Friday Night Videos: Stevie Nicks

Welcome back to Friday Night Videos, where we wish a happy birthday to the White Witch herself, Stevie Nicks!

You don't have to know a lot about me to know that I LOVE Stevie Nicks.   Tuesday May 26 is her birthday and we are going to celebrate here this weekend.

Whether with Fleetwood Mac or on her own no single artist has ever influenced my writing more.  To this day if I am going to write something new about witches I put Stevie and let the words flow.

We first hear of Stevie Nicks in the 1975 self title Fleetwood Mac album. Stevie and then boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham had joined the band bringing Rhianon with them.  Stevie had heard the story of Rhianon from a book, and only later heard of the Welsh Goddess.  She would often introduce the song as "This is a song about an old Welsh witch..."




Stevie went on to record her first solo album.  The enchanting Bella Donna.  While many of us were already in love with her from Rumours and Tusk, this solidified her hold as the Queen of Rock.
"The Edge of Seventeen" came about because Stevie could not understand Tom Petty's wife's thick southern accent.   Either way it gave us one of the enduring Stevie Nicks images, the White Winged Dove.




Fleetwood Mac was at their height when 1982's Mirage was released.  The album had a number of hits but the most Stevie of all the songs was "Gypsy".  Mirage my have been the swan song of the Fleetwood Mac that was, but Stevie never rose higher.




Shortly after the Mirage tour came to an end Stevie threw herself right into the recording of what would become, in my humble opinion, her greatest album to date.  This is the album I had playing on cassette when I wrote the first draft of the witch class. This is the album I listened to on CD when I made my 2nd Ed. Netbook. And this is the album I listened to on MP3 when I wrote The Witch.
The Wild Heart is one of the best albums ever.  My memory of this album is I got it for my 13th birthday just as soon as it was out.




Featuring keyboards by none other than the Purple One himself, Prince, "Stand Back" is not very witchy, but I love it all the same.




"Nightbird" the song that launched a 100 characters. I wanted my witch character to be as awesome as this song and to look like Stevie. It was 1983, but it is still just as true today 32 years later.
This version from "Solid Gold" is still one of my favorites.  In an age when artists were just lip-syncing their own songs  Stevie was singing hers.  She is joined here by her longtime back up singer, best friend and sister-in-law Lori Nicks singing the parts that Stevie over-dubbed on the album.




Stevie has spent years trying to escape the image of the "Witchy Woman" only to embrace it full on in season 3 of "American Horror Story".  The finale for "Coven" was an episode featuring what can only be called a Stevie Nicks video.  The song and the episode was called "The Seven Wonders".  The album was Tango in the Night from 1987. The last Fleetwood Mac album I ever bought on tape.  Yeah. We used to buy tapes.



You can watch the American Horror Story: Coven version below.




There are so many more of course. But that is good for tonight.

Throwing my hat in

I have been pretty busy this week.  Have a few projects I HAVE to get off my plate.

So what do I do about it?  Simple.  I start writing a new campaign setting for White Star.

I am not ready to reveal what it is yet, I just only got started.  But here is what I can say:

- It is called "Children of the Stars"

- It is Earth-humanity based.

- It is very, very 70s in feel and ideas.

I am not replicating any of the rules from White Star and I am going to assume that you can use everything from the core rules and leave it flexible enough to use anything else. 

It is based on a few things I have posted here over the years and I think I have something new, different and fun.  Art is going to be the issue. I have not found any I really like.

I just hope I can get it done before the blush is off of White Star!

PWWO: Wildstar Corvette + OSR SciFi Games

During my brief foray into scifi games in the 80s I had managed to create one thing, the FTL Lucifer.
The Lucifer was a Corvette class spaceship, small, light but deadly.  The historical Corvette was also a class of small war ships just larger than a Frigate. It had a small crew of officers (aka PCs) and enlisted personnel  (hirelings).  It is a perfect vehicle (pardon the pun) for a game.
A good friend of mine drew a picture of a ship for me and it was perfect.  Well....it was perfect because it was what I used and was fond of the drawing.

I lost the drawing years ago, but I kept the Lucifer.
Over the years I expanded on it and wanted to use it in a Star Trek game that never got going.  It was the first in a line of ships all named after devils in various myths.  So there was the Baalzebul, the Fek'lhr and the Kosst Amojan.

Recently I discovered Wildstar Class Corvette/RPG Battle Maps by Wydraz.
It's not perfect, but it is really, really close.   These maps are largely system free, though there is a solid hint of both d20 and Star Trek influences.  That is fine by me.

Since I am unlikely to recover the original drawing of the FTL Lucifer, this is a good substitute.
But this only gives me the basics;

Length: 340'  (104 meters)
Beam: 230' (70 meters)
Height: 80' (25 meters)
Tonnage: 18,000 (16,300 metric tons)
Cargo Capacity: 2,000 tons (1,815 metric tons)

Main Batteries: 2 dual plasma cannons
Crew Cabins: 4 Officers Quarters, 20 double crew cabins
2 Shuttles, 10 Escape Pods.

Nice little ship.

But to use it a game I will need some stats.  Thankfully I have some games I can stat it up in.
Let's see how it Plays Well With Others.

White Star
+James Spahn
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship

ARMOR CLASS: 2 [17]
HIT POINTS: 100
SHIELD STRENGTH 10
Movement 9
TARGETING +1
ATTACK Dual Laser Cannon x2 (4d6)
Range 14
MODIFICATIONS Faster-Than-Light Drive, Proton Missiles (optional)

Cost: 100,000 CR
Crew: 4 Officers, 40 enlisted max.

Starships & Spacemen
+Dan P
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship (CC)

Crew complement: 44
Command Rank: Lt. Commander ("Corvette Captain")
Power Pile Base: 150 energy units (one-half pod)
Teleporter Capacity: 2 at a time
Beam Banks: 2
Ion Torpedoes: 1
Shuttle Ships: 2
Sick Bay Capacity: 6

Stars Without Number
+Kevin Crawford
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship 

Cost: 6.1m
Speed: 1
Armor: 5
HP: 40
Crew Min/Max: 10/40
AC: 6
Power: 50
Free Mass: 20
Hardpoints: 5
Class: Corvette

Fittings: Advanced nav computer, Auto targeting system, Drive 6 upgrade, 10 life boats, ship bay.
Weapons:
Dual plasma cannons (2 hardpoints each), 4d6 each, Power 10
Torpedo launcher (1 hardpoint), 3d8, Power 10
Defenses:  Augmented Plating

Machinations of the Space Princess
+James Desborough and +Satine Phoenix
The FTL Lucifer
Corvette Class Warship

Crew: 40
Attack: +2
Scale: 6
Hit Points: 5HD (22 hp)
Armour: 1d4
Defence: 6
Speed: Moderate
Weapons: 2 dual plasma cannons, 1 torpedo launcher
Toughness Save: 7
Reflexes Save: 5
Power Save: 8

Customisations: Can't Land, 10 escape pods, medical bay, science suite, shields, shuttle bay.


