07>

770966 779005
 r)

In Brief 4
More bits and bobs on what's new

A Few Good Men - Jonathan Turner 9

Jonathan Peach Melba Turner gets the FNI involved in
GDW's Dark Conspiracy
Volume 1, Issue 8
July 1993 The Uniarms Winter Catalogue - David Perry 14
Dave jacks into some new Cyberware, weapons and drugs for 2020
Publisher: Chris Hankins
A Long Night at Long Marrow - Stig 18
Editor: David Renton A Generic Fantasy Scenario, Overland Journey, Miniaures Battle,
Murder Mystery, Plot Outline!
Sub Editor: Dave Halligan
The Felin - Jon Crane 25
Associate Editor: Peter Brown Jon introduces us to the Felin, a new PC/NPC race for the Star Wars
role playing game
Editorial Assistant: Tina Fagan
The Moorlake Ball - Sarwat Chadda 29
Advertising: Dave Halligan The chase is on with this scenario for White Wolf's
Vampire the Masquerade
Design/Typesetting: Stig
Shadowrun & Grimoire Errata -The Folks at FASA 36
Cover Artist: Gary Boyes Hey! Better this than a third edition!
Internal Artists: Bob Corcoran, Wayne
Chisnall, Ralph Horsley. An apology to
Miniature Warriors - Steve Blease 38
Barry Quin for not including him in this Steve waffles some more and gives us the low
section last month. Sorry Barry! down of what's new in miniature

Across a Crowded Bar - Steve Tierney 42

A stopping off place for AD&D® 2nd Edition Characters

Reviews 46
New Material for: Amazing Engine, Over the Edge, Ravenloft, Spelljammer,
RuneQuest, Dark Sun, Blood Berets, Black Death,
Man 'o War, Dark Conspiracy.

Last Writes 56
This month sees the close of the Christianity/Role Playing debate

Club Sandwich 58
Need a club in your area? Try here

Classifieds/Events 59

Postscript - Paul Baldowski 61

Postscript looks at amateur games and what they offer the PBM hobby

Role Player Independent (ISSN No. 0966-7792) is published on the fourth Thursday (or thereabouts) of each month by Symbiosis Publishing Ltd., Symbiosis House, 204 Henwick Road,
Worcester, WR2 SPF. (0905 420760)
While every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of all published material, the publishers do not accept liability for any incorrect statement or errors contained in material from independent
sources or authors. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, artwork, or photograph without the permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited. All views and ideas expressed within the
publication are not necessarily those of the publisher. If anyone does actually bother reading this blurb, I'd just like to say HELLO! We apologise for the delay in the last issue, and hope
nobody's guinea pigs got too upset. Did I spell Guinea Pig right this month? If anybody is reading this please drop a line to Stig, and say Hi! It'll really make my day. Oh well, on with the rest
of the blurb....
Submissions: We welcome articles, scenarios, artwork and photographs, however, Symbiosis Publishing Ltd. cannot be held responsible for the loss or damage to unsolicited material. A
SSAE of adequate size must be included if you wish the material to be returned. All written material must be either double spaced type written on A4 white paper, or provided on 3.5" disc in
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Distribution:
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Games Trade: Contact Symbiosis Publishing Ltd. for details of games trade distribution.
Subscriptions: Twelve Issues: UK £21.00 (Unemployed/OAP/Students £18.00), Europe £27.79, Elsewhere £48.79. Six Issues: UK £11.00, Europe £14.89, Elsewhere £25.39. Please
make all payments by cheque payable to Symbiosis Publishing Ltd.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, AD&D are registered trademarks of TSR inc. Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium's name for its role playing game based on the works of HP Lovecraft and is
their registered trademark. Cyberpunk is the registered trademark of R. Talsorian Games Inc. Vampire-the masquerade is the trademark of White Wolf's Storytelling system. Role Player
Independent recognises the status of all copyrights, trademarks, product names and registered trademarks and the use of the aforementioned within the publication should not be construed
as a challenge to such status. All articles, artwork and photographs contained within the publication are the copyright and sole property of the author/artist. Copyright Symbiosis Publishing
©1993. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any way without prior permission. Cover: © Gary Boyes.
II
GDW
At last, at long last, Traveller the New Era is available in this country (it's been here for about
two weeks now). We first mentioned it in issue one, and then every subsequent issue, but it's here
at last. We only hope that it was worth the wait. If you've forgotten what it's all about then here's
a brief run down - New Era is set in an infinite universe. The Imperium, Humaniti's most
glorious regime, fell 70 years ago and so its vast area is ready to re-awaken and it's all yours for
the taking. So, what's new? Well, the New Era rules are not limited to a specific campaign
background. Instead it sets you free to experiment with different styles of play, different
techniques. The first release for Traveller the New Era is Survival Margin and is out now.
Survival Margin includes; selected Traveller News Service articles recording the long slide into
chaos; from the 1116 assassination of Stephon to the 1130 release of the final weapon; a history
of the Virus - the artificially intelligent computer life form that changed the face of the Imperium;
an overview of the emergence of the mysterious Star Vikings; and procedures for updating
Traveller and MegaTraveller player characters to the new system.
Avalon Hill
For those of you that are tired of bungee
jumping Roadkill has just arrived in the
country. It promises to contain all the
lethal thrills of a road race without the
dangers. Roadkill depicts the futuristic
spectacle of cross-country demolition
racing in the 21st century. For 2-6 players
it is definitely not your average family
games; armoured cars, grenade throwers,
smoke screens, razor sharp scythe hubcaps
ali go to make up the fun that can be had.
Weather conditions and terrain also take
part in the conspiracy to keep your
opponents trailing. Also included is the
advanced game, with rule variations that
allow you to customise your own cars
with such non-standard features as 20mm
Competition cannon and nuclear powered engines.
Shadows on the Borderlands
Winners (mentioned in RPI#S) after a delay of
two months has finally hit the shelves.
Winner of the signed copy of King of Sartar
from issue six's competition is: J.G. Wilson of
Edinburgh.
This bulky package contains three ready
to play scenarios and details the labyrinth
caverns that honeycomb the cliffs of the
Winner of the Grenadier figures is: Adam frontier lands that lie along the Valley of
Liptrot of St Annes, Lanes. Cradles (see review this issue).
Will Steve Lillie of London please contact
RPI.
1?J][e P[ayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993
The Dark Door
The Dark Door Murder Mystery group will
be running a Murder Mystery weekend over the
21st August. We're not too sure where it will
take place, but it will be somewhere in the north
Wales. Anyone interested should get in touch
with The Dark Door at: 1 Dolobran Isaf, Pont
Robert, Meiford SY22 6HU, or phone (0938)
04654 for more details or a booking form.
Wizards of the
Coast
Now available from Wizards of the Coast
are lots and lots of Talislanta product namely:
The Talislanta Guidebook 3rd Edition, Tales
of Talislanta, The Primal Order, Talislanta
Geograhica, Scenat of the Beast, Pawns, the
Opening Move, The Archaen Codex,
Talislanta Worldbook, Talislanta Naturalists
Guide, Cyclopedia Talislanta numbers two to
six (Seven Kingdoms, Wilderlands of Zaran,
Western Lands, Eastern Lands, Desert
Kingdoms, respectively), and The Compleat
Alchemist.
The Archean Codex is a sourcebook of
advanced magic, legend and lore from the
forgotten age of Talislanta's history. Included
is an overview of the Achaen Age, short bios on
famous forgotten age sorcerers, and descriptions
of many spells, lost books of magic, and artifacts
from that time. It also promises to explain the
lost art of sorcery for the first time.
StaffCon '93
StaffCon '93 is a convention based around a
competition using Iron Crown's Rolemaster
system. Supporting the competition game will
be a wide variety of trade stalls and participation
games. Also making an appearance (the
organisers hope) will be author David Gemell.
Competition entry is $25.00 for each five
person team, this will include lunch for the
entrants. The whole thing takes place on the
18th of July from 10.00am to 6pm. Admission
is £2.00 on the door.
There are still places left in the team
competition, and the organisers would like to
hear from anyone who would like to contribute
to making StaffCon a success; whether you
would like to play games, demonstrate, set up
a trade stand, or offer something a little visual.
All enquiries should be forwarded to: Chris
Grice, C/O SU Office, Stafford University,
Stafford, ST16 0AD, or phone Mike on 0785
58105.
Misprints
It has come to our attention that some copies
of RPI issue seven have repeated page sections.
If anyone has a copy that contains these errors
please return them to Symbiosis Publishing.
We will send a correct copy by return of post.
II
Palladium Books
Palladium is to produce a role playing supplement based on the works of artists Timothy
Truman and Flint Henry.
A 20 page black and white comic strip kicks off the book to give a flavour of the Wormwood
strips produced by Truman and Henry. A heavily excited Kevin Siembieda states, "The strip
is original and produced specially for the book. Tiin and Flint just came up with this incredible
land of magic and monsters. When they offered me the project, I jumped at it. From the pages I
have seen, the strip and artwork are going to be some of their best!"
Truman and Henry will also be producing many of the illustrations found throughout the book.
"This is their baby more than mine," says Siembieda. "I'm Jetting them develop the world and
run with the concepts, characters and monsters. Flint Henry has a twisted imagination that I can
really get into. As for Tim Truman, I've always loved his art and writing, so it's a pleasure to
Hobbygames Ltd
work with him on a project of this magnitude." Hobbygames, the UK's leading games
distributor, have announced the release of their
The full title of this book is Rifts Dimensions Book One: Wormwood. As the title suggests,
first range of miniatures. Entitled Space
the title is linked to Palladium's Rifts system, but-is an alien dimension and a complete world
Rangers, the set contains fifty finely detailed
environment filled with magic, demonic monsters, tyrants, mystery and conflict.
25mm miniatures moulded in high quality
For those of you that haven't heard the names Truman and Henry before - Tim Truman is
plastic. The box includes ten squad leaders
probably best known for his work on Hawkworld and his epic Scout series. He is also scheduled
each armed with had laser and power sabre,
to work on the second Turok: Dinosaur Hunter mini-series for Valiant.
plus three super heavy weapons per squad of
Flint Henry is probably best known for his work on Grimjack, and is currently involved with
five. rangers. They'll be available in the UK
projects at Marvel.
soon and priced at £10.95 per pack, very
Wormwood looks like a August release fo[the states so add a couple of months on and that's
reasonable. For those of you that are stateside
when we'11 get it in the UK!
the miniatures will be available through
Grenadier Models Inc.
Mayfair FASA Corporation
For those of you Demon players out there,
better watch out; here come the Sentinels.
The first Earthdawn flyers (mentioned in
RPI#6) should be with us now. They're free
Dark Moon
This gives you the opportunity to switch from your local games shop and contain stories
and NPCs for FASA's latest system. Collect all
Publishing
roles and play those most powerful beings
Interactive Fiction Quarterly is a new 'zine

of law and order. Your mission is to protect
mortals from the overzealous tempters. This
sourcepack contains new rules, new spells,
props, a complete adventure and breath
taking illustrations of various sentinels as
well as game stats essential to play.
What can be more dangerous than the
m
three and you will have your first adventure for
Earth Dawn completely free. out around now from Dark Moon Publishing.
Its 40 AS pages
Following on from the Into the Shadows
contain all kinds
trilogy Striper Assassin continues Nyx Smith's
story of Striper, who happens to be the hottest of bit� and pie�es I
hitter to prowl the urban jungle since the on mteract1ve
Awakening began. Now she's become involved fiction and PBM l'!I@•·. •@•--19 @,.tff•.
,r•fi"'
in business so dangerous even her shape shifting and, according to �'!;';:· 1
�<'>$:

streets of LA in 2021? Streets Tell Stories
is the first sourcepack campaign developed
for the Underground world and is paced
with role playing aids. Within you will find
a 64 page setting of Los Angeles, a 64-page
plot guide providing a series of campaign
threads, 10 folio sheets for the up and coming
Underground Notebook, 16pages of player
props, a full colour map of central, south and
east Los Angeles, a copy of the USA Alive
underground newspaper, prop police ID
cards, and graft cheques endorsed by
crooked politicians. Sounds to be well worth
the money.
Undead II: Army of the night is about to
dig its way in to your local games shop.
These, the most popular of fantasy monsters,
come alive in this Role Aids sourcepack. All
your favourite rib ticklers are here along
with a few other slightly unusual undead
fiends. In all, over 64 pages of new undead,
new character classes, new spells, new
magical items, and a completely new
adventure.
'R.{J[e P[ayer Inc£epenc£ent Ju[y 1993
abilities may not give her enough edge to
survive.
If you thought the streets were tough then you
should get stuck into the latest adventure for
Shadowrun 2nd Edition by Lou Prosperi. A
Killing Glare will leave your runners with
nowhere to hide (apart from the shadows).
For Battletech we have Battlespace; a new
system of aerospace combat in the 31st century,
where JumpShips, DropShips, and WarShips
fight to get the Mechs they carry into battle.
Fully compatible with Battletech, this system
brings a new dimension to the war of the future.
Comes with training scenarios, maps, and rules
for creating space freighters and transports.
Don't have any more details on this apart
from it will feature lots of new artwork. Dido't
get to give you fuller details of Corporate Files
last month so here it is - Wanna know where the
megacorps bury their secrets? That's for you to
find out, chummer, but Corporate Files does
promise to provide clues. If it's a
megacorporation it will be covered in this new
sourcebook; history, assets, personnel - the
whole works. Do be careful though, the corps
would kill to protect this data!
the sub-ed, it's a /\>!�:-·
damn good read.
Issue one deals
mostly with
sexism in gaming
and has a very SEX AND SEXISM IN PBM
interesting picture A serious issue? Or Just an excuse to
on the front cover. put pictures like these on the cover?
£2.00 is the cost,
and if you can't find it at your local games store
drop the people a line at IFQ, BCM Dark Moon,
London, WCIN 3XX, or get in touch via
Compuserv: 100112, 2053.
Guild of Melee &
Magic
The Guild of Melee & Magic have now got
a new branch in North West Kent. The new
branch meets every Tuesday from 7pm-l l pm
at the Queen Alexandra Public House, Parish
Lane, Penge. Nearest station is Penge East
(from Victoria). Anyone interested should
contact Steve at some time during the evening
on 0622 670 003.
Anybody wishing to contact the Guild should
get in touch with Tony Mitton, The Guild Co­
ordinator, 61B Camberwell Road, London SES
OER - Tel: 071-708 1931

Whit Publications
Recent releases (and those for this month) for
Ralph Bakshi's Wizards RPG are as follows:
Western Highlands - this is a land of honour
and ancient mysticism. The Kami look down
upon their brethren from 'atop their Great
Plateau. The Douin warn of the coming of
Blackwolf and his technology. The Spirit
Warriors of the undermountain protect the
land from evil. The mysterious Servants of
Garamund watch over their druidic domain
while the War mages of the Bluefolfmaintain
their seclusion from the outside world. The
Western Highlands is the third book in the
series begun with Montagar and Scortch. It
details life in the Western Highlands of
Halcionia, and contains descriptions of the
various races and their rulers. Also included are
a whole array of new weapons and creatures to
use them on! Contains a full adventure entitled
The Lurker Beneath the Waves, which pits
the players against Blackwolf and his dark
forces.
East Elfland is a land of savage and noble
warriors. This is the fourth in the series and
follows on from the aforementioned books.
The sourcebook details the many cities and
land forms of the East Elflands. The sea is the
domain of the Faeries. This is the land of the
Brown Elves. These Faeries have turned from
magic and now wield sub-machine guns and
other modem weapons with the ease of a
technomancer. The southern border is a hotbed
of fierce Mutant and Faerie skirmishes. The
East Elflands are not as inviting as Montagar
or the Western Highlands, and are not for the
weak. A modem weapons supplement and a
full length adventure are included. Many
creatures, some new, some familiar, are also
included in this 80 page supplement.
In the near future we can expect to see Fire
Island and Technomancy. Fire Island is a
'classy' folder to store all your character sheets
and important papers, inside you'll find a full
colour poster of Halcenoia and all its cities and
a 32 page supplement that focuses on Fire
Island and its inhabitants. Beware, stocks are
limited. Technomancy: Technology is said to
be the opposite of Magic, and, like oil and
water, the two cannot mix. Since the book of
magic exists, it is only fair that a book is
dedicated to technology. This 80 page
supplement includes details on equipment,
weaponry, machinery, computers, and all sorts
of nasties. Also included is a full length
adventure that themes itself to finding and
using technology in strange and different ways.
LRP Equipment
David Mundin and Richard Field are involved
in the design of masks and prosthetics for film
& theatre. Both are avid role players and wish
to hear from any LRP groups who may be
interested in their products. Interested parties
should contact David or Richard on 081 861
6041
ID
White Wolf Chessex
New from White Wolf for July is the Chessex have announced the second edition
Monkeywrench: Pentex. The title's got us of their RPG based on the successful comic
baffled so we'll let Renee of White Wolf series Albedo, Anthromorphics. For those of
explain it for us: Some Garou aren't content to you J:-raven't come across first edition Albedo
just slash up a few Wyrm creatures, these guys here's a little taster - Albedo is set in an
want to use their high-tech skills to hit Pentex interstellar society that is in trouble. It gives
where it hurts. This book is a you t,he opportunity to role play a whole host of
Monkeywrenchers' guide to Pentex: ruining genetic constructs who, created and abandoned
the megacorp's plans, destroying its construction many years ago by humans, have established
sites, hacking into its computers - everything a their own unique culture. Released at the same
Garou needs to put the Wyrm's corporate arm time will be an Albedo 2nd edition adventure
out of business. entitled Zhochaka.
Monkeywrench: Pentex is a cornucopia of
Storyteller material for use in any Werewolf
game. It includes: top secret internal Pentex
memos, designed as handouts for the
Storyteller, revealing many of the secrets of Task Force Games
the corporations, actual blueprints of a Pentex Firstly, I would like to be selfish and thank
office, and a Garou Hacker's diary, detailing TFG on behalf of the RPI team for a couple of
many methods for breaking into Pentex's mega­ great nights out in Eindhoven, hope nobody
computer. minds. Right on with the news - straight from
Superman's best friend Timmy Olsen.
Module T: Tournaments is now available
for Star Fleet Battles. It provides balanced
R. Talsorian Games ship designs, essays and articles about the
game, a new double sided map (full colour
From the creators of the hit Cyberpunk Star Fleet Battles map on one side, laid out in
RPG comes a new game set in a world where a racing style arena, and a Federation and
steam punk technology, swashbuckling Empire B&W map on the other side), and two
adventure, and high fantasy collide. It's counter sheets... one of which hasn't been
Flashing Blades, blazing guns, Steampunk available since TFG 3500 went out of print
Super weapons, Supernatural Engines, last year! Included in Module T are: The 1993
SFB Tournament rules, sixteen tournament
Giants, Dragons, Monsters, Mages, Beautiful
ships (inc. four new ships), features on judging
Women, Fearless Heroes, Mad Kings, Faerie
standards and etiquette, essays on how to run,
Lords, DwarvishEngineers, Daring Rescues, promote and play in a SFB tournament, and
Hair's Breadth Escapes, Truth, Revenge, tournament scenarios for SFB, DF &E, Prime
Horror, even some High Romance. It's Directive, and Star Fleet Missions.
20,000 Leagues Under the sea meets Lord Imperial Starfire is going to be a couple of
of the Rings by the way of Prisoner of months late. It probably won't be arriving in
Zenda. the UK till late July - hang in there guys!
This is all that Talsorian would tell us of There is no news on the finalised release date
their new game Castle Falkenstein, and, for Prime Directive (the Star Fleet Battles
apparently, fantasy role playing will never RPG). It's still in development so Timmy will
get back to us on that one pretty soon - up, up
be the same again - sounds good!
and awaaaaay!
Chaosium Inc
Recent Chaosium releases, such as novels and T-Shirts have indicated that the Oakland based
company are expanding their range of products, but we here at RPI think they may be going a little
too far with their supposed latest scheme; Charlie Krank (a recent visitor to the RPI office - name
droppers, us, surely not) has been overheard stating that Chaosium are considering producing
Cthulhu Condoms! Whether Mr Krank is pulling our tentacles we don't know (though we
suspect he may be). Should they produce such a line, would it fall under the trading name of
Lovecraft? If anyone out there can think of any other unusual items for this line then do tell us,
we probably won't print them, but it'll certainly keep us amused.
During Charlie's visit to the office we got to see both the new magic system for Pendragon 3rd
Edition and Chaosium 's board game, Credo. Both were pre-production copies and so were a little
rough around the edges, but the magic system will add something special to Pendragon without
making it just another spell blasting RPG - something that it has never been in the past. Credo
looks like it's going to be a lot of fun, at the time of writing this we haven't had chance to play
it - look out for a review in the next RPI.
2?,p[e Pfayer Incfepencfent Ju[y 1993

Jonathon Turner
introduces the
FBI to GDW's
Dark Conspiracy
T
he rain was washing the trail of
blood into the gutter, carrying it
away into the darkness. Sheriff
Baxter followed the crimson
stain with his eyes, back to where the latest
victim was being zipped into a black plastic
body bag.
Emergency lights threw crazy shadows
dancing on the walls as the boys from the
morgue tossed the corpse onto a stretcher.
They were being kept busy this week. Four
murders in as many days. Everyone expected
Baxter to come up with the answers. To
catch the killer before he struck again. But
he had no witnesses, no survivors and no
clues. Nothing.
The sheriff snapped around at the sound
of the helicopter. It swept in low over the
Haddonfield town square like an angry
black wasp, a search light stabbing down
through the rain. Baxter fired up another
Pall Mall as the chopper flared and settled
down, tossing around papers and trash in its
rotor wash.
The skids had barely touched the wet
tarmac when the slide door was thrown open
and a tall man in a black suit jumped out.
Three others carrying aluminium brief cases
joined him. They strolled across the square
as the chopper lifted off into the clouds
again.
The leader pushed his way through the
crowd of onlookers and crossed to Baxter.
He took out a skinny hand and smiled
tightly.
''I'm Special Agent Crane," he said.
"You can relax now. We'll take care of
everything."
ew
WE'RE FROM THE
GOVERNMENT AND WE'RE
HERE TO HELP YOU
The Dark World is hauntingly familiar
and yet horrifyingly different from our own.
Apart from the direct consequences of the
invasion, such as the Greater Depression,
there have been quieter, subtler changes.
One of these has been the emergence of
empathic humans. Why this has happened,
no-one is particularly sure. But governments
who have been trying to create psychics for
their own purposes for years are now
putting the empaths to good use.
Even though it no longer has the
jurisdiction it once held, the Federal Bureau
of Investigation is still North America's
most potent law enforcement agency. More
than any government group with the
possible exemption of the CIA, the Feds
have seized on the rich opportunities
provided by empaths.
There now exists a covert section within
the FBI known as Echo Group, (from the
phonetic for E, as in empath) that is made
'l?J)[e Pfayer Independent Ju[y 1993
e
up entirely of empaths. Using this article
Dark Conspiracy referees should be able to
get as much information they need to
incorporate the Echo Men into their
campaigns. The information can be used ih
two ways. First, Echo Group agents can
show up in your adventures as faceless
guardians in black suits who help your
player characters out of a tight spot, or
hinder them for 'reasons of national
security.'
Secondly, you could have your players
choose to join Echo Group during character
generation. If you are using the booster kit's
enhanced background rules, any character
who chooses the agent option will find that
the Echo Men make an ideal employer.
As I write this, the GDW Empathic
Sourcebook has not yet hit the streets. It
may contain similar information, and, if it
does, feel free to chop and change.
BACKGROUND
It was the early 1990s before the United
States government had realised the extent of
the damage caused by the alien explorers on
Io. By that time, the Dark Ones had
consolidated their foothold on our world.
In an organisation as large as the FBI,
there were bound to be some agents who
suddenly became empathically aware.
Although initially small in number, these
agents were soon identified and separated
from their colleagues for 'continued ability
evaluation.'
It was a testing time for these agents,
quite literally. Their new abilities were
pushed to the limits to see what they were
capable of. Drug therapy was introduced to
enable them to enhance their empathic
skills. A centre for empathic research within
the FBI was set up at Quantico, Virginia,
where the bureau has the headquarters of its
behavioural Science Unit.
After two years the first fully trained
government empaths emerged from the
covert testing centre at Quantico. By this
time, evidence of Darkling influence was
steadily emerging throughout the world.
These agents were assigned to tackle the
invasion.
JI_ !Jew (jooa :Men
"We in this generation are - by destiny rather
than choice • the watchmen on the walls of
world freedom."
President John F. Kennedy
T
he holding cell was bare except
for the wooden table and chair.
Agent Carpenter rolled up his
sleeve and injected himself with
the vial of emphemerol.
Crane and another agent leaned against
the far wall in the shadows cast by the
single, unshaded light bulb. Baxter watched
them warily from the corner of the cell.
Carpenter's head was taped up with EKG
monitors; wires trailed out from underneath
his shirt to a near by monitor. The
microphone of his headset hovered in front
of his dry lips. he closed his eyes and began
breathing deeply.
There was no sound except for the rain
on the little window and Carpenter's
breathing. Crane folded his arms. Minutes
passed. Carpenter's eyes flickered half
open.
"Rain, cold," he mumbled. "Dark, can't
see much," he moaned softly. "Steel....
girders.... rusted now... old, very old."
Baxter straightened up, frowning.
"No, no, not girders," Carpenter
mumbled. "Tracks, railway tracks. Old grey
building near here.... holes in the roof ...
letting in the rain." He opened his eyes and
pulled the EKG pads from his head. "That's
all I can get. It's blocking me out." Crane
nodded to Baxter.
"Know anywhere like that?" Baxter
nodded, disbelief on his podgy face. "Sure,
it's an old station yard about a mile outta
town." Crane pushed open the door to the
holding cell. "Get all your deputies to meet
us there," he snapped. "And tell them all to
bring shotguns."
1?,p{e P{ayer Inaepenaent Ju{y 1993
Although most of their work was to be
connected with gathering intelligence on the
Darklings and on methods of combating
them, these empaths would also prove
instrumental in tracking ordinary criminals.
The Behavioural Science Unit already
specialised in finding that strange American
phenomenon - the serial criminal. But now,
Echo Group agents were able to predict
where the killers would strike next, cutting
down on hundreds of manpower hours.
Of course, the abilities of these PreCogs
were not 100% accurate, but they were more
right than wrong. At last, the Bureau had a
way of seeing the future, even if it was only
in unreliable flashes.
The FBI was not the only government
group to enlist empaths. The Central
Intelligence Agency also trained and
mentally equipped certain agents. But while
the FBI was mostly concerned with creating
law enforcement agents with a difference,
the CIA wanted psychic assassins - the
Shadowmen.
At the moment, there is a growing
animosity between the two groups as they
attempt to poach promising empaths from
each other. While the FBI tries to play
mostly above board, the CIA has no such
morals, resorting to kidnapping and
brainwashing on numerous occasions.
DUTIES
Echo Group specialises in dealing with
incidents that are in some way connected
with the Dark ones. They smash cults, track
Dark Minions, research DarkTek, and shoot
monsters in the head.
Most of their work is investigative in
nature; they form small, well motivated
teams (more of which later) depending on
the nature of their assignment.
As well as their work on behalf of the
Bureau, some agents also act as liaison
officers with the military and other
government agencies. Several agents are
assigned to the Presidential Protection Unit
to keep the Gipper safe from Darkling
influence.
Special forces teams who occasionally
have to deal with Dark Minions will, also,
usually have at least one Echo Man acting
as an advisor.
The Bureau realises the value of the
Echo Group PreCogs in predicting normal
crime as well as Minion oriented incidents.
The vast majority of the best PreCogs (those
with very high Foreboding skills) are
stationed at Quantico.
Most of their work is carried out in the
subterranean tunnels of the nearby
Presidential Emergency Facility. Deep
underneath the fields and cities of Virginia
they spend their time scanning in an attempt
to keep ahead of the Minions.
PreCogs have access to the latest
empathic boosting drugs (such as third
generation emphemerol) and other
electronic aids that boost their foreboding
skills.
Despite everything the PreCogs have to
go through, they are still treated like any
other Echo Group agents. They still have to
go over the Quantico assault course three
times a week and train in unarmed combat,
forensics, and law like everyone else.
Mental and physical discipline is of
paramount importance.
Apart from the empathic intelligence
gathered by the Echo Group scanners, the
Bureau also has access to the latest
nationwide computer database. This
information system is a direct descendant of
the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program
(VICAP) that was formed in the late
eighties to track serial criminals.
Law enforcement groups throughout
North America and Canada provide
information for the Echo Group database.
Anything that could hint at a surge of
Minion activity is entered into the database
and closely scrutinised by the Echo Men.
Teams are then assigned on a perceived
priority basis. Violent murders that could
point at the formation of cults or monster
activity and any new areas of Demonground
that crop up are also given top priority.
The civilian law enforcement groups who
log this information don't know what it's
for. They are only instructed to put anything
'weird' into the database. Occasionally they
enter plain rumours and hearsay, but that
happens less and less these days.
Once a Dark Minion threat has been
identified, then the choppers lift off, the
black Oldsmobiles screech out of the
garages and the men in black suits and
sunglasses head out to save the day.
Sometimes they even manage to pull it off.
A CASE OF TEAM SPIRIT
There are only around 100 agents in
Echo Group. As you can imagine, they are
extremely overworked. On the plus side,
they have access to top class government
resources and probably now as much about
the Dark Minions as anyone else on the
planet.
As far as equipment goes, the Echomen
get what they want. The standard issue
firearm is the Colt Krait 10mm pistol,
usually with a quick acquisition laser sight
under the barrel.
If the team needs something heavier,
they either carry Uzis or MP-7s, again with
various sighting attachments, extended
clips, gas venting (-1 to recoil value) and
other neat add-ons.

