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Planets of Peril FORGOTTEN FUTURES XI: PLANETS OF PERIL ROLE-PLAYING IN THE WORLDS OF STANLEY G. WEINBAUM’S 1930S SCIENCE FICTION BY MARCUS L. ROWLAND GAMES MATERIAL AND MOST ILLUSTRATIONS Sample file COPYRIGHT © MARCUS L. ROWLAND 2010 To the best of my knowledge and belief all European copyright in the works of Stanley Weinbaum accompanying this collection, including editorial copyright, has now expired. No copyright in these works is claimed by the current editor. About half of this material was originally scanned by Malcolm Farmer for Project Gutenberg Australia, the remainder by me for this collection and for general publication on line. While every effort has been made to remove OCR and other errors it is likely that some remain. Some obvious proofreading and editorial errors found in the original books (such as two variant spellings of the hero’s surname in The Black Flame) have been corrected. I have not tried to convert American English to British English! Special thanks to Malcolm Farmer for his help with proofreading etc. Several stories could not be included since they remain in European copyright, or their European copyright status is unclear – most can be found on line in the USA or Australia. See end notes for full details. This game contains numerous “spoilers” for Weinbaum’s stories; you are strongly advised to read the fiction first! Print formatting: If you print double-sided, for best results print the cover and this page single sided, and all remaining pages (starting with the contents) double sided. The font used for most text is Albertus Medium; some other fonts are used for “handwriting,” “newspaper cuttings,” etc. This game uses a mixture of Imperial and US measurements, the metric system, and astronomical measures such as AU and light-minutes, as seems appropriate. While it would be nice to imagine a world that uses a standard measuring system, we all know that things really aren’t like that. This game is science fiction, not fantasy… This game has been put on line as a FREE download; you are asked to register if you find it useful. Please inform the author if you are charged any other fee to obtain it in any form. Forgotten Futures XI ~ Planets of Peril ~ Contents Jupiter: King of the Planets 49 Contents Io: The Jungle Moon 50 Medical problems 51 A Martian Odyssey 1 Loonies 52 The first and most famous story of Stanley Weinbaum’s Slinkers 53 ‘Planetary’ sequence, with sidebars on Adventure Idea: Arms Race 54 Stanley G. Weinbaum 2-3 Europa: Small Edens 55 The ‘Planetary’ sequence and other stories 4 It’s Life, Jim… But Is It Kosher? 55 The ‘Planetary’ sequence – story summaries 5-9 Cycle of Fire 56 Timeline 10-12 Ganymede: The Tidal Moon 57 (Slightly) Weird Science 13-14 Cree and Crephine 58 Interplanetary Trade 15 Adventure Idea: The Last Round-Up 58 Technology 16 The Nympus 59-60 Glossary 17-20 Callisto: Cold to the Core 61 About Forgotten Futures 21 Saturn: The Ringed Wonder 62 Titan: Eskimo Hell 63 Islands in the Sky 23 Titan Natives 64 A guide to the Solar System and its principal worlds and A Note on Iapetus 65 moons, with assorted sidebars and sections: Adventure Idea: Rough Justice 66 Let Us Not Go There 24 Adventure Idea: Time-Slip on Titan 66 Adventure Idea: Frozen Fortress 24 Uranus: The Shrouded World 67 Table of planets 25 Neptune: The Last Enigma 69 Mercury: Too Hot To Handle 25 Neptune and Pluto 69 A Matter of Gravity 26 Pluto: Lair of the Pirate Queen 70 Venus: The Parasite Planet 27 The Pirates 71 Xixtchil 27 Crawlers 72 The Hotlands 27 Adventure Idea: Big Bang Theory 72 The Venusians 28-29 The Cool Country 30 Between Planets 73 Adventure Idea: Medical Run 30 A brief guide to spacecraft construction and operation, with The Glacial zone 31 sidebars on associated topics: The Dark Side Sample31 Hullfile design 74 Earth: Cradle of Mankind 32 Tetrahedral Hulls 74-75 The Moon 32 Atomic Blasts 75 Adventure Idea: Scrapheap 32 Life Support 78 Power Blocs (economy etc.) 33 Weapons 79 The League of Nations 33-34 The Interplanetary Peace Treaty 79 Everyday Life 34-35 Shipboard Routine and Duties 80 Adventure Idea: Mercy Flight 35 The Laws of Space 80-81 Visiting Earth 35 The Customs of Space 81 Industries 36 Qualifications 82 Adventure Idea: Innocent Abroad 36 Ship-Building 83 Mars: Planet of the Thoth 37 Payload 83 Phobos and Deimos 38 Engines 84 Kingdom Areobiota 39 Fuel and Range 86 The Thoth 40-41 Game Data 87 The Other Martians 42-43 Traits 87 Life On Mars 43-44 Sample ships 90 Pyramidology 44 Accessorising 91 The Asteroids: Cosmic Rubble 45 Vehicles 91 The case for the Asteroids 46 Protective Clothing 92 The case against the Asteroids 47 Accommodation 94 Adventure Idea: Make Money Fast 48 Gadgets & Gizmos 94 www.forgottenfutures.com ~ i ~ www.forgottenfutures.co.uk Forgotten Futures XI ~ Planets of Peril ~ Contents Preliminary Enquiries 128 Load up on Guns (Friends Optional) 95 A brief guide to some of the weapons available in this era: Harlech Hallta Ltd. 128 Projectile Weapons 95 The Salt Flats 130 Martian Pistols 96 Salty Badness 131 Flame Pistols & Cannon 96 End Game 133 Blasters 97 Bonus Points 133 Stun Gun 97 A Ceres of Unfortunate Events 134 Love And Rockets 98 A crack science team is needed to explore the interior of the Romantic Plots and Subplots: largest asteroid. Who are you going to call? Woke Up on Venus 99 Recruiting Advertisement 134 The Pirate Queen 99 The SILGRS 134 Crewman “Bob” 99 Use with the ‘Grand Tour’ campaign 135 The Princess Bribe 100 The World Ceres (Referees Only) 136 The Venusian Queen 100 Troubleshooting 137 Mighty Joe Yurgguh 100 Training Montage 138 On Location 100 The SILGRS in Depth 138 …Together They Fight Aliens 100 Base Camp 140 Running Romantic Adventures 101 Ice Palace 141 Romantic Traits 101 Dive, Dive, Dive 144 S… S… S… 145 Have Spacesuit, Will Travel 103 Upwards and Outwards 148 Campaigns, Adventures, sample characters, etc: End Game 149 Miniatures 104 Bonus Points, Notes 150 Sample Characters 104-107 Earth Girls Aren’t Easy 151 Grand Tour 108 An heiress must investigate her father’s death on Titan. Not A Planetary campaign for 3-6 adventurers: everyone wants the mystery solved… Player Handout – The New York Times 108 Use with the ‘Grand Tour’ campaign 151 Introduction 109 Nivia, the City of Snow 152 HMSS Endeavour 109 Trouble on Titan (Referee Only) 153 Adventure Seeds Sample114 fileCharacters 154 Fugitives 114 Timetable 157 Adventure idea: Where No Man Pursueth 114 Conditions on Titan 157 Smuggling 115 Exploring the City 158 Adventure idea: Human Traffic 116 The Body in Question 164 Adventure idea: Going Legit 117 Reading The Will 169 Union Problems 118 Funeral Plans 170 Adventure idea: Sabotage! 118 End Game 171 Automation 119 Bonus Points 172 Adventure idea: Robert 120 The Interplanetary Corporation 121 End Notes, Tables, Etc. Richard Herrick, CEO Interplanetary Inc. 122 Credits and Legalities 173 Adventure Idea: The Hunting Party 123 Shareware License and Distribution 173 Keeping the Peace 124 Copyright 174 Adventure Idea: Warlord of Mars 124 Art Index 174 Useful Sources 176 With a Pinch of Salt 125 Coming Attractions 176 When the Venus colonies start to run out of salt, the vital Tables etc. fuel for atomic blasts, who better than the adventurers to Weapons Summary 177 rectify the situation? Spaceship Design Record 178 Use with the ‘Grand Tour’ campaign 125 The Situation (Referees Only) 126 www.forgottenfutures.com ~ ii ~ www.forgottenfutures.co.uk Forgotten Futures XI ~ Planets of Peril ~ A Martian Odyssey A Martian Odyssey by Stanley G. Weinbaum ARVIS stretched himself as luxuriously as he could in the cramped general quarters of the Ares. J “Air you can breathe!” he exulted. “It feels as thick as soup after the thin stuff out there!” He nodded at the Martian landscape stretching flat and desolate in the light of the nearer moon, beyond the glass of the port. The other three stared at him sympathetically—Putz, the engineer, Leroy, the biologist, and Harrison, the astronomer and captain of the expedition. Dick Jarvis was chemist of the famous crew, the Ares expedition, first human beings to set foot on the mysterious ravelled of the earth, the planet Mars. This, of course, was in the old days, less than twenty years after the mad American Doheny perfected the atomic blast at the cost of his life, and only a decade after the equally mad Cardoza rode on it to the moon. They were true pioneers, these four of the Ares. Except for a half-dozen moon expeditions and the ill-fated de Lancey flight aimed at the seductive orb of Venus, they were the first men to feel other gravity than earth’s, and certainly the first successful crew to leave the earth-moon system. And they deserved that success when one considers the difficulties and discomforts—the months spent in acclimatization chambers back on earth, learning to breathe the air as tenuous as that of Mars, the challenging of the void in the tiny rocket driven by the cranky reaction motors of the twenty-first century, and mostly the facing of an absolutely unknown world. Jarvis stretched and fingered the raw and peeling tip of his frostbitten nose. He sighed again contentedly. “Well,” exploded Harrison abruptly, “are we going to hear what happened? You set out all shipshape in an auxiliary rocket, we don’t get a peepSample for ten days, fileand finally Putz here picks you out of a lunatic ant-heap with a freak ostrich as your pal! Spill it, man!” “Speel?” queried Leroy perplexedly.
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