tue science Fiction A caminc macazine re eC)eee eee Le me ca Ta PC Re cas Pee een eat ae tae rt eee ic saes Only a depleted and much understrength Army of the Potomac stood eee Roa er eer ie Rm ea an aw Cl {an operational/strategic Gettysburg campaign game. Available at Me KILLER ‘ST-3G Name Address city State Zipcode _ ‘New York State rsidonts add applicable sales tax WEST END’S LATEST RELEASES! eee ee ea ey aed ee are aie re er en kee ie aR ee Geese NT re te ar Tears Cee ee a et NAc Se ae er meee ag Cee O RIVA ae Le cee Cor ae eee ete ren at noe meer on ee oo you-are war”, combines centuries old hatreds with up-to-the-minute technology. An operational ieve! game with all ofthe fee! of modern re ia a Sant OPERATION J cea ~ D BUS aseCONTENTS — — Winer 183 ARES Log . THE HIGH CRUSADE™ GAME LETTERS .. David Cook 2 Quest Poul Anderson : 17 ‘THE RETURN OF THE STAINLESS STEEL COMPUTER “Ken Ramstead CREATING ALIEN RACES IN THE TRAVELLER? GAME Roger E. Moore ... aa SWORDS AND STARS Roger E. Moore : as MINIATURES ... an BOOKS ..... cso ain ei rin ei GAMES .... 5d MOVIES .... . MEDIA RINGSHIPPER, FEEDBACK 61 62,‘en antes poraragerers are ace ‘nvecrton nite nha ang bl ‘tech bse copy of tho monenhe. ‘Ghange tars toh ctr of > ‘pti mat bm rected oa 8 pe (rare ow oc change ener nine ‘ied Seven “Aimar pbiaed n AES Maguine xcman tw ene ope he pub rergomorstthconty a mad rere cere gaira map. its on he ‘Seine ts pblcatone ay vanes, ‘cnn ay bo preauce rom ah ‘ti arn pu itn pro persue ‘eng tote pa * 1983 TSR he “Trae posagee pad et Cake ‘engi ar naan mating oes 'POSTUASTER Pasa van al aoe nage Oagn Puig, PO. Bos 0, —====106 ‘Welcome to # new isue of ARES" Magazine, and a very special one is. The ‘themes for this ise are galactic empines and, curiously enough barbarians in SE (Gomething along the lines of King Arthur in Space, or The Savage Laser of Conan) “The core of this galactic sue is threefold: Imprinis, we present “Quest a story bby Poul Anderson that spins a tale of knights and chivalry and interstellar warfare. “Quest” continues the action fram his earlier novel, The High Crusade, in which ‘medioval English baron conquers a star empire ~ 2 difficult enterprise, certainly And well worth the reading Secundus, «treatise on Galactic Empires, and how to put one together in your spare time, 4 superb extrapolation into the distant future, this arti is invaluable ‘8 reference material for science-fiction game referees who are contructing such temps for thelr campaigns. 1 makes fascinating reading for everyone “ertus, x THE HIGH CRUSADE™ Game, based on Poul Andersons orignal novel, forthe delight ofall boardgaming fanatics Players take the sides of either the bios soming power of the English Crusaders, or the tarspanning might ofthe Wersgorix Empire. Politics battle fleets, and treachery fire the action and guarantee many cenoyabil sesions atthe gaming table The outing regions ofthis sue sparkle with other stars. Dr Robert Freitas Jn author of "Galactic Empires” speculates upon tax-eolletion and The End of the ‘orld. Ken Ramstead adds a new twist to previous ARES game ~ THE RETURN OF THE STAINLESS STEEL RAT™ game from isue #10; Harty Harrison's interstellar ‘rogue has nasty surprise waiting for him right when things look rosie Tvo var fant articles related to the TRAVELLER® game address the concepts of empires and barbarians separately: the Sydymic Empire of Judges Guilds Gateway Quadrant i eseribed, and an expanded character goneration system for Barbarian characters is fnclded as well In our regular departments, Christopher John moans and groans and tears out his hale over two new sciencefantasy lms, while Sove List takes a good look at FASAS ‘ew STAR TREK™ The Role Plaving Game system: the rakish Kim Eastland reviews ‘some interesting science-fiction miniatures on the market; our man in Los Angeles [David Schow, discusses novelizations and the science-fiction movie trade: and Greg CCostikyan thumbs through a few of the newest books on the bookstore shelves, Final, the story of “Ringshipper,”Hoger Raupp selencefieuon adventure, con tlnues with a remarkable dlacovery "Two last things before you go. We seem to be getting a good response on the feed back cards from issue #15. Thanks! and Keep those cards coming. A new liters: the-ditors column debuts with this sue, and if youve ever wanted to aay more than the feedback card allowed, now you have the chance tobe heard 'We would also like to extend our thanks to Yerkes Observatory in Williams Bay just a hop & skip from Lake Geneva forthe two beautiful galaxy photographs that appear in the "Galactic Empires" article. Visiting the observatory was aniew treat for your editors. Looking over the photographic plates of distant galaies was a Strangely moving experience; 0 try and imagine something tht vast, and that far "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy” Wamlet, Act Seene 5) “The EditorsHave you alwayS wanted fo experience the thrills of your favorite science fiction books and movies?? HERE'S HOW!!! ‘Se ERY msl ndash wat STARQUEST is EC's new game of interstellar adventure, This is the first game whi toner orem tence seross boarding pt As you an you for man crew are sulle ove tothe Grose, your sarShoth, they unearth tame Redden sontrbund drugs allows players to ex perience character level role-playing adventure in a SciFi correspondence game. And just like our other games, you receive response to your moves in a narrative siyle What does STARQUEST have to offer? INDIVIDUALITY — you select your own ship and crew of ilies witha pool ol Resource Points, You can use thane Fesources to buy @ 3p and a small ctew ot varied skills, oF VARIETY — Choose trom MANY types of starship and op ADVENTURE — Make your own choices of the types of bby one of the many surprises our gamemastors cook up for, you" Whether you wish fo 08 a mercenary. government gent explorer. pirate, journals, or ane of the many other professions avaliable, wo nave move than enough adven {es to challenge you for years to come Bnd when you fie lone prolessien, your characters can move to andther 28 tasily ae gonding in your next move! MYSTERY — We've cieateg an ene galaxy of housanas ‘waiting for VOU to ind and expiore them! no computer read-out sheets to have to decipher! FLEXIBILITY — STARQUEST ations you to obtain more characters ang ships at the game progresses, and tom Drove the ones you already havea or the SAME low COLOR GRAPHICS — Sovera Ships bans star maps: damage Low cost ~ stARQUESY cots ony $5000 ener Ths SraRGUET A bite EXTRAS ~ Like our games, STARQUEST wi nave is IH you love adventure, oF if you lave Science Fiction, then STARQUEST is the game for you! Enter now and in only a few days you'l | woula ike Send to: Name Agdiess — city 32 living the life of your de ims among the STARS!!! Please send my STARQUEST Player's Kit RIGHT AWAY. individual set-ups in STARQUEST. Enclosed Is $6 for the first set-up and $4 for each additional set-up.TW LETTERS Reading through my back issues of ARES™ Magazine, lcame across a sa ‘ment in the Questing column of Issue 12 which informed me of DRAGON. {QUEST™ game addenda. Being the ‘owner ofa firstediion set, T would “appreciate finding this material ik Croy At the moment, we dant have any satchup” sheets for firstedition DBA- GONQUEST game players. The only thing todo, as alway, iso find some- ‘one with a secondediion set and make the appropriate changes in your rules books, or just buy the new edition In ARES Magazine #15, Kim Paffenroth reviews Task Force’ MOON BASE CCLAVIUS™ game. Ihave never played this game or even read its rules 50 the following comments have nothing to do ‘withthe game ise, merely the review. “The review contains this paragraph “One ofthe most universally accepted ‘ules in the gaming industry i the way in which a piece’ Zone of Controls treated. In every game Ihave ever played which included Zones of Contra ' marker’ pleces Zone of Cantrol isthe Six hexes surrounding the marker piece ‘enemy markers’ peces moving into one ‘of these sx hexes mat stop all move tment and must stack the marker piece. Th MOON BASE CLAVIUS game, marker’. ;pleces can go through enemy Zones of Control by paying an extra movement ‘point and need not attack the opposing, ‘marker piece. This sounds like another “revolutionary” idea, but al it really dows is make strategies almost impos Sible as enemy units ean run irles ‘around your frees: “This paragraph is remarkable, to say the least. As far a8 Iean recall, the concepts ‘of fiie ZOCs ae! voluntary attacks ‘were first used in Simulations Publica tions tne original KURSK game some: what over 10 years ago and have also appeared in iteally hundreds of games since. In fact, THE OMEGA WAR™ game fn ARES Magazine #14 maker use of these concepts ‘The review contains many other gaffes wiih Twill not go into since the quoted paragraph alone is enough to support ‘some recommendations. Task Foree deserves some kind of public apology oF retraction, and the edifors should pay ‘more attention tothe review submis lon which eross thei desks. John Harshman Bloomington, 1 “After speaking with several other poople here at'TSR, Inc. appears that John i Correct in saying that fluid ZOCs and voluntary attacks made by boardgaming ‘pisces have been around a long time "The review wasn serious error here, and on behalf of ARES Magazine, we foffer our apologies to Task Force Games {or running those remarks. We also offer the thought that the curent ei {ors of ARES Magazine were notin ‘charge of producing and editing ARES ‘Magazine #15. Nonetheless, we will do four beso treat game reviews with care land will chock out what is sad about the ‘games before running said reviews. We fare forming a games brary here in our ‘trices to help lear yp problems such as the above. {as very much surprised and alte torn over your ultimate decision con: cerning DRAGONQUEST material being transfered from ARES Magazine to DRAGON? Magazine. resubseribed to ARES Magazine largely because of DRA- ‘GONQUEST game material that it ran and I admit to having litle resentment that DRAGONQUEST game articles may to longer appear in these pages. At the Same time, lke the posabilty that in DRAGON Magazine we might be able to see a DRAGONQUEST game article ‘every month, rather than just four to six times a year. Please let me know when the first DRA. ‘GONQUEST game articles will appear in DRAGON Magazine so that can start putting together the money for 2 DRAGON Magazine subscription in plenty of time Craig H.Barrett as Vegas, NV DRAGON Magazine, as per the policy statement that appears on py 43 of Issue 215, will cover fantasy and other ‘non SF gaming materia from now on. This includes all DQ game material, a ‘considerable amount of which was turned over to kim Mohan, the anyone wants to submit articles an the DRAGONQUEST game system, please ‘send such articles to DRAGON Maga Zine: TSR, Ine. does support the DRA- GONQUEST game system, and your submissions will goa long way to help. DRAGON Magazine has already started printing DQ game articles recently, with “The Thrill of the Hunt” in DRAGON Magazine issue #78 1 am interested in writing for ARES ‘Magazine. Please send me a copy of your editorial poliey and information on submitting material to you. (ame withheld) At the moment, our only requirements fare that whatever material i submited tous be typed, double-spaced, an ane side ofthe paper only saraddressed ‘stamped envelope must accompany ‘every submission whenever posible to facta a reply: Manuscripts should also havea 1° margin all around the ‘pages, and be legible. We are ofcourse Interested in scence-iction and science: Jantasy game material, including superhero games, post holocaust games, and futuristic starshipsand-raygun ‘games. Both board and roleplaying (games will be covered in this magazine. ‘Beyond that, well look at anything you send us; this is your magazine. MOVING? tease mal his completed form to Dragon Publishing, POB 110, Lake Geneva, \WI881476 108 wooks prior o your move to insure uninterupted delivery4 fi ~~ , wo rei Oa ee Ulli Vine io Pea oa a‘Empires have gotten an awful reputa- tion, though. In the Sar Trek television series, the benevolent Federation is always fending off the warlike Romulan ‘and malevolent Klingon empires. Ming ‘the Merellesson the television show ‘Flash Gordon sates Earth for extermina: ‘Hon because our questioning minds [presenta posible future challenge to his star kingdom. The Empire inthe movie, Star Wars, personified by Darth Vader, i unquestionably evil In some cases, interselar empires ‘might be ideal. They noed be neither totalitarian nor autocrati. But are they really posible ata? Or are they just ‘Smplominded extrapolations from ‘earthly history, with itl relevance for ‘the future? Solar Civilizations All societies need energy. To run a really ‘ig spacofaring society, you need lots of fenorgy. The members of a galactic ‘empire will probably all be solar ivi ‘ons. We might reach this stage our: selves in the not too distant futur. Heres how. Human activity in anigulty was marked by slow growth in worldwide energy usige, no more than 0.3% per _year with a doubling time of 200 years, ts believed that the Roman Empire at the height ofits expansive construction and miltary activities used about 107 (1 followed by 8 zeroes, or one billion) ‘watts of power. In the last 200 years, ‘mankind has sustained a 3% annual ‘energy growth rate with a doubling time (of dovads rather than centuries. In just ‘two millenia of cultural evolution, human civilization has increased its otal ‘power output ter-thousand fold to about 40" watts. ‘But planetbound societies cannot ‘expand indefinitely. ll forms of energy ‘whether electrical mechanical, nlesr ‘or solar, ultimately return tothe bio- ‘sphere in a single degraded form: heat ‘Asmore and more ofthis thermal pollu: ‘don is berated atthe surface of a devel ‘oping world, global mean temperature ‘ses andthe precarious energy balance ‘upon which al life depends deteriorates. ‘Eventually every bu species ‘bumps into the heat limit ~ the total ‘energy that may be released by a tech nological society without causing iere- versible ecological destruction Scientists estimate thatthe thermal carrying Capacity of Earth is 10" watts, roughly {Wo the total solar influx. At our present rate of growth, we amack the barrier in an.2135, 1s this problem insurmountable? Not if ‘we continue our development in space. ew expansionist races who reach our level of planetary ivilzation could mis ‘this golden opportunity especially since surface oorbit transport can be qulte ‘cheap. For example, each year humanity spends a few percent of is energy on vision. A few pereent ofthe 10" watts valable to a developed planetary soe ‘ety could lft into low Earth orbit more than a tillon kilograms —the mass of New York City — every year Physicist Freeman Dyson, ofthe Inst tute for Advanced Study at Princeton, suggests that an intelligent species might rearrange the matter ofits solar system {nto ashe of material around it star to gather solir anergy more efficiently. A single world intercepts abilionth ofits fun output, whereas» growing space: faring society ean gather energy from any position along a geometrical sphert ‘al aurface surrounding the central star "This means power bills of times ‘eater than can safely be released on the mother world. Imagine swarms of hhuge solar cells, each wide asa cont- nent, orbiting the Sun in successive ‘Soll about as far from the Sun a the Earth ie, About ten bilion ofthese eo- Jectors would make a virtually opaque “Dyson Sphere’ absorbing the entire solar output about 10° watts) and directing it to the purposes of the boom: {ng interplanetary industrial complex. ‘At this point in our future evlution, ‘writes former US. Foreign Service Off ‘cer Michael AG. Michaud, “our descen ‘dants may shrink from the challenge of Interstelar fight, concluding thatthe solar system shoud be the bit of ‘human ambition, and accepting the end ‘of humanity when the Sun dies a few billion years from now. Or they may begin the otleap, sprinkling our part of the galaxy with human colonies. Once ounded, sar colonies would change the ‘conditions for intrstelar fight by pro: viding ivlized destinations” Engineers from the British Interplanetary Society, [NASA and elsewhere already have done design studies of interstellar probes and lange habitats in space, I the humans of ‘that future colonial age find the poltical and technologieal means to old their expanding realm together, says Michaud, “hey may create a human empire in the stars? AGalaxy of Possibilities ‘Our Milky Way i spiral galaxy much like the beautiful spiral in Andromeda. ‘Viewing it asa geographer looking for Interesting patterns, we find that ga: axis like ours are mostly made up of ‘stars found in three places — Disk, Core ‘and Halo, ‘The Disk, the most likely place for life, has about 250 ilion suns and i 100,000 Tightyears (the distance light travels in a _year about 6 tilion miles) in diameter nd 3,000 ight years thick. Astronomers hhave found four spiral arms inthe Milky Way. These arm are not concentrated regions of stars but rather gas compres: son zones of active star formation — stellar nurseries — which fs why they fare bright. They have ten times more {s, but only a few pe-vent more stars, than the interarm regions where our Sun is. Interstellar empires are most [ely to get their startin the Disk ‘The Core, about ten thousand light- years in diameter, lies atthe hub of the laxy. There, stars are packed together ‘millon times more densely than out in ‘the Disk. Years ago, seience fiction wrt: fers dreamed of vast Core empires, but these dreams have faded as astronomers found galactic nuclei tobe scenes of {incredible violence, shaken by titanic explosions, rippled by shock waves car- ying billions of star-masses racing out- ‘ward from the center. Any planets ‘would be savagely ripped from their ‘orbits fllowing nearcollsions of neigh Doring suns every milion years or 30, ‘making the evolution of life very unlikely ‘The Halo remains a mystery, since it ‘cannot be observed directly but must be Inferred by indirect evidence, Once ‘thought to be relatively unimportant, ‘astronomers now believe the Halo con- {ins 80-907 ofthe total galactic mass. “This necessary to make enough grav: fay to provent the Milky Way from flying [apart Astronomers dont have any idea ‘what is out therein the halo — possibly 2 wrilion unknown dim red stars, ora larger number of vagabond Jupiter- like worlds, or black hoes, or? Perhaps the Halo isthe first rel ‘evidence of a galactic empire — the “missing mass" may be dammes-up star ‘stuf, stored in great Imperial depots ‘near Dyson spheres surrounding the remnants of the vast majority of stars in ‘the Milky Way. ‘What if such an empire already exists? Undeveloped, nontechnological, or mere planetary civilizations like ours probably ‘wil have nothing to interest an empire, Primitive star systems, while admittedly abundant natural resourees, Cannot easly be exploited and willbe regarded by the Empire much as we ‘regard Antarctica and the Moon. Our resources can be tapped by the galactle community only i there isa large-scale,Thriving cal solr evilzation which cn — afford to engage in interstellar shipping. M101, a ral galaxy Sethe Empire will wait until we et our mUsatfan: ierrinceerytckatiilooroe oar before k contacts us demanding The Psychology of Empire As yet weve met no alien races, and havent established our own empire in the stars, so we have no way of knowing ‘whether the very concept of “empires Decullar to human thought pattems or hus more univers appeal, Obedience to organizational authority may be a pect: larly human trait A race of intelligent bars, used to striking off on their own, ‘might be unable to tolerate such ast fling organizational scheme. On the other hand, sentient boos might fel fomfortable with a monolithic iterstl lar imperium we would find oppressive Psychologists know that humans are prone to accept a group verdiet or an Authoritative version ofthe facts, even ‘when contrary’ o the plain an! med die evidence ofthe senses. Political University of California at Berkeley fates thatthe elaborate structure, mult pliety of functions, and sizeof imperial Spparatus would make an empire Spear awesome, even magia, in ite ‘workings. Ths plays on human psycho! | oq says Wesson, an expert on empires, NoOaaee apa becuse individuals, unabie to judge for ‘aaryin Coma themselves, are compelled Wo tke the caer ssaon trneral view and to seek confirmation in _joeonnmie Mt Consensus. Compleity demands special Wis too, Knowledge and professionalzation, and yan ay Gausya fires the experts the right to decide Tos rtyer we The dea tha the wise should govern sa acini appeals to ordinary men as mich a5 0 Mlojand there is litle need or means giana ner ing fof questioning the wisdom ofthe far-off oe isc ‘men whose rightness is sealed by powers ‘sl larger concept in the psychology of empire is heritage. This the sum of biological, ecological, experiential cul tural, and historical commonality among the subject of potial organization ‘The more members have in common, the more likely they are to agree. Com ‘mon hertage thus promotes cohesion in empire; diverse heritage tends to ‘estoy i Tiology isthe most fundamental her tage shared by groups of lfeforms Politica systems comprised of sentient beings ofa single species have a better chanco of sticking together than agave {ations of foreign species. Poltical union lamong races inhabiting wholly diferent thochemical or thermal egitcs, or i i a : : q| If imperial warships fly just a thou- | sand times lightspeed, it’s just 37 hours from Earth to Proxima Cen- tauri.... between natural and synthetic lifeforme, ‘is unlikely. An empire comprised mostly of colonists of a single originating spe ‘esis more likely to survive than a polyspecies dominion of iterally millions of eifferent races How Far, How Fast? How far-flung isthe empire, and how st can i respond toa challenge to Imperial authority? Dispersion restricts the government’ ability to grow, com: ‘municate with its subjects, or transport ‘the means of control. Most physicists believe that no material object ean be accelerated tothe speed of light. Some say that unless an expanding ciation find some way through or around this barvier, the iron grip of empire cannot be maintained, If both communications and travel are lightspeed or slower, then its decades of ‘travel just between stars, tens of milo nia from the Galactic Palace out tothe rovolt atthe periphery Given these CGreumstances, writers conclude that empire is ll but impossible. With sub- light speeds, claims SF writerleditor Ben Bova, "well be in the Mareo Pola stage of interstellar contact: adventure, Strange tals and artifacts, But no lasting political relations — for beter or worse with the neighbors. ven the sternest, ‘most fearless general might fel foolish ‘mounting an attack wien he knew that hhe could never see the auteome in his own lifetime Political scientist Jerry Pournelle (nother SF writer) picks up on the mil tary problem. “Punitive expeditions ‘would be nearly impossible, hideously ‘expensive, and probably futile: You'd be punishing the grandchildren of a gener {ation that seceded from the Empire, oF feven a planet that pst down the traitors after the message went out. Even a rescue mission might never reach a colony in trouble. A coalition of bureau. ‘rats could always coletthe funds for ‘such an expedition, sign papers certify ing thatthe ships are on the way, and pocket the moneyin sity years some: ‘One might realize what had happened, ‘oF not! Poul Anderson must have been in an unusually skeptical mood when he ‘once declared that “even a hyperdrive cannot lead toa galactic imperiam (Of course, time delays are inherent in all real physial systems, a problem ‘exacerbated by the tremendous lag times in transportation and coramunics: tion between the stars. As aerospace ‘engineer Conley Powell has pointed out, {f the coronation of the first Pharaoh hhad been announced tothe Galaxy by "ado, the word would now be only bout 1/15th of the way tothe far ri, But all thoso arguments against empire fall at, Even a completely slower than. Tight galactic government eould position ‘outposts and supply depots near key population centers. Those could di patch warships or supplies fairly quickly by command, or under color of local appointed authority. This s how impe: "ial Rome stifled revolt — a strong rl tary governor backed by several legions. ‘Only the levaly of the outpost tothe Emperor need be maintained HS hard to imagine a more effective eterrent to potential an-imperal ee ‘ments than a threat of retribution against ancestors a curse on all your Iheles Why waste time and energy feng Fevohon your grande dren will ive to hate you For Whines jouacimacs wale Undone anyway? As or corruption, supercomputer bureaucrats dont need money, wil be programmed to execute the Emperors bidding, and will be it ligent enough to recognize and report any attempted tampering with the sys- tem. Human bureaucrats would need ‘medically: or bionialy-extended ie spans and might think tice about jeop- ardising a millenia iil service career for mere 60 years of kuxury. ‘Generals who live 2,000 years could casily justify unching an atack th ‘would not be consummated for several Ihundred years. Remember the Hundred ‘Years’ War between England and France inthe 14th century? And if the starships have energy to fly close enough to light speed, shipboard time slows due to Einstein’ Relativity andthe mult leader and his troops age only a decade uring their ticentennial eampaiga. | ‘Much as radio, television, and sit tras vel eaused Earth to “shrink” during the 20th eentury, the galaxy effectively contracts as travel speeds approach, later possibly exceed, lightspeed. With fasterthan-ight transport or communi: cation, empires become as plausible as they are on Earth. If imperial warships fly just a thousand times lightspeed, Just 37 hours from Earth to Proxima, Centaur the nearest star beyond the Sun) and only one year to traverse a ‘L000Aight yeardiameter Empire. That's ‘response time even Imperial British naval commanders of old would have ‘envied, Numbing Complexity Arthur C, Clark insists that lange galactic governments are impossible because of their intolerable complexity. This is based on a simple truth: As population rows arithmetical, the number of possible interactions rises geometrically (Communication and eontrol thas become more and mare difficult with Increasing size. Consider the example of the Galatle Democratic Federation Model Planetologgats estimate there may be hundreds of milions of habitable planets in the Galaxy. But let us imagine a gov ‘ernment responsible for only 1,000, member worlds, each with 10 billion Citizens. The Federation operates under the US. Constitution. In the Galactic. | ‘Congress, asin America, each Repre- sentative speaks for 500000 etizens, 80 there are 20,000,000 Congresscreatures instead ofthe present 35. With 100, research and support staffers each, the population of Capitol Planet rises to 2 billion. One wonders what kind of global subsgovernment would be needed atthe Capitol to restrain a whole planetful of aggressive, devious, unruly politician lawyers, But all such attempts to showcase the numbing compleity” of galactic gov- ‘ernment are unconvincing because ‘information flows in interstellar empires reed’ be al that serious, though wel | ebviously need computer bureaucrats to hhandle most of the red tape. Imperial leaders don’t need to review a member society’ paperwork — Just the signifi cant parts Tnformation is measured i bits, ‘where one bits roughly the amount of Information conained in the answer to «simple yesino question. A few billion Inhabited worlds, each generating 10" bits por year lestimated eurrent human: fay), make a total data Flow only 10" bits!second for the palace computers. Thats ‘nly’ a thousand times more than the Massively Parallel Processor, currently ‘development for NASA, ean hat e. The Empire i vast, but its com puters are faster in about 4,300, the Roman Empire became to large to administer and ‘oluntarly fisioned into two parts, Eas land West ~ and this was the beginning (ofthe end. But wth computers to help fut, much lager empires should be manageable, Since silicon microcircuts an theoretically process ten billion times more data than human neurons, computer help humans ‘ould run empires ten billion times larger than the historical imperial sale The pre-computer Roman and British Empires ruled 30 million and 300 milion people, respectively, before becoming {oo large. Perhaps a galactic empire using electronic administrators could handle 10" people before i got too cum: bersome, That's a bilion planets with ten billion inhabitants each! Poltial scientists are aware of lok between size and leadership. According to Mosea' Rule: “The larger the political community, the smaller willbe the pro: portion of the governing minority to the foverned majority” Roberto Michels on Lav of Oligarehy” goes stl fr ther, astrting that growing politcal systems, especially empires, invariably tvolve into more olgarchie ule bya ate few forms of government. 