The rules are fairly simple, using two six-sided dice, and the issue includes a hex map and some counters to be cut out and used. The other plays the various creatures who oppose him in this quest. One player takes the role of a barbarian, named Vaarn, who is attempting to find a magic sword and shield by which he can bring about the reunification of mankind, whose civilization has fallen into decadence. "The Barbarian" is a two-player game by Ian Livingstone.
They're much simpler than those that would be presented in Book 6: Scouts years later. In particular, I liked his largely straightforward means of determining the useful characteristics of planets, such as surface temperature, day length, and native lifeforms. As usual, the additions Slack suggests are sensible and very much in keeping with the original rules of Traveller. This part, the third in the series, focuses on star system generation, aliens, and robots, three topics not covered in the three little black books of the 1977 boxed set. Regardless, I found the article enjoyable in a way I usually don't when the author is suggesting a major overhaul of a core rules element of D&D.Īndy Slack's "Expanding Universe" for Traveller continues in this issue. Never having used a system like this, I couldn't see with any certainty if it works well or if it bogs the game down unnecessarily. It's an interesting idea and one I've seen suggested in other contexts over the years. They're a marker of fatigue, training, and luck, while Constitution is a truer representation of a character's ability to take wounds. Musson's idea is that hit points represent "energy and combat resources" rather than the capacity to withstand physical damage.
The issue begins with Roger Musson's "How to Lose Hit Points … and Survive." The article offers a lengthy (two and a half pages) alternative damage system for use with Dungeons & Dragons, one that suggests that some attacks deal hit point damage while others deal Constitution damage. I believe my memories of this issue are reinforced by the fact that Games Workshop included it, along with several others, in their promotional advertising around the same period of time. I saw it sometime in early 1980, shortly after I'd started playing RPGs and had no idea what White Dwarf was or why the Hammer horror werewolf (from 1961's The Curse of the Werewolf) was featured on it. Though I wouldn't read, let alone buy, a copy of the magazine for several more years, I vividly recall seeing this particular cover, painted by Eddie Jones. The cover to issue #15 of White Dwarf (October/November 1979) is one that is seared into my memory.
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