I like how each game gives a slightly different view of this space ship.
So who is ready to board the Lucifer and do some exploring!

No OSR at GenCon?

I spent my Sunday registering for games at Gen Con. It was fun, and frustrating, as normal.
I didn't get into all the games I wanted, but I got into enough and some of my alternates that I am happy.

But the whole time I am reading through the list I could not help but wonder.
Where are all the OSR games?

I saw a few, but by no means a lot.
I saw a few 4e games too and a lot of 3.x ones.

Look. I don't pretend we are anything more than a drop in a large bucket, but I did think we were a bit of a bigger drop than this.

Is it time for our own convention?  People dedicated to running these newer oldschool games?
Is anyone going to run anything at Gen Con not on the lists?

Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall

I know I have been going on and on (and on) about this one, but we are in the final hours now.

Guidebook to the Duchy of Valnwall
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/665143704/guidebook-to-the-duchy-of-valnwall?ref=card

So much great stuff is going into this book and another 100 bucks would be great to get more authors.

Check it out, support or at the very least pass it on to others.

Petty Gods: Nox and Syla

In case you have not heard.  Petty Gods is now out.
http://savevsdragon.blogspot.com/2015/05/now-available-petty-gods-revised.html

CASEWRAP HARDBACK
(sold at cost for $22.47 USD through Lulu.com)
Click Here

PREMIUM SOFTCOVER
(sold at cost for $13.22 USD through Lulu.com)
Click Here

PDF - without watermark!
(FREE through RPGNow)
Click Here


I have a couple of entries in this book, Nox the Petty Goddess of Twilight and the near dark and her chief servant Syla.
Here is a bit of history of this project from my point of view:
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2013/04/petty-gods.html
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2014/04/a-to-z-of-witches-n.html
http://theotherside.timsbrannan.com/2015/01/witch-spells-for-nox.html

Of course is was my thrill to see the art from this book featuring my two characters.

The artist, Mona Dowie did a fantastic job with these.
I am particularly pleased because I think she captured both characters so well.

Nox

I love how Nox's hair sort of blows away and merges into the background.  I never pictured her as barefoot, but now that is the ONLY way I can see her.  Plus I love how she did her eyes.  Some how she managed to capture what I was thinking.   I love all the Fyre Fae around her too.

Syla

Syla is perfect.  I love the pointy shoes and the designs on her dress.  Those are the details I admire the most.

I am really, really thrilled this is the art next to my characters.  I could not have asked for better.

You can find Mona on the web on her Facebook page and her DeviantArt Page.
Her husband's site is here: Ramblings of a Great Khan

Excellent work.

Blood, Boobs, and Carnage! Blogfest: The Films of Hammer

Today I am participating in the "Blood, Boobs and Carnage" Blogfest hosted by Heather Gardner and Alex J. Cavanaugh.

http://hmgardner.blogspot.com/2015/04/q-atozchallenge-re-opening-of-x-files.html
http://alexjcavanaugh.blogspot.com/2015/04/a-to-z-challenge-q-cult-classics.html

A lot of gamers talk about their "Appendix N", a list of fantasy or pulp-era books (sometimes movies and TV shows) that influenced their games.

Not me.
My Appendix N is full of Hammer Films.

My earliest memories are of horror movies.  Specifically Hammer Horror and the old Universal Monsters. I could not have been much older than 4 and my first memories are of Dracula.  I used (and still do) love old Dracula movies.  At one point in time I could claim I had owned every movie that featured Dracula. It should be no big surprise then that my games all had a horror bent to them.

Every October I participate in the Horror Film  Marathon.  I have taken it upon myself to watch (and rewatch in many cases) all Hammer Dracula films.  They all fit today's theme of Blood, Boobs and Carnage.

I have not seen all of the Hammer films and a few I have not seen in maybe 20+ years but they have always had a profound effect on the games I write.   Ghosts of Albion in particular is overflowing with my love for Hammer, as are most of my adventures.   My vampires are not modern mopey emos.  They are blood thirsty killers in the suave exterior of Christopher Lee.

Even in Eldritch Witchery I have tried t tap into that same vibe of Hammer Horror.  Even though most of their moveis were made in the late 50s and 60's, there is something very 70's about them to me.  Maybe that is when I watched most of them (then and the early 80's).

Sex and horror were the bread and butter of Hammer films.   In fact one of the books that sits proudly with my game book collection is Hammer Glamour; a glossy coffee table book of all the women that appeared in the Hammer films.

Here are some of reviews of Hammer Films I have posted here.  IF I had had the time I would posted a body count.

Dracula (1958)
Dracula Prince of Darkness (1966)
Dracula has Risen From His Grave (1968)
Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970)
The Vampire Lovers (1970)
Countess Dracula (1970/1971)
Lust for a Vampire (1971)
Twins of Evil (1971) and on Blu-Ray
Dracula AD 1972 (1972)
Satanic Rites of Dracula (1973)
Legend of the Seven Golden Vampires (1974)
To the Devil a Daughter (1976)

That was the end of the "Classic" Hammer.
It "rose from the grave" more recently to give us some newer movies.  Less "Blood, Boobs, and Carnage" than before, but still solid horror.

Let Me In (2010)
The Woman in Black (2012) (Daniel Radcliffe blew me away in this!)

Even ones I have seen but not got around to reviewing, like the various Frankenstein movies or the Quatermass ones.

Check out the feature, Hammer for Dummies to learn more.

Zatannurday: Hello New DCTVU!

Last week we lost Constantine.

This week we got previews and extended previews of the newest DC Television Universe shows, Supergirl and Legends of Tomorrow.

Supergirl I showed you, but it is worth another look.




But the big excitement now is Legends of Tomorrow.


