HBO's West World Television Show - Sin, Synthetics, and Six Guns

'Boy Have We Got a Vacation For You' read the original poster for West World back in '73. I had heard they were releasing a remake of the movie as a television series.



So back in August of 2015 the first teasers for HBO's West World remake series broke based on the original Michael Criterion movie from 1973. I'm huge fan of the West World movies because it was the source of the crossover adventures for Gamma World 1st edition/ Metamorphosis Alpha & Boot Hill.The new one looks most compelling and interesting to say the least. It takes many of the original ideas and themes notches them up to eleven.

Now today the second teaser trailer broke today and it was even better.The themes are expanded upon and we get a bit of the philosophy behind the action. We get a healthy dose of Nihilism of the original movie which is intact and in charge here along with lots of sex, violence, and more. Basically West World has always taken the Hollywood and classic shtick of the Old Western movie and used it too make social commentary with androids. Its connections with rpgs are long and somewhat interesting. The original film stars Yul Brynner as an android in a futuristic Western-themed amusement park, and Richard Benjamin and James Brolin as guests of the park.

Going all of the way back to the original Boot Hill Rpg, I've known DM's to mix and match West World's themes and elements into the mix of various games. The idea that the 'Ancients' had parks where the rich would come to indulge in all manner of decadent pleasure debauchery is at the heart and soul of West World's story. Roman World a sort of sword and sandal theme park version of ancient Pompeii is in there tucked into the background. Then there's Medieval World, which is based on daily life in medieval Europe and one of the primary places where android wizards and like into our Gamma World games. Finally there was the iconic West World with Yul Brynner's gun fighter model of android  popping up numerous times over the years and the dangerous Black Knight model  from Medieval World appearing in various Metamorphosis Alpha/OD&D crossovers. 


We got Future World in Seventy Five as a sort of direct squeal to West World expanding the Disney like park theme with androids with more attractions, expanded settings, and a plot of world domination by Delos. Wiki has a good break down; 
"Futureworld is a 1976 American science fiction thriller film directed by Richard T. Heffron and written by Mayo Simon and George Schenck. It is a sequel to the 1973 Michael Crichton film Westworld. The sequel stars Peter Fonda, Blythe Danner, Arthur Hill, Stuart Margolin, John Ryan, and Yul Brynner, who makes a cameo appearance in a dream sequence. Other than Brynner, none of the cast members from the original film appear, and original writer-director Crichton was not involved"

Basically world leaders were going to be replace by androids and they'd try to take over the world. We took the basic premise in one of my groups back in the early Eighties added in the Gamma World timeline and used the whole thing for TSR's Top Secret.

The end of the line came when Beyond West World hit the small screen in 1980, it was another of those attempts to bring science fiction into the era when the audience wasn't ready for it. The show really was ahead of its time in both make up and execution. Here's the problem the show couldn't make up its mind if it wanted to be a spy show or a science fiction drama. It was a show that had lots of potential but wasn't given a chance to be brought into its own:"

It featured Jim McMullan as Security Chief John Moore of the Delos Corporation. The story revolved around John Moore having to stop the evil scientist, Quaid, as he planned to use the robots in Delos to try to take over the world. Despite being nominated for two Emmys (Outstanding Achievement In Makeup, and Outstanding Art Direction For A Series), only five episodes were produced, and only three of them were aired before cancellation"

The show did create a perfect nemesis that has over the years appeared over & over again in the form of Delos the rival android manufacturing corporation to the Weyland-Yutani mega corporation. But with West World it always comes back to Boot Hill its where I began with the game and where it ends for me.


So now its going to be a game of let's see how this new show plays out and will it have the ratings to get into Roman World and  Medieval World for its second & third seasons respective? Will there be a surge in the number of DM's using the various settings of West World  that we've seen in the past?

Quick Review Of The Expanse TV Series Episode One & Some Old School Science Fiction Campaign Thoughts

I have to say that the Expanse was surprisingly good and offered a look into a nicely done solar system colony show that actually had a few surprises in store for this jaded sci fi fan. The show has been on my radar for over a week or two solid and tonight I got a chance to really dive into the show.


