Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #18 Rebel Planet

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Mr Shine
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Let's Play Fighting Fantasy #18 Rebel Planet

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Image

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
It's the year 2453. Human colonization of the galaxy began in 2070 with the first expedition to Tropos, 6.8 light years away. Tropos gradually became a centre in it's own right, and the fashions and habits of the 21st century fossilized there, whilst Earth culture continued to grow and change.

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.
CONTACT WITH ALIENS
All Arcadians are humanoid with 2 fingers on each 'hand' and 2 toes on each 'foot'

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.
BASIC RULES
You start with a laser sword treated to avoid metal detection and 2000 credits, (no provisions, medkits etc.) You have an anti-grav pack that will hold at most 6 objects. If the book ever tells you to spend money you don't have you lose.

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


Image

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?

Anonymous SAROS Hero
SK 9/9, ST 21/21, LU 11/11
2000 Credits
Laser Sword
Last edited by Mr Shine on Wed Mar 19, 2014 6:48 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Darth Rabbitt
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

So we are more hardcore if we just drop the laser sword and start busting out the kung-fu? Or is this like blaster combat in Space Assassin or something, where you don't always have a chance to use your weapon?

Anyhow, our ship has no weapons so we should play it cool and take evasive action.

Also, I vote that our name be Jim, the Cheddar Monk.
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Post by Starmaker »

We're taking wheat to Tropos in what is presumably a cargo ship without any offensive capabilities. We probably cannot successfully shake off that other spacecraft and we don't have a reason to have tried to shake them off that won't sound stupid. Keep calm and continue.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

True dat; changing my vote to not evading.
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Post by Mr Shine »

I think there is only one scene in the book where it is not known whether you have the sword or not, but several others where it instructs you it is a hand-to-hand fight. I really like the complexity of a 512-combination code guarding the most important building in the empire.
Quite right: your escort must be an Arcadian, and you do not want to draw attention to yourself. You pass the journey pleasantly enough in eating, sleeping, exercising and playing chess with the computer. When you land on Tropos, you find that you are due to take off again tomorrow for Radix. The Arcadian guards at Customs search your anti-grav pack but find no more than your clothes, because they don't search your body: they rely on the metal-detectors to do their job, but your laser sword has been treated with a chemical which prevents it activating the detectors, and your money belt contains no metal. Once you have registered, as all non-Tropian humans must on arrival, you leave the spaceport.

Once you are out of the spaceport you have no problems finding a hover-taxi. You climb in and instruct the microcomputer to take you south into town. You notice that a camera has been fixed in the taxi - there has been no attempt to disguise it. Presumably it transmits everything it sees to the Arcadian police headquarters, and presumably there is a listening device as well. It is a good thing that they cannot read minds, because your thoughts are racing. You know three things about the underground leader on Tropos: the codename Bellatrix; that he or she can be located through a club called the Fission Chips, which is in the city you are heading for; and that Bellatrix rules the rebels strictly, with a code of honour that all must obey. That's quite a lot to be going on it's more than you know about the rebels on other planets-and should make your task on Tropos relatively easy, if you act sensibly.

The other thing occupying your mind is that most of the Arcadians on Tropos seem to be members of the warlike Northern species. The presence of so many of these natural fighters could make your mission on Tropos more hazardous. Why have so many of them been posted here? Are they closing in on the rebels? Do the Arcadians know that the Fission Chips is more than it seems? There are many unanswered questions, but you turn your mind to the task at hand. There are still six hours to go before curfew. Will you instruct the taxi to take you straight you to the Fission Chips or to the hostel at which off-planet humans have to stay?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Hostel, we don't want to draw any suspicion if Big Brother is watching us.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Fission Chips is the best sci-fi club name I've ever seen. But check out the hostel first.
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Post by Mr Shine »

The hostel is a semi-derelict, flea-ridden building-and Tropian fleas have to be seen to be believed! Two Northern Arcadian guards stand by the door, and inside a scruffy Southerner is sitting in a chair, leaning back against the wall, apparently asleep. What an odd set-up! No robot receptionist or computerized check-in. And outside everything is just as old-fashioned.

There are no personal or public overhead monorail systems; the buildings are mostly late twenty-first century and lowlying- and the pollution! To think they haven't yet got around to dealing with it! A sign on the wall says: 'Remember - no vehicles in town Offenders will be prosecuted.' A typically primitive solution to a primitive problem. Will you wait for the receptionist to notice you or draw his attention to your presence?
Last edited by Mr Shine on Thu Mar 20, 2014 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Post by Starmaker »

Wait. He's an Arcadian working in a crappy hostel and we're a lowly human, there'll be hell to pay if we're impolite.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Yeah, wait.
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Post by Mr Shine »

After waiting for a while, you decide this is a waste of time, you can always check in later. You go upstairs. The whole of the first floor is a long dormitory, which is remarkable for its filth, gloom and lack of company.

