Introduction • Mechanics • The World • Episodes

The Amazing Thundarr Episode Guide

The species of characters is noted in parentheses after their names, along with their quality (e.g., average, good, superior). If a name appears in parentheses, then the character or monster isn't given a name in the series, and I've just called it something descriptive. None of the spells are in parentheses, because no one ever bothers announcing what spell they're casting.

• Episode 2: Harvest of Doom
• Episode 3: Mindok the Mind Menace
• Episode 4: Raiders of the Abyss
• Episode 19: Master of the Stolen Sunsword
• Episode 20: Trial by Terror

2: Harvest of Doom

Tai: "They better not wreck my train!"

Thundarr and friends encounter a train somewhere in Mexico (or possibly South America). Trying to slow the train down and look at it, Ookla rips a door off a box car and reveals mounds of bright red flowers. The red blossoms are death flowers being transported by Carocs to a wizard who wants to use the flowers to enslave Humans (what else?). The Carocs aren't happy about the interruption, of course, and promptly get their scaly tails kicked when they defend their train from our heroes. Unfortunately, the leader of the Carocs has a death flower pollen gun, and uses it to put our heroes to sleep. The Carocs have no use for Thundarr and Ariel (being mere Humans), but they keep the mighty Ookla to use as a slave in the death flower fields.

     After escaping from some big furry snakes, Thundarr and Ariel enlist the aid of swamp urchin Tai to track the Carocs back to the pyramid entrance to their valley. All Tai wants in return is the train the Carocs are using. Once in the valley of the Carocs, Thundarr and Ariel rescue Ookla and burn the death flower fields. Then they follow the Carocs back to their train, chase off the Carocs, and repair the train track for Tai (what good is a train without a track?).

     Thundarr and friends never even see the wizard the Carocs are working for; this episode would make a good introductory adventure for an Under the Broken Moon campaign.

Characters

The Wizard (Wizard, good?): We don't know the name of the wizard for whom the Carocs are cultivating the death flowers, and we don't know what he's giving the Carocs in return for the flowers. All we know is what he looks like (an old Human in red robes and a tall grey hat), and that he wants the death flowers to conquer the Humans beyond the swamp.

Caroc Leader (Caroc, good): The Caroc leader is slightly less reptilian than his followers (he actually has a neck!). He's smarter than the other Carocs, and he's a bit tougher, too.

Tai the Swamp Urchin (Human, superior): Tai is a pale, spunky little blonde girl around thirteen, an orphan who lives in the swamp. She's not a combat character, but she's tougher than she looks. She's at home in the dangerous swamps, and has influence with at least one of the creatures living there. For example, a big bear-like thing named Arak does what she tells it to do, even in the heat of combat with Thundarr. This isn't mind control: she has to get to know a creature and get to be friends with it before it will do what she tells it. Tai is a fun character, and one of only two recurring characters in the series (other than Ariel, Ookla, and Thundarr): she and her train reappear in Last Train to Doomsday. (If this was a Japanese cartoon, Tai would be the main character.) Fun fact: Tai was played by Nancy McKeon, of "Facts of Life" fame, where she played another scrappy character, Joanna "Jo" Marie.

Monsters

(Leopard Serpent, good): These two furry snake creatures are really no match for Thundarr. Their heads are about the size of a normal Human's, and they're only about eight meters long. They have huge fangs but they aren't venomous, and prefer to squeeze their prey to death.

Arak (superior): This shaggy orange creature looks like a cross between a grizzly bear and a huge ape, with big bony plates on its back. It shrugs off Thundarr's Sunsword (Invulnerable, T/U, 6d6), and it is as comfortable under water as it is above it. When Tai tells it to go home, it just sinks under the surface and vanishes.

Spells

Yellow blast (average offensive, group): Ariel hits a half-dozen Carocs with this when they attack her at the train. This doesn't knock any of the Carocs unconscious, but it does chase them away. 1 use.

Brown mist teleport (teleportation): After the wizard is done talking with the Caroc leader, he casts this spell to go back home. A thin trail of brown mist spirals around him a few times, and he vanishes. 1 use.

Blinding flash (average illusion, area): Ariel casts this at the Carocs to hold them off while Thundarr is on his way. The bright light upsets them and distracts them, which is probably the effect she wanted. 1 use.

