OSR Review of Modern War: Crisis Creator By Martin Proctor, & Paul Elliott The Modern War Rpg & Cepheus Engine Rpg's.

 "Crisis Creator gives you the tools to create fictional countries set in the modern world, and then helps you plunge them into crisis. These small, fictional nations are the perfect backdrop for a Modern War campaign, free from the complications of Real World horrors and politics. Create your country, give it a security crisis, and then invite your players to form the squad of a Western power, invited in to support one side or another. "

"Caught up in this crisis, your players will have to face difficult choices and great danger as they try to complete the missions which have been set for them." 

 Crisis Creator is the type of supplement for  Modern War that you don't think you'd need as a DM. Then you get a copy & wonder where it's been all your life?! This book is the crisis point generator for Modern War and yet it has so many other uses as well. Clocking in at ninety three pages Crisis Creator can brew up hot spots, blow ups, and well crisises for your Modern War rpg and Cepheus Engine based Rpg campaigns.
Crisis Creator builds on many of the tools laid down in  Modern War & because of this Crisis Creator is an excellent tool set for the Hostile rpg. You can create your fictional country & the crisis that it's suffering from. And then map out the mission that your squad can take on. The editing, layout, and over all feel of Crisis Creator is up to the usual Zozer Games standard.

Crisis Creator also has rules for insurgancy counter war rules including aircraft and more. This allows all aspects of the crisises to be played out. There are also solo rules for using Crisis Creator as an abstract solo rpg. These rules can be used with any Modern rpg or supplement for Modern rpg. 
But is Crisis Creator any good and has it as an rpg supplement any ultility?! In a word oh yes! Crisis Creator is a perfect tool box to create your own fictional country, crisis, circumstances surrounding the crisis and missions. 
Crisis Creator is also incredibly useful for Hostile especially Hostile's Dirty Wars mercenary company supplement. Take Crisis Creator create your fictional country/colony, then crisis, followed up with your mercenary company coming in to mop up the colony issue. 

Crisis Creator is another excellent Zozer supplement that can bring the pain and rain to your Modern War or Hostile rpg campaign. The engines and systems within Crisis Creator far out weigh the material in question. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Street Knight Rpg By Paul Elliott from Zozer Games

 Street Knight is a fast-paced homage to late-70s and early-80s TV shows such as The A-Team, Knight Rider, Street Hawk and The Bionic Man. Agents working for good bring justice to a jaded America. You drive high-tech cybercars and you are fitted with cutting-edge cybernetic technology. You are a blend of Man and Machine! Where law enforcement cannot, or will not intervene, the heroes step in, no matter how small or large the threat.

You can play this game straight down the line, or play it tongue-in-cheek, just like the source material. Ultra-violence, casual murder and the disregard for human life does not feature in these TV shows, and doesn't play much part in Street Knight, either. This makes it a great setting for introducing children to science fiction – the world is our own, familiar and well known, allowing kids to jump straight into decision-making, action and adventure.

"In Street Knight, we start play at the home base in Los Angeles, with southern California and the south-western states forming the central backdrop of adventures. It is 1984: there are no cell phones and no internet, making the technology available to the heroes that much more remarkable.  And don’t forget that the Cold War is at its height, with the threat of Soviet espionage and skull-duggery, ever present."

[no AI art]

The Street Knight Rpg By Paul Elliott is a complete 2d6 rpg of Eigthies cultclassic television action. What's great is that it's been done with the Cepheus Universal rpg system. This game plugs right into the Knight Rider, Street Hawk, Blue Thunder, The Highwayman, etc. Eighties action genre of the 'men & women who does not exist expect in a shadowy world on the edge of reality'.  International jewel thieves, drug cartels, etc. & criminals who operate above the law have the Street Knight 2d6 action rpg game that brings your player's PC's into the  crime war. 
At fifty seven pages the Street Knight rpg is perfect for the players & DM who don't have a lot of prep time. After 5 minutes or so you'll have a bionically enhanced PC who works for a shadowy organization. We get background, history, life events,  and more all for the player's PC's from the ground up set up in the Eighties. 

Street Knight does this and more! This rpg game has that and more for the players and DM who want to design a Eighties vehicle action themed 2d6 campaign. Iconic Eighties cars abound driven by modified cyber PC capable of taking on the criminals and more! This game has everything you need and packs it in nicely with no fuss this includes the Southern California campaign setting. 
Street Knight has the background, support personel NPC's, and more to give the PC's infrastructure to carry out thier crusade on crime. There's just such a Eighties vibe to Street Knight that I get goose bumps. Street Knight covers all of the basics and really echoes the holy trinity of Eighties vehicle action shows, 'Knight Rider', 'Air Wolf', & 'Street Hawk'.
 Except it doesn't have the Airwolf vibe to Street Knight because helicopters were left out. However it's an easy fix if you own Cepheus Universal. This brings up a question do you really need Street Knight if you own Cepheus Univeral?! 
Could Street Knight be added into the Hostile rpg?! Easily actually but there would have to be some modification for weaponry. The PC's would be playing for keeps and death would be far more common. So some of the Eighties action tropes will be lost.

