I stole some images from Endless Sky and Wikipedia. This ship is a combo of the nose of the Arrow and the tail of the Hawk from Endless Sky. The shuttle is a headhunter. The Dreamlifter is for scale. |
(*The future might be metric.)
A website dedicate to games of all favors and varieties, from video games to good old D&D.
I stole some images from Endless Sky and Wikipedia. This ship is a combo of the nose of the Arrow and the tail of the Hawk from Endless Sky. The shuttle is a headhunter. The Dreamlifter is for scale. |
I have some more content queued up for POP-001, but I have to get some bugs out of my system. I did a review of Star Frontiers with the intention of returning to review the expansion set Knight Hawks. It's been 2.5 years, so I should do it now.
Title: Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks Boardgame, The Campaign Expansion, and Warriors of Light ModuleStar Frontiers is a classic science fiction role-playing game that was first introduced in 1982. One of the most exciting aspects of the game is the Knight Hawks expansion, which focuses on ship-to-ship battles. This expansion provides players with an opportunity to engage in space combat, which is a crucial element of the science fiction genre. This set was a boxed set like Alpha Dawn and even follows the exact same book and page count as the original.
The key features of the Knight Hawks expansion are the ship-to-ship combat and ship design system. Players have the ability to design their own spacecraft from scratch, giving them the freedom to create vessels that suit their playstyle. The ship design system is complex but rewarding, allowing players to customize every aspect of their ship, from its weapons and defenses to speed and maneuverability. Plus every part of the customized starship simply works with the ship-to-ship combat system right out of the box.
Players don't need to create ships to engage in ship-to-ship combat, the module will gift them with not just their own ship, but a whole fleet of ready-go ships. The combat system is turn-based and consists of three phases: movement, combat, and damage control. The phases are crucial for setting up attacks and avoiding incoming fire so as not to resort to damage control.The combat phase is where the action really heats up. Players can choose from a variety of weapons, such as lasers, missiles, and torpedoes, to attack their opponents. Each weapon has its own unique characteristics, such as range, damage, and accuracy.
The game uses what I call a Chocolate, Vanilla, and Strawberry system of weapons and defenses. There are missiles, lasers, proton beams, and electron beams. I seem to recall neutron beams, but I think stole that from Starfire, another excellent game from the time period. Specific attacks are modified or negated by specific defenses which creates a wild dynamic where ships might have the WRONG type of firepower. As confusing as the terms are, there are only three or four so you can roll with it pretty easily.
There is a damage control phase, where players can repair any damage their ship has sustained during combat. This phase is vital, as a damaged ship is less effective in combat and can be destroyed more easily. Players can repair damage to their ship's hull, engines, weapons, and defenses, but doing so requires time and rolls against the DRC rating of the ship. It is far less complex than StarFleet Battles and can be adapted to be more Traveller-like by ignoring the DRC for some aspects and allowing characters to use their new starship skills to get stuff done. I wouldn't suggest making every repair a character skill roll, but the nugget of the idea is there.
I play StarFleet Battles, so I can't call this set complex or deep, but it has Basic and Advanced rules can get new players going with minimal fuss. Was I to stop the review here, the boardgame rules are stand-alone and would get 5 of five stars.
You'll notice that I gave this set 3 stars. That is because the integration with Alpha Dawn sucks. In Alpha Dawn, we left the characters with 3 PSAs with a max of 6 ranks. Knight Hawks throws in 4 more Star Ship Skills which are not PSA, but dependent on PSA. And require them to be nearly maxed out.
What?
On day one of purchasing the box set, you are months away from having your old characters gain the necessary skills to use this set. That's garbage. What does firing a gyrojet weapon at a tank have to do with lobbing a giga-ton nuke at a ship in orbit? Driving a car is related to jumping a spaceship? No. That shouldn't be a thing.
I could explain the way I handle this hitch, but instead, I will ding this set 3 stars and allow you to engage with your players as you see fit. I WILL give this set one additional star for adding more vehicles and space combat into the mix while resolving the chronic "First World Star Frontiers Problem".
What I call the First World Star Frontiers Problem is a lack of creativity in the creation of modules. It is really a problem of having too many options or possibilities available in the rules and settings hampering an author's ability to create an engaging scenario. Virtually all of the modules lay out a scenario, then strip the players of some or all of their weapons and kit. That is a systemic railroad if I ever saw one.
