"Escape pods, lifeboats, shuttles, gunboats and dropships – vital smallcraft that play an important part in the gritty American Sector setting of HOSTILE. Nearly all of the smallcraft featured in the setting are covered here, with write-ups, external views and comprehensive deckplans. Included also are two pieces of shuttle-related fiction and a bonus: 11 pages scanned in from the ICO’s Flight Handbook published in 2178!"

Gunboats & Shuttles by Paul Elliott has been sitting on the gaming table for a couple of months now. It stares at our gaming group like an angry marine waiting for its due. So after a couple monthes reading through the book. Using it & really diving into it helps to not take Gunboats & Shuttles for granted. You get a full spectrum of mid to small level ships in this book. These are not incidental & their very well done. These are working marines, roughnecks, spacers, & even cargo haulers ships. And in Gunboats & Shuttles you get a full spectrum of ships across the board: Neumayer Escape Pod Orchid Lifeboat Nomad Ship’s Boat Sabre Gunboat Starlifter Modular Shuttle (and 10 module variations) Halo Heavy Shuttle (all three versions) Thunderchief Heavy Shuttle Mustang Dropship

The layout is really well done & stats are right at the DM's or player's fingers you get a whole lotta bang for the dollar amount for Cepheus Engine and the HOSTILE setting. And these craft could potentially be applied for other Cepheus Engine settings as well with the same tech axioms. Everything in Gunboats & Shuttles is oriented towards actual use & play.

We really liked where the author took the craft giving us a very nice overview, application, & even possible game use in each entry. And this ties well into the Hostile setting as a whole. The ships here are very useful with artwork by Ian Stead, Algol, & Maxim Zhuravlevthat really makes it easy to show players yes this is what the PC is flying.

The Heavy lift shuttle is extremely useful for Roughneck or Explorer with a really nice entry. Gunboats & Shuttles brings the heat for adventurers looking for solid mission profiles. And it really feels like a Janes Weapons or vehicle books.

Gunboats & Shuttles is a great book for the DM looking to really add in a cinematic feel to their Hostile games. We get some great fake advertising & entries for Gunboats & Shuttles within the Hostile universe. And these could be used as in game player hand outs. Within this book are some excellent diagrams & maps for use with Cepheus Engine rpg games.

Gunboats & Shuttles is an excellent support book for craft that you need for both Cepheus Engine rpg as well the Hostile setting itself. The craft here are great support ships for both marine & even explorer or roughneck PC's. Gunboats & Shuttles is an excellent quality book to add to your own Cepheus Engine rpg collection.

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR action? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"Explorers is a supplement for Cepheus Engine and for the gritty HOSTILE science fiction setting. It provides all of the tools the explorer needs to tackle dangers and exotic encounters on remote worlds. Included within the book is a fully detailed survey ship, the USCS Castle Bravo; an in-depth look at both the Tharsis Armadillo All-Terrain Vehicle as well as the explorer’s habitat of choice: the Leyland-Okuda modular base series. The space suits of the HOSTILE universe are also featured, with a set of customisable options. Finally, survey and exploration procedures are explained with advice and rules provided which will allow the referee to create a tense, unpredictable and (hopefully!) dangerous survey mission. These come with 36 uninhabited world descriptions for use in your game. "

Players & friends alerted me to the release of Zozer Games Explorers was shoved int erm came exploding into my email box by my players. The cover alone is what really grabs your attention with a creepy classic Science Fiction & 70's Alien style poster artwork feel to it. The supplemenrt dives into the 'Upstream' space mining & exploration faux industry magazine cover. But this is actually the first section of rules & organization over view. Shades of West End Star Wars rpg with the fake adds which were often used as player hand outs. This is gives a solid feel of the field of space exploration in the universe of Hostile. You get a quick arm shot of a common survey vessel & overview of the Armadillo ATV. And its very well done giving the DM a perspective on the ATV and it almost feels like you could actually drive one. And that's one of the things about Explorers as a supplement it feels very grounded in its own universe.

