Web Posted September 06, 2003
Updated September 06, 2003
Welcome back drivers and gunners. This issue is short but it is on time. Its main content is the conclusion of this year's survey of Car Wars materials on the Internet.
The 2052 WADA Car Wars League is going strong. Will SCAB maintain its strong hold in the points race, or will AAIE sneak by and steal the win under SCAB's noses? Keep checking WADA HQ every week and find out.
As I mentioned last issue, I am likely going to be in Annapolis, Maryland
from October 19th to November 2nd. Because of my travel plans, the November
issue will not be released until November 5th. Please submit articles and
news before November 3rd to have them included in next month's issue.
Arena Artists Wanted
If you have talent creating arena computer graphics, and are interested
in a long-term project, drop me a note. The project is strictly a volunteer
effort and is not affiliated with SJ Games.
Vehicle of Change
The October 2002 edition of Scientific American has as its feature article
the General Motors Hy-wire prototype, a hydrogen fuel cell car with modular
body style and individual electric motors in each wheel. Autoduelists will
definitely want to pick up a copy of this issue.
Drive offensively,
Michael P. Owen
APPENDIX Z: VEHICULAR MAYHEM
http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid/login/article.cgi?3017
Pyramid Magazine
September 27, 2002
Jacqui Smith
The modern motor vehicle is a finely honed piece of machinery . . .
what could possibly go wrong?
CAPSULE DESCRIPTIONS: CAR WARS PROJECTS
http://www.sjgames.com/general/author/CWcapsules.html
This page on the SJ Games Web site, not easily located, gives descriptions
of Car Wars products that are planned (at least were until the release
schedule changed in recent months).
NAPTYHME'S ROLEPLAYING DEN STORE COMMUNITY
http://groups.msn.com/NapthymesroleplayingDenStorecommunity/home.msnw
Subject: CWIN Submission
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 12:40:34 -0500
From: lonegunman <lonegunman@lisco.com>
To: <owenmp@serv.net>
Hi, Michael. I have to say the last few issues have been some of the best I have read. The coverage of fan material still on sites and offshoot games that are similar are great.
I have a new MSN group set up for my online store and I'd like to invite everyone to come and join. I need content for the site so anyone who doesn't know how to Web design can post pictures and files there for Car Wars. If they have material they are not going to host on there sites any longer that would be great too. I would love it if someone would do a PBEM Car Wars arena there. I would do it myself, but I don't have the time to do it justice. Please feel free to add yourself into the links folder for fan sites and anything else you might have to add.
Here is the copy for the newsletter . . .
Hi, everyone. I am one of the silent subscribers to the CWIN. I have been running an online RPG store from Ebay's Web site for two years and now I have an MSN Group to compliment the site. Things I need are members and content for the site. Right now it is just me and a few friends. I'd like to see a lot of Car Wars material posted in pictures, files and discussions (no HTML knowledge necessary). If you have Web content you are no longer going to publish electronically, please post it in my group. I would also like someone to run PBEM Car Wars as I don't have the time to dedicate to the game to keep things running in a timely manner.
Everyone is welcome and membership is free. Please invite all your friends to join in. You will also receive new product updates, and the opportunity to help us with our house rules system which will be used in future for our published settings. We intend to build the game as SJ Games did with Car Wars. We will take submissions for our main releases and give credit to each person for the contribution. We believe the fans keep things going and should have a say. Please look around and join. It not as finished as I'd like, but its a start.
Jim "Napthyme" H.
This month, CWIN wraps up its survey of Car Wars materials on the Internet,
looking at the discussion forums, magazines, and alternative gaming systems
for vehicular mayhem.
DISCUSSION FORUMS
Dueling Debate
http://forums.delphiforums.com/carwars
Dueling Debate is a Car Wars forum established by SWAT in 1998 on the
Delphi Network. After four years, over 10,000 messages have been posted.
Threads sometimes become heated but most of the time users are polite.
All subjects about Car Wars and auto-combat RPGs are welcomed.
Road In Your Sights
http://forums.delphiforums.com/aada
This forum was also created by SWAT. Its focus is on AADA and tournament
Car Wars discussions, providing a debate area for those types of autoduelists
without having to read threads about non-official rules. Although the forum
is rarely used, SWAT intends to keep it running in 2003.