T
he chopper settled back down
into the town square again, rotor
wash blowing sheets of water
fr om puddles onto the waiting
police and HA WK team.
Emergency lights flashed off the black
canopy as the side door slid open. The
chopper c r e w chief helped the agents load
in the bulky body bag. Black ichor oozed out
through the zip and splattered onto the
chopper ' s deck.
Crane waved his colleagues on board
and clambered in himself. He grabbed the
door handle ready to slide it closed. Baxter
reached out and stopped him, yelling over
the roar of the turbine.
"And that' s it, Cr ane ? W e don' t get an
explanation? What the hell was that
thing ? " Crane squin ted at him through the
rain for a second, then shook his head
slo w ly.
" That' s on a need to kno w basis only,
sheriff. " Baxter nodded and stepped back
f rom the helicopter .
" / figured as much. You Washington
boys a in ' t so hot on public relations, are
f
you ? " Crane half smiled, hal sneered as he
slid the door across .
" We get the job done , " he yelled.
Baxter ducked under the blades as the
turbine ' s whine became a roar. The chopper
lifted off in a cloud of sp ray, navigation
lights strobing as it pulled up into the night
sky . Baxter watched it go, lighting up
another Pall Mall and inhaling de ep ly. He
muttered a rep ly to no -one in particular.
"/ sure can ' t arg ue with that, " he
drawled.
Shotguns are also popular, particularly
the Mossberg stakeout, the HK-Caw or the
Armalite Stormcloud. The ten gauge
Roadblocker, which fires solid slug shells
that can go straight through a car's engine
block is also a favourite.
The teams also have a variety of
specialised equipment, depending on what
their intentions are. These are noted in the
team descriptions below. These are the most
common team types, though ' custom ' teams
are occasionally called for.
HA WK TEAM
This i s the sort o f group most likely to be
encountered. Consisting of four agents with
various abilities, the Hawk team specialises
in the initial investigation of suspected
minion activities.
Hawk teams usually consist of one
PreCog, an Animal Empathy specialist
(known as Doolittle) and two scanners who
are adept at Though Projection and Human
Empathy.
As well as their empathic expertise, these
agents will share other skills . One will be a
mechanic and driver (or pilot), one a
weapons specialist, and the another will
have v aried language abilities, if the
situation warrants it. At least two of the
team members will be medic ally qualified
and, of course, all will be able to operate
electronic equipment.
Their shiny aluminium briefcases contain
laptop computers, a microw ave
communication unit, vision equipment such
as IR or UV goggles , a chemical analysis
kit, bug de tectors , a compunav , and in some
cases a dis torter. (Most of this equipment is
covered in the DarkTek supplement. )
Additional weapons will also be
available if the situation warrants it. All
agents will be wearing light body armour
(AV 1 ) cons truc ted from light Kevlar weave
under their black s uits .
They will spend their time at a site
gathering information by interviewing
witnesses (using appropriate empathic
skills), collecting specimens, carrying out
au topsies on victims, and generally just
showing up and ac ting like they owned the
place. See Sidney Poitier ' s performance in
In the Heat of the Night if you need further
tips on ho w to play Hawk teams.
JA G UA R TE A M S
Jaguar teams fall into two distinct
groups of strike units. The firs t is a typical
special forces unit, trained and equipped
with the best combat equipment available.
These teams are used mostly covertly to
bust up cults, rescue hostages, clean out
beastie nests and so on. They are the
hammer to the HA WK team 's anvil. Most
Jaguar teams consist of six to eight
members. All agents are empathically able
to defend themselves against attack, but
their true skill lies in combat. These are the
'R,p{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993
5l !Few (jood Afen
sort of dudes who can field strip three
weapons blind-folded while disarming a
Tomahawk and arm wrestling Steven Segal.
Well, you know what I mean.
They wear whatever armour suits the
situation at hand, whether it be light body
armour or close assault stuff. Their weapons
ar� equally varied - anything from a MP-7
to an M60 or MM- I is available.
Their weapon mix is typical of most
special forces, each team of eight men is
split into two four man fire-teams, each fire
team has a heavy weapons trooper who
carries a machine gun, grenade launcher or
something equally as fancy, including the
occasional laser.
Before going into a combat situation, the
Jaguar team usually has a PreCog see if
they can get a flash to determine what might
be waiting for them.
Other more gifted agents will also scan
the area in question using Human or
Darkling Empathy to see if they can pick up
the number of targets and whether or not
they are human.
The Jaguar Teams are able to handle
most small unit activities. If they need
anything really heavy such as armoured
vehicles or air support, the job is turned
over to the military .
The second type of Jaguar team is
completely psychic in nature. They are sent
in to empathically ov ercome or destroy
selected targets .
These teams wear the requisite black
suits and shades , and are usually found in
number. They all have ex tremely high EMP
skills, particularly Thought Proj ection,
Human Empathy, and Project Emotion.
As well as this, some of the team will
also have telekinetic and pyrokinetic
abilities . These teams are the FB I version of
the Company ' s Shadowmen .
Their attack methods usually entail using
Proj ect Thought to render the target blind
and deaf before immolating them with
pyrokinesis or using telekinesis to toss them
out of a window, in front of a tram or
something equally as fatal that looks
accidental.
Having four hi ghly trained empaths
suddenly arrive and mess with your mind
suddenly overcomes all but the strongest
targets. What ' s more, there is absolutely no
evidence at all to suggest a suspicious death.
COBRAT E A M S
These units are specifically for
interrogation. They consist of four agents
with high abilities in Human Empathy,
Project Emotion, and Project Thought.
The four agent team splits into two pairs
and takes it in shifts to work over the target.
As well as their empathic abilities, they are
well versed in psychology and intimidation
so they can extract the best information in
as short a time as possible.
Jl !Jew (jootf Men
Cobra teams are used to interrogate cultists,
abductees, or anyone else who piques the
Bureau's interest.
COUGAR TEAMS
Cougar teams are advisory units who are
attached to other groups. They are usually
gifted PreCogs who are well briefed on the
various species of Minions.
They will be attached to military teams
who may be tackling something a Jaguar
unit couldn't, or to other specialist
organisations carrying out Minion related
investigations, such as NASA.
So, YOU WANT
TO BE IN THE FBI
As I've mentioned, Echo Group can also
be used as an employer by your players -
either past or present.
A word of warning though - I've always
been a bit upset that the skills of telekinesis
and pyrokinesis are forbidden for PCs
unless they can acquire them during the
game. My argument is that in modem test
facilities the ability to project kinetic energy
on objects is always something they try to
teach; that kinetic energy could move the
object (telekinesis), or alter the temperature
(pyro and cryokinesis).
For this reason, I've included these skills
in the lists that Echo Men can acquire. This
may not meet with everyone's approval, so
take 'em out if they don't suit. Ca Va?
To join Echo Group in character
generation, the PC must have served at
least one term as a government agent and
come through all the prerequisites that
entails. In addition, their EMP attribute
must be above 6, and their Human Empathy
must be at least 3.
If they do join they receive the following
skills in the first term - Pistol 2,
Observation 2, Human Empathy 2,
Interrogation 1.
In each following term, they can choose seven
skills from group A, or for every two skills
they choose not to take from that group, they
can take one level from group B.
'R.g{e Pfayer Independent Ju{y 1993
/·
Group A - Small arms (either),
Wheeled Vehicle, Melee Combat (either),
Swimming, Observation, Interrogation,
Streetwise, Luck, Persuasion, Medical,
Biology, Computer Operation, or any EMP
skill listed on the basic character sheet.
Group B _ Pyrokinesis, Telekinesis (see
Dark.ling section of rulebook for further
details).
Characters receive three contacts per
term - government, law enforcement,
journalist, medical or military. On a DlO
roll of 7+ the contact is foreign.
LET'S GO TO WORK
As I've said, Echo Group teams can be
used by GMs to either help or hinder
player characters. They can bail them out,
get in their faces, or do both depending on
your whim.
But no matter what, these teams will
make excellent contacts for your PCs who
are battling the Dark. As mentioned, PCs
are most likely to encounter the Hawk
teams. For this reason I've included details
of one such team for you to cut out and
keep.
I also know that most of you will be too
lazy to generate them otherwise.
SPECIAL AGENT JACK CRANE
Level: Elite
Skills: Small Arms (Pistol) 6,
Interrogation 7, Melee Combat (Unarmed)
5, Willpower 7, Project Thought 5, Human
Empathy 7, Project Emotion 6, Leadership
6, Observation 9, Telekinesis 5, Medical 5.
Initiative 5
Physical description: Agent Crane looks
suspiciously like William Dafoe' s character
in Mississippi Burning - fit and tanned with
slicked back fair hair, glasses and a sharp
Sixties suit and tie.
Motivation: Hearts Jack - Crane is an
incredibly astute man who has a mind like a
vice. It is for this reason that he has risen to
such a high post in Echo Group within such
a short time. PCs trying to put one over on
him will find it difficult.
Clubs Three - Crane is not impressed or
intimidated by physical threats against him.
He knows he can handle himself.
SPECIAL AGENT KAREN RODGERZ
Level: Veteran
Skills: Small Arms (Pistol) 5,
Interrogation 8, Medical 5, Melee Combat
(unarmed) 5, Human Empathy 5, Project
Thought 5, Project Emotion 5, Foreboding
4, Telekinesis 4, Computer Operation 5,
Electronics 5, Observation 5
Initiative 4
Physical Description: Agent Rodgerz's
right hand is a metal replacement. She
doesn't like to talk about what happened to
the original one. She is tall, blond and
thirty-ish, also taken to dressing in sensible
black suits, albeit of the female variety.
Motivation: Spades Six - Rodgerz is
ambitious and hopes to rise within the Echo
Group soon. To her, that means getting the
job done.
Clubs Four - Like Crane, violence
doesn't scare Rodgerz and she will use it if
she has to.
SPECIAL AGENT HARVEY WHITE
Level: Veteran
Sills: Small Arms (pistol) 8, Small Arms
(rifle) 6, Demolitions 5, Melee Combat
(unarmed) 6, Human Empathy 5, Project
Thought 4, Project Emotion 6, Pyrokinesis
4, Observation 6
Initiative 4
Physical Description: Exactly like
Harvey Kietel in Reservoir Dogs down to
the shades, the suit and two automatic
pistols.
Motivation: Clubs Seven - Mr White
sees violence as the way to get the job done.
If anyone gets in his way he breaks them in
two. He's very good at intimidating people
into seeing things his way, with the
exception of his colleagues, of course.
Heart Six - Mr White's violence streak is
tempered by his loyalty to Echo Group and
to his fellow team members. He's the kind
of guy who goes back to rescue wounded
people and so on.
AGENT JOHN CARPENTER
Level: Experienced
Skills: Small Arms (pistol) 4, Small
Arms (rifle) 4, Melee Combat (unarmed) 4,
Human Empathy 4, Animal Empathy 5,
Foreboding 8, Wheeled Vehicle 6, Pilot
(Fixed Wing) 4, Pilot (Helicopter) 5,
Empathic Healing 4, Mechanic 5
Initiative 3
Physical Description: Thin but muscled,
with suit, shades, moustache and a ready
smile.
Motivation: Hearts Nine - Carpenter is a
sociable, happy-go-lucky--kind who gets on
well with people and animals in equal
measures, being this HAWK team's
Doolittle.
Clubs Four - Guess what. Fights don't
scare this guy either.
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By David Perry

Acid Bullets
Perfect for cutting down that Cyberpsycho's
armour or burning away that pesky Booster
gang. A burst of these is guaranteed to cut
away even the strongest armour leaving
your opponent vulnerable to a follow
up attack.
Price: Just 7Seb for twenty
rounds

Heartbreaker Bullets
A guaranteed kill every time!
Special low penetration rounds for use
in planes and high orbit where you can't
risk punching holes in the walls. These
special rounds will take down your
opponents but not you if you miss.
Price: SOeb Each

Incendiary Bullets
Make things hot for your opponents! Bullets that
damage and continue to do damage. Plus a burst
into any vehicle's gas tank will give
spectacular results.
Price: 200eb per twenty rounds
Astral
Quicksilver What can we say apart
A new advance in from that if the unknown
neurochemicals. Produces reaction biochemist who sent us
increases of unmatched the formula would come
proportions. forward his share of the
WARNING: This drug is profits are available, and
designated HIGHLY when he does come forward
DANGEROUS. Use is mandated could he explain how the
only on subjects who have stuff works to our drugs
volunteered under the 2017 section.
Government and Corporations Price: 2Seb per Dose
security measures act.
Price: SOeb per dose
Jive Happy
What every Media has
Jive is a combat drug popular
been waiting for. The perfect
among hand-to-hand fighters. It
tool for getting information
heightens the users sense of their
out of reluctant subjects
body improving their balance and
without all that messy
co-ordination. It also boosts their
torture.
confidence.
Price: 19eb per shot
Price: 20eb per dose

'RJ}[e P[ayer Intfepenaent Ju[y 1993

 1.lniarms Winter Catafogue

Acid Grenades
Perfect for crowd
dispersal. Will shift a
crowd of gang­
members faster
than a police
siren.
Essential for
all city
dwellers.
Price: 50eb

Chem Sprayer
Tired of gassing your opponents only to
find they've got nasal filters. Don't worry, the
new chem-sprayer will get them no matter what.
Price: 30eb per Can
Ball bearing Shotgun rounds
More damage from your shotgun for
only a fractional decrease in spread. For
those more heavily armoured opponents.
Price: 30eb for box of twelve.

Flechette Shotgun
Rounds
For the wide
shotgun spread with
.----, armour defeating
darts. An
unbeatable combination.
Price: 50eb per box
of twenty

Saboted solid
slug shotgun
shells
For the damage
of a canon without

"Nothing like them for punching big holes in walls, cars, or

Cyberpsychos."
Lieut. William Morris, NCPD Cyberpsycho Squad.
Price: 80 eb for box of twelve

Blind Gas
Leave your opponents literally in
the dark. Works even on Cyberoptics.
Price: POA

Lightning Fist
Give your enemies a shock they'll never forget,
or, if you want, that they'll never remember. Can
be used for combat, interrogation, or just to get
ahead of the queue.
Price: 900eb

�{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993

'llniarms Winter Catafogue
BULLETS
ACID BULLETS
Acid bullets are hollow ceramic shells containing a powerful
corrosive acid. They break on contact with any armour of SP 4 or
over, doing 1D4 damage per round for three rounds. The damage
done reduces the SP of the armour on the hit location by that
amount.
Acid bullets are hard to get hold of, requiring a Streetdeal roll of
17+. They cost 75eb per twenty rounds.
(For this and all other items if no PC has the Streetdeal skill
Streetwise can be used instead but with a +4 to all difficulty tasks.)
HEARTBREAKER
Heartbreaker bullets are special hollow ceramic bullets designed
to shatter on impact, delivering their loads of special hyper­
coagulant into the bloodstream. If someone is wounded by a
Heartbreaker bullet then the hyper-coagulant will enter the
bloodstream causing it to instantly clot. This blood clot will be
carried to the heart or the brain, depending on whether a vein or
artery was hit, where it will cause either a lethal heart attack or brain
haemorrhage as the clot blocks the normal flow of blood. The blood
clot will take 1D6 rounds to arrive, whereupon the target is dead.
There is no body roll, he is dead.
Heartbreaker bullets will shatter harmlessly if they hit a barrier
or armour of SP 5 or above.
Heartbreaker bullets are extremely rare and will require an
impossible street deal to obtain them. They normally cost 50eb each,
but their street prices will be much higher due to their rarity.
INCENDIARY BULLETS
Incendiary bullets are normal lead bullets around a core of white
phosphorus. They do half the bullets normal damage on impact, but
when they hit the lead outside is sloughed off and the white
phosphorous ignites doing 1D6/3 damage per turn for 1D4 rounds,
by which time the phosphorous is used up.
Incendiary bullets require a Streetdeal roll of +20 to find them.
They cost 200eb per twenty rounds.
DRUGS
UNIARMS accepts no responsibility for loss of life caused by
the use of these products.
JIVE
One dose of Jive costs 20eb and lasts about an hour. During this
time the user's Cool is increased to 10 and receives an automatic +2
to any Athletics or Martial Arts roll.
It is possible to combine Jive with other combat drugs, while this
can produce temporarily fantastic fighters there is a 1-in-4 chance of
the combination of the drugs reacting together badly. The effect of
this are left up to the GM's warped imaginations.
After the dose wears off, users suffer a hangover and a -2 to their
REF, INT, and COOL stats for three hours/. The user must also
make an Average Cool roll or become psychologically addicted to
the drug.
1vJ{e Pfayer Inaepenaent Ju{y 1993
HAPPY
Anyone taking a dose of Happy becomes relaxed and cheerful,
and very trusting. If properly controlled someone on Happy can be
persuaded to tell or believe anything. A side-effect of Happy is that
it makes the user hyper-sensitive to pain. Anyone who receives any
damage on Happy must make a Stun save at -6. Anyone on Happy
receives an automatic -3 to all rolls on resist Seduction, Interview,
and Persuasion and Fast Talk attempts made against them.
The sensitivity to pain and the cheerful mood imposed by the
drug makes it practically impossible to intimidate or interrogate
anyone using it, as in their euphoric state the user refuses to believe
in any threats. (Think how hard it is to get a sensible idea across to a
drunk friend, then multiply that by a hundred.)
While Happy is mainly a tool of Medias, people under the effects
of Happy are in their trusting states easily lead and so various
religious movements are experimenting with its use, as are some
unscrupulous Rockerboys.
Happy is available in liquid or gas form and costs 19eb per shot.
(For the record: Information given while under the influence of
Happy is not admissible as evidence in US or European courts.)
ASTRAL
No-one has yet worked out how Astral affects the brain, all that is
known is that users fall into a trance where they see visions. Some
have seen the future, some have claimed to see Heaven, some have
become incurably insane. Many cults are lead by those who have
experienced visions after taking Astral.
Astral costs 25eb per dose. The trance lasts 1D6/2 hours.
Users must make a Cool roll, failure means they get the mother of
all bad dreams. They must then make another Cool roll at -1, failure
here earns the loss of 1D6/2 Humanity points from the nightmare
visions.
A successful Cool roll means a positive vision, what this may be
is left entirely up to the GM.
QUICKSILVER
Despite its highly illegal nature, Quicksilver is more widely used
by gangs than security forces or troops.
One dose of Quicksilver costs 50eb and will add 1D6 to the user's
initiative for lDlO minutes.
Every time Quicksilver is used a Body roll must be made at -2, if
the roll is failed a point of REF is permanently lost. If the roll is
failed, a point of REF is permanently lost. If the roll is fumbled (a 1
is rolled) then a random location is permanently paralysed as the
drug has burned out the nervous system in that area. This doesn't
stop the Boosters using this drug.
Quicksilver cannot be used by anyone already possessing a
Cybernetic reflex boost.
SHOTGUN CARTRIDGES
BALL BEARING SHOTGUN CARTRIDGES
Ball bearing shotgun cartridges replace the usual pellets for small
ball bearings. Because of the greater weight and size of the ball
bearings they do greater damage but have a smaller spread as there
are less of them than of the pellets in normal cartridges in order to
keep cartridge size and weight constant. Use the spread table below
for the new cartridges:
Range Pattern
IIBlllJlllllllltillll•B-t•ltlilll-■
lflli■fllllfllll1IIIB•ii1alllmllllllil-
Medium 25m 1.Sm
oamage done is 5D6+1
These cartridges are easy to get hold of, requiring a Streetdeal roll
of 10. They cost 30eb for a box of twelve.
SABOTED SOLID SLUG SHOTGUN SHELLS
These shells do 6D6+2 damage at usual ranges but with no
spread. When used against armour divide the armour's SP by 1.5.
e.g. Blackjack is walking home one night when a 'borged out
Booster jumps him. Blackjack lets the Booster have a shell to the
torso which, like the rest of the Booster, is body plated to SP25.
 1l'l • J.l D
Blackjack rolls 27 points of damage. The Cyberpsycho's armour·
is 25/1.5 giving SPl7 protection. Ten points of damage gets through
to the Cyberpsycho, rendering the location hit, the torso is useless.

bm�r
Wham! The Cyberpsycho hits the ground leaving Blackjack
wondering how he's going to haul his new found fortune in second
hand cybernetics and organs all the way to the Ripperdocs by
himself.
Saboted shells are hard to find, requiring a Streetdeal roll of 20.
They cost 80eb for a box of twelve.
FLECHETTE SHOTGUN ROUNDS
Replaces standard pellets with darts. Anyone in the pattern is hit
by 2D6+2 darts, each dart doing 1D6 damage. The darts can also be
coated with drugs or poisons. Darts are edged and so half the SP of
some armour.
�.__.... .......
-�
These are commonly available, requiring a Streetdeal of 10 to
find them. The cost 50eb for twenty.
GRENADES
ACID GRENADES
Acid Grenades release on explosion a cloud of highly corrosive
gas, approximately five metres by two in area. The cloud does one
point of damage to each location per round the target is in the cloud.
If the location is totally covered in armour the armour loses ISP,
however, the location must be completely covered or the body takes
the damage.
Acid Grenades are rare, requiring a Streetdeal role of 22 to find
them. They cost 50eb per grenade.
BLIND GAS
Blind Gas paralyses the optic nerve to the brain and so affects
even those with Cybernetic eyes, rendering the inhaler blind for
1D10+2 turns.
To resist the effects a Body Roll at -2 must be made, even if the
roll is made vision is dulled, imposing a +3 to all target numbers on
tasks that involve vision (and that definitely includes the use of
weapons).
Blind Gas is practically impossible to find on the streets, though
corporations and governments will have it. A Streetdeal roll of 30
plus lots of eb if you PCs want to even get a sniff of some. Two Superb Quality T-Shirts
CHEMICAL SPRAYERS At just £7.99 each
CHEM SPRAYER
The Chem-Sprayer is a hand held aerosol can that shoots a cloud (plus £1.00 p&p)
of chemicals at your target, who must be within two metres to be
affected. The chemicals are absorbed through the skin. Chemicals
are available that have the same effects as gases (Cyberpunk 2020
Screen printed on high quality T-Shirts, T he RPI
Summer Collection is a must for the discerning role
rule-book plO0). player. To order your T- Shirts simply fill out the
These are fairly common, Streetdeal roll of 13 to find them. They attached order form enclosing remittance made payable
cost 30eb per can. to Symbiosis Publishing Ltd.
(Note: The chemicals are absorbed through the skin and so will
not work if the area sprayed has been body plated or is Skinweave.
This is not mentioned in the adverts so PCs will not know about it.) I
----------------------------------------------- -------
I

' Please send me A/B/Both T.Shirt(s).

CYBERNETICS I enclose a cheque/P.O. order for£_._ made
LIGHTNING FIST payable to Symbiosis Publishing Ltd.

□s
The Lightning Fist is an add-in for Cyberarms. It channels a hefty Credit card holders should use the adjacent form.
electric current into the hand of the Cyberarm. The Lightning Fist
has three settings:
1) At low it merely delivers a low voltage sting. If used while
Name
extracting information add +1 to the users interrogation roll. On this
setting the battery has twenty uses.
Address------------- OM
DL
□ XL
2) At medium it delivers a stunning shock designed to render a
target unconscious. The target must make a Stun Shock save at -1 or
be shocked unconscious. On this setting the battery has ten uses.
3) At high it delivers a lethal shock doing 2D6+1 damage to its
target ignoring all armour. On this setting the battery has five uses. Postcode ------ Please tick
relevant box
The Lightning Fist battery costs 50eb to replace.
The Lightning Fist shock must be delivered as an attack of its
own, it cannot be combined with a punch.
The Lightning Fist costs 900eb and 2D6 Humanity. Please allow 28 days for delivery.
Offer open only while stocks last.
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.his adventure · for those of you who; after the last
adventure I te,Co�katrice Casser�l (from RPI #6), A generic Fantasy Scenario/
. had to go ·.
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nd purchase a set of mmiature rules to Battle/Overland Adventure/
make u our cha,racter's blunders. If the party
managed OK and the situation then they may be at a loss for Murder Mystery by Stig
something to �o,

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Long '.J\[jght at Longmarrow
BACKGROUND
The Arundel family have been in the farming game for many
years. They are a well respected noble family who have plied there
trade around the area for as long as many can remember. Recently
the head of the family, Joseph Arundel, has retired from his position
and has been succeeded by his son, Alistair.
Now Alistair is your typical well bred, good for nothing, noble's
son. He has wasted his youth in the taverns and other places (mostly
of ill repute) squandering his more than adequate allowance provided
to him by the family business. He has now been head of the family's
farming trade for seven months and, although it is not common
knowledge, the books are showing an extreme fall in the family's
wealth. This has been caused by bad deals that Alistair has tried to
pull off (outside of the farming business - bad move) thinking that he
might make a quick profit. More fool him, every single deal he has
made has turned sour and he has lost a lot of money. The remaining
money in the kitty he has recently gambled away trying to reap back
the money he has lost before the family find out, all to no avail.
Every three months there is a farmers market in the village of
Longmarrow - a small hamlet six days journey from the town - that
is attended by the majority of other farming communities in the area
with a view to trading their wares. The Arundel family trades mostly
in farming material and machinery and always make money when
they visit the market, as there wares are more superior when
compared to their competitors. This is the chance for Alistair to
regain some of the lost money. But things aren't as simple as that, no
sir!
During the last market to be held at Longmarrow, three months
since, Alistair became acquainted with the village's headman, a nice
elderly man with the name of Lanark Olderberry. During the long
conversations that they would have in the Pig's Trotters tavern
Alistair would be fascinated by the purse that the old man carried.
Olderberry would never let the young noble buy a round of drinks,
whenever his tankard was empty, the old man would produce a fresh,
crisp gold piece out of the purse to pay.
Alistair questioned Olderberry about this and was told it was
magical and arcane arts at work. The purse has been on Alistair's
mind ever since.
During the six day journey back to his home town a plot began to
hatch in the young nobles mind. If he had a purse like that his
troubles would be over; he could replenish the family coffers, retire,
and live off the proceeds of the purse. But how was he going to gain
possession of the purse without arousing suspicion?
The plot finally came to him when they were ambushed by a
bunch of renegade Ore and goblin raiders. The caravan's guard soon
overcome the disorganised bunch and were given orders not to kill
them by Alistair himself. He had their leader, a rough Half-Ore by
the name of Huuruk, brought before him and then told the guards to
leave. He soon found out that this ramshackle bunch of raiders were
part of a much larger force that had broken off from a main force of
Goblinoid raiders that operated far to the north; they had found much
easier pickings in this area.
In his desperation to bring his plan to a head, Alistair told Huuruk
about a plan he had formulated to gain Olderberry's purse. In return
for his help Alistair would spare his life and let them have whatever
spoils were left over after the plot had been hatched.
THE PLAN GOES SOMETHING LIKE THIS.....
In three months time, there will be another market at
Longmarrow. Alistair just about has the money and stock to attend
it. During the three days he is there he wants Huuruk and his band to
mount an attack on the village. While they are keeping the village
defences busy he will seek out Olderberry, kill him, and obtain his
purse. This will obviously be put down to the Goblinoids. During the
raid the Goblinoids are free to take whatever they wish in payment
for this service.
ENTER A BIGGER (DENSER) BRAIN
To escape with his life Huuruk would have been stupid to refuse
this deal and so off he went to his bosses to let them in on the plan.
Ugh, an ogre, and leader of the band, came up with an even better
scam. Instead of mounting a full raid on the village, which could
mean inflicting losses on his band of raiders, they should perhaps
mount a small scale attack tl\at is just enough to keep the village
forces busy while Alistair performs his dirty deed. Then, when the
caravan is heading back home, ambush Alistair with a larger force
and remove the purse from him. Simple, huh?
MEANWHILE.••••
Alistair isn't stupid. He has a feeling that the Goblinoids are
going to double cross him on the deal. Due to the lack of funds he
has failed to keep on his usual caravan guard and so is after someone
that is pretty hard up to do the job, enter the players. This is the
reason why the player characters will not meet with him until the
following day when the caravan leaves - hirelings have a nasty habit
of asking for payment in advance, something that he can't afford to
do. If the party asks for money at 6am the next morning when they
meet him then he will protest that they have nowhere to spend it at
that ungodly time, and everything they need will be provided for
them on the journey. If the PCs start to get bolshi about this then
have Gunter, Alistair's right-hand man, step in to calm things down -
he doesn't like the PCs anyway.
ROLLIN', ROLLIN', ROLLIN'
And so the caravan sets off. Describe the scene as a classic Cecil
B. DeMille film opening, you know the sort - wagons rolling out the
stockade, outriders whipping their horses, dust rising, and the
morning sun rising through the distant clouds - already hot enough to
cause a heat haze in the distance. Okay, so Cecil never made
westerns (I don't think, write and let me know if he did) but you
know the sort of epic scene I mean. Meanwhile back at the ranch....
ENCOUNTERS
Encounters en route to.the village are totally up to the GM. As a
guide I'll give brief examples of what I threw at the party as they
went on their way:
DAY ONE
As night fell they started to notice wolves following from a
distance (just out of any missile weapon fire). Instant paranoia struck
and when the caravan settled down for the night the party made sure
that the horses were secure and well guarded. I also pointed out to
them that there was a herd of wildebeests (editorial dilemma: is the
plural of wildebeest, wildebeesties, wildebeests, or simply
wildebeest . Answers on a postcard please to Symbiosis Publishing
Wildebeest Quandary. First person out of the hat by 21st August will
receive a little something.) nearby that had settled for the night. To
my players this didn't pose a problem; wildebeest are not known for
their ravenous flesh eating habits, wolves, however, are.
Looking at it logically, and from a wolf's point of view, they had
two options: go for the easy kill, i.e. the wildebeests, or face having
long pointy things and fire thrust at them. Naturally the wolves took
the easier option to attack the wildebeests. Unfortunately, the
wildebeest had only one option: either run ay.'ay or be eaten. You
guessed it, they ran straight through the camp and caused much more
damage than a pack of wolves could ever hope to achieve. I gave the
party some XP for this because they learned you should never camp
next to a large bunch of herd animals; they don't bite but they
certainly give serious hoof!
DAY Two
The day went fine, but storm clouds were gathering in the
distance. That evening the caravan entered woodlands, and just as
they were settling down for the second night a large crashing was
heard some distance away. The party immediately got ready for a
fight, but the crashing soon died down and everyone relaxed.
'.Rp[e Pfayer Independent Ju[y 1993

