This is a radically different approach to solo role playing and in my opinion should be read by all solo players (not just Traveller gamers). You might not choose to use "fortune in the middle" but it is a really useful concept for solo gaming. I have taken the idea and use it across all my solo RPG games, sci-fi, fantasy, etc. This book was the first 'break through' in my solo career and it enabled me to get past the frustrations of playing without a GM. Another strength that I have taken with me beyond this book is the idea of intraparty relationships. I use a modified version of the rules in this book to generate interesting conversations and disputes so I get a deeper understanding of who my party are. The only negative I would say, is that the random tables are a bit repetitive and it is a very good idea to get hold of a bunch of extra table quite quickly to keep the action varied and the adventure vivid.

Super clever concept, especially going with a genre that is really meant for 1 hero. Like... doing James Bond in a group like D&D? That never felt right to me. (And it's not that I don't want it to... I love the Ian Fleming novels, I have the old Victory Games "James Bond" RPG, etc.) IMO, the lone hero setup is best for solo play. James Bond, Jason Bourne, John Wick - they don't feel right in group-based roleplay. Taking super-spy and putting it into a solo game is just a great choice to start with, even moreso than very well executed solo experiences like 4AD.

I like the concept of playing cards as the mechanics of a game, especially for solo. A card has a finality and tactile feel that a dice roll doesn't quite have. (EDIT: I'm currently using theory11's James Bond 007 set. It's a clean/classic set of cards, and the face cards have a "Spy" theme... spy pistols, ski poles, assassins' knives, etc. rather than swords and traditional face card symbols.) It's too easy to "cheat" yourself out of an experience in a dice-based solo game by bumping the dice or otherwise feeling like I can negate a dice roll that I don't like... but with a multi-card draw for task resolution in No Day to Die? There's a weight behind it... there's a process to it that doesn't exist with a throw of a dice. IMO, this is the way if you want a solo experience with some heft.

On the flip side, I kind of wish the card suits did more, like the Yes/No draw is strictly a Red/Black determination (which is influenced by your discards, of course, but begins as a simple 50/50 choice). I wouldn't want to use dice, but the Mythic GM Emulator has a table for escalating chaos when it comes to Yes/No in the fiction... so in a Yes/No situation, maybe you use card suits or values to signify the intensity or character of the Yes/No? For the random tables, you can also easily add more tables of descriptors if you want to rig up more information out of a draw... or fudge up the existing tables in different ways if you want to influence the fiction in a different direction - maybe it's more a romance, maybe a John Wick kill-fest.

That's a positive with the random tables towards the back... they are soft descriptors for the fiction, not hard rules, which then gives you some flexibility in tailoring the game world towards the fiction that you want. They're a base set of tables, but anyone can hack them to their interests. Also, Fria Ligan's Twilight:2000 has some clever card ideas that might fit as well.

Anyway... smart choice for the fiction behind the rules. I'm a fan of card-based rules for solo play, and I'm always happy to break out a standard poker deck rather than deal with printable custom card sets (a few of those in this store). You could probably easily push it to Sci Fi-ish with only a little nudge (Rogue One comes to mind). A good set of narrative ideas with the descriptor tables, which can be easily adapted/modified if you want to move the fiction in different directions.

I have a few solo games now, including 4AD, Mythic, "Five Parsecs from Home", "Rangers of Shadow Deep". This one is definitely one to consider.

Games Colony Builder By Paul Elliot is a essentially a mini game of colony construction for a Hostile or 2d6 Science Fiction rpg campaigns. And its the mini campaign setting aspect that floors me, its a sort of mini game within the role playing game itself. Its this aspect that even described within the Colony Builder's description;"COLONY BUILDER is a supplement for the Cepheus Engine roleplaying game and the HOSTILE setting. It provides all of the tools that players need to create their own living and breathing extrasolar colonies. Take a budget and spend it wisely, and keep in mind your environment – every world is potentially hostile! Once built, your players can take up the roles of key personnel and get to manage the fledgling colony, leading the colonists in the struggle against hunger, air-loss, earthquakes, alien parasites and more… Play out the problems, the solutions, the casualties across the course of a year; can you keep the colony going, will it thrive? Or will the corporate auditors swoop in to try and shut you down?

