they send out that flrst inquiry 2, Starting lest year, The Space Gamer is interested in every science fiction and fantasy game publisher. In particular, we solicit “designer's notes” on recently released games. An excellent example of what wo like — Glenn Wiliams’ article in issue 34, Glenn not only told us how he designed the game, he also included a set of rules which had been omitted because of design constraints, and some fascin« ating little moduler articles. Very well done. 3. In some ways, this issue is very close to the priorities we got from the last survey — no fiction, lots of game articles, lots of reviews, and a three-page survey. Is this what you want? Yea or nay, please let us know. 4, As for those two Websters — Bruce and JD — I deny any responsibility for their choice of names. MASTER witard, However, he may wish 10 doublecross and blook the spel 0, hese spells do strength fn the player casting the spells, but tke all of the other spells, they are not eufomatie and ‘may be blocked with a defensive spel Forrest Johnson Not many questions this month — and most fof the ones we got were about TFT, and/or tepeated questions we've already answered. ow about same now problems? ADVERTISERS The Chaosium . 2s Complees Sent << ide ont cove Deeper @ Co, ve. cic ceveee eee dS Emprise Gome Systems ap ‘Flying Buffalo, Inc. 25 Gamemasters Publishers Assoc 30 Gamer’ Gulde 5 aay, Indica Associates > a Martian Meuals back cover Sclbet & Son -27 Sleecc vce es sss hide back mailer ‘Steve Jackson Games’ |< jnside back cover Superior Sinuations. 0. TT eo. 2 ask Fores Games Back aler ISGs, «rashes snr 118,29 Yaquinio a eee oooh Diributors LTTSOLITAIRE OGRE by George Collins My biggest disappointment with the game OGRE was th lack of detailed rales for solo play, since the game is perfect for it. There is « vague mention of Ogre “programming,” in. which the player swites dovn the Ogre's plan of attack in advance. Unfortunatly, the game quickly becomes boring, because the defender always knows what to expect from the Ogre. And what fun is 2 game without surprises? ‘What is needed are rules which make the Ogre unpredictable but not haphaz- ard. While programming a computer to play Ogre T created a set of rules by Which you can decide how the Ogre wil move and fire, simply by rolling dice. These rules are a compromise between random play and strategy. They. work so well that no handicap is needed when Playing most scnarios Setup. The human player always takes the defense. He picks his units and places them in accordance with the scen- ario he has chosen, The Ogre will enter at the bottom of the map on Turn 1, in the same hex-column as the CP. Movement. If the top of the map is “north,” then the Ozre will always move north, northeast, or northwest. Example: If the Ogre is in 2525, it may move NW to 2425, N to 2424, or NE to 2524, The Ogre will always use all its avail- able movement points. For every hex its to enter, roll one die. A 1 or 2 means it will move NW. A 3 or 4 mean it will move N. A'S or 6 mean it will move NE. However: (a) The Ogre will never move NE on a tum when it has already moved NW, or Vice versa, If this happens, roll again (unless no other movement is possible) (b) The Ogre will not move into & crater or off the mapedge. If a die roll indicates that this happens, roll again (©) The Ogre will cease random move- ‘ment when it comes within 3 hexes of the south edge of the map, OR 5 hexes of the CP. At that time it will move directly for the CP. It will not tum aside to ram units, ‘but will ram them if they are in the way. (@) Until it fulfills condition (e), the Ogre will ram enemy units whenever it can do so without turing around, [¢ wil sometimes tum around to ram a unit, See below. Overruns. The Ogre will not change its course to overrun enemy infantry. Hlow- fever, it will overrun them if they are in the hex that itenters, ‘Ramming. If one of the thre hexes in font of the Ogre (that is, N, NE or NW) contains an enemy unit, the Ogre will always enter that hex to ramjoverrun. If there are moro than one enemy units in front of the Ogre, the Ogre will choose ‘one to ram, using the same priorities as for firing (below). I there are units directly behind the Ogre, but no units directly in front, the Ogre’ may tum to ram one of those ‘behind, It will not do this unless there is an enemy unit adjacent to it. To see whether it does s0, roll one die. Oi a result of 6, it reverses one hex to ram an enemy behind (determine which one as desexibed above). On any other result, it ignores the enemies behind it and moves normally Tf the Ogee rams an armor unit and aesely disables it, roll one die. On aS or 6, it wil stay in thet hex, expending one movement point, to ram it gain and destroy it, Otherwise, it moves on. Tf the Ogre is down to 5 tread units or tes, i wl sill overrun the CP or infantry if it can, but it will not ram any amor units other than howitzers unless it must do so in order to reach the CP. Combat, After it finishes movement, the Ogre will fire its weapons in the following order: ar. (2) Secondary batteries. 3) Main batieres (4) Missiles. IF there are enough AP units to get more than a I-] attack on each adjacent Infantry unit, the Ogre wall divide its fire as evenly as possible between them, without “wasting” points, Example: It would never make more than a 3-1. AP attack on a single infantry uni, because 43+ attack insures its destruction If there are mot enough AP units to get LL attacks on all adjacent infantry, the Ogre will make as many 1-1 attacks as it can, and put the rest into a singe 12, if possible The secondary batteries fre after AP. ‘Targot priorities are: (1) the CP; (2) howitzers; (3) other armor units; (3) infantry. Given the choice, the Ogre will fire on a disabled unit rather then @ non- disabled unit of the same prority. When the Ogre must choose between two units fof the same priority, it picks one ran- domly (rll a die). “Main batteves fire after secondary bat- teres, They have the same targeting ptiorties, Note that each main and secondary gun fies individually. The Oere never combines fice from any ofits ‘weapons except the AP units Mises fire last. The Ogre will always fire a missle at « CP or howitzer within range. If there is no CP or howitzer with in range, roll one die. On 2 1 of 2 the Ogre will fire one mise. It picks its targets as sbove, except that GEVs have a higher priority than tank units, and sissiles are never wasted on infantry Leaving the board. If the Ogre suc- ceeds in destroying the CP, it will try to leave the map, Substitute SE, 8, and SW for NE, N, and NW in the movement rules, and continue play. When the Ogre seis within 10 hexes of the S map edge St will head directly for that edge, ig- noting