Particle Beam Weapons & The Creation of A New 2d6 Corporate Entity

 So besides a late night MSU session last night we talked about a number of options for our 2d6 games. And once again my mind started thinking about Greg Porter's 3G3 system.  And the main reason is the fact this system has stats & development rules for one of my favorite space based weapon systems, particle beam weapons. 

Growing up in the Reagan era Star Wars weapons systems time. Particle beam weapons were talked about by our various Science Fiction wargame hounds. These were the veterans & engineers who would be playing Traveller & breaking down the themes & ideas of the game. One that popped up frequently was the idea of killer particle beam weapon sats & cannons. And these are not the usual weapons that one sees in Traveller or Cepheus Engine. 
And given the morals of the particle beam technologies it's easy to see why. When have morals ever stopped Science Fictional rpg's!? Given the nature of 3G3 & the second 3G3 systems it's easy to see where & why these weapons would come into play in Cepheus Engine rpg style game campaigns. 

Now with the recent release of Superpowered! From 

Stellagama Publishing

 & the current climate of my player's mind set. The idea of a Bond style super villain using particle beam weapons & sat's entered my mind's imagination. 

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The use of superpowered operatives within a Science Fictional or Science Fantasy setting is a powerful one for me as a DM. And the idea of particle beam weapons leveling the field is also appealing. 2d6 games by their very nature almost call for this sorta of simulation. The idea of an Elon Musk style corporate magnet with access to this style of technology is appealing as too the grey areas of the moral compass that one would have to walk. 
Maybe it's the influence of the Hostile rpg on my lizard brain imagination. But a corporate entity with the ability to manufacture, produce, and possibly launch their own patiented brand of particle beam weapons creates an interesting thumb nail sketch for a rather grey moralled corporate entity. C- Beam Technologies has a nice ring to it. And C- Beams exclusive access to thier patiented particle beam technologies creates opportunities for all kinds of havoc within our campaigns.  More to come! 

OSR Commentary On The Hostile Rpg Referee Screen For The Hostile rpg, Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg's & Cepheus Engine based Rpg's

 "The Hostile Referee's Screen provides colour inserts for the gamemaster's GM screen. 

"The exterior panels depict four pieces of immersive and richly coloured art from the world of Hostile. The interior panels are four really useful data sheets providing key rules and information set out for immediate in-game reference!"

"BONUS: the companion booklet includes 15 pages of NPCs for Hostile, including examples from every career, plus androids and even proles"

The Hostile Rpg Referee has just the right information within it for the Hostile rpg dungeon master. The fact that it 15 pages of NPC's works for me as a DM when I need to design adventures centered around the Hostile universe or my own sectors for that matter. The more that I read through the Hostile Rpg Rulebook & Hostile Setting book that more I'm convinced that Hostile is a 2d6 Science Fiction rpg with a horror option. 
Between space missions, exploration, mining & bringing the PC's into the thick of all of these. The NPC's are a part of the backbone of the Hostile rpg adventure  mechanism. 
Looking at the Hostile rpg the in universe has a plethora of lethality & danger that abound for the PC's. Yet the main Hostile rpg system makes the missions & adventures exciting enough with several simple systems that keep the action going. The Referee's screen compliments the Hostile Rules quite nicely.  

Given the adventure backbone of the Hostile Rules this screen comes into a play during Hostile rpg sessions & games. This is essentially true of the combat break down of the Hostile rpg screen which has played host to our games. 
The Hostile ship sheet is one of the best star ship PC sheets that has gotten it's use at the table top level during Hostile rpg games. Easy, simple, and fast the star ship sheet is one that allows the DM to keep track of the PC's creations. 

The Hostile Rpg Referee Screen For The Hostile rpg, Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg's  & Cepheus Engine based Rpg's Is Available Here. 

OSR Commentary On 'The Starship From Hell' For 2d6 Old School Science Fiction & Science Fantasy Campaigns

"The Starship From Hell is a system-agonistic toolkit to be used at the table during sci-fi RPG sessions. With a handful of dice, generate a starship's type, category, name, nearby phenomena, reason for distress signal, dangerous cargo, and passengers or crew members with horrific secrets."

So over the coming weekend we're getting together with friends for a private mini Con that we do every year & there's not a lot of prep time between work and whatnot. So we've got a Hostile rpg one shot coming up that's got me behind the screen again. With the time factor working against me, off of the shelf came an old friend 'The Starship From Hell'. 'The Starship From Hell' is perfectly suited for a Hostile rpg or Independant Games Earth sector oneshot and works very well as a mission generator to create one shot adventures. The encounters in the 'The Starship From Hell' may have to be tailored back a bit to conform to 2d6 style games to be a bit less lethal or not. It's going to depend upon what the DM wants to do with their campaigns. 

