A Deep Look At Bill King's Wasteworld rpg

 "Enter the savage struggle for power and dominion. You can take on the role of a cyborg ninja, a potent psycher, or a fearsome alien. Fight mutant monsters and terrible robotic killing machines in a world gone completely mad"

The  Waste World Rule book written by Bill King. The combat rules are fast, deadly, & nasty.

 Waste World is the sort of game that gets over looked in this day & age. Why? Because really it doesn't know what it wants to be. Its sort like an old issue of Heavy Metal Magazine with a bit of a 40k or a Meta Baron's flavor thrown in.
Infact my history with the game is pretty much tied in with Heavy Metal because back in the 1997 when I first spied the game on the shelves of War & Pieces in West Hartford, Ct.  Not unlike SLA Industries ultra violent edge, Waste World was a post apocalyptic love fest to the genre that had spawned it! The game was/is tight in a cinematic way brings out the best in game play with little room for BS. Unlike SlA Industries it doesn't pretend to be something at its not with a disappointing "secret ending". Here's what you get:
The setting includes cybernetic warriors, powered armor, samurai with energy swords, giant robotic war machines, flying cities, psionics, alien species, and armies of undead. Immortal samurai with energy blades. Powered armor with razor-sharp wings. Armies of mad robots bent on destruction. Hardened wasteland warriors. Demons. Undead. Mutants. Ridiculously large guns. Sound like fun? Waste World may be the game for you.
Want to know more? Read a  Waste World Review I or  
Waste World Review 2  

 From Wayne's Books :
In the dark future of a dying earth five warrior civilizations prepare for the final conflict. In each mighty megacity, technology is an ideology that shapes the destiny of millions. The enigmatic Machine Gods of Prometheus grant their followers the gift of bionics, and faith in total war. The ever-reincarnating samurai defend their Shogun with swords of light. The Lords of Hydra sculpt their followers into superhuman soldiers, using the terrifying power of biotechnology. The decadent nobles of Ikarus descend from their flying city in razor-winged battlesuits to prey on the lands below. The exiled aliens of Janus defend the world's last starport and pray that salvation will come from the stars.

"The people of this ravaged planet fight for Drakonium, the most precious substance in the universe, the ultimate energy source. They know that without it, their cities will fall, their civilization will collapse and the poisoned deserts will claim their homes. They know they can never falter, never retreat, never stop fighting. There can be no mercy. There can only be conflict. It is all they know, and all they will ever know.

"In the Waste World Roleplaying Game, you can enter this savage struggle for power and dominion. You can use the flexible design rules to create the charater you want to play. You can take on the role of a cyborg ninja, a potent psycher, or a fearsome alien. Using the super-fast and ultra-deadly combat system, you can fight mutant monsters and terrible robotic killing machines in a world gone completely mad. Waste World Roleplaying Game provides you with all the rules you need to get right into the action in this harsh and dangerous world."

Still don't have enough post apocalyptic action? Want to dive deeper into to the gene pool? There were 2 world splat books:

From the back of the Shogunate book: "The immortal Shogun rules a land of mystic violence where honor counts for more than life. The reincarnating samurai face countless foes, ranging from cyborg ninja to evil psychic sorcerors. The alien Kitsune shapeshifters weave a web of intrigue that ensnares the lives of billions. Journey to this savage land and carve out your destiny..."

Then there are these creepy bio dudes!

From the back of the Hydra book: "The genclans reshape entire nations using the sinister secrets of biotechnology. They grant their followers superhuman powers. They use life itself to create awesome weapons. Their ruthless pursuit of power threatens to change the destiny of Waste World. This source book allows you to visit their ancient homeland, take part in their deadly intrigues and fight in their brutal wars."
Review of Hydra: The game and world of Waste World is unlike any other I've come across, and I've came across plenty. With their main book you can create virtually any type of pc, high technology, psionics, bio-technology, or just a tough survivor. The in-game balance is pretty good and the rules simple, fast, and brutal, just like a game called "waste world" should be.

