Things & Stuff

Image Source

Eli just posted a really cool new race for Rogue Space called The Skeevs. Man the possibility with this races is really cool, and their ship types (Barques and Cutlasses) are really cool concepts.  The image to the left is kind of what I thought of when Eli described the Barques. Anyway, if you need a cool new race as friend, foe, or fodder, The Skeevs are it!

Second bit of news, Charles from Play By Mail.net, is going to do a include an ad for Rogue Space and the pocket mod sample rules in his magazine Suspense & Decisions #4.  You can check out the current issues for a good read! I appreciate greatly Charles' interest in including Rogue Space for his readers to check out. It's not the usual fare for his readers so I appreciate greatly his taking a chance on the Dark Frontier!

Most of all, I just want to say thank you fellow explorers and skelonauts! Thanks for giving the game a spin, thanks for creating so much killer content, and thanks for always making the game more interesting and fun with your creative new ideas.  Game on!

Did you see this?

image source

Holy awesomeness Rogue Spacers...Giles has created not one, but two posts worth of alien beings and assorted baddies to populate Rogue Space with.  Sincerely this is the kind of awesome you print out as a Referee and keep as a constant reference for making adventures with, populating space ports, or creating bounty hunter adventures with...especially if you have down loaded Mik's Mass Effect Rogue Space conversion (MERS).  Trust me you NEED what Giles has created!

Damn great work Giles, and thanks for bringing new life into the Dark Frontier!

Go get yourself some of the awesome Giles laid out!

Spotted in Rogue Space

Image Source

Three new alien races have been discovered in Rogue Space, courtesy of  Eli , Eli again, and Brutorz Bill.  Proof positive you never know what...or who...might appear on the Dark Frontier.

The Play is the Thing, just ask Jupiter Zeus!

Burtorz Bill at Green Skeleton Gaming Guild has posted a series of posts about his adventure, with Jupiter Zeus Space Simian, using Rogue Space!

Below are links to the adventure and his post game wrap up and thoughts:

Rogue Space Mini-Review
Jupiter Zeus Stats
Adventure pt1
Adventure pt2
Epilogue

Thanks Bill for having a go with Rogue Space, and for posting your session notes and giving the game a fair shake.  I really appreciate it and hope others get inspired too!

Game on!

UPDATE Green Skeleton & Curmudgeon both speak!

image source

Straight from Brutorz Bill at the Green Skeleton Gaming Guild is a mini-review of the new edition of Rogue Space.

I appreciate his review, feedback and the kind words for my wife's art!  I think the contrast between her work style and that of Luigi "Artkid" Castellani in the rules fits the Toolbox/anything goes idea behind Rogue Space.

OSR notable great illustrator and gamer, Steve Zieser of Curmudgeons & Dragons fame, also has some nice things to say about Rogue Space!  More importantly, he also has a great Simian illustration to check out so go ape and see it!

Stargazer took a quick look at the new edition of Rogue Space and gave it favorable marks and is another good read.

So if you are still unsure about venturing into the Dark Frontier, take a look at these reviews and that of Giles as well!

Konnichiwa Usagi-san

I absolutely LOVE Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo.  I started following Usagi back when he first appeared in Albedo comics and have continued to marvel at Mr. Sakai's artistic talent and story telling these many many years.  If you have not read any of Mr. Sakai's works...well you are in for a treat as you follow the Ronin Rabbit through a unique samurai era landscape.

One of the fantastic ventures that many fans may not have read are the SPACE USAGI tales.  Yes our Ronin Rabbit adventures in the far future!  So for Rogue Space fans this is a fantastic and fun resource to mine with tons of potential!  The good news for us is, someone may have already begun! 

I received an email today letting me know that someone may be carving out a section of the Dark Frontier inspired by Space Usagi!  A themed character sheet could be the start of something special!  I am excited to see if the project takes shape and hope you will lend your voice and support by commenting here to inspire our mystery creator to undertake the mission.

