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Awesome setting!
It is two years since Terra fought an alien race to a stand still, causing them to withdraw from the planets near Earth.
I have stolen news articles from 1918 (spanish flu anyone??) and 1945-1950 to give more background events.
We started off with a group of salvage experts (rogues) who mostly dealt with humans, and then needed more information, so slowly started to interact with aliens - who are more than just clever dogs and cats.
The aliens are good - well described and fun to run as GM. Not sure i want aliens as PCs as too hard to get right.
I am introducing many more sentient races (read clever monsters) and hazards (read monters and nasty plants) on the nearby stars for the hapless players to enjoy.
I have limited Terra's tech to 10, Jump-1, so that players cannot go just anywhere, and it kind of feels like they have to 'hug the coast' :-)
Anything above that (including Jump 2) is stolen tech. Players can only do J2 on a transporter ship, which has reduced their desires to be wanton criminals as they are easy to spot when waiting for a highliner to turn up.
And it means that there is lots of alien tech just sitting around waiting to be acquired for Terra (hurar!!) - and boffens will pay nicely for it.
As per other reviews of mine, i am also including disco from Retro Stars, and simple characters from Space Aces.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your kind review! |
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it was an unexpected pleasant surprise that Barbaric! was translated to Spanish!!! Thanks!!
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Nice little indie fantasy implementation of the Traveller/Cepheus SRD.
The character generation system really stands out, with the professions mini-game telling it's own backstory for your PC. It's great just for this.
However the system falls short on other regards. Combat feels clunky, equipment is unbalanced, some rules defy common sense, and a bit more proofreading would help. Nonetheless, it does work, and considering it's based off such an old sci-fi game engine, that's a feat on it's own.
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I didn't like this on a first read, but it's a very simple, very effective 2d6 Sword and Sorcery game. Don't expect D&D/OSR, your characters are capable and good at something from level 1.
This is a game where you play Conan types, thieves, and sorcerers as dangerous to themselves as everyone else.
Healing rules could be a tad harsher but critical hit tables already make combat absolutely brutal and something with considerable cost.
What surprised me was this DID pass what I consider the "Sandy Peterson test of Sword and Sorcery games" which was that he mentioned a scene in a Conan story where a guy gets the drop on Conan with a Crossbow and Conan surrenders, something which would NEVER happen in D&D or a similar game. Due to the damage crossbows and Bows do,
The magic rules are suitably dangerous and uncertain with a lot of potential for really interesting failure.
Soundtrack it to Dust's Learning to Die.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your excellent review! |
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"The fierce, proud, and relentless commander of warriors, standing tall above her enemies and simmering with rage, Jirel bids farewell to the world of treacherous men and walks through a forbidden door into Hell itself in pursuit of freedom, justice, and revenge."
So last night it was a night with an old friend, that friend happened to be C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry in paperback. She was created in '34 by C.L.Moore as a reaction to the Sword & Sorcery tales of the Pulp magazine era. Reading through the stacks of Amazon book reviews is like reading through a laundry list of a comic book or Pulp letters column. The Amazon break down from one of their reviewers hits the high marks; "C. L. Moore created Jirel, ruler of Joiry, in reaction to the beefy total-testosterone blood-and-thunder tales of '30s pulp magazines, but Jirel is no anti-Conan. She's a good Catholic girl, stubbornly purposeful, relentless in pursuit of enemies or vengeance, hard-boiled and a little stupid, and cannot be distracted by mere physical attractiveness. Indeed, in Jirel's world, beauty = decadence = corruption. Were these stories written today, inevitably Jirel would have a lot of hot sex, but as they were first published in Weird Tales between 1934-1939, sexual attraction is mostly only vividly implied. No loss. Jirel's journeys through unnatural landscapes and her battles with supernatural opponents are still wonderful to read, and though newcomers Red Sonja and Xena are more famous now, Jirel rules as the archetypal, indomitable redheaded swordswoman in chain mail and greaves, swinging her "great two-edged sword.""
The idea that a Sword & Sorcery character not only rules her own domain but that the supernatural won't leave her alone is something seldom seen. She's a warrior & a more then a bit fallible. This makes her far more relatable to the reader then some of today's characters. She's very much in a similar spirit to some of Clark Ashton Smith's characters in a sense. The ironic play of the setting, the masterful use of the English language, and the sly character development all built around C.L. Moore's weaving of the stories.
