STARCRASH

Being in a Sci Fi mood of late, I thought I'd track down a Sci Fi movie from the 70's that I have heard about but never seen.  That movie was Starcrash!  I watched it last night and I'm not sure where to begin!

This movie is so Cheesy that the Cheese has extra Cheese!  But you know what, it was so bad that it was good.  The plot was ridiculous, acting terrible, special effects bad even for the era it was filmed in.  But you know what I kinda enjoyed it! 

And not just because of the scantily clad leading lady.   LOL

My favorite character was actually the "Tin-Horn" law-man Robot Elle. 
I may have to try to adapt some stuff from it for my next Sci Fi Campaign. 
Good Gaming- B.

Draculants

Hope everyone is having a great weekend.  I find myself back in a Sci Fi mood these days.  Read an interesting article about ants recently and decided to stat up a mutant/alien beast for Other Dust/Stars Without Number.  Just tweak them a bit and they are perfect for X-plorers or any other Old School Game.

Ant, Giant Vampire  "Dracula Ant"

AC: 6                                     No. Appearing: 1d8 (3d10)

Hit Dice: 1                             Saving Throw: 15

Attack Bonus: +1                   Movement: 30', 20' climb

Damage:  (bite) 1d4+1          Morale: 9

Special Abilities: Attach, Blood Drain

Attach: On a successful bite attack the vampire ant will attempt to imbed its mandibles into the victims skin in order to feed upon the victim's blood.  The victim must succeed at an Evasion save.  Failure means that the vampire ant has imbedded itself into the victim.  Each round the victim may attempt a new save to pull, twist and turn to remove the ant, if successful the victim suffers 1d4 damage from the mandibles ripping and tearing  the victim's skin. 

Blood Drain: Upon successfully imbedding its feeding mandibles into a victim's flesh, the vampire ant will then inflict 1d4 points of damage per round due to blood drain. The blood drain starts the round following a successful attach attack.  After draining 10 points of blood from a victim the vampire ant will break off the attack and return to its lair to feed the queen.

 Giant Vampire Ants (aka Dracula Ants) are a (mutant or alien,  if using in SWN) species of ant that on average are 3' long.  In many ways they act and behave like normal ants, except for their size and blood draining ability. Their queens feed exclusively upon blood.  Vampire Ant Queens are enormous bloated beasts that are nearly immobile and are dependent upon the colony to bring her blood to feed upon.  There are rumors that some queens are intelligent and even have psychic abilities but this has never been proven.

Inspired by this real world ant http://news.discovery.com/animals/6-new-dracula-ant-species-discovered-in-madagascar-140331.htm

Guardians of the Galaxy

Jay has been posting up a storm about the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy movie, this movie is really getting me excited.  I've been a big fan of The Guardians of the Galaxy comics (old and new) for a long time, so this should rock!  I don't see Bug from the Micronauts in the lineup though so that's a bit disappointing.  Anyways I think this will be my next Sci Fi Campaign!  Now to decide on the rule system to use; X-plorers, Stars Without Number, Rogue Space, Machinations of the Space Princess, Savage Worlds..so many choices!!  I did do an X-plorers conversion for Rocket awhile back, course I've also done a ton of Marvel  Aliens conversions for Stars Without Number...my recent foray into Rogue Space showed me I can run crazy off the cuff adventures (which is very much in the spirit of Guardians of the Galaxy), hmmm decisions decisions...

Long time followers of my blog know I'm a fan of Sci Fi and Lego and I just saw where there will be Lego sets for Guardians of the Galaxy!  Can't wait to see how these look!  I'll be using them for minis in my Campaign!

Sci Fi Sunday!

Not sure Sci Fi Sunday will be a regular feature, but I found these two pictures and thought they were just too cool not to share.

This one gives me lots of ideas for Sci Fi gaming, a forbidden planet named El Dorado, with an abandoned outpost, buried beneath the planet's surface is some alien horror that is hungry to be released upon your unsuspecting players!

