Session Report 12- 'Shoot out On Inverfurnous IV '- Cepheus Engine/Stars Without Number Revised

 Last night on the cyberpunk world of Inverfurnous IV the player's PC's ran into far more then they were expecting. This session report is going to pick with adventure elements from this blog entry here. 

During last night's our Cepheus Engine/Stars Without Number Revised  hybrid campaign the player's PC's got into an extended fire fight with an unknown group of mercenary space pirartes in last night's game after being on the cyberpunk world of Inverfurnous IV. The whole sector is steeped deeply  in the mythology of the A.I. gods from before the collapse of the Conduit.  The pirates were hauling a cryo pod in the local space port with someone or something on board from an illegal gene jockey's lair. The PC's took heavy fire from several of the pirates having been discovered. Two of the player's PC were killed in a hail of gunfire. 

And it became aparent that the pirates were led by some type of what appeared to be an undead. It wasn't instead was one of the pawns of the alien Slavers.  An
d I used the stats from both From The Sorcerers Skull blog and later  from the Sword of Cepheus. 

The players are trying to figure out what happened to Logan Murphy. This whole thing would or will lead into the capture of   Logan Murphy was a ruthless dictator on the world of Casudxe in Old School Role playing's Justice Denied.

Is there deals going down between the A.I. gods and the slavers?! The Slavers have been supplying the brothel planet network with spy/assassin/sex clones. These taliored  clones have qualities that were take  directly from Clement sector's Tree of Life book. 

Red Mist Ripping At Reality & Spears of the Stars - Thoughts on Worlds Without Number, Spears of the Dawn, & Cepheus Engine rpg

 

Stepping back into the Red Mists once again tonight on the blog we pick right up from where we left off from on the blog here.  The idea of a Latter Earth of the far future surviving the break down of the Celestial Engines of the Godbound Rpg. This isn't necessarily the world we know but instead an amalgam world made up of equal parts ancient Earth & perhaps the far future. All of this could be down to using Latter Earth as a stop gap for humanity to save the species. Reading through Red Tide, Worlds Without Number, & Stars Without Numbers Revised, & the  Godbound Rpg  several questions started to race through my mind. As the red mists squeeze & change their world could they actually send refugees & colonists to the shores of the three lands of Spears of The Dawn rpg. 

Let's talk about the fact that the magick of the three lands might be far more primal & able to keep the energies of the red mist at bay. Because the three lands magick might be able to repair some of the damage to celestial engines. But its only going to be the eternals of the three lands who knew some of these secrets. Their secrets have connections to the House of Bone & Amber adventure. 

Locations once connected by hyperspace gates and starcraft have been cut off from one another for hundreds of years. This all ties into the Latter Earth which once served as the seat of  the Million Stars Empire of Godstar. The royals of the Million Stars once took the best & brightest of the three lands aboard the starships of the gods. Ancient treaties between the peoples of the three lands & the Million Stars empire served to create bridges of marriage, trade, and talent. But these exchanges became mired in mythology & legend. 

There could be scattered across the lands dungeons, former star ports, etc. all coming in from  Sixteen Stars: Creating Places of Perilous Adventure to create these adventure locations. How does this relate to Zozer Games Godstar?! Could the godstar actually be a divinity that escaped the events of the Godbound rpg and still retains its power?! And could this mysterious divine star actually be a god A.I. dolling out its power to a world completely unaware of its true nature?! Aurelia is a world that fits Stars Without Number quite nicely & the baroque nature of its starcraft, society, etc. all fit the idea that latter Earth is a world straight out of myth. 
Ancient worlds that are drowning in ruins of their own pasts. The red mist laps at the edges of reality as demons and mutants tear at the edges of civilization. The godstar might be the only entity who actually knows the secrets of the ancient byways. 
And this goes back to my mind with the ancient nexus gates of Arduin. The ancient divinity of godstar might know the hows & whys of these ancient gateways. Gateways that lead to the last wrecks of ancient baroque spacecrafts. 

