War of the Wizards: The Game Rules

The Game Rules

To keep a record of your adventure, use the Action Chart.

Before you set off on your adventure, you must discover how well your Shianti masters have prepared you for your quest by determining your fighting prowess—COMBAT SKILL—your state of mind—WILLPOWER—and your physical stamina—ENDURANCE. To do this take a pencil and, with eyes closed, point with the blunt end of it onto the Random Number Table. If you pick 0 it counts as zero.

The first number that you pick from the Random Number Table in this way represents your COMBAT SKILL. Add 10 to the number you picked and write the total in the COMBAT SKILL section of your Action Chart (e.g. if your pencil fell on the number 4 in the Random Number Table you would write in a COMBAT SKILL of 14). When you fight, your COMBAT SKILL will be pitted against that of your enemy. A high score in this section is therefore very desirable.¹

The second number that you need is one to represent your WILLPOWER. Do not use the Random Number Table. You begin this adventure with a WILLPOWER total of 50, as your first touch of the Moonstone of the Shianti regenerates your Magical Powers immediately. If you possess unused WILLPOWER points from earlier Grey Star adventures, add them to the 50 WILLPOWER points which possession of the Moonstone grants you.² Write the total in the WILLPOWER section of your Action Chart. If you decide to use a spell or the power of your Wizard’s Staff, then you will lose WILLPOWER points. If at any time your WILLPOWER falls to zero, or below, you may not use any spells³ or any additional WILLPOWER points in combat to increase the ENDURANCE loss of an opponent.⁴ Lost WILLPOWER points can be regained during the course of the adventure and it is possible for your WILLPOWER score to rise above the total with which you start your adventure.

The third attribute is your power of ENDURANCE. You start with a total of 30 ENDURANCE points when your first touch of the Moonstone fills your body with energy and power. Add any ENDURANCE points gained from playing previous Grey Star adventures to your initial score of 30 and write the total in the ENDURANCE section of your Action Chart.⁵ If you are wounded in combat, you will lose ENDURANCE points. If at any time your ENDURANCE score falls to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over. Lost ENDURANCE points can be regained during the course of the adventure but can never rise above the number with which you began the adventure.

[1] It is implied that you must pick a new COMBAT SKILL from the Random Number Table even if have already completed previous one or more Grey Star adventures. This conflicts with the rules for the Lone Wolf books where you carry over your score from a previous successfully completed adventure. For the sake of consistency, players may wish to carry over their existing score from the last Grey Star book they completed.

[2] The original intent of the author was most likely that the player should add 50 to their final WILLPOWER score from the end of their last successfully completed Grey Star adventure.

[3] There are sections of this book that describe how you use a Magical Power and how many WILLPOWER points you spend, without giving you a choice and without taking into account that you may not have the required number of WILLPOWER points left. You may choose to simply subtract the specified number of WILLPOWER points. This may leave you with a negative WILLPOWER score, or if it was already negative, it will make your score become even more negative.

Alternatively, you may wish to use a method given in Section 175, which contains one such case of mandated use of magic: If you do not have enough WILLPOWER points, then you use ENDURANCE points at a rate of 2 ENDURANCE points for every 1 WILLPOWER point you lack (i.e. 2 ENDURANCE points = 1 WILLPOWER point). If your ENDURANCE score falls to zero or below, you are dead and the adventure is over.

Note that you may never choose to use a Magical Power or your Wizard’s Staff if you do not have sufficient WILLPOWER points. This method also cannot be used in cases where you lose WILLPOWER points for a reason other than using magic, for instance as a result of mental or magical attacks. In these cases, you may end up with a negative WILLPOWER score.

[4] It is possible for your WILLPOWER to fall below zero. For example, if you are the victim of an attack that drains your WILLPOWER, your score may be forced below zero. If your WILLPOWER falls to zero or below, you will not be able to cast spells or use the magical properties of your Wizard’s Staff until your score is again above zero. You can still use your Wizard’s Staff in combat as a normal weapon, but you must deduct 6 points from your COMBAT SKILL.

[5] The original intent of the author was most likely that the player should add 30 to their final ENDURANCE score from the end of their last successfully completed Grey Star adventure. In the Lone Wolf series, it is standard practice to restore one’s ENDURANCE points to their original total when carrying them over from one adventure to the next, but the power of the Moonstone seems to change those rules in this case.