<gamebook xml:lang="en-UK" version="0.11.3">
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+Revision 1.4 2006/09/06 09:01:34 Wibbleboy
+o Fixed a few formatting errors
+o Implemented series-wide consistency changes
+
+Revision 1.3 2006/06/19 08:23:23 Wibbleboy
+Made errata changes for consistency with other books in series.
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<meta>
<title>California Countdown</title>
<creator class="short">Joe Dever</creator>
<dd></dd>
<dt>XML</dt>
<dd>Jonathan Blake<br />Jeff Dougan</dd>
- <dt>Alternate Illustrations</dt>
- <dd></dd>
<dt>Proofreading</dt>
<dd>Jennifer Sigman, Iain Smith</dd>
<dt>Editing</dt>
</meta>
<data>
- <p><strong>1900-1998</strong><br />Rise of global terrorism on an unprecedented scale. Political violence funded by organized crime syndicate called HAVOC - The Hijack, Assassination and Violent Opposition Consortium.</p>
+ <p><strong>1990-1998</strong><br />Rise of global terrorism on an unprecedented scale. Political violence funded by organized crime syndicate called HAVOC - The Hijack, Assassination and Violent Opposition Consortium.</p>
<p><strong>1998-2003</strong><br />The governments of many small and impoverished nations fall into the hands of HAVOC. International terrorists receive arms, training and shelter in these Badlands.</p>
<p><strong>2003-2008</strong><br />Raids on oil and gas installations, assassinations, and the kidnapping of prominent world statesmen become commonplace as HAVOC attempt to terrorize the civilized world into submission. Despite public outrage and growing international tension, the major powers steadfastly refuse to give in to HAVOC's demands.</p>
<p><strong>2008</strong><br />President of the United States and General Secretary of Supreme Soviet both assassinated at emergency summit meeting. US, USSR and major European nations create the World Defence League and declare war on HAVOC. The Badlands are invaded, key HAVOC bases destroyed, and thousands of HAVOC agents are captured.</p>
<p><strong>2009</strong><br />HAVOC leaders imprisoned for life in `Deep Pens' - maximum security gaols located deep underground - to prevent their escape or release by HAVOC agents still at large.</p>
<p><strong>2010</strong><br />New leadership emerges to unify the scattered remnants of HAVOC and plan revenge.</p>
<p><strong>2011</strong><br />A WDL train transporting seventeen 100-kiloton nuclear warheads, destined to be neutralized and dismantled, is attacked by HAVOC agents. The train is destroyed and its deadly cargo stolen.</p>
- <p><strong>2012 New Years Day</strong><br />HAVOC hijack a WDL news satellite and broadcast a chilling ultimatum. They have planted the seventeen stolen warheads in major cities throughout the US, USSR and Europe. They call for the immediate release of all HAVOC agents held in Deep Pens, plus the payment of $2 trillion in gold bullion, or they will trigger the warheads one by one until their demands are met in full. A twenty-four-hour deadline is set. WDL leaders declare emergency and request that the deadline be extended. HAVOC refuse.</p>
+ <p><strong>2012 New Year's Day</strong><br />HAVOC hijack a WDL news satellite and broadcast a chilling ultimatum. They have planted the seventeen stolen warheads in major cities throughout the US, USSR and Europe. They call for the immediate release of all HAVOC agents held in Deep Pens, plus the payment of $2 trillion in gold bullion, or they will trigger the warheads one by one until their demands are met in full. A twenty-four-hour deadline is set. WDL leaders declare emergency and request that the deadline be extended. HAVOC refuse.</p>
<p><strong>2nd January</strong><br />First warhead detonated at Brie Nuclear Energy Plant, ten miles south of Paris, France. Blast and radioactive fallout claim millions of lives. HAVOC repeat their demand and extend deadline by twenty-four hours.</p>
<p><strong>3rd January 'The Day'</strong><br />World Defence League agents discover location of HAVOC command headquarters on an island in the South Pacific Ocean. Immediately orders are given to infiltrate and destroy the HQ and its occupants. The assault is swift and decisive', the complex is quickly overrun and its inhabitants are killed. Yet, ironically, as the news of this victory is being relayed around the world, HAVOC enact their ultimate revenge. A transmitter hidden on the island, fitted with a time-delay mechanism, clicks on, sending its high-frequency radio signal to a communications satellite orbiting the earth. This signal is amplified and returned to earth where, simultaneously, it triggers the remaining nuclear warheads. The initial explosions set off a disastrous chain reaction that feeds on civil and military nuclear installations all across the northern hemisphere. Hundreds of millions of people are killed within days, and many more perish during the years that follow, falling victim to the lingering radioactivity and the severe climatic changes that affect the earth.</p>