50 while i democratic or republic empires are possible, a they grow they wll slowly fut implaeably drift toward autocrac dimension of an organism quadruples surface areas and oetuples volumes; this iecalled the SquareCube Law, Since Jung, alimentary, brain and other tissues service eight fo inereased volumes, but Organ inputs pas through four-fold Increased surfaces, organ surfaces in langer animals must become a least It appears thatthe Square Cube Lave ators wcll systems too, ears 40, Tesearchers noticed that the number of ‘components of an organization handling texterna relations increases a the i. thirds power of the number for internal relations. This shows that organizations are growth imited by the sheer dif culty in getting communications from their ‘surface™ where they eontact thelr trvironment) to scattered faternal dec Sonmakers. The surface ofa body increases a the tworthirds power of ts ‘lume, s0 the analogy is eompeling,“According to Kenneth Boulding, Direc tor ofthe Inatitute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado, as ss tem grows lager it becomes impossible {ori to retain the orginal communica tion and control structure intact. Then, | he says, “increasing size is possible only at the cost f increasing complexity of| trstire” ‘One trick to allow increased sie i specialization ~ the division of labor in society being one example, Investigators find that the numberof occupational Positions inereass roughiy asthe logs rithm of system size. Large size pls the ‘Square-Cube Law determine the mix of specializations — probably favoring the Imperial propagandists. Says Jobin D. Xasarda at the University of Chieago Center for Urban Studies, "the major Fle of holding large social systems together rests with those whose primary funetion is facilitating communication Minions Aplenty Specialization leas to hierarchy and span of control Hierarchy mess levels of increasing managerial specialization, ‘each level having supervisors of equal responsibility. Span f contra isthe rhumber of subordinates administered Dy exch supervisor ‘Studs of governmental and private ‘organizations show thatthe number of Inerarchical levels and the span of con trol tend to increase asthe whole sys tem expands, but also that the wo are complementary. For a given sie, wider span of control means fewer levels are needed above and below each span, producing a broad “flat” organiza ‘onal pyramid. More levels means small spans Suffice, giving 2 narrow “tall ‘organization with tighter contra from ‘the top: Humans seer naturally to prefer rather tall organtzations, per haps partly dae to our simian heritage of vertical troupe dominance chains Sentiontextraterrestials evolved from carnivorous eats or intelligent oct solitary creatures by nature, would favor ater organizational structures Managing galactic empire will be & tremendous challenge. Due to the ‘extrome system size, the number of levels and broed spans must be enor: ‘mous. The best human organizations have spans of 5 subordina visor. Using this igure, 2 controling te billion pla billion inhabitants each would require at fea ‘21 hierarchical level, tis wel ‘known that human organizations with ‘mare than 6 levels become excessively ‘bureaucratic. You thought the UN as bad? ‘The Imperial Compu-erats wil be running the show day-today. but ving beings we hoped will stil he making the hard policy-level decisions. If we opt Imistially asume that a control span of 100 subordinates ean be achieved for, say. human polieymakers, then the num: ber of hierarchical levels can almost be halved — from 21 down to 11, The structure of Sir Rogers busting empire ‘might then look something like Figure 1 ‘Even with all his mechanized assist. nts, the Emperor will have absolutely ho contaet with nonnterstellar person nel His relations with his magistrates ‘would be not unlike those between the United States President and the mayors and city managers of American cities. Ta the Galactic Emperor, the starkeepers, ‘each responsible for 100 worl, will ‘soem much as US. citizens pear to their President — with onlya very rare audience being granted. Planetary gov femors are the rable Figure 1 ‘SIR ROGER’S GALACTIC EMPIRE (Spano Coto $100, Hierarchies Level 13) Person Nenieerat Numbacot ‘Ondinat —tmperial ortice otding Plane subjects evel "or Rank Rank controlled Controlled 1 Emperor 1 10" 2 Cabinet Minster 100 a0 3 Peer 10,000 w 4 Royal Magistrate w 10000 5 Starkooper aw 100 6 Planetary Gavernor 10" 1 7 Continental Regent 10" w 5 right 10" 0 8 Burgess 10" 10,000 10 Gentry 10" 100 n commoners 0" 1 ‘Organizational specialists studing ‘control loss theory” say'that i tl Ihamanike galactic organizations, | memos would have to travel down | through 50 many channels that most ‘orders from top to bottom levels could be almost totally degraded to noise by the time they arrived. Eoonomist Olver Williamson devised a simple model to predict how goals generated at the top Df a hierarchy are implemented atthe hottom after passing down 4 number of levels in the chain of command Teach message.on average, passes through level 859% intact, then Wiliam ‘son would claim that sinee orders must change hands 10 times, Sir Roger's Empire is (35)"" 60% effective in carry- | ing out its aims. At 859% per level (i liamson’s lower limit based on studies of actual human organizations), effective: | ‘ess drops to 208% nd only one fifth of the Emperor’ plans for the commoners ever reach fruition Peter B. Evans uses Williamson’ con: trol loss model to show that higher eff clencies are posible when the Emperor Switebes to a “multiple hierarchy" sys tem, such as the dual hierarehy. If the Emperor ereates a complete second ‘command hierarchy in parallel with the ‘rst his effectiveness rises by nearly twosthirds. The superiority of dual hier- | archies is wall known in business dine: and staff and in publle administration (especially Communist bureaueracie Lattice structure systems are amore sophisticated form, involving a complex lntioe of hierarchical inks providing a starting maliplcty of pathways tothe ‘op. Such novel systems may not encour age galactic stability, but the epportunk tes for palace intrigue are legion! | Interstellar Commerce ‘Given thatthe Empire is properly ‘administered, what about it trade and Industry? The common wisdom i that ‘not even gold, diamonds, radium ingots ‘or complex microelectronic devices ‘would be worth their woight in trade between the stars. This is probablv dead ‘wrong, Civilizations inhabiting different star systems should be able to trade in bulk goods for comparatively ite cost ‘Nearlightspeed rocket ships are fine for poope n'a real hurry but very wasteful for galactic commerce. Most of the rockets energy is expended to make sure the trip is completed within single {erewiman’ lifetime. This is an unreason: able restraint on advanced solar ctiliza tions who employ automated crewless stellar cargo vessels. | ‘One of the best proposals for interste:was bad? lar commerce isthe Interstellar Rain first advanced by Preeman Dyson. An advanced civilization. says Dyson, should be able to devise techniques to "ecapture most of the kinetic energy ‘the energy of motion of an automated ‘argo ship shot from an electromagnetic ‘cannon ight years away, Dyson envi Sans a huge superconducting elctro rmaggetie masedriver apparatus, able to pin column of huge cols, energy is drawn from the ship magnetically and stored. ‘The carrer deceerates toa Nall, docks, and its precious freight is unloaded, Later, properly serviced and reloaded with fresh goods, the projectiles thrust back into the breech ofthe colossal space cannon and hurled down the barrel by magnetieal forces, the muzzle aimed a the vessels next destination ‘ignoring intial capital outlays and ‘maintenance charges, the major cos is the value of any new energy which must be suppliod by the receiving station due | to minor losses inthe eircutey. Ive assume 95% energy recovery efficiency, ‘2 crulsing velocity of 1% lightspeed, and ‘current energy prices per kilowatt-hour, transport expentes fall to about $1,000) Jalogram. That’ like going into orbit board America’s Space Shuttle — but ‘were talking interstellar not just orbital, {transport here. Even with no energy recovery the price is only 825,000%g, ‘And iti ikely that space-based solar energy will cost ot, lot less than it Ses ‘The mere existence of a stellar cilia tion implies the ability to harvest and utlize the entire material resources of & tolar system. Such a society must be able to disassemble and move planet. aed masses across at least interplane lary distances, The energy required to ‘explode the Earth into tiny rocky frag ‘ments is 10° watt years. b deorbit the Earth into the Sun, orto impart suffic: Jent velocity for Earth to escape the Soler System altogether, requires 10° \wattyears.A stella civilization (10" ‘watt years per year that devotes only ten percent of is energy to large scale ... A galactic empire would require at least 21 hierarchical levels [of management] . . . You thought the U.N. ‘mining and construetion operations ax humanity does) can pulverize whole worlds ina year and relocate planetary masses in a dooade or les, "The machines which the Empire will ‘command to perform these herculean labors willbe Fully automatic robot systems. These machines will run them: Selves, ropalr themselves, possibly defend themselves, and even reproduce ‘themselves to produce more robots as ‘needed —all atthe Emperors behest Recent studies by NASA have shown, that complex space factories capable of partial or complete slf-repication are Teasble using foreseeable human tech nology just few decades from today (One immediate benefit of self repraduc dng automata is that they provide a means for organizing vast quantities of ‘matier into an everavidensng habitat for Ihumankind throughout the Solar Sy tem. The most sophisticated will serve as ‘general product factories" programmed to manufacture anything which is phys: cally possible to make, from statues 0 Sarships, much lke computers can be programmed ta calewate anything ts possible t compute, ‘This technology will provide such a large amplification of ‘manipulating ability ‘even to consider the “terraforming”of Mars, Venus and other worlds, remaking ‘whole worlds as we soe fit, for human Ihabitation or otherwise. During terra: forming the machines ean be ordered to ‘excavate specie paterns which later ‘may be used for artifical seas, akes, Canals, roadways, and subterranean agricultural greenhouses or cles. Then {Beneral product factories build the cites Sutomatcally, making fully industria {zed planet. Ukimately, voracious rel cating machines could be commanded to digest whole worlds, converting their substance into factory machines, space habitats, interstellar arks and rains, ‘or customized "designer planots" for the Emperors favorite concubine ‘Trade routes are usally the shortest possible path, in time or distance, Between the sources and consumers of ‘commodities, Transport technology fixes ‘the optimum interstellar routes. ] Rallguns allow line of sight routes. Just im and shoot, leading the target, but take care — the galactic escape velocity 2% lighispeed, 0 you miss at 1% lghtspeod kiss your cargo goodbye Projectiles fred just under 0.236 igh: speed can enter galctc orbits, carrying them safely out aid around the Core to the opposite sie Ramscoop starship, which scoop up Interstellar hydrogen for fort along the Alreetion of travel are a different mat ter. For them, intragalactc trade routes along the regions of greatost «as, ‘concentration inthe spiral arm so ‘Vessels must use what network tieorists call “rng routes’ Ring routes follow ‘clockwise of counterclockwise ares ‘around an internal circumference ofthe Galaxy fe. spiral arm), then move radially inward tothe final destination, Ramships on ring routes travel tle farther compared to lineof sight, but ‘their funnels pick up ten times more fuel so they arrive in much loss tine. ‘Small pockets of economle activity 1 be seatered throughout the galaxy For instance, stellar eivlizations located {in galactic esters of 101,000 stars, ‘only 5:50 ight years in diameter may ‘lose knit economic unit. Their solar systems would typically be only half alight year apart, ten ines closer than normal Disk stars uch as ou Sun. Tho average distance between known clusters 100:300 ight years, 30 Interstellar trade routes may be li out {in overlapping arcs connecting galactic cluster trade associations along each spiral arm. Globular clusters, eatively ‘metal-poor and probably alo planet- and life poor, have rich odes of fusion: ble hydrogen, a lucrative mining ven: ture for industrious galactic entre preneurs. ‘Star cultures willbe incredibly power: ful societies. They will have cheap inter- stellar travel and exuberant economic activity among themselves, So travel trade, mining, colonization, tourism, iplomacy, goverent — even warfare — fare possible between the stars. The timescale of events may be long by present human standards, but sentient ‘lien creatures with millennial or mega: enna ay Fegardl a century of ‘ur time asthe subjective equivalent of ‘months or hours, Interstellar War “Two societies must have some confit of {terest to make war. Interstellar eco ‘nomic growth may provoke such # con: flict Industrial expansion requires massand energy yet the galaxy is mostly ‘vacuum. We can imagine an intense ‘competition among solar chilizations for the relatively scarce natural resources of our galaxy, wit great battles for possession of star systems using ear ome warships capable of planetary ‘terization or disassembly. (Of course, competition doesn’ always lead to wanton aggression. Instead of fighting alien races may “scramble? ‘nonagressively “getting there firs rather than destroying all competitors. ‘Advanced sentient species may decide ‘ot 1 compete directly, agreeing to ‘confine their activities to special regions fof the Mihy Way, oF to specific classes of stars. Cooperation is possible, with two for more races pooling thelr resourees land specializing. Along this path ies the ‘ace of federation and orderly empire Socicbologist Edward O. Wilson of Harvard University points out that man | inamong the mort pec of allot Earth’ animal species. In general, says Wilson, human beings have fewer aggressive, violent encounters than most ‘ther lifeforms on this planet, Perhaps this means that high intelligence pro- ‘motes pacificty, oF that pescefulness ‘necessary to develop high intellect and Civilization. Over the last few thousand ‘year human wars have become fewer ‘but more sovere as warring societies have grovn in power Perhaps the end result willbe a starfaring humanity ‘which experiences war as an extremely rare, but near-catastrophic, event. Because of the many eons required for ‘evolution, inteligent species may aise ‘lions of years apart in time. Expand: ing interstellar empires will be more ‘powerful than any non-expanding cul {ures they encounter. Contact is Hkely to be between unequals, conflict short lived. A few hundred years difference in ‘technological development could be decisive. "The fate of weaker civiliz- tions” warns Michael Michaud, “may depend not on their bravery or thelr ‘lence and technology, but onthe eth: ies ofthe stronger” Star wars will be fought between ‘cilizations having roughly equivalent technological prowess. Then "star adi rals might deploy flots of battecruisers, ‘manipulating them in three dimensions! Michaud speculates. “Rival powers might negotiate borders and noreaturesands in space and allances might be formed against expansive powers.” "A more probable event isa single species, and its gonetic offshoots, ight Ing among thomselves. Studios by Carl Sagan and others show that with a wide ange of reasonable technological assumptions, the entire Galaxy can be colonized by a single species in 110 nilion years, a mere eyeblink of cosmic time — even ifthe colonists can only travel at 1% lightspeed. Civil wars may ‘be fought between Imperial storm: troopers and colonistrebels trying to seen oF to establish an empire of their Pyses ad engineering ae no ba rier to gaat conflict. For one thing, ‘ar culturos wil ind intrstela travel extraordinarily heap. Consider: the Sarship Enterprise (190.000 metric tons) of Star Mek TV show fame had no warp drive and had 9 plod along at sb ight fpoads, then s vit to asa ystem {Oo ght years way regres 10" watt second of ener if constant aeelere- ton one arth gravity is mated throu the urney, wih mi-course turnaround: (Te Enterprise fs for 160 years, Empire Time, though only nine years elapse forthe ships crew because of relativity.) The energy for this mission could be supplied by only {en seconds worthof the output of a olor cilzation- Thats technologies feat equivalent tothe launching of af Saturn V rockets by presenta human iy. No big dea. ‘Once arrives, the warship alone can inf fair amount of damage If 10% of te masse atimattr or energaing ‘weaponry, more than 10" wattseconds an be vive upon the unfortunate Infidels, Tus s enough energy to 1) ‘aporiz the top few meter of Earth’ tate surface (2) excavate a giant eater 100 klometers wide and 50 lometers deep, or (sce Earth tke agropetrat, lean in two along the equator by burn inga trench a couple of meters wide clear through “Th got realy big interstellar force projection, though, the Enerprise wont o, You need the Death Star. Tb puer {ap an tarthsized world into dust with sing hammerblow takes the ener {few trllon tone of antimatter To faventory ten sch shot, and have the ‘weaponry weigh only one third the total {hip mass, the Death Star mast be the Size of large asteroid and weigh 10° Je. George Lucas has his sizes figured ‘ight However the energy to propel the Death Star t0 19 lightspaed is ust under 10" wattaoconds. This an equivalent exercise fora lar cviization a the Several hundred Space Shuttle launches planned over the next wo decades are {or ux Pray expensive fore projection, bhutan Empire of solr cvzation ould scaly foot the bi Possibly the mos effective tactical weapon would bea series of small, igh energy automated ramscoop projectiles. ‘These would be aimed and launched a the offending star system, timed to ppear just after the Enterprise arrives. nthe Judgement ofthe starship com: ‘ander the situation is resolved to the ‘emperor’ satisfaction, the accelerating ‘drones are redirected away to some ther target or are ordered to slf- destruct. If the rebels prove intransi- ent, the commander backs off and allows the physics af hypervelocity coll Son to take its natural course. Without ‘oceleration at midpoint, a -megaton ‘drone accelerating éonatantly at one Earth gravity for 100 light-years would be traveling at 999% lightspeed upon arrival. Its raw energy of motion is 10 wattscconds, enough to last Earths entire erust to the heavens Indeed, the Empire could maintain a standing fleet of -Damoeles Drones” in foreed galactic ‘orbits which could be ordered down on fairly short notice. When We Grow Up An alien Empire may be lurking out there, somewhere, waiting for us to ‘mature. They may be wise and tolerant, ‘respectful ofall lif, and cautious their dealings with new intelligences. Or they may be arrogant and brutal, waste {ul and despolling the natural beauty and bounty of the cosmos, squashing all potential rivals for galactic dominance. ‘Star wary, though possible, are uli- ‘mately sei destructve, and probably ‘entered only reluetantly and rarely by truly intelligent races. Responsible sock tes will take great pains to restrict and control internal fringe elements who ‘might prey on others. Ultimately, how fever, we must take responsibility for our ‘own survival f humanity has ine 10 forge a dynamic, powerful spacefaring ‘culture inthe Solar System, then maybe, Just maybe, we shall be deemed worthy ‘of membership in the family of galactic ‘hlizations in the stars. ‘And should turn out that we are the only surviving technological species ‘anywhere in the Galaxy, oF that we are the first, then our résponsbilty to pos: terityis So much the greater. For all who follow us must know of our triumphs and follies, our miserable mistakes and towering achievements, and will earn why it was that humanity deserved to Fle the galaxy — or why we didnot tnd became extinct. ACrimes, Crazies, and Creole Cookery As flies to wanton boys, are we to the ‘They kill us for their sport. Hamlet, Act 1V by Dr. Robert A. Freitas Jn ‘Consider a family having a picnic in a _vastly superior to the best mankind can culture could buy an awful lt of vice, Dark. The blanket is spread in a large, muster. Interstellar Peoples Temples even by libertine human standards. The ‘pen clearing and the food unpacked. (remember Jonestown?) or galactic Man-_ temptations and opportunities for cheat. Ants begin to appear, innocently search- son cultists could threaten our very ing, profiteering, piracy and black ing for nourishment. One of the chil-. existence unless thelr attitudes toward markeleering become more obvious dren tracks thom down to their anthil, our species are absolutely benign. T) once we consider the commodities likely pours pint of Kerosene down the hole return to the analogy ofthe picnic inthe tobe valuable enough tobe traded in and ignites it. The inseets are destroyed. park: Members of «few religious sects interstellar commerce: Precious metals ‘The pienle continues uninterrupted, Such asthe Jaine of India carefully avoid ($15 00g for gold), advanced com ‘Thus may a very small yegment of stepping on ants for fear of extinguish- puters ($100,000 forthe Cray 1), rare ‘human civilization toaly eradicate an ing aif, but many mans gleefully plants and animals ($106,000 for an entire ant society uncaringly and with pursue and squash insects just for sport. Odontagiossum erispum orchid), drwes fesse. The anthil haga power consump: "Another very real possibility is that ($350,000 for heroin), fine art tion of just under 1 watt, compared to aliens may come here “to serve Marit ($100,000,000K for the Mona Lisa), and the 10" watts controlled by human soci- isnot inconceivable tat extraterrestrial flaless gemstones ($250,000, 000K for fy. Tiss exactly the same differential gourmets might rogard us — properly diamonds). Transportation costs foreach which would exist between allof man: prepared to eliminate any potions, ‘of these kinds of items are minimal kind and a 10" watt solar eilization. _aicrobes, or unpleasant aftertaste compared tothe value ofthe cargo, and What ifwe are just pesky ants to them? food. o fantastically advanced intellects, all may be found on Earth, Will mankind ‘Assuming were fartunate enough 0 our much vaunted human consciousness get ripped off, our ish world ruthlessly ‘encounter a star culture which everes may seem no more an advance in intel stripped ofits wealth? allforms of living consciousness cosmic gence than emotionality in mamnals ‘The Galactic Mafia may choose 10 ‘vegetarians, we stil may bein very Seems in comparison tothe evoltion of barter human lives, vending a few of us grave danger: Much as. small child __the entre vertebrate line. 1b them our ak pels or performers, Inthe current ‘arelessly exterminates an entire insect technology may appear instinctual much international "white slave” market, ‘society, any malevolent subgroup of the as we regard the hive building of bees choice selections auction at about principal stellar civilization could repre- and the mound-archtecture of termites. _$2,000Ikg, roughly the price in 1880 Sent an equally lethal threat to us. ‘And its not uneconomical to ship dollars of preivil War slaves. At tis ‘In the United States today, about 5% of human cattle across interstellar dis- price, says Ben Bova, “the girs would allctizens have criminal records and tances. With freight charges as low as have tobe damned good to be worth the ‘01% of us are kiled each year as vie- $1,000iKg, chances are good thatthe freight charges" Better catches are prize tims of homicide. conservative estimate Galati Delicatessen willbe well athletes and actors, who regularly fetch right give 0.1% as the number of Amer. stocked with rare spices and exotic more than $100,000 in open bidding Jeans capable of senseless violence or beverages, meats and other foods from on their multi-year contracts. Although Who are director indirect participants many worlds. Afterall, we pay $500(kg there is some room for argument, the Inorganized crime remember: humans for Russian caviar, $700/Kg for ltalan expense of interstellar travel will not be are among the most pacific ofall ani-- white trufies,$1,700kg for Mediter- the controling factor. I they want us, ‘mal, Let us assume that advanced alien ranean saffron and $5,000IKg for Cha- they ake us Societies hold social deviance toa mere tems Lafte Rothechild 1846. Why Finally, what about our scientific (.0001% ofthe general population, shouldnt wealthy interstellar connols- value? Developed societies typically roughly the number of people struck by Seurs be willing to fork over $1,000g spend a few percent of their GNP on lightning each year on Earth. tn this ase for genuine hairless primate meat, research and development, For a stellar a Galactic Mafia could command as Imported fresh from Earth? (The argu- society, that's 10" watts, enough to send ‘much as one millionth of the total ment that tis far cheaper to transmit aout 100,000 research starships per year resources of the parent society, or 10" few bits of DNAdata by radio than to full of nosy interstellar zoologist, socal Walls. Tiss enough power to launch transport a few tons of top sirloin by scientists, and cultural technicians. We ‘numerous interstelar sorties and to _star-ship is true but relevant because may be treated as on-site laboratory test sterlize many Earths annually. lignores the issue of value: the orginal is animals. Siar eultures may well have ahetero- always worth more than the copy. ‘leary, the threat of imerstellar war {geneous character mich like human: ach year Americans spend afew isthe least of our worries. Mankind in Kind on this planet. Every fanatical pereeni of the national wealth on hiury its present underindustralized condition religous sect, ideological or socivero- foods, alcohol, sex, cosmetics, gambling, all too easily could fall prey to hordes of homie subculture, cultstcliqueand and a wide assortment of other hedonls- interstellar carpetbagyers, Galactic secrethandshake fraternity may be able tc corruptions. A fow percent ofthe _Maflosa, star cults, lien gourment temanipulste technologies and energies resources of a powerful 10"watt star__and BEN thropologsts.by Poul Anderson Achapter from The Annals of Chivalry by Sir Thomas Hameward writing in his old age, this knight baron intended to con! jue Friar Parvus’ artless chronicle of The High Crusade, in a style more elevated. Deriving as it does from medieval romances, the style is better described as more flor while the account is autobiographical rather than historical. Nevertheless, if nothing else, the book is of some interest as depicting later stages of interaction between long-established starfaring societies and those humans who, carried out into the galaxy against their will, overcame their would-be-enslavers and founded the English Empire. Asnearly asthe astrologers could) join him in offering solemn thanks to would discuss present challenges and calculate from what scanty data were Almighty God for Fils many mercies and future endeavors with his lords, his inthe records, lost Terra had celebrated blessings. Secundus, he would renew old Knights, and such of his ladies as now thirty Easter, and the year of Our Lord acquaintances and strengthen bonds of days hel fiefs of their own among the twas 1975, when King Roger summoned fellowship through worldly festivities, as worlds. 