Hi all. A couple of days I wrote about my Sanity Drive dream. As a result of that post, I found out that there is an RPG for Cthulhu mythos in space. It is called The Void and you can get the complete core rulebook PDF from that link at Drivethru RPG. I also realised that I had downloaded it when it came out. I sat down and did some serious reading but the game is not my cup of tea, but it may be yours. There are inconsistencies with how I see the mythos effect and the weird style of game I want to run to how this game sees it. That is all good though. It does look good and it may be what you are after, hence the reason I mention it. So where does that leave my plight?
Mash-up?
I am not sure exactly what I will do from here. I was thinking FATE but I like the idea of fledgeling characters building a campaign. FATE tends to be strong characters start to end. I am not much of a fan of class-based games but one got mentioned that I have a strong love for. Stars Without Number is a great system from Kevin Crawford at Sine Nomine games. Its “Universe” generation system is brilliant and the system ties in with Silent Legions (also by Kevin) that would allow me to mash the two together and come up with basically what I want. I have reviewed both products although the Stars Without Number review is based on the original, not revised edition. Silent Legions review can be accessed here. By mashing these two together I could get a hard copy of the revised Stars Without Number book (something I would love), review the changes and make a fun campaign at the same time!
Make My Own?
Of course, I had a blank notebook laying around as well. I picked it up and started some notes about what I would need to make a game in this style. I have a rough structure and I wrote a little more detailed ideas about the game – which I will probably share in the next few days. But up front, I wrote a table to help me come up with ideas for games in Weird Space! That table I share with you now!
Space Weird – the table!
Grab a couple of d20s and go to the table. Use one d20 for the What and one for the How. Use the table for getting a starting point for an encounter. Heck, I could probably build a full adventure from some of them. Results may not seem to work together but give it some thought. I cam up with some great ideas for things that seemed not to match!
| d20 | What is Weird? | How is it Weird? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robot | Changes form or state |
| 2 | Software | Operates in an oppositional manner to that expected |
| 3 | Alien | Disappears! |
| 4 | Ally | Appears! |
| 5 | Spaceship | Begins communicating in an unknown manner |
| 6 | Sensors | Phases in and out of existence |
| 7 | Ghost(s) | Emits a spectrum of visible colours or audible sounds |
| 8 | Creature/beast | Becomes poisonous/venomous |
| 9 | Hologram | Is infused with radiation |
| 10 | Planet | Reacts differently when interacting with a specific individual (PC/NPC) |
| 11 | Moon | Is infected with a parasite(s) |
| 12 | Asteroid | Drains all energy |
| 13 | God | Alters physical reality |
| 14 | Monster | Summons something long dead/gone |
| 15 | Black hole/space anomaly | Changes/travels through time |
| 16 | Weapon | Freezes time |
| 17 | Formless being | Can only be sensed in a specific way |
| 18 | City/colony/settlement | Opens a portal to a different dimension/reality |
| 19 | Cult | Changes structure/atomic makeup |
| 20 | Roll twice and combine results! | Roll twice and combine results! |
I hope this helps someone! Keep rolling!
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Eldritch Skies by Battlefield Press might be worth a look. It’s a Lovecraftian science fiction game based on the premise that Elder Thing and Mi-Go tech and sorcery were reverse engineered and gave humanity access to the stars.
It might also be worth your time to look at the Ghost Drive entries on the blog Twilight of the GM, https://twilightgm.blogspot.com/p/ghost-drive.html .
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Thanks for the tips – I will check them out.