TEXT: Silven 
   Trumpeter
  The ofﬁcial magazine of Silven Crossroads
  Issue 22 - June 2005
  http://www.silven.com
  In this issue of the Trumpeter, we review...
  GURPS Fourth Edition Basic Set: 
  Characters
  Reviewer: Joel Oberdieck
  page 26
  COVER STORY
  By Eytan Bernstein
  page 13
  Image © Elizabeth R.A. Liddell
  The Many Faces of Gaming: 
  Disabled Gamers
  
  Page 2
  Contents
  Fiction
  The Adventures of Starlanko 
  the Magniﬁcent
  by Matthew J. Hanson
  page 3
  The Adventures of Starlanko 
  the Magniﬁcent:
  Bonus Material
  By Mathew J. Hanson
  page 7
  Moonlight Confessions
  By Chris McCoy
  page 8
  Three Drabbles
  by Nghi Vo
  page 11
  General RPG
  Cover Story - The Many faces 
  of Gaming: Disabled Gamers
  By Eytan Bernstein
  page 13
  Invasion of the Templates 
  Invasion #5:
  Automaton Invasion!
  by Jerel Hass
  page 20
  Interviews
  Interview with Richard Lee 
  Byers
  by Chris McCoy
  page 17
  Reviews
  Review - GURPS Fourth Edition Basic Set: 
  Characters
  by Joel Oberdieck
  page 26
  Other
  Open Gaming Licence
  page 29
  Publishers Notes and Legal
  page 30
  Editor’s Note:  June 1, 2005
  Hi there!  Welcome to the 22nd issue of the Silven 
  Trumpeter!
  Silven Crossroads has seen some changes!  One 
  of the features of the new design provides easily-
  accessible forums for the Trumpeter, where readers 
  and writers can discuss articles and ﬁction in an open 
  environment.  There’s also a new section for Trumpeter 
  content requests – so if there’s something you want 
  to see in the Trumpeter, start a thread there and get 
  those ideas out in the open!  You don’t have to be a 
  writer or an editor or a moderator (although they’re 
  certainly welcome, too!) – if you have a Silven handle, 
  you can let us know what you think.  If you don’t have 
  a handle, sign up today – it’s free and has no strings 
  attached.
  This month’s issue may look a little on the short 
  side, but don’t let that fool you!  We’ve included 
  running favorites like The Adventures of Starlanko the 
  Magniﬁcent, and the Invasion of the Templates, as well 
  as ﬁction from Nghi Vo and Chris McCoy.  We also have 
  a thorough review of GURPS: Characters (the ﬁrst in 
  a two-part review), and an exclusive interview with 
  Richard Lee Byers, author of the ﬁrst book in R. A. 
  Salvatore’s War of the Spider Queen series, Dissolution.  
  And, of course, we have our cover story, an insightful 
  continuation of Eytan Bernstein’s column The Many 
  Faces of Gaming, this installment focusing on the 
  challenges of disabled gamers.
  We’ve also had a number of new writers joining the 
  Silven Community in the last few weeks.  Though their 
  contributions didn’t make it in time for this issue, look 
  for some new names next month! 
  Trying hard to work less and play more, and reminding 
  everyone else to do the same,
  Elizabeth R.A. Liddell
  Editor-in-Chief
  Silven Trumpeter
  
  Page 3
  “You know, there’s something I’ve always wondered,” said 
  a young woman named Bellarina. She was tall and well 
  rounded, with hazel eyes and brown wavy hair. Starlanko 
  the Magniﬁcent had met her only an hour ago, but 
  already he had learned that Bellarina worked at an import 
  ofﬁce, but aspired to run her own business. In her spare 
  time, she practiced fencing, perfected her elven cuisine, 
  and frequented the Five Hats’ Tavern, the establishment 
  where Starlanko and Bellarina were now conversing. “Just 
  why do they call you Starlanko... the Magniﬁcent?” 
  Starlanko liked the way Bellarina’s cheeks dimpled when 
  she smiled. 
  “There are some that would have you believe it is because 
  of my magical talents,” Starlanko said, “but certain people 
  in the know realize it is for talents of another nature.”
  Starlanko and his associates Redreck the Fierce and Vox 
  the Too Good For an Epithet were spending several days 
  relaxing after having trudged through the Dark Woods 
  looking for an ancient wizard who knew an ancient spell, 
  but their efforts had proven fruitless. 
  Redreck was at the bar nursing his eighth glass of whisky, 
  while Vox was playing darts against a number of locals. It 
  took every ﬁber of Vox’s being to resist her natural urges 
  to ﬁx the game. Funbane, Starlanko’s talking sword, had 
  been left in his room.
  “If these... talents are as magniﬁcent as they say,” 
  Bellarina smiled, “I might just have to get a sample of 
  them myself.”
  “I think that can be arranged,” said Starlanko. “Of course, 
  I only give private demonstrations.”
  “Of course,” Bellarina said. “I have a place not far from 
  here.”
  As Starlanko and Bellarina walked towards the door, 
  Starlanko caught Redreck’s eye, and motioned towards 
  Bellarina. Redreck nodded his head in understanding.
  The wizard and his new friend had not gone far when 
  Starlanko noticed a familiar face down the street. The 
  face was covered with dirt. Above the face was a tangled 
  mess of brown hair with bits of straw and ﬂeece caught in 
  it. The whole person was moving in Starlanko’s direction.
  The Adventures of Starlanko the 
  Magnificent
  Neddit, the Epic Level Commoner In Love
  “Starlanko the Magniﬁcent!” said the mouth that 
  belonged to the face. “I heard you were in town. I need 
  your help.”
  “Is this a friend of yours?” Bellarina asked.
  “A business relation mostly,” Starlanko replied, “his name 
  is Neddit, and he’s assisted me in the past.” 
  “Oh, so you’re Neddit,” Bellarina said to the farmer. “I 
  was fortunate enough to get a taste of some of your 
  sweet corn when I was dining at a friend’s. It was the 
  most succulent corn I’d ever tasted. What’s your secret?”
  Underneath all the grime, Neddit’s cheeks ﬂushed. “Ah, 
  shucks. I just grow it like what my papa always told me.”
  “Your papa would be proud,” Starlanko said. 
  Neddit had been a regular farmer of average skill, until 
  he had helped a party of powerful adventurers slay a 
  legendary dragon. Naturally, the experience of slaying 
  the dragon vastly improved his farming skills (as well 
  as making him tougher and more adept at combat). 
  After becoming so powerful, Neddit had twice assisted 
  Starlanko, once by defeating a lord who unjustly seized 
  power, and again by rescuing Starlanko from the Bandit 
  Emperor.
  “So just what can I do to help?” Starlanko asked.
  “You see,” Neddit began, “ever since we ﬁrst met I’ve 
  heard talk about you. A lot of folks say that you’re good 
  at talking to the ladies, and recently this new lady’s 
  moved to town. Her name’s Seera, and she’s got her hair 
  like if sweet taters were strung out into hair, and every 
  time I see her my heart ﬂops around like a chicken with 
  no legs.”
  “And you would like my helping in romancing this 
  Seera?”
  “If that’s not too much trouble.”
  “My best piece of advice,” said Starlanko the 
  Magniﬁcent, “is to just be yourself.”
  “I can’t do that,” Neddit replied. “She’s a high falutin’ 
  adventurer, and I’m just a dusty farmer. I ﬁgure if I 
  looked like an adventurer, I might be able to talk with 
  her. Seen as how you go on adventures yourself, I 
  thought you might do me some good.”
  “I still advise against it, but if that’s what you want to 
  try, I’ll help if I can.”
  “I sure do thank you for it,” Neddit said. “I was 
  thinking about getting a fancy sword like them there 
  knights done use..”
  “Of course,” said Starlanko. “We’ll start with that. 
  Tomorrow morning.”
   ***
  “Of course, an adventurer needs a sturdy weapon,” 
  Starlanko said, as he lead Neddit into Caldorn’s Magic 
  Weapon shop. “Given your background, I’m guessing 
  that a sickle or a scythe might be the proper choice.”
  “I want that one,” Neddit said. He pointed at a 
  six-foot-long greatsword mounted above the store 
  counter. 
  “Ah, ﬁne choice!” assured Caldorn, the owner of the 
  aptly named Caldorn’s Magic Weapon shop. “I bought 
  that little beauty off a dragon slayer named Zeldon the 
  Great, who found it in the hoard of the ancient blue 
  wyrm Kzaza-Kraruka. This may be the very sword 
  Jaivar the Sturdy carried when he met his untimely 
  end in Kzaza-Kraruka’s jaws.”
  by Matthew J. Hanson
  
  Page 4
  “Oh sure, but that can’t hardly be armor.”
  “I know many adventurers who would beg to differ.” 
  “But I can’t hardly tell when I’m wearing it.”
  “Yes, that’s the point.”
  “Exactly.”
  “Neddit,” Starlanko began, “I realize you may have a 
  picture in your head of what an adventurer looks like, 
  clad from head to toe in armor and wielding a magic 
  sword. Yes, some adventurers follow that pattern, but not 
  everybody. True adventurers select the gear that works 
  best for them, and I think what would be best for you is 
  a mithral shirt and some kind of yet undetermined simple 
  weapon.”
  “But them ain’t the sort get the girls. The ones that get 
  the girls are always the big muscled types.”
  Starlanko had a thing or two to say about getting the 
  girls, but Neddit beat him to it.
  “It’s either that or the smart type. Like you. You can use 
  all your fancy talking to impress them. Now, I might be 
  foolish, but I ain’t no fool. I know I’m not the blindest bat 
  in the belfry, and I’ll never be winning the girls with my 
  smart talk. If I can’t do that I ﬁgure I’ve got try looking 
  like I can stop an ogre quicker than two ﬁsh blinking.”
  “Could you at least get mithral full plate?”
  ***
  Neddit clanked into the Laziaer ﬂower garden just after 
  noon, wearing his newly purchased mithral full plate with 
  his +1 shocking greatsword strapped to his back. The 
  garden featured a stunning array of plants imported from 
  all across the continent, and it was maintained under the 
  patronage of Lord Ermin Laziaer, the noble who protected 
  the nearby populations. 
  He allowed the public to visit the garden at will.
  There - that’s her. Neddit thought at Starlanko. Before 
  entering the garden, Starlanko had cast what’s his 
  name’s telepathic bond on the two of them, so they could 
  communicate without being noticed by the object of 
  Neddit’s affections.
  Seera was just as lovely as Neddit had described her. 
  Or rather, as lovely as Starlanko was sure Neddit had 
  intended to describe her. It was easy to see why the 
  farmer was enamored with her. 
  Okay. Starlanko thought to Neddit. Go ahead and say 
  something to her.
  Like what? Neddit thought back.
  Start with something basic. She’s admiring the ﬂowers. 
  You could use that as a jumping-off point. Try to work in 
  a compliment if you can.
  Maybe I should tell her she’s got eyes that chatter like 
  ripe gourds. 
  Umm... maybe you should just compare her to a ﬂower. 
  Starlanko replied.
  “Hi,” Neddit said to Seera. “Nice ﬂowers, ain’t they?”
  “Quite well tended, yes,” Seera replied.
  “You know, you’re sort of like a ﬂower.”
  Seera stood up and looked at Neddit. As she did Starlanko 
  caught a glimpse of a holy symbol of Garandin, the earth 
  mother. That might prove a useful topic of conversation.
  “What do you mean?” Seera asked. “Are you implying 
  that I’m fragile and need to be tended to?”
  “No,” stammered. “I just meant you were pretty is all.”
  Bonnie Lou was the name of Neddit’s +10 hoe of hoeing.
  [                ]
  “Have you ever used a greatsword before?”  
  Starlanko asked.
  Neddit looked at his feet and kicked a speck of dust. 
  “No.”
  “Is there any weapon that you think you’ve got 
  experience with?”
  “Not really,” said Neddit. “I use Bonnie Lou to do 
  some clobbering when clobbering needs done, but 
  I wouldn’t rightfully call her a weapon.” Bonnie Lou 
  was the name of Neddit’s +10 hoe of hoeing.
  “Maybe a staff then?” Starlanko suggested. “Even 
  if you have no formal training, there should be one 
  weapon that you are able to use more proﬁciently 
  than the rest. Maybe give a few a try and see how 
  they feel.”
  “If we don’t know what I can use rightly, it could be 
  the greatsword.”
  “I doubt it,” replied Starlanko. “Greatswords are 
  martial weapons, and most people don’t learn how 
  to use martial weapons until they’ve mastered at 
  least a simple weapon or two.”
  “But she’s so pretty.”
  “Oh, she’s a beauty,” Caldron assured Neddit. “And 
  you haven’t even seen the best part.” Caldron took 
  the sword down from its mounting and gripped it 
  ﬁrmly in both hands. “Meiinar-az,” he said, and 
  a sheath of electricity crackled to life around the 
  sword.
  “Oh, I do like that,” Neddit said. Caldron passed the 
  sword to Neddit, who almost dropped it. As he got 
  used to the weight he grinned like a child with a 
  puppy.
  “You got any armor, too?” Neddit asked.
  “Only the ﬁnest,” Caldron responded. “You look like a 
  man who would appreciate a ﬁne suit of adamantine 
  full plate.
  “Don’t you already have a mithral shirt?” Starlanko 
  inquired of Neddit.
  
