Taking On Venger Satanis With A Review & Commentary For "Save Yourself From Hell" For The Alpha Blue Rpg System & Your Old School Space Opera Rpg Campaign

"This is a scenario for my sleazy space opera RPG Alpha Blue.  It's funny, weird, gonzo scifi that references a number of familiar movies like Event Horizon, Hellraiser, Space Balls, Airplane II, various kung-fu films, and anything with Cthulhu in it. "


Right so I was handed 'Save Yourself From Hell' before Venger Satanis went on his familial vacation with the Satanis clan. The adventure clocks in a about twenty pages & like many of Venger's other 'balls to the walls' adventure this one is for Venger's Alpha Blue sleazy space opera rpg system. The adventure  set up has a lot in common with his 'How to Game Master Like A Fucking Boss' style.


"This is a one-shot Alpha Blue scenario for PCs who like to blaze through encounters. For those who prefer to take their time immersing themselves in this wacky scifi universe, it might take two or even three sessions before reaching the cataclysmic end.
This adventure attempts to blend sleazy space opera with horror while maintaining a sense of humor.
Accentuate those parts that the players respond to. If they like something, give them more. If they seem
bored, quickly shoo away whatever's currently on stage and bring out the next act."
The opening takes place with a douche of an NPC and no I'm kidding read that as you will folks. This is not an adventure for the KIDS OR The EASILY OFFENDED. Lots of blue & dirty humor throughout, 'Save Yourself From Hell'.
The real set up goes more along this line;"The X-III starship is an abyssal-class deep space exploration vessel that has successfully completed numerous missions on the outer edges of the known  universe.
The X-III entered Hell's Cluster, a treacherous region just beyond the Asmodeus sector of Galaxy 5, in order to answer a distress signal coming from a lunar base on the 7th moon."So we basically have Venger Satanis's breazy sleazy style of writing with a pretty good adventure set up that sort of whizzes around its plot and there's a cat. A ship's cat that resembles Jones from Alien but there might be more to him. There's a random table to determine this. Before you can blink the PC's are zipping across the adventure's plot erm universe. There's a truck stop 'Space Trucker's movie  references abound here with unwanted passengers and stowaways. 

One of my favorite bits is the 'Kung Fu Marauders in Hell's Cluster'. Who are the marauders?
'One part treasure-hunters, one part salvage team, one part nefarious martial arts school, and one part murder-hobos in space… the Black Dragon Fighting Society prey upon the weak, the rich, and those without honor. That means the PCs should be ripe for the picking.' Venger it seems like me was a watcher of those endless and endlessly cool 1960s & 70's Kung Fu movies. There's an escape pod because of course there is and Lovecraftian cultists. An 'Event Horizon' adventure plot moment and some really nasty bits when Cthulhu shows up!? There's a good bit of humor here but the over all adventure plot points are really directed toward its own internal Alpha Blue style setting.


Cthulhu from Freakazoid's episode 'Cthulhu Rising'


This is really where my problem is. Alpha Blue with each book that's come out for the gaming system has gone on to become its own thing in my estimation. I have no problems with its content but if I as an OSR dungeon master was to use this adventure I'd be gutting half of it. That's a shame because its a good solid adventure for Alpha Blue but I can't see running this adventure for anything else. Maybe a wacky DCC adventure campaign or one shot. I'm not savaging this adventure but I'm saying that its an animal that belongs to the Alpha Blue setting. Its short and well done but its not something that I would want to be running except as a one shot adventure and that's what Save Yourself From Hell is billed as. But is it good?! Yes if your looking for a humorously sleazy take on a one shot original Traveller game or as a one shot OSR space based adventure with lots of cracked up and sleazy humor. For Alpha Blue though? This is a whole other adventure really. For Alpha Blue this is a mid tier adventure that works as a bridge gap to get the PC's into some real danger and distress. Their going to have to think and keep the blasters on tap when their needed. Players are going to keep on their space scum toes. I'd give 'Save Yourself From Hell' a 3 1/2 for other OSR games and a solid four for the Alpha Blue rpg systems.

Grab The Alpha Blue Adventure
"Save Yourself From Hell'' HERE
for Four Dollars 

But what's really going on with Venger Satanis's Kort'thalis Publishing? For some months now I've been watching him working on and growing more independent from the both the OSR and the fifth edition crowd. Venger has been quietly been working on his own imprint now for many years. The latest Kickstarter for  Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport its basically another nail in the coffin of  table top codependence. Sure we've seen post apocalyptic adventures before but this is a homage to Seventies science fantasy after the big one scenarios.  The adventure plot is straight out of after midnight films on Channel eleven from the late Eighties.



"Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport emphasizes the American south-west (where I used to live for a little while - mmm... wish I was eating warm sopapillas with honey right now!) in the 25th century.  That area of the USA barely survived, dubbed Gamma Turquoise by the knuckle-dragging, one-eyed and three-breasted natives barely hanging onto the bottom of the evolutionary ladder.  High-tech meets sorcery in survivalist horror mode.  The hills have electronic eyes and traveling the road requires warriors with black leather balls!
There's a faction of shadowy militants led by an enigmatic sorcerer named Yrt'vash Saar (aka skull-face) threatening the safety of everyone in the Santa Fe Starport.  No one has ever seen these terrorists with their own eyes - only the robed cult leader Yrt'vash Saar - but they all live in the fallout shelter below New Albuquerque."
Post apocalyptic  isn't a genre that Venger Satanis has explored that often. I'd love to see this funded and color me curious to see what Glynn Seal does from Monkey Blood Design with this adventure project.

You Can Support This Kickstarter Right Over Here