Tag Archives: Tabletop

Space Cowboys

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Friday night I came across an RPG website, selling mainstream and independent role playing games.

I found one called Orbital Blues, a space western that I remember from Kickstarter that for some reason I didn’t pledge back in the day.

I discovered that a solo play system was added so I took the plunge and ordered the game, which included digital copies in addition to the physical books.

I skimmed though about 50 pages and found it a pretty straight forward game system, one that could be used in a Firefly or Cowboy Bebop like setting.

Which is when I remembered that I already had a Cowboy Bebop Role Playing Game, which I did get from Kickstarter, delivered about a month before I moved from the house to the apartment.

I rummaged through some of the storage tubs that I had brought from the house last year, and found the main book and other accessories (dice, GM screen, woolong poker chips).

After flipping though the Cowboy Bebop book, I reckon I can eventually play/not play (heh) both, along side every other system that I have sitting around here, awaiting my attention.

Had I not stored it away and out of sight, I probably would have had another solo campaign all set to not play.

To be fair, I’m sure I still have the Serenity Role Playing Game somewhere in my offsite storage.

The Story So Far – D&D

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I decided to think of a quick prompt to kick off my solo Dungeons & Dragons campaign.

The Adventures of Roy Kent (fighter) and Raised by Minotaurs (barbarian)

As with all great adventures, this one starts in a tavern.

The Grumpy Tortoise

Roy and Rai (he hates that name, BTW) are having a meal.

Yeah, that’s all I got.

Don’t touch that dial!

Friday Rumblings

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Bolt Action: so I did end up getting the starter set and a couple of other army boxes:

The main US Army list book has an entry for Philippine Scouts, so guess what I found and ordered online?

—

Meanwhile, I got a notification that a Kickstarter reward was shipping, and this one is something I’ve been looking forward to for a while.

Back in the glory days of FASA Corporation, there was the Renegade Legion series of games, which I never got into because I was already into their Battletech series, and we were still doing RPGs more than tabletop wargaming.

Flashforward to around 2020 or so, when FASA Games (a new company working with the original FASA Corporation) came out with a new iteration of FASA Corp’s Interceptor game, which didn’t catch my eye until a few years later when they had a Kickstarter for their Aetherstream: Leviathan game.

Both Interceptor and Leviathan can find their roots in the old Renegade Legion universe, but this new incarnation of FASA Games doesn’t appear to have full rights to that world, so these are under a sub brand called Aetherstream, which appears to be a continuation/offshoot of the original Renegade Legion source material.

Older fans of these games appeared to dislike the fact that it’s not in the same universe as before, but since I never got into it back then, this new version appears to be fine with me.

So next week I should be getting both the Interceptor core set and the Leviathan Academy starter set.  The Kickstarter itself was for the launch of Leviathan into FASA Games product line, but I decided to finally pick up Interceptor as well, as an add on.

The main difference between the two games (both then and now) is that Interceptor is about fighter combat while Leviathan is about capital ship combat.

So of course I dragged out some other space games to fiddle with and play until the Aetherstream stuff comes in.

Stand by!

Saturday Morning Musings

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I was browsing YouTube and came across videos about Bolt Action v3, a World War II tabletop miniatures wargame, which I’ve seen before, and went into a deep dive on how to play, what you need, and what’s in the starter box.

I eventually found myself searching for the starter set, along with US Marines and Imperial Japanese Army  sets, since my interest lies more in the Pacific than the European front.

As I was searching for those, other products appeared, specifically Firelock Games’ Blood & Plunder.

Which made me stop looking for Bolt Action stuff, since I still hadn’t finished building/painting my various factions for that game.

I then remembered that if I really need to scratch that World War II itch, I do have Firelock Games’ War Stories, which is a WWII RPG, and the Pacific expansion that I pledged on Kickstarter will be coming out at the end of the year.

Meanwhile, I may create a small squad/warband based in post D-Day France, or use the pregenerated characters and try playing solo at some point soon.

I’ll probably spend some time with Blood & Plunder as well, as they’re starting their ‘Summer of Plunder 2025’ event this weekend.

Don’t touch that dial!

Upcoming and Incoming

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I seriously think I have too many options for gaming, resulting in executive indecision.

I’m reading up on that and may ask my doctor about it during my next annual visit.

In the meantime, I hope to finally get around to playing something more consistently in the next few weeks.

I’ve neglected all of the solo RPGs as I’ve been hopping around reading up different systems, when I should just focus on continuing the adventures of the Excalibur.

– – –

Meanwhile, I’ve been preparing for a couple of games that should be arriving in the next month or so, both from Firelock Games.

Oak and Iron is a tabletop naval game in the age of sail.  They have a second edition coming out soon, so I decided to pick this one up since I finally watched Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.  Ships are in 1:600 scale, and I found a few on MyMiniFactory that I’d like to have included in my games, including the HMS Surprise from the aforementioned M&C movie, and the USS Enterprise , from the late 18th century.

The core set comes with 6 smaller ships, but I did pick up a couple of expansions which contain much larger ships, including 1st/2nd/3rd rate Ships of the Line.

There was a Kickstarter for this last summer, which I backed.

This is basically a smaller scale skirmish version of Blood and Plunder from Firelock, based in the Jamaican city of Port Royal after the earthquake in 1692.

The miniature count for squads average about 6 models, and while I already have models for English, Spanish, Native Americans, and pirates, the core set contains15 models that will represent the French, and I included an add-on of the new Native American set with multi-pose plastic models that I will build as a Maroon (escaped African slaves) faction.

– – –

And of course, I have my sports games to play, but that’s another story.

Stand by!

Savage Worlds Pulp Concept Characters

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I was flipping through the Pulp Fantastic and came across the Archetypes section, and one popped out me:

MASKED AVENGER

And that settled it.  I was gonna make a Green Hornet/Crimson Avenger tribute character, with a twist.

A Filipino playboy and his African-American valet/chauffer by day, scourge of the underworld at night!

Introducing….

THE TIGER BEETLE AND JAZZ BUNGO

I looked up insects of the Philippines, and the tiger beetle jumped out at me.

I mean, no color in the character’s name, which is fine (though tiger beetles come in black, brown and green) but OF COURSE I’m gonna take a beetle name.

And yes, that’s a saxophone on Jazz Bungo’s back.

I’ll work out all the character details later.

CRIMINALS, BEWARE!  THE TIGER BEETLE STRIKES!

The Other Setting

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Truth be told, this was one of the reasons Savage Worlds appealed to me some years back.

From the description:

In Dawn of the Daikaiju, players take on the roles of giant monsters called kaiju or daikaiju (the terms are used interchangeably and both mean “giant monster”). Though daikaiju range in origin from oversized insects and dinosaurs to bio-engineered alien weapons, they somehow recognize in each other a single species. Even daikaiju from different worlds work together in packs.

Dawn of the Daikaiju contains a Plot Point Campaign, Adventure Generator, specially adapted race creation rules, and new Edges and Hindrances—and it’s all in Kaiju Scale!

I mean, c’mon, who wouldn’t wanna try to play tabletop Rampage, huh?

Don’t touch that dial!

Savage Worlds: The Setting

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As much as I wanted to ignore this system for now, I simply couldn’t after the 20th Anniversary package from Kickstarter arrived today.

And, I think I’ve decided on the setting/genre I wan to play with this system.

It came to me as I was washing my hands in the bathroom and saw this shirt in the mirror.

I checked online to see if there was a pulp setting for Savage Worlds Adventure Edition, and came up with this.

So after I finish with the ending for the Star Trek: Excalibur pilot episode, I’ll be reading up on this system and setting.

Don’t touch that dial!