Bell Digest vol06p06.txt

Subject:  The Pelorian Post,  Volume 6,  Number 6

RQDIGESTV06N06

First Distribution:  June 19, 1991

This issue:
        Ruined-Quest?  Resurrecting RuneQuest - an      Michael O'Brien
          investigation by the Tales... staff.
        RQ III Experience Calculator                    Paul Heinz

======================================================================

From: Michael O'Brien,  care of tsl@mullauna.cs.mu.OZ.AU

Subject: Ruined-Quest?  Resurrecting RuneQuest - an investigation
        by the Tales... staff.

A version of this article appeared in TALES OF THE REACHING MOON (The
RuneQuest Magazine), issue #5.

INTRODUCTION

RuneQuest is a great game.  We all know that.  Unfortunately, things
haven't been going so good for the game for some time.  We all know
that too.  We, the Tales of the Reaching Moon staff present here our
thoughts about the history of the game, the hole RuneQuest is
currently in, and what action we think Avalon Hill should take to dig
its way out again.

We have no intention of pointing bones at either Avalon Hill or
Chaosium; our intention is just to lay the facts as we see them on the
table and suggest remedies.  You will find our position is a
conservative one.  From our correspondence with Avalon Hill, we gain
the impression that they're eager to take the game to new places, to
try to second-guess the market and provide what it seems to require.
However, we believe it would be more useful for Avalon Hill to
consolidate the present position before they try to expand.

Comment on this article is sought after and welcome.  Perhaps you have
ideas of your own.  Let us know.  More importantly, let Avalon Hill
know what you think!

SOME ANCIENT HISTORY

The golden period for RuneQuest players was without doubt from 1982 -
1983, when the game won most of its fans.  In that time Chaosium
produced five boxed sets of superb new Runequest product: Questworld,
Trollpak, Pavis, Borderlands and Big Rubble.  The latter three boxes
were a trilogy of adventures on the same geographical setting.  (Pavis
was cited by Ken Rolston in Dragon #156 as still one of the best
all-time City supplements for roleplaying.)


THE AVALON HILL EDITION

After this frenetic publishing burst, RuneQuest went into hibernation
while the Avalon Hill edition of the game was prepared.  Players
waited on the edge of their seats.  The time delay was too long, and
some started to drift off.

When the game did come out in 1984, it was bigger and better, but many
were disappointed.  The price was prohibitive; the physical quality
could have been improved; and the rules had gained new complexities
which some players were unable to cope with.  But at any rate,
RuneQuest was back.  Some loved it, some decided to live with it, some
deferred judgement, and some dropped it.

Glorantha was inseparable from RuneQuest in the earlier Chaosium
editions; in the Avalon Hill edition it became optional.  What was
more important to gamers, the world or the rules?  We are still
finding out.

Those who stayed around looked eagerly for the first supplements, to
get their hands on some new adventures to try out the revised rules.
By and large they're still waiting.

FOUR KINDS OF RUNEQUEST

These days you can buy RuneQuest in four different flavours, and this
has its own problems.  In particular the advent of a watered-down
version, Standard Edition, has created a number of extra hassles,
although its principal aim - to make RuneQuest available at a lower
price - has been realised.

The four types of RuneQuest are:

Deluxe: The basic RuneQuest unit.  Ideally, everyone should buy this
one.  The price has (we think) dropped from its initial publication.
Even so, it is the most sound investment on the roleplaying market, at
any price.

Player's: A fair idea, making available a small portion of the game to
those with limited budget or interest.  However, RuneQuest is not a
game like Dungeons and Dragons which requires an imbalance of
knowledge between players and the gamemaster; ideally, everyone should
buy Deluxe instead.  We know of one games shop in 1989 that took nine
months to sell one copy of the Player's version.

Gamemaster's: An odd set.  By itself, it's not only half a game, but
it's the wrong half.  No Gamemaster would buy this without the
Player's box, unless he or she was an idiot; in other words, again it
makes more sense to buy Deluxe and get it over with.  The only
consumers that the Gamemaster's Set would be of real use to is those
who bought Player's first, and then wanted to go the whole hog.
Alternately, there may be gaming groups out there who are so
communal-minded that the players bought their box and the gamemaster
bought theirs and they all lived happily ever after - but we doubt it.

