Adventure Games Magazine

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ADVANCED
DUNGEONSILDRAGONS
Game Sustem
Our world-famous A D & I T game system converts
the novice enthusiast into a paragon of chilah-y_
Within the hardbound pages o f our books !urkc
immeasurable wealth o f information
And now that A D & D . ' books are
hot enough to be added to any
"best sellers- list, more and more
players have graduated to the
highest ranks.
Become part of our prominent
class of A D & D - ' game players by
starting your set today

In the US: In the U K :

TSR Hobbies, Inc. TSR Hobbies. ( U K ) Ltd.
BOB 756. C144 The M i l l . Rathmore Rd.
' A C folltirWIZards Lake Geneva, W I Cambridge. England
rISSTAR AAs. A,s All Atehts hserved 53147 CB14AD
ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS and A D & D " are trademarks ouned Sr TSR Hobbies. Inc. 1 9 8 2 ISR Hobbies, Inc. All Rights Re,,er,-,z
 NAV TM

Editorial
No. 4. July 1 9 8 3
Published by
You will have seen from the letters columns in issues 2 and 3 that there is
TSR U K Ltd. still some lack of understanding about the aims of this magazine. I have a
Publisher D o n Turnbull
strange mixture of feelings about this. Sadness that some of our friends
Editor K e i t h Thomson still feel that they are not being catered for and joy that so many people not
Assistant Editor P a u l Cockburn only like the magazine but are being introduced into the adventure gaming
Editorial Assistant K i m Daniel world and indeed into the ranks of the Players Association.
Features Assistant M i k e Brunton
Art Supervisor P h i l i p Kaye All you experienced players w h o are concerned about there being too
many basic details in this magazine should be delighted that we allocate
space to the newcomer, for he or she keeps the hobby alive and, with time,
This month's contributing artists: they too will develop into experienced players.
Simon Senior P a u l Ruiz
Ian Williamson A n n e Hamill We do, also, need to provide space for advanced players and from those
Graham Crossl a n d / l a n Hicks features all you w h o are newcomers can get a w h i ff of things to come.
Pete Young
We hope that you w i l l A L L enjoy the n e w fiction i n the magazine, the
I M A G I N E I m M a g a z i n e is p u b l i s h e d m o n t h l y Sword of Alabron cartoon adventure and the subtleties of Rubic. We try to
by T S R U K L t d . , T h e M i l l , R a t h m o r e Road,
CAMBRIDGE C B 1 4 A D . Te l e p h o n e : ( 0 2 2 3 ) please all of you all of the time and we shall keep trying.
2 1 2 5 1 7 . Telex: 8 1 8 7 6 1 ,
There is a w h o l e n e w expansion of the hobby going on and IMAGINET"
IMAGINE M a g a z i n e is available from all good
hobby s h o p s a n d n e w s a g e n t s . I t i s a l s o
magazine is designed to help it thrive come with us.
available d i r e c t f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r b y
individual subscription. The subscription rate 0 0 Keith Thomson
is E l 2 f o r t w e l v e issues.

Back i s s u e s o f I M A G I N E M a g a z i n e , w h e r e
still available, can be bought directly from the
publisher for t h e price of f 1.50 (inc. postage
and packing). P a y m e n t m u s t a c c o m p a n y a l l
orders, I f one or m o r e issues i n an o r d e r are
out o f print, a credit n o t e w i l l be s u b s t i t u t e d
Contents
which m a y b e exchanged for cash o r
merchandise f r o m t h e publisher. The Beginners' Guide to Role-Playing Games,
The issue of expiration for each s u b s c r i p t i o n our feature for the n e w player, with Nic Novice 2
will b e printed o n t h e subscriber's mailing Stirge Corner, by Roger Musson,
label. Changes of address m u s t be notified t o
the p u b l i s h e r a t l e a s t 3 0 d a y s b e f o r e t h e a guide for the inexperienced player 5
effective c h a n g e t o e n s u r e u n i n t e r r u p t e d Alternative Gamestyles, by Paul Mason 6
delivery.
Cinderella S w i t c h , adventure fiction by Anne McCaffrey 9
All m a t e r i a l p u b l i s h e d in IMAGINE M a g a z i n e An Introduction to the Postal Gaming Hobby, by Brian Creese 1 3
becomes t h e e x c l u s i v e p r o p e r t y o f t h e
publisher p r i o r to publication, u n l e s s special Illuminations, news from the world of games 1 5
arrangements a r e m a d e t o t h e contrary i n The Philosophers' Stone, a prize competition by Anne Hamill
writing.
Win 4 0 worth of D&D game products 1 7
IMAGINE M a g a z i n e w e l c o m e s u n s o l i c i t e d Aramax One, a STARFRONTIERST" game module
s u b m i s s i o n s of w r i t t e n m a t e r i a l and a r t w o r k
at all times. H o w e v e r, no s u b m i s s i o n s will be by John Tantoblin 2 1
returned u n l e s s accompanied b y a stamped, Players' Association News.
self-addressed e n v e l o p e o f s u f f i c i e n t s i z e .
Under n o c i r c u m s t a n c e s w i l l t h e p u b l i s h e r A magazine within a magazine, edited by Graeme Morris,
accept r e s p o n s i b i l i t y f o r a n y s u c h s u b - PAN Pipings 3 1
missions, Published material w i l l be paid for
Turnbull Talking 3 2
IMAGINE is a t r a d e m a r k o w n e d by TSR Inc. Dispel Confusion 3 2
All r i g h t s on the publication of this magazine
are reserved, and n o t h i n g may be reproduced Rubic of Moggedon 3 4
in w h o l e o r i n p a r t w i t h o u t t h e w r i t t e n Film Reviews, by Colin Greenland 3 7
consent of the publisher. Copyright ' 1 9 8 3 by
TSR UK Ltd. Tavern Talk, by Pete Tamlyn 3 8
Game Reviews, adventure games under the spotlight 3 8
I M A G I N E Magazine gratefully acknow-
ledges the s u p p o r t o ff e r e d by its sister Letters, Fanzines, Clubs & Forthcoming Events 4 2
publication, D R A G O N , ' M a g a z i n e , The Sword of Alabron, Cartoon Adventure
published by our parent c o m p a n y TSR by Ian Williamson 4 6
Inc., P O B o x 7 5 6 , L a k e G e n e v a ,
Wisconsin 5 3 1 4 7 , U S A . A r t i c l e s
appearing in I M A G I N E M a g a z i n e m a y Crystal Gazing, by Angus McKie c o v e r
have p r e v i o u s l y a p p e a r e d i n t h a t
public a t i o n .

IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3 1

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P\riends voice came over the Science Fiction literature is
full o f e p i c s p a c e b a t t l e s ,
are blown, can't do anvthms., strange a l i e n w o r l d s a n d t h e
l'rn corning up. Can vou hold wonders o f t h e f u t u r e . Y e t t h e
out?" universe o f t i m e s t o c o m e i s n o t
restricted to novels or Science Fiction
More figures burst out foundinto films; players of SciFi role-playing games
view. Sonia slumped to the can experience many different adventures
floor as the attackers a u t o in space and on planets.
their mark. Carnel's' s \ a-S e l :
matic rifle and 1,ravlast, the This adventure took place during such a
took their toll, and at and r a n game. Sue is the referee who has created
remainder turned the setting and runs the game according
ike to t h e r u l e s . T h e o t h e r p l a y e r s e a c h
back through the airlock.
assume t h e r o l e o f a f i c t i o n a l f i g u r e ,
acting a s i f t h e y a r e a c t u a l l y i n t h e
hen he reached the scarred
d Sonp's situations described b y Sue. J o n (Kray)
corridor, i\r\end took out his piloted the ship; Terry (Sonja) manned the
medikit and C\earle h wehis guns and Anne (Camel) programmed the
wounds. N t e r making r computer for space combat, Unfortunate-
comfortable, h e e d ly, a direct hit from a missile fired f r o m a
automatic pistol and move pursuing pirate vessel crippled the drives
to check the wounded pirates, and the ship's weapons. As Alan (Arlend)
and Carnel covering his tries to fix the drives using his Engineering
blood
ever skill, t h e o t h e r t h r e e w a i t t o r e p e l t h e
inevitable attack.
Sue ' T h e airlock opens a n d a p i r a t e
runs through. He's carrying a submachine-
.t
gun and wearing cloth armour, Yo u can
see more pirates behind him.
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Jon 'I'm firing m y laser rifle at him.'
Anne ' I ' v e s e t m y a u t o - r i f l e t o F u l l
Automatic. I'll take the second one.
Terry 'I'm ready to shoot the third
Sue ' O K . R o l l 2 d 6 a n d a d d y o u r
weapons skill to the total.'
Jon ' N i n e , plus two for my skill, makes
eleven altogether.'
Sue c h e c k s J o n ' s s c o r e o n a s p e c i a l
combat t a b l e , J o n ' s t a r g e t i s w e a r i n g
reflec a r m o u r, w h i c h i s v e r y e ff e c t i v e
against laser fire. E v e n w i t h a n eleven,
Jon misses.
Jon ' N e x t t i m e I ' l l f i r e a t a d i ff e r e n t
one!'
Anne's automatic rifle, s e t on Full A u t o -
matic, f i r e s f o u r s h o t s p e r p u l l o f t h e
trigger, greatly increasing her chances of
hitting. S h e scores a h i t a n d n o w rolls
three dice to determine the extent of the
damage. S u e checks t h e r e s u l t against
the p i r a t e s statistics a n d sees t h a t t h e
pirate i s seriously w o u n d e d a n d o u t o f
action, A n n e ' s auto rifle also gives her a
chance of hitting additional characters at
reduced o d d s , S h e m i s s e s , b u t Te r r y
successfully h i t s a n d w o u n d s o n e w i t h
her carbine.
Sue ' T h e r e m a i n i n g s i x p i r a t e s a r e
advancing d o w n t h e corridor, f i r i n g a s
they move.'
Sue rolls t w o dice for the pirates. Jon is
hit, b u t t h e d a m a g e i s n o t e n o u g h t o
knock h i m o u t , s o h e c o n t i n u e s firing.
Unfortunately, Te r r y is not so lucky and
she collapses, u n c o n s c i o u s . A l a n h a s
meanwhile been w o r k i n g on t h e drives.
Sue r o l l s t w o d i c e a n d a d d s A l a n ' s
Engineering skill t h e r e s u l t i s
insufficient.'
Sue 'Alan, you realise that you w o n ' t
be able to fix the drives without the use of
a starport's facilities.'
Alan 'I'll run to the airlock and join the
fight.'
Sue ' I t w i l l t a k e y o u a w h i l e t o g e t
there. Jon and Anne, it's your turn to fire
again.'
Jon 'I've only rolled a six
Sue 'You hit him, this one isn't wearing
Reflec. T h r o w five dice for damage!
John r o l l s t w e n t y - f o u r, i n s t a n t l y k i l l i n g
the pirate. A n n e h i t s a n d w o u n d s t w o
pirates, l e a v i n g o n l y t h r e e . S u e n o w
makes a morale check for the pirates, the
result being that they fail and flee back to
their own ship.
Sue 'Alan, you arrive just as the pirates
retreat.'
Alan 'Using my Medical skill, I'm going
to clean and bandage Terry's wounds. Do
I think she's going to be alright?'
Sue ' S h e ' s only lightly w o u n d e d a n d
will regain consciousness soon.'
Alan ' I ' m t a k i n g o u t m y a u t o m a t i c
pistol, and going to see if there's anything
I can do for the wounded pirates.'
Jon ' I ' l l f i r e a t a n y t h i n g t h a t c o m e s
through the airlock.'
Anne 'So will
Alan 'Right, let's look at the first one....'
itm J i m B a m b r a

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IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3 3
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 The miners call their mine
'haunted' and refuse to work,
the owner doesn't believe them
and threatens the ringleaders....
and then, enter the players.
Things are much easier for the novice
player of the DaiD,'-') game than they
are f o r t h e novice D M . A s a player,
he novice can always trail along a t
the rear of the party, keeping o u t of
trouble, going along with ttle ideas of
the m o r e experienced m e m b e r s o f
the p a r t y, a n d g r a d u a l l y t a k i n g i n
what tp do and w h a t not to do when
down ' d u n g e o n . How much harder it
is f o r t h e n o v i c e d u n g e o n m a s t e r l
He's i t h e thick of it all immediately:
decisi h s , decisions, decisions.
It i s c Ftainly v e r y u s e f u l f o r s o m e o n e
who intends to DM to gain experience as
a player before chancing a n a r m a t t h e
dungeonmastering a r t , b u t i f y o u a r e
trying t o s t a rtthaa, tg re
moauryp n
ieno tShb
and someone has to take the plunge into
oeuet possible),'
hm t ho s ts o r
refereeing first.
The t e m p t a t i o n , w h e n t a k i n g o n t h e
challenge f o r t h e f i r s t t i m e , i s t o l e t
someone else do much of the hard work
by b u y i n g a p r e - d e s i g n e d m o d u l e a n d
running that, thus avoiding all the work of
drawing up a dungeon. Personally, I don't
think t h i s i s r e a l l y t h e b e s t idea.,,,.The,
trouble is that, if you'rdirunning sonheoile
else's dungeon, you may be hazy on,,,mciat
of t h e i m p o r t a n t d e t a i l s u n l e s s y o u ' v e
studied the material in great detail. If the
party c h a n c e s u p o n a n o n - p l a y e r
character of some importance and stops
to converse, y o u m a y be forced i n t o an
irritating search through paragraph upon
paragraph o f f i n e p r i n t looking f o r t h e
character s y n o p s i s , e v e n t u a l l y f i n d i n g
that the character concerned is 'motivated
solely b y u n s w e r v i n g l o y a l t y t o Ravel
Borjkovec' and t h e n you have to search
frantically t h r o u g h y e t m o r e s h e a f s o f
paper t r y i n g t o f i n d o u t w h o R a v e l
Borjkovec is. M e a n w h i l e your players are
playing n o u g h t s a n d c r o s s e s o n t h e
margins of their character sheets.
On the other hand, i f you have designed
the d u n g e o n y o u r s e l f , t h e d e t a i l s ( t h e
important o n e s a n y w a y ) w i l l b e etched
upon y o u r m i n d b y reason o f t h e e ff o r t
that w e n t into creating them.
Another problem is that the commercially
available s c e n a r i o s t e n d t o b e c o m p l i -
cated, w i t h lots of details (they w o u l d n ' t
be worth the money otherwise), and this
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
doesn't make t h i n g s easier f o r t h e out-
and-out b e g i n n e r. H o w e v e r, t h e s e
scenarios a n d m o d u l e s a r e s t i l l v e r y
valuable t o t h e b e g i n n e r, b u t f o r a
different reason. They give an excellent
guide to the sort of ideas that a D M can
use in designing a dungeon; they can be a
source o f tricks, traps, puzzles, t h e m e s
and ideas which can be plundered whole-
sale by the novice designer.
So fear not. Take up your graph paper and
pencil (incidentally, i t ' s w o r t h s c o u r i n g
the s h o p s f o r g r a p h p a p e r w i t h 1 / 1 0 "
squares the metric stuff is horrible for
the D & D game). F i r s t you n e e d a basic
idea or theme for your creation in other
words a plot for the story in w h i c h your
players w i l l b e characters. I t c o u l d b e
something like this: a disused working in
a gold mine runs close to an unknown
ncient catammb. After a rock fall, a
connectiow Jpetween4tie t w o o p e n s up,
and undead start wattd.eTing the mine.
The m i n e r s c a l l t h e m * haunted a n d
refuse to work; t h e m i n e o w n e r doesn't
believe them and makes threats against
those he feels are the ringleaders A riot
is in the offing... e n t e r the players.
Now you can start drawing up plans of the i m p o
mine, a n d o f the catacomb, locating the a n
undead and the other monsters that may f r O I t i
have c r e p t i n h e r e a n d t h e r e , p u t t i n g X , e x t r e
some ancient 'grave goods' in the tunnels
for t r e a s u r e , s c a t t e r i n g t h e o d d g o l d
nugget around, deciding where the main
gold deposits are, and so on.
The catacomb area would have provision
for special features that m i g h t be based
on features taken from other scenarios, if
you f i n d i t h a r d t o i n v e n t y o u r o w n .
Remember, since your players are novices
too, i t may be necessary to w a t e r d o w n
traps t h a t w e r e designed principally t o
challenge more experienced players.
'I suppose that's it.'
Consider also, that you are going to want
at least some player-characters to survive
their adventure, if possible (though if the
players are determined to kill themselves
off, they'll do it). It may seem like a good
idea a t the time to have a big trap-door,
that lets players fall d o w n i n t o a pool o f
boiling hydrofluoric acid, but do you really
w a n t t o h a v e t o a n n o u n c e , ' O h d e a r.
You've a l l j u s t f a l l e n t o y o u r d e a t h s . '
(silence) 'Well, I suppose that's it.'
The important thing is to learn from your
mistakes. If you f i n d t h a t characters are
A page for the
not-so-experienced
adventurer
by Roger Musson
getting killed off too often, well, perhaps
you h a v e b e e n putting i n t o o m a n y
monsters. G o t h r o u g h y o u r s h e e t s a n d
trim d o w n t h o s e t w e n t y g h o u l s i n t h e
next r o o m t o ,more reasonable figure,
say, tv0x, Cop rOely, if folk are having too
easy a ti ',hen perhaps you need to
revise t h i n t h e o t h e r direction,
perhaps b y hanging t h o s e m o n s t e r s
for some bne hit dice stronger.
for is to make the game a
- not s o e a s y t h a t i t ' s a
pas t not so hard as t o be
onitor y o u r o w n p e r f o r m -
kid that you are veering away
dle course t o w a r d s e i t h e r
n take corrective action.
4013 Roger M u s s o n
R q 9 e wi//be back next month, w i t h more
aWice f o r i n e x p e r i e n c e d players. N e w
readers s h o u l d note t h a t back issues o f
IMAGINETm magazine contain more help-
ful h i n t s f r o m Roger, c o v e r i n g subjects
such as the nature o f RPGs (issue 1), o n
' w i n n i n g ' (issue 2 ) a n d on o p e n - e n d e d
rules (issue 3). T h e s e b a c k i s s u e s a r e
available direct from TSR for 1.50 each.
5
 ALTERNATIVE

The hobby o f Fantasy Roleplaying

Games (or Rolegaming, as i t is also
called) has truly come of age. No longer
an esoteric activity pursued solely by
misfit students in dingy, smoke-filled
rooms, the hobby is on the threshold of
public recognition and acceptance. But
have the games and the styles of play
also matured? Looking around at con-
ventions, the main thrust of the game
still seems, broadly speaking, t o b e
killing monsters and acquiring treasure.
Surely the hobby has more to offer than
this? Once you have had your fill o f
massacring innocent monsters, a n d
reached 20th level (or higher!), what is
there to do?

There h a v e b e e n m a n y articles p r i n t e d
elsewhere aiming to answer this question
suggesting political intrigue, exploring
alternative planes of existence and even
(dare I mention it?) Roleplaying as more
interesting activities for players suffering
from this 'burnout' syndrome. I would like
to present some n e w, a n d perhaps less
obvious approaches.

To a large proportion o f rolegamers, t h e

sole purpose o f t h e h o b b y is t o provide
them w i t h f u n . There i s n o t h i n g w r o n g
with t h i s , a n d t h e f u n d e r i v e d i s o f t e n
more creative than, for example, watching
television. H o w e v e r, t h e r e i s n o reason
why roleplaying c a n n o t b e educational
and thought-provoking at the same time.
There are a number of ways in which this
can be achieved, and implementing them
can greatly extend the duration of interest
in t h e g a m e a s w e l l a s p r o v i d i n g
entertainment.
Educational Potential
The educational potential o f roleplaying
has already been realised especially in
the f i e l d s o f H i s t o r y a n d Psychology.
Whilst i t w i l l u n d o u b t e d l y t a k e m a n y
years for the use of roleplaying games to
become a widespread teaching method in
schools, t h e r e i s n o reason w h y y o u n g
roleplayers c a n n o t s t a r t increasing t h e
educational v a l u e o f t h e g a m e t h e m -
selves. This could be of immediate use to
the g a r n e r s p a r e n t s w i l l b e m o r e
sympathetic towards the game (and w h o
knows? m i g h t j u s t f e e l i n c l i n e d t o b u y
their children that rather expensive play-
aid i f t h e y f e e l t h a t t h e y m i g h t l e a r n
something from it), and teachers might be
more prepared to give their assistance to
a roleplaying project.
The m o s t obvious w a y o f deriving t h i s
kind of benefit is to attempt to simulate an
actual historical environment. Of course,
this h a s t h e i m m e d i a t e p r o b l e m t h a t
armies of orcs, trolls and the like have not
been o v e r - c o m m o n a t a n y stage i n o u r
6 IMAGINE m a g a z i n e , J u l y 1 9 8 3
history. I f you a r e n o t prepared t o ditch
them i n y o u r q u e s t f o r e n l i g h t e n m e n t
then it would be best to have a 'What if...?'
campaign.
A 'What if...?' campaign is centred around
some i m p o r t a n t historical event, a n d i s
based on the premise that it somehow did
not w o r k out in the same way as history
records it. For example, a campaign set in
England in the early Middle Ages could be
based on the premise 'What if William the
Conqueror h a d l o s t t h e Battle o f Hast-
ings?', o r a campaign s e t i n A m e r i c a a t
the same time could be 'What if the Viking
settlements in Vinland had successfully
overcome t h e n a t i v e Indians?'. I n a n
imaginative c a m p a i g n o f t h i s s o r t , i t
would b e possible t o a l s o suppose t h e
existence of legendary monsters (not too
many, mind you!)to spice your adventures
up.
In any kind of historical campaign, benefit
can be derived from t w o main sources:
other, equally useful) programme.
i) Research:
In setting u p a n accurate historical
campaign, young Game Moderators
can pick up very useful skills. They
will have to deal w i t h quite an array
of l i b r a r y textbooks t o achieve a n y
degree of accuracy, and so will learn
how to read and assimilate data from
various sources.
!!) Understanding Motives:
If t h e players i n a n historical c a m -
paign are placed in a milieu w h i c h is
reasonably true to history, then they
will g a i n a n i n s i g h t i n t o a n c i e n t /
medieval/renaissance t h i n k i n g f a r
greater than that achieved simply by
reading books. W h y d i d t h e f e u d a l
baron think the way he did? Find out a
bit about the subject, a n d then be a
feudal baron you'll soon be able to
answer this question!
Other a r e a s i n w h i c h r o l e g a ming c a n
educate include Mathematics (one poss-
ible excuse f o r u s i n g a h i g h l y c o m p l e x
combat system), Geography (try designing
geographically plausible campaign maps
complete w i t h w e a t h e r patterns),
Biology ( e v e r t h o u g h t a b o u t w h a t a l l
those monsters feed on?).
The final educational use I will mention is
that of computers. M a n y garners are also
especially interested i n computers, a n d
what better way is there of developing a
scholar's flowcharting and programming
skills t h a n t o e f f i c i e n t l y d e s i g n a n d
implement a c h a r a c t e r g e n e r a t i o n ( o r
Logic
The potential of RPGs for mental stimulat-
ion has been exploited to a limited extent
already. Puzzles and riddles are n o w an
established a s p e c t o f m o s t d u n g e o n s .
The major problem with items of this kind,
however, is that they may not have any
good reason for existing. If Games Mod-
erators w i s h t o k e e p t h e i r c a m p a i g n s
believable a n d t h u s conducive t o r o l e -
playing, they will have to find puzzles that
 GAMESTYLES by Paul Mason

fit in logically, Probably the most appeal- 1) R u l e s m a y g i v e s o m e p l e a s u r e i n oppression, t e r r o r i s m , p o v e r t y t h e s e

ing p r o b l e m t o p r e s e n t t o players i s a
crime to solve since this can lead to a
climactic fight i n a m o s t satisfying w a y.
Other tests for players' logical reasoning
tend t o seem contrived i n m o s t c i r c u m -
stances. A case can be argued for melee
being a test of ingenuity and logic. In most
games systems, a well-ordered and tactic-
ally sound group can have considerable
success in melee. The only problem w i t h
this is that treating RPGs as personalised
wargames c a n r e d u c e t h e p l e a s u r e s
obtainable through role-playing.
Psychology
Role-playing has been used for a number
of years as a psychological device, a n d
useful i n s i g h t s c a n b e g a i n e d i n t o a
number of issues from employing it in this
way. F e w garners, h o w e v e r, s e e m t o
employ t h e i r h o b b y f o r a n y t h i n g m o r e
than a s a r e l e a s e f o r a l l t h e i r p e n t - u p
frustrations, t h r o u g h b u t c h e r i n g m o n -
sters, N o c o n n e c t i o n h a s b e e n m a d e
between t h e t w o w a y s i n w h i c h r o l e -
playing i s u s e d a n d t h i s i s a p i t y,
because the t w o approaches have much
to offer each other,
In psychology t h e r o l e - p l a y i n g i s o n a
purely conversational l e v e l i n d e n t i -
fication w i t h t h e role being played is far
greater t h a n i n g a m i n g , s i n c e f o r t h e
duration of the exercise, the participant is
the character being played, w i t h no need
to b o t h e r a b o u t r u l e s o r anything, T h e
difference with gaming is the introduction
of rules. A s noted above, rules do inhibit
themselves. For example, an elegant
combat system can give pleasure to
the players purely because it works
well as a game. This appreciation of a
rules system ( w h i c h m a i n l y derives
from t h e h o b b y o f wargaming) can
add, r a t h e r t h a n detract, f r o m t h e
atmosphere of the game as a whole.
By doing a little research into alternative
uses of role-playing, a gaming group can
use t h e i r hobby t o discover m o r e about
themselves, their attitudes and opinions.
Clarifying Opinions
'The slender Elf approached t h e bar. A s
he d i d so, a b u r l y axe-wielding h u m a n
accosted him: " We don't want any pointy-
eared scum i n t h i s Inn! Beat it, before I
rearrange your guts!"
How often h a s t h i s k i n d o f scene been
enacted in rolegames? H o w often do the
players i n v o l v e d a c t u a l l y t h i n k a b o u t
what is happening? For this demonstrates
racism little different to that so rife in our
society. RPGs can be viewed as escapism;
alternatively they can be seen as reflect-
ions of the players' attitudes and opinions.
Many players who would consider them-
selves fairminded, non-racist citizens can
display f r i g h t e n i n g prejudices a n d v i o -
lence in their role-playing.
In my opinion, a gaming group can often
gain something from having an objective
look a t t h e i r r o l e - p l a y i n g , a n d s e e i n g
what i t reveals a b o u t themselves. O n e
can all be examined from different sides.
I may have given the impression that my
ideal i s t o have players playing perfect,
fair-minded characters only. T h i s is n o t
true. A n o t h e r interesting exercise i s t o
role-play a character whose morals and
ideals you despise utterly.
Overview
In t h i s article I h a v e t r i e d t o s h o w t h a t
there is more than one way of approach-
ing R o l e p l a y i n g G a m e s . A n i m m e n s e
amount of fun can be generated by giving
alternative gamestyles a t r y i t i s n ' t
difficult. Yo u d o n ' t need t o r e w r i t e y o u r
rules, o r radically a l t e r y o u r c a m p a i g n
milieu, all it needs is a little imagination,
and you w o u l d n ' t be in t h e hobby if you
weren't imaginative already. W h i l e y o u
are e n j o y i n g y o u r s e l f y o u c a n a l s o b e
stimulating t h e o l d g r e y m a t t e r, R o l e
playing i s such a y o u n g hobby, t h e r e i s
always room for an unorthodox approach.
Be a trailblazer you w o n ' t regret it!
i k Paul Mason
N
N,