Well, if you own Cepheus Universal then Street Knight has a complete rpg system plus campaign built in and ready go! You've got everything with Street Knight for that action Eighties campaign ready to play! 

Read Through & First Impressions of Cepheus Universal: Player's Book By Paul Elliott For The Cepheus Universal Rpg

 So awhile back I picked up the massive Cepheus Universal Rpg rules which clock in at four hundred & forty three pages of the newest incarnation of the Zozer version of the Cepheus Engine. And then I discovered the  Cepheus Universal: Player's Book which gives even more player oprions for PC creation. 

We get term-by-term character creation, 
designed character creation,
random character creation, & 
what skill levels and characteristics really mean. Then we there's even more PC options such as: 

• Secret agendas for characters
• Career load outs
• Random name lists
• Combat and game rules
• Full equipment lists
• Point buy psionics, cybernetics and retrogenics
• Group creation suggestion
• Gadgeteering rules
  And this adds a far more nuianced feeling to the ten minute PC creation. But is this the same rpg system as Zozer Games Hostile Rpg?! 
  Well yes and no, there are definitely Hostile rpg system bones within Cepheus Universal but the system is far more designed & written for expanded 2d6 Science Fictional rpg campaigning. And the Player's Book adds to this by do a very decent job of boiling down some of the Cepheus Universal systems into a more player oriented book. This supplement makes the game more player based and easier to use in my opinion. Is it necessary?! For me as a DM? Oh yes! 
  
  
  
  Because the Player's Book adds in both optional PC systems & makes the existing material so much easier to digest for PC creation. There are more PC system  options making PC creation a breeze. And Cepheus Universal is easily used with other Cepheus Engine rpg systems so existing 2d6 campaign setting are a snap to use with this book
  As a companion supplement the  Cepheus Universal: Player's Book works very solidly to serve as both bridge point & player's guide to this incarnation of the Cepheus Engine. All in all very satified with my newest 2d6 supplement addition. 

Angels Above & Demons Below - Hostile/Kosmos 68 Game Session Report Two

 This blog post is going to pick right up from this session on May 14th here on the blog.  Having gotten the Soviet's robot memory banks picked clean the PC's find out that the PC's may have been exposed to a necrovirus! 

The PC's had to deal with a street contact between them and the underworld corporates that represented the syndicates on Abysss. So the Soviets in last night's games left behind a surprise in the form of a necrovirus aboard the wreckage that the PC's explored which meant dumping a ton of gear for decom & disposial. And the PC's have been dealing with a rather shady character named  Baosheng, a veteran Snakehead operating in the Off-World colony of Abyss. Dealing with the PC's hackers the design of the necrovirus is actually a  Chinese corporate creation left behind to discredit the Soviets on the colony world. It also hints at a possible all out war! During last week's game the players felt as if they were going up against  the Soviet SSB. And they actually were! Thier street samurai hired bodyguards reported to them that they were being cased out! At stake on Abyss is the fact that the Russians months ago have entered the fray on the side of the Chinese corporations as mercenaries.
High above Abyss sits the Orca a corporate Rokke Class Research Vessel that belongs to the head of the Science division of the Matsuyama corporation. No one is sure why he's there and his vessel is several technological levels above other Hostile starships. The vessel & her crew are all hand made and hand picked.  
Suddenly the PC's and the Soviets were surround by the corporate forces of the Matsuyama corporation! Both camps were escorted aboard a shuttle and whisked up into the bowels of the the Orca a corporate Rokke Class Research Vessel. Cloths were stripped and burnt, weapons were decomtaminated, and the PC's were checked over. 15 hours later the PC's were given the all clear!! 
 

The Chinese corporate forces had set up both the Soviets & the PC's. The PC's noticed that the shuttle they had ridden in was being hosed down as well. They were taken too the head of the the Science division of the Matsuyama corporation. And the Soviet psychics were allowed into the conference. Both sides were given information packs in order to avoid a interstellar corporate incident. They were told that the Colony worlds were burning and  the Matsuyama corporation wants to buy thier contracts in order to head off a mini interstellar war on Abyss. There's far more going on here then meets the eye.  

Angels Above & Demons Below - Hostile/Kosmos 68 Game Session Report

 Tonight our group got together for a round of our Hostile/Kosmos 68 game campaign where we found our party on Abyss doing a bit of black OP's against the Soviets. 