Standard: Aha. A kettle of worms, this.  A valiant attempt to bring
the price down; this is RuneQuest lite.  But the same problem exists,
that is, once they've bought Standard, if they like it then sooner or
later they're going to have to spring for Deluxe anyway.  To ward this
off, RuneQuest supplements have included Deluxe rules sections for
Standard players, but this frustrating for those who already own
Deluxe (and are thus paying for pages they don't need).

Here are four possible solutions to the Standard Edition bottleneck:

(a) Continue on including Deluxe rules sections.  As we've said, we
think this is annoying for Deluxe owners.

(b) Let the Standard players suffer.  Give no ground, let them sink or
swim.  This is unsatisfactory, as it betrays the trust of those who
took the carrot and bought Standard in the first place.

(c) Produce a Standard Edition Update, similar to the Advanced
RuneQuest book that Games Workshop did when they did their edition.
The update should include all the extra spells, monsters, etc. that
Standard owners don't have.  The layout should be packed in (four
column), and the Update should be as cheap as possible.  It will be
annoying to use, because players will find themselves needing two
sources to look up the same information; but it would be cheaper than
having to start all over again by purchasing Deluxe.  In fact,
Standard and the Update all together would be more economical than
buying Deluxe, but Deluxe owners would enjoy clearer layout, extra
essays and background, and in general a more user-friendly game.

(d) Continue to do the Deluxe rules sections for each new supplement
but, instead of making them part of the text, make them available for
free by having the consumer send in a stamped self-addressed envelope
(e.g. marked "SNAKEPIPE HOLLOW - DELUXE RULES", Avalon Hill, 4517
Harford Rd, etc.).  Standard users don't miss out, and Deluxe users
don't find themselves with material they don't need.  Of the four, we
think this is the preferred option.


THE SUPPLEMENTS: OVERVIEW

Discounting the different versions of the rules, from 1985 - 1990
Avalon Hill has published 19 supplements for RuneQuest.  Averaged out,
that's about three per year.  In fact, in the last two years, the rate
has dropped to two per year.  That hasn't been enough.

Many of the supplements have failed to catch the imagination of the
original RuneQuest players, who have seen them before.

Looking at the contents of the published supplements:

                        BOX     BOOK

New Material             6       1

Reprinted Material       2       5

Useless Material         3       2

New and Reprint are blurry categories; some of the New products
contain old content, some of the Reprint products contain new
information.  Our rule-of-thumb for the distinction between New and
Reprint is whether or not an old RuneQuester would feel compelled to
buy it.  By useless material, we callously mean products of little use
or value.

By our reckoning then, only 5 supplements have contained substantially
new material, less than one third of the total output, or less than
one per year.  If we further differentiate between Glorantha and
Alternate Earth, there has been only one brand new Gloranthan
supplement out for every two years.

We think you may start to see why RuneQuest has failed to charge
ahead.


THE SUPPLEMENTS: IN DETAIL

Here are our thoughts on the 19 things thus far released.  We think
that the ones marked with an asterisk (*) have been strongest sellers.
We do not have access to full records of RuneQuest sales, although we
do know which ones have gone well in shops we have worked in or are
familiar with.  Still, we am fairly confident that our assessments are
close to the mark.

A general comment applies to all the boxed sets.  Paper-covered books
are not sturdy enough for roleplaying use, which is more vigorous than
that of a set of boardgame rules.  This has been a constant problem
and complaint.

Here we go.  We use the copyright dates, even though they are not
necessarily the year the item came out:

Monster Coliseum (box, useless, 1985): An arena combat supplement.
The maps and components were handsome, but players were simply
unlikely to get a lot of use out of it.  The Monsters had lasting use,
but at US$16.oo, the set just wasn't worth it.

Adventurer Sheets [Human] (box, useless, 1985): The game itself
provides you with character sheets to photocopy.  This was simply
unnecessary, and Avalon Hill had the gall to call a pad of character
sheets "Supplement #2"!

Adventurer Sheets [Nonhuman] (box, useless, 1985): Of marginally more
use than the Human set, but still not really value for money.

Vikings* (box, new, 1985): The first Alternate Earth supplement, a
great set.  Many hours of solid play was available from it.  We know
of one Vikings campaign which now five years old, and still going
strong (a saga in the making!).

Gods of Glorantha* (box, new, 1985): The first Glorantha supplement.
Indispensible background material.

Griffin Island (box, reprint, 1986): Old adventures transplanted to a
new setting; even so, people who had played Griffin Mountain were
unlikely to get use out of this.

