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Starguild: Space Opera Noir my review and after thoughts

This is probly long over due concisering the Kickstarter was February of  2016 to raise funds to publish the game on Kickstarter. This blog post was started February 13th 2016, and never published until now Thursday September 16th 2021. 

 

Starguild Space Opera Noir found Here on Kickstarter.

So why after so long a period are you writing about this game now? Well mainly because it has become my quick to go to space game with my New Adventures of Captain Hedges Across Time and Space.  I am Mentioned in this game as a backer under backers section located on pg 238 under the Daring Smuggler, is listed as Captain Earl C. Hedges Jr. Why did I Kickstart this game? The Answer is for a couple of reasons one is Alex White is a friend and I wanted to support him and his game; the other is I was looking for a simple space RPG that I could make into my togo game for The Adventures of Captain Hedges Across Time and Space. His persona in this alternate reality is not to far fetched, we find out he is a very talented, never been caught smuggler with a fast ship beneath his feet, a member of The Martial Military, as a Star ship Officer. However, his  down fall seems to be the Femme Fatale/Gigolo NPC as he is always taken in by a Pretty Face and a long sad story. Another reason could be I am in need of running a new type of game at MaricopaCon 2018 this year, and looking at this as my to go game for that convention.

As I am writing this new blog post I am listening to Space Journey Music Mix two hours of Instrumental space opera noir music found here on you tube.

Before I get into the theme presented in this game, two admissions.

Firstly, I’m a relative newby to this RPG, although I have it in my RPG Cooleection have only ran it twice in 2016.

Secondly, I’m partial to a nice bit of space opera. I’ve always loved Red Dwarf and Hitchhiker’s Guide yo the galaxy. However, I am and Will always be a Trekkie. Really? Well recently I have defected to the Darkside and reluctantly overtime Disney+ and a new gaming group here in Shreveport Louisiana have got me writing a new version of my old d6 Star Wars game from the nineties. I have yet to pull out this game on them. Although I have been for more my lifetime a loving fan of Star Trek, and Space Marines than that of Dragons, Dungeons, and the like monstrous brings their in.  I’ll always pick up a book about plucky intergalactic ruffians, but am unlikely to wade all the way through Lord of the Rings again! I know your all haha at this one because you know I have been known to run a MERP, LoTR game. Thus, Starguild is already pretty much up my alley especially when it comes to space adventures for Captain Hedges Across Time and Space.

What’s it all about?

Starguild is an tabletop RPG – a role play game. To those of you unfamiliar with the concept, RPGs are games where you meet with friends, create characters and play through stories that are derived mostly from your imagination.

An RPG consists of two basic components: the setting, and the rules.

The setting is the context in which you play the game, which I think is a cool concept.. A Star Wars RPG is based in a galaxy far, far away, a Hobbits RPG is based in Middle Earth, an RPG about being a doctor seeing patients is based in a hospital, a Star Trek RPG is to boldly go etc.

The rules are the framework that help you to play the game. Some have very intense, detailed rules for every tiny possible occurrence, others give the merest hint of a structure, allowing you to mould the gaming system to flow and adapt to whatever you feel it needs.

In the last week I have read all 238 pages of the prerelease copy that Alex, the creator, kindly sent my way, with the gateway to adventures. I have As well downloaded and now reading the finalized 248 pg pdf copy from Alex in which he delivered to drive thro rpg dot com. The galaxy is presented in Starguild is one of opportunity, inequality, and flexibility.

There is an overarching storyline of human existence in Omega Centauris, with a very readable backstory – the 10 pages of Campaign history are perfect for bringing the galaxy to light, and pretty great prose in their own right.

What I love is how they aren’t prescriptive at all – you could literally set anything in this game: multi-ship, high-tech space battles; highly social political wrestling, emotions on tenderhooks; even a fantasy style rags-to-riches story on one of the less developed worlds.

