Review & Commentary On The Player's Companion By James M. Spahn From Gallant Games For The Swords & Wizardry Rpg (and other old-school fantasy role-playing games)

" With the Player's Companion for Swords & Wizardry (and other old-school fantasy role-playing games), you're never out of options. This 35 page supplement offers new optional rules to expand your Swords & Wizardry campaign! "

• Expanded attribute limits which allow for player characters to go beyond the limits of mere mortals
• Two new optional Attributes: Appearance & Luck
• New class abilities for every class featured in the Swords & Wizardry Complete rulebook
• Two new classes: The dark Anti-Paladin and the learned Bard
• Three new non-human player character races: the deadly dark elf, whimsical gnome and brutal half-orc
• Optional attribute modifiers for non-human characters
• Eleven new weapons
• Five new types of armor
• Two new shields
• Thrity-five new magic items" 
  
  

There is only one reason why I grabbed The Player's Companion By James M. Spahn From Gallant Games For The  Swords & Wizardry Rpg (and other old-school fantasy role-playing games). And that is because I'm going to be running a White Star Galaxy Edition game set within the Washington sector. And the reason for grabbing the Player's Companion is because I truly don't trust the situation with Cowards of Coast  & the OGL. Further more the research that I've done into  The Player's Companion By James M. Spahn indicates that it's a wise investiment. For White Star the 'Anti Paladin' is a must; "Anti-Paladins are unholy warriors dedicated to the forces of Chaos. Whether they've sold their soul for power, made a dark pact with infernal masters, or simply relish in blood and carnage, they are blackhearted warriors beyond redemption. They are the classic “black knight,” who seeks to destroy and dominate the world. They are completely dedicated to the destruction of the forces of Law and go forth in hopes of ruling the world through tyranny and at the point of a sword." And if that doesn't sound like an NPC class that can give a group of star knights a run for their money I don't know what will. And given the range of the class plus it's benefits this is a villainous class with some clout to it. 
The writing, layout, and even the artwork within the The Player's Companion is top notch. All of the highnotes are hit with customizations & credits within the The Player's Companion for Swords & Wizardry. We get another variation on ye old faithful Bard class with enough zip to get these tellers of tales & ancient knowledge out of the time of legend. And then there's new races such as the Dark Elves, Gnomes, and even a half orc for your assassinations.. Then there's a brand new equipment & weapons chapter covering everything from a Cestus to Tower shields is covered. Then we've got a nice selection of magic items & more. So is   The Player's Companion worth the price of admission?! If your a Swords & Wizardry player or DM? In a word .yes! The Player's Companin is a catch up all title for all manner of Swords & Wizardry material that you drop down into your campaign or added in as needed! 
  The Player's Companion By James M. Spahn From Gallant Games For The  Swords & Wizardry Rpg (and other old-school fantasy role-playing games)
is available here 

   

The Vultursaur Swarm Adapted From King Kong (2005) For Cepheus Atom & Those Old School 2d6 Science Fantasy Role Playing Campaigns

 The Vultursaur, Vultursaurus, is a weird, nocturnal, flying non-avian paravian with bat-like wings from the chasms and jungles of Skull Island. It has a 20-25 inch wingspan. What makes the Vultursaur so dangerous is the fact that it carries the Kaiju spread Skull Island Fever. 

Vultursaurus is a dusk & nocturnal predator of insects, small rodents, and even a bit of carrion. Swarms of Vultursaurus often nest within the folds of skin of giant Kaiju. Where they feed upon the alien insects & other parasitic lifeforms of giant creatures. 
And this is where the Vultursaurus pick up & carry Skull Island Fever named after the Endeavor expediation of 1935. Skull Island fever acts as respitory & bodily fluid borne disease which infects those around the victims. Victims quickly begin internal hemmoraging & organ shut down within 2d6 hours. Skull Island fever has been seeen as far away as the wastelands of Californoriia & China. The strange radiations of Kaiju stoke the fires of the unusual bacteria of the fever that the Vultursaurus swarms carry. These tiny predator often flock into urban areas to feed on ironically on tiny vermin such as mice & rats. All of the while these flocks spread the contagion. 
Many wasteland settlements welcome the  Vultursaurus swarms to special outer settlement rookeries where they are used as primitive bioweapons against invaders. The little unusual predators have incredibly sharp claws capable of shredding flesh like tissue paper. 

