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 Infinite Horizons Vol 1, Issues #1, March 2011

An Avalon Games Product, All rights reserved, Version 1.0, 2011

All comments, suggestions and
contacts can be made at
Avalon Games,
avalon@comstar-games.com
Or visit
Avalon Games at
www.avalon-games.com
Some game design, artwork and layout by Robert Hemminger
Some art by Image Portfolio Louis Porter, Jr. Design, Maciej Zagorski of Forge Studios,
Robert Hemminger and Sade
Cover Art by Wydraz Anthony Affrunti




Contents

Introductions Page 2

Gaming
Infinite Futures, Heritage Page 3
Infinite Futures, New Prestige Classes Page 8
Infinite Futures, New Feats Page 13
Infinite Futures, New Gear Page 13
Infinite Futures, Fan Submissions Page 16
Ki-Ryn Studios Samples Page 18
Adventure Creating in Sci-Fi Games Page 20
Space Academy Paper Figures Page 25
Star Traders Luck Page 26
Altered Earth Preview Page 30

Fiction
What caused the downfall of the Usa people? Page 34
Ruby Red Page 36

Comics
Taking out the Trash Page 38
Sorceress Page 39
Artist Spotlight, Miguel Santos Page 44
Horror of Colony 6 Page 48
Walking the Dog Page 54
Wired Page 55

Non-Fiction
Scan for Life Signs Page 60
For the love of Who Page 63
Reviews, Future Armada Deck Plans Page 66
Reviews, Paladin Spaceplane Page 70
Reviews, Paper Figures by Finger and Toe Models Page 73
Putting On Your Virtual Game Face Page 75
Wellfolksthisisthe,irstblastoffissuesofIn,initeHorizons.
Wehadplannedonthisquarterlyezinetobeallabout
In,initeFuturesandsupportforthatgamesystem.Well
planschangeofcourseandwegottothinking,why
limitourselvestojustIF,whynotoffersupportto
allsortofgamesandgamessystem.Whynot
makethisagreatSciFiezinethateveryone
canuseand,indfun.

Aswebegantoseekoutadditional
contentwefoundtherewasawholelot
offolksouttherelookingtohavetheir
workgainmoreexposure,notjustgaming
goodies,butcomics,art,,ictionandnon,iction
submissionbegantocomein.Wow,thisis
greatnowwecanofferallkindsentertainment,
meettheneedsofallsortsofcreativefolks
andstillachieveourgoalofpromotingnot
onlyourAvalonsgamesandproducts,but
alsothoseofotherpublishersandcreators.

Sohereitis,In,initeHorizons,whichis
whatSciFiisallabout,thesearchfor
newplaces,newideas,new
adventures.

Wehopetobringyousome
ofthatexcitementinthese
shallowpages,asince
ofadventureandawe,a
newlookatoldideasand
thusdiscoveriesofnew
horizons.

Infinite Horizons 2
!
!

EachissueofIn,initeHorizonswillbejampackedwith
gaminggoodnessgearedtowardsIn,initeFutures,Avalon
GamesPath,indercompatibleSciFiRPGsystem.
Thisissueswewillstartthingsoffwithareoccurringserieslookingat
expansionstoourHeritagesetting.HeritageisagreatHardSciFisetting,
auniverse,illedwithexcitementandexploration.

Bloodlines
By David Caffee
As the human race spread across the galaxy it has diversified and evolved. The many branches of
mankind have changed greatly due to millennia of cultural isolation, to say nothing of the deliberate
alterations that people have induced in their own bodies in the name of survival. Each planet that
humanity conquered was changed by our presence. Life on each of these worlds changed the people
who settled them as well. Surviving on a newly settled world is a challenge that often requires
people to adapt in unusual ways. Those who seek to codify human space refer to the different kinds of
human beings as belonging to seven bloodlines. Each bloodline either describes the population of a
single planet or a group of planets with similar traits.

Thisissueswewilldescribethe,irstofseveralhumanbloodlinesintermsoftheirphysical
abilitiesandcommontraits.Eachentryalsohasadditionalinformationaboutmembersofthe
bloodlinesuchaspersonality,physicaldescription,language(s),society,religionandwhatmay
drawthemtoalifeofadventure.

RandomBloodlineChart
PredominantBloodline:
Whattypeofhumanbeingsinhabittheplanet.Thissinglefactabouta
planetsaysalotaboutwhatcharacterscanexpectto,indhere.Many
worldsarehometomorethanonebloodline,thoughthereisusuallyone
withamuchlargerpopulation.Roll1d4orselectthebloodlinethat
matchedthetechnologylevel.Mixingbloodlinesandtechnologylevels
canbefun,imagineaplanetinhabitedbyprimitiveswhopossessancient
energyweaponspasseddownfromanearliertime.Howaboutaplanet
whenanadvancedculturehasrecentlylosttheirtechnologyduetoawar
againstsentientsupercomputers.

1.AdvancedHuman:Theplanetishometoastableculturecapableof
developingtheirscienti,icknowledgetotech4withoutdestroying
themselves.Notethatthisdoesnotnecessarilymeanthatthepeople
herehavetech4knowledge.Somesociallyadvancedcultureshave
forsakentechnologyentirely.Notethatanadvancedhumanbloodline
maygainculturalbonusesordrawbacks.
Infinite Horizons 3
2.Primitive:Somethingintheplanet'shistoryhascausedatechnologicalregressionanditnowinhabitedby
peoplewhoseknowledgebaseistech2orlower.

3.Wastelander:Thehumanpopulationlivesamongsttheruinsoftheironceproudcivilization.War,ecological
exploitationornaturaldisasterhasleftthisworldinruins.Theseplanetsgenerallyhavebitsandpiecesoftech3or
tech4technologybutwilllikelyregressintoamoreprimitivestate.

4.Other:TherewillalwaysbethetemptationforaGMtocreatehisorherownoriginalhumanbloodline.Doingso
addsadistinctfeeltotheworldbeingcreated.SincethisbloodlineisuniquetotheGMsworld,itdoesnothavetobe
balancedagainstthebloodlinesavailabletoplayercharacters.Science,ictiongivesusachancetoexploreany
numberofthemesfromanewlight.CreatinganewbreedofhumanisawayfortheGMtodojustthat.Avariation
onthethemeofgeneticengineeringorcyberneticscouldbeoneplacetostart.

Adaptoid
Theadaptoidbloodlineisnotauni,iedgroupbutratheracollectionofsimilarhumanlines.The
termadaptoidisusedtodescribeanymemberofahumanbloodlinethathasbeenpurposely
alteredtosuitaspeci,icplanet.Adaptoidsaregeneticallyengineeredhumanswithphysicaltraits
thatmakethemideallysuitedtosurviveextremeenvironmentalconditions.Therearesix
examplesofthiskindofadaptationinknownspace.DuringtheAgeofIsolationpeoplewere
sometimesforcedtotakeextrememeasuresinordertosurviveontheiradoptedplanetand
geneticengineeringwassometimesseenastheanswer.

ADAPTOIDCOMMONTRAITS
Toughness.Adaptoidsareengineeredtoberesistanttoinjuryandalladaptoidsgain3additional
hitpointsat1stlevel.

Alladaptoidsreceivea+2bonustoHandleAnimalandSurvivalcheckswhileintheterraintype
forwhichtheywereengineered.Thisbonusstackswithanyskillbonusgrantedtotheadaptoid
byhisspeci,icsubtype.

Adaptoidcharactersmustchoosefromoneofthefollowingsubtypes;Aquatic(deep),Aquatic
(diving),Armored,Arctic,DesertandRainForest.

ADAPTOIDSUBTYPES
Aquatic(deepdweller):
Deepadaptoidsrepresentthemostextremeexampleofgeneticadaptationinknownspace.Theiralteredphysical
structureallowsthemtobreatheunderwateranddrinksaltwater.Theancestorsofmoderndeepdwellerssettled
aplanetthatwasalmostentirelywater.Inlatercenturiestheseadaptoidscolonizedtheoceansofseveralother
worlds.

ThiswaterbreathingbranchofhumanityoriginatedfromtheplanetGalceawherethemajorityoftheir
populationnowresides.Mostofthemliveinvastunderwatercitiesonthesea,loorsofGalcea.Othersresidein
,loatingoutpostsorwanderthevastoceansinmigratingbands.

Personality:Mostotherhumans,indthebehaviorofdeepwateradaptoidstobeerraticandsurprisinglysavage.
Attheirbesttheyarecoldbloodedandthoughtlesswhenitcomestoothers.Theirbehaviorisin,luencedstrongly
bytheiralteredDNA.Deepdwellerssupplementtheirdietbyhuntinglargeseaanimalsandtheirpersonalityis
wellsuitedforthistask.Thereisarumorthatdeepwateradaptoidswilleatanythingthattheycomeacrossand
haveevenattackedthechildrenofdivingadaptoidsandunalteredhumans.Therehasneverbeenadocumented
incidentofadeepdwellerpracticingcannibalism.However,therearepeoplewhobelievethatdeepdwellersare
capableofsuchactsafterwatchingoneofthemripananimalapartandeatitalive.

Infinite Horizons 4
PhysicalDescription:Whendeepwater Adventurers:Deepdwellersarehighlyregarded
adaptoidsstandondryland,theirchinslookasif asoceanexplorersandunderwaterworkers.
ittheyweretiltedup.Theirupturnedheadsput MercenariesfromGalceacanfetchatopsalaryin
theireyesatafunnyangleandtheycompensate almostanyplanetarynavy.Deepwateradaptoids
byhunchingover.Whileswimmingtheupturned aregreatlyinterestedincolonizingmorewater
headallowsthemouthandnasalopeningtoline bearingworldsandroutinelyjoinscouting
updirectlywiththethroat.Deepdwellershave missions.
gillsthatlinethebaseoftheirthroatsandthe
spacebehindtheirjawlines.Thelungshavenot
completelyatrophiedandarecapableofboth
breathingairforlimitedperiodsandmoving
waterinandoutpastthegills.Theirskinis
bluegrayandslicktothetouch.Adeepdweller's
teetharesmallandpointedandtheirearshave
becomewidemembranesstretchedacrossthe
sidesofthehead.Theireyesaresmallandblack
andprotectedbyaclearmembrane.

Adeepaquaticadaptoidhaslong,webbed,ingers
andtoes.Theirfeetarepaddlelikeandmuch
bettersuitedforswimmingthanwalking.Deep
dwellersareclumsyonlandduetotheir
differentlyshapedfeetandalteredposture.About
halfofalldeepaquaticadaptiodshaveashorttail.

Language:Deepwateradaptoidsspeaka
universallanguagecalledGalcic.Thislanguageis
comprisedoflonggroaningnotesthathavetobe
sangunderwaterinordertobefullyappreciated.
DeepdwellersconverseinTradespeakwith
dif,icultybuttheycanmakethemselves
understood.

Society:Deepaquaticcultureisbasedaround
largebuttightnitfamilyunitsthatcommonly
includeupto,iftychildreninadditiontoparents,
grandparents,andotherrelations.Theywill
workwithoutsidersifthesituationismutually
bene,icialbuttheyalwaysputtheirowninterests
,irst.

Religion:Mostdeepwateradaptiodsare
polytheistswhosepantheonhaspredictably
placedmoreandmoreemphasisondeities
involvedwithoceanlifeasthemillenniahave
passed.TheheadoftheirpantheonisMaalzak,
theSeaHunter.Thecultureofdeepwater
adaptiodsplacesagreatdealoffocusonpiety
andobservingrituals.Themostsacredoftheir
customsinvolverisingtothewater'ssurfaceen
massinordertostargazeandwitness
astronomicalevents.

Infinite Horizons 5
 AQUATICTRAITS(DEEPDWELLER)
+2Constitution,2Charisma.Deepdwellersarenaturalsurvivorsbuttheirviscouspersonalitymakesthemhard
togetalongwith.

Adeepdweller'sbasespeedonlandis20feet.Swimis40feet.Deepdwellerscannotrunbuttheycanswimfour
timestheirnormalmovementasafullroundaction.

Deepaquaticadaptoidscanbreatheunderwaterforanunlimitedperiodoftimebutcanonlyexistonlandfor
shortspanswithoutspecialequipment.Adeepdwellercanremainbreathingairforanumberofhoursequalto
hisConstitutionmodi,ier.Ifthecharacter'sConstitutionmodi,ieris0orlessthanthecharactercanonlyremain
outofwaterforonehalfhouratatime.Deepwateradaptiodsneedtobreathewaterforafullhourafterbeing
exposedtotheair.

Deepdwellersreceivea+8bonustoallswimchecks.

+5geneticbonusonallsavingthrowsagainstcold.Deepdwellersaremadeforlifeintheicydepths.

Nightvision:Theseadaptoidshaveeyesthatarewellsuitedtoseeinginlowlightconditions.Theirrangeofvision
istwicethatofotherhumansinpoorlightingandtheyretaintheabilitytodistinguishdetailundersuch
conditions.Deepwateradaptoidssuffera4penaltytospotchecksinbrightlight.

Biteattack.Thedeepwateradaptoid'steethareverysharpandtheirjawsarepowerful.Theirbiteattackdoes
1d4pointsofslashingdamage.

Naturaldefense.Engineeredintothegeneticcodeofthedeepaquaticbloodlineareanumberofdefensive
mechanismsthathelpthemsurvivebrutalecosystems.Adeepwateradaptoidcanchooseoneofthefollowing
specialabilities;

Acidspit:Threetimesperdaytheadaptoidcancreateasprayofacidthataffectseveryoneina10footarc.
Targetsintheaffectedareatake1d8aciddamage.Targetsofthisattackareallowedare,lexsave(DC16)forhalf
damage.Thisattackcannotbeusedunderwater.Thosewhopossessthistraitareoftenrecruitedasland
stormers.

Electricshock:Onceperdaytheadaptiodcangenerateabioelectricalpulse.Thiselectricburstistreatedasa
rangedtouchattackthatdoes3d6damage.ThetargetofthisattackmustmakeafortitudesaveversusaDCof20
orbestunnedforoneround.

Venom:Anyonewhotakesdamagefromthisadaptoid'sbiteattackisinjectedwithapowerfultoxin.Those
affectedbythetoxinmustmakeafortitudecheck(DC14)tonegateitseffect.Primaryandsecondaryeffectis1d4
pointsoftemporaryDexteritydamage.

AutomaticLanguages:GalcicandTradespeak.BonusLanguages:Any

Infinite Horizons 6
!