Ancient wrecks that are protected by Arduin monsters & horrors! Arduin has these types of ruins & wrecks woven into its history. My players are chomping at the bit to grab such a wreck to reproduce it as a working starcraft. But they've got a long road to get there. 

The Gamma Turquoise Option - Further Cha'alt campaign setting set up

 So the future is the past on Cha'alt & we dip back into the mists of time to pull out one of the more dangerous Science Fantasy locations on my version of the infamous campaign settings. However all of my plans have been put on hold because of snow today. 

Deep on the otherside of Cha'alt is a hive of scum & villainy that holds the remains of some classic spacecraft. Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport is a relic of the last age of Cha'alt recently uncovered by the sands. The place is now under the control of outlaws, mutants, and powers from beyond. And Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport has attracted the attention of my player's PC's. Now the PC's are planning on taking on the mutant forces of the starport. They want to control said starport. But this isn't going to be as easy as it sounds. Sante Fe Starport is controlled by some dangerous NPC's. 


The  town of Abulakwurq’ee fits right into the Cha'alt asthetic quite nicely but this is a town with some dark secrets. And we can easily insert several Cha'alt elements into the mix at the starport to cement the location on Cha'alt. The town is a centeral point for drovers to come to let off some steam & this is a prime reason for the android revolt that starts to happen. But there's also the fact that the death cult has been operating within the area. There are several connections between the starport & the forces within the Gamma Incel cantina. 

The  Gamma Turquoise: Santa Fe Starport has some really solid potential for being a solid adventure location. The struggle to take control of it might be far more then the players are counting on. There are rumors that the Santa Fe starport holds one of the secrets for White Zoth.  White Zoth allows the posessor to create double & triple the crop of the  drug, xanthium-183, is known to many on Cha'alt as fuchsia malaise. This white Malaise is worth 200,000 gold pieces bag & highly coveted by wizards because it allows the wizard to artificially raise their level for 1d200 days while the occult power courses through their veins. White Zoth has deep connections to Cha'alt: Chartreuse Shadows at least within our campaigns. And the party's wizard is a bit obessed with the white zoth & other Cha'alt drugs. 

 

The death cult has connections to the demon clowns of Cha'alt & the players hate these things.  So its all going to go down next week! 

OSR Review & Commentary On The Knox-class frigate By Michael Johnson For The Earth Sector rpg, Cepheus Engine Rpg, & 2d6 Old School Science Fiction Rpg

 "Prepared for action!

The Knox-class frigate is a part of the United States Space Navy's holy trinity:  The Lexington-class cruiser, the Farragut-class destroyer, and the Knox-class frigate.  Designed by American legend Joyner Williamson, these ships have served the since 2294.  Found in both Clement Sector and Earth Sector, these ships are used by the US Space Navy, the Sophronius System Navy, and the Boone System Navy. "

"This book comes complete with full deckplans and statistics for both the Knox and the Improved Knox variant to make your use of our product simple, easy, and fun.  Though specifically designed for our Clement Sector setting, the Knox can be imported into any science fiction setting with little effort.

Climb aboard!  Adventure awaits!" 

 The Knox-class frigate By Michael Johnson For The Earth Sector rpg has a great set up for a great military ship. The Knox- class frigate has the feel of an old Iron Clad warship in the  middle of the American Civil War. Except the Knox Class Frigate is a bit of Earth military forces.  The Knox-class frigate is just about 30 pages of military starship goodness. You get history, background, military files, facts, etc. all related to the Knox-class frigate. 
The Knox- class frigate has some incredible armor, weapons, etc. all within their structure: 
 “A small, fast military starship. Frigates are typically used as escort vessels to protect in-system and interstellar lines of communication or as an auxiliary component of a strike group” Cambridge Dictionary 2300 (standard) Type: Frigate Class: Knox Country: United States of America Service Date: 2296 to present Displacement: 1000 tonnes Drive: Gravitic Thrust: 4G Complement: 60 (14 officers, 46 enlisted) Armament: Primary: 2x 50 tonne Meson Gun Bays Secondary: 2x 50 tonne Particle Beam Bays Light: Triple turret (various) Defenses: Sandcaster Point Defense Node Array Armor: Crystaliron Ships in Class: 36" 
 The Knox-class frigates are small fast escort vessels and are perfect for auxiliary strike force. The United States of America has some impressive forces with the Knox- class frigate making up some of the backbone of their forces. This book is really well done with the writing of Michael Johnson being tense & very tight. 
This book adds another piece of the Earth's puzzle of military forces. 