The Vultursaurus is the sole surviving descendant of a second dynasty of flying theropods that developed bat-like wing membranes instead of feathers.The Vultursaurus can be found almost anywhere that Kaiju have passed within the wastelands because of the creatures shedding these formitable little predators in their wake & passing. 

The Vultursaur Swarm

# appearing 4d6 Swarm

5/10, Move 12m, Armor 2, claw (melee 2d damage), Bite (melee 1D damage), , Survival 2, Melee 1 .Dark Vision, Dark Vision, Disavantage Light  Blind, Disease (See Cepheus Atom for Disease Rules)

OSR Commentary - The Adventurer, Conqueror, King, Rpg, Wretched Space, &.... Cha'alt The Fosaken Sinkhole Of Evil

 So last night late the cover of Adventurer,Conqueror, King's rule book was staring at me & over the last day or so as has Wretched Space.  And because we've been running the Cha'altverse lately. There occurs to me the idea from the ACK's rule book in the appearance  of 'sinkholes of evil'. These have to do with dungeon locations & places of pure evil according to the ACK's rule book page 253; "Some campaigns feature places that are corrupted by the energies of the Nether Darkness. In ACKS these are known as sinkholes of evil. Profane powers and undead creatures are stronger there, while the divine and the living are weakened. Sinkholes of evil can develop anywhere that death and decay predominate. Sinkholes of evil can be shadowed, blighted, or forsaken. The table below summarizes the effects of the various types of sinkholes of evil." 

With the appearance of the Beyond within  Wretched Space these are perfect areas for sinkholes of evil from ACK's  rule book page 253;"SINKHOLES OF EVIL Some campaigns feature places that are corrupted by the energies of the Nether Darkness. In ACKS these are known as sinkholes of evil. Profane powers and undead creatures are stronger there, while the divine and the living are weakened. Sinkholes of evil can develop anywhere that death and decay predominate. Sinkholes of evil can be shadowed, blighted, or forsaken. The table below summarizes the effects of the various types of sinkholes of evil. Shadowed Sinkholes Shadowed sinkholes develop from two sources of corruption: Chaotic altars (such as those in evil shrines, temples, or churches) and places of death (such as cemeteries, catacombs, and battlegrounds). Chaotic altars create shadowed sinkholes as soon as they are erected. The size of the shadowed sinkhole around the altar will be 100 square feet per 100gp spent on the altar. For instance, a 10,000gp altar would create a 100' x 100' shadowed sinkhole around the altar. At the Judge’s discretion, meeting the gp value of the altar might require special components or blood sacrifices (as described in Chapter 7 under Magic Research) instead of standard treasure. Places of death create shadowed sinkholes naturally over time. The annual percentage chance of such an area becoming shadowed is equal to number of dead interred in the area divided by the area’s size in square feet, rounded up. For instance, a small 50' x 50' cemetery with 25 graves has a 1% chance of becoming shadowed each year. An enormous cemetery such as the realworld Wadi Al Salam (5 million dead across 64 million square feet) has an 8% chance of becoming shadowed each year. Once the shadowed sinkhole develops, the size of the shadowed sinkhole will be 100 square feet per 20 dead interred in the place. However, a sinkhole of evil will not develop if the dead are cremated by a Lawful divine spellcaster, or if one or more shrine(s) to Lawful powers are erected on the site. The Lawful shrine(s) must have a gp value of at least 5gp per dead interred in order to prevent the area from becoming shadowed." 
These 'sink holes of evil' are literally scattered across the universe within  Wretched Space as ancient alien sorcerers & dark wizards have taken advantage of the carnage of ancient  interstellar wars and conflicts. 