<p><strong>2012-2019</strong><br />Gale force winds sweep across the world, carrying enormous amounts of dust into the upper atmosphere and preventing much sunlight from reaching the earth's surface. Temperatures plummet, deterring survivors from remaining above ground. Communications are disrupted by gamma radiation, making all radio, cable and satellite contact impossible. Small colonies of survivors develop in total isolation from one another during these years of darkness.</p>
</illustration>
<p>It was early September in the year 2019 when eventually you broke through to the surface. The landscape surrounding the mine looked like the surface of another planet. Few structures had survived the blizzards and intense cold that had swept around the world in the years following 'The Day', and now, after the dust had settled and the sun returned, the once-fertile plains of Austin resembled little more than a desert of parched and broken rock, littered with the artefacts of an absent civilization. During the first few days, when you set out to explore this wilderness, it was easy to believe that you were the only survivors. But on the morning of the fifth day Uncle Jonas made chance radio contact with a family called Ewell, who were living near the ruins of McKinney, thirty miles north of Dallas. They told him that they had been in touch with a handful of other groups, who had managed somehow to survive the holocaust. Most were isolated, unable to move due to lack of fuel, food or water. They had urged those who could travel to join them in McKinney, to start a new community there, and some were already on their way. When your uncle and aunt accepted their invitation, the Ewells were enthusiastic but they also warned you to be wary - not everyone who had survived wanted to establish a new community. The ruins of some large Texan cities, such as Dallas and Fort Worth, were controlled by gangs of criminals who fought with each other and terrorized anyone seeking to re-establish law and order. They urged you to avoid these gangs at all costs.</p>
- <p>It took more than a week to discover a vehicle capable of transporting you to McKinney. It was an old school bus parked in an underground lot where it had survived the years of subzero blizzards. With fuel and spares salvaged from the mine, you managed to coax it back to life, whereupon you set off on your journey north. When you arrived at the town, it was easy to find where the Ewells lived, for their ranch was the only place that was still standing. It looked more like an old frontier post than a ranch, with its fortified perimeter wall, lookout posts and stake-filled moat. However, after being ambushed and shot at by the city gangs of Fort Worth during the final stages of your journey, you could readily understand the need for these defences.</p>
+ <p>It took more than a week to discover a vehicle capable of transporting you to McKinney. It was an old school bus parked in an underground lot where it had survived the years of sub-zero blizzards. With fuel and spares salvaged from the mine, you managed to coax it back to life, whereupon you set off on your journey north. When you arrived at the town, it was easy to find where the Ewells lived, for their ranch was the only place that was still standing. It looked more like an old frontier post than a ranch, with its fortified perimeter wall, lookout posts and stake-filled moat. However, after being ambushed and shot at by the city gangs of Fort Worth during the final stages of your journey, you could readily understand the need for these defences.</p>
<p>'Pop' Ewell, the seventy-year-old grandfather of the Ewell family, was the leader of this small colony of survivors, and it was he who had urged Uncle Jonas to join them when your uncle had first made radio contact. The colony numbered less than a dozen at the time of your arrival, yet as the airwaves became clearer and new contacts were made, the number had soon more than doubled to twenty-five. It was decided that a name was needed to identify the settlement. The name 'Dallas Colony One' was adopted - 'DC1' for short - and from that day on, everyone worked hard to make DC1 a secure haven for those seeking refuge from the hostile wastelands and marauding city gangs.</p>
<p>'Cutter' Jacks was one such refugee. Before 'The Day' he had been chief mechanic at the International Grand Prix Circuit near Lake Dallas, and his incredible skill and knowledge of engines was soon to prove invaluable to the colony. He taught you how to drive, and from a pile of old wrecks that you helped him salvage from the circuit, he built you a powerful, customized car. You used it to patrol the highways north of the city, keeping a lookout for gangs of city punks who frequently mounted raids to steal or destroy DC1's supplies. Cutter also taught you to shoot, and it was your natural prowess with a gun, and your skill behind the wheel, that was to earn you the begrudging respect of your enemies, who took to calling you the 'Freeway Warrior'.</p>