High above Abyss sits the Orca a corporate Rokke Class Research Vessel that belongs to the head of the Science division of the Matsuyama corporation. No one is sure why he's there and his vessel is several technological levels above other Hostile starships. The vessel & her crew are all hand made and hand picked. 

At stake on Abyss is the fact that the Russians months ago have entered the fray on the side of the Chinese corporations as mercenaries. No one is sure why the Russians are there except to shore up support for the Chinese criminal sydicates and act as ore pirates. 
So our little party's mission is to figure out how deep the Soviet influence runs. We're serving aboard two submarines while running interference on largest island city. Our runners are plugged into the local grid while we've hired local street samurai to act as bodyguards. 
The players in tonight's game felt as if they were facing down the Soviet SSB & think that there might be far more going on below the waters of Abyss. During tonight's game the party almost bought it when some of the local wildlife decided to give them a bit of a scare and turn. 

What the player's PC's found tonight didn't help thier love of the Soviets in our Abyss campaign. The PC's were able to find a bouy that the Soviets had left behind in Chinese controlled terrority. They dived on the spot with thier submarines and found a Soviet wreck on the bottom. What they came across is a wreckage of submarine sitting on a deep underwater reef. And in tonight's game they recovered the remains of a Soviet robotic unit. The party's technician was able to do a brain & memory bank recovery. And now the party is on it's way back to port to bring the memory bank into a cybernetic expert in the capital city. Meanwhile  corporate eyes are watching from above! 

OSR Review & Commentary On Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott For The Hostile Rpg & Other Cepheus Engine rpg Or Other Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg's

 "Not all colonists within the American Sector settle on the surface of hostile planets. Many work in the depths of space or in planetary orbits on artificial platforms or space stations. There are hundreds in use, varying wildly in size from the 600-ton Pioneer class to the 20,000-ton Bay class and up to the million-ton Morozov class giants. Their purpose varies as much as their size. Orbital platforms might serve as way stations for starship crews, they might be research bases, fuel refinery stations, defence bases, orbital construction yards, communication stations as well as sundry other types …"

" Throughout human-occupied space the most common form of orbital platform is the modular type. Most of these resemble a floating skyscraper, with an external surface cluttered with additional units, pipework, tankage and ancillary sections. Commonly these giant constructions come in identical pairs or threes, connected together by gantries, fixed docking mechanisms and service connections."


 Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliot is a thirty four page set of essential guidelines for the Hostile Rpg & it's campaigns. This supplement is perfectly aligned for creating space borne  platforms in Hostile around colony worlds, space craft bases, rifineries, etc. We get outlines for designing, creating, & fixing up various orbital platforms. Hostile rpg adventure & campaign options often call for orbital platforms and Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott covers this in spades. 

 Artificial platforms or space stations are perfect for interstellar or plantary adventures. Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott For The Hostile Rpg is the book with everything necessary to get you started with using these in Hostile. All of the guidelines, details, and even weaponry. This makes 'Orbital Platforms' an essential take for example the standard platform; "PIONEER CLASS 600-ton Utility Platform The Leyland-Okuda Pioneer is a general purpose industrial operations platform, a space station designed to serve as an operations center, drone control, fuel store or supply dump. Using a 600-ton standard hull (Hull 12, Structure 12) the Pioneer mounts a Matsuyama OKL-1 1 Gigawatt Fusion Reactor, it has no other drives, other than station-keeping reaction jets. Fuel tankage comprising 9 tons of liquid hydrogen provides coolant to the fusion reactor for 12 months of continuous operation. Adjacent to the bridge is a level-1 Okuda Brightstar computer mainframe; a standard sensor package is fitted. There are six staterooms provided for the crew. A cargo deck of 42 tons holds spare parts and supplies and 480-tons of fuel tank can be configured for the storage of liquid hydrogen fuel, helium-3 or even stocks of fresh water. Features include fuel processors that can create up to 20 tons of liquid hydrogen each day, a workshop and fuel transfer manifold, repair robots and a medbay. A 0.5-ton Workloader is carried on the cargo deck. The Pioneer has no ship’s vehicles. Up to two starships or small craft can dock with the station at once. The station has a crew of five: commander, chief sensor operator, medic, assistant sensor operator, engineer. These roles can be altered to suit the station’s role. A spare stateroom can be used double occupancy by two visitors. The Leyland Pioneer costs $80M."

These platforms were created using a combination of Hostile rpg's starship rules & Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott's guidelines. Orbital Platforms examines every detail for these adventure points & places for Hostile. This makes Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott far more indepth then you at first it might seem. Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott is a stand alone book & therefore you don't need the Hostile starship rules. 
For the Hostile rpg,  Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott  is one the essential books for Hostile. Because it throws the focus on these adventure locations & the guidelines or rules for creating them. It's compact and has everything that DM needs to take full advantage of 
Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott is compact, easy to read, easy to create your own orbital adventure locations, & this all ties into the point of this supplement. 

 Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott  does exactly what it sets out to do, to create orbital & instellar platform locations that can be used as adventure locations & campaign points for the Hostile rpg or other 2d6 instellar rpg's. The material is well done, compact, to the point, reliable, and very well thought out! 
Orbital Platforms By Paul Elliott For The Hostile Rpg & Other Cepheus Engine rpg Or Other Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg's Is Available Here. 

Legend of the Dutchman - The Hostile Rpg & Dragon Magazine issue #51 A Part Of The Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion

 This post is going to pick right back up from this blog entry here So today DM Steve came over to help out with putting some air conditioners in at Casa De Fabiaschi and since he's one of the players in our  'The Shoulder of Orion' campaign. I let it slip between beers that the Dutchman had been sighted  within the  'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. Now Steve goes outside and calls everyone to tell them. What they don't know is that a hundred years has passed at 'The Shoulder of Orion' due to  time dilation. The crew of the Einstein a Rockwell Harbinger is made up of veterans of 'The Shoulder of Orion' conflict  And whom DM Steve is a part of is now on their way to the Dutchman. And it's simply another angle to the 'The Shoulder of Orion' battles which to current game is current events. But to the crew of the Einstein is hundred year old history. But who cares about 100 year old information?! 

Remember Carter Burke from Aliens the guy who got the wild cat miners killed? He was acting on Ripley's intelligence about the Space Jockey ship looking for his big payday. And the crew of the Einstein is no different except there's a lot more going on here. That ship has information on a whole array of unexplored planetary systems out on the bleeding edge of space. 
But there are other interested parties in the Dutchman including the Space Force. So it's going to be a question of who get's to it first. And then there's the question of the computers aboard the Dutchman. These were taken specifically from Dragon magazine issue #51's article 'In Defense of the Computer' by  Paul Montgomery Crabaugh. Why use an ancient Traveller article!?  Because I want the players to have to deal with 100 year old technology that will cause headaches! 

Crew Expendable features  the Rockwell Harbinger & for the crew of the Einstein this ship has been home for over a year now. And it's a tight little family of a crew that has deep connections to 'The Shoulder of Orion' campaign setting. Two of the crew are synethitcs for the eight man crew and are obsolete combat andies. The captain is also a veteran of the Adam program who mustered out with a Harbinger in his background. The others have a stake in the Dutchman as well for varying reasons. Will the Dutchman's A.I. know about the Einstein?! Most likely with the various sensors on board. 
The legend of the Dutchman blew up with the players making up rumors about the survey ship. Here's ten rumors about the Dutchmen: 

1. The Dutchman has been in hyperspace longer then any other survey ship & has been to otherside of the galaxy or else where. 
2. Hell rides with the Dutchman & to see it is bad luck & you will die in 10 days from the sighting. 
3. There are aliens watching the Dutchman and it's now spying on the human race watching for what we're going to next. 
4. Time runs funny around the Dutchman & she can yank a ship right outta of hyperspace.
5. The Dutchman is home to a radical terrorist organization or cult that worships some dark alien menace only they know about. 
6. Treasure flows in the hold of the Dutchman her captain made a deal with the Devil.
7. Anyone who comes in contact with the data from the Dutchman's computers goes mad! 
8. A family of corporate heads has secrets in the Dutchman's computers that they want hidden & they'll kill anyone who finds out their secrets. 
9. The whole starship is now a living alien thing that plies the space ways for starships to consume them whole! 
10. Aliens are now in control of that ship and she sails the damned winds of alien stars to see her is death! 

 

OSR Commentary & Session Report II - Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion Using Synthetics By Shawn Fisher, & Paul Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile rpg

 I'm just getting back from the weekend's Hostile game part II, you can read part one here.  Our PC's consciouses were back loaded into new clone bodies  by the company. And we're found ourselves in Starlifter Module shuttle down to the surface of some nameless moon within the  'The Shoulder of Orion'  at Mu Orionis. 

Soldier 3525 was a part of the Adam Project section III. And we were going up against a unit of combat androids who were a part of a rival mercenary company. Gemini IV is a Mars like world with very little atmosphere & what is there is a poison cocktail of rare gases . We were looking to secure a square patch of mountainside military base & the base's transponder. 
Things moved along until we met the local alien wildlife that appeared to be part crab, part giant spider, and a very bad attitude. These things bounded from their underground lairs & took out two of our number.This time I didn't die. But Hostile's Rpg system can be brutal! We scambled up the mountainside because of low gravity & landed in powered milk for sand. We had to bounce & slog our way through the lower part of the mountain. 
And that's when we came under fire from the combat androids. And we hit cover as fast as we could and had to do a quick sweep of the area picking off four combat andies. The  Starlifter Module shuttle came in low & the door gunner got three of the others on fort's left side. An incoming missile almost got our ride back ship side! 

