March Madness - Non-D&D OSR Blog Challenge

No doubt about it, D&D dominates the gaming scene old and new. That is not necessarily a bad thing, as D&D is a solid game (both in terms of system and genre) with an enormous fanbase. It serves as a ‘lingua franca’ for the gaming community, much as English serves as a global language for the world. As Nelson Mandela said, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” Make no wonder then that D&D has captured the hearts of so many for so long.

But just as English isn’t the only language and just as its hegemony causes others to be forgotten, D&D blots out many other worthy games. Although the OSR has made great strides in bringing old editions of D&D back into circulation and discourse, it has largely failed to do the same for other lesser-known old school games. Although fans diligently create materials and run sites for Traveler, Star frontiers, and MSHAG, I feel that there is a desire and need to unearth more obscure games, as evidenced by blogs like Mesmerized by Sirens, and the proliferation of non-D&D posts on OSR blogs.

I seek to encourage this widening of the OSR spotlight by throwing down the gauntlet of an RPG blog challenge about games other than D&D. I participated in a 30-day challenge last year and had a great time, but also felt really limited by its adherence to D&D, and a little lost because it demanded knowledge of the terminology from later editions that I did not have. I also participated in MbS’s Obscure RPG Appreciation day, which I found inspiring and enlightening, and learned about the lost siblings of D&D. Although I celebrated D&D’s recent 40^th birthday, I’m all blogged out about the game and thus didn’t participate in the challenge.

In this vein, I have created a 31 Day Blogging Challenge for March that asks questions on a wide range of genres and systems, and I hope that we can introduce lots of great games (and a few terrible ones) that are not as well known as they should be. Although I hope primarily to hear of older games, I have left the questions vague on the age of games so as to encourage younger bloggers or hobby latecomers to contribute as well.

Because participating in a 30 day blog challenge takes up so much time and energy, I’ve decided to publish my questions here well in advance of March to give those interested a chance to reflect and start writing drafts of their posts. I hope to see other blogs take up the challenge, and will be posting reminders as March draws near. I hope you will contribute to this widening of OSR perspectives and look forward to learning and reading much from the participants.

- Tedankhamen

March Madness 31 day Obscure Game Blogging Challenge

1 What was the first roleplaying game other than D&D you played? Was it before or after you had played D&D?

2 In what system was the first character you played in an RPG other than D&D? How was playing it different from playing a D&D character?

3 Which game had the least or most enjoyable character generation?

4 What other roleplaying author besides Gygax impressed you with their writing?

5 What other old school game should have become as big as D&D but didn’t? Why do you think so?

6 What non-D&D monster do you think is as iconic as D&D ones like hook horrors or flumphs, and why do you think so?

7 What fantasy RPG other than D&D have you enjoyed most? Why?

8 What spy RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

9 What superhero RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

10 What science fiction RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

11 What post-apocalyptic RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

12 What humorous RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

13 What horror RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

14 What historical or cultural RPG have you enjoyed most? Give details.

15 What pseudo or alternate history RPG have you enjoyed most? Why?

16 Which RPG besides D&D has the best magic system? Give details.

17 Which RPG has the best high tech rules? Why?

18 What is the crunchiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?

19 What is the fluffiest RPG you have played? Was it enjoyable?

20 Which setting have you enjoyed most? Why?

21 What is the narrowest genre RPG you have ever played? How was it?

22 What is the most gonzo kitchen sink RPG you ever played? How was it?

23 What is the most broken game that you tried and were unable to play?

24 What is the most broken game that you tried and loved to play, warts and all?

25 Which game has the sleekest, most modern engine?

26 What IP (=Intellectual Property, be it book, movie or comic) that doesn’t have an RPG deserves it? Why?

27 What RPG based on an IP did you enjoy most? Give details.

28 What free RPG did you enjoy most? Give details.

29 What OSR product have you enjoyed most? Explain how.

30 Which non-D&D supplemental product should everyone know about? Give details.

31 What out-of-print RPG would you most like to see back in publication? Why?

Semiotics of the 6 Attributes

At a glance, the six original attributes of D&D seem elegant in their simplicity and symmetry. There are three physical stats (Strength, Constitution and Dexterity) and three arguably mental ones (Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma). For anyone who started roleplaying with the game, it is largely by these 6 that we define all our characters, as well as judge how other RPG systems emulate them. But what do these terms actually signify, and does this match what they do in practice?

