It feels really good to get back into self-publishing

For the past several months, I've been hard at work on several ideas for future gaming sourcebooks. In addition to my bigger ideas and ones I've worked on for a while, I had a few smaller side projects here and there. Two of them were for systems I liked and read a lot but have yet to publish anything for...until today.

The Hacker

The first project was for White Star, a science fiction role-playing game heavily derived off of Swords & Wizardry. The classes within the core rulebook could emulate a number of space opera heroes, but felt sparse in the technical wizardry department. The gunslinger, the pilot, the robot, all mainstays of science fiction. But one other popular archetype was missing.

When setting out to make the class for White Star, I thought of the most common attributes from shows and film, and there was quite a lot to go around. Causing explosions, jacking into vehicles and robots to control them, uploading their consciousness into cyberspace, tracking down seemingly unreachable data and people...the versatility reminded me of spells, and at that point that's what I decided to go with.

A tech-based "spellcaster" who gains limited-use programs known as Exploits to pull off neat tricks useful in and out of combat. Everything else came simply after that.

New Fighter Maneuvers & Talents

My other project's been one I've been working on for a longer time. It dated back to my early experiences with 13th Age, a role-playing game made by two of the lead designers of 3rd and 4th Edition D&D. The game incorporated the best of both worlds in many cases, but there were still shortcomings here and there.

The Fighter class in particular felt limited in the options it had, but the concept of special abilities known as maneuvers learned as you leveled was a neat concept. So the idea of expanding upon that for new talents and abilities broadening the available fighting styles and some out of combat utility manifested in my next project. I used Path of War and Tome of Battle for inspiration, in that both present diverse martial styles for warriors, some of a near-supernatural nature.

Although I released both on the same day, the 13th Age one took longer due to less familiarity with the core system, resulting in more proofreading and stress-testing than usual to make sure things work. Right now I'm happy about finishing two projects after a year-long gap between them and my last. As for what the future may hold, I'm thinking of tackling adventures for old-school D&D.

Tabletop Gaming Review: Hyperspace Messenger 03: Aliens (White Star)

Cover Art by Tamás Baranya

As I'm sure a lot of you realize by now, I'm rather fond of White Star and the third party content it spawned. I notice a sort of new creativity among the sample books once wouldn't usually see in a fantasy D&D clone, where the genre conventions inspired by JRR Tolkien, Gary Gygax, are more tightly bound. For example, the White Star Companion has Novamachine as a playable alien species, which are Transformers in all but name.  Then you have Star Sailors by Okumarts, which are basically Magical Girls in Space. Galaxy War 1939 has you fighting Nazis on alien worlds, and Star Gods Help Us is a humorous collection of new alien races inspired by sci-fi pop culture of the last 30 years intended for players in the mood for a wacky gimmick PC.

This may be a controversial thing to say, but after so many OSR products which tread similar ground (goblin caves in dungeons, gritty low-magic low-fantasy, etc), White Star's third party feels refreshing in its diversity among both new and recognized publishers. I plan on reviewing quite a bit of them here, and figured I'd start with an alien PC generator by DwD Studios.

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 2,400 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 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.

New White Star Homebrew: Redayo Alien Class

Slitheroid Morph from Eclipse Phase Corebook

There's a White Star compatible book called Hyperspace Messenger 03: Aliens. It has an open-ended system designed for quick generation of new alien species, as well as turning them into classes.  The best part of it is that the system in question is Open Game Content, and the author encourages people to make their own creations to share with the community.  This lit my inspiration enough to try my hand at it as well.

The Redayo

Hailing from a forlorn solar system home to a single tiny, barren planet, the Redayo are an isolationist species with a large cultural fear against spending too much time far from home.  Centuries ago they engaged in a devastating war with the Void Knights, giving birth to a new warrior class known as the Urrli.  These starbound soldiers take on the unenviable of going out into the galaxy to safeguard their species from outside threats.  Almost all Redayo encountered away from their homeworld belong to this societal strata, giving the impression to wider galactic society that they're a warrior race.

