Trailblazer

Trailblazer Rulebook

Table of Contents

1.0 Introduction

The tumultuous twentieth century ended with the upheavals of the twenty-first. The Soviet Union, and its commanding lead in space technology, died amid the Islamic Revolution. With America in decline, it was the multinationals who took up the challenge of space exploration. Even as Terra became increasingly totalitarian, free enterprise gained strength in the Belt. Several nearer stars proved to have inhabitable planets. Colonies were started by groups with vastly different aims utilizing sublight vessels filled with germ plasm and humans in deepsleep.

Libertas was colonized by America during the brief Libertarian Renaissance; Kimberly by South Africa, in a last fling of technological prowess, before she fell under attack from the Afrikan Confederacy; Jahsworld by a Rastafar group under the tutelage of Afrika; Alpha C by China. The colonies began a slow struggle toward survival and growth.

The political organization of Sol became increasingly absolutist. Terra was organized under the United Nations and theoretically devoted to liberal democracy---but actually, in the hands of the totalitarian states which dominated that organization, to the furtherance of totalitarian aims. The nations of Terra, despite their diverse ideology, worked to maintain a balance of power on the universally absolutist planet.

Space was ruled not by states, but by common law developed during the harsh period of colonization, and enforced by private courts and police force. Terra was the primary market of the space corporations; and the United Nations was increasingly demanding control over the 'wasteful' and 'exploitative' competitors of the Belt. Only if new markets could be found could the O'Neill worlds be saved from totalitarianism...

At the dawn of the twenty-second century, a FTL drive was discovered...

2.0 Game Components

2.1 GAME MAP: The 12x14 map portrays Known Space at the beginning of the game. Most of the map is blank, to be explored during play. A square grid is superimposed to rationalize movement. The rows are numbered at both sides between 01 and 20, and the columns at top and bottom between 01 and 17, thus Sol is in square 0911.

2.2 COUNTERS: One-hundred twenty-six counters are provided with the game. Seventy-six of these are playing pieces and fifty are Star counters.

2.21 PLAYING PIECES: The playing pieces are divided into four groups by color. Each player will use one of these four sets to represent forces controlled by his company. Each group contains nineteen counters.

The Home Office counter is placed in the system where a company is charted (initially Sol for all players). It indicates where the corporate headquarters are and the laws governing its operation. Factor counters represent permanent corporate bases and are generally deployed in systems where companies have major assets and trade links. The Fleet counters represent trading and exploration ships.

2.22 STAR COUNTERS: Star Counters are deployed on the map to show newly-discovered stars. Each Star Counter bears a letter representing the type of valuable planets in the system, if any. The interpretations of the letters are:

A: Contains a world with sapients and starship technology (initially, only Sol falls into this classification).
B: Contains a world with sapients and shuttle technology.
C: Contains a world with sapients but without space technology.
D: Contains a world with an earth-like ecology, but no sapients.
E: Contains a world with a non-terrestrial ecology.
F: Contains a world with no life.

2.23 GAME RULES: This rules booklet.

2.24 GAME CHARTS & TABLES: Also enclosed are all the charts and tables needed for play.

2.25 OTHER COMPONENTS: Additional dice will be useful. Players should copy the sample World Charts and Ship Records for future games.

3.0 Game Sequence

A. Product Purchase Phase: Players determine the number of products at a given world on a system-by-system basis. Then, for each world, they bid for those products, determine product purchases and determine whether production of each good will increase or decrease on the next turn. After purchase/production for all goods at all worlds has been resolved, play proceeds to the next phase.

B. Movement Phase: Players each roll a die; high roller moves first. He may move any or all of his fleets. Once his movement is completed, play passes to the player on his right. Once all players have moved, the next phase begins.

C. Exploration Resolution Phase: If any scouts are in squares that do not contain Stars, the players determine whether a Star with exploitable planets is present. If so, a Star Counter is drawn for each such square and the Exploration Tables are referenced to determine whether any newly-discovered systems produce or consume goods. The players enter goods consumed or produced and their initial production and demand levels on the Star Chart.

D. Product Sales: For each world players sell any goods they wish. After goods have been sold at a given world players determine whether demand changes for each good. Goods are then sold at another world. Once all goods which the players wish to sell have been sold and demand fluctuations for all worlds have been determined, players begin the next phase.

E. Maintenance: The players must pay maintenance costs for their Home Offices, Factors, and ships.

F. Game-Turn Record: The players note the end of one Game-Turn and the beginning of the next.

4.0 Set-Up for Play

Players first decide which company each will play and place their Home Office counters on Sol.

