The Return of the Jedi and/or the Rise of the Galaxy

I'd think that in a leg of western history that looks heavily shaped by and for the internationalist, disaffected and atheist 'nerd' with a moderately idealistic view of nature - I'm generalising and conflating a bit - the Ewoks would be more popular.

After all, they're an ungainly, galactic everyman, underdogs who come good, mastering a tyrannical aggressor with their own tech, even taking the first steps in a new paradigm.

And if not absolutely popular, at least relatively, compared with, say, the Jedi, presented as physiologically favoured, aristocratic alpha warriors not so much seeking progress by intelligence as led by an abstraction to restore a presumably established religious order.

Why this dissonance? Is it just the Jedi having more readily identifiable individuals, or traditional hero figures? Or is it the personally empowering mysticism of the Force, or the Jedi access to not just spiritual but worldly power? Or is it something more subtle..?

When worlds collide! or share a barycentre for a while

I've not done a funky link set for a bit so here are some recent crossover posts, or more intricate combinations of theme, you might not have seen.

• JD at The Disoriented Ranger pondered design and play in light of the OSR
• Zhu Bajiee statted up some Tékumel miniatures for third edition Warhammer
• Stelios linked Oldhammer to the OSR and will do a third edition readthrough
• The Beat Ronin reflected on growing up and changes in approach over time
• Von showed the making of a Black Legion warband with Realm of Chaos
• Jonas at Deathworld Adventures played GW's Inquisitor with action figures
• Trey at From the Sorcerer's Skull sketched a superheroic science fantasy
• Wayne R. at SIU listed classic modules, with work by Raggi and McKinney
• Early D&D player Cyclopeatron converted a Menoth Avatar for Warmachine
• The Alternative Wargamer scratchbuilt a YG-4210 for FFG's popular X-Wing
• Nathan at Corehammer compared past GW artist Ian Miller to HP Lovecraft
• The Secret Sun looked at the evidence for Lovecraft having a secret source
• Tim at The Other Side wrote up Mary Poppins, as both witch and time lord
  

There's a lot more weirdness going on, especially in the upper three blogrolls on the left.
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Firepower of that magnitude: FFG, GW and licensing

Fantasy Flight's X-Wing has been causing a great disturbance in the FLGS, being unusually accessible with its well-known setting, light rules and prepainted miniatures. And soon there'll be Star Wars: Armada, for battles with capital ships.

A few bits and pieces

First, BoLS has a major update on the ongoing GW vs. Chapterhouse case - there's a little more here - and HoP flags up a clever thunderhawk.

Second, if you've been having trouble seeing The M42 Project's vision of an improved alternative to 40K, SandWyrm posted a force organisation chart and revised game introduction. 

Third, there's a discussion going on at Trey's last Warlord review, on change in people and genre, and Roger the GM sees the old school in ITV's classic show Knightmare.

Fourth, one or two of us were commenting a while back with Lovecraft's favourite words, and to expand a shrunk vocabulary I've decided to build on that. I started here and here.

Lastly, it seems no one got that movie reference from the last post, so I've put a slightly more open reference into the next entry for the Maelstrom table. This is entry no. 6 of eight unless someone else jumps in before Saturday. If you have a suggestion, go for it.

     The descent into the Maelstrom... (heading for 1D8)

     6. ... wakes the traveller - who is afloat and wired up in a sensory deprivation tank.
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Coming to more great Ends...

John Till has just posted a stunningly good portal at Fate SF, the Anagogue, or Whirlpool Gate, a way to gain access to his Empire setting. He's happy to see it in the Ends list and it's welcome.

Two more from the brilliant Riskail have also just gone in, and to get the Maelstrom table finished finally, I'm going to be adding one entry a day until the end of the month. That will make six entries in total, for rolls using a d6.

If anyone adds a new entry in this time, I'll match it with one more and keep that up until we reach the number of the next standard die, whether that's a d8, d10, d12, d20 or d30.

It's about getting a set of watery arrivals in other worlds, to help games migrate between settings and universes. Here's an entry for today then, no. 4. Maybe it seems familiar...

     The descent into the Maelstrom... (1D4 so far)

     4. ... becomes a water chute pouring into a cavern holding a galleon, an Inferno.

Pretty much anything goes. Leave suggestions here or there - I'll credit every entry with a link. You can track progress using the graphic grid at the top of the right-hand sidebar.

Update: We're already up an entry, reaching no. 5 early, so it's going to eight at least...

