Reviews from R'lyeh: 1984

Showing posts with label 1984. Show all posts

Sunday, 2 February 2025

1984: Conan Unchained!

1974 is an important year for the gaming hobby. It is the year that Dungeons & Dragons was introduced, the original RPG from which all other RPGs would ultimately be derived and the original RPG from which so many computer games would draw for their inspiration. It is fitting that the current owner of the game, Wizards of the Coast, released the new version, Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition, in the year of the game’s fortieth anniversary, and the new edition of that, Dungeons & Dragons, 2024, in the year of the game’s fiftieth anniversary. To celebrate this, Reviews from R’lyeh will be running a series of reviews from the hobby’s anniversary years, thus there will be reviews from 1974, from 1984, from 1994, and from 2004—the thirtieth, twentieth, and tenth anniversaries of the titles. These will be retrospectives, in each case an opportunity to re-appraise interesting titles and true classics decades on from the year of their original release.

—oOo—

In 1985, TSR, Inc. published the Conan Role-Playing Game, the first of five roleplaying games to be based on the Conan the Barbarian stories of Robert E. Howard. Which means that it is forty years old in 2025, but this was not the first foray into the archetypal Swords & Sorcery genre by the publisher. After all, the Conan the Barbarian stories had always been an influence upon E. Gary Gygax, TSR, Inc., and Dungeon & Dragons, with stats for Conan actually appearing in Supplement IV: Gods, Demi-Gods & Heroes for the original version of Dungeons & Dragons, which was published in 1976. That though, was unofficial, whereas his appearance in two modules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition was official. CB1 Conan Unchained! and CB2 Conan Against the Darkness! were both published in 1984 and both were designed for Player Characters of Tenth to Fourteenth Levels and to be played by the four pre-generated Player Characters included in each module, which of course, included Conan amongst their number.

Behind the eye-catching image of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Conan, CB1 Conan Unchained! provides not only a scenario set within the Hyborian Age, but also an introduction to the setting and the rules to run the scenario using Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. Although the image from the cover was taken from Conan the Barbarian, which was only released two years before, CB1 Conan Unchained! does not use any more images from it and it is not based on its story. Rather, CB1 Conan Unchained! takes its cue from the short stories by Robert E. Howard—‘Queen of the Black Coast’, ‘Red Nails’, and the unfinished ‘The Hall of the Dead’. It is from these stories that Conan himself and two of the three other pre-generated Player Characters come from. Besides Conan, they include Nestor the Gunderman and Valeria of the Red Brotherhood, whilst Juma the Warrior is inspired by later comics. All have weapon proficiencies and secondary skills, whilst Conan has a special ability which means he is very rarely surprised. Conan himself is a Thirteenth Level Fighter and a Seventh Level Thief, Valeria a Tenth Level Fighter and a Ninth Level Thief, Juma a Twelfth Level Fighter, and Nestor the Gunderman a Fourteenth Level Fighter.

One notable addition to all four Player Characters is that of Luck Points. This is the first of several new rules in CB1 Conan Unchained! Conan has twelve of these, Nestor and Juma have ten each, and Valeria has sixteen! These are included because, “Conan is sometimes able to do things beyond the range of the AD&D rules. These impossible actions are part of Conan’s special abilities. It is important for characters to be able to do the same things, so they are given Luck Points.” However, they are not spent by the player per se, but by the Dungeon Master. She is told to encourage the players to have their characters perform “…[H]eroic, amazing, or impossible feats…”, with a player expected to describe what his character is trying to do and the Dungeon Master then adjudicate the cost without the player being told how many Luck Points his character has left. For a single Luck Point, a Player Character can make an extra attack in a round, automatically hit an opponent, climb without falling, leap a chasm, and so on; whilst for two Luck Points, he can knock out a person with fist or weapon, spring back from a trap just in time, and climb while carrying another person; and for three Luck Points, do something heroic beyond the scope of the rules. They cannot be spent on a roll that has already been made, on a Saving Throw, or a Fear Check. Some opponents also have their own Luck Points.

To account for the lack of the Cleric Class in the Hyborian Age and thus the lack of healing magic, a Player Character always heals a single Hit Point per day and Hit Points equal to half the Player Character’s Constitution if he rests for a whole day.

The other major addition is the Fear Factor to found in certain creatures and monsters as well as magic effects and reflect Conan’s own instinctive reaction to the unnatural and things that defy explanation. Whenever a Player Character fails a Fear Check, he is struck dumb momentarily or flees for his life, until he overcomes his fear or is hurt again. Sources of Fear include monsters, spellcasters, and unusual magic items or situations and have a Fear Statistic ranging between one and ten. When a Fear Check is required, the Fear Statistic is multiplied by the Player Character’s Wisdom and the resulting value is rolled against on percentile dice. Succeed and the Player Character is unaffected, but fail and he is filled with fear.

There can be no doubt that the inclusion of Luck Points and Fear Checks are radical changes to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition, that certainly in the case of Luck Points take the roleplaying game far beyond what it is normally expected to do. In fact, what the inclusion of Luck Points highlights is that as much as Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition is pitched as a roleplaying game of heroic adventures and fantasy, it is actually not as heroic as it could be. Arguably, the fantasy of Conan the Barbarian and the Swords & Sorcery genre is pulp fantasy, but if that is case, then given the fact that Dungeons & Dragons is inspired by Swords & Sorcery, what Luck Points show is that Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition cannot do Conan-style, Swords & Sorcery as written without them. And since they encourage roleplaying in a particular style, they are actually the first roleplaying mechanic to appear in Dungeons & Dragons! (As opposed to Inspiration, which appeared in Dungeons & Dragons, Fifth Edition in 2014!)

In fact, the inclusion of Luck Points in CB1 Conan Unchained! is not only a highly radical design choice for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and TSR, Inc., but also a very modern one. Top Secret: An Espionage Role Playing Game for 3 or more players, ages 12 to adult, published by TSR, Inc. in 1980 included an optional rule for Fame and Fortune Points which enabled a Player Character to overcome a fatal wound. It would be James Bond 007: Role-Playing In Her Majesty’s Secret Service, published in 1983 by Victory Games, that developed the concept fully as Hero Points that could be used to adjust skill rolls, shrug off wounds and even death, and enable the Player Characters to be more heroic. However, in The Adventures of Indiana Jones Role-Playing Game, published by TSR, Inc. in 1984, only offered Player Points, which can only be spent to reduce the severity of a Player Character’s wounds or injuries. It is incongruous that in two roleplaying products from the same publisher and the same designer—David Cook—released in the same year, it is a scenario for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition that is given Luck Points.

If the Luck Points are a good addition, Fear Factor, less so. It is not so much a case of CB1 Conan Unchained! not needing a mechanic for handling fear, but rather a question of whether or not it needs a specific new rule for handling fear. Could not the Saving Throw mechanics of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition be used instead? That said, the Fear Check mechanic is simple and fast.

One other change that CB1 Conan Unchained! makes is to classify its scenes into several types. These are normal, random, and plot encounters. Normal encounters are those typical of an adventure, such as exploring a ruin or attacking a pirate ship, whilst random encounters are there to spice up the action. Plot encounters are scenes in which the Player Characters have to act through with only a limited number of choices in how they can act. The Dungeon Master is advised that they be handled with care lest the players feel forced in their characters’ actions. Unfortunately, ‘plot encounters’ like this were not well received at the time and are still looked at with some disdain, though more so in the case of DL1 Dragons of Despair—which came out the same year as CB1 Conan Unchained!.

The introduction to the Hyborian Age in CB1 Conan Unchained! is short, but informative. It highlights how the countries and peoples of the Hyborian Age are formed of different individual groups, each easily identified and with different attitudes and behaviours. The latter means that is often possible to identify someone in the Hyborian World just by their actions. Steel weapons are available, but armour is rarely more than chain or scale. Monsters like those of Dungeons & Dragons are very rare, with giant beasts and demons, elementals, giants, and golems being common. Magic in the Hyborian Age is practiced, but rare, confined to summoning, illusions, charms, and death spells, so greatly feared. Magical items are even rarer and invariably dangerous to those who wield them, though this does not stop sorcerers hunting for both them and dusty tomes of magic.

The scenario on both sides of the narrow Sea of Vilayet and opens with the adventurers as mercenaries in the employ of the Khan of Turan, hired to put down a rebellion by Kustafa, the governor of a city who has refused to pay the taxes that are due. However, a strange magical attack by darkness and shadows finds the army they were part of destroyed and the adventurers on the run. This is the first of the scenario’s four Plot Encounters, the second following close on its heels as the Player Characters are captured by the Mongel Horde-like Kozaki nomads who plan sell them to Stygian slavers. The problem with this Plot Encounter is that the Player Characters have to be captured for the scenario to proceed and given that this is at the beginning of the scenario, they have a lot of Luck Points to spend. Now the nomads do use lariats to capture them, but it is possible for the players to burn through an awful lot of their characters’ Luck Points before that happens and this is right at the start of the scenario.

The Player Characters are not expected to escape, but to prove themselves worthy of being one of the Kozaki and then over a series of events make themselves popular, and eventually, challenge the hetman of the group. There is a good mix of events and encounters to throw at the Player Characters throughout this process and they are given plenty of opportunity to prove themselves. There is even an encounter when a rival to the post of hetman attempts to assassinate a Player Character who looks like he is vying for the position. Of course, it also possible for the Player Characters to escape, but it is not nearly as interesting as what the scenario presents. Whether or not the Player Characters escape, or they become part of the Kozaki, they will in the third Plot Encounter of the scenario run into a female NPC. She will reveal herself as Costhiras, the mistress of the Khan of Turan, who was visiting the city that he sent the army that the Player Characters were part of to recapture it after it rose in rebellion and stopped paying taxes. She tells them that Kustafa, the governor of the city did not do this willingly. He has fallen under the influence of Bhir-Vedi, an evil sorcerer who searches for her still—and to enforce that fact, she is attacked by an Invisible Stalker that instant!