Autoduelist's Haven
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/carwars2
Autoduelist's Haven is a Yahoo! message board started by Dean Gibson
of DRACAR. Most of the conversations here are about combat racing.
Autoduelists' Arena
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autoduellist
Autoduelist's Arena is another Yahoo! message board. Its members focus
on Fifth Edition rules questions.
MSN Car Wars Community
http://communities.msn.com/CarWars
The MSN CWC is a small arena that usually has Fifth Edition theads.
Autoduel E-Group
http://www.onelist.com/group/Autoduel
Built for a play-by-Web Car Wars campaign, this message board is silent.
CompleteRPG Forums: Science Fiction Games
http://completerpg.com/phpBB2
The Car Wars section of CompleteRPG Forums has almost never been used.
Pyramid Online Discussion Groups: Car Wars and GURPS
http://www.sjgames.com/pyramid
The Pyramid ODGs have had low activity with regards to Car Wars topics for many years. The playtesting of the Fifth Edition Vehicle Design System generated over 1,200 posts. With the ending of the VDS playtest, Car Wars conversations on the Pyramid newsgroups have dropped off significantly.
Although very active and full of many good ideas, the Pyramid GURPS
newsgroup has had very few discussions about GURPS Autoduel. Most Car Wars
players can expect from this group threads on GURPS Vehicles.
Southern California Autodueling Brotherhood Mailing List
scab@blar.org
SCAB's Mailing List is still going strong. Subscribing to the list is
an easy way to keep informed on one of the most active Car Wars groups
existing today. The humor and "trash talk" among its members is fun to
read.
Usenet News: Recreation/Games/Board
news:rec.games.board
Usenet News: Recreation/Games/Fantasy Roleplaying/GURPS
news:rec.games.frp.gurps
Usenet News: Recreation/Games/Miniatures/Miscellaneous
news:rec.games.miniatures.misc
The Usenet newsgroups simulate wave action with regards to Car Wars
discussions. The launch of Fifth Edition spawned regular posts for several
weeks on rec.games.board, but few Car Wars messages are seen today.
MAGAZINES
AADA News
http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/aada
The AADA is no longer being operated by SJ Games at this time, but past
issues of AADA News from Pyramid Magazine are available on Car Wars HQ.
The AADA News Archive is incomplete; all 30 issues of Pyramid Magazine
Print Edition are not yet online.
Autoduel Quarterly
http://www.sjgames.com/car-wars/adq
Approaching its seventh anniversary in November, the ADQ Archive is
a project that is still unfinished. Will it be completed in 2003? Stay
tuned to CWIN . . .
Axles and Alloys
http://axlesalloys.blogspot.com
Road Rage News
http://www.roadragenews.blogspot.com
Axles and Alloys and Road Rage News are like The Daily Illuminator,
an irregularly-published newsletter discussing auto-combat miniature construction,
and the RPGs of their same names.
Burke's Autoduel Magazine Monthly
http://www.io.com/~cjburke/badm
Veteran Car Wars author Christopher J. Burke launched BADM over a month
ago. Like Axles and Alloys, BADM is released every month to six weeks,
with a few articles. BADM has a lot of potential to be a great magazine,
but it needs regular support from readers and writers.
Car Wars Internet Newsletter
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/cwinhome.html
After five years, CWIN still comes out every month. Its schedule has
been extremely erratic over the past year, but it keeps on going.
The Nightmessenger: The Journal of the New Omaha Vehicular Association
http://www.novia.net/~desslok/nightmessengers.htm
Still being published for over 12 years, The Nightmessenger is an .
. . .unusual combination of roleplaying background and humor from one of
the most . . . unique Car Wars existing today. The Nightmessenger is only
published in paper format quarterly, but issues appear on the NOVA Web
site approximately one year after being published.
SWAT Auto-Combat Magazine Article Index
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/magazine/articles.html
SWAT Pyramid Car Wars Article Index
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/magazine/pyramid.html
If you want to know where all Car Wars articles have been published
in magazines besides ADQ, these two Web pages will give you a complete
answer to that question.
ALTERNATIVE SYSTEMS
Although the largest auto-combat gaming system, Car Wars is not the
only auto-combat RPG around today. There are several other systems, professional
and amateur, that have many good ideas that would fit well into the Car
Wars rules. CWIN has mentioned many of these in the past, therefore exploration
of these games is left as an exercise to the reader.
