Out of the Frying Pan - Adapting Mutant Epoch rpg's Outland Arts's One Day Digs 7:: The Ascent To The Cepheus Engine Hostile rpg As a Oneshot Adventure - Session Report Part I

 

So I'm literally getting home right now & we've just gotten done running Outland Arts's One Day Digs 7:: The Ascent for the Mutant Epoch rpg with Zozer Games Hostile.  And this is going to sorta pick up right from here on the blog  The events on the space station activated a transmission to an explorer's ship in the Livitus system. The USS Crowe & Reynolds is a deep space explorer ship and her crew is awakened out of hypersleep when they crash land on a planet. 
"You've survived the crash. Now what?

"What horrors face a team of lunar cadets who crash land amid the ruins of the old ones? Can they work together to ascend the mega tower and call for evac, or will they perish in the attempt?"

In this unique one day dig, written by Timothy Berriault and illustrated by William McAusland.

"Players take on the roles of trainees who are forced to cope in the toxic, mutant infested and treacherous world of The Mutant Epoch. Will their training and advanced technology be enough to see them safely home, or will the perils, opportunistic predators and wily inhabitants of the old city bring about their doom?"

The cadet explorers woke up & immediately had to fight for thier lives to get out from thier starship before it sank beneath the waves.  They have no idea where they are or how they got there only that this is a failed colony and from the literature they found it was a post Recession II failed colony. The party found itself in the middle of a ruined city. 

Then they had to fight thier way through the ruined city before we even began this adventure. The encounters in "The Ascent" are balanced and were not that hard to convert over to Stellagamma's Cepheus Atom with a twist of first edition Barbaric.  So we winged it when it came to the players dealing with some of the local inhabitants. 

The players managed to save Captain Darius & thier equipmet bundles from the remains of the ship. And then it was quickly moving after getting a pep talk from the captain before he passed out; " I’m not going to lie to you, this is grim, and worse than you know. The denizens of the earth aren’t the stupid and ineffectual beasts the governments been telling you about for years. They’re mutants, freaks, and weapons from a bygone age who live in brutal harmony with this twisted rock, and we are smack dab in the middle of a likely war zone. Our ship is valuable plunder to them, and they won’t hesitate to kill all the men and violate the women before stripping every scrap from our vessel. You need to get to higher ground and contact a rescue ship. Trust nobody, kill anything that approaches you, and keep moving." Each PC cadet explorer had the following: 

1 Suit of tactical armor per player character cadet 1 Laser pistol, full power cell, per player character cadet 1 Dagger per cadet 1x 20m synthetic steel core rope 10x self anchoring pitons 4x Palm lamps 10x 5 day ration cubes 10x Cyanide tablets (Take 1 to kill a PC, type M, endurance based hazard check) 1x Medical kit (Bandages, tourniquets, bindings, antiseptic solution and 2d6 anti-toxin injectors.) 1x Damaged Long range communicator

We converted all of the stats from Independence Games G.E.A.R. book and kept going. The player's PC's made it five miles away from thier present location to get to a high sky scraper ruin to transmit for a pick up from a mothership vessel. 

The party camped for the night and here's where we ended tonight. There's a few things going on here. First of all it's not hard to use & convert the Mutant Epoch rpg material over to almost any Cepheus Engine or old school 2d6 based Science Fiction system. 

The real challenge was moving over the player's expectations from the usual Cepheus Engine rpg over to this straight up post apocalytic Hellscape that is this failed colony world. Fortunately there's a ton of resources that  I recently downloaded thanks to the Keith Frye Memorial Bundle [BUNDLE]

Now all the party has to do is get across town, set up on the high end of the ruins, transmit to the mother ship and get picked up!?! 

Canopus Blues In Orbit - Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaign's Session Report

We're just getting back from our session which is going to pick right up from here on the blog. 

So I'm just getting back from our continuing Hostile/Kosmos68 campaign which I've been introducing and playing Gamma World elements. Since the last time we played. Paul Elliot of Zozer games has gotten back from vacation in Australia. Again I'm not stalking the poor guy but instead he's put out some wonderful Cepheus Engine rpg handouts.  And recent events aboard The Potemikin led the party into some real trouble. You see our resident hacker extracted a bunch of senstive Soviet documents. And those documents were Cepheus Engine rpg handouts

 And this includes  documents about a wrecked space station in orbit around the Soviet Terra colony. Of course the players wanted to investigate this wrecked space station! We really played up them landing on the station, getting the power up, etc. 

