A 70's Sci fi Inspired Beta Max Black Stars Without Number Revised & Red Room's Decaying Orbit Campaign Notes - Saints, Gods, and Relics & Clerical Matters

 When it comes to clerics, it's easy to quickly dismiss the classic PC class. If the original Heavy Metal magazine had shown me anything it was the fact that clerics are warrior priests first and foremost. The role of the cleric is given a complete overhaul within Saints, Gods, and Relics from Night Owl Workshop

.

The role of cleric here is on point with the militant warrior priest of the Original Dungeons and Dragons rules. Here were given an OSR twist and this supplement  takes this PC class in a direction where and when that can be used with Stars Without Numbers and other Science Fantasy  games. Why?! Because Saints, Gods, and Relics revamps the cleric as follows:"

 if a character remains a believer in good standing, their faith means that the following changes apply when a cleric of the same god casts spells upon them: • Cure spells cast on them heal an extra +1 HP per die. However, cure spells cast by any other cleric heal at -1 per die. Reversed effects are unchanged. • The benefits of Bless and Prayer spells are doubled. • They have no saving throw to resist Quest spells cast by a cleric of the same god, but +3 to save against Quest spells cast by any other cleric. • Raise Dead, Restoration and Resurrection cast by a cleric of other than their patron god do not help you at all. • Reversed effects (Curse, Cause Light Wounds, Slay Living, etc.) are unaffected. • Also, if a character has the same patron god as an NPC cleric, the latter will typically offer a 50% discount on any normal charges imposed for cures, raising dead, commune, or similar divine favors, but may also occasionally be sent by their god to get you to do them favors in the interest of their faith. Players may wish to offer a similar discount. If a character reaches 9th or higher level whilst having a patron god, he or she may be assumed to have attracted the personal interest of that deity, who will be likely to try and use them in schemes to support the god’s interests..." 

  Let's say for a moment that Stars Without Number takes place in the same universe as Wretched New Flesh Post Cards From Aviladad. Mankind is just starting to crawl out from under the effects of the Scream. And it is open to all kinds of religions and cults taking it back to the masses. The role of the cleric becomes clearer. Now we're probably thinking that the role of clerics has been talked about to death before. What if the cleric's order is also the provider of culture for many of these interstellar colonies. The cleric is trained to be warrior, counsel, and giver of both religion as well as culture. This of course is in addition to fighting against the blackness of the vile darkness thier rolls become that much clearer. Again this goes right back to the warrior cleric of original Dungeons and Dragons. 
And these styles of cleric's roles would not be out of character for Warriors of the Red Planet. 

The cleric becomes the plug and play warrior missionary on the post apocalpytic  red  planet. Why? Because the colonist on Mars need all of the help they can rebuilding. And the whole planet is ripe for exploitation by the forces of darkness. 
And that alieness of the Outer Darkness is something we see play out again and again the writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Clark Ashton Smith, H.G. Wells and many others. 
The roles of warrior priest should never be underestimated and the resolve of such characters is something that will and should come into play during old school or OSR campaigns. 
Clerics are also the arm of darkness as well as those as light. And this means that clerics of the gods of darkness  can cause all kinds of havoc. 
The forces of light must always be on guard and Saints, Gods, and Relics can be augmented with the spells of Trails and Tails Games Faith is My Weapon. 

Tonight my mind was on the cultclassic film Krull. The idea that the 'backward' world of Krull might in point of fact have been a failed interstellar colony in the ancient past. And that it might have been destined to rejoin the interstellar scene once the hero and heroine's son grew to manhood. Makes me think about the idea of the cleric trail blazer leading worlds back from the darkness of technological de- evolution into the light of interstellar FTL flight. 

Warriors of the Red Planet rpg, Raiders of the Lost Artifacts, & Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa

 Sometimes it's time to go back to basics and a recent interview with Matt Finch by Captain Courageous has me thinking. Matt Finch gave an excellent interview about the OGL disaster a couple of months ago. It got me thinking my own use Night Owl Workshop's Raiders of the Lost Artifacts rpg. 

And we use this rpg system with the Warriors of the Red Planet rpg. And the PC's in our usual game are planning on diving further into the activities of the cabal of the Sorcerers of the Black Gate ( this is an alternative class within WRP but it's primarily meant for NPC's). And so I've been looking over my campaign outline & notes. And there was mention of The OSR Library blog. And boy, has David Baymiller been busy with alternative material for Raiders of the Lost Artifacts. 
There's also notes about Carcosa & it's alternatives. And calm down Venger we'll get back to Cha'alt another time. Right now I'd love to focus on Carcosa. 
 And so doing some research on the OD&D forums about Carcosa. And there's a ton of older material there. I remember a recent review of the first issue of Ulfire Tablets, a zine dedicated to roleplaying in science fantasy / planetary romance settings. There was a metric ton of solid Carcosa  material within the first issue of Ulfire Tablets. 