Domo Arigato

First review

IMAGE SOURCE

Giles has published the first review of the new edition of Rogue Space!

If you are curious about the new edition of Rogue Space, Giles' review of the original and the new edition are a great resource.

In addition if you are curious about trying it, the downloads link on this page (over to your right) has a pocket mod mini version you can download and try...that's really how this whole thing started with that little 8 page booklet.

I am thankful that your interest and support led the 8 page little game into this larger and expanded edition. I am also happy that the game mechanics are no more complicated to play and it retains the simplicity and flexibility even with the additional chrome and options.

It is very gratifying to see the additional works created such as Mech Rules by M. Jared and his Star*Drive conversion, or check out the cool Mass Effect conversion by Mik...and if you are really adventurous, check out whole creatures and explore a sector created by Hereticwerks!

It is a "mission accomplished" for me personally to see the core simplicity of the rules allowed flexibility and ease of translation to become a little engine inside these other fellow gamers outstanding and inspired creations!

Check out what they have made, listen to Mik's podcasts of their Mass Effect Rogue Space sessions and maybe you'll get inspired to carve out your own homeworld in the Dark Frontier.

Godspeed and Good luck!

Explore the Dark Frontier

 It's been a long strange trip to get the revised and expanded edition of Rogue Space complete! Thanks for your faith, support and patience, it's now available for sale! You can click and use the image on this post on your blog as a link back to this site or just to show your support for the game.  My lovely wife made it, and yeah I think it rocks! (just like she does)

I'd like to make special thanks to those who continued to support the game and play it while it was undergoing its overhaul.  In the end there are no major changes at all.  The only change of any real significance is simplifying the NPA (Non-Player Aliens) down to a simplified DRM (Dice Role Modifier) stat instead of the old Technical and Physical values.

So it took me this loooong just to make that wee change?  Nope not exactly.  Obviosuly I have been very busy with my fantasy game (a mash up of TFT and Moldvay edited D&D) Heroes & Other Worlds.  In addition we played around with a number of play test changes to the RS system...and while it enhanced the granularity of rules...it did not make them any better. So the pattern evolved of test and chuck...test and chuck... over and over.  Only to find that the original Keep It Simple Spacemonkey design was all that was needed.

So I went the other route...adding stuff.  The example playable alien races got fleshed out, add in magic, cybernetics, specialized skills, ship interiors, trade, adventure creator ideas, ship naming, character personality charts, and other little bits here and there.  So in the 114 page 9x6 digest sized book the rules did not change much in this edition, but instead I hope you will find a lot more interesting options, charts and ideas that will make the game a more fleshed out and complete edition.


Here is the great thing about the new fleshed out edition.  You instantly have LOTS of additional material to add in.  Check out the ROGUE SPACE RESOURCES links!  You'll find MECH rules and a Star*Drive setting conversion by M.Jared, a whole sector to explore, LITHUS, on Hereticwerks and a conversion of the video game Mass Effect to Rogue Space on MIK's site.

Still not enough? No problem.  Check out the Rogue Space downloads link. You will find two issues of Rogue Transmissions ready for you with Vehicle rules by Porky and more interesting stuff! You will also find a converted weird sci-fi adventure from Needles Sword & Stitchery site ready to play!

So what's the future for Rogue Space?  Well that is up to YOU.  The revised rulebook is my magnum opus for Rogue Space.  Ideally I'd like to do more Rogue Transmission magazines (for free PDF download) but that means YOU need to also create, write and send me stuff to publish for other Dark Frontier explorers to enjoy!  Alien races, starships, planets, adventures, crazy critters, the strange, the mutated, the hard sci-fi, I am open to any of it and fortunately the Dark Frontier can contain all of it!

Whether this is the only new transmission from Rogue Space, or the start of an ongoing exploration of the Dark Frontier is up to you!  Thanks for your support and I hope you enjoy the game!

You can email me direct at fenway5@1791.com