1d20 Random Encounters With Minor Lovecraftian Monsters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are encounters that both dangerous and highly unexpected in the wilds and wilderness, things that are best left forgotten at the edge of civilization. These survivors of other ages and eons can be extremely dangerous. Often times psychic madness and insanity clings to these types of monsters, horrors, and mutated madmen. There is a 30 % chance of some lingering insanity and psychic aura of madness that cleaves in the wake of such creatures and mutated survivors that might infect PC's. Often times these horrors are drawn to PC's because of their strong life force or vital energies, the places that these things come from often leaves such creatures starving after the souls of others. They will often want to devour and feed from those that they encounter.


“I'll tell you something of the forbidden horrors she led me into - something of the age-old horrors that even now are festering in out-of-the-way corners with a few monstrous priests to keep them alive. Some people know things about the universe that nobody ought to know, and can do things that nobody ought to be able to do.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep 

There is a 20% chance that any items or relics recovered from such mutants or madmen might have some strange or exotic disease that these beings has picked up in its travels. The madness and disease is often only one of the myriad of problems that plague those who have truck and encounters with the based of evils.

1d20 Random Encounters With Minor Lovecraftian Monsters Table

1. A priest of the Deep Ones accompanied by a raiding party of 2nd level Deep One Fighters out for sacrificial victims to take back to their lair. 1d20 gold coins on them for a bribe to the temple for certain stock of humans. 
2. What looks like a zombie is actually a newly resurrected 6th level wizard looking to feed on some new victims. 
3. A hound of Tindalos who is after a time jumper and is interested in slaying anyone who gets in his way. 
4. A pack of 1d6 ghoul warriors looking for a victim for treasure and to store the victim a safe hollow spot some 1d4 miles away. 
5. A minor flesh puddling has been created after a horrid dimensional gate accident it has many of the qualities of a black pudding with an extra paralyzing touch attack. 
6. A newly resurrected witch who along with with her 1d8 coven mates is looking for a new set of victims as she's getting bored with her usual fare. 
7. A dimensional shambler is on the hunt for new victims and looking to carry off a poor fool. 
8. An ancient lich is looking for the site of his beloved's tomb, but his accompanied by 1d10 Lovecraftian cultists armed with short swords and shields. He seeks victims to to appease her spirit. 
9. A minor group of 1d6 cultists being who have been mutated by their exposure to weird radiations. They seek a victim with the second sight to appease their ancient god thing. 
10. A pack of ghouls out for a good time and to gain admittance  to their late uncle's treasure and relic stash. They seek victims to feed to their Lovecraftian guardian demon thing. 
11. A lone Great Race of Yith scientist is looking for specimens for his twisted race's time vault to be open 29,000 years. 
12. A red footed horror from the dream lands has broken through into our reality and is incredibly dangerous. It seeks out victims to web into a light snack on the return voyage home. 
13. A trapped zombie priest who is looking to create a gate back to his time and place. He will drag anyone he can off with him, he counts as a 4th level wizard. 
14. This dangerous bounty hunter has been resurrected from the essential salts and still is only now recovering most of his scents. 
15. A blob of protoplasmic star jetsam that counts as a black pudding wishes to discuss the current status of your souls. There are 1d4 minor relics scattered through out the body of the creature from its past victims
16. A very lost Gug warrior who is looking for the portal home and is armed with two war clubs and a very nice shield. 
17. A wizard of the 5th level is looking for a route back to his Earth and is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. 
18. An ancient priest of Cthulhu is looking to spread his madness among victims and is visiting each and every dream to hunt the souls of his victims. 
19. A dangerous bio mechanical crystal life form is looking for souls to  fuel its ascent back into space. It is looking for some of the mental powers of adventurers and is drawn toward the incredible energies of the mind's of its victims. It has a wand of weird properties. 
20. A pack of 1d1o  the hounds of Tindalos seeks out a black wizard who has time jumped. They will swallow the soul of anyone who gets into their way and one of their number can shape shift into temporary human form to seek out their quarry. They are intelligent and vary ruthless. 

 

Review Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars By Venger Satanis For The Alpha Blue Rpg System

So this might be Venger Satanis's last run down the old space brothel ways of the Alpha Blue rpg according to the intro into Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars.
I'm really sorry to see this development. The OSR needs more independent designers. But what is   Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars?
"Three sleazy scenarios for the Alpha Blue RPG. Plus, a huge, color map of the Ta'andor Galaxy with die-drop event/encounter tables."
This book  clocks in at seventy six pages of rules, four sleazy scenarios, a fantastic
color map of the Ta'andor Galaxy by Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Design.



