White Star RPG is now available in print, in softcover and hardcover. Softcover is $14.99, and hardcover is $19.99. If you’ve purchased the PDF, you should receive an e-mail from Barrel Rider Games for a discount on the print version.
I’ve just ordered two copies for my own table. Now to start work on a gonzo science-fantasy mash-up of White Star, S&W White Box and Ruins & Ronin (another White Box based RPG).
Cheers!
I recently picked up a PDF version of a new White Star ‘zine called Planetary Transmission (PDF available here), by Leviathan Publishing. Included are a couple of new classes (the Star Seer and Star Pilot), a new alien threat (The Dreg), a couple of new starships, a light-weight skill system, options for enhancing armor (rocket packs and what-not), and a few additional optional rules and random tables. Oh, and paper minis to boot!
All-in-all Planetary Transmission packs in quite a bit of content for $3, though the Star Seer class appears to be missing the class advancement chart (you could probably just substitute the Star Knight chart from the White Star rules). Despite that little glitch, I’m looking forward to Issue 2. Cheers.
Reports from the remote fringes of the Apocalypse Rim indicate the sudden appearance of a long-lost scientific research space station – the ISS Copernicus. The Copernicus orbited a star thousands of light years distant from the Apocalypse Rim, along the receding borders of the Old Empire. Little is known of the station’s scientific operations, but one day it suddenly broadcast an Omega code and then just vanished.
Scavengers have been quick to board and explore the Copernicus. Reports indicate a trove of valuable salvage, much of which could not have possibly originated on the station. There are clear indications that the station has been hopping around the universe, possibly even to other dimensions or planes of existence.
A few scavengers even claim the internal layout of the station is, well, impossible. Some levels are bigger on the inside, if that can be believed. Apparently, other levels have been physically altered somehow, with at least one wild-eye account of a level comprised of a living, biological hull.
Some salvage teams have also reported the existence of survivors, most of them hostile. Most are impossibly native to the station; it appears that in its haphazard journey across creation, the Copernicus has picked up a few stragglers and stowaways.
These “survivors” are the primary factor behind the extraordinarily high death rates on the station. It is by now well known that casualty rates aboard the Copernicus are 250% higher than standard salvage operations. Despite the danger, the rumors of the vast treasure hoard stowed aboard the station continue attract adventurers from all across the Rim.
Recognizing a business opportunity when they see one, the Rim Syndicate towed an old space barge to close proximity with the decrepit station. They’ve converted the barge into a base of operations, providing vital logistics for salvage teams, and taking first crack at the alien treasures they recover. The Syndicate has christened the barge Opportunity.
Magic Pig Media has released a second Outer Space Raiders supplement for the White Star RPG, this one detailing 20 alien threats. Most of these monsters are self-described as “tongue-in-cheek,” though I like to think of them more as pulpy/campy/gonzo science fiction monsters, like something out of a cheesy 1960’s sci-fi movie.
A sampling of monsters include: Radioactive Lust Vampires (complete with shag-carpeted starships); Space Sharks (though I can totally picture a party domesticating Space Sharks and riding them around the galaxy); Quantum Ooze (people trapped in the ooze are forgotten by everyone else, at least until they manage to escape, which could create some fun gameplay situations); and Teuthids, which appear to be an outer space version of Mind Flayers.
Volume 2 also includes ship-sized space monsters, such as the Star Kraken, a few new NPC starships used by the monsters listed within, and some pretty cool tables to generate random Bug Eyed Monsters.
Generally, I think Volume 2 isn’t quite as useful as the new classes found in Volume 1. If you’re running a more serious “Star Warsy” or “Star Treky” campaign, you probably wouldn’t find much of use here. But if you’re running an epic, all-in gonzo science fiction game, there’s a lot to love in Outer Space Raiders, Volume 2.
My review of Outer Space Raiders: Volume 1.
RPGs are relatively low-tech means to propel an explosive warhead a short distance. These simple, mass produced weapons can be found on thousands of worlds, in the hands of militias, pirates and criminal gangs. Though primitive, they are still highly effective weapons, especially when employed en masse. A launcher may fire a single rocket, which takes a full combat round to reload.
Explosive rockets inflict 3d6+2 damage in a 20 foot radius. Instead of making a standard attack roll, each creature caught inside the blast radius makes a saving throw; if successful, they only take 1/2 damage. Note that it’s possible other types of rockets are available, as well.
Artwork by Clinton Felker
Wanted: The Space Tyrant
The Space Tyrant is wanted by the Alliance of Free Worlds for unprovoked aggression, war crimes and genocide. The Tyrant must be returned to Bandor Prime alive, so that he may stand trial for his crimes against the galaxy.