Available
now at
RPGNow, E-23,
Pazio
and other
great online stores.
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! !

PrestigeClasses
In,initeFuturesisanevergrowinggamesystem
andAvalonmeanstoexpandonitspotentialhere
withinthepagesofIn,initeHorizons.Eachissue
willhaveseveralnewprestigeclassesforyour
game,withfullrulesontheiruseandabilities.

Assassin
By David Caffee
Thegalaxyisoftenasavageplace,fulloftreachery
andfoulplots.Nooneknowsthisfactbetterthan
theassassin,amasterofstealthandsurprise
attackwhobringsdownhischosenfoewithout
warning.Someassassinsareloyalagents
employedbykingsandrepublics.Someare
freelancerswhoplytheirtradeforwhomeverpays
themostcurrency.Ineithercaseyoucanbe
certainthatitisanunfortunatemanthatendsup
intheassassin'ssights.

Characteristics:Assassinsarepro,icientwith
simpleweapons,personal,irearmsandlight
armor.Theyarequiteadeptatdirectcombatbut
prefertodispatchatargetwithasneakattack,
whichiswhentheycandothemostdamage.
Assassinsarealmostasgoodatavoidingam
bushesastheyareatsettingthemandcanprove
tobedif,iculttargetstohit.

Background:Sometimesassassinsformsecret
schoolsinordertopassonthekillingarttoa
newgenerationofservantsfortheirking.Mostof
thetime,however,assassinsareeitherselftaught
criminalsortheyhavestudiedintheranksofa
professionalintelligenceorganization.Many Prerequisites:
learntheirtradethroughpractice,performing BaseAttackof+2
backalleymurdersforcrimebosses,smugglers Disguiserank2
andthelike.Afewassassinsaredescendedfrom StealthSkillRankof5
familylinesofprofessionalslayersthathavebeen
sheddingbloodforpro,itforgenerationsacross HitDie:d6
scoresofworlds.
ClassSkills
Theassassin'sclassskillsandtheirrelated
abilitiesare;Bluff(Cha),DisableDevice(Dex),
Disguise(Cha),Engineering(Int),EscapeArtist
(Dex),Perception(Wis),Stealth(Dex)

SkillPoints:4+Intmodi,ier
!
 Level BaseAttack Fort Ref Will DefenseBonus Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 +2 Sneakattack(1d6),WisdombonustoDefense
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 +4 Fastmovement
3 +2 +1 +3 +1 +4 Sneakattack(2d6)
4 +3 +1 +4 +1 +5 Uncannydodge(DexbonustoDefense)
5 +3 +1 +4 +1 +5 Sneakattack(3d6)
6 +4 +2 +5 +2 +6 Uncannydodge(Cannotbe,lanked/caught,latfooted)
7 +5 +2 +5 +2 +6 Sneakattack(4d6)
8 +6/+1 +2 +6 +2 +7 Uncannydodge(+1vs.traps)
9 +6/+1 +3 +6 +3 +7 Sneakattack(5d6)
10 +7/+2 +3 +7 +3 +8 Telepathicbacklash

ClassFeatures
Allofthefollowingareclassfeaturesoftheassassin.

WeaponandArmorPro[iciency:Anassassinispro,icientwithsimpleweapons,personal,irearmsandlight
armor.

SneakAttack:Theassassingainstheabilitytodosneakattacksat,irstlevelandthedamagedonebytheirsneak
attacksgoesupby1d6everytwolevelsafterwards.

WisdomBonus:Theassassin's,inelytunedsensesallowhimtoavoiddangerwithease.Theassassincanapply
hiswisdombonustohisDefense(ifpositive).

FastMovement:At2ndheassassingainsabonusof+10feettohismovementwhileunarmoredorwearinglight
armor.

UncannyDodge:Startingat4thlevel,theassassingainstheextraordinaryabilitytoreacttodangerbeforehis
senseswouldnormallyallowhimtodoso.At6thlevelandabovetheassassinretainshisDexteritybonusto
Defense(ifany)regardlessofbeingcaught,latfooted.(Hestilllosesthisbonusifimmobilized.)

At6thleveltheassassincannolongerbe,lanked;hecanreacttoopponentsoneithersideofhimaseasilyashe
couldasingleattacker.

At8thleveltheassassingainsa+1bonustohisre,lexsaveversustraps.Thisworksequallyagainstalltrapsand
securitydevicesregardlessofthetechlevelwithwhichtheywereconstructed.

TelepathicBacklash:At10thleveltheassassin'skillerinstinctandviolentemotionsgivehimanaturalresistance
totelepathy.Anytelepathiccontactwiththeassassin'smindwillrequirethetelepathtomakeanopposedWisdom
checkagainsttheassassin.Ifthetelepathwinsthisopposedrollthentheeffectsofthepowerareresolvedas
normal.Iftheassassinwinsthenthepowerbeingusedfailsandthetelepathtakes1d4pointsoftemporary
Wisdomdamage.Theassassingainsa+2bonustohisWisdommodi,ierforthepurposeofthisroll.

Infinite Horizons 9
 Gladiator !
By David Caffee
Thetermgladiatorreferstoanyathleteormartial
artistwhohasforgedhisbodyintoaweaponfor
thesakeofcompetition.Thegladiatorisatough
asnails,ighterwhoseskillandindestructiblebody
havebeenforgedthroughyearsofbloodandpain.
Somedoitformoneyineventsthatbroadcastto
themasses;somedoitforgloryinbloodsport
arenas.Whatevertheirreasons,gladiatorsarethe
undisputedmastersofclosecombat

Characteristics:Thegladiatorispro,icientwith
simpleandarchaicweaponsaswellaslightand
mediumarmorandallshields,includingforce
shields.Agladiatorisanexpertatupcloseand
dirtyhandtohandcombat.Hecankillmostmen
withasingleblowandhasmasteredtheartof
knockingsomeonestupid.Thegladiatormust
becomebothtoughandfastinordertosurvive.
Hegainssome,ightingprowessthrough
experiencebutmostlyreliesonathleticability.

Background:Thegladiator's,ightingtechniqueis
oftenlearnedthehardwayinslavedensandpit
,ights.Othergladiatorsareseriousathleteswho
havebeencoachedbyformerchampionsfor
,ightingcompetitionsinmassiveamphitheaters.

Prerequisites:
BaseAttackof+3
Feats:Dodge,Mobility

HitDie:d12

ClassSkills
Thegladiator'sclassskillsandtheirrelated
Abilitiesare;Acrobatics(Dex),Climb(Str),
Intimidate(Cha),Jump(Str),andSwim(Str)

SkillPoints:2+Intmodi,ier

ClassFeatures
AllofthefollowingaretheclassfeaturesoftheGladiator.

WeaponandArmorPro[iciency:TheGladiatorispro,icientwithsimpleandarchaicweapons,aswellaslight
andmediumarmorandallshields,includingforceshields.Heisgainsbonusexoticweaponpro,icienciesashe
goesupinlevel.

CombatMartialArts:At,irstlevelthegladiatorgainsCombatMartialArtsasavirtualfeat.Thisfeatgrantsthe
gladiatora+1bonustounarmedattacksandallowshimtomakeunarmedattacksagainstanarmedopponent
withoutdrawinganattackofopportunity.Inadditionthegladiator'sunarmedattacksdo1d4pointsofdamage
andhecanchoosetoin,lictlethalornonlethaldamagewithoutpenalty.
Infinite Horizons 10
Level BaseAttack Fort Ref Will DefenseBonus Special
1 +1 +2 +0 +0 +1 Combatmartialarts
2 +2 +3 +0 +0 +2 De,lectmissiles,Uncannydodge(DexbonustoDefense)
3 +3 +3 +1 +1 +2 Exoticweaponpro,iciency
4 +4 +4 +1 +1 +3 Damagereduction1/
5 +5 +4 +1 +1 +3 CombatSenses
6 +6/+1 +5 +2 +2 +3 Abilityincrease,Improvedtrip
7 +7/+2 +5 +2 +2 +4 Damagereduction2/
8 +8/+3 +6 +2 +2 +4 Exoticweaponpro,iciency
9 +9/+4 +6 +3 +3 +5 Abilityincrease
10 +10/+5 +7 +3 +3 +5 Damagereduction3/,ExoticMastery,Re,lectmissiles

De[lectMissiles:At2ndlevelagladiatordevelopstheabilitytode,lectanytypeofthrownweaponorprimitive
projectile.Onceperround,thegladiatorcanattemptare,lexsave(DC15)inordertonegateasuccessfulattack
fromathrownweaponorprimitiveprojectile.Ifthegladiatorisequippedwithaforceshieldthenhecanattemptto
de,lectprojectilesandenergyweaponsthesameway.

UncannyDodge:Startingat2ndlevel,thegladiatorgainstheextraordinaryabilitytoreacttodangerbeforehis
senseswouldnormallyallowhimtodoso.At2ndlevelandabovethegladiatorretainshisDexteritybonusto
Defense(ifany)regardlessofbeingcaught,latfooted.(Hestilllosesthisbonusifimmobilized.)

CombatSenses:At5thlevelthegladiatorcannolongerbe,lanked;hecanreacttoopponentsoneithersideofhim
aseasilyashecouldasingleattacker.

ExoticWeaponPro[iciency:At3rdlevelthegladiatorpro,iciencywithanyoneexoticweapon.Hegainsan
additionalexoticweaponpro,iciencyatlevel8.

DamageReduction:At4thlevelthegladiatorgainstheextraordinaryabilitytoshrugoffacertainamountof
damage.Atfourthlevelthegladiatorignoresthe,irstpointofdamagefromeachinjuryhesuffers.Thisbonus
increasesby+1atlevels8and10.

AbilityIncrease:At6thlevelthegladiatorgetstoaddonepointtooneofhisabilityscores.Hegetsadditional
increasesatlevel9.

ImprovedTrip:At6thlevelthegladiatorgainstheImprovedTripfeatevenifhedoesnotmeettheprerequisites.

ExoticMastery:At10thlevelthegladiatorcanuseanyexoticweaponasifhewerepro,icientwithit.

Re[lectMissiles:At10thlevelthegladiatorgainstheamazingabilitytobounceattacksbackathisattacker.
WheneverthegladiatorsuccessfullyuseshisDe,lectMissilesability,theattackistargetedbackattheattacker.The
re,lectedmissileistreatedasarangedattackatthegladiator'shighestbase.Insteadoftargetingtheattackerthe
gladiatorcanchosetotargetthisattackatanyothertargetwithin30feetofhim.

Infinite Horizons 11
 UpcomingreleasesbyAvalonGames
supportingtheIn[initeFuturessystem.
!

In[initeAliens2.ThenextintheIn[initeAliens
series10fullydetailedalienracesfor
useasPCsorNPCencounters.
!

!"#$"%&"&'(#)*'*+(,#-./0",&1"#

!"#$%&'&(#$)*$+,-$
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In[initeMysteries.BringsomemagicintotheFuturewith
thisgreatexpansion.Newclasses,feats,
andmagicalpowers.
In[initeStarships.ArevisionofAvalonGames !

popularD20starships,thisversionbringsthat
greatproductinlinewithIn[initeFutures.
Newshipsandfullcolordeckplans
areincludedinthisversion.
!

Pandemic.Thefuturemaynotbeasbrightaswehoped.
Theworldhavebeenoverrunwiththeinfected,andthe
fewthatareimmune,arenowfoodforthehungrysick.
TheRoadmeets24Daysinthisdark,
grittysettingfortheIFsystem.
! !

NewFeats
By David Caffee
Everyone loves feats, the often define what a
character is and what they can do. Infinite Horizons
will bring you more feats in each issue for your
Infinite Futures game.
Heavy-G Worlder
The character was born on a world with higher than normal gravity. The population has developed
increased muscle mass from the constant exertion. Characters with this feat are usually short and
stocky with thick bones.
Prerequisites: Must be taken a character creation.
Benefit: The character gains a +1 to his Strength score.

Impossible Dodge
You have an almost unnatural ability to keep yourself out of the line of fire.
Prerequisite: Dex 15+, Dodge, Trigger Sense
Benefit: Once per round you can attempt to negate a hit by rolling a reflex save with a DC equal to
your opponent's attack roll.

Instant Reload
You can reload a firearm with blinding speed.
Prerequisite: Dex 15+, Rapid Reload
Benefit: You can reload any single firearm as a free action. Reloading while being threatened in
melee combat does not draw any attacks of opportunity.
Special: After reloading a firearm as a free action you can chose to reload a second firearm as a
partial action.

NewGear
By David Caffee

You have to have a good gun if you are going to survive the high tech battles of
the future. Here are three new guns for your Infinite Futures games. We also
have a wild new kind of space suit for your deep space adventures.

Smart Pistol
Smart pistols fire tiny guided missiles that can lock on to a target and can track it around corners and through
obstructions. A smart pistol negates a target's cover completely. To lock on to a target, a character must use an
attack action and make an attack roll as normal. If the attack roll fails then the weapon does not get a clear fix
on the target and will not fire. If successful, the character can choose to fire the weapon at any time by using a
free action. Once fired, the smart round will strike the target it has locked on to, even if that means flying
around obstacles. A character can lock on to as many as three targets in succession and they will remain locked
as long as they are within maximum range.

