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.