In Between Here & There - Cities Without Number, Stars Without Number, & Trey Causey's Strange Stars Rpg - Fill Up By Joseph Mohr

 "The PC's space hauler needs a bit of a fuel up & overhaul. So after tracking down & almost getting thier faces melted off the party heads to a nice simple fuel depot. The party came across a gas giant that was wracked in storms and that's when the party came across the  Station GH-34I. "

"Fortunately, however, there are sometimes places such as Station GH-34I. This solitary station floats in a system in the Sonora sector waiting for ships that need refueling. Like days in the past this is a full service station. They not only refuel the ship but wipe the windows and check under the hood. All for 20% less that the going rate for fuel in the sector." This session picks right up where we last left off last session here. This session was based on Fill Up By Joseph Mohr. Which is actually really solidly done and of course Trey Causey's Strange Stars OSR Rule Book

 Station GH-34I proved to be far more then the players were expecting! The station is a free floating station in the middle of no where squared. The station is run by aliens & they're really interesting; "GH-34I is run by aliens. Specifically it is run by members of the Talamor Consortium. The Talamor are seemingly friendly race of aliens that love to trade. They have a fierce, lizard like, appearance. Despite their appearance they have not been known to have a violent nature." The Talamor Consortium are an ancient human break off colony that were genetically modified to work and live on a super Earth hundreds of years ago. The Constorium have taken to trading and aggresive pack mentalities when it comes to intergalatic trade. They are an up and coming race who are minor players on the intergalatic trade scene;"The Talamor are encountered all over the known galaxy. They are often found flying small traders and merchant ships. They seem to be welcome just about everywhere they.  Despite their friendly nature, and willingness to trade, they do not seem to be above trying to make a profit. They have often been accused of shortchanging customers or pulling a fast one to make a credit."
The GH-341 station features complete tech level 9-13 facilities for ship upgrades, maintence, and dry dock facilities. This also includes a holo and android brothel which the PC's took advantage of. 

The player's PC's started poking around the station and noticed signs for the casino, brothel, hotel, and ship facilities. The PC's wanted the space hauler upgraded and gone over by personel. 
Jerry and the psionist decided to 'keep an eye' on the star hauler. The party spoke with Carthan a Vokun empire representive who was selling some contraband terrraforming equipment. The psionicist reported that a Wanderer who was in deep orbit wanted to trade navigation information for credits.
And here's where the PC's ran into the fact that thier cybersneak detected a contraband cargo being loaded aboard the party's  space hauler by Talamor agents! The PC's confronted the  Talamor representive agent handling thier space hauler and the PC's were brought down too Operations for some face to face time. 
The PC's noticed the captain of the Eagle! A safari ship traveling through system on it's way to pick up a cargo of exotic alien animals for study. We might be able to pick up some work there. 
Our party  faked insult over the illicit cargo being placed on ship & they were able to arrange for medical attention for Jerry our cybersneak. Last adventure he'd been lasered in the back and requires extensive cybernetic reconstruction. This is going to require months of rehab and what not.  The cargo run was settled. 
And we settled on a legit job for the Talamor in exchange for the overhaul. Which we would be inspecting. Along with four extra days of R&R after last session. 

OSR Commentary - The Ascendant Rpg, FASERIPopedia's Crom , & the Unofficial Marvel Superheroes Cannon Project's Marvelous Myths & Monsters volume 6 The Otherworld By Andrew Goldstein

 So let's pick it up with our current Ascendant rpg campaign & Ginger aka The Pink Fey & her PC's connection to the Marvel  Otherworld. here on the blog.  Going through my older campaign notes I noticed that there was mention of  FASERIPODIA's Crom supplement. 

So what is Crom?! Well it's FASERIPopedia game's Sword & Sorcery supplement mixed with a healthy dose of Saturday morning cartoons of the Lords of Light variety. 
Last time we talked about mixing in the Camelot rpg supplement for FASERIpodedia's into the Unofficial Marvel Superheroes Cannon Project's Marvelous Myths & Monsters volume 6 The Otherworld By Andrew Goldstein  as a part of the Ascendant campaign setting to back up the Pink Fey's origin.
Me being the terrorist dungeon master wants to fade back into our Crom notes for our Ascendant campaign. Crom has more of a Thundarr meets He Man meets Marvel Super Heroes rpg feel to it. Camelot in our game touches several legendary locations in England and Wales. These locations also overlap into the Sword and Sorcery post apocalypstic world. And there may be more going on here with other hero's origins in our campaign then at first meets the eye. 
Crom has a ton of interesting details and bylines within it that crosses into the gonzo post apocalyptic asthetic of classic Bronze age Marvel style comic books. Crom's world is deadly and more then a match for several of the knight style super heroes we had last campaign. 
There are several meet points within Crom and The Otherworld supplement. This folds in nicely for our campaigns and it's going to be matter of deciding how deeply we want to go into the gonzo. 

Eternal Champion With A Bit of Genocide On The Side - Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion & Old School Gaming

 "John Daker dreams of other worlds, and a name: Erekosë. He finds the strength to answer the call, travelling to a strange land ruled by the aging King Rigenos of Necranal."

 

Michael Moorcock. The Eternal Champion Vover Art by Frank Frazetta .

"Humanity is united in a desperate fight against the inhuman Eldren, and John must fight with them. But the actions of his brethren turn his loyalties—and, as Erekosë, he will take a terrible revenge." 

