Meditations On Hacking West End Games Star Wars Strike Force Shantipole Adventure By Ken Rolston For Your Old School Campaigns

 Introduction 


Coming out in '88 this classic Star Wars Rpg adventure for the  first edition Star Wars rpg puts the PC's right into the classic era cross hairs for a daring mission into the lions den. The blurb on the back of the adventure takes the PC's right into heat of the Rebellion against the Empire;
"Battle Imperial starfighters in the vastness of space, chase deadly probots through asteroid storms, and go up against a heavily-armed escort frigate in this explosive full-length Star Wars adventure.
In the Roche Asteroid Field, a secret Rebel project nears completion. Headed by Commander Ackbar, the Shantipole project has developed a powerful new starfighter for the Alliance arsenal.
But first, Shantipole must be safely escorted back to Alliance High Command. That's where you and your team come in. With a borrowed freighter, sealed holodisc orders, and a good blaster at your side, your ship emerges from hyperspace -- right in the middle of a TIE/LN starfighter patrol!
And they told you this was going to be a routine mission..."
So I know what your thinking what the hell does this have to do with OSR gaming and why is taking a classic West End  Star Wars adventure and talking about hacking it. Well its not to what you might think. This classic adventure by Ken Rolston brings the action of the Star Wars game right to the players door step and goes that extra push over the edge. This classic adventure allows the PC's to meet an iconic Star Wars character as an NPC and play a critical off camera role in the midst of the background of the movies all of the while a key piece of the Rebellion Alliance military hard wear keeps flying and out of the Empire's clutches.
When we begin looking below the surface of the adventure into the story line, background of the adventure plus the way things begin to play out we begin to see a pattern in the adventure's foundation.




Background, Plugging In Elements, and Sword & Sorcery  Because of the military aspect of  Strike Force Shantipole it is very easy to take certain plot and adventure elements and transport these over to your favorite retroclone or old school adventure. The thing to remember is the PC's are playing a central roll in the continuation of one of the most iconic fighters in the Rebel Alliance



Take the action, the background elements, and other messy plot point details and transport this adventure over into your favorite retroclone or AD&D 1st edition sword and sorcery style campaigns and suddenly the utility of the adventure is extended by years. Certain adventures are iconic and easily recognized and work on a number of levels for science fantasy play. Take these adventure elements and transport the whole plot lock, stock and barrel into a sword and sorcery game or campaign and things can get very interesting.


Sealed orders, the fate of a kingdom,incredibly dangerous encounters on the enemies home territory, and other surprises make this style of hack easy and incredibly fun.Throw in some iconic NPC's for various encounters and you have a mini campaign going soon enough.



According to Wookiepedia:"Research Station Shantipole was an asteroid in the Roche system. It was primarily staffed by Verpine. After the Battle of Yavin, the asteroid was the site of the Shantipole Project, in which Slayn & Korpil worked with Commander Gial Ackbar to develop the B-wing/E starfighter." So here's how this might translate over to a sword and sorcery campaign setting:

1. The isolated island was the site of an ancient military ship yard within a hidden base. 
2. A special fast pirate ship is being used by renegade forces and only PC''s are aware of it after their aboard and on their way into the jaws of death. 
3. Add in some pulpy minor monsters, a subplot, a bit of magickal mythology and legend not to mention the HP Lovecraft or Robert Howard connection and your almost ready to go. 
4. A cult or other faction could help to move the plot along. 
5. Rival forces for opposition to the PC's could make for some much needed melee and combat. 
6. Many of the over the top aspects of the Empire are perfect for keeping PC's on their toes with warlord tactics and management ideas. The Empire becomes a world level power and faction with the added twist of the ancient dark magic/religion being behind the rise of the power in your world.
7. The added dungeon crawling aspects of this adventure give just that much more of a classic D&D style dungeon crawl. 
8. Many of the plot pieces feel as though they belong to a classic fantasy film or WW II war picture many of these exciting elements can be worked into other plots. Don't try and rush this adventure there are a lot of moving parts and pieces. 
9. There's something about this adventure where the PC's are a party of rag tag fighters that works on a number of levels. 
10. This adventure could be adapted to other classic rpg genres such as a post apocalyptic adventure. I used this one as a part of a space going Mutant Future/Buck Rogers style crossover. This style of adventure with altered ships, details, and some backgrounds allowed it to work great at the time.
    