Now I'm thinking of dumping the PC's onto Carcosa for the second or third leg of the ongoing campaign. We

grabbed Tristan Tanner's Lost Carcosa a long while ago. Tanner's Lost Carocsa is more then slightly different to Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa. The inclusion of so many other classic Weird Fantasy author's races such as Edgar Rice Burroughs Green Martians & several Lovrcraft races is interesting. 
Then there's the fact that Lost Carcosa has the feel of another part of McKinney's Carcosa. Almost as if this was another side of the Lovecraftian sphere. 
We've had several teams of NPC archaeologists looking into the Martian desert's ruins. I've managed to sprinkle in serveral Lost Carcosa Green Martians. These have strange tatatoos & body oramentation on them. They are unknown or taboo to the local Green Tharks & dead sea Red Martian barbarian tribes the PC's know. These Carcosa Green Martians are servants to the sorcerers of the Black Gate. 

There are several gates that lead to Carcosa being used by cultists on our post apocalpytic Mars. There's only been one instance of a party of ours making onto Carcosa in the current campaign & they literally lost two party members to cultists. The other players immediately retreated back through the gate and sealed it behind them. 

Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign Commentary - Dragon Issue #113 Sept 1986 - Hunter Class Robots vs Aliens, Creatures, & Mutants

 Looking through the classic Dragon magazine issue#113 Sept 1986  for an NPC idea for our  post apocalytic White Star & Warriors of the Red  rpg powered campaign last night. I came across an old classic article for Gamma World 2nd edition. 

 The classic second edition  Gamma World rpg article 'Cold Steel' by Scott A Hutcheon  details the Hunter class of robots. These cybernetic organisms have appeared in my campaign time & again.  Since we're almost done with the Red Shadow faction. Perhaps it's time to introduce the players to another rather nasty NPC. 

Hunter-class robots for Gamma World (Bruce Mackley, Dragon 113, September 1986)
via the old school tumbler here. 

We've used these cybernetic organisms before to call them simple robots is a disservice to these entities. In our games over the years we've given them personalities, motives, and goals because these things are equipped to take on full blown mecha and survive. Sure their no match for a Gamma World second edition death machine. But these things can & will take out mutant demi gods with little issue. And when your dealing with experienced players there should be entities way above your party's paygrade. The Cybohunter is a beast ;'TYPE: Cybernetic Hunter/Tracker NUMBER: 1 ARMOR: 1 HIT DICE: 30d10 CONTROL: D/G SENSORS: A/B/D/E/F (Scent) POWER: A/D200 MS: 1d4 + 12 IN: 1d10 + 11 DX: 1d10 + 11 PS: 5d10 + 30 SPEED: FEET = 24/1800/72 STATUS: Rank' 
Monsters like Magic Pig Media's Star Kraken or the Cosmic Behemoth are capable of ruining a party's day from  Outer Space Raiders Volume 2: Aliens, Creatures & Foes. So entities like the Cybohunter are not that far off base when it comes to higher level encounters. 

A post apocapytic solar system is one that will be frought with perils and the Hunter series takes this into account. According to 'Cold Steel's author; "Take, for example, the Hunter series of combat robots, which was founded on one basic concept: The bigger they are, the harder they hit. Although not as powerful overall as Death Machines or Warbots, these devices provide much more challenge to an overconfident adventuring group than Security Robots. Note that some specimens of these devices have been modified in the postholocaust years to take into account mutational powers possessed by animals, plants, and humans. Numerous variations on these basic designs may also exist." 
Surely I'm being unfair with such a powerhouse of a series of cybernetic entities?! Well yes & no, let's turn the clock back to 2015 when Ivanhoe Unbound was publishing material. And Aliens, Androids, & Aberrations slid across my desk. 

As you can see it doesn't take a genius to combined these various resources and AAA gives yet another perspective rpg resource to this campaign. Combined with the mecha rules from White Star Galaxy Edition then the threat of the Hunter class doesn't seem so far fetched 

Next time forbidden technologies, The Mutant Future connection, and more coming up. 