The Eternal Champion is one of those books that seems to be forgotten in the shuffle of Appendix N lore. The book concerns a hero who is taken from his twentith century life to affect the outcome of a different world or universe; "John Daker, an ordinary 20th century man, is pulled through time and space to the tomb of Erekosë, a long-dead hero of a version of Earth that may be the distant past or distant future." Imagine if you will that a party of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons or B/X PC's are whisked to a campaign world only to find out that thier the reincarnations of the heroes of the past. This is exactly what happens to John Daker the protagonist of 'The Eternal Champion'. 
The Eternal Champion by Michael Moorcock is the first of his Eternal Champion series and the wiki entry reveals a very interesting detail about it's publication; "The Eternal Champion is a fantasy novel by Michael Moorcock that introduces the hero known as both John Daker and Erekosë. Originally written in the late 1950s, it constitutes the first novel of Moorcock's sprawling Eternal Champion series. The tale was first published in 1962 as a magazine novella ^[1] Moorcock expanded the novella to novel length for publication in 1970. He revised the text for its 1978 publication. Along with expanding the original story, the novel makes some minor changes to narration and scenes, and also includes references to other short stories by Moorcock. The Eternal Champion is the first in a trilogy of novels known as the Erekosë series (though the lead character adopts other identities in subsequent novels). The sequel novels are Phoenix in Obsidian (1970; published in the US as The Silver Warriors), and The Dragon in the Sword (1987)." The revised text of 'The Eternal Champion' brings this series of novels into line with Moorcock's Elric line. John Daker realizes that he is an aspect of the Eternal Champion; "Daker realizes he is the reincarnation of the warrior Erekosë and is now being called to assume that identity again by the people he once served. Daker also sees memories of other lives he's lived or will live and realizes he is one of many incarnations of the Eternal Champion, a key figure in the mythology of Michael Moorcock's multiverse. The Eternal Champion is often called to restore or maintain the multiverse's balance between the cosmic forces of Law and Chaos. With his memories of Daker's life and family quickly dimming, the warrior accepts his identity as Erekosë, and armed with a radioactive sword called Kanajana, joins a great war between humans and an alien race, the Eldren. Throughout the novel, he is skeptical about the just nature of the war he fights and feels conflicted about his duty to humanity in contrast to his duty as an Eternal Champion who may need to defy humanity. He is also occasionally tormented by the lingering memories and principles of his 20th century life, as well as glimpses of his other lives under a multiplicity of names."
The Eternal Champion is written in a Moorcock Pulp style & is a very questional book because Moorcock wrote it when he was seventeen. Many of his attitudes are reflected in the book throughout especially when it comes to the Eldren vs the Colonial attitudes of the book's version of  humanity. 

 is
The Eternal Champion By Michael Moorcock
 Cover art by Bob Haberfield. Mayflower Books, London, 1970.

"Many incarnations of Moorcock's Eternal Champion are unaware they serve this role and/or have no memories of their other lives. Daker/Erekosë stands apart by being able to remember aspects of his multiple lives. While his books were not as popular as those featuring some of Moorcock's other characters, Erekosë is frequently mentioned in other stories of the author's multiverse. Along with his own novels, the character has appeared in crossover stories involving other Eternal Champion incarnations. His radioactive, poisonous sword echoes the vampiric, living sword Stormbringer wielded by the other aspect of the Eternal Champion called Elric." 
Daker/Erekosë stands apart from other versions of the Eternal Champion because the forces of the Balance keep him from his lovely Eldren. Could PC's encounter Daker as Erekosë?! Without a doubt! The book emplies that he's had many,many, adventures against both Law and Chaos throughout his multiple lives. Erekosë is tormented by his memories as Elric, Hawkmoon, etc. According to the Wiki entry Daker is tightly woven into the Eternal Champion incarnation; " Daker's trip through time and space reveals scattered memories from many other incarnations, such as Erekosë and Michael Moorcock's other characters such as Elric, Prince Corum, Dorian Hawkmoon, Jerry Cornelius, the Rose, and members of the family Von Bek." This means that PC's could theoritically run into Erekosë on Greyhawk, the Forgotten Realms, the Young Kingdoms, or any campaign world. Daker is extremely deadly after his killing of humanity during the Eternal Champion era (yes they had it coming but still it bothered many of the players in our group). 

The Eternal Champion introduces the Eternal Champion concept to the Moorcock multiverse. And it was innovative for it's time during the 1970's. What does it mean for old school gaming?! Well, it means that PC's could run across  Erekosë and his deadly radioactive demon sword. 
Our party of adventurers ran across him during one of our encounters with Karl Edgar Wagner's Kane. Kane was selling a piece of information to the Daker personality &  Erekosë was paying for it with a quest for an artifact. Our party of adventurers got drafted to accompany him into the dungeon. Given  Erekosë's passion for depression and violence. We ditched him after the end of the dungeon! We skipped the pay and the world only to run into Kane back in Greyhawk.. We ended up working for Kane because of the 

 Erekosë affair! 

DM Paul's Hyperborea Rpg - U1 Sinister Secret of Saltmarsh & the Machinations of the Ixians - OSR Commentary

 "Desolate and abandoned, the evil alchemist's mansion stands alone on the cliff, looking out towards the sea. Mysterious lights and ghostly hauntings have kept away the people of Saltmarsh, despite rumors of a fabulous forgotten treasure. What is it's sinister secret?" 