(NOTE - All pictures are the first Google image result for the attribute in question) 

STRENGTH

This was the first attribute handed down by uncle Gary (Men & Magic p. 10), and has arguably become the most important. Although it began as merely the mark of class for Fighters, coupled with a nebulous application to “opening traps and so forth,” it developed into the characteristic allowing the most direct influence on the gameworld via damage, attacks, and feats of strength against barriers. But the word by itself is vague enough to be nearly meaningless. Would the uninitiated think we are talking physical or mental strength? People say “I haven’t the strength to go on” after mental or physical duress, which would seem to make this term closer to Constitution. In this light, having undead drain Strength seems rather more fitting. Overall, wouldn’t ‘Brawn’ have been a clearer, more apt word to use?

INTELLIGENCE

Where Strength fails in D&D Intelligence prevails, specifically in the form of magic, which is probably why this was the second attribute. Once again, it starts as merely a mark of class, namely Wizards, and gradually comes to determine all spell access, languages, and proficiencies. Although there are other collocations of the word such as ‘military intelligence,’ in general the term conjures up the associations of scholarship and mental prowess it is intended to. If there is one flaw, it is that intelligence is normally paired with reason and logic, and one wonders how these are supposed to interact with the illogic of magic. Perhaps Intuition would have better served that purpose, but Intelligence would still have been necessary for skills and languages.

WISDOM

This is an odd choice for the third attribute, as it would seem less important in keeping a character alive than Constitution or Dexterity which follow it. It begins as a mark of class like its precedents, this time for Clerics, and later affects magic saves, although not for any discernable reason other than to spread out benefit among the attributes. Wisdom would also imply a character’s ability to see connections in what they observe about the world, but since this is mostly done by the player, one wonders whether Wisdom is necessary at all, and whether retroclones like Microlite 74 haven’t the right idea by replacing both Intelligence and Wisdom with Mind.

CONSTITUTION

This is an equally odd lexical choice. Definitely not an everyday usage for the word, with the online database of the Corpus of Contemporary English (COCA) overwhelmingly giving the political or legal meaning of the word as the most popular. Still, we use it in talk of ‘morning constitutionals’ and other health-related topics, so it is fairly true to function in its modification of poison saves and hit points. Alternatives like ‘Endurance’ would seem too limited in scope, while ‘Health’ sounds a more commonly understood term that could have stood in just as well.

DEXTERITY

This doesn’t exactly seem to do what it says on the tin. As collocations like ‘manual dexterity’ indicate, Dexterity largely implies talent with feet or hands. Although the modifiers to Armor Class for which Dexterity later became prized do fit with this meaning, bonuses to missile attacks and initiative would seem more aptly attributed to hand-eye coordination and reflexes, respectively. However, it is this very type of overly realist analysis of the meaning of attributes that loses sight of the utility and charm of the original 6 and falls into a needless proliferation of supposedly 'representative' attributes that, as we shall see, plagued AD&D's designers as the years wore on.

 

CHARISMA

Strangely, although tables of attribute bonuses and abilities would later become a staple of D&D for all attributes, in OD&D only Charisma was afforded such attention. This is ironic given that Charisma quickly become the ‘dump stat’ in other editions. Clearly, uncle Gary valued PC-NPC interactions in a way that was lost among the average self-taught D&Ders of the 80s, and was exacerbated in the move in later editions towards PCs combat machines who have no need for interaction with NPCs of any stripe, from henchmen to kings. Speaking of the ubiquity of henchmen and other NPCs in OD&D, shouldn’t gold temporarily pump up your stat when hiring meatshields?

 

OTHER OLD SCHOOL GAMES

The original 6 attributes not only bound our conception of character, they inspired many games that came thereafter, but were increased or modified to suit the differing worldview of particular game creators. Take Basic Role Playing (BRP), which brought to life the saga of Elric as well as Great Cthulhu, and especially for this latter needed to add Size to reflect the cyclopean horrors the PCs would battle. In BRP, Strength is useless in modifying damage without Size, and it also initially modified hit points before Chaosium began systematically nerfing attribute applications to reduce chargen bookeeping. Since BRP is a percentile system, maybe Size could also be used to determine difficulty to hit, or be the base for an attack, with larger creatures easier to hit? BRP also added the nebulous Power attribute, which served as a base for magic powers in Stormbringer/Runequest and Sanity in Call of Cthulhu.