Still and quiet (superior offensive stun ray): Ariel casts this at a Caroc with a wave of her hand to keep him (you guessed it) still and quiet while Ariel and Thundarr sneak into the valley of the Carocs. It looks like translucent threads that wrap around the Caroc and keeps him from moving or making any noise, but in practice it acts like your basic stun ray. 1 use.

Disintegrate scythes (average offensive vs. inanimate, group): Disintegrating inanimate objects is no big deal. Ariel holds up her hands and three Carocs' scythes glow and crumble. 1 use.

Blue sleep (superior offensive stun ray): Ariel casts these blue rays at Ookla to put him to sleep when she and Thundarr are unable to snap him out of the death flower trance. In practice it acts like your basic stun ray. 1 use.

Levitate (good telekinesis): Ariel lifts her hands and the unconscious Ookla rises into the air. This is much easier than carrying the big unconscious lug around. 1 use.

Disintegrate death flowers (average offensive vs. inanimate): Again, disintegrating inanimate objects is no big deal. Ariel sends neon tendrils of energy at the mounds of flowers and they wither up. 3 uses (one per train car).

Cool Stuff

Tai's train: The locomotive has one coal car and three boxcars.

Death flower (3d6, damage factor x5): The pollen of this bright red bloom has the power to numb the Human (and Mok, apparently) will. The pollen seems to have an initial soporific effect (it puts our heroes to sleep when the Caroc leader hits them with it), but the will-numbing doesn't last very long and must be periodically refreshed (at least, when used on named characters). To resist casual exposure to the death flower pollen, a character exposed to it must attempt a defense roll using a willpower-related trait against the death flowers' 3d6. If the death flower causes enough "damage" to take the character out of the fight, the victim will go to sleep about an hour, and after she wakes up she will obey the person who exposed her to the death flower pollen.

     How long the character will remain under the sway of the death flowers is largely plot-dependent. Unnamed characters will remain dominated indefinitely, while named characters will recover from the death flower pollen in a matter of hours (perhaps quicker if the victim has friends trying to snap her out of it).

Death flower pollen gun (5d6, damage factor x5): The leader of the Carocs carries this bong-like gun loaded with death flower pollen. The Caroc leader blows in the gun and a concentrated cloud of yellow pollen surrounds the target (who then must resist the death flower pollen as described above).

The Golden Pyramid: This ancient step pyramid is the only entrance to the hidden valley of the Carocs. It's full of passages, traps, and sliding walls, not to mention Caroc guards, and our heroes come close to being trapped within it by the Carocs.

Caroc barge: This appears to be a diesel powered barge that the Carocs use to transport their death flower harvest to the train parked at the other side of the swamp.

3: Mindok the Mind Menace

Mindok: "I am Mindok, supreme among wizards. I have taught this to Zoa. Now Thundarr, too, must learn."

This is without a doubt one of the best Thundarr episodes. Our heroes arrive on the scene just as General Zoa and the goon squad park their humongous war machine next to the NASA Space Center and head inside. Thundarr and gang follow, but the goons attack them once they get inside. General Zoa and the goons are defeated and leave in the war machine, heading back to Mindok's stronghold.

     Our heroes find the "ice people" that Zoa and the goon squad were looking for, and wake the three NASA scientists from their cryogenic suspension. Mindok is peeved that Thundarr got to the ice people first, so he imprisons Zoa and the goon squad in a fist-sized crystal ball as punishment. Mindok heads to the Space Center himself, where he zaps the scientists away from our heroes right in front of them, teleporting them back to his island stronghold. He warns Thundarr and the gang not to try to follow, but of course they do anyway.

     After wrestling with some fire whales, Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla arrive at Mindok's island stronghold. Mindok is ready for them, though, and traps them in a crystal ball with little trouble. By this time the scientists that Mindok mind-controlled into building him a big robot body have completed their work. With his new body and his enormous brain-powered flying warship (which he had prepared ahead of time), Mindok is now ready to rule the world. And he could have gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for those nosy adventurers!

     Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla join forces to break out of the crystal globe. They follow Mindok's warship to the nearby Human village where he is in the process of (what else?) conquering the stone-age Human peasants living there. Thundarr, Ariel, and Ookla ride their horses onto and into the ship, and face off against Mindok in his control room. Mindok's mighty robot body tosses Ookla across the room like a rag doll, but Thundarr cuts off one of Mindok's hands and both legs with his Sunsword. Mindok falls into the control panel and smashes it, sending the warship out of control and heading into orbit. Our heroes (and their horses) jump off the ship just in time. Mindok laughs all the way into space.

Characters

General Zoa (Mutant, good): Zoa leads Mindok's goons. He's even taller than the other goons (about one goon-head's worth), and he talks big, but he's a pushover for Thundarr (literally: Thundarr pushes him over and takes away his ruby sceptre).

Unnamed goons (Mutant, good): Mindok's goons look like really ugly Humans a meter taller than Thundarr. They have solid green eyes with no pupils, and their hands have three digits and an opposable thumb. They look really brutish and tough, but they are not as tough as they look, and they are intellectually about on par for your run-of-the-mill mutants. They aren't called "goons" in the episode, that's just what I call them. They are all obviously the same species, and they aren't obviously some kind of Human-animal mutation, so "goon" seemed as good an appellation as any.

The Ice People (Human, good): These three Humans (two women, one man) were cryogenically frozen before the great catastrophe. They have great amounts of scientific knowledge and technical skill (they build a powerful robot body for Mindok in a matter of hours), but they aren't any stronger-willed or better in a fight than an average Human. Two of them introduce themselves when they are freed from their frozen sleep (Doctor Craft is the dark-skinned woman, and the man is named Doctor Harris), but they are never referred to by name again. In a game, they would probably be treated as unnamed characters.

Mindok (Wizard, monstrous): Mindok is downright awesome. He starts out as a brain riding around in a space helmet with a mirrored faceplate, wearing a purple robe over a hovering robot body that looks like a rocket-powered propane tank with little mechanical hands. Eventually he has a big, powerful robot body (which makes him much more powerful physically, but drains some of his magical ability because the body is powered by his brain). He was injured 2,000 years ago before the world fell into ruin, and his brain has been kept alive in his life-support suit since then. His brain is now apparently immortal (hey, it survived this long). He calls himself "supreme among wizards," and this may very well be so.

Monsters

Fire whale (superior): This is a mutant sperm whale with lots of teeth, a horn on its forehead, and bony spikes on its back and sides. Unlike normal whales, a fire whale has a flamethrowing tube where its blowhole should be, and its tail fin is vertical rather than horizontal. Our heroes run into a gang of four of the beasts. They are tough, but not invulnerable. Ookla head-butts one that charges him, which takes both the Mok and the fire whale out of the fight.

Spells

Light (average illusion, area): Ariel holds up her hand and it radiates light bright enough to see by. Very handy. 1 use.

Disintegrate flame-thrower (average offensive vs. inanimate): Ariel bounces a yellow ray from one hand off the other, and then it hits one of the goons' flame-thrower. The flame-thrower glows yellow and fades away into nothing. 1 use.

Blocking blast (defensive magic trait roll): Ariel blocks an energy bolt from Zoa's ruby sceptre. Later she uses the same spell to block a crackling yellow blast from Mindok. 2 uses.

Whirlwind (good telekinesis, group): Ariel blows in her hand and makes a little tornado. It grows big and sucks up Mindok's goons, then carries them all the way outside and dumps them at the door of the war machine. 1 use.

Mindok's mirror (clairvoyance): Mindok shows General Zoa and the goon squad what is going on back at the Space Center, where the ice people have been freed by Thundarr. 1 use.

Crystal globe (superior offensive entangling, area): In a fit of peeve, Mindok imprisons Zoa and his goons in a fist-sized crystal globe. It appears that they will remain trapped in the sphere indefinitely. Later, he casts the same spell at our heroes, and Ariel's magic and Thundarr's Sunsword are individually powerless to damage the sphere from the inside: they must all three strike together to break out of the sphere. 2 uses.

Lightning teleport (teleport, group): Mindok teleports all three scientists, simultaneously, from the Space Center to his island stronghold. 1 use.