If playing the Introductory or Intermediate scenario, take one Factor counter for each player; place the Rothbard Interstellar Factor on Libertas; the Terran Spice & Liquors Factor on Kimberley; the Nova Tech & Biologicals Factor on Alpha C; and the Serendipity Inc. Factor on Jahsworld. Take the first three Fleet counters for each player, and place them all on Sol.

Give each player a Ship Record, copied from the Ship Record printed on the Chart Sheet. (You may photocopy Ship Records and Star Charts.)

Each player begins with three ships. In the Introductory and Intermediate scenarios he may choose to begin with three scouts, three transports, or any mix of scouts and transports. (Scouts and transports are the only kinds of ships in TRAILBLAZER).

If playing the Advanced scenario, ignore the Factor counters. Each player gets four fleets and four scouts. Note which Fleets contain which ships on player Ship Records.

If there are fewer than four players, do not use all of the companies. TRAILBLAZER can be played by as few as two players.

Each player begins with 20 megagrams, TRAILBLAZER's gold currency unit. Each player should not record his cash on his Ship Record.

Mix up the World Markers and put them in a cup. In the Introductory and Intermediate scenarios, leave the Special World Markers out of the cup.

5.0 Production Purchases

5.1 Discussion: TRAILBLAZER is a game of free market economics. At the beginning of the turn players purchase goods, produced by the various worlds, transport those goods to more lucrative markets and sell them.

There are fourteen GOODS, or items of trade, in TRAILBLAZER: beasts, boosterspice, drugs, fissionables, germ plasm, industrial technology, liquors, medical technology, medicines, spices, superheavy metals, weapons, wines, and ships, which are treated in a different manner from the rest of the goods. There are no counters to represent goods. Players write on the Ship Record to keep track of goods.

Goods come in UNITS, one unit of a good takes up one unit of space on a ship. Goods can only be stored on ships or in Factors and Home Offices. A player may not leave a good on a planet without a Factor. Any goods produced on a planet which are not bought on the turn they are produced are lost. During the Product Sales Phase, players may sell goods to each other or to the inhabitants of planets at which goods are situated. Goods sold to inhabitants are consumed and disappear from the game.

5.2 PURCHASES:

5.21 During the PRODUCT PURCHASE PHASE, players may purchase goods produced at the various worlds. The players determine, by mutual agreement, which world's products will be purchased first and which of that world's products they will bid for first.

5.22 UNITS PRODUCED: Refer to the Star Chart for the chosen world and product. The Current Production column shows how many units of the good are currently being produced.

5.23 FIRST BID: Only players who have Factors on the world or ships at the system may bid. If only one player has a Factor he bids first. Otherwise, any player with Factors or ships at the planet may bid first, simply by yelling his bid first.

5.24 BIDDING: A player bids by stating the number of units of the good he wishes to purchase (up to the number produced), and the amount of money (in megagrams) he is willing to spend for each. All eligible players may bid repeatedly until no player wishes to enter another bid.

5.25 UNITS PURCHASED: The player offering the largest bid per unit purchases as many units as he bid for. The player offering the second largest bid may purchase any remaining units, up to the number he bid for; then, the third largest bidder may purchase, and so forth, until all units are bought.

5.26 TIE BIDS: If there is a tie bid and not enough goods to satisfy both bids, the first bidder's bid is satisfied first.

EXAMPLE: Three units are available, and two players each bid four megagrams for each of two units, and Player 1 had submitted his bid first, he would be able to purchase two units at four megagrams each, while Player 2 would get only one unit.

5.27 LOADING: After purchases have been resolved, players load their goods into ships or Factors at the planet. Enter the good name and number of units in the CARGO column of the Ship Record under the appropriate Fleet or Factor row.

5.28 MINIMUM BID: The minimum bid for a unit of a good is one megagram per unit.

5.3 SUPPLY FLUCTUATION:

5.31 AVERAGE SALE PRICE: Players next determine the Average Sale Price of the good. They do this by adding up the total amount of money paid for all units of the good at the planet, and dividing by the number of units which were available.

5.32 PRICE MULTIPLE: Players refer to the Star Chart and determine the good's Price Multiple at that planet. Multiply the average sale price by the Price Multiple, and round the resulting number to the nearest whole number (round up for halves).

5.33 Next, refer to the SUPPLY/DEMAND TABLE. Roll two dice. Add the number determined in 5.32 to the dice roll. Subtract the number of units of the goods which were produced. Find this modified die-roll on the SUPPLY/DEMAND TABLE.