  Page 5
  “Oh, of course that’s what you meant,” Seera sighed.
  Now what? Neddit thought.
  She’s wearing a holy symbol to Garandin. Mention that. 
  Is she a cleric? An adventurer? So are you. You have so 
  much in common.
  “I saw you was wearing a token of Garandin there. You a 
  cleric?”
  “Yeah, do you have something against clerics?”
  “No. I like clerics. Most of all the adventuring sort. You do 
  much adventuring?”
  “I suppose you could say that,” Seera replied.
  “You know, I’m an adventurer too? Look, see I just got 
  this new sword down in the market earlier today?”
  “A greatsword. How classic.”
  “A +1 shocking greatsword.”
  “I’m shocked.”
  “No, it’s not meant for shocking like that. It means it gets 
  all lightning like, so I can slay up bad guys more.”
  “Oh, a shocking greatsword.”
  I think she was joking with you. Starlanko thought.
  “Were you joking with me just now?” Neddit asked.
  “Yes.”
  “Oh. We’ve got a lot in common.”
  “I’m sorry?”
  “We’re adventurers and all.”
  “Oh. What did you say your name was?”
  “Oh,” Neddit thought for a second.
  She just wants to know your name. Starlanko directed at 
  him.
  But most folks around these parts know me for Neddit 
  the farmer. I want her to think I’m really something 
  ﬁerce. 
  Give her an 
  adventuring name 
  then, like Neddit the 
  Dragon Slayer. But 
  less cliché.
  “My chums all call 
  me Blood Axe,” 
  Neddit said. “It’s my 
  adventuring name.”
  “They call you Blood 
  Axe?”
  “Yeah.”
  “But you use a 
  sword.”
  “Yeah.”
  “And it’s not very bloody.”
  Maybe you used to use an axe, suggested Starlanko. 
  Maybe it’s a ﬁgure of speech.
  “It’s a ﬁgure of speech. Like chicken jumping. You don’t 
  really jump on a chicken.”
  “I see.”
  “So,” Neddit asked, “you got any adventure plans coming 
  up?”
  “To tell the truth,” replied Seera, “I’m starting to tire 
  of the adventuring life. I thought I might settle down 
  someplace and start a little temple.”
  “You ain’t looking to do much more adventuring?”
  “No. Is there something you wanted, Blood Axe?”
  Just a thought, Starlanko offered, now might be a good 
  time to tell the truth.
  “I should be telling you the truth,” Neddit said. “I’m not 
  really no fancy adventurer. I’m just a simple farmer. But 
  when I saw you, I thought, well that girl there, her eyes 
  chatter like ripe gourds. But I’m 
  just a simple farmer. I didn’t think 
  you’d like to talk to just old me.”
  “Just a farmer? If there were 
  no farmers, how would the rest 
  of us eat? A farmer is one of 
  the greatest professions there 
  is, highly honored by Mother 
  Garandin. Your name is really not 
  Blood Axe, then, I hope?”
  “No. It’s just Neddit.”
  “Neddit? Not the Neddit? The 
  farmer who grows watermelons as 
  big as houses?”
  “They were never as big as no 
  house. About like a shed must 
  have been the biggest one. A small shed.”
  “Your reputation is the reason I though of settling in 
  Kafforth. Your farming has been attracting a lot of 
  attention.”
  “Oh, it’s nothing. I just let the crops grow the way they 
  wanted to be growing.”
  “Is it true that you found a ﬂock of dire sheep?”
  “I don’t know about a ﬂock. Just a few head is all.”
  “I thought they’d been hunted to extinction by the 
  northern mountain trolls.”
  “Nah, sheep are sturdy beasts.”
  Starlanko listened to the two chatter. He looked at their 
  body signs. Open, smiling, leaning slightly towards each 
  other. He strolled away. His work here was through.
   
   
   
  ~FIN~
  About the Author
  Matthew J. Hanson is an aspiring writer, as well as a 
  long time gamer. He normally lives in Minnesota, but is 
  currently ﬁnishing his senior year of college in Beloit, 
  Wisconsin. Recently, his 10-minute play Who is Ruth 
  was selected as the winner for the American College 
  Theatre Region III winner, for their 10-minute play 
  competition, and it will be advancing to the national 
  competition in April. If you would like to learn more 
  about Matthew J. Hanson, please feel free to visit his 
  website at www.matthewjhanson.com.
  Contact the Author:
  matthew@matthewjhanson.com
  
  Page 6
  
  Page 7
  The Adventures of Starlanko 
  the Magnificent
  Bonus Material
  By Matthew J. Hanson
  Neddit 
  Human Commoner 30 CR 
  29; Medium humanoid;
  HD 30d4+60, hp 135; Init +1; Spd 30; AC 15 , touch 11, 
  ﬂat-footed 14; Base Atk +15; Grapple +; Atk +17 me-
  lee (1d6+2, +10 hoe of hoeing); Full Atk +17/+12 melee 
  (1d6+2, +10 hoe of hoeing); AL NG; SV Fort +12, Ref +11, 
  Will +12; Str 12, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 8, Wis 14, Cha 10
      Skills: Handle Animals +17, Profession (farmer) +58, Ride 
  +18
      Feats: Epic Skill Focus (Profession [farmer]), Mounted Com-
  bat, Open Minded (6) Spirited Charge, Skill Focus (Profession 
  [farmer]), Trample, Improvised Weapon proﬁciency (hoe)
     Languages: Common
     Possessions: Mithral shirt, +10 hoe of hoeing
  New Feats
  Improvised Weapon Proﬁciency [GENERAL]
  Choose any item that could be used as an improvised 
  weapon, such as a chair, frying pan or garden hoe. You 
  understand how to use that item in combat. 
  Prerequisite: Base attack bonus +1 
  Beneﬁt: You make attack rolls with the improvised weapon 
  normally. 
  Normal: A character who uses an improvised weapon takes a 
  -4 penalty on attack rolls. 
  Special: You can gain Improvised Weapon Proﬁciency 
  multiple times. Each time you take the feat, it applies to a 
  new type of improvised weapon. A ﬁghter may select this feat 
  as one of his bonus feats. 
  Open Minded [GENERAL]
  You are naturally able to reroute your memory, mind, and skill 
  expertise. 
  Beneﬁt: You immediately gain an extra 5 skill points. You spend 
  these skill points as normal. If you spend them on a cross-class 
  skills they count as ½ ranks. You cannot exceed the normal 
  maximum ranks for your level in any skill. 
  Special: You can gain this feat multiple times. Each time, you 
  immediately gain another 5 skill points. 
  +10 Hoe of Hoeing 
  This hoe adds a +10 competence bonus to Profession (farmer) 
  checks. It can be wielded as an improvised weapon. As such, 
  treat it as a +1 quarterstaff, except that the wielder suffers the 
  normal –4 penalty for using an improvised weapon.
  New Items
  
  Page 8
  From the desk of Aramil Runecaster, Cleric 
  and Mage in the service of Marthos, the  One 
  True Hand of The Gods:
  Dearest Reader, 
  It brings me great joy and happiness that 
  you have taken an interest in this humble 
  scribe’s writings. This story, which I have 
  prepared, is a journey into the sublime and 
  the unconscious imagination. 
  It is an experience that was brought to life 
  from the dreams of this simple writer. The 
  accounts presented in this document are 
  true and without fault in their factual 
  nature. I experienced them firsthand not 
  more than a tenday ago in the hallowed 
  walls of the Sylissan library, the same walls 
  in which this tale was written. 
  If my creditability is in doubt, I refer you 
  to Lord Gaeleon Silverfyre and Assistant 
  Dean Daisy Powderpop of the Church and 
  University of Syliss and the city of Carthas. 
  Both can vouch for my creditability and 
  my ability to reveal only the truths in my 
  writings. No falsehoods shall ever flow 
  from my quill. Let Marthos strike my vision 
  from me so that I may no longer see or 
  scribe the written word if I ever break this 
  oath of truthfulness. With such words 
  said, I wish you a pleasant journey into the 
  world of my imagination and recanting of 
  the events that took place not more than 
  ten nights ago. My hope lies in your pleasure 
  of this.
  With the blessings of Marthos and The 
  Gods,
  Aramil Runecaster
  Scribe and Mage in the service of Knowledge
  The last tendrils of sunlight were beginning to fade as 
  I began my nightly work at the Library of Syliss. As a 
  junior priest and scribe in the Order of Marthos, it was 
  my duty to search over every piece of written work 
  I could ﬁnd in search of lost lore, to uncover as much 
  the past as I can. 
  I shall not bore you with the details of such philosophy 
  but I will merely state that it is very important for Mar-
  thos priests to search out and decipher the meaning of 
  written knowledge. It is our fruit and wine. 
  We are driven by a need to learn and preserve all that 
  we observe in the form of the written word.  A library 
  is always home to at least one or two Marthosians. 
  The night was beginning much like any other night for 
  me. I was planning on studying some ancient Thircian 
  scrolls that Darren, a spellthief in the service of the 
  Church of Syliss, had recently liberated from the tomb 
  of some forgotten archmage. 
  These scrolls contained scraps of Thircian culture and 
  were a window of insight into the lives of these long-
  forgotten people. Even in mundane texts such as this, 
  knowledge of everyday life is sometimes the most 
  important knowledge of all. 
  The scrolls were fragile, as frail as morning dew upon 
  uncut blades of grass yet just as beautiful. My mind 
  was clearly going to be occupied with the knowledge 
  I was bound to absorb from these masterfully written 
  accounts on the Thirce. The ancient words seem to 
  ﬂow together into a visual poem of everyday events. 
  I could practically hear the sounds of the blacksmith 
  crafting his goods, the melodic voice of the ﬂower 
  girl peddling her wares, the scratching of quills upon 
  parchment from the scribes recording the insight-
  ful words of the preaching cleric of Aalr, and the slow 
  rising chants of magic being practiced. My mind’s eye 
  was ﬁlled with the vision of a levitating city soaring 
  in the clouds, above the lands that would one day be 
  known as the Frontier. 
  The city, although nameless, was built on an inverted 
  mountaintop and brought forth into the air as if held 
  by the hand of Syliss herself. The people lived their 
  lives surrounded by mystical splendor and enriching 
  knowledge. 
  What an awe-inspiring place Thirce must have been! But 
  through the folly of one man and a dark tryst, it was all 
  destroyed, forever lost. 
  My heart weeps for the lost of Thrice, but I am happy that 
  at least some records of it are left for future generations 
  to dream and think of the wonders of such a place. 
  When I read or engage in studious activities, I enjoy 
  using the small sitting area that is set aside in the west 
  wing of the expansive library. It sits nestled in a quaint 
  corner of the library and is constructed entirely out of 
  white marble. Finely crafted elven chairs and couches 
  litter the room, providing comfort and relaxation to the 
  visitors and scribes of the library. 
  The room is enclosed by bay windows that overlook the 
  edge of the Sylissan University and the city of Carthas be-
  yond. A full glimpse of the heavens and Apharelia herself 
  can be seen from this sitting area, providing what some 
  would call a romantic aspect for this otherwise mundane 
  house of knowledge and learning. 
  I carefully placed the ancient scrolls down on the edge of 
  my favorite couch and settled in for a long read. These 
  writings were simply too fantastic to put aside. Decipher-
  ing ancient Thircian is no easy experience, but it is well 
  worth the effort to extract the knowledge hidden within 
  the runes of that long-forgotten language. 
  My thoughts were focused purely upon the hidden mean-
  ing of the runes, and my surroundings seemed to melt 
  away into obscurity. Some might say I lose touch with 
  reality when I study such engrossing material. That was 
  quite the case that evening. I was taken far away from 
  my simple life as a scribe and was placed into the magi-
  cally enriched world of the Thircian. My journey was a 
  short lived one, though, as another was about to begin…
  A soft touch upon my shoulder awoke me from my 
  thoughts and returned me to the realms of reality and 
  the mundane. I was startled and the scroll I was read-
  ing fell from my lap and landed upon the hardwood ﬂoor. 
  I jumped from the couch and quickly reclaimed it, lest 
  some damage befall it. 
  The scroll was, after all, thousands of years old and very 
  fragile! To have some disaster befall it simply because of 
  my own lack of perception of my surroundings would in-
  deed lead to some form of disciplinary action against my 
  otherwise ﬂawless record! 
  By Chris McCoy
  Moonlight Confessions
  