Land of Ninja (box, new, 1986): Second and perhaps last of the
Alternate Earth supplements.  Despite its somewhat misleading title
(the ninja are only a peripheral element in the game), a fine set. As
the majority of roleplayers are more accustomed to Eurocentric
adventuring, Land of Ninja was perhaps of less universal appeal than
Vikings.  This makes us wonder about the commercial viability of
Aztecs, a manuscript currently in the hands of Avalon Hill.

Apple Lane (book, reprint, 1988): A classic adventure, but an old one.
The first of the book releases, bringing the price of the average
RuneQuest item a little closer to the pocketmoney budget.

Snakepipe Hollow (book, reprint, 1988): see above.

Into the Troll Realms (book, reprint, 1988): the first of the trolls.
Somehow the single 1982 boxed set Trollpak was turned into four
separate reprints.  Owners of the original were usually unlikely to
buy any of them.

RuneQuest Cities (book, reprint, 1988): Unlike the other reprints,
this supplement was not a RuneQuest one in its original publication.
It's a useful book, but not one that everyone would feel compelled to
purchase.

Gloranthan Bestiary* (book, new, 1988): New monsters for Glorantha.  A
must for all Gloranthan RuneQuesters.

Glorantha - Genertela* (box, new, 1988): The one everyone was waiting
for, the strong launch that Gloranthan fans had been looking for since
1983.  A great pack, rich in background details.

Trollpak (box, reprint, 1988): More trolls.

Troll Gods (box, new, 1988): And more trolls.  This one is significant
because of the poor quality of the artwork.  Prior to this, although
much of the material was familiar to them, players and collectors had
been enjoying a sound aesthetic feel in all RuneQuest products in both
layout and art - you might buy them just to have them.  Troll Gods
eroded confidence in new product.

Elder Secrets* (box, new, 1989): Like Glorantha, a box that Glorantha
fans were waiting for.  Like Troll Gods, it was marred by unforgivably
bad artwork.  Still, it did sell well.  Only the first release of the
AD&D 2nd Edition hardbacks sold quicker than Elder Secrets in several
games shops we know of.

Haunted Ruins (book, reprint, 1989): The last of the trolls.
Thankfully, the artwork this time was greatly improved.

The Lost City of Eldarad (card wallet, useless, 1990): A total turkey,
this non-Gloranthan supplement fails on almost every level.
Unoriginal concept, execrable writing, uninspired layout and poor
artwork.  A real blow to the confidence of RuneQuesters in Avalon
Hill's ability to produce RuneQuest effectively.  It is not unfair to
question Avalon Hill's lack of discernment to ever accept this
manuscript, let alone go to the trouble of printing and marketing it.

Daughters of Darkness (book, useless, 1990): Another dud.  A generic
"Gateway" piece which seems to confirm the suspicion that AH believe a
slick , colourful cover sells more games than strong writing or
professional artwork and layout.  That the back-cover hype blurb
claims Daughters has "9 scenarios", yet several of these scenarios are
not much longer than this paragraph, should be enough warning to you
to keep away.


THE SUPPLEMENTS: SUMMARY

Background material enriches a game, and it is the quality of the
background material on which the fame of RuneQuest is based.
Nevertheless, players also have a need of something they can buy off
the shelves, flip open the cover, and start running on a Friday night.
Avalon Hill RuneQuest has had some releases of this type, but it has
all been reprints.  A common lament amongst former RuneQuest players
is "We want to play RuneQuest, but there's nothing to play."

As gamemasters, we have a need of things we can use with minimum
effort.  Over the last eight years we have had no new commercial
campaigns to use (excepting Eldarad & Daughters).  Those of us who
can, have had to use the background in the 1982-1983 material, or have
written our own.


SO WHAT SHOULD BE DONE?  RuneQuest as it stands is a great fantasy
roleplaying game.  It is as good as and better than Rolemaster, AD&D,
Middle Earth and the rest of them.  What those games have that
RuneQuest doesn't is a torrent of new support material, on a regular
basis.

We don't propose any radical in direction.  We believe that solid work
is all that it will take to get those gamers looking RuneQuest's way
again.  To the players, the format is fine, the look is fine (some
artwork notwithstanding), there just isn't enough of it.


THE REACHING MOON TWELVE-POINT-PLAN FOR PRODUCTIVITY AND PROSPERITY

Here is a rambling list of ideas and tactics for setting things in
motion.  There is a lot that can be done.

