Different Worlds #31.pdf

ISSUE 31 /NOVEMBER 1983

MAGAZINE FOR ADVENTURE

Different Views Letters and comments should be sent to

Different Views, PO Box 6302, Albany CA

94706.

the ones Mr. Nubbin dislikes in

Jedi. All these new techniques

and developments benefit the en-

tire film industry.

I do hope Mr. Nubbin does not

reject a future film, one more to

his liking, on the basis that those

FX (effects) he admires so much

were originally created by Lucas'

"dirty money."

went beyond my own gleanings

from astronomy texts in useful

and interesting ways.

I regret to say that Mr. Walker

made one significant error in his

world construction. In calculat-

ing surface temperature for his

proposed world, he applies a ratio

of 0.93, derived from solar output

and orbital radius, to Earth's sur-

face temperature of 15 Celsius,

obtaining a result of 14 Celsius.

The problem is that the equation

he uses is intended to work in de-

grees Kelvin (degrees above abso-

lute zero, a universally significant

measurement) rather than in de-

grees Celsius (degrees above melt-

ing point of hydrogen oxide, a

matter of purely local concern).

Recomputing by the correct

method goes as follows. First,

convert from Celsius to Kelvin, by

adding 273; thus, 15 Celsius

equals 288 Kelvin. Second, multi-

ply the ratio previously derived;

298 Kelvin times .93 equals 268

Kelvin. Finally, subtract 273 to

convert back to Celsius, or well

below freezing. I suspect that the

planet's icecaps would be rather

larger than Wal ker suggested.

W.H. Stoddard

Chula Vista CA

Issue 29 Reviewed

Has Chaosium's meddling in the

affairs of Cthulhu finally aroused

the wrath of that dark horror? It

seems that the curse has been di-

rected at Different Worlds.

I was terribly disappointed at

the content of issue 29. With the

exception of "Ringworld Pre-

view," I found little worthwhile

reading in this issue. The "how I

did it" articles on campaign crea-

tion and world-building were

slightly interesting, but not

enough so to have the majority of

the magazine devoted to them.

Even so, I probably would not

have minded so much if there had

been some of the fantastic game

reviews which are my main reason

for subscribing to DW. In the

past, it has been the policy of DW

to review between five and seven

new game releases. Issue 29 only

offered three. Was it really neces-

sary to take up three pages to re-

view TSR's Star Frontiers and

Gangbusters, as well as another

full page for Starfleet Battles? I

would have rather seen reviews of

new products (Star Frontiers has

been out for a year, now). Even

the "Quick Plugs" section was ter-

ribly lacking.

Now, about the "Metal Marvels"

review of Grenadier's AD&D blis-

ter packs. Once again, the article

was outdated. The miniatures re-

viewed are no longer in produc-

tion, than ks to the spl it between

Grenadier and TSR.

I hope the next issue of DW will

be more consistent to the quality

that has been established in

the past.

nated with Guild tests rather than

a subjective experience point sys-

tem. If the referee does not con-

sider a character to have played

their role then no progression is

made. Guild tests are often "suc-

ceed or die" tests.

Range Of Scenarios. Although our

activities are currently based on

medieval fantasy, we are at pres-

ent engaged in the active devel-

opment of a futuristic scenario

and hope to open a 'Space Centre'

in one of Britain's major cities in

the near future. Meanwhile, we

are proceeding with the planning

stages of Greco-Roman, English

Civil War, Stone Age, Wild West,

Samurai, Spy, World War, After

The Cataclysm, Thriller, and Se-

cret Societies scenarios.

Trying Us Out. Although we are a

private club, we offer non-mem-

bers the opportunity to tryout

our 'Basic' adventure for only

lJ10 ($15) this is deductable from

our membership fee should an ap-

plication be accepted.

Further details can be obtained

from: D.J. Hewitt, Treasure Trap,

Peckforton Castle, Peckforton, Nr

Tarporley, Cheshire, UK. Tel.

Bunbury (0829) 260876.