So why the Earth Sector rpg?! Because of the nature of the Earth sector's corporate structure which could easily take advantage of the  'The Starship From Hell' random 'Sci fi horror' tropes. The edge of the unknown frontier just like a Space Western film from the Eighties works very well as an anaology for the historical Old West feel of the Earth Sector rpg. And the unknown blackness of space works with it's hyperspacial horrors coming into the corporate spaces of Hostile. Generate your missions and then go right to play as the campaign unfolds from a roll of the dice time and again. 

And this same methodology could be used with Cepheus Deluxe easily and without a problem at all. Roll up a mission with the 'The Starship From Hell'. And off you & your players go with a fully realized campaign. 

The Starship From Hell could be used as the basis for a Sword of Cepheus rpg campaign easily as a space craft introduces weird radiations, monsters,etc. to an interstellar colony stuck in the Dark Ages tech levels. 

'The Starship From Hell' Is Available Here 

OSR 2d6 Review & Commentary Free Resource - Cepheus Engine Journal Issue #11 For Cepheus Engine & Other 2d6 Science Fiction or Fantasy Rpg's

 Up on the slab is Cepheus Engine Journal Issue #11 which is one of the best free resources for 2d6 centric rpg's. This issue's focus is similar to issue #10 and that's the 'alien centric' theme in this issue. And it does an excellent job of presenting that feel for the table top. 

We dive into the P-O Bergstedt driven 'From The Editors' which covers the latest direction for the venerable Cepheus Engine Journal itself and more. Then Todd Bradley takes on the question of  'Cepheus Deluxe Personal Combat' & it's a solid addition to the Cepheus Deluxe array. And then we're given our first glimpse into a new alien race for your Cepheus Engine interstellar campaigns with the 'The Koszrans' by Paul Drye. And then Jim Vassilakos gives us 'Designing Aliens' & it's another great article with lots of practical & hands on advice for the 2d6 DM. There's some solidly done tables. Brett Kruger gives us 'Other Folks Gold' which isn't an article that one would expect; "In this article, which I hope will be the first of many, I’ll be looking at the Netflix original series called Love Death and Robots to see what role­playing nuggets I can mine from it, hence the title. Season one was made up of eighteen episodes. In future articles I’m going to be mining the science fiction of tv shows, short films and movies for gaming goodness." And that's exactly what he does for 2d6 game campaigns. There's some really good stuff in here for Cepheus Engine,  Sword of Cepheus,  or Barbaric taken directly from the Net Flix's series Love, Death, & Robots'. 
And then we get a Todd Bradley article about converting from 'Converting PCs from CE to CD'. This becomes more relative as new titles & adventures adapt to the CD 2d6 rpg format. Brett Kruger is back with Dump Demons a very interesting alien set of alien colony or organisms  as it were; "The Dump Demon is not actually an individual entity but, just like coral reefs, is a colony of creatures that act together as a single semi­sentient creature. Like a reverse hermit crab, as the colony grows it collects objects from its surroundings to build its form. Dump Demons grow by consuming objects and incorporating them into their mass, and especially love the discarded rubbish locations of sentient creatures. Dump Demons do not like environments where they can't consume waste to grow. Dump Demons spawn when a piece of at least one kilogram of the colony is broken off from its host colony. This never happens naturally and is always the result of violence." These are very alien, nasty, & I can't wait to use them. 
Brett Kruger as interviewer with an ' Interview with Omer Golan­Joel of Stellargama' and it's a solid interview with one of the 2d6 independant designers in our part of the hobby. 
 Jon Zeigler gives us 'Four Aliens' for the Human Destiny setting;"The premise is that in the mid­21st century, Earth and humanity are “annexed” (conquered) by a vast interstellar empire, the Khedai Hegemony. The Hegemony doesn’t seem interested in exploiting us for its own benefit. Instead, as has happened with many other pre­interstellar cultures, we were on the verge of self­destruction; the aliens wanted to rescue us and guide us into mature membership in interstellar civilization." The alien races are well done & the whole article feels & reads like a preview of a coming sourcebook but this is a really well done set of aliens. 