All of these add into the fact that humans are still the 'johnny come latelies' to the interstellar scene within Wretched Space. Or at least our version of it.
And that version contains Cha'alt & that's where things get interesting. Because Cha'alt is literally a 'Forsaken Sinkhole ala page 254; "Forsaken Sinkholes A blighted area might, through some awful juxtaposition of the planes or terrible ritual magic, become forsaken. Forsaken sinkholes are pits of darkness where the vilest creatures and foulest magic are found. Such places are very rare (Judge’s discretion). Corpses in forsaken areas have an 80% chance to return as undead in 1d4 rounds unless their bodies are burned. Chaotic spellcasters who cast reversed (evil) divine spells or necromantic spells in a forsaken sinkhole calculate the spell effects as if the casters were two class levels higher than their actual level of experience. Lawful divine spellcasters cast spells as if they were two class levels lower for purposes of spell effects, and may not turn undead. Any undead in forsaken areas gain a +2 bonus to attack throws, saving throws, damage rolls, and AC. Characters performing necromancy (described in Chapter 7) in a blighted sinkhole gain a +3 bonus to their magic research throws. Any undead created in forsaken areas gain a permanent +2 hit point per Hit Die, and animate dead spells cast in forsaken sinkholes create twice the normal number of Hit Dice of undead. A forsaken sinkhole can be used for blood sacrifice." 
And on our version of Cha'alt this is exactly what the alters are used for! 

Our version of Cha'alt is literally a forsaken sinkhole with it's shadow looming in the beyond like a beacon of Eldritch evil. This is why so many sorcerers & dark wizards come from Cha'alt in our campaigns. 

By the time we've gotten to the era of  Wretched Space Cha'alt cast's its shadow into our reality causing the dark magical forces to roil against the walls of interstellar space. 

Review & Commentary On The HOSTILE Situation Report 006 - Hunted For The Hostile Rpg

 "HUNTED"

"Pray you don't meet this intelligent  alien foe, born to hunt, equipped with high-tech weapons and able to move about unseen. You are being herded, picked off one-by one - purely for the sport of an Unseen Hunter... "
Hostile Rpg one of those games that depends upon it's monster as much as it's atmosphere. And we've got an Eighties classic done in the style of the Hostile rpg. This encounter even follows the first film; "The Unseen Hunter is an intelligent, humanoid alien that has a culture of hunting alien species for sport. Humans have sometimes become prey for these beasts. They have access to high technology and will arrive on planet in a small starship, capable of being cloaked invisibly when landed. Often, these aliens hunt alone, as a mark of bravery, and carry out reconnaissance to locate a worthy opponent, either alone or in a group. " 
So where would you use 'The Hunted' encounter?! Well, first of all 'Hunted' is an experienced Hostile, Cepheus, or even as a old school Science Fiction  2d6 encounter.  Zozer Games provides everything the DM needs to run 'Hunted' but where in the Hostile universe?! The perfect place to run 'Hunted' is actually is the alien jungle world of Tau Ceti!  A war torn colony, alien jungles, interstellar conflict, blood & violence all call to the alien hunter of the 'Hunted'. 

Hunted is perfect to drop on a group of experienced Hostile players PC's & watch them scatter like so much skinned targets! The alien hunter of 'The Hunted' encounter could be the perfect foe to hunt your favorite group of experienced marines in your Hostile campaign. 
The HOSTILE Situation Report 006 - Hunted For The Hostile Rpg Is Available Right Here 

Stars Without Numbers - Meeting The Duke Under Strange Stars Session Report One

 At the edge of the Washington sector near the Gateway worlds is Satan's Eye the spiral wormhole gateway into another galaxy. And in tonight's  Stars Without Numbers game run by DM Steve our party ended up on Strange Stars world Circus. And on Circus the infamous trade city Interzone for a clandestine meeting with Warduke supplied by the Crossroads blog here. We were taking possession of a very special cargo from the infamous mercenary. 

Warduke 2016 by dannycruz4.deviantart.com on @DeviantArt 
Artwork used without permission.

We met the mercenary & his Bulliwug warriors at a downtown warehouse where our galaxy trucker rig was stored. And we had no idea what the cargo was? We were paid not to ask questions & we didn't. The Bulliwugs were there to protect said cargo & their master.

Everything was all business tonight & we paid the mercenary his gold & then moved on. We were fully expecting a double cross & that didn't happen. My psion PC kept an eye on things. But it was mostly a done deal with Warduke & we were actually expecting trouble that didn't happen. Now with the s’ta zoku gang we ran into that's another matter entirely! They wanted whatever it was that we had in cargo badly & our party wasn't about to give up our cargo. Mary Mary the leader of

the s’ta zoku gang promised us the literal Sun,the Moon, & the Stars for our cargo. That didn't happen & then tried good old fashioned dosing us with pychoactive drugs. And we were ready for that. We'd dealt with 'space hippies' before. With a bit of fast footwork & some quick thinking we dodged the gang. Securing our rig 'the Fontana' we loaded the cargo and left Circus  back to Satan's Eye. And back to the Washington Sector. Or so we thought! We did make it through the worm hole gateway but on the otherside was a pirate Scavenger fleet waiting for us! We ended right here! 