And what does any of this have to do with Omer Golan-Joel new Cepheus Engine rpg powered supplement Barbaric! ? Everything really. Barbaric! is the Sword & Sorcery add on book that has the very essence to run a Sword & Sorcery based rpg 2d6 Sword & Sorcery based campaign from the ground up. This means that C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry world & setting could easily be adapted into a Barbaric! campaign. Or Robert E.Howard's works, mixed in Clark Ashton Smith, etc. all of the Appendix N writers are grist for the Barbaric! mill. This book clocks in at fifty seven pages of good solid layout, a readable product, & the quality we've come to expect from Stellagama Publishing.
If you want your own Conan wanna be slithering through the darkness, the barbarian hordes tearing down the sorcerer's tower, etc. within Cepheus Engine then Barbaric! is the supplement for you! Omer Golan-Joel does an excellent job of boiling down every Sword & Sorcery & Pulpy goodness of his take on Cepheus Engine rpg system weirdness in Barbaric!. We've seen this before in Sword of Cepheus.
The difference between Sword of Cepheus & Barbaric! is day & night because of how & where Omar places the life paths, the humancentric elements, the Sword & Sorcery elements vs all of the High Fantasy flavor. This is 2d6 Conan like Sword & Sorcery play vs 2d6 High Fantasy, sure they have elements in common but you know the difference when you see it, read it, & play it. Barbaric! hits the high notes of 2d6 Sword & Sorcery play for the its publishing. Cepheus Atom could be used to plug into a whole new world of post apocalyptical goodness.
For bringing to life C.L. Moore's Jirel of Joiry into Barbaric! there are several reasons why it would work. Jirel of Joiry has all of the 'journey of a hero' elements in place, but what happens to her world when she's gone?! Surely there were adventurers looking for her?! Even on a quest for vengence nothing happens in a vacuum. This is where Barbaric! could come into play. The PC's are generated to go on a quest to find her & encounters with the supernatural result from there. Simple & easy to do a 2d6 campaign from there. Moore's Jirel stories include the following:
"Black God's Kiss" (October 1934)
"Black God's Shadow" (December 1934)
"Jirel Meets Magic" (July 1935)
"The Dark Land" (January 1936)
"Quest of the Starstone" (November 1937), with Henry Kuttner
"Hellsgarde" (April 1939)
For grabbing the Jirel of Joiry stories cheaply the Paizo's
Black God's Kiss (Trade Paperback) is the best source in print at the moment.
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery blog
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Barbaric! is a lightweight role-playing game (57 pages) where players assume the roles of characters exploring a fantasy world. Characters have no attributes and there are seven skills. I like how you can quickly create a character. This RPG ruleset includes 7 character races, 30 traits, 36 spells, 50 monsters, a random magical item chart (36 items), a spellcasting mishap chart (36 possibilities), and three 2d6 critical hit charts. - -
So, I tried this out using the Mythic Game Master Emulator. I used a Tavern Tales Adventure called Mad for Love. The six characters were able to fight their way through a building only to discover that the “boss” was not there. They raced to the new location, fought the “big bad”, and convinced the confused “boss” that everything was okay. They took the love potion away from him and kept it for themselves. They sold it the next day to a female wizard. She seemed nice. Give this fun system a try!
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" Pirates are the scourge of the space-lanes. Cutthroats, bandits, and scum, they are enemies to all humanity. Captured pirates can expect no mercy: only grim justice for their heinous crimes. Despite the risks, this book encourages science fiction roleplayers—Gamemasters and players alike—to embrace their inner space pirate, and set forth to the stars to carve a bloody swath across the galaxy!"
There are days when sometimes when looking over at the absolute wall of Traveller rpg books that stare at me that it begins to hit me just how not intimated by this game hits me. Most of Traveller & Cepheus Engine rpg game campaigns that either have crossed the table top or the screen revolve around piracy or one kind or another. Traveller was the game that engineers & science geeks play. But once we got into it, this was the science fictional game to play hands down. So when Stellagama Publishing sent me a copy of Piracy and Privateering it took me a day or more to put it at the top of the pile of books to be reviewed. See what Piracy and Privateering does is to create an almost rpg system neutral book that leans heavily into the wind of the Original 2d6 OGL Science Fiction rules, Cepheus Engine, Stars Without Number, and White Star. Now way back in the early half of 2019 we grabbed a copy of Piracy and Privateering This was with the intent of running a piracy themed game of White Star or Stars Without Number. But then OSR game campaigns took over. And Piracy and Privateering will work with Cepheus Lite Rpg rather easily. Technically with these two books you could run an entire campaign for many years.