Likewise, DC heroes added Will, Mind, Aura and Spirit to reflect the different types of powers costumed heroes would both yield and be attacked by, while the addition of Influence reflected the importance of wealth and celebrity of characters like Batman. Vampire: The Masquerade made a major effort to arrange the terminology of the original 6 into a balanced taxonomy of attributes, arranging a total of 9 ‘traits’ into three categories - Physical (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina), Social (Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance), and Mental (Perception, Intelligence, Wits).

D&D itself was not immune to the perceived need to balance out attributes more, and both Unearthed Arcana and the reviled 2e Powers book suggested additions or alternatives to the original 6 attributes. This latter seemed to attempt to mirror Vampire’s ‘balanced’ taxonomy, with the division of each of the original 6 attributes into bloated troikas of influence. Simply read the following list to get a feeling for how AD&D’s creators mistakenly sacrificed the beauty of the original 6 for a misplaced attempt at balanced realism - Strength, Stamina, Muscle; Dexterity, Aim, Balance; Constitution, Health, Fitness; Intelligence, Reason, Knowledge; Wisdom, Intuition, Willpower; Charisma, Leadership, Appearance.

These bloated attributes didn’t make it to 3e, which conversely began the simplifying process by reducing saving throws to 3 categories (Fortitude, Reflex, and Willpower) more directly based on and modified by attributes. The OSR took this even further, with Swords & Wizardry’s one save and Microlite’s aforementioned consolidation of attributes into 4 - Strength, Dexterity, Mind and Charisma. The movement back to the simplicity and symmetry of the original 6 attributes (or less) is, in fact, one of the things that unites players across editions, as well as being one of the charms of the OSR.

Do Monsters Wander?

Do your monsters wander about without rhyme or reason? It’s not surprising considering that the concept of the ‘wandering monster’ has been hardwired into D&D since the very beginning, but it doesn’t actually make much sense, or give opportunities for roleplaying. Instead, here are some reasons why monsters and other humanoids might be wandering about your gameworld, reasons which might lead to adventure or interaction, but not always combat. Don’t announce to the players what you’ve rolled, just run with it and enjoy how they respond to the unexpected.

HUMANOIDS OR INTELLIGENT (I don’t have to tell you which dice to roll do I?)

1) Lost or looking for something – 50/50 chance they have lost their way or misplaced a tribal artifact. Might actually reward the PCs if they help them find the artifact or set them on the way to where they’re going.

2) Hunting – Unless they’re ogres or cannibals and PCs are their prey, they’ll ask if PCs have seen any game then move on. If PCs are their type of prey, then Game On!

3) Returning from a hunt – Creatures have their prey trussed and on a stick between them, just want to get home and eat. If they’re ogres or cannibals, there’s a 50/50 chance they’re carrying captured live humanoids who’d appreciate a rescue.

4) Carrying goods to market – Nothing worth stealing, just the crafts of their village which need selling. They’re willing to part with some if the PCs make a good offer – make the crafts something interesting or useful.

5) Returning from market – Crafts have sold well, and the proceeds are in a strongbox. They have also hired some security, so roll again and add these additions as fully armed and armored bodyguards.

6) On a pilgrimage – Wearing robes and carrying holy symbols, these devotees can be heard well ahead of their appearance. If evil they may try to make PCs into sacrifices, otherwise do you have a minute to talk about our Lady and Savior Athena?

7) Refugees searching for a new home – Looking dirty and carrying bundles with their few meager possessions, they left their village because 1) the draconic new ruler evicted them, 2) a monster made the place its new home, 3) a rival community invaded and drove them out, or 4) the burning blood plague. There is a 50/50 chance they can either reward the characters from a secret stash, or at least provide a welcome base and grateful community if PCs assist them in taking back their homes.

8) Wanted and on the run – Still in leg irons and prisoner tunic, there is a 50/50 chance that they’re either innocent or unrepentantly guilty. The former would appreciate help clearing their name, the latter will look for the first opportunity to take advantage of the PCs.

9) Patrolling – Armed and armored and patrolling their neighborhood to keep it safe. They will questions PCs about their intentions and destination, but won’t attack unless provoked. If combat occurs, a whistle is blown and double the amount of reinforcements will appear in 1d4 rounds.