Original Castles & Crusades Revolution - The Unquiet Treasure of the Dead - Session Report Four

 This blog post picks right back up into our last session report here.  The party has settled into its role in the city as trouble shooters & problem solvers. This time the party responded to the plight of a local woman & her child who were haunted by the ghosts of the ancients. The wizards of the party were skeptical but the child talked about there being jewels & gold on them. 
The monther recalled the legends of " Mmatmuor and Sodosma" & yet the party's cleric was a bit confused about the matter. At three A.M. the first of the bejeweled  skeletons showed up at the mother's back door. Royal SKELETON NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1–10 SAVES: P SIZE: Medium INT: None HD: 1 (d12) ALIGNMENT: Neutral MOVE: 30 ft. TYPE: Undead (Common) AC: 13 TREASURE: 3 ATTACKS: Weapon XP: 10+1 
Armed to the teeth & glowing with necromatic energies the ten skeletons silently attacked our party. And it was a fight to the death. They seemed to come in endless waves as party pondered what to do. The giant swollen sun broke over the horizon & the skeletons faded with the coming sun! Were these skeletons connected with the royals of the last session?! 

Rodney Mathews artwork used without permission. 

The party was a bit freaked by the skeletons & the fact that there was no alien trader to save them. They needed answers to save the mother & child. With a quick trip into the town proper they began to engage the local cleric of  Mordiggian. The cleric was more then happy to help them if they would owe him a favor. And proceeded to tell them about an ancient royal cemetary that had been covered by the sands. The tomb was home to a very noble family whose retainers had died defending the tomb.The royals corpses themselves have gone on to protect the crypts. 
The party's cleric could engage the skeletons with a speak with the dead scroll for the price of a future job. It was agreed. And three A.M. the next night the ritual was cast and the cleric engaged while the fighters stood guard. 
And good thing they did because a bandit & his six henchmen had gotten wind of the ritual from a noisy neighbor. As the cleric engaged the ghosts the party dealt with the desert bandits! 
The ghosts of the royals were assured that the mother & child meant no harm & that thier crypts were being defended even now. The ghosts wanted concessions & the souls of the bandits were offered. The ghosts excepted. The screaming echoed throughout the neighborhood even as the ghosts offered the mother & son a jeweled trinket as a token. They offered three necklaces to the party in return for watching over the cemetary from time to time. And so the deal was struck! 
And now the cleric of Geol is being summoned by his spectral libararian for a mission! Tune in next week! 

Review & Commentary On The Roosevelt Intercepter Distroyer By Michael Johnson & Independence Games For The Cepheus Engine, The Clement Sector Rpg & 2d6 Old School Science Fiction rpgs

 “I saw one of these while part of a delegation sent by Boone to discuss several issues of import with the Cascadian government. Looks retro impressive, certainly fast but if it caught another destroyer and engaged it then at least it could run away just as fast when that destroyer it caught by the tail responded. These ships are too lightly armed for a destroyer.” - Commander James Lightfoot United States Space Navy, Boone, June 2, 2340 (standard)
So Independence Games sent over their latest ship the Roosevelt - Class Intercept Destoryer and let's dive into it! 

Micheal Johnson & John Watts have been at it again for the Clement Sector & this time it's a nasty little bird with a few surprises. The Roosevelt class is in a class all of it's own & it fits a great role as both deep escort & destroyer. Independence games has a very solid take on the Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer. 
Type: Destroyer Class: Roosevelt System: Cascadia Service Date: 2335 to current Displacement: 1,200 tonnes (16,800 cu.m) Mass Tonnage: 7,200 tonnes Length: 138.25m Beam: Fwd: 11.5m, Aft: 47.5m, Wings: 76.5m Thrust: 5G Complement: 106 (17 Officers, 83 Enlisted and 6 Marines) Craft Carried: 1x Ship’s Boat, 1x Fast Launch Armament: Primary: 2x 50 tonne Meson Gun bays Secondary: 2x 50 tonne Fusion Gun bays Light (turrets): 6x triple beam laser turrets 2x triple turrets (2x missile/1x sandcaster) Defenses: Point Defense Node Array (12 nodes) Armor: Crystaliron