Light bridge (good telekinesis): Ariel creates a bridge of light in front of her when she is charged by a fire whale. The whale slides up the bridge and over Ariel's head, and crashes into another whale. Later on, she casts a light bridge so she and Ookla can catch up to Thundarr (who jumped from some skyscraper-rubble to the ship on his horse). 2 uses.

Mind control (domination, group): Mindok hits the three scientists in the eyes, simultaneously, with a yellow beam from his mirrored helmet, and they are instantly obedient. 1 use.

Binding serpents (superior offensive entangling, group): Three big snakes emerge from Mindok's mirrored faceplate, and wrap around our heroes. Presumably at least Ookla and Thundarr could have broken free, but on the next round Mindok imprisons them all in a crystal ball. 1 use.

Crackling yellow blast (superior offensive): When our heroes break into Mindok's control room, Mindok tries to blast them with crackling yellow energy beams from the antennae of his big robot body. 1 use.

Cool Stuff

War machine: This thing is huge, and I do mean huge. The buildings of the Space Center are no bigger than the depth of the tread on its enormous wheels. It's also submersible: it travels underwater to get back and forth from Mindok's equally-huge bitchin' island fortress. It could conceivably hold an army (or several armies), but we know it takes no more than a handful of people to operate it because there are only a handful of Mindok's goons on it at any one time.

Flame-thrower (damage factor x6): Many of Mindok's goons are armed with these rifle-like weapons. They fire basketball-sized balls of fire, but they are slow to fire and don't seem very accurate (fires every other round, 1 penalty die to attack roll).

Ruby sceptre (damage factor x4): General Zoa carries this thing around. It looks like a fist-sized ruby on the end of a wooden cane. He shoots at Thundarr with it, knocking the Sunsword out of his hand. He also shoots Ookla with it, which seems to daze Ookla for just a second but doesn't take him out of the fight. Thundarr takes it away from Zoa and snaps it in two.

Mindok's warship: Mindok calls this immense flying war machine the "mightiest warship of them all", and Mindok should know. It fires superior energy blasts (damage factor x6) from ports on its underside, and it has superior armor (4d6). It is powered by the mind of Mindok (and it goes out of control when he stops controlling it to deal with our heroes).

4: Raiders of the Abyss

Garth: "What manner of man are you?"

Thundarr: "Free!"

In the badlands, a coastal area of crags, canyons, rocky outcroppings, a scraggly group of Humans lives in the remains of an ocean liner that sits impaled on a spike of mountain far above the ground. Our heroes arrive on the scene just in time to witness an attack on the Humans by over a dozen brown-robed Raiders riding on giant bats. Thundarr and friends manage to drive off the Raiders, but not before the Raiders have captured several of the Humans. According to Garth, the leader of the Humans, the Raiders have been plaguing his people for generations: when the moon is full, the Raiders come. This just won't do, of course, and the trio sets out to rescue the captives and put a stop to the raids.

     Back at the abyss (the cavern stronghold of the Raiders), the captives are strung up next to what appears to be a SST. Green vapour surrounds the captives, making them shrivel up and shrink to about half normal size. The vapour then turns red and surrounds the wizened old Raiders, restoring them to a semblance of youth and vitality.

     Our heroes find the entrance to the abyss: a river that goes underground into a cavern. They swim down into the cavern, but of course Ookla isn't happy about it. Several unconscious bodies later our heroes find their way to the Raiders' dining room, and they proceed to kick Raider butt. Unfortunately, the Raiders manage to kidnap Ariel in the fray, and string her up to steal her vitality, but Thundarr swings in to save her just in time (she shrivels a bit, but she gets better). The slaves of the Raiders (who help Thundarr and Ookla get away from the Raiders) are not so lucky. They need the cure for the Vapours of Life for their strength and youth to be restored, but they know where it can be found: the wizard who created the Vapours of Life would certainly have the antidote for their effects. Thundarr and the gang head out to find the wizard. Ariel manages to convince the wizard to give up the secret by animating his chair to put the squeeze on him (of course, she plays it off like it was no big deal when she gets back to Thundarr).

