More Pen Work

What do you think is going on? My wife has asked for a new tattoo, I've been doing starship deckplans. How could those to things come together.

Perhaps, one is warm up for the other. 

Maybe I am thinking of a new project.

Or two.

Pandemic Radio for Saturday, March 21st, 2020

Back in the day, I would've made you cassette tape but in this day and age, those are no longer supported. Even still, this is TheseOldGames and while technology changes the sentiment remains the same.

This series will continue as long as deemed interesting. You can also catch my latest daily series, Strictly (Duke) Springer here. 



This list includes the following songs:

Lightning Seeds  -  Pure
Peter Gabriel - Big Time
Seal - Crazy
Garbage - Only Happy When It Rains
Fatboy Slim - Weapon Of Choice
Utah Saints - Something Good f/ Kate Bush
Sneaker Pimps - Wasted Early Sunday Morning
Ximena Sarinana - Different
INXS - New Sensation
The KIllers - Somebody Told Me
Pop Will Eat Itself - Karmadrome

Youtube was selects as an option as I felt it would be the most accessible. Having said that, someone will probably get the message "Not available in your region/country".

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 081 – March 21st.

Aw geeze. I screwed up. I bought 660 side arms at 15 each only to realize I can only sell them for a maximum of 20 each. That is hardly worth the effort. We made 13200, but I have to pay the crew 1,188 or 132 each leaving 12,012. That was a great roll, but poor effect.

I'll probably get around to redrawing Deadeye. It looks like he's wearing a steel diaper. Since he or she never takes the mask off, I am not sure if he is a man or a woman. Perhaps we need a gender reveal because I know I've been flip flopping pronouns. As an added bonus, I wiped eraser dust off the drawing and it all ended up in the crotch area. "I don't need glasses to erase junk..."

We spend the last hour of the day moving to the Ruins. Deadeye is now fully healed.

I have 155,883 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 080 – March 20th.

We spend all day trying to buy side arms. We get them for 15 secs. each. They are tech level 1. We purchase 660 of them for 9,900. We have two hours left and move to the slums.

On entry we get trailed by bandits, but since we can outrun them in the ship, nothing happens.

Deadeye has one more day of rest before fully healed.

I have 155,883 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek.

New Artwork

Not much to say, these are inked artworks for my wife. The first image has a circle scribed around it. Not sure why I did that but Kitty says it needs to be inked. Not sure how to handle that one. We'll see.

Next up is Ariel. It's a pretty simple design. Kitty wants it as a tattoo, so I may redo it so that Ariel's back is arched more to be the cap on a shoulder sleeve. Again, we'll see. 

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 079 – March 19th.

We move off to the Industrial Area, while Deadeye and Duke are healing. David is on the guns for the Antelope while Michael flies.

We get side arms right away, but the price is 25 secs. each. That is a bit high. We get nothing more of interest today.

At the end of the day, Duke is fully healed and Deadeye has 2 more days.

I have 165,783 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek.

Star Smuggler: e036 Rewrite for New Ships

When I created 3 new ships, I did so without access to e036. I was working from memory. So, let's rewrite the whole scenario using my house rules. The table at the end also addresses e001, which now gives you a choice of what ship to start with.

You can read all of e036 as it stands, but add in the following paragraphs to the end:

"Other options exist if you already own a starship. You may purchase another Antelope ship on credit and can trade in your old Antelope. Assuming you have paid off the loan on the first ship, that is. This option is not available if you owe anything on the old ship. If this ship is paid off, you will receive 60,000 credit against the principal and the interest payment will be reduced.

"You may also purchase a different class of ship under the same terms.

"Ships obtained from e001 have all of the items listed for an Antelope class, meaning you could be missing guns, hoppers and the like.

"When purchasing a new ship, you obtain it under the same conditions as the Antelope in e036. It will not have guns or hoppers or any other equipment. However, you have access to the shipyard's inventory. You may purchase boats (e035), boats guns (e053), ship's guns (e056) and hypercharges (e025). Stasis Units are not available here. Purchases each of these items at the dealership adds a premium. Add 100 secs. to the base price of each item.

"If you wish, you may purchase anyone of these ships outright. Please see the table below for all options.

"When trading in an old ship, you may transfer any gear or cargo from one ship to another, however, you may not remove the ship's guns, boats, boat guns, hypercharges, or permanently installed stasis units in the pilot's area. Items in the cargo hold count as cargo not equipment. If you are missing equipment, the ship is not sale-able and you will have to purchase these items either before going to the dealer (a die roll) or purchase them at the dealer's price.

"You may not roll against Cunning to negotiate the price of these ships, nor may you use ANY another mechanic such as psionics, drugs or pheromones to alter the prices. All attempts to do so will make you wanted in this system."