Don't do that to your players, do anything else.
Knight Hawks actually fixes this problem as even lifeboats have guns and ammo, tools are weapons and the ship is a flying storehouse. Giving the characters a massive starship basically means if they lose their gear, they go back to the ship and gun the f--- up, and come back with a vengeance. This is a better playing experience than losing it all and coming back from nothing. Half of the game is shopping for kit or designing spaceships. Why bother striping gear for every pre-packaged adventure?
In conclusion, Star Frontiers Knight Hawks is an adequate expansion that adds a new dimension to the already good Star Frontiers RPG. The ship-to-ship battles are engaging and challenging, requiring players to think strategically and use their resources wisely. While the system may be overwhelming at first, the rewards are well worth the effort. If you're a fan of science fiction and role-playing games both halves of this system are for you.
You can pick up a copy on DriveThruRPG either in PDF or Print. Either is very nice and the two boxed sets are combined together, so it's just one purchase. Personally, I would buy the combo PDF and Print set so you can print off as many of the map pieces and counters as you like. Star Frontiers has really nice counters and starship deckplans.
I decided to try out Studio Bergstrom. They have a series of ships called "Galactic Patrol" that are not specific to any TV or movie I have seen. Honestly, I haven't seen them all even though I've tried. The 11 ships I selected set me back $55.00 before shipping, which makes the math nice. $5.00 each on average.
With these first 11 ships, I want to practice painting. I figure I could come up with a nice paint scheme and vary the scheme by changing the base or detail colors. These 11 will be my base squad with one set of colors and the next order of 11 can have slight changes to create either a different squadron or an opposing fleet.
(It occurs to me that I should buy a nice camera to take pictures of my models. Maybe if I stop buying models.)
Now, I didn't pick the largest ships available, I selected what I thought looked good for a matching squadron.
1 Europa Cruiser
1 Scandinavia Destroyer
1 Indochine Cruiser
2 Africaino Destroyer
2 Oceana Destroyer
3 Nipponese Corvette
1 Mongolian Cluster Frigate
Oceana Destroyer |
Many of the ships come in two parts, top and bottom hulls with additional turrets and details.
The largest 4 ships came with silicone bases. These ingenious little things allow you to ram a pin through the base to mount the ship. I'm not sure if the pin's pointy end should pass through the base to the bottom of the ship or the other way around. Either seems like a fine idea.
I should have taken a better picture of the whole group of ships. Anyway, I will take more pictures as I get some paint on them. And they will feature in some of my upcoming reviews.
You can find Alastair Reynolds at www.alastairreynolds.com and approachingpavonis.blogspot.com |
In this post series, I will be selecting TV shows and movies that pair nicely with different rulesets. I won’t be picking big-budget, well-known series that probably have dedicated rulesets, like Star Wars, Firefly/Serenity, Farscape, or anything in the MCU.
I wanted to start off with an easy one, a TV show is
adaptable to many sets of rules.
The Rain is an amazing Danish TV series running 3 seasons. It is available on Netflix and it’s a very quick binge. The Rain’s story is covered in just 20 episodes, which is great for gaming. Once establishing the scenario, the tight episode schedule allows for a great amount of deviation for role play.
The main characters are Rasmus and Simone Andersen, two
children who live through an apocalyptic plague carried by the titular Rain by
escaping into a secret bunker. Cut off from the world, they live in isolation
for 6 years. They are forced out of the bunker by an alarm and are taken
captive by Martin, Patrick, Lea, Beatrice, and creepy Jean. Simone turns the
tables on the raiders by revealing that there is a network of bunkers
full of food and supplies the gang desperately needs.
It soon becomes clear that the raiders are atypical
survivors who avoid as much trouble as they can. They live by their wits and
their ability to hide. It is rather anticlimactic when the plot reveals a
dangerous organization called Apollon that hunts survivors for unknown
purposes, making Martin and Patrick’s gang far less dangerous than they seemed
in the prior episode. Even Jean who starts off creepy is far, far less threatening
than one would imagine.
The technology stays about 5-minutes in the future, with the
highest tech items being either drones or one-off 3d printed affairs with
little purpose other than to build suspense. The vast majority of the
technology revolves around detecting various things and horror-style
virology experiments gone wrong.