David J. Hewitt

Trish Ledoux

Modesto CA

From Across the Great Water

King Sebspa II commands me to

send greetings and prays this finds

you in good health and spirits. I

have also been instructed to bid

welcome and encouragement to

the International Fantasy Gaming

Society's earnest attempts to

translate table top fantasy role-

playing into real life.

Here at Peckforton Castle in

Cheshire, England, we have cre-

ated our own realm with King and

Court and Guilds, giving a basic

structure of 'political' intrigue

around which we plan adventures

and quests varying in length from

3-24 hours within the castle itself

and weekend and fortnight long

wilderness adventures set any-

where in Britain. We have 1700

members drawn from all over

the world.

The I.F.G.S. games system as

described in DW 28 has some sim-

ilarities to our own, the major dif-

ferences being as follows:

The Combat Scoring System takes

into account the varying condi-

tions of normal daylight, dungeon

darkness, outdoor and indoor in

our 150 room 'Norman' castle.

The Combat System, where the

monsters use colour-coded water

(washable dye) on their weapons

(which include safe arrows).

The Political System is a well-

developed court and a series of

guilds and clans representing each

class of character and their group

allegiance. Whilst they are in the

castle, each member must remain

in character and participate in pal-

ace intrigue. The only safety lies

in the sleeping quarters (where we

supply the best quality straw) or

when we organize special events-

barrpom brawls, manhunt, de-

fender, festivals, etc.

Non-Player Characters. Each

member is encouraged to play var-

ious roles defined as 'monsters'

within our system.

Character Progression is by adven-

turing in 'level' dungeons alter-

Chesh ire, UK Sorry we didn't catch the error.

-Editor

Love Letter

I hate Different Worlds. I hate

everything about the magazine;

except for one very special excep-

tion-I am madly in love with

Miss D'Arn. Please, won't you

give me her address or phone

number? I've written to her via

the magazine, but I never get

answers. How about her real

name? I'll search the country

for her.

Scaling Judges Guild

When I queried Judges Guild

about scale for their campaign

hex system, they said that the

large (full-page) hex was 5 miles.

This means each small hex was

0.2 miles. However, if this scale is

applied to the village and castle

books, the smallest hut is 250' by

300'. Many houses fill a 1000'

hex, and some are over a half-mile

in length.

To make the scale more rea-

sonable, I would decrease all

scales by a factor of ten (making

small hexes about 100'). To make

a hex 50' would probably make

buildings closer to ancient stan-

dards, but the larger scale is fine

for multi- or extended family

dwellings.

Don Wellman

Quincy IL

-Editor

I hope so too.

(Name withheld)

Spokane WA

Gigi regrets she has but one life to

give to the role-playing hobby and

that is as a gossip columnist; and

for that she must remain absolute-

Iyanonymous. She would like to

share her belief that the greatest

love in the world is the one that is

most secret.

Selling of the Jedi

In response to John Nubbin's re-

view of Return of the Jedi (OW

29), I feel that I really must

disagree.

It seem Mr. Nubbin is overly

concerned with the merchandising

aspect of the Star Wars films. Per-

haps he feels obligated by his pos-

ition of "public arbiter of good

taste, effects, and intelligent char-

acter development" to scorn all

such offspring. The success of

these products surely must indi-

cate a market of persons desiring

these products.

Merchandising also performs an-

other important function-it sup-

pi ies the necessary dollars for

technical advancements, such as

-Editor

Diane E. Grier

Prt Angeles WA

Rational But Not Physical

I greatly enjoyed Arlen P. Wal ker's

essay "Pandora: Rational World

Creation" (DW 29). I am a long-

standing enthusiast of incorpor-

ating applied physics into game

and campaign design; I found

Walker's basic approach sound,

and picked up several ideas that

Running Joke

When are we going to see Eric

Goldberg's review of Storm-

bringer?

Nat Wilkins

Quincy MA

-Editor

When we see it.

DIFFERENT WORLDS

Editorial Different Worlds

Contents

Issue 31

November 1983

-I guess that was enough incen-

tive for many, though not enough

for those that chose not to parti-

cipate, however.

