Web Posted June 03, 1999
Updated September 03, 2001
Greetings sports fans! Welcome to another action-packed issue of the
Car Wars Internet Newsletter. This issue is smaller than previous ones,
but most of the usual departments are here. If you are in the mood for
getting down-and-dirty when autodueling, Arena Watch presents an off-road
venue from the Championship Autodueling Circuit. Tony Kontes presents another
Daemon Mechanic article, this time revising the hand-to-hand combat rules
in Car Wars. Chris Goodwin talks about the game he played before entering
arena circuits. If you want a scenario to test your super characters, The
Gaming Outpost has a Midville variant that will make any autoduelist sweat.
Both of these articles are in The NANS Ticker. The television series Viper
may return but only if fans of the show act immediately. Web Site Watch
gives you the details on how to save the show.
Spring Cleaning
The SWAT and WADA Web sites are in need of revisions. I have been focused on publishing CWIN, therefore I have fallen behind in my Webmastering duties. I apologize for these oversights. During the next two months you will see major revisions made to ADQ&A Compendium 2 and several jump pages on SWAT Matrix HQ. Over the summer you will see other projects from SWAT. One of these resources should be available by beginning of July. No, I am not going to tell you what is this tool kit. You will have to wait.
I want to provide more resources that are up to date for autoduelists.
One of these new resources is the ever-expanding WADA Events Listing.
Please send me information about conventions that will have Car Wars
games and I will add that data to this database. I would also like to include
dates of Car Wars gaming group sessions. There are many convention lists
on the Internet, but I want WADA Internet HQ to be the number one place
for autoduelists to discover where and when vehicular combats are occurring.
In contrast to SWAT Matrix HQ lately, the Events Listing will be updated
regularly.
AADA: Missing in the Arena
What is happening with the AADA? The only news I know about the organization
is the Championship Autodueling Circuit is running the 2049 AADA WRC at
Origins 1999 next month. There have been no press releases about the format
of the 2049 AADA WDC at GenCon 1999. Will the AADA form a WADA-style league
for Car Wars? When will the AADA Chapter Listing be updated? What do you
want the AADA to do for you? Please send me news about the AADA and post
your suggestions about AADA resources on the Autoduelist's Haven, Dueling
Debate and Pyramid Car Wars message boards.
Wanted: Dead or Alive
Please support the gamer registries on the Internet that have Car Wars
players, particularly Access Denied, The Autoduelist and the HVD Car Wars
Opponent Finder. Take a few minutes to add your name to these databases.
Anyone Out There?
Is there anyone still reading CWIN? I am beginning to feel like I am
writing this newsletter for myself because very few of you are submitting
material for publication. Once again, I am pleading for articles. The reason
this edition of CWIN is shorter than previous ones is I do not have articles
or news to present! The well of Car Wars information on the WWW is getting
dry. I need your help to find new Car Wars Web sites and Car Wars-related
news. Please use search engines (the SWAT Search Engine Arsenal has hyperlinks
to many of the most powerful ones) to look for autodueling files. I will
also print reports of gaming group sessions and tournaments, but I need
you to write them! People, if you do not submit material to CWIN, I will
have to change the frequency to bimonthly or quarterly.
See you in 30 days, more if I do not start receiving articles. May your laser-guided rockets always follow their targeting laser and your aerial cloud bombs always ignite.
Michael P. Owen
Seattle Washington Autoduel Team (SWAT)
Car Wars Internet Newsletter (CWIN) Editor
owenmp@hotmail.com
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/swathome.html
LAKE JOUX OR DUELPARK
http://surf.to/cadc
http://home.earthlink.net/~timgould/cadc.htm
This member of the Championship Autodueling Circuit's Proving Grounds
will test an off-road duelist's boondock battleship to and beyond its performance
limits. Set in the middle of Lake Joux, its mud and water hazards will
likely be more treacherous than other competitors.
GROUND ZERO
http://www.toad.net/~orca/
MATT N' JANE'S WARGAME AND ROLEPLAYING GAME HOBBIES
http://fredsack.biosci.ohio-state.edu/fossils/Hobbies.html
http://fredsack.biosci.ohio-state.edu/fossils/dnd.html
MANTICORA CREW
http://home.swipnet.se/~w-36237/manticora/
AUTO WARS DOS AND DON'TS
http://members.xoom.com/WarSerpent/
http://members.xoom.com/WarSerpent/autowar.htm
THE FIVE GAMERS
http://www.io.com/~angilas/5gamers.html
STRUCTUAL CAUSES AND FENDER EFFECTS
http://www.mit.edu:8001/afs/athena.mit.edu/user/z/i/zimerman/www/Documents/tr6/columns/col5-11-98.html
Structural Causes and Fender Effects: Traffic And Driver Habits in New
York City and Boston Compared. This humor-filled article could be easily
converted to a Car Wars scenario, possibly as an expansion to the "Rush
Hour" scenario featured in ADQ 2/3.
