Inspiration: Gloriana and the Gargoyles

Usually, the back of a game's packaging presents selling points for the game:  component descriptions, flavor text, endorsements, etc.  Cyborg, published in 1978 by Excalibre Games, has crudely drawn comic panels (shown above).  Still, these panels give the prospective purchaser a very good idea of what he (or she) is getting.  The setting is post-apocalyptic.  The king is dead and the favored heir is Gloriana, a garment-challenged princess.  She must travel to the Holy City for her coronation; however, the king's evil sister, Aemulatio, wants the throne for herself.  In order to reach the Holy City, Gloriana and her allies must avoid Aemulatio and her minions.

Cyborg has the subtitle “The Ultimate Adventure” and describes itself as “Game Class – Sci Fi Character to Character Adventure Wargame.”  Even if we define 'adventure' as “pursuing a goal while fighting things,” Cyborg falls somewhat short of 'ultimate'.  Also, while some of the units are individuals, most represent multiple entities; as such, the phrase 'character to character' does not seem entirely accurate.  The cover boasts that the game has a “new design style.”  Units are represented by counters and have movement factors; this is not new.  When one unit attacks another, a die is rolled and a combat results table is consulted; this is also not new.  Perhaps the design style is new in that it was rushed and evidently incomplete.

Among the possibilities that the CRT discloses, there is “Defender Slain, Remove Defender Unit from Board.”  There is also “Defender Eaten,” “Defender Melted,” and “Defender Disintegrated” – all of which are no different than “Defender Slain” in game terms.  Also listed among the results is “Defender Blasted, Unit Hit by Exploding Bullets and Is Removed from Board,” but the actual CRT never yields this result.  Roads are indicated on the board, but they have no effect upon movement.  Several rivers are displayed; however, all but one have no game effect.

Although post-apocalyptic, the setting includes magic.  For instance, The Guardians of the Holy City can cast spells; so can Aemulatio's necromancers, Nootrac and Kcud.  (Read backwards for alleged humor.)  Casting a spell entails selecting a target unit and rolling on the appropriate chart for a random spell result.  The Guardians might disintegrate a unit or teleport a unit to the snake pits of Lacnar.  The necromancers might gain control over a unit or cause it to be “fooled by illusions.”

We learn that killing Gloriana isn't enough for Aemulatio.  Ideally, Aemulatio wants to sacrifice Gloriana “into the the volcano of IMMOLARE” (shown below).  According to the rules, “The game ends when the Princess is sacrificed or safely reaches the Holy City.”  Yet, “Should the Princess be sacrificed, Aemulatio may begin casting spells every turn...”  I guess this starts on the first turn after the game ends.  One might think that the game would end if Gloriana otherwise dies or if Aemulatio perishes.  One would be wrong.  It is unclear why Gloriana's protectors would proceed once her coronation was no longer possible.  It is equally unclear why Aemulatio's followers would continue after her demise given their entire motivation was to place her on the throne.

The game's unidentified designer is a student of Latin.  Aemulatio means “rivalry” and immolare translates as “sacrifice.”  The 'Spells' section of the rules states, “To add quality to your spell we suggest you utter some Latin before rolling.”  It's nice that a dead language is remembered after the apocalypse.

Despite its mechanical failings, it is possible to appreciate Cyborg for its outlandishness.  It is not difficult to get a Thundarr the Barbarian vibe from the game, even though Cyborg pre-dates that series by two years.  With better art, well thought out rules, less Latin, and multiple scenarios, perhaps Cyborg wouldn't languish in obscurity.  Perhaps more than providing inspiration itself, Cyborg is instructive in how it incorporates inspiration.  Among Aemulatio's cohorts, there are Gargoyles.  According to the rules, “Once every half millenium (sic) the Gargoyles hatch” and they strive to “protect the secret of their breeding grounds...”  This derives undoubtedly from the 1972 made for TV movie, Gargoyles.  The premise of the film is that every five hundred or six hundred years, gargoyles appear and attempt to conquer the world of men.  Obviously, they have been unsuccessful so far.  Since the gargoyles' last appearance, humanity has dismissed their existence.  Humans have to counter the gargoyle threat before the gargoyles grow into an invincible force.  Indeed, a gargoyles-versus-humans tactical scenario might have made for a better game than Cyborg.

