For the past few days, I have soloed my way through The Gilded Lilly (51 pages, at DriveThruRPG). This is an adventure for Traveller, but I used Bandits and Battlecruisers (140 pages, same place, on sale). This RPG is a supplement for Classic D&D. I did add some skill rules to make it better. To solo this, I used the Microsoft Copilot (AI, I asked it detailed questions). The adventure started when the PCs picked up their mission. It was a long-term diplomatic mission for the Coalition. The PCs arrived at the landing pads of the planet Berens by spaceship. They were greeted by Dairoku. He answered a lot of their questions. Next, they talked to Ravi who happened to be one of the three bankers on the planet. The PCs decided to lease a storefront building and have it remodeled. They spent the night at the Kenneally Inn. So, they talked to seven NPCs that day. On the second day, they attended a town meeting and met the other 35 NPCs that call this planet home. On the third day, they went out on a hunting expedition with Mujiba and Delmar. They did find a Thunderbeast which they killed, but Mujiba was killed and the PC Paul went down with a broken arm. The PC Chelsea, a psychic, healed Paul enough so that he could walk back with the others to town. That same day, the PC Sherry tried a local tea. That night, after midnight, Sherry woke up. She was compelled to walk into the woods. In the woods, her eyes caught the sight of something peculiar—a patch of luminescent blue nestled among the green.

She stepped closer and discovered a plant like none she had ever seen before. Its leaves were broad and fleshy. It glowed softly as though illuminated from within. Each leaf was adorned with intricate, vein-like patterns that pulsed rhythmically, almost like a heartbeat. Tiny droplets of an unknown substance beaded along the edges.

The plant's stem was a translucent, crystalline structure. It swayed gently even though there was no wind, it responded to her presence. Upon closer inspection, she noticed the stem emitted a faint, melodic hum, adding an otherworldly atmosphere to the encounter.

At the top of the stem, a cluster of delicate, star-shaped flowers bloomed. These flowers radiated a soft, warm light that contrasted with the cool blue of the leaves. They had an almost hypnotic quality. Their petals moved in a slow, mesmerizing dance.

Suddenly, she felt a slight prickling sensation on her skin. She realized that the plant was releasing tiny spores that glowed like embers in the air. These spores reacted to her body heat. They hovered around her and formed intricate, swirling patterns.

She quickly grabbed her specimen jar, collected a sample of the spores and a few of the plant's leaves for further study. As she sealed the jar, she couldn't shake the feeling that this plant was more than it appeared—that it held secrets. To be continued. Give this fun RPG a try! :)

"Ashen Void - a system-neutral Dark Fantasy campaign setting."

"Welcome to the arid, mysterious world plagued by trans-planar monsters known as the Angels. You won't find any rules here, nor any concrete information that must be used. Everything is presented in form of lists and random tables, to help you flesh out your own version of the world - or to allow smooth transplantation of ideas to your game."

Ashen Void is twisted in all of the right ways, this is a stat free & totally random set of tables about a world plagued with trans-planar monsters known as the Angels. Ashen Void is a hard one to pin down as this is a totally free & randomly generated world with tables dealing with everything from giants, ruins, wastelands, towns, etc. all totally random. And there are so many random tables but this is a good thing & we'll get to that. Albert has a long history with the OSR through his World of Ortix blog here. There is so much A.I. generated artwork by Albert Rakowski that its a bit distractiong at times. Yes, believe me I get the trend with the Mork Borg rpg setting up the background artwork & the distracting fonts. Fortunately there's very little of that in Ashen Void. Instead in Ashen Void we get random tables to generate entire campaign evirons, dungeons, monsters, and much more. This customization of randomness is going to keep players on their toes. And this consistant with random table after table of well everything in Ashen Void & this is done on purpose according to the author's introduction; "In this book you will f ind the outline of a setting that has been growing in my mind for the last few years. Or maybe even longer, as it began somewhere between 2011 and 2013. All rules are presented in a very vague way to make the game as system neutral as possible. They should be compatible with virtually any OSR ruleset. Nothing that is described here should be treated as an element necessary for the setting’s coherence. That’s because nothing is coherent here - it’s just a toolkit for you to use, either to include in your own campaign" And what a tool kit! Ashen Void does a Lot of the heavy lifting for the DM to create their own OSR or Science Fantasy setting from scratch. With a handful of dice & Ashen Void the DM can create world after world of good solid gaming material from the ether of imagination. In eighty eight pages Ashen Void manages to accomplish campaign material that other supplements take page after page to explain. And it's all at the DM's whim. All in all it's really hard to put a rating on Ashen Void because of what it randomly does & how it does it. But Ashen Void is a solid addition to a DM's tool kit regardless of their genre of choice. Ashen Void fits the OSR very well with it being perfect for Mutant Future, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Mork Borg, or any other of the original OSR titles. It would also be perfect for orignal Dungeons & Dragons. Ashen Void is perfect as a campaign setting for any 2d6 rpg and I'm looking at any of the Cepheus Engine games here. This is especially true of Sword of Cepheus, Cepheus lite, Barbaric, or any of the other 2d6 powered system. Thanks for reading our review Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery blog Want more OSR goodness?! Please subscribe to https://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com

The preface informs us that this is not a retroclone, but more of a simulacrum, harkening back to the older games, and even attempts to evoke this feeling through a less crafted presentation, as well as reproductions of mediaeval woodcuts and paintings. It works. From the cover fonts, which remind me of Dimension Six, Inc,'s The Compleate Fantasist, to the physical presentation of the rules, this feels like it is from the earliest Seventies of wargaming-RPGs.