(i.)  Formats should be set and maintained.  It would be nice to show
people what they are getting just by the look of the product.  Four
formats already exist; let's categorize them, and suggest Avalon Hill
use three of them.  The formats that should be used are: 48 page books
(RuneQuest Adventures), 64 page books (RuneQuest Campaigns), boxed
sets (RuneQuest Expansions).  The format that should be abandoned is
that of the card wallet, in which Eldarad appeared.

48 PAGE BOOKS - RUNEQUEST ADVENTURES Put out a line of single
adventures in this size.  All the gamemaster needs to do is sit down
and play; when you're finished, you put it away, but hell, you had a
good time, you got your money's worth.

64 PAGE BOOKS - RUNEQUEST CAMPAIGNS Books with an amount of background
material sufficient to generate more adventures; mini campaign packs.
The first part of the book sets up the player's situation, and defines
the territory; the next part of the book contains a dozen or so small
adventures and scenario ideas; the last part will be a major
adventure.  Once people have played through what is printed, they'll
know enough to keep playing in that setting.  Great value.

BOXED SETS - RUNEQUEST EXPANSIONS The box format should be retained,
mixed with the cheaper lines. Boxed sets can be used for large
background supplements, such as Gods of Glorantha et. al., or major
campaign settings, such as the Alternate Earth series.  Use the box to
include extra maps and handouts.  In other words, what Avalon Hill
have been doing so far, expect the material should be all new.

CARD WALLETS The card wallet that Eldarad appears in is apparently
some sort of compromise between the Boxed Set and the Book format.
Eldarad consists of three books, contained within a card wallet that
folds out into a campaign map.  This format is not appealing, because
of the lack of durability of the card wallet (and the paper covered
books within). The card wallet does not have the visibility or
attractiveness of the boxed sets in a bookcase.  Despite these
factors, Eldarad is only marginally cheaper than the boxed sets.  For
these reasons, we recommend that the card wallets should be dropped.

This is a solid foundation, but, even so, Avalon Hill needn't feel
straight-jacketed by it.  Perhaps even 24 page books could be a goer.
As a change from large adventures, books which contain pages of
encounters or dozens of small adventures might work.  Perhaps on a
half-yearly basis a RuneQuest Companion could be issued, containing a
plethora of new essays and ideas.  The important thing is to get the
ball rolling.

(ii.)  Avalon Hill should stick to Alternate Earth and Glorantha.
Avalon Hill obviously have a better idea of how Alternate Earth is
doing than we do.  If it does sell, then by all means they should keep
it going.  Alternate Earth products should maintain the standard set
by Vikings and Land of Ninja.  They should keep with the theme of a
strong historical backing, and be well-researched and accurately
presented.  Generic faceless "fantasy" products, such as Griffin
Island and Eldarad, are unlikely to satisfy the majority of gamers.
We recommend that Avalon Hill ditch RuneQuest Gateway.  For fantasy,
Glorantha is a strong, coherent and rich background world; it should
be used.

(iii.)  Production standards need to maintained.  Component quality
should ideally be upgraded in the boxed sets.  In all publications the
artwork, very important to the feel of any roleplaying product, needs
to be of high quality, both on the cover and inside.

(iv.) The products have to be great.  RuneQuest products have always
been great, and that's important.  People should enjoy everything they
buy.  If they feel cheated, they won't be back for more.

(v.) The products have to be new.  Reprints have their place, but
let's let them take a back seat for a while.  We'd like to see Avalon
Hill publish some things we haven't seen before.

(vi.) There should be a regular schedule.  Releases should be monthly.
People will be accustomed to expect a new RuneQuest item, and should
know where to look for one.  As it stands, it's just a pleasant
surprise whenever one happens to appear.  The various formats should
be rotated around to give variety to the releases.

(vii.) There should be advertising and promotional support.  Avalon
Hill have to get out there and actively and physically invite people
to play RuneQuest.  Advertising should be constant and varied; readers
have seen essentially the same ads for five years now, so they're
unlikely to scan the fine print in them to actually see what's new.
People should know what's coming before it hits the shelves; too often
these things are a bolt from the blue.