We got a chance to see ship to planet side weapons in action during this game! As  kinetic bombardment weapons rained down on the planetside of Gemini IV from the orbiting space craft! Huge swaths of the local countryside were gone in an instant. And the base full of the andies is still there! What will happen from here?! 

Once again I got a chance to step away from behind the DM's screen & jump into an on going game. We were soldier clones this time & we didn't put much thought into the characters per say. They were combat clones & therefore expendable at most. But what is over riding is getting into that fort and securing that transponder! While the game action was going on was the fact that some corporate  generals & businessmen were sitting in their distant ship. Bastards  controlling the military action like chess players controlling the lives of the androids & clones in a military action they have no say in.  

OSR Commentary & Session Report - Military Action At The Shoulder of Orion Using Synthetics By Shawn Fisher, & Paul Elliott From Zozer Games For The Hostile rpg

 Tonight I got a chance to play in a quick one shot military mini adventure that happens At 'The Shoulder of Orion' which took place at Mu Orionis. Our group of synethic soldiers was to secure a quadruple starsystem which held the beginnings of a naturally occuring "wormhole's throat. "

 












And what is Mu Orionus? Well according to its Wiki Entry; "μ Orionis (Latinised to Mu Orionis, abbreviated to μ Ori or Mu Ori) is a quadruple star system^[6] in the constellation Orion, similar to Mizar and Epsilon Lyrae with combined visual magnitude of 4.13. The four stars are known as Mu Orionis Aa, Mu Orionis Ab, Mu Orionis Ba, and Mu Orionis Bb. The A and B systems are several tenths of an arcsecond apart. The entire system is located approximately 150 light years from the Sun."

Every mega block corporation became embroiled in this interstellar police action. It was discovered that a naturally occuring "wormhole's throat" allowed a starship to only consume half of its fuel for hyperspacial jumps between sectors. The Shoulder of Orion allows these ships to move to the universal jump gate of 'Tannhauser Gate'. The Shoulder of Orion acts as branch of the sub reality of hyperspace that Tannhauser Gate represents. He who controls both the Shoulder of Orion & Tannhauser Gate controls a good deal of the traffic to other systems. Needless to say every corporation even those without stakes rushed their own super soldiers into the action. 

Needless to say that we were playing synthetic super soldiers & things did not go as planned. Our unit landed planet side on some god forsaken rock in the middle of no place squared and my PC bit it within the first two minutes of combat by automated machine gun defenses! In point of fact in tonight's game it was a total party kill because the dice were completely and utterly against us. 
We simply rolled up characters & went into the situation with little intel as posssible. The mission was simple secure this rock of a planet for the corp and wait further instructions if you encounter resistence then destory the enemy. The fact that we were in point of fact cogs for the machine didn't matter to us. All in all it was a great set up and the chance to play combat synethics was a welcome change for us. 

OSR Review & Commentary Zozer Games 'Prelude To Freedom' By David Cooper For The Hostile Rpg

"A scenario for Hostile by David Cooper/ Brass Jester ©2022
The PCs are corporate troubleshooters dispatched to ever-dark Nevermind, an Off-World colony reliant on an Erebus fusion powerplant. But the plant, and the survival of every colonist on Nevermind, is at stake. " 




Three scenarios, maps and encounter tables, the Seonwu tractor detailed, NPCs and situations. "

 Nevermind isn't the kind of world that you really want to be stuck on as presented in Zozer Games 'Prelude To Freedom' By David Cooper. Nevermind is a beast of a world that centers itself on the great fusion plant that's been built there. There are not one but three adventures that 'Prelude to Freedom' presents  & these all center around the colony, the circumstances of decisions, and the fate of Nevermind. 
Let's start off the fact that 'Prelude To Freedom' By David Cooper isn't a railroad & instead its more of a roller coaster; "The following missions are not railroaded scene-by-scene scenarios. I’ll give you the outline of what’s going on, then it’s up to individual referees to use the material as they want." 
And its this attitude that has the fate of Nevermind at its core. And in Hostile that's a recipe for adventure, once again having callbacks to the Eighties action/horror films of the past. 'Prelude to Freedom' charts its own course on Nevermind. 

