Buck Rogers XX5e: Venusians

Venusians are a genetically modified strain of humanity, with smaller, closer set ears than is typical for humans of Earth, and a nictating membrane over their eyes. The tend to heavier-framed due to Venus' thicker atmosphere.

There are three cultural groups the partially terraformed Venus of the 25th Century: the Aerostaters, Ishtarians, and Aphroditians.

The Aerostaters are nomads you engage in trade and herding from their dirigible cities. They are stereotyped as friendly and fond of festivals and large parties.

The Ishtarian Confederation dominates the planets surface-to-orbit transport. They are most known for their theocracy and mystic religion.

The Aphroditians are natives of the southern continent. They are descendants of the original colonists of Venus and live in a society constructed around large fiefs controlled by one of several families. The people are mostly farmers or miners. They are stereotyped as shrewd traders, but also stubborn and hot-tempered.

Venusian Genotypical Traits
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution and Wisdom scores increase by 1. You may also increase your Strength or Intelligence by 1.
Age. Same as humans.
Alignment. Any.
Size. Venusians are Medium.
Speed. Base walking speed is 30 feet.
Nictating Membrane. You have a Advantage against attacks which might cause you to be Blinded.

Revisiting the Wild Wild West

Here's a periodic reminder that Jim Shelley and I are continuing our selective re-watch of the Wild Wild West weekly on the Flashback Universe Blog.

You can catch up on installments here.

Star Trek Ranger: Patterns of Vengeance

Player Characters: The Crew of the USS Ranger, Federation scout ship:
Aaron as Lt., j.g. Cayson Randolph, Operations Officer
Andrea as Capt. Ada Greer
Billy as Lt. Cmdr. Sobek, Ship's Counselor
Paul as Cmdr. D.K. Mohan, Chief Helmsman

Supporting Cast:

Lt. T'Sar, Science Officer

Ensign O'Carrol, Security Officer

Synposis: The USS Ranger encounters the derelict USS Brackett, lost 22 years ago. They find all the crew dead having inexplicably murdered each other. Then, the Ranger away team begins to fall prey to the same strange madness.

Commentary: The USS Brackett (named for science fiction writer Leigh Brackett) is a Malachowski class ship as seen in Star Trek: Discovery. It's naming follows a pattern of naming Malachowski class ships for science fiction writers, including the USS Clarke and the Asimov (in the Christopher Bennett novel The Higher Frontier).

This is the second episode for Science Officer T'Sar. She was inspired by Phil Noto image:

Buck Rogers XX5e

I've recently been looking at 1990s Buck Rogers XXVc rpg from TSR. It's a not unclever update on the original Buck Rogers comic strip, which started as post-apocalyptic science fiction story but transformed over the original comic strip into a more pulpy space yarn. It keeps both of those elements, but weds them to a elements of hardish sci-fi, post-cyberpunk. 

Earth is mostly devastated and under the thumb of RAM (Russo-American Mercantile), a megacorporation that rules Mars. Several planets have been partially terraformed, and humans have been genetically engineered to live on them. Plus there are gennies, artificial transgenic organisms developed to help in the colonization of the solar system. 

The system the game used was a 2e derivative, which means it would probably be relatively easy to adapt to 5e. Not that any version of D&D is ideal for science fiction gaming, in my opinion, but hey, it's there so it's good for a blogpost or two.

Weird Revisited: Attack of the (Star Wars) Clones

The cultural phenomenon that is Star Wars had an effect on comic books, even in its first decade. Despite my pithy title, it's unfair to call these guys clones exactly, but some sort of force is clearly with them. Since science fiction comics and Star Wars draw on some of the same influences, it's not always easy to know what is Star Wars inspired and what isn't. Chaykin's Ironwolf had a rebel fighting a galactic empire in '74--3 years before Star Wars. Still, if one looks at Chaykin's followup Cody Starbuck (also '74) the pre-Star Wars appearances have the look of Flash Gordon and the widespread swordplay of Dune. In the post-Star Wars appearances, costumes have a bit more Japanese influence and guns are more in play; both of these are possibly Star Wars inspired innovations.