 The Knox-class frigate By Michael Johnson is a solid book, tightly written with some solid diagrams & plans. This ship adds another twist to the Earth's sectors & its campaign against the various pirate factions. The Knox class frigate is a vital tool in this fight. I really enjoyed The Knox-class frigate because there's so much you as the DM can do with these iconic Earth Sector ships. 

The Knox-class frigate By Michael Johnson For The Earth Sector rpg Is Available Here. 

Thick of the Trade- - Bloody, Bloody, Arduin & The Empire of the Petal Throne Rpg

If there is any city in fantasy rpging that doesn't get the love that it deserves it's Talismondé the capital of the  Arduin proper campaign setting.The whole city is one big melting pot of the estoeric & erotic in one place. After reading through the classic Retro Rpg blog's entry on Talismondé my own thoughts began to bubble on this exotic port capital. This blog post is going to pick up directly from yesterday's blog here. 

My own thoughts on Talismondé the capital of the  Arduin proper campaign setting is that its someplace between Rift's Atlantis & a Dark Ages 70's New York City. The influences of magick in the city would be incredible because of the Nexus Gate wars. The covers of the Arduin Grimoires bare this conceil out. Deodanths mix with humans & far more alien races in an urban atomosphere of decedence & neo  barbarianism. 

If Arduin's Talismondé is one of the melting pots of the multiverse with interdimensional trade being one of the city's pillars of ecomomic stability then it changes quite a few of the usual Dungeons & Dragons conceils. 
The Nexus Gates of Arduin would be very dangerous for adventurers to mess with. I have a feeling the city guard of Arduin are well versed in many of the multiverse's horrors & dangers. The events of Emperor of the Petal Throne's rpg collapse of their hyperspacial & dimensional gates caused demons, eldtrich horrors, and worse to come through. 

The world of Arduin's Hermetic Order of Wizardry may boast more then a few member mage priests of  Tékumel within its inner circle or at least it does in my campaigns. And does the blowing over of the hyperspacial eddies, & dimensional animolies across Arduin and the mulitverse. Mean that  Arduin's Talismondé is open for business?! 
Because if so then it means that the Clement sector's traders have more then a golden opportunity to open up one of the biggest intergalatic & interdimensional trade missions this side of the wormhole. 

If exploritory space craft are blazing away across the old hyperspacial lanes exploring then there's a good chance that  Arduin's Talismondé might have a space port established upon its planetary shores. This idea goes right along with many of the staples of early Eighties 2d6 Science Fiction role playing. Something also got used right along with the world of Greyhawk box set back then as well. Where is Greyhawk in the Spinward Marches?! Wherever it's sector is?! 

Nexus Portals - Bloody, Bloody, Arduin & The Empire of the Petal Throne Rpg

 Finally we're done with the snowblowing for today. Here in Connecticut we got hit with a bit of last minute snow. And while tooling around on the snow blower the idea of Nexus portals or  gates from the Arduin Grimoire by David E. Hargrave.

