Thursday, January 31, 2013

A Gallery Of Rogues Update




The Rewards of this Kickstarter have been unlocking but not fast enough.. yet
This is a massive undertaking of a project with some of the top names of gaming doing some incredible work. If you've never heard of a "A Gallery of Rogues". Here's what it is : 

"A Gallery of Rogues is a fantasy sourcebook of a criminal guild and its network of operatives. More than just a thieves guild, the provides details on operation, range of influence, adventure hooks, and numerous tools for GMs and Players to get involved right away. There are even quick reference cards you can buy, along with special guild dice. How ****ing cool is that?
The characters come from all backgrounds, including criminal, civil, and even political. The guild maintains a wide array of members, including at least one wizard and a few politicians — to keep things orderly and all that. Each has a deep background, linked to other members of the guild. This interwoven design promises for a realistic and complex web for your organization. Which in turns means months, if not years of rich game play.
Each character in the book includes game information for old and new editions of the world's favorite fantasy RPG, including Pathfinder, but not 4th."
For the retroclone crowd this is a perfect project and one of the cooler sounding projects to come down the pike. The author and his crew are dedicated gamers and writers who know the score when it comes to giving you bang for your buck. You can check out more right over on the Kickstarter page right Here
Lets get this to happen and release the rogues upon countless campaign worlds 

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

1d20 Spicy Thieves, Rogues, And Poisoners Random Table On The Dark Corner Blog




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1d20 Spicy Thieves, Rogues, And Poisoners Random Table

Need a random encounter with a little more spice for your old school horror game. Try this group of  scum and vile villains
Right HERE

The Brigand Class Light Specialist Class Mi-Go Mecha For Stars Without Number

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The Brigand Class Light Specialist Class
Mi Go Mecha
Armor : 10 

Speed : 5 
Hit Points : 20 
AC: 5
Weaponry : Light Laser 3d8  Range : 500/1K, Cutter plates 2d12 

Defenses: Bio Regeneration Flesh, Duro Nano Flesh Sheath 
Fittings - Pulse Transceiver, Panotic Cloud, Mi Go Multi Eye System 


Coated in duro nano Flesh sheaths and driven by a single surgically shunted human brain the spider like Brigand Class Light Specialist Class Mecha were a common sight on the battle fields of the 23rd century. They still guard the Mi Go space lanes today. Even though other humanoid mecha has since out striped these predators of the battle field.
Powered and driven by a single human mind these rapid response mechas can sit idle for centuries lost in their chants to the Great Old Ones. The Mi Go bio fusion systems can last years at a clip. The marvels of the stellar powered "bio regeneration system flesh" have never been fully under stood the entire system is self renewing.
Once the onboard sensors detect the slightest hint of artificial or positronic activities. The mecha comes to life and its single deadly laser system snaps into position. Even as the mecha crawls across the surface of an asteroid or other combat position its systems are live. The  
Pulse Transceiver, Panotic Cloud,  and Mi Go Multi Eye System are relaying all information about its targets to its insane insectoid like masters. 
The Brigand Class Light Specialist Class Mi Go Mecha are a hazard to be feared throughout the Talon sector and beyond. 

The Lamia - New Star Ships And Space Men Second Edition Monster

File:Lamia.jpg

The Lamia
Encountered : 2d4(4d10)
Movement: 120'(40')
Intelligence: Psionic Potential 
Hits : 1d8
Armor: -2
Combat Skill/Save: 
Attacks:1 
Damage: By Weapon 
Morale :8 
XP : 10,+3 per PSI power
A race of psionic witches that prowls the outreaches of the star lanes. The Lamia feed on the genetic material of lone groups of spacers. Often capturing or luring many human and near human species into their lairs these demoness strip their prey of their vital genetic material working them into neo creations.
They have a passion for using this material as worker clones, warriors, and many others creating creatures. These monsters  serve their vile needs and the needs of their clients. These witches are fond of using heavy stunners,nerve collars, and neuro whips to subdue their prey. The prey is beaten into submission and then fed to a "gene grinder" that renders the poor victim into his vital components.  The witches then process the creature into several types of 1d4 hit creations. These creations will match specific needs of their clients. These monsters can sell in the hundreds of thousands of mega credits.
Lamia replenish their own ranks with captured or kidnapped victims who are mind wiped and given to the psychic torture of senior Lamia. The victims are then subject to the pseudo-psychic religious teachings of the witches. What emerges is a twisted, hateful, vengeful servant of the Evolved. A culture of exploitation and investment where only the genetic potential of the material is king.The mind's power to twist the flesh is the ultimate power. They sometimes track familial lines for thousands of years to follow a particularly desirable trait or genetic drift.
These monsters will often hire out  themselves out as mercenaries with the sole intent of scouting out new markets to exploit.They are always on the lookout for clients to sell their crooked wares to. 

