By Ed Gore

This scenario is set on Ringworld's Great Ocean, between the Map ofMars and a map of an unknown planet anti-spinward of Mars. It isconcerned with the adventures of Louis Wu, Chmeee, Harkabeeparo-lyn, and Kawaresksenjajok after the righting of Ringworld, as detail-ed in The Ringworld Engineers. Those who have read the book arefamiliar with what has gone before, and with most of the presentsituation. Those who have not read the book should talk to thosewho have.

Illustrated by Ernest Hogan& Lisa A. Free

PLAYERS' INFORMATIONMany years have passed since the end of TheRingworld Engineers book, the beginning ofthis scenario. Since the death of TeelaBrown and the repair of Ringworld, youhave done a number of things.

Most important of these was the repairand refueling of a Kzinti colony ship whichwas discovered on the Map of Mars. Withthis ship you set sail for the map of an un-known planet far to the anti-spinward.During this voyage you have seen myriadbizarre sights, including entire villages builton huge boats, riding the currents of thegreat ocean. It was at one of these that youfilled out the crew, taking on many skilledBoat People to help run the ship. You alsoencountered one of the mammoth sea crea-tures rumored to live in this ocean. Luckily,it passed far to port, without coming closeenough to become a threat. Near the begin-ning of the voyage Karkabeeparolyn gavebirth to a girl, which, under the care of aBoat People nurse, has grown into a healthyfour-year-old child.

Now your voyage is almost at an end.Within a few falans the ship should arrive onthe unknown shore. With all that has gonebefore, who knows what might lie ahead. . .

EQUIPMENTWhen the game begins, the ship's stores in-clude the following items. It is possible thatthe Hindmost, still tucked safely away be-neath Mons Olympus, may be able to supplyyou with more equipment, if it serves hisplans.

5 40-point stunners (10 shots each)4 flashlight lasers5 25-point hand beamers (10 shots each)1 Puppeteer digging tool (double-barreled

Slaver disintegrator)3 suits of Puppeteer-made impact armor1000 square feet of super-conductor cloth5 comdiscs12 lift belts

M2

PLAYER-CHARACTERSThe following are optional player-charac-ters. Players should transcribe them to Ring-world character sheets before play.

CHMEEESTRMASCONINTPOWDEXAPPEDU

3125141313221318

Damage Modifier: 3D6Health Roll: 42Reasoning Roll: 39Luck Roll: 39Dodge Roll: 66Hit Points: 39

Action Rank Rating: 2Movement Rating: 5/impulseCredit Rating: BLocationRight LegLeft LegAbdomenChestRight ArmLeft ArmHead

D2001-0304-0607-1011-1516-1718-1920

Points12121214101012

Skills: Atmospheric Craft 35% (Flycycle48%); Bargain 72%; Climb 43%; Debate68%; Fast Talk 43%; Flashlight Laser 69%;Handgun, Energy 27% (hand beamer 62%,stunner 69%); Heavy Weapon, Energy 27%(Slaver disintegrator 41%); Hide 39%; His-tory 31% (human space 68%); Hyperdrive28%; Interworld 90%; Listen 83%; Mathe-matics 31% (operational analysis 83%); Ob-serve 81%; Orate 83%; Own Language 96%;Personal Flyer 35% (Lift Belt 42%); Psy-chology 72%; Reaction Drive 35%; Scent50%; Search 67%; Sneak 46%; Strategy 54%;Theology 31% (Kzinti religion 62%); Track59%; Unarmed Combat 60%; Weapons Sys-tem 35% (laser cannon 47%)

DIFFERENT WORLDS

LOUIS WUSTRMASCONINTPOWDEXAPPEDU

1312141615141527

Damage Modifier: 1D3Health Roll: 42Reasoning Roll: 48Luck Roll: 45Dodge Roll: 42Hit Points: 26

Action Rank Rating: 4Movement Rating: 3/impulseCredit Rating: ALocationRight LegLeft LegAbdomenChestRight ArmLeft ArmHead

D2001-0304-0607-1011-1516-1718-1920

Points888

10778

Skills: Anthropology 43% (cultural 55%);Astronomy 40%; Atmospheric Craft 30%(flycycle 80%); Bargain 75%; Botany 40%;Debate 100%; Engineering 71%; Fast Talk110%; Fine Arts 30%; Flashlight Laser 50%;Handgun Energy 29% (laser beamer 64%,stunner 70%); Heavy Weapon, Energy 29%(laser rifle 89%); Hide 42%; History 43%(human space 98%); Holography 58%;Hyperdrive I 70%; Mathematics 43% (ap-plied 88%); Orate 90%; Own Language 90%;Personal Flyer 30% (lift belt) 60%); Physics43% (nuclear 84%); Psychology 60%; Reac-tion Drive 30% (colony ship 50%, scout ship90%); Search 75%; Sneak 40%; Swim 45%;Track 55%; Unarmed Combat 80%.