I have to admit. The 10-12 year old me is excited as all hell.  Firestorm, Atom, Hawkgirl, Canary?  All my favorite heroes.  It is just a Batgirl and Zatanna short of being perfect.

Plus we still have Arrow, The Flash and Gotham.

Great time to be a DC fan!

Friday Night Videos: Garbage Edition

Welcome back to Friday Night Videos and tonight we celebrate the best of what happens when Wisconsin and Scotland get together. Garbage!

Garbage is like the penultimate 90s band really.  And perfect for the games I was planning and playing at the time.

I have mentioned before that by the mid 90s I was really burned out on D&D and wanted something new.  That new ended up being various World of Darkness games like Vampire and Mage, but most of all WitchCraft.   I made more than one witch that looked like Shirley Manson.

"I'm Only Happy When Rains" is exactly the sort of song that I had in mind when I was playing then.  Alternative, hard, and a great lead singer. From their debut self titled album.




"Stupid Girl" showed that this band was no one hit wonder.




"#1 Crush" appeared on the Romeo + Juliet Soundrack, but that is not where I know it best.  It would go on to later be the theme music to the British witchcraft serial "HƎX". I still consider it a "witch" song.




Garbage 2.0 was another breakthrough album for the band. Getting them quite a bit of critical acclaim and giving them their high chart topping songs in the UK.

"Push It" adds more electronica than their previous outings.  The video has a nice homage to Village of the Damned.




"I Think I'm Paranoid" is pretty much the theme song for any Mage game I have ever played.




What is better than hearing your favorite band?  Hearing your favorite band cover a great song.
"Because the Night" has been covered and recovered by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith (they wrote it), 10,000 Manics and Garbage with Screaming Females.  The song is a passionate ode not just to a love but to the night itself.  As a nyctophiliac myself, I can relate.



Next week I celebrate the White Witch herself.

Review: X-plorers

This really has been a lot of fun going through all of these OSR flavored Sci-Fi games (or are they Sci-fi flavored OSR games?) anyway. I am going back a bit to 2009 and X-plorers which comes to us from +David Bezio and  Brave Halfling Publishing.

X-plorers is somewhere in the middle of Starships & Spacemen and White Star. Both thematically and in terms of rules.  There is a more of an old school vibe of this one.  So to continue my analogies to the point of breaking, X-plorers is more Buck Rogers, the old serials and 50s sci-fi movies.

The book itself is 41 pages. This includes cover, title page, ogl page and a trademark license.  The trademark license is nice.  You can make content that is "X-Plorers Compatible" as long as you abide by the license.  Yes other games do this too.

Characters have class, hit points, and levels just like most OSR books.  The characters in X-Plorers though only have 4 attributes; Agility, Intelligence, Physique and Presence. They are still ranked 3-18. There are also four classes; Scientist, Soldier, Scouts and Technicians.  Personally I think some sort of Royalty or Ambassador class might have been a nice inclusion as well.
There are some multi-classing rules too which are nice to see.

Equipment is covered next.  The basic unit of commerce is the credit (cr).  It functions largely the same way the gold piece does.  Gear and weapons are covered, but also vehicles and robots.  Near the end we cover skills as well.

Chapter 3 covers running the game.  This includes saves, combat and skill checks.  All similar territory to other games.

Chapter 4 details Space. This covers ships, buying and outfitting with crew as well as combat.  Each phase of combat is discussed, so the gunner, engineer, pilot and so on.  This reminds me of some the of old school Naval ship battles.  Ship repair is also covered.

This is followed by a referee's section.  This covers creating a game and running one.  There is a small section on Aliens and Planets.
NPCs, Allies and Monsters are featured in the next section. I would have liked more, but again, these are easy to take from any fantasy game.

Chapter X is an adventure/background piece on Roswell.  There are even stats for the Greys, whic is really cool to be honest.
Chapter Y covers psionics and pyschic characters.  This is also pretty cool.

We end with some sheets for characters and ships.

X-plorers is a light game and designed to emulate the games of the 70s.  So in that respect it does the job well.  Some people will want more, but there is still a lot here.  Rule-wise it reminds me more of White Box Swords & Wizardry, in fact you could use S&W as the rules and the rest as add-on.

There is a free version with no art, X-plorers (no art), a Quick Start, a printable Players Guide, and Character Sheets.

Kickstart Your Weekend: The Dwarves of Demrel

The Dwarves of Demrel is an independent fantasy film and exactly the sort of thing that Kickstarter should be about.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/257801402/the-dwarves-of-demrel

From the site:  "In this steampunk fantasy adventure, a collapse imprisons three dwarven miners who must now work collectively to combat starvation, despair, and a mysterious creature."

Honestly I think it looks rather cool.

They have met their goal, but that could still use more funding for those stretch goals.

Check out their page on FB as well for more information.
https://www.facebook.com/dwarvesofdemrel?_rdr

Should be a lot of fun.

Review: Metamorphosis Alpha, 1st Edition

MORBIUS: Back. To. The. Beginning!  - Doctor Who: The Brain of Morbius.

There is a game going all the way back to the dawn of time, or at least the dawn of the roleplaying age, that has fascinated me.  I knew of it's children games, Gamma World and Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, but it has not be till recently that I have seen the father of sci-fi games.

Metamorphosis Alpha is considered to be the first popular Scifi game available.  While many of us heard of and purchased Traveller first (and that could be another entire week for me) MA really is the first. Published a year before the Traveller books.  Written by James "Drawmij" Ward, MA has deep ties with D&D.  The game was playtested by Ward and Gygax and others at TSR.  This lead to the aforementioned Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and Gamma World.  The forward of the game was written by Gygax and Brian Blume.

The basic game outline is that characters, human, mutant and other all live on a fantastic colony ship, The Warden, that has broken down.  The ship is basically a giant flying dungeon. In space.
The character creation rules, monsters and everything are like Original D&D through a distorted lens.  To use an analogy from computer programing if D&D/AD&D is Pascal then Metamorphosis Alpha is Modula. Naturally this makes Gamma World Modula 2, AD&D2 Turbo Pascal, D&D3 Borland Pascal, D&D4 Oberon, D&D5 Delphi and so on...

It would be a fantastic game to play when you are in a great old-school mood and I do know people that have made great long campaigns with it.  Think about it, the idea would later pop up in the series Red Dwarf.

