AURORA THE SILHOUETTE MAGAZINE INSIDE THIS ISSUE: GEAR KRIEG GRAPHIC FICTION ENGINEERING GRIZZLY CUSTOM MINI CONVERSION VARIANT RULES FOR BLITZ & SILCORE OFFICIAL UPDATES AND MORE! SPECIAL PULL OUT SECTION: ODYSSEY SEED FINALE! ISSUE 1.5 A U R O R A : the S ilhouette magazine TABLE OF CONTENTS volume 1, issue 5 Shades in the Night... 2 Editor’s Message About the Authors 4 The Whos and Copyright Information Alfie’s Tenners 6 Graphic Novel set in Gear Krieg by John Bell Do the Windu 9 Rules for SilCORE RPG by Nicholas Pilon Engineering Grizzly Conversion, Part 1 11 Heavy Gear Blitz! Minature Conversion by Greg Perkins Core Injection: Variant RPG Rules 13 Rules for SilCORE RPG by Oliver Bollmann SPECIAL PULL OUT SECTION -- Odyssey: SEED Adventure for Jovian Chronicles revisited by Nicholas Pilon SilCORE Genetics 17 Rules for SilCORE RPG by Jason Jarvis S-L1036X Lion Project 21 Technical Readout for Heavy Gear by Brad Bellows Silhouette Hardcore: Persuasive Skills 25 Rules for SilCORE RPG by Owen O’Connel Messages from the Pod 29 Official DP9 Material by John Buckmaster Submission Guidelines 30 How to Submit Material to Aurora Article Suggestions 31 What Aurora is Looking For Volume , Issue 5 all material © - see About the Authors A U R O R A : the S ilhouette magazine SHADES IN THE NIGHT From the Editor... One of the things that impressed me the most when I picked up Heavy Gear for the first time was the incredible history written Imagination is the ability to form mental images. It helps inside. It was a world known, yet removed from our own today. providing meaning to experience and understanding to Two sides of a conflict were described, where neither could be knowledge; it is a fundamental facility through which people fingered and said, “Ah these must be the bad guys.” It was make sense of the world, and it also plays a key role in engaging, and it provided opportunities for all sorts of stories to the learning process. A basic training for imagination is the be told within, whether personal inside the RPG, or at the level listening to storytelling (narrative), in which the exactness of regiments in a pure tactical sense. It wasn’t written just to of the chosen words is the fundamental factor to ‘evoke have a game seem more than it was, it was the raison d’être of worlds’. the game itself. Evoke worlds. Creating environments. Backstory and history. Last month I mentioned DP9 lives for creating moments of Fluff. triumph and surprise, and this is the vehicle in which we do it: expansive and evocative worlds. Even as the pod moves Games can be all about rules and tactics and strategy, pure and forward in developing new games the story remains at the heart simple. Chess is a prime example, a game that has survived of it all. in many guises and evolutions for centuries as a pure rules game. Another is the game of Go, who’s basic concept can fit Welcome to issue number five. Go out and create some on a single page, yet who’s depth and mastery is astounding. stories! There are many amazing rules-only games that are taken to the highest level. Oliver Bollmann Aurora Magazine Editor But sometimes we want more than just that perfect ruleset. Even in the earliest wargames, there was another angle. You weren’t just moving nondescript pieces across the playing field, hoping Please note... to roll well, out maneuver your opponent, and win the day. No, you were advancing the legions of Rome. Or were assaulting We have made some changes to our article guidelines! As the Axis beachheads. Or moving one side of the USA civil war you prepare to write your articles for Aurora, please review to attack the other. There was more there than winning and them (they’re at the back of the issue), then get cracking! tactics: there was also story. The human mind is a fantastic storyteller (in many more ways than we may often realize). Since we as people developed language, we have been telling stories to each other. The imagination is a powerful thing -- in architecture they say that ruins have more impact than reality because the image in the imagination is more powerful and perfect than the actual object. When you marry rules with a story, you create a stake greater than simply winning or losing an abstract game. It becomes (perhaps paradoxically) more real, and the games become ever more richer. Volume , Issue 5 all material © - see About the Authors A U R O R A : the S ilhouette magazine RELEASE SCHEDULE Dream Pod 9 Release Schedule Shields of Freedom - Armies of the Badlands Late August 2007 Lances of Destiny - Armies of the CEF TBD Shattered Peace - War for Terra Nova Campaign Book 1 TBD North Dragoons Squad New Release North Kodiak