     Breaking Up The Beast, Parts, Pieces, And More
    
    
    As I said this is a beast of an adventure that has a plot that could be used potentially for lots of applications. This is especially true of using Star Wars adventures for WWII movie style role playing a fact that I've used several times in modern style role playing games such as Top Secret and others. The secret to this style of role playing is the movie serial. Breaking up the plot of a complicated or long  range module allows the DM and players to emulate the pulp style reels of the 1930's.
    
    
    
    
    The serial approach allows the PC's to take center stage on a number of levels and allows the DM to break up the action of the adventure to be stretched into a mini campaign with the PC's playing their vital parts. This approach works especially well in a wartime style scenario or as a sword and planet or science fantasy vehicle. The Fifty Five film The Damn Busters really solidifies the idea for such an exciting adventure with a
    military theme.
    
    
     Once again we're going back to the roots of Star Wars in this case the Damn Busters a 1955 UK film that George Lucas used as inspiration for many of the Death Star sequences and trench run camera angles.Many of the action military films of yesteryear not only provide a touch stone with the roots of the film but also provide a clue for getting the most out of adventures that players might not be expecting.
    

Meditations On The What West End Games Star Wars Rpg Taught Me About Dungeon Mastering An Old School Campaign & Setting Building

Introduction



  I can remember the day I saw one of my favorite rpg from West End games in Dragon magazine in '87. The blurb really caught my attention and plugged into my kid Star Wars fever', "Experience the vast scope and sweeping power of the greatest space fantasy of all time!
Struggle against the awesome might of the evil galactic Empire, fly faster-than-light spacecraft, trade blaster fire with Imperial stormtroopers, fight lightsaber duels, and tap the mystic Force which binds all living things together. Explore a galaxy of a billion suns, each with wonders and dangers of its own — a universe of dire peril, where Rebels fight desperately against the eternal night of Imperial oppression.
In Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, you will face overwhelming odds, hard choices, impossible challenges — but if you meet them bravely, you will triumph, for the Force is with you always!"
I think I mowed about maybe seven or eight lawns to afford this bad boy and I've still got my first edition Star Wars rpg book.


May the fourth has passed without incident except for the usual load of internet related Star Wars memes and it brought back certain strains of memory and nostalgia. It also brought back a certain back straightening memory. You see way back when I got seven friends together who were life long Star Wars fans and we got together to play the game. They were life long Star Wars fans who knew the canon like the back of their hands and that's where the trouble began. See at the time Dragonlance was in full swing and I was involved in a friend's home campaign. This is where I learned the difference between approaches in world building between a 'canned' setting and an open setting like 'Greyhawk'. I was used to 'Blackmoor' & 'Greyhawk' where you could make your mark on the campaign setting from the get go. Dragonlance established canon, history, setting, and more. It was a lesson that would come around in spades with Forgotten Realms but that is a story for another blog post.
All of a sudden during my first planned Star Wars game the arguments started about 'official Star Wars canon' straight out of the gate. The game degraded as they often did back then. What was I going to do. Well the answer was I got sick with the flu. That might have ended that right there.
Star Wars, Samurai,VHS  & Shakespeare 


 Things picked up with an unexpected visit and a brand new campaign direction. After the flu got a bit well, iffy.