Ages ago my buddy DM Paul took over a version of our Saltmarsh series Hyperborea rpg campaign. The campaign focuses heavily on the pirate & sailor aspects of the Hyperborean setting. There are ton of changes to the U series of modules for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons starting with the organization that the pirates belong to and working it's way down from there. Here's some of the changes: 

1. The Alchemist isn't dead and rotting in the 'haunted house' instead he's a high level lich running his criminal empire from the house. 
2. The pirates are a part of the Slavers of the 'A0 -A4 Against The Slavers' series of classic novels. The Slavers are a dimensional spanning organization that ranges from Greyhawk to Hyperborea. This council of slavers is simply the latest incarnation of the council.
3. The pirates employ local Viking and other raiders to take on raids for them. 
   
   
4. The 'haunted house' is located in Butcher's Bey with Saltmarsh itself being a smaller subset of the Bey. 
5. The pirates are most active during the Summer months and they have ties to the Ixians of Hyperborea who supply the pirates with most of thier magical muscle. 
6. Hyperborean alchemy plays a big part of DM Paul's campaign. 

Yes, I know there's a Hyperborea rpg Kickstarer on but this ties deeply into the Ixians agenda in Hyperborea. The Ixians trade in magical expertise and forbidden magical devices. The Ixians deal heavily in alchemy & work to expand thier influence among the Hyperborean ruling elite. This is because the Ixians  trade in items, magical favors, advisory positions and expertise. This has enabled these enigma peoples to be secreted in almost every high profile royal courts in Hyperborea. 

The Ixians use the pirates for clandestine missions that they pay and sometimes oversee through thier cat's paws. 

The Ixians are playing a dangerous game and have been using the pirates to seed a war between the humans & the Deep Ones.This war is being orastraded on the Deep Ones behalf.  This war is actually over the strange radioactive green crystals that the Deep Ones mine. The village of Saltmarsh sits on a depoisit of these crystals. And by returning the village lands to the sea the Deep Ones gain access. 
What do the Ixians gain out of it?! Several loads of Green radioactive crystals that are then used to grow Green or Greenite Lotus. A dose of this lotus enables one to endure without harm the sanity blasting radiation of the Boreas winds within Sarnath temporarily. The Greenite lotus must begrown on the decaying hills of the corpses of ancient wizards bathed in the radioactive green crystals weird radiations. A dose of Greenite Lotus enables the user to endure the sanity blasting boreas winds for one day per dose. But the imbuer must make a poison vs save or the poor wretch takes a lethal dose of radiation poisoning. Thier veins and skin begin to bleed out green glowing ichor. There are several ancient artifacts lost in the sands of Sarnath that the Ixians would like to recover 

'That Which Stalks & Murders ' - The Nighterror A New Horror For The Wretched Vigilantes Rpg or Wretched Darkness Rpg

 'The cries of the last man or woman dies in the Scottish immigrant  mining camp in the mountains of Nevada.  Hideous inhuman laugher echoes off the tents as a few low moans escapes from the soon to be corpses" 
Written over every surface of the tents in Gaelic was the following, "Chan eil duine a 'teicheadh bho spògan eagal na h-oidhche" The heavily armored form of the flaming green skull seemed to lear more. 

I took nighterror's form from Bradley McDevitt's 

Clipart Critters 392 - Phantom Skull

2024 the Nevada desert the hulking figure clad in purple spandex like material leered over the super heroes, ' "Chan eil duine a 'teicheadh bho spògan eagal na h-oidhche" 

"Cha toir thu buaidh air uamhas!" came screaming out of the pink haired Fey themed hero warrior that looked deep into the eyes of the hulking figure standing over the remains of her team of adventurers! 

The Nighterror or Tòrachd na h-oidhche is a former ancient spirit that once was associated the ancient Scottish rites. This spirit degenerated into an Earth bound demonic form that takes the shape of a hulking muscle bound mortal bound in a bright glowing purple spandex like costume & bright green floating skull. Today the  monster is now a psychotic demon of fear bound in mortal form. 
Nighterror is drawn to places of mayhem, violence, & fear! These are the thing the horror feeds off of. Immune to most conventional mortal  weapons & harm the creature uses massive superstrength to cause as much destruction and loss of life that it can. This demons powers are dependant upon terror & fear. It also has limited abilities of illusion, confusion, and domination. 
It's true form is that of a screaming, burning ball of fire, & noise. This form is often used to sew confusion among it's enemies and to travel about. Nighterror's second form of the spandex costumed muscle man is used to stalk it's victims and gut them. It then terrorizes thier friends, family, and blood relations with insults, taunts, and violence. 
Since the Nighterror is an Earthbound demon the creature has a physical form that can be vanquished. Priests or clerics can turn the horror as if it was a spectre. Five times per day the Nighterror can cast fear as per the ritual instanteously. Twice per day the Nighterror can cause confusion as per the ritual as well. 
Since the Nighterror is an earthbound demon the horror can easily shift it's form from male to female sew even more confusion.