There’s a detailed explanation of tens of planets, providing you with plenty of room to set your story literally anywhere you fancy, and loads of features in the rules that allow your characters to be shaped by their environment. For example:

 Planet Martell: The militaristic world of Martell dominates its neighbours in the Independents quadrant, and takes an aggressive political posture both externally and internally. Acutely aware that traffic from the capital has to travel via the hazardous Coltech nebula in order to reach the other worlds in the Union, Martell has established strong garrison forces on each of its worlds. This has led to an increasing degree of internal unrest. Union repre- sentatives have a reputation for being aggressive and confrontational.

Planet Erith: The Lord here runs a semi-feudal style of government. There are strictly defined lines of communication and citizens are expected to show loyalty to their immediate overlords and through them up to the Lord. Technically anyone can be called upon to do any service, although this is used sparingly except in times of emergency.

Planet Canopy: This world has a vast agricultural resource in the form of its seem- ingly limitless forests. The trees are huge, over 200m high and very broad. Most of the colonists live well up in the trees, traveling by simple cable cars and small balloons. The capital city of Haig is renowned for its intricate hedge maze of shrubbery which winds from the sunlit treetops where lovers meet for romantic trysts and into mid level parkland. But few consider that it also extends to the dark shadows of the undergrowth where eco terrorists meet and plot, and parents scare their children with tales of plant-men who spirit away citizens to secret vats.

Alongside these patches of flavour text are nearly 100 “adventure seeds” – ideas to help you kick start a new plot twist or campaign. Here’s a sample from Canopy 

Adventure Seeds

• Eco-terrorists bomb the starport concourse, causing it to be sealed for several weeks for repairs. Their real target was the cap- ture of a biologist whose virus samples could be used for a wider ranging biological attack against the civilian population.

• An experimental giant logging vehicle designed by MERCAL has gone out of control and is heading straight for a tree town. If nobody can stop it, hundreds will die!

• One of the eco terrorist groups could be traced back to a remote valley where the people have somehow merged with plants. Bark-like skin is the least of it. They have inhuman vitality and an implacable hatred of people. It turns out that they had entered an old imperial research station which was working on a hybrid project, and accidentally opened some vats... They now capture people and subject them to the vats to build their numbers.

The cool thang about the Martial Union is I got to influence the faction and name the capital city on Canopy, and name a feature the city was famous for so I did. I named it Haig and added my famous hedge-mazes. I meant to write a source book on this subject but never finished it. (Just a foot note about what happens in real life just got in my way and my computer crashed with the file and then when I retrieved it it was courrpted so I will need to rewrite it again).

Overall, the flavour I get from Starguild is a universe I’m always keen to visit. I think there’s plenty of hand-holding, if you want it – just use one of the detailed, multi-scene sample adventure to get you started.  Yet, for those of us keen to run before we can walk, there’s enough ammunition to let you start imagining a story with a very helpful backdrop to orientate yourself, hence The Adevtures 9of Captain Hedges Across Time and Space.

How does it play…

Simple answer: It plays like a fast paced Sci Fi game, which can get bogged down by players, wanting to do stuff, most of the adventures can be played in a two to four hour block. Some times longer if the pcs go off script. I have run it twice and I like it a lot. Although some of my players have had a few characters in this campagin few have ever played them twice. 

Starguild is based on the d20 Open Game license that Wizards of the Coast released back in 2000. So, if you’ve played Dungeons & Dragons, or many similar games, you’ll have at least a foothold into the basic structure of play.

What appeals to me is the adaptation of the engine to fit the theme. From the kickstarter page:

“The game treats social conflict – the ability to alter someones emotions and thinking – just as importantly as the more traditional kinds of conflict of fist and gun.”

This appeals to me. I’ve enjoyed playing D&D but I find the battles a bit unfulfilling.

• In a fight in D&D, two characters fight over about 50 turns, with magic spells, and special moves. They have a number of hit points, and slowly wear down the other player’s hitpoints until someone dies.
• In real life, when two people fight, they each have a knife, it lasts about 2 minutes, and someone gets rather injured.
• In Starguild Space Opera Noir just a few rounds for combat.

I’m sure you could try to play Spaceguild the D&D way, but it seems much more focused on the social dramatics, and the intensity of choice in high pressure situations. That rather appeals. I know I’m roleplaying as a fictional personal, in a made-up situation, in a fake galaxy, in my imagination – but I want to feel like disturbing a guard and getting shot is as weighty as it would be in real life.