And it's through these handouts I've gotten the party in trouble in today's lunch time session report! You've probably been reading about our group of DM's & players who have been incorporating various old school Gamma World rpg resources into our game. As the PC's came upon the wreckage of the space station they received docking transmissions. What they didn't know was the fact that they were actually playing Paul Richie III's 8 page mini-module "The Albuquerque Starport." Among the autopsy reports showed that the  station had been 'taken' over by something. The player's PC's began exploring the station & came face to face with Pre Recession II  era robots, and other Soviet style technologies. I really played up the Pre Recession II era artifacts & relics. And played on the power & atmosphere being stable. Thier hacker downloaded everything she could and we really played out the unreliablity of the technology of the station. And that's when she came face to face with one of the station's shamblers. They were so busy exploring that  several of them almost got infected by the poor victims of the  the dreaded Canpous plague! Victims upon whom the virus has been feeding upon and too  for the last ten years! Suddenly the victims seemed to be everywhere?! 

And the players freaked! They were expecting alien life forms or the Zhuki. But an alien virus that turns you into a walking mush pit?! Hell no! Maybe it's Covid indused nightmares! The player's grabbed the artifacts and they were outta of that station! 
They secured everything they had gotten from the station into decomamination.
Oh boy do they want to destroy that station but they dare not because of the valuable fuel core aboard the station! They don't want that raining down on the Terra colony. Now of course they have details on the route to the lost Pre Recession II Canpous colony!! 
They do however have two Pre Recession II robots & serveral artifacts. There's also the matter of the fact that the PC's know there's a Soviet ship there. Now thier heading back to the The Potemikin to get checked out and make sure they didn't pick up the plague even though they were wearing space suits! Yes thier that paranoid. Our resident cyborg hacker wants to start checking out the Soviet robots. And the party also had the Ben Franklin scanned twice for shamblers?! 
Anyhow I did notice that the players have been using Independence Games G.E.A.R. and really going to town on the customization of thier weapons, equipment, etc. even using Hostile rpg catalog of equipment. 

The Return of 'The Potemikin' Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaign's Session Report

 
This session report is going to pick right up from the last blog entry here. During tonight's Hostile/Kosmos 68 game the PC's were confronted by a spectre from the second Recession! The PCs's came face to face with a Milligan-class Hospital Ship outfitted for medical R&D. This particular starship was used by one of the major American medicial corporations. The corporation engaged in some major shady medical research but this all ended with the Second Recession. The Milligan Class Hospital ship was sold to the Soviets in the second era. The Potemikin got a second lease on life and was used extensively by the Soviets. 

The Potemikin had a great career until the on coming of the Zhuki war in which it served as a hostipal ship for wounded  troops again. And then the Potemikin jumped with the fleet and was lost in a hyperspacial accident. Tonight the Potemikin made an appearance around the Terra colony world. 

The party made thier way on board as a part of thier mercenary contract and it went from bad to worse. Aboard were Zhuki wasps and wolves waiting for the party! They had built a nest on board the ship and were in the process of converting the ship into a mobile base. 
Well needless to say that it was a bit of clean up with the party making thier way to the control room. They fired the engines up and then sent the craft into a jump into the nearest star after the party's hacker's overroad the safety locks on the ship which between dice rolls and role playing took half the game. Two of our player's tigers (mercenaries former marines) were taken out by wolves! We've got replacements in hypersleep. Most of the action tonight was taken up by role playing, dice throwing, and traveling around the Potemikin interior. 

The players had lots of questions & few answers. Did the Zhuki fly the ship to the Terra colony or did they hitch a ride instead. The entire interior of the hospital ship had been reworked with Zhuki resin an ability not seen before leading to the players speculating on the fact that there might be a new type of Zhuki drone not seen before. None of these questions had any answers to them. Next week we return to the Gamma World Legion of Gold module. 

The Rocket Corps, The Rocket Collectives, & Orbital 2100 Within Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaigns

 Alright let's up right from here on the blog the other day & talk about the Rocket Corps. The Rocket Corps to me as a DM is going to be a profession that is frought with all kinds of hazards. The conditions would be like a German U boat during World War I in my estimation. 