'All it needs is a little imagination!'

association w i t h t h e c h a r a c t e r b e i n g good w a y of doing t h i s is to tape-record

played a n d t h i s i s w h y m a n y r o l e -
players prefer simple abstract rules rather
than very detailed systems. Rules do have
several advantages, however:
I) I n a role-playing session which does
not use rules, the strength of personal-
ity of theplayer will have a significant
effect on their relationships. With the
addition of rules, this inaccuracy can
be reduced, since the Game Moder-
ator w i l l b e a b l e t o a d j u d i c a t e
situations with more control.
iii R u i e l e s s r o l e - p l a y i n g c a n n o t d e a l
properly w i t h a n y kind of activity
this explains w h y m o s t role-playing
in a psychological context takes t h e
form o f a static discussion between
people, r a t h e r t h a n t h e freedom o f
action occuring in a game.
VAGINE magazine, July 1983
sessions listening to the session over
again c a n b e revealing, a s w e l l a s fun.
Once you have taken a look a t yourself
reflected t h r o u g h y o u r gaming, you can
start deciding w h e t h e r it might be worth-
while trying to change your attitudes.
For example, if you were the burly fighter I
described i n t h e s c e n a r i o a b o v e , y o u
could try role-playing t h e Elf in t h e next
session of gaming. Then you will run into
the s a m e k i n d o f racism t h a t you w e r e
displaying w i t h your previous character.
With any luck, you can make the connect-
ion b e t w e e n t h e f a n t a s y w o r l d a n d t h e
real world, and you m a y feel you under-
stand a little more of the plight of ethnic
minorities in a multi-racial society.
Racism is not the only subject that role-
playing g a m e s c a n s h o w u p . Religion,
7
 1
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8 P l e a s e mention IMAGINEnn magazine when replying to advertisements
Deagan, Fenn and Corbane were stand-
ing o n t h e t o p o f t h e b r o a d t e r r a c e d
steps above the B a l l r o o m o f F o m a l h a u t
5's O f f i c i a l R e s i d e n c e , d i f f i d e n t l y
c o m m e n t i n g o n t h e c o s t u m e d dancers
swirling t o t h e e x o t i c m u s i c o f t h e
extensively programmed android music-
ians. They had identified everyone there
and w e r e b o r e d . C o n s e q u e n t l y t h e y
were in b o t h an excellent position and a
receptive m o o d t o see t h e girl e m e r g e
through t h e o p e n g a r d e n d o o r s . H e r
sparkling m i s t o f a g o w n s c i n t i l l a t e d
against the darkness behind her.
'Fardles! W h a t a party-crasher! e x c l a i m -
ed Corbane, eyes widening appreciatively.
'What a costume!' said Deagan, wonder-
ing j u s t h o w that shifting m i s t of pastel
light w a s generated. S h e w a s covered
from n e c k t o ankle, s h o u l d e r t o w a i s t ,
with a haze hiding all but her eyes and her
streaming black hair. Further, the mech-
anism w a s v e r y s o p h i s t i c a t e d f o r t h e
shades s h i f t e d f r o m o p a c i t y t o t r a n s -
parency in a tantalizing random fashion
that s h o w e d t h a t s h e w o r e a b s o l u t e l y
nothing under her hazy attire.
Before they could move towards her, a tall
man i n t h e g a r b o f a n a n c i e n t Te r r a n
diplomat, his black and white an excellent
foil for her pale shimmers, had bowed and
'ormally l e d h e r a m i d s t t h e d a n c e i n
progress
*Wouldn't you k n o w Walteron w o u l d be
on t h e p r o w l a n d i n t h e r i g h t place?'
Cordane w a s disgusted. ' H e ' s t h e o n l y
one ever wears such a confining rig, isn't
he, Deagan?'
'But w h a t ' s he doing here?' asked Fenn
before Deagan could answer. 1 heard he
had trouble at his mines: cave-ins and a
massive displacement.'
VA G I N E magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
'He c a m e i n t o a p p l y t o F a t h e r, ' s a i d
Deagan, son o f t h e Planetary Manager,
'for permission to import a soil mechanics
expert from Aldebaran.'
'And n a b s t h e o n l y i n t e r e s t i n g f e m a l e
here? Usually he takes to the Streets as
soon a s h e ' s d o n e h i s d u t y dance w i t h
your mother.'
'He's a l w a y s h a d g o o d t i m i n g , ' s a i d
Deagan, amused.
'And bad intentions.' Corbane glowered.
'If he tries to Street her...'
This w a s To u c h - D o w n Ti m e , w h e n t h e
citizens of the bustling, prosperous planet
of F o m a l h a u t F i v e , r i c h i n t h e t r a n s -
uranics, the actinides, so vital as energy
fuels to extend the surge of colonization
to every habitable planet in the spiral o f
the M i l k y W a y, r e l a x e d i n d u s t r y a n d
inhibitions in a three-day spectacular of
day-long contests of all athletic sorts and
night-long dancing, eating and carousing.
The O f f i c i a l R e s i d e n c e , a s p r a w l i n g
complex of domes, residential, diplomatic
and business, w a s the traditional site of
special festivities to w h i c h the descend-
ants of the original First Landing Families
congregated from t h e i r distant domains.
The m o r e i m p o r t a n t o f f - w o r l d visitors,
city and spaceports officials w e r e added
to t h i s exclusive g a t h e r i n g . A s i t w a s
conducted o n m o r e sedate l i n e s i t held
little glamour for those wanting to sample
exotic pleasures available in the Street's
celebrations. Occasionally a brash, young
newcomer m a l e , h o p i n g t o f a v o u r a b l y
impress a Domain Family daughter, took
advantage o f t h e Celebrations' l i c e n c e
and appeared at the Residence. So long
as t h e p e r s o n b e h a v e d w i t h p r o p r i e t y
acceptable t o t h e Residence, h e w a s
permitted to stay. A f e w nights' dancing
was h a r d l y s u ff i c i e n t t i m e t o f o r m a
9
lasting alliance w i t h the shrewdly raised
young w o m e n o f Fomalhaut. B u t i t w a s
rare indeed for a w o m a n to put herself in
such an equivocable position.
'She c o u l d b e f r o m o n e o f t h e n e w e r
Domains? They w o r k so hard they don't
usually attend Touch D o w n , ' said Fenn.
'Newcomer?' suggested Corbane, turning
to Deagan w h o w a s studying t h e girl as
she and her partner moved past them.
Second o l d e s t s o n o f t h e P l a n e t a r y
Manager, Deagan was the highly trained
security manager for all imports, exports
and a p p l i c a n t s f o r s h o r t o r p e r m a n e n t
residence.
'I c o u l d c h e c k a g a i n b u t s h e d o e s n ' t
match m y r e c o l l e c t i o n s o f t h e t h r e e
female IDs w e processed last week.'
'She c o u l d n ' t b e a n e w c o m e r, ' s a i d
Corbane, now flatly contradicting himself,
'How w o u l d s h e k n o w t h e r e ' s o n l y a
minimal guard at the Residence tonight?
And that she could scale the garden wall
'cause it's no longer powered?'
One could just perceive her smile through the mist of her
face veil__ her eyes, a clear intelligent green, gleamed with
amusement.
'She's n o S t r e e t i e o r Wa l t e r o n w o u l d
have t r i e d t o ooze h e r o f f t h e f l o o r b y
now,' said Deagan, 'I w o n d e r h o w she's
operating that haze she wears in place of
a gown. Fascinating use of refracted light
for t h o s e r a n d o m o p a q u e s a n d t r a n s -
parencies.' He jiggled his hand as i f the
movement w o u l d generate t h e a n s w e r.
'Must be a n e t b u t h o w can she g e t so
much power?'
'We're n o t going t o let old Walteron get
her, a r e w e ? Lovely c r e a t u r e l i k e t h a t , '
said C o r b a n e i n a t o n e t h a t m a d e h i s
friends regard him w i t h amusement.
'If Deagan's r i g h t and she's in a circuit-
protected d r e s s , w h a t c o u l d Wa l t e r o n
do?' asked Fenn.
'Short t h e c i r c u i t s i n a d a r k c o r n e r, '
Deagan replied, 'if he can. I'd like a dance
with h e r i f o n l y t o see h o w t h e haze i s
engineered.'
The o t h e r t w o a w a r d e d h i m d u b i o u s ,
almost outraged glares. Deagan chuckled
and gestured towards other parts o f the
vast room w h e r e the majority of eyes did
seem to be centred on Walteron and his
shimmering partner.
'You've got t o admit i t ' s a bloody clever
costume. P u r e h a t r e d gleams f r o m h a l f
the f e m a l e e y e s . J u s t l o o k a t y o u r
mother's disapproving glare, Fenn. A n d
you know that your sister, Marla, spent all
year d r e a m i n g u p t h a t r a t h e r f e t c h i n g
10
concoction of Verulean lace she's wear-
ing. A n d i t d o e s n ' t c o m p a r e w i t h o u r
crasher's effort.'
'If s h e ' s f r o m Outback, s h e m i g h t n o t
know s h e ' s a t r i s k w i t h o l d Wa l t e r o n , '
said Corbane, a b i t anxious. H e w a s a
considerate and responsible young man.
'Gavotte's n o t e a s y t o m a s t e r. S h e ' s
obviously d a n c e d i t b e f o r e a n d o f t e n .
They d o n ' t d o t h a t s o r t o f t h i n g i n t h e
Streets!'
'Dance w i t h her next then, Corbane. You
know the Street accents,' said Deagan.
Before his friends could vacillate, he took
them b o t h b y t h e e l b o w s a n d propelled
them through the onlookers to the point
where the girl and Walteron were likely to
finish the gavotte.
'If s h e ' s n o t Street, y o u t a k e t h e n e x t
dance, Fenn. Yo u r a n g e e n o u g h i n t h e
Outback to identify the twang.'
'Then you'll dance with her and short out
her d r e s s , ' s a i d C o r b a n e , i n d i g n a n t l y
pulling his arm from his friend's grasp.
'Short her dress? Here in the Residence?'
Deagan grinned sardonically and jerked
his h e a d t o w a r d s h i s f a t h e r w h o w a s
laughing affably at some outworld ranking
guests. The PM's moods could change to
implacable d i s c i p l i n e w h e n n e c e s s a r y
and all three young men knew it. 'Besides,
shorting would burn her between contact
points. M y interest is purely theoretical.
That creation is ingenious.'
'Expensive, t o o , I ' d s a y, ' a d d e d F e n n .
'She's like a lovely double-moon mist.'
Corbane blinked in surprise, for the young
Domainer was not given to metaphors.
'Under that face veil, she could be ugly as
a roake, b u t right n o w, w h a t a fillip t o a
dull dance,' said Deegan. 'Quickly, Corrie.
The dance is ending!'
He gave h i s friend a p u s h f o r w a r d o n t o
the dance area so that the slick surface
almost catapulted Corbane against Wa l -
teron.
The o l d l e c h e r w o n ' t r e l i n q u i s h , ' s a i d
Deagan, irritated as he and Fenn watched
the exchange between the two would-be
partners. ' L e t ' s r e i n f o r c e b e f o r e C a r r i e
muffs it.' Deagan, clutching Fenn unob-
trusively a t t h e elbow, strode quickly t o
the trio. 'Oh, lovely maiden of the double
moon mists,' he said, w i t h a click of his
heels and a smart salute in keeping w i t h
his e l e g a n t f o r m a l S p a c e u n i f o r m , ' m y
friend h e r e ' ( a n d h e g e s t u r e d t o F e n n
since names were never exchanged at a
costumed Touch D o w n dance), ' i s a shy
and gentle youth w h o , like myself, is all
admiration for your raiment. My sincerest
compliments on your originality.'
'Accepted, g o o d s i r, ' s a i d t h e g i r l w i t h
such composure and in such pure Stand-
ard accents t h a t Deagan k n e w she w a s
neither Streetie, n e w c o m e r nor Outback
Domainer.
'Since he is so shy, may I request that you
favour him with the next dance?' Deagan
continued, subtly changing his position to
form, with his two friends, a circle in front
of the girl that excluded Walteron.
'The dance after the one I am claiming by
right of first request,' said Cordane, with a
smart clap of his t o o t heels and a mock
glare at Deagan and Fenn.
One could just perceive her smile through
the coruscating m i s t of her face veil b u t
her eyes, a clear i n t e l l i g e n t green, e m -
phasised b y t h e s h i f t i n g s h a d e s o f h e r
attire, gleamed w i t h amusement. A flick
of h e r green gaze told Deagan s h e w a s
aware o f Wa l t e r o n , f u m i n g a t t h e d e f t
exclusion, a n d t h e m a n ' s obvious keen
intention to extend his acquaintance with
her.
'I put in my most humble bid for the third
dance, l o v e l y l a d y, ' s a i d D e a g a n , ' a n d
each third one afterwards.'
'You m e a n t o m o n o p o l i s e m y dances?'
She looked f r o m o n e i m p o r t u n i n g cost-
u med o f f i c e r t o t h e n e x t , a v o i d i n g
Walteron's attempts to reclaim her atten-
tion.
'Three d o e s n ' t c o n s t i t u t e a m o n o p o l y, '
said Fenn w h o tended to be literal.
'But assuredly offers protection,' added
Deegan.
'Mutual protection?' She tilted h e r head
sideways j u s t s l i g h t l y i n Wa l t e r o n ' s
direction. Her eyes lingered on Deagan's
face a n d h e k n e w s h e h a d t a k e n t h e
warning.
'Please say yes,' Corbane urged with just
the r i g h t note o f petition i n h i s voice so
that she could be swayed to compliance
w i t h o u t appearing t o o f f e n d t h e o t h e r
aspiring partners. S h e nodded assent to
Cordane.
'May I h a v e t h e dance a f t e r his?' Fenn
asked e a g e r l y, i n s p i r e d b y C o r b a n e ' s
success, t h e t w o oblivious, a s D e e g a n
was n o t , t o Wa l t e r o n ' s s e t m o u t h a n d
angry eyes.
Fortunately the music began at that point
and Corbane triumphantly swung the girl
onto t h e floor, t o take t h e i r positions in
one o f t h e faststeps a t w h i c h Corbane
was very adept.
'Didn't t h i n k y o u ' d b e a b l e t o j o i n u s
tonight, Wa l t e r o n , ' said Deagan politely
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
as he, F e n n a n d t h e o l d e r m a n h a d t o
save the dance floor.
Sorry about that subsidence, Walteron.
- -_st n o o n e w a s k i l l e d , ' a d d e d F e n n
-genuously. 'That Aldebaran specialist'll
soon s o r t i t o u t : t h e y ' v e h a d s o m u c h
experience in the same sort of thing.'
alteron's eyes blazed a t Deagan and,
eith a disgusted snort at Fenn, he stalked
away to the refreshment rooms.
What d i d I s a y t o p u t h i m i n s u c h a
:emper?' The young Domainer peered at
departing man in perplexity.
2:in't worry about it.' They both turned to
Corbane a n d t h e g i r l a m i d t h e
e--.-usiastic dancers of the faststep.
could, Deagan thought, be a trained
i c o r actress, c o n t r a c t e d i n f o r t h e
ebrations, b u t s h e h a d n ' t faltered i n
- p u r e accent o f the well-bred and
- z - l y educated. She'd been very quick to
e advantage o f t h e i r protection f r o m
E-:eone like Walteron w h o would have
oeen the obvious choice of a Streetie. Of
ore i n t e r e s t t o Deagan w e r e t h e t i n y
izarkling g r e e n n o d e s s h e w o r e l i k e
eiels as ear, f i n g e r a n d toe rings. Tw o
ghtly l a r g e r o n e s w e r e a t t a c h e d a s
=e--dants o n t h e f i n e c i r c l e t a b o u t h e r
-e : a n d on h e r browband. Earring and
bands set up the circuit for the face
e a n d t h e g o w n w a s generated b e -
tt:eeen t h e o t h e r n o d e s . T h e r e s u l t a n t
haze o f light refraction w a s m o r e o f an
engineering feat than a fabric maker's.
When Cordane's d a n c e w a s ended,
Deegan and Fenn quickly joined the pair,
edging o u t t w o n e w contenders f o r h e r
n y . They chatted with h e r on
E magazme, July 1983
inconsequential topics until the music of
a slow patterned dance started and Fenn
now had the privilege of handing the girl
into a space of the decorous circle.
'She's g o t style,' Cordane s a i d e n t h u s -
iastically a s h e a n d D e a g a n w a t c h e d
again f r o m t h e s i d e l i n e s . ' S h e ' s n o t
Streetie nor a n e w c o m e Outbacker. Say,
could s h e b e o n e o f t h a t n e w l o t o f
technicians landed a f e w months back?'
'I t h o u g h t o f t h a t possibility, t o o , b u t I
handle all the identity programming, and
I'd swear she couldn't be one of them.'
'Ohl' Corbane sounded deflated. 'Private
adventurer here o n a visit? Lots o f ' e m
come for Touch Down.'
'If s h e ' d a n y p l a n e t a r y s t a n d i n g e l s e -
where, she'd've been on the official list.'
'We d o n ' t k n o w that she isn't, d o we? I
only a s s u m e d s h e w a s party-crashing
because we first saw her near the garden
entrance.'
'A good point. I'll check the guard console.'
Deagan's progress around the perimeter
was h a m p e r e d b y e n v i o u s q u e s t i o n s ,
subtle or blatant, about the identity of the
lovely girl in gauze.
The nearest console w a s located i n t h e
men's r o o m s a n d gave h i m a l i s t o f all
official invitations as well as a quick view-
through of the costumed figures passing
the guard-eye a t t h e m a i n d o o r o f t h e
Residence. She had not entered formally.
He g o t b a c k a s t h e m u s i c c a m e t o i t s
stately climax, w i t h dancers b o w i n g o r
curtseying formally to partners.
'During my dance w i t h her,' Deagan told
Cordane, 'you and Fenn check the garden.
She d i d n ' t come i n past t h e guard-eye.
But keep your ear on the music. We don't
want t h e m i n o n o u r t i m e , ' h e added,
flicking h i s f i n g e r s a t t h e o t h e r y o u n g
men poised at the edge of the dance floor
to cut in on the mysterious girl.
He had just turned his glance back to the
girl w h e n h e n o t i c e d t h a t , a s s h e r o s e
from her deep curtsey, she glanced at the
crystal t i m e p i e c e a b o v e t h e m a i n e n -
trance t o t h e d a n c i n g h a l l . A n o d d
concern f o r a g i r l e n j o y i n g e n v i a b l e
popularity.
He tried, during that interval, to turn the
conversation to her arrival at Fomalhaut
City, or her family, or anything that would
give them clues as to her identity, but she
deftly avoided a n s w e r i n g h i m b y flirting
with Cordane and Fenn. As the strains of
the next dance emanated from the android
musicians, C o r d a n e g a v e a d i s g u s t e d
laugh.
'You timed that well, Deagan,' he said
for h i s pavanne h a d n o t a l l o w e d m u c h
contact a n d D e a g a n w o u l d o b v i o u s l y
make the most of this waltz.
Even a s D e a g a n l a u g h e d a t C o r d a n e ' s
c h a g r i n , h i s p h r a s e l i n g e r e d o d d l y.
Deagan had almost made the connection
as h e o f f e r e d h i s a r m s t o t h e m i s t y
maiden. Then, he forgot the half-formed
thought as he placed his right hand about
her waist, took her left f i r m l y i n h i s and
swept h e r o u t i n perfect r h y t h m t o t h e
lovely ancient melody. She also knew thte
waltz exceedingly well.
Holding her closely, he could not miss the
delicate scent she wore but it w a s n ' t the
11
sort used by a woman wishing to seduce a
susceptible m a l e . H e r body, u n d e r t h e
silky envelope of the generated haze, was
lithe and fit: h e r hand grip in his firm, s o
that this was no indolent social lass. Her
left hand, traditionally placed on the peak
of h i s shoulder, d i d n o t a s h e h a d h a l f
expected c u r l provocatively towards h i s
neck.
'It's an interesting game you play, lovely
lady! My compliments on your campaign.'
'Campaign, captain?' H e r teasing q u e r y
was half reproof.
'A clever penetration o f t h e sacred pre-
cincts o f t h e Residence, a n d i t s m o s t
prestigious families' gathering.'
'Penetration, sir? But all restrictions are
lifted d u r i n g To u c h D o w n . ' H e r e y e s
danced u p a t h i m , challengingly. T h e n
slid, fleetingly, o n c e a g a i n t o w a r d s t h e
timepiece as they glided past it.
It w a s t h a t a c t i o n w h i c h c o n f i r m e d
Deagan's previously half-formed notion.
But she was regarding him again and her
eyes widened enquiringly so he masked
his e x p r e s s i o n a n d s m i l e d n e g l i g e n t l y
down at her.
'True enough a n d a c o s t u m e as m a g n i -
ficent a s yours w o u l d be wasted on t h e
Streets. T h o u g h t h a t i s w h e r e t h e t r u e
adventurer would seek excitement.'
'In t h e S t r e e t s ? ' H a u g h t y a m u s e m e n t
rippled in her voice as well as disdain for
his suggestion. 'Adventurer could be apt.
So is the adjective; for merit accomplished
on one's own resources is infinitely more
satisfying. Don't you agree?'
He chuckled appreciatively for that clever
shaft was aimed at his inherited position
in Fomalhaut society although she would
not k n o w that his particular job w a s n o
sinecure.
'Life c a n b e a t r u e a d v e n t u r e i n m a n y
ways, m y lovely lady, a n d you've m a d e
this n i g h t adventurous for me... and m y
friends,' h e added generously. B u t t h e n
he pulled her closer to him and heard her
laugh i n h i s e a r a s h e r c h e e k l i g h t l y
touched his.
'Close t a c t i c s w i l l a v a i l y o u n o t h i n g ,
captain. M y costume is foolproof.'
'Mysterious o n e , ' a n d h i s t o n e w a s
indignant, 'I w o u l d n ' t breach your secur-
ity. I enjoy too m u c h the come-and-go of
your dazzlement.'
He released h i s closer h o l d a n d s w u n g
her i n t h e w i d e c i r c l e s o f t h e d a n c e ,
enjoying himself as he had never expected
to do this Touch D o w n night.
When he courteously surrendered her to
Cordane for his next dance, Fenn told him
that they had found nothing to show that
she h a d s c a l e d t h e f o u r m e t e r w a l l .
Deagan told Fenn to watch and did a f e w
12
rapid c a l c u l a t i o n s o n t h e m e n ' s r o o m
console, checked the time and smiled. An
hour t o go a t t h e most. She'd've surely
noticed t h e p o s i t i o n o f t h e s i d e gates.
Getting into the Residence was more of a
problem t h a n leaving i t on Touch D o w n
night. He made his plan.
He could enjoy his other dance w i t h her,
enjoy sparring in conversation for she'd a
lively w i t as well as a keen intelligence.
Fenn a n d Cordane w e r e utterly smitten
and w e r e h a r d t o c o n v i n c e t h a t s h e
intended to leave the Ball as unexpectedly
as she'd arrived. He finally did convince
them t h a t , s h o u l d s h e e x c u s e h e r s e l f
from their company on any pretext, they'd
never see her again. They were to let her
go w i t h good grace and then quickly get
into the gardens to prevent her escaping
that way.
At that, Deagan nearly missed his chance.
But s h e g a v e h e r s e l f a w a y, h e r e y e s
betraying a f a i n t apprehension a s s h e
glanced-- with a p p a r e n t n e g l i g e n c e t o -
wards the crystal chronometer.
Deagan excused himself, saying that his
father had beckoned. H e w a s careful t o
pause by the PM.
'Not fair of you to pull rank and monopolize
that lovely creature, Deagan,' his father
said.
'I haven't! Fenn and Cordane dance w i t h
her, too.'
The Planetary M a n a g e r gave a derisive
snort. 'Do we know her?'
'We will!'
'Oh?' and the PM raised his eyebrows in
surprise at so emphatic a reply from his
generally unimpressionable son.
Deagan l e f t t h e h a l l a s i f on a n u r g e n t
errand. He was: he wanted to programme
all g a t e s o n i n n e r l o c k . T h e a c t i o n
oughtn't t o discommode anyone f o r t h e
short t i m e he'd need. A s he slipped o u t
the main door, he caught a glimpse of the
shimmer entering the w o m e n ' s room. He
also saw Fenn and Cordane going out the
garden doors.
Where he stood by the m a i n gate in t h e
shadows, h e could see t h e slope o f t h e
dome and the misty glow of her gown as
she e a s e d h e r s e l f o v e r t h e s i l l o f t h e
w o m e n ' s r o o m w i n d o w. J u s t a s h e ' d
guessed. She moved quickly for the side
gate in a half crouch, so he gave her full
marks for caution. As she pulled vainly at
the locked gate, h e glanced a t h i s w r i s t
chrono: s h e ' d precious l i t t l e t i m e t o t r y
other side gates: s h e ' d h a v e t o c h a n c e
that the main one remained open.
At one instant she was a s w i f t l y moving
mist, t h e n e x t a s l e n d e r w h i t e - b o d i e d
nymph trailing motes of sparking fire that
wafted t o t h e garden s a n d b e h i n d h e r
She s t u m b l e d w i t h a c r y o f pain, t h e n
uttered a r o u n d s p a c e o a t h j u s t a s h e
emerged from the shadow of the bushes.
Courteously keeping his eyes on hers, he
flung a b o u t h e r b o d y t h e c l o a k h e h a d
brought with him. She did not resist as he
encircled her with his arms, but he did not
want a passive guest.
'My apologies. I c o m p u t e d t h e possible
energy i n y o u r j e w e l g e n e r a t o r s and...
here I am.'
'Fair enough.' Her body did not yield.
'Is it unfair to out-think a true adventurer?'
He h a d m e a n t t o tease h e r f u r t h e r b u t
something i n h e r proud look m a d e h i m
forbear. W i t h o u t t h e veil, h e r f a c e h a d
character, and the f i n e f e a t u r e s of good
blood. N o r h a d h e r m a n n e r l o s t i n n a t e
self-confidence. H e liked h e r even m o r e
as h e r t r u e s e l f t h a n a s a m y s t e r i o u s
beauty. So he kissed her lips lightly, trying
to convey that he respected her. After the
briefest h e s i t a t i o n , h e r l i p s r e s p o n d e d
and her body relaxed in his grasp. He did
not press his advantage but stepped back.
'Suppose w e f i n d a n o t h e r c o s t u m e f o r
you f o r the r e m a i n d e r of the evening, i f
you'll do us the honour, my lady...?'
'Dacia C o r m e l o f A l d e b a r a n F o u r, ' s h e
said, filling his enquiring pause.
'The s o i l m e c h a n i c s e n g i n e e r ? ' H i s
doubled surprise m a d e h e r laugh. ' B u t
you w e r e n ' t d u e t o a r r i v e f o r a n o t h e r
week or more?' Deagan had never thought
to check anticipated visitors and couldn't
suppress t h e r u e f u l n e s s h e f e l t a t t h a t
failure. B u t it w a s no w o n d e r she could
create such a costume. 'Fardles, do you
realize that it was Walteron w h o danced
with you first?'
'I do n o w but he'll never connect that me
with h i s p r e c i o u s specialist. A n d I ' v e
clothes outside the gate you i n f a m o u s l y
locked on me.' She bent suddenly, feeling
with b o t h h a n d s about t h e dark garden
sands. ' B u t first, h e l p m e f i n d m y other
slipper.'
AIU A n n e M c C a f f r e y
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
 You may have noticed references
in IMAGINETm magazine t o t h e
Postal G a m e s h o b b y a n d t o
zines, a n d w o n d e r e d w h a t t h i s
was a l l a b o u t . T h i s a r t i c l e i s
offered as a brief explanation o f
these terms.
The Postal Games hobby developed from
the p l a y i n g o f D i p l o m a c y b y p o s t .
Diplomacy i s a c o m m e r c i a l boardgame
involving seven players poring over a map
of Europe and jockeying for control of the
continent. The essence of the game is the
freedom o f negotiation between players
and t h e simultaneous disclosure o f t h e
players' actions. The major problems for
those w h o own Diplomacy sets were:
a) f i n d i n g 7 players to play it and
b) f i n d i n g t h e 10 hours (or so) needed
for a f u l l g a m e . O n e a n s w e r t o t h e s e
problems is to play the game by post.
All you need then is an eighth player, the
Gamesmaster (GM) w h o receives orders
from the other seven players, works out
what h a p p e n s o n t h e b o a r d a n d c o m -
municates the results to the players. Not
surprisingly, a GM can run several games,
and the game reports have developed to
include a f e w personal comments by the
GM o n t h e game, t h e players, life, t h e
universe and everything. Such a public-
ation, u s u a l l y s p i r i t - d u p l i c a t e d i n t h e
earliest days, came to be called a zine.
This strange hobby originated in America,
but quickly spread to Britain, and by 1969
we had our own zine, Albion, produced by
one D on Turnbull the man w h o r u n s
TSR U K L t d a n d p u b l i s h e s I M A G I N E
magazine.
From t h o s e e a r l y days, t h e h o b b y h a s
expanded d r a m a t i c a l l y, b o t h i n t h e
number o f z i n e s p r o d u c e d a n d i n t h e
- u m b e r o f games w h i c h can b e played
:"rough t h e m . Vi r t u a l l y every propriety
game has been played by post and many
nave proved highly successful. Indeed, if
you are interested in games, you should
find t h a t o n e o f today's fifty o r so zines
will offer you w h a t you want.
Though zines cover the whole spectrum
of styles, t h e y can, f o r convenience, b e
grouped i n t o different categories. There
are those w h i c h still f o l l o w the original
concept with pages of games reports and
minimal ' e d i t o r i a l ' f r o m t h e p u b l i s h e r.
There are those zines which are centred
entirely on Diplomacy, having nothing to
cc with other games, while others pursue
t-e opposite course; Hopscotch is such a
zine, w h i c h exists solely t o pioneer t h e
aying b y p o s t o f n e w a n d d i f f e r e n t
cames. T h e r e a r e ' S o c c e r b o s s ' z i n e s
which run games of football management,
3-d FRP zines which concern themselves
-gely with Fantasy Role-Playing games.
-7 -ally, there are those zines w h i c h are
.:-cduced p u r e l y a s e x c u s e s f o r t h e i r
et: tor's literary dabblings, like m y own,
'' m a g a z I n e , J u l y 1 9 8 3
[-A12112 frooluclion Io
IAThe rPoslaf 9a122es i l o g 4 ;
by Brian Creese
N M R ! . I t i s s t i l l t r u e , h o w e v e r, t h a t
despite t h e g r o w t h i n t h e n u m b e r o f
games available for postal play, virtually
every zine i n t h e c o u n t r y o ff e r s postal
Diplomacy within its pages.
One o f t h e m o s t o b v i o u s d i ff e r e n c e s
between a postal games zine and some-
thing l i k e I M A G I N E m a g a z i n e i s t h e
amateur well, let's face it, scruffy
look of the former. Whereas this magazine
comes to you via a full-colour professional
printing p r o c e s s , t h e a v e r a g e z i n e i s
produced o n a stencil duplicator i n t h e
back bedroom, complete w i t h d r a w i n g s
done w i t h a b l u n t needle and i n k blots!
The worst of this kind can be a challenge
to read, while those who can afford to use
a l i t h o process approach a professional
standard. Then again, whereas IMAGINE
magazine is w r i t t e n for a large, unknown
audience, the hobby zine is written in an
(often very!) i n f o r m a l s t y l e f o r readers
w h o are mostly known to the editor. One
of the biggest problems facing the n e w -
comer to the hobby comes from decipher-
ing t h e v a r i o u s n i c k - n a m e s u s e d f o r
people and understanding t h e generally
cliquish style.
The most popular games played by post
today a r e D i p l o m a c y, R a i l w a y R i v a l s ,
1829, Sopwith, En Garde and Soccerboss.
Railway R i v a l s a n d 1 8 2 9 a r e r a i l w a y -
based management games and S o p w i t h
is a W o r l d W a r O n e a i r c r a f t game. I n
Soccerboss, as I have already mention-
ed, the player is the manager of a football
club, responsible not only for the perform-
ances o f t h e t e a m , b u t f o r t h e overall
profitability of the club. United is a similar
game using different rules for the actual
football; t h e r e a r e o t h e r s i m i l a r g a m e s
about many different sports. En Garde is
a form of role-playing game with players
taking o n t h e g u i s e o f 1 7 t h c e n t u r y
noblemen, t r y i n g t o r i s e u p t h e Social
League table. G e n e r a l l y t h e r e a r e f e w
FRP g a m e s r u n , f o r o b v i o u s r e a s o n s ;
when a z i n e i s p u b l i s h e d o n l y o n c e a
month, a campaign t e n d s t o move very
slowly. Having said that, postal campaigns
do exist, b u t m o r e c o m m o n a r e z i n e s
concerned w i t h FRP, discussing various
approaches to designing and playing ERR
campaigns.
Now t h a t you a r e a l l fascinated b y t h e
prospect of playing games by post, w h a t
do y o u n e e d t o k n o w ? First, y o u m u s t
decide w h a t s o r t o f g a m e y o u w i s h t o
play, and w h a t kind of zine you w a n t to
receive. You should consider the problem
of reliability zines are amateur public-
ations, produced as a hobby, and they are
sometimes irregular in appearance a n d
occasionally fold just after you have sent
them y o u r m o n e y. A g a i n , s o m e z i n e s
have s h o r t t u r n r o u n d periods (the t i m e
between t h e e d i t o r r e c e i v i n g a l l t h e
orders for a game and the posting of the
finished z i n e ) , w h i l e o t h e r s a r e m o r e
'relaxed'. A l l t h e s e f a c t o r s m u s t b e
weighed u p b e f o r e y o u l u r c h i n t o t h e
uncertain world of postal gaming.
To find all the information you w i l l need,
the first port of call must be 20 Years On,
a q u a r t e r l y listing o f all t h e zines, w i t h
details about them. Having discovered a
few which sound interesting you should
next w r i t e t o t h e Z i n e Bank, a service
which sends you sample zines for f l a n d
a large sae. A n d in t h e end, you should
write to the editors concerned, asking to
see a sample of their latest issue, again
enclosing a n sae. Yo u w i l l t h e n be i n a
position t o j o i n t h e h o b b y o f p o s t a l
gaming. See you there!
.1A15
' Brian Creese
Several of the zines Brian m e n t i o n s are
reviewed in o u r regular Fanzine depart-
ment on page 4 2 o f this magazine, a n d
further details o f the Zine B a n k can be
found in Ta v e r n Ta l k o n page 38. U n t i l
September, 2 0 Years On can be obtained
from S i m o n B i l l e n n e s s , 2 0 W i n i f r e d
Road, Coulsdon, Surrey CR3 3JA; 35p for
a single issue o r f 1 f o r 3. A regular
column a b o u t p o s t a l g a m i n g w i l l b e
appearing in IMAGINE magazine later in
the year.
13
 Cyril
Howe'
13-14 Cheap Street Crasimofrs World is a fantasy game of exploration and adventure. As a player you assume the

