As the might of the alien Arcadian Empire tightens its hold on our galaxy, the leaders of the secret Earth organization, SAROS, gather their slender resources into one last daring and foolhardy mission to strike at the heart of the invaders' home planet.
YOU are their last hope. Trained in all the martial arts, equipped with a forbidden laser sword, your mission is to seek out the underground resistance and piece together the vital code you need to destroy the enemy. But time is running out and only YOU stand in the way of the Arcadians' complete domination of the galaxy!
Two dice, a pencil and an eraser are all you need for this perilous journey. YOU decide
which roules lo lake. which dangers to risk and which enemies to fight.
(Somewhat summarised as there is a lot of introductory text.)
HISTORY
Ziridium is discovered on Tropos, and the alpha-ziridium system is invented, which allows ships to go much farther. They then discover Radix, a very fertile planet. Due to this the inhabitants of Radix quickly settle into a way of living that by Earth standards is lazy and corrupt. Eventually Halmuris is discovered after several expeditions get lost in the abyss of space. Halmuris is bleak and bitter, those who stay are research scientists or colonists waiting for the next planet.
Before long they found it. The unmanned flights bring back pictures of a planet covered in clouds with a slightly lighter atmoshere than Earth's. In the joy at getting of Halmuris they give the planet the peaceful name of Arcadion. But what did the clouds hide?
Arcadion consits of 3 main land masses seperated by huge oceans, on each land mass a different species developed. By 2285 when humans made contact they had been united for some time. The intelligent and resourceful inhabitants of the central continent had conquered the warlike northerners and artistic southerners. Although they had limited space travel their technology was much more primitive. The soon saw the benefits of alpha-ziridium...
The war lasted 12 years, during which the Arcadians spent more time building alpha-ziridium ships than fighting. Halmuris was taken by surprise, Radix surrendered immediately, Tropus put up a good fight, and eventually Earth was overrrun. Humans were now run by a galactic empire.
The Arcadians were ill equipped to run an empire at first, but they adapted. They built a massive organic computer, and implanted a receiver in every Acradians brain linked by empathy. Each Arcadion is now like an individual ant an a very efficient ant colony.
They attepmted to implant humans but they cannot wipe out human will without death, they can only maintain power through cruelty.
It has been noticed though that the weakness of a hive mind is the supreme importance of the queen. SAROS “Search and Research of space” is ostensibly an astronomical institute but is really the cover for the human resistance. A military attack would be futile, the only way to win is to attack the central computer.
Humans have recently been allowed back into space , only as merchants to serve the Arcadians. You will take wheat to Tropos, ziridium from T to R, luxury goods from R to H and an important Arcadian from H to A. SAROS has sent spies but the picture is incomplete, possibly due to some treachery as there are some pro-Arcadian humans. What has been learned though is that the entrance to the computer complex is protected by a 9 digit binary code, (binary being natural for the 2-fingered Arcadians) and that the rebel leader on all three planets knows something about this code. You do not know who the rebel leaders are.
You must locate them and destroy the computer.
Northern Arcadians are about 3m tall, have a spiked tail and are generally agressive.
Southern Arcadians are less warlike, and have an antenna, possibly for picking up feelings
Central Arcadians are the most weak physically, most human looking, most powerful politically.
If you're ever in unarmed combat you may kill/incapacitate your opponent if you roll a 6 on 1 die after a successful attack due to your training. Although you have a ship there will be no ship-to-ship combat as your ship does not have any offensive capability.
Everything else is standard FF (check out another LP if you don't know the basic setup)
Rolled 9 SKILL, 21 STAMINA and 11 LUCK
You settle comfortably into the padded pilot's seat ofyour spaceship, strap yourself in and examine the instrument panel This is remarkablv simple, consisting mainly of a compuier terminal and several screens. The mechanisms of the alpha-ziridium system are hidden deep within the bowels of the craft,and there is no need for you to have anything to do
with them: even if something did go wrong, your robot engineers would soon sort it out. The ship's computer has been pre programmed to take you to Tropos and land there.
Now you ask the computer to check all life-support systems throughout the ship Within seconds its tinnv voice' responds 'Everything is functioning correctly.' You contact base control to tell them you are ready. The ship's main support towers are towed away by massive robo-trucks You flick the switch which activates the drive apparatus and you're off! Within minutes, the ill effects of the first thrust required for take-off die down, as you leave Earth's exosphere and enter the inky blackness of space The gravidrags are automatically triggered, so that gravity within the ship is kept the same as on Earth, allowing you and your robots to move about freely. You switch on the rearview screen, to watch Earth getting smaller behind you; white cloud formations swirl. and the sun glints off the northern icecap.
Though you have often seen this sight before on trips to Mercury and Venus, it never fails to excite you, and this time you feel homesick as well. Will you ever see Earth again? Your mission is so vital... and so dangerous-Time passes. After a few hours one of the screens
flickers into life. The computer is alerting you to the presence of another spacecraft, which is keeping a constant distance away from you and seems to be shadowing you. Will you order the computer to take evasive action or continue on your way?
SK 9/9, ST 21/21, LU 11/11
2000 Credits
Laser Sword