As a new game-master to this system, it’s setting, and the various sections on guilds, weapons, vehicles, etc… all seem well put together, but I don’t think I’ll have a real handle on it until I put another game together. I definitely feel these rules explain the system enough that I wouldn’t have any big problems running a game. Well that’s what I thought until I actually ran a free for, game of a written adventure, someone pointed out I should have made Pregens. So sense them I have had a set of Pregens to choose from but if players want to make Thier own characters I allow it. There is also an excellent set of reference table appendices and a comprehensive index – too often lacking in rule books.

From giving it a re-read, and comments from others on Alex White’s Website, which I do read from time to time and use when prepping my games. It seems like the addition of “Conviction” is an interesting feature, where you gain conviction points for doing actions that fit with your character’s personality. For example:

Captain Hedges (a new notable character) 

“Vargon, (a noteably strong character) nonchalantly crushes cans in one hand, whilst waiting for the action to start”.

You keep tokens to represent your conviction in front of you as a visual reminder, and you can spend it to help you out, such as adding a D6 to the score of a D20 role. I feel like conviction could be gamed quite easily – “Vargon quickly crushes 4 cans, gaining 4 points” – but if you use it in the spirit of the game, it rewards you for roleplaying, and even the advantages it gives can be RPed to cohese the theme even better…

Vargon tries to kick the door down. The DC is 20, and he rolls 12. This, plus his physique (1) + his characteristic of being “burly” (+2) = 15. He spends a conviction point, bunching up his huge arms to increase his effort to the extreme, and rolls a D6, which gives him a +5, just making the DC… and the door tears off its hinges, leaving the gang free to run into the corridor.

Go on, support it.

All in all, I’m excited about Spaceguild, I’m keen to play it with some friends and I think it will look fantastic with more artwork, once the kickstarter is finished.

Speaking of that, why not support it now on Drive Thro RPG dot com

Also Alex maintains a new website for this game.

Starguild: Space Opera Noir Website Found Here!

Starguild RPG Wordpress Blog about the game found here!

Yours For now Captain Earl C. Hedges Jr.

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in the First World War, then known as “the Great War.” Commemorated as Armistice Day beginning the following year, November 11th became a legal federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became Veterans Day, a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars.

In the United States, an official wreath-laying ceremony is held each Veterans Day at the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington National Cemetery, while parades and other celebrations are held in states around the country. Veterans Day is not to be confused with Memorial Day–a common misunderstanding, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Memorial Day (the fourth Monday in May) honors American servicemembers who died in service to their country or as a result of injuries incurred during battle, while Veterans Day pays tribute to all American veterans–living or dead–but especially gives thanks to living veterans who served their country honorably during war or peacetime.

Its Almost That time of year again were I dress up as the Starfleet Santa and do my part to bring in the christmas cheer, and I will always say happy thanksgiving and Have a Merry Christmas Rather than happy holidays even if you don't say it back! As one person told me once you believe what you believe and that's it! So to all my friends I hope you all have a wonderful last few months of the year no matter what upcoming holidays you celebrate just don't criticize me for celebrating my holidays ether!

Also I will be starting my seasonal job soon bell ringing again for the Salvation Army those who know me I do this every year to help out the cause of helping others I consider this both my christian duty and my service to my salvation army core which happens to be now!

The Salvation Army Tucson Amphi Corps Found Here

The Salvation Army Tucson Amphi Corps helps my local community more than anything or anyone. They give selflessly, asking nothing in return. They give food, guidance, bible classes, after school programs, activities, help, and education without asking for a single thing back. They truly care and that almost seems like a lost practice in the world today. The Lieutenants Jeff and Katie Breazeale are truly doing God's work in our humble little town. I have never felt more welcome at a church, closer to Jesus Christ, or more loved than at my local church/ corps. I wish everyone would feel the joy He has put in my heart, using this Corps as its vessel. Thank you for giving me the love, help, and family I have always needed. The Salvation Army truly Does The Most Good! God does bless you guys.

