I have something in Expanded Petty Gods!

There is no escape from the Goddess of Space Junk and Derelict Hope!

So THIS is pretty damn exciting! I submitted an entry to Expanded Petty Gods, overseen by the multi-talented Richard LeBlanc of New Big Dragon Games. Actually, I was a big baby about not getting into the previous efforts (I missed deadlines due to dumbness) and he relented!

Enslaved robo-space hornet is minion to Detriax

Either way, I'm extremely proud to be a part of this OSR community effort to bring some fun, homebrew content to game tables.

My entry is (naturally) on the scifi side: Detriax, a space goddess that consumes (and even creates) space wreckage and heartbroken star sailors. Imagine Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean mashed up with the Unicron or Galactus. She's got a few minions as well. Here's some of the fantastic illustrations for the entry.

FUN FACT: One type of Detriax's minions--a relative of the space hornet pictured here--appeared in an early Rad Astra home campaign. This art represents the first public depiction of a Rad Astra denizen. 



Scrap bots and an enslaved organic

She'll get a few tweaks, especially in the way of stats (which I'd left more or less as "unknowns" back when I wrote it). But in general, I think this whole project is shaping up to be something really special for GMs. It's already clocking in at more than 380 pages!! 

UPDATED: New image of Detriax's scrap bot minions as well as an enslaved organic!

#EPGLIVES!

Here's my homebrew Space Opera idea starters...

Sometimes when I'm racking my brain, trying to come up with adventure ideas, it helps to think about the basic elements of space opera--or at least, the elements that I believe are the biggest dramatic story turn-ons. So if I get stuck, I remind myself to start small and build upon bare bones. Here are the minimal elements that I try to work with.

FOUR

Players. Yeah, we do just fine with three or even two, but four is a magic number because real group dynamics come into play. No longer is it the dynamic duo or trio, it's a fully realized team. It's much easier to diversify skills with at least four participants (besides the GM).

Even if fewer players actually show up, I try to write each game with four different classes and skill sets in mind. Let the players figure out who does what, but give them some purpose by challenging them on four fronts.

THREE

I go by the acronym A.R.M., which stands for alien, robot, monster. That could mean there's one of each or three of the same--or some combination thereof. Doesn't matter if they're friend or foe, but weirder is always better.

These creatures don't need to be instrumental to the plot, they can be encountered incidentally or as foreshadowing for a later adventure. But space opera is nothing if not exotic, so this is where I can turn up the dial on "fantastic beasts."

Hopefully every game has at least one thing they've not encountered before or at least has a unique spin on an old trope.

TWO

At least two destinations are required--could be planets, space stations, etc. But space travel needs a Point A and Point B to be interesting. Doesn't matter what those two places are, but preferably they require travel in a spacecraft of some sort. I always have at least one scene/encounter in space. ALWAYS.

I tend to ping pong my players between highly contrasted worlds (high tech vs. primitive, utopian vs. lawless, paradise vs. unbreathable hellscape, etc.). 

ONE

A Big Bad Wolf! There's gotta' be at least one scheming maniac, super-powered warlord, evil space wizard, etc. This usually helps to not only give a climactic battle, but to flesh out some of the plot with motives and minions (henchmen/bounty hunters, etc.) that might be encountered by the PCs, as well as other story-centric elements that creatures in the A.R.M. category aren't always intended to exploit.

Honorable Mention:

At least one thing that's totally out of my control. For one game I gave the PCs a mutagen stim, with a random table of possible mutations. They were encouraged only to hold on to it until the last half of the game. It surpassed all expectations as they really went for it with roleplay and it became the best part of that game.

What about you?

Again, these are just the starting positions, but they generally get me off to the races brainstorming. What are your must-haves for your games?

VIDEO: Superman straps on a GoPro camera!

The guys who made this are geniuses. Clearly, they had a lot of fun!



Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how they made it:

Blogger contest: 30 posts to create a campaign setting in 60 days!

So I was reading up on the 24 RPG project which seems like a really cool endeavor that I totally don't have time for.* I do hope to someday write one of my own, but realistically that's a ways off. But what I can do is whip up a blog (as I'm wont to do with side projects from time to time) and basically come up with a campaign setting or my own version of how I'd play an established game with house rules, etc.

