Colonial Troopers puts the hard military sci fi spin on OD&D zero edition as a head spinning retro clone. This is the interstellar setting and mix of influences like Star Ship Troopers, hard military sci fi, European comics from the 70's and a ton of other sci fi pop culture i distilled down into a zero edition style game.
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PC's can choose between classes such as agent, hunter, diplomat, mercenary, trooper, and pilot as well mixing classes with the usual OD&D penalties. Races include Rackni (K’tk^nit’m~on) are alien biological adapting spideroids ,Humans, Lur (Clodhoppers) are giant eight legged vaguely reptilian aliens ,Zassarians (Skinnies, or Scalies) alien thin reptilian humanoids,Synthetic (Syntiacs)(self contained androids created by joint alien/human technologies) & Zealots are an ideology as much as a mixed factional race if you will.
This is a much a role playing game as it is a role playing game with an interstellar war, Colonial Troopers is like picking up an issue of early Eighties Heavy Metal and being thrust into the center of the story. You have to hang on and figure out what's going on. That's not a bad thing and the combination of OD&D tactics and PC generation along with the fluff of the game makes this work on a couple of levels. The artwork is up to the standard that we've seen in Guardians but the focus is solid military and warfare. This isn't Warhammer 40K at all but a completely different vibe. The PC's and party are going to have real motives and reasons for being together and this is bound into the meat and fluff of the game.
The game presents a solid frame work for your PC's to have military style adventures against the backdrop of space and has a nice assortment of specific toys and whistles to accomplish this sort of an interstellar game and its a well done story concept that echoes throughout the system.
"In the 21st century man created computers that process and correlate data
millions of times faster than any human. This lead to a near catastrophe when a
machine designed to seek out and mine uranium nearly destroyed the Earth by
perfecting the production of uranium at the expense of humans, and monopolized
the resources of the Earth, moon, and nearby asteroids (including several powerhungry
nations) to accomplish its purpose. A grueling battle for humanity’s survival was fought against this artificial superintelligence and its allies, and barely won by a ragtag band of hardened human soldiers led by a great military genius, Adam Benjoseph. A federation of surviving states formed a new constitution, rebuilt civilization from the ashes, and outlawed artificial super-intelligence."
Now the big question on everyone's mind is two fold, is this game fully compatible with Warriors of the Red Planet Second edition and can I use it with Guardians! The answer is yes but one thing about all of these games from Night Owl Workshop is that they are and can stand on their own. If you've already got a Warriors of the Red Planet Second Edition game in motion and play are you really going to want to introduce super heroes or hard military sci fi into the mix of play. These are questions that you as a DM really need to ask both yourself and your players. This is a game with some very nice add ons and ideas but PC's in personal power armor can do a number on an existing campaign. So I say the above statements with warning and some caution. That being said I think that this is a welcome addition to the market. Colonial Troopers provides a whole range of interesting systems that can be used to port over incredible military style systems into a wide range of campaigns. I also think that this is a game that has a ton to offer. Within one hundred pages you get a fully working star ship combat set of rules and wargaming systems. World generating tables and stats, complete work ups for sci fi equipment and more.
The artwork is very nice, the tone rings true for a Seventies military style game and the material is solidly done. I think that this would work as a fully thought out system unto itself or a DM could mix and match this with other Night Owl Workshop products to create the campaign that they want. That having been said I also think I need to address something. I don't know that Colonial Troopers would be a good expansion for White Star. There's two things going on here. White Star puts the PC's at the center of a Star Wars style space opera. Colonial Troopers puts the PC's into a military situation and then brings the action into focus where the PC's while internal to the greater events of the universe are not going to make a heck of a difference to the overall interstellar picture. Colonial Troopers has the sort of vibe that echoes through the late Sixties and early Eighties post Vietnam science fiction. Echoes of warfare and the lessons of war coupled with the classic science fiction lessons of Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, and Frank Herbert. This makes Colonial Troopers a winner in my book. Download and start playing with this game today.