 The flu was a big deal for a kid like me, I've got a touch now of asthma but back then it put me down for a long time. This insured that I had friends who brought me my homework and such from school. And that's where one of my mentors comes into it. See back then we had video stores that did some great rentals and one I used to hang out in and I became fast friends with one of the part time workers. His daughter went to  my school at the time and he brought me homework that day. Michael noticed my copy of  West End's Star Wars and went back out to his car for a copy of a 1957 Japanese film co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa called Throne of Blood. Now the reason why I was watching Throne of Blood was simple I had a report on William Shakespeare's play Macbeth, Throne of Blood follows and retells the drama in a whole new light by transporting it to feudal Japan. Its vicious film and very well done and  it became a favorite of mine.
The plot follows Macbeth in its own way but there a lot of subtle differences but here's important points of the back plot;"Generals Miki and Washizu are Samurai commanders under a local lord, Lord Tsuzuki, who reigns in the castle of the Spider's Web Forest. After defeating the lord's enemies in battle, they return to Tsuzuki's castle. On their way through the thick forest surrounding the castle, they meet a spirit, who foretells their future. The spirit tells them that today Washizu will be named Lord of the Northern Garrison and Miki will now be commander of the first fortress. She then foretells that Washizu will eventually become Lord of Spiderweb Castle, and finally she tells Miki that his son will also become lord of the castle."

At the time I was watching a hell of a lot of low rent sci fi movies and Throne of Blood's plot fit right into the science fantasy background of Stars Wars. Everything came together with this two page spread in the game.

 The PC's were agents on the Galaxy Tours for various reasons who were aboard a luxury ship passing through the Tsuzuki system. An an asteroid collision puts the whole party in an escape pod rocketing down onto a back water planet. Where a dark side spirit has taken a hold of the local warlord and only his loyal R2 unit knows the extent of his descent into murder, and madness. The PC's had to figure out the tissue thin murder plot and help to restore the rightful heir to the throne of Spiderweb fortress.

 The R2 unit later became the backbone of this campaign which expanded into the Tsuzuki system which would later appear appear in my Wasteworld rpg in a totally new incarnation. 
The  Tsuzuki system is a backwater steeped in dark side mythology, misplaced alliances, bad deals, and lots and lots of blood.

Back to the Star Wars Rpg, the Tsuzuki system campaign became one of my longest running and sustained rpg campaigns ever. It lasted three and half years and bits of it are still floating in my back brain to this day.
Rules, Settings, Worlds & Mayhem




The West End Star Wars was one of my first smacking into the weight & back history of a fictional universe. Fictional settings & universes are something that people get very, very, attached to. It was also one of the times when departing from the official canon also meant blazing your own path. For some people this can be a very scary proposition. It also makes one of the real differences between new school and old school games for me. New school games seem to have worlds and settings already built into the system itself, this includes Vampire the Masquerade, Rifts, and too some extent West Ends Star Wars rpg.  I can hear the teeth grinding and whatnot but let's talk about second edition AD&D for a moment. They had all of those wonderful worlds such as Ravenloft, Dark Sun, Forgotten Realms, etc. All of these are premade world settings and that's not a bad thing and they do allow a DM to colour outside the lines to some extent.  

But there's also a huge number of differences with old school products such as Greyhawk, Blackmoor, Arduin, etc. That's the fact that its really up to the DM to fill as much or as little  of the campaign setting as they'd like. Here are ten things that I've learned about world building from West End Games Star Wars Rpg that I've applied to OSR campaign building :

1. Colour outside of the lines always. Don't be afraid to go outside of the comfortzone when it comes to 'official' canon. 
2. Rip, rip, rip off rip from the paperbacks or other merchandise that comes out for a game world, movie franchise,etc. These often have grey areas that you as DM can exploit to their fullest extent. 
3. Twist player expections in various ways, build the world or campaign events that you always wanted to see into your games and don't give an over arching reason. Just do it. 
4. Don't listen to so called 'experts' or super fans. Never let the official reason for something keep you from doing what you want. These are your games. 
5. Mark and make a game world or setting out as your own. Make a check list of bullet points of things, places, alien races, etc. you want in a game.
6. Create, create, dream, and create the adventures that you and your players want to play. 
7. Pick the black points on a map and go to town. Be sure to map out what areas you want for your universe. 
8. Don't be afraid to borrow from classic literature, plays, or other sources. Often times the origin points for movies or other franchises have things that the writers, directors, etc. never used. With a bit of research these can yield campaign diamonds that can add that extra facet. 
9. Pick your players brains, often times I see DM over prepare adventures and write out dizzying adventure scripts with maps, outlines, histories,etc. by themselves. Sit your players down and as a whole decide what your going to do and then twist from their. The whole experience should be about group enjoyment of the game. 
10. Stop over analyzing movies and settings. Instead let things develop organically from group table top play. Have fun.

