More inappropriate characters!

Tonight is our second episode of the Inappropriate Characters RPG talk show.  Please subscribe to our channel and get notified when there's something new to watch!

Also, here's our Patreon account.  It'll help us keep the good times rolling!

One of the topics I'll be discussing tonight is RPG kickstarters.  Specifically, tips to succeed at running your own.  As it happens, I launched my 15th KS earlier today.

Check out Alien Ass, Hydrogen Gas, and Cosmic Ass... No One Warps For Free!

If you have questions about running an RPG kickstarter, let me know what they are so I can answer them on the show.

VS

Banned on Amazon?

Over 48 hours ago, I received an email from some shadowy division of Amazon telling me that Battle Star: Trek Wars was being temporarily suspended (suppressed, they call it) because of confusing or misleading keywords.

When setting up the title for Amazon's print-on-demand service, CreateSpace, I was asked to put in keywords to help customers find my product in searches.  Apparently, whatever I used (we can all guess, I'm sure) went too far.

But instead of merely removing my keywords or getting rid of them for Battle Star: Trek Wars altogether, they took the book off their virtual shelves.  That seems like overkill.  Could there be another motive?

I was told in that email that it would take 24 hours for them to review the matter after I sent in new keywords (which I immediately did).  As I mentioned, more than 48 hours have passed.  I've called CreateSpace's help # twice, but they could do little.  Apparently this Amazon division cannot be directly contacted, they sit in judgement beyond our universe, maneuvering in dark and secret ways...

Since I've never encountered this problem before, all I can do is wait and hope with tentacles crossed.

In the meantime, I'm putting Battle Star: Trek Wars on sale over at DriveThruRPG.  Get it here at 30% off until it's back on Amazon... whenever the fuck that might be.

Thanks,

VS

733 downloads of Alpha Blue

Thanks to Sean Patrick Fannon, Tenkar's Tavern (use his affiliate links - the dwarven ale must flow), and many others, Alpha Blue was downloaded a total of 733 times this month... and it's only the 8th!

That's awesome, and I greatly appreciate the support.  Next, I'd love to see people get really into it - blogging about the game, writing reviews and actual play reports.  Kick the transparent aluminum hover-tires and see what happens...

Perhaps this will open the door to new Alpha Blue games (face-to-face and on Roll20; campaigns and one-shots). More players means more opportunities for sleazy space opera fun. 

Mix and match!  You can always make your Metamorphosis Alpha, Traveller, White Star, Stars Without Number, Star Trek, and Star Wars RPG silly, sleazy, and R-rated.

Want to see the support material for Alpha Blue?  Check the sidebar over on the right - adventures, optional rules, random tables, campaign settings, maps, and even a funky scifi board game (Q'uay-Q'uar).

And possibly a brand new adventure coming in June.  Wait and see...

VS

Girls Gone Rogue reviewed and on sale

Alpha Blue was an experiment in bad taste.  I wanted to create something for a sub-genre of sci-fi that gets very little attention... the kind of sleazy, raunchy, ridiculous, gonzo, porn parody kind of sci-fi that only existed on late night pay-cable back in the 80's.

Girls Gone Rogue was the follow-up supplement.  It's one part what I wanted in an Alpha Blue sourcebook, one part what I thought Alpha Blue GMs, players, and fans wanted, and one part middle finger to all the uptight, repressed, censorship-happy motherfuckers out in RPG land who would cast me into the pit of darkness and fire for daring to create such sordid filth.

While I could have gone even farther with GGR, I'm happy with the level of juvenile naughtiness and mad-cap space panty raid type shenanigans I achieved.

Without further ado, +Kasimir Urbanski (The RPGpundit) himself recently reviewed GGR.  And he even got some flack for it.

To celebrate, I've drastically reduced the PDF price of Girls Gone Rogue.  Thanks for everyone's support!

VS

Alien Hieroglyphs - Alpha Blue actual play report

Yesterday was probably the last face-to-face roleplaying I'll get to have until sometime in 2017.  Impending twins and all that.  So, I wanted to go out with a bang.  And we did.

The 4 hour game turned into a 2 hour game because of pizza, off-topic discussions, and character creation.  Since there was only 2 players, we went all-out, despite the one-shot nature of this particular game.  Below are a couple videos that capture the character creation experience that is Alpha Blue...

Steve's character, Azaxyr, was an alien pilot who needed an atmosphere suit to survive (non-oxygen breather).  He was a dog-sized amphibian with a strange way of speaking, porcupine quills, hemophilia, and a Necrophilia sexual fetish.  Oh yeah, he also had the power (more like a defect in the far future) of disabling any electronic device he came within a few inches of.

Patrick's character was a human pilot and bounty hunter named Gebek wielding a neon-frisbee.  It's like a laser-frisbee, except neon doesn't cauterize the wounds, so you keep bleeding.

Since I don't have a chat-log that I can just look back at and retype here, I'm going to bullet-point the crap out of this actual play report.

• The space adventurers were traveling to Alpha Blue when intercepted by a Federation patrol ship who wanted them to submit to a random checkpoint search and seizure.  "Fuck that," was the PC's response, naturally.
• It took awhile to destroy the Federation ship.  Waterbeds were punctured on both sides of the conflict.  We decided that once you take your waterbed off-world, the warranty is invalidated, and that artificial gravity is the leading cause of waterbed death.
• Once everyone was dead, the PCs went aboard and found a criminal in a similar survival suit to Azaxyr.  This convict's name was Ettis, a human-sized being made of pure energy who considers the spilling of blood to be a sign of good fortune.
  
• The reason they were going to Alpha Blue in the first place was a new Ancient Egypt exhibit in the space station's museum - yeah, sex and drugs on Alpha Blue, but there's culture, too.  Somewhere in this collection of Egyptology junk was a sarcophagus which contained hieroglyphs.  When deciphered, the hieroglyphs gave coordinates to a stable wormhole (Patrick's idea).
• They got to Alpha Blue and Azaxyr disabled the space station's automated welcome wagon with a touch.  This is where Azaxyr said, "I just want to watch the world burn... one small display screen at a time."  The spacers continued on towards the Egyptian exhibit.
• That led them to the red hologram district where Gebek got knifed and the pair of them were propositioned by a hooker.  No takers, as they had a mission to fulfill.
• The PCs entered a cross-section of the space station that was both red hologram district and party/entertainment.  So, there was wall-to-wall sex, drugs, alcohol, and weirdness going on. 
• They both smoked some pink crystals and enjoyed the benefits, as well as, succumbing to the dark side of alien narcotics.  
• While Gebek was out of commission and propped up at a booth a la Weekend at Bernie's, watching a stripper with 5 boobs, Azaxyr took a job - kill 3 Federation officers walking around this section of Alpha Blue.
• Once Gebek woke up, there was a shoot-out.  Azaxyr died in the laser fight.  Ettis walked up behind the toughest Federation officer and blasted him in the back of the head.  
• Luckily, Alpha Blue has one of the best medical care facilities in the galaxy.  Although, Azaxyr didn't have space health insurance, so it cost him 1,400 credits to get a new pancreas, spleen, and right arm.  I finally got to roll on the spare parts random table in the Alpha Blue book. Yay!  
• Not only were pictures of the sarcophagus taken, but a space mummy was destroyed, and the entire sarcophagus was stolen by the PCs. 