Nighterror
Code Name:Nighterror . Real Name: Tòrachd na h-oidhche  Profession: Earthbound Demon. Sin: Guttony. Level: 4. Defense: 14. Health Dice: 4d. Health Points: 25. Movement: 22 meters. Attacks: 1 with claw or weapon. Damage: +2 to hit, by weapon type. Resolve: 10. Skills, Athletics, Acrobatics, Brawling,  Computer, Crime, Drive, First Aid, Guns, Knives, Law enforcement, Survival. Powers: - Perfect Direction Sense: Never gets lost and can always locate magnetic north. - Tracking Scent: Can track a target up to 4 miles away via, Fear Ilusion - Can create illusions based on the target's greatest fear, Claws, Fear Feed - The nighterror drains 1 health dice per melee hit, Five times per day the Nighterror can cast fear as per the ritual instanteously. Twice per day the Nighterror can cause confusion as per the ritual as well. 
The nighterror often has several levels in super strength but it has recently fed on a local hero and overfed so it is slowly processing the hero's soul.  

The nighterrror's usual stalking grounds are Fresno,Nevada and appears to have been released by the passing of the solar flares.  This solar flare sewed the seeds of fear and confusion that released it from it's prison in the Beyond. The nighterror has been known to follow certain juice targets back too New England. But it's usual stalking grounds are  Fresno Nevada to which it always returns!

OSR Commentary - The Ascendant Rpg, FASERIPopedia's Camelot, & the Unofficial Marvel Superheroes Cannon Project's Marvelous Myths & Monsters volume 6 The Otherworld By Andrew Goldstein

 In our current  Ascendant rpg campaign, the Pink Fey whose portrayed by Ginger one of our regular players has been going on about her PC's mysterious origins and her connection to the Otherworld. Well, thanks to the Unofficial Marvel Superheroes Cannon Project's Marvelous Myths & Monsters volume 6 The Otherworld By Andrew Goldstein  we've got our Otherworld adventure campaign setting location. The  Otherworld campaign setting goes entirely through the entire Marvel Celtic & English patheon with the comicbook mythologies, monsters, Fey, etc. 

The only issue is that the party doesn't currently have any 'real magic users' per say. Which has one of the other PC's thinking he might quest for Camelot?! Our Camelot changes each time it's visited due to it's strange Fey nature. And for this we've used FASERIPopedia's Camelot.  And there is a ton of good tools in  FASERIPopedia's Camelot for really filling out your version of Camelot. 

Camelot in our game touches several legendary locations in England and Wales. These locations provide an interdimensional focus for the forces of Camelot and the Celtic powers. Now comes the choices that I have to make on foes, adventure locations, side quests, etc. for our Ascendant rpg campaign. 

Marvel comicbook elements that I want to include: 

1. Captain Britain and the Captain Britain corps because it was such an iconic Eighties comic book run in Excalibur.
2. Morgan Le Fay because of the fact that she is such a great comic book villainess. 
3. D&D cartoon crossover because the players have been angling for it. 
4. New hero origins and callbacks to our WWII Marvel Super Heroes rpg campaign. 
5. Our heroes beating up on a few Celtic monsters..  
6. Sidequests and journeys into several loose campaign threads that need to be wrapped up from our WWII Marvel Super Heroes rpg. 

Laser In The Back - - Cities Without Number, Stars Without Number, & Trey Causey's Strange Stars Rpg -Sole Survivor By Joseph Mohr - Session Report

 So lately I've been talking to a number of players  about possibly introducing a  Circeans witch PC with our Strange Stars campaign. And this was the perfect time to bring in Sole Survivor From Old School Role Playing . The PC's answer a distress call from the Marilith. The signal is very weak and intermittent. It appears to be coming from a desolate moon of a planet in a nearby star system. According to the navigation logs this particular system has no populated worlds nor any known living residents.

The distress message indicates that a ship called the Marilith suffered a collision with a rogue asteroid and had to crash land. The ship computers confirm that there was a ship registered as the Marilith which was reported lost over forty years ago in this general area of space.

It is up to the travelers to decide if they wish to respond to the distress call. Under interstellar law ship captains have a duty to investigate such calls but this law is virtually never enforced.
Last night's game picks right up from last week's session 

The crash site for the Marilith is an E style desert world with no life forms or plant life. And there was one survivor Georgia Klaus. The Marilith's crash was over forty years ago & yet Georgia Klaus only appears to be thirty?! We began to investigate when we found six graves. 
Our space hauler crew suspected an alien life form but scans of Georgia Klaus revealled nothing. We didn't have a ton of time on this planet but we were curious.  and began to investigate further. The deeper we looked into the situation the worse it got! Harriet Clemons was a Circean war criminal who had contact with the crew of the Marilith. We checked the wreckage of the Marilith and found the cryopod of the real Georgia Klaus. Just as Harriet Clemons phased through the hull of the Marilith! 

Our cybersneak got lasered in the back by Harriet Clemons & she had a few other surprises for us! We lured Harriet Clemons out of the wreck and were able to save Jerry our cybersneak! Then taking the cryopod of Georgia Klaus we blasted off of the planet. We let the authorities know about Harriet and made our way planetside. Jerry isn't doing too good. He's going to need expensive implants and months to recover. Georgia Klaus has decided to sign on with us in the meantime and brings some psionics to our party! We're going to take care of Jerry but we're advertising for a new cybersneak in the meantime. 