Bath Te l : 6 0 4 4 4 role of chieftain in a band of brave adventurers set on gaining knowledge and power. You must
create a party of nine fellow travellers, from three character classes (fighter, mage and priest) to
assist your chieftain.

FOR EVERYTHING Your party will set out from a small town, knotsingnothing about the world apart from a feW rumours. As
you travel you will learn more about the land and its secrets, encountering other parties, races and
creatures. There are tokens detailing magic items, spells, creatures, gods, money and many more things
that you will discover later in the game.
Fantasy 'KJC Games has been running Crasimoff's Wo r l d for over a year now,
& Sci-fi and the effort the gamesmaster puts into each turn never ceases to amaze
me. Most players find themselves offered a different scenario each turn, or
find that a new twist has happened to an existing adventure.'
as reviewed in
D&D, A D & D ,
RUNEQUEST,
TRAVELLER, T & T, Nor
JUDGE D R E D D ETC. I f you wish to enrol in Crasimof fs world send a E5 cheque/P.O. payable to K.J.C.
Games. For this you will receive a rulebook, set up material, and the first four rounds.
C I TA D E L , BOOKS & Future rounds are 1.25 each. Copies of the Whitt- Dwarf review are available free of
MAGAZINES ETC. charge from IV _IC. Games.
Send to: K.J C. Games, 5 Vicarage Avenue, Cleveleys, LANCASHIRE FY5 2BD.

A
EATES DRAGON
BYTE
51a Queen Street,
Morley, Leeds 27

TSR HOBBIES.
GAMES WORKSHOP
IN MORLEY TO SERVE

You'll find all the winners, and much, much more - at your WEST YORKS
nearest Beatties store. Adventure into_our magical halls!
BOARD G A M E S
AGREATDEAL111 FORYOU * Adventure games for all ages including
HOLBORR B R I G H T O N MAINHESTER Dungeons & Dragons'
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210LewishamHighStiletimobnSE136JP018520449 Northgate House.Kingsway,CF14AD0222391645 3MountStreet.8616,1W0602411693
IMMIGATEmadorderony l CROYDON ROMFORD i s z x a t , U f r e p u f e r f o r e s s
10TheBmadway,Soothgate.loodonN146PN018864258 1 3 5 A NorthEmICROIIN016881585 1111HighStreetRPAIIJU010824283 3 - L50
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26SmithMall.KharnShopping Wit 1124XD0216438604 16118 KingCharlesStreellS161T0532456611 1 1 4 EastStreetS011H0010324843 And n o w in Headingley

BLACHPOOL L I V E R P O O L W A T F O R D at Last Chance, 1 0 A s h Road,
19HoundsHilICentrehmona5treet,H14011025326461 3 6 / 3 1 (1MUMWaltStJohn'sCentre1111,10511090199 /0ThePaiadellighStreetW012AW092321563 Leeds 6 T e l : 7 4 4 2 3 5 .

14 Please m e n t i o n IMAGINE m a g a z i n e w h e n replying to advertrsements


IIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIII
(f9I
WI)
10
NEWS F R O M S TAT E S I D E
The latest i n f o r m a t i o n t o arrive f r o m
- 'a USA shows that across the whole
:inge o f products TSR Inc. a r e p u b -
shing lots of n e w material.
- l e next shipment to arrive will
probably contain a STARERONTIERS'm
mini-module Assault of the Starship
O m i c r o n a n d r e f e r e e ' s screen; T O P
SECRET m o d u l e TS004 - Operation:
First P a s s a n d G a r y ' s EX1 m o d u l e
Dungeonland
Eeyond, w e a w a i t G A N G B U S T E R S '
odule GB3 - Death on the Docks; 15
- To m b of Martek; X 4 -Master of the
Desert N o m a d s a n d E X 2 - L a n d
Beyond the Magic Mirror.
And d e l v i n g d e e p e r i n t o t h e f u t u r e ,
ook out for M2 - M a z e of the Riddling
M i n o t a u r, t h e revised version o f t h e
G A M M A WORLDTM game; t h e m u c h
a w a i t e d S TA R F R O N T I E R S r m /
K N I G H T H AW K S T m g a m e , m o r e
ENDLESS OUESTr" books; a new com-
puter g a m e ; n e w SPI p r o d u c t s a n d ,
e v e n t u a l l y, T 2 a T h e T e m p l e o f
Elemental Evil part I
Start building that n e w bookcase
DAREDEVILS
Fisted T h i r t i e s ' , Daredevils, i s n o w
complemented by an adventures book,
Aptly ( b u t u n i m a g i n a t i v e l y ) c a l l e d
1 T h e role-playing g a m e o f t h e ' Tw o -
. Daredevils Adventures, the 2 4 page
Power o f D r. Remoux, B r i n g I t Back
Alive and Deadly Coins. From FGU at
E3.50.
1 . : . m e includes three escapades; The
On the games review pages of this issue
you w i l l f i n d a r e v i e w o f Starstone, a
product f r o m a n e w B r i t i s h company,
Northern Sages, Starstone is a package
des:oned t o b e u s a b l e w i t h a n y FRP
system, w i t h a strong medieval flavour.
The a u t h o r, P a u l Ve r n o n , h a s b e e n
selling t h e s c e n a r i o t o g a m e s s h o p s
almost one by one, and hopes to follow
up his success with two or three similar
modules a year
magazIne, J u l y 1 9 8 3
0
IIIIIIOhIIHIIlIIIIIII inimmumedueol
WHEN IS A M A P N O T A MAP?
Wizards is the latest board game from
Avalon H i l l . I t i s u n u s u a l i n several
respects, not least of which is that the
board is a completely blank hex map.
Terrain is provided on separate 'tiles'
which the players lay out on the board
at t h e b e g i n n i n g o f a g a m e , t h u s
creating a d i ff e r e n t w o r l d e a c h t i m e
they play. Participants h a v e detailed
characters, reminiscent of RPGs, a n d
the o b j e c t i s t o b e c o m e t h e f i r s t
character to bring the six Sacred Gems
of Ruktal to the Centre of the Sacred
Circle. I t looks l i k e a good o n e f r o m
Baltimore, and we hope to have a fuller
review of the game in 5 .
IMAGINETm magazine w o u l d like to thank
Doug Cowie for his assistance
with these items
LOOSE CHITS
Following o n f r o m t h e i r s u c c e s s w i t h
Warlock of Firetop Mountain, Ian Living-
stone a n d S t e v e J a c k s o n h a v e n o w
brought o u t a b o o k e a c h i n t h e s a m e
series. Citadel o f Chaos is Steve's gem,
whilst Ian gives us Forest of Doom. Once
again readers are invited to partake in an
adventure using a technique familiar t o
role-playing g a r n e r s b u t a p p a r e n t l y o f
great novelty value to a w i d e r audience.
From Puffin Books at f 1 .25 each.
M111111116111111111
.111111111111111111111111111o
1lo
iel1i111111111
%TO
*oil&
'410
%
14,111117.' Wiltimia*s
41111"
VoIllikkolowoi
Alas, the Designer's Notes must stand
a g o o d c h a n c e o f getting a prize f o r
pretentious gibberish. Here's a sample:
'The Wizards and Elflords have compel-
led us (the designers)t o set their realm
free to become real f o r us, t h a t t h e i r
truths m i g h t p l a n t t h e i r seeds i n us.
Thus by their yearning to be, they have
called themselves into existence.' So
one w o u l d have thought. H o w about:
'Thus w h e n W i z a r d s i s p l a y e d a n d
these truths are acted out, their reality
is e s t a b l i s h e d b o t h i n t h e W i z a r d s '
world and in o u r world and the game
has P o w e r t o a f f e c t t h e c o u r s e o f
events.' Er.. quite!
D U N G E O N FLAWS
Dungeon Floor Plans Ill is the latest
Games Workshop accessories release.
The title is something of a misnomer,
as t h e s e t w i l l c o n s i s t o f roof-tops,
balconies, b o a t s a n d ' o t h e r w a t e r
features.' A l s o f r o m G W, t h e r e i s a
new Runequest solo adventure to look
out for T h i s one is S o l o q u e s t Ill: The
Sun King's Bride,
VICTORY FOR 0 0 7
Although they are mainly producers of
historical simulations, Victory Games
of New York are planning to bring out a
role-playing game. N o t j u s t a n y RPG
either, This will be the official J A M E S
B O N D 0 0 7 game. Victory m u s t hope
that some of Bond's multi-billion dollar
appeal r u b s o f f o n t o t h e i r p r o d u c t .
Should b e i n t e r e s t i n g t o s e e w h a t
character attributes players roll for
From Chaosium comes the R u n e q u e s t
C o m p a n i o n (f6.95). This digest, about
the same size as a Soloquest, contains
items previously published i n W y r m ' s
Footnotes and n e w material relating to
the official G l o r a n t h a Runequest cam-
paign. The current issue has a r t i c l e o n
Trolls, t h e Black Horse Troop and Cult
Compatibility tables. L a t e r i s s u e s w i l l
appear w h e n Chaosium feel like doing
them (they do say it's irregular!).
15
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16

The P hilos optic- r' s t o n e . Restless,
chatigefitt, it was sought by those who
wished to step sideways out of time to
where the Stone splayed out events o f
other times, other worlds. L i k e a l l
oracles, t h e meaning o f the events
displayed was often obscure. But an
adtlyt, reading the story, looking deep
into the picture overleaf might see more
than mere scattered images in the facets
,yl the Stone....
Can you solve the mysteries
of the Philosopher's Stone?
picture o f t h e Stone overleaf is t h e
- i n a series of four pictures which will
: w events in t h e careers of a fighter,
Eigic-user, cleric and thief. At the foot of
- - s page you will find the story of how the
- o f t h e f o u r, t h e f i g h t e r, f o u n d h i s
.:rd, and the picture illustrates this.
The rig /tier
Lookitt9 at the familiar sight, i t seemed
arnaung that he hadn't been here btful e.
Weird light licked the sword on the attar,
felt dancing onto the looped stone coils.
Uneasily, he loosed his own sword and
lifted his shield a fractiom H e moved
nearer. Gold coin lay mingled with bones
everywhere around him; jewels shattered
urufer his boot as he trod s f o r w a r d
The sword flamed steadily. H e felt i t
reaching f o r him, pulling h i m closer,
as though there was a vacuum there, a
lack which only he could satisfy. He felt
the shivering start, the tremors that, fed by
pain, would catapult him from the dream
screaming, to resume his quest. But he dui
not wake, because he was not asleep; and
this was no longer a dream.
Stifling pillared darkness, the careless
:.-casure; it was the place he'ddrearried of,
all right. Olives, and the bodies. He lifted
a skeletal wrist. Burned The right hand
charred to the elbow. It t o powder at
rds touch. His mouth lifted in a grin, o f
appreciation only. The sword had done
this to them, in the way of the dream; and
was waiting to do the same to him.
1:,,iNE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
However, not all is clearly stated. In order
to e n t e r t h i s m o n t h ' s prize competition
you m u s t list the answers to as m a n y of
the f o l l o w i n g riddles as you a r e able t o
decipher:
1. T h e n a m e o f t h e s w o r d , a n d h o w
the f i g h t e r w o r k e d i t out.
2. T h e inscription on the s w o r d .
3. T h e name o f the f i g h t e r.
4. T h e a l i g n m e n t o f the f i g h t e r.
5. A n y o t h e r messages you f o u n d .
6. Y o u r o w n explanation o f the signi-
ficance o f the w o m a n appearing in
the dream (up t o 1 0 0 words).
The w i n n e r w i l l be t h e person w h o has
solved the greatest number of the riddles.
In the event of a tie, the contestant w h o
offers the most convincing explanation of
the role of the woman will be awarded the
prize. The decision o f the publisher w i l l
be final.
He looked about for the woman, but she
did not appear. S o t h a t w a s t o b e
different, then. Always in the dream it had
been she who had offered him the sward,
and in some strange way, she against
whom he needed to use it. As i n the
dream, he wouldneedtfieswordto escape
this place. Only entrance was uncon-
tested But i n the dream he had been
forced to take the sword here at least he
had time. Time to study it, to work out
what he must do to avoid living out the
death he had dreamedso often, the sword
flaming a n d blooming w i t h his pain
white his hand blistered and melted until
the agony made an end of him. As it had
made an end apparently, of those whose
banes he walked on.
At first he hadn't known what the dream
meant. Only when his hands began to
shake a n d h i s eyes d u l l e d through
sleeplessness did he seek advice.
'I've heard o f that sward hero,' his
teacher said 'It's said to be a perwerfut
one, forged before the libraries were
burned and the o l d knowledge lost.
by Anne Hamill
A prize competition based on
the D&D game
All entries should reach IMAGINETm
magazine b y A u g u s t 1 s t 1 9 8 3 . T h e
results w i l l b e p u b l i s h e d i n t h e
October issue of the magazine, 7 .
Winners will be notified by post.
The w i n n e r w i l l r e c e i v e a v o u c h e r
redeemable through TSR UK Ltd for
goods t o t h e v a l u e o f LAO! T h e r e
will b e three runners-up prizes o f
f 0 each. T h e s e v o u c h e r s c a n b e
exchanged f o r any p r o d u c t s in t h e
TSR o r 5p1TM range.
In a d d i t i o n t o these prizes, and t h e
prizes f o r t h e succeeding p i c t u r e s
of the magic-user, the cleric and the
thief, t h e p e r s o n w h o h a s s o l v e d
m o s t clues over all four pictures will
receive an original p i c t u r e by A n n e
Hamill based on this c o m p e t i t i o n .
There's always one driven tofindit, but I
never heard that any of them came back.
Maybe you' It be luckier in taming it than
t w e r e . But I've heard that the man
who'd wield that sword must not flinch
from hardship; there's a ltmg journey
ahead ofyou, hero, and a tough one.'
A long a n d unresting journey i t had
turned out to be. He had ridden the soil of
twenty countries, and crossed tracts so
barren none had survived to give them
names. He had gone short f l o o d and
warmth and water; and always, of sleep.
At last, leaving even his horse behind he
had crossed the slick black path into this
fortress o f ice, and he had ended here. A
bare step away, the sword. A bare step
away, death.
He drew breath. H e had seen a l l he
needed to see. I t only remained to find
out i f he was right, or, like all the others,
wrong.
He laid his hand on the sward As i t
began to flame, softly, caressingly, he
spoke its name.... 1 4 i 5
17
 =
--