The book itself is 40 pages which includes front and back cover, an updated errata sheet, pages of tables, character sheet and maps of the Warden.

The game itself is complete and a prime example of old-school minimalism.  Modern readers might be tempted to ask "is this it", but to these eyes it is succinct and complete at the same time.

MA of course is perfectly playable on it's own. Has been for 40 years.
But it also works great as a setting or a as a "Mega dungeon" in space.

Mix MA with any of the games I have been reveiwing over the last few days and you have a mysterious, ancient colony ship. 80 km long, 40 km wide and 14 km tall and filled with humans, mutants and who knows what else.   Think of the ship in "WALL-E" now fill it with mutants.

Honestly I am using it in my own old-school D&D game and it is part of my world's history.  The uses and re-uses of this game are endless.

The mutant rules in the book are easily ported over to any game.  So use them as mutants or aliens or even demons in your fantasy game.

At just under 6 bucks it is also a steal.
There are character sheets too for humans and mutants at a buck each.  Normally I think sheets should be free, but I am only paying $5.99 for the pdf.  If the sheets were free and the game was $7.99 I would not balk or fret at the price.

If you have any interest in old-school gaming, sci-fi gaming or even the roots of our hobby, then this is a fantastic game to add to your collection.
If you are playing any of the new "old-school" sci-fi games then I consider this a must buy.

Not a bird. Not a plane.

I am inordinately fond of Supergirl.

This looks so awesome.


And I am going on record that Calista Flockhart is going rock as Cat.

Marvel may have the theaters, but DC owns TV.

Review: Strange Stars

Every so often you come across a product that is so different than the rest it is hard to know what to do with it.  +trey causey's Strange Stars is not exactly that.  Strange Stars is a product so different it is hard to know what I can't do with it.

The book is a joy to look at.  Yes it is only 32 pages with cover, but each page is so rich with art and color it must have cost a lot to make.  Since art is important to how this book can be used it is a better investment than say page after page of text.
Let's start with that cover.  There are homages to late 70s, early 80s sci-fi shows and movies.  I can feel the influences of Star Wars and even Jason of Star Command here. Not to mention the obvious, but loving, nod to the classic Star Frontiers.   Really, I should be able to buy that as an art print for my game room.  I put that cover up there with some of the best RPG covers ever.  Plus the overt homage to Star Frontiers is a huge plus.

Strange Stars is not a game itself, but a setting book for other sci-fi games. Not just the OSR-flavored ones of my last few reviews, but any sci-fi game.  As a mental exercise I kept asking "can I use this in Traveller? Star Frontiers? Alternity?" most times I was saying yes.

The book starts out with a historical overview of the setting.  The "Ancient times" in this case is humanity leaving "Old Earth".  So already this is a setting far flung into the future.

Various forms of life are introduced, or Sophonts.  This can be your garden variety human or other life form that is mostly biological, self-aware robots, or AIs.  Or, most likely some combination of the above.

Really a couple of the great features of this book are not chapter by chapter but concept by concept.
Free of system Causey's mind rushes down dark un-explored pathways, strange lands and truly alien worlds.  BUT, and this is very important, this not so far removed from our experiences to be really out there.  There are roots here. Roots with names like "Star Crash" and "Buck Rodgers" (the TV series on NBC, not the serials) and "Logan's Run".  Jenny Agutter's "Jessica 6" practically jumps off of page 12.
Speaking of which, the characters here BEG to be stated up for your favorite system.  Siana Elizond, the previously mentioned Jessica 6 clone, is more interesting in a picture and paragraph than some characters with pages and pages of back story.  Plus I can't help but think that Elphaba Mandrake was made as a personal challenge to me!

So yes. The page count is small, but it is chock full of great ideas, eye catching art and more than enough to get you going on a campaign set out among the stars.

In truth everything you need to know about what this game-supplement is about can be summed up in this one picture.

The best of what the late 70s / early 80s had to offer.


You can find Trey at http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/

Review: Machinations of the Space Princess

Continuing my reviews of OSR Sci-Fi games.  Next up is Postmortem Studios' Machinations of the Space Princess.   Continuing also with the comparisons. If White Star is Star Wars, Spacemen & Starships is Star Trek then Machinations of the Space Princess (MotSP) is Heavy Metal, the Movie.

Written by +James Desborough and art by +Satine Phoenix this game has a really cool, sexy vibe.
Firmly planted in the PG-13 area, this game does more with a nudge and wink than some games try to do with out right R material.
The game is described as a game of "Kick Ass Heroes".  It is. It is also a game of rogues, smugglers, free wheeling pilots, more-than human psionics and accountants.  Seriously, you can hire them.  But more on that later.

This game is built on Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but it takes more than a few liberties with it.  Bottom line here; you can add this to any of the OSR Sci-Fi games I have been reviewing.
The book itself is 244 pages which includes cover, OGL, title pages and acknowledgments.  There are a few pages of "What is Roleplaying" and examples of play.  Anyone reading this review though can likely skip these sections.

There is a section on the default setting, the Urlanth Matriarchy, and it's fall.  Also each page has a note with some tidbit of information.  Don't ignore these, there is a lot colorful commentary here.
The section on Kick-Ass heroes is a good one and even though it feels like something we have read before it is worth reading again (or for the first time).   MotSP is fully character focused.  The empire, the aliens, the tech, that's all just backdrop to playing a Kick Ass character and having a good time.  This is refreshing for an old school game and honestly for me it nudges MotSP ahead in my book.
The mechanics of building a hero are also here. This is old hat for most of us.
Note: Ability score bonuses are more in-line with D&D 3.x than old-school D&D.  But you could use whatever you like really.
MotMP has Seven attributes.  Comeliness is back.
There are actually a few compelling reasons to include Comeliness and MotMP is a good game to use it.
Races are covered with the default humans and various archetypes of other races (Amoeboid, Aquatic...). Races are also divided up by Species (an actual species), Cultural (many species or one species that make up a culture) say like a planet of criminals or Exotic (something about them is very different), for example everyone is dead or a cyborg.  There are a lot of of these races given and they can be combined in different ways.
Classes cover many of the basics; Experts, Killers, Psions, and Scholars.  Each class has their own sub-specialties, HD, Attack Bonus and Skill Points.   Psions get Psi Points and Power Points.  In what seems reversed to me Psi-Points are your reserve of power to use your psionic powers and Power Points allow you to buy your Psychic Powers.  I am planning to spend some time with the Psion since it is the closest thing I have seen to a witch-like character.

