Commentary On The Free Old School Science Fiction Classic - The Ant Men Eric North 1955 For Your Old School Science Fiction Campaign

Grab It Right Over
HERE

 The Ant Men from the pen of Eric North is another Winston science fiction book offering and this one is a great pulp old school resource. The book would make perfect fodder for both a space based game and a post apocalyptic old school romp.
The book screams pulp from the moment you open it and launches into its high weirdness. There's everything a DM could want to grab a group of adventurers.

 The Blurb On The Inside Flap Of The Book : 

There's a feeling about this desert which frankly suggests...impossible things. That's the only way I can put it."

The feeling that Professor Silas Orcutt, an American geologist, refers to early in this story, is one that every reader of this rugged and thrilling science fiction novel will share with him after the very first page. The professor, head of a party of five studying geological formations in the Central Australian desert, thought back on the nightmare of shifting sand and crackling electrical charges that had wrecked the truck in which his party was traveling. He thought, too, of the skeleton of a freshly killed crocodile - found hundreds of miles from the nearest river - and the stench of formic acid that remained around its picked-clean bones.

The professor's intrepid little group was prepared to find fossils in the Australian rock strata - but not the living kind that shocked them into believing the impossible of the burnt-out lands of the continent down under. Trapped in a desert valley under the pitiless sun, the five found themselves face to face with six-foot-tall ants and deadly giant mantises: survivors from before the dawn of history. Locked in a harrowing war for survival, these deadly creatures had little use for the puny men who found themselves in the midst of an insect war!

How Professor Orcutt was captured by ants with curiously manlike characteristics; how the members of his party found him and investigated the huge underground ant city; how they helped defend the ant men's ghostly underground caverns make this a completely gripping novel capped with a taut and electrifying climax sure to please readers of every age.

Let's start with Professor Silas Orcutt, an American geologist who seems like he's stepped out of an adventure party. Everything about this guy just jumps out with a great NPC to get a party of adventurers into all kinds of trouble. Transport him into a space base game like X plorer and he's the type of guy who will have alien ruins around one corner or a lost planet of insects around the other.
Speaking of insects the antmen themselves make a great alien species for Stars Without Number or as a wasteland find in Mutant Future. The book goes into some very nice graphic details about these humanoids and their world. The praying mantises are perfect nasties to pick off your adventurers. All in all this is a pretty nice free resource that can be used for a wide variety of venues. Because it's from 1955 there are very few folks who've actually heard of this one. 

Review and Commentary On The Free Old School Science Fiction - Earthbound By Milton Lesser

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HERE

This is another Winston collection of Juvenile science fiction put out by the Winston publishing company in 1952. This novel is rather well done and its perfect as fodder for your old school science fiction games like Xplorer. This one also works for Stars Without Number as well for a retro future campaign.
The plot according to wiki :
 Cadet Peter Hodges is washed out of space academy due to an old collar bone injury. From the thin thread of this disappointment and its aftermath in his irritability, and a dishonorable discharge for picking a fight he didn't pick, he falls into a den of thieves who blackmail him into helping them spike the rockets. Before he gets his just desserts-there are sundry events like the Interplanetary Fair, the acquisition of a space suit in the nick of time. 
From the space pirates working behind the scenes to the Interplanetary fair this novel is full of ideas, events, and little bits  that can easily be lifted to provide your campaign with lots of minor background events that can easily give the PC's hours of enjoyments. The idea of 'spiking' the rockets in this novel is a novel idea and given the 1952 ideas of science this is certainly a possibility.  
Given the space and rocket action in this one. There's lots of little ideas here and there incorporating some interesting space ship background ideas as well. There's lots of potential here to expand upon several bits space action to build up a campaign. The novel is perfect as fodder for X plorers but many of the ideas about the space pirates operating on system and interplanetary scale is an interesting one. I was not impressed with the main character who still seemed to need a bit more seasoning. His whining throughout the first half of the book made want to shake the character. He needed a lot more grooming to his position with the whole of the book making want to slap him sensible. 

Many of the ideas in this book can be incorporated into existing campaign sets and could give hours of play. The book is not well known and the players are unlikely to know the points of adventure  and possibly one of the better books that is out there. A simple and rather elegant book that has a myriad of uses for an old school game. Not bad for free. 

Two Random Battle Star Galactica Deep Space Find Tables For Your Old School Space Opera Campaign

We've got two deep space random salvage tables for your old school space based games, for when you want to inject a bit of that Galactica magic into your games.
 Comes in two flavors old school and the new! 

