Let's Generate A Legionnaire Character!

Art by Roger Loveless

“Creating a character is a matter of several simple steps,” page 8 of the Legionnaire rulebook states, “It is important that these steps be followed in their listed order.”  The first step is determining primary attributes.  By rolling 2d10 for each value, we obtain the following results:

AG: 14     CH: 7     CN: 14     DX: 16     IQ: 6     LK: 14     SP: 9     ST: 17

As a reflection of his low intellect, we will call this character Stultus.  An intelligence value of only 6 presents an obstacle for generating a well-rounded character because each career path requires a minimum IQ of at least 8.  Although he cannot engage upon a career, Stultus can still acquire 9 points of skills (i.e., IQ value + 3).  Stultus will be 21 years old (i.e., [skill points / 2] + 17).

Each skill has a prerequisite intelligence value, so the number of skills available to Stultus is necessarily limited.  With nine points we can purchase nine skills at one level each.  From the IQ 2 skills we choose Archery, Blade, Brawling, Knife, and Laser Firearms.  From the IQ 3 skills we choose Projectile Firearms, Swimming, and Wrestling.  Finally, we choose a “Career Skill” from the IQ 6 skills.  Career Skills “cover any sort of job that can be performed by a semi-intelligent creature” (but not jobs covered by other skills).  We may as well specify 'RPG Designer' as Stultus' Career Skill.  Anyway...

Let's Generate Another Legionnaire Character!

Another round of dice rolling provides us with the following values:

AG: 11     CH: 18     CN: 13     DX: 10     IQ: 12     LK: 12     SP: 11     ST: 11

We'll call this character Septimus Aquilae.  In Legionnaire, there are two types of career paths, military and intelligence.  For Septimus, we shall select Insurgency / Counter-Insurgency Agent, one of the intelligence paths.

      The Insurgency / Counter-Insurgency agent is effectively a blend between a well trained soldier and a deep cover agent.  In the insurgency role this agent is capable of raising, training and leading a resistance group on an enemy occupied planet.  As a counter-insurgency expert this character is capable of meeting a guerilla group on their own terms and defeating them.

This career requires a minimum IQ of 12 and a minimum DX of 10.  The skill point cost is 12 and it adds six years to Septimus' age.  He acquires the following skills:  Ambush, Communications (P-Comm), Demolitions, Drop Pod Operations, Environmental Survival (choose two), Leadership, Martial Arts (choose one), Negotiation, Projectile Firearms, Scavenger / Tinker, Security Tech, Stealth, Support Weapons, Tracking, and Training.  P-Comm refers to “Phase-Polarization Communications System,” a method of faster-than-light communication.  For the Environmental Survival options, we'll choose Urban and Temperate.  (“Urban Survival covers the savvy and streetwise skills to survive in the rougher urban areas of a world.”)  For Martial Arts, we'll select Karate.  With Septimus' remaining three skill points, he gets one level each in Tactics (Ground), Medtech, and – given his high Charisma – Swindling.

Although 'rank' is not recorded on the character sheet, one must determine rank as part of a character's career duration.  For intelligence careers, we roll 2d10 and consult Rank Table 6.  A result of 16 means ten 'points' of rank; equivalent to a rank of lieutenant in the Commonwealth armed forces.  Septimus must 'earn' ten rank points by rolling on the Previous Experience tables.  Each pass through the tables adds a year to the character's age.  Each result has instructions to follow and a line or two of flavor text “descriptive of a uniformed soldier's life.”  Before each pass, a player must choose two skills (first and second choice) and two Primary Attributes (first and second choice) that may be improved.

For Septimus' first pass we'll choose Dexterity (1st) and Agility (2nd) for attributes and Projectile Firearms (1st) and Security Tech (2nd) for skills.  (Previous Experience charts cannot improve an attribute values beyond 18, so we may not choose Charisma.)  The first roll is 8 (“You put the year to good use, working hard at your training.”):  both skills improve but no rank points are received.

For the second pass, we'll keep the same attributes but choose Leadership (1st) and Negotiation (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 18 (“Pressed into service in a position you do not normally occupy, you perform admirably.”):  the second choice skill increases by 2 and one other skill increases by 1.  “Other” skills are determined randomly.  Since Septimus has 19 skills, there are 17 possibilities.  We roll 1d20 and ignore results over 17.

For the third pass, we choose Ambush (1st) and Stealth (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 9 (“You've had a more exiting time watching clouds form than you did in this year of service.”):  1st choice skill increases by 1.

For the fourth pass, we choose Leadership (1st) and Medtech (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 4 (“You ran into unexpected trouble in a supposedly safe zone.”):  the second choice skill increases by 2 and one other skill increases by 1.  Also, 2 rank points are earned.

For the fifth pass, we choose Leadership (1st) and Swindling (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 4 again.

For the sixth pass, we choose Leadership (1st) and Tactics (Ground) (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 9 again.

For the seventh pass, we choose Scavenger / Tinker (1st) and Stealth (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 9 for the third time.  Bored yet?

For the eighth pass, we choose Training (1st) and Stealth (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 12 (“If boredom was an ore, you hit the Mother Lode this year.”):  the second choice skill increases by 1.  Is the game becoming self-aware?

For the ninth pass, we choose Training (1st) and Security Tech (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 6, which directs us to another chart, specifically 2B.  For this new chart, the roll is 12 (“Fighting to keep your rations down is the most battling you do this tour.”):  second choice skill and second choice attribute both increase by 1.  Also, 3 rank points are earned.

For the tenth pass, we keep the same attributes but choose Karate (1st) and Projectile Firearms (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 9 for the fourth time.

For the eleventh pass, we keep the same attributes but choose Training (1st) and Tactics (Ground) (2nd) for skills.  The roll is 15 (“An action in which you figured prominently made the media broadcasts.  You're a star!  More importantly, so were your superior officers!”):  Both skill choices increase by 1.  Five rank points are earned, meaning Septimus has reached his quota.  Also, the character earns a Prestige point.

Prestige is a “special attribute . . . developed by David L. Arneson, and is used with his permission.”  It “reflects a character's reputation among others in the Renegade Legion universe.”  Normally, Prestige is accumulated during play, but some points may be gained during generation through a character's family, military unit, or previous experience charts.

Another “special attribute is called the Edge and is a reflection of the intangible difference between true heroes and normal individuals.”  We learn that, “Each point of the Edge can 'buy' a new die roll during a game.”  A character begins with a number of Edge points equal to 2d10 – 13.  Septimus begins with –2 Edge.  He can acquire a positive Edge via experience.

This leaves us with:

Septimus Aquilae

AG: 12     CH: 18     CN: 13     DX: 10     IQ: 12     LK: 12     SP: 11     ST: 11

Skills
Ambush 2, Communications (P-Comm) 1, Demolitions 2, Drop Pod Operations 1, Environment Survival (Temperate) 1, Environment Survival (Urban) 2, Leadership 2, Martial Arts (Karate) 2, Medtech 4, Negotiation 3, Projectile Firearms 2, Scavenger / Tinker 2, Security Tech 2, Stealth 2, Support Weapons 1, Swindling 3, Tactics (Ground) 2, Tracking 1, Training 2

Age:  35

Prestige:  1

The Edge:  –2

Mass Combat in Timemaster

Charles Le Brun          La Bataille d’Arbelles (fragment)          1669

The chapter on 'Battles' in the Travelers' Manual is only three-and-a-half pages, but this belies the emphasis on mass combat in TIMEMASTER™.  Preceding the 'Battles' chapter is a six-and-a-half page 'Heavy Weapons' chapter providing essential information about mass combat.  Additionally, the Guide to the Continuum includes a page about military formations and each of the time period settings devotes a military summary of least a couple of paragraphs.