opportunities to ram. If it makes it, the robot has beaten you!M Shootings Stars Reread A Tactical game of Fighter Combat in Space. Ship to Ship Combat ‘© Simultaneous Movement © Several Solitaire Scenarios © Vector Movement Components: The boxed game components include a 21)" by 27/4" mapboard, a sheet of die cut unit ‘counters, game table cards, Ship Specification Cards for the major crafts used in the game, Ship Control Console Cards, a complete rule book with scenarios, two dice and a sturdy plastic tray Scales 100 Kilometers per hex, 5-10 seconds per Tum. individual ships. Number of Players: Two to Four Average Playing Time: Thirty minutes to three hours depending on scenario, Shooting Stars is 8 tactical level game of fighter vs. fighter combat beginning in the near future. Scenarios range from the fist .S-Soviet Space War, to Asteroid Pirates, to Alien invaders. The unique movement system gives the feel of piloting a one man craft in space while at the same time providing a fast paced, ‘smooth flowing game, The Advanced Game and Optional Rules allow for Energy usage in fifteen areas of ship's functions and provide a myriad of special weapons, Scenarios range from Solitaire scenarios such es battling an unmanned outpost, destroying “Rebel Blockade runners” and protecting an Orbital Depot from ‘Asteroid Pirates’ to mul player situations where 2 group of fighters attack a space station. Ship Specifica- tion cards provide information for eight different types of fighter craft, while the scenarios provide the information for space stations, larger craft, the movement of Asteroids, fighting in the gravity influence of a Black Hole and much, much more AVAILABLE AT BETTER STORES EVERYWHERE (OR YOU CAN ORDER DIRECT. SEND $16.00 CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO: y" — Yaquinto Publications, Inc. AYE P.O. Box 24767 “TAY _ Dalias, Texas 75224 Ada $1.00 postage and handing Allow 3-4 weeks for delery. Somy, no C.O.D.s, Overseas orders add $4.00.Notes for Novice Dungeon Masters by Lewis Pulsipher Faced with the task of constructing a place of adventure for a fantasy role- playing game, many people feel lost. A ferious gamer won't want to construct and populate the ares by means of die rolls and tables; such places tend to be dull end unbelievable ‘The first thing to do is get 2 small notebook to devote exclusively (0 ideas for the dungeon, forest, or whatever Keep the notebook handy at all ies, especially when you play fantesy games or read fiction, Countless good ideas have been lost solely because memory is fal When you get an idea — and you will, regardless of how difficult it seems at first — wate it down immediately, When you have a spare moment, read through your “idea book” to embellish on the notes; you'll also find that the old ideas generate new ones, As you play games or read rues think about the implications of ‘ideas which, in themselves, are not use- ful, The most offhand joking remark of a fellow player can stimulate a fruitful train of thought. Second, read the rules agen and again Not only’ will this improve your ef ficieney, it will stimulate ideas. What would happen if this spell were used in that situation? What spells or traps would a high level magicuser use to protect himsel® What if these two monsters joined forces? And so on Third, read from. the sourcebooks listed atthe end of this article, Any fan- tasy oF science fiction story can suggest usable ideas, but the books listed are par- ticularly helpful. Now with the ideas from your note- book you'll find it easy to constnict places of adventure, Don’t worry too uch about why the place exists, though 4 good rationale will guide you in con- struetion and population. Dungeons and other such monsier-infested places tend to be artificial in any case, and no reason at alls better than a silly reason such as “the mad wizard built it.” Random population ean be used where Inspiration fails, but in such cases a more realistic form than dicing for each hex or room is desirable, Dice for the kind of monster to be used, decide why itis wan- dering into the area, and actually let it move along your map until it (or they) finds what it seeks. Use weighted die rolls to decide which way it goes when there is 1 choice ~ for example, it is more likely to go straight at a crossroads than to turn. Tt may encounter monsters alzeady in place. Decide what happens — don't take time to play it out — and go on from there, Groups may be decimated or wiped out, others may coalesce, inhabi- tants will build additions to the area, and slowly the population will increase. Not only is this more interesting than straight ‘ice rolling, it results in a more believable place without (for example) monsters ‘secupying a room accessible only through another room which is occupied by other ‘monsters which are naturally hostile to ‘the first group. Unless you have very strong concep- tions, it ig better not to try to plan an entire world at once. Most referees ‘change thelt views 2s they gain experience, and their initial efforts go into the in- active file, Don’t spend a lot of time on details you're likely to change later. Stick to the construction of an interest ing localized place of adventuse, whether dungeon, city, forest, or island. When’ you do plan the world you'll probably borrow ideas from many sources including historical literature and films as well as fiction. There's nothing wrong with this — original ideas are rare — but don’t borrow literally and don’t base the entire world on one author's conceptions. Whatever you have read the players may have read also, If they recog- nize your source, and you haven't devi- ated significantly’ from that source, the entire adventure or campaign may be ruined. Some adviee about mechanics is called for. Make a time chart using one square per melee round, or tum, or segment (Gopending on which rules you use). Put it in a plastic shoet protector and use grease pencil to mark off game time, You ‘ean easily indicate when spells of long duration expire by marking the appro- priate box, During non-melee movement, ‘groups of boxes constituting longer time periods can be marked with a single stroke, Roll dice for wandering monster #p- pearance and characteristics before the ‘game begins. You can mark the time of ‘appearance on your time chart. The more you prepare before the game starts, the smoother and more enjoyable it will be forall participants. Use a square-grid board for indoor ac- tion and a hex grid for outdoors. It is easy to convert movement rates to a num ber of squares or hexes (depending on scale) and a board with definite locations climinates much argument inherent in miniatures gaming methods. Use metal miniature figures or cardboard pieces for