Starships & Spacemen Goblinoid Games Second Edition Redux For Your Old School Campaigns

The other night I took a mini vacation from social media across the board & began to watch a few things from my tween years namely the Harmony Gold version of the Robotech saga. There were a bunch of memories that came flooding back and for a moment let's forget the Palladium Robotech rpg & concentrate on this classic. Just in case you don't know what Robotech was;"Robotech is an 85-episode adaptation of three different anime television series made between 1982-1984 in Japan; the adaptation was aired in 1984. Within the combined and edited story, Robotechnology refers to the scientific advances discovered in an alien starship that crashed on a South Pacific island.^[2] With this technology, Earth developed giant robotic machines or mecha (many of which were capable of transforming into vehicles) to fight three successive extraterrestrial invasions."

So I rewatched a couple of episodes & I binged watched a good portion of the series especially the 'Invid Invasion';that's when it hit me. Robotech is a great blue print for a post apocalyptic old school alien invasion campaign. All of the elements are there.I'm not talking about lifting the whole Robotech saga  mecha & all. I'm talking about taking some of the campaign elements and adapting them to your favorite retro clone system. Mutant Future, Star Ships & Spacemen second edition, Labyrinth Lord Advanced & combining them with the upcoming  Apes Victorious!

So over the the last couple of months on G+ & various other social media outlets I've been watching renewed interest in Labyrinth Lord & Labyrinth Lord Advanced by Goblinoid Games. So its been getting me thinking about Starships & Spacemen second edition which essentially Labyrinth Lord with a solid Star Trek like veneer. It seems to me that Mutant Future is a must to combined with Starships & Spacemen second edition. The sweet spot seems to be a level eighth or tenth Labyrinth Lord PC for use with these games. These are essentially the same back system with lots of minor system bells & whistles tacked on. Given the way the military & space explorer background is in S&S second edition the classic Eighties alien invasion back drop fits quite nicely.  One thing I forgot about the Robotech series was just how soap opera heavy the the saga was level of melodrama was great. The other thing was how over time in the Invid Invasion the party essentially gathers itself together one adventure or episode at a time over a period of what seemed like weeks back in school. All of this is set against the background of a post alien invasion Earth that looks like Thundarr and co. would fit right in.

Set against the backdrop a giant mecha or alien invasion or both, all of the elements are there for a classic campaign with old school systems in place. Narrator voice over with serious Eighties inflection 'A lone survivor of the Galactic Confederation's latest doom efforts to take back the Earth; 'Insert Your PC's name here' leads a rag tag gang of desperate freedom fighters who fight against the alien tyranny of 'insert home grown alien horror here' as they battle against incredible odds to rid the Earth of this terrible menace! Que cheesy but inspiring musical score! And off you go with PC's doing a hex crawl to gather giant robot parts, relics, and dodging alien patrols as they try to avoid the latest menace in a world gone mad. This might also include roving bands of ape mecha raiders who are desperately trying to reclaim the once proud tradition of giant mecha to protect their ape nations against the wizards and mutant menaces of the wastelands. Will they try to help or murder your band of rebels??!



Now with Dan Proctor's decision to make Apes Victorious Open Game Content there's going to an alien invasion or is it an ape invasion coming soon according to a recent G+ post;"I've decided to make the book Open Game Content when it's released, that way all of the material is there for people to use and modify as they like. I'm not sure if there will be any interest in commercial 3rd party stuff but just in case I'll have a free trademark license like with LL."
There's going to be a ton of new material flooding the market when this game hits the gaming pavement and you can bet your bottom dollar that new Star Ships & Spacemen campaigns are going to be springing up across the wastelands & space lanes as well. The post alien invasion band of adventurers and rebels is a pitch perfect blue print for running such an OSR campaign just add in apes!