Aside from normal person-to-person combat, there are skirmishes and tactical scale battles.  In normal combat, each counter represents one character or item.  Each combat round lasts five seconds and the scale can either be 5' per hex or 25' per hex.  For skirmishes, each combat round is still five seconds, but the scale is ten yards per hex.  Why have two distinct scales that are so close to one another (25' versus 30')?  The distinction is needless.  Anyway, we learn that skirmishes “are battles that involve no more than a few hundred men on each side.”  In skirmishes, “each infantry or cavalry counter represents 10 soldiers instead of just one.”  (original emphasis)

In contrast to skirmishes, tactical scale battles “involve hundreds or thousands of troops.”  We learn that each infantry counter “represents from 100 to 900 men” and each cavalry counter “can represent several hundred cavalry.”  Also, “Each vehicle counter represents 3 to 6 vehicles.”  The ground scale is one hundred yards per hex.  Instead of five-second combat rounds, tactical scale battles are divided into turns of ten minutes each.  The rules explain, “A turn contains one complete role-playing round at the end of each step.”  (original emphasis)  This statement is less than artfully expressed.  The sequence of play for a tactical scale turn lists role-playing rounds as distinct steps, so “every second step is a role-playing round” would be a more apt explanation, but still not perfect.  There is no role-playing round after the last step.  As such, the best statement would be:  “There are 19 steps in a turn and every even numbered step is a role-playing round.”  The rules explain why only nine role-playing rounds transpire during a ten minute turn:

...this reflects the reality of the battlefield environment.  Men on a battlefield, PCs included, find themselves often bewildered and unable to act as they wish because of the bombardment of their senses by strange and unpleasant sensations:  smoke and dust clog the air, masses of men move by, explosions shake the ground, bullets fly everywhere, and the screams of the wounded and dying rise from the battlefield.  Just staying alive and finding out what is going on occupies most of a man's time.

Of course, if individual characters engage in personal combat during a tactical scale turn, “that combat should be played out round by round before the next step of the turn.”

As shown below, the capabilities of troops, vehicles, and armaments are indicated by values on the counters.

'Movement Rate' represents the number of hexes the counter can move.  If there are two numbers separated by a slash, the number on the left is used for skirmishes and the one on the right is used for tactical scale battles.  “Troop counters may never end their movement in hexes containing other friendly troops,” we learn, except when troops are “being carried in or towed by trucks or APCs.”

To resolve an attack by a unit of troops, a percentile die is rolled and compared against the 'Missile Value' or 'Melee Value' as appropriate.  Situational modifiers may apply to whichever value.  A result less than or equal to the modified value is required to affect the defending unit.  This is a specific check, so the difference of the die roll result from the value at issue is determined and referenced as the 'attack margin' on the Action Table.  On behalf of the defending unit, 1d10 is rolled to ascertain the defense column on the table.  Some units, like tanks, have a 'Defense Bonus' which is applied to the d10 defense column roll (to a maximum of 10).

A successful attack means the defending unit must attempt a morale check.  Technically, defending vehicles attempt a vehicle destruction check, but the mechanics are the same.  Depending upon how well the attack succeeds, the morale check may have a negative modifier.  'Morale Value' is equivalent to 'Melee Value' and the morale check is pass-fail.  Even if the morale check is successful, if the precipitating attack achieves a 'K' result on the Action Table, the defending unit must “move back one hex, facing the same direction.”  If the morale check is failed, the defending unit is “routed” or – in the case of vehicles – destroyed.

“Routed” means different things depending upon the historical setting.  Prior to the first World War, “routed troops turn around 180 degrees and immediately move back one full move.”  While routed, “troops must continue this retreat movement, taking no other action, including firing or melee attacking...”  If a retreat would causes a troop unit to enter “hexes occupied by enemy troops, or hexes adjacent to and in the field of fire of an enemy counter not involved in melee,” the unit is eliminated.  During WWI or afterward, “routed troops cannot take any action, including moving or firing.”  Such troops retreat if the precipitating attack was melee.  (Presumably, they still move one hex with a 'K' attack result.)  Routed troops are destroyed if they are merely melee attacked or if routed again by a missile attack.  Is it necessary for the melee attack to be successful?  The rules are not specific.  Routed troops can rally and relieve themselves of their routed condition with a successful morale check.  Such checks can be attempted at the end of a round (in skirmishes) or turn (in tactical scale battles).

In other role-playing games, there are various ways to treat large scale combat.  Such combat can merely be a backdrop without the player characters and the battle necessarily affecting one another.  In other situations, the player characters have an objective which can alter the outcome of the battle.  Here, the focus need only be on those aspects of the battle with which the player characters interact directly.  The TIMEMASTER™ approach is holistic; the entirety of a battle is composed and resolved.  These mass combat rules are necessary because:

Demoreans are drawn to human battlefields; many of their plots against Parallel T-0 are attempts to change the outcomes of important battles (or little known skirmishes that are deceptively significant).

We learn, “In most battle situations, the PCs take one side or the other:  one or more of the PCs may even impersonate a military commander.”  The Continuum Master plays the opposing side.

In other cases, the players may not wish to control any troops.  The CM may then control all the troops in the battle, but should still have the players make all the dice rolls for one side or the other.

Really?  If the players don't want to control troops, they're supposed to sit around and roll dice while the CM plays a solitaire wargame?  Why bother?

Combat in Star Frontiers

Art by George Wilson

The Star Frontiers boxed set included a 16 page book of Basic Game Rules and a 60 page book of Expanded Game Rules.  The Basic Game Rules serve as introductory material, of course.  In presenting the setting, there are five paragraphs of “A Short History of Known Space” and a page with a short piece of fiction accompanied by five Jim Holloway illustrations.  There are the requisite instructions for using percentile dice and an explanation of role-playing games:

If the players cooperate and reach their goal, everyone wins.  A skilful player who uses the same character in several adventures will see that character rewarded, becoming richer, more powerful and able to handle more difficult missions.

One-and-a-half pages describe character creation for the basic game – no skills or alien abilities.  The actual section called Basic Rules covers the essentials of movement and combat with specific details regarding the 23" × 35" map of Port Loren.  We are informed that, in a six second game turn, a character can move and/or use a weapon.  Otherwise a character could reload or “stand and do nothing.”  (A later statement suggests that it is possible to both walk and reload on the same turn.)

Each character has an Initiative Modifier equal to one-tenth of his (or hers or its) Reaction Speed.  At the onset of every turn, both sides roll d10 to determine initiative.  For a given side, the Initiative Modifier of the character with the highest Reaction Speed is added to the result.  The combat sequence is straight-forward.  First, the side with initiative moves then attacks.  Afterward, the other side moves then attacks.  On a turn when the modified initiative rolls are tied, “the side with the highest single reaction speed moves and attacks first...However, damage caused by successful attacks does not take effect until after both sides have fired that turn...”  The fact that all characters on a given side move based on the speed of the fastest character is somewhat unrealistic, but realism must defer to practicality for ease of play.  In the Expanded Game Rules, characters can “roll their own initiative” and take actions in appropriate relation to one another.

The combat sequence for the Expanded Game Rules is somewhat more intricate:

So, the side without initiative actually moves first.  The logic of this escapes me.

When initiative roll results are tied in the Expanded Game Rules, “the side with the highest modifier has initiative.”  No provision is made for simultaneous damage effects.

In the Basic Game, an attack is successful if the result of d100 is equal to or less than the attacking character's Dexterity.  “A roll of 01 – 05 is always a hit,” we are told, “regardless of modifiers, if the target is visible and in range.”  In the Expanded Game, ranged attacks are successful on a roll of half of the character's Dexterity; melee attacks are successful on a roll of half of either Dexterity or Strength, whichever is greater.  Each level of a weapon skill adds 10% to the character's chance to hit with that type of weapon.  Also, with the Expanded Game a roll of 96 – 00 is an automatic miss.

A roll of 01 – 02 knocks the target character unconscious.  When using “a blunt weapon (including  bare hands),” a result of any multiple of ten (equal to or less than the chance to hit) also causes unconsciousness.  With the Martial Arts skill, the 01 – 02 chance is increased by 1% per level of skill.