Put on your thinking cap, kids!

Throw in there the idea that the OSR loves light rules. Bloggers love to talk about how the early games gave you a pencil, a piece of paper and some funny dice and away you went. It seems there's something to be said for brevity and starting with just bare bones inspiration.

Then it got me thinking... (I know, dangerous!) What if there was a similar festival/contest/whatever for game bloggers? 24 hours seems nearly impossible for a decently rounded out campaign blog, but what about limiting the posts? Keep the paramenters centered on worldbuilding and gameplay of something you'd actually kinda' want to play.

Got me thinking about all settings I've started, but never finished......

SO HERE'S AN IDEA...

1. Pick a game--any old rules will do. Stick to one set though.
2. Dream up a campaign setting--it can't be anything you've previously posted, published, or talked about before. It doesn't have to be "new" per se, just new to the rest of us.
3. Create a new blog--yes a new URL and everything, but use your current account so we can tell it's still yours. Name if after your campaign settting.
4. Write 30 posts in 60 days. (C'mon, that's less than 1 a day!) You have just that long to outline the major key elements (setting, monsters, rule modifications, classes, races, etc.). This is straight-up worldbuilding using elements you'd normally talk about on your home blog. But here, you've got economize and decide what the most important elements are. Here's some general guidelines:

30 POSTS TOTAL

• 13 on monsters or villains, one type or one specific individual per post (so "hobgoblins" is one, a "kaiju" is another, "Vader's granny" another, etc.)
• 4 on special treasure, a lost artifact, weapons, vehicles, etc., however you choose to parse. 
• 3 on setting, this is all aesthetic so you'll want to focus on places, maps, NPCs, the way magic works, how the local ruling space authority, uh...rules the galaxy, etc.
• 3 on classes with each dedicated to a separate player class.
• 2 on house rules, specifically how your campaign either strays, modifies, or embellishes on your chosen rule set (posts can be as detailed as you like); carousing rules, etc. all apply here
• 3 on any topics you like, these help you round out the rough edges and could be additional classes, races, setting, etc.
• 1 intro post to set up your premise for your campaign (e.g., , declare your ruleset and acknowlege participation in the contest
• 1 report of actual play, which should include at least one picture, be it from the campaign or actual play; you can make this your final post with a big sign off or you can use it as a playtest, but you gotta play it at least once and record it for posterity

That's it! That's all you get!

Why be so limiting?

Well, limits help push you to problem solve, be creative and force you to make decisions. Why 30? Well seems like you need at least 20 or so to establish the world and make it feel like there's enough of it to explore. 10 more to round it out. "But we should do 40 or 50 or..." Yeah,  we could. But we're NOT. It's gotta feel like a doable, participatory event with a clear finish line.

What happens after the contest/thingy?

Well, you abandon the blog. At least, you no longer post to that blog address. It's done. Finito. You can/should link to it on your regular blog and you're totally able to take it further on there. But on the newly created blog--you only get 30 posts.

Then, hopefully, we all get a chance to maybe play our games? Talk about sharpened skills and broken pencils, etc. Enjoy some laughs and return to our civilian lives, changed but better human beings.

...or not. But at least you'd have a cool contest entry and maybe that would spark some ideas.

So is there a winner?

Dunno yet. Maybe I could come up with some prizes and/or get others to pitch in. But I'm not comfortable being the only judge. So maybe we all vote? Maybe there's a jury that recuses themselves from the contest? Maybe it's just a cool thing we attempt like those Lego builder "contests" and NaNoMiRoWhatever. But one thing is for sure YOU ONLY GET 30 POSTS!

So, is anyone interested in something like this?

I tried to parse out the blog post requirements along the lines of something I generally see on home blogs. Maybe that needs to be modified. But then again, I don't think anyone wants to read 20 posts on house rules, 10 on play testing, and only 10 for worldbuilding. Of course, I could have missed something major so be sure to let me know.

If enough people are interested. When should we start? After the one-page dungeon contest? Gives you a few weeks to read up on rules or daydream at work about your new setting. What's the contest called?

30 FOR 60

RPG World-Building Blogging Challenge!

(If I could do art, this is where that cool custom logo would go.)