Skills define what a character can do.  The skill system is a d6 roll under the skill points you have for a particular skill.  There are some common skills that everyone can use, the Psi skills (Psions), Combat skills, Scholastic skills, and General skills (ones that anyone can learn but don't start out with).

After skills we discuss gear, which includes arms and armor. Some basic ship stats are also given.  Ships can also have a number of qualities.  My favorite so far is "Killer Paint Job" which makes your ship "look totally rad".  Seriously it like this is the only game that remembers that fun is important!  Ok, not really, but fun is in the forethought here.

Of course you are are going to get all that loot from doing what ever your kick-ass characters do, but can you afford that "killer paint job"?  Better hire that previously mentioned accountant.  Retainers are discussed next.  How many hit die they have (space is a dangerous place) and how much they need to be paid.  So do you want 10 accountants or 1 elite assassin?

There is a chapter on cybernetics and enhancements.  It isn't as fully transhuman as say Stars Without Number, but it gets the job done.

Bodly Going is the chapter on space and planet exploration.  It can also be called 1,001 Ways to Die in Space.  I give James a lot of credit here. I know the guy outside of the gaming world and he is what I call a science-cheerleader.  He does not hit us over the head with hard core science in this, but he is paying enough lip service to the real thing to make this chapter fun to read.  I know he could have dialed this up more, but since his goal is fun this is perfect.

Rocket's Red Glare gives us more details of spaceships.  This includes a lot on combat.  What I do like here is that ships are treated like characters.  It is something a lot of games do so there is a real pragmatic approach to it all.

The rest of this section covers things characters can do and psionics.

A little after the half-way point we get into the Game Master's section.
If the players make kick-ass characters then the game master is instructed to be a bad-ass Game Master.  Additionally advice is how to keep the game fun.
So everything from planetary romance, swords and planets stories, sexy (or sleazy) fun, traps, killing things and taking their stuff and more are discussed.

The book ends with an index and character and ship sheets.

There is so much here to be honest that I doubt I'd ever run out of things to do with this game. It may be more tongue-in-cheek than other sci-fi games.  There are plenty of "Serious" sci-fi games that play great and are fun, but I doubt I will find one with a bigger sense of fun than this one.

Monster Monday! Yog, The Monster from Space!

It was my pleasure to meet Natasha Duncan-Drake and her sister Sophie Duncan in last years A to Z Challenge.  They both posted a lot of great stuff and plenty that can be used in any game.

Well Natasha has started a new feature.  Monster Mondays.
http://tashasthinkings.blogspot.com/2015/05/monster-monday-2-talos-bronze-giant.html

You might recall I did something similar here for a while and there are other blogs that also do this.
MindweaverRPG has done a few, so has Dispatches from Kickassistan, and I know there are others.

I like Tasha. She is cool, so I am happy to get behind this monster monday.  Plus I love monsters.

Since I am talking about Sci-Fi games all week how about a sci-fi monster.
And no space monster is loved more here than Gezora from Yog, The Monster from Space!

Gezora
Is a giant (100ft/30meter tall) squid controlled by the "Space Amoeba" Yog.
Gezora usually attacks a planet, but can be transported through space.
Gezora, Yog and other kaiju are the "stars" of "The Space Amoeba" aka "Yog the Creature from Space".

Gezora can walk on land, swim in the ocean and travel through space.  While it has 10 tentacles it can only attack with 2 of them.  Any natural 20 attack roll means that Gezora has grabbed onto a victim and will swallow it whole.

(White Star)
Armor Class: -2 [22]
Hit Dice: 25
Total Hit Bonus: +20
Attacks: 2 attacks with tentacles, 4d8x2. Swallows whole on a natural 20.
Saving Throw: 5
Special: Survival in water and in space
Movement: 18 (on land, sea and space)
HDE/XP: 20/7,500


(Starships & Spacemen)
Encountered: 1
Movement: 180' (60')
Intelligence: None/Super Genius (Gezora has no intelligence, Yog does)
Psionic Potential: Telepathic
Hits: 25d8
Armor: -4
Combat Skill: 20
Save: L20
Attacks: 2
Damage: 4d8 x2
Morale: 12
XP: 5,480


(Stars Without Number)
Armor Class: -2
Hit Dice: 25
Attack Bonus: +20
Damage: 4d8 x2
No. Appearing: 1
Saving Throw: 5+
Movement: 40' (land, swim, space)
Morale: 12

Review: Stars Without Number

Continuing my deep dive into the OSR-based SciFi games we naturally next come to Stars Without Number.  This gem was released in 2011 and was written by +Kevin Crawford and Sine Nomine Publishing.  SWN is a big book, 254 pages filed with maps, sheets, a great index, but no OGL statement that I kind find.
To me this book feels more like the work of hard sci-fi; like that Asimov, Bradbury and Heinlein.   Certainly it is epic in scope.  There is more of a setting here than other OSR-flavored games, so if you like that, great, if not, well it seems easy enough to ignore.

Chapter 1 covers Character creation.  We have seen this all before, but perfect for people new to RPGs or scifi fans new to the Classic 6 Attributes and level/class systems.
The classes are the three "archetypes" that you can find in True20 and other games, The Expert, The Psychic and The Warrior.    Each has their own advancement table and Hit Die.  SWN assumes a 20 level career in case you were curious.   Each class also gets their own saving throw tables.
There are background packages which can be added to classes to give your character more depth and determines some of their skills.  There are also training packages to further define your character.
Character creation is a breeze and no one seems to die while doing it.

Chapter 2 covers Psionics.  There are quite a lot of psionic powers detailed here.  So first thing, if psionics are something you must have in your sci-fi game then please check this game out first.  Powers as expected have point cost values.  Psionic points always give the powers a different feel for me than magic, so this is another plus really.  These powers are not merely reskinned spells, they have been redone to fit within the mythos of the game better.

Chapter 3 details all the equipment you will need including the Tech Level of the equipment.  D&D would be tech level 1 (or so) while we are at TL 3.  The game is set at TL 5 with some artifacts at TL 6.  Time Lords are hanging out at 7 or 8 I would say.  D20 Future and Traveller also use a similar mechanic, so if you want to see how they can also work, checking out those games is advisable.
The standard batch of weapons and armor from sticks and stone all the way up to energy weapons are discussed.  AC is descending by the way.  What is really nice about this game is in addition to lasers, energy swords and computers it also includes Cyberware.

