Review and Commentary On "World of Tomorrow" book "Future War and Weapons" by Neil Ardley For Your Old School Post Apocalyptic Campaigns

You can see a Flicker Set Of The Entire
Book Right over
HERE

The World of Tomorrow books were another of those sort of 'educational books' from another time. A picture is worth a thousand words and in this case, sometimes a bit of a boast was needed when gaming within a post apocalyptic world. 
The World of Tomorrow books were great pieces of grade school speculation that were available way back in 1981.  I stumbled upon a flicker account with the entire book uploaded by gentleman whose moniker was 'Clampants'.

.

The art of the 'World of Tommorrow' was bold science fictional stuff that made great fodder for any post apocalyptic old school adventuring way back when. The book didn't predict drones,or domination by the internet. But it did give information on portable grenade and computer assisted guns.  Counter terrorism, smaller cruise missiles, SDI style satellite weaponry, and even particle beam weapons being used by colony pirates along with weird Sky Command mega planes. 

Time and again over the years I've used the material to illustrate 'The Shadow Years' of various games from Gamma World to more recently, Mutant Future. Much of the material is juvenile, dated, and frankly perfect for old school Post Apocalyptic gaming. This was heady stuff when I was a kid frankly. 

I've seen various World of Tomorrow books in Good Will and used book shops. I've had this particular book since it came out way back in 1981 and still do. The World of Tomorrow books featured that same style of generic weird 70's and 80's science fiction artwork that appeared in the 1979 'The Usborne Book of The Future' . You can grab that right over HERE
 As I've said before these books have a weird, 1970's Space 1999, UFO, UK science fictional style to their art. 
Over the years they've become fodder for Earth like planets in Fasa Trek, recently they're stand in artwork has been featured as NPC worlds for X Plorers, and the 'Colony Pirates' for Apex goons. Because of their weird presentation of the subject material they make perfect fodder for post apocalytic gaming. Hover tanks, weird cruise missiles, strange Sky Command Mega jets, and more grace the interior. All fun and weird tech waiting to be popped into your games. 
The 'World of Tomorrow' is worth a look for the weird artwork itself and various friends have loved the books that I've used over the years. They're goofy, fun, and really quite interesting. If you do get a chance to take a look at them then do so. They're a hoot and a piece of 80's weirdness that you just don't see any more. 

This is not an attempt to claim or disrespect the trade marks or copyrights of the holders. This blog entry is merely for educational,entertainment and review purposes. 
Thanks and many happy nights of post apocalyptic and science fiction gaming!! 

Review and Commentary Vault of the Ages (1952.Winston) - Poul Anderson For Your Old School Space Opera Campaign

Download It Right Over
HERE

Years ago I received this book from a friend. Recently, I've been looking into actually using some of the ideas here. This is one of Paul Anderson's first novels and while it is a juvenile book and another in the Winston series. It also has the whole post apocalytpic interstellar Dark Ages cross over thing going for it. Much of the ideas here sound like they came out of 'A Canticle for Liebowitz' but this is pure adventure and much less depressing then that classic.
The basic plot goes something like this: 

'Five hundred years from now, rival groups battle for the contents of a vault containing remnants of 20th century civilization which could guide their society out of its primitive state.'

Weirdly enough this novel might make a great cross over point for a game of Stars Without Number and OD&D. I've used the vault several times as a jump off point for several one shots over the last couple of years. 

Using The Vault of the Ages For Your Old School Space Operas 

There are at least three options that come to mind for using the Vault of The Ages. One is to simply use the basic plot as an adventure to get your O level PC's into space or taken by the ancients. This method has worked several times to cross Labyrinth Lord over into Mutant Future as well another mechanism to deal with space issues in Gamma World. Two is using Vault as a sort of 'Foundation Series' style time capsule for a very Dark Ages Style planet. 

If we take a deeper look into the plot we get more solid idea of the themes that were're dealing with. 

From an  Amazon review : 

The story is set in the Alleghenies roughly 500 years after a nuclear holocaust, Vault of the Ages tells the story peaceful farming tribes vs. fierce warriors. Carl, our lead hero and son of the village Chief is responsible for trading with the people from the ruined city to obtain metal and other needed materials form the remains of skyscrapers etc...