Enter The Desert Muton - A White Star rpg , Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg - Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign- Actual Play Event

 So if you've been following the progress of the current campaign then you know that things are about to get very messy the player's PC's think that they've escaped the Red Shadows. But nothing could be further from the truth! 
The Red Shadows have seen this as an opportunity to test our their new Desert Muton cybernetic trooper! 

Now I've got to give credit where credit is due. This is a custom Red Shadow Muton figure from Histank.com forum's member 46 Zone here. The figure hails from 2018 but it's very topical with the players never even having heard of a Muton. 

Red Shadows Desert Muton Trooper 

AC: 6 

Hit Dice 4

HDE/XP: 3/77

Total Hitpoints:+4 

Movement:13   

Special: See Below 
Attack: By Weapon 

13 Weapon Mini missile anti personal load 1d6+2, or 7 Homer Anti Personel Mini missiles  2d6+3 able to follow targets for 40 yards around corners & obstacles,6 Cracker Mini missile Loads 3d6+1, Laser pistol side arm  1d6+2

Special Abilities - Hive Link with the Shadow A.I., Immune to charm, telepathy, and any mind influencing abilities. The Red Shadows are in constant cybertelepathic contact with the Shadow A.I. 

See All System - The Muton is equiped with incredible sensor systems having darkvision, infravision, & other more esoteric sensors built into it's cybernetic systems. So the Muton gains a +3 to all rolls related to finding & tracking targets 

Charlie Desert Cybernetic Systems - the Muton is immune to all overheating & desert conditions. The Desert Muton can stay submerged in the sands of Mars for years  at a clip before being activated. It's systems are sealed against the harsh sand conditions 

Programmed Tracking - The Muton is able to track targets through even the harshed conditions easily. +4 on all Tracking rolls 

The Mutons are cybernetically convert Red Shadow troopers who have been completely cybernetically converted into the ultimate loyal cyber soldier. They are able to operate in a wide variety of planetary conditions and including outer space. Their mini missiles have a range of 120 feet and can explode under the Muton's control. The Shadow A.I. can see through any of it's Muton able to take control at a moment's notice to be in the middle of the action. 

So the PC's find themselves in the middle of a weapons test with a deadly advesary will they survive?! 

Deeper Then a Red Shadow - A White Star rpg , Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg - Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign- Actual Play Event

 So in last night's second game the party got in way deep over their heads as we pick from last session here.  The party ran across a Green martian mother & child that was about to be bug food & had to make a snap decision. 

Shadow wasn't playing and released a very nasty combat bot & things got heated from there with the party's necromancer grudging saving the party & the mother and child with the last charge on the teleport spell scroll. 
They ended up about four miles away from the bug hive and deeper still into Red Shadow turf. The party however was shown a way out by the Green martian mother through a snaking mount pass around the Red Shadow base. This went right by a mine field around one of the most deadly fields where the Red Shaow's Skeletron ships were sent out on raids. And the party didn't linger marking the trail and getting outta of there as quickly. 
And just as they were leaving?! They ran into a Red Shadow cyborg soldier! 

 Red Shadow cyborg soldier

AC: 7 

Hit Dice 3 

HDE/XP: 3/76

Total Hitpoints:+3

Movement:12  

Special: See Below 
Attack: Weapon Laser pistol 1d6+2 or Laser Rifle 2d6+3 

Special Abilities - Hive Link with the Shadow A.I., Immune to charm, telepathy, and any mind influencing abilities. The Red Shadows are in constant cybertelepathic contact with the Shadow A.I. 

The Red Shadows are the dregs of humanity, recruited from the mercenary and criminal underworlds all around the world. Initially drawn by promises of riches, these men are subjected to extreme brainwashing techniques and a punishing training schedule intended to transform them into unthinking minions 

The party had to take him out fast and the party peppered the Red Shadow Cyborg trooper with arrows, spells, & finally burnt the body with oil just to be sure. They would be noticed in less then a half an hour and the party would be noticed! The party quickly got outta of there. But did they manage to get away?! 

Spectre Of A Red Shadow - A White Star rpg , Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg - Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign- Actual Play Event

 During tonight's game the PC's were 'saved' by strange warplane that came outta of no place and strafed the tanker spider destroying it. The bright red warplane bore a black background with a white skull dropping bombs on the remains of the tanker killing the spy along with any hidden spiders. This blog post will pick right up from here. 