Chapter 4 is the Game Systems chapter.  It includes the expected combat, but also a new twist on the skill checks with Target Numbers.  Useful if you are using the skills as described here, but it's real utility comes in how flexible it can be.  I would have to try it out more, but it's close enough to other skill + die roll + mods vs TN that I can see it's use in a variety of situations.

Chapter 5 covers the history of space of the default campaign setting.  Even if you don't use it there are some great ideas here.

Chapter 6 is the Game Master Guide of the game.  Deals with running the game and how and where to use skill checks.

Chapter 7 is World Generation which is just FULL of material for any game.  While this game has a lot going for it, this is the real gem in my mind. This flows right into Chapter 8, Factions.  Factions are important groups.  Say a group of allied pirates or smugglers, a government or a band of plucky rebels.   Several key factors when creating a faction are given and there is a huge list of sample factions.
Chapter 9 discusses what sort of adventures you might be able to have.  With Chapters 6 through 8 and all the details they give, running out of ideas is the least of your worries really.

Chapter 10 covers the creation of alien species. First the hows and whys of aliens are discussed; what to use, where and why to use them.  Some of this is situated in the campaign setting, but there is some good advice here even if you plan on using your own background/campaign or not even have aliens.  Plenty of traits are detailed and how they might combine.  There are three alien races detailed.
Naturally this flows into Chapter 11, Xenobestiary. AKA the Monster Manual.  Again we are given a lot of detail on how make alien beasts and then a listing of several samples.
Chapter 12 gives us Robots and Mechs.  We have various traits detailed and then plenty of samples.
Chapter 13 deals with societies.  This might have felt better coming after Chapter 8 really.
Chapter 14 has designer notes. I nice little treat to be honest.
Chapter 15 deals with the Hydra Sector, or the "Known World" of this game.  Instead of countries we have planets.
Chapter 16 ends the book with scores of random tables. Create just about anything with a few rolls of the dice.
There is a nice Index (sadly lacking in many books) and plenty of maps and blank sheets for characters, starships, and adventures.

Stars Without Number is big.  It is a vast game with endless possibilities.  If there is a sci-fi property out there chances are good that this game will be able to do it.

My only complaint is a non-existent OGL declaration.  Can you do a game like this without one?  Maybe, but I would not want to.  Plus it makes the game's utility a little less for me.

The game is beautiful and there is so much going on with it that it would take me a number of games with it just to get the right feeling for it.   The overall feel I get with this game is that it is the perfect child of Basic D&D and Traveller.  So much of what made both of those games so great is here.

Is Stars Without Number perfect? No, not really. But it is really, really damn close and even from a short distance I could not tell it apart from a perfect game.

Zatannurday: Good-bye Constantine

Well. The news is out.

Constantine has been officially canceled.
http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/08/constantine-officially-canceled-nbc

I know there is always the hope that SyFy might pick it up.  But I am not holding my breath.
Until then, here are some pics to help us remember.



I put a spell on you by Super-Fan-Wallpapers on DeviantArt


Magic Users of DC! by Camo-Flauge on DeviantArt


Zatara and Constantine by Diamanty on DeviantArt


Justice League Dark - New 52 - DC Comics by WhiteLemon on DeviantArt


A little JLA and JLAD by CookieMonster-Of-WAR on DeviantArt


Magic And Mystery 18 by Burditt-Photography on DeviantArt

Friday Night Videos: Space Age Love Songs

Welcome back to Friday Night Videos! Sci-Fi Edition.

All week I have talking about Sci-Fi games and sci-fi themes.  All of this has sent me back to the late 70s / early 80s when I was hard core into scifi and playing Traveller.

I had so many ideas back then for games. Most I'd never use or even admit to today.  But back then they were awesome. You just have to take my word on that!

Again. This time was ripe for ideas in gaming. Anything seemed possible.  I was already associating D&D and Star Wars together so when the 80s dawned, I threw MTV into the mix.

No one (except one other artist on my list tonight) looked more like a futuristic alien than Mike Score of A Flock of Seagulls.  "Space Age Love Song" was a lesser know, or at least lesser charting, song from their self titled album.  But I always thought it was a great ode for the classic space age hero like Flash Gordon or John Carter.



Who was my idea of a Space Hero?  It varied, but I knew his name.  Major Tom.

Here is the other Alien artist on my list, David Bowie, in his Ziggy Stardust best, singing about our hero Major Tom in his "Space Oddity". This song appeared on his 1969 album of the same name. It was written as an homage to both Apollo 11 and 2001 A Space Oddity.




German born artist Peter Schilling heard "tell my wife I love her very much" and took his own stab at the story of Major Tom in "Major Tom (Coming Home)".


Major Tom finally made it into my games, but not till much, much later and as a riff on the movie "Lifeforce".  Major Tom comes home but he is carrying a virus that starts a zombie plague in All Flesh Must Be Eaten.
You can also here/watch the original German version, Völlig Losgelöst and the really-cool-even-though-it-is-a-commercial version by Shiny Toy Guns.

Back to Bowie for bit.  The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars just BEGS to have a game made from it.
Ziggy played guitar...




Call me crazy. But I always wanted to write a game called "Space Truckers". It would be the unholy fusion of late 70s sci-fi and late 70s "trucker chic". It has not been an easy sell. Regardless of how the game comes out in needs to play like Deep Purple sounds.




Few rock acts can speak credibly on matters of scifi, let alone science.  Few acts are Queen.
Brian May, the lead guitarist, writer and sometimes singer of Queen is also Dr. Brian May. He has a Ph.D. is astrophysics.  "'39" from 1975's A Night at the Opera is song that grabbed me from the first time I ever heard it.  The story of the song is that a man and 19 other astronauts leave on a spaceship to discover a new world.  They return with good news of a new world. For them it's only been one year, for the Earth and his family it has been much longer.  His wife is dead, his daughter is an old woman and his own grand children are there to meet him.
"Ne'er look back, never fear and never cry."

Kickstart Your Weekend: The Haunting of Oakcrest Manor

"No one is actually sure when the troubles at Oakcrest Manor began.  What is known that many years ago Lord Borgric and his wife Rebecca retired from a life of adventuring to settle down in the quite village of Nahm.  He built her a home where they could live their remaining years in comfort. He also built her a wing on the house where she could continue her life's calling of taking care of the sick and wounded.