I wanted to play my CD of Heavy Metal (yeah, I still use CDs - when I can find them - I'm old) but lost it somewhere.  Patrick used his phone to play the entire album.  But the songs kept getting interrupted by Red Lobster ads.  So, I told them that Space Lobster ads were coming over the "air waves" of the PC's starship... even though there isn't a Space Lobster within light years of here!

Anyways, it was a fun game.  And the last for awhile.  But I'll still run a few one-hour games via Roll20, so at least I've got that to look forward to.

BTW, Thilo reviewed Girls Gone Rogue on his Endzeitgeist website here.

Thanks for reading,

VS

p.s.  Almost forgot!  I'm still promoting my Trinity of Awesome kickstarter.  Check it out, and tell your friends.  ;)

FORCE DOCK - Alpha Blue actual play report

Another week, another Alpha Blue game on Roll20.

I both like and dislike (love and hate are too strong of words for the platform) Roll20.  It's easy, frustrating, counter-intuitive, and a lot of fun simultaneously.

Case in point: for some reason Roll20 decided to automatically write in big, bold letters, "2 Successes" when a player had rolled a 1 and 4.  That's never happened before, so perhaps one of us clicked a box or it's a new setting Roll20 is trying out.  Since it was dead wrong (1 on its own would be a crit fail and 4 is a partial success), I found it distracting.

Anyways, I'm here to report the action!

Two new players - Dave and Hawk.  Neither had played Alpha Blue before.

Dave wanted his character to be a spacer version of the Monster Magnet frontman, Dave Wyndorf.  He's an ice pirate and we never settled on a name (that I can see from the chat log), so I'll just call his character Space Lord.

Hawk wanted something weird (I usually have 2 players each time I run one of these and 50% of the party invariably wants to make an unusual character.  An alien is the weirdest, so we rolled some dice and came up with a human-sized being made of pure energy with pineapple texture on his head.  For his alienism quirks - he says random, personal things at inappropriate times and never lies or obscures the truth in order to protect himself.  For a career, he rolled pilot.  We ended up calling his character Piney.

That's as far as character creation went since we only had an hour to game.  Let's get to it...

VS:  You stole a fast starship form a crime lord you barely saw at last night's disco.  The ship came with a couple droids that are currently wandering around near the cockpit area.  The droids are the only thing of value on this ship.

Space Lord:  We need guns and mercs now.  My region of the galaxy is arid, and I have a more industrialized approach to piracy.  Are we on the station or in deep space?

VS:  You're flying through space, but you could turn around and head back for Alpha Blue.

Piney:  What do you think, Space Lord?  Should we try to pirate some ice or go back to the space station for supplies?

Space Lord:  Well, we did just steal this starship from the docks there, I presume.  I don't really remember the last couple days after I ate that Sarlacc nugget.  Probably should look at flipping this thing for a freighter... and find some lizard mercs.

Piney:  That sounds like a plan.  You know, my hemorrhoids are really bothering me today.

VS:  Your ship's scanners find a nearby planet that should provide what you're looking for.

Space Lord:  Any Federales or orbital defense picked up on our scanners?

VS:  No, this is a backwater planet.  The kind that Alpha Blue likes to hang around.

Space Lord:  Good deal.  Pineapple head, you're the pilot.  Take us down for a closer look.

Piney:  Roger dodger.

VS:  You land the ship in a clearing near a swamp.  Visuals indicate there are several reptilian humanoids standing around just outside.

Space Lord:  What kind of reptilian - feral or civilized (civilized being loosely applied).

VS:  They look like Silurians from Doctor Who.  So, apparently civilized... more or less.

Piney:  If these guys aren't here in peace, they're leaving in pieces.  Space Lord, this is your specialty.  Go talk to them.

Space Lord:  We observe for a few moments to see if they communicate.

VS:  You hear a few loud clangs.  One of the reptilians is knocking on the side of your ship.  "Hey, assholes!  What do you think you're doing parking here?  This is a no parking zone.  Can't your pilot read?"

Space Lord:  I open the hatch.  "Sorry there, my friend.  Are you with the planetary authorities?"

VS:  "No."

Piney:  Since I'm still sitting in the cockpit, I'm getting my blaster ready.

Space Lord:  "We're with an advanced survey crew from Galactic Redistribution, Inc.  We'd like to talk to someone about water samples."

VS:  "Ok, let me get S'ssszzslls," he says walking away, then turns his head, "Got any snacks?"

___________

The space adventurers find some snack food for the reptilians and two of the humanoid reptiles agree to join the crew in exchange for a couple hundred credits and a small share of any loot they find.  Turns out one of the reptilians is "good with a blaster" and the other is a pimp, naturally.

Space Lord and Piney discover that a Federation cruiser just took off with all the good water (now ice) and so the pirates attempt to intercept the Federation ship.

___________

VS:  You've located the them.

Space Lord:  How big is their ship?  Is it big enough for us to dock inside?

VS:  Alongside, yes.  The Federation cruiser is larger than yours, but not by that much.

Space Lord:  Hail them with a distress call, Piney.  Tell them our oxygenator is wack and we're all going to die unless they rescue us.  We need to dock if possible.

Piney:  Aye, we'll hail their ship.

VS:  "We don't talk to spacer scum.  Move along.  Hail the Federation!"

Space Lord:  Hmm... we could try to space jump it, that might leave their ship intact for us.  Of course, we could die horribly if we miss.  We need that ice!

Piney:  Can we force dock it?

VS:  You can try.  Roll 2d6 if you want to attempt it.

Piney:  [He rolls a 5 and 6 for a critical success!]

VS:  Ok, you successfully "force dock" your ship to theirs - which has never been done before in the history of space.

Piney:  Hail to the King, baby!  These lizards better be able to shoot straight.  Round up the droids.

Space Lord:  Can the droids hack the door or do we need to blast it?