The PC's met some old nemesis on Mars in the form of the Red Shadows, the shadows organization are a cryptic alliance from the bowels of an underground base clones of the original members of the Red Shadow organization. An A.I. entity called Shadow unfroze the clones during the war & they've been acting as a maurading mercenary army ever since. 
Red Shadows 

Tech Level: IV 

TYPES: PSH (35%); H (45%); MA (40%); P (15%); A (10%) NUMBER: 1d10 BASE: A (5d10; along the dead sea bottoms ); B (2d10 + 50; along dead sea bottoms ); H (10d10+100; usually near the ancient enterances to the main sea bottoms) SECRET SIGN: Among human settlements a skull drawn in the red sands. 
A couple of years ago the party ran into the Red Shadows during a raid on an ancient Martian city to recover some super science items and devices. The Shadows pinned them down inside the dungeon & the party only escaped through the Martian underground. 

The only survived by engaging in a deep running fire fight with the Red Shadows and the Shadows released one of their fearsome combat droids. 

The party's necromancer used a scroll to summon an air elemental blowing the warplane off course. The necromancer's summoning sends a signal to the local hives and suddenly the air is filled with a swarm of scout bugs. 
Scout Bug AC: 4 [16] HD: 3 Atk: bite and tail whip Dmg: 1d6, and 1d6 Save: F3 Move: 180’/360’ These remarkable creatures are incredibly fast moving, sensitive to everything around them, and can move underground, in the air, and even into space. Their sole purpose is to scout the area around a hive, maintain surveillance in case of intruders, and report back to their Brain bug. They have +3 to initiative. +2 bonus to any rolls requiring detection.
These scout bugs are straight outta of Colonial Troopers: Knight Hawks and the party needed a radical plan to get outta of this slot. They figured that they were between the front line of the Red Shadows and  the bugs. 
The party's rune graver wanted to do something radical but the necromancer still had a teleportation scroll on him. But then the party had got the radical ideal to find the Red Shadow base nearby ie within 2000 mile radius as the party figures. 
But they still have to deal with this hive?! Tune in coming up! 

Night of the Norni Affair - A White Star rpg , Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg - Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign- Actual Play Event

 The party made it's way back to citadel of the White Hand & the more senior's reaction was priceless. What is a Gamma World Cryptic alliance doing on a colonized Mars?! Well they didn't have long to contemplate the thought as the citadel was surrounded by landed pirate raiders belonging to Magic Pig Media's Outer Space Raiders: The Norni. The Norni were a client race of the Hyperboreans who were resettled upon some of Jupiter's moons during the war. They're mid level NPC thugs driven by a rather nasty void knight for a leader. This session report picks right up from this blog entry here. 

The party were out gunned, out weaponed, and had little reason to go against the Norni in a straight up fight. So they decided to wait until the pirates had left before seeing if any of the monks were alive. Their Hyperborean patron had confirmed their suspicions about the White Hand that they were holding a supply of the Plutonian drug. This goes wayback to 2017's campaign here.  The party found the monks alive after the pirates had left. And though the pirates hadn't gotten the Plutonian drug they had taken several valuable pieces of high super science artifacts used for healing. 
And that's when one of the monks attacked dropping his Aihais illusion. The Norni chaos monk was more then a match for two of the party until Ricky's Zeta assassin stepped in and finished him with a poisoned dagger to the back. The monks swarmed in to heal the pirate/monk but the poison was very fast acting. But Rick's black circle neromancer had a trick up his sleeve with a 'speak with dead' scroll at the ready. To say that the White Hand monks were pissed about this is putting it mildly. The adventurers don't care as their actually agents working for the Stellar Legion who will take on just about any misfits as long as their loyal to the legion. 

The party isn't in the mood for caring about the monks at this point. But then the monks informed the party that citadel was being watched by more alien spiders. The party geared up weapons with the White Hand informing the party that wasn't necessary as their own ranks boasted some high ranking psionists. The party didn't want any of this business and called in an air strike on the spiders. 

After the airstrike the party went out in the desert surrounding the citadel looking for any signs of surviving spiders. And that's when they found a Norni pirate signer one specifically calibrated to call in the spiders. And that's when the party's scouts rolled in and began tracking the bastard spy across the wastes. The rest of the party said their good byes to the White Hand swearing to recover the super science devices and they went after the spy. 
Things didn't go as planned when they ran smack into a rather large & dangeorus tanker spider. Will they survive?! 

Post Apocalpytic Solar System Campaign Commentary - A Sister's Touch - Dragon magazine #119 & The Sisters of the Aquarian Order

 Classic Dragon magazine issue # 119 March 1987 has some really remarkable ideas within it for minor  Cryptic Alliances & these have implications for  our solar system White Star campaign.
 Besides having a killer cover by artist Daniel Horne; "Daniel Horne, our cover artist this month, was in the mood to do a historical

subject. His painting, entitled The Real Reason the Romans left Britain, depicts a

little-known episode in British history, in which two Roman foot soldiers have

bumped into Kostchtchie, the surly fellow from page 40 of the Monster Manual II.