The module base section is very well done & we get down, dirty, & very scientific within Explorers take on living the pioneer life on the edge of galatic discovery. This section has a very much updated feel of those Eighties faux NASA books such as the Mars Mission Manual. This is life on the bleed edge of surival & space exploration. This section of Explorers gives an excellent overview of the shelters, colony pop up dwellings, and bases that are going to be used by PC's.

Next we get into some hard core space suit design & mission specific stuff with regards to the day to day workable skin of the explorer. This section is very well done & hits the high notes that Hostile does with added benefits of actually being another customizable PC section of Explorers. This is one of the best sections of the book because it allows the DM & players to work together to tie together the gear for the PC's missions.

'How To Explore' is one of the best sections of Explorers which involves planets, systems, missions parameters, planetary characteristics, & much more. This section ties in nicely with Explorers especially for instellar exploration campaign. This section goes right into The Castle Bravo survey vessel which was introduced around a decade ago to compensate for the inadequacies of its predecessor, the North Star long range scout. And this is a perfect star ship for the players PC's and its a slamming ship!

The Castle Bravo survey vessel reminds me of many of the classic original Traveller rpg ships. An actual star ship that the PC's can use for missions across the board. Its a real neat design incorporating elements of the classic 70's art Science Fiction ships with the Two Thousands bleeding edge space exploration. In many respects I really love the Castle Bravo survey ship class its really well done. Explorers within seventy one pages feels like an update of Paul Elliott, & Ben Lecrone's Orbital 2100 campaign setting with huge expansion of many of the ideas, adventure elements, space suits, ships, etc..

Explorers takes the Hostile rpg setting into the outer bleeding edges of instellar space exploration. This means that its a solid drag & drop supplement right into the back end of the Hostile rpg setting. Explorers is a must add on for Roughnecks because the explorers are often the trail blazers or runners for the Rougneck's mining operations.

Because of Explorers the way that the book is set up its perfectly tuned for adding in sci fi horror elements to make the lives of the PC's wretched. All in all Explorers is a solid add on book for the DM of Cepheus Engine campaigns & yes I'm really glad that I grabbed it!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want More OSR Content? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

So I purchased this title with the thought of using it as a tool to explore to explore my stars without number sector and I am happy to report it works great for this, with only the slightest rule changes. The random tables are awesome as a story generating tool.

If you are a single player roleplayer, using traveller, cepheus engine or stars without number I cannot recommend this enough.

" Player characters travel back into the Cretaceous period in this supplement for Cepheus Engine. There they carry out perilous missions in their attempts to study dinosaurs in their natural environment. A great game to play alongside young people and children. "

One of the free game setting supplements that I noticed on Zozer Games is Camp Cretaceous a free setting book & 2d6 Cepheus Engine gaming system motor under the hood. This is a really good setting book for thos kids who are at that age where dinoaurs are the greatest thing on the planet. Or their 'whatever age' something or better parents or grand parents looking to further their own Jurassic Park experience or prehistoric education. This is a fast play game which can be picked up right away. Everything here is well thoughtout by someone who knows their prehistoric history. For a free game & setting Camp Cretaceous doesn't skip on the details, eventualities, factions, & of course dinosaurs. All of this comes in at an even one hundred & twenty pages. The one thing that stands out is that the author presents is his DMing & dealing with children players. There's extensive advice when it comes to dealing with everything from the table top level up. The Late Cretaceous campaign setting is well done with all of the dinosaurs, history, ecology, etc.. Camp Cretaceous is done in such a fashion that it will serve as compelling game for both the seasoned rpger or a beginner. Camp Cretaceous takes the setting material into the direction of exploration, discovery, & problem solving. The combat system is well done but not necessary for a whole cloth good time of play within Camp Cretaceous .