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Ambient random

Here's a quote that jumped out recently, from a text I linked to at the panspermia post.

Cosmology in the oldest lands radiated from the priestly classes, where, charged with religious power, the priests and magi who were able to understand the patterns politicized space to a great extent, often deciding public policy using one or another astrological method.

It got my attention for a different reason than you might expect. Not for the changing role of space agencies or the secret space missions or the contenders, or the recent big SF on the silver screen, even if all of these seem to make space a source of power now too.

Using dice or maybe a deck to produce so-called random numbers is, when you think about it, a bit weird. Why such artificial, physically complex systems? And building on the interview with Loquacious, when there's so much deep intricacy out there, they're a real sledgehammer. And impractical: they help to limit tabletop games to the tabletop, even without miniatures or other components, and maybe mean ever more components.

And why play so many games indoors, or sitting down, or in a fixed location? Moderate physical activity is healthy, oxygen too, and sunlight. In rules-light games in which the dice or cards are the big hindrance, why not ditch them and look for another system?

40K OSR? (17)

Yet another batch of 40K OSR? links, because the posts are coming thick and fast. There are some definitions for 'OSR' here, but my current mood has me thinking 'Other School Revelation'.

Colonel Kane's logo is to the right. If you identify with the idea and want to use it, consider giving him the credit and adding the great Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll as an inspiration.

• The Hogs of War finished the fortress walls and posted 1, 2, 3 scenarios - the first for the table with the walls - and a set of 18 mission cards per player.

• Stealthy Stealth posted entries for fire warriors and the devilfish, the second part of the Tau Fandex being developed over at Creative Twilight.

• Brian has more Killzone design at A Gentleman's Ones, the themes, and Loquacious at World of Wonder posted the full interview for the ID series.

• The current army list challenge at Warpstone Flux uses deep darkness...

• ... and Odd-Leg played 'Space-Munda' with a new rule for flickering lights.

• Curis at Ninjabread looks at costing Squat thunderers in the current Epic.

• Gothmog has ideas for moving the history on at Sepulchre of Heroes.

• Bryssling has some unfinished fiction not posted at Rules Manufactorum.

• The DH campaign at Kenzie's blog reached an agriworld and a starport...

• ... and Gotthammer has an update on the RT campaign at Collegia Titanica.

• Ron over at From the Warp sculpted a Tyranid spore mine in greenstuff, ...

• ... Spikey Bits showed a screamer-killer conversion from the current kit...

• ... and LuckyNo.5 at Eye of Error posted a tutorial on sculpting tentacles, with thanks again to Dave G at Wargaming Tradecraft for putting up the link.

• For help casting your work, Tallarn at still practicing_ has an introduction.

• Krisken has part three on the DIY rhino chassis at Scratchbuild 40K...

• ... and Redscorps finished work on a modified design for the predator.

• One I missed last time is Fire Broadside! on alternative IG vehicles...

• ... and The March Rider at Codicium Aeternum also reviews a six-wheeler.

• Following all of which, I'll give a mention to my own crewbrew expansion.

• Brovatar is working on a female C'Tan, with parts here and a video here.

• Cameron at Rust and the city converted a plague marine champion, and the trio of WIP marines seen in that post are shown finished in this one.

• Warhammer in Progress shows 1, 2 obliterators built from starter set rat ogres, but if you prefer ready-made, The Hogs of War found a fine batch.

• Fine Detail Miniature Painting has some finished ash waste nomad conversions for Necromunda, with pics of the basecoated minis here.

• Rictus at Recalcitrant Daze posted part eight of the ongoing series on 3D printing defensive walls and 17 and 18 on converting Ork looted wagons.

• At Confessions... dwez added a terrain template to the archive page.

• At The Dark Workshop Cursed13 is building an spaceship hull turret.

• Infamous at Cobblestone Chaos looks at grocery store terrain materials.

• Apocalypse 40K has an update on the legal situation re Chapterhouse and Paulson Games and reports Quantum Gothic is back, with plenty of pics.

• Colonel Shofer linked to this solid video on the Pig Iron System Troopers.

• Steve at Bleaseworld posted 1, 2, 3, 4 batches of newly-painted early IG.

• Old School Terminator interviewed Goatboy over at Dark Future Games.
  

• There's an at-a-glance archive for the John Blanche art at gothic punk.

• For Old Stuff Day Griffit linked to a tumblr for the Rogue Trader era.

• And finally, another 1, 2 images from Space Crusade at All Things Fett.