5.34 NEW CURRENT PRODUCTION: The table result will either be '-1', 'no change', '+1', or '+2'. If the result is 'no change', proceed to the next good or planet. If the result is a negative or positive number, add the result to the Current Production of the good at that planet. Write the new Current Production on the Star Chart. Next turn, that number of units of the good will be produced.

5.35 CONTINUE RESOLUTION: After product purchasing for one good at a planet has been resolved, players proceed to the next good at that planet. Once all product purchasing at a planet has been resolved, players proceed to another planet, chosen by mutual agreement.

5.36 WORLDS OMITTED: If no players have Factors or ships at a planet, do not bother to determine supply fluctuations at that planet. If no players bid for a good at a planet, do not determine supply fluctuation for that good. (In reality, of course, such fluctuations would occur, with the average sale price automatically being zero for all goods; but for the sake of simplicity and rapid play, supply fluctuations are not determined at such planets.)

5.37 ZERO PRODUCTION: Current Production of a good may never fall below zero. If Current Production of a good falls below zero, a player may attempt to increase Current Production of that good. He does so by bidding for zero units of that good at that planet. Any money bid in this manner is lost. Total the money bid by all players for the nonexistent goods. This total is the Average Sales Price (since division by zero is undefined). Calculate supply fluctuations for such goods normally.

5.38 EXAMPLE: Three units of fissionables are produced at Alpha C. Nova has a Factor there, and Rothbard and Serendipity have ships in orbit. Nova bids first, bidding three megagrams per unit for all three units. Rothbard bids four for two units; Serendipity bids five for two; Nova bids six for two. Bidding ceases.

Nova purchases two units at 6 megagrams each, reduces his cash-on-hand by 12 megagrams and stores two units of fissionables in his Factor. Serendipity purchases the one remaining unit at 5 megagrams. The average sale price was 17/3, which is rounded to 6. The price multiple is 1 1/4; 1 1/4 x 6 = 7 1/2, which is rounded up to 8. Two dice are rolled; the result is a 6. 8 is added; 3 is subtracted because three units were produced. 6 + 8 - 3 = 11. 11 on the Supply/Demand Table is a result of +1, so Current Production goes up by one. Next turn, four units of fissionables will be produced. The players erase 3 in the fissionables Current Production column at Alpha C, and write in 4.

5.4 STORING AND LOADING:

5.41 WHERE STORED: Goods may be stored in Factors or at Home Offices and loaded onto or disembarked from ships during the Product Purchase and Product Sales phases. During either phase, goods may be transferred from a Factor to a ship or vice versa and from ship to ship, as long as both are at the same planet. During the Product Sales phase (only), goods may be taken out of Factors and Ships and debarked onto a planet for sale to the populace. Any goods not loaded on a ship, stored at a Factor or sold to the populace at the end of either phase are considered lost.

5.42 LOADING & UNLOADING: A ship or Factor may unload and load goods in the same phase. For example, if Nova Tech & Biologicals has both a ship and a Factor at Libertas, it could disembark goods from the ship into the Factor and load goods purchased at Libertas in the same phase onto the ship.

5.43 SHIP CARGO LIMIT: Each transport ship may carry up to two units of goods. Each scout may carry one unit. Any number of units may be stored in a Factor or Home Office.

5.5 PURCHASING SHIPS:

5.51 Ships, like goods, are purchased during the Product Purchase phase. However, ships are not loaded onto other ships or into Factors.

5.52 Players decide whether a ship is a transport or a scout and add the ship to a Fleet at the world where the ship was bought, or place a new Fleet counter at the planet. The ship is listed under the appropriate Fleet number on the Ship Record.

5.53 A player may load goods onto a ship in the same phase in which it is purchased.

5.6 FACTORS: During the Product Purchase phase, a player may purchase Factors. A Factor may be purchased at any planet where a player has ships. A Factor costs 10 megagrams. Goods may be stored in a Factor in the same phase in which it is purchased.

6.0 Movement

6.1 MOVEMENT ORDER: During the Movement phase players move their Fleets. At the beginning of the phase, each player must roll a die; high roller moves first. After he has moved any of his fleets that he wishes to move, play passes to the player on his right until all players have moved.

6.2 FLEETS ORGANIZATION: Ships are organized into Fleets. Each Fleet moves as a single unit. Players may break up or combine Fleets at any time before or after movement (but not during). Each Fleet, of course, must contain at least one ship.

