Space Opera Heroes - The Star of Life

Following up from my dicussion of Space Opera Heroes' basic rules, I thought the next, best thing to do is try making up a character.

I don't know about you but this is what I always do when I come across new RPGs that I'm interested in. I learn the system's base mechanic and then try to make up a PC. This is the approach that gives me the fastest and most efficient 'feel for the game'.

Let's take a look at the Character Sheet.

Pretty simple and straightforward design I think. Easy enough to read. I did very little alteration from the Japanese version; just a few adjustments to accomodate the translations. I like that you can fit everything on one sheet, at least at the start. 

To assist me with this I have once again called upon my new friend Gidget Starseeker, an Alien Explorer currently venturing into the frontier sectors with her robot companion, GUS.

Before we get started, I want to be completely transparent: Space Opera Heroes is a little...well...a product of its time. That's not exactly right. Hmm. I'll try to explain.

Primarily emulating the Space Opera genre fiction of the 1930s to the 1970s, the game focuses on the Space Opera HERO, not the Space Opera HEROINE. Most of the Archetypes are assumed to be male because those were the protagonists in Science Fiction of the era most influential on the game. Buck Rogers, Captain Future, Captain Harlock, Crusher Joe, Flash Gordon, Lensman, and many other stories were very male hero-centric.

At the same time, the game seems self-aware and progressive enough to address this. It provides several Female specific Archetypes that are no less effective than their Male counterparts. Furthermore, the game acknowledges the increasing number of Female protagonists in the genre (remember this game was written in 1992). As influential as Perry Rodan and Star King were on the RPG, the game also lists The Dirty Pair, Gall Force, Queen Esmeralda, Rumiko Takahashi's story 'The Superwoman', and other Female protagonist-led titles as major inspirations.

In the end, I am going to run and play my game my way and my way says guys, gals, non-binary pals, and everyone else is treated equally. We're all using the same rules and we can all be Space Opera Heroes. To be clear, the game is not of a counter opinion. It is simply written from the standpoint of a Japanese guy from the early 90s talking about a genre whose Golden Age was in the 50s, 60s, and 70s. 

OK? Cool. Onward...

Character Creation

There are two ways to create a Player Character in Space Opera Heroes. The first way is the long way and creates a character from the ground up. I'll have to give that a try sometime soon. The second way interests me much more: Archetypes. Basically choose or even invent an Archetype - which is not unlike a Template in Star Wars D6 or a Career in ALIEN - allocate some Skill Points, make a few choices, get some gear, and you're ready to go. That's where I started so that's what I'm going to talk about. 

In order to create 'Alien Explorer', an Archetype that doesn't exist in the game, I looked at the over 40 different Archetypes and essentially combined elements of two together. Looking over the list, it seemed the closet relatives to what I wanted would be Female Doctor/Scientist and Lucky Heroine. My character is mainly built on the latter but I gave up Energy Sword in exchange for Sensors and I added a Science: Biology Skill. The other Skills that fill out the Archetype are Evasion, Firearms-Pistol, Intuition, Spaceship Navigation, and Spaceship Pilot. Your Archetype also provides you with a set of Attributes.

Most of the Archetypes have six Skills and if they don't, the Skills start at a higher Base Score and/or the character will have one or two Attributes that are pretty high.  

When spending the 11 Skill Points I received to improve these Skills, I added one or two to the numbers the Skills automatically came with (1 for everything except Evasion, which is 2) and had one point left over. I used the one point to create a Special Ability, 'Danger Sense', which helps to define Gidget as an Alien (it is her Antenna that give her this ability). 

I haven't figured out how money works or rather I haven't figured out how much money you start with. It is noted that PCs start with some kind of Starship and considering I will likely be using Gidget as a Solo Character, I decided to give her a Callisto Class vessel. These are typical of Player Character type spaceships and can be decked out for Smuggling, Fighting, Exploring, or virtually any other configuration. Remember, the game doesn't give Starships much detail, treating them like just another piece of equipment. I'm expanding the Starship rules by porting over mechanics from Space Ship Story (more on that in a future post). 

I gave her a basic Spacesuit, a Robot Companion, a Raygun (the lowest power type), and a few other minor devices. Overall, the PC's equipment was just stuff I decided to give her as opposed to actual 'purchases'. Once I figure out the money situation I'll pay off the debt she has [if any]. 

Here's what her write-up looks like:

 

I like her. I like her a lot actually. She was fun to create,  which if you know me you know that's a pretty big deal for me to say  I don't generally enjoy Character Creation but here it was fun. It felt like picking a Template like those in Star Wars D6 and getting a character that feels more like classic Traveller. She was simple and remarkably quick to make but has just enough detail and uniqueness for me to 'get her' almost instantly.

Fun Fact: In the example I used in the previous post I said she had a Sensors and Science: Biology Skill of 2 each but that was just a guess based on my initial eyeballing of the Character Creation system. Once I figured out I had accidentally given her too many Skills, I redistributed her Skill Points enabling her to obtain higher ranks in certain ones (as noted on the sheet above). 

Dang it, she's cool and I am looking forward to exploring frontier space with her. 

Next up? Most likely her starship, the GFI-S.S. Wanderer, a modified GP-JS-Zeta Callisto Class Explorer. 