But what makes the world and game great is the story, Avernus itself and that is why this book is a must have for anyone who wishes to play Waste World. It details the city of Hydra in beautiful detail including the Genclans that rule and the various powers that each of the Genclans can possess.

  
This is one hell of a nifty GM screen & believe me when I say that some of the company's operating today might learn a thing or two about designing a GM's Screen. I bought 2 of them in '97 & I'm still using them today! What does that tell ya about quality?

Background & System
A far-future post-apocalyptic RPG, set on a planet ravaged by ten millennia of total war, where five gigantic city-states ("metrozones") are struggling over dwindling supplies of Drakonium, the ultimate energy source. The warfare has spawned mutation-causing weapons, bio-engineered plagues, robots turned amok by a computer virus, and a Galactic interdict trapping unpleasant aliens on the planet. Resolution is a simple d20+stat+skill+modifiers, where an 11+ succeeds. A roll of 1 fumbles, while 20 is roll again. Character creation is open point-bought. There are four attributes (Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Psyche) rated -3 to +3, and skills rated 0 to 9 (divided into Easy, Normal, and Hard). Combat bases damage on the degree of success, with a possible multiplier and/or additive bonus. It also has hit location and critical hits.

Game Use & The OSR!


There is so much for a game master to mine that its not funny. Waste world is sort of like Gamma World without the artifact finding issue. The world is detailed & can handle anything from the intrigues of a Dune style political game to the shooty, shooty, bang, bang of the ABC warriors or Judge Dredd comic. Gamma World D20 might have learned a bit from the writing of  Waste World. 
Economically its a pretty good buy at 288 pages for 50.00  on Amazon or Flea Bay.
The Splat books sell for about if you can find them. 
Please note that I'm bias & love this game.
With a little thought, long campaigns of deceit and intrigue could be run. Or tons of good, mindless, violence. All possible in the Waste World

The Forgotten Edgar Rice Burroughs Post Apocalypse Novel - The Lost Continent

  

I was looking for some inspiration because I've just been told that I've got a game to run on Saturday. I stumbled on this novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs. Because of the release of John Carter by Disney everyone has been talking about a Princess Of Mars.
 However as of late I've been looking at other novels & stories by ERB. I stumbled on this one quite by accident.

The year is 2137. Two hundred years ago -- in our time, more or less -- Eurasia fought a war to end all wars, a war that meant, for all intents and purposes, the end of the Old World. The Americans managed to retain their civilization -- but only by engaging by the most extreme form or isolationism imaginable for two centuries, now, no American has ventured east of the thirtieth parallel. "East for the East . . ." the slogan went, "The West for the West!" Until a terrible storm at sea forced American lieutenant Jefferson Turck to disobey the law, seeking safe harbor in England -- where he found that two centuries of isolation have desolated the land. The damaged ship found a Europe that is no longer an enemy -- a ruined land that is utterly unable to be an enemy -- or a friend.
 The Lost Continent" (a.k.a. "Beyond Thirty") is very much an alternative history mixed with a post apocalypse premise. The premise behind this alternative history story is that the United States did not get involved in the "Great War" in Europe but instead followed its isolationist tendencies to such an extreme ("The East for the East...The West for the West") that no one from the United States has gone past 30 degrees or 175 degrees latitude for over 160 years, which means no one in America even knows who won the war.
 The novel reads like the HG Wells movie The Shape of Things to Come but this is ERB we're talking here. So of course there's action galore but its an anti war story. Written in 1916, it postulates a world where WW1 never ended. Instead, the combatants kept fighting for decades until they reduced themselves to the level of the stone age. Reflecting the American sentiment for non-involvement, the United States combines with the rest of the Americas to form the United Americas- a fortress of civilization barricaded against any contact with the world beyond the seas
 Wiki had this to say: The novel, set in the year 2137, was heavily influenced by the events of World War I. In the future world depicted in the novel, Europe has descended into barbarism while anisolationist and politically united Western Hemisphere remains sheltered from the destruction. The title Beyond Thirty refers to the 30th meridian west that inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere are forbidden to pass.


USES FOR THE OSR
 

There's lots for an enterprising Dungeon Master to use here. The novel is a quick read & breezes through a ruined Europe that has all sorts of interesting developments. There are 2 possible routes that one can go here. 