The tables and gambling halls of Alpha Blue the space brothel lead to several pawn shops that can give you loans on watches, jewelry, and much more. These establishments help to separate adventurers, space tyrants, and others from their valuable coins and blue bucks. The hedonistic delights of the Alpha Blue setting allows a DM to pull all sorts of stunts to get the adventurers separated from their money. But there is also a prime opportunity for adventurers to pick up cheap and unusual equipment on the cheap.
There is a twenty percent chance that some item or do dad that the PC's have been search of will be as part of these pawn broker's wares.
1d6 Random Finds From the Pawn Shops Table
- Model 33 pleasure android of weird aspect, this is a actually an assassin android that has been hiding out from the long arm of the space law. 6th level assassin bot with all kinds of mini weapons, tools, and other hidden compartments. They're asking 600 blue bucks for the android.
- +2 dagger made from the spine of some small humanoid. the thing glows with an an inner fire each time a thing from Hell or the Outer Darkness is within twenty yards of the owner. Worth about 500 blue bucks to the right owner.
- Glowing set of throwing stars that homes in on their target, these stars burst into flaming death when exposed to the things of chaos and horror. These throwing stars have the letters M.M. emblazoned on them.
- Wand of dark submission allows its owner to hit a target with a painful alien radiation for 1d6 points of damage and then a magical domination effect kicks in after 1d4 rounds allowing command a minor monster or demon within twenty feet of the owner.
- Very advanced blaster of archaic design that allows one select not only the minor ray type and then use this weapon to hit things that can't be normally hit with an energy weapon. Worth 300 blue bucks for this weapon.
- A casket of the Old Ones, this device allows one to use 1d4 spells from Thule and summon 1d4 minor demonic forces. There also a 40% chance that should a demon or devil seeing the casket will go out of their way to murder or kill the owner. The casket every new moon allows one to re roll a failed attempt at something the arcane energies allow the owner to dally with time. The casket is worth 7000 blue bucks.
These items are located and guarded by powers of incredible potent abilities and there are other items that change hands many times. This is only a small cross section of these items.
I haven't returned to Lamentations of the Flame for awhile but I came across this"14th-Century Illuminations for Dante’s Divine Comedy" which according to the website were " dated to between 1444 and 1450, the illuminations vary in style due to
the fact that two separate artists worked on them, with the first two
sections of Inferno and Purgatorio being drawn by the lesser known Priamo della Quercia (active 1426-1467), while the Paradiso
section was illustrated by Giovanni di Paolo di Grazia (ca. 1403-1482)
who contributed 61 illuminations in all. The work has belonged to
Alfonso V, king of Aragon, Naples, and Sicily (1396 – 1458) and his
great grandson Ferdinand, Duke of Calabria (1488 – 1550), who donated
the manuscript to the convent of San Miguel in Valencia in 1538. It was
later bought in 1901 by Henry Yates Thompson, a collector of illuminated
manuscripts, and was donated to the British Museum in 1941." I saw these many years back in a book in a library down in Hartford Ct. They remain as strange & slightly odd when I saw them way back when.
These illustrations reminded me of some of the monsters from No Salvation For Witches for the Lamentations of the Flame Princess rpg system. It reminds me that the demons and devils of Dante are alien at worst and entirely dangerous at best to the unforgiving lives of PC's. More over the tone and weirdness of the artwork is right within line of the thought process behind this adventure. The random demonic generators at the back of No Salvation are perfectly pitched to create countless dark demonic foul things.
PC's messing with the LoFP summoning spell might be in for far more dangerous hi jinks then they intended for and this artwork from the period bares this out. The scenes are horrifying, dark and simply weird; making these perfect fodder and inspiration for an old school game. Penis and breast monsters are nothing new apparently and this bares thinking about for using these as source material for your next Lamentations game.
Many of the scenes are laced with a sense of the weird and plug right into that LoFP charm, certainly some of them bring to mind the horrors of the Lusus Naturae book and have a certain cosmic horror to them. Mankind isn't the central point in these, his immortal soul is simply another commodity to be exploited by the demons, monsters, and horrors of Hell. Even the powers of 'good' are dangerous and more then a bit unsettling.
