OSR Commentary - Trey Causey's Strange Stars & Stars Without Numbers Scavenger Fleets

 

Chris Floss artwork used without permission 


"The year is 3200 and mankind's empire lies in ashes.

The Jump Gates fell six hundred years ago, severing the links between the myriad worlds of the human diaspora.

Now, the long isolation of the Silence falls away as men and women return to the skies above their scattered worlds.

Will you be among them once more?'

 Our player's PC's want two 'new' space haulers and getting into the deep dynamics of it. I turned back to Strange Stars setting's blog entry, 'From The Sorcerer's Skull Starships In The Strange Stars and this has to do with the hyper drive systems which the players are after; "One example of a lost technology is superluminal drives. The vast majority of modern craft are sublight vessels that utilize the hyperspace network to short-cut interstellar distances. The most advanced current civilizations have a rudimentary understanding of the science behind some FTL travel methods, but they are are currently unable to build them." A space hauler equipped with such a drive would have an incredible advantage. However, there might be far more going on then meets the eye. And hence why the hyperspace networks were used and relied on. 
Hyperspacial drives might be far more terrorfying then then the player's realize and the standard spike drive is the alternative which became industry standard. There are other technologies that the PC's want too salvage;"The salvage of ancient derelicts or wrecks is an important (and lucrative) activity. Gravity generators and inertial suppressors are only two of the important technologies than many civilizations are able to exploit, but not necessarily manufacture themselves. Intact data systems are a particularly spectacular find. There is always hope of engineering schematic files executable in modern nanofactories." This dives into the heart of Stars Without Number's rules and setting. Although the fantastic pretech & overtech are available the secrets to thier manufacture are almost certainly lost unless some space wreck or other ancient starship remains gives up thier secrets. 
Then there's the matter of the salvage fleets that are still flying in hyperspace and using the secrets of spike drives. These might seem like thier unlikely to be found in a Strange Stars setting but think again. 

Mandate Archive: Scavenger Fleets has the details on vampire fleets of stellar ships that swoop in & strip bare a planet that has any pretech technology. This could well be true of the Strange Stars setting or at least ours. Space is big & there's more then enough room for these scavenger ships to vulture themselves off of high tech planets. Thier presence a constant strain on the interstellar community who might simply chalk such invasions and visits up to space pirates. The scavenger fleets are simply another incarnation of this. Making deals with Scavenger Fleets could prove deadly or lucative depending upon the scavenger fleet's reactions. One group of whom I'm planning on using within thier own scavenger fleet is the Caliban.  All of this gets back to the fact that my players are hunting for hyperdrives & it look like it's going to be lots of space craft crawling coming up. 

Deeper Readings Into The Cities Without Number rpg & Trey Causey's Strange Stars OSR Setting

  "The world is neon and dust.

There is nothing more than the flesh. There is nothing greater than the wires. There is nothing to dream that is not sold and nothing to worship that is not made. It is a mirrorshade world of human reflections, every red hunger and every black passion worshiped in cathedrals of glass and greed. The great love their sins like children and the least want only to be great. Who could hope for more?"

Cities Without Number is a cyberpunk role-playing game built for sandbox adventures in a dystopia of polished chrome and bitter misery. It's both a full-fledged Sine Nomine toolkit for building a cyberpunk world of your own and an Old School Renaissance-inspired game system for playing out the reckless adventures of the desperate men and women who live in it. Whether polished metal or flesh and blood, your operators will risk their lives and more to seize those precious things a merciless world would keep from them.

Alright it's been a New York City minute since I've cracked open the  Cities Without Number rpg. Readin deeper into Cities has been interesting tonight after getting together with my players over dinner & rereading the rules. Anyone whose been reading this blog knows we've been running Trey Causey's Strange Star campaign setting books. Cities is a perfect supplement to use with Strange Stars because of the transhumanistic elements of this OSR campaign. 

What Cities Without Numbers brings to the table is a long and storied rpg of Cyberpunk goodness. Coupling it with Stars Without Numbers over the last couple of months has been interesting because it brings some perspective to our own cybered version of campaign Earth. This version of our own campaign Earth is well aware of the fact of the aliens & intergalatic scene of Strange Stars. 
Earth however is struggling under the wait of knowing that it's no longer the center of the universe. Earthlings are in demand because of the intergalatic space trucking driver shortage. The holo vids are awash with colony adds and space piloting school adds. 
Our own own party wants to hire two new drivers and aquire two brand new 'used' space haulers. Already our own operators are looking through thousands and thousands of adds for new talent and trucks. 
There are tons of adventuring opportunities in the belt for our own adventurers and operators. Our own party operates on both sides of the law lately and there's been some push back from the more wiley of the alien races. 
Our own party has been pushing hard since a run in with several of the cults of B4 The Lost City. More coming up as our operators work to get the party saved from the vicious locals. 