According to Wiki; The Expanse is an American space opera / mystery science fiction drama television series on Syfy, based on the series of novels by James S. A. Corey. Set in a future where humanity has colonized the Solar System, it follows police detective Miller (Thomas Jane), ship's officer Jim Holden (Steven Strait), and his crew as they unravel a conspiracy that threatens peace across the System and the survival of humanity.
The acting wasn't bad at all, the set up for the television premiere has been playing on Youtube for a week or so. The thing I really liked was the limits on the science fiction technological aspects of the show.

The action was pretty well done and the show didn't talk down to its audience at all, the plot is sort of like the old TSR Buck Rogers in the Twenty Fifth Century rpg minus the funky gene spliced colony races. Instead we get a four way cold war between the Belters, an independent Mars, A UN controlled Earth, and a wide inter system conspiracy.
The break down of the plot isn't bad from Wiki and paints the series in a series of quick swaths but gets the job done;"Two hundred years in the future, in a fully colonized Solar System, police detective Miller, born in the asteroid belt, is given the assignment to find a missing young woman, Julie Mao. Joining his task is James Holden, formerly first officer of an ice freighter who is involved in an incident caused by the tense relationship between Earth, Mars and the Belt. Far from their struggles in space, Chrisjen Avasarala, a United Nations executive, works to prevent war between Earth and Mars. Soon the three find out that the missing woman is connected to a vast conspiracy that threatens all humanity."   Tonight's premiere basically gives the set up for the rest of the series plus some bits & pieces to the back drop of the internal relations between the various factions in the show.


In many respects this show reminded me of Babylon Five or the newer Battle Star Galactica but not as grim. The show wasn't afraid to chew on its own science fiction roots while nodding to some of the newer science fiction bits of more recent shows. Can I see rooting around and using this show as fodder for a science fiction table top rpg campaign? You bet I can! In fact I can totally see this show being used as fodder for a Stars Without Number style game. The science fiction is built for exactly the sort of a game either Stars Without Numbers was made for or even Star Frontiers. The ships are wonderfully put together, the characters are evocative of just this sort of a gaming campaign. Many of the space crafts, situations, and characters look like they walked right off the set of central casting from just these types of games. The incursion of magnetic boots, lack of gravity and other little touches were very nice to see. This type of campaign reminded me of X plorers and Hulks & Horrors. Both retro clone engines could easily handle the details of an Expanse style of old school campaign.



Tonight's show made a nice contrast to the full blow Star Wars hoopla that's been going non stop for three solid weeks non stop. I'm a star wars fanatic and even I'm getting a bit overwhelmed lately. So The Expanse gave my brain a much needed space boast in a completely different direction. I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the Expanse tonight with friends!

Re Examination of 100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House From Skirmisher Publishing And How To Use It For Your Old School Campaigns

Grab It Right Over HERE for .99 cents

You see a lone ruin in the distance and your group decides to investigate the place. Suddenly that little ruin on the map becomes a side adventure what will you as the DM do? Skirmisher Publishing's  100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House has you covered! So Skirmisher Publishing sent me an updated version of a product that I looked into in the past, 100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House From Skirmisher Publishing is a system agnostic random resource book. Basically this is a set dressing book that with a few flicks of your dice can dress up ANY adventure location that your PC's run across. The book is keyed for houses and random adventure locations, they've updated the pdf with brand new artwork and more.

According to their Facebook page;

"Skirmisher has re-released its Electrum-bestselling "Oddities for a Creepy Old House"!

This revised edition is two pages longer and includes five new pieces of art, re-edited and updated text, improved layout and design, and the addition of an "exploding dice" mechanic to several entries to make them more dynamic."  Even though it only clocks in at twelve pages this pdf has all of the right system buttons to push for because it can be applied for any old school or new school adventure location. Basically with a toss of a few dice you can work up numerous interior contents with incredibly eclectic and dangerous backgrounds for your party of adventurers to run across!  