Cartel Genocide - A Zaibatsu/Hostile Mini Campaign On Colony World - Earth - Hostile Situation Report #010 Street Scum

 So in tonight's Hostile rpg game, we're still dealing with the fall out from Zozer Games's Street Scum - Situation Report 010 & the taking in of our Fixer Thackery. Whom we saved serveral sessions ago & put on our Russian mercenary unit known as the September Group's payroll. We ended up destroying 'The Vendetta' because of certain unsavory practices that Sentyabr'skaya gruppa aka the September group wasn't having. The Blood Eagles the rivals to the Vendetta took it personally and this led to a blood feud that has bloodied the streets of Neo Houston. Tonight's session follows events from back in December 10th of 

And tonight more nasitness as the Blood Eagle's Mendoza Cartel bosses decided that enough was enough! They sent four homemade tank dreadnaughts against our group. This was a huge mistake as the dreadnaughts are equipped with two flame throwers which took out the gate guards at our head quarters. This ended up having the party declare war on the Mendoza Cartel after the homemade tanks were destroyed with shaped charge booby traps. 
We were not amused at the thought of being attacked in our own house even though technically the party isn't originally from this universe. We took the place of the September group of this universe by taking over thier old headquarters after the originals were killed. We contacted the US police forces and had our hackers dig into thier data bases with our internal contacts. Then we hit the Mendoza Cartel's operations within Neo Huston with raids and slaughtered all of the cartels personel within Neo Houston. 
We then brought several of our assets who have been operating outside on assignments back in house to boost the ranks. We then went on a shopping trip to the black market in Dallas & bought new weaponry from the Dirty Wars Supplement

Our blackmarket contacts in Dallas got very nervous because of the amount of weaponry & ammo we picked up. They wanted to know if a gang war was going to happen in Neo Houston?! 
We simply growled, "Could they get bigger guns?!" And then informed them that they might want to abandoned any operations within Neo Houston. At the stroke of  midnight, the entire headquarters of the the Mendoza Cartel in Neo Houston disappeared in a puff of smoke as an orbital sat weapon took it out. We also took out  the Mendoza Cartel's operations out on Abyss & Tau Ceti! 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Cha'alt Experience: Designing Worlds Like A F*cking Boss By Venger Satanis For Any Rpg

 "This is how I built Cha'alt, and how I'm going to teach you to design your own campaign setting.  This is not like any other world-building tome.  Since conceiving Cha'alt, I've taken an unorthodox approach to its design.  The proof is in the gelatinous slime shaking like a bowl full of ichorous jelly - I'm in the middle of a second long-term campaign... after a couple hundred one-shots.  Cha'alt has become my imaginative home, and I hope to inspire you, as well as, provide the tools to make your own world where awesome adventures take place. "

"RPG Pundit wrote the foreword.  He was the perfect person for that particular job, as you'll read.  At the end of the advice portion of the book, I lay out our divergent yet somehow probably intertwined philosophies for the gaming ideal.  Two halves of the same coin, perhaps..."

"If you've ever thought of creating your own world, check this out.  Especially if you have any interest in the following... eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalypse, humor, sleaze, pop-culture, and grindhouse exploitation."

"Special thanks regarding the spider-jack random table (waiting to receive additional feedback before an official update to this title) goes to Roger Jones, Paddy's Parlor, everybody on the Inapprorpiate Characters monthly RPG show, and those participating over at TheRPGsite." 

The Cha'alt Experience: Designing Worlds Like A F*cking Boss By Venger Satanis clocks in at a hundred & thirty one pages of Venger's design & writing philosphy as well as process for creating Cha'alt. And it starts off with some words of wisdom from RpgPundit about this book. Because The Cha'alt Experience ( yes, this is how I shall be referring to it) takes in many of Venger Satanis's writing and designing process then runs you through it step by step. This is all done in wit and wisdom of Venger Satanis. 
Say what you want but in 'The Cha'alt Experience' Venger does know what he's talking about. He shows you from the ground up how not only to design a campaign setting but an rpg world setting from the ground up. 'The Cha'alt Experience' really compliments the three Cha'alt volumes in a way as both a 'behind the curtain' and solid guide to campaign creation. 
Is 'The Cha'alt Experience' any good?! If you've experienced any of Venger Satanis's other Cha'alt books then I'd say a hardy,yes! This supplement really goes hand to tentacle deeply into Venger's philosphy and writing style that the reader can take or leave. 
'The Cha'alt Experience' plays right into the guidelines laid down in Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows and this makes this supplement both a companion and supplement.  We also see this within the adventure included with 'The Cha'alt Experience'. 

And this is taken up with 'The Blind Monks of Perrshaar' the adventure that Venger ran at GaryCon this past year. 'The Cha'alt Experience' takes on the gonzo and cultastic rpg elements that Venger likes to use so much. And then breaks them down bit by bit for the DM or player to use at thier leasure.  Because of many of the gonzo and design wisdom found in 'The Cha'alt Experience' makes it completely 'rpg system agnoistic'. 

Is 'The Cha'alt Experience' worth the twenty dollar price tag?! That's another story, in my opinion because of the artwork and such. It costs alot to put together an rpg supplement today. Personally for my wallet, I'd wait until Venger has one of his killer sales before getting the 'Cha'alt Experience' 
Is the 'Cha'alt Experience' worth getting?! Yes if your looking for some solid advice on gettting into the deep end of gonzo and cultastic role playing then definitely! 