6.3 MOVEMENT POINTS: Fleets have unlimited Movement Points. To move a Fleet, determine its current position and the square to which the player wishes to move it. Moving one square across a full square-side costs two Movement Points; moving one square diagonally costs three Movement Points. Total the number of Movement Points which the Fleet must spend to get to its destination.

EXAMPLE: A Fleet moving from Sol to Jahsworld spends 5 Movement Points, moving across one square-side and one square diagonally.

6.4 WHO RANDOMIZED: If the Fleet consists solely of transports, roll two dice. If it contains any scouts, roll three dice. If the number rolled is less than or equal to the number of Movement Points, the Fleet is randomized (see 6.5). If the number is greater than the number of Movement Points, the Fleet makes it to its destination safely.

6.5 RANDOMIZATION: If the Fleet is randomized, roll one die. The number rolled is the number of Movement Points the Fleet will expend. Then, roll two dice and refer to the Randomization Diagram (below). Rolls of one or two on both dice mean the Fleet will move diagonally to the upper left; a roll of three or four on the first die and one or two on the second means it will move directly upward; and so forth. A roll of three or four on both dice results in a special situation - the Fleet does not move from its initial square. If the number of Movement Points rolled on the first die cannot be evenly expended, ignore any excess Movement Points. (For example, if a 5 were rolled, only 4 or 3 Movement Points could be expended).

[Randomization Diagram: a 3x3 grid. Column headings are the 1st die roll: 1,2 / 3,4 / 5,6. Row headings are the 2nd die roll: 1,2 / 3,4 / 5,6. The centre square (3,4 on both dice) is the Fleet's initial square, marked in the printed diagram with a Fleet counter. The remaining squares are the destination squares for the other roll combinations; the printed grid is not reproduced here.]

6.6 LOST FLEETS: If a Fleet consisting solely of transports is randomized into any empty square - i.e., one which does not contain a Star - and that square is farther than five Movement Points from the nearest known Star, it is lost; erase it from the Ship Record.

If a Fleet containing at least one scout is randomized into an empty square farther than five Movement Points from the nearest Star, it is NOT lost; during the Exploration Phase, the owning player may explore the square.

6.7 Factors may never move. Home Offices may move only according to a special procedure (see 10.0).

7.0 Exploration

7.1 EXPLORATION COMPUTATION: If a Fleet containing at least one scout ends its movement in an empty square it may explore the square. Count the number of Movement Points between the square and the nearest known Star. Roll two dice; if the number rolled is less than or equal to the distance in Movement Points to the nearest Star, a new exploitable Star is discovered in the square.

(NOTE: Each square is assumed to contain a large number of stars, but only a few have exploitable planets. Thus, even squares which have been previously explored may contain undiscovered useful Star systems. As well, the closer a square is to settled worlds, the lower are the chances of discovering an exploitable stellar system.)

7.2 STAR COUNTER DRAW: If a Star is discovered, draw a Star Counter at random from the cup and place it in the square. Next, determine if any goods are produced and/or consumed at the new Star's planet(s).

Each Star Counter has a letter (i.e., World Code) from B to F printed on it. (Initially, only Sol is an A-Class world.) Refer to the Number of Goods Produced Table (see Charts) and roll two dice. Cross-reference the World Code with the dice roll. The result is the number of different types of goods produced at that world. Then, refer to the Number of Goods Consumed Table, and follow the same procedure.

NOTE: D, and F worlds don't consume any goods.

7.3 GOODS PRODUCED: Roll two dice and cross-reference the dice roll with the World Code on the GOODS PRODUCED TABLE. The result is the name of a good. On the Star Charts, write the name of the Star under the STAR column, write GOODS PRODUCED in the GOODS column and the name of the good underneath that. Roll on the Goods Produced Table as many times as the number of goods a world produces. Write the name of each good on the Star Chart on a new line. Ignore duplicate good rolls and continue re-rolling until a different good is rolled.

7.4 INITIAL PRICE MULTIPLE: Next, determine each good's Price Multiple. Roll three dice and refer to the PRICE MULTIPLE TABLE. The die-roll yields a Price Multiple (a number between 1/5 and 5). Write this multiple on the Star Chart under the Price Multiple column on the same row as the good's name.

7.5 INITIAL CURRENT PRODUCTION: Initial production of all goods is one. Write "1" under Current Production for all goods produced.

7.6 RECORDING GOODS CONSUMED: If the world consumes any goods, write Goods Consumed in the GOODS column of the Star Chart on the next line of the chart. Then, roll on the GOODS CONSUMED TABLE using the same procedure as for the Goods Produced Table (7.3). Write the name of each good consumed in the GOODS column of the Star Chart.