KAWARESKSENJAJOKSTRMASCONINTPOWDEXAPPEDU

109

12151114149

Damage Modifier: —Health Roll: 36Reasoning Roll: 45Luck Roll: 33Dodge Roll: 42Hit Points: 21

Action Rank Rating: 4Movement Rating: 3/impulseCredit Rating: n/aLocationRight LegLeft LegAbdomenChestRight ArmLeft ArmHead

D2001-0304-0607-1011-1516-1718-1920

Points7778667

Skills: Climb 29%; Listen 32%; History 21%;Mathematics 24% (calculus 53%); Physics24% (Ringworld physics 37%); Own Lan-guage 75%; Personal Flyer 29% (lift belt39%); Search 31%; Sneak 41%

HARKABEEPAROLYNSTRMASCONINTPOWDEXAPPEDU

9111611131512

Damage Modifier: —Health Roll: 33Reasoning Roll: 42Luck Roll: 33Dodge Roll: 39Hit Points: 20

Action Rank Rating: 4Movement Rating: 3/impulseCredit Rating: n/aLocationRight LegLeft LegAbdomenChestRight ArmLeft ArmHead

D2001-0304-0607-1011-1516-1718-1920

Points6667556

Skills: Climb 33%; Listen 25%; History 12%;Mathematics 28% (calculus 67%); Physics28% (Ringworld physics 47%); Own Lan-guage 80%; Personal Flyer 29%; Search 41%;Sneak 24%

NOV/DEC 1984 M3

1 Human/Kzinti food processor1 80-point laser cannon2 vacuum suits1 stepping disk (connects to the crew

quarters of Needle)1 ship's doc (this will not work on the

natives)2 pair vance goggles100 boats capable of holding 100 persons

each1 spool containing 1 mile of Sinclair

monofilament20 lumes100 years food for 500 people7 years fuelmisc. items, such as analytical equipment,

etc.

GAMEMASTER'SINFORMATIONThe purpose of this scenario is to allow anintroduction to the Ringworld game systemusing characters familiar to those playerswho have read the books Ringworld andThe Ringworld Engineers. Those who havenot read at least one of the books will havea more difficult time playing, but should beable to survive with help from players famil-iar with the books. If you have more thanfour players, then allow the extra players toplay Boat People, Ringworld natives whomake up most of the crew.

When the scenario begins, the explorers'ship, the Tee/a Brown, is less than a monthfrom a 'map' of an unknown planet. Afterarriving, the explorers will be confrontedwith a strange, dead world. Investigationfurther inland will reveal ruined cities, andthousands of recently slaughtered corpses.Proceeding inland, the explorers will comeupon small settlements. Here refugees andsurvivors will be able to shed light uponmuch of what has occurred, if the explorerscan gain their trust.

The final part of the scenario deals withthe explorers helping the natives throw offthe domination of the shore-dwelling CityBuilders.

Part One:ARRIVALBefore beginning the scenario proper, allowthe players to read the Players' Informationand the Equipment section. Then, sincethey are still nearly a month away from themap, allow them some time to get into theirroles. Play out a couple of shipboard en-counters between the crew members andallow them to communicate with the Hind-most back on Mars. Then proceed to theadventure proper.

When the explorers come within sight ofthe map, the first thing they will notice is ahuge wall of scrith, nearly a mile high,which appears to surround the island. Ifthey attempt to sail around the map, theywill travel for nearly a month before theysee anything other than the scrith wall.After traveling for a month, one of the BoatPeople on watch will cry out. He will race tothe bridge and report that there is some sortof opening in the scrith up ahead. After anhour of travel, the ship will pull up before ahuge tunnel, leading through the scrith intodarkness.

THE TUNNELThe tunnel is about a quarter of a mile in

diameter, and is half filled with water. TheKzinti ship can enter the tunnel, thoughthere is little clearance. The walls of the tun-nel are made of scrith. Once inside, the ex-plorers may illuminate the tunnel by placinga dispersing lens over the laser cannon,creating a sort of super flashlight. If theplayers fail to think of this, have them tryReasoning rolls, or if they are in communi-cation with the Hindmost, have him suggestit. After the ship has traveled ten miles, thebeam will fall across what might at one timehave been a huge air lock of sorts, thoughnow it lies in ruin, apparently blasted bysome great explosion. If anyone makes asuccessful Observe roll, they will notice thatthe explosion was recent; no more than amonth ago. Continuing, they will travel onanother mile or so, and the ship will runaground.

After inspecting the damage it will be seenthat the ship has run into a 'reef of foamedscrith, about fifty feet below the surface.The mass and inertia of the ship has causedit to ram almost fifty feet into the scrith be-fore stopping. The Boat People will say theycannot dislodge the ship. The foamed scrithhas excellent traction, and the ship iswedged very tightly. The Boat People esti-mate that it would take months, maybeyears to unstick the ship.

