Universe RPG Files

README for Release 0.75.3

What is Universe?
=================

Universe is a text-based role-playing game (RPG) set in a future
universe.  Unlike computer-mediated RPGs, the interaction between
players and non-player characters (NPCs) takes place solely in the
imaginations of the players and the gamesmaster (GM), who acts as a
sort of referee and storyteller combined.

Universe was originally created by SPI in 1980, in the heyday of
text-based RPGs like "Dungeons & Dragons".  When the company was
bought out by TSR in 1981, the trademark of and copyright over the
game passed to them, and hence to a series of corporate owners.  As of
this writing, the trademark has been abandoned and none of the former
owners appears to be asserting copyright.

In 2002 Ian Taylor, an avid Universe fan, undertook the task of
scanning the text from the various Universe books and supplements,
turning them into electronic format.  This distribution is derived
from that effort, with changes made here and there to conform more
closely to the original books.


What do I need to play?
=======================

The RPG (role-playing game) "Universe" consists of three basic
documents:

  * The GM Guide, which despite its name is meant for both the players
    and the GM (gamesmaster);

  * "DeltaVee", a tactical space combat system; and

  * The Adventure Guide, which contains information meant solely for
    the GM's eyes.

If you are not a GM, you need only the GM Guide, plus whatever
supplemental material your GM may recommend.

You will also need:

  * Paper and pencil
  * Two or more ten- or twenty-sided dice

The dice can easily be obtained from most game stores.


Where are the other manuals?
============================

As of this writing, the GM guide and DeltaVee are available.  We hope
to have the Adventure Guide available for download soon.


Acknowledgments
================

First and foremost, the staff of SPI and the original designers of
Universe deserve mention.  It seems like every time I think of
tweaking this or that rule, on closer examination I can see the
virtual fingerprints of a designer who already decided against the
change for reasons I had not yet thought of.  Here's the complete
list, as given on page "i" of SPI's Universe 2nd Edition:

  * Game design and development, project coordination: John H.
    Butterfield

  * Design of physical systems and graphics:  Redmond A. Simonsen

  * Codevelopment and NPCs: Gerard C. Klug

  * Creatures and advice: Edward J. Woods

  * Developmental Assistance: David McCorkhill and David J. Ritchie

  * Rules editing: Robert J. Ryer

  * Research assistance: John Boardman, Ph.D.

  * Game testing and advice: James Mulligan, David Spangler,
    Greg. A Gerold, Richard A. Edwards, Eric Lee Smith

  * Additional testing: Robert B. Kern, Linus Gelber, Justin Leites,
    Julid Spangler, Ian Chadwick, Wes Divin, Mark Barrows, the Olympia
    Gaming Association

  * Art production management: Manfred F. Milkuhn

  * Art production and technical editing: Carolyn Felder, Ted Koller,
    Michael Moore, Ken Stec

  * Cover illustration: John Pierard

Ian Taylor deserves my endless thanks for having scanned original
Universe manuals and turned them into text in the first place.  His
web site at http://members.iinet.net.au/~avalon1/Universe/Universe.htm
is an invaluable source for more things Universe.

My thanks go out also to the members of the Yahoo! group
"Universe_RPG", who were an invaluable source of ideas, imagination
and practicality.

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$Id: README.txt,v 1.6 2004/12/01 21:43:02 goltz20707 Exp $