Gorean Adventures: The Game of Worlds (Sidequest) (PDF)

Gorean Adventures: The Game of Worlds

Earth knows nothing of Gor.

Its governments do not acknowledge the silver ships crossing the Solar System. Its corporations do not admit to serving alien masters. Its missing people are recorded as runaways, victims or unresolved statistics rather than cargo bound for the Counter-Earth.

That ignorance is useful to the Kurii.

The Game of Worlds is a sidequest and campaign supplement for Tales of Gor: Gorean Roleplaying. It begins on Earth, where ordinary people are caught in the covert struggle between the Kurii and the Priest-Kings, then carries them across space to Gor.

Once there, they face a decision: return to Earth and the lives they understood, or remain upon a harsher, brighter and considerably more dangerous world.

Assuming anybody gives them the choice.

From Earth to Gor

The adventure provides an introduction to Gor for players whose characters know no more about the setting than they do.

On Earth, the Kurii operate through agents, businesses and organisations, acquiring resources and selecting humans for abduction. The player characters become entangled in one such operation and discover that the conspiracy extends far beyond corrupt officials or ordinary organised crime.

Their flight from the Kurii ultimately brings them to Gor, where familiar assumptions about technology, law, sex, status and personal freedom cease to be reliable.

Earth-born characters must decide how they respond to Gorean society rather than arriving already comfortable with its customs. This makes the adventure particularly useful for introducing new players to the setting through their characters’ own confusion, fascination and occasional horror.

The Interplanetary Cold War

The conflict between the Priest-Kings and the Kurii is not confined to Gor.

Both powers exert influence upon Earth while remaining hidden from humanity. Kurii agents seek resources, information and slaves. The Priest-Kings interfere more cautiously, constrained by their own laws, priorities and reluctance to involve themselves openly in human affairs.

The supplement expands this secret war with deliberately non-canonical speculation, providing material for Games Masters who want Earth to become more than the place from which Gorean captives occasionally disappear.

A campaign might begin with investigation, conspiracy and pursuit on Earth before moving permanently to Gor—or continue to cross between the two worlds as the characters become pieces in a game played by inhuman powers.

Inside

• A complete introductory adventure beginning on Earth

• Earth-born player characters caught in a Kurii operation

• A journey from modern civilisation to the Counter-Earth

• Encounters designed to introduce the sights, customs and social order of Gor

• Opportunities for characters to remain on Gor or attempt to return home

• Rules and ideas for creating and playing Earth-based characters

• Material for running Earth-centred campaigns

• Information on Kurii agents, assets and operations on Earth

• The hidden conflict between the Kurii and Priest-Kings

• Principal characters and Games Master resources

• A three-act adventure structure

• Enough conspiracy to make blaming everything upon ordinary governments seem almost reassuring

A Different Beginning

Most Gorean characters understand caste, slavery, honour, veiling, Home Stones and the thousand unwritten rules of their society.

Earth characters understand none of them.

That difference creates opportunities for roleplaying which a conventional Gorean campaign cannot easily reproduce. Male and female characters may react very differently to their new surroundings. Skills and social expectations carried from Earth may become useless, dangerous or unexpectedly valuable.

Some characters will recoil from Gor.

Others may discover that they prefer it.

Friendships forged on Earth may not survive the answer.

Requirements

The Game of Worlds is an adventure and campaign supplement, not a standalone game.

You will need:

Buy Tales of Gor: Gorean Roleplaying

The broader setting reference is also useful for characters attempting to understand the world into which they have been deposited:

Buy World of Gor – Gorean Encyclopaedia

Format

Digital PDF download.

This listing is for the electronic edition. No printed book, silver ship or improbably prestigious invitation to a remote job interview will be posted.

Hardcopy Edition

A separate paperback edition is available through Lulu:

Buy SQ: The Game of Worlds in paperback

Credits

Written by: James “Grim” Desborough and Ron Marshall
Artwork by: Michael Manning and J. Arnold
Published by: Postmortem Studios

Mature Content

This supplement is intended for adults.

It contains abduction, slavery, coercion, sexualised social customs and the unequal treatment of men and women which forms part of the Gorean setting. These elements are especially prominent because the protagonists begin as modern Earth people encountering Gor without preparation, acclimatisation or a reassuring orientation leaflet.