1 Grand Couneil tis eat of rayne: well ax get to know the grown children ‘aunt His purpose therein was three- of his followers in desperate adventure, From star after star they came, across fold Imprimis fe would have all of us these three decades agone, Tertius, he as much asa hundred light years, inIN spaceships emblazoned with thei are and achievements, themselves i spen dor of embroideries, velvets, kl and furs. Banners flew. trumpets a ‘drums resounded, horses and seeds of luncarthl stocks pranced proud, as they ‘debarked atthe Port Royal and rode is beneath high walls and gleaming bat ments tothe palace. Yet ever borne in a place of honor were the weapons they had first brought from England. These were less often swore or lance than {yeoman bow, sergeants a, or ser bilhook. Remember: O reader, the orig nal company hd not been large, ever the cians clerics — Who joined Sir Hoger de Taurnevilles free compan: ions. Prforee, nearly everyone who survived the Crusade was eventually ‘ennobled and putin charge of some Portion oftheir conquests. At tha tha haf the great folk now ares were nonhumans of one sort or ana Who had accepted the True Faith and paid homage to our puisant sovereign, Besides this reminder of our origins, the necessity of eaution wae whole somely ehastening We had broken the rue! imperium of the Wersgoris, made them subject to us. and thereby earned the gratitude of those other races whom they’ had decimated and oppressed erin of our former enemies had become our friends and, indeed, risen high among us beeause of heir quick inteligence and tecnica erudition remained sul lenly hostile. Some had attempted revolt Many had fled beyond eur ken, to sk Ina wilderness of uncharted suns. They commanded terrible powers. A single nuclear warhead would demolish this ety and abolish both monarchy and Papacy. We English were as yet thinly spread. Without the leadership and resources at Troynovaunt, our heer ‘ony would be aloo vulnerable to attack from without and within. Were t over ‘thrown, that would spell the door of Christendom, and boike of Adams seed, among the stars. Therefore wareraft patrolled the Angevin System and virtu ally englobed Planet Winchester. No ‘easel might come near before it had been boarded and thoroughly inspected ‘Natheless, the mood was joyous. the "as English met year oftheir triumphs. 1 own to downing more Jae Tiquor than was wise “The carpenters at work in my head rpoxt morning may perhaps excuse feeling at Mass. This C attended with my master Sir Erie de Tournevil ‘oungest son of the King, whose squire 1 ind latelv become. Churches were 50 crowded that he sought a palace chapel: and the priest, Father Mareus of Ura Tura, preached a sermon that bade fair to last until Judgment, As Lvrit, his words arise from the past and once ‘more drone on withia me. Praise Guin sooth, and wonder at His foresightful eare for us, The very fact that we are surndered fron era exemplifies this, Only consider. A Wersgor seout ves, seeking fresh territory for its people o overrun, landed at Ansby village with terror and slaughter. Hardy men counterattached and seized it. Thereupon they sought to ‘se it to end the French war and liber ae the Holy Land: but they were tricked. Into long voyage hither, where they ‘must fight for sirval, By divine grace 4s well valor and cunning, they pre ‘alld the orginal turmoil, navi onal notes were lst. The stars are so many each planet of theirs so vast and preoccupving, that no explorer has ound a way back tothe mother world ‘But do not jun those who lament the failure. Reflect, instead, that thereby alem have heen spared veton in space warfare, Meanwhile the exiles wore forced to bring Christian teaching an English rule to the benghted heathen. Enor mous have been the rewards, secular as well as spiritual, albeit the ater areal ‘that have any real importance — have written dwn this part of the ‘36 belated penance for having, about then, fallen asleep, Otherwise 1 ‘vas aflame with eagerness, My master hae confided to me something ofthe ‘endeavor which he would propose Being a son of John the Red, Count of Now Lincolnshire and Baron of Pung: jung. and being the squire of Sir Erie. prince of the blood through not destined for the throne, Iwas present shen Grand Counel met. Like my counter: parts, Iwas kept so busy dashing to and fro with refreshments tht I ad litle chance to observe. Recollection blurs into a brightness of sunlight striking through stained glass at tapestries, ‘mounted weapons and trophies ich farments jewel of gold an precious Sones: rumble of voiees, now and then 4 shout or gulf wile an orches ta tweedles unheard ina baleony fadors of meat, wine, le, incense, ‘humanity thickening the ai hounds and ing underfoot as they snatch at bones thrown down to them: fray hai, heavy bodies, faces seared nd furrowed, with youth here and here along the tables to lignite his own olden blade naked on his lp, ‘emblem of povser an ofthe fidelity that hh has lee to his ‘But | remember Sir Eris words, wi the microphone came to hin in order of precedence, for they struck that assem Diy mute with wonder. Those words are (on record, a s the debate that followed Twill onl set down the gist of them, He hawek featured, bronze-locked, his nd medium tll —a young ‘wy knighted, though he hha andere and fought widely — and cried forth ‘our Highness, my lords and ladies, Ive an undertaking for us and what a9 Undertaking’ Not another punitive expe: ition against Wersgor boklouts, not another random search for Terra, but the quest fora treasure great and sacred — the objeet of ehivalty since Arthur or befor. the outward sign of salvation and vessel of power that chal lee into whieb atthe Last Supper Our Lord and Ssviour did pour the wine ‘which became His mort precios blood = the ttoly Grail ber like a gale wind. The king responded first, in tha hard practicality which was ever his. What are you thinking oF? Is not the Sangre somewhere in England, i Of Arimathea brought it Ive heard me share of legends about the matter and ‘meaning no disrespect, some of them are pretty wild. But thew agree fone save he who Is without sin may fever achieve the Grail — and Tknov you hetter than that, my lad. Weve more urgent business than a harebrained dash into Ged kes what Si Ere flushed, Once the speech he had composed beforehand wasexhausted, he was no orator, “Well tis lke thie he replied. "We. er, every body acknowledges there’ a dangerous shortage of saints’ relies among us ‘Weve merely those few tht got taken slong from the abbey at Ansby. And. {hey re nothing meh: not even 8 spin ter ofthe Tre Cross mong them Superstition iseausing people to ener ste things that Father Marcus tells me ‘an possibly be genuine. | ate to imag: Ine what bad luck what Heavenly displeasure that could bring on us. But if ‘we had the actual Holy Gra, now ‘stumbling he explained. His faings, nda certain innate friendliness and fpenmindedness, had brought him together with muamerous nor-umans Of late they inckaded a former Wersgor space captain named Insalth. He was an bstinate pagan, who attributed all ‘events to the operations of quantum mechanics. However, otherwise he had fcceptedciilization. His religious blind ness made his story the mare plausible im that piety could not have led him into wishful thinking Now retired, he had many years before been on several of his races ‘expeditions prospecting for new worlds to conquer and settle. They had come Upon ae afar that looked promising Was untenanted except for a set of brains that, in retrospect, resembled 2 Christian monastery Landing to inves tate afoot the Wersgorie spied a mon- ster, a veritable dragon, but it shunned them and they approached the church. There they meta fev beings who, ia retrospect, seemed human. Through the ‘pen doors they glimpsed something, ‘hery and chalice ike upon an alta, fd heard ineffably sweet music Though the whiterabed persons offered them no threat, such awe came upon them that they fled. Afterward, i oy for fear of ridicule from thee har: sould colleagues and damage to their farers, they fled a roport that tests had shown this planet to be biochen tally unsuitable for colonization Tada, having outlived the rest ofthat crew, having seen our kind enter his realm and erect houses of God Inslith yearned back, Perhaps yonder was proof of the Gospel that would satisfy his scientific mind and bring him spist tual peace. He was willing Wo navigate a ship there ness... I've an undertaking iC eS Holy Grail!” 16 we humble mortals could make i into space; argued Sir Ere, "the Holy Grail should have no difielties. don belive ve dare neglect this account ‘ight prove fale I grant you, but the, ‘might truly be a sign unto us, acon ‘mand from Heaven Meanie is nostrils twitched, He yearned 0 be off fon such an increible venture. I had ‘come to knw im, ‘Aye, go; Hon Jesus’ name” erie Archbishop Willam, who was himself of Wersgor stock King Roger stroked his chin, stared upward atthe vlted cling and the battle banners that hung fom it, nd said slowly, "Remember everyting else ‘weve taken counsel about, We cant Aispatch a flet. The risk of our homes setting raided would become much too great But ~ well, son, you do have 8 ‘hip of your own, and and. °H ‘voice ited to. roar. His fist crashed {down on the chaie arm, "And by our Lady how Isis | were golng along “orebear to deserbe the tumult that followed, before Sir Ene won leave to depart, Next day: i his exhilaration, bo ‘swept ike ire through a tournament lunhorsing every opponent ntl at ast he could ride to accept a wreath rom the Queen of Love and Beauty. She was ‘Matilda Mountioy, of whom eves already bad knowledge, andl she aso ® unicorn. However the genetic raft. ‘men who supply animals ofthis sort hhave not yet suceeded in giving them the ability to make fine distinctions among lies ‘he Bonaventura was of mast size and armament, as nuclear missles and ‘energy projectors go Hal a dozen mea, ‘ovo nonhumans and thelr horses ‘crowed is ull Lucky, the engine was ofthe best, weasing us in and out of Space ata quasiveleity which brought Us to our gol, ar outside mapped eyions in about a month Just the same, that proved a wear some journey. The Fatt did ot le with my fellow Englishmen, Like me, they ‘were young and cheerful, buoyed rather {than oppressed by the sanetty of thei mission. Besides te knight and myst ‘we numbered two men at arms, a plane {ologist, and a pilot eum engineer gunner incase any atomaton failed. 1D pas the time, we practiced combat techniques, gambled, drank. pursued minor arts, and bragged about our Feats ‘on various planets and women, Nor ean laccuse Inalith of creating tedium. In appearance he was 2 typical \Wersgor though age had stooped his scat Five-foot frame, male gaunt the short tl, faded the hairless blue skin ‘wrinkled the snouted face and pointed tars, dled the yellow eyes. None of these changes were averly conspicuous, and he retained a sharp mind and dey ‘vit We enjoyed stoning to his reminis ‘ences of vavages and deeds. ave. even tts.an officer in the war against our athers Bei confessed, our chaplain was what often made the traveling dismal Father ‘Marcus was an Uraluran, converted and Ordained, abria with zeal ie preaches he reproved, he set unreasonable pen ances. he stared chillingly out of his three huge orbs, he waged a Nexibie Finger or windmilled all four ars or sent his blobby green countenance through the most hideous contortions as hhe quacked about what transgressors werwere. write he Tor lack of ab ter word, the Uralurans being hermaph rodites who reproduce only onIN ‘ceremonial occasions. 1b this very day, hhecause of their modesty, that fact is Widely known off thee planet, Marvel fousare the works of Gal Wet atthe time, Teould not keep from wishing that He had not chosen to ereate a species 40 devoid of humars slings Besides his seven bony fet of height, the ooclesiat fal authority bestowed upon bim taunted us. ‘Afterall, we were in ques of the Holy (Grail I that truly was the thing we sought thea we eal not attain to AE ‘we were wicked. We would fail, and belike perish miserabe, On the other hhand, i ur information had mised us, thea we must be sufficiently well: informed on spiritual matters and free ‘of pride to reeognize this when we arrived. Hse we might fall into some Share of Satan. Father Marcus had therefore ordered special program forthe lrary of the Ships computer: every tae of the Giri that anybody could remember, with ‘commentaries upon the accuracy of those memories, as well as compen dium of theology And he kept abriving tus and sheving us Sir Enc himself, while not always without merriment had grown unwont Cedly pious. often saw him on his knees inthe chapel cabin. To the eruciix he uplifted his erossilted blade. Iwas a Singing Sword. whose haft he had eom: nmissioned from an electroniian. Lately he had ordered me to insert therein tape of hymns, that the weapon would ‘chant if brought into action, Father Mareus had opined that we would be blasphemous to carry fire: arms, let alone scientific instruments, ino the possible Presence. But insalith had bespoken a dragon. Quite likely, we thought, the forees of Hel had esta lished a watcher, which eould not enter the sacred precincts but would seek 10 to deter Christians from doing s. Sit Erie did not moan to go altogether unarmed ‘The planot was a whiteswirled sap. phire circling a golden stn, circled in its {urn by two small, silvery moons. Spec: troscopy showed the ai to be salubriow for us, and an instrumented biochemical probe reported no poisons bu, rather, Cdible ie upon arable soil There was ‘not so much ofthat sil, forland con: sisted simply of islands, afew lange ‘most not This, though, meant that el mate almost everywhere was mil. If ‘ever the Holy Grall was borne from ‘Terra’ exclaimed our eaptain, how perfect a new home for it Ah, but isnot vou intent to bring it back?" asked Isalth. Somehow strangely, he seemed alarmed. “We cannot remove it without permis: sion ofits guardians’ replied Father “Marcus, "but perhaps they will allow folk to make plgrtnage hither” ‘That would be 4 profitable passenger route to have, murmured our pila. orvified at his erasness, the priest fave him five hundred ves and a= ‘many Paternosters to say ut Sir Ere declared that ve could not afford the time just yet He was whitehot with impatience to land, Insalth identified the island of the shrine, a major one, and instruments dit imellgence. Had God reserved this world sineo the Creation for its present se? chill went slong my spine Descending on reverentalythroted Aravities, we set down in a meadow three leagues from aur goal. Piety doubtless requires we approach on fot Sir Erie said. layne and Robert” —he ‘meant our plot and planetologst — “shall tay inboard, ready to earry word home should we come to grief «if hmm, they eant seramble to our aid” He himself made a splendid sight as he trod forth into day. The san termed helmet, chain mail, and shield on his left arm aga: its radiance caressed Fa. tering plume and scarlet cloak and a ‘pennon atop the antenna of a radio Iranscaiver secured to his et shoulder Behind him, | bore the de Tournevile {gonfalon and Father Marcus agit cru fix. At thei backs, the men tarms, Samkin Brown and Hobden Tyler ear ‘ed ax and pike respectively on either Side of withered lite Insalih ‘Ah, the country was lke Eden. Over: Ihead reachod a biueness fll of wings The eres and songs of those flying eres tures descended through a breeze whose warmth brought odors akin to spice and perfume. Grassike growth "ppled underfoot, intensely green starred with white flowers. As vendant and graceful were the tees, whieh soon frew more dense, until we were walk ing through a forest. There boughs met above us ike a cathedral root and st: beams pierce! rusting dimes. We haa not trouble with underbrush, for we had come upon a tral leading in our direction, broad and hard packed asi bby something ponderous Sir Erie broke the hush. “A glorious planet. hope to Mary we dont get our ‘obles at feud aver whose fit it shal bee “Gov have meres“ walled Father Mareus. “How can you think such 4 thing, hereof al places? ‘Well they thoughts tthe Hoy Sepulehre back on Terr, didn't they?” the knight replied. Wes, and fought too, You dont have to fret about Mans fallen state. People like me do” ‘Nay, thats my voeation,"the elie protested. "Why dl God leave us Ura Turan free of the deadly sins i not to set your wayward race an example? Ignorant of theolog, Samkin Dred What, you mean your kind are not fallen? Youre. uh angels? (0, nos" sll Father Marcus in te. "MYy poor species i ll too prone to such temptations as quiring and ‘osheny: my ovn confessor has often had to sec me a severe penance for olarice ‘An object of veneration in vour midst ‘would surely inspire you Christians of every sort to reform yourselves sux gested Inealith, “Isnt it reasonable, in ‘your belie, that your Gout has been Saving the rele for this purpose” have cogitated on that question Father Marcus answered, “Inthe era of the Table Round, none save Galahad the Pure could reach to the Holy Grail et ‘throug him it was, for a moment revealed to that whole company and ‘earlier at the frst Eucharist, even Judas beheld it For this imperiled outpost of Christendom, divine poliey may cancel ably have been further modified. Or ‘may not have been. We ean but go for- ward, look for ourselves then pray for ‘Mumination." He paused before adding, “One thing dows strike me as carious Salvation is not easily won. Nor should ‘the Grail be, that sits sacrosanct, femblem. Whether or not Gad surrounds itwith obstacles, one would expect that the Devil —As fon cue, hoarse bellowing inter: rupted im, te stopped in our tracks. Terror stabbed me. A stench as of fire and brimstone rolled through the fore fir Around bend in he path crawled @ Aragon. Pity feet in length twas, from fanged maw to spiked tat. Steet gray sales rmoned it.The an clawed Feet that pulled it along made earth shiver beneath monstrous weight. Sok iqusted from its ll within whieh flames Mekered. Straight toward us it moved, and its roars smote our ears with hammerhlows ‘1 eft us alone!” 1 heard insabth "ou were heathens rapped Sir Erie ‘Qik, eal the ship No, The lea canopy . 10 way 10 tum. the beams would slay t,t “The Beast, Satans Beast” moanesl Father Marcus, He fell to his double jointed knees and held the erueii alot Ittrembled ikea twigin the wind “page, diabole The dragon paid no atention, Closer it came. [was aware ofthe men atm, Shout to bot in panic, and of myself ready to join them God send the right!” shouted Sir Erie and plunged to do bate His sword blazed forth, “St, George for merry Englane” Somehow that restored my’ heart 10 mmo. Fran after him, howling my own. defiance, the spearhead atop my stan tard poe slanted down. After an instant Samkin and Hobden followed. ‘Si Ene was already engaged. Mis bide fle, struck, slashed, drew foul buck blood from the unprotected nose ofthe firedrake. And the sword sang as ithewed. I heard not Latin but English ota Te Deum but ‘Oh, give me a haunch of ruddy beet ‘And nutbrown ale in my po ‘Then a sty wench with a sturdy “Te bounce upon my cot — and realized, dismayed, that I had gotten the wrong tape If doomes! hy my folly could at east de ke a man. I thrust my weapon ‘down the flaming gape. The erossarm jammed tight and our banner charred. ‘The dragon hiocoughed thunderously Meanwhile our companions were stab Our gaze a Om Seen Cod feet iy silver chalice. bing and chopping away. The creature hissed lke a cataract. It seutled backward. Incredulous, we sav itis around a tree and make haste fut of our sight For a long while, we stared at each other, not quite understanding our dei trance, Siength fled mo, sank to the frond and! darkness whitled through my head, When I retuned tomy’ sense, "fel the priest shaking me and jubilt- fing, “Rouse, my son, rouse, and give thanks tothe Lond God of Hors! ‘We did in fervor, regardless of smoke: stained garments and sweat stinking bodies. Gratitude welled up in my bosom, and { mingled my tears with those of two hardened sergeants. How strange, how perturbing ina distant fashion, to see the frown upon Sir Eris brow ‘Wel, though, whatever the trouble \was, tdi take hie mind off my blunder {reckoned myself as brave as most fighting men, and had hunted dangerous animals erenow Natheless fora space | trembled, tngled, and tttered. That Was less because we had been imperiled ‘than because we had evidently encoun tered a thing from Hell. Samkin and oben were in ike ease. Sir Ere though, remained withdrawn, while Father Marcus was fl of exaltation and Insalth trotted eagerly onward ‘Steadiness came back to me as we fared for hal we not infact been vito: ‘Hous, and was that not a wondrous portent? When we arrived, my resolu tion turmed to awe We had emerged From the wood into cleared acres of garden and orchard Foreign tous were yon blossoms, hedge: ows, fruits aglow in mellow afternoon light or were they? Di they not hint at those roses, apples, hawthorns, and ‘other English henutes whervo! our parents spoke so wistfully? The lake blinked and sheened on our taht “argent om azure: beyond it fed 2 seren ityof hile, Before us were the buildings. "hey were thnee in number arranged around a mosaic courtyard. Their sal hess reminded me of that stable where (ur Lord was born, the poor ettages that sheltered Him during His ministry, the unpretentious loft room wherein He fithered His disciples forthe Last Sup Der. But they were exquisite of alabaster hhue and perfect workmanship. Colon rnaded, one seemed tobe for ult ‘opposite it stood another. whose glazed ‘windows suggested a dormitory and refectory Between them, facing us across the pavement, rose the church. I ‘thought it must be the eptome ofthat English Perpendicular stvle which our architects strove to emulate from draw ings dane by some of those who remem: bored. slender pillars, ogive arches and windows, saint in thelr niches, rose beneath twin towers. Melody wafted thence, notes surely ike those from the harps of Paradise. The doors stood open in an eternal weleome, ‘We hastened among te flowerbeds. Gravel scrunched under ur feet, unt the courtyard rang, In the mosaic | sav ‘elieately wrought, Tree of ess. ‘We halted ata staircase flanked by sculptures of the Lamb and the Fish Suadenly unbuckled my helmet and tucked it beneath my are. A man had stepped out onto the poreh. He came 10 stop, there above us, han: some, solemn, hair and beard 3s white as is robe, right hand lifted in benedic tion, Upon his brow shone a golden crown. In his eft hand he bore aIN {rident, and be had limped. supernatu: "al thrill passed over me, fort recalled the Fisher King ‘Organ tones formed words of Norman French. In the name of the Father, and ofthe Son, and ofthe Holy Ghost, well ‘met iris. Enter ye nov unto the mystery ye have sought that which shall save your peoples’ Father Marcus’ response wavered ave we, have we indeod come 10 the abiding place... ofthe Sangreal? Enter said the crowned man gently; ‘and see, and give pase Si Ere oo, removed his helmet, He laid it dove esi bis shield ar sea. barded sword. The men-atarms did likewise, and 1 We signed ourselves, 1 felt that tread anguish, indecision, behind the knights tif features, and wondered anew. witha touch of dread ‘what wrongness possessed his su “Come: said the crowned man, and gestured us toward him Insalith hesitated. “Tam not chris: ‘ened he sald in a near whisper. “The other sied. "You will be, my som, you will be, as will every sentienee in the universe. Come yo alo and worship ‘Slowly, we mounted the stars Far a moment, splendor overwhelmed me, Windows depicting Bible scenes east their rainbow dw over nave, aisles, ‘choir columns; the Stations of the Cross ‘wrought in gold, Under a great rose ‘window, candles burned fore an nage ofthe Virgin that seemed alive in is tenderness and majesty. Musie soared midst Fragrances. ALa font shaped ike ily, we dipped our fingers and again dared bless ourselves, ‘Our gaze went tothe altar. Upon it below a eruciix of pteous realness, sheened a siber chalice It must have stood three feet high on a broad base, ‘though the grace ofits proportions came rear cloaking that size. attired in white, habits two women kept vig at the sides, their heads bowed in prayer, ‘beads streaming between their Fngers, “The man of the trident urged us ‘onward. At the rail he turned about, ‘raced the Cross, and sai gladly ‘Lo, here i the joy of chivalrous desi. ing the Grall of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, When vour fathers ven ‘ured against the paynim ofthe stars, God transported it hither and set tin care of these pure maidens ane! my ‘unworthy sel, that we might guard it ‘until men had need of it among them, Fear not, my sons. We shall ake ‘communion, andl you shall abide this fight an! tomorrow you shall bear the Holy Grail hack to your people: Father Marcus prostrated himsel Insalth went om al fours the Wersgor attitude of submission, After a heart heat, Samkin, Hobden, and I knelt. Yet — quale in my breast — we could not take our heed of the sisters. They were ‘dentcal twins, young, fair beyond any ‘man’ dreams. Thee garb did aot con eal sweet curves beneath, Oh thought the racketing of my pulse, God forgive me my weakness, butt has been a long ourney And Sir Ere stayed on his feet. is ‘own eves were aimed atthe warden, like lanceheads Did the ame one show the east ‘unease? "Why do you stand thus, my Son?” he asked. kneel confess your sins =o God Himself, Who will absolve yo while fetch the wine and the Host “The knights words tramped forth, ‘why isthe cup s0 large” Ieapected it would be small and simple, as betting Celebrants who were not wealthy. This Ie the sie of «soup kettle “itmust needs hold the salvation of the world Le me examine it. You understand itisa forgery, and {bring it home, thal be doing the Devils work: ‘Why, no. agree, well, true authent cation necessary. But you are nat ‘qualified to jdge twill be no sin WF yo onvey the vessel o those wh are — Your Pope, your King Emperor. Rather, thats your duty” “Step aside! On my head be this” And Sir Ere started past the erowned man, toward the chancel "gasped in horror. “Saerilege hooted Father Marcus from the floor. “The warden snatched alter the prince. Sir Erie shoved him off. He stumbled, his trent clattered to the Hagstones. “Boa trie, Berenice, stop him he erie, "Sin yout not lay hand on the holy sisters, ‘would you?" “Tho maidens moved to bar Sir Eric way. Gently but remorselesly; he east arms abou thei waists and dragged ‘them from in front of altar. He et them 0, t00k the chalice, an lifted, saw by ‘the motion thatthe weight was heavy. ‘was af time did while he tured the huge cup over and over beneaty his eyes. Finally he looked! across at the dames. They had shrunk back against the ral, but the glances that responded this were quickening away from tm ity Even in the wan ight, tay a hush spread across his cheeks, and thelr The crowned man picked up his dent and shook i "Youll burn forever, unless yous know not what you da he shouted. "Englishmen, see him! Save the Holy Grail | groaned! as my heart tore asunder. Sir Erie set the chalice down agai snc ran bloed:red a eave over his mail Straightening, he called 1o.us.