10) Spoiling for a fight – These toughs are looking to prove themselves and will mouth off to PCs then initiate combat. They’re all talk, however, and will run screaming like sissies if even one is incapacitated. If they defeat the PCs, they’ll take their gear and turn them out naked to spread the tale.

11) Looking for a patsy to scam – These guys act nice, but are shifty scouts for a larger group of their fellows. They are looking for dumb adventurers to trick into doing their dirty work for them and tell the PCs of either a great treasure or a monster bothering their poor innocent village, but just want the PCs to clear out the level or die trying. Will flee and return with double the number of reinforcements if attacked.

12) Wandering, really – Just taking a stroll about the grounds. Don’t mind them. If attacked, they curl up and beg for mercy, unless they’re powerful enough to get away.

MONSTERS & ANIMALS (Again, you’ve been doing this long enough to know what dice to roll)

1) Hunting for food – If the PCs are small in size and number, they are it! Otherwise, the creatures slip away into the scenery.

2) Returning from a hunt – The creature has prey in its jaws or talons and is either setting down to eat or dragging its dinner home. Either way, if PCs don’t bother it, it won’t bother them. If the creature is giant, there’s a 50/50 chance the prey is a living humanoid who’d appreciate rescue. Herbivores just ignore the PCs and run off if threatened.

3) Teaching offspring – Creature has 1d4 offspring of half hit dice or less and is teaching them to hunt. The cubs will stalk the PCs but not close into attack, but the parent and its mate will close in to attack if their babies are harmed.

4) In heat – Creature is catcalling in a deafening voice and looking for love. If PCs bother it, it will either run away or seek to consummate with them lethally. Google the movie ‘Zoo’ for ideas.

5) Going for a drink – Creature is going to a nearby water source and will try to avoid the PCs. If access is blocked, it will threaten then attack.

6) Searching for a new den – Creature will rush past the PCs, go directly to the next room they intend to visit, then start marking it with its foul scent. It will start rearranging the area with trashed furniture or secretions to give it a combat edge of + 1 to all rolls.

7) Fleeing hunters or predators – Bloodied and battered creature will try to get past the PCs by intimidation or force and escape into the scenery, because something really nasty is after it. Roll another monster 1d4 levels tougher than this one that arrives in 1d4 rounds.

8) Looking for a friend or new master – Creature makes cute cooing noises, rolls over, offers its belly, and rubs up against the PCs, which may be dangerous if it is big enough. Will be a loving but willful, stubborn, and dangerous to NPC pet if kept, cannot be trained, needs to be fed continually, but may be helpful if PCs are caught in a jam. Runs off whimpering if attacked.

9) Berserk – Creature is insane due to either 1) poisoned arrows, 2) a curse, 3) disease, 4) cave gas, 5) tainted food or 6) bad water. If PCs subdue and cure it, they will gain an ally who will show up in a pinch. Otherwise it is fight or flee this mad beast.

10) Trapped – Creature is either caught in a cruel iron trap or caged and being transported by humanoids who taunt and torment it. In the former case, PCs can either leave it alone, kill it for half XP, sell it in town if they can subdue and transport it, or set it free. If it is caged, PCs will also have to negotiate or fight its captors if they want to do any of the above.

The Weird in Mystic Japan Part Four - Japanese Treasures

I meant to write about Japanese monsters with this next part, but they are a bit trickier than expected, so instead I’ve decided to showcase some uniquely Japanese treasures.  Looking at the old AD&D Oriental Adventures, supposedly Asian treasures are just more weapons, armor, scrolls, and staves with powers that would not be out of place in a vanilla fantasy world. Unlike last time, where I basically cribbed stories from Japanese fiction and fairytale that can be thrown easily into a game or campaign, this time I’ll introduce some unique Japanese items that are staples of life here, and give some suggestions of magical versions.

Please note that I have decided to stop giving stats to things I post on my blog. I am not really a crunchy gamer, so statting everything I post would take time and also force me to choose a dominant game system, which I am loathe to do. I hope my descriptions are fine enough to allow the reader to easily create or convert to their favorite system.

JAPANESE TREASURES

BYOBU (屏風) – Large and ornate gilded changing screens of 2 to 6 panels depicting scenes from life, history, or mythology, byobu were made by craftsmen of renown and given as gifts between nobles, and some were reported to have as much value as an entire castle. Byobu are not very portable or durable, so moving them would require hiring trained movers, one for each section, who could command a fine wage for their labour.