Colony Builder is not a small supplement clocking in at a hundred & seventy eight pages of colony building goodness. Instellar colonies are the heart & soul of a Hostile rpg campaign and not simply a horror movie set piece. These colonies are the adventure setting for a Hostile rpg game but they can be so much more then that. They can produce vast amounts of resources, enconomic backbones for the adventurers, and more then just a place to rest your head. Colonies are the stepping stone for spacers to get into the vast dark wine of instellar space. If the Clement Sector is the Old Western setting of Cepheus Engine then Hostile is the great Age of Corporate exploration & exploitation of instellar space. The horror happens betweeen points. Instellar colonies are investiments in terms of both adventure & campaign for a Hostile rpg game. They represent the future of a corporation's push into a sector or system. And huge profits for said corporation.

Colony Builder provides so many challenges within the building & hisory of an interstellar colony that it becomes a bit of a brush with the fate of the dice to see what will befall a colony. And the most mundane things or events can brush a colony well into the diaster area of the spectrum. Eventually with the grace of the DM gods & a good set of dice rolls a colony may thrive & here's where the fun begins. The natural resources, productions, & manufacturing of products can provide the colony with its reason for existence. And this reasoning folds right into the point & purpose of Colony Builder.

Not only does this point up some of the long term goals for the colony but the fact that the colony itself could become a player in its own right over the years as it moves up the ranks for its imporance to the corporate ladder. This means that the colony could become a major point of interest to the corporation as a center of production, a headquarters to the corporation, a bastion of R&D, a point of interest for the Science division, the list of the good fates for a colony are endless. Because this is plugged into a colony's fate then it goes back into the idea of the colony being a stepping stone into the dark wine black of space. The colony is mother, nurturer, provider, and all around shelter for the colonists, and the adventurers.

Is Colony Builder necessary for a good game campaign of Hostile?! No but it damn sure helps to move & motivate a campagin along. Colony Builder has all of the tools & tool boxes for doing fine interstellar colonies on the frontier of space. Can Colony Builder be used for other 2d6 Science Fiction campaigns?! Absolutely it could and should be! Thanks for reading our review Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Want more 2d6 old school action?! Please Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

In 40 years of gaming, I think this is one of the best referee tools I have found. Concise and well written, it provides a referee with figurative dTons of ideas to make a world more interesting, by interpolating from the UWP. I enjoyed the explanations of the physical characteristics in straightforward terms which a non scientist can undertand. As a student of political science, the government descriptions broadened my own interpretations and the historical analogies will lead me down furher research rabbit holes. The numerous references to written, film, and television science fiction titles provides a nice read/watch list. A bibliography was the only missing component.

"Hot Zone – that’s the crew’s name for LS809, a burning hell-hole orbiting Gliese 9028. It’s where they need to be, the location of a missing hyperspace probe. Acting strangely, whilst plotting new hyperspace co-ordinates, the probe has crashed-landed on the Hot Zone.

Now the ICO want it back - quickly … and quietly.

But the planet won’t let them take the prize so easily. This is a truly ‘hostile’ world with some terrifying and dangerous obstacles to overcome. And … something else… wants the probe."

Hotzone is one of those unassuming little titles that's bypassed me on the Drivethrurpg shelf now like a solid 80's or 90's Sci fi VHS tape whose cover artwork is less then stellar. But whose contents shine far more then the exterior let's on. The basics first this adventure is for Zozer Games Hostile setting. But the more I learn about 2d6 Cepheus Engine driven rpg's this adventure could be easily adapted into other sci fi engines. Paul Elliot is a man who loves his details as is evident by this adventure & even the DM set up introduction shows this; "This is a recovery mission. The player characters (PCs) are the crew of an ICO (Interstellar Commerce Organization) ship called the USCS Outlander that has been given the mission to recover a crashed hyperspace probe. These large unmanned probes map out new hyperspace routes to the stars, and this one has gone awry (on purpose!) and crashed onto uninhabited planet LS809, a hot desert world that orbits Gliese 9028 – a red dwarf star." Already we've got the set up & run through for this mission an its gonna be a really nasty one. Paul Elliot's writing here is spot on walking the line from solid Hostile straight into 'B' movie Friday night rental mode. This is the perfect combo for Hostile on the whole and Hotzone proves this once again.

