Hawkmoon Comes Calling - The Ruins of Pitzburke For Gamma World Second Edition Session Report

 Two weeks ago I was DMing a friend's second edition Gamma World game & we were playing in the ruins of Pitzburke! My preferred poison for this rpg is the vaulted second edition of Gamma World with the Larry Elmore artwork. There's something very primorial about the savagery and super science of Gamma World second edition. We went over the ruins of Pitzburke back here on the blog.

A random encounter came up in our game and that's when the PC's came across a recovery team from the  foul Granbretan empire! That's right the party ran across a group of animal masked warriors from  Hawkmoon’s Tragic Millennium Europe. There were a group of Mantis masked scientist priests & a group of boar warriors guarding them.  

The party was a mix of mutants and AD&D first edition characters about seven players total. They decided that the digression is the better part of valour after getting a look at the boar warriors sporting some sort of long spear like weapons topped with odd looking crystals on them. The boar warriors were engaged with slaves who were lifting some sort of odd relic out of a hole in the street that appeared to lead into a tunnel.

The boars had the remains of an automaton that they were hauling out of the hole with a winch and pulley system. Each of the boar masked warriors was a 3rd level fighter and there were six of them total while there were three Mantis warriors. Two were 4th level cleric leader and the third is a scientist armed with a Gamma World style laser pistol. There are three boar warriors armed with laser lances guarding the site. 

The party is hiding and seeing what's happening. I simply pulled Hawkmoon elements from an old dragon  magazine  add for the 198o's Stormbringer rpg Hawkmoon boxset. I also came across a fantastic article on the Hawkmoon  set on Wayne's Books site here. 

Commentary On The Ruins of Pitzburke For Gamma World Second Edition and Your Old School Campaigns - Updated

 Let's talk Gamma World & Gamma Terra for a moment. Gamma World can take ordinary Dungeons & Dragons characters into a world of primitive saverage & sorcery. And my preferred poison for this rpg is the vaulted second edition of Gamma World with the Larry Elmore artwork. And while Mutant Future & Mutant Crawl Classics both have excellent emulations of the classic game. So last night I spent  on Gamma Terra thanks to a friend of mine out West with a Guinness and I've got some thoughts on these venerable tomes of post apocalyptic adventure. 

I did a bit of horse trading with a friend out West for some tables and campaign help for a bit of Gamma World stuff he wasn't using. What I got surprised me was the fact that I got a first and second edition Gamma World rule book and the Ruins of Pitzburke


The Ruins of Pitzburke is one of the most iconic and dangerous places you can send a group of PC's in Gamma World. This place is a mix of  ruins, death lands, mutants, madness, robotic horror, and more meant that your little party of adventures could be swallowed up by the ruins without even a second thought.



And if you think that your Mutant Future PC's would fair any better in Pitzburke, I took a party of Mutant Future rpg players through the ruins and the whole affair was a total party kill. The ruins were designed to keep the Gamma World game campaign going for a long time to come. I've taken Boot Hill PC's and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st edition parties through those ruins and the though the results varied there were some interesting adventure campaigns.


What makes this such an iconic adventure is the fact that the Ruins of Pitzburke essentially teaches the dungeon master both the fine art of stocking the ruins, NPC encounters, NPC factions, and Cryptic Alliances. Not to mention the numerous natural and radiation hazards of the Pitzburke setting. But still this was for me an essential setting for post apocalyptic campaigning almost as much as Keep on the Borderlands and In Search of the Unknown is for B/X Dungeons and Dragons. In the past I've run this adventure and placed the whole thing in a valley on Carcosa just to mess with player's minds. They weren't amused by that turn of events especially when they realized just what this meant for their community in the long run. But that's another blog post.
There are several pieces of free gaming goodness that have made running the ruins easier and can spice things up for an experienced group of players:

• One is Kellri's 100 Gamma World Events available down the right hand side of his blog under downloads 
• The second is a break down of the various editions of Gamma World and conversion to Mutant Future available on the Mutant Future Wiki 
• A nice version of the Pitzburke map so if you already own this map it makes things very nice for a tablet or lap top. 
• This topic on Dragon's foot has some damn righteous 1/2 Edition Gamma World ideas and material 

I might also suggest downloading Mutant Future unless you've got collector's cash because Gamma World is going for one hundred and fifty dollars on Flea bay. Catch you all in the ruins until next time.