You know how it works: if I've missed anything, just leave a link, even to your own posts.

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You've got a commerve...

I was typing a bit fast today and spelt the word 'commerce' wrong. But 'commerve' has to mean something, right? Somewhere and somewhen...

Not every vessel is commervous, but those that are laugh and cry with local space, trembling around their passengers at almost imperceptible frequencies. The passengers may be troubled by the experience at some deep level, and soak up the horror of it unbeknown for later, but they do gain immediately, and tangibly. For the sensory endings of the commerve are plugged into subrealian tissues, and feel the tension of the traumas flowing from the brutal brood worlds of the hot stars. With the forewarning of a slight twinge, the pangs of those spacetime streams may be avoided.

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40K OSR? (14)

More 40K OSR?, and just a week from the last.

I'm aiming to post smaller updates more often, with more wild cards, for non-40K gamers too.

Some possible definitions of 'OSR' are here and Colonel Kane's logo is to the right. If you use it, consider giving him credit and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your roll as a fine exemplar.

On to the action then, with the wild cards mixed in, just because it really is hard to draw the line.

• Sad news first: Tobias Reinold passed away; he may have been relatively unknown, but he gave us a lot and shows how much we can each achieve.

• Grazer posted a three-page preview for Codex: Squat Stronghold over at Rogue Trader, and there's discussion underneath with Sons of Taurus.

• Sons of Taurus also adapted the Lost and the Damned project to Killzone.

• I've just found Dangerous Brian's Terminus Omega; this week he posted on the pre-40K Laserburn books, a possible navigator, with Rogue Trader stats, and some converted 15mm counts as Tau, but he also has more counts as ideas, finished Orks, terrain and details of a new campaign.

• On 15mm minis, Atom Kid has more at Maximum Rock & Role Playing.

• Also on campaigns, Tallarn may have finished one run, but Kraggi at the Varcan Cluster is running another one and posted a huge mass of great rules in 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 parts so far - you can see all of the material here.

• At Confessions of a 40K addict dwez posted on a modular terrain plug base, the Dawn of War plasma generator and a new man-made hill.

• There's a superb tutorial on building a tabletop at wargaming tradecraft.

• At Dark Future Games Old School Terminator is converting and sculpting a daemon primarch, Angron, and also posted an obliterator conversion. 

• Will Wright at Heresy Workshop has a converted Blood Pact priest.

• Spikey Bits looks at magnetising options, using the land speeder kit.

• Apocalypse 40K points out a counts as jetbike due soon from MaxMini.

• At Adeptus Malaysia deathkorp is in uncharted territory with 3D printing.

• Natfka at Faeit 212 reposts what may be surprising news re The Lord Inquisitor fan-made movie, suggesting GW is finding a way to accept it.

• BoLS posted a logo sheet with various adeptus mechanicus markings. 

• Chosen entries are up for the chapter design contest at For Holy Terra.

• There are 1, 2 new pieces of John Blanche artwork over at gothic punk.

• CounterFett at All Things Fett showed a piece of art in Space Crusade.

• This week's Blogroll Spotlight at FTW also has plenty of OSR-y links.

• On that big sixth edition leak-not-leak, Jake Thornton at Quirkworthy has a theory and sandwyrm at The Back 40K a good look at the evidence.

• Finally, the Citizens post here has new rules by SinSynn, and ideas from garrisonjames, and I'm thinking of hosting work on a possible new faction.

As ever, feel free to add links to anything at all you think I've missed in the comments.

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Review - Rogue Space

With HoP focusing more on RPGs recently, and Von's new series, I thought I'd review a good starter game for sci-fi wargamers interested in setting up a roleplaying campaign.

The game is Rogue Space RPG by Fenway5. It's rules-light even by the standards of old school games, which makes it easy to pick up and keeps the focus more on the action and less on the detail of the mechanics. The basic rules and all the supplements so far are free, and each fits onto a sheet of A4 and folds into a booklet, which means you can keep everything in a miniatures case and play in the spaces around battles.

The downloads are here, found through the image at the top of the blog's right sidebar.

So how does it work? To my mind very well. The simple rules framework allows players to try pretty much anything they might want if they can imagine it, and in that sense the evocative name is a solid foundation, conjuring up all kinds of images of pulp sci-fi and space opera shenanigans, kickstarting the imagination even before the rules are read.

You'll need to know coming in that there are few limits with a system like this, but a bit of work may be needed, even if only through preparation or on-the-spot improvisation.