VS:  All six of you are at the airlock as one of your droids inputs into the ship's computer.  Sparks fly and the Federation ship's door opens.

Space Lord:  If there are targets on the other side, we're ready.

VS:  You hear a few Federation troops running down the corridor towards you.

Space Lord:  No mercy!  Unless they surrender.

Piney:  Does this blaster have a disintegration option?

VS:  No, but you could always try turning it up to "11," but that might have serious consequences.

Piney:  Nah, we'll keep it at 9.5.

VS:  From what you know, Federation shock troops like these never surrender.

Space Lord:  That's how I rationalize their murder.  "Not too much damage to the inside of the ship, guys."  I hope I didn't forget my vibro-knife.

___________

A lot of laser fire is exchanged.  The PCs take down the Federation troops and make their way towards the bridge.  On their way, they see a lovely green-skinned female walking down a side corridor.  She reminded Piney of his ex-wife.

While the reptilian mercs "take care" of the female, the PCs charge on towards the bridge where they see two Federation officers pushing buttons.

Piney threatens one of them, but rolls a critical failure and is the least intimidating presence currently on the ship, giving one of the officers a chance to pull out his blaster and fire - a line of deadly red light narrowly misses his pineapple-ridged head.

Eventually, both officers are overcome and surrender to the PCs.

The reptilians lazily walk onto the bridge smoking cigarettes after its all over.  They obviously had sex with the green-skinned female.

Besides the ice, the PCs discover that the Federation ship is carrying something else of value - something called a gorlax.  Piney rolls and gets "mostly success," enough to know that a gorlax is some kind of giant, alien gorilla made of purple slime.

___________

That's all we had time for.  Both Dave and Hawk told me the session was awesome and gonzo, then they thanked me for GMing.

Both Space Lord and Piney reached 2nd level, where only their Health changes (going from 25 to 30).

I hope y'all enjoyed reading this Alpha Blue actual play report.  BTW, I recently created a new Kickstarter campaign to fund a trio of short PDF scenarios.  Only 3$!!!  Check it out.

VS

Sandcrawler Menagerie - Alpha Blue actual play report

This post is a report of actual Alpha Blue play that went on earlier today via Roll20.

One GM (me) and two players.  One of the players (David) had very little roleplaying experience.  Neither of them had ever heard of Alpha Blue before the session started.

David wanted to be something unusual.  Those were his only instructions.  So, we went with an alien.  Strange that Roll20 doesn't have an easy go-to feature for rolling a d30, so I just rolled a d20 instead.  Crystalline!  Then I rolled size and got "human."  Rolling twice for alien features I got these: often uses "the" unnecessarily (think Starfire from Teen Titans Go!) and relates his experiences to The Wizard of Oz... which he believes is real or is based on actual events.  He wields a vorpal chainsword.

8BitAndroid already had a concept in mind - a human/wolf hybrid.  So, I assumed he'd be a mutant and that would be one of his three mutations.  The others being that he had horns and a kangaroo pouch.  For a weapon he carried a thermal detonator.

Both wanted to roll for a name.  Both rolled the same number and got Terran.  8Bit decided his character wanted to change his name to Akros Sterling, but also mentioned something about the two being blood brothers.

Next, I rolled for their occupation and got "bounty hunter" for both.  Haha!  They were blood brothers.

After what seemed like a century of people trying different things in order to get one picture to show - which led to my entire computer freezing/crashing - I gave up and simply described everything.  Below are bits of dialog that I'm cherry-picking from the chat archive.

VS:  Ok, both of you are cruising around in a stolen starship.  You felt as though Grabba the Butt (my go-to intergalactic gangster created by +Fantastic Dimensions) owed it to you.  Grabba had other ideas, so you just took off and haven't looked back since.  You stopped to refuel on a barren, desert world.  While filling your tank full of space gas, you notice a gigantic sandcrawler and a jawa selling a wide variety of robots.  Another spacer is present.  He's checking out their wares.

Terran:  Let's go.

Akros:  Junk and sand everywhere.  I wonder why Grabba was so upset with us?  At least we managed to... recover his ship.  It'll do us good.

Terran:  Well, we can't do anything about the Grabba.  It is what it is.

VS:  The jawa walks up to you.  "Do you enjoy our little sandcrawler menagerie?  Every droid half-price.  You can't go wrong with that sexbot, my friends."  Akros has 500 credits.  Terran has 800 credits.

Akros: [Mutters and inspects the bots]  Half price?  I wonder if they have any defects.  I'd hate to be duped out of hard earned credits if they're just going to fall apart after light use.

VS:  The jawa says, "I always include a guarantee in the price - one standard month."

Terran:  Only a month?

VS:  "Or buy the warranty - three standard years.  Only 100 credits!"

Akros: [Huffing a bit and kicking a few tires]  "Which one is the cheapest?"

VS:  You notice one of the prospective buyers is handling a blonde, female android that looks just like Kristen Bell.  She's not wearing much clothing.  The price tag says 400 credits on her arm.

Akros:  [Notices Bell but doesn't want to spend a lot of credits]

VS:  The jawa points to some cheap piece of CGI crap from one of the prequels.  "This one is only 50 credits, my friend.  You want it gift wrapped?"

Terran:  I don't think we need that one.

______

Meanwhile, Akros notices the other customer loosening the velcro strap on his blaster.  Akros comes up behind him and puts a blaster to his head.  The guy walks away, but then it turns out the jawa wasn't a jawa at all but a little amphibian alien with three eyes.  He sucker-blasts Akros in the chest for 11 points of damage.  Both the PCs started the game as 1st level characters with 25 Health.

It's a shootout!  A few rounds later, the ambushing alien named Meebly has a bloody stump for a leg due to Akros' thermal detonator and blackened/burned hand from Terran's blaster.

______

VS:  Meebly gets down on his hands and knees, "You've beaten me.  If you spare my life, I shall be your servant."

Akros:  You can serve my crystalline brother, but if you betray us I'll bite your head off.

VS:  "By the way, I stole this sandcrawler.  So, maybe we should get out of here?

Terran:  Let's get aboard the starship.

VS:  "Bring the sexbot.  KB will make a fine companion for the three of us.  She's the only one I didn't rig with explosives."

Akros:  I kick the console and get our ship flying.

VS:  "Also, my former masters, the klingons, will be here soon.  And I expect they'll be furious.  I was supposed to kill you both for 3,000 credits."

Terran:  That's it?

VS:  Just as you're about to leave the solar system, you notice a klingon warhip approaching the desert planet.  Meebly:  "Whoo boy, I'm beat.  Where do you spacers keep the Venusian whisky?"