Camp Cretaceous is a perfect add on for an adult DM looking to expand their Cepheus Engine rpg game campaign into 'lost world or time travel campaign themes. There are several reasons why this works one of these the game works to create expediations. So there's a perfect ' in' for DM's looking to exploit a Cretaceous campaign setting. For example with Stellagama Publishing's These Stars Are Ours campaign setting. Camp Cretaceous could be used as a supplement to agument a planet with a biological or ecological laboratory setting for the dinosaurs created by the Reticulans.

This campaign adventure hook could be used for Zozer Games Hostile rpg with the xenomorphs using the dinosaurs as hosts. Perhaps even a combination of the two campaign ideas with the marines dodging dinosaurs & xenomorphs. Let's get back to Camp Cretaceous . There are several reasons why this game works:

A lot of care & time went into the writing & creation went into Camp Cretaceous Camp Cretaceous was done by a historian & techical writer who knows his subject matter. Camp Cretaceous is a perfect game for introducing kids to rpging & actual history. Great game for those who have the attention span for action but want problem solving within their rpg's. Dinosaurs! Plenty of room for campaign expansion & add on's within Camp Cretaceous Plenty of DM ideas, hooks, & toybox stuff built into Camp Cretaceous Camp Cretaceous is a perfect game for an Athur Conan Doyle Lost World game campaign. Nice to see a kid friendly game & setting book that's free. Camp Cretaceous does an excellent job with that. Just go download Camp Cretaceous and have fun!

Camp Cretaceous is a five outta five in my book. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want more OSR goodness? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Gun runners & weapons manufacturers are going to have a field day with this fact & its one of the primary lights behind my use of Modern War: Conversion System From Zozer Games. This is a fantastic little system to put the guns,planes, etc. in the hands of the people. And in this case its a system that enables the DM to eye ball a piece of military hard ware determine stats for & then drop it right into their games. The DM's last night were really impressed with it last night. This is a solid addition to the Zozer games Cepheus Engine Rpg products. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want more OSR action?! Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

This is a very well written source book that is compatible with Cepheus Engine, but in my opinion, could easily be used with otherscience fiction roleplaying games such as Classic Traveller or 1970's 2D6 Retro Rules.

Pual Elliot is a very good writer who has delivered a number of gamesin both science fiction and historical settings. Hostile is set in the 23rd century. His setting is gritty and unromantic. Think movies such as Outland and the Alien franchise. If one is to think of timeline with titles such as Orbital in the near future, (Traveller)2300 in the middle, official Traveller universe in the far future, I would place hostile as being contemporary with 2300. It is much more gritty than 2300.

I really enjoyed reading Hostile. The universe that Paul created is very detailed with lots of potential ideas for gamers.

Before planning out a Cepheus Engine rpg campaign set within the stated guidelines of the Hostile Rpg. My group encouraged me to pick up the Gunslocker rpg supplement. And in fact they insisted on it. Why?! Rpgger & gamers love weaponry & ultra violence especially when going up against Xenomorph style alien life forms.

"The complete compilation of firearms for Zozer Games' HOSTILE SF RPG setting. Here are all the guns from HOSTILE, the Marine Corps Handbook and Dirtside along with 18 new firearms and 4 new types of grenades. In addition there are two pages of firearms accessories and a fast-play rule for determining hit chance using the range band method. "

Weapons for a Sci fi game are the cherries on top of a very well planned out system such as Zozer Games's Hostile rpg. Weapons Lockers is one of those 'must have' books! Why?! Every dungeon master worth his or her salt knows two things. You can never have enough monster books, dice, and weapons books. Every DM worth his salt knows three things?! Let's put it another way or as Hudson puts it to Ripleyi in Aliens [special edition]" [during the drop to LV-426]

Private Hudson: I'm ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do not wanna fuck with me. Check it out! Hey Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phased plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks...

Sergeant Apone: Knock it off, Hudson. All right, gear up." And this is exactly what your getting here guns, gats, & gear to take on those threats to your adventurers, marines, & lawmen in the outer reaches of the universe. Did I mention that this is the Gunslocker is well done & well designed for the Hostile Rpg universe.