Pack New Release South King Cobra Pack New Release Peace River Starter Army Box Set New Release Peace River Fire Support Squad New Release Peace River Patrol Squad New Release Peace River Crusader Pack New Release Peace River Skirmisher Two Pack New Release Peace River Pit Bull Two Pack Oct. 2007 Peace River Cataphract Pack New Release Peace River Infantry Platoon Oct. 2007 Peace River Hoplite APC Pack Oct. 2007 Black Talon Assault Squad Jan. 2008 Earth HT-68 Hovertanks Sept. 2007 Earth HT-72 Hovertanks Nov. 2007 Earth Grel Infantry Platoon Sept. 2007 Earth LHT-67 Light Hovertank Sept. 2007 Earth LHT-71 Light Hovertank Sept. 2007 Earth HPC-64 Hover APC/Command Sept. 2007 Note: All dates subject to change Volume , Issue 5 all material © - see About the Authors AURORA: THE SILH ou E T T E M A G A ZINE ABOUT THE AUTHORS Beth Porter ([email protected]) -- Illustration: p2 Beth Porter is an artist. She’s done a lot of Heavy Gear fan art, and has three pieces in the new Hammers of Faith book. She has an unnatural fondness for Ferrets. Brad Bellows ([email protected]) -- S-L1036X Lion Project A former nuclear engineer who now works with sewage; Brad lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his wife and three kids, as well as several alternate universes that uneasily coexist within his cerebrum. He has been a fan of Heavy Gear and Jovian Chronicles since the days of Mekton and Mecha Press. Greg Perkins ([email protected]) -- Engineering Grizzly Conversion, Part 1, Illustration p12 Greg Perkins is a graduate student at the University of Waterloo School of Architecture. His spare time is generally occupied with graphic design or Heavy Gear related creative projects. You can see some of these projects at the following address: www.coolminiornot.com/ artist/mason. Jason Jarvis ([email protected]) -- SilCORE Genetics Jason a lover of Dream Pod 9 since purchasing Project A-ko and Video Fighter. Since then the Master of Engrish Mangling has been a dictator forcing his gaming group to play Silhouette ever since. Currently living in Vancouver (the Lower Rainland), British Columbia with his (very patient) wife and two distractions...err, kids. (This article also edited by Moriah Lalonde) John Bell ([email protected]) -- Alfie’s Tenners John Buckmaster ([email protected]) -- Messages from the Pod John Buckmaster is DP9’s head rules monkey and line developer. He’s one of the masterminds behind the whole Blitz thing, and has been a Heavy Gear fan forever. Nick Pilon ([email protected]) -- SEED: Odyssey Nick Pilon is a DP9 freelancer. He’s particularly insane, because he keeps trying to track down and resolve continuity problems and ensure consistent capitalization of game terms. Oliver Bollmann ([email protected]) -- Core Injection: Variant RPG Rules It all started in a hobby store one day twenty odd years ago with an odd box containing something called Top Secret. Almost as soon as he began gaming he began writing, tinkering and adding for and to them, which led to self-publishing and e-publishing several supplements. In the times he’s not playing games, practicing traditional Chinese martial arts, designing buildings, or being a stand for the world he continues to write and create for all manner of things. He’s been in love with the DP9 universes since the first HG release and began his direct involvement with the Pod crew a couple of years ago. Owen O’Connell ([email protected]) -- Silhouette Hardcore: Persuasive Skills Owen O’Connell stands about 15 feet tall. He has one central sensor cluster in the middle of his face, and his hull is equipped with ten hardpoints to carry his various armaments. He has dense armor covering most of his body, and runs on a combustion powered servo- motor system. Paul O’Connel ([email protected]) -- Illustration, p28 Volume 1, Issue 5 all material © - see About the Authors AURORA: THE SILH ou E T T E M A G A ZINE ABOUT THE AUTHORS copyright information Silhouette™, Silhouette Core™, Core Command™, Heavy Gear™, Heavy Gear Blitz™, Jovian Chronicles™, Tribe 8™ and Gear Krieg™ are Trademarks of Dream Pod 9, Inc. Silhouette™ Core Rules are © Dream Pod 9, Inc. All articles written within are © their respective authors, as indicated on the list above. Permission has been granted for the sole purpose of their publication in Aurora. No reproduction is allowed without their express consent. All images not specifically listed above, as well as all game logos are © DP9 and their original artists. No reproduction is allowed without their express consent. Permission granted to reproduce this document in full for private use. Please visit www.dp9.com and aurora.dp9forum.com for more information.