Original 1d10 Battle Star Galactica Deep Space Find Table 

1. Flight atmosphere wings from a Viper space fighter with lots of carbon scoring on the edges. Mostly serviceable though. 200 credits to the right buyer. 
2. Laser cannon array with the lens mostly intact from a Viper fighter. 300 credits to the right buyer. 
3. One slightly used space shuttle from a Galatica class war ship. Almost brand new. Name of shuttle Astro. 1000 credits 
4. A mostly intact Cylon warrior armored form. Headcomputer blown but robotic arrays and armature intact . 100 credits to collector market. 
5. Cylon battle computer off of a Cylon fighter. 100 credits to a collector. 20% chance of the thing trying to take over any computer systems it comes in contact with. 
6. A bridge computer from the Battle Star Atlantis most data files intact including courses to Kobol. 400 credits to the right collector 
7. A very badly burned Colonial warrior heavy laser pistol. Needs extensive work. 100 credits. 1d6 points of damage, nine shots, 40 yard range 
8. A battle drone daget type  used in observation. 100 credits to a collector. 3 hit point AC:8 
9. Intact Cylon head, very malevolent and dangerous if attached to a computer system otherwise harmless. 50 credits to a collector 
10. A Seal of the Ancients - This piece of jewelry is a psychic amplifier and adds +1 to all psychic powers . 500 credits to a collector. Also cursed with bad luck however. 

New Battle Star Galactica Television Series  Deep Space Find Table

1. Humanoid arm with weird genetic traces of nanomachine units with it. 300 credits to the right collector 
2. The remains of a Cylon fighter ship with it's A.I. mostly intact. The ship's A.I. has a lawfully evil predatory alignment and is very dangerous 
3. A Colonial viper's laser cannon mostly intact and with heavy damage to the lens array. 200 credits to the right collector 
4. A slug thrower belonging to a Colonial Warrior heavily used and out of ammo. 100 credits to a collector 1d4 damage 7 shots 20 yard range 
5. Landing struts from a Colonial fighter 40 credits 
6. An intact shuttle craft from Caprica with heavy carbon scoring on the side. Needs work. There is a cylon A.I. intelligence still lingering in the computer systems and it will try to take over any humanoid mind it comes into contact with. 500 credits for the shuttle. 
7. Cylon laser cannon off of a fighter. Mostly intact 300 credits but it needs some work on the focus assemblies 
8. Mostly intact old style Cylon warrior, needs work and will awaken very pissed off. 200 credits to the right collector 
9. Jacket belonging to a Colonial Warrior/pilot  +2 to all luck rolls. Very nice shape. 100 credits to  the right collector 
10. A star map showing the location of a very rich salvage. The wreckage of a Battle Star Galactica. Registry name is unknown however. 300 credits and possibly a fake.
    

This blog entry isn't meant as a challenge or infringement to the properties of the owners of the trademark or copyright of either of the Battle Star Galactica but a homage and parody of one of my all time favorite series. This entry is for entertainment purposes only. 

1d20 After The Passing Of The Old Ones Random Lovecraftian Encounter Table For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign

1d20 After The Passing Of The Old Ones Random Lovecraftian Encounter Table

1. A single floating humaniod head of an unknown species singing the praises of the Old Ones. The skull is inscribed with the fifty five million names of Cthulhu. It will reveal horrid truths of the universe every 1d4 rounds. 
2. The hand of a virgin which holds the burnt remains of an ancient curse. The nails are perfect and rimmed in cherry red nail varnish. 
3. The pulped remains of a forty cultists who have been merged on a molecular level but are still alive as a horrid awfulness. The thing blinks, and stares madly at the world around it but can not die. It regenerates as a troll. It is not hostile but merely insane. 
4. A floating, twisting piece of a building that simply moves in the air and twists its way through time and space. Anyone touching the thing will be sent else where for 1d100 years randomly in space and time. The building exists in twenty different time periods throughout prehuman history. 
5. A protoplasmic infestation from the hide of one of the Great Old Ones. The thing will behave as a slime, jelly, and try to consume anyone that it can. 
6. A cloud of noxious material that is infact a remain of a thought of one of the gods. The thing will hang in the air and scan about with a weird single eye. Anyone under its gaze will be affected as if by a curse. The thing will vanish in 1d4 hours only to reappear twenty miles away.  
7.  Forty seven small 6 inch statues writhing poses of insanity and agony. A check of the locals will reveal the living residents represented by the statue live nearby. If brought in close quarters with the representation, the living person will start to bleed from ears, eyes, and mouth. The blood is not theirs but a strange blood coloured bacteria.  
8. A forty foot living sheet of human skin with hair and eyes on various points of it. 
9. A living gelatin made from the eyes of thousands of humanoid beings. They are all different colored and living but not of the same species. 
10.  A small prayer book written in an alien language with thousands of passages and spells to an unknown god. The book is bound in metal that is slightly radioactive. 
11. A ritual knife bloody and with bits of still living tissue on it's blade. The tissue is incredibly hot and will burn exposed skin as if by acid. 
12. A stack of copper plates bound in golden wire with thousands of illustrations of unknown cosmos and star systems. The plates are strung together with hundreds of knots. These knots of metal occasional have a high charge of electricity coursing through them. 
13. A lead crystal jar containing the living brain of an aristocrat. The workmanship of the jar is unknown and the brain is vivid pink and green color. Bubbles occasionally gurgle from the jar indicating life. 
14. A single giant eyeball the size of a baseball with still living tissue around it. There is a machine like apparatus attached to which seems burnt and has suffered violence. The machinery twitches and moves on it's own accord as if trying to activate. 
15. A giant metal cylinder covered and carved with the million names of Cthulhu. The thing is warm to the touch and slick with rime from the oceans depths.
16. A bag containing the living head of a person that the PC knows. The thing is actually a collection of minor Lovecraftian demons who have taken this form to play a prank. And this is the start. 
17. A bag of human flesh leather containing thousands of lots of a lottery with the names and praises of Dagon upon them. The lots also have poetry on the reverse side praising the god and cursing the PC reading them. 
18. A lattice of metal in the shape of a humanoid skull with living eyes set within it. The thing also has a brain made from the living metal of an elemental spirit bound within. The thing will try to communicate telepathically but it radiates insane and horrid thoughts of the terrors it has seen. 
19. A small jar containing the living organs of some unknown species of mankind from a million years ago. The jar will gush with blood and gore the moment it is opened. 
20. An ornate box containing the head of a wizard. The head is alive and will begin to chant the praises of Cthlhu  the moment it is opened. The thing is immortal and quite insane but every 1d6 days it may provide valuable magical  advice to those who consult it.  