 The Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer is perfect for the frontier of the Clement sector as a deep penatrating destroyer. And we get everything we need from history, stats, weapons systems, variants & more. The Roosevelt class fills the folllowing need,"the fleet that believed that a new destroyer design needed to be fast and more heavily armed, relying on rapid, hard hitting, long range hit and fade tactics to make up for the lack of armor protection, or that the design needed to maintain protection to improve survivability" The Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer is a predator & a mid tier predator. The writing is very well done, the layout is excellent, and quality is what we've come to expect from Independence Games! I really love Ian Stead & Michael Johnson's designs & artwork for this ship. 
The role of the Roosevelt class in the Wild West style  frontier of the Clement sector is similar to the role of the U.S. Cavalry;
 "The traditions of the U.S. Cavalry originated with the horse-mounted force which played an important role in extending United States governance into the Western United States, especially after the American Civil War (1861–1865), with the need to cover vast ranges of territory between scattered isolated forts and outposts of the minimal resources given to the stretched thin U.S. Army." And I believe that in the Clement sector the Roosevelt is going to serve this need as well for many years too come. And it's the fact that the Roosevelt class is really well designed to give a group of pirates a bloody nose & then some. 
And in this regard the Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer is perfectly designed to get the job done. I need three things from the Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer. A real threat to our pirate PC's. An adventure point & piece of setting material as a ship that appears to do it's job & for that the Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer is ideally suited! And three the Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer is needed as a fleet ship's deep terrority scout & destroyer. Again it's ideally suited to the role. 

 The Roosevelt  Intercepter Distroyer By Michael Johnson & Independence Games For The Cepheus Engine,  The Clement Sector Rpg & 2d6 Old School Science Fiction rpgs Is Available Right Here 

The Arachno- Claw Adapted From King Kong (2005) For Cepheus Atom & Those Old School 2d6 Science Fantasy Role Playing Campaigns

 There are monsters that haunt the dreams of explorers & adventurers across the world. The Arachno- Claw  is another  oversized arthropod that lives in the shadows of Kaiju everywhere in the wastelands & jungles of the 'Old World'. These horrifying carnavores & scavengers are the ultimate opportunists. They are adapted to feeding in darkness or twilight conditions. The  Arachno- Claw  is adapted to feed on anything that comes it way tearing it's prey into bit sized chunks that it can easily digest.Arachno- Claws attack with two devestating pincers & a vicious bite. 

Arachno- Claw  life cycle is truly the stuff of nightmares with the female laying her eggs in carrion & raw meat. The Arachno- Claw  clutch then eat their way out of the host within 1d6 days. These oversized anthropods then find the rest of their clutch brothers & sisters in the semi darkness of caves & caverns nearby. A chemical scent trail is used by these horrors to mark terrority & hunting grounds. Arachno- Claws can be found in a wide variety of enviroments & places because of the fact that some subspecies live on and within the skin flaps of various Kaiju species. Arachno- Claws hunting tactics are the ambush. They look like a giant trapdoor spider, with six legs and powerful claws.Arachno- Claws have six legs that are used to walk, with two crab-like claws under their mouths, which are used to rip prey. Because the Arachno- Claws are a parasitic species in many ways to giant Kaiju they can be found almost anywhere. 

The Arachno- Claw is drawn to dark places & tight spaces usually with other giant vermin. Vermin who are drawn to the strange radiations of the various Kaiju species.  Arachno- Claws are able to call upon 2d6 other claws within 2 rounds with the loud clicking of their claws a sound which no adventurer soon forgets. 



Arachno- Claw

# appearing 3d6

5/10, Move 12m, Armor 5, claw (melee 1d damage), Bite (melee 1D damage), , Survival 2,  Combat 2, Melee 1 .Dark Vision, Sensitive Anntena, Disavantage Light  Blind, Fast Tunneling, 

Cha'alt Dream Crystals & Bad Times In the Wretched Spaceverse - Session Report Three

 So this afternoon has been a fun time dealing with irrate phone company, the USP, & the facts of an increasingly complex Science Fantasy campaign landscape. It's enough to make someone long for the pirate's life specifically the space pirate's life! So there's one group of my players who love to play the 'bad guys' & the last time we got together was about six weeks ago. They were playing smugglers & intergalatic cut throats from the Wretched Spaceverse. They had ripped off a cargo of Cha'alt dream crystals. 