	Antelope		Alicorn		Blockade Buster		Buffalo
	Price	Interest	Price	Interest	Price	Interest	Price	Interest
Starting Ship	120000	300	160000	400	256000	640	300000	750
Full Purchase	180000	0	240000	0	384000	0	450000	0
Financed	120000	300	160000	400	256000	640	300000	750
Fin. w/Trade	60000	150	100000	250	196000	490	240000	600

Players may wish a refresh on the alernate Hoppers:

Orbiter, e034. 1800 secs. base price. e035 is 2400 secs.
Fast Boat, e034. 1000 secs. base price. e035 is 1500 secs.
Interceptor, e034. 2500 secs. base price. e035 is 5000 secs.

Remember, the Orbiter is larger than most hoppers. Their full description is here.

The Alicorn's full description is here. Click the links for the Buffalo and Blockade Buster.

Look out for more house rules updates.

Alesmiter - Blog with an Eye on History

I just found the Alesmiter blog and added it to the list. So far, my favorite post is about Wolf Island Castle in England. Rod Thompson has an excellent photo series on this historical site and a series of inspirational posts in addition to gaming information.

Rod also posts on C&S other great games, both new(ish) and old. I love the old school vibe of his site and the images he uses.

I can't wait to read it all. And the way things are going, I will probably have the time.

I... We Still Hate Read Magic

I hate read magic as spell. Its... well, let me tell you, it's everything Dragons Gonna Drag said it was. Justin says everything I thought about this useless spell and more. With poetry, actual poetry. He doesn't just hate this spell, he has all kinds of tips, tricks and mechanics to get rid of it in a comprehensive fashion.

Someone once told me, "Criticism without an action item is... assholish." Justin Stewart names the issue and gives the reader many, many good ideas on alleviating the problem. It isn't just criticism, is valid criticism with a viable solution. Love it!

Why not add him to your reading list? Go check him out. 

By the way, feel free to add your blog or your favorite blog to my reading list by mentioning it in the comments. I can't wait to add it to my blog roll.

Build Worlds, Second Edition by Dancing Light Press

I've been looking at Build Worlds, Second Edition by Dancing Light Press for a while. It retails for $4.99 and tops out at just shy of 90 pages at 89. The cover art is excellent and the table of contents is tight. The book is divided into three main headings, Intro, Format and Elements, each one bigger than the last.

From the links above, you can see I am heavily invested in World Building for my B/X and AD&D campaigns. Back in the day, I picked a wonderful book for second edition AD&D called Campaign Sourcebook and Catacomb Guide. While I had a low awareness of second edition and a slight dislike of it, this book was a revelation to me. Now, it isn't exactly built for world building, but it drags you through the process of designing the adventures within your world.

Building Worlds is specifically meant for world building and is totally rule set agnostic. That means it should rejuvenate your eyes, giving the reader fresh insight in to their current campaign or a new one they are planning.

Go ahead and give them both a try. Both are available at DriveThruRPG from the links above.

Strictly (Duke) Springer - Day 078 – March 18th.

On entry to the New Karma system, we are mind probed. Ugh. Duke is struck dumb and the crew struggles to find a target as he takes damage. Deadeye locates a small ship and blasts it out of his sky. He is also struck by an incredible force. Both Duke (2 hits) and Deadeye (4 hits) are wounded, but we will recover.

I forget this game psionics. Cool, but not cool.

New Karma is one of those double planet systems. Nipna, Mynkuria, Talitar, New Karma and Byzatium are all double planets. I have always thought there might be a way to set up a trade route from planet A to Planet B, but haven’t really found a good one.

Let’s look at the areas on New Karma. Planet I has Slums, 2 Spaceports, Colony, Mining, Gambling, and 2 Industrial areas. Planet II has 2 Colonies, Military Base, Industrial, Ruins, Rural, Prison, and Rough. I think I could set up a trade route from the Ruins to a Spaceport.

We have no problems and land at the spaceport on Planet I. Before we start rolling, Deadeye, Duke, Lefty and Bones report to sick bay for healing. Emily takes the rest of the crew out to get supplies in the remaining 4 hours of daylight.

Emily hires a woman named Ace as a backup pilot then refuels the ships with Hypercharges by the end of the day.

Lefty and Bones are fully healed. Duke has one more day and Deadeye has 3 more days of healing.

I have 165,743 secs. We are wanted in the Palatek.

Eagle Torch Ship Deckplans

I've been making deckplans for Star Smuggler style ships, which probably also could be included a great deal of other gaming products. This one didn't work out, but I like the style so far. This is good Inkscape practice.

I'm not done by a longshot, but some of the ideas running through my head is a mercury capsule like crew compartment at the nose, surrounded by all kinds of mechanical workspaces. The large rounded wings like structures are for solid cargo while the circular parts are for liquid and gaseous materials. The engines are inaccessible by the crew, except by spacesuit. 

I'm still brainstorming ideas. I pictured this vessel as a control space, an engine, life support and a lot of open space not really dedicated for anything. If it has a shuttle, there are probably two double parked in one of the larger areas of the ship. It is not optimal for any purpose except space for work.