Ay- , ' '

,
-
- 1

IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
18
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20 Please m e n t i o n IMAGINETm maga zine w h e n replying to a d v e r t i s e m e n t s

s module h a s been designed f o r a
of three to five characters. Ideally,
- 7se c h a r a c t e r s s h o u l d n o t b e n e w l y
- -s rated, but should have already earn-
- : -snd spent) experience points improv-
, ! f l e i r s k i l l l e v e l s . Pre-experienced
- E -acters a r e provided i n t h i s module,
- : t h e referee should compare these
- any characters that the players may
- o use.
Preface
lk,RAMAX O N E i s s e t o n Tr i a d i n t h e
7-assidine star system. Triad in Cassidine
: - e of the trade and industrial centres
--e Frontier, generally referred t o as
NE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
ARAMAX ONE
by John Tantoblin
one o f t h e H u b Wo r l d s . N e a r l y a l l t h e
large c o r p o r a t i o n s h a v e o f f i c e s a n d
production facilities on planet or in close
orbit.
There a r e several s m a l l e r corporations
with facilities on Triad and in orbit. All of
these c o m p a n i e s a r e l i m i t e d t o t h e
Cassidine s y s t e m a t p r e s e n t , b u t a r e
attempting t o e x p a n d t h e i r a c t i v i t i e s
outsystern.
Aramax P o w e r Factors (APF) i s o n e o f
these smaller corporations, w i t h interest
in a n u m b e r o f fields i n c l u d i n g m i n i n g ,
shipping and, of course, power generation
and distribution. A t present the company
supply over half of Triad's power require-
This i s a STARFRONTIERSTm a d v e n t u r e
module, and you must have a copy of the
STARFRONTIERS expanded g a m e r u l e s
to play it.
If y o u a r e going t o b e a p l a y e r s t o p
reading here. The rest of the information
in this module is for the referee alone.
ment, but its main competitor, Sunpower
Inc, i s a t t e m p t i n g t o expand i t s m a r k e t
share.
APF Ground Site One (ARAMAX ONE) is
the collection array for a system of solar
power satellites which supply the indust-
rial belt round Triad Low Starport.
Aramax O n e i s a l s o t h e s i t e o f A P F ' s
central computer. It organises the power
distribution network, the maintenance of
the collection arrays a n d satellites, a n d
handles t h e c o m p a n y r e c o r d k e e p i n g .
Although t h e c o m p a n y h a s o t h e r c o m -
puters a t i t s o t h e r offices a n d facilities,
the A r a m a x One m a c h i n e is vital t o the
running of the company.
21
ARAMAX ONE

I. Background
Before beginning play the referee should
read this module to become familiar with
the o u t l i n e o f t h e a d v e n t u r e , a n d t h e
details p r e s e n t e d i n i t s v a r i o u s s u b -
sections. All the information relating to a
specific t o p i c (eg t h e Computer) i s p r e -
sented i n a s i n g l e b o x e d section. T h i s
i n f o r m a t i o n i s f o r t h e r e f e r e e o n l y.
General information, such as room con-
tents, i s g i v e n i n t h e m a i n b o d y o f t h e
module. S o m e o f t h e i n f o r m a t i o n i s
indented a n d printed i n a different face
and this may be read to the players at the
relevant times.
Apart from combat skills, t h e characters
will a l s o require a g o o d r a n g e o f o t h e r
skills, m o s t l y o f t h e 1 s t a n d 2 n d level.
Computer, Robotics, Technician and Medi-
cal s k i l l s s h o u l d b e available t o h a v e a
reasonable chance of success. One of the
characters m u s t have a t least 1 s t level
Demolitions skill.
Player's Background
The referee should read the following to
the players at the start of the adventure:
Early one evening, while you are sitting in
a bar near Triad Low Starport drinking
your last few credits away, you are
approached by a new, obviously expen-
sive, cybot. The machine quietly asks
you to accompany it to see its master,
who has a job you may be interested in.
It leads you into a dimly lit room behind
the bar. Partly hidden in the shadows is a
middle-aged vrusk. As you sit down the
vrusk switches on a small device. The
cybot gives each of you an envelope, and
the vrusk begins to speak in a heavily
distorted voice:
'Good evening, gentlebeings. In each of
the envelopes you will find Cr.100. This is
a consultancy fee. As such it also buys
your silence about this conversation.
'I have a small task for you. It involves
some personal risk, b u t you will be
adequately compensated.
'About five kilometres south of here is the
local collection array for the solar power
satellite system. It is owned by Aramax
Power Factors APF to their friends
and enemies. APF also use the site to
house their central computer; it holds all
their records, and virtually runs the
company from day-to-day. I, for reasons
of my own, want the computer destroyed.
'If you are willing to break into the site and
do this, you will have more than my
gratitude. Your total fee will be Cr.5,000,
half now and half on completion. This is
enough to buy you all tickets on the next
starship to leave Triad, no matter where
it is going. I can also offer some material
aid to you transport, weaponry, tools
and explosives. All you have to supply
are the skills to do the job.
'There is one proviso. You must do the
job tonight. It has been arranged that
only five or six guards, instead of the
normal squad of twelve, will be on duty,
and none will be heavily armed. All the
night staff will have been sent home.'
The cybot gives you an envelope. Inside
are five bundles of banknotes, all used.
amounting to Cr.2,500. It also gives you a
groundcar key, a n d a security pass
bearing the legend APF Security Central.
The vrusk then continues:
'Your money. The car outside contains all
your equipment and a roadmap showing
your target. The pass card should get you
past the outer gates and into the building.
After that you are on your own.
'And finally, don't try to take the money
and run. The rest of your pay will be
waiting with my cybot at the starport.
There is a shuttle at 0800 tomorrow, and
a starship to Prenglar is waiting. Jam rich
and well connected, if you do try to cross
me vengeance is easy for someone in
my position.'
The vrusk gets up, and with a curt
gesture to his cybot, he and it leave the
room and disappear through the back
door.

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22 IMAGINE magazine, July 198t


Referee's B a c k g r o u n d
The story told to the party by the vrusk is
true, but incomplete.
The vrusk failed to identify himself. He is
Aramax Kejganokh no Kami like many
vrusk h e n o r m a l l y g i v e s h i s c o m p a n y
name first. Kejganokh is the sole owner of
.Aramax Power Factors, and is therefore a
success in vrusk society. His reasons for
wanting his own property destroyed stem
directly from his esteemed position.
Two days ago, w h i l e r u n n i n g a financial
analysis p r o g r a m o n t h e A r a m a x O n e
computer, Kejganokh dicovered that pay-
-nents t o t a l l i n g C r. 6 0 1 , 0 0 0 h a d b e e n
- a d e t o a n u m b e r o f non-existent sub-
contractors. F u r t h e r i n v e s t i g a t i o n s
revealed t h a t t h e p a y m e n t s h a d b e e n
- a d e on the authority of APF's Operations
:anager, a human called Fiona Talenc.
<ejganokh could not report the theft. As a
rusk, a m e m b e r o f a r a c e w h i c h prides
-.self on its business expertise, to be the
. c t i m o f blatant c o m m e r c i a l t h e f t w a s
cad e n o u g h , t o a d m i t t o b e i n g s u c h a
otim w a s unthinkable. I f knowledge o f
tnis c r i m e b e c a m e p u b l i c K e j g a n o k h
o u l d lose face in the eyes of his f e l l o w
.--Jsk, a n d h i s c o m p a n y w o u l d l o s e
tiatus. C u r s i n g h i m s e l f f o r h i r i n g a
- _man i n t h e first place, h e resolved t o
ceal w i t h t h e m a t t e r a s s e c r e t l y a s
cossible. T h u s , a f t e r g a t h e r i n g w h a t
equipment he could from company stores,
a tering the guard rosters and raiding the
petty cash, h e approached the party. H e
carefully d i s g u i s e d h i s v o i c e a n d r e -
-nained in the shadows to prevent recog-
- t i o n by his n e w hirelings.
-owever, Kejganokh's behaviour has not
:one unnoticed. Fiona Talenc spotted his
-creased u s e o f c o m p u t e r t i m e , a n d
oidly realised t h a t her fraud had been
-covered. Surprised by the non-arrival
of the police with a warrant for her arrest,
-e decided to take matters into her own
-ands. C o n v e r t i n g h e r i l l - g o t t e n g a i n s
'rom credit accounts t o cash a n d easily
transportable valuables she prepared t o
;!ee o n t h e n e x t available starship, b u t
cetiore leaving Fiona decided t o destroy
tne evidence at Aramax One.
Dna has hired a group of mercenaries to
attack t h e A r a m a x O n e site, p o s i n g a s
tetrorists. She hopes that this w i l l a l l o w
to e s c a p e o f f - p l a n e t d u r i n g t h e
resulting misdirected investigation. This
was t o have taken place yesterday, b u t
-e discovered that the guard rosters had
changed and rescheduled the attack
tonight. She and her henchmen have
-attacked A r a m a x O n e w h i l e Kejganokh
was talking to the party.
The adventure begins after the party have
taken the waiting groundcar and driven to
Aramax One. A s they arrive at the M a i n
Gate t h e s i t e i s q u i e t , a l t h o u g h s o m e
lights are on in the main building.
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
The Ground Car & Other Equipment
The g r o u n d c a r t h a t K e j g a n o k h h a s
supplied t o t h e p a r t y h a s b e e n t a k e n
from A P F ' s m o t o r pool, a n d t h e t h e f t
hidden b y m a n i p u l a t i n g t h e c o m p u t e r
records. I t i s a s t a n d a r d m o d e l ( s e e
Expanded r u l e s p . 2 9 ) , a n d s t i l l h a s
power for 400km at cruise speed.
In t h e b o o t i s t h e e q u i p m e n t t h a t
Kejganokh w a s a b l e t o r e m o v e f r o m
various APE stocks:
Three A u t o m a t i c Pistols, w i t h t w o
ammunition clips (40 rounds) each O n e
Laser Pistol, w i t h a depleted power clip
(15 SEU remaining). O n e Electrostun-
ner, w i t h o u t a power clip. One Grenade
Rifle, w i t h o n e Doze grenade a n d t w o
Tangier Grenades. O n e M a c h i n e G u n
and Tripod, w i t h t w o a m m u n i t i o n belts
(400 rounds).
One Medkit, as defined on p.45 of the
Expanded r u l e s . O n e p a r t i a l Te c h k i t ,
which does n o t contain t h e following:
jack, n u t s , b o l t s , s c r e w s , a n d s p r a y
waterproofing.
Two k i l o g r a m s o f To r n a d i u m D - 1 9 ,
with a variable timer/detonator.
Three f u l l y c h a r g e d 2 0 SEU p o w e r
clips
The Building
The only building on the Aramax One site
is detailed below.
Unless noted o t h e r w i s e all doors i n t h e
building are controlled by card activated
locks located next to them. Certain cards
are not valid for some of the doors in the
facility (eg Security cards w i l l n o t open
the archives).
The construction standards of the building
vary slightly. As far as structural damage
points are concerned the walls and doors
are constructed to the standards given on
p.25 o f t h e E x p a n d e d r u l e b o o k . T h e
archives ( r o o m 1 3 ) a r e c o n s t r u c t e d t o
vault standards.
1. The Perimeter Fence,
Main Gate and Car Park.
The w h o l e o f t h e A r a m a x O n e s i t e i s
surrounded b y a m o n i t o r e d , c h a i n l i n k
fence, some 3 m high. There is only one
access point, on the north side, where the
road is blocked by a powered sliding gate.
The Referee should read the following to
the party when they arrive at the gate:
At this point the perimeter fence i s
broken by an access road through a large
gate. The gate is wide enough to take a
hover truck with ease. It is closed.
ARAMAX ONE
The Referee s h o u l d n o t e t h a t Tr i a d ' s
gravity is higher than standard 1.1g
and that any character w h o chooses to
take t h e m a c h i n e g u n w i l l b e
encumbered i n t h e c o n f i n e d s p a c e
inside t h e building, regardless o f t h a t
character's strength.
Furthermore, the machine gun must be
properly m o u n t e d on t h e tripod t o f i r e
w i t h o u t penalty. T h i s takes t w o turns.
Firing the machine gun 'from the hip' is
possible, but in this adventure a penalty
of -60% is accrued.
The s e c u r i t y pass c a r d t h a t t h e p a r t y
have been given is better than they have
been told. Due to an error in Kejganokh's
programming t h e c a r d w i l l o p e n a n y
door in the APE facility, rather than just
the main gate.
On the right hand side of the gate, at a
height of im, is a cardlock.
Beyond the gate is the building, with a
carpark in front of it. Several vehicles and
two ground cycles are parked there.
The c a r d l o c k c o n t r o l s t h e g a t e . T h e
security card Kejganokh g a v e t h e p a r t y
will open the gate w i t h o u t any problems,
but the fact will register on the computer
terminal in the security office (room 3).
If the party decide t o break t h r o u g h t h e
perimeter fence, and fail to deactivate the
monitoring system, t h e m a i n c o m p u t e r
will despatch a s e c u r i t y r o b o t (see t h e
relevant boxed section) to investigate.
Once inside the compound the party is in
the spacious c a r park. S i x vehicles a r e
parked here; t h r e e g r o u n d c a r s i n A P F
livery, t w o p r i v a t e g r o u n d c a r s a n d a
sports-type hover car. The ground cycles
are i n A P E l i v e r y a n d b e a r S e c u r i t y
flashes
Only t h e h o v e r c a r i s unlocked. T h i s i s
Fiona Ta l e n c ' s personal vehicle, a n d i t
has b e e n booby-trapped b y Kejganokh.
Under the front seat is a 2 0 0 g explosim.e
charge, linked via a t i m i n g device to the
ignition s y s t e m . T h e b o m b i s s e t t o
explode after another 3 minutes of driving
time, causing 5d10 + 75 points of damage
to all those w i t h i n the car.
23
ARAMAX ONE
1
1
Security
All the doors on the site are controlled
by card activated locks (security device
level 1), w h i c h t h e security program
monitors. If any door is opened without
the c o r r e c t c a r d (by t h e f a i l u r e o f a
character Deactivating A l a r m s /
Defences) t h e c o m p u t e r displays t h e
the f a c t o n t h e s e c u r i t y o ff i c e t e r -
minal(s), and notes the time T h e o r e t -
ically the security personnel then carry
out a manual investigation.
All the security guards normally carry
security c a r d s w h i c h w i l l o p e n a n y
door except those to the site manager's
office and the computer archives.
The o u t e r f e n c e i s a l s o s u b j e c t t o
monitoring by a simple electrical circuit
(security device level 1). S h o u l d t h e
fence b e b r o k e n , t h e c o m p u t e r w i l l
despatch a security robot to investigate
the b r e a c h a n d i n f o r m t h e s e c u r i t y
office. I n s i d e t h e s i t e t h e r e i s a
network of pressure sensors (security
device level 2), b u t these have never
been used and are now unserviceable.
However, t h e p l a y e r s s h o u l d n o t b e
told t h i s i f they discover the n e t w o r k
and attempt to deactivate it.
24
IIMINE=D
..11111"/
11 1 2 3 1 41 51
GROUND
LEVEL
16.1
The left hand front door of the building is
standing open.
2. The Reception Area
This is the entrance hallway. The furni-
ture, three couches, a desk and a pair of
chairs, is of an opulent standard. The
walls are hung with a number of holo-
grams showing images of satellites, deep
space mining equipment, and one shows
a distinguished business vrusk.
Opposite the main entrance are a set of
lift doors. There is only one button, with a
downward arrow on it.
If any character carefully examines t h e
picture o f t h e v r u s k , a n d m a k e s a n
Intuition check, he or she should realise
(ie t h e p l a y e r s h o u l d b e t o l d b y t h e
Referee) t h a t t h i s v r u s k h a s been s e e n
before. T h e h o l o g r a m i s a p o r t r a i t o f
Kejganokh n o Kami, a n d i s labelled a s
such. T h e label a l s o gives Kejganokh's
position as owner of APE.
The Referee s h o u l d f e e l f r e e t o i n v e n t
other i t e m s o f interest, s u c h a s m a g a -
zines, for the room.
3. The Security Office
The only lighting in here comes from two
small desktop lamps. However, you can
see that a struggle of some kind has
Wall
Door
Windows
Sliding Doors
Scale (metres)
occurred in here. Two of the chairs have
been overturned and a set of playing
cards is scattered across the floor.
Only one of the two computer terminals
is working. The broken one has had a cup
of coffee poured into it. The working one
has some kind of time sheet display on its
screen.
A few half drunk cups of coffee stand
around on the desks and floor.
This is the security office. The normal
occupants are now locked in the toilets
(room 7).
Any member of the party w h o makes an
Intuition check should be told that there is
a s m a l l blood stain, f r o m t h e w o u n d e d
guard, n e x t t o t h e broken terminal. The
coffee in the unspilt cups is only tepid.
The working computer terminal is linked
to the Installation Security program. The
display shows a list of recent incidents at
Aramax O n e a s t h e s e c u r i t y p r o g r a m
interprets them. Included on this are the
recent a r r i v a l o f F i o n a Ta l e n c , A P F ' s
Operations M a n a g e r, t h e a r r i v a l o f a n
unscheduled h o v e r t r u c k , a n d a n u n -
authorised e n t r y i n t o t h e c o m p u t e r
archives ( r o o m 1 3 ) . D e p e n d i n g o n t h e
party's earlier actions the display will also
show the entry of a security detachment
through the main gate, or the despatch of
a security robot to investigate a breach in
the outer fence.
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
 ARAMAX ONE
The Computer
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The computer at Aramax One controls
the entire power collection array at the
site and supervises the distribution of
the energy. The computer also carries
out a n u m b e r of standard accounting
functions, a n d i t i s t h e s e t h a t Fiona
Talenc has manipulated to her benefit.
The c o m p u t e r r u n s t h e f o l l o w i n g
programs: Analysis 5, Bureaucracy 4,
Commerce 4 , C o m m u n i c a t i o n 1 , I n -
dustry 4 , I n f o r m a t i o n S t o r a g e 5 ,
Installation Security 2, Maintenance
4, Robot M a n a g e m e n t 6. A s a r e s u l t
the c o m p u t e r i s a l e v e l 5 m a c h i n e ,
massing 300kg, requiring 300 or more
points of damage to destroy it.
The computer runs the power collect-
ion a r r a y t h r o u g h t h e I n d u s t r y a n d
Robot M a n a g e m e n t programs. E a c h
element o f t h e collection a r r a y i s a
self-contained dedicated robot system,
which takes its overall orders from the
Industry program via t h e Robot M a n -
agement p r o g r a m . I f t h e c o m p u t e r
should f a i l t h e individual r o b o t s c a n
keep t h e p o w e r arrays a i m e d a t t h e
solar power satellites for a short time,
until central control can be re-estab-
lished. T h e v a r i o u s p r o g r a m s o f t h e
computer s y s t e m c a n b e a c c e s s e d
from any terminal in the building. The
only program w h i c h cannot be acces-
sed f r o m a n y t e r m i n a l i s t h e Install-
ation Security program. That program
can o n l y b e a c c e s s e d f r o m t h e
terminals i n t h e s e c u r i t y office, a n d
from t h e t e r m i n a l s i n t h e c o m p u t e r
room.
All c o m m u n i c a t i o n s , i n c l u d i n g t h e
internal and external telephone lines,
are h a n d l e d b y t h e C o m m u n i c a t i o n s
program. I t is possible t o manipulate
this p r o g r a m a n d j a m a l l c o m m u n i -
cations w i t h t h e outside w o r l d f r o m
any terminal in the building.
Computer skill m a y be used w i t h t h e
standard chance of success to m a n i -
pulate t h e Information Storage, A n a -
lysis or Commerce programs. Success
indicates that Fiona Talenc's previous
theft/ manipulation h a s been d i s -
covered (le that Cr.601,000 are miss-
ing), but not w h o is responsible.
26
Personnel
,,
7,
Name S T R / S T A D E X / R S I N T / L O G PER/LDR I M R W
-
Sgt. Gomer V 5 0 / 4 5 4 5 / 3 0 5 0 / 5 0 4 5 / 4 5
Military Skeinsuit (50 points). Skills: Beam Weapons 2, Melee Weapons 1, Medical 1
60/10 45/50 40/50
Guard 2 50/40 60/60 45/35
Guard 3
50/50 50/50 70/70
Guard 4V 50/50 45/45
40/50
Guard 5 65/65 50/50 25/35
Military Skeinsuits (50 points, Guard 1 1 5 points remaining). Guard 3 has a vibrokr
(with a fully charged 20 SEU power clip) hidden in his left boot. Skills: Beam Weapons -
Melee Weapons 1.
V V r u s k , all other guards are human.
Normally there are twelve guards at the
Aramax O n e site. H o w e v e r, Kejganokh
has m a n i p u l a t e d t h e c o m p u t e r a s s i g n -
ments so only six guards are present.
Fiona Talenc and h e r mercenaries have
captured t h e guards, t i e d t h e m u p , a n d
locked t h e m i n t h e t o i l e t s ( r o o m 7 ) ,
though not without seriously hurting the
first guard. She has been ministered to by
Sgt Gomer and locked up with the others.
If t h e g u a r d s a r e released b y t h e p a r t y
they will appear suitably grateful, but will,
APF company uniforms w i t h Security
brassards. One of them, a woman, has
been wounded.
In t h e c e n t r e cubicle a maintenance
robot is busily polishing the plumbing.
The six people who have been tied up are
the A P E s e c u r i t y p e r s o n n e l ( s e e t h e
relevant section). I t is guard 1 w h o has
been w o u n d e d i n t h e s k i r m i s h w h e n
Fiona a n d t h e mercenaries arrived. T h e
Referee should note that this guard w i l l
suffer the 'Attacker Wounded' penalty in
any combat situation.
The robot i s a simple-minded m a i n t e n -
ance m a c h i n e (see t h e r e l e v a n t b o x e d
section), incapable o f following a n y b u t
the simplest verbal instructions. It is not
capable o f f o l l o w i n g e v e n t h e s e i f t h e y
conflict with its pre-programmed function
as o r d e r e d b y t h e R o b o t M a n a g e m e n t
program of the main computer. It is thus
ignoring the guards, because logically
they do not exist. It is also incapable of
carrying o u t a n y aggressive a c t i o n s o r
defending itself.
8. The Warehouse
This warehouse space is largely empty. In
one corner stands an incomplete power
array element. Next to that is a ground
cycle without any wheels. A stack of
crates stand against one wall. By the
smaller door is a pair of robot recharging
stations.
M
3 4 3 3 3
55/50 5 33 33
30/30 6 40 40
5 35 35
45/45
45/45 5 35 35
60/50 5 35 35
at t h e e a r l i e s t o p p o r t u n i t y, a r m t h e m -
selves with laser pistols from the securin
store (room 4 ) a n d attack. Fiona Ta l e r :
and h e r m e r c e n a r i e s w i l l b e treated
preferred targets. If communications w :-
the outside w o r l d a r e still possible, SG:.
Gomer will contact the police and ask for
assistance.
If t h e p o l i c e a r e called, t h e c o u r s e o f
events is entirely up to the Referee. If the
police arrive w h i l e the party is still at the
Aramax O n e site, t h e adventure i s
effectively ended.
In the warehouse loading bay a large.
commercial hover truck with an APE
logo on the side has been parked and let:
unlocked.
The warehouse space is used entirely for
temporary storage of power units before
and a f t e r i n s t a l l a t i o n o n t h e g r i d T h e
power array element w h i c h is in here
the m o m e n t is a w a i t i n g removal t o t'-E
scrapyard.
The ground cycle para battery is complete-
ly discharged.
The eight crates hold general electronic
and small technical spares for the powe-
array. T h e h o v e r t r u c k h a s been s t o l e -
from a n o t h e r A P E f a c i l i t y a n d u s e d
transport by the mercenaries. They inter-
to use this vehicle for their getaway. It s:
has power for 900km.
The r o b o t r e c h a r g i n g s t a t i o n s w i l l b e
occupied b y e i t h e r o n e o r t w o s e c u r i n
robots, t h e exact number depending c-
whether or not the party has encountere:
a robot (eg if the party entered the Aramax
One site by breaching t h e o u t e r fencer
See the relevant section for details of the
robots.
9. The General Office
This darkened office space contains little
of interest apart from two desks, 'both
with computer terminals standing on
them. These terminals are switched off.
IMAGINE magazine, Juiy 1983