Nevermind itself in 'Prelude to Freedom' is itself a setting  character with character. It colours everything about this campaign because that's exactly what this is! You've got corporate politics, new NPC's, and lots of Hostile goodness. All this and more with the world really at stake! And that's no lie! 
If the PC's have survived 'Salvatoris' as an opener to a Hostile campaign then 'Prelude To Freedom' is going to take them to the next level! Seriously there's a lot of good things to say about 'Prelude to Freedom' and Nevermind is a compelling world. And its a great place to stick player's PC when events in 'Prelude To Freedom' are over! And I don't want to give too much away from 'Prelude to Freedom' 

David Cooper does a good job with his writing its tight, and Hell even the cover is corporate propaganda in the form of a brochure. Nevermind itself is brutal, dangerous, and very much has the feel of the edge of the frontier. 'Prelude to Freedom' is a fantastic adventure as a mid tier 'Hostile' rpg adventure. And 'Prelude to Freedom' will keep your player's PC's on the edge of their seats! 
Zozer Games 'Prelude To Freedom' By David Cooper  For The Hostile Rpg Is Availabe Right Here 

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OSR Review & Commentary On The Hostile Rpg rules pdf By Paul Elliot From Zozer Games For The Hostile rpg & setting or Cepheus Engine rpg or Your Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg's

"Welcome to the gritty, retro-future universe of HOSTILE which now expands with its own, dedicated rulebook. Based on the Cepheus Engine, these Rules add in the realistic combat rules from Zozer Games’ popular Modern War game, as well as setting-specific rules from some of the eighteen HOSTILE supplements. When combined with its companion book, the HOSTILE Setting, you will have a complete, stand-alone, retro-future sci-fi game. Please look out for the HOSTILE Double Shift Bundle which gives you these HOSTILE Rules as well as the HOSTILE Setting book, at a 20% discount off of the listed price.

HOSTILE  is a gritty, near future roleplaying setting that is inspired by movies like Outland, Bladerunner and Alien. It is a universe of mining installations, harsh moons, industrial facilities, hostile planets and brutal, utilitarian spacecraft."

Welcome back and tonight we've got some Cepheus Engine goodness with the revamp of the Hostile Rpg rules pdf. And its awesome! Paul Elliot goes back into the Hostile rules & peels back the layers of the Hostile rpg engine. This 2d6 set of rules compliments the retro future horror of the HOSTILE Setting. Paul Elliot takes full advantage of the Cepheus Engine rpg rules set to gear the Eighties science fiction horror rules to actually be playable. The Hostile Rpg rules compliments the HOSTILE Setting with bells on and Ian Stead's artwork really sets off the intergalactic campaign setting. The Hostile Rpg rules  takes full advantge of the 239 pages of gaming goodness. 
The Hostile Rpg rules  tweaks the career paths, details, and rules to create a coheriant whole system that is excellently playable. The devil is within the details of the world of Hosile & the rules reflect this in spades. The 2d6 rpg rules take the Hostile material and boils it within the juicies of the game to reflect the details put forth in the Hostile setting book. What the rules do is to take the Hostile game into the murky terrority of its own take on the Cepheus Engine rules. It does this by leading the players into the path of their PC's. And the rules have that late Seventies & early Eighties Science Fiction movie asthetic. This is a brutal, lived in, and downright dangerous universe and the rules reflect this. Your party are not heroes or adventurers but spacers doing the jobs that few are going to want to do. Needless to say that the  Hostile Rpg rules reflect this and yes you can die rather badly in PC generation. 
But that's to be expected, having played Hostile for many months now & gone through quite a few characters myself. Hostile is a dangerous game where space can & will kill you if it can. You can get an injury quite nicely and there is sometimes no coming back from that. 
The  Hostile Rpg rules reflect the retro future technologies, devices, weapons, etc. & this set's up the infrastructure of the game. And the rules  does it very well. The system is refined standard 2d6 Hostile but its edited very tightly. The survival rules are done nicely,doing the job of planetary exploration, mining, taking on space walks, the whole package of the Hostile rules are so well done. 

What makes the Hostile Rpg rules pdf so good is the internal consistency of the Hostile rules. The 2d6 done by Zozer Games is done excellently & Paul Elliot has an easy writing style that makes this an easy rule book to get through. If it was me then I would rush to grab a physical copy of  the Hostile Rpg rules pdf today! 

You can find the Hostile Rules PDF Right Here 

Boots on the Ground - Mini Cepheus Engine Hostile Setting & Campaign Starter With HOSTILE Situation Report 003 - Repellant By Paul Elliott

 "It's been a long trip through hyperspace, but now the stasis pods pop open and you get dressed. To your horror, you see on the bridge, that you are still in sanity-shredding hyperspace!

What's gone wrong? Why has the ship's mainframe awoken you? 

More importantly ... can you fix whatever needs fixing before you and the crew become insane?"

