Further Mediation On Dark Outpost By James M. Ward And Christopher Clark

This is a great generic science fiction adventure In The Old School Science Fantasy Tradition. You can get it right HERE

Description According To DrivethruRpg : 

Description:

Dark Outpost is a generic science fiction adventure set aboard a spacestation in geosynchronous orbit above a small class M planet. This massive station, built by robots and crewed by automated machines, is the pride of the galactic fleet, and the hope of those that will colonize the planet below.  But something has gone wrong. 

Nearly a month ago, all communications from the outpost ceased.  A patrol vessel was sent in to investigate, and it, too, was never again heard from.  Since that time the Planet Kask outpost has been known as the Dark Outpost.  Have you the courage to explore its mystery?

Dark outpost is a frighteningly deadly adventure for 3 or more characters of moderate experience from the mind of the revered master of sci-fi, James M. Ward.  Packed with new material, Dark Oupost is more of a mini-campaign than a mere adventure, and it is guaranteed to provide dozens of hours of enjoyment over multiple play sessions for any game master.

In The Depths Of Space No Can Hear You Scream!
 

Dark Outpost is a very well thought out dungeon in space with an over arching plot to frame it and  it can be used to create a very interesting and cool campaign inside a space station of epic perorations. If the PC's survive that is. The action of this little location driven adventure is well thought out. Its echoes back to a time when Mr. Ward was doing work for both Gamma World and Metamorphosis Alpha first edition. In fact with little work the adventure could be plugged into that game as an extension for a total campaign!
According to the description 'Dark outpost is a frighteningly deadly adventure for 3 or more characters of moderate experience'. That's about right and after using this adventure with Stars Without Number this past weekend. I'd say that your really better off using mid level PCs. There are new pieces of equipment, new monsters, & a ton of maps in this one. But the truth is that the encounters are fun but deadly. The PC's can easily get themselves killed by their own hands very easily. 

The adventure is more of a mini tool box for a science fiction or fantasy game and used correctly could provide a launch pad for a whole campaign from only a few sessions. 

The ideas here hearken back to the early days of many of James Ward's work for TSR but are much more entertaining. It truly feels like Mr. Ward really let his imagination go on this one. 

There's a couple of options in this eighty eight page adventure. One could given a bit of time plug this one straight into Mutant Future and allow the PC's to wake up Metamorphosis Alpha style with no clue to their origins. There is more then enough room here to have an entire Post Apocalyptic Campaign aboard the station and then shoot them right into a failed colony world. 

 The Planet Task Option 

The PC's in this weekend's past game wanted to know more about Planet Kask. There are some details given but I get the feeling that the planet is open to further development by the DM should he or she choose.
 I've taken the 'Failed Interstellar Colony' and the station above using a bit of dramatic licence from 'Star The Next Generation ' and a bit of Issac Asimov's  'Caves of Steel' to fill in some of the colony details.

 

The PC's made it through a few of the encounters but by the time the game was done it was quite late. So the PC's are still out there in space and their continuing the journey through the steel lined corridors of  James Ward's 'Dark Outpost'.
Not bad for a pick up game.

Ten Reasons For Using Dark Outpost 

1. This is a fun little adventure and very encounter driven! Deadly but in a fun way. 
2. The challenges that face the PC's force the players to think and react! 
3. The location has potential to be spun by the DM into a fully realized campaign if he so chooses! 
4. This isn't a well known adventure and that means there are many twists and turns to be had! 
5. The maps are fantastic and this is very much a plug + play adventure. 
6. This is very generic adventure and it can be used with any number of retroclones from X plorers to Stars Without Numbers and Mutant Future. 
7. Its by James M. Ward and is very well written. 
8. There is a high customization factor with this adventure! 
9. At eighty eight pages this isn't a huge adventure to the point of unplayable but it is a mini campaign into itself. This also means it can be used as a plug in for Metamorphosis Alpha 1st edition! 
10. This adventure is easy, quick, and reliable for reuse for play over and over again! 

For further support go right over to the company website and Mr.Ward's blog right
HERE

The Ugodeldu Market - A Location For Your Old School Space Opera Role Playing Game

 

The Ugodeldu Market 

There are places found within the cracks of stellar society. Places not spoken of in polite society where men may or lose fortunes depending on their cargoes!
The station is the perfect place to requip, sell, trade, or get into trouble. 

Abandoned in the late 30th century this space station became the property of a group of spacers who were headed up by a wealthy though disgraced merchant prince.

 

Prince Durirthiarm was a minor noblemen who was caught within a compromising position with the wife of one of his fellow Empire nobles. Faced with a duel of honor or death. He choose instead to flee & became the head of a notorious band of spacers.

Using a vast web of connections & back owed favors the prince set up the market within the confines of this abandon space station orbiting Earth 5. 

 

The market services as a clearing house for all manner of illicit & legal cargoes. 

 The place is protected by rad & weapon scanners at every air lock & ship docking facility. There is a 20% fee for air & ship's facilities. Common star ship repairs are available as well. 

Selling Cargoes & Items 

Sales means 10% of  your take goes to the spacer's council as tax & use fees. All sales are final & you as the seller are responsible for all customer service & satisfaction.
 

Items for sale 

Radioactives & Fuels for 14% mark up from rule book values 

Sundries 20% lower then book value 

Common used computer parts, star drives, engineering, control systems, etc. are 10%  to 20% lower here because of the scavenging of space wrecks & the like. 

Common space hulls are available as well. Book value 

Used at 10% off but the customer is responsible for repairs etc. 