The front side of Castle Miranda by Pel Laurens - http://www.forgotten-beauty.com

The system here allows the DM to bring the contents of this product  into a wide variety of  venues from the old house in the wastelands to the the interior contents of an abandoned mansion. Numerous objects dovetail into one another and there's plenty opportunity to customize the contents and objects to suit your own whims as DM. Several of the objects can easily lead into the deep end of your own locations by coming from other adventure locations because of the quirky and down right weird nature of the contents and items. This leads me into how the material in  100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House is set up. The material here is set up for both on the fly adventure design and deep PC encounters. Meaning you simply toss a few items into your adventure or built up campaign plot hooks within the adventures based on the objects themselves.




Many of these objects would be right at home in a game of Call of Cthulhu or Chill or even World of Darkness. But for myself I've used this product numerous times with Mutant Future, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, OD&D, and most recently Fantastic Heroes and Witchery. This is one of the things that makes 100 Oddities for a Creepy Old House great. And its not simply objects but also setting stuff such as furniture and the like. For example : "A small, framed mirror hung in such a way on the wall that no one of any ordinary height would be able to see their reflection in it. There is a 50% chance that the mirror is too high or too low."


I've used this product to populate abandoned houses, manor houses and even small villages in a pinch and for use with several weird borderland dreamland locations. The thing is to write down the things that your players are taking and then loop those into further adventures down the road. All in all this one of those products with a multiplicity of uses in OD&D style adventures or science fiction, post apocalyptic and horror games. I'd say that's its well worth the price of admission and then some.

New Post Apocalyptic Monster Faction - 'The Collectors' For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

There are strangers in the wastelands, hundreds of adventurers have reported encounters with hostile beings with weird weapons, and strange instruments. These beings have taken adventurers prisoner, taken samples of blood,robbed adventurers of treasures and made off with the corpses of friends
And no one knows why or where these beings come from.

There have been rumors of mysterious beings in full Hazmat gear that appear in the middle of nowhere collecting samples, taking reading, and using advanced super science devices of strange manufacture. They have been given the moniker 'The Collectors' and they can be encountered anywhere. Adventuring parties have reported them in dungeons, wasteland ruins, and other areas. An aura of strangeness and other worldliness surrounds them. A sense that they just don't belong. Working in teams of 1d10 individuals these seeming super scientists collect genetic samples from mutant carcasses, take relics, collect all available data, and have vary hostile attitude towards parties. 

Frequency : Rare 

No. Appearing: 1-10 

Armor Class: 7 

Move: 12"

Hit Dice:5 

% in Lair: 20% 

Damage/Attack: 1

By Weapon Type, Favor Energy Weapons & Heavy Stunners 

Special Attacks: Can cause Fear 

Special Defenses: Immune to Gas,Charm,Fear, 

Magic Resistance: Standard 

Intelligence: Average To High 

Alignment: Neutral Evil 

Size: M (6 foot) 

Psionic Ability: Nil 

Attack/Defense Mode: Nil/Nil 

Level/X.P. Value: 

III/90+5/hp 

The Collectors seem to favor laser based energy weapons and heavy stunners for collecting their samples and specimens. They also seem to be immune to gas, charm, and fear based abilities. They take half damage from electricity, flame, and certain electrical based attacks. Once per day they make turn their unearthly aura onto a target and used a fear attack at targets within line of sight. Collectors will demand any treasure or relics taken from nearby ruins.

It is supposed that teams of collectors are working for other worldly masters and appear to be teleported into their target zone.  They operate in teams of ten and have been known to fight adventurers over monster corpses, mutant NPC's, and the looting rights to certain wasteland areas. There are also reports of these beings have been known to use flame throwers and military style machine guns to cleanse areas of particularly harmful or dangerous mutant species. They also have a particular hatred of undead, and certain types of vampire species. Collectors care only about their mysterious agenda and advancing their understanding of mutant species. There is speculation that these beings may be super science time travelers. Or inter dimensional visitors from alternative worlds here on some mysterious errand or agendas but for now their reasoning is unfathomable as their motives.   

White Star Rpg Campaign Idea - Rebellion Without A Clue- An Old School Campaign Idea

  Imagine that a rebellion akin to the Star Wars Rebel Alliance is utterly, utterly, wrong and midway through a campaign that your PC heroes must make the ultimate choice. Ally with the Interstellar empire or face extinction from a deadly external threat in your space opera setting.  Nothing I'm about to talk about is original and this idea came up in my news feed this morning from Epic Stream. You can read about it right over HERE . Everything in this blog post is a 'what if situation' for your White Star rpg campaign. This is in no way original but its a fun thought exercise none the less.

