If you’ve been paying attention, I’ve been brainstorming on some Gonzo Space Opera action. While dong this I went back and looked more closely at some of the stuff that’s sitting on the good old hard drive. Lo and behold! There was X-plorers!
X-plorers is a simplified Sci-Fi game based on the old editions. There’s only four stats (Agility, Intelligence, Physique, and Presence) with the normal 3 to 18 range. The Saves and Skill system have a lot of influence from Swords & Wizardry (another of my favorites) with rolling a number or greater on a d20. Very simple and to the point. The core book has only four classes (Scientist, Soldier, Scout, and Technician) with some decent multiclassing rules. Throw in the Aliens & Robots supplement and you’ve got pretty much endless options. Most importantly, there’s an easy starship combat system. I really hate SciFi RPG’s where starship combat is in reality a whole other game. Plus, there’s something for all the characters to do. That’s major points. As far as equipment goes there’s a decent selection in the core book but hey, there’s a supplement for that too. X-plorers pretty much hits it on all points for me. I’d like a little more details psionics systems but that’s not a real biggie. I’ve got a couple of ideas bouncing around inside my head. It’s simple. It’s clean. And OSR fans and newbies should be able to pick it up quickly. Should I also mention that there’s a free adventure too? Cleopatra Station.
This is great game as starting point for all those crazy ideas bouncing around inside my head. A few tweaks here and there. And some total awesomeness. Now I have to give some credit where credit is due. I probably wouldn’t have look too closely at X-plorers if hadn’t been for the awesome Exonauts blog. Check out the Rad Astra setting over there.
Category Archives: News, Rants & Reviews
Castle Triskelion
Those guys over at & Magazine are at again. This time how about a free mega-dungeon: Castle Triskelion.
OK, it’s not all there yet but the rest of it should come out in the future. And that’s better than some Kickstarters. Hey, it’s free so just go and check it out. There’s even some new monsters there, if you aren’t into the mega-dungeon thing.
Looks like a pretty straight dungeon crawl. Ready for any tweaking, house ruling or just plain using it as inspiration. Did I mention, free?
Just follow the link: Castle Triskelion Introduction and Ground Level
Freemind: A Free Tool to Mind Map
I like free tools and stuff that makes my life easier and this is a good one not only for throwing ideas for a campaign, sand box, dungeon or what not.
Freemind is handy little Java based tool to “mind map” that is put down all those random ideas in some sort order. If you’re like me, you just have too many random ideas to keep straight. What you can with this is pretty limited by your imagination and creativity. Now I admit that I would like a little better if it could handle images more efficiently but it is free and you can work around it. Just look at this quick and easy little map I made for the World of Skarynth. I didn’t even use all the functions available this is just the simple stuff. Oh and did I happen to mention that you can export the files too.
Click to enbiggen
So it’ really worth a look, folks. I really plan on using this a lot more for a lot of different kind of projects.
It’s May and It’s DIY Month
It’s been a busy week and haven’t posted a darned thing and I don’t often mess with blog carnival like things. But crazy man Mike Evans has declared May as DIY Month.
Heck, that’s what this blog is all about. DIY and doing stuff on the cheap. And yes. OSR stuff too. That means while I sat on my little butt and tried to keep the stress from making my brain go all Scanners. I got really far behind on a bunch of projects.
Any way share your little projects over there at Wrath of Zombie. Just do what ever you want. DIY. Then share it to the world. Like I said, I have a lot of stuff to catch up on. May is going to be an interesting month.
And Magazine
Some days, I really am amazed at the amount of stuff that is out there for OSR games. Between all the blogs, Dragonsfoot, various freebies around the web, and published material. This whole blog is about OSR stuff, DIY and El Cheap gaming. And what better to throw into the mix than a free fanzine!
& Magazine is nifty little fanzine set primarily for good old AD&D but heck the little tidbits will work with pretty much whatever retro-clone happens to suit your taste. I’ve read through most of the issues. It’s pretty standard fare. I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s just not crazy whacked out stuff like Lamentations of the Flame Princess or Dungeon Crawl Classics. It’s standard usable material. A handy map. A magic item. New monster. A little adventure and so on. Good tools to throw into your DM bag of tricks for later use. Use what you and leave the rest behind.
And not only do these folks put out a fanzine. They’ve also got some adventures and little supplements posted over there too. And if that ain’t enough, there’s Castle Triskelion. Their own “little” mega-dungeon coming soon. Heck, it’s free. Check it out.
They Might Be Gazebos! 