Okay, questions? Suggestions? Let's hear 'em!



*I'd also nitpick the thing to death after the fact and I just know I'd never be satisfied with the outcome.

Community Setting Project: FROM THE ZONES!

Click image to learn how to participate! 

Exonauts pal and Radstronaut John Till over at FateSF is leading the charge for new cross-blog extravaganza called FROM THE ZONE. This is an OSR community project to create material for a post-apocalyptic setting inspired in part by the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker (1979). 

If you've never heard of the film, he's written a great primer and set up some participation guidelines. This is open to anyone and you don't need a blog to participate. It looks to be a blast so put on your thinking caps and get writing! 

From FateSF:

FROM THE ZONE is a cross-blog project about the Zones. Here are the details:

1. Write something about the Zones for the system of your choice. Describe a specific Zone, or an artifact, or a location within the Zone, a strange threat or phenomenon found in the Zone, a Zone scenario, a table of encounters, a Stalker character class, or something else.
2. This project is cross-system. Write for a system you love. I'll be writing for Fate Core/FAE, but you may want to write for a different system, such as Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future, X-plorers, Diaspora, Stars Without Numbers, WaRP, Open D6,  or something else. System-neutral is also fine!
3. Post your content to your own blog. You own whatever you write and post to your own blog.
4. If you don't have a blog you can write a document in Google docs. 
5. Download the Hereticwerks Zones logo; use it in your blog post or Google doc! We will post the link to download the logo HERE as soon as it is up and ready.
6. Leave a comment in the comments section of this post (see below) with a link to your blog post or Google doc. 
7. We will create a table with all the links and a brief/title description of each item here at FATE SF. 

We'll start the table collecting the links as Thursday's FATE SF post. This will be an ongoing project, so share a link to your blog post or Google doc whenever it is ready.

Clandestinauts comic is coming to a close

Minneapolis-based comic artist and dungeoneering raconteur Tim Sievert announced earlier this week that his beloved Clandestinauts web comic would be wrapping up this week. If you've not read it, or it's predecessor The Intrepideers mini comic (which I believe was only in print) you're in for a treat. Update: I was able to track down Intrepideers online, thanks mwschmeer!

Clandestinauts is about as wild, wooly, weird, and bawdy as it gets when it comes to killing monsters and taking their stuff. It began as a tale of made-up adventures using the PCs from his circle of friends' D&D group.

I've crossed paths with Tim over the last several years and picked up the print copies when available. Tim's truly a great guy and one of the most original young illustrators working in indie comics today. I'm excited for him to be finishing an epic adventure that's run since 2010.

I'm also looking forward to his upcoming project (which I can't recall if he's made widely public yet, but you likely could figure it out if you visit his website). It's been another labor of love, years in the making and all I can say is bring it on Tim!

Stop by his site and get caught up for the big finale which is coming this Thursday!

Post also posted to Spellcard.

These are the adventures you're looking for!

Ever wonder what your favorite cheesy sci-fi movie would look like if were a Star Wars (West End Games era) adventure module? Or what would sci-fi classic Forbidden Planet might look like if it were  set in a galaxy far, far away?

NOW YOU KNOW:

Star Wars RPGer and Force adept Rologutwein (I think I'm spelling that right) of Star Wars Dakota has crafted these awesome module covers for some conversions he's working on. I hope to Yoda he's planning on making those available.

These are just some of the ones he's posted, check out his blog for more. And BTW, you all should be reading his blog. [Wags finger sternly]

These are just so supremely cool--even the text reads like those old books.. Man I miss West End.

Why don't they make RPG source books like this?

Seriously contemplating handing my players this on their next shopping trip. Or maybe I'll keep it for myself and just pluck out a "new" pissed-off race to chase after them:

Unbeknownst to the PCs, straight-up antennae are essentially the same as flipping the bird.

It's the Star Trek Visual Dictionary and it is wondrous. I have the Star Wars version, which is also, just eye-googlingly fun. Idea books based on images are always my favorite. I don't look at these guys and think "Oh, I should stat up some Andorians." I think, "Oh man, who are these guys in my space opera and what's why do they look so angry?". (I'm certain you'll agree on that last point.)