If we're going to talk about the nexus portals of Arduin then we're going to delve into the mysteries of the multiverse. The fact is that over the years I've speculated that the failures of Arduin's Nexus portals may have been tied into disappearance of Tékumel, of the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg. The disappearance of Tékumel, may have screwed up the nexus system gates  for thousands of years. According to the Empire of the Petal Throne rpg Tekumel wiki entry; "Suddenly, in the 1120th century (according to Shawn Bond)^[4] and for reasons unknown, Tékumel and its star system (Tékumel's two moons, Gayél and Káshi, its sun, Tuléng, and four other planets, Ülétl, Riruchél, Shíchel, and Zirúna) were cast out of our reality into a "pocket dimension" (known as a béthorm in Tsolyáni), in which there were no other star systems. One hypothesis is that this isolation happened through hostile action on the part of an unknown party or group. Another is that the cosmic cataclysm was due to over-use of a faster than light drive which warped the fabric of space. No one knows, but the inhabitants of Tékumel, both human, native, and representatives of the other star-faring races, were now isolated and alone. The novels contain vague clues as to what might have happened."

"Severed from vital interplanetary trade routes (Tékumel is a world very poor in heavy metals) and in the midst of a massive gravitic upheaval due to the lines of gravitational force between the stars being suddenly cut, civilization was thrown into chaos. The intelligent native species, the Hlǘss and the Ssú, broke free from their reservations and wars as destructive as the massive geographic changes ravaged the planet. Several other significant changes took place due to the crisis: mankind discovered it could now tap into ultraplanar energies that were seen as magical forces, the stars were gone from the sky, dimensional nexuses were uncovered and pacts with "demons" (inhabitants of dimensions near in n-dimensional space to Tékumel's pocket dimension) were made and a complex pantheon of "gods" (powerful extra-dimensional or multi-dimensional alien beings) discovered. Science began to stagnate until ultimately knowledge became grounded in traditions handed down from generations long ago, the belief that the universe was ultimately understandable slowly faded, and a Time of Darkness descended over the planet.

Much of Barker's writing concerns a time approximately 50,000 years after Tékumel has entered its pocket dimension" 

 
So what happens when all of the hyperspacial eddies & waves calm down?! Could we actually see elements of Arduin showing up in other univeses?! Or could the hyper dimensional events of Empire of the Petal Throne actually be responsible for the collapse of the worm hole in the Clement sector rpg as the hyperspacial waves ripped across the planes?! 

 Anything is possible but the fact is the underlying idea of the collapse of such an extensive hyperspacial gateway system is going to echo across time & space. This means that thoericially there could be space craft trapped from EPT's hyperspacial folds or those of other realities. 
Other anomlies could be the displacement of other reality inhabitants as hyperspacial folds or warps pick up random inhabitants from Arduin & deposit them on other worlds. This could easily be done using Sword of Cepheus rpg to bring your favorite Arduin rpg elements or adventure bits into your 2d6 fantasy. 

  These gates & keys could bring traders into from the Clement Sector rpg or other Cepheus Engine rpg campaign worlds. Only these ideas are limited as products of you & your player's imaginations. 

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. 

Commentary On The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg

 The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg is a twenty three page book of optional tables, rules, roles, and ideas. This is a free pdf rpg reference book that works like a mini rule book for Warpland. And the weird barbarian post apocalpytic setting works really well with the Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality. 

The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga book brings home the savagery of the post apocalpytic setting of  Warpland & just how dangerous it can be. The tables on mutation brought about by the giant dimensional rift speak volumes to the savage nature of the campaign setting. Taken by itself Warpland presents a world where reality itself has been shattered.  The techno-arcane war that has overtaken the setting is telling in several ways. One society is broken and shattered beyond repair, the Eoli & the Morlocks have wounded each other's reality in ways that defy explaination, & finally the setting has been sent back to the stone age. 

What this speaks volumes about is the adventure & dungeon locations in the form of ruins, forgotten places, and whole sale abandoned cities. These places are rife with super science artifacts, magic items, and even weird treasures. All of this ties into the fact that the PC's are the child of the last generation of survivors. 
This seems like the end but its not as the PC's can & should affect the world in ways that they are not even aware of. In other words the PC's have the opportunity to act as heros in the face of obilivion. And this all traces itself back into the fact that the wastelands  of Warpland are prime adventuring real estate.
And under the multi coloured sky the Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality gives the player's PC's even more options for the Warpland rpg. 