Akros:  Shit!  I'm going to activate a cloaking device or something.  [rolls a critical success]

VS:  You bounce a sub-sonic wave pattern against a nearby moon, effectively camouflaging your escape vector.

Terran:  Meebly, get us some beer or something!

VS:  Meebly opens up a panel in the lower back region of the Kristen Bell droid.  Sparks fly.  He closes up the panel.  "Bring us some space beers, KB.  We're thirsty."  She complies, bringing everyone a beer poured into a strange, blue-green rectangular glass.

Akros:  Whoa, that piece of junk actually works!

VS:  "Heck yes she works!  You should see what she can do with her squelch-valve."

________

That was it.  The players told me they had fun.  Maybe we'll pick it up again soon.  Who knows...

Thanks for reading,

VS

p.s.  There's a nice little review of Girls Gone Rogue over here.

Adventures in the Forbidden Zone

Holden:  Describe in single words only the good things that come into your mind about... your childhood movie watching habits.

I must have been about 10 when Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone reached premium cable.

I remember seeing it a lot - probably 20 or even 30 times once it hit HBO, even though before today, I couldn't give you any more than scant details.  Maybe not even that much.  It was borderline scary at times and even though it could never match the awesomeness that was Star Wars, I enjoyed it immensely.

I watched it over and over again just as I did with The Beastmaster, Ice Pirates, Flash Gordon, Conan the Barbarian, and Blade Runner.  But not necessarily from beginning to end.  The majority of viewings must have come in just before or after the sail barge train battle scene.

Because seeing it again today after 33 years, I didn't recall anything of the first 10 minutes.  You know, the part that kind of sets up the rest of the movie.

This review does a good job of summing up the plot while noticing the sleazy aspects that make it a weird time-warp kind of anomaly that could only exist right around 1983.

There's a Mad Max kind of feel to it, as well.  Not so much cyberpunk as I envision it, unlike the linked review above, but definitely a high-tech / low-life aesthetic.  Not too long ago, Cyborg was screened at one of my monthly pizza/movie nights.  Spacehunter reminded me of Cyborg, too.  Especially, the brunette android.  But there was more to it than that - a world gone to seed.  A post-apocalypse of trash, a wasteland of dirty nomads looking for flesh.

The whole thing seems to have a bigger budget than I would have guessed.  The alien planet looks kind of like an alien planet.  Not sure whey they filmed those outdoor scenes, but it's realistic while also being unfamiliar.  Likewise, the "garbage chic" costumes and "rust tech" machines are equally impressive.

The pacing is also excellent.  It feels like a long journey even though the audience never grows bored.  Interesting things are happening all the time and in between, we get the emotional journey of the good guys.

Which brings me to my favorite aspect - because it's a rare commodity these days, like some kind of mineral used for making particle beam weapons that can only be found on planet SK-9 in Terra Quadrant.  Sleaze!

Like Starchaser: the Legend of Orin, there was a sexist kind of masculine vibe that I enjoy, that feels right to me, even though in today's culture of twitter wars and social issue outrage would surely be described as "toxic."

The protagonist, Wolff, obviously uses his pretty android engineer for sex.

When the three human women are captured by the antagonist's henchmen, they're obviously going to be used for sex or to satisfy some carnal appetite.

When Wolff meets the girl tracker, Nikki, who helps him find the captured women, there's definitely some adult expectation subtext going on.  Later, when Wolff gives her a bath and finds out she's about 16, he takes on a fatherly role, leaving behind a possible romantic relationship which Nikki assumed would happen.

Mid-way through the movie, Wolff and Nikki encounter a tribe of underwater amazons.  The amazons voice their interest in Wolff as breeding stock.  That doesn't sound like a bad idea to Wolff, however, when they put Nikki in danger, he decides to get out of there rather than have sex with many strange and beautiful (and probably dangerous) women.

You don't get stuff like that in a "kid's movie" these days.  1983 is long behind us, and so when a forgotten cult classic like this emerges from our distant cinematic past, I feel we should embrace it.

Obviously, there are a few problems or missed opportunities with the movie.  The antagonist goes by the name Overdog?  Yeah, it's no Star Wars.  But then neither is Ice Pirates, and that also deserves a 2nd or even 3rd viewing if it's been over a decade since you've seen it.

The standalone Spacehunter DVD seems to be out of print and therefore more expensive than it should be; however, after a little searching, I discovered that Walmart sells a Krull / Spacehunter combo DVD for around $5.  Doesn't get any better than that.  Well, neither film has any extras - not even the ability to select chapters.  But the movies are the main event, so yeah... buy it.

It should go without saying that Alpha Blue is the perfect vehicle for a kind of Starhunter RPG experience.  Pick up the bundle if you want both sourcebooks included in one low price.

Thanks,

VS

A Threesome of Space Opera Sleaze

I just created this DriveThruRPG bundle at 20% off each of the three products:  Alpha Blue, Girls Gone Rogue, and Universal Exploits.

Those on the fence, hesitant about spending their hard earned money on a humorous soft core sci-fi shameless ripoff of dozens of popular and obscure franchises can check out the previews, read the reviews, and (if you like what you see) get a deal on everything at once.

Combined, these three books are like How to Game Master like a Fucking Boss, except for sci-fi and space opera RPGs.  There are multiple, short essays on GMing in the genre of blasters and starships.  The entire series is full of adventure hooks, evocative artwork, 1970's & 80's nostalgia, and high-res maps you can take to a local printer or use in a virtual tabletop.  You simply would not believe how many random tables are included in order to facilitate an infinite space sandbox for years of campaigning.

Even though Alpha Blue and both its sourcebooks are firmly in the old school style, I've provided ultra-neo innovations that make it easy to try this game with your non-gamer friends.  One-shot character creation takes as little as 5 minutes; short campaigns about 15.  It's all pick-and-choose or rolling on random tables... no number crunching, no min-maxing, and best of all - NO BORING!!!

I hope you take a chance on these books that I've put my heart and soul into creating the past year and a half.  In my opinion, it's the best of Kort'thalis Publishing and if you don't mind getting a little screwball and raunchy with your thermal detonators and photon torpedoes, I believe it'll soon become your new favorite RPG.

VS

p.s.  And here's a fun little bonus on the house!

It's all about the exploits!

This blog post focuses on Universal Exploits, my latest creation.

Reviews have been favorable.  Some say, it's the best thing Kort'thalis Publishing has ever put out.  Here are reviews one, two, and three.  Additionally, a fresh review of Alpha Blue herself.

