''Crossed Swords'' is an adventure published by

Pacesetter Ltd Pacesetter Ltd was a game company based in Delavan, Wisconsin, founded in 1984. Company founders included CEO John Rickets, and Mark Acres, Andria Hayday, Gaye Goldsberry O'Keefe, Gali Sanchez, Garry Spiegle, Carl Smith, Stephen D. Sullivan ...

in 1984 for the fantasy time-travel role-playing game ''

Timemaster ''Timemaster'' is a role-playing game centered on traveling through time and alternate dimensions, published by Pacesetter Ltd in 1984. Players take on the role of Time Corps agents who fix deviations in the timeline of the game. The primary an ...

''.

Plot summary

The Time Corps agents are sent back in time to investigate strange events involving the

Three Musketeers 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

. Like the novels of

Alexandre Dumas Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright. His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...

, the players have to contend with the rival guards of

Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, 1st Duke of Richelieu (9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), commonly known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a Catholic Church in France, French Catholic prelate and statesman who had an outsized influence in civil and religi ...

as well as the political intrigue of the court of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

Publication history

The small game company Pacesetter was founded by former employees of TSR who had left the company because they felt that in terms of role-playing games, it was headed in the wrong direction. One of Pacesetter's products was ''Timemaster'', in which player characters are agents of the Time Corps, which is defending the timeline against attacks by an insidious enemy. The agents are sent to various important events in history, including fictional history. The first adventure for ''Timemaster'' was ''Crossed Swords'', a 32-page book written by Carl Smith, with a cover by Ben Otero and illustrations by

Jim Roslof James Paul Roslof (November 21, 1946March 19, 2011) was an American artist who produced cover art and interior illustrations of fantasy role-playing games published by TSR, Inc. during the "golden age" of ''Dungeons & Dragons''. As Art Director a ...

and Stephen Sullivan.

Reception

In the January 1985 edition of ''

White Dwarf A white dwarf is a Compact star, stellar core remnant composed mostly of electron-degenerate matter. A white dwarf is very density, dense: in an Earth sized volume, it packs a mass that is comparable to the Sun. No nuclear fusion takes place i ...

'' (Issue #61), Steve Norledge called this scenario "refreshingly light-hearted in feel and there are profuse opportunities for amusing role-playing." Norledge liked the potential for creative play, saying, "It is a scenario for role-playing - hardly a sterile dungeon crawl of the sort that some companies persist in putting out." He concluded by giving the scenario an average rating of 7 out of 10, commenting, "though this one does have its flaws it's a good start from a new company. Now if you'll excuse me I have a certain Cardinal Richelieu to deal with . . ." Russell Grant Collins reviewed ''Crossed Swords'' for ''

Different Worlds ''Different Worlds'' was an American role-playing games magazine published from 1979 to 1987. Scope ''Different Worlds'' published support articles, scenarios, and variants for various role-playing games including ''Dungeons & Dragons'', ''Rune ...

'' magazine and stated that "The concept behind this adventure is a good one; with a little work it could be a great one. I recommend it particularly if the gamemaster has read the' original (preferably recently) and is willing to fix up a few things."

Other recognition

A copy of ''Crossed Swords'' is held in the collection of the

Strong National Museum of Play The Strong National Museum of Play (also known as just The Strong Museum or simply the Strong) is part of The Strong in Rochester, New York, United States. Established in 1969 and initially based on the personal collection of Rochester native Mar ...

(Object ID: 117.492).

References

Role-playing game adventures Role-playing game supplements introduced in 1984 Timemaster Works based on The Three Musketeers {{Rpg-stub