(viii.) There should be magazine support.  Chaosium have recently been
getting RuneQuest coverage in different magazines, which is excellent.
Poor old Heroes was okay in parts, but it was too specialized for
anyone who didn't play the four systems it exclusively covered, and
not specialized enough for anyone who did.  Perhaps the market could
support a RuneQuest magazine?  Maybe not; perhaps a newsletter. Avalon
Hill need to get back in touch with the gamers.  An excellent means of
doing this would be for Avalon Hill to assist Tales of the Reaching
Moon maintain a professional standard and gain a wider audience; after
all, the people who read Moon are the people who buy RuneQuest
products.

(ix.) Avalon Hill need to get writers writing.  A great problem has
been nothing to publish.  Promising teams of freelancers are yet to
deliver, after six years.  Subconsciously, it is our belief that they
all think that one day the sun will burst from the heavens and
RuneQuest will kick into high gear, and that's when they'll really get
cracking.  Avalon Hill need to convince them that that time is now.
Avalon Hill need to bombard them with invitations to join new
projects, send them a regular freelancer's newsletter, shower them
with hints, hooks and handouts.  To kick it off, at the very least
Avalon Hill need to provide a submission guidelines sheet, to tell
potential writers exactly what they want, and how it should be
presented.

(x.) Avalon Hill should look into other medias.  Without looking
before they leap, Avalon Hill could try cross marketing.  RuneQuest
has a rich background, enough to carry it into other spheres.  If they
are able to maintain quality, Avalon Hill can generate a lot of
additional interest and excitement.  Areas to explore might include
RuneQuest novels; RuneQuest computer games; RuneQuest comics;
RuneQuest boardgames (repackage Dragon Pass to make it look like a
RuneQuest supplement, reissue Nomad Gods); RuneQuest artbooks;
RuneQuest miniatures (again).

(xi.) Avalon Hill should keep in contact with other publishers.  What
do the French want of RuneQuest, or the Japanese?  They have an
inbuilt advantage that all product is new product to them - the
reprints don't affect them.  But they have resources Avalon Hill
should tap into; for example, the French edition of Genertela is
beautifully produced and illustrated.

(xii) Quality Control.  RuneQuest is down for the count and on the
ropes.  To resurrect it, a great deal of work, energy and enthusiasm
is required. The game simply cannot afford another disaster like
Eldarad. Chaosium cannot give RuneQuest their full time, they have
other games.  Avalon Hill is the same, plus they admit that they lack
the expertise to work on it.  RuneQuest has been caught in the middle.
Sure, the future of RuneQuest is to a large degree dependent on the
quality of the submissions tendered to Avalon Hill by outside
contributors, but Avalon Hill needs an experienced body of people to
assess the suitability and appeal of the various manuscripts, then get
on with the job of preparing them for publication.  That such an
obviously poor submission as Eldarad ever made it into print clearly
shows that this has not been the case.  Perhaps we were spoiled back
in the Chaosium days when Greg Stafford, a passionate devotee of
Glorantha, supervised the development of the game. That devotion is
evident in the high quality RuneQuest supplements published at that
time.  Now that Stafford is unavailable, Avalon Hill needs another
person like him.


RQGURPS?

RuneQuest has a generic set of rules, and could be translated to other
genres: science fiction, cyberpunk, modern, whatever.  Avalon Hill
have been toying with the suggestion of turning RuneQuest into a sort
of "RQGURPS?", a generic roleplaying system with supplements about a
variety of genres.  This is a dangerous and mischievous idea, and
should be avoided!  Here are the problems:

- Any new genre needs support material.  By creating different streams
of RuneQuest, you attract new gamers who will want more in that line.
If that need is not satisfied, the market shrinks as players look
elsewhere.  To a degree, Games Workshop have fallen into this trap
with their various Warhammer system games*.  A supplement that sells
1,000 still needs the same amount of energy and expense to design and
produce as a product that sells 10,000.  Avalon Hill are having
trouble keeping one genre (fantasy) pinned down, let alone
half-a-dozen.

- A generic system doesn't equal success.  GURPS doesn't sell.  Steve
Jackson Games might like to correct us if we're wrong.  It sure
doesn't sell in games shops we know of, anyway.

- People usually play the first game released in each genre.  D&D
remains the strongest fantasy system.  Traveller is still plugging
away for science fiction (sf is the biggest graveyard in the gaming
industry).  Champions is still in there for superhero gaming.
Talsorian's Cyberpunk still leads that pack.  Battletech is still the
big gun in fighting robots.  Exceptions have been where licensed games
have broken in.  West End's Star Wars has colonised a small corner of
the sf market.  The superhero games based on Marvel and DC comics
brought their own fans with them.

