Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #18 Rebel Planet

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:17 am

Talk.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 7:19 am

'You're all saying the same thing, really,' you say. The students look at you in disgust. You should know better than to butt in on a group of students: they are arguing because they are friends, not because they disagree with each other. They give you the cold shoulder. and you decide to go up to the Arts Floor, if you haven't been there already, otherwise you leave the universlty√

You decide to go back to your hotel. If you had a spot of bother with the Chief of Police at the Zodiac earlier today, you have decided to go to Porky's Palace instead On the monorail ride, you have the impression that you are being followed There ls a cab behind you, but then there always is on an efficient monorail system. Will you pull into the next drop station and get off, or will you carry on to your hotel, thinking you'll be as safe there as anywhere?

Well this sucks. You have failed to make contact at the university. The plot will continue for a short while before asking whether you managed to make contact, answering no being a game over. Do you want to go back to the start of the university section or play it through?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 11:26 am

Restart.

EDIT: the university section, I mean.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 12:42 pm

The university, which is only for humans, is a small affair these days, occupying a single large building on the outskirts of the city. Arcadian guards are everywhere here, since they have to make their presence felt in this hotbed of possible rebellion. Will you go
to the Science Floor (and keep yourself out of the argument) or to the Arts Floor? (and wait around for a bit)

Jim, the Cheddar Monk
SK 9/9, ST 19/21 LU 11/11
2855 Credits
Laser Sword

1. Ziridium plated bracelet
2. Infra-red scanner

Running total of non-fatal Game Overs: 1

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 2:21 pm

Wait on the Arts Floor.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Sun Mar 30, 2014 9:10 pm

After a while, the corridors quieten down, as most of the students go off to lectures Then one student approaches the notice-board and, rather furtively, pins up a poster. You just have time to see that it announces some kind of demonstration, when the young man is thrown to the floor by two others, and his poster is ripped from the wall The two louts then proceed to beat him up You're not going to stand {or that kind of behaviour. You will fight both the louts simultaneously in unarmed combat. Each Attack Round, choose which of them you will fight, and conduct a normal Attack Round against him. Against the other, roll for Attack Strengths as usual, but even if yourr Attack Strength is higher, you do not hurt him:you are preoccupied with his \companion. If his Attack Strength is higher, however, he hurts you.

First LOUT SKILL 6 STAMINA 8
Second LOUT SKILL 5 STAMINA 6

This is not a fight to the death. lf your STAMINA is reduced to 4, the fight is over and your opponents run away. You, for your part, take care to knock them out, not kill them, since they are only students: the 'sudden death' rule of unarmed combat, or reduction of vour opponents' STAMINA to zero, will count for unconsciousness rather than death.

Jim 15, Lout A 14, Lout B 11 Lout B at 4
Jim 16, Lout A 13, Lout B 12 Lout B at 2
Jim 15, Lout A 16, Lout B 13 Lout B unconscious, Jim at 17
Jim 15, Lout A 11 instant win

After the fight

The young man you rescued takes you to the students bar and buys you some drink and food (restore 3 STAMINA points). You join some friends of his at a table. 'Hey, you lot!' exclaims the young man.'This Earthling here just gave a couple of Black Eyes black eyes!' When the inevitable questions have died down, you ask who the Black Eyes are, and learn that they are a pro-Arcadian political group. The students are planning a demonstration against the personal files that the University Secretary keeps about every member of the university, but the Black Eyes agree with the system. Eventually, you take your leave. Will you go to the Science Floor, if you haven't been there already, the University Secretary's office√ or will you leave the university?

You had imagined a human secretary, but find a burly South Arcadian Of course: the Arcadians would want to keep an eye on the files- He looks at you in surprise: you do not exactly look like an ordinary student. 'Can I help you?'he asks, but his antennae are waving alarmingly. Will you fight him so that you can investigate the files, or consider that they are probably not worth the bother?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 1:12 am

If these files are powerful signs of protest, they are probably useful to us. Fight!

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 4:01 am

Yeah, let's try everything proactive. We need to make contact somehow, 'raising a ruckus' is worth a try.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 7:34 am

The Arcadian is unprepared for such an assault. On this planet they are not used to coping with violent rebels, so he is unarmed. Being armed, you may add 1 SKILL point for this fight only; you can use the rules for unarmed combat, if you prefer.

ARCADIAN SECRETARY SKILL 7 STAMINA 8

(taking the SKILL bonus)

Jim 20 Secretary 16 Secretary 6
Jim 14 Secretary 16 jim at 18
Jim 22 Secretary 12 Secretary 4
Jim 20 Secretary 15 Secretary 2
Jim 18 Secretary 18 no change
Jim 15 Secretary 14 Secretary dead

lf you win, Test your luck. If you are Lucky, If you are Unlucky,√ .