The series is weapons-lite, where the primary purpose is
either defense or mayhem. This is kind of understandable given the possibility
that the sky could open up and kill everyone. Marin has a semi-automatic rifle,
but no one else bothers to pick up a piece. The scenario puts the rule of 3 in
full effect: water, shelter, and food, in that order. Many of the other survivors
have weapons but not the skill to use them effectively nor the ability to
maintain them. Apollon is a paramilitary group that uses Humvees, body armor, and automatic weapons but is not terribly inclined to use them. The story is
more of a cat and mouse game than a post-apocalyptic shoot ‘em up.
In adapting this universe for gameplay, the referee or
gamemaster will be crossing off more items than they add to pretty much any
ruleset. That makes for quick set-up and low maintenance.
I did notice some odd items that were missing in this
series. Of course, cell phones are a thing of the past given that electrical
power is not generally available. The same goes for private vehicles due to the
total societal collapse. Some characters have bows and arrows. I found it odd
that almost no one has a knife, axe, or hatchet. Nothing could be more useful in
a survival situation.
On the
plus side, most of the characters in The Rain are under 30, so straight character generation
might not be too off kilter. Simply replace certain items from the tables with more
mundane goods. I would urge a referee to modify the tables in advance with
goods and resources from the world of The Rain preloaded so players don’t feel
cheated.
More than a few of Traveller’s skills are not made for a 5-minute in the future story but by performing the same preplanned swap for other
skills is easy. Logistical and basic education skills are king in this sort of
world. It is important to let the players know you aren’t taking things from
them but substituting a skill that is more appropriate.
Another old ruleset that could work is Top Secret. That game
has a good set of skills baked right at character generation. Going light on
starting skills mirrors the feel of The Rain’s characters. Many of the main
characters have no college education while a handful are “Super Asmodeus” types
when it comes to knowledge. Depending on the player’s style and desired
characters, you could make a “team level” pool of skill points where the party
chooses who to dump points on. Top Secret isn’t set too far in the past, so
it’s almost perfect for this TV show’s era. Again, the lack of weapons in the
show will merely enhance character survival.
My last pick of rule sets is After the Bomb by Palladium. The reason I place it last is The Megaversal system is so well integrated, it is easier to expand the possibilities than reduce them. Megaversal is a great system but the referee would need to cull a ton of bits to fit with The Rain. While After the Bomb seems a little off-beat for a bunch of plain Jane humans, I have not revealed details of the TV show which make this a sensible choice.
The
skill system is robust and sound. There is a total lack of MDC weapons used in The
Rain but that doesn’t mean the heroes won’t encounter MDC tough items in the
form of vehicles and bunkers and such. I like the hand-to-hand combat system for
this sort of survival scenario. Lots of dodging and parrying and pushing, as opposed to city leveling MDC combat.
What I haven’t mentioned in some mysterious events and people in The Rain, so as to avoid spoilers. After the Bomb and Traveller have the best rules to support these things while to my knowledge, Top Secret has none. A savvy referee could probably adapt these issues away while using the strengths of the Top Secret to keep things together.
Now, you may wonder why I haven't suggested other rulesets. The reason for this is simple, three is reasonable AND this is a series where I'll make future pairings of movies and TV shows to game sets. Stay tuned, your favorite game may show up eventually.
Krause stars as a divorced dad and Pittsburg police detective, Joe Miller. This is exactly the point where most but not all of the police procedural ends and the crazy begins. The series opens with a series of murders at a pawnshop with the number one suspect missing. Finding this guy is the key to The Lost Room. Joe finds his man dying from unknown causes and with his last breath, he places a key in Joe's hand.
From there, Joe's world spins out of control. You can try the trailer to try to get a sense of what's happening, but it doesn't quite cover it.
Joe finds every door opens with the key, yet returning to the door he entered doesn't work as it should. He hops from a sun-drenched hotel room off of Route 66... circa 1960 to many different points around the world. Through trial and error, he makes his way home. Joe's daughter , Anna disappears into the room sending Joe on an insane quest to learn the secrets of the room to bring his child back. And to clear his name of Anna's murder.
While it sounds like a bit from Monsters, Inc., the lost room is even odder than a one-eyed Mike Wazowski, Boo, and Sully dropping acid.
The world Joe and his daughter disappear into is one of creative storytelling with 100 objects cast minor characters to build a story of consistent insanity. Consistent enough to create a warped police procedural. Every item has a purpose, every purpose leads Joe step by step back to the room and his daughter, with every step, bringing a crazed 60s hip mythology to life through magical items. Items that call to people, items that are collected and killed for, the Objects of desire with a horrible price.