Costhiras begs for the Player Characters to help her and offers to guide them to The Citadel of Bhir-Vedi (or they can follow her if she was snatched by the Invisible Stalker). Either way, this leads them to travel with a band of pirates lead by a somewhat tiresome pirate captain (though he does fight with a sword blade attached to the steel cap on the stump of his wrist and if desperate, can fire it on a spring), but eventually the Player Characters will get to the other side the Sea of Vilayet and the entrance to The Citadel of Bhir-Vedi. There is a short maze-like cavern to navigate before coming upon Bhir-Vedi’s tower, a fairly standard sorcerer’s tower by any measure. There are a fair number of traps to avoid, mostly requiring a check to see if the Player Characters are surprised before they can spend Luck Points, and there is the strong possibility of them being captured after being put to sleep and then waking up to find themselves chained atop the tower ready to be sacrificed to some god or other by Bhir-Vedi. Hopefully, they will have retained enough Luck Points to break their chains (or at least make a Bend Bars/Lift Gates roll)! And after that? Enough points to kick Bhir-Vedi off the top of the tower!

Physically, CB1 Conan Unchained! is disappointing. It looks good, with good art and cartography, but the editing is poor with names constantly changing and inconsistent descriptions.

—oOo—

CB1 Conan Unchained! was reviewed by Steve Hampshire in the ‘Game Reviews’ section of Imagine No. 24 (March, 1985). He said, “The module itself also has some uniquely ‘Conan’ features. Normal AD&D monsters are almost totally replaced by various human opponents and potential opponents. Surprisingly, some of these are good enough to challenge Conan! The plot is simple and rather derivative, but it takes in some interesting settings and encounters. For most part it plays well, despite niggles like a ship that keeps changing its name, and monsters using their useless wings to fly into attack.” He concluded his review by saying, “The mood of this module is different form the normal run of AD&D material, and the players and referee really need to get into the swing of the thing. It helps if one is familiar with the Conan books or film. This scenario is good for introducing the characters, but stronger plotlines will be needed of there is to be series.”

Rick Swan reviewed CB1 Conan Unchained! in the ‘Capsule Reviews’ in The Space Gamer Number 73 (March/April, 1985). Of the new rules—the Fear Factor and Luck Points—he said, “D&D purists may freak, but the rules work and add to the heroic feel of the setting. Fans of R.E. Howard will happy to know that Cook has approached the source material with considerable respect and that Conan Unchained is generally consistent with the Hyborian world we all known and love.” However, he added that, “The basic problem is that Conan isn’t a particularly good choice for the D&D system. Compared to most D&D settings, Conan’s world is pretty barren. There’s no magic or interesting settings to speak off, and the adventure is nothing special (the characters are captured by slavers, negotiate their freedom, and rescue a fair maiden from a nasty castle).” He concluded that, “Conan Unchained can be played as part of a regular D&D campaign without Conan and associates, but what’s the point? There are plenty of better roleplaying modules available from TSR and elsewhere. Conan and D&D go together like peanut butter and tuna fish – it can be done, but you can bet there’s going to be a funny taste.”

—oOo—

CB1 Conan Unchained! suffers from several problems. Most obviously, if you going to play it, who plays Conan and why would you want play anyone else? Second, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition does not feel right for it and is not right for it, as evidenced by the inclusion of Luck Points which enables the heroic feats that Conan calls for and which Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition is not designed to do. In fact, what it highlights is how staid the design to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition was by 1984. Third, how poorly plotted it is. The adventure does not really start until the Player Characters get captured, so why does that have to be played out and the players waste their characters’ Luck Points? Then the sequence with the pirate captain is tedious, designed to barb the Player Characters into action. The plot really is most straightforward. Yet there are flashes of excitement to found in CB1 Conan Unchained! The sequence in which the Player Characters free themselves from the nomads and then take over is actually quite fun and the inclusion of Luck Points encourage the players to be a little more inventive than Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition necessarily might be in normal play.

Ultimately, CB1 Conan Unchained! feels rushed and underdeveloped, an attempt to bring fans of Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer to Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition and fans of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition to Conan the Barbarian and Conan the Destroyer, but is not really good enough to attract either and ultimately, satisfies neither.

Tuesday, 31 December 2024

1984: Paranoia

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1984 produced two of the greatest roleplaying games designed in response to the Cold War and two of the greatest humour roleplaying games. One of the Cold War roleplaying games was Twilight 2000, whilst one of the humour roleplaying games was Toon. In both cases, the other roleplaying game was Paranoia. Published by West End Games, previously known for its wargames, Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future is a Science Fiction post-apocalyptic dystopian satire inspired by classics of the genre, such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, Brave New World, Logan’s Run, and THX 1138. It is both a satire on capitalism and communism, a roleplaying game of trust and distrust—mostly the latter, laced with black humour, drenched in irony, and if it was not the first roleplaying game that specifically pitted the players and their characters against one another, it was certainly, the roleplaying game to not only embrace it wholeheartedly, but also to actively encourage it. What it was though, was the first roleplaying game in which the Game Master was as much an adversary to the Player Characters as they were to each other, and it was the first roleplaying game in which knowledge or possession of the rules was punishable by death. The play and the setting of Paranoia is one of ignorance and fear built on a series of contradictions which the players and their characters attempt to navigate, rarely with any success, and generally, with consequences both disastrous and funny for all concerned.

The setting for Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future is Alpha Complex, a vast underground city where the last of humanity survives thanks to the protection and facilities provided by the Computer. The Computer is their friend. Citizens of Alpha Complex are decanted into Clone Families of six identical clones and raised to serve meaningful and satisfying lives in service to Alpha Complex and in return be provided with nutritious food and enjoyable entertainment. Most clones and their families possess a Security Clearance of Infrared. Depending upon the role and assignment of a Citizen, he may achieve a higher Security Clearance (if he is not executed first). This is based on the colour spectrum, so in ascending order is RED, ORANGE, YELLOW, GREEN, BLUE, INDIGO, VIOLET, and ULTRAVIOLET, the latter clearance only available to High Programmers and (on a temporary basis) Game Masters. Unfortunately, Alpha Complex is at war and has been ever since it was established. There are forces outside of Alpha Complex which want to see it and its way of life it provides its friends with destroyed. Worse though are those who would destroy it from within. First and foremost, Commies. Commies are Traitors. Commies are everywhere. Then there are Mutants and members of Secret Societies. Mutants and members of Secret Societies are Traitors. It is the duty of every Citizen of Alpha Complex to report all signs of treasonous activities, including being a Commie, a Mutant, or a Member of a Secret Society. Not reporting signs of treasonous activities, including being a Commie, a Mutant, or a Member of a Secret Society is treasonous.

Fortunately, Alpha Complex has a solution: Troubleshooters. Troubleshooters are carefully selected Infrared Clones trained and equipped to further serve the Computer, including spotting Traitors and signs of treason. To reflect their training, equipment, and responsibilities, they are promoted to RED Security Clearance level and assigned to a Service Group that can be the Armed Forces, Central Processing Unit, Housing Preservation & Development or Mind Control, Internal Security, Power Services, Production, Logistics, and Commissary, and Research & Design. Unfortunately, each Troubleshooter has a secret. He is a Traitor. He is a Traitor because he is a Member of a Secret Society. So, he has to keep this a secret. Unfortunately, each Troubleshooter has another secret. He is a Traitor. He is a Traitor because he is a Mutant. So, he has to keep this a secret. Guess which roles the players roleplay in Paranoia? And the good news is that in event of a Troubleshooter’s death, whether in the patriotic and glorious service of the Computer or because he has been identified as a Traitor and dutifully reported for Self-Termination, his current assignment and duties will be immediately undertaken by the next member of the Troubleshooter’s Clone Family, who is fully trusted by the Computer and is not a Traitor.

Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future was published as a boxed set. It contained three books and a pair of two twenty-sided dice, marked one to ten twice. The three books are the twenty-four-page ‘Player Handbook’, the sixty-four-page ‘Gamemaster Handbook’, and the fifty-two-page ‘Adventure Handbook’. Notably, the ‘Adventure Handbook’ is actually the scenario booklet and done as a then traditional module format and the page numbers actually run concurrently from the ‘Player Handbook’ through the ‘Gamemaster Handbook’ to the ‘Adventure Handbook’.

A Troubleshooter in Paranoia has eight primary attributes. These are Strength, Agility, Manual Dexterity, Endurance, Moxie, Chutzpah, Mechanical Aptitude, and Power Index. These are range in value between two and twenty, with Chutzpah being defined as, “…[T]he quality of a man who kills both his parents and then pleads for mercy because he is an orphan.”; Moxie as the ability to comprehend the unusual; and Power Index the strength of a Troubleshooter’s mutant power. He has a Mutant Power and belongs to both a Service Group and a Secret Society. He also has several skills, which are represented as percentages. Skills are organised into skill trees with the lower the skill is down a skill tree, the more specialised it is and the higher the skill bonus it grants. To create a Troubleshooter, a player rolls for everything bar the skills which he assigns points to with the few points a beginning Troubleshooter is given. He is given some mandatory equipment and 100 credits with which to purchase more. The skills are not written down on the Troubleshooter sheet as a list, but drawn as a skill tree.