In the war against the Zhuki the Rocket Corps and the Marines are going to be the Soviet's main canno erm front line troops. Once the PC's have mustered out where are they going to get a space ship that thier promised?! 
So reading through the Hostile Rule book last I can across  a reference to Orbital 2100 which is one of Zozer Games early efforts at a Mongoose Traveller intersolar system setting. 
The break down for Orbital 2100 is as follows & stay with me here;"Orbital 2100 is a science fiction setting for Cepheus Engine and other Classic 2D6 SF RPGs. It has realistic (TL 9) feel that is set within our own solar system. The Earth is locked in a Cold War with the people of Luna. Both face off, 400,000 km apart, threatening mutual annihilation whilst they compete to colonise the moons of Jupiter and Saturn. Older colonies such as Mars and Mercury are independent and caught up in this struggle for solar system supremacy.

"Spacecraft use nuclear thermal rockets and create gravity by spinning pods or centrifuges, this is spaceflight as envisaged today!" Now if we look into the "Rocket Collective" blog entry for Kosmos 68 then we see the guidelines of the hows of owning a trade, science, or other vessel; "Merchants (members of Interkosmos state owned shipping corporation) and Scouts (members of the Special Purpose Fleet) can be granted a ship as part of their mustering out benefits. This ship remains the property of the originating organisation. The character has just been given a payment-free lease on the vessel. This lease can be revoked at any time by the parent organisation. As per standard Traveller, the ship and operator can be recalled to active duty at any time. The character has no legal recourse. "

"Scholars (members of the Academy of Sciences) can be granted a Lab Ship as part of their mustering out benefits. Similar to above, this lab ship remains the property of the Academy of Sciences. The character has simply been given the right to use this vessel to lead research expeditions and can lose that right if the Academy chooses."

"Nobility (or should we say senior and/or influential members of the Global Progress Party) may be granted a yacht as part of the mustering out. This yacht is the property of The People, and the character has graciously accepted the responsibility of conducting diplomatic missions with it. This privilege can be stripped away just as easily."
However just where are these space craft coming from?! The answer is that thier 125 years old. During the Second Recesssion in Hostile the Cold War between the East & West turned hot or did it?! Kosmos 68 is an alternative reality. And perhaps there are millions of vessels still in operation from 125 years ago. 

Now don't rush off and grab a copy of Orbital 2100 just yet because Paul Elliot of Zozer games is going to update his wonderful Cold War Solar System setting for Cepheus Engine and other old school 2d6 Science Fiction systems coming up in 2023. And this isn't the half of it yet. Each of these solar system, gravity spinning beauties also has a hyperdrive strapped on her and has been refitted for the Zhuki war. 
And some of the larger craft have become supply ships for the Soviets. Are the Zhuki taking out supply lines?! You better your behind they are. 

And here's where the marines & other mercenary outfits of the Hostile universe are going to come into play. And also why Soviet criminal organizations have been turning to the American corporate and independant mercenary organizations. These organizations have vested interest in keeping the "Rocket Collective" ships flying.
PC's are not going to be starting with full blown marine warships & in point of fact one of the cutting edge corporate ships of our games has been Independence Games Historical Ships of Clement Sector 1: Trent-class Destroyer. 

The Trent class destroyer is the last thing that a corporate colony wants on thier doorstep. And these destroyers are out of mothballs and back into the war. There are two or three reasons for this. One they were used during the Cold War with China & the Soviets during the Second Recession in Hostile. Two there was an upgrading program due to the Zhuki war! And three the corporations know that they need aces up thier sleeves like the Destroyers. This also leaves openings for other star ship manufacturers to come into the field. 

Now going back to the Orbital 2100 end of the spectrum any type A or B space port in Soviet space is going to be able to upgrade any of the 125 year old space craft into modern shape. But it's gonna cost even a small corporate outfit a lot. 

And if you want to get in on Independence Games Clement & Earth sector rpg action I strongly suggest the Clement Sector humble bundle.

Mercentary Contracts & Gunrunning Within Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaigns

 After the Easter holiday, it's time to dive back 2d6 OSR rpging & let's talk about Hostile for moment.  And pick things back up from here on the blog.  And today a fellow DM friend of mine told me that besides G.E.A.R. there's another book from Independence Games that could easily be moved straight over into Hostile. 