I wish I could say this mini-series was amazing, but it's really middle of the road. Peter Krauss and Ellie Fanning deliver, the story as wonky and compelling, but somehow the story never really progressed to satisfaction. It could be that Sci-Fi Channels' treatment of the story as a backdoor series pilot is to blame. Or maybe the internal consistency was not meant or able to progress to a regular serialized TV show. I'm not sure.
It was well written, nicely filmed with interesting locations, and still didn't quite rise to what it could have been. In rewatching in 2021, it is still as intriguing and crazy as it was in 2006. A modern-era Twilight Zone that didn't get the same traction as that other, more sustaining TV show. It has many of the same weird vibes as the X-Files without being locked at the turn of the century.
I give it a strong 3 of 5 stars.
You can pick up a DVD with the original 3 episodes parcelled out as 6 one hour episodes plus an 18-minute featurette called "Inside the Lost Room". On the DVD, the episodes have the following titles:
In the last post, I mentioned 6 different hit "locations" for criticals. Each type of ship has a list of six hit locations, all of which are different.
You will notice that some ships are compromised by different types of criticals while others are not. A commercial ship doesn't have the same abilities as warships or auxiliaries, so they cannot lose these systems. Warships are hardened against many attacks, so they cannot lose particular abilities.
A commercial vessel has the following critical hit locations:
Combat rules are simple. Roll one six sided die for each tech level of your guns. If multiple guns are available, they are either fired singly or grouped together. This will impact the number of critical hits you can do. If the opposing ship is a commercial vessel, you hit on a 1-3. If the opposing ship is an auxiliary ship you need a 1 or 2. If the opposing ship is a military vessel, only a one hits.
A Commercial ship is anything that is not designed by the military. A critical will be scored on two 1's or two 2's sequentially. Two criticals will be score on sequential rolls a 1 and a 2. These must be sequential rolls. For example a roll of 1, 1, 2, 3, is just one critical and four hits, while a roll of 1, 2, 1, 2 is four hits and four criticals.
An Auxillary is a commercial ship designed with military tech and refits in mind. It is not a war vessel, but has some defenses. It is hit on a score of 1 or 2. A critical will be scored on two 1's, sequentially. Two criticals will be score on sequential rolls 1 and a 2. For example a roll of 1, 1, 2, 3, is just one critical and three hits, while a roll of 1, 2, 1, 2 is four hits and four criticals.
A warship or military ship is designed specifically for combat. A critical will be scored on a sequential rolls of 1 and 1. Military ships do not take double criticals. For example a roll of 1, 1, 2, 3, is just one critical and two hits while a roll of 1, 2, 1, 2 is only two hits and no criticals.
A ship can take a number of hits depending on type not size. A commercial ship can take 10 hits, a Auxiliary can take 15 and a warship can take 20. Warships are designed to shed fire.
Critical hits score a point of damage and damage a specific part of the ship. Critical hits are scored against certain parts of the ship: Life Support, Communications, Engines, Warp Drives, Shields and specific compartments. While each of the first 5 can be damaged only once, specific compartments can be hit multiple times. Think of it as trying to destroy a garbage can with a sledgehammer. It just keeps taking ugly hit after hit. Enough hits and it stops being a garbage can or in this case, a ship.
Next post, compartments, shuttles and fighters plus roll modifiers.
And not entirely appropriate for this game. As the title of the posts says, right name, wrong game. There is a flaw in this system which could be a typo or perhaps something intentional.
I have mentioned several times that this game seems to have some aspects of Traveller, a very simplified version of Traveller. In some respects that is true. The plots, the technology types, even the Antelope starship itself. But that is where the similarities end.
In studying this game, I have come to the conclusion that it might have been a stand alone game used by the author for a science fiction setting. Some sort of super campaign.
One of the hints at this possibility is the combat system. It is really designed well for ship to ship combat where smuggling and piracy are critical.
The game system has tech levels, from 1 to 6. For spaceship combat, you are able to roll one die for each tech level of the ship's guns. For tech level 6, you can roll a maximum of six dice.USN Cetus |
The Chesterton Transport |
The USN Thresher Prototype |
The USN Dervish Class |
Interior, with engines off done in Inkscape. |