First Impressions of Wretched Space Second Edition By The Red Room For The Wretched Rpg

 "In the sordid underbelly of the galaxy, only the crafty and callous survive. Wretched Space is an old-school RPG where you don’t play as heroes on a noble crusade, but rather as roguish anti-heroes just looking to get by in a harsh universe. You aren’t out to save the world – you’re out to save your own skin. And maybe make some credits along the way if opportunity knocks. This game revels in greyness of morality, where doing the right thing takes a backseat to doing what needs to be done. Idealism is a luxury you can’t afford out here."

Wretched Space Second Edition has gone from being  full rpg to being a full rpg intergalatic setting. The material here has expanded into five hundred pages of blown out galaxy spanning rpg setting now with a fully attached OSR adventure. The PC's being members of the Wretched Legion & an overedging concept of vast intergalatic scumminess and weirdness to the whole Wretched affair. 
Now with the new Jack Kirby homage cover and the concept of the Wretched Legion being; " the players as members of the Wretched Legion, a special corps of the Galactic Federation law enforcement made up of pardoned criminals given an old, battered starship and second-rate weaponry, and deployed to enforce the law on backwater worlds. " Everything within Wretched Space Edition is build up around this concept and they do a great job of it. 
This is a great setting if your A. Looking for a space opera with some of the concepts of the Wretchedverse. B. You want a space opera with a sleazy underbelly to it and yet has room for you to add in your own home grown touches to the underworld & environs. 
There are ton of alien races, adventure generators, setting generators, places to go, things to do, advesaries, factions, and much more. Wretched Space Second edition really goes all out to add  in brand new material the Wretched Rpg. And this edition takes this on with lots of brand new ideas from psionics,magic, ritual material and more. Wretched Space Second edition is a chunky beast of a setting spanning tons of areas where the PC's can easily get themselves in way, way, over thier collective heads. The new layout is easy on the eyes, the material here is solidly done, and there's tons of opportunities for the setting to easily be overlaid into your existing Wretched Rpg campagins. 
You are not playing the good guys in Wretched Space Second Edition instead your playing the anti hero PC's treking across the universe and getting into one mayhap after another. Believe me the factions here are playing for keeps and they want to do your character in as fast as possible. The Wretched Legion isn't well liked in the galaxy and the material here proves that out in spades. 
Please remember that your going to need the Wretched rpg to use Wretched Space Second edition because this supplement is a setting book and not a complete game! 

So is it worth the Expanded second edition of Wretched Space?! In a word, yes the material is extremely expansive and there's a brand new adventure included. Which really highlights the plusses of the Wretched Legion. The factions here are far more out for blood then they've been in the past. There's also a sense that the material here is hinting at future adventures in the setting of Wretched Space and I'm down for that.

Retro Review - Marvel Super Heroes Rpg Advanced Judge's Book By Jeff Grubb

 
Over the weekend my player's had scheduling difficulties and rather then dwell on it. I brought out the Marvel Super Heroes Adanced rpg by Jeff Grubb. I stopped on the Marvel Super Heroes Judge's book by Jeff Grubb. If there's a heart and soul to the Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Set besides the Player's Handbook that stands out it's the Judge's Book by Jeff Grubb. For me it's a solid sixty eight page DM's book that stands out. Not only is there advice but there's a ton of material for setting up a campaign for extended play. Rpg advice , adventure guidelines, villains, and more are all found within the Judge's Book. This is written from the DM's perspective because I'm frankly the DM. What I love about the Judge's Book is it's simplicity and ultility. Jeff Grub's writing is on point and the presentation is pure classic era TSR. 

 

 According to JEREMY E STEIGERWALD's 2015 Amazon review; "Marvel is a simple d100 system that allows the Judge (this system's term for a Game Master) the flexibility to run his/her kind of superhero game. Be aware that this was written in the late eighties, and as such it was a simpler time in comics. Many online resources exist to help new Judges." And it's the simplicity that has made FASERIP one of the best classic superhero rpg's ever written. This is backed up by an unknown reviewer from 2010;"This is one of the best pen and paper rpg's ever made.
It does a great job of capturing the feel of the Marvel Universe and this set
contains everything you need to get a game up and going fairly quickly.
The books read fast and easy. If your a Marvel or super hero fan than you will love
this game! TSR really did a good job on this.'