Is there something you'd like to know more about or see? Leave a comment and let me know.

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Barking Alien

Origin of the Title: 'The Star of Life' was a Science Fiction Novel written by Edmond Hamilton and published in exerpts in Startling Stories Magazine in 1947

Space Opera Heroes - Operation Future

I've been kind of obsessed with the 'old school' Japanese TRPG Space Opera Heroes lately and while I was going over it I just happen to run into this friendly young lady who offered to help me get a better understanding of the system. 

She calls herself 'Gidget Starseeker' because, as she explained, her real name sounds vaguely like Gidget and the rest is unpronouceable by Humans. Fair enough. I promised that if she helped me to better grok this game I would make her a Character Sheet and possibly chronicle some of her adventures. 

He goes nothing...

The base mechanic of the game is very simple: when the outcome of a judgement would be variable, unclear, and especially dramatic, the player rolls 1 six-sided die and adds their character's appropriate Attribute and Skill to the result. If the final number meets or beats a Target Number the action succeeds. If not, the actions fails. Unless...well we'll get to that.

Attribute (Stat) + Skill + 1D6 Result = Total Roll

Now here's where things get interesting and the game shows its commitment to the Space Opera genre. Space Opera Heroes don't fail very often. In fact, they often succeed with epic effect! To this end, each judgement roll of your six-sided die is an Exploding Six-sided Die! That's right, the 1D6 you roll on every action check explodes on a 6!

For those unfamiliar with the Exploding Die concept; If you roll a 6 you add the result to your Stat+Skill and roll again, adding the next result to your total. If that number is a 6 you roll again, repeating the process until you don't roll a 6. 

For every 5 points over the Target Number the roll achieves, the character is able to do +1 Damage and/or gain an additional benefit of varying degrees. According to the rules it would look something like this:

Roll is < The Target Number = Failure. (Unless...see below)

Roll is = or > than the Target Number = Success!

Roll is > the Target Number +5 = Effective Success. +1 Damage or Situation Benefit.

Roll is > the Target Number +10 = Critical Success. +2 Damage or 2 Situation Benefits.

Roll is > the Target Number +15 = Extraordinary Success. +3 Damage or 3 Benefits.

Roll is > the Target Number +20 or more = Legendary Success. +4 Damage or 4 Benefits.

If it is appropriate to the scene you can split the Damage and Benefits so that, for example, an Extraordinary Success could be +4 Damage and 2 Situation Benefits. Likewise it could be +2 Damage and 4 Benefits. Only one point of Damage and one Benefit may be exchanged in this way. 

What the Situation Benefits are should be discussed between the Space Opera Master and PC Hero. Maybe your Laser Gun shoots one Pirate and he falls back, knocking another Pirate off his feet. Perhaps you hack into a Computer System to shut down the Alarm and you discovered the fastest path to your target. Benefits can translate to getting more information if you are performing a Sensor scan or asking Scientific questions. 

The Target Numbers in general are as follows:

3 - Very Easy (Usually not worth rolling for)

4 - Fairly Easy

6 - Easy

8 - Standard

9 - Tricky. Slightly Difficult.

10 - Difficult

12 - Very Difficult

15 - Extremely Difficult 

In some situations the player may get to roll more than 1D6. When doing so, you identify which one of your dice is the Base Die, the one representing the PC and the only one that Explodes. The other dice come from outside the PC (explained below) and are rolled along with the Base Die but only the Highest Score Rolled Counts. Again, if that roll is a 6 on the Base Die, you roll again as per the Exploding Die rules above. 

Why would the PC get extra dice? There are a number of reasons but the most commons ones are:

The PC getting as assist from other PCs or a Major NPC.

The PC's Starship has a Special Feature that grants a bonus die. 

The PC has Special Gear or a Special Ability like Psychic Power or Cybernetics. 

Here's a play example: 

Gidget is trying to scan a Biological Sample held in an illegal lab. The bad guys are trying to get in but she's used the computer to lock the door. Scanning with her Multi-Scanner is Easy (Target Number 6) but she is in a hurry. Her enemies will break in soon enough. That's a difficulty increase to 7.

Gidget's Intellect is 3 and her Sensors and Biology Skills are both 2. We'll say its Sensors. So she's rolling 1D6 + 3 + 2. Here we go...oops. A 1. That's a 6 Total, one less than she needs. Before she finishes her scan the villains open the door and point their Ray Guns at her. 

Example Two:

Same situation but Gidget isn't alone. She is with her robot companion, GUS (Guardian Utility Scout). While she is scanning, GUS is overriding the door controls so the enemy can't open it without blowing the door off but they don't know that right away. 

Once again, Gidget rolls her Intellect + Sensors + 1D6 but now she gets an extra 1D6 thanks to GUS' assistance. So 3 + 2 + a 2D6 roll, resulting in...oh wow. A 5 and a 6 on the Base Die. I roll again. 6. Again and I get a 1. Great Galaxies! 3+2+6+6+1 = 18! The Target Number was 7 and she beat it by 11 so that's a Critical Success! She not only Succeeds in scanning the sample but also manages to erase the data in the bad guys' computer and gets herself and GUS to a hatch in the ceiling for their escape. 

