OSR Commentary - Going 2d6 Fantasy Dark Ages In Your 2d6 Old School Science Fiction campaigns!

 So I've been considering doing a failed colony world in my Stars Without Numbers rpg game/Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns  & yes, Other Dust is an option. But the players actually know that resource front to back. So I drifted back to Michael Brown's Afterday &  Cepheus Atom. This blog post is going to pick right up from this one here. 

Afterday presents quite a few resources that line up with a limited post apocalyptic world. And its great for Cepheus Engine powered campagins. Cepheus Atom brings the 2d6 gonzo to the table in spades with its mutations, & other post apocalyptic resources. 
The wastelands of our colony world may have access to  entropic  weaponry and so this brings the dangers of those reality warping weapons to the table. It also explains the mutations and mutant monsters. 
Here we're thinking of going full on Cepheus Atom mode, adding in Atomic Age Barbarians, tribes of mutants, etc. 

The wastelands may have magick but I'm not sure about adding a full range of  the Sword of Cepheus fantasy rpg, here. But it might be an option here as a fantasy Dark Ages world existing in the same sector as a failed entropic wasteland world tells volumes. 

I'm thinking of forgoing the Barbaric Rpg route & going on full Sword of Cepheus because the presence of high magick adds a lot more to such a strange twist or two to the campagin mix. Could all of this be added into an Independence Game Space Western campaign?! Think 70's Dallas mixed with Game of Thrones level politic moves coupled with family politics. 

Nephilim Mummy For The Sword of Cepheus role playing game, Barbaric! rpg, & 2d6 Sword & Sorcery Rpging

Genesis 6:4:

"The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of renown"

 The pre Biblical Flood had the product of the fallen angels the watcher & the daughters of Adam, these entities survived the Flood. The most cunning & dangerous of the Nephilim giants hid away from the waters in the deep places of the Earth. They were the servants of the Annukai during the post Flood period all the way through  the Thurian Ages. There are those who believe that these Nephilim even walk during the modern nights. Their Fallen nature means that they can never rest and must wander across existence to the end of time. 

Those survivors became the undead servants of the Greys as human necromancers tended them for hundreds of years. The undead flesh became like leather and they continue to carry out the will of their supernatural & alien masters. Because of their damnable nature they have diseased flesh that with one claw swipe can infect the living with horrid diseases. 

Nephilim  Mummy: . 15/30, Move 20m/round, Armor 5, Claws (melee 2D damage, slashing) or by weapons. Physical 3, Combat 2, Stealth 1. Undead. Immune to non-magical weapons other than fire. . Disease (victim cannot heal) unless the victim throws Physical 8+.

'Kevin' Supernatual Assassin & Serial Killer Adapted From Cabin In The Woods film 2012 & Sin City 2005 for Hostile, Cepheus Atom, & The Cepheus Engine rpg.

 Powerful, deadly, & unatural are some of the words used to desrcribe the 'Kevin' entity. First discovered in the Black Forrest of Germany in 1945. This entity is a blank spot on the face of the world. The creature has no actual name itself & rarely speaks. What is known is that first circle demon possesses the body of a twenty something young man & its kept him young since some have speculated all the way back to 1929. 

There is very little known about this entity's personality or true occult motives. It's deeds & ritualistic habits are however well known. The Kevin entity has a predilication for cannibalism & a supernatutal hunger for murder. This is characterisized by its abilities as an uncannily fast & dangerous martial artist. Though it attacks with a beyond brutal style & offers its targets no quarter the thing is a murder machine. Kevin will cook & eat select portion's of its victim's anatomy & ofren takes trophies from its victims. Eating the bodies of its victims & mounting the heads. It also takes smaller trophies an item here or a finger there.   

The true underlying engine of its personality is as cold as the river Styx. And what infernal  entity that  drives the Kevin  creature  remains unknown as well. The entity known as 'Kevin' worked for many years for the Roake family of  'Sin City'. The thing was 'killed' after an encounter with the vigilante Marv. The entity was later found by  police & FBI but escaped killing 20 people including several FBI agents. 
Kevin was later captured by the Facility but remains at large at this time & governmental 'top men' speculate that he or rather it are up to its old tricks. 

Kevin 
Number Encountered - Unique 

 6/13, Move 10m,  Swim 10 M, Flight 40 M, Armor 2 , Claws (melee 2 D damage)  Combat 3, Physical 3, Survival 2, Tracking 3,
Regeneration as Troll - Must consume human flesh to keep this ability active 

No Pain Threshold - ignores any physical pain to itself 
Unnatural Stamina - Can & will track targets for days or months without sleeping, eating, etc. Can fight for hours if necessary. 