Of the unsquashed legionnaire, Daniel writes, Boy, is he going to get it!"  Sorry got distracted by that awesome Dragon magazine cover. God I miss the real Dragon magazines. Right, so let's pick this up from this blog post here & talk about doing a solar system centric White Star game with the Starship Warden thrown in. Going over some of the huge swath of White Star titles that I own one in particular came to the fore. And perhaps it was talking with the author Timothy Brannan the other day ( hope your feeling better Timothy). The Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Aquarian Sister) dragged themselves kicking & screaming to my attention last night. Who are the Sisters of the Aquarian Order?! 

Well, according to this May 2015 blog entry by Timothy; "The Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Aquarian Sister) have their geneses not only from my witch class (they can be considered to be the evolution of the Aquarian Tradtition) but also from such sources in Sci-Fi like the Bene Gesserit (Dune), the Sisterhood of Karn (Doctor Who) and the Night Sisters, the Witches of Dathomir (Star Wars)." What does this have to do with Dragon 119? Well, there's the Gamma World article, 'Politics Among The Rubble' by Lent and it happens to feature 'The Sisterhood of the Sword' aka 'The Sisterhood'. The Sisterhood breaks down as follows; " Tech Level II TYPES (females only): PSH (50%); H (45%); MA (15%) NUMBER: 1d10 

BASE: B (2d6+3); C (3d10+25); D (3d100 + 50)

SECRET SIGN: Ancient symbol for womanhood, with a dagger and crosspiece as the

tail, emblazoned on shields, banners,

armor, and clothing.

LOCATION: East coast of America.

DESCRIPTION: The Sisterhood of the

Sword believes that the Shadow Years and

the fall of mankind were brought about by

violent, male-dominated governments, and

only females are suited to lead the way

back to civilization by assuming all defensive and leadership positions. Despite

these views, the followers of the Sisterhood do not, with the exception of a few

splinter groups, force their views upon

others, preferring to gain converts from

example and other, gentler means of persuasion. Their bases are test sites for their

doctrine, with regular reports to the Sisterhoods main base. The Sisterhood is on

good terms with the Brotherhood of

Thought, the Healers, the Friends of Justice, and the Knights of Avalon. Their own

beliefs, however, often put them at crosspurposes with the Followers of the Voice,

Restorationists, the Created, the Iron

Society, the Ranks of Fit, and Zoopremists.

The Sisterhood is well equipped to Tech

II standards but is always eager to gain

functioning Ancient technology. The Sisters are most often armed with swords,

spears, and crossbows. They prefer chain

mail armor and usually have some sort of

riding mount. There is a 30% chance that

each will have some sort of minor artifact.

The warrior elite are usually known as

Amazons, Valkyries, Black Widows, or

similar terms." 

What if the 'Sisterhood' is the militant arm of the The Sisters of the Aquarian Order ?! An organization hiding in plain sight with their upper edges of the orgnization's military arm actually being run by Magic Pig Media's Outerspace Raiders Amazons?! 

So why would these three organizations actually be one in the same?! Well there's one cause for that and it's war! The tenets of  The Sisters of the Aquarian Order  are well established when mankind get's cut off by the intergalatic war with the Hyperboreans. But the order suddenly finds itself facing a foe with access to technologies, magicks, and weaponry greater then it's own. And they turn inward creating cults, hidden cells of the sisters and stoking the fires of warriors in backwater colonies and other places. The sisters earn the grudging respect of the star knight but there is great distrust between these two. The war is over 200 or so years later but the sisterhood endures in pockets on Mars, Venus, Earth's colonies, and even aboard the Warden. The sisters will endure. 

Slumming on Mars - A White Star rpg , Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg Actual Play Event

 So on a Monday night there was a bit of a dust up as our normal group of players here in New Hartford. People love drama but this really wasn't drama per say. Nick one of our regular players brought a copy of an old White Star PC to our game. So out came a Randi Orr a 4th level rogue from Scum and Villainy by Omer Golan-Joel.  And this game picks up right from this blog entry here. 