player characters, and mumbered card board for monsters. The latter make it easier to differentiate between several ‘creatures of the same species. Sourcebooks ‘The most obscure but most important sourcebook is a massive sixvolume work, Morif Index 10 Folklore Literature by Stith Thompson. It comssts entirely of listings of motifs (basic plot elements) of folk stories from around the world. From these you can derive events, scenarios, villains, and magic items. Some sections fare mote useful than others, and it usual- ly isn't worth reading every motif, as ‘most are variations in minor details of ‘more general beliefs. You'll need access to good university library to find this work, but i's worth the search, ‘The second source you should read is ‘Thomas Bullfinch's Mythology, a nine- teenth century retelling of Greek, French, British, and other myths and legends. The adventures of Charlemagne's knights are particularly germane to fantasy role-playing. ‘Any gazetteer (for example, in an atlas ‘or dictionary) will supply ‘you with strange names. (Did you know that Gon- dor is an area in Turkey as well asa coun- tury of Middle-earth?) A foreign language ean be used for character names when invention fails you, In an English-Danish dictionary, for example, you could look up words like hero, lightning, thief, and ‘use the foreign equivalent as 2 name. More Sourcebooks IRR. Tolkien: The Hobbie and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Many gamers adopt Tolkien’s dwarf and elf societies. Balrogs, ents, and ores are famous mon- sters. The Fellowship’s trip through the Mines of Moria makes an excellent intro- ductory scenario since most novice play- ers have read the trilogy and can identify immediately with the characters even if they don't understand the mumbers assigned to them, Michael Moorcock: Elric, Hawkmoon, Corum, and Bternel Champion series (c. 20 books). Some gamers use the semi- elven races (Sidhe, Vadagh), There are many characters of demigod proportions, and magical artifacts of similar power (such as Eltic's sword Stormbringes), but few monsters in all those words. Moor- cock is originator (or, rather, popularizer) of the struggle between Law and Chaos. Andre Norton: Witch World series (8 books). Many magichaunted places can be adapted to your wildemess; Aeseribes a closed magieuser group, all females. Fritz Lieber: Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser series (c. 6 books). Lankhmar is the quintessential swords and sorcery city. The Sinking Land is worth putting in yout world, as well as a scattering of ‘monsters and bizarre societies. Philip Jose Farmer: World of the Tiers series 5 books). A Lord’s stronghold ‘would make a wild (and dangerous) tech+ nological adventure setting. Black bellers, the hom of Shambarimen, and the half horse are other useful ideas. The unique artificial nature of each Lord's world could be incorporated into a multi versal campaign Stephen Donaldson: Chronicles of Thomas Covenant trilogy. Ucsviles and ravers ate fine monsters; the tunnels beneath Mt. Thunder would make a good scenario, (A Dungeons ard Dragons ver- sion of the monsters is in White Dwar 10, 16.) Piers Anthony: Xanth trilogy. Plenty Of ideas for magic spells or items and monsters, especially plants. How about a wand enabling the user to speak with inanimate objects? Jack Vance: The Dying Earth, Eyes of the Oversorld. Original source for much of the D&D magic system; describes a few monsters and magic items and a very strange way of life in a magieal world. Christopher Stasheff: The Warlock in Spite of Himself and King Kobold, Fea- tures psychic “magicans” in a world where they are hated. An interesting touch is witch moss, a substance which can be shaped to create a new creature which will breed true. Gordon Dickson: The Dragon and the George. Shows what more-or-less new- tral, not-toosintelligent dragons are like Sand-mirks are unusual monsters. Gives another view of the struggle for cosmic balance. Roger Zelazny: Amber series (S books), Creatures of Light and Darkness, Lord of Light Amber is good for demigods and interplanar travel; “trumps” are good ‘magic items, Magical artifacts, and Ze- lazny's incarnations of Egyptian and In- dian gods are in the other books. E.R. Eddison:.The Worm Ouroborous. Shows how the irue Romantic Hero acts E.R. Burroughs: Barsoom (John Car ter), Venus, Pellucidar series (¢. 20 books). Excels at creating societies; no magic items, but some useful monsters are depicted. w ‘Alan Burt Akers/Dray Prescott: Scor pio series (20 odd books and counting). ‘A few monsters and many near-uman species, each with its own “personality” characteristics and physical oddities. If you want a world not dominated by jnumans, adopt some of these “diffs.” John Norman: Gor series (14 books and counting), One new non-western, though nonsmagical, society is described at length in each book. The few useful monsters appeer in the first few books, which are much better than the male chauvinism and masochism of the later books. Finally, RE. Howard et al, Conor series (umpteen books). The quintessence of barbarian swords and sorcery, often imitated but rarely equaled. See also books by Fred Saberhagen, Karl Edward Wagner (Kane), Poul Ander. son (Broken Sword, Three Hearts and Three Lions), Joy Chant, John. Jakes, Jane Gaskell, Patricia McKillip, LS. de Camp, Fleicher Pratt, Samuel Delaney, CJ. Cherryh, Andy Offut, Alon Gamer, Lord Dunsany, Leigh Brackett (Erie John Stark), Katherine Kurtz, Stewart Lanier, Tanith Lee, and Ursula LeGuin. (1 have given the most attention to the books from which I drew the most in- spiration; I had to draw the line some- where.) cto MAKE NO BONES ABOUT IT Wouters PUSS e nics Campaign Map ‘The original game shi Overlay Sheet 10.04 te $15.00. 