Showing posts with label Space Truckers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Space Truckers. Show all posts

Friday, December 29, 2023

Kickstart your Future! Thirteen Parsecs

It's the end of the week, the end of the month and the end of the year. So lets look to the future!

Thirteen Parsecs

13 Parsecs

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Thirteen Parsecs: Adventures Beyond the Solar Frontier is the latest tabletop role-playing game project from Elf Lair Games, producers of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars and Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. It forms the third of our trilogy of core games - we've given you modern and fantasy, and now we bring sci-fi to the forefront with the same rules, completely customizable and ready for you to build exactly the type of science fiction gaming you want. As always, it's your game your way when it's Powered by O.G.R.E.S.!


I am so excited for this.  I have been dying to work on a solid sci-fi game since forever.

What is Thirteen Parsecs?

Like our other games, NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands, Thirteen Parsecs is an O.G.R.E.S.-powered game. So if you have played a classic RPG then you know how to play this one already.

Also like NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs will be a "toolbox game."  We are going to give you the basic rules and structure for all sorts of Science Fiction style role-playing. So whether you want to play heroic characters in an epic space opera, explore strange new world with a group of explorers, battle alien threats, deal with a post-apocalyptic hellscape, or tackle humankind's first leap to the stars, then this game is for you.

BUT that is not all. Like NIGHT SHIFT we will encourage you to make your own worlds and setting to make it the sci-fi game YOU want. 

I have been talking for years, decades even, on how there has not been a sci-fi game that connects with me. Thirteen Parsecs will change that for me. Here are the worlds I am planning to bring you as my contribution in one form or another.

Space Truckers

This one began as a bit of joke and I have tried in different systems. It is "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "Blake's 7" with a dash of "Red Dwarf" and "Quark."  It is supposed to be silly fun about the lives of long-haul "truckers" on the edge of the Solar Frontier. The Colonies need their light beer too. I am planning on designing this to work with any of the other settings we have.

Dark Star (formerly BlackStar)

I have talked about this one a lot, my "Star Trek meets Cthulhu." The deal here is that Jason also has one he wants to do and so does our other member Derek. So it is very likely they will all get combined somehow into something new and better.  The basic idea here is "In Space, the stars are always right."

Völlig Losgelöst

My love letter to 80s sci-fi horror. This one might appear later due to space (heh) issues. If you enjoyed movies like "Lifeforce," "Galaxy of Terror," and "Xtro" then you will find a lot to love here. This one is explicitly a NIGHT SHIFT/Thirteen Parsecs crossover game, so I might wait until after the core rules are published. Essentially I want to create the future as we saw it from the mid-1980s. 

I have more ideas and these are only mine. Jason and Derek have a ton as well. 

So please sign up and watch for more details!

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Want to know more? Just ask!

Wednesday, December 20, 2023

Coming in 2024: Thirteen Parsecs

 You know how I have lamented how I never have found the perfect sci-fi RPG?  Well. That all might be changing.

Thirteen Parsecs

13 Parsecs

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Thirteen Parsecs: Adventures Beyond the Solar Frontier is the latest tabletop role-playing game project from Elf Lair Games, producers of Night Shift: Veterans of the Supernatural Wars and Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age. It forms the third of our trilogy of core games - we've given you modern and fantasy, and now we bring sci-fi to the forefront with the same rules, completely customizable and ready for you to build exactly the type of science fiction gaming you want. As always, it's your game your way when it's Powered by O.G.R.E.S.!


I am so excited for this.  I have been dying to work on a solid sci-fi game since forever.

A bit of background, I think I have mentioned in the past that prior to switching gears to become a psychologist I had actually started out in physics, and astrophysics in particular. I got to a point in calculus where I just stopped understanding it, so I had to switch. BTW this makes my former Actuary (with degrees in math) wife laugh her ass off all the time. 

So it will be wonderful to put all this knowledge I have about astronomy, space, and science to good use.

Launch is not till later in the year, but Jason is already working out all sorts of great things. I hope to resurrect Space Truckers, get some more mileage out of Dark Star (formerly BlackStar), and more.

So please sign up and watch for more details!


Tuesday, May 16, 2017

On Ramp: Introduction to Space Truckers

There seems to be some interest in this.  I don't have a publication date set yet, but I feel like September oughta be good.

Right now I have no art for this.  So that is going to be my biggest issue.

Here is the Introduction and a bit from Exit (Chapter) 01

Space Truckers

On Ramp - Introduction

“What a Long, Strange Trip it’s Been…”

The late 1970s was a very odd time.  In 1979 we were of the first families I knew of to get access to a new concept, a cable movie channel.  With my new obsession, Dungeons & Dragons, in mind I sought out to watch ANYTHING to do with sword and sorcery or fantasy.  I didn’t get that.  Instead I got a strange mix of movies from 1977 on.  Horror yes, but I also watched an odd mix of SciFi in the wake of Star Wars and Close Encounters and trucker movies.  The trucker/CB craze was huge in Middle America in the years 1977-79.  I saw movies like Smokey and the Bandit, Convoy and White Line. A lot. Maybe too much.

It makes for a strange alchemy to be sure.