That laser rifle is way rad.

"I need some low-level laser fodder, stat!"

From now I decree: No more WALL OF STAT BLOCKS source books! No more eye glazing! Even the rules-light OSR books can get really monotonous. These are great, whether or not you're a Trek or 'Wars fan. Often there's just enough detail to get the brain fired up.

Even better--if we could do them electronically. Just touch the image to bring up the stats (and hide them when needed). Get out there and start building your own source book on Pintrest or Tumblr. (Pintrest boards would be my weapon of choice. Easy organization for different catagories: e.g., races, artifacts, arms and armor, equipment, etc.) But it would be cool to actually get official books that way too.

RPG publishers, take note!

Want a custom pulp magazine cover for your campaign?

YOU GUYS! Go RIGHT NOW to Bradley W. Schenck's  Thrilling Tales Pulp-O-Mizer like I did!

You get to choose from a wide variety of zany magazine titles, enter your own text, choose a hero or spaceship for the cover, set the background, and more. You get save a JPG of your cover for free or you can order a print, mug, etc. Seriously, what GM wouldn't go nuts for something like this, either to bring to the table or as a memento of a past campaign?

The art style may look familiar to you--Schenck is the same talented artist who created Retropolis, the lavish illustration series that's set in a gilded art deco city of the future. I'm having such a blast making covers that I don't think I can stop.

Seriously, I may never leave my computer!!

Via io9.

What would a wet Mars look like?

 

One of my favorite science fiction series are the Red Mars (then Blue, then Green) from Kim Stanely Robinson. It's a superbly researched and a fascinating look at what it would cost (in more than economic terms) to change the face of the red planet to one that could support life. But I've often wondered, what would it really LOOK like to see Mars as we know and experience the Earth--as a blue/green orb flocked with plant life and steeped in oceans.

Kevin Gill is a software engineer who has wondered the same and he took to making his own renderings, which--even if not completely accurate--are incredible:

A conception view of the Western hemisphere of Mars with oceans and clouds. Olympus Mons is visible on the horizon beyond the Tharsis Montes volcanoes and the Valles Marineris canyons near the center. 

A visualization of an Earth-like Mars, be it ancient or a future of terraforming. Eye position is about 6,600 kilometers (4100 miles) from the surface of the planet and looking at the southern hemisphere (~20° South) and the 180th meridian.

The Western hempisphere looks particularly intriguing with retaining its arid climate. Looks vaguely like the deserts of Spain to me. And the second image makes me think of the Irish countryside (Shire?). Perhaps I have to much hobbit on the brain. Truly inspiring stuff.

What do the images make you think of?

• Captioning, images, and info Nancy Atkinson with Universe Today via io9.com
• Mars globe image via NASA/JPL

Last copies of X-plorers RPG box set up for sale

Space Admiral John Adams, proprietor of Brave Halfling games has found a few more box sets of the X-plorers, retro sci-fi roleplaying game! If you missed them the first time, this is your last chance to up a copy (they were only printed in limited quantities). Here's what you get:

• 6″ x 9″ Game Box (This is an actual game box manufactured for just this purpose and both the top and the bottom are tight-wrapped) hand numbered from 1-200 by the head halfling himself! 
• 2 Rule Booklets (Player’s Guide and Referee’s Guide) 
• Cleopatra Station Free Adventure 
• 3 six-sided and 1 twenty-sided dice 
• 2 Ship Deck plans of the Serrona Class Scout and the Cleopatra Station 
• 10 digest character sheets. 

If you like your games rules-light so you can play under the hood and build universes from the ground up, you're in for a real treat!

GREATEST. TREEHOUSE. EVER.

DON'T BE A FOOL! HULKS AND HORRORS NEEDS YOU!

AS STATED PREVIOUSLY: Seriously, why hold on to that $5, $15, or $25? You know in your heart that you've wanted to laser blast things and strangle other things with noodley appendages.

Entanglement: A creature with that many arms can quickly seize control of an opponent once in close range. The Squid can use it's arms to strangle an opponent very effectively. When grappling an opponent, the Squid takes no to hit penalty for the attempt, the entangled enemy takes a -2 to its STR check to escape, and the Squid can deliver 1d6 crushing damage to the opponent each round it is entangled.