Free Old School Science Fiction Download - Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol.1,2,3, For Your Old School Sci fi Campaigns

  I'm always quietly poking around the reference grounds of the internet and came across a very interesting little find for the Star Wars fans. Back in the 1990's West End Games D6 Star Wars Rpg was as hot as it gets in Rpg circles and the game still has a loyal fan base. Starlog did a set of 'official reference' books for the Star Wars films. There was  Starlog Presents: The Official The Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 1: The Planet Tatooine which came in very handy for the West End games campaigns. Not only did they have variations on 'official' materials but this enabled DM's to vary the content of their campaigns. Especially if they didn't have the extra twelve to twenty dollars for the West End material. 

Now these technical manuals have come up for free download at the Internet Archive. Perfect material for the OSR DYI Star Wars OD&D campaigns. First up is the  Starlog Presents: The Official The Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 1: The Planet Tatooine 

Available Right Over 

HERE 

Go to the right hand side and click Image Container PDF  for this one or do a direct download. 

Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol 3: The Rebel Forces

Available Right Over
HERE

Go to the right hand side and click to do a direct download.
This is one contains most of the Rebels equipment from the movies including star systems and lots of little details that come in handy for constructing adventures. 

Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 2: The Imperial Forces

This Journal contains most of the common Imperial screen seen forces. This isn't a bad little reference point for DM's to really get into the Star War's original movie Empire forces. This is a good download for doing skirmish style adventure encounters.

The Download options are on the right hand side of the screen and there a number of options for it. 

Available Right Over 

HERE 

This is a nice piece of Imperial reference for a low impact,low scale Stars Wars Empire campaign. 

Using The Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol.1,2,3, For Your Old School Sci fi Campaigns  

Using the Starlog technical journals are perfect for doing a Marvel comic book Star Wars old school one shot. All of the common movie references are right in these. And since the majority of Star Wars fans out there are usually pretty fanatical, this means that reference books like these are perfect to throw in some variations for old school campaigns. 

For doing Star Wars, OD&D is a perfect vehicle and there's a vary nice OD&D forum with some solid opinions and ideas right over HERE for doing just this sort of game. In fact the Sword +1 blog has a very nice entry with some nice OD&D style science fantasy adventure resources right over HERE. Are these free technical manuals from Star Log worth the download? In my humble opinion, they make a nice free option for reference and an interesting variation to add into an old school Star Wars campaign. 

Star Wars and all of its copyright as well as trade marks belong to their respective holders.This blog entry is for entertainment and educational purposes. No violation of said copyright and trademarks is inferred or meant. This is simply a Star Wars fan post. 

Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Mash up Game Actual Play Part Five - Finding The U.S.S. John Brown

The PC's in last night's mash up game have blundered into one of the Outer Systems of my Carcosa campaign. The system has a serious set of gas giants, dead worlds, and the wreck of thousands of alien ships. These are worlds that the Outer Gods have toyed with and Nyarlathotep has simply discarded. They are worlds of insanity and pure depravity. Places not sane being would venture.
Floating amid the wreckage of a million worlds are the larva of the Outer Gods. Some of which are easily able to crush an Imperial Shuttle with impunity. Not to mention drive the Jedi within insane with a glance.
The laser cannons were used a couple of times to discourage curious tendrils a couple of times.
The PC's were receiving radio signals from a source deep in the shadow of one of the moons of a nearby gas giant.
The group needed to take real stock of the situation while dodging the advances of some of the more aggressive Larva.
So with a few minor course corrections it was off to the shadow for a break against the Lovecraftian horrors without. 

