I’m on a bit of weird fantasy/gonzo/sword & planet kick. So eventually I got around to grabbing a copy of Swords & Super Science of Xuhlan for some extra inspiration.

Swords & Super Science of Xuhlan is a setting supplement for Warriors of the Red Planet which is a damned fine old-school game for Sword & Planet style adventures. Xuhlan adds some more races (like robots, mutants and insectiod femorians), equipment, and a system for mental combat. Of course, it’s got the setting material which is inspirational on its own to help you create what ever weird world you want. Monsters and alien godlings!

I’d say the most inspiring bits were the write ups of the alien godlings. This is nice and interesting. Yes, I remember the good old days when they add god stats to D&D and every bozo out there had killed Thor and taken his hammer. In this case, it does make more sense and is more interesting. I’d say they do have a definite Clark Ashton Smith vibe.

Then there’s the Wyrd Stones. These are powerful artifacts that characters alter reality. You know sort of like spells but possibly even more power in the right (or wrong) hands. Of course, like any thing really powerful, Each Wyrd Stone has it’s own motivations so it might want to do something besides what a character wants. And if player blows their roll, well, there’s disintegration.

Overall, I’m happy with Swords & Super Science of Xuhlan. It’s handy and inspirations to add some weirdness to a game. I doubt that I’d run on its own but I am putting it into my bag of DM tricks when I want to throw something out of the ordinary at the player characters.

You can grab Swords & Super Science of Xuhlan over at DrivethruRPG.