Below is a video walk-thru or visual preview of Universal Exploits.  Even at 9 minutes or so, I feel like I barely scratched the surface...

If you've had a chance to check out the book, I hope you also consider writing a review and telling people what you think about Universal Exploits.  Actual play reports are awesome, too!

Curious about any aspect of the game or its sourcebooks?  Just ask, I'd be happy to provide info or run a short demonstration for you.

Remember, if you purchase UX from Amazon or CreateSpace, email me for the PDF (just send invoice, receipt, proof of purchase, etc.) so you can get those high-resolution files of starships, Grabba the Butt's palace of perversity, and custom character sheets.

Enjoy,

VS

p.s.  This is where to find the previous maps/PDFs.  Oh yeah, and here are the new custom character sheets for Alpha Blue.

Universal Exploits in Print!

For those who don't know, Universal Exploits is the 2nd sourcebook for my sleazy space opera RPG Alpha Blue.  Yes, I merged R-rated, NC-17, and even XXX stuff with 1970's sci-fi.  You're welcome.  ;)  

It feels old school, even though its system only vaguely resembles D&D, Star Wars, and Traveller.  The vast majority of content is system-neutral, but the engine runs on d6 dice pools (usually the most you'll be rolling is 3 or 4d6 - you won't need 15d6 for anything!)

You've heard the expression - give a man fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him to fish and he can feed himself for a lifetime?  Well, a good random table is like teaching a man to fish.  It'll serve him a hundred times over, maybe even a thousand.

All three books - Alpha Blue, Girls Gone Rogue, and Universal Exploits have more random tables than 3.5 had feats!  This is pure space sandbox roleplaying with adventure hooks galore.  Combine these three books with whatever sci-fi / space opera RPG you're already using.  Make it edgy and dangerous - make it dirty!  Three times the laughter, three times the fun, three times the retro weirdness among the stars!

Universal Exploits is now in print over at CreateSpace - that's Amazon's print-on-demand service.  If possible, get it there.  Otherwise, you can get it at Amazon itself (they take a larger royalty, in that case).

Regardless of how you get it, definitely email me with some kind of confirmation or receipt so I can get you the PDFs that come with it!  There's the book PDF with new custom character sheet, maps of new starships, and a layout of Grabba the Butt's palace of perversity!  All high-resolution for printing out and using in your Alpha Blue game.

Here's my email:  Venger.Satanis@yahoo.com

A print version will also be available on DriveThruRPG soon, but their printer is slower and more finicky.

Even though I've been doing this awhile, I'm still very much the underdog, the outsider, the little guy going door to door asking gamers to take a chance on gonzo space smut.

This is currently the best kept secret of the DIY/OSR scene.  Aside from the Kickstarter backers who originally funded it and are now beginning to enjoy their rewards, almost no one knows about Universal Exploits.  So, please mention it when you can, blog about it, review it, help me get the word out!

Thanks,

Venger As'Nas Satanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing

Universal Exploits PDF is live!

Only three months ago, I launched the Kickstarter for Universal Exploits, the 2nd sourcebook for my sleazy sci-fi RPG Alpha Blue (1st sourcebook was Girls Gone Rogue).

It successfully funded awhile ago.  Now, the first exploitation fruits can be tasted and enjoyed!  Here it is (PDF only, until I can check out the proof) on DriveThruRPG.

As I've mentioned before, the time/energy I have for RPGs (running and writing) is dwindling.  My wife will be giving birth to twins this fall.  I hope to be active again a year from now, but we'll see.

That's why I wanted to go all-out with this book.  107 pages (8.5" x 11") worth of supplementary material, every nook and cranny stuffed to the gills with game-able content and gorgeous artwork (some of it NSFW).

Approximately 90% of Universal Exploits is system neutral.  Use it with your White Star, Machinations of the Space Princess, Traveller, Stars Without Number, Star Wars, Star Trek, Starfinder, Rifts, Thousand Suns, X-plorers, Starships & Spacemen, Encounter Critical, Metamorphosis Alpha, Warhammer 40K, and countless other sci-fi and space opera RPGs that could use a little gonzo grindhouse.

VS

Alpha Blue: Making a Character

The following are three video tutorials.  Each one goes into detail about Alpha Blue's system, setting, and character creation...

If you have any questions, please ask!

VS

This is not a simulation!

There's only a short time left to back Universal Exploits on Kickstarter.  And for those who want a sneak peek of upcoming content, check this out!

Universal Exploits is the last piece of the puzzle, the final book in the trilogy that, I hope, will put Alpha Blue on the star map.  In the true old school tradition, it facilitates roleplaying rather than bogs things down in unnecessary procedures that only get in the way, reminding you that this is a game.

Personally, I don't want to be continually reminded that this is just a game, only a game.  I want to immerse myself in the world, no matter if I'm the Game Master or player.  I'm not talking about simulation, but immersion.  In a way, immersion is anti-simulation.

I don't want to imitate life or develop a model or abstract particular systems.  I want immersion, to be involved in situations, to become part of that other world, to experience what it would be like if I was an alien smuggler with an itchy trigger-finger on a starship about to be boarded by the Federation.

It's hard for me say what has "gone wrong" with RPGs over the last 10 years.  But I've read through or at least skimmed various books over the last decade, some shorter, others longer, some from independent companies, others from established, big RPG companies, encompassing various genres and production values.

At first I thought it might have been an attempt to capture the old school renaissance, an attempt but obvious failure (Thankfully, D&D 5e got it right, in my view).  However, I'm now inclined to think that it's not OSR emulation at all, but a combination of the 00's a rule for everything and everything must have a rule, as well as, "indie" forge-ish rules for affecting the narrative that try to artificially gin up player agency or bypass the Game Master's authority (depending on your view).

All I can say with certainty is that I must do without rules that are too arbitrary, intrusive, and complex because they exemplify life-as-game... those unnatural aspects which kill the organic, authentic experience of game-as-life.  Indeed, without mercy the artificial must be cut away from my roleplaying gaming!

Well, that's enough ranting and raving for today.  I'm leaving for another week, so take care until next Wednesday.  Thanks for all your support, friendship, and fun!

VS

Spacers with Candy

Earlier today was yet another session of Alpha Blue, probably the last one for awhile.  It was also crucially important because it gave me a chance to work through and playtest a lot of new ideas.  After all, Universal Exploits is just around the corner.

Four players, one was totally new to the game.  I think having fewer players (usually, I have anywhere from 7 to 11) made the adventure more cohesive and gave the player-characters more action.  So, it felt really good.  Here's a rundown of the PCs...

