Catapult Run

The adventure is set in the World of Cypher. Thematically similar to the contemporaneous movie The Cannonball Run (1981), the player characters are participating in a five-team race held only once every seven years. To win, the characters must traverse 600 miles of wilderness, overcoming geographical obstacles, combat with the other teams, and ravenous monsters, in order to be the first to reach the City of Cypher and place a crystal orb in the crown of King Kornilian.^[1] Although spellcasting is allowed during the race, no teleportation magic can be used.

Catapult Run was designed by Joe Thwaites, Chris Abbott, and Ian Hartshorn, with interior art by Colin Nordel and Ken Broad, cover art by Jeff Lowe, Chris Abbott, and Colin Nordel, and cartography by Stephen Mortimer.^[2] The appendix includes weather conditions for each day of the race, pre-generated characters, and optional overland movement rules.^[1] Both editions were published by Canadian publisher Fantasy Factory in 1984.^[3]

The adventure is played using the rules of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons published by TSR, Inc. Fantasy Factory, a Canadian publisher based in Brampton, Ontario, had no connection to TSR, and its use of the AD&D rules was unlicensed. The first sentence of the introduction to this adventure claimed "This is the first in a group of modules, each of which can be played on its own or as part of the series", but no further adventures were ever published.^[2]

The first edition (1984) is a 44-page saddle-stapled digest-sized softcover book that has a simple grey and red cover with a black & white illustration. The inside front cover has a pocket that holds a 28-page map booklet, an errata sheet and an 8-page illustration booklet.^[4]

The second edition (also 1984) is a 32-page saddle-stapled softcover book featuring a much more professional four-colour bi-fold cover.^[2]