Name: Budd-R-FLY-1

Clone Number: 1

Security Clearance: Red

Service Group: Research & Design

Secret Society: Spy for Armed Forces

Mutant Power: Extraordinary Power – Mental Blast

Commendation Points: 0

Treason Points: 0

Credit: 100

Strength 13 Agility 18 Manual Dexterity 14 Endurance 11

Moxie 06 Chutzpah 08 Mechanical Aptitude 13 Power Index 14

Carrying Capacity: 30 Damage Bonus: —

Macho Bonus: — Melee Bonus: +17%

Aimed Weapon Bonus: +07% Comprehension Bonus: -10%

Believability Bonus: -05% Repair Bonus: +04%

SKILLS

Basic Operations 1 (20%); Melee Combat 2 (25%); Aimed Combat 2 (25%)

Technical Services 1 (20%); Robotics 2 (25%)

EQUIPMENT

red reflec armour, laser pistol, laser barrel (red stripe), jump suit, utility belt & pouches, Com Unit I, knife, notebook & stylus

The ‘Player Handbook’ does not explain the rules to the game, because, after all, that requires ULTRAVIOLET Security Clearance, but it does have details of bookkeeping, how a typical mission works and how combat works, the etiquette to playing Paranoia, and so on. Bookkeeping involves the tracking of several types of points. Credits can be rewarded to spend on more equipment. Commendation Points are earned for completing missions, distinguished service, and eliminating Traitors and will go towards a Troubleshooter being promoted. Treason Points are earned by failing to follow or complete orders, doubting or acting or speaking against the Computer, being a member of a Secret Society or a Mutants, and so on, if at any time they exceed Commendation Points by ten or more, the Computer will issue a Termination Order for treason. Secret Society Points are earned for fulfilling a Secret Society’s aims and will reward a Troubleshooter with promotion and access to information, equipment, and help, some of which might be useful.

A typical mission will begin with a briefing from the Computer and the assignment of useful equipment that will want testing. A Troubleshooter may also receive a private briefing from the Computer, from Internal Security, or from his Service Group. However, because he is also a Traitor, he receive an additional private briefing from his Secret Society. Throughout the mission, a Troubleshooter is expected to root out and eliminate Traitors, complete the mission, and keep safe the lives of the Computer’s valuable agents (including himself). Actual play exacerbates all of the tensions that this sets up because Paranoia is a game of secrets. A Troubleshooter’s character sheet is a secret, the contents of the ‘Gamemaster Handbook’ are secret, and all of the notes passed and the private asides between the Game Master and her players are secret. Consequently, separation of player knowledge and Troubleshooter knowledge is a necessity and some cases, failure to separate the two is treasonous. For example, demonstrating knowledge of the ‘Gamemaster Handbook’ is treasonous. Further, in play, the Game Master is encouraged—and shown in an example of play—to watch and listen for player knowledge being expressed by his Troubleshooter. So, for example, when a Troubleshooter on a mission to the Outside calls the small fluffy humanoid with tiny arms and legs, a tiny nose, and a rearward facing, long and very fluffy arm without a visible hand a ‘squirrel’, the first question on the mind of Game Master as the Computer (and also on the mind of his fellow Troubleshooters), is how does the Troubleshooter know it is called a ‘squirrel’? Followed by, ‘Where did he get such treasonous knowledge?’ Even if the Troubleshooter is a member of the Sierra Club Secret Society and actually does know what a squirrel is, knowledge of what a squirrel is treasonous, as is, of course, being a member of a Secret Society.

Mechanically, the ‘Player Handbook’ does not teach the player the rules of Paranoia because he does not have sufficient Security Clearance. What it does do is show him with a solitaire adventure. It is short at fifty-four entries and three pages long, but it nicely demonstrates the tone and style of play in Paranoia. As the player reads through it, he will earn letter codes, each of which determines whether he has earned Commendation Points, Treason Points, and so on. It will not take a player very long to play through it, but it is short enough for a player to explore the untaken storylines within it to see the consequences of other actions. Doubtless, this is treasonous behaviour, but it gives a player an idea of what to expect.

The ‘Gamemaster Handbook’ does explain the background, setting, and rules to Paranoia. The background is quite slight, almost inconsequential given the post-apocalyptic nature of setting. The setting description covers everyday life in Alpha Complex, the Service Groups, Security Clearances, and so on. All seventeen of the Secret Societies are described—Anti-Mutant, Communists, Computer Phreaks, Corpore Metal, Death leopard, First Church of Christ Computer-Programmer, Frankenstein Destroyers, Free Enterprise, Humanists, Illuminati, Mystics, Pro Tech, Programs Group, Psion, Purge, Romantics, and Sierra Club. In addition, a Troubleshooter can also be a spy for another Service Group or even another Alpha Complex! In each case, their objectives, doctrines, friends, and enemies are listed along with a general description and means of advancement. Special rules cover what a Secret Group might actually teach a member if he survives long enough. Mutant Powers are given a similar treatment.

In terms of mechanics, Paranoia looks more complex than it actually is. The roleplaying game uses ten-sided dice. For an attribute check, a player rolls a number of ten-sided dice and attempts to roll equal to or less than the attribute to succeed. The difficulty is measured in terms of the number of dice a player has to roll, from one for Extremely easy to five for Outrageous. Otherwise, Paranoia is a percentile system and skill-based. The aim is to roll equal to, or lower, than the skill to succeed, with a Troubleshooter always having a minimum chance of success of 5%. A skill is modified by an appropriate Troubleshooter’s Attribute Modifier and by the circumstances. It is the latter where Paranoia does get more complex. The skill categories are described in some detail and there are a lot of modifiers, which vary from skill or skill, and can result in a skill rating being divided or multiplied or simply added to or detracted from.

When it comes to combat, the ‘Player Handbook’ states that it eschews the, “…[E]laborate movement and combat systems reflecting their ancestral wargame heritage.” of other roleplaying games and instead aims for a ‘dramatic tactical system’—“[A] sort of unsystem – to encourage fast and flamboyant action.” Thus, it was writing against what had come before in terms of roleplaying games and their combat systems and what West End Games, the publisher of Paranoia, was best known for doing at the time, which was wargames. It was wholly reliant upon the Game Master, as she, of course, had the Security Clearance to know how the rules—fully explained in the ‘Gamemaster Handbook’—worked, and today, the ‘dramatic tactical system’ of Paranoia would be best described as theatre of the mind style play, since it did not rely on maps or miniatures. (The irony here being that miniatures have since been released for subsequent editions of Paranoia.) Some of this is seen in how damage is handled in that a Troubleshooter does not have Hit Points, but weapons instead inflict effects such as stun, wound, incapacitate, kill, and so on. If combat is meant to be dramatic and exciting for all, there is still a set of combat mechanics that need to be learned by the Game Master. These are not complex, but the Game Master still needs to know them to apply them to the ‘dramatic tactical system’ that Paranoia wants her to run the game as and there are quite a lot of weapon special effects, such as the various ammunition types of slug throwers and cone rifles, ice guns, and tanglers, which she needs to be aware of. Not necessarily in every mission, but they are there in the rules.

Perhaps the most important section in the ‘Gamemaster Handbook’ is on ‘Gamemastering Paranoia’. This is because Paranoia was—and in some ways, still is—different to any other roleplaying game, certainly in comparison to the ones that came before it. The Game Master has many roles in Paranoia. Like any other roleplaying game, the first was to portray the world and act as the eyes and ears of the players and their characters. After that? All bets are off. The Game Master has to portray an NPC, the Computer that both cares about the Citizens of Alpha Complex and thus the Troubleshooter, and loves them. It even trusts them. It also does not trust them. It also fears that one of them, if not all of them are Traitors. It is a mass of contradictions that builds tension and distrust and instils fear and ignorance with the Game Master knowing everything and the players and their Troubleshooters knowing nothing. As a representative of a nasty, totalitarian enclosed society, the Game Master may not be actively trying to kill the Troubleshooters—though she very probably is—but she is definitely looking for reasons to kill the Troubleshooters.

The advice for running Paranoia is excellent throughout. It amounts to controlling information and rationing it with a miserly reluctance, killing the bastards, fighting dirty, accepting that sometimes situations are hopeless, and letting the players feel that bad luck or idiocy is responsible for their Troubleshooters’ fate, rather than maliciousness upon the part of the Game Master. Similarly, the advice for running combat is to keep things moving, never give the players and their Troubleshooters the time to think, reward flamboyance and strange ideas, to kill the bastards, and to really, really keep things moving. Topped by the fact that the Game Master should ‘Sound Impartial’, despite the fact that she probably being anything other than that. All of which is supported by examples of play that showcase how Paranoia is intended to be run and played. Combined with advice on writing adventures—though the designers admit to liking pre-written packaged adventures for various reasons, and beginning, running, and ending adventures, the advice throughout Paranoia is excellent.

The Game Master is further supported with the ‘Adventure Handbook’. It begins a little oddly with the first ten pages devoted to detailing bots (or robots) and vehicles, before presenting a full, pre-packaged, adventure. ‘Destination: CBI Sector’ is designed as a starting adventure and sample of what a Paranoia adventure is intended to look like. This is for both the Game Master new to Paranoia and her players who are new to Paranoia, and the scenario includes a set of six pre-generated Troubleshooters, each of which comes complete with a ‘Mission Report Form’ to fill in and return to the Computer at the end of the mission. The mission involves the recovery of a robot from a previously abandoned industrial sector and will be complicated by whatever the Troubleshooters find there, their duplicitous group leader, and of course, each other. It is a fun, silly, and infuriatingly absurd affair that captures the tone of Paranoia to a tee.

Physically, Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future is Alpha Complex is well presented and wonderfully embraces its black humour. There are constant messages and interactions with the Computer, there are very examples of play, and Jim Holloway’s artwork perfectly captures the absurdities of life in Alpha Complex and the irreconcilable situations that the Troubleshooters will face. Best of all are the covers to the roleplaying game’s three books in the box. Each cover depicts a scene in which those present are being watched by someone else on another cover so that there is a sense of constant sense of surveillance and mistrust even on who the roleplaying game looks. If perhaps there is an oddity in the look of the roleplaying game, it is that Paranoia looks like and it laid out like the rules for wargame rather than a roleplaying game, irony being that this was everything that it was against!