PEDESTRIAN MELEE COMBAT RULES
http://www.serv.net/~owenmp/daemon/melee.html
In this issue's Daemon Mechanic, Tony Kontes presents detailed variants for hand-to-hand combat and a set of rules for determining inititative that will make urban combats more challenging. Strap on your body armor and get personal with your opponents!
Tony Kontes
BoneHeadz Central
Boise, Idaho
ManyCubes@aol.com
CNN INTERACTIVE: CLONED SHEEP DOLLY HAS 'OLD' DNA
http://www.cnn.com/NATURE/9905/26/dolly.clone.02/
CNN INTERACTIVE: HUMAN SPARE PARTS
http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9905/22/organs.to.grow/
CNN INTERACTIVE: FLYING CAR
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/ptech/9905/27/flying.car.reut/
CNN INTERACTIVE: MAGLEV RESEARCH
http://www.cnn.com/TECH/ptech/9905/24/maglev.train.lat/
POPULAR MECHANICS WEB SITE: MOTORIZED MAYHEM
http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/auto3/9904AUMSP.html
POPULAR MECHANICS WEB SITE: REINVENTING THE TRUCK
http://popularmechanics.com/popmech/auto3/9904AUTKP.html
* 'ELECTRIC LION,' PENN STATE'S HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLE, ENDS RACING CAREER WITH TOP TEN FINISH
University Park, PA -- Penn State's hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), the Electric Lion, capped off its racing career by capturing a top-ten finish at the eighth annual American Tour de Sol this past weekend.
The Penn State student team won third place in the competition's hybrid electric vehicle category and finished eighth overall.
Hosted by the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA), the Tour de Sol was a week-long 250-mile road rally from May 22-29. Thirty-nine alternative energy vehicles from across the United States participated in the competition, which ran from Waterbury, Conn., to Lake George, N.Y. The cars were built by college and secondary student teams as well as automotive and component manufacturers.
With this race, the Electric Lion ends its seven-year career, which included top honors at the annual SunDay Challenge hosted by the Florida Solar Energy Center. The car won first place in the HEV category and second place in the overall competition's design category.
The Electric Lion is a prototype HEV developed through a joint effort of the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute (PTI) at Penn State and the student chapter of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE). The car, a student-engineered, Penn State blue, 1992 Ford Escort station wagon, runs on batteries and propane, and is 20 years ahead of technology found in today's automotive showrooms.
The Electric Lion's racing days are over, but now the car will provide opportunities for graduate research in the Department of Energy-directed Penn State Graduate Automotive Technology Education (GATE) program.
The Electric Lion was funded by PTI and Penn State's mechanical and nuclear engineering department, the College of Engineering, the Applied Research Laboratory, as well as corporate and private donors.
For more information about the Electric Lion, point your Web browser
to <http://lfserver.lf.psu.edu/sae/hev/>.
More on the race can be found at
<http://members.delphi.com/tourdesol/1999/index.html>.
* = Submitted by Jim Robertson
Steel City Autoduel Rampage (SCAR)
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
yoodle@icubed.com
http://www.icubed.com/~yoodle/carwars.htm
FORMULA DE INTERNET HEADQUARTERS
http://www.formula-de.com
New Leagues
May 03, 1999: Sam Hu Wins the First Mulhouse Tournament. This famous driver, well known in the FD circus (he won the MASTERS in 1994), wins the fist edition of this FORMULA DÉ international competition. 32 drivers came from France, Switzerland and Germany! Congratulations to the winners and to the organization.