And this is 21 Vehicles for Third Edition of the Clement & Earth rpg's respectively. Why because of the fact that the colonies within our Soviet style Kosmos 68 campaign conforms to many of the inspiratuons found within 21 vehicles: 

• Star Trek, The Original Series, with its implied Communist triumph future. This is the aspiration: what it’s all supposed to look like and what state propaganda tells everyone it is like
• Blake’s Seven. This is a lot more what it looks like: a totalitarian system
• Starship Troopers. Again, the utopian version of life in a hierarchical, militaristic system, in a time of war with an enemy that cannot be bullied or ignored
• Aliens. The dystopian version of life in the near future – not so pretty at all
• The writings of Stanislaw Lem, the Strugatsky brothers, and a long list of other brilliant Soviet era science fiction writers. Their wry humour and insightful predictions inform everything
• Dan Dare. The venerable British comic that informs so much of what a post-war heroic future should look like. Rockets and khaki: that’s what
• Science Fiction movies of the 1960’s and 1970’s

Many of these devices and vehicles conform to the material laid down in the Hostile Rpg setting book. And they do so because of the attention to detail that Michael Johnson brings to the table. For a mercenary outfit there's a lot to cherry pick from here. And because much of Clement & Earth rpg sector books have that Space Western vibe to them. Many of these vehicles could simply be dropped into an existing campaign such as ours. And there's a reason why the Soviets would be employing American mercenaries besides the propaganda boon. There's vast economic reasons ala the late Roman empire where American corps could easily be inserted into a star spanning Soviet empire. Not only would the American corps be spying on the Soviets. The distances involved allow the Rocket Collective could be the glue that holds both the Americans & Soviets depending upon each other. The Soviet Rocket Collective maybe visiting tons of American colony worlds. And these could be bringing not only news but also new technological designs. And here's where the  21 Vehicles  supplement fits in. 
The American colonies trade data, designs, and technologies with thier Soviet counterparts. Remember the Soviet's technologies are very reliable. And the Soviets love thier reliable technologies this includes weapons systems. Weapons systems such as the Cossack Infantry Combat vehicle certainly fits the Soviet empire's parameters. And this along with the transport lorry certain fit any of the Soviet ideals. And there's a ton of vehicles within  21 Vehicles  that fit the retro technologies of Hostile without any modification. And this is especially true of the  Union Defence Force (UDF) (Army) which would be the first to operate many of the planes, antigrav and other military vehicles found within 21 Vehicles.  Given the real threat of Zhuki the UDF would be more then ready to purchase military vehicles from the American & European corps. 

There's plenty of opportunities for American corporations to exploit the Zhuki situation for military sales and contracts. Given this and the attitudes of the corporations within the Hostile rpg universe. It doesn't take genius to see that there's plenty of time & energy out there for gun running within a Kosmos 68 campaign. Given the rate at which the Soviet's colonial military forces are facing the Zhuki then it stands to reason all of the more for mercenary outfits to lend a hand to the Soviets. And this would definitely be welcomed later in the Soviet/Zhuki war.
  21 Vehicles for Third Edition of the Clement & Earth rpg's  is a great addition to a DM interested in adding a bit more military & equipment diversity within thier Hostile rpg campaigns. And it certainly puts a slightly different spin on a campaign. 

Mercenary Outfits Within Our Hostile & Cosmos 68 Campaigns

 "Been enjoying this book. Are Rockwell Harbingers in the HOSTILE setting akin to the Beowulf Free Traders of the 3rd Imperium OTU setting? Ubiquitous and what everyone thinks of when they think of smaller traders?"
These are the words of Paul Elliot about Crew Expendable to a person that left a comment about his Hostile supplement . And let me just say that I hope that Paul and his lovely family had a great time in Japan. No I'm not stalking the poor man but he posted photos on social media. Instead I've been talking with one of my fellow DM's about Independence Games GEAR: General Equipment Adventurers Require.

The idea occurred to me about a 'rapid' deployment group of mercenaries out on the edges of frontier space. And Independence Games GEAR: General Equipment Adventurers Require has some excellent options for such a group of mercenaries. And in point of fact these options would work very well for Zozer Games Modern Warfare's weaponry. 