- Some of Chaosium's previous efforts to diversify are now gone; a new
setting does not necessarily equal success.  Ringworld an excellent
science fiction system which was effectively RuneQuest in space, did
not survive.  Also gone is their superhero game Superworld, and their
cross-genre game Worlds of Wonder.

All in all, we feel that Avalon Hill's best bet is to stay with trying
to make a go of RuneQuest as it stands.  We don't think taking
RuneQuest to genres where it's never been before would increase the
market's enthusiasm; rather, we think it would have the opposite
effect.


CONCLUSION

RuneQuest has had an interrupted career.  There have been a few
decisions made that slowed it down.  It still has enough of its own
steam to survive; if Avalon Hill choose to stoke it up a bit, it will
start to pull them ahead rather than dragging behind.

It needs a four star relaunch, because after seven years it still
hasn't had the concentrated kick it deserves.  Avalon Hill needs to
take their game back to the consumer and say "We are here!  And we are
great!"  Avalon Hill need to tell them and show them in new ways, with
new messages, and new material.


*For a detailed discussion on the fading fortunes of Games Workshop
and its Warhammer systems, see the fanzine Utter Drivel's entertaining
gossip col "Pre-Gummed", issues #15 &16.

======================================================================

From: runelord@nacjack.gen.nz (Paul Heinz)
Subject: THE RQ III EXPERIENCE CALCULATOR


For any of you who are interested, here is the "C" program
that I wrote to check out the experience system along with a
simple shell script and the resultant output. Invoking "xp"
with a single gain argument generates the resultant skill
level to training hours required given that average gain.
Invoking "xp" with two arguments, both a gain and a mult
value, generates sample skill levels given that many hours
per x1 and for a range of base chances from 0% to 40% and
for a range of previous experience years.

-------- Cut here -------------
/*
 *  xp.c
 *
 *  Experience Pro-rating
 *
 *  (c) 1991 Paul "RuneLord" Heinz
 */

#include 
#include 

int     year[6] = { 2, 5, 7, 10, 12, 25 };
int     base[7] = { 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 40 };
int     hour[101];

int     mult;
float   gain;

main(argc, argv)
    int     argc;
    char    *argv[];
{
    int     i, j, k, l, m, o;
    float   n;

    switch(argc) {
        default:
            printf("Usage: xp {gain} [{mult}]\n");
            exit(1);

        case 3:
            if((mult = atoi(argv[2])) <= 0) {
                printf("Bad mult parameter\n");
                exit(2);
            }

        case 2:
            if((gain = atof(argv[1])) <= 0.0) {
                printf("Bad gain parameter\n");
                exit(2);
            }
    }

    for(i = 1; i <= 100; ++i) {
        n = i / gain;
        hour[i] = (int) (n * (n - 1.0) + 1.5);
    }

    if(mult == 0) {
        printf("Gain %3.1f%%\n", gain);

        for(i = 0; i < 20; ++i) {
            for(j = 0; j < 5; ++j) {
                k = 1 + i + j * 20;
                printf("%3u) %-4u  ", k, hour[k]);
            }
            printf("\n");
        }
        printf("\n");
    } else {
        printf("Hours %u (%3.1f%%)\n", mult, gain);

        for(i = 0; i < 6; ++i) {
            printf("%2u Years       ", year[i]);
            for(j = 0; j < 7; ++j)
                printf(" [%3u%%]  ", base[j]);
            printf("\n");

            for(j = 1; j <= 5; ++j) {
                m = mult * year[i] * j;
                printf("x%1u (%4d) +%-3u|", j, m, year[i] * j);

                for(k = 0; k < 7; ++k) {
                    l = base[k];
                    m = mult * year[i] * j + hour[l];

                    while(l < 100 && hour[l + 1] <= m) ++l;