We know they had a daughter, Imogene, who was as lovely as her mother, but had none of her warmth or compassion, and another daughter Marris, who sadly took more after her father in both looks and intelligence but was as warm-hearted as both her parents.
We know that many years after her parents death Imogene continued her mother's work, but sadly lacked her skill. 

We know from the grey beards that one night Marris ran from the house screaming, only to drop dead of fright. That screams came from the house that could be hear all through the village and nearby wood. We know Imogene never left the house and all inside were dead.

Now the house stands alone, unused, but never forgotten.  No one goes to the manor. No one that goes in ever comes back out.  Some even say that if you listen close you can hear the screams of the people inside and the cruel laughter of Imogene.

Everyone knows Oakcrest is haunted.  No one knows by what."

Want to learn more?

The we just need to hit my stretch goal!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/665143704/guidebook-to-the-duchy-of-valnwall?ref=card

Starships & Spacemen: Sisters of the Aquarian Order

Not a full post, but some minor tweaks to my Sisters of the Aquarian Order. This time for Starships & Spacemen.

This might be a little too powerful for the Starships & Spacemen. But I will give it a try.

--
Aquarian Sisters often serve as councilors, advisers and ambassadors.  They can be found in planetary governments, great powerful houses or even on starships.

Sisters of the Aquarian Order (Witch)

Prime Attribute: Charisma
Hit Dice: 1d6 per level.
Armor: none or light
Weapons: An Aquarian Sister may only use very simple weapons as they spend no time learning how to use them.
Special Abilities: Psychic Powers, Rituals

Level	XP	HD (d4)	Rank	Psychic Powers	1	2	3	4	5
1	0	1d6	Initiate	Empathy	1	-	-	-	-
2	2,600	2d6	Neophyte	ESP	2	-	-	-	-
3	5,200	3d6	Adept	Telepathy	2	1	-	-	-
4	10,400	4d6	Sybil	Clairvoyance	2	2	-	-	-
5	20,800	5d6	Mystic	Empathic Projection	2	2	1	-	-
6	40,000	6d6	Enchantress	Telekinesis	3	2	2	-	-
7	80,000	7d6	Soror	Illusiory Projection	3	2	2	1	-
8	160,000	8d6	Aquarian Sister	Hypnosis	3	3	2	2	-
9	320,000	9d6	Aquarian Sister	Molecular Control	3	3	2	2	1
10	440,000	10d6	Aquarian Sister	Energy Leech	4	3	2	2	2
11	560,000	10d6+1	Aquarian Sister	Brain Drain	4	3	3	2	2
12	680,000	10d6+2	Queen Mother	Tentacles of the Mind	4	4	3	3	2

Aquarian Sister Abilities

Skills: All Aquarian Sisters are skilled in basic astro-navigation having memorized hundreds if not thousands of star systems.

Saving Throws: The Aquarian Sister gains a +2 bonus to any save versus charm, hold or mind affecting powers.

Psychic Power: At first level and every 3 levels hereafter the Aquarian Sister gains a Psychic Power.

LEVEL 01 RITUALS
Bewitch I
Cause Fear
Charm Person
Drowsy
Far Sight
Read Languages
Soothe
Sonic Blast

LEVEL 02 RITUALS
Agony
Bewitch II
Blast Shield
Calm Emotions
Detect Thoughts
Hold Person
Invisibility
Locate Object

LEVEL 03 RITUALS
Aphasia
Astral Sense
Bewitch III
Liar's Curse
Mind Rash
Mirror Image
Scry
Toad Mind
Tongues

LEVEL 04 RITUALS
Bewitch IV
Confusion
Divination
Elemental Armor
Emotion
Mirror Talk

LEVEL 05 RITUALS
Bewitch V
Charm Creature
Dream
Feeblemind
Nightmare
Overlook
Sending
Teleport

Review: Starships & Spacemen 2e by Goblinoid Games

I have been in a real Sci-Fi mood of late.  Partly due to the new Star Wars film coming out, partly due to the release of the revised d6 Star Wars game out there on social media, but mostly due to the release of White Star.  It got me thinking about about another favorite game of mine, Starships & Spacemen.
If White Star is "Star Wars" then Starships & Spacemen is classic "Star Trek".
The author, +Dan Proctor admits his love for Star Trek in the forward of the book, and the cover is certainly evocative of the Original Series.

So what is Starships & Spacemen (S&S)?  It is a "military style" missions-based, old-school game in the milieu of Star Trek.  First off it is important to point out that while this is the "2e" version of Starships & Spacemen it is more compatible with Goblinoid Games other products like Labyrinth Lord, Realms of Crawling Chaos and Mutant Future.  In fact I would go out on a limb and say Mutant Future is a must have since it has rules that can used to create mutants aka aliens.  Realms of Crawling Chaos is Cthulhu and those creatures are aliens after all.  Labyrinth Lord of course provides more monster/alien creatures.
Also, given that it is compatible with Labyrinth Lord it is also compatible with 100s of other products also compatible with LL.  It is also compatible with 1000s of other OSR/Old School products too.

The book itself is 95 pages of content, some ads for other Goblinoid Games products, two full color covers (front and back), character sheet, ship record and hex map. There is no OGL page that I could see.

The system is class and level based.  There are various races your character can belong to. Three basic classes all in the "Confederation" military-like branch; Military/Command, Sciences and Support/Tech.  Or if you prefer, Gold Shirt, Blue Shirt, and Red Shirt.  There is Officer level advancement to level 12 and Enlisted advancement to level 9.  So if you are running a game of a starship "boldly going where no one has gone before" then you are set.   While I am enjoying class/level systems much more now than ever before I do have some issues with this, but I will talk about that later.

The introduction covers the basics of the system; very much the same as Labyrinth Lord.
Section 2 covers the characters and character creation.  Here we have our classes and basic races.
Each class has some basic skills that improve with leveling and each race has ability modifiers.  The races are as expected pastiches of the expected races. This is fine since it works so well here. There are a couple of others too, including some reptoids and a frog like race.
Equipment covers the expected range too.  Though there are two entries that caught my eye. The robot dog for you K9 or Daggit fans.  Also there is a telepathic dog.  This caught my eye because back in college I ran a brief "Trek" game where the medical officer had a telepathic dog on board.