These might also be of use to anyone running a Dark Albion game that needs some weird inspiration for demons and powers of chaos as well as dark sources for the powers of good in the games setting. These certainly fit my view of some of the dark and dangerous elements for both of these pseudo historic OSR horror games. I could even see taking these and warping them into contemporaries of the horrors of the Teratic Tome
"You're PC's farms and families are being attacked by slaughtered by mutated monsters from the mountains, once more you and fellow villagers have taken up arms and warriors from nearby courts to help deal with it but the blood lust and killing has changed you. No longer can you go back to farming and the pleasant village life! You must find out who or what is responsible for this violation of your way of life. Perhaps it has to do with that ill begotten star that fell from the sky! The king is hiring and perhaps it is time to take up the life of the warrior! Ezoriza the crazy one has come to possess the powers of the dark magicks and has been declared a wizard. Maybe its time to go with the soldiers and leave this place behind. So many have been slaughtered. There is rage in your heart and blood on your hands! There are so many who are answering the call of the Duke. Now is the time to join them.
Expedition to the Barrier Peaks is one of the most polarizing adventures
for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons by Gary Gygax. The adventure is
looked down upon because it takes science fantasy elements and places
them with the world of Greyhawk.
According to Wiki ,"Expedition to the Barrier Peaks takes place on a spaceship in the Barrier Peaks mountain range of the World of Greyhawk campaign setting.[3] In the adventure's introduction, it is explained that the Grand Duchy of Geoff
is under constant attack by a succession of monsters that have been
emerging from a cave in the mountains. The Grand Duke of Geoff has hired
the characters to discover the origin of the creatures, and stop their incursions."
But what if it didn't? What if instead the adventure took place in the Colorado Rockies of Umerica? What if the Duke of Geoff was local royalty whose dealing with these things out of legend that have come down through word of mouth and are now all too real. The strange radiations leaking from the things of the ancient ones in the cave? The return of the magick powers foretold by prophecy and the crazed seers and wise people.
Modifying and playing around with the premise and setting of Expedition allows the module to be used as a high level funnel for taking a selection of PC's into a blender of weirdness where your going to end up with adventurers capable of dealing with the challenges of the adventure. Expedition To the Barrier Peaks is the perfect way of adding in the classic fantasy elements and blending them into a science fantasy campaign with out batting eye especially in the wastelands.
This module can also be used to introduce lots of traditional AD&D elements and bring on the post apocalyptic vibe in spades while turning up the players onto the Metamorphosis Alpha background music.
This module could get the PC's into that sort of mode for when you switch them up to DCC's version of Metamorphosis Alpha. This is the sort of stuff that brings home the tone and ideas of MA;'The cave is actually an entrance to a downed spacecraft
whose inhabitants have succumbed to a virus, leaving them dead. Many of
the ship's robots are still functioning, however, and the players must
either avoid or defeat them; some may also be ignored. As later seen in
video games, "plot coupons"
need to be collected. The adventure requires the players to gather
colored access cards (the "coupons") to advance to the next story arc"
There are so many ins and outs for Dungeon Crawl Classics in this module that its not even funny. Expedition has so many encounters and potential that it can be placed across a vast array of venues and yields a ton of potential for DCC games. Part of what needs to be done is dissect the module for lots of useful bits such as patrons and potential Umerican elements to add to your DCC games.
To get the maximum out of Barrier your going to need Crawling Under A Broken Moon fanzine issue #4 which has many of the elements that are going to roll off the encounters and mayhem found within this classic adventure. Any of the issues with robots, guns, and post apocalyptic material are going to come in really handy for making this process work and getting your players into the right gonzo mindset of Expedition To The Barrier Peaks.
One might think that this module is far too pricey and out of reach but they sell for nine dollars for a used copy on Amazon. This is a classic module that can be mined for a wide variety of perfect DCC to fit adventure elements!
I've spent the afternoon playing catch up with repair work and getting my sweaty hands on the Guardians rpg by David Pulver and Thomas Denmark. I've been waiting a month or more for this retroclone system ever since I stumbled across this game's announcement on the OE blog. So what if the originators of original Dungeons and Dragons had been inspired by the Golden age of comic books and superheroes? That's the question that the Guardians! retroclone poses and answers in spades. Faster then a speeding bullet the DM is plunged into a world of capes and crusaders where the party really is a bunch of super heroes!
