By Christopher J. Burke and Robert J. Garritta
Published by Steve Jackson Games
128 pages
$17.95

Up for a little mayhem? Try this on for size:

It's the 2040's. A world-wide grain blight followed by a disastrous global computer virus has caused the collapse of most governments. Only now is humanity recovering from the wreckage. Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana have seceded from the United States to become independent nations. Large areas of some states remain unreclaimahle, as cycle gangs and badlands marauders plague wilderness towns and fortress cities alike. More Americans have turned to violence, and the country's number one sports draw is Autoduelling--in which drivers in heavily-armed cars, trikes, boats, motorcycles, or any other vehicle shoot it out for cash prizes and the adulation of fans everywhere.

Car Wars has been around for an awfully long time; there are few old school gamers who haven't played it, and fewer still who don't have a soft spot in their hearts for the game's own peculiar brand of vehicular violence. Being a Steve Jackson game, it was only a matter of time before Car Wars was dovetailed into the Rasputin of the industry, GURPS. GURPS Autoduel is the second go-round for a Car Wars roleplaying game, and pulls the concept off admirably.

Autoduel works on the premise that the Car Wars vehicle design system be eliminated in favor of the GURPS system. If you're an engineering student, no problem, but for old timers squaring cube roots may scare the pants off you. To their credit, the GURPS: Autoduel is still immensely useful as a sourcebook.

As a supplement, GURPS: Autoduel is great. It begins with a brief history of America and the world since the turn of the century (the 21st century, that is). The section details such events as the Great Blight and ensuing food riots, the discovery of full- body human cloning, and the rise of the Anarchist movement. Of course, this section includes a bit on the birth of Autodueling and its origins in 2073 when "Crazy Joe" Harshman entered the Fresno Demoition Derby with a spare 50-caliber MG mounted on his Chevy.

Roughly a third of the book features an American AutoDuelling Association (AADA) atlas and survival guide. Dark humor reigns in Car Wars (it really must if the players are going to enjoy the game), and while it permeates the text, it is most prominent here. Louisiana, for example, is billed as a paragon of "Neo-revivalist Charismatic Pentecostal Catholic morality." Barstow, Califomia is under strict quarantine enforced by the U.S. military (rumors of African monkeys are circulating). And what's not funny about Autoduelling getting its start in Fresno?

I do wish they were still producing the old seven-volume Car Wars Survival Guide series, hut this section all hut makes up for it. Every state in the union is covered, offering detail on every major city and the dangerous wilderness seperating them.

The book also provides information about the major organizatiions involved in the world of AutoDeuling, such as the aforementioned AADA and Big League Unlimited Duelling (BLUD). America's truckers have formed their own group known as The Brotherhood, and those who feel that arming vehicles is just...not right have organized into the Eastern Driving Safety Enforcement League (EDSEL)

As a GURPS supplement, GURPS: Autoduel contains a good deal of information on how to integrate Car Wars into the GURPS multiverse. Skill convertion, weapon and gear details, revamped advantages and disadvantages, and other character details are included.

Even if you chose to cling to the old system, the vehicle section still contains useful background detail.

Finally, the book contains suggestions for running a campaign, including bizarre suggestions, "From 20 light years across the galaxy, new challengers have come..."

GURPS Autoduel is a marvelous supplement, easily up to SJG's usual high standards.

More Reviews:

GURPS: Autoduel
Delta Green
Noir
Earthdawn Survival Guide

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