SPAEE Gamer Heat It Would Immediately Evaporate, Etc., Etc.) but the Other "Respectable" Drive Lying Around Issue Number 3
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Note to consistancy freaks on Dreadnaught. Yes, I know that a matter /antimatter 8MA drive is impractical (you need to convert 33,000 tons of mass into energy to accelerate only 1000 tons of mass, the photon blast would be ten times the power the sun gives to the earth so if one the millionth of that reaches the vessel as waste SPAEE GAmER heat it would immediately evaporate, etc., etc.) But the other "respectable" drive lying around Issue Number 3. $1 was the Bussard Ramjet (if you haven't heard of it read Tau Zero by Poul Anderson) and that has to be cylindrical. Note the sphere has practically no blind spots. You could have a Bussard "ferry" to cart DN's to the star but that would needlessly complicate the game. Oh, well! •••.• Winchell Chung 1 / :t. Diameter: 450 feet Mass: 50,000 tons A) artif icial gravity and gyros B) ship control C) crew quarters and misc. D) gunnery control E) ammunition F) supplies and life support STELLAR CONQUEST battle scene: G) ice and fuel (auxilia ry shield) Lone Dreadnaught battles an Attack group. H) planetary attack weapons I) matter /antimatter photon drive Winchell Chung jr. J) electromagnetic weaponry K) missile silos L) engineering deck M) planetary attack control N) planetary attack cowling, mirrored for focusing of photon blast 2 3 WHERE WE'RE GOING wants a low price. However, the con even if we don't get a single other sub sensus se"ms to be that subscribers scriber. At least four TSG's will corne Customer Service: There's no way Ih. SPAEE IiAmER want us to do m.ore, even if the cost is out in 1976. We will also publish at around the fact that we were three a bit higher. $5, with a $4 renewal least one staff game design and one out weeks late with TSG #2, four weeks price, is still pretty cheap (try it in side design. That represents the bare late with THE YTHRl, and about a week 1967 dollars), but it will allow us to do minimum we can do in our conservative late with this issue. Business opera Number 3 $1 a few more things. Most improvements cash and carry approach to future tions should ideally be invisible to our will corne with a larger circulation planning. The Space Garner is published by readers. Quality output should appear forcing our unit cost down and our in Much more likely, even in a very on schedule, plop, plop, plop in your Metagaming Concepts quarterly and is creasing experience with publishing a conservative scenario, is that we will devoted to SF&:F gaming. A six issue mailbox without you having a second zine. We'd like to grow up to the visual roughly double the size of our customer thought as to how it got there, except subscription is $5, renewal $4, in the impact of some of the better-done s-f base and business during 1976. That that you wanted it. We failed that this U.S. and Canada only. Contributions zines with a variety of material. For means we have to put our business op fall and excuses don't help. earn 1/2 ~ per word cash or 1 ~ per you garners who aren't familiar with s-f erations of producing and processing on word purchase credit. What has happened is that our work zines, you donlt have any idea how poor a more professionally efficient basis in has expanded faster than available time. ly put together some of the gaming zines order to reach the goal of 'invisible' Copyright 0 1975 by Metagaming That accounts for, but doe.sn't excuse, really are. customer service. We'll have to do a late TSG's. THE YTHRI was sub Concepts. Printed in U.S.A. Another pricing issue concerns our bit of mental juggling to keep TSG in stantially finished in the summer and discounts. No, we aren't giving them furmallya possession of our customers CONTENTS set aside for later publication. When up! It's just that some publishers don't while striving for Vulcan-like efficiency it was pulled out in September we saw offer wholesale terms and shipping ar in operations. But, we I re starting to 2 ••• Where We're Going it with fresh eyes and couldn't resist a rangements attractive enough for us to be able to juggle garner and s -f fan Ifew· improvementsD Those 'few· im 4 ••• The Escort Illusion carry their games at a discount. This needs in the same zine, so