I think that this is also reflected in the Judge's Book which gives DM's just enough to get thier campaigns off the ground and to keep them flying. According to the Rpg Museum entry on the Advanced Set; "This is the rare “Advanced” set of rules that expands rather than complicates. All the stuff in here remains fairly straightforward and function more as guidelines than rules, but it feels crunchier and more versatile. A number of systems have been overhauled, the character creation is more robust (but still, I think, down to the randomness of the system, produces characters that are under-powered compared to the existing Marvel ones) and there are neat rules for building a headquarters.

This is the system I ran and played back in the day. It is fun. It is a bit more comfortable if you’re coming off D&D. But weirdly, I think if I were to run a Marvel game now, I’d probably do the yellow box"

Personally I'd go with the Advanced FASERIP system at this point. 

Campaign Update, Colonial Troopers Rpg, Night Owl Workshp, Session Report, The Red Room - The Stars Are On Fire

  " The stars are on fire with war! There are rich alien races bank rolling Earth's armies to act as soldiers in an ever increasing corporate war! "

So I've been rereading Colonial Troopers & this blog entry is going to pick right up from here & combining it with Orbital Decay. Orbital Decay shares several elements with Colonial Troopers. There are several other things that I want to drop into this campaign: 

1. Machinvores are selectively feeding humanity bits and pieces of biotechnological technology. This includes bio boasted clone soldiers in addition to power armor.
2. Power armor is the great equalizer for turning ordinary humans into super soldiers. 
3. Humanity is coming face to face with other races that have been in Black a lot longer. The johnny come latelies are humanity to the intergalatic scene. 
   
   
   
   
   In Colonial Troopers 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 gives a much more fractured intergalatic picture where humanity is just starting to see the depths of the stellar scene. Those depths are highly unsettled & the Machinvores are a very minor race whose true interests lay with the Beyond.
   
   
   In our campaign The Asian Coalition's Bejing colony & India's Shiva colony are both in the Orrt cloud. These haven't been heard from in a very long time and though in the last campaign we left trained veterans. There hasn't been a whole lot of communication with the Earth Federation. 
   The Orrt Cloud is known to be home for several very aggressive alien species many of which have ties to the Beyond's forces. There are at least two major incursions that have happened in the Cloud. 
   There's a decent number of resources that the Earth Federation has tapped into and shipped back home. 
   The question is if it's economically viable for the corporations to bankroll a strike upon thier old colonies or to use mercenary forces to retake those assets. 
   These assets include colonies, ore processsing facilities, space craft mainteniance hangers, colonial caches for up coming settlements and more. 

Wolf in The Fold - Wretched Darkness Session Report With 'The Pundit Files Invisible College: the 1930's Campaign'. Session Report

 A couple of months ago we had a Wretched Darkness second edition game mini campaign set in the Wretched Interbellum period. We were using Wretched Darkness second edition for our PC's who had been transported to pre WWII California. This followed on the heels of Wretched Armageddon Volume I: War I in which the PC's were on the heels of the cult that was opening the seals of the Revelation. 

We were in the middle of California and now that game has picked up right where we left off here way back in June. We journeyed deep into the night with guns, ammo, and more ready to deal with the cult that had stranged our party in the 30's. Now we're on our way to a nearby ranch/safehouse of this blood thirsty cult. Several young and very pretty women have gone missing in the deserts of California. This is the section of the state no one really talks about. 
As we approach the ranch we see the sentry over the bluff standing watch armed. We don't care and let loose Arthur who changes into the beast as soon as the moon hits the car. The doors open and he leaps out. We don't slow down as the man's strangled scream doesn't come but his shape disappears. 

We sneak in on the Five's location (The Five are actually incubi that have aligned themselves with the powers of Hell). We don't bother with the outer guards and move in on the other's location. 

Arthur dispatches guards left and right as the werebeast takes out whatever gets in his way. The violence of his attacks shocks the guards. As Nuna's bargain with the minor demons paves our way with silence. The ritual has been a success but the cost was high but her Invisible College contacts proved just the right mystical information. 

 The cost of several thousand dollars was worth our time. But the promise of the victim's souls is far more then Nuna bargained for. Still all in the costs and wages of sin. Victor our man of act slits the throats of several guards but then he is hit with the hooked chains. 
This alerts 'The Five' & this is when all Hell breaks loose. Literally as Hellfire flares around our party and we're confronted by one of the Incubi who transforms into his full demonic form! We've got a few things with ready with conjurers waiting in the wings. That is until one of our players fumbles her roll and has psychotic break in the middle of melee. 
And now we've got to improvise! Fortunately we've brought a few grenades to liven things up! We tear the crap out of the Incubi's mortal form and he's banished back to the pits of the Beyond where he crawled out of. We free the ladies after helping ourselves to the treasure of 'The Five'. This operation isn't a charity and we don't take Green Stamps. 