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

1d20 Random Spacers, Rogues, And Rascals Employers Table

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1d20 Random Spacers, Rogues, And Rascals Employers Table

  1. 4th level fighter/Space Captain looking for crewmen for a bold, daring, adventure in the furthest reaches of space. 
  2. Deep space ruin explorers looking to trade hot artifacts for passage. Bounty hunters on their tails 
  3. Spice merchant looking for agents to scout out new markets and he pays on commission
  4. High frontier spacers who have lost their space craft are for "investors" and are willing to trade passage. 
  5. A group of conmen are working the location your at for a quick profit in a "gas to cash" con. They also sell maps to fabulous wealth and adventure 
  6. A lone face dancer is acting as an agent for his troup and looking to escape after a bungled assassination 
  7. Ex bounty hunter guild members are looking for "hardened" adventurers for a revenge coup on the guild willing to pay "top dollar" if you can collect 
  8. A psychic assassin 8th level is looking for a party for a job and more 
  9. A group of 1d8 spacers (actually space pirates) are looking for a new ship to use on a job and then one they can dump 
  10. A soldier of fortune is looking for a party to help him with a treasure map he's acquired in his adventures. His stories of adventures and jobs actually yield more adventure hooks as well. 
  11. A fifth level fighter good with knives and hand to hand is looking for employment and to act as a body guard for adventurers 
  12. A group of 1d8 thieves/ruin explorers is looking to trade favors for cash. They are a small registered group of explorers 
  13. An artifact trader is looking to trade and buy artifacts and may 60% have a job for your party 
  14. Hyper space engineer willing to work at half rate must leave the area in a hurry. He has a dark secret. But is willing to invest 400 credits in a party 
  15. A group of alien psychics are looking a curse and a planar demon. They have a thousand credits and are looking to get out of the location as fast as possible 
  16. A union boss is looking for workers for a gas giant mining operation that has had several "safety accidents" 
  17. A retired space captain are looking for adventurers for an expedition and treasure hunt to an ancient alien fortress. Willing to pay double rate for adventurers and hirelings but you must leave right away 
  18. An alien hunter is searching for his prey and is looking for hirelings 
  19. A spacing guild agent is looking to sell some used space craft and looking  for salvage runners to check some out 
  20. A weirding way master is looking for adventurers to help him with a quest and is looking for a few good men 



Monday, January 28, 2013

John Kidd's Crew Faction For Stars Without Numbers

JohnKidd

John Kidd was a notorious and ruthless space pirate who worked for the government of the outer planets of our solar system. He was the arch enemy of Captain Comet, and a descendant of the sea pirate, Captain Kidd. He was ruthless, good with his fists, and quick with a ray gun.
Kidd-plans
First Appearance 
Danger Is Our Business! #1


John Kidd's Crew




This faction of notorious space pirates takes its name from John Kidd and plies the lanes of space with impunity acting as scavengers and bandle skiffs. They often target other pirates and corporate ships with impunity taking what they want where they want. These felons often attract the most desperate  dangerous, and daring spacers. They're ships move as quick as vipers among the space lanes and are often given to the most dangerous errands and missions.
Gun running, spying, murder, and A.I. destruction are among their stock and trade. They often act through agents among the dregs of spacers and worse. Those wishing to contact them within the Talon sector should wear a white rose. They have among their ranks some of the most dangerous mutant psychics and rogues. The potential client will be spotted and scanned light years away from their employee. 

