From: Saunders Alan Subject: John Carter, Warlord of Mars Since this game is currently under discussion I though that it might be appropriate to post my house rules and changes. Some were added to block holes in the rules or to balance up or clarify things. Others were added for extra spice and to allow for things in the books that the game didn't seem to cover very well. Comments and queries are always welcome. Alan Saunders asaunders@dsl.uk.ibm.com ************************************************************ John Carter Warlord of Mars Rules Additions and Changes **City Encounter Matrix** 1-4 No Encounter (Exception: See Rule 19.3 if in Horz) 5 1 Warrior of Mars 6 3 Warriors of Mars 7 5 Warriors of Mars 8 Roll on table below 9 Roll on table below 10 Captain of the Guard, Noble and 2 Warriors of Mars 8 9 - 1 5 x C (Actually Ulsios) 1 2 200 Series Minor Character and 2 Warriors of Mars 2 3 200 Series Minor Character and 4 Warriors of Mars 3 4 300 Series Minor Character and 2 Warriors of Mars 4 5 300 Series Minor Character and 4 Warriors of Mars 5 6 Master-at-Arms 6 - Grand Master Duels with Minor Characters and Master Swordsmen are fought on the Open Display. Duels with Minor Characters must be fought against a character of the appropriate type taken from the city in which the encounter is taking place. If no character of the appropriate type is present in the city then substitute a Captain of the Guard instead. Duels with 300 Series Characters and Captains of the Guard are to the death. However at the end of each round after the one in which melee is first joined in a duel with a 200 Series Minor Character, roll 1 dice and consult the following table : 1-2 Character recognises the Hero as a man of skill and valour. Duel ends. In addition the roll on the Duel Results Table is made at +2. If the Hero is befriended then it is automatically by the Minor Character that he has just fought. 3-8 Duel Continues. 9-10 Minor Character orders a fight to the death. No more rolls are made on this table. If at the end of any round the Minor Character is dead then the duel automatically continues to the death. Note: Options 8 and 9 on this table should be substituted into options 8 and 9 on the Hand of Fate table as well. **City Games In Deserted Cities** A Deserted City is one with no City Encounter, excepting Exum and the Atmosphere Plant which have special rules of their own. The normal City Game rules apply for Deserted Cities with the following additions and changes: All areas are considered to be Deserted for information gathering purposes. The maximum base discovery chance through movement is 3 in 10, regardless of the value printed on the arrows. If the Hero is discovered through movement then the Villain must flee. Roll on the following table to see what the Hero must duel: 1 3 x C 2 5 x C 3 3 x GM 4 5 x GM 5 7 x GM 6 2 x WA All duels take place on the Street Display. If the Hero loses treat it as if he had lost an outdoor encounter. Any extra Warriors of Mars, Nobles and Captains of the Guard that the Villain may require are taken from the nearest city in terms of Haads. Use the following Hand of Fate table : 1-4 Discovered 5-6 Befriended 7-8 Outdoor Encounter (Open Display) 9-10 Nothing Happens If the Villain defeats the Hero then the City Game is transferred to a new city, determined from the Destination Chart. This new city does not count towards the Villain's city limit **The Villain's Entourage** Half of the Villain's henchmen (rounded up) guard the Villain himself, the remainder guard the Princess. If there is no Princess then all of the henchmen guard the Villain. A Villain may not be able to have all of the extra reinforcements he is entitled to because of limits on the size of his entourage. If this is the case then use the following priorities to determine what he gets. Shortfalls in the guard on the Princess are made up first, rather than those in the guard on the Villain. If either the Villain or the Princess are entitled to a Noble or a Captain of the Guard then these are used in preference to native Warriors of Mars with the Noble taking priority. **Dejah Thoris and Sola** Neither of these two ladies will ever fall in love with a Hero, and a Hero will not fall in love with them. Thus they are not eligible for betrayal. **Captured Personages** For each Personage captured from the Villain's entourage roll 1 dice 1-6 Personage commits suicide. 7-10 Personage reveals Villain's future plans and then commits suicide. Add 1 to all discovery die rolls in the next city game only. 11+ Personage reveals Villain's plans and befriends the Hero. Add 1 to all discovery rolls for any city game in which the Personage is part of the Hero's retinue. Modifiers: Villainous Personage -6 Neutral Personage 0 Good Personage +3 **Duelling Modifiers** When rolling to hit an unmodified roll of '1' is always a miss. An unmodified roll of '9' indicates a push-back regardless of whether a hit is scored. The target is forced back 4 squares directly away from the attacker, the attacker following up and occupying the defender's original position. If the defender is killed, then the attacker still follows up. If the defender cannot move back because of other counters or walls being in the way, then no push-back takes place. The attacker only follows up if to do so would constitute a legal move. Note that the edge of a flier impedes push-back if the flier is grounded, but not if it is airborne. In the latter case the defender falls to their death but a Hero is assumed to be hanging from the edge of the flier, unable to take any further part in the duel. Whichever side eventually wins will rescue him. **Woola** Woola may only appear twice in any Strategic Game. Whether or not Woola appears is a matter of choice for the John Carter player. The conditions under which he appears remain the same. If Woola cannot appear directly behind the Warlord then he appears in any vacant square between 3 and 4 squares away from him. **Tario and Luud** The Villain may call upon these two as in the rules, but only one may be called upon at any time. If the Villain's entourage actually contains either Tario or Luud then they may be used once per Strategic turn if the Villain is in the same city as the Hero. However, once a given Hero has defeated a given mentalist, then that character may not affect him again. If the Hero is imprisoned, then the rest of his retinue only rejoin him once he escapes. When determining the Arena duel a Hero must fight to rescue a female about to be eaten by Luud, rolls of 7 or 10 should be interpreted as Mind Battle. Quite obviously neither mentalist can be called on if they are dead, part of a Hero's retinue or not present in their home city (as Luud generally will be if Gahan of Gathol is being played). **Acquisition** A character may attempt to acquire weapons in any city with a normal city encounter, regardless of whether or not thoats may be acquired there. Weapons are automatically acquired if any Warriors of Mars are defeated by a weaponless party. A character who finds themselves unarmed during a City Game may attempt weapon acquisition (only) at any point as long as they are not imprisoned and do not occupy a Deserted Area. If they lose the duel however they are discovered and automatically imprisoned. **Transport** The capacity of any thoats or fliers a party acquires is equal to the size of the party at the time of acquisition. Thus any casualties or defections will free up space for any new members of the party. Note down the transport capacity on a piece of scrap paper. **Charts and Tables** Some minor changes exist on the Charts and Tables : 11.6 Area Encounter Chart The Thoat Escape numbers for Area 1 are 1-5, 1-5, 1-8, 1-8, 1-4 The Banth encountered on a roll of 2 on the Thoat or Walking line of the Area 7 chart is substituted by a Giant Lizard if the party are walking between Tjanath and Ghasta. 11.8 City Directory Neither Thoats or Fliers are available in Horz. The city of Thurd is shown on the map but not listed on the Directory. Use the same statistics as Torquas. ************************************************************************ ***********