The alternative history route ~ Grab your classical history books with plenty of photos let the players be aboard an  aero-submarine of the Pan-American Navy of their own. Let them explore the strange ruins, poke around in the various places of Europe & generally have a great time. Simply use Original D&D, Swords & Wizardry, or Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future & cut out the fantastic elements. 

Option number two use the Lost Continentant as a spring board for your imagination & use Swords & Wizardry, or Labyrinth Lord, & Mutant Future. Here you add in the magical elements & the mutant stuff. The war has forced Europe into a new fantasy age. The world has grown far more Moorcockian & the ages of Law are ending. 

                    There's lots to mine here. The novel features conventional guns, weird technology such as the aero-submarine Coldwater under the command of Captain Jefferson Turck of the Pan-American Navy, & a very strange twisted United States that none of the players will recognize.

 It worked for Star Trek & it can work for you!  The Omega Glory trod this post apocalypse landscape as well.  A summery of the Omega Glory can be found Here

Who knows what strange bio weapons are floating around in the air of Europe or what weird mutants might be lurking there ?
The novel reminded me of Michael Moorcock's HawkMoon without the weird factors that one finds in his books. The post apocalypse Europe is eerie & sort of haunting in a way. A place to visit for adventures but not one to live in at a long term capaign.

 The novel is really a blank Post Apocalypse canvas to do with as you please. There are infact several different places for support of this novel
ERBmania has the novel on line Here
The Ebook Here
A complete Summery Here

The novel is within the public domain & fully within rights to use. Have fun & watch the wild life! 

Memories & Commentary On The Classic Shogun Warriors Toy line & Seventies Marvel Comic Book For Your Old School Campaign

Its been a long while since the Shogun Warriors crossed my desk. But speaking with various friends over the weekend let me to redress some of the elements of the campaign elements of my Lamentations of the Flame Princess Carcosa/Marvel Super Heroes rpg game campaign. 
First a quick bit of background on the Marvel comics Seventies comic book series from the wiki entry;"The Shogun Warriors series (composed of 20 issues) was published from February 1979 to September 1980.^[2] In the comic book series, the Shogun Warriors were created by a mysterious group called the Followers of the Light^[3] and human operators were chosen from all around the world to operate the massive robots in order to battle evil."


Many of the resources for this campaign came straight from the Palaid Stallions website after asking those wonderful folks for permission to use some of their material for this blog. The toyline was incredible! They remain very high on the list of many toy collectors. 
 

In fact its the comic book series that really has the in for using the Shogun Warriors in an old school campaign;"The series took a dramatic turn with Shogun Warriors #16 (May 1980), as the Shogun Warriors' mentors were destroyed by the Primal One and his followers.^[8] This alien force decided that Earth's technology had outpaced its morality, making it their duty to destroy the Shogun Warriors as well as other powerful humans. Declining sales, as well as Moench's commitment to writing the Moon Knight comic book series that had just been started, led Marvel to cancel the Shogun Warriors comic book series" 

And here's where things get really interesting looking back over the Shogun Warriors comic series today it becomes apparent that Earth's Shoguns might not have been the only Warriors in existence. The Shogun Warriors have been hinted at being build on other planets & planes of existence by Followers of Light in their never ending struggle in the Chaos war. Godzilla & Rodan were hinted at existing right along side Red Ronin in the Seventies Marvel universe; "Between February 1979 and July 1979, Marvel had the comic book rights to both Godzilla and the Shogun Warriors. While the characters never crossed paths in their respective comics, Trimpe (who did the artwork for both series) drew a variation of Godzilla and Rodan alongside Daimos, Great Mazinger, Raydeen and Gaiking on the top page of a comic book advertisement soliciting the Shogun Warrior toys.^[5] Mattel simultaneously had a license to produce Shogun Warriors toys (at the time) and a license to produce toys based on Godzilla^[6] and Rodan.^[7] Though never appearing in the comic series, Red Ronin of Marvel's Godzilla, King of the Monsters comic book series was mentioned occasionally and was frequently written about in the letters pages. Shogun Warriors #15 (April 1980) was a fill-in written by Steven Grant with art by Mike Vosburg."