Damage is subtracted from Stamina.  “A character whose Stamina has been reduced to 0 or less is dead,” according to the Expanded Game Rules, “but can be revived if his Stamina has not gone below –30.”  To be revived, the character's Stamina must be raised to higher than zero.  If the character has been dead for less than a minute and Stamina is not below –9, an application of Biocort can revive the character.  Staydose allows a character to remain alive for twenty hours (twenty-four in the Basic Game), so as to receive proper medical attention.  Otherwise, a body can be preserved for up to two hundred hours with a Freeze Field (assuming the device is activated within two minutes of death).  If a character suffers burn damage in excess of his (or hers or its) Stamina, “the character is completely incapacitated.”

Stamina may “heal naturally at a rate of 1 point for every 20 hours (i.e., a day in terms of Galactic Standard Time) that the character spends resting.”  A character can heal up to twenty points of Stamina per day while in a hospital at a cost of one credit per point plus fifty credits per day.

A reviewer in Dragon #65 expressed concerns about combat in the Basic Game:

...the weapons do a surprisingly small amount of damage, no more, than one or two dice. Figuring the average of 1d10 as 5.5 and the average stamina as 45, characters will have to be hit about four to eight times (depending on weapon strength) to be knocked unconscious – and this without benefit of defensive armor! Because of this relationship between weak weapons and strong characters, firefights can get a bit monotonous and drag on and on. Not only is this somewhat “unrealistic,” but it slows the game down precisely when it should be at its most fast-paced and exciting.

This concern is somewhat assuaged with the Expanded Game Rules:

Because of increased rates of fire and the opportunity to change energy settings on beam weapons, characters can do considerable damage with their weapons in the expanded game, putting excitement and a real sense of danger into combat situations. In addition to damage taken against stamina, some weapons can cause unconsciousness. To help the characters out in this suddenly more dangerous environment, there are several types of defensive suits and screens that can absorb damage from certain types of attacks.

A wide variety of of weapons are available.  The 'Beam Weapons' skill covers use of “elecrtostunners, heavy lasers, laser pistols, laser rifles, sonic devastators, sonic distruptors and sonic stunners.”  The 'Projectile Weapons' skill applies to “automatic pistols and rifles, bows, muskets, needler pistols and rifles, machine guns and recoilless rifles.”  However, gyrojet weapons have their own skill.

A sword inflicts 3d10 points of damage; an electric sword inflicts 4d10 and a sonic sword, 5d10.  Automatic pistols and rifles both do 1d10 (or 5d10 with a ten shot burst).  In the Expanded Game Rules, there are two types of defensive armor:  suits and powerscreens.  As an example, a skeinsuit absorbs “one-half of the damage caused by projectile and gyrojet weapons, fragmentation grenades, explosives and melee weapons.”  Once the suit absorbs fifty points of damage, it is no longer functional.  An inertia screen offers the same sort of protection at a cost of two Standard Energy Units per attack.  (A Power Beltpack has 50 SEU; a Power Backpack, 100.)

Instead of saving throws, the Expanded Game Rules offer 'avoidance rolls' by which a character may “avoid or reduce the effects of some weapons by leaping or twisting away from the attack, or by resisting its effects.”  For instance, by rolling Reaction Speed or less on d100, a character can reduce damage from a fragmentation grenade by half.  Such a character “must move 3 meters to get out of the blast area.”  A blast cannot be avoided if “the character has nowhere to move to...”  (Only one grenade may be avoided per turn.)  By rolling current Stamina or less, a character can completely ignore the effects of a doze grenade.  (Incidentally, a standard equipment pack includes one doze grenade.)

Dragons of Underearth

Art by Denis Loubet

The Fantasy Trip Kickstarter is in its final days.  For those of you who don't know, The Fantasy Trip is...well, let's let designer Steve Jackson (US) explain (from Heroic Worlds):

          The Fantasy Trip, or TFT for short, came into being in 1977, when I designed Melee for Metagaming.  Melee was intended to be a (relatively) realistic, but super-quick game, useable either as a combat system for fantasy RPGs or as a stand-alone game.  It used only two statistics: Strength and Dexterity.  Combats were quick and bloody, until you got about a dozen on each side; then they became slow and bloody.  But it was a simple and very playable system.
          While Melee was being designed, I toyed with a few spells, but did not include them in the final version.  However, by popular demand, they grew into a companion game, Wizard.  Wizard was actually the same game with one more stat (IQ) thrown in and magic rules instead of weapon combat.  Therefore, the two packages were totally compatible; a wizard could fight with, or against, a warrior.  These were the game's two “character classes.”
          Melee/Wizard became quite popular, due both to simplicity and to the very low cost (originally $2.95 for Melee, $3.95 for Wizard).  There was a great deal of demand for the “complete” role-playing system.  And, in 1979, after entirely too much time and work, The Fantasy Trip was released.

After TFT was published, Steve Jackson separated from Metagaming.  Jackson went on to establish his own game company.  Metagaming retained the rights to TFT, but Jackson further developed the concepts of TFT in forming the basis for GURPS.  Metagaming went out of business and TFT went out-of-print.  Now, however, Jackson has obtained the rights and is running the aforementioned Kickstarter campaign.

Metagaming published Dragons of Underearth before it closed its doors.  Dragons of Underearth is...well, let's let designer Keith Gross explain (from Interplay #8):

...DRAGONS OF UNDEREARTH has basically the same content as THE FANTASY TRIP in its full ITL [In the Labyrinth], ADVANCED MELEE & ADVANCED WIZARD form; the rules cover essentially all of the same subjects.  However, DRAGONS OF UNDEREARTH is much shorter (about 20 small pages) and much easier to learn and faster-playing.  It is slightly less realistic and leaves out some of the more esoteric weapons, spells, etc.  It does not have all the colorful descriptions and background information that ITL, ADVANCED MELEE, and ADVANCED WIZARD do, but many gamers do not need this.

The front of the box makes the declaration, “Compact Rules For Fantasy Role-Playing.”  The back of the box indicates:

DRAGONS OF UNDEREARTH gives you danger and glory in a complete, fantasy role-playing game where you are the hero.  UNDEREARTH simplifies play, giving you more time for action and surprise.  Included are character creation, magic, monsters and combat (introductory, intermediate & advanced versions for easy learning).  And, you don't need a game master or special dice.

Please note the claim of being “a complete, fantasy role-playing game.”  (The game also refers to itself as “a complete character role-playing system.”)  Yet, neither did Lawrence Schick include it in his Heroic Worlds, nor was it listed in The Adventurer's Handbook.  Perhaps Dragons of Underearth was considered too derivative of The Fantasy Trip.  However, the notion of publishing basic and advanced versions of the same game is hardly novel.

Keith Gross planned something called Conquerors of Underearth as a TFT adventure that would have “Adventurers entering a Goblin fortress and encountering organized military units, and as such often involves 10-20 or more fighters in a battle.” Given the number of participants, a battle in Conquerors could be “very slow and complicated.”  Gross fashioned a simpler version of TFT to make Conquerors more playable.  This simpler version became Dragons of Underearth, a distinct product.  Ironically, Conquerors of Underearth was never published.

Like TFT, players create characters in Dragons of Underearth by allocating points among three attributes:  Strength, Dexterity, and IQ.  Like TFT, IQ establishes how many talents a character may have and the variety of talents from which to choose.  Like TFT, talents such as Animal Handler, Physicker, and Theologian are listed.  Unlike TFT, only combat related talents are explained in Dragons of Underearth.  According to section 6.2, “Other talents are fully explained in the Magic Item Creation section of this module or in CONQUERORS OF UNDEREARTH.”  Also, per section 5.2, “Non-Combat spells are described in CONQUERORS OF UNDEREARTH™.”