May 08, 1999: Previews of Elkhart Lake and Indianapolis racetracks
FORMULA DE MAILING LIST EXCERPTS
http://www.formula-de.com
MAY 16, 1999: ALAIN DAVID'S WEB SITE
My personal site about Formula De welcomes you at the following address:
http://perso.wanadoo.fr/david.alain/fde-autres/fde.htm
A new page for "Major League -- Paris 78" is online (in French)
Resume of race in Castellet
Direct access : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/david.alain/fde-mlp/lbh-06.htm
Alain DAVID
F - 78180 Montigny
mailto:David.Alain@wanadoo.fr
ICQ : 19846363
Web : http://perso.wanadoo.fr/david.alain/base.htm
MAY 20, 1999: TIM TRANT'S LEAGUE RULES
For those with an interest in variant rules (including those for slipstreaming), the set which my group is currently using are available. We started playing with the Ludodelire version, so the many rules modifications were inspired by experiences with that original Formula De rules set plus other racing games such as Speed Circuit, and we still use the gear chart rather than the different dice for each gear. The chart itself, designed for a two-car team, is also available as a PDF file. You can get the Adobe Acrobat Reader for free at <http:www.adobe.com>. The rules are completely rewritten, with an attempt at completeness, as I play with a few players who have rules-lawyer tendencies.
Tim Trant's League Rules
http://www-ug.eecg.utoronto.ca/~tim/rules.html
Two-Car Team Formula De Chart
http://www-ug.eecg.utoronto.ca/~tim/carsheet.pdf
Tim Trant
Electrical & Computer Engineering
tim@eecg.utoronto.ca University
of Toronto
MAY 31, 1999: BARCELONA TRACK RECORD
A new track record in Barcelona yesterday: 16 in 0'38"21 by Alphonse Grosboeuf. My first record since Monaco in 1992 :)
Martin Colo
xynopp@yahoo.com
JUNE 01, 1999: FORMULA DE LEAGUE OF ST. LOUIS
Our next event is this Saturday, 5 June, 12 Noon, at Games Crafts Hobbies
& Stuff, 9220 Lackland Road, Overland MO. The store's phone #
is 423-2199. Rookie intro race begins at 12Noon, main event at 1:30PM.
Course is Montreal, alternate course is Monaco. See you on the grid.
Formula De League of St. Louis
twb3@primary.net
GM'S DICE
http://www.io.com/~mhulings/gmsdice/start.html
GM's Dice is intended to assist GURPS GMs during play by rolling dice
and doing look ups to tables. It is intended that the users of the program
actually have some familiarity with the tables. The program is not intended
to replace the need for the rule books, but to speed play by doing simple
look ups.
GURPS CHARACTER ASSISTANT HOME PAGE
http://www.teleport.com/~armin/gca/
This location is the headquarters of the useful GURPS Character Assistant.
Many data files for the program can be found here.
MOOK'S DATAFORT
http://www3.excelr8.net/mook/
Notes about a Cyberpunk/Voodoo campaign titled "To Thine Own Self Be
True," hyperlinks and house rules await you on this Web site.
PENTECOST'S PERSONAL PANDEMONIUM
http://www.angelfire.com/tx/cyclicrat/
GURPS Autoduel fans will enjoy this Web site. The Showroom features
several vehicles constructed with GURPS Vehicles Second Edition. Under
construction is the Duelist section, a collection of characters for GURPS
Autoduel campaigns.
RUST NEVER SLEEPS
http://www.cottagesoft.com/~gargoyle/
Although dedicated to the roleplaying game Cyberpunk 2020, Rust Never
Sleeps has section titled Tulsa 2020, a futuristic view of Tulsa, Oklahoma.
This supplement can be easily coverted to GURPS Autoduel and GURPS Cyberpunk.
RARE HOT WHEELS HOME
http://members.aol.com/RacerFord/index.htm
A photograph of the prototype MegaForce MegaFighter Motorcycle can be
viewed on this site.
THE STUFF OF LEGENDS
http://www.voodoostudios.com/Legends/index.htm
This site is dedicated to fantasy and science fiction miniatures, whether
used for wargaming, role-playing or simply for show.
CHRIS GOODWIN'S HOME PAGE
http://www.mindspring.com/~archer7/
http://www.mindspring.com/~archer7/cars.html
Before he entered the world of autodueling, Chris Goodwin played Cars,
a game that can be easily converted to a Car Wars arena event. The rules
for Car Wars are on Chris's Web site.
THE DARK BOX
http://home.austin.rr.com/darkbox/index.html
Home of the ONE roleplaying system previously reported, The Dark Box
has been nice enough to contain a hyperlink to SWAT Matrix HQ. CWIN would
like to return the favor by advertising the Web site again.
JOHNCON 1999
http://www.jhu.edu/~johncon/
http://www.jhu.edu/~johncon/sched/sched22.html
http://www.jhu.edu/~johncon/sched/sched23.html
This gaming convention was held February 19-21, 1999 at Johns Hopkins University. The Car Wars games planned for the convention, listed in the schedule on the JohnCon Web site, are listed below.