I have spent a lot of time in cars driving from one place or another.  I have eaten at a few truck stops, downed coffee at a few more.  I did think they would be better if they had more aliens.  In others though I have thought I would not have even noticed.

Space Truckers is the offspring of two very popular trends of the late 1970s, Science Fiction, notably space battles, and a fascination with truckers and CB slang.

Exit 01 - Outbound and Down

“Hey hey Good Buddies! Whats’ yer Space-20? Come back!”

In the future humankind has gone out to the stars.  Hyperspace travel has made the planets closer. Humanity and the alien life forms they encounter are constantly looking for new planets to colonize.  Those planets need materials, food, and personnel. It is up to the brave men and women of the Space Shipping Lines to get the colonies what they need. It is a time of the SPACE TRUCKERS!

Far off colonies are serviced by long range starships and freighters.  Short range shipping needs are dealt with by local interplanetary shipping.  The needs of colonies, especially newer colonies inaccessible by larger freighters, are completely dependent on the service of the Space Trucking lines.
Space Truckers uses a mini-campaign concept that can be added to any White Star game; a sector of space with an expanse, The Hazard Lands, frequented by space truckers and pirates as well as patrolled by Colonial Hyperspace Police (CHP).

So far the classes I have are:
Space Truckers
Hyper Space Patrol (CHiPs)
Pirates
Grease Monkey (hyper intelligent chimps that are great mechanics)
And the Ursine and Porcine race options (or "Bears" and "Pigs" in trucker slang).

New Ships will include
Long Haul Trucks
Short Haul Trucks
CHiP interceptor crafts

Plus rules for “Hyper jamming” (getting more speed out of truck) and convoys

I am going to include the Hazzard lands, Dixie's Truck Stop ("the best Diablo Sandwich in the Tri-Sector area!"),  Lot Lizards and Snarks, Pirates.

Meet NPCS like Dixie, owner of Dixies. Her kid sister Jamie, along with cook Mel and waitresses Alice and FL0.  Get your truck serviced by Reginald Farnsworth Symthe IV aka “Reggie” and his robot assistant Gears.  Share a doughnut and coffee with CHP Officer Bob Friendly, just make sure you are not hauling any contraband.  Avoid the areas controlled by the corrupt Governor Boss of the Hazard Colonies and his equally corrupt Sheriff  Roscoe J. "Stonewall" Jackson.


It should be fun.  Silly, but fun.

Monday, May 15, 2017

Sick Days, New Year's Resolutions and Upcoming Books

Not feeling so hot today.  Some viral thing has been running through my home and at work, so I guess it was only a matter of time before it got me too.

This got me thinking about my New Year's Resolution.

Each year I try to resolve to do something new, or better, in the upcoming year.  I am happy to say I am usually pretty successful at keeping these.  This year was no different.

For 2017 I resolved to clear out a lot of the half-finished "Works in Progress" I have on my list.  Having five half-finished documents are not as good as having one finished one.  So you can see the fruits of my efforts this year with a new witch book out every six weeks so far. I also finished up a project for the DMsGuild and the Classic Modules Today group.


Now I don't want to burn out my audience so I am debating on whether or not my Summer Solstice book should be a "witch" book.  Oh if you think I don't have another witch book up my sleeves you haven't been paying attention here for long. ;)

Which gets me to today.
Since I am feeling kind of crappy I was digging around in my projects drive and found some docs I had written about the Healer Class. Actually, I have two; a Clerical healer and a Psychic healer.

The other projects I have are:

The Faerie Witch / Green Witch.  This is planned for the Summer Solstice.  It covers the Faerie Witch traditions as well as the Fey Pact Warlock.  I also will talk about "Grand Covens" and have more faerie creatures.  For Swords & Wizardry complete with conversion notes for Basic Era.

The White Witch. This is a simple book for playing good-aligned witches in Swords & Wizardry Whitebox.  Due out in August.

The Complete Necromancer. This is a much larger project. In addition to the Mara Tradition Witches and Death Pact Warlocks, I am going to comb through many OGC sources to provide a "complete" Necromancer class, an Undead Slayer class and a Death Priest. Some of the material in this book goes back to the beginning of my witch class.  This book will feature hundreds of spells and dozens, if not scores, of undead monsters.  It is a huge book.  I want to get it out for Halloween (natch) but not sure if I will get it all done.  Swords & Wizardry Complete / Basic Era.

The Healer.  Again this is a class that shares a genesis with the witch and necromancer. The Clerical Healer will have plenty of new spells and things to do. Plus rules on how to play a passivist character in a world of murder-hobos. The Psychic Healer will be similar but rely on psionic powers and manipulating chakras. Basic Era, no set date yet.

Space Truckers.  Ah. This one has been running around in my mind for years.  No witches. No magic. Think back to 1977, this is "Star Wars" meets "Smokey and the Bandit" meets "CHiPs".
An Ode to roadtrips and the strange alchemy that was the late 70s.  New classes, new races, new rules for short and long haul spacetrucks. For White Star.  No date yet, but this year is the 40th Anniversary of both "Star Wars" and "Smokey and the Bandit", so I should do it this year.

Below is a quick poll.  I am interested in hearing your thoughts.






Let me know what you think. I am on a ton of allergy drugs right now; who knows what you can convince me to do!