Carl and his companions discover a "time vault," basically a large time capsule remaining from the pre-holocaust civilization, containing numerous tools, books, models of apparatus and more depicting the sciences that have since been lost. With the aid of the newly discovered sciences and much common sense he is able to help his people.

Because of  the nature of 'Vault of the Ages', I used the book several times now with W2 for Stars Without Number. 'Relics of The Lost Age' is just the sort of artifacts, things, and nastiness that might be lurking in the vault of the novel.

 

You can get this one right over
HERE

I'm not going to lie, years and years back I ran across 'Vaults of the Ages' in my grammar school library and used in a rather sneaky little crossover campaign. For months my players during the regular OD&D game were playing through what they thought was the usual Dark Ages Style OD&D game. It turns out that the world of Vaults of The Ages wasn't their usual campaign world but a level of the Star Ship Warden. 

Of Course that Is Available Right Over
HERE
Lately I've used The 'Earth' of  The  Vault of the Ages as a jump off point for a HM Piper Space Vikings style campaign where the culture of the world was merely a forgotten focus for the interstellar one lurking out in the cosmos. The PCs were really put in the cross hairs. Does your world step into the unknown void and risk being plunder and pillage for those rascals from the Sword Worlds, do you stay isolated and content or strike out among the stars, or do you merely build your world into a power allowing your sons and daughters to shine. This last game worked well for both SWN and X plorers where the vault became one of many and the 'dungeons were more then mere toys and play things for the local wizards. So what's it going to be? What will be in your version of the Vault of the Ages? Treasures to rebuild your world or treasures to take you to many other worlds. 

Review And Commentary On 'Star Trek Renegades' and Its Use In Your Old School Star Trek Campaign

Official Site Right Over
HERE

Its nice to be reporting on a Star Trek Renegades. 

I've been following Star Trek Renegades from their Kickstarters and IndieGoGo programs for months. There's a ton of new fan/professional material here that has cropped up from Renegade Studios since 2006. These folks are pros at it. These are the same folks who did the Star Trek Fan film Of Gods and Men back in 2006.

You can watch that Here 

 Renegades takes the work Of Gods and Men and spins it in a whole other direction. we have an entirely new Trek.
According to Wiki: 

Star Trek: Renegades is a fan created project to create a pilot for a new Star Trek series. Several former Star Trek actors will appear, including Walter Koenig, Robert Picardo and Tim Russ. Tim Russ will also direct the pilot

Colour me impressed with the tightness, ideas, and feel of Renegades.

The Background of Renengades According To Wiki: 

It is ten years after the starship Voyager’s return from the Delta Quadrant, and the Federation is in a crisis. The Federation’s main suppliers of dilithium crystals (the primary fuel used for interstellar travel) are disappearing. Space and time have folded around several planets, effectively isolating them from any contact with outside worlds. The phenomenon is not natural – someone or something is causing it to happen. This necessitates drastic measures; some of which are outside the Federation’s normal jurisdiction. For this, Admiral Pavel Chekov, head of Starfleet Intelligence, turns to Commander Tuvok, Voyager’s former security officer and current head of the newly reorganized Section 31, Starfleet's autonomous intelligence and defense organization. Tuvok must put together a new covert, renegade crew – mostly outcasts and rogues – and even criminals. This new crew is tasked with finding out what is causing the folding of time and space, and stopping it at all costs. But will they be able to put aside their differences and stop trying to kill one another in time to accomplish their mission?

I'm pretty excited to see this production moving forward and the work that these folks are doing. We really do new some 

Using The Renegades Method For Your Old School Trek Campaign

The Renegades method seems to be take the loose threads from Trek and create an entirely new direction. The idea of gathering criminals, pirates, and the scum of the Federation isn't new. But it does work as background for 'FASA Trek' or as OD&D Trek. 

There have always been dirty little corners of the Federation universe that don't get talked about or explored that much except for a nod from the movies and occasional some little alien planet with a dark and sinister background. Star Trek Renegades seems to really take some of the tone of DS9 and expand upon it ten fold in some respects. The same could easily be applied to your old school Trek game. We do see quite a bit of this in 'Star Trek Online'. 