  Page 9
  It was at this time that my eyes adjusted to the silvery 
  light that now ﬁlled the room, streaming down 
  from the heavens above. Apharelia’s silvery 
  rays played upon the books and furniture of the 
  sitting room, illuminating everything in an aura 
  of silver and white. Everything, including the 
  lithe form of a cloaked woman who now perched 
  where I had been just a moment ago. 
  Her royal blue cloak was pulled low around her 
  face, hiding it from the silvery radiance that 
  now illuminated the rest of her full, supple body. 
  Her smooth alabaster legs were dangling from 
  the edge of the couch, clad only in a pair of thin 
  dancing slippers. 
  Her moon-kissed skin was adorned with silver 
  moonstone jewelry, and a mithril symbol of 
  Apharelia rested between her ample breasts. 
  She stretched a bit and I could see that her 
  form was barely covered, save for a thin shift 
  that was quite translucent in the moonlight. 
  Needless to say, it left little to the imagination. 
  I remained in a sitting position upon the hard-
  wood ﬂoor, the ancient Thircian scroll clutched 
  protectively to my chest. My eyes glanced over 
  her ﬂawless body, drinking in the details as if 
  they were some form of long lost knowledge. 
  I quickly recovered my composure and stood 
  abruptly, almost losing my balance in the pro-
  cess. 
  My ink-stained hands quickly moved to smooth 
  my librarian robes, and I adjusted my cap so that it no 
  longer hung dangling from one pointed ear. I cleared my 
  throat, as I had not spoken in at least a few hours, and 
  turned my full attention to the mysterious woman who 
  thought she could get away with disturbing my studies 
  without proper intent! 
  “Miss! Please state your business and the reason you 
  have intruded upon this house of knowledge when you 
  know very well that it is closed to the general public at 
  this time!” I said clearly, with as much authority as I 
  could muster.
  Melodic laughter ﬂowed from unseen lips as the cloaked 
  woman stepped from the lounging couch and onto the 
  hardwood ﬂoor. She was on even height with me, and I 
  came to the conclusion that she was deﬁnitely not elven. 
  Elven women tend to be smaller than most and this 
  woman was rather tall. I myself stand two hand spans 
  above the ﬁve-foot mark and am considered quite tall for 
  my kind, the twilight elves. 
  I stood awaiting an answer as she suddenly approached 
  me, hands outstretched. I felt something come over me 
  at that moment: what, I cannot begin to describe ac-
  curately. 
  I felt as though I was held helpless, yet falling at the 
  same time. This wraith-like beauty that was now ad-
  vancing upon me held me helpless before her. I 
  do not know whether it was some sort of spell or 
  merely that her cowl had fallen from her face and 
  I ﬁnally grasped a look at the beauty before me. 
  Ebony tresses ﬂowed unerringly down pale shoul-
  ders and reached down to the middle of her back. 
  Pale, sky blue eyes, ﬁlled with emotion and pas-
  sion, glazed into my own and stirred something 
  within my soul that I had never experienced. Lust? 
  Compassion for the ﬂesh? Love at ﬁrst sight? I 
  could not label such an emotion, nor can I ever. 
  Her cheeks were dimpled as she smiled invitingly 
  and stepped closer to me, her small hands touch-
  ing my face gently. Her tiny ﬁngertips plucked the 
  scholar’s cap from my head and tossed it daintily onto a 
  nearby chair. Her eyes traveled down my robed form and 
  her hands soon followed. 
  Her ﬁngers expertly undid the clasp of my cloak and a 
  swirl of black and green cloth signaled its removal. The 
  buttons upon my outer robe were halfway undone before 
  “Her moon-kissed skin was 
  adorned with silver moonstone 
  jewelry, and a mithril symbol of 
  Apharelia rested between her 
  ample breasts. “
  About the Author
  Chris McCoy is a veteran gamer of ten years and 
  has been exposed to the beauty of fantasy since 
  an early age.  His gateway to fantasy was the 
  Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, and he has 
  been writing since the age of ten.  
  Currently, the pride and joy of his writing career 
  has been the publication of an anthology entitled 
  Goblin Tails, based on one of his creations, a 
  goblin adventurer by the name of Chuba.  He 
  and his wife, Chrissy, spend most of their time 
  gaming out of their home in Port Charlotte, 
  Florida with their gaming group of four years 
  (known as the Knights of the Patio).  
  He is a computer programmer and holds a 
  degree in History.  His other hobbies include 
  fencing, kendo, sword collecting, history, and 
  avid reading.
  Contact the Author: 
  Silverfyre@writing.com
  
  Page 10
  I regained my usual sense of clear thought and
  grasped her small hands within my own as a way of 
  preventing her from continuing with this very unusual 
  situation. 
  “Uhm…err…Miss..? What is it you think you are doing?” 
  I stammered as I locked my gaze with hers. I saw only 
  laughter and passion in her deep orbs and before I knew 
  what was happening her beautiful lips were upon my 
  own. 
  Time seemed to slow down for me and the world faded 
  away, much like it had before. Ancient Thirce was not my 
  destination, though, and I was going to a place which no 
  book or scroll can accurately portray or describe. 
  “My name is Odette.  I am a servant of Apharelia, she 
  who is surrounded by mysteries and dreams, she who 
  offers fulﬁllment of unspoken desires and hidden 
  dreams. I am her incarnate and the body which 
  she shall use to bring your hidden desires to 
  life and give your dreams form. Love me as 
  you would your dreams, treasure me as you 
  would your desires, cherish me as you would 
  your heart. Close your eyes and experience 
  what it means to give your dreams and de-
  sires ﬂesh…” 
  The silvery moonlight danced upon our inter-
  twined forms as the rhythmic movement of our 
  lovemaking reverberated from our hearts. Compas-
  sion sprang forth from our souls as we shared kisses 
  upon crimson tiers under the light of Apharelia, she who 
  blessed such a union of the mysterious and mundane. 
  The sounds of our joined breathing became the song 
  of our conjoined spirits, giving wings to bond desires 
  that now sought to escape into the air. A dream within 
  a dream, we lay together, not speaking a word or even 
  daring to open our eyes for fear of losing ourselves to the 
  mundane once again. 
  I never wanted to leave this world within a dream, for it 
  was the only time I have ever experienced such compas-
  sion from another. The only place where I could become 
  the master of my own desires and destiny. The only world 
  I could ever ﬁnd the one named Odette. 
  Logic, something I had long valued, faded away and was 
  replaced by emotion. My dreams were the only thing that 
  mattered to Odette, the only thing of value in a world 
  that deemed dreams to be the utmost form of beauty. I 
  lost myself in her eyes and to that dream within a dream. 
  I lost myself to Apharelia that night, who came to me 
  in the form of a beautiful woman named Odette. I soon 
  drifted further in the realm of dreams, thinking of how 
  perfect this world was and how I never wished to leave. 
  How perfect that ending would have been…
  The morning sun soon broke through the hazy windows 
  of the Library of Syliss, bringing forth warmth and chas-
  ing the darkness out of every corner. I awoke slowly, my 
  naked form lying atop a pile of my own robes. Perspira-
  tion covered my body and my hair was matted to the left 
  side of my face. 
  I smoothed my hair away from my face and looked 
  about in a daze. I was back in the Library of Syliss, 
  albeit without my clothes, and alone. The mysterious 
  woman of Apharelia was gone, no clear sign of her ex-
  istence or passing.  I was alone once again, left with-
  the memories of Dreams given true form and desires 
  unbridled. 
  A loud banging from down the hall signiﬁed the 
  beginning of yet another day as Assistant Dean 
  Powderpop pounded on the main doors, de-
  manding to be let in. Sighing contently, yet 
  with a hint of disappointment hidden in my 
  heart, I hastily dressed in rumpled robes and 
  paused for only a moment to reclaim my dis-
  carded cap and place the Thircian scrolls back 
  upon their proper scroll shelf. 
  I hurried to the end of the hallway and open the 
  doors, squinting at the sudden appearance of the 
  sunlight that shone directly in from the east. The small 
  gnomish woman, adorned in the robes of a professor 
  and carrying a timid ﬂat smile upon her plain features, 
  regarded me with an inquisitive stare in her brown eyes. 
  “Mr. Runecaster, are you ill?” she asked quietly, ushering 
  herself into the library. 
  “Uhm, no Professor. I was, uhm, merely organizing the 
  scrolls in the back room and it was quite physically tax-
  ing…” I stuttered and fell into step behind the hurrying 
  gnome. 
  “Well…your shift is over, so please feel free to wash up 
  and do whatever it is you need to do.” she said and 
  I quickly nodded my thanks and headed to the small 
  room, near the west wing, that I called home. 
  Thoughts of Odette swam in my mind and I wondered 
  if I would ever see her again. “Who knows?” I thought. 
  Was she perhaps just a ﬁgment of my own imagination, 
  or had Apharelia truly graced me with a dream given 
  ﬂesh? I wondered if I’d ever know. 
  My dearest reader, I hope that this story 
  has given you some interest in the workings 
  of the unknown and particularly dreams 
  themselves. I truly wonder if I was indeed 
  visited by a servant of Apharelia and if she 
  will ever visit me again. I am uncertain as to 
  who Odette really is or even what she is. 
  After speaking with the local priest of 
  Apharelia, Balthasar Bloodstone, I have 
  come to believe that I may have experienced 
  merely a dream that was given power by 
  Apharelia. 
  I truly believe that the Moon Maiden made 
  herself manifest to me that evening for 
  reasons that are beyond my comprehension. 
  I do not question it, though, for it was 
  an experience I shall always treasure and 
  value. 
  I can only hope that you, dear reader, have 
  gained some small amount of insight and 
  pleasure from reading my account of this 
  enigmatic experience. 
  Perhaps Odette or someone like her will 
  visit your dreams and make them real. I can 
  only hope that it does happen to you. Trust 
  me, it is something you will never forget.
  With much thanks and the blessings of 
  Marthos,
  Aramil Runecaster
  A scribe who has felt the touch of dreams 
  come true
  Classes were about to begin and I had much to ac-
  complish today. A visiting Valthian mage was giving a 
  lecture on magic theology that I did not want to miss…I 
  could only hope my mind did not wander too far, back 
  to the night before and the woman I had shared so 
  much with…
  
