or, "I'm sorry, the committee is all tied up right now . . . "
by Sam Mize, 4-17-89
Now that so many Earth people have been kidnapped, Earth culture is beginning to affect the culture of Ghorr. YOU, as Karl Talbot, are committee chairman for the first World Science Fiction Convention of Ghorr (GhorrCon).
You must maintain your popularity among the Fen of Ghorr and your male ego, while defeating the insidious threat of Wilhelmina of Sirius, a dreadful, unnatural (i.e., non-submissive) woman.
As the story opens, you learn that Wilhelmina's plans include your convention. Her all-female shock troops have taken over the city from which long-distance communications are broadcast, including the main building used to create musical variety shows. Your convention is the last bastion of right-thinking, male dominant entertainment against her Radio City Music Hall Shockettes. You must foil her plans for a military assault against GhorrCon.
HOWEVER, you must also discover and foil her nefarious back-up plan, unknown to you as the adventure begins. Under cover of the attack, Espionage Hucksters will try to replace the books in the dealer room with foul, subversive propaganda. This includes "Free Amazons of Darkover," "I Will Fear No Evil," "Arrows of the Queen," and other such valueless mind-rotters with strong women in important roles, which suggest that women may be independent, capable, or even equal to Men.
If this second plan succeeds, it will be a publicity disaster for the Con and destroy your personal reputation. After her conquest of the Radio City, this symbolic capstone of Wilhelmina's conquest of the media could be a telling blow against the struggle to Keep Women In Their Place.
In addition, you must make sure that the Con succeeds as planned, or Wilhelmina will score an indirect propaganda victory. Obstacles arise. Is Con Security enough to keep slavers away? If not, should you rescue or buy back the Guest of Honor? Does the Con Suite have enough rope and chain? If you don't attend to these details, your Con may slide into an oblivion of Fannish ennui.
YOU can triumph over even these terrific odds, with the right combination of combat savvy, posturing machismo, and blind, dumb luck, just like the adventurers you've come to know and love on Ghorr!
BUT, you must also maintain your popularity and machismo! How do these figure into the adventure? Read on . . .
In addition to the standard GURPS characteristics, Karl starts with two ratings on a 1-10 scale: Popularity and Machismo. These both are initially 5. Certain decisions occr on all the plot paths, which will affect these ratings. For example, finishing a battle scene quickly may raise your Machismo rating; finishing a sex scene too quickly may lower it. Allowing slavers to raid the convention will lower your popularity, while hiring them to supply the Con Suite will raise attendance enough to cover the investment, and raise your popularity as well.
Your popularity and machismo ratings are factored into the combat and reaction tables used to determine the results of your combats and encounters. Also, your popularity will affect the con's attendance. If at any time your machismo drops below 2, you give in to an uncontrollable urge to defect to Wilhelmina and submit to her sexual slavery. On the other hand, if it tops 10, she comes to you, and you immediately win.
Book Composition
Assuming a 100-page manuscript:
Typical Ghorr action scenes: 40 pages
Typical Ghorr combat scenes: 20 pages
Explanations that really she likes it: 10 pages
Plot development: 6 pages
Scene descriptions, character development: 1 page
Basic game instructions: 5 pages
"Turn to section 000": 10 pages
Additives, preservatives, filler: 5 pages
Missing: 3 pages
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