All of the sleazy adventures center around the space brothel Alpha Blue with lots & lots of random tables from cosmic orgasms to full blown encounters. This is not a game supplement to take seriously at all, the level of humor is that of perv R rated space sex comedies from  back in the Eighties. The sort of Up All Night space romp movies that used to be on late night cable & this book plugs right into that.
The text, layout, etc is all up to the usual  Kort'thalis Publishing standards. The artwork is good for the product & portrays the sleazy vibe that Venger is going for. If your not into the type of space opera comedy that Venger does then this book isn't for you.



Could Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars be used for other OSR space opera style games? In a word yes if the players don't take their role playing seriously. The scenarios are clever & sophomoric in their content but the adventure ideas have some great potential for a space based campaign. There's some great rules & ideas if your an Alpha Blue dungeon master.






Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars plays out as it should a sleazy & well written groupings of rules & adventures for the Alpha Blue rpg system. The  Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars 
book is solidly done for the Alpha Blue rpg system & it would take quite a bit of shoe horning to get it to work with other OSR systems. Is Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars well done? Yes but is it for everyone? No unless their looking for the sort of space sleaze that  Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars is offering. 
Battle Star Trilogy: Trek Wars Is Available Right Here

1d20 Random Encounters With Minor Lovecraftian Monsters Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are encounters that both dangerous and highly unexpected in the wilds and wilderness, things that are best left forgotten at the edge of civilization. These survivors of other ages and eons can be extremely dangerous. Often times psychic madness and insanity clings to these types of monsters, horrors, and mutated madmen. There is a 30 % chance of some lingering insanity and psychic aura of madness that cleaves in the wake of such creatures and mutated survivors that might infect PC's. Often times these horrors are drawn to PC's because of their strong life force or vital energies, the places that these things come from often leaves such creatures starving after the souls of others. They will often want to devour and feed from those that they encounter.


“I'll tell you something of the forbidden horrors she led me into - something of the age-old horrors that even now are festering in out-of-the-way corners with a few monstrous priests to keep them alive. Some people know things about the universe that nobody ought to know, and can do things that nobody ought to be able to do.”
― H.P. Lovecraft, The Thing on the Doorstep

There is a 20% chance that any items or relics recovered from such mutants or madmen might have some strange or exotic disease that these beings has picked up in its travels. The madness and disease is often only one of the myriad of problems that plague those who have truck and encounters with the based of evils.

1d20 Random Encounters With Minor Lovecraftian Monsters Table

1. A priest of the Deep Ones accompanied by a raiding party of 2nd level Deep One Fighters out for sacrificial victims to take back to their lair. 1d20 gold coins on them for a bribe to the temple for certain stock of humans. 
2. What looks like a zombie is actually a newly resurrected 6th level wizard looking to feed on some new victims. 
3. A hound of Tindalos who is after a time jumper and is interested in slaying anyone who gets in his way. 
4. A pack of 1d6 ghoul warriors looking for a victim for treasure and to store the victim a safe hollow spot some 1d4 miles away. 
5. A minor flesh puddling has been created after a horrid dimensional gate accident it has many of the qualities of a black pudding with an extra paralyzing touch attack. 
6. A newly resurrected witch who along with with her 1d8 coven mates is looking for a new set of victims as she's getting bored with her usual fare. 
7. A dimensioal shambler is on the hunt for new victims and looking to carry off a poor fool. 
8. An ancient lich is looking for the site of his beloved's tomb, but his accompanied by 1d10 Lovecraftian cultists armed with short swords and shields. He seeks victims to to appease her spirit. 
9. A minor group of 1d6 cultists being who have been mutated by their exposure to weird radiations. They seek a victim with the second sight to appease their ancient god thing. 
10. A pack of ghouls out for a good time and to gain admittance  to their late uncle's treasure and relic stash. They seek victims to feed to their Lovecraftian guardian demon thing. 
11. A lone Great Race of Yith scientist is looking for specimens for his twisted race's time vault to be open 29,000 years. 
12. A red footed horror from the dream lands has broken through into our reality and is incredibly dangerous. It seeks out victims to web into a light snack on the return voyage home. 
13. A trapped zombie priest who is looking to create a gate back to his time and place. He will drag anyone he can off with him, he counts as a 4th level wizard. 
14. This dangerous bounty hunter has been resurrected from the essential salts and still is only now recovering most of his scents. 
15. A blob of protoplasmic star jetsam that counts as a black pudding wishes to discuss the current status of your souls. There are 1d4 minor relics scattered through out the body of the creature from its past victims
16. A very lost Gug warrior who is looking for the portal home and is armed with two war clubs and a very nice shield. 
17. A wizard of the 5th level is looking for a route back to his Earth and is willing to kill anyone who gets in his way. 
18. An ancient priest of Cthulhu is looking to spread his madness among victims and is visiting each and every dream to hunt the souls of his victims. 
19. A dangerous bio mechanical crystal life form is looking for souls to  fuel its ascent back into space. It is looking for some of the mental powers of adventurers and is drawn toward the incredible energies of the mind's of its victims. It has a wand of weird properties. 
20. A pack of 1d1o  the hounds of Tindalos seeks out a black wizard who has time jumped. They will swallow the soul of anyone who gets into their way and one of their number can shape shift into temporary human form to seek out their quarry. They are intelligent and vary ruthless. 