The fact is what the group has is in point of fact the crystalized fetus of a Great Old One so the clock is ticking. And it's ticking fast for our party of idiots erm adventurers. The fetus is being to influence the party's thoughts as they bought weapons & ammo on one world & brought those over to another world. They gave said weapons to both sides and proceeded to tape the entire war & solid it as a 'pay per view' to within the Federation's bounties for a couple of million credits. I keep calling for rolls for slight and temporary losses of intelligence, wisdom, etc. as the clock keeps ticking. 

What the party is not aware of is the number of bounty hunters on their tales. And why?! Because the PC's "stole" this crystal fetus from the cult of demon clowns who proceeded to burn the cash the PC's gave them. 

The party was going to hose the clowns but their shaman told em not to. These weren't really clowns folks & are somethings best left alone. The party found a bag of drugs the clowns left behind & proceeded to get high until the next morning. They found themselves tied to the hood of a clown car waiting for a demon worm to take out the whole party. With a knife, a razor blade, and some luck the idi erm party managed to get away just before the demon worm took the car. They found their equipment stacked up for Cha'alt sirens to take their place. 

The PCs rogue Milly the Murauder lost his life after having half of his face eaten by one of the sirens. The rest of the party ran to the shuttle & managed to make it back to their ship the Dolly Parton! They blasted off into deep orbit & hit hyperspace. 
Then it was a close call at the space diner with a skip tracer and his band of literal law hounds! There wasn't any blaster fire as the party eluded the hounds. They made it back to their ship as they were had fuel and food! One of the hounds made it aboard their ship after shaking a psionic blast by their mind wizad Rufus. 

The fetus inside the crystal absorbed the hound in one quick flash of eldritch green light! And charmed the mind wizard easily. We ended with the party coming to investigate the flashes  commotion in the ship's hold 

The players are firmly convinced that their PC's are going become full cultists going forward!? I'm not sure their going to live that long. 

The throbbing green crystal keeps giving of alien radiations & the party things it might be a good idea to hold on too it instead of selling it!? 

Review & Commentary On Moon Toad Publishing's Ship Book:Panga Class Merchant For Cepheus Engine Or Your Old School 2d6 Rpg

Let's pick up it up from yesterday on the blog . So this morning I've been quietly establishing my own sector aka the Washington sector. And  printing out some of the supplemental material that my players are going to want. And this includes mercenary & merchant ships along the Divide. So today a couple of Moon Toad Publishing starships went into my cart. The homage to the film 2001 A Space Odyssey not withstanding. The Ship Book:Panga Class Merchant is one of my all time favorite starship designs. This ship has been used with our White Star,  Stars Without Numbers, Traveller, Cepheus Engine games time & again. 

The way we figure it there's about six months of lead time before Cowards of the Coasts releases the attack lawyers. And so we're getting our independence out of  the way far ahead of the BS. Moon Toad makes an excellent product and the Panga class with it's variants are perfect for sector campaign. 
The Washington sector is the place where we drop our fantasy campaigns into. That's right we're going old school here. Ages ago gamers would place their own home campaigns in the Traveller universe. This time we're going down the old paths by placing our own fantasy campaigns among the stars of Endra Cluster on the fringes of the Washington Sector. The Panga Class Merchant star ship is another piece of the puzzle here. 

Panga Class Merchant plans are excellent as many of Ian Stead's creations are. The deckplans are fantastic & well done. The PDF layout is solid & well done with an easy to read font. We get sample crews & profiles. And we also get a full spectrum of the Panga Class Merchant's capabilities,mission specs, and more. Everything here is solidly done, easy to work with, and could actually be used in any Traveller or Cepheus Engine rpg. The fact that we're going to be using the Panga Class Merchant starship is within the wide open spaces of the Devide near the Clement sector and the Panga Class Merchant fits the bill! 

Time & Investiment In "The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022' & Cepheus Engine Rpg

 My wife gave me a fifty dollar Amazon gift certificate for Christmas & I've been mulling over what to get in the wake of this OGL fiasco. And after reading through some of the comments & ideas I decided to grab Mongoose's Traveller second edition. 

TRAVELLER CORE RULEBOOK UPDATE 2022 offers a great Sic Fi  alternative to the tons of issues that seem to be happening with Cowards of the Coast. And so it's fantastic time to flip over to  "The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022'.