A smart pistol can also be fired in seeker mode. The character simply chooses a direction and the smart round
will randomly select a target within a 45-degree cone. It makes its attack with a +10 bonus. If the character is
not proficient with this weapon then the -4 penalty still applies. Cost: 500 sbc
Infinite Horizons 13
Bead Pistol
This weapon fires spherical projectiles that are propelled by air
pressure. Bead ammunition comes in a variety of types
ranging from high impact to acid burst. A bead pistol can
be fitted with two types of magazines; a standard one that
holds 20 rounds of the same type and a selective one that
holds 5 beads each of three different types. A character
using a selective magazine can switch between ammo types as
a free action. Cost: 700 sbc
BeadPistol
Acid burst: Upon impact, these beads burst open and
splatter concentrated acid on the target, causing 2d4
points of acid damage. Cost: 50 sbc per 10 beads

Chemical tag: This type of bead does not inflict damage but it
marks the target with a glowing substance that is easily picked up on
sensors. Anyone successfully attacked with this weapon suffers a -8
penalty to Hide checks in dark environments. Anyone trying to spot
or track the character using sensors or surveillance gear gets to double
the object's equipment bonus (if any). Cost: 50 sbc per 10 beads

Concussion: These beads explode on impact, creating a bright

flash and a deafening noise. The bead inflicts 1 point of damage
and the target must make a successful fortitude save (DC 15)
or be stunned for one round. A character hit multiple times by this
weapon must make a separate save for each attack.
Cost: 30 sbc per 10 beads
SmartPistol
Impact: This type of beam consists of a dense core surrounded by
rubbery material. A successful attack deals 1d6 points of nonlethal
damage to the target. Cost: 25 sbc per 10 beads

Tranq: These beads contain a powerful sedative that is released as a

fine mist at the moment of impact. The tranquilizer is absorbed
through contact with the eyes, skin and respiratory system. The target
must make a successful Fortitude saving throw (DC 10) or fall
unconscious for 1d4 minutes. A character hit multiple times by this
weapon must make a separate save for each attack.
Cost: 40 sbc per 10 beads

Shredder
This weapon propels a cluster of needle-thin projectiles from its
Shredder
barrel at high speeds. Explosive gases stored in the weapon's
magazine are ignited in the firing chamber and this launches the
flight of needles forward. After exiting the barrel, razor thin fins
located at the rear of each projectile pop open to provide stability.
Each needle contains a simple computer guidance system linked to
these tail fins. This system keeps the cluster of needles flying in a
tight formation. Upon contact with the target, the fins sweep forward
and tear viscously through flesh, hence the weapon's name.
Cost: 600 sbc
!
Infinite Horizons 14
 Additional equipment (tool/weapon belts, magnetic
Second Skin Space Suit boots, computer gauntlets, etc.) must be donned on
subsequent rounds. For extended use, a temperature
By Ramsey Tome Wyrm Lundock
regulator should be worn over the suit.
To withstand the zero pressure of vacuum safely, the
Removing the suit is a more involved process. Since it
human body requires pressure applied by other means. In
sprayed on, there is no way to remove a second skin
the early ages of space travel this meant custom suits with
without cutting and peeling it off of the character.
metal reinforcements and air bladders. This made the
suits bulking, heavy and expensive. An alternative means
Second skin suits are popular among the sokuja who find
was explored in the first half of the twenty first century:
the close fit more comfortable than traditional suits.
building the suits out of a material that applies pressure
They do not sweat so and so are not bothered by the lack
directly. To achieve this, chemist developed what became
of a mechanism for removing moisture from the suit.
only half jokingly known as air tight spandex.
And as a species which sheds naturally, they do not find
it iterating to peel off the suit.
Although available in the twenty first century, second
skin space suits didnt become popular until space
By design, second-skin suits do not allow respiration
warfare created a need for a large number of suits
through the skin below the neck and wearing one for
produced quickly and cheaply. When multiple
more than roughly 24 hours could be serious detrimental
morphologically distinct species began traveling on space
to the characters health. But since the air tanks carry at
ships together, second-skin space suits became the only
most 6 hours of air, that doesnt really bother anyone.
reasonable alternative to stocking every conceivable
design. Although second skin spacesuits fill this role,
The Purchase DC is for installing a Second Skin
they are not without draw backs. Thus they are normally
application arch on a space ship or other facility. The
used for crew who are not expected to need them. They
cost of refilling the machine after use is subsumed in the
are also used for the emergency evacuation of civilians.
normal operating cost of the facility.
To don a second-skin suit, the character walks minimally
Second Skin Space Suit 250,000 sbc
dressed through the deployment arch. She is sprayed
from the neck down with a fast drying liquid polymer,
which bonds directly to her skin. The walking action
assures that the soles of the feet are adequately covered.
Once covered with the second skin, she dons a helmet
which uses flash heating pads along the collar to melt the
polymer and form an airtight seal. The collar contains all
of the connections and controls for backpack mounted air
tanks.

It takes a move equivalent action to walk through the

spray arch and a move equivalent action to don the
helmet. Therefore it takes only a single round for the
character to vacuum proof herself, provided that the air
tanks are already attached to the helmet. Up to five
characters can walk through a single application arch in a
round.

The listed weight of the suit (20 lbs) includes the

headgear and full air tanks. The spray-on suit itself is
nonencumbering.
! !

FanCreations
Avalon wants Infinite Futures to be a living game
system, one that is always growing with more and more
content. Fan created goodies is an important part of
that living concept. Each issue of Infinite Horizons
will have new stuff generated by you the fans.

Teshnor
by
Brendan McNeill
Physical Description: The Teshnor are a race of child-sized
lizards whose primitive appearance belies an advanced
technical knowledge.
Homeworld:
Stat Adjustments: +2 Wis, +2 Con, -2 Str
Advantages: Teshnor are hardy and intuitive, but smaller
and weaker than humans.
Small size: +1 to Defense, +1 to attack, +4 Stealth; -1 CMB,
-1 CMD.
Speed: 20 ft bipedal (no Run or Charge); 30 ft on all fours
Darkvision 60 ft. drop in egg fertility, leaving the Teshnor with all of their
Telesensory direction: Teshnor can sense the presence of aggressive tendencies and a greatly reduced reproductive
sentient minds out to a range of 60 ft. (see Additional Senses, rate. In an effort to vent their aggressions while avoiding
Infinite Aliens pg. 12) self-genocide, the Teshnor as a species turned to
+2 Natural armor bonus. competitive high-danger sports, with racing in many
forms being a particular favorite.
Intelligence Rating: 7.6
Technology Rating: 6.3 Teshnor take mates for a decade, which is the amount of
Militancy Rating: 5.0 time it takes to hatch and raise a clutch of young to
Economic Rating: 3.5 maturity. Prior to human contact, Teshnor females laid
Individuality Rating: 6.9 about ten eggs per clutch, but now lay only one to three.

Background:
Originally a prolific species, the Teshnor eventually
overcrowded their planet, the jungle world of Tesh. As food
resources stretched thin, intertribal warfare increased, though
their high reproduction rate balanced losses in war.
Eventually putting aside old tribal differences, leaders began
concerted efforts to spread the race to other planets in the
system. With the knowledge and industry of the combined
tribes, colonization was swiftly underway. After some 70
years passed, at least one major settlement could be found on
every habitable planet and moon in the system.
With their discovery by humans came a whole new problem:
new diseases.
Most such illnesses were easily treated by the Teshnor, but
some unidentified bacterial combination caused a sharp
Teshnor range from two to four feet in height, and can
weigh anywhere from 30 to 60 pounds. While they are
perfectly capable of walking about on their hind legs,
most prefer to use all four legs when traveling quickly or
over longer distances, as their stumpy tails do not allow
great balance. Doing so forfeits the use of their hands,
however, so much of Teshnor clothing is covered with
pockets and pouches.
A Teshnor's body is covered by scales, with male
coloration ranging through the earth-tones and female
coloration through iridescent pastels, which seem to shift
colors easily in mating season.
Teshnor find work almost anywhere, as their curiosity
leads them to try almost anything, though they are most
highly prized as members of search and rescue teams.
 PUMP-LASER
by
Michael DocOutLands McNeill

The original pump-laser was developed by arms

designers at Valm'er Arms from technologies used on
laser-bores in asteroid mining operations.

The heart of the weapon is the laser shell, patterned in

principle design after ancient shotguns. The outer skin of
the shell is made from a spun polymer shaped into a
cylinder with one closed end. Situated against the capped
end is the initiating circuitry, powered when a pair of
barbs penetrate the polymer shell and transfer energy
from the power-cell in the weapon. Once power is
supplied, the initiating circuitry excites the fuel-rod, a
mixture of energetic gasses stabilized into a solid-slug
matrix by cryonic technologies. The resulting beam is
very damaging, but dissipates over a fairly short distance.

While popular with big-game hunters, law-enforcement,

and criminals for its damage potential and low cost, the
pump-laser design failed to win military attention due to
the very short range, limited number of shots, and the fact
the weapon-users had to track both the number of laser
shells in the weapon and the number of charges left in the
power-cell.
Weapon Type Damage Critical Range Increment RoF Ammo Size Weight Cost
Pump-Laser 5d8* 20 10 1 7 int large 8 1,000 sbc
50/battery

Infinite Horizons 17
ThisissueswehavesomegreatsamplesfromKiRynStudios.Youcan,indtheirstuffonRPGNowandother
placesaroundthenet,andafullreviewoftheirproductlineinthenon,ictionsectionofthisissue.
 !

Infinite Horizons 19
 Adventure Creating in Sci-Fi Games
By David Caffee
Sci-Fi gaming often open new oppertunities for
different sorts of game. Unforunitly, many games fall
into the same old rut of some sort of star wars clone.
So to help you broaden your Horizons (Pun fully
intnedned..,) we have put together a helpful guide to
siomple, but exciting Sci-Fi Adcvbtures.
Setting: This element of the story is the one that the
Game Master has the most control over and can be one
of the most fun to create. Setting is an area where you
can really go wild and create something that is truly
your own. Do not fall into the trap of following what
has already been done before. This campaign book
does not seek to define every planet and organization in
existence. Instead it contains a basic outline of human
space in general and a few example planets to help get
you started. In many ways the setting is deliberately
vague so that the GM can feel free to fill in the blank
spaces.
Human space consists of great many inhabited planets
with more being discovered all of the time. As a game
master you can easily create one of these planets from
scratch and use it as the backdrop for an adventure or
even an entire campaign. Because the worlds of human
space have been isolated for so long, you don't need to
worry about integrating this planet's history with the
rest of the setting. Your planet can be as primitive or
advanced as you would like and the physical terrain
can be as familiar or as bizarre as you need it to be.
You can populate this planet with any type of creature
or human culture that you want, from spear throwing
primitives riding Terra-Dracs to a planet where an
island culture is made up of people who are
telepathically bonded to whales and dolphins.
Keep your characters in mind when you build your
settings. If you know ahead of time that one of your
players wants to play an aquatic adaptiod then setting
the adventure on a desert planet might not be the best
idea. Likewise, an urbanized planet might not be the
most fun adventure site for a team of planet scouts.
Remember that as the Game Master you have control
of when the characters can travel and where they end
up. The world-bridge does not work like a normal form
of transportation. If you aren't ready for the
characters to leave yet then you can inform them that
there is not an alignment to take them off world. If
you want them to wrap up their business quickly then
you can let them know than an alignment is coming
up soon and if they miss it they will be stranded on
this planet for years. If you want to place your
characters on a specific planet without explaining
why, you can have them make a stopover on that
world on their way to someplace else.
Theme: This element of the story can be profound or
absurd according to you own tastes. A theme is best
stated as a general sentence such as War is always a
terrible thing or Greed corrupts. This sentence
describes a central idea that plays a big role in the
adventure. Creating themes in a Heritage adventure
can be fairly easy due to the varied mix of cultures,
technologies, and environments in the game.
The setting you create can play a big role in
establishing and reiterating your theme. One great
thing about science fiction is you can use it to play
with surreal images, extremes of human nature, and
abstract concepts. The setting is one method of getting
the point across. You could create a planet where
everyone has become addicted to powerful drugs and
the pharmaceutical conglomerates dominate over
everything. Or how about a world where people are
gender neutral and can use hormones to change sexes
at will? Perhaps your setting is a planet torn apart by a
political civil war or religious intolerance. Or perhaps
a world where people remain children forever.
Themes such as in the Heritage setting often involve
the search for the origin of human kind and what it
truly means to be human. The various bloodlines of
the human race have drifted so far apart in their physi-
cal, cultural, and psychological make-up that one has
to wonder if we can truly still be called one species.
These various facets of humanity often have very little
in common with each other and are often at conflict
with one another. Infinite Horizons 20