And so Randy Orr got drafted into the Stellar Legion & we moved on deeper into the Martian city of Ignarh. The players wanted to know why there were a lot more alien races scattered across the city and what was the deal with varying tech levels within the old Martian city? So a bit of fast thinking on my part related that two hundred years ago mankind had FTL and had made great strides across the galaxy. And then the Hyperborean wars came devestated the galaxy but something happened to the Hyperboreans. The Hyperborean empire collapsed & only today has the galaxy began to recover. And most of this comes from the Hyperborea rpg & the recent review of the campaign setting  'Have Deathray Will Travel'.  The PC's are actually agents of the Stellar Legion. And they've been following up on the recent activity of the alien 'spiders' on Mars from Colonial Troopers. 

Sketching out our own version of Mars then things become a bit more murky as practicers of the 'Way' begin to appear in several Martian ruined temples, shrines, etc. with the Martian psionics taking full presidence over 'The Way'. So yes there are Red & Green Martian 'Way' practicers but thier rare. And then this gets into the Hyperborean ghettos where half Hyperboreans and their human followers are. A party's patron is actually here guarded by his bevy of Space Amazon nurses and bodyguards. Char rad Ro is a Hyperborean veteran kept alive by ancient technological secrets straight outta of Cheating Death. 

The player's PC's at the moment are asking around the main starport for the crew of the Goya's expediation. And things have been interesting because of the fact that the Goya was using a highly experimental FTL hyperspace drive. This drive would burn itself out after a few jumps and the Warden has aboard it the secrets of sustainable FTL. 
This is all being woven together on during play and the players are really into it. Into one bar they go where there's a crowd of Zeta assassins disguised as drovers looking for business while a group of green Martian warriors is gambling. Their black circle necromancer goes to talk with the Zeta assassins to hire one as a hireling. The PC's see their Aihais guides in the corner & they give a bit of a shudder because of the other Aihais are members of the Dweller cult. The Green Martians don't even give them a second glance. To them the Aihais are beneath contempt but there have been genocidal conflicts been the two Martian races. Zill the party's guide makes little small talk but gambles with Vody our party's soldier & leader. A price is arranged for the guide to take our party to the Green  psionic lamastry near the dead sea city of Korr. 
The party figures the monks may have insight into the location & fate of the Warden. But they also want to go back to their Hyperborean patron for more insight. 

Spider Infestation - A Warriors of The Red Planet & Hyperborea rpg - Actual Play Event

 " Deep in the wastelands near the dead city of Aaanthor a party of stawart adventurers plods their way through the ruins in search of artifacts belonging to a tribe of intelligent White Apes. The Stellar Legion has sent our intrepid team of adventurers & agents deep into the wastes of Mars looking for artifacts stolen from the tribe of  Green Martian Torquas in order to spark an interstellar war. "

So session account is going to pick back up from here.  And our player's PC found themselves in the city of Ignarh listening to the story of an NPC treasure hunter Jarret Minus  who got on the wrong side of a Green Martian Torquas warrior. The PC's  are a gang  of   Stellar Legion Hyperborean, Venusian,  Martian outlaws, adventurers, & veterans who have been looking for the at big score on Mars. But in actuality are a group of agents dealing with the colonial pressures of this version of Mars. And we've gone back to using a combination of Colonial Troopers, Mutant Future, the Hyperborean rpg Player's Guide, & Warriors of the Red Planet as the basis for this campaign. The player's PC's rented a flyer straight out of Ignarh & headed towards Aaanthor & they made it without incident! Taking a look around the deserted city they found piles of dead green Martians! And they ran straight into a swarm of deadly alien giant spiders! There are not supposed to be any Spru'sth on Mars. The planet has been settled for ages now. Sure there's the occasional frontier point. 

The player's PC's dropped the down & out adventurer act then went full psycho soldier on the spiders. 

The party then began blasting with laser crossbows, machine guns, and several plasma  grenades. And the party radioed for a pick up from a friendly flyer jockey who happened to be in the area. 

And then they arranged a meet up with the  Torquas Jeddak through the party's rogue princess. And the green warriors were beyond angry  through a combination of good rolls, bribry, and some concessions the party made headway. The player's then sent in three scouts including Sargent Wolf whose incharge of the other scouts to investigate the situation. 

Wolf mutant from Bronze Age Miniatures available here. 

And when the scouts infiltrated the ruined city they found there were signs of a queen. And then the green warrriors swarmed in with guns blazing. The rest of the party hung back as the Torquas took back their city. The party did a clean up sweep and played back up as the stronger green warriors made headway to take out the hive's queen. 