Boxcars!

An Arcadian guard happens to be passing down the corridor outside. He stops to investigate the commotion, and bursts into the room just as you are finishing off the secretary. Now you will have to fight him, too. He's an ugly specimen: his face is disfigured by a long scar running from eye to mouth.

GUARD SKILL 8 STAMINA 10
Jim 15 Guard 16 Jim at 16
Jim 19 Guard 13 Guard at 8
Jim 17 Guard 14 Guard at 6
Jim 14 Guard 12 Guard at 4
Jim 16 Guard 15 Guard at 2
Jim 13 Guard 16 Jim at 14
Jim 19 Guard 17 Guard dead

If you win,

You soon find a rack of computer disks marked 'University Records'. You are only interested in the two current ones, and discard the rest. Will you look through them now, or take them away with you?

Jim, the Cheddar Monk
SK 9/9, ST 14/21 LU 10/11
2855 Credits
Laser Sword

1. Ziridium plated bracelet
2. Infra-red scanner

Running total of non-fatal Game Overs: 1

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 10:46 am

Let's check them out here; we can handle more Arcadians if they come in.

angelfromanotherpin · Mon Mar 31, 2014 12:55 pm

Yeah, university discs may be keyed to university computers.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:48 pm

After a while you hit the jackpot. A section on the tile is devoted to 'Activists- Potential and Actual' You are so engrossed in the details that you do not hear the approaching guards until it is too late.

Let's look at the disks later..

The two disks count as a single item in your pack. If you already have the limit of six items, you must shed one to accommodate the disks. Now you must find a computer. You leave the university before your crime is discovered.

You decide to go back to your hotel. If you had a spot of bother with the Chief of Police at the Zodiac earlier today, you have decided to go to Porky's Palace instead On the monorail ride, you have the impression that you are being followed There ls a cab behind you, but then there always is on an efficient monorail system. Will you pull into the next drop station and get off, or will you carry on to your hotel, thinking you'll be as safe there as anywhere?

Jim, the Cheddar Monk
SK 9/9, ST 14/21 LU 10/11
2855 Credits
Laser Sword

1. Ziridium plated bracelet
2. Infra-red scanner

Running total of deaths: 1
Running total of non-fatal Game Overs: 1

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Mon Mar 31, 2014 8:59 pm

Wait, if the Arcadians here aren't prepared to handle armed rebels, how the hell could they assemble a strike team big enough to instakill us so quickly? We only killed two dudes here, and neither had a chance to tell anyone else to get one ready.

Anyways, get off on the next station. We don't want to take any risks now that we've got hot property.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Tue Apr 01, 2014 9:49 pm

He did say that the uni was quite well guarded, and he seems to be the type that 1 guy vs patrol= no chance.

You get off and jump on to the escalator to street level Looking up behind you, you can see two Arcadians, still coming after you, and talking into their comlinks Once on the street, you duck down the first side street you come to. Test your Luck. If you are Lucky√, if you are Unlucky,

7 is lucky

You lose yourself in the shadows, hardly daring to breathe and your pursuers pass by on the main moving pavement. You follow the twists and turns of the side streets, always keeping the overhead monorail in sight to guide you in the right direction for your hotel.

You are getting quite close to your hotel, when you see ahead something large moving towards you. You wait until you can see it clearly. Oh, no! The glinting body of a robot killer is trundling towards you on hidden wheels. It is just like a metal cylinder, with only one feature breaking the pitiless monotony of its structure - an aerial on top. It has no humanoid features: no arms, no legs, no face nothing that looks familiar or that you can understand. You haven't the faintest idea of how it will attack or, therefore, how you should defend yourself against it. You know that your blows will have some effect on the soft metal of this planet, but it looks as though it has been built to withstand many such attacks: you need some way to shorten the fight.

The robot's first attack comes without warning. A gigantic thump strikes the ground sending you tumbling, and making roof tiles and small bits of masonry hurtle down from the buildings all around you. You have no idea how the robot causes the thump. but, if you have been told about the 'Street Fighter'. you know that it has been aptly named. If you have a baryon grenade, if not√

You run through the twisting streets and lanes, but wherever you run. the robot follows, adjusting its speed to yours exactly, and staying out of range of the destructive thumps which it sends out at irregular intervals. You realize that you will only exhaust yourself to no purpose if you continue to run away. must stand and fight.

STREET FIGHTER SKILL 9 STAMINA 16

Its attacks will increase in effectiveness as the buildings around get weaker. Its first successful Attack Round will cause you 2 STAMINA points of injury, the next 3, the next 4, and so on, as larger and larger pieces of masonry strike you. You can use LUCK in the usual way to reduce the injuries by 1 point each time.) If you carry on the fight as normal and win,

But does the robot have a weakness?

