A Role Playing Games Blog
Gumshoe System
The Cold War and the Cthulhu Mythos
12August 29, 2011
In December 2008 I first read about Charles Stross’ short story “A Colder War”. Imagine an alternative timeline where the cold war ends in 1984 because the Soviets mistake a joke made by then-president Ronald Reagan for a declaration of war. But in addition to the nuclear arsenal, a hidden supernatural one is used. In “A Colder War” the Great Cthulhu himself has been weaponized by the Soviets and the Iran government tries to summon Yog-Sothoth into our world. The more I think about it, the more I believe a campaign inspired by that short story could be a great project for the upcoming months.
Especially in autumn or winter I love to run horror games and what could be more blood-freezing than combining H.P. Lovecraft’s work with the cold war? I think I’ll pitch the idea to my players and if they show some interest, I’ll start working on that project as soon as I have enough free time.
Ashen Stars!
3August 25, 2011
Today when I came home from work I found my copy of Ashen Stars in my mailbox! Finally! I have been waiting for this day for a long time. I think I preordered the “Stellar Nursery Preorder Edition” in May and the wait was definitely worth it. Not only did I get an early preview of the rules, but my copy is signed by Robin D. Laws himself and I am even mentioned in the credits! Check out the photos I made.
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A happy gamer! |
Signed by the man himself! |
This is definitely a good-looking book |
As soon as I had some time to give the book a proper read, I’ll post a review here on Stargazer’s World. But since I am currently busy, busy, busy, this may take a while. But you can trust me when I tell you that Ashen Stars is well worth every penny! If you like the GUMSHOE system and Science Fiction, you’ll love this game!
From Weird West to Barbarians of the Future
3August 17, 2011
Today I want to share a couple of things I stumbled upon during the last days.
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Tomb of the Overfiend
Weird West is definitely one of coolest old-school games ever conceived. It’s extremely rules-light, but contains a lot of weird west goodness. Recently Stuart Robertson, creator of that fine game, released a free one-page adventure based on an excellent map by Matt Jackson. And even if you’re not into Weird West you can easily use it for other old-school games as well. - Ashen Stars Theme Music
James Semple who has done several soundtracks for Gumshoe games in the past, has composed a theme music for Robin D. Laws latest game, Ashen Stars. I really hope this is the first sign of a full Ashen Stars soundtrack to come. You can listen to the rather short theme tune here. -
Barbarians of the Future
You probably might already have heard about Barbarians of Lemuria, Simon Washbourne’s Sword & Sorcery RPG. While I haven’t tried the game yet, it’s among the games I have to give a try at least once. Some people actually call it one of the best RPGs of the genre. Obviously the system used in BoL can also be easily be used in other genres. There’s Jabberwocky Productions’ post-apocalyptic setting-expansion Barbarians of the Aftermath for example.
A while back rpg.net forum member Maxwell Luther created a free PDF supplement for BoA that allows players and the GM to experience adventures in the grim-dark future of the Warhammer 40,000 universe (with the serial numbers filed off). If you are interested in both BoA and the WH40K universe, you should definitely give it a look. You can download the 42-paged PDF here. -
Expedition RPG
Fellow RPG blogger Dennis N. Santana has recently released an early playtest edition of his Expedition RPG. I haven’t had time to give it a closer look, but according to Shaun Welch’s playtest reports (part one & part two), he and his players not only had fun with the fast character creation system that allows truly unique character concepts, but also very much enjoyed the combat rules. From what I’ve seen Expedition contains a lot of interesting ideas that set the game apart from the majority of fantasy games. If you’re looking for something new, why don’t you give it a try. It’s free and obviously pretty polished for a game still in its alpha stage.
Mass Effect and Ashen Stars – Could this work?
7June 1, 2011
From time to time I get the urge to run a SF campaign using the setting presented in the Mass Effect series of computer/video games. The game series has been critically been praised for it’s graphics, gameplay and story, but also for the extremely deep and detailed background. The ingame Codex contains a lot of information about known space, alien species, technology, and history.
I found it especially amazing that the creators of this game series also included a lot of background information on topics that don’t even have any impact on the games story. But that is what makes the Mass Effect setting so believable and deep.
In addition to that the game cleverly uses familiar science fiction tropes that help players to get into the story quickly without the need of long explanations. But instead of just presenting us with a overly clichéd universe, there are a lot of interesting twists that keep things fresh. I think you can tell that I love these games.
Recently I preordered Ashen Stars, the latest Gumshoe-powered roleplaying game written by Robin D. Laws. Like Mass Effect it’s a SF (or rather Space Opera) game that makes use of classic Space Opera tropes but cleverly combines them with more modern elements like cyberware and a more grim and gritty outlook.