I published two more "My Life

& Role-Playing" columns the sec-

ond issue, and two more the third

issue. The project died after that;

I do not know why, it was one of

OW's most popular features . It

led to a OW policy of spotlighting

people and not just the game sys-

tems, a pol icy that helped create a

popular conception of the person -

alities in the role-playing field.

Without OW many of the game

designers in this field would be

just another name on the cover of

a role-playing game-faceless, un-

known, and without personality.

With my return in OW 30 I

wanted the magic to start allover

again and vowed to have each

issue spotlight at least one gaming

personality who would tell his or

her story . Afterall, most designers

only become famous by writing a

"My Life & Role-Playing"

column.

And they invariably have fasci -

nating stories to tell. I hope you

will enjoy this feature of OW.

Happy gaming,

THE RETURN OF

liMY LIFE &

ROLE-PLAYING'"

When I first started Different

Worlds I needed something that

would catch people's attention,

something that said this magazine

was special. The idea I came up

with was to get all the game de-

signers and magazine editors in

the hobby-people who provide

us with the products that we en-

joy-to share with us their experi-

ences in role-playing gaming. I

also needed a lot of publishable

material quickly.

I wrote a letter to all the role-

playing game designers and all the

adventure gaming magazine edit-

ors I could think of, asking them

to contribute to the premier issue

of Different Worlds by writing an

article about their experiences

with role-playing games-how

they got started, how the hobby

changed their lives, how their

families felt about it all, etc.

There were only 40 or so of

them back in 1979, and except

for E. Gary Gygax and Dave

Arneson, all were relatively un-

known. I received thirteen res-

ponses, all insightful and all fasci-

nating. The articles were all pub-

lished and we got to get a more

personal insight into the design-

er's motives. I was surprised that

as many responded, but then they

were promised a lifetime subscrip-

tion to OW if they came through

SPECIAL

FANTASY

ISSUE

Cover illo

By Steve Purcell

Page

The Sunstone Multiverse by W. Glenn Kirkconnell.

. . .4

A cosmology for pantheistic worlds

The Cup Of Death by Larry DiTillio ... . . .. _ . . .. . ..8

Poisons for use in fantasy role-playing campaigns

Special

STORMBRINGER

Module

"Bastions

Of Balo"

By Ken St. Andre

Module between pages 24 and 25

Page

_ .24

Coming next issue:

ORIGiNS 83 Scrapbook by Tadashi Ehara.

Photographs by John T. Sapienza, Jr_

REGULAR FEATURES

Different Views: Fan mail .. .. .. . ..... . . .

Editorial: The Return of "My Life & Role-Playing"

by Tadashi Ehara . .. .. . ... ..... ... .

Special Primitive Cultures Issue

Publisher's Statement: DIFFERENT WORLDS Magazine is pub-

is forbidden without prior written consent from the publisher.

Address all correspondences to DIFFERENT WORLDS Magazine,

PO Box 6302 , Albany CA 94706. AdvertiSing rates and trade infor-

mation available on request. Basic ad rate is $200 per page . DIF-

FERENT WORLDS and Chaosium Inc. assume no responsibilities

for its advertisers. Submissions for publication are accepted and

encouraged . Articles should be double-spaced with one-inch margins

all around. Artwork should be accompanied by a self-addressed

stamped envelope for their return. All submissions become the prop-

erty of Chaosium Inc., rights revert to author or artist upon publica-

tion or rejection . Remuneration for articles is one cent per word of

published matter, and artwork is paid at a $20 per printed page rate

(Le ., '/" page gets paid $5). Color covers are paid $75.

Subscription Information: A one-year (six-issue) subscription in the

U.S. is $15. Foreign subscriptions are $22 by surface mail, $33 by

air . The number next to the subscriber's name on the mailing enve-

lope is the last issue of the subscription. For address changes send

new address, old address, and date effective .

Staff: Tadashi Ehara editor. Yurek Chodak art director. Lynn Willis,

Greg Stafford, Steve Perrin, Sandy Petersen , Ken Rolston, John T .

Sapienza, Jr. associate editors. Charlie Krank, Sherman Kahn, Gigi

O'Arn contributing editors.