They have reputations as some of the most ruthless factions among their own space brothers. They a flare for the psychotic and dramatic often hunting their own and collecting the bounties should the opportunity present itself. Among the crew its survival of the fittest. Even bounty hunter guilds will hesitate to collect when these murderous bastards  present themselves. To sail the seas of space with John Kids crew is to sail the skies of hell itself. 

John Kidd's Crew Faction

Attributes
Forces 4, Cunning 3-4,Wealth 3 

Hit Points 20 
Assets- Spacers/Pirates 4
Zealots/Forces - 3 

Tags- Pirates, Warlike,Secretive  

From Danger Is Our Business #1 



DIY Grind House Torg And Oasis Of The Zombies On The Dark Corners Blog

TORG Logo

Good afternoon boys and ghouls we've got 
DIY Grind House Torg And Oasis Of The Zombies along with tales of Nazi gold are on the Dark Corners blog right over HERE
Enjoy 

Destination Moon For Your Old School Space Opera Campaign



The companion piece to Conquest of Space .This is a science fiction classic and according to Wiki :
Destination Moon (1950) is an American science fiction film produced by George PalPal produced the first major U. S. science fiction film to deal with the dangers inherent in space travel and with the possible difficulties of landing on and safely returning from our only satellite.
The film's premise is that U. S. private industry will mobilize, finance, and manufacture the first spacecraft to the Moon. Given the growing Soviet threat at the time, the film makes the assumption that the U. S. government will then be forced to purchase or lease this new technology to remain the dominant power in space and on the Moon. Industrialists are shown cooperating to support the private venture




When their latest rocket test fails and government funding collapses, rocket scientist Dr. Charles Cargraves (Warner Anderson) and space enthusiast General Thayer (Tom Powers) enlist the aid of aircraft magnate Jim Barnes (John Archer). With the necessary millions raised privately from a group of patriotic U. S. industrialists, Cargraves, Warner, and Barnes build an advanced single-stage-to-orbit atomic powered spaceship, named Luna, at their desert manufacturing and launch facility; the project is soon threatened by a ginned-up public uproar over "radiation safety." The three idealists circumvent legal efforts to stop their expedition by simply launching the world's first Moon mission well ahead of schedule; as a result, they must quickly substitute Joe Sweeney (Dick Wesson) as their expedition's radar and radio operator.
On their way to Moon, they are forced to go outside Luna in zero gravity, wearing magnetic boots to stay on the hull, in order to free a frozen piloting radar antenna greased-up by the inexperienced Sweeney hours before the launch. In the process they carelessly lose one of the crew overboard, untethered in free fall; he is cleverly retrieved by using a large oxygen cylinder as a retro rocket. After achieving orbit around the Moon, the crew begins the complex landing procedure, using too much fuel during the Luna's descent phase.
On the Moon, after exploring the lunar surface, they begin to calculate the mass needed to lighten their spaceship in the Moon's one-sixth gravity to get them back home with their remaining fuel. No matter how much non-critical equipment they remove and leave on the lunar surface, the hard numbers radioed from Earth continue to point to one conclusion: someone will have to stay behind on the Moon if the other three crew are to return safely to Earth. With time running out for their return launch window, the crew engineers their way home: They jettison the ship's heavy radio equipment and their sole remaining space suit, with air tanks and space helmet, directly through the spaceship's open airlock. The critical take-off weight is finally achieved, and with just minutes remaining, Luna safely blasts off from the Moon with all aboard. As the crew approaches the Earth, the film's traditional "The End" title card heralds the dawn of the Space Age: "This is THE END...of the Beginning."



Using Destination Moon For Your Old School Space Opera 

At first glance there doesn't seem to be a lot to mine for retro future games such as X plorers, Star Ships And Space Men Second Edition, or Stars Without Number. Even Mutant Future and the rest of the retroclone pack.
The truth is that this science fiction classic rocks and here's why. Destination Moon marks the departure for corporations cooperating for the exploration of space. These would have to be mega corporations with a complete set up for exploration of the cosmos and the resources to exploit them. 