—oOo—

In Space Gamer Number 72 (January/February 1985), Paranoia was given a ‘Featured Review by the Staff of Space Gamer’, that included commentary and annotation in sidebars that ran down the review which was placed in the centre of the page. There was comparison with TOON throughout—also reviewed in the issue—which they begin by pointing out that, “West End Games’ Paranoia is one of a new breed of RPGs. They stress atmosphere and evocation of a certain mood instead of flexible mechanics or long-term playability. These games are, if you will, the “short story” forms of the field, while the ongoing campaigns of full-scale open-ended games are “novel-length” adventures. You don’t play Paranoia or TOON (for instance) as long-term undertakings; they don’t offer enough variety. But as a change of pace, these games can produce an Intense roleplaying experience.” In general, they were critical of the core mechanics, but concluded by saying, “So there are frustrations in Paranoia — but there is enormous exhilaration too, an adrenalin high that comes from living on full alert every minute. The game system is not for the numbercrunchers who want exact percentage chances for everything, novice GMs who have trouble keeping a session rolling along, or players who want relaxation and easygoing fantasy. And if you’re likely to take it personally when your best friend’s character plugs your character from behind, stay away from this game. But if you like high-tension suspense along with a slightly bent sense of humor, Paranoia is a unique and highly desirable experience.”
Marcus L. Rowland reviewed Paranoia in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Issue 65 (May, 1985). He wrote, “I like Paranoia, but I’m not sure that I’d want to run it as a prolonged campaign. It’s the sort of concept which works well as light relief from a ‘serious’ RPG campaign, and will definitely appeal to ‘hack and slay’ merchants. Dedicated rule lawyers and wargamers will hate it. Overall, a lot of fun for a minimum of three or four players.” before giving an overall score of seven out of ten.

Larry DiTillio reviewed Paranoia in Game Reviews in Different Worlds Issue 39 (May/June 1985). Giving it four out of four stars, he ended a lengthy and detailed review with, “My guess is that Paranoia will have its greatest appeal among older, more sophisticated gamers seeking a change of pace. Power gamers will definitely hate it, younger players will probably find it too offbeat. Some of its quips and comments and a lot of the material on secret soceities [sic] may very well offend a few sensibilities, but this is par for the course in a game that is primarily satirical. And please, take that last comment with a good grain of salt. Paranoia is satirical, but it is no joke. It is a solid, well-designed game, admittedly off-the-wall, but not to be dismissed as an attempt to grab your bucks with a few cheap yuks. Its yuks are good and so is the rest of it. It belongs in every dedicated gamer’s library if only for its insights into the role-playing experience. Well done!”
It was not until Dragon Issue #132 (April 1988) that Jim Bambra reviewed Paranoia in ‘Role-playing Reviews’, subtitled ‘Playing for laughs’ (other roleplaying games reviewed included Ghostbusters and Teenagers From Outer Space), by which time, it was the second edition that being reviewed. He said, “The first edition of Paranoia promised hilarious fun and a combat system that didn’t get bogged down in tedious mechanics. It soon found a following among gamers looking for something different in their role-playing adventures. Still, a close inspection of the combat system revealed that it was slow moving and cumbersome. The mechanics were hard to grasp in places, making it difficult to get into the freewheeling fun. Now, all that’s changed. The Paranoia game has been treated to a revamp, and this time the rules are slick. All that tricky stuff which made the combat system such a pain to run has been shelved off into optional rules. If you want the extra complications, you’re welcome to them, or you can do what most people did anyway and simply ignore them.”
He concluded by asking and answering, “Is the PARANOIA game flawless? Well, not quite. It doesn’t lend itself easily to long-term campaign play. This game is best treated as a succession of short adventure sessions in which players get to enjoy themselves doing all those despicable things that would spoil a more “serious” game. Some players may not like the idea of between-character treachery, but this is such an integral part of the PARANOIA game’s atmosphere that it’s worth abandoning a few scruples in exchange for an evening’s fun. As a tongue-in-cheek science-fiction game, this one is hard to beat. Give it a go; you won’t be disappointed. And remember: The Computer is your friend.”
Paranoia, Second Edition was also reviewed by John Woods in the ‘Fantasy Games’ section of The Games Machine 003 (February 1988) who wrote, “Paranoia is a lighthearted RPG, ideal for a group fed up with over complex rules and players who take their characters too seriously … and for GMs who want to get their own back! The new edition is far more suitable for those with little or no RPG experience, and is an excellent value for a complete system (just add a 20-sided die). First edition players should consider moving up too – the rule changes aren’t drastic, but improved book organisation makes the GM’s life easier.” Then he signed off with, “‘Remember: Stay Alert! Trust no one! Keep your laser handy!’”
Paranoia was covered not once, but twice in the pages of Arcane magazine. First in Arcane Issue 10 (September 1996) in a Retro Review by editor, Paul Pettengale. He said, “When it first hit the streets, back in May 1985, Paranoia received mixed reviews. It was criticised for being too loose a system, of being too single scenario (rather than campaign) based, and (if you can believe this) of being too much fun. Yes, that sounds mad, but at the time everyone was wrapped up in a realism trip. We were all hooked on character development – a game which, in its five rules for referees, categorically stated, “Kill the bastards” in reference to the player characters was seen as being too anarchic for its own good.”, to which he responded with, “Which was, quite frankly, complete bollocks. Never in gaming history has there been a game which was such a scream to play.” Then he followed this up with, “Despite the fact that a typical Paranoia session resembled a pitch invasion at a Leeds match, only on a somewhat smaller scale, the players achieved a greater level of roleplaying than in the D&D campaign | was running at the time. The reason? The madcap atmosphere, the plots which hardly stretched the brain, and the fact that most of the conversation went on between the players rather than between PCs and NPCs, meant that the players forgot they were playing a game, and got into the somewhat surreal spirit of things. Simplicity, it would seem, when twinned with chaos, makes for a good time in roleplaying games.”
It was also included in ‘The Top 50 Roleplaying Games’ list which appeared in Arcane Issue 14 (Christmas 1996), being placed at position number seven. In answering the question, “What’s it like?”, it said, “For players of games where character development and campaign continuity are a priority, Paranoia is an absolute no-no. If a character (of which there are six versions – each person in Alpha Complex has six clones) lives through an entire scenario then they’re doing well. Hell, they’re doing better than well, they’re probably Jesus Christ reborn (er, no offence intended, all ye Christian types). Suffice to say that Paranoia is, and always will be, a complete laugh – it should be played for nothing more than fun.”

—oOo—

In 1984, Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future was a shockingly radical design that stuck two fingers up and sneered at every roleplaying game that had become before it. It was blatantly uncooperative and adversarial in its play, embracing death in the fragility of its Troubleshooters and almost a nihilism in their uselessness, and possessing a lack of hope given that despite the roleplaying game presenting a means of progression, the actual play was actively obstructive to such progression. This meant the roleplaying game was suited to one-shots and short play rather than campaigns. Lastly, it was the most American and the most anti-American of roleplaying games, especially considering that it was released at the height of the Cold War and the Presidency of Ronald Reagan. It was the most American of roleplaying games because it was rabidly anti-Communist and it fully embraced McCarthyism and pushed the fears that McCarthyism espoused to their fullest extremes—and beyond. It was the most anti-American of roleplaying games because it made every Troubleshooter, every Player Character, what McCarthyism feared—a traitor, effectively a Commie and the enemy within. Of course, that included the Computer and thus Game Master because everyone in Paranoia is the true enemy within. And then the designers of Paranoia effectively turned it into a horrifyingly funny cartoon. It would go on to win the 1984 H.G. Wells Award for Best Roleplaying Rules.

Paranoia: A Role-Playing Game of a Darkly Humorous Future is a brilliant piece of design, a savage satire on roleplaying, politics, and social attitudes at the height of Cold War that set player against player, Game Master against the players, and forced everyone at the table to play differently. All of which it barely hides behind the blackest of humour and the bleakest of futures, whilst presenting a genuinely different and challenging roleplaying experience.

Wednesday, 25 December 2024

1984: Ringworld

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Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch was and is a rare beast in many ways. It is rare because it is a hard Science Fiction roleplaying game, published at a time when the genre leaned more towards the Space Opera subgenre. It is rare because it is one of publisher Chaoisum, Inc.’s only two forays into the Science Fiction genre, the other being the ‘Future World’ setting from Worlds of Wonder, published in 1982. Lastly, it is literally rare because it has long been out of print and copies are hard to come by. Published in 1984, Ringworld is primarily based upon the Larry Niven novel of the same name, published in 1970, which would win Nebula Award in 1970 and both the Hugo Award and Locus Award in 1971. Ringworld tells the story of a group of explorers in the mid twenty-ninth century who travel far outside of Known Space to determine if a massive astronomical object is a threat to their employer. This object is the ‘Ringworld’ of the title, a ring one million miles wide with the approximate diameter of the Earth’s orbit and the inner surface area equal to three million Earths. It is habitable, for it has a breathable atmosphere, rotates to provide gravity, a moderate temperature, and a day/night cycle provided by an inner ring of shadow squares. Ringworld and the ‘ringworld’ was the very definition of the term ‘big dumb object’, but what it presented was a wide-open space to explore, both in the novels and in Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch.

The setting for Ringworld is Known Space, an area roughly sixty light years across, and beyond in the twenty-ninth century. Earth is a stable society with citizens free to pursue their own ambitions and the time to do it, but need permission to procreate to prevent overpopulation. Scientific research is highly regulated to avoid the creation of weapons of mass destruction. The discovery of Booster Spice enables individuals to live for centuries without dying except via an accident. Psionic abilities such as telepathy and telekinesis—and most notably ‘luck’, are not unknown. Mankind has settled numerous systems and adapted to a number of different environments, and fought the Kzinti, a highly aggressive, male-dominated cat-like species, in a series of wars that would see humanity prevail each time. Hyperspace travel is common and most spaceships are built using one of several types of virtually indestructible General Products Hull, sold by the General Products company. General Products is owned by the Pierson’s Puppeteers, a highly intelligent non-humanoid species with three hoofed legs and two snake-like heads who are fanatical cowards. The Pierson’s Puppeteers hire the original mission to the Ringworld and have been secretly manipulating and influencing the course of both human and Kzinti development in order to protect themselves.