Roll two dice.
If the number is greater than your SKILL, if the number rolled is less than or equal to your SKILL√

4 is skilful

Of course! The aerial must be a means of detecting structural weaknesses in buildings That is why the robot only thumps irregularly - when it senses that a building is weak enough to crack. However, there is no point in simply stopping by a firm building, because you would have to stay there and would be easy prey {or the police when they arrive. You must return and fight the machine; because of the light gravity on this planet, every time you have a successful Attack Round against the machine, you may either deduct 2 STAMINA points as a result of a normal blow, or you may leap into the air and swipe at the aerial, causing loss of 1 SKILL point for the machine.

Jim 16 Street Fighter 13: Street Fighter at 8
Jim 13 Street Fighter 14: Jim at 12
Jim 15 Street Fighter 14: Street Fighter at 7
Jim 13 Street Fighter 11: Street Fighter at 6
Jim 16 Street Fighter 10: Street Fighter at 5
Jim 17 Street Fighter 15: Street Fighter at 4
Jim 20 Street Fighter 13: Street Fighter at 3
Jim 15 Street Fighter 9: Street Fighter at 2
Jim 19 Street Fighter 14: Street Fighter at 1
Jim 19 Street Fighter 7: Street Fighter at 0
Jim 16 Street Fighter 6: Street Fighter at -1, cannot possibly win an Attack Round.

You reach the haven of your hotel. If it is Porky's Palace and you have not been here before, pay 50 credits for the night. If you need to find a computer√, otherwise

If you are at Porky's Palace√, if you are at the Zodiac

Porky's computer is his pride and joy. You will have to offer him something a personal massage robot,if you have it otherwise 400 credits will do√. If you do not have the robot or the money - or if you do not want to pay him - you will have to fight him in unarmed combat.

PORKY SKILL 6 STAMINA 10
If you win the fight, or if you paid his price,

It doesn't take long to find the information you are looking for. A certain Professor Zacharias in the history department of the Arts Faculty is on record as possibly being the rebel leader on Radix You make a print-out of this information. If you killed Porky to get this information otherwise√

You ring Professor Zacharias at work, no reply, But you find his home number in the directory and ring him there. He has heard about the theft of the disks, and you identify yourself by showing him the printout of his file, He is satisfied that you are who you say you are, and you make an appointment for eleven o'clock the next morning, in his room at the university. Gain 1 LUCK point.

Gain 4 STAMINA points for a fine dinner and a good night's rest. If you have an appointment to keep in the morning√, otherwise

If we hadn't gone back to the university:

You spend the whole day searching fruitlessly
around the city, and even try the university again,
but you find no clues You have failed in your
mission

Promptly at eleven o'clock, you knock on Professor Zacharias's door-but there is no reply You wait for several minutes, but he doesn't turn up- A passing student tells you why: he has been arrested, as the leader of the underground on Radix! The arrest took place about half an hour ago He knew you were coming: maybe he had time to leave you a clue, in case you were the agent from Earth that he was expecting. You go into the room to see. It is very untidy, there are manuscripts and history books everywhere - academics still use books, since it is easier to find particular passage for reference on a page than on a screen. You concentrate on the desk.

Look at the picture opposite to see whether you can
find a clue to the digits you need to know

You are suddenly interrupted by the entry of several North Arcadian guards. You too are arrested on the spot, for being in a known dissident’s room. All your equipment, including your sword, is stripped from you, but they do not find your slim money-belt.

Your 'trial' is a farce. The Arcadians are sure something fishy is going on. What would a merchant from Earth be doing in a professors room on Radix?

And why would he have a sword? You are sentenced to death, but the police tell you that the sentence will be commuted if you tell them what you know about the underground on Radix. Will you spill the beans or not?

I'm assuming you don't want to murder Porky out of hand, if you do then I can run the battle and you can take the consequences of 'If you killed Porky...'

The title of the book on the desk is "The First Century", it's indistinct in that picture.

Jim, the Cheddar Monk
SK 9/9, ST 16/21 LU 10/11
2405 Credits

Running total of deaths: 1
Running total of non-fatal Game Overs: 1

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:29 am

I see no need to murder Porky, since we've already killed a shitload of Arcadians. The marching song said to "never mind the odds," so I assume that 220 (perhaps 222?) are the first three digits in the code. Unless this clue is about the last digit.

As for our pressing legal issues, if we can feed the Arcadians false information to send them in the wrong direction, I'd suggest doing that. Otherwise:

Kranix wrote:Spare me this mockery of justice.