Event: Play-Doh Car Wars
GM: Matt Lee
System: Car Wars
Players: 3-12
Length: 4 hrs
Requirements: Anyone can participate.
Blowing up other cars is fun. Cutting apart an opponent's Play-Dough car at the same time is even more fun!
Event: Car Wars
GM: Tony Ksiazak
System: Car Wars
Players: 4-6
Length: 4 hrs
Requirements: Anyone can participate.
Your gang is almost out of the gas they need for an upcoming rally.
Fortunately, you know where a tanker truck will be going by. Capture the
tanker without blowing everything up.
OURCON VIII: HAPPENINGS IN THE DARKNESS
http://www.umass.edu/rso/gameclub/ourcon/
A gaming convention was held April 23-25, 1999 at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. The Car Wars game listed on the Internet schedule of OurCon VIII is listed below.
Friday Night at the Races
Remember playing with your Matchbox cars as a kid and inevitably the
play degenerated into smashing them against each other? Take it to a higher
level this year in the Car Wars tournament. Cars will be provided.
THE UK SCIENCE FICTION FANDOM ARCHIVE
http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/SF-Archives/
There were a series of legal challenges about the release of novels
in the United States based on Games Workshop's autodueling boardgame Dark
Future. The gaming magazne Ansible, archived on the UKSFFA, discussed this
story in issues 64, 65 and 66 (November 1992, December 1992 and January
1993).
WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK
http://www.gamingoutpost.com/columns/idea_mine/99.05.28.shtml
If you are looking for a very strange variant to Midville scenarios,
read this article from The Gaming Outpost.
MIKAEL VEIJO'S MEGARACE 2 WEB SITE
http://members.tripod.com/~mveijo/index.htm
Mikael has a nice discussion of MegaRace 2, including excerpts of each
level's soundtrack in WAV format.
Q4
http://www.q4productions.com/
Q4 is the title of a movie and a roleplaying game both in development
about the exploration of the quadrant in space in which the Milky Way Galaxy
occupies. Q4 appears to have many concepts used in GURPS Autoduel, GURPS
Cyberpunk and the movie Aliens.
ROAD WARS
http://www.gamesdomain.com/demos/demo/roadwars.html
http://www.gamingplanet.com/demos2/roadwars.html
Road Wars is a cutting-edge vehicular combat racing game set in a police
state of the near future where the extreme sport of Road Wars
has emerged.
With twelve different character, car, and track combinations, and a
plethora of hazard effects, Road Wars is designed to satisfy the craving
of the worst adrenaline junkies. Setting itself apart from the competition,
Road Wars features the Season Race, where players win money from each race
and are challenged to repair and add weapons, armor, and tires to their
vehicles from race to race.
CONCUSSION 1999
http://straylight.unl.edu/concussion/
http://www.novia.net/~desslok/nova.htm
June 4-6, 1999. Holiday Inn Central. 72nd and Grover. Omaha, Nebraska.
The New Omaha Vehicular Association (NOVA) will be running the 2049 Midwest
US Regional Dueling and Racing Championships at this convention. The NOVA
Web site has details of the tournaments.
GATEWAY 1999 CAR WARS TOURNAMENT REPORT
Date: Wed, 02 Jun 1999 23:50:10 -0700
From: Christian Vanover <jchrisv@pacbell.net>
Organization: Pacific Bell Internet Services
To: CWIN <owenmp@serv.net>
All three of our weekend matches were held at the brand new Los Angeles
International Raceway (a.k.a. The LAIR). I've attached a file that
has the original concept (the only thing not shown on the diagram are
the 25 DP pit walls, or the grass outside of each turn which forms the
whole model into a rectangle -- I'm hoping to put together a better
diagram for the Web site), and as I get some game photos I'll forward them
on
to you.
The Crazy Eight event was around the Figure-Eight. All 8 cars started evenly spaced around the track, all traveling the same direction at 50 mph.
The Div 30 Duel allowed cars to drive anywhere -- the track, the grass,
the pits. Any players wishing to "surrender" needed to drive into one of
the two pit areas and stop, or could run there on foot and signal that
they were out. The 12 cars were started in side-by-side pairs evenly
spaced around the oval, travelling opposite directions at 50 mph. Cars
were not allowed to shoot at the vehicle they were paired with until they
fired on another vehicle first.
The Div 60 Race was a traditional racing pack start -- the pace car pulls off and all cars start two abreast at a rolling 80 mph start.