There are few more independent thinkers than a Sagittarius born on November 27. They enjoy controversy and are apt to seek out an eccentric lifestyle. These go-getters have leadership potential and seem to be always on the move. They are notorious practical jokers.

Friends and Lovers

November 27 natives are accustomed to being the center of attention. They are leaders, and they can inspire awe in others. They don't always get along with others; they seek relationships with those who can teach them lessons. They are likely to have a tumultuous love life prior to settling down.

Children and Family

November 27 natives are likely to possess the "firstborn" mentality, even if they are not the oldest. They mature early -- physically and emotionally -- and learn to take on family problems. They demand a great deal from their children, expecting them to measure up to what they were able to accomplish as youngsters.

Health

November 27 natives are given to extremes. Their attitude toward health generally revolves around being active and eating what they please. They are likely to struggle with food at some period, and this may take the form of anorexia or bulimia. They can reform their habits.

Career and Finances

These individuals have no interest in working behind closed doors where no one can see their talents. People born on this date have the potential to make a great deal of money but not much ability to hold onto it. Ruthless, careless spending is their worst habit.

Dreams and Goals

Despite careless spending, November 27 people have the discipline to approach most of their goals with precision. They have the emotional and physical endurance to labor for long periods. They have something to say and will not give up until they have a forum.

Guns In 13th Age

13th Age doesn't offer up any rules on firearms in its core books, and those might not even be welcome....but some fantasy settings have firearms, or assume a more renaissance level of technology in their fantasy not-Europes and not-East Asias.

Since 13th Age tends to make a bigger deal out of what the character is doing with the weapon as a class than what the weapon itself actually does, firearms are actually kind of simple. The rule rule of thumb for base damage is like this:

Classes and Firearms: Barbarians, Rogues, Rangers, Paladins and Fighters suffer no penalties to using firearms. Sorcerers, Clerics, and Wizards suffer a -4 penalty to attacks, and Bards suffer a -2 penalty to attacks.

Small Holdout Pistols, Derringers: 1D6 base damage.

Flintlock Pistols, Six-Shooters, Blunderbusses: 1D8 base damage.

Rifles, Muskets, Shotguns, Arquebus: 1D10 base damage.

Special Qualities of Firearms: Since firearms are a bit more revolutionary than the rest of your average medieval warrior's armaments, it's only fair to provide some additional special rules. Think of them as being a bit like magic items, but without the persnality quirks or chakra/attunement issues.

Loading Times: GMs will need to establish whether they are allowing old tapped-gunpowder-and-ball style musketry, breech loaded weapons or faster advanced weaponry such as six-shooters and chambered/clipped rounds. It's fantasy so nothing says firearm technology has to progress at the same rate as the real world. That said, loading a ball and powder for five to ten rounds can make firearms very undesirable to those who haven't considered the purpose of a brace or bandolier full of pistols, and a powder monkey to follow them around with the onerous task of reloading the weapons. My suggestion is that after each round a flintlock, wheellock or other ball-and-powder weapon is fired it will take a minimum of one standard action to reload, and that reload takes a save with a modifier equal to the character's level (base 11+ to succeed). So a level 7 pistoleer warrior can roll 1D20+7 on his standard action to reload the musket, which happens on an 11 or better. This simulates that loading weapons is not quick, while also making them potentially take more than one round to ready.

If you opt for more advanced firearms, assume they take one standard action to load after firing. Assume that most such advanced firearms can hold six to eight rounds in the cylinder, or two rounds in each barrell (such as for breech-loaded shotguns).

Misfire/Jam: Any time a firearm is used in an attack, a roll of 1 means the gun misfired or jammed. When this happens, make a save (11+) for the weapon. On a successful save the gun is merely jammed and each round the character can use a standard action to try and unjam it (success on a save if 11+, but let backgrounds of appropriate nature apply to the roll). If this save fails the gun remains jammed for that round. If on the save you rolled another natural 1 then the gun misfires, and the user rolls an attack from the weapon against himself. One final save is made to see if the gun is still in working condition after it blows up in the PC's face or not...failure means its been junked.