KRASH
http://www.cellentertainment.se/krash
Overdrive Arena
http://www.overdrivearena.com
ALTERNATE SYSTEMS: AUTO-COMBAT VARIANTS FOR OTHER PUBLISHED GAMES
BattleTech
BattleTech Archive: Civilian Transport Vehicles
http://members.tripod.com/~Sid_3050/frames.htm
Champions/Fuzion
Atomik Motorwarz
http://www.meta-earth.com/fuzion/motorwarz.html
Cyberpunk 2020
Cyberpunk Compendium
http://www.sc2000.net/~babbitt/cyberpunk/index.htm
Dark Future
Painted Target
http://www.bus.bton.ac.uk/staff/fesg/games/df/index.html
Fallout CRPG Series
Psycho's Fallout Tabletop RPG
http://iamapsycho.com/fallout
Wormspeaker's Fallout Tabletop RPG
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Cave/2822/docs/fallout.txt
Gear Krieg
Autokrieg
http://members.cruzio.com/~spencers/wabas/gkcw.htm
Interstate '76
Burning Rubber
Webmaster Note: This game is off-line. E-mail the SWAT Webmaster for
a copy.
Interstate '76 Web RPG
http://angelfire.com/il2/enders/I76index.html
Mille Bornes
Dragon Mille Bornes
http://www.diogenes.sacramento.ca.us/dragon_mille_bornes.html
Rifts
Metal Valkryie's Rifts Site
http://www.geocities.com/metal_valkryie
http://www.geocities.com/metal_valkryie/gxm_car.html
Wasteland CRPG
Badlands
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/cave/2822/cochise.html
ALTERNATE SYSTEMS: INDEPENDENT GAMES
Apocalypse On Wheels
http://meadow.virtualave.net/projects.htm
Axles and Alloys
http://www.owencooper.com/axlesalloys
http://axlesalloys.blogspot.com
Cars: The Game
http://home.nc.rr.com/archer7/cars.html
Carz
http://www.cs.wvu.edu/~stilwell
Darker Days
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/2320
Future Wars: Kill Zone
http://www.geocities.com/gisby.geo/kiki.htm
JAGS
http://jagsgame.dyndns.org/jags/index.jsp
JARPS
http://www.geocities.com/timessquare/cave/2822
Lego Omniverse: RoadWar 2000
http://www.mindspring.com/~astralshark/LEGO/LGB.html
Lunatix Loop
http://www.leacock.com/locust/index.html
The Matrix Unofficial RPG
http://www.fc-choicecity.com/matrixrpg
Moros
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Comet/8192/
octaNe
http://www.memento-mori.com/octane
ONE
http://home.austin.rr.com/darkbox/one.htm
Q4
http://www.q4productions.com
Road Rage
http://www.cpjohnston.freeserve.co.uk/roadrage
http://www.roadragenews.blogspot.com
Road Wars
http://dtb.ovh.org/roadwars/index.htm
Roadworld
http://www.asterick.com/realschluss
Rogue Matter
http://www.prevohc.com.au/rogue
http://forums.delphiforums.com/roguematter
Slammer
http://www.loran.karoo.net/slammer/intro.html
SPOOPS
http://www.geocities.com/thespooops/spooopsstart.html
Tinkers' Damn
http://users.lewiston.com/cranium
Wasteland Wars
http://members.tripod.com/~Porkins/waste.htm
There are a few other links I have not mentioned, such as auto-combat
fiction, auto-combat media, GURPS and Steve Jackson Games, but the past
three issues of CWIN have covered most of the important ones.
NEW OMAHA VEHICULAR ASSOCIATION
http://www.novia.net/~desslok/nova.htm
Arena Watch: Juarez Dueltrack
ASSOCIATED AUTODUELISTS OF THE INLAND EMPIRE
From: Wesley Twitchell <splutch@mailandnews.com>
Subject: AAIE Weekly Rumbles
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 2002 01:08:30 -0700
Greetings Duel Fans!
Sorry for the delay with last week's report, just wasn't paying attention and forgot it. Since it's a bit past now, and a small game, I'll just give you the skinny on the ranking.
