Hyperspace Messenger 03: Aliens is a 20 page book, with 16 pages of content, the other 4 being things like cover, credits, OGL, and a product blurb. The introduction opens up by saying it's meant to help emulate settings like Star Wars, where the vast galaxy has a seemingly uncountable number of alien species where a few are featured but the rest are left to the imagination. To that end, the book is meant for both players and Referees to make their own alien class with a step-by-step series of random-roll tables.

The Meat of the System

HM3 generates an alien class by rolling for core traits, along with miscellaneous details such as reproduction, lifespan, size, and unique abilities. The major details include things such as Hit Dice, Saving Throw progression, Base To-Hit, and Weapon/Armor Proficiencies.

Each table result provides a sample Experience value, which is used to determine how much the alien needs to get from level 1 to 2 and is then doubled from there. Generally speaking, the more powerful results cost more experience: being proficient with only primitive weapons (bows, swords, staffs, etc) adds 100 Experience, while being able to use any kind of weapon is 400. As the basic White Star classes are usually 1,200 at the lower end to 2,000 around the upper end, getting consistently good results for your randomized alien has the trade-off of having you lag behind the rest of the party.

Some traits can result in lowering the Experience value for faster progression, such as an anatomy incompatible with most (human-designed) equipment, lacking an important sense such as being blind or deaf, or a -1 penalty to an ability score rolled at character creation. Overall it seems like a fine, consistent system, but noticed mixed results when trying to build a few of the core White Star classes with similar abilities. The Aristocrat, Mercenary, and Pilot had more or less the same Experience Progression, off by 100-250 points. The Alien Brute was off by a bit, whose base is 2,000, had 2,4000 with its HM3 counterpart.

Special Abilities

The table for Special Abilities is the real highlight of this book, containing ninety features differing widely in form and function (the 91-100 result allows the player/Referee to choose freely). Each Special Ability adds 200 Experience to the initial value, but due to their nature lower the alien's level cap by 1 (10th level is ordinarily the base cap in White Star) for each one taken, to a maximum of 4 Special Abilities.

The Special Abilities vary a lot in scale. One one might grant the alien a +2 on rolls involving interaction with others (Sociology Experts), while another might automatically heal 1 hit point per round (Regeneration). Most of them provide an explicit game effect or ability of some sort, like being able to stick to surfaces due to adhesive, increased movement rate, or even a continuous immunity to mind-affecting effects! A rare few are more geared towards Referee fiat, such as the alien species having a universal positive reputation which can result in social opportunities and opened doors.

My favorite included Symbiotic Immortality, where the alien has a symbiotic life form living inside it accumulating knowledge which can be passed on to others of its species upon death. The game effect is a +1 Wisdom, but this really sets up interesting cultural and role-playing opportunities for said species.

Conclusion

Five sample alien species and a fillable worksheet provide the final parts of this small book. Overall, I really like Hyperspace Messenger 03. The sample tables cover enough mechanical ground to make all sorts of aliens, even ones from popular franchises such as the Vulcans from Star Trek. The best part is that the book's contents are OGL save for typical product identity stuff of art and logos. The author even encourages folks to use his system to make their own aliens for their own works and share on social media. He also suggests using a non-random "pick your abilities" method for generation, which more or less works due to the restrictions on Experience and maximum number of Special Abilities.

I heartily recommend this product; it may be short, but it's very useful as both a player and GM tool.

This is simply one of the best alien generators out there. It's reminiscent of the ACKS player guide with its standard, balance class-creation system, and you can really use it to make a class for any game or style that you want. Plus it's only a buck. This is a fantastic resource that you have to purchase if you're a fan of the OSR rules.

I'm always on the lookout for more aliens for my Sci Fi games. If you are a fan of the newly released White Star RPG, then I'd say Hyperspace Messenger 03- Aliens is an Essential part of the game. It allows you to quickly and easily make up a plethora of aliens to use in your White Star games! For a mere $1.00 you can greatly expand your White Star Campaigns!

This is a totally fun supplement: it allows you to create random alien races! I really love the idea because randomness is a large part of old school gaming, at least for me. While the result may not a totally balanced new race, it’s definitely an amusing way to roll up a new alien race. Mr. Logan took some balancing issues into consideration, but it’s mostly a rough estimate. Nonetheless, if you have lots of special abilities, the XP requirements for leveling up are much higher and your max level is capped earlier. Tables to roll on include things like native conditions, mode of transport (i.e. slither or crawl), senses, reproduction (i.e. cellular division or self-fertilizing egg), special abilities (battle rage, depth sense etc.) and many more. There are examples of complete races included, so that’s a nice addon. Like the previous supplements, this is a visually clear looking product with pretty illustrations. It’s a great steal for USD $1.00 and a lot of fun. If you want some more diversity in your game, Issue 3 adds a nice template for new races. Additionally, you could use this framework as a base to create your own classes, too.

Regarding all supplements: While none of these products are really necessary to enjoy a White Star game, they add some fine value. The production quality is pretty high with a straight-forward layout, interesting ideas, and great illustrations. I’m pretty impressed with Hyperspace Messenger. Bill Logan clearly has a passion for this game. While writing this review, Issue 4 – Skills was released and I’m positive that it is also a good supplement.

Aliens is all about creating new “race as class” Alien types tailored for your campaign (or completely made at random.) The first chunk of the supplement is an easy step-by-step guide to cherry pick or randomly roll up features and characteristics of the new alien race. When it’s all wrapped up, you tally up XP value based on the results. This is what it takes to reach level 2 for the character, and each level after doubles that value. Easy peasy.

But he doesn’t stop there — He then presents 5 sample alien classes, each one with a full page write up and full colored artwork by the incredibly awesome Khairul Hisham.

Pros: A really fun, random, old-school style method of generating new and unique alien races to populate your game. Once again, good layout and the artwork rocks.

Quibbles: The overwhelming sense of guilt I have for only paying a buck for this.