At the heart and soul of Stars Without Number there beats a cyberpunk heart. Given the fact that you've got retro megacorporations you can bet your bottom dollar that there is going to deals, double deals, and high drama involved with these ventures.
 Put your PCs in the center of this and your ready to go.  


For a game like Star Ships and Space Men Second edition, Destination Moon represents the continual struggle of dealing with challenging environments and the restart factor of trying to get to the next planet while dealing with the megacorporation struggle. Just add alien ruins, monsters, and you've got a struggle on the high frontier 

 For a game such as Xplorers this movie is the perfect fodder for life on the frontier worlds where your PCs are struggling to get the jump on the next world and the technology levels are lagging. The nuclear jet drives, colony ideas, and private corporate jump on the space race are all there to mine and use. 
The Us vs "The Reds" of the movie can easily be replaced with a rival world or corporation. The ideas laid out in the movie really bring home some of the desperation seen in the lower technology level space colonies. 

The pulpy style of the retro future games that have been all the rage lately Destination is a great resource to draw from. When you begin looking into background of the pulps, literature, science fiction of the 1950s. There's a tremendous sense of anticipation and that can be easily translated into a campaign of the Outer Colonies and beyond. 

Finally for a game like Swords and Wizardry the idea of the gods from the sky easily points to the possible Atomic rocket origin for any number of fantasy worlds and might act as a bridge gap to a Spell or plane jammer setting. 


You can see a solid copy of the movie on Youtube right over Here

Sunday, January 27, 2013

Uralian Pirates Faction For Stars Without Number

Zandrozov

The space pirates of Uralia, led by its ruler Boris Zandrozov, create valuable anti-gravity fuel sell it throughout the galaxy. The Uralian pirates are descendants from Russian and European space colonies from after the Atomic Wars on Earth. Their name is a play on the Ural Mountains, a Russian mountain ridge that serves as the dividing line between Europe and Asia.
They have been a thorn in the sides of many corporate scavenger fleets over the centuries and continue to plague the space lanes well into the 25th century. 
These brave men and women create portable star ship bases within the ionospheres of gas giants throughout the intergalactic stage. Many ship captains will not risk the potential loss of life and limb to capture these madmen of the star ways. The usual tactic for these daring bastards is to stage several hit and run raids on caravans then retreat. They have been known to sell back the stolen cargoes to the mega corporations that they raid from. 
The Uralian Space Pirates use several "Long Haul" Deep Hyperspace ships designs to venture into the richest areas of the Chasm. They are combination of spacer, space pirate, and mercantile combine. They manufacture some of the fastest ships in the Talon Sector. 
They are a force to be reckoned with and have been resisting the Corporates for centuries . Some of their most influential members include : 
Boris Zandrozov, General Gubovich, Colonel Valdov, Colonel Sklar,

Uralian Pirates Faction
 
Forces 3 Cunning 5 Wealth 5 
Hit Points 29 
Assets 
Venture Capital/Wealth 6, Shipping Combine/Wealth 4, Hardened Personnel/Forces 5, 
Black Mail/Cunning 3 
Tags, Mercantile Combine, Space Pirates

The Uralian Space Pirates first appeared in 
Crusader from Mars #2 (reprinted in Tops in Adventure #1)