Grab It Right
HERE

  I've been meaning to revisit the White Star Game System which actually changed it's OGL license stance.And is now allowing third party publishers to get in on the White Star Rpg action with a license. Contact Barrel Rider Games if interested right over HERE  or the games wonderful author HERE .
Now that I've got that out of the way, what if the Star Wars movie Rebellion was an utter farce. The following idea could be applied to your old school  space opera and at a mid point the PC rebels have a choice. A very hard and dangerous choice to make because if their forces are successful they're actually serving the 'darkness' by letting crippling the 'empire''s super death weapons. These were never meant for the various PC's and allied forces but to be used against the monstrous and utterly dangerous invaders from outside. There are more then a few alien forces and races with both White Star & Swords & Wizardry that can fit the bill nicely. If you happen to follow the Star Wars Expanded universe formula then it might actually be the PC's forces that are going to help fill out and hold the 'empire''s war machine against those invaders. Perhaps its actually the fact that the rebel's weapons are more quick, agile, and better designed for the type of guerrilla warfare that is needed against the rampaging hordes of alien invaders. There are always interesting and varied examples of this sort of a campaign from real world history. With a bit of thought and some foresight this campaign could go on for months and years when the 'Big Reveal' is made. Throwing all of the forces to the wind and the 'big choice' has to be  made. Further with an Eighties vibe in play the DM could do an almost A team style game with the rebels suddenly needing the veteran forces and expertise of the PC's. 

  Perhaps all of that dungeon crawling, space salvage, moments of space opera high adventure actually foreshadows the coming of the 'big bad's forces. Ruins, bases, dungeons in space, and more could signal the coming of these weird forces from outside enabling the PC's to have vital information and with some luck the DM can plant clues to the 'empire''s  actual intentions. Sure their putting down that pesky rebellion but are their greater forces at work from both within and without. History is rife with just this sort of back stabbing, double dealing, and more. In fact real world mythology contains hundreds of examples of just this sort of thing. Keeping in mind that the pulpy free wheeling adventure vibe has to be in play in order to make things far more light and not as dark as it might seem. There's lots of potential here to continue the series by introducing new elements as the campaign series continues such as alien fleets fleeing the coming of the invaders, scouts and spies ( doppelgangers from D&D make excellent alien spies btw). And much more to fill in the ranks as needed by the DM. So there's plenty of mileage on the tires of this one folks as it goes. As with all things this was an idea that has been brewing in the back of my fore brain for the past month or so. But as with all things this one has to find its own way into the background of your DM's and player's wants and needs. Your mileage may vary as with all things. 

The Cinematic Nature Of The Starships and Spacemen Second Edition Rpg System From Goblinoid Games

 

 There is a sort of mini sci fi retro clone renaissance going in the OSR about White Star rpg system  now that being said. So there is a ton of stuff being tossed out into the wild for White Star. Extra classes, artwork, adventure ideas, etc.,etc.. The G+ community is going nuts right over HERE. So its getting plenty of deserved love these day. But Timothy Brannan over on The Other Side Blog has been posting about one of my all time favorite games Starships and Spacemen second edition from Goblinoid Games available right over HERE
It's always been a sweet little hardback game and the fact that sort of emulates old school star trek is pretty sweet. The whole game is built on the Labyrinth Lord rpg engine makes it that much easier to add in your favorite retroclone rpg system. Because it's build to be cross compatible with Mutant Future And Realms of Crawling Chaos this game isn't simply an editor's reworking of the original rpg but a complete ground up rework of the original game. This game does one thing incredibly well. It presents the party with a reason to be together and to act as a whole. The fate of their ship depend upon their actions.
Now I've seen review after review and forum posts,etc. cross comparing this game to the original Star Trek now that might be true but I actually don't think that its a fair comparison. FASA Star Trek emulated the original show and did it well. I've run game after game of this set up and it works much better with the recent Abram's Trek especially the last film as a comparison. There are several reasons for this and yeah I might take a lot of heat but the production of the Abram's Trek is very well done and lines up with much of the technology and equipment of Star Ships and Spacemen second edition. The action orientation of the films are much more in keeping with the action based missions of the game as well. And the DM doesn't have to make the lame mistakes of the films.Personally I've only used the films as an inspiration and visual reference point.