The Forbidden Book of Tangible Reality From Gavriel Quiroga For The Warpland Rpg  Is Available Right Here 

Review & Commentary On The Hub Federation Ground Forces By Michael Johnson For The Clement Sector Rpg, The Cepheus Engine Rpg, & Your 2d6 Old School Science Fiction Rpg's

 "Join the adventure!

Strength Through Unity.  That's the motto of the Hub Federation Defence Force Militias.  Banded together after the collapse of the Conduit back to Earth Sector, the planetary defense forces of the six worlds of the Hub Federation have united to fight the fear and chaos they see as rampant in Clement Sector.  "

"By Space, Air and Land.  That's the motto of the Hub Federation Marines.  Founded from melding German and British armed forces stranded by the Conduit Collapse, the Hub Federation Marines struggle to protect the Federation from its enemies as well as try to get past their cultural differences. "

One of my player's PC's pirate parents was murdered by the Hub Federation military forces. But what makes the Hub military forces so deadly?! Well, if we look at Hub Federation Ground Forces by Michael Johnson. Then we get a very detailed look into the planetary side of the Hub forces inside the Clement Sector. What we get is a melding of the German and British armed forces stranded by the Conduit Collapse. Whose motto is By Space, Air and Land  the motto of the Hub Federation Marines is very telling of their roles. 
And it belies the Hub Federation Marines full evolution into their role today across the Clement Sector. A role that demands the death of any whole sale outlaws & space pirate raiders who terrify the outer areas of the Clement Sector. 
The Space Western swole in the Clement sector gives the the Hub Federation Marines equivilant role of the Old West's American Calvary.  A force  designed for lightning fast response, quick decisive attacks, and the ability to operate within a wide variety of enviroments. 

The Hub Federation Marines are so much more then the sum of their parts though. These marines handle everything from bug hunts to full on pirate armies. The Hub Federation Marines will not back down from a Clement sector dust up. And there's plenty of opportunity for adventure. 
The Hub Federation Marines are both the response to the Collapse & the adaptation to the current conditions of the Clement sector. 
This isn't a settled sector contrary to Clement sector tourist propoganda. The Clement sector is literally the edge of the great unknown. And the Hub Federation Marines are another facet of the military's thin red against the forces of the black. 
And its this aspect of the Hub Federation Ground Forces book that makes it so good. 

What makes the Hub Federation Ground Forces book work is that it reads like a real military book. The weapons, the armor, the tactics of   the Hub Federation Marines are all there. The Hub Federation Ground Forces By Michael Johnson is a solid addition to the Clement sector rpg DM's tool box! 

The Hub Federation Ground Forces By Michael Johnson Is Available Right Over Here

The New Age of Discovery In Zozer Games Hostile - Beyond The Furthest Horizon

 Tonight I've got to wait until two of my players work scheduling issues so tonight I'm dusting off Zozer games Colony Builder & Explorers for the gritty HOSTILE science fiction setting. And this being done to fill in several colonies that we've got on the outer fringes of our Hostile campaign. 

This is being done to create several unexplored worlds with lots of natural resources. Rich natural resources that temp the heck out of rough necks who want that want that big  company bonus. The interstellar scene is one of very dynamic & dangerous exploration. These planets are prime points in the universe of Hostile for expansion. 
This instellar expansion reminds me of the great Age of Discovery. This would later result in the exploitation of the lands of the discovery something baked into the Hostile rpg  setting. 

The explorers of Hostile are the trail blazers & scouts of the rpg. They face & can die under very easy circumstances. Spacers in Hostile are the workers & explorers working space job by job. They are not the heroes of the rpg. They can be more often then the victims waiting to happen. 

This new Age of Discovery marks the bounty of adventure within Hostile. Because its not simply about xenomorphs. But straight on into exploring some of the most dangerous planetary & asteroids in the Hostile rpg. These will determine the fate of mankind among the stars, For myself this is the real power of the Hostile rpg. 

And its the exploitation of thesse new worlds for me as DM that works so well. The fact is that these new worlds provide so much more then simply another planet. But the basis for further exploration & expansion as well as providing both the finiancial & raw material to move further into the inerstellar scene. 