The alignments of Chaos,Law, & Neutrality on Carcosa & Cha'alt for that matter make it very possible for the Chaos War depicted being carried out by the 'Followers of Light' to continue on this Lovecraftian planet. Alien gladiatorial battles with Megabug Gladiators Mecha  are events that I eluded to taking place within this campaign. 

These battles could be taking place for the amusement of the royals of Venger Satanis's Torth who come to this campaign to observe the spectacle of semi religious gladiatorial mecha combat. 

In point of fact a quest for hidden giant mecha could well be the point of a weird old school campaign! Giant Tarrasque guardians protecting  the dungeon temples of the 'Followers of Light' where one or two of these semi sacred mecha are hidden  could be the focus of a campaign. Cha'alt is rife with giant dinosaurs & mutants the perfect fodder for Shogun Warrior battles. 

Artisan Guild Tarasque - Legendary Devourer miniature available here on Etsy. 

• Each 'Shogun Warrior' mecha has several weapon systems for your favorite OSR system. 
• These warrior units are powered by a drive system that enables the mecha to be active & in stasis for thousands or millions of years. 
• Some units can regenerate as trolls 
• Shogun warriors are often equipped with a unique weapon system similar to an artifact or other relic. 
• Many of the suggestions that various friends have proposed is that a version of the City of the Gods might exist on this Carcosa hybrid campaign. 

Dave Arneson (Author), David Richie (Author)'s DA3 setting might be the perfect location for this forbidden technology of the gods to exist. 

World Without End A Post Apocalyptic Time Travel Movie For Your Old School Science Fantasy Games

 For the past 2 weeks I've been looking into a post apocalyptic movies that really doesn't get a lot of air time these days .  World Without End came out in 1955 and had a pretty solid cast to it. We've got time travel, retro future rocket ships, mutants, shiny underground survivors, science councils,etc. All of the fixings for a post apocalyptic buffet. 

 The real plot is very similar to  HG Wells Time Machine. Wiki had this to say: 

"In 1957, Commander Dr. Eldon Galbraithe (Nelson Leigh), engineer Henry Jaffee (Christopher Dark), radioman Herbert Ellis (Rod Taylor) and scientist John Borden (Hugh Marlowe), are returning to Earth from a trip around Mars when their spaceship is somehow accelerated to incredible velocities. They are knocked unconscious, and crash land on a snow-covered mountain. When they venture out, they discover that they have become victims of time dilation and are now in Earth's future. They theorize, from seeing time-worn gravestones and after their ship's instruments register heightened residual radiation, that a devastating atomic war had broken out in 2188, and that they are at least 200 years past that date. (They later learn that the year is 2508.) Jaffe is particularly hard hit, as he realizes that his wife and children have long since died.

After surviving an ambush by giant, mutant spiders, they are attacked by one of two competing remnants of human society. The "mutates" (as the astronauts label them) are violent, one-eyed surface dwellers who live in a primitive hunter-gatherer society. They have mutated due to generations of exposure to radioactivity and have enslaved the normal humans who dwell among them.

Seeking shelter from the mutates in a cave, the four men discover the entrance to an underground city, whose residents are the descendants of those who fled there from the atomic war. These people live in a high-tech, sophisticated culture. They are a peaceful group, led by Timmek (Everett Glass), the president of the ruling council. Underground, the men have grown feeble and nearly sterile, while the women remain physically vital and ready for romance. Elain (Shirley Patterson), admires a shirtless Herbert Ellis, commenting that the astronauts are "more masculine than our men". Deena (Lisa Montell), rescued from the surface as a child, falls in love with Ellis.

The astronauts try to persuade the underground people to arm themselves and return to the surface, but are unsuccessful. They are content with their comfortable existence.

