Review: Star Wars Roleplaying Game (d20)

 I am bouncing around a bit here on my cruise through the science fiction games from TSR/WotC to find one that I actually rather like, even though I know many do not. I am discussing the d20 Star Wars RPG from Wizards of the Coast.

I will freely admit that I have not played a lot of the West End Game's d6 Star Wars, though I do know it is widely held in high regard. I also have never played the Fantasy Flight Games edition of Star Wars (though my son has). So, my review might be a touch myopic, and I am OK with this. 

Star Wars and D&D

Before I begin this review I have to talk a bit about my background and why I think d20 and Star Wars was a good fit.

I have talked about Star Wars a few times here, but I am obviously a much bigger Star Trek fan. I had (and still have) a good sized collection of Star Wars toys from the Kenner era in the 1980s and I religiously have seen all the movies. I enjoy the Disney+ shows and find many of the fans to be exhausting. Ok, to be fair many Trek fans are the same way. But I am a causal fan. I had read some of the Extended (or is it Expanded) Universe books and I liked many of them. I thought Grand Admiral Thrawn was a great character and getting Lars Mikkelsen to play him in live-action has to be the most brilliant, or most obvious, casting choice ever.  When the EU went away...well I honestly felt not that much. Sure lots of great stories were gone, but Star Wars had a relationship with their canon that Star Trek novels could only dream of. 

But for me, my Star Wars obsession was in the 1980s. When I had action figures and playing out new scenarios in my head. When I took a Colonial Viper model, some extra action figure guns, and an AMC (or Revel, can't remember now) 1978 Corvette and built one of my first Kitbashes. I could not afford a real Slave 1 back then (so now of course I have three) but I did build "Slave II" and it was quite literally "Fett's Vette." And I was obsessed with D&D.

I have said it before, and I will say it here again, Star Wars, aka A New Hope, is a D&D movie. We have a hero, a villain, a princess (who is also a hero), an old wizard, a rogue, an impenetrable fortress (the Death Star), war, magic (tell me to my face the Force is not magic) and a quest.  There are sword fights, monsters, and interesting locales. It is D&D in all but name. They even meet the rogue in a bar! 

I can't even begin to count the number of times we tried to do "D&D Star Wars" and our attempts were lame compared to others. Do an internet search on "D&D Jedi" prior to 1999 and see all the stuff that was out there, though admittedly not as much now as it was at the time. 

Even later on I often likened the Star Wars EU to another line of novels and quasi-canon material; that of the Forgotten Realms. 

So for me D&D and by extension d20 and Star Wars seemed like an obvious fit.

Star Wars RPG - Revised Core Rulebook

2002, Wizards of the Coast. 384 pages. Full-color covers and interior art. d20 System.

This is the revised version of the Star Wars d20 RPG, first published in 2000. 

This game is very closely related to the D&D 3.0 edition that had been released in 2000. I don't own a copy of the Star Wars RPG from 2000, so I can't comment on what was changed, but there is a "feel" to me that this might be an early draft of D&D 3.5. Much in the same way that Star Wars Saga Edition was an early draft of D&D 4.0.

The game is built on the d20 mechanics, so there are alien species, classes, skills, and feats. The book is divided into a players section and a game master section, so I guess the better comparison here is d20 Modern. Especially once we get in to it in detail.

Characters have a species and class, and the same six abilities as D&D. There are same 3.x era saves of Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. There are also Vitality and Wound Points.  If you can play D&D d20 era or d20 Modern then you know how to play this game. 

Chapters 2 and 3 cover Species and Classes. There are 17 species to choose from, including standard humans and Ewoks (!). Classes cover the expected varieties, including Fringer, Scout, Scoundrel, Force Adepts, and Jedis. There are Prestige classes covered later. 

Chapters 4 and 5: Skills and Feats look and act like their D&D/d20 counterparts. Skills are mostly the same, but the feats take on some new aspects. While there are many that are the same, there are new ones like Force Feats (which does a lot to help explain Jedi Powers).

Chapter 6 covers the final pieces of building heroic characters, including some more "Star Wars" flavor.

Chapter 7 is our Equipment guide and it is a rather fun one. Lots of gear in the Star Wars universe. 

Chapter 8 covers combat, a needed chapter since "War" is practically the last name here. 

Chapter 9 though takes us into new territory with "The Force." This is more complicated than magic, but there are some great ideas here to take back to a D&D game for Game Masters that want to use the corrupting power of magic.

Chapters 10 and 11 deal with Vehicles and Starships, respectively.  Honestly, I could spend all my time on the Starships chapter.

Chapter 12 is Gamemastering. It covers a lot of ground from how to teach the game to new players, to setting challenges, to Prestige classes (Bounty Hunters, Jedi Masters, and more). The GM Characters from d20 Modern also get ported over here as the Diplomat, Expert, and Thug.

Chapter 13 deals with the Eras of Play. Or at least how they looked in 2002 before the Clone Wars series and Revenge of the Sith hit our screens. There are hints of the Expanded Universe here, but not a lot. Now I know that Wizards, with their own Star Wars books, helped expand the Expanded Universe. We even get stats for the poster girl of the Expanded Universe, Mara Jade Skywalker. I am actually really happy about that. I have a soft spot in my heart for Temporal Orphans. 

Chapter 14 covers Allies and Opponents, which, of course, can vary depending on what era you are playing in. This also contains Wizards of the Coast biggest contribution to the Expanded Universe, the Yuuzhan Vong, which I always found kind of cool and wanted to port them back to D&D in some way.

Chapter 15 covers the one area where Star Wars is superior to Star Trek. Droids. 

The game really relies a lot on the players' and game masters' own knowledge of Star Wars. Yes, you can play it without that, but it certainly helps. 