1d10 Random Lovecraftian Items and Finds After The UFO Leaves Encounter Table For Your Old School Science Fantasy Campaign

• What do we know … of the world and the universe about us? Our means of receiving impressions are absurdly few, and our notions of surrounding objects infinitely narrow. We see things only as we are constructed to see them, and can gain no idea of their absolute nature. With five feeble senses we pretend to comprehend the boundlessly complex cosmos, yet other beings with wider, stronger, or different range of senses might not only see very differently the things we see, but might see and study whole worlds of matter, energy, and life which lie close at hand yet can never be detected with the senses we have.
• "From Beyond" Written November 16, 1920, published June 1934 in The Fantasy Fan, 1
   HP Lovecraft 

The PC's suddenly have an alien encounter with a sanity shattering alien presence from beyond their  campaign world and something truly alien was left behind! But what? Some of the following items have appeared in this handy random 1d10 generator of horror and insanity.

1d10 Random Lovecraftian Items and
Finds After The UFO Leaves Encounter Table 

1. A pile 1d100 tons of squirming rot grubs that appears to be getting bigger every 1d4 rounds. The smell of rot and rancid flesh fills the air. 
2. A strange machine about the size of a bread box pulses with unnatural energies and weird colours from beyond the pale of mankind. Any PC's exposed to it must make a mutation check and find themselves upon another plane where the hounds of Tindalos await them. 
3. A single statue of some alien entity made from the discarded junk and trash of the surrounding villages and cities. Then the thing begins to move and speak. There is a 20% chance of it being a minor Outer God. 
4. A single sheet of oddly coloured living flesh, it is about bed sheet size. The thing looks alive with hair, pores, and it is slick with sweat when an eye and mouth open upon the surface of the thing. 
5. A statue of cut crystal and glass with still living humanoid organs within it. The thing is humming with chanting and insanity. It is warm and wet to the touch. Once per round it will try to reach into the holder's mind to whisper secrets of a most disturbing nature. The mind of a wizard of sixth level is trapped within it from another universe. 
6. A pile of wet remains of some small humanoid are piled at the center of a burn make in the soil. There is a small burnt up device of some oil based case that has been melted into the thing's hand. Then the chanting starts. 
7. A single demon skull covered with strange and alien writing. There are two cut crystal eyes that seem to sparkle and swim when you look at them. The will open a dimensional door every two and a half hours four meters from the skull. Random location but something awaits you and you know deep in the bowels of your soul that you may not return. 
8. A jar of alien soil that conceals a swarm of odd green coloured glowing worms. They telepathically implore you to put one in your ear. They claim to mean you know harm and they have come from a dying star. They may impart minor psychic abilities but they have a dire hidden agenda. They would speak with you about the coming of Hastur. 
9. The brain parts of some vast alien entity lie glowing and scattered about the place. There is a 20% chance of them belonging to a very pissed off Star Spawn of Cthulhu. The thing will arrive within 1d4 hours and begin looking for those responsible. The thing's brain parts may grow into small horrid glowing troll like monsters with tendriled faces. They will try to kill anything present. The regenerate as trolls and will grow into full sized monsters with 20 minutes from the time of you finding this. 
10. You find a staff made of glowing bio organic material shaped by years of weathering and age from countless years. There are incredibly horrid and gross designs of a bio-mechanical aspect worked into the thing. As soon as one touches it they will be in contact with the mind of Azathoth. The thing may try to possess them and reek havoc on the countryside. The staff is the property of some alien half demonic wizard who is seeking his staff. It will stop at nothing to recover it.