Review & Commentary On FTL Supplement 2: Spacecraft Go! By Robert Garitta For The Faster Then Light Nomad 2d6 Rpg

 Starships riding fire across the sky…

Believe it.

In Faster Than Light: Nomad, starships, and system ships use rockets. These rockets make present day chemical rockets look quite anemic. However, they still obey the Laws of Motion. You fire an exhaust out the back to move your spacecraft forward. Flip the craft and repeat to slow down. You need propellant to make a spacecraft go. You can only carry so much, and the mass of all equipment must be considered. The more your ship masses, the more propellant it needs, and that propellant has mass as well!

There is an irony here. Einstein, who is regarded as Newton’s successor, established the light-speed barrier. Faster than light drives in science fiction (and games like FTL: Nomad!) get around this. In FTL: Nomad, However, Old Man Newton’s Laws of Motion are still in effect. Space is hard!

"Reactionless drives also present problems. A rocket has a top speed defined by its drive and the amount of propellant it carries. A reactionless drive will keep accelerating as long as it has power. This presents such problems as a light speed drive by, or bombarding planets with small craft moving near the speed of light."

 FTL Supplement 2: Spacecraft Go! By Robert Garitta is a packed fifty three page space craft supplement that allows the DM to build thier own custom spacecraft for the FTL Nomade rules from Stellagamma Publishing. Here are all of the rules, customazations, drives, hulls, etc. that allow the player & DM to create thier own custom space craft for the FTL Nomad rules. If your really curious about the FTL Nomad rules go download the Faster Than Light: Nomad Quickstart Rules

FTL Supplement 2: Spacecraft Go! By Robert Garitta covers all of the rules, guidelines, and more. Generation is fast, reliable, and this makes FTL Supplement 2 easy to use. The layout is easy on the eyes, the font is solid, and the interior artwork is public domain but fits very nicely to this book. 

This and more makes FTL Supplement 2: Spacecraft Go! a must have for the FTL Nomad DM & player. There's tons of other books that are going to come out for this game but spacecraft are the backbone of a 2d6 game in my opinion. And this one forms the foundational basis for a FTL Nomad campaign. I highly recommend  FTL Supplement 2: Spacecraft Go! 

Review & Commentary On Wretched Chanbara! By Olivier Scherschel, & Chris Cotgrove For The Wretched Rpg

 Wretched Chanbara! is a fully-realized game setting built on the robust foundations of the Wretched system, complete with a succinct yet rich world history and a solid background that can be used for both short scenarios and extensive campaigns. The heart of Wretched Chanbara! lies in its deep immersion into the atmosphere of classic Japanese cinema, spanning from the 1950s to the late 1970s but the myths and legends come true.


Wretched Chanbara! is a massive sprawling OSR setting by Olivier Scherschel, & Chris Cotgrove. This book clocks in at four hundred & eighteen pages of very well written rpg based on classic Japanese Samurai & Japanese horror films. What I'm talking about is classic cinema that spans from the 1950's through the late 1970's. If your expecting Legends of the Five Rings or other classic old school Japanese style historical rpg's this isn't it. 

Wretched Chanbara! takes full advantage of the Wretched rpg & has a completely cinematic take on Feudal Japan. This supplement includes are setting detail, character types and setting appropriate magic, gods and monsters. All of this is filtered through the lens of the Wretched Rpg. Wretched Chanbara! is well written has some great layout, really good A.I. artwork, and easy to read fonts within it! 
This setting is a spawling setting that pulls the PC's into it and adapts the PC's too it. There are ninja clans, royal families, evil chamblins, minor clans, and much more with haunted forrests as well as other locations where the supernatural overlaps with the mortal realm. PC's are drawn into this setting with the fact that thier playing the not so good guys in a Cinematic Japanese. 

Wretched Chanbara! is not a minor setting in any sense of the word. This is a massive setting with everything you need to add Wretched Chanbara! as a complete setting into your games. Gods, culture, mythology, religion, PC's, magic, and more all enclosed with the Wretched rpg system. So this is an easy rpg setting to add too your own OSR game & this is a very much a rich tapestry to  play against. 
The PC's are the fuel to get the adventures off to a flying campaign. Wretched Chanbara! is completely created for long term campaign play. The value of Wretched Chanbara! is the fact that there's so much material for play. 
There's some solid foundations within Wretched Chanbara! for both a one shot or a  complete campaign run. There's enough material here to keep a campaign going for years to come! I highly recommend Wretched Chanbara! for old school cinematic Japanese OSR play. 