-Well see who fs the evi oer. 11am, how could The a menace to the veritable Grai? And should not its ‘guardians be perfect in the Fath? Father Marcus, arise and put these persons Unrough the Catochism He thumb his radio while he strove down tous. heard him speak a com: ‘mand, not to the men aboard our ship bout iret to the computer. “Activate ‘Your theological program: ‘Our chaplain may have been some what unversed in human ways, but he ‘ould scarcely mise seeing how the war- den snarled or hearing the sisters ‘shriek thought fletingly that those eminineeries were not allogether ao nized, The priest could be swift when the chose. He sprang to join Sir Erie in confrontation of the robed man My good si he puted, “you should bye happy to establish your bona fides by cexpiating a few simple doctrinal pot From whence proceeds the Holy host "Are you mad 100? yelled the crowned one. "If T were iniquitous — in 5 grave a matter as this ie would God Jet me administer the sacraments? They would not be valk” Father Marcus stiffened. "Ab, at That souls very much lke the Donatist heresy. Let us go into details, f you Please using only to consult his reference ‘alo, our chaplain set question ater iestion, They bewildered me. I must reds admire the boldness with which the man stood his ground and fing, back responses ‘After minutes, Father Marcus wheezed a sigh, shook his head,nd declared, “No more. You have in ‘ition exposed yourself as an Arian, a Polina Catharist, and a Gnostic. This ‘cup of yours must be a blasphemous aod, Who are you in rth?” ‘Sir Ere crouched, «leopard out of Englands arms His gaze lashed forth, to Iaith in the shadows. "You led 5 hte si How The Wersgor reached under his coat. Forth came an energy pistol. Hold ‘where you are he rasped We froze. A single steep ofthe beam Sir Erie went on, "We could well have been deceived, and carvied yor fatal ngine back, I's Gods mercy that petty flaws in the plan, ecause the Wersgorix fre not human and do pot understand {usin our innermost depths — those Flaws etrayed i ‘What were they, my son?" wondered Father Marcus. Cam fain to think 2 divine revelation was vouchsafed you “Oh, no’ denied Sit Ere, raising his palm. Never me.1am no saint, uta Finner who stumbles more often than from tat weapon cal incinerate us fon On that acount mayhap my hope He staked toward the altar: a of doing some holy work was higher "Walt! howled the crowned main than the conpitators foresaw aid ed ree acct | RRMMRIRRRORGR | lok hn hen te set ito COUR UC Sid not gute et my exptations "ssid Isat, “Destroy the ev thought that he dragon ye fa ence, and these monsters as well” He COOL too easily, the more so when the Singing totered the chancel. The maldens ae Sivord was" well—ina matter of such screamed and fled from him. He tetera ey Importance, would Satan let his minion ‘reached the false Gra over flee after a few euts? Could the beast. ‘Si Ere pounced. He snatched the A abas have been merely a biotechncal device, trident from its owner’ grasp, and fi Set there because it belonged inthe hurled it Insalth lurched. Tine deep, Curley picture but not intended 9 give serious the weapon shuddered in his belly te Fesistance? Fell and his blood washed the Noor of arc c —“ithe Fisher king hore no sign of being that house which was never a church ‘ordained, and legend des not make hist tactical force, but it would have sufficed & priest, But he offered us Holy Commu ‘onaventura theobbed sbout us. Stars toy eynavaunt waste, and thereby ion. He spoke reverently of the Grail, crowded the viewports. We were bound allow hopes bat didnot dof his erown in its chapel ome. This, then, was @, ..a Wersgor plot His haste to conduct the business and ‘Sir Eric summoned us tothe mess- fromthe beginning, my lord?" see us begone struck me as unseemly room—Father Marcus, the wo erew: — stammored “The chalice ise was larger and ran, the wo menatarms, the two Sir Eric nodded, “Aye, hatched in a massier than ws reasonable Imaidens, and myself, Beatrice and secret base of their outlaw remnants — "Er. be itconfesse, and intending Berenice had discarded thei cits, tose location Tnow have. He who no discourtes. when Fembraced these vein topaz hued locks, and belted payed the Fisher King is @ human trai- two charming young ladies, what imme. hole gna closely revealiog marvelous tora criminal who fled from justice. eiately stirred in my heart was lust. Stopes, Weary but triumphant the The conspirators found bim, trained WOuld God have made a person as gross Knight lugged aloud at the head ofthe him. and promised him rich reward. as mo the hearer of His Gra? table sid ade us be seated. “These damsel — he bowed toward ‘Sir Eri winced." want to believe’ he "The prisoner has confessed he sad. them —vare clones ofa comely woman finishod, “How I Nonged to believe! But 1 1nosied no violence upon him Hi who never knew that & minor aceldent decided we should put matters toa test, rerve broke when Ithrestened to take was arranged (0 remove afew cells ITI were mistaken, on my soul be the that allaged reli along on board” from her. Accelerated growth produced wrath. God knows | am weak and sinful ‘What isi in truth, what device of adult bodies within a half-dozen years” but He also knows fawore an oath of. Satan?" asked Father Marcus low He smi. Wet they remain daughters of fealty 1 King and Church: ‘Sir Erie rinned.°Nothing so terrible? Eve, raised among falsehoods and, there- We men hailed him with the honor he answered, “although dangerous fore, innocent in themselves, Well bring that was his due, the maidens with ado- ‘rough. Iteootains a nuclear bomb in them hone baptized, tm sure. Their ration. Those twain hal not hitherto the base, using a fisionable tansuranie story, thei virginity, thelr consecration understood how wretched was their lot. tamalleritest mass, And there areas truenuins will doubtless inspire many Now joy blossomed in them. and acon Sensors worked into the ornamentation, of us to live beter lives vent sas the last place they wished to {nd «recognition program keved 19 The tins blushed rosy: However, the enter. thought that Father Marcus had fitonateitwhen inthe presence of glance they exchanged, ou of large blue better make haste to give them Christian ther my royal father of the Pope. The yes, seemed less than elated. instructon, and my lord to find them Dlint would not have been of mare than "The whole thing was cleverly done,’ good husbands when we came home, Aif you haven't seen what the GAMMA WORLD game has to offer ately, then you don’t know Gamma Worl color map, module, dice, an before * Revised GM Screen An invaluable playing aid and mini-module for the beginning GM. 1. Pick a Path adventure in fully illustrated book based on the GAMMA WORLD. * Modules Old favorites designed for use with the First Edition rales GW: Legion of Gold, GWV2: Famine in Faro, Two new modul GAMMA WORL GW: The Cleansing War of Garik Blackhand.* GW4: The Mind MastersTHE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 1by David Cook Based on the Novel The High Crusade by Poul Anderson, ‘TABLE OF CONTENTS Counter Faces 6... eee eee eee 16 CREDITS‘THE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 3 INTRODUCTION An. 1245 — England prepares for a war aginst the French, Baron Sir Roger de ‘Tourneville gathers his knights, men-at- mms, and hired mercenaries. They moot st castle Andy Av. 1385 — A scouting ship of the great Nersgorix Empire, interstellar conguer- forsand masters of this portion of the Gal: fay, travels through space, The Wersgors look for a new planet to settle The Wersgorix ship finds a planet and lands near an isolated and insignificant village, named Ansbs.The erew prepares to terrorize the natives and secure the planet for the Wersgoris. Everything goes wrong Sie Roger’ men, their blood fired and their souls sup ported hy the Church, charge the alien ‘demons The Werngorix crew is over twhelmed and all are sla but one. The prisoner is most cooperative, especially with One-Eye Hubert, the executioner waiting in the wings. All of Ansby pre: pares for a journey With ir Rogor lading them, the villagers ff Ansby embark on a Crusade — Into space aboard captured Wersgorix spaceship. With thelr swords and trebu cchets the Crusaders, take on the might of the Wersgorix Empire, The High Crusade has begun THE HIGH CRUSADE™ game isa strategic level recreation of the events of Poul Andersons novel The High Crusade. The game begin ater the Crusaders eapture St thei fist planet, The Crusader Payer tempts to Convert the Empires Thrall Races, make allances with Independent Races against the Empire, andl lead this coalition to vitory. The Wersgorlx Player must frustrate Crusader altempts to gain ‘Thrall Race and Independent forces, and marshal his own scattered units 19 meet the threat of this strange, unknown, invader from deep space PART GAME PARTS A. PARTS LIST. tach copy contains fone 2° 039” game map one sheet of 00 cardboard playing "e oe 16-page rules booklet (ito Gade die tot nce in mag Soe eon) ‘one game box tot included in maga See eiton) ‘Wehope that you enjoy this game. f you Fpneany questions about the rules, please wie to TSR. You must inclade 3 sll: dressed stamped envelope. Address ‘your questions to Rules dito, THE HIGH CRUSADE Game, TSR, Ine., POB 756, Lake Geneva, WIS3147, B. THE MAP ‘The game & played on 8 map showing part ofthe Wersgaris Emplre. A bexago- hal grid has heen superimposed on the fares to control the movement of the pirces, These hexagons thexes) show ‘her space ora portion ofa planet. Each Spacehexagon i fvelight years from sie toside. Each planet shown is actully an fnlargement of tiny point in single spice hex, The Crusader capital, the \Wersgoris imperial capital, andthe home planets of the Independent Races are hhamed. Printed next to each planet i ts ‘erin Modifier and boxes for Thrall Races and Alert Markers, Some planets have fort and fortress symbols on them Planets are organized into Defense Zones (or DZs), and all planets in the same Defense Zone are set against the same color background. Each Defense Zone hha capital and a ox in whieh to place the Zones Alert Satelite Marker. There fare arrows from the Alert Satelite box 10 fl the planets ofthe same Delense Zone. ‘The map shows various tables and tracks used to control and record game func tions, These inclide the: (© CRUSADER COMBAT TABLE, used to resolve combats conducted by Crusader forees: (© WERSGORIX COMBAT TABLE, used to resolve all combats conducted by Wersgoric and Crusader Ally Forces: GAME TURNEQUIPMENT TRACK, Used to record the passingof Game Turns ts well as the Crutader Players current Equipment Point total, and the combat modifiers gained for this (@ STRENGTH TRACKS, used to record the current strength of all armies and fleets currently in play ‘© 1. TRACK, used to record the Wersgorix Players current intelligence concerning the Crosaders and the com ‘bat modifiers gained for this {@ RANDOM EVENTS TABLE, used to find the random event for each player for the Game Tur: ‘© CRUSADER TITLE BOXES. used to hold Tle Markers representing tes ven to various Crusader leaders C. THE PLAYING PIECES The sheet of diecut cardboard pieces contains four types of playing. pees: LEADERS, COMBAT UNITS, THRALL RACES, and GAME MARKERS, Samples of ‘each type are shown in the Sample Unit Diagrams below: Sample Unit Diagrams ‘SAMPLE CRUSADER LEADER. Front sIR_B NAME | ROGER cowaar Poumical Raming | 3 RATING Tile (8 Baron, KeKnight) Back Lesoen tae [ SiR ROGER wounoeo | POGE nd rouicat Spares | 2 PR 2 |Rating‘THE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 4 Front aor| romrestorm | ERGO" | see | nsefoncn |. 2 vores wen] opreeron [mem =e MARKER | [ aa — rorcervre| ARMY! | ronceio. | JAR rier a coun ait) OA al sauce annie Front wt cane || ED oxen omen] me, [— . ‘STRENGTH * oe ane z op lg RACE S| POINTS MARKER |" [ vie] ARS ure waren L_ to a @ Stan ae EQUIPMENT “| staenarh | (I Ponte naen Z|, ofits 2) [eae] cameras 2 ony SHE | ae | _ — — — sn su | tts NAME: This identifies the leader, Cru saiders are-naned to klentify fies and random events. COMBAT RATING: This is the modifier that leader can apply to any combat he takes part in POLITICAL RATING: This the modifier the leader can apply 10 negotiation and alliance attempts WOUNDED: This indicates the leader has ‘heen sounded in combat or has fallen il RANGE: "The range for a fleet isthe num ber of boxes it ean move per Game Turn fn the galactic map. FORCE TYPE: Thisidentfios the piece as. Ast or army. FORCEIDENTIFICATION-The letter iden tiles which flat or army the pce i, For fevery Foree 11. there will hea matching Force Strength ploce to be used on the STRENGTH TRACK, CONVERSION NUNBER: This number o Jess must be rolled on one de forthe Cr sader Player to convert the Thrall Race, ausing it 10 join his side. ATTITUDE: ‘This Indlestos the general ‘atu ofthe Thrall Race: A — Agrarian S— Spiritual: w — wari. ‘oF Strength Pints the Thrall Race ca to the Crusader srmy that frees Tes alo the number of army Strength Points the planet has a a garrison to pro tect i from atack, HOW TO SET UP 4. Unfold the map, bending it against the Cereases and lay on a Mat surface 2. Choose who will be the Crusader Player and who wil be the Wersgort Player. ‘3 Punch out the playing places and sort, ‘them according 10 color and type. 44. Turn the Thrall Race pieces facedown ‘and mix them up. The Wersgorix Plier‘THE HIGH CRUSADE™ RULES 5 aces these face down on the map. He ‘anno! lok at the front of any piece nti alhave been placed. There are 18 Thrall ace pieces and 20 Thrall Race bones. 80 there willalways be two boxes let emp. ‘Once all Thrall Races have been placed the Wersgorix Player can look at any of them at any time during the game. The ‘Crusader Player ean onl lack a the front ‘ofthe Thrall Race pieces when permitted ty the rules ‘5.Putthe eight Unknown Strength Mark ‘ers ina cup called the STRENGTH CUP 6. The Wersgorix Player assigns Strength Pits to his eets and armies and then pices the appropriate units inthe capital her of each Defense Zone except for the Thraxian Zone), The list below shows the starting deployment of Wersgorisforees The Fleet or Army Strength Marker whose Force Mentifieation matches the combat unit placed on the STRENGTH ‘TRACK inthe box equal to the units eur rent strength No feet or army ean ever have more than 10 Strength Points assigned to i Wersgorix leaders. are turned face down, mixed up. and deployed with. Wersgorix units. After they are deployed, the leader pisos are turned face up Wersgorix Force Deployment (02 «Defense Zone! \wergori OZ. 10 Army Strength Points 10 et Strength Pots 1 Leader megs S Army Strength Pints 5 Het Strength Points iro 10 Army Strnath ois 10 Ft Strength Points eater Gwen DZ 10 Amy Strength ois 1a et Strength Pots PurpleDZ 5 Army Strngth Points 5 How Strength Pos Pinging 10Army Strength Points Abert DE 1OFlet Seng Points header In addition, the Wersgorix Payer places 5 Army Strength Points, 5 Fleet Strength Points, and 1 Leader on any planet of the ‘Thrasian Defense Zone other than Thrax nite. 17. The seven Alert Satellites are plced in the Alert Satellite Boxes. The satelite in the Thraxian Defense Zone i setup with the ON side face up; all other satelites Doegin the ame with their OFF sides showing £8. The LQ. Points Marker is placed on 1 fn the LO. TRACK. 19. The Crusader Mayer places his pisces fn the planet Thrasian. His forews ate at Tollows!20 Army Strength Points 25 Feet Strength Points: a Castle Marker: a Chueh Marker: and all Crusader leaders. No more than 10 points can ever be assigned to any Crusader controlled fleet 40. The Equipment Point Marker is placed on 3. the EQUIPMENT TRACK. 11, A Fit Marker fof the Crusader Ply lr choice) is placed in the Alert Box of Thraxlan 12, The GAME TURY MARKER is placed lis the first box of the EQUIPMENT CRUSADER CON. me Tr 18, Begin play with VERSION PHASE of 4 HOW TO PLAY This game is divided into a number of GAME TURNS. Each GAME TURN i bro Ken into a number of aliferent parts called PHASES. Each PHASE deals wit pecic part of playing the game, PHASES are divided into numbered STEPS. Al Steps in a Phase must be completed before going to the next Phase, and all Phases must be completed before advanc: Ing to the next Game Turn. The order of Phases and sieps is then repeated for ‘each Game Turn A. REINFORCEMENT AND RANDOM EVENTS PHASE IFW is Game Tarn, ship thie Phase and proceed to Step tof the CRUSADER CON. ‘VERSION PHASE 4. if thereareany Heresy Markers on the ‘map the Crusader Player checks tee if the Heresy spreads, One die rll is made for every Heresy Marker on the map at the beginningof the Phase, On adi rol of ‘Vor 2: Heresy Marker Is placed on the Converted planet nearest to the heresy boeing checked: If wo eligible planets are of equal distance, the Wersgorix Pl fan choose which plane is given the Her fey Marker, 2. Both Players place their reinforce ‘ments. Forevery capitala Player controls, he receives 1 Strength Point of reinforce ment. The Crusider Player controls all taplals with a Castle Marker on them, “The Wersgorix Player controls ll others Strength Points can be entered as fet or army points. They are placed in any capi lal the Player controls, except that rel forcements cannot be pluced ina capital under sige. A Player may concentrate lis reinforcements in a single capital or divide them among several spits. the Player hava flet or army in the capital in which the reinforcements enter he may Add the reinforeements dirvetly 10 th Piece, adjusting the proper Strength Marker on the STRENGTH TRACK. I! the Player bas Neet or army picoos available, hhe may ereate a now fleet or army. Army Strength Points may also be entered as & ison Marker: Ino leet unt is availa bie, the Player may’ sill create Fleet Strength Point reinforcements by placing hh Uncolacted Points Marker’ onthe proper number of the STRENGTH TRACK. These Points can be clleted by any Meet that ends fs turn in 2 unbe: sleged capital controlled by the Player. 8. The Crusader Player rolls one die for tach Ally he has, The result is the number Of Strength Points the Ally has for rein forcements that Game Turn. These rein forcements must be entered on the home planet of that Aly. The Crusader Player an enter these points a5 ether Ally Fleet for ally Army Strength Points fa Cr: fader Ally army or fleet fs on its home planet at the beginning of this Phase, ri forcements can be added directly to the Unit Army Strength Points can be used treate Gariton Markers if itis impossible to reinforce an existing Ally army or to Create a new one, Feet Strength Points ‘canbe taken as Uncollected StrengthPoints if tis impossible to reinforee an ‘existing Ally let or to ereate a new one Crusader Strength Points can never be combined with Crusader ally Strength Points to create a single unit, 44. The Crusader Player rolls two dice and finds his result on the RANDOM EVENTS, TTABLE. Depending an the results, the events can be immediately put into play or applied ata later Phase of the Game Turn. An explanation of each result can be found at PART 11, The Wersgorix Payer repeats the procedure to find his random event for the turn 65. either player has a captured Enemy leader, he checks to See if the Enemy leader defects, The player rolls one def he rolls a 6, the Enemy leader has defected snd is now treated asa Friendly leader in all respects. The player places Defector Marker on the leader: any lather number i rolled, the Enemy lescer ‘remains loyal to his oven side 6. If there are no fonie Storms on the ‘map, proceed t0 the CRUSADER CON VERSION PHASE. Otherwise, roll one die to find the direction the lonic Storm will move fae the IONIC STORM DIRECTION INDICATOR), Rolla second die to find how far the storm will mave in that direction Move the fone Storm accordingly B. CRUSADER CONVERSION PHASE I the Crusader Player does not have any (Crusader leaders on planets with Thrall ‘aces, goto the CRUSADER FIEP ASSIGN: MENT AND TTLE PHASE. (On any planet where the Crusader Player has a Crusader leader, the Crustder Player can look atthe facedown Thrall ace of the planet, After examining the Thrall Race, the Crusader Player announces whether he i attempting 40 Convert that race, Use the procedure in PART # to resolve all Conversion attempts C. CRUSADER FIEF ASSIGN- MENT AND TITLE PHASE 1. The Crusader Player assigns all newly Converted Thrall Races as Pies (o the appropriate Crusader leaders, That lea fer army strength is adjusted for the Strength Points recelved from the Thrall Rave. If a Meet snd army is indicated, 3 “Thrall Race fleet and army’ are placed on the planet. An Unknown. Strength Marker is then randomly chosen from the STRENGTH CUP. This i the strength of both the army and flet and is noted on the STRENGTH TRACK. The Unknown Strength Marker is then set aside and is not used for the rest of the game, 22. The Crusader Player can give Tiles to ‘any eligble leaders, according othe pro ‘cedures in section fof PART 8, D. CRUSADER MOVEMENT PHASE 1. Roll two dice for each wounded Cru sader leader on the map. If a2 is rolled, the leader dios and the piece is removed from play. If a9 oF higher is rolled, the leader recovers and i flipped back to his "unwounded side 2. The Crusader Player moves Crusader controlled pieces, according to the rules and restrictions given in PART 6. B. CRUSADER COMBAT PHASE 1. The Crusader Player condts all com bits that he desires, within the limits of the rules given in PART 7 2, The Crosader Player checks to see if any of his besieged forts or fortress fll to siege F CRUSADER ALLIANCE PHASE “The Crusader Player checks to see if he has any leaders onthe home planet of a Independent Race, or if he received a Ambassador result on the RANDOM EVENTS TABLE this Game Turn. neither situation applies, proceed to th WERSGORIX ALERT PHASE ‘The Crusader Player ean select one eli ble Independent Race and. attempt to form an sllance with them. Use the pro cadure given in PART 9 to resolve the al nee attempt, G. WERSGORIX ALERT PHASE The Wersgorix Player checks his 1.0. “TRACK tofind his current numberof 1.0 Points. He receives one Alert Marker for ‘every 10, Point he has, anc one extra Alert Marker if the Initiative Random, Event has been rolled. He ean then Alert, ‘one planet for every Alert Marker he has availble. The Wersgorix Player can only Alert planets within & hexos of a planet ‘thats Aerted or as Crusadercontrolled ‘units onitat the beginning ofthe Phase. IF all Unalerted planets are greater than 8 hhexes from theso, the Wersgorix Player ‘must Alert the planet closest to one of the above listed types of his choice. When all planets ina Defense Zane are Alertd, the Zones Alert Satelite Marker is lipped ‘over tis ON side. The individual Alert ‘Markers of the planets in that Zane ean be removed H, WERSGORIX MOVEMENT PHASE 1, fall two dice for each wounded Wersgorix leader on the map. Ifa 2 is rolled, the leader dies and the piece is removed from play: IF a9 oF