Critical Hits: Firearms do a lot of damage potentially. All firearms have a crit range of 18-20, and deal double the total damage dice rolled (i.e. a level 5 ranger with a musket dealing base 1D10 normally rolls 4D10+Dex mod in damage on a basic attack, so now he rolls 8D10+double dex mod). However, if a firearm rolls a natural 20 on the attack it triples the damage instead. What offsets this? The fact that in most games your characters are using one-shot flintlocks or wheellocks, which means a ranger can't dual-shot with a musket.

Pistols: Pistols are best at short range, so they suffer double the usual penalties for firing far away; they suffer no penalty for nearby or engaged targets. Anyone trying to reload while engaged is open to an opportunity attack.

For powers such as the ranger has where you can get off two ranged attacks, carrying a brace of pistols is a must!

Muskets/Rifles and Bayonets: These weapons are good at both nearby and far away although muskets suffer an additional -2 to hit targets at far away range, but rifles (with their fancy rifling) suffer no such additional penalties. These weapons also suffer a -2 penalty to shoot someone who is engaged with you, and if you try reloading them while engaged your opponents get an opportunity attack. It is popular to stick a bayonet on the end of muskets and rifles to turn them into melee weapons (1D6 base damage in melee). Using a bayonet is no penalty for fighters, rogues, rangers, paladins, bards and barbarians but incurs a -4 attack penalty to clerics, wizards and sorcerers.

13th Age Review this RPG delivers an incredible fantasy storytelling experience which me and my payers love

It would be easy to dismiss 13th Age as another D20-based fantasy role-playing game, albeit one with gorgeous art. But underneath that deceptively simple surface there are elegant storytelling gears that move in surprising ways. 

13th Age is published by Pelgrane Press and was co-designed by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, both alumni of various Dungeons & Dragons editions. While it is based on the venerable D20 fantasy RPGs that came before it, the designers of 13th Age Have stripped away shopworn gaming elements (like lengthy spell lists and combat based on counting squares on a grid) while bringing many of the fantasy genre's tropes to the surface.

The world of 13th Age is populated by 13 powerful NPCs called Icons who represent common archetypes found in virtually all fantasy fiction and gaming. There's the High Druid, the Elf Queen, the Archmage, the Lich King, and more. They also roughly represent factions that players can join, tying them immediately to a web of alliances and ancient grudges.

The goal of 13th Age is to take that familiar D20 system and infuse it with the idea that each session or campaign should be a collaborative storytelling effort between the players and the GM. For instance, you don't select from a menu of skills. Instead, you create background elements for your character, and you derive skills from that background when each situation arises. So if you gave your character a background as a captain of a fishing boat, you could argue that you get a bonus on skill checks involving navigation, tying or untying knots, identifying aquatic species, and leading small groups.

Perhaps the most distinctive part of 13th Age character creation is the "One Unique Thing." You're not playing just any dwarf who goes out on adventures. You're playing the only dwarf in the world with a clockwork heart. Or a warrior with the soul of a dragon. Or a wizards who hears the singing of the stars. Again, there's no list to choose from. You make up your own Unique Thing. The fantastic story that emerges from it is the whole point of 13th Age.

13th Age feels like to me the spiritual successor of 3.5 Edition Dungeons & Dragons mixed with the storytelling mechanics of games I like similar to Greg Stafford’s Pendragon and Gray Gygax’s 1st edition D&D. I think Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet give us a fully refined RPG mixed with a pile of house rules we can drop into any d20 game. While it’s great fun to run, 13th Age’s storytelling system demands much of a GM’s improvisation skills. At $45 plus shipping for the hardcover and PDF package or $19.99 for the PDF alone, 13th Age isn’t cheap, but you get a whole lot of game in a single beautiful package. If you’re looking for the evolution of D&D mixed with the storytelling of RPGs then look no further.

I was so impressed with 13th age I started rewriting my own homebrew campaign using the OGL Document this is still a work in progress to figure out what would be Relevant and not be Relevant in Urland today! (more on Urland will becoming later on down the road)

I also signed up for their Organizedplay campaign found here  and free downloads found here! and running a very successful campaign of 13th age on Tuesday Nights starting at 5pm at Isle of games 7747 E Broadway Ave Tucson, Arizona 85710