When Timmek's daughter Garnet (Nancy Gates) shows she is attracted to John Borden, Mories (Booth Colman), a member of the council, becomes jealous. He retrieves the astronauts' confiscated weapons, but has to kill a man when he is caught in the act. Mories plants the guns in the astronauts' quarters, then blames the murder on the newcomers. On finding the weapons in their quarters, Timmek orders the astronauts expelled, but Deena testifies that she saw Mories hide the guns. Mories flees to the surface, where he is quickly killed by the mutates.

With Timmek's full cooperation, the astronauts have a bazooka manufactured and head back to the surface. Fleeing the deadly bazooka fire, the mutates take shelter in the caves. Borden offers to fight their chief, Naga (Mickey Simpson), in single combat for leadership of the mutates in order to save the non-mutated surface dwellers from Naga's threatened slaughter. Borden slays Naga and orders the remaining mutates to leave. The astronauts then establish a thriving settlement, including members of both groups." 

Using World Without End For Your Old School Science Fantasy Games 

 World Without End has a all of the trappings of a classic with weird mutants, science councils, etc. The film is actually rather tight and well done for the time. There's lots to mine here. The major cities of the world and their environs are perfect relic hunting grounds.  There's also any number of unseen mutant species and races running around. Plus the usual vault survivors and the science councils who seem to be all knowing and very dangerous themselves. 

 Then there are the ladies! Those show girl like examples of the human female. This has always bothered me, where the hell do those pretty females come from in these movies? For that matter what is up with those damn science council members? Why are they also such scumbags? The answer is actually pretty simple, their all created Eloi.

 The Mutant Future wiki has an excellent example of the Eloi. From The Mutant Future Wiki: The Eloi are a race of meek, delicate humans, who are the descendants of the social elite. Generations of having every and all needs taken care of has resulted in them becoming vary docile and hedonistic. They are also not really smart, nor are they considerate of others. In their isolated, well hidden communities, they live in a perpetual bliss of drug-induced fantasies and sexual orgies. In the wild, they are just helpless animals to more savage creatures, who see them as easy pray. Some industrious creatures (like Morlocks) would provide all their needs -- from food and shelter, to drugs and protection. The only price is that they are nothing more then human livestock. Do to their unearthly beauty, docile nature and willingness to preform any carnal act, they have become highly valued sex-slaves.

 Then we've got the science council here as well. They're a group of Hyper Eloi if there is was one. These folks are also from the Mutant Future Wiki 

Hyper-Eloi are a class of Eloi who have developed a degree of "super conscious." They are considerably more intelligent then normal Eloi, and they consider their own judgement and morality to be superior of all other races, but they are actually quite arrogant, aloof, and self-righteous. They may ignore the plight - the starvation; the brutality; the human-condition - of the outside world, but those that don't, would ether force outside to conform to the methods that allowed is type of Eloi to become Hyper-Eloi, or to exterminate the "animal-like savages" like vermin. In the later, they would rather breed a race of super-soldiers to carry-out the extermination, then to do it themselves."

You can find all you need to know about the Eloi over at the Mutant Future Wik Right Here 

 About those mutates? Simply another variation on the old Morlock template 

Here's a template for using the Morlocks as PCs right over Here 

 Please watch for inter party conflict Morlocks aren't known for  their charisma 

Among the savage species of the Earth of 2508 is the giant mutant spider 

 You can bet your life if there is one mutant species there is a who bunch of others.  World without End makes an excellent end cap for a Mutant Future/ Star Ships and Space Men second edition game.

A Quick Note On Gear

 

The gear of World Without End looks straight out of WWII surplus. Could there be another reason for this?  I've seen at least 8 movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s that had this strange retro vintage look.  Perhaps these are worlds where conflict had already been a way of life. Much of the same gear is seen in the PD movie Rocketship XM. You can read about that one right over Here

Much of the gear is standard in both the Mutant Future game book and the second edition Star Ships and Spacemen book. 