Is this the best Star Wars game? I can't say. It is the best one for me. It has enough to allow me to build a game universe and play. I can add in d20 Future material as I like, including some d20 Gamma World or even d20 Traveller. 

The Wizards of the Coast d20 Star Wars lines are out of print. The new owners of the Star Wars RPG, Fantasy Flight Games (bought by Asmodee in 2014) have their own system. My oldest likes it and has run a few games with it. I'll try it out. I suppose I should also review the d6 West End Games Star Wars at some point as well.

Monstrous Mondays: Aliens, Monsters, and the Unknown in Thirteen Parsecs

Alien girl by Hernán Toro

It's a sci-fi Monstrous Monday and I wanted to talk a little about monsters and aliens in Thirteen Parsecs.

Like our other RPG NIGHT SHIFT, Thirteen Parsecs is a "tool kit" game. That is, we will give all sorts of rules, some sample settings ("Solar Frontiers"), and let you build your own.

Some of our settings will have aliens. Jason has a few he has been working on for his Solar Frontiers. Derek has some others. 

For my Solar Frontiers, aliens are treated very differently.

In "Space Truckers," aliens only add flavor to the game. The eponymous Dixie of Dixie's Truck Stop is described as an "attractive alien girl with blue skin and bug-like antennae."  But otherwise, she is pretty much a human. There are Ursians, bear-like aliens who make up the police force of the "Colony Hyperspace Patrol" or CHyPs. There are Porcines who control most of the Badlands where Space Truckers have their shipping lanes. And finally, there are Lot Lizards, who are lizard people. I have a chimpanzee-like species that are the best engineers on the Frontier and more. But again, these are just for dressing. They still all more or less act human. Maybe exaggerated traits, but human enough to relate to. This is part of the fun of this particular setting. It is meant to feel like a 1970s Trucker movie in space.

"Darker Stars" is very different. 

In this Solar Frontier, humankind has moved out into space and found monsters waiting for them. 

While we will have some monsters in the core rules, my goals here was to re-purpose monsters from both NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. Indeed this is the source of those monsters. Darker Stars is my "horror in space" setting.

Let's take an example of a typical Darker Stars sort of adventure.

The crew of your starship encounters a derelict spacecraft. You send a landing party to investigate only to be attacked by the crew. The long-dead crew.

Our dead crew, and they could be human or aliens, will use the Zombie stats from NIGHT SHIFT. If you think about it, what are the Borg or even Cybermen but fancy zombies? The commanding officer? A mummy or a lich.

Does this mean there is magic here? Well...I take Arthur C. Clark's view here with his Third Law: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." The captain of this ship, knowing his crew was in danger makes a radical adjustment to ship's life support and keeps everyone from not dying. "Not Dying" isn't the same as "Alive" though.

But don't worry. There will be aliens, both as playable races and as creatures to encounter.  

It will be up to you whether your encounter with them is more like Ripley's or Kirk's.

Retrospective: Wizards of the Coast's Gamma World

Yesterday, I discussed the various editions of TSR's Gamma World. In 1997 Wizards of the Coast, flush full of cash from their runaway hit Magic: The Gathering, bought TSR and all their debt, becoming the owner of everything TSR had ever produced. This famously included Dungeons & Dragons, but also Gamma World. They would then produce some new editions of this game as well.

Each edition here uses a different set of rules, and are not exactly compatible with each other.

Fifth Edition (2000)

This edition of Gamma World was designed for the Sci-fi game Alternity. I'll have much more to say about that when I do my review and deep dive into Alternity later this month.

But like all the Alternity titles, this one is out of print and unavailable from DriveThruRPG. Thankfully, I still have my own copy.

This edition is notable for also (like the 3rd Edition) not being compatible with the then-current edition of Dungeons & Dragons.  This one appeared at the end of the AD&D 2nd edition era and right before the D&D 3.0 era. 

Omega World (2002)

This was an adaptation of the d20 rules to play a Gamma World-like mini-game. It appeared in Dungeon Magazine #94 and was a stand-alone affair. It is the odd child of the Gamma World family, and that is saying something, but it is a rather fun game in a tight little package.

This requires the D&D 3.0 game to play, not the d20 Modern Rules which would not be released for another month or so.

Sixth Edition (2003-2005)

Along with Ravenloft, Wizards of the Coast had Arthaus, an imprint of White Wolf, create the d20 Edition of Gamma World. This was a fairly robust edition with both a Player's Handbook and a Game Master's Guide. A Machines and Mutants book was also released, mimicking the classic three book format D&D has always used. 

That is not the only way it mimicked D&D. This version of Gamma World used the d20 Modern rules, making it to this point the most compatible with the then-current D&D (3.5). It also made it compatible with all of Wizard's of the Coast's d20 Future line, which included some materials from both Alternity and Star Frontiers. It was also compatible with WotC's d20 Star Wars.

The book titles are a little misleading. The Player's Handbook has the setting information. Character creation and most of the rules are still in the d20 Modern book, needed to play. The Game Master's Guide is less about running a Gamma World game and more about running any sort of RPG. The Machines and Mutants book, aka the Monster Manual, is pretty much what it says it is. 

Wizards of the Coast sought cohesion in the Alternity line, which they achieved by accident in the d20 era. This also means that the Omega World game is 100% (or 95-99%) compatible with this.

In truth, this is a solid edition that makes some solid attempts at updating the Gamma World mythology to better suit 21st-century technology and genetics. 

While it is not perfect, it is very playable and it was always in the back of my mind when I tried out various d20 sci-fi games.

Seventh Edition (2010)

Gamma World came back again, and this time in-house at Wizards of the Coast. Gamma World 7th Edition was built on the same rules as D&D 4th Edition, and they are quite compatible in that respect. Gamma World characters tend to be more powerful and more random as befitting the nature of the genre. 