However I'm planning an update to the Washington Sector & perhaps with plans move up the timeline a bit. One of the things I've noticed with this set of Traveller rules is the baked in setting. This is fine but with our group used to Stars Without Number & even Star Seige. The switch over to 

"The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022'. has not been as traumatic as one might think. 
There are several reasons for this update to our gaming. One the learning curve doesn't seem that steep. Two is the fact that the Washington sector is prime real estate for the players. And three is Mecha. 

We've been teasing giant monsters & fauna for a while now & so I pulled the trigger on grabbing a copy of Walker Vehicles Volume 2 by 

Colin Dunn

. The players are used to Kaiju in our various campaigns having visited failed colonies across the Border's divide in our Washington sector campaign. 

The fact of the matter is that the walker technologies within our campaign come from the Clement sector.  
And then the hyperspacial wormhole  collapse happened causing the Washington sector & the Clement sector to be separated by huge distances in light years. 

Walker Vechicles supplement looks very well done & I'm looking forward to using this supplement with 

"The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022'.
That being said we have a ton of time & energy invested in the Cepheus Engine books. And thats not going away anytime soon. 
However over the years of flipping over fifth edition D&D players over to Cepheus Engine & classic Traveller. One thing is evident & that is that you've got to bring the excitement to the table top. And this is why our fantasy rpg campaigns are  actually taking place within the fringes of the Washington sector. 
And the one game that's done that has been Zozer Games Hostile rpg. 
Hostile remains one of my all time favorite incarnations of the Cepheus Engine rpg system & classic 2d6 bones.  I've been experimenting using Hostile as the four hundred year point in the past for the Washington Sector. 
And this brings me to Stellagama Publishing's Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition. Cepheus Deluxe Enhanced Edition Rpg has a ton of good things to offer. It's rules lite, has a completely reliable system, and helps to set up PC's fast, & gives a solid incarnation of the Cepheus Engine rpg. 

That being said the players asked for "The Traveller Core Rulebook Update 2022' & that's what we're going to be using going  forward. Wish me luck 

The Deplector Adapted From King Kong (2005) For Cepheus Atom & Those Old School 2d6 Science Fantasy Role Playing Campaigns

 There are some things that live on & around Kuiju. The Deplector is one such crusteasn  like giant  species.  The Deplector loves to lair itself within the creavices & cracks around low lying areas of Kuiju activity. There these eight foot long scavengers can feed on debris, radiation, and the occassional victim who stumbles into their enviroments. 

These land & underworld giant crusteans feed off anything they can get their claws into. While females could reach up to eight feet in length, males were scarcely larger than a newly-hatched female. They dwell in the back of the female's cavern, fertilizing their eggs and eating scraps of the female's prey.   Hanging in place, with their enormous pincers folded almost Mantis-style in front of them, they wait for small prey to pass the mouths of their holes. Their long antennae are sensitive to vibrations in the air, enabling them to pinpoint prey despite lacking eyes. The bite from one of these horrors causes deplector disease resulting in the prey shaking, having fits, and being easy victims unless a saving throw is made. 

The Deplector lives in the shadow of many Kaiju & these eight foot long horrors often lay their eggs on the bodies of the giant horrors. There are often Deplector swarms that have to be cleaned out after a Kaiju has moved through an area. The Mi Go and other mythos creatures or races cultivate Deplector swarms as clean up crew. Making these monsters a problem even on interstellar worlds as infestations can be found anywhere?! Big Ass Reptiles love to feed on swarms of Deplectors as a light snack. 

Deplector 

# appearing 3d6

5/10, Move 12m, Armor 6, claw (melee 1d damage), Bite (melee 1D damage), , Survival 1,  Combat 1, Melee 1 . Regeneration ,Venom Bite 1 Damage Poison, Disavantage Blind, 

Review & Commentary On Blaster Bolts - RPG Omnibus From Fainting Goat Games For The White Star Rpg

 The White Star Rpg always seems to be starring at me over the weekend from the shelf again. I got up mega early to meet with my players at the local diner this morning & play. And the session went well.  Discussing the Washington Sector. I was reminded of the fact that we put our old White Star rpg one shots one hundred & twenty five years in the future of the setting. Civil war has been tearing the sector apart! 