Classic Dragon Magazine Issue #112 Ares Magazine section Dire Invasion By William Tracy & 2024 Campaign Update

Last night I began to delve into some of my old school resources including a Marvel Super Heroes rpg campaign that never came about. Let me explain, when I was a young comic book fan it was all about Rom The Space Knight. Rom appeared in the midst of my middle school years & his origin goes back to the U.K.. Here it is in a nutshell;" The peaceful planet known as Galador was threatened by a fleet of ships manned by shape-changing aliens known as Dire Wraiths. Galador's ruler, the Prime Director, calls for volunteers to be transformed into cyborg warriors called ' Spaceknights'. Afterwords, they can defend the planet from the invaders." There's a great Rom entry on Comic Vine here. 

Back in Dragon magazine issue#112 from 1989 there was a Space Knight/Dire Wraith article called Dire Invasion by William Tracy from the Ares section. This article set off a campaign arch where we introduced the space knights to our game with ultimately we had two space knight PC's. These PC's were the advanced guard who were waiting for the oncoming Dire Wraith invasion. These space knight PC's were stocking weapons & personel including recruiting Transformers to thier cause for the oncoming invasion. There were crossover between the Space Knights & the Transformers because of the Dire Wraiths. 
That invasion never came. We had two of our main players & DM's move across town. While not crippling it put a kink into scheduling plans for our on going campaign back in '89. Recently our own players were using the Marvel Super Heroes Rpg:The Unofficial Canon project's The Marvel Phile's Annual#2 The Nova Corps to create a new Nova Corps PC.Our own Nova Corps PC has mentioned his own origin tied to of all things the Dire Wraiths in 2024. So is there a new invasion on the horizon? 
So I'm thinking of dusting off my Dire Invasion notes & updating them for 2025-2026 for a Dire Wraith one two punch return adventure & pre invasion.  

Review & Commentary On The Atlas-class Freighter By Michael Johnson For The Edition Clement Sector Rpg

 "The Atlas-class freighter is the second most commonly found ship in Clement Sector.  Building on the information found in Clement Sector Third Edition, this updated volume  lovingly details this shipping legend and brings it up the Clement Sector Third Edition rules and standards.

Created by Cascadian legend James Lancaster, the Atlas is perhaps his most enduring legacy.  The vessel was first used by Lancaster Shipping and, later, by his Cascadia Colonization Authority (before it became a Cascadian government agency).  Following Lancaster's voluntary break-up of his shipping company, the Atlas started being used by corporations, governments, and individuals across the sector."
There are starships & then there's the iconic Atlas class Freighter, & I really dig this starship for the Clement Sector or Earth sector rpg.  I from a personal stand point really dig this star ship. There's something iconic about a starship that can easily be converted into a colony ship such as the Atlas. Add to this the fact that the starship has a complete history, background, variations, and more. The Atlas has all of the makings of a fantastic starship for a Space Western setting. Michael Johnson's writing and design on the Atlas is tight. The layout, fonts, etc are all up to the usual Independence Games standards. Ian Stead, Bradley Warnes, Michael Johnson, & Steve Attwood's artwork is on point. And the Atlas is potrayed in a very flattering and adventurous light in the artwork for this supplement. 
The Atlas is a functioning starship that farrets colonists and passengers into the depths of the black in the Clement sector. We get everything we need to introduce the Atlas into our Clement sector campaigns in seventy nine pages. We get two pdfs of the Atlas from plans to a complete break down of the starship. This is a functional ship with a crew of 10 or more and a wide variety of variation models of the Atlas;" 
Armed Merchantman - Used by some governments as system defense and some corporations as escorts, the Atlas-class Armed Merchantman and its particle beam barbettes pack quite a punch.

Missile Ship - Trading the cargo pods for missile bays, the Atlas-class Missile Ship can form the backbone of a system's defense forces when they cannot afford to build or purchase a warship.  Pirates beware!

Passenger Variant - Rearranging the Atlas' interior space and pods to be able to carry the maximum amount of passengers and cater to their needs.

Extended Range - Using the Atlas' famous cargo capacity to hold more fuel to allow for transits into open space or simply extend the ship's ability to go without refueling."
Each of the variations of the Atlas fullifuls its stellar role and then some. We get details, weapons, equipment, crew, plans and more. Again the artwork here is top notch and Atlas is a DM's dream to add ongoing colonial settlement & adventure opportunities to thier own games. The Atlas has so much potential as an adventure element, transport, even roving starship adventurer headquarters, and much more. 
The starship is well thought out and works on several levels. The fact that there's an actual managable crew here allows the DM to insert in thier favorite NPC's without getting lost in a sea of hundreds of crew! 
The Atlas works as a starship on several levels for the Clement Sector. One it's a perfect colonist's transport ship. Two as a supply run ship the Atlas can't be beat. As a complete package of system defense & deep exploration vessel. 
Because the Atlas is so multi operational it's easy to see why it would be a target for pirates but these vessels can give a pirate ship a bloody nose or worse. The Atlas is a full formed starship in every respect. And perfect too add into your Clement Sector games! 

