NASA's Free TTRPG Adventure: The Lost Universe!

 NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has created and published their very own table top role-playing adventure, The Lost Universe! Now while they say it can be used with any role-playing system, it's clearly written for use with the current D&D 5e. They have released it over on their own official NASA website, but I'll drop the links here for your convenience.

..."A dark mystery has settled over the city of Aldastron, on the rogue planet of Exlaris. Researchers dedicated to studying the cosmos have disappeared, and the Hubble Space Telescope has vanished from Earth’s timeline."...

Sounds exciting!

These links are good as of 3/1/24 (The time this post was published.)

The Lost Universe

Download The Lost Universe gameplay instructional booklet. HERE

Map of Aldastron

Download the map of Aldastron to help you navigate through your adventure.  HERE

The Lost Universe Poster

Download and print The Lost Universe poster.  HERE

Friday Freebies: The Pool

This Friday's offering (yes, we know it's a day late.. shhh) is from the talented artist, James V. West. We encourage you to visit his website.. http://www.jwarts.com/

The Pool, a FREE PDF, courtesy of James V. West!

The Pool is a very simple game system that promotes player and GM creative collaboration through an easy dice pool gambling mechanic. This is a game system only. Bring your own imagination.

ALSO from James is the fun old-school fanzine, Black Pudding, which you can purchase as PDF or Print On Demand.

PWYW first edition of Black Pudding magazine in PDF format, from rpgnow.com

Glorping and shlorping along, the Black Pudding zlorts upon your party! What do you do? Read it, of course. This is an OSR-style zine of RPG goodies rendered in a highly visual style. Within these 24 ooze-soaked pages you'll find magic swords that make cuts no one can heal, monsters that shoot gold pieces, black knights, catgirls, chainmail chicks, and evil temples!

Contents:

2 character sheets

7 character classes

2 one-page dungeons

9 monsters

1 book of new spells

8 NPCs

House rules and tons of art!

Friday Freebie: Original Cars Wars

Car Wars has come a long way since its publication in 1980, packaged in a little ziplock-bag. If you missed those first exciting years of this classic game, you can enjoy them once again, for FREE!

Download the original rules for, Car Wars, HERE!

Looking To The Public Domain For Game Artwork

Artwork draws the eyes, draw the eyes and you draw the attention. Artwork is a necessity for any visual medium, especially blogs and gaming content. If you want your work to catch and hold the reader's attention, you need to add visuals, even if they are only moderately related to the content.

But original artwork costs $money$ and very few of us have extra money available. Stealing artwork is out of the question. One should always give credit and attribution to artwork made available for public use by creators.


The Public Domain offers an enormous amount of freely available artwork for the cash strapped writer, or gaming creative team. But give care to where you get your artwork from. Though it may be in the Public Domain, some artwork has been altered, or modified, by many websites, and copyright issues can become a problem if you misappropriate their work. Always check your sources thoroughly.


Here is a list of artists in the Public Domain. It is by no means exhaustive, but should provide an excellent selection of various styles to choose from.

The Deluge, engraving William Miller, c.1844

Heinrich Aldegrever
John D. Batten
John Bauer
Ivan Bilibin
William Blake
Hieronymus Bosch
Harry Clarke
Gustave Dore
Ernst Haeckel
John Huss
Theodor Kittleson
Henry Justice Ford
John Milford
William Morris
Alphonse De Neuville
Adriaen Pietersz
Arthur Rackham
Lancelot Speed
Christian Von Mechel
Lucas Brandis
Louis Le Breton
Walter Crane
Albrecht Durer
J. M. Gandy
Arthur Hacker
Adolf Hiremy Hirschl
William Hogarth
Wenceslaus Hollar
Franz Huys
Paul Jamin
Alois Kirnig
Karel Vitezslav Masek
William McAusland
Evelyn De Morgan
Sebastian Pether
Edouard Riou
David Roberts
David Ryckaert III
Anton Seder
Sidney Sime
John Vinycomb
Marten Eskil Winge
Milo Winter
N. C. Wyeth




Eve Tempted by Serpent, c.1799-1800, William Blake

The Historical Maps of John Speed

John Speed is probably one of England's most celebrated map illustrators. His maps are amongst the most sought after by collectors. And fortunately for the gaming community, these beautiful maps also quite useful for adventure campaigns.

The digitized maps of John Speed available here.

Friday Freebie: This week the D6 System!

D6 was released free to the public. Some content is still under license and not free.

Update as of 2-19-2024: This website is still up and the materials are still available, free for download.

Open D6, free to download.

Friday Freebie: DragonQuest

DragonQuest is a fun little tabletop RPG from 1980. It went through two editions before being acquired by TSR and a third edition published in 1989. The game has since been abandoned By Wizards of the Coast, though there is a thriving on-line community of die-hard fans.