  Page 11
  St. George, 
  before he 
  slew Knock 
  Hill’s wyrm 
  and gained a 
  ﬁefdom for the 
  cruciﬁed god, was 
  a ﬁsherman from 
  Hegglesbruck. By all rights, he should 
  have stayed there in that dank village 
  until the day he died.
  One day, though, he caught a smelt 
  that was as long as his arm, and then 
  there was no living with him. He had a 
  talent for it, the ﬁshermen would say, 
  and wonder what he was going to bring 
  home next.
  In some circles, it is common 
  knowledge that when St. George came 
  to Knock Hill, he was looking for bait.
  ~
  When I was ﬁrst turned, I was 
  deeply afraid of killing humans. 
  I skulked about the countryside, 
  bleeding the cows, dreadfully 
  ashamed of my hunger.
  Then I started missing the cities. I 
  missed wearing pretty clothes, and 
  dancing; I missed the museums and 
  the crush of the streets. I returned 
  to my beloved Chicago, but still I 
  kept a pair of huge wolfhounds, 
  so strong that my meals could not 
  weaken them.
  One day, I looked around, and 
  ﬁnally saw no humans around me. 
  They were only cattle, and, with 
  a sigh of relief, I gave away my 
  beloved dogs.
  ~
  I was never a princess.
  You were the one who made me 
  this way. 
  Who else could put me in glass 
  slippers, or make me grow my hair 
  until it tumbled down the stairs? 
  Who else could tear me from my 
  farm, and my friends, and my 
  family, who wept to see me go?
  You rescued me when I needed no 
  rescue and made me into a victim 
  for your glory.
  Foolish girl, I gave up my bread to 
  dine on pastry crumbs, and I left 
  my real life to ﬁnd a fairy tale that 
  you had created for me.
   
                    ~
  Three
  Drabbles
  By Nghi Vo
  A drabble is a story written in exactly one hundred 
  words.  Some time back in October, in the midst of post-
  graduation unemployment, I decided that I wanted to 
  write one hundred drabbles.  
  From October until February, I more or less successfully 
  cranked out a drabble a night.  Some of them I can’t 
  stand to look at now, and some of them I’m still rather 
  proud of, but the fact remains that they exist, all 10,000 
  words of them.
  Image ©The Christian Coptic Orthodox Church Of Egypt
  
  Page 12
  
  Page 13
  This column has previously covered the current 
  issues facing both gay and female gamers.  The 
  latest entry in this series focuses on disabled 
  gamers. 
  For the purposes of this article, a ‘disabled 
  gamer’ will be deﬁned as any gamer with a 
  physical condition that makes his or her gaming 
  experience more challenging.  This includes 
  gamers with reduced mobility (such as those 
  conﬁned to wheelchairs), gamers with sensory 
  impairment (blindness, deafness, or speech 
  impairments), and those with neurological 
  conditions (such as Multiple Sclerosis or 
  Parkinsons).  
   These gamers are all unique individuals 
  with little more in common with each 
  other than they have with non-disabled 
  gamers.  The only things they share are 
  the challenges they face in their gaming 
  experiences.  
  This article will shed light on this 
  community, looking at some 
  speciﬁc disabilities that make 
  gaming a challenge.  This entry 
  will also discuss some of the 
  advancements that have been made 
  to make playing more accessible to 
  individuals with disabilities.
  In today’s gaming world, it is often taken for 
  granted that people can walk, see, drive, hear, and 
  speak without any difﬁculty.  These are challenges 
  that aren’t faced by most people and are rarely 
  even questioned.  For a disabled gamer, these are 
  the greatest challenges.  
  With minds as astute as (or often more keen than) 
  their unimpaired counterparts, disabled people 
  are frequently frustrated by the difﬁculty they face 
  navigating the everyday events taken for granted 
  by most people.  
  Like in all other activities, disabled gamers are 
  no different from other gamers.  They are as avid 
  participants in gaming as anyone else, but they 
  must often seek special provisions to make the 
  most of their gaming experiences.   
  Visual Impairments
  Visually impaired gamers face multiple obstacles.  
  The ﬁrst, and most obvious, is that most gaming 
  products are visual in nature.  RPG books are 
  written in ink,  video games must be seen, and 
  card games must be read.  Blind gamers also face 
  the problem of mobility. 
  Many unimpaired gamers complain that it is hard 
  for them to ﬁnd time to play during the week or 
  to get transportation to their games. For a blind 
  gamer, these concerns are compounded.  Despite 
  these difﬁculties, visually impaired gamers manage 
  to take full advantage of the gaming world. 
  Software packages exist that make gaming much 
  easier for these gamers: there are programs 
  that allow them to hover over a text so that the 
  computer reads it aloud. 
  Some game manufacturers, such as Lone Wolf, 
  are creating games that incorporate special 
  sound effects that tell visually impaired gamers 
  information such as direction or health levels.  
  These programs can be unwieldy and awkward 
  however, and many gamers will be discouraged 
  from playing due to these reasons. 
  Blind role-players can now purchase Braille copies 
  of major RPG titles, though the majority are still 
  unavailable.  There is still a long way to go to 
  make the gaming world a truly welcoming place for 
  visually impaired gamers. 
  On a social level, blind gamers may experience 
  some difﬁculties, but there are many things that 
  can be done to incorporate them into a gaming 
  group.  Because much of gaming is imagination, 
  there is little standing in the way of a blind gamer 
  who wants to participate in an RPG session. 
  A gaming experience may provide such gamers 
  with an empowering experience, allowing them, 
  like most other gamers, to do things that would be 
  The Many Faces of Gaming: 
  Disabled Gamers
  by Eytan Bernstein
  
  Page 14
  very challenging, 
  if not impossible, 
  in reality.  There 
  are audible dice 
  that will read 
  numbers aloud, but 
  if this is a hassle (in 
  the case of a GM, for 
  example), there are also 
  Braille dice.  
  With a small amount of consideration and aid, 
  a blind gamer can do almost anything that an 
  unimpaired gamer can.
  Hearing Impairments
  Hearing impaired gamers face a completely 
  different series of challenges.  Mobility, reading, 
  and visual cues are not problematic for a deaf 
  gamer, but communication and interaction can be 
  very difﬁcult.  
  Most gamers take for granted that they can 
  describe their characters, indicate their actions and 
  desires, and participate in a gaming experience.  
  For a hearing impaired gamer, these things are 
  very challenging. In many ways, it may be 
  more difﬁcult to incorporate a deaf gamer into 
  a gaming group than a blind one  because 
  most members will not be familiar with sign 
  language.  
  Unlike family members of deaf gamers, 
  gaming associates are much less likely to 
  go the distance to learn another language.  
  Fortunately, there are hearing impaired 
  gaming groups as well as those that are 
  deaf-friendly.  
  Whereas RPGs may be more accessible 
  to a blind gamer than a deaf one, video 
  games are just the opposite. 
  While a lack of sound can make a game more 
  challenging, it is deﬁnitely possible to play many 
  games without any audio.  
  It is easier for game designers to program in extra 
  visual information than it is to create entirely new 
  audio components.  In addition, hardware developers 
  are developing many different kinds of vibrating 
  or tactile controllers that enhance the gaming 
  experience.  
  Unfortunately, this doesn’t cover some of the biggest 
  challenges facing deaf gamers.  The most popular 
  games today are fast-paced and are often voiced by 
  celebrities, as opposed to earlier games, which were 
  mostly text-based.  
  As audio technology becomes more advanced, 
  games rely more upon it.  This makes video games 
  increasingly more challenging for the hearing 
  impaired.
  Speech Impairments
  Speech-impaired gamers face similar problems to 
  deaf gamers, with a few differences.  Mute gamers 
  can hear, but they cannot speak.  Therefore, they 
  face very few problems in terms of video gameplay, 
  but with RPGs, things can be quite challenging. 
  Since they can hear, they can use writing for 
  some aspects of gaming, but this can slow a 
  roleplaying game down considerably.  
  Sign language can be used in some cases, but 
  as with deaf gamers, most unimpaired gamers 
  don’t know it, or won’t want to learn.  It can be 
  very frustrating to both the disabled gamer and 
  his associates when gameplay becomes difﬁcult 
  because of such a problem. 
  Impaired Mobility
  Gamers with impaired mobility, due to 
  neurological disorders, serious injuries, or other 
  disabilities, face a number of obstacles.  The 
  gaming world is no more or less designed for 
  people in wheel-chairs than any other area of 
  society.  Games conducted at a university or in 
  an apartment building might be accessible to a 
  wheelchair-bound gamer, but they might not be.  
  A mobility-impaired gamer’s success and 
  enjoyment depend a great deal on tolerance and 
  understanding from their gaming associates.  
  The greatest challenge to such a gamer is 
  feeling that people stare at them or that they 
  are somehow different or less capable. In reality, 
  they are no less capable than any “normal” 
  gamer.  
  Neurological Problems
  Mobility is not the only concern for a gamer with 
  neurological problems.  Their problems can often 
  prevent them from keeping a standard schedule.  
  While most of these gamers lead productive and 
  full lives, sometimes their conditions can make 
  them unable to play.  
  They may require lengthy hospital stays, or 
  sometimes they may just not feel up to playing.  
  The most important thing for a gaming group 
  with disabled members (and not just those with 
  neurological disorders) is to have reasonable 
  expectations and ﬂexibility.  The average gamer 
  might miss games because of irresponsibility 
  or forgetfulness.  This is rarely the case with a 
  disabled gamer.  
  Most gamers take for granted 
  that they can describe their 
  characters, indicate their 
  actions and desires, and 
  participate in a gaming 
  experience.  
  For a hearing impaired 
  gamer, these things are very 
  challenging.
          