1d20 Under Lovecraftian Skies Random Adventure Plot Generator Encounter Table For The Alpha Blue Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns

 Sex, lust, and the dark between the stars ring with the comings and goings of space adventurers but sometimes the contrails from a space ship's engines bring with it far more then what is expected above a planet's sky.  It brings the opportunity for exploitation,horror, and worse against the dark of space.

"a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space and others

Encounters with the horrid and dangerous entities that exist beyond the pale of our reality are often the only markers to run ins with extra dimensional entities. Adventurer's souls, existences, flesh, blood, and individuality in space time are often the very morsels that these things seek to feed on.
The dark depths of space are lonely and very dangerous a places indeed where mankind are mere strangers to much older places. There  far more ancient species have already trodden and made their mark on the stage of interstellar space. In every space dive and weird disco bar there are hybrid species who were once slaves or servants to things so alien that their mere appearance can drive a being mad. But under the glaring hot disco lights of interstellar dance clubs there are millions of deals, pieces of esoteric gossip, and snippets of adventure all centered around the remains of empires crumbled to dust over billions ago across many realities.

There are thousands of credits and blue bucks that are made each and every night under alien skies whist things older then universes wait under stars of the damned for fools to find them. Sex, lust, and flesh ripping terror do indeed make strange bed fellows.

1d30 Under Lovecraftian Skies Random Adventure Plot Generator Encounter Table

  artwork by Dominique Signoret

1.   A space craft of incredibly ancient design streaks across the sky inside is an alien princess whose appearance will spark lust and interest any male or female adventurers who find her. But its her space craft which is the real treasure because it contains a highly advanced hyperdrive system worth millions. She will paralysis and lay her eggs within any PC she can after which they will hatch and consume the soul of the host along with their flesh to interact with interstellar society. 
2. A jewel encrusted prince from the outer territories comes in to do trading and find a pleasure palace aboard Alpha Blue. He's actually an Outer God larva whose taken on the flesh of this alien prince. He's very dangerous and unpredictable going about spreading mayhem and terror. He has 1d4 alien artifacts worth a small fortune.
3.  An ancient elder god who was worshiped by an alien civilization has turned to dust long ago has turned into a demon and is now treading the flesh dens of the cosmos feeding upon the souls of those it sleeps with. It leaves a few alien coins of cursed aspect behind it and sometimes a flesh eating fetus for those who displease it. 
4. A space construction worker has become infected with Abyss imps and they've now taken over his body and are joy riding around in his missing construction space craft. They are dangerous and very psychotic; they will kill anyone they come across in amusing ways. 
5.  Mi Go cluster of soldiers is trying to gather 1d10 brains for a psychic bomb and to take a few choice specimens back to their alien hives beyond the pale. 
6.  Space fairy infected with a demonic essence is looking for other to seduce to pass along her mistress into others. She is very dangerous and will cut off bits and pieces of those who cross her. 
7. A telepathic dream thief is going across alien space in a very strange space craft. He is from the Dreamlands and is taking the 'dreaming' pieces of souls to return to his dark masters in the realms of dreams. 
8. A space hooker from Alpha Blue has become infected with a colour out of space and there is a bounty on her. However she has stolen a high performance space craft moving among interstellar worlds scouting for her young who are following on her spiked heels. 
9. An Elder Thing near humanoid construct is pursuing an alien agenda of his long dead masters against the Great Race of Yith. He will kill anyone he comes across and has 1d4 alien artifacts. 
10. A Star Vampire egg clutch has hatched on a ship and now the crew are under the domain of one of these horrors beyond the pale of space. The vampire pursues a very dangerous agenda against an alien overlord aboard Alpha Blue. 
11. A space essence belonging to a long dead horror stalks the stars and now seeks out his ancient dead masters whist consuming the souls of these lesser things around it. It is a dangerous, sad, and pathetic creature consumed by old horrid appetites especially the flesh and souls of this young universe. 
12. A weirdly designed organic craft has aboard valuable cargo worth thousands of blue bucks but a space vampire queen has a clutch of hundreds of eggs aboard as well ready to hatch bringing a cycle of death and rebirth upon the galaxy. 
13. A Great Race construct has appeared in the system its mission unknown but there is valuable cargo aboard it. 
14. A telepathic alien has been possessed by a Lovecraftian demon under the stars of the dead. The thing is seeking the soul of a shape shifting hooker aboard Alpha Blue for an unknown agenda. 
15. There is  sex starved alien entity who  is looking for its god who has been pursuing an alien dreamer aboard Alpha Blue. The alien is looking to restart his people deep in the Dreamlands. 
16. A cat from Saturn is looking to consume the souls of eight people in order to placate its ancient god thing master. This is merely the pet entity of something much more horrid and dangerous. 
17. A Shaggoth disguised as a space hooker, adventurer, and bounty hunter is on the trail of one of the PC's whom it must eat. 
18. A control rod of the spawn of Cthulhu has come into possession of a space adventurer whom it has driven mad. The fool is even now trying to awaken one of the spawn circling a nearby star. He wants several thousand credits for the rod but in actuality he will sacrifice the buyer and his party too the thing. 
19. A moon beast slaver party is offering 'used' slaves through an interstellar  front management company as well as looking for investors for expansion into local markets. They are sacrificing and enslaving the competition for use in alien experimentation 
20.  An Outer God frozen in time and space has drifted into the local system. Bits and pieces of alien technology has caused a massive gold rush effect with local adventurers who have no idea of the dangerous situation that they find themselves in.

