My Gaming Projects | They Might Be Gazebos!

If you’ve been following along, I just haven’t gotten this idea out of my head. Heck, even got a work title Blasters & Black Holes (maybe I’ll a neat graphic sometime).
Here’s a few notes thrown into something that others may find only slightly coherent. It’s been spell checked and that’s about it. This firmly based in many of my favorite retro-clones. Astute readers are going to see the fingerprints of Swords & Wizardry, Stars Without Number, X-Plorers, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Machinations of the Space Princess, and Dungeon Crawl Classics.
Here’s the PDF of the Classes and some of the basic stuff: classesnstuffv1
I still have to do Aliens, Psionic Abilities, Weapons Armor & Gear, and Ships & Vehicles.
And bonus points to those who are really paying attention, I still might do a Savage Worlds hack of this too.

You ever have an idea that you just can’t get out of your head? That’s the way it is with me on the idea for a Gonzo Space Opera campaign. I just can’t seem to shake this and it keeps coming back into my little brain and bouncing around. Sort of a mix of Farscape, Lexx, Heavy Metal, Firefly, Fifth Element, Dune, and Star Wars thrown into a blender and seasoned with other nifty ideas.
What I want is something cool, weird and just a bit crazy. Heck, an average party just might look something like this:

And they just might end up fighting a bunch of guys sort of like this:

I want a game that is simple and gritty but still cinematic. Basically, I want the threat of character death there but not so much that the players won’t be scarred to do crazy, outlandish, and cool stuff. I want starship combat to simple and not like a whole separate war game. I don’t want characters to have to min-max in order to fly or participate in shit-to-ship combat. I want an easy way to have just about any kind of alien race that a player can imagine (within reason). I’ve thought about this and have been scribbling down random notes at lunchtime in a little notebook. So here’s the rules that have made the final cut.
1. An OSR Hack: Start off with Machinations of the Space Princess mix in some Hulks & Horrors and generous dose of little bits from other retro-clones. Make it simple and easy. An interesting thought about this option is that there is so much OSR stuff out there that with just a little bit tweaking could go from fantasy to far out space opera. Plus many players are already familiar with the basic mechanics.
2. D6: Really, who doesn’t have some good memories of the first Star Wars RPG by West End Games? Heck, there’s still thriving fan base for the system. I don’t why there isn’t more love about this system. I don’t know maybe it still has to do with the flaming wreckage caused during the death throws of West End Games. I’d probably start off with Antipaladin Games Mini-Six and work from there using the freely available supplements and source books.
3. Savage Worlds: Yes, I love me some Savage Worlds but the folks of my gaming group aren’t that fond of it No biggie. It’s still an option in my head. I don’t have the new SciFi Companion yet (plan on getting it when it hit the shelves of my FLGS) but I still have the old Tool Kits. I probably simplify a few things here and there and start with Daring Tales of the Space Lanes as starting point to throw things together. I grabbed some of the freebies when it first came out and like it.
4. HardNova 2: I’ll admit that I don’t know enough about HardNova 2. But as I did numerous web searches it kept coming up and always in a positive light. This got me thinking seriously about the game. And bonus a new revised and expanded edition is coming out soon. While it may be a new set of rules for many, it still sounds simple and easy to learn.
So those are my thoughts. Tell me your opinions, oh Great and Powerful Internet.