Files for the game system have been published on-line with permission by WotC.

DragonQuest 2nd edition - 10 megabyte download

DragonQuest does not use character classes, but instead uses a system of professions with skills. It is NOT a clone of Dungeons & Dragons by any means. First and second edition are both the same, though cleaned up and clarified in the later.

DragonQuest 3rd edition - 16.3 megabyte download 

Third edition was put out by TSR when they took over the property. No real differences from 2nd edition, except some spells and colleges of magic were removed to avoid the, "Satanic Panic", of the 80's.

5 page comprehensive character sheet

A very well-done character sheet. A necessity for keeping track of the many details found in the DragonQuest rules system.

There is still a large, active, community of DragonQuest players online, with many links to fan-made materials. http://www.dragonquest.org/

Friday Freebie: Marvel Super Heroes (FASERIP)

For all of you die-hard fans of the original, and advanced, Marvel Super Heroes RPG (FASERIP) system, we bring you.. everything.. FREE!

Yes, we know this is only Thursday, but as it's Thanksgiving, we thought we'd give you your treat early.

Get it ALL here FREE!

Friday Freebie: Talislanta - Still NO Elves!

In 1987, every game was beginning to look a lot like another. Just about every fantasy game system was chock full of halflings, gnomes, dwarves, and of course.. elves! So when an ad appeared in Dragon Magazine that said, "No Elves!", many players new and old perked up.

Bard Games, published, The Chronicles of Talislanta, the first in a series of books about a role playing game called, Talislanta. The fantastic artwork of P.D. Breeding-Black and a quirky world setting influenced by the works of author Jack Vance soon earned the game something of a cult following in certain circles, as well as some pretty good reviews.

Since then, Talislanta has been through 5 different editions, including a D20 edition, and a 10th Year Anniversary edition. The background information for the setting is simply amazing. And now, celebrating its 30th year, every edition of the game rules has been made available to you, FREE of charge.

You can download everything from, HERE.

Friday Freebie - Faster Monkey Games

Faster Monkey Games began operations in February of 2010, but sadly closed shop in November of 2016. However, the Sparks Brothers, were generous enough to make their entire Product line available FREE to the gaming community!

Originally these adventures and game aids were created for  the Labyrinth Lord system and Mutant Futures, but they can still be used with most OSR retro-clones of the original fantasy role-playing game system.

Detailed descriptions of each product are available at DriveThruRPG, where you may download them free of charge.

All The Treasures Of The World: Gems

All The Treasures Of The World: Jewels

In the Shadow of Mount Rotten

Lesserton & Mor

Palace of the Jewelled Menagerie

Player's Guide to Lesserton

Re-Energizers - Mutant Future

Realm of the Technomancer

Skull Mountain

The Black Gem

The Gyre - Mutant Future

The Hidden Serpent

The Turntracker (Labyrinth Lord™)

The Turntracker (OSRIC™)

Wheel of Evil

Wrack & Rune

Ignore Free Gems and Free Jewels, as these are limited preview products for All The Treasures Of The World, Gems and Jewels.

Name That NPC - List 1

Here is a simple 1d50 list of NPC names, to be used for inspiration, or whatever other reason you need.

1. Thane the Outcast
2. James of the Castle Warden
3. Ernst Gigantesson
4. Galtar Hempseed
5. Cho Rempol
6. Nestrum the Nithling
7. Mimicus the Mirage
8. Puzzo Ale Sodden
9. Darlun Ninefinger
10. Zinn the Most Brazen
11. Fost Ghostwalker
12. The Silent Master
13. Mourn Tearblood
14. Dlareg of the Broken Chain
15. Donal the Triumphant
16. Hamurak of the Golden Dawn
17. Zula of the Silver Twilight
18. Sonja the Necrophant
19. Mantzar the Frank
20. Kresto the Amazing
21. Mabry the Mad
22. Procuron the Sentinel
23. Kant Stantcha
24. Bast Miltaur
25. Lupo the Lycan Hunter
26. Prego the Prestigious
27. Thom, Son of Iron
28. Dyzon Legolos
29. Zoltan Halfblood
30. Prince Kespeare
31. Kronen of the Borderlands
32. Porchette the Clever
33. Marazon the Unblessed
34. Fegnar the Unholy
35. Tesarat of the Unseen Path
36. Adraxus the Forgotten
37. Castus the Egregious
38. Hestia Bloodthorne
39. Negan the Reanimator
40. Seriff the Dominant
41. Quethos of Evergreen
42. Horezon, Servant of Marduk
43. Thesolon the Veiled
44. Gesbury Greyhand
45. Fenthoc Thorne
46. Athelos the Scryer
47. Rathanon the Undying
48. Lemmon Zhello
49. Cinnamon
50. Krusti O'Toole

Optional Rules: Trade Goods - Part One

Trade goods can usually be traded or bartered at 80 to 100% of full value. These goods are accepted anywhere there is a market for them. Ore grades affect trade values.