                    printf("%3u +%-3u ", l, l - base[k]);
                }
                printf("\n");
            }
            printf("\n");
        }
    }
}
-------- Cut here -------------
# sample driver batch file
xp 2.0    >xp.out
xp 2.0 15 >>xp.out
xp 2.0 20 >>xp.out
xp 2.0 25 >>xp.out
-------- Cut here -------------
Gain 2.0%
  1) 1      21) 101    41) 401    61) 901    81) 1601
  2) 1      22) 111    42) 421    62) 931    82) 1641
  3) 2      23) 122    43) 442    63) 962    83) 1682
  4) 3      24) 133    44) 463    64) 993    84) 1723
  5) 5      25) 145    45) 485    65) 1025   85) 1765
  6) 7      26) 157    46) 507    66) 1057   86) 1807
  7) 10     27) 170    47) 530    67) 1090   87) 1850
  8) 13     28) 183    48) 553    68) 1123   88) 1893
  9) 17     29) 197    49) 577    69) 1157   89) 1937
 10) 21     30) 211    50) 601    70) 1191   90) 1981
 11) 26     31) 226    51) 626    71) 1226   91) 2026
 12) 31     32) 241    52) 651    72) 1261   92) 2071
 13) 37     33) 257    53) 677    73) 1297   93) 2117
 14) 43     34) 273    54) 703    74) 1333   94) 2163
 15) 50     35) 290    55) 730    75) 1370   95) 2210
 16) 57     36) 307    56) 757    76) 1407   96) 2257
 17) 65     37) 325    57) 785    77) 1445   97) 2305
 18) 73     38) 343    58) 813    78) 1483   98) 2353
 19) 82     39) 362    59) 842    79) 1522   99) 2402
 20) 91     40) 381    60) 871    80) 1561  100) 2451

Hours 20 (2.0%)
 2 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 (  40) +2  | 13 +13   14 +9    16 +6    19 +4    23 +3    28 +3    42 +2
x2 (  80) +4  | 18 +18   19 +14   21 +11   23 +8    27 +7    30 +5    43 +3
x3 ( 120) +6  | 22 +22   23 +18   24 +14   27 +12   30 +10   33 +8    45 +5
x4 ( 160) +8  | 26 +26   26 +21   27 +17   29 +14   32 +12   35 +10   47 +7
x5 ( 200) +10 | 29 +29   29 +24   30 +20   32 +17   35 +15   38 +13   49 +9

 5 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 100) +5  | 20 +20   21 +16   22 +12   25 +10   28 +8    32 +7    44 +4
x2 ( 200) +10 | 29 +29   29 +24   30 +20   32 +17   35 +15   38 +13   49 +9
x3 ( 300) +15 | 35 +35   35 +30   36 +26   38 +23   40 +20   43 +18   53 +13
x4 ( 400) +20 | 40 +40   41 +36   42 +32   43 +28   45 +25   47 +22   56 +16
x5 ( 500) +25 | 45 +45   45 +40   46 +36   47 +32   49 +29   51 +26   60 +20

 7 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 140) +7  | 24 +24   25 +20   26 +16   28 +13   31 +11   34 +9    46 +6
x2 ( 280) +14 | 34 +34   34 +29   35 +25   37 +22   39 +19   42 +17   52 +12
x3 ( 420) +21 | 41 +41   42 +37   42 +32   44 +29   46 +26   48 +23   57 +17
x4 ( 560) +28 | 48 +48   48 +43   49 +39   50 +35   52 +32   54 +29   62 +22
x5 ( 700) +35 | 53 +53   54 +49   54 +44   55 +40   57 +37   59 +34   66 +26

10 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 200) +10 | 29 +29   29 +24   30 +20   32 +17   35 +15   38 +13   49 +9
x2 ( 400) +20 | 40 +40   41 +36   42 +32   43 +28   45 +25   47 +22   56 +16
x3 ( 600) +30 | 49 +49   50 +45   50 +40   51 +36   53 +33   55 +30   63 +23
x4 ( 800) +40 | 57 +57   57 +52   58 +48   59 +44   60 +40   62 +37   69 +29
x5 (1000) +50 | 64 +64   64 +59   64 +54   65 +50   67 +47   68 +43   75 +35

12 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 240) +12 | 31 +31   32 +27   33 +23   35 +20   37 +17   40 +15   50 +10
x2 ( 480) +24 | 44 +44   45 +40   45 +35   47 +32   48 +28   50 +25   59 +19
x3 ( 720) +36 | 54 +54   54 +49   55 +45   56 +41   57 +37   59 +34   67 +27
x4 ( 960) +48 | 62 +62   63 +58   63 +53   64 +49   65 +45   67 +42   74 +34
x5 (1200) +60 | 70 +70   70 +65   70 +60   71 +56   72 +52   74 +49   80 +40