Note - Kevin is immune to any of the usual religious trappings that affect undead such as crosses, stars of David, etc. This is because of the infernal entity fueling the occult assassin & serial killer. 

Kevin Is a Seventh Level Assassin 

No. Encountered: 1 (unique NPC)

Alignment: Chaotic Evil 

Size: M

Movement: 40 (swim 40)
Dexterity: 16
Armour Class: 16
Hit Dice: 3
Attack Rate: 1/1  claws  or weapon 
Damage: 1d6/1d6/weapon (+3 to all knives 

Specials: 60 foot Darkvision,  Iron Will ( immune to fear based attacks),  Undead Immunities, Immune to Holy Symbols, Regenerates As Troll*

Saving Throw: 16
Morale: 9
Experience Points: 80
Treasure Class: I

*Regeneration as Troll - Must consume human flesh to keep this ability active 

No Pain Threshold - Ignores any physical pain to itself from damage 
Unnatural Stamina - Can & will track targets for days or months without sleeping, eating, etc. Can fight for hours if necessary.

The Paladin's Lion A New Monster of Law For The Sword of Cepheus, Cepheus Atom, & Barbaric!

 The Paladin's Lion is a former elemental god of Law that has taken the form of a lion to guard the wild places against the forces of chaos. This guardian of humanity & the demi races often can be found in places where legends of big cats take on the reality of myth. The paladin lion often accumutates treasure from bandits & other criminals it slays who crosses the monster's path. 

The Paladin's Lion 

200kg Beast ( Hijacker), plains walker, EAB0A7 #App: 2D Treasure: small hoard  athletics-1, Natural Weapons-3, Recon-2, Stealth-1, Survival-1 Attacks on 6+ if it is larger than at least one of its prey; otherwise, attacks on 10+ and flees on 5-. Claws (2D), Teeth (3D); armor 1; speed 20m/round Law; Morale DM+1 

The paladin's lion often lets slip into lore & folklore about its hoard to better lure greedy tresspassers into its terrority & lair. The monster is far more cunning & intelligent then a normals lion using tactics & stealth to lure its enemies into blind canyons or dead falls. 

The Paladin's lion often invokes itself unto a group of evil doers intent on taking advantage of the innocent or of ravaging the faithful servants of Law. The lion also goes out of its way to hunt down the forces of Chaos. With a sorcery roll of 3 a wizard dedicated to the cause of Law may summon an aspect of the Paladin's Lion. The Paladin's Lion often will come to the side of a knight of Law or a paladin in the service to one of the gods of Law. 

If  destroyed the Paladin's Lion will reform within 2 months at a local shrine of Law. The monster is vicious & dangerous to all aspects of Chaos. These champions of the gods of Law often find themselves summoned to the post apocalytpic wastes because of the fall of civilization attracts the most dire of the forces of Chaos. A pride of these lions can easily dismantle a barbarian army of warriors in no time flat if their in the service of Chaos. 

The Lulu Mail Call - Hostile rpg Campaign Thoughts

 Mail call & some Cepheus Engine Hostile rpg thoughts today & how to really dig into the reality of some campaign choices. 

Today was spent recovering from last night's game cus it went till about five A.M. & then staggering out the mail box what do we  see but a package from Federal Express!? Awesomely this came out far faster then was expected. 
What was ordered was a copy of the following: 

HOSTILE

Hostile Gunlocker

Zaibatsu

HOSTILE Technical Manual

All of the player's PC's are at the moment in medi tanks & receiving cybernetics after getting slashed up by a Yakuza assassination  squad & running into a really nasty creature inside a haunted starship wreck. 
So now its all a matter of getting the time to have the players bring in some new PC's for this week's game coming up.. 

But with work schedules, Covid, & more our home games are gonna have to take an interesting turn or two. DM Steve has some ideas & we're going to be meeting coming up for our two current Cepheus Engine campaigns. So things are happening with this .. Right now coming up there are at least three or four Eighties & Nineties films in our VHS movie club watch rotation. So there's that.. coming to influence some of the adventure choices. Personally right now my own preferences for Sword of Cepheus has been coming through strongly. 

Right now Allard Technologies is the upstart corporate player in our current campaigns & there's some really shady business out among the stars. 