Saturday, January 26, 2013

1d10 Random NPC Adventurer Encounters Table For Your Old School Space Opera

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1d10 Random NPC Adventurer Encounters Table
  1. A Space Princess 4th level fighter on a mission to save her father. With a 1st level fighter and a pair of droids. Looking for adventurers to hire
  2. A Grizzled Bounty Hunter 8th level looking for a group of felons who are wanted by a galactic empire. This group of psychopaths has murdered millions. 
  3. A rampaging space lizard adventurer wounded and alone is dying and needs to pass vital information of military importance on. He's got 500 credits and a planetary sector. That's it and good luck
  4. A pair of service droids are actually murderous outlaws. This pair of nasties are actually 5 hit point, 7 armor class monsters with plasma weapons that do 1d4 points of damage. They're on the lamb and very dangerous. There's a 600 credit reward for their capture. 
  5. An escaped harlot from a brothel is actually a 4th level fighter trying to get back to her people. She has a purse of 400 credits and is willing to trade client information for passage 
  6. A miner from beyond space and time is looking for adventurers to help in the quest for lost nuclear fuels and lost alien technologies. He's willing to cut you in on the profits. Is he a conman or the real deal? 
  7. A group of  7th level alien psychics is looking for fighters to help them free their people from a brutal mega corporation. Willing to pay in equipment and credits 
  8. A desperate group of pirates is looking for patsies to blame their latest crime on . They will try to grab the PCs and shove them on board their ship where the authorities will find them with the loot. They may even try to get the reward. 
  9. A Military dictator is trying to regain his empire and is looking for adventurers to help him. He's a secret map, resources, and a ship waiting are you ready to go? 
  10. A xeno archaeologist is looking for a group of adventurers to help him on a dangerous quest for a lost cosmic treasure. A group of 1d10 bounty hunters is after him can you help or claim the 5000 credit reward?

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Friday, January 25, 2013

Revisiting "The Conquest Of Space Movie" For Your Old School Space Opera Campaign



There are some awful films in the public domain and then some drift into the status of cult because of their circumstances. Conquest Of Space is one of these. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction remarks "A truly awful film, The Conquest of Space is probably George Pal's worst production."
But is there still stuff to mine from this movie? The short answer is "yes". The longer answer is that there is a whole lot of hardware that can be used any number of retroclone science fantasy rpgs. 
 




The plot according to Wiki : 

Sometime in the late 1950s, mankind has achieved the capability of manned space flight and built a space station in orbit around the Earth, headed by Colonel Merritt, whose son, Barney, a Captain, is feeling a little homesick. At the moment, the space station's personnel have been at work constructing a giant spaceship to go to the moon, but on one occasion, a crew member becomes a victim of space fatigue after failing to connect a wire on time.
Later on, as Colonel Merritt has taken his men to the galley for dinner, the space station is lightly damaged by a meteor shower, but damages are soon repaired. After the incident, an inspector comes up from Earth and (after being questioned over the moonship's inclusion of wings) gives Merritt fresh orders from the president: not only is Merritt being promoted to General, but the so called moonship is going to Mars instead. As General Merritt selects three men and an officer to go with him, his close friend Sgt Mahoney is turned down for being twenty years too old, although three months younger than the General. Merritt's son changes his mind about returning to Earth, and volunteers for the mission. Sgt Imoto expresses his view on the Martian mission, explaining how Japan, beforeWorld War Two, served as an example for a world becoming overpopulated and about to run out of valuable resources.
After the selected crew members watch a news broadcast wishing them farewell, the Mars mission sets off, only for the General to find that Sgt Mahoney stowed away by hiding in one of the spacesuits. En route, something goes wrong with the communication antenna, so two men go out on a spacewalk to make repairs. They manage to get the antenna working just in time as the monitor shows an asteroid, twenty times bigger than the Mars ship, coming at them from the stern. Thanks to the general, the ship manages to avoid a collision, but meteors from the asteroid kill one of the spacewalking astronauts by puncturing an airline, leaving the crew to abandon him in space.
Eight months later, as the crew approaches Mars, the general becomes increasingly disturbed (showing that space fatigue is beginning to affect him), and as they come in for a landing and the "space speed indicator" approaches zero, he suddenly says "We haven't the right!" and puts on full throttle. His son, now the captain of the mission, struggles with him, wrenches his hand from the throttle, and brings the ship in to a rough but safe landing. Later, as the crew takes their first steps on the Martian surface, they spot water leaking from the rocket. Getting aboard quickly the captain discovers the saboteur is the general. In a fight with his son (as the leak is stopped), the two struggle and Captain Merritt fires his father's gun, killing the General. Sgt. Mahoney, who'd seen the last stages of the fight, threatens to have Captain Merritt confined for his actions.
The crew discovers, apparently surprised, that Mars is inhospitable and that that it is going to be a severe struggle to survive with their limited water for the year it will take for Earth to reach the right orbital position for a successful return. Despite the absence of water on Mars, like the child in Ruth Krauss's book The Carrot Seed, Japanese crew member Sgt. Imoto plants a seed hopefully in the Martian soil.
The crew celebrates Christmas on Mars glumly. Wisecracking Brooklynite Sgt. Siegle plays Christmas carols somberly on a harmonica while the other actors chew the scenery. Siegle complains they are on "a lousy, dried-up ball in the corner pocket of nowhere."
Sgt. Mahoney: The General wasn't crazy, he was right! We asked for it! There's a curse on this ship and everybody in it!
Sgt. Siegle: Baloney! You leave that stuff back on Earth. But it don't operate past the thousand-mile limit. "Only God can make a tree." Okay? Where is it? Where's the trees, and the flowers, and the grass? Where's the water? You hear me? Where's the water?!
Just then, Sgt. Imoto, who has been staring out the window yells "Look!" Since it is snowing on Christmas Day, the crew is saved and they manage to replenish their water supply. In due course, as the launch date approaches, the seed Imoto planted sprouts into a tiny flower. The viewer infers that Mars has water and can grow flowers; since "only God can make a tree," God is present on Mars and God must intend for humankind to exploit not only the Earth but also Mars and the rest of the universe.
The joy over the discovery of the flower is, however, short lived as the crew hear rumbling sounds and see rocks falling and cavities opening up in the ground, proving that Mars has underground water. The ground sinks slightly under the ship and even though the ship doesn't sink into the ground, it is leaning at an angle too risky to make an emergency liftoff. The crew then decides to try a more risky but desperate attempt to straighten up the ship: using the ship's motors to open up a new cavity, which does work, and the ship lifts off before the ground collapses.
As the movie closes, Sgt. Mahoney, who had threatened to accuse Capt. Merritt of murdering his own father on their return, changes his mind and decides that it would be better to forget about it and let the world remember the general not as a nutcase who tried to sabotage the flight but as a brave man "sacrificin' his life as he did, to bring his ship and his crew safely to a landing on the rocky desert of a new planet! … Fittin' end for a grand soldier." The captain nods and adds, "For the man who conquered space." The Irishman offers him "a cup o' tea", the captains says "thanks", the music rises to a climax, and the rocket glides off into a starry firmament behind the words "THE END."