The party's cleric & black circle necromancer made several grisly discoveries including implanted colonists, several bio borgs, and other means of expanding the hive's terrority across the face of Mars. 
Is this going to be a one shot?! Recent reading up on several OSR game supplements convinced us to retry this style of play. But it remains to be seen if a post apocalyptic Mars game is going become a regular campaign again. 

Empire of the Petal Throne rpg & Metamorphosis Alpha rpg - Slow Boat Generational Ships

 When the Human Empires collapsed unto the micro planes and was cut off from the rest of  TEKUMEL along with the rest of its universe. There were literally thousands of star ships in hyperspace along with  worlds cut off from the Human Empires. 

This basically means that both Gamma World first edition or Metamorphis Alpha 1st edition  rpg might be places where the planar gateways were cut off all together. There's going to be a lot of finger pointing & that being said there's any number of worlds were the EMP's oganization & infrastructure have failed. This leaves the locals to deal with the incredible logistical nightmare. So what happens to the spaceways during the shut down during the dawn of the disappearanc of the Human Empire?! World after world is cut off & the local governers are going to handle the local food ritions,the shutting down of local hyperspace gates, etc. 
And once again this puts me in mind of Warriors of the Red Planet & Brett Slocum's 'Warriors of the Lost Planet' rpg supplement a pay what you want title. 

Personally I've wondered about the grand Human Star Empire generation ships. The slow boats between colonies & planets  of the Human Empire. Fortunely Kevin Crawford back in 2015 did a set of Beta rules for Swords of the Petal Throne available here. These rules are cross compatible with Revised Stars Without Numbers rpg. Which means that they should in theory be usable with original Metamophis Alpha Rpg rules. And its this very fact that makes things interesting. Why?! Because of the fact that the Goodman Games Metamorphis Alpha material can be pulled from. 
This means that MA resources such as the MA first edition rules & tables could in theory be used for generating some of those Petal Throne generational space craft. Space craft that have been lost to the microplanes of hyperspace. 

Several of the adventures of the Goodman Games from James Ward's Metamorphosis Alpha: Warden Adventures could be used as stand in adventure  for a Human Empire generation ship. 

Adventuring in the OSR Lovecraftian Nighmare - Geoffrey McKinney's Carcosa & Beyond

 

Its been a while since we kicked the tires on an OSR Saucer & Sandel campaign. The first thing that came to mind was Geffeory McKinney's Carcosa. Why?! Because tonight I came  Killer DM's  "Fighting Styles and Incantations for Carcosa"  Carcosa still remains one of the most polarizing rpg books of the OSR. To tell the truth, the players don't really care about the controversy. But there's been a lot of water under this bridge since this was one of the first real OSR books that came into my hands. But at this point what the Hell would we run Carcosa with?! Honestly it would probably Night Owl Workshop's Warriors of the Red Planet rpg system. 

Sometimes its all about getting back to basics & not worrying about the OSR or the New Wave of Rpg players. The alien shores of Carcosa beckon & at this point it's sorta like returning to a battered alien friend. But this time I'd add in Jason Vey's Age of Conan OD&D rpg hack & supplements. These are absolutely essential in my mind. These go right along next to Realms of Crawling Chaos by Goblinoid Games.  When you need weird & alien technologies, actual relics then this is the book to use. 

There's so much muddy Lovecraftian water under the bridge of the romps across the Carcosaian landcape that many of our players remember Carcosa as a Lovecraftian dumping ground. A sort of hex crawl from the lower depths of some fever crazed nightmare. Many have said that today Carcosa is almost but not quite quant in point of fact. My own experiences with DMing Carcosa & playing in the setting are quite different. 

1. Carcosa is more then the sum of its parts. And depending upon whose DMing the setting can be quite jarring for inexpeienced players. 
2. Sorcerers are going to be your bad guys. And their infamous magicks should be infamous but not something the players need to expeience per say. Hint & inuendo go a long way let the player's mind infer details but never make a player uncomfortable at the table top. 
3. Carcosa is savage & brutal, use this to your advantage as a DM. Encounters should be memorable not but not nesssarily fatal each & everytime. 
4. This is the land of nightmares and there are lots of advantages to uses the lore of Carcosa to your advantage especially for creating dangerous NPC villains. 
5. Not every sorcerer has to be a card carrying evil jerk there are Law aligned sorcerers. 