As the Hostile rpg campaign moves further along the stakes get higher & corporations begin to move into their instellar & galactic holdings. These go beyond the simple exoplanet colonies and into the ever expanding galactic turf of the setting. In many respects we are the late comers to the Hostile universe. 

The Age of Exploration in the Hostile campaign setting is only beginning. Who knows what the future will hold coming up. 

Reviews & Commentary On Chartreuse Shadows By Venger Satanis From Kort’thalis Publishing For The Crimson Dragon Slayer Rpg & OSR Rpg's

 "The long awaited 3rd book of the Cha'alt trilogy.  This PDF includes Saving Cha'alt, Cha'alt After Dark, and the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon.  I've also included the updated Crimson Dragon Slayer RPG and Crimson Escalation.  This motherhucker is 360 pages! "

"This work is for mature audiences that specifically want edgier, sleazier, and darker material.  You've been warned!

If you've ever wanted an eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting with random tables, humor, pop-culture references, and grindhouse / exploitation vibes, this is your lucky day.  Works like Cha'alt don't come round very often.  This is the opposite of corporate mainstream D&D."


Several months ago, my group of players were in the middle of Saving Cha'alt as a Godbound rpg  campaign. And unfortunately two of our players bowed out because of work scheduling commitments. Fortunely Venger Satanis collected Saving Cha'alt, Cha'alt After Dark, and the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon into one volume in  Chartreuse Shadows. And it also includes Crimson Dragon Slayer RPG and Crimson Escalation. Now here's what I can tell you having DM'ed Saving Cha'alt. You have to understand that this is a completely gonzo campaign  as is the rest of the Cha'alt books. This doesn't mean that the adventures here are not hard or deadly quite the opposite.Sure there are lots of gonzo elements but this is a continuation of the Cha'alt books & their very skillfullly done. 

Cha'alt is a desert planet that takes on its  eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic campaign setting seriously. There's more then enough tools here in  Chartreuse Shadows for the DM to dive into the deep end of a Cha'alt campaign with little to no issue. Chartreuse Shadows takes its gonzo seriously with lots of twists & turns to take the campaign setting of Cha'alt to the next level. The final twist on the Cha'alt setting is the Cremza'amirikza'am megadungeon. This is a megadungeon of nastiness.  There's some really solid encounters & several disturbing ones that stretches the nastiness of Cha'alt. And then there's Cha'alt After Dark by Venger Satanis is a series of supplemental rules, sexual encounter random tables along with consquences, and lots of Venger Satanis DMing advice all collected into Chartreuse Shadows . 
This is rounded out with another copy of the Crimson Dragon Slayer Rpg. And its a very well done micro set of OSR rules. This is just enough to run an entire Cha'alt rpg campaign for some months. Crimson Dragon Slayer has a really strange twist back to its own Eighties campaign period and it works quite nicely as a PC backdrop & possible origin point for Cha'alt. And this comes in quite nicely for Chartreuse Shadows. 

As for myself having run Saving Cha'alt some months back I'd use my favorite OSR Rpg rules to bring out the best in  Chartreuse Shadows. Cha'alt works best when you bring in outside PC's into the weirdness of Cha'alt & Chartreuse Shadows continues this OSR element. Is Chartreuse Shadows good?! Yes, and yes I do think its worth the money. 
You can grab Chartreuse Shadows right over here! 

Commentary On Subsector Sourcebook 2: Franklin By John Watts, Kayla Lee, & Bonnie Dodson For The Clement Sector, Cepheus Engine, & Your Old School 2d6 Science Fiction Rpg Campaigns

 "An entire subsector at your fingertips!

The second edition of the Subsector Sourcebook 2: Franklin details Subsector C of our Clement Sector setting. 

"Franklin is a subsector of independent worlds which, while more settled and established than Sequoyah or the colonies subsectors, is still not as tamed as Hub or Cascadia subsectors.  Here you will find the alien artifacts of Tal'Kalares, the theocracy of Frankin, the military dictatorship of Minerva, the libertarian city-states of Bastiat, and the floating cities of Moffett." 