Robots
Robot MV IM/RS
Security 1 90 5/50
Security 2 90 5/50
- grams: Restrain
Maintenance 60 4/40
Service 30 7/70
There are normally four robots a t the
Aramax One site which are not in control
a section of the power array. All the
-: pots are under the control of the Robot
'.'anagement program on the computer.
robots listed above are the mobile
-es used for various purposes around
-e facility. No statistics are given for the
:wer array robots, as these are dedicated
T-!s office is rarely used in the normal
::urse o f business a t A r a m a x One,
:=.ecause most administrative functions
for the facility are carried out by the main
:omputer. As a result this room is rather
spartan,
The Referee should feel free to invent any
worthless items of interest for this room.
1O. The Site Manager's Office
This is a luxuriously appointed office
space. On a large desk sits an executive
computer terminal. Behind the desk is a
leather chair designed for a human, with
a set of golf clubs resting against it. The
other furniture in the room a pair of
low couches and a low table are of
similar high quality.
In one corner stands a service robot.
There i s l i t t l e o f r e l e v a n c e t o t h e
adventure i n here. B y t h e computer
:erminal are stacked a number of com-
cuter g a m e s modules. T h e r e i s n o
documentation of any kind, all hardcopy
ceing produced in the computer room.
The service robot (see the boxed section
or details) h a s b e e n deactivated. I f
-eactivated it is incapable of carrying out
any aggressive or defensive actions at all.
11. The Computer Office
Regardless of whether the party uses the
!ft o r t h e stairs t o descend t o t h e
casement the view that they have of the
scene is as follows:
Although the lights in this office are on,
:he room has a bluish tinge, due to the
pall of smoke and fumes which hang in
:he air. In the far right hand corner of the
office small flames, and the occasional
spark, are guttering from the remains of a
eardlock. The door next to it is open.
'AGINE magazine, July 1983
STA ATT DM S A S D
100 50 2 Tangier I n e r t i a
Grenades S c r e e n
100 50 2 Doze A l b e d o
Grenades S c r e e n
100
100
machines which are not capable of taking
any independent action.
Only the security robots are capable of
taking any aggressive action. The com-
puter w i l l despatch o n e o f t h e m t o
investigate any breach in the outer fence
and restrain those responsible. I f one
robot fails the other is sent.
In the corner by the stairs lies the body of
a vrusk in APF company work uniform.
He has been shot several times by laser
and automatic weaponry.
The rest of the office is a shambles. The
two desks in the room have been emptied
and their contents mostly computer
printouts and o t h e r documents
scattered about the floor.
Two computer terminals have been
thrown to the floor. One still shows some
coherent display o n i t s screen, and
appears relatively intact. The other barely
flickers and its keyboard has been torn
away and smashed.
On the floor by the open door stands a
small briefcase, and scattered about are
several weapon powerclips.
The smoke and fumes are the results of
Fiona's mercenaries shooting apart the
cardlock on the door t o the computer
archives (room 13). Once the party gets
closer to the door they will see that part of
it has also been shot away by laser fire. As
a result all the powerclips on the floor are
completely discharged (there are six). The
briefcase contains 500g o f Tornadium
D-19 and a variable timer/detonator set
to 15 minutes delay, although it is not yet
activated, The mercenaries intend using
this to destroy the computer archives.
The vrusk was a computer technician,
working o n unofficial overtime. The
mercenaries shot him i n an automatic
reaction to meeting someone unexpected.
If anyone searches his body they will find
a security pass card which will open any
door except those to the security office
(room 3) and the site manager's office
(room 10).
The broken computer terminal is useless.
The other terminal is faulty because of
the mistreatment it has suffered, resulting
in a 10% penalty to the chances of anyone
using Computer skill on it.
ARAMAX ONE
If the party makes an excessive amount of
noise in this room, the two mercenaries
in the computer archives will hear and
come to investigate. A firefight will then
ensue, a n d Fiona a n d t h e remaining
mercenaries in the computer room will
hear and investigate. The Referee may
care to remember that there are 500g of
high explosives in the firing zone, and any
badly missed shots may hit, and set off,
said explosives.
If the party is quiet it will hear sounds of
small scale destruction coming from the
open doorway. The mercenaries in the
computer archives are engaged in des-
troying the room's contents.
1 2. The Computer Room
Once the door is open the party will able
to see into the room. If they have already
fought Fiona and the mercenaries in the
computer office (room 1 1 ) the door will be
left open. I f the party does not use a
security card to open the door, and forces
it open in some other manner, Fiona and
her men will be alerted and ready for
trouble. Otherwise:
This is obviously the main computer.
Four large brown, orange and cream
cabinets stand in the centre of the room
on a low plinth, and a hardcopy printer
stands against the far wall.
Cables are strewn across the floor, and
four people are working on these.
As the door slides fully open, one of the
people a young man turns around
and asks 'Have you finished yet?'. His
eyes widen and his hand drops towards
his gun....
The man who has spotted the party is
mercenary No.4 (see the relevant boxed
section for details). The Referee should
have this NPC make an Intuition check as
defined in the Surprise section on p21 of
27
ARAMAX ONE
the Expanded rules. If he is not surprised
he will shout a warning to his colleagues
Fiona Talenc and mercenaries 5 and 6
and then attack.
Once combat starts the mercenaries will
fight t o t h e b e s t o f t h e i r abilities. T h e
Referee should decide what laser setting
mercenary 4 will use, but the other two,
armed w i t h a u t o m a t i c pistols, w i l l f i r e
bursts. F i o n a Ta l e n c w i l l s e e k c o v e r
behind the computer.
If the fight goes against the mercenaries
(eg two or more are badly wounded) they
will o f f e r t o s u r r e n d e r. F i o n a w i l l a l s o
offer to surrender, but will use her laser
derringer a t t h e f i r s t o p p o r t u n i t y a n d
attempt to escape.
If t h e m e r c e n a r i e s ( 2 a n d 3 ) i n t h e
computer a r c h i v e s ( r o o m 1 3 ) h a v e n o t
been d e a l t w i t h i n s o m e w a y t h e y w i l l
hear the firing and come to the aid of their
employer. T h e R e f e r e e s h o u l d d e c i d e
w h e t h e r t h e y a r e capable o f surprising
the party.
The w i r i n g t h a t t h e m e r c e n a r i e s w e r e
installing w a s a set of explosive charges
massing 2kg. T h e charges have n o t yet
been fully wired up, but if one of the party
(with D e m o l i t i o n s s k i l l ) a t t e m p t s t o
complete t h e installation h e o r she w i l l
receive a bonus of +15% to the chance of
success. T h e t w o variable t i m e r / d e t o n -
ators w h i c h a r e w i r e d u p are s et t o 1 5
minutes a n d 3 0 m i n u t e s , b u t n o t y e t
activated. A l t h o u g h t h e c o m p u t e r w i l l
only take 3 0 0 points o f damage before
destruction, t h e explosives i n place w i l l
cause 5 d 1 0 +975 points of damage.
If t h e f u l l c h a r g e i s u s e d m o s t o f t h e
building w i l l be destroyed. If the security
guards are still locked in the toilets (room
7) they will be killed in the explosion. The
blast radius w i l l b e 2 0 metres, a n d t h e
referee should decide on t h e size of the
fallout zone for debris.
Pre-Generated Characters
Name S T R / S T A D E X / R S I N T / L O G PER/LDR
Princod D 5 5 / 5 0 4 0 / 4 0
Skills: Beam Weapons 1, Medical 2, Psycho-social 1
Farlih V 6 0 / 5 0 4 5 / 5 5
Skills: Projectile Weapons 2, Melee Weapons 1, Computer 1
L N Glascock 5 0 / 6 0 5 5 / 6 5
Skills: Gyrojet Weapons 1, Melee Weapons 2, Technician 1
Dovercourt 4 5 / 4 5 4 5 / 5 5
Skills: Projectile Weapons 1, Demolitions 2, Technician 1
Notes: D D r a l a s i t e , V V r u s k
The following characters are provided for
use w i t h t h e module. T h e Referee m a y
give these to the players or use them for
comparison purposes with any characters
the players may wish to use.
28
Once the charges are successfully set in
here, and assuming that the full amounts
of D - 1 9 a r e used t h e m i s s o n h a s b e e n
successfully completed. T h e c o m p u t e r
archives ( r o o m 1 3 ) w i l l b e d e s t r o y e d
because they are w i t h i n the blast radius.
If t h e p a r t y h a v e a l r e a d y f o u g h t t h e
mercenaries in the computer office there
will be n o more in here. The demolition
wiring will be intact but incomplete.
If a n y characters search t h e c o m p u t e r
room t h e y w i l l f i n d l i t t l e other t h a n t h e
mercenaries' equipment. The only other
things in the room are discarded printouts
from the hardcopy machine and a stuffed
toy in the shape of a green, felt dragon.
13. The Computer Archives
The cardlock and door to this room have
been shot away by laser fire. I f the party
have n o t a l r e a d y e n c o u n t e r e d m e r -
cenaries 2 and 3 in t h e computer office
(room 11) they will be in here.
Two men are busily pulling computer
printouts and data storage modules from
the shelves where they are normally
housed. They are throwing the data
modules to the floor and stamping on
them. The computer printouts are being
scattered in a random fashion. Neither
man has noticed you.
These two mercenaries (Nos 2 and 3) will
fight w i t h confidence i f given the oppor-
tunity, k n o w i n g t h a t reinforcements are
in the computer room (room 12). If firing
does b r e a k o u t , F i o n a Ta l e n c a n d t h e
other m er c e n a r i e s w i l l investigate a n d
attack the party from behind.
If these mercenaries have already been
encountered i n t h e computer office t h e
room will be disorganised, and most of its
contents scattered and destroyed.
The computer printouts are still readable,
though several have large bootprints on
IM RW M Characters whose performance was onh,
5 0 / 4 0 4 0 / 5 0 4 30 20
5 5 / 5 5 5 0 / 4 5 6 43 33
3 5 / 2 5 4 0 / 4 0 7 38 48
4 5 / 4 5 5 0 / 5 0 6 33 23
Each character owns a Civilian Skeinsuit
(Princod h a s a f u l l y c h a r g e d I n e r t i a
Screen). L N Glascock owns a vibroknife
with 2 S E U i n t h e p o w e r c l i p . A l l t h e
characters have Cr.10 Cr-.20 in change.
them. T h e c o n t e n t s r e l a t e t o m a i n t e n -
ance schedules, s h o r t r e p o r t s o n A P F
company finances a n d listings of all the
programs o n t h e c o m p u t e r. I f t h e party
takes these listings, t h e Referee shouic
decide i f they are saleable. The value : -
the listings is 1 5 % o f the cost given f c -
computer p r o g r a m s i n t h e E x p a n d e d
rules.
n e c o m p u t e r U d i d 11 U L J U l e b lit l i l e
have b e e n destroyed t o a l a r g e extent
There w e r e 57, and each o f these has E
5% chance of surviving its mistreatmer7
intact. I n n o c i r c u m s t a n c e s w i l l m o r e
than f o u r m o d u l e s b e intact. A l t h o u c -
there i s n o w a y o f d e t e r m i n i n g t r
information contents o f a particula-
module, t h e R e f e r e e s h o u l d decide
w h e t h e r these modules, a n d t h e i r con-
tents, are saleable to an APF competit: -
(eg S u n p o w e r Inc). T h e Referee shot,
also d e t e r m i n e t h e i r value and w h a :
Kejganokh's r e a c t i o n i s t o t h e t h e f t : -
potentially valuable information.
If t h e p a r t y d e c i d e t o p l a n t s e p a r a t e
explosive charges i n here, anyone w i t -
Demolitions skill will require only100c :-
Tornadium D - 1 9 to destroy the contents
of the room. As noted in the description of
the c o m p u t e r r o o m , t h e a r c h i v e s a n d
contents w i l l b e destroyed b y a l a r g e
explosion in there.
And Finally....
Back at Triad L o w Starport the party will
find t h e cybot w a i t i n g for them w i t h the
remainder of their fee. The cybot will alsc
give each of them a journey class ticket tc
Gran Q u i v e r a i n Prenglar. T h e starship
that t h e y a r e v a l i d f o r leaves t h e n e x
morning.
Experience Points
Once t h e a d v e n t u r e i s c o m p l e t e t h e
Referee s h o u l d a w a r d t h e c h a r a c t e r s
experience points. Those w h o used their
abilities and skills w i t h imagination anc
foresight should receive four experience
points. Those w h o played constructively
should receive t h r e e experience points
average s h o u l d receive t w o experience
points. Those who merely 'went along fo7
the ride' should receive only one point.
tto
CREDITS
Design and Text: John Tantoblir
Cartography: Paul Ruiz
Artwork: Simon Senior
The Dralasite
in the Dirty Bucket: Graeme Morris
Portions of this mini-module were used a:
GamesDay '82 and Northern Games Day
'83. Thanks to all those w h o participated
(even Ian Marsh!).
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
 We're looking for
Could you talented writers and
write or draw artists who can offer
exciting material to this
for IMAGINETm magazine. If you want to earn
money from your hobby, then
magazine? contact Keith Thomson
(editorial) or Phil Kaye (art).
' 0 / 1 4 bkiA% N .
4 NNINIENZINIONSIVIREMINIMMIIIIMENNIERMSMINILINII
l a t i l l i l E1 1 1 1 1 1 PAIONI
1 14 A n1n ' i 1 1 m 7 l i m m i l l i k
'1illitlialiaff ' J A N / , / WithIN /F4140/ / t 41101/11/0, / a l & 3/..e,M0,0 1 , A r o ' / zarz \

We want!',.,
Scenarios about 7000 words.
Brief Encounters 3000 words.
* Other FRP articles on any games
system.
* Articles on other forms of adventure
gaming, or hobby-related subjects.
* Filler art.
* Fiction.

Get in touch today!

- InitieftW
eiRaidtitidirtie

MAGINE magazine, July 1983 29

 kilMNINI:44EVANDOME:EN11144101:4A10:0,/ile:EVAEVellisle

BURPLIDO
ROLE PLAYING ADVENTURE IN FEUDAL JAPAN

Flashing bladework, brave warriors, martial mastery,

wise priests, honor, stealthy assassins, demons,
magicians, spirits, war the stuff of Legends,
the Legends of Japan. Bushido is a role playing
game that allows you to adventure on the
Misty Isles of Nippon.
Players i n Bushido design their characters to suit the
profession that they choose. A skill system is used to
determine the character's succcess i n both martial and
peaceful endeavors.
Take a break from the western european and sample the
mysterious world of the Far East. Tr y adventuring i n a world where
a man's honor and fame are as important as the number of
foemen he has slain.
Come f o l l o w the code of the Samurai, the Way of the Warrior. Bushido!
19.95
Available from better shops or direct from Fantasy Gan= tinliznitect
GAMES, 50-54, Manchester St., Liverpool L I 6 E R Trade Enquiries contact: GAMES, 89, Victoria St.,
Tel: 051 2 3 6 2605 Tel: 051 2 3 6 2605 L i v e r p o o l L i 6 I ) G

TiNnO1
I leFa ntasv Rolc-Plaving Game
RuneQuest is the easy-to-play game o f fantasy role-playing, set
in the mythical world of Glorantha It's a game world inhabited
by fighting men, gruesome monsters and savage non-human
races such as the vile, chaos-spawned beastmen, Broo.
Player characters begin as young commoners or noblemen
adventuring in a time and place where magic is real and heroes
are in demand. They can become powerful fighters, formidable
magic users or wily thieves - b u t only i f they survive the perils
of Glorantha. With RuneQuest, player-characters can even be
non-humans, players can accept the challenge o f thinking and
acting like mighty Trolls or mysterious Dragonewts.
The RuneQuest boxed set contains everything needed to begin
play: Basic Role-Playing, easy rules f o r the novice adventure
gamer; Rune Quest rules book, advanced rules for refereed
adventure; Apple Lane and the Rainbow Mounds, t w o intro-
ductory adventures set in Glorantha; Fangs, ready-to-roam
monsters and adventurers, and six polyhedral dice. A d d your
imagination and you can begin your adventure.

RuneQuest provides easy rules for beginning adventure

garners. There are solo adventures too.
RuneQuest is ideal f o r experienced players, bored with
dungeon adventure. Questworld is an adventure world which
will be developed by Games Workshop in association w i t h
UK RuneQuest players.

SEE RUNEQUEST AT Y O U R L O C A L GAMES SHOP T O D AY

RuneOuest is published by Chaosium Inc. and printed and

distributed under licence in the U K by Games Workshop Ltd.,
27/29 Sunbeam Road, London NWIO 6JP.

