OSR Hostile Rpg Commentary - Exploring In The Gardens of the Dead

 While some of the stuff for the Hyperborea rpg is shelfed for a day or so with the holiday we've been discussing among ourselves the revamped Hostile rpg and the New England Boi's campaign. And the fact is that any issues with Xeno life forms is going to be super rare. And this goes hand in hand with the explaination of the Fermi paradox in our own universe. 

If we look at the Fermi paradox & the fact that in the billions of light years from our own corner of the Milky Way then we may be sitting right in sector after sector of an intergalatic  alien grave yard. And it brings up a point that a friend of mine brought up to me tonight, 'The aliens may not be picking up the phone because their dead. And the phone's been off the hook for eons'. 
If we're looking into Hostile's Explorers title then we could well have a party of explorers who run into more then a few planets were the aliens have seemingly abandoned the planet or planetary system. But there could incredible technologies left behind by these civilations. And there in is both the value & the danger. 

Why do I say danger?! Because of the fact that tonight's sinster conversation among the players & dungeon masters the fact is that the Xeno's of Hostile are fairly unknown. The could be theoritcally anything or anyone. The guidelines within Explorers say that the sky is literally the limit. World after world could be generated and no two would be alike. And there could be this fact that in Hostile the universe is generated by random charts and the fact that the universe is always trying to kill you. Add into the fact the universe wants your party & you dead.

Exoplanets are no different, they may also harbor far more A.I. relics then previously thought. The aliens that we've been harboring for may actually have been wiped out by left over A.I.  god things & thier relics. This leaves far more on the table then previously thought. Would we as PC's even remotely recognize an alien battle field and its left over alien weaponry or their  effects. There may be fare more going on a wastland style planet then we were previously expecting. What the Hell I'm I talking about here?! The fact that some of the xeno life forms in the Hostile setting book may well be bio weapons but would we even recognize those??! And would we even known an alien dungeon if our PC's blundered into it. 

There maybe aliens that don't consume food,or that we don't recognize a weapon pointed right at a  human's head. The point is that these creatures are alien for a reason & may not conform to our human standards at all. And this is one those obvious statenents that conforms to so many aspects of the the Fermi paradox. The fact that having human perspections might hinder our search for extraterristrials. But our group tonight thought that Hostile's Explorers is a key book for this style of a campaign. 

'Pioneers & Pirates' More 2d6 Campaign & Sector Expansion notes

 Cepheus Deluxe has lots of tools for doing some excellent random world generation, fighting other creatures, and engaging in space battles, handling the risks of interstellar speculative trading, &  exploring new worlds,etc. Since this set of tools is perfect for existing Cepheus Engine rpg games then I decided to see if it could pimp out my upcoming Hostile rpg campaign setting game. 

Since my games doesn't follow the usual Hositle rpg time line history.  Cepheus Deluxe has any number of random tools & generators to take care of everything from small settlements to large towns for a 2d6 science fiction. These worlds which have been cut off from by a psychic wall of energy that has disrupted hyperspace travel for some time. These hyperspace routes are only now being opened across the universe. These are the old colony worlds that colonial frieghters service & this brings in Zozer Games Colonial Frieghter; "On worlds with low-populations and few port facilities, any colonial supply ship has to carry with it a suite of cargo handling equipment. The Tharsis Aerospace Argosy is a premier example of this class of ship - the ‘colonial support vessel’ (CSV)." 

These colonial ships are going to be opening these planetary colonies as time goes on and setting up more jump off points for explorers as the universe opens back up. This is a gold mine time for explorers as they re establish communicatations with colonies across the board. But it will make these worlds vulneratble to pirates. Both the world itself & the colony ships are going to be prime targets for instellar pirates. 

As mankind expands outwards & pirates present a very real danger. The marines role in such a campaign becomes quite evident. The Marine Handbook 2215, ' The essential US Marine Corps manual, with weapons, vehicles, uniforms and campaign suggestions.' is perfectly dialed into such a campaign. The fact is that its fun to speculate about the nature of such a world lost to time but now playing host to the Hostile marines forces. And its here that the Hostile's Crew Expendable   ships are going to be servivng on the ever expanding instellar frontier. And this is going to make them a fitting target for pirates waiting to pick such a rich prize up. 