. . . ... .. . 2

. 3

Books & Gaming by John T. Sapienza, Jr. and David Dunham

. 16

Game Cons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. 20

My Life & Role-Playing: . . . . . . . . . . . .

. 26

There and Back Again by Dave Hargrave

Nostalgia by Gerald D. Seypura

Life as a Non-Player Character by Gigi D'Arn

Metal Marvels: Wierd Fantasy and Others

by John T. Sapienza, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . • .

. 30

Game Reviews. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Adventure By Design: Using Published Scenarios

by Ken Rolston ... . . . . . . . . .

What's New ............... .

Sword Of Hollywood by Larry DiTiliio

Film Review: Krull by John Nubbin . .

A Letter from Gigi .. .. .. . . .. . .

PRINTED IN THE U.S . A.

.32

.40

.42

.44

.45

.46

NOVEMBER 1983

Special

Fantasy

Feature

Illustrated

Mike Mignola

B efore there was a world or

Cover Feature

anything else, there was Light .

The Light was pure, having no

part of Darkness within it . It was

of One part, a harmonious Unity.

Being without limit, it was form -

less, and being formless, it was

changeless. For how could it be

limited, since it was prior to all

else? Nothing existed to limit it.

And how could it change, with no

form to change from? So the

Light was all , and its nature was

Unity, Harmony , Eternity.

The light shined, but its

shining was empty, since nothing

existed to shine for . The Light

therefore created the multiverse,

so as to be able to shine upon it .

It refracted itself into colors, and

each color had some part of the

nature of the Light . These the

Higher Planes ; the Seven Heavens

have the purest part Light , and it

tapers in a spectrum into Nirvana

and Olympus. From these colors

sprang the Immortal Gods, called

Blessed because they are con-

stantly in the Light, and it always

shines upon them. It warms them

and lights their way, and they are

thus always blessed with Happi-

ness and Truth .

So this was the creation of the

Higher World. The Gods existed

in the Light and knew neither

Cold nor Darkness. These things

did not exist, for they have no

The

Sunstone

Multiverse

A Cosmology for Pantheistic VVorlds

By W. Glenn Kirkconnell

Towards the end of wizard Sogar Xana-a's long and illustrious career, he

found himself master and guardian of a small fief straddling the Sunstone

Mountains, an area where many cultures and religions meet. Being something

of a religious eclectic, Sogar brought gods from a half dozen different mythol-

ogies, including his native Greek, Hindu, and Mitraic, into his tiny kingdom.

This resulted in the presence of at least six different cosmologies and meta-

physics in his land, all supported by highly partisan and empassioned expo-

nents. :'lriests from the different groups debated with tract and mace over

whether Ptah or Vishnu created the universe. Anarchy spread.

To bring order to the chaos, Sogar attempted to produce a uniform cosmol-

ogy and metaphysics. While his system may not be perfect, it does provide an

interesting glimpse at how Sogar's world appears to those inside it.

DIFFERENT WORLDS

part of light . Folly, which springs

from a darkened mind, and

Malice, which dwells in a cold

heart, have no part in the Gods

whose nature and life is in the

light. But Wisdom, which comes

from an enlightened mind, and

Kindness, which lives in the warm

heart, are attributes of the Gods

and of the Light itself .

The Light shines upon the

Higher World and the gods for

their good. The Higher World

casts a shadow; thus Darkness

came into being. Darkness is all

that the light is not. It is cold,

and draws the warmth wh ich is

the life of all. It is Folly which

darkens the mind, and Malice

which makes the heart cold . It

cannot see a good thing without

wanting to make it bad, and can-

not see a bad thing without want-

ing to make it worse. It is there-

fore Chaos and Evil . Its nature is

most clearly seen in the Abyss,

where the Darkness is deepest.

The Higher Planes sprang into

being as a manifestation of the

Light, and gods also manifest that

part of the light, that Higher

Sphere, from which they were

born . The elder gods are personal

manifestations of the sphere from

which they take their being. The

gods came together in love and

begat the younger gods, and the

higher world was filled . And the

higher world cast a greater

shadow; thus Darkness grew. For

as the sage Skoteinos said, there is

a un ity to all things, each with its

opposite. The light refracted

itself so that there cou Id be good

things. There would be no wis-

dom, or kindness, if there was no

one to be wise or kind . But things

cast shadows, and bring their

opposites into being. Folly is the

opposite of wisdom, and exists as

its shadow. These things have I

heard from the sage who dwells in

the gardens of Artemis.