Part Two:CASTAWAYSThe five-hundred-odd Boat People whocomprise the crew will immediately begin towork at freeing the ship. The explorers mayfind themselves feeling rather useless at thispoint, since none of them knows very muchabout ships. This is intended. If the ex-plorers do not decide to explore ahead ontheir own, have the Hindmost suggest that itwould be the best way to spend their timewhile waiting. After they have chosen theirmode of transportation, and chosen anyothers to accompany them (player-characterBoat People?), proceed to part three.

Part Three:THE NEW WORLDThe explorers continue down the tunnelnearly fifty miles before they see lightahead. The tunnel bends sharply, then sud-denly sunlight appears ahead. Less than anhour later they leave the tunnel. Behindthem they see the tunnel, like a tube ex-tending to the horizon, above which theycan make out the top of the scrith wall.Ahead the explorers see land. The land iscovered by a lush orange and purple jungle,and looks, if not hospitable, at least notforbidding. Chmeee may notice a resem-blance to the jungles of Kzin. After a day'ssailing the explorers will reach the shore.(Or if the explorers chose to use lift belts,nine hours. In the future always assume thatthe lift belts take % the time sailing does,and are five times as fast as walking.) Theymay set up camp on the shore, or just insidethe jungle. It makes no difference, there willbe no trouble tonight.

When the explorers wake, Chmeee willnotice a sound coming from the shore. Any-one rushing there will hear a splash, and seea ripple in the water, as though a large fishhad just jumped from the water, and fallenback. Nothing else out of the ordinary willoccur.

The explorers may now begin their explo-ration in earnest. Refer to the Map of Mruf

and allow the explorers to wander. If theywander for more than a day without comingupon anything of interest, roll an encounteron the encounter chart, or better yet, inventsome small event of your own to create abit of excitement. Make sure, however, thatyou don't stray too far from the main story-line, or reveal anything important too soon.Make sure that the explorers find a ruinedvillage relatively quickly. If they explore formore than two days without finding one,make one appear right along their path tospeed the scenario along (unless they enjoywalking in circles, in which case by allmeans allow them to continue).

When the explorers find a village, go tosection four.

Part Four:RUINAs the explorers approach the village, it willbecome obvious that no one lives there,though someone did until quite recently.Roll 1 D6, the result being the number ofdays since the attack on the village. If theresult was a one, tell the explorers that asthey approach they can see wisps of smokecoming from some of the huts, andChmeee's sensitive nose can smell blood,which is almost human, and something else,something slightly distasteful. Occasionallya cry will split the air, though it does notsound quite human, or for that matter quitelike anything the explorers are familiar with.

When the explorers enter the village, theywill see death everywhere. The bodies ofCity Builders, and a few other, less familiarspecies, lie all about. More prominent how-ever are the bodies of what must be thenatives. The natives are humanoid, and mea-sure about five feet in length and are veryheavy. They are amphibious and coveredwith smooth, slippery skin. Most of thedead natives died of gunshot wounds, whilethe dead hominids are impaled with bolts,probably from the crossbow-like weaponslying near some of the natives. Some of thenatives still gasp out their last breaths,though any attempt to communicate withthem will result in a string of incomprehen-sible noises. If either Harkabeeparolyn, orKawaresksenjajok tries to come near one, itwill seemingly panic, twisting and turning,then dying, probably from internal injuries.

If the die roll indicates that the slaughtertook place over a day ago, there will be nosmoke, and no scent of blood in the air. Allwounded have died, and an eerie silencerules the village. All the explorers can findare corpses and burned-out shells of huts.Nothing of apparent value remains. If theexplorers wish to conduct a house-by-housesearch, allow them to, but they will discovernothing.

After discovering the ruined village, theexplorers may cast about for trails leadingaway from the village. In this case, havethem attempt their Observation roll. If theymake one roll, they will find a trail ofhominid tracks leading to the shore, wherethey will find evidence of a camp. Two suc-cessful rolls will lead the explorers not onlyto the above trail, but also allow them tofind a trail of tracks, obviously made bynatives, which leads toward the city markedon the map. This, obviously, is the nextstop.

The trip to the city must be made on foot(or by lift belt), and will take two days (fivehours).

M4 DIFFERENT WORLDS

Part Five:ENCOUNTERWhen the explorers near the city, have themattempt to make their Listen roll. If theysucceed, tell them that they sense move-ment in the brush near the path. If they fail,allow them to blunder into the ambush setby the Mruftu.

THE AMBUSHThe Mruftu are lying in wait on either sideof the path. There are twenty of them, halfarmed with knives and crossbows, the otherwith knives. Their stats can be found below.

TACTICSOnce the Mruftu have spotted the party,they will react in one of two ways, depend-ing on the party's mode of transportation. Ifthe explorers are using lift belts, the Mruftuwith crossbows will fire arrows. The Mruftuwill try to take prisoners if possible, sincethey want to find out more about thosewho destroyed their villages.