 World Without End's Time Line

 There's something really odd about the timeline of World Without End.  As you've problaby noticed the time line of World  Without End is steeped in Cold War paranoia and fear. This is the same fear that echoed throughout the 50s through the 90s. Yet to me its one that might be glimpsed in HG Wells The Time Machine and the Geogre Pal movie later. Could this actually the world we've seen in movie/book Things To Come another Well's Creation? Could this time peroid be another alternative of  the same timeline? Details of  my thoughts about Things To Come can be found right here

 One interesting bit is that we've got a number of primitive nuclear rocket drives being used by those astronauts in these 50s & 60s movies. I'm reminded of Edgar Rice Burroughs Lost Continent. There were some really odd echoes between ERB and Wells in that one.  Could there be an entire post apocalyptic timeline that PCs might explore? Sure there could and you can see some of my musings on that one right Here 

 A random encounter chart for World Without End might look something like this.

World Without End Encounter Chart 1d10 

1. Tribe of Morlocks and mutants looking for trouble. 1d6 1st level fighters 
2. A group of survivor scientists 2nd level NPC eloi and 1d4 1st level fighter handlers 
3. 2 hit dice dire lions on the prowl for lunch. 
4. 1d4 mutant warriors looking for easy pickings. 30% of an artifact or relic
5. 1d6 hunter gather cavemen looking for food and pickings 
6. A group of 1d4 adventurers armed and on a mission to some ruins. 40% of a time displaced astronaut among them 
7. 1d8 scientist/warriors on hover bikes on patrol and scientific inquiry 
8. A group of Wings Over The World planes flies over. Forty percent chance of the planes 1d6 of them spotting your PC unless you hide. 
9. 1d8 Morlock raiding group looking for and about to go on a raid. 
10. A group of  1d6 psychic mutants looking for the ruins of a lost enclave.
    
     Using World Without End For Old School Games 
    
    
    Option number one uses the World Without End as a spring board for your imagination & use Swords & Wizardry, or Labyrinth Lord, & Mutant Future. Here you add in the magical elements & the mutant stuff. The war has forced the world  into a new fantasy age. The world has grown far more Moorcockian & the ages of Law are ending. 
                       There's lots to mine here. The movie  features conventional guns, weird technology such as the nuclear drive space craft  under the command of  the star ship Captain & a very strange twisted United States that none of the players will recognize.

    
    

    The Mega-dungeons are just waiting to be explored! There are possibly thousands of vaults and numerous  ruins full of weird tech, mutants, factions and God knows what else. 

Mutant Madness - Notes On Mutants

Note that this blog entry came from the annals of 2011. Before the release of Deadpool & Deadpool II. And since then the Marvel Xmen movies are now owned by Disney. The information still applies to an upcoming personal project of mine.

 Mutant Madness

So  X-Men First Class opened over the weekend & others have covered it in their blogs. Needless to say that over the weekend I printed out the Mystery Men Rpg from Here. I've only glanced at it but none the less it looks pretty damn good. The stats look as if I'm going to have no problem with any super hero antics. There will be more about the game later.  My recent experience with mutants comes about because of the Mutant Future game. This Gamma World inheritor is built on the on the labyrith lord core rules. Its been out for quite sometime now & if  you want to take a look then down load it here .Mutant Future. 
There have been countless reviews Review Grognardia 
Instead I want to talk about one of my favorite threads that appeared on the old Mutant Future Forums!
This one! Media Monsters! Make sure you turn down your volume on your computer. Here you will find pretty much everything you need to make your own faux  X men style rpg campaign. From Wolverine's tribe to a nightcrawler want to be. This was all done by one guy! There are far too many supports to list for the game. Note that that one guy was my buddy Chris Van Deleen! Thanks Chris! 
Now I want to mention something about mutants from the old school science fiction stories. Most of what I've found lurking within the internet isn't very much at all for the early science fiction. The Man Of The Year One Million 1893 isn't out there. Only Well's Time Machine is easy to find. Edward Hamilton's The Man Who Evolved 1931 is very similar to the film Altered States  except that one uses cosmic radiation & the other drugs.
Odd John was pretty well covered by the Old School Heretic.You can down load here Odd John  Odd John is the mutation after man born within the confines of a civilized world.
Many of the early science fiction mutants don't belong anywhere! They are doomed to die because they're unbalanced, unnatural, & enviromental monsters! Does this mean that they can't be used  in a game? Heck no, there are plenty of places to use these man monster types. Simply roll your favorite mutations, give him, her, or it a hidden agenda with some evil intention & go from there.