In Ringworld, the Player Characters are either Humans, Kzin, or Puppeteers. The original mission to the Ringworld—as described in the first book in the series—has taken place and the Player Characters have the opportunity to conduct follow up expeditions as well as explore far beyond the relatively small region visited by the original expedition. The scenario included in the roleplaying game, ‘The Journey of the Catseye’ will take the Player Characters to the Ringworld.

Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch came as a richly packed box which contained the then obligatory ‘What’s in this Box’ sheet, four books, a booklet of extra essays and character sheets, a sheet of ‘Explorer Figures’, and a set of dice. The four books are the sixty-page ‘Explorer Book’, the forty-eight page ‘Gamemaster Book’, the forty-four-page ‘Creatures Book’, and the thirty-six-page ‘Technology Book’. The booklet is the ‘Ringworld: Autopilot Print-Out’. Bar the book covers, everything is presented in black and white with some excellent illustrations by Lisa Free. Everything feels of the highest quality, at least for 1984, and this was reflected in the price, Ringworld costing $25 at the time. This was seen as expensive for a roleplaying game in 1984. In terms of source material, the Ringworld roleplaying game draws from the novels Ringworld, Ringworld Engineers, The World of Ptavvs, A Gift From Earth, Protector, and Neutron Star. Notably, the ‘What’s in this Box’ sheet explains why there is no map of the Ringworld. At the bottom of the sheet is a band, one-half-inch wide. If this represents one million miles—the width of the Ringworld, then the scale circumference of the Ringworld would be twenty-five feet! This it suggests, “…[W]ill give the players a very good idea of the actual proportions (and awesome size) of Ringworld.” The full credits and all those with an input in the creation of the Ringworld roleplaying game are listed on the back of the sheet.

The ‘Explorer Book’ introduces the setting of Known Space, the basic rules, descriptions of Earth and the worlds settled by humanity, plus the rules for creating characters. The latter includes Humans, Kzin, and Puppeteers. The Ringworld roleplaying game uses the Basic Roleplay System, so a character is defined by Strength, Mass, Constitution, Intelligence, Power, Dexterity, Appearance, and Education. These are on the same scale as other Basic Roleplay System roleplaying games, although Education can be much, much higher as Player Characters can be much older than the average in other roleplaying games. A character also has a home world which determines the gravity under which he grew up, a potential defect like albinism, boosterspice allergy, or hyperspace blindspot phobia, and an age. Notably, the age is split between actual age and physical age, as this differs depending upon when the Player Character begins taking booster spice. There is a chance that a Player Character has a psionic ability. Lastly, the Player Character will have a range of skills, which are divided into five categories—Agility, Communication, Perception, Knowledge, and Technical—and also divided between Single and Root skills. A Single skill has a straight value, but a Root skill has a base beyond which the Player Character must specialise. For example, the Hyperdrive skill, which handles spaceship piloting, has a base beyond which the pilot must specialise in Quantam 1 and Quantam 2 hyperdrives.

Player Character creation is a matter of rolling for all of these elements. This is apart from Education, which is an open-ended roll. The final value will determine the basic starting age for the Player Characters. After that, a Player Character can have one or more Occupations which grants access to particular skills, the number being based on years after completing education. A Player Character is given a number of points to spend on Education skills, Pursuits—or Occupations, and Special Interests—hobbies. The process is not difficult, but with older characters this means that the process takes longer and that it can lead to characters with widely varying ages and thus skill values.

Our sample would-be explorer is a journalist and tridee presenter. He has been hearing rumours of a spaceflight out to an unknown object beyond the borders of Known space. He wants to get the first footage and he wants to be famous because of it.

Name: Jonathon Leung
Species: Human
Homeworld (Gravity): Earth (Normal)
Age – Physical: 23 Age – Chronological: 47
Occupations: Journalist
Defect: None
Strength 14 Mass 16 Constitution 14 Intelligence 12 Power 17 Dexterity 15 Appearance 14 Education 26
Damage Modifier: +1d3
General Hit Points: 30
Health Roll: 42% Reasoning Roll: 36% Luck Roll: 54% Dodge Roll: 45%
Action Ranking: 4

SKILLS
AGILITY Root Maximum: 31%
Athletics 31% (Run 35%), Hide 30%, Sneak 25%, Unarmed Combat 20%
COMMUNICATION Root Maximum: 26%
Bargain 50%, Debate 65%, Fast Talk 50%, Fine Arts 25%, Orate 65%, Own Language (Interworld) 100%, Perform 26% (Tridee Presentation 85%), Psychology 26% (Human 65%)
KNOWLEDGE Root Maximum: 38%
Anthropology 38% (Cultural Anthropology 60%), History 38% (Known Space Conspiracy Theories 58%) (Spaceflight and Colonisation History 45%), Law 20%, Second Language (Kzinti) 20%
PERCEPTION Root Maximum: 31%
Listen 25%, Observe 45%, Search 45%
TECHNICAL Root Maximum: 27%

Mechanically, Ringworld is a percentile system as per the Basic Roleplay system. Roll equal to or under the skill or a Health Roll or Reasoning Roll, for example, and the action is a success. If the result is a fifth of a skill or a Health Roll, then it is a Special Success, but a Special Failure if the result is over the target value and in the top twentieth percent. A roll of ninety-six or above is invariably a failure, although this will be modified if the skill is above one hundred percent. In skill contests, the lowest, successful skill roll wins, whilst the Resistance Table is used for contests involving attributes. In addition to improving skills via the standard method of the Basic Roleplay system, it is possible to improve skills and attributes via virtual training in the Simweb (part of the scenario included in Ringworld includes the opportunity to train in the ship’s Simweb).

Combat in Ringworld is not conducted round by round as per traditional roleplaying games, but in Impulses. Each Impulse is a United Nations Standard second long. In terms of time, a character, whether a Player Character or an NPC, can take Minor Actions and Major Actions. Minor Actions include firing a ranged weapon, falling over, and standing up from a kneeling position. A Minor Action takes one second or Impulse to perform. Major Actions include aiming a ranged weapon, attacking with a melee weapon or unarmed, drawing or stowing a weapon, and so on. A Major Action takes a number of Impulses to perform equal to a character’s Action Rating, derived from his Dexterity. For a human, this Action Rating is typically between three and six. For a Kzin, it ranges between four and two. Once the participants in a fight have declared their actions, the Game Master counts the Impulses up and when she reaches the Impulse when an action for a Player Character or NPC triggers, the action will take place, with rolls being made, as necessary. Effectively, this is a continuous count up, allowing continuous freedom of actions rather than restricting actions to the confines of a single round.

The Impulse system for actions for Ringworld remains a radical design, it being very rare to see anything similar in other roleplaying games—Aces & Eights Reloaded from Kenzer and Co. being a rare exception. However, it does force a player and Game Master alike to focus on the constant action, as procedurally, there is never a break in the process as there would be where combat is conducted round by round, and it does favour Player Characters and NPCs with better Action Ratings.

Melee or unarmed attacks can be parried or dodged, whilst ranged attacks in general cannot. Advanced weapons like the variable sword or the flashlight laser, are exceptions to this. Whilst a flashlight laser can be blocked by numerous surfaces, including armour, only a stasis field or the scrith material which the Ringworld is constructed of will stop a variable sword. If an attack is successful, the hit location is determined randomly, but can be adjusted by aiming. This adds an extra Impulse per change in location. Damage inflicted that exceeds a location’s Hit points will either render the limb useless, or render the character unconscious if the head, chest, or abdomen. If the damage suffered is more than twice a location’s Hit Points, a limb will be severed, bleeding or dying if the chest or abdomen, or dead if the head. Make no mistake, combat is deadly in Ringworld, especially given that a laser rifle will inflict ‘1d10+30’ points of damage, a flashlight laser anywhere between zero and fifty points of damage, and a variable sword ‘1d20+5’. Some armour is available, but it varies widely in its effectiveness. Ideally though, the Player Characters should not be engaging in combat unless they have to, and if they do, ultimately, they should have access to an autodoc which will provide effective, but slow healing for most damage suffered.

What is clear from Ringworld is that despite its size and the complexity of background, the rules themselves are not. A group with experience of the Basic Roleplay system will grasp them with ease, but at just eleven pages they are clearly explained and easy to understand. Character creation is slightly more complex, especially when taking into account the rules for creating Kzin or Puppeteer Player Characters found at the back of the ‘Explorer Book’.

Both the ‘Creatures Book’ and the ‘Technology Book’ provide more background and details of the setting. The ‘Technology Book’ covers all of the devices to be found across Known Space and beyond, some of which the Player Characters will be likely to equip themselves with or take to the Ringworld. It ranges from generators, computers, and medical equipment to vehicles, weapons, and protective devices. Weapons include Slaver disintegrators, hand beamers, flashlight lasers, the euphoria-inducing tasp, and more. Vehicles include the incredibly speedy flycycle as well as General Products Hull Types. All of it is highly detailed, especially the starships, and highly readable.

Similarly, the content of the ‘Creatures Book’ is also highly detailed and highly readable, if not more so in the case of the latter. It can be divided into five sections. The first details the ‘Aliens’ found across Known Space, such as the Bandersnatchi, Grogs, Kdatlyno, and more. Dolphins are also included, although they are not available as a Player Character species. The second presents a lengthy examination of the Pak, the aggressively xenophobic and protective species suspected of being the builders of the Ringworld. The third details the various ‘Hominids’ found on the Ringworld. These include the City Builders, Ghouls, Healers, Sea People, Vampires, and others. The last two sections are devoted to ‘Animals’ and ‘Flora’. The most notable of the latter includes the Slaver Sunflowers which targeted the first expedition to the Ringworld. All of the entries are accorded a full page’s worth of background and detail, if not more in several cases, presenting the various species as different in terms of both culture and biology.

