SAN FRANCISCO (UPI) -- Egads! Empress  Nelda has been captured by the forces
 of homophobia and is being held deep in  a dungeon by an evil lord. Only you
 and your ragtag collection of gays, drag queens, lesbians and muses can save
 the  empress  from  the  motley   crew  of  evil  televangelists,  rednecks,
 neo-Nazis, FBI probes and jocks roaming the dungeon's corridors.

 Welcome  to the  world of  GayBlade, billed  as the  world's first  computer
 fantasy role-playing game for gay and lesbian adventurers.

 GayBlade is the  cornerstone product of the fledgling  RJBest company, which
 has begun shipping out the first  editions of the Macintosh game to selected
 stores in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington.

 ``This game gives  lesbians and gays --  and straight people --  a chance to
 strike back at homophobia from behind our computer screen,'' said Ryan Best,
 the 30-year-old developer of the game.

 Best and  its creative  director, John Theurer,  modeled the  Macintosh game
 after Dungeons & Dragons board and computer programs that require players to
 form a  rescue party and  enter a fantasy world  in search of  adventure and
 worldly riches.

 But GayBlade puts a decidedly new  twist on the fantasy world. Players enter
 the GB  Tavern to put  together a team that  can include gays,  drag queens,
 lesbians or muses, each with their own unique powers.

 Along with the normal arsenal of magic spells and mystical items for sale at
 the game's  Magic Boutique and  general store, GayBlade characters  also can
 purchase a variety of unique weapons to save Empress Nelda, such as press-on
 nails,  mace,  blow-dryers and  purses.  Protection  is afforded  by  buying
 aprons, leather jackets, tiaras and, of course, condoms.

 The litany of evil  characters roaming the 13 levels and  1,300 rooms of the
 dungeon include  Evil Popes,  Queer Bashers,  Crazed Zealots  and Homophobic
 Cops.

 They  are  led  by  Lord   Nanahcub,  which  spells  Buchanan  backwards:  a
 not-so-subtle jab at  at conservative columnist Patrick Buchanan,  who was a
 Republican candidate in the 1992 presidential race and has been an outspoken
 critic of homosexual rights.

 Since the  game takes a decidedly  political tone, the company  said it will
 donate a portion of the proceeds from  each sale to an as-yet- undecided gay
 and lesbian charity.

 While GayBlade  is the  company's first  product, RJBest  is not  waiting to
 analyze the impact of  its game. Best said the company is  in the process of
 developing two more mainstream computer  games that will include lesbian and
 gay characters but not be geared to the homosexual community.

 ``We hope to infiltrate the  mainstream game market and subliminally educate
 people that  it's OK  to be  different and  OK to  be unusual,''  Best said.

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 GayBlade has been sent to selected  stores but is primarly available through
 the mail.  The $40  Macintosh package  can be  purchased by  writing RJBest,
 5214-F  Diamond  Heights Blvd.,  Suite  701,  San Francisco,  Calif.  94131.