Encounter With The Undead Village - Wretched Chanbara! Acutal Play Report

 Wretched Chanbara! is one of my favorite Wretched rpg setting. This faux Japan has some excellent hooks to bring in the PC's as Japanese horror/cinema style PC's. And this works very well for a Samurai themed action/horror campaign. I got the chance to run a character in DM Steven's recent game & we had a blast. 

We played a party of Ronin on thier way to act as the representives of a smaller poor clan who hired us to take care of the bandits who were taking over this clan's interests. 
We got to the village and the village was in rough shape. The bandits had come through the place and burnt everything to the ground. We walked into town and immediately were attacked by undead villagers. Things went from bad to worse as the villagers were attacking anything that moved. We lost two of our samurai to the undead. Our party actually retreated from the village. 
We heard calls coming from the villagers crying out for vengence! And we immediately pledged to avenge them. This seemed to quiet them for the moment. And we were able to go back into the village to look for clues. 
We found horse tracks along with some very well made arrows sticking into the local structures. Something fishy was going on! 
Our party had a conjurer among us who was actually a nercomancer in the employ of one of our lot. He used his 'communicate with dead' ability to find out it was  actually one of the larger clans who was using the guise of a bandit gang as a cover to drive out the villagers to expand. Now we need a new plan! 

Street King Throw Down! - Ascendant Rpg Session Report - Capital City Casefiles #2: Served Cold By Karl Gustav- Session Report

  We had a diffferent sort of action in tonight's  Ascendant rpg campaign session. During last week's game, Plasma our resident fire user had his body gravely wounded. And we were able to get his body into a magnetic containment vessel. Things were not looking good for Plama and Dreadnaught Security, Inc. called in S.T.A.R.R. Lab specialists to handle Plama's case. 
Our party was told to get back on the case & that a lead had emerged from The Unseen Court who had witnessed the Psycho Warriors breaking into a local warehouse. 

The Unseen Court are taken from Ascendant's Served Cold By Karl Gustav with Alexander Marcus; "The Unseen Court: The Unseen Court is a group of street level heroes and crime fighters that emerged from Capital City’s homeless and transient population. Little is known about the organization, as its members are skilled at hiding in plain sight and protected by a large network of informers and supporters. Neither police, criminal, nor journalistic efforts to investigate the group have succeeded. What is known is that the Unseen Court is notoriously short on cash, with all of the organization’s funds being diverted into charitable purposes to help the city’s most needy" 
After meeting with two representives of the Unseen Court - Trash & Midnight Maiden  learned that the Psycho Warriors picked up some cargo & took off in thier high tech hover plane. The local cartel The Street Kings is incredibly upset with these invaders. 
The heroes decided to search the warehouse for clues. What they ended up finding instead was a group of cartel goons scoping out the warehouse! The party decides to head in and comes face to face with armed cartel enforcers & El Cazador, one of the deadliest El Cartel enforcers in Capital City! 

The party is down a man & still they closed in. Within seconds they were back to back with capes with powers they weren't expect. Then El Cazador gives them the following threat; "I have something to say. Listen, and listen closely. These words will not be repeated. You have been noticed. You are being watched. You are interfering in an important, natural, social process—justice, the balancing of scales. You bring your unwieldy conduct to this time of the settling of debts. No longer. Forget what you’ve found, forget who you’ve seen, pretend this never happened, or another debt will be accrued—yours. And all debts must be settled, and I am one that the true powers in this city send to settle them.”" 
The party attacked with gusto and crippled two of the Street King capes before they retreated due to an energy projector who kept them under cover we ended here. 

Using Old School Resources For Designing Martian Adventures In The Warriors of the Red Planet Rpg & Beyond

  Tonight has seen me working on a Warriors of the Red Planet Rpg Martian urban campaign leg. This has led me down some twisted old school paths. This includes Edgar Rice Burroughs literature. 

One of the first books that I busted out was my 1st edition Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Masters Guide. This includes some additional urban encounter tables & a city generator. Also the random dungeon generator helps a ton for sketching out the underworld especially if your players are familar with the Warriors of the Red Planet rpg rule book.
Again totally stealing this photo from Wayne's Books. 