The majority of the entries in Ringworld are essays, whether that is descriptions of the aliens and hominids in the ‘Creatures Book’ or guides to first Known Space, and then the Kzin, and the Puppeteers from the ‘Explorer Book’. This continues in the ‘Gamemaster Book’ and then in the ‘Ringworld: Autopilot Print-Out’. The latter includes essays about ‘Ringworld from Space’, the ‘Infinity-Horizon’ (since the Ringworld has no horizon), ‘A Day on Ringworld’, ‘The Darkside of Ringworld’, and ‘The Starry Night Sky of Ringworld’. The ‘Gamemaster Book’ describes the Ringworld in some detail, covering its physical structure, the technology that maintains it and can still be found on the Ringworld—especially on the rim, and the geography and ecosystem. There is background too on the City Builders, the species which most recently dominated the Ringworld, building floating cities and exploring and trading with other worlds, until a technological disaster caused the cities to fall out of the sky and other technologies to fail, as well as other Hominid Technology found on the Ringworld. These are all excellent essays containing a wealth of detail and background to the Ringworld. Perhaps the most obviously gameable here are the sections on ‘Puppeteer Secrets’ and ‘Ringworld Secrets’, the nearest that the roleplaying game gets to scenario hooks. There are rules for psionics as well.

The ‘Gamemaster Book’ comes to a close with ‘The Journey of the Catseye’. This is an introductory scenario designed to get the Player Characters to the Ringworld. The captain of the Catseye, a General Products No. 4 starship wants to employ a pilot and an engineer as well as security guards and scientists to join him on an expedition to a strange object outside of Known Space where his client hopes an alternative to boosterspice might be found. Both ship and crew are described in detail as is the journey, which gives the Player Characters the opportunity to test out the Simweb. Unfortunately, and much like the Lying Bastard in the Ringworld novel, the Catseye suffers catastrophic damage and is forced to crash land on the Ringworld. Much of the scenario revolves around making repairs to the ship and finding the parts needed, which will sometimes bring the Player Characters into conflict with the indigenous species. The scenario is detailed up to the point where it leaves the Player Characters at a moment of decision as to what they want to do next. There is no satisfying conclusion to the story and if the players have read Ringworld, the plot of ‘The Journey of the Catseye’ is worryingly similar. For all of the set-up, all of the detail, and all of the wonder to the Ringworld, ‘The Journey of the Catseye’ is quite mundane.

The scenario is not the only entry in the ‘Gamemaster Book’ to underwhelm. Not much more than two-and-half pages, the advice for the Game Master is much shorter than it needed to be. It tells the Game Master that she needs to create a logical campaign background with excitement to hold player interest. She is told it entails work and that she should plan for contingencies, but never quite told how. There is good advice on the challenge of how the Player Characters interact with the various natives and civilisations on the Ringworld, that is, to understand Ringworld is not a simple game of banditry in which they wander the land astride their great flycycle steeds ready to impose their will with their trusty flashlight lasers, and that even if they do, there will be someone on the Ringworld who can outfight them. Instead, the Player characters should rely on diplomacy and persuasion. Yet the ready access to highly powerful technology does give the Player Characters an advantage and the Game Master is going to need to work harder in creating scenarios and campaigns where violence is an option, but the least advantageous option. All of this takes place in an environment that has a surface area three times the size of the Earth in a setting that is highly technical and highly detailed technically. This is an issue with any roleplaying game that fits into the hard Science Fiction genre, the players are going to want the technical details and an idea of how things work. Often with a view to the technology providing a solution, which means that there is a tension between the players and their characters wanting to rely on their advanced technology, and the Game Master wanting to occasionally provide scenarios where its use is not as helpful. So, the Game Master needs to have some idea of how the technologies of Ringworld and Known Space work—and that is before writing a scenario or campaign.

The issue with Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch, ultimately, is what does a Game Master do with it? Everything about it is simply big—the enormous size of the Ringworld, the technology, and the questions about it. There are sixty questions listed in the ‘Ringworld Mysteries’ section, but none of them are really small and manageable. The idea of running Ringworld is already a formidable prospect, without a Game Master having to devise answers to questions that the creator of Known Space, Larry Niven, is best placed to answer. Overall, Ringworld needed more detailed and better advice on being an exploration roleplaying game, of handling technology so that it does not become a crutch, and so on.

Physically, Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch is very well presented. It is well written and all four books have their own contents listed on their respective back covers, which makes finding anything surprisingly easy. Inside, the black and white layout is dense, but still readable. The artwork is decent, but that of Lisa A. Free is excellent. It needs a slight edit in places.

—oOo—

Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch was reviewed by Phil Masters in ‘Open Box in White Dwarf Issue 59 (November 1984). He awarded the roleplaying game an overall score of six out of ten and said, “This game takes a superb background idea, applies a good system of mechanics to it, and comes back with a disappointing result. It may be that I was expecting too much; as a long-time Known Space addict I’ve been on tenterhooks since the first mention of the project, and (once the Companion appears to complete the system) I may well find myself running or playing Ringworld regularly, despite my feeling that the game as presented lacks the depth (as opposed as size) it could and should have possessed.”

Ringworld was the featured review in Space Gamer Number 71 (Nov/Dec 1984). Reviewer Steve Peterson described it as “A Missed Bet”, expanding on the statement by writing, “Really, the Ringworld universe is not an especially good roleplaying situation in the traditional sense. Most of Known Space is too civilized for true action and adventure. The Ringworld itself is “uncivilized” enough, but the technology of the explorers is so much better that they can walk right over most native threats, Think of starting out your D&D adventurers in the first level dungeon, only the adventurers are armed with +5 armor and vorpal swords. You’d quickly get bored.” He countered this with, “However, the Ringworld game is a good simulation, because the characters in the stories were more powerful than the natives. But the challenges of the Ringworld stories arose from situations that couldn’t be handled with a flashlight laser or a variable sword. Those neat weapons didn’t matter when the whole Ringworld was falling into its sun, as in Ringworld Engineers. The characters had to solve problems with their heads, not with their gadgets.” before continuing, “Unfortunately, the authors of the Ringworld game miss the point entirely. They come heartbreakingly close when they include a section on Ringworld mysteries – they discuss many of the very important questions left unanswered in the books. But they fall short when they don’t tell you how to use those mysteries to create scenarios.”

Peterson’s review included three useful sidebars, or rather sections of boxed text. The first was ‘For the uninitiated…’, which introduced the Known Space setting and Niven’s books for anyone new to either, whilst the second was a review of the Ringworld Companion. The third was particularly interesting. ‘What Niven Thinks About Ringworld’, which gives a short interview with the author. Notable is the fact that the publisher had the rights to explore some of the mysteries of the Ringworld and give its own solutions, though Niven would not be beholden to them. That said, Niven was interested in the roleplaying game’s background essays on the Kzinti and wanted to purchase the rights to those to use as a bible for authors working on the Man/Kzin series of anthologies. Peterson’s review concluded with, “My recommendation: Niven fans should buy it for the essays and background materials. Role-players should be prepared to do some work on scenarios; but if you do, you’ll have some terrific roleplaying in a beautifully detailed world. Science-fiction gamers who want to use it for source material probably won't get their money’s worth.”

Ringworld was reviewed in ‘Game Reviews’ in Different Worlds Issue 37 (Nov/Dec 1984) by Jeff Seiken. He commented that, “Ringworld is a difficult game to run in that it requires a skillful gamemaster to keep play (and the explorers) under control. The demands of running a campaign world roughly the size of three million earths compressed into such a small area are enough to tax the abilities of even the most experienced gamemasters.” and “In Ringworld, with explorers routinely traveling at speeds of 7000 km per hour across an ever-changing landscape, the gamemaster needs to be flexible and able to improvise quickly. Moreover, although the rules claim otherwise, gamemastering a Ringworld campaign requires at least some scientific background on the gamemaster’s behalf.” Despite these reservations, he awarded Ringworld four stars and concluded with, “As mentioned previously, the rulebooks contain numerous essays devoted to specific facets of Ringworld to assist the gamemaster in constructing a suitable (and viable) campaign. These essays are both well-written and invaluable. In fact, as befitting a product which owes its origins to a literary source, Ringworld stands out as an extremely literate role-playing game. Digesting the extensive amounts of factual information presented in the essays may demand a significant commitment of time and energy on the part of the gamemaster, but then the rewards of role-playing in the world of Ringworld will far outstrip the effort.”

Steve Nutt reviewed Ringworld in IMAGINE magazine, No. 21 (December 1984) in ‘Notices – Games reviews’. He said, “Altogether, Ringworld’s advantages and disadvantages stem from its campaign setting. The actual mechanics of the game are top quality, yet background and atmosphere are what make or break a campaign, and in Ringworld this aspect could be somewhat daunting to the uninitiated.”

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Supported by the Ringworld Companion and the extra content in the aforementioned Different Worlds Issue 37, Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch did not remain in print for very long. Some of its content would form the basis for the background to the Man-Kzin War series of anthologies and Known Space received its sourcebook a decade later with The Guide to Larry Niven’s Ringworld. What this points to, certainly in the case of the Man-Kzin War series is that as a roleplaying game, Ringworld, was a great sourcebook for the setting. Richly detailed and informative enough for any fan of the Known Space series of novels. In fact, astonishingly good as a guide and bible to and for the setting. Yet that same detail made creating for the game beyond the given scenario a challenging consideration, even more so for a campaign. Which then becomes almost herculean given the underwhelming advice on creating for and running what is a technical and detailed setting.