Captain Shumoxx Plibb (and Frank) - Human psychic and interior designer.  Last adventure, he acquired a cybernetic right hand named Frank who's a total badass and talks like Liam Neeson in the movie Taken.

Gebek - human gambler and assassin; there's a full-scale manhunt for him.  His outfit is a tan and sunburst orange type of space pajamas with bell bottoms, made out of satin.  He's dumb, but strong and sneaky.

Zhora - is the token alien.  Steve rolled on the first alien table and got "thought form."  To Steve's credit, he played the thought form idea to the hilt, suggesting weird stuff ("Is he a meme?") and going along with a lot of awesome and asinine suggestions made by myself and his fellow players ("Can't you just put it in your thought pockets?" and "How much money do you think you have?".

Zhora is not only female, but a lesbian; also a mercenary.  When images of her come to mind, she's wearing a skintight silver and sky-blue leather jumpsuit.

Azaxyr - human scientist and mutant with the following mutant powers: he smells like roses, can redirect pain to others, and has built up a mental fortress over the years.

There was so much going on in this session, that I can't relay all of it - even though I took notes.  But I can say that it was one of the best Alpha Blue games I've run.  It was so good, that if it were possible, I'd quit my job to run Alpha Blue full time throughout the world.  Maybe some day...

Plus, I got to use so many random tables.  Literally, every 5 - 10 minutes I was rolling on some wacky table or another... by choice.  Not every GM likes to be surprised constantly by what happens next in his game, but I do.

Anyways, I'm going to fire off a plethora of bullet points that will give you a sense of what transpired.

• The characters barely knew each other, but they were all at a party together on the brothel space station known as Alpha Blue.  Shumoxx was the only PC with a starship, so he was looking for a new crew.  Captain Shumoxx overheard a humanoid fungus talk about an upcoming job to several spacers who were all booked up with gigs of their own.  
• The PCs decided to join forces and become shipmates aboard Shumoxx's sunfish.  Before they could begin, the fungoid named Kaplan explained that everyone had to sign a contract, making them sub-contractors of a spacer-for-hire limited liability corporation known as Universal Exploits.
• Azaxyr wanted to try this alien's cigar.  (Un)fortunately for him, it was laced with lucky charms.  He was seeing colorful marshmallow shapes and searching for his own personal pot of gold for the rest of the evening.
  
• Gebek loves to gamble.  Sadly, he's terrible at it, and has to pay back his massive gambling debts through assassinations.  Rolling at a disadvantage, he got a 1d6 dice pool while sitting down at a smuggler's quarry game.  He rolled a "6", thought he had the equivalent of Ace-high when really he had a royal flush.  Gebek won 200 credits, quit the game to spend his winnings on a very special cocktail - a martian watermelon a la mode drowning in I can't believe it's not space tequila.
• Zhora found another thought form female who was watching a vid-screen of Buck Rogers.  Turns out, she was a prostitute.  Zhora negotiated half the 100 credit payment up-front and the rest after.  They had some form of thought-sex, she paid in full, reluctantly, and received 4 temporary Health points. 
• Everyone was eavesdropping on a member of the Mauve Council willing to pay 25,000 credits to impregnate this woman named Candy with triplets.  No one knew why, but several more watermelons full of space tequila were purchased and consumed by PCs and NPCs alike.  
• Candy agreed and everyone went back to the councilor's suite.  Candy got undressed, laid on the floor with her eyes closed and told the councilor to just get it over with so she could get her money.  She was going to spend it on butt implants.  The councilor was suffering from "watermelon dick" and couldn't perform.
  
• Gebek was going to get paid to assassinate the councilor, so he started firing and rolled three "1"s.  He ended up shooting Zhora while the councilor and his aid fled the scene.  Gebek went after the councilor and Shumoxx went after the aid.  Shumoxx rolled 2d6 on his attack and also got all "1"s.  His vortex equalizer hit Gebek instead.  After exchanging shots for a couple rounds, both councilor and aid were dead.
• Meanwhile, Zhora had lesbian sex (again) with Candy.  He acquired 4 more temporary Health.  Rolling on the d100 table for random women encountered, turns out Candy was eerily similar to Zhora.  Same taste in clothes, vid-screen shows, food for thought, etc.  And she was a pilot! 
• The next morning, Azaxyr, using his charm, stopped Federation security from engaging Gebek, which could have ended in several PC deaths.  
• The PCs read the mission briefing provided by their Universal Exploits sponsor.  They were to pick up a humanoid on some nearby desert planet and escort him to the space station Revan 111, where everyone has a past.
• Just as they spotted their eventual passenger, another starship was about to fire on him.  The PC's ship fired on the enemy starship first.  Yes!  This was ship-to-ship combat.  I'd only used that table in Girls Gone Rogue once before, so I was excited about trying it out a second time.  It was a terrific battle.  The enemy ship sustained damage, but mostly the opposing captain, who was getting oral sex during the engagement, kept getting his space penis chewed due to all the turbulence.  Eventually, his member was completely bitten off.  While the PC's ship sustained damage, the enemy ship was all but destroyed and the crew dead.  
• McSpanner was there to make repairs on the PC's ship while Shumoxx and company talked with their new and temporary companion.  His name was Gaius Bantha.  He dismissed conventional science for something called "laser science".  On a cocktail napkin, he worked out a design for something having to do with laser-sharks and a laser ball for space kittens.
• Meanwhile, Azaxyr retrieved a therapy-bot built from an old VCR and vintage porn VHS tapes. Fast Forward 5 joined the crew.
  
  
• Despite his ridiculous theories, the PCs escorted Gaius to Revan 111.  It wasn't until the PCs said goodbye to Gaius that they got a call from their Universal Exploits sponsor, Kaplan.  Apparently, the mission was supposed to be - don't allow Gaius Bantha to reach Revan.  The PCs negotiated a few more credits and geared up.  Gebek, fearing discovery (being a wanted man and all) wore an avocado-green and paisley headscarf.  Shumoxx donned his turtleneck chevron cheetah print heavy tactical armor.
• They deduced that Gaius had gone to the purple section devoted to weird science.  Standing in their way was a religious ceremony performed by 17 gelatinous blobs.  The PCs fought the laser investors (also fungoids and Kaplan's brother-in-law) Gaius had lined up.  
• It was a pitched battle within the space bar/cantina map designed by +MonkeyBlood Design.  Gaius started to run away but couldn't get far because Azaxyr used his redirect pain ability to transfer his discomfort at being blasted over and over again to Gaius.  It took several rounds, but the PCs were winning.  There were only a couple opponents left when I rolled 2d6 against Shumoxx Plib.  I rolled a "6" on the initial attack roll and so rolled 3d6 damage.  All "6"s!  So, I rolled the exploding damage again.  Two more "6"s!  After all the rolling had stopped, that laser blast had done about 42 points of damage.  Despite his armor, Shumoxx was toast.  He rolled 2d6 on his saving throw and came up with a "3" - one last heroic act before dying.  Shumoxx set his vortex equalizer to self-destruct.  It took the last two enemies out.
• Azaxyr scraped what was left of Shumoxx onto a glass slide for later cloning and removed Gaius' "laser brain" so he could place it in a roomba cleaning-bot.  The credits, minus Universal Exploits' 10% commission, were transferred into the PC's bank account.  

