inating interview with arwood Producer and Co-Creator of ^ft&NtMFSftVr m from imount/Walt Disney G|pe in thisVissue ^ DcltCtVcC \ v »Ttij Complete Tactical / jy^ Space»tombat System for UniVERSE :\ , p the Role-Playing ^ • Game of the Future \J4k plus _X- [ WEAPONS t \ lj 1 , MN8 ^'\ .\\ PhD \ ™ ' "FICTION Rifck The. Embracing ^W^ DAVID J SCHOV\ . , \ \^\ DESIGN NOTES *' ; • Swoid and the Stars > ., LEITES V % . JUSTIN 1 */.-| ' 1 ERIC SW1TH V- 'jj^. V. REVIEWS L <3fc' m Raiders of the Lost Ark BmiA c,ash Df the Ti,ans Superman II Knightriders im ^ THE MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY Ass ADVENTURE GAMING CREATIVE DIRECTOR Redmond A. 5imnnsc:n SIMULATION GAME managing editors Michael E Moore DaltaVee Robert J Ryer MAiNaGwG aht director Manfred F. MiH.uhli CONTHIBUTING EDITODS; John Boardman. John H. Butter held. Dragonslayer Interview :, C-.ie.u Cnsvkyan, L ic Go't'^f^y. HrFKl h H-:^-!i. Chiisiophir J«ir Nick Kaip, Gerry Klug, David James Hilchie, Eric Smith. Suian with Producer ^i-.waru, Chns 'uVarj'iei editorial staff Tush Ch-i^it-n. Rich Hal Barwood MICHAELE. MOORE 4 DiNardo. Ca.xlyn Felder, Dav.d Mc.Cork.hill. Deborah C. Ritchie. Paul Steve'iS GRAPHIC PRODUCTION: Ted Koller, Ken Sler CIRCULA- DESIGN NOTES TION AND SUBSCRIPTION FULFILLMENT: Paul BaniJhold Imgr.l, The Sword JUSTIN LEITES Christine FletCner, Michael George, Ssnd'9 Hudgsr>n, YuetlS Middleton. Judith Ortiz. WHOLESALE FULFILLMENT: Theresa Canto and the Stars ERIC SMITH s Imgr.l. Richard Horn. Lois Koenig, Anna Lambarrjo. FINANCE; SCIENCE FACT Beatrice Li Imgr.l. Mnhameo Moharned. Donagh rJeal. Barbara Noan warehouse: Samuel Smaller. Imgr), Henry Sa'nowski Lasers in Space JOHN BOARDMAN, Ph.D. PRODUCTION Kenneih Hedges Imgr]., Brian Walls. CUSTOMER SERVICE; K amy Tennyson (iiigrl, I ynne T Pnrjhgm, Peisi SwitJerski FICTION Xlagajine Printing WelleslGy Pres.s. Framlogham. Massachusetts The Embracing DAVID J. SCHOW 17 Gam*- Comoon ent Printing: Reilen Offset, Garden City, Long Island Die Cutting. Friedman Die CuttBis. New York MUSE REDMONDA. SIMONSEN 2 ARES Magazine is copyright • igei hy Simulations CuBli cat ions, Int. Printed in U.S.A. All rights reserved. All editorial and general mail should be sent to Simulation! Publicaimns, Inc., 3&7Park Auenue Souih, Naw, roik, N. V. 10010. FACTS FOR FANTASY SUSAN SHWART7, Ph.D 13 ARES is published b-i monthly. One yeer tsis issues! iubacri prions are 516 00 Please 5ena checks 01 money ciders, only. SCIENCE FOR FOREIGN SALES: GREAT BRITAIN Er EUROPE British and European SCIENCE FICTION JOHNB0ARDMAN, Ph.D FILM Er TELEVISION CHRISIOPHERJOHN 195. Australia. Tel. 103] SOS-m CANADIAN MEDIA DAVIDJ. SCHOW 22 1 Irrlfli-nalmnal Cimsitf Canada. 322TI vrtw-Silh X2GS. Canada. lei (4161 628-0131. JAPANESE BOOKS GREGCOSTI^vAMeisi 23 tnitomeis should font,' ( Hobhy Co.. 1-38. Yoyogi. Shibuka-K.i. Tolyo Japan. Tel S7SHG81, GAMES ERICGOLDBFRG 25 ADVERTISING: Basic DESIGNER'S NOTES STAFF 28 DRAGON NOTES DAVID JAMES RITCHIE 34 MISSIONS ARES uveli FEEDBACK JOHNH. BUTTERFIELD 32 , e fl , l,loS; a, l a ,lp,i , . ENCLOSURES: d,/„^, ™p . cnu ,s,n ,oadback C .. ubsC n. m Looking Ahead to Next Time Ares nr. 10 will feature Return of the Muse; Stainless Sleel Rat, in which the immortal Jim diGriz takes on a rabid computer and 1 that it's impossible foryou not rating but did very well with those of you its murderous programmer. Also featured suppose notice that rules to this issue's game who are avid role-players. Predictable will be a story by Harry Harrison to ac- to the total enough But where the wide spin in ac- company the game, Science for Science are printed as a separate booklet. The does of the magazine is ceptance leave us vis-a-vis punting materiel Fiction, Facts for Fantasy, reviews, and page count twin-booklet not wanted one group and highly much more. 52 (a 30% increase overthenormal40 pages). by desire- This is due partly to The convenience of print able toanother? Redmond When to Expect Nr. 10 ing all the UniverseIDeitaVee rules at once. Domestic Subscribers: If you have not It's also to allow you to buy the Basic Set of received your copy of-4res nr. 10 by9 Oc- Universe {which includes the role-playing tober 1981, notify our Customer Service material but not rbe tactical combat system) Department. Please include your Custo- and thereby have a complete Universe game mer Code and issue of expiration, both of with no duplicate components. which should be found on this issue's We may very well follow this procedure mailing label, just above your name. on all our Ares games in the future — i.e., TmjSp drl 25/ Park Avenus South, «» York, V. 1Q01Q Foreign Subscribers: Add eight weeks