We can probably bribe them anyways, seeing that they're corrupt cops.

angelfromanotherpin · Post by **angelfromanotherpin** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 2:55 am

Don't even tell them our name.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:13 am

Darth Rabbitt wrote:The marching song said to "never mind the odds," so I assume that 220 (perhaps 222?) are the first three digits in the code.

It's a binary code, so despite Bender's fevered imagination there is no 2

You keep on insisting that you know nothing. Sentence is carried out in the manner which is traditional throughout the galaxy, at dawn the next day. Your adventure ends here.

I guess we squeal like a pig.

After racking your conscience, you decide that your mission is more important than any single cell of the underground, and that vou can tell them enough to keep them happy without giving everything away. You do so. The following day, having checked your information, the commandant returns. 'All right, Earthling,' he says. 'Your sentence is commuted from certain death to probable death.' He laughs mockingly and takes you under guard to a room which has two doors leading from it.

'One of these doors leads to instant death; the other leads to a gladiatorial ring. Such fights are one of our amusements. We often send criminals through one or the other of the doors.'The guards are watching you closely, and you realize that they will kill you if you show the slightest resistance 'If you . . er. . . partake of our contest and defeat the two beasts we will send against you, we will escort you back to your spaceship. After the information you have given us, it would be better for you not to fall into the hands of your fellow humans, don't you think? Now, make your choice which door?' Will you go through the right-hand door or the left-hand one?

Yay, correct blind choice or death.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:44 am

Left-hand door, because it's not a UK Steve book, so why not.

angelfromanotherpin · Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:50 am

Sure, left.

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 12:29 pm

We can't feed them false information? This book is Star Wars enough that I imagined we could tell the Imperials that the rebels are on Dantooine or something. And I somehow forgot that the code's in binary. (Which is ironic, given how binary the choices here are.) But that, coupled with looking at it again, made me figure it out:

First letters of each line spell out ONE O ONE. So the first three digits are 101. If we then include the 1st Century book (the other two books are meaningless; since it's binary, 2s are out) the full code is 1011.

Agreed on going left.

Starmaker · Post by **Starmaker** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 1:18 pm

Speaking of which, the Arcadians are even worse at dealing with prisoners than Zagoulans. I mean, they kill an uncooperative spy / innocent person but send a seemingly cooperative confirmed spy to (maybe) fight for his life and freedom.

- Why kill? Watching a dude get eaten by monsters doesn't become less fun, and there's the added possibility a spy is going to be impressed by the monster enough to spill the beans.

- So their excuse is that after squealing, we're of no danger to them by dint of being considered a traitor, and can be released. Why not lie about freedom? (Okay, they probably do, but why not lie to the uncooperative guy?) And no, the excuse doesn't work on first principles: even though we might be considered a traitor to the rebel cause, we still have every reason to independently hate the Arcadians (reason #1: this fucking door).

- Alternatively, why lie about freedom? Release us and follow us back to the rebel base or something. Again, it works even better for the Arcadians if the spy kept silence and can therefore be pronounced innocent upon release.

- Why these binary bullshit doors? Do they catch so many spies per day that there aren't enough arenas and monsters to process them, and half of them needs to be killed by unfun means?

Conclusion: apparently, having 5 fingers did wonders for human cognitive abilities.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 8:27 pm

Yeah the "obviously you're an interplanetary rebel as you're an Earthling but are causing trouble on Radix, but we're still not sure exactly what you're up to so we'll let you take your ship onward to Arcadion" makes exactly 0 sense.

You open the door, shivering with anticipation- or is it trepidation? It leads to a dark, gloomy corridor. The guard allows you one last despairing glance back into the well-lit room, before shoving you through the entrance and slamming the door. Darkness descends, but it is not total. Somewhere far ahead there is a source of light. You clutch at straws: surely this is a hopeful sign?

Surely they wouldn't bother with light if this was the passage of doom? Then a little voice inside you interrupts your wishful thinking: oh, yes, they would- they need to see to clear the bodies away. Time passes; so far, so good. You're still alive. But then you've only moved a few centimetres from the door! Perhaps you should just stay here, where at least you haven't been killed yet. Is that what you choose to do or will you continue down the corridor?

Darth Rabbitt · Post by **Darth Rabbitt** » Wed Apr 02, 2014 10:11 pm

Continue.

angelfromanotherpin · Wed Apr 02, 2014 11:01 pm

Staying put is clearly a trap.

Mr Shine · Post by **Mr Shine** » Thu Apr 03, 2014 8:10 am

You move on down the corridor The gloom becomes less and less, and you search the place thoroughly as you walk. But there are no escape routes. Eventually you reach a sturdy door, with a large grille. Will you try to barge the door down or wait to see what may happen?