Section 3 covers Psi powers.  These are not class based, but a random  d6 power.  The powers are detailed like spells and there are couple of special powers for stronger characters.  Like other sci-fi games built on the d20 core adding new powers can be easy, but care should be given as to not make the game too much about powers.

Section 4 covers Planetary Adventures. Or what your away team is doing. This covers a lot of "adventuring" style topics including mapping, various weapon damages, and other hazards.

Section 5 is the meatiest of the book.  This covers Galactic Adventures.  I think my favorite bit here are all the space hazards.  Space Mirrors, Gravity Wells.  Enough for a full season of starship disaster scenarios. Atmospheric combat, diseases and even time travel is covered.  So of the top of my head nearly any episode of the classic series can be reproduced with this chapter.  How is plays out of course is up to the players.

Section 6 covers Starships and discusses their basic use, creation and stats.  Combat systems are covered, energy weapons, solid projectiles and shields.  Transporter Teleporter systems are discussed including the ever popular mishap (yes there is a table).   Computer systems are covered (yes they can run more than one program!)  Ship to ship combat gets a pretty decent section since it covers new ground.

Section 7, Alien Encounters is the biggest.  This covers not just sentient aliens, but "monster" types as well.  Again move creatures from other games back and forth here with no effort.  The best section is the random "forehead" alien system.  Roll some dice and you have a new alien race. You can even randomly determine a background and environment.
The flows right into Section 8, Alien Artifacts.  Lost tech of ancient civilizations.

Section 9 is advice for the "Star Master" or Game Master.  Some brief background on the setting is given.  There is just enough information here to start a campaign and then get going.  Really this is all you need.  The game is one about exploration and discovery.  So it follows that much of the galaxy should be unknown.  This game is so flexible that you can do just about anything with it.

Frankly, the game really is awesome and has all the joy of Labyrinth Lord, only with spaceships and lasers.

Critiques
Ok so this game is perfect for a Trek-like game where everyone is serving aboard a starship.  The class/level system works for this.  But I do have two issues I want to bring up.  One is outside the scope of the game, the other is inside it.
First off. If I want to play a game of "Orion" Pirates or Smugglers I have to bend my Officers level advancement a bit.  Indeed, some of the classes would not quite work with a group of characters where everyone has to do a little bit of everything.  Yesterday my friend Greg Littlejohn (gm for my oldest in his other game) talked about a Smuggler class.  That might work well here too.

Secod point is the level titles them selves.  While it make perfect sense to have a bunch of Ensigns (1st level) running around doing things, it makes less sense when everyone on 10th+ level and all Admirals.   For this I would use the level titles as suggested ranks only.  Or maybe make the PCs part of a special task force that allows them to work outside the normal ranking system.

Despite this there is enough here to make it all work.

Review: White Star by James Spahn

Unless you are living in an OSR-free zone you may have missed the big release this week of "White Star" from Barrel Rider Games and +James Spahn.

BRG had made a name for itself publishing classes for "Basic" era D&D/Labyrinth Lord which is how I discovered them. Recently James has made the switch with some very successful products for Swords & Wizardry. In particular he released the White Box Omnibus to much acclaim.

White Star is a similar quality effort, but represents a serious step up in terms of quality and content from his previous efforts.  This is immediately obvious in terms of the quality of the cover art, but the interior really lives up (and beyond) that first impression.
White Star is Space Opera viewed through an old-school RPG lens. So think Star Wars.  Not the series of movies really, but just the first 1977 movie.
Starting with the basics the book is 132 pages, two pages of cover art, two blank pages and one page of OGL. As usual BRG is very permissive with the content of the books.  So this amounts to 128 pages of content (127 + OGL).  Not a bad deal really.
The book is divided up as expected.  Chapters on Attributes, Character Classes and Races (more on this in a bit), Equipment, Game Play, and Combat.  These chapters are more or less similar to what you might find in S&W White Box. Not a copy, but a re-write to accommodate the style and tone of the book.  The remaining chapters cover the important topics of SciFi; Starship Combat, Gifts and Meditations, Aliens and Creatures, and Advanced Equipment.  There are also chapters on The White Star Campaign, Interstellar Civil War and Kelron Sector, and the Second Battle of Brinn.
As my friend, Greg Littlejohn says, "just enough meat on the bones, yet room on the plate to add some nice sides."  That is 100% true.

Character Classes and Races
The classes of White Star are simple enough to cover a variety of character archetypes.  The classes include Aristocrat (think Princess Leia or Paul Atreides), Mercenary (Boba Fett, nearly every movie in the 80s), Pilot (Han Solo), and Star Knight (Luke).  There are also two race as classes, the Alien Brute (lots of examples), Alien Mystic (Yoda) and Robot. Each class is 10 levels and presented in the same format as S&W.  So one could easily move classes back and forth between the two games with ease.

Sci-Fi Chapters
The chapters on Starship Combat and Alien Creatures are really the star here.  Starship combat of course can be easily ported over to S&W as ship combat.  But there are a lot of really cool nuggets here.  It is also one of the chapters where the pure "Star Wars"ishness of the book fades a bit into some "Star Trek".
Alien Creatures covers a wide variety aliens. Nearly everything is here; Borg, Greys, Fluffy aliens, the lot.  Since everything is S&W compatible you can move anything back and forth from S&W to White Star. This little feature opens up thousands of creatures to WS.  

Gifts and Meditations covers the magical-like powers used by Star Knights and Mystics.  Many of these are re-skinned spells. You could add more powers as spells, but only carefully.  Some spells are not entirely appropriate for a sci-fi setting.

The last three chapters cover roughly a White Star campaign universe.  The Kelron Sector is given some detail. Enough to get you going and enough to give you a good idea of what is going and where you can take it your own.   If you watched any Sci-Fi in the 70s or 80s then you will recognize a lot of the pastiche here.

What can I say about White Star?  It is one of the best Sci-Fi games I have picked up.  The more and more I play, the more and more I like level and class based systems for space opera.  It seems right to me somehow.  I think it is because I discovered Star Wars and D&D right around the same time and to me they always go together.

IF I had one criticism it would be I would prefer Sword and Wizardry Complete rules or Labyrinth Lord. But that is weak-sauce on my part really. I could convert it if I wanted.   I can say it would be perfect for my "Greyhawk 3000" game I want to do.