Several beds are made up, but their occupants are out at this time of day. There is one other human, however, who is sitting sadly on a truckle-bed, his body heaving with sobs. Will you go and grab a bed near him, and strike up conversation or will you settle yourself far away?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Talk to the guy.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Converse!
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'Cheer up' you say heartily. as you dump yourself on to the bed, whose springs respond with alarming bongs. 'lt may never happen.', 1t already has,' moans the man. 'What do you mean? Where are you from?', you ask. 'Oh. l'm from Tropos. I'm only staying here because those murdering swine have made me homeless. They suspect me of being a rebel, you see. My wife... my children... ' He breaks down again and sobs, with his face buried in his hands. Will you stay with him to try to calm him down or will you quietly leave him be in his grief? (same reference as ignoring him.)
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Try to calm him down; he might have some things to tell us about the rebels, even if he isn't one himself.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Comfort him, it's basic human decency.
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Post by Mr Shine »

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After a while, the man's sobs die down, and he lies back on his bed, staring vacantly at the mouldy ceiling. Suddenly there is a commotion downstairs. You jump up, just as one of the guards from outside the hostel runs into the room brandishing a whippy. 'The receptionist has been murdered,' he shouts. 'Which one of you dogs did it? Not that it matters, ten human lives for every Arcadian, and you two will be first.'

He approaches your companion, who has remained lying on the bed as if he didn't care about death or didn't believe he would die. You cannot stand still and let a fellow human die You pull out your sword and leap into the attack.

GUARD SKILL 6 STAMINA 8


Every other Attack Round, roll one die. If you roll 5 or 6, the guard has managed to get a hit on you with his tail, whatever the result of that Attack Round otherwise, and you must deduct 2 STAMINA points.
Jim 19, Guard 13: Guard at 6
Jim 17, Guard 14: Guard at 4, no tail attack
Jim 16, Guard 14: Guard at 2
Jim 17, Guard 16: Guard dead

Flawless victory
If you win..

'Bravo!' cries the man, as you switch off your sword. 'But now we'd better get out of here. Come with me.' Will you tell him you'd rather be left alone or will you go with him?
A lot of binary choices so far. Is the author of this book an Arcadian?
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Of course we go with the guy who hates the Arcadians.
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Post by Starmaker »

I sure hope it's not an elaborate ruse to make us lead him to the rebels. Follow.
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You turn south out of the hostel As you are walking along, you realize that you will have to ask someone the way to the Fission Chips, and it might as well be this man, who has introduced himself as Grus.

'I'm hungry,' you say, 'and a friend back on Earth said that a club called the Fission Chips was worth visiting. Can you tell me where it is, by any chance?' Grus looks at you curiously. 'Yes, I can get you there,'he replies 'It's in the basement of the old Adolpho videorama. But your friend must have strange tastes if he recommended the food there or the company. Never mind, I'11 take you there.'

You notice that the city is laid out very regularly on a square grid pattern. The hostel is at the north end of North 23 East 5 Street, and the next block south starts at the top of North 22 East 5 Street The buildings are all very alike, except for the Temple of the Five Suns, which towers above the rest of the city and is a famous landmark. It is the centre of the Imperial religion on Tropos- the five suns being the suns ot the planets in the Empire.

You are led five blocks south and four east. Eventually Grus takes you down a side street. 'Wait here,' he says. 'I have to see someone- someone who can get us into the Fission Chips. Not long now.' He knocks on a door. Will you insist on entering the house with him or will you stay out in the side street?
Another binary choice.
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Post by Darth Rabbitt »

Follow him.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Yeah, trust but verify.
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Post by Starmaker »

I can see a reason to do either, but following the guy tells "we don't trust him" to the book, so it's more likely to be beneficial.
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Suspicious, aren't you?' says Grus. 'ls that the thanks I get? All right, you can come in'. The door is opened by another man, who looks furtively both ways down the side-street before ushering you in and locking the door behind you You are shown into a sparsely furnished room. Everything looks harmless enough, but your trained suspicions are suddenly aroused. Just then, Grus shouts, 'Grab him! But watch out he's armed!' Before you can react, Grus and the other man pin you to the wall and take away your sword, which they throw across the room, so that all their hands are free to keep you where you are. 'Set you up nicely, didn't I?' snarls Grus. 'Though in a way I'm sorry- Me and my buddy Indus here, we're thieves. Got caught by the alien scum.' He spits the word out. So now they use us as spies -it's either that or they kill us. I reckon we'll have repaid our debt with this one, Indus.' You struggle to get free. Roll a die. On 1-3, on 4-6 √

You succeed in getting an arm free, while at the same time landing a kick on Indus' instep. The fight is on. This is unarmed combat, so follow those rules, and you must fight both of them at the same time. That means that you must choose each Attack Round who you are attacking and conduct a normal Attack Round against him You must also roll each time for your other opponent, but nothing will happen unless his Attack Strength is higher than yours, in which case he will injure you: you cannot injure him under any circumstances, until you choose to attack him.
GRUS SKILL 5 STAMINA 8
INDUS SKILL 6 STAMINA 8

Jim 19, Grus 14, Indus 15: Indus at 6
Jim 20, Grus 12, Indus 13: Indus at 4
Jim 16, Grus 15, Indus 17: Jim at 19
Jim 15, Grus 15, Indus 9: Indus at 2
Jim 20, Grus 14, Indus 9: Indus dead
Jim 18, Grus 14: Grus at 6
Jim 18, Grus 14: Grus at 4
Jim 15, Grus 14 Instant death
If you win..
You feel wretched, having killed two fellow human beings, but what else could you do? You pick up your sword. Will you stop and search the house or will you leave to try to find the Fission Chips?
Jim, the Cheddar Monk
SK 9/9, ST 19/21 LU 11/11
2000 Credits
Laser Sword
Last edited by Mr Shine on Fri Mar 21, 2014 9:47 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by angelfromanotherpin »

Toss the place for clues.
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