If the explorers are on foot, they will begreeted by the ten knife-armed Mruftu, whowill leap from the brush, shouting (inMrufti) that the explorers are to drop theirweapons and come along. They will alsomake appropriate gestures, so that anyonemaking an INTx2% roll can get the drift ofwhat they're saying. If the explorers do notcooperate, they will be fired upon by thecrossbowmen, who will concentrate onChmeee, as he is the most obvious threat inthe group (and probably the one who didn'twant to cooperate in the first place. . .).This will lead to a situation similar to thefirst case, with the Mruftu trying to subdue

and capture the explorers.If things look very bad for the Mruftu,

they will pull back into the brush, andattempt to escape. They will gather rein-forcements and try to capture the explorersonce more before they reach the city. Thistime there will be nearly fifty of them in theparty, armed more or less as before. If thisparty is defeated, then simply proceed topart seven.

THE MRUFTU AMBUSHERSOnly a sampling of the attacking force willbe presented here. Reuse these stats asnecessary, until the explorers are captured,or all twenty Mruftu are incapacitated. TheMruftu come in five types. The number ofeach type in the ambush is noted in paren-theses after the type number.

Mruftu 1 (3)STRCONMASINTPOWDEXEDU

128

1110991

HP 19

Armor: 1 pt skin

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 25%/00% 1D6Knife 30%/25% 1D3+2

Mruftu 2 (11)STR 14 HP 25CON 11MAS 14 Armor: 1 pt skinINT 11POW 11DEX 11EDU 2

TheMruf IO KM

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 40%/00% 1D6+1D3Knife 40%/40% 2D3+2

Mruftu 3 (3)STR 15 HP 26CON 12MAS 14 Armor: 1 pt skinINT 11POW 12DEX 12EDU 2

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 40%/00% 1D6+1D3Knife 30%/25% 2D3+2Crossbow 40%/10% 1D8+2

Mruftu 4 (2)STR 16 HP 28CON 13MAS 15 Armor: 1 pt skinINT 11POW 12DEX 13EDU 2

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 40%/00% 1D6+1D3Knife 30%/25% 2D3+2Crossbow 50%/10% 1D8+2

Mruftu Leader

STR 18 HP 31CON 15MAS 16INT 13POW 14DEX 14EDU 3

WeaponClawKnifeCrossbow

Armor: 1 pt skin + 2 ptleather = 3 pts

Att/Par45%/00%40%/35%55%/15%

Damage2D61D3+2+1D61D8+2

Part Six:THE CITY OF RALI-NGARLKThe following only applies if the explorerswere not captured. If they surrendered, orwere subdued by the Mruftu, skip this sec-tion, and go straight to part seven.

As the explorers approach the city, thepath will widen into what could almost becalled a road. It will continue this way foralmost five miles before the explorers reach,rather abruptly, the city proper. The city ismore a collection of large huts, long houses,and some wooden structures than a propercity, but it is the largest settlement theyhave found so far.

The city is not walled, though there is alone wooden arch across the road at onepoint, presumably where it enters the city.There seems to be no one on the streets,though the city shows signs of habitation,such as the scent of cooking vegetables waft-ing towards the party. After the party hasmoved thirty meters within the city, therewill be a flash of movement from a nearbybuilding, and the explorers will find them-selves under attack by a party of Mruftu.There are ten of them, all armed with cross-bows. However, the bolts are all coated witha POT 18 poison which will cause the ex-plorers to become unconscious unless theycan resist a POT vs. CON attack on the resis-tance table. Note that if an explorer is hitby more than one spear, the drug will have aPOT equal to 18 times the number of boltswhich have hit the explorer. Note that thisdrug affects Chmeee differently than it doesthe hominids. If Chmeee is hit by one of the

NOV/DEC 1984 M5

bolts, then have him roll the drug's POT vs.his CON as normal, but if he fails, he willbecome unconscious and take damage equalto POT divided by 4. It can safely be as-sumed that the explorers will succumb tothe drug. If they don't, hit them again, it isimportant that they be captured. After youhave subdued all of the explorers, continueto part seven. Try not to let the explorersknow that they are fated to lose the fight,allow them to enjoy it while they can.

THE ATTACKERSAgain only a sampling of the attacking forcewill be presented here. Reuse these stats asnecessary, until the explorers are captured,or ten Mruftu are incapacitated. The Mruftucome in three types. The number of eachtype in the ambush is noted in parenthesesafter the type number.