Mood: The mood of the story can be dark or light, comic
or serious as needed. Remember that the players at your
table have as much influence, if not more, than you do over
the mood of the game. If the players at your table are in the
habit of cracking jokes during gameplay then a darkly
serious adventure will not go as intended. Using Heritage
as an example, it was intended to be more serious than
humorous. This campaign setting also shifts between
hopeful and dark in turns. The Heritage universe can be a
gritty and morally ambiguous place, but it is also contains
examples of decency and virtue.
Setting: Like theme, setting and mood go hand in hand and
many of the details that you use to establish the mood will
come from the setting that you have created. The worlds of
human space include polluted wastelands ruled over by
totalitarian police states as well as utopian paradises where
poverty, war, and oppression are ancient memories. There
are pristine wilderness worlds where the native population
is being exploited by foreign powers. There are planets
where generations have struggled to undo the
environmental damage done by their ancestors.
Plot: The plot of your adventure simply states what
happens in the adventure and why. An adventure should
have between six and eight encounters with a good mix of
role-playing, combat, and skill use. In order to have a plot
you must first determine who or what is the villain in the
adventure and then design some encounters based around
that. Remember that the focus is going to be on short term
goals and probably a good amount of danger. Specific
locations might become important in the plot and these
places might need to be mapped out on graph paper or
constructed with tiles. A flowchart is a good way of
keeping track of decision points and major events in the
adventure.
Character: This element of the story would seem to be the
purview and sole domain of the players. However the
Game Master should strive to create memorable Non
Player Characters to populate the adventure. Even if the
players never remember the NPCs name, they will
remember to go talk to the cyborg with the broken eye that
twitches or the seven foot tall woman with the shaved head.
Likewise, an eccentric or physically distinct villain will be
remembered from the first time he or she is encountered to
the next.
Types of Adventures
There are two basic models for a Sci-Fi adventure;
planet crawl and freeform. Every adventure will have
its own distinct style that strikes a balance between
both modes of play. By knowing which model you
favor most, you can keep your adventure planning
focused. Don't over specialize though, make sure to
maintain a sense of balance and vary the gaming
experience. Some players enjoy the action and
simplicity of a planet crawl while others like the drama
and suspense of a freeform campaign. Most gaming
groups have a mix of both types and this makes it a bit
harder to keep the whole table happy. Whenever an
adventure leans heavily in one direction, try to
incorporate at least one element of the other type of
play. For example, a planet crawl adventure could in-
volve an allied NPC that is hiding a secret from the
characters or a freeform adventure might begin with a
thrilling shoot out and chase scene.
Planet Crawl: The PCs have come to a specific
location with a job to do. This type of adventure takes
place entirely in that location and does not usually
include a lot of travel between planets. The most
extreme variant of this adventure type has a
self-contained setting that serves to house the entire
adventure. This kind of setting could be something like
an excavated temple, an underwater colony, or a
military fortress. Whether the characters are here to
clear the area of hostile forces, recover a lost artifact or
they simply want to survive long enough to get back
home, the adventure stays focused on short-term goals.
Maps are used more frequently in this mode of play
and combat will likely occupy most of the game.
Tips for creating a planet crawl style adventure:
Stay focused. The characters should know exactly
what their goal is and how to accomplish it. The
majority of the adventure will be comprised of
obstacles that must be overcome in order to meet that
goal.
Don't be predictable. There are any number of
challenges that can hamper the adventurers as they
make their way toward the ultimate goal. A mission to
infiltrate a mercenary base could lead to conflict with
native creatures, primitive humans, or other unexpected
foes.
Infinite Horizons 21
Save rewards until the end. A large cache of weapons or
valuable treasure can make the adventure easier for the
characters if they find it at the beginning. Saving rewards
until the end also gives the players a reason to look forward
to the next adventure.
Freeform: A freeform adventure is one that focuses on
long term goals. The PCs are likely to engage in more
role-playing and use social skills like Bluff and Diplomacy.
An action scene in a freeform adventure is exactly the same
as an action scene in a planet crawl adventure. However,
in a freeform adventure, violent action may have
consequences for the characters, leading them to explore
other options or at least be discreet. Maps are used less
frequently in this mode of play and action scenes are likely
to be reserved to a few pivotal moments.
Tips for creating a freeform adventure:
Make sure the characters care about accomplishing
their long term goals. Money is a bad primary motivation
because the characters can get money in a number of
different ways. Getting revenge on a long-time foe or
finding a kidnapped loved one are examples of better goals.
Give clues, not answers. You should always give the
characters enough clues that they have an idea about what
to do next but the clues should never spell out the solution
for them. Too many clues can lead the characters to run
around in circles as they investigate different leads or
pursue separate villains.
Distribute rewards throughout the adventure. Unlike a
more action oriented adventure, a new weapon or a bunch
of cash isn't going to greatly affect the course of the game
in a freeform adventure. Sprinkling rewards in along with
clues helps to keep the game interesting.
Dangers
During the course of any campaign the PCs are going to be
exposed to danger of some type. A story lacks something if
there is no chance for the heroes to get hurt, no heart
stopping action that throws the characters into a desperate
struggle for survival. There are a number of sources of
potential danger: vicious alien creatures, human foes, high
tech traps, bizarre alien environments, insane super
computers. When deciding what type of danger to use,
remember to try and make the various forms of danger fit
together so that they do not seem to be randomly thrown
together.
Deciding when and how to introduce the element of danger
into your adventure is an important consideration. Too
much fighting and hanging off of ledges may detract from
an adventure that centers around delicate diplomatic
proceedings. Not enough action or variety of action dulls
down a combat-driven game. Remember that there are
other types of danger than just physical harm. An enemy
with the ability to have a planet scout's travel privileges
revoked is in a position to do him great harm, as is an
enemy who could arrange for all of a warrior's weapons to
be seized by the authorities. Other characters would suffer
equally to see close friends or allies turned away from
them.
Using Adversaries
The type of adversaries that the GM pits against the
characters has perhaps the biggest influence on the style of
your adventure. An army of high tech mercenaries who
have been hired to hunt the PCs down will use entirely
different methods than a sinister aristocrat who frames the
characters for murder. The characters may encounter other
foes besides villainous humans and ravenous creatures. A
planet's environment may become an enemy, challenging
the PCs will to survive.
Human adversaries are more interesting if they are unique
and the characters have good reason to oppose them. If the
characters are simply hired agents out to do a job then they
don't have any personal stake in the outcome. The worst
that can happen is a blow to their reputations that comes
from a failed mission. Having an adversary who is morally
bankrupt and despicable is one way to motivate the
characters to defeat him. Another way to do this is to have
the adversary harm or insult the characters personally.
Another great way to do this is to have the primary
adversary standing in the way of the group's personal goals,
such as an antiquities smuggler who steals the artifact that
the characters have been hunting for. The most memorable
villains combine all of these traits; vileness, personal
conflict with the characters, and interference with their
plans.
The Environment
Whether your campaign takes place amid the alien
wilderness of a newly discovered world or the high tech
labyrinth of a vast mega-city, the physical environment
around the characters will help set the mood of the game.
Certain scenes will require a map, marked out into squares,
in order to keep track of movement and position during a
battle. Each square represents five feet in character scale
and fifty feet in chase scale. Other scenes may tempt the
GM into writing an elaborate description of the environs
and their occupants. Very often, both of these methods
may be employed by the GM to make the players feel like
they are in the game. There are times when a little extra
preparation can make an adventure more enjoyable for all.

Military Campaigns
A military campaign is one where the characters' primary
mission will be combat related. Whether the character's
are mercenaries or members of a professional military
force is irrelevant. The goal is the same in either case;
destroy the enemy. The primary skills used in a military
campaign are Air-dropping, Demolitions, Hide and Move
Silently. Sometimes this kind of campaign will feature an
enemy that fights the PCs out in the open. Other times it
might not be clear who the characters are supposed to be
fighting.
Trade wars: Trade wars occur when two or more
economic interests clash over trading rights, sabotage
each other's interests or enforce their legal claims with
armed mercenaries. This type of campaign can share
many elements with a social/political campaign. The
player characters might be employed by a corporation that
is warring with a rival over trade rights or they might be
private contractor hired to by a government to subdue a
restless native population so that a precious mineral can
be mined.
Conquest: Either the characters are part of an army of
conquest or they are enlisted to fight against one. This
conflict could be the result of an advanced world seizing
territory on a primitive planet, perhaps taking it away
from another interest.
Espionage: The characters have been sent on a mission to
act as spies (or to catch them). This will often involve
going undercover in dangerous circumstances. The
characters have to act a part in order avoid suspicion.
They will also have to cover up their clandestine activities
or their lives will be at risk.
Power plays: Someone is making a grab for power. A
nation, organization or individual is on a quest for
increased influence. The prize at hand may be a position,
a piece of territory, control of a business, or a large sum of
money. However, the nature of the prize itself is
irrelevant compared to the power it promises. This type
of campaign will likely feature multiple parties all
struggling against each other for the same goal.
Personal quest / vendetta: Someone with a great deal of
influence has undertaken an elaborate plot for personal
reasons. The culprit is willing to take great risks and pay
great costs to see the fruition of his or her vision. Perhaps
this scheme is a matter of simple revenge and the PCs are
either the target or they are in the way. Perhaps the
person behind the scheme has more devious motives.
Either way, this one person's obsession threatens to
disrupt the conventional structure of power and this will
set political wheels spinning full throttle.

Security: The characters are hired to protect the interests

!
of some government, foundation or economic power.
Guard duty may sound tedious but many types of enemies
can be encountered in this type of campaign, from
criminal gangs and raiders to hostile creatures and shadow
agents.

Social/Political Campaigns
A social / political campaign is one in which the primary
skills are Bluff, Diplomacy, Cultural Sensitivity, Gather
Information, Intimidate, and Sense Motive. This
campaign style usually does not feature a single
antagonist with a clear plan, instead you have an
assortment of shifting alliances and unclear motives. The
PCs may never know who is really on their side, if
anyone. Some of the PCs may be freelancers trying to
play all sides against the middle. Others may be fiercely
loyal to one faction or another. In a social / political
campaigns members of the group can find themselves
working against each other as often as they work together.

Infinite Horizons 23
Trade Campaigns
A trade campaign is one where the characters' main goal is to make a profit. Any number of skills could come in handy
during this kind of campaign. The adversaries that the PCs might encounter include rival business interests, corrupt
authority figures and organized crime. This campaign model may share some traits with an exploration, military and/or
social campaign.

Speculating: The characters bounce from planet to planet, hoping that the goods they purchase on one world will be
worth more on the next. The potential profits are high but so are the risks. Also, pulse-gate fees and tariffs can eat into
your earnings. In this campaign, a deal is never going to be a simple exchange of goods but will always lead to
interesting social interactions, shoot outs, dangerous side jobs, and other complications.

Establishing a business: The characters come to a specific planet with the goal of establishing and operating a business
of some type. Many times this venture involves traveling to an unsettled world for the purpose of importing goods or
exploiting natural resources. This type of campaign can lead to a lot of exploration and, depending on the location, a lot
of conflict with criminals and armed groups.

Crime: The characters seek monetary reward by breaking the law. Robbery, vice, smuggling, murder-for-hire and
bribery, forged documents, computer hacking and/or confidence games.

Infinite Horizons 24
 STAR TRADER'S
LUCK
v1.05 - September 27, 2009 - Designed by Jorge Arroyo

MATERIAL:

5 Goods Dice Each has a picture of a good on each side.

1 Police Die With 2 faces showing a Police symbol, the rest blank.
A piece of paper and a pencil for each player.

GOAL:

Become the wealthiest trader within the allocated time.

GAMEPLAY:

Randomly decide which player will start playing. The active player then takes
their turn and play passes the player that has spent less total time. In case of a tie, the
turn passes to the tied player closest to the active player to their left. Note that a player
may in some cases play two turns in a row if everyone else spent more time than they
did.

Decide how long the game is going to be in game days. A turn can take between
1 and 5 days of game time. A short game can be played with a limit of 25 days, and
50 days are recommended for a normal game. Each player notes their starting amount
of money: 10 credits.

On their turn, a player must take the following steps.

- Step 1 Traveling

The player must decide how much time to spend to travel to their next planet.
They can spend 1, 2 or 3 days. By spending more time, a bigger planet will be reached,
so a player can either reach a Small, a Medium or a Big planet.

Alternatively, a player can choose to travel to the planet that the last player went
to. Before picking the dice up, they must say so and spend one more day than the time
required for a planet of that size. So if the last player went to a medium planet, the next
player must spend 3 days instead of 2. If this option is chosen, no re-rolls are possible,
and the player gets the exact same buying and selling options that the last player got.
- Step 2 Determining Available Goods and Prices

If exploring a new planet, the player now rolls a number of Goods dice: For a
Small planet, roll 3 dice, for a Medium planet, roll 4 dice and for a Big planet roll 5
dice.

After rolling, the player must set aside at least one die (which can't be re-rolled
anymore), then can re-roll the rest. This procedure can repeated, keeping at least one
die each time until the player is happy with the result or no more dice can be rolled.

The Goods shown in the dice are the available goods on that planet, and they're
also available in those quantities. So, if three Robot faces are up, three actual Robot
units are for sell on that planet.

If the player has cargo from another planet, they can sell all of it by spending 1
day. Then if they want to, they can buy any number of goods (limited by the availability)
of one type by also spending 1 day. Note that only one type of goods can be carried
so if the player already had cargo and didn't sell it, they will either have to buy from the
same type or discard their last cargo. To determine the selling and buying price (which
on any one planet are the same), use the following table:
 For example, if 3 Robot faces are up, the price for 1 Robot good is 6 credits. The
player can buy up to 3 Robot goods and all the goods bought that turn will have the
same price, no matter how many the player buys. The cargo limit is always 5 units.

Once this step is done, the player notes what they bought and at what price.
Also, the player must track the amount of credits they have at all times and the total
amount of time spent. It's good to note the time and money spent as the turn is played,
then at the end note the total for both. This way, mistakes are easier to avoid.

ILLEGAL GOODS

If the Goods roll doesn't show a particular good, then that good is considered to
be illegal on that planet. A player wanting to sell that type of good must roll the Police
die. If the roll shows a police symbol, then the police notices the illegal activity and
confiscates all the illegal goods from the player. The player is still free to buy goods.
Note that the player must spend 1 day anyway for the sell even if it wasn't completed.
The selling price of an illegal good is always 2 times what the player payed for it (that's
why buying price has to be tracked). If goods were bought at different times, use the
buying price for each part of the cargo separately (so if you bought first 1 Luxury good
at 25 and later 1 at 19, the illegal selling price is 2x19+2x25=88)

END

Once all the players have spent the total time agreed on at the start (no one can't
take more time after reaching the limit), the game ends and the player with most money
wins. Note that a player doesn't have to use all the allocated time. If there's not enough
time left to do anything useful, they may declare their game finished.

OPTIONAL RULES

- Free Buying and Selling: The players may buy goods even if they have other goods on
their ship (up to the maximum 5). They may also buy different kinds of goods if they
want on a planet. When selling they also can sell any number of goods from any type. If
playing with this rule, players should track both goods bought and goods sold on each
turn. This rule can be combined with the one below.

- Expanding the Cargo Bay: Players start with a limit of 3 goods that can be carried on
their ships (4 for a short game). Once each turn, they can, if they want, expand their
cargo bay by 1 unit. This takes 1 extra day and the price is 5 times their current limit.

CREDITS

Design and Graphics: Jorge Arroyo. Thanks to John W., Thomas Arnold and Andrew
Tullsen for the suggestions and the help to clarify these rules.
DICE

Print this page on light cardboard, cut, fold and glue to build the required dice.

LICENSE

These rules and pictures are Jorge Arroyo Gonzalez, 2009 and are released with a
Creative Commons license BY-NC-ND. You can distribute this file as long as it is not
modified and no profit is made.
 Sneak Peek at Altered Earth
By
David Caffee
Chaos Trip Studios

Background

Altered Earth is a role-playing game of high energy battles and thrilling adventures set against an epic science
fiction background. The action takes place in a futuristic world filled with endless possibilities. Any kind of
adventure that you can imagine is waiting for you in a setting that is filled with dangerous wastelands, high tech
cities, awesome war machines, and unexplored ruins.

Your character might be a gritty mercenary, a cold blooded assassin, an intrepid explorer, or a loyal soldier to the
cause. You might be motivated to seek out adventure for the sake of greed, for thrills, or simply to escape your
previous life. Or perhaps you have your own personal quest that you are pursuing.

Adventures

There are many types of adventures that can be had in the world of Altered Earth. It all depends upon the type of
role-playing campaign you enjoy. There is something for everyone in this setting, from in depth social role-playing
to military combat to high tech dungeon crawls.

The player characters may find themselves

exploring ancient ruins in search of lost technological relics.

infiltrating the fortress of a super powered warlord.

crawling through the mutant-inhabited sewers and tunnels beneath a sprawling mega-city.

crossing a desolate wasteland populated by strange creatures and insane robots.

battling against (or becoming) criminals in a dystopian urban nightmare.