 

1d20 Random Encounters With Cosmic Contamination & Debris Table For Your Old School Campaigns

There are some hazards that adventurers can't fight against or win, things that fall from the sky and infect the land with roiling horror and degeneration that runs deeper then any horror. There is a 60% chance that when these things happen that PC's might become infected themselves with the cosmic debris of an uncaring universe. There is also a 40% chance that the chaotic quasi dimensional affecting horror will not let the dead even rest quietly and 1d20 zombies or worse undead will heed the cosmic siren call of such visitors. Only expensive super science or magical treatments might heal such wounds but the damage goes much deeper into the victims of these events.

“It was just a colour out 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

There is a 20% chance of any treasure or other artifacts taken from such areas of being infected with the damning radiations and strange magicks that accompany such weird cosmic visitors from beyond. Ancient and expensive magics might be able to take away the horrid taint that comes with these relics or perhaps not. The madness merely spreads.

1d20 Random Encounters With
Cosmic Contamination & Debris  Table

1. A fragment of cosmic debris from the body of Outer thing has fallen and reeks with the power cosmic from its former host. All within 40 feet of this thing must save vs death or gain 1d6 mutations. This might be cured with strong magicks. Wizards of course will want this fragment of idiotic god hood and pay 5000 or more gold pieces for it. 
2. The head of a cosmic god now crystallized has fallen into the landscape and is infecting everything with poisoned alien thoughts and dreams as it has dies and has for thousands of years. There are 1d6 goblinoid things that hatch from the ground around it every 1d4 days. 
3. From the outer planes has come a spray of incredibly weird prismatic colour infecting everything with a weird other worldly vitality. Add +3 to constitition and strength but in 1d6 days your body will burn itself out as you die spasming and writhing in pain as you explode for 1d8 points of damage unless you get expensive healing.  
4. Weird radiations have seeped in from a meteor that has fallen changing everyone's flesh to an odd blue and that's it but it has lowered their intelligence by -3 points and their now prone to violence and abnormal fights with all those around them. 
5. A decaying alien eye ball from a god thing has fallen releasing the spirits of 1d6 alien ghostly souls onto the landscape. They are now turning the locals into wraiths and giving birth to new nation of weird ghostly warriors who stalk the land insearch of souls.. Those who come in contact must save vs death or want to join them. 
6. A piece of cosmic debris has infected the landscape and now there are giant alien crystals stealing and collecting the souls of those around them. They are dangerous and very deadly. They're agenda and reasons are unknown. 
7. A sword from the hand of a cosmic giant has fallen, the violence and weird radiations are turning everything with a four mile radius into a murderous monster of alien and strange aspects. Should the artifact be removed then the mutations and effects will remain for years to come. 
8. A cosmic coffin from beyond the stars has fallen bring with it, the body of its alien occupant who has turned into an alien drug of incredibly potent aspect. There is a 2 mile drug induced haze surrounding those caught in it with a horrid mutating and rotting disease but they don't mind even as they fall apart. 
9. Weird hallucinogenic crystals have fallen releasing cosmic illusions that create mind shattering visas of reality for those who gaze into their surfaces. They are worth 700 gold pieces to certain mad cults and wizards but those who are exposed must make a save vs death or have their skin infected with the same other worldly qualities. 
10. 1d6 cosmic demonic hunters are after a meteor that has fallen and is now creating incredible fertility within those around a seven mile radius. The hunters consume the souls of those they encounter to find their quarry but it has taken on the aspect of a local pastor and come to be loved by those under his care. 