Mruftu 1 (6)STRCONMASINTPOWDEXEDU

151214111212

2

HP 26

Armor: 1 pt skin

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 40%/00% 1D6+1D3Knife 30%/25% 2D3+2Crossbow 40%/10% 1D8+2*

Mruftu 2 (2)STR 16 HP 28CON 13MAS 15 Armor: 1 pt skin

INT 11POW 12DEX 13EDU 2

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 40%/00% 1D6+1D3Knife 30%/25% 2D3+2Crossbow 50%/10% 1D8+2*

Mruftu 3 (2)STR 17 HP 28CON 14MAS 14 Armor: 1 pt skin + 1 ptINT 12 leather = 2 ptsPOW 12DEX 13EDU 2Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 45%/00% 2D6Knife 40%/35% 1D3+2+1D6Crossbow 55%/15% 1D8+2 *

*See text for information on the druggedcrossbows.

Part Seven:QUESTIONSIf the explorers were taken outside the city,tell them that they are led through thewoods, their hands bound behind them. Atlast they reach what appears to be a city. Asthey are led down the street, a swift motioncatches their eye from a nearby building-all of them feel the sting of darts and black-ness closes in. . .

When the explorers wake they will findthemselves in a darkened room, the walls ofwhich seem to be made of packed earth.

THE MRUFTUThe Mruftu are an amphibious race whichdeveloped on the fourth planet of a type-Gstar near the original location of the Pup-peteer homeworld. While they no longerexist in Known Space, having been destroy-ed by an early Extremist Puppeteer govern-ment, they can still be found in small num-bers on the Map of Mruftu on Ringworld.

There are no more than 300,000 Mrufturemaining on the Ring primarily because ofa plague caused by a mutation of the super-conductor plague bacteria. It may well bethat the Puppeteers will destroy them again,though this time accidentally.

If the Hindmost discovers their existence,he will be surprised at first, then realize thattheir appearance was almost inevitable.

While the Mruftu of Known Space were aviolent, semi-technological race, the Mruftufound on Ringworld are a far more peacefulbunch, though when provoked they willretaliate with surprising ferocity. They alsotend to switch moods very rapidly, oftensuddenly becoming cold and calculating,particularly if faced with a difficultsituation.

The Ringworld Mruftu had contact withthe City Builders during that race's periodof power. They would trade with their shelland gold jewelry for such comforts ashumidifiers or steel and iron goods whichthey have a difficult time making because oftheir metabolism.

The Mruftu are currently little more thanprimitive hunter-gatherers living off theland, clustering together in their primitivesettlements. They have potential to be muchmore, but due to their natural limitations,

and possibly some artificial limits placed onthem by the Pak, they have not developed.

Mruftu

STRCONMAS 4D6INT 3D6

POW 3D6DEX 3D6EDU 1D3

Average4D6 143D6 10-11

1410-1110-1110-112

Armor: 1 pt skin, possibly 1 or 2 pt leatherarmor in addition

Move: 1 m per impulse walking, 1.5 mswimming

Weapon Att/Par DamageClaw 25%/00% 1D6Amphibious crossbow

10%/05% 1D8+2Knife 20%/15% 1D4+2

Description: Physically the Mruftu are pre-dominantly a grayish-green with a white un-derbelly. While most of their body is cover-ed with smooth, slippery skin, they have ascaled ridge along their back. They aresomewhat anthropoid, and while on landthey will shift between walking upright ontwo legs, and a sort of running hop using allfour limbs. They are amphibious, as is obvi-ous from the gently moving gill slits begin-ning at their neck, and proceeding to thelower chest region. Their hands are alsowebbed for greater swimming speed andtipped with needle-like claws for catchingfish while in motion. Their language has acroaking, baying sound which makes it im-possible for humans to speak, though a Pup-peteer could learn it easily.

They have been stripped of their posses-sions, including their translators. Their ropebonds have been exchanged for roughlyworked metal. Through the room's onedoor, made of wood, they can hear voices,though they cannot understand the lan-guage. The voice continue for some time be-fore they hear a tinny voice, which soundslike it is speaking Interworld! Anyone whocan make a Listen roll will hear the follow-ing:

"What was that!?""I don't know. It seemed to come from

one of the invader's devices!""Listen, it can speak, though in the in-

vaders' tongue!"The explorers should soon realize that one

of the translators was on, and has been pick-ing up the language and has now beguntranslating. If anyone thinks to yell to thetranslator, it will translate whatever is saidinto Mrufti.

The Mruftu, who had been debating overthe best way to question people whose lan-guage they did not even know will soon un-derstand that they can now communicatewith the party. It is now up to the party toconvince the skeptical Mruftu that they arenot members of the invading City Builderforce. This will require the gamemaster todo a great deal of improvisation in the partsof the Mruftu inquisitors. The followingpoints must be discussed and satisfactorilyexplained before anything else can happen:

1. Why are there two City Builders in theparty?

2. Why does everyone except Chmeee lookall dry and icky like the invaders?

3. What is Chmeee?

4. If the explorers brought along much tech-nology they will be questioned about it.

5. What are the talking discs?

If the explorers cooperate with theMruftu, by the end of the day they shouldbe well on their way toward gaining theMruftu's trust. The Mruftu value honestygreatly and will not distrust the explorers ifthey seem honest and tell no obvious lies.Mentioning that they come from the starswill not help the explorers' cause, though itwill not harm it much, the Mruftu dismiss-ing the statement with an enigmatic"Stranger things have happened" sort of atti-tude. Once the explorers and the Mruftuunderstand one another better, the Mruftuwill explain what happened.

