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Showing posts with label strange stars. Show all posts
Showing posts with label strange stars. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
More Sample Strange Stars Pages
Lester B. Portly sent me several more chapters from John Till's Strange Stars Fate this weekend. Here's the first page of the draft for the "Threats" chapter featuring art by Adam Moore, where the usual suspects appear (the ssraad, ksaa, and the Vokun and the Zao Pirates), but also some you might not immediately think of: a modified clone of Hannibal Early, a renegade thrax, and a blesh master criminal.
Thursday, May 21, 2015
Strange Stars: Trouble with 'Bots
I figured it was time for another tease of the (limited) number of new pieces of art that will appear in the Strange Stars gamebooks. This one is by Adam Moore, who Weird Adventures fans may remember from this great illustration.
I hope you guys dig it as much as I do.
I hope you guys dig it as much as I do.
Monday, May 18, 2015
White Star
While I toil away at getting Strange Stars Fate ready to go, Mike aka Wrathofzombie continues to throw out quick adaptations of Strange Stars stuff to other systems. This time, he's statted some of the sophont clades for the new OSR sensation White Star .
Check out what Mike's done here!
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
Science Fiction Month Sale
Need more convincing? Check out this new review.
Also, check out The Manor #8 (coming out later this week) for a Strange Stars feature!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Another Head of the Hydra
As mentioned by Chris Kutalik on his blog earlier this week, I've joined forces with the Hydra Cooperative. You already know Hydra, of course, from the very successful Kickstarter and release of Slumbering Ursine Dunes. I've worked with Hydra on some of the stretch goals (soon to be released!) for Dunes, so in addition to knowing the members socially from G+ and the blogosphere, I also know they are a creative bunch of guys and dedicated to turning out great rpg projects. I don't mind admitting that after the grueling last few miles in the marathon that was Strange Stars, I was considering taking a looonnng break from indie publishing after I got the gamebooks out. Working with Hydra has given me a bit of a rejuvenation.
So it seems natural to merge my Armchair Planet storefront with Hydra's. This will give them a higher profile and given customers one place to go to get all of our products. Like what, you ask? Well, Strange Trails--my pre-Weird Adventures free pdf is already there. So is Mike Davison's feudal Japan-tinged old retro-clone, Ruins & Ronin, and a host of Hill Cantons-related goodies. And that's just the beginning. A Hydra website is in the works, but for now, check out the G+ forum for updates.
Thursday, April 23, 2015
"Shuttlecraft to Traffic Control..."
So, how about a peak at some new Strange Stars art? I had originally planned not to get any new art for the gamebooks, but the sales of Strange Stars have gone a little better than expected, so I felt better about outlaying a bit more money for (just a few) black and white images. The piece above is by Reno Maniquis. You can also expect to see stuff by David Lewis Johnson and Adam Moore, who did the well-received DMG/King Kong homage in Weird Adventures.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Fate Strange Stars Page
Here's another page from the work-in-progress Strange Stars Fate gamebook. The text is by John Till, the picture by David Lewis Johnson, and the layout by Lester B. Portly.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
More Savage Worlds Strange Stars
Mike's latest efforts over at Wrathofzombie:
from the Vokun Empire, the Kuath, ibglibdishpan, voidgliders, and the Yantrans; and the nomadic Star Folk.
Check them out.
Monday, April 13, 2015
Basic Strange Stars Tech
Art by Don Maitz |
Metascape: Most people experience the world through an augmented reality overlay. It contains useful information for travels, social media messages, and lots and lots of spam. Nobody walks through a public square without their filters on, lest they be bombarded by all sorts of virtual messages. Clothing is enhanced--or even sometimes completely generated--in the metascape. Some jurisdictions make it a crime to view the world infiltered by metascapes as this is seen as an unwarranted invasion of others' privacy.
Noosphere: The cyberspace of the far future, essentially, encompassing traditional internet activities, the metascape, and the living environment of infosophonts.
Implanted Cyberware: brain-computer interface is as common as smartphones are today and used for similar purposes. The typical pre-programmed software allows metascape interface, noospheric connectivity, communication (where messages can either be read or heard as read by an avatar or the sender or anyone else), chronometry, basic calculation, and interface with most modern devices. Most individuals don't navigate their own apps, but use a personal daemon--a nonsophont ai--as an advanced "Siri" and an answering service. Some cultures (like the Vokun) find implanted devices distasteful as do some individuals. They use wearable devices for the most part.
Fabber (or mini-fabber): A nanofabrication unit--essentially an advanced 3D printer--assembling at a molecular level, finished products from raw materials. These aren't exactly portable, but they are near ubiqitous household and shipboard items and public units can be used for a fee. Anything from foodstuffs (though this would only be done on long space voyages) to starship parts can be made given enough substrate and the necessary "blueprints." Commercially available models can be "jailbreaked" to make illicit drugs or weapons, but its generally easier just to buy or steal such common items.
Friday, April 10, 2015
Another Savage Friday
In what's becoming a regular feature, let's again turn to channel Wrathofzombie as Mike has been hard at work again this week adapting Strange Stars for Savage Worlds:
Neshekk: privacy obsessed bankers.
Gnomes: eusocial asteroid miners.
Deva: mysterious, angelic, post-humans.