Exploration Of The John Brown

What the found in the shadow of that moon shocked the players as well as their character. The wreckage of the U.S.S.John Brown. Over a year ago, some of my players had played in a SWN campaign employing this very class of ship. And now floating out in space dead was the remain of  The U.S.S. John Brown. Sensor scans revealed some life signs aboard. The readings were weird and gave the PC's pause. There was more going on here then they were happy with. Force scans revealed presences but because of the proximity of the Larva of the Outer Gods the players were very wary of opening their mind to the insanity.
 A nearby asteroid provided the coverage that the players needed to make preparations to board the ship. Some of the PC's kept eyes on that ship at all times even though she was a wreck. They knew here compliment of weaponry from scans and were wary to say the least.
We ended with them beginning a space walk over to the ship's wreckage.

1d10 Random Finds of the Muthreu Outer Systems

1. A 20 hit point undead horror made up of the amalgamated alien dead of  hundreds of worlds all screaming the praises of the Outer Gods 
2. An ancient temple of the Outer Gods where the psychic echoes of a million long dead worshipers still chant in the void. There are lights across it's face as it tumbles through the void. 
3. A single ruined city tumbling in the lonely dark and distant streets teem with millions of alien psychic ghosts. They scream soundlessly in the void. There are powerful psychic emanations from the city's surface indicating artifacts of remarkable aspect. 
4. A strange alien ruin whose surface glows with embers of radioactivity and horror. There are 1d7 dimensional shamblers moving across it's surface. 
5. A 6 hit point probe of The Great Race of Yith searching for artifacts and victims to the time travelers. It its armed with heavy stunners that do 1d4 points of damage to their victims temporarily. The probe has a micro laser cannon that hits for 4 points of damage as well. The thing is easily distracted however. 
6. A giant cloud of organic material floats on the stellar winds. The material is worth 20,000 credits to a group of planetary terraformers but there is a 50% chance of a Larva of Outer Gods coming to feed on the stuff. 
7. A trapped sorcerer of the Outer Gods spins through the void in a crystal of cut and faceted damnation. He has been cursed by Nyarlathotep. An 8 point alien lich should he escape. 
8. A sleeping Star Spawn of Cthulhu tumbles past. There is a small alien city that lays in ruins at the thing's feet in the ice. 
9. The wreckage of some nameless alien star ship tended by damned ghuls. The thing flies past as the crew go about their business. There is a 40% chance of their being 1d6 salvageable star ship parts aboard.  
10. The wreckage of a ship worth millions tumbles through the void. The catch is that it is home to a Larva of The Outer Gods that uses it like a giant hermit crab. 

Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Rpg Mash Up Using The OD&D rules - Actual Play Game Session Part III

 Previous session HERE
 Free Resources For Carcosa and Star Wars
HERE

Tonight's session had the characters on the run again from the ghul horde and sealing bulk heads behind them. The  PC's made it into the hangers and sealed doors behind them as they were dealing with a horde controlled by a Boneman sorcerer.
The background is that this sorcerer was a prisoner aboard the ship on his way to an Imperial research facility. He'd been released along with some other prisoners.
 The PCs were a bit skeptical of the Imperial shuttle they found. And also they didn't want this plauge to get out into the normal space lanes.
So it became apparent they were going to have to blow the reactor. The PC who'd become infected with ghul plague last session volunteered to stay behind and allow the PC's to escape.
The PC's sealed the fetish in the Captain's cabin and others began prep work to get the shuttle operational. 

 The infected PC had a fun time crawling through ventilation shafts and dealing with the occasional ghuls roaming the halls below him. It was tense going made only more tense by the following encounter table.
Roll on the chart every three rounds to keep things interesting. 