 

Here's the second one I found, both are album covers for Iron Maiden. Very cool! And full of ideas for your Sci Fi Games! 

Some Sci Fi Gaming Resources on the cheap

Picked up a couple of Star Wars Essential Guides in the Discount Bin at a Comic Shop, while I'm not currently planning on running a Star Wars Campaign, I'm thinking with a bit of reskinning I can get some cool locations and aliens to use in my Sci Fi Campaigns (X-plorers, Stars Without Number, or whatever your Sci Fi game of choice may be). I scored both books for only $5.  : )

Star Trek Into Darkness

My wife and I got to go see the new Star Trek Movie last night.

We both really enjoyed it, seeing it has definately gotten me back into Sci Fi mode.  If you liked the last one you will like this one,  my wife is still not completely overjoyed about the whole reboot thing, but I'm ok with it. 
     Now to decide what mechanic to go with....Stars Without Number...X-plorers....Machinations of the Space Princess...Starships & Spacemen....decisions, decisions....

Iron Dwarfs

Here's a fun alien race I worked up for Machinations of the Space Princess, with some Stars Without Numbers Tags thrown in. 

Iron Dwarfs (Kragmosians)

Lenses
Austere: The harsh conditions of their homeworld have instilled in them a strict sense of living with no luxuries, waste or other "frivolous" things. They consider other species pursuit of such things to be a sign of weakness.
Pride: While not necessarily overtly hostile to other races, they do favor their own kind over all others and have a near single-minded focus on the promotion and advancement of their own species.
Collectivity: Communistic outlook, the importance of the individual is thought to be minimal when weighed against the group as a whole.
Government: Oligarchic; "The Central Committee"
Technology Level: 4
Motivation: Community
     The heavy gravity world of Kragmos-3 is home to the Kragmosian race, or as humans tend to call them Iron Dwarfs. They are a squat, short (4'+ tall) race of humanoids with a metallic-like outer hide. They are a proud race, viewing other races as beneath them, but will trade with other species for goods and resources that cannot be found within their home system. While possessing space travel capabilities they tend to stick to their homeworld, maintaining only a few trade outposts outside of their home system. There is little individuality amongst them, the harshness of their homeworld entrenched in them a strong desire to work for the community as a whole rather than the individual. This same background led them to develop a very austere culture teaching them to make do with little, as well as, valuing restraint, selflessness and strength of will. It is thought for this reason that no known Iron Dwarf has ever exhibited or pursued the development of Psion abilities. Lone Iron Dwarfs found beyond their home system and outposts are most likely rogues amongst their own kind that have been exiled to human space as a form of punishment.
     While they exhibit a great deal of restraint on most occasions Iron Dwarfs do enjoy singing, while they work (it is actually a very low hum), however their singing creates a low vibrational effect that other races (humans in particular) find disturbing! Humans listening to the "singing" for more than 5 rds will suffer a terrible headache (-1 to all skill checks requiring concentration until free from exposure for 5 rds or more.)

MOTSP Traits
Humanoid: +1 Skill Point
Metal-Oxide Based- Metallic Skin: Armor Rolls at +1 (for other games this would be the equivalent of Damage Reduction: 1)
High Gravity – Very Tough +2 Con, -1 Dex
Austere- Tough: +2 to Toughness Save
-4 to Charisma: Racially Prideful, Austere and Introverted, Iron Dwarfs tend to not interact well with other races.
Iron Dwarfs have no known Psion abilities; PC Iron Dwarfs cannot choose the Psion class

Kragmos-3
Atmosphere: Breathable Mix (has a harsh unpleasant smell, but no other ill effects)
Temperature: Warm World – Rocky Desert, surface is harsh and brutal
Biosphere: Immiscible
Population: Estimated to be in the Hundreds of Thousands (99% of Iron Dwarfs dwell underground, their cities hidden from outsiders, they utilize tunnelers and borer vehicles to travel beneath the planet's rocky surface so exact numbers of their overall population are unknown).
Tech Level: 4 (with advances in gravitic weaponry & underground borer and tunneler vehicles)
World Tags: Heavy Mining (while poor in many resources, Kragmos-3 is rich in metal and mineral wealth), Desert World

Based on the cover of Gold Key's Space Family Robinson, no copyright infringement is intended.