Look into your three-chambered heart and tell me you can't honestly imagine yourself giving a big space bear hug to your enemies.

Rage of the Hunter: While the modern civilized Bearman is seldom the font of violence of eons past, he nevertheless bears within him an innate Rage that he may call upon to become a truly unstoppable force on the field of combat. Once per day, the Bearman may call upon this great rage, granting him an additional +2 to hit and -2 to AC for the duration of the combat, and allowing him to continue fighting on even after his hit points have been reduced to up to -10 below zero.

Hulks and Horrors wants you. NEEDS YOU. YOU'RE PART OF THE TEAM, MAN/WOMAN.

Even that thing on the right, says you're the best.

So, BE THE BEST.

Dig deep (into the cushions of your Laz-E Boy, Lazer boy). The clock is ticking--there's like, less than 56 hours left...but I know you'll come through, Space Ace. YOU'VE JUST GOT TO COME THROUGH.

BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF ASTROBEAR!

.....he believes in you.

SPACE NAZIS! Official Iron Sky Trailer

Holy S#!t this looks amazing! It's incredible to think this is NOT a Hollywood film, but an independently produced feature from Finnish filmmakers. In case you haven't heard of it, or just want a refresher, here's the synopisis:

NAZIS ON THE MOON!

...oh, the official synopsis:

In the last moments of World War II, a secret Nazi space program evaded destruction by fleeing to the Dark Side of the Moon. During 70 years of utter secrecy, the Nazis construct a gigantic space fortress with a massive armada of flying saucers.

When American astronaut James Washington (Christopher Kirby) puts down his Lunar Lander a bit too close to the secret Nazi base, the Moon Führer (Udo Kier) decides the glorious moment of retaking the Earth has arrived sooner than expected. Washington claims the mission is just a publicity stunt for the President of the United States (Stephanie Paul), but what else could the man be but a scout for the imminent attack by Earth forces? The Fourth Reich must act!

Two Nazi officers, ruthless Klaus Adler (Götz Otto) and idealistic Renate Richter (Julia Dietze), travel to Earth to prepare the invasion. In the end when the Moon Nazi UFO armada darkens the skies, ready to strike at the unprepared Earth, every man, woman and nation alike, must re-evaluate their priorities.

The fact that German character actor Udo Kier makes an appearance is a stroke of sheer genius--on his part and the filmmakers'.

The film opens sometime this April.


Iron Sky official website

Sci-Flick Saturday: Darkstar (1974)

Director John Carpenter and sci-fi writer Dan O'Bannon cobbled together this sci-fi treasure with buddies on a meager budget early on in their careers. From Wikipedia:

In the middle of the 22nd century, humankind has reached a point in its technological advancement to enable colonization of the far reaches of the universe. Armed with artificially intelligent "Thermostellar Triggering Devices", the scout ship Dark Star and its crew have been in space alone for twenty years on a mission to destroy "unstable planets" which might threaten future colonization.

Enjoy!

UPDATE: Looks like youtube pulled the video, so I've replaced the full-length with the trailer.

• IMDB page
• Wikipedia entry
• Get it on Amazon

X-Plorers RPG is NOW AVAILABLE!

CALLING ALL X-PLORERS....

X-Plorers is now available as a box set, softcover print-on-demand, or a no-art FREE download. You now have THREE WAYS to start conquering the galaxy--and you could be doing so as soon as THIS AFTERNOON while you wait for your box or softcover to arrive in the mail. Here's a look at the inside of the softcover....



The game is rules-light and can be played as-is, but it's REAL strength is in it's ability to be fiddled with under the hood. Personally, I like to tinker and I'm working on my own setting using the rules. If you're looking for more resources to help get started, check out the X-Plorers tab on the top of this blog.

On a side note, the venerable Space Admiral and X-Plorers Publisher John Adams is holding a new character sheet design contest. The winner will receive a FREE box set of the game! So submit your designs to Brave Halfling.

In the mean time, pick up the game right now and start X-ploring!

Expiscor Eternus!

WANT: Wall-sized Touchscreen Star Wars Game!