If your product lists talents and spells, acknowledges that the talents and spells need description, and refers the reader to a separate product for those descriptions, your product fails to be “complete.”  If that separate product won't ever exist, insult is added to injury.  Ultimately, Dragons of Underearth only incorporates rules that relate to combat.

So, when can we consider a role-playing game to be complete?  Is The Future King complete?  That game does not allow for creation of original characters and there is only one adventure.  While Heroic Worlds does not mention Dragons of Underearth, it does list The Future King as a role-playing game.  Of course,  Heroic Worlds includes solo gamebooks as RPGs.

The rules for Dragons of Underearth are divided into two modules:  Character Generation (©1981) and Combat (©1982).  In addition to the obvious, the Character Generation module includes tables for armor, weapons, and monsters/beasts; rules for experience; and rules for creating original (combat) scenarios.  The Combat module has three tiers of rules:  introductory, intermediate, and advanced.  The introductory sections cover the basics (appropriately enough).  The intermediate sections bring into play ranged combat and (optionally) poison, creatures, and bare-handed attacks.  The advanced sections discuss spells and magic items.  Each tier has three scenarios incorporating the rules from their respective tiers (to facilitate learning).

The third advanced scenario is called 'Battle of the Chasm' in which two forces are positioned on either side of “a two-megahex wide pit.”  Only a narrow bridge crosses the chasm.  The 'Dark Power' force consists of six orc “swordsmen,” four orc archers, two trolls, and a greater demon.  Included among the 'Fellowship' force are two human fighters, a dwarf fighter, an elven archer, a wizard, and four halflings (one of which has a “Ring of Invisibility”).  This makes for an interesting situation; someone should write a book where this is a pivotal scene.  For dramatic tension, maybe the dwarf – no, one of the humans – wants the ring for himself.  Maybe the other human is really a prince or something.  Of course, no one wants to read about a Fellowship; that's too hokey.  They should be called the League of Murderhoboes or the Brotherhood of Death Dealers.

Why 'Dragons' of Underearth?  One dragon is featured in an intermediate scenario.  Perhaps someone at Metagaming hoped that the word 'Dragons' in the title would imply a likeness with Dungeons & Dragons.  Perhaps Metagaming had sitting around some Loubet art featuring a dragon.

Mustering Out On Mephistopheles (spoilers)

Map by Steve Crompton

Agents of Rebellion (1983) is a module written by Space Opera co-author Phil McGregor.  Technically, Agents of Rebellion presents itself as a “CSA Sector Adventure Scenario Pack.”  'CSA' is a reference to the Confederate Systems Alliance, subject of Star Sector Atlas 11, also written by McGregor.

The module is evidently intended for new characters given that the first sentence reads, “Your group of adventurers has mustered out on Mephistopheles hoping that, on such a large and (relatively) well off world, that they will be able to find suitable employment.”  It may not be the wisest option to muster out on (or even visit) planets named after infernal entities.  However, page 6 suggests that the player characters are originally from Mephistopheles:  “Since you have been away from home for an extended period...”

Regarding the player characters, we also learn that, “after several weeks of fruitless job hunting, their financial reserves are becoming quite strained and they realize that they must find work soon.”  Also, “For personal reasons, the party members do not wish to split up and they have so far resisted the individual temptations that have come their way.”  It would seem that – for purposes of the adventure – player character agency has been compromised; they find themselves on Mephistopheles and their “financial reserves” evaporate.  Actually, in the Introduction, McGregor claims, “Though it may seem that the adventures are unnecessarily prescriptive as to the course of action the PCs involved should take...there is absolutely no reason why [the StarMaster] cannot change details of the adventure to suit the needs of his campaign and his PCs.”  In any event, job interviews represent an important plot point in the early part of the adventure.

The subtitle of the module is C.S.A. Espionage Missions.  You see, Mephistopheles and other CSA worlds were conquered by the Korellian Empire over a century prior to the adventure.  (The Korellian Empire of the subject of Star Sector Atlas 12, also by McGregor.)  The player characters become part of the Underground Alliance (“a resistance movement”) and engage upon missions that act as a prelude to open rebellion against the Korellians.

First, at the suggestion of “One of the party (an NPC, presumably),” the player characters have lunch at “an English style pub.”  Just after lunch, before the party leaves the pub, explosions afflict the Korellian munitions factory across the street.  Suspecting sabotage, authorities seal off the area and the player characters learn that “a house-to-house sweep” is imminent and many people will be arrested.  Only those with “a justifiable reason to be in the area...may be let go eventually.”  Additionally, “even the innocent often disappear forever.”  Since a mid-day meal does not qualify as a justifiable reason, “This should make your PCs realize that they are obviously in a bad position.”  There is more than one way the player characters can attempt to avoid the sweep; one way is to travel through the sewers.  The map of the sewer system is presented above; the area represented is 800 meters wide.

According to an announcement the following day, the numerous suspects detained will be sacrificed on the occasion of the Kne'shin'wa festival the following week (a Korellian custom).  Meanwhile, the player characters continue with their job interviews.  Upon returning to their hotel rooms, they can attempt Intuition Characteristic Rolls to “get the feeling that something is wrong.”  If, as a result, they search their rooms, “they will realize that their belongings have been professionally looked through.”  We are then treated to this peculiar statement:  “Though nothing has been taken, there has been an obvious attempt to conceal the fact that any search has been made!”  How does that work?

The player characters collectively interview to become a group of troubleshooters for Alliance Starlines.  The company is a front for the Underground Alliance, although the player characters do not yet know this.  It is a bold decision for an organization to name a front organization after itself.  That evening, Alliance Starlines informs the player characters that they have been hired and a complementary bottle of champagne is delivered.  Get this:  “Of course, though the SM should give no hint of this, the champagne is not drugged, though the gas in the bubbles is narcotic!”  Seriously?  The gas formed by the champagne is narcotic but the champagne isn't drugged?  Just say the champagne is drugged and be done with it.  What if a player character does not drink the champagne (thus avoiding being exposed to the narcotic bubbles)?  In that case, “a waiter will...use a mini-dartgun with the same narcotic tipping the darts on him!”

The player characters wake up in an Underground Alliance hideout and are offered a mission.  Would you want to work for people who kidnapped you?  On the other hand, would you want to hire operatives who could so easily be neutralized?  Anyway, an Alliance member – a professor – was in the area of the munitions factory at the time of the explosions and was thus arrested.  Apparently, the authorities do not realize that the professor is affiliated with the Underground.  The mission of the player characters is to rescue the professor.  They can either (1) arrange for a mass breakout of the detainees while they are held at a colonial police facility or (2) rescue just the professor after the detainees have been transferred to St. Gervase Island, “the HQ of the Imperial Ground Forces on Mephistopheles,” where the sacrifices are to take place.  Regardless of the option they choose, the player characters have extensive leeway in planning the operation and they can call upon the resources of the Underground Alliance.  Actually, the mass breakout option turns out to be fruitless since the adventure requires that the professor be sent to the island.  The Alliance doesn't want the imperial forces to realize that the professor “is of any importance.”  As such, they can't be made aware that the professor has escaped.  How do they hope to accomplish this?  The Alliance has “a specially programmed clone which has been altered to resemble the Professor and will thus make the escape less likely to be detected.”  This sentence is the only information the module provides regarding the clone.  What, exactly, is supposed to happen?  Does the clone work with the player characters to infiltrate the island, take the place of the professor, and then die on his behalf?  Groups of detainees “are quartered in prefab hutments.”  What are the player characters supposed to do with the other detainees quartered with the professor, especially given that “the UA wants no discoverable traces” of the escape?

After the mission, “things are getting too hot” on Mephistopheles for the player characters; so the Alliance sends them to the planet Marduk for a mission.  The player characters are “being paid regularly by Alliance Starlines now,” meaning (I suppose) that the relationship between the PCs and the Alliance has been altered somehow.  The mission on Marduk is to infiltrate the Korellian Imperial StarBase and surreptitiously secure “important items of information from their data banks.”  Again, the player characters devise their own plans to accomplish this.  Evidently, regardless of the player characters' plans, the mission concludes with a “spectacular escape from the StarBase.”  (The Imperial security services “have no idea what [the PCs] did inside the base or even that [they] successfully penetrated it, but they are after” the player characters.)