Physical Traits: Redayo bear a serpentine figure with a pair of arms and opposable thumbs, ranging in total length from 7 to 9 feet and weighing on average 200 to 300 pounds. Their scale coloration tends toward dark, earthy hues such as deep red, brown, leafy green, and black, and their heads bear a pair of antennae which act as their primary olfactory organs.  Their eyes are a featureless yellow, with no irises.

It is not generally known how Redayo reproduce, although it's believed that they undergo parthenogenesis, a form of asexual reproduction where embryos develop without fertilization.  They also have longer lifespans than humans; most Urrli do not die of natural causes, but there's one in the galaxy who's said to have lived to the ripe old age of 135.

Weapon/Armor Restrictions: Redayo Urrli master a specific fighting style incorporating the use of bows, mono-swords, and staffs. They may only wear light armor and may not use shields.

In regards to bows, many Urrli buy specialized arrows incorporating modern weapons systems, such as ones with an explosive head or which generate an energy field capable of disabling most technological devices (see White Star Companion for Explosive, Ion, and Scrambler Arrows).

Movement: Redayo have a ground speed of 12.

Saving Throws: Redayo receive a +2 on saving throws against death or Meditation effects.

Senses: A Redayo's head-antennae allow them a keen sense of smell, and can identify and track people by scent alone.

Adrenaline Control: Redayo Urrli can use the Alter Reflexes Meditation once per day.

Hardy: Due to the harshness of their homeworld, Redayo only need half the normal food and water requirements of a human.

Sense Gifts and Meditations: Redayo Urrli can detect presence of someone able to use Gifts or Meditations within 30 ft. Must declare intent to detect.

Pounce: Redayo can leap up a number of feet equal to their Strength score, and forward a number of yards equal to their Strength score.

Level	XP	HD	BHB	ST
1st	2,000	1	+0	14
2nd	4,000	2	+1	13
3rd	8,000	3	+2	12
4th	16,000	3+1	+2	11
5th	32,000	4	+3	10
6th	64,000	5	+4	9

Non-Warrior Redayo? I figured that an alien race capable of detecting supernatural powers yet were more physically inclined than the typical "wise alien race" would make for a neat warrior concept of folk trained to fight Void Knights (and to an extension, Star Knights and Mystics as well).  Their power-sensing feature is more the result of training in their order than inborn, as is the specific combat style.

If you wish to play one of those rare Redayo who are out in the galaxy yet not part of their elite order of warriors, drop the Sense Gift and Meditations and bump up their Weapon Proficiency to use any weapons.  Then add a 7th level:

128,000 experience points, 6 hit dice, +4 BHB, and 8 Saving Throw.

Organizing a Playtest Group for my White Star Adventure

Scifi Jungle by Kaioshen of deviantart

I am pleased to announce that I finished writing the first draft of The Neutron Talisman, a White Star Compatible adventure.  I figured since my core group for various reasons can't commit to this, I can ask around interested communities and use my blog to shine the spotlight on my latest project.

This is the Looking for Group listing on Roll20.

The Neutron Talisman is an adventure suitable for 4 to 6 PCs of 1st to 3rd level.  The PCs are hired by a patron to see to the safe return of a research team who went missing in the ruins on an alien planet.  However, things are not as they seem as nefarious forces are intent on recovering the ruins' secrets for themselves.

It has a dungeon crawl format, but also city and wilderness hexcrawl part as well as post-dungeon encounters.

The game's over at Roll20, this Saturday March 5th at 6 PM EST. We'll be using voice chat.  Ideally I predict that the adventure length would take 1 long session or 2 average sessions.  I need at least 2 players; if we have 2 or 3 players we can have one or both play 2 PCs to meet the minimum qualifications.

As courtesy I'd like to ask ahead of time that when using voice chat to make sure your environs are not disruptively loud.  If you have a roommate who likes to curse out players on XBox Live, for example, that would be a problem.

If you're interested, leave a "looking to join" post in the linked section!