THE FAR FUTURE
It is said that this planet was once green and full of life. They also say that a great civilization stretched across the
entire globe. We can never be sure, for all we know of this forgotten civilization comes from the crumbling ruins
that lie buried deep beneath the sands of the wastes.

It is said that civilization was destroyed, not in a single apocalyptic war, but in an endless stream of small ones. The
world turned barren, not because of a massive cataclysm, but a slow poisoning from radiation and toxic waste. The
population was devastated, not by a single plague, but multiple pandemics brought on by diseases that were once
curable. So came about the end of the old world. The legacy of this ancient civilization was a long dark age of
violence, economic ruin, starvation, and disease.

Out of the darkness came the rise of the warlords, invincible masters of the old technologies. Under their reign, a
new age has begun. This is the age of the mega cities, standing defiantly against the horrors of great wastes. The
world has entered an era of technological rebirth and unimaginable savagery. Along with the rediscovery of ancient
technologies have come horrific new uses for this knowledge. Human experimentation is commonplace and life is
held cheap by those in power.

Sample Creatures

CLONE SOLDIER
Mass produced from the cells of a preserved specimen, clone soldiers can be bred quickly and in large numbers.
These ready-made warriors are born with a physical age of 11 or 12 and are ready for combat within a few years.
The clones are raised to be fanatically loyal to the army, security force, or police unit that ordered their creation. The
warlords often use clone soldiers as disposable foot soldiers, while civic politicians and corporate executives deploy
them as security guards, political militias, and riot police.

CLONE SOLDIER LORE

A character knows the following information with a successful skill check.
(Science) DC 15: Clone soldiers that are bred together are identical when they are removed from the cloning tanks
but differences in age, life experiences, and diet cause them to display slight changes in their physical appearance.
Clone soldiers identify each other by their scars and by their data tattoos.
(Psych) DC 20: Clone soldiers are conditioned from birth to serve and sacrifice in the name of The Cause. The
Cause is never defined as a specific ideology, except to say that the Cause is what makes the army they serve
philosophically superior to any other. The Cause represents all that is good and just in the world; it is what separates
them from the purposeless masses. While the rest of the warlords and corporate moguls are self-serving and amoral,
the clone soldiers can rest well knowing that the leader they serve is truly dedicated to advancing the Cause.

Clone Soldier Fodder Troop Level 3 Minion

Medium experimental humanoid (brainwashed) XP 38
Initiative +6 Senses Perception +1
HP 1; a missed attack never damages a minion.
AC 18; Fortitude 15, Reflex 15, Will 13
Speed 6
m Bayonet (standard; at-will) Weapon
+10 vs. AC; 5 damage.
r Rifle (standard; at-will) Weapon
Ranged 20/40; +10 vs. AC; 5 damage.
Hit the Deck (immediate interrupt, when targeted by a ranged or area attack)
The clone soldier fodder gains +2 to AC and Reflex Defenses until the end of its next turn.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Universal
Skills Athletics +9
Str 16 (+3) Dex 17 (+3) Wis 13 (+1)
Con 14 (+2) Int 10 (+0) Cha 9 (-1)
Equipment rifle, bayonet, body armor.

CLONE SOLDIER FODDER TROOP TACTICS

When deployed alone, clone soldier fodder troops charge mindlessly at the enemy in massive human wave attacks.
When fighting alongside other creatures, the fodder troops will follow in the path of their more powerful allies. They
prefer to attack from a safe range but will not hesitate to engage the enemy with their bayonets.

Clone Soldier Grunt Level 3 Soldier

Medium natural humanoid XP 150
Initiative +8 Senses Perception +2
HP 46; Bloodied 23
AC 20; Fortitude 16, Reflex 17, Will 14
Speed 6
m Bayonet (standard; at-will) Weapon
+8 vs. AC; 1d4 + 4 damage.
r Rifle (standard; at-will) Weapon
Ranged 20/40; +8 vs. AC; 2d6 + 3 damage.
C Grenade (standard; encounter) Weapon
Area burst 1 within 10; +6 vs. Reflex; 3d6 damage.
Hit the Deck (immediate interrupt, when targeted by a ranged or area attack)
The clone soldier grunt gains +2 to AC and Reflex Defenses until the end of its next turn.
Alignment Unaligned Languages Universal
Skills Athletics +9, Stealth +10
Str 16 (+4) Dex 19 (+5) Wis 13 (+2)
Con 14 (+3) Int 10 (+1) Cha 9 (+0)
Equipment rifle, bayonet, grenade, body armor.
CLONE SOLDIER GRUNT TACTICS
Clone soldier grunts have survived long enough to realize that mass charges and hand to hand combat are not good
strategic options. Instead, they fire from cover and attempt to pin an enemy down with heavy cross fire. They use
their bayonets only when their ammunition runs out. Each clone soldier grunt carries a single hand grenade which it
will use the first time it has the chance to hit multiple enemies.
 Blue Kingdom: Mages & Magic

Magic fills the Blue Kingdoms. Its tendrils reach through the islands, ensnaring the denizens
of the World-Sea with effects both sublime and monstrous.
Magic . . . Pulses with the pull of the oars on a zombie slave ship. Flows from a dying
wizard into an unsuspecting princess. Plagues a half-ogress blessed with uncanny strength.
Manifests as a seductive and deadly guardian. Reveals itself too late to a shipwrecked
mage. Fuels the alchemical battle for the Philosophers Stone. Appears in many forms . . .
always when least expected. Delve into these pages and let our authors surprise and
ensorcell you! Stephen D. Sullivan - Jean Rabe Donald J. Bingle - Kelly Swails - Steven
Saus Ramsey & Margaret Lundock - Annette Leggett Brandie Tarvin
- Robert Farnsworth - Steve Rouse Marc Tassin - Kathleen Watness

Infinite Horizons 33
 What caused the downfall of the Usa people?
By
Ramsey Lundock
Despite all the mysteries solved by modern archeology,
the sudden disappearance of the Usa people in the late
21st and early 22nd centuries remains unexplained.
The difficulties in studying this era are well known to
archeologist, but I will briefly recap for the general
audience. The Usa people relied on digital methods to
store and maintain their records. In the Lusaka
University collection alone, we have several leagues of
magnetic tape, enough magnetic disks to cover one yoke,
and enough optical disks to cover one yoke to a depth of
one cubit. Until we find a 'digital Rosetta Stone,' this
information is simply an endless march of 1s and 0s.
Even the Usa printed material assumed that the reader
had access to the now vanished digital domain. My
colleagues are familiar with the sick feeling of finding
blue underlined letters on a page. It is a reference to a
now unattainable document, picture, sound, moving
video, or even a complete digital program. Anything
could come out of the blue as the Usa people used to
say.
We know that at the end of the Usa era there was a sharp
rise in diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disor-
ders. But there is evidence that the Usa people had
advanced medical technology capable of counteracting
these diseases. I don't believe these can account entirely
for the decline in fertility. Muttalib (2543) put forward an
interesting hypothesis that the increase in the number of
skeletons we find which suffered from these diseases is a
result of an increase in obesity, instead of the obesity
increase being caused by the spread of disease. I'm sure
Escobar disagrees with both of us, and I look forward to
debating the topic at the next meeting of the Zambia
Archeological Society.
Here I propose that the downfall of the Usa people was
caused by their computers. I am not attempting to revive
the long debunked theory of a robot rebellion. Instead, I
am proposing that the ubiquitous machines created an
environment disfavorable for procreation.
Throughout most of history it has taken the labor of at
least two people to maintain a household. One to bring in
raw materials, be it in the form of game meat, crops, or
money; and another to process those materials. During
the automation of the 20th century, household tasks were
targeted for technological improvement, making it
possible for a single individual to fill both roles. Without
a financial basis the nuclear family unit, the favored
family structure of the Usa, would have slowly dissolved.
This is not inconsistent with what we know about Usa
society.
There were certainly other factors at work. Their ability
to communicate digitally decreased the amount of face to
face interactions. And their networks of hundreds of
'friends' spread across the world would have decreased the
percent of time spent interacting with any single
individual, preventing the development of intimacy. This
leaves the question of how they dealt with lust. The
discovery of several anatomically correct humanoid
robots (Castro 2539), suggests one disturbing possibility.
But these appear very late in the Usa era, another means
of alternate satisfaction, probably involving their digital
network, seems more likely.
We know that the Usa continued to be a world power for
over a century, despite a sub-replacement birthrate. They
bolstered their numbers by attracting immigrants to the
center of their culture in North America and spreading
their technology and way of life around the world. If the
drop in reproduction had been driven by biological
factors, introducing new genes should have overcome
them. If instead the cause was precisely the technology
infused way of life they used to define themselves,
spreading the culture to more people would have simply
been pouring water into a bucket with a hole in the
bottom.
We know from reconstructed tax codes that the
government saw the dropping birthrate and implemented a
child tax credit to encourage procreation. The
government providing monetary help suggests there was
perception that people couldn't afford to have children.
When we compare the birthrates of the Usa people with
those of what were then called Third World Countries, the
idea that the Usa weren't rich enough to have maintenance
birthrate seems laughable. Perhaps they meant they could
not afford both children and yearly technology upgrades.
The Usa defined the boundaries of their culture not in
terms of political or ethnic units but in terms of consumer
technology. As hard as it is to imagine, I suggest that they
chose their machines over their children.
Infinite Horizons 34
We can only guess what the Usa people though as the birthrate dropped below replacement value. Perhaps individuals
thought they were simply enjoying a prolonged youth before settling down. Others probably thought that they were 'not the
marrying type' and left the continuation of the culture to 'normal' people. The couples with one or no children would have
seen themselves as beacons of traditional values in a singles society.

I admit this is all speculation. As the Usa disappeared the computers and digital network storing their culture and history
faltered and followed them into oblivion.

Infinite Horizons 35
 Ruby Red
By
Danielle Ackley-McPhail

There was blood on the counter. Just three little drops,
bright and deep all at once. Startling against the white
marble. I ran my finger through one gleaming
half-globe. It smeared a red spectrum along the edge of
the sink.
I giggled and the sound startled me. It was out of place
in the surrounding starkness, slashing a hole in the
silence that closed instantly. Dragging my lower lip
between my teeth I reached for the roll of tissue and tore
off a couple of squares. With great care I wiped away the
smear Id made, leaving the remaining two drops
pristine and the rest of the counter nothing but white. I
balled the tissue and clutched it tight in my fist.
The urge to giggle swept through me once more and I
ground down harder on my lip. The pain was sharp and
focusing. It allowed me to fight back the urge. It had
been so long since Id been allowed color. They didnt
trust me with color. Things happened.
I laughed with the joy of color. The white was swept
away. Bending, I scooped my hands through the redness
and encountered sharp-edge gems. Id found my rubies.
The sting of pain was life and I laughed more. Gone was
the sterile white. I lifted my arms, pale, white skin
trailing beads of blood from a hundred little nicks.
Red! Red like blood!
The bite of iron overwhelmed my other senses. The
smell, the taste, the slick, thick feel of it against my skin.
A liquid red tide swept over me, coating the walls and
sweeping away fruit and flowers and gems.
Redred like blood, I whispered again, a mere
moving of the lips, drowned out by the pulse of the tide.
Red swept me away.

I wrapped my arms tight around my body and stared at

the remaining two drops. Lost myself in the play of light
upon the gleaming surfaces. They sparkled like gems.
My breath quickened and I had to tuck my hands
beneath my arms to keep them still, to keep them from
reaching out and playing with the pretty color.

Red, I whispered. It was no more than a breath, nearly

just a thought. I didnt want anyone to hear. They would
take the drops away. Redred like rubies, like poppies
under the sun, strawberries dripping with dew.

The intensity ran like a wire up my spine. Each word

drew it taut; each image sprang into my mind and
spawned more. I buried my senses in each thing that
surfaced. My eyes were dazzled by the glimmer of
jewels, my nose filled with the smell of warm flowers,
my tongue savored the sweetness of ripe fruit.

Red!

The bathroom became a sea of red as my mental images

shaped reality. Flower petals scattered over the cold,
white tile; ripe fruit crushed beneath my feet as I circled
the room. Power swirled around me, brushed my skin,
danced among the strands of my hair. It was red as well.
Everything was red.

Infinite Horizons 36
!

Available
now at
RPGNow, E-23,
Pazio
and other
great online stores.
"#$!"#%&!'()$*+,-)./! 0(,!%&!1)%2(,!3244-.52(6!7889!

I hate
taking out
the Trash.
 In a universe filled with countless realities
and worlds, some are old and dangerous.

Bad Baby Productions, 2011 Art and Story by Robert Hemminger

 Some places of existence are ancient, worlds that
have seen many races born, only to move on.

Some worlds are so old they have seen

the universe itself born.

Such places can hold lore and power long lost.

I summon you
forth Iggalla.
 A silver light appears and glows with eldritch energies.

Then arrives Iggalla, The lord

of Digital Light long lost.

Why have you

summoned me
mortal?

I seek the
Codex

The Codex lies buried

and forgotten in time
and space. Seek it not.

I need its lore to defeat

the Machine Gods.

The Codex holds

great power, more
then you could hope
to control.

With it you could

re-write the Universe.

 I seek it only to gain the power to defeat the
soulless gods of metal and digital woe.
Then you are a fool.

They are too powerful
to defeat, many have
tried and all have failed.

A blast of laser light strikes at the Sorceress.

How can you expect to

stand before the Machine
Gods when you cannot
stand against me?

I will have the book

regardless of whether With her techo-magic the Sorceress strikes back.
you aid me or not.

Ha, Ha, Ha, good! You have proven that you are worthy.

Only one of power, dedication and blind obsession could hope

to achieve the Codex, for it lies at the center of the Universe.

 !

Miguel Santos
We have some great art for you this month from an artist who has developed a truly
wonderful style and look. We showcased his wonderful work in past issues of Game
Geek and though he should be the first artist showcased here in Infinite Futures.
 My name is Miguel Santos aka Pictish Scout. I was born in Angola and
now I reside in Lisbon, Portugal, where I studied History, Archaeology and Arts.

My sources of inspiration are:

Artists like Michelangelo, F. Frazzetta, Berry Windsor-Smith and John Buscema.

Writers like Homer, Robert E. Howard,

Lovecraft and Philip K. Dick.
Music genres like Rock, Metal, Classic
and Ethnic music.

Now I illustrate mainly for fantasy and

sci fi magazines, RPG books
and comic magazines.

Contact: miguel.santos.f@gmail.com

Online Gallery:
http://pictishscout.deviantart.com/ and
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/show
thread.php?t=106773
!