So, those were some of the highlights.  Although, as any gamer knows, you really have to be there to feel just how powerful a game is - the spectacle, the laughs, the emotion, the adrenaline, the boobs... only so much can be conveyed via blog post.

I hope that in the next week and a half, you'll help support the latest Alpha Blue sourcebook, Universal Exploits.  

VS

Universal Exploits

Ok, I've got some news.  For a select few, this may seem like a punch in the gut, for many a picnic lunch on a beautiful summer's day, but my guess is that most of you will probably go, "Meh."

When the book (being Kickstarted now) actually comes out, it's not going to be called Pussy Chasers: the Legend of Oral.  There are many reasons for this, such as pushing people away from it and Alpha Blue, as well as, making people think that the entire thing is either going to be pornographic or a riff on StarChaser: The Legend of Orin.  And to be perfectly honest, my wife wanted me to shut the whole thing down, and this name change is a compromise.

In actuality, the sleaze is probably only 20% - 30% of this RPG line.  It's just that most RPG books have less than 5%, so it makes Alpha Blue and company look disproportionately raunchy by comparison.  

I'll be parodying many, many sci-fi movies, tv shows, and so forth.  StarChaser is but one.  However, there will be a section/heading called "Pussy Chasers: the Legend of Oral" and it will deliver on what's already been mentioned in the Kickstarter.  Additionally, there will be other sections that will deal with various topics.  The space station brothel has already been done, so this new book will focus on other people, places, and things.  

For instance, today I'm writing "The Stars Are Dying" (cosmic horror) and "The Violet Jungle Moon of K'rymzonia Minor" (gonzo sword & planet pulp).  Both will have sleazy aspects, but neither will be as preoccupied with sex as the "Pussy Chasers" section.

With this new book, I will bring to life a campaign setting where life is hard and risking one's neck as a spacer is pretty much the only hope for escaping the indentured servitude of a dystopian future.  Writing about the pleasure seekers on a leisure station was a lot of fun, but it's time for something new.  

Keeping the old title would diminish everything else, making it fade into the background.  Kind of like if you knew you're 6th grade teacher had starred in an adult movie.  Now, that's the only thing that comes to mind when you're in math class.

So, what's the new title?  As of now, the working title is Universal Exploits.  Yeah, it's a bit generic, but there's a wink and a nudge nudge in there, as well.  At least we'll all remember the book's secret name when seeing it on DriveThruRPG.  ;)

Thanks,

VS

Play Alpha Blue NOW!!!

Back when I was funding Girls Gone Rogue on Kickstarter, one of my stretch goals / campaign promises was to do a backer-wide play by email or chat session of Alpha Blue.

Well, this is where it starts.  Read the description below, roll the dice, see what happens, and comment below how you're going to react (be sure to include a sentence or two about who and what your character is).  Don't have a character?  Either create one from the Alpha Blue RPG rulebook or simply come up with a suitable character concept.

These tables will also tie into my next and last (for awhile, at least) Kickstarter project for Alpha Blue called... Pussy Chasers: The Legend of Oral.  Check it out here.

The After-Party

You missed the actual party, unfortunately.  The freighter hauling 23 space tons of frozen Purple Prizm grape soda was late... then it was stopped by customs... and then almost hijacked by dwermfermers on ultra-amphetamines.  Needless to say, you're ready to get this after-party into full swing!  Let's see what happens soon after you arrive.

1. Someone slipped a turquoise dreamer into your drink.  Now, all you want to do is have anal sex.

2. You accidentally got diverted into a nearby conference room where an orange-furred platypusoid is giving a power-point presentation regarding time-share properties on New Alderaan 2.

3. An alien that's mostly just eyes and glowing indigo snot just threw up all over you.  Gross!

4. After about 20 microns of waiting, you finally got yourself a drink and found the friends you were hanging out with from before - now some random, albeit cute, woman wants you to get her a drink, as well.

5. As soon as you walk in, a trio of large, two-headed, hairy albino ape-men with glittering horns tell you that you're kind isn't welcome here.

6. You order a drink, the bartender pours a thick, molasses-like, chartreuse-colored substance into a tall, rectangular glass and tells you that'll be 15 credits.  You feel around for your space wallet - but it's gone!

7. Some girl wearing a sexy red outfit with three boobs and smoking a personal hookah motions for you to come closer.  You walk towards her just as another spacer comes up to the girl, putting his arm around her.

8. You get an incoming call on your vis-a-fone.  Before you can see who it is, a sneaky little anchovy-based life form swipes it out of your hand and scurries towards the main stage where various strippers are pole-dancing to "Girls, Girls, Girls" by Motley Crue.

9. Just as one stripper is leaving the pole-dancing area and another is entering, one of the women accidentally kicks a platinum credit (worth approximately 100 regular credits) in your drink.

10. A stripper with clear-colored, high-heel platform dancer shoes walks right past you.  She's the hottest girl here tonight.  Your gaze follows her spectacular ass as she walks into the "Anything Goes Room."

11. You're snorting a few lines of vermilion psychopath off some reptilian girl's tits when suddenly the veins under your skin start glowing bright scarlet.

12. Some jackass let his tiger-bot into the party.  It's already clawed up a half-dozen people by the time it finds you - and regards you with cold, predatory disdain.

13. You haven't eaten since connecting with the Purple Prizm freighter at Algeria Gamma.  You're famished and there's nothing to eat!  In the distance, you see some spacer holding a grilled space cheese sandwich.

14. A protocol-bot corners you, regaling you with anecdotes about the Enigma Cluster orbiting Kryus Prime.

15. An old and inebriated acquaintance believes he can shoot faster and straighter than you.  He challenges you to a blaster duel right here and now.

16. A suckered star slug from Vokk Major-Minor insults your funky threads while implying that you have a reputation for disappointing your sexual partners.

