6 Babysitters An ancestral sward begins its jour- ney home. By GSenn Paiton and Dirk Folrner

10 ID/D Aeroweapons Aircraft and weapans addendum. By Roman J. Andron

14 Playland A search for a missing far trader takes the pfayer characters into unexplored space. By Harold D. Ha/@

26 A Blighted Land A prequel to the adventure cam- paign and sourceboak Vampire Fleets. By Frank Chadwick

33 The Covenant of Sufren Unlike many pocket empiresor even the Reformation Coalition, the Cov- enant of Suhen has maintained unim tempted intelsteZlar mntact for the 70 years since the Collapse, no mean feat. By David ~Vilsen

37 Putting the Heat Back into Plasma Offlc~al rnodificat~ons to the Fire, Fusion 8 Steel design sequence for energy weapons. By Frank Chadwick and David Nilsen

40 Way Down Atlantis An ancient treasure leads to high adventure beneath the deep sea. Includes new equipment, beast- ies, characters, maps and a new Dark Race. By Michael C. LaSossiere

50 Long Arm of the Sprawl We hadn't even started the run, and Lone Star was all over us. It was l~ke they were waiting for us to make our rnave, By Christopher E. Wolf

54 Magical Thief Archetype "If they lived on the streets, they'd do what I -hatever I have to in order to sunrive." By David Perry

56 Of Circuit Born Cyberspace is a strange and alien environment, the human visual analog of the world's communica- tion network. In the year 2090, there's a lot of harmless junk tloat- ing around in there, and a lot of information that can make a net junkie rich-or dead. Sometimes it's hard to tell which is which. By Guy MurdoGk and Paul Bnrnetk

58 DOA A hot rock band has suddenlyfound itself withoul security. How hard can it be riding escort for a couple of media stars for three davs? By Laura K. Manuelian

64 Horror of the Centuries The tomb of Ncphm-Ka hides gold, precious gems and ancient scrolls now worth a king's ransom. Oh, and one other item-the secret of eternal life. By J.B.Hill

70 Mission to Shastapsh Can the PCs persuade a young privateer to stop atiacking British vessels? Or will the British and Amerlcans stop short of nothlng but war? By James L. Cambias

76 Death by Triflexia "I dldn't slgn on w ~ t h the Rebel- tion to die from triflexia. I came to shoot Imperials. By Peter M. Schweighofer

Op~n~on ........................................... 4 Submission Guidelines ................... 4

...... Coal~tion Information Network 24 .................................. Conventions 69

TechnicaF Assessment Database .80 ..................................... Reviews ... 82

............... Ask Commodore Bwana 84

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I ART D i R E r n R Bradley K, McOeviU

Challenge W e 76

MANAGlNQ EDITOR W i l e Sturgeon

CONSULTING f DITORS ~ A n k C h a m

Dave N l l m Loren K. Wiseman

INTERIOR ARTISTS srrtdleyKMcDevitt,hAarkrn

Cane Se(genthaler, Wrk E.

I Wescbm

ABOUT THE COVER S w n e ~ ~ a w a r e o f h - p o s e d b y * r g s i n ~ -racy, have tried to capture one Inside an abandoned bultdhg momenta &fore its destruction. All they've accompllshd is amul q it in this oollaboration between artist Christina Wald and art director Brad

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4 15 br one year (six issues) 1 b receive your first issue of C?iALLl3PWES fke, rend no money, just complete the coupon below. A.

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- F U.S.A. Or call (309) 452-3832 for more infonnatlon. 3

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Some of the American soldiers in WWll came home from the Pacific front with Japanese souvenirs. You know, helmets, pistols, swords. Now, some Japanese families are trying to buy back the swords. 1 guess some of them are hundreds of years old and had been in the families forgenerations. Some fami- lies are even willing to spend a

%I cou~le million to aet them back. I

he following scenario is designed for any merce- nary group, especially those who believe in "strength through supe- rior firepower." Referees, this is an excellent op-

portunity to poke holes in some of the inflated egos that may have arisen in your game.

CONTACT The group is contacted through

the normal channels by a represen- tative of Yamaguchi Shipping, who was given their names by a former patron of theirs. The characters are asked to provide physical security for a courier who is bringing the Yamaguchi ancestral katana back from the United States, where it has been for 57 years. This katana was lost during World War II and only recently was discovered in the pos- session of an ex-Army Air Corps officer. After much negotiation, a total of $750,000 was agreed upon as payment to the officer. Thus, the sword's journey began.

There is some concern that cer- tain competitors will attempt to gain possession of the sword during the trip. The PC group will be paid

As an extra measure of paranoia, the PCs will meet up with a member

3 of the Mafia in Los Angeles. It seems

Yamaguchi shipping. No threat; are offered or implied, but interest-

$10,000 upon the receipt of the sword by Yamaguchi. All travel ac- commodations have been prear- ranged, with passage to Japan to be by boat, actually the flagship of Yamaguchi Shipping, the Katori Maru.

No firearms of any type will be allowed on board ship, as Yamaguchi is a law-abiding citizen, and the firearms laws of Japan are very strict. If anv characters are caught with afireirm, on-board ship or in Japan, they will be left to the justice system of Japan, and the contract will be terminated.

Hotel accommodations in Japan will be provided by the patron. If the PCs wish other accommodations, they will have to pay for them out of their own pockets. (Remember that a Big Mac costs about $6 in Japan, possibly more in Tokyo.)

SETUP The Yakuza have been waiting

for an opportunity to gain leverage over Yamaguchi. Now the opportu- nity has arisen in the form of the katana. If they were to use the katana as a bargaining point, the Yakuza might be able to force Yamaguchi to letthem use hisships fordrug smuggling. Their entire plan consists of using one of the ship's crew to sabotage the ship 10 nauti- cal miles outside the Tokyo harbor, taking a snatch team on board, grabbing the courier and the sword and returning to their clan. The snatch team will consist of five men, all armed with silenced 9mm auto- matics and knives. These men will be considered Veterans for combat purposes.

ing information may be rewarded. Later on, once they reach Tokyo, the PCs will notice an American following them on occasion who disappears as soon as he is spot- ted. This is an Average: Observa- tion or Streetwise task.

TROUBLE Once on-board the ship, the PCs

find the accommodations to be quite luxurious, especially for a freighter. They may want to get a feel for the crew and roam the ship. They won't find anything amiss. The voyage proceeds as planned, with the ex- ception of a few mechanical prob- lems starting at the Philippines. Once the ship reaches the 10-mile mark, the engines grind to a halt, and the Yakuza plan is imple- mented. It is entirely up to the ref- eree whether the PCs will be given the opportunity to foil the Yakuza. Or the PCs may arrive on deck just in time to see a boat slipping away from the ship, to find the remains of one of the snatch team laying on the deck, nearly cut in half (yes, the used the sword on the Yakuza team).

If the Yakuza get away with the sword, the characters will find things getting weird. Whenever any of the team is in the same room as any of the crew members, they will notice that the crew turns away from them and refuses to acknowledge their presence. (Any character with any background in Japaneseculture will know that this means that the team is considered dead in the eyes of the crew.)

When the ship finally docks, the PCs are met by Yamaguchi him- self. He immediately says, "So, you

6 Challenge 76 Mere: 2000

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