A blog about sewing machine repairs,but mainly my hobbies which include old school role playing games, science fiction,films, horror, and general geekery. Sit down and stay a spell.
"In the Adityan homeworld, The Cronos, an ancient power source, has awakened and disrupted from its slumber by events taking place far away on the remote desert planet Chalt. The Cronos will drag its Adityan Guards all the way across the galaxy and into the path of a group of scoundrels forcefully recruited to police the ass of the Galaxy also known as the Outer Rim as part of the Wretched Legion. Neither Adityans nor Legionaries are interested or prepared to save the Galaxy. First and foremost, they must survive the threats and treachery of Theta Blue, the most infamous space station in the system."
So tonight I ran Epic By The Red Room For Wretched Space rpg and Cha'alt or Alpha Blue. The adventure plot is solidly done for an interstellar scene; "This adventure takes place
in the Outer Rim and
follows a group of
Wretched Legionaries, the
Federation's low-budget
patrol troops for Fringe
space, as they come across
an ancient source of power
that has the potential to
either save or destroy the
universe. This makes them
a target for all the major
powers in the galaxy, in a
wild and complex epic of
adventure, espionage, and
betrayal." Guess whose playing the Wretched Legionaries?! The PC's came outta of cryosleep and got introduced to each other. The party whose make up is straight outta of Wretched Space Second Edition.
The PC's are putting down their roots into the space craft after being threatened with disintegrations and worse. The player's PC's are heading to the outer rim after a bunch of mini encounters. The Legionaries are dealing with a series of mini skirmishes and pirate encounters. There was mention of the Voidhaven Outpost that the PC's had encountered sometime back. The Epic's A.I. gave details to the PC's pilot and decker. There was a record of the previous adventurers aboard the Epic.
The player's PC's began closing on the pirates as the pirates prayed on a space cruiser ship.
The valley of Stone & Fire was a post apocalpytic game that I had ran ages ago using Fantastic Heroes & Witchery as a one shot back in 2015. You can find that here on the blog. And lately I've been having a hankering for doing a post apocalpytic Western style game. This morning I met with my players at our usual diner for breakfast. I needed to do this fast for the weekend. And the over all feeling among the players was positive. They wanted a Thundarr The Barbarian style post apocalyptic game. Since we already had a campaign ready to go that wasn't a problem. We were using Tim Snider's Thundarr The Barbarian sourcebook (see below).
The reason for using Fantastic Heroes and Witchery is the fact that the base damage is at a lower weapon and dice threshold. This is closer to B/X and original Dungeons & Dragons.
That damage threshold is exceeded in Mutant Future (not that Mutant Future is a bad game). The fact is that the B/X and OD&D damage system are easier for some players to deal with.
Tim Snider's excellent free Thundarr Sourcebook for Mutant Future
The Petrified Forrest contains the remains of a former US Military base that's still being run by androids. The whole affair is where the former PC's disappeared. And here's the hook that gets the ball rolling. The former base is known far & wide for churning out monsterous cyborg horrors. What no one knows is that the base is a former Cryo prison. The androids have been converting the prisoners into bio weapons.. The cryogenic facility's inmates in the section that the PC's were in was drawn from Fishwife Game's 100 Male Inmates available right HERE
I have to laugh at something I heard around the table when it came to 'monsters' in the dungeon. We had a bunch of very experienced & jaded players who were all dungeon masters in their own right. They run their own home grown campaigns & so have become a bit jaded at being on the other side of the screen. That all changed over the holiday when we got together. Its essential to play and get in time on both sides of the screen. Here's why.
Suddenly we were a group of adventurers again huddled in a tavern looking desperately for work, money, and to simply survive against an alien world. This was a sword & sorcery setting, there were lots of weird humans, cut throats, workers, & strange types. It wasn't just about breaking into a dungeon, it was about playing at the setting. And of course today this took place in the classic Thieves World setting so things got hairy very quickly.