         
  
  Page 15
  When they 
  don’t show up, 
  it is almost 
  always for a 
  legitimate health 
  reason.  
  Because of their 
  challenges, these gamers 
  are often very dedicated, 
  so 
  their absence, when it 
  occurs, is almost always justiﬁed.
  Improving Future Accessibility
  Video game designers are beginning to take 
  note of the needs of disabled gamers, building 
  hardware and software designed for them (or 
  friendly to them), but this is a slow change.  
  Online groups and special interest groups are 
  increasing awareness of the needs and desires of 
  special-needs gamers, but these developments are 
  still in their infancy. 
   It is the hope of many of these gamers that 
  companies will try to be more inclusive, creating 
  products that are accessible to all.  
  One of the purposes of writing an article 
  like this is to increase awareness of special 
  needs gamers so that the effort to increase 
  inclusiveness will see some results.  
  Numerous gaming communities exist on 
  the web for disabled gamers and those 
  who wish to be more supportive of them.  
  For massive multiplayer online RPG 
  players with disabilites, there is www.
  ablegamers.com. 
  For the needs of blind gamers, 
  a Yahoo! group exists: http://
  gamesource.groups.yahoo.com/
  group/blindgamers/.  
  For deaf video gamers, there is an online 
  community at http://www.deafgamers.com/.  
  The goal of http://www.totalgames.net/
  pma/19712 is “going in search of enlightenment 
  [to] explore the overlooked world of accessible 
  gaming.”  
  Numerous other online and print resources are 
  out there for gamers with disabilities.  
  Integrating Disabled Gamers into Your 
  Game
  Like all minority groups, disabled gamers can 
  bring a unique and refreshing new perspective to 
  gaming. Their experiences are simply different 
  than other gamers and offer new possibilities in a 
  gaming environment.  
  They may choose to play characters without 
  disabilities in order to experience what that is 
  like. They may also decide to play characters 
  with disabilities, offering a unique and more 
  accurate perspective on what it is like to play a 
  blind, deaf, or wheelchair-bound character.  
  Every gamer brings in his own unique 
  experience, whether playing a video game or 
  an RPG.  Unusual individuals can bring a truly 
  refreshing aspect to a game if given a chance.  
  The key to playing with these gamers is a 
  combination of tolerance and willingness to allow 
  for independence.  
  These gamers may need help with some basic 
  tasks, but they are extremely capable individuals 
  and want to do as much on their own as possible. 
  With a little tolerance and understanding, there 
  is little these gamers cannot do. 
  Disabled gamers can both experience and 
  create challenges when involved in gaming.  
  Most gaming hobbies just aren’t designed with the 
  difﬁculties of these individuals in mind.  
  Sensory-impaired gamers aren’t a large constituency, 
  thus most video games, RPGs, and card gamers 
  aren’t designed for them. Most gamers have little 
  trouble moving about, so they often play in difﬁcult-
  to-reach basements or cramped, walk-up apartments. 
  Due to these challenges, disabled gamers are often 
  some of the most passionate and enthusiastic 
  participants. It should be apparent to other gamers 
  that when they see actively participating gamers 
  with disabilities, these gamers are truly devoted. For 
  such gamers to overcome so many challenges really 
  speaks of a desire to have fun.  
  If a clear level of communication exists between 
  disabled and non-disabled gamers, there is nothing 
  outside the realm of accomplishment.
  
  Page 16
  
  Page 17
  An Interview with Richard Lee Byers 
  As conducted by Chris McCoy
  Richard Lee Byers (http://stonehill.org/rlb) 
  is a renowned fantasy writer and the author 
  of over ﬁfteen novels and numerous short 
  stories. 
  His Forgotten Realms novels are by far his 
  most famous, amongst them being his “The 
  Year of Rogue Dragons” trilogy, the Black 
  Bouquet, and book one of R.A. Salvatore’s 
  “War of the Spider Queen” series, Dissolution.  
  He is a lover of fencing and holds a Master’s 
  degree in Psychology.  I recently had the 
  chance to interview Richard via email and he 
  was kind enough to answer my questions.  
  Now, enjoy a look into the mind of Richard 
  Lee Byers, fantasy writer, fencer, and gamer!
  What inﬂuenced you to become a writer, 
  and how has that affected your
  style of writing?
  I’ve always loved ﬁction and conceived the 
  notion of writing it when I was still quite 
  young. I guess I realized I had a pretty good 
  imagination and some verbal ability, and that 
  those would stand me in good stead.
  The kind of writing I do the most of – action-
  adventure fantasy with elements of horror 
  and mystery – derives from the kind of ﬁction 
  I loved when I was a kid, and that I still love, 
  when it’s done well. Some of the writers who 
  inﬂuenced me are Howard, Leiber, Zelazny, 
  Anderson, de Camp, Moorcock, Wagner, 
  Burroughs, Vance, Block, Chandler, and 
  Lovecraft.
  When did you decide to become a writer?
  Well, like I said, I always meant to do it, but I 
  got sidetracked. I thought that for reasons of 
  ﬁnancial security it would be smart to have a 
  real job and write on the side. So I went into 
  the mental health ﬁeld with the intention of 
  writing in my free time. But it turned out that 
  working in a psychiatric clinic was draining 
  enough that I didn’t feel like writing when I 
  was away from work.
  Years passed, and I got burned out on the 
  mental health ﬁeld. Then my mom passed 
  away and left me some money. I realized that 
  if I used it to live on, I could afford to quit my 
  job and try writing, so I did.
  How did you ﬁrst get published?
  I was ﬁrst published in a small-press horror 
  magazine. The pay was minimal, but it got me 
  started.
  What other occupations have you had 
  throughout life?
  Except for after-school part-time jobs and the 
  like, the mental health ﬁeld and writing are pretty 
  much it.
  You are the author of numerous fantasy 
  novels and short stories.  Which of your 
  characters is your favorite and why?
  That’s tough to say. I guess that at the moment, 
  it’s Taegan Nightwind in my dragon trilogy. I like 
  witty, resourceful, unﬂappable characters, and he 
  is one. But that will change. My favorite is always 
  a character in my current project, or the project I 
  just ﬁnished.
  You are also the writer of The Black Bouquet, 
  the second novel in Wizards of the Coast’s 
  “The Rogues” series.  Can you tell us a bit 
  about this novel and your experience writing 
  it?
  Since the series was, after all, “The Rogues,” I 
  decided to write a book that would be both a 
  sword-and-sorcery story and a caper novel, with 
  all the elements you ﬁnd in the works of Richard 
  Stark and similar authors. It was a ball to write, 
  and I think it came out well.
  
  Page 18
  Image © http://stonehill.org/rlb/
  You are currently writing a trilogy for the 
  Forgotten Realms called the “Year of Rogue 
  Dragons”.  Can you tell us a bit about this 
  series and perhaps even give us a tidbit 
  or two into the third and ﬁnal novel, The 
  Ruin?
  “Rogue Dragons” is one 
  of the notorious “Realms-
  shaking Events” or RSE’s, 
  a story that holds a knife 
  to the throat of all the 
  Forgotten Realms and will 
  make lasting changes to 
  the setting. 
  It’s also a story intended 
  to showcase all the 
  various sorts of dragons 
  extant in the Realms. The 
  core idea is that all the 
  dragons in the world are 
  running amok at once, 
  and the heroes have to 
  deal with the problem.
  I don’t want to say much 
  about Book Three, for 
  fear of spoiling it. I will 
  say that all the questions 
  I raised in the ﬁrst two 
  volumes are answered, 
  and that I tried hard to 
  deliver a climax that tops 
  even the biggest, wildest, 
  loudest moments in 
  Books One and Two.
  One of my favorite 
  Forgotten Realms books that you have 
  written is Dissolution, the ﬁrst book in 
  R.A Salvatore’s “War of the Spider Queen” 
  series.  
  This series was written with other 
  Forgotten Realms authors, who include 
  Paul Kemp, Thomas M. Reid, Richard Baker, 
  Lisa Smedman, Phillip Athans, and of 
  course, R.A. Salvatore. 
  Now that all the novels have been released, 
  please tell us what the experience was like.
  Dissolution was a tricky book to do, for various 
  reasons. I had to satisfy two editors, Phil Athans 
  and Bob Salvatore, and I felt 
  a lot of pressure to give the 
  series a rousing start. Because 
  if I screwed up the beginning, I 
  was screwing it up for the ﬁve 
  authors who would follow me. 
  I was also aware that the dark 
  elves are fan favorites, and 
  that their fans would be sorely 
  disappointed if I didn’t portray 
  them properly.
  But Bob and Phil were 
  tremendously gracious and 
  helpful, as were Thomas Reid 
  and Rich Baker (at that point, 
  the writers for Books Four, 
  Five, and Six hadn’t been 
  chosen yet), and writing the 
  book actually wound up being 
  a lot of fun.
  What is your favorite novel 
  of all time? Who is your 
  favorite Forgotten Realms 
  author and what is your 
  favorite novel?
  Favorite novel of all time: The 
  answer would vary according 
  to my mood. Today I’ll say The 
  Swords of Lankhmar, by Fritz 
  Leiber.
  Favorite Realms novel and novelist? I’ll take the 
  Fifth. Don’t want to pick and choose among my 
  friends and colleagues.
  You have also written for White Wolf (www.
  white-wolf.com).  What can you tell us about 
  your experience writing for them?
  I always had a lot of fun writing for White Wolf. 
  I liked the World of Darkness and the Scarred 
  Lands. They were interesting worlds to play 
  around in, and my editor, Philippe Boulle, is a 
  great guy and very good at his craft.
  Besides fantasy, have you ever written in 
  any other genres?
  Horror.
  What do you feel is your strongest novel 
  that you have written to date?
  Tough to say. I think a writer may be too close 
  to his work to make that kind of objective 
  critical judgment.  
  I suspect the books in the dragon trilogy may be 
  about as good as anything I’ve done, but then, 
  as I mentioned, I have a tendency to be most 
  enthusiastic about whatever it is I’m currently 
  doing, or have just ﬁnished recently.
  Do you have any new projects that you can 
  tell us about?
  My novel Queen of the Depths comes out in 
  September. It’s part of “The Priests,” a Forgotten 
  Realms series focusing on religious elements 
  of the setting, but also ties into “Year of Rogue 
  Dragons.” 
  The Ruin, the ﬁnal book in the dragon trilogy 
  proper, comes out in May 2006. I have some 
  idea what’s coming after that, but I don’t think 
  I’m supposed to talk about it yet.
  Are there any other upcoming releases by 
  other authors that you are
  interested in?
  I wish George R. R. Martin would get the 
  next book in his jumbo fantasy epic ﬁnished. 
  Beyond that, I’m always eager to read whatever 
  Bernard Cornwell, Richard Stark, and Joe 
  Lansdale publish.
  
  Page 19
  What preparations do you make when 
  preparing to work on a new writing
  project?
  If research is required, I do it. Other than that, no 
  special preparations.
  What advice would you offer to aspiring 
  writers who want to get published
  in the fantasy genre?
  Schedule time for writing, and stick to your 
  schedule.
  Finish the stories you start.
  Submit the stories until you run out of markets or 
  somebody buys them.
  Deﬁnitely do not pin all your hopes on one market 
  (like the Forgotten Realms.) Pursue a variety of 
  opportunities. Maximize your chances.
  Read some of the many how-
  to-write-and-get-published 
  books that are out there. 
  Ultimately, you can only get 
  good through practice, but 
  even so, the how-to books 
  can give you insight and help 
  you avoid basic blunders. 
  They can help your writing 
  reach a professional level 
  sooner than it would otherwise.
  If you could go back and change one thing 
  about your career as a writer,
  what would it be?
  I’ve drifted into being solely a shared-world kind of 
  writer. If I had it to do over again, I would still do 
  all the franchise work, but would also work harder 
  to keep writing and selling non-franchise work.
  I hear that you are quite the accomplished fencer 
  and swordsman.  How did you get into fencing, 
  and did this play a factor in writing combat in your 
  stories?
  A dear friend gave me a gift [certiﬁcate] for fencing 
  lessons about ten years ago, and I’ve been doing it ever 
  since.
  It has helped me write better combat scenes, I think. 
  The more you know about any subject, the better off 
  you are when you portray it in your ﬁction. I took some 
  karate training when I was quite a bit younger, and 
  that’s been helpful, too.
  Are you a gamer?  What gaming systems and 
  settings do you play, if any?  Care to share any 
  gaming memories with us?
  I’ve played D&D, Champions, GURPS, and Call of 
  Cthulhu. Unfortunately, no amusing gaming anecdotes 
  are leaping to mind.
  Besides writing and fencing, 
  what are some of the other 
  things you enjoy in life?
  Poker, shooting pool, going to the 
  movies.
  What are some of your goals in 
  life?
  To write more books and have them 
  sell more copies. 
  To improve my skills as a fencer and poker player.
   ~FIN~
  If you’re interested in those how-to-write-
  and-get-published books,” or you’re looking 
  for more advice for aspiring writers, be sure 
  to check out our upcoming writers resource 
  section on Silven Crossroads later this 
  month.
               