Part Eight:A TALEThe explorers will be unbound, and led outof their cell, to the surface, where a fire isstarted. Here they will meet the city elderswho will tell them what has happened. . .

THE ELDERS' STORYAfter the fire has begun to burn brightly,the four elders will make a complex gesturein the direction of the arch. They will thenbow to the explorers and seat themselves onthe ground around the fire. One of them,apparently the oldest of the four, will beginto speak.

"It was no more than three rgulrnak thatthe ships of the invaders first appeared uponthe water."

At this point there will likely be a pause asthe explorers attempt to find out what argulrnak is. They will soon discover that it isone day and one night.

M6 DIFFERENT WORLDS

"Legends speak of a time far in the pastwhen the dry ones would descend from thesky, bearing gifts for Mruftu. Of coursethese came from the water, not the sky, butall the better is it not?

"Naturally, we gathered many boats andwent forth to greet them, bearing with usmany gifts of shell, stone, and metal. Wewere greatly awed by the size of their ships,which were many times larger than oursmall boats. When our boats closed to with-in twenty meters we were startled by a loudclap, as if thunder, which rolled out fromone of the dry one's ships. Nearby a boatcapsized, the crew's screams filling the air asit sank. I saw much blood about the wreck-age, and did not understand what had beendone. I did know, however, that these dryones possessed powerful magic, though notof the sort you have shown us. Yours is amuch quieter magic, which agrees more withMruftu. At this point I called for the boatsto pull back to the shore. Though the oars-men pulled with great strength, the invaders'ships glided without effort after us. By thetime we reached the shore, 13 of our origi-nal 17 boats were gone, destroyed by the in-vaders' loud magic. We fled back to the vil-lage where I am Elder, hoping to use ourknowledge of the area to our advantage. Itwas hopeless, however. The dry ones camein great numbers, landing two of their fiveships. They carried magic with them, blast-ing holes in homes and Mruftu alike.

"Grusturfin and Yrlagrin," he continues ashe gestures at two of the other Elders, "tellme the dry ones landed at their villageswithin hours of destroying mine. There aremany other villages about, and a few cities,though none are so large as Rali-Ngarlk. I donot know what has happened to these,though there are runners out warning thevillages, and trying to find the dry ones.Once they are found, we will must what wecan and go to face them. We can do nothingelse."

It is hoped that the players will realise thatthe Mruftu can allow the explorers to help.If they don't, the runners return an hourlater with news of more destroyed villages,and will say that the invaders appear to besailing to Rgulngranik, a city up the coastabout fifty miles. The Mruftu will gather allof the healthy men and women of the cityand march off to Rgulngranik. The Elderswill ask the explorers to stay in the cityuntil their return. They will not ask forhelp, though if it is offered, they wouldaccept. After extracting the party's promiseto stay, they will leave. If the party offers tohelp, then the Elders will wish to speak tothem in private. Go on to part nine and con-tinue the game. The following paragraph isonly to be used if the explorers decide notto help.

Three days later, survivors will trickle infrom the battle. All will have the samestory, they were slaughtered, and the in-vaders have begun to continue up the coast-line. The Elders are dead, all of them. Sinceit is very unlikely that the explorers will notaid the Mruftu, especially if Louis Wu'splayer is doing his job, it is up to the game-master to determine what will happen fromthis point forward. It is likely that the ex-plorers will attempt to ambush the invaders.In this case use part nine, but part elevenwill never come into play since the eldersare now dead, and Rgulngranik has been laidwaste by the invaders.

Part Nine:CONQUISTADORSThe Elders will lead the explorers to a hut,in which they will tell the explorers thatthey are thankful for their offer of help,since the Mruftu realize that they are doom-ed against the magic of the invaders. Theywill then ask the explorers what they intendto do. If the explorers contact the Hindmosthe will tell them that he thinks stealth is thebest way of handling the situation. If theMruftu are described to him, he will wailpiercingly and request to speak to Louisalone. The Hindmost will then proceed toquestion Louis about the Mruftu. He willseem confused by their genial nature. At lasthe will say something about Pak interven-tion, and perhaps that explains why they aredocile. The Puppeteers are familiar with theMruftu from an early part of their commer-cial empire's expansion. They were a war-like race on the verge of developing space-faring technology. The Hindmost will neversay it in so many words but Louis will dis-cern that the Mruftu were eliminated as apossible threat, their home system being lessthan a dozen light years from the originallocation of the Puppeteer homeworld.