Using Zozer Games Crew Expendable & Cepheus Atom Together For 2d6 Campaign & Sector Expansion

To expand upon my Hostile setting campaign tonight I sat down with Hostile's Crew Expendable  book.; "CREW EXPENDABLE is a supplement for Cepheus Engine and the HOSTILE setting. It provides players with a comprehensive campaign of routine space travel - interstellar haulage carried out by blue collar ‘space truckers’, working Joes just trying to make ends meet, and to stay alive."

"The book provides a ship, it provides a selection of available crewmembers and an array of tables for creating contracts that must be fulfilled. There are star maps, rolls and tasks for all the crew-members and a new starship - the Harbinger, a multi-purpose freighter. " 
So the idea here is before tomorrow night's game we're gonna dive into the idea of a NPC 'Firefly' style crew of space truckers who are doing long haul runs between star systems. These folks are not the usual horror fodder but actual NPC who are perfect to haul cargo & supply to our miners.The New England Bouys are starting to dig deeper into the sector.  It's a setting that's seen its share of the use of atomics & other apocalpytic weapons. So out comes Cepheus Atom here to fill in some of the gaps of these worlds. Disease, mutations, alien life forms, & worse await the PC's. 

The problem with opening up trade, mining, & other enterprises upon these worlds is going to be the supply chain. Establishing the infrastructure to these post apoclapyptic worlds is part of the challenge here. Worlds that have come open  because of the 'Fall of Man' psychic storms abatement  in my campaigns. Have just come into hyperspacial gate jump distance open up countless possibilities for the corporations. Mineral rights already on the books means less paperwork. But populations of mutant scum & tribes of aliens could mean that explorers are literally taking life & limb risks landing upon such places. 

While explorers are the trail blazers, these post apocalpttic  planets constantly chew up & spit out spacers. Then there's the near constant issue of claim jumpers, and even corporate assasination of planetary explorers. Zozer Games  Crew Expendable really brings home the fact that space truckers are going to be working grunts of the space ways. Explorers on the other hand are the trail blazers. 
There are few reasons why these books work well together:

1. Zozer Games  Crew Expendable are ordinary folks living a blue collar life. Space haulage is simply another part of the job and they remind me of the drovers of the American Old West. Hence the 'Firefly' connection in my mind. 
2. Even post apocalytic worlds are going to be routine in a post 'Fall of Mankind' campaign. 'Not another post apocalytic world' may be the mantra of a Harbinger's crew. 
3. These types of haulage jobs may attract the real daredevils of spacers or the dregs of humanity to these jobs. 
4. Even with the presence of mankind out among the stars space is a big place and the explorer's job is going to be that much harder. 
5. There are going to be entirely empty or new sectors that haven't been explored at all leading to exploitation by the corporations of the Hostile universe. 

The New England Bouys & The Tablet of Destiny - The Corman Incident - Game Session Report Number 8

 

Last night's gaming session was interesting, the New England Bouys want to really concentrate on the mining side of things.  They want to let the mercenaries deal with the other issues on Xabria Prime. The cover from below is for the new Hostile setting book coming out soon! Can't wait so I've been using it for my DM screen art work. 

Tonight's Hostile/Cepheus Engine hybrid game picks right up from last week's game session here.

 





























The bouys came across this alien tablet when they were hitting mine claims on Xarbia  based on the artwork of  Andrea Bonazzi used without permission.

When it comes to  the Xarbia sector the players don't have all of the answers. The  Reticulans play a very significant role in the Xarbia sector but their almost afraid of it. A sort of 'hands off' land lord role in the sector. The question is why?! The Bouys have set up three mining claims on the planet of Xarbia prime so far. And while they have been buzzed by Reticulan military their clashes so far have been with the mercenary units on the planet side. The mercenaries have literally pushed them away from the 'abandoned'  wreck of the USS Roger Corman. But it was the activity of the mercenary forces at the alien pyramid  using flame throwers on a whole lor of weird proto plasmic like alien life forms! The merc's lost three of their own to the alien bastard things due to cold dice on my part! 

The Reticulans brought in two of their military saucers & blasted the Hell out of the protoplasmic life forms. They then brought any mercenary survivors aboard their saucers. 
The New England Bouys scored several lucrative mining claims planet side & its been handy to have Joseph Mohr's Gold Rush on hand for this. 