  We would like to thank Richard Lee Byers on the 
  behalf of the Silven Trumpeter for taking the time 
  for this interview!   
  
  Page 20
  INVASION OF 
  THE 
  TEMPLATES!
  By Jerel Hass
  INVASION #5: 
  AUTOMATON
    
          INVASION!
  CASE FILE #10: HAIRY DWARFS
  Based on the Hairy Dwarf by Jim Clunie
  Medium Construct
  Hit Dice: 10d10+15 (65 hp)
  Initiative: +0
  Speed: 30ft.
  Armor Class: 18 (+8 Natural), touch 10, 
  ﬂat-footed 18
  Base Attack/Grapple: +7/+18
  Attack: Slam +11 melee (2d4+3)
  Full Attack: 2 slams +11 melee (2d4+3) or 
  render mount +9 ﬁre (2d6) 
  Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
  Special Qualities: Sticky hands, DR 10/-, 
  skill upgrade, construct traits
  Saves: Fort --, Ref +2, Will +4
  Abilities: Str 17, Dex 11, Con --, Int 6, Wis 
  12, Cha 5
  Skills: See Below
  Feats: Improved Grapple, Weapon Focus 
  (Unarmed)
  Organization: Solitary or 2-3 with Tribune
  CR: 6
  Alliance: Tribune
  Advancement: 11-16 HD (Medium) or 16-
  36 HD (Large)
  HAIRY DWARF
  “It felt like I hit a rock. My gun broke”.  – Lorenzo Flores, Venezuela
  The so-called Hairy Dwarfs are 
  biological constructs, designed for 
  work purposes by an extra-Terran 
  grouping of advanced beings.  
  The Hairy Dwarfs were built for 
  cost-efﬁcient labor as the beings 
  became more involved in space 
  exploration.  
  As these beings became more 
  intellectual and less physical, the 
  Hairy Dwarf quickly took over up 
  to ninety percent of the beings’ 
  physical work.  
  With the advent of the Hairy 
  Dwarf’s neural interface, the beings 
  began to use the Dwarfs to almost 
  entirely replace their own physical 
  bodies while they continued to 
  explore their mental pursuits.  
  The cultural name for the ruling 
  entities presents great problems 
  in translation in relation to human 
  cultural history.  
  The best accepted name for these 
  rulers is Tribunes.
  Combat
  Sticky hands (Ex): A Hairy Dwarf 
  has tiny spikes that protrude out 
  of its hands and feet.  These tiny 
  spikes allow the Hairy Dwarf to climb 
  surfaces of a hardness of no greater 
  then 8 at its normal movement rate, 
  but it may not climb any overhang.  
  These spikes also give the Hairy 
  Dwarf a +4 bonus to grapple and a 
  +4 against attempts to disarm it. 
  Skill Upgrade
  Hairy Dwarfs are preprogrammed 
  with skills the Tribunes believe are 
  necessary for the task at hand.  
  These skills are always at max 
  rank.  In addition, if telepathically 
  linked, the Tribune can download any 
  needed skills to the Hairy Dwarfs at 
  the rate of one rank per round. 
  
  Page 21
  Description
  Hairy Dwarfs are humanoids of about 
  three feet in height, but very thick in 
  the body. These creatures are generally 
  covered in thick, long hair ranging from 
  black to red-blond in color, with a curious 
  stalk- or straw-like appearance.  However, 
  when severely malnourished, they rapidly 
  shed this hair. 
  Their bare skin is a pale, chalky green, 
  and in very decrepit units, begins to ﬂake 
  off as a yellowish-green dust.  They wear 
  silvery or black jumpsuits, sometimes 
  including a mask with breathing tubes to 
  contain the dust from badly maintained 
  Dwarfs. This is a completely cosmetic 
  feature, as the Tribunes simply do not 
  want their old, yet well-trained Dwarfs 
  getting dust all over everything.  
  A Dwarf’s face is made up of two large 
  green eyes of slanted oval shape, no 
  visible nose, oddly wrinkled or folded skin, 
  and a wide trapdoor-like opening without 
  teeth.  These creatures have no need to 
  eat, but when armed for conﬂict, a laser-
  targeted render weapon can be mounted 
  inside this “mouth” cavity.  The eyes 
  have two concentric iris rings of glassy 
  triangular blades around an uncovered 
  pinhole pupil. 
  The arms and legs are long and thin, 
  ending in broad-palmed, stubby-ﬁngered 
  hands and disk-shaped feet.  In some 
  cases, Hairy Dwarfs have been observed 
  in a knuckle-walking gait, or even walking 
  on their hands, apparently for increased 
  speed. Both hands and feet can extrude 
  multiple small spikes that dig into timber, 
  stone or cement surfaces, allowing a 
  Dwarf to walk up vertical walls (though 
  not overhangs).  
  These are also used to improve the 
  creature’s grip on captives.  Escaped 
  would-be abductees often have scratched 
  skin or torn clothing.  
  A Hairy Dwarf’s body and limbs have a 
  rock-hard consistency, easily noticed when 
  a human is grasped by the creature or 
  attempts a hand-to-hand attack on it. The 
  creature’s structure is actually composed 
  of microscopic silicate layers acting as 
  a substrate for protein- and TPA-based  
  organic material. 
  This structure is as hard and tough as 
  reinforced concrete, except at the joints, 
  which are a complex combination of solid 
  members and ﬂexible bundles of silicate 
  ﬁbers, with little organic material.  Hairy 
  Dwarfs are also extremely heavy (45 lbs 
  per point of Constitution).
  Encounter 
  These creatures travel in vehicles of 
  cylindrical or elliptical shape and quite 
  small size.  A captured specimen contains 
  only hutches for four Hairy Dwarf workers 
  and a large, hollow frame surrounded 
  by non-functional machinery. The craft’s 
  performance is believed to be quite 
  limited, and it is certainly not capable of 
  interplanetary ﬂight.  
    
  1. Terioc Pseudonucleic Acid: Believed to be an alien version of DNA, characterized as abnormally malleable.
  The hollow square device is believed to 
  be a spatial transporter that conveys 
  abductees to a much larger examination 
  chamber elsewhere.  
  Hairy Dwarfs can be programmed to 
  accomplish an assigned task, or they can 
  be controlled remotely by a Tribune.  Their 
  basic programming, which dominates 
  their behavior unless overridden by 
  speciﬁc controls, involves the capture and 
  examination of living creatures.  
  Those with more advanced programs 
  are capable of telepathic contact, 
  cunning tactics and complex technical 
  manipulation. For example, two Hairy 
  Dwarfs were reported to have carried 
  out a medical diagnosis and successful 
  surgical procedure on a human subject 
  suffering from cancer.  
  As well as guiding the Dwarf for physical 
  work and speech, a skilled Tribune can 
  project his native psionic powers through 
  a remote-controlled Hairy Dwarf.  When 
  something goes wrong, the Dwarfs have 
  some limited fuzzy-logic ability that allows 
  them to escape from the immediate threat 
  and seek further instructions from their 
  Tribunes.  
  Unfortunately, the Dwarfs are often 
  confused by the slight resemblance 
  between Tribunes (a long-haired, 
  carnivorous, quadruped species) and 
  certain terrestrial fauna. Bluntly, Hairy 
  Dwarfs abandoned on their own tend to 
  seek advice from large, shaggy dogs.  
  Likewise, a human confronted by a 
  Tribune may make a Spot check (DC 
  22) to notice the being’s alien body 
  structure, opposable foreleg digits, 
  and head formation.  When surveying 
  “Bluntly, Hairy Dwarfs 
  abandoned on their own 
  tend to seek advice from 
  large, shaggy dogs.” 
  
  Page 22
  terrestrial life, the Tribunes themselves show a 
  strong bias towards their own body form, often 
  ignoring humans in favor of studying quadruped 
  mammals, such as dogs, cats and cattle.
  Habitat/Society
  Hairy Dwarfs are built to serve the Tribunes.  
  When encountered, they may be engaged on 
  autonomous missions, or may be under the 
  direct control of a Tribune (giving the Hairy 
  Dwarf much greater adaptability, personality, 
  and psionic powers). 
  It appears that programming and maintenance 
  of Hairy Dwarfs is a task too complex for 
  most, or even all, of the Tribunes assigned to 
  Earth.  Some researchers surmise that such 
  mechanics’ jobs are seen as demeaning and of 
  little importance, or that the Tribunes found here 
  are in fact cut off from high-tech supplies. Hairy 
  Dwarfs here are typically poorly programmed for 
  their tasks, badly maintained, or both. 
  Hairy Dwarfs have been known to offer devices 
  to humans in return for assistance in their 
  activities, which would also suggest a low 
  priority given to physical technology by their 
  instructors.  There have been reports of armed 
  conﬂict between Hairy Dwarfs and other alien 
  beings, probably of the Pascagoula type, with 
  the active involvement of at least one human.
  Adventure Hook:  Thief in the Night 
  The Heroes are dispatched to Vienna, Austria, where the Hof-
  bräuhaus (the repository of the Hapsburg Holy Roman Emper-
  ors’ treasures) has been burgled. The only thing stolen was an 
  antique spearhead, possibly Roman, believed to be the Spear of 
  Longinus, sometimes called the Spear of Destiny.
  The heroes are too late to intercept the thieves, who have al-
  ready left the country for a secret laboratory in Iceland. Vienna 
  is swarming with agents of the Order of St. Gregory, Knights of 
  Malta, ODeSSA, and virtually every other Illuminated group, all 
  of them out for blood. The heroes must stay alive and trace the 
  path of the thieves.
  The Spear has been taken by a secret research group associ-
  ated with the Raelian Movement, a French religious organiza-
  tion based on revelations provided by short, hairy alien beings. 
  The Raelians make no secret of their intention to use cloning 
  technology to bring about the literal return of Jesus Christ, 
  working from DNA remnants on various Christian relics. No-
  body suspects just how far their techniques have advanced, or 
  how close the Raelians are to raising a new prophet under the 
  control of the Galactic Federation, if they can only ﬁnd the right 
  source material.
  In Iceland, the heroes must journey through the spectacular 
  and deadly landscape to an isolated research compound, avoid-
  ing or battling strike teams from other Illuminati. They must 
  penetrate the lab, avoid the horriﬁc results of earlier, failed 
  cloning experiments, and defeat the Raelians’ drive for world 
  domination.
  