11. A strange cloud has come from the sky and increased the mutations with the local populations within a two mile radius. This strange god like life form is the memory of an ancient god thing that has died off and now is remaking the locals into his worshipers old images. The cloud leaves scriptures and odd messages of salvation on panes of glass and metal. Those enter this area have a 40% chance of being infected with the strange radiations. 
12. A piece of cosmic debris has become a parasitic lifeform and is infecting as well as mutating the locals in an effort to feed upon their souls. The thing will depart in 1d6 days after eating everything it can. Thing must be stopped. 
13. A cosmic shape shifter has moved into the area to consume the forms and flesh of the locals for its own purposes but it is actually merely a herd animal for a larger cosmic shepherd  who is coming to cull it from the local scenery in 1d6 days. The must be stopped and banished or the area will be destroyed in a rain of fire. 
14. A strange organ from some ancient demon from the Outer Darkness has fallen and is now creating 1d10 imps that are dragging off the souls and bodies of those they can into the great beyond for unknown infernal purposes. They must be stopped or the angels will come to destroy this place. 
15. A piece of alien god projectile vomit is giving birth to 1d6 alien things of 3 hit dice and 9 armor class that are trying to become animals but are consuming things to learn but it isn't working. They will cause untold destruction around them. 
16. The mating of two gods has created a horrid fluid which is causing the plants and animals it comes in contact to give birth to alien humanoid things that murder anyone they come in contact with in wild abandon glee. They use any weapons or tools they can.
17. An alien virus has fallen and is trying to take on the role of the gods but has only succeeded in angering the local demons and devils who will go to war with these invaders. The community is caught in the middle, alien radiations are seeping in from Outside as well.
18. A tendril from some giant alien god has fallen and now 1d8 warrior thralls have been given birth to by its presence. Those caught within a twenty foot radius from them must save vs death or begin to praise their idiotic dark master. The dead have risen to worship it.
19. 1d10 cosmic dead have come from the sky and the local dead are joining with them to praise a strange and ancient necrotic dark master from the sky. They're cult is growing and they shall leave for the stars in 1d6 days but not before feeding on the flesh of any locals they can to power their cosmic journey.
20. A colour from outer space has come to tend its young ones and take the souls of those around it to feed them. The alien radiations dance in the morning's light and within six days the whole place will consume itself unless you can stop it.
    
    

1d20 Random High Yield & Profit Lovecraftian Space Cargoes For Your Old School Space Opera Campaigns

In the depths of space there are still ancient and unholy traces of  the horrors that once stalked the stars and universe, these traces are worth a fortune to right buyers,wizards, cults and worse. Would your adventurers deal with such unscrupulous partners and buyers?

And it was then that Nyarlathotep came out of Egypt. Who he was, none could tell, but he was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh. The fellahin knelt when they saw him, yet could not say why. He said he had risen up out of the blackness of twenty-seven centuries, and that he had heard messages from places not on this planet. Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister, always buying strange instruments of glass and metal and combining them into instruments yet stranger. He spoke much of the sciences—of electricity and psychology—and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare. Never before had the screams of nightmare been such a public problem; now the wise men almost wished they could forbid sleep in the small hours, that the shrieks of cities might less horribly disturb the pale, pitying moon as it glimmered on green waters gliding under bridges, and old steeples crumbling against a sickly sky.
Nyarlathotep
By H. P. Lovecraft