Several hours later three men entered the vicinity of the camp
with their arms outstretched to show no signs of hostility. They
introduced themselves as trappers, and were here to warn the caravan
that there was a berserk bear running loose in the woods, and that
they had set huge man traps for the creature so travelling around the
area might be a bit dangerous.
Sometime after this encounter the members of the caravan were
awakened by an almighty scream coming from somewhere in the
depths of the woods. It sounded almost human, but that sort of noise
could only be made by some mighty beast (Spooooky!)
Thirty to forty minutes after this scream the trappers arrived back
at the caravan to advise them that all was safe; the bear had been
killed and all of the traps had been removed.
Now nothing can be as simple as that! The trappers are in fact
Werewolves, the bear that they were after was in fact a Werebear
(was as in now ex-Werebear). The Werewolves had just moved into
the area and had been eliminating all competition and/or enemies. At
this point my party hadn't cottoned on to what was happening, they
had no reason to, but, as they say, the plot sickens.
After all this excitement the caravan settled down and the usual
guards were posted, nothing else (apparently) happened that night.
DAY THREE
The storm that had been looming the previous day had gotten
bored and broke. A torrential down pour had soaked both the caravan
and its spirits, no one was too happy. Things got worse when they
found two bodies further up the road and covered in mud. The bodies
were identified as two of the caravan's guard, nobody had thought to
check everybody before they set off, and so they hadn't been missed.
By this time the players started to get an inkling of what was going
on.
I love undead, they're great. You can throw them in anywhere
without having to really explain your reasons - and so that night I did
just that. The moon was high in the sky when the caravan was
surrounded by a low moaning sound soon to be identified as
Zombies. Okay, okay, I suppose I'd better give a reason for these
undead fiends appearing in the middle of nowhere. Well, remember
that brassed off storm that broke, the rain was so heavy it has
washed away the side of an old burial mound about a quarter of a
mile away from where the caravan had set up camp. And, believe it
or not, it was yet another of them cursed burial mounds that when
disturbed will animate its occupants to sort out the defilers. Yes I
know it's corny but it works, 'cos while the characters are busy
sorting out the stiffs back at the caravan, the old boss man and
several of his undead cohorts have come back as Wights. If your
characters are all low level, as mine were, it's not really on chucking
a handful of Wights at them, so, I've left that little piece of the
adventure open. Pretty soon they will hear reports that tell of undead
bandits stalking the lonely roads - go get 'em boys (& girls).
Anyway back to the Werewolf part of the plot. After the Zombies
have been driven off, the caravan will again be visited by the three
trappers (Werewolves). Now the problem is, my party of adventurers
had twigged what they were, they knew how to deal with them,
unfortunately (for them) they didn't have a magical weapon in sight
(I don't believe in handing them out to first and second level
characters). This led to a very interesting role playing session;
imagine a cow (or sheep, or pig for that matter) trying to talk the
farmer out of taking it to market.
The characters had learned from the previous experience, so that
night everyone stayed together. The werewolves didn't visit during
the hours of darkness, they came when the caravan was just about to
set off and the characters were failing constitution checks and falling
asleep. Again no confrontation occurred, it just made sleepy
characters even more paranoid.
DAY FOUR
The Werewolf plot by now was getting slightly boring, so that
night Huuruk and his raiders made an appearance. They where
heading up to Longmarrow for the proposed battle when they
accidentally stumbled onto the caravan. After a few volleys of
1?.g[e P[ayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993
.Long 9\{Jglit at .Longmarrow
arrows they soon made a hasty retreat when the PCs came wading in
waving sharp pointy weapons.
Days five and six should be pretty secure with no major
encounters as the caravan is nearing civilisation.
ARRIVAL IN LONGMARROW
When the caravan arrives at Longmarrow it will be shown to the
caravan park. Players will be expected to do their fare share of the
lugging of materials into a barn for safe storage. As the caravan
unpacks characters will notice many more, similar caravans arriving,
including one that doesn't seem to be full of farming stuff, but
armoured men. If they make a few enquiries the characters will
discover that these men have come to protect the village from a
possible raid after Goblinoids had been spotted nearby (Huuruk and
his lads). After that, the.characters' time is their own. If they try to
follow Alistair, he basically tells them to get lost, he doesn't want to
be seen hanging round with them.
Longmarrow is a smallish village of some thirty soles but swells
to around sixty at the time of the tri-monthly farming festival.. The
village is surrounded by a small, man-made copse, the reason behind
this is that the people of Longmarrow are predominantly farmers,
and they don't see why they should have to look at their place of
work during their leisure time (usually sat outside the Pig's Trotters
tavern drinking scrumpy). Unfortunately this is a major defence
problem, you can't see your attacker until he is upon you (take note:
this is what scrumpy can do to you). To be fair to the people of
Longmarrow, they have mad some effort at village defences, they've
built a small (4') wicker fence around the place.
The amount of trading posts etc. is unusual for a village this size
and so players should be able to find most things that they require.
(Within reason, don't forget this is written with low level characters
in mind.) This should lead on to a nice role playing interlude; when
the characters find out that they can get that nice engraved saddle
bag they've always wanted, or that sharp looking golf (sword) bag,
they may start to ask Alistair for some cash. Unfortunately, he won't
have any - although he will tell the PCs that they will be paid on the
return journey.
So, what about the rest of the village? There's twenty to thirty
buildings that include barns, taverns, shops, houses (no hovels
though, this is a very prosperous village) Halfling holes, more barns,
farmhouses on the outer edge and the such, oh, and a cider brewery
in the centre of the woods. (Theses woods also act as a filter to get
rid of the awful sickly smell of fermenting apples when the wind
blows in the wrong direction.)
The racial mix of the village is a strange one, it is a mix of
Halflings and humans. Although the former are a minority both races
intermingle well and have equal standing in the community.
PLACES OF NOTE AROUND LONGMARROW
I'll give you the bare details of these places, but I'll leave it up to
you to fill in any details that you may think necessary for any sub­
plots that you may decide to throw in.
THE PIGS TROTTERS TAVERN
Run by the usual, jovial, round faced cliche that these types of
places are always run by the Pig's Trotters tavern is the social
central spot of Longmarrow. It is renowned for its specially
fermented scrumpy that is made at the Scrumpy Vat Cider
processing plant in the surrounding woods. The stuff has a phlegm
like consistency and colour (off green) and contains huge chunks of
fermented apple. Newcomers to Longmarrow are only allowed half a
glass at a time because of its strength. This could lead to an
interesting bar brawl when someone calls your party's barbarian type
warrior a "shandy drinking wufter" for drinking out of a half pint
glass and not the usual drinking horn.
Though both of the races that dwell in Longmarrow mingle quite
freely there is a bar to the rear of the Pig's Trotters that is more
Halfling sized. Both races however, have access to each others bar,
no apartheid in this magazine, no sir! The rest of the Pig's Trotters is
Long :A{jglit at .Longmarrow
taken up with a large kitchen and dwelling areas for the landlord, his
family, and their workers.
Structure: The Pig's Trotters tavern is a half timbered
construction whose walls are made of daub and wattle. The roof is a
very tight thatch that is the pride and joy of the owner. Anyone
caught on this roof, battle or no battle, will find themselves in hot
water.
THE BARNS
When a caravan arrives for the festival it is automatically
assigned one of the "safe" barns to keep all its wares in. This is
what the characters will be sleeping in. There is no way they will be
able to get any accommodation in Longmarrow as it was all booked
up well in advance. All of these barns are fairly secure and one or
two of the more important ones have a constant guard posted
outside.
Structure: The barns are made completely from wood. The
entrance is through two huge doors, both of which are kept in place
by a large wooden bar. There is no other way out of the building.
The roof is wooden and covered with some kind of bitchimen
substance (all it takes is one nicely placed hit with a flaming arrow!).
LONGMARROW TOWER
Longmarrow Tower has existed for as long as anyone can
remember. Legends tell of how the hill it stands on was once a huge
great pillar of rock and the tower was hewed from it. This is of
course a load of piffle. The tower is made from blocks of solid
granite, the surrounding hill isn't granite. The tower is also the
ancestral home of the village leader; for the past three hundred years
this has been Lanark Olderberry. Now, I can hear you saying, three
hundred years is a little long to live, never mind be village leader for
that amount of time. Admittedly yes, but Olderberry is a master of
all things mystical and arcane and the ancient art of drinking
Longmarrow Scrumpy.
The tower has four floors above ground and three below. Those
that are below are Olderberry's laboratories, those upstairs are his
and his families living quarters. (Yes, a wizard with a family.)
MERCHANT'S ESTABLISHMENTS
Most of the shops are half timbered buildings, again with
thatched roofs. They usually consist of two downstairs trading areas
and an upstairs living quarters for the proprietor and his family.
(Some families do hire out rooms in their quarters to visitors during
the farming festivities.) Most of the shops that players would like to
find will be available for discovery here. (My bunch went on the
search for a silversmith and a weapon smith, remember the
Werewolves from above.)
THE HOUSES
The private housing in Longmarrow is a mixed bunch. Ranging
from Halfling holes to fairly large impressive buildings made
entirely from stone. The average dwelling is a half timbered two up
two down affair with a small patch of land on which to keep the
goat. (Upper class residencies also have a small pond in which they
keep the family duck and small koi carp.)
THE SCRUMPY VAT PROCESSING WORKS
Imagine the largest moonshine still ever, add a few more curvy
pipes and a large vat of rotten, (sorry, I meant fermenting) apples.
Imagine that it could explode any minute. Nuff said!
THE PEOPLE OF LONGMARROW
Sorry to any of our South West England readers but I'm afraid
I'm going to have to do a bit of regional stereotyping here. Sunny
days sitting on the patio, watching the cows, sucking straw, adjusting
the old straw hat and dungarees, while muttering "ooooh aaaargh" a
lot in between drinking Scrumpy. These are the type of people who
inhabit Longmarrow, yes even the Halflings I'm afraid.
THE FARMING FESTIVAL
The festival begins the night after the characters' arrival in
Longmarrow. It starts with a big meeting of all the gathered traders
and village folk, and they are lectured for an hour or so by old man
Olderberry on the virtues of farming life. After this, it's all on to the
Pig's Trotters tavern (not 'on' as in 'sat on,' please) for the
merriment to begin.
The morning after, hangovers permitting, the trading starts to
take place around the village. Imagine it as a less tacky car boot sale
with a market thrown in and run by Moroccans who love to haggle,
you get the picture.
Parading around the village will be the guards who have been
brought in to vanquish any Goblinoid raiders. If your campaign has
any mighty (good) mercenary companies who like to do a bit of
unpaid charity work by staving off such wayward creatures then
make them members of this outfit; the characters should then be able
to interact with them, and they could make good future contacts for
the PCs.
The trading part of the festival lasts for three days - from sun up
to sun down. Much of the rest of the time is taken up with partying,
making new acquaintances, striking new business deals, and bitching
behind each others back. This could form any nice sub plots you
wish to throw at your players on the first night to keep their
characters busy until Huuruk comes storming in on the following
night.
THE ATTACK
This is the bit where you can get out your miniatures and battle
rules. I suggest that the GM plays the part of the attackers while each
player gets to control a section of the defending forces while still
operating their characters. I would tell you to use them as hero
characters who command the defence, but unfortunately, as soon as
the battle began during play testing the last thing the characters were
interested in was getting involved in it. The Wizards had found out
that Olderberry was also a Wizard and so were off to his tower, with
Halfling thief in tow. The fighters preferred to stay in the Pig's
Trotters because it had suddenly become less crowded, and they
liked that vague smell of burning straw, it reminded them of home.
Admittedly the priest type characters did their bit and went round
healing the wounded and the like, so they weren't a complete waste
of time.
The attack from Huuruk and his raiders comes at around 10.00pm
on the third night of the character's stay in Longmarrow. The battle
commences with a few well placed fiery arrows from the tree line.
Remember the plan, they do not intend to actually storm the village -
that would result in too many casualties, they intend to just skirmish
around the edges, give Alistair enough time to do his dirty deed, and
then back off to camp for cocoa and goodnight kisses. What their
plan hasn't taken into account is the fact that there are around thirty
experienced soldiers in the village who won't give up the fight just
because the enemy has backed away. Because of this after the first
time the Ores come into combat with the soldiers they will receive a
penalty on their morale dice.
THE DEFENDERS
OULD BOB'S SCRUMPY QUAFFERS
If this was a Jonathan Turner article, he would probably suggest
at this point that you play a selection of Wurzels hits. For those that
are too young to remember, the Wurzels were a bunch of yokel types
who sang things like "I've got a brand new combine harvester," and
"I am a cider drinker, I drinks it all of the day." These men have
got a lot to answer for and they did no favours to the image of south
western England.
Numbering ten in all, these are the hardened Scrumpy drinkers of
the Pig's Trotters tavern. Usually an easy going lot who will give
anybody the dregs of their Scrumpy (remember the phlegm!).
They will be armed with a variety of implements that could be
described as farming tools - pitch forks, pick axes and the like. They
have a two man plough team that takes four rounds to get going but
when it does treat it as a medium cavalry charge when moving into
spaces occupied by more than four Ores. As soon as it hits one band
of Ores it will stop and then four more rounds must be spent getting
�[e Pfayer Independent Ju[y 1993

I•
it into position. If Bob and the rest are manoeuvred out of the village
and near the Scrumpy Vat Processing Plant all must make morale
checks (with bonuses if there is immediate danger to them) to stop
for a quick taster to see how the next batch is doing. They must then
make a morale check for every tum following (with penalties for
every three turns spent there) each failure indicates that they are still
tasting, the penalties incurred are to signify their drop in will power
as they get steaming drunk. On the fifteenth round, any morale
checks that are failed will signify one Scrumpy Quaffer is out of the
combat and out of his skull. During this time, if they are attacked,
they will immediately break off their Scrumpy tasting and join in the
battle. (-1 applies to all dice rolls for every three round they've been
there.) The leader of Ould Bob's Scrumpy Quaffers is naturally Ould
Bob - treat him as a hero type due to the fact he can outdrink the rest
of them. Note: any player characters trying to drink from the
Scrumpy Vat should make constitution checks with severe penalties.
If by any chance you have converted this to White Wolfs Vampire
The Masquerade, or R. Talsorian' s Cyberpunk then characters
should be made to make humanity checks.
Armour type for the Scrumpy Quaffers is denim plus straw hat,
i.e. none.
THE BOGEY PERIL
The Bogey Peril are a small group of Halfling fighters who are
damn good shots with sling and stone. Not too hot with the old
blades though. Each of the Bogey Peril has some sort of climbing
skill at rank two and their favourite position to be in is on a roof top
firing down at their attackers. There are twenty of the bogey peril in
all and these account for the entire adult male Halfling population of
Longmarrow.
Armour type for the Bogey peril is leather.
THE SOLDIERS
The soldiers were summoned to Longmarrow by Olderberry's son
(more about him later). Usually they are hire swords but will always
work free when combating Goblinoids.
Out of the thirty that are now stationed in the village twelve of
them are archers/swordsmen, the rest use spear/sword & shield. The
armour is uniform chain mail throughout. Being experienced soldiers
this should reflect in their morale and other stats.
VARIOUS NOBLE TYPES AND THEIR MEN AT ARMS
Most of the traders who attend the festival are young nobles who
have been trained in the art of using the sword. The problem is they
have been used to fencing as opposed to hacking and slashing. They
are good, but they shouldn't be as good, in this situation, as the
soldiers. The men at arms are a bit better at the hack'n'slash
approach so should be rated as slightly better than the nobles but not
as good as the soldiers.
Armour types for both these vary, use the armour that the
representative figure is wearing.
FARMER'S WIVES
The moment the battle starts the seven farmers that live in the
village will be off to the cowsheds and the grain stores to protect
their livelihoods. This leaves behind their wives who, for the purpose
of this adventure, we can class as elite commando special forces.
The reason I've made this classification is, like their
special forces counterparts, they all have their
particular favourite weapon - i.e. rolling pins, frying
pans, meat cleavers and the like.
Armour, though non-existent, can be classed
as tough.
Please feel free to expand on these
armies, I did.
2',p[e P[ayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993
.Long ?{jg/it at .Longmarrow
THE EXPLODING VAT
During the battle Ould Bob's Scrumpy Quaffers may be placed in
the position of defending the Scrumpy vat. If any of the attacking
forces are using missile weapons against them there is the chance
that a stray arrow might just strike the vat in the wrong place and
cause it to explode. The chance of it exploding is as follows: For
each missile that failed to hit one of Ould Bob's lot, there is a 10%
chance of it hitting the vat, if any do hit the vat then there is a 15%
chance of it exploding. If a multitude of missiles hitting the vat then
the chance is increased to 25%. If (when) it explodes place a six inch
template around it, any figures caught in the radius will
automatically take 1 wound. The attackers must then make a dodgy
morale roll or spend the next two moves retreating thinking that their
is obviously incoming heavy artillery fire.
THE ACE UP THE SLEEVE
Although Oldberry is getting on a bit he ain't gonna sit back and
watch Ores trash his village. During the battle the characters (those
that are involved) will sporadically see him weaving in and out of
the houses and trees with camo-paint smeared on his face. After he
has disappeared their will be large explosions. If the players didn't
know that Olderberry was a wizard they should sure find out now.
Do not give Olderberry to the characters as one of their forces.
SOME HINTS ON ATMOSPHERE
DURING THE BATTLE
If possible, tum all the lights off and play by candlelight to give
the whole thing a night battle atmosphere. If you enjoy taking things
too far go outside and remove a piece of tarmac from the road, place
it in a bowl and set it on fire, this will stink your house or club room
out but it's well worth it for the effect of the burning barns. Another
idea is to play it as a Vietnam re-enactment. Some of Olderberry's
spells are the equivalent of white phosphorous flares on a parachute.
For this effect remove the lightshade, replace the bulb with a 120
watt bulb (the brighter the better) and keep knocking it (obviously
you can only achieve this effect if you have a flexible lamp holder).
Each of these flares should last for about ten minutes, then you
switch off the light and go back to the candles. I could give you a
good recipe for napalm, but it's probably totally illegal and I could
get arrested, so I won't.
THE ATTACKERS
Its up to you what you use as attackers. It should be a mixture of
Ores and goblins with perhaps a shaman in tow. Huuruk will remain
at the back of all the fighting with his boss, the Ogre. The four
Bugbears will be involved with the melee, driving the Ores and
Goblins.
If the goblins catch sight of the Scrumpy Vat then apply the rules
given for Ould Bob's Scrumpy Quaffers. If Bob's Quaffers are there
the Goblins will simply ignore them and join in.
All armour and weapons will be different and their shouldn't be
more than around sixty attackers. If they do manage to defeat the
defenders then the party should be allowed to make a break for it,
but the adventure will be over.
BACK TO THE PLOT
During the battle Alistair Arundel is not to be found anywhere.
He will be trailing Olderberry in order to carry out his treacherous
deed. At the climax to the battle, jut as it seems the defenders are
pushing back the Ores, Oldberry's body should be found face down
in a small clump of bushes, a black fisted dagger protruding from his
back.
After the Goblinoids have been driven back a field hospital is set
up in the Pig's Trotters tavern and all the dead and wounded will be
taken there, including Olderberry. If any of the player characters
start to examine the body they will find that the knife used to kill
Olderberry had a blade coated in venom (ooooh!). At this point in
Long :A.[jglit at .Longmarrow
the play test one of the wizards decided he needed to take the dagger
away in order to examine it. Unfortunately the body was being
guarded by one of the soldiers who had to be charmed in order to let
the dagger be taken. The other wizard and the thief headed off to
Olderberry's tower (ghouls that they are) to see if there was anything
that they could do to help his family (that was their story and they're
sticking to it).
THE TWIST
The soldiers know full well that the Goblinoids did not break
through into the village during the battle, and definitely not in the
place where Olderberry's body was found. This has aroused
suspicions and they will start to question people about there
whereabouts during the battle. If the characters did not take part in
the battle then they may find it hard to convince anybody of their
actions during this period. During play testing the soldier who had
been charmed came forward next day (the charm had worn off) and
told what happened to him and that one of the wizards had taken the
dagger; it was obviously a case of removing the evidence from the
scene of the crime! Also, the thief and other wizard had been seen
snooping around Longmarrow tower in a highly suspicious
manner.....
Lucky for them, because of the battle and the death of Olderberry,
the festival had to be cancelled and Alistair was in a real hurry to get
out of Longmarrow and back to base. On the way back the characters
had their suspicions about Alistair - where was he during the battle?
How come he's in such a hurry to get back? They had no real proof
at that point
Now it is more than likely that your characters have a lot more
common sense than mine, and they won't do anything as stupid as
removing evidence or snooping around the dead man's house,
perhaps not. Anyway, the chances are that your plot will start to head
off in different directions as the characters start to get involved. If
your an inexperienced GM, don't worry, let the characters make
their own adventure at this point - if they start to investigate the
murder they should be able to get into much more trouble than you
could ever throw at them. What should become evident is the fact
that Oldberry has had a magical item stolen from his body (the
money producing purse).
WE GOTTA GET OUTTA THIS PLACE
Alistair will make a sudden appearance in the early hours of the
morning. He is looking slightly dishevelled, but not covered in
sweat, mud, and blood like all the others; he may even claim to have
been captured by the raiders and managed to escape during their
retreat. He will round up the characters and tell them that the next
day of the festival has been cancelled and they must head back
immediately. By the time the sun rises above the horizon they will
be off. If the characters manage to employ delaying tactics the
soldiers will have set up barricades across the only exits through the
wicker fence. No one will be allowed to leave until some local force
arrives to take charge of the murder investigation.
If this happens then Alistair will start to get more and more
agitated as time goes on. It could be three or four days before the
local constabulary arrive to take charge. Now he has attained
Oldberry's purse it is possible that he could bribe several of the gate
guards to let him pass. I'll leave all that up to you.
HERE COMES THE DOUBLE-DOUBLE-CROSS
If the caravan has made it out of Longmarrow before the gates are
closed then soldiers will come after them. It shouldn't take them too
long to catch up with the caravan. When they do catch up they will
want to talk to Alistair and ask him to tum back. Alistair has it all
worked out, he will tell them that he knows who's responsible for
the murder and they are travelling in the caravan (the characters).
They forced him to leave Longmarrow early to escape detection. If
your players were as silly as mine, then any activities they may have
taken part in before leaving the town may support Alistair's story.
Other porkies he will spin the guards will be that the characters are
much too strong and will overwhelm both him, Gunt, and the
soldiers; the best plan would be for the soldiers to head towards the
caravan's destination and warn the town guard of the imminent
arrival of several heavily armed murderers. The soldiers should then
do this to ensure a warm reception for the PCs at the other end, again
another good role playing stint should evolve from this as the
characters have to talk their way out of the situation.
Several hours after the soldiers have gone on their merry way,
and evening is just about to set in, the caravan will come to an
abrupt halt. Stood in front of the caravan, and surrounding its sides,
are the full force of the Goblinoid 'raiders (some 150 of them),
Huuruk is stood at the front.
Here's where it should all become clear to the players what has
happened, they will see Alistair in discussion with Huuruk. At one
point the whole thing will flare up and Alistair will draw his sword
to attack Huuruk; he won't get very far as the Ores will grapple him
the ground. They will then see Huuruk' take something from
Alistair's prone body and deliver him a swift kick in the ribs. The
whole of the Goblinoid force will then disappear into the growing
darkness and out of sight.
GO DIRECTLY TO JAIL.•.•.
I'll not give details about the journey back to town as I'm quickly
running out of space, suffice to say that if you really need any then
I'm sure you'll think of something. Upon arrival at the town the
characters had better do some fast talking to dig themselves out of
their predicament. Telling the guards that it was Alistair who
committed the murder won't wash to well; after all, he is the son of a
town noble who would never dream of such a thing.
BAILING 'EM OUT
If the characters put up any resistance to their arrest you can play
it either way. You can have them battle it out with the town guard or
they can give themselves up after a small battle in the hope that
justice will prevail and they will be found innocent.. If they choose
to battle it out then give them a chance to escape; they will then
become hunted criminals, wanted for suspected murder, resisting
arrest, and battling with the law. If this does happen then endless
hours of fun could be had sending bounty hunters after them.
(Especially in your deepest and darkest dungeons.)
Some time long ago in this adventure I mentioned that Oldberry
had a son. He was the one that had sent the soldiers to Longmarrow
to protect it and so obviously he has influence. His influence also
extends to the magical arts, and quite good at this he is. He is a
major face in the local wizard's guild and will be present during any
questioning of the party using various spells to find out the truth.
Eventually the truth will come to light and Alistair will be sought
after to explain himself. Unfortunately he's disappeared.
I'll leave it there for now. It's up to you to decide what has
happened to Alistair. Perhaps, to make up for the inconvenience
caused to the characters, the town will pay for them to track down
Alistair. When they find him they may want the party to track down
Huuruk and his band to retrieve the stolen magical item. And what
about those nasty Werewolves on the prowl, not to mention the
Wights who, as we speak, will be causing untold damage by running
amok. All possible things for the characters to get involved in.
1?J)[e Pfayer Incfepencfent Ju[y 1993
 Chester
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become, by human standards, extremely so.
i.e. Males are broad shouldered narrow
hipped and muscular, whereas the females'
shoulders and hips are roughly of equal
width and have all the right curves
elsewhere! When shifted to a given sex, a
Felin emits a strong pheromone discharge
which is sexually arousing to most
mammals of the opposite sex (including
humans), and for this reason they spend the
majority of their time in the neuter state,
because refusal (and claws) can sometimes
offend a would be suitor. This
characteristic make female Felin much
sought after for employment in some less
reputable entertainment establishments, but
a Felin would have to have fallen on very
hard times indeed to take such a job.
There is one case record of a captured
female Felin being kept massively drugged
and sold into slavery in a brothel. The
brothel keeper was making a tidy sum from
this until a group of five adventurers (two
of them Felin) chanced by. On discovering
the fate of their sister the two Felin reduced
the building to gravel and the keeper to
paste - subtle they are not!
It takes roughly two days to shift one
stage (i.e. male, neuter or female) to the
next. Once the shift has been triggered, it
may be possible to accelerate the process
by conscious effort. Can Felin cross breed
with other races? Insufficient data!
6. The last notable difference between
Felin and humans is their virtual immunity
to intoxication by alcohol and most (but
not all, see 5 above) narcotic and
depressant drugs. They are, however,
partial to alcoholic beverages because it
makes them feel loose - whatever that
means. Among people who have
encountered the race, Drinking with a Fe/in
is a term synonymous with throwing your
money away.
FELIN CULTURE
"Life among the Fe/in can be likened to
living in an army barracks," so said
Professor Ty Rivial of the Faculty of Alien
Cultures of the University of Verren, one
of the few human scientists to visit Heleth
4.
To understand the reason behind this
one must look at their history. Being
descended from large predatory cats, the
Felin were once fiercely territorial of their
hunting grounds and being extremely
clannish would fight, family against
family, to maintain the areas that each
considered its own.
This led, as the population grew, to full
scale wars of expansion, with some of the
larger clans completely destroying their
weaker opponents. Because of this way of
life a cub would begin its training in the
arts of war as soon as it could walk.
�[e Pfayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993
This situation would perhaps exist today
if, about 900 years ago, the first (and to
date only) great Felin Philosopher Greel
Ptavvishh (roughly translated : the one
with the blot over the eyes) managed to
assemble the clan leaders together, and
made them understand that they were
heading towards racial suicide, and that
they must all work together for the
common good.
He proposed establishing a global
government comprising of the senior (i.e.
too old to hunt or fight) members of each
clan. The High Command was thus set up.
The Felin then began to industrialise,
mainly manufacturing weaponry which,
after contact with a scout ship from the Old
Republic, became their principle export.
They began to import other goods and
technological items and their culture began
to seem quite stable. This situation
unfortunately didn't last, because due to
their inborn characteristics they began to
suffer serious civil unrest.
Recognising the fact that there was no
way to remove their basically warlike
nature, the High Command ordered that
each family organise itself into a military
company, and then offered these families/
companies for hire as mercenaries. It is on
this basis that Felin society exists today. In
the intervening years the Felin have
developed a strict code of conduct for their
families/companies:
1. Each Company Commander (Colonel) is
responsible for the conduct and discipline
of its family (this will usually, but not
necessarily, be the oldest member of the
clan) and be answerable only to the
contractor or, in the absence of such, Felin
High Command.
2. A Colonel, and thus the Company, will
obey the orders of the contractor, with the
single exception that an order to attack
Homeworld will result in a breach of
contract on the part of the contractor. This
means that if hired by opposing factions,
two Felin units will quite happily fight to
the death although in practical terms they
will have normally wiped out any non­
Felin soldiers on the opposing side first. If
such a situation should occur then the all
Felin force would surrender.
3. Each Company has its own internal rank
structure and chain of command. Should
any senior member be killed then all lower
members move up the chain accordingly.
In theory, should the rest of the Company
be killed, the youngest private becomes
Colonel - see Fe/in as Player Characters
for further discussion of this.
It is a general rule that as part of its duty
to the Company each Felin will sire one
cub, bear another and, having fulfilled this
obligation, will be free to pursue whatever
relationship may please it. It sometimes
happens that a given Felin will decide to
remain in a fixed state, rather than shifting
gender on a frequent basis, and in these
instances for a pair of opposing sex to
mate. When this happens it is usually done
for life, which involves one partner
transferring from one Company to another.
It seems to be unimportant which partner
makes the move, but once accomplished all
ties to the old family are totally severed.
If a Company member is no longer able
to fight, either due to age or infirmity, then
they will either fill administrative positions
within the Company or, if senior enough,
be promoted to the High Command. As
with any other transfer this severs all
previous family ties.
It is a source of amusement to other
races that, because of their very closed and
sheltered upbringing, a young Felin, who
has had most of its thinking done for it,
will be extremely naive about almost any
matter that is not military oriented. Thus it
is likely, if taking R&R on a civilised
world, to get fleeced for most of its money,
and not be unduly worried since that's
what they think money is for, much to the
delight of the natives.
If one is going to fleece a Felin, it is
wise to make sure that you know what
you're doing because should you upset
one, the combination of massive strength
and their inhumanly (literally) fast reflexes,
makes them very dangerous to brawl with.
Remember Felin have retractable claws,
and are not afraid to use them. There is no
such thing as an unarmed Felin!
The Felin language, much like that of
the Wookies, is fairly comprehensible to
other races if they take time out to learn it,
but almost completely impossible to speak
(Difficulty 30) because only the Felin
throat is designed to emit the purrs, hisses
and growls that make up their speech. They
also practice a complex hand signalled
battle talk which can be used by anybody
with five digits per hand.
FELIN AND THE FORCE
That the Force exists there can be little
doubt, since the power wielded by the Jedi
until they were decimated during the Clone
Wars are a matter of recorded history, yet
to the common being it is a mysterious
thing and the subject of much scepticism
and superstition.
This is an extract from a lecture on the
Felin delivered by Professor Ty Rivial
(University of Verran, Faculty of Alien
Cultures), he continued: so it is strange to
find an entire race who are, as the Jedi
would have put it, strong in the Force.
Therefore ...
We will at this point leave the esteemed
Professor, since the lecture continued for a