Much like the story of the novel it is based upon, Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch is very good at getting the Game Master and her players and their characters to the Ringworld. Unfortunately, once they get there, the roleplaying game does leave them stranded and left to adapt and survive on their own.

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With thanks to Lee Williams for the generous and all too lengthy loan of his copy of Larry Niven’s Ringworld: Roleplaying Adventure Beneath the Great Arch. Without that loan, this review would not have been possible.

Sunday, 15 December 2024

1984: Time Master

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The first roleplaying game about time travel was the quite appallingly useless Timeship: A role playing game of time travel and adventure, published by Yaquinto Publications in 1983. It was quickly followed in 1984 by two further time travel-themed roleplaying games. One was the surprisingly historical Time & Time Again, published by Timeline Ltd., the other was the classic, pulp action Science Fiction Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension from Pacesetter Ltd. It was one of three roleplaying games that the publisher, set up by a number of ex-TSR, Inc. employees, including Mark Acres, Troy Denning, and Stephen Sullivan, would release in 1984. The company’s first, and best known, was the classic horror game, CHILL: Adventures into the Unknown, and it would be followed by Time Master and Star Ace: Adventures in Space, a classic pulp Sci-Fi roleplaying game. All three used the same mechanics and all three were extensively supported with supplements and scenarios. All three also remain in print, having become cult classics since their original publication.

As with CHILL: Adventurs into the Unknown before it, Time Master was published as a boxed set. Behind its exciting cover of a man escaping on a flyer of some kind away from marching soldiers, battleships, and dinosaurs, the box contains three books, a map, a sheet of counters, and three ten-sided dice. The three books are the sixty-four-page ‘Travelers’ Manual’, the main rulebook, the thirty-two-page ‘Guide to the Continuum’, the setting book, and the sixteen-page ‘Red Ace High’, a starter scenario. The map is double-sided. One side depicts an area of wilderness in colour, whilst on the other is a depiction of facilities on an airfield. The one-hundred-and-forty counters are a mix of black and white and colour and show Time Agents, Demoreans, and a lot of military units, including vehicles across various eras, such as chariots, jeeps, artillery pieces, and futuristic flying craft.

In Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension, the Player Characters are members of the Time Corps, established in the seventy-second century to police, protect, and restore the timeline. Mankind constructed the first time travel devices in 7051. Although crude, their rapid adoption and use by world governments to erase and rewrite triggered the Time Wars which would last a century and only end with the signing of the Temporal Treaty in 7054. The major powers also agreed to set up an organisation which would protect the timeline, repair where necessary, and prevent tampering by outsiders, renegades, and rogue states. It was granted autonomy and it was planned that it would be disbanded when its work was done. Then the Demoreans appeared. The discovery of a shape-changing alien species from a Parallel world prepared to inflict untold damage to our timeline on Parallel T-0 in order to make it like theirs proved to be a shock and forced the Time Corps to continue its remit. The Agency recruits agents from 3,500 BCE to 7171 CE, but focuses on six ‘Event Windows’. These are Fifth Century BCE Athens, Rome from 61 BCE to 37 AD, Angevin England from 1154 to 1216, Tudor England between 1509 and 1603, Napoleonic France from 1804 to 1815, and France from 1940 to 1944.

The ‘Travelers’ Manual’ explains both the rules and the history of Time Corps and its procedures. Its Time Agents operate in the past and on other parallels according to certain laws. The Law of Identity states that nothing can exist twice at the same time, which means that a Time Agent cannot go on a mission in a period when he has already lived. The danger is that if he did, he would be caught in a ‘Loop Trap’ forced to relive his first visit to the period. The Law of Preservation states that timelines repair themselves, which negates the infamous ‘Grandfather Paradox’. The Law of the Time Barrier prevents time travellers travelling into the future, whilst the Law of Death states that if a time traveller dies, it is permanent. In addition, the Time Corps has its own regulations. These include not recklessly taking a Human or alien life; preventing the activities of Demoreans and renegades in the past, ideally killing the former and returning the latter to Time Corps Headquarters; not engaging in time travel without permission; not leaving any advanced technology or weapons in the past; not revealing the existence of the Time Corps; not investigating the origins or ancestry of another Time Agent; destroy Renegade equipment; and never to return to Time Corps Headquarters from a mission unless it has been successfully completed or the Time Agents are forced to abort it. It is notable that the Time Corps adheres to a code of ethics and does not recruit criminals of any kind.

Time Corps Agents have a Rank and Grade. The Ranks start at Trainee and finish at Timemaster, and there are ten Grades within each Rank. Each time a Time Agent successfully completes a mission, he is promoted one Grade. Once an Agent reaches the Rank and Grade of Time Master, Grade Ten, he retires from the field. A Rank Six or ‘Lifer’ Agent is granted access to ‘Fountain of Youth’ technology which prevents from aging when he is in the past.

Mechanically, Time Agent advancement is tracked at the end of a successful mission by rolling against its Significance Rating. Every mission or adventure has a Significance Rating indicating how important a person or a place or an object is in terms of the flow of history. For example, Pericles from Fifth Century BCE Athens has a Significance Rating of 350 and Charles DeGaulle from France from 1940 to 1944 a Significance Rating of 150. The Continuum Master—as the Game Master is known in Time Master—assigns a mission a total Significance Rating based on individual ratings and then tracks the Time Agents’ action over the course of the mission in comparison to this total. If the Time Agents kill NPCs or some how change history to how it should be, these Significance errors the total Significance Rating and the number of Success Points the Time Agents are awarded collectively with which the players can improve them.

In addition, the amount by which the total Significance Rating was reduced is the value against which the Continuum Master makes a Significance Check. This is rolled on ‘d1000’ and if the result is under the combined value of the Significance errors committed by the Time Agents, then they have changed time. These changes will vary from mission to mission, from scenario to scenario, and each scenario includes a Historical Changes Chart that lists the changes and their effects. For example, in the ‘Red Ace High’ scenario included in the boxed set, the Historical Changes Chart gives changes ranging from the early adoption of aerial and rocket power and World War II beginning in 1935 and ending in a devastating defeat for the Allies to the death of an ancestor of a Time Agent, causing a number of missions needing to be redone. These changes will not become apparent until the Time Agents return to Time Corps Headquarters, where they may be informed by their Time Corps Sentinel, who briefs them, or through the use of ‘Paranormal Memory’.

All Agents of the Time Corps possess ‘Paranormal Memory’, the psychic ability to remember what should have happened in history, in fragments rather than being crystal clear. It is not the only Paranormal Talent that an Agent might have. Others include ‘Memory Restoration’ which is used to repair and restore the memories to what they should be in the timeline, ‘Significance Sensing’ to determine how important an NPC is in history, and ‘Time Shift’, which enables an Agent to move time back, but in game terms, only as far back as the start of the previous round! The Demoreans possess different psychic talents, including ‘Dimensional Travel’ and ‘Shape Shift’. Paranormal Talents are powered by Willpower and are relatively costly to use, so players will need to pick and chose when their Agents deploy them.

An Agent in Time Master is defined by Abilities and Skills. He has eight Basic Abilities. These are Strength, Dexterity, Agility, Willpower, Personality, Perception, Stamina, and Luck. These range in value between twenty-six and eighty. The Basic Abilities have various uses, such as the basic chance to hit a target using a firearm for Dexterity, Willpower as the chance to overcome the fear of seeing a monster, Personality to persuade an NPC, Perception to notice things, and so on. Luck has more uses. First off, only Player Characters have Luck as a Basic Ability—NPCs and other threats do not. It is rolled to avoid certain death, spent permanently to avoid being shot, and of course, how fortunate or not, the Player Character according to the whims of the dice. Several other abilities are derived from the Basic Abilities. These include Unskilled Melee, Health, and more. The Basic Abilities can also grant bonuses to an Agent’s skills.

Skills range in value between forty-one and one-hundred-and-thirty-five, and have a base value derived from a Basic Ability, such as Dexterity for combat skills and Stamina for Swimming, or a number of Basic Abilities which are then averaged. A skill is ranked at either Specialist, Expert, or Master, and each provides a flat bonus to the basic skill value. This is either ‘+15’, ‘+20’, and ‘+25’ respectively. There is an emphasis on combat skills, both on foot and mounted, but the majority of the non-combat skills will cover most situations. Unlike Chill, this roleplaying game does include the Computer skill, but the skills are not organised in an always logical fashion, so that the Pilot skill is included under Heavy Weapons skills rather than the non-combat skills.* The skills are quite detailed in their use, especially the combat skills. So, although an Agent starts off with relatively few skills compared to Player Characters in other roleplaying games, this is offset by a player and the Continuum Master needing to know how they work.

* Thanks to Big Jack Brass for pointing that out.

To create an Agent, a player rolls three ten-sided dice, totals and doubles the result, and adds twenty to get the total for each Basic Ability. After working out the derived abilities, the player chooses a Historical Speciality for his Agent, typically that when he was born, and selects two more skills to reflect what he did before he was recruited by the Time Corps. He also selects a second Paranormal Talent.

Mathilde Berwick was a swordswoman and performer on the stage at the end of the nineteenth century. Her ability with both sword and as an actress have stood her in good stead as a Time Agent.