Space Bettas for your Old School Space Opera Games

Well I missed Simian Saturday, had to run errands with She Who Must Be Obeyed, so to make up for it how about a Sci Fi Sunday post!  These beasts may not appeal to those running hard sci fi campaigns but I like to have a bit of pulp in my games and under the right circumstances I think they'd be alot of fun. These do have a place in my Shattered Stars Campaign. I stat'd them up for the fun X-plorers RPG, but with minimal work you can use them with your OSR Sci Fi game of choice. Have a great Day!

Space Betta
X-plorers RPG Stats (to use with SWN basically just flip the AC)

AC: 14
HD: 3d6
THB: +2
ATT: tentacles x 2/1d6 (+ see below)
SV: 17+
MV: 6
XP: 90
Special Abilities: Hold Attack (if both tentacles successful hit their victim, he must make a Physique or Agility Save, whichever is better for the victim, if he fails he is grappled and the Space Betta automatically inflicts 1d6+2 points of bite damage the following round and each round thereafter until the victim can break free, or is dead.), Optional Movement: Flying (can Fly with a MV of 8 in Zero G environments). Immunity: They are immune to the effects of Vacuum.
     These tentacle, fish-like aliens are named for their passing resemblance to a species of ancient Terran fish,  Space Bettas are fearsome predators of the spaceways.  Through some unknown means they can survive indefinitely in the vacuum of space. Space Bettas are most commonly encountered in and around derelict space stations, abandoned spacecraft and various asteroid belts.  It is believed that they originated from somewhere in the Nega-Zone, and it is said that they can still be found there in great numbers.  They have voracious appetites and will attack, kill and eat any living prey they encounter.
  Oh and I've been playing around with the Rough Draft rules for the upcoming Machinations of the Space Princess RPG, here is how the Space Betta would be stat'd up for MotSP per the draft rules.   MotSP Stats (Machinations of the Space Princess)
Close Defense: 12
Ranged Defense: 12
Armor: Scaly Hide (1d4)
Hit Dice: 3 (13)
Initiative: +1
Movement: 10m per rd., Flight 20m per rd.
Attacks: 2
Damage: 1d6 +1
Saves: 5
Traits: Sealed-System (can survive indefinitely in a vacuum), Tentacles (grapple attacks are +1 to hit & damage), Flight (20m), Extra Action

Here is the original cover which I based these beasties upon.

Shattered Stars Sector Map take 2

I've done a bit more on this, changed a few things and added some stuff.  It's pretty damn eclectic but I had fun doing it. 

Shattered Stars Space Sector WIP

With all the recent posts of folks (James Mishler, Blood Axe and Tenkar in particular) using Hexographer to create Campaign maps for their games I thought I'd give it a try. Well after several failed attempts to create a Fantasy Campaign map that I liked, and then an unsuccessful try at a Post Apocalypse map, I found  myself getting inspired to work up a Sci Fi Sector map! This is very much a Work in Progress, I may lose the Space Commies (I'm not sure they now fit my plans...). The Caliphate of Stars are sort of Zhodani (sort of and without the armor). I'll probably change the name of the Ophidian Order to something else, I'm using the Ophidians from Dreamscarred Press's Psionics Unleashed for the main race there (along with a few other reptilian types).  The Ophidians have retreated back into their section of space after the "Sleestak Wars" of ten years ago (the humans used the term as an insult for the serpent types, thanks Tetsubo!) Some of the worlds are from a few of the Marvel races I've converted to SWN (Deo was once the center of a powerful multi-system Theocracy).  Anyways let me know what you think, I've got a lot more fiddling to do with it, but wanted to share what I have so far.  Even if I don't use this, I've had alot of fun working on it.