to print the rules separately — which ts not ex- New N. the above date to allow far the lymphatic actly innovative; it's the way Strategy & Tac- 12121673-4103 pace of international mail. tics magazine was configured over 10 years I would On the Cover ago. would think that this be con- sidered a "plus" to most of you but do let me (Sea John W. Pierard's representation of a if I've A know presumed too much. © Dagger class ship from DeltaVee, the In line with your indicated desires, we've SPI is a member of the Hobby Industry of Universe tactical space combat system, begun to include more game material in the America, The Adventure Games Division of and a scene from Dragonslayer, a Para- issue (see The Sword $nd the Stars article*. the HIA, and the Game Manufacturers mount Pictu res- Walt Disney production. On that note - the "House of Kurin" cap- Association. sule adventure in issue 7 got a bad overall SPI is proud to announce A Fantastic Game of Quest and Adventure based upon the exciting new motion picture from Paramount Pictures Corp. /Walt Disney Productions A young sorcerer sets out upon a perilous journey (o free a cludes a full color 17"x22" map of Urland, 200 full-color kingdom from the terror of earth's last dragon. Along his playing pieces, easy-access rules, and Dragon lair displays, route he acquires weapons, charms, and true companions plus compartment plastic tray. $15 at stores and game to aid him in his quest. Will he succeed or fall victim to ban- departments nationwide. dits, the King's men, or the dragon itself? Dragonslayer is designed to appeal to knowledgeable fantasy adventure game players while at the same time remaining accessible to new gamers. This fast playing, self-contained adventure in- INTERVIEW Dragonslayer Interview with Producer Hal Barwood by Michael E. Moore h is forty feel long and has a wingspread through his rite of passage and who can't name appear in the lottery. The Princess of 90 feet. It snarls and spits 30-foot long really do it," Hal Barwood explained. "There Elspeth (played by Chloe Salamanl, the flames from iis mouth. It is called Vermithrax is a certain charm and relevance to the many king's young daughter, is innocent of her Pejorative, and it is a dragon, a primal force situations that seem to hang in the air around father's plot and discovers to her horror that of nature, tt is the creature the young ap- such a character. she has been kept out of it all. ThisabsoJutely prentice Galen must attempt to destroy. destroys her, and so she offers herself as a "The story has its immediate inspiration It is also the brainchild of Barwood sacrifice to atone for what she regards as a Hal in The Sorcerer's Apprentice. We searched Robbins, who wrote the script very great sin, and Matthew around Quite a bit to come up with the grand and acted, respectively, as producer and task this foolish young man Should under- "Our film is about magic. Sword and director of Dragonslayer, — a new Para- take. In our research we came across the Sorcery fantasies of the Conan and Thongor mount Productions Corporation and Walt story of St. George and the Dragon. Every- variety emphasize physical prowess and Disney Productions fantasy motion picture. body's heard of it yet most people don't have skill at arms, Galen, our hero, is about the Though the picture features Sir Ralph the faintest idea what the story is about- furthest thing from Conan you can come Richardson as the master sorcerer Ulrich, "In the St. George story, the king finds across. The kid can't even tie his shoe right, Peter MacNicol as the young Galen, and himself in a terrible quandry. He loves his much less cut somebody's head off. But he Caitlin Clarke as the courageous Valerian, the people and protects most of them from the learns." true star of Dragonslayer \s the terrible beast, dragon by periodically sacrificing virgins in a Vermithrax. British-born Brian Johnson The setting for the film's story is also im- lottery. As the story opens, he chooses the headed up the mechanical effects during the portant for setting up a believable atmo- lotwith his daughter's name on it, and he's in principal photography in England and Wales, sphere in which a tale of magic occurs, Bar- a terrible dilemma. He wants right and George Lucas' Industrial Light and to do by wood explained. "We picked the 5th Cen- his people, but he also loves his dgughter. Magic, Inc. (ILM> had an 30-man team work tury, the dark ages in England, the inter- Suddenly, St. George rides up and says, 'If on the special photographic effects for the regnum after the fall of Rome and the ebb of you'll all just become Christians, I'll kill the film.