!"#$%&$'$()*(#+$
"(,-$.&$*()/$."-$
%&01$

Bad Baby Productions

Art
by
Robert Hemminger, 1996
Los Angles, 2156 It all started about two weeks ago. Ha, life was
easy then, all I had to do was worry about who was
trying to kill me that week. Dreben, hes my agent,
anyways, he contracted me out for an easy meat
watch job. Said the client was a mid-level
executive with Metracorps, you know, the big Mars
colony company. Anyways, this guy needed a bit
of watching for a few days, paid good credos, easy
job Dreben tells me. Well the last three times I did
bodyguard work the client ended up dead, not my
fault you understand, just how things turned out.
So I needed the gig, I got my reputation to protect
and all

Mr. Conrad what

do you have to
say about the
rumors that
Metrocorp has
unearth an alien
space craft
thousands, if not
millions of years
old, aliens that
might have come
from Mars?

Shit, easy job my cyber-enhanced ass. If the guy

was not looking at my tits, he was sneaking off
doing shit that was going to get him killed. The
biggest trouble was them damn Eco Terrorists,
screaming all the time that resources on Earth
should be protected, not Metrocorp digging new
holes up on Mars. They had threatened to kill any
Metrocorp executives they got their hands on.

Bad Baby Productions, 2011 Art and Story by Robert Hemminger

Anyways, here we where, supposed to be landing at
a secure site He said no
comment.
Come on Mr. Conrad, Umph...!!!
No whats the scope?
comment.

Damn! I just had

this coat cleaned.

No Shit! Now shut up comp

and give me a tactical readout.
THREAT LEVEL 100%. TWELVE TARGETS
IDENTIFIED. ALL ARMED.

ADVICE TO BIO-UNIT
TAKE COVER OR FLEE.
Hell of a bodyguard I turned out to be.
 What the hell
happened!? This is not good
Margarita.

I knew the shit was going to hit

the fan when I got back to The meat Why? He wasnt
Drebens office; this was the What do you anyone important.
got shot.
third job I had botched in two mean clean up


months. I was supposed to this mess. I told
keep the clients alive, not get that wart not to
them shot full of holes. go out. No he
had a hot date
with the newest
Hell after this screw up I drink sex girl
couldnt sell you as a and was all hot
bodyguard to a corpse. That to get his soda
my dear means that I get 10% on. If he had
of jack shit. That is until you stayed home, he
clean up this mess. would be alive Who cares? Your reputation is
today. dead now. Course if you could
get some payback for the poor
slob, that just might make a
So thats it?

difference. Get you hired
once more.

You screwed up for the

last time my dear, fix
this mess or look for a
new line of work.

So that was that. Now I had to go out and slap around a few
thugs just because they shot my client full of holes.
 What a life. Shit I should have listen to my Mom and became a joy-joy girl.

What can
Vid-phone, call Sam. I do for you?

Margarita Smith, well

what a surprise.
I had a client
Whats up Sam? Hows killed today.
the police business?

The cops went on the stock market a

few years back. Was a time they
could not catch a criminal if he was
under their nose. Now they wont
even try unless you pay up.

Ya I heard. Thats what I was Some days you should

thinking, someone just say home in bed.
tagged him. Could you
Tracer? do an autopsy for me?

Anyways, no one
knew he was going
Thats expensive.
out except him and
me, so the question
is, how did the Come on Sam, give me a break here.
assassins know
where we were
going to be? All right, I will give you a call tomorrow.
 Scan for Life Signs
by
Ramsey Tome Wyrm Lundock
As your characters search out new life and new
civilizations, have you ever stopped to wonder, What
exactly are they we looking for?
The search for life signs, or biosignatures as scientists
like to call them, is a topic of interest to modern science.
But despite all the research, there still isn't a clear
definition of what constitutes a biosignature or how to
find them. The actual science is rather dull, but I'll try hit
the interesting point you can use in your Sci Fi games and
fiction.
The Null Result
First, I need to say that not finding biosignatures doesn't
mean there isn't life. Even on Earth, subterranean
chemosynthetic ecosystems have existed undisturbed and
undetected for millions of years. On alien planets,
cloistered ecosystems cut off from the outside world
would be equally difficult to detect.
There are additional difficulties when scanning for life on
a planet from space. Even though Earth's seas team with
life, the deep waters mask the biosignatures, making them
undetectable.
There are many things which would argue against the
presence of life on a planet: lack of an atmosphere,
caustic atmosphere, extreme temperatures, hard radiation,
etc. But life on Earth has proven extremely adaptive and
resilient. So no matter how inhospitable an environment
seems, the characters should never let their guard down.
New Life
When searching for new life, the party's first step should
be to scan the planet's atmosphere. Even if the party isn't
specifically looking for biosignatures, scanning the
atmosphere is a good first step for three reasons. The first
is that the atmosphere's composition will impact how the
party explores the planet.
Second, because gases mix freely, the entire atmosphere
will show signs of life, reguardless of where the life
forms live. Even though the top layers of the ocean are
thick with plankton, the water masks their biosignature.
But the chemicals the plankton release mix with the
water, which then mix with the air. These biosignature
gasses can then be detected in the atmosphere. Finally
the most important reason is scanning the atmosphere
can be done from a safe distance.
Scanning the atmosphere is actually a process of
taking a spectrum. Everyone is familiar with using a
prism to break light up into a rainbow of colors. A
spectrograph is a machine which uses a prism (or
grating) to produce a rainbow and assign a quantitative
wavelength and intensity to each color. Different
chemicals in the atmosphere produce distinct signatures
in the spectrum. For identifying chemical composition
visible and near infrared wavelengths are the most
informative. Analyzing the spectra is a painstaking task
of comparing it against spectra libraries and models.
The wavelength, intensity and shape of the spectral
features also change based on a variety of factors such as
the temperature and pressure. For these reasons,
virtually every feature can be interpreted in multiple
ways, and scientific debate over a single spectrum can
continue for years. But for ease of game play, it is safe
to assume that in the future, science and computing
power will have progressed enough that a spectrograph
can identify compounds on its own and provide the
human user with those results.
So when a character looks at the composition of a
planet's atmosphere, what should catch his eye as
potential biosignatures? The scientific jargon is
chemical compositions which are not in
thermodynamic equilibrium. Which is a complicated
way of saying a rather simple idea: We know that
certain chemicals like to react with each other. For
instance we know that molecular oxygen (O2) will react
with just about anything. For a concrete example, we
know molecular oxygen (O2) and methane (CH4) will
react to produce water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
(For those of you who are interested in chemistry,
2O2+CH4 --> 2H2O + CO2) So, in a stable
environment, no matter how much oxygen and methane
you start off with, it will all react and turn into water and
carbon dioxide. Even when dealing with an entire
atmosphere, the reaction times are usually only a couple
of hundred years.
Infinite Horizons 60

So if when scanning an atmosphere, the characters find
different compounds which like reacting with one
another, we know from modern science, those
compounds can not coexist for long periods. So the only
possible explanation is that at least one of the chemicals
in the unstable mix was created recently.
Life is very good at releasing unstable chemicals, but it is
not the only possible explanation. Volcanoes also release
unstable gas. I don't personally know of any cases of
volcanically released oxygen, but it is not impossible.
Especially given the infinite strangeness of the universe.
Right now oxygen is regarded as the strongest indicator
for life. Fortunately oxygen produces a strong distinct
spectral signature with a 700nm wavelength in visible
light. Other important gases which can be detected in the
visible to near infrared are hydrogen (H2), methane
(CH4), water (H2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon
monoxide (CO), and ammonia (NH3). Water and
methane deserve special attention. Water is a stable
chemical but vital to all life as we know it. While an
acute lack of water (such as on Venus) would argue
against life, the presence of water (such as in comets)
doesn't necessarily indicate life. Methane is stable in the
hydrogen, helium atmospheres of gas giants. But it is
unstable around oxygen and carbon dioxide.
After the atmosphere, the next logical step is to scan the
planet's surface for life signs. This is much more
difficult. Thick clouds or oceans can hide life forms.
Currently there is interest in looking for photosynthetic
alien plant life based on its color. But this requires some
assumptions about the nature of the alien plants. Most
research focuses on the dramatic change in reflectivity
chlorophyll shows around the transition from visible to
infrared wavelengths. While the change in the spectra is
remarkable for a leaf viewed up close, it is much more
muted for a forest viewed from space. And there is
debate as to if the signal is visible at all for the Earth
viewed as a whole.
It is tempting to look for warm blooded animal life forms
based on their infrared heat. But the heat of a single life
form is negligible when viewed from space. And
inorganic sources, such as volcanoes, flowing water (or
other liquids), and shading from sunlight can also
produce differences in temperature.
The human eye is remarkably good at spotting movement
and patterns. Humans are so good at searching that they
can find patterns even where there aren't any (such as the
'face' on Mars.) A human watching a video feed with spot
life forms before a computer does. When searching for
life forms on the surface, the real question is how fine of
resolution you can achieve with your cameras from space.
For role playing games, this should be handled as a
perception, spot or search check, for the character using
the ships sensors.
New Civilizations
In many ways civilized life is easier to spot that simple
life. For instance, if the aliens light their cities, those
lights will be visible on the night side of the planet.
Civilizations also use fire to drive there industries. These
fires will produce heat, but heat isn't a particularly good
way to look for life (see above). More importantly the
fires will release carbon particles into the air which can
be detected in the initial atmospheric spectra.
Unfortunately volcanic activity also produces light, heat
and carbon particles.
Looking for straight line structures like roads or buildings
is another possible way to look for civilizations. This can
be conducted by visible or infrared light. Another
possibility is to scan the surface with radar, but this
should be a last resort. Radar requires broadcasting a
beam of radar down to the surface and watching for the
reflection. Since the beam is narrow, mapping the entire
surface of the planet will take prohibitive amounts of
time. It should only be used to focus on areas already
identified as interesting, or in case like thick clouds when
a visible search is impossible. The other drawback to
radar is that if the aliens are capable of detecting radar,
scanning a planet announces not only your presence but
your location.
But even when using radar, again it comes down to a
question of resolution and the characters are better off
trusting their own eyes and own judgment instead of a
computer.
On Earth, it wasn't until the 20th century that truly unique
makers of civilization started to emerge. The first is
broadcast radio waves. Naturally occurring radio bursts
are short lived and the frequencies change rapidly.
Artificial radio broadcasts on the other hand are stable
over long time periods in both power and frequency. The
broadcasts don't need to be communication based. Radar
broadcasts are also detectable from space. It is not
coincidence that radio and radar are in widespread use.
These wavelengths can travel long distances through the
atmosphere without attenuation. Alien civilizations
would have to deal with the same laws of physics as
humans, so it is reasonable to assume that all civilizations
will settle on about the same frequencies for their
broadcasts.
Unfortunately SETI (the Search for Extra Terrestrial
Intelligence) has been searching for alien radio signal since
the 1960s and has yet to find any.
The second civilization marker is complex industrial
pollutants such as fluorocarbons. These chemicals do not
occur naturally and their spectra are detectible in the
atmosphere.
Again scientists are always cautious and Strobel pointed
out the possibility of an as of yet unknown inorganic
catalyst on the surface being responsible. But since this
is science fiction: we know that not only can life carry
out reactions like this; life MUST 'eat' things like
hydrogen to produce the energy needed to live. There is
no need to invoke an unknown inorganic process to ex-
plain the phenomenon.

The final sign of civilization is artificial satellites orbiting
Earth. If these are present, the characters will know that
not only is the civilization intelligent, it is also spacefaring.
The Real Search for Biosignaturs
So what constitutes a biosignature and has alien life been
discovered already? I'm afraid that I can't give you a
good answer to that question. But questions without
answers make for good Sci Fi.

Michael J. Mumma of the NASA Goldwater Space Flight

Center announced that they have discovered a plume of
methane gas on Mars during 2003. Methane can not last
more than a few hundred years in Mars's carbon dioxide
atmosphere. What's more, previous spectra of Mars did
not show any signs of methane. After the Mumma group,
other groups confirmed the findings of methane on Mars.
This shows that something released new methane into the
atmosphere. Then by 2006, the methane signature disap-
peared completely from Mars's atmosphere.

This event demonstrates two types of instability. The fact

that after millions of years of stability, methane appeared
was surprising. Then once it appeared, the methane should
have been expected to remain for hundreds of years.
Instead it disappeared in a matter of months or years.
Always a cautious bunch, scientists don't dare speculate on
the origin of the Martian methane, saying that both organic
and inorganic explanations are possible. But we're not
scientists, so we can safely speculate that the methane was
produced by Martian life, and then eaten by other Martian
life forms.

In 2010, Darrell F. Strobel of John Hopkins University

announced an interesting discovery about Saturn's gaseous
moon Titan. On Titan molecular hydrogen is produced by
solar radiation and methane in Titan's upper atmosphere
(2CH4+light --> H2+ C2H6). This molecular hydrogen
then drifts down to Titan's surface. But hydrogen should
be very stable in Titan's atmosphere (even when
accounting for the possibility of ice volcanoes on the
surface). At this rate, the atmosphere should have long ago
filled up with hydrogen. The fact that it hasn't filled up
indicates that SOMETHING absorbing the hydrogen.

Raging Swan Press

Infinite Horizons 62
 For the love of Who
By
Alasdair Shaw

He's in our DNA. We can't escape his influence, even if

we wanted to. We've grown up with him, our parents
grew up with him and even our Grandparents know who
he is. All through our lives he's been there, dropping in
to see to our living rooms in his time travelling blue box
ever since 1963.

He's the Doctor and he'll always be there for us.

I mean, yes, the general public might think that he

abandoned us at the tail end of the 80s and except for a
one night visit in 1996 didn't return to us til 2005, but
we know different. We know he didn't abandon us.