Octo-Kings of The Lost Planet

Octo-Kings of the Lost Planet

AC: 5 No. Appearing: 1 or 1d3
Hit Dice: 4 Saving Throw: 13+
Attack Bonus: +8/+8/+4/+4  Movement: 30' (double movement when in treetops or similar)
Damage: 1d6/1d6/ 1d6/1d6   Morale: 9
+2 Bonus on Perception Checks due to superior vision, hearing and smell.

     Octopus-Kings, or Octo-Kings, are fearsome denizens of The Lost Planet. Malicious and cruel, they hate other sentient races with an intense fury, going out of their way to harm them. Some have managed to learn to speak the languages of other races; just so they can taunt and mock their victims prior to dining upon them (they find human flesh to be quite tasty).
     Octo-Kings tend to not get along with one another, but if the prey is right (tasty and human!) they will band together for short periods in order to capture the most food, infighting usually ensures and these bands disperse as quickly as they were formed.
Octo-Kings possess four sets of eyes providing them with keen vision, including Dark vision out to 20 meters. Their large ears and noses provide them with enhanced senses of smell and hearing.
In spite of their name, they tend to avoid water and damp conditions. They are most often found in the wastelands and twisted forests of The Lost Planet.
While they understand the concepts of tools and technology they refuse to use such things, however these are not mindless beasts, they can open doors, pull levers and do other intelligent tasks in order to get at their prey. There are legends of Octo-Kings possessing Psionic powers and large bands of normal Octo-King followers but most consider such stories to be crazy tales.

Stats are for Stars Without Number but with minimal tweaking could work for X-Plorers, Hulks & Horrors, Machinations of the Space Princess, Terminal Space or whatever your OSR Sci Fi game of choice might be! : )

Loosely based on Cover of Strange Worlds #2, no copyright infringement is intended.

Starships & Spacemen : Bynars

I've been reading my copy of Starships and Spacemen 2nd ed. a bit.  Thought I'd try my hand at writing up an obscure alien race from TNG.

BYNARS

Requirements: INT 12
Ability Adjustments: STR -1, INT +2, CHA-1
Skill Adjustments: Combat -1, Technical +2
Metabolism: Cobalt Based
     Bynars are a race of short humanoids (averaging a little over 5' tall) with lilac skin and enlarged skulls from the planet Bynaus in the Beta Magellan System. They are relatively new members of the Galactic Confederation.

Shortly after birth all Bynars undergo a procedure where their parietal lobe is surgically replaced with a synaptic processor. This processor connects them to the Bynaus Master Computer. It has been speculated that they are so interconnected with their Master Computer should anything ever happen to it, they would die. Due to being so interconnected with the master computer their language and thought patterns are as close to binary code as possible for organic beings. They can and do speak the Confederation Common tongue but pairs will quite regularly finish one another's sentences, often to the dismay of other races interacting with them.Even their names are a series of 1' and 0's. When speaking directly to one another they utilize a high pitched sound that is inaudible to other races. Each Bynar is equipped with a buffer to safely manage this high rate of information transfer. Bynars always work and live in pairs. Bynars are genetically bonded in pairs for life, should one of the pair meet an untimely accident the surviving Bynar must return to Bynaus where they will be matched to another (without a bonded partner a Bynar performs all actions at -2, until matched with a new partner). When working in pairs Bynars each get to roll 1d6+1 for the number of questions they may ask the computer at a given time.

Even though they are still fairly new members of Space Fleet, paired Bynars can sometimes be found at larger Star Bases, usually engaged in computer repairs and upgrading Space Fleet's Starship computers.

Obviously I took these from Star Trek The Next Generation. I think they only appeared in one episode TNG: 11001001

I'm not sure Starships and Spacemen 2nd ed. is going to replace Stars Without Number or X-plorers as my Sci Fi RPG of choice, but this was a fun exercise and these guys were pretty easy to stat up. 

Prometheus Rising + X-plorers RPG = AWESOME!!!