OSR Space Opera Blues & Night Owl Workshop's Warriors of the Red Planet rpg

 

Today's been the sort of running on rpg table dialogue with a couple of friends & on discussion is that infamous Clark Aston Smith solar system campaign that seemed to run me ages ago. There's been talk about the fact that we brought several of our Warriors of the Red Planet rpg characters into interstellar conflict with several of Magic Pig Media's interstellar races. The reason that this has come up is Chenault & Gray Publishing's latest kickstarter Robert E. Howard Art Chronology.  
Why?! Because for a very long time I've been yammering about Chenault & Gray Publishing's The Edgar Rice Burroughs 100 Year Art Chronology

Bare in mind that two of my players passed on. And the entire group of players that we were running with turned to manure. Death affects groups in different ways & things often take turns in unexpected directions. The fact of the matter is that no one expects the rug to be pulled out from under them. 
These days we're far better equipped to deal with these things because when your fellow DM's & players are your friends things can be easier to digest. 

Now this brings up two very important points. Fact one our Mars was & is a post apocalyptic  campaign landscape. The second thing is that many of Clark Aston Smith's Martians & HP Lovecraft's Martians have returned. But this wasn't your typical campaign setting because the players had invested so much into the background with their PC's. 
There was a lot of plane jumping & several of the PC's died while exploring a realm locked within its own hidden mini plane from Brett Slocum's Warriors of the Lost Planet.  Then two of our regular DM's & player's died. This tore up our home game for almost a couple of months now. 

So what happening now?! There's been talk among to our other players & DM's that they'd like me to return to DMing this campaign. I'm not really sure that I can. There's been a bit of movement on my part with the recent review of Night Owl Workshop's Space Nobles on the blog.  But to be honest I'm not sure if I'm ready for this. There's a lot of baggage under this bridge. Besides which I've been getting involved with DM Steve's own Stars Without Number/Cepheus Engine rpg hybrid campaign. 
Ultimately we were starting to cross into White Star: Galaxy edition rpg turf back in our own Clark Ashton Smith Campaign. Several of the players were/are huge Star Wars fans & there were several references to the ancient Martian psionic clans that kept cropping up. 
Ultimately this leads me back to thinking about Gary Gygax's passing in a way & original Dungeons & Dragons. Really need to let this whole thing rest for the night folks. 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Space Noble Supplement from Night Owl Workshop For Warriors of the Red Planet Rpg or Your Old School or OSR Campaigns

" Alien kings, space monarchs, rulers of the known universe, decadent nobles of a highly advanced and technological civilization, and of course Space Princesses are staples of space operas, sci-fi sagas, and tales of strange worlds and other dimensions. The Warriors of the Red Planet roleplaying game provides the basics needed to run a Sword & Planet style interplanetary fantasy romance campaign using the classic OSR style rules. However if there was one class that was missing it was the Space Noble -- the aristocracy of the dying red planet. This supplement endeavors to fill that gap with a very playable royal character class, though its primary purpose is to describe the NPC’s that the player characters will encounter."

There are times when something so obvious goes right above your head & that it doesn't come into play until you need it. Take for example the NPC  idea of the Space Noble from Night Owl Workshop. Player's PC have been encountering space going nobles since the inception of the 'grand game'. Right?! Wrong! 
The Space Noble NPC class brings the high end space royals into an interstellar game or even an original Dungeons & Dragons! The Space Noble does this in fourteen pages of royal OSR goodness. 
The threat of bringing down the interstellar hammer onto a kingdom isn't one that I've seen before in D&D. But it would easily fit as a campaign goal & here we've got all of the tools to bring to life a 'Ming the Merciless' style NPC quite easily. 
Remember that  Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, from Edgar Rice Burroughs 'A Princess of Mars' & Flash Gordon's Ming are both cut from the same cloth. The cloth of interstellar  alien royalty is quite extensive a pedigree in Science Fiction & Science Fantasy. And in my humble opinion interstellar royals are quite under represented as villains in D&D campaigns. 

Ming as portrayed by Charles Middleton in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940), seen with one of his dancers, actress Carmen D'Antonio

Used correctly & a 'Space Noble'  could easily become the center piece for an entire campaign setting. And by this I mean ANY campaign setting. The Space Noble  could be a whole cloth villain of a campaign with a whole host of lesser NPC villains under him or her. The real pattern here could be Ming whose one of those vile villains that has his lesser nobles at each other's throats. Yet, he along with his ancestors built an entire artificial solar system spanning  empire that's mobile. Mongo according to the Flash Gordon newspaper strips is mobile capable of being encountered anywhere in the universe. 

But we digress here, the 'Space Noble' has the potential to be one of the deadliest NPC villains that a campaign can have. And the 'Space Noble' from Night Owl Workshop is classy & very well put together for both your Old school & OSR style games.