I know the least about this game. Though I did watch some people play it at Gen Con 2011 when it was released, and it looked fun, I'm not sure it felt like Gamma World to me. But I don't deny the people playing it had a good time. 

If Gamma World 6e was a serious grimdark post-apoc setting, then this one returned to its weird roots. I think this is one of the reasons I like 6e better than 7e. Also, I think the D&D4 rules, while I am fine with them for D&D4, don't click with me here.  The cards seemed a step too much for me.  Though I am equally certain I could mine this for ideas.

--

All editions though can be great fun, if you are willing to ignore the fact that levels of radiation talked about in these games would just kill everyone and not really make them mutants. But that is why they are Science Fantasy and not Science Fiction per se. None of that matters, though; the real reason here is to play a radioactive plant ape that speaks in a Cajun accent and swings a stop sign as a weapon.

Retrospective: TSR's Gamma World

A while back, I reviewed TSR's First Edition of the post-apocalyptic science fantasy RPG Gamma World. 

Since I am focusing this year on the 50th Anniversary of Dungeons & Dragons, it is only fitting that I spend so much time with its sister game, Gamma World. There are currently seven editions of Gamma World, all following the same general theme: It is the 25th Century, and the Earth has been nearly destroyed by some global cataclysm. The nature of this cataclysm and the amount of humanity that survived changes from edition to edition. 

All editions of Gamma World are credited to James M. Ward and Gary Jaquet. It was based on Ward's earlier sci-fi game, Metamorphosis Alpha. MA would give us Gamma World and the AD&D adventure Expedition to the Barrier Peaks.

The remnants of humanity and other beings now struggle to survive in a harsh and mutated world filled with bizarre creatures, dangerous mutants, and remnants of advanced technology. 

Like Dungeons & Dragons, players take on the roles of adventurers exploring this radioactive wasteland. They can choose from various mutant characters with unique abilities, ranging from humanoid animals and plant people to cyborgs and psychic mutants. 

Characters adventure in abandoned, destroyed cities, looking for the remains of civilization or something to survive in the wasteland. 

In many, many ways, Gamma World IS Dungeons & Dragons. There is no magic, but there are high-tech, weird radiation and psychic powers. Making Gamma World into a D&D world is not a stretch. The 1st and 2nd edition rules are similar enough to Basic-era and AD&D 1st editions to make translations easy. In fact, the 1st edition of the AD&D Dungeon Master's Guide has conversion guidelines. Gamma World 4th edition is also very close to AD&D 2nd edition to make translations there east too. Dragon Magazine #183 has a conversion guideline for Gamma Word 4th edition and AD&D 2nd edition.

First Edition (1978)

I reviewed this one in detail a while back. It is also the one I am most familiar with. 

Second Edition (1983)

This was one of the more popular versions of the game, coming out at the height of classic D&D's popularity. While I mentioned it is compatible with AD&D 1st edition, it has more in common with the Red Box D&D Basic that came out around the same time. It even came with the same sort of dice as the Basic sets. Considering that GW1 most closely resembles the Moldvay Basic set, this is not a surprise. 

Gamma World 2nd edition is compatible with GW 1st edition, and is generally the same rules expanded and cleared up. Even the adventures and products for this game kept the same numbering codes from 1st edition. 

This edition is expanded over GW1 and includes an introductory adventure. There are few more "monsters" in this one as well, but I'd need to set them side by side to figure out which ones are new.

Third Edition (1986)

This version of Gamma World also expands on the earlier editions. Notable setting changes include doubling the number of humans that died in the apocalypse and the rules have changed. While characters are still generated the same way and all the stat blocks look similar there is an addition of an "Action Table" for rolling outcomes. The feel is similar to what we see in 1st Edition Chill from Pacesetter and TSR's own Marvel Super Heroes RPG's FASERIP system.  The system requires only a d6 and a d10. There are notes on how to use to generate other types of dice rolls. 

Unlike GW1 and GW2, this version was not as out of the box compatible with D&D to the same degree the others were. Characters, as did the monsters, still looked very similar, but the system was different enough to increase the incompatibility. 

The idea here was to streamline the game and make the action faster. Sadly, several errors in the game made this difficult. It did feature one of the first meta-plot arcs for Gamma World, but sadly was not finished in print.

Fourth Edition (1992)

This edition of the game brought it back to its roots, so to speak. It is very compatible with the then-current AD&D 2nd Edition. There are some very interesting design choices here too including a good skill system and a very d20 like combat resolution system with "Ascending" armor classes. In some ways you could adapt this to AD&D for a near AD&D 2.5 edition that shows a good transition between AD&D 2nd ed and what will become D&D 3rd edition, but that is 8 years and a different company in the future.

Interestingly, this edition was also playtested over the GEnie BBS service way back before the internet became ubiquitous. 

The art in this edition features some of the best art from the "Four Horsemen of TSR," Jeff Easley, Clyde Caldwell, Larry Elmore, and Keith Parkinson.

Sadly, this was to be the last version of Gamma World to be produced by TSR. They announced they were going to switch gears and do a new version of Metamorphosis Alpha for their new Amazing Engine game line. 

The Fifth Edition, while published under the TSR name was really a Wizards of the Coast product and I'll discuss that one tomorrow.

Which one should you get?

All things being equal, I would go for the 4th edition rules myself. The 1st and 2nd have a great nostalgia factor for me, and while I have the 1st Edition, I likely go with the 2nd.

The 1st, 3rd, and 4th edition rules are all available as Print on Demand versions now. So that is also in their favor. I understand the 4th edition rules are very clean and a good print. I can vouch for the 1st edition rules myself. The 3rd has some issues, but I am also not a fan of the action table, so I am giving it a pass.

Kickstart Your Weekend: SciFi Fun

Lets hit some stretch goals!