GRAB IT HERE
One might be thinking great another super hero game with moar power! More abilities and now they've added in ton more material! Well, yes and no. There are ton of PC racial options from exotic, mutant, robot, super alien, supernatural, human, and superhuman. All of these give limits, gifts, powers, issues, and powers. There are four primary character classes: Bruiser, Super-Agent, Power- Wielder, and Gadgeteer. (There is also a Fighter class used for non-super non-player characters. Everything is very carefully laid out here and ease to understand for any experienced OD&D player or DM. Everything in this game has a different scaling then traditional OD&D, adventurers and super heroes are powerful and very dangerous. This isn't simply in the traditional scale of things but also in their abilities. Think very carefully before mixing Swords and Wizardry or OD&D with Guardians!. This a complete system unto itself really.
According to the authors; "Depending on your character's origins you will be able to roll a number
of times on the Power Table to determine what super powers your
character has. In some ways this is reminiscent of the Gamma World
mutations tables and how that endowed characters with unique abilities.
Though we've worked hard to make the system much more balanced so the
party will all have value to contribute to the adventures without 1 or 2
characters dominating every session because they are so much more
powerful than the other characters." That isn't a bad thing but it gets to the core of the gaming system and powers; Guardians is very well done and takes some of its nods from traditional OSR gaming but its really its own animal. Guardians is a complete supers game in 101 pages of system and super heroics but it strikes the balance as fun and very interesting while using a traditional approach to its subject matter.
PC's in this are going to range from anything resembling the Justice League or the Avengers to something straight out of Dead pool. The system is easily capable of producing all of this and much, much more.
Here's what your PC's might look like from a recent OE blog entry.
GHOST BLOOD
Supernatural Super-Agent (7th level)
Str 11 (0), Int 9 (0), Wis 18 (+3), Dex 28 (+6), Con 11 (0), Cha 20 (+4)
Class Abilities: Assassin, Dark Fighting, Surprise Attack.
Powers: Projectile Fire, Psychic Weapon, Super Charisma, Super
Dexterity, Superior Intangibility, Super Jumping. Features: Danger
Sense, Heightened Smell, +2 Wisdom.
Gifts: 1 Gadget Point, Paragon.
Limits: Bound (serve the Shadow Hounds); Depowered by Holy Symbols and Sanctified Ground.
Issues: Duty
Gadgets: “Shadowcloak” (wearable gadget: Teleport).
Equipment: Ballistic body suit, 3 smoke grenades.
HP 39. EP 9. AC 21.
Ghost Blood is a member of the Wraith Brotherhood, an order of magical
assassin/martial artists who walk the path between life and death. He
can walk through walls, track like a bloodhound and conjure a psychic
sword or fire darts made of his own blood!
But the question really is, is Guardians a playable and viable system, what is the differences between this retroclone and other super hero games on the market currently? Well, yes this is a system that has ton going for it. First of all this a one time game and download, everything you need to play this game is straight out of the gate in the pdf and print book that is coming from Lulu in the near future. The book has some amazingly nice systems built in that allows for a wide range of easily customizated PC super hero options. You can take a look at the sample of the Power Wielder class here
I think that Guardians! brings some very powerful tools to the table for a DM and his players to use, I can see this system being used for anything from old school science fiction to pure dungeon busting. The system is flexible, cagey, smart and easily used across the board. Guardians is well thought out and balanced within its own system. But its insidious like White Star in some respects because its too flexible and easy to slip into a campaign subverting adventures and well established games. That being said its well worth your time and download.
I don't want to like this game because it is far too easy to slip Guardians! into the back door of a campaign or an existing campaign to begin running a supers game. There are ton of random charts and tables as well as advice for running an on the fly game. This is a very well done gaming system and there's lots of room to DYI in your own favorite super hero setting or more. I think though that Guardians is its own self enclosed super heroes system and dungeon masters should be extra careful when using it. As they say with great power comes great dungeon master responsibility. Grab this game and then use it to run one shots and convention sets until you and your players decide how to use it. Guardians! is a great supers game and very well written with lots of great artwork throughout the game. Grab this game tonight or when it comes on sale, personally I'm waiting until this game crops up on Lulu. I want a print copy yesterday.