17. There's a Knight in White Satin talking to the bartender about something.  Must be pretty important if he's taking up the bartender's valuable time.  Meanwhile, you and the other patrons aren't getting any drinks.

18. Directly in front of you, some girl is taking a selfie with one of her girlfriends.  The flash momentarily blinds you - sending you stumbling into a nearby crowd of people.  Your face somehow ends up in the cleavage of Vanessa Von Tease, a well-known burlesque performer on the outer rim.

19. Princess Assa is in attendance.  She's wearing a tight little blue dress accented with sparkling diamonds.  The Princess has ordered her personal bodyguards to line up some of the more desirable men and women in front of her VIP corner booth.  You're picked to stand in that line.

20. You're fucked up on Tinkerbell's Fairydust, wandering around asking people about the Great Space Chicken and Cosmic Egg.  Eventually, a sentient violet-colored gas tells you about an easy game of smuggler's quarry happening in the next sector.  He's willing to stake you the 5,000 credits required to play, both of you will split the profits... but if you lose it all - he owns you (as in slavery).  Not being in your right mind, you signed a contract agreeing to those terms.
_________

Good luck, spacers!

VS

The Girl Who Would Be Assassinated

Last Saturday, I was running Alpha Blue at the OddCon convention in Madison, WI.  We had a backroom suite all to ourselves, free from noise and distraction - it was a fantastic experience and one I hope to see over and over again.

A few people did wander into our area, wondering what we were playing.  Invariably, I'd say "Alpha Blue".  They'd respond with, "Never heard of it."  Then I'd reply, "That's because I wrote it.  It's a sci-fi RPG mixed with 70's porn."  Mixed reactions, as expected.

One time I mentioned Ice Pirates, but the young dude hadn't heard of that.  Ice Pirates meets Flash Gordon might be a better description, if one were to dial down the sleaze.

As usual, I had a few ideas in my back pocket.  But mostly, I let character creation, player wanderlust, and luck decide how the scenario was going to go.  Luckily, Alpha Blue and Girls Gone Rogue are filled to the brim with all manner of random tables.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating - GMs should listen to what their players say when not actively playing the game, out of character and usually leading up to the adventure proper.  An attentive GM will pick up all manner of clues: what players want to do with their characters, who they want to talk to, where they want to go, what they want to kill, what's special about their character's backstory, why they need the money, etc.  Because we're all sitting, verbal cues are much more important than body language.  Just by listening to the tone in a player's voice, you can usually tell what's resonating with him.

For instance, the players were interested in things to buy.  +sean mcconkey, who's played Alpha Blue almost as much as I've run it, was talking about various purchasable goods when an idea hit.  Clones!  For a thousand credits, you could buy a clone.  Of course!

That made so much sense to me regarding available technology, avoiding unnecessary PC death, providing money pits for PCs to spend their hard earned credits on, and various shenanigans that can occur during the cloning process, etc.

Plus, what about the ins and outs of obtaining a clone of someone else?  Can one buy the rights (or steal the DNA) to clone the space girl next door?  What about a hardened super-criminal?  Or quantum physics genius?  Is that slavery?  What if you inserted some or all of your consciousness/will into the "not you" clone?  Mmm... possibilities.

So, what are these clones like?  As I envision it, a clone is an identical copy that could be held in reserve as backup or activated immediately - instant twin!  Want more than one clone?  Sure, it's 1,000 credits per clone... you can buy as many as you can afford.  My advice: definitely make that an option in our Alpha Blue game!

Getting back to the character creation process, one of the players was really excited about his space priest / assassin career opportunities and rolled on the debt owed tables in order to purchase his own starship.  He mentioned how "up for anything" he was if and when his creditors asked.

Boom!  That became the hook.  Within minutes of play, that PC received a transmission from the bounty hunters who lent him the credits to buy Tiny Dancer.  On they went to New Alderaan 2.  We all know that something bad happened to the original Alderaan, but apparently both New Alderaan and Alderaan 2 also took turns for the worse.

With my Samsung Galaxy 4, I found a picture of the target, Loganna.  Since New Alderaan 2 was home to domed cities full of beautiful androids draped in brightly colored, see-through fabrics, everyone at the table took a gander at the girl who would be assassinated.

Of course, that wasn't set in stone.  The PC who owed the debt didn't have to track her down and kill her - in fact, I was hoping the party would take an alternative route - but I've found that old habits die hard.  Longtime gamers who've assassinated hundreds of individuals in-game probably don't even question their orders anymore.  If their mission is to take someone out, they take them out... no matter how hot they are!

I've never encountered so many male players choosing to play female characters as when I'm running this RPG.  I like to think that Alpha Blue helps re-program gamers.  Another example is the technician / pirate PC (left my notes at home and have to do all this from memory and I'm terrible with names) who was alone on the ship with several space prostitutes.  As the Space Dungeon Master, I practically had to rip off his clothes (in-game) and grind her vagina on him before he got the hint.  As gamers, we've been so used to avoiding casual and serious, emotional and sexual relationships, attachments, and drama that it seems weird to intentionally involve ourselves in such moments, to embrace them rather than acknowledge them briefly before getting to "the real adventure": breaking in, slaying, and looting.

Another observation I had was a player who kept gambling.  His character was a gambler with an edge (he was invisible, except for clothing, items carried, etc.) and that's pretty much what he did throughout the game, except when forced into combat or situations between card games.  That seemed strange to me, but I went with it.  He actually made several hundred credits, though it didn't seem very exciting, heroic, villainous, adventurous, or sleazy.  To each his own.

Speaking of sleazy, after the assassination and leisure center shoot-out with a competing bounty hunter crew, Sean's pimp character had his girls work the session's concluding party back at the space station brothel we all know and love.  He rolled the best of anyone that game - 3d6, all sixes!  So, I let him re-roll for exploding dice because it was a situation of making money on his star whores.  All told, the party's pimp made 3,300 blue bucks in about two hours.  Who said pimpin' wasn't easy?

One last thing, in an effort to remind players that once per session they could double their dice pools, as well as, creating some additional visual aid, I brought a blue glow stick to the game.  The object was to double a PC's dice pool and then pass the glow stick to someone else who could use it and then he would pass it again.  That actually led to a couple of minor problems.  The passing back and forth was distracting while allowing it to be passed back and forth continually gave everyone 3 or 4 double-ups during the session.

Next time, I'll probably just splurge on a 10-pack of blue glow sticks for about $5.  Then everyone will have one and once they've used it, they can hand it back to me and it's done.

Everyone had a good time, were impressed with the maps, laughed at the tables, got to feel a little dirty, and I can't wait for next time!

VS