By the time we had gotten into the dungeon's ruin's were already knee deep in three plot hooks & looking into the deep end of some dire circumstances. The dungeon master's description dripped with details, the exotic sights & sounds had NPC's drifting through that would later on become important. The lack of Elves, Dwarves, etc. told us everything we needed to know & this wasn't a world inspired by Tolkien or Robert Howard or Lovecraft. This was a home brew world set on the edge of a crumbling empire where the lost, the desperate, the outlaw, & even the stupid all went as the last stop before death.
We had heard rumors of some ruins that had yielded treasures beyond imagination and this town had grown over night. Men had practically come on ships and then deserted them in the port's bay but operations were shut down and now they were desperate to restart but the cruel deaths had them wondering. Something was in the mine killing the men. We signed up with the mine owners as a part of the lynch mob that was going down into the mines. The DM had made a twisting bunch of weird tunnels on a map. We ventured into the darkness & kept track of our torches. Then we heard the first scream and it echoed off the walls. The second was followed by the first, on the ground we found a few scattered gold coins leading off into a side tunnel. One of our number was transfixed by the beast's stare & simply stared off as his guts were torn out! And that's when we saw it! Our guns went off & for a brief moment the entire scene was illuminated! Then the monster closed and we died!
Yes that was this holiday's brief encounter with an Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's Umber hulk in my friend Tom's 1600's African inspired setting that's a spin off from Accursed & Ancient Terra. What did I learn? Well its essential to sometimes get out from behind the screen and actually play. The second thing is too go back and look at the iconic monsters of AD&D & for that matter even the retroclones to use them in new ways. Yes we died rather badly but that really wasn't the point to the game. It was to take a look at how Tom was setting up his adventures & the spins that he was putting to them. Once again a very valuable lesson at the cost of a PC but the lesson will stay with me.
Right now I still have no idea what's happening under Tom's boom town or why there is an Umber hulk killing adventurers, and miners. Seems I might have to go back to find out! As soon as I roll up another PC..
Merry Christmas everyone & happy holidays to my readers. So early this week backers of the Hyperborea rpg got copies of the Hyperborea rpg formerly the Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg. But DM Steve brought up an important point from last year's AS&SH games and that was visiting Sancuatary from the Chaosium Thieves World campaign box set. If you are not familar with the box set's history then I strongly suggest captcorajus excellent review & break down of the Thieves World box set.
The problem?! Sancutary became the preferred campaign venue when the player's PC's wanted to escape the Winter weather of Hyperborea. The Rakin empire has ties with the human Hyperborea royal houses. The PC's sold mamoth ivory, salted meats, etc along with primeval walrus tusks between adventures on Hyperborea. The PC's acted as escorts & bodyguards for a Sancutary wizard to the shores of Ixian for negoations. And there were several expediations from Sanctuary to Hyperborea within our campaign with the player's PC's being guides & experts.
Now the question becomes do we continue this line of the campaign with the Thieves World adventure elements within our current Hyperborea rpg line of play coming up?! Only time will tell!?
Saturn Three should have been a big hit. The movie had the biggest name in boy's walls back in the 70's, awesome special effects, and a solid cast. According to Wiki:
'John Barry conceived the project as a much more lavish vision of the future. The film's producers, Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment, intended the production to cash in on the sudden vogue for science fiction and horror following the success of Alien.
Farrah Fawcett was also hoped to be a major draw for a teenage male audience and much of the film's promotion was based around the revealing space suits she was due to wear in the film. Donen played down the exploitation elements resulting in a film that the producers struggled to market' The film is mostly forgotten and dismissed.
It was also one of the first films that I saw on Beta Max
The plot According To Wki :
In the distant future, an overcrowded Earth relies on research conducted by scientists in remote stations across the solar system. One of these, a small experimentalhydroponics research station on Saturn's third moon, is run solely by Adam (Douglas) and his colleague and lover Alex (Fawcett). Adam, the younger Alex and their dog Sally enjoy their isolation, far from an overcrowded and troubled Earth. The couple have been on Saturn 3 for three years, but Alex has spent all her life in space.
