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on December 10, 2022

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Volturnus: Random Hex Crawl

If I were to replay the Volturnus series, I would forgo the classic map. I would do an entire area of the world created like an OSR hex-crawl. I start the characters out in the desert to be faithful to the original and have a system where adjacent hexes stay the same as the current hex on a roll of 1-5 on a d6. From there, the entire world and hex contents would be generated using my favorite hex-population system, which for OSR games is a toss-up between Worlds Without Number and the excellent Filling in the Blanks (which is my choice for this game). This system uses a 6-mile hex system with 1-mile sub-hexes, but you could do a quick-and-dirty conversion of a 12-kilometer larger hex with 2-kilometer sub-hexes. From here, the game's generation system takes over for lairs, features, terrain, and encounters. You could imagine the fun of the above map if you hex-crawled it, which is still possible. But I want "the place the characters crash" to be anywhere in the entire rand...

Supporting Materials: Stars Without Number

If you are looking at an excellent OSR sci-fi game, check out Stars Without Number. But we are playing FrontierSpace slash Star Frontiers! Why bring this up? Well, if you are looking for sci-fi gamemaster tools, this book is a must-have. There are a few tools worth mentioning. First, they have an excellent adventure-focused "world tag" system on page 132 that divides iconic world types into five categories: enemies, friends, complications, things, and places. Have a world or asteroid base that falls into the "forbidden tech" tag? You could encounter a mad scientist enemy or a friendly cyber merchant. You could have an insane AI creating evil robots. Data on this world recovered may be valuable. There could be a horrific laboratory, facility overrun by robots, or creepy corporate research base here. If you need ideas for what could be in or happen at various classic sci-fi locations, this is your book. Just the inspiration alone is worth hundreds of adventures. Could...

d00-Starfinder?

I liked Starfinder but liked the rules less. The characters were a lot of work, and this is the legacy of D&D 3.5. Rules that are overly intricate and detailed for minor mechanical benefits. Things start like B/X with a few hit points, one attack, and a d4 or d6 weapon. This is great! As you gain levels, your character sheet needs computer programs and paragraphs of text printed for special rules, spells, and abilities. Your character sheet is 4 to 6 printed pages of data at mid-levels. At level 10, I have seen characters over a dozen printed pages of rules, one as long as twenty pages. When your character sheet is longer than a rules-light game, you may need help. The legacy of D & D and its modern incantations with Paizo and Wizards is this same sales model - dozens of books, more rules, and computer programs needed to figure things out. Every few years, reset the game with a new edition, fool more people into thinking the game is simple, and then start making the next v...

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