The Gunlocker supplement does an excellent job of organizing, cataloging, & presenting the weapons of 2225. There's a very nice array of fire arms from revolvers to energy weapons all in forty five pages. The variety is solidly done & for a marine fanatic such as myself the presentation is on point. Ian Stead's artwork takes me back to '88 or so with the release of the Alien's Marine Handbook with Gunlocker's homages in his artwork & layout.

Zozer Games has really been impressing me with their simple to use & easy access stats for their fire arms & energy weapons. The level of detail is top drawer without a Janes Weapons Guide level of detail that leaves the DM scrambling for a pillow or how to field strip an imaginary weapon. But the overlap into Cepheus Modern means that the DM has options to use these weapons in other Cepheus Engine rpg sci fi campagin settings. And all of this within forty five pages.

Hostile Rpg Gunlocker Supplement brings Hostile rpg into a very military position with regards to setting specific weapons & the world of 2225 is a very dangerous one indeed. Military based campaigns are going to be bloody & very dangerous affairs. But its not always about the world of men is it!? The Gunslocker rpg supplement is solid, classy, & very well done & it should be in the shopping cart of any Hostile rpg fan in my opinion. This is a very key book for the marines & militaries of the Hostile rpg. Five outta of five because it fits its point & purpose really bringing home the Hostile rpg universe in spades!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want more OSR action? Subscribe To https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Zozer Games's Roughnecks is a supplement that you can just about feel the 'Outland' vibe coming off it. The whole book fits the asthetic of Alien & Eighties sci fi so well. The PC's are not your typical heroes of 'Luke Skystalker' mode but working stiffs and miners at that. And lay out & production are so well done. Roughnecks works so well with Far Horizons that its not even funny. These two books together brings exploration of the outer solor system home. Zozer Games puts out fantastic products & again this is brought home with Roughnecks. You get everything you could want as a dungeon master for running Hostile Rpg Eighties sci fi hard core mining operation. One where you can run your people hard & they can play harder in the wastelands of space. And Roughnecks fits in with the asthetic of Eighties sci fi that I'm going for with our group of players coming up. Roughnecks works because it gives the PC's the tools to actually pull a profit from their operations. The DM has a a mini mining book to play out within the Hostile campaign. There's far more going on below the surface of the solar system that can be pulled from for the corporations. The solar system is last great frontier before the alien worlds of beyond but our own solar system is dangerous as Hell. Roughnecks presents mankind as their own worst enemies when it comes to the making of a profit. The corporations do what they do & even here their still faceless. There's a good chance for heroics even within Roughnecks but watch out for your fellow miners & bugs. All around Roughnecks works for me on any number of levels as a dungeon master highly recommended. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR goodness? Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"HOSTILE is a gritty, near future roleplaying setting for the 2D6 Cepheus Engine rules that is inspired by movies like Outland and Alien. It is a universe of mining installations, harsh moons, industrial facilities, hostile planets and brutal, utilitarian spacecraft."

So looking over the Hostile rpg is like looking into an alternative Traveller or Cepheus Engine rpg 'Aliens' universe. This is exactly the style of rpg universe setting that my players are looking for. The layout of the pdf is really well done. There's a real sci fi cinematic feel here for Zozer Games universe & its one of interstellar & military expansion. The PC generation is very well done here & the additional PC options present a uniquely sci fi alternative universe PC take on the classic old school Traveller style.

The more that we slide into the the Hostile rpg universe the more that the every aspect of life here is driven by space exploration & expansion. The technologies, space craft, medicine, etc are all a pre Cold War mode but its done with style & substance. There's an inner working & logic that fits within the the Hostile rpg universe in spades. This is a universe that can handle a Blade Runner campaign or even a whole cloth military campaign against Xenomorphs. And its one that works very well & it really does have the spirit of those classic Eighties sci fi films. Add to this the fact that you get the Hostile Technical Manual pdf free & you are ready to go.