 Many of the props, sets, uniforms,etc. That we've seen seem to set the tone of Renegades into just such a direction. A brand new enemy, and a boatload of pirates, scum, and others. Star Trek Renegades is one to keep an eye on. 

Live Long and Game On! 

Review and Commentary on "Marada The She Wolf' by Chris Clarmont And John Bolton For Your Old School Sword and Sorcery Campaigns On The Dark Corner

Today I take a look at the silvered hair warrior whose epic was told way,way, back in 1982.
A tale of demons, sorcery most foul, ancient gods, and some truly twisted old school action
Right over
HERE

1d10 Random Minor Things Blown In On The Borea Winds Table For The Astonishing Swordsmen and Sorcerers of Hyperborea rpg System On The Dark Corner Blog

Occasionally the inter-dimensional winds can blow all sorts of minor items on to the lands of  Hyperborea.
Here are some of them right over HERE

'Dead Stop With A Twist of Arduin ' A Gothic - Post Apocalyptic OD&D Game - Actual Play Part III

The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?

Edgar Allan Poe The PC's were climbing for their lives and dealing with hordes of undead as they went. Steel, pistol shot, and blood as they battled up the stairs towards the necomancer's lair. 

Dice were rolling, things were getting interesting and the players took a break by going down a slide hall way. Only to be confronted by hordes of skeleton warriors! 

Part II
Right over
HERE

Every age, every era of mankind's dead were represented in the horde! They broke out their powder and started to blast the unholy things apart!  Then it was close in fighting and the party backed into a bottle neck where numbers didn't matter and they could take em apart piece by bony piece!

The party is fighting their way to the top of a skyscraper floor by floor confronting skeleton warriors as they go! Basically its like something out of Army of Darkness! So everyone is having fun and result! Opps the cleric just bought it. Ochie

The players have succeed in reaching level eleven after dealing with a weird reanimated blob of corpse skin! 

The PC's also managed to gain treasure, black powder, and deal with some horrofyingly nasty undead kobold warriors as well! They also freed more prisoners who were going to be turned into zombies by the minor priests of the necromancer!
Among the freed prisoners was a deodanth warrior PC! 

One of the players in tonight's game asked me if it was alright to bring in his Deodanth PC fighter 4th level. After looking over his character sheet. I didn't have a problem at all. What's a Deodanth? Figure available right over HERE
The Deodanth, undead, part cat, part elf?, part who knows...the proverb in Arduin is there is nothing crueler in the multiverse than a merciful deodanth...Not someone to cross paths with! They have the innate ability to time slip 

The other NPC  personalities were generated on the fly using this product from Fish Wife Games!

Get it right
HERE

100 ICONIC NPCS OF THE APOCALYPTIC ERA

From the crumbling urban sprawls to polluted coastal settlements to a nuclear wild west comes a variety of colorful, self styled encounters. This list consists of 100 character names along with a descriptive role for each.

Samples from the list include:

01- Archie Haggar (Shady arms and military technology dealer)

15- Chevy Hollywood (Thrill seeking contraband smuggler)

25- Devon Night (Voodoo fortune teller)

30- Ethan Cruel (Sadistic punk with a penchant for knives)

45- Iris Catterton (Nervous streetwalker)

50- Jesse Blazer (Bloodthirsty wasteland outlaw)

60- Lars Black (Coastal settlement tug boat owner)

75- Presley Wayne (Smooth talking con man)

90- Stun Boy (Flamboyant, cattle prod armed criminal lackey)

100- Yoko Honda (Wild eyed, sword wielding headhunter)

 Finally the really nasty automaton was generated on the fly using this product from Jack Shear available right over  HERE

MegaStructures As Megadungeon Fodder For Your Old School Science Fiction or Fantasy Campaign

Science Fiction artwork from the nineteen hundreds through now has been filled with Mega Structures. Incredibly breathtaking and inspiring locations that seem to echo throughout old school rpg campaigns. These can make or break a game setting by simply being there.
They make great opportunities for exploration and looting potential.

