Beyond the Nightmare Gate: The Game Rules

The Game Rules

To keep a record of your adventure, use the Action Chart.

Before you set off on your adventure, you must discover how well your Shianti masters have prepared you for your quest by determining your fighting prowess—COMBAT SKILL—your state of mind—WILLPOWER—and your physical stamina—ENDURANCE.¹ To do this take a pencil and, with eyes closed, point with the blunt end of it onto the Random Number Table. If you pick 0 it counts as zero.

The first number that you pick from the Random Number Table in this way represents your COMBAT SKILL. Add 10 to the number you picked and write the total in the COMBAT SKILL section of your Action Chart (e.g. if your pencil fell on the number 4 in the Random Number Table you would write in a COMBAT SKILL of 14). When you fight, your COMBAT SKILL will be pitted against that of your enemy. A high score in this section is therefore very desirable.

The second number that you pick from the Random Number Table represents your WILLPOWER. Add 20 to this number if this is your first Grey Star adventure, 25 if you have completed book one successfully, 30 if you have also completed Book Two.² Write the total in the WILLPOWER section of your Action Chart (e.g. if your pencil fell on the number 6 in the Random Number Table and this is your first adventure, you would have a WILLPOWER of 26). If you decide to use a spell or utilize the power of your Wizard’s Staff, then you will lose WILLPOWER points. If at any time your WILLPOWER falls to zero or below, you may not use any of your spells³ or your Wizard’s Staff.⁴ Lost WILLPOWER points can be regained during the course of the adventure, and it is possible for your WILLPOWER points to rise above the total with which you start your adventure.

The third number that you pick from the Random Number Table represents your powers of ENDURANCE. Add 20 to this number and write the total in the ENDURANCE section of your Action Chart (e.g. if your pencil fell on the number 6 on the Random Number Table you would have 26 ENDURANCE points). If you are wounded in combat, you will lose ENDURANCE points. If at any time your ENDURANCE points fall to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over. Lost ENDURANCE points can be regained during the course of the adventure but can never rise above the number with which you start your adventure.

[1] This section of the rules implies that you must re-pick all three scores—COMBAT SKILL, WILLPOWER, and ENDURANCE—even though you may have already completed a previous adventure. This is without precedent in other books and therefore appears to be a mistake. In order to preserve rule consistency among the books, you may choose to retain your COMBAT SKILL and ENDURANCE scores and only re-pick your WILLPOWER score.

[2] If you have completed Book Two but not Book One, it seems reasonable to add 25 to the number you picked.

[3] There are sections in the Grey Star books that describe how you use a Magical Power and how many WILLPOWER points you spend, without giving you a choice and without taking into account that you may not have the required number of WILLPOWER points left. You may choose to simply subtract the specified number of WILLPOWER points. This may leave you with a negative WILLPOWER score, or if it was already negative, it will make your score become even more negative.

Alternatively, you may wish to use a method given in Section 175 of War of the Wizards, which contains one such case of mandated use of magic: If you do not have enough WILLPOWER points, then you use ENDURANCE points at a rate of 2 ENDURANCE points for every 1 WILLPOWER point you lack (i.e. 2 ENDURANCE points = 1 WILLPOWER point). If your ENDURANCE score falls to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over.

Note that you may never choose to use a Magical Power or your Wizard’s Staff if you do not have sufficient WILLPOWER points. This method also cannot be used in cases where you lose WILLPOWER points for a reason other than using magic, for instance as a result of mental or magical attacks. In these cases, you may end up with a negative WILLPOWER score.

[4] It is possible for your WILLPOWER to fall below zero. For example, if you are the victim of an attack that drains your WILLPOWER, your score may be forced below zero. If your WILLPOWER falls to zero or below, you will not be able to cast spells or use the magical properties of your Wizard’s Staff until your score is again above zero. You can still use your Wizard’s Staff in combat as a normal weapon, but you must deduct 6 points from your COMBAT SKILL.