further 3 hours - insomniac students make
a point of signing up for these courses.
Why the Felin are strong in the Force is
unknown. It may be that Heleth 4 is a
nexus of the Force but this is impossible to
confirm since there is no real way of
measuring it. To the Felin it is simply
something they do from birth. They do not
tend to develop the range, or level of
strength and control, of powers professed
by the Jedi of old, and there is no record of
any Felin being trained as a Jedi Knight.
The average Felin spy knows there's
something dangerous around the corner or
if wounded, you concentrate to make it
heal faster. Weapons seldom jam in Felin
hands because they are kept free by
telekinesis, and on the battle field there is
little use for a communicator when you and
your kin/comrade know what one another
is thinking.
They have no conception of the Light
and Dark sides of the Force. To them these
abilities are as natural as sight or hearing.
An individual Felin may develop its
powers to higher than normal levels by
constant use of an extended period or they
may increase during the stress of battle. It
definitely seems to be the case that the
older the Felin, the more developed its
powers are.
While they, as a race, know nothing of
the aspects of the Force, there have been
cases in the past of individuals taking to
the Dark Side. These sorry creatures are
generally tom apart by their peers for their
criminal attitudes before they become
dangerously powerful.
Although it would be unprecedented,
assuming a master were to train it, a Felin
would be more than capable of becoming a
Jedi, having as they do a very disciplined
outlook on life and, when aroused, a very
deep commitment to what ever they
undertake. Without the guidance of a
master it is very unlikely that a Felin would
take to the Jedi Way.
FELIN AS PLAYER
CHARACTERS
The first thing to decide if you wish to
play a Felin is why is it adventuring in the
first place. There are only two ways that a
Felin can be away from its Family/
Company:
1. It is a renegade, a deserter that has gone
rogue and as such will be Death Listed by
High Command and killed by any right
thinking Felin that it should come across.
This makes for a dangerous lifestyle, but
could be fun if you like living on the edge.
It also gives the referee a few interesting
plot tools to use.
2. It is a survivor, usually sole, of a
Company that has been wiped out. This is
what happened to Ferris, my first Felin
character. Its Company were under contract
to the Empire, and rather than pay them the
imperials killed them when they were
being taken off planet after the job was
done. The character escaped because it was
in hospital at the time of the raid. If you
use this option, you could have a group of
up to three Felin - any more than this
would have to report to High Command in
order to begin reporting the Company.
Survivors of this type should of course go
home and transfer to a new Family/
Company but would not be Death Listed
like the first type of character above if they
failed to do so.
A sole survivor can avoid the obligation
to return to Homeworld if it is contracted,
since it is the default Company
Commander. For example, Ferris
mentioned above, is contracted to
Silverblue (a freelance pilot) for the sum of
one credit. The fact that she is its friend is
coincidental(?)
Playing a Felin character can be quite
fun, but there are some points that should
be noted if such a character is not going to
upset the balance of the game because, if
mishandled, it could be far too powerful in
the early stages of the campaign.
To illustrate this point we first need to
have a look at the basic characteristics of
the Felin:
ra,,w...aa111111
Perception: 3D
Strength: 4D
Bi!l11Ili811111�1tllll1l
Technical: 1D
Sense: 1D
As you can see the total number of dice
split down is 17, as for any character, and
unless your referee says differently you
will get additional dice to allocate to
individual skills as a PC.
Please remember when allocating skills,
if players are to portray the race in the
manner intended, that they should not
select skills that they could not have
reasonably learned as soldier. For example:
Any Dexterity and Strength skills are
reasonable, as are any Perception except
Bargain and Con. It is a by-product of the
strongly telepathic nature that they have no
concept of, or use for lying and they are
also very literally minded.
From the Knowledge skills, really only
Survival and maybe a little Technology to.
Some language skill is very useful
because of the Force Difficulty Table they
1?J]{e Pfayer Independent Ju{y 1993
<Ifie :Jefin
need to be able to speak verbally to anyone
not of their own race unless they are
experienced in telepathy. In fact it is very
hard for the average Felin to communicate
telepathically with others not of their own
Family/Company.
From Technical, only really Security,
Medicine or Demolition, and then only if it
was a specialist in one of those areas.
A new PC Felin will have no
Mechanical skills at all (the ability to
maintain weapons etc. is assumed in the
skill to use them). Of course any skill
points acquired during play can be spent on
any skills at all, these restrictions only
apply to_Felin who have never been far
away from their fellows. Unless playing a
rogue Felin, I would not allocate any of the
initial skill points into the Force skills,
because of the instinctive way they are
usually used, and if playing a rogue, if its
force skills are too high its probably well
on the way to the Dark Side.
I would recommend for a first time, that
a young inexperienced Felin is best. In this
instance the character needs to have a close
friend, to watch out that it doesn't fall foul
of its naivete too often and to prevent it
from making lethal blunders with technical
equipment it doesn't understand, (A case of
curiosity killing the cat ?) e.g. Silverblue (a
pilot) has just spent half an hour plotting a
particularly complex course, Ferris (a
Felin) leans over the console;
Ferris: What happens if I press this button?
Silverblue: You trash half an hour's work,
my friend.
Ferris: S'pose I'd better not then.
Silverblue: That's right, Ferris, you'd best
not. (Slaps hand to forehead)
If you are going to set up a pair like
these two, then one rationale you can use is
to have the friend hold the Felin's contract.
i.e. be its employer, if only for the piece of
mind of the friend because this makes the
Felin easier to handle, at least in the early
part of the relationship.
That concludes this article. The material
here has been extensively play-tested and
can make for some fun sessions. I will
reiterate the caution that, if abused, these
characters can become one man armies and
ruin the enjoyment of fellow players. With
this in mind I hope you have as much fun
playing Felin as I have. If anyone has any
questions or criticisms of this piece I will
be happy to respond to them through Last
Writes.
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I D VISA
A Scenario for White Wolf's Vampire
Story Telling System
By Sarwat Chadda
STORY SYNOPSIS
This story is a short one night affair for a small group of London
or UK based neonates, ideally Toreador and Ventrue.The adventure
centres around a ball being held in a country mansion, and the
revenge of a Toreador elder on a mortal who betrayed her.The
characters get a chance to meet some of the other London kindred,
and perhaps engage in some of the political intrigue of the London
Camarilla.
The party climaxes with a hunt, a mortal 'fox' against the
vampire 'hounds' and ends with the troupe meeting other
supernatural creatures, the faerie-folk that inhabit the woods
surrounding the mansion.
The atmosphere in this story is sinister, magical and ethereal.
Mist lit by the silvery moonlight, the snowy owl gliding through the
still night, and the pale vampires dancing like elegant ghosts
amongst the unsuspecting mortals.The horror aspects cast the player
characters as baying hell-hounds, pursuing the terrified mortal
through the mid-night woods in a lethal chase.
The Moorlake Ball does not have a geographical location,
anywhere deep in the woods far away from civilisation will do.The
mansion has been hired out to hold a party for the London scene,
debutantes, children of the rich and well-bred.The organiser is a
mortal called Lester Sevrington, an art dealer who recently tried to
swindle a gallery owned by Claudia, head of the London Toreador.
She is here with several Toreador to avenge herself for the insult, at
Sevrington's mortal expense.He is of course unaware that this will
be his last night on Earth.As befitting a Toreador, it will not be a
straight killing, but a game, part of the evening's entertainments.
The characters will play too.
THE PCs INTRODUCTION
The PCs, which must include at least one Toreador, have been
invited to attend the Moorlake Ball by Claudia Darcy, the Toreador
clan leader, and member of the London Primogen.The affair will of
course be black tie and ball gowns, and a masquerade at that.The
neonates should be upper class, no Brujah bullies and definitely no
Nosferatu (could you imagine the horror?)
Claudia is a powerful and influential Cainite, so the characters
would be well advised to play by the rules, so turning up at the Ball
with a Glock or an Uzi would not be appreciated.Players tend to be
naturally cautious, and will often find it difficult to let their
characters enter any situation without firearms or some kind of
weaponry, but you, the Story Teller, must persuade them that they
are going to a ball, to party and meet fellow Toreador, not to engage
in a gun-fight.
SCENE ONE - THE ARRIVAL
The characters enter the Moorlake estate through tall iron gates
and drive along a densely wooded avenue towards the mansion.The
road is gravel and the trees looming overhead block out most of the
moonlight.A gentle breeze moans through the tree tops, and a ghost
white owl swoops across the headlights, dead mouse momentarily
visible in its talons.
The manor is of dark grey stone, half covered by crawling vines.
Its turrets and battlements are haunted by malformed gargoyles that
leer down from their shadowy nests above.The moon is full and
bright, giving the gardens a ghostly glow of pale blue.The large
gravel courtyard is filled with cars, while broad steps lead up to the
Mansion itself Two attendants wait, dressed in tuxedos.
SCENE Two - THE BALL
"The still night is disturbed by the faint throbbing of music.You
approach the pulsing lights within.The mansion is lit by faint candle
light, or the occasional stark white spot light leaving vast voids of
darkness in each comer and behind every pillar.You can see people
moving in the darkness, a woman in a shimmering white ball gown
glides like a ghost up the stairs, followed by a man in his black
tuxedo.Another woman, wine glass in hand, sways dreamily in a
dress of black and dark red.Her hair is as dark as a raven's wing, her
face white but for the slash of blood red lips.Her long black velvet
gloves each have embroidered serpents wrapping themselves around
her thin arms/ She drifts into the shadows, and beyond you see the
hall...."
"The music pounds like a giant's heart-beat, vibrating through
your bodies as you enter the ballroom.Tall columns reach into the
shadow cloaked ceiling, small sets of chandeliers glittering out of
the darkness like golden stars.The black velvet curtains have been
swept back allowing in the stark moonlight, casting the tall, twisted
shadows of the dancers across the dark oak dance floor.
!lvJ[e Pfayer Incfepencfent Ju[y 1993

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PLAYER HAN-�O°iJT # 1
L _________________ �
bushes below. He lies stunned for a few moments, before climbing
to his feet, bruised and scratched, but otherwise unhurt.
Claudia shouts to him, "Run, run rabbit, run!", before she
laughs, wildly, and on the edge of sanity.
SCENE FOUR - THE CHASE
The excitement of the hunt is getting to the characters.
Sevrington's fear is almost tangible, and the others are already on
the edge of frenzy. This tense atmosphere and Claudia's madness
will spread to envelope the player characters. Self control rolls
against a Difficulty 8 will be required to avoid wanting to join in.
However, they may wish to do so anyway, out of eagerness to kill, or
just to please Claudia.
After a few moments, they see Sevrington vanish into the woods,
and look eagerly at Claudia. She nods. They scream and howl with
joy, and the chase begins.
Some climb down the ivy covering the wall (Difficulty 5), others
leap confidently to the ground (Difficulty 7).
The characters are in a dilemma, do they hunt, or not? Those with
high humanities (6+) will want to rescue Sevrington, or at least hear
the whole story. However, whatever they decide, it would be better
they at least give the impression that they are joining in, lest
Claudia's wrath descends on them too. So they race to join the
others, into the woods.
SCENE FIVE - INTO THE WOODS.
This part of the adventure has the characters racing through the
misty woods, chasing after Sevrington. They will have increasingly
strange encounters before they finally catch up with him, and meet
the supernatural guardian of the woods they hunt in. How they deal
with Sevrington will effect whether this guardian acts as an ally or
foe.
'Ifie %oor{akj, 'Ba{{
As they enter the woods, they will notice how much thicker the
mist has become since they arrived, and that the trees block out most
of the moonlight, only slivers of pale light cuts through the dense
foliage. Unless the characters have Auspex or Portean they will be
severely hampered in hunting Sevrington. Sevrington however has
been stumbling blindly himself through the woods, and has left an
easy trail to follow of broken twigs, ripped pieces of clothing, drips
of blood on the leaves etc. ASI the hunt continues, the party will have
the following encounters:
1) A Ghostly Shadow - As the party creep through the woods, the
character with the highest Auspex and/or Perception will see what
appears to be a white horse a'nd rider out of the comer of his eye. It
move silently on a course parallel to the group, but as they approach,
it disappears into a thick mist.
If the characters check the path the horse has been following,
they'll find no leaf disturbed, or branch touched. Then a distant
hunting horn echoes across the woods.'
2) The Black Dog - The characters see what appears to be
torchlight in the distance. It could be one of the Toreadors, but more
likely Sevrington making his way through the bushes, looking for
escape.
As they move in that direction, the twigs and thorny brambles
seem to entangle and trap them. One by one they find themselves
pulling and tugging themselves towards the light. This entails the
characters making strength rolls, first against a Difficulty of 4,
increasing by one every few yards, up to 7. Each botch calls one
level of wounds.
If the characters succeed, they find themselves by a small ruined
mausoleum. It is half covered in moss and ivy, its stone surface
cracked and weathered over the ages. Its stain glass window long
since broken. Much of the engraving on the tomb has gone, but
within a small carved circle of flowers is the name, "Rebecca 1831 -
1836" (see player handout #1).
As the characters investigate the mausoleum, they hear a deep
growling from nearby. Lurking beside a thick tree stump is a large
black dog. Its eyes glow with evil red malevolence, and yellow
spittle drips from hits savage jaws, forming puddles of luminescent
venom. Its claws rack deep into the ground as it moves cautiously
around the characters, snarling. The creature is a supernatural faerie
dog, called a Barghest, and is said to be a spirit of retribution, to
return vengeance for innocents unjustly slain. It is the guardian of
the tomb, and senses the evil nature of the vampires. It moves
between the tomb and the characters, and they are well advised to let
it be. If they are slow in retreating, it will bark loudly, its voice
shaking the trees and sending the mist out in rippling waves. It will
only attack if they seek to enter the mausoleum, or attack it.
Within the ruined structure is a small tomb, in which is the
skeleton of a small child, in a faded black velvet dress and white lace
cuffs. Any vampire touching it will cause it to crumble to dust.
3) The Rippling Stream - Characters come to a small, pure brook
running across their path. It comes from an underground reservoir
some distance away, and is aid to have mystical properties. It can
easily be jumped, but if any vampires wade through the cold ankle
deep water they will feel the chill slowly spreading through their
entire body, causing a loss of sensation. They will be able to
continue stumbling on, but handling instruments or using their finger
for anything will be hard, at -4 die, depending on what they are
trying to do. To free themselves of the chill will require burning of 3
Blood Points.
SCENE SIX - THE THORN MOUND
Eventually the characters catch up with Sevrington. Here they
must decide what they will do with him, slay or rescue.
"You move out of the woods into a grass covered plain. Boldly
lit by pale moonlight is a large mound dominating the view. It rises
gradually but its summit is surrounded by a wall of brambles and
thorns. A lone oak tree on top of it, and resting against its trunk is
Sevrington, head thrown back, gasping for breath. His clothes have
been tom and shredded, his limbs scratched and bleeding."
2?_p[e P[ayer Inaepentfent Ju[y 1993
 'The Afoor{akf �a{{
family became very rich and the daughters much sort after by CHRISTINE
suitors. WARRINGTON
From early on Claudia realised how great an advantage she held TOREADOR
with the looks, position and wealth, and began to utilise it in her SEDUCTRESS
pursuit of excitement and pleasure. Her intelligence and cunning Christine is one of the
prevented her from being involved in any scandal, and when her most alluring women the
mother died, she ran the household in her father's absence (which characters will ever meet.
was often). She knew exactly what she could get way with, and what Her long silky black hair
she could not. Coupled with her keen ear for music and sharp eye for and pale grey eyes are
artwork, several European Toreador saw her as one quite worthy of seductively mysterious, her
the Dark Gift in a time when court intrigue and deception were bloody lips and slow smile
viewed as art forms. perfect traps for the heart.
Eventually, the family were invited to Paris, under the orders of She never loses her cool,
Jean Marc, an influential 5th generation Toreador with the Paris and every word and phrase
coterie. is cautiously charming.
After some weeks of consideration, Jean Marc Embraced her. She
BACKGROUND
spent several years with him, but moved back to England during the
Christine is one of the
height of the French Revolution. Jean Marc travelled onward to New
eldest and most powerful Cainites in England, having been
Orleans, Claudia chose to stay.
Embraced during the English Civil War in 1642. Her father was an
She quickly rose within the Toreador ranks, and helped cultivate
influential Royalist and advisor to King Charles, and Christine was
its neutral stance in the Ventrue - Tremere war. With few political
brought unwittingly into the struggle by a Toreador cavalier, Edward
involvements, she threw herself into a sensual, hedonist shadow
Swinton.
world for almost two centuries. No mortal can understand the
Christine was already heavily involved in the fight against
concept of eternity. Enternal life seems an ultimate blessing, but it is
Cromwell, and once made aware of the Kindred was eager to be
a curse. Claudia indulged in every vice, sensory delight and physical
involved in the struggle for power against the Ventrue. Still
pleasure. But she could not find enough to fill her eternal night.
continuing her life as a mortal, she used her powers to secure support
Frustration at this, plus her growing detachment from her humanity
for the King during the war. She usually succeeded through her
had slowly unhinged her mind. She finds it increasingly difficult to
persuasive and vampire powers, but did resort to Blood Bonding
identify with mortals, when her own mortal life was a mere 28 years,
certain individuals to ensure their trust. When the Venture eventually
compared to almost 200 years as a vampire. She has become amoral
won, Christine was brought before them and charged with breaching
and has developed a sado-masochistic tendency in her attempts to
the Masquerade, and was exiled from Britain for two centuries. She
learn and discover new sensations.
went to the New World.
While Claudia is physically attractive, her soul is sickly. She
This, more than anything, prevented her from gaining leadership
tends to frighten people, or at least make them uneasy (her low
of the Toreador. Mant of the Ventrue, especially Lady Anne, the
Humanity is evident). Her distance form mankind is demonstrated by
Queen of London, remembers Christine from the Civil War, and
the �evrington incident. She underestimates mortals, how could they
have been keeping a close eye on her. Also, her exile prevented her
possibly match her, a Cainite Elder? So when she discovered
from developing any real support from the London Toreador. who
Sevrington's swindle, she was shocked to the core, and completely
are much younger than her and view Claudia as the rightful ruler.
over-reacted. She wants revenge, but no mere swift killing.
However, with Claudia's growing instability, Christine senses her
Sevrington's death will be humiliating, terrifying and barbaric. From
time may have come, and is quietly gathering support within the·
this example the PCs will learn to fear Claudia.
clan. She also want to bring the Toreador back into the Camarilla
Other Camarilla elders have also started to worry about Claudia.
political scene, possibly with the support of the Tremere. But she is
They feel she is unable to cope with her immortality, and her actions
patient.
are becoming increasingly self-destructive. They fear she may
Sire: Edward Swinton Genef'.ation: 6th
threaten the Masquerade, unless she is stopped.
Clan: Toreador Embrace: 1640 (born 1606)
The Sabbat however, consider Claudia to be an ideal candidate
Nature: Competitor Apparent Age: mid 30's
for conversion into their sect.
Sire: Jean Marc Demeanour: Director
Generation: 6th
Physical: Strength: 3, Dexterity: 3, Stamina: 3
Clan: Toreador Embrace: 1778 (born 1750)
Social: Charisma: 4, Manipulation: 5, Appearance: 5
Nature: Sada-Masochist Apparent Age: late 20's
Mental: Perception: 3, Intelligence: 4, Wits: 3
Physical: Strength: 4, Dexterity: 5, Stamina: 3
Talents: Acting: 4, Alertness: 3, Leadership: 2, Subterfuge: 4
Social: Charisma: 4, Manipulation: 4, Appearance: 4
Secondary Talents: Intrigue: 3, Singing: 2, Seduction: 5
Mental: Perception: 3, Intelligence: 3, Wits: 4
Skills: Etiquette: 3, Firearms: 1, Music: 2, Stealth: 2
Talents: Acting: 3, Alertness: 3, Dodge: 1, Empathy: 2,
Secondary Skills: Carousing: 2, Debate: 4,
Intimidation: 3, Subterfuge: 4
Public Speaking: 2, Style: 4
Secondary Talents: Artistic Expression: 3, Intrigue: 3
Knowledge: Investigation: 3, Law: 3,
Skills: Etiquette: 5, Music: 4
Lingusitics: 3, Occult: 1, Politics: 3
Secondary Skills: Carousing: 5, Dancing: 4, Ride: 2, Style: 6
Knowledge: Finance: 2, Law: 2, Linguistics: 3 Secondary Knowledge: Area Knowledge (London): 3, History: 4
I
Literature: 3, Magus Lore: 1
f Secondary Knowldege: Area Knowledge (London): 3,
Art History: 4, History: 2, City Secrets (London): 2
Disciplines: Auspex: 3, Celerity: 3, Presence: 4, Obfuscate: 2,
Fortitude: 3
Disciplines: Auspex: 4, Celebrity: 2, Presence: 5, Potence: 3,
Background: Resources: 4, Contacts: 1, Status: 2, Allies: 2,
Dominate: 3
Influence: 1
Background: Status: 4, Retainers: 2, Resources: 5, Contacts: 3,
Virtues: Conscience: 3, Self Control: 4,
Allies: 3, Influence: 3
Courage: 3
Virtues: Conscience: 2, Self Control: 2, Courage: 4
Humanity: 6 Willpower: 9
Humanity: 4 Willpower: 7 Blood Pool: 30/6
Merits: Boon, Mansion, Dual Nature Blood Pool: 30/6
Merits: Clam Heart, Reputation
Flaws: Short Fuse
Flaws: Clam Emnity (Ventrue)

�{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993

<Ifie Afoor[aks, '.Ba[[
ROBERT ALEXANDER AMIS - TOREADOR LONER
Amis is a handsome dark haired man in his late 30's with dark
brown eyes and a narrow pencil-thin moustache. His entire manner is
casual and aloof, seeming to take interest in nothing, and be bored
by everything.
BACKGROUND
Amis was born in 1868, during the great Victorian Age. His
family had become wealthy industrialists during the Industrial
Revolution and were now influential among many of the banking
and trading families.
Highly intelligent, Amis never had to try hard to chieve anything,
and so naturally developed a superiority complex when dealing with
others. Only when he encountered Christine at a country ball, , did
he for the first time in his life take an interest in something.
After several night-time liaisons, he soon became obsessed with
her, and dependent upon her. He had become addicted to her Kiss.
He could not understand why she refused to see him during the day,
and would often vanish for weeks without a word, then appear in his
bedroom at night. In a time when women were subservient to men,
her independence and disregard for conventions attracted him to her
all the more.
Eventually, unable to be parted from her any longer, he resolved
to follow her back home one night. Christine, not realising she was
being tailed, went hunting. While consumed by a frenzy, she slew a
begger she came across in Kings Cross, only to encounter Amis as
she left the killing. Still blinded by blood lust, she attacked Amis.
Onlt after draining him of all his blood did she realise her mistake.
So, she fed him her blood in return, and Amis awoke a vampire.
Sire: Christine Generation: 7th
Clan: Toreador Embrace: 1907 (born 1868)
Nature: Loner Apparent Age: Late 30's
Demeanour: Gallant
Physical: Strength: 3, Dexterity: 3, Stamina: 3
Social: Charisma: 3, Manipulation: 3, Appearance: 4
Mental: Perception: 2, Intelligence: 4, Wits: 4
Talents: Alertness: 3, Athletics: 2, Brawl: 2, Dodge: 3
Secondary Talents: Seduction: 1, Scan: 2
Skills: Drive: 2, Etiquette: 2, Melee: 2
Secondary Skills: Game Playing: 3, Hunting: 1, Ride: 3, Style: 2
Knowledge: Finance: 1, Law: 2, Liguistics: 2, Politics: 2, Science: 3
Secondary Knowledge: Architecture: 2, Economics: 1, Literature: 3
Disciplines: Auspex: 3, Celerity: 3, Presence: 3, Potence: 2
Background: Resources: 4, Contacts: 1, Allies: 1
Virtues: Conscience: 3, Self Control: 4, Courage: 2
Humanity: 6 Willpower: 8 Blood Pool: 24/5
Merits: Code of Honour
Flaws: Over confident, Selective digestion
'Rp{e Pfayer Intfepentfent Ju{y 1993
JULIAN CLARKE - TOREADOR EFFEMINATE
Julian is a short, tubby man with cheeks and wispy blond hair. He is
immature and childish, prone to sulking and pouting his lips when upset
or angered by anything. He has a high pitched infantile voice, but sharp,
attentive eyes.
BACKGROUND
Julian is one of the youngest of the London Toreadors, having been
embraced by Claudia in 1950.
While he lacks any artistic abilities, nor is he particularly attractive, he
is very rich, coming from a powerful banking family. Once Claudia
became clan leader during World War II, she needed to consolidate her
power by gaining material wealth. To do this, she picked and Blood
Bonded Julian, and through him siphoned off most of his family's wealth.
Julian, a selfish and greedy creature, willingly sacrificed his family for
the control he would gain of their wealth, never realising he was a mere
puppet for Claudia.
Now a member of the Toreador world, he adopted the role of patron of
the arts, using his money to pay for Claudia's galleries, and organising
her exhibitions. His tastes though are mirrored imitations of Claudia's,
hence he was duped by Sevrington into buying the fake Turner. He was
acutely embarrassed by the swindle, as he felt the others were laughing at
him. He hates and envies most of the others in the clan, as he recognizes
they are far truer Toreador than him, and without his wealth he would be
nothing. So he keeps close to Claudia, basking in her beauty, and using
her to shield him from the others. However, he, more than any of the
others is aware of Claudia's growing madness, and of Christine's moves
against her. While he is still blood bonded to Claudia, it has grown weak
over the years, and would aid her only if it did not threaten his own
safety.
Sire: Claudi Generation: 7th
Clan: Toreador Embrace: 1950 (born 1918)
Nature: Conformist Apparent Age: early 30's
Demeanour: Sycophant
Physical: Stength: 3, Dexterity: 2, Stamina: 3
Social: Charisma: 3, Manipulation: 2, Appearance: 2
Mental: Perception: 3, Intelligence: 3, Wits: 2
Talents: Brawl: 2, Intimidation: 2, Subterfuge: 2
Secondary Talents: Intrigue: 3
Skills: Drive: 2, Etiquette: 2
Secondary Skills: Game-playing: 2, Gambling: 3
Knowledge: Finance: 2, Politics: 1, Bureaucracy: 2
Secondary Knowledge: Architecture: 1, Accounting: 2, City Secrets
(London): 3
Disciplines: Auspex: 2, Celerity: 3, Presence: 2
Background: Resources: 5, Contacts: 1, Retainers: 2
Virtues: Conscience: 2, Self Control: 3, Courage: 1
Humanity: :6 Willpower: 6 Blood Pool: 24/5
Merits: Mansion, Prestigious Sire, Corporate Tires
Flaws: Low Self Image
 LESTER EDGAR SEVRINGTON " MORTAL ART DEALER
Sevrington is a balding, grey haired man in his late 50's. His most
prominent feature is a broad 'handle-bar' moustache. He wears
conservative dark suits and carries an antique gold watch.
He is a widower and has a 24 year old son, Andrew.
Sevrington has a soft mumbling voice, and has the habit of The Dark God Naar plots a bitter revenge. From
rubbing his wedding ring with his left thumb when he's anxious or the depths of the flane of Darkness he creates and
stressed.
sends forth an evil champion to defeat you, a
BACKGROUND
champion who is the very image of yourself.
Sevrington owns an antique shop on Kensington Church Street.
He deals mainly in furniture, paintings and jewellery. Even in the
In Wolfs BANE, you must hunt down and destroy
recession, he was making enough money in trading to live quite your evil alter�ego before he ruins your land
well, and support Andrew while he struggled to make a living as an and your proud reputation. Will you find
artist. and defeat this evil mirror-image in time, or will
However, things have turned sour over the last few months. He you be beaten by your own likeness?
discovered his son had developed a serious heroin habit, and was
deeply in debt to several dangerous drug dealers. In an attempt to
save Andrew from serious harm, he struck a deal himself with these
criminals.
Many of the addicts the dealers dealt with could only finance
their addicitions by theft, often from their own families. Antique
jewellery, paintings and other valuable were regularly stolen and
used to trade for drugs. Now, through Sevrington, they had a
legitimate front to sell these goods back to the public. In addition,
they could use this to blackmail Sevrington, as he is knowingly
dealing in stolen goods.
Recently, a painting came into his possesion, a fake Turner. It
was all but a perfect forgery, and Sevrington was desperate to sell it.
Among his various contacts was Julian Clarke, the owner of a small
private gallery off Piccadilly. Against his better judgement,
Sevrington sold the painting to him. Little did he realise Julian was
one of the Toreador, and merely acting as a buyer for Claudia's
private collection.
When Claudia saw the painting, and realised it was a forgery, she
flew into a violent rage. Julian barely survived the attack, and only
by persuading Claudia to direct her anger at Sevrington. She knows
nothing of the drug dealers and Sevrington's position as an
underworld fence, nor would she care if she did. She just wants
revenge.
Attributes: All rating 2, except intelligence 3
Abilities: Brawl: 1, Empathy: 2, Drive: 1, Melee: 1, Music: 2,
Etiquette: 2, Bureaucracy: 2, Finance: 1, Art: 4, History: 4,
Willpower: 6
Background: Resources 2, Contacts 2

BARGHEST
Physical: Stength: 5 Dexterity: 3 Stamina: 4
Perception: 3 Intelligence: 3 Wits: 3
Willpower: 7 Health Level: 6 'Joe Dever is a legend among British Games players'
Attack: Kick/3 die, Claws/2 die (aggravated wounds) GAMES GAZETTE
Talents: Alertness 4, Athletics 2, Dodge 3, Brawl 3

ELFIN KNIGHT The latest great adventure in

Physical: Stength: 3, Dexterity: 5, Stamina: 4
Social: Charisma: 3, Manipulation: 2, Appearance: 5
the Lone Wolf saga
Mental: Perception: 5, Intelligence: 4, Wits: 4 Available from WHSmith,
Talents: Alertness: 4, Brawl: 3, Dodge: 5, Empathy: 4 On Sale June 20th Boots, John Menzies &
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Skills: Melee: 4, Stealth: 5, Ride: 5 r-------------------------------------------
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! To: Lone Wolf Club, 39 Corle Way, Broadstone, Poole, Dorset, BH 18 9ND !
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Weapon: Spear (Str + 3, aggravated wound�) me further loneWolf loneWolf laneWolf
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 Spell Formulas (Grimoire 2nd Edition) p.69 The Skill Web (HB/GM)
Price Drain Level Price Add a dot(.) between the Firearms, Gunnery,
Projectile and Throwing Skills and their
50 x Force M 100 x Force respective(BIR) skills. Those four should
resemble Armed Combat like so:

•
Enchanting Material Costs (Grimoire 2nd Edition) Also, shift the dot associated with Conjuring in
toward the skill, so that web-section looks likes
Raw Form Refined Form
this:

E
50 200
100
Magical Theory­
100 200 400

Semi-precious Gems 200 400 800

Conjuring
500 1,000 2,000 Sorcery
50 100 200
100 200 400

300 600 1,200

10,000 20,000 40,000

600 1,200 2,400

30 60 120

30 60 12
Orichalcum: 88,000 per unit

Magical Supplies (Grimoire 2nd Edition)