Mathilde Berwick

BACKGROUND
Date of Birth: September 14th, 1874 Place of Birth: Terra Haute, Indiana
Age at Recruitment: 37 Current Age: 40
Original Profession: Swordswoman & Performer Nationality: American
Education: High School Sex: Female
Height: 5’ 6” Colour Eyes: Brown
Weight: 135 lbs. Colour Hair: Brown

Strength 60 Dexterity 68 Agility 72 Willpower 66
Personality 72 Perception 62 Stamina 50 Luck 64

Unskilled Melee Skill: 66
Current Stamina: 50 Wounds: 13
Current Willpower: 66

SKILLS
Historical Speciality Level – Specialist Score – 79
Time Corps Stunner Level – Specialist – 83
Sword Level – Specialist – 81
Disguise Level – Specialist – 85

PARANORMAL TALENTS
Memory Restoration Level – Specialist Score – 48
Adaptation Speciality Level – Specialist Score – 48

Mechanically, Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension is a percentile system that really uses two types of roll. A General Ability Check is a simple roll against a Basic Ability to determine whether or not an action succeeded or not. A General Skill Check works the same, but for skill use. A Specific Ability or Specific Skill Check is used whenever a more nuanced result is required and the Continuum Master needs to know how many degrees of success were achieved. To do this, the player has to make a successful roll and the Continuum Master consults the TIME MASTER Action Table. She subtracts the value of Basic Ability or the Skill being used from the value of the roll and cross references it in the appropriate column on the TIME MASTER Action Table. This will give an outcome that is either a Limited, Moderate, High, or Complete Success. The specific outcome will vary from one skill to the next.

Combat in Time Master also uses the TIME MASTER Action Table. Initiative is handled with a roll of a single die and the winning side then uses the Art, fires missile weapons, moves, and then engages in melee attacks. The defending side has the chance to return missile fire. Once done, the defending does exactly the same. Unsurprisingly, this feels like a wargame rather than a roleplaying game. Attacks can be Specific Ability Check or a Specific Skill Check, depending upon whether or not the Agent has any skill ranks in the weapon he is wielding. What this means is that making a Specific Ability Check for an attack will give the Agent a lower chance to succeed and a lower chance to get a better roll, whilst someone with the skill will have a better chance of both. As opposed to Specific Ability and Specific Skill Checks, there is more nuance to possible outcomes. The attacker is rolling to determine the Attack Margin which will cross referenced on the Defence Column. The Defence Column is determined randomly for missile attacks, modified by the defender expending points of Luck or by the defender’s skill for a melee attacks. Unarmed combat results can be Scant Damage, Medium Damage, Harsh Damage, Crushing Damage, or Knockdown, and most of these inflict a loss of Stamina points, but some of these can also inflict a Scratch Wound and a Light Wound. Armed combat results include Scratch Wound, Light Wound, and Medium Wound, all the way up to Critical Wound. These inflict greater Stamina loss and possibly continued Stamina loss, depending on the severity.

Since it used the same mechanics, CHILL: Adventures into the Unknown also felt rather like a wargame. However, Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension does not just feel like a wargame, it can be played like a wargame. The combat rules quickly go from brawls and swordfights to using tanks, artillery, and heavy weaponry on the ground and using aeroplanes and space-fighters in dogfights to account for the wide swathe of history that Time Master encompasses. It does not, though, confine them to the personal use and deployment by the players and their Agents, but includes rules for handling skirmishes and tactical scale battles, with the Agents expected to get involved. There is scope for roleplaying in these battles too, but they are designed to be fought out the hex map and counters provided in the box. Although a couple of pages long, the rules cover cavalry and chariot charges, the role of leaders, and more.

The ‘Travelers’ Manual’ is rounded out with details on the Paranormal Talents wielded by both the Time Corps and the Demoreans, the equipment used by Time Corps Agents like the Chronoscooter and the Time Corps Stunner, and rules for the Agents interacting with NPCs. ‘Guide to the Continuum’ is the setting book for Time Master. Shorter, it gives some details on military formations, what the Earth of 7192 is like, and what the Demoreans are like. This includes how to spot them, what their schemes are, and dealing with Demorean defectors. The roleplaying game’s six ‘Event Windows’ are also described here, given a two-page description each, a summary of the military of the period, a short political summary, and stats for major figures of the period. These are broad treatments, but enough to get started, and each was further supported by a decent bibliography for 1984. Lastly, there is some advice for the Continuum Master on how to run the game, including how to switch to parallels rather than the base setting of Earth and its history as we know it. There is no discussion of bringing in elements of fiction as would be done in later releases. It should be noted that much of the contents of the ‘Guide to the Continuum’ can also be read by the players as well as the Continuum Master.

The third and final book in Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension is the scenario, ‘Red Ace High’. This is a starter scenario set during the Great War, at the Battle of Cambrais in 1917. The Time Corp has detected a Demorean penetration into the period and sends the Agents back to investigate. Female characters will outfitted to look like men. The Agents arrive just int time to rescue an English officer under assault by some Germans before soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel George S. Patton come to their aid. He enlists them in a plan to reconnoitre a German airfield on the other side of the trenches and it is here that the Agents discover the Demorean plan. The underhanded aliens have armed Manfred von Richthofen, the infamous Red Baron, with air-to-surface missiles, and plans to have him use them in the forthcoming battle to destroy the Allied attacks. It is a fun play around with history and definitely action-orientated, including participating and running part of the battle itself. However, it is linear and more experienced players are likely to want to look for means to defeat the Demorean plans than that is suggested.

In terms of design, Time Master aims for a universal mechanic with its TIME MASTER Action Table, and almost succeeds. The problem is that the results are not themselves universal, varying depending upon if the player is rolling a Specific Ability or Skill Check, an armed or unarmed attack, and so on. Plus, every skill has its own set of results, so that mechanically, Time Master, like CHILL feels overwritten and fussy. However, the TIME MASTER Action Table is printed on the back of both the ‘Travelers’ Manual’ and the ‘Guide to the Continuum’ books, so the Continuum Master can refer to the table on the back of the latter, whilst the results of various Specific Skill Checks can be consulted in the former.

Physically, Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension is very nicely presented boxed set. The cover to the box is eye-catching, being both exciting and intriguing. The artwork is not good or at least not as singularly noticeable as that of CHILL, most of it being publicly sourced rather than commissioned. The writing, and consequently, the rules, suffer in places from being overwritten unfortunately. The work problem is the organisation as certain chapters do feel as if they should be adjacent to each other.

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Steve Norledge reviewed Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension in ‘Open Box’ in White Dwarf Issue 61 (January 1985). Initially, he had doubts that a roleplaying game could successfully handle the difficulties of the genre, including needing to have an understanding of the theory of time, the freedom of the players wander through wreaking havoc on history, and the unlimited scope offered by the genre. However, he was impressed, saying that, “Overall, I quite liked Timemaster – it is an unpretentious little game, simple and yet provides the best yet framework for time travel rolegaming. It is eminently suited to the ‘one-off’ style of play, and, yet, with effort, would also be a good campaign game (though it would have a very episodic feel to it).” before awarding it a score of seven out of ten.

It was reviewed in ‘Game Reviews’ in Imagine No. 25 (April 1985) by Jim Bambra. Although highly critical of ‘Red Ace High’, which found rushed and flawed, he concluded that, “With its infinite variety of settings Timemaster has a lot of potential. Players can experience many different situations and save the world numerous times over.”

Russell Grant Collins reviewed Time Master in Different Worlds Issue 39 (May/June, 1985) in ‘Game Reviews’. He opened with, “In my opinion, TimeMaster has one of the most workable backgrounds of all the recent time travel games. It deals with a time patrol in the far future which is defending its past from aliens bent on destroying it and freelance time travelers who aren’t careful enough about what their actions are doing to the fabric of time.” before awarding the roleplaying game three out of four stars and finishing with, “The bottom line on this game is that once we got used to the system, my friends and I enjoyed it and plan to play it in the future. It is by no means perfect, but still enjoyable. For those who are interested in that sort of thing, TimeMaster is supposed to be totally compatible with Pacesetter’s other adventure games, Chill and Star Ace.”

Warren Spector reviewed the roleplaying game for Space Gamer Number 75 (July/August 1985), as part of the Featured Review, ‘The Pacesetter Line’. In general, he had issues with the finicky nature of the rules, especially those for combat, but of Time Master in general, he said, “Time travel RPGs seem to be in a mini-renaissance these days. If you’re into this sort of game (and I confess, I’m not), Timemaster may be a good choice. It’s got a fairly interesting unifying theme; the game does an excellent job of making time travel seem plausible, and the “Guide to the Continuum” is a gem. In this most open-ended form of roleplaying, providing players direction is no simple task. Timemaster does a fine job.”

The roleplaying game was reviewed in ‘Gaming’ in Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine No. 86 (Mid-December 1984) by Dana Lombardy, whose conclusion was, “Time Master is a well-presented game. Whether you’re just looking for new ideas to incorporate into your current role-games, or want to try a fresh system. Pacesetter’s new game is worth getting.”

It was reviewed by Bruce Probst in ‘Snapshot’ in Breakout: The Australian Gamers’ Quarterly No. 21 (March-May 1986). He was highly critical of the roleplaying game, especially its combat system, highlighting the fact that weapons offer very little variation in terms of damage, the need to refer to the rulebook for every skill use despite the inclusion of the TIME MASTER Action Table, the nature of the background which limited the actions of the Time Agents, and so on. He concluded that, “In summary, I cannot recommend Timemaster unless you are willing to devote a lot of effort to make it work. On the other hand, if you simply enjoy playing a game, without regard to illogical backgrounds and terrible rules, then I can envision Timemaster, as being quite fun. It has a lot of promise; given more thought, it could have been a really great game.”

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With its “Join the Time Corps and you can become the Master of Time” tag line and set-up, there is a bracingly simple quality to Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension that appeals straight out of Science Fiction or television. Yet whilst the roleplaying game does set up and have the Player Characters as Time Agents, it hampers the play of Time Master with poor organisation and often fiddley rules requiring the players and the Continuum Master to refer the rulebook despite the fact that everything is rolled on a universal table. Where Time Master does help the players and the Continuum Master is providing clear, simple Laws of Time and Time Corps protocols, that help guide both in playing and running the game without it tipping over into chaos and causality. Ultimately, Time Master: Adventures in the 4th Dimension had and has the capacity to be a lot of fun, and make time travel roleplaying accessible, but it does not quite help itself achieve its aims. In the hands of a good Continuum Master, it would be a very different matter.