Hotzone clocks in at twenty seven pages of high octane survival fun! This book brings to mind another Zozer games title and that's Dirtside! Dirtside isn't a title you need to run Hotzone at all! But Hotzone takes full advantage of the design & writing lessons that Mr.Elliot learned on Dirtside. In other words, the writing & design is tight in Hotzone. This is a fun but deadly little adventure where the menace is three fold the planet, the situation, and the other. The other here is just waiting for PC's to screw up so bring extra characters to this one. But is Hotzone worth the download?! In a word yes for a multiplicity of reasons. Hotzone is going to provide more then a few sessions of play. The world planet LS809, a hot desert world that orbits Gliese 9028 – a red dwarf star has some decent potential for extended play across a spectrum of Hostile adventures if the DM uses his head. Mining, exploration, and more are mixed into the adventure if the player's PC's survive. This isn't one off kill zone adventure but a highly dangerous mission on an alien planet. And its a solidly done adventure up too the quality that Zozer Games produces. Thanks for reading our review Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more Swords & Stitchery blog Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

A useful booklet describing a world in Traveller format. Lots of fauna and background info, with some plot ideas.

I would have liked an overview of the system as well and the world map i not the standard Traveller type.

Over many years Paul Elliot of Zozer games has been responsible for dozens of quality role-playing games and supplements. Two of his games: Zenobia and 43 AD are in my top ten of my favourite RPGs. His Traveller material is outstanding.

How does this game stack up against previous outings? I’ve played Action Dice — just once — and it was a big hit with my group, despite one sticking point. I wouldn’t call it a deal breaker because you can house-rules it away and Paul has since a workaround.

Will you like Action Dice? Probably. Maybe? First and foremost, the game pays homage to the game-books of old, it’s fast and easy for the referee to adjudicate or further the plot on-the-fly. It’s rules light. If that’s not your jam, move on.

I’ll try and skim through a few details that might help you decided whether this is a PDF keeper or a delete.

What do we get? A 30-ish page document using a large font, it’s stretched across more pages than needed. The layout is minimalist but that seems to fit the game’s tone — light. Art is used sparingly but to good effect. As usual Paul’s writing is good.

The game’s mantra is set out in the first page: Don’t roll the dice unless it’s necessary, do improvise, don’t add extra rules when you can just wing it without the headache. The intro also tells us that the dice rolling isn’t the game, the interaction is. That’s not strictly true, it’s the dice that makes the role-playing a game.

Next we have the key area of the game and this is where my issue lies.

Three attributes: SKILL, FATE and HITS — Hits rather than Stamina but same-as. For SKILL and FATE, roll one die, ignore a six then add 5. HITS are 2 dice +12. You then get to add one discretionally point to either SKILL or FATE or 2 points to HITS. This gives your character a range of 6 to 10 (or 11) for SKILL and FATE, 24 for HITS. The minimum is 6, 6, 14 — +1 for the discretionary.

There is a point-buy system offered added at the last moment. For the time being, let’s pretend that isn’t there as diced characters is the author’s preferred option.

Next comes ROLE one of the bits that elevate this game beyond all the many previous attempts to bring Fighting Fantasy to group play. Your character’s ROLE gives you a peg from which to hang your concept. You’ll cook up some distinguishing features, gear and areas of defining abilities. If the area of expertise falls within your character’s ROLE you use the previously generated SKILL. If not, SKILL is reduced to 6 for the purpose of dice rolling.

And that’s my problem. Your ROLE may be, “lauded professor of archaeology”, and when using abilities related to that ROLE you use the character’s normal SKILL. If the ability is unrelated, your effective SKILL is 6. As mentioned above, if you’re unlucky your character might have a SKILL of 6 meaning she’s just as incompetent at firing a machine gun as he is at excavating ancient rules. You’ll need to fix that. The points system does straighten it out.

Checking for success is a chinch, if you are testing FATE or SKILL unrelated to combat you roll 2 dice, for a success you’ll need a result under the character’s rating rather than “equal to or less then”. In combat you throw 2 dice add your SKILL and compare the result to that of your opponents. The highest total wins that round. I don’t like to chop and change between different mechanics in such a simple game but it works well enough.

The game covers critical success, fumbles and other common events that will take place in your gaming session. Simple and well-conceived.