higher is rolled the leader recovers and is pet bck to his unwounded side, The Wersgorix Player moves hisplees, coording to the rules given in PART 1, WERSGORIX COMBAT PHASE, This Phases handled inthe same manner asthe Crusader Combat Phase except that the Wersgoris Player Is conducting com: buat and resolving sieges according tothe rules given in PART 7. J. ALLIANCE DISRUPTION PHASE IF the Wersgorix Player does not have a leader on a Crusader Ally home planet proceed to the GAME, TURN RECORD, Ie the Wersgoris Player asa leader on a Crusader lly home planet, he can attempt to break the Crusader Alliance ‘sing the procedure given in PART 9 K. GAME TURN RECORD PHASE, The Game Turn Marker is advanced one space on the EQUIPMENT TRACK. If the ime Turn being played isthe final Gamo Turn of the scenario, both players check the Scenario Vetory Conditions to see ‘who has won the game,HOW TO WIN Ieaders (Preventing the Crusader Player from fain the Scenario Victory Conditions tee PART 10, ratio by Tulfiling the Seenatio Vietory Conditions (ae PART 10, HOW TO MOVE A. MOVEMENT RESTRICTIONS During the proper MOVEMENT PHASE ach Player can move as many of b pcos at he chooses to move, within the folowing restriction A Payer can move his pleees only during Is MOVEMENT PHASE, never during the other Players MOVEMENT PHASE Armies and leaders can move through spice only sehen carried hy fleets fee F bal The movement of unalerted Wersgorix pines is restricted (se Felow B, HOW TO MOVE FLEETS tach eet has a Range Number p This nthe m fan move in a singe - Ferured to move any ofall fits Range bt the Range cannot be saved from turn A flet must always end its move ina hex‘THE HIGH CRUSADE™ RULES ‘occupied by a planet. fa leet cannot end its move on a planet it eannot be moved fleet can never enter hes that i cu pied by an enemy piece or an Enemy-con trolled fort oF fortress. C. HOW TO MOVE ARMIES Armies and Garrison Markers can move from one land hex to another during & turn, They can enter a hex containing enemy units ony to besiege Enemy units Inside a fort or fortress in the hex. AL the beginning and end of its move ment, an army can pick up or drop off Garrion Markers. This does not affect ‘movement of the army in any’ way. IF Strength Points are picked up, the Army Strength Marker on the STRENGTH TRACK is increased by the number of points collected and the Garrison Mar Is removed from play If Strength Points are dropped off 2 Garrison Marker is placed of the map and the proper num her of Army Strength Points s subtracted from the STRENGTH TRACK. D. HOW TO MOVE LEADERS leader must be aboard a fleet 10 move ‘theo space ‘A leader on a planet can move from one land hes to another during one Tura. A leader ean enter an Enemy’ occupied hex ‘only ifthe leader is stacked with Friendly uni that is besieging an Enemy ‘occupied fort or fortress inthe hex Armies, lets, and garrisons do not need leaders in order to move: combat units ‘without leaders move normally ‘Captured leaders can be moved by the ‘capturing Player, s0 long a at lest 1 ‘Army or Fleet Strength Point is stacked with them. If this condition isnot met at lny time, the leader has escaped and he Feturns to the control of the owning Player E. TRANSPORTING PIECES ‘The only way armies, garrisons, and lead: cers can travel from one planet to anather Intobe transported by a fleet A fleet can carry 1 Army Strengl Point or Garrison Strength Point for each Fleet Strength Point it has. Any number of leaders can be carried by afleet Friendly plecos that are stacked with oF aadtcent to-a Fleet can be loaded if they have not moved that turn A leet can load and unload leaders and units at any point ‘daring its move, bu unloaded pieces can not be moved any further that turn Poes an be unloaded in any unoccupied hex ofa planet thatthe let ea enter Crusader armies, garrisons, and leaders ‘ean be carried on Ally Nets. Ally armies tarrisons, and leaders can be carried or Crusader Nets F. ALERTING WERSGORIX PLANETS. ‘Wersgorx pices eannot eave the Defense Zane in which they begin play ‘until ne planet of that Zone fas ben Alerted. A Wergori Het that begins ts ‘move on an Aleted planet ean move 10 {diferent Defense Zone Jn an Defense Zone without Aertel etscan move freely within that Zone A Wersgorix planet is Alerted when any (of the following circumstances apply toi ‘et planet is Alte! the Wersgorix Player places an leet Marker on the planet duting the WERSGORIX. ALERT 1@-4 planet is automatically Alert any Crusader, Converted Thrall ace, oF Cr aden Ally piver ston the planet a the Start of the WERSGORIX: MOUEMENT PuAse 1 IT the Asie Independent Race forms an lance with the Crusaders, al planets in the Jait Defense Zane are Mert: if the Pinging oF shenkgoltndependent Races form an allanee with the Cru sadlers, all planets in the Pubnggung ‘shenk Defense Zone are Arte! © All planets of an Defense Zone are Aleried. if the capital of that Zone is tacked. f@Allplanets on the map are Alerted if Crusader or Crusader Ally pieee is 6 hhoxes or less rom the planet Worsgoris at the beginning of the WERSGORDY MOVE: 7 HOW TO FIGHT A. WHO CAN ATTACK ach player can attack only during his ‘own COMBAT PHASE, The attacking pieces are called the attacker, the non: Bttacking pleoes are called the defender, The following restrictions apply to all attacks: 1 Piecos are never required to attack (© The attacking force must be in the defender’ hex or ina hex adicent tothe ‘efender for combat to coeur ‘@ 8 piece ean only attack once in a Phase (or be attacked once ina Phase ‘© A Friendly-cccupied fort or fortress cn attack an Enemy flet located on the fame planet (se C, below B, ATTACK RESTRICTIONS 1 Fleets can never stack Armies o son Markers) (© Armies. and Garrison Markers can never atack fleets (© Crusader-controlied pieces eannot attack an unconverted Thrall Hace. They can attacks heretical Thrall Race C. HOW TO RESOLVE COMBAT. The attacking Player announces all eot nd army attacks he will ake ona planet hofore resolving any attacks on the planet, He then resolves then in schat fever onder he desires The attacker totals the Strength Points of all units involved in the attack. The defender totals the Strength Points of all defending units inthe hex, Fleets cannot tld tothe defense of armies or Garrison Markers and vice-versa Armies and Gar "ison Markers canbe combined for attack fdefense. Ifthe combat isa ground com: that and the defender isin hex with & Fort or Fortress, the defender ean choose to place al armies and Garrison Markers tn the hex inside the fort or fortress An Inside Marker f placed on the defending pieces ins, The attacker ean immed ttely choose to move into the hex, placing the fort or fortress under siege (ee D. blow ithe attacker chooses to cond normal attack against units inside a fort for fortress the defender adds the value Of the fort oF fortress to his Strength Point total. Afort asa value of 4Strenath Points: a fortress has a wale of 6 1 the ‘defender chooses not to enter the fort oe {ortrss, the fort or fortres has no effect The defenders tal is subtracted from"THE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 9 the attacker's total. This postive or nega- be more than three column shits fortresses without Castle Markers or tive number fs matched to the COTE 4 stiches sol two dee, To find the WeFgore unit in them are uncon Column on the the attacking Players The attacker rolls two dice. To find the oye resus of the combat find the row mateh ing the number rolled on the dice. Where An occupied fort or fortress can be used the row and column meet willbe listed to attack Enemy fleets during the Enemy fesut, The combat results are explained MOVEMENT PHASE. If the fort or for beside each able tress Is occupied and not unde siege it ‘ean attack any Enemy fleet that attempts to leave any hex ofthe planet and travel {nto space. Fleets ean move from one hex COMBAT'TABLE. the attacking foreeisa CCrusder ally the combat is resolved on the WERSGORIX COMBAT TABLE. Hf the stacking foree is Crusader, the CRU” SADER COMBAT TABLE is used. Ifthe stticking force has both Crumader and The Player who suffered losses cana his {Crusader ally strength Points, use the option. attempt ro reduce the numberof ‘combat table of the foree that has the Strength Points he loses if he has leader roost Strength Points present. If the present The Player announces the num: Strengths are exactly equal use the CRU: ber of Strength Point losses he. wil SADER” COMBAT TABLE. The altempt toignore. One die roe I the \WERSGORIX COMBAT TABLE is used for number is equal to or tse than twee the ny attacking force controlled by the number of Strenath Points being ignored. ‘Wersgors Paver the atempt has faled and the leder i ‘wounded. The leader piece is Mipped 10 Its wounded side. I the leader i already ‘wounded, he has been tilled and is Femoved trom play” tthe die roll Attacker’s Column Shifts greater than twice the losses being Hgnored, the attempt has been successful «# Column shift tothe right equa tothe ee ee ee eouatease net Conbattingof one eaderintheattack: fat (ores Its force oti destroyed tng free Incombat, any leader sacked with that # tiotherightif brother Parvusisin the fore is killed, unless tis procedure is ingin an attacking force (Crusader Player only. yyed to save atleast 1 Strength Point. Ifthe defending Player can choose to be © To the right i Crusading Fervor isn he die roll is not sufcient to save 1 outside or inside the fort or fortress This effet (Crusader Player onl) Strength Point, the leer is killed)_fedeclared before the combat i resolved {¢ 110 the right ifthe True Gall is with vane ates eam Inthe Player chooses to be outside, the the atacking force (Crusader Payer Uns cantavance ater combat S00 fort fortes has eet on Combat TT ni ‘that units that have captured fort orFor- ihe player chouses to be inside the con 1 Column shits equal to the Equipment tesscan edvanco into and occupy it. hp strength ofthe fort oF fortress 5 Foint modifier (Crusader Paver only). Each time a Player causes Enemy forees added othe defender’ total. The combat © Column abits equal 10 the LQ. Point {otakelosseswithoutsuflering any losses stength of forts 4 pots and the con oder Wersgorts Player only) himself, he earns 110, Point tf he isthe at strength of a fortress 6 points. An {# Column shifts tothe right equal tothe YWerogorix Plier! of 1 Equipment Point isi Marker is placed on top ofall nits ‘Rrrain Modifier of the plane if the com- GF he isthe Crusader Player). The proper in the fort or fortress. The attacker now round combat and ifthe modifier marker ix moved up on ls track to note has the option to place the defender is preceded by an A. this Lunde seg Sieg is noted by moving the tacking units into the hex on top of the hesnged Toren. The besieged pices cn ot be maved or receive reinforcements unt the seg isended A sige is ered when: 16 The fort or fortress alls by siege or by storming attempt "The besieging foree chooses to leave. © Te Strength Points of the besieging force are less than the combat strength of Any leaders alone in a a hex that is the fort or fortress alone. This combat attscked by an enemy force are automati-- strength doos not include the Strength resolved using the Strength Points ofthe ort (#or fortres (61 and sealculated asa normal attack. However the WERSGORDX COMBAT TABLE always used tofind the ‘outcome, ever ifthe attacker i the Cru ‘The following conditions will cause a column shit on tormolve theattack fader Player Ifthe combat result indi cates lose to the attacker the result Ignored. A fort or fortress can attack any rhumber of times during a turn, but ean ‘only atack each enemy fleet once. (This Defender’s Column Shifts 1 an occupied Fort or Fortress is cap: €# Column shifts tothe left equal to the Storm, the capturing Player Combat Rating of one leader in the defending free 1 1to the left if Brother Parvus isin the a Player captures an Enemy lesder, the defending force Crusader Player only). Enemy leader may Defect during later { Column shifts tothe lft equal to the Game Tur, See Step othe REINFORCE. Fguipment Point modifier (Crusader MENT AND RANDOM EVENT PHASE. Pier on Captured leaders can never be executed 1 Column shifts tothe left equal tothe 1a: Point modifier (iersgorin Payer he combat rating of the Thrall Race 1 The number of Crusader or Crusider Ally Strength Points on the planet. (9-1 the Thrall Race is Warlke © 3 1F the Thrall Race has a Meet and suprRacr © 1 point for each 1.0, Point spent to modify the die ol, IF the de rolls less than or equal to the Wersgorix leaders Political Rating, the Thrall Race has been reconquered. The Thrall Race Marker is turned face down, The Crusader Player no longer canals the Thrall Race, A Thrall Race can be Converted and reconquered any number of times. The Crusader gains strength Points lor an army and fet, if applicable) only the first time a Thrall Race is Converted The Cru sader Player does not gain additional Strength Points if the Thrall Race is Reconverted after being reconquered by the Wersgorix. aConverted Thrall ace is reconquered by the Wersgoris, the Fiel Marker remains onthe planet and the conquered planet counts against the leader's fief Timit If the planet x recenuered by Cr: sider forces, the Crasader Player can reassign the Fie to ciferent leader he chooses E. TITLES Crusader leaders can be granted Tiles Tiles are of three kinds: Noble (Knight. ‘Baron, Duke), eclesiastial Archbishop, ‘New Pope) and Royal (King) A Crusader leader an hold ane Nable sid one Ecce Slastlcl Title atthe same time. leader ‘who holds the Royal Tle cannot hold any Dither ttle leader’ title determines how ‘many Thrall Races the leader can hold as fiefs. A Crusader leader ean hold » fe only if he has Noble or Royal Title (Exception: Brother Parvus does not need ‘Noble Title o hod fiefs. The number of Tes that ear beheld by each tie i sted below. The names in parentheses are the leaders who hold Noble Tiles when the ‘game begins: ‘Title Flef Limit King Any number of ties Doke fete Baron (Si Roger) Knight (ie Owain, Sir evil) 1 fet clestastical Ties have no effect on leader Fiet Limit. Titles can be given if certain conditions aremet The conditions vary with thetile fen and are listed below: Knight: The king or Si Roger if theres no King) can make any leader a Knight Both leaders must be inthe same area as 8 church during Stop 2of the FIEE ASSIGN. MENT AND CRUSADER TITLE PHASE. A Knight Marker is placed in the CRU: SADER LEADER “TITLE BOX with the leader's name, Baron: The king Or Sir Roger i there is ‘no King) ean invest any Knight with the title Baron. Both leaders mst be in the same area as a chureh during Step 2 of the FIEP ASSIGNMENT AND CRUSADER ‘TITLE PHASE. A Baron Marker ie placed fn the CRUSADER LEADER TITLE BOX swith the leader's name Duke: The King can invest any Baron With the tile Duke. Both leaders mst be Inthe same hex as cathedral during Step 2 of the FIEF ASSIGNMENT AND CRU: SADER TITLE PHASE. The Duke Marker is placed in the CRUSADER LEADER ‘TITLE BOX with the leaders name. King: ‘The New Pope can crown any ‘ited Crusader Inader King. All Crusider leaders must be in the same hex as a cathedral during Step 2 of the FIEF ‘ASSIGNMENT. AND CHUSADER "TITLE PHASE. The Crown Marker is placed in ‘the CRUSADER LEADER TITLE BOX with the leader’ name. Archbishop: The New Pope (or Brother Parvus if there is no Nave Pope) can pro- claim another leader Archbishop. Both pieces must be in the same area as. cathe ral during Step 2 of the FIEF ASSIGN. MENT AND CRUSADER TITLE PHASE, The Archbishop Marker is placed in the (CRUSADER LEADER TITLE BOX with the leaders name [New Pope: An Archbishop can procaim another Archbishop (or Brother Parvus) the New Pope. Brother Parvus does not have tobe an Archbishop to receive the tile of Nev" Pope Both leaders must bein the ante area asa cathedral, during Step 22 of the FEF ASSIGNMENT AND CRU SADER TITLE PHASE, The New Pape ‘Marker i placed inthe CRUSADER TITLE [BOX with the leader's name leader cannot grant more than one tile per Turn, nor ean he receive more than ‘ne title per Turn, A leader eannot grant ‘ny tile inthe same Turn that he receives any te Sir Roger loses the ability to grant titles if Some other Crusader leader becomes King Brother Parvus lowes the ability 0 grant tiles if some other Crusader leader is {ven the title of New Pope, Crusader Allyand Thrall aoe leaderscan never receive or grant titles ar old fits 9 ‘ALLIANCES During the CRUSADER ALLIANCE PHASE, the Crusader Player can try to ‘make an allanee with an Independent Race.Such an allanee provides adlitional forces tobe used against the Empire. Dur- ing the ALLIANCE DISRUPTION PHASE, the Wersgorix Player attempts to breakTHE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 12 ‘exkiting crusader alliances, At the bes hing of the game all fodependent Races are Neutral No alliances are in fore ‘form or break an alliance, the Player ‘must havea leader onthe home planet of the race the alliance attempt willbe made With. Note that the Jaie Race has two home planets During his ALLIANCE: PHASE, the Phas: Ing Player announces which leader on an Independent Race home planet will be used 10 make Gf Crusader) oF break Gt \ersgorin an alliance. One die i rolled and the leaders Political Rating i aed tothe die roll. If there I an Enemy leader ‘on the planet shen the attempt is made the Political Ratingof one Enemy leader i subtracted From the die roll the mods 1 de rolls greater than or equal tothe lance Range printed on the map), the attempt is successful Brother Parvis cannot be use to form an allaneo, However if he fs present with a leader attempting to form an alliance, Brother Parvus can add his Political Rat Jing to the attempt, due to his translation 1 the Wersgoris Player makes an atack ‘nan independent ace home planet ot attacks a Independent piece, that Race is permanent allied to the Crusaders Such an aliance can never be broken Af an alliance ix made, the race A0W a Crusader Ally. The Crusader Player can immediately place Crusader Ally pisces ‘on the Ally home planet or planets) ‘he numberof Strength Points that ean be placed is equal tothe result of one die rol placed onthe map. Each turn the allanee Inimelfect, the Crustder Player ean enter fone dies roll worth of reinforcements ‘uring the Reinforcement Step, Crusader Ally pieces are controlled by the Crusader Plaver and can be used normally. The (crusader lly leader iy placed with an Crusader Ally piece, If an alliance is broken, the Ally immed: ately becomes Neutral. No piace belong ing to that Independent Race can be moved or take part in combat. The Cru: Sader Player ean attempt to reform an alliance with that Race 10 Regardless of the scenario chosen, the setap instructions and game play are the Same. The only differences between the scenarios are the Victory Condliions A. BASIC SCENARIO The gamelass 15 turns. The units of both Players are set up as given in PART 3. Vie tory conditions are checked at the end of Game Turn 15 to 268 who has won the fame ‘The Crusader Payer wins by exptaring the planet Wersgorix, or by capturing four ofthe other sx capitals, or by con verting nine Thrall Races In order to win bby converting Thrall Races, the Cru: saders must have a King atthe end of the fame. The Wersgorx Payer wins by preventing the Crusader Player from achieving his victory conditions, or by eliminating all Crusader units and leaders. B. CAMPAIGN SCENARIO ‘The game lasts 30 turns. Hoth players’ forces are st up as given in PART 3. The victory conditions are checked at the end ‘of Game Tum 30 to see who has won the ‘ame ‘The Crusader Player wins by controlling all capitals on the map or by eonverting 14 Thrall Races, tn order twin by com \erting Thrall Races, the Crusaders must, havea King atthe end ofthe game The Wersgorix Player wins by preventing, the Crusader Player from fulling hive tory conditions or by eliminating all Cr sder units and leaders, RANDOM EVENT EXPLANATIONS At the beginning of each Game Turn both Players determine what their random fevent Uf any for the Turn will be. The results of a random event dice roll ean never be volunterily ignored by either Player. A, CRUSADER RANDOM EVENTS Leader Falls Ill: One Crusader leader thas become il. 'fo determine the leader, Immediately roll one die and find the real 1 = Sie Roger 3 — Sir Brian 44 — Brother Parvus 5 — Red John 6 — Roll again The pee i fippecl over to show the lead side. on the wounded side leader has died and i re ‘moved from play Note: Wounded leaders have lower combat and polial ratings arth The Crusaders have learned th ‘general location af Earth. One Crusader (hot Crusader ally) leader must be removed from play during the CRU SADER MOVEMENT PHASE. along with at least one Fleet Strength. Point. The leader is placed on the GAME. TURN, EQUIPMENT TRACK. Boginning withthe next turn, the Crusader Player ean roll fone die at the start of the CRUSADER MOVEMENT PHASE. If 5 or 6s rolled, ‘the eadertwithout any Strength Poirishs returned to play at Thraxian. Each turn after this the Crusader Player will lose 1 Fleet Strength Point at the beginning of coach CRUSADER MOVEMENT PHASE This random event ean occur only once All subsequent rolls of this event are ‘treated as No Event Reinforcements: The Crusader Player Jmmediately rolls one die and enters the ‘number rolled as Strength Point rein forcements. These reinforcements repre: sent captured ships, converts, aes and ‘mercenaries. The reinforcements can be Used as either fleet or army Strength Points. They enter using the same method as normal reinforcements. Ally Becomes Neutral: One Crusader Ally immediately leaves the Crusader ali ance. I there are no Crusader alls, this is treated as No Event. I there is more than one Crusaader ally, the Crusader Player has his choice of what ally will leave the alliance. The units ofthat race cannot be moved until the allianceCRUSADE" RULES 14 {s reformed, No more Strength Points are {ined as reinforcements from that race Lunt the alliance s reformed. An alliance {s reformed by following the same proce {dures as those for forming an alliance as fgven in PART 9. Grails The Crusaders have heard rumors ofthe Holy Grail. The Wersgorix Player ‘Immediately places the Grail piece on any planet not oceupied by Wersgorix-oF Cr federcontolled pisces. The Grail pice fan be taken and carried by any army or fleet, The Grail piece ean be transferred from one unit toanother if oth units end the Then in the same hex, When a Cre: sader leader reaches the Grail pice, the Crusader Player rll one die: fhe result is Vr 2 the Grae real: any other num ber indicates the Grail was a false umor he Grails only a rumor: the Grail piece is immediately removed from play. The “True Grail will give a t column shift Cor ‘oth fleet and army combat tall con ‘ats fought by the Crusadereontroled force possessing the Grail. The True Grail ‘an be captured from the enemy in the fame manner aa a leader. The Tru Grail fan never be destroyed. Once the Grail piece hasbeen placed on the map, treat all further rolls ofthis event as No Event Crusading Fervor: The Crusaders, inont on erushing the Wersgoris, work themselves into a religious furs. During the CRUSADER COMBAT PHASE, all attacks re shifted 1 column tothe right Brother Parvus cannot be used to give & ‘column shift when Crusading Fervor bs ia effect. Crusading Fervor laste one turn, Tonie Storm: An ionic storm enters the ‘map. One die is rolled to find the entry point An lone Storm Marker place on the Tonie Storm Entry Hex matching the rhumber rolled. One die is rolled for the ‘rection ofthe storm and is compared to the direction indicator on the map. The ‘storm will move in that direction a num ber of hexes equal 19 one die rol If the storm leaves the map it is removed from play In Step 6 of the REINFORCEMENT ‘AND RANDOM EVENTS PHASE the direc tion and distance is determined again An ionic storm affects the bex itis in and all hexes it is adjacent to. No fleet can fener an area affected by anionic storm, Fleets in an tonic storms aren of effect cannot he moved. Heresy: A Converted Thrall race, chosen ny the Wersgorix Player: has an outbreak of religious heresy. A Heresy Marker is place immediatly on the planet. At the beginning of cach REINFORCEMENT AND RANDOM EVENTS PHASE, a check ‘a made to see if the heresy spread Al ‘her conversion attempts suffer aot penalty tothe die rolls long as any Her ‘cay Marker ls in play. A Hereey Marker ‘ean be removed by building s cathedral ‘on tho hortical planet or by attacking the “Thrall Race on the planeta cathedalis already bul, Any attack resulting in a Defender loss will remove the Heres. A heretical planet remains under Crusader ‘eantrol, but doesnot sais any Scenario Vietory Conditions. If the Wersgorl Player attacks forces on a heretical planet, the Heresy: Marker is removed ‘and the planet returns to Converted st ‘us before the combat is resolved. If there are currently no converted Thal Races, ‘threat this as No Event ‘Treachery: One Crosader leader other than Sir Roger and Brother Parvus) or a Crusader Ally leador goes over to the “Wersgori side for one turn. The leaders ‘chosen by the Crusader Player during the REINFORCEMENT AND. RANDOM EVENT PHASE. The treacherous leader Is controlled by the Wersgorix Player that Turn, The treacherous leader moves and fights as if were 2 Wersgoris leader It the treacherous leader fs stacked with ‘any Crusader combat units or moves through a hex containing only Crusader ‘combat units, ean move those units noe ‘mally there another Crusader or Ally Teader in the hex, a Command Dispute results, If there is @ Command Dispute the Wersgorix Player rolls one dio. I the roll i less than the treacherous leaders Political Rating, the treacherous leader hhas assumed command of all combat nits nthe hex. the roll i equal to or higher than the Politica Rating, the loyal ‘Crusader leader has assumed command the treacherous leader takes command, the Wersgorix Player can use the treach ferous leader and troops just as if they Were his own units. Regardless of who ‘wins @ Command Dispute, the losing leader moves and functions normally for the side that controls i Ambassador: 4 diplomat from a neu: ‘ral Independent Race arrives at Sit Rox fers camp. During the CRUSADER ALLI- ANCE. PHASE, the Crusader Player can temp to form an alance with the inde: pendant Race, using the procedure given In PART 9."The Crisader Player has the choice of whieh Independent Race the ‘diplomat i from. 1 the Crusaders cur rently have alances with ll independent aces on the map, treat this as No Event B. WERSGORIX RANDOM EVENTS Withdrawal The Wersgorix Player must immediately remove rom play 8 umber of Strength Points equal to the rollof one die, The points can be removed from any fleets, armies, or Garrison Markers on the map. The appropriate adjustments are made on the STRENGTH "TRACK. If points are removed from an Garrison Marker the marker is replaced bby anew ane to reflect the new strength, any unit is reduced toa strength of 0, that unit is eiminated. Reinforcements: Wersgorix Forces have recetved Strength Points from other parts ofthe Empire. One des rolled. This Jb the number of Strength Points the Wersgorix Player receives. All reinforce iments enter immediately at the planet Wersgorin. The Wersgorix Player can add these points to existing fleets or armies that are on Wersgors, eroate new fleets ‘or armies, or place 3 Garrison Marker on the planet. necessary, leet strength can toe taken as Uneollcted Strength Points Rebellion: One Thrall Race ofthe Cru sader Player's choice Converts. The Thrall Race piece t flipped to its Con verted side uring the REINFORCEMENT AND RANDOM EVENTS PHASE. No Flef Marker is placed. When a Crusader leader lands on the planet, hs Fiel ‘Marker is placed on the planet and the Strength Points of the Thrall Race are aude to his army’ This random event ‘does not require the Crusader Player to ‘expend Equipment Points or to bill ‘east or church, regardless of the Att tude ofthe chosen Thrall Race lest The Wersgorix have learned some rhew information about the Crusaders ‘They are all genetically superior aliens ‘sho breed For feroity in battle and have ‘mental control over thelr bodies. Boeausa fof this misinformation, the Wersgorix Player loses 31.0, Points. These points are subtracted immediatly Initiative: The Emperor realizes the Crusaders might be a threat to the ult mate survival of the Empire. During the‘THE HIGH CRUSADE RULES WERSGORIX ALERT PHASE, the \Wersgorix Player can play one extra Alert Marker If ll planets are already alerted when this event rolled, treat this as No vent. ‘arth: The Empire has learned the loca Noa of Earth. During the WERSGORIX MOVEMENT PHASE, the Wersgorix Plyer gains 11.0, Point for every 3 Fleet Srengih Points he removes from play. This can be done only during the WERSGORIX MOVEMENT PHASE imme: diately following the REINFORCEMENT. [AND RANDOM EVENTS PHASE in which this result was rolled. This event can occur only once: fit is rolled again, teat tas No Event CRUSADER COMBAT RESULT EXPLANATIONS ests iste inthe CRUSADER COMBAT TABLE are in pairs, The result tothe left ofthe slash the number) applies to let combat, and tothe right of the slash he lester to ground combat. FLEET COMBAT 1. Your flet gets lost due to bad naviga tion and never finds the enemy. Roll ane ‘ie and move your fletshin the direction ‘shown oa the JONICSTORM MOVEMENT INDICATOR that corresponds to the rol The flee(s) end thelr mave when they wach a hex on a diferent planet. 