<p>Six months after your arrival at DC1, the colony was faced with a major crisis. A heat wave caused a drought that threatened to destroy the food supply. Crops were failing and the colony's artesian well - its only source of uncontaminated water - was beginning to dry up. The drought was also provoking more attacks from the city punks who were desperate for food and water. Their common need had united them and now they posed a very real threat to the security of DC1. It was the last day of May, 2020, when Pop Ewell made radio contact with another colony, who were based in the city of Big Spring, 300 miles west of McKinney. Their situation was completely the reverse of DC1's: they had food and water in plentiful supply but they were desperately short of fuel. They told of their contact with survivors in Tucson, Arizona, who also were without fuel. The Tucson colony reported that the territories west of the Sierra Nevada Mountains had been spared the worst effects of the radioactive blizzards that had devastated the rest of the country and, miraculously, much of southern California was still widely populated: it had survived the last eight years virtually intact. When you heard the news, you could hardly believe your ears. Perhaps your family as still alive; perhaps there was still a chance that one day you would be reunited.</p>
</meta>
<data>
- <p>Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your personal characteristics and the weapons and provisions with which you are equipped. On pages 6 and 7 you will find an <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> on which to record and amend these details as the adventure unfolds. For ease of use during play, it is recommended that you photocopy these pages.</p>
- <p>Your personal characteristics comprise two basic attributes: <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> and <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ>. To discover your initial <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ>, take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it on to the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>
at the back of this book. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero. Add 10 to the number you have picked and write the total in the <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> section of your Action Chart (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 5 in the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a CLOSE <typ class="attribute">COMBAT SKILL</typ> total of 15). When you fight an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, your <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> will be measured against that of your enemy, so a high score in this section is desirable.</p>
+ <p>Before embarking on your adventure, you must first determine your personal characteristics and the weapons and provisions with which you are equipped. An <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> has been supplied on which to record and amend these details as the adventure unfolds.</p>
+ <p>Your personal characteristics comprise two basic attributes: <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> and <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ>. To discover your initial <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ>, take a pencil and, with your eyes closed, point the blunt end of it on to the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>. If you pick a 0 it counts as zero. Add 10 to the number you have picked and write the total in the <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> section of your Action Chart (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 5 in the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a CLOSE <typ class="attribute">COMBAT SKILL</typ> total of 15). When you fight an enemy in hand-to-hand combat, your <typ class="attribute">CLOSE COMBAT SKILL</typ> will be measured against that of your enemy, so a high score in this section is desirable.</p>
<p>To discover your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> level, repeat the process, but this time add 20 to the number you have picked from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>. Write the total in the <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> section of your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> (for example, if your pencil falls on the number 8 on the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>, you have a total <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> score of 28). If you are wounded in combat, or injured at any other time during your adventure you will lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points. If, at any time, your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points total falls to zero, you are dead and the adventure is over. You can regain lost <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during the course of the adventure, but your <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> level can never rise above your initial score.</p>
<section class="frontmatter-separate" id="sskills">
<data>
<p>Ever since the day you returned to the surface, you have endeavoured to develop your skills and natural instincts fully in order to best defend yourself and your colony.</p>
- <p>Listed on your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> are your five basic survival skills:</p>
+ <p>Listed on your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a> are your five basic Survival Skills:</p>
<section class="frontmatter" id="driving">