  Page 23
  CASE FILE # 11: 
  TERRA-COTTA WARRIOR
   Based on the Terra-Cotta Warrior by David Tormsen
  In ancient China, it was customary 
  to sacriﬁce a king’s servants when 
  the king died so that they could 
  continue to serve him in the afterlife.  
  When the ﬁrst Emperor of China, Qin 
  Shihuang, died in 210 B.C., however, 
  this practice was no longer popular.  
  Rather than slaughtering an entire 
  army, the Emperor was buried with a 
  symbolic force of thousands of life-
  sized, detailed warriors formed from 
  Terra-Cotta.  
  In order to make sure these warriors 
  did indeed serve the Emperor in 
  death, the Imperial alchemists tried 
  to devise a spell that would imbue 
  the Terra-Cotta warriors with life.  
  Over the course of seven decades, 
  the technique was perfected, so that 
  when the Han Emperor Jing Dig died, 
  he and countless Emperors before him 
  had been buried with a multitude of 
  Terra-Cotta warriors, some of whom 
  had been infused with life.  
  The spell that created these living 
  Terra-Cotta warriors is very similar to 
  the spell used by Alonso del Adriacchi 
  to create living gargoyles in Europe. 
  It is very likely that the spell for 
  gargoyle creation is a descendant 
  of the spell of Terra-Cotta warrior 
  creation. It has been theorized that 
  perhaps the spell was brought to 
  Europe from China by an explorer like 
  Marco Polo; or perhaps it traveled via 
  an occult trading network similar to 
  the Silk Road. 
  Given the rumors of “living statues” 
  appearing in India and the Middle 
  East in the right time frame, 
  perhaps the latter is true. 
  Then again, it is possible that 
  Adriacchi discovered the technique 
  independently, similar to how 
  Roger Bacon discovered gunpowder 
  centuries after it had developed in 
  China.
  Description
  Terra-Cotta warriors are just that: 
  extremely detailed warriors made 
  of Terra-Cotta.  Each individual 
  warrior is distinctive, and this is 
  true for the inanimate as well as 
  the animate varieties.  
  They are of above-average height, 
  and well-built.  They were painted 
  in rich colors at one point, but 
  time has worn most of that away, 
  leaving only clay behind. They 
  are typically outﬁtted with leather 
  armor (remarkably well-preserved) 
  and carry real weapons: mostly 
  swords, crossbows and spears.
  Encounter
  Terra-Cotta warriors are ﬁghters, 
  so they are formidable foes.  They 
  do not actively seek combat, but 
  when forced into it will attack with 
  calm and discipline. They use only 
  the weapons that they are used to, 
  mainly melee weapons and cross-
  bows.  
  Medium Construct
  Hit Dice: 6d10+15 (45 hp)
  Initiative: +1
  Speed: 20ft.
  Armor Class: 19 (+1 Dex, +8 Natural), touch 11, ﬂat-
  footed 18
  Base Attack/Grapple: +4/+8
  Attack: Slam +8 melee (1d8+6) or katana +9 melee 
  (1d10+6)
  Full Attack: Slam +8 melee (1d8+6), katana +9 melee 
  (1d10+6), heavy crossbow (1d10)
  Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
  Special Qualities: Construct traits, immunity to magic, 
  low-light vision, fragile
  Saves: Fort --, Ref +1, Will +2
  Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con --, Int 9, Wis 11, Cha 3
  Skills: Spot +8, Intimidate +8, Search +7
  Feats: Weapon Focus (Katana), Power Attack, Improved 
  Sunder
  CR: 4
  Alliance: Guarded Emperor or Chosen Faction
  Advancement: 7-10 (Medium), 11-14 (Large), or by 
  Class 
  Combat 
  Immunity to Magic: A Terra-Cotta warrior is immune to 
  any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance.  
  In addition, certain spells and effects function differently 
  against the creature, as noted below.
  Move Earth: Drives the warrior back 60 feet and deals 
  3d6 points of damage to it.
  Disintegrate: Paralyzes the warrior for 1d6 rounds and 
  deals 2d10 points of damage.
  Shatter: Causes the Terra-Cotta warrior to lose its next 
  action, lowers its Armor Class by 4 points, and does 4d8 
  points of damage.
  Fire damage: Any magical effect against the Terra-Cotta 
  warrior that deals ﬁre damage instead heals 1 point 
  of damage for every 3 points of damage that it would 
  cause against a normal creature.
  Fragile: Bludgeoning damage dealt to the Terra-Cotta 
  warrior deals an additional 1d6 points of damage.
  Terra-Cotta Warrior
  
  Page 24
  Medium Construct, Fighter 6
  Hit Dice: 6d10+6d10+15 (75 hp)
  Initiative: +5
  Speed: 20ft.
  Armor Class: 25 (+1 Dex, +8 Natural, +4 Stone Chain 
  Mail, +2 Medium Stone Shield), touch 11, ﬂat-footed 24
  Base Attack/Grapple: +10/+14
  Attack: Slam +14 melee (1d8+6) or katana +15/+10 
  melee (1d10+8)
  Full Attack: Slam +14 melee (1d8+6), katana +15/+10 
  melee (1d10+6 (17-20 x2)), or heavy crossbow (1d10)
  Space/Reach: 5ft./5ft.
  Special Qualities: Construct traits, immunity to magic, 
  low-light vision, fragile
  Saves: Fort --, Ref +3, Will +4
  Abilities: Str 18, Dex 12, Con --, Int 10, Wis 12, Cha 5
  Skills: Spot +10, Intimidate +10, Search +9, Balance 
  +8
  Feats: Weapon Focus (Katana), Power Attack, Improved 
  Sunder, Improved Shield Bash, Rapid Reload, Improved 
  Initiative, Improved Critical (Katana)
  CR: 10
  Alliance: Guarded Emperor or Chosen Faction 
  Advancement: By class
  Combat 
  Immunity to Magic: A Terra-Cotta warrior is immune 
  to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resis-
  tance.  In addition, certain spells and effects function 
  differently against the creature, as noted below.
  Move Earth: Drives the warrior back 60 feet and deals 
  3d6 points of damage to it.
  Disintegrate: Paralyzes the warrior for 1d6 rounds and 
  deals 2d10 points of damage.
  Shatter: Causes the Terra-Cotta warrior to lose its next 
  action, lowers its Armor Class by 4 points, and does 4d8 
  points of damage.
  Fire damage: Any magical effect against the Terra-Cot-
  ta warrior that deals ﬁre damage instead heals 1 point 
  of damage for every 3 points of damage that it would 
  cause against a normal creature.
  Fragile: Bludgeoning damage dealt to the Terra-Cotta 
  warrior deals an additional 1d6 points of damage.
  Elite Terra-Cotta Warrior
  Despite being made of Terra-Cotta 
  and thus being remarkably fragile, 
  Terra-Cotta warriors will shrink from 
  no battle.
  Habitat/Society
  In the 1970s, Chinese peasants 
  uncovered a pit ﬁlled with Terra-
  Cotta warriors.  At the same time, 
  Chinese ofﬁcials discovered another 
  pit ﬁlled with about a dozen living 
  Terra-Cotta warriors eager to give 
  their allegiance to the Communists.  
  Scattered around the pit were the 
  shattered remains of other Terra-
  Cotta warriors.  While those still 
  intact claimed that the shattered 
  remains came from non-living Terra-
  Cotta warriors, it is more likely 
  that, over the centuries, some of 
  the Terra-Cotta warriors lost their 
  loyalty. There was some sort of 
  altercation, and the loyal Terra-Cotta 
  warriors were slaughtered. 
  Today, most Terra-Cotta warriors still 
  remain at their posts, guarding the 
  long-dead Emperors of the Qin and 
  Han dynasties.  There are, however, 
  Terra-Cotta warriors who have 
  abandoned their posts and have 
  taken up new causes.  At certain 
  Communist party gatherings, or the 
  boardroom meetings of Hong Kong 
  business giants, there can be found 
  a Terra-Cotta warrior, standing in a 
  corner unnoticed, always watching, 
  always on guard.  
  Similarly, the occasional living 
  Terra-Cotta warriors can be found 
  in museums in Europe and North 
  America, and are hot property on 
  the New York and Paris art circles.  
  Why certain Terra-Cotta warriors 
  abandon their posts is unknown.  On the 
  rare occasion when two or more Terra-
  Cotta warriors encounter one another, 
  they rarely acknowledge one another 
  unless the two are on opposing missions.
  In this case, they do have a tendency to 
  target other Terra-Cotta warriors ﬁrst.  
  If a warrior still loyal to his emperor 
  encounters another who is disloyal, 
  the encounter normally sends the loyal 
  warrior into a killing rage, attacking 
  the disloyal until one or the other is 
  destroyed. 
  Adventure Hook
  The Chinese government secretly 
  contacts the Heroes.  It seems 
  that a living Terra-Cotta warrior 
  that had been working as a Com-
  munist Party guard in Beijing has 
  defected.  
  The Terra-Cotta warrior has stolen 
  certain information about China’s 
  psychic genetic research project, 
  and is preparing to sell the infor-
  mation to the highest bidder at an 
  auction in the Metropolitan Club in 
  New York. 
   Many highbrow members of 
  the Bilderbergers, Freemasons, 
  Knights of Malta and other secret 
  societies will be there.  The heroes 
  are to make sure the information 
  does not get into the wrong hands, 
  and capture the Terra-Cotta war-
  rior in the process.
  
  Page 25
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  Scoring deﬁnitions for d20 products: 
  18 = Superior. Best of the best. 
  16 = Very Good. Part of a Baker’s Dozen. 
  14 = Good. Most gamers would like this. 
  12 = Fair. Some gamers would like this. 
  10 = Average. Most gamers would be 
  indifferent. 
  8 = Subpar. Flawed, but not without promise. 
  6 = Bad. Most gamers would dislike this. 
  4 = Very Bad. Among the Dirty Dozen. 
  2 = Inferior. Worst of the worst. 
  Scoring Deﬁnitions for non-d20 products: 
  12 = Superior. Best of the best. 
  11 = Excellent. Just a hair from perfect. 
  10 = Very Good. Part of a Baker’s Dozen. 
  9 = Good. Most gamers would like this. 
  8 = Fair. Some gamers would like this. 
  7 = Average. Most gamers would be indifferent. 
  6 = Sub-par. Flawed, but not without promise. 
  5 = Poor. Some gamers would dislike this. 
  4 = Bad. Most gamers would dislike this. 
  3 = Very Bad. Among the Dirty dozen. 
  2 = Inferior. Worst of the worst.
  How we rate
  This month we take a look at...
  GURPS Fourth Edition Basic Set: Characters
  GURPS is the most ﬂexible roleplaying system ever created.  With just this book, you can adventure 
  in any world you can imagine.  Use all types of weapons from clubs to lasers…magic and martial 
  arts…psionics and superpowers.
  