And all this done in Hot Wheels scale :)
Talk to you soon,
Christian Vanover
Ludinn Entertainment
CHAMPIONSHIP AUTODUELING CIRCUIT (CADC)
http://surf.to/cadc
http://home.earthlink.net/~timgould/cadc.htm
Tire Tracks 8/4 is now available on CADC Internet Headquarters. Featured articles include news on the plans for the 2049 AADA World Racing Championships, a discussion of how the Dueltrack Racing Association Carbon-Aluminum Rally runs its own combat races, an introduction to the racing tactic known as drafting, the CADC Proving Grounds and two Driver's Spotlights, Matt Linemuth of Team Louisiana and Mark Pittman of Team Italy.
Remember every three to four weeks, the Tire Tracks Archive is replaced
with two different issues of the CADC's Journal. The CADC has a mailing
list to notify autoduelists when the Archive has been updated and when
the CADC Web site has been revised. This mailing list is an efficient method
to keep track of when the CADC's home on the Internet has new material.
DUELTRACK RACING ASSOCIATION CARBON-ALUMINUM RALLY (DRACAR)
http://www.dracos.net/dracos/carwars.htm
http://www.dracos.net/dracos/dracar.htm
The California combat drivers have been very busy in May, running a
1:24 scale version of the CADC's Dublin Shamrock and participating in the
Car Wars tournament at the Gateway 1999 convention. Summaries of both events
are on the DRACAR Web site and the results of these games have been added
to the 2049 WADA Car Wars League Standings.
MATT'S CORPORATE CAR WARS LEAGUE
http://www.wenet.net/~stip/
Because this campaign was not able to be started, the Car Wars Web site
for the gaming group has disappeared. If you want the vehicle design spreadsheet
Matt's site used to have, contact SWAT.
NEW OMAHA VEHICULAR ASSOCIATION (NOVA)
http://www.novia.net/~desslok/nova.htm
A new section has been created called NOVA Headquarters. Although under
construction, blueprints of the Practice Arena and Airfield are now available.
PROJECT VIPER AND VIPER CENTRAL
Steven Lawrence of Project Viper and Brian Gajewski of Viper Central
have some incredible news about the future of Viper. Last month's edition
of CWIN reported the series was canceled. This decision may not be final,
if you act now! Viper is one of the best autodueling television shows to
be produced. Help keep autodueling on television by reading the articles
below from Project Viper and Viper Central. If Car Wars fans lobby for
the continuation of Viper, Paramount will quickly surrender from the firepower
of the AADA!
PROJECT VIPER
http://members.xoom.com/tvviper/
James Norwood was tired of people saying that Viper was ending and called Paramount! Here is a summary of his call . . .
This is a summary of how Viper got screwed out of production. When I called the Viper office in California, the guy I talked to said the show was pretty much closed down and he also told me that it was Paramount's decision because Paramount didn't feel they made enough money off of the show. A Viper toy and merchandise line would have solved that. The guy also told me that the Viper production staff did want the show to continue. As do all of us fans, I told him that Paramount has a new enemy and he said "attack." The part of the show displaying "Season Finale" was filmed before the show got ripped from production. Paramount needs to learn the errors of their ways!
If you would like to call the Viper offices in either California or Vancouver to Save Viper, please use the numbers below!
818-526-0930 -- Viper's California Office
604-412-9400 -- Viper's Vancouver Office
323-956-5000 -- Paramounts Office
Call and demand them to put Viper back on the air!
VIPER CENTRAL
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~bmg95960/viper/main.html
http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~bmg95960/viper/support.html
Viper was recently canceled from syndication. The show was prematurely discontinued due to lower ratings. However, the show did poorly because it was given dismal time slots by syndicators (it aired at midnight in over 15 markets and in the early morning in most others). The show was relegated to these bad time slots due to the expansion of UPN and WB networks. The show can come back, but it will need to be picked up by a network.
If you like Viper, please take the time to write to one or all of the following addresses:
Viacom, Inc. (They own Paramount, thus Viper)
1515 Broadway
New York, NY 10036
CBS is interested in the show! They need stronger ratings in the 18-49 demographic. Please keep in mind they did not cancel the show; they are interested in ACQUIRING IT, so e-mail them , using the Feedback section of their Web site <http://www.cbs.com> and tell them to pick up Viper!
You can also write to CBS at:
CBS
7800 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Please Remember . . . One letter represents 60,000 television viewers
. . . You can make a difference.