1d10 Random Ventilation Encounters Chart 

1. 1d4 skinless ghul stormtroopers crawling through the metal shafts. They make a horrid sound as they claw their way towards you. 
2. An air hose let's loose. Lose a round as the thing scares your PC needlessly
3. A half eaten body part. There is a 10% chance of being infected by ghul plague if handling it. There's a lovely ring with an expensive looking gem on the end of the middle digit 
4. A storm trooper ghul bursts through a side ventilation shaft. It means to devour you and it's so very hungry. 
5. A sticky imperial blaster rifle with half ammo. 
6. A series of random noises and the ship lurches this way and that.  You seem to be spinning for a moment. 
7. A cry for help comes from a side shaft.  It's a trap! The pleading cry leads to 1d6 ghuls! They lie in wait for any fool answering this call. 
8. A very hungry and leg less horror crawls its way toward your PC! 
9. An imperial stormtrooper helmet, it appears intact! But there's a ghul head inside! If you move it. There is a 20% chance it will attack and try to bite. It can only do this once. 
10. A ghul horde of 1d10 monsters has broken into the shaft and they will do anything to reach you. 

The PC's got the shuttle going just as a ghul horde burst into the room from another ventilation shaft! They flooded the room with the shuttle's engines just as their colleague reach engineering!

Tarvis Raltha valiantly fought the horde he found in engineering and then died a hero's death by plunging his light saber into a near by plasma tank on the reactor. The ship started to blow and the shuttle seemed to break free of the Destroyer's gravity well.
~ BOOM! ~
The other Jedi began the careful task of searching the shuttle and while the thing was fully equipped they began the task of going over the whole ship.
 The PC's had no idea where they were but we ended the session with the jedi looking out the window and seeing this. 

Next Stop Carcosa! 

Free Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Rpg Mash Up Resources

 Star Wars Marvel comic cover

So here's a list of free resources that I cribbed for my cross over game from the last couple of weeks. I'm not the author of any of these but they seemed to work well together with a bit of tinkering here and there.

The Jedi Class as I've said is from the Original D&D discussion board HERE The author of the Doomed World of Carcosa blog hasn't updated in a long time now but there are a ton of free pdf's that he did to enhance an Carcosa game. Check out the flash widjet for a bunch of free insanity HERE
Including the OD&D/Carcosa mashup rules 
The Carcosan Grimoire - Cameron DuBeers, 2009
The Carcosan Grimoire is a set of free resources for the role-playing supplement Carcosa by Geoffrey McKinney.

HERE
 There have been a ton of ideas stolen from this Star Wars forum right
HERE 

The Home of the Lost Star Warriors has fantastic range of material from the Marvel Star Wars Comics including NPC's,Star Ships,equipment, etc. Most of it however is for West End Games Star Wars Rpg but with a bit of tinkering it's easily adaptable.
Right over
HERE
Many of the maps and plans are free available on the internet for Star Destroyers but the best source that I've found is
HERE
 Wookiepedia does a tremendous job of keeping it's resources straight.

This is in no way a challenge to the trademarks or copyrights of Stars Wars, Marvel or any of their products, films, etc. This is simply a personal rpg campaign is meant to entertain and inform under the fair trade and use terms. All properties listed here are the work of their authors. 

Artwork is used without permission and is the work of the artist listed above. 

Zombie Stormtrooper Art. From Kai Lim / January 23, 2012. 

Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Rpg Mash Up Using The OD&D rules - Actual Play Game Session Part II

Tonight's game with got my PC's right into the middle of the action with ghuls being flung around like rag dolls from telekinetic blasts being let go by the Jedi knights. The PC's finally made it to the armory and got a hold of their light sabers. The party in tonight's game separated into two groups and began the task of making their way to the secondary computer center aboard the destroy. The other group decided to make their way to the main hanger.

I had ten players for tonight and the PC's were almost overwhelmed a few times as ghuls slither out from under support structures, from behind doors, and seemed to be everywhere!
The  ship's systems were failing quickly and after a quick break into the destroyers computer and sensor suite's it was determined that the ship was headed for an asteroid just outside of the Carcosa system! 
 A check into the destroyers bays revealed that there were a number of Imperial Shuttles available but it was also the area with the greatest ghul infestation. Then one of the Jedi made a critical error botching his dice roll and sub combed to the caress of  the ghul horde.
Ravis Chor was devoured at seven pm this evening! Now only nine jedi remained and they were determined to find out what was powering the ghuls. The PC's noticed that each time a ghul was cut down it was regenerating like a troll.
Meanwhile key systems  were failing fast including life support and heat in certain sections of the ship! 