Blesh: alien bioroids with the minds of long-dead humans.
Monday, April 6, 2015
Hyehoon, Ksaa and Kosmoniks
Mike continues his Strange Stars adaptations for Savage Worlds.
Check out the avian Hyehoon, the scheming "Cold egg" ksaa, and the star-roving Kosmoniks.
Thursday, April 2, 2015
More Savage Strange Stars
Mike aka Wrathofzombie has been on a tear. If you're a Savage Worlds fan, his progression toward likely mental breakdown is your gain. Check out these Strange Stars adaptations:
Engineers Cybernetic crustacean builders of Vokun technology.
Bomoth Caterpillar-like musicians.
Smaragdines Green-skinned psionicists.
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Strange and Savage Stars
Over at the Wrathofzombie's blog, Mike the wrathful zombie himself has posted what I hope are the first in a series of posts adapting Strange Stars to Savage Worlds. Check what he's got up so far here and here.
Oh, and worked proceeds on the Fate adaptation, with the Stars Without Number adaptation to follow after I get that one off to layout.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Strange Stars Character Types in SWN
The three broad sophont types in Strange Stars (see the setting book, on sale now) adapt fairly easily to Stars Without Number:
Biologics: These are either humans or aliens (and in the far future of Strange Stars the distinct isn't always clear). They're created using the standard character creation rules in SWN plus the any particular attribute requirements/modifiers that might apply to their particular clade.
The sort of body-swapping described in Mandate Archive: TransTech is much more common in Strange Stars than in the default SWN setting. Many people may start with some sort of genemod upgrade and backups are common for those who can afford them. Unlike Threshold Sector, the Strange Stars are not post scarcity; things still cost credits. Cyberware (like in the core book and Mandate Archive: Polychrome) is also common, though most cultures in known space find overt cyberware tacky and primitive: it's been replace by gengineering. The Zao Pirates do not share this disdain.
Bioroids are biologic androids. Their bodies are essentially built like a hull. Unlike other biologic entities, they can not reproduce naturally; they are built or grown in vats.
Moravecs: Sophont robots. Many moravec types will essentially just be mechanical "species." Other s will be built easier via the AI rules.
Infosophonts: Digital minds. These are AI, essentially. They could be downloaded into a bioroid body (hull) or a mechanical one (armature). The differences between infosophonts are moravecs fuzzy at times, but many moravecs are as attached to their single, physical forms as much as many baseline humans. Infosophonts just say those forms as outfits.
Sunday, March 22, 2015
Strange Stars Update
Work proceeds on the Strange Stars gamebooks. John Till has finished the draft of the Fate implementation and I am in the process of editing. It's going slower than I would like due to work related stuff that won't abate until the end of April. Still, Lester is already working on the layout with what I have gotten through, and (despite my initial plans not to) I have comissioned a few pieces of new art, including a piece from "Reno" Maniquis who did the piece that's on the cover of Strange Trails over on the sidebar.
Stay tuned.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Strange Stars Up North
Earlier this week, John Till posted a session report from Con of the North of another Strange Stars Fate playtest. This one included a Vokun animal transport ship, a stoner dude AI, and of course, space pirates.
Read all about it here.
Friday, February 27, 2015
Fate of the Strange Stars
Yesterday, John Till posted a play report of one of his Strange Stars Fate games at Con of the North. Head over and check it out. John is almost done with the writing of the Fate game book so we'll be going to layout soon.
Also, here's a review from a week and a half ago by Courtney over at Hack & Slash.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Ships in the Strange Stars
Art by Peter Elson |
Military ships in the Alliance are based and maintained in one member world or another.
Smaragdine registered Alliance ships: Frumious Bandersnatch, Chemosit, Blatant Beast, Coeurl, Peryton, Lurking Grue, Basilisk, Owlbear.
Neshekk registered Alliance ships: Binding Arbitration, Creditor, External Audit, Accounts Payable, Devaluation, Termination with Prejudice, Constructive Dismissal.
(And let's not forget the dread neshekk privateer vessel Crimson Permanent Assurance)
Art by Bob Layzell |
All Vokun ships save more the most minor custom vessels or intersystem shuttles are controlled by the Vokun themselves. Their names reflect their bellicose and imperialist culture.
Sample ship names: Martial Prowess, Indomitable, Destroyer of Worlds, Conqueror, Inevitable Victory, Imperious Will, Unchallenged Might.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Hyperspace Travel Times
As discussed before, the travel times between nodes along the hyperspatial network of the Archaics is color-coded to denote connection speed. While the actual travel times can be determined through the use of advanced physics even an ibglibdishpan mathematician might need the aid of a calculation device to perform, approximations for gaming purposes are fairly easy.
The basic formula is: [color modifier] x [distance modifier] in kiloseconds.
Color Modifiers:
Red = 18
Orange = 45
Yellow = 100
Green = 450
Blue = 900
Indigo = 4500
Violet = 6750
Distance Modifiers:
very short = 1
short = 2
medium = 3
long = 4
very long = 5
Vague other variables may make the color modifier vary by 1d6 kiloseconds.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
Time Keeps on Slippin' Into the Future
Art by Brian Despain |
If your a reader here and still on the fence about buying Strange Stars (surely there must be somebody) you might want to check out a couple of reviews from last week: here and a mini-review here.
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