High Profit Yield Lovecraftian Space Cargoes 1d20 Random Table 

1. Mi Go Brain Cylinder Of Several Mad Space Emperors. 300 credits each
2. Great Race Of Yith Time Portal Equipment 40,000 credits 
3. Shaggoth proto matter 2000 credits per vial 
4. The  Black Milk of Shub Niggurth contained with warded scared vessels. 600 credits per portion 
5. Deep One Spawned One Slaves 3 hit points each. 4,000 credits for an unhatched egg clutch 
6. Summoning Machine for a Dimensional Shambler includes plans 4000 credits 
7. The Live Head of A Necromancer From Beyond The Pale 5000 credits to the right buyer 
8. A sealed Warrior Of Yig 4 hit points 6000 credits  
9. A Voomis Egg Clutch 300 eggs unhatched 370 credits for the lot 
10. Time Locked Shaggoth Material In Crystal Matrix - Can Be Used As WMD 5000 credits 
11. 1d6 Ghoul Warriors 3rd level in Cyrotubes waiting to be released upon unsuspecting targets 60000 credits each to the right buyer. 
12. Mi Go mining bug contraption with the brain of a mad prospector and engineer melded together. The bio mechanical thing has a full load of power crystals and minerals. 
13. 1d4 Serpent Men scientists in suspension from a cult clutch,  waiting for reviving. Worth about 30,000 credits if the crew is alive when these bastards wake up. 
14. Dimensional shambler summoning device and protection  system 30000 credits taken from a long forgotten alien ruin. 
15. Alien cultist mummy actually a lich of the 16th level of wizard who was converted into lichdom. Rich collectors will pay over 70000 credits for a specimen. There is a cult seeking this priest 
16. 1d3 Spawn clutch of Shub Niggurth which is held within a time capsule belonging to the Great Race worth about 80,000 credits as a weapon of mass destruction. 
17. Deep One Shaggoth Material and control rods kept within a time slice cubic gate material 
18. 1d6 Night Gaunt eggs worth 50,000  credits each to the right wizard or magus. There are already night gaunt warriors after these and they will murder anyone in their way. 
19. A jeweled control amulet for a minor spawn of Cthulhu worth an easy 58,000 credits to the right collector but the agents from the Church of Starry Wisdom are looking for these items and will kill anyone who gets in their way. 
20. Shining Multi Faceted Crystal Works of  This system of devices summons the Outer God to End The World. Worth about 80,000 credits to the right cult or wizard

Please note that all of the above items carry a strange eldritch taint which will do 1d3 points of damage to the person handling them over 1d6 days. Each day a point will be done to the owner unless they are aware & follow with successive save versus poison each day. Sell the item as soon as possible to avoid this mythos taint

White Star Rpg Campaign Idea - Rebellion Without A Clue- An Old School Campaign Idea

  Imagine that a rebellion akin to the Star Wars Rebel Alliance is utterly, utterly, wrong and midway through a campaign that your PC heroes must make the ultimate choice. Ally with the Interstellar empire or face extinction from a deadly external threat in your space opera setting.  Nothing I'm about to talk about is original and this idea came up in my news feed this morning from Epic Stream. You can read about it right over HERE . Everything in this blog post is a 'what if situation' for your White Star rpg campaign. This is in no way original but its a fun thought exercise none the less.

Grab It Right
HERE

  I've been meaning to revisit the White Star Game System which actually changed it's OGL license stance.And is now allowing third party publishers to get in on the White Star Rpg action with a license. Contact Barrel Rider Games if interested right over HERE  or the games wonderful author HERE .
Now that I've got that out of the way, what if the Star Wars movie Rebellion was an utter farce. The following idea could be applied to your old school  space opera and at a mid point the PC rebels have a choice. A very hard and dangerous choice to make because if their forces are successful they're actually serving the 'darkness' by letting crippling the 'empire''s super death weapons. These were never meant for the various PC's and allied forces but to be used against the monstrous and utterly dangerous invaders from outside. There are more then a few alien forces and races with both White Star & Swords & Wizardry that can fit the bill nicely. If you happen to follow the Star Wars Expanded universe formula then it might actually be the PC's forces that are going to help fill out and hold the 'empire''s war machine against those invaders. Perhaps its actually the fact that the rebel's weapons are more quick, agile, and better designed for the type of guerrilla warfare that is needed against the rampaging hordes of alien invaders. There are always interesting and varied examples of this sort of a campaign from real world history. With a bit of thought and some foresight this campaign could go on for months and years when the 'Big Reveal' is made. Throwing all of the forces to the wind and the 'big choice' has to be  made. Further with an Eighties vibe in play the DM could do an almost A team style game with the rebels suddenly needing the veteran forces and expertise of the PC's. 