Metal, Price Per Pound:

1sp        Iron

4sp        Lead

5sp        Copper

1gp        Tin

5gp        Silver

5gp        Bronze

25gp      Electrum (White Gold)

50gp      Gold

500gp    Platinum

Metals are often smelted into ingots of various sizes and weights.
Ore values are different from smelted metal ingots. Ore is raw material, still mixed with impurities and sells for approximately 40% to 75% value. 

Grades of Ore:

40-45%                 Cut-Off Grade Ore, below this level no longer economical to mine

50-55%                 Mid-Grade Ore

60-65%                 Market Grade Ore

70-75%                 High Grade

Roll 1d8 to determine Ore Grad / Trade Value.

1	40%	5	60%
2	45%	6	65%
3	50%	7	70%
4	55%	8	75%

Grains, Produce, and Fruits:

1cp        one pound of wheat, or millet
5sp        one bushel of wheat, or millet (50 pounds)

2cp        one pound of flour, or rice
2sp        one bag of flour, or rice (10 lbs)
2cp        one pound of dried beans
1sp        one bag of dried beans (5 lbs)
3cp        one pound of corn (2 - 3 ears)
2gp        one bushel of corn (70 pounds)
2cp        one pound of onions (3 small, 2 medium, or 1 large)
11sp      one bushel of onions (57 pounds)
3cp        one pound of potatoes (3 average, 10 small)
3sp        one bag of potatoes (10 pounds)

2cp        one pound of apples (4 small, 3 medium, or 2 large)
8sp        one bushel of apples (40 lbs)

2cp        one pound of peaches (3)
1gp        one bushel of peaches (50 lbs)

1gp        one pound of cinnamon, or sugar

2gp        one pound of ginger, or pepper

5gp        one pound of salt

15gp      one pound of saffron, or cloves


Luxury Items:
5sp        one pound of tobacco (15-25 leaves)
8sp        one pound of mild pipeweed / hemp
1gp        strong pipeweed (2-3 cigarettes)
10gp      Black Lotus (the good stuff)

2gp        Haga (not the good stuff)


I'm looking to improve this article, please comment or send feedback.


Optional Rules: Livestock
Optional Rules: Fur Trade

DM's Toolbox: Alien and Mystical Writing

There comes a time when every DM needs to translate a written passage into a mysterious clue or script for their players to find and attempt to decipher. Sometimes you even need to do it on the fly, because you were caught by surprise. Either way, not every DM has the time to memorize a new alien alphabet, much less be able to use it in a timely manner. Fortunately the internet is a vast and wondrous place, full of bizarre goodness for players and DMs alike.

A common "magical" script that's freely available, is the Theban Alphabet, also called the Witch's Alphabet, said to protect the contents of the Book of Shadows from prying eyes.

You can down the Theban Alphabet font for free, here. There is even a real-time English (or language of your choice) to Theban translator on the page so you can write what you want and save it as a png file to print, or display on screen.

If you're interested in background, you can read about the Theban Alphabet, here.

The next font is the Fez Font. I use this for the alien language of an ancient race that no longer walks the world of men.. or so my players believe.

This alien font can be downloaded for free, here. Again, there is an on-line translator window that allows you to translate on the fly and save as a png file for printing, or screen display.

If you're looking for something a little different, I suggest the First Temple Font. This works as a nice script for non-human writing.

It can be downloaded for free, here. And, for your convenience, again an on-line translator is available.

A simple on-line search will help you find many freely available fonts. If there is no on-line translator available for the font you're looking for, simply download and install on your computer for use in your preferred word processor, or graphics program. Please do not ask me for help installing fonts on your computer. You are better off reading the help files that come with the programs you are using.

DM's Toolbox: Random Dice Tables

Once again we'll be looking at dice rolls, but dice rolls of a different sort. Today's topic is using random die rolls to help stimulate your brain when you get stuck for inspiration. Exact interpretation of the die roll isn't necessarily important as long as it gives you a point of reference to start with. These tables go along very well with Redcap's Universal Table.