The second influence that I've had is the lesser known Australian science fiction writer A. Bertram Chandler whose Rim World series of books came to me whist I was staying in the U.K. with my other half. A. Betram Chandler was according to wiki:
He was born in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. He was a merchant marine officer, sailing the world in everything from tramp steamers to troop ships. In 1956, he emigrated to Australia and became an Australian citizen. He commanded various ships in the Australian and New Zealand merchant navies, and was the last master of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne as the law required that it have an officer on board while it was laid up waiting to be towed to China to be broken up. Chandler wrote over 40 novels and 200 works of short fiction. He won Ditmar Awards for the short story "The Bitter Pill" (in 1971) and for three novels: False Fatherland (in 1969), The Bitter Pill (in 1975), and The Big Black Mark (in 1976).

But his Rim World series is key for Star Ships and Spacemen second edition, because the novels concern not only star ship crews but complete alternative universes, weird happenings, Lovecraftian god like entities all in the face of naval style Hariato Hornblower adventures where the crews and captains of his adventures are up to their necks in it.
According to wiki: 

handler's descriptions of life aboard spaceships and the relationships between members of the crew en route derive from his experience on board seagoing ships and thus carry a feeling of realism rarely found with other writers. He was most well known for his Rim World series and John Grimes novels, both of which have a distinctly naval flavor. In the latter, Chandler's principal hero John Grimes is an enthusiastic sailor who has occasional adventures on the oceans of various planets. In the books, there is a repeated reference to an obsolete type of magnetically powered spaceship known as the "Gaussjammer", remembered nostalgically by "old timers" – which is modeled on the Windjammer. The heyday of the Gaussjammer, some centuries earlier than the Rim Worlds books, is the setting of the less well-known The Deep Reaches of Space (1964) which has undisguised autobiographical elements: its protagonist is a seaman turned science-fiction writer who travels to the future and uses his nautical experience to save a party of humans stranded on an alien planet.

You can read more about this sort of science fiction and more about A. Bertram Chandler right over HERE

The Grimes novels follow their protagonist from Ensign level all the way up the ranks just as you might see in a game of Starships and Spacemen second edition. The usual of alternative planes and dimensions makes these novels a snap to use because of the Goblinoid Games Retroclone planes and dimension designations. There is a great resource for the Rim World Series right over HERE
But I can hear various voices already saying that in Starships and Spacemen Second Edition there are hardly any ships and the game needs extension! Well there happens to be a fan based organization that covers exactly that issue. The Space Guard Command has ships, resources, and more right over HERE

Starships and Spacemen Second edition fills a very nice niche with plenty of room to add the old school science fictional naval style games without the extra baggage of many other retroclone gaming systems. There is more to come and I'll be covering more on Starships and Spacemen Second edition very soon. 

Free Old School Sci Fi Download As Inspiration For Your Science Fiction or Fantasy Campaigns - Planet Of Dread By Murray Leinster

Planet Of Dread is one of those nice and quite interesting sci fi reads that pops up in yard sales and other used book venues from time to time. And it offers a great location for modification into an old school adventure location for any number of old school D&D style or science fantasy campaigns.



Planet of Dread by Murray Leister is one of those books that is simply perfect for modification into an old school science fantasy mini campaign. Capable of being used as a planet of peril or a mission for your space explorers this novel is also a little gem filled with giant insects, weird and dangerous encounters and lots of blank spaces on the map for modification by a DM.
Grab It Right Over
HERE

The book itself is public domain and perfect for use as a location for even a post apocalyptic location for a group of mutant adventurers to try and survive on planetary location of a former galactic empire. The plot goes something like this: "Planet of Dread," is an outer space horror story. It tells the tale of a spaceship with one too many passengers—a stowaway. The stowaway is given two choices: be sentenced to death, or be marooned on a nearby planet. He chooses to be marooned. His one problem is that the planet is crawling with millions of giant insect monstrosities.