Example - Byobu of 1,000 Faces (千面の屏風senmen no byobu). This ornate 6-panel byobu depicts the capital city bustling with people. The figures are of fine detail, and in fact the byobu can change its user into the appearance of any of the figures depicted on it. The wielder must first choose a figure and meditate at sunrise before the byobu, then use the screen to change from the sleeping kimono to their daily dress. Regardless of what clothes they change into, they will come out from behind the screen with the exact appearance of the figure they have chosen, as well as pertinent skills. The effect is undetectable by mundane means, and only high level sorcery could detect or pierce the illusion. The effect lasts until the user returns and changes behind the byobu, and the screen can only be used to effect an illusion once a day. There is a rumour that demons and other mythic creatures are hidden in the byobu and can be chosen as a disguise with appropriate powers. However, to find the truth will require either meeting the byobu’s creator or conferring with a powerful (and costly) sage. The byobu can be destroyed quite easily by mundane means, and only one person, its owner, may use it at a time.

Shaku （尺）- A shaku literally was a unit of measurement about a third of a yard or meter long. The word also referred to a thin stick used to make measurements, but was also used by nobles as a symbol of office, while zen monks still use them to smack tranquility into meditators.

Long Distance Shaku (遠方尺 enpo shaku). This simple shaku is made of cherrywood and emblazoned with the Kanji 遠 en, literally meaning ‘far.’ If the wielder of the shaku concentrates, he or she can extend the shaku as far as they could throw a stone (10 meters or so). The extended shaku can thus be used to attack (does damage as a small club or gauntleted fist), to trip opponents, to flip switches or knock over small objects weighing under a pound. The wielder cannot move or do anything else besides dodging while using the shaku. The shaku can be destroyed quite easily by mundane means.

Onsen (温泉) – Japan is an archipelago known for its seismic activity, and while the Japanese rightly fear earthquakes, they welcome the steaming hot springs or onsen that also dot the land. Many are the tales of healing properties of onsens, and famous warlords like Kanpei recovered from battle and torture in their favorite hot springs. A hot spring can either be natural, usually in a mountainous area, or dug out and filled with water bubbling up from the earth.

Good Medicine Spring (薬膳温泉 yakuzen onsen). This onsen sits on top of a mountain that can only be scaled by a treacherous path over a yawning chasm guarded by a 1000 strong pack of savage monkeys. Characters with flying capabilities will find that the shifting winds and fog, as well as random lightning strikes and hail, make the onsen accessible only by the path. If characters brave the path and find some ways to appease or avoid the monkeys, they will find a ring of stones within which fragrant blue water steams, next to which sits a simple hut. If bathed in for a day, this onsen immediately stops any poison or wasting disease. For every day spent bathing in its waters, the onsen confers double daily normal healing, OR restores a point of physical attribute lessened by damage, regardless of whether the cause was natural or mundane. Note that onsen waters taken from the ring of stones lose any power.

Swords (剣) – Magic swords in Japanese myth date from ancient periods, and so are not the classic katana of the samurai, but rather the double bladed tsurugi or broadswords brought over from Silla (ancient Korea) or Tang (ancient China). The most famous is of course the Grasscutter Sword (草薙 kusanagi), which features in several legends and is one of the three Japanese Imperial Treasures.

The Liquid Sword (水剣 Suiken). The Liquid Sword is an ancient blade with the Kanji 水 ‘sui’, literally ‘water’, emblazoned on the hilt. The sword reveals its powers only to those it favours, usually brave warriors fighting to protect life. So far, myths tell of how the sword has allowed certain users to move like water and avoid all but the fastest physical attacks, as well as drawing poison out of a wound or purifying the water from a bad well. It definitely has more powers, being aligned with the mighty force of oceans and seas, but these are as yet unknown. The sword is notoriously fickle, however, and has been known to disappear from its wielder’s scabbard to avoid incessant or useless bloodshed. The sword will disappear if anyone tries to destroy it.

Tea Service (お茶具 ochagu) – No Japanese noble home is complete without a set of tea goods, usually kept in a lacquered box and usually including a smack charcoal heater, a teapot, cups, candy dishes, a bag of sweet candy, a tin of bitter green tea (抹茶 maccha), bamboo or silver teaspoons, ladles and tea whisks. The appearance and materials of a tea service often reflects its owner, so a rich noble would use a lot of gilding, a shogun might favour silver and metals, and a monk bamboo and lacquered cedar.