Now, I've been mentioning that if you don't meet the Target Number you Fail your action 'Unless'...well that unless is if you spend a Hero Point. If you Fail and spend a Hero Point you Succeed with a Consequence. Things work but don't go exactly as planned. Maybe a new problem arises. Like many other Japanese TRPGs, Success after Fail comes with a cost and makes things a bit more complicated (and interesting).

Lastly...

Hero Points

Hero Points are pretty awesome in this game, generally allowing the PCs to be as hard to defeat as a Space Opera Hero in the genre fiction show be. At the same time, Space Opera Heroes are famous from getting out of the frying pan and into the fire; getting away from a corridor full of Stormtroopers can land you in a Trash Compactor with a garbage squid and walls that will crush you flat. 

Here's what they can be used for:

Fail a Judgement Roll for any Action Check, spend 1 HP and Success w/ Consequence

Spend 1 HP, an Attack against your PC misses. Beware! Something or someone got hit.

Otherwise, spend 1 HP to lower the Damage Rank your character has taken. 

Spend 1, take an Attack meant for someone else. You take damage. Spend 1 to reduce.

Spend 1 to have a one time item you need. You find it near by or in your pack.

Spend 1 to gain Skill you don't already have. Must be related to one on your sheet.

Some of these have particulars that I should to go into greater detail about, so expect to see that soon. 

I'd like to thank you all for coming by and checking this out. I'd also like to thank Gidget for all her help. GUS too. You might be hearing a lot more from them in the near future. 

Ah, Future! Get it?

Later days,

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Barking Alien

Origin of the Title: 'Operation Future' was a Science Fiction Short Story and Exerpt Collection published by Permabooks in 1955. The anthology was edited by Groff Conklin. 

What Drives Your Campaign?

In a comment on my A World of Adventure post, the ever emerald TheKelvinGreen responded to my desire for a open world exploration focused campaign by saying, "I've always wanted to play in a completely open exploration game. Alas, I only ever get to play mission-based or plot-heavy games, with little exploration."

My hearts go out to Kelvin to be sure. At the same time, his statement got me thinking about I what such campaigns would be like. TRPGs with 'little exploration' are not something I'm deeply familiar with. More or less exploration I can conceive of but 'little' just doesn't compute in my adventuring-into-the-unknown oriented brain.

I thought I would take this opportunity to talk about campaign design as it relates to games that are Mission Driven, Narrative Driven, and Exploration Driven. 

Mission Driven

In my mind, a Mission Driven campaign has the PCs largely reacting to and engaging with adventures given to them by an outside entity. The typical Mission comes from a patron; an individual or group capable of hiring you to go perform a task for them. It could be a wealthy merchant, a secret government agency, or even a regular person who needs your character's/party's particular set of skills and abilities. 

Examples of strongly Mission Driven campaigns would be most Superhero games, most Star Trek games, Espionage, and Ghostbusters. 

Superheroes are alerted to criminal activity by the Major or the Trouble Alert.

Star Trek characters are sent to investigate strange anomalies by Starfleet Command. Espionage parties get assignments from Control.

Ghostbusters receive a call from the Manager of a Fancy Hotel about a Ghost.

It is also possible the one giving you your Missions is antagonistic towards your party; you work for them to pay off a debt or their harm you or someone you care about if you don't. In either case, the scenarios come to the PCs and they largely wait for that to happen. Like Firefighters, they don't [usually] roam the streets looking for fires but instead are on stand-by until a call comes in. 

Narrative Driven

Narrative Driven campaigns feature the party of PCs going on an adventure for reasons conditional to the story being told. Maybe its to avenge the destruction of their homeland, to prove they are worthy of being the rulers of a kingdom, or because their dying mentor told them of a great treasure hidden in a distant place. The adventures they go on are all tied to a story and driven by emotions and personal goals. It could be THE story, an overarching tale that influences the entire campaign but it could just as easily be about the members of the group helping one another in pursuit of all of their individual stories. 

Examples of this are tough for me to come up with as this sort of campaign can be created in nearly any kind of setting or genre. A Dungeons and Dragons campaign COULD be Narrative but so could a Horror, Superhero, or virtually any other kind of game. The key is story first and everything else after. 

I can see a number of games of this nature also have Missions and Exploration within them, though I'll address more on this towards the end of the post.

Exploration Driven

By far my favorite type of campaign and the one hardest to execute these days (see below) is the full on Exploration game where a map is made or a region described and the 'adventures' depend on where the PCs want to go and what they want to do there.

Often the Exploration is connected to some idea or theme that governs why the group of Player Characters are exploring the area they're in but what happens because of that motivation is anyone's guess. Once the PCs interact with whatever their destination has in-store for them things can literally go in any direction.

This is my preferred way of running Medieval Fantasy games, Traveller and other Spacefaring Sci-Fi, and I've used it to good effect in other genres as well. There are several games that are traditional viewed as Mission Driven that I think benefit from being a mix of Mission and Exploration (keep reading and you'll see what I mean). 

What Actually Drives Campaigns

Generally speaking, most campaigns are a mix of all these classifications. At least mine are and I would imagine so are most of yours.