  Page 26
  GURPS Fourth Edition Basic 
  Set: Characters
  Authors: Steve Jackson, Sean Punch, and David Pulver
  Publisher: Steve Jackson Games 
  Reviewed By: Joel Oberdieck
  Review Date: March 25, 2005
  Reviewer Bias: I have long been a fan of GURPS Third 
  Edition, but have never played GURPS Fourth Edition 
  nor had a chance to see it in action.  This is the ﬁrst 
  roleplaying book that I have reviewed.
  Characters is the ﬁrst half of the two-volume Basic Set 
  for GURPS Fourth Edition, focused entirely on char-
  acter creation options with a brief summary of the 
  combat system in an appendix.  The book is hard-
  cover, 336 pages long including appendices and index, 
  and illustrated with color throughout.  The cover art 
  was done by John Zeleznik, while interior illustrations 
  were done by a variety of artists – Abrab Ajmal, Alex 
  Fernandez, Ted Galaday, Eric Lofgren, John Moriarty, 
  Torstein Nordstrand, Glen Osterberger, V. Shane, Bob 
  Stevlic, Eric Wilkerson, and Jim Zubkavich.
  From the Back Cover
  “Anything You Want.
  GURPS is the most ﬂexible roleplaying system ever 
  created.  With just this book, you can adventure in 
  any world you can imagine.  Use all types of weapons 
  from clubs to lasers…magic and martial arts…psionics 
  and superpowers.
  Create exactly the character you want to play…your 
  favorite ﬁctional hero, or your own invention.  Choose 
  from over 400 advantages and disadvantages, over 
  350 skills, spells and techniques.  Customize your 
  character with individual perks and quirks, and you’re 
  ready to go.
  No more switching game systems when you change 
  campaigns!  GURPS gives you one set of clear, com-
  prehensive rules to cover any background.  This new 
  Fourth Edition is based on 16 years of gamer feedback 
  from the Third Edition, and is faster and easier to play 
  than ever before.
  GURPS makes the Game Master’s job easy and 
  fun.  All rules are carefully organized, indexed, 
  and cross-referenced.  Charts and tables are 
  clear and legible.  And to help you introduce new 
  players to the system, there’s a “Quick Start” 
  section which covers the basics in a few pages…
  and the introductory version of the rules, GURPS 
  Lite, is available free online!
  This is Book 1 of the two-volume Basic Set.  Only 
  this book is necessary to play.  Game Masters, 
  and players wanting more detail, will ﬁnd Book 2 
  valuable.”
  Presentation
  The cover of Characters shows four color im-
  ages ﬁtted together in a manner reminiscent of 
  puzzle pieces, each showing a different character.  
  One character is a typical Conan-esque barbar-
  ian equipped with battle axe and shield.  The 
  second is some sort of super-heroine dressed in 
  pink spandex, either ﬂying or moving at super 
  speed.  Below her, there is an image of a skeletal 
  undead wearing armor and equipped with various 
  ﬁrearms.  A triceratops in its natural environment 
  completes the collection.  All four images occupy 
  the right half of the black cover, with text and 
  logo in white and yellow.
  The internal art is all in color and varies in size 
  from very small to half a page, with most artwork 
  relevant to a topic discussed in the nearby text.  
  The text of the book is formatted in three col-
  umns, with additional materials placed in offset 
  text boxes.  Each chapter is color-coded with 
  tabs on the top and bottom of the page to allow 
  easy location.  All in all, the presentation makes 
  the text easier to navigate, which is vital in a 
  book of this density.
  http://www.sjgames.com 
  
  Page 27
  Content
  GURPS Characters is a large book, and 
  contains a great deal of information even for 
  a book of its size, which can make it seem 
  overwhelming at ﬁrst glance.  Even more 
  intimidating, this book is almost entirely 
  devoted to the process of character creation 
  and equipment, topics which normally would 
  receive, at most, only half the space they are 
  given here.  To understand why the book is 
  so large, it is important to look at two key 
  aspects of GURPS history.
  First, the Fourth Edition is not just a revision 
  of the Third Edition.  Rather, Fourth Edition is 
  an effort to collect the works of over a decade 
  of earlier GURPS into a single, more coherent 
  volume.  Characters is, in fact, a collection 
  of all of the advantages, disadvantages, 
  and skills created for GURPS Third Edition 
  over the course of that decade, rewritten 
  and reorganized to be more consistent with 
  the new edition.  Even that doesn’t give the 
  full picture, for many new advantages and 
  skills were also added, ﬁlling niches that had 
  previously been left empty.
  This niche-ﬁlling is the other important factor 
  which must be considered in judging the 
  density of Characters.  The stated goal of 
  Characters is to be the complete character-
  building reference for the entire GURPS 
  system. It has been stated that no new skills 
  are expected to be added to the system 
  after Characters, and only a handful of new 
  advantages (mostly related to super powers) 
  are expected to be appear in future volumes.  
  Given that, it is unsurprising that Characters is 
  so large and so dense.  Nonetheless, it can still 
  prove intimidating to a ﬁrst-time player, causing 
  a sort of information overload in the character 
  creation process.
  Despite these warnings, GURPS Characters is 
  presented clearly and is fairly easy to navigate.  
  Each chapter is devoted to a single topic of 
  character creation, making it easy to look up 
  a particular topic.  The well-written index and 
  tables of advantages, disadvantages and skills in 
  the back also aid this process greatly.
  The ﬁrst chapter, “Creating a Character,” 
  summarizes the whole process of mechanical 
  character generation, including a deﬁnition of 
  the concept of point-based character creation, 
  advantages and disadvantages, and a brief 
  summary of how one gains and spends character 
  points in play.  Following these deﬁnitions is a 
  summary of how to generate a character concept.  
  This section is not as developed as it is  in 
  many RPGs (there are, for example, no “Twenty 
  Questions” to help you deﬁne your character), 
  but given the generic nature of the system, this 
  is forgivable.  I hope, however, that more detailed 
  character concept aids will be provided in future 
  world books.  After those introductory sections, 
  the chapter dives into the mechanics of character 
  creation, covering attributes (both basic and 
  secondary), body type, age, appearance, social 
  background, wealth, reputation, and native 
  technology  level.
  With these basics completed and a 
  ﬁrm character concept established, 
  we now enter chapters Two 
  and Three, “Advantages” and 
  “Disadvantages.”  Having that “ﬁrm 
  character concept established” is 
  important, because these are the 
  two chapters where players are most 
  likely to run into information overload.  
  The advantages, for example, cover sixty-six 
  pages, and include everything from standards like 
  Ambidexterity, High Pain Threshold, and Luck, 
  to bizarre racial/super advantages such as the 
  abilities to walk through walls, ﬂy, shoot laser 
  beams, or regenerate injuries at a rate that 
  would take an average 
  man from dying to full health in under a 
  minute. 
  The disadvantage section, while smaller, is 
  no less overwhelming.  Combined with the 
  Enhancements and Limitations presented 
  in chapter Three (which alter the way 
  advantages and disadvantages work in 
  exchange for percentile modiﬁcations to 
  their costs), virtually any ability or restriction 
  desired can be simulated.  With so many 
  options, a player entering these chapters 
  without a ﬁrm concept can easily become lost 
  to option overload.  GMs are also advised to 
  take note of the new Mundane, Exotic and 
  Supernatural categorizations for advantages 
  and disadvantages; these provide quick ways 
  to limit player’s options based on what type 
  of campaign you wish to run.
  Chapter Four: Skills introduces the skill 
  resolution mechanisms in GURPS as well as 
  explains how one buys skills.  Following this 
  introduction, the chapter goes into the large 
  list of skills present in the system.  Each skill 
  lists its governing attribute, difﬁculty, and 
  defaults (what you roll if you don’t know the 
  skill).  Following this is a description of the 
  skill and, a new addition to this version of 
  GURPS, a complete list of modiﬁers 
  that can apply to a roll for 
  that skill.  All in all, this 
  chapter is very well laid 
  out and highly useful 
  for both players and 
  GMs.  Unfortunately, 
  skills are listed 
  alphabetically rather 
  than grouped by 
  functionality, which 
  can lead to players 
  forgetting some skills 
  that would ﬁt their character 
  concept.
  Chapters Five (“Magic”) and Six (“Psionics”) 
  provide very brief introductions to how these 
  two classes of supernatural abilities are 
  
  Page 28
  handled in GURPS.  Magic is handled as a set 
  of specially learned skills (one for each spell) 
  which cost Fatigue to use.  Chapter Five 
  includes the introductory spells for various 
  schools of magic.  There is enough here 
  to build a beginning spellcaster, but more 
  advanced characters would beneﬁt greatly 
  from GURPS Magic.  Psionics, on the other 
  hand, is handled as a set of specially modiﬁed 
  advantages.  Since psionics are really just 
  minor modiﬁcations of existing advantages, 
  this chapter is very short.  Further 
  information on psionics will be included in the 
  forthcoming GURPS Powers.
  Chapter Seven introduces the concept of 
  Templates, which are in effect pre-made 
  packages of advantages, disadvantages and 
  skills designed to ﬁt a particular theme.  
  Templates are generally made by the GM to 
  help customize the world.  For example, the 
  GM might make an Elf Racial Template and, 
  by so doing, deﬁne what Elves are like in his 
  world.  In order to be an Elf, a player would 
  have to purchase the Elf Racial Template.  
  Unlike some systems, templates in GURPS 
  provide no cost breaks; it costs exactly the 
  same to buy the Elf Template as it would 
  cost to apply all of the components of the 
  template individually.  This chapter does 
  not discuss how to design templates (that 
  is covered in GURPS: Campaigns), but does 
  provide a few samples.
  Chapter Eight covers various types of 
  equipment.  The chapter mostly consists 
  of tables of ancient, medieval, modern 
  and futuristic weapons and armor, but also 
  includes two pages of generic, miscellaneous 
  equipment.  This chapter is the last step of 
  character creation, and despite the description of 
  various rules concepts related to equipment (such 
  as damage types and descriptions of the various 
  statistics for ranged weapons) this is a fairly 
  standard equipment chapter.
  The ﬁnal chapter of the book, “Character 
  Development,” covers how one advances a 
  character during play.  There are fairly detailed 
  rules about how one purchases advantages or buys 
  off disadvantages, and also rules about gaining 
  skill points through study or work (i.e., “off screen” 
  character advancement).  This chapter also covers 
  the interesting topic of how to deal with your 
  character being drastically altered: for example, 
  having your brain transplanted into a robot body, 
  something which I have not seen covered in many 
  roleplaying games.
  Conclusions
  GURPS Characters is a well-written, well-developed 
  character creation book.  There are, however, 
  several concerns that potential buyers must watch 
  out for.
  First, GURPS Characters is half of the Basic Set, not 
  the full set.  While a player can get along with just 
  Characters, a GM will require its companion book, 
  Campaigns.  In fact, since Campaigns contains all 
  of the details of how the system works, including 
  the full combat system, many players will want to 
  pick this up as well.  The two put together have 
  a cost of roughly $65, which is a bit of a bite for 
  entering the system (compare this to Dungeons & 
  Dragons, where a player can pay only $35 for all 
  the details he needs to play the game).
  Second, Characters is loaded down with options.  
  While many players (myself included) consider 
  this a perk rather than a drawback, it can be quite 
  overwhelming.  Successfully navigating Characters 
  requires a well-deﬁned character concept from 
  an early stage.  This, in turn, biases the system 
  toward more experienced roleplayers.  To counter 
  this issue, I would suggest that GMs introducing 
  players to GURPS do so through GURPS Lite, which 
  is available free online.  That will give players a 
  chance to get their feet wet with the system 
  before tackling all the options in Characters.
  Finally, it should be noted that early printings 
  of Characters had serious binding issues.  
  These caused pages of the book to fall out, 
  especially pages in the middle of the book, as 
  they became detached from the spine.  
  If you happen to get a copy of Characters 
  with this issue, you can have it replaced 
  for free by contacting Warehouse 23 
  (orders@warehouse23.com).  
  Steve Jackson Games is very accommodating 
  on this issue (I myself had to get a 
  replacement copy due to this problem).  
  Later printings of Characters do not have 
  these binding issues.
  Archetype: Core Book (1 of 2)
  Body 7 (Game Mechanics): Rules are 
  scattered throughout the document, with an 
  appendix at the end summarizing combat.  
  For the heart of the mechanics, you need 
  Campaigns.
  Mind 10 (Organization): Divided into chapters 
  by topic, although the alphabetical lists of 
  traits make locating traits difﬁcult if you don’t 
  know the exact name.
  Spirit 9 (Look and Feel): Art is generally 
  unobtrusive, but is average quality.
  Attack 10 (Value of Content): Character 
  creation options for any genre in one book.
  Defense 10 (Originality of Content): Many 
  new ideas, and just about anything is 
  possible if you know how to make it.
  Health 8 (Physical Quality): Early printings 
  tended to have pages falling out due to bad 
  binding.  Later printings have corrected this 
  issue.
  Magic 11 (Options and Adaptability): The 
  boast of universality may be a stretch, but 
  not by much.
  
  Page 29
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  Page 30
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