<meta><title>Driving</title></meta>
</data>
</section>
- <p>Your ability in each of these five individual skills is measured in skill points. You begin with 3 points per skill. Before starting the adventure, you may allocate an additional 4 skill points to your list of five survival skills. These 4 extra points can be used to improve one or more of your five skills. During your adventure, all five skills will be severely tested, therefore the higher the individual skill level, the better your chances of survival. You may allocate your 4 additional points entirely how you like.</p>
+ <p>Your ability in each of these five individual skills is measured in skill points. You begin with 3 points per skill. Before starting the adventure, you may allocate an additional 4 skill points to your list of five Survival Skills. These 4 extra points can be used to improve one or more of your five skills. During your adventure, all five skills will be severely tested, therefore the higher the individual skill level, the better your chances of survival. You may allocate your 4 additional points entirely how you like.</p>
<p>When you have decided where to allocate your 4 additional skill points, make a note of the totals in the Survival Skills section of your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a>.</p>
<p>(If this is your first Freeway Warrior adventure, your total number of skill points should be 19: five skills x 3 points each = 15, plus 4 additional skill points = 19 points.)</p>
</data>
<section class="frontmatter" id="medikit">
<meta><title>Medi-kit</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>A well-stocked Medi-kit can make all the difference to your chances of survival should you suffer injury in the field or as a result of combat. It contains useful first aid supplies, such as dressings, antiseptics, antibiotics, water purification tablets, sulphonamides, pain killers, potassium iodine tablets (to delay absorption of radioactivity) and sutures.</p>
+ <p>A well-stocked Medi-kit can make all the difference to your chances of survival should you suffer injury in the field or as a result of combat. It contains useful first aid supplies, such as dressings, antiseptics, antibiotics, water purification tablets, sulphonamides, pain killers, potassium iodide tablets (to delay absorption of radioactivity) and sutures.</p>
<p>For convenience, these medical supplies are grouped into units. To find how many units you have in your Medi-kit, pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> (0 equals 10) and add 2. Your total score equals the number of units with which you begin your adventure. To keep a record of them, circle the appropriate number of unit symbols in the Medi-kit section of your <a idref="action">Action Chart</a>. The maximum number of units you can carry in your Medi-kit is twelve.</p>
<p>You may use your Medi-kit units to restore lost <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points; each unit used in this way restores 3 points. Units cannot be used to restore <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points in lieu of a Meal or Water when instructed to eat or drink.</p>
</data>
</li>
<li><p>After working out your Combat Ratio, pick a number from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a>.</p></li>
<li>
- <p>Turn to the Close Combat Results Table on the inside back cover of the book. Along the top of the chart are the Combat Ratio numbers. Find the number that is the same as your Combat Ratio and cross-reference it with the number that you have picked (the random numbers appear down the side of the chart). You now have the <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points lost by both Cal Phoenix and his enemy in this round of close combat. (E represents points lost by the enemy; CP represents points lost by Cal Phoenix.)</p>
+ <p>Turn to the <a idref="crtable">Close Combat Results Table</a>. Along the top of the chart are the Combat Ratio numbers. Find the number that is the same as your Combat Ratio and cross-reference it with the number that you have picked (the random numbers appear down the side of the chart). You now have the <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points lost by both Cal Phoenix and his enemy in this round of close combat. (E represents points lost by the enemy; CP represents points lost by Cal Phoenix.)</p>
<p>Example<br />The Combat Ratio between Cal Phoenix and the Renegade Clansman has been established as <ch.plus/>1. If the number picked from the <a idref="random">Random Number Table</a> is a 4, then the result of the first round of close combat is:
<ul>
<li>Cal Phoenix loses 3 <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points.</li>
<section class="frontmatter" id="evasion">
<meta><title>Evasion of Combat</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>During your adventure you may be given the chance to evade close combat. If you have already engaged in a round of close combat and decide to evade, calculate the combat for that round in the usual manner. All ENDURANCE points lost by the enemy as a result of that round are ignored; only Cal Phoenix may lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during that round, but that is the risk of running away! You may evade combat only if the text of that particular section allows you to do so.</p>