Star Hunters (1977)
Empire? A sinister Corporation that controls Earth
Rebels? Sort of, though the protagonists start out forced to work for the Corporation
The Force? There's an "Entity" and a cosmic battle between good and evil
Analogs? Donovan Flint, the primary protagonist, is a Han Solo type with a mustache prefiguring Lando's.
Notes: If Star Hunters is indeed Star Wars inspired, its a very early example. The series hit the stands in June of 1977--a bit over a month after Star Wars was released.

Micronauts (1979)
Empire? A usurpation of the monarchy of Homeworld.
Rebels? Actually previous rulers and loyalists; a mix of humans, humanoids, and robots.
The Force? The Enigma Force, in fact.
Analogs? Baron Karza is a black armored villain like Vader; Marionette is a can-do Princess; Biotron and Microtron are a humanoid robot and a squatter, less humanoid pairing like Threepio and Artoo.

Metamorphosis Odyssey (1980)
Empire? The Zygoteans, who have concurred most of the galaxy.
Rebels? A disparate band from various worlds out to end the Zygotean menace.
The Force? There's Starlin cosmicness.
Analogs? Aknaton is an old mystic who know's he's going to die a la Obi-Wan. He picks up Dreadstar on a backwater planet and gets him an energy sword.

Dreadstar (1982)
Empire? Two: the Monarchy and the Instrumentality.
Rebels? Yep. A band of humans and aliens out to defeat the Monarchy and the Instrumentality.
The Force? Magic and psychic abilities.
Analogs? Dreadstar still has than energy sword; Oedi is a farm boy (cat) like Luke; Syzygy is a mystic mentor like Kenobi; Lord High Papal is like Vader and Palpatine in one.
Notes: Dreadstar is a continuation of the story from Metamorphosis Odyssey.

Atari Force (1984)
Empire? Nope.
Rebels? Not especially.
The Force? Some characters have special powers.
Analogs? Tempest is a blond kid with a special power and a difficult relationship with his father sort of like Luke. There are a lot of aliens in the series, so there's a "cantina scene" vibe; Blackjak is a Han Solo-esque rogue. Dark Destroyer is likely Vader-inspired, appearance-wise.
Notes: This series sequel to the original series DC did for Atari, taking place about 25 years later. The first series is not Star Wars-y.

Omniverse: Looking for Professor Zunbar

This Omniverse post first appeared on the lost G+ on February 20, 2018...

In 1954, Captain Marvel and the whole Marvel Family disappeared. Later stories would suggest the Sivana Family had finally gotten the upper-hand on their enemies and placed them in suspended animation. This version of events also suggests that the Sivanas were caught in there own trap, as well.

But were they? Later that same year, the exiled Prince Namor encountered an ugly, diminutive scientist with a scheme to create a race of amphibious humanoids. He already had a prototype, but the creature proved to be afraid of water! Zunbar hypothesized that transplanting key areas of Namor's brain to the creature could resolve the problem.

Even if Zunbar's physical appearance didn't suggest he was in reality Thaddeus Bodog Sivana, the mad nature of his scheme might give him away. Why Sivana should be operating under an alias at a time when his greatest foes had been defeated remains a mystery.

The Demon Barber of Azurth

Our 5e Land of Azurth game continued last night, with the party at long last making it to the Sapphire City at the center of the Land--merely a waystation on their trek to Virid Country in the West. They immediately heard tales of a strange disappearances, and people being returned with no memory, sometimes strange minor physical alterations, and really good hair-dos.

Naturally curious, the party seeks out the district's only barber, Tom Sorr. Tom is a nice enough guy, but the party isn't convinced he isn't involved, particularly after they note an aura of transmutation magic about him. They become even more suspicious when a conversation with his young daughter reveals he sometimes has a false iron tooth and sometimes he doesn't, and his personality changes as well.

Deciding to watch the doings at his shop at night, they first have to deal with a misshapen, lumpish creature, they attacks them in the street. They don't know what that's about, but they assume it's somehow related.

They tried to entrap Tom with an illusion of the creature, but he's appropriately scared, so they drop it, and he chalks up the vision to stress. A few hours after he and his daughter are in bed, another Tom with wicked arched eyebrows reopens the shop.

Kully and Shade go in from a haircut. When Kully is seated in the barber's chair, manacles clamp in in place, and he is dropped down into an underground area, with Shade diving in after them. Whistling a tune, the nocturnal Tom descends after them.

(This adventure is based on "The Barber of the Silverymoon" by Jason Bradley Thompson.)