There are useful examples of powers and spells, a good base for your own creation. The default setting is low-power but you can change it up if you’d like; low work for me. Combat covers all the bases but a single hit always scores 2 points of damage unless the weapon is a rifle or pistol where a die is rolled to determine HITS lost.

Vehicle combat and explosions are included. There’s nothing so satisfying as blowing something up, particularly a main battle tank or Mech.

Enemies are up next and a good number of examples are provided. They run from SKILL 5 for a thug or goblin up to 14 for a dragon or jet fighter.

The game comes with some sample settings. I love Tank World, a post-apocalyptic environment where the only thing standing between salvation and utter doom is the player characters and the tanks they pilot. Nice. Next there’s a section on creating adventure-packed with ideas to fit the plot around the action scenes, rather that the reverse. It fits.

There’s an adventure generator to assist the imagination-challenged ref. but it’s bit too light to get my juices flowing. Closely related is the section on solo play. Action Dice is based on danger and excitement so prevalent in the game books so yes, good idea. The system presented here is not as robust as that featured in the latest version of Zenobia on which it is based so you could certainly crib ideas from there.

The book rounds out with a very good section on improving your characters through experience points. However, this chapter tells us that character improvement is slow and steady as the characters are already at the pinnacle of their careers. If that’s so, I pity the poor archaeologist from my example above, she peaked at primary school.

That’s it then, a great game that does exactly what it sets out to do — create a freeform action role-playing games that’s as simple as it is inclusive.

Action Dice is concise but complete set of rules that work well for solo roleplayers and small groups who will be on the same page about their game's tone (Cinematic, Action, Pulp.)

Action Dice is clearly inspired from the beloved "Fighting Fantasy" gamebook system series. Specifically it is a cinematic spin on the Introductory Fighting Fantasy RPG - it makes a few changes to afford for the tone it is going for but without adding all the bells and whistles that Dungeooner/Advanced Fighting Fantasy did. It uses a clever "role" approach to avoid the burden of a skill system, has rules for everyone's favorite combat things like "falling damage", "explosions", "vehicles", etc. It also contains a freeform magic/powers system that I believe is a nice in-between the original Fighting Fantasy approach and the more detailed Advanced Fighting Fighting system.

In general Action Dice feels like there's "just enough" crunch in the places you would want it within a rules light system. An example would be gear - like many rules light systems gear is largely "handwaved" but you are encourage to make note of the gear your character absoutely needs for their given role in the world and what happens if the gameworld causes the lost of one of these pieces of gear (effectively, a negative dm.) This kinda of guidance is given pretty consistently throughout the book - it frees the GM up to focus on clearing up the expecations of the roles and powers and know that all the fidely "boring" bits are already handled.

I like the set of example settings in the rear of the book - these give the GM some examples of what prep you might need to do pitch an Action Dice setting to your players ("world summary", list of possible roles, list of possible powers.) There's a couple list of example enemies, vehicles, etc. An experienced GM should have no trouble scanning these and "reskinning" them on the fly.

The artwork and layout is good - it is easy to read and find what the parts you are looking for. The character sheet is well laid out and easy to understand.

I think the only thing I would like to see in the book would be something for group actions - something like Zozer Games' "Mission Machine" from their free "Classic Traveller Solo" supplement. This would be helpful for both groups and the solo player alike.

so good to return to my youth. Nicely laid out and easy to play

"43AD is a gritty military-style game with a slice of dark horror running through it. Life is grim and the world of the native Britons is painted in dark and horrific colours. Britain is a place of fear and death, terrors and torments, and the Iron-Age tribes live with these horrors. Celtic priests, the druids, contain them in lakes and pits and forests. When the legions step onto British soil, they step onto a land of ancient horrors of which they (as yet) know nothing. Life, honour and warfare amongst the tribes is explained for players and GMs alike.

