Indian Pacific in Challenge 78?

[Olefin]

I have seen this mentioned several times as an unpublished article that was supposed to be in Challenge Magazine (but it ceased publication with 77)

Has anyone ever found out what it was supposed to be about?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

It was an adventure scenario with perhaps some background material but that's all the info I have.

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Further to my first post, this is the description from the "Next Issue" section of Challenge 77

Quote
Indian-Pacific
Western Australia is cut off from the rest of the nation, neglected by the government and military, and at the mercy of marauders. Can reestablishing the old Indian-Pacific rail line bring relief to the Outback's struggling inhabitants?
By Darryl Adams
End Quote

A few things worth pointing out: -
The Indian-Pacific rail line runs from one side of the country to the other - from the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean.
It covers about 4300km of distance.
It passes through South Australia and Western Australia where much of the rail line travels through uninhabited desert for hundreds of kilometres.
In many areas it is a single line only, so it's one-way traffic until a section of double track is reached (most often near towns or cities).
Aside from a few towns along the way in South Australia and Western Australia (and many of them are hundreds of kilometres apart), the land has a population density of less than 1 person per square kilometre.
In South Australia, the rail line also links to a rail line that runs to the Northern Territory. The train that runs this line is known as The Ghan after the Afghan camel drivers who used to deliver supplies along much of outback Australia before road and rail took over. This line runs fropm Adeliade to Darwin and is just as important as the Indian-Pacific rail line.

As an Aussie, I'd surmise from the description that Darryl Adams is either Australian or quite familiar with Australia. From that assumption I'd speculate that this was going to be a long-term adventure simply because you can't just open up a few hundred kilometres of Indian-Pacific rail line and think the job is done.

When maintenance crews go out to repair the tracks, they often spend days in camps by the rail line before moving onto another section of rail to establish another camp. They have railcars set up as sleeper cars, as kitchens/larders and as workshops. Often they have vehicles carried on flatcars as well.

Any group of PCs without access to those maintenance railcars is going to have a long-term task ahead of them but the scenario would be quite varied. Not only are marauders a concern but the PCs would have to locate and transport all the necessary repair items and the environment itself would be a challenge. All in all it could be an epic adventure!

[boogiedowndonovan]

Go to Farfuture.net and check out the description of the T2k 2.2 CD. They keep on adding goodies to the 2.2 CD

They have the unpublished 2.2 versions of Pirates of the Vistula and Ruins of Warsaw called Death on the Vistula and Warsaw Phoenix.

They also have the unpublished T2k articles from Challenge 78


Go to Farfuture.net and check out the description of the T2k 2.2 CD.
Challenge 78 Choose Your Weapon, J Dean Anderson
Challenge 78 Indian Pacific, Darryl Adams

http://www.farfuture.net/Contents%20...rsion%2022.pdf

I'm holding on the CDs for Armor 21!!!!

btw Farfuture.net says that Twilight 2013 pdfs on CD coming soon.

[rcaf_777]

Originally Posted by boogiedowndonovan

They have the unpublished 2.2 versions of Pirates of the Vistula and Ruins of Warsaw called Death on the Vistula and Warsaw Phoenix.

They also have the unpublished T2k articles from Challenge 78


Go to Farfuture.net and check out the description of the T2k 2.2 CD.
Challenge 78 Choose Your Weapon, J Dean Anderson
Challenge 78 Indian Pacific, Darryl Adams

I have this and 1.0 version and those docs are not on the CD the titles are listed becuase they are GDW mods but they do appear on the CD

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Sorry to rain on the parade but...
I've got the T2k 2.2 CD-ROM and the unpublished articles and modules are not on the CD because the material was not available.
FFE lists them but they don't appear to have access to the material because those items weren't actually at a stage ready for publishing when GDW closed down.
That also applies to Armor 21.

However, it might be worth sending FFE an email to ask if they have found copies of the Challenge 78 articles. From what I understand, the issue was about ready for printing so it's possible that draft copies survived perhaps?

Originally Posted by boogiedowndonovan

Go to Farfuture.net and check out the description of the T2k 2.2 CD. They keep on adding goodies to the 2.2 CD

They have the unpublished 2.2 versions of Pirates of the Vistula and Ruins of Warsaw called Death on the Vistula and Warsaw Phoenix.

They also have the unpublished T2k articles from Challenge 78


Go to Farfuture.net and check out the description of the T2k 2.2 CD.
Challenge 78 Choose Your Weapon, J Dean Anderson
Challenge 78 Indian Pacific, Darryl Adams

http://www.farfuture.net/Contents%20...rsion%2022.pdf

I'm holding on the CDs for Armor 21!!!!

btw Farfuture.net says that Twilight 2013 pdfs on CD coming soon.