Sunday Science Fantasy Free Download - Castle Frankenstien Issues 19,20,21

When my uncle's family in upstate New York babysat me as a kid, I'd get a chance to look into my adopted uncle's collection of Castle of Frankenstein magazines. These were a portal to old school sword & fantasy films ages before the easy access to Beta Max or VHS.

So I came across a particular issue of  Castle of Frankenstein that I've been looking for sometime last night. Castle of Frankenstein was a monster kid's dream, sure Famous Monsters of Filmland gets all of the top billing today. But Castle of Frankenstein had some very awesome cover artwork but it was hard to find growing up.

There were reasons for this;"

Castle of Frankenstein was an American horror, science fiction and fantasy film magazine, published between 1962^[1] and 1975 by Calvin Thomas Beck's Gothic Castle Publishing Company, distributed by Kable News. Larry Ivie - who also was cover artist for several early issues - and Ken Beale edited the first three issues. Writer-artist Bhob Stewart edited the magazine from 1963 into the early 1970s. Although promoted and sold as a "monster magazine," readers were aware that Castle of Frankenstein, at the time, was the only nationally distributed magazine devoted to a legitimate and serious coverage of B movies. In addition to its central focus on classic and current horror films, Castle of Frankenstein also devoted pages to amateur filmmakers and fanzines. Its advertising pages sold full-length silent feature films such as The Lost World and The Golem.

Following employment as an editor for publisher Joe Weider, Calvin Beck (1929–1989) entered the monster magazine arena in 1959 with his one-shot Journal of Frankenstein, which had only a small circulation. As an experiment, Beck printed part of the run on slick paper. After a hiatus and a title change, Beck returned with the debut issue of Castle of Frankenstein in 1962.

Beck claimed that since his magazine carried no outside advertising, a standardized schedule was unneeded. Issues were published whenever they were completed, leading to an erratic, irregular schedule. Distribution also varied; while many well-stocked periodical outlets did not carry the magazine, some less-likely outlets (such as grocery stores) did."

So issues number Nineteen, Twenty, & the infamous issue Twenty One of Castle of Frankenstein featured amazing covers by Maelo Cintron. Whose horror covers have graced comicbooks & horror magazines for decades such as Skywald as well as many others. Thanks to Monster Brains you can some fantastic scans of the wonderful covers of these vintage rarities.


So after many years of not having access to these treasures of the Seventies I finally came across these three treasured issues which contain a running interview with the master of  stop motion Ray Harryhausen. The wrap around covers are worth the price of admission but this interview covers many of his early film endeavors. Plus with the added bonus of these fantastic wrap around covers for old school adventure  inspiration.


You Can Grab  Castle of Frankenstein 019 Right From HERE

This issue has lots of key behind the scenes photos from on set stuff & more. Its some great stuff for a trip down memory lane and nostalgia alley. Plus there's a ton of good material for stimulating the imagination.
From there jump into issue #20 which continues the movie magic right here

The final issue of  Castle of Frankenstein 021 covers Sinbad and more of the Seventies leanings of Mr. Harryhausen plus a whole lot more monster movie magic!