Characters are Roman soldiers, fighting for the emperor in a hostile land against the battle-hardened warriors of the tribes. This is the visible enemy, but beyond, should the Game Master wish to go there, lay the dark secrets of Britain, the night terrors, the death-bringing spirits of the wild, the night crawlers, the face eaters, the skinchangers and the rest of the monsters and wild things that infest Britain. "

Let me tell you a little story, ages ago when I was little and sitting taking in the sights of a history book on Roman Britian bigger then I was. There was a picture of Hydrian's Wall. And I vowed that someday I would not only visit it but understand it as well as the reasons behind it. In 2006 we did just that & connected with several family members. The thing that struck me on the English side of the wall was the weight of how much history there is there. Reading through Zozer Games 43 A.D. is full on like coming home for me. The familiar history mixed with the wyrd in 152 pages & this is a passion project for the author/designer. The amount of detail here is incredible from skill set ups for Cepheus Engine style ancient PC's to the details in weapons, civilization, to monsters the details are bold. Highlights for me include: Spells Monsters Cultural information on Romans and Britons Character write-ups that fit on a single index card 10 minute character creation So without heistation I approached Zozer Games & we promptly sent a copy of 43 A.D. & this book is on another level. Sure there are copies of other horror themed historical rpg's sitting on my shelf. But is on another level without a doubt. This isn't to say that 43 A.D. is completely overwhelming on its hisory or game details. Far from it, the game reads like a combination of deadly campaign, detailed rpg, & action movie waiting to happen. The combat is bloody, the system sings along in a bloody way, & this game screams to be played. The game feels like Zenobia another Paul Elliot creation where the legions of Roman meet the forces of the desert.

But 43 A.D. has the look & feel of Roman occupied Britian with a horror film twist or two thrown in. And this is a deadly little affair of a game. The PC's are strangers in a strange land & they are far from home. And this is a cold, dangerous, lonely little world to have a PC die in. And no its not depressing but its incredibly dangerous.

But is 43 A.D. worth getting?! In a word yes! This is a complete unto it's game & while other books are going smaller & smaller with Cepheus Engine rpg rules. 43 A.D. takes this notion & kicks its teeth in to give the DM & his players a complete package for ten dollars! And its up to Zozer Games quality unto itself. So in a word yes 43 A.D. is very much worth getting for three reasons, one this is a game about Roman occupied Britian done by a historian who writes history & techinical books for a living. Two the maps & cartography are gorgeous! And three the setting is not one that I'd ever want to actually live in & I say this with all due respect! The idea of being in the middle of no place squared surrounded with no modern medicine, no real way home, & surrounded by people who will take your head off? No thanks but to role play in this world from the safety of your table with 2d6 system done by Zozer games absolutely! When it comes to the supernatural 43AD - Roleplaying in Roman Occupied Britain doesn't skimp. But instead presents a very different world to our own. This is a world where history & magick collide on three fronts. The Celtic, the Roman Empire, & the day to day lives of the Britanians who lived with both both of these powers. And also lived with the power of magick. And die by it! We have a full array of the dark forces on both the Roman & the Celtic sides Black Druids, Skinchangers, the Flayed Man, the Headless Killer, Fomorians, the undead Cauldron-Born, Face Feeders, and individuals such as Longinus (the Undead Centurion, the one who was present at Jesus' crucifixion), Scathach the Witch, and the Old Crone of Aberros all make their presence known. These entities filter through a 2d6 system that on the surface resembles the traditional Cepheus Engine & its deriatives is unique because of its legacy through the Zenobia rpg..

This is because the occult & supernatural existed side by side with the gods for both the Romans & Celtic. But these powers didn't play favorites! The Black Druids, Skinchangers, the Flayed Man, the Headless Killer, Fomorians, & many others will take any PC they can for sacifice or worse. History reflects the source & times, the history is bloody & high handed with PC's getting the worst of it. Glorious! If you want to check out what we're talking about here?! Go to Zozer games & download Zenobia's free materials today!

Note that A.D. 43 takes a vastly different take on the Cepheus Engine & does so with its own brand of style. Yes the systems are similar. But their different in two areas, application & principal. A.D. We're talking about the way armour work in this game, plus the the system for advancement, the easy way that the game handles the importance of advantages, & how magic is powered within it. All in All I think 43AD - Roleplaying in Roman Occupied Britain is a solid game in the Zozer Games line & a fine addition to any DM used to both the Cepheus Engine rpg & its lines. Paul Elliot does an incredible job with this game! Highly recommended! Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want More OSR action?! Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/ Thanks for Reading our Review!