There's a cool announcement over on the X-plorers RPG Blog today.
Brave Halfling Publishing will be releasing Prometheus Rising (originally a d20 product) for the X-plorers RPG! I think this is awesome!
I can't wait to get ahold of this! 
   

                                              The cover of the original product

X-plorers and Aliens!

I've been a fan of the X-plorers RPG since it first came out a few years ago, I even have the limitied edition boxed set and will pick up the latest print edition with the new cover at some point.  One thing I wish the game had was alien player character options.  Hopefully future products will have this but in the mean time the Fear No Darkness blog has put together what looks like a fun little way to randomly work up alien pc's for your X-plorers games.  I haven't gotten to test these out yet (we are neck deep in a Pathfinder Campaign at the moment) but hope to try them out at some point.  : )

Andre Norton : Star Rangers

On a recent outing with my wife we went into a used bookstore.  This one is a bit out of the way, most of the local used bookstores have either closed or don't carry what I'm looking for.  You see I've got a thing for those old DAW Yellow Spined books that I remember from my youth. Anyways I spied this sharp looking volume on the shelf:

Andre Norton's Star Rangers.  I have to admit the man on the cover drew me in.  I thought he looked totally cool, sort of a combination of Spock and Hawk from the Buck Rogers TV series.
Anyway, I just finished reading it and I have to say for a book written in the early 50's I found it to be quite enjoyable.  Not to give away too much but its about a group of Star Rangers during the decline of a vast Space Empire, that find themselves stranded on a forgotten world.  Good stuff, ripe for mining material for your sci fi space games i.e. Stars Without Number, X-plorers, etc...  The guy on the cover turned out to be a psychic human but I may just have to "steal" the image to work up a new alien race for SWN.
Good Gaming! -B.

Hulks & Horrors

I came across this new Kickstarter today.

It's the Hulks & Horrors RPG

Here's the blurb about it:
"The Game Hulks and Horrors is a game of space exploration, treasure hunting, and horrific peril, set in the abandoned places of space.
Centuries before mankind and its new allies reached the stars, a great galactic plague wiped out all sentient life, leaving the galaxy littered with the ruins and wealth of entire civilizations. But the plague also left behind the plague horrors, terrifying creatures twisted by the mutagenic plague into atavistic monsters that crave only the flesh of other life.
Characters take on the role of one of seven classes: the battle-hardened Soldier, the brash and dextrous Pilot, the clever genius Scientist, the meditative master Psyker, and their alien allies, the tribal Bearmen, the brilliant ameoboid Omega Reticulans, and the nimble Hovering Squid.
The core rules are inspired by the classic editions of the world's most popular roleplaying game, and easily convertible to and from most major retroclones. Core resolution is based on a simple roll-under system, designed to keep the old-school flavor of the game mechanics while streamlining them for a newer generation.
Extensive DM tools are included for designing spaceships, dungeons, monsters, and whole sectors of space, as well as ideas for optional house rules, and a generous selection of monsters ready made for your campaigns."



A Hovering Squid! One of the races/classes available

 I gotta admit this has me intrigued.  I see it as fitting right in with X-Plorers, Stars Without Number, or the upcoming Starships and Spacemen RPG's. I may just have to contribute to this one!  : )

Simian Saturday : Cyclopean Grappler Ape

Cyclopean Grappler Ape
AC: 5
No. Appearing: 1 (1d4)
Hit Dice: 4
Saving Throw: 13
Attack Bonus: +8
Movement: 30', 40' when down on all 6 limbs, can climb at 30'
Damage: claw 1d6/claw1d6/claw1d6/claw 1d6 Morale: 9
*Due to the creatures four arms any Grappling or Climbing attempts are at +4 .
     These 8' tall alien apes are a true terror whenever they are encountered. Originally believed to have been from a distant jungle planet, their original homeworld has long been forgotten, now they are scattered across the galaxy apparently as a result of zoo exhibits, many escaped into the wild and now prey upon those that once viewed them as freakish beasts. To compound the problem a recent trend by unscrupulous criminals and such is to use these creatures as guardian beasts. Only the most vile and desperate would do this, for no one has really been able to successfully domesticate these creatures, and they seem particularly hostile to humans. There are many cantina tales of criminal hideouts being overrun by the very beasts used to guard their compound.