Space marines in space

With 40K getting old, and a sixth edition probably on the way, I thought I'd ask a few questions and suggest some ideas, as a series, maybe with a title like 'flashes in a grim darkness'.

It's partly for the designers at GW, to lend a hand, even if we know they won't always want or be able to use the ideas. It's also for designers everywhere, who can add them to games direct. The point is to inspire and help keep things spicy.

The first is for space marines as a whole, who do after all look to be the buttresses holding the edifice up. Get them wrong at the edition change and it might end badly for shareholders.

Shockwaves and drifting

This ties in with three posts - on modelling minefields, the mutant burstworm and space battle drift markers - as well as wider events. It has fiction and some counters.

First the fiction, for Expansion Joints. It has to be 15 words, one of them opening.

Opportunity? Well, it's an opening... But blasted through soft tissues, memories and dreams, chances taken?

In a lot of gaming explosions are taken for granted. As a man in demolition recently put it regarding the Oslo attack "men and boys are interested in gunpowder and bullets and fast cars". The RPG blog Compromise and Conceit has strong thoughts on that insanity.

Of course, the forces in gaming could go beyond outright destruction. On to magnetism maybe, or gravity making a slope more or less easy to climb. There can also be flows, like the water in a river that needs to be forded or the air rushing in a shaft or tunnel.

Recording this might be easier with counters. These have direction of course, and the box means a number can be marked too, predetermined maybe or the result of a roll.

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Pulp sounds (4)

The slow wander after a soundtrack to gaming goes on. Here's another piece which manages mystery and militarism, but which doesn't seem limited to any one genre despite being part of a well-known sci-fi score, to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Interesting film, and interesting that it seems to grow in the memory over time. Star Trek is a funny old thing. I wrote a recent post here on the radical in the franchise, and later read this enjoyable post at The Secret Sun with a different focus. It goes deep.

I'm pretty sure there was discussion of The Wrath of Khan somewhere else recently as well, but I can't remember the place. Damien G. Walter mentioned it today too.

Inspired by the film, a response to Jennie's Expansion Joints this week. The idea is to write a narrative in 15 words, with one word given; this time the word is free. For some discussion of the nature of stories and how short they can be see the last post here .

Free! But free's a crowd, of choices...

We strike out; by our decisions close caskets.

If you write your own 15-worder, you can leave it or link to it here. And have a listen.

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40K OSR? (9)

This week's update on a possible 40K OSR. What's that? Some potential definitions here.

If you identify with the idea, and most of all if you're putting out new takes, go ahead and use Colonel Kane's 40K OSR logo - to the right.

If you do, consider crediting Kane and adding Tales from the Maelstrom to your blogroll. If the OSR exists, this is it; up at the moment more Rogue Trader landing party members.

As well as that, this week we have rules suggestions, conversions and a scratch build, alternative models and short fiction.

• First - a week late and found only thanks to Lantz - an alternative approach to priority proposed by Tenzing at Gaming All Areas. He looks at using Initative for unit activation. Good idea. Will we see this next edition?

• Master Bryss at Rules Manufactorum has the usual inspiring thinking, this time a set of suggestions on creating characters for campaigns.

• Lantz was busy at Twin Linked Awesome with more adeptus mechanicus conversions for his AdMech FanDex, this time a Leman Russ Vladd, some evocative Forsaken and a batch of Luceo Rollers, due in the next edition.

• Lantz used Brotherhood models from Blight Wheel Miniatures for those Forsaken, and You Ain't Seen Squat! continues looking at alternative miniatures, this time for the Squats and/or Demiurg, here and here.

• Hudson has something pretty spectacular up at the moment, an update on progress on a super heavy Exorcist for the adepta sororitas.

• Going bigger still, Apocalypse 40K has an update on the Warhawk Lander, that ongoing transfer of the Epic space marine miniature to 40K.

• One of the guys working on an army for the Heroes of Armageddon project is John at Santa Cruz Warhammer, and he showed a converted Ork Hunter squad with a hive ganger aesthetic. This for me goes deep into the setting.

• One that didn't make it last week was Gotthammer's mention of Blinded Eyes Do See, his entry for a fiction contest, starring an astropath.

• Linked with this, That Guy James lists 40 things that make 40K what it is.

• And finally, a post that might make more sense if you remember the Rogue Trader days, jabberjabber at Warpstone Flux has a Khorne-following Ork. 