Thoughts & Questions about White Star

Official artwork for Phantasy Star I

As of a few weeks ago I desired to run/play in Shadows of the Demon Lord, Numenera, Eclipse Phase, and Dungeon World.  Now, White Star has grown to belong to this list of games.  My enthusiasm grew as I checked out the veritable assortment of third party material for it.  In a way it's like Pathfinder; it's an interesting enough game by itself, but the community support adds so many new ideas to go through for one's games.

All the same, I'd be eager to participate in or run such a game if I ever get more free time on my gaming schedule, but before then I have some questions and potential pitfalls I'd like to hear from those experienced with the system, and what if any house rules you used to address these features:

1. How specialized is the Pilot PC class?  Clearly all their signature features pertain to starship combat, but in a groundbound adventure would they feel useless or struggle to contribute?  I worry that the Pilot might be the sci-fi equivalent of a D&D Paladin, where the mold of the party needs to accomodate the PC in order to have fun, for not all adventuring parties are suitable to have a Lawful Good crusader.  A suggestion I heard was adapting the Pilot class' talents to apply to vehicles in general, such as hover-cars, mechas, and the like.

2. The Star Knight is very much modeled on the archetype of the Jedi, what with their signature weapon and supernatural abilities.  For that reason I imagine them to be a popular class, but there's a common problem in RPGs of melee-focused characters and weapons in a setting where guns are commonplace.

In the Star Wars RPGs Jedi made up for this by being able to deflect blaster shots, making them veritable foes without being sitting ducks.  However, the Star Knight Meditation to gain ranged weapon immunity (Protection from Missiles) is a 3rd level "spell," so it's not accessible right off the bat.  At low levels I feel that the Star Knight will be at a disadvantage unless they use a laser pistol as their main weapon, or by making laser weapons a rarity in the setting.

3. White Star's strongly modeled off the White Box ruleset, and as such inherits its legacies, including the lethality of low levels.  Starting 1st-level PCs are very frail with their 1 Hit Dice, and the damage values of modern armaments such as frag grenades and laser pistols (which have a Rate of Fire of 2) are very well capable of downing a character in one shot.

What would be the suggested level in starting out at a more "heroic" theme, where space opera protagonists are capable of holding their own against a squad of Stormtroopers/Klingons/faceless goons?  I was thinking that 3rd level would be a good buffer zone, where a party of 3 to 6 PCs have enough staying power to weather a storm of blaster fire even if they get some unlucky rolls.

4. Finally, is there anyone here planning on running a White Star game open to new members?  I'm afraid that for the moment I'm booked on the GMing side of things, but I'd love to try this system out for myself!  My preferred avenue is Roll20, although I'm not averse to Google Hangouts (I never used it before, but am open to learning).

A Comprehensive List of White Star Products

So back on last week's chat at Tenkar's Tavern, I inquired into the amount of White Star-compatible material floating around out there, and James Spahn estimated the current number to be around around 50.  This took me by surprise; I understand that the game's a very popular one, but until then my recollection only included about 8 or 10 products, given how ones such as Five Year Mission and Star Sailors stood out so strongly in my mind.

I took a look around OneBookshelf, and found that 50 isn't much of an exaggeration; 53 if we include the official Barrel Rider Games books.  There's a lot of material out there for the game, but as there's no "White Star" tag it's harder to find them except under related purchases.  Still, I combed through the catalog to find some books, and snagged a couple on the way.  Below is a list of compatible products I found so far on OneBookShelf, along with hyperlinks.

For the purposes of this list I'm not including OSR sourcebooks with a sci-fi flair in general, but rather ones who specifically call themselves out as being compatible with the White Star RPG. I'm continually updating this page as more releases come out, so check back here every month or so to see if anything new hit the digital shelves.

Barrel Rider Games:

Brimling: Halflings in Space!

Combat Medic: a support-focused healer class.

Uttin: new alien techno-scavenger class.

White Star: White Box Science Fiction Roleplaying [Swords & Wizardry]: the one that started it all.