Alex and Adam's idyll is broken by the arrival of Captain Benson (Keitel), who has been sent to Saturn 3 as part of a project to replace at least one of the moon's scientists with a robot. Benson assembles the robot and names him Hector. One of the first of its kind, a "Demigod Series", Hector relies on "pure brain tissue" extracted from human fetuses and programmed using a direct link to Benson's brain. Benson states that it will render one of the crew "obsolete", most likely Major Adam who tells his partner that he is close to "abort time" according to the government on Earth.
Unknown to both Alex and Adam, Benson is a homicidal sociopath who murdered the Captain originally assigned to Saturn 3 and took his place on the mission. Benson had actually failed a crucial test of psychological stability.
As Benson uses the link to his brain to program the robot, Hector acquires Benson's homicidal nature and his lust for Alex. Hector initially kills Sally the dog and then assaults Benson, since it has learned about him being a murderer during the reprogramming process. Adam and Alex manage to disable the robot while it is recharging.
Believing the danger over, Adam accuses Benson of gross incompetence and orders him to dismantle the robot and return to Earth when an eclipse ends. Benson obliges, but Hector is soon reassembled by the base's older robots. Resuscitated, Hector murders Benson while he is dragging Alex to his ship. Hector then blows up Benson's spacecraft before Adam and Alex can escape in it, trapping them all on Saturn 3 together.
Overpowering the humans, Hector installs a brain link at the base of Adam's spine which will give the robot direct access to Adam's brain. Before Hector can make the connection, Adam destroys it, sacrificing himself by detonating explosives hidden on his person.
In the final scene Alex, now alone, is shown aboard an Earth-bound spacecraft.
'The Demi God Series Were Always a Bit Twitchy'
Hector Demi God Series
The Demi God series are used in a wide variety of roles from internal security to full colony applications. Each of these powerful robotic humanoids stands eight foot tall and has a full range of human movement and skills. They have full range of sensors and skills. They are uniquely programmed through a neural skill interface or 'apprentice program' with a human host.
These beings use a complete range of emotions and skills through a beta bio drive system. They are accurate enough to be employed in fields ranging from medicine to full combat and security duties.
Standing at eight foot tall they are incredible machines able to take years of punishment while working in the depths of space and on planetary surfaces.
Number Appearing: 1d4
Armor class:4
Hit Dice: 2(10HP)
Attack Bonus :+1
Damage: 1d8 pincers
Saving Throw 15+
Movement :30'
Morale :12
Skill bonus: +2 due to the unique spinal cybernetic uplink
Using Saturn 3 As OSR Game Fodder
Saturn Three offers a rather unique view of another corporation controlled future that is relatively unknown these days. The look and feel of the film is very reminisce of Outland and Aliens as well as the grand old Roller Ball original.
The look and feel of the movie fits with the ideas that I laid down with the first of the series of articles for this campaign right HERE
The 'look' of the film's production fits with the timeline that I'm working on and the rather unique 'dungeon in space' of Saturn Three is interesting and engaging.
I'll be keeping that look and 'Hector' and losing some of the other elements such as Alex and the rest.
"Buried underground for hundreds of years lies a spaceship from the 3rd planet in the Altair system. While heavily damaged, the ship still has power for many of its systems and doors and lights are still fully operational in most sections. Will you be the first to explore The Dungeon From A Distant Star and uncover it's otherworldly secrets?
An old school one-page dungeon including dungeon map, legend, wandering monsters, random tables and descriptions for 23 separate rooms."
This is a an old fashioned OSR downed space craft dungeon with some cool features available right HERE
This is a an old fashioned space craft dungeon with some cool features & really nice encounters .And man its a blast!
Using Dungeon From A Distant Star From Robertson Games
Last night I got the chance to run my players through this dungeon. I've used it numerous times and every time I've prided myself on doing this one a bit different. There enough to get it started but you've got to do a bit of work to fill in the blanks on the map. The essence of old school DYI ethos really.
The PC's set about exploring the dungeon after a local farmer turned artifacts from this thing in his field. The world is a failed colony a bit off the beaten path of most of the major trade lanes.