And this brings up Fainting Goat Games Blaster Bolts - Rpg Omibus. Over the last couple of years everytime I'm on Drivethrurpg Blasterbolts magazine covers is starring at me. So this morning at the egging on of our players I grabbed Fainting Goat Games Blaster Bolts - Rpg Omibus. 

And there are two reasons for grabbing this collection 1.  content that appeared in issues 1-13 of the Blaster Bolts zine featuring new material for White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying. 2. several new classes and other rules content by system author James M. Spahn. 

So while breakfast consisted of eggs & toast we were in the middle of the Second Sector Civil War. And with a boat load of adventures such as Stomp the Rock and the previews of Discordia. There's plenty of adventure fodder for the OSR DM. 
We get plenty of new PC classes as well such as advanced robot, bodyguard,cyberpilot, Novoestrela, Priviledged Doctor, & Twerg. All of these classes are actually useful for either a White Star Rpg campaign or even Stars Without Number. What the Hell is a Twerg?! Well a Twerg PC; " Tough as meteor rock and strong as a gravity well, the short and muscular, Twergs can be found traveling across the galaxy as errant transport pilots or as one of the crews of their massive flying city-ships known as citadels."
So inbetween runny eggs & two slices of toast Fainting Goat Games Blaster Bolts - Rpg Omibus actually presents a workable Battle Star errmmm Synborg Apocalypse mini-setting & the ancient connection to the star gods worked in as well! 

Is Fainting Goat Games Blaster Bolts - Rpg Omibus worth getting?! In a word Hell yes! There's a lot of material under the covers here & plenty to take into an OSR space campaign. It could be especially useful for an on going White Star campaign or any OSR Science Fiction rpg really.

Review & Commentary On Angry Golem Game's STARS WITHOUT NUMBER - TRADE GOODS GENERATOR 300 For The Stars Without Number Revised Rpg

 "The Stars Without Number compatible Trade Goods Generator contains two 3-pages files.

1st file: This is a canonic trade goods generator useful to generate loot and goods very quickly.

2nd file: The second file is a replica of the first, but it is tuned to work with Suns of Gold Merchant Campaign."

"Trade Goods organized in four categories:

1) Materials & Technological Stuff (100 TRADE GOODS)

2) Warfare (100 TRADE GOODS)

3) Organic, Chemicals & Stuff (100 TRADE GOODS)

4) Extra section from the last update with a wide array of minerals and othe elements."

Once upon a time I had a highly successful Stars Without Numbers Revised /Cepheus Engine rpg campaign. And then a death in our rpg family caused it to implode. Well with recent events my notebooks have been in my hand again. And one of those notebooks indicated Angry Golem Games STARS WITHOUT NUMBER - TRADE GOODS GENERATOR 300. Now with the OGL fiasco interest has been renewed. More on why later on. Let's journey back to the haycon days of our Suns of Gold: Merchant Campaigns for Stars Without Number. There was no worry that Cowards of the Coast was going to take away the livelihood of friends & we were playing for the enjoyment of the game campaign. We've recently had this enjoyment again with the Clement Sector rpg  mini  campaign. 

Our Suns of Gold campaign was set in the Washington sector which is next to the Clement sector separated by the Divide a literal huge expanse of nothing between these sectors. They can receive transmissions but that's it. Or so we thought. The Suns of Gold campaign was full of Scavenger Fleets acting as space borne locusts that gobbled up any trade ships they came across. 
And here's where the Angry Golem Games STARS WITHOUT NUMBER - TRADE GOODS GENERATOR 300 comes in really handy. There are two files full of trade goods perfect to stock trade ships that have vanished into the void. We used a few ancient United Planet Cruisers as investigative craft to investigate these disappearances. 
PC's were really after the goodies that were in the holds of the patched together trade ships. And the thirteen page trade goods generator does a great job for a Suns of Gold campaign. Into every life a bit of rain must fall and fall it will when several pirate groups by John Watts come to call in the Washington Sector. 

How did the pirate factions get to the Washington Sector & why are they there?! What secrets does a possible alliance with the Scavenger fleets hold?! The Angry Golem Games STARS WITHOUT NUMBER - TRADE GOODS GENERATOR is a key part of this. Because it allows me to generate cargos & carryon trade goods on the fly. So that unto itself makes the trade goods generator worth getting for me to get the players interested & hold their interest!