The next mission involves the player characters taking the Imperial data off-planet.  The PCs must first travel 1200 km inland to a secret UA landing port.  In essence:

The UA will provide transport, but, unbeknownst to either the UA or the PCs, the driver (or one of the other bus crew) has had his cover blown to Imperial Security.  If (when) their vehicle is stopped by Imperial security forces, he will be recognized. This will mean that the PCs will be implicated as well, though there should be just enough bungling on the part of the Imperials to give smart PCs a chance to escape with the Imperials in hot pursuit.  If the roadblock was relatively near their destination or the PCs have been identified (they will be sooner or later), then a planetwide APB will be put out by them.  This will make it effectively impossible for them to carry on with overt operations using their own IDs.  They will, in future, have to confine themselves to covert operations, a much more dangerous way of life.

When the player characters leave Marduk, “a unit of Korellian naval vessels are close enough to attempt interception.”  We are told that the StarMaster “should ensure that whatever the damage the CSA ship takes it still manages to make it into hyperspace and that at least one of the [Korellian vessels] manage to follow.”  The player characters' ship crash lands on the rendezvous planet (although it is called a moon on page 25) and they use a gravsled to travel to “the secret transfer point.”  However, the gravsled has a fuel leak “which the PCs will not discover in time.”  The scenario then becomes an exercise in survival.

In any case, for some time before their fuel runs out, the PCs will have been picking up weak radio signals from elsewhere... They should figure out that this is their only realistic hope of survival.  Subtly encourage them to investigate if they don't show overt eagerness to investigate.

The radio signals emanate from the wreckage of a ForeRunner craft (although the PCs do not recognize it as ForeRunner technology).  They might find an artifact that “will be vital in later adventures in this series.”  Among the wreckage is a ForeRunner vehicle – the equivalent of a gravsled – which the player characters can use to reach the transfer point “near [an] abandoned mining camp.”  Apparently, at no time when the mining camp was active did anyone bother to investigate the radio signals.

A “cutter load of Korellian Marines” has also crash landed and they make “a forced march on to the mining camp.”  It is advised that the player characters do not encounter all of the marines at once.  Instead, “They should start off with a scouting unit of a few men who will proceed to call in reinforcements.”  If necessary, CSA troops can show up to save the characters.  (I guess the player characters were supposed to meet somebody at the transfer point; that somebody might as well be CSA troops.)

Agents of Rebellion has a number of plot holes, but at least there is plot to have holes in (as opposed to Martigan Belt).  At times, McGregor accommodates a broad range of player character behavior, yet at other times particular events are forced upon the PCs.  Yes, “unnecessarily prescriptive” dictates can be obviated by the StarMaster, but the usefulness of the module is inversely proportionate to the effort the StarMaster must put forth.

Adversaries in Space Opera

Art by George Wilson

However much Mankind may come to an accomodation [sic] with many of diverse races it will encounter in universe, there will always be some so starkly 'alien' that no common ground will be found on which to build friendly relations.  Such races are the 'monsters' of the galaxy.

Space Opera presents three intelligent races to be used as opponents for humans and human-aligned races.  Unfortunately, we have not been graced with any Gene Day depictions of these entities.

First, the Bugs (no other name provided) are cribbed from Heinlein's Starship Troopers.  “The Bugs are not individuals,” we learn, “but rather are 'units' in a vast 'hive consciousness.'”  The rules describe Brain Bugs, Workers, and three grades of Warriors.

Highly sensitive psionic Adepts who are able to attune themselves (barely) to the thought frequencies of the Bugs have confirmed that the function of the 'Brain Bugs' is not to lead, but to maintain a psionic link, joining all members/ units in the 'Hive Mind.'  Only the 'Hive Mind' has awareness and intelligence.  Individual units have only instinct to guide them when not in contact with the Hive.  'Brains' act as communicators to express the will of the 'Hive Mind' and to supply information...to the collective consciousness for evaluation and decision.

The psionic 'range' of a Brain Bug seems to be five hundred meters.  Brain Bugs have a 'Body Mass' of 100 kg while Workers and Warriors range from 350 to 700 kg.

Master of Orion was not released until 1993, so we cannot accuse Space Opera of taking “Klackons” from that game.  Space Opera Klackons “are amphibious, crab-like beings with heavily armoured shells and large pincer claws which can be used to manipulate objects or to tear food and enemies apart.”  Large pincer claws would not seem well suited for manufacturing and operating advanced technology, but I'm not going to argue.  “It is possible to conduct trade with Klackons,” the rules state, “using sign language and the pidgin evolved for spoken communication.”  However, Klackons do not exclude sentient beings from their diet and, on occasion, “the Klackon's hunger overcomes the desire to do business.”  We also learn that Klackons are obsessed with the number seven.  Males of the species average 175 kg while females average 125 kg.

Given that the novel is in the public domain, Space Opera unabashedly states that the Mertuns “may be regarded as similar to” the Martians from H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds.  “The Mertuns are an octopoidal race from low gravity planets and...They also use heavy Tripod Walkers...”  We learn that they “are a totally unemotional race devoted to cold, hard logic.”  Lacking emotion, they are “not overly hostile...[but] neither are they are they a 'friendly' race.”  In terms of government, “Mertuns appear to have not set social organization, but it is a suspected that individual communities function on a pattern not dissimilar to 'Athenian Democracy.'”  Mertun 'Body Mass' ranges from 100 kg to 250 kg.  No mention is made of any susceptibility to common germs.

Section 17.0 is titled 'The Beasts' and is not quite two pages in length.  Understandably, Space Opera does not provide an extensive bestiary.  Instead, we are provided with a chart that provides details on eighteen animal classes.  Said classes are differentiated by approximate body mass.  Class 'O' represents the least massive type at 5 kg.  Mass increases as classes regress to the beginning of the alphabet (e.g., class 'N' is 10 kg, class 'M' is 15 kg, etc.).  This means that beyond class 'A' there are classes 'AA,' 'AAA,' and 'AAAA.'  Evidently, using 'P,' 'Q,' and 'R' was not an option; neither was having 'A' be the least massive class with mass increasing in ascending order.  Each class has a carrying capacity, damage factor, stamina factor, shock characteristic roll, hand-to-hand combat factor, and a range of natural weapon damage.

For unknown reasons, Space Opera spends a paragraph stating the obvious:

...Aquatic species will spend all their time in water (fish, whales, dolphins) and may be gravely threatened when thrown on land.  Amphibious creatures (even animals like otters and alligators) are capable of functioning on land or in the water.  Flyers are capable of flight and tend to be slow and clumsy on the ground.  Finally, there are some triphibians (ducks or geese) which can fly, move on land, or swim...However, large, heavy animals will rarely have any flight abilities.

So, “Aquatic species will spend all their time in water” and “Flyers are capable of flight.”  Good to know.

Additionally, “Animals, particularly carnivores, will have pelts, making it possible to go into the hunting and trapping business.”  Value of pelts is determined by the StarMaster.  An important note is provided:  “animals killed by energy weapon fire have a flat 75% chance of the pelt being ruined (100% with flamers, explosives, etc.)”

Creating a Cyborg Commando (Part I)

My previously owned boxed set of CYB✪RG C✪MMAND✪™ contains a dozen or so copies of the character record sheet – waiting for an adventure that will never be.  Let us make use of one of these records in generating a character.

Step 1 is appropriately named “Start.”  This step is about describing “your character – the human, that is, not the combined human-machine (cyborg) he or she will become.”  We are informed that “the most important aspects of a character” are “Stats” and “Skills.”  However, Stats and Skills are not described until later steps.

