White Bear & Red Moon

Thumbnail Analysis Game Review

by Don Lowry


Yet another independent designer, in this case Greg Stafford, strikes out on his own. This fantasy game comes in an envelope and consists of: a 22"x27 1/2" heavy-paper mapboard (brown, black, green and red on tan); two 6 1/2"x7" (green and light blue) and two 7"x9" (red and brown) sheets of thin 1/2" square unit counters; an 8 1/2"x11" 62- page, plus covers, rules booklet (beautifully illustrated by Steve Swentson; three 8 1/2"x11" sheets of charts, tables and errata; and a post card with which to order a free current issue of THE WYRM'S FOOTNOTES, a small irregular magazine dealing with this game.

Mr. Stafford has devised an entire fantasy world, it's characters, geography and history, of considerable complexity. In fact this game is supposed to be the first in an "interlocking triad" of games covering this same fantasy world. The map sheet, with typical hex grid covers only a small part of this world, the strategic Dragon Pass. Five scenarios are provided - one for 3 players and the rest for 2 players - which feature various aspects of the struggle of an area called Sartar to avoid domination by the nearby Lunar Empire.

The rules make use of conventional board game combat methods, but also has special rules for heroes, superherds, special abilities of a vast array ofwierdoes and, especially, for magic. It is a very unique game which, if it becomes well-enough known, will considerably influence future fantasy games. While the physical components do not match the quality of TSR products, they are as good as most independently published games, and the "software" aspects are excellent. If you're into fantasy you should give it a try. W.B.& R.M. sells for a reasonable $8.00 and is available from the Chaosium, PO Box 6302 , Albany CA 94706.

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© Copyright 1976 by Donald S. Lowry
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