Thirteen Parsecs

http://tinyurl.com/13psignuptim

Thirteen Parsecs is funded!

We want this game to be your sci-fi RPG of choice, so help us make that happen.

This uses the same O.G.R.E.S. as NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. There will be "Solar Frontiers," which are mini-settings you can use to start your game. My Solar Frontiers will be "Space Truckers" and the currently titled "Dark Stars" my "horror in space" setting.

And this one from my friend David Flor and Darklight Entertainment.

Atomic Age

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dlimedia/atomic-age?ref=theotherside

This is a new sci-fi post-apocalyptic d20-based game from David Flor and Dark Light Interactive. 

It looks like a lot of fun, and is going for that "Gamma World" vibe.  The core rules look fun, but the bestiary has me all kinds of excited. 

There is a Quick Start preview you can grab for free. 

So definitely check this one out!

This Old Dragon: Issue #183

  That time again when I reach into the pile of Dragons under my desk and pull out one to read. This month, I am focusing on sci-fi, so in a bit of a cheat, I am pulling from the small selection of sci-fi-themed Dragons. Today's Dragon #183 comes to us from the summer of 1992. It's July; I just finished my undergrad degree and working on my Masters. My best friend from all over the world also graduated, but she is finishing up another bachelor's degree and will be moving to Chicago in a month or so. No. I am not ready for this. Spoiler: We decide in February of 1993 to start dating. Can't do it while we live in the same town I guess, have to wait till we are 300 miles apart. We are still married.  In the theatres, "A League of Their Own" is number 1. Mariah Carey is at #1 with "I'll Be There," and on the shelves and gaming tables everywhere is Issue #183 of This Old Dragon. 

Our cover this month is from Mike L. Scott and features Spelljammer "space whales" called Kindori. I noticed my oldest was prepping a new Spelljammer game, so I asked him if he knew about these guys.

So, at this point, I was not reading Dragon regularly. I knew of this issue, but nothing really about it. 

We were hit with some ads right away, which I enjoyed. One is for a Doctor Doom supplement for Marvel Super Heroes, and another is for Dungeons of Mystery. Dungeons of Mystery features the concept art and not the final art. The concept art has a solid "Mystara" feel to it that I rather like. Flipping the page more TSR ads for the new Dragonlance book and Aurora's Whole Realms Catalogue.  I am not that familiar with this one outside of the name, I will have to track it down.

We get to the Contents and learn this month's special feature is Science and Fantasy. Great!

Letters cover a bunch of quick-shot answers from past issues in a rapid-fire fashion. I see the Witch from #114 is still stirring the pot, er, cauldron. 

Roger Moore's Editorial covers how to adapt some fantasy books to your AD&D game. There is a picture of four books, including The Princess Bride, but he only talks about two of them, "The Face in the Frost" and "The Last Unicorn."  He does mention he ran out of space and time for the others.

Bruce Nesmith is up first for our feature with Magic & Technology Meet At Last in his notes on converting AD&D 2nd Ed and Gamma World 4th Ed. Thankfully, it seems to be a bit easier than I expected since they are more closely related than I originally knew. Plus Gamma World essentially is using the d20 to hit AC mechanic we will later see in D&D 3rd Edition and the d20 rules. 

Advice to a High Lord is from Martin Wixted. It is interesting for a couple of reasons. First off it is copyrighted, so likely one of the articles that would cause so much drama when the Dragon CD-ROM came out, and it is about West End Games' TORG. So a rare non-TSR game. Though at this time they were still being featured, soon all other game support would drop.  I don't know much about TORG really. I saw people playing it when I would pop over to the Student Center when they had their RPG open games, but never played. I still see it a lot at Gen Con.

Speaking of which. Small ad for the combined Gen Con/Origins game show. 

People love pirates. Well...I admit I don't, but they are popular. "Avast, ye swaps, and heave to!" by Richard Baker III covers pirates and privateering in AD&D Spelljammer. While not a lot of mechanics, there is some good stuff here. It should work for AD&D 2nd Ed and the 5th Ed material my kid was reading over.

Ah...Now this looks fun. Unidentified Gaming Objects brings UFOs to your Fantasy RPG. Gregory W. Detwiler gives us great overview of what is going on in the skies a full year before the X-Files hit our TV screens. He provides a lot of what we might call "Conspiracy theories" today and gives you a way to work them into your games. A lot of these would be fantastic for *D&D. Though I am disappointed that in his otherwise great coverage on the Hollow Earth he doesn't mention Mystara as Hollow, published two years prior. His Bibliography is really good for pre-Internet publications. I would use these all in NIGHT SHIFT.

Game Science has a cool ad for the RANGE 1 electronic dice roller. After my CS 212 and STAT 501 courses, I learned about pseudorandom numbers. I never allowed these things in my games. Which was a moot point because I could never afford them back then! But still, I did like the idea.

Convention Calendar has your summer vacation travel plans ready. Oh, wait. I was in grad school then, I didn't get a summer vacation. In fact it was either 1992 or 1993 (can't remember) when the State of Illinois did not meet its budget and all workers, including Graduate TAs, were furloughed. I didn't get paid all summer long. That's why I could not afford fancy dice rollers. Anyway the format here has changed on the Calendar and it is easier to see the various states faster and easier.

FASA is up with a ShadowRun 2nd Edition ad. I loved ShadowRun, I loved the world building. I just wish I could have played it more. WAIT I can if I combine NIGHT SHIFT with Thirteen Parsecs! Note to Self, try this. 

Dragon Magazine 90s MVP, and friend of the Other Side, Bruce Heard is up with Part 30 of The Voyage of the Princess Ark. Second Note to Self: Track down all of these and review them in order. As usual there is a narrative piece and some game material too. 