This is a truly solo RPG in the style of Traveller. Basically when you come across a situation in the plot, you roll very few dice with few modifiers to decide what the OUTCOME will be, not the how, why details etc. Having decided on the outcome, you write in the details according to how well the event actually went. Now I liked this approach It's more akin to guided story telling, and at the beginning seems all wrong after years of concentrating on the details of a scene, shooting, making skill scores and the like. Here you decide how it went first, "The gang gets away,two of us are wounded, the enemy is really mad" You then get to write that into the storyline, which will affect future events. There are various types of adventure styles included, from classic exploring, trade, freebooters, and even military missions. They all have differing tables, though the basic framework remains the same

" At that insult Leir gave the command. The carnyxes blew, and the two armies fell upon each other. Then there was hacking and smiting; heads were broken and limbs hewn off, there was neighing and trampling of horses, and the bitter cries of men meeting violent death."

And so begins the seventy three pages of Warband rpg an add on book for Zozer Game's Paul Elliot whose work on Roman Britain's 43 AD rpg speaks for itself. This book covers everything about Britain's Celtics & its not pretty. This is a brutal warrior & druid affair of a game with systems covering the other side of the story;" The Roman invasion of Britain as described in 43AD is of course only one-half of the story. It is quite possible to play the game from the perspective of the tribes using all of the resources found in the main rulebook. What is needed is a revised character creation system enabling players to build tribal heroes. This book provides that." And this isn't history its something a bit more weird & wooly but its still history from a different perspective. The occupied perspective but it does it in terrifying & mature tones with all of the gore intact. And there's plenty of Roman & Britain blood splatter to go along in its 2d6 world of the Roman Empire. There is plenty of development & while the Cepheus Quantum & other engines go smaller. This book revels in its history explaining clan, family status, honor, & much more. This is an exotic world on the edge that we living in 2021 can scarily imagine;" Information of tribal life is not duplicated from 43AD, instead other resources are included here. You will find a detailed history of the Roman invasion, allowing the Game Master to select a particular campaign or era in which to set the struggle of the tribal resistance. Also included is a mass battle system. With a few rolls of the dice the great battles of history, or of your own games, battles involving tens of thousands of warriors and legionaries, can be resolved easily. If the heroes are involved then the rules tell us what happened to them, too." Skills, life events, etc are all here to flesh out the lives of your PC's and Warband does it in such an easy to understand & well laid out fashion that we find the world not as we want it. But it finds us asking the hard questions of our characters in quick & easy to follow succession. Paul Elliot has been designing games since the 90's and no where is this fact clearer then in Warband. Names, tribes, culture, is all here in lavish detail. Warband reads part game & part action film waiting to be sprung on players with sprawling wars with casts of hundreds. All of this comes in 2d6 action with the flick of a wrist to create your warrior or champion of your tribe. These are the warriors who challenged the legions of the Vallum Hadriani. You can also decide what era you wish to play in & what type of guerilla warfare you want to spring on your players. The information is all here for campaign play. Do you want a druid capable of shape shifting, magickal mayhem, or subject to the whims of the Fey or the Wryd then that's here as well. Magick is as real as the blood around these men & women. The old gods should be respected & no where is this more evident then in Warband. The world shapes the druid to be a tool of powers beyond the ken of men. These are druids that you actually want to play that have meaning beyond their magicks. The world of 43 AD is described, clans are defined, the honor of these clans is outlined. This is a wild world, a warrior's world, & the world of Warband in detail. The author defines, shapes, and highlights his works easily in terms, conditions, & common sense rules. This is the same approach that we see in the Zenobia rpg that we here in Warband. Casual writing that makes the history work & the fantasy elements however horrifying ( believe me they are) easy to deal with. 43 AD is a world that we want to game in.

Warband takes place in a very alien world of the Roman empire where you are the resistance & from the ground up we are presented a game that is at odds with both itself & its surroundings. Warband is an rpg supplement is as much a love letter to it's subject as it as a game that you want to play. The details here are top notch. The works very well done. The layout is solid & well done. The cartography is well done & maintained. The subsystem for creating war with both the Roman forces & the clans is well done plus it hits the high notes in spades. This is a system that can handle itself & come back for more. The history is well thought out with the system providing the DM with the tools to handle everything from one end to the bloody other. This is a book for both players & DM's who want PC's that are 'just so' for raiding cattle, taking heads, & gaining honor for the clan! Top notch & highly recommended. Eric Fabiaschi Sword & Stitchery Blog Want More OSR action?! Subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com/

"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.