  Perhaps all of that dungeon crawling, space salvage, moments of space opera high adventure actually foreshadows the coming of the 'big bad's forces. Ruins, bases, dungeons in space, and more could signal the coming of these weird forces from outside enabling the PC's to have vital information and with some luck the DM can plant clues to the 'empire''s  actual intentions. Sure their putting down that pesky rebellion but are their greater forces at work from both within and without. History is rife with just this sort of back stabbing, double dealing, and more. In fact real world mythology contains hundreds of examples of just this sort of thing. Keeping in mind that the pulpy free wheeling adventure vibe has to be in play in order to make things far more light and not as dark as it might seem. There's lots of potential here to continue the series by introducing new elements as the campaign series continues such as alien fleets fleeing the coming of the invaders, scouts and spies ( doppelgangers from D&D make excellent alien spies btw). And much more to fill in the ranks as needed by the DM. So there's plenty of mileage on the tires of this one folks as it goes. As with all things this was an idea that has been brewing in the back of my fore brain for the past month or so. But as with all things this one has to find its own way into the background of your DM's and player's wants and needs. Your mileage may vary as with all things. 

More Cosmic Tales From Metal Earth

You can read it
HERE
Michael "Aos" Gibbons has been busting his hump creating some very entertaining and really cool old school images. Cosmic Tales is a combination of old school pulptastic comic style with weird sci fi tales drawn through a filter of Jack Kirby material twisted around Gibbon's own warped imagination. The comic draws heavily on is science fantasy and old school roots that the author/artist loves.
You can see this already in his Metal Earth blog but Cosmic Tales turns this appreciation and influence up to a solid 'eleven' and then some.
Yet this is his own setting, world, and work done with a sense of style and boldness.

Michael packs a hell of a lot per panel making it a joy to go back and pick out all of the details and high weirdness he packs into the background of the comic.His new character design hint at more interesting things to come! 

100 Customer Types for Spaceport Bars From Fishwife Games For Your Old School Space Based & Science Fantasy Campaigns

Grab It Right
HERE

We're taking a look at a great little product from Fish Wife Games Today. 100 Customer Types for Spaceport Bars is a nicely little list of space bar patrons, nasties, and scum suitible for any little space port dive, space station watering hole, or any Exo planet water tap where adventurers can get themselves into the deep end of a bar fight, interlude encounter or general point of mayhem.

According to the Rpgnow blurb: 

100 Customer Types for Spaceport Bars

What sort of characters lurk about in that crowded, noisy spaceport bar? Roll the percentile dice and find out!

Sample rolls from the list:

01- Agritech farmer

25- Drug addict

50- Media personality

75- Science officer

99- Xeno-slaver

Author: Dave Woodrum

100 Customer Types for Spaceport Bars sets out to do one thing and ends up being three products in one. This is another download from Fish Wife Games and again the quality is spot on here. Dave Woodrum provides a varied and interesting list of patrons for that wretch hive of scum and villainy in your local space port or Outer Rim space station. This list can also be used as a quick D100 encounter table as well to really spice games up. The other use for this little list is as a jump point for a group of NPC's right in the middle of an adventure. A few tosses of the dice and wham you've got everything you need to keep your PC's busy for a game dealing with some scum in the center of a bar.

This list is short, sweet, concise, and doesn't spend a ton of time dealing out details. Here the descriptions are brief and varied. The DM can add this list to his or her favorite space opera or science fictional game there's no rule hang ups to get in the way of really going to town with this list. Everything here is geared to get the PC's into interaction with minimum fuss. This is going to happen for under a dollar and this list can be dropped into a game mid stream of an adventure and no one is going to notice at all. The players can deal with the NPC's as they see fit and the same list will give a dozen results per toss to really allow the DM a rapid fire round robin of encounters. This allows an adventure to seem almost like an old school detective novel where the encounters give the skeleton of an urban interstellar Noir back drop adventure. As quick as you please this same formula can whip the PC's into the middle of a planetary tavern with steamy alien political intrigue is the order of the day. The key here is the DM['s imagination and his or her willingness to commit the time and imagination to the backgrounds of those listed here. A clever and well done product which a DM can get a hell of a lot of utility out of for the price of less then a hamburger. Highly  recommended.