     When the trio gets back to the slave quarters with the cure, the Raiders are ready and attack them. Morag melts the exterior entrance to the slave cavern with his energy rod to prevent Thundarr and friends from escaping (as if). Of course, the Raiders are defeated and the Humans are rescued. As they leave the slave cavern,. Thundarr melts the entrance with his Sunsword, and the Raiders are trapped in their cavern. When the get back to the liner, Thundarr advises the Humans to move out of the sideways ocean liner to another home, "where they can live in freedom, and right side up."

Characters

Unnamed Raiders of the Abyss (Mutated Human, average): The creepy Raiders act pretty much like a cult: they dress alike, they all shave their heads, and they have unsavory religious practices. On the other hand, they might not even be Human: it's possible that they are all just naturally bald. The only obvious physical difference between the Raiders and Humans is that the Raiders are bald and have pointed ears. The Raiders also have pale blue skin, but their skin turns a normal-looking (for Caucasoids) pink when the Vapours of Life restore their vitality. The Raiders are apparently nocturnal and are happy to live underground, unlike Humans. However, all of these traits are most likely the result of the long-term effects of using the Vapours of Life.

Garth (Human, average): Garth, the leader of the Humans, wears the hat and ragged uniform of the ocean liner captain. He's grey-bearded and obviously past his prime: either his wisdom is respected by the other Humans, or they superstitiously honor the trappings of the ship's captain (probably a little of both). He seems like a nice enough guy.

Morag (Raider, good): Morag, the leader of the Raiders, is the only one with any hair. He has male pattern baldness, but his goatee sort of balances his hairline for a cool sinister look. He wears a gold circlet on his brow which is probably a symbol of his authority (none of the other Raiders wear one). He knows how to call forth the Vapours of Life, and he seems to be a pretty canny customer, but he doesn't appear to have any real magical ability.

The Wizard (Wizard, superior): The wizard who once took refuge in the abyss (refuge from whom, we do not know), and from whom the Raiders stole the secrets of the Vapours of Life, lives a short distance away from the Raiders (just a short ride down the wasteland and across a suspension bridge). He isn't willing to help the Humans without some encouragement from Ariel (in the form of being crushed by his idol-like chair), but at least he isn't out building war machines and enslaving villages. He's a curmudgeonly old guy in a big brown hat and red robes, and his sanctum is a primitive-looking tree house high atop what appears to be an immense palm tree, the base of which is surrounded by big thorny vines.

Monsters

(Giant bat, average): The Raiders ride on these horse-sized bats. They are capable of hovering, and they have long naked tails like rats. They screech audibly, which means they probably do not have echolocation ability (but you never know).

Spells

Light bridge (good telekinesis): This is one of Ariel's signature spells. She creates a bridge of light from her location to the impaled ocean liner (at least 100 meters), and all three characters ride across the light bridge on their mounts. She uses it each time they come or go from the liner. 2 uses.

Yellow blast (average offensive, group): Ariel hits a half-dozen Raiders and their giant bats with this during the first attack on the Humans. This doesn't knock any of the Raiders or giant bats unconscious, but it does chase them away. 1 use.

Bubble of trouble (good offensive, area): While Thundarr and Ookla wrestle with a pair of Raiders underwater, Ariel casts this spell and a stream of bubbles shoots from her outstretched hands to surround the Raiders. The small bubbles combine into one big bubble, which rises past the surface of the water into the air. The bubble floats in the air above the river with the Raiders trapped inside, and it carries them away as it drifts downstream. 1 use.

Yellow ring of holding (good offensive entangling, area): Ariel casts this at three Raiders just before she gets grabbed. A yellow ray shoots from her palm and wraps around the three raiders like a big ring, squishing them together. 1 use.

Sparkly teleport (teleport): Ariel raises her hands overhead and casts this spell to teleport herself from the nearby cliffs into the sanctum of the wizard. Just after she vanishes and just before she reappears, the air is full of sparkles. 1 use.

Red blast (superior offensive): The wizard is understandably annoyed at Ariel's intrusion, and tries to zap her with this spell. She dodges it each time. 3 uses.

Animate idol (superior animation): Ariel shoots a yellow ray at the head of the idol-like chair in which the wizard is sitting, and it comes to life and grabs him (pinning his arms to his sides). From the way he yells and from the speed with which he capitulates to Ariel's demands, it must hurt quite a bit. 1 use.