25 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 500) +25 | 45 +45   45 +40   46 +36   47 +32   49 +29   51 +26   60 +20
x2 (1000) +50 | 64 +64   64 +59   64 +54   65 +50   67 +47   68 +43   75 +35
x3 (1500) +75 | 78 +78   78 +73   78 +68   79 +64   80 +60   82 +57   87 +47
x4 (2000) +100| 90 +90   90 +85   90 +80   91 +76   92 +72   93 +68   98 +58
x5 (2500) +125|100 +100 100 +95  100 +90  100 +85  100 +80  100 +75  100 +60

Hours 25 (2.0%)
 2 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 (  50) +2  | 15 +15   15 +10   17 +7    20 +5    24 +4    28 +3    42 +2
x2 ( 100) +4  | 20 +20   21 +16   22 +12   25 +10   28 +8    32 +7    44 +4
x3 ( 150) +6  | 25 +25   25 +20   27 +17   29 +14   32 +12   35 +10   47 +7
x4 ( 200) +8  | 29 +29   29 +24   30 +20   32 +17   35 +15   38 +13   49 +9
x5 ( 250) +10 | 32 +32   32 +27   33 +23   35 +20   37 +17   40 +15   51 +11

 5 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 125) +5  | 23 +23   23 +18   25 +15   27 +12   30 +10   33 +8    45 +5
x2 ( 250) +10 | 32 +32   32 +27   33 +23   35 +20   37 +17   40 +15   51 +11
x3 ( 375) +15 | 39 +39   39 +34   40 +30   42 +27   44 +24   46 +21   55 +15
x4 ( 500) +20 | 45 +45   45 +40   46 +36   47 +32   49 +29   51 +26   60 +20
x5 ( 625) +25 | 50 +50   51 +46   51 +41   52 +37   54 +34   56 +31   64 +24

 7 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 175) +7  | 27 +27   27 +22   28 +18   30 +15   33 +13   36 +11   48 +8
x2 ( 350) +14 | 38 +38   38 +33   39 +29   40 +25   42 +22   45 +20   55 +15
x3 ( 525) +21 | 46 +46   47 +42   47 +37   48 +33   50 +30   52 +27   61 +21
x4 ( 700) +28 | 53 +53   54 +49   54 +44   55 +40   57 +37   59 +34   66 +26
x5 ( 875) +35 | 60 +60   60 +55   60 +50   61 +46   63 +43   64 +39   71 +31

10 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 250) +10 | 32 +32   32 +27   33 +23   35 +20   37 +17   40 +15   51 +11
x2 ( 500) +20 | 45 +45   45 +40   46 +36   47 +32   49 +29   51 +26   60 +20
x3 ( 750) +30 | 55 +55   55 +50   56 +46   57 +42   58 +38   60 +35   68 +28
x4 (1000) +40 | 64 +64   64 +59   64 +54   65 +50   67 +47   68 +43   75 +35
x5 (1250) +50 | 71 +71   71 +66   72 +62   73 +58   74 +54   75 +50   81 +41

12 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 300) +12 | 35 +35   35 +30   36 +26   38 +23   40 +20   43 +18   53 +13
x2 ( 600) +24 | 49 +49   50 +45   50 +40   51 +36   53 +33   55 +30   63 +23
x3 ( 900) +36 | 60 +60   61 +56   61 +51   62 +47   63 +43   65 +40   72 +32
x4 (1200) +48 | 70 +70   70 +65   70 +60   71 +56   72 +52   74 +49   80 +40
x5 (1500) +60 | 78 +78   78 +73   78 +68   79 +64   80 +60   82 +57   87 +47

25 Years        [  0%]   [  5%]   [ 10%]   [ 15%]   [ 20%]   [ 25%]   [ 40%]
x1 ( 625) +25 | 50 +50   51 +46   51 +41   52 +37   54 +34   56 +31   64 +24
x2 (1250) +50 | 71 +71   71 +66   72 +62   73 +58   74 +54   75 +50   81 +41
x3 (1875) +75 | 87 +87   87 +82   88 +78   88 +73   89 +69   90 +65   95 +55
x4 (2500) +100|100 +100 100 +95  100 +90  100 +85  100 +80  100 +75  100 +60
x5 (3125) +125|100 +100 100 +95  100 +90  100 +85  100 +80  100 +75  100 +60
-------- Cut here -------------

Well, there you have it. I've settled on 2.0% gain and 20
hours per x1 as having the most desirable characteristics.

I must say that I am very pleased with the results.

(c) 1991 Paul "RuneLord" Heinz            email: runelord@nacjack.gen.nz

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