30 Please m e n t i o n IMAGINE'm magazine w h e n replying to a d v e r t i s e m e n t s

 SPECIAL
PA O F F E R S
Please note that the following offers are
available o n l y to members of the DadDO
Players Association. Details of the PA and
7OW to join are given on page 3 3 of this
magazine.
BARGAIN BASEMENT
7-ne Bargain Basement (lair of the infamous Karen) is the place
where we consign all the stock which, for some reason or
other, can n o longer be sold a s 'perfect'. The degree o f
mperfection varies from a missing shrink-wrap to the lack of a
page in a module, for example The items all have two things in
common, however, they are all on sale at amazingly reduced
prices and none of them is rubbish
PA members can obtain an up-to-date list of available Bargain
Basement items by sending an S.A.E. to Bargain Basement at
7-e address given below D o n ' t forget to quote your PA
embership number.
RPGATm M o d u l e 1 R A H A S I A
A 16-oage D&D module designed for 5-8 characters of levels
1-2. Price E2 00, post free
Rahasia the elven maid faces a fate worse than death at the
hands of an evil human, Rahib He has taken over the Temple
of the Sacred Black Rock, cursed as elven servants, and lured
Rahasia's father and her betrothed into his clutches
You are Rahasia's last hope Can you brave the Temple's perils
and mete out justice to Rahib?
'R S E R I E S ' M O D U L E S
The R series' AD&DT. adventure modules are produced by the
RPGATm organisation in the USA and are available in the UK
only to PA members. Each of the modules was designed for
_se in a DEN CON' tournament and is suitable for normal
:ampaign play as well as having extra details and pre-rolled
1aracters for tournament-style use.
R i - TO T H E A I D O F FA L X
' 6 page module designed for 6 characters of levels 5-9
ze f 1 50, post free
- _.an aid. The dark powers that control a nearby set of
-...--ets have stolen five potions of silver dragon control! Can
1.
.3 adventurers find the much
X the silver dragon, potionst obefore nightfall?needs some
his chagrin,
R2 - T H E I N V E S T I G AT I O N O F H Y D E L L
A 32-page module designed for 5 characters of 5th level Price
L2 00, post free.
Si.nks are obedient, semi-human slaves and are apparently
content with their lot. They are protected by law, owned by the
wealthy and approved of by the church authorities. Can you
sneak into the old ruinsto find out who or what slinks really are
and where they come from?
R3 - E G G O F T H E P H O E N I X
A, 32-page module designed for 5-8 characters of level 5-9
Price E2.00, post free.
In the lonely town of Northending, the council has called the
paladin Athelstan to their aid The fabulous artifact known as
the Egg of the Phoenix has vanished, stolen by evil beings
PA P I N S
These are half-inch diameter brushed steel badges carrying
our Dragon's-Head logo They will double as a lapel badge or
De-pin and will discreetly identify you as a player and PA
member Price f 0 95 each, post free
PA T- S H I R T S
W i n e cotton T-shirts with the full-colour design of a dragon
towering over the D&D symbol Available in S, M and L sizes
lplease state size when ordering) Price 3 50 each, post free
PA N B A C K I S S U E S
- a ways happens No sooner does a magazine come to an end
- 3 , its back issues become collector's items PA members
:a- obtain back issues of PANs 1-12 for E0 50 each or E. 5 00
c.rasetoft2, post free
Otters are open to PA members only. Orders to.
PA Special Offers, TSR UK Ltd, The Mill, Rathmore
Road, CAMBRIDGE CB1 4AD.
Remember to include your PA membership number
when ordering. All offers made subject to availability,
ri!isi, July 1983
D&IIIPLAYERS
ASSOCIATION
NEWS
THE NEWSLETTER
OF THE BRITISH
DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
PLAYERS ASSOCIATION
PA N PIPINGS
First, a s m a l l a n n o u n c e m e n t T S R
Hobbies (UK) Ltd is no more, n o n plus,
kaput! However, don't start saving your
pennies f o r a c o n d o l e n c e c a r d , t h e
demise i s p u r e l y cosmetic. A s o f n o w
('now' b e i n g s o m e t i m e a g o , i f y o u
follow m y meaning) t h e d e a r old f i r m
shall b e k n o w n a s T S R U K L t d ( n o
brackets, n o 'Hobbies'). T h i s w i l l n o t
only have t h e effect o f confusing you,
us, o u r customers, t h e b a n k a n d t h e
Inland R e v e n u e , b u t a l s o s a v e s a
considerable q u a n t i t y o f ink. F u r t h e r -
more, it brings us into line w i t h TSR in
the U S A w h o are n o w simply TSR Inc.
However, there are no prizes for spotting
how m a n y times w e get i t w r o n g over
the next few months (or years!).
RPGATNI M O D U L E 1 R A H A S I A
You m a y have noticed t h i s addition t o
the l i s t o f p r o d u c t s a v a i l a b l e t o P A
members a n d m a y also be w o n d e r i n g
w h y its coding does not follow on in the
R' series. T h e reason i s f a i r l y s i m p l e
it's a D 8 t a t adventure, unlike the 'R'
modules w h i c h a r e f o r t h e AD&DTM
game. It comes from the combined pens
of Tracy and Laura Hickman w h o have
displayed in i t their apparent penchant
for 'the mystic East' which first came to
light in 13 ('Pharaoh') and 14 ('Oasis of
the W h i t e Palm' w h i c h Tracy w r o t e
with Philip Meyers).
The m o d u l e is t h e latest offering f r o m
the RPGATM t e a m . Packed i n t o i t s 1 6
pages and cover folder are a background
rationale f o r t h e a d v e n t u r e , 4 9 e n -
counter areas, three new monsters (the
bone golem, h a u n t a n d w a t e r weird),
DM's maps, t e a r - o u t players' map and
pre-rolled c h a r a c t e r r o s t e r. I w a s
particularly taken by the idea o f A r a b /
Islamic elves. The a r t w o r k is nice (and
relevant to the action) as are the maps.
Overall, not a bad t w o quids' worth.
At this point, I m u s t insert a disclaimer
on b e h a l f o f t h e s a l e s d e p a r t m e n t
since,at t h e t i m e o f w r i t i n g , t h e n e w
module i s b a r e l y a t w i n k l e i n t h e i r
collective eyes. We have had a few review
copies in, but the rest have only just been
ordered from t h e US. A s s u m i n g that w e
are l u c k y, t h a t t h e m o d u l e s a r e n o t
washed overboard i n m i d - A t l a n t i c a n d
that t h e y are n o t confiscated b y B r i t i s h
Customs then they will be available when
this issue reaches you. I f not, please be
patient.
MILL D AY S
And n o w, t h e c o l u m n t h a t immortalized
the Clandestine Karen, brings you a n e w
goddess... t h e Celestial Sandra! I t is her
lot in life to take care of, a m o n g s t other
things, correspondence about M i l l Days.
It seems t h a t m u c h o f t h e m a i l s h e has
been receiving is from people w h o have
no idea w h a t a Mill Day is. In the hope of
saving Sandra some letter-writing, h e r e
is a quick explanation.
Mill Days are a long-established tradition
for ISR. The idea o f them t o a l l o w us to
play host to all-day games sessions here
at o u r C a m b r i d g e o f f i c e s ( h e n c e t h e
name). The games played vary consider-
ably. S o m e t i m e s M i l l D a y s a r e u s e d t o
play-test a n e w T S R / IMAGINETm maga-
zine module, at others w e are pleased to
accept the offer o f a PA m e m b e r to r u n
something. A n y v o l u n t e e r s ? T o k e e p
things comfortable, w e restrict t h e
number of players to between eight and
ten a n d s o places a t M i l l Days m u s t be
booked and then only by PA members.
We u s u a l l y s t a r t a t a b o u t 1 0 a m o n a
Saturday and play through (with a break
for lunch) until about 5pm. M i l l Days are
free and w e provide light refreshments,
but not lunch or travel costs.
After a s u m m e r break, the next t w o M i l l
Days w i l l b e o n S e p t e m b e r 1 0 t h a n d
October 29th. Interested? If so, w r i t e to:
Players Association M i l l Days, TSR U K
Ltd, T h e M i l l , R a t h m o r e R o a d ,
CAMBRIDGE CB1 4 A D
I got the name right that time anyway....
Graeme Morris
31
DISPEL CONFUSION
Dispel Confusion i s a question a n d
answer column intended to help hobby
garners overcome problems they have
had with game rules.
At present, we can only help with games
produced by TSR; while our answers may
not be fully 'official', we have contact with
the designers themselves. In future, we
hope t o cover games other than TSR
products, by getting answers from those
who make and design them.
But we always need questions, so send
your queries to:- Players Association
(Dispel Confusion), TSR UK Ltd, The
Mill, Rathmore Road, CAMBRIDGE
CB1 4AD.
DUNGEONS & D R A G O N S
and ADVANCED DUNGEONS
& DRAGONS games
Q. W h y a r e m o r e q u e s t i o n s i n Dispel
Confusion about the Advanced D&D
game than about the Basic game?
A. W e r e c e i v e f e w e r q u e s t i o n s a b o u t
the Basic game. However, t h i s only
raises t h e q u e s t i o n o f w h y t h i s
should b e so. I n general t h e Basic
and Expert systems are designed to
be flexible a n d a r e deliberately n o t
comprehensive. A s a r e s u l t , t h e
answer t o m a n y questions is m a d e
up on the spot by the DM.
The A d v a n c e d g a m e i s f a r m o r e
codified and extensive, It is therefore
inevitable that there will be apparent
TURNBULL TALKING
The 'realism debate' has been around for
almost as many years as the hobby itself.
Perhaps its origins go no further back in
time t h a n H G W e l l s ' L i t t l e W a r s ( o r
maybe c h e s s w a s a c c u s e d o f l a c k o f
realism c e n t u r i e s a g o ) b u t i t c e r t a i n l y
found an excitable and articulate platform
soon after t h e arrival o f t h e early board
wargames.
Broadly speaking, t h e proponents of the
'realism i n g a m e s ' l o b b y w a n t t h e i r
games to be as close as possible to t h e
real life situation they echo. Wa r g a m e r s
of t h i s persuasion stop short o f hauling
out a M a u s e r and letting t h e i r opponent
have one between the eyes a n d indeed
wargamers are often, i n m y experience,
32
inconsistencies or deficiencies which
can b e r e c t i f i e d i n t h e D i s p e l
Confusion column.
Q. H o w d o y o u c o m b i n e a f i g h t e r ' s
multiple a t t a c k s p e r r o u n d w i t h a
weapon t h a t g e t s m o r e t h a n o n e
attack per round? (Advanced)
A. Y o u d o n ' t , O n l y m i s s i l e w e a p o n s
have m u l t i p l e a t t a c k s , a n d t h e
'Attacks p e r R o u n d ' t a b l e ( P l a y e r s
Handbook p 2 5 ) states ' w i t h a n y
thrusting or striking weapon' not
missile weapons.
Note that the rule at the bottom of the
same p a g e , r e f e r r i n g t o t h e ' o n e
attack p e r l e v e l ' r u l e f o r f i g h t i n g
creatures w i t h less than one hit die,
replaces the 3 / 2 or 2 / 1 attack rule;
they do not combine to give 1 1 / 2 or
2 attacks per level.
O. C a n a creature w i t h a gaze weapon
attack m o r e t h a n o n e t a r g e t p e r
round? Is it possible to use both t h e
gaze w e a p o n a n d natural o r m e l e e
weapons in the same round? (Basic/
Advanced)
A. A gaze weapon w i l l o n l y affect o n e
victim per round, but this attack form
is i n a d d i t i o n t o a n y o t h e r attacks
given. A basilisk, f o r example, c a n
gaze and bite in the same round.
Q. W h y must bards have scores of only
15 o r b e t t e r i n s t r e n g t h , w i s d o m ,
dexterity and charisma when a fighter
pacific people b u t w o u l d l i k e t o s e e
every last detail represented w i t h i n t h e
physical limitations of their game.
Equally b r o a d l y speaking, t h o s e o f t h e
opposite v i e w p o i n t p u t t h e i r e n j o y m e n t
first a n d r e a l i s m w e l l d o w n t h e l i s t . A
game can b e t h e w i l d e s t (well, a t least
reasonably wild) approximation to reality
and still be vastly enjoyable. Whether the
Order o f Battle i n t h e S I N AW g a m e i s
accurate or not, w h e t h e r the railroads in
Rail B a r o n f o l l o w historically a c c u r a t e
routes o r n o t , w h e t h e r t h e p r o p e r t y
dealings in M o n o p o l y accurately reflect
what happens i n t h e normal w o r l d
these m a t t e r s a r e l a r g e l y i r r e l e v a n t i n
comparison with the game's potential for
entertainment.
And t h e r e is, o f course, a l o t o f m i d d l e
ground b e t w e e n t h e extreme positions,
but h e w h o e n t e r s t h i s m i d d l e g r o u n d
might be surprised at the volume of shot
passing overhead.
0-n-e possible response is so what? If a
person enjoys a game, isn't that sufficient
w h o changes to a t h i e f m u s t have a
minimum d e x t e r i t y o f 1 7 a n d a
m i n i m u m strength of 15? (Advanced
A. T h e obvious answer to this question
is t h a t bards a r e n o t f i g h t e r s w h c
change i n t o t h i e v e s a n d t h e n i n t c
bards. B a r d s a r e c h a r a c t e r s w h c
have spent a period of training under
the auspices of the fighter a n d thief
classes, a n d t h e n e n t e r i n t o bardic
training u n d e r d r u i d i c t u i t i o n . A
character wishing to be a thief proper-
needs t o b e w e l l s u i t e d t o t h i s
specialised c l a s s . T h e a b i l i t i e s o '
bards are wider ranging and require
overall c o m p e t e n c e r a t h e r t h a r
specialised excellence.
For t h e n u m b e r crunchers amongs:
you, t h e p r o b a b i l i t y o f a characte-
having a b i l i t i e s s u i t a b l e f o r b a r d -
hood i s f a r less t h a n t h e chance of
being a b l e t o m o v e f r o m f i g h t e r t c
thief.
Q. Can a n e l f b e c o m e a s p l i t c l a s s
assassin? e g f i g h t e r / a s s a s s i n ( A c -
vanced)
A. No. The split classes listed on p32-33
of the Players H a n d b o o k are those
suited to the tendencies of the races
concerned. No other split classes are
possible.
Q. I f demons, devils, and evil creatures
are s o strong a n d numerous, w h a :
can prevent Evil destroying Good at a
single stroke? (Basic/ Advanced)
in itself without delving intothe innermos:
reasons? Psychologists (mainly the ama-
teur variety) appear to delight so much i r
digging o u t a b s t r u s e explanations t h a :
they r u n a s e r i o u s r i s k o f p r o d u c i n g
evidence w h i c h i s n ' t t h e r e i n t h e f i r s :
place. I vaguely recall reading about some
lengthy research i n t o t h e profound
sexuality of a popular (in my view, rightly
so) children's book; the author must have
been p r e t t y b e w i l d e r e d t o discover t h e
deeply o ff e n s i v e s e x u a l n a t u r e o f t h e
writing, w h e n he (or she) thought he was
simply w r i t i n g a b o o k f o r children
Wa r g a m e s a n d f a n t a s y r o l e - p l a y i n g
games a r e p o p u l a r candidates f o r t h i s
sort of unhelpful, misleading and gratuit-
ous a t t e n t i o n a n d h e r e w e r e w e ,
thinking we were simply enjoying playing
games.
But many garners are unwilling to leave iz
at t h a t . P e r h a p s s i m p l y f o r o u r o w n
curiosity, w e w o u l d like t o k n o w w h e r e
we s t a n d i n t h i s d e b a t e , a n d w h y
Perhaps o u r o p i n i o n o n t h e m a t t e r i s
being coaxed b y o t h e r m e m b e r s o f t h e
games group or club. Perhaps knowledge
PAN, July 1983

A. M a n y of the powerful, evil creatures
are c o n f i n e d t o t h e i r o w n p l a n e s ,
where, of course, they are dominant.
Secondly, t h e y spend m u c h o f their
time fighting a m o n g themselves for
pre-eminence. A n d f i n a l l y t h e
'Cosmic Balance' does not allow Evil
or Good to become all powerful.
DRAGONQUESrm
Game Questions
The following questions and answers
are based o n t h e second edition o f
the DRAGONQUESrm Rules.
Q R u l e 8 . 6 says ' A character m a y
expend 100 Experience Points (rather
than t h e u s u a l c o s t o f 1 0 0 0 ) t o
acquire a n y o n e s k i l l a t R a n k O . '
However, i t i s o n l y t h e h e a l e r skill
which requires 1 0 0 0 Experience
Points for Rank O. Can another skill
be acquired at 1 / 1 0 its usual cost in
Experience Points?
A N o . T h e idea o f rule 8 . 6 is t o a l l o w
starting characters to have a ranked
skill. T h i s s k i l l a l w a y s c o s t s 1 0 0
Experience Points, regardless of the
normal points cost. A character may
only a c q u i r e o n e s k i l l i n t h i s w a y,
representing early, pre-adventuring
training.
The wording of rule 8.6 is a hangover
from the first edition rules, where all
skills cost 1 0 0 0 Experience Points at
Rank O.
of o n e ' s o w n l i k e s a n d dislikes o n t h i s
score helps in selecting a new game from
'eviews o r s h o p shelves. O r perhaps i t
would be helpful to find another gamer of
similar views so that the game itself can
be enjoyed without this sort of distraction.
My o w n thoughts on the topic end up as
quite simple. If it is a choice between two
camps I w i l l join t h e 'playability' people
or their objectives are attainable whereas
those of the 'realists' are not. It seems to
me t h a t e i t h e r a g a m e i s an a t t e m p t t o
echo s o m e a s p e c t o r o t h e r o f h u m a n
interaction (a wargame, a t o w n planning
game, a h o t e l m a n a g e m e n t g a m e o r
whatever) o r i t i s n ' t ( a f a n t a s y r o l e -
playing g a m e , a n y o n e o f d o z e n s o f
abstract games and so forth).
the latter, the 'realism' argument can't
apply a game simply can't be realistic if
the subject matter doesn't exist in reality.
Those w h o debate at earnest length t h e
alleged realism, or lack of it, of combat in
a fantasy role-playing game should
perhaps reflect that the magical elements
of t h e g a m e a r e n o t h i n g m o r e t h a n
'AN, July 1983
Q T i m e keeping is a very important part
of r u n n i n g a D R A G O N Q U E S T i m
campaign, e s p e c i a l l y f o r c h a r a c t e r
Aspects, R i t u a l s a n d s o m e L u n a r
associated c r e a t u r e s ( e g Wr a i t h s ) .
How can it be kept track of easily?
A. W e r e c o m m e n d t h e u s e o f a g o o d
diary (preferably l a s t y e a r ' s i t ' s
cheaper!). Choose o n e w h i c h gives
details o f t h e phases o f t h e M o o n ,
festival d a y s ( e g H a l l o w e e n , W a l -
purgisnacht), S a i n t s ' days, e t c a n d
simply r e c o r d t h e a c t i o n s o f y o u r
characters in it.
Q. R u l e 2 8 . 1 s t a t e s t h a t t h e d a m a g e
inflicted by certain spells is counted
against either the Fatigue or Endur-
ance of its victim in the same way as
damage f r o m physical combat i e
by D a m a g e C h e c k . H o w e v e r, r u l e
18.4 i m p l i e s t h a t m a g i c a l d a m a g e
only ever applies to fatigue. Which is
correct?
A B o t h a r e correct. I t i s o n l y spells
whose effects a r e e n t i r e l y magical
(eg College of Sorceries of the M i n d
S-4, Spell o f M o l e c u l a r Disruption)
which affect Fatigue only. It is spells
which c a u s e p h y s i c a l a g e n c i e s t o
harm v i c t i m s ( e g C o l l e g e o f A i r
Magics S-6, Spell o f Ice Projectiles)
which are treated in a similar way to
physical attacks.
1010 Graeme M o r r i s
& Mike Brunton
fantasy. There's not much point in arguing
about the fine tuning of a car engine if you
can't put fuel into the thing.
But i f t h e g a m e i s s o m e r e f l e c t i o n o f
human interaction, the only way to get an
accurate and realistic simulation is to put
away the game and enact the actuality.
Which tends to be difficult o r dangerous
or i l l e g a l o r f a t a l o r u n p a l a t a b l e
sometimes all of them. Human interaction
is complex stuff; we see it all day and have
ample p r o o f o f t h e thesis. To a b s t r a c t
even p a r t s o f i t i s d i ff i c u l t e n o u g h i f a
satisfying g a m e i s t o e m e r g e , a s a n y
designer w o u l d agree. In t h e end, t h e r e
must be some sacrifice of realism because
its simulation is impossible or hopelessly
muddles the game (often both).
I find myself returning again and again to
the s a m e b a s i c b e l i e f t h e g a m i n g
hobby is fun, and it's therefor enjoyment.
Hang the realism give me a game I can
enjoy any time.
D o n Tu r n b u l l
PA
MEMBERSHIP
The PA i s a c l u b for all players of role
playing g a m e s particularly t h e D8LID'-'
and A D & D T M g a m e s . S i n c e i t w a s
founded i n 1 9 8 1 , t h e PA h a s become
the country's largest D&D club, and now
has t h i s 4-page section i n IMAGINETm
magazine. The benefits of membership
include:
* F r e e badge, s t i c k e r a n d p e r s o n -
alised 'credit-card style' member-
ship card.
* S p e c i a l offers available only to PA
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y o u r chance t o b u y damaged-
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offers are given on page 31.
* F r e e postage and packing on mail
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Membership of the PA costs E2.50 per
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$10) f o r o v e r s e a s m e m b e r s . A l l y o u
have to do is fill in this coupon and send
it t o :
PA Memberships, TSR UK Ltd, The Mill,
Rathmore R d , C a m b r i d g e . C B 1 4 A D ,
England.
together w i t h a cheque or postal order
made payable to TSR UK Ltd
O P l e a s e enrol me as a n e w member of
the Players Association. I enclose a
cheque/PO for E2.50 (overseas 5.00
or US $10).
O P l e a s e r e n e w my membership of the
PA. I enclose a c h e q u e / P O for E2.00
(overseas f 5.00 o r U S $10). M y PA
number is
Name ( M r / M r s / M i s s / M s )
Address
I d o / d o not* w i s h m y name and address
to be available to other members.
(* delete as appropriate) 1 4
33

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COST M E A N ACoaMZEMENT LEAG-US OF 1 - F r g ! \ DARKNESS AND TO HtS
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34 PAN, J u l y 1 9 8 3
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35
 CONSTRUCTING - -

SCIENTIFICTION & FANTASY

by John Asmead, Darrell Schweitzer & George Scithers

If you have ever wanted to write for this or any other

magazine, this booklet, published in the USA by TSR
Inc, will be invaluable.

Containing hints on everything from the first draft to

the final article, this 32 page booklet is being offered for
the first time in this country only through TSR UK Ltd.

So if you ever wondered how it was done, or if you just

want to know what Scientifiction is, write off to us now!
This offer is made at the modest price of 75p plus a
stamped, self-addressed, A5 envelope direct from us at -
T'Mill.
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Ye:nV.V.Aa:E:V'e:eoVe:E'Mn:E:ee:'X'o:E:EMEV.*X'P:E:EY
CARP 9.41ARRIOltS 2 5 m m ORDER FORM

Full colour wargames and fantasy figures. 2.00 postage free. City of Sorcerers
D.A.I. S a x o n A r m y , D . A . 2 . N o r m a n A r m y , F A . D u n g e o n Starship Captain
ITY OF Adventure, F.2. Savages & Swordsmen, U.S.!. Union Infantry,
U.S.2. C o n f e d e r a t e I n f a n t r y, U.S.3. U n i o n C a v a l r y, U . S . 4 .
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Role - Playing Character Sheets Pad (E1.95 post free). Suitable
Map 1 M a p 2 Map 3 C a l .
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D.1 S . G . 1 S G 2. R P 1.
Dare you tread the streets of the City of Sorcerers F o r magic for fantasy adventures, this pad saves hours of tedious writing:- just Aircraft Prints
is a dangerous power, a two-edged sword. As you progress through fill i n t h e relevant details when y o u generate y o u r characters. W I W 2 W 3. W. 4
your training as a sorcerer, not every spell in the dusty tomes will aid Contents 50 sheets. Card Warriors
you and some experiments may have unpleasant side-effects. Truly is Hex P a p e r P a d (EI.95 p o s t free). Suitable for all map making D.A 1 D A 2 F t F 2
it said that no man survives the eighteen terms of magical training needs, 50 sheets of small hexes in an A 4 format. U.S.1. U.S.2. U.S 3.
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Fate may deal a man strange cards during his apprenticeship, but large hex super imposed. This allows a particular hex in a campaign sheets Oft x 4t Green
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36 Please mention IMAGINET" magazine when replying to advertisements

 Film Review This m o n t h Colin G r e e n l a n d reviews
two recently-released science f i c t i o n
films: The Dark Crystal and Q The
Winged Serpent.

In another world at another time, the evil Also g r e e n a n d g r u e s o m e i s Q T h e endearing a n d i n c o m p e t e n t s m a l l - t i m e

Skeksis rule from the castle of The D a r k W i n g e d S e r p e n t (ITC). Q s t a n d s f o r crook, p i a n i s t a n d e x - j u n k i e , J i m m y
Crystal (Universal). The crystal itself was Quetzlcoatt, s o b e g r a t e f u l t h e y h a v e Quinn, e x q u i s i t e l y p l a y e d b y M i c h a e l
damaged a t h o u s a n d years ago, w h i c h abbreviated it. Quetzlcoatl was an ancient Moriarty. R u n n i n g a w a y f r o m a j e w e l
perverted its power and blighted the land. Mexican sun-god, fond of live sacrifices, robbery he did not even w a n t to commit,
A prophesy tells that all will be well again and so not very convenient in the middle Moriarty stumbles over a nest, complete
when the missing shard is restored by a
member o f t h e e l f l i k e G e l f l i n g . T h e
Skeksis h a v e n o i n t e n t i o n o f b e i n g
deposed b y t h e forces o f good, s o t h e y
have attempted to wipe out the Gelflings,
but missed one, Kira, w h o survives in the
village o f t h e h o b b i t i s h P o d l i n g s , a n d
another, J e n , w h o is b r o u g h t u p by t h e
peaceful Mystics.

The story o f t h e Dark Crystal a n d J e n ' s

quest to repair it is not very original. There
are plenty of echoes from The Lord of the
Rings and for that matter from the Bible.
What m a k e s t h e f i l m s o entertaining i s
the t e a m b e h i n d i t . I t i s e s s e n t i a l l y a
Muppet movie, directed b y J i m Henson
and F r a n k O z t h e r e a r e n o h u m a n
characters a t a l l . C o - p r o d u c e r w i t h
Henson is Gary Kurtz of Star Wars, a n d
there is a credit of special thanks to Alan
Garner, a u t h o r o f E l i d o r a n d T h e O w l
Service, w h o perhaps l e n t his expertise
on all things dark and mythical.

But m o r e i m p o r t a n t than any of these is

Brian Froud, whose 'conceptual designs'
have been fleshed, furred, feathered and
fanged t o perfection. T h e S k e k s i s a r e
wizened c r e a t u r e s h a l f w a y b e t w e e n
vultures a n d r e p t i l e s , a n d F r o u d h a s
avoided the c o m m o n mistake of making
all the members of his alien race identical:
every S k e k s i h a s i t s o w n r e p e l l e n t
features and character. They are so bad,
they c r u m b l e i n t o d u s t t h e m i n u t e t h e y
die. E q u a l l y m e n a c i n g a r e t h e i r bestial
heavies, t h e G a r t h i m , g i g a n t i c b l a c k
things t h a t combine t h e nastiest bits o f
beetle, c r a b a n d s p i d e r, clattering' a n d
bristling w i t h pincers and legs.
The D a r k Crystal i s a technical m a s t e r -
piece w i t h splendid special effects w o r k
by a team two dozen strong. It may be that
they did well to keep the story simple and
then lavish a wealth of detail on it, rather
than g o f o r a m o r e complicated fantasy
and fail. The best scene is an early one in
which J e n , c a r r y i n g t h e a l l - i m p o r t a n t
shard of crystal, is lost in the jungle. He is
soon t o b e r e s c u e d b y K i r a , w h o , l i k e
Tarzan a n d D r D o o l i t t l e , c a n c a l l t h e
animals to h e r aid; b u t before she t u r n s
up Jen h a s t o w a n d e r a m o n g t h e m o s t
marvellously eerie and gruesome hybrids
of p l a n t a n d animal, a l l green a n d l u s h
and sticky.
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
Lee Majors and Lauren Hutton star with Hal Linden and Ray M i l l a n d in S t a r f l i g h t One - a kind of
A i r p o r t in space. Can the c r e w and passengers of Starflight One be saved from certain d e a t h ? A n
Orion Picture, o n general release f r o m the end of May.
of M a n h a t t a n , w h e r e a f a n a t i c A z t e c
revivalist c u l t h a v e prayed i t back i n t o
existence. A hard-pressed p o l i c e t e a m
think t h a t a s u d d e n s p a t e o f r i t u a l
murders and disappearing window clean-
ers is a separate case from crank reports
of a ' g i a n t b i r d ' o v e r t h e c i t y, u n t i l t h e
laconic Detective Shepard (David Carra-
dine) puts two and two together and gets
Q for an answer.
The creature itself is a bit creaky, though
good in close-up but why, after all the
Aztec p r e a m b l e , d o e s n ' t i t h a v e a n y
feathers? I n a d e q u a t e c o m m u n i c a t i o n ,
perhaps, between the special effects unit,
Lost A r t s I n c , a n d L a r r y C o h e n , w h o
masterminded everything else in the way
of writing, producing a n d directing. The
whole story is largely incoherent, in fact,
and t h e film s h o w s every sign o f having
been h a s t i l y edited d o w n t o f i t a n h o u r
and a hal f . B u t , u n l i k e t h e extravagant
wildlife of The Dark Crystal, the monster
is only secondary in this monster movie.
The central character is not Quetzlcoatl,
or e v e n i t s n e m e s i s S h e p a r d , b u t a n
with an outsize egg, eighty floors up in the
spire o f N e w York's decorative Chrysler
Building. T h e realisation t h a t h e i s t h e
only person who knows the whereabouts
of t h e c r e a t u r e ' s l a i r g o e s t o Q u i n n ' s
head, w i t h a m u s i n g a n d e v e n t o u c h i n g
results. Wa t c h o u t for Candy Clark from
Nic Roeg's The M a n w h o Fell to Earth as
Quinn's girlfriend Joan.
It is not often that a film is enjoyable as a
monster movie, a character study a n d a
satire, b u t Q T h e W i n g e d S e r p e n t
scores on every one. A s well as taking a
f e w swipes at the police, the mass media,
and big city politics, Larry Cohen cannot
resist p o k i n g f u n a t t h e i n n u m e r a b l e
monsters that have gone chomping a n d
stomping among the skyscrapers over the
years. A s P o l i c e C a p t a i n F l e t c h e r
observes, ' N e w York is f a m o u s for good
eating'.
411.5 Cohn G r e e n l a n d
Colin w i l l be back in issue 6. N e x t month
Dave Pringle reviews some o f the latest
releases from the w o r l d of books.
37