Given the bare bones of the description I made the artifact(dungeon) one of the possessions of the Krell. That most dangerous of races and one of the most extinct out in the planes. That famous quote from Forbidden Planet;
"Ethically, as well as technologically,
they were a million years ahead of humankind.
For, in unlocking the mysteries of nature,
they had conquered even their baser-selves.
And, when in the course of eons,
they had abolished sickness and insanity
and crime and all injustice,
they turned, still with high benevolence,
outward toward space.
Long before the dawn of man's history,
they had walked our Earth,
and brought back many biological specimens.
The heights they had reached!
But then--- seemingly on the threshold
of some supreme accomplishment
which was to have crowned their entire history--
this all-but-divine race perished,
in a single night.
In the two thousand centuries
since that unexplained catastrophe,
even their cloud-piercing towers
of glass and porcelain and adamantine steel
have crumbled back into the soil of Altair IV,
and nothing, absolutely nothing,
remains above ground."
There could have been anything in that ship last night and there was! Couple of biological specimens had escaped and the PCs dealt with those. The other was another very dangerous alien that had been collected by the aliens. In the end the PC's were able to recover quite a nice little haul of alien do dads before the ship self repaired and took off for parts unknown! Actually what the players wanted was a 'plastic educator' but they never got the chance! There was quite a bit of blaster fire but very little was damaged!
Dungeon From A Distant Star From Robertson Games used correctly can be quite the tool for a dungeon master looking to take a game to the next level. Used in a pulp game it can literally change a world and add spice to 'Weird Wars' style 30's or 40's game. Which always has reminded me of this movie. The Zone Troopers movies had a very similar vibe to the dungeon/spacecraft deposited in WWII feel.
This dungeon could potentially appear anywhere or time at all. The dungeon might easily be slipped into Mutant Future as a sort of mid level bonus level allowing players to have a romp in it without impacting the rest of the campaign.
It might appear in Carcosa as yet another dungeon location created by aliens and causing havoc among the various tribes. The dungeon could be a bridge gap bringing PCs from one world to another vie the planes as the whole thing deals the players a weird trip one way!
The dungeon might be simply used as a road sight of sorts for shadowing an invasion to come! Dungeon From A Distant Star is very flexible and like all of the other one page, one shot that have appeared in this blog it requires a bit of work on the DM's part. Its one of many such dungeons that offers an evenings entertainment for players or a gate way drug into a full blown space opera or science fiction campaign.
I have to laugh at something I heard around the table when it came to 'monsters' in the dungeon. We had a bunch of very experienced & jaded players who were all dungeon masters in their own right. They run their own home grown campaigns & so have become a bit jaded at being on the other side of the screen. That all changed over the holiday when we got together. Its essential to play and get in time on both sides of the screen. Here's why. Suddenly we were a group of adventurers again huddled in a tavern looking desperately for work, money, and to simply survive against an alien world. This was a sword & sorcery setting, there were lots of weird humans, cut throats, workers, & strange types. It wasn't just about breaking into a dungeon, it was about playing at the setting.
By the time we had gotten into the dungeon's ruin's were already knee deep in three plot hooks & looking into the deep end of some dire circumstances. The dungeon master's description dripped with details, the exotic sights & sounds had NPC's drifting through that would later on become important. The lack of Elves, Dwarves, etc. told us everything we needed to know & this wasn't a world inspired by Tolkien or Robert Howard or Lovecraft. This was a home brew world set on the edge of a crumbling empire where the lost, the desperate, the outlaw, & even the stupid all went as the last stop before death.
We had heard rumors of some ruins that had yielded treasures beyond imagination and this town had grown over night. Men had practically come on ships and then deserted them in the port's bay but operations were shut down and now they were desperate to restart but the cruel deaths had them wondering. Something was in the mine killing the men. We signed up with the mine owners as a part of the lynch mob that was going down into the mines. The DM had made a twisting bunch of weird tunnels on a map. We ventured into the darkness & kept track of our torches. Then we heard the first scream and it echoed off the walls. The second was followed by the first, on the ground we found a few scattered gold coins leading off into a side tunnel. One of our number was transfixed by the beast's stare & simply stared off as his guts were torn out! And that's when we saw it! Our guns went off & for a brief moment the entire scene was illuminated! Then the monster closed and we died!