Slan by  A. E. van Vogt is the perfect old school x style mutation before the word mutant came into being. From Wiki: Slans are evolved humans, named after their alleged creator, Samuel Lann. They have the psychic abilities to read minds and are super-intelligent. They possess near limitless stamina, "nerves of steel", and superior strength and speed. When Slans are ill or seriously injured, they go into a healing trance automatically.
There are two kinds of Slans. One has tendrils and can read the minds of ordinary humans and telepathically communicate with other Slans. The tendrils are golden in colour thus making it easy to spot a slan. These Slans are hunted to near extinction. The other type of Slan is tendrilless. They are still super intelligent but do not have psychic capabilities, only the ability to hide their thoughts from the first type of Slan. Kier Gray is the leader of the human society and promises to exterminate the Slans. As the novel begins, Jommy Cross (a telepathic Slan of the first type) is brought with his mother to the capital, Centropolis. They are both discovered, and Jommy's mother is killed. Jommy is only nine years old and manages to escape. Jommy Cross is not only the heir to the brilliant inventions of his father, but he represents the last hope of his race to save it from genocide. Because of the importance of his mission, he is opposed by various enemies. 
Anyhow this book has everything you've come to expect from a "mutant spieces". A rebellion,  Magneto style speeches, etc. All here. Tract this one down. Its a pulpy classic. 
So what does all this have to do with old school space gaming? How can I use mutant humans? Well there are several options. The usual trope of  humans visiting a planet full of mutants comes to mind. There's the lost colony 
bit, post apocalypse planets & alien worlds are certainly an option. There are really unlimited fields here.
Mutant Event Table Roll 1d10 

1. There is a signal coming from a lone space craft. The design hasn't been seen since the 3rd World War. A mutant overlord is aboard! 
2. A ruined space station is encountered aboard are the bodies of several mutant aliens. These are actually home to some mind slugs ala The Puppet Masters 
3. The character's ship is mistaken for combatants in an intergalactic genetic arms race. If the party loses they become a genetic resource for one of the combatants 
4. Genetic Pirates! A band of evolutionary pirates wants the genome of the party for sale on the open market. Their unique genetic codes are very valuable 
5. Cosmic Messiah  Missionaries - Convert or Die. These missionaries are part of a genetically descended race of mutants who want to convert or kill anyone they run across. 
6. The Cure - A band of mutants signals the characters & wants to hire them to help them find a "cure" for their race's sudden wide spread mutation. 
7. You are one of use now. A band of humanoid mutants wants to spread its genetic seed to other races. One of the party is a target  
8. Mutant riders- A signal comes into the character's ship. A group of friendly humanoids wants to trade. The traders are actually a mutant alien life form that needs a new host 
9. A group of mutant children is fleeing from a hostile power, will you help them? 
10. The party is hunted down by a Star Child entity who wishes to evolve them to the next level of their race's ultimate form. 

Air Borne Monstrosities For Your Old School Fantasy & Post Apocalypse Games

Sometimes all it takes is an off handed remark or odd off the cuff bit by a friend to get your brain racing. I wrote about Ancient & Accursed Terra yesterday & what modifying out as well as the importance of tone in a setting. We today I was going over several of the options for my new campaign when a friend brought up how neat it would be to have air ships in this upcoming campaign. He was referring to our storied history with the Champions of Mystara box set way back in Ninety Three from the pens of Bruce Heard & Ann Dupuis. Its an odd beast of a box set but very much beloved by the B/X D&D community.



"Developed from the original DRAGON® Magazine series, Champions of Mystara™ is a major compilation of the Princess Ark adventures, a magical flying ship that explores the World of Mystara. Discover the heroes of this legendary skyship, their deadly foes, and their wondrous ships. Packed with background information and adventure ideas, this set allows DMs and players to run a long-lasting, globe-trotting campaign based on a unique flying ship.