The Free OSR Fanzine 'Back To The Dungeon' For The Labyrinth Lord Retroclone System & Your Old School Campaigns .

Its Sunday at about eleven o'clock, I've picked up the wife to be from the bus stop two town or so away. Barely made it back home but that's another story for another blog entry. Uriah Heep is playing through the speakers & the other half's U.K. twang is picking my memories of my adopted uncle. He did a ton of weed to the Heep's Demons & Wizards album from 1972. Never in front of me mind you but I heard the stories of what we call today mega dungeons. So this Sunday morning I went looking for a free one & came across Raven's Keep for the Labyrinth Lord retroclone system. It looks like the full adventure location or a huge chunk of the megadungeon appeared in issues of Back To The Dungeon. This dungeon looks like it ran its course from late 2013 through 2014. Its evolved into a completely different retroclone system now which is the way of things. However the entire run of five issues for the Labyrinth Lord is available for free!

Back to the Dungeon #1

by Eldrad

 This is the issue that your going to want right out of the gate because it sets up the adventure locations, the dungeons, the monsters, encounters etc. Because its a Labyrinth Lord production it makes it perfect fodder for an Adventurer, Conqueror, King adventure location or for a beginning  B/X Dungeons & Dragons adventurer party location. Raven's Keep is a small city of eight thousand out in the middle of no where. So you've got everything you need as a DM to keep an old school campaign going for months. 


The entire run of five issues is up there on the Internet Archive and there's the better part of a year or more's old school D&D style action. Everything is laid out and its ready to play. The maps in this fanzine are serviceable and look pretty easy to work with. What's really nice about this material is how easily adaptable it looks to any number of old school retroclone systems and not just Labyrinth Lord. Because you've got temples, shops, urban locations, magus universities, etc. Raven's Keep is perfect to add into an outlying era of Hyperborea for Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea. This means that you as a dungeon master can weave this city & its dungeon locations right in the  Mainland Hyperborea and Nearby Islands Map by (Ben Ball) from the AS&SH resource page on their   website here. 

Raven's Keep and its environs would be perfect up the line from Kimmeria or along the Kimmerian Steppe. A number of adjustments on the history, races, etc. would be necessary to keep it in line with the swords & sorcery motif of AS&SH. All in all I think that Raven's Keep & the Back To The Dungeon fanzine adventure locations are great resources to add to an OSR campaign as a starting base for a party of beginning level or mid tier PC's in a retroclone system.


You Can Download The Entire Run Of 'Back To The Dungeon' HERE

Review & Commentary On Nuclear Sunset:The Southwest & Pacific Northwest (Mutant Future) From Vigilance Press For Your Old School Campaigns

During the endless parade of titles there are several that seem to always get lost in the shuffle. Nuclear Sunset is one such OSR setting title and its a damn shame. This is one of the better post apocalyptic settings for Mutant Future and I happen to know the author on social media. Basically Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest  is the region around the panhandle of Vegas and beyond with a post apocalyptic Western feel. This is a weird western setting with a modern twist. Sure all of the familiar Westerns sites are there but things have changed a bit. Its a mix between Mad Max & Fallout New Vegas with a twist of Hollywood Westerns burned over a campfire stove of weirdness.


Grab Nuclear Sunset
The Southwest Here
Nuclear Sunset: The Southwest gives the DM a whole bunch of weirdness to play with from factions such as  The Marshalls  who are the law bringers of the wastelands and on the wane to their nemesis Hell's Heart a biker gang on steroids. Add into the mix The Cartel who are wasteland corporate types we've seen a million Eighties and Nineties VHS post apocalyptic films and you can slot in the 88th the former remains of a military platoon and base. Then there's a boat load of ruins and locations that can be dropped into your campaigns. All of this for two dollars and it can easily be used with your favorite OSR game because the whole affair is stat free so you can adapt it as you like. This setting came out in 2011 & its a great example of what can be done with a post apocalyptic region adventure setting. Right so now flash forward to 2016 and we get  Nuclear Sunset: Pacific Northwest along with a  ton more content. Thanks to one of my background patrons I was able to legally get a copy and take a quick look at four A.M. this morning.