Availability Cost Street Index
3/26 Hrs Rating � 3,000¥ 1
(Force)/36 Hrs 1000 per unit 1
(Force)/36 Hrs 1000 per unit 1
p.32 Automatic Success and Fai l u re
[HC]
Ignore the notation about the Rule of Six giving an
automatic s uccess. That statement is wrong.
p.32 The Rule of Six [HC]
Add: The Rule of Six does not apply to initiative (see
p.79)
p.50 The Combat Mage
The Combat Mage ' s body should be 2 (3), and his
Dice Pools should read: Combat 7 (9) and Magic 6
(8). Also his Heal Moderate Wounds : 3 spell should
simply be Heal: 3 .
p.51 The Decker
The Decker ' s Reaction should read 5 (7)* and her
Initiative should read 5 ( 7)* + 1 D6 (2D6)*. The
as terisk still refers to Matrix -only Initiative. Also, her
cy berdeck should have Response Increase I .
p.54 The Elven Decker
The Elven Decker ' s changes are the same as the
Decker p.5 1 .
p.56 The Former Wage Mage
The Heal Sev ere Wounds: 3 spell under the Fighter
profile should read simply Heal : 3 .
p.57 The Gang Member
The G ang Member h as a Projectile Weapon skill of 3.
p.59 The Rigger
The Rigger ' s Essence should read 1 . 35.
p.60 The Shaman
The Shama n' s M agic Attribute should read simply 6.
The Shaman ' s Reaction is lis ted as "Reaction Time"
it should simply read "Reaction" .
p.62 The St reet Sam u ra i
The S treet Sam urai ' s Quickness should read 4 (5 ), his
s trength 6 (7 ) , his Essence I , his Combat Pool 7, and
he should have only one level of Muscle
Repl acement.
p . 68 The Ski l l Web
In the third paragraph, dele te the last sentence
referring to including the s tarting and ending circle
co unt.
p . 79 I n itiative Ties
In the first sentence change the term "Combat Phase"
to "Combat Tum " .
p . 80 Delaying Actio ns
In the second column, third paragraph, the third
sentence should finish out " . . . the delay is broken
and the Action does not occur. "
p. 89 Ra nged Combat Mod ifiers Table
[H B/G M]
Change the "Recoil, Heav y Weapon " modifier to
" +2 per cumulative round fired that Combat Phase "
p.89 Recoi l [HC]
In the first paragraph, replace the second half of the
paragraph starting with "Full -autofire. . . " with the
following "Full -autofire weapons take a cumulative
+I modifier for each round fired that combat phase.
That is, a character choosing to fire a seven -round
full -autofire burst receives a + 7 modifier . If that
character chooses instead to fire two five -round full­
autofire bursts, he would have a +5 modifier for the
fi rst burst and a +IO modifier for the second burst.
The final parag raph (top of the second column)
should read: "Double the uncompensated recoil
modifier for medium and heavy machine guns (heavy
weapons) and shotguns. If a medium machine gun is
firing 10 rou nds, and has sic points of recoil
compensation, its final reco il modifier would be +8
(1 0 - 6 = 4 ; 4 doubled is 8). "
p .92 Fu ll-Auto Mode [HC]
Replace the sentence beginning "Each round fire. . .
" with the following: "Each round fired imposes a +I
reco il modifier for the entire group. "
Also replace the last sentence on the page (it overruns
to p.93) with "The Power Rating of weapon increases
by 1 for every round fired in that full-auto burst."
p.93 Ful l-Auto Mode [HC]
The example has some errors. Replace the fifth to
seventh paragraphs with the following: "The first
punk gets a three round burst, which increases the
damage code of the weapon to lOD. The three round
burst qualifies for three points of recoil, which the
weapon compensates for. Punk I : Damage Code l OD,
Target Number 3.
"Punk 2 gets a three round burst too, with that same
healthy damage code of l 0D. Now, however six
rounds have been fired so the total recoil modifier is
6. The weapon compensates for 3, leaving three for a
+ 3 modifier . This is the second target this Combat
Phase which adds another +2 modifier. Punk 2:
Damage Code l 0D, Target Number 8.
"Punk 3 gets the four round burst (lucky her) that has
a Damage Code of 1 ID. The recoil modifier is now
+ 7 ( 1 0 - 3). Being the third target also means a +4
modifier added to the attack because of multiple
targets. Punk 3: Damage Code 1 lD, Target Number
I�
p.96 Strength M i n i m u m Rating [HC]
Change the final sentence of this section to read: "A
cr ossbow ' s Minimum S trength Rating is used to
determine its range."
p.98 G renade Blast Diag ram [HC]
The "55" notation should read "45 " and the total
blast consequently "205".
p.98 Barriers (General) [HC]
Add to the end of the page : "Always use the base
Power Rating of the round, unmodified for burst or
full -auto fire, for comparison against B arrier Rating. "
p . 1 09 Friends in the melee[H C]
The "see page" reference for Multiple Opponen ts
should read "this page" ins tead of "p.90".
p . 1 08 Vehicle, Weapons and Mag ic
[ H C]
Third paragr aph, change the second sentence to :
"This is, if the base Power of the weapon, unmodified
by burst or full -auto fire, does not exceed the rating of
the vehicle armour it will not penetrate . "
Due to a printing error, the first line of the fourth
paragraph in the softback edition should read: "The
Power and Damage Codes for grenades and other
explosives are affected. . . "
p . 1 30 Spe l l Target i ng
The fifth sentence should end with " . . . except by
using enhanced vision or as tral perception, as
appropriate. "
p. 1 3 1 Spel l Success Test [HC]
The final paragraph of the example should read
"Rolling the dice Jason gets a total of 10 dice (4+6 )
against a Target Number of 6 (5+ I ). The results are 1 ,
3, 4, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6. Five of the dice score six, so
there are six successes. "
p. 1 37 Focus Bond ing Table
The second type of focus should be listed as a "Spell
Category Focus " .
p. 1 44 Spir it Table [HC]
Under Nature Spirits it should be the "Hearth" spirit,
not "Heat h " spirit. There are no candy spirits in
Shadowrun.
p. 1 51 Spe ll D irectory
[HC] Change the "Type " of spells Mana Bolt, Mana
Missile, and Manaball to "Mana " , rather that
"Physical" as listed.
[HC/SC] Under the Ram spell, delete the line "The
target' s Barrier Rating is ha lved as indicated. "
p. 1 53 M ind Probe [HC]
Change the Drain Code [(F+2) +2]D.
p.1 55 Treat [HC]
Change the first the sentence of the third paragraph to
"Successes from the Spell Success Test can be used
to actually heal boxes of damage, or reduce the base
time, as found on the following chart." Also [HC/SC]
in the second paragraph, change the first sentence to
read "The Target Number for these spells is 10 or 8 ,
minus the target' s Essence. "
p.1'58 Spark [HC]
Change the duration of the spell to "Instant".
p.1 59 Table of Spells [HC]
Change the Type of Mana Missile to "M", the drain
code of Mind Probe to [(F+2) +2]D and the Duration
of Spark to "Instant".
p.1 68 Passive Alert [HC]
The second rating should read "Add 50% to the
ratings of all IC."
p.1 68 The Opposition
Use the Decker Archetype instead of the Corporate
Decker as noted, unless the SRII Gamesmaster Screen
is owned, then use the Corporate Decker.
p.202 Legwork
In the second column, second sentence, add the
following at the end of the sentence "(see published
Shadowrun adventu res.)"
p.205 Corpo rate Security G uard [HC]
Give the Contact a Willpower of 2.
p.207 The Fixer [HC]
Add the skill "Equipment Acquisition: 4"
p.21 1 The St reet Cop [HC]
Give the Contact a Willpower of 3 .
p.228-229 N ature Spirits
Delete the word " Attack" from the description of
desert and field spirits. Add the Guard power to
desert, forest and lake spirits. Also add the Engulf
power to lake, r iver, sea and swamp spirits.
p .262 Cyberd eck Syste ms Ad d itions
Change the cost of Hitcher Jacks to "MPCP x
lO0 Yen". Response increase Level I to " (MPCP x
MPCP) x I 00 Yen", Level 2 to "(MPCP x MPCP) x
400Yen" , and Level 3 to " (MPCP x MPCP) x
900Yen " .
p .265 Rig ge r Gear
Change the cost of Vehicle Control Gear to a flat
2,800Yen
p.280 Sou rcebook U pdates/Street
Sam u rai Tables
Add the "Riot Shield, Large" to the table with "- "
Concealability, "2 " Ballistic, "- " Impact, "3 "
Weight, " 10/14 days " Availability, "3 ,200Yen"
Cost and "2 " Street Index.
p.283 Sou rcebook Updates/ M in imum
Secu r ity Code
The last sentence should end with " . . . with a
Security Rating of less than Green- 3. "
p.283 Sourcebook Updates/ Rigger
Black Book
In the entry for Vehicle Armour Ratings, add this
sentence " Also divide the armour points costs by 3,
and multiply the maximum allowed by 3. "
Under Rigger Control gea r, change the sentence to
read "Remote and vehicle control gear is required for
rigger operation. Vehicle control gear costs :" . Also
change the Parts Cost for rigger (vehicle) control gear
to 2,800Yen.
In the second column, change the sentence to read
"The vehicle control rig prices in SRII supersede
those give in the Rigger Black Book where it is called
rigger control gear . "
p.283 Updating Adventures
The third sentence shou ld refer to Threat Ratings, not
Dodge Pools.
Miniature
WARRIORS
0
ne thing that disappoints me
with a certain (rather large)
percentage of F/SF gamers is
their failure to exercise their
imagination, in a hobby that is all about
imagination. Quite who's fault this is I
don't know.Some games companies go to a
great deal of effort in producing figures,
rules supplements, background sourcebooks,
army lists, even painting guides all of which
make life for the gamer so much easier and
from the companies' point of view makes
good business sense.However this can
result in a policy by some groups of gamers
that 'if it ain't official, it ain't no good'.
Now this attitude is complete crap, but it is
one that is becoming more and more
common, especially as companies are no
longer encouraging gamers to use their
imagination, but rely on what they say.
From a miniatures point of view this can
result in some people taking the approach
that to play game X, you must (and can
only) use the Official figures produced by
Company Y for said game X.Rubbish! I
sincerely hope that when looking at the
following reviews that you consider this
point, as many of the miniatures reviewed
are ideal for popular systems for which the
Official figures are somewhat overpriced.
Don't follow the flock - be an individual!
HEARTBREAKER
First off this month are some new 25mm
SF releases from Heartbreaker that I
received along with some bumpf on the
Mutant Chronicles universe in which
they're based.A quick scan of the stuff on
the universe shows little in the way of
original thought, and I get a heavy
Warhammer 40K meets Cyperpunk vibe
from it.As I said, not stunningly original,
but this sort of product is popular in the
marketplace, and not many companies are
going to buck such a trend in the middle of
a recession.Anyway what of the figures ...
Well, the bad guys are "The Dark
Legions" (yawn), to quote "evil mutants...
out to cause destruction, madness and
mayhem ". Commanding the Legion are the
Nepharites who conveniently, from a design
1\9{e P{ayer Inaepenaent Ju{y 1993
By Steve Blease
point of view, vary in appearance.Bit of a
shame really because I quite liked the first
figure of the range (700 1), a Nepharite
holding an assault rifle in two hands at the
hip.The alien has a long dinosaur-like neck
that sets it apart from anything else
available and is a very good little model.
However, his chum (7002) with hand
weapons is a skull faced spikey standard
evil type and very uninspiring.
Next comes the Pretorian Stalkers "nine
foot tall, mechanical humanoid war
machines". Well they look like WH40K
type Space Marines to me, including the
ridiculously over-sized weaponry popular in
this form of SF sub-genre.
As example of this sort of thing go,
(7003) Pretorian with rifle and (7004)
Pretorian with heavy weapon (which
incidentally is slightly smaller than the
rifle) are good models, well detailed and
worth buying if you're into this sort of
thing.
Finally on the Dark Legions front comes
the Legionnaires "zombie like creatures
that from the bulk of the Legion forces". In
my opinion, while the idea is quite good, the
models are very poor, detail soft, posing bad
and the models basically unacceptable.The
Legionnaire figures are not up to the same
standard of the Nepharites and Pretorians
and I'd suggest you avoid (8004) Soldier,
(8005) Grunt and (8006) Fighter.
Moving swiftly along, we have the good
guys in the form of the Bauhaus
Megacorporation and The Cartel.First come
the Bauhaus Venusian Rangers, yet more
WH40K Space Marine types with the
obligatory oversized heavy weapon (800 1).
Although the shoulder pads are 'a bit'
oversized, these are actually quite good
figures, the remaining two troopers sporting
some nicely sized weaponry in the form of
(8002) and Autoshotgun and (8003) a sub­
machine gun.If you are looking for a
variant Space Marine type, the I'd suggest
that these are worth a look.Good ones
these.
Finally come two Cartel Consultants
(8007) with Autoshotgun and (8008) with
two sub-machine guns. Quite Cyberpunky,
these two are the best of the Mutant
Chronicles release, well posed and detailed
figures with excellent facial expressions.
Definitely worth checking out.
Overall certainly a mixed bag which if
you ignore the Legionnaires and the second
Nepharite, is generally a good release.
Prices are apparently £1.10 per figure which
is far too high for some and just a bit too
high for the others (the models are not that
big).My only major qualm is that with the
incredibly large numbers of WH40K Space
Marine types available from Citadel,
Alternative, and RAFM (to name but a
few) is there really space (or the need) for
more in the market?
Heavy Metal - Arii's Valkyries Battroid towers over
two of Heartbreaker's 25mm Bauhaus Rangers
ALTERNATIVE ARMIES
Actually, this month is a bit thin on the
ground for fantasy buffs, with much of what
has been sent in being SF orientated.
However, Alternative Armies have helped
the situation by sending in samples of their
new 25mm fantasy regimental packs.
Identical in concept to what Grenadier
started doing a few months back, all the
packs contain nine identical rank and file
types and one commander. However, unlike
Grenadier, Alternative have made a
concession to you buying in bulk and are
only charging £5.9 9 a pack.With some of
the independent companies now charging
£1.10 for individual 25mm figures, this
price of just 60p is very welcome.
Running through the packs received we
have (SPRl) Skeleton Spear, (SPR3) Elf
Heavy Spear, (SPR4) Guard Elf Spear,
(SPR5) Royal Dwarf Guard, (SPR6) Human
Longbowmen, (SPR7) High Elf Bows,
(SPR8) Wood Elf Bows, (SPR 9) Dwarf
crossbows and (SPRl0) Dwarf Axe.All the
figures are available in one form or another

Solid & Reliable - examples of humans, undead, dwarf and
elffigures from Alternative Armies' Regiment Packs
in other blisters from AA's ranges, but in
view of the price saving and that you may
not have seen them all before, it is worth
giving them a detailed look at.
The Skeleton Spear isn't the best I've
seen undead wise, but the passively posed
spearman and the leader waving his sword
in the air will certainly prove useful for any
undead fantasy wargamer. Reasonably good
basic figures, worth checking out if
necromancy is your thing.
The Elf packs are much better and the
High Elf bow and spear good examples of
the fact that AA have put some thought into
these packs by putting practical rank and
file figures in them. Yes, they're all
identical, but unlike some of Grenadier's
example packs, this doesn't matter too
much. The bow are all firing,. as their
commander points out the unit's target, and
the spear are all advancing with spears held
out at shoulder height. The Guard Elf pack
(AA's Napoleonic style chaps) again are
advancing with spears held out level,
although this time at waist height. The poses
chosen reflect very much what a trained unit
would be ordered to do on a battlefield, and
in thinking this Alternative Armies deserve
to be congratulated.
Like the Elves, the Human Longbowmen
are also posed firing, their garb is very
pleasant like and a good contrast to their
commander who looks very much like a
Teutonic knight - a really good figure this
one. The Dwarves are generally very good,
the Royal Guard containing a standard
bearer along with a commander and eight
halberdi'ers, the Crossbows being the only
real disappointment of all the packs as the
rank and file are passively posed with their
crossbows slung over their shoulders (still
nice figures though).
Overall good examples of how
manufacturers should put together
'regiment' packs (i.e. with thought) and
well priced with a suitable discount for
buying in bulk. Nice one Alternative!
RENEGADE MINIATURES
More SF comes from Renegade
Miniatures with their 25mm scale Cohort
Legion range for which I haven't any
background information, but appears to be a
cross between Kryomek and the ubiquitous
WH40K. Of the
seven packs in
front of me, three
are basic infantry
marine types,
four your fully
armoured variant.
The former
are entitle Main­
Corps Marines (a
sort of Imperial
Guard/Nexus
marines cross)
and each of the
three packs (000201/202/203) contain four
infantry, one of whom sports a separate arm
carrying an autocannon heavy weapon type
of the WH40K table. The figures are well
enough detailed in a solid chunky British
style vaguely reminiscent of some of Bob
Olley's work (especially the faces) which is
very helpful for the painter.
Out of the twelve, there is only one I
really don't like (advancing waving troops
forward with his arm) and I quite like the
troops with the face masks. The small arms
are a bit of a mixture with no more than two
carrying the same piece, something I'm
never really too happy with. Not too bad,
and at £3.50 for four are quite reasonably
priced.
The armoured troops are called the Cobra
Strike Marines and as I said four packs
available (000101/102/103/104) though
these only contain three figures each but
still at £3.50. Similar in concept to Fantasy
Forge's SWAT troops (with a bit of
Warhammer 40K marine thrown in for
good measure), these chappies are similarly
armoured though they sport some
gargantuan weaponry so large I'd imagine
your average Citadel Space Marine would
have to be on steroids to lift it (I know it's
the in thing with some gamers, but current
weapons philosophy is to make things
smaller and thus easier to use, not six foot
long and half a ton in weight!)
Detail is good, and careful wash and dry
brush techniques will pick this out well
enough. Some of the leg poses are very
'Bob Olley' with feet planted ridiculously
far apart, but apart from that there is not a
lot wrong with them. The only thing I would
say about them is exactly as I said about the
Heartbreaker Space Marine types - do we
really need yet more?
GRENADIER UK
Last month we took a look at Grenadier
US's second batch of Cyberpunk figures,
and regular readers will recall that I thought
that they were a bit of a hotch potch with
some good figures and some not so good.
This month under the Future Warriors
label we have Grenadier UK's first steps
into the 25mm SF market.
Well these models are certainly not a
hotch potch. Sculptured by Mark
1\9{e P{ayer Incfepencfent Ju{y 1993
Miniature Warriors
c/o Gamecraft
A 16 Gardeners Row
Liverpool
L3 6JT
Alternative Armies
6 Parkway Court
Glaisdale Parkway
Nottingham
NG84GN
Gren�dier UK
2'5 Babbage Road
Deeside
Clwyd
CH5 20B
Renegade Miniatures
Tanglewood
2 Treesdale Close
A.Watts & Sons Ltd
(Games Dept)
80-82 Abington Street
Northampton
NN1 28B
Copplestone these releases are some of the
finest 25mm SF available today with detail
on a par with Chub Pearson's small
Denizen range (and I never thought I'd ever
be saying that about anything!) Four initial
packs have been released each containing
five figures for £3.99 and if you don't rush
out and buy them today, then you're five
cans short of a six pack!
First off is the Rebels, five street wise
Mad Max/Solo types, two of which are
absolutely outstanding. One is a 'rather
large' gentleman in leather and studded
denim waistcoat with one hell of an attitude.
For those of you who know him, this model
is the spitting image of F/SF Wargaming
personality John Treadway, as he will no
doubt say when he sees the model - what a
fine figure of a man!
Next is my favourite out of the entire
Future warriors release, a leather clad Solo
type passively standing with assault rifle
and a silk scarf wrapped around his neck,
trailing down his back/ This figure is as near
to perfect as you can get and if I had a
model of the year award, to date this
miniature would get it. It's not flash or
OTT, just right!
Moving on we have five Robo-Hunters,
 You've Waited Long Enough.....
IIE� I':I�IS

��Jnl �y J)�Yf �1
RAL PARTHA MINIATURES TEMPORAL STASIS PRESENTS
FASA'S SHADOWRUN™ 25mm Post & Package
lnlar1d 15% of order
20-532 Plasma(Paranormal Sear) £2.60 values under £20.00
20-533 Dzoo-Noo Qua(Troll) £2.05 10% of order values
20-534 Spirits of Man (2) £3.10 over £20.00
20-535 Spirits of Water(2) £3.10 Minimum 50p

COMING SOON FASA's

P ost & Package EXPLODING on_ to your
BATTLETECH™ MECHS 1/285
Overseas
30% of order value for streets on_ 1st �July '93
sea mail
20-784 The N Thorn 75% of order value To order:-
20-785 Her-3S Hermes for air mail Send cheques/Postal orders to
20-786
20-787
FLS-8K Flashman
CHP-1N Champion
Minimum sea mail £·1.00
Minimum air mail £4.00
Temporal Stasis Ltd.
20-788 STN-3M Sentinel 5 West View
Other ranges Bedfont
1/285 Science Fiction Buildings include: Feltham
Originally designed for use with Battletech
Personalities
Three stage PCs
Middx TW14 BPP
scenarios, these 1/300 generic buildings are Fantasy Armies
suitable for any sci-fl game or setup. Player_ Characters
Blistered Loose Monsters
BTO 1 Industrial/Factory Unit £2.60 (3) £0.95(1) All things Dark &
BTO 2 Residential Unit £2.05(2) £1.25(1) Dangerous
BT03 Skyscraper/Office Block £2.60(1) £2.60(1) AuneOuest 1M
BT04 Control. Barracks £1.55(1) £1.55(1) Fantasy Adventurers
or Science Centre/Laboratory Shadowrunr1,1
BTO 5 Power Station £2.05(1) £2.05(1) 8attletech 1M
or Control Tower AD&D'' Dragonlance Yep, it's arrived and if you play CyberpunkTM then don't miss
BTO 6 Civic Building £2.60(1) £2.60(1) AD&!)!· Ravenloft 1M 'PUNK '21 Issue 2.
BT 11 Small Town - 6X1, 3X2, £26.45 AD&D' Dark Sun ™ The 'zlne for the Euro-punk
3X3. 2X4, 1XS & 2X6 AD&D•· Adventurers 'PUNK '21 Is a full 56 pages of true punk, back to the roots and
AD&D! • Monsters sub-culture of a dark future In the Euro-scene.
Prices stated are inclusive of VAT AD&D'· Player In this issue:-
but exclusive of P&P Characters Red Light at Night... (Amsterdam feature)> Ballistix, Nu-Tek, Euro-Fashion.
Sly & Stance (Private Detective Campaign Aid), Crime Wave. Gang War

MINIATURE FIGURINES LIMITED

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CHAOSIUM

I've seen the future, and boy it's mean - Future Warrior figures from Grenadier UK
alongside one of their new vehicles
more specific city types with neat hair do's,
trench coats and an interesting selection of
futuristic fire arms. All good figures and
welcome additions to the 25mm SF scene.
As are the pack of five scavengers, and
excellent group of post holocaust types from
your own favourite slums or rad-wastes.
Ragged but not too overdone, I heartily
recommend these chaps.
Finally we have the Troopers Tactical
Squad, five military types very much in the
Aliens Colonial Marines mould with chest
body armour, American Fritz style helmets
with microphone booms and side cameras.
One of my major criticisms with some SF
manufacturers is that they manage to equip
their infantry squads with an incredible
variety of small arms that would prove to be
a logistical nightmare to provide
ammunition for on the battlefield.
Thankfully Grenadier have seen fit to
ensure that four of the troopers have
identical small arms, all reasonably sized
too (almost too good to be true, I know!)
Excellent figures which would double up
nicely as Nexus Marines for Kryomek
gamers. Recommended.
In addition to the figures, Grenadier are
also marketing two small futuristic SF
vehicles to compliment the miniatures. One
is a small four wheel sports car type,
slightly battered with a re-inforcing cage bar
welded to the outside of the vehicle frame,
the other a really neat Police Grav car
similar to those in the film Bladerunner.
Both are excellent and a fair degree better
than anything else available from the
competition - a worthy addition to the
25mm SF vehicle market. I'm not too sure
of the prices for these two items, but believe
they will be around the £3.99 to £4.99 mark.
Overall an excellent first step by
Grenadier UK into the 25mm SF market,
and one can only hope that more blisters are
released soon. Buy, buy, buy!
After looking at something so good, it
often comes as an anti-climax to review
other releases from the same manufacturer,
but in addition to the SF, I also have in front
of me six blisters of Grenadier's new
15mm fantasy figures, which they are
marketing under the Warlords label.
The first three are packs of Ores, namely
(1801) Ore Infantry, (1802) Ore Archers and
(1803) Ore Command all retailing at £2.50 a
pack, the infantry and archers containing
twelve foot, the command eight foot and
one mounted commander. I had heard some
unfavourable comments about these figures
before I saw them and whilst they are not as
finely detailed as Alternative's superlative
ranges, the Grenadier US figures are
certainly not what could be called bad by
any stretch of the imagination. Detail and
posing is quite good, the selection of
musicians, standard bearers and wizards in
the command pack very useful. The only
down points I have are the price which puts
the individual figure at over the 20p mark
which is really steep (though not as steep as
the Ra! Partha AD&D® Battlesystem
range) and the Ore commander who is
mounted on a weird beast that looks like a
horse covered with fur and sporting a boar's
head (yuk!)
Similar points apply to the three
remaining packs of Elves, (1804) Elven
Infantry, (1805) Elven Bow and (1806)
Elven Command. Composition is identical
and the figures themselves are very slight
which is not surprising as apparently Julie
Guthrie sculpted them. Detail is fair to
good, though by no means exceptional.
However, it should be borne in mind that
these are supposed to be wargames figures
and this is not a major criticism. I've seen a
lot worse, and not a lot better.
If it wasn't for the price, I'd be a lot
happier about these figures. No doubt
they'll prove useful and certainly any 15mm
gamer will find it worth buying a few packs
to add a bit of variety to existing ranges and
anyway even at these prices a twenty four
bow regiment is only going to set you back
a fiver. How much would that be in 25mm?
ARII
Mecha models are most widely
experienced in our field in the form of the 1/
258th scale Battletech models from Rat
2?,p[e Pfayer Incfepemfent Ju[y 1993
Afiniature Warriors
Partha. However, the Japanese who
invented the things produce masses of them
in a variety of scales from 1148th down.
Arii are a Japanese company who produce a
selection of 1/lO0th Mecha models in the
form of hard plastic kits (similar to the
traditional Airfix model). Availability of
these models in the UK is patchy and it was
a pleasant surprise to be sent a sample of
one by Tom at Northampton's A.Watts &
Sons.
Received for review was a Valkyrie VF-
lD from the Macross anime series which
retails in the UK at a respectable £4.99. The
model is very simple to construct and took
me about an hour and a half as I sat and
watched- the football results come in on
Ceefax on the last day of the season (well
done Oldham!). The model is very flexible
in that all of the arm and leg joints and the
head are swivel mounted and need not be
glued should you wish. I made mine straight
up from the box, though I feel that the
model has great conversion potential for
anyone willing to give it a go. Although
scaled at 1/lO0th and consequently not true
to any available figure models (25130mm
being about 1/64th, 20mm 1176th and 15mm
11120th) the model is large enough to
compliment any existing 25mm SF figure
range as it still towers over them at 125mm.
Useful for a variety of SF wargames, I
thought that this model would be most
immediate interest to any Battletroops
players (the 25mm Battletech game), as
providing a cheap visualisation of a light
humanoid mech. A.Watts also stock a
selection of at least twelve other models that
should all prove of interest. Worth checking
out.
HELLFIRE COMPETITION
This month for your edification and
delight we have three copies of the new
generic l/300th SF Wargames rules written
by RPI contributor Jim Webster, and
published by Wessex Games. All you have
to do to stand a chance of winning a set is to
answer the following simple question and
hope you come out of Dave's big hat first:
What does the acronym AT-AT from the
Star Wars films stand for?
Answers on a postcard by July 20th
please to:
Hellfire Competition
RPI
Symbiosis Publishing Ltd
204 Renwick Road
Worcester
WR2 SPF
Well that's it once again for
another month. Next month I'll
have some new spaceships from
GZG, some unusual mecha form
Irregular and some very good
new aliens from Renegade
amongst others to look at.
Cheers! Steve.

H
A Stopping off ow often has your group
wandered into town halfway
place for AD&!P between your well detailed city
and your horrific dungeon
2nd Edition leaving you to throw an 'off the cuff' public
house together for them to visit. Remember,
Characters these 'in between' stops can be the icing on
By Steve Tierney the cake that offsets a fair adventure and an
amazing one. The following information is
presented to help the busy GM by providing
all the details of a standard tavern that could
be slotted into any settlement, albeit a
prosperous village or great city. NPC
'locals' are provided with AD&D® 2nd
Edition stats, but game conversion should
be easy if necessary. Adjusting power levels
of the inn's patrons is up to the individual
GM but I would advise against it, as there
seems to be no reason to assume that
individuals of different ability would not
visit an inn. It would be a nice touch if you
2?_p{e P{ayer Inaepenaent Ju{y 1993
could find time to add a few individuals of
your own devising to the mix presented
here. Finally, in the details of the locals you
may find prospective plots for future
gaming opening themselves before your
very eyes, this is intentional and can be used
if you are short of your own ideas.
The Cat s Cradle, A
Brief History
The Cat's Cradle has been in business for
sixty-four years. The building was
originally a warehouse for a trading
company that operated between two cities,
using this as a mid-way storage area and
way-point. The company ceased trading and
the current landlord's father, Sanson
Markes, bought the decrepit building with
money gained from a long adventuring
career and renovated it, creating the inn that
you see today.
Sanson's last adventure took him deep
into the crypt-lair of a powerful lich called
Fervoliar Catt. Fervoliar had named his lair
the Catt's Cradle, and riddled it with traps
and monstrous denizens. When Sanson left
the lair he and his wife, the magician Sarah
Markes, were the only survivors of their
adventuring party, but the lich and his
minions were vanquished and Sanson was
rich! In memory of their last adventure,
Sanson named his inn as it remains named
today. Sanson passed the ownership of the
inn on to his son twenty-four years ago.
Sanson died two years after that and his
wife followed shortly; her spirit weakening
after the death of her long-time lover and
companion. The Cradle is still operated now
by Sanson's son Willick, and his wife and
children. The inn is a popular inn for
travellers, but also attracts a fair share of
townsfolk who like the stories and
excitement of an adventures' bar.