          Other details will be left to your choice.  These include your character's physical appearance (height, weight, etc.), historical background (home, education, etc.), and basic psychological traits (outlook on life, likes & dislikes, and so forth).

In recording such “other details,” the character record directs us to “use other side.”

Step 2 is “Select Stats,” but a better description would be “Assign Stat Scores.”  There are three Stats:  Mental, Neural, and Physical.

Mental regards “intelligence in the abstract, and the amount of information that can be retained,” as well as “the speed at which information can be acquired (learned) and used (recalled), and the accuracy of such information . . . willpower . . . general mental stability, and the speed at which the mind can recover from psychological damage.”

Neural is defined as “physical agility and speed of action . . . accuracy in attacking . . . stamina (endurance), the ability to maintain control over one's body, and the speed at which physical control can be recovered after it is lost (when the character has been stunned, knocked out, or drugged).”

Physical means “brute strength . . . the amount of physical damage the body can withstand before becoming useless or destroyed, and the speed at which physical damage will heal itself or respond to medical treatment.”

A player allocates “Points” among Stats and Skills.  Said points are abbreviated as “SP” (“the S stands for both Stats and Skills”).  Each character has 60 SP; at least 20, but no more than 50, must be allocated to Stats.  An average adult has a value of 10 in each Stat, except men have a Physical Stat of 15 and women have a Neural Stat of 15.  Let's just allocate fifteen points to each Stat.

Step 3 is “Psychogenics,” the science of “the phenomena currently called ESP.”  The psychogenic score of a character is “measured in Psychons of power” and “is equal to the Neural Stat score.”

Step 4 is “Calculations,” and deals with some of the Stat-Based Data to be recorded on the character record sheet.  “Skills” refers to the “maximum number of Fields of skill” a character may have; it is equal to one-third of the Mental Stat.  “Train” refers to the number of “hours needed for education in any skill” per point; it is equal to “100 minus Mental score.”  Actions, Speed, and Rest each equal 1 for characters with a Neural score of less than twenty.  “Actions” has to do with combat activity.  “Speed” is the “maximum distance the character can move, measured in map hexes per time unit.”  What is the length of a hex or time unit?  The rules relate, “Don't worry about it now . . .”  “Rest” is the “number of days the character can function before sleep is absolutely required.”

Step 5 is “Select Skills.”  There are two Divisions of Skills:  Dynamic (which includes the categories of “Movement” and “Combat”) and Static (which includes the categories of “Arts & Language,” “Sciences,” and “Law”).  Among the five Categories there are twenty Fields.  A Skill's score is measured as Skill Rating (SR).  “Thanks to the intensive training before entering the CYBORG COMMANDO Force,” the rules state, a character “has a starting SR of 1 in every Field of knowledge, indicating a level of skill just above total ignorance.”  SP not spent on Stats are allocated among Skill Fields; each SR costs 1 SP.  Our character has 15 SP left and a maximum of five Fields, so we can assign 3 SP to each of five Fields:  Computer sciences, Personal arts, Personal movement, Personal weapons, and Psychogenics.

Step 6 involves “Other Details,” the nature of which were summarized in Step 1.  If “Other Details” are decided in Step 6, there's really no reason to have the Step 1 that is described.  Step 4 includes the statement, “Skills are determined in Step 4.”  It would seem that, at one point, Step 1 was “Select Stats,” therefore “Select Skills” would have been Step 4.  The “Start” Step 1 was probably added as an afterthought.

Step 7 is “The CC Body,” in which Physical Stat-Based Data is figured.  “The Physical Stat of the CC body equals [the character's] natural Physical score plus 100.”  “Integrity Points” (IP) are effectively hit points; a character has a number of IP equal to twice the Physical Stat score. “Damage” is the amount of damage the character can inflict without weapons; it equals Physical / 10.  “Heal” also equals Physical / 10; it represents the amount of damage a character can recover daily without medical aid.  However, “this applies to organic parts only . . . The CC body does not repair damage unaided.”  (I don't know why this data should be calculated from  the CC Physical value.)  “Heft” is the “amount of weight . . . that your character can Throw, Carry, or Lift.”  If the Metric system is employed, weight is represented in kilograms.  “Throw” equals the Physical Stat score, “Carry” is 10 × Physical, and “Lift” is 20 × Physical.

Step 8, the last step, is named “Meet MadMac.”  MadMac is an acronym for “Miniaturized Analog / Digital Macro-Algorithmic Computer.”  It is “a revolutionary type of computer that works with the organic brain, assisting it with the task of running the CC body.”  For purposes of character generation, the MadMac provides a SR of 10 to five Skill Fields:  “Strategy & Tactics,” “Unarmed Combat,” “Communications,” “Energy Sciences,” and “Law Enforcement.”

That's it for basic character creation; next time we'll tackle advanced character creation.

Both the Campaign Book and CCF Manual have the following statement on their respective title pages:  “Special Thanks to Jennings Cappellan of the Rare Earth Information Center.”  Jennings Cappellan is such an awesome name, I've decided to use a variation of it for the character.

Set 1: The Battle for Earth

Art by Dave Dorman

INVASION!

In the year 2035, Earth is attacked by aliens – hostile Xenoborgs who selected our planet as the next addition to their galactic empire.  In mere days, man's conventional forces are destroyed, and the earth is overrun by alien troops.

Now, Earth's only hope lies with the CYBORG COMMANDO™Force (CCF) – a cadre of super-soldiers who are part human and part machine.  With their state-of-the-art defenses and built-in weaponry, the CCs may yet be a match for the invaders.  But time is running short!

With this game, you can be a member of the CYBORG COMMANDO Force and drive off the aliens.  This set includes everything you need to start the defense of Earth:

✪     A 48-page CCF Manual for players – with character skills, combat rules, and a technical section complete with diagrams of CC construction,

✪     A 64-page Campaign Book for the Game Master – including full details on the aliens and their invasion, the world political situation in the early 21st century, and an index of CC bases worldwide,

✪     A 16-page adventure booklet packed with beginning scenarios, and

✪     Two pre-inked dice.

The CYB✪RG C✪MMAND✪™ science fiction role-playing game was published thirty years ago, an era when “pre-inked” was a selling point for dice, not something taken for granted. Young people don't know how good they have it nowadays.  Back in the day, RPG box sets came with unembellished dice and a white crayon...and we were grateful.

Published by New Infinities Productions, at least three Cyborg Commando sets were contemplated; however, no sets other than “Set 1” were produced.  The reason is that the game isn't very good.  In his Heroic Worlds, Lawrence Schick is not complementary.  “The rules systems are eccentric,” he writes, “almost amateurish.”  Sub-par role-playing games are hardly unusual, yet Cyborg Commando is a special case – it is credited to Gary Gygax, Frank Mentzer, and Kim Mohan.  Given their prior contributions to the hobby, their target audience held expectations that the trio failed to achieve.

Ostentatious phrasing did not help matters.  For instance, page 41 of the CCF Manual defines 'light':

     This term here applies to the range of the to the electromagnetic spectrum from about 10¹⁶ to 10¹³ Hz, or wavelengths of 100 to 10 million Angstrom units (1 Å = 10⁻¹⁰ meter).  It includes ultraviolet (100 - 4,000 Å), visible (4,000 - 7,000 Å) and infrared light (7,000 - 10,000,000 Å).

With regard to the passage of time, a Combat Turn represents 8.6 seconds.  Each Combat Turn consists of ten phases of 0.86 seconds each.  Why not a phase of one second and a Combat Turn of ten seconds?  Because 8.6 seconds is “exactly 1/10,000 of a day.”  Now, doesn't that make for a better role-playing experience?  Except there are exactly 86,400 seconds in a day, not 86,000.  So much for “exactly.”