Character generation involves rolling three dice and choosing the best two, as well as a few figured characteristics. We are then presented with three classes: fighting, mystical, and roguish. Each of these has several stages of development each of which has its own rolled additions to the character's statistics. Next come the brief descriptions of kit-like professions which do a lot to customise and differentiate characters from the basic classes. Equipment is added from a few of the professions, but not all.

Next is the Addendum, which opens up more individual customisation of characters, further removing the sense that a fighter is a fighter is a fighter.

The presentation of armour, arms, and combat provides a wonderful addition of details that matter based upon choice of kit and in just a few statements (asterisk notes), we understand how to apply these modifiers to conduct one on one, melee, and ranged combat. Initiative is modified by both armour and arms employed, and armour provides protection points to reduce damage.

Beasts and Humans are presented with enough statistics to perform combat, but so much detail as to become cumbersome.

The Referee or GM's rules section is intended to be Eyes Only and with good reason.

There are no spells, no lists of magic items, but there are great random tables, and some are very creative, and all are useful for games of this sort.

Is this a modern, multi-gendered take on Perilous Ages? No. GMs expecting non-binary gender, heterosexual brothel visits will be undeservedly disappointed. This game is not intended to emulate the present enlightenment, but rather, the Perilous Ages it makes clear through the tables is a rough, merciless world and era. Is it multicultural, no, again, not surprisingly considering what it is emulating. Can a GM run it in a more enlightened, multi-gendered, multi-cultural version of mock-mediaevalism. Of course. Just don't expect it to be part of the base text.

What I like most about it is that is feels both fresh and forgotten, like the non-mainstream published gaming supplements of my youth that called out from the shelves of the Davie, FL. Compleat Strategist of yore, and from the amateur gaming mags of a bygone era. It feels like it belongs to the world of my gaming history.

It isn't often that I review Sci-Fi RPG products. The few that I do are pretty much firmly entrenched in the OSR, at least mechanics-wise. Bandits and Battlecruisers fits that bill, at it is firmly in the grasp of the OSR / Classical D&D rulesets. It is however, much less Sci-Fi and more Space Opera. Heck, even that isn't really all that accurate a description. Let's Try Sci-Fantasy Space Opera. Too long?

In any case, Bandits and Battlecruisers is a Space Opera themed supplement for any of the OSR clones and should be useable with minimal adjusting (but will work better with LL, S&W and the like and need more adjusting for OSRIC). As it pretty much replaces many of the core assumptions, such as character generation, stats and bonuses, skills, is classless - the reality is, if you already know one of the older systems, you can run straight with B and B and just use the system of your choice to fill in any gaping holes. You will need another system to be your reference point for any spells (yes, there is magic in the setting, but no spells in the book - so, dig out the rules you feel comfortable with).

Tables. Lots and lots of random tables. Whether you use them as inspiration or let the dice fall as they may, there are lots of tables in this book. Personally, I like the Creature Creation Tables. Not as crazy as Raggi's but easy to use and quick. Note to self: making my own Things in the Room Table for Rappan Athuk would be pretty neat.

Descending AC is the default. That being said, AC 2 is as low as one can obtain without magic, so the chance of being nigh invulnerable is near nil.

The equipment lists take up about 4 pages and even includes duct tape. Any equipment list that includes the universal jury rigging tool is pretty complete in my eyes. Heck, I'd like to see a fantasy equivalent ;)

The spaceship section (about a 1/3 of the book) is the most Sci-Fi heavy part of the book (most of the rest is a combination of Sci-Fantasy and Space Opera, shaken not stirred ;) It's approach reminds me a bit of Traveller Lite, which is fine as that of course is yet another Old School game. Actually, the space combat reminds me a lot of classic Traveller, as best I can remember. It has been over 20 years since I played a game of Traveller, let alone spaceship combat.

Heck, it even includes hexagonal graph paper (in two different sizes) in the back for you to print out and use. Very convenient.

The art is all public domain (most if not all from comic books) and nicely evocative.

Overall, it's a very nice twist on the old School ruleset.

I do have 2 minor quibbles:

• lack of bookmarking for the PDF. If I have a choice, I always want my PDFs bookmarked. It makes navigating through the virtual pages so much easier.

• no sample adventures of even a random table to develop plot hooks. The random space encounters and space stations don't quite cut it. That being said, I suspect most of the people that purchase this will already have an adventure or a series of plot hooks in mind. It's just that it would have made a fine product even fine.