And the Hostile rpg is a monster of a book at three hundred plus pages & it really does a good of defining its universe from the ground up. This is sci fi that I can understand in spades & from that view point it works very well for both designing interstellar adventures & for generating PC's. The whole package of the Hostile rpg. Overall I highly recommend the Hostile rpg from the standpoint of both player & DM. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want more OSR action?! Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Occassionally I come across a game line that when I read it, I think, "They read my mind. This is the game I wanted to play or create." The writing, rules, and background come together perfectly to fullfill the promised vision: a gritty, hard(ish) sci-fi game with a lot of excellent and usefuly setting details, equipment, timelines, and campaigns. The design and art are evocative, too.

While the setting posits CRTs and video phones ala 1980's sci-fi, it is merely an option. The HOSTILE setting still works using more modern sci-fi conventions. Or a mix of both--sturdy and bulky stuff on the frontiers, fancy and elegant back home.

The HOSTILE line has several excellent books, too, though I can only buy so many at once! With the sample for Orbital 2100 (I will soon be getting the full game) it is apparenty that Zozer games does it's homework and knows how to write hard sci-fi. This is an excellent product, and fills a gap between two of my all-time favorite settings: 2300AD and Transhuman Space.

The HOSTILE books could definitely use some bookmarks, though!

This book should be incorperated into Sword of Cepheus or any 2d6 that focuses on a low-tech period. The weapons listed a good cross-section, with weapon classes representing several types of weapons without attempting a cringy granularity. The rules for different armor types and weapon aspects are well-done with an eye towards realism.

The added rules are probably too much for a sci-fi campaign that lands on a low-tech world, but the equipment isn't.

This is an interesting book that explains the alternate retrotech used in the HOSTILE setting. The illustrations are informative and the handwavium stuff (aritival gravity, hyperspace, etc) is written in such as to skip the techno-babble and makes it sound more like theories of concept papers.

"ALIEN BREEDS is a roleplaying supplement for the Cepheus Engine and other classic 2D6 SF roleplaying games. It details a new species of hostile alien predator with both an unnerving and horrific lifecycle as well as an ability to mutate ad hoc to suit its current environment. ALIEN BREEDS works well within Zozer Games’ own SF setting called HOSTILE, but it can be used in any Cepheus Engine game – as long as your players can handle this beast… and there is certainly no guarantee of that!"

When it comes to using iconic xenomorphs the Alien Breeds supplement brings it home from zozar games for the Cepheus rpg or old school Traveller. This is a forty one page solid adaptation of the alien monster. But what Alien Breeds does is create a number of xenomorph variations in spades for adventures. Paul Elliott, always brings more bang for the buck as a author & designer. Even though Alien Breeds is a good supplement its the inclusion of the adventures & the installations that makes it excellent for Cepheus rpg campaigns; "a typical colony installation. It is a fairly small example, big enough to hold may be 50 or 60 people, enough for an extended science survey, a prospecting mission or the maintenance of some new equipment on planet – perhaps a powerplant, refinery, test mine or atmosphere processor." And Alien Breeds is perfect to add into the outer interstellar gulfs of TSAO: These Stars Are Ours! from Stellagama Publishing. The PC's climb aboard a Grey saucer & the last thing their going to expect is a nest of Xenomorphs. Yes I realize that Alien Breeds is for the vaulted 80's sci fi inspired Melee rpg setting But TSAO has marines built into the interstellar setting & the xenomorphs are a perfect biological weapon for them.