1f the Airection rolled would take the Net! off {he map without reaching any plane, the fleets) donot move, No combat takes place 2, Your navigators are poorly trained and you came into the combat area too fast. ‘ou lowe 2 Strength Points and the enemy owes 1 8. The battle arwa is a maze of asteroids land chunks of rock. oll ane die to see ‘which side had worse navigators (13 Wersgorix; 46 Crusader), The unfortu rate Player rolls ne die and adds 2t0 the result The final total is the number of Strength Points destroyed. 44. You outfit your erews and knights in spacesuits and send them into space. tna Mirprising move, they blow open the fnemy ll with bombs and board the fight handtohand. The ‘Wersgorix, unprepared, surfer badly. Roll two dice ta find the number of Enemy Strength Points lost. |. The battle isan inconchasve standoff. ach Plier lowes 1 Strength Point. How fever, during the delay someane managed teaffect the nearest Alert satelite. 1 the satelite is Off, I is immediately turned On. IF it is On, iis immediately turned (Off. Planets in a Defense Zone whose Alert Satelite was turned On become alerted, if they are not alerted already. Al planets in a Defense Zone whose Alert Satellite was turned Off become tmalerted. 6. You take a gamble and try a tactic you heard was used by galleys — ramming Each Player rolls one dic to find the nur ‘ber of Strength Points he loses, 7. The battle was a trap. Roll one die to See you escape the trapin time (1-8 No, 446 Yes). IF you were trapped, vou lose Strength Points equal tothe roll of two dice. if you escaped, the enemy loses Strength Points equal to the roll of one de 8. Your fet) arrived scattered and at diferent times. Roll one die to find the ‘number of Strength Points you lose. 89. Inexperienced in the hazard of space, you arrive just as an ion storm appears Place an Tonie Storm Marker in the hex yt are in, No combat ean occur 10. By parleying over the farspeaker, you ‘manage to convince the Wersgorix that ‘you are relly a super-race and have a ‘eath weapon. Disheartened, they fight feebly and and with no spirit. oll two dice to find the number of Enemy Strength Points los. GROUND COMBAT. A. The priests rouse your men intoa fight Ing fury by preaching about the perils of damnation ifthe godess Wersgorix are fot defeated. ‘The Wersgorix lose one Strength Poin for every 2Strength Points "you are attacking with, B. You try astrange enemy bomb.A huge firebalis the result. Rol one deo see it explodes in_your camp or his (13 Cru Sader: 4.6 Wersgori). Roll two dice to find the number of Strength Points elim nated, {G-Your newly captured weapons run out ‘of power The Wersgorx launch an imme ‘iste counterattack. You lose 1 Strength Point for every 3 defending Wersgoris Strength Points. 1, The leaders ofeach side hold parley. ‘Through bravado and gue, vou manage to arrange a truce. No combat occurs, Your archers fil the sky with arrows Although the arrows are not very accu: ate, the Wersgorix have no armor to pro tect themselves. Roll one die to find the ‘number of Wersgorix Strength Points lost Tho Worsgorix troops have set up & ‘camp gleaming with strange equipment ‘and powerfulooking engines. During the fight your men become afraid. The attack the next morning is half-hearted land weak, You love a number of Strength Points equal tothe roll of one de 6. You order your men to make a show of ‘brazen courage and strength before the battle, Dresed in the best eothes,prane: Ing your horses, and shouting fierce bat Hl cries, you tereify the Wersgoris troops with your blood-histiness. When the attack comes, they panie and run. Your knights gallop oot apd ride them down, taking many. prisoners. The Wersgoris Player loses 1 Strength Point for every 3 strength Points you attack with 1H During the night, you prepare covered pits, ramparts, chevau-de rise, and bar eades. In the morning. you goad the Wersgorix into attacking’ you. They advance and fall into your traps, Roll one tie and add Sto find the total number of Enemy Sirength Points lost. 1. Your knights, bred by inaction, decide they ean deal with these paynim. They recklesly charge the enemy. As they charge, the enemy line wavers. Roll one ‘let soe the knights are successful 03 ‘No; 46 es). If successful the enemy loses ‘number of Strength Points equal tothe roll of ene die. If unsuccessfl you love & rhumber of Strength Points equal 10 the tn an attempt to force the enemy to sur render, you order your men to drive & ‘wedge through thair lines and capture their leader. You lose 3 Strength Points doing #0, The enemy loses 2 nunuber of Strength Points equal to the roll of one def the enemy's loses are greater than Yours, you have wounded the enemy leader. If there is no enemy leader present, you were tricked into thinking e was ane. No Friendly leaders are burt,"THE HIGH CRUSADE" RULES 18 ‘ae nts ne i abr [nae sabe mike [nar | | | | ae lw ma ee ol pet] |t- seit] [tL ai) | - 8 | ie ail |- se a 5 4H) [+ | a) ale ed i fib! fib, ib“MINIATURESrere bh aS S & (3Donut Te ee ee from my cutlaser as pranced theoagh ees resin eaters ee ert eee ec Ren Pee eee peeprerenrroy pennies Rene ee Pen eRe Ree ete ene foment essence eet it aa Ca ea Sennen) nr tar ernate eter Taty foe pene peep pene ee rarer err ec i een a Eo cence a Sete | reese eee a Renee ener Peet Ts erected Seren ent ea nT ei errata ea entries ir poe tt eee teen eae ron Prenton ener Poorer eerneetereerteetny Perret ete etd cer eee Pnretrnrren erry Eee ee Ne peter rere he ere net Peer Peery ery i Beethro ie ant perp teeeeipiyente sth th a AL aid wa ne Par Payee cope ign erent Pearse terete Perens ary beepers peering ee Pt Eerste hae pomereny reir tte erent pace peer ein ere eee ee er enna eset a Pee re eee Pron ee Po ee ey cere earner Eng Re teeny a een) Saray een cee from ARES Magazine isue #10, fsone Peet Sey Concert an enti) Pare err et oem ange een en ee poner ester erences Exereevore penn Pree ren on errs etc al Pomerat Pee eects have been unreasonably unlucky, they Seen en ee ee Peer rere Pert ete tt) deserves, etree fore irre rere erg eenatas rreemeeenennnarearer fie peer eee ns an eter Serene cnt erry ct ee LT ort ea Prarinenrnen ey Seer ery ener re ty Peterman ee Retreat Pee eee Red wrteenen tery rear all ene ea Mark 2500 attacks frst, of | rd ee) Psa ee Oe cn rer Pee See ene pce tenes Pee en ntenri Pree et Peart ins Pear mle inward an rear near ren coe eee Pre 5 ed renee eens ae ner rer ne sn cry eee erry ee reas eM te] reinegnne ena Bose Ce Soren area Seer a eet renee as femecerinrer terra Pere Ren ny peorererete ee reenter Feehan ee sre ener nares suit somewhere if sou want Perera een ern rove eee en ete? een ore ted oes Pere rene Peers ere ear Creer ey ny ee Peer ernie rs Cee Rete coere atts Perens a Pieener rene nro Pereira eneetnrerT nen prices retcrtrs Pee ems eee ery peerree erep-mier ara co ene ee Eh eee eee Ly lowest Alertness Rating Peer ert Peg eee es ee ee mre erent pee Tea ne emma penneeent ey eens itr peeane ne er eee eet etc errs‘AS TRAVELLER game referees develop their campaigns, wherever ther may be Tocate in the galaxy, the desire may appear in time to erate new alien races for the players to encounter interact ‘with and possibly run as characters, ‘Alin races require considerable atten tion on the referee’ part to make them ‘onsistent and plavable within the game Stem it doesn do ta proclace a bu ‘eve wbatst with a blaster and allt ‘able alien being, “dges Guild, tne. has produced a series of sector maps for TRAVELLER, game adventures, collectively known as the Gateway Quadrant, se in GDW's Imperium. The Gateway Quadrant con- tan small interstellar nation & the tailing edge ofthe Impe jum, a number of which are dominated hy hath alien and variant human races ‘One of the most notable ofthe human descended “alien” races i that oft Sydvmites, who are briefly deseribed in the booklet on the Ley Sector The Sydymites command! their ven subse: tor-sized empire. and are essentially unfriendly toward the Imperium can: terns about invasions from and border incidents with the Sylvie Empire run strong. in that end of the Imperium and the Suites generate considerabin influence though of a negative quality) ‘within the sector asa whole ‘Asan example of how a TRAVELLER game referee can go about dealing new Faces for use ingame adventures. the Svdvmite people are deseribed below With the Kind permission of Judges Guild, ne. The description contains the physical appearance of th hotes on their history ‘ent and military and Finally. how they ‘may be used as plaver characters or [NPCs within a TRAVELLER game cat: palgn set in the Ley Sector. They may, of course be adapted into other TRAVEL. LER game universes and campaigns as desired Sydymites Homo sapiens sopateri The Srdvmites area minor human race from the Svdymic Empire subsector of Ley Sector, Gateway Quadrant. Their ancestors were apparently transplantedfrom Terr to Sopater (A-56789915-N) some 300,000 years ago by the Ancients and since then have adapted to ther Fomeworlds lower gravity. Named for Sydvm. the major industrialized cont rent on Sopater these poople are quite {alland thin, averaging 24 meters in Fight and 200, neigh. Skin tone anges from pale olive to sandy brow: lve and hair colors are grav. brown. oF black, Symites have very thin, sparse hair and most males are completely bald; many females develop bald spots on their crowns and upper foreheads Ther oints are enlarge in appearance and they have broad feet, giving thers Somewhat knobby look, thovgh the are not unhandsome: Syelvmites tend to sulfer from spinal, arthritic, and ire tory disorders because of their sie, and they prefer to colon small, lew. density worlds with low gravis. ‘Though Sydymites are interfere with ther races of humanit they strongly prefer to have children only among their own poopie History Contacte by Solomani military forces in 2174 Imperial, the Svdymites TL. 2 world culture was severely disrupted At first the smaller Soloman humans ‘were believed tobe gods, and this was Plaved upon by the feet admiral and his Stalf. Time, however, told the truth and the Solomani were found 10 be no bet ter and in some ways worse than the Syymites themselves. Their cultural Deritage and traditions eroded! under the poorly restrained contact the Solo ‘mani made with them, and ther sell= mage was shattered by their classification as "minor" race, unm portant inthe affairs of interstellar life. Despite differences between the two races, active recruiting of Svdymites ito the military technical, and trade forces ofthe Soloman Rule of Man grew over ‘many years. Nicknamed “slits the Sydymites became common sight teroas thei subsector and neighboring ones as wel ‘As the fabric holding the Rue of an together began to unravel, so did the tis binding the Sydymites tothe Solo mani empire. Economic dificult pro duced minor uprisings throughout thelr home subsector from -1800 tmpeial on with the mutiny aboard and hijacking of 1 Solomani heavy cruiser, the unrest turned into a fllacale war, Weakened {nd demoralized by the fading contact with theres of the galaxy, the Solomant forces withdrew to spinward, where they joined other refugees of the ca: lapue arid formed the Matarishan Heder ation, Sopater declared ite an indepen dent work 1772 Imperial and wing captured starship, wat able to ly lay {Goveral nearby works and esablah the Union of Syne Worlds st oF the Solomanl mans in he area were termite wo lee or were forty tlporte, but afew were allowed fo emai instead, Av ofthe 1100 cons Soloman! descended humans made up about 7% ofthe population ofthe Symi tmpie ‘Over the net vo thousand years the seymiten rel alone, and they techme preaccupled with malraiing thei technological experie and esas lishing new colonies in ther subsector The ellape ofthe Rae of Nan dd considerable damage to their tech levels fia ith dct that they were sl to Keep ther interstellar network operating. Sly they bean to establih athe culture managing to elnint tnuch of what they considered “alien te reaining may of tele alder ral This period came to an end in 389 Inper en asc ship from the “Third peri discovered «Syme clang ac was fied upon, Farther inedents rake aut asthe Ssvats, ten ad never forgaten the Rue of Man tended oie fist at untae ships and ask for Meieton ltr Spertteighng earied on fortwo Hancved years eihout mor grins o Tones on ether sie, During the impe Sal Gil War (604622 Imperial the {om the area a ting el ts al Taking advantage ofthis quietude, a Sivmie naval admiral had himel flected avernor of the Union, ad et Shout restructuring the democratic federation ito a consttutiana mona thy Te change had ile eect on the governing ofthe Seve words (now Ealled the Sync Empire) a both forms of government were Real aden for tadzins the new regen toga the support ofthe populace for is plies, 2s they greatly feted being absorbed ita the Imperium andl dominated asin When the Imperial frees gradually returned tote ares they faced an even tore determined opponent tan before td the undeclared war faded ot entirely The ive hurdred year since the establishment ofthe Symi pire have been characteroad by svorfare wet the Zltanate AT Amya the nearet empire to rang by continued ‘consolation of the wordt the Empire, and by expansion coreward. 1reases in teh level overall have been, hampered by the governments empha: sixon bringing all Svdvmic words onto ‘technologeal par with one another before further research fs permitted The coveward frontier consists almost entirely of underdeveloped worlds, and they are belived to be weakly held and likely to be abandoned i the forces there are required elshere truce of sorts fesse in effect with the Imperium since the 00's Impe- "al. hut border incidents and provocs ‘ions are common. Raids on merchant shipping an commandos strikes at iar targets and ships have become almost routine. The current Sylvie regent, Nalanda has made it elea that the Sydymic Empire doesnot fee con: rained to recognize elaims made Dy other interstellar sates upon works Within their own subsector or the Out ‘worlds subsector to rimward Further nates with the Imperium an 3 major scale are not anticipated. though minor Incidents such as the above vil kel continue indefinitely: conflicts with Independent stellar states to careward and to einvward are also posible and perhaps inevitable. The most serious threat may come from the Zultanate Al Ava to trailing, that state seems he preparing fora general had against ‘other neighboring states to trailing from, itcand the confiet may’ spill over into the Empires subsector. Society and Government The Sydvmites area cohesive and pur posetul people, welded together by rong cultural pride and distrust ofall neighboring interstellar states. Thee soctely reflects «sort of miltary spar anism, discouraging extravagance and siming for simple, unetional designs. Personal gin is neither important or “unimportant. though consideration of the welfare ofthe state and its people ‘comes first and heroism is encouraged, Citizens of the Empire are very law conscious, and seem quite accepting of the restrictive nature oftheir society tnd government. Ownership of neatly all forms of weapons is prohibited, except to military and ln enfore personnel: however provision is made {cave of work! invasion forthe rap Aistributon of weapons to the public and the organization of militia unitswhenever posible. For traditional rea “Though called an empire. the Sydymie government is better described as an Insulated bureaueraey having on im: ited and indirect interactions with the populace. The powers ofthe regent are ‘ireumseribed by the constittional charter drawn up when the Empire was formed upon the death ofthe old ‘regent new one selected by a council of aders from worlds with populations In excess of ane milion Individual ‘world governments are spl extensions ofthe interstellar gove ‘ment on Sopater and mange affairs down tothe city level. Though {nd support its polices, particularly with respect to the imperium and neigh boring states Military Iehas been mandatory for centuries For all ablebotied males to serve at ast fone term in some form of lta serv ‘engaged in world exploration and some degree of military spying. I necessary. the Empire can drat planetary army Sydvmie Empire hires no merce: naries of any kind, and no such forces ‘eile found within their empire. The ‘regent in theory has command overall Ing the immediate defenses of the ‘worlds involved, s handled by the kner= ‘Sellar navy. The border patrol is sub isision of the naval structure, Refereeing the Sydymites Ethnic Sydymites are appreciably larger and stronger than SolomaniViani ‘humans, though aging factors wear at them toa greater extent The basic UPP fof a Sydymite character is generated as {or other humans, but a "2 die moxie {saalded tothe strength score and "1 ‘le medifier to the endurance score: ‘masimum seares in any event eanot exceed F 05), . "The prior service resalution for Sdvmites is rather diferent from nor smal, Males with an endurance of - and al females are exempt from the draft though they may join military services voluntarily These people resolve their prior service careers normally as per the TRAVELLER game res ith some ‘modifications describe! bel{oll 146 on Table 1: use Table 2 only if directed by Table 1 ‘Tables roll service 1 Army 2 Army 3 Army 4 Sailor vet navy? 3 Flyer aie force! 6 Rallon Table 2 roll 3 © order Patrol (ee below) Aad *2 die master to rolls on Table 1 at discretion of player if characters Social standing i Bor greater. {Change Army to Sailor if homeworld has hnydrosphere of ‘Change Sailor to Army if homeworld has Inydrosphere af or (Change Flyer toa reroll on Table 2if homeworld has an atmosphere of 3 The noted term of servi i served faut as per the normal rules in Book 1 or Supplement 4 Ifthe character survives, the may be mustered out if the player desines and may then recnlst some other service for another six terms ma mum: the charaeter may also re-enlist inthe same servie as drafted into, receiving a°2 die modifier on the frst. ‘reenlistment roll only. A character ould if desired, muster out of the frafted service and enter play at age 22 Sydymite characters may enlist in any prior service descrod in the TRAVEL: LER Game Book 1 oF Supplement 4, with the exception of the Barbarian career Bolter characters may start stage 18 not age 14 ae svally dane. Characters tay also enter Book 4 Mereenaryif the frm of marine eareers are chosen, but tay not se this system upon the First Grafted enlistment: characters drafted {nto the army or marines must serve the first term of four years as described in Book 1, and afterwards may transfer {heir careers to the more advanced Book |Atables,Siilary, Book § (igh Guard) ‘may be chosen ony if reenlisting in ‘aval drafted service or ifthe character ‘sa female or male with endurance of, Characters using Book 4 are assumed to have had advanced training, and id not actually serve as mercenaries, The following changes must be made ‘when rolling « Sydymite character and fining skills all Blade Combat skis ‘ust be taken withthe 3 meter long blade weapon or with daggers all Trav elles’ benefits are taken ss "1 Social: the Batle Dres shill under the Sailr career is taken as Water Craft skill the Pilot sill under the Flver carver is taken as Ships Host ski the -1 Social adjustment ‘under the Pirate career benefits is taken 4.4 Weapon skill the Scout ship benefit, tinder the Scout career tied for rolling up Border Patrol personnel is taken as a oe sit skill for subsequent ratings of this benefit and the Watch bereft in the Bureaucrat career is taken a8 Middle Passage. Cash benefits, ofcourse, will be received inthe eurreney ofthe Sydyenic Empire, but are convertable and equiv: lent tothe listed amounts in imperial credits. Skills tha ean be only gotten froma Tl. 12+ culture, ike Battle Dress and High Energy Weapons, can be received within the Sydymic Empire and ‘encountered must be rerobe. ‘Aging resolution ls modified for sdymites by appiving 1 die modifier ving rol to avoid reductions in dexter: ity and endurance at all ages levels, due to the previously mentioned physiol cal problems they have. All other aspects of aging are as normal. While psionic abilities are known to cccur among Sydymites, they have no ‘orgunized means of developing those powers dike the Imperium’ clandestine Psioncs Insite. ‘although Syvmites do not have a nobility as such, they do have a distinct ‘upper class that is involved with most {governmental functions. Characters of Social Level B or higher are mast often ound in the Bureaucrat, Diplomat, oF Noble careers Pobles"are merely high level bureaucrats) though they are not resrited to them. Social Level F, how ver implies that the character has had Airect dealings with the Regent himself nd is assumodly on good terms with him, though the character is not neces. sarily in ine to succeed the regent Border Patrol career characters use cither the Scout carver Rogue carver trepresenting one who has delved deeply into espionage and sabotage, oF the Pirate career those responsible for the attacks on merchant shipping and military targets in surrounding interse: Tar states) Thus, the Rogue and Pirate careers are not necessarily frowned ‘upon by Sydymites in general, and even hhave a sort of special aura about them as apies always do. Playing the Sydymites ‘The most frequently encountered Sydymites outside of their Empire are diplomats, government officials on var ‘us missions, military officers accompa ning government people, and border patrols on exploratory of spy-related Iisions. Rarely will ther sorts of Sydvmite etizens be found, uti likely that many of them wil he acting 5 unofficial spies for their government. A Sydymite who travels For ascent is rare indeed as sich travel i forbidden (excep to those of very high socal sta {us Rarer stil s the Sydymite character ‘who wants to defect tothe Imperium, due to their patriotism and their distrust, of other societies, Player character Syymites should reflect most of the tats deseribed above, particularly distrust of tmperala Sand other outsiders, patriotism and ‘edication tothe Empire alwough this ‘may become a ite tarnished and a iske for extravagance (ain, this may Joe less the case among the upper classes. n general, Sydymites are quite willing to endure restriction or hardship FF they feel t necessary If desired, a character may be a Solo maniescende! human citizen of the Empire. Prior service resolution and skilsaequistion are almost exactly the same as for ethnie Sydymites, though modifications to their UPP and aging Fesolution are not made and are per Formed as for normal human charac: ters. Note that these Soloman descended citizens will tare the same Attitudes as their taller cousins, and are ‘often recruited into the Border Patra, service (1 dle modifier to die roll when rolling on Table 21a they can better lnflrate Imperial and Zultani space and society ASWORDS AND STARS The Expanded Barbarian Class in TRAVELLER® Game by Roger E. Moore some suggestions for setting up adven- | worlds, on which travel about the sur tures involving barbarians or other face ofthe planet may be accomplished thas been noted that peuple who are | characters in the TRAVELLER game, | without hightech protective sults or ar ‘ised to gaming ina fantasy campaign | withemphasis on planetside traveling. — | tanks, World size may vary between 4 tnd A. atmosphere quality between 4 find 9 upposing thatthe tinted tm \barbarian by general definition, is an | sphere types may be tolerated or have Sometimes have trouble relating to-4 " Sencefction role plying game. finding | D&Vinition and Background ‘hard to change from a warvionstmes! with longsword and platemail nto individual from 4 nonsndusiial ad heen adapted to), and the hydrographic Space marine with laser rifle and pow: | probably agricultural society of low | peeentage Fevel may’ beat any Teel fred armor. In an article describing | population and primitive, pre spaceflight | hough values of Oor Aare rare; trace Saris backgrounds for along term hnology Such beings are faitly com | amounts