Layout of the Cat s
Cr adl e
The Cat ' s Cradle is an end of terrace
building. It is flanked on one side by a
general store that sells foods, drinks, tools,
sundry household goods, and has a small
area set aside for adventuring equipment. It
does not sell weapons or armour. On the
other side the Cradle looks out upon
Carniv al road, a wide and clean mud road
with flower beds along its edges. The main
door s, however , ar e on Willow road. Ther e
is also a rear entrance that leads into a dead
end alley w ay betw een the inn and a shop
behind it. The alley also has a door way into
the other shop, and refuse boxes for both
establishments. The refuse is taken away by
car t tw ice a week by a refuse company who
are paid by both the inn and the shop.
Inside the inn there are tw o bars.
The public bar in which there are both
tables and standing space, a long, well
s tocked bar w ith many cheap ales and
spirits . This is the bar in which most of the
drinking, action and intrigue goes on. The
bar is pleasantly arranged w ith circular oak
tables surrounded by c omfor table padded
chairs . The walls are decor ated w ith well
made tapes tries depicting famous
adventurers and mons ters . On the w all
where the stairs ascend there is the head of a
mature Blue Dragon. It w as killed by
S anson in his adventuring career and has
been stu ffed and preser ved. The head is a
collectors piece and is pr obably worth about
3 50 gp . The bar itself is fully stocked and
has a mirrored background (see details of
Willick for more information on these
unusual mirrors .)
The Lo unge B ar is smaller and much
quieter . There is a brass plaque on the wall
which proclaims :
"The higher prices in this bar are due to
the pleasantly lo w volume and peaceful
atmosphere . Please pay the prices and
observe the rule . "
Willick usually works this bar and is
quick to ask customers to leave if they are
not behaving in a fit manner for this more
stylish bar . The lounge bar is available for
hire for banquets, meetings etc. . .
Doorways from both bars lead into the
prep room. In fact this is just a glorified
store of spirits, cleaning materials and
bits 'n ' bobs necessar y for the publicans
trade. This is also where the Master keys for
all doors are kept on a rack, and also the
guest keys for the eight guest rooms
upstairs.
The kitchen is a well stocked and well
kept area with plenty of space for preparing
food. It includes a large open fire over
which is a flue for taking the smoke out of
the building. Willick 's wife, Melianne, does
most of the cooking, unless a banquet is
being prepared, when she has both her
daughters and sometimes hires in help also.
The Cold Store is a small storage area
which has been magically enchanted, at
great cost to Sanson all those years ago, to
always stay at a chilly temperature. This is
perfect for storing meat and vegetables to
keep for longer periods of time. Over the
years it has saved the owners a fortune in
waste pr evention. Willick hires space in his
Cold Store to other businesses in the area as
a magical cooler like this is very rare. There
is a small box in the cooler which magically
makes small cubes of ice as part of the
enchantment, making this the only inn that
most adventurers will ever visit where ice is
available in drinks - but only magicians and
Elves bother with it. The cold store is also
home to various barrels of beer, stored until
they are needed in the bars themselves.
Upstairs, the inn has two communal
bathro oms, each with an iron tub and basin.
In the morning, hot water is boiled in the
kitchen downstairs and brought up at 7.00
am promptly to fill the tubs and basins. First
come, first serv ed, and if you are late it' s
cold water to wash with. Towels are
provided in the bathrooms and each is
embr oided with the legend ' The Cats
Cradle ' in fancy script. Although the towels
look very nice, being black with silver
embroidery , they are in fact of very cheap
cloth. This is mainly to keep down the cost
of replacing those that ' disappear'
periodic ally .
Also upstairs there are six g uest rooms,
with two single beds in each. The beds can
be pushed together, and when Willick sells
a ' double room ' this is what he does ,
thereby charging more money for basically
the same thing. There are two further
bedrooms . One is for Willick and his wife,
the other is shared by his two daughters .
Willick ' s son, S anson the Second, does not
live in the inn, although he does work there.
The inn did have a cellar, the entrance
being in the kitchen. However, the area had
a very unpleasant and cloying odour the
cause of which could not be traced. After
numerous failed attempts to clear the smell,
Sanson gave up and boarded the whole thing
up, tiling atop to seal and hide the entrance.
It is a fair assumption that it is still down
there, and who knows what caused the
smell, or what is festering now ?
Personalit ie s of the
I nn
The Inn has many distinct characters who
frequent it. Some of the people you could
meet are given below, along with
abbreviated AD&D® 2nd Edition stats and a
short character summary.
Willick Markes (Human Male) - Landlord
of the Cats Cradle
Warrior 5 Thac0: 16 Hp :27 Al: LN AC : 9
(dex bonus) Age: 53
Attacks : fists 1D2/1D2 or by weapon
Willick is a fair man, but also a
businessman. While he will not cheat
1\9{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993
Jlcross a Crowcfecf tBar
customers, he does take the opportunity for
new ways to make extra profit. Willick
stands 6' tall and at the age of 53 is only
now starting to go to fat. He has very short
black hair and large fierce eyes. He is well
respected by all who know him. Willick
owns a long sword +3 and chain mail + 1 ,
which he keeps locked in a chest in his
room. He usually carries a blackjack for
' diffic ult' customers . Willick has mirrors
along the back of both bars which a
specially enchanted. These mirrors are as
hard to break as iron, and when a command
word is spoken they absorb all the bottles
and glasses on the back of the bar to protect
them. Therefore if trouble starts , Willick
can protect his stock.
Melianne Markes (Human Female) -
Landlady and Cook
Mage 2 Thac0 : 20 HP : 6 Al : LG AC : 1 0
A ge : 47
Attacks : fists 1 D2- l /1 D2- l or by weapon or
by spell
Melianne is a short fat women with a
motherly smile and a friendly manner. She
is the ' conscience ' for her husband , and will
often intervene if she feels her hus band ' s
head for money is getting the better of his
morals. She only knows one spell : Magic
Missile, which she learns when she expects
a busy night - a very good way to break up a
fight - but she can cast several cantrips .
These include Pacify (a spell that stops
babies crying for 1 D4 hours), Clean (a spell
that will do one bowl of washing up
instantly), Fresh (A spell that clears the air
in a room of smoke and leaves a pleasant
minty smell), Fresh- 2 (As Fresh but leaves a
pleasant cinnamon smell), Make Bed (Yep,
!
you guessed it ), and Bubbly (A spell which
makes the water in a bathtub frothy and
!
sweet smelling - Willick charges for this )
Sarah- Anne Markes (Human Female)
Daughter and Barmaid
Mage 1 Thac0: 20 HP: 4 AL: NG AC :1 0
Age: 1 9
Attacks: fist 1D2/1D2 or by weapon
Sarah- Annes is a cute, petite girl who is a
little shy and demure. When confronted
with leering customers she tends to blush
and scurry away, a source of much
J'Lcross a Crowcfecf 'Bar
amusement to some of the more coarse
adventurers who stay at the inn. Sarah­
Annes knows no magic spells at all but can
cast some of the cantrips her Mother knows:
Clean/Fresh/Make Bed.
Coleen Markes (Human Female) -
Daughter and Barmaid
Mage 2 Thac0: 20 HP: 4 AL: LG AC: 10
Age:16
Coleen is everything her sister is not. She is
wild, daring and flirtatious. She loves to
flaunt her pretty looks at the customers and
takes fancy to most of the muscular fighter
types who visit the inn. She has a secret
desire to leave the inn and go adventuring
herself. She has taken to magic very quickly
and is as good as her Mother, but she knows
no spells other than those her Mother could
teach her. She is not above seducing a mage
in order to get a look at his spell books, but
w_ill not actually steal. She can cast all the
spells and cantrips her mother knows.
Sanson Markes the 2nd (Human Male) -
Son and Barman
Rogue 1 Thac0: 20 Hp:2 AL: CN AC:10
Age:21
Attacks: fists 1D2/1D2-1 or by weapon (-1
dam due to low strength)
Sanson the second has not inherited the
strength of body or character of his
namesake Grandfather. He is weak and
snivelly and is a great disappointment to his
Father. He was thrown out on his ear when
Willick found him dipping into the inn cash
box and now lives in cheap accommodation
elsewhere in town. Since then there was
some making up and Willick took his son
back on at the inn but keep a close eye on
him. Sanson takes every opportunity he can
to steal from the inn and its customers when
his Father is not looking, but it is mostly
petty things.
Old Jeremy (Human Male) - Regular Local
Warrior 0 Thac0: 20 HP: 3 Al: NG AC: 10
Age: 73
Attacks: fists 1D2-1/1D2-1 or by weapon (-
1 dam due to low strength)
Old Jeremy looks about ninety. He is
stooped and wrinkled beyond belief and has
a large pot belly from years of good living.
He likes to tell stories (complete lies) about
his adventuring career (he never had one).
Luke Perriweather (Human Male) -
Regular Local
Bard 4 Thac0: 18 HP: 10 AL: CG AC:4
(bracers and dex bonus) Age: 25
Attacks: fists 1D2/1D2 or by rapier+1
(1D6+1) or other weapon
Luke comes to the inn to tell stories and
play his lute. He is short and good-looking,
but somewhat feminine and often the butt of
jokes from others. He always wears his
bracers of defence AC6.
Jagg (Human ??) - Regular Local
Warrior 12 Thac0: 7 HP: 83 Al: CN AC: 10
(or 5 with chain-mail armour) Age: 28
Attacks: Axe +3 flaming (1D8 +3 dam +
1D6 flaming damage) (Str bonus +2 dam)
rJ?..p[e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993
Nobody knows if Jagg is a man or a woman.
And nobody asks! S/he is huge and ugly,
with a fierce face and a surly growl for a
voice. Jagg loves to start fights with non­
locals, but does not like to be banned from
the inn, so s/he usually provokes trouble and
then follows the victim outside to fight. Jagg
can be talked around by the Landlady or her
daughters (or any other charismatic woman)
if s/he is not too drunk.
Dale Nightingale (Half-Elf Male) - Live-in
Regular
Warrior 5 M-U 4 Thac0: 16 HP: 18 Al: LE
AC: -2 (Elvin Chain +3, Ring Prot. +4)
Age:31
Attacks: Scimitar in both hands (1D8)
attacks twice per round
Dale arrived in town about a year ago
covered in blood. He cleaned up, booked a
room at the Cradle and has been there ever
since. He dresses in black, with a long
swirling cloak, and is the object of desire of
several local women. He seems nervous
when large groups of new arrivals book into
the inn.
Usual Spells: 1st/ Charm Person, Magic
Missile 2nd/ Glitterdust, Hypnotic pattern.
Rook (Human Female) - Regular Local
Rogue 6 Thac0: 18 HP: 18 Al: CG AC: 7
(Studded Leather) Age: 25
Attacks: Hand Crossbow (1D6) Dagger
(1D4) Staff (1D6)
Rook is a solo adventurer that sometimes
offers her services for hire (30 gp per day +
danger related bonus). She is an
adventurer's thief only and does not waste
time with petty pick pocketing and house
burglary. She always drinks strong spirits
and is lively and mischievous. Although
plain looking and thin, Rook's unusual
green eyes and ready smile make her quite
attractive in an strange sort of way.
Farmer Sam (Human Male) - Regular
Local
Warrior 0 Thac0: 17 HP: 10 Al; LN AC: 10
Age: 40
Attacks: fists 1D2+6/1D2+6 or by weapon
(+6 dam strength bonus)
Sam is a local farmer who prefers the
company of adventurers to his peers.
Although he is a very large and powerful
man (18/00 strength natural) and a legend
amongst the people of the town. He also had
a keen and shrewd mind. He enjoys playing
the stupid farmer to bragging adventurers
while chuckling to himself about their lies
and exaggeration.
Egon Hotforge (Dwarf Male) - Regular
Local
Warrior 1 Thac0: 20 HP:7 Al: LG AC:10 (or
3 with plate mail) Age: 30 (human years)
Attacks: Battleaxe (1D8)
Egon is an adventurer of little experience
who in his own words is 'a little rusty'. He
has been drinking in the Cradle for 2 years
now and seems 'not too keen' to go
adventuring again 'just yet'. Egon loves a
tankard of ale and a good song.
Unfortunately, he sings very badly. Egon
has a treasure map showing the location of a
'horde of untold wealth' only two days
travel into the forest. However, he is
dubious about its authenticity, but one can
only live in hope.
Kimberly (Flame) (Halfling Female) -
Live-in Regular
Mage 3 Thief 3 Thac0: 19 HP: 9 Al: CE
AC: 3 (studded leather. +1 & Dex) Age: 27
(human years)
Attacks: Dagger +1, +3 vs's Good (1D4 + 1
or +3) called Dervish
Kimberly is known as Flame because of her
long red hair and fiery temperament. She is
sarcastic and wry when provoked, and is
obnoxious. However, her small stature and
stunning good looks make up for a lot and
she is generally put up with by other locals
who see her as a local personality. She lives
permanently at the inn, and always sits at
her own table with two or three local girls
who admire her and dote on her every word.
Flame is very careful to hide her true evil
nature and the fact that she is a spy for a
local evil mastermind (DMT�•s choice) who
keeps her at the inn to watch the comings
and goings of adventurers. Flame
communicates with her master through a
Magical Orb that is stored in her room.
Usual Spell: 1st/ Detect Magic, Read Magic
2nd/ Alter Self
Phillipe (Weredragon) - Local Regular
Warrior 1 Thac0: 20 HP: 4 Al: NG AC: 10
Age: 33
Dragon Form (as Black Dragon : Ancient
Al: CE)
Phillipe is not a standard weredragon (if
there is such a thing). He inherited the
lycanthropy from his father whom he can
barely remember. Phillipe was found left at
the town gates as a toddler and brought up
by a local wise woman. He is just a normal
man until the change comes upon him, at
which point he turns into an Ancient Black
Dragon and ravages the countryside in his
evil form. Phillipe isn't sure what happens
to him, but he suspects he is a werewolf
(very wrong!) He keeps this hidden from the
locals (as you do!) and is getting worried
about it. If he knew the cause of the
slaughtered herd animals and dead
adventurers over recent years for miles
around was himself he may be more worried
still. Phillipe has a treasure horde in a cave
in a forest not far away. This may or may
not be the horde that Egon (above) has a
map for. When in Dragon form, which
happens randomly about once a month for a
full day, Phillipe is Xangom the Ancient.
The dragon form has its own evil and
cunning personality, and does not know
what happens to it during its periods of
change. The dragon thinks it has been
magically cursed to forget whole periods of
its life (also very wrong) and when it first
wakes from its change it flies into a terrible
rage. Phillipe always feels ill about an hour
before the change, and wanders out of the town and into the
woods, in a daze, where he changes.
Other Locals
Warrior 1 Thac0: 20 HP: 5 Al: AC:10 Age: 18 - 45
Use these stats when bringing in standard locals drinking in
the bar. These will usually be part time adventurers,
travelling mercenaries or Caravan Guards passing through
town. They have usually been to the Cradle before, knowing
and respecting the Landlord.

Arri Firally .
Many adventures can spring from the foundations of the
Cats Cradle. The atmosphere of the place must be exciting
and bubbly. Fights in the Cats Cradle will NEVER result in
death if Willick and his family can help it - it's bad for
business. But it is not uncommon for tables and chairs to go
flying through the air and fists to be thrown. This bar-brawl
action should always be dynamic, almost unbelievable but
not too damaging. It is suggested that Hit Points are reduced
as normal but at the end of the fight half of what is lost is
given back to represent that the damage was purely bruising.
If blade weapons are drawn this will usually mean the calling
of whatever town security the DWM merits - it is hard to
write off blade attacks as bruising by even the sharpest DM -
hopefully this will be enough to prevent any death occurring.
If it is just a fist fight you could still have the town guard tum
up and join in! Everybody loves a bar brawl. Remember the
Cradle is your playground - use it as it stands or develop it as
you see fit until it is a great place for action. In the words of
Sanson Markes "Give me a bar that's more than just talk ....
!"
Cats Cradle - Price List
Real Ales
Willicks Home Brew - Strong and Thick.Real Men only
Old Grog - Dwarves like this - but nobody else! Very Strong
Whippers Best - Mild Ale for most palates
Black Ale - Thick and Treacly.Rare Ale.Medium Strength

Spirits
Vokkin - Strong, flavourless mixer.Fresh Apple Juice or Orange
Juice mixer free
Alberds Whisky - Strong well-aged whisky
Mindbender - Powerful Minty Spirit with mild stimulant ingredient
Sharpes - Very Strong Sherry like drink served in small crystal glass

Special
Vokkin Milk - Hot Milk and Vokkin 1/2 measure, whisked and
frothy
Fresh Water - supposedly 'from a mountain spring'- actually from
the town well! !
Cats Cradle Cocktail - Secret recipe - Very Strong.Tastes of
Strawberries

Food
Meal of the Day - Meat & 2 Veg, plus Apple pie
Steak on a stick - Hot and Spicy
Banquets - Minimum six people

Room& Board
Hot water for baths etc - FREE with room price
Breakfast - usually ham and eggs
Porter - usually Willick
2 person room for one week - 5gp

Other Services
Storage on Cold Store - Small items only i.e.block of cheese
Tailor/shoe mending - usually Melianne
Laundry Service - 2day tum-round
'Massage' - With the 'Massage' service, local girls have an
agreement to provide this discreetly and pay Willick lgp from the
three.Melianne does not know about this.Well, at least, Willick
doesn't think she knows.
�{e P{ayer lnaepenaent Ju{y 1993
 '

RM 1 ROOTS OF E*IL
AD&D@ 2ND EDITION
RAVENLOFT@ ADVENTURE
ERIK HADDOCK & DAVID
WISE
TSR INC.
£6.99
Remember a few issues ago I told you
about the Great Conjunction that was about
to happen in Raven/oft? Well don't say I
didn't warn you, it's happened, and the
proverbial really hits the fan when Raven/oft
comes back to the real world, bringing with
it whomever and whatever you care to
mention!
Roots of Evil follows on from where
From the Shadows left on, and while I
thought From the Shadows was a damn
good adventure/supplement it pales to
insignificance when compared to Roots of
Evil, for which it is just a scene setter.
It's not often I can rave about a scenario,
but I actually found myself unable to put
this one down; whether I was on the toilet,
in bed, or typesetting and designing this
magazine! It makes an excellent read and,
while there is a certain amount of being led
Vl
by the nose, characters are free to wander
and drop themselves in it time after time. In
most AD&D modules there is a tendency for
player characters to drop themselves in it
from a combat point of view - this
adventure will allow them to blunder by
their interaction with NPCs, yes, this
adventure contains lots of role playing.
We're not talking about your average,
"hello Mr Farmer, that's a lovely crop of
spiced beets you've got growing there,
arrrgh, no! He's really a Lycanthrope, let's
kill it," type of NPC either, the NPCs that
make an appearence here should need no
introduction to your player characters.
Some things in the adventure kind of
contradict what we've been led to believe in
the past. When a domain enters Raven/oft
we are told how the mists surround it and
the entire region is moved into the
Demiplane of Dread. Apparently this is not
so; only the evil ghost of the land (and its
occupants) is removed to Ravenloft. The the
actual land and its buildings are left behind,
and so Roots of Evil allows your player
characters to visit Barovia (where it all
started) some 400 years in the future (after
the fall of Strahd).
If you've been playing a Ravenloft
campaign from the start of the setting (i.e.
from when the boxed set and first
adventure, Feast of Goblyns made an
appearence, not /6 Raven/oft and its follow
up adventure House on Griffon Hill) then
Roots of Evil is where it will all come
together; each of the past adventures (not all
of them though) have had their small part to
play, and all will become clear when
playing this adventure.
All in all, this adventure should satisfy
all types of AD&D player; it has role
playing for those that are into that sort of
thing, it has power play when interacting
with the major NPCs, and finally it has a
dungeon bash and an apocalyptic ending.
Who could ask for more?
Stig

RM2 THE CREATED cinemas when it was first released -

® ®
AD&D 2ND EDITION RAVENLOFT
ADVENTURE
BRUCE NESMITH
TSR INC.
£4.50
Imagine if Walt Disney got out of the
wrong side of bed the day he'd decided to
do the classic animation adaptation of
Pinnochio. Imagine Walt trying to explain
to his group of animators, "right guys, it's
about a puppet that runs riot around a small,
pseudo Bavarian town..." Somehow I don't
think so, and so Bruce Nesmith has decided
to write it for us, something that many of us
may have wished to happen in the animated
film.
Although the actual Pinnochio characters
don't appear by name they're there, right
down to the cat, and I seriously believe that
this is the reason why this adventure will
appeal to the older generation of role
players, those who saw Pinnochio in the
remember the whole fascination of a puppet
that lived, breathed and spoke? Wasn't it
spooky? Perhaps not. Anyway, this isn't
film '93 and so on with the adventure:
The small town of Odiare is to hold a
festival to celebrate Bambeen, a sort of
Bank Holiday that honours life, growth, and
especially children. During the festival the
player characters enter town, before long the
mist rises and off you go.... Just a little
thought - if you were staying at a hotel, and
either Miss Marple, Hercule Poirot, or domain and Dark Lord to add to the already
indeed Jessica Fletcher (Murder she Wrote) crowded demi-plane that is Raven/oft. The
turned up you would leave immediately, adventure itself isn't too awe aspiring, but
knowing full well that there was a murder DWMs with an ounce of ingenuity will be
about to take place. So why do all the able to re-write certain parts and add a few
peasants, etc. always insist on hanging others to make it extremely memorable.
around these festivals when the characters Overall, a nicely written adventure for
tum up? I don't know. low-level (2nd-4th) characters that would
For £4.50 you get a thirty page booklet work ideally with a lot of expansion by the
with one additional monster - namely the DM.
one that appears throughout the adventure, One question that I have to ask myself -
and the usual wrap around card with is Bruce Nesmith Walt Disney, fresh from
relevant maps and bits. You also get a new cryogenics, and with a bad attitude?
Stig

'RJ)[e Pfayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993

SHADOWS ON THE
BORDERLANDS
RUNEQUEST 3RD EDITION
AVALON HILL
£14.99
What, another RuneQuest release?
Already? Absolutely!
Avalon Hill finally appear to be living up
to their promises of quality support material
for RuneQuest. Shadows on the Borderland
is the latest offering in the River of Cradles
campaign series, and provides three
scenarios for your Yelmalio aspirants
(thanks Kev!), Praxian nomads or Pavic
adventurers to get their teeth into. All three
scenarios are interlinked but may be played
separately, or as an episodic campaign;
likewise many links exist to the Sun County
and River of Cradles packages.
The package itself consists of an 80 page
book, a 24 page GM reference pull out and
three maps. The cover art is excellent, and
gives an indication of the general tone of the
material contained within - nasty!
The first scenario, Gaumata's Vision,
runs to 23 pages and is an,absolute winner.
Gaumata, Light Keeper of the Sun Dome
temple, receives a vision of a terrible evil
lurking within the boundaries of Sun
County. Sun Dome Templars or Militia Men
are the logical choice of characters here,
and may be ordered to investigate.
independent adventurers often require
further incentive before they will help;
arresting them and offering them a choice
between voluntary service or torture and
imprisonment usually does the trick! This
scenario is primarily of an investigative
nature, with combat playing a secondary
role, thus providing a top quality
introductory adventure for new players and
characters. This scenario is, however, by no
means a pushover, and is sufficiently subtle
to challenge even the most experienced
RuneQuester.
Scenario two, Dyskund Caverns, is an
updated version of a RuneQuest 2nd Edition
adventure that appeared in White Dwarf 51
under the title of Black Broo of
Dyskund. "Oh no, not more
reprints," I hear you cry. Well,
yes and no, this scenario is in
effect a reprint. However, it is
possibly described as an
enlarged, rationalised and well
rounded rewrite of an already
very good scenario. The
characters enter this formidable
scenario after receiving a copy of an ancient
Carmanian scroll that describes the location
of a second age chaos holy site. The
scenario is, as might be guessed, a chaos
bash; but not your ordinary, insanely
gibbering, disorganised Broo rabble type
chaos. No, no! This is something much
darker. In all an excellent scenario, but one
that requires some careful balancing of PC/
NPC strengths, if the player characters are
not to end up as attractive ornaments on
Drueke's belt!
The third and final scenario, A Tale to
Tell, is, I'm afraid, a reprint through and
through. A Tale to Tell also made its first
appearance in White Dwarf (in 3rd Edition
format, so no excuse there) and returns here
largely unaltered. Having said all this, A
Tale to Tell is a very good scenario indeed
and is also a logical choice for inclusion in
this pack, serving as it does to link Shadows
on the Borderlands with River of Cradles
through Duke Raus of Rone who is a major
recruiter for this scenario. The characters
are hired to track down and eliminate
Muriah, Witch-Queen of the River of
Cradle's Broos. Muriah is rumoured to be
unkillable, however the characters acquire a
Lhankor Mhy scroll that may provide the
key to her destruction. This scenario again
requires considerable problem solving
ability; but in order to defeat Muriah and
her Broos some proficiency with weapons is
a must. The option to tone down Muriah's
forces is provided, but I feel that this one is
best run at full strength as Muriah is a major
force in the area and should not be taken on
in a light-hearted manner.
The final section of Shadows on the
Borderland is a full write up of the Cult of
Thanatar. For those who have not previously
�{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993
encountered this cult, this section will be a
revelation. Thanatar is chaos at its very
nastiest; forget your slime dripping
Porchango mutations, and your Primal
Chaos ooze, for scarring characters to death
- there is nothing quite like a garrotte in the
night! The write up of the cult is well
executed and in the same style as those
found in River of Cradles and Sun County,
and is a rewrite of material originally
provided in the late lamented 2nd Edition
supplement, Cults of Terror.
In conclusion, Shadows on the
Borderland is a pretty good investment. It is
an enjoyable read,, the scenarios are
challenging and the artwork is good. While
it is somewhat irritating to find oneself
reading familiar material, it is gratifying to
know that if Avalon Hill are going to reprint
old material at least they have the sense to
choose the good stuff, and things that are
not now readily accessible to new players
(i.e. the old White Dwarf material). Indeed,
had this material not been reprinted it would
have been sorely missed given the scarcity
of 2nd Edition products such as Cults of
Terror. As a final word, Avalon Hill have
provided yet another product link, should
the characters excel in the scenarios
provided here they receive an invitation of
an unusual nature.... Dinner in Doraster, the
land of doom! (Doraster, Land of Doom is
the next Gloranthan RuneQuest supplement
from Avalon Hill, and should be with us
soon.)
Andy Smith
You're washed ashore with your favourite
sword lost beneath the ocean waves.
There's a 12 foot Octopaw staring at you.
He'd like to eat your eyeballs for lunch. LIFETIME TO
Welcome to....
A GORGEOUS
TROPICAL PARADISE
Unspoiled beaches, miles of free real
estate, warm tropical breezes,
geysers and swamps, lush vegitation
Your name is Spearbuster. You're a Furrcat (did
andipoisonous plants, exotic wildlife
you ever see a furry elf warrior?) about to
including some of the deadliest (and
embark on the biggest adventure of your life.
ugliest) creatures you ever saw,
< FREE GAME SET UP, TRAVEL GUIDE AND jungles, crystal mountains and
RULES (FUTURE TURNS £1.75) religious wierdoes.
< 7 DIFFERENT MONSTERS RACES TO CHOOSE
FROM
< MAKE YOUR OWN WEAPONS AND ARMOUR (One way travel only. Offer does not include
food, lodging, insurance, rental car, and other
< HUNDREDS OF UNIQUE TREASURE ITEMS assorted sundries. Not affiliated with Club 18-30
< LASER PRINTED TERRAIN MAPS EACH TURN • or ABTA, Travel guide and haversuit supplied.
< MAGIC AND VOODOO Please note: Although Monster island is roughly
< CAVE DELVING AND GRAVEYARD LOOTING three times the size of Australia, it is purely
coincidental and in no way are we implying that
< TRADING POSTS, FAR INNS AND NPC RACES Australia is a small and insignificant place.)

For your free catalogue, game setup, travel guide and rules, write now to:-

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UEST
Imagine a complete fantasy world with powerful gods and strange magic.
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Imagine no more! Select your party of adventurers from the sixteen
different character types. Take up your spellbooks and swords and travel
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Seek your fame and fortune in the wilderness, explore the depths of
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and other players. These are just a few of the options
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QUEST is a computer moderated game played through the
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GAMES

MAN 0 1 WAR
WARHAMMER COMBAT AT SEA
GAME'S WORKSHOP
£24.99
When you purchase a Games Workshop
boxed game you can be sure that you are
going to get a product that is filled with
bright, colourful, detailed quality pieces.
You can also be sure that the rules have
been trimmed for maximum logical and
action effect but minimum strategy and
tactical play, and Man O' War follows this
trend to the letter!
In the basic set you are given no board
(generally a beautifully designed board is a
trademark of a Games Workshop game), a
set of crew counters (which are all the same
for Imperial or Pirate fleets), several other
counters (including Wizards, Admirals,
Damage and Fire Counters), a dozen ship
cards, a few assorted other cards, and twelve
galleys, six in red plastic and six in blue,
which are designed for head-on cannon
firing and ramming. These have a very
limited crew capacity (only two crew
counters per ship), paper sails (coloured on
one side only), very limited weaponry
(unless otherwise directed by a lucky
random draw from the Man O' War card
deck) and (after a few decent hits) very
limited movement capabilities, yet without
doubt this game is one of the best Games
Workshop have designed in recent years and
is liable to go on to be a classic in years to
come.
The rules do need a little tidying up, but
most games require house rules, and this
needs no more than most others, and I asked
John-Paul Brisigotti if he could clarify a
few areas for me that had cropped up during
play. He was extremely helpful, and I'm
pleased to be able to reprint his replies here
as I'm sure they will cover the majority of
rules interpretations and hopefully prevent
any heated discussions between opposing
players.
RULES ADJUSTMENTS
Ships that hit other ships, islands, rocks
or obstacles when blown off course by
magical or other means are deemed to have
been rammed and the usual ram rules apply.
When the Command Ship sinks, the
owner player can designate another ship in
his fleet to take over the role. This new ship
does not get an admiral and has to wait until
the following tum until the command takes
effect.
Ships that cannot attack or be attacked as
a result of a spell CAN be affected by magic
(spells cast on them) unless the original
spell states that magic does not effect them.
Ships cannot move, fire and then ram,
but they can move, ram, then fire, and then,
if necessary, board.
Finally, when an area on a ship catches
fire it also takes damage. A damage marker
and a fire marker should be placed on it.
The damage cannot be repaired until the fire
is extinguished. The damage is not
automatically repaired when the fire is put
out, a repair spell has to be used on it.
There is very little preparation required
before a game can be played, although
painting the ships and placing masts and
sails on them makes for a more visual
display, for all you need is a flat surface
with enough room to allow for the laying
out of the island cards, with a free to one
side for the other game components. A die
is rolled to determine who has initiative at
the beginning of each tum and then both
sides alternate casting spells that will either
hinder the opposition or aid one or more of
their own ships. This is the only time magic
is cast during a tum and the effects of each
spell last only for the tum in which it was
cast, with the exception of changing the
direction of the wind. During a tum each
fleet carries out all possible orders, moving,
ramming, firing etc. and as each side has
two fleets of three ships, these are moved
alternatively with the initiative winning side
moving first and third. If a ships sinks
during an opponents phase it does not have
any simultaneous or retaliatory fire, even if
it has not had a go that tum. This make
2\9{e Pfayer Independent Ju{y 1993
initiative quite important, particularly in the
latter stages of play when both sides have
suffered heavily and ships are few and far
between.
Movement is in inches, using a
measurement "stick" (card) for forward
moving and a patent template for turning,
with sails being speedier than oars but not
available when ramming is the chosen
attack. I'm not sure that I appreciate ships
being able to tum 180 degrees and then fire
on a vessel that was sailing along behind
them, though I do like the idea of separate
islands (it reminds me of the great games of
Seastrike I used to have) but for Man O'
War I would have preferred to have a
material map (similar to the one in Battle
Masters but coloured in sea blue shades)
with overlaid one-inch squares onto which
the islands could still have been randomly
placed. This would stop the fiddling around
when ships are in close contact and have to
be moved to allow the measuring "stick" to
be accurately placed. Accuracy is really not
a problem though, a leniency is more the
rule than the exception, except when a ram
attack is a possibility as ships must be more
than three inches away, yet within their
legal movement distance, to be able to
facilitate a ram.
Combat, the crux of any battle game, is
down to comparing modified die rolls
(everything being decided by a standard D6)
in almost effective manner, but the major
source of amusement in Man O' War is the
simplicity of the actual fighting in contrast
to the difficulty of manoeuvring into the .
most advantageous position. One hint we've
discovered in play is to always scuttle
opposition ships when captured as the
enemy have the nasty ability of turning the
tables and capturing them back when you
least expect it.
There are already new ships available
which allow for game variations with Elves,
Dark Elves, and Dwarves each having their
own style of floating death-dealing
machines (love the Dwarves' ironsides!) and
in the coming months we shall also be
seeing supplementary boxed sets beginning
with Plague Fleet (all of the chaos and
Skaven ships complete with battle cards and
additional rules) which will quickly be
followed by Sea Of Blood (comprising of
cards for all the individual ships first
described in the Man O' War rules book),
and a collection of sea-monsters designed to
make happy-day sailing a thing of the past.
Sales of Man O' War have exceeded the
companies expectations and this may cause
a minor delay in the release of the
accessories that are ready and waiting for
the initial rush on the main game to die
down before being introduced onto the
market.
Chris "Blue Beard" Baylis