This is an updated & expanded sourcebook tha hammers on the detailed systems of piracy. And with Piracy and Privateering you can actually run an entire OSR or Cepheus Engine rpg campaign from the pirates perspective! Piracy and Privateering gives the players & the DM everything they need to get a steady hand on the setting of such a game from boarding actions to what to do with the booty afterwards.
Josh Peters does an excellent job of fleshing out everything needed from:
Pirate setting generation setting the scene for your piracy game
Target aquistition & boarding of ships
Randomly encountering the monsters of your pirate PC's & the hunters of such PC's.
Traffic, back water worlds, & all of the little things that goes into such a campaign.
Indepth world & setting info
NPC handling, generation, & plug or play aspects of the pirate NPC.
What Piracy and Privateering is a space opera & pirarcy tool box for not only generating entire adventures, NPC's, & more but giving the space campaign teeth & legs to continue for years to come. It does this with its random generation & steady ideas of growth through play & actual rolls. This is a marked improvement in some of the early products that I've seen.
Right now we're in the middle of generating a whole cloth campaign dark space opera using Cepheus Engine rpg & classic Traveller resources. This means that Piracy and Privateering couldn't come at a better time for our group or me as dungeon master. This is a great buy so go & grab it here! Piracy and Privateering is a fine addition to the Cepheus Engine & OSR space opera gaming scene.
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery blog
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your kind words! |
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This adventure has kept my sci-fi gaming group occupied for two sessions, and tomorrow is the finale. I've enjoyed this adventure. I really appreciate all the little adventure hooks the author put in to give you ideas for follow-up adventures. I'm sure my players will ignore most of them, because that's just what they do! But maybe they'll follow up on one or two of the plot threads, at least.
The most fun part of the adventure so far was hearing the players speculating wildly on just how the wreck came to be in the ring. Why did it crash? Was it sabotage? Alien mind control? Suicide? Accident? Nobody knows! We'll see tomorrow night if they can figure it out. Or maybe they'll have to gather more clues on other planets.
I also enjoyed the flavor of the setting that the adventure author added - little things like the order of monks who specialize in recovering and burying people killed in space, and the tension with the untrustworthy hired hand. I will buy more adventures from this writer, if I can find them.
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"The bombs fell. Nations wielded varied and monstrous weapons against one another. Fires, clouds of poison, and worse have swept the world. Now only the savage Wastes remain: haunted by mutants, deranged robots, and genegineered monstrosities. But from the fire, heroes and villains rise: tribals, survivors, mutants, all the warped remnants of Humanity. Armed with primitive weapons, pre-Collapse artifacts, and afflicted by strange mutations, they set forth to conquer the wastes, or at least to survive them. By spear and laser, they shall prevail – or die a horrible death."
There are times when I look at my poor book shelves & wonder if their gonna take another post apocalyptic rule book. Look Omer Golan-Joel is a master of his design & so this rule book takes the old Traveller rpg & Cepheus engine rpg into the realm of post apocalyptic gaming.
And it does it with style & system gravitus of the 2d6 systems & their OGL which makes everything independant. This means that the entire book has everything you need to take your games into the wastelands.
Cepheus Atom has everything from the ground up from bare bones equipment,mutations, and even a complete mini mutant manual all within forty nine pages. Everything to get a group of players up & running into the wastelands. And that's not all.
There' a complete feeling of a Fifties Atomic monster movie fest with the feel of the mutations & the whole cloth of the system. Think 1953's 'Them' & your on the right direction in the wasteland.
The entire system works together as an organic post apocalytic wasteland whole. And it takes the Traveller game into another direction. The "Contamination" stat (the cumulative sum of radioactive and biological fall out that your PC get's is a simple yet highly effective way of keeping track of the horror of mutation that the PC has. Simple, easy, and highly hackable. And if there is any take away from Cepheus Atom its the fact that its a very hackable system.
And this is where Cepheus Atom shines, the fact that its an easily unlockable system & works like a dream when it comes to creating the type of wasteland that the dungeon master wants.
And then we get a robotic & wilderness set of encounters that reminds me completely of Fallout. But remember Fallout sto erm borrowed quite a few things from the old school games such as Gamma World & Metamorphis Alpha first edition.