A Post Apocalyptic Cross Dimensional Western Campaign Set Up For the Cepheus Rpg System On Budget

 You wanna hunt vampires in the wastelands of the West?! Don't want to spend an arm & spleeen to get your dimensional rip in the local space time continuum!? We've got you covered in spades pard, so saddle up & let's ride! Don't forget your stake & holy water! 

So the gaunlet's been cast down & things were said on MeWe so let's talk about building a quick & dirty Rifts rpg style horror/occult game campaign from the ground up. The first thing we're need are the Cepheus Engine rpg  , the Sword of Cepheus fantasy rpg, Under Western Skies: 2D6 Adventure on America's Frontier & Cepheus Atom. You are ready to put together a Rifts style occult game to rock on for less then the cost of a Rifts rpg book. Want weird mutations for your aliens, mutants, etc. rock on with  Cepheus Atom.

Want power armor for your PC's to find in the wastelands?! Here this baby straight outta of Cepheus Atom - 2 2500 Powered Armor 14 DM+4 to all Physical throws, DM+1 tohit in melee, power cell charger, accessories as per Combat Armor. And this goes straight across. Want to design your own mecha or ve-hickles?! Well the Cepheus Engine Vehicle Design System From Samardan Press has you covered! 

Want super heroes for this dimension warp or tear in the fabric of space time!? Author Michael Brown has you covered with 2d6 Powers! 

Who wants demons & a horror magic system for the bad guys & NPC's?!  Diabolox from Michael Brown has you covered in that direction as well. 

Finally some excellent maps of the Western United Stats thanks to Wiki commons & you are ready to go with the option to take your game into space without spending any additional hard earned dollars! 

Hartford Beta Max Black Book Stars With Number Campaign Notes - The Talon Sector & Some Ideas With The Sword of Cepheus rpg

Been doing a lot of thinking about the Talon sector over the last twenty four hours. And really going over my campaign notes. Over the last couple of weeks 'the OSR' has taken notice of the fact that I've been doing quite a bit with both Cepheus engine rpg & the original  Traveller rpg  I started back tracking  Rogahn the Fearless and Zelligar the Unknown through an urban interstellar landscape. Is the Talon sector a post Scream location( the over acrching Stars Without Number rpg event) or other?! The more I'm looking into it the more I'm leaning towards 'other event'. But what about a fantasy interstellar landscape?! 


 So it became a matter of  thumbing through Dragon magazine issue #136, last night. If you don't have this issue its highly recommended because its an almost complete urban tool kit unto itself. The reason is because there's been a thought or two rattling around my head. 

My real reason is that going through my books whist reading my campaign notes some stuff just isn't gelling properly in my mind. The 'event' could be psychic in origin but there's more going on here. The truth is that there's no need for yet another rpg book on my shelf at this point. Yeah I know that Kevin Crawford does amazing rpg work for OSR  sand boxing. But when kickstarters hit the $155,000 dollar mark I back off a bit. This rpg is gonna come my way later on in 2021 I think so its being put on the campaign back burner. 

So instead I've  have been turning back to the smaller rpg table  ventures in this case, The Sword of Cepheus rpg in point of fact. Why?! Because of the scaling of the rpg system. And this is another advantage of the OSR. You can mix & match rpg systems as needed. 

So its nice to be under the radar of the OSR for a bit and there's a quite a trail of Cepheus rpg material that takes my imagination into ideas for the campaign. The mix & match of the science fantasy elements of the Talon sector is something that's weighing on me. The fiction of Paul Anderson especially his story Anderson's novella "Witch of the Demon Seas" (published under his "A. A. Craig" byline) has many of the elements that I'm looking for. 

Many of the genre elements are easily duplicatable: 

1. The Sword of Cepheus rpg has several systems that work well as a side campaign world. 
2. Because this is a convertable system its one that can be used as needed. 
3. The entire campaign mix is going to have a mix of Swords & Sorcery with psychics & wizards. 
4. This is going to take its P's & Q's from classic Pulp science fiction.
5. The fantasy elements are not over whelming and actually managable. 
6. There's campaign crossover potential with These Stars Are Ours!

I'm looking forward to Omar Joel's release of 2 Stellagama Publishing: The Zeta Menace! Gray Aliens and their UFOs for Stars Without Number: Revised Edition!

The Reticulans haven't let up their nefarious  activities even in a fantasy environment. Is the Talon sector near the sectors of  These Stars Are Ours! setting?! We shall see coming up..