The Space Tyrant (10 HD Void Knight)
The Space Tyrant is equipped with Powered Armor (heavy armor, +4 melee damage, -3 movement), Personal Shield (absorbs 50 points of damage from laser weapons), Star Sword +3 (w/ Gem for additional +1 to-hit), sub-skin armor (-2[+2] AC), cybernetic legs (+3 movement), cybernetic eyes (see in darkness 60 feet), and cybernetic lungs (6 hours of oxygen, filter out poison gas).
Prepared Meditations:
Note: The Space Tyrant is always attended by dozens, if not hundreds, of servants, bodyguards and flunkies. The 105th Space Legion (aka “The Tyrant’s Fists”) are always at hand.
Dinosaurs vs. Aliens
Deep within the Sargasso Void, along the Apocalypse Rim, lies a primordial world of dinosaurs, mega fauna, and a thousand millennia of alien shipwrecks and castaways. Officially, this world has no name, but the locals call it Brazsauria.
Star Knights battling atop a Neo T-Rex
Brazsauria consists of a single, massive continent surrounded by a globe-encompassing ocean, and a smattering of small, isolated islands. Mega-beasts rule the continent of Brazsauria, though the descendants of those who have crashed here over the many centuries have established some semblance of civilization.
Raiding party marching out of The Graveyard Wastes.
Some inhabitants live in the derelict wrecks of ancient starships, relying on their alloy hulls to protect them from the ravaging beasts outside. Others moved into ancient stone cities, built vast ages ago by a long extinct race. But all have learned to harness both beast and technology to survive. Scavenging and raiding are an aspect of daily life on Brazsauria.
A battle rages over salvage rights for a particularly rich space wreck.
The continent of Brazsauria consists of a number of hostile regions: the Lava Sea, the Graveyard Wastes, the Hellspire Peaks and, simply, the Jungle, are just a few regions, and amongst the most dangerous of them. But these regions are also filled with precious minerals and, more importantly for survival, ancient space wrecks. Wrecks brimming with salvageable, lifesaving technology.
The Sargasso Void stretches the supplies of any starship to their limit; many ships exhaust their fuel and simply become stranded in the void. And even should a ship make it to Brazsauria, all to often they lack sufficient fuel for the return trip. Every so often, some crazy spacer braves the Sargasso Void; very few have made it back to civilized space.
Telescoping staves are made of an advanced light-weight alloy, normally about the size of a flashlight, and easily stowed in a belt holster. However, with the press of a button they extend to one of three lengths: a one-handed baton sized weapon, a two-handed staff or a 10 foot utility pole. The 10′ pole variant is too unwieldy to use as a weapon, but both the baton and the staff inflict 1d6+1 damage.
This is a simple house rule to give firearms a bit more differentiation. These rules assume that “firearms” in White Star represent modern or futuristic ballistic weapons.
Firearms may be fired in one of two modes: single fire or rapid fire. A single fire attack makes a standard d20 attack roll against a single target. A rapid fire attack is more of a “spray-n-pray” approach: if you fire enough bullets something should stick.
For each round fired in rapid fire, roll a d10: if the result is a 1, that round hit the intended target, regardless of the target’s actual AC. Firearms can fire a maximum of 30 rounds in a rapid fire attack, and these may be spread between adjacent targets as desired; roll separately for each target.
As a further optional rule, you may want to rule that Mercenaries lose the Combat Machine class ability, and instead gain the Mow ‘Em Down class ability, which allows Mercenaries to roll d6’s for rapid fire, instead of d10’s. This would make Mercenaries more ranged combat oriented, while typical Fighters would be more melee oriented.
However, there are important implications for adopting such rules. For one, you probably don’t want to use rapid fire attacks against a low-level party; they’d be wiped out pretty quick. The flip side of that, of course, is that with firearms, even low-level enemies can be deadly threats to high-level PCs.
Also, depending on the availability of ammunition, firearms could quickly out-class laser weapons, so that is another consideration. And remember that ammo is bulky; the party should only be able to carry so many bullets!
bogdan-mrk.deviantart.com-
“The Colonel” is wanted by the Space Tyrant for insubordination and mutiny. St. Claire, under contract to the Tyrant, refused an order to murder non-combatants at a research colony on a remote world.
Colonel Marguile St. Claire (9th-level Cybernetic Mercenary)
STR 8, INT 12, WIS 7, CON 14, DEX 13, CHA 11
HD: 9, HP: 28, AC: 0 [19], ST: 6, BHB: +6
Cybernetics:
Marguile’s Marauders: Treat as soldiers from the White Star rule book.
Tales from the White Star Cantina 