Then we get into 'Almost Alien' By Jo Jaquinta which is about uplifted creatures; "The concept of “uplift” ­ transforming a species of animal into a more intelligent variety, was started in Science Fiction as far back as H.G.Wells, but was most popularized by a series of David Brin’s novels. The essence is that the particular genes or traits that code for intelligence are determined, and these are spliced into existing creatures to create intelligent forms of them. This is a handy tool that a referee can use to create any number of interesting entities to add to their games. Rather than dwell on that, this article will focus on one example and look at it in terms of not just physical stats, but a broader social aspect. " Again the article provides a solid foundation for the player or DM looking to take their game in the article's direction. There's some really solid legs here for an established 2d6 Science Fiction campaign that wants the direction of uplift without the rules heavy aspects. Jo Jaquinta brings more of his 'Raider's Lament' in part five of the ongoing Science Fiction saga. Again really good details. 
'Beast From Beyond The Stars' by Norton Glover is another stand out article detailing a really interesting invasive alien species for Barbaric! & Sword of Cepheus! So well done and I don't wanna spoilt the surprises here. 
'Down & Out In Low Orbit' by Jo Jaquinta catters to the lowlife & seedy side of the 2d6 interstellar aspects of the spacer life in the black. Where local conditions such as gravity, infections, and worse are waiting for the low life spacer PC. 
P-O Bergstedt gives us  'The Imko and The Flertvad' alien racees with enough flavor for the edges of three campaigns. These are very well done aliens and are actually alien while being extremely playable. 
We get a 'What's New' rundown of the latest 2d6 titles with tons of new products entering the market and there's some great stuff! Finally we end with Ricardo Emilio providing us with a selection of 100 ton starships! All in alll well worth the band width and down load for our 2d6 Cepheus Engine driven games! 

You Can Download  Cepheus Engine Journal Issue #11 For Cepheus Engine & Other 2d6 Science Fiction or Fantasy Rpg's  Here 

Commentary On The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg

 The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg is a twenty three page book of optional tables, rules, roles, and ideas. This is a free pdf rpg reference book that works like a mini rule book for Warpland. And the weird barbarian post apocalpytic setting works really well with the Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality. 

The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga book brings home the savagery of the post apocalpytic setting of  Warpland & just how dangerous it can be. The tables on mutation brought about by the giant dimensional rift speak volumes to the savage nature of the campaign setting. Taken by itself Warpland presents a world where reality itself has been shattered.  The techno-arcane war that has overtaken the setting is telling in several ways. One society is broken and shattered beyond repair, the Eoli & the Morlocks have wounded each other's reality in ways that defy explaination, & finally the setting has been sent back to the stone age. 

What this speaks volumes about is the adventure & dungeon locations in the form of ruins, forgotten places, and whole sale abandoned cities. These places are rife with super science artifacts, magic items, and even weird treasures. All of this ties into the fact that the PC's are the child of the last generation of survivors. 
This seems like the end but its not as the PC's can & should affect the world in ways that they are not even aware of. In other words the PC's have the opportunity to act as heros in the face of obilivion. And this all traces itself back into the fact that the wastelands  of Warpland are prime adventuring real estate.
And under the multi coloured sky the Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality gives the player's PC's even more options for the Warpland rpg. 

The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg  Is Available Right Here 

Review & Commentary On The Clement Sector Core Setting Book For Cepheus Engine & Old School 2d6 Science Fiction rpg's

 John Watt's just sent me the Clement Sector third edition book & its huge as in six hundred & seventy five pages huge of material. And so let's dive right into the back end of the Clement Sector Third Edition. 

Clement Sector just got a huge upgrade & its a beast of a pdf at six hundred & seventy five pages of extended Clement Sector goodness but why?! According to John Watt's info dump its more then a fancy new paint job; "Clement Sector Third Edition will be available at DTRPG and the Independence Games webstore on December 16. If you have purchased the second edition, be on the lookout for a special offer in your email that will allow you to get the new version at very substantial discount.

Folks have been asking me what changes will be in the third edition of Clement Sector and what will be added to it. Along with a lot of clarifications, there are a few changes.

There's no intention to invalidate the existing books and force people to buy new ones. Indeed, we're not trying to pressure you into buying this version. However, if you already own the Clement Sector PDF, we're going to provide you with a rather substantial discount to get this PDF.

Third edition is 673 pages. The second edition was 270 pages.

This is the section from the book on what many of those changes are.

"While we consider this to be the third edition of Clement Sector, there are few changes between the rules of second edition and this one. Here, we will cover those changes.

This volume exists so that all the pertinent information concerning Clement Sector could be found in one volume and would save newcomers to the system and setting from having to purchase multiple books to have an understanding of the setting. Therefore, the first change from the second edition of Clement Sector is that this book contains the entirety of The Clement Sector Core Setting Book, Clement Sector: The Rules, and Ensemble Cast. The advanced space combat rules from Clement Sector: The Rules will now be found in the upcoming third edition of The Anderson and Felix Guide to Naval Architecture.