15.0% to $26.00 LARGE SIZE GRID SHEETS for FRP games, wargaming, SF games, etc. t with 1 In, square grid HALF SHEET: 98° x 26" $1.25 FULL SHEET: 36° x 60" 82.50 \ Campaign Hex \, Double-sided hex sheet with 16 mm \ ‘'2 mm on the other ‘SPI hex numbering system 30" x 50" $2.50 198t for us ‘over arid shoots "36" x50" $4.80 plastic SHIPPING & HANDLING INDICIA ASSOCIATES. P.O, Box 2000 Oakland, CA 94818Our contest in Issue 32 was based on the article “Ten Characters 1 Wouldn't Let in My Universe.” Readers were in- vited to submit characters they wouldn't let in shetr universes, with entries being judged on cleverness inanity, and prob- able ability to throw a party into despair. We got a lot of entries on this one. All cof them were terrible; we were delighted. ‘The winner, who will get 12 issues added to his TSG subscription for his pains, is Steven Winter, His entries: A Halfore Named Sue: Not s bad sort, as halfores go. He claims to be looking for his father, an_orcish gambler and boozer who ran off when Sue was only 3 years old. He's an awesome fihter, and will travel with your party a while if you're going his way. He is little sen- sitive about his name, though. If anybody ‘or anything so much as snickers at it, Sue will go berserk and try to batter their brains out, He'll smash some furniture, too, ust for effect MePherson “Starjack” Strut: & highly skilled starship engineer, McPherson can fix just about anything, including the odds. He's a compulsive gambler, and will constantly be betting with the crew. If, after @ week in hyperspace, you haven't lost everything you own to him, itis because you didn’t bet it. His favorite pastime, though, is playing Starck for big money. If he gots out of your sight at a starport, he'll head for the nearest ik legal Starjack game and promptly lose the title 10 your ship. You probably won't see him after that, but somebody Is going to show up intending to collect abigdebt. Ob+-Gon Kaworskt: A member of the old and venerated Order of the Neti Knights, Obi-Gon just seems to have a Character Contest Results fait for talking people into things, He will try to enlist your aid in some good and uptight mission, but before Jong any- ‘one working with him will realize he’s just a senile old meddler with crazy ideas. He's also an extremely powerful telepath, however, and even after you leave him there’s no telling wien he'll pop into your head, distracting you from what- fever you are doing to make stupid sus- gestions like “tum off your targeting computer” or “close your eyes and use your sword.” Since he usually doesn’t hhave anything better than this to do, he can be very persistent. Second place (with six issues) goes 10 Ben Butterfield, who was guilty of: HP. Lorecraft: Though not physi cally strong, this renowned bard can be a real. morale-booster_ on your next chthonian sortie. He claims to know about every monster since the beginning of time, and will entertain your party with descriptions of same down to the last detail (the last detail invariably being that it “was indeseribably horrible”). Periodont, son of Orthodont: “Perry” is a very efficient leader; he can be relied ‘upon to organize and instruct your troops to maximum preparedness, When morale is decaying among your front ranks, he ‘ean provide tight and incisive discipline, and instill canine loyalty with his con- stent drilling. And if any of the troops are wavering, he can straighten them out and brace them for their daily brushes with doath, Despite all of his talents, Porry is usually shunned because the price of his services is much too high. ‘And a number of dishonorable men- tions: Robin the Hood: This elvish archer is famed for his incredibly precise ambush- os, always taking on strangers and parties who (a) have monies and valuables, and (0) are just passing through. The local guardsmen will not be too coneemed With allthis, as Robin has never yet robbed a local, and the money he and his married ‘men bring in helps boost the local econo- my. At least one of Robin's married men will be hanging out around sny and all the local taverns in the area, scouting out new prospects . . . (Michael T. Moore) ‘Shylock Holmes: This small goblin has his agents out everywhere (“THE BET- ‘TER HOLMES PEOPLE”), always ready ‘to Tend out money to impoverished par ties, limit. $5,000 per individual, pleas. Ensy terms, up to one (1) year t0 pay. People must, of course, agree to. be “gened” 0 that they do_come back at the end ofthe year, as Shylock does not even ask for collateral. Due to the un- usually generous terms of the loan, the repayment wil be the principal, doubled. (Weekly, of course, I thought even bod Knew that, Here it, right on the back of this parchment, these scorchmacks . « What; you don’t read High Fire-Element- ese?) Anyone who disents, or attempts to renege on his loan, will be harshly dealt with by Shylock’s partner, the fire elemental, WattSun, How? Elementary, of course. (Michael. Moore) ‘Dr. What: You may bea bit put off by the good doctor's unorthodox appear ance, but don't let the floppy hat and fourmeter scarf fool you — he is «bri liant scientist. 1 8 only after your ship is underway that you discover his one fault. He doesn’t hear so well. Either — a. By the time he finally gets whatever you're saying straight, it wil be too late or %. He'll hear something that’s alto- gether different. ("Not razor! Laset!”) GKerin S, Cook) ‘Kimg Fool: This priest of an obscure ‘Chinese cult wanders about the country- side helping. people (friendly or other- wise), whether they ike it or not. He will Force’ any characters he joins to help everyone in need, without reward. He is ‘unconcemed with material wealth.) Fond fof making profoundly memningles state- ments, he is often assaulted over mis- Lnderstandings, When attacked, he im- Inediately enters @ 3 to 5 mite flash back of his boyhood in China. If he sar- vives his catatonic withdrawal (he is Inther vulnerable), he- will immediately disarm his opponents with = funy of carefully choreographed slow-motion blows. He will then set them free, un- harmed. Kung Fool is pursued by a band cof fanatic assassins who will Kil ruth- Tessly to capture him alive. He always manages to escape; you-may not. (D. Edwin Holzer) The Barbellion: Wielding his massive weight sot, this immensely song warcior is attired in a shining breast plate with “Gold’s Gym” incised in runic letters upon its surface, When a party encounters the Barbellian, he wil immediately at- tempt to whip them into shape. Charac-ters with above average. strength will find themselves doing curl, leg thrusts, and other mystic exercises. Weaker party members will be subjected to a series of push-ups, squat thrusts, and similar ‘muscle-building activities. The Barbellian will not leave a party of adventurers until a) all characters are in excellent shape, or b) all characters die from ex- hhaustion, (Richard Griffith) The Incredible Bulk: This mild-man- nered Elven research alchemist thought he had discovered an elixir of strength Gulping it down, he was disappointed to find that it only made him hungry. Now, whenever his appetite is aroused, he i transformed into an immensely obese creature of awesome proportions. Burst- ing forth from 2, suit of used chainmail, this uncontrollably ravenous beast will proceed to devour everything within a three-smile radius, Unable to remember his fits of hunger, the Incredible Bulk spends most of the following hours wondering what happened to the sur rounding forest. (Richard Griffith) Grandlaff the Grey: Apparently powerful wizard thinly disguised as an old ‘man. After gathering a party of characters for a grand quest he turns out to be an ‘old man thinly disguised as « wizard. His “magic” is flashy pyrotechnics. Very good at vanishing during sticky encount ers, he retums when the danger is past to hhog all the glory. (Ronald James) Red Sonyuk: Female barbarian with faming red hair. She wll allow no man to possess her until he defeats her in com- bat. Usly as sin, she constantly starts ‘brawls and loses intentionally. (Ronald James) Dr. Heckle/M.R. Hide: Usually found sitting despondently in a tavern of ques- tionable repute. His genteel manners and elegant clothing will dissolve, if he is befriended, into a tale of woe. Once a brilliant physician, he is now doomed to constant transformations — into the seven foot, savage, obnoxious MR. Hide. His tales of Hide's ferocity will awe a group. He scems like a great companion: at one stroke a skilled doctor and a berserk fighter! ‘Alas, your hopes will soon be shat- tered. From a position of safety in the rear, Dr. Heckle will (rudely) tell the party how to handle any situation they ‘meet. And he won't transform in the face of danger! Finally, though, M.R. Hide makes his appearance, He is, indeed, seven feet tall. He won't show up until the group isin an extremity of danger... and his last words, a5 he tums tail and runs, will be “Sorry, lads. I can't risk My Reverend Hide.” (Robert Banderwoude) Gimmy Carter: Hie tries peaceful ne- gotiations while his comrades are being hacked 10 death. Gimmy will always es cape. If any of his comrades survive Gimmy will attempt a rescue mission, which will fal due to “bad luck.” How: ever, Gimmy can be useful. If your enemy is humane (or easily amused) Gimmy is a great one to send with the surrender terms. (Bob Del Giorno) Gore-Geous George: A peroxide-blonde core, George is the vainest monster around. His weapons, amor, and cloak are elegantly (but cheaply) adomed, and not one lock of his hair will be out of place. He will be accompanied by hirling soblins who catry his weapons and tress- ure, keep his cloak off the ground, and even open doors for him. George will touch nothing that has not been first sprayed by perfume, With all this, he is still a deadly fighter. The threat of dirt will only make him angrier. (Andrew Elovich) Bo Cleric: This female priest has an incredibly high charisma and stunning 00d looks — which she uses to the ful est — and no brains at all. While with a group, she will cause great discontent by dropping double-entendre suggestions while remaining quite chaste, Worse she strips to a G-string for battle, thus avoid- ing encumbrance and DX 9 ‘numan male combatants, unable to con- centeate on the battle, will suffer a pen- alty when attempting € accomplish any- thing, If unflattering comments are made about her unusual hair style she attacks immediately (bare hands against party members, weapons against anyone else) with @ bonus to hit. (Lawrence Person) Rommel MeDonmel:. Wis nuclear powered tank fell through a timesvarp, and now he’s back here with us barbar- fans, Rommel’s tank ran out of ammo a Jong time ago, but that doesn’t bother him, When he gets hungry he just revs it up and runs over an elk or an antelope or something, He says it’s not bad... . you even get t0 like ground elk after a while In fact, he’s thinking of opening a restau- rant... (Draper Kauffman) Billy Carter of Mars: Bom on Earth but mysteriously transported to the Red Planet, he packs a beer-elly, lopsided eveslasses, lois of teeth, and lots of space between the ears, Though the low Mar- ‘an gravity gives him superhuman strength, one can expect little from him but talk and belching. (Larry Hall) King Richard the Lizard-Hearted, Mery Gryphon, and Joe Gargoylea: The names (no descriptions) were submitted by Brad Reppen and Julie Aman. Just on the basis of the names, we knew we wouldn't let them into our universe! Vihen was the last time you commanded a Warp Force? Maybe you would rather administer the Empire or be a diplomat 10 allen civilizations? To win at WARP FORCE ONE you must be able to do all three! WARP FORCE ONE isa computer-moderated correspondence game. The cost is anly $2 per turn; turns will be mailed every two weeks, Rendezvous now with fifteen other players from all over the nation for an exciting game of WARP FORCE ner For a rules booklet please send $1 to! Emprise Game Systems P.O. Box 2226 Houston, TX 77001 Emprise Game Systems10 Insane Variants on by John M. Morrison Stomp is one of the better small war- games on the market, Not only is it fast playing, but it’s easy to grasp. (Eighteen, Counters represents the upper limit of my tactical skill.) In fact, it’s so. straight- Forward that it would Seem that variants would not only be superfluous but quite beside the point of the game, Naturally, 1 started designing them immediately after [purchased it. ‘After all, “to modify” is the root verb of all wargaming, We are, as a breed, not satisfied with the status quo; half our free time is spent in either snipping rules out to make a game more “playable” ot shov- cling them in to make it more “realistic.” In fact, so universal is this compulsion that the wargame publishing companies hhave been able to save millions by releas- ing unplaytested games, giving hours of fun as gamers attempt to balance the thing out and then explain their arcane notations to others, The Istter creates arguments, which (in the final analysis) is what gaming is all about. Unfortunately, the Chaosium did not have this goal in’ mind with Stomp. But I do, The first “extra rule" is the Basket- ball Option, At any time after the sixth hour of play, one player may grab a near- bby basketball (dogs, chairs, or boxed games also usable) and throw it on the board. His opponent then picks up the pieces and may whale the tar out of the tossing” player once for each piece that disappears down the heating duct. ‘Stomp 1999: The elves marked “3” have lasers, In any turn, instead of move- ment, these elves may attempt to fuse the glant’s sandals to the ground. This is re- solved exactly as a spear attack, but the laserelves need not be adjacent to the sandal, although they must have line-of- sight on the target. It is blocked by trees ‘of another elf unit, An elf may, however, fire out of a tee hex. Only the slow- moving elves are trained to use energy weapons; if they are eliminated, no more ranged attacks. They need two turns to ready their weapons — thus they may not attack on the first or second turns. To offset this, the glant’s cub is ac ‘ually « plasma cannon. It may be used 2s either; 8 a cannon, it tums one hex into a “clear” no matter what was init (ake, tees, elves, or marsh). This may be used 3 times per game (more for Tess exper- jenced players — adjust for balance), on the second segment of the tur (instead of swinging). The chi remains off the board for that turn. It may be used as a club at any timo, but the delicate mech anisms are broken and it's just a club. ‘Stomplomacy: At any time during the game, the gant may stop and start dis- cussing the special problems that giantism entails, problems the diminutive elves ‘may not be aware of. Dosing this time, the elves may put down their sily litte spears and gather around Thunderpumper to discuss their side of the situation, IF the giant takes advantage of this oppor- tunity to squish four at one blow, it will be considered a darn shame. Optional rales for high school tunch break play: Hey, what’s this? Another ‘one of them games with the funny dice? “No, it's...” Look! This looks like a foot! “Hey, don’t throw it, I only have one...” And these litle guys! “Those are elves. Put them back.” Elves? Like Santa Claus? Yeah! Take this one to the North Pole. “Aw, get it out of the ice cream machine, will ya” What's it called? Stomp?’ Here ye go! STOMP, crash, tinkl, clang ‘World War Il Prison Camp variant: The “5 movement elves are actually dwarves, armed with picks. They eannot use magie stakes, but they cam dig. It takes 7 tums fess the number working to put a tunnel entrance into a hex. After than only one figure is allowed in the tunnel at a time; it may be extended in 3 turns. Dwarves ray start digging on the 2nd tum, An ‘underground figure may be stomped but not clubbed; all stomped tunnel hexes are restored to. their previous status, For ‘purposes of tunneling, a wall section counts as two hexes, and must be tackled from underground. From then on, one figure at a time may occupy the tunnel, moving its allowance or less (wall sec- tions, again, count a5 2). The elves win if 6 ‘or more of them get out, It seems slanted in favour of the elves but it’shard to get a tunnel sunk, (Try combining this with the “1999” variant I dare you!) ‘The Giant that Ate Sheboygan: Thun- derpumper has grown for this one. He hhas an attack strength of 12 and a defense of 3 for each foot half, His movement is 2 squares per foot; halves of the same Foot must be in adjacent squares and may riot go into a building, Movement costs for the giant otherwise is 1 per square The toppling rules remain the same for awkward foot positioning. He may “straddle” one or two squares of build ings (ie, his feet may be separated by & row of buildings, either high or low). The giant may take no special powers except those inherent within him. His ankles block line-of-sight, ‘Thunderpumper's club is & weapon with Building Destruct power of 8 and an attack strength of 4, It may make a range attack up to 2 squares from @ foot sec- tion, It may also club helicopters, as the sant (obviously) has Great Height. After ‘the club's attack, itis left on the board in the position of its attack. It does not block line-ofsight, and may not be de- stroyed. ‘TP's main attack comes during move- sent, He must specify how big a “stomp” each foot helf is performing (in other ‘words, how much attack strength is going into the attack in that particular area). If he specifies “zero,” or the attack fails, the unit(s) underfoot must retreat one square. An unsuccessful club-swing has the same effect. ‘The human gets 24 points to start, He also gets the 12 elves and both ropes, together with all populace units, Elves have a movement as printed on their counters, and an attack/defense of 7 ‘minus. their movement. Elves must ex- pend all their movement to enter « build- ing, end must start adjacent to a popu- lace unit. Once foot half is reduced to 0, it is assumed to be “pinned.” At the end of his tum, the giant may restore 1 defense point to one pinned section, thusly un- pinning it, If all sections are pinned, and the elves meet the “Lassoing the Giant”requirements, an attempt may be made to topple Thundie. This is the victory con- dition for the humans. Victory for the siant consists of either 40 points or fig uring out how he got there in the first place ‘Stomp in the Pacific: The elves drown ‘on the first tum, the giant on the second, ‘The game then’ proceeds under normal Victory in the Pacific rules. Cosmic Encounters of the Worst Kind: ‘This was an especially hard one to work out, However, itis every bit as unplayable as itis hard to set up. The giant and the elves set up on different systems. All 21 elves are used; the giant has 40 counters (two colour sets). In addition, the giant’s (onpinned) feet are placed on any two separate planets on his home system, and the club is placed on another hom system planet. Victory conditions are different — the elf must topple the slant, while the giant must establish three bases ‘on the elf’ system while maintaining four ‘more of his own planets. Each player draws a 7-card hand, and the elf goes first. He may withdraw one of his counters from warp (if there are fany there), then he may attack. This is done in the normal CE fashion with one difference: elves count as their ‘“move- ‘ment” in tokens while the siant’s count as only one apiece, (For purposes of col- lection consolation, though, elves count as 1 token apiece.) After attacking he ‘may attempt to pin feet, if his tokens are on the same world as 2 foot. This is done in the normal Stomp fashion; the elf may allocate any number of his units (which, again, must be on the same planet as the foot under attack) to the task, on either half ofthe foot. On the giant's tum, he may either uunpin one foot half, or retrieve as many tokens from warp as the “movement” of the most recently retrieved elf. In attack, hhe may first send one to four elf tokens to warp (each unpinned foot half on the same planet as elves may stomp one), then fie may move one (unpinned) foot to the planet on either side of it, then he gets his conventional attack which is resolved as under CE rules and may be on either the elves’ system or an elf base on his own planets If a deal is called for but not made, 12 points of elves (or more, if not possible to get exacily 12) and 12 giant tokens are taken to warp, Feet never go to warp. The club may be placed on any planet sight after the giant’s turn is over. Ifon a planet with two or more elf units, one of them must move to another elf base. If used against @ planet with only one elf, it has no effect. ‘Toppling: A rope must be on both of ‘the feet planets. a two-finger resolution then takes place, For greater complexity, alien powers may be drawn. You may wish to draw little spacesuits on the elves, Stomp meets the only OFFICIAL fantasy wargame ©: Thunderpumper has 943 hit dice. Each player takes a number of elves s0 as to total 18, All charact istics are rolled up in accordance with restrictions on elf requisites, To stake a 1 foot, the “to hit” roll must be made (a ‘magic usquebaugh spear, +1/+2 vs. larger than elfsized feet, counts