And all of this has me thinking about the  Kosmos68's blog. How could a Soviet Union that never was still come to be a devestatingly dangerous interstellar power. 
If we look into the background of the Hostile Setting book's history on the world of Hostile the answer becomes pretty damn clear. And that answer is Hostile's China. The Soviet Union shares a corporate & technological  powerblock with China. Such a powerblock allows the 'retro technologies' of the Soviets to take far more risks then the American dominated power block of interstellar space. And this is born out on the Kosmos68.wood press entry 'Sleep Your Way Between The Stars'. This entry reveals one of the major points of interest with the Soviets interstellar & colony trade; "Non-military ships are divided into two classes: liners and tramps. Liners, passenger or cargo carrying, have a defined route that they follow between worlds on a published timetable. Tramps carry cargo and passengers on an as-needs basis.

In K68 there are two main circuits serviced by liners: The Stanovoy-Archangel-Karpovo-Vanavara-Jutka line, also known as the Capitol Circuit. Then there is the Bukan-Barkava-Novyy Kiev-Magadan-Zarubino line, also known as the Wilderness Circuit. A major trade artery runs from Archangel to Bukan to connect the two circuits. Stanovoy is the gateway to K63.?" 

At first it might seem like the Soviets are far more in advance thier American sector rivals. Guess again. The Soviets have a very close dependence on thier tramps & liners do then thier American counterparts. And it's these dependences where mercenaries could come in to exploit the loop that has been left open. A mercenary outfit using a   Rockwell Harbinger's ship could help plug the holes left in the Soviet's interstellar nets. And within our own Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns this is the case. 

Using a combination of propaganda & controlled governement fluff about giving the 'poor American's' some business opportunities. The Soviets are actually helping to secure thier own lines from pirates and raiders. 

So here the overlap between Hostile & Kosmos68 tighens a bit more. This leaves the edges of the map clear for the explorers within our games to have far more leaway. 

Using Port of Entry Supplement Star Ports For The Clement Sector By John Watts, Michael Johnson, & Tony Hicks For Our Shoulder of Orion Campaign

 So last weekend whist looking through Independence Games Port of Entry it occurs to me that what is needed in our current 'Shoulder of Orion' campaign for the Hostile rpg are mobile deployable space bases.What you only thought that Port of Entry was for only the Earth & Clement sector rpg's?! Nope the Independence Games crew designed it with applications in mind; " Port of Entry also includes 11 new character careers as well as two sample starports, several companies and organizations, and a number of example locations.  Also included is a space station design system from Michael Johnson, our starship guru, to allow you to design a station of you own." 

For the Shoulder of Orion these mobile bases will serve to fuel and service the attack ships. Gypsy fighters that move from base to bases making life very difficult for the other corporation's forces. Events have been shaping up to this becoming a full blown war. Let's see how this plays out. 

Port of Entry Supplement Star Ports For The Clement Sector  By John Watts, Michael Johnson, & Tony Hick Is Available Right Here 

OSR Commentary On 'The Starship From Hell' For 2d6 Old School Science Fiction & Science Fantasy Campaigns

"The Starship From Hell is a system-agonistic toolkit to be used at the table during sci-fi RPG sessions. With a handful of dice, generate a starship's type, category, name, nearby phenomena, reason for distress signal, dangerous cargo, and passengers or crew members with horrific secrets."

So over the coming weekend we're getting together with friends for a private mini Con that we do every year & there's not a lot of prep time between work and whatnot. So we've got a Hostile rpg one shot coming up that's got me behind the screen again. With the time factor working against me, off of the shelf came an old friend 'The Starship From Hell'. 'The Starship From Hell' is perfectly suited for a Hostile rpg or Independant Games Earth sector oneshot and works very well as a mission generator to create one shot adventures. The encounters in the 'The Starship From Hell' may have to be tailored back a bit to conform to 2d6 style games to be a bit less lethal or not. It's going to depend upon what the DM wants to do with their campaigns. 

So why the Earth Sector rpg?! Because of the nature of the Earth sector's corporate structure which could easily take advantage of the  'The Starship From Hell' random 'Sci fi horror' tropes. The edge of the unknown frontier just like a Space Western film from the Eighties works very well as an anaology for the historical Old West feel of the Earth Sector rpg. And the unknown blackness of space works with it's hyperspacial horrors coming into the corporate spaces of Hostile. Generate your missions and then go right to play as the campaign unfolds from a roll of the dice time and again. 

And this same methodology could be used with Cepheus Deluxe easily and without a problem at all. Roll up a mission with the 'The Starship From Hell'. And off you & your players go with a fully realized campaign. 

The Starship From Hell could be used as the basis for a Sword of Cepheus rpg campaign easily as a space craft introduces weird radiations, monsters,etc. to an interstellar colony stuck in the Dark Ages tech levels. 