After the party has formulated a plan, theElders will offer them as many Mruftu asthey need to implement it, up to one hun-dred. Choose these from among the Mruftipresented so far. They may then leave,accompanied by the runners, who know thelocation of the invader camp. It is now upto the explorers to destroy the invadersbefore any more harm comes to the Mruftu.

THE INVADER CAMPThe camp is located on a stretch of sandybeach about twenty miles south of Rguln-granik. There are two guards posted at all

times at the points marked G on the Campmap. The exact species of the guards mustbe determined by the gamemaster. Theymay be chosen at random from among thesoldiers. The rest of the camp is detailed inthe key below.

CAMP MAP KEY1. Tents: These cloth tents each provideshelter for two men, drawn randomly fromthe available soldiers. They will be sleeping,getting ready for tomorrow's attack.

2. Ship One: Aboard this ship can be foundHrisapelcorlin, commander of the expedi-tion. In addition, there are 20 soldiersaboard who will be sleeping in preparationfor the attack on the city.3. Ship Two: This contains 25 soldiers, allsleeping soundly.4. Ship Three: In addition to the ten sol-diers sleeping on board, this ship's hold con-tains the expedition's fresh water supply.5. Ship Four: There are no troops aboardthis ship, but the hold is filled with the ex-pedition's food supply, which includes agreat deal of preserved fruit, to fend offscurvy.6. Ship Five: This ship contains 12 soldiers.The hold contains the expedition's supplyof extra weapons, gun powder, and othermunitions.

THE ATTACKThe explorers will not notice the camp untilthey are within 150 meters of it. At thispoint they should all attempt Observationrolls. If they succeed they will see the campand may attempt to Hide, Move Quietly, orwhatever they wish. If they fail, roll thenearest guard's Listen. If he succeeds, theexplorers will walk into a camp full of pre-pared soldiers who will be waiting for them.

THE INVADER CAMP

NOV/DEC 1984 M7

Use Situation Two when the explorers at-tack the camp. In any case, the explorersmay move forward ten meters and try tospot the camp again. Continue until the ex-plorers spot the camp or close to withinfifty meters, at which point it will be inplain sight.

Situation OneIf the explorers can come within thirtymeters without being detected, they shouldbe allowed to look at the map of the camp,and decide exactly what they want to do.From here on it is primarily the gamemas-ter's duty to decide what effect their actionswill have, keeping the following things inmind:

1. These are soldiers. If they are attacked bysurprise they will be awake and able to func-tion within twenty impulses. They will thenbe able to ready their weapons and attemptto hold off the explorers.

2. Ship Five is a bomb. If it is hit by a handbeamer, it has a 10% chance of going off. Ifhit by a flashlight laser the chance increasesto 40%. When it goes off, those aboard theship will take 20D6 points of damage. Theexplosion will disperse at a rate of 1D6 per2 meters. This means that someone 10meters from the ship will take only 10D6points of damage. Note that this explosionwould almost certainly cause any ship with-in ten meters to being sinking.

3. While the men are professional soldiers,they are not stupid. If they lose over 50% oftheir troops and are still losing, CommanderHrisapelcorlin will come off Ship One andoffer to surrender. He will also do this if theship containing the food supplies goesdown.

4. Each of the ships can take 50 points be-fore taking on water. Once a ship has beguntaking on water it will sink in 1000-totaldamage impulses.

If the explorers win the fight, eitherthrough killing all of the invaders or gettingthem to surrender, proceed to section ten.

Situation TwoIgnore the Camp Map Key, all of the sol-diers will be awake and ready. Those listedas being in tents will stay there, using themas cover. Those on the ships will attempt toready the cannons. The munitions ship willwill weigh anchor and try to leave. This willtake nearly 100 impulses and should notmake a difference except that it will not fireits cannons in the meantime.

Victory can still be achieved using thesame methods as in Situation One, only thistime it will be much harder.

STATSAs before, no attempt will be made to detailall of the opponents found in the camp. Usethe numbers from the key to determine thetotal number of men in the camp. Try touse common sense when using the soldiersas there will be far more average and badones than there will be good or great ones.

Soldier 1 (Night Hunter)STR 10 HP 23CON 11MAS 12 Armor: 1 pt skin + 2 ptINT 13 leather = 3 ptsPOW 11DEX 13EDU 2

Weapon Att/Par DamageRifle 35%/00% 1D6+8

Soldier 2 (Grass Giant, few)STR 18 HP 39CON 13MAS 26 Armor: 2 pt skin + 2 ptINT 12 leather = 4 ptsPOW 11DEX 10EDU 1

Weapon Att/Par DamageRifle 40%/00% 1D6+8Club 50%/40% 3D6+1

Soldier 3 (Hanging Person)STR 7 HP 16CON 9MAS 7 Armor: NoneINT 13POW 12DEX 17EDU 2