White Star Companion [Swords & Wizardry]: an expansion book for the core game.

Blue Max Studios:

Ships of the Galaxy: the Monarch Courier: new maps, adventure seeds, and a starship.

Species Spotlight: Abhorrans: three alternative viewpoints for a new antagonistic alien race.

Species Spotlight: Myrmidoni: new warlike alien race.

Technical Readout: Fighters (White Star Compatible): twelve new starfighter ships.

Creation's Edge Games:

Some Miner Trouble: a mini-adventure set around exploring an asteroid mine.

W1: Peril at the Pod Auction- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around sealed dangerous pods for sale.

W2: Twelve Easy Parsecs- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around a company looking for pilots to test their experimental new starship.

W3; Revolt at the Spire- A Sci-Fi RPG Mini-Adventure: a mini-adventure set around delivering a priceless instrument to a resort world.

D20PFSRD:

Event Horizon- A White Star Adventure: a lowl-level horror-themed adventure.

DIY RPG Productions:

The Starrunner Kit: a Sci-Fi Space Toolkit: rules supplement full of new classes, equipment, mechs, adventure generation.

DM Studios:

Space Cede: adventure where the PCs are helping a prison transport, and a new Officer class.

Star Temple of Saturgalia: mini-adventure centered around an abandoned Star Knight temple.

DwD Studios:

Hyperspace Messenger 01-Stunners: Rules for nonlethal combat.

Hyperspace Messenger 02-Robots: New robot NPCs and 'creatures.'

Hyperspace Messenger 03-Aliens: New alien generation via die-based tables.

Hyperspace Messenger 04-Skills: Alternate rule for adding a skill system into White Star.

Hyperspace Messenger 05-Vehicles: 15 new vehicles, rules for haggling and buying/selling cargo.

Hyperspace Messenger 06-Cyberware: New rules and equipment for cybernetic implants.

Hyperspace Messenger Compendium: An 80 page softcover book of the previous 6 products plus star systems.

DYS Games:

Between Star & Void: Sourcebook expansion for Star Knights and Void Knights.

Psionics: A new class and psionics system for Swords & Wizardry and White Star.

Psionics II: Warriors of the Mind: Further expansion on psionics with new classes, alien races, and Wild Talents.

Relics of the Akashics: new equipment and material based on an ancient star-spanning empire.

Tools of the Worldbuilders: New campaign and world-building centric rules for White Star.

Genius Loci Games:

Amazons of Valsuum: a planetary romance Swords & Sandal adventure and setting

Gods of Air & Water: Introduction for a pulp-flavored sci-fi setting and adventure.

InfiniBadger Press:

The Graveyard at Lus: a comprehensive sourcebook on exploring and generating ship graveyards, along with new alien races, technology, and hexmaps.

The Graveyard at Lus Expansion 1: a cross-reference for starships and a new alien race.

The White Star Catalog: a free promotional publication highlighting White Star-compatible books.

Ivanhoe Unbound:

Five Year Mission: a sourcebook heavily inspired by the Star Trek universe.

The Rocker: a galactic musical celebrity class.

Leviathan Publishing:

Drongo: Planet of Peril: a campaign setting planet.

Planetary Transmission Issue #1: fanzine full of new content for White Star.

Planetary Transmission Issue #2: fanzine full of new content for White Star.

Ships of Shade Space: New ship sourcebook.

Magic Pig Media:

Have Death Ray, Will Travel: a retro-future setting inspired by pulp comics and early-20th century sci-fi.

Outer Space Raiders: the Norni: nomadic alien racial classes for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders: Space Amazons: warrior-alien racial classes for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders: Zeloxians: bureaucracy-obsessed alien racial classes and equipment for White Star.

Outer Space Raiders Vol. 1: Classes: Six new classes.

Outer Space Raiders Vol. 2: Aliens, Creatures, & Foes: new enemies and monsters.

Stark Space: a cyberpunk-themed sourcebook.

Middle Kingdoms Adventure & Trading Co:

Heart of Darkness: a dungeon crawl taking place in an abandoned starship.