Role Playing Reviews by Rick Swan covers the Leading Edge Games version of Aliens and FASA's MECHWARRIOR 2nd Edition. They get 2.5 and 3.5 stars respectively. Swan mentions he does not see the appeal of the Aliens franchise, so I wonder if that affects his review at all. BUT given my own personal experiences with Leading Edge Games, he might be right.

The Lesser Clan of Hartly, Patrica, and Kirk are back with more The Role of Computers. They look forward to the time when CD-ROMs lower the price of games not having to ship floppy disks! Yeah... They do review the first Civilization game which they rightfully give 5 stars. It is amazing what these old games used to be able to do with the limited hardware of the day. Granted, we didn't see it that way; I had my first Gateway 2000 computer and I thought I was living in the damn future.

Jean Rabe is up with an oddly placed (given the theme) The Vikings' Dragons, Part 2. This is a set of five linnorm dragons in AD&D Monstrous Compendium format ready to put into your binders. Love the idea, really, and the dragons are fun. Part 1 appeared in issue 182.

TSR Previews lets us know what is coming for July 1992. Most of these are featured as ads in this very magazine. 

Ardath Mayhar has our short fiction, Gryphon's Nest.

The MARVEL-PHILE from Steven E. Schend covers Cerise and Kylun from the Excalibur series. 

Forum covers some deeper discussions. I see some familiar names here like Alan Kellogg. 

Role of Books with John C. Bunnell has the new novels gamers might be interested in. Among those listed is new author, Laurell K. Hamilton and her Nightseer book. I bet she will be a big name later on! Also featured is the new one from Michael A. Stackpole (yes, that one).

Skip Williams has more Sage Advice. Anne Brown has shopping advice for your characters in The Game Wizards.

Dragonmirth has our back-pages comics. I recognize Yamara certainly. The Twilight Empire is features too. I never followed it. I should make an effort to try sometime. 

Gamers Guide has our small ads. Ads to cast your own metal minis, t-shirts with dragons, play-by-mail, and a new idea, computer-simulated galaxies. I can tell some of these were made with the Mac version of PageMaker and then printed out and sent to Dragon. Not a criticism, more fondness.

Ah, now something very interesting. Through the Looking Glass by Robert Bigalow covers minis but spends the first page discussing the banning of lead miniatures due to governmental regulations on lead. I remember this and felt like I was just getting to a point where I could afford them and then they go away! Well, I can't recall where that shook out, but plastic rules the tables now.

All in all, not a bad issue, just not as much science fiction as I wanted.

--

Remember, we have a new crowdfunding campaign to fund the production of our Thirteen Parsecs: Beyond the Solar Frontier Tabletop RPG. Please help us out if you can. If you can't pledge, then help us by sharing the links with all your friends. 

Sci-Fi Month: Thirteen Parsecs is LIVE!

Thirteen Parsecs

http://tinyurl.com/13psignuptim

We want this game to be your sci-fi RPG of choice, so help us make that happen.

This uses the same O.G.R.E.S. as NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. 

Much like NIGHT SHIFT, there are core rules for playing in all sorts of Sci-Fi genres; Space Opera, Action, Comedy, Horror (of course!), and more.

There will be "Solar Frontiers," mini-settings you can use to start your game (much like the Night Worlds for NIGHT SHIFT). My Solar Frontiers will be "Space Truckers" and the currently titled "Dark Stars," my "aliens and horror in space" setting.

Jason will provide the bulk of the core rules and his two Solar Frontiers, and our long-time collaborator (and demo game GM extraordinaire) Derek Stoelting will also add his Solar Frontiers. We are all working on adding rules and expanding what worked best in NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. We have over 75 years of game design experience for a couple dozen different companies/publishers.

Speaking of our other games, Thirteen Parsecs is 100% compatible with NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands.  Do you want to play deeper, dark sci-fi horror? NIGHT SHIFT + 13P has you covered. Want to pilot your Time Ship back to after the KT extinction and find a world populated by the proto-human experiments of the Great Old Ones? Wasted Lands + 13P! Or combine all three.

I am planning an epoch-sweeping adventure that takes you from Wasted Lands to NIGHT SHIFT to Thirteen Parsecs, in the vein of one of my favorite books and movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's not exactly the same, of course (I do not liken myself to a Clark or a Kubrick), but it's an echo of a time when I read both 2001 and Lord of the Rings one summer.

Help us make this a reality! We are going strong out of the gate but let's hit those stretch goals.

We are exactly the type of publisher these crowdfunding sites are really for: small professionals with grand ideas and the desire and skills to get it done; we just lack the capital for some art and printing costs upfront.

All of our and Jason's crowdfunding has met our goals, and more importantly, we have delivered on time. We are even offering some nice perks for early backers.

So please check us out!

http://tinyurl.com/13psignuptim

alternate link: https://www.backerkit.com/c/projects/elf-lair-games/thirteen-parsecs-adventures-beyond-the-solar-frontier

 

Kickstart Your Weekend: Sci-fi month is here!

 It's May and that means Science Fiction here at the Other Side. This year I am doing D&D 50th Anniversary, so I want to focus this month on D&D-related Sci-fi.  For today I have a couple of great Kickstarters/Crowdfunded RPGs that are the spiritual heirs to the sci-fi games of the 1980s.

Atomic Age

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dlimedia/atomic-age?ref=theotherside

This is a new sci-fi post-apocalyptic d20-based game from David Flor and Dark Light Interactive. 

It looks like a lot of fun, and is going for that "Gamma World" vibe.  The core rules look fun, but the bestiary has me all kinds of excited. 

There is a Quick Start preview you can grab for free. 

So definitely check this one out!

And this one will launch next week. We are looking for more people to sign-up for this one.

Thirteen Parsecs

http://tinyurl.com/13psignuptim

Thirteen Parsecs is coming! Please sign up to get notified of our launch of the Backer kit.