So far the corporates back home have been please about the 'Bouys' progress but Xabria is proving to be a bit of a mystery. And the 'Bouys' want to bring in a full corporate  security & xeno squad to handle some of what their seeing. They are extremely cautious! Several of the alien ruins & dungeons.  They deployed a robotic probe & followed the NPC merc's back to their camp on the night side of Xarbia. 

And that's when they found out that there was no mercenary camp anymore on the nightside of Xabria Prime. They detected strange single celled goo all over the area where the camp used to be! 

Terrestrial Shoggoth by the very talented King Ov Rats (www.devaintart.org) 

The New England Bouys & The Tablet of Destiny - The Corman Incident - Session Two

Tonight's Hostile/Cepheus Engine hybrid game picks right up from last week's game session here. Here's the new Hostile rpg rule book cover & the setting book cover as well. Can't wait to get my hands on these from Zozer Games! According to Paul Elliot in the Cepheus Engine Facebook group; "The rulebook and setting book will be separate purchases, but if you already have the 2017 Hostile book, you will get the setting book PDF automatically."

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The party in tonight's game began exploring the mining & genetic research station on the remote desert planet of Xarbia. But they did this with their own the 'Hermon' the 400-ton   Leopold class drilling rig belonging to the Bouy's employer Allard Electronics. They dropped their own drilling rig on the planet to operate as both headquarters & survey point. The bouys will not trust any of the older facilities planetside?! 

 During tonight's game the New England Bouys found out that they are not quite as alone as they thought on the remote desert planet of Xarbia! They detected a fast moving six man APC which held mercenaries who apparently came through the same gateway as the Bouys. The PC's didn't take any chances. They deployed a robotic probe & followed the NPC merc's back to their camp on the night side of Xarbia. 

They found activity of the merc's using flame throwers on a whole lor of weird proto plasmic like alien life forms! The merc's lost three of their own to the alien bastard things due to cold dice on my part. 

Terrestrial Shoggoth by the very talented King Ov Rats (www.devaintart.org) 

The mercenaries have put up a guardian  military force around the 

the Xarban Gateway. The Bouys are avoiding direct military conflict until they can get word from Earth. 

The second Xarbia gatway based on the artwork of 

 Andrea Bonazzi used without permission.

The Bouys managed to get a slice of a burst transmission that was directed at the gateway from the mercenaries. The question is which corporation is at the moment directing the mercenaries & whose on the ground directing operations on Xarbria. The Bouys further survey mission uncovered another Xarbia gateway. The questuon is where does it go?! And then there's the question of the the pyramid discovered in last week's game. 
They have detected a downed saucer & a Reticullan  transport crashed near the pyramid. Both of these space craft are straight outta of Stellagamma Publishing's U.F.O.  supplement.  

The Reticullans play a very sigficiant role in the Xarbia sector but its gonna be a New York minute before the players learn about this. But the players are extremely cautious about the U.S.S. Roger Corman. The 'abandoned' delerict marine transport bothers them on so many levels. 

The New England Bouys & The Xarban Gateway - The Corman Incident - Session One Report

 

The Xarban Gateway 
Artwork by Andrea Bonazzi used without permission.


There's been a ton of things afoot in the New England Boi's Hostile rpg sessions over the last two weeks. The PC's managed to pass through an ancient alien gateway into the Xarba sector! And they found themselves half way across the galaxy! And at an old mining  & genetic engineering research station pre Shattering. The Boi's also found an old marine transport vessel the U.S.S. Corman floating in low orbit. 

The Boi's found an anbandoned  genetic research station located on the remote desert planet of Xarbia. In low orbit was a marine troop transport ship also with no one on board. The space craft was a tomb but a very lurcritive tomb. Near the mining outpost was a very nice little flying saucer manufactored by the Nestor alien collective. Again worth a bit of a packet unto itself. 

But somehow I get the feeling that the players aren't trusting me at all as a DM. So they send down a prodroid  to take a look planetside. Remember this is a Cepheus/Hostile hybrid campaign using the events of 'These Stars Are Ours' as a part of the background. They found an alien pyramid on the nightside of  planet of Xarbia, The players were not happy with the appearance of this alien pyramid at all. They sent in another probe robot to the pyramid & their preceeding with caution. The party has detected the presence of some human DNA around the station. But certain section of the station had been exposed to the desert elements of the  planet of Xarbia. 