Mystic Bull Games:

Galaxy War 1939- Legacy of the Oros: a WWII-themed science fiction adventure.

Northern Edge Publishing:

High Tech Vehicles: 14 new vehicles and vehicle-centric weapons and equipment.

Okumarts Games:

Star Sailors: the Magical Girl Supplement for White Star RPG: A magical girl-themed class.

The Other Side Publishing:

Sisters of the Aquarian Order: class sourcebook for an order of women space mystics.

Poor Referee's Press

The Space Monkey Player Character: a humorous class where you play as an intelligence simian.

Quasar Knight Enterprises:

Old School Scifi: the Hacker Class: a Vancian-themed computer genius class with new equipment and sample "skill" systems.

Sleeping Griffon Productions:

Distress Signal Tundara- A SciFi Extended Encounter: mini-adventure taking place in a dangerous cargo ship.

Mail Call- A SciFi Extended Encounter: a mini-adventure centered around the PCs part of a courier service gone wrong.

Small Niche Games:

Star Gods Help Us: a humor-themed sourcebook full of new alien races.

WBO04: Stuck on Etholk: a low-level adventure where the PCs are stranded on a dangerous planet.

WBO05: True Night Life: a low-level adventure centered around a robot demolition derby at a nightclub.

WSS02: Gray Nebula: Crewmen, Con-Men, and Lawmen: 3 new classes.

Stellagama Publishing:

Cheating Death: new rules for dodging death, from cybernetic conversion and biological reconstruction.

Scum & Villainy: a criminal-centric sourcebook.

Zeta and Tuko: Two new playable alien classes, along with new equipment and psionics rules.

Thunderegg Productions:

Assimilant Menace! a sourcebook expanding on the Assimilant aliens from the White Star rulebook.

Galactic Ship Ops: a more in-depth system for creating and playing with starships.

OSR Enemy & Mission Generator: a free one-page supplement for creating adventure material.

OSR Sci-Fi GM Screen: an easily accessible collection of printer-friendly image covers and tables.

Interesting 3rd Party Finds: the Expendable Class [Five Year Mission]

So recently I got interested in White Star, a science fiction retro-clone based off of 1974 version of Dungeons & Dragons.  It's been a popular game for nearly a year now in the OSR, and spawned a lot of compatible third party support.  At a whim I snagged up several of them, one of which is Five Year Mission, deriving heavy influence from you guessed it, Star Trek.

Many of the new classes are geared towards archetypes from the show, but the one which stands out most to me is the Expendables class.  You might find it an odd choice to have red shirts as a playable option when you have ones geared towards specialized important roles such as pilot, engineer, guerilla, and so forth.  But the interesting thing about Expendables is that the player who chooses this class controls multiple characters.

Basically, at any one time there are two Expendables in play, with the rest being controlled by the GM and assumed to be off-duty or awaiting orders back at home base.  They all share the same experience points, hit point totals, and game stats, although conditions "in the field" like lost equipment and damage is tracked separately.  When an Expendable dies or is permanently disabled, another one comes into play at the earliest opportunity which makes sense for the plot.  However, PC "death" is still possible if too many die in a short amount of time as they run out of troops.

Beyond just being easily replaceable, Expendables can buy equipment at a 2 for 1 rate at character creation and are capable of taking a blow for others by interposing themselves between an ally and impending attack as a reaction to said attack.

They remind me a lot about the concept for Hirelings, except that they're directly PC-controlled and thus don't have things like morale checks to worry about.  I like the idea, although I get the feeling it would be a hard sale to many players, especially given the fact that it may be a less attractive option than picking an individual named character with the special abilities of other classes.  And in games which have a heavy amount of role-playing and character development (a likelier scenario as PCs climb the levels), it may feel odd to not have a single person to control in the event especially when said Expendables may very well die unceremoniously.  Still, you don't have to worry as much about character death, and having 2 PCs at once can be a viable option at low levels when things are overall deadly regardless of character class.