Granted, the particular 'levels' of each would vary from Gamemaster to Gamemaster, Genre to Genre, and Campaign to Campaign. For the most part, my Star Trek campaigns are mainly Mission Driven with a great deal of Character Narrative and a good amount of Exploration. Likewise for Superheroes. My Traveller, Star Wars, and other Sci-Fi Space Adventure campaigns are mainly Exploration, with a great deal of Character Narrative and a good amount of Missions. While my Fantasy campaigns tend towards a Exploration, Narrative, Mission format, The Winghorn Guard games [being heavily influenced by the Superhero genre) are Mission, Exploration, Narrative. I think Ghostbusters would be considered Mission, Narrative, Exploration. 

A campaign missing any one of these elements would be pretty odd. These are the key ingredients of Tabletop RPG campaign and adventure design at its most basic after all [IMHO]. I can honestly say I would want to run or play in a campaign with no exploration and no story of any kind. No missions? It's weird to say maybe but I feel that's the only one I could do without and at the same time, I can't imagine an ongoing game that doesn't include missions.

The biggest issue I face these days is that Exploration Driven games require proactivity on the part of the players. You need the people participating to enjoy looking around and interacting with your world or universe. I ran a Traveller campaign not that long ago wherein the PCs were hired by the Imperial Interstellar Scout Service to help them complete the Grand Survey, since the IISSS didn't have enough ships to cover the entirty of Charted Space. Basically their job was to explore the planets in a particular Subsector, catalog key stats and information on them, and report back to the IISS on their findings. If they found particularly useful data such as major resource deposits, a hidden pirate base, an unusual lifeform, or whathaveyou, the PCs would get a 'finder's fee' bonus.

One of my players just couldn't wrap his head around the idea. He didn't understand what we were doing. What was the 'Mission'. He needed to be told, 'Go to Planet A. Do X thing', or it was all too vague for him. Exploration for exploration's sake wasn't a strong enough motivator for him [even though I made it clear he and the other PCs were also getting paid with bonus for more interesting finds]. The game didn't last that long and it made me overly nostalgic for my own High School campaigns of exploring just for the thrill of finding something new. 

What about you? What's your preferences and what do you actually end up running? 

Let me know. I'm really curious!

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Barking Alien

The Smurfs and The Whispering Stones

Oh The Smurfs RPG, I do smurf you so!

With two of our Wednesday night regulars out for various reasons, I had the opportunity to run The Smurfs once again this past week and obviously I smurfed at the chance!

In addition to returning characters like Sir Smurfsalot - The Questing Smurf and Spelly Smurf, we had Will trying out a new character in the form of Smurfevergreen of Smurfy Grove. 

The adventure, which I titled The Smurfs and The Whispering Stones, was inspired by some interesting folklore I came across recently pertaining to the beliefs and practices of the Gauls in Northwestern France.

The Smurfs of both Smurf Village and Smurfy Grove are all kept up one evening by whispered voices heard on the wind. No one can make out what they are saying but neither can anyone ignore them and get back to sleep. Well...all except Spelly, who cast a QUIET Spell as he does every evening to help him rest comfortably. 

In Smurf Village, Papa Smurf went door to door checking on his little Smurfs. Brainy was seeing formulas spin around his head. Smurfette could barely keep her eyes open. Even Lazy was awake! When Papa reached Sir Smurfsalot, the latter offered to go on a quest to silence these foul whispers! Papa Smurf was happy to hear that, as he had an idea of what the issue might be. He suggested Sir Smurfsalot not go alone, taking at least one other Smurf with him. He decided to call upon his friend Spelly Smurf, certain that Spelly's magic would probably prove helpful. 

Unfortunately, with the QUIET Spell cast within Spelly's house, he was unable to hear Papa and Smurfsalot knocking on his front door. Not to worry! Concerned for Spelly's well-being, Sir Smurfsalot removed his armor and climbed down Spelly's chimney. He was then able to go to Spelly's bedroom to wake him (funny scene). Going downstairs with Smurfsalot to meet Papa, Spelly got the lowdown on what was going on. Papa further explained what he thought the cause of the problem might be. 

"At the edge of the West Woods, past the Sarsaparilla Fields, and the path to Smurfy Grove, there are five menhirs (Gallic Standing Stones) known as 'The Whispering Stones' and 'The Hiding Menhir'. These stones aid in the enchantments that hide the Smurfs' lands and protect them from people like Gargamel. While the magic prevents that foul sorceror from finding our Village and the Grove, it is possible he's located the menhir themselves! If he's moved one, he may yet be able to locate our hidden homes!"

With that, Sir Smurfsalot and Spelly Smurf headed off into the night to investigate what had become of the stones. Papa Smurf advised them to return as soon as they knew what the situation war.

[Before he left the village, Spelly wrote the word QUIET with special chalk, one letter on each of five fist sized rocks. The three Smurfs then placed the rocks in a pentagram like pattern around the village, providing the rest of the Smurfs with a chance to get some much needed shut-eye.]

Meanwhile, wide awake though it was the middle of the night, a female Smurf of Smurfy Grove stood near her work bench in a hollowed out section of a tree. This was Smurfevergreen and she lived on her own a little ways away from Smurfy Grove in a tree at the end of the West Woods. Evergreen is an unusual Smurf in many ways; she prefers to be alone, she likes her tree home as opposed to a Mushroom House, and makes various tools and items out of things she finds out in nature. For example, she didn't carefully carve her bow and arrows so much as find twigs and saplings and just adapt them for her purposes. The only item she owns that may not have been made by her is a Survival Knife which she uses to cut and chop ingredients and materials for her...well...survival. 