HOSTILE Situation Report 003 - Repellant is another bit sized adventure nugget from Zozer Games that puts the PC's in the middle of the space board action of the Hostile universe right away. With a new second colour edition of Hostile on the way. The HOSTILE Situation Report series has been flying fast & quickly. We've been getting lots of this series for the Cepheus Engine rpg or the 1970s 2D6 RETRO RULES to hit the ground with player's  PC's. 
HOSTILE Situation Report 003 - Repellant is a particularly dangerous encounter for the Hostile rpg setting putting players right into the middle of awakening in hyperspace. A sanity shattering version of the science fiction adventure campaign element. The PC's have their backs against the wall & have to ge their ship's systems back on line ASAP. Our recommendation?! Grab an  Introduction to HOSTILE  to get the campaign ball rolling right out of the gate! 

There's a desparatation to this particular adventure seed?! This is more like a fully fleshed out encounter with the PC's put into harm's way. The free Hostile Tool-Kits supplement is an essential tool for both the DM & players. And this adventure takes the PC's to the edge of their resources as PC's. Sanity & limb are at full on risk here. 

HOSTILE Situation Report 003 - Repellant is short, sweet, & self conrained. But its that tighness that makes the adventure work. It reminds me of those 'true to life danger' thrill movies based on a true story. All of the classic elements are here. The ship in danger, the high tension, high drama situation, and the eventual resolving of the dangers. But this isn't going to be an easy mission situation even for a Hostile rpg adventure. 

All in all we think that HOSTILE Situation Report 003 - Repellant  is a solid way of introducing a group of players to the Hostile uniiverse setting. 

Boots on the Ground - Mini Cepheus Engine Hostile Setting & Campaign Starter

"Introduction to HOSTILE is a short summary and taster of the popular gritty science-fiction roleplaying game called HOSTILE. Over 31 pages, find out what horrors and challenges your players will face, get a flavour of the types of harsh Off-World colonies that litter the setting and read about the task system and the kinds of characters it can create. 

The booklet features fiction from the setting, a complete shuttlecraft (including deckplan), a typical starship crew and over a dozen example plot hooks. Included is a complete list of all the HOSTILE supplements and companion roleplaying games produced so-far by Zozer Games. 

Open the hatch and step outside. Yes, its dangerous and you may die in one of a dozen horrific ways - but ... that's exciting isn't it...? "

In space no one can  hear you scream, & in Hostile sometimes its all about getting to know Paul Elliott's universe settting. For our little group its been a bit a pick up & go affair with Hostile. Because of the familiarity of the orginal Traveller & the  Stars Without Number rpg campaigns. These were inspired by Seventies & Eighties cultclassic Sci fi & Space Opera films. Hostile was no brainer intergalactic campaign setting. The fact that the DM's & players folded,spindle, & mutilated the high holy Hell out of it is another on going story. To deal with the intro you'll need 1970s 2D6 RETRO RULES to hit the ground with player's  PC's. 
For many Hostile is gonna make them scratch their heads?! Because its sorta like the Alien universe but not really?! The Introduction to Hostile pick up the ball off the pitch & begins running with it. In thirty one pages we get intro, deck plans, & lead in! What you get is the start of a mini campaign run! But what you'll really need is a quick intro adventure & encounter! Meet Hostile Situation Report 001 - Ghost Ship which gives you all of the basic encounter necessities to get you & your players off & running! 
A mayday signal draws the PCs to a lonely gas giant, and a starship in an extremely low, atmosphere-grazing orbit. There's no response ... can the crew be saved? Are they even still alive?

But ultimately you as the DM need an NPC villain?! Got you covered with Baosheng,who could be a villain or a valuable contact for the PC's depending upon the needs of the party. He plays a significant role in an upcoming campaign arch. But the secrets are as follows; "Meet Baosheng, a veteran Snakehead operating in the Off-World colonies. His syndicate specialises in techno-crime and the theft of shuttle craft. He has a job you might like ... it's just a pity you're a deniable asset and he is posing as a legit businessman. What could go wrong?" Well everything is going to! 

And that's sort of everything that you'll need to court a min campaign from the ground up & a very solid introduction to the Hostile universe. Except if you want to expand upon it. Which I strongly suggest two resources one is Zaibatsu which is one of the strongest 2d6  cyberpunk rpg  rule set's out there. And a solid copy of Moon Toad Games Cepheus Engine for reference & back up. 

Review & Commentary On Gunboats and Shuttles By Paul Elliott From Zozer Games For The Cepheus Engine Rpg & The Hostile Rpg Campaign

"Escape pods, lifeboats, shuttles, gunboats and dropships – vital smallcraft that play an important part in the gritty American Sector setting of HOSTILE. Nearly all of the smallcraft featured in the setting are covered here, with write-ups, external views and comprehensive deckplans. Included also are two pieces of shuttle-related fiction and a bonus: 11 pages scanned in from the ICO’s Flight Handbook published in 2178!"