Thus there is a great chain of

Being; and the multiverse is not a

circle (as it has been drawn) but

an ellipse. At the highest point is

the light, pure and holy . From it

emanates the many colors of the

higher planes, each shading into

the other. Below them are their

shadows, and furthest from the

Light is the utter Darkness of the

Abyss . Where all the colors shade

into each other is the grey plane,

Concordant Opposition.

Just as the gods were born

from the light, so also did the

Darkness give birth to the sons of

Darkness, the demons and other

infernal creatures. These person-

ify that from which they sprang;

their hearts are cold and dark,

their minds clouded. Envy, folly,

and cruelty are behind all their

thoughts. So they war upon the

light and servants of the light,

the blessed immortal gods. Such

was their envy, their malice, and

their folly.

Darkness has no creative

power; only the light does. So

the sons of Darkness attacked the

light and stole a part; from this

they fashioned a wall to hide

themselves. This wall is the mate-

rial world . They fashioned it from

a piece of the light which they

stole, the body of a dead god who

fell fighting to defend it, and the

slain demons found lying around

him . They built a world of night

and ice and windblast plains. The

very air froze solid like ice or

flowed in rivers . Parts of this

world remain; I myself have trav-

eled there. No thing could live

there, nor did the Darkness desire

that any should. It was a wall for

the demons to hide behind, and it

placed a great gulf between the

Darkness and the light.

The sons of light attacked the

wall the sons of Darkness had

built. The gods penetrated the

wall and holed it; thus Light

entered our world, giving life to

that which had been lifeless.

Much of the world warmed and

became habitable. The light

entered into part of the world

which had been light before, but

which had been conquered. This

part became alive, creeping and

crawling and swimming and flying

throughout the world. Thus were

the animals created . And when

the light shines most fully in

such a being , it is born an elf,

they who guard the forests with

wisdom and magic. These return

always to the world, living and

breathing on what once was dead,

and being once dead themselves.

Nine-tenths of them is dead

always, as with all things called

mortal. But they live while the

Light is in them, and return again

to lifeless matter when the light

leaves them. Their light returns

to its plane for a time, and then

returns again to this world . There-

fore are all beings with "spirits"

rei ncarnated .

When the gods found the body

of the dead god Purusha, they

wove a special conjuration . They

found his body lifeless and torn in

pieces, scattered throughout the

world. Many pieces were mingled

with baser elements. The gods

invoked the light to enter the

fragments of Purusha , and it

entered into some and gave them

life. Those most heavily mingled

with earth became dwarves or

gnomes; others became halflings,

and those with the least earth

within them became humans.

When any of these is born, the

Light enters into another piece of

Purusha and gives it life . If that

being comes to the end of its time

having followed the light during

his days, another piece of Purusha

enters into the light. If all the

pieces could be un ited , the dead

god would r ise again .

A piece of Purusha is a being

which is said to have a soul. It

does not return to this world nor-

mally, since it is different from

those who have spirits. It was a

god once, and when it comes to

the end of its days, it goes to

light or Dark ness. If it goes to

light, it is welcomed by the gods

as a lost friend ; if it goes to Dark-

ness, it is seized by the demons

and is imprisoned, to prevent

Purusha from rising . It in no case

returns to this world, except by a

Reincarnation spell .

When the demons saw the

attack by the gods bringing light

into the world, they mingled the

essence of their Darkness with the

world and gave it motion. As the

gods and goddesses had mingled

in love with each other and the

world, so also did the demons

come together with each other

and the world , although not in

love . Love is of the light; Hate

and Lust are from Darkness.

From the rape of the world, mon-

sters were born. Tiamat laid her

eggs and produced the evil drag-

ons. Elves were taken in violence

by the demons, and Darkness

entered into the nature of the des-

cendants. If what I have written is

NOVEMBER 1983

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