Takuan’s Tea-Box (沢庵の茶箱 takuan no chabako). This simply lacquered cedar box was crafted by the legendary monk and contains a complete set of bamboo utensils, and if used to perform a tea ceremony 茶道　sado, will confer one of the following benefits on a partaker for the remainder of the part of day (morning, noon, afternoon, evening or night) in which the ceremony is performed:

Courage – The partaker is immune to all fear inducing effects.

Serenity – The partaker is immune to all confusion inducing effects.

Inner Strength – The partaker is immune to strength and damage effects, although any damage accrued will come to effect after the period expires. If this is enough to kill the character, they can make a heroic last speech before they die.

Rumour has it that Takuan instilled other powers in the tea set, but these can only be unlocked by high level practitioners of either tea ceremony or Zen Buddhism. The ochagu can be destroyed quite easily by mundane means, by Takuan made many of these during his lifetime and so others can be procured or found, along with countless imitations that grant no powers at all. Only monks or trained tea masters can use the powers of this tea set.

Brush (櫛) – Ornate brushes made of cedar, ivory, jade or bone were the accouterments of Japanese ladies, who would also wear them as pins or stays for their ornate hairstyles.

Spiderweb Comb (蜘蛛の巣の櫛 kumo no su no kushi). Legend has it a power hungry court lady had this comb made. It consists of a green jade comb in the shape of a spider spinning its web and holds an accompanying pin. Only women may use it, and if a character uses it to comb then pin up their hair, they may move as silently as a spider, climb walls, hide in shadows, and cast one magical web per day. The pin also contains a deadly poison that incapacitates anyone its flesh pierces and will kill them if they are not treated within a day. If the comb is displaced from the hair, the wielder loses all powers until the next day, when they must bathe and re-do their hair. The brush can possibly be destroyed by magical means, but has been known to mysteriously disappear once its wielder has been captured or killed.

The Ultimate Magedungeon Maze Map

THIS:

Done by a janitor at a uni here in Japan. No one knew what he was working on, people are still trying to figure it out. Reminds me of Henry Darger a bit.

The full story is HERE.

I've got another Weird Japan post should be done tonight or tomorrow between student essay marking.

Blog mod

I just added a cloud of topics on the right to help readers navigate the blog better. Figured I'd better do it before this thing became unwieldy.

Interweb Buried Treasure Find – TSR 2001 A Space Odyssey RPG?!?

I have been pretty tied down before my preliminary exam on Thursday (today), but while web surfing to de-stress, I came across two TSR modules for Star Frontiers based on the movies 2001: A Space Odyssey and the sequel 2010. They are available at the Star Frontiers website in the Modules section. They are well made curios invaluable to any Kubrick film or Clarke scifi buffs, but gamers might balk due to their extreme faithfulness to the source materials.

Although I thought maybe the OSR hadn’t stumbled onto these retro goodies, a quick search for images resulted in reviews of them by Grognardia. Whereas James M didn’t see Star Frontiers as a good fit for the game and understandably dismissed the modules’ gaming usefulness due to their extreme railroady nature, I thought they were great resources for someone looking to run Star Frontiers as ‘harder’ scifi than the default setting, an aspect of the rules modifications they present which James also comments upon. More than that, as an inveterate OSR DIY guy, I think these railroads are ripe for Jacquaying and modding with switchbacks, loops, and alternate tracks.

How would I do that? One way to see 2001 is a space where extremely hard scifi (i.e. human technology like HAL and the Discovery) meets extremely soft ‘techno-magic’ (i.e. the monolith and starchild, and more if you’ve read the novel). Put in this way, adding in the goofy space opera of the original Star Frontiers is hardly a stretch, and so my first move would be to ignore the restrictions to human characters outlined in the modules. Next, since the modules and their source films and books take place over enormous spans of time, from the Dawn of Man to centuries in our future, a bit of Star Trek style time traveling from the Star Frontier’s timeline would be in order. Finally, as a DM I would be OK with PCs going off the rails of the film plot. I’ve always had the dream of running Lord of the Rings and letting the PCs try whatever they want to get the ring to Mordor, maybe allowing Gandalf all spells with the caveat that using any unlocks them for the forces of darkness as well. I’d try to do a similar balancing act with these modules. If possible, I’d run the modules without letting players know they are gaming 2001, but I’d also be open to players in the known who are happy to muck about in the setting.