In addition, this book contains excerpts from several books that we felt would be relevant to the new player. These include the inclusion of two subsectors from Ariel Sector and two subsectors from Tranquility Sector which have appeared in Subsector Sourcebook 5: The Colonies, The Slide, and Unmerciful Frontier: The CCA Sourcebook. This book also contains the Achilles altrant from Tree of Life: Altrants in Clement Sector, uplifted Lions from Wondrous Menagerie: Uplifts in Clement Sector, and the Prisoner career from Diverse Roles. Three vehicles appear here (the American Dreams RetroWheels Grav Cycle, the Croselly Meteor Cruiser, and the FV(G)107 Stoat IFV from 21 Vehicles. The Starlight-class Merchant Vessel is included in this volume which originally appeared in Ships of Clement Sector 4-6: Traders, Scouts, and Small Craft. Information concerning smuggling appears here from Outlaw: Crime in Clement Sector as well as information concerning piracy from Skull and Crossbones: Piracy in Clement Sector. Information concerning visas and the political situation in Clement Sector is taken from Balancing Act: Interstellar Relations in Clement Sector. Information on the history of corporations is taken from Almighty Credit: Corporations in Clement Sector. While we felt it was important to add some of the pertinent information from those books into this one, we think you will still find these books entertaining and useful as well.

The major change in this edition from the second edition of this book is the change from the Characteristic of Social or Social Standing to Charisma. This is something which I have long championed and wanted to do and here, in this version, we have. If you’re using older volumes which use SOC, simply change that reference to CHA. It should be a one-to-one switch in most cases. However, if you have a character that you feel is more charismatic than their SOC would indicate, feel free to modify it to better reflect the character’s charisma. After all, the main reason we’re changing this is because I have always felt that Social Standing really had no place in Clement Sector.

The other change is within the skill listing. First, we have added Draw. This is to continue to lean into the “space Western” feel of Clement Sector that we are hoping to evoke as well as because it is a fun addition. Feel free to add the skill to characters that you and your Referee feel need to have it.

We have removed the skill “Steward” and replaced it with “Chef” and “Etiquette”. Chef, as you might imagine, handles the parts of Steward that once covered cooking and Etiquette handles the parts of Steward which once covered dealing with people and being polite. Adjust your characters accordingly and, if you come across a career track which offers Steward, you are free to pick either Chef or Etiquette.

We have also removed Zero-G and melded this into Survival (Freefall). In a similar vein, we have also moved Vacc Suit and Battle Suit into the overall skill “Suit” with specialties which cover these. Simply convert these skills one-to-one as needed."" 

But is a third edition of the Clement Sector neeeded!!? Well in a word yes! The Clement Sector is a series of rpg products that has evolved over time with their writer & designer's vision. They are indictative of a greater trend in the Cepheus Engine rpg's community. Unlike the normal OSR, the Cepheus Engine community is quite vigious & highly active. Not in a controversal way or a reactionary way but a creative way. The Clement Sector campaign setting has literally evolved over time & consolidated its contents into a usable campaign setting. This is because its writer is highly active in molding it to be complete open & playable as a campaign for 2d6 old school science fiction play. 
Overlooking the third edition of the Clement sector  & reading through the pdf since last night brings a sense of smoothing out a few of the rougher patches. This isn't to say that the book doesn't have room for the DM to drop their own star system or sub sectors into the Clement Sector quite the opposite. The Clement Sector seems to read a bit better as fully realized  & written campaign setting. But there's a wrinkle with the Clement sector; "In 2210, scientists discovered a wormhole allowing travel to the opposite side of the Milky Way galaxy.  Once across, exploration teams discovered worlds far more suited to human habitation than those in star systems nearer to Earth.  Were they terraformed by some unknown race?  Are they just a coincidence in the vast diversity of the universe?

Over the ensuing years humans left Earth and began to colonize these worlds.  Nation-backed colonies.  Corporate colonies.  People who simply no longer felt compelled to remain on Earth.  The best and brightest.

In 2331, the unthinkable happened.  The wormhole collapsed leaving those in Clement Sector cut off from Earth.  Now these new worlds and new civilizations must stand on their own.

The year is 2342.  Adventure awaits!" 

You've got two sectors for the price of one! You've got the Earth sector & you've got the Clement Sector both of which have gone along their mary way as the bloody worm hole collapsed. Both of which have their own campaign setting 'bug a boos'. And this isn't a bad thing. The DM needs to choose where, when, & how they want their campaign to run. 
And third edition of the Clement Sector goes a long way towards making that happen. It smooths out the details, clarifies the rules, brings in new material, & expands upon the possibilities of adding in your own spin on the Clement sector. 

I'm not sure that the Clement Sector oozes a 'Space Western' feel but it certainly oozes a 'last frontier' feel to it. This is a sector that isn't going to be tamed easily and its gonna result in a lot of PC's deaths! So its handy to have a Clement Sector PC sheet.But is Clement Sector worth the money?! Thirty dollars for a soft cover six hundred & seventy five page monster of a book is well worth it in today's rpg market. More over there's enough to run the Clement Sector for years just with the material in this book. 

You Can Grab The Clement Sector third edition book right here.