A third probe robot was sent into marine transport the USS Corman. The probe was 'assaulted' by spinning lights that whisked around the pro robot. But sensor readings were inconclusive. The lights disappeared but they did detect A.I. robotic activity coming from within the Corman. 

Treat the Nestor saucer as if it was a Civilian Saucer & use the stats from Stellagamma Publishing's U.F.O.  supplement.  We've upgraded the Boi's suits from Zozer Games Hostile's Explorers as per our last game's corporate restock & reward for finding the gateway. 

Review & Commentary On Explorers By Paul Elliott For The Cepheus Engine Rpg For The Hostile Rpg Setting & The Original Traveller rpg

 "Explorers is a supplement for Cepheus Engine and for the gritty HOSTILE science fiction setting.
It provides all of the tools the explorer needs to tackle dangers and exotic encounters on remote worlds. Included within the book is a fully detailed survey ship, the USCS Castle Bravo; an in-depth look at both the Tharsis Armadillo All-Terrain Vehicle as well as the explorer’s habitat of choice: the Leyland-Okuda modular base series. The space suits of the HOSTILE universe are also featured, with a set of customisable options.
Finally, survey and exploration procedures are explained with advice and rules provided which will allow the referee to create a tense, unpredictable and (hopefully!) dangerous survey mission. These come with 36 uninhabited world descriptions for use in your game. "

Players & friends alerted me to the release of Zozer Games Explorers was shoved int erm came exploding into my email box by my players. The cover alone is what really grabs your attention with a creepy classic Science Fiction & 70's Alien style poster artwork feel to it. The supplemenrt dives into the 'Upstream' space mining & exploration faux industry magazine cover.  But this is actually the first section of rules & organization over view. Shades of West End Star Wars rpg with the fake adds which were often used as player hand outs. This is gives a solid feel of the field of space exploration in the universe  of Hostile. You get a quick arm shot of a common survey vessel & overview of the Armadillo ATV. And its very well done giving the DM a perspective on the ATV and it almost feels like you could actually drive one. And that's one of the things about Explorers as a supplement it feels very grounded in its own universe. 

The module base section is very well done & we get down, dirty, & very scientific within Explorers take on living the pioneer life on the edge of galatic discovery. This section has a very much updated feel of those Eighties faux NASA books such as the Mars Mission Manual. This is life on the bleed edge of surival & space exploration. This section of Explorers gives an excellent overview of the shelters, colony pop up dwellings, and bases that are going to be used by PC's. 

Next we get into some hard core space suit design & mission specific stuff with regards to the day to day workable skin of the explorer. This section is very well done & hits the high notes that Hostile does with added benefits of actually being another customizable PC section of Explorers. This is one of the best sections of the book because it allows the DM & players to work together to tie together the gear for the PC's missions. 

'How To Explore' is one of the best sections of Explorers which involves planets, systems, missions parameters, planetary characteristics, & much more. This section ties in nicely with Explorers especially for instellar exploration campaign.  This section goes right into The Castle Bravo survey vessel which was introduced around a decade ago to compensate for the inadequacies of its predecessor, the North Star long range scout. And this is a perfect star ship for the players PC's and its a slamming ship! 

The Castle Bravo survey vessel reminds me of many of the classic original Traveller rpg ships. An actual star ship that the PC's can use for missions across the board. Its a real neat design incorporating elements of the classic 70's art Science Fiction ships with the Two Thousands bleeding edge space exploration. In many respects I really love the Castle Bravo survey ship class its really well done. 

Explorers within seventy one pages feels like an update of Paul Elliott, & Ben Lecrone's Orbital 2100 campaign setting with huge expansion of many of the ideas, adventure elements, space suits, ships, etc..

 Explorers takes the Hostile rpg setting into the outer bleeding edges of instellar space exploration. This means that its a solid drag & drop supplement right into the back end of the Hostile rpg setting. Explorers is a must add on for Roughnecks because the explorers are often the trail blazers or runners for the Rougneck's mining  operations. 

Because of Explorers the way that the book is set up its perfectly tuned for adding in sci fi horror elements to make the lives of the PC's wretched. All in all Explorers is a solid add on book for the DM of Cepheus Engine campaigns & yes I'm really glad that I grabbed it!