Cool Stuff

Energy rods (damage factor x5, stun, touch only): According to Ariel, these rods were fashioned by sorcery and are pretty good pieces of work. Most of the Raiders are armed with these meter-long blue crystalline rods, with which they touch their victims to immobilize them. Once a victim is stunned, another Raider then captures the stunned Human in a net and carries her off. Morag also uses an energy rod to melt the entrance to the slave cavern (damage factor x5), and shoots this blast at Thundarr a couple of times, but this may be something that only his rod could do, because none of the other Raiders uses this blast against our heroes. Also, Morag's is the only energy rod that Thundarr's Sunsword doesn't slice right through (although he does slice through it eventually).

Vapours of Life: The Raiders know the secret of the Vapours of Life. They call forth the vapours from an ornate cauldron, and the green vapours drift up to the Humans (or whatever other prey is handy). The victims of the vapours shrivel up and shrink to half normal size. The vapours (now red in color) then drift down to the people that called the vapours forth, and restore them to full strength and vitality. When Ariel pours the cure into the cauldron, the vapours turn yellow, and restores the shrunken Humans to normal.

19: Master of the Stolen Sunsword

Ariel: "This poor village was once called Beverly Hills, Thundarr. It was one of the wealthiest cities in the world."

Thundarr: "What of it? It's the wizard and my Sunsword that matter now."

The people of the village of Beverly (formerly Beverly Hills) are terrorized by the wizard Yando, who uses his magic and his mutant thugs to extort the hard-earned income of the villagers. Thundarr insists on ending this tyranny, and with Ariel and Ookla attempts to deal with him. However, the Sunsword is damaged when Thundarr is struck by the "Scarlet Lightning" (a.k.a. "Negative Lightning"); Thundarr, of course, is as good as new after resting for a while. While our heroes are trying to find the Pool of Power to recharge the Sunsword, Yando manages to steal the Sunsword and take it to Griffith Observatory, where he recharges it from the Pool of Power himself. However, a cave-in interrupts his plans. Yando loses the Sunsword, Thundarr recharges it (only the person who charges it can activate it), and our heroes proceed to go kick wizard butt. It turns out Yando wasn't a real wizard after all: he was just a stage magician with some pretty amazing special effects and ugly mutant assistants.

Characters

Yando (Wizard, superior): Yando wears flowing white and lavender-grey robe over lavender-grey slacks (snappy dresser). His low boots are dark blue, and his demon mask is dark blue with black horns. Under the mask, Yando is the village scholar, Wolnak, a wimpy little guy with male pattern baldness and a pair of Birkenstocks. Yando's stronghold is the Magic Palace, which appears to be the remains of a stage-magic oriented night club. Even though Yando doesn't know "real" magic, he manages to be pretty darn effective with what he does know (a combination of stage magic and electrical/mechanical skills), and he's smart enough to pick his battles and make good use of his thugs and animals. He's also clever enough to restrain Ariel's hands as soon as our heroes show up at his stronghold.

Erlo (Human, average): Erlo is a trader who apparently has a respected position in the village of Beverly. He has long white hair and wears a ragged grey tuxedo and white tennis shoes.

Unnamed thugs (Mutant, good): Yando has two unnamed mutant thugs. One is a Wolf Mutant (or maybe a Dog Mutant), and the other looks vaguely like an iguana.

Monsters

Giant Sky Dragon (average): This creature looks like an enormous earwig with vaguely dragonfly-like wings. It is blue, with big red eyes. Yando and his two mutant thugs ride one throughout the episode. It doesn't seem to have much special going for it other than being the size of a stretch limousine and being able to fly.

(Centaur Beetle, superior): This resembles a big black beetle with its two foremost legs ending in pincers. The front half of its van-sized body raises up somewhat, giving it a somewhat centaur-like posture. It's pretty tough: our heroes don't defeat it so much as they manage to knock it down and get away from it (3d6 armor).

(Lizard Bunny, superior): The grizzly-sized Lizard Bunny looks like a big green rabbit with scales on its nose, ears, and down its back and long un-bunny-like tail. It has huge claws (damage factor x3), eye beams that knock Ookla across the room (damage factor x4), and can leap a dozen meters with its big bunny legs. Yando pulls the Lizard Bunny out of a hat in an attempt to get away from Thundarr's righteous anger, to no avail. Ariel blasts it through a wall, and it hops away when it gets the chance.