Here’s an example of how I would Jacquay the first chapter, including some of the complications and reactions I would have anticipated:

The Dawn of Man – It is the default Star Frontiers future, and the PCs are contacted through an agent to make a delivery for a princely sum of money. The condition is that they ask no questions and do not pry into the unknown devices installed on their ship or the cargo it holds, and they must sign a Non Disclosure Agreement to that effect. The cargo is, of course, the moon and Earth monoliths, and the mission is to deliver them to our solar system at the dawn of mankind.

If the PCs do not have a ship suitable for transport, one is provided for them, and unbeknownst to them can both travel FTL and in time. Note that I am a big handwaiver with this type of lightspeed/parsecs speed vs time stuff, and as PCs should be ignorant of what is in store for them, I see no need to get into it. If the PCs have a suitable ship, they are asked to leave it with the agent for a day, after which it is fitted with the FTL and timejump devices and cargo is loaded.

Any attempt to tamper with the devices or pry into the cargo should be met with increasing warnings and danger. Players should first be told that the devices make no sense to even the most skilled mechanic or technician in the group, and both their function and purpose are a mystery. Attempting to open them should either not work (cutters can’t cut the material, there are no joints, etc), deliver warning shocks (small damage or unconsciousness) or worse (increasing damage, a warning message from the agent). If the players don’t seem to want to go along for the ride, tell them they are knocked out by some force, awaken unharmed in their ship but with a Breech of Contract notification informing of the legal repercussions if they disclose any details of the agreement they had made.

If the players do play ball, they are put in stasis until their ship reaches our moon in antediluvian times. When they awake, the shipboard AI informs them that their first mission is to bury the monolith on the lunar surface, so PCs will have to suit up and accomplish this. To throw players off, the GM may describe the lunar monolith as a translucent or transparent oblong filled with tiny crystalline circuit structures as in the novel instead of the ebon monolith from the film. As a red herring, the GM may want to add a subplot of lunar quicksand that sucks down either the ship or several PCs and complicates their task (see the Arthur Clarke story ‘A Fall of Moondust’ for inspiration).

The real action starts on earth, which the PCs may not recognize as such due the change in constellations over the millennia and the difference in Earth’s atmosphere and composition of continents. The ship AI can navigate around the system, but will curiously be unable to give time or coordinates in relation to the PC’s normal setting. The ship AI informs them they must plant the second oblong near a group of cave dwelling apemen, then observe and record its interactions with them for two weeks. It’s up to the players to plan – do they knock out the apemen with stunners, or try and sneak it in? (See Jack Kirby’s 2001 comic for inspiration.)

Once the device is set, it comes to life at night, blinking and flashing hypnotically, after which the entire tribe sleepwalks out to stand rapt before it. After the first night, players making a perception roll will notice the apemen are walking more upright and using sticks to knock down fruit instead of climbing to get food as they did the day before.

The GM can introduce several dilemmas here to challenge the PCs. First, a predator jaguar or tiger can threaten the apemen, or a rival tribe could show up and threaten their access to water or food. Have some apemen die or be injured in front of PCs to provoke a reaction. As the apemen are influenced by the alien device, have them become more aggressive and start using weapons such as sticks or bone clubs. Have a Cain-Abel style first murder occur before the PCs to show them that maybe the monolith’s influences are not entirely benign. If players decide to fire on the monolith or stop it, have any human character instantly devolved into an apeman and modify his stats as per the module (p. 4). Now the game can switch to a return to try and restore the timeline.

If the players allow the monolith’s function to proceed, after the two weeks they are placed back in stasis and wake up in orbit around Earth’s moon just before the discovery of the lunar monolith, with US and Soviet teams rushing to reach the object pinpointed by magnetic scans as in the crater Tycho. Their mission next is to stop the Soviet advance and surreptitiously assist the US team. Once again, throw dilemmas at the PCs, such as the hidden armaments of the US team and the unarmed Soviets. Make them question whether their mission is good or not, and make all humans speak Russian if they decide to stop the Americans. Have fun with the wonky paradoxes of time travel and going off the rails of an established property.

Anyway, with my prelim done expect a speed up of posts of the backlog of ideas I’ve had while grinding away at my thesis.