Search for the Emperor's Treasure

Introduction

In a little known land some time ago, there were heroic adventurers, fearful monsters, powerful rulers, and mighty magicians. Nobody knows how to get there anymore. But if you read these rules, and play this game, who knows? You might just find yourself transported through time and space...
        …To the Lands of Emperor Baladan, who has of late, been plagued with misfortune. Enemies to the north and east have seized much of the empire. The Emperor's six great magical treasures have been stolen by evil sorcerers and hidden throughout the land. Baladan is anxious to regain these items, and will pay handsomely for them, as they are the keys to his power.
        Players assume the roles of a fighter, a magic user, an elf, or any of one of several unusual individuals or creatures who set out for adventure in this strange land. Their goal is to find treasure, both for themselves and (hopefully) for the emperor. The treasures are hidden throughout the land in castles, cities, villages, and many other unexpected places. As the players travel through mountains and swamps, across the vast desert or even the great sea, they will encounter many strange creatures, animals, and people, finding clues of hidden treasure...but will they be the Emperor's Treasure. The roads and trails are fraught with danger, but the rewards are many. When enough of the Emperor's Treasures have been found, the game ends, and the player who has done the best job of accumulating treasures becomes the winner.

Background of the Game

This game has been published two other times - the first in the July 1981 edition (#51) of the Dragon Magazine, a monthly publication of TSR Hobbies (later becoming just TSR, Inc.) focusing mostly on role-playing and it’s wildly popular Dungeons & Dragons Role Playing Game. The designer of this game, Tom Wham, was an early employee of TSR, but never quite got into RPGs. He did want to bring the “flavor” of D&D to a boardgame…and the publisher of the Dragon Magazine wanted include another of Tom’s games since the first ones were very successful. NOTE: By request, the original rules (modified slightly to accommodate the newer game pieces) have been included in this box.

In 1990, TSR created the Best of the Dragon Magazine Games box set where two of Tom’s games appeared - including a much revised version of Search for the Emperor’s Treasure that modified the rules slightly and the map greatly to mixed reviews.

There were several requests to revisit this game - so this version brings back the original - and beautiful - map by Darlene and Calligraphy by Dave Trampier, hopefully cleans up the rules, and allows Tom to add some elements to the game that he’s been wanting to do for a very long time. Things like Quest-like Encounters, creating currency for buying/selling Arms and Equipment as well as conducting other business in towns, and improving the optional Experience system by allowing PCs to “upgrade” their stats to name a few…all while bringing back some of the “feel” of the original.

What's in the Box

Your SEARCH for the EMPEROR’S TREASURE game should contain the following:

• 1 Flip-Over Rulebook for both the Original & the Newest (Level 3) Versions
• 1 Gazetteer (booklets) listing all Encounters
• 3 Reference Charts for Building Locations, Exploration, and Magic
• 24 Player Character cards
• 178 Game Cards in three separate decks:
• 44 Treasure Clues
• 40 Treasure Cards
• 94 Arms & Equipment (A&E) Cards
• 90 Encounter Chits
• 24 Character Chits
• 12 Minion Chits
• 6 Familiar Chits
• 26 Cardboard Spell counters
• 3 Cardboard Ship counters
• 3 Cardboard Boat counters
• 60??? Red Wound Chits (1s & 5s)
• 75??? Yellow Gold Chits (1s, 5s, & 10s)
• 75??? Gray Experience Chits (1s, 5s, & 10s)
• 25??? Blue Karma Chits
• 8 Six-sided Dice

Pledge Levels

List Pledge Levels and Add-Ons

History of Tom Wham Games

Tom Wham has been designing games since his childhood – some have been published by various companies, but many others remain "yet-to-be published" as Tom would say. In mid 2017 Tom and long-time friend, Dave Conant, came up with the bright idea to attempt to self-publish some of those many unpublished games sitting on Tom’s shelves. Although not a professional Graphic Designer, Dave had the ability to do all the production work in order to print and start selling games. Thus they started a partnership – an informal one at first, then more officially with the formation of Tom Wham Games, LLC.
        Though the partnership was a good idea, it was still a struggle. On-demand printing made it possible to print a low quantity of copies, but the price per game was still way too high. The idea of a Kickstarter seemed appealing, but neither Tom or Dave knew anything about how to run a successful campaign. However, another good friend, Kim George, volunteered to help take Tom Wham Games to that next step...and here we are at our first Kickstarter Campaign. She is now on board as our Marketing Director.

TOM'S HISTORY: Tom Wham has been a game designer since age 7 when he got his first Monopoly set and immediately began modifying the rules. At first, sister Nina, and later, his friends and the rest of his family were the only victims of this activity, which for a very long time, went un-rewarded. He went to college at Southern Illinois University (SIU) and then a stint in the Navy, before he got a job in the shipping/layout/anything else department at Guidon Games (Campaign Magazine) with Don Lowry in 1972. There he co-authored a set of Civil War Naval Miniature rules (Ironclad).
        Through a series of strange circumstance, in May 1977 Tom found himself in Lake Geneva at the door of TSR as employee number thirteen. After running the Dungeon Hobby Shop for a summer, he was bumped upstairs (literally) to the art department where he worked with Dave Sutherland and Dave Trampier on the original Monster Manual (Tom penned the very first Beholder) and was later assigned various editing and development tasks. It wasn’t long before he made a deal with Tim Kask, editor of The Dragon Magazine, to do a game called Snit Smashing and included it inside the magazine. This was soon followed by the obvious sequel: Snit’s Revenge, and led to several more games printed in The Dragon Magazine, including The Awful Green Things From Outer Space.
        After leaving TSR, Tom was the computer guy at the Lake Geneva Public Library for many years until he retired. However, that didn't stop his creativity. On the writing front he collaborated on several books with Rose Estes, and did his own novelette in Christopher Stasheff’s The Exotic Enchanter. He has also published more games, including Kings & Things (with Rob Kuntz) with West End Games and Games Workshop and later in German by Pegasus Spiele. He also did Mertwig’s Maze and The Great Khan Game (with Richard Hamblen) for TSR as well as Iron Dragon for Mayfair Games, Planet Busters for Troll Lord Games, Dragon Lairds (with James M. Ward) for Margaret Weis Productions, and a self-published expansion to Dragon Lairds.
        For many years, instead of submitting finished games to game companies, Tom self-published some games (Moose Quest, Whamgammon, and Battling Space Ships to name a few). The challenging part is they were all hand-made prototypes and they took a LOT of time and effort to create. Eventually Tom published a few more games with Z-Man Games (a reprint of Kings & Things and Feudality) before joining Dave and forming Tom Wham Games.