of water for the former and TRAVELLER? game campaign", Andy | mon. even within the borders of an land area in the form of islands of 5% or Slack suggested that a TRAVELLER game | interstellar eulturesnot every person | less ofthe world surface area forthe Sire Sid have former faniayemne_| canbe complteyintagrated nto Inns ara puree) ord poyelaton Payers rollup tartarus and pay” | advanced soca and tome exlony | only rarely exceeds 6 and eke to Bo them fos a they dil thee characters in| works may regres technological or | centered arora ho wary areas oo brevou fantasy campaigns twitont | have unexplored eutacks of bw popu: | the planet magical aid of course’: they would be | lation density. Given these conditions, | ‘The averall tech level of such a world, tnterng ino the realm of ace chile | one would expect arbarians toe rg: | as mentioned before. smut alas 6 “allo rather thar a world red by | gedarnl phys strong, tse to Tong | or less wors that have developed imag The tranation rom one gate | Hours of manual labor tsperience im | spacefigh become capable of worl le tanother could be greaty enced, | wrtierness survival hunting and com | mapping and have a dstinel diferent and fewer players might be “turned off" | bat situations common among barbar- | consciousness regarding ther selfimage Dy the diferences between the wo | fan characters Sand placement inthe universe thar they stems, A possible campaign setting for | Though typically thought of as human, | formerly dl. tn effect, spaceight ‘barbarians in the TRAVELLER game was | barbarians may well be of other races, | dooms barbarism in afew short years. suggested inthe campaign mode ‘major and minor: there are numerous | Cultures that have achieved spaceflight Thieves World, by Chaosiam, Ine ‘ample in the Imperiam of minor | are also kely to have achieved the With this interest in bringing together | human races ving under barbarian- broad spectrum of technological fantasy and soiencefetion games Jevel conditions, and \argr and Aslan | advances including automation, indus {rough the barbarian characte. colonies Sometimes even Drovne colo- | tralization,telecommunications, and ‘becomes desirable to expand the barbar- | nies! may fall into this category. Rare | mass personal transport! of which spa Jan das inthe TRAVELLER game, to | instances have been reported io whieh | eight sa part. Perhaps ths, more Deter describe barbarian capabilities, | planet cocolonized by twoor more | than the posession of spaceflight Itself, sndio more deride abarbaran | Tacs on porpose oy acer has | spel the nd of rh. Law eves characters previous life before he or | boen rediscovered ata barbarian cul. | on barbarian worlds are usually 4 or Sho journeys into. starfaring culture. | qural level. though barbarians are jast_| les, reflecting poor social awareness of isup tothe referee and plavers to more | as intelligent or as stupid as beings from | weapons of high technical complexity as fully describe the barbarian characters | any other world, they invariably have | wells the expected levels of leless attitudes, cultural background, and | poor educational and wcll standings | ness and societal conflict. Any govern ‘personality Gs the character a fighter? a | when compared with beings from | ment type is possible, though Few {hie?? a minstrel? woodsman? a rel: | world in the mainstream of galactic | barbarian worlds possess unified world sous wanderer? an expirate on the | culture. governments. They are usually baka: high seas? glider plot and scout? a Barbarian worlds and societies hy and_| ized into dozens, end possibly hundreds cavalry soldier) A barbar sncharacter | large share a number of characterises | or thousands of petty sates, kingdoms, foul! at likes Hells Angel «subtle | in-common with one another Starport | and so forth ‘Scholar or be some other role entirely. | quality usually poor, being lass D,E, | ” It should be noted that there are a Only imagination ean limit the possbii-_ | er X ines often the latter Their workds | numberof exceptions to the above gen ties. tend tole off the paths of the major | eralzations. Barbarian cultures may be “The following article is divided into | starlanes and trade routes, in interste- | found aboard giant derelict staships or three pars, First isan explanation of | Tar “backwater” regions. These worlds | regressed asteroid colonies, surrounded ‘who and what is considered “barbarian” | may be isolated by great distances from | by the stillfunctioning relies ofa forgot ‘within the TRAVELLER game frame- | other starfaring centers, orby zones of | ten technology. Wars sometimes leave 2 work, Next isthe expanded barbarian | hazardous travel Gonized dust or gas | hightech world in virtual ruin, inducing character generation tables with clouds, uneven space-time regions near | a barbaric state over much ofthe planet ‘escriptions of new skills, prior service | black or white holes,ete) Barbarian | untiitean rebuild itself or receive ald Patlonsle, and racial notes Last are’ | worlds are nearly always “open air from other worlds. Some colonies,although appearing quite advanced technically may sill adore to barbaric rusts and sockal systems these people areoten called “space sikings” in Sole tani parlance) Barbarian warriors may be fariliar withthe use of advanced ‘weapons ane! communications devices though they may not be abe to sll oF eps them and woul! abtain them ony from traders or smugers from other wworkls. Barbarian individuals may’ even ome from completely noo: barbarie taltures an worlds, having rejected Interaction with the culture and having decided instead to Tive in olated areas of the planet Any attempt to deseribe specifically shout what a harbarian iodvidusl would ook like or think ike is impos ible. In Solomani history alone, barb: n-cultures ince such diverse afferings as tenth century Vikings est tentury Romans, Aztees, feudal Same Fai, American Incans. Arica Zs Paci Islanders, Australian hushmen, | Han-dynasty Chinese, Huns, Hellenic vhs, Eakimnoes, Revolutionary Ameri | tan frontiersmen, Neolithic tesmes preWorll Wart Arabs, and athousand | fhore ietion le tare have long speculated on what var ied sorts of barbaric societies could | xis widening the fields of possibilities ven further, Now imagine the possi. | ties inherent in not stone world, but thousands! Expanded Barbarian Tables arbariane have prior services histories of considerable variety and color An individual may have Been involved i fs ina single ie Fantasy and selene time, ranging from the commana to the extraordinary. Careers mav ehange several ines asthe nal ages Tarharian human characters are gen crated at age 11 Their hasie characters ties ae rlled up as outlined be Endurance 26 Intelligence: als Education: ta Soil Stary te The barbarians homeworld should also he established at this times, Barbarians subtract one point trom both Fadueation ant Social Sanding foreach level their hhome culture is below tech level these tho scores, however, may not fall bev A value of Leach A barbarian gains aa ‘tomatic sill with one type of combat ‘weapon fae Weapons Skills Table fp 10 and roll randomly or choose a weapon allowed under the tec level of the tory is started A six-sided de srl fd the result indicates which ofthe Specific services on the Barbarian Sey: tes Table entered first 4 second rll fof the de Indicates how many years that ‘haracter will potentially spend in tat Serve, should he or she survive. Each sear within that service is resolved on the tables below. ina manner snlar to that used in Mercenary took Ahan High (Guard took 8), Survival ros are made teach year, with appropriate DMIs sted Inthe table followed by another roll 10 ‘obtain a sil that year No promotion rank or avards stem is inched! hes 2 barbarian toan interstellar culture), (Once all the years in ane term of server esolved, astming the char tanather service fora 110-6 sear term. Agog ef are applied athe end of each year that they would years, 38 years. and soon). fa Tharbarian charaeter success Tully makes the “continue roll fo enlist another term ‘of service, the service entered must be ran ‘domly rolled onthe Barbarian Services Pracess could cm ly occur Ge tinue indefinitely, characters should he mustered out before the aging effects become ton pronounced. 1. Harbarian Services Table Tviitars 2 Military 3 Miltary Givin, 3 Ghilin Barbarian Services Resolution Table Militory Civilian Ceiminal Daraif Stren tel shu ee: ‘oll ony atthe end of 1-6 year term To determine what skis were learned! heck the Miltary, Cela and Criminal Skil Tables as appropriate rolling 10 see which subtle Common Skill Recreational Skills et.) will be use kil determination, then roll again on the sub table for the specie skill A barbarian character may instead rll on the Personal Development Table any Time a skil is eared to increase sor her UPP scores insted of obtaining 2 spf sil. The resulting UPP modi ation is applied immediate to the character IVa weapon ski is received, the player must rol on the Weapons Skills Table to find the general cass of weapon learned (lade, Gin, Braxsing, How. Shiv. applying DMs for the home ‘worlds tech level TL). Then speci {spe of weapon may be chosen from the Weapons Tech Table, which correlates the homeworld TL. with the type of ‘weapons that ean be manufactured and maintained by Ht. Any weapen from the T1of the barbarians homeworld oe from lower TL may be chosen, bu weapons on a higher TL may be received. Descriptions of al listed tseapon iypes may be found in TRAVEL CER Book 1 (1981 edition) Ia While Skil s received, the player oes to the Vehicles Tech Table and may hoose a vehicle type available to his o her homeworld TLor toa kxser TL No vehicles made by TLs higher than that om the homeworld may be picked (Note Though Non powered Glider Craft ‘may be manufactured at TH 0 oF 1, they Fare ever come into general use until‘TL 2+) Only if the homeworld type fits the parameters listed after each vehicle \. Glvillan Skills Tables ype can that vehicle be chosen water 1 Basie 4 Recreational Skill 6 Organizational Skil raft for instance, would not eusedon | 3 Basie Ci 5 Recreational Skils*™ 7 Advanced Skills 4 world without water 3 Basie Civilian Skills | BAT Ramewort "12 “So sil ables in tary Skis Section ‘Basic Civilian Skills Organizational Skills Advanced Skill M1 Personal Development Table “2 Strength 22 endurance | 2 Mounting 2 Admin 2 Medica Sistrenain 2 Steward 3 Admin 3 Prospeting iibesterty | 4 Farming 4 Instruction 4 Mechanica St endurance | 5 Vehicle Skil Leder & Medel strength | & Mechanical 6 Lis 6 JackerTrades {2 Intligence Vi Griminal Skills Tables DM +3 if character és 34+ years old, or at 3 Basie Criminal Skills Basic Criminal Skills ‘option of plaver if homeworld TL 4% 2 Basie Criminal Skis 1 Survival " 4 Advanced Criina kits 2 Strontise 4 Advanced Criminal kis 3. ehiee Sk 1¥. Miliary Skills Tables 5 Recreational Sils™ 4 Caroing " eechonatie & Command Skils* 5 Weapon Si 4 Ral aay Sita | 2 Teche Criminal Skits Weapon skill 3 asic Miltary Skils. | DM -1°homeword 7 4. “See skills tables in Miltary Skill Section 4 Reenter lle | AAdsanced rial Skil Criminal Tonia kil & Command Skis 1 Weapon Si 1 Mechanic 4 ‘Techical Niitary Skills 2 Assination 2 Forgery 3 Bribery 5 Demoion DM «11 homeworld TL 4 3 Bees s best 5 Recon 5 Weapon skit ‘Basic Military Skills 6 Theft 6 Jack-o-Tra 1 Surv 2 Weapon Sil om 3 Weapon Sil ef wevice ar a batbarag the charactor 4 Recon i en ote mtorod et For orry 5 Nice sin four ears rounding opal ractons) expert wih tat cats es than Meehan thata barbarian hs spent inal the eri Further receptions he i tion serie carers put together the se benefit are taken as kil evel sn ecrestonl Sis Eharacters given one rollon the Bene- Using the vehi eed. Th ams 1 carouing | tsa which provides combined rece in reds ia cash bent is, 1 carong cath and materi bei Shaslned may oplonally be taken othe 2 Sambing, seein term tl cree oa tion 3 Wiest | Vit Beneftes Te Soros Hum bene € fuming | 1 Weapon that whatever goods the players want to 2 Weapon buy chon any be tone smal aval cman kl 3 hemor shioto that words che be Command Ske 4 Yeh certwatees maybe found on #711 1 tnerrogation 3 os eres plane 2 Reeruting &_s0s00 eres 3 Theten at 4 tnstrction ‘The Weapon Benefit maybe taken asa Vill Weapon Skills Table 5 Urader physical example of «weapon the char sn $a wariuenewivorcusame 2 Su oon rl oth nei a rte 2 bw Tchnica Military Sils expert n that weapon, The Armor 3 Bade cht & Gun technical fet ves the character so ack 4 Brawling 9 Gun 3 alae 2 eet lsosering | armor: ald comes wih the amor a thechiracter hth ail wih the bwin 1 NESE aieation | sll Sibson alls of Armor give bw2ir ts: £ eemdeg Seteton | Ghat character evel of ski in sg bw sir tise 3 Goamonewtane Shield even lth characte isfroma TL. (These de moire nat cumulative) 2+ world, The Vehicle Benefit gives the+1 die modifier 10 surprise victims is also Bxplanations of New Skills | ciate with each adiana sil 1X, Weapons Tech Table Land!sea Navigation: Although this | evel 71,0 Brawing kil Skil has nothing do with vain « hs kil refecs an nds Blades: Cade, pear Suecerfcthere uncon ache | Tet This rics nin Shi sh gan ava hak 1 | ay 9 epi or ede eal Bowe sng Farming: This kilns abasic | Wha tng seen heres LA ade: Dagger Pike, Sword | falar with the mah prevaest | fed Tal kl all oe to ML Bader Brondeword: Halberd | Gmthe homeworld of agricul fod | wallets elas a the He rom Tows:croubows alpen) | production higher ive of lal | Yropie hen ave appears tobe dng Gans: Match iand Cannon | fe naadualtoqrom more foo ons | Eorehung ee entre ating on te Fe ee hc Catan’ | area:ierty pantren thw homewor | tet darang Kuang ete) Ta Blade: Bayonet Rade Cul, | Seay Wen powonaun plants | Person wet Tet al wl be Gans Finck Maske Som silat weather prediction sao | Era only ona rll 12 DM 0 Gans inte Mad conferred by this sil thlsscor ls given with each level Te Guns: Finck Pista muri ‘Tet sil Person wth Tf sil wil “Arts: The Arts skill ives the individual emia Pee Knowledge in one of the following feds; | 80 gain a cumulative +1 DM when rwuatetoaden, Percussion | SAE seupture,usration, Acting! wna lockpick Kit toopen a none over Percussion Oratory, Dance, Photography, or other | tock File, Shotgun (or? shot) ris fields farther developed bY | Shield: Not everyone knows how to ‘TLS Guns:Carbine,Autopstol LMG. | the referee or the paver kvery two | properly usea shield An untrained (water-cooled, SMG. levels of Arts kil may (the referee | Person trying to use a shield wil gun Shotgun standard TRAVELLER® | slows andi the situation is appropr- | fniy a1 die modifier tobe hit by blade type) Hille Stelbo used asa *1DMton the Book 3 | or brawling weapons. A person withthe Reaction Table. The possibilities in mak- | Shield sil gains a2 die modifier to be TL6 Guns: Autorifle, LMG Gtandard tng money using this talent should be | jt by «blade or brawling weapons, end ‘TRAVELLER wpe) 7 . vee ‘blows {1:1 de modiior tobe hit by gn ot ove NOTE: “Assassination: This sil gives a char- | Weapons. The person using the shield Ber Gook 11281 edi) pgs. 4249 for | ater ahemediner to surprise oppo- | TSt have consciously tid to nterpose {dscusion of bow primitive firearms | nents when the characters traveling | t shiek between him or her and the porate If evel of sills geined with | slone. A person weit this skis so” | OPPOREN.A abled bearer may attack an Sn antique weapon, the skis not rans: | pale ot kling an opponent of ‘epponent in the same round he or shes ferabletw anyother sor of weapon. | jemanoid eppesrance tncading arg, | defending with the sie, but can only ‘Thus, atchlock Hand Cannon’ kil | Aslan, broynes and Humans} wih any | wt one-handed wespon. Note that a ‘cannot be applied to any other weapan, | weapon ithe opponent is surprised, on | sel protects against animal bites, fven though such a device according to | arollof 13 foliwing a sccesstul-to | awa, et, srl shield (03 moter book this treated in combat as body | hit rll with the weapon If ths assass- | Smeter or les) wil defend against at sto. Gaining a level of skill with any | nation rol als, normal damage is dane | St one person: larger sheds typ to 2 {un weapon, however alows one to use | to be victim, Each level of this ski over | Meter tal may defend against uP to flfother guns ata level of oneal effec | the first confers an addtional" DM to. | three opponents atacking from a char {ivenest farbarans who baveno skill” | thie“insant Koll Referees may | ter8 Font and ses. Small hicks withany gn ves DM appied | my ts robes on precautions | wen abut Shand ear sheds ing thom, a8 per Supplement + ofthe | the victim bas taken, appropriate The | erase 10 Kg or more, Higher TRAVELLER game books. ‘ppror levels will be capable of making lighter and possibly tougher shields. Some ‘hields may have a central spike Woing X. Vehicles Tech Table ger he ot All presume an open atmosphere of Sunes sated otherwise fmepponent a a normal lade wes JLo Swinming Sl iydro 30 TL 3 Lighter shan Ae ‘ew avaned ch wor a alee ‘Small Oared Craft (Atmos 6+) | forces that uti ail ore a ere aro rn weapon mourted inthe sheds Warcraft NOU) g1.4Steamowered cme bur thi practices uncommen. U1 Equestrian Skil iydro 99 Lind crt aiydro 10) | Grint ye ee sain ena Large Oared Steam Powered HIGH LIGHTNING™ game rules for Watererat= —lydr039) Taree yr e eee Siw stor a DM “eamster Skit dro 9) Foxe Wing Ai a a ng tne Sal aed craft, rep” ssnon 6 | Damage abe on p24) Netercat tivdro 1) TL.§ Wheeled Vehicles Hydro 9) ‘Swimming: ‘his skill reflects an indi- Tha Nenpowered Fized-Wing Air. viduals survival ability in the water, Ghiercrat Atmos 6 erat Jt taxmos 69 ‘movement speed of svimming, quality os ue woy_| saving anaes Sse Wameut —aygroay THE ATV tron) | a te Se eyes nog g) | mo-abir nhc aly omprosfingand a nove of Mow to | mae sia ltd a ener sil) tal bes cover hala reste not fot ste the sural ofthe nvvters | earns sune year could mean the | a thr wor neato nt td Soe Chartres courageous mercenary | ele seep rsd by se commander who perma hares | research stato, wich double an Equestrian: This noes character | Seana ihe enamoreonké means | allen soo Can he paves ene sd ll famauiy witha to pope mau | sunning cnt char- | the a Ho wi hey rat othe described in Deane TRAVELLER" 800k | vor governor Cre ths hsry | "Mh some of word ars wat aeeieara te hmm erally illmske roleplaying the character | to hire the group a ques into harbanc eves ‘much more eniovable: vou develop » | regions? What if the travelers fer to palgn module, in the booklet “Personal: Balen mode, | good idea ofthe characters personal take the player characters offworld for es of Sanctuary” p $0 | attitudes and style, and may find other | some reston? ‘Teamster: This isthe ability to drive an_| people enjoy your characters presence | "These are only a few of the possbil sanimaldrawn cart or wagon. As noted | as much as you do, One's past experi- | ties. In addition, any number of adven: above this sil wae also previously fence with Fantasy roleplaying games | ture madules currently available listed inthe Thieves’ World game ‘wll come in handy here lespecially the Thieves Word ity sys module or tem) ean be adapted with aitle work to Al'small"watercraftareassumed to | Adventures For Barbarians | fing TRAVEL game campaign. be about the size of a modern sailboat or | Asa background for barbarian adven- | the refere is agreeable. perhaps a ma less “large” watercraft are those rang | tures the referee should design a home- | cal system las mentioned inthe TRAVEL. ing up tothe largest steam and sailing | world on which most ofthe play wil | LER game scetion of Thieves Worle) ships ofthe 1700s and 1800s. All other | occur and detail it as much as possible. | could he develops, though psionics skis have been previously described in | In particular. the areas the characters | swould probably do just as well Psonic TRAVELLER Books 1.45, and Supple- | come from should be mapped out fust | characters would be rare In this world, ‘ment 4 (Gitizens ofthe Imperun fs in any fantasy game) and appropriate | though rudimentary training might be Players wishing to rollup Aslan, Vargr, | local histories and social notes should be | had for some very high rates, taking or Zhodani barbarians may do so using | laid out. Because this basally asc to properly learn at local "Wiz the information given inthe various | ence-fletion game, many’of the adven- | ards College” One could go so far as to Issues of The Journal of the Travellers’ | tures could be oriented around contaet | convert the maps of Grevhuwk, lack Ald Society 0718), 0r in supplements | with more advanced societies, For ‘moor, the City State ofthe Invincible the TRAVELLER game system on alien | example Overlord, Arduin, Cidre, oF the Young characters. The referve and players will | The adventurers could hear rumors of | Kingdoms from various fantasy role Ihave to decide on how such characters | a place where gods land on the earth in | plang games tothe world map, ‘may enter play in a largely Vlanisolo- | great meteors (posily astarport. The |" The TRAVELLER game rules could be ‘mani universe. but a world colonized by. | players may’ decide to take the long trek | expanded to include new types of armor several races is always a possibilty. {ollearn what they ean about this phe- | tie chain mall, new weapons taxes, or Barbaric Droyne societies are not___| nomenon. What will they do when they | instance, alchemy and herbal sciences especially uncommon. A Droyne barbar- | ean find that the gods are mortal? {chew this plant to become stronger, lan may be generated from the Droyne | "A legend may be circulating among | crazier, intoxicated, or potsoned, other Acquired Skils Table in Adventure 3: | the tribes that some unknown warriors | new primitive sill, and more. Perhaps Twlghts Peak, with the following buried a eache of treasure and magical | the most interesting expansion might be changes made on some ofthe skills | artifaets in a eave some distance from | to develop rationale for using fantastic therein: eliminate the Advanced Fduca- | the tribes lands. Could this be false | creatures found in other fantasy games. tion table, change Engineering and Ble- | legend. or could it mean some other | “Ones" might bea variant race of {tronics skills to Mechanicalchango | tnbe buried gold and siker there? Were | Humaniti naive to certain word Como skills skils to Mechanical} the warriors just bandits.ora roval | There might he dragons in the moun: ‘TL 4 change Computer to Medical, | party burying a chieftain or king with | tains, and they might breathe fire, Might change Gravitics and Vacr Suit skis to | his wealth? Were they pirates from | there not be gods” This later possi \Whicle onthe barbarian vehices ists, | space hiding technological lot and ity eould be very interesting to try and ‘oF treat as Flying skill, change interro- | Imperial credits? Paper money may __| explain through sciemfic and technolog- {ation skills to Black skill and roll for | appear worthless to barbarians unfami-_| le means Specific skill on that table, and change | lar with itn one campaign Htook part | Barbarians can adel a new dimension Demolition skil to Weapon 2 skillif TL | in, two of the barbarian characters were | to TRAVELLER game campaigns with 1s. alleles as normal for Drovnes, | even unfamiliar wth gold and silver | their emphasis onthe primitive aginst unless the society has lost their ability to. | curreney and threw away hundreds of | the oltrasmodern, and with the orient ‘assign cases with cayns, in which cise | eoins for amusement, tion toward a planet ‘based campaign, all the Droynes are sports. Allweapons | "An old disabled starship might be | Those players who have yearned to are as described for barbarians in gen- | uncovered ina rocky or avergrown | drop the sword and draw the laser rifle feral, Droyne may learn to use shields of | jungle area. What secrets dd it hide? | on the band of brands bearing denen small size only (ee picture on p. 64 of | How much of it might be functional st? | on them might just Find this system to ‘Adventure 3. Unknown tothe players, an imperial | be their best opportunity a “Making up a rationale for characters | research sation is located onthe bar past history can prove to be quite enjoy. | barian planet. What i the player charac: | “A Backdrop of Stars’ by Andy Slack, able. What dd your character do to | ters accidentally discover it Other | WHITE DWARF™ Magazine #24 (April! farn that Assassination skil? A barely- | varatons on this theme might have the | May 198%).By Greg Costikyan ‘ea With The Black Dragon HA. McAvoy, Bantam Hooks, $2.75 (paperback) isa real treat to find anew author who writes something that is not only a ‘good first effort but a superb book in its ‘vn right one Lexpect to reread several times inthe future im speaking of RA Macavoy's Tea with the Black Dragon, (Credit should go to Bantam for pub: lishing Mac voy. Tea ith te Black Dragan isnot easily categorized, and thisis an era in which publishers are increasingly on the hunt for books they can fit nealy into a marketing category The story takes place in modern Cali fornia, shifting between San Francisco ‘and Silicon Valley; Its 2 fantasy novel ln ‘which the wizards are computer pro {grammers and their magic works with microprocessors, The main character of the novel is ndewd a dragon, an oriental ‘one who has adopted human shape In ‘order to learn more about human nt ‘ure and satisy a milleniadong interest in language. When he meets a woman in San Franciso whose programmer ‘daughter has disappeared, he pulls out his copy of Knuth to bone up on pro: {gramming languages before venturing forth to help, "Tha withthe Black Dragon is 8 book mystery lovers, computer people, and Fantasy fans wil all enjoy. tna way, i ashame that Bantam’ packaging isso ‘oriented toward the fantasy market, {hiss the Kind of book that could do very wel inthe mainstream. Macavay 6 a perfectly charming writer, and I, for Took forward tothe next work anticipation, ‘The Rainbow Cadenza 4.Nell Schulman, Simon and Schuster $15.96 (hard cover) On one level, The Rainbow Cadenzais about conscription and its inherent ev Tn this wor’ past, genetic technology allowed the selection of the sox of chi Gren, and the result was that many ‘more males than females were born — partly because most cultures diserimi pated in favor of males, and because ‘many cultures provided bounties for those who produced soldiers. 