Torg Eternity - Nile Empire - Cracking Tales of the Nile Empire.pdf

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CRACKING TALES
OF THE NILE EMPIRE
Writing:
Matt Forbeck, Shane Lacy Hensley, Bill Slavicsek,
John Terra, Stewart Wieck
Editing:
Greg Farshtay, Deanna Gilbert, Greg Gorden,
Darrell Hayhurst, and Ed Stark
Art Director:
Aaron Acevedo, Maik Schmidt
Layout Composition and Graphic Design:
Aaron Acevedo,
Jason Engle, Truelove Coverdesign | Viola Plötz
Cover:
Gunship Revolution
Torg, The Possibility Wars, and all
unique characters, concepts, locations,
and creatures are trademarks and / or
copyrights of Ulisses Spiele. All rights
reserved.
CONTENTS
Foreword
Dead End
Carnival Voice
Cry Havoc
Crocodilopolis
The Land Below
Appendix
3
4
49
92
136
170
220
FOREWORD
BY JOHN TERRA
T
he year was 1990, and this crazy little game called
TORG
made its debut to the gaming world. Although there were
already other multi-genre RPGs out there, this particular
game had a coherent, unifying story that was just so uniquely
“out there” that it simply begged to be tried out.
Now, being someone who loved playing “the hottest new
game”, I eagerly went out, bought the boxed set, devoured the
rules from cover to cover, until my final reaction could best be
summed up as:
“Huh? What the heck is this?”
I totally didn’t get it. Oh, things like combat and skill resolution
were clear enough, but for some reason, I just couldn’t get my
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mind around the whole reality and transformation thing. I
set aside the game for a while, disappointed. But eventually,
I decided to buy the original trio of novels and read them, and
that’s when the light-bulb went off. YES! I finally got it!
At that point, not only did the game mechanics suddenly
become clear, there also came a realization that game-related
fiction could help enhance (and yes, clarify) the gamer’s
experience. Novels and short stories had a role in expanding
understanding and appreciation for a game’s setting. It was a
lesson that would come in handy later.
Two years later, I was approached by West End Games to
write a short story set in the Nile Empire. As a freelancer who
had done a respectable share of gaming work, including WEG,
I was psyched and eager to give it a shot. I was already running
a thriving
TORG
campaign, so I was totally into the system and
its fantastic story. On top of all this, the assignment would be
my first actual published short story!
Conveniently, the Nile Empire is one of my favorite realms
thanks to a decades-old fascination with ancient Egypt and
being a DC Comics fanboy.
So, pulling out every pulp trope, Indy Jones reference, and
in
media res
situation I had stored up in my brain over the years,
I came up with the plot, including a decent ending. The only
thing I did NOT have was a cast for the story. Who were the
heroes?
And that’s when my
TORG
campaign came to the rescue, by
means of the five best characters in the game. There was Kayla
the Ayslish Barbarian, played by my then-wife Ellen; Daremo
the Ninja played by my buddy Dave; Core Earth journalist
Corey Jones, played by his wife Colleen; Marcel the Cyberpapist
Hospitaller played by a friend named Eric; and of course Major
Havoc, the grim-faced pistol-wielding dark hero, played by a
gamer named Bryan.
They all loved the idea of having their characters in the story,
gave their blessing, and so that’s what came to pass.
3
Neurotic writers live with the secret fear that everything they
write is garbage and will be rejected outright by their editor.
Since all writers are in fact neurotic to one extent or another (it’s
a job prerequisite, dontcha know!), well, you can imagine what
was going through my head as I sent the finished story to West
End Games (though not before being edited, re-edited, worked,
re-worked, expanded, shortened, expanded some more). The
fact that it was my first foray into short story fiction didn’t help.
Then it was just a matter of waiting for the call to come from
Greg Farshtey, my editor, to confirm that the story was utter
gospog swill.
When the call finally came, I mustered the courage to outright
ask, “So? How was the story received?”
The answer was along the lines of “extremely well.” In fact,
according to Greg, his fellow West End colleague, Bill Smith,
was walking around the offices, reading excerpts of the story
to anyone who would listen, all the while announcing “Now,
THIS is the Nile Empire!”, or words to that effect.
Whew!
But wait, there was more…
“We’re also commissioning the art for the cover of the
anthology, and it’s based on a scene from your story,” Greg
continued.
Are you kidding? Quick, someone play a Glory card!!
And so, that’s how
Cry Havoc
came to be. The story itself never
took place in our campaign, but the characters’ personalities,
quirks, and histories were all taken intact from the actual
characters. The heroes of the campaign became the heroes of
the story.
Now there’s a new exciting permutation of
TORG,
and with
it, the opportunity to create new heroes and stories about their
triumphs. Although, who knows? In the Nile Empire, it’s “no
body means no death”, so maybe those old heroes are still
kicking around somewhere.
Time will tell. The Possibilities are endless.
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