A couple of wild cards too, on different scales.

• First, a 6mm Epic Tzeentch feral titan at Wargaming Workshop. Wow.

• Second, as a follow-up to my mention in 40K OSR? (3) of those 15mm 'space dwarves', the relaunched Dropship Horizon talks about how to get into 15mm. If 40K works at 28mm and 6mm, why not a compromise 15mm?

As for me, this weekend should see an expansion for the hive interior supplement I put together for Heroes of Armagedon, with rules for playing games inside gargants. I love the idea, and wonder why I've never seen it done before. I hope I can do it justice.

As usual, any and all links to alternatives are very welcome.

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Locks in space?

A question it seems a good time to ask: what's the space travel equivalent of the waterway lock?

It would be more than a simple drive of course, or a faster-than-light portal say, in that it's not about speed, though it might be linked with warping space. It seems more than maneouvring thrusters given we're looking at movement onto another level rather than laterally. It doesn't look related to escape velocity either - that would be pushing off into the stream.

Maybe we just don't have it yet?

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Hello, little beastie... - Living table (1) - Entries 31-50

Here are some more entries for the Small Creatures table at the Expanse and DM Muse. They're ideas for using wee beasties in gaming and writing, non-system-specific.

There are 20 extra, making a total of 50. Rolling a D50 isn't practical, but DM Muse can handle that. The tables are alive so you can add your own ideas.

There are two more tables up now as well, Nasty Mutations and Stronghold Favors, nine altogether. If you want to create a completely new table of your own, you can.

I've also added a small creature to the 'blog your own adventure' project. The scene is here, and the beginning of the adventure here. I'll write a later instalment today...

C'nor at Lunching at Lamias has also combined a few rolls on the table to create some more complex creatures, which you can find here.

And re tables, check this out - some ideas there for the What's in the Tome project. Desert Scribe also has this fun table for non-critical hit damage in starship combat.

The new entries then.

Worldboats on the flood

Here's my entry for the Saturday Centus at Jenny Matlock's blog. The challenge is to write a story in 100 words, not including the phrase given, which this week is:

April showers bring May flowers...

I've decided to expand on the Worldboats concept, which was first introduced here by NetherWerks and is based on a comment by C'nor. I added my spin here.

Anyone can contribute to the Worldboat project or write a Saturday Centus entry.

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Owls and Pussycats from Beyond Space

The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea
In a beautiful pea-green boat,
They took some honey, and plenty of money,
Wrapped up in a five pound note.

"The Owl and the Pussycat", Edward Lear                      

An attempt at developing that new idea from NetherWerks and C'nor, the Worldboat.

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Into the depths! (2)

This past Sunday I posted a set of simple rules for simulating heavy terrain in wargaming, but with no actual modelled terrain on the table. They're rules which would probably work well for darkness and fog too. Desert Scribe rightly pointed they'd also do for space fleets hunting each other among star systems. If so, there could many more applications not yet realised.

I recommend reading that post before going any further, but the essence is removing true space and measured distance. The forces cautiously picking their way through the terrain towards each other is represented by rolling a single die per unit, and using this to group units together into engagements.

This post is a collection of simple add-ons to the basic concepts. There are suggestions for incorporating reinforcements, corridors and alleys, wandering monsters and mass destruction, things the measurement-free approach can make quick and easy.

PROTOSTARS!

It's been a long time since the last PROTOSTARS! so here's another great gaming blog with far too few followers for the quality, The Dark Workshop, home of Cursed13.

What are the highlights? 

> a superb guide to basic hobby tools for modelling and painting

> two excellent hobby tutorials, the first on using an airbrush and compressor, the second on building a lightbox, as well as good advice for press moulding decorative elements

> subtle modelling, especially the posing and converting for these Blood Angels space marines and this space marine captain, not forgetting those simple Eldar wraithbone bases

> solid painting, not least on this Dark Angels chaplain, these Space Hulk terminators and this crashed lander

> more terrain: a defensive wall with an electrically-operated gate and these etched stone columns for a desert-themed table

> the detailed creation of a balanced character for 40K, Captain Alessio Cortez, and a space marine chapter, the Void Ravens

As can be seen, illumination awaits in The Dark Workshop.

The earlier PROTOSTARS! - six more great blogs:

• A Field Guide To Doomsday
• ix
• Confessions of a 40K addict
• Super Galactic Dreadnought
• Fire Broadside!
• Blighty Waaagh Boys, including the intro to the series

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