The “16-page adventure booklet” is truthfully sixteen pages.  Technically, the cover carries the title “GM's Adventure Notes” and is followed by eight pages of material (including the inside cover).  However, when the booklet is flipped over, the 'back' cover has the title “Players' Adventure Notes” and is followed by six pages.  While it is certainly an 'adventure' booklet, “packed with beginning adventures” is a misstatement.  The players' section provides setting information (“The infamous Berlin Wall was removed in 2003...”), playing tips, and lists of accessories and equipment.  The GM's section provides advice on running a game and creating adventures.  There are twenty scenario summaries and each summary consists of a couple of paragraphs.  The summaries are contained within two-and-a-half pages.  Even if we conflate 2½ pages of scenarios to 16, not all of the scenarios are of the beginning variety.  Eight scenarios are in the 'simple' category (i.e., they “have straight-forward goals and involve standard combat”), seven are 'tricky' (i.e., they “usually require clever and astute play if the dangers and traps are to be successfully avoided”), and five are 'tough' (i.e., they “involve very hazardous situations, and require astute play and imaginative solutions to problems”).

Ace Books published a trilogy of novels based on the Cyborg Commando setting and which were co-authored by Mohan.  In an attempt to gain an appreciation of the setting, I read the first book, Planet in Peril.  My analysis of this novel may be found here.

Included in my used copy of the Cyborg Commando RPG box set is an advertisement for Realms of Adventure (shown below) – New Infinities Productions' house organ that offered “...a wide variety of articles and adventures from authors all over the world.”  I am unable to find much information about this journal, but it seems at least two issues were published.

Also included in my copy of the game is a typewritten flyer for Rock-Con XIV (November 7 & 8, 1987).

Inspiration: Loslon (Part II)

Art by Michael Creager

Avalon Hill marketed Dark Emperor as “its game of fantastic warfare.”  As described in the previous post, the setting of the game is the world of Loslon.  True to the notion of “fantastic warfare,” most of the counters represent military units.  Other counters represent individuals called Leaders; they have 'Hero Ratings' that can affect battles.  Many Leaders also have a Magic Strength, permitting them to cast spells.  On Loslon, magic is derived from Runes and each magic-using leader is associated with one.

There are five pairs of 'opposed' Runes:  Death / Life, Terror / Serenity, Earth / Air, Fire / Water, and Metal / Wood.  Each Rune permits the casting of one or two spells as well as the ability to counter the spells of its opposite.  Any given spell “is either a movement, combat, or diplomacy spell.”  Aside from countering Wood spells, a “Metal Rune leader” can cast “Forge Sword.”  This creates either a Hero's Sword (which seems to increase a leader's Hero Rating during heroic combat) or a Living Sword (which can permanently destroy greater vampires).

When casting a spell, a player must roll the leader's Magic Strength or less on 1d6.  Given that most spell casting leaders have a Magic Strength of 3, such a leader has only a 50% chance of successfully casting his (or her) first spell in a game-turn.  “Magical Devices” can increase Magic Strength, as can areas on the board indicated by Rune symbols.  (Some leaders start the game with a Magical Device.)

Also on the board are seven pentacle symbols upon which “magic hex units” are randomly placed, face down.  Leaders can visit such a hex and reveal the counter.  Among the possibilities are three monsters and four Magical Devices.  Leaders may attempt to recruit monsters or fight them.  Killing a monster means that “the leader's hero rating is permanently increased by ONE.”  The Magical Devices include:
Famir – A sword “created to destroy Ssstoth, king of the Sea-monsters.”  Ssstoth can appear in the game and the leader with Famir is compelled to fight Ssstoth.
He-Sups-On-Prana – A sword which can drain an enemy's soul “and destroys him.”
The Dawn Lantern – This device reduces “the combat strengths of all vampire units...”
The Silk Negator – “It is a cloth with the ability to negate any magic.”

Also part of the game are mercenaries who can be recruited by either side:
Lord Montoy – Lord Montoy ruled the lands between the cities of Montoy and the Gates.  When defeated by Stavror ten years ago, “he retreated to the interior with the survivors and began a guerilla war.”  He has become a mercenary with the hope he can earn “enough gold to hire a force to retake his kingdom.”
Saar – Saar is an intelligent Great Eagle from the mountains of Ahautsieron.  Unlike most of his race, his primary interest in humans is as food.  To his delight, he has discovered that humans will pay him to fight other humans; the result being a battlefield covered with fresh corpses for the delectation of Saar and his followers...
Fernan Conniver – “He was banished from [Kelaron Oiret] when it was discovered that he bribed his way into the Ahaubot,” the governing body of the land.  “He has become a mercenary leader of considerable ability since his disgrace” and “is only employed by those who have a desperate need for his services.”
The Hounds – The Hounds are a race of sapient canines who live in the far north.  Mor Faloi, a human, was abandoned in their land as a child.  They adopted him and raised him to the pack.  As a man, Mor has raised a unit of hound fighters and become a mercenary...
Cos dol Cos – Cos dol Cos is a member of the Cult of Unity, a religious cult who believe that magic has brought man nothing but misery.  They seek to eliminate magic from Loslon and return to the ancient ways, practiced before the First Age of Magic.  Cos dol Cos isn't a true mercenary, he fights when and where he feels the cause is served.  His Sons of the Morning are so named because they believe that the elimination of magic will bring a golden dawn to mankind...Cos dol Cos and the Sons of the Morning are immune to all forms of magic.
Silwer Flagriel – Silwer is a cult leader associated with the Fire Rune, but – unlike the other mercenaries – he is not associated with any military units.  The Cult of Burning Inspiration believes that evil is rampant and “must be burned out wherever it is found.”  He is more likely to side with the Great Necromancer since the kingdoms of Loslon “are a little tired of Silwer's habit of burning cities to the ground to purge the evil within them.”

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!

Adventures in DragonRaid (SPOILERS)

On Earth, we have Halloween.  In Talania – the setting of DragonRaid – there is the Night of the Scarlet Moon:

Every year the two light moons are eclipsed for five minutes by the Scarlet Moon, Moluno...Every baby born to a dragon slave during the eclipse is declared by the dragons to be a sorcerer.  The helpless infant is removed from its home and taken to the School of Witchcraft that lies deep in the Forest of Horrors.  There he is trained from his earliest hours in the art of sorcery, and his life is wholly given over to the dragons.

To the TwiceBorn, such a fate is horrific, but it is a cause for celebration in the Dragon Lands.  Rescue of the Sacred Scrolls, the second adventure for DragonRaid, begins on the Night of the Scarlet Moon; however, the adventure has very little to do with the events that occur on said night.  Yet perhaps we should look at the first adventure before discussing the second.

DragonRaid 's introductory adventure, The LightRaider Test, begins with the player characters having just graduated from DragonRaider Academy.  They come across a bottle containing a message written by none other than the OverLord of Many Names.  The message asks if the characters want to engage upon the LightRaider Test.  If they agree, the writing on the paper changes into a new message with instructions to proceed to the Dragon Lands.  There they meet a non-player LightRaider, a “man of another race.”  While on a mission, the LightRaider's partner, Gareth, was captured by goblins.  The OverLord is sending the LightRaider home.  It becomes the player characters' purpose to rescue Gareth.  Before parting, the LightRaider gives the PCs a pouch of “magic tablets,” most of which are supposed to “produce good results.”  So, DragonRaid explicitly endorses experimentation with strange pills.  Among the various effects, one tablet “makes character invisible until midnight” and two tablets “make a golden bow appear with 3 arrows (of silver shaft and golden points).”

Anyway, the adventure proceeds linearly through a series of scenes called 'sequences'.  There is a combination of combat, puzzle solving, role-playing, and the use of WordRunes.  As an introductory adventure, it does what it's supposed to do – give players (and the Adventure Master) hands-on experience with the essential processes of the game.  Eventually, the player characters rescue Gareth and learn the purpose of his failed mission.  Gareth and the other LightRaider were supposed to rescue another LightRaider, Zekion, and “some portions of the Sacred Scrolls.”  This is the set-up for the second adventure.