The Gumshoe system was designed to support investigative campaigns and is surprisingly versatile. When I first read about a Gumshoe SF game I was wondering how an investigative Space Opera campaign could work. But it’s actually pretty easy. Just have a look at a random Star Trek episode: something mysterious is going on, the crew investigates, gets clues, there’s some combat or plot twist, the clues are put together and the mystery gets solved, end credits.
Pre-pre order Ashen Stars now and get a lot of cool stuff at release!
2May 4, 2011
I have no idea how I could have missed that, but quite a while back, Pelgrane Press opened the Ashen Stars pre-pre order phase. You’re probably asking yourself now what Ashen Stars and a pre-pre order phase are. Let me try to explain:
Ashen Stars is the latest game powered by Robin D. Laws’ GUMSHOE system. Ashen Stars is a gritty space opera game where the PCs are freelance law enforcers called lasers, who operate in a remote sector of space called the Bleed. Ashen Stars not only comes with a complete campaign setting, but also expands the GUMSHOE system with rules for alien species, space combat, cybernetic and viroware enhancements, to just name a few additions.
Review: Eternal Lies Suite
2April 15, 2011
I love using music in roleplaying games since my first GM used the “Nightmare on Elm Street” soundtrack in a CHILL game he was running. Before that we had no background music but I can remember no session without it after that. Music can touch you at a deeper level than the spoken word can and it’s great to convey emotions.
I am also a big fan of the GUMSHOE system. Robin D. Laws is one of my favorite game designers and in my opinion GUMSHOE is the perfect system for investigative campaigns of all kinds. So when I read that James Semple had created music for both Trail of Cthulhu and Esoterrorists I had to buy it immediately. Both Dissonance for Esoterrorists and Four Shadows for Trail are great soundtracks albeit a bit short.
But James Semple, his team (Marie-Anne Fischer, Mike Torr, and Yaiza Varona) and Pelgrane Press didn’t stop there. Recently they released the Eternal Lies Suite as soundtrack for the Eternal Lies campaign for Trail of Cthulhu. I haven’t had the chance to look at said campaign but I had to buy the soundtrack as soon as it became available at the Pelgrane Press online shop.
The soundtrack consists of 27 tracks of orchestrated music. Some of the tracks feature additional sound samples like wind, breathing, etc. but this never distracts from the beautiful music. I own a couple of soundtracks by Midnight Syndicate where the samples actually are quite distracting especially when used as background music. But this is not the case here.
The majority of the tracks are orchestral pieces like you would expect from a horror movie soundtrack. Especially the longer pieces work great as background music for any horror roleplaying game. The last few tracks on the soundtrack are obviously meant for special situations like chases, dangerous situations, and are aptly named "Run!”, “Danger”, “Tension” etc. But I think you could still use those in the background as well.
The soundtrack is available as download as well as on CD and is highly recommended not only for Trail but for any period horror game. According to the official product description the soundtrack was created in a way that you can loop it unobtrusively and the action tracks can be shuffled randomly but still blend seamlessly. I have to admit I haven’t tried that yet, but I will surely do so when I run my next horror game.
You can listen to a sample of the soundtrack here:
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You can buy the Eternal Lies Suite as download or CD at the Pelgrane Press Store which sets you back $14.95 or $18.95 respectively. Alternatively the download version is available at DriveThruRPG as well.
Review: The Book of Unremitting Horror
1January 25, 2011
As a GM I love the horror genre. I think I have some talent for setting up a creepy atmosphere on the gaming table and I love confronting my players with unsettling mysteries. Luckily my players agree. My favorite sub genre as a player and GM is definitely investigative horror. Back in the day we played a lot of Call of Cthulhu and some Chill. Today my favorite horror games are powered by the GUMSHOE system created by Robin Laws who is one of my favorite game designers.
The Book of Unremitting Horror is a sourcebook for two GUMSHOE games by Pelgrane Press: The Esoterrorists and Fear Itself. I have to admit I haven’t read Fear Itself yet, but from what I understand both games are set into the same game universe. In this alternate version of our world, a group of loosely affiliated cultists try to rend the fabrics of our reality. In The Esoterrorists the players are skilled investigators, members of the Ordo Veritatis who investigate strange events and enforce the unwritten laws of civilization against the Esoterrorists while in Fear Itself the players are pretty much Average Joes.
TBoUH is a 221-paged softcover book which you can get directly from Pelgrane Press, your favorite game store or from DriveThruRPG. By the way, since Pelgrane Press is part of the Bits & Mortar initiative, you always get a free PDF copy of the book with the purchase of the softcover book!
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