One concept for the space elevator has it tethered to a mobile seagoing platform. This concept has appeared in Gamma World campaigns and recently a Mutant Future campaign 

 What is a Mega Structure? 
Well wiki has a pretty clear definition of the Megastructure:
 A megastructure is a very large manmade object, though the limits of precisely how large this is vary considerably. Some apply the term to any especially large or tall building.^[1][2]

Some sources define a megastructure as an enormous self-supporting artificial construct. Other criteria such as rigidity or contiguousness are sometimes also applied,^{[citation needed]} so large clusters of associated smaller structures may or may not qualify. The products of megascale engineering orastroengineering are megastructures.

Most megastructure designs could not be constructed with today's level of industrial technology. This makes their design examples of speculative (or exploratory) engineering. Those that could be constructed easily qualify as megaprojects.
More right over HERE


 A couple of proposed Megastructures that I've used in my games: 

• Atlantropa, a hydroelectric dam to be built across the Strait of Gibraltar, and the lowering of the surface of the Mediterranean Seaby as much as 200 metres.

• Trans-Global Highway, highway systems that would link all six of the inhabited continents on Earth. The highway would network new and existing bridges and tunnels, improving not only ground transportation but also potentially offering a conduit for utility pipelines.

                                                      Appendix N For Megastructures 
Here are a couple of titles to get the DM started on Mega structure design for their old school games. Often times measurements, mapping, diagrams and more have been done making incorporating these elements in your campaigns easy and simple.

1. Urban Structures For The Future 
2. Megastructure By Reyner Banham 
3. Urban Futures Of The Recent Past 

Dark Roasted Blend is another great site for a boat load of potential 

megastructures. They have at least three articles that will provide hours of inspiration for the DM looking to use megastructures as potential for their games!
Recently I was reading the Mega Structure Update from Avi Abrams on Dark Roasted Blend. The writer captured proposed Megastructures going all the way back to the thirties and more recent ones as well.
These would make incredible set pieces for many games but they especially brought to mind games like Carcosa, and many of the post apocalyptic games like Mutant Future. The ones below are only a sample and you can find the complete article right over HERE
Its really worth taking a look at. These maga structures below are perfect to be 
turned into Meg dungeons with their own Gygaxian ecology.
Heck even the 'Warden' could be considered a space going mega dungeon
And many of these might be ripe to put into various planets or alternative Earths
as locations of danger and darkness!
These are only a sample of some of the awesomeness found in the Dark Roasted Blend article. 

(image via) This design by UK architect Yheu-Shen Chua has been awarded Third Place in eVolo's 2011 Skyscraper Competition: "One of the main purposes of the project is to allow the water from the upstream river to engage directly with the visitors through a series of containers. A hanging tower above the 700-foot drop into the Black Canyon would be used as gallery and a vertical aquarium." Belgian Architect Vincent Callebaut dreamed up a combination of skyscraper and airship, where the skyscraper itself floats in the air, feeding on a green "algae" energy: the "Hydrogenase" project is as eco-sustainable, as it is beautiful - more info: (images credit: Vincent Callebaut) Vincent Callebaut uses organic shapes in his designs and and dreams BIG - see all of his fantastic projects here. Floating Observatories: Unreal Tower Proposed for Taiwan Strange combination of a tree-like skyscraper and huge Zeppelin airship-inspired floating observation decks is a radical vision by RomanianDorin Stefan Birou Arhitectura - more info and images here (image via) The flowing shapes of this skyscraper remind us of the work of late Jan Kaplicky: on the left is the new national library in Prague, on the right is the Selfridge building, part of the Bullring complex in Birmingham, England: (image via) The Taipei City Museum of Art concept by OODA is based on two hypercubes and looks like an alien artifact: Another alien creature-like Taipei concept is proposed for the Performing Arts Center, by B+U design: (image via)

Five Cartoon Introductions As Inspiration for Your Old School Games

Welcome to Saturday morning! Here's a load of some of the classic Saturday morning good stuff! 

Space Ghost 1966 

Herculoids 1967

Dinoboy 1966

Johnny Quest 1964

Thundarr The Barbarian 1980