Note: I don't actually have this comic, so not sure what the "real" story on this beastie is, I just went with what the picture inspired me with. : )

While I worked these up with Stars Without Number in mind, with just a few minor stat tweaks these creatures would work equally well with the excellent X-Plorers RPG! And if you were so inclined I could see them working just fine in Mutant Future! Isn't the OSR awesome! : )
 Have a Great Simian Saturday!

Digging into the discount comics bin

Like most folks I'm having to watch my budget closely these days, and as a result my gaming purchases have taken a serious hit of late.  I still go to the "local" comic/game shop when I can (the only one left in town now), they recently put out several big boxes of old comics for 25 cents a piece! Woo Hoo!  I found several cool looking comics, I'll be talking about more of them later, but one that gave me some surprising fodder for gaming was this one. Warheads, its a Marvel UK short lived series from the '90s.

The plot is perfect for an RPG Campaign.  The Warheads are mercenaries working for a secretive group known as MYS-TECH.  This powerful multinational (planar?) corporation has found the secret of accessing and somewhat controlling wormholes via techno-magic and sends these mercenaries through portals to other worlds/dimensions/times to steal alien tech and artifacts for the company to use for some serious profit, supposedly the mercs get a percentage of the cut, but the characters receive limited training and die off pretty regularly, 3 died in the first issue alone. Sounds pretty OSR doesn't it! "Oh Sh*t Run!"

     There's more to it but that in and of itself sounded pretty darn cool to me. 

Seems like a great way to put together a mix of different characters, all low-level with a reason for being together and going out to get their butts kicked. Throw in some guns, alien tech, magic, monsters and you've got the makings of a fun campaign!

Now to decide on the mechanic? I first thought maybe Stars Without Number which could work fine, and has a nice Psionics System, I considered Terminal Space (and that would definately be cool) but for some reason and folks may think I'm crazy for this, I'm thinking about using the X-plorers RPG!  I mean the basic premise behind X-plorers is your a team of Troubleshooters sent out to "Fix" stuff.  Heh heh heh.

Anyways just thought I'd share my rambling thoughts.  Needless to say I was quite please with my .25 cent purchase.  

Simian Saturday: Space Yeti (part II)

A short while back I posted about the Space Yeti.  Thought I'd go ahead and stat the beastie up for the X-plorers RPG (edit: with a few easy tweaks the beastie will work fine in Stars Without Number also!), seemed to fit that set of rules nicely.  I borrowed some mechanics from the D20 Future RPG, namely the Space Template with some tweaking, with a healthy dose of AD&D M.M. thrown in.  I gotta say I like how this critter turned out, I've got a definate adventure idea in mind for this creature!

Space Yeti

AC 14, HD 4d6 (+4 if you are feeling extra mean), THB +4, ATT 2 claw 1d6/claw 1d6, ST 15+, MV 6/6, XP 540, No. Appearing: 1 (rarely 1-6)
Special Abilities: Optional Movement: can move at normal movement rate in zero-g environments, Dark vision (20m), Immunity to Cold, Radiation Resistance (+8 to save vs. any kind of radiation poisoning), Fire Resistance (ignores first 10 points of fire damage taken per rd.), Paralyzing Gaze (if surprises foe, a Presence save is required, if failed means victim has looked into the Space Yeti's eyes and is rigid with fright for 1d3 rds.), Vacuum Survival: can exist in zero atmosphere environments.

     These 8' tall, 300+ lb. beasts are true terrors to the space ways, considered to be a cantina legend, those who have come across the victims of a Space Yeti attack know all too well the frightening truth!

For use with the awesome Stars Without Number RPG, the stats will pretty much work as is, simply switch the AC to 6 and have victims make a Save vs. Mental Effect as opposed to a Presence save.

Simian Satuday: Gorillas in Spaaace!