Champions of Mystara goes an extra step and also provides experienced players with new rules on magical flying ship construction, operation, and movement! As a final gift, this set offers a Gazetteer developing the region west of the Known World, from the burning lands of Sind to the mysterious jungles of the Serpent Peninsula. A make-your-own world guide finally helps DMs expand the horizons of their favorite campaign world."

I still have my box set & the rules for creating, maintaining, running sky ships were easily some of our group's favorites in the past. But could these craft of the sky be adapted to other OSR mediums such as post apocalyptic or science fantasy?

So I'm zipping around the Mutant Future Wiki and come across their air ship rules there.

Along with several key air craft rules for Mutant Future . Sometimes ideas just won't let go and Dark Roasted Blend has several pages of retrospective air ship articles just brimming with inspirational art wok, photos, advertises, and more. See I have a soft spot for air ships because my grandmother once upon a time as a teen rode on one. She was very fond of them late into her life.

Then I start seeing all of the familiar pulpy fifties magazine artwork  influences & even earlier Twenties as well as the Thirties stuff. This includes this  Airship Skyport from the November, 1939 issue of Popular Science which would make an excellent adventure location or ruin for any OSR game.

Let me give you the scale of the sorts of engineering we're talking about here according to the article;"US Navy actually built two zeppelin aircraft carriers: USS Macon (info) and USS Akron ZRS-4. You can see them on the archival photos shown below: these tiny dots at the bottom are people!"
This sort of scale is very similar to the level of "Thundarr The Barbarian" war machines that everyone loves. In fact the Arkon was beginning to head that way in its design generation;"

"Akron" could carry four airplanes, "Macon" could carry five, and the further models were designed to carry up to 22 airplanes!... All of this found its culmination, perhaps, in this idea: "The Aerial Landing Field" from Modern Mechanix, October 1934

This is just the sort of technology that we see in Michael Moorcock's steampunk novels;"A Nomad of the Time Streams^[1] is a compilation volume of Michael Moorcock's early steampunk trilogy, begun in 1971 with The Warlord of the Air and continued by its 1974 and 1981 sequels, The Land Leviathan and The Steel Tsar.^[2] The trilogy follows the adventures of Edwardian-era British Army Captain Oswald Bastable in alternate versions of the 20th century." A future version of passenger luxury might be this extreme beast; "screwy-looking dirigible from Modern Mechanix (August, 1930): revolving spiral vanes propel it through the air, while the ENTIRE gas shell revolves around the stationery aluminum framework!"


This might be rich pickings for a group of post apocalyptic or wasteland adventurers indeed it could mean the difference between starving or gaining back several systems that a community could use to begin unraveling the secrets of this type of travel or military applications. That's when the real dangerous stuff comes to the surface especially in one of the weirder war machines that seems like it came straight out of a Thundarr episode. "Frank Tinsley drew this image for the 1957 book "Airships in the Atomic Age", including the interior for the Atomic Airship"  The addition of nuclear or atomic power is something that is going to affect a community or city across the board. The ripples are going to change the entire economy and dynamic of a city state or other post apocalyptic fantasy world.


So what does this have to do with Adventurer,Conqueror, King? Everything because once the atomic genie is out of the bottle then a city state's manufacturing base, market's, everything across the board changes. This makes adding in the atomic option very tricky and I've done it with several post apocalyptic campaigns. There is very little balance in games such as Mutant Future or even Apes Victorious, but a weird mix comes into a game such as B/X style D&D and it raises some very interesting issues. Given the advanced manufacturing  base that the Apes have in Apes Victorious and the Animal kind of DC's Kamandi have this type of weird technology would be right up their alley.

In fact entire quests and campaigns might revolve around the recovery, retro engineering  & manufacturing of such craft. You'd need to have some very solid numbers across the board. And we'll get into those in part two tomorrow. You can find the original article here.


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No copy right nor trade mark infringement is meant to the owners of the artwork,trademark or copy right holders  of the original artwork nor Dark Roasted Blend.
None of the table top role playing writers,game systems  nor companies mentioned in this article are in anyway responsible for the content of this article. This article is for entertainment & educational purposes only. The ideas are my own and the content of the opinions are expressly the writer's.