'The Starship From Hell' Is Available Here 

OSR Commentary On The Hercules-class Heavy Freighter By Michael Johnson From Independence Games For the Clement Sector rpg

 "Along with James Lancaster’s ubiquitous Atlas-class freighter design, the Hercules-class heavy freighter is considered to be a second generation gravitic drive design with the first generation being simple conversions of existing reaction drive vessels without internal gravity fields and inertial compensators. Designed from onset to be a pure gravitic drive design, the Hercules completed its first round of trials at the same time the Atlas-class was entering commercial service with Lancaster Shipping."

The Hercules is a huge freighter, as big as a navy cruiser and bigger by far than every other interstellar capable commercial vessel. With over half the ship dedicated to cargo carrying capacity, the class is a “must own” for mercantile companies regardless of their fleet size. Now having been in service for over a century it is still an attractive option as a used purchase for more successful ship owners looking to increase profits on a lucrative cargo run. 

Within these pages, you will find the standard Hercules as well as these popular variants:

Tanker - Used by mining corporations, shipping corporations, and other private fleets as a refueling vessel.

Transport - Used by some governments as a troop transport, the Hercules can transport a light battalion into battle."

The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter By Michael Johnson is one of those iconic ships that seems to fade into the background when we begin talking about the Clement Sector. And that's too bad because these starships are the pack mules of the black! Seriously the   Hercules-class Heavy Freighter moves whole battalions into battle. And these starships represent the very best in cargo moving that the Frontier of the Clement sector has to offer. 
The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter tankers are the fuel points that many corporations rely on to get the job done in the blackness between the points of civilization. These tankers can mean the life line to the remote colonies between stars in a sector. The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter represents the real time arm of investiment that a corporation has in a planet, sector, or fleet. And this means that the mining corporations know their value. The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter forms a fixed point of fuel and hope to those who need their services, fuel, & utility to colonies across the Clement sector. 
And don't think that every two bit pirate outfit isn't gunning for  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter or its variants. 

The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter's crew represents a significiant part of a possible ransom for a party of space pirates. And this doesn't take into account the The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter's cargo which could fetch on the open market! And skilled crews operating in the black are prime targets for space pirates.The  black market thrives on the Hercules-class Heavy Freighter & thier cargoes. The real weigh  of the black market is rife with politic                                                                                   corruption on both sides of the Clement sector. And this makes The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter a hot star or diamond in the rough depending on which side of the law the owners find themselves on.Power comes from being able to move cargo when & where you as a corporate entity want too. Making you as the owner the  ultimate entity   to place cargo in the hands of the colonies or other  corporations.  Only the biggest corporate outfits can operate a Hercules-class Heavy Freighter. Something made obvious by Michael Johnson's writing and reading between the lines of the starship guide. 

The  Hercules-class Heavy Freighter By Michael Johnson From Independence Games For the Clement Sector rpg Is Available Here 

OSR Review On The Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson From Independence Games For the Earth Sector rpg & Your Old School 2d6 Science Fiction rpg Campaigns

 "Need a freighter on a budget?! Have we got the ship for you!" The Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson came our way through a pre release via  Independence Games

The Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson is the perfect Earth sector adventuring class ship. The Pleiades Light Freighter clocks in at forty pages of wall to wall light freighter for all of those high risk high reward cargos for the Earth Sector. The Pleiades is the perfect little ship to hop from port to port and get your adventurers in & out of trouble on the high frontier! The Pleiades Light Freighter has some excellent artwork by Ian Stead & rocks in with the history, variants, specs, and everything you need to include the  Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson into your Cepheus Engine or Earth Sector rpg campaigns. 
The Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson  is a small adventuring ship with solid chops and includes everything to get your player's PC's into this little beauty of a ship. The whole package comes with some excellent deck plans & starship variants to get you the DM started! The Pleiades Light Freighter is a no nonsense design with tried & true designs at your finger tips. For the Earth sector the Pleiades Light Freighter isn't a starship to break the bank! The material here is aimed with a practical approach in mind! This is an excellent starship to start an adventuring party with and one that allows a party to expand as time goes on. 
The Pleiades Light Freighter is a nice solid addition to the interstellar corp scene in Earth sector because the Earth sector is all about the independent businessmen & women. And its a theme that shines through within the Pleiades Light Freighter. In the darkness of the high  frontier you need a ship to depend upon & that's the Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson !

The Pleiades Light Freighter by Michael Johnson will be available on April 15th through Independence Games & Drivethrurpg

Sectors & Set Up's - - Cepheus Engine & Stars Without Number Revised rpg Game Campaign Update

 A campaign & adventure point that has been used numerous times in our campaign is the fact that the Clement sector supplies a huge amount of food stuffs, minerals, nuclear fuels, etc to other sectors. This has made the Clement sector incredibly wealthy and gives the PC's time to do a bit of double sector duty. How?! Well its easy. The PC's are going to be doing a bit of guard duty on a Clement Sector Hercules class Heavy freighter 

Now this isn't the first time that  I've used this bid but it is the first time that I've used the 'These Stars Are Ours' campaign setting as the receiving sector for the sundries, food crops, etc. And this happened out in the American West all of the time. The Hercules is perfect prey for space pirates and having an escort starship is going to help. 

'These Stars Are Ours' sector has a post war economy which deeply reminds me of the American Civil War. The Clement sector is positioned to be the perfect cure offering alternatives for interstellar trade. 

And this is going put New Liberty in the cross hairs of the PC's as a bit of a lawless colony and this isn't the first time that the colony has been on the table. 

The players are not going to be used to the fact that all of their high tech toys don't work on New Liberty & they're going to have to think outside of the box. And I don't see the Reticulans going the way of the American Indians at all. And is Terra of TSAO actually Earth?! In our game actually no. 
This dives into several themes that Stars Without Numbers Revised rpg goes into with the Scream and some post interstellar themes. These do fit our campaign so there's more coming on that end. 

Insterstellar Colony Campaign Set Up With New Liberty For The Clement Sector

 Fading back to the idea of the Space Western, we're thinking of fading back to the idea of the  PC's beginnning the Clement Sector in the New Liberty holiday colony. The Clement Sector's subsectors could easily support this little Western style colony on the world of the Frontier. But there's a lot more to the colony then at first might meet the player's PC's eyes. 

The New Liberty colony terrority has some excellent potential as a gold, silver, & rare Earth metals resource. This is going to draw all kinds of NPC's to the colony. The use of archaic guns is easily explained with some strange radioactive element that causes bad reactions in modern gun powder. The older 'cowboy' mixes don't have this problem. 
Now New Liberty is the perfect venue to host a bunch of vile villains & some of these are easily teased up & transported from 21 Villians from Independence Games. 

New Liberty has some advantages as a world & not simply its mineral wealth but its position in space just off of the major interstellar trade routes. And the fact that the O'Malley Crime Family has interests on New Liberty. This give the crime syndicate a far greater advantages on this world. There's also kinds of faction within New Liberty & the player's have no idea of the hornet's nest that their walking into! 

Handling The Mecha Problem With The Cepheus Engine Rpg -- Independence Games Artificial: Robots of The Clement Sector & Moon Toad Design's Cepheus Engine Rpg Vehicle Design Guide

How do a group of aliens defend against the mecha of mankind?! Mankind seems to think that its top of  the food chain. But its not out in the depths of interstellar space. There are empires whose cosmic legacies stretch back millions of years.There are artificial & cybernetic life forms that can take out anyone who crosses their world's borders. 

 The Greys have always been a source of absolute terror & horror within our campaigns. After the Fall of Mankind campaign has the Greys using artifical life forms to police, administrate, and even kidnap humans to work their colonies. So here's where Independence Games Artificial: Robots of The Clement Sector  comes in. The Greys have learned the hard way that humanity means trouble & so they've taken the opportunity to take it upon themselves to take the cybernetic & robotic technologies from the Clement sector. Why?! 

Because they know that humanity has taken it upon themselves to exploit mecha to add the technology to many arena's of mankind's endevours. This of course includes warfare. In the depths of space with mankind expanding into the void of space and across vast interstellar distances the clashes with the Greys are increasing. 
The Greys have an interesting stragey for handling the 'human problem' and that is using medium,  heavy duty, & light duty robotic life forms to man their bases. They keep the Greys safe & humanity on its toes. The SW11 Malingee Warbot is top of the line for giving mecha & walkers bloody noses. KAY9 Security and Guard Robot patrol Grey Science & Research bases. Cleaning robots monitor & keep the upkeep of Grey bases solid. 
Meanwhile type 2 (TL13) AI Core biosynth's handle any interaction with humans & A.I. core life forms handle their own fleets of drone, war droids, and even walkers. 
Whole arrays of drone war drones & vehicles can easily be designed using Moon Toad Design's Cepheus Engine Rpg  Vehicle Design Guide. And since the  door swings both ways so to speak the chances are that it is very unlikely that the Greys would put their numbers in harm's way with humanity & their toys. When the aliens themselves can also use humanity's weapons against itself. 

