THE PHOENIX
PROJECT
A new RPG Universe
Shane Smith

During the Cold War, the United States office of Civil Defense initiated the Phoenix Project. Simply put, it was the goal of the Phoenix Project to rebuild the United States after an all out nuclear war. After the end of the Cold War however, the Phoenix Project lost most of its support. Research in paleontology revealed that humanity was vulnerable to threats from asteroids. In the late 1990's, the Phoenix Project was turned over to the United Nations. Buried deep underground, hidden underwater, or orbiting the satellites of the gas giants, the shelters of the Phoenix Project, along with their human cargoes, stand ready to rebuild human civilization in the wake of a natural disaster.

As the players in this campaign, you will be the members of a Phoenix Project team, where you will be responsible for rebuilding only a small portion of the globe. Other teams will be doing the same thing elsewhere. But will everything go as planned by the now long dead Phoenix Project Committee, or as overseen by the increasingly erratic Phoenix Project computers? And what exactly was the disaster which wiped out all human civilization?

Perspectives on Gaming

What is a Game Master, and Why?
Under most circumstances, wargames can run themselves.  There is not really a need for anyone to run such a game.  In fact, such people usually want to play in their own games, yet they can't because they've appointed themselves as the "Game Master." 
There does exist however, a peculiar type of game that more or less requires a game master:  the double blind campaign.  In these games, it is vital that one player not know exactly what the other is doing.  That is what makes it a double blind game.  This adds a rather interesting bit of complexity to the game, as you now not only have to keep track of your own forces, but you have to guess where the opposing forces are. 
Now, in order for you to fight each other, you need someone who knows where both forces are.  That person is the Game Master.  In wargames, that is really all they do.  It may seem dull, but sometimes having all the information can mean that you have more fun than the players. 
I remember a game of Jutland which I had run, where I saw the British and German fleets sail right past each other, and they never even knew it (except when I told them that they saw smoke on the horizon).   
So having Game Master can add another interesting element to the game. It can cause you to wonder where your opponent is, and require you to plan your defenses/attacks without knowing your opponents strengths and weaknesses. In short, it creates the "fog of war," an added element which you cannot really get if you don't have a Game Master.