Web and Starship (On Topic! Honest!)

At 11:05 AM 9/15/97 -0700, Donald wrote:

>There was a game a few years back called "Web and Starship".  A board
>game.	Earth was stuck between two alien powers.  One had FTL
starships,
>and the other had stargates, and sublight ships.  It sounded very cool!

>Never had the chance to pick it up though :(

It's been years since I played, but I still have it. _Web and Starship_
was
a rare bird: a true, three player game. Designed by Greg Costikyan,
there
were three factions: Humans, Gwynhyfarr, and the Pereen. One alien race
had
FTL drives, and the other had the "web," a network of jump gates put in
place by slower-than-light ships. The humans had both technologies, but
weren't as good at either. 

Three player games are rarely attempted and even more rarely succeed.
This
is because three player games (more likely two/four player games with
three
player options) usually fall into two standard configurations. In most
games
all three forces are equal, leading two players to gang up on one and
then
fight it out amongst themselves for the win; not much fun if you're the
odd
man out. The other type of three player game is usually only a two
player
game with one side split in two; since two people are never as
co-ordinated
as one, the split side is at a disadvantage. W&S was different. The
Pereen
(web guys) took a long time to build up a network that was powerful
enough
to be competitive. The other aliens are really powerful at the beginning
of
the game. The Humans, then, are the swing vote. Added to the Pereen,
they
can hold the Gwynhyfarr in check. Later in the game, the Pereen get
powerful
enough that the Humans have to swing over into an alliance with the
Gwynhyfarr to keep the Pereen in check. The end is usually a horse race
with
all three players strong enough to win and all out war ensues (or
sometimes
the other aliens have to gang up on the humans!). It's quite an
interesting
game.

Okay, I promised this was on topic. First, the game has some merit as a
campaign game. One force has jump gates and the other has standard FTL
drives. You could use the game as a campaign game as is, using GZG games
to
resolve combat. Or you can just canibalize the idea of the two types of
tech. I'd give the Pereen nothing but system defense boats, but we'd
have to
come up with rules for the jump gates. I'd suggest turning the jump gate
into some form of installation, and let it take damage like a ship or a
space station. An assault on a jump gate constructor fleet could be an
interesting scenario, as well.

Second, there's a star map in the game. A 3D star map (okay, a 2D map of
3D
space). This was one of the more interesting aspects of the game. It was
fought in a 3D helix group of local, REAL stars. More than 50 of them,
actually, with Sol in the centre and Fomalhaut B at the approximate edge
of
the spherical volume. There is no hex grid, either, so there is no need
for
the map to conform to the grid (ala _Starforce: Alpha Centauri_).
Instead,
you get a range ruler with the game and a pythagoran chart to figure out
actual distances. It takes a little time to figure out, but it is a nice
map
of local stars. 

If you see W&S on sale in a second hand store or in an auction I
recommend
picking it up. It makes a good campaign setting for FT, and is a neat
game
besides.

Allan Goodall:	agoodall@sympatico.ca 
"You'll want to hear about my new obsession.
 I'm riding high upon a deep depression. 
 I'm only happy when it rains."    - Garbage