 

The Mecha Question In The Cepheus Engine rpg -- Moon Toad Design's Cepheus Engine Rpg Vehicle Design Guide & Walkers Vehicles Volume 1 from The Traveler's Aid Society from Northern Edge.

" Rafe watched the shell from his tank’s 120mm main gun hit the enemy grav tank on the rear quarter facing, punching through the thin armour and sending it spiraling into the side of the closest hill where it exploded into a large fireball. He fancied he heard the tiny shattered pieces patter off the front glacis of his turret.

“Next position Jessika, before they pick on us”

“Aye Skipper”

As his tank swung out of its hide and disappeared into the piled up rubble of the small town, Rafe smiled at the stupidity of an enemy thinking they could mount a big energy gun onto an armoured vehicle and still not provide sufficient armour to protect it. High tech fools.

So you need a vehicle and cannot find the right one? Does the vehicle you have lack for speed or a big gun?

With the Vehicle Design Guide you can simply design your own with your specifications to suit your setting and campaign.

The VDG allows you to design pretty much any vehicle type for any role you can think of. From massive sea going battleships to fast grav vehicles perfect for fast jaunts around the new world your player’s battered trader has arrived to explore.

Included in the VDG are multiple chassis types, weapon types, armour rules and all manner of internal and external options for any design. Further, a new streamlined vehicle combat system is provided. Finally there are over fifty completed vehicles to use in any adventure and for any setting.

Including with this product are a number of form fillable PDF forms, that you can use for your own creations. They cover all the chassis in the book."

For the last twenty four hours, the question of mecha in Cepheus Engine rpg have come up. These mecha are on the smaller side for PC's & after posing the question to the Cepheus Engine rpg community on social media on Facebook & Me We. The Cepheus Engine community responded in spades. Overwhelmingly the consense was that Moon Toad Design's Cepheus Engine Rpg  Vehicle Design Guide has a very well designed section on walkers or mecha. 

These walkers will do very nicely for the types of encounters we're going to be designing for our upcoming campaign According to Robert Allen Murphy; " there's walker design notes, a design sheet, and 3 example designs in the book:
A Macross-style medium combat walker, an ALIENS-style power loader like exoskeleton, and a light "rock crawler" recreational sounding one."  This is going to be excellent for old school space opera & planet side mecha battles we're going to be planning. Now Jeff Hoff in the Cepheus Engine Facebook group suggested, Walkers Vehicles Volume 1 from The Traveler's Aid Society from Northern Edge. Man, this is a beauty of an rpg product and no frills at all but all mecha ready to go! And a really nice favorite cover of ours as well! That mech looks ready to kick major ass! 

Walkers is an excellent product that clocks in at fifteen pages of walkers, mecha's, and nasty smaller mecha that looks like it could be real headache to PC's. And this product is easily added into the Cepheus Engine rpg. These types of mecha could easily be added into These Stars Are Ours or even   Independence Games Clement Sector. 

These mecha in both Walkers & Moontoad Vehicles Design Guide are perfectly suited to the Clement Sector. The Clement sector has the perfect blend of Cepheus Engine rpg technologies & the engineering knowhow to make mecha work within the setting. The mecha could have had a role within the wars for the human's freedom in the  These Stars Are Ours setting. This is  especially true of  mecha converted from industrial  haulers into walkers. These pieces of equipment could have been critical at the human's break point from their alien masters within history of the TSRO's campaign setting. 
As humanity has loosened its alien shackles mecha have simply been a part of the weaponry that humanity has come to rely on over the centuries. 
Within our own Cepheus Engine campaigns humanity has rediscovered the secrets of mecha manufacturing & distribution. Humanity has used mecha in running warfare against several alien races including the Grays. The Cepheus Engine rpg  community continues to be amazing with an incredibly creative & vigourous creator & fan community. These guys & gals have had myself & player's backs! Thanks guys!