THE RUNDOWN Web-filled room with "baby spiders" everywhere. Only one exit that must be opened manually. THE SET-UP As the mercs move from their cryo-room to the rest of the ship, they will notice the signs of spider activity everywhere. The hallways are thick with webs. The first room (gym) is filled with excersise equipment covered in webs. There are seven "baby" spiders here. Four of the spiders could fit in your hand. Two of them are as big as a human head. The last one is the size of a Great Dane. The four tiny spiders will not advance on the mercs, but the three older ones have no such reservations. They will attack the mercs, withdrawing only if the largest is killed The map shows the layout of the room and where the spiders have set up their thick webs. The mercs do not have away to ea with the webbing ... yet. Laser fire will burn a single hole through the webbing and if the mercs are willing to waste ammo on cutting down webs that they can walk around, they are welcome to do so. Let's hope they don't hit any lights! THE ACTION It's all pretty straightforward here. Get through the room to the next one and try not to get bitten by too many spiders. The little guys will bite unwary or incautious mercs, but the amount of damage they can do is negotiable. However, four small spiders can gang up on a lone marine, causing a great deal of damage. The only real trick of getting out of the room is the door. It's pressure sealed and has to be opened with the manual controls. The controls are located on the left side of the door behind a panel that has to be unscrewed with a phillips head screwdriver. Unfortunately, the mercs have no such tool. They'll have to improvise by using a finger nail or a belt buckle. There is a tool they can use in the room, however. The tuning key that is used on one of the excersise bikes will make a fine jury rig. Anyone who has a Pick Locks skill will have a much higher degree of success, of course. But remember, the mercs remember very little about their past. When one of them "remembers" how to pick locks, they should encounter a strange deja vu like experience, fumbling the first few times they try. THE FOLLOW-UP Once they're out of the room, they may want to close the door to keep any remaining spiders outside. This means they'll have to break open the panel on the other side in order to close the door again. Or, they could close the door just enough for a man-sized creature (like a marine) to fit through, but not enough for the big spider to fit through. Once they're through the door, they'll be able to pick off attacking spiders with ease. But then, if they have their backs turned, they're going to miss out on what's behind them in the next room ... BattleLords of the 23rd Century An Old-Fashioned Bug Hunt by John Wick, et. al. GM Information Scene One: Spiders, Spiders, Everywhere Scene Two: Jane Fonda's Nightmare Scene Three: The Living Quarters Scene Four: Lost Little Alice Scene Five: Waking Up Hatter Scene Six: Goodies Scene Seven: Putting The Hatter To Sleep Scene Eight: Getting Some Wheels Map of Starship Gamera (slow: 103K) Back to Shadis #23 Table of Contents Back to Shadis List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master List of Magazines © Copyright 1996 by Alderac Entertainment Group This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com