 Grab Nuclear Sunset
The Pacific Northwest Here

The Pacific Northwest supplement presents a very different region for a post apocalyptic campaign with similar conceits but vastly different factions and adventure goals. Its a mix of rural woodland adventure mixed in with mutant frogs,tons of factions, and a setting that is as deadly as it is weird. Pacific Northwest adds expanded territories, brand new adventure locations, a ton of factions, and a boat load of new adventure opportunities for post apocalyptic adventurers for Mutant Future or any OSR rpg system including Labyrinth Lord and other retroclone systems. 

Weird factions such as the Samurai Legion, the the Silicon Syndicate, and even more create an established order and setting dynamic within the bounds of the regions here your party are strangers in an even stranger mutated land. Basically adventure and NPC elements are already in play regardless of the PC's presence. This surrounds some very rich ruins and death lands adventure wasteland locations. This is going to keep the pace of adventures moving and keep the players on their toes.
Another aspect of this product is that there are lots & lots of mutant monsters with adventure hooks peppered throughout. This is a campaign setting with an  over time campaign expansion element worked in meaning that adventurers over the long campaign haul can make a real difference for long term play. This also gives the Nuclear Sunset setting an extra in on the wasteland domain level of play something that other OSR products might want to get in on.  This means that there are real campaign gains and benefits for PC's and this gives players a real time stake in play within the setting.  Is it worth it? The books are very well done and generic enough to fit into and slip into the back door of most post apocalpytic old school campaigns.


  Grab Legacy of Ruin Here

Still need more setting and information the Nuclear Sunset setting? Vigilance Press put out a novel set within the same setting called Legacy Of Ruin. The plot is like something out of a Nineties late night movie;"Naomi Oliviera lives in a world shaped by the cruelty of the past. Radiation-warped creatures haunt the sun-blasted wastes that once sheltered the promise of a better tomorrow. She lives day to day by scavenging technology from the ruins of the world that was, until her brother is kidnapped and she finds herself thrust into events much larger than her own personal survival. Naomi must challenge her own limitations and discover how far she is able to go for the one person she's willing to die for.

From an arena of death to a city of murderous machines, Naomi's adventure takes her across the Pacific Northwest on a tour of the post-apocalyptic nightmare. She won't be alone on her trek, but trust is a hard currency to come by in this place and she will spend it sparingly. Through the maze of shifting loyalties and conflicting motives she discovers her foe is no ordinary kidnapper.

For someone has awakened with knowledge born before the great war, a man with a legacy that could reshape the world. His quest could unleash death the likes of which haven't been seen since the bombs fell, since the world was transformed into a living hell. His mission is not simply to awaken an ancient technology.

He seeks to reclaim a legacy of ruin."

1d20 Under Lovecraftian Skies Random Adventure Plot Generator Encounter Table For The Alpha Blue Rpg System & Your Old School Campaigns

Sex, lust, and the dark between the stars ring with the comings and goings of space adventurers but sometimes the contrails from a space ship's engines bring with it far more then what is expected above a planet's sky.  It brings the opportunity for exploitation,horror, and worse against the dark of space.

"a frightful messenger from unformed realms of infinity beyond all Nature as we know it; from realms whose mere existence stuns the brain and numbs us with the black extra-cosmic gulfs it throws open before our frenzied eyes.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Colour Out of Space and others

Encounters with the horrid and dangerous entities that exist beyond the pale of our reality are often the only markers to run ins with extra dimensional entities. Adventurer's souls, existences, flesh, blood, and individuality in space time are often the very morsels that these things seek to feed on.
The dark depths of space are lonely and very dangerous a places indeed where mankind are mere strangers to much older places. There  far more ancient species have already trodden and made their mark on the stage of interstellar space. In every space dive and weird disco bar there are hybrid species who were once slaves or servants to things so alien that their mere appearance can drive a being mad. But under the glaring hot disco lights of interstellar dance clubs there are millions of deals, pieces of esoteric gossip, and snippets of adventure all centered around the remains of empires crumbled to dust over billions ago across many realities.

There are thousands of credits and blue bucks that are made each and every night under alien skies whist things older then universes wait under stars of the damned for fools to find them. Sex, lust, and flesh ripping terror do indeed make strange bed fellows.