Spells

Ring trick (average offensive entangling): Yando throws brass rings around Ariel as soon as she shows up in his stronghold, effectively preventing her from using magic until she gets out of it. It doesn't take her very long to wriggle free, though (maybe 5 rounds, tops). 1 use (stage magic).

Scarf trick (good offensive entangling): Yando can make long scarves flow from his sleeve to wrap up his target. This trick ties up the target better than the ring trick, but it doesn't have as much range (a couple of paces, at most). 2 uses (stage magic).

Coiling club (superior offensive entangling): Ariel casts this at the Wolf Mutant that charges her. His club stretches and wraps around him, wrapping him up tight. 1 use.

Floating blue (good telekinesis, group): Ariel casts this at both of Yando's mutants simultaneously. It makes them glow blue and lift slightly off the ground (where they flail helplessly). 1 use (she tries casting it again later at Thundarr, but Yando blocks it with his Negasword).

Serious blast (superior telekinesis): Ariel wastes no time toying with the Lizard Bunny: as soon as she gets the last of Yando's rings off, she blasts the critter right through a brick wall. 1 use.

Disintegrate mask (average offensive vs. inanimate): Disintegrating inanimate objects is no big deal. Ariel points at the mask, it glows yellow, and it fades away: it's just that simple. 1 use.

Cool Stuff

Pool of Power: Ariel knew that the Pool of Power was nearby, but Thundarr didn't even seem to be aware that the Sunsword could be recharged. The Pool of Power itself is a small glowing lake in an underground cavern beneath Griffith Observatory. From Ariel's tone, it sounds as though Pools of Power can be found elsewhere, as well.

Negasword: Yando connects a fencing foil to a car battery and charges it with Red Lightning (a.k.a. Negative Lightning). The resulting weapon can shoot good energy bolts (damage factor x4), and holds its own against the Sunsword until Thundarr clips the wires.

20: Trial by Terror

Thundarr: "Enough talk! Thorak's life is in danger!"

Korb (fat, stupid sheriff) and his deputies (fat, stupid Pig Mutants) are in cahoots with Artemis to steal the walled village of Atlanta's precious fuel. Korb frames Thundarr's buddy Thorak for the crime to avert the villagers' suspicion, but Thundarr stops their evil plans, saves Thorak, and makes Artemis look really silly (which really isn't too hard, to be honest). There are some Cannonball Run style chases tossed in for good measure.

Characters

Artemis (Wizard, good): The blue-skinned Artemis has a (how can I say it?) a foppish air. He has light blue skin and dark blue hair in a style reminiscent of the British Invasion. He wears a loose white shirt and tan slacks, knee-high brown boots, and a yellow cape with epaulets and a high collar. He's apparently in the early stages of his wizard career: he's pretty good at magic, and he's tougher than he looks (and sounds), but he has yet to complete his death ship, and his stronghold is just an old antebellum mansion (even Yando had a better stronghold). And he really needs to work on his intimidation skills.

Thorak (Human, good): Thorak is a muscular long-haired human with male pattern baldness. Thundarr describes Thorak as his "old friend," a "man of honor." Thorak has a peg-leg: his left leg ends just below the knee. It's possible that Thorak and Thundarr used to travel together before he suffered this injury.

Korb (Human, average): Korb is the fat, stupid, corrupt southern sheriff in cahoots with the local wizard. His is chubby, but not so fat as his deputies, and he has shoulder-length red hair. His one saving grace is his bandolier of various badges and emblems (at least he knows how to accessorize).

Unnamed deputies (Pig Mutants, average): These are your basic fat, ugly, average quality unnamed thugs that look like pigs (various shades of dark grey). There are about a half-dozen of them.

Monsters

Swamp Worms: (superior): The Swamp Worms look like enormous green snakes, with two clawed arms up near the tooth-filled Volkswagen-sized head. When a Swamp Worm takes enough damage to take it out of the fight, it splits into two fresh and eager-to-fight Green Things. Ariel dazzles them with magic while Ookla and Thundarr ride them and make them fight each other. This apparently reverses the process and makes them both disappear.