Clocking in at a very dense fifty pages Cepheus Atom has everything that a DM needs to get their post apocalytic on without a lot of fuss or muss! Highly recommended! The players can dive right in & get to cracking mutant monster heads in the wastelands!
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery
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"If you want a handful of grit in your dice bag, if you’re more of about Conan than Rincewind, if you like the vibe of OSR, but not the engines, then Sword of Cepheus looks like the game for you."
I don’t like complexity in my tabletop-roleplaying games. It’s not just my age, I’m also more interested in the adventure than the stacking the of feats and traits. And, as a GM, frankly, the chaotic exploding synergies of games like Dungeons and Dragons make me feel panicky.
However, I don’t like it when glossing over resource management breaks genre conventions — if torches can’t run out, if food isn’t scarce, then players will turn each dungeon adventure into weaponized archaeology.
Unfortunately, I’m also — on reflection — unkeen on randomized emulations that take away the possibilities and drama created by choice: “Oh, you rolled a ‘1’. Whoops your arrows ran out.” (Some games square this circle a little.)
That’s why I was excited when Omer Golan-Joel announced he was working on a Sword and Sorcery game called (drum roll) Sword of Cepheus: 2D6 Sword and Sorcery Roleplaying.
Read the full review at Black Gate Magazine...
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for your very kind review! |
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I highly recommend this product to any 2d6 SciFi GM looking for a new ship to add to their game.
This book is incredibly good value for money, crammed with detailed colour plans, descriptions and ideas.
The ship presented is an interesting design, different in shape and layout to the usual variations on a wedge or cylinder, and there is sound reasoning behind the design choices ( as explained in the text ).
The descriptions and plans are clear and the variations sketched out extend the possible uses of the platform and its components beyond mere picket boat, and suggest several “adventure seeds”.
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Creator Reply: |
Thank you for the review Chris! I'm busy with a couple more deck plans. I hope you'll stay tuned. |
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" In this adventure, the characters are crew members or passengers on a starship. As they emerge from jump in the remote system of Parvati and begin moving towards the mainworld, they pick up a distress signal, a Reticulan (grey alien!) “Signal 99”, from a nearby ship. The ship is in danger and in need of rescue.
As the characters race to save the dying ship, they discover the true nature of the Reticulan vessel. However, there are other parties interested in the fate of the stricken vessel, and not necessarily interested in helping…
The damaged ship is a dreaded Reticulan Abductor. The hated Reticulan Empire used these large vessels to capture subjects for their nefarious experiments. As the characters explore the ship, they will discover that there are many human subjects aboard the ship in low berths – what the Reticulans planned to do with them is the subject of horror stories. This should be especially disturbing to the characters, as the Reticulan Empire recently signed a treaty with the human United Terran Republic that specifically outlaws abduction and experimentation on humans. There are a number of Reticulan survivors as well. Also aboard the Abductor are a group of insect-like Zhuzzh, known throughout the galaxy as hard-nosed scavengers and pirates. The characters will discover the Zhuzzh as they are removing the frozen humans from the Abductor and transferring them aboard their ship. Their ultimate purpose is unknown, but the Zhuzzh do not want to share their “salvage” with others.
The characters will have to make some tough decisions. Will they try to save the surviving Reticulans, including children, or let them die and save just the humans? Will they go after the Zhuzzh vessel when the salvagers flee or stay and save more survivors from the ship? There are no ideal answers to these dilemmas. Driving this tension and action is the impending explosion of the Abductor’s damaged power plant. No matter what they do, the characters will not be able to save everyone – they will have to save as many as they can and then flee for their lives."
Claustrophobic, tight, dangerous, & very horrifying are not things that reviewers tpyically write about when their reviewing an adventure.But that's exactly the sort of adjectives that one can use for TSAO: Signal 99 by Richard Hazlewood. TSAO: Signal 99 seems like a pretty straight forward adventure believe me its not & its a pain in the arse. I mean this in the best possible sense of the word for a table top rpg adventure. TSAO: Signal 99 for the Celpheus Engine rpg is going to test the players to their absolute limits if played right. This is not an adventure for the unwary or the easily frustrated. The adventure itself isn't difficult but its adventure elements are!