we can pro provements rapidly escalated into a Edward C. Cooper is particularly true of SPl and Avalon bably manage efficiency and informality full-blown revision of the game and a 7••• Two Views of the Future Hill boxed games. The lack of favorable too. If it's true that we're all a little rules re-write. It isn't that the game Neil Shapiro discounts plus the mailing and handling schizophrenic under the skin, then may wasn't good as it was. Seeing it again 10.. Ignoring Einstein and Newton charge for boxed games is just too be we can put that to work for us in a after a lapse just made some changes Scott Rusch much to allow a discount to our sub kind of split-personality approach. Or, seem right to make the game do what 12•. Letters scribers. TRlPLANETARY is another rnaybe there's nothing contradictory at we wanted, only more clearly. 14,. S-F Gaming News IPlugs game we'd like to carry, but our dis all in easy-going informality hand-in Delay just isn't good for anybody. IS•. TSG #2 Feedback count is just not favorable. Economic s hand with diligent efficiency. Hope so! But, in this instance, the basic game 16 •. Review: Tunnels &: Trolls is the main reason we do not sell some Everyone is sure to note the number system has become even cleaner and Brant Bates games. The other chief reason is that and variety of contributions this issue. simple; optional rules were added; we 17 •. Review: Star Probe some games arenIt well done and we We hoped our reader participation goal got the well-conceptualized Winchell Edward Cooper feel it unfair to offer them as if they would be achieved, but it's the kind of Chung rules cover; and we saw how we 18 .. SF &:F Game Rating s were reasonable quality. Another fac thing you don't know 'til it happens. could do two-way die cutting on the 18 •. Review;War of the Worlds II tor is that after we carry a game for a Even though we goofed printing the l~ 12~ counters from the War of the Wizards David Redding while, the volume of orders for it slips rate in stead of 1 12~ Il~, we're sure to game. You end up with a better game, 19 •. Review: Siege of Minas Tirith and it begins to be harder to justify the get a lot of variety, imagination, and more for the same money, from the Larry Pound discount to you. thoughtfulness in material. TSG ~ delay. We'll still try our damnedest 20.. Review: Battle of Five Armies In the feedback this time we ask if your magazine in many ways and weill to be on schedule in the future. A s it Larry Pound you'd be willing to buy some games frorr hang loose as we'd hoped. is, we're very proud of the way THE 21 .. Review: Alien Space us at full or only nominal discount, like There's no editorial this issue. May YTHRI turned out. Now we know a Steve West 50/0. If you are, then it means we can be "if you canIt say something nice, cooling -off period makes for better 22.. Eldon Tannish: Part 3 eventually offer very good s -f game s on don't say anything at all" is a sort of games. the market and make TSG truly the only editorial comment all in itself. Edi Pricing: With this issue we've de Editor: Howard Thompson thing an s-f gamer really needs. When torials will appear in later issues, but cided to go to $5 for six issues of Some interior illustrations by you buy from us by mail, you would get not necessarily in everyone. Weld like TSG, with a renewal for six is sues at Paul Jaquays at least the same price as other mail to make 32 pages or more in 1976 and the $4 rate we'd already announced for dealers and you'd be directly helping a maybe go bi-monthly as early as next Our cover shows nine Attack (ATK) January oneD Current subscribers as strictly s-f&:f operation. We will still fall. Right now, about all we're looking class ships battling an enemy Drcad of December 1, 1975, will be allowed to offer out 15'\'0 or so discount for every . forward to is a year-end breather to naught (DN). The DN has so many beam extend their subscriptions for an addi game we can buy economically. What let 1976 have a chance to gell in our projectors it emits a plane of energy, tional six issues at the $3 rate until will probably happen is that after we've minds and to catch up on some of the rather than a needle. Most of the ATK' s December 31, 1975, as long as you don't carried a title for a while, the 15'\'0 dis really great mail y'all send.