Scale?  There's no scale.  Scales are for snakes, not maps!

Magic Items in Empire of the Petal Throne

Any sufficiently advanced technology

is indistinguishable from magic.

– Clarke's Third Law                    

When Tékumel entered the dimensional plane it occupies in the Empire of the Petal Throne setting, a series of cataclysms called the “Time of Darkness” occurred.

Old machines took on a divine aura, and as they failed, men lost the knowledge to repair them...Natural resources had been carelessly depleted...The wheels of technology require many types of natural resources and deprived of them, they slowly ground to a stop.

Articles of “ancient” technology are treated as magic items in EotPT.  Yet there is a great deal of 'magic' that is not technological per se.  Magic is explained as an interaction between psychic ability and extraplanar energies – and said energies are often associated with beings such as demons and gods.  Either the magic of Tékumel's plane conveniently meshes with old universe technology or the nature of technology has somehow been altered in Tékumel's current plane (or, perhaps, a measure of both).  What results is a mélange of science and sorcery à la Thundarr the Barbarian, not that the scholars of Tékumel would perceive any incongruity.

Among the miscellaneous 'magical' items described in EotPT, there are:

The Chariot of the Gods:  This is a flying vehicle, actually an ancient air car.
The Lightning Bringer:  This is actually a piece of ancient artillery.
The Little House of Tranquil Dwelling...This device was originally found on a planet far from Tékumel in the crater of some long burned out atomic explosion.

Additionally, there is “The Alluring Maiden of Ngá.”  This 'item' is an android with “the ebon hair and paper-white skin common to all androids of the ancients.”  This android operates as an assassin (6 Hit Dice; Armour Class 1).  However, “she is totally mindless” and “because of her lack of individual will she cannot speak or interact socially, and she cannot be assigned other tasks.”  I suppose she is “alluring” so as to have a better chance of approaching her victim.  What was the nature of the civilization of the ancients if they manufactured such technology?  Anyway, whenever her owner gives her a mission, there is a 35% chance she will attack her owner, “symbolising the breakdown of her ancient circuits.”  Of course, an android is an “automaton resembling a human being,” but there are other intelligent races on Tékumel.  One would suppose there would be “android” equivalents of Pé Chói or Tinalíya or other space-faring species friendly to man.  Perhaps such races are opposed to the idea of automatons that mimic them.

In contrast to the 'alluring maiden', there are Underworld beings called Yéleth or Angels of Doom.  These are androids (3 Hit Dice; Armour Class 6) and, like all androids, “They have paper-white skin and hair the colour of polished ebony.”  Unlike 'the maiden', they seem to have independent will and are encountered in groups of 1–4 (or 2–12 in their lair).  There is an item that allows evil Magic Users to create 1–6 Yéleth that will “serve their master loyally and permanently.”  This item is the Du'on Duqala Toruuna (or 'The Scroll of Bringing Forth the Unnamed') and the “text is written in flickering blue flame upon pages of brass.”  The same scroll permits evil Priests to create a similar group of undead beings called Mrúr.  “The construction of either of these beings requires the sacrifice of an equal number of human characters to Ksárul.”  (Ksárul is one of the Tlokiriqáluyal – the 'evil' gods of Tékumel; after the scroll is used once, “Ksárul sends his Black Angel to retrieve it.”)  So the scroll – property of an evil god – allows for the creation of undead or androids, depending upon the user.  In either case, human sacrifices are necessary; sacrifices of other intelligent beings are not sufficient.  This is a peculiar intersection of technology and magic.

A few other miscellaneous magical items are:

The Magical Chest of the Topaz God – like a Bag of Holding, except it's a box.
The Mighty Wall of Thúmis – creates a wall of bronze for two turns.
The Jade Bowl of the God-King of Purdánim – can be used to exchange minds with a member of the same species for 24 hours.
The Trumpet of Metállja – “can summon any android or automaton within a 6 inch radius to do the bidding of the user for two turns.”