For the faithful the Doctor stayed in our lives in the

form of the New Adventures, regularly released books
that kept us in touch with our favourite Time Lord.
These books continued the threads started by the last
few series of the show and ran with them, expanding the
Doctor's worlds at a rate that the show just couldn't
match.
Then in 1996 Sylvester McCoy turned into Paul
McGann and suddenly we all hoped that maybe, just
maybe, the Doctor was back to stay. Sadly it wasn't to
be and so the the Doctor's regeneration carried over into
the books and the adventures in print continued.
In 2005 the Doctor finally returned to our living rooms
and Saturdays and life returned to normal.
Well almost.
If you're a fan of the new series then you can catch up
very easily. DVDs abound of these new Doctors. With
the exception of some material from the 60s it's
reasonably easy to catch up with the classic series as
well. But what if you're a fan of the Doctor in print?
How easy is it to catch up then?
A lot more difficult than it should be.
These books are out of print. If you want a copy then
you're going to have to troll round Ebay and Amazon
and even then you're not guaranteed to find the books
you're looking and that's even before we get onto how
much you're going to pay for them. Quite a few of the
books are staggeringly expensive and can end up
getting you into bidding wars with fellow book
enthusiasts.
But it doesn't have to be that way. The Doctor Who Reprint
Society was formed with two simple targets in mind. To
provide a voice for all the fans wanting new reprints and to
deliver affordable reprints into the hands of fans.
I formed the Society last year out of frustration at this
situation. I was prepared to be the voice in the wilderness
shouting about wanting these books. But then something
unexpected happened, people listened.
The Society has been slowly but steadily gathering
members and contributors.
It all started with Jesse and our logo.
I decided that we needed to brand the website and that a
logo was the best way to go, so I posted an ad on one of the
DW forums. Jesse answered with a few helpful suggestions
and before we knew it one thing had led to another and he
was on board as our we designer.
Then on another night I was visiting friends with my wife
and got into a conversation with Greig about Who and
writing and as we left that night the site had acquired a
reviewer to let new readers know about the books.
When I went hunting for an artist to provide covers I could
never in my wildest imagination have hoped to have an
artist from Marvel comics offer his services. Yet with
Jacopo that's exactly what I got.
Infinite Horizons 63
And on the subject of comic books, we also have regular web comics coming drawn by comic book professional Jim and
written by myself.

Our ever expanding contributors now include a regular columnist in the form of Matthew and a Podcast courtesy of Sean
and Erik.

So, just how have I managed to attracted these talented individuals to help with running the DWRS? Why have they all
agreed to give of their time and talents? How, just how, have I been this lucky?

It all comes down to the love of Who. The old man is part of our DNA now. It's not only his onscreen and in print
companions that he brings the best out it.

It's us as well.
You can find this great site at...

http://reprintthedoctor.weebly.com/index.html

Infinite Horizons 64
 Reviews
By
Michael DocOutLands McNeill

FUTURE ARMADA DECKPLANS

Ki-Ryn Studios
In a science-fiction game, starships are as much a part of
games spanning planets as castles and dungeons are a part
of fantasy games. So you can never have too many ships.
You may be flying them in combat against devious
asteroid pirates, racing through one on foot to escape
Star-Empire lackeys, or hunting down a desperate bounty
in a space-going city. This means, as GM's, we need maps
of starships and space-stations aplenty.

Now, I freely confess to being challenged in the visual arts

department - even my stick figures look bad. Fortunately,
science-fiction publishing attracts a great many artists who
are good at what they do and want to share with us. I
believe Ryan Wolfe, of Ki-Ryn Studios, is one of the very
best.

Each Future Armada ship or station product starts out with

a detailed write-up on the ship and its crew, with a
backstory to give it roots in your campaign. He has also
included stats for the ships in D20 Modern-compatible
format. In addition to the plans and stats for the title ship,
most of the products I have seen include at least one 'extra'
- a fighter, shuttlecraft, or even a ground-car. One of my
first purchases, the Misfortune, includes details on three
large cargo ships, numerous different special-purpose
As you look at the offerings, you will undoubtedly say to
cargo modules, and a small vessel for handling single
yourself, I've seen that ship before...I think. Mr. Wolfe
modules - which then had its own variations.
freely admits to following in the steps of legends.
Wayfarer is inspired by the Bird of Prey. Most of my
Mr. Wolfe's deckplans are almost pieces of art, but are
designs are derivative of some existing ship (whether
intended for use on your gaming table. Sized to fit on
consciously or not). But he has a specific reason for it.
standard 8.5x11 paper, the designs have a small amount
The last couple (15 & 16) look like Star Wars ships but
of overlap between pages to facilitate alignment. Maps are
are actually based on the miniatures rather than the movies
provided in vibrant color and in printer-friendly black and
because I wanted people to have minis that looked like
white (well, more of a grayscale, really) and are scaled to
their character's ship.
the gaming standard of 1=5'. As a bonus, most of the
products include a poster-sized combat map of the entire
So far, I have identified ships inspired by the Millennium
ship printed to the same scale. Granted, making use of this
Falcon, a Klingon Bird of Prey, the Serenity, Emperor
bonus feature will entail a trip to a local print-shop with a
Palpatine's shuttle, and Darth Maul's Sith Infiltrator. I'm
large-format printer.
thinking some of them may draw from the Thunderbirds,
but that's more of a stretch on my part. One looks like a
In addition, each product contains an art folder that houses
space-going F/A-18 Super-Hornet on steroids. What I do
some outstanding artwork that places each ship or station
know is that they are, truly, inspired.
in its element and makes it feel alive.
Infinite Horizons 66
Mr. Wolfe says there are four more
products planned for the line, with
the privateer ship Midnight Rose due
to hit the shelves of RPGNow.com in
about two weeks. Once he finishes
up his plans for the Future Armada
line, Mr. Wolfe doesn't plan to
disappear. I'm planning to continue
Future Armada up to issue 20 while
transitioning to a new product line.
The new line will still be starships
and deckplans, but will skip the
(outdated) d20 Future stats and focus
on art and maps more than
background details. Rumor has it
this new line will cover more generic
and interconnectable map-tiles,
rather than specific ships.

At the moment, the line contains the

following ships (with roles listed):
Morningstar - heavy corvette
Venture - free trader
Wayfarer - scout ship
Midguard - three variants: carrier,
heavy carrier, cruiser
Jo Lynn - transport (with original
gunboat configuration variant)
Exeter - tramp freighter
Vanguard - small space-station
Mercury Trio - three small ships
Drake - exploration vessel
Argos III - large space-station
Invictus - carrier
Gryphon - mercenary for hire
Misfortune - bulk freighter
Orion - strike carrier
Lakota - armed courier
Talon - bounty hunter

Crew sizes for the ships range from

1-2 personnel into the hundreds.
Most of them have some sort of
variant or extras included. The
Invictus and the Argos share
interchangeable elements in their
spin-ring sections, as well.

Infinite Horizons 67
Demo documents for all available products are available for downloading on the Ki-Ryn Studios website
- http://ki-ryn.com/Future_Armada/ - and are well worth having as you try to structure your purchasing so that you know
what each ship is best suited for (group size, in-game functions, etc).

If your gaming action will happen aboard a ship or station, you need a plan. Ki-Ryn Studios has the best plans of specific
vessels I've seen yet. Check out the demo documents on the Ki-Ryn Studios website and buy them from RPGNow.com.

(http://www.rpgnow.com/index.php?cPath=1607) or e23
(http://e23.sjgames.com/credits.html?t=publisher&n=Ki%20Ryn%20Studios ).

Infinite Horizons 68
 Reviews
By
Megan Robertson

The Paladin Spaceplane by Blue Max Studios

Herein is presented an incredibly useful workhorse of a
vehicle, capable of atmospheric as well as interplanetary
flight, the sort of thing found flitting around low planet
orbit just about anywhere space travel has matured beyond
the 'moonshot' level currently enjoyed today in the real
world.

The introductory notes, written in a delightful academic

review style, as an historian of the development of
space-capable vehicles might write, tells of the
development of the orbital equivalent of a business jet.
This history not only looks at the rationale under which it
was designed but has a fascinating tale of how much of the
design leaked into 'open source' and how this has, despite
the annoyance of the company who developed it,
contributed greatly to the Paladin Spaceplane's success!

So, to the Spaceplane itself. Vaguely reminiscent of the

real-world Space Shuttle, it can reach orbit from the
planetary surface from either a runway or by launch with
rocket assist from a gantry, if you are departing from an
orbital facility or asteroid it's a lot easier as you do not
have such a gravity well to contend with. You will need a
runway to land on, if returning to the planetary surface,
which some may find limiting.
Normally flown by three people - a mission commander, a
pilot and a payload officer - it can be flown solo if
equipped with an AI. The flight deck actually
accommodates five, so favoured passengers or additional
crew can 'sit up front' as desired. The main living area has
sleeping space for four as standard (assuming at least one
person will be on duty at all times) but can be reconfigured
with extra chairs and wall-mounted sleeping bags if more
people need to be accommodated. In back there's a cargo
space, complete with controls for operation of a 'cargo arm'
(did I say this thing looks like the Space Shuttle?).
In some ways it is quite a primitive ride. As well as basic
sleeping facilities, there is only one lavatory, which
operates in anything from microgravity to a 1g field.
Likewise, space suits are not normally carried, if there is a
catastrophic loss of pressure 'rescue balls' will have to
suffice. You also have to walk through the cargo bay from
the main living area to reach the single airlock exit. No
doubt, given the proliferation of open source modifications
available, someone has produced a luxury version for the
wealthy who require orbital transportation!
Normally flown by three people - a mission commander, a
pilot and a payload officer - it can be flown solo if equipped
with an AI. The flight deck actually accommodates five, so
favoured passengers or additional crew can 'sit up front' as
desired. The main living area has sleeping space for four as
standard (assuming at least one person will be on duty at all
times) but can be reconfigured with extra chairs and
wall-mounted sleeping bags if more people need to be
accommodated. In back there's a cargo space, complete with
controls for operation of a 'cargo arm' (did I say this thing
looks like the Space Shuttle?).
In some ways it is quite a primitive ride. As well as basic
sleeping facilities, there is only one lavatory, which
operates in anything from microgravity to a 1g field.
Likewise, space suits are not normally carried, if there is a
catastrophic loss of pressure 'rescue balls' will have to
suffice. You also have to walk through the cargo bay from
the main living area to reach the single airlock exit. No
doubt, given the proliferation of open source modifications
available, someone has produced a luxury version for the
wealthy who require orbital transportation!
It is a well-presented and useful vessel that can be employed
in a range of roles and settings, even if you are not using the
OpenD6 ruleset. Worth keeping to hand if your game
involves space-faring from the real-world 21st century on...
Wearealwayslookingforcontenttoincludeinfutureissues
ofthisgreatlittleezine.Ifyouwouldliketosubmitgaming
content,,iction,artornon,ictionmaterials,orjustwantto
writeandtellushowwearedoing,
thensendallcorrespondenceto

Rob
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Hemdog560@hotmail.com

Infinite Horizons 71
 Other great products from Avalon Games
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 Reviews
By
Michael DocOutLands McNeill

Paper Figures by Finger of Toe Models

FTM is the brainchild of Glenn Williams and shows his
love of tabletop wargames. His fifty-two (and counting)
models go together quickly and easily. Most of them are
modular in nature and can be combined in myriad ways.
FTM products are primarily scaled for use with standard
gaming minis. The new Action: Outlands line (yes,
named after me!) was designed to build structures large
enough (and strong enough) to work with Star Wars and GI
Joe figures. This set still works with the smaller sets and is
a good graphic match for them.

Mr. Williams has grouped his models into thematic sets,

including urban dystopia (Slagtown), futuristic battlefield
(Tango Prime), and stand-alone weaponry (Arsenal). He
hasn't forgotten the old stuff, either. A Megalithic
standing stones set and a Lost City set have been available
for quite some time, while Mesoamerican and Egyptian
architecture have recently been hitting the virtual shelves.
At least one more Egyptian set (a palace) is nearing
completion and teaser pics shared by Mr. Williams show
buildings with detailed interiors and an outer style that
would be at home on any desert planet - in any galaxy.

FTM hasn't missed out on the vehicle market, either. The

Coyote four-wheeled scout, Hexentodt fire-support craft,
and Shiva fire-support/transport can all be carried in the
cargo bay of the Bumblebee or its militarized counterpart
the MilBee. The Wasp is available to fly gunship support.
Several other dropship and utility vehicles are also
available, as is a cargo spaceship in both wrecked and
flight-worthy styles.

Mr. Williams has two small models available as free

downloads from RPGNow (a watchtower and a barricade
section) and a host of other goodies priced at just one
dollar. Finger and Toe Models can quickly and easily
cover your gaming surface with vehicles, buildings,
landing pads, and other set-dressing, allowing your
otherworldly adventures to come to life in your players'
eyes.