So this is awesome. What exactly is it? It's a giant touch display where you can play an interactive Star Wars game like you're pretty much in a galaxy far, far away controlling your space armada with simple gestures. Check out the project's website. The YouTube page gives a good overview:

Developed at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) by MS graduate candidate Arthur Nishimoto, "Fleet Commander" explores how a real-time interactive strategy game that would typically rely on complex keyboard commands and mouse interactions be transferred into a multi-user, multi-touch environment.

Originally designed for use with TacTile, a 52-inch multi-touch LCD tabletop display, "Fleet Commander" game play has been ported to EVL's 20-foot wide multi-touch LCD wall, Cyber-Commons.

Very cool to see games reach this level of sophistication. Reminds me of the touch screen D&D project:


Surfacescapes Demo Walkthrough from Surfacescapes on Vimeo.


Props to Boing Boing

LAST CHANCE: X-Plorers Box Set Gone by Monday!

Just a friendly reminder that the X-plorers Box Set is only available until tomorrow. This is a limited edition that's being produced.

If you're hoping to pick one up, NOW is the time to do it from the Brave Halfling website. So get over there and get ready to imagine the hell out of it!

Less than 3 Days Left to Help Kickstart Technoir: Expandable, Moody Sci-fi RPG

THIS is cool. "THIS" being Technoir, a "high-tech hard-boiled" science fiction RPG by Twin Cities RPG designer Jeremy Keller. Technoir is on Kickstarter at the moment, and you should go check it out. From the author:

Technoir is an RPG in which you play characters entrenched in the criminal underground of the near-future. These protagonists use illicit skills and high-tech gear to exploit opportunities in the hopes of escaping their desperate lives. It's the shady stories of hardboiled crime novels of yesterday set in the dystopian sci-fi cities of tomorrow.

One of great things about the game is that Keller is planning on rolling out "transmissions" which are like missions/adventures. the game has already surpassed funding goals and as an added bonus to backers on Kickstarter he's offering additional themes to tweak the setting to your taste. Check out the beta version on the Technoir official site.

I'd suggested SpinnerNoir--basically Technoir set in a Syd Mead/Blade Runner setting. Go vote for the suggested settings on his latest Kickstarter post.

Less Than 3 Days Left
If you're inclined to give Technoir a go, you've got a little less than 3 days to become a backer and support this phenomenal project. I'm a backer and I'm already thinking of upping by support level. It's great to see this kind of homebrew creativity right in my hometown!

Links:

• Technoir's website
• Technoir Kickstarter page

X-plorers Box Set is Go for Pre-Order!

Just look at that beautiful black and white box set cover!

X-plorers, the retro, science-fiction RPG crafted by Dave Bezio has been given the royal treatment--a box set! I believe that this is the first sci-fi game in the OSR family to have that distinction. John Adams at Brave Halfling has put together a really beautiful package. You can order now, but there's a limited number.

Here's the box contents from the head space cadet himself:

• 6″ x 9″ Game Box (This is an actual game box manufactured for just this purpose and both the top and the bottom are tight-wrapped) hand numbered from 1-200 by the head halfling himself!
• 2 Rule Booklets (Player’s Guide and Referee’s Guide)
• Cleopatra Station Free Adventure
• 3 six-sided and 1 twenty-sided dice
• 2 Ship Deck plans of the Serrona Class Scout and the Mastodon Class Freighter

I'm proud to say that I helped with this latest version. For those that don't know X-plorers, it's not a direct "retro-clone" per se. Dave created it as a "What-if-the-first-roleplaying-game-was-based-in-sci-fi-not-fantasy" experiment. The result is a great game engine that's  rules-light with tons of homebrew fun potential. It includes a modest setting that can be easily fine-tuned, dropped, swapped, for whatever flavor of speculative fiction you prefer.

And there's more for X-plorers in the pipeline, including additional adventure modules later this year. I'm working on some material of my own for it as well.

I hope you'll give this one a shot. This edition is a labor of love by several of us, including Bill DeFranza and has been officially "blessed" by Bezio himself. It features some fantastic new artwork and improved format (three books makes it easier to use at the game table) that I think serves the game well. The spaceship plans are also new for this set.

Here's to some truly far-out, star-hopping adventure!

More resources.
My earlier post on this latest edition.