A year ago, I reviewed a game that was new to me: Starships and Spacemen. I had recently downloaded it from RPGDriveThru.com, and was enthralled by it. The publishers of the game, Goblinoid Games, also publish an “Old School” D&D retro-clone called Labyrinth Lord, a post-apocalyptic game in the mold of the old Gamma World game, and other great things, including my favorite game supplement of all time, Rangers and Rabbits.
I finally got a chance to try the game out recently. I found a “sandbox[1]” campaign for it on sale at RPGDriveThru.com, and we spent several hours generating the crew of the CSS Halsey, a destroyer starship in the Confederation Space Fleet. When fully manned, the Halsey has 32 crewmen, and was captained by a Lieutenant Commander (level 4). Our characters were all Ensigns (level 1), and most of the enlisted members of the crew are “E-1” Crewmen (level 1/enlisted). I say “was captained” … the skipper never returned from his first mission, after a teleporter mishap. He may not be dead, but we don’t know where he went, or how to get him back from… wherever. The next landing party, sent down to investigate a long-ago wrecked starship from an unknown species (they went down in a shuttle) consisted of the Navigator, the Security Officer, the Science Officer, the Chief Engineer, a medical rating (NPC) and an engineering rating (NPC). As they approached the wreckage, they were attacked by this huge animal… and it bit the unnamed, red-shirted engineering rating in half. Yes, the first casualty of this game was a nameless redshirt. The gameplay is fairly simple, and pretty smooth. As my familiarity with the system increases, I believe it will be even easier, and even better. This is a great game. General Quarters. Raise shields, load the forward torpedo tubes, ready the phased beam cannons – … Sum non Satis? [1] A “sandbox” game is one in which the players can do anything they want to do. There is no set goal – beyond (a) survive, (b) explore, and (c) have fun. Space Fleet has given the Halsey orders to explore the quadrant of space they’re in, to defend the people and interests of the Confederation of Planets. Other than that, the new captain (who started as the First Officer) just decides where we’re going and what we’re doing when we get there.
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Troll Lord Games puts out some great stuff. Their flagship is, without a doubt, Castles and Crusades – a new-style RPG with an old-school feel. This is what 4th Edition of D&D should have been... it feels like a streamlined version of 3E, in fact. The “engine” of the game is pretty streamlined, and, like D&D in the old days, can be co-opted for use in other genres. Thus, if you want to play a great RPG set in the universe of the Pulps (think The Phantom, Alan Quartermain, and Indiana Jones), pick up a copy of Amazing Adventures. If you’re a role-playing gamer, most of the system is very familiar. Six stats, ranging from 3 to 18, giving attribute modifiers; these modifiers are added to a d20 roll to attempt to beat a target number. There’s some special bits about “primary” or “secondary” attributes, as well as some special bits on various special abilities, but that’s the main point. “Armor Class” is affected by what you wear… so, if I’m wearing my trench coat and fedora, I’m AC 13… adding my fancy duds and a nice pair of gloves, I can get up to an AC 16. Groovy! The books are readily available on DriveThruRPG.com – which was running a sale when I picked ‘em up digitally. I haven’t had a chance to play, yet. I haven’t even rolled up a character… but this game, and this system, is definitely on the list to try out! Grab some dice, and let’s start punching some Nazis – … Sum non Satis? Commodore Tank Clark, SFMD Team Leader, 33rd STARFLEET Rangers (“The Paladins”) “Have Phaser, Will Travel” I was looking through my hoard (again, it’s not a collection, it’s a hoard… collections are organized) a while ago, and I saw the Discworld Role Playing Game. Discworld, if you don’t know, is a fantasy world created by the late Sir Terry Pratchett, first appearing in the early 1980’s in the novel The Colour of Magic. It’s a flat world, a disc, that rests on the back of four elephants, who stand on the back of Great A’Tuin, a turtle. The world has changed significantly since he first wrote about it – the last novel in the series that I read, entitled “Raising Steam”, tells about the first railway on the Disc – and the fight some Dwarfs put up against it. The RPG, like many I own, is a bit dated. This edition doesn’t include, nor refer to, about half of the series. It’s written using the third edition of the GURPS rules, and includes a “lite” version thereof. To get the most out of the game, though, I’d suggest using the full GURPS rules. GURPS stands for Generic Universal Role Playing System, and it’s published by Steve Jackson Games (the same folks who make Munchkin, amongst other great stuff.) The game system is thorough. You can, given enough character points, make ANY character you wish, from any time you wish. Want an elf wizard? (The Discworld doesn’t have ‘em, but other fantasy universes do.) No problem. Want a cyborg? Ok. A superhero? Can do. A Roman gladiator, an Egyptian priest of Set, a Viking raider, an Old West gunfighter, a Discworld werewolf? No problems. Of course, this thoroughness comes at a price: character creation is fairly slow, very meticulous, and involves math. Lots of math. (*shudder*) Grab some dice, and let’s start killin’ some goblins – … Sum non Satis? Commodore Tank Clark, SFMD Team Leader, 33rd STARFLEET Rangers (“The Paladins”) “Have Phaser, Will Travel” |
Commodore Tank ClarkCommodore Clark has been the Team Leader of the 33rd STARFLEET Rangers for several years. His monthly articles about games (usually Role-Playing Games -- RPGs -- but sometimes about other tabletop forms of entertainment) appear regularly in the Regulator Charge!, the ship's newsletter. Archives
September 2017
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