Well, y o u ' l l a l l b e pleased t h a t I ' m n o w
fully recovered f r o m G a m e s Fair, w o n ' t
you? Oh, all right then, have it your o w n
way, but I'm still here regardless.
That was imaginary feedback, of course,
but w i t h i s s u e o n e having been o u t f o r
almost a m o n t h n o w I've actually had a
little of the real thing. Not much, I g r a n t
you, but this appears to have been mainly
my fault as the typical reaction to Tavern
Talk 1 h a s been 'you didn't say much, did
you?' A h w e l l , l e t ' s h o p e t h a t t h e l a s t
couple of issues have been better. Please
do w r i t e ; t h i s i s supposed t o b e a f a n
column, not a personal pulpit, and I w o n ' t
know w h a t y o u w a n t discussed u n l e s s
you tell me.
Still on the subject of feedback, one of the
functions o f t h i s c o l u m n i s t o bring u p
those topics w h i c h m i g h t n e v e r g e t a n
airing t h r o u g h n o r m a l channels. N o w i t
so h a p p e n s t h a t j u s t s u c h a t o p i c h a s
been a n a l m o s t u n i v e r s a l r e a c t i o n t o
IMAGIN ETm m a g a z i n e . E v e r y o n e I ' v e
spoken t o h a s m a d e s o m e w i s e c r a c k
about the profusion of ' , TM and c m a r k s
that a r e attached t o every TSR p r o d u c t
name. I t g e t s t o m e a s w e l l , a n d I
deliberately leave them out of my copy to
see i f P a u l i s o n h i s toes. W h a t l i t t l e
experience I have of copyright leads me to
suspect that in this case it is the Law that
is t h e a s s r a t h e r t h a n t h e c o m p a n y.
Perhaps w e c o u l d h a v e a n o ff i c i a l e x -
planation, a s t h e m a t t e r seems to bring
TSR more bad press than anything else I
can think of
With an elegance of linking born of years
of e x p e r i e n c e e d i t i n g a f a n z i n e l e t t e r
col u m n , I n o w move to another use of the
Tavern. I recently received a circular from
John and Ian McKeown, editors of a fairly
new FRP 'zine called Miser's Horde. They
suggested setting up some sort of organis-
ation t o ensure that there w a s always a
fanzine stall at major gaming conventions.
where any amateur publisher could have
his wares sold, w h e t h e r he could make it
to t h e c o n v e n t i o n o r n o t . T h i s i d e a i s
obviously born o u t of the excellent w o r k
that Mike Lewis and Simon Billenness did
getting a fanzine stall f o r G a m e s Days.
Personally ! t h i n k that an official organis-
ation is both unnecessary and inadvisable
and the matter would be best handled by
the c u r r e n t e d i t o r o f 2 0 Ye a r s O n
Unfortunately I haven't had time to get in
touch w i t h a n y o n e a b o u t i t b e f o r e m y
deadline and it will probably all have been
settled by the time this sees print, but at
least I can exercise my talents at prophecy
38
and p o i n t o u t t h a t such operations can
and w i l l b e p u b l i c i s e d t h r o u g h t h i s
column. So, l e t us begin by announcing
that there will be a stall at D r a g o n m e e t ,
which I h a v e o n l y j u s t heard w i l l be o n
Saturday 1 6 t h J u l y, a t t h e Central Hall,
Westminster. Information concerning the
arrangements f o r t h i s y e a r ' s L o n d o n
Games Day should be forthcoming i n a
couple of months time.
Another m e a n s o f publicising ' z i n e s a t
present unused by the FRP community is
the Postal G a m i n g Hobby's 'Zine Bank.
The idea behind the Bank is that editors
send unwanted back issues of their 'sines
to the Bank custodian who can then send
out packages o f s a m p l e s t o i n t e r e s t e d
parties. This does have the drawback that
the samples received are often somewhat
out of date, b u t the customer can get to
see a large number of different 'zines for
very little effort. To keep administration
simple the Bank does not charge for the
individual 'sines, only for postage, so you
have to write off the cost of those issues
to advertising expenses, b u t t h e n w h o
ever sells back issues anyway? A n y o n e
wishing t o g e t s o m e samples f r o m t h e
Bank (although I r e m i n d you t h a t t h e r e
are very few 'zines dealing with FRP there
at present) should send 1, a brief list of
gaming interests and, most importantly, a
very large ( A 4 o r foolscap) envelope t o
The 'Zine Bank, c / o Alan Parr, 6 Longfield
Gardens, Tr i n g , H e r t s , H P 2 3 4 D W .
Anyone wishing to deposit 'sines should
either send them to Alan or wait until the
next big convention and give them to Alan
or me: one of us is bound to be there.
This issue should reach you i n plenty of
time to remind those of you w h o receive
postal games fanzines to vote in the 'Zine
Poll. Full details should be in t h e hobby
news pages (044) so I w o n ' t repeat them
here, b u t I w i l l c o m m e n t t h a t Richard
Walkerdine's surprise decision t o open
the Poll to 'zines that don't run Diplomacy
has b e e n m e t w i t h a n h e a r t w a r m i n g
degree o f approval f r o m t h e h o b b y a t
large. M o s t FRP 'sines still aren't eligible
as t h e y d o n ' t r u n a n y games, j u s t t a l k
about them, but I suspect that their turn
will c o m e e v e n t u a l l y. A n d , o f c o u r s e ,
D r a g o n l o r d s is eligible (not t o m e n t i o n
A c o l y t e w h i c h I w o n ' t i n case a n y o n e
thinks I ' m campaigning). W i t h D L , t h e
sports g a m e s ' s i n e s a n d A l a n P a r r ' s
excellent H o p s c o t c h a l l n e w l y eligible,
the results will be more interesting than
they have been for years.
" I Pete Ta m l y n
The c u r r e n t spate o f n e w modules f o r the D & D '
and AD8iDTM g a m e s c o n t i n u e s - i n c l u d i n g TSR's
first invisible ink solo module...
M1
Not only is this ISR's first solo module for
D&D'' (quite an event in itself), it is also
the f i r s t I n v i s i b l e I n k m o d u l e . B e f o r e
finding out what that means, let us take a
quick c a n t e r t h r o u g h t h e c o m p o n e n t s .
You g e t the usual booklet (32 pages) o f
descriptions, i n s t r u c t i o n s , m a p s , p r e -
generated characters, and so on. This is
protected by a standard t h i n card wrap,
the outside of which sports a good quality
illustration. The inside has several maps
of small sections of a dungeon printed on
it. Back t o t h e outside a n d w e f i n d t h a t
there is a pen attached to it by a s t r i p of
velcro. This is your Invisible Ink pen.
The module is intended for use as a solo
adventure for thieves of levels 1-3 only. A
pre-generated character is provided but a
player i s q u i t e a t l i b e r t y t o u s e o n e o f
his/her o w n existing thieves i f this is
preferred. A modified a d v e n t u r e for D M
moderated g r o u p p l a y i s p r o v i d e d i n
which c a s e a n y m a j o r c h a r a c t e r c l a s s
may be used.
The system will be familiar to anyone who
has used other solo adventures or perhaps
the Endless Q u e s t books. There are 309
14 O A S I S
This module is the second in the DESERT
OF D E S O L AT I O N s e r i e s a n d l i k e i t s
forerunner, 13 Pharaoh, is a tough test
for players. It may seem hard on the poor
dears w h o b a t t l e d t h r o u g h 13 t o m a k e
them suffer again, but if they want riches
and f a m e , t h e y m u s t e x p e c t a l i t t l e
hardship. 14 can b e played w i t h o u t first
participating in 13.
Physically, Oasis of the White Palm is up
to t h e h i g h s t a n d a r d s o f P h a r a o h : 3 2
pages of descriptions, illustrations, mon-
sters, NPCs and diagrams w i t h t w o card
protective w r a p s w h i c h a l s o h a v e t h e
necessary D M ' s maps and plans printed
on them. First rate cover art is matched by
the l i v e l y i l l u s t r a t i o n s o f t h e t e x t . T h e
module is intended for 6-8 characters of
6th to 8th levels a balance of character
classes being recommended.
There are three main areas of activity: an
oasis w h i c h includes w h a t is in effect a
small v i l l a g e , a n a n c i e n t a n d r e c e n t l y
revived temple and t h e sinister Crypt of
Badr Al-Mosak a very dangerous place.
In addition, encounters can occur during
journeys i n t h e d e s e r t b e t w e e n t h e
various m a j o r a r e a s . T h e p l a y e r s c a n
travel w h e r e t h e y w i s h a n d t h u s m a y
experience the encounters in the 'wrong'
order. It is important that players should
feel t h a t they have this freedom b u t the
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
 GAMES REVIEWS
BLIZZARD PASS Invisible Ink Module
entries i n t h e m o d u l e b o o k l e t y o u
commence play at number 1. Each entry
tells y o u w h e r e y o u a r e a n d w h a t i s
happening. I t t h e n p r e s e n t s y o u w i t h
several choices o f action. Depending on
which you select, you are then directed to
another n u m b e r e d e n t r y a n d so you g o
on. The big difference with this adventure
is the Invisible Ink aspect. Nearly half the
numbered entries are blank. It is necess-
ary to rub them w i t h the Invisible Ink pen
to reveal secret writing w h a t fun!
When i t c a m e t o playing t h e module, I
found i t very entertaining. These t h i n g s
are compulsive: o n c e you s t a r t playing,
you always want to go on to just one more
entry. T h e b l a n k spaces, a w a i t i n g y o u r
Invisible I n k p e n , m a k e i t e v e n m o r e
enticing. I did find the beginning unsatis-
factory. Entry 1 gives t w o choices, either
of w h i c h c o u l d e q u a l l y b e s o u n d o r
foolhardy. However, if you pick the wrong
one y o u a r e d e a d w i t h n o c h a n c e o f
escape. A 5 0 / 5 0 c h a n c e o f k i l l i n g o f f
perhaps a favourite character, on what is
after all just a guess, is pretty harsh. Once
you g e t p a s t t h a t h u r d l e , h o w e v e r, t h e
play is more varied and more subtle.
The use of area maps is unusual in a solo
adventure, but I found them to be of little
practical use. It may be nice to know what
the area you are in is like, but as it is the
entries t h a t you p i c k w h i c h select y o u r
tactics a n d detailed movement, t h e r e is
no real point to the maps. They are merely
cosmetic.
How about the Invisible Ink idea? Well, it
is fun, there is no denying that. Of course,
the m o r e you play, t h e f e w e r blank bits
there are as an increasing n u m b e r have
their secrets (permanently) revealed. Still,
even w h e n they are all exposed, it is just
the same as a conventional solo adven-
ture and can still be played as such.
A f e w of the pages in my copy were a little
reluctant t o g i v e u p t h e secret o f t h e i r
invisible messages and even after vigor-
ous rubbing, t h e w r i t i n g w a s difficult t o
read. Frankly, t h e Invisible Ink aspect of
the module is a gimmick but it is a hugely
entertaining one which contributes to the
fun of the well thought out and enjoyable
solo adventure.

OF THE WHITE PALM 1 2 TOMB OF THE LIZARD KING

DM s h o u l d do w h a t he can to unobtrus-
ively direct them in the 'correct' direction.
Their chances of success are higher if the
DM succeeds in doing this.
This i s n o t a m o d u l e o f o u t l a n d i s h
monsters b u t i s n e v e r t h e l e s s a m a i n -
stream AD&DTM adventure with plenty of
treasure, traps and tricks situated princi-
pally amongst traditional r o o m / c o r r i d o r
environments. Not that this is a criticism
since I feel that the A D & D system is best
suited to just such environments.
There are plenty of interesting goings-on
between NPC individuals and groups, so
that t h e p a r t y i s p l a c e d i n a d y n a m i c
society which provides them with several
quite different choices of action.
The D M w i l l n e e d t o s t u d y this m o d u l e
closely b e f o r e r u n n i n g i t i f i t i s t o b e
exploited to the full. S / h e is not expected
to provide any details, I am glad to say, but
some o f t h e e n c o u n t e r s a r e q u i t e
complicated a n d s o c o m p l e t e u m p i r e -
familiarity is required.
This is an excellent, varied module. It has
excitement, depth and tension. A must for
those w h o h a v e p l a y e d 13 a n d h i g h l y
recommended for anyone else.
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
Intended a s a n a d v e n t u r e f o r 7 - 9
characters of levels 5 to 7, this module is
a one-off enterprise w i t h various e n -
counters o c c u r r i n g i n w i d e l y d i ff e r i n g
settings. It comprises a 32 page book with
a t h i n card, d e t a c h a b l e cover. Va r i o u s
maps intended for the DM are printed on
the c o v e r. O t h e r m a p s a n d p l a n s a r e
included in the book itself. The maps are
well d r a w n and easily understood.
The t h e m e o f t h e a d v e n t u r e w i l l b e
familiar to all module users. The lands of
the C o u n t o f E o r a r e t r o u b l e d b y a
nameless horror and the good Count has
to call in outside adventurers (the players)
since his o w n m e n do not seem able to
destroy the evil. Thus, after an interesting
(even exciting!) initial m e e t i n g w i t h t h e
Count, the party will set off to try and do
the business. T h e f a m i l i a r pattern c o n -
tinues a s t h e party m a k e s i t s w a y t o a
once prosperous village, now sadly ruined
by t h e Te r r o r. Va r i o u s e n c o u n t e r s a r e
possible en route. Finally, after deploying
their adventuring talents in the vicinity of
the village, the players set off to seek out
the l a i r o f t h e m o n s t r o u s f o e t h a t i s
wreaking havoc in the Count's realm.
The outline of this scenario is very similar
to that of N i A g a i n s t the C u l t o f the
Reptile God. The source of the villainy in
the adventures has similarities as well.
The details of the t w o modules are quite
different however. 12 has an interesting
setting, g o o d N P C s a n d s o m e v e r y
dangerous underground e n c o u n t e r s (so
dangerous, t h e designer w a r n s against
the use of favourite existing characters.)
It is well presented in the best traditions
of current TSR modules. A useful list o f
pre-generated characters i s provided i n
case y o u w a n t t o k e e p t h a t p r i z e d
character of yours in a bandbox for this
game.
Overall, I t h i n k i t i s a b e t t e r a d v e n t u r e
than its N i lookalike. I can recommend it
with one reservation: if you have recently
played N i and are looking for a change of
scene look somewhere else.
IOU Doug Cowie
M1 - Blizzard Pass (Basic m o d u l e f o r 1
player, levels 1 -3),14 - Oasis of the White
Palm ( A d v a n c e d m o d u l e f o r 6 - 8
characters, leve16-8)and12- Tomb of the
Lizard K i n g (Advanced m o d u l e f o r 7 - 9
characters, l e v e l s 5 - 7 ) are p u b l i s h e d in
the USA by TSR Inc. They are available in
this c o u n t r y from TSR U K Ltd, T h e MI71,
Rathmore Road, Cambridge CB1 4AD and
through all regular retail outlets. M 1 a n d
14 a r e p r i c e d 4.50, a n d 12 i s p r i c e d a t
3.95.
39
STARSTONE
Published by Northern Sages, S t a r s t o n e
is a ' m e d i e v a l f a n t a s y r o l e - p l a y i n g
campaign.... c o n t a i n i n g t w o c o m p l e t e
scenarios f o r beginner characters, e a c h
consisting o f Dungeon, W i l d e r n e s s and
Urban adventures, p l u s a n i d e a l i n t r o -
ductory adventure.' The product consists
of an 1 8 . 5 by 11 . 7 5 inch, 4 0 page rule-
book, professionally printed in small type,
w i t h b u t a f e w m i n o r errors and a 1 7 by
23.5 inch folded insert sheet containing a
well-organised, c l e a r d i s p l a y o f village
maps, s o m e detailed d w e l l i n g s such a s
Inns and several u n d e r w o r l d complexes.
The inside covers display a detailed black
and white campaign map of the region at
a h a l f - m i l e t o t h e h e x scale. T h e r u l e s
contain numerous clear illustrations in a
cartoonish style.
Starstone, then, is an FRP module similar
to those published b y, a m o n g s t others,
TSR for the D&D-'1 g a m e s , Chaosium for
Runequest, and Judges Guild. It is not an
independent FRP game but must be used
with a n e x i s t i n g s y s t e m s u c h a s t h o s e
mentioned above. It claims, in fact, to be
'designed for use w i t h a l l FRP systems.'
To substantiate this, several devices have
been used. Spells, artifacts and the like
have been phrased in general terms such
as ' m i n o r c u r e ' , ' h e a l i n g p o t i o n ( 3 - 8
damage)' and 'darkness', a n d i t is u p to
the D M t o t r a n s l a t e t h e s e generalities
into t h e s p e c i f i c n a m e s o f t h e c h o s e n
game system.
Similarly, the effect of magical weapon or
special h i t a n d damage i n c r e m e n t s a r e
described as +5% or +10% 1 o r 2 on a
SEA HAWKS
Sea H a w k s by Orca games claims to be 'a
game o f skill a n d d a r i n g f o r 2 , 3 o r 4
players.' T h e b o a r d i s a m a p o f t h e
Caribbean and you are to become a pirate
captain, searching for a particular chest
of treasure.
The w i n n e r is the first player to discover
which chest contains the precious cargo
by c o l l e c t i n g t r e a s u r e c a r d s u n t i l t h e
missing n u m b e r i s obvious a n d demon-
strable a process of elimination a n d
then the key chest must be in the players
home port.
The emphasis of the game is on a sailing
race, rather than on unprovoked piratical
violence. Yo u c a n a t t e m p t t o w r e s t t h e
key chest from a n opponent by b l o w i n g
him o u t of the water, b u t attacks all t o o
easily backfire. T h e m a i n restriction o n
senseless mayhem i s t h a t t h e odds a r e
stacked clearly in favour of the defender,
while i t can prove quite difficult even t o
close w i t h a dodging opponent. I t takes
daring, and t h e ability to be in t h e r i g h t
place a t t h e r i g h t t i m e t o b e a f i g h t i n g
pirate in this game.
40
d20. N o n - p l a y i n g c h a r a c t e r s a n d
creatures u s e o t h e r conventions, b e i n g
classified according to wealth, influence
rating, a r m o u r r a t i n g a n d s o o n . T h u s
Jerli Jerlisson, a typical character, i s a
gnome aged 21, IL (influence level) 4; AR
(armour rating) plate; CC (character class)
fighter; H D (hit dice/level) 3d10; HP (hit
points) 2 2 ; I N C (inclination) g o o d ; M T
(movement) 75', and is then fleshed o u t
with a character sketch o f his likes and
dislikes.
The above shows that the claim is merely
a t h i n l y veiled disguise, f o r Starstone
seems t o h a v e been designed primarily
for use w i t h t h e D & D ' g a m e . I t readily
adapts t o t h e D & D g a m e universe, a n d
the monster types, spells, character types
and characteristics, artifacts and so on,
will b e m o r e f a m i l i a r t o a D & D g a m e
player t h a n t o o n e i n v o l v e d i n , s a y,
Tunnels a n d Trolls. Furthermore, i t has
the D&D FRP philosophy of having lots of
magical items, off-beat and weird monster
types (as w e l l a s o l d favourites), m a n y
spells, m u c h t r e a s u r e a n d p l e n t y o f
reward, a s o p p o s e d t o t h e s t y l e o f
C h i v a l r y & S o r c e r y, w h i c h s t r e s s e s
excruciating realism, f e w monsters, little
magic and little wealth. Thus Starstone is
only r e a l l y s u i t a b l e f o r D & D a n d / o r
closely related FRP systems w i t h similar
mechanics a n d philosophy, like E m p i r e
of the Petal Throne.
Playwise, t h e r e i s a basic t h e m e t o t h e
module. Starstone county is troubled by a
secret society p r o m o t i n g c h a o s f o r u n -
known e n d s . T h e p l a y e r s a r e h i r e d a s
It m e a n s t h a t t h e a r t o f t h e g a m e i s i n
staying a f l o a t d e s p i t e t h e f a t e c a r d s
contained in the sailing card pack, keep-
ing c l e a r o f m o r e reckless players a n d
being able to stage a good bluff. Basically
the game is won or lost on the t h r o w of a
dice one unfortunate six can see you
wrecked with your treasure, or marooned
by a m u t i n o u s crew.
Sea H a w k s i s a q u i c k l y played, e a s i l y
understood and well packaged game. The
board i s s t u r d y a n d t h e playing p i e c e s
functional and attractive. Recommended
vigilantes to root it out and are directed to
troublespots to set matters right. Yet it is
not t h a t s i m p l e , f o r t h e r e a r e a l o t o f
goings-on disappearances, m u r d e r s ,
rumours a n d no obvious villains. Each
of the many NPCs has a character profile
indicating their likes/dislikes, ambitions,
deeds/misdeeds, powers, secrets,
skeletons i n t h e cupboard (literally, f o r
some of them), giving them a life of their
own. By interacting w i t h the natives the
players are provided with clues and leads
to follow up and think through. There is a
lot of detective work to be done, and there
are p l e n t y o f r i d d l e s t o s o l v e , w h i c h
'thinking' p l a y e r s w i l l e n j o y. T h e r e i s
plenty o f scope f o r s w o r d - p l a y too, t h e
county being infested w i t h monsters.
Each scenario has a chapter in the main
plot f u l l o f i t s o w n i n t r i c a t e , m a n y -
levelled s u b - p l o t s , a n d l e a d s o n t o t h e
next chapter. The main plot is not actually
solved in Starstone; players must wait for
the publication of Ristenby To w n to carry
the story on. A s i t is, though, Starstone
will p r o v i d e e n t e r t a i n m e n t f o r m a n y
evenings, is exceptional value for money
(being p a c k e d w i t h 3 o r 4 t i m e s t h e
material of similarly priced modules) and
is highly recommended.
1110 Robert Hulston
STARS TONE, consisting o f a 40 page
booklet, mapsheet and card cover with
map, costs 2.99. Details of availability
can be obtained from Northern Sages,
Glen Top, Stacksteads, Bacup OL13 ONW.
for 10 year old to adult, it is a thoughtfully
designed f a m i l y g a m e w h i c h i s q u i c k l y
learned and playable in an hour. So hoist
your mainsail, find your parrot and beware
the six black spots!
410 Elaine Smith
Sea Hawks, a boxed game with mapboard,
playing pieces, rules and dice is available
from O r c a Games, 5 D o k i n g Road,
Tunbridge World, Kent TN1 2LN. Price
f 9.95.
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
 StkCkAtft.
1 4 1 . 4 1 a t t l i t i o a t t l 4 4401-Pre."14146144101

Competition and participation games ,004a14.47461.,OK '''k **%tittotei

for ADVANCED DUNGEONS &
DRAGONS, RUNEQUEST, TRAVELLER, TUNNELS &
TROLLS, and MORE
* Computer games - adventure, arcade and computer
moderated role-playing games
* Figure painting competition - single figure, group & dioramas
* Role-playing for beginners
Play-your-own-games area
* Snack bar, trade stands, and more

DRAGONMEET VI
adayofsciencefictionandfantasy
Saturday July 16th * Central Hall, Westminster SW1 * 10.00am till late *Admission E1.00

GALACTIC CONFLICT
Galactic Conflict is a brand new computer moderated game
played by up to 15 people through the post. It is run on a UK
the magazine o f i m a g i n a t i v e f i c t i o n computer with fast turnarounds between turns. GC pits up
to 15 players against each other in a race and war to conquer
catch up w i t h the known galaxy. It runs to a set but secret number of turns,
B A R R I N G TO N B A Y L E Y
and at the end there is only one winner. GC rules cost 50p, a
turn costs E1.50 plus an SSAE.
RICHARD COWPER
TERRA II
M. J O H N H A R R I S O N
Terra II is a brand new computer moderated game of tribal
MICHAEL MOORCOCK
migration and conflict. It is entirely computer run with no
JOHN S L A D E K human moderator to misinterpret your instructions. TIl is
run in the USA and played via ICBM's postboxing service.
TII is a continuing game for any number of people; the rules
+ d i s c o v e r new w r i t e r s , new a r t i s t s +
cost E1.50 and a turn is E1.75 plus an SSAE. Be warned
though TII is not a simple game.
you w o n ' t f i n d I n t e r z o n e
in y o u r l o c a l newsagent - Two brand new games from ICBM, the people who bring
but you w i l l f i n d i t you STAR WEB and UNIVERSE II, the people who started
appearing through y o u r l e t t e r b o x the computer moderated hobby in the UK over ten years
four t i m e s a y e a r i f you send E5 t o ago.

INTERZONE ( I ) COMING SOON... CONQUEST II, a fixed deadline set

124 O s b o r n e R d B r i g h t o n BN1 6 L U piece game of tribal battle.

s i n g l e i s s u e s a n d b a c k numbers - ICBM, PO Box 94 Bath St, Walsall, West Midlands.

E1.60 i n c . p & p .
ICBM, THE FIRST, THE BIGGEST, THE BEST.
CATCH US IF YOU CAN.