as a “thrust speat”), For toppling, atleast one elf who can pull must make his “open doors” roll, Once this is achieved, they can go to Lord Dam’s castle, where they will find that the Lord has died of bad dice rolls and has left them one of everything in the DMs guide, Wandering monsters may be thrown in. Contest One of our readers once wrote that “if there are N games on the market, there are N(N-1)/2 possible variants made by combining them, and I don’t want to read about ANY of them.” Now, if anything, his math was conservative; that formuls only allows for combinations of two games, What about throo? Four? Aigeeee! This month’s contest: follow the noble example of the article above and think of a reelly peculiar variant involving at least ‘two games, You don’t have to stop at two, What about using a Snir’s Revenge board and Snapsior rules to play a game {in which the board represents the inside of an Ogre? The Snits are invading infan- trymen; the thingies in the Bolotomus are defense robots. You play the game in tan- dem with an ongoing game of Ogre. The snit-troopers win if they can destroy the Ogrelotomus before (on the other board) it gots to the CP and destroys it Entries will be rated in ingenuity, weirdness, humor, and playability. They don't have to be playable — but it helps, All entries become the property of TSG. First-place winner will receive a [[Link] subscription; runner-up will get 6 issues, Their entries, and any especially good honorable mentions, will appear in TSG, We reserve the right to award no prizes if no entries of publishable quality are received. Entries must be postmarked no later than January 30, 1981. STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP, M ‘Title: The Space Gamer Publication No: Frequency: Monthly snes Published Annually 12 |ANAGEMENT AND CIRCULATION Date of Filing 10-15-80 Annual Subscription Price: $21 434250 Location of Known Office of Publication: 7207 Onion Crossing Dr, Austin, Tavis, Texas 78744 Location of Business Oli of the Publishers 7207 Onion Crossing Dr., Austin, Texas 78744 Publisher: Steve Jackson, 7208 Onion Crossing De, Austin, Texas 78744 Editor; Forrest Johnson, 4502 8. Congres No. 10], Austin, Texas 78745 Manasing Editor: None (Owner: Steve Jackson, 7208 Onion Crossing Dr. Austin Texas 78754 Known Bondholders, Morieapees, and Other Security Holders: None Extent and Nature of Circulation ‘otal No. Copies Printed Paid Cireulation Sales trough dealers, ext ‘ales ‘Mall Subscriptions ‘Total Paid Cteulation Samples, Complimentary, and Other Free Copies ‘Tota Distbuton Copies Not Distributed ‘Office se, leftover, unaccounted, spoiled after printing Retin from nows agents Tort and counter Avg. no. copies each Actual no. of single iseduringpzeveding 12 is. published nearest months to fling date 6,000 6,000 2350 3401 2,550 1912 5.100 S33 joo ais 5,200 379 150 am so ° 6.000, 6.000 ee oNel ae12 Attention, all you budding entrepren- urs out therel Yes, you, you with the 2500+ computer system (and payments to mateh) who are looking for a way to make that funk of silicon and plastic pay for itself, Here's a suggestion (Free, ‘no less!) which may help you along to- ‘wards that goal snd atthe same time help sid in the genesis of hobbyist networks, If you're interested, or even just curious, read on; the rest of you can tum the page ’As we all know (from a few issues back) there are an evergrowing mumber of play-by-mail games around the coun- ‘ty, most of which use computers to help keep tack of everything. The problem with setting up auch games is the large amount of data entry (for moves) and printouts (For current status) that each fame requires, not to mention postage, Tate moves, to. In this column, I would like to discuss an alternatives” pley-by- phone games that should bypass lot of that hail, First Fl give a description of what 1 mean, then cover the basic setup needed (both hardware and soft), and then discuss some of the problems that will probably crop up. After that, you're on your own. Deus Ex Machina by Bruce Webster Description To illustrate how a play-by-phone game might be set up and played, let’s use a hypothetical gamer (named Forrest) who happens to own 2 personal compu- ter, and a hypothetical game (named Empire). Forrest has sent for and read the rules for Empire and decides to give it a try. He sends in an information sheet and money for setup and his first 20 moves, A few weeks later, he receives materials describing his initial condition and resources (he’s “Emperor of the Dog: Leg Nebula”). The materials also. give him his player password and game sched- ule, His game is to start on Monday, 1 February. Each game tum will last ‘two days, and there will be two game tums a week: one during Monday and Tuesday, the other during Thursday and Friday, He can call any time during those two days and can call as many times as he wants without additional charge. Fur- thermore, if he doesn’t call at all during 1 givon game turn, he is not charged for that tum, The big day (1 February, remember?) artives. Forrest, using his personal compu- ter and amodem (modulatordemodulator = used for phonedink communications between computers) to form an “intelli- gent” terminal, calls up the Empire game ‘computer. He is requested to enter in his name and player password, and does so. Having satisfied the computer that he is indeed who he says he is, Forrest can now perform the three basic functions. First, he can display his status as of the last game tum; right now, however, that ould be just the same as the information, he received in the mail, so he passes. Second, he can send and read “mail,” i.e., messages to and from other players. He is surprised to find a message already waiting for him and reads it; itis from the “People’s Committee of the Emin Federation” and contains a subtle sug gestion that they join forces to attack third player. Forrest sends a noncom- mittal reply and moves on. He now faces his third option, which is to enter in his move or modify a move entered earlier in the game turn. He does so, using the command syntax described in the rules book. He then chooses the “EXIT” option, and the Zmpire game computer logs him off and hangs up the phone. For- rest decides to get up early Thursday moming to see how his move went . . « ‘A scenario like this is possible right now, ad I wouldn't be surprised if games like this were already in existence (though have yet to hear of any). But I think the advantages for both moderator and player fare apparent. For the moderator, there is Jess time and expense involved. The only sailings are for rules, intial information, and passwords — and the fist two could also be done on the computer. Printouts are minimal (probably just for moderator