The Merritt Space Station 

Merritt Space Station 

Crew :60 

Facilities: 

Refueling, Drydock, Star Ship Construction 
Rotational Artificial Gravity, Medicial Facilities 

Hit Points: 30 

This station is still used today for the deployment of asteroid mining, temporary housing, and complete drydock facilities for small to medium exploration craft. This station only has a shelf life of seven years before needing to be completely updated. 


The Bull Pup Space Exploration System 

The Bull Pup Space Craft /Plane 
Crew : 8 
Drive System : Nuclear/Ion Drive system 
Full sensor suite
Hit Points: 22 

Used in Asteroid mining, exploration, and gas mining. 
The Bull pup is a complete space craft system that has been in use for over 400 years. It is reliable,cheap, efficient  and completely transportable making this an ideal system for many miners, spacers, and salvage men. 



The Von Breun Space Sled
Crew : 6 
Hit Points:4 
Drive : Nuclear pellet/chemical rocket 
This is one of the most common rocket sled systems produced for over 300 years. Fast, effiecient , and reliable this system can be created in under 4 hours by a crew of only 2 men with the right tools. 




The Big Boy Nuclear Booster System 
This system is used to enhance the already formidable Bull Pup with addition thrust, drive, and capability. Holding over 50% more nuclear fuel then standard models. The big boy is a performance enhancing addition to an already impressive model. At a cost of only 200,000 credits even the smallest mining outfit can benefit from having a big boy on their side. 



Using The Conquest of Space For Your Old School Space Opera 

 The Mars of Conquest is the same Mars that we see in Robinson Crusoe in Space. A mars that has suffered a mass extinction of most of the native life. Yet its mineral wealth and resources are in tacked. The planet yet retains the Wells/ Boroughs elements that would be seen in later movies. This is a very mean Mars just waiting to spring on mankind. 