+ <p>During your adventure you may be given the chance to evade close combat. If you have already engaged in a round of close combat and decide to evade, calculate the combat for that round in the usual manner. All <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points lost by the enemy as a result of that round are ignored; only Cal Phoenix may lose <typ class="attribute">ENDURANCE</typ> points during that round, but that is the risk of running away! You may evade combat only if the text of that particular section allows you to do so.</p>
</data>
</section>
</data>
<meta><title>118</title></meta>
<data>
- <p>You stop to pull the extinguisher from your pack, then you rush forward and train it on the side of the Landcruiser, aiming it at a hole in the luggage compartment door created by the fire. The foam gushes into the hole and arrests the flames just long enough for Cutter and a handful of the Tucson colonists to arm themselves with fire-fighting equipment and come to your assistance before your extinguisher runs out. (Remember to delete this item from your list of Backpack items.)</p>
+ <p>You stop to pull the extinguisher from your pack, then you rush forward and train it on the side of the Landcruiser, aiming it at a hole in the luggage compartment door created by the fire. The foam gushes into the hole and arrests the flames just long enough for Cutter and a handful of the Tucson colonists to arm themselves with fire-fighting equipment and come to your assistance before your extinguisher runs out. (Remember to delete this item from your list of Backpack Items.)</p>
<p>Your bravery and presence of mind have prevented the fire from igniting the vehicle's fuel tanks. However, there was nothing you could do to save the contents of the compartment, which included all the colony's food and a large percentage of its water supply.</p>
<choice idref="sect145"><link-text>Turn to 145</link-text>.</choice>
</data>
<li>Eighteen rounds of 9mm ammunition</li>
<li>Three rounds of 12-gauge ammunition</li>
</ul>
- <p>Remember to adjust your Weapons List and/or Ammo Pouch accordingly.</p>
+ <p>Remember to adjust your <a idref="action">Weapons List</a> and/or Ammo Pouch accordingly.</p>
<choice idref="sect220">To continue, <link-text>turn to 220</link-text>.</choice>
</data>
</section>
<meta><title>Errata</title></meta>
<data>
<p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>if you pick a O</quote> with <quote>if you pick a 0</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>On pages 6 and 7 you will find an Action Chart</quote> with <quote>An Action Chart has been supplied</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Removed <quote>For ease of use during play it is recommended that you photocopy these pages</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>the Random Number Table at the back of this book</quote> with <quote>the Random Number Table</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="gamerulz">The Game Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>survival skills</quote> with <quote>Survival Skills</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="cmbtrulz">Combat Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>cross-refer</quote> with <quote>cross-reference</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="cmbtrulz">Combat Rules</a>) Replaced <quote>as <ch.plus/>1 If </quote> with <quote>as <ch.plus/>1. If </quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="cmbtrulz">Combat Rules</a>) Removed <quote>on the inside back cover of the book</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="equipmnt">Equipment</a>) Replaced <quote>potassium iodine</quote> with <quote>potassium iodide</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="tssf">The Story So Far</a>) Replaced <quote>re-establish</quote> with <quote>reestablish</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="tssf">The Story So Far</a>) Replaced <quote>syphon</quote> with <quote>siphon</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect11">11</a>) Replaced <quote>inflamations</quote> with <quote>inflammation</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect76">76</a>) Replaced <quote>syphon</quote> with <quote>siphon</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect99">99</a>) Replaced <quote>ammuntion</quote> with <quote>ammunition</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect112">112</a>) Added missing period after <quote>turn to 295</quote>.</p>
+ <p>(<a idref="sect118">118</a>) Replaced <quote>Backpack items</quote> with <quote>Backpack Items</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect121">121</a>) Replaced <quote>machine gunfire</quote> with <quote>machine gun fire</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect125">125</a>) Replaced <quote>you say, frustratedly.</quote> with <quote>you say in frustration.</quote>.</p>
<p>(<a idref="sect145">145</a>) Replaced <quote>examing</quote> with <quote>examining</quote>.</p>
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