Personally I can see Alien Breeds being a perfect add into the mythos of the TSRO universe. Their origins are mysterious & should be kept that way. In the Dark Horse Alien comic book universe it was implied that many alien races have used the Xenomorphs as biological weapon systems & have run afoul. I'm looking forward to getting more titles from Zozer games in the near future. Alien Breeds is a five outta of five in my book. Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want More OSR action?! Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

Godstar is a supplement for the Cepheus Engine rules. You’ll either need that or a version of Traveller to use this, although it can be adapted for use with other systems. It’s set on a desert world and there are a lot of similarities to Dune. There are, however, no Sandworms so you’ll be able to convince your players to go into the desert. The supplement starts with a brief history of settlement on Aurelia, a few maps of the main locations and an introduction to the planetary environment, the people who live there and maps and statistics of the subsector around it. The factions in the game are treated as if they were people, they have statistics like a player-character and can roll under these statistics to decide whether they have something. So, if a faction has STR of 4, it is comparatively weak and if it wants to force you to do something, it has to roll under 4 on 2D6 to have armed men, weapons and ships to do so. A faction with high SOC has respect, confidence (and support) of others in power. I like this mechanic. If your players negotiate an alliance with another faction that provides extra infantry, that might increase your faction’s STR. Your players will be working for these factions. Character creation is modified to take account of the setting. There are a few additions to the usual rules, such as personal force fields. The consequence is that firearms are less useful than swords, knives and spears, although there are rules and firearms are included.

One thing I really liked was the rules for duelling. If you have used medieval weapons, these feel like a much better abstraction on how one-on-one combat works. It’s worth buying just for this, it’s a much better system than the basic Cepheus rules. There are rules for gladiatorial combat too, based on the Roman model, although with less emphasis on the low status of Roman gladiators. You can be part of a traveling troop of professional gladiators, or take part in a competition as an amateur (and hope you win your first bout). Computers are huge mechanical devices or non-existent (something similar to the Butlerian Jihad in Dune happened in the past). Personal computing and embedded computers in devices just don’t exist, although there are no Mentets in this setting. There are some mystical powers (called Karam) that you could make into Bene Gesserit powers. It’s not Dune, although you could easily adapt it. You have extensive rules for desert survival. You could make a very entertaining game with a few characters in a crashed starship or escape pod trying to get to civilisation. There are plot suggestions and some NPCs to use. There nice pictures, helping you to visualise them. There is no introductory adventure, though. The artwork in this ranges from excellent to OK. There are lots of pictures of desert settings and a few that are really excellent. The illustrations of weapons and the maps are acceptable, but they contrast with the excellent quality in the rest of the publication. There’s nothing I’d characterise as poor.

Bad points: I thought the entry on “playing Gaugamelans” (page 45) was poorly done. Most of the paragraph is a brief history of the race’s interaction with humans, at the end is a sentence with a brief physical description and what changes to statistics are made to play one as a character. Nothing about their personality traits, culture or anything else to bring them alive. The picture looked like a Space Ork from Warhammer 40K with protruding lower fangs. I thought this could have been left out and made into a supplement. Gaugamela is Greek for “uncle”, so it’s either a reference to one of Alexander’s battles or a dig at a family member.

Where Dune uses Arabic words to give flavour, Godstar uses lots of words associated with the Central Asian area, so there’s a Masada and a Ferghana, a Hermon and an Akkadia. Nothing wrong with that, but I thought the Latin city names of Primus, Secundus and Tertius (First, Second and Third) didn’t work. The people of Aurelia are called The Kuban, so I thought they might use Russian (or Turkish) words for their cities. Weapons names are Central Asian. It gives the supplement a nice feel.

The Godstar of the title is little developed. You are free to decide how much to use what information is provided and take your game in whatever direction you please. If you want to use this just for a campaign based on House Atreides versus the Harkonnens, it’s ideal.

It’s moderately priced and you get more than your money’s worth. If you use Cepheus Engine rules, buy this for the duelling and desert survival rules. There are a lot of other useful ideas throughout this supplement that you will adopt for your own games. It’s good value, I'm very happy I bought it.

That's a really great cyberpunk setting! And it uses one of my favourite systems: Cepheus Engine - with simultaneous initiative, which I find a nice touch. But the best part of the game are the hacking rules, IMO. Cutting "ice" can now be fun!