[pmulcahy11b]

That reminds me...I was sooo waiting for for Armor 21. I had specially set aside money in my budget for it!

On another tack, every time someone mentions "FFE," the first thing that comes to mind is "Fire for Effect."

[pmulcahy11b]

I remember some entry from an old Guinness Book of World Records that Australia has the longest straight stretch of highway -- something like 4000 miles or so dead straight (but not necessarily level). Where in Australia is that, and how could be used in a campaign?

[Panther Al]

Wasn't the only one that was holding out for Armour 21. I was rather looking forward to seeing where they thought we was going.

[Targan]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

I remember some entry from an old Guinness Book of World Records that Australia has the longest straight stretch of highway -- something like 4000 miles or so dead straight (but not necessarily level). Where in Australia is that, and how could be used in a campaign?

Australia isn't much more than 4000 kilometres at it's widest point. The longest straight stretch of road in Australia is 90 Mile Straight on the Nullarbor Plain (I've driven on that stretch of road a number of times in both directions and can confirm it is arrow-straight). I can't honestly confirm whether that is the world's longest stretch of straight road though. The Nullarbor Plain is unusual in it's geography and flora, in that it's as flat as a billiard table and has no real rivers and no trees (Null Arbor = No Trees) so it's a good candidate because the road builders didn't need to adjust their course to accommodate terrain features.

[dylan]

Dave Nilsen recently re-emerged from his pocket universe. I asked him about Armor 21 as (like many of you obviously) back in the day I'd been keen on it. Dave said he never got to do it because he was dragged off it to finish some Traveller work in GDW's dying days. It was/is vapourware unfortunately.

[boogiedowndonovan]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

I have this and 1.0 version and those docs are not on the CD the titles are listed becuase they are GDW mods but they do appear on the CD

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

Sorry to rain on the parade but...
I've got the T2k 2.2 CD-ROM and the unpublished articles and modules are not on the CD because the material was not available.
FFE lists them but they don't appear to have access to the material because those items weren't actually at a stage ready for publishing when GDW closed down.
That also applies to Armor 21.

However, it might be worth sending FFE an email to ask if they have found copies of the Challenge 78 articles. From what I understand, the issue was about ready for printing so it's possible that draft copies survived perhaps?

DAmnn youuuu dammnnn you!!!!!

[Olefin]

Well we do have a bunch of Aussies here - does anyone want to take a crack at writing their own version of Indian Pacific with that background info we do have?

It sounds like they were finally about to really show off Australia - which was ignored in the game basically except for a few snippets here and there.

If we could get them to publish what they had if it was done I would love that - always good to see new material one way or another

[StainlessSteelCynic]

Link this idea with kcdusk's post on real life camping in Australia and some of the work is already done.

[James Langham]

I think the best we can hope for is we produce our own version.

Any thoughts on this?

[StainlessSteelCynic]

It can definitely be done, I think it's just a matter of who has the free time at the moment.
I say that because I envisage the scenario as something that would take quite a number of sessions. It would be something along the lines of the "Going Home" scenario in terms of duration, distance travelled, equipment required and so on - but with less water and less Soviets

[Targan]

Slightly OT but if the Kwinana refinery south of Perth in Western Australia was nuked I guess it's pretty safe to assume that Singapore is toast too?

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by StainlessSteelCynic

It can definitely be done, I think it's just a matter of who has the free time at the moment.

Well, I do have some time on my hands at the moment.....
Willing to act as a sort of "coordinator/compiler" to bring together ideas into a coherent whole.

[pmulcahy11b]

Originally Posted by Targan

Slightly OT but if the Kwinana refinery south of Perth in Western Australia was nuked I guess it's pretty safe to assume that Singapore is toast too?

It depends on how much credence you give the Bangkok module -- admittedly, it's geared more for Merc than Twilight, but it has some notes on using it with Twilight.

[pmulcahy11b]

Just got me thinking. If Singapore gets trashed but the Singaporeans have sufficient warning, they might evacuate to Australia or Java. Just one of my weird ideas...

[Targan]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

It depends on how much credence you give the Bangkok module -- admittedly, it's geared more for Merc than Twilight, but it has some notes on using it with Twilight.

I've never owned the Bangkok module... but now I want to

[Legbreaker]

Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b

It depends on how much credence you give the Bangkok module -- admittedly, it's geared more for Merc than Twilight, but it has some notes on using it with Twilight.

Actually it states in the intro that it's for Twilight and adaptable to Merc...

[Panther Al]

Originally Posted by Targan

I've never owned the Bangkok module... but now I want to

Its a rather good module as they go: Plenty of hooks and info to base all sorts of adventures out of that area.

[James Langham]

What are people's thoughts on an Armour 21 module being produced? I am more than willing to work on it BUT I foresee a big problem - namely a background that would allow the freedom that TW2K or Merc players have. Any ideas?