The subsidiary reactor was hemorrhaging fuel and several of the ghuls melted from the radioactivity pouring out of that section when a bulk head door solved the problem. 

Two of the jedi managed to break into the star destroyer commander's office as this was going on. They were able to determine that the star destroyer was transporting a bone man sorcerer that was the head of a cult of Hastur in the middle of the Dantoinne system. Among his belongings were items from some unknown primitive society and others that were far more sophisticated then anything that Imperial Empire was capable of creating at this time.
 Further records indicated that the man had been executed just four days before coming on board, There were objects that they had taken from the fool of a sorcerer and he was executed in the morning before the arrival of the PC's. A curse had been leveled on the ship by the sorcerer and suddenly the crew of the star destroyer had become violently ill.
The disease spread like wild fire among the crew. There were certainly video records showing the speed of the outbreak. Certain key officials from the ship escaped the worst of the carnage.
 The destroyer was lurching this way and that. The PCs got the idea that their time was limited and that's when they found the 'eagle'.
A statue of an alien bird surfaced in a search of the commander's cabin. The thing was  of Cacosian manufacture. An odd metal statue or fetish from some backwards tribe. The problem was that the PC failed his saving throw and became infected with ghul plague! The player was more then a bit panic struck by this. And he also found the activation codes for the Imperial shuttles. But now he had to find a cure and fast! His skin was beginning to drop off in bits and pieces.


The other PC's were going down to engineering to try and fly the star destroyer and that's when they ran smack into the bone man sorcerer who was still aboard the ship!

To be continued this week! 

Marvel Star Wars/Carcosa Rpg Mash Up Using The OD&D rules - Actual Play Game Session

I got a call on Sunday afternoon from my friend Peter and he wanted to know if I was available for a little old school action. They wanted something different.
 Some friends of ours were visiting with him and the rest of our players. So I ended up with nine players . Allen and Nancy Scotte were old friends. Players of mine from way back but we drifted apart. Jobs, kids, new state, and more of the usual real life yaddah, yaddah.
 But now I had to come up with a convention set style adventure.  

Sunday was one of those days where I go into the old comic book stacks.  I was going through my comic collection including some of my old Marvel's Star Wars Comics and near by was my copy of Carcosa!
That was it! 

There's something to be said for Marvel's Star Wars comics which were the fodder for many a West End Games session.
And now they were going to be fodder for tonight's descent into Hell  game.

There's something about Marvel Star War comics. Maybe it was the fact that they were always a constant between the Empire Strikes Back And the Return of the Jedi movies. 

They've obviously been turned to Bantha fodder because the Expanded Universe was canceled. Whatever that means.
For those of us using them as material for old school games?
Not much at all.

With a bit of slight of hand the plot went something like this:
The PC's were prisoners on a crippled ultra black list Star Destroyer. This was a prison ship on it's way back to Tartan Base. A facility for the disposal of all rebel scum and undesirable elements to the Empire and the New Order.  On board were a group of renegade Jedi Knights only recently found. These survivors were on their way to be questioned, processed, and executed.

Express Elevator to Hell 
Smoke, fire, warning lights, and flames as well as the occasional explosion is what you awaken to! 
It gets worse because it always get's worse.

Something's wrong! Warning lights flashing, escape pods have been jettisoned and the PC's are aboard a crashing ship.

 

Did I forget to mention the ghuls aboard the vessel? The hungry flesh eating ghuls who are craving humanoid flesh?
 There were forty of the bastards  that were on the PC's case. Using improvised weapons, a bit of  luck (using one of the other PC's as bate) and a bottle neck passage the PC's forced the things to battle them one at a time. The rest of the PC's managed to locate their light sabers in the armory.
Oh did I happen to mention that the Star Destoyer is crashing?

Next Stop Carcosa (maybe).