Spells

Yellow teleport (teleportation): Artemis teleports behind Thundarr and Ariel while they look down into a hole that Ookla fell into. It looks like he appears in a cloud of glowing yellow smoke. He uses the same spell to get away when things don't go his way. 3 uses.

Blue bolt (good offensive stun ray): Artemis hits both Thundarr and Ariel with this from behind, making Ariel fall into the pit with Ookla. Thundarr, however, is not stunned by the attack: he plays possum and surprises Artemis when the wizard comes to look at the fallen barbarian. 2 uses.

Green bolt (good offensive vs. inanimate): Artemis recovers from his surprise at seeing Thundarr awake, and twice tries to hit Thundarr with a green bolt. Thundarr blocks both times, so Artemis instead disintegrates the ground under Thundarr's feet. 3 uses (not including the first two that Thundarr blocked).

Summon Swamp Worm (monstrous summoning): Artemis casts this spell to summon a Swamp Worm, a monstrous quality creature. 1 use.

Immobilize (good telekinesis): Ariel casts this at two of the Pig Mutants simultaneously. It makes them glow yellow and stop moving. 1 use.

Levitating sphere (good telekinesis): Ariel uses this to levitate herself, Ookla, and Ookla's equut out of the aforementioned hole. 1 use.

Seek (clairvoyance): Ariel uses her magic to find Artemis' stronghold. She uses a similar spell to lead Thundarr to her once she's found it. 2 uses.

Bound (good telekinesis): Ariel casts this at a Pig Mutant. His arms and legs are bound with a white rope-like energy. 1 use.

Dazzling lights (average illusion, area): Ariel casts this at the two Swamp Worms simultaneously, causing streaks of magical fire to zoom around and around their heads. It upsets them and distracts them, which is probably the effect she wanted. 1 use.

Fire barrier (good offensive vs. inanimate, area): Ariel casts this behind her as she, Thundarr, and Ookla are riding away from Korb and his deputies. One of the deputies' car runs into it, which stops the car and makes it fall apart. 1 use.

Magic shield (defensive magic trait roll): Ariel blocks a whole bunch of energy bolts from the deputies' blaster batons. 1 use.

Rejuvenate boat (activate familiar machine): Ariel casts this spell to restore a decrepit outboard motorboat to original condition. She casts a similar spell to start the boat going. 2 uses.

Neutralize rocket packs (deactivate marginally familiar machine): Ariel casts this spell and makes three of the flying Pig Mutants fall out of the sky. 1 use.

Melt metal (superior offense vs. inanimate): Ariel casts this at one of Artemis' death ship's chicken feet, melting it into a nub. 1 use.

Cool Stuff

The Geyser: The geyser that Korb tries to fry Thorak with erupts twice a day. It seems like a sloppy way to execute people, but Korb and his deputies (and the rest of the villagers, for that matter) don't seem too bright, so maybe it's the best they can do. Thundarr does knock the death ship out of the sky with it, so it must pack a pretty good punch (damage factor x8).

(Blaster batons): Korb and the deputies carry around average quality energy weapons, which they probably got from Artemis (damage factor x3). They look kind of like short metal baseball bats that fire like blasters.

(Communication box): Korb uses this box to talk to Artemis: it displays a little image of Artemis above the box (about 10 centimeters tall from head to foot). If anything can make Artemis less impressive, seeing him 10 cm tall does.

Death ship: As death ships go, Artemis' is mediocre. It looks a bit like a flying saucer with wings and chicken feet, and it lasts all of a minute before Thundarr and crew knock it out of the sky. It fires superior energy blasts (damage factor x6) from its chicken feet, and has good armor (2d6).

Rocket packs: When Artemis shows up in his death ship, a squad of flying Pig Mutants zips out to terrorize the townsfolk with blaster batons.

Portions of this document were reproduced with permission from the Over the Edge role-playing game, and are Copyright © 1992, 1997 John Nephew. Over the Edge is a trademark of John Nephew, used with permission. Thundarr the Barbarian is Copyright © 1981 Ruby-Spears Enterprises, Inc., and is used here without permission.

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