Smurfevergreen hears the strange whispers and goes to investigate. The Whispering Stones are not that far from her home so she arrives well before the boys of Smurf Village. The voices were very creepy but hard to make out until she got close. Now she heard 'stone', 'moved', 'danger', and 'broken'. This did not bode well. 

Spelly Smurf and Sir Smurfsalot heard the words but much more faintly as they came striding down the path. Noting a small, dark hole behind the stones - possibly a fox's den or rabbit warren - Spelly wondered if there was something or someone hiding in there. As if on cue, dust and mist billowed out of the hole and five small, angry-looking people came running out towards the Smurfs. The dwarf-like creatures began shouting in a strange dialect the Smurfs couldn't make out at first. Spelly and Smurfsalot tried to communicate with them but the mad mini-men weren't listening.

Smurfevergreen leapt out from the bushes and ended up behind the creatures as they ran towards the boy Smurfs. Using her Survival Knife, she cut the belt of one of two twin beings, causing his pants to fall down and tripping him into a face-plant.

The boys briefly engaged the creatures as well but before long one of them said something Spelly caught on to. He tried again to talk to these ruffians and their 'leader' called Spelly out for 'moving one of the stones'. Pointing out that the Smurfs had only just arrived and were way to small to move a menhir, the creatures began to question their overzealous actions. Noting that SOMEONE moved one of the stones, breaking the enchantment that protects Smurf Village and Smurfy Grove, but these fellows couldn't see who it was. Apparently the culprit was 'Cloaked in Darkness'. 

The creatures introduce themselves as The Goric, spirits of the Whispering Stones. 

Assembling together with Smurfevergreen, Spelly and Smursalot explained that they were Smurfs and that it was their homes that the stones helped protect. "Why would WE move them?" This made sense to the Gorics. Their leader mentioned that it was 'the Old Man' and 'The Lady' - Papa Smurf and Smurfwillow - who set up the magic in the first place. The Goric apologized, not recognizing the Smurfs as being the same type of people as the Old Man and Lady. It turns out the Goric act first and think...eventually. 

Studying the stones, it was indeed clear one of the stones had been moved, though not more than two Human strides. That's three or four steps for a Goric and quite a few more for a Smurf. Suddenly a trap went off, catching Smurfevergreen and two of the Gorics in a crude rope net and lifting them high off the ground. Using her Survival Knife and the surprising strength of the Goric, Evergreen was able to free them all, taking part of the rope net down with them.

Judging by footprints near by, it was likely the menhir was moved by a Man and that man was accompanied by a small animal. Probably a cat.

Wait a smurf...

Now the Smurfs panicked! "If it were indeed that fiend Gargamel and Azrael, his wretched familiar, thy friends are in grave danger! The protection of the enchantment hast doth been weakened and they may be nary moments from bestowing woe upon our lands!", exclaimed Sir Smurfsalot. 

It was true and what to do about the situation had to be decided at once! Spelly had an idea! Move the stone back into place first. With any luck, Gargamel and Azrael haven't reached the Village yet and there was still a chance to confuse them and have them lose their way. 

Sir Smurfsalot immediately went to push the stone back into place but even his great strength [for a Smurf] was quite enough. Smurfevergreen fashioned a lasso out of the remains of the rope net so she could pull while Smurfsalot pushed. Spelly asked the Goric if they could help to. It never occurred to them that they might be able to move the stones themlves. Never once in all their centuries. All together, the entire group moved the menhir back into place and just as they did, Gargamel bumped into a tree! He looked about and could not longer see the way to Smurf Village.

"Where did that come from? Wait...where is the path? Azrael! Which way, Azrael? What happened?", Gargamel called out. A confused Azrael just shrugged and looked this way and that. "Egad Azrael! The Smurfs! It must be them. They must have moved the stone back into place! Curses! We must go back to the Whispering Stones and this time, break them into pieces!" This was following by a manical laugh and the sounds of a snickering cat.

Pulling up the hood on a particularly peculiar dark cloak, Gargamel and Azrael faded into the shadows as they headed to the standing stones once again. 

The Smurfs meanwhile assumed their enemy would be making their way back to them and formulated a plan. Spelly readied himself to cast a major spell but needed the others to buy him time. Sir Smurfsalot and Smurfevergreen got ready as the Goric, cheering on the Smurfs, faded back into the spirit world and the stones. 

Not long after, when bushes rustled and hands swiped down to grab the Smurfs, Smurfsalot raised his Sword and angled it to catch the moonlight. He called upon the light to shine down and reveal their opponent! It worked! The moon shimmered across Gargamel's magic Cloak as Evergreen tussled with Azrael. All this time, Spelly Smurf had been spelling out...

C-o-n-c-e-a-l t-h-e H-i-d-i-n-g M-e-n-h-i-r f-r-o-m G-a-r-g-a-m-e-l a-n-d A-z-r-a-e-l

Yes, 'Conceal the Hiding Menhir from Gargamel and Azrael', an incantation it took three long moments to spell out. The spirts of the stones, the Goric, helped a bit by distracting Gargamel and Azrael with their trademark creepy whispers but it was the skill in battle of Sir Smurfsalot and Smurfevergreen that really made the casting possible. 