WeaponPistol

Att/Par75%/00%

Damage1D3+4

Soldier 4 (City Builder)STR 12 HP 22CON 12MAS 10 Armor: 4 pt chainmailINT 16POW 11DEX 14EDU 5

Weapon Att/Par DamageRifle 50%/00% 1D6+8Knife 30%/25% 1D3t1

Hrisapelcorlin (City Builder Noble)STR 14 HP 24CON 13MAS 11 Armor: 4 pt chainmailINT 14POW 10DEX 14EDU 6APP 17

Weapon Att/Par DamagePistol 45%/00% 1D3+4Rifle 60%/00% 1D6+8Knife 30%/25% 1D3+1

Part Ten:AFTERMATHThe explorers may round up the soldierswho are still alive. There will be little fightleft in them. If Commander Hrisapelcorlin isalive, he will already be with the explorers,having just negotiated a surrender. The com-mander will not speak about where he isfrom, and if the explorers check out theships, they will find all of the maps havebeen burned. The commander is willing totalk to the explorers, and if asked aboutwhy he is here, and why the attacks on thenatives, he will tell them that he is here inthe service of his queen and that he hascome searching for llrithacaraydo, a citywhere roads are made of gold and wizardswalk the streets. If asked about this, he willexplain that it is a well-known legend whichsurvived from the fall of the cities, when theCity Builders traded with llrithacaraydo. Hesaw these monsters coming at his ship andfelt that he had to defend it. If asked aboutthe unprovoked attacks on the villages, hewill become silent. Later questioning mayreveal that he saw the natives were carryingitems of shell and gold which would be valu-able on the mainland. If the Mruftu are ask-ed about llrithacaraydo they will say thatthey know of no such place, and seem eager

to return to Rali-Ngarlk with the prisoners.If the commander is questioned at length,have the questioner roll both his Orate andhis Luck. If both rolls succeed, the com-mander will let slip that his expedition comefrom one of the kingdoms found in the ruin-ed cities on the map's ocean shore. Theserolls may be tried anytime the commanderis questioned for more than half an hour.

Searching through the ships, and throughthe possessions of the crew, the party willfind numerous objects made of beaten goldor carved from shells. The craftsmanship issuperb, and it is obvious that they could in-deed have been valuable on the mainland.

Part Eleven:VICTORY?When the party returns to Rali-Ngarlk theywill be greeted by the populace. If the ex-plorers were expecting celebration they willfind none here. The Elders will take theprisoners, including the commander, andplace them all under arrest. By day's endthey will be sentenced to death. By mid-night they will all be dead.

The Elders will thank the party for theiraid, saying that they are glad that manyMruftu lives were saved. They will also ask ifthe explorers discovered where the invaderswere from. If the explorers tell them (as-suming they know), the Mrufti will getready for war. They will tell the explorersthat they are welcome to come, since theyare now almost Mruftu in the Elders' eyes.If they decline, they will be given a greatdeal of native jewelry and other valuables.Since there is no standard monetary systemon the Ring, we shall just say that it isenough that it could be used to purchase atwelve-room home, where such things exist.

If the explorers do not know, or do notreveal the invaders' home, the Mruftu willinvite them to stay as honored guests. TheMruftu will begin to warn the other citiesabout what has happened and the Mruftuwill tensely await the next invasion. If theexplorers choose to leave, they will be re-warded as above and are free to return atany time.

Whether the party goes with the Mruftu ordecides to leave, and whether or not theyaided the Mruftu in the first place, whenthey return to the Teela Brown, they willfind that the Boat People have freed it. TheBoat People deny that they had much to dowith it, however. One of them was exploringbelow the water and found a hatchway.Upon opening it he was carried into a smallroom by the rush of water. The door closedand he feared he would drown. However,the water drained out, allowing him to lookabout. Finding another door in the room, heopened it, entering a large room with manycontrols, not unlike the bridge of the TeelaBrown. He dared touch a few, but when ablue light began flashing he grew frightenedand left. Returning to the surface, he foundthat the 'reef had submerged, simply sankinto the water, and the ship's buoyancy hadfreed it. The explorers may receive this in-formation sooner if they have left a comdiscaboard ship.

What happens after this point is up to thegamemaster. There is the rest of the map ofMruftu to explore, the City Builder ruinsalong the ocean's shore, the Pak control sta-tion the Boat People found, and, whoknows, perhaps there is an llrithacaraydo,waiting for someone to find it. . .

Theatre Of the Mind Enterprises, inc.

COMINGATTRACTION

Multiple interlocking scenarios combine to form an epic adventure for use with the STORMBRINGERrole playing game. Approved by Chaosium, inc. by permission of Michael Moorcock.

Available at better Game and Hobby stores, or send $12.00 (check or money order) to:Theatre Of the Mind, Box 668 dept D, King of Prussia, PA 19406 (PA residents add 6% sales tax)

Scan/OCR by aSundAdar 2003-the Ringworld Scans-

Curiosity...