Take your average Sixties or Seventies action film with tight locations, add in elements of a savagely hated empire, mix in a whole lot of suspense and you've got TSAO: Signal 99
via GIPHY
So why is TSAO: Signal 99 so nasty & dangerous?! Because TSAO: Signal 99 is about choices & having PC's live with the consquences. The insect-like Zhuzzh who are notorious pirates, scavengers, & smugglers are right in the thick of things inside what turns out to be a a badly damaged Reticulan Abductor. And that's only a quarter of what's happening. There's a ton of lever pulling, & button smashing in this adventure & its easy to see when & where PC's are gonna die. There is a ton of water under the bridge between the humans & the Reticulan Empire. If you want a really nice primer for your games of the TSAO universe with a nice slice of its history then I suggest the TSAO: A Primer to These Stars Are Ours!. Its free & it contains everything needed to started down the deep rabbit hole that is the TSAO setting.
But for anyone wanting to run or DM TSAO: Signal 99 don't skim go for the whole burrito with the These Stars Are Ours sourcebook. There's a lot going on in TSAO: Signal 99. The best way of handling TSAO: Signal 99 is to be prepared for many of the eventualities that could arise from things going sideways in this adventure.
TSAO: Signal 99 is a good adventure & infact excellent but its not one for the inexperienced DM at all. This is a solid adventure in fact for the original Traveller rpg. Why?! It actually not only touches on many of the themes of the original Traveller rpg but it does so with style. But TSAO: Signal 99 takes its adventure 'P''s & 'Q''s from both war films & action flicks with a lot of gerne promises form these sources. In other words TSAO: Signal 99 is a module for experienced Traveller or Cephues Engine rpg players only. Both in its run & what it does. What it does is take the full measure of the players & then shoves them through the adventure gaunlet. There's lots of problem solving, old war issues, & more that need the expert touch. Can I see running this with a merc outfit or a group of military veterans who are on vacation?! Absolutely!
Would TSAO: Signal 99 make a good campaign rider adventure?! Abosolutely! TSAO: Signal 99 make a good beginning adventure? Possibly for the sort of Traveller rpg or Celpheus rpg players who have ton of experience under their belt! Would I run TSAO: Signal 99? And buy it?! Absolutely! Solidly written very well done, and a top brass spit & polish add on to the Celpheus Engine Rpg.. TSAO: Signal 99 is a great adventure that I've had the pleasure of reviewing!
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery Blog
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" Necessity is the mother of invention, and war brings about many necessities. In the 2230's, Humanity fought a war for its liberty and survival against the mighty Reticulan Empire. Faced with a numerically superior, technologically advanced foe, Terran forces required highly efficient logistics to fuel their war effort and turn back the tide. Such logistics necessitated simple, cheap, efficient freighters and troop ships to carry war materials and troops between the stars. Hence, the L’Ouverture-Class Liberty Ship was born – an economic wartime freighter. It lacks any frills or bells and whistles. It comes to work, to carry freight and troops. That's it.
Once the War ended, the Terran Merchant Marine sold many of these ships – no longer required for military logistics due to widespread demobilization – on the civilian markets. Many serve as independent or corporate merchants. However, a few star-pirate gangs acquired such ships for cheap and modified them to serve as their bases of operation.
This booklet details five variants of the Liberty Ship – a 1,000-ton freighter intended for use with the Cepheus Engine rules and other Sci-Fi 2D6 SRD-compatible rules."
There are days when fulfilling the social contract weighs heavy on my mind, the idea of the unspoken agreement between a publisher & a reviewer. Well there are times when putting a game down such as Celpheus Engine allows me push it to the back of the lizard brain. And this is where the Celpheus Engine rpg's These Stars Are Ours campaign setting is for me. The setting is at the back of my lizard brain, why?! Because its something that I've played in a million times especially back in the days of the 90's original Traveller rpg & the star ships like the TSAO Liberty Ship were our home in the deep darkest cold of space.
Back when television shows like Space Above & Beyond were on we were playing game campaigns set in some very edge of space backwater where our PC's were party of the military of some small speck in the vastness of the Traveller universe. And products like the TSAO Liberty Ship were what kept us coming back to the table again & again. But there in lays the problem there were no products like the TSAO Liberty Ship.
There weren't any products like this one, this book goes out on a limb to provide an in universe cut of the pirates, scum, and the militaries that hunt them.
This is a universe that has recently within its history escaped the grasp of the Reticulans. The wounds of that history are still fresh under the scabs of those who serve aboard the Liberty & ships like her.
If you want a really nice primer for your games of the TSAO universe with a nice slice of its history then I suggest the TSAO: A Primer to These Stars Are Ours!. Its free & it contains everything needed to started down the deep rabbit hole that is the TSAO setting.