In the end, Gargamel and Azrael were standing in the West Woods completely lost. Totally baffled by where the Whispering Stones had gone and which way to go to look for either them or the Smurf Village, the two gave up. Defeated, they slinked back to Gargamel's hovel of a keep with their nerves on edge and the Cloak of Darkness shredded by the blades of the fighting Smurfs.

Sir Smurfsalot and Spelly Smurf returned to Smurf Village and Smurfevergreen walked them home, a big deal for her as her preference is to be alone. Generally, Evergreen doesn't make friends easily, if at all, and few Smurfs consider themselves friends of hers. However...Sir Smurfsalot declared how impressed he was by her skills and commended her for her bravery. Spelly insisted the 'quest' could not have been concluded successfully without her. Smurfevergreen felt a strange and unfamiliar emotion...camaraderie? She wasn't sure she felt comfortable with it but you know, she didn't dislike it either. The trio agreed to call upon each other again in the future if they were ever in need of help. 

Papa Smurf, along with Smurfette and Brainy, met with the guys and welcomed them home. As the heroes described their adventure and the others oohed and aahed, Evergreen faded into the Sarsaparilla Fields with a smile.

The End.

Thanks for coming by! Sorry this was a bit of a long one but it was a really great session and I just wanted to share. 

Talk to you again soon...

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Barking Alien

HEROES IN SPAAACE!

What's up next on the Barking Alien agenda Adam?

I'll take 'Obscure 'Old School' Japanese Science Fiction Tabletop RPGs' for the win, Jack!

You got it...

Space Opera Heroes

Written by Atsushi Yamakita

Produced by Far East Amusement Research - F.E.A.R.

Published by Hobby Japan, 1992

I can't even tell you how many times I've come across physical copies of this game and not purchased it over the years. So. Many. Times.

It was, quite literally, the Japanese TRPG I would see most often, on a regular basis really, in Books Kinokuniya, Asahiya Books (no longer around), and my very first love, Zen Oriental Books (also long gone). I never picked it up because...well there was always a reason. 

• I don't have the money right now.
• I can't read Japanese (like that stopped me before or since - lame excuse!).
• I'll get it next time. They always have a copy.
• This other one is rarer/cooler/less expensive.
• It doesn't look all that great. 

I even remember a Japanese friend telling me it was nothing special and that no one into gaming in Japan talks about it. It only had one supplement put out for it. Maybe my friend was right. Maybe it wasn't so great. And so little support? How popular could it have been? All that said...it always nagged at me. I had to get it and sure enough once I decided to...it was no where to be found. 

Space Opera Heroes 2

A Supplement of Additional Rules, Options, and Ideas. 

Fast forward to last week when I was doing some JTRPG research and I just happen to come across a reference to Space Opera Heroes purely by chance. I copied and pasted the Kanji and did a search to see if I could find any more about this 34 year old year that hardly gets a mention these days. What did I find? Apparently, the original author of the game wrote a sequel of sorts in 1998 titled 'Star Road' and when he did, he put the entire first edition rulebook online...for FREE! 

Star Road

A 1998 Sequel to Space Opera Heroes

Written by Atsushi Yamakita

Produced by Far East Amusement Research - F.E.A.R.

Published by Gamer Field

Needless to say, I've been downloading and translating the book and WOW, was everyone wrong about this thing. It's low key awesome! It features a number of interesting ideas that are kind of unusual for games of that period in both the Japanese and the US market.

Space Opera Heroes Features Include:

• Characters can be built quickly using one of 40+ Archetypes!
• It's rules-lite, with a simple Stat+Skill+1D6 vs. a Target Number base mechanic.
• PCs can use Hero Points to achieve various special actions or effects.
• There are NHP - Negative Hero Points for the Space Opera Master!
• The Heroes (PCs) can't die unless the player wants to allow for that. Wha?!?
• Missions are always successful but there can be serious consequences. 
• Classic Space Opera tropes are not just encouraged but enforced.
• There is a recommended adventure structure to keep things feeling Space Opera. 

These are just some of the cool concepts in the game. I am still going through the rules of course but I keep finding more and more intriguing bits. 

A few things I would change: Starships are mentioned throughout but the rules for them are almost non-existant. That is to say, they don't have a system for making spacecraft, what to do with them beyond fighting, etc. The game essentially treats starships as items your character owns, no different from a Laser Pistol or Ray Sword (an alternative name for Lightsaber that I must say I really like). I would probably incorporate the rules from Space Ship Story into the game to expand the starship into a character and a useful base (and you know how much I love bases). 

Another thing is Aliens; the attitude the game takes towards aliens is novel but not one that particularly appeals to me. It implies that while there are primitive forms of alien life and ancient civilizations with relics to be found, there are no active Alien Intelligences in the setting until a PC makes first contact with one. 

