Swords, Sorcery, And OSR Fan Based Stars Wars - Your Way With Two Free Downloads - Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol 3: The Rebel Forces & Vol. 2: The Imperial Forces

So I hear a ton about doing your own OSR  Star Wars games, well there are a boatload  of options out there in the OSR for running an old school games set in an alternative version of the SW universe. Everything from the styling Galactic Adventures retroclone adventures can still be downloaded right over HERE for really easy OD&D Imperial or Jedi action. To using your favorite retro clone system and adding in either Jedi or Imperial forces. There are two free downloads that I've used in the past which in the privacy of your own home are perfect resources to get the Force flowing. Starlog Magazine produced two very nice overviews for both Rebel Forces and Empires in the form of the Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol 3: The Rebel Forces & Vol. 2: The Imperial Forces. These were nicely produced  and very well done slick magazine products back in the 90's and were perfect for presenting some very cool, quick one night adventures.

Grab It Right Over
HERE

For the forces of vile villainy in the Star Wars universe there of course is the Imperial forces book which covers all of the classic 1970's and 80's era Empire's war machine.

You can easily pit your heroes against the forces of the Empire in some far off corner of the SW expanded universe of your own design and easily avoid the whole issue of  'Star Wars trivia glut'. A tactic which I've used whist running Star Wars D6 West End rpg systems back in the far off parsecs of yesteryear.

Grab It Right Over

HERE

My advice when running any adventures in the Star Wars universe is to make the PC's the main focus and to set it outside the film franchises themselves enabling the PC's to really shine.There are so many holes, plot points etc. That PC's could easily have a campaign lasting years and only scratch the surface.

So what does this mean for those who wish to use these books for the White Star rpg system? Well its quite simple your going to need the Swords and Wizardry rpg to round out some of the creatures, forces, and ideas that are presented in this series of reference books for running an old school Star Wars based campaign set. Lots of the material presented here might be considered dated and somewhat out of Star Wars context but there's plenty under the hood to make this well worth your while. Much of the material here can be used, taken, and used as resources for many of the ideas for fannon Star Wars rather then straight out of the box based adventures. The fact that White Star hearkens back to the Marvel Star Wars comics in my mind is a plus. The White Star system seems to thrive on house ruling and planetary romance adventures. Any of the ideas here are going to to be for a desperate group of adventurers against a boat load of really nasty forces here. 

So this blog post is for entertainment purposes only by a fanatical Star Wars guy and is for entertainment purposes only. This is not an attempt to violate the copyright and trademarks of the Star Wars franchise or the White Star rpg system. Neither of these properties is cut from whole cloth but would work very well together to emulate the type of OD&D style games that we dreamed about playing in grade school back in the Seventies. 

Free Old School Science Fiction Download - Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol.1,2,3, For Your Old School Sci fi Campaigns

  I'm always quietly poking around the reference grounds of the internet and came across a very interesting little find for the Star Wars fans. Back in the 1990's West End Games D6 Star Wars Rpg was as hot as it gets in Rpg circles and the game still has a loyal fan base. Starlog did a set of 'official reference' books for the Star Wars films. There was  Starlog Presents: The Official The Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 1: The Planet Tatooine which came in very handy for the West End games campaigns. Not only did they have variations on 'official' materials but this enabled DM's to vary the content of their campaigns. Especially if they didn't have the extra twelve to twenty dollars for the West End material. 

Now these technical manuals have come up for free download at the Internet Archive. Perfect material for the OSR DYI Star Wars OD&D campaigns. First up is the  Starlog Presents: The Official The Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 1: The Planet Tatooine 

Available Right Over 

HERE 

Go to the right hand side and click Image Container PDF  for this one or do a direct download. 

Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol 3: The Rebel Forces

Available Right Over
HERE

Go to the right hand side and click to do a direct download.
This is one contains most of the Rebels equipment from the movies including star systems and lots of little details that come in handy for constructing adventures. 

Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal, Vol. 2: The Imperial Forces

This Journal contains most of the common Imperial screen seen forces. This isn't a bad little reference point for DM's to really get into the Star War's original movie Empire forces. This is a good download for doing skirmish style adventure encounters.

The Download options are on the right hand side of the screen and there a number of options for it. 

Available Right Over 

HERE 

This is a nice piece of Imperial reference for a low impact,low scale Stars Wars Empire campaign. 

Using The Starlog Presents: The Official Star Wars Technical Journal Vol.1,2,3, For Your Old School Sci fi Campaigns  

Using the Starlog technical journals are perfect for doing a Marvel comic book Star Wars old school one shot. All of the common movie references are right in these. And since the majority of Star Wars fans out there are usually pretty fanatical, this means that reference books like these are perfect to throw in some variations for old school campaigns. 

For doing Star Wars, OD&D is a perfect vehicle and there's a vary nice OD&D forum with some solid opinions and ideas right over HERE for doing just this sort of game. In fact the Sword +1 blog has a very nice entry with some nice OD&D style science fantasy adventure resources right over HERE. Are these free technical manuals from Star Log worth the download? In my humble opinion, they make a nice free option for reference and an interesting variation to add into an old school Star Wars campaign. 

Star Wars and all of its copyright as well as trade marks belong to their respective holders.This blog entry is for entertainment and educational purposes. No violation of said copyright and trademarks is inferred or meant. This is simply a Star Wars fan post. 