The TSAO Liberty Ship contains everything that you need to run a complete fleet action style campaign using the infamous Celpheus Engine rpg & the stellar ship. I say infamous because it has it all of the death of PC's that the original Traveller rpg had. We get not one but three variations of the TSAO Liberty Ship. And what is it about the Liberty that I love?! The damn ship looks like a ‘U.S.S. Saratoga’, from the TV show Space Above & Beyond as well as something that might have dropped outta of the clasic Aliens film. Remember when Traveller seemed totally aligned with the movie Aliens?! This is a retired warship & as such you'll have to buy one from the second hand governmental local bodies, or perhaps even find one floating in space. You get not one but three variants of the class plus access to high definition plans for the TSAO Liberty Ship.
I'm in love with these ship class & there are several reasons for this! One these ships are perfect overlaps for the SPACE PATROL from the TSAO universe & as perfect pirate bases capable of moving along the edges of the universe to pray on unsuspecting caravans or fleets of trade ships.
There's something utterly satisfying about contemplating the kinds of mayhem & weirdness that one can put the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement. And this dear readers is one of the hallmarks of a great supplement.
Could the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement be used with Cepheus Light rpg system?! In heart beat answer? Yes! That makes the ulility of the the TSAO Liberty Ship supplement worth the four dollar price tag!
The TSAO Liberty Ship book & materials have all of the hallmarks of a classic! Easily readable, solid production values, nice cartography, good writing, & the damn supplement is incredibly useful! Five outta of five stars!
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery Blog
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"The Reticulan Empire is the richest, most powerful political entity in known space, outshining even its mighty Chiwak rivals. Millennia old, it has reached a mature and stable Tech Level 13. This technological know-how allows the Reticulans to produce marvels of advanced science beyond anything the Terrans can reliably manufacture. This booklet provides a sample of 50 technological and psionic wonders developed and used by the Reticulan Empire, from compact handheld laser "blasters", advanced cybernetics and gravitics, to the arcane psionic devices that unleash the power of the Reticulan mind."
In old school Traveller originally societies beyond Tech level 13 were rare in the games that I played back in '81 or so.. Cepheus Engine rpg's TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire is very interesting to me as a dungeon master is because of two things. One it gives a huge amount of insight into the Greys of the TSAO setting's psychology, how their mental processes work, and what the various Grey & human factions of the setting's technologies work. Both on a mental level & the in universe setting practicalities. What this basically means is that you begin to see the art,literature, etc. of the Gray interstellar empire through the lens of the setting's society.
Traveller in the three little black books was a thinking man's game on two levels. Tactically from the point of view of the DM & from the players who were dealing with the unknown on so many levels.
Cepheus Engine rpg's TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire takes its cues from those classic books & doesn't update them but expands on them for the Cepheus Engine rpg. This gives the Riticulans perspective & lens into their culture,motives, & agendas. Something that was lacking in some early Traveller products.
The far superior products were those that gaves slices of insight, motives, and even bits & pieces for the dungeon master to use. This is one of the hallmarks of the little black books of Traveller.
This is where the 'toy box' of TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire isn't so much important as the application of those toys for the various 'dungeons' of the the Reticulan Empire's ruins, wrecks, & various adventure opportunities that TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire presents for the players & the dungeon master. Even though there are far more bells & whistles that the Cepheus Engine rpg seems to present. There's far more bubbling here below the surface in TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire.You've got the far reaching implications of the Reticulan Empire's human population to contend with. The humans are starting to exploit & be exploited by their former Reticulan masters because of the lure of technology. This is an all too common theme that we've seen throughout real world human history.
And this very fact can be exploited as a theme to various adventures using TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire. Why? Because good science fiction OSR adventure can deal with this maturely & within spades. TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire is a thinking man's book as well as a great toybox of wonders,weapons, & wickness. But its a very good toybox that takes a solid approach to the themes that we see in the TSAO settting.
TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire doesn't take the guess work out of using the Reticulan Empire's interests within a Cepheus Engine rpg game campaign. Instead it presents a very comprehensive overview & review of the factions, politic, motives, history, culture, & more for the use of the Reticulan Empire's techologies. Use this book sparingly and make some of the weirdness & mystique a thing to behold even to the Reticulan PC's within a party. Is TSAO: 50 Wonders of the Reticulan Empire you should pick up. Yes this a classic Cepheus Engine rpg book with all of the trappings, editing, and solid design that you've come to expect from Omer Golan-Joel. Looking forward to more TSAO books! Grab this one!