Empathic
Sourcebook
EMPATHIC SOURCEBOOK
DARK CONSPIRACY SUPPLEMENT
GOW
First thing I have to say about this 120 page
supplement for GDW' s Dark Conspiracy is.....
about time it came out! There have been flyers and
adverts a plenty promising this collection of rules
additions for empaths, and it's finally here.
And yeah, it was worth the wait after all. Let's
face it, all us Dark Conspiracy players, and refs,
have been there - sitting in the front room,
propping up six packs or coffee mugs, watching
David Cronenberg' s Scanners on the goggle box,
and that bit comes on where Michael Ironside
makes the bald dude's head explode in slow
motion, and somebody pipes up and says, "I wish
my character could do that." Well, friend, now he
can. Yes, there are rules for terminally expanding
someone's cranial capacity by making their brains
explode all over the room, although it is just
fleetingly mentioned.
GDW are currently changing their Twilight
2000 style rule systems (again) to a new one that
uses a D20 base. While this is undoubtedly a better
idea because it gives five levels of difficulty
instead of three, it does offer GMs a few problems.
This is especially true if you've gone and bought
the PC expansion kit, because the D20 system they
introduce there is different from the one they've
got in the Empathic Sourcebook. In other words,
two massive rules reshuffles in the space of a few
supplements.
If you can remember back to when Twilight
2000 was a percentage based system, maybe this
means that things are going to go full circle. as it is
your players are going to grumble and m9an while
they reach for their erasers.
Once we get past the teeth-rendering, hair
gnashing introduction of yet another new system,
the sourcebook warms up quite nicely. Another
new addition to the basic rules is the concept of
fear. Not like panic in combat, this governs how
your PC reacts the first time they encounter a bug­
eyed googly monster. It sort of governs the colour
of their underwear, in other words. Good idea
numero uno.
Empaths have been split into four distinct
categories that cover which powers they can use
and what their general attitude to their powers are,
These are mystic, psionic, sorcerer and neuropath -
I'll explain that in a minute.
The most daunting thing about this supplement
is that any existing empaths are going to have to go
back and look over their whole character again.
1w[e P[ayer Independent Ju[y 1993
Technically, you shouldn't have to do this, but the
supplement gives most empaths access to
previously unobtainable skills such as pyrokinesis,
telekinesis, cryokinesis, and dimension walk. Two
things about this - as I've said, no scanner worth
his salt is going to pass up a chance to get some of
these skills, so they may want to change their
character around a bit. And number two, this is
going to make your PCs that bit more powerful.
I don't think that this is a bad thing. The
empaths in my own campaign have had access to
such skills almost from the beginning, mainly
because they were so much fun I didn't want to
ban them, and the difficulty of using such skills in
tense situations means they're not going to be able
to use them that often anyway.
There then follows a resume of the empathic
underground, with rules and suggestions for
creating your own minion bashing groups. This
section is pretty imaginative, treating the groups
like terrorist cells and giving them their own
motivations and styles, from Pencil Commandos to
Gunslingers.
Several cells are also briefly outlined, and one
is given a complete background at the end of the
book. This even includes a rather poor attempt to
mimic the ads that you see in Star Wars and
Cyberpunk rulebooks. New character classes for
renegade ETs are also included.
The four types of empaths are treated in detail,
and, while their outlooks are pretty diverse, they all
have similar skill abilities; Neuropaths are really
latent empaths - the sort of guys who get a bump
on the head and then realise that they can make
airliners drop out of the sky.
Scanners and Brian De Palma' s The Fury have
obviously been a big influence here. Neuropaths
often end up with personality disorders and no
friends, rather like the main characters in the above
movies. Then there are the psionics, who see
empathic abilities in a very scientific light,
stimulating their brains to produce certain
chemicals and so on. Mystics are the opposite,
spending their time being at one with the cosmos
(like Carl Sagan) and astral travelling and stuff.
There are full rules for astral travel and combat,
and for what is likely to be out there in the Twilight
Zone. Sorcerers are the last group, drawing their
power from the different proto-dimensions close to
our own world. As you can guess, these magicians
don't have names like Jay Presto! or the Great
Marvo (with a prize for every boy & girl).
Overall the Empathic Sourcebook is brilliant,
brilliant, brilliant, and your empath PCs will buy
you drinks forever if you go out and buy it and
make them look cool. No guarantee there, of
course.
Jonathan Turner
WELCOME TO SYLVAN
PINES
OVER THE EDGE ADVENTURE
STEPHEN MICHAEL SECHI
£6.15
AIRWAVES
OVER THE EDGE ADVENTURE
RESOURCE
REMBERT N. PARKER
£3.85
I will review these two products together
and, in keeping with the spirit of OTE, I will try
not to give too much away.
Welcome to Sylvan Pines is set in a private
sanatorium (their spelling not mine) on the isle
of Al Amarja. The players have various ways of
entering the sanatorium and interacting with the
patients. The interesting thing is that the
sanatorium is so well detailed for the GM to use
it as part of his existing campaign, only running
the adventure when the players have grown
familiar with the characters involved. Certainly
allowing players to "discover" Sylvan Pines
Sanatorium for themselves, perhaps even using
it as a safe bolt hole will get them more
involved with the survival of the NPCs.
Airwaves is an expansion of the original
OTE background material. In it you get a
Television Station with somewhat more detail
than usual in the rulebook, some characters, a
new villain and some details on a street of
shops. It will fit easily into any OTE campaign
and provides more characters and venues for
you to build a campaign around. There are
adventure ideas given in this booklet, but it is a
sourcebook, not an adventure.
I awaited this material with interest. I have
enjoyed GMing OTE and have considerable
respect for the system and background material.
When the two booklets arrived their physical
quality and the material supplied is certainly up
to the standard of the main body of the rules.
However, I have one overwhelming reservation;
just what do you get for your money? For £10
you get two A4 booklets which together weigh
the same as one copy of RPI. Welcome to
Sylvan Pines has 32 pages, Airwaves a derisory
16.
So, a recommendation. I bought these two
booklets. They are interesting and of high
quality, but I personally feel they are poor value
for money. For the same money I could have
bought a Chaosium Scenario booklet which
would have had at least twice the material, and
Cthulhu Now scenarios can be used for OTE
with very little modification.
Over all I was disappointed. I have been
very keen on the OTE background and system
and, quite frankly, I felt ripped off. If you are
an OTE GM, then you should read these
booklets if you get the chance because there are
some good ideas in them, but I don't feel there
is £10 worth of ideas. If they were bound
together and priced at £3.85 I would tell you to
rush out and buy them, even if you didn't have
OTE and were a generic Horror Gamer. If they
were bound together at £6.15, then I'd still say
they were a reasonable buy for the dedicated
GM. At £10 they are over priced.
Jim Webster
THE CITY OF SKULLS
• pages of pre-gens to use. Personally, I would
GREYHAWK ADVENTURE
TSR INC.
£5.99
Welcome to this month's Carl Sargent
Appreciation Club Corner. This time however,
there's a departure from the recent WGR format.
The next release in this series, City of Skulls, is an
adventure, not a sourcebook, although, as would
be expected, there is a lot of information
concerning Dorakaa and its inhabitants. But don't
throw up your hands in horror yet, folks, because it
is (sigh) yet another corker. It would appear to be
a simple rescue mission, penetrating Dorakaa in
one swift strike. However, things just aren't easy
in the City of Skulls. This adventure has had some
real thought put behind it, and this is, I feel, the
reason why this adventure stands head and
shoulders above the rest. Not only does the text
inspire the DM7M every step of the way, but it's a
real breath of fresh air to see the NPCs, and
monsters all using their intelligence, utilising
tactics, and communicating with other enemies of
the party... If players don't have suitable characters
with which to play this module, there are a few
recommend using these if the current characters
aren't Greyhawk based or if the DM is unsatisfied
with a player's current one. The days of lists
o'stats are over too; the numbers being augmented
by a character description, incorporating
appearance, personality, background, goals etc.
the cake of the 'living' adventure. An experienced
They're ideal characters to role play, and the ideal
DM could make this one hell of a kicking
thing to give to a player who has problems making
adventure for his players. This doesn't mean,
every 'list of stats and an alignment' noticeably
however, that an inexperienced (but intelligent)
different. Another pat on the back is awarded for
DM, would be left high and dry, wondering what to
the 'Notoriety' system. While the characters are in
do with themselves. This item is a honeypot of
the vicinity of luz' s capital, it is inevitable that
pointers and information, which will help improve
things will be noticed by his servants.... Maybe it's
their adventure running, and designing talents to
just that strange robed demi-human (the only one
no end. To optimise this adventure's potential, you
in Dorakaa) that wandered down the street just a
will need copies of From the Ashes and luz the
minute ago, or that strange explosion that left
Evil. If you're planning on delving into the politics
seven Priests of luz smeared around the walls of
of the thing, you might also find a copy of The
the jail... Anyway, the party will perhaps be
Mark/ands handy. The adventure can, of course,
unaware that, no matter how careful they've been,
be ruh without any of these, but you'd be losing
they're leaving a followable trail. The Notoriety
out in the long run.
system deals with this admirably. The party's
To round off; this is another definite buy. Can
actions can raise or lower a Notoriety score, which
TSR keep up this momentum and standard in the
helps determines just who has noticed the
future? Let's hope so.
infiltration, and how hard they're going to try to
Jeff Walsh
eliminate the intruders. This is just the cherry on

SJRS SPACE LAIRS

SPELL JAMMER Acc.
TSR INC.
£5.99
Those of us who have been in the hobby
for a while may still have dog-eared copies
of The Book of Lairs, volumes 1 and 2,
lying around our abodes, and will know
roughly what to expect from this new
product for Spelljammer. The idea behind
both this 2nd Edition offering, and its
predecessors, was to offer a number of
mini-adventures, or expanded encounters,
that could be slotted into any campaign in
progress, or perhaps run as a one off (you
know, like when suddenly aJJ your players
arrive at your house demanding excitement,
adventure, and err.. the biscuit tin). So is it
a worthwhile purchase? Read on. AJJ the
usual Spelljammer reference materials
should be to hand when attempting to run
one of these adventures, and it is also
suggested that The Complete Spacefarer's
Handbook and War Captain's Compendium
could be of some use. What I immediately
i s
liked, upon flicking through the pages, was
the little grey box at the start of each
individual adventure. The box in question
notifies the prospective DM of several facts
concerning the adventure, for example; the
Terrain and monsters involved, how many
Levels of characters should be involved, GP
value, XP etc. and any special conditions
which should be taken into account. This is
ideal if you have to flip through the book at
point-blank notice and pick an adventure.
The text gets underway below the box,
starting with a few alternate Start Ups or
plot hooks. Again, useful for getting parties
out of the flow of their campaign trail.
Following this, we're into our traditional
adventure bumph; introduction, background,
monster stats, etc. you know the drill. So,
what's the quality of the adventures like?
WeJJ, I have to say that there's a lot of ideas
in there, but a couple of them are real
donkeys or plain predictable. Then again, it
rather depends on your players, and you, the
DM. I would say that on the whole, the
quality of the contents rates well above
average, and everything appears to be easily
runnable with little preparation. Most of
them need a read through, but I'm certain
that everything can probably be worked out
while your players are busy arguing over
who gets the magic items from their last
foray into the unknown. It's also worth
pointing out that with a little ingenuity,
DM's can either warp the ideas to different
settings, or expand one of the items, which
shouldn't reaJJy last longer than a session,
to a fuJl-blown adventure. The ideas are
there to be used. Final Verdict: Fulfils what
it sets out to achieve. Have a look, see what
you think. You might like it.
Jeff Walsh

rJ?J)[e Pfayer Inc£epenc£ent Ju[y 1993


™
AMAZING ENGINE
ROLE PLAYING GAME
DAVE 11ZEB 11 COOK
TSR INC.
£5.99
Amazing Engine is a new role-play system by
David "Zeb" Cook , and produced by TSR.
Marketed as a game system unlike any you've
played before, the idea is to provide a game were
players can take their characters from one Universe
to the next with only minimal changes, so that one
minute they can be playing in Victorian England
and the next flying spaceships in the void of the
next galaxy, an idea that will be familiar to players
of Steve Jackson's GURPS game.
So what is the basic game, I hear you cry, your
money poised for another investment in the
endless quest for the perfect system. Sit down, take
a valium and read on.....
The system guide deals with the creation of a
Core Character, the dice pool from which all of
your later characters will emerge. Players must
decide what area their characters will be good in
and which areas they will be less so. They are
given the choice of Physique (for the fighters
amongst you), Intellect (for the scholars and
techies), Spirit (for the fireball friendly) and
Influence (for the high born or charming). From
these four base headings are produced eight prime
statistics that shape the character, such as Fitness,
learning and Willpower. How many dice you get to
roll for each of these stats depends on what order
you ranked the four base headings, so that if you
chose Physique first you get more dice for stats
like fitness than you do for learning, for example.
What this means is that if you wanted a fighter type
character then you are more or less guaranteed to
get one, and the same goes for the mages and thief
types. No more looking at your poor dice rolls and
having to settle for a class you don't fancy. Since
each Universe will be different, each time you start
in a new Universe you roll up a new character but
the order of the four base headings remains the
same, as does the number of dice, so that, generally
speaking, once a fighter always a fighter!
2?.g[e P[ayer Inaepenaent Ju[y 1993
What skills your character possesses will
depend on what universe he plays in, but all skills
are linked to one of the basic eight stats. To use a
skill, players simply roll under the applicable stat;
to hit with a firearm, for example, players have to
roll under their Reflexes. This makes the system
very simple and straight forward.
Experience earned in games can be "spent"
right away to improve chances of performing skills
(by adding to your stat) or can be re-invested in
your core-character so that when you come to roll
up a new character for another universe,
experience placed here can get you more dice to
roll for stats.
The system guide then goes on to outline the
combat system and movement , which are common
to all Universes. The combat system has been kept
simple, with players rolling under their stat to hit
and with minor damage (cuts and bruises) coming
off a stamina total while more serious damage
(gunshot wounds etc.) coming off a hit point total.
When your stamina reaches zero you are
unconscious, when your hits reach zero you are
dead. Rules are provided for aimed shots to vital
areas, but a hit location system is not used.
Overall, this is a nice system. It is simple and
easy to use, and produces satisfactory results.
However, I would not suggest you run out and
buy it to replace the system you are using already.
The core rules are incomplete by themselves, and
the Universe supplements are too specific to
convert. My only other misgiving is that I might
want to play a fighter in a space game and a wizard
in another, this system does not allow you to do
this, but this is only a minor point that can be easily
rectified with a nice GM. All in all, not a bad little
system.....
And now, on with the reviews...........
FOR FAERIE, QUEEN AND
COUNTRY - £10.99
This is the first Universe book for the Amazing
Engine system and what a start!! The setting is that
of Victorian England; you know, all Hansom Cabs
rolling down foggy, cobbled London streets, things
being; "not cricket," and the empire expanding in
leaps and bounds overseas. But, living alongside
Faerie Realm. The evil Faeries of Unseelie Court
strive to upset the human world, aided by the
human wizards of The Esteemed Order Of
Thaumaturgists. Magick is a skill taught at Oxford,
the Tuatha de Dannan lobby for Irish home rule in
Parliament while dreaded Night Hags stalk the •
foggy streets of London for unwary victims.
Personally, I have always loved the Victorian
setting for games like Chaosium's Call ofCthulhu
or 23rd Para/lei's Luther Arkwright, but it was
always a nuisance that no-one believed in magic or
magical creatures ( "Honest officer, it was a brain
eating Mi-Go from Venus. What are you doing
with that net...). This way, players can explore
ruined Scottish castles for evil magicians and their
Goblin cronies without anyone locking them up!!
The background is provided in depth, is well
thought out and is, in my opinion, excellent. The
magic system allows for players to become
powerful mages but restricts them to the realms of
believability (only allowing powerful spells to be
cast under a full moon inside a stone circle, for
example). The supplement comes with an excellent
full colour map of Victorian Britain and a
streetmap of London.
If you like the sound of this game, you'll love
the product.
BUGHUNTERS - £10.99
"Is this going to be a stand up fight, sir, or
another bug hunt?"
"All we know is that there is still no contact
with the colonists and that a Xeno-morph may be
involved."
"A xeno-what?"
"Its another bug hunt"
Ever since this briefing scene in the movie
Alien 2, players and games manufacturers alike
have tried to emulate the colonial space marines,
with their powerful weapons spreading death and
destruction to any "Xenomorph" they might meet
If you've ever wanted to travel the universe
meeting strange and wonderful life forms and
killing them, then this is it.
Bughunters allows the players to be enhanced
human Marines in their battle to make the Universe
safe from nasty alien beasts. The Universe book
contains new skills for space age play, background
for humanities history in the stars, rules for
creating and playing in Space ships and the usual
section on "big guns". The supplement also
comes with a colour star map and details a number
of races for your players to encounter and kill.
Overall, I cannot complain about the quality of
this product. It is detailed, well presented and
everything is there at the GMs fingertips. However,
the subject matter is limited. A good GM could
expand this system, with a bit of work, to be a fully
functional Sci-Fi game, but it would be a struggle.
Players may soon become bored with the idea
of hunting aliens, to the point where the briefing
scene changes;
"A xeno-what"
"Its another bug-hunt!"
"In that case, can we play "Faerie, Queen and
Country instead?"
Peter Brown

BLOOD BERETS
HEART BREAKER
SF SKIRMISH BOARD GAME
£19.95
Blood Berets is a SF skirmish game set
in the world of the Mutant Chronicles where
the forces of the Imperial Corporation
battle it out against an undead force of
Legionnaires and Nepharite Overlords of
the Dark Legion. The initial pack comes
with three ready to play scenarios, one set in
an unknown cave system, one in the jungles
of Venus, and one set in both (!); because
there are a host of optional rules that can be
brought in a number of different games can
be played using the supplied bits.The box
comes packed with a 9 piece double-sided
game board, 16 plastic miniatures which are
of very good quality a sheet of 70 card
counters, a deck of 56 cards consisting of
BLACK DEATH
BTRC
GREG PORTER
BOARD GAME
I worry about the folks at BTRC, I really
do.I mean did Greg Porter wake up one
day and think 'I'd really like to be a plague
to see whether I can wipe out more people
than me old mate Bubonic did, all those
years ago'.Having met the guy at Games
Spectacular I suspect that is exactly what
happened, and so we now have Black Death,
a tasteless board game in which you try to
wipe out more of the European population
before your fellow plagues do so.
The pack is not of amazing quality
consisting of an A3 playing map, a host of
cardboard counters and action cards, and
four sides of rules.Each player selects
which disease they fancy, whether it be real
or imaginary and then selects the ratio of
character, equipment, and weapon cards, a
D20 and a 32 page A5 rule book that takes
you through the stages of the game from the
most simplest level up to the more complex.
It must be said that the rule book is not the
most clearly laid out set of rules I have ever
come across, but once you have given them
a couple of reads all becomes clear.
Game play is logical and does leave a
fair bit of space for tactical play, rather than
this just being another hack and slash affair,
although if that is your thing then you won't
virulence : mortality they feel will reap the
most damage. Virulence effects how far
your disease spreads, while mortality effects
how many people you wipe out per round.
The player that reaches the required body
count first is the winner, dead simple!
I must admit that reading through the
rules before I actually played the game I
wasn't totally enthralled with the whole
idea, but once play started I discovered the
game is actually very good.You very
quickly realise that certain cities on the map
have better strategic value than others,
allowing you to set up a breeding ground
and then spread out just like a real disease!
The game is in fact very strategic (which is
probably why I lost!) and will probably take
between one and two hours to complete,
depending on how familiar you are with the
rules.Up to six plagues can play, the more
on the rampage the longer the game will
take to complete as the players attempt to
carry their own disease across the continent
whilst wiping out other players counters as
they go.
�{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993
be disappointed.Indeed, once you get to the
higher levels of game play things can get
very complicated, meaning that Blood
Berets is a game that should appeal to a
very wide age range, although there is little
doubt that this release represents a fairly
major play for the Warhammer 40K market
of pr\:-dominantly early teens and below.
This is made even more obvious by the
promise of further scenarios, comic sand
(dare I say it ) video games, however this
shouldn't scare away the 'more mature'
gamers out there as the game does have a
great deal of potential.
Play revolves around the individual
character skills in either weapon use or
hand-to-hand combat at the very basic level,
but in more advanced play each side has the
use of better fire-power, scanning
equipment, medics and, if you're playing
the bad guys, psionic attack via the Dark
Symmetry.
Heart Breaker have taken a bold step
with the release of Blood Berets, as the
market they are aiming at is pretty 'tight' as
we all know.To their advantage they have a
good base product to work up from and
appear to have thought through their
marketing strategy pretty well to ensure that
the product stays in the spotlight.If they can
keep up this quality with future releases
then they deserve to do well.Check it out,
the freedom of Venus depends on it!
Dave Halligan
Each player is also dealt either one or
two action cards (depending on which rule
variation you are playing) which are used to
simulate everyday 14th century events such
as War, Fire, Crusades and Mongol
invasions. These will either positively effect
your virulence/mortality scores or
detrimentally effect your opponents score.
Alternatively they can be used to block off
certain areas for a while giving your disease
a better chance of attaining a power base.
The game reminds me a lot of Risk and
so will probably appeal to those of you who
like the global domination scenario,
including miniature battles fans. In fact if
you take away the plague element the game
is pretty much a bog-standard (though good)
war game, although the diseased slant does
make this well worth a look.
What will these people come up with
next? The mind boggles....
Dave Halitosis
 DRAGON
MOUNTAIN
™ But you will just have to buy the set and
DRAGON MOUNTAIN
AD&D@2ND EDITION ADVENTURE
TSR INC.
£21.50
There was the threat of a storm in the air.
Caldric had tried to get his familiar hawk to
fly up and scout the area, but she returned
within seconds unable to fly in the turbulent
air. Durlin the dwarf looked at the mage
saying " I don't like this, do you really
think we should go up there".Pointing
towards the clouds in the distance.
Caldric turned round saying " We've got
this far there is no turning back now".
Looming up ahead the summit covered
by the storm clouds, stood the great
mountain itself. This was there goal after
weeks of searching, of picking up numerous
clues and bits of maps. They had finally
made their way to the fabled Dragon
Mountain tm. What was ahead of them
nobody new, but each in turn had a gut
feeling that this was going to be different to
say the least.
This month has seen the release of TSR' s
new campaign box set. One of their biggest
projects to date Dragon Mountain. With a
lot of TSR adventures latley I have found
myself disappointed with the contents; but
not with this one. It is a campaign set is for
levels 10-15, and they are not kidding. If
run correctly even higher level characters
will find this tough going. I can imagine my
players after the first few encounters within
the Mountain saying." Well who's idea was
this. I'd rather go down Undermountain or
enter Menzoberrazan with a bunch of
paladins than carry on in here?"
!Jw[e Pfayer Independent Ju[y 1993
So, what am I talking about? The
campaign is broken down into two major
sections. The first being the locating of the
mountain itself. The way my players play
this, it will probably take a good ten weeks
of gaming sessions to complete. At the start
of the adventure they are not even aware of
the mountains existence. This is soon
rectified with an encounter involving the
typical old man in an Inn. Then ensues a
lively cross country campaign, wandering
around towns, through forests, out to sea
and up into mountains. Until they finally
piece together all the clues to end up at their
ultimate goal. Along the way they will meet
a whole host of NPC's, my favourite being
the most human Paladin encountered in a
TSR adventure to date.
Well what do you actually get in the set?
To start with there is three 64 page booklets
imaginatively titled Book I, Book II and
surprisingly Book III. There's also the usual
dose of new monsters, fifteen in total for
this set, all layed out in Monstrous
Compendium style. For the players there are
fourteen heavy paper handouts and four
cards. The maps of the dungeon consists of
three Al size map levels and ten A4 sized
card maps. The final part of the set is three
Al sized sheet floorplans for some of the
major encounter areas, and a set of stand up
card figures in case you haven't got any
miniatures.
The first booklet you'll need is book one.
This whole booklet covers the pre-dungeon
adventure. It involves tracking down people
who have ownership of portions of a map,
or knowledge of the mountain itself. It has
been well thought out with plenty of
excitement and challenge for the players
and DM™ 's alike.
The other two booklets cover the
mountain dungeon system from beginning
to climatic end. book two has at the
beginning a complete history and
background of the area. It then covers new
rules for the humanoid race which inhabits
the mountain. There is also a complete
political structure for them and their leaders
that makes the Conservative party look
almost organised. The system laid down for
the humanoids combat strategy against the
adventurers has been well thought out. It's
about time that instead of "it's another just
ore, goblin, kobold" etc. syndrome, players
and DM's will come to realise that
humanoids have thoughts and opinions too.
The rest of the booklet cover the major
encounter areas in the mountain. Where
each of the clans are situated, and their own
little quirks and vices. There are some very
interesting ideas on NPCs in these books.
read about them, as I don't want to spoil it
for the people that are going to play the
game by saying too much about them in this
review.
The ten card sheet maps enclosed are
add ons, these can be placed in any location
on the main maps thus making each
campaign specific to the DM running it.
These sheets cover things such as a
dwarvern burial crypt and clan territories,
and have full details on the back of them to
what is in each chamber. There is also many
locations that have been left bare on the
main dungeon maps for each individual DM
to customize for themselves. It has, though,
been left so that the dungeon can be run
with little or no work, which I personally
will find very useful. Finally there is the
new monsters, there are fifteen altogether
and I have not enough space to go into any
details. But they do include dwarvern
undead, a creature called living steel (Any
one seen arnie lately?) and the Dragon-kin
to name but a few.
So, in conclusion I found this new box
set a great addition to the TSR collection of
modules and adventures, and the fact that I
am going to run the campaign how it has
been written, is the best praise I can give it.
This will be a first time in seventeen years
that I have done this . There is only one
major problem with the set and that is the
price, it is fairly expensive for an adventure
only, and might be out of reach for some
gamers out there. I do recommend that you
start saving, as this is a superb box set, and
should go down a treat for thinking and
hack and slash players alike.
Glyn lesson
 elcome to the

W second p�rt of
our massive
£1000 TSR give
away. On this page you'll
find the second question
and y,our second token.
If you can't wait another
month for the final
question, then have a go
at our £100 competition.
Don't forget, you can enter
both competitions as long
as each entry includes the
correct number of tokens
Amazing Engine™,
TSR's new RPG
System is just one of
the many prizes you For the £100 prize, give us the correct answers to
may choose if you win the following three questions?

£100 Prize 1) Who was the main designer behind the AD&O&
2nd Edition Game?
To stand a chance of winning a selection of TSR goodies
of your own choosing, simply answer the three simple 2) What are the six main character attributes of
questions. Enclose with your entry the £100 token and the AD&D 2nd Edition Game?
return it to Symbiosis Publishing Ltd. By the twenty first 3) What was the name of the second adventure
day of the month following the cover date. produced for Raven/oft? (Before it became a
All prizes must be chosen from the current TSR campaign setting)
catalogue.
All answers, including this month's token should

£700 Prize be sent to TSR Competition, Symbiosis

Publishing, Symbiosis House, 204 Henwick Road,
To enter RPl's spectacular £700 prize you must have Worcester, WR2 SPF by 21st July.
collected the token from issue seven of RPI, and then
wait ntil issue nine when the final token is published. This month's £700 question is:
Answer the three questions about role playing, one each What was the forerunner to the D&D® game
month, and then return all three tokens and the answers called?
to Symbioisis Publishing Ltd.Only original tokens will be
accepted. Write down your answer, and together with the
All prizes must be chosen from the current TSR £700 token, place it in a safe place till issue nine.
catalogue
Rules
Closing date for entries of the £100 competition will be the twenty first of the month following the cover date of Role Player Independent. The closing date for the major £700 competition will be the twenty
first of the month following the cover date of Role Player Independent issue 9. No entries will be accepted after these dates.
The winning entry will be the first correctly completed entry drawn from the editors hat on the closing day of all competitions. Winners will be notified by post within twenty one days.
Employees of Symbiosis Publishing Lid and their families, together with those of TSR Ltd. are not eligible for entry into the competitions.
No responsibility will be taken for lost or damaged entries.
There is no cash alternative for the prizes offered, and no correspondence will be entered into.
The names of all prize winners will be published in the tenth issue of Role Player Independent.
In all matters relating to the compelition the editor's decision is final.
All £100 competition entries must be accompanied by one original token from the relevant issue of the magazine. All Major prize entries must be accompanied by three original tokens taken from issue 7, 8,
and 9.
No entries will be accepted without the original, relevant tokens. Photocopies of tokens will not be accepted.
All prizes offered must be chosen from the 1993 TSR catalogue. No other companies products will be offered as an alternative.

Dear RPI
The constant complaints about how the
hobby is beset by killjoys who wish it
banned due to its encouraging violence and/
or satanism are starting to get annoying and
repetitive. Not only that, the tone of certain
of these letters can do nothing but
antagonise people. For example calling
certain Christians the "Nazis of God," i.e.
comparing them with a group which was
intent on multiple genocide, is grossly
insulting.
Consider, for a moment, the position of
Salmon Rushdie. He is subject to a sentence
of death because of something be wrote.
The fatwah is an outrage compared to which
the complaining voices of a few groups, and
the occasional sensationalist piece in the
national press, is nothing. The attacks on the
hobby have been going for about as long as
I can remember and they will always
continue, just as there will always be people
who complain about the amount of sex/
violence/swearing/sport on TV. Many
people need to feel as if they are doing
something to make the world a better place
and this is a good thing. These feelings get
misdirected from time to time - against our
hobby for example. This is unfortunate but
by no means the end of the world.
People should either accept it as a fact of
life or contact the bodies resposible and
engage them in a rational debate. The letters
page in your magazine would better serve
the hobby if it was a forum for new ideas.
This could take the form of discussions
about rules, ideas for adventures or the
development of a campaign world,
whatever. As it is, the majority of the letters
seem to be rehashing old arguments and
delivering them to an audience who already
agrees with them. Preaching to the
converted to use a metaphor.
Ian Charvill
Nottingham
When Mark McAndrew described certain
elements of the Christian faith as "Nazis of
God," we believe he was refering to the
extreme right wing predjudices of these
1<g{e Pfayer Incfepencfent Ju{y 1993
Right, that's it! Alter this
·month we will enly be printing
mail en the subject ef
Christianity Vs. Rele Playing if
we feel that the letter includes
some valid point that has not
Y•t
�,
been mentioned.
elements and was not making a direct
comparison to the Germa,i political party.
We agree with you on the fact that Last
Writes should be the place for discussion on
role playing related subjects and so we've
taken the . liberty of printing another section
from lan'.s letter.
I would like to point out that the material
you have printed so far has been very
interesting, and has managed to inspire a
few ideas -even adventures for systems that
I do not own. For example, the AD&D®
adventure, Rogenstout' s Gibbet inspired a
Cyberpunk adventure. The eleJnents I used
were the essetiaJ vampiric poser - when
someone kills to fuel a hunger - in the case
of Rogenstout his need for blogd - do they
commit a crime or are they themselves the
victim. Tile) thrust of my version being
redemption rather than a fight and XPs.
Ian Charvill
Nottingham
Dear Sir
Hang on a second, what's this "Sir''
business. I assume you're both a role player
and a journalist - wearing an Anthrax T­
shirt with hair down to your navel.
Hey you !
There, that's better.
Anyway, I am writing to , believe it or
not, commend you on your excellent
magazine. I, unfortunately, spilt coffee on
issue six. A most absorbing periodical.
(Sorry about that, couldn't resist.) I do have
a couple of comments however:
Firstly, if you are concerned about the
"satanic" image of role playing why did
issue five feature on its cover, a demonic
idol and naked people falling into a pit of d'•
flames? It doesn't look too good on the
newsagent's stand, seen by the very public
we are trying to convince that we don' t
worship the devil or eat small children ( well
not a whole one in single sitting). Though ·
saying that, I do think the Christianity vs.
Role Playing debate is wearing a little thin.
I think we all need to show a little tolerance.
Live and let live.
I do .think, conversly, you deserve praise
for th<; total absence of "Valkerie-wbatjpg•
postage-stamp" style art. !also feel.• that the
literary content is of a very high standard.
By my count, not one "PCs all meet in a
tavern" or " "the ancient multiahued
dragon is in a 20' X 20' room with a 6' X 3'
door as the only exit" or similar "Module
Gnomes." (However, the Module Gnome,.s
are getting to your spell checker... ) I like the
generic scenario format (though perhaps
some more system-specific helpful hints {pr
less experienced GMs) and the light hearted
scenarios keep the fun of role playing. The
cover art needs some refinement bat the
interior art is very good. But don't. take my
word for it - why not do a readers' poll?
Adrian Wiltshire
Swansea
Well, never let it be said that us mere
mortals at RPI don't krt0w how to well and
truly put our foot in it. I don't know whether
anybody noticed but last month's cover did
conform to the postage stamp bikini type.
We did, however, pass the painting round
quite a few women to ask there views on
whether it was sexist or not. The answer we
received off each of these people told us that
the picture was not sexist, as it portrayed a
wqman in a strong stance and she looked as
though she was capable of defending
herself.
One more point, while the editorial staff
do have long hair (and dreadlocks) we do
not wear Anthrax T-Shirts, although we do
like this banq we prefer NMA, PWEI,
Scorpio Rising, Back to the Planet, White
Zombie, Miskatonic University, Rythymites,
Fantasy Warriors T Shirts. However, being
independent(and too skint to buy new
�lothes) we will wear any T Shirts you wish
to send us.
Dear RPI
....There are a few small points I would
like to raise. As some of us gameplayers
only indulge in PBM occasionally it is vital
that your magazine keeps covering the
subject. We need to know what's going on
without having to subscribe to PBM Scroll
or Flagship. Secondly there must be
gamesplayers like myself who own a
computer or console but only rarely use
them, our main games interests being
elsewhere. I have found that most computer
mags just don't know how to review a RPG
or wargame. That's no fault of theirs, but
your mag could produce an occasional
column of software reviews that we would
be able to trust as a reliable source, rather
than the dedicated shoot-em-up mags who
alwys seem somewhat at a loss.
Lastly, an occasional look at Live Role
Playing would not go amiss, perhaps an
events diary or a brief rundown on big
events. No one wants to see you do
everything (you 've wisely steered clear of
book and comic reviews), and you're RPG
and wargames and miniatures coverage is
spot on, but it would be a shame to
concentrate solely on a few aspects of the
genre and totally ignore others.
You have good intelligent writers and
contributors (the Cthulhu Punk item (RPI
#2) proves that) your initial approach so far
has been almost perfect don't stray too far
from a winning format
Rod Chambers
Gwent
Dear RPI
... .I have been driven, yes driven to write
to you after reading the twisted views of a
Mark McAndrew of Stockport. I feel that
the point of his letter was to pretend he, and
tho'se of his creed, are not the close minded
bigots we believe they all are, and then
preceeded to insult our great lord Odin!
As a comitted Odinist, his ill thought
statements sent me into a berserk, and I say
to him, yes, I live my life tinking Satan is
nothing more than a fantastical high level
monster, so when am I going to be shocked?
Hmmm? The horror of Satan can not be as
great as the horror I feel imagining a Baptist
church youth group playing RuneQuest.
I will leave it there for now.
Paul Eyre
Nottingham
Dear RPI
I am an active role player an d would
appreciate your help on a pressing concern
of mine. I role play in many different circles
but most often with just two friends of
mine. As there are only three of us, I take
the role of player and games master and
introduce one of my characters into the
action in most of our games. This I think I
am able to do quite fairly and I have, as yet,
had no (serious) accusations of bias towards
my character.
My problem is this: in a particular game
we sometimes play the other two players
have taken it into their minds to try and kill
my character (providing me with a moral
dilemma as to how to GM fairly, but that is
not my problem).
The game was stopped temporarily at a
crucial moment, my character being under
attack from theirs, but now both players
refuse to carry on the game. This stoppage
has now lasted a number months and looks
to be lasting forever as the players have now
lost all interest in that game.
How can I extract my character from the
action, freeing him to be played in other
games with other people when the adventure
he is in the middle of will go no further?
Surely any arbitrary GM's decision as to the
result of the action will be seen as bias on
my part. Please help me with this problem.
Chris Graham
Bucks.
Well, let' s take things a step at a time.
Reality is reality and games are games,
therefore what is the problem of you just
using your character in other people's
games? The game that your character was
playing in has obviously reached its natural
conclusion, i.e. your players just aren't
interested in it anymore. If you really need a
realistic way (in game terms) to remove
your character from his situation, remember
as GM your decision is final, have two large
blocks of concrete fall on the other
characters allowing your character to
escape from the confrontation. I' m sure that
the players who you are no longer playing
with won ' t be too bothered. This will free
your character to allow him to join in other
adventures. Another way out is to just role
up another character for whatever game you
are now playing.
Dear RPI
In reading the letters page to your
magazine on the subject of the argument
between RPGs and Christianity I feel I
should write to you. I don't wish to
aggrivate the situation any further as I'm
sure you must more letters on the subject
than you could wave numerous sharp and
dangerous sticks at.
1 ) I don't agree with the view stated by
Andrew McColl in issue 6 that RPGs are
considered by Christian parents to be a
threat to their 'brainwash campaign' against
their children. My father is a Church of
Scotland minister and I have certainly not
been brainwashed and indeed find it
insulting that you presume this to be the
normal case. The reason most Christians
find fault with role playing games is the
oousually high amount of occult material in
these games. This is something that we
cannot deny (COC, Malificiurn, Demons,
and Demigods etc.). Their argument is not
that all role players are child sacrificing
demon-incarnates, but that role playing
merely places unhealthy information within
easy reach.
2) Not all Christians are aginst role
playing, and those that are in your so called
elite are generally of the traditional
'.fw{e Pfayer Independent Ju{y 1993
Churchianity than of Christianity. I am a
role player myself and have been for about
four years.
All in all I just want to say:
The situation is not black and white, you
are not on one side or another. Role playing
and religion shouldn't mix as role playing is
a h(\bby and religion is a belief and way of
life. Oh, and the Interview with the Devil
was amusing although I'm sure that some
Christians would be a tad upset at you
triv'iallising their arch-enemy type bloke.
Anal Cigar
Toilet of the Universe
Dear RPI
Congratualations on a great magazine.
The gaming world has been in need of this
since White Dwarf sunk. I like the
miniature's' column, I prefer it to the
Dragon® figure reviews. How about some
colour photos. Finally, my advice to Kelly
Taylor is that she buy the Dungeons &
Dragons® boxed set if she wants to get into
RPGs and Games Workshop's new
Warhammer box if she wants to get into
wargames.
James Shepard
Dunmow
Dear RPI
As a last comment on the current war, all
I have to say is: Isn't it funny how
Christianity always seems to be involved in
oppression (Holy Wars, Inquisition,
Spreading the Faith, while crushing other
religions and calling them "Devil
Worshippers")
What makes Christianity so much better
than Devil Worshippers? Appart from
allegedly doing silly suff (sometimes
downright stupid) Devil Worshippers don't
destroy other beliefs or condemn them, or
force their beliefs on others.
The world is a free place, shouldn't
religion and hobbies be that too?
Blitzer
Portsmouth
Until recently, Blitzer a whole chunk of
the world was not a free place, and this was
not down to religion. In the main I'm talking
about the Soviet Union, an oppresive state
that refused to aknowledge any form of
religion. We still have countries who refuse
to have anything to do with any religious
doctrine, and some of these places are the
most opressive regimes found on this planet.
Let's face it, Christianity has caused a lot
of upset in this world - but we have to
understand that it does a lot of good work.
Next month we'll be starting
on a new topic oi discussion.
What is it? Well tune in and
find out. Byeeee!
SClubh
HEATHFIELD GAMERS OUT FOR A SPELL MANCHESTER
Time: Thursdays 7pm-l l pm, pluse some weekends Time: Thursday 7:30 - 10:30 OPENSHAW MODELING AND