Deals Within Deals - - Cities Without Number, Stars Without Number, & Trey Causey's Strange Stars Rpg - Mirrors By Joseph Mohr - Session Report

 
We pick up with our party meeting in virtual space with the slavers representives after last week's   session available here. Our fixer did her job acting as a go between for a deal between  the Slavers Consortium & a coven  of  the Circeans witches called the Grove of Hope. The grove has a small piece of 'the rod of Evermore' which is actually a sophisticated nanite collective. The nanites are able make the infertile, fertile again. And we were able to actually wrangle a profit out of this mess in the meantime. We delivered the 'rod of Evermore' to the Slaver's representive. 

So using a combination of Einstein time and the hyperspace gate we made it back in time to avoid the foreclose on Guiron in the next few months. Which is actually days in relative time. Now of course we've got to do a job for the 'Grove of Hope' by delivering terraforming equipment. They however are also offering more information on genetic damage the colonists within the  Guiron system have suffered. 
This damage is generational but the cause has our party concerned because others could take advantage of thier vulnerability. So we are we looking at some sort of damage from an entropy weapon used in the system's past?
 This has the interest of  Major Bartholomew Rodriguez and the Interstellar Police because this weapon could still be in system. All of this stems from Joseph Mohr's Mirrors adventure available here. 

We've expanded far past the basic plot of Mirrors, and are now diving into deeper waters with the Circeans witches's terraforming delivery. We fear that there may be other powers involved with the delivery. We've got our cyberfreaks looking into the details of the delivery because we smell something weird?! 

OSR Commentary & Ascendant Rpg Session Report Five - Capital City Casefiles #2: Served Cold By Karl Gustav- Gamber's Round

 The PC's in tonight's Ascendant rpg campaign session started poking around for evidence that Poker Face had indeed returned. The return of one of the group's old villains Poker Face means that the murder count could rise. This vile villain is highly unstable often getting frustrated in his schemes and taking his frustrations out on his victims. He has a hair trigger making this low level Ascendant very dangerous!  Tonight's session picks right up from May 1st session available for a read here.  Events in tonight's game up point the damage to the  criminal underworld from the fall out from Capital City Case Files#2 Served Cold. The adventure plot went something like this; "The heroes are sent to investigate a mysterious and brutal murder in a trendy apartment building by a Cartel enforcer, which leaves them racing to unravel the series of events that led to it, and trying to stop the rampage before it leaves any more corpses.." 

During tonight's game in Bludville the party finally got down and dirty with Pokerface's gang the  'Fifty'. What they weren't expecting was to go toe to toe with a mid level hired Ascendant thug called Bodyslaim  from the Cartels! This was a bit of a shlog for the party. They needed to work as a team because the mercenary Bodyslaim made short work of the team's two bricks. He literally brought two brick walls down on them. He both super strength, regeneration, and sonic powers! 
This attack came right on the heels of the party finding a vital clue and DNA evidence too the lair of Pokerface. 
The player's eventually dropped a car on Bodyslaim! And then before his regeneration could kick in called for backup from Dreadnaught Security to have him arrested. Dreadnaught sent in a clean up crew to take the mercenary in. 
The party then had the evidence gone over by thier own scientist Foxglove in Dreadnaught's crime labs. This is where I used the Ascendant Rogues Gallery for some of the background Dreadnaught Securities NPC's! 

 And the material is from Bluddville's meat packing plant neighborhoods. This is bad news. 
The party went toe to toe with the rest of the Fifty there last year while busting up one of Pokerface's dog fighting gambling and number's rackets! The party is also going to be crossing into one of thier villainous NPC mob bosses 'The Everyman'. A literal master of disguise who rules the meatpacking district with an iron fist! The party will have to arrange a meeting with the 'Everyman' to discuss terms! 

The Shrine of Thasaidon - Warriors of the Red Planet & Clark Ashton Smiths Zothique - Session Report

 Our characters in DM Paul's game entered a gateway to another plane but we were cautioned not to stray from the path. We strayed from the path and ended up on a flat ever expanding desert.The PC's immediately recognized the giant bloated red star in the sky. We found ourselves on Zothique! 

It is believed that the cover art can or could be obtained from Ballantine Books.

This was bad because we had no idea where on Clark Ashton Smith's Zothique we were. And we were in the middle of a desert. And on Zothique we were as good as dead. The deserts on Zothique the far future Earth is filled with all manner of undead horrors! 
We had water fortunately and some rations among our lot & we had plenty of weapons as well as ammo. Our party of Warriors of the Red Planet had a stomach full of experience with desert planets. 

We trugged through the desert wasteland for a couple of hours when we came to a rock shrine or small temple. The whole affair was covered in carved demons & outrageous devils writ in some odd form of common was the following: 
"Black Lord of bale and fear, master of all confusion!
By thee, thy prophet saith,
New power is given to wizards after death,
And witches in corruption draw forbidden breath
And weave such wild enchantment and illusion
As none but lamiae may use;
And through thy grace the charneled corpses lose
Their horror, and nefandous loves are lighted
In noisome vaults long nighted;
And vampires make their sacrifice to thee —
Disgorging blood as if great urns had poured
Their bright vermilion hoard
About the washed and weltering sarcophagi.
-- Ludar's Litany to Thasaidon." 
We looked around the shrine and then we heard the thunderous sound of foot falls. Before we could blink we were surround by men. 
And then we were surrounded by city guards! 'State your purpose & business within the kingdom of old Tasuun?!' Our mind master quickly stated, 'We are mercenaries and fighting men of forgein lands seeking employment, sire. " 
'You will find plenty of employment here sir. Quickly come in the Old Gate'. And we quickly brought before the master of arms of the Old City of Tasuun and brought onto the payroll.' 
Next week we find out our mission 

OSR Review & Commentary On 'From The Beyond' By For The Wretched Rpg or Venger Satanis's Cha'alt

 "The Dha’arma Initiative has once again experimented with things beyond their control. The once benevolent Dr. Chuuth’Nay has unleashed an evil the world of Cha’alt has not seen."