Subsector Sourcebook 2: Franklin By John Watts, Kayla Lee, & Bonnie Dodson is one of those books you don't know that you need as a DM. Subsector Sourcebook 2: Franklin touches on the fringes of the Clement sector universe. This is one of those subsectors filled to the brim with opportunites for adventure. The book seriously is the outer edges of the interstellar map. And its filled with frontier edge planets & systems that will challenge even the most jaded of adventurers & spacers. These are the not quite wild systems that have lost touch with the rest of civilazation and like it that way. 
There are plenty of places within the Franklin subsectors that can easily get PC's killed. And to put it into the terms of a Space Western. Franklin is the type of sub sector that represents the American indian lands where the PC's are the strangers within a strange land. Franklin is the type of a sub sector where the rules of law still apply but they might not be the laws that your PC's are familiar with. Franklin is where the deeper space expediation's get launched from. 

But since the collapse of the wormhole the whole subsector wants to keep its independence from both Clement & Earth. They have no reason to welcome thier interstellar parents back into their sphere of influence with anything resembling open arms.  They've had the taste of freedom & want to keep going. To touch the nerve of the matter the Franklin sub sector has no real reason to welcome outside governmental rule. There are sometings that should be strictly local affairs. And this is one of them. 

The Franklin sub sector is embroiled between the instellar world that it wishes it was and that one it is. Franklin is of those sub sectors where the illusion of control hides the seething madness of the genre floating beneath the surface. Franklin is a sub sector with a powder keg aspect just waiting to explode! And it could be the PC's who kick off the excitement. 

Commentary on Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts For the Clement Sector rpg, Cepheus Engine, & 2d6 Old School Science Fiction Rpg's

" Worlds for adventure! Durga Subsector, Subsector C of Earth Sector is a part of the civilized core worlds of the sector.  Named for the Hindu goddess of war, strength, and protection, the subsector is held by three powerful nations:  China, The United Kingdom, and the Union of Scandinavia. Durga includes the garden world of New Windsor, the icy world of Pingdan, the agricultural world of Långt, and the bleak world of Niflheim.  "




 "It is also home to an independent world, Arthur's World, ruled by a benevolent yet eccentric monarch. Filled with system maps, world maps, and physical data for each world, this book is a treasure trove of information for Referees who want to take their Earth Sector adventures further afield or for those who simply want a variety of worlds for their uses"

Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts chronicles one of the main stay of the Clement Sector rpg & that's world after world of highly valuable resources, settlement material, & more on the planet or sector side. These worlds belong to  three powerful nations:  China, The United Kingdom, and the Union of Scandinavia which each have their own fleets to defend these worlds. And what it brings home is that the Earth sector reminds me of the Union army post American Civil War. An expansionist empire waiting to move across the United Stats into the Old West. The Durga Sector provides raw fodder for colonies for Earth sector, especially if any one of these nations of Earth's sector's resources are stretched thin. This allows other friendly nations to do some of the colonizing while others may antagonize for war. 

The Earth sector banks & corporations are the only thing keeping the nations of Earth from tearing each other's colonies apart. Why?! Because of the long term issues with colonization. And this is one of the reasons why expansion into the Black is super critical for Earth.
Earth is an interstellar power at this point & if contact was to be reestablished with the Clement sector. The Clement Sector is a far more dangerous power at this point. And it stands to reason that there is no way that the Clement sector would ever give up years of independence. Only if contact was to re establish but this is a DM pipe dream.  Subsector Sourcebook: Durga is also great because it brings a plethora of new worlds & their colonies to explore. 

 Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts brings home the fact that colony worlds unto themselves are some of the most valuable pieces of colony properties. Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts  within the Earth brings home the valuable and subtle dangers that go with colony world. 
If you need new planets, colonies, and worlds  Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts is a solid addition to your DM tool box. 

 Subsector Sourcebook: Durga By John Watts Is Available Here.