Please m e n t i o n I M A G I N E m magazine w h e n replying to a d v e r t i s e m e n t s

41
 letters....fanzines....forthcoming events....letters....faneines....forthcoming events....letters anzines....forthcoming events....letters lanzlnes....forthcoming events....letters....tanzines forthcoming events....
Letters
IMAGINErm magazine invites its readers
to write on any subject that might be of
interest to others. Correspondence should
be addressed t o IMAGINE magazine
(letters), T h e M i l l , R a t h m o r e Road,
Cambridge CB I 4AD. A s is normal in a
professional magazine, letters appearing
in this column may have been edited for
length.
More reaction to the first issue o f this
magazine. First the good news:
Tim F a r l a m , M a l d o n , E s s e x : I m u s t
congratulate you on your n e w magazine.
The Beacon at Enon To r w a s great and I
have used it already. The article on figure
painting was very useful.
D. H a l l e t t , T h a m e s d o w n , W i l t s h i r e : I
have decided t o subscribe t o I M A G I N E
magazine b e c a u s e i t d e a l s w i t h r o l e -
playing f r o m a d i ff e r e n t v i e w p o i n t a n d
fills a ' g a p ' i n t h e m a r k e t o t h e r s h a v e
ignored.
Ian L e e , U p m i n s t e r , E s s e x : I f o u n d
IMAGINE magazine very useful as a D M
in the D&D game and have taken some
ideas f r o m t h e m o d u l e i n t o m y o w n
dungeon.
J i m m y D o d m a n , Leeds: I like your n e w
magazine very much.
R. Hall, N o t t i n g h a m : Congratulations on
number one; i t w a s good to see a Basic
D&D dungeon. I a m looking f o r w a r d t o
seeing h o w the magazine develops.
M. J. H o l m a n , Isle o f M u l l , A r g y l l : Well
done. A great n e w magazine.
Then, there are one or two....
M. H o r t o n and friends: Bring back the PA
n e w s l e t t e r, s e p a r a t e f r o m I M A G I N E
magazine. T h e n t h e PA w i l l h a v e s o m e
meaning.
Fanzines
Once again various magazine editors
from all over the place have graced us
with the latest copies of their publications.
Those of their kin who have not yet made
use o f this unique service should note
that all you have to do is keep us up to date
with current issues of your fanzines - we
even s e n d y o u a f r e e c o p y o f t h e
IMAGINErm magazine in which the review
appears!
Several ' z i n e s appear h e r e f o r t h e f i r s t
time. S w o r d p l a y 2 is very impressive. For
70p you get 3 2 pages and a posh cover,
two s c e n a r i o s ( Tr a v e l l e r a n d AD&DTM
games) a n d several NPCs f o r a l l FRPs.
Write t o N i g e ( i f h e w o n ' t t e l l y o u h i s
name, n o r w i l l l ) , 8 W h i t e f r i a r s W a y,
Sandwich, KENT C-113 9AS.
42
Geof Hagan, S o u t h p o r t , Merseyside: I
was d i s a p p o i n t e d i n y o u r f i r s t i s s u e .
DRAGONTM m a g a z i n e h a s b e c o m e s o
polished, I expected better from you. I am
certainly not looking forward to a rehash
of G.G.'s Barbarian class (last issue).
Module a n d a r t w o r k w e r e n o t u p t o
White D w a r t ' s standard, a l t h o u g h t h e
simplicity o f presentation f o r t h e n e w -
comer t o t h e D & D g a m e s h o u l d b e
applauded.
J. P. M c K e o w n , Lipminster, Essex: You
may n o t i c e t h a t t h i s i s s u e ( o f M i s e r ' s
Horde - sent with the letter) contains a
rather harsh review of IMAGINETm maga-
zine. This is as much a dirge for PAN as a
review, in spirit.
I have always had the same feeling of
loss w h e n adventurous magazines with a
fairly small readership which give readers
the feeling that they belong to a club, go
public. T h e b u l k o f t h e c r i t i c i s m i n m y
review is aimed at the fact of this change.
Bearing i t s w i d e r a u d i e n c e i n m i n d ,
IMAGINE magazine is pitched quite well,
and the mass of new readers justifies the
virtual reprinting of PAN pieces.
It is not a development I personally like,
though it is probably good for the hobby as
a whole, even if it leaves old readers out
in the cold.
Laurence W i l l i a m s , W o r t h i n g , S u s s e x :
One o f the original reasons I joined t h e
Players Association w a s because of the
newsletter, which I found interesting and
informative. I h a d hoped t h e t IMAGINE
magazine w o u l d c a r r y o n t h e tradition,
but w h e n I received m y copy of the first
issue I w a s disappointed.
The 'breathtaking artwork' on the cover
is one of the most badly painted pictures I
have s e e n i n y e a r s . T h e f i c t i o n w a s
reasonable, b u t cynical i n its viewpoint.
The b o o k r e v i e w s e e m e d t o c o n s i s t o f
over-priced a n d o v e r - r a t e d books. T h e
Beacon a t Enon To r is one o f the w o r s t
modules I have ever seen for any system.
Te m p e s t u o u s O r i f i c e 2 gives part 2 of a
Runequest scenario, articles on playing
RPGs Bandits, Bushido, Robots etc
and Film Reviews. Nice art. 2 8 pages for
50p f r o m Patrick Fame, 1 5 Yo r k Close,
Morden, SURREY.
Not only does RYODA print other fanzines,
but R i p G o o c h f i n d s t i m e f o r R i p p i n g
Yarns 2 4 . 2 6 p a g e s / 2 5 p f r o m 4 5 S t
Keverne S q u a r e , K e n t o n B a r , N E W -
CASTLE UPON TYNE N E 5 3YF. I t r u n s
Soccer, Diplomacy and Railway Rivals.
Miser's H o a r d 2 has D & D - g a m e m o n -
sters, part 1 o f an adventure, magic items
and B u s h i d o ideas. 2 4 p a g e s f o r 5 0 p ,
from J o h n M c K e o w n , 2 2 H a l l L a n e ,
Upminster, ESSEX RM -14 1AF.
Illusionary Script was fun.
I have decided to rejoin the PA so I can
still b u y t h e dungeons you i m p o r t f r o m
the R P G A ( t h e ' R ' modules). I w i l l b u y
IMAGINE m a g a z i n e t o r e c e i v e t h e P A
benefits, so make sure you improve this
magazine. A f t e r all, you do pride yourself
on serving us garners best of all.
And betwixt the two....
Allan J . P a l m e r, B a s i n g s t o k e : A g o o d
start, w i t h room for improvement. I d o n ' t
think there's a need for fiction in this sort
of magazine; the pages devoted to John E.
Black's story could have been better used
on gaming features. H o w about a look at
adventure g a m e s a v a i l a b l e o n m i c r o -
computers? Perhaps an adventurers' hint
column; helpful clues for adventurers lost
in the Scott Adams computer adventures
or those braving Infocom's ZORK series?
Illuminations will be well received if it
keeps u s u p - t o - d a t e o n n e w p r o d u c t s
available from TSR.
The mini-module, Beacon at Enon Tor,
was very good. I especially liked the fact
that it could be removed from the centre
of the magazine and used as a separate
entity.
Glad to see PAN still lives, although I'd
like to seethe full page of Rubic disappear.
Games r e v i e w s a r e a m u s t . P e r h a p s
this c o u l d b e expanded t o i n c l u d e
summaries of the more popular games.
Anyway, I'm convinced. I look forward
to i m p r o v e m e n t t o a s t a t u s r i v a l l i n g
White D w a r f .
Ian M a r s h , G u i l d f o r d : One advantage of
IMAGINE magazine i s i t s u s e o f f a n c y
titles. This is something I approve of. O f
the beginners' pages I accept you n e e d
things l i k e t h e B e g i n n e r s ' G u i d e , b u t I
wish game accounts would be more true-
to-life, rather than the rather forced style
as typified by this article.
Stirge Corner is commonsense.
It's a pity the magazine can't get away
MISER'S
HOARD
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
letters fanzines Jorthcoming events....letters fanzines ...forthcoming events.. letters....fanzines....forthcoming events .letters fanzmes....forthcommg events... letters....lanames forthcommg events....
with D o u g C o w i e ' s biting style, as pub-
lished in Dragonlords.
A Book Review page is always welcome,
& this is much more readable than W h i t e
Dwarf's.
Of PAN, Dispel Confusion w a s one o f
the most useful bits in PAN since it helped
clear u p s o m a n y issues, A n d R u b i c :
More, more, more. This is what I w a n t !
Tell Pete I like the style of Tavern Talk. A
good word to describe it is 'twee'. Having
said that I've got to admit that the column
can do nothing but good for fanzines.
I hope enough clubs continue to inform
you o f t h e i r operations t o keep t h e club
feature up to date,
On t h e whole, I a m greatly impressed
by the debut of IMAGINEIm magazine, i t
has a 'fan' style and although its internal
format could do with some improvement,
on t h e w h o l e e v e r y t h i n g i s n i c e l y
presented.
Brian A s b u r y, H a n d s a c r e , S t a f f s : I ' v e
just r e a d 1 a n d I a m r e a s o n a b l y
impressed, with your style of presentation
at any rate. While some of the content left
me c o l d ( 4 pages o n f i g u r e p a i n t i n g
yawn!), I h a v e t o s a y t h a t i t i s v e r y
readable. You have regular features and
columns, b u t at least you're n o t bogged
down with umpteen regular 'department'
features. A m a g a z i n e w h i c h h a s s u c h
things tends to be m u c h the same every
issue. I h o p e y o u w i l l c o n t i n u e a m o r e
flexible policy, giving space to all o f the
major role-playing games.
I enjoyed John Black's story. Illusionary
Script I can do without. Leave puzzles for
puzzle magazines, please.
The dungeon was fair, but I'm surprised
that no-one in the professional world has
taken u p t h e U n d e r w o r l d Oracle idea o f
including a playtest write-up. I do like the
idea of the scenario being situated in the
middle pages so that it can be pulled out
without disturbing the rest,
News, reviews, columns etc p r o b a b l y
the best part of the magazine. Fan items
And just off the beaten path, A n s i b l e 31,
Dave Langford's SE fan newsletter keeps
the readership up to date on forthcoming
Cons. E 2 f o r 8 i s s u e s f r o m 9 4 London
Road, Reading, BERKS RG1 5 A U . D r o p
him a line and tell him w h a t you thought
of his story in issue 3....
20 Ye a r s O n 5 contains, a s usual, t h e
complete(?) guide to fanzines and postal
hobby services. Invaluable for 2 5 p f r o m
20 W i n i f r e d R o a d , C o u l s d o n , SURREY
CR3 3JA. Simon retires in September, so
20Y0 w i l l be taken on by M a t t Quarter-
main. Good luck to him....
Psychopath 6 carries t h e results o f the
Favourite A c t o r / A c t r e s s / Yo g h u r t p o l l .
Also letters (mine too!), r e v i e w s and El
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
such a s ' Ta v e r n Ta l k ' a n d t h e f a n z i n e
reviews m a k e t h e magazine t h a t m u c h
more friendly.
The cartoons a r e definitely t h e w o r s t
part of the magazine! I love cartoons, but
these are b-a-d. Nic Novice', ghastly as it
is, i s vaguely necessary. 'Rubic' is badly
drawn and unfunny. 'Alabron' is a mess,
It c o m e s across a s a n i l l u s t r a t e d D & D
adventure write-up, something suited to
a kiddie-type fanzine. I have the suspicion
that despite the half-hearted attempts at
humour, Ian is trying to be serious!
IMAGINE magazine h a s a n u m b e r o f
rough edges, b u t a l o t o f potential. I t ' s
already better than W h i t e D w a r f .
Nabisco, Diplomacy, En Garde news. 35p
for 2 0 pages f r o m M i k e Dean, 3 2 N e w -
lands Ave, Scarborough, W. Yorks Y 0 1 2
6PS.
Like the previous 2 'zines, A c o l y t e 46 has
a green cover. It must be spring. Games-
Fair reports, reviews, letters and bits on
Baja, E n G a r d e a n d Diplomacy f o r 4 0 p
from P e t e Ta m l y n , 6 B r o u g h t o n Close,
Bierton, Aylesbury, BUCKS HP22 5DJ. It
comes i n t w o h a l v e s b e c a u s e P e t e ' s
stapler won't go through 3 8 pages.
British Fantasy N e w s l e t t e r 1 0 / 4 (40p)
was accompanied by D a r k H o r i z o n s 2 6
(65p), all part of the membership deal that
costs E6 pa. BFN brings book/film reviews
and o t h e r S F / F a n t a s y n e w s ; D H h a s 8
Events
First u p t h i s m o n t h c o m e s n e w s t h a t
D r a g o n m e e t w i l l occur on Saturday, 1 6
July a t t h e C e n t r a l H a l l , W e s t m i n s t e r,
London.
Later in the month M a n o r c o n 8 3 is to be
held a t The M a n o r House, Bristol Road
South, Northfield, BIRMINGHAM, 29-31
July. There will be Diplomacy and Dail)"
tournaments, n o t t o m e n t i o n g a m e s o f
Darts, Railway Rivals, 1 8 2 9 ...and Beer-
mat Flipping. The booking fee is E3, and
B&B w i l l b e available a t E 8 p e r n i g h t .
Enquiries to chairman Richard Gooch, 45
St K e v e r n e Square, K e n t o n B a r, N e w -
castle u p o n Ty n e , N E 5 3 Y F (tel. 0 6 3 2
8 6 1 9 7 0 evenings). B o o k i n g s s h o u l d b e
made p r o m p t l y ! via Mike Benyon, 30
Smirrels Road, Hall Green, Birmingham,
B28 9EX.
Next w e h a v e n e w s o f U n i c o n , a c o n -
vention t o b e h e l d t h e w e e k e n d o f 2 - 4
September, a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Essex.
Again accommodation w i l l b e available
(E10/night), a l s o s p e c i a l c h e a p t r a i n
fares for convention members. Compet-
itions will include 'all the old favourites',
a l t h o u g h the D&D game may have to
be dropped unless someone volunteers to
run it..,! Contact the Unicon organisers at
17 Laing Road, Colchester, Essex.
Games Day will be later than normal this
year, in order to have a better chance of
catching the queues in a rainstorm. It will
be h e l d i n t h e c o m p l e t e l y r e f u r b i s h e d
Royal Horticultural Hall, Victoria, London.
The date to make is 5 t h / 6 t h November.
Finally, i n N o v e m b e r ( 11 - 1 3 ) , t h e r e i s
M i d c o n 8 3 , hosting the official National
Diplomacy Tournament, and once again,
it is to be held in Birmingham, at the Royal
Angus hotel, and accommodation will be
available. R e g i s t r a t i o n c o s t s E 6 . F u l l
details are available, for 30p and an SAE
from C h r i s Tr i n g h a m , 2 0 4 B e u l a h H i l l ,
LONDON SE19 3UX,
pieces of fiction and some verse! Contact
Stephen Jones, 7 3 D a n e s Court, N o r t h
End Road, Wembley, MIDDX. H A 9 OAF.
Dave Thorby says a r e v i e w o f IMAGINE
magazine w i l l a p p e a r n e x t i s s u e . S o
Walamalaysia G a z e t t e 2 9 o n l y carries
Diplomacy and a page o f news. 7 p for 6
pages f r o m 2 0 0 Lavender H i l l , Enfield,
MIDDX. EN2 8NJ. This review had better
be worth the waiting...
Fantasy A d v e r t i s e r 7 6 brings the usual
digest o f c o m i c s n e w s , r e v i e w s a n d
tasters i n a professional p a c k a g e t h a t
costs j u s t 40p. A n d n o w i t h a s a n RPG
column as well! Wr i t e to M a r t i n Lock, 3
M a r l o w Court, B r i t a n n i a S q u a r e , W o r -
cester WR1 3 D P.
43
 letters c l u b news z i n e poll., next issue's highlights....leners....club news z i n e poll....next issue's highlights n e w s . . . . z i n e poll., next issue's highlights....letters....club news....zine poll....
More Letters
Chris G o w e r, Nottingham: Kanton D u
Standit, Rogue Extraordinaire, was sneak-
ing h i s w a y t h r o u g h t h e c a v e r n s a t
Blizzard Pass. He was just thinking h o w
nicely things w e r e turning out w h e n the
impossible h a p p e n e d , O n e m i n u t e h e
was hiding in the shadows after noticing
a suspicious m o v e m e n t near t h e exit to
the place. The next thing he knew he was
shaking o f f a m o m e n t a r y paralysis, a n d
was a b o u t t o strike a g a i n (again?) a t a
man he had no recollection of ever having
seen before. Could this be some kind o f
time s l i p w h i c h h a d c a s t h i m t o a n
indeterminate point in his near future?
After proceeding further, he continued
to experience various inconsistencies, but
grimly p r e s s e d o n u n t i l h i s a d v e n t u r e
reached i t s w e l l - r e w a r d e d c o n c l u s i o n .
However, h e w a s f a r f r o m h a p p y. H e
returned to the caverns of Blizzard Pass,
determined to find out if the things he had
experienced really happened. H e proved
that i t h a d a l l b e e n a g h a s t l y mistake.
Once he had managed t o w o r k out h o w
his life m i g h t h a v e continued, i t t u r n e d
out to have been far less rewarding. N o w
what is he? Is he really as experienced as
he claime d? C a n h e e v e r f e e l h i m s e l f
complete a s h e a t t e m p t s t o p r o g r e s s
further in his chosen profession?
The explanation o f Kanton's problems
is a printing error in entry 247 of Dungeon
module M1 T h e instructions underneath
the b o x e s h a v e s o m e h o w b e e n t r a n -
scribed from entry 265.
In entry 247, the instructions below the
boxes s h o u l d r e a d a s f o l l o w s : I f a n y
number is equal to or less than your hide
in shadows percentage, go to entry 262, if
all numbers are greater, go to entry 263.
J. Alan Gilmore, Limavady, Co. Derry: I
may perhaps be forgiven for saying, that
w h a t I have heard of the activities of your
parent c o m p a n y i n A m e r i c a , i n ' t a k i n g
over' SPI a n d reneging o n a l l magazine
'Zine Poll '83
M a d Policy is r u n n i n g its traditional Zine
Poll again this year. R i c h a r d Walkerdine
is inviting regular readers of postal games
fanzines to vote for their favourites. T h e
rules are as follows:
1. E l i g i b i l i t y : A n y European zine which
is an amateur publication concerned
with postal games playing and which
has p u b l i s h e d a t l e a s t t w o i s s u e s
since January 1st 1983.
2. V o t e r s : To vote for a zine a voter must
read i t regularly. A voter m u s t vote
for a t l e a s t t w o zineso H u s b a n d s ,
wives, girl- a n d boyfriends m a y n o t
vote for their partner's zine. Editors,
co-editors, sub-zine editors etc may
not vote for their own sine,
3. V o t i n g M e t h o d : Vo t e s s h o u l d b e
given to each sine in the range 1 (low)
to 1 0 (high) to one decimal place.
44
subscriptions t o S & T, M o v e s a n d A r e s
there, does not exactly inspire confidence!
The 'definitive' story of the SPI takeover,
at least as S P I s a w it, a p p e a r e d i n t h e
latest i s s u e o f S & T (91), w h i c h u n -
fortunately is not available in this country.
If sufficient people w e r e interested, w e
might p r i n t extracts f r o m t h e r e l e v a n t
article in the future. For now, let's lay one
ghost to rest. TSR Inc did not 'renege' on
any responsibilities. SPI were d o w n a n d
out, a n d our parent company stepped in to
pick up the pieces. W h a t matters n o w is
the future of that company. It will continue
to b r i n g o u t n e w p r o d u c t s t w o n e w
games a r e s c h e d u l e d f o r 1 9 8 3 a n d
S&TTm a n d ARESTM m a g a z i n e s w i l l
continue publication. W e h o p e t h a t
garners w h o e n j o y e d these products i n
the past, w i l l c o n t i n u e t o d o s o i n t h e
future.
A f e w words in 1 u p s e t an even more
fanatical interest group.
F. Fritz, Hampton Hill, Middlesex: Scan-
ning y o u r articles, I chanced u p o n ' C a r
Wars' (Illuminations, page 15). W h e t h e r
this a r t i c l e w a s m e a n t t o b e t a k e n
seriously or as satire I do not know, but I
abhorred the paralleling o f 'real psycho-
paths' and 'bike gangs'.
I a m a biker and have come to expect
this k i n d o f rubbish f r o m n a i v e people.
Please r e c t i f y t h i s injustice. I r i d e w i t h
bikers a n d o n l y a f e w a r e psychopaths
(they are the ones w h o eat my models). I
have introduced many 'sane' bikers to the
D&De g a m e , s o l e t s k e e p a d v e n t u r i n g
one b i g h a p p y f a m i l y, j u s t i n case y o u
meet one at GamesFair.
Doug Cowie h a s n ' t offered any guilt for
his views, a n d nor shall we. IMAGINEIm
magazine's A r t Supervisor is a biker and
we k n o w he's a psychopath...
4. A s s e s s m e n t : Results will be calcul-
ated b y a p r e f e r e n c e m a t r i x . T h e
average votes m e t h o d w i l l a l s o b e
shown, for reference only.
5. I n c l u s i o n : A sine must receive votes
from at least 8% of the voters in order
to be included in the results.
6. D e a d l i n e : Thursday, July 28th, '83.
7. R e s u l t s : W i l l b e published i n M a d
Policy 8 7 i n e a r l y A u g u s t . Vo t e r s
w h o d o n ' t receive M P c a n h a v e a
copy of the results if they send some
stamps a n d a l a r g e self-addressed
envelope to Richard.
The address for all this is Zine Poll, 1 4 4
Stoughton R o a d , Guildford, S U R R E Y
GU2 6 P G , S o f o r g e t a b o u t a l l t h a t
election rubbish, t h e r e a r e n o w m u c h
greater issues to be decided!
Club News
Maidstone garners should definitely t r y
to get more friendly w i t h t h e landlord of
the R o s e & C r o w n , H i g h S t r e e t , W e s t
Mailing. H e , h i s w i f e , t h r e e c a t s a n d
someone called Ken Hay are trying to run
a face-to-face Diplomacy campaign, plus
D&D games i n t h e pub! I t sells real a l e
too.
In f a c t K e n t i s o b v i o u s l y a h o t b e d o f
gaming activity. The C o m m u n i t y Centre,
Idonia S t r e e t , D e p t f o r d , i s w h e r e t h e
Deptford Adult Games Group meet on the
first and third Sunday of every m o n t h at
3pm. Interested i n a g a m e o f Creature
Castle, o r Wooden Ships and Iron M e n ?
Contact the chairman, Kendall Johns.
Apparently our information on the Scar-
b o r o u g h Wa r g a m e s Society w a s o u t o f
date in 2 . If Saturdays at the Technical
College interests y o u , J o h n H i n c h c l i ff e
has moved to 5 Futurist Buildings, Fore-
shore Road, Scarborough.
The U n i v e r s i t y College o f N o r t h W a l e s
Wa r g a m e s a n d R o l e - p l a y i n g G a m e s
meets every Friday a n d S u n d a y d u r i n g
term times in members rooms in Bangor.
'We w i l l p l a y a n y t h i n g . ' C o n t a c t t h e
Secretary, Dave Baynham, The Students'
Unions, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd.
There's also a club in Preston. The Dark
Crypt Gaming Club plays AD&DTM, D&D,
Runequest, Tr a v e l l e r a n d C a r W a r s
games. It meets at members' houses, 2 -
7pm o n S a t u r d a y s ; i n t e r e s t e d p a r t i e s
should c o n t a c t P e t e r T h o m p s o n , 6 0
Beechwood Avenue, Fulwood, Preston.
Last up for this issue, t h e S o u t h B u c k s
FRP Group, meets 7 - 11 p m o n alternate
Tuesdays, and 11 am onwards one Sunday
every month. Contact Hartley Patterson,
10 Waterside, W o o b u r n G r e e n , Bucks.
for details.
Next issue:
A special Celtic edition o f
IMAGINETm magazine!
* T h e Ta k i n g o f Siandabhair,
by Graeme Davis, an AD&DTM
adventure with a Celtic feel.
* D r u i d s w h o w e r e they?
how close was the real thing
to the portrayal in the AD&D
game? how can you get more
out of the class?
* Lore, Lay & Legend, stories
from the Celtic mythos.
and a host of our usual goodies
PAN, t h e Imagination M a c h i n e ,
Tavern Talk, the Sword of Alabron,
Books, News and Reviews.
IMAGINE magazine, July 1983
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Please m e n t i o n IMAGINETY magazine w h e n replying to a d v e r t i s e m e n t s 45

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DIDNT' END MOVES WINTERCAPE.
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46 IMAGINE magazme, J u l y 1 9 8 3
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A SPINE CHILLING ROAR

SHAKES THE DUNGEON !I

cNOWDEMON I S HOW THE KRELL DO I KNOW?

AN ICE-DRAGON, DO YOU EXPECT ME TO HAVE
HE THRIVES ON A QUILL AND PARCHMENT
COLD,AND I,FOR READY EVERY TIME A
ONE,00 NOT MAGIC t o u t H GOES OFF?!?
BELIEVE WERE
ANYWHERE NEAR
HIS LAIR.

BUT DIDN'T
THAT REFER TO
THE OTHER
DRAGON?

TALKING OF WHICH MY DEAR ,?

WHO'S MAPPING? NIGH TSWIFT
AMA
FIGHTER

(er) I'D REALLY

LOVE TO MAR LOOK ,CAN WE
BUT(er JUST RESTORE
BACK KEEPS SOME AUCHTERI
PLAYING UP STOP PLAYING WITH
AND... (er). THAT FIRESTONE
AUCHTER2 AND PAY ATTENTION
IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
47
 READ!SCARLET A SCOURGE
IT SAYS.,.REDI UPONTHE
METHINKS A EARTH EVIL
RED DRAGON INCARNATE!
LIES WITHIN. BASEBEYOND
ABEAST OF BELIEF!
HELLSPAWNED UTTERLY..,
DEVIL DOM...

THEYDOGE
CARRIEDAWAY
EASILY THESE
PALA DINS.,

LOOK! ITS TOO OBVIOUS.I'VE

EXPERIENCED TRICKS OF
THIS NATURE BEFORE.

,..HALFLINGS
CARRYING
LOUDHAILERS.
THEY HAVE
WANDERED
INTO A VAST
CAVERN ,WITH ..ALL DESIGNED
STAIRS LEADING TOSCARE THE GULLIBLE(
TO A DOOR

AUCHTER; STOP PLAYING

WITH THAT BEETLEGLAND
YOU'RE ACTING LIKE A
TWO YEAR OLD(

TRUST ME,
WEWIZARDS
KNOWTHESE
THINGS

IMAGINE magazine, J u l y 1 9 8 3
48
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