"It is contained inside a secret underground lab… for now. Can your party survive the horror From the Beyond? Or will they too, come to understand insanity as I have?"

Clocking in at forty pages plus maps 'From The Beyond' seems like the kind of gonzo adventure that mashes up Venger Satanis's Cha'alt with the Wretched Rpg and it does! Silvia Clemente of Red Room fame once again proves herself as a good OSR writer/designer with an out and out dungeon romp taking place in an underground lab on Cha'alt. 
And things have gone down hill at the old Dha’arma Initiative laboratory. The whole facility has gone to the undead and it shows! There's monsters running all over this facility and causing all kinds of mayhem. The lab is a veritable maze with the facility filled to the brim with traps and tricks. Clearing this place isn't going to be easy at all. The writing is well done, the facility is dangerous, the layout is very well done, and the font is easily readable. 
'From The Beyond' could give even the most jaded Cha'alt veteran adventurers a work out as they try to figure out what's happened at the facility. Or this adventure could be used as an introduction adventure for a group of Wretched New Flesh second edition operatives or agents to figure out what's happened to the 'From The Beyond' facility. 
I don't want to spoilt the adventure but 'From The Beyond' is a five session or less adventure with lots of twists and turns! This adventure ties the PC's into a possible gut punch for all of Cha'alt. 

'From The Beyond' could easily be tied into the Book 3 of the Cha'alt trilogy's campaign events. The adventure easily fits within the bounds of a full on campaign as a side quest or adventure. 

But is 'From The Beyond' any good?! In a word, yes because of the fact that it can easily be adapted into your favorite OSR rpg or as a jump off point for an entire campaign centered on Cha'alt. This is an adventure that has legs. And hits the highs and lows of Cha'alt as a campaign setting easily. 

In Way Over Thier Heads - Cities Without Number, Stars Without Number, & Trey Causey's Strange Stars Rpg - Session Report- Mirrors By Joseph Mohr

 The PC's in tonight's game ran head long into some very dangerous aliens after two of thier cybersneaks broke into the mainframes of Guiron. They managed to break in and track down the high end genetic &  medical supplies from last session.  And then faked series of delivery orders for the medical center! The party flew thier space hauler there. And here's where things get very interesting! 

The party were met by a gaggle of Guironian Morlocks & cloned Guironian scientists who were in turn guarded by strangely fish like humaniods. The party wanted to know whom the Guironians were dealing with for thier medical supplies and the fish like humanoids telepathically told them. It was thier old friends the Slavers Consortium. Needless to say that the players were not amused by this because in the past the Slavers have been less then honest with the PC's. 
There has been some highly questionable cloning going on for several centuries on Guiron. The robbery of the hover train is cover the debt owed to the Slavers by the people of Guiron. 
The Slavers are trying to decide if the PC's are going to live or become slaves to be sold on the open market. The party didn't wait to find out thier decision and blasted thier way out. 
They contacted  Major Bartholomew Rodriguez & of course the Slavers Consortium made it look like the party had tried to highjack thier operations. The Interstellar Police arrived to inform the Slavers Consortium that they don't have the proper paperwork to operate within the  Guiron system. 
Behind closed doors the Interstellar Police also want the money back that the pirates cartel working for the Guironians stole. The party in the meantime wants out at this point and through several strings that Major Bartholomew Rodriguez pulled they were able to get out almost scott free. Except for the fact that the Slavers are pissed at them for interferring in  a major operation.  And the fact that the Slavers will foreclose on Guiron in the next few months. 

The party's fixer decided to get involved and now the party must find a major artifact that has significance to the Slavers to avoid the foreclosure order! More next week as the plot thickens! 

Review & OSR Commentary On Dirty Wars Corporate Armies In The Hostile Setting By Paul Elliot For the Hostile Rpg

 "​Private military contractors are the mercenaries of the Hostile setting, fighting the 'dirty wars' ... unconventional, irregular, unlawful, complicated ... 

"These forces are hired by corporations, governments and NGOs to secure locations, carry out patrols, peace-keeping, VIP escort and, more recently, full-on combat operations in high-intensity war zones. "


"This book helps you create a experienced veteran - the perfect PMC candidate. It also goes into PMC organisation and mission types, and on establishing your own PMC. New military vehicles are provided, a useful kit list and a run-down of all of the 'dirty wars' in the Hostile setting."