We want this game to be your sci-fi RPG of choice, so help us make that happen.

This uses the same O.G.R.E.S. as NIGHT SHIFT and Wasted Lands. There will be "Solar Frontiers," which are mini-settings you can use to start your game. My Solar Frontiers will be "Space Truckers" and the currently titled "Dark Star" my "horror in space" setting.

Let's get these both funded!

Friday Night Videos: Songs of Thirteen Parsecs

Nothing puts me in the mood for working on a campaign or writing new material quite like a good playlist.

So while we are working on Thirteen Parsecs, Jason has put together a new sci-fi themed playlist for your enjoyment.

Don't forget to sign up to learn more about this project.

https://tinyurl.com/13psignup

Enjoy!

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

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!

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

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!

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

 A couple of weeks back, I took a bit of a break to talk about some SciFi ideas I had.  Well, it must have nestled into my brain and laid eggs that hatched because I now have a bunch more ideas. Or maybe because Doctor Who has been on my mind a lot lately since yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the show and tomorrow is the premier of the 60th Anniversary special.  One of those ideas was something I was calling "The Lost Children of Time."  The idea was half-baked, at best, but that ended today.

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

Now to be fair this doesn't have to be used with the Doctor Who RPG. But I think the feel of the 2nd Edition game might fit this the best. Plus I think I would run this as a one-shot.  So who are the characters? The eponymous Lost Children of Time?  Well, they are the reason I put this together to start with so let us see who they are.

• Jonas Kahnwald (Dark) - Age 20, he ceases to exist when his world timeline is destroyed.
• Martha Nielsen (Dark) - Age 20, from a parallel world/timeline. Her timeline is also destroyed when Jonas' is to make room for a third (or original) timeline where they do not exist.
• Cal Stone (Manifest) - Age 22. The older version of the Cal Stone that was temporarily displaced on Flight 828. When the time was reset Cal was returned as age 11. This is 22-year-old Cal.
• DC Iris Maplewood (Bodies) - Age ??. From an alternate future (2053) where England is under near fascist rule. She is sent back in time to 1890, 1941, and 2023.  For reasons unknown, her 2023 counterpart survives the collapse of her timeline.

The characters all bring something to the table. Jonas is our everyday guy. Martha is already used to fighting and dealing with strange things. Cal has a sixth sense and visions (Callings), and Iris is a cop. All have time-travel experience. 

But who is it they are after? Well, that came to me today.

They are fighting a time and space displaced Jack the Ripper.

How is that possible? Easy. Let's take another time travel movie, Time After Time from 1979. It features Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells and David Warner as Jack the Ripper. Both who have solid sci-fi credits to their name including parts in various Star Trek movies and series.   In this movie H.G. Wells builds a working time machine, but it is stolen by his friend Stevenson, aka Jack the Ripper. He travels to 1979 where he picks up his killings anew. Wells follows him when his time machine returns.  While in 1979 Jack attempts to escape but Wells removes the "vaporizing equalizer" from the machine. This causes the time machine to remain, but send Jack to "oblivion" according to Wells. We assume he is dead.

But if he wasn't?

Que the Second Season Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold."  In this episode (note: it really doesn't hold up well despite being a good horror episode written by Robert Bloch) we meet Redjac, a non-corporeal entity that murders women to feed on their fear. Spock's reasoning aside I am going to go back on to my tried true explanation of psychic ability is a sex-linked trait on the X chromosome. People with XX chromosomes are more likely to have psychic abilities than people with XY. This is what Redjac feeds on. Everyone feels fear, but people with greater psychic potential are a better meal to it.

Redjac in the episode is believed to have been the cause of Jack the Ripper. But what if it was the other way around? What if H.G. Wells sending Stevenson/Jack to "oblivion" only freed it from its corporeal form and sent out into Time and Space to hunt anew?

I would need to figure out how this group comes together. How they find the clues and then how they solve the mystery of the Ripper-like murders of women in 2023.

Easiest of course would be to have Jonas and Martha in London where they get into Iris' cab/Uber. Cal is easy, he has a vision and goes there.  There is my plot twist too. Redjac normally only murders women because of their greater psychic potential, but Cal with his callings is a much tastier target. 

How do they defeat the Ripper/Redjac? 

No idea yet. But it will involve some time travel to be sure. 

The key here was David Warner. He was amazing as Stevenson/Jack the Ripper in "Time After Time." He has played no less than three separate characters in Star Trek and a character in Doctor Who. He was also in an Outer Limits episode about Jack the Ripper that uses a similar idea. 

Also is Redjac/Jack content to travel in time or does he have a greater purpose? 

It sounds like a lot of fun and I can't wait to try it out.

Jenny, Larina and Valerie for the Doctor Who RPG Second Edition

So it is June, and historically June has been D&D month around here. Though I have to admit I have not been in a D&D mood all year.  I do have some things that fill that space certainly and will get to them.

Today though feels more like May 32nd. So I am going to do a little bit more with my Doctor Who posts and move on to other things.  And a good place to do that is to compare the three characters that I have been using for all my Doctor Who posts; Larina, Jenny Everywhere, and Valerie. 

The biggest difference between the 1st Edition and 2nd Edition Doctor Who RPGs is predominantly in character creation. Since I have three characters here that are a bit outside of the norm they make good test subjects for the new Distinctions.

Who Are You?

So I have a public domain "shifter," an immortal from the 16th Century, and a witch vaguely aware of all her past lives. How do these three get together in a bar in Soho?

Thankfully I already have good ideas about who these characters are in the Doctor Who universe. I just need to get them to jell together.  Using the Shared Background Experiences table on p. 33 helps. 