Using 100 Customer Types For A Spaceport Bar
For Your Old School Campaigns

While there are a myriad of uses for this product the fact is that because this is a niche product, there's a few other things that can be done with this one.
For example I've used this list to populate a very quick drop into an interstellar bar by some fantasy adventurers traveling across dimensional lines. The way to work this one is to have it not be detected by the players until their adventurers are right in the middle of the encounter. Then its really a matter of placing them in the deep end of the pond. Because the descriptions are some what vague and a bit loose. There's plenty of wiggle room for design and execution of the NPC's. This same list could easily be used in a post apocalyptic wasteland with little to no modification and that's one of the beauties of lists such as this. The flexibility of the utility of the product and how you place it during play.
Use it somewhat sparingly because as soon as players catch on with this one. Give it a rest, the secret to using these sorts of random lists as D100 encounter tables is the variety of the encounters and spacing the bravo of the encounters. All in all I like this one as you might have guessed. This is a perfect coupling with a product like Spungo's Space Bar also from Fish Wife that I took a look at a couple of days ago.  Right over HERE

Space Stops: Spungo's Bar From Fishwife Games For Your Old School Space Opera Campaign

Grab It Right
HERE

Spungo's Bar is just the place to pick up a contract or let your adventurers unwind in their favorite space opera. Fish Wife games has done an excellent job of creating the sort of vile space bar, grill , and establishment that can deal out all kinds of adventure links, NPC contacts, and encounters to get your PC's into the seedy and dangerous underside of the galactic culture and society. This is a place that passes among the loathsome and jetsam of the universe. Dave Woodrum does an excellent job of creating the sort of establishment that you'll need a shower after visiting and that's a good thing. 

Spungo's is just the type of place that might appear in a cheesy late night sci fi cult movie from the 70's thru 90's on VHS or cable. That being said this is a place with plenty of room for DYI game mastering and tinkering in the background. At three dollars this is really an establishment that's a steal. Nicely written and easily thrown into any number of old school science fiction games. Going into Spungo's is going to have many PC's wanting to rethink their lives after one or two patron's use some old school mind tricks on them. That being said the product is well rounded and balanced for encounters. There's room here for expansion or for clear cutting DM customization. But there's enough meat on the bones of the product to flesh out NPC's, background of the location and more adventure location ideas as you see fit. Spungo's Bar is going to making appearances in my games coming up. With Guardians of the Galaxy making its Blu ray appearance last week I thought it was time once again to take a look at a place where Flash or Buck might be passed out in a corner. Just the type of place where the PC's might get themselves in deep trouble.
So I began to think again about one of my all time favorite VHS movies. Space Truckers an old 90's cult film that really isn't that well known outside of certain late night video rental places  and sci fi cult movie sites.
Spungo's is in the same vein as Space Truckers. Don't let that fool you, Spungo's is a smart and quite well done product. 

Clocking in at about fifteen pages,Spungo's has a very well developed sense of itself. The NPC's, patrons,etc. all have a bit of background and motives already in their descriptions. But everything is system agnostic so its going to easily fit into any of your old school gaming systems.
 On the whole the map that comes with it lines up quite nicely with the product's various areas and facilities. The map could be printed out and even used as a player hand out during play. Its not going to give away a thing about bar and its environs.
The bar should be place right off of the main star ship lines in a  campaign close enough to be accessible to PC's but far enough away to escape Imperial or Space Empire observation. A space lane where the patrons and  bar owners can carry out their nefarious schemes. A sector where wretch hives of scum and vile villainy can flourish.
All in all I think that Spungo's is a nice addition to the Fish Wife product line of supplements and its going to a real space dive location for the PC's in my various space based games can appear. 

Five Unsung Classic Television Shows As Inspiration For Your Stars Without Numbers Campaign Or Your Old School Space Opera Campaigns

Space Island One 1998 

This was a hard one to track down, its a wary look at the for profit corporate exploit of science and some pretty weird and interesting science fiction in space aboard an international space station.

According To Wiki : 

Space Island One (or Raumstation Unity in German) is a British/German science fiction television series that ran for 26 episodes beginning in 1998. A co-production between the UK's Sky One channel and the German Vox channel, it starred Judy Loe as Kathryn McTiernan, the commander of the multinational crew of the space station Unity. Described as “a mix of Moonbase 3 and Jupiter Moon, but more turgid than either,^[1] other sources describe it as

"The best science fiction show you've never heard of… The show unflinchingly looks at the implications of for-profit science… and provides the most realistic look ever at life in space, including bone-mass loss. A few episodes are dull, but the show is often surprisingly weird and fun… It also features some of the most complex, believable characters of any television show".^[2]

Apart from the show's creator, Andrew MacLear, other script-writers for the show included well known TV writer P. J. Hammond, acclaimed science fiction novelist Stephen Baxter and young adult writer Andrew Lane.

