European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 29, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Weekend warriors medieval Machos make fantasy come to life a King of the Vikings on his Kin Cruger Bureau chief to begin it want your average gather ing of sitting awaiting a summons to wreak havoc in the dungeons were thou the evil Wol slobber the demented and a Vair the Throat there they were an unappetizing Trio of medieval Machos who were ready to pounce on unwitting peasants and make hamburger of their with great agonized screams slashed through the chill and Musty air of the not one of them batted an shrieks of Horri ble wounds and slain peasants dont faze these for they Are Battle hardened regulars at treasure play ers in one of the new fantasy role playing games that Are fast becoming a craze in treasure trap is the translation of intellectual Board such As dungeons and dragons and the idea is to create a fantasy world of grim Castle Dank caves or haunted mansions harbouring knights and treasure trap originally organized As a club but now run More As a business gives those obsessed with fantasy role playing the Chance to indulge in a bit of real week end dragon it All began with Peter Carey who started the club in he found an empty near that was Ideal for housing the the 200 room Castle is a Neo gothic Structure built in the 1840s that is so authentically medieval looking is almost an improvement Over the genuine to encourage the club offers an initial Cut Price trial adventure costing about in this game a prospective member a Basic joins a Small group of a half dozen of so fellow souls and spends about three hours Down in the dungeons following a specific such As trying to free an imprisoned during their quest they Are attacked by various bad All acted out by other treasure there Are lot of Battles along the Way and puzzles to be if the quest is to be a at the if they Are thought good4 enough and if the experience Hast scared them witless they can pay another to become full members and proceed to the next the first which is followed by the a each level is claimed to represent an increase in experience and Cost of each thereto four hour Dungeon adventure is about if a player is he or she goes Back to the a step that can set the player Back months in the quest toward finally completing a so called professional Dungeon and becoming an immortal one who cant die or be each player adopts a different character from one of several different types who Are thieves Guardi who Are fighters for Good or for evil evil guardians who go into a frenzy at the sight of blood and attack and fight until they Are killed who Are magicians and sorcerers and lore wardens who Are not Only but who have the Power to the Good and bad aspects of each character Are defined by somewhat arcane the players Are Given different Levels of strength and certain magic the rewards of successful play Are wealth and experience Points which Are picked up along the Way and noted on character cards that the players carry at All each time they survive a Dungeon players gain Points toward advancement to a higher players must think carefully about everything they needing every ounce of cunning just to stay treasure trap has its own called with which Armor can be bought and fines when not on the Good Side in a Dungeon players can monster for other the average age of the players is about we dont turn anyone away because of their but the game is aimed at the for you have to believe in what is going on and the Young do this said piers a thin Oxford undergraduate who is one of the treasure trap treasure trap is quite similar to dungeons and dragons in that its a medieval role playing but it uti Lizes a totally different game it also Doest re quire As much imagination As dungeons and to an it May seem but players would rather part with their real Money than be forced to hand Over their Stells to a that because Treyve literally gone through hell to accumulate those he the cult of treasure trap has attracted a membership of More than men and to and on a Busy weekend As Many As 350 people will show up to Many of them about 100 hardcore members Are so addicted that they come every weekend from All Over the to some come to play but stay and Seldom go Home one of Mark came to Pec Forton for a week got hooked and now is one of the treasure trap Organ the idea of playing treasure trap is to go around through the have a Good laugh in the process and be scared out of your we tend not to let beginners get killed when they first Start playing the we let them enjoy the he not that anyone really gets Hurt in treasure aside from the Odd Cut or All the weapons Are foam padded and blood is water soluble paint that can be washed off As Dungeon adventures umpires take note of who gets hit and then decide who must die from those treasure trap runs As Many As 18 Dungeon adventures a Day every saturday and some of the especially on advanced Are endurance affairs running As Long As 24 hours at a newcomers need Only present themselves to play trea sure trap organizers will Supply everything a Basic needs to Start out in this weird in order Tobe closer to More potential treasure trap is in the process of moving from Pec Forton Castle to Chislehurst about 14 Miles South of near Bromley in treasure trap expects to be in business there sometime in mid the caves All Man made com prise a 22mile Long labyrinth of linked passageways and for More Telephone London 01 adventurers enter the Castle to do Battle with occupying Page 14 the stars Ahlstr Lifs s s photos by Gus Schuettler april after the first referees evaluate the damage to both the stars and stripes Page 15