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 There's something very primal about designing your own urban encounters imagining in your mind's eye strolling down city streets while against the radium glow of a street light bandits await in a nearby alleyway. The thing about Martian cities is the fact that these are melting pots for many different tribes of Red Men ala Lee Brackett's Martian literature. 

This brings up the treasure which is going to be a 'special hoard' this is going to be designed using James Ward's article in Dragon magazine issue #9 'Tombs & Crypts'. Because Martian cities are built one on top of another as the centuries roll on. 

This aspect of Martian cities can be seen in Burroughs 'A Fighting Man of Mars' in which we get our only example of Martian dungeon crawling. Speaking of 'The Dragon' magazine there's also Dragon Magazine issue #31 which has two articles on jungles. Mars has extensive jungle environments that everyone seems to forget about. These are essential to the design of old school Martian adventures. There's also 'the Anatomy of The Lich' By Len Lakofka from The Dragon issue #26 because we can see an ancient Martian wishing to preserve themselves as an immortal one way or another. 
The idea of an urban lich operating behind the shadows of some Martian city has lots of appeal too me as a dungeon master. I've been reaching deeply into my bag of old school tricks on this one. 

Michael Whelan artwork used without permission. 

Retro Review On MA2: Avengers Coast-to-Coast By David "Zeb" Cook, & Edward G. Sollers For The Marvel Super Heroes Advanced Rpg

 " Now pit Captain America, Iron Man Thor and the rest of Earth's Mightiest Heroes against Ultron, Grimm Reaper, Thanos and more with this Marvel Super Heroes RPG Official Advanced Game Accessory. It features a history of the group and stats for the Avengers (East and West Coast members), their most trusted allies and their most hated and feared villains! Also includes an original adventure."

Appearing in 1986, MA2: Avengers Coast-to-Coast By David "Zeb" Cook, & Edward G. Sollers remains a favorite of mine because of the fact that we used this supplement extentively. This is a classic Marvel Super Heroes Advanced supplement going over all of the classic era Avengers and thier foes. MA2 is way, way, outta of date. That's not what this supplement is for instead MA2 covers the classic eras of the 60's through the 80's.These eras are what make an Avenger's campaign work in spades in my humble opinion. Pete Tamlyn reviewed Avengers Coast-to-Coast for White Dwarf #88 & he seems to share my opinion; ""As expected, TSR have taken the arrival of Advanced Marvel Super Heroes as a reason to issue new game statistics for the vast number of Marvel characters in the original rules. About the only thing that can be said in their favour is that they've done a much better job of it second time around."^[2] He called the sections on the Avengers' Charter and their relationship with the government "the most interesting parts of the book" and noted that they help "provide the basis for starting an Advanced MSH campaign based around a superhero group. However, it comprises only about half the book. The rest of it is taken up with vast numbers of descriptions of Marvel characters, many of whom have already been described in at least one of the various original Marvel Super Heroes products."
According to the Avengers Coast to Coast wiki entry; "Avengers Coast to Coast is a sourcebook intended for players to use characters from the Avengers. It has sections which detail the Avengers' Charter and focus on the group's relationship with the United States government. Also included are detailed plans of the bases the Avengers use, their transport and equipment, and descriptions of characters from Marvel Comics" 
MA2 and it's solid overview of the US government's relationship with the Avengers was key to our Eighties and Nineties campaign. This relationship with the American government would turn sour for our PC's as two events twisted our relationship. One would be the USA's reaction to the Mutant Fall by Mr.Sinister and Project Wide Awake. We had three mutants working on our team and two of them were slaughtered when we encountered the Mauraders. Our US liason was less then forth coming with information. 
Project Wideawake had us encountering both Avengers members and Sentinals. This put us at odds with both. We took over Avengers assets & left after we had members turn on us. Our group had been subcontracting on mission clean up for the Avengers. Suddenly we were facing down big guns like the Vision and other Avengers.  We'd later clear our names as it turned out to be a Hydra plot as the group had a vendetta against us. MA2 was key for my uncle running his campaign.
Is  MA2: Avengers Coast-to-Coast By David "Zeb" Cook, & Edward G. Sollers worth the download?! In a word yes because it's a great supplement for reference and for including classic Avengers elements within your own Marvel Super Heroes Advanced campaigns. 
You can download it for free from the Classic Marvel Super Heroes Forever site here. 

Campaign Take Over - The Red Room's Orbital Decay & Night Owl Workshop's Colonial Troopers Campaign

 The stars are on fire with war! There are rich alien races bank rolling Earth's armies to act as soldiers in an ever increasing corporate war! 