Slaves - 5,000 to 10,000 credits with papers 

Professional services -1,200 per hour or trade items 

Medical services are 20% mark up from book value 

Conscripts -200 credits per head & not responsible  for condition 

Cybernetic conscripts  &  Droids case by case basis 

 

Jobs For Hire 

Note : All jobs are for crews & not individuals 

Star Mining - 9000 credits per tour 20% of actual take 

Gas Giant Grazing & Refinement 20000 credits & 10% of the take 

Salvage work - 70 to 25000 credits 

Star Ship Upgrades - 700 to 50000 credits 

Medical Services aboard Star ships 40000 credits  for  tour 

Asteroid Mining - 30000 credits 

Planetary Mining & Set up 500000 credits per job 

Planetary & Interstellar habitat  Setup 60000 credits per completed project 

 

Star Ship Upgrades 

Ship Systems    

1. Prospector sensors +2   600 credits 
2. Asteroid Sensors +1 400 credits 
3. Long Range Cargo Scanners +3 1000 credits 

Computer Systems 

1. Deutronic Computer Cores  +2 computer rolls 300 credits 
2. Duetronic Dual Real Core +3  computer rolls 400 credits 
3. Diderac Molecular Storage Cores +4 computer 600 credits 

Hull Types For Sale 

1. Shuttles  4000 credits 
2. Worker Bees 3000 credits 
3. Merchant Man 5000 credits 
4. Clippers 6000 credits 
5. Transports 6500 credits 

Impulse Engines 

1. High Yield Ion Engines +1  600 credits 
2. Transportable Ion Engine(used for asteroid mining)  650 credits 
3. Maxiumus Ion Engine +2 700 credits 

Shields & Defectors 

1. Cosmic Dust Systems Shield -1 armor class  2 400 credits 
2. Asteroid & Micro Meteor Shield - 2 armor class 450 credits 
3. Deep Space / Battle Shield- 3 650 credits 

Reactors 

1. Alpha Reactor 10% more power output 
2. Beta Reactor  20% more power out put 
3. Delta Reactor 30% to 40% with power upgrade 

Transporters 

Note Transporters are a very experimental system & take 3 or more days to install on a space craft.
Cargo Transporters are 30000 credits each & require expert crews to remain operational. They should only be used in the transport of cargoes as there is a 40% chance of mishap. 

1. Rapid Cargo Transporter Beacon 200 credits each 2 light year range 

2. Regular Cargo Transporter Beacon 100 credits 1 light year range 

Notes 

This market was done for a Star Trek/Cities In Space Mash up. It might work well with something like Terminal Space. This original D&D Star Trek rules set is cheesy & right up my alley. A perfect blend of the Star Trek mythos & the cheese factor. You can find that Here

X Plorers Box Set Review !

I've been slowly reading the old school goodness that is the X -Plorers box set. The artwork is very cool right off the bat & lets take this from the top shall we!

Info from BHP site on the Limited Boxed Set (200 count):

• 6″ x 9″ Game Box (This is an actual game box manufactured for just this purpose and both the top and the bottom are tight-wrapped) hand numbered from 1-200 by the head halfling himself! The packaging on the game was very tight & it's cool that everything I need to play a game of X Plorers is right in one box. I do mean everything. Its tight not tightly packed in there so that you guides & stuff are swooshed. It all right at the the dungeon master's finger tips. 
• The game looks old school, as if it came out of a time capsule from the early 80s. This is a good thing
• The presentation is elegance & class as a throw back to when gaming was simple, cool, & fun. 
• 2  Rule Booklets (Player’s Guide and Referee’s Guide)
  Player's Guide does an excellent no non-sense job of presenting the character generation system & giving all of the options for PC classes right there. The soldier, the scout, the scientist, & the technician. Since this is a D20 based system everything is straight forward. Referee’s Guide This everything you need to run X -Plorers under one cover literally. From the encounters, maps out the Dungeon Masters job, to the game's monsters, everything including optional rules systems are right at your finger tips! 
• This is an exciting product in my opinion & one that's needed on the market! This might seem like its a sort of gonzo style game. Its not, its a throw back to a time when gaming was fun as well as interesting & intelligent. 
• Cleopatra Station Free Adventure- This is a dungeon crawl in space but a dungeon crawl that reminds me of some of the better Metamorphosis Alpha games we've had. The characters are straight up fun. The situation is one that has occurred a thousand times before in other science fiction movies but this is a product that excels at echoing that feeling of grab some popcorn & lets play! The adventure is simple, easy, & balanced! 
• 3 six-sided and 1 twenty-sided dice-  The dice are cool. They're not Game Science but their very nice dice & again its cool to have everything right at your finger tips. Its all there ready to go right now! 
• 2 Ship Deck plans of the Serrona Class Scout and the Mastodon Class Freighter- There's a very nice little star ship combat engine inside this game. The system plays smoothly & its well balanced for a minimalist game! Everything is there, the plans are great & provide a dungeon master with some interesting opinions as far as adventuring location, hooks, etc. The maps for detail give just enough to let the eye wander without crowding or cramming every little detail in. System - The system is very tight. Character generation shouldn't take more then 10 minutes to 20 minutes max if you've read the rules. The game shines here too presenting quick & easy options, this is old school gaming at its best. 
  Brave Halfling's Publishing I feel that Brave Halfling has done a kick ass job of putting this game together. The package is worth the money that was spent on it. It was worth the wait. It looks like a fun product & I want to actually play the game & not let it sit on a shelf. The X-Plorers set is worth the entrance price & delivers what it promises on the box !
  
  
  Order Here

X - plorers Box Set Un-boxing

Very Excited By The Little box of awesomeness that arrived in the mail today! Check it out! Brave Halfling did an excellent job with this!