Conquest is a horrid movie story wise but there are enough elements that can be used in many other games. For Star Ships and Space Men Second edition the characters can easily be used as templates for miners, drovers, and spacers. 
For Xplorers the movie's mission can easily be adapted as a complete campaign into itself. Add a few ruins and your ready to rock.
For Terminal Space the space craft and hardware prove yet another option for exploitation into a game.
For Stars Without Number  "Conquest of Space" proves a number of things to loot. The hardware is cheap and can easily be sold by any mega corp. The planet Mars in Conquest is a perfect example of the sort of problems that arise during exploration. For further exploitation add ruins or megadungeons. Yet for my own games I've used this movie as part of my Post apocalyptic  Mars Cycle.
 

Carnival of Souls For Your Old School Horror Campaign On The Dark Corner Blog



Here's a great cult movie that can be used for a variety of games! Save your dance card for the Carnival of Souls! Read about it right over HERE

Thursday, January 24, 2013

1d20 Random Space Station Encounters and NPC Hirelings Table For Your Old School Opera

File:Space craft.jpg
Random Space Station Encounters  and NPC Hirelings Table
  1. A group of 1d4 cyber drovers bring their heads of space cattle to market. Looking for a fair price, they have 1d6 random minor artifacts that they've found. Willing to trade 
  2. Miners with a tow ship looking for work and adventure. 2nd level PCs 
  3. A Bounty hunter looking for a bounty. Willing to hire on with adventurers for a time 3rd level fighter
  4. Alchemist guild member look to unload a cargo of chemicals and some hot items 
  5. Navigators looking for adventure and a lost guild member. Actually a cult of doomsday fanatics. 3rd level assassins 
  6. Psychic master and 1d4 students looking to book passage on a ship and to sell some cheap primitive artworks 
  7. Master engineer looking for a new ship. Actually a major psycho killer looking to escape a bounty. 
  8. Alien assassin/acrobat disguised as an entertainer. 4th level bard and acrobat actually a 5th level assassin. Only kills for profit 
  9. Face dancer metamorph and her lover looking to escape their cult. 4th level and disguised as cooks 
  10. Alien Master gambler looking to make an easy mark on a group of fools. Knows 344 games of chance. 2nd level fighter with gamblers kit including weapons 
  11. Biomechanical AI android warrior of the logical way.Selling his services for passage. 3rd level fighter and thief 
  12. Traveling priest/scientist looking for passage and work. Writing a book on spacers and the parasites that infect them 
  13. Alien Bounty hunter guild agent looking for new recruits and looking to hire.Looking to take on 1d8 adventurers. 
  14. A licensed AI looking passage and adventure. Actually an escaped rogue looking to get as far a way from his handlers as possible. Will infect any robots present to survive 
  15. Map Seller/Conman looking to unload some alien maps. 40% chance of a real treasure map among the crap 
  16. Alien star law man looking to avenge his partner and hire others for his worthy cause. 4th level psychic 
  17. Psychic healer abhuman tribal willing to trade skills for passage. 5th level psychic. 
  18. Star ship pilots quite drunk who are looking to star fights with others. 1d8 captains and crew.2nd level fighters who are actually shanghaiing any spacers they can get
  19. A group of pleasure androids 1d8 willing to "work" for passage. Actually corporate AI gathering intel and data on spacers. Will stun and psychically rape and spacers they come across. Then they will create an FTL transmission and escape to the next group of rubes 
  20. A boy 1st level fighter, an old man psychic 7th level and two robots are seeking passage. They are being pursued by a menacing galactic empire. Will work as hireling for a time. 
File:New horizons Pluto.jpg

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Old Hrolmar Free Stormbringer 5th Edition Campaign City Pdf


Old Hrolmar by Richard Watts

The last of Chaosium’s published monographs, Old Hrolmar explores the Vilmarian city of the same name,  and details how the home of Duke Avan Astran represents a bastion of change throughout of the Young Kingdoms.  This monograph includes information on the city, its inhabitants and its future in a world doomed for destruction.