DM Paul has a scheduling conflict and wants me to take over his  Colonial Troopers/Orbital Decay campaign. I want to start modifying this campaign and bring in several adventure elements:

1. More weird living technologies in day to day life.  
2. A wide array of clones and bio engineered androids taking over some of the fighting jobs 
3. Interconnecting adventure elements that hook into other Wretched settings. 
4. This game picks right up from April of this year's campaign here. 

The American Federation has been making strides into the outer galaxy. Here's where humanity is finding out that it's the 'johnny come lately' of the interstellar scene. There are far older alien races that have been at each other's throat for a very long time. 
My PC from last game is going to be an important NPC whose going to be bank rolling his own mercenary unit & starship. He's out to protect his investiment & expand upon the war front investiments. 

I've got a major update coming from Aviladad but our players are hot to find out what happened to two major colonies that we had to leave behind. The Asian Coalition's Bejing colony & India's Shiva colony are both in the Orrt cloud. There's reason to believe that they are now under alien control. 
This is one of the leading hooks into the campaign. What has happened to these colonies?! Are the humans still alive or have there been horrid changes that have occured?! 

Originial Dungeons & Dragons Gods, Demi-gods & Heroes - Of Lovecraftian Shadows - Facets of Tsathoggua

" He was very squat and pot-bellied, his head was more like a monstrous toad than a deity, and his whole body was covered with an imitation of short fur, giving somehow a vague sensation of both the bat and the sloth. His sleepy lids were half-lowered over his globular eyes; and the tip of a queer tongue issued from his fat mouth"
"The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", Clark Ashton Smith 

This blog entry is going to pick right up from here on the blog.  On page forty nine of 'Gods, Demi-Gods, & Heroes' By Kuntz & Ward which  has stats for TSATHOGGUS. How does this version of the Clark Ashton Smith Lovecraftian diety differ from the usual depictions? According to Gods Demi Gods & Heroes; "TSATHOGGUS Armor Class — 4 Magic Ability: (See Below) Move: 12" Fighter Ability: 10th Level Hit Points: 275 Tsathoggus is a diety with a frog's head and a man's body. It has 7 eyes and the power to animate its statues in any of its temples. This God is very fond of human sacrifices and will animate a statue in a temple at any opportunity to get one. He drains energy levels at the rate of 3 per turn no saving throw applicable."

Now looking at the Wiki entry on TASTHOGGUS; "Tsathoggua/Zhothaqquah is described as an Old One, a god-like being from the pantheon. He was introduced in Smith's short story "The Tale of Satampra Zeiros", written in 1929 and published in the November 1931 issue of Weird Tales.^[2] His first appearance in print, however, was in Robert E. Howard's story "The Children of the Night", written in 1930 and published in the April-May 1931 issue of Weird Tales. His next appearance in print was in H. P. Lovecraft's story "The Whisperer in Darkness", written in 1930 and published in the August 1931 issue of Weird Tales." He's mentioned right up front but we really get a complete description  in Smith's "The Seven Geases" (1933), Tsathoggua is described again:

"In that secret cave in the bowels of Voormithadreth . . . abides from eldermost eons the god Tsathoggua. You shall know Tsathoggua by his great girth and his batlike furriness and the look of a sleepy black toad which he has eternally. He will rise not from his place, even in the ravening of hunger, but will wait in divine slothfulness for the sacrifice." 

For a Lovecraftian god of  "divine slothfulness" Tsathoggua it's OD&D depiction is very active and highly aggresive in his hunger. This marks the difference in my mind of this Lovecraftian diety in Gods,Demi-Gods, and Heroes.  This is because of H.P. Lovecraft & Clark Ashton Smith's descriptions of this diety are completely different. According to the Tsathoggua's wiki entry; "

Robert M. Price notes that "Lovecraft's Tsathoggua and Smith's differ at practically every point". Lovecraft, dropping Smith's bat and sloth comparisons, refers to the entity in "The Whisperer in Darkness" as the "amorphous, toad-like god-creature mentioned in the Pnakotic Manuscripts and the Necronomicon and the Commoriom myth-cycle preserved by the Atlantean high-priest Klarkash-Ton"^[4] (the priest's name was Lovecraft's nickname for Tsathoggua's creator, Clark Ashton Smith)."

 I believe that 'Gods, Demi-Gods, & Heroes' entry on Tsathogua is following the Lovecraftian style of the god. This allows for the more aggresive Hyborian version of this Lovecraftian god. Our own player's group of PC's encountering Tsathogua was harrowing to say the least. We stumbled upon a temple of Tsasthogua filled with treasure and of course our own PC's helped themselves to the riches. When the statues of Tsathoggua animated we had a complete TPK.