• Jenny has met other versions of Larina but sees that, unlike her, Larina is only vaguely aware of them. Larina wants to know what Jenny knows.
• Jenny has come across Valerie in the past. Val thought Jenny was immortal, Jenny (never Jen) thought Val was another shifter. 
• Val and Larina have known each other for years. Val has also interacted with Larina's past lives.
• Jenny goes to Larina for a Tarot reading, and despite all the shuffling, all the cards when flipped over are blank. The same thing happens again with Valerie. 
• This is the big one. All three try to avoid each other. Larina says they have strange auras, and not the same sort of strange. Jenny says the other two "buzz" and it gives her a headache. Val says that when they are together weirder than average shit happens. When it is all three the wierdness increases.

So when a chance meeting in a bar in Westminster one cold November night, things got weird.

Going back to the characters now and build them by the new rules. 

Jenny Everywhere

I have mentioned Jenny a lot. She is a great character for the Doctor Who game and maybe even a better character for this newer version.

As always, I must include her license:

"The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition. This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, in order that others may use this property as they wish. All rights reversed."

Concept: Shifter in time and space.

What does that mean? Well she can sense changes in time flow, she can move about realities, she knows things that she otherwise would not know or not be capable of knowing. This new edition is explicit on the fact that the Time War changed history and the future and what we thought happened didn't or happened differently. Jenny can sense that.

Focus: Adventure

Jenny is nothing if not about adventure. She doesn't bemoan her abilities or lot in life, she embraces them.

Distinction: Shifter

This is what she is. It defines her. Since this is a major one her Story Points are reduced per page 47.

Valerie Beaumont

To paraphrase the Doctor, she is not my character but I have put a lot of work into her. Valerie is an immortal and she is always search for others like her, somewhat out of companionship and kinship but mostly to discover why she is the way she is. 

Concept: Immortal seeker of knowledge

Everything about Val revolves around her desire to learn more about who she is and her place in this cosmos. 

Focus: Discovery

Val is cautious not to let people know who she is until she knows who they are first. But when it comes to a mystery or discovering something new she jumps in feet first and then figures out how she will land on the way down.

Distinctions: Immortal, striking appearance

This one was easy, and the examples are given in the book. She also takes a minor reduction in Story Points.

Larina Nichols

Ah. Now this girl. We go way back. 

She is a witch. Regardless what that means in any given world that is who she is. If anything she lives by the quote "A witch is not what you do it is who you are." Sounds like a Concept to me.

Concept: Modern Witch

She believes in magic, in the power of crystals and more. She does not view these as "paranormal" just "extra normal." Certainly in the universe of Doctor Who she can be justified.

Focus: Curiosity

Larina wants to know things just for the sake of knowing them. Her curiosity is insatiable and it gets her into trouble. A lot.

Distinctions: Psychic, striking appearance

Ah, now here is where the Distinctions work better than traits. In the First Edition, I had to buy a lot of traits to get her the powers I wanted, even if in a small bit. Here she takes a Major Distinction, Psychic and I work out with my GM (well...me) and figure out what she has when. So she is telepathic and empathic and can have visions of the future (precognitive) when needed.  There are plenty of examples of these sorts of humans in Doctor Who, well traveling with this bunch has turned her abilities up. Turned up so much that they might even become dangerous. 

The balance here is do I reduce her Story Points OR as the GM use her as a plot device?  Both sound appealing. 

I have to admit. I rather love these. I knew with the new 2nd Edition system, things like my group of weirdos here would work so much better.

Right now the only thing keeping me in the First Edition game is inertia, but if I had too I could switch over to the Second Edition with no looking back.

I'll reiterate this with more clarity.

If you are new to RPGs and/or new to Doctor Who, then this is the version of the game to get.  Get to your FLGS (preferably) or Amazon (if you must) and grab a copy. Or if you are a Save the Trees type (good for you!) then head over to DriveThruRPG and grab a copy in PDF. It has everything you need except dice.

Review: Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition

Earlier today, I covered the Starter Set for the new Doctor Who The Roleplaying Game Second Edition. Now I want to cover the full core book.

I will do a full review, but also I want to cast an eye toward the differences in the game from the previous First Editon(s).

Doctor Who: The Roleplaying Game Second Edition

PDFs and Hardcover book. Full color. 256 pages.

PDF is broken down into Core rules, Doctor, Companions, and Pregen charactersheets, and a blank character sheet.

As always, I am considering the PDFs from DriveThruRPG as well as the Core Rules book from my FLGS. 

New Doctor means new trade dress and rules from Cubicle 7. But this time C7 goes the extra step and gives us an all new rule book with new (ish) system. What's inside? Let's have a look.

The layout of the book is very similar to the previous hardcovers, so if you are moving to this game from the First Edition then things will be easy for you to find.

The table of contents is up first and immediately you get the idea that this edition is courting new players. Each chapter for example has a brief sentence describing what it is for starters. 

Chapter One: Let's Get a Shift On

Upfront, just like the previous versions, this book focuses on the then-current Doctor, the 13th, played by Jodie Whitaker and her companions. Though the other Doctors are not forgotten here. 

This is our introduction chapter and it orientates the reader on who the Doctor is, what RPGs are and this one in particular. There is some bits about using the metric system (the USA really needs to get with the rest of the world here) and if you have round, round down. 

We end with an example of play.

If you are coming to this game from either the previous edition or the Starter Set then this chapter is familiar territory. 

Chapter Two: Travellers in the Fourth Dimension

As with previous editions, this is our Character Creation chapter with new rules ahead.  We start with a character concept in the form of "Who are you?" not a backstory but rather an idea of who your character is. There is a discussion about the tone of your game and how do the characters all get along. We get everything from the extended "fam" of the 13th Doctor to the group of UNIT operatives. 

Note: The text here, while similar to previous editions, does not feel "copied and pasted" from other editions/versions. This does read like a new game, albeit one with some familiarity. 

