Re: Where this all started...

Hi everybody - I was sitting at the keyboard this morning trying NOT to
think about work too much, as I had the season's first show yesterday
(Sunday) at Newark and am totally shattered (six hours drive there and
back
after 2 hour's sleep on Saturday night...). I just thought I'd share the
following with you, in case it might be amusing -

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RETRO THRUST: The first ever incarnation of the rules that eventually
developed into FULL THRUST!

A little bit of history: This is a rewriting (as near as I can remember
- I
don't have a surviving copy anywhere!) of the first "back of a postcard"
rules for space battles that I designed in the mid-seventies, while
still
at school. They were never designed for publication, but many battles
were
happily won and lost on the dining-room table with vast fleet of the
little
starship models that Minifigs made around that time - they made just
three
ship sizes in each "fleet", hence the three classes used in the game; as
I
recall, they cost about 11p for the small ones ("destroyers"), about 20p
for the "cruisers" and a massive 35p or so for the "battleship" - the
fleets were built up though many small mail-orders of pocket money!
Somewhere in a deep drawer I still have some of these ships...

Over the years the rules got steadily refined, added to and rewritten
until
I arrived at the first published version of FULL THRUST in 1991. What is
written here is a far cry from FT, but you will see the roots of many of
the ideas - it still makes a great "beer & pretzels" game, so give it a
try
sometime!

1) SHIP CLASSES:
There are three ship classes: DESTROYERS (little ones), CRUISERS (medium
ones) and BATTLESHIPS (big ones). All ships of the same class have the
same
specs (no racial variations).

2) MOVEMENT:
Orders are written secretly in advance, just as in FT. The same 12
"courses" of the clockface are used to indicate direction (usually with
a
fixed plane of reference on the tabletop, so course 12 is always towards
the same point and not relative to the ship).
Velocity does NOT have to be recorded, as ships can be ordered to move
any
distance up to a set maximum for each class (forget realism, think E.E.
Doc
Smith - can you say Bergenholms...?). Orders specify just course and
speed
for that turn.
Originally we allowed any course change in a turn, so ships could move
in
any direction they wished ( a real "inertialess drive"), but you could
limit course changes to 3 points (90 degrees), or different limits per
class if you prefer.

Maximum moves (speeds) are:  DESTROYERS 18", CRUISERS 12", BATTLESHIPS
6".

3) TURN SEQUENCE:
Write orders;
Move ships;
Alternate fire by ship (as per FT).

4) COMBAT:
There is only one type of weapon (beam): it has a range of 18", and
rolls
1D6. Damage/hits are as per basic FT, ie: 1-3 = no hits, 4-5 = 1 hit, 6
= 2
hits.
Ships have FORE and AFT fire arcs, each 180 degrees.
DESTROYERS have ONE beam system, mounted FORWARD only - no rear
armament.
CRUISERS have one beam FORE and one AFT.
BATTLESHIPS have TWO beams forward (which can fire at same or different
targets) and one AFT.

5) DAMAGE:
DESTROYERS can take 2 hits, CRUISERS 4 and BATTLESHIPS 6. When a ship
has
taken all its hits is is destroyed and removed. Ships may move and fire
at
full capability until destroyed (ie: no critical hits or thresholds).

SHIP STATS SUMMARY:

DESTROYER: Max Speed 18"; Fore armament: 1 beam; Aft: none. 2 hits
(damage
points).
CRUISER: Max Speed 12"; Fore armament: 1 beam; Aft: 1 beam. 4 hits.
BATTLESHIP: Max Speed 6"; Fore armament: 2 beams; Aft: 1 beam. 6 hits.

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So, there it is - the seed that grew into Full Thrust (or the bits that
Dr.Frankenstein put together, depending on how you look at it....) Happy
lasering!

Jon Tuffley.