0 relieve the sexual rustraions ‘of the populace and to prevent violence the world government ha instituted ‘conscription of women; fr two vears, ‘each woman must serve asa militarized prostitute, ‘On another level, itis @ novel about art.toan Barri, the protagonist studies Insegraphy, the artform of laser imaging She is a super’ player but her career i ‘out short by the daft. She must make & ‘choice between what society claims are her obligations, nd the goals which she wishes to pursue ‘On yet another level, the novel is humorous: A female draft, forthe ti ‘eral purpose of "making lve, not war" ‘an Ameria in which the predominant roligion is Wiccan Paganism; a Libortar. jan Party whose lesder i a defender of the draft and himself an oppressive sve. The Rainbow Cadenza is «personal novel ofan artstattempting to survive {and grow despite the oppresslon of the State, and attempting to discharge obl {ations to friends despite all legal and ‘emotional obstacles, Joan Darvis , 10 my mind, one of the most appealing Iheroines of modern science fiction. A Century of Progress Fred Saberhagen, Tor Books, $2.95 (paperback) Hike Saberhagen quite lot, 0 it greves re to report that A Century of Progress is under par. The premise Is interesting: AAtrans emporal,trans-universal war is being conducted between an alterna really empire which derives from Nazi Germany and a group of people who {one presumes) are freedom loving dem ‘crats say presumes, because Saberhagen never actually shows that they are democrats — simply that they are opposed tothe totalitarian) ‘The protagonist Alan Norlund, is recruited by the good guys, and sent on ‘a mysterious mission into Chicago in the 19908. After several adventures, he rmeets the gir of hi dreams, is made young again, and barely mises killing Hitler At the end of the novel the impli: happily ever after ‘Saberhagen has several powerful themes in tis novel whieh he does not adequately develop. The te, A Century ‘of Progress, combined withthe stslized Swastika on the cover and the portralt (OF Hitler, quite ching: what would ‘he world be ike in 20891 the Nazis hhad won? That eiling though in Atself but Saberhagen doesnt show us. fea trans-oniversal war going ‘on across the dimensions. a war against totalitarianism, yet we are shown only & ‘ne alternate reas, one almost den the only totalitarian force against which the Good Guys sre? ‘There i a wealth of colrfal possibili tie in the alternate realty theme, and 2 ‘motivating reason to visit as of them — the fight against the Bad Guys. Yet one fof this happens. tnstead we are left with ther drab story ‘A Gontury of Progress is based on a {90d ides which i not adequately exploited. As such, iis one of Saberha: Ben lesser novel. [Games Plus! Your SPI Specialists boardgeme or computer game? Give ue seal chonoes sre wo have 212) 877-9656 2 Blocks NW. Mt. Prospect Tein Staton [20 W. BUSSE AVE IMT. PROSPECT, IL 60066—=—=GAMES by Steve List STAR TREK™: ‘The Role Playing Game. Design: Guy Metimore, Grog Poeblein and David Tepool. ASA 1989, 525 boxed. This tthe offical STAR TREK roe playing game as lcensed by Paramount Pictures: after many years of waiting, “Trekkies may now indulge in the “real thing The physical packaging ofthis product is quite impressive, Inside the 9°12"%2" box isa 128 paye rulebook, 56 page ‘tdventure book, 40 sheets of deck plans and “control panels" for spaceship com bat, a 22°33" hexgrid star map for sald combat, 112 diecut counters printed on ‘ne side with spaceships and bookkeep: Ing markers andl on the reverse with jharactr figures for use in personal ‘combat, and two 10sided dice. The Physical quality of these components is ‘ite high, and the desig ‘wel, though there area cor Df nis to pickin both areas. ‘The rulebook is quite complete both In terms of covering game rules and in siving background information for play fre not familiar with the STAR TREK {game universe (be warned that any Similarity between FASA and Task Force Games versions is purely fort tous). The Introduction not only is ‘cusses STAR TREK and the sources used for the game, it explins the concept and principle of role paving. This is fol lowed by a Glossary, a discussion of, ‘character atrtes and the player character races (pending later supple ments, players are restricted to belng Federation member races: Human, Vul ean, Andorian, Catan, Edoan and Te lance Included i section with character stats on 19 named character from the TV show and a sample of typ cal personnel of various races. Thea ‘comes the character generation proce dures, a description of skis and levels, personal combat procedure, medial aid And reeovery from injury. Sections coy ‘ering common items of weaponry and ‘equipment are followed by procedures for ereating worlds, cillzations, and wild animals, After this comes a digres ‘on covering the history of the United Federation of Planets The balance of the book covers sarshipsexpabiltes ‘combat, and encounter procedures) kamemaster hint and designers’ notes. The Adventure book devotes 35 pages and a pullout section of ship control {charts to three scenarios which ean employ player generated characters or the familar STAR TREK personae. The remaining 17 pages contin data on the USS Enterprise and the Klingon D7 class battleersiser and are heved tothe deck plans, These are quite well done, ean ance, Intelligence, Desterity and Cha ‘lama are determined by rolling 3110 {nd adding 40, then adding or subtract ing an addtional modifier determined by the character raoe. Luck and Psionie ‘potential are rolled directly an percen: tle die, with racial modiiers. Any ‘ction that will directly use one ofthe tributes willbe resolved by rolling the tiribute value or less on percentile die, ‘with possible modifications Skills are Similarly rated on 3 1-100 seal but are sisting of six pages forthe Klingon and nine forthe Enterprise measuring 11717" and peinted on both ses, with 444" square grid superimposed. There {re two drawbacks with these plans ‘One is the Hh” grid: the personal combat mechanics call for the use of” grid and the counters provided inthe game Tit that sae these plans have been released separately in is" size as wel “The plans are usable, but counters or ‘miniatures will be crowded, taking wp ‘more than one space. The other dav back is inthe layout. The plan sheets are printed on both sides, so that is not possible to see all the plans at once. tn Addition, the larger sections such asthe Enterprise’ “saucer may be on a8 ‘many as four different sheets, and no Key is given to aid in mating the sheets together ‘Three key elements in @ role-playing game are the procedures for generating land progressing characters, combat ‘mechanics, and the creation of an envi ronment in which to conduct activities ‘The STAR TREK game aquits itself well (nthe fist two and adequately onthe third. Characters have 7attbutes rated ‘ona sale of 1-100, Strength, Endur- sed somewhat differently. A skil rating ‘of 10% deemed sufficient for proper performance of routine atiitis, and po rolls made Ifthe skill fless than 40, a saving ros made with 1410. In any event, resolution of non-routine fclons must ail be resolved by a rll of percentile dice versus the skill rating {combat procedures are treated in yet another fashion When generating a character, itis deermined what rank and position the ‘character holds in Star Fleet when he fenters play and the procedure builds up tothis First, the character can aquire sills prio to entering the aeademy by rolling 110 to determine the rating in tach skil the numberof ros x deter ‘mined by the Intelligence attribute Graduation from the academy i assumed, and specific levels of speciic sills are granted, depending on the area (of specialization, Adlitional sil rolls ‘an be made at this ime. The character then goes on one ar more eadet cruises, Followed by command school lor com: ‘manding officers and department heads) and variable number of terms, which inturn take a variable number of years tocomplete, These al translate into‘sdional shill level awards and ie rolls, plus years added to age 4810 ‘determine how ald the character feat the start of play- Becoming too old may ‘cause reduction in various attnibutes, I. sould be noted tha the sats given for Enterprise personne! such as Captain Kirk are virtually impossible to duplicate hy these procedures. These folks are considered tobe extraordinary and have ‘combinations of skill, atrbutes and age lunobiainable by begining player char Personal combat is resolved using a 4" square grid for movement and an “action point" (AP) system, vith 10- second turns. Each character gets tertain number of APs based on Dexter ity, and everything done costs APs. The procedure i used so players may deter Imine who moves fire. The first player then moves one character, expending [APs as desrod, possibly retaining some for opportunity actions ater in the turn, Characters not moving ean expend APS for opportunity setions uch as shoot ing phaser) daring another's move ‘ment Pavers alternate moving one tharacter ata ine in this manner Com: bat is resolved with weapons or tunarmed combat i the same manner The "to hit" number average of Dexter lay and weapon skill, modified for fac {ors such as range, target size and ‘movement, must be rolled on percentile dice If it scored, damage is inflicted as points subtracted from the targets endurance. Once a eharacter has lost half the original endurance, a saving roll on Endurance must be made to void unconsciousness, Dropping the [Endurance to less than 10% of is base value also brings unconsciousness, while ‘eduction below O causes death, barring ‘prompt medical treatment. In addition, Some weapons produce ‘stun” results rather than wounds, Loses to End ance from these eause only unconscious hess, not death, ‘Starship combet is resolved as 8 boardgame on the hex map provided An effort is made to keep a role flavor, however. The players are ‘expected to bein the command positions fff ship, te, Captain, Helmsman, Eng heer and so an. Each postion but the {Captain has a “control pane!” on whieh the Funtions of that job are tracked The Engineer has engine satus, total power ing allable, and allocates power for weap: ‘ons, shields and movement. The Science officer operates the sensors and keeps track of structural damage. The Naviga tor operates the tractor beam and alo cates the power given him by the "Engineer tothe various deflector shields, Communications keeps track of ‘rev casualties, while Helm hae ost of the work movement ofthe counter on the map, arming and fring weapons, changing speeds an! executing mane vers) The Captain has no control panel, but mast eoordinate and contol the actions of the others. Control panels are ven only forthe Constitution class Slarships land in the adventure book for 8 Mission class courier), All ther vessels ‘willbe nominally run by the GM, and 10 reduce the workload, a modified single sheet panel using streamlined proce ‘dre is available Tor them. Tb resalve ‘combat, each ship alternates moving ane hhex on the map, withthe number af hhexes to move each turn determined by energy’ allocted 19 manuevers. Weapons ‘may be fired at any point in the game turn. Weapon fire results are based on to hit” dice roll, ad, if hit is scored, weapon power versus shield strength at the point of impact. If hit penetrates the shield, it ean damage the engines, ‘wipe out individual weapons, shields, sensors ete, and create crew easualies ‘whieh wil eventually degrade perform: ‘The mechanics of play are well dane. Less satisfactory isthe campaign aspect (of the game. The design approach was tg make he STAR TREK me eps, like a TV series, with no direct con ity From on soma tote next, Hence there ie no map of the galaxy and no set ‘of encounter tables to allow cruising ‘round o se what happens. Travel time ‘between planets is ignored, as all action ‘will nominally happenin ane place or on ‘one ship, The players are presented witha situation, they resolve itor not — ‘characters can get killed inthis game, fd that iit until the next episode ‘Character progression between episodes is limited as wel. A character may attempt one saving roll versus intel gence atthe end of sn epitode. If sue tess a 1410 skill increase of one sk that was suconssully used may be obtained. The GAC is permitted 1 por formance, but fs then eautioned to be 40.50 range. Altogether QUEST yame system of skill inereases is more rewarding tothe plaver and easier to administer: STAR TREK game is an ambitious work, generally welldone, with some minor flaws, The worst of these isn any case a matter of taste — the episodic nature of things versus the continuous ‘campaign approach, Further, there ts no Fesiaon a GM could not make her own fampaign a continuous one if she should | desire. The matter ofa galaxy map is, discussed in the rules, and the possiblity | isheld out that ane might be published in time, Beyond that there s nothing really significant that not be cured by the supplements planned for release in the near future. Acqiting all the STAR TTRER game material may be financially costly overtime, but that is tre ofall the major role-playing games. What i. [provided in this package is well worth the price. STAR TREK™ 15mm Deck Plans. Supplement for use with STAR TREK: ‘The Role Paying Game. FASA, 1985. USS Enterprise $15. Klingon D7 Battle cruiser $12 The Enterprise ane Battlecruiser consist | of slight modifications of material | “lready in the STAR TREK game pack: tage. In each ease the approach was to print the deck plans in alarger size, | Pominal smm the stual grid size iss Inch, and to include a booklet on the ship which contains the same informa- tion given inthe RPGS Recognition hook fleshed out with Some inc stration. ‘Missing from each package i set of contol Panels for tactical starship com: bat resolution. Although panes for the Enterprise ae included in the game ‘tel, thore were none forthe Klingon vessel. It would seem logical to place the [panels in each set of deck plans as they fare published, since FASA apparently plans to release more of them in the Future. Lage does not seem to rue. These plans are of use only to players who find they cannot lve with the “aller grid versions supplied with the fgame, Although handsome enough 42 their own right, these two items are hardly vital t play ofthe game, aby Christopher John, Krull Director Peter Yates Producer ion Silverman, Servenplay ‘Stanford sherman Photography eter Suschitaky cokwyn Ken Marshall Lyset Lysette Anthony Ynyr Predie Jones Cyeiops Serr Bresslaw Ergo David Batley As came out of the preview of Krall Cokumbia Petre Tatest attempt to capture the loose dollars of America, I ‘overheard a conversation. Ivo calle: types were debating what the MAD Magazine takeoff ofthe picture woul be calle. Their best predictions were ‘Krawl, Krudd and Dull. The old saying goes, «picture is worth «thousand words hose who say that don't es this ‘motion pictur is worth 997 more words Just ike the three above he pt of Krull goes along the follow fing lines: The Boast the most feared creature in the universe, comes to Krull to conquer the planet the way he has thousails of worlds inthe past, He does thi quickly laff camera big battles coat ‘more money, and soon allo Krull sin {hall hie except tve little kingdoms. They plan to unite after the marriage of the ones prince and the others princes ‘but the Beast, sho for some reason has taken a iking to the unrealistic, naive chilishness of princess Lyssa, captures her and kill off both kingdoms armies fn the process, Luckily hi Savers only wounded the prince. Hes patched up by crafty stern. ‘wise old Ynyr ho lads him tothe ‘weapons and helpers he will need to defeat the Boast. bucking Couta Ptures Toray adverse ‘rut bres oy Por ates Kr 3 Ted Mann Ron Sie The plot rings so hollowly true. one wonders ifthe whole movie wast plo ted out in some goldchainevearing prodcer's Mercedes a he and hi stall Zipped along through the Cabfornian fill One can hear him tweeting, “Yous Know, we'll have the bad guy ah the Beast, yeah, and well have him land in 3 spaceship, and send bis treops out Yo Kill everyone on the planet and bring him the most beautfl wornan — yeah: an she could be lke just gettin’ ready to marty the hero, and thats when they hab her. Then he can find ke, some ‘wizard to help him and they ean have a bunch adventures before they finally revue the gir. Can't ya see the bad guys in theie space suits, whole buncha them on horseback, firing thelr lasers, "About here, one of his newer staff rmemiers probably interrupted him, ‘making some mild comment about spacesuits and lasers and saddles not hing together The staffer was thrown ‘out of the ea but the horseback riding aliens werent, and Krull was bors, ‘There really isnt much mare tothe picture than thet After the kidnapping ofthe princes, the hero goes about, mucking up things for an hour, until he finally gets on the rack. You se, the beast’ castle disappears every morning at sunrise, and reappears in another part of Krull So, mighty Colwyn and his hand of stock fantasy characters must find out where this castle will reappear 0 they can get tot and slay the Beast land save beautiful Lyssa, Most ofthe ‘movie i spent withthe small group trying to find a wisard who can stay alive long enough to tell them where the east’ rocky spaceship wil reappear. Once they discover where tis, the audi fence is then subjocted tothe firms worst bit of nonsense, the firemares. have long wondered when some smart fantasy filmmaker would take pote from Frazetta’ books and put his ‘warriors on Clydesdales, the only good: looking war-horses the world has ever seen, it lva shame to see such a good idea ruined by the stupidity ofthis movie. Discovering thatthe Beast’ castle Would appear somewhere far away, the heroes decide to capture firemares, legendary uncatchable horses that run at super speed. They do this, race to the Beasts, most of them die, but the hero8 saves the grand the film ends ‘Somegni recently got the idea that fantasy ells, Conan the Barbarian, as bad as it was, made money for two rea sons: a) its vas fan audience started the ‘ash rolling in, showing the rest ofthe public that someone was gong to see it land b) despite how bad the film was as 8a treatment of Howards creation! most people were hungry for something dif ferent and the clanking hunker of ta which was Conan came along to clean Up twas enough to get the merchant lasss wheels turning and ithas been baad to afl fantacy films ever since Tn Kul the acting is mediocre and the dreotio only competent. The eit: Ing and photography are splendid, but they cannot, in themselves, make up for the hideously bad story. The special ‘effects are standard in some places, better in others: none of them are bad “The music, yet another of James Horn er variations on his score for Bate ‘Beyond The Stars, i good enough ‘though audiences may soon tre of the poor producers John Willams the way they have started to tire of Wiliams himselt ‘ot of money was poured into this production, but asthe old saying goes, Superman II Director Richard Lester Producer Ssalkind Spengler Screenplay”. David and Leslie Newman Music Ken Thorne Photography Rabert Paynter SupermaniKent ..... Christopher Reeve (Gus Gorman "Richard Pryor Perry White fuckle Cooper Jimmy Olsen Mare Meclure Lana Lang Annette OTe Foss Webster Robert Vaughn Lois Lane. Margot Kidder ... Krawl, Krudd, and Dull. ... A pic- ture is worth a thousand words... | and this picture is worth 997 words just like these. ome people can tella story, and some people can." Compare Battle Beyond "The Stars and Star Wars Battle had the same budget, more bigsname stars. ‘more interesting, innovative plt, just as ‘ood a director, et cetera. What itdid hot have, however, was that magic bt of heart needed to tell its story ina fresh, ‘emotional, meaningful way. ‘Krull yoeme to have been slapped together from the oldest cliches in fan tasy, Oceasionaly, cardboard cutout ‘with no fe ofits own, such as Super ‘man 1can rake ina bundle and tick people for this reason oF that into think: Ing they saw something worthwhile Most of the time though, they crumble, unable to tick anyone into thinking they are more than they ae, In Star ‘Wars, one could go from one end ofthe film to the other and not Find anew idea Dic anyone ever give you a wonderful toy for Christmas, ad then unthink ingly step on it and break i I that ever happened to you then you were atleast, prepared for the horror that fll over the rest of us when we eat dven to wateh Superman I thought twas prepared. Unlike ‘many, I had boen severely disappointed ‘with Superman I apd from the ramors Thad heard, knew that Twas not much better What I went through inthe the ater is hard to relate. By the end of Superman Il, was seriously consider ing giving up film reviewing. Reviewers have to see everything, whether they ‘or concept ‘Nazhheimeted baddies light sabres planet sled battlewagons: hot shot. ‘wisecracking pilots: mystic religions Deautful princesses; farm boys who ‘grow to manhood seeking vengeance for Slain parent figures — there was nothing ‘new From the first minute to the las, except in the way i was presented. Star Wars was sts collection of bts from here and pieces from there, not all of ‘which worked but which sill made us ‘ry and scream for mare, because twas told with a depth offeting that smacked us like a frosty breeze on & summer day. It caught our attention and ‘made us sad when it was over ‘Krull does not have this power: tis 8 hot hollow wind which only reminds us of what a pleasant breeze feels ike, and fingers us because it ent one, ‘Croper Reeve Soper once again ge he Man of Stato Wares Bra" Super ‘want to oF not thelr jo. Aftr ast year's sclencefeton and fantasy films, 1 ing to fel there was no ty fulfllment in my line of ‘By now you have heard (or worse yet seen for yourself how bad Superman Ill is, You have read the reviews, beard a| fully justified Christopher Reeve say he will never do another Superman fm, watched Warner Brothers stock drop all summer (partly dve to The Twilight Zone ~ The Movie, but mestlyt0 ‘Superman 1. You know Ills bad, and ‘why itis bad. What no one has ‘explained yet is why itis bad and theSO ‘other two Superman movies in this In Superman: The Movie, we were presented with a serious, well thought fut film. although dazzled with special effects, we were aso presented with an mage of Superman asa man, with a tangible past of pain and deatal aswell as years of family love and moral indo trination. After that, the film tok the fity'some years ofthe Superman legend and made sense of i. Those things from the coms which were useful were kept: those things ally and foolish were thrown out without mention, ‘Superman: The Movie was the wish of ‘every comics fan in the country come ‘rue: No matter that many preferred Spiderman or Daredevil when the film ‘came out — what was delivered was a Digger thancie fantasy with superior action, direction, and all the res, that ‘id not look fora way out. Uniike the stman, Wonder Woman, or Spiderman ‘TV shows, or movies like Swashbuckler, Doe Savage, or Swamp Thing, the crea tive talents behind Superman didnot cloak themselves with excuses. They Went ahead with a project they believed inand presented it seriously, without the fallsafe insurance of campiness or Jokes so they cou later claim, "Hey, we werent relly serious, you know to those who might find their intellectual ‘morals suspect. ‘Once Superman 1! came around, everyone was ready for more of the same. The team proved they had respect for us, the sudience, and we were ready to give them our money to show them we appreciated it. But something went ‘wrong, The silines which had popped Up occasionally inthe first movie as 2 balance to rome ofthe more serious ‘moments was much more evident here, “The careful structure of story was miss: ing: Superman IIa many more gaps in logic than its predecessor Many aud though. A great number were stlin awe from the frst picture. Other were willing to forgive afew mistakes since the fist was go good. Stl more thought thatthe fst may have been a tad stuf land thatthe crew had only decided to tosen things up" bit in Sadly such was not the ease, Mos of what was good about Superman IT had ben left over from 1. When the new creative team took over in the ‘changes they made were all oes which ‘diminished the hero's integrity, Making, Superman a clown seemed the way 10 rake him more human” Alter all the trouble the first team had gone through ‘tw make Superman a god, to elevate him {othe postion ofallknoving, all power ful, and alLoving, the second team decided to make him human, ‘When II didnot fal they decided to ‘50 abead full steam on I making the Man of Steel a complete boob. ve sur ‘mised that their reasoning ran some: thing like: “We were stuck with all that ‘serious nonsense from the frst film, and thats why our stuff wasnt as successful {nthe second, But now that we're totally fn charge, well make Superman an idiot, and all his fiends morons and the vl: Tains fools, and well make i like Rosa runner cartoon, so no ane ets hurt ‘Bat you get the idea ‘Superman Ili the most disappointing Pleture ofthe year, and inthe year that [give us Rtura ofthe Jed, hati saying 2 ot iis filled with pointless inconsis: tencies. The few good scenes in the film (Clark with Lana, superman fightin his ‘evil self, Perry White inraducing Daily Planet Jingo), are horribly overshac ‘owed by the worthias and unfunny ‘comedy senes written for Richard Pryor. Pryor himself fs not actually bad; itis only the pointless, borish things he Is given to say and do which make him look the dit ‘All of the regulars from the frst two films struggle along doing the best they ‘ean with the misorable dribble they were forced to work with, and Annette (O'Toole is so perfect as Lana Lang that she and Reeve almost rave the film with the few gentle scenes they have together: Almost. Ns for evervthing ele, appears the producers were determined to wring, Superman for evervthing he was worth this time around. The special effects Teok cheap and unconvincing, The muse ‘was just more of Ken Thornes unk spired John Willams steals. Richa Lester's directing was decidedly unin: spire itself Compared to Superman ‘The Movie, the editing and photography are a joke. But then, compared to the first film in this series, everything about Superman itis joke, a harsh, cruel Joke played on all the people who wanted to see more of the Superman they saw a few years ago Tia way though this story has a happy ending. Movies like these may find i abit harder to make it tothe theaters ater this year Krull, The Twilight Zone, and Superman Ill were such financial and ideological falores that studios will be more careful of what 1 produce in the future. After read: ing the script, and long before Super: ‘man Illwas even made, «professional ‘markt analyzer told Warner Bros. that the movie would fail because it made a {ool ofa ero, and because it tried 10 make virtues such as truth, justice and ‘the American Way ito mean and ugly things ‘You just cant do that infront of 50 millon Superman Tans and get away with i