Interestingly, the adventure has a 'sequence' to be used should a player character die.  Such a character finds himself (or herself) “in a beautiful grove of trees.”  Not much happens.  Before the character enters the “golden castle” of the afterlife, he (or she) can try to hear the screaming of the damned from “a chasm that drops for an infinite distance.”

The DragonRaid adventures are more like 'choose your own adventure' books than those for traditional role playing games.  This is forgivable in an introductory scenario but is grossly unsophisticated otherwise.  Take for instance the beginning of Rescue of the Sacred Scrolls.  In the middle of the Night of the Scarlet Moon, each player character individually suffers a “compulsive feeling” to find one another.  Each PC separately finds “a parchment and a small leather bag” outside his or her home.  Then, according to the player briefing...

...you are distracted by a small group of people gathered around a lamppost at the end of the block.  They look familiar.  Yes, they are your friends!  You run down the street toward them and soon you are all together.

How can anyone see a small group before that group gathers?  I mean the first two characters have to meet before a 'group' forms.  Anyway, the characters learn that pieces of parchment and the bags (which contain money) were provided by the OverLord.  The pieces of parchment provide instructions for the characters' mission.  After being flown to the Dragon Lands by winged horses, the PCs encounter a talking stag whose name, “Horasis, comes from a Greek word meaning 'the act of seeing,' or 'a vision.'”  Horasis might as well wear a conductor's cap since his sole function is to prod the player characters along the designated course of the adventure.

Strangely, non player characters use game terminology in conversation.  A deer – one other than Horasis – relates to the PCs a message from the OverLord, “It pleases Him to reward each of you with 2 mu for Faithfulness.”  A “mu” is a maturity unit, which is what DragonRaid characters earn rather than experience.  Faithfulness, of course, is one of the DragonRaid Character Strengths.

Just as with The LightRaider Test, there is a 'sequence' for dead characters in Rescue of the Sacred Scrolls.  Yet characters who die in the second adventure have an entirely different experience than those who die in the introductory adventure.  After dying in Rescue of the Sacred Scrolls, a LightRaider 'wakes up' in a “small meadow or glade.”  This 'sequence' can result in different encounters depending upon the player's choices.  One encounter is with 'good' goblins from planet Arkor.  There are specific rules for role playing a conversation with these goblins:

Neither of you can role play anything negative: no fear, no accusations, no threats, no fighting, no disputes, etc.  You will most likely have to inform the player of this, but first let him try without your help.  If he does not understand, then there will be a slight shock when you inform him of the role play requirements.

Other afterlife encounters include a Q&A session with unicorns/angels or seeing “the throne of the High One and His OverLord of Many Names.”

Combat in DragonRaid

Art by Willy Pogány

In a prior post, I briefly summarized the procedure of combat in DragonRaid.  All player characters are LightRaiders.  When attacking an opponent, a LightRaider's 'Weapon Ability' value is added to the result of a roll of the StarLot (i.e., 1d10).  The 'Battle Ability' the opponent (who is presumably not a LightRaider) is added to the result of a roll of a ShadowStone (i.e., 1d8).  The totals are compared.  If the total of the LightRaider exceeds the total of the opponent, damage is subtracted from the 'Physical Vitality' of the opponent.  When an opponent attacks, the same procedure is followed except the LightRaider's 'Shield of Faith' value is added to the StarLot result.   If the opponent's total is higher, the LightRaider takes damage.

'Shield of Faith' and 'Weapon Abilities' are derived from 'Character Strengths' (briefly touched upon here). The 'Shield of Faith' is merely one article of the 'Armor of God':

• Belt of Truth:  This represents the extent of what the LightRaider has learned from the 'Sacred Scrolls'.  The rating is equivalent to that of the Knowledge ability.
• Breastplate of Righteousness:  This “represents the extent to which the OverLord's righteousness has been worked out in the LightRaider's life.”  I'm not sure what that means but it helps a LightRaider “resist invitations to impure acts.”  Anyway, the rating matches that of LightRaider's 'Goodness' Strength.
• Shield of Faith:  This protects LightRaiders “from all conventional weaponry, such as swords, axes and arrows, and protects...from physical attacks from dark creatures.”  It also works against dragon fire.  The rating is the average of all nine Character Strengths.
• Helmet of Salvation:  This “gives LightRaiders their hope of eternal life in the Everlasting Kingdom.”  I have no idea what this is supposed to accomplish in game terms.  The rating is the same as that for the Hope Ability.
• Sword of the Spirit:  This represents “the Word of the Almighty” and establishes which WordRunes a given LightRaider may use.  The rating always starts at 1 and can only be improved by spending twenty 'Maturity Units' per increment.  (Maturity Units are like experience points.)
• Boots of the Gospel of Peace:  This represents “the LightRaider's readiness to get involved in bringing peace, reconciliation or rescue.”  The rating is calculated by averaging the Love, Joy, Peace, Goodness, and Faithfulness Character Strengths.  It is possible for the Boots to “sustain...[a LightRaider] even when his courage has failed.”  As can be seen, 'courage' is not capitalized in this quote, so I cannot be certain that it refers to the 'Courage' Character Ability (see below).

In calculating a LightRaider's combat skills, there is a distinct formula for each weapon.  For instance, a LightRaider's skill with swords is determined by finding the sum of Courage, Endurance, Solo Battle, and Agility, then dividing by four.

Courage and Endurance are Character Abilities that are derived from Character Strengths.  'Courage' is the average of Love, Joy, Goodness, Faithfulness, and Self-Control.  To calculate 'Endurance', one must first add together Joy, Peace, Faithfulness, twice Patience, and twice Self-Control; then, divide the total by seven.  Incidentally, “Endurance (EN) is the ability to accept physical punishment in doing strenuous activities over a period of time, or to endure hardships such as lack of sleep, food and water.”

'Solo Battle' is an interesting ability:

This is not a weapon, but an ability that is used whenever a LightRaider must face an enemy without the company of other fighting members of the TwiceBorn.  Reflects the psychological impact of being alone in battle.

Solo Battle is determined by adding twice Courage to Peace and Endurance; then dividing by four.  So, in terms of percentages, a LightRaider's skill in wielding a sword consists of the following abilities:

Why should Peace account for more skill with a sword than Love?  Tying Christian values to weapon skills can be nothing but an arbitrary process.  Regardless, including Solo Battle in the formula for the sword (or any) weapon ability is peculiar.  Given its description, Solo Battle is intended to be a penalty imposed upon those who stray from the herd.  As a penalty, I would just have the player roll a Shadow Stone instead of a StarLot.  Formulas for some other weapon abilities are:

• Hand-to-Hand:  The average of Solo Battle, Self Control, Courage, Endurance, Strength, and Agility.
• Longbow:  The average of Hope, Vision, Strength, and Quiet Movement.
• Flail:  The average of Hope, Courage, and Endurance.
• Dagger:  The average of Courage, Self Control, Solo Battle, and Agility.
• Quarterstaff:  The average of Hope, Courage, and Self Control.

Damage is subtracted from Physical Vitality, which is half the sum of all 'Character Strengths'.  There are “five degrees of injury.”  Even the slightest amount of damage means the character is wounded and must succeed at a Difficulty Level 3 Endurance check in order to travel.  Characters with only six to ten points of Physical Vitality remaining are 'seriously wounded' and the Endurance check to travel is at Difficulty Level 8.  With five or less points of Physical Vitality, the character is 'critically wounded' and cannot travel or fight.  Characters with only one to three points of Physical Vitality are unconscious and when Physical Vitality is reduced to zero, the character is dead.

Aside from 'normal' combat, DragonRaid offers two types of optional 'advanced' combat.  'Half-swing' combat is just like normal combat, but only half the usual amount of damage is inflicted.  In 'critical swing' combat, there is a ten percent chance of any successful strike being a critical hit.  If a strike is determined to be a critical hit, the Critical Hit Chart (reproduced below) is consulted.