use) and the only data entry is for ac- ‘counting purposes (as payments received) and for game setups. For the player there are advantages as well. First isthe speedy turnaround: instead of two weeks (or longer) between moves, each game turn could last as litde as 24 hours. Cost per tum would probably be less, since the player would absorb the communications cost in his monthly phone bill. And com- ‘munications between players would be easier (and subject to game factois!). Basic Setup Perhaps the nicest part of this scheme is that it doesn’t require a large amount of capital (relatively speaking) to get it going, On the other hand, it will be neith- fer cheap nor easy . . . but those of you with any entrepreneural experience will already Know that. Here's a rough estie mate of what you will need to get it going. Hardware One of the more attractive aspects of this idea (for me, anyway) is that it can be developed an a well-equipped personal computer. The minimum system needed would probably consist of the fol- lowing: = Computer: @ mini- or microcompu: ter, preferably (though not neces sarily) one with hardware and soft-ware to allow multi-tasking (mul- tiple jobs running simultaneously), = Memory: depends on the system, but 48K of RAM would probably be the lower limit, and 64K would be nicer; — Mass storage: at least two floppy disk drives or @ hard disk with a backup medium (floppy or tape drive); — Modem: a “smart” modem, with automatic answer would be 3 must (one for each phone line coming in); ~ Printer: doesn’t have to be faney, since it would be for inhouse use mostly (accounting and soft- ‘ware development); ~ Phone: one or mort business phone lines (depends on whether or not your computer can handle several ‘users simultaneously). Now, # 48K microcomputer with two floppy disk drives and a small printer isn’t an uncommon system, and ¢ “smart” modem usually costs less tian $400, so this shouldn't be a hard configuration to come up with, The hard part is what follows: software development, Software This will be the trickiest part of the system since the software has to be both correct and consistent. It has to be well- thought out, welldesigned, and well- written, And if it is not done well done, you will not succeed. Becauso of this, I ‘would strongly advise against using Basic, a language which is fine for quick and simple programming, but is Iousy for serious development. Since there are so ‘many languages now available on micros @aseal, PL/I, Forth, Fortran, Lisp, e¢ cetera), there’ isn’t much reason to stay with Basic. The best design technique would prob- ably be a modular one, with each module performing a specific task. Some of the modules needed (aside from the game itso) might be: — User interface routine. This would require the user to give his or her name and password, and would check them against the cxisting files for verification. It would also display the user's options and accept commands, ~ Mailbox routine, This would allow player-player and player-moderator communications by storing mes- sages in files that players ean read (and then delete) when they sign on to the computer. — Move input routine. This would al- low creation and editing of a file containing the player's move com- mands — Move processing routine. This would accept as input all of the move files created during the most recent game tum and would update the ‘ame accordingly. This could either ‘be completely automatic (ie., © ‘computer-moderated game) orcould be interactive to allow a person to help moderate the game. Status generation routine, This would produce @ status file for each player to show the results of the last move. It could also be inter- active = Accounting routine, This would keep track of each player’s account, subtracting money when a player has moved during a given game tum and crediting him or her when more money is sent in. This list is by no means complete or even the bost way to do it; that will depend on just how you set your system up. But I do suggest that the program be welldesigned; a few extra weeks or ‘months on design and development will save you countless headaches late. Potential Problems There ere some specific areas where you will want to be extra sure that nothing will (or has) gone wrong. Let me suggest a few. First, security. As anyone who has had to run a public-access system ‘ean tell you, this can be a real headache, especially dealing with computer “freaks who see a security system as a chellenge and who try their best to get in where they don't belong. Your salvation here is that you do nor have to write 2 general purpose operating system for public use ‘you just have (0 write a single program which is the only thing that someone ac- cessing the computer via the modem can run. Your only problem then is someone using someone else's password, having uessed or stolen it. Some possible sol- ttions here are long passwords (harder to guess), multiple entries (player has to rae Eat fhe 13 entet_name ond ID number and_pass wword(s)), allowing player to change hisfher ‘password (though this could backfire), and having the password change each day or game turn according t0 a formula known only to the player. Ultimately, though, the player has to be responsible for protecting his account also; if he insists on telling others his password or letting them see it, he’s going tohave to expect problems. ‘Another problem is your phone line. Do not try 10 use the same phone for voice communications, simply because no matter what you print about which hours people should (and shouldn't) call for the computer, you will stil get calls all hours of the day and night, So resign yourselt to having one or moze phone lines dedi- cated to the computer and use 2 separate one for any regular communications ‘A third problem will be deciding what to charge for all this. The cost per tun should be substantially lower, since (1) your overhead (postage, data entry, and printouts, ete) is lower, and (2) your fame turns are (probably) more frequent (who can afford $1.50/game turn if there are 20 game tums/month®). Also, any players who have to call long distance will have an added charge to their play time, I leave this solution completely up toyou. Conclusion Having proposed all this, I would like to get feedback from those of you who have also considered this or actually tied it (here's a shot at some free advertising). ‘You ean write me directly at: Bruce F. Webster Lunar and Planetary Institute 3303 NASA Road 1 Houston, TX 77058. Pm not sure what's in store for next month (seldom am until I sit down to write these things), but I may finally pursue a topic I mentioned in my very first column: the computer as “farniliar.” Tune in next month and find out