There is already a G+ community with support right over here.
Some errata and errors are already being found but these are very minor issues.
They are ancient things of abnormal and alien natures beings who loath mankind with a hatred of ten thousand years of warfare. Yet they are so alien no knows nor can understand why these beings hold such a bizarrely violent streak of hatred against human and near human kind. The R'tiqurllothi are alien beings who may not be intelligent or conscious in the conventional sense at all. These being pilot space craft, are able to use energy weapons and exploit every single military situation but they're minds are so alien that there is speculation that they may be guided by other minds or intelligence. These beings may be telepathic puppets of an over mind of incredible power and malignancy
The R'tiqurllothi
No Appearing : 1d6
AC:7(13)
HD:3
Attack: Energy Weapon or 3 claws and a bite
Damage 1d2 each and 1d3
Save :F1
Move: 180'
The R'tiqurllothi appear in amazingly weird and intricate space craft armed with Macyuguaboi ray pistols of strange design. These pistols do 1d6 points of radioactive destructive damage to anything within a 20' foot radius. These beings seem to communication among themselves with tight band alien telepathic messages but the insistence among certain Red men scholars is that these things can't be trusted at all. They swarm into their tin can like ships and fly to remote and highly dangerous areas to exploit and destroy the locals in flashy and dangerous fashion. The R'tiqurllothi are a predatory and weird race of beings who operate in an alien completely alien manner destroying anything that their unseen masters wish eleminated or destroyed. Adventurers who have encountered these beings loath them with a passion because of the murders and genocide exploited by these beings. On the plus side they often have rare and valuable technological or weird resources aboard their ships indicating an other worldly force is awake and aware of these beings.
Our brave party of adventurers managed to penetrate the interior of the Great Swamp and fought off two plant monsters and made their way onto the path to the ruined temple of Thuris. The ruins were supposedly abandoned. This event was continued from last week's game.
The party in this past week's Warriors of the Read Planet second edition game managed to penetrate the temple of Thuris after dealing with a few red men cultists in the swamps and they heard the echoing chanting from below in the temple. The passages downwards were slick with swamp mud and blue rime. The inner temple walls and tunnels were covered in swamp Rathvine and the stuff gave the party some nasty turns until they began burning and freezing it with some rays from their party's scientists. Two tunnel turns later they came face to face with a 4th level panth warrior who gave them some trouble. They managed to dispatch him before the alarm could be raised. Falazgl Elvated Animal Wolf warrior managed to get in a throat shot with his short sword ending the issue.
Inglandurgodo The Ripper one of the party's scoundrels went to work on a nearby temple door. He almost bought it against a Sassam wizard's familiar. The party came face to face with a wizard and his familiar. So it was all hands on deck for this fight. Grenades and lots of running ensued as one of the PC's was fried and trapped. We shall miss Zs'nal Elevated Insect Fighting Man 2nd level played by Robbie and speak of his deeds around the campfire. As guards came running to the scene of the fire and magick fight. The PC's high tailed it out of the room but not before grabbing some treasure and hid fast behind some fallen masonry. They came straight into a hidden room and the scoundrels check for traps and weird mechanisms.
The party ended up in a room full of decomposed bodies of warriors with harnesses and weapons;when the first of the skeletal panths rose from the ersonite table the mayhem began. There were way too many of them to deal with effectively. They party became bogged down in this necrotic laboratory. Chalimmabel Of The Open Mind 3rd level mentalist let loose telekinetically with flying debris and caused a bit of damage among the undead horrors ranks. But they just kept coming! Will our heroes survive? What the hell is wrong with the Temple of Thuris?! What is the Gugot-zakrsh Loghagn-stau A Hither tribal merchant and mentalist of some renown's connection to this place and what have our heroes gotten themselves into?
This adventure will be continued next week as the weird atmosphere and terrible circumstances seem to close in our heroes! Who will survive? What dread powers are at work in the deep jungle temple? Tune in next week! 