7.7 DETERMINE DEMAND LETTER/MODIFIER: For each good consumed at a world, the Demand Letters and Demand Modifiers and Numbers must be determined. For each good, refer to the DEMAND LETTERS TABLE and roll two dice. The entry on the table corresponding to the dice-roll will be the Demand Letter. On the Star Chart, write the Demand Letter under the DEMAND LETTER column, on the same row as the good's name.

Then, roll a die and reference the DEMAND MODIFIER NUMBER TABLE. Next to the name of the good on the table will be a number; add this number to the die-roll. The resulting number is both the Demand Modifier and the initial Demand Number for the good. Write the number under the DEMAND MODIFIER and DEMAND NUMBER columns of the Star Chart on the same row as the good's name.

7.8 Goods may be sold at a world on the same turn that it is discovered.

7.9 If more than one Star is discovered on a game-turn, follow the procedures outlined above for each. All players have access to information generated by this process.

8.0 Product Sales

8.1 SELLING LOCATIONS: During the Product Sales Phase, players may sell goods at the various worlds. By mutual agreement, players determine where, and which, goods will first be sold.

8.2 DETERMINE PRICE: Find the chosen world and good on the Star Chart. Determine that good's Demand Letter and Number from those Star Chart columns. Refer to the PRICE DETERMINATION TABLE(s) (labelled A, B, C, D, E, & F) corresponding to the good's Demand Letter. (i.e., if the Demand Letter is B, refer to the B Price Determination Table).

8.3 DETERMINE UNIT SALE PRICE: Next, each player with ships or Factors at that world must declare how many units of the good he is selling. Total the number of units of that good being sold. Find this number along the left side of the Price Determination Table and the good's Demand Number along the top of the table. The row and column intersection of these two values yields the good's unit sale price.

8.4 EXAMPLE: Nova Tech has brought two units of industrial technology to Alpha C; Rothbard Interstellar has brought three units. A total of five units are being sold there. The Demand Letter for industrial tech at Alpha C is D; the current Demand Number is 5. Refer to the 'D' Price Determination Table; find the Demand Number (5) at the top of the table, and the number of units being sold (5) along the left-hand side. Cross-reference row and column to yield a single number - in this case, the number is 5. This means that each unit of industrial technology is sold for 5 megagrams. Nova Tech gains 10 megagrams, and Rothbard Interstellar gains 15. If Rothbard Interstellar were not competing with Nova Tech, only two units would be sold; in that case, the sale price would be 10 megagrams per unit, and Nova would make 20 megagrams.

8.5 RECORDING SALES: The players scratch goods sold off of their Ship Records and add moneys received to their cash-on-hand. Then, they must determine whether demand for the good fluctuates.

8.6 DEMAND FLUCTUATION: Find the good's Demand Modifier on the Star Chart. Refer to the Supply/Demand Table, and roll two dice. Subtract the current Demand Number from the die-roll, and add the Demand Modifier. Find the modified die-roll on the table; the result will either be -1, no change, +1, or +2. If the result is 'no change', proceed to the next good or planet. Add a +1 or -1 to the Demand Number; erase the current Demand Number on the Star Chart and write in the new Number. Demand Numbers may not go above 12 or below 1.

8.7 RESOLVING ALL SALES: Once players have resolved sales of a given good, they proceed to resolve sales of all other goods at the same planet. Once players have sold all goods they wish to at a world, proceed to another planet. Once all goods on the game-map which the players wish to sell have been sold, proceed to the next phase.

NOTE: Demand remains constant for a good if no units of that good are sold.

8.8 ADVERTISING: Players may attempt to increase the Demand Number for a good by advertising. Before a roll for a good on the Supply/Demand Table is made, any player(s) may announce that they are expending megagrams on advertising that good. Determine the good's Demand Number; divide the Demand Number by three. If a player spends this number of megagrams, one is added to the die-roll on the Supply/Demand Table. Any number of megagrams may be spent to produce any addition to the die-roll. More than one player may pay for advertising; in this case, die-roll additions are cumulative.

NOTE: Some goods are illegal at certain worlds (see 10.0). Illegal goods may not be advertised.

8.9 D-CLASS WORLDS: D-Class worlds are highly valuable. They contain terrestrial ecologies, but are not inhabited by sapients. In other words, they are suitable for colonization by humans.