September 10
AAIE Div 30 Duel
Spokane County Fairgrounds Carousel
Duelmasters: Edgar T. Lincoln and Tom Lentz
Players: 5
Special Rules: 3X scale
1. Tom Lentz (30)
2. Harry Reed (14)
3. Edgar Lincoln (2.5)
3. Wesley Twitchell (2.5)
5. Bryan Rider (1)
This next battle was quite fun. We did a Division 40 game at The Delta
on Bateman Island, with the standard Election Day minus one prestige if
you didn't vote. Only one person got hit with that this time around.
We started the game off at a standing stop this time, no five-turn pre-acceleration.
Tom's vehicle, aptly named "Twitch" from the volume of damage it could do, started off the duel tossing a salvo of 5 VFRPs at Bryan. Ten rockets for 89 points of damage was enough to blow through his left side and take out his gun. Bryan, facing down Howard, didn't let the loss of his gun get in the way and took off right towards him. Howard tried to shoo him off with his machine gun and dropped spikes.
Lafe took shots at Edgar with a ped leaning out of his sunroof, as they raced towards each other, and the exit off their island. Next turn, Bryan collided with Howard, and slowly got himself re-oriented while Howard took off dropping spikes all over the place.
Carol came close to Tom, and got hit with a salvo in her front side, but her front armor was able to take most of it. During the next turn, Carol, in aiming to get a better line for a collision on Tom, showed her right side off, and Tom was able to blast a salvo through her right side, take out her driver, and confettied her vehicle. Bryan got himself spun around and caught up with Howard. The resulting collision was enough to wipe out both vehicles.
Back on the other side of the arena, Lafe was following Edgar in hot pursuit, and managed to miss a layer of the spikes and mines Edgar laid across the bridge connection the islands. Lafe didn't miss the second. He set off both sets of spikes and spikes, doing enough damage to strip off all tires.
I raced towards Tom, trying to finish the job Carol started when she took off two of his three right tires, and Tom threw a salvo at me. Thankfully, only five hit, and Tom didn't roll enough damage to hurt me significantly.
Edgar now caught up to Tom, blew off a front tire to drop Tom to the ground, and then rammed him. Edgar was able to take out Tom's engine for a full kill, and he still had some ramplate left.
After missing Tom twice, and now only having one target left, I started crossing the islands to reach Edgar, who was doing the same to reach me. We were lined up for a head-on collision, but I was able to strip off his front armor with my twin laser right before we collided. It wasn't as nasty as it could have been, but the resulting collision was enough to kill both our vehicles, and end the game.
September 17
AAIE Div 40 Duel
The Delta on Bateman Island
Duelmasters: Edgar Lincoln and Tom Lentz
Players: 7
1. Edgar Lincoln (42, VK x 2)
2. Tom Lentz (20, VK x 1)
3. Wesley Twitchell (12, VK x 1)
4. Howard Lalicker (4)
5. Bryan Rider (3)
6. Lafe Daugherty (2)
7. Carol Daugherty (1)
Next week's duel will be done in a follow-up e-mail.
Wesley Twitchell
AAIE Reporter
From: Edgar Lincoln <lincolnis@yahoo.com>
To: AAIE Mailing List
Subject: Incon Announces Plan B
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 2002 08:51:56 -0700 (PDT)
Hey Guys,
I regret to inform you that due to an inability to reach terms with
the new franchisee at Melina's (the restaraunt in the Shilo Spokane) Incon
has
been canceled this year. It is too late to find full space for a weekend
event.
The good news is that Incon is contracted for the Valley Doubletree for the next three years and they are going to cut us a deal to do a one-day event this year. Not quite as good, I know, but we'll have the space to do a decent gathering.
So, there will be a MiniCon(or Mini InCon or something, details are
still tentative) at the Spokane Valley Doubletree on November 9, 2002.
Current plans include panels, an art show, most of 24 hour gaming, anime,
a computer gaming room, and at least one room party. Room rates are
$59/night Saturday. The phone number for the hotel is 509-924-9000.
Let them know you are with us to get the rate but give them a couple
of days; we havn't signed contracts yet. Thanks, and please let us know
if you plan on making it so we can plan accordingly.
We thought hard on this one and decided we want to get together with
our friends, even if it isn't the full meal deal. Also, we're looking to
shoot a commercial, so the tentative plan is free if you are in costume,
otherwise $5 or $10.
Edgar T. Lincoln
AAIE President