I get this and it is reminiscent of a certain type of Science Fiction from the same era as Space Opera's Golden Age. At the same time, E. E. Smith's Lensman series, identified as a major inspiration for this game, was chock ful of sapient aliens! Looking at the game's 'Appendix N' you've got Captain Future, Captain Harlock, Heinlein's Citizen of the Galaxy, Larry Niven's Known Space books, Star Trek, Star Wars, and many others that feature aliens as regularly interacting with the Humans of Space. 

Granted, I think what the game was going for is something more in the vein of Crusher Joe, The Dirty Pair, Season 1 Space: 1999, and other more Humancentric settings. Thing is, I love Space Opera and only tolerate Humans so I'd likely make alien Archetypes or a single, flexible Archetype called Alien. After all, there are Optional Rules for Robot Archetypes that range from a Humanoid Robot to a powerful Combat Robot to a Replicant/Bioroid type. Why not an Alien?

I did not expect to write about this game tonight, let alone write this much on the subject.

Smurfs, Open World Exploration, and more Space Opera Heroes to come real soon,

Good night Space Cowboy!

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Barking Alien

On A Blue Note

My recent lackluster excursion into Medieval Fantasy Solo RPGaming had me really down; moreso than I would have expected. It was made worse by a poor purchase I made specifically for this experiment, hoping the product I bought would be useful for my endeavor*. It was not and in fact it is so lame I can't see myself ever using it but more on that later.

I really dislike wasting time and money. Grr. Sigh.

Luckily, there is light at the end of this dark tunnel and that light my friends, is blue...

I'll be running The Smurfs RPG this week! Woohoo!

With some of our regulars out we'll be skipping the next session of the normal campaign and playing a Smurfs one-shot instead. I am officially cheered-up as I haven't gotten the chance to run The Smurfs in what feels like a long while and, as you probably know by now, I absolutely love this game! 

It looks like Nick will be return to play Sir Smurfsalot - The Questing Smurf, Ray will reprise Spelly Smurf, and Will will be coming in with a brand new Smurf Girl from Smurfy Grove by the name of Smurfevergreen! 

I'm genuinely looking forward to this and will be spending today working up my adventure (as much as Adam works up adventures that is). Later in the week I'll give you all the aftersmurf report. 

Until then, smurf you later my fellow Smurfs!

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Barking Alien

*A Mini-Review of Roll & Play Press's 'No Place Like Homebrew':

I don't normally do product reviews of this sort but I was not happy with this purchase and I wanted everyone out there to be aware of what the book was all about. If you are new to tabletop roleplaying games in general and Dungeons and Dragons 5E specifically, this product might be of interest and use to you. 

If you have been playing for 10 years or more, have played games other than D&D, and have what I have to assume is a modest amount of creativity, you can probably skip this book. It has 252 pages of stuff, ranging from deities and locations to creatures and more locations that you've already come up with or read before on a blog, in a magazine, or any number of other places a dozen times already. Nothing in it, as far as I can tell, is of particular noteworthiness. 

The book is oddly organized, at least to me, though perhaps Fantasy gamers are more accustomed to the thinking process that went into this. For example, it starts with REALMS, a whole section on sample worlds and settings which certainly makes sense but its then filled with things like Deities, Celestials, and other otherworldly entities. Is that where most people start their world-building? With the Gods? Is that the first thing I need when trying to put together an adventure for my party of players and their PCs? Felt a little strange to me. 

Their idea of cool and interesting monsters are Bulettes but their gold-colored, Corgis with extra legs, and Pink Hounds that don't tire. Wow. Breathtaking. Also, thank goodness for an Index at the end of the book because its not like all the creatures are in one creature section. Instead they're scattered throughout the book (as are NPCs and other elements) based on terrain type. That makes sense, can't fault them for that, but I found it hard to know where to look to find something I'd previously read without use of the index. 

At $54.99 for the physical book (not including shipping) and $29.99 for the PDF, I can't recommend this for your money. I've far more exciting and innovative ideas to plug into your campaign for free or at a much lower cost from blogs, forums, magazine articles, and the like.

This product gets a 5 or maybe 5.5 out of 10 from me.

Crestfallen

I ran the first session of my Solo TRPG game 'Journal of a Mixed Elf Mercenary Hero' using my homebrew system, 'Adventurers of the Enchanted Lands', a hack of Teenagers from Outer Space and the end result was...meh.

Honestly, I am really disappointed. I was so excited for this, as you can probably tell by how many posts it inspired. Not just the number but the frequencey! Unfortunately, after a little while of actually partaking in the endeavor I've almost completely lost interest. Seriously. Just *poof*, enthusiasm gone. It was way more fun to prep for than to actually run and play.

Why? Let's talk about it...

Damn. I hate to disappointed her.

Mechanically it worked just fine. The system was good but didn't do anything especially dynamic. That can be OK in many cases but here it contributed to a lack of things to get jazzed about. It was an easy-to-run, easy-to-play, functional set of rules. Yay? As someone who isn't overly hung up on rules they usually only get my catch attention and interest if they're something special or something awful. This didn't reach the level of either extreme. 

One thing I started to think about that I didn't expect to was the role of Roles and Classes. I really dislike them but they are a trope of the genre and if you are running this sort of Medieval Fantasy game without them it feels...I don't know...a little weird. It's off somehow. Not sure how to solve this issue as, like I said, I still don't like them. This was helpful though in a way as it gets me to consider some way of solving this problem if I run a long term Fantasy campaign in the future. 