1d30 Under Lovecraftian Skies Random Adventure Plot Generator Encounter Table

  artwork by Dominique Signoret

1.   A space craft of incredibly ancient design streaks across the sky inside is an alien princess whose appearance will spark lust and interest any male or female adventurers who find her. But its her space craft which is the real treasure because it contains a highly advanced hyperdrive system worth millions. She will paralysis and lay her eggs within any PC she can after which they will hatch and consume the soul of the host along with their flesh to interact with interstellar society. 
2. A jewel encrusted prince from the outer territories comes in to do trading and find a pleasure palace aboard Alpha Blue. He's actually an Outer God larva whose taken on the flesh of this alien prince. He's very dangerous and unpredictable going about spreading mayhem and terror. He has 1d4 alien artifacts worth a small fortune.
3.  An ancient elder god who was worshiped by an alien civilization has turned to dust long ago has turned into a demon and is now treading the flesh dens of the cosmos feeding upon the souls of those it sleeps with. It leaves a few alien coins of cursed aspect behind it and sometimes a flesh eating fetus for those who displease it. 
4. A space construction worker has become infected with Abyss imps and they've now taken over his body and are joy riding around in his missing construction space craft. They are dangerous and very psychotic; they will kill anyone they come across in amusing ways. 
5.  Mi Go cluster of soldiers is trying to gather 1d10 brains for a psychic bomb and to take a few choice specimens back to their alien hives beyond the pale. 
6.  Space fairy infected with a demonic essence is looking for other to seduce to pass along her mistress into others. She is very dangerous and will cut off bits and pieces of those who cross her. 
7. A telepathic dream thief is going across alien space in a very strange space craft. He is from the Dreamlands and is taking the 'dreaming' pieces of souls to return to his dark masters in the realms of dreams. 
8. A space hooker from Alpha Blue has become infected with a colour out of space and there is a bounty on her. However she has stolen a high performance space craft moving among interstellar worlds scouting for her young who are following on her spiked heels. 
9. An Elder Thing near humanoid construct is pursuing an alien agenda of his long dead masters against the Great Race of Yith. He will kill anyone he comes across and has 1d4 alien artifacts. 
10. A Star Vampire egg clutch has hatched on a ship and now the crew are under the domain of one of these horrors beyond the pale of space. The vampire pursues a very dangerous agenda against an alien overlord aboard Alpha Blue. 
11. A space essence belonging to a long dead horror stalks the stars and now seeks out his ancient dead masters whist consuming the souls of these lesser things around it. It is a dangerous, sad, and pathetic creature consumed by old horrid appetites especially the flesh and souls of this young universe. 
12. A weirdly designed organic craft has aboard valuable cargo worth thousands of blue bucks but a space vampire queen has a clutch of hundreds of eggs aboard as well ready to hatch bringing a cycle of death and rebirth upon the galaxy. 
13. A Great Race construct has appeared in the system its mission unknown but there is valuable cargo aboard it. 
14. A telepathic alien has been possessed by a Lovecraftian demon under the stars of the dead. The thing is seeking the soul of a shape shifting hooker aboard Alpha Blue for an unknown agenda. 
15. There is  sex starved alien entity who  is looking for its god who has been pursuing an alien dreamer aboard Alpha Blue. The alien is looking to restart his people deep in the Dreamlands. 
16. A cat from Saturn is looking to consume the souls of eight people in order to placate its ancient god thing master. This is merely the pet entity of something much more horrid and dangerous. 
17. A Shaggoth disguised as a space hooker, adventurer, and bounty hunter is on the trail of one of the PC's whom it must eat. 
18. A control rod of the spawn of Cthulhu has come into possession of a space adventurer whom it has driven mad. The fool is even now trying to awaken one of the spawn circling a nearby star. He wants several thousand credits for the rod but in actuality he will sacrifice the buyer and his party too the thing. 
19. A moon beast slaver party is offering 'used' slaves through an interstellar  front management company as well as looking for investors for expansion into local markets. They are sacrificing and enslaving the competition for use in alien experimentation 
20.  An Outer God frozen in time and space has drifted into the local system. Bits and pieces of alien technology has caused a massive gold rush effect with local adventurers who have no idea of the dangerous situation that they find themselves in.

These encounters are geared towards the Universal Exports kickstarter because I want to get a jump up on the interstellar Alpha Blue action.
It also happens be my take on the setting information that I've read on the Kickstarter page.