Saturday, January 24, 2015

Some (Relatively) Recent Acquisitions

I've been working furiously on getting my core rules for Mythic Space finalized (I just keep finding more things to add and/or tweak), but I wanted to take a little time to tell you about some of my recent purchases.

First off, I realized the other night that I forgot to mention that the final setting book from The Last Parsec KS, Scientorium, was released a while ago. This one might just be my favorite out of the three. The Scientorium is an ancient space station/library of a long dead galaxy-spanning empire. It is a mysterious place full of knowledge, super-tech, and dangers. It's just the kind of place that a good sci-fi exploration game needs. Just like the rest of the Last Parsec line, Scientorium is light on the details, so it is more of set of interconnected plot hooks and adventure ideas than a fully-realized setting. All in all, while The Last Parsec ended up being less of a setting than what I envisioned when I plunked my money down, I'm still happy with the purchase and will find a use for all three books for many years to come. I hope that Pinnacle gives the setting a more detailed look, or at least more of these setting books in the future.

Next up is another Savage Worlds book, but this time for Interface Zero 2.0. Japan: Empire of the Setting Sun details, well, Japan from the Interface Zero setting. There's a lot of stuff backed into these 67 pages. Lots of cultural details and adventure seeds, plus new gear, golemmechs, and threats. If you are a fan of Interface Zero 2.0, or a fan of a dystopian, cyberpunk Japan (which thanks to movies like Akira and the asian-theme-laden Blade Runner is nearly iconic with the cyberpunk genre) then I highly recommend picking up a copy.

Finally, I picked up the system-neutral sci-fi setting Strange Stars by +trey causey from From the Sorcerer's Skull blog (which if you like space opera/sci-fi/sci-fantasy is a blog that you really need to be reading if you're not already). Weighing in at 32 pages, it's a bit pricier than what I like to pay for a pdf of that size, but Trey has put together a great setting that is throwback to games like Star Frontiers (complete with an homage on the cover) and the heyday of late 70's and early 80's sci-fi from movies, TV, and comics. If system-neutral isn't your thing, there is a Fate version and a Stars Without Number version in the works. Plus, there might just be a Savage Worlds version in the works as well. Strange Stars is packed with great material that can serve as the basis for a campaign in the setting to add to your own space opera campaign. I highly recommend checking it out.

2 comments:

Trey said...

Thanks, Giles. Glad you liked it!

Yeah, I think the cost of pdfs is always a contention. I've seen big name rpgs with nearly $40 pdfs. I doubt they're gouging anybody--color art and fancy layout cost money, but that's a difficult thing for people cognitively, knowing they aren't getting a physical object. I made the choice to waiting a long time to (hopefully) recoup my investment on volume and keep the price under $10, if just.

kanegrundar said...

You've hit the sweet spot for me. I have a harder time spending more than $10 for a pdf that isn't a core rulebook or something along those lines. That said, with the gorgeous artwork and layout, Strange Stars is well priced. I know that there are others like myself that will balk at higher prices for pdf's, but I wanted to draw attention to it more to show that while the price appears high, the content is top shelf and more than worth the price of admission.

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