I still find the tropes and setting of standard Fantasy kind of boring to engage with. This is my issue as a player, although it's related to what I'm going to discuss next. I'm just not looking forward to questing to find a magical item or slaying some mythic beast. These are the sorts of adventures that appear in a lot of Solo Fantasy RPG charts and with good reason - that's the genre. I find it really banal and mundane to the point where it's hard to maintain any interest. It goes back to one of my biggest problems with the base Fantasy genre, nothing feels fantastic. 

Sure, I could modify this by coming up with custom charts and tables and in fact I did but I also tried to stay firmly in a standard Fantasy vein and it just didn't work. Not for me anyway. D&D and Pathfinder are the most popular RPGs in the Western world so it's clear lots of people find this very fun but I've just never been one of them. 

In the end, another big reason for my disillusionment is the same problem I always (thus far) experience with Solo gaming; there is a very low degree of surprise do to its very nature. I am interacting with random charts, die rolls, and myself. Without other players, there is no back and forth of ideas I might not have thought of. No approach from someone with a different way of looking at things. Sure, it guarantees 'my kind of game' but it reinforces my general feeling that Solo RPGs aren't games but exercises in creative writing. 

So what next? Honestly not sure. I do have some other things I want to talk about but I think this project is going on the back-burner for now. If I come up with some new approach or have a gaming epiphany regarding it I will definitely let you all know. For the time being though, Raelyn's journey and her Journal will go on without us...

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Barking Alien

A World of Adventure

A big focus of my Solo TRPG Campaign project, 'Journal of a Mixed Elf Mercenary Hero', is exploration.

The Enchanted Lands

As a Gamemaster, I absolutely love World-Building. It is by far my favorite part of the pastime. It allows me to do something with all these ideas that are constantly forming in my head, threatening to burst out of my skull and spray all over the place. Sorry. I know that's a little intense but that doesn't make it untrue. Besides, no one wants to clean that up, trust me.

As a player, I want to explore the world or universe of the game we're playing. I want to see the Gamemaster's vision, be it an original creation or their take on a known IP, and I would like the opportunity to get to know it up close and personal.

In either role, my preferred way to go about this is through an Open-World Exploration Campaign. That is essentially what I am hoping for with this Solo RPG and I feel pretty confident I can achieve it since I am occupying both positions.

Let's start by looking at the map and filling in some general ideas on what exists and where...

  

The usual recommendation when going about the act of world-building is to start small, really local-like, and then only expanding as you need to. For me, that's crap. I can't work that way for a host of reasons, the biggest of which is I want my players (and in this case myself) to be able to go where they want to go as long as they have some way of getting there. To the age old school question of, 'What happens if we travel beyond the edge of the map?', I like to answer, 'There is no edge to the map'. 

To make this work, I need to 'sketch out' some areas so I have a guide for my imagination. Looking at the second map, some points of interest have been placed in the hope that I can explore those areas during the campaign. Some important or at least interesting bodies of water are also included. The Trading Seas are small-to-medium oceanic bodies constantly plyed by merchants and unfortunately pirates. The Strange Sea is almost completely surrounded by lands, from small islands to the large main continent, with many legends surrounding what it is the sails across and roams beneath the waters of this region. Ghost Ships, Sea Monsters, and Vanishing Island that occasionally appears in the center of the sea. 

While I show the homeland locations of the Dwarves, the Elves, the Hairfoots, and the Humans, I purposely haven't defined how large their domains are, how many settlements or citizens they have, etc. I also haven't given the proper name of these places on account of the fact that I haven't decided on them yet. Furthermore, just because I haven't identified where Beastkin or Goblins live doesn't mean there aren't Beastkin and Goblins. This is best thought of as a Visual Outline. 

To this end, I've also pointed out areas of potential adventure and danger by designating Giants in the Northeast and possibly a Dragon in the Northwest. I wrote it in as 'A Dragon?' because I haven't decided if that information is true or merely a fanciful story. Then, as I've already mentioned, there are lands far away to the Southeast and Southwest that have yet to be explored. I've included these known unknowns for exploration and further development later on.

Of special interest is The Ruinlands of an Ancient Empire; a vast expanse of land with numerous dungeons and crumbling temples that are all that remains of a powerful and very magical civilizations from long, long ago.

Finally, I've also noted where my Player Character, Raelyn Riversprite, came from and the fact that the town was basically destroyed. The port is abandoned now - no one lives there to my character's knowledge. 

Exploration

• • PCs are rewarding for discovering something new – a never before encountered (by them specifically) monster, location, thing about the world, etc. For Solo play, these are notated in the campaign ‘Journal’ as ‘I discovered [name or description of thing]’. 
• • Dungeons are ‘alive’: Traps, rival adventurer parties, sentient doors, patrols of haunted armors, and wandering entities that want to chat.
• • Food & Rest: Cooking plants, animals, or even monster meat gives mechanical buffs and restores Physical and Spell Fatigue (a la Delicious in Dungeon). Skipping meals may cause penalties (hungry adventurer/party = comedic failures). Sleep is similar. 

As per usual, more thoughts as they come to me. I am really eager to actually start playing. Hopefully later today. 

Hope to see you on the road...

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Barking Alien