The game starts with your Concept. That is who this character is. So for a companion like Yaz she is a "Probationary Police Officer." Leela would be a "Primitive tribe member."  This helps us figure out what our characters are. 

Next we get to our Focus. From the rulebook: "Where a character’s Concept is ‘who they are’, their Focus is more of ‘what makes them tick?’" That is a good summary. A Focus has a benefit (adds a +1d6) and a flaw, which is just a restriction on what sort of actions you take. Continuing with the Yaz example her Focus could be "The Law" meaning she can get a bonus when acting with authority but maybe she wont want to participate in a little B&E.  Now depending on the intensity of your Focus it could be a +1d6 or +2d6 or even a solid +6 to any roll. 

Experiences cover things the character could have done already. Yaz has some experience with the Law due to her education and she has experience as the daughter of an immigrant family and so on.  Don't have anything in mind? No worries there is a 1d6x1d6 grid to help you find out. Likewise there is one for shared background experiences. This is great since so many of the companions of the Doctor had these shared experiences. Ian and Barbara were both teachers at the same school, Teegan and Nyssa both had family members killed by the Master.

Once you have these then we get into your point buy Attributes. This is largely the same as the previous edition (and most point-buy games). These are still Awareness, Coordination, Ingenuity, Presence, Resolve, and Strength. Skills are also largely the same with 12 skills. Previous combat-related skills have been merged into the Conflict skill. There is a new "Intuition" skill now.  

Distinctions are also new and these largely replace the Traits of the previous version. These are mostly things like "Time Lord" or "Cyberman" or "Sontaran." Taking these usually result in fewer Story Points. Humans get 12, a Sontaran might get 8, and an experienced Time Lord also 8.

Fill in some more background information, set your home Tech Level and you are ready to go. Once you play a bit you will collect experience points.  The end of this chapter covers spending experience points. 

Chapter Three: Sorting Out Fair Play Throughout the Universe

This chapter covers running a game. The basic rule is still pretty much the same.

ATTRIBUTE + SKILL + TWO SIX-SIDED DICE = RESULT

(try to match or beat the Difficulty of the task)

So now Distinctions can alter these rolls, but the basic gameplay is still the same. This includes the Success and Failure levels associated with the rolls. 

This also covers spending (and regaining) Story Points.

Plenty of examples are given on how the rules manifest in game play but really this is one of those games where the rules seamlessly move into the background while you are playing. 

One such example of this are contested rolls and the example is combat. Again, Doctor Who is not a "kill all the monsters and take their stuff" sort of game, but every so often there will be creatures that want you dead.  

Along with this some weapons are detailed along with other equipment and vehicles. 

Special care is given to gadgets which are now less regulated by the rules. Essentially they do what they need to do.  

Chapter Four: A Big Ball of Timey-Wimey Stuff

This covers the basic of traveling in Time and Space with some details about how the TARDIS works and so on. There are other means mentioned, but the TARDIS is our state-of-the-art means. TARDISes in the game are built a lot like characters are. This was always part of the rules, but it is more front and center in this edition. 

This chapter also covers the various issues with Time Travel. 

Chapter Five: Hold Tight and Pretend It’s a Plan

This is our Gamemaster section. It covers how to run a game. From designing your first group of travelers to the big wide universe they live in. It covers how to set up a game and a series of adventures (a campaign). This material is very similar to previous editions. This is expected since the advice in those editions was great and spot on, no need to over do it or redo it. 

This also covers dealing more and more with the companions lives and families. Companions took a more central role in the story of the Doctor with the updated series. Their job is not so much to scream, get captured, and ask "what is it Doctor?" Now they drive key elements of the story and the adventures. 

Chapter Six: A Brief History of Space and Time

This covers the setting of the Doctor Who RPG which is at present all of Time and Space. So yeah fairly inclusive of everything. Special attention is paid to the Doctor's favorite planet, Earth. Which is good since that is the one the authors also know the most about. 

This chapter covers a few monsters/creatures/aliens for you to encounter and more background on Time Lords and Gallifreyans. Attention is given here to the Master in all their incarnations. 

We get details on the "big ones" of course, Daleks, Cybermen, Sontarans, Silurians, and Ice Warriors. Good mix of both Classic Who beasties and NuWho ones. 

Appendix: Remember All the People You Used to Be

This covers converting your Doctor Who 1st Edition Characters over to the new Second Edition. Not a difficult process at all really. About the same as moving from say any edition to Call of Cthulhu to another. Less complicated than moving from 1st Edition AD&D to 2nd Ed AD&D to be sure.

We also get character sheets for the 13th Doctor, Graham, Yasmin "Yaz", and Ryan. There is a blank sheet, and a good Index.

Who is this Game For?

If you are new to RPGs and are a fan of Doctor Who then this is the game for you.

If you are not new to RPGs but new to Doctor Who then this game is also good. But that is not the real question is it.

Should I Switch/Upgrade?

If you have the First Edition Doctor Who RPG, any version, and you really love it I would say stick with that. Reading 2nd Edition books with a First Edition mindset is not difficult ad I pointed out with the Doctor Who Sourcebooks. 

If you want to keep up with all the Doctor Who books, then yeah, this is a fine edition of the rules.

The trade-off between Traits (1st Ed) and Distinctions (2nd Ed) is largely one of taste. Traits are little crunchier and Distinctions require more buy-in from the Players and Gamemaster. 

Honestly, I can see a game where Traits and Distinctions can co-exist and can be played in the same game. Traits are just a bit more codified.

The book itself is gorgeous with plenty of color photos from the show (and even some black & white ones) and while the 13th Doctor and her "fam" are predominate, all Doctors are represented here at least once. 

For me? Well, let's build some characters and see if I can get what I want.