On the game-turn that a player discovers a D-Class world, determine the total number of D-Class worlds and worlds which at one time were D-Class worlds and which have not progressed to A-Class status in Known Space. Alpha C, Kimberley, Jahsworld, and Libertas are considered to have been D-class worlds at one time, as are any discovered D-Class worlds which have progressed to C-Class or B-Class status (see 11.0, World Development). Any world which has progressed to A-Class status at that time is not counted (thus Libertas is not counted after game-turn 5; see 11.0).

Use this number of such worlds as the 'number to be sold' for purposes of determining the sale price of the world. All D-Class worlds are sold at Sol. A player doesn't transport the world back to Sol, of course, but simply calculates the sale price there.

EXAMPLE: Terran Spice & Liquors discovers Veil, a D-Class world, on game-turn six. Alpha C, Jahsworld, and Kimberley are still B-Class worlds, and so the 'number to be sold' is 4 (3 B-class worlds plus Veil). The Demand Letter is F, and the Demand Number 12, so Terran Spice & Liquors collects 45 megagrams for Veil.

9.0 Maintenance

9.1 MAINTENANCE: During the Maintenance Phase, players must maintain their ships, Factors, and Home Offices. Each player spends five megagrams per ship, Factor, and Home Office and notes the reduction of his cash-on-hand.

9.2 NON-MAINTENANCE: If a player fails to maintain a ship or Factor (he is never forced to do so), it is removed from the board. The Home Office must always be maintained; if a player cannot maintain his Home Office, he is considered to have declared bankruptcy, and is out of the game. He has lost.

9.3 FACTOR PURCHASE: A player may purchase Factors at any world(s) during the Maintenance Phase. Each Factor costs 10 megagrams. A player reduces his cash-on-hand to reflect the expenditure, and places a new Factor counter on the Star counter. Do not pay maintenance for a Factor on the game-turn in which it is purchased.

10.0 Laws and Home Offices

10.1 DRUGS & BOOSTERSPICE: Drugs are illegal at Sol, and boosterspice is illegal on Jahsworld. When a player sells an illegal commodity he rolls a die. On a 1 his transgression is discovered. The goods which he was attempting to sell are confiscated and he is fined 5 megagrams per unit which he was trying to sell. Illegal goods may not be advertised.

10.2 ADVERTISING: Advertising is illegal at Alpha C; no goods may be advertised there.

10.3 TERRAN SALES TAX: Terra has a 10% sales tax. At the end of the Product Sales Phase, each player determines how much money he earned at Sol and pays one-tenth of this money, rounded up, to the United Nations. Reduce cash-on-hand by this amount.

10.4 HOME OFFICE TRANSFERENCE: A player's Home Office must always be at an A-Class world. Initially, Sol is the only A-Class world. Other worlds may become A-Class in the course of play (see 11.0). At the end of any Maintenance Phase, a player may transfer his Home Office to any A-Class world where he has a Factor. Replace the Factor counter with the Home Office counter, and vice versa; reverse the goods stored in each on the Ship Record.

10.5 CORPORATION FEES: Jahsworld and Kimberley have Corporation Fees. If a player has his Home Office at either world, he must spend 10 megagrams each Maintenance Phase to the world government. If he cannot do so, he is bankrupt and his holdings are nationalized - he is out of the game.

10.6 NATIONALIZATION: Alpha C, being socialist, abhors evil exploitative capitalism. If any player transfers his Home Office there, his company is immediately nationalized and he is out of the game.

11.0 World Development

11.1 At the beginning of the game, only Sol is an A-Class world. The four worlds in Known Space at the beginning of the game will eventually develop starship technology and become A-Class worlds. When this occurs, they become able to manufacture ships; their Price Multiples are listed on the Star Charts.

11.2 WHEN DEVELOPED: Libertas becomes A-Class at the beginning of Game-Turn 5; Alpha C, on Game-Turn 10; Jahsworld on Game-Turn 15; and Kimberley on Game-Turn 20.

11.3 OTHER WORLDS: Normally, a game of TRAILBLAZER will not last long enough for it to happen, but B-Class worlds which are discovered in the course of play may become A-Class worlds; C-Class worlds may become B-Class worlds; and D-Class worlds may become C-Class worlds.

It takes thirty Game-Turns for a world to progress from one category to the next, starting with the game-turn of discovery. When a world advances a category, roll on the Number of Goods Consumed and Produced tables to determine whether the number of goods the world consumes and produces goes up; if it does, roll for new goods on the appropriate table. (The number can never go down.)