Free Classic Sci Fi Download - Star Log Issue # 38 For Your Old School Sci Fi Campaigns

Star Log magazine has always had a classic run of old school science fiction goodness but the September 1980 issue is a really interesting slice into the sci fi consciouness at the time. Its a really neat look into some solidly time twisting goodness of the scene back then and a real walk down memory lane. 

Grab It Right
HERE
This really was a critical time in science fiction from the Communication section which advertises the first indications of a new television show about interstellar science called Cosmos to a brand new cartoon called Thundarr The Barbarian that will be appearing on Saturday mornings. Quick section on the Tom Baker era Doctor Who Companion K-9 to a jump over to Log Entries. This section charts everything from the major break ups at Marvel to hand crafted bits of Middle Earth collectibles.
The top story is the special release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Rumblings covers the Empire Strikes Out, an interesting look into some of the goings on with Empire at this time. 

For me one of the articles that really stands out is the De Forrest Kelly interview, A Candid Conversation With A Country Doctor. Sweet mother of God, this is a real walk down memory lane. Kelly is open,honest, and very interesting about Star Trek and his role in it the whole experience of it.
And here's one of the real gems for the Space 1999 rpg DM, the Space 1999 Writer's Guide Part I. This is a nice and candid look into the process of dealing with the show and how it ticks. Essential stuff for someone wanting to run an adventure.
Scared To Death is a look into the world of practical special effects with Bill Malone and Bob Short. Well worth a read into the 1980 walk through of two of the craft's practitioners. Fascinating look into the behind the camera bits and pieces.
And then we start kicking it into high gear for the Buck Rogers In The Twenty Fifth Century DM, with an interview with Tim O'Connor himself. Some great stuff right in there.
Then we get into a Buck Rogers Episode Guide which is really handy and one of the only sources of television episodes way back in the dark days of sci fi before anything like the internet. But its great for dealing with turning episodes into old school sci fi adventures . 
There's a quick preview of the cult classic Galaxina and it still is a weirdo of a film even after all of these years.
We get into Part II of a Behind The Scenes section on the Buck Rogers television show episode Flight Of The War Witch. Some good bits and pieces to use in there for designing out some old school sci fi goodness. 
Great George Pal retrospective as well in this issue and some solid stuff concerning him and his career. Personally I think he got the shaft more then a few times throughout his career but its an interesting read through.
And a really interesting preview of a then up coming now classic Ray Harryhausen film 'Clash of The Titans'.
And rounding out this issue is a really cool article on Disney's new Matte painter, illustrator and artist David Mattingly. I swear there wasn't a piece of this man's artwork I didn't see someplace in 1980's sci fi.
There's a really nice selection of it in this issue and I remember seeing it before playing Gamma World 1st edition.


There's a nice article on the sci fi convention scene, a nice read through on sc fi movie scores and more . All in all this isn't a bad issue of Star Log but it really defines the changing guard of the sci fi scene back in 1980. 

Free Sci Fi Download Star Log Issue #32 For Your Old School Science Fiction Campaigns.

Grab It Right
HERE

Star Log Magazine was one of the 1980's power houses of science fiction back in the 80's and to many science fiction fans it was the only source of the back scenes of the workings of everything from conventions to fantasy & science fiction films.
The back story of Star Log according to Wiki :
The magazine was created by publishers Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs. O'Quinn was the magazine's editor while Jacobs ran the business side of things, dealing with typesetters, engravers and printers. They got their start in publishing creating a soap operamagazine. In the mid-1970s, O'Quinn and high school friend David Houston talked about creating a magazine that would cover science fiction films and television programs.
More on the history of Star Log Right HERE
This issue is a powerhouse and features everything for the sci fi fan whose into Star Trek to Space 1999.
Contents in this issue include -
Star Trek Maurice Zuberano Imagining The V'ger
This is a great Trek article that allows to you a look into the back drop of the entity for your OSR games. 

Part XXVI Sound Effects The Electronic Age
A really nice set up for the history of science fiction sound effects and sound track from the classic movies we love. 

Andy Probert Talks About The Lost Designs Of Star Trek - Want to know the history behind some of the classic bits of Trek star ships, history, and minutia behind the scenes that was reused in movies and the Next Generation series? Well this is your chance. 

Meteor SFX The Tidal Wave - The famous behinds the scenes of practical special effects on one of the more not so well known classic disaster films from when practical special effects were king. 

Paul Peters Art Director  For Buck Rogers In The 25th Century
Artwork and wonderfuness from the film and televsion series that's perfect for inspiration from behind the scenes of the classic television show. Really nice stuff. 

Trisha Stewart Of Salvage I The Lady With Monohydrine In Her Vein
Trisha Stewart is one of those actresses who has a legacy in science fiction film and 

Space Report : Mark IV Hawk
This is it! The Hawk of Space 1999 fame and one of my all time favorite star ship designs and the reason why I bought this issue way back when! An excellent old school star ship design. 

Chekov's Enterprise Part III
This is a really nice look into the back drop of the Enterprise from the first movie era. 

Vision Artificial Intelligence : Robots, Androids, & Cyborgs
Want to know about the motives, uses, and what not of classic era robotic monsters for your old school games? This is the article to get you going.

All in all this is a great classic era look into Star Log and I own nothing what so ever of this. This is merely a fan's commentary on what I feel is one of the most iconic magazines in science fiction and fantasy history. A classic from another era. No copyright infringement is intended nor trademark violation. God do I miss Star Log of the classic era.