I've been raiding Stormbringerrpg.com for months now. Grabbing this adventure, that Q&A, and adding to my on going stormbringer 5th edition planar campaign where needed. This is a 110 page campaign monograph that originally appeared on Chaosium's website many moons ago. The author does an excellent job of capturing this fantastic jewel of the world of Elric.
 FULL VERSION RIGHT HERE  Along With 
the two-part Shadows of the Past / Sands of Time two-part campaign pdfs. Right HERE
 This is light years ahead of lots of many other published campaigns for Stormbringer and its free there's even some support and player hand outs. There's an introductory guide right HERE
And a map of the entire campaign city HERE

Using Old Hrolmar

There are a myriad of ways of using this campaign. As destination for adventurers, trading point, a model for creating your own campaign city and even adapting it for other games. The material is top notch and very adaptable to a number of fantasy settings for Stormbringer or dare I say any retroclone with a bit of work.
The author would like to thank Stormbringerrpg.com and Richard Watts for this wonderful addition to his stormbringer rpg collection.
No challenge is meant to the trade mark of the Stormbringer rpg or its copyrights. This post is for entertainment value only 

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

Albert Rakowski's Bandits and Battlecruisers

Bandits and Battlecruisers

The writer of Terminal Space has been feverishly working on a successor piece to the  Terminal Space game. Bill over at Green Skeleton Gaming Guild did a piece on it Here. I wanted to get my two cents in
What's in this book you ask? 

BANDITS + BATTLECRUISERS = ADVENTURES IN SPACE. Bandits and Battlecruisers is an Old School Role Playing Game, based on Bandits & Basilisks mini-game and the classic Terminal Space supplement. On its 140 pages you will find: Detailed character creation rules; Monster creation aids (plus 18 monsters - not the well-known monsters from the Original Game); Complete rules for creating star sectors, star systems, planets, moons and space stations; Five 100-keyword tables, helpful in designing monsters, robots, civilizations and planets; 100 random space encounters and 100 random space stations; Tools helpful in creating treasure hoards and artifacts (plus 16 sample artifacts); Over thirty random tables; Chapter with a detailed starship creation sequence and starship combat rules (plus over twenty sample spaceships).
I'm familiar with Bandits & Basilisks, so this looks like its a quality piece of work. The fact is that Terminal Space has limits and this might just exceed those design elements enabling a DM to really customize the game to his or her wants with little effort. The game book looks nice and solid from everything I've read on the author's blog. You can order it right over

Here My only concern is the compatibility with other space based retroclones on the market. Money is very tight for me this week so this is going to have to wait until pay day next week. My gut is telling me that this is one to watch and get.

Raid On Space Academy - Star Ships And Space Men Second Edition- Actual Play




Our intrepid crew of Star Command explorers had the assignment of exploring and assessing the abandon Space Academy facility near the Talon System. This space facility had been abandon for more then 35 years and there had not been any activity for all this time. 
 
We ended up with a crew of five and an "explorer" class bot. The crew were issued stunners/laser side arms and tricorders to deal with any unknown threats. 
The facility was in a decaying orbit and dangerously close to falling into "pirate" or spacer hands. It had been used as a base hundred of times over the last forty years
 There were very odd alien radiation readings coming from the facility 


Surprisingly the fusion core/antimatter that powered the facility was available on line almost immediately. The PCs suspected a trap and did a wide range sensor scan of the area for other space craft or phenomena 

After successfully landing 
They proceeded with the "dungeon crawl" errm  star base exploration. 
 The players kept expecting the forces of Dragos to show up 

They walked into the powered up hanger on the first level and it was packed with space craft. Wall to wall space hoppers and some fighters. Everything was abandoned 
PCs have attempted to make their way to the redundant computer control room but got bogged down with a mysterious alien force field. 
The PCs were very nervous knowing my passion as a dungeon master for nasties.
Here's what I stocked the academy with on the first level
  1. Armored Puff Balls 
  2. Zombie flies 
  3. Space Lice 
  4. Couple of Space Herpies 

So why was this facility abandoned and where are the spacers and pirates etc? Stay tuned we're just getting started folks