11.4 A-CLASS STATUS: When a world (other than the four which begin in Known Space) advances to the A-Class, it can manufacture starships. Roll one die; add four to the roll. The inverse of this number (i.e., one over the number) is the Price Multiple for ships at that star. (Example: a three is rolled; 3 + 4 = 7; so the price multiple is 1/7th.) Initial production is automatically one.

12.0 Victory Conditions

The player with the greatest total assets at the end of the game is the winner. He gains one Victory Point for each megagram in his cash-on-hand; ten Victory Points for each ship; ten Victory Points for each Factor or Home Office; two Victory Points for each unsold unit of goods. The player with the highest Victory Point total is the winner.

13.0 Scenarios

Before the game begins, the players must agree on the number of game-turns for which the game is to last. In playtesting, we have determined that ten game-turns can be played in 4 to 6 hours.

13.1 INTRODUCTORY SCENARIO: There is no exploration. Instead, the players simply conduct trade among the five stars on the game-map at the beginning of the game. This is good exercise to teach players the buy/sell bid system.

13.2 INTERMEDIATE SCENARIO: All rules are used.

13.3 ADVANCED SCENARIO: Ignore Alpha C, Jahsworld, Kimberley, and Libertas. Sol is the only known star at the beginning of the game. Each player begins with four scouts and 50 megagrams and one Home Office.

Place the four counters for Alpha C, Jahsworld, Kimberley, and Libertas in the cup containing the Star counters. In order to find markets, the players must explore. If any of the Alpha C, Jahsworld, Kimberley, or Libertas markers is found in exploration, the world is generated randomly (ignore the statistics on the World Charts).

However, ship production will begin at Libertas on game-turn five (assuming it is discovered before then; on discovery if not); at Alpha C on game-turn 10; at Jahsworld on game-turn 15; and at Kimberley on game-turn 20.

Supply/Demand Table

Two-Dice Roll	Effect on Production / Demand Number
5 or less	-1
6-8	no change
9-20	+1
21+	+2

Demand Modifiers:

current demand number
+ demand modifier for product
+ advertising

Supply Modifiers:

current production
+ average sale price times price multiple

World Charts

Terra

Goods Consumed	Demand Letter	Demand Modifier	Demand Number
liquors	B	+4	4
wines	C	+5	3
beasts	F	+2	4
drugs*	E	+5	5
fissionables	A	+6	6
boosterspice	B	+12	8
medicines	A

Goods Produced	Price Multiple	Current Production
ships	1/5	2
germ plasm	4	4
weapons	3/4	2
industrial tech	2	3
medical tech	1 1/3	2

Alpha C

Goods Consumed	Demand Letter	Demand Modifier	Demand Number
boosterspice	F	+5	5
medicines	C	+2	2
superheavy metals	C	+4	4
germ plasm	A	+2	2
weapons	B	+3	3
industrial tech	D	+5	5
medical tech

Goods Produced	Price Multiple	Current Production
fissionables	1 1/4	3
spices	1/2	1
(ships)	1/6	0

Jahsworld

Goods Consumed	Demand Letter	Demand Modifier	Demand Number
beasts	A	+3	3
drugs	B	+4	4
boosterspice*	D	+6	6
superheavy metals	A	+3	3
spices	B	+5	5
germ plasm	B	+3	3
industrial tech	C

Goods Produced	Price Multiple	Current Production
medicines	2 1/2	3
liquors	1 1/2	2
(ships)	1/7	0

Kimberley

Goods Consumed	Demand Letter	Demand Modifier	Demand Number
boosterspice	A	+8	8
fissionables	F	+4	4
germ plasm	A	+4	4
weapons	C	+8	8
industrial tech	A	+6	6
medical tech	A	+2	2

Goods Produced	Price Multiple	Current Production
beasts	1/5	1
drugs	1	2
(ships)	1/7	0

Libertas

Goods Consumed	Demand Letter	Demand Modifier	Demand Number
boosterspice	B	+8	8
drugs	A	+4	4
fissionables	C	+4	2
germ plasm	D	+3	5
liquors	A	+4	2
medical tech	B	+3	4
medicines	B

Goods Produced	Price Multiple	Current Production
industrial tech	1 3/4	1
weapons	1	2
wines	1	2
(ships)	1/5	0

Price Determination Tables

Find the number of units being sold in the "# to be sold" column and the good's Demand Number across the top; the intersection is the unit sale price (see 8.3).

Demand Letter A

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	2	4	5	7	9	10	12	14	16	18	20
2	.75	2	3	5	6

Demand Letter C

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	3	6	9	13	18	22	28	34	40	46	53
2	.75	2	4	6	9

Demand Letter D

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	3	7	12	18	25	33	42	52	63	75	88
2	.5	2	4	7	10

Transcription note: the Demand Letter D row for 7 sold shows ".21" in the first column as printed; it is probably a misprint of ".25" in the original booklet, but it is reproduced as printed.