So we've got space ships, groovy giant insects, and lots of random encounters in the works with this one. Add in your favorite D&D or AD&D style PC's and your pretty much set to go with a mini evenings entertainment for a party. You could stick in some random ruins and this would be a great location for a random time or space gate to open up into. This book offers a perfect location for a group of Carcosa adventurers, or Mutant Epoch, or even a gang of Mutant Epoch or Mutant Future adventurers to stumble upon. The planet in question also makes a really nice location for adventurers to be sent to locate, trap, and bring back monsters for some deranged wizard or super scientist. There could also be a time space gate opening up into say a high fantasy location which needs to be closed. PC's could 'accidentally' be sucked into the depths of the gate and hi jinks ensue. 
All in all this is a great location based adventure resource to pull from for your old school games, the novel is light,breezy, and a hoot to read for a Sunday afternoon. Most of the major game systems out there have giant insects of one stripe or another so many of the major inhabitants of the world's novel are covered. The planet also makes an excellent location for a failed space colony or as a stand in for your favorite crashed science fiction space ship. You can add in your favorite old school retroclone and pretty much used in any of your favorite old school venues. From Traveler to Mutant Epoch this is a really perfect old school adventure campaign point from which to pull from. Not a bad little free offering by one of the forgotten masters of science fiction. According to Wiki :
Murray Leinster (June 16, 1896 – June 8, 1975) was a nom de plume of William Fitzgerald Jenkins, an award-winning American writer of science fiction and alternate history. He wrote and published more than 1,500 short stories and articles, 14 movie scripts, and hundreds of radio scripts and television plays. You can read more right over HERE

Free OSR Science Fantasy Resources - From The Sword +1 Blog For Your Old School Campaign

So like I was saying earlier I've been poking around in the backrooms of some OSR blogs today and stumbled upon some fantastic little free science fantasy resources. The Sword +1 blog features an entire army of  science fantasy pdfs for OD&D style games. We've got a boat load of sci fi weapons for Boarding Action #1, we've got not one but two alien races in the form of the Boarding Action Formorians and Lumerians. Then we've got Boarding Action Weapons and Armor, then the HSE Psymurai class, The Swords of Abandon Version #2 and #3.
For adventure location construction, you've got The Resistance 100 Random City Buildings, Character Classes, Firearms rules, Kill bots 100, Modern Fire Arms, Monsters V1,
And enough Ruins and Ronin optional material to choke a horse plus more Swords and Wizardry stuff to shake a stick at! And while your at it, you might want to pick up Ruins and Ronin a great little Oriental Adventures style retroclone system. Right HERE

All of this is over on the Right Hand side of the blog
GRAB IT OVER
HERE

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. 

Quick Overview Of 'The Pay What You'd Like' OSR title - How to Hexcrawl From Taskboy Games For Your Old School Campaigns

Grab It Over
HERE

This is a twenty four page 'pay what you want' basic primer for all things hexcrawling awesome. The hexcrawl is the unsung underbelly of the old school game that has appeared countless times over and over again. There is a reason for this, because it works so well. This pdf is a primer for this method of adventuring and goes into everything that a DM or his players might want or need to know. All of it is laid out in a step by step stereo instruction method of OSR preparation and go to it. The author knows his subject and traces down everything that you need for hexcrawling right out of the gate. 

Want to know the small history and back story to this method of adventuring, that in this title as well very quickly done with all of the ins and outs for mapping, adventuring, and more. This information can be applied across the board for any type of campaign from fantasy, sword and sorcery, and even westerns should you design it that way. 

How to Hexcrawl is the easy step by step title to get you started and even for the veteran gamer this is a good chance to brush up on your skills set and move forward with incorporating one of the best methods of old school adventuring out there. How To Hexcrawl is worth the price of admission and very well done. Money well spent if you haven't gotten into a solid title lately this is it.

Simply put this is really one of my favorite titles to read in the last couple of days and it lays everything out concisely and concretely at the feet of the DM. As a tool kit for OSR gamin you couldn't ask for anything better. A four out of five on the awesome meter folks!