Infinite Horizons 73
 Putting On Your Virtual Game Face
By
Danielle Ackley-McPhail

The internet is amazing! Absolutely amazing! In the last

twenty years (give or take) it has totally transformed
most of our lives, including the way we do business. It
has simplified the way we communicate, the way we
pay bills or buy goods-not to mention the astounding
plethora of ways in which we can now be taken
advantage of-and, as writers, it has in many cases
completely revamped the way in which we submit our
work for publication.
If you haven't gathered yet, this is something of a pet
peeve with me. Nothing bothers me more than
Like I saidAmazing!
someone sending me a query or submission that is
informal to a fault, or downright unprofessional. It is
And as easy as it has become to submit our work; it has
even worse when it is someone I know or have worked
become correspondingly easy for that work to be
with previously. Frankly, it shows a lack of respect and
rejected.
if I as an editor am to do my job, it is vital that there be
an exchange of respect.
So, why have I felt compelled to write about this? Well,
as some of you might know, I am also an editor.
First Contact
In most cases, the first time you interact with an editor
You know what that means?
it will be via a letter, be it print or electronic. That
makes it that much more important to make the right
I see up close and personal many of the mistakes
impression. With that in mind, let's take a look at the
individuals make when submitting electronically.
proper elements of a formal letter and see how they
need to be adapted for the electronic medium:
I also happen to know that most editors and publishers
receive so many submissions on a daily basis that they
Date - Here is our first difference; in written letters the
look for reasons to reject them. Heck, they look for
date comes first at the top of the page and that must be
reasons to not even read them, or to stop reading them
added. With email the date is part of an automatic
if they have indeed started.
timestamp, so this is a no braineryou couldn't get it
wrong if you triedwell...unless you happen to be
Don't get bent out of shape about that, it's the only way
submitting before a submission period has opened, or
they can get through the piles of submissions in
after it has closed, but that is a topic for yet another
anything resembling a timely manner, and if you have
article, isn't it? Anyway
not put forth your best face in the cover letter or the first
few paragraphs of your work, they are going to presume
Address - well, that one is likewise simple enough,
you haven't in the rest of it either, automatically
whether print or electronic, mail must include
relegating you to the dreck pile whether the descriptive
information on where it is to be delivered. If this
applies or not.
information is not correct your communication will not
reach the individual it is intended for. With that in
So, that brings me to the problem with email. It fosters
mind, always confirm you have the address correct.
a sense of informality. That's fine when you are chatting
With print mail sometimes a simple error in address
up your new internet love or sending a letter to your
will not matter as the post office goes to some extreme
mom, but when you are doing business, it's important to
effort to make sure mail gets where it is intended to
remember that while the medium has changed, the
go, practicing some amount of detective work when an
proper conventions have not. Sadly, this does not seem
address is clearly incorrect or in part illegible, or
to be as common knowledge as I would expect.
returning the mail to the sender if delivery is not
possible. With electronic mail, errors are of much
(Time to get out the Miss Manners books, folks.)
more concern. There are three possible outcomes:
1)
You will get an error message that says your
mail cannot be sent.
2)
You will get a Mailer Daemon message saying
your mail cannot be delivered.
3)
Your mail will be delivered, but to an individual
other than the one it was intended for. If you are very
lucky, they will be kind enough to email you to inform
you of your mistake; if you are just a little lucky, all
they will do is delete it, but you will never know it has
not gone where it is supposed to; if the luck gods
completely frown upon you, this unknown individual
will use your content for their own gain.
Sobe sure to confirm the address to ensure it is both
typed correctly, and the proper address to send your
material to.
Subject - Unlike a personal or informal letter, business
letters sometime contain a subject line, making them
much like emails today. In the case of submissions it
would likely be something like the following:
* RE: Story Submission - <Insert Title>, or
* RE: Story Proposal - <Insert Title>, or
* RE: Query - Story Submission - <Insert Title>
Soyou get the idea. Again, this is yet another parallel
between print and electronic mail. It is also one of those
areas where professionalism often breaks down. When
you are just connecting with friends or family the
subject line and its formatting doesn't really matter, in
fact, there are times when many of us haven't even
bothered to include one. Not a big deal, right?
Mostly, unless we are talking about business.
When communicating by email, alwaysalways
include a subject line. Make sure it is professional,
clear, and spelled correctly. Do not get clever. Do not be
sloppy. Do not be informal. Depending on the content
of your communication, something similar to the above
examples would be appropriate, unless, of course, the
venue you are mailing to has provided specific
guidelines regarding what the subject line should be.
Always check to confirm as this is a common practice
among the major magazines and publishers that accept
online submissions. Ultimately, your subject line should
be relevant, brief, and professional when dealing with
matters of business. (In case I have somehow been
unclear in this, that includes all initial communications
between prospective authors and any publishers, agents,
or editors you may contact regarding your work; the
only time you should be informal is if the professional
you are contacting has initiated and/or encouraged that
tone themselves.)
Greeting - It is important to acknowledge who you are
emailing. It shows you have manners, and it also confirms
the email went where it was intended to go. In some cases
you will know who that is by name, sometimes you will
not. Here are some ways to deal with the matter:
* To Whom It May Concern - This is a bit dated, but
acceptable to use when you do not have a name of the
individual that will be receiving your submission.
* Dear Sir or Madam - again this may be considered dated,
but a reasonable greeting for situations where you don't
have a specific name, or for situations where you have a
name but the gender of the individual is not readily
identifiable.
* Dear Mr. <Insert Last Name> (or Dear Ms. <Insert Last
Name>) - In an initial contact where you have a person's
name and that name is gender specific it is best to opt for a
more formal approach unless and until that individual
indicates otherwise. In the case of women's names, always
preface with the suffix Ms., unless you know their marital
status. The reason you want to be formal initially is both
because you want to establish your professionalism and
because it is a sign of respect.
* Dear <Insert First Name> - This form of address is
recommended in only three instances: when you have a
previous relationship with the individual; when the
individual makes it clear you may be familiar by closing an
email with their first name only; when the individual
specifically requests that you use their first name. Again,
this comes down to professionalism and respect.
* Name Only - Some feel the use of Dear as a greeting is
dated and somewhat uncomfortably personal, resulting in
its omission in many communications. Each person will
have their own feeling on the matter, but apart from the use
of the word Dear, the two previous bullet points should
come into play in this regard.
* Omitting the Greeting - as I mentioned earlier, the
internet fosters a sense of informality. Because of that, the
trend has developed of omitting a greeting all together, with
the assumption that email addresses are so specific to an
individual that a greeting is not needed. It is assumed that
the mail is clearly for that individual. That is your call, but
keep in mind sometimes your level of professionalism will
be the deciding factor in the outcome of a query. In those
instances the recipient's view on the matter will be the
deciding factor, not your own. My advice, always err on the
side of being more formal; it is much less likely to reflect
poorly upon you as a professional. This, of course, applies
to initially communications only, as you should be able to
use your own judgment after that point to determine what is
appropriate based on the other individual's responses.
Infinite Horizons 76

Content - in publishing-as with most businesses-people
generally have more work than they do time. With that
in mind, the body of your email should be brief, clear,
and professional. Before you email a query or a
submission always be sure to check the publisher,
agent, or editor's website for any specific guidelines that
might apply to your situation. They will often list
exactly what they want in a cover letter (if they want
one at all), what additional information they might
need, and how they would like to receive it. And for
goodness sake, make sure you spelled everything
correctly and used good grammar! They aren't going to
have much confidence in your submission if you can't
show them you can write a basic letter properly.
To give you an idea of what they look for:
* Information on your story (or proposed story): title,
word count or anticipated word count, genre, and if it is
part of a planned series.
* Information on you: your name, contact information,
the highlights of any pertinent publishing history, and
any major awards you may have received.
* Proposals/Synopses: Some publishers don't want to
receive a full manuscript, they ask for the first three
chapters, or sometimes just a proposal and a marketing
plan (that's a whole other article's worth of information,
so don't even askyet). When a proposal is requested
they want basically a book report on exactly what
happens, not every single detail-because, you know,
that would be, like, sending them the whole book-but
the key events. This is not the time to be coy and
mysterious; they want to know what makes your book
interesting and unique, they do not want hints and
implications. Check the internet and you will find
plenty of resources telling you how to write an effective
proposal.
Conclusion - This is your choice, but I always like to
end on a gracious note. Thank them for giving them
your attention before you sign off.
Closing - Yet again, another convention that may seem
out-dated, but traditionally all letters included a polite
sign off before the name of the person writing the letter.
This is still a good practice. Some of the more common,
and applicable, ones are: Sincerely, Best regards, and
Thank you. Don't get fancy, don't be quirky, it is more
likely to reflect poorly on you than anything else. The
cover letter should inform, not distract.
Signature - Or in the case of the internet, eSignature.
This should be your full name, first and last. There are
several reasons for this. First off, it is both polite and
professional; second, in all likelihood, the person
receiving this does not know you personally; and lastly,
particularly with submissions, there is a very good chance that
your cover letter may become disassociated with your actual
manuscript. All of that makes it important that someone
looking at one or the other be able to identify that they are
related, and you can't bank on your title being unique and
distinctive.
A second note on this, you should use your legal name on a
cover letter, rather than a penname, as that is what the
publisher will use for contracts or checks, should you be
fortunate enough to reach that stage. If you write under a
penname, however, mention that in your cover letter. (If
nothing else it will help them verify which letter goes with
which manuscript when things get invariably jumbled.)
Example: Submission Letter
To: editor@publisher.com
RE: Submission - Yesterday's Dreams
Dear Sir or Madam,
Attached please find my novel, Yesterday's Dreams, an urban
fantasy based on Irish Mythology. The manuscript is
approximately 119,000 words long.
While this is my first novel, my short stories have appeared in
Tales of the Talisman Magazine, and the award-winning
Defending the Future anthology series. I am also the senior
editor of the award-winning Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series.
To find out more about my work, please visit
www.sidhenadaire.com.
Thank you in advance for your time and consideration; I look
forward to hearing back from you.
Best Regards,
Danielle McPhail (writing as Danielle Ackley-McPhail)
Example: Query Letter
To: agent@getmebucks.com
RE: Query - Yesterday's Dreams
Dear Sir,
My name is Danielle Ackley-McPhail and I am looking for
representation for my novel, Yesterday's Dreams, an urban
fantasy based on Irish Mythology. This is the first in a
proposed three-book series.
In the novel, Kara O'Keefe, a first generation Irish-American
with elvin blood, must pawn her cherished heirloom violin to
save her family from eviction. To that end, she takes it to the
pawnshop, Yesterday's Dreams, where the pawnbroker,
Maggie McCormick, is actually one of the Celtic Sidhe sworn
to protect the O'Keefe clan. This chain of events brings Kara
and her magical potential to the attention of Olcas, an ancient
and evil foe of the Sidhe. Unwittingly caught between the two
forces Kara struggles with the changing boundaries of her
world while fighting to remain free.

The novel is complete, at approximately 119,000
words. May I send it to you for your consideration?
Thank you and best regards,
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
www.sidhenadaire.com
Following Up
It is very tempting, particularly with the ease of internet
communications, to pester someone to whom you have
sent your work for consideration. Resist. Hard. Editors
are overworked, short on time, and often short on
patience. If you make a nuisance of yourself there is a
good chance it will have the opposite of the desired
effect. Most publishers' websites give you an idea of the
response time you can expect. Look for that, mark it on
your calendar, create a reminder in Outlook or whatever
calendar program you have on your computer, and
whatever you do, do not email the editor about your
submission until after that date. It is okay to follow up,
but not to pester.
Often when you send in a submission directly to a
person they will send you an acknowledgement email.
Respond to that with your thanks and then forget about
the whole thing for a while, until sufficient time has
passed to make a follow-up reasonable.
Example: Follow-Up Letter
To: editor@hurryupandwaitpub.com
RE: Submission - Yesterday's Dreams
July 6, 2011
Dear Editor,
I submitted the above novel to you for consideration on
January 6, 2011. It has been six months, and per your
website, I am following up to ask if you have had a
chance to review the manuscript.
I away your decision.
My best,
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
Dealing With Rejection
I guarantee you that at some point you are going to
receive a rejection in response to a query or submission.
In fact, there is an excellent chance you will receive
many; more, in fact, than you receive acceptances or
contracts, if you are like most of us. (Let's face it, if it
were otherwise you wouldn't be reading this book!) It is
very important for your potential career that you never,
ever respond to a rejection letter, unless it is to thank
them for their time and the opportunity to submit.
* Do not rail at them for not seeing the brilliance of
your work.
* Do not threaten them.
* Do not plead or pester.
* Do not demand to know why.
All of the above will serve but one purpose: to lock you
into the publisher/agent/editor's memory as, at best, a
difficult person to work with and not worth the hassle;
at worst, a crackpot worthy of a restraining order. I
cannot tell you how many stories I have hear about
hopeful authors that have damaged their chances by
such unprofessional behavior.
However, if you do choose to respond to the rejection in
a politely and professionally manner, it is very likely
that you will stand out in the editor's memory, which
may serve you well in the future, should you submit
further stories to the same venue.
Example: Rejection Acknowledgement Letter
To: thatdamnededitor@publisher.com
RE: RE: Your Submission
Dear Editor,
Thank you for informing me of your decision. I am
sorry the story did not meet your needs, but I appreciate
your feedback and look forward to future opportunities
to submit.
My best,
Danielle Ackley-McPhail
!
!
Infinite Horizons 78
 Summing Up !
There is a lot of competition in the publishing industry.
A lot of those people don't know what they are doing.
Not saying that to be mean, it's just a fact. Heck, there !
have certainly been times when I've been out of my
element, so I definitely know of which I speak, as they
say. Your job, should you chose to acknowledge it, is to
distinguish yourself from those that haven't got a clue.
Clearly, you have already displayed initiative in that
regard.

Think of it this way: letters-even by email-are a

time-delayed conversation. You aren't there to clarify.
You aren't there to respond to questions. That means you
have to be clear the first time. And waitit gets better
When dealing with editors, it's more like speed-
datingwith someone whose calendar is already
booked. That means you have to do all the above in sixty
seconds or less. You want to make a good impression,
you want to hook their interest, you want to be asked out
on a date, in a manner of speaking. That means you get
to be on your best behavior, or you find some other goal
to pursue.

Sobe politebe professionaland eventually, there's

a better chance you will be an author.

About the Author: Award-winning author Danielle

Ackley-McPhail has worked both sides of the publishing
industry for over fifteen years. Her works include the urban
fantasies, Yesterday's Dreams, Tomorrow's Memories, and
The Halfling's Court: A Bad-Ass Faerie Tale. She has edited
the Bad-Ass Faeries anthology series, and No Longer
Dreams, and has contributed to numerous other anthologies
and collections, including Dark Furies, Breach the Hull, So
It Begins, Space Pirates, Barbarians at the Jumpgate, and
New Blood.

She is a member of The Garden State Horror Writers, the

New Jersey Authors Network, and Broad Universe, a
writer's organization focusing on promoting the works of
women authors in the speculative genres.

Danielle lives somewhere in New Jersey with husband and

fellow writer, Mike McPhail, mother-in-law Teresa, and
three extremely spoiled cats. She can be found on
LiveJournal (damcphail, badassfaeries, darkquestbooks,
lit_handyman), Facebook (Danielle Ackley-McPhail), and
Twitter (DMcPhail). To learn more about her work, visit
www.sidhenadaire.com or www.badassfaeries.com.
 Have a Dream of Being An Author?
Frustrated with Banging Your Head Against the Publishing Wall?
Dont Worry. You Are By No Means Alone!

Dark Quest Books

Presents....
Success in publishing is equal parts skill,
determination, knowledge, and pure,
dumb luck. If you have the drive, and
you have the skill, but youre missing
that littttlle bit of insight into the industry,
this book might just be the edge youre
looking for.

(For the luck...youre on your own.)

Crack the cover to learn more about
effffeective dialogue, the diffffeerence
between the major publishers and
small press, self-promoting, naming
characters, avoiding procrastination...
and so many other demons that
haunt the aspiring author.

The Literary Handyman also includes

a series of writing exercises tailored
toward helping you to apply the
information gained in the book.

www.darkquestbooks.com
Get Your Bad-Ass On!
www.badassfaeries.com
 All games available at
(Click on the name to visit their site)

RPGNow.com

e23.sjgames.com

wargamedownloads.com

wargamevault.com

Yourgamesnow.com

Drivethrustuff.com












 






 



























 


















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