 Gunboats & Shuttles by Paul Elliott has been sitting on the gaming table for a couple of months now. It stares at our gaming group like an angry marine waiting for its due. So after a couple monthes reading through the book. Using it & really diving into it helps to not take  Gunboats & Shuttles for granted. You get a full spectrum of mid to small level ships in this book. These are not incidental & their very well done. These are working marines, roughnecks, spacers, & even cargo haulers ships. And in Gunboats & Shuttles you get a full spectrum of ships across the board: 

• Neumayer Escape Pod
• Orchid Lifeboat
• Nomad Ship’s Boat
• Sabre Gunboat
• Starlifter Modular Shuttle (and 10 module variations)
• Halo Heavy Shuttle (all three versions)
• Thunderchief Heavy Shuttle
• Mustang Dropship

The layout is really well done & stats are right at the DM's or player's fingers you get a whole lotta bang for the dollar amount for  Cepheus Engine and the HOSTILE setting. And these craft could potentially be applied for other Cepheus Engine settings as well with the same tech axioms. Everything in Gunboats & Shuttles  is oriented towards actual use & play. 

We really liked where the author took the craft giving us a very nice overview, application, & even possible game use in each entry. And this ties well into the Hostile setting as a whole. The ships here are very useful with artwork by Ian Stead, Algol, & Maxim Zhuravlevthat really makes it easy to show players yes this is what the PC is flying. 

The Heavy lift shuttle is extremely useful for Roughneck or Explorer with a really nice entry. Gunboats & Shuttles brings the heat for adventurers looking for solid mission profiles. And it really feels like a Janes Weapons or vehicle books. 

Gunboats & Shuttles  is a great book for the DM looking to really add in a cinematic feel to their Hostile games. We get some great fake advertising & entries for Gunboats & Shuttles within the Hostile universe.  And these could be used as in game player hand outs. Within this book are some excellent diagrams & maps for use with Cepheus Engine rpg games. 

 Gunboats & Shuttles is an excellent support book for craft that you need for both Cepheus Engine rpg as well the Hostile setting itself. The craft here are great support ships for both marine & even explorer or roughneck PC's.  Gunboats & Shuttles  is an excellent quality book to add to your own Cepheus Engine rpg collection. 

OSR Commentary & Review On The Hostile rpg by Paul Elliott from Zozer Games For The Cepheus Engine & The Classic Traveller rpg

 "HOSTILE is a gritty, near future roleplaying setting for the 2D6 Cepheus Engine rules that is inspired by movies like Outland and Alien. It is a universe of mining installations, harsh moons, industrial facilities, hostile planets and brutal, utilitarian spacecraft."




So looking over the Hostile rpg is like looking into an alternative Traveller or Cepheus Engine rpg 'Aliens' universe. This is exactly the style of rpg universe setting that my players are looking for. The layout of the pdf is really well done. There's a real sci fi cinematic  feel here for Zozer Games universe & its one of interstellar & military expansion.  The PC generation is very well done here & the additional PC options present a uniquely sci fi alternative universe PC take on the classic old school Traveller style. 

The more that we slide into the  the Hostile rpg universe the more that the every aspect of life here is driven by space exploration & expansion. The technologies, space craft, medicine, etc are all a pre Cold War mode but its done with style & substance. There's an inner working & logic that fits within the  the Hostile rpg universe in spades. This is a universe that can handle a Blade Runner campaign or even a whole cloth military campaign against Xenomorphs. And its one that works very well & it really does have the spirit of those classic Eighties sci fi films. Add to this the fact that you get the Hostile Technical Manual pdf free & you are ready to go. 

And   the Hostile rpg is a monster of a book at three hundred plus pages  & it really does a good of defining its universe from the ground up. This is sci fi that I can understand in spades & from that view point it works very well for both designing interstellar adventures & for generating PC's. The whole package of  the Hostile rpg. Overall I highly recommend the Hostile rpg from the standpoint of both player & DM. 

Now with that being said I  made a comment on the blog  the other day about, "Yes the Hostile rpg game could work with These Stars Are Ours campaign setting & we'll get into the how & why next time.. " Well now is next time.. 

  If we work within the idea of classic Traveller of vast sectors of the universe being cut off from one another after the galactic empire fell. These sectors are only recently opening up now. Then it becomes clear that both of these universes can easily exist within the same game campaign. Now for an even weirder idea is the fact that there are alternative Earths existing within the same macro verse & this opens up all kinds of confusing & ground breaking ideas. By the way this get's discussed here folks.