Recently I've lost a player who won't be available until mid January which brings my playing group to two at the moment.Work & the holidays have caused my players to bow out retail is a harsh mistress. So I've decide to take a drastic step, I'm using the background & time line of Human Space Empires & marrying it to the Buck Rogers game!
There are several reasons :
- The equipment, star ships, gennies, classes are better described here. The multi classing is easier to deal with.
- Since Human Space Empires was a test bed I'm ripping out the astronaut, explorer, etc. along with the super science powers.
- The background discussion from my Herculoid post got me thinking about the seeding of the Empire Of The Petal Throne worlds
The fact that the engine in the game is AD&D 2nd edition means the conversion factor is very high & without as much headaches. - I actually own the game & know the ins & outs pretty well
The do it your self mentality of the game gives me greater latitude with the game. I know that I'm not the only one whose had thoughts about doing this.
Here's what's in the box according to wiki:
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1990)
No. 3562 (BOXED SET) : Science Fiction Role-Playing Game.Contains Characters and Combat, The Technology Book, and The World Book. plus four large, full-color maps of various locations of interest and doubling as battle mats for conflicts, twenty-four full-color cards of spaceships and NPCs, a sheet of die-cut ship counters and markers, a fold-out referee’s screen and a set of dice.[edit]Characters and combat
This 96 page book is a part of the boxed set, and sets down the rules for creating a character (complete with THAC0, AC, class special abilities and the works). It also explains ship-to-ship combat and provides rules for building one's own space ships.[edit]The Technology Book
This 32 page book is a part of the boxed set and contains a listing of all the special equipment available in the boxed set. Later accessories and scenarios elaborate and expand upon the information available in this book. Lists not only the weight of the technological gadgets, but also the physical dimensions.[edit]The World Book
This 64 page book is a part of the boxed set and contains an overview of the political situation as the game begins play in the year 2456 as well as a discussion of the physical locations in the Solar System - Earth, Mars, Venus, etc.
Tonight is the actual game & wish me luck. I have a feeling this is going to be a fixer upper. Worst comes to worst I have other options.
Support for the game can still be found Here
I've always wondered about this game. I eagerly await your after-play report!
ReplyDeleteGood Luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jay & Bill! The game went fantastic. Slipped in a spacer's corpse into the mix to see how the party would react & as I began to add elements from the game things went very well. Thanks for the comments & stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteJust curious have you looked at Stars Without Number? It is very sandboxy and has a cool psionics system. : )
ReplyDeleteI have actually & its crunchy enough. Sections on World Generation, Factions, Adventure Creation and GM Resources are so useful that I might well adopt them right away for existing campaigns and building them into new ones from the beginning.
ReplyDeleteHowever I physically own Buck & the base system is more oriented toward where I want to take things. Stars Without Number seems more larger scale oriented in design. The cosmic grand scale of things. I might cut & paste the psionics system. Still so much to build & plan. Nice suggestion & its seriously being taken under consideration Bill. Thanks for the comment & there's more to come
The only thing I own from Buck is the "No Humans Allowed" supplement which I've always enjoyed. Personally I keep going back and forth between wanting to use the SWN system or the X-Plorers system, both are great games, just approaching the sci fi genre from different angles. : )
ReplyDeleteExactly the problem I'm having with this whole thing really. I do love SWN & explorers but these are modular systems which many folks don't seem to realize. Yeah they approach science fiction from 2 very different directions.
ReplyDeleteEmpire Of The Petal Throne has insane background scales but smaller dungeon adventures. Human Space Empires emulates that. Buck's systems seem a bit closer to Empire in terms of stuff. I don't actually own No Humans Allowed in paper form. I like the SWN psionic system though.
SWN does seem to be a grittier game than X-plorers. And at first I wasn't sure if I wanted to use the SWN background, then I realized I didn't have to use it. Not pushing SWN at all but the psionics system really hits that sweet spot for me. Looking forward to more of your posts. :)
ReplyDeleteI think that the psionics system is nice. I took a quick look at it this afternoon but there is a bunch of material that I still have to go over with this stuff. Thanks for the continuing comments & there will be more stuff.
ReplyDelete