Demand Letter E

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	4	9	16	25	36	49	64	81	100	121	144
2	.5	2	5	8	13

Transcription note: in the Demand Letter E table, row 8 reads "13" then "10" in the 9 and 10 columns as printed; this is reproduced as printed.

Demand Letter F

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	5	11	21	34	52	72	97	126	158	195	237
2	.5	2	5	9	15

Transcription note: the Demand Letter F table shows ".24" in the 7-sold row, first column, as printed; it is reproduced as printed.

Exploration Tables

Number of Goods Produced

Die-Roll	B	C	D	E	F
2	2	1	1	1	1
3	2	1	1	1	1
4	2	1	1	1	1
5	2	2	1	1	1
6	3

Number of Goods Consumed

Die-Roll	B	C	D	E	F
2	2	1	0	0	0
3	2	1	0	0	0
4	2	2	0	0	0
5	3	2	0	0	0
6	3

Goods Consumed by World Code

World codes D and F do not consume any goods.

Die-Roll	B	C	E
2	beasts	fissionables	liquors
3	medicines	wines	wines
4	fissionables	spices	drugs
5	medical tech	spices	industrial tech
6	boosterspice	weapons	industrial tech
7	weapons	boosterspice	fissionables
8

Transcription note: the printed table for World Code E reads "liquers" in the 2 row; it is given here as "liquors", the spelling used for this good elsewhere in the booklet.

Goods Produced by World Code

Die-Roll	B	C, D & E	F
2	spices	spices	fissionables
3	drugs	liquors	fissionables
4	wines	medicines	spices
5	fissionables	liquors	medicines
6	weapons	drugs	fissionables
7	industrial tech	wines	fissionables
8

Transcription note: this printed table reads "liquers" and "superheavy metal" in places; they are given here as "liquors" and "superheavy metals", the spellings used for these goods elsewhere in the booklet.

Price Multiple Table

Die-Roll	Multiple
3	1/5
4	1/4
5	1/3
6	1/2
7	2/3
8	3/4
9	1
10	1 1/4
11	1 1/3
12	1 1/2
13	1 2/3
14	1 3/4
15

Demand Letter Table

Die-Roll	Letter
2	C
3	D
4	B
5	A
6	B
7	A
8	C
9	D
10	E
11	E
12	F

Demand Modifier & Number Table

The initial Demand Modifier and Number for a good are equal. Roll a die, and add or subtract a modifier which depends on the good:

Good	Modifier
Beasts	+1
Boosterspice	+6
Drugs	+2
Fissionables	+2
Germ Plasm	+1
Industrial Tech	+2
Liquors	+1
Medical Tech	+3
Medicines	+2
Spices	+2
Superheavy Metals	+4
Weapons	+2

Charts and Components

Game Map: The printed map is a 12x14-square grid, numbered 01 to 20 down the sides and 01 to 17 across the top and bottom, with Sol in square 0911. The starting systems marked on the printed map are Sol (09-11), Alpha C (07-11), Kimberley (08-09), Libertas (10-09) and Jahsworld (11-12), with the Alpha C, Kimberley, Libertas and Jahsworld stars shown with their numbers in parentheses (10, 20, 5 and 15 respectively).

Counter sheets: The printed counter sheet includes the Home Office, Factor and Fleet pieces for each company, the Star counters with their names and letters, and the world counters for Alpha C (B(10)), Jahsworld (B(15)), Kimberley (B(20)), Libertas (B(5)), Transkoye, Novshmoz-Kapop, Sh'tk'lp and Suur Kreta (all B). The Star counter sheet lists star names with letters C through F.

Record forms: The booklet prints a Star Chart form (columns: Star Name, Goods, Demand Letter, Demand Mod. or price mult., Demand Number or current production), a Ship Record form (Fleet # 1 to 14, with Ships and Goods Carried columns) and a Factors form (Home Office and Factor 1 to 4, with Goods Stored columns). Each form is marked "Permission to photocopy."

Omitted from the transcription: the booklet's inside-cover credits, the section list, the Publisher's Note on the rules page, and the back-cover advertising copy and publisher address. The counter sheet and map images are described rather than reproduced.

Demand Letter B

# to be sold	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
1	1	3	5	7	10	12	15	18	22	25	29	32
2	.75	2	4	5	7