The Highway men Episode 7 - Actual Play - Legacy of The Krell

"In the final decade of the 21st century, men and women in rocket ships landed on the moon. By 2200 AD they had reached the other planets of our solar system. Almost at once there followed the discovery of hyperdrive though which the speed of light was first attained and later greatly surpassed. And so at last mankind began the conquest and colonization of deep space."

Forbidden Planet 1956 

 
The PC have taken on a contract to retrieve the data cores from a Ptolemy class star ship that is wrecked in orbit around a colony world. What they don't know is that the ship was the nest for a set of operatives that is investigating ancient Krell signal that has been triggered.

Dr. Morbius: In times long past, this planet was the home of a mighty, noble race of beings who called themselves the Krell. Ethically and technologically they were a million years ahead of humankind, for in unlocking the meaning of nature they had conquered even their baser selves, and when in the course of eons they had abolished sickness and insanity, crime and all injustice, they turned, still in high benevolence, upwards towards space. Then, having reached the heights, this all-but-divine race disappeared in a single night, and nothing was preserved above ground.

This wonderful little world is a circa late 60s early 70s technological world that was established sometime after the great Atomic Wars back on Earth. This world has (had) a thriving mutant & human population. The operatives teleported down & accidently activated a Krell Nanite Bio weapon! The weapon wiped out half of the population & a gravity  pulse took out the ship in orbit. 

This all came about because a group of Space Rangers months ago were dispatched to investigate some ruins found in a construction site. They found something that triggered a cover up & a possible mass genocide. Absolutely nothing of the original United Planets expedition has been heard from since.  Allard Technologies was financing the space ranger expedition! You can get more background right  The PCs are heading into very deep waters tonight! For more background on tonight's game go over to Here

In case your wondering who the United Planets is? Well take a look at this trailer from 1956! For further secrets & wheels within wheels go over to a good friend's page Here


 

Revisiting Star Trek 2009 & The Tie in with the Classic Fiend Folio

Last Night I got the chance to go over to a friend's house & rewatch the redo of Star Trek from 2009. This is without a friend who is near & dear to me but loathes the new alternative time line of the movie. I'm doing this for two reasons. First is that I'm getting ideas for Stars Without Numbers, Terminal Space, & Second Edition Star Ships & Spacemen.

Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: I may throw up on ya. 

James T. Kirk: I think these things are pretty safe. 
Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. And wait'll you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence. 
James T. Kirk: Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space. 
Leonard 'Bones' McCoy: Yeah. Well, I got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.
 Star Trek 2009 Bones & Kirk 



The following are off the top my head observations from notes I quickly wrote while drinking copious amounts of beer.

1. The Star Ship designs are nice & are far closer to my imagination's view of how a Stars Without Number ship looks. I love the industrial look of the Kelvin & 
2. The shuttle's multi-functional role  is very cool. A bit of hardware & these things are cleverly made to be for a wide variety of things
3. Love the hover bikes & lithium crystal powered vehicles 
4. I love the look of the Star fleet vehicles much more industrial which is a plus..  
5. The look of the weapons is very interesting. Beam projectors & torpedoes.. Love Sulu's space sword.

The Fiend Folio is always been my go to book on really weird monsters. Their not as well known & are more in the UK school of monster design making them perfect for a Trek style adventure. The Encounter tables work very well for alien worlds as well. 

These well be found in any alien ruin or temple. The threat of things like this is great for taking down experienced SWN players. They won't be expecting some of the great old school monsters that are just waiting for players.

The monsters & entities could easily ported into the alternative Trek line without any problem. There are now so many trek timelines that a DM could easily hand wave away any complaints & really make a Star Trek universe of their own. These are my opinions & your mileage may vary.

I want to get my hands on the second edition of Star Ships & Spacemen. Like now!  Until then I'm working on converting over some of the lesser known Trek ship classes & modifying them for Stars Without Numbers & using some of the options for ships  from Terminal Space. This  was inspired by the recent entry on the Classic AD&D Monster Manual. Here

 Coming up for Stars Without Numbers