Yes that was this holiday's brief encounter with an Advanced Dungeons & Dragon's Umber hulk in my friend Tom's 1600's African inspired setting that's a spin off from Accursed & Ancient Terra. What did I learn? Well its essential to sometimes get out from behind the screen and actually play. The second thing is too go back and look at the iconic monsters of AD&D & for that matter even the retroclones to use them in new ways. Yes we died rather badly but that really wasn't the point to the game. It was to take a look at how Tom was setting up his adventures & the spins that he was putting to them. Once again a very valuable lesson at the cost of a PC but the lesson will stay with me.
Right now I still have no idea what's happening under Tom's boom town or why there is an Umber hulk killing adventurers, and miners. Seems I might have to go back to find out!
I got together with my players last night for my Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers Of Hyperborea game taking place in the Judge's Guild mega dungeon adventure location of Tegal Manor The PC's in last night Tegel Manor session managed to make a good showing. They went over a bit of their treasure & some of the relics they'd picked up over the last couple of games. Things have been interesting as they find out the unsavory & horrid revelations of the family history of the Rumps. A history including piracy, smuggling, slavery, and debauchery of every strip. These are not the family you really want related to you let alone exploring their Roman style house. This was something the party are slowly finding out. The 'safe bedroom' the PC's spent the night in was adjoined to two other rooms and a secret alchemical workshop.
One of the bedrooms held a really nasty Ye Liveliest Awfulness/yellow mold hybrid monster. The thing resembled a pair of yellow ladies and beckoned one of PC's to bed. The yellow ladies had a victim who was slowly being digested under the covers of the bed. A flaming sphere handled the Lovecraftian bastard & the PC's managed to recover a valuable shield. The horror was brought back from one of the numerous expeditions by the Rumps to Venger Satanis's The Purple Islands of Purple Putrescence.
The PC's managed on to the next room which happened to be the foot of one of the towers of Tegel. There they found another alchemy workshop/ playroom and this one housed a Lovecraftian ghoul blooded member of the Rump clan. She's been having an on going war with her uncle a vampire at the top of the turret & her rather camp & obnoxious cousin a necromancer & reverent of her uncle. He's both insane & a completely nut about games & toys, to that end there's two Roman style ancient Bocce ball courts have been set up in the room. Along with two Roman statues holding some stylized Bocce balls. The balls came to life nearly taking off one of the heads of the PC's.
The PC's managed to blast the two balls & the other metal sets which infuriated our necromancer who then dropped two other black balls down the stair well of the tower. Eight shadows slithered out of three holes on each ball and the fun really began for the PC's a running game of cat and mouse ensued! This encounter taxed the PC's and our alchemist had to help the PC's with the remaining shadows after they managed to make a good show of themselves. They made it over the alchemist's table and she quickly whipped out a potion to take care of the remaining horrors. The PC's decided to parley with the alchemist even as they were taunted by her cousin above.
But the PC's still have to content with her uncle with whom the war of attrition continues night after night. This means the PC's not only have a vampire to contend with but the whole place is riddled with giant rat holes that enable him to direct his minions where and when he'd like. The PC's were able to taunt the bastard cousin back but the encounters left them very nervous and they actually retreated back to their room locking the door behind them for safety's sake. This is a good thing, the players are engaged & interested. Note that unlike AD&D first edition AS&SH's vampires are constitution drainers and very dangerous.
What happens now? Well, that's going to be up to the players. There are a six things that they sort of missed in this past week's game.
The corpse hidden in the far corner of the game/play room is a human colonist from some far flung colony. A possible victim as the plane lost manor makes its rounds has been killed by one of the numerous undead.
There's far more going on within the house then it seems and there are other adventurers about within it.
The relics collected by the Rumps always seems to make their way back to the manor.. eventually.