andwic
Place: Heathfield/Uckfield Area Place: Above the Running Horses Pub WARGAMING ASSOCIATION
Over 18s only - Various sci-fi and fantasy games 15+ (Average age 19-20)
(OMEGA)
Contact: Jonathon Waller (0435) 863908 Price: £1.25 per night
Time: Second and fourth Sundays of the month
ALTERNATIVE REALITIES GAMES Contact: Tony Green (0322) 330873
10.30am-5pm
CLUB SCOURGE OF DARKNESS Place: Openshaw Community Centre, Compass
BELFAST Time: Every Sunday 10am and 2pm
Time: Mondays 7pm-l 0pm Street, off Ashton Old Rd., Openshaw, Manchester
BELFAST ROLE PLAYING SOCIETY Place: St. Stephen's Methodist Church, The Place: By the garage on Bluebell Hill, Chatham
Time: Weekly Price: £1.00 yearly membership, £1.50 on the door
Broadway, Lindfield Road, Hampden Park, Kent Age: 16+ only, 18+ prefered.
Place: To be defined Eastbourne Price: £3.00 per adventure
14 to 18 only Contact: Paul Mather, 71 Cambridge Street,
Price: Membership £5.00 per year, £1.50 per night Contact: Ken Baker 0634 254496 (24hr Ans. Ashton-Under-Lyne, Lanes OL7 0EZ Tel: (061)
Contact: Jason Walsh (0232) 623658 or Terence (members), £2.50 per night (non-members) Phone)
Laverty (0232) 322209 344 1066 (after 6pm)
Contact: Jarec Tel: (0323 500624

BIRMINGHAM LANCASHIRE NORFOLK

ESSEX
BELLS FARM GAMERS CHARNWOOD ROLE PLAYERS THE FELLOWSHIP
LFFA LINFORD FANTASY ASSOCIATION Time: Tuesday evenings and some Sunday
Time: Mondays 7.30-10.30 FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION Time: Sunday 6pm-10pm afternoons
Place: Bells Farm Community Centre, Bells Lane, Time: Sundays I2 noon - 8pm Place: 75 Staveley Court, Loughborough, Leics Place: Thetford Youth Centre, Croxton Rd.,
Druids Heath, Opposite No.SO bus terminus Place: Hardie Hall, off Scraton Rd., Stanford-Le­ LEII !HY Age: 17+ Thetford
Contact: Richard (021) 458 5709 or Doug (021) Hope, Essex Contact: Nick Harbour (0509) 269272 Contact: Paul Martin Clarke (0842) 755559
459 6072 Age: 10-90
Price: Bloodbowl: £1.00, RPG: £1.50 inc. 2 free
BRISTOL drinks. Discounts for RPG groups. LIVERPOOL NORTHUMBERLAND
FUTURE AGE CLUB Contact: Danny 081-597 9576 between 9am and Liverpool Wargaming Association (LWA) THE NORTHUMBRIAN
Time: Sunday Evenings 7-l Opm 6pm Time: Thursday from 5pm, Sat./Sun. from 1pm ADVENTURERS GUILD
Place: All Saints Youth Club, The Basement, 70 THE ESSEX WARRIORS Place: 38a Mount Pleasent (above the Pit Stop Time: Every Sunday (Except Christmas) 2pm-7pm
Pembroke Rd., Clifton, Bristol Time: 2 Sundays a month (dates vary) garage), Liverpool Place: Newsham & New Delaval Community
Age: Ranges from 14 - 22 Contact: Mr Peter Grimwood, 2 Apple Court, Contact: Jim Mitchell (051) 428 1076 or Ian Association (Newsham Library)
Contact: Richard Harris, 35 Freemantle Rd., Chelmsford, Essex CMI 2UD Tel: (0245) 265274 Sanderson (05I) 489 2476 Age: 12+.
Eastville, Bristol BS5 6SY Tel: (0272) 510699 ROMFORD WARRIORS Contact: Alisdair Barton (0670) 36688I
(after7pm) Time: Ist Sunday of Month, I0am - 2pm SOMETHING ELSE
LONDON Time: Evenings, every month
Place: 324 Mawney Rd., Romford Essex RM7 8DP
THE GUILD OF MELEE AND MAGIC Place: Local Pubs (So over 18s only)
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE Contact: Paul Denham at above address or (0708)
(CENTRAL LONDON BRANCH)
728241 (6pm-9pm) Contact: Something Else, PO Box 16, Consett, Co.
HIGH WYCOMBE ROLE PLAYING Time: Monday 6.30-11pm Durham DH8 8YZ
CLUB Place: The Westmoreland Arms, 34 George Street, THE RIDLEY FELLOWSHIP GAMES
Time: Wednesdays 6.30pm - 9.45pm EXETER London WI
Place: The Royal GrammerSchool, High Wycombe EXETER GAMES GROUP CLUB
Contact: Jason: (0831) 880143 Time: Saturdays 1 lam-Spm. Sundays l lam-6pm
All ages welcome Time: Every Tuesday, 7pm Tube: Bond St., Baker St., Marble Arch Place: The Sixth Form Block, Ridley High School,
Contact: Steve (0494) 531371 Place: The Jolly Porter, opposite St. David's Station THE GUILD OF MELEE AND MAGIC Sixth Avenue, Blyth
ENCOUNTERS Contact: Matt Williams, 25 Victoria Street, Exeter (EAST LONDON BRANCH) Age: 12+
Time: Every 2-3 weeks (Sundays) I l am - 5pm Tel: (0392) 435478 Time: Thursdays 7-1 l pm Price: S0p members, 75p non-members Contact:
Place: 2 Meadow Lane, Pitstone, Bucks. LU? 9EZ Place: The Bow Bells, Bow Road, Loden E l Lars Hagman, 94 Tindale Avenue, Mayfield Dale,
Contact: Don (0296) 668I84 HAMPSHIRE Contact: Alan: (071) 370 4078 Crainlington, Northumberland NE23 908 Tel:
SHADOW Tube: Bow Rd., DLR: Bow Church (0670) 737667
CHESHIRE Time: Every Saturday 2pm-10pm THE GUILD OF MELEE AND MAGIC
ROLE PLAYERS ANONYMOUS Place: Buckland Community Centre, Gladstone (SOUTH LONDON BRANCH)
Place, Malins Rd., Buckland, Portsmouth PO2 7BL NORTHUMBRIA
Time: Friday nights 5.30-9.30pm Time: Sundays
(0705) 692914 (Sat. Only) Place: Penge East Community Centre, Station Rd., TOWCESTER WARGAMES CLUB
Place: Wilmslow/Macclesfield/Sale area Time: Sunday 7.00-10.00pm (or later)
Contact: Ian Ferguson (secretary) c/o above address Penge, London SE20
Age: 18+ Place: AS Rangers Club, Watting street, Towcester,
Contact: Bob (0625) 586722 or Pete (0625) 503979 THE ALDER VALLEY GAMERS Contact: Steve (0622) 670003
SOCIETY TUESDAY KNIGHTS Northamptonshire
CREWE FANTASY AND SCIENCE Price: £1.50 waged(75p concessions (1st visit free)
Contact: Jon Crane, Tel: 0252 330837. Or write to: Time: Tuesdays 6 - 10pm
FICTION GAMES CLUB Contact: Chris Berry (0604) 831530, Hugh Andrew
The secretary, C/O the Union Building, Hospital Place: Kensington (Nr. Gloucester St. Tube)
Time: Wednesdays 8-1 l pm (0788) 860490 (after 6pm)
Hill, aldershot, Hants GUII 3JQ Cost: £I.SO per week
Place: The Oddfellows Social Club
Contact: Colin Phillips 071 231 8143 or David
Contact: Megan Robertson, 12 Bude Close, Crewe, PETERBOROUGH
HEREFORD & WORCESTER Scott 081 682 2138
CW! 3XG Tel: (0270) 500565
EVESHAM ROLE PLAYING GAMES FINCHLEY GAMES CLUB PETERBOROUGH SCIENCE
CLUB Time: Every Thursday and first and third Sundays FICTION CLUB
CO ANTRIM Place: Old Finchllans Club House, Woodside, Time: Every Wednesday
Time: Monday and Wednesday 7-IOpm
LARNE ROLE PLAYING CLUB Place: Wallace House Community Centre, Finchley Place: Various venues around the city.
Time: Twice a month on Sunday Oatstreet, Evesham Contact: FGC, Leisure Games, 91 Ballards Lane, Contact: Peter Cox, 24 Westfield Rd., Yaxley,
Age limit: 16+ Finchley, London, N3 1XY Peterborough, PE7 3LG
H.A,R,P, (HEREFORD ASSOCIATION
Contact: Trevor Kell, 37 Craigyhill Bungalows,
OF ROLE PLAYERS) WANDSWORTH ASSOCIATION OF THE PETERBOROUGH ROLE
Lame, Co. Antrim, N.lreland, BT40 2EQ Tel:
Time: 2.30-8.00pm ROLE PLAYERS (WARP) PLAYING SOCIETY
(0574) 270351 between 6+7pm Mon-Fri Time: 7pm till late Time: Every Saturday
Place: Hinton Youth Centre, The Teripin Unit
Price: £1.00 Waged, 50p Unwaged Place: The Roundhouse, Comer of Wandsworth Place: The Tom Lock (Harvester) Public House,
CORNWALL Contact: Darien (0432) 359510 Common North Side and Spencer Pk. Rd., Battersea, Lincoln Rd., Peterborough
WARGAMES WEST Wandsworth (nearest station Clapham Junction) Contact: Mark/Jon at the pub (Paul behind the bar
Age: 17+ will point us out)
Time: 2nd and 4th Fridays every month from 7.OOpm HERTFORDSHIRE
to 11.00pm. Contact: WARP, 53 Cologne Rd., Battersea,
STEVENAGE BATTLEGROUP Wandsworth SW!I 2AH RUGBY
Place: Truro Boys Club Time: Thursday 8pm-l0pm, Sundays l 0am-Spm
Age: 14 and above, unless by prior arrangement. SOUTH LONDON WARLORDS RUGBY ROLE PLAYERS
Place: Ist Stevenage Scouts Hut (behind Barclay Time: Mondays 7-1 l pm
Contact: G. Dale (0872) 865925 or Truro Micro School) Time: Wednesdays 7 - 10pm
Ltd. (0872) 40043 Place: St. Clement's church hall, Barry Rd., off Contact: Andrew, 4a Longrood Road, Bilton,
Contact: Pete Bone: (0438) 351741 or Ian Hopping: Lordship Rd., London SE22.
(0462) 457262 after 6pm Rugby, CV22 7RG Tel: (0788) 811236
Membership: £20.00 (£10.00 Unwaged/Student/
CUMBRIA Pensioner).
THE PENINSULAR WARGAMING HUMBERSIDE THE AES FANTASY ROLE PLAYING SCOTLAND
SOCIETY HUMBERSIDE WARGAMES SOCIETY CLUB AT THE HUB
Time: Monday & Friday 7-9pm
Time: Tuesdays and Wednesdays SOCIETY Time: Variable (day and weekend events)
Contact: System Games of Barrow or Jim Webster Place: Venues around the country Place: The Hub, Clydebank
Time: Monday and Wednesday 7pm-I0.00pm,
(0229 821561) Contact: John E Tode, Talliston, 51 Newton Green, Price: IOp + Hub membership
Saturday 12.00pm-5.00pm
Great Dunmow, Essex CM6 !DU Tel: (0371) Age: 12+
Place: Marina Recreation Centre Commercial Road,
876308 Contact: Andrew McHale, 17E Walkingmill Rd.,
DERBYSHIRE Kingston-upon- Hull, North Humberside.
Faifley, Clydebank (Enc. SAE)
RUNELORDS RP GROUP Contact: Chris Nicole, Flat 5, 423 Beverley Rd., TANELORN
Time: Thursday 7-IOpm Kingston-upon-Hull HUS l LX. Tel: (evenings Time: Sunday 2pm-7pm
only) (0482) 470825 Place: Highgate N6 STAFFORDSHIRE
Strictly over 12's with or without experience. Just
turn up. Contact: Marco (08I) 34I 5I98 HEATH HAYES GAMES GROUP
Place: Room I, Indoor Market, Town Centre, KENT DRAGONS ON THE HILL Time: Sunday and Tuesday Evenings
Chesterfield DYNASTY'S WORLD Time: Wednesdays 7pm 'til late Place: 5 Blithfield Place, Heath Haynes, Nr.
Place: The Juggler's Arms, Leather Market Street, Cannock WS11 2YE
Time: LRP - most weekends, table top Friday
nr. London Bridge, SEI Contact: Nita (Lord Rayan!) (0543) 275085
Evenings
EAST SUSSEX
Place: LRP - several venues throughout Medway
OGRE · ORE GAMERS and Maidstone area in Kent WALES
Time: Monday Evenings from 7pm-l l pm Contact: Pete Martin (0634) 7229I9 or Mark OSWESTRY WARGAMERS
Place: The Ore Community Centre, Old London Agnew (0634) 712823 Contact: M. Hackett, Gronwyn, Middletown,
Rd., Hastings Welshpool SY21 SES
Contact: Just turn up
Over 18s only due to there being a bar on site

!Jw{e P{ayer Independent Ju{y 1993

 CLASSIFIEDS
WARWICKSHIRE
THE NUNEATON GAMES CLUB
EVENTS
Time: Wednesday Evenings DRAKCON '93
Place: Nuneaton Arts Centre, Pool Bank Rd.
Age: 16+
14th-15th August 1993. 9am -
Price: Membership £3.00 l l.30pm/ 9am - 8.30pm
Contact: Andrew Ashford, 61 Beverley Avenue, Northern College of Education,
Nuneaton, Warwickshire. Tel: (0203) 388188 Aberdeen
Personal Manual of Planes, Oriental
Price: £6.00 - adult / £4.50 Child.
WEST KENT Adventures, Fiend Folio; Andrew,
WEST KENT WARGAMERS Contact: DrakCon '93 c/o Douglas, 5
Kute Koala Kontacts International Waterford Hse, Sutton Poyllltz,
Time: Monday Evenings 7pm onwards Cottage Brae, Nellfield Place,
A free role playing service for role Weymouth, DT3 6LG
Place: Tonbridge, Kent Aberdeen, AB1 6DG
Contact: Bernard (0732) 365499 playing pen pals and contacts
worldwide! Contact: Darren Yap, 3 Trade STO-CON-TRENT
WEST COUNTRY
Lawrence Avenue, New Malden, 10th to 12th September 1993
SOMETHING ELSE
Please see the entry for Something Else under Surrey, KT3 SLX. (Please include ·Cheap mail order comics. Send Keele University, Stoke on Trent
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Dear Professor Twistle - your bumper advance catalogue (next Contact: Sto-Con-Trent, 12b
WEST GLAMORGAN month's free with order) to: Planet­
girlfriend has just been commited! Sprowston Road, Norwich, Norfolk
THE KNIGHTS OF GHOSTS &
SHADOWS I think I broke it guys - Gavin X, 5 London Road, Worcester, WR5 NR3 4QN
Time: Fridays 5.30-9.30pm Deathwrangler 2DJ.
Place: Cwsgodfa day Centre, Tonna Heath, West
PETERBOROUGH SCIENCE
Glam.
Age: Any, no 'slap heads' please. Wanted PBM FICTION FAIR
Price: £1.00 subs September 26th 1993
Contact: Brady (0639) 645375 / Gareth (0639)
750855
Anyone remember Aftermath? I'm ·BAD GUYS PBM with a difference! The Cressell Exhibition Centre,
STILL looking for a copy and any Be an evil mastermind. SMASH Bretton, Peterborough
WEST MIDLANDS relevant supplements. STILL goody heroes! Kidnap, Rob, and Price: £1.00 Doors open 11am till
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PLAYING SOCIETY offers to: Box no. RPI 8/493 minions. Build horrible doomsday Contact: Bruce King, 1 The Hallards,
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Place: Albright & Wilson Social Club, Station Rd., Experienced Roleplayer (22) machines. Be a generally Eaton Socon, St. Neots, Cambs PE19
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Weymouth, DT3 6LG game wi th prizes for ultima te STAFFCON
YORKSHIRE winners. NOT FOR TH E 18th July
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Time: Mondays,saturdays and Sundays PBM, The Ma dhouse, 13
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Tel: (0274) 691375
---- Staffordshire University, Beaconside,
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1: 10p 2: 20p 3: 30p 4: 40p
GLENCON 1993
24/25/26 September
5: 50p 6: 60p 7: ?Op 8: 80p Place: Pollock Conference Centre
Price: £4.00 Daily, £10.50 for the
weekend (Early booking rates)
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EUROPEAN GENCON '93

November 11th - 14th
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Price: £54.40 per person, £49.00 -
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�(e P(ayer Independent Ju(y 1993
 ssues�

Issue One Issue Two Issue Three Issue Five Issue Six Issue Seven
Interview: Terry Interview: Joe (Lone Scenario Issue Interview: Ramsey Two complete The first coupon in
Pratchett Wolf) Dever Scenarios: Mad Campbell games - Baaad Moon our three stage
Scenario: Hassle at Scenario: The Taint Monks and Scenarios: Rising, and massive TSR
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 -
CTI
This Month,
Postscript examines
the games offered by
amateurs in the PBM
hobby
M
agik! is a game that has every hallmark of amateur
enthusiasm. Produced by the Guildmaster, the game
clearly sets out to be of the humorous fantasy type
and that is easy to see from the moment you pick up
the rulebook. The production is very basic, nothing more than simple
line cartoons and type written text. The mood of the text is farcical
to a degree that is almost irritating. The player is open to abuse, that
although intended to be funny, doesn't actually feel that way on
reading through. The whole booklet should be taken with a pinch of
salt.
The rules are just twelve pages long, presenting character
generation in three pages followed by information on experience,
magic, equipment, religion, the game environment, and important
locations and non-player characters. The presentation is patchy, the
whole system a watered down version of that old fantasy chestnut
from across the Atlantic; the one that involves dank, well stocked
cellars and large, scaly monsters with severe breath problems.
Character generation is intended for the creation of a small, four
person group. This is pretty much standard stuff, seen in games like
KJC's Quest, and Slaves and Slavers from Harry's Games (see
later) and in this case the system is okay. You are told that you have
to have a wizard, but other than that you are free to choose from a
range of warriors, magic-users, thieves, and a single priest class. The
different classes have a different standard set of skills, there are
characteristics that the Guildmaster assigns, and there are spells to
choose from.
The game functions on the principle of setting commands, and
here the game becomes rather narrow, though no doubt functional
for the moderator. Each turn every character can perform two
actions, and the group as a whole can perform an additional action
and head in a certain direction or towards a definite destination. You
are offered a list of standard verbs like attack and steal, and you are
meant to expand upon these to issue defined orders for the next tum.
Perhaps this works for the moderator, but for me this limits the role
playing potential of the game. The player is in effect having very
little to do with it, and if it weren't for those two lines per character
the game would simply be a matter of story telling.
The turns are undeniably well-written considering the standards
of the game so far. The storyline is witty at times, and shows the
sparkling entertainment value that can be drawn from any well run
game of the system mentioned earlier with the halitosis-ridden
reptiles. The humour is there and it only occasionally sinks to the
level of that in the rulebook. Though the order system stops much
role play by the player, the moderator seems to enjoy composing the
turns. Most of them vary between 3-6 type written A4 sides, with
additional play aids like notices, information sheets and spell data.
Each character is dealt with separately showing the outcome of the
player's orders, and there is a final group description along with a
cliff hanger ending.
I may be unduly harsh in my judgement of the rulebook, but I
must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the turns. Accepting the
limitations of the order system, Magik! has potential now and for
the future. As a first time effort it represents a step in the right
direction, and at 50p a turn you can't go wrong, especially if you
enjoy a little humorous fantasy and either don't get your full ration
from the local gaming group or have lost touch with RPGing friends.
The start-up, consisting of the rule book, a character
creation sheet, and a free turn is just £2.00. If you're
interested get in touch with The Guildmaster.
SLAVES AND SLAVERS
Falling into the same area of fantasy as Magik! Slaves
& Slavers, by Harry's Games, provides players with
similar chances for dubious adventures, monster-bashing
and the age old battles between the forces of good and
evil. The major difference is that Harry's Games has
been a functioning entity for five years, and the moderator,
Harold Garvin, has run the whole show virtually single­
handed all the way.
The situation your characters face is depressing, facing
strange, wild lands with minimal equipment, and for
slaves, not even decent clothes; but the chance. exists for
revenge to be taken against the overlord, if only you can
survive long enough.
You must firstly decide whether you're going to play a
band of slavers or slaves. For a change you get the chance
to play people who are basically 'evil.' There are ten
different characters within your group, and it is up to you
1vJ[e Pfayer Incfepencfent Ju[y 1993
Post Script I

to assign 100 points amongst all your characters' statistics and skills. Skills
define the class of your character to a certain extent - for example, the
Ranger skill provides knowledge of plants and animals, it allows your
character to follow tracks and find hidden objects in the open. You also
need a name for your party, as well as titles for each of the members.
Once the basics have been considered you are left to determine the
attitudes of your characters as well as other standing orders. Whether you
will attack evil monsters or poor villagers is up to you, and is likely to be
influenced by your original group concept - slave or slaver. You are left to
plan your travelling order and combat formation. This is all standard
Dungeons & Dragons® stuff, the basics of any fantasy game - but, of
course, it provides the moderator with all the necessary material he needs
to run the actions of your character correctly.
After a couple of pages on character generation and some detail
concerning religion and equipment, the rule book gets confusing. You are
offered a page detailing poisons and alchemy, another very short list of
spells, and then a highly confusing run-down of monsters and animals,
covering a page, I can't quite work out why you are supplied with a list of
each creature's stats. Like D&D®, if you give players the monster listings
all the shock and anxiety of a combat is lost - he players know the
weaknesses of the enemy and all the fun of the combat is lost to a process
of number bashing.
The game itself is a combination of adventure and wargame, not unlike
KJC's Quest. The party can move a certain number of hexes per turn
depending on the form of transportation available. There are various
locations to visit and adventures no doubt to be discovered around every
corner.
The game will certainly appeal to those old players of D&D style
games who have never quite recovered from the need of monster-bashing
and endless fights against evil. Harold believes the game will appeal to
people, like him, who have lost contact with their fellow gamers.
The start up kit costs £2.00 and includes three free turns. Further turns
cost £1.50 each, though this may vary when orders for a turn are limited
to just movement with no encounters. The game will provide many long
hours of entertainment for those players who enjoy classical fantasy
gaming. If you're interested get in touch at the address for Harry's
Games in the Fact Box.

BAD GUYS
As Slaves & Slayers offers the chance to turn the tables and become
the evil minions for a change, so Bad Guys gives you the chance to play a
character who's as nasty as they come.
Faced with six other players, you control an evil mastermind, basically
a super villain, in a game that
attempts to capture the basic
atmosphere of American comic
books. You have a secret hide­
out and various Minions under
your control, and through
The Guildmaster
various despicable acts you
attempt to increase your power
Llanfair Discoed
NrChepstow and influence. Like the classic
comics you don't only face the
Gwent NP6 6LX
threat of the other super-villains,
Harry's Games
26 Newmarket Street but also the ever vigilant game­
Coleraine controlled super heroes, who
Co. Londonderry BT52 1 EH always have a tendency to win
The Madhouse even when the odds are stacked
13 Marchmont Green against them, the police, citizen
Hemel Hempstead vigilantes, and the National
Herts HP2 58B Guard. When things go wrong
for a super villain, they really go
wrong.
The game is played until
someone wins, naturally. This
can be achieved in several ways,
The Darker Times
93 Newark Drive
but the easiest is to build a
Doomsday Machine and hold
Corby
Northants NN18 OHA the world to ransom. Players
can attempt to build the
Doomsday Machine anytime
during play, and once it is 80%
operational the game enter
'Frantic Stage.' This means that all other players are told that someone is
nearing completion of their Machine, and gives them a short amount of
time to 'put a spanner in the works,' so to speak. Also, when the going gets
tough, the evil villains can themselves get involved in combat and crimes
instead of just ordering their minions to do all the dirty work. Of course
things have to be pretty desperate for the villain to open himself up to
direct attack.
The playtest of the game revealed a number of things that make the
game worth the play. It is immensely satisfying when you finally get your
hands on one of the super heroes and do the most hideous deed of all,
instead of them 'getting rescued' or 'escaping in the nick of time from
your greatest death trap.' For a change the villain can actually win against
the whiter than white hero. Also the game can be great fun when you have
built up a sufficiently stable power base and are able to carry out some of
the more outrageous crimes. Remember all those bad guys who have tried
to empty Fort Knox?
One thing that should be noted is that the game can be terribly blunt.
This isn't the standard comic book stuff we all used to read, but is more
inclined to the modern view of super heroism and villainy. People do get
killed and villains are really nasty. If you are easily offended by the
nastier side of life perhaps it's better to avoid this particular game.
Turn costs are set at £2.00, with the start-up weighing in at £5.00,
covering rulebook, character set-up, and two free turns. All pages are high
quality laser printed. The game is computer moderated in regard to
general orders with referee input to add variety in description and ideas, a
split of roughly 50/50. The game is certainly worth a look, with
enthusiasm a plenty to provide an entertaining game. If you're interested
get in touch at the Madhouse address in the Fact Box.

'RJ){e P{ayer Inaepenaent Ju{y 1993

 Win another £100 worth of TSR games and accessories Plus
the final part of our massive £700 TSR giveaway.

The return of sheep! Yes, everybody's favourite low clouds

make an appearance in Alexander Fyfe's Paranoia scenario •
Baaa Baaa Bot.

For Star Trek fans, Lyndan Dunham presents The Sheriff of

Gothos, a follow up scenario to the television series' Squire of
Gothos episode.

Shadowrun Contacts . The good, the bad, and the

cyber-enhanced. Dave Perry presents eight new chums for
your runners to play with!

Street Traders . Darren Graham didn't quite make it this

month, but we can offer a guarantee that he'll be here next
issue • something that you wouldn't get from one of his Dark
Future Street Traders.

Overall, if you're into Star Trek, Call of Cthulhu, AD&D,

Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Traveller . The New Era, Miniatures,
Sheep, Paranoia, Guinea Pigs, Ars Magica, Werewolf, Vampire,
Chill, DC Heroes, Starfire, RuneQuest, GURPS, Play By Mail, or
Millennium's End, then there's a good reason for you buying
the next issue of Role Player Independent.

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