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for the excellent review! |
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"Mining is a time-honored practice, its roots going back to the Stone Age. When humanity reached space, it began mining the asteroid bodies and extraterrestrial planets in pursuit of metal and ice. The most desired and profitable of these minerals are rare earths and radioactives. With asteroid mining, the Belter was born – a profession, and then a culture, of space miners. "
The company miner, working for corporation or government, works long shifts on interplanetary rocks for a steady salary and employment benefits. The independent belter, on the other hand, strikes out into the belt, prospecting, and mining with his own ship. Usually, he scrapes by on base metals and the more abundant rare earths. However, what sustains the belter through hard work and the loneliness of space is the lust for hitting a "motherlode" – good radioactive ore worth a fortune. As the 20th century song goes, this Uranium Fever infects the miner's heart and propels them into the unknown."
Its been a New York minute since we dived back into the deep end of 'These Stars Are Ours' setting . Do like asteroid mining & belt miner PC exploiting & having the guts to exploit the latest 'gold rush' then Uranium Fever is the setting book for you!
'Uranium Fever 'dives right into the 'New Gold Rush' of the Cepheus Engine rpg setting with asteroid mining done right. The problem here is that not only I'm I really far behind on this Traveller first edition retroclone but I'm super late to the party with a decent overview of this great setting book by authors/designers Omer Golan-Joel and Richard Hazlewood. 'Uranium Fever ' clocks in at about forty nine pages of dense settting material for the Cepheus Engine rpg. 'Uranium Fever ' gives the dungeon master everything they need for the PC's with incredibly detailed PC alternative classes,careers, new setting background material, mishaps, new ships, and lots more. This new gold rush is set within the 'These Stars Are Ours' universe where the human subjects & Grey ruled former intergalactic empire has given way to a brand new 'gold rush' of asteroid mining & lots of it. There's profit in the space rocks & the PC's better get in on the action or get left behind. When the interstellar empire collapses what gets left in its wake with the humans & aliens is pure opportunity & profit.
'Uranium Fever ' clocks the hazards, lawlessness, & sheer insane danger that is inherit with in belt mining & takes it to its logical extremes here. The PC's could literally lose life & limb with little recourse. There's worse then pirates lurking here with the PC's going into the deep end of asteroid mining laying out interstellar laws, claims, ownerships, & much more. The ideas for adventure ooze off the page here from claim jumpers to blood fueds over claim or mine ownership. The whole of 'Uranium Fever 'feels like it sounds an 'asteroid Wild West' and everything that goes with it.
'Uranium Fever ' flips the play book on asteroid mining & adventuring by letting the PC's actually turn a profit in this one on one mini game of adventure & bare knuckles mining. This book takes the PC's deep into the world of mining from running an operation to a fully realized mining company. There are new ships, new equipment, new ideas, new ship hazards, & new mysteries all wrapped up with a nice & neat Cepheus Engine rpg bow.
But is Uranium Fever any good?! Well having printed the fifty page book out & having read through it. There's lots of opportunity for adventurers & PC's to actually shine! This is a book rife with money for the taking but its damn dangerous work for only most ballsy and brave taking the asteroids for themselves. Corporations are dangerous as well wanting a piece of the action. But reading through Uranium Fever there are reminders of the classic Traveller tropes of what do adventurers do between missions. Running a belter operation is a great idea providing profit for adventurers whilst giving them material for creating their own star ships. There's plenty of opportunity here but there's also plenty for the dungeon master to exploit like the bastards that they are.
The writing is tight, the layout well done, the subject material very well covered, & by God there's more then enough here to convert it over to other OSR games. But 'Uranium Fever ' takes itself within itself & does it with a gusto that draws the reader in & makes you really want to adapt the book to its own campaign. And not only have I reviewed this book but it demanded that I print it out to exploit erm play 'Uranium Fever ' to draw in the player's PC's into the 'These Stars Are Ours' setting universe. Its a tight, dangerous, & wel thought out setting book with all of the right ingrediants to make mining fun,profitable, & oh so limb losing prospects. One last thing this is one of my favorite books for the ships, equipment, & brand new toys for the Cepheus Engine rpg system.
Thanks for reading my review!
Eric Fabiaschi
Swords & Stitchery Blog
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Creator Reply: |
Thanks for the wonderful review! |
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