There's other members of the Rump family stalking the adventurers as Iwrite this.
Other corpses in the halls ofTegel Manor hold vital clues to the destiny & fate of the PC's.
The cult of Old Ones is alive, active, and very much on the scene in Tegel Manor.
So last night I got together with my players inside Tengel Manor, one of my Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers Of Hyperborea PC's is a shaman that bares the marks & relics of his time on Venger Satanis's The Purple Islands of Purple Putrescence. His weaponry & power comes from the purple god things & crystals of the islands. The spiritual connection with the islands is strong and their gods take an active role in the PC's adventuring. This suits the shaman character as he continues to search for his people especially among the wilds of Hyperborea.
So in last night's game in Tengel Manor the PC's were dealing with some of the ghosts, ghouls, and zombies of the manor. They made it into the clacking hall and dealt with a wraith who wanted to drop one of the PC's into a trap door with a shoggoth below waiting to munch on him. That didn't work out for the wraith as he was discorporated by a lucky shot from one of the other PC's. This was after a lengthy rpg style argument with the wraith trying to maneuver the PC over the trap door. Things did not go well after that for the wraith! The PC's managed to shut the trap door & search the room for treasure at least for a bit. They also discovered a journal & accounting ledger which detailed the various islanders,fishermen,etc. the wraith/slave trader had sold from the dungeons under Tegel manor. The journal detailed some of the explorations of this depraved member of the Rump line who spent time on the purple islands. Shoggoth monster from The Lost Continenent 1961 from Hammer studios The PC's continued to explore coming across a bedroom that belonged to one of the members of the Rump household. Striges attacked the PC's and they burned the room except for the valuable sword hanging on the wall a memento of one of the many wars of Hyperborea. There's a deep and abiding tie in with the islands of Purple Putrescence but it gets even more exploited in The Battle For The Purple Islands Kickstarter coming up. So what essentially are the islands?
'The purple islands (there's three of them very close together,
and are usually considered a single place) is an eldritch
science-fantasy setting with gonzo sword & sorcery. Both books will
be usable with any sort of Lost World, Mars, Dream Lands, Hyborian Age,
alternate Earth ruled by civilized apes or menaced by dinosaurs and
sleestak, or a world of savagery, super-science, and sorcery.' So how does this all tie into my own twisted version of Tegel Manor? Notice I said that these plot points didn't tie into the The Battle For The Purple Islands ... yet. Well the players moved the time table up for me on this one. They met with a vital NPC & discorporated him for the moment.
In yesterday's update Venger dropped a vital clue to the tie in between the purple islands and my twisted version of Tegel Manor. "I re-watched The Green Inferno today. Going to incorporate some of that in Battle For The Purple Islands. ;)" Thanks for spilling that little vital clue that ties back into one of the Rump line who was an explorer or should I say exploiter of weird little corners of the multiverse. Passel Rump wasn't the kind of a guy you really wanted to hang around unless it was to have a slave collar round your neck or to be sacrificed on a stone altar in some godless corner of the various universes. This all ties back into an NPC I created that one of the players killed about three campaigns ago when I first laid hands on the Islands for Purple Putrescence. The Battle For The Purple Islands is going to push up certain time table events for my players and the clock is ticking not only for the Kickstarter but for my PC's to save those islanders before they become a sacrifice to some ancient & malevolent Lovecraftian god. And why is the manor moving across time and space?! How does this tie into a dimensional traveler whose been watching the PC's from the shadows of Tegel Manor? What sort of shadowy corruption has Sir Tristan the knight from Albion stumbled into? The PC's have found several corpses in the gardens of Tegel Manor, the Keltic were bear shaman was a part of the mercenary knight's party. What other secrets has the fool stumbled upon and be corrupted by? He's far from home and the clock is starting to tick, tick, down for not only his party but for you too! The Battle For The Purple Islands is moving closer to winding down and now its your turn to help bring this project to life! Time to open your hearts and wallets for the The Battle For The Purple Islands Kickstarter As The End Draws Naught!