There are some solid ideas here for incorporating into an Xplorers campaign setting or a Stars Without Number style space station.
There's a few twists and turns that might make things very interesting for a group of PC's not used to dealing with some high end science problems. A relatively unknown show and when last I checked there wasn't a Blu ray available. 

Star Cops 1987

Way back in 1990 something a British friend of mine turned me on to this show when I was working in a back alley video store in Boston. The show was interesting, and the cases pretty engaging but here the bit that I loved about the show : 

Operating in a relatively accurately realised hard SF, near-future, space environment, many of the cases that the Star Cops investigate arise from opportunities for new crimes presented by the technologically advanced future society the series depicts and from the hostile frontier nature of the environment that the Star Cops live in.

Star Cops is set in the year 2027—some 40 years into the future at time of broadcast—a time in which space travel has become common and mankind is in the process of exploiting and colonizing the Solar System. There are five permanently manned space stations orbiting the Earth and there are bases on the Moon and Mars. Approximately 3,000 people are living and working in space. 

Most of the above came from wiki. 

 Set early in the development of outward bound colonizing efforts, I've used this show for several small one shot Alien and Alien style backwater one shot adventures with X plorers and Stars Without Number. It worked out quite well. 

Don't feel like getting spanked by Star Trek fans every time you want to set up a quick game set in the Star Trek universe? There are so many back drop continuum problems now it shouldn't be a problem but I used the Animated series which ran from 1973 to 1974 for all of the quick pick up games I've run. 

Another classic series that gets not a mention is one of my all time favorites, Space Above and Beyond.
According to Wiki : 

Set in the years 2063–2064, the show focuses on the "Wildcards", members of the United States Marine Corps Space Aviator Cavalry, 58th Squadron. They are stationed on the space carrier USS Saratoga, and act as infantry and pilots of SA-43 Endo/Exo-Atmospheric Attack Jet ("Hammerhead") fighters.

There is enough material here to run at least three to six campaign's worth of material. The series is mostly forgotten but had a Robert Heinlein Star Ship Trooper vibe to it. And there was plenty of weirdness, modified humans, worm hole hijinks and more. Wiki has a nice break down HERE

Man I miss this show and its mostly been forgotten but it would make a very nice early campaign setting. Lots of action and corporate betrayal and more. 

I also think that with a bit of work this setting could work very strongly with X plorers or Stars Without Number 

Star Rangers 1993

From 1993 comes a show that I used for Star Frontiers and later as an add in to my Stars Without Numbers campaign : 

In the year 2104 the Earth colony Fort Hope on the distant planet Avalon struggles to survive. A small force of police/marines called the "Space Rangers Corps" are the first, last and only line of defense for the colonists against crime and the perils of interstellar exploration. The series concentrates on Captain John Boon and his team of Rangers aboard Ranger Slingship #377.

You can find more information about the series on wiki HERE 

 However I confess to using the comic book that it was based on as more of the background. The comicbook was written by Mark Ellis and had a much deeper background as well as more alien races so its pretty easy to see where the scattering of adventures went for this game. We eased away from the show and moved into the world of the comicbook. 

The comic is much more dynamic and interesting a background, so I simply shoved New Hope into the background. Here's why.. 

Set in the 25th century, the series revolved around the crew of the Sabre, the last ship in the Frontier Battalion of the once-fearsome Star Rangers Corps. In both Star Rangers and its companion series Death Hawk, the era is a dystopia of solar system-spanning corporations that held the true power behind the centralized government of the Sol 9 Commonwealth. By the time of the series, the Star Rangers Corps has been reorganized into a token peacekeeping force while the corporations maintain their own security divisions, such as the Sol 9 Shogunate's Tigers of Heaven. As such, all Star Rangers ships and weaponry are outdated, making it difficult for Sabre crew to perform its duties. The ship patrols Sectors Four through Nine of the Orion Spur.
The above is from wiki of course but because of this setting's deep connection to my Stars Without Number campaign, I'm going to have to revisit it soon. The Space Rangers comic is set within the same world as the The Spur - Loki's Rock which is an excellent book by Mark Ellis available HERE

Dungeon masters frequently borrow, steal, modify, create their own fan fiction campaign settings and then ply them with players. I've done it countless times and once in awhile continue to throw elements from these sorts of campaigns into my games.Just seems like its an old school thing to do and I find myself slipping in these sorts of references and story elements to entertain my players. Your mileage may vary but its fun to play around with this sort of material for games.