From: [g p m] at [caelab1.cae.wisc.edu] (Gene P. Masters) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.announce Subject: Announcing a new shareware FRP game system Summary: A complete rules system for Fantasy role playing Date: 31 Dec 93 01:51:40 GMT Article-I.D.: charm.2g9i1h$8hn Announcing the availability of a new electronically distributed fantasy role-playing game, Quest. Quest is not a computer/video game, but one designed for humans interacting around a table. It is not just another game which was hacked together late one Saturday night by a couple of people unsatisfied with their current role-playing system. It has been developed and play tested in Madison, WI for the past 8 years, and is now deemed (by us) mature and ready for distribution. Thousands of hours of play testing, revision, and discussion have gone into developing this system. Play testers have included biologists, chemists, engineers, accountants, and, of course, college students of all types. The various influences of these people will probably be evident in the system. This game is designed to be an open-ended game system in which you, the Player, design your own Character conception. Virtually any fantasy concept is reproducible using Quest, although this may not seem to be the case at first glance. Quest is a skill-based system based on nine different Statistics, and a number of derived Statistics (this is where you may see a bit of the accountant slipping in). How well you learn the various skills in Quest is based on your Statistics. Any character may take any skill, the only obstacle being how quickly they may learn the skill. Players choose a primary profession for their Character, but the only way this is involved with the various skills in the system is to give you a bonus in learning those skills in your primary profession. You can have a fighter who can use a broadsword in each hand, heal him- or herself, and cast damage-causing spells at his/her opponents, or a sneak thief who can use magic to cloak him- or herself in illusions and disarm magical and mundane traps. There are twelve religions in Quest, corresponding to most of the major religions of the past and present. Fighters have a choice of different weapons and styles, including Martial Arts, Fencing, active shield use and use of two weapons. Mages have a number of different Spell Lists to choose from, including a working system for creating Enchanted items, potions and scrolls. Magic tends to be much more general purpose and individualistic than in other systems. A single spell may allow you to do a number of different things, though area of effect spells (like the D&D fireball) are almost nonexistent. Tradesman skills, and other skills useful to adventurers, are included in the Open category. Thieves have Acrobatics, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, and other such skills. Last of all are the Technical lists, things like Chemistry, Craftsman, Ordnance Engineering and Life Science. Again, these lists cover the general areas, leaving flexible for the Game Master and Player alike. A Technical Appendices is available which details the expenditure of time and money to create many technical items, up to and including present day items. The synergistic effects of the various Spells and abilities are, for the most part, left up to the discretion of the Game Master. This philosophy will allow the Game Master to control the game more easily, and will allow the Game Master to tailor the rules to his or her campaign. Some of the synergistic effects are discussed, because of their importance to game balance. The Game Master may use these as a guide for making decisions concerning other synergistic effects, but he or she should not feel constrained by these discussions. Potential Players and Game Masters should note that unlike most fantasy role playing games, reasonably high levels of technology are possible within the system. Cyberpunk/Shadowrun type games, a modern day espionage type game and a space game have all been played using these rules. We are not, however, advocating that Quest replace all other gaming systems. Quest was designed from the beginning to run a medieval level campaign, though the flexibility of the system allows it to be adapted to almost any setting. It is also possible to eliminate whole sections of skills without too severely damaging the rules system. An example of deleting bodies of skills would be to eliminate the fantasy elements and play in some historical time period (for the purposes of technological development) of the real world. A realistic representation of the European Middle Ages would require the Game Master to limit the Technical Disciplines to certain levels and delete Fencing, the Oriental Disciplines, and all Spell Lists from the game. Be prepared for a bloody game! There will be no magical healing and the medical services will be poor. There are good possibilities for tailoring the game to a specific campaign. We are distributing this game electronically, as shareware. That means - download it, try it, play it, give it to your friends and only if you start using it regularly would you pay us for the privilege. Just be sure to include this message with any copies you distribute or post. We have chosen to distribute it electronically so that you can make your own modifications, print out pertinent subsets of the rules, add your own monsters to the manual, and so on (not to mention trying it for free). We would like to be informed of interesting modifications that you make, and will try to include them in any forthcoming releases. The files will be available in two forms, Word for Windows 2.0 files and PostScript files. Other file formats can be requested if they don't require too much additional work (ASCII, RTF, etc.) The files that you need are all compressed using PKZip. You definitely need the Players Manual, and game masters will need the Monster Manual and the Operations Manual,which details refereeing the Quest System. The other 4 files are the World Book (how to set up a world), and the Technical Appendices (additional specifications for the Technical Lists), a Character sheet and this README file. These files are not necessary to get started but may add to the game as you get more familiar with the system. The approximate PKZIPPED file sizes are listed below: Word for Windows 2.0 Pages Filename Size -------------------------------------------------------------- Players Manual 250 pages handbook.doc 205 K Monster Manual 215 pages monster.doc 145 K Operations Manual 60 pages opsman.doc 65 K World Book 23 pages world.doc 25 K Technical Appendices 36 pages techapd.doc 25 K Character Sheet 4 pages charsht.doc 7 K All together in questdoc.zip 470 K Postscript files Pages Filename Size -------------------------------------------------------------- Players Manual 250 pages handbook.ps 390 K Monster Manual 215 pages monster.ps 195 K Operations Manual 60 pages opsman.ps 250 K World Book 23 pages world.ps 45 K Technical Appendices 36 pages techapd.ps 80 K Character Sheet 4 pages charsht.ps 16 K All together in questps.zip 976 K Quest was primarily written by Mike Greenholdt. In its early days it was heavily edited by John Woodford. The two longest play testers are Gene Masters and Todd Richmond, and they are the ones who have inherited the game, have cleaned up, rewritten, and formatted the manuals for distribution. Please direct any comments to them electronically at [m--t--s] at [engr.wisc.edu] and/or [t--d] at [genetics.wisc.edu.] Both of these are Internet addresses. Once you've played this game and realize what an effective system it is, send your shareware payments of $10 (that's for any or all of the files) to Computer Concepts - FRP Division 4146 Country Club Rd. Madison, WI 53711-3004 Thank you for your interest, and enjoy playing Quest! COPYRIGHT NOTICE ------------------------------------------------------------------ This electronic document is Copyright 1993 by Computer Concepts-FRP Division. All rights reserved. You are granted the following rights: I. To make copies of this work, so long as (a) the copies are exact and complete; (b) the copies include the copyright notice and these paragraphs in their entirety; (c) the copies give obvious credit to the authors; II. To distribute this work, or copies made under the provisions above, so long as (a) you do not charge a fee for copying or for distribution; (b) you ensure that the distributed form includes the copyright notice, this paragraph, and credit to the authors; (c) the distributed form is not in an electronic magazine or within computer software (prior explicit permission may be obtained from the authors); These rights are temporary and revocable upon written, oral, or other notice by the authors. This copyright notice shall be governed by the laws of the state of Wisconsin.