Dirty Wars Corporate Armies In The Hostile Setting By Paul Elliot For the Hostile Rpg is the latest offering from the prolific pen of Paul Elliot. Dirty Wars dives below the surface of the dirty world of corporate armies. The first part of Dirty Wars goes into PC creation, career events, and career rotation for mercenary character creation. 
The author does an excellent job of creating no nonsense, grounded PC's without diving into action movie cliches. Dirty Jobs takes the worry out of PC creation with easy and straight forward creation in the world of Hostile. And in the world of Hostile there are literally plenty of opportunities for a mercenary campaign according to the intro; "Private military contractors in 2225 have many opportunities for employment, not just amongst the crisis zones and battlefields of a crumbling Earth, but on the off-world colonies that orbit remote stars. The long, icy tendrils of the corporate interstellar supply lines must be protected from saboteurs, fractious colonies, economic collapse and jealous colonial authorities. Do you want a piece of the action? If you have the relevant experience and clean rap sheet, then sign up!" So Dirty Wars this gives the impression of the deep & dangerous corporate warfare world of Hostile. And it's a really good overview in Dirty Wars. 

 

Hostile's big time corporate warfare players next from Amadeus Group to Vigo's Combat Specialists. Then we get the payers & client list which are a group of mega corporation that PC's really don't want to cross in the  world of Hostile. 
And then we get into contract work and taking a job. The DM actually gets mission & adventure types with set up, victory conditions, and exacution. This is done for the DM with style. 
Then we get into the down and dirty of creating a PMC which covers;"a Record of 10 or 20, which serves as a measure of their professionalism, efficiency and reliability, important factors in attracting investment." again this is a well done compliment to the system.  
Then the 'Gear & Rules' section which gives us new weaponry, gear, and more for our PMC. And there's some neat little bits and pieces here for a party. Then we dive into vehicles for the player's PC's. 
Finally, we get a 'Creating The Enemy' section which is a small tool box for creating oppostion forces from elites to common foes. This sesction has a small selection of great NPC's ready to take down your PMC. And then we get a nice 'Mission Randomiser' generator for creating missions and adventures on the fly. Even deeper into Dirty Wars we get a Warzone Encounters which is a tool box for on the fly encounters. 
We then dive into the Dirty Wars section  of Hostile a cross section of Earth, and beyond warzones where your PMC can shine! Note that Dirty Wars is a lethal and highly dangerous universe where your a bullet away from a new PC. Dirty Wars continues this tradition. 
Given the over all sheen of Dirty Wars, I've got to say that I continue to be impressed with the quality of writing, the design ethos, the layout, and solid vision of Dirty Wars & Hostile. Dirty Wars is an excellent fit for  the universe of Hostile. The overall package of Dirty Wars is absolutely consisent with the world of Hostile. 

OSR Review & Commentary Dark Lonesome: The Ariel Sector Sourcebook By John Watts For The Clement Sector Rpg

"  Welcome to Ariel Sector! Ariel Sector is the sector to coreward (or “above” if you are looking at a Zimm map) of Clement Sector. While Clement Sector is analogous to the American “Old West”, Ariel Sector is analogous to the wilderness of the American frontier in the region of the Rocky Mountains in the late 1800s. Largely unexplored and almost totally unsettled, Ariel Sector is home to only a handful of established settlements."

" Of course, this doesn’t mean that the sector is unpopulated. It just means that there are settlements which aren’t widely known and places that a person can go to “get lost”, something that is much harder to do in Clement Sector. Indeed, it is for that reason that a lot of people came to Clement Sector in the first place and now, as the core subsectors of Hub, Franklin, Cascadia, and Sequoyah become more settled, many find it necessary to go further afield and get further away from civilization. Many of those people have chosen to come to Ariel Sector" 

Dark Lonesome:  The Ariel Sector Sourcebook By John Watts couldn't come at a better time. This book is due out for Thursday of this week but you can get an advanced preview of the Dark Lonesome:  The Ariel Sector Sourcebook.  The Dark Lonesome goes right along with last week's Clement sector adventure. The Dark Lonesome is actually home to more then a few pirate cartels & colonists who have pushed the boundries of the Black. The Ariel sector is the type of sector that sits between civilization and outright interstellar frontier. 

 The Ariel sector is a wild place where the waldläufers, colonists, and deep explorer rub elbows. The Ariel sector even boasts honest to God gunslingers. There are rules of conduct and more. 
The sector is perfect for the explorer, prospector, or thrill seeker and others attracted by the wild feel of it. And those who feed on them. 
Focusing on the Ariel sector, there are legends, details, worlds, and more. The Dark Lonesome focuses highly on the details of the sector while laying down an actual usable sourcebook. 

The Clement sector feels like more then a usuable campaign but a real place. John Watts's breath's life into his sector campaign. The Ariel sector  feels like a real place. 

Dark Lonesome:  The Ariel Sector Sourcebook By John Watts is a solidly constructed sourcebook for the Clement sector rpg. The sourcebook is well edited, well done, and has some terrific artwork. What this sourcebook does is push the edges of the interstellar Clement sector map & really ramps up the dangers of the Clement sector. Between the space pirates, the interstellar phenomena , & the powers that be there. There's also lots of opportunity for interstellar spacers & explorers. The Ariel sector perfectly set up for a humanity that is at the far end of the galaxy cut off from humanity. This encapsulates the power of this sourcebook. All of the good bits here are perfect for a 2d6 Clement sector campaign with details to spare. 
 Clocking in at 190 pages Dark Lonesome:  The Ariel Sector Sourcebook By John Watts is wall to wall useful information on a point in the Clement sector that is unto itself a complete compaign. This is a well done and well thought out campaign sector sourcebook and a great add on!