 

Door/Container:

1. Open
2. Stuck
3. Blocked
4. Trapped
5. Locked
6. Locked and Trapped

Treasure:

1. Minor Coinage
2. Gold
3. Gems
4. Potion / Scroll / Other Minor Magic Item
5. Weapon / Armor
6. Magic Item

Weather:

1. Sunny
2. Partly cloudy
3. Rain
4. Thunderstorm
5. Whirlwind
6. Snow / Blizzard

Trap:

1. Trap Door / Pit
2. Falling / Crushing
3. Spiked Pit / Walls
4. Projectiles
5. Guillotine / Scythe
6. Gas / Spray

Armor / Clothing:

1. Head
2. Torso
3. Feet
4. Hands
5. Arms
6. Legs

Time of Day:

1. Early Morning
2. Late Morning
3. Noon(ish)
4. Afternoon
5. Early Evening
6. Late Evening

Encounter Difficulty:

1. Easy
2. Easy
3. Easy
4. Equal
5. Equal
6. Tougher

Roadway / Corridor:

1. Obstacle / Doorway (Mud, Fallen Rocks, etc)
2. Intersection (Tee or Cross)
3. Left Turn
4. Right Turn
5. Straight
6. Incline / Decline (Hill Up or Down, Stairs, Ladder)

DM's Toolbox: Quick Tavern & Inn Name Generator

A quick search online will reveal dozens, if not more, name generators for taverns and inns. These lists aren't uncommon or hard to find, but most all of them aren't public domain, or free to use in your own products. That's where this article comes in. You are free to use, alter, and publish these tables as long as you give credit to myself, Gerald "Redcap" Williams.

Roxburghe Ballads c1633

To generate a name, first roll 1d6

1 – 3 List of Colors

4 – 6 List of Actions

Then roll another 1d6

1 – 3 List of Animals

4 – 5 List of Birds

   6 List of Fantastic Beasts

List of Colors (Roll 1d8)

1. Red
2. Blue
3. Green
4. Yellow / Gold / Golden
5. Brown
6. Black
7. White
8. Gray / Silver

List of Actions (Roll 1d8)

1. Laughing
2. Dancing
3. Sitting
4. Drinking / Drunken / Hungry
5. Singing / Roaring / Barking
6. Sleeping
7. Fighting / Rampant / Raging
8. Jumping / Leaping / Running

List of Animals (Roll 1d12)

1. Bull / Cow / Calf / Ox
2. Bear
3. Deer / Hind
4. Lion / Leopard
5. Boar  / Sow / Pig
6. Badger
7. Horse (Stallion, Mare, Foal, Pony)
8. Dog (Fox, Hound, Wolf)
9. Goat (Sheep, Ram)
10. Rabbit (Hare, Coney)
11. Weasel (Stoat)
12. Beaver (Otter)

List of Birds (Roll 1d6)

1. Rooster (Cock)
2. Hawk
3. Goose
4. Owl
5. Swan
6. Seagull / Gull

List of Fantastic Beasts (Roll 1d6)

1. Chimera
2. Dragon
3. Wyvern
4. Unicorn
5. Griffon
6. Harpy

Click HERE for a free copy of these tables in PDF format.

Redcap's Universal Table For Almost Everything

Longtime players of D&D will most certainly remember the original "Reaction Table", which was also used in the first edition of Gamma World, by the way. This table utilized the simplified mechanic of rolling two standard 6-sided dice, adding the total, and comparing to the chart. The beauty and simplicity of this minor table was never lost on me, and followed me throughout 39 years of gaming. Even when playing other game systems that didn't use a similar device, or have rules governing a particular circumstance, I would default to grabbing two dice and wing it. Not only has this kept the action moving along without interruption, but has kept my behind-the-screen decision making fairly consistent. Players can often sense when dice rolls are arbitrarily random, which does much to breed mistrust.

Back in July, I wrote an article on using Decision Dice ("Using The Dice to Improvise"), that touched on the subject of using random dice rolls during games, but only gave generic guidelines. The primary focus of that article was on showcasing Decision Dice. This article covers my personally preferred approach, using only two normal dice.

I prefer this method because rolling two dice allows for 36 random combinations, for 11 possible unmodified results, which I then further break down into 5 categories of severity. While this might appear very math intensive, it's actually quite simple in practice. The odds and percentages have only been included for those who are interested in how the system is derived.

2d6 Odds and Probabilities

My system uses five successive levels of possible outcome, ranging from the worst to best possible results. The Game Master may apply any bonuses or penalties depending on situational conditions, precautions being taken, quality of materials being used, a particularly favorable (or unfavorable) character trait the character might possess, etc.

2d6	Outcome	Probability
2	Unfavorable, Complication	3%
3-5	Unfavorable	25%
6-8	Neutral	44%
9-11	Favorable	25%
12	Favorable, Beneficial	3%

• 2 - Unfavorable, Complication - Not only don't things look good, but this result will further complicate the situation.
• 3-5 - Unfavorable - Things don't go well, but aren't overly complicated by further misfortune.
• 7-9 - Neutral - The situation is neither favorable, nor unfavorable.
• 10-11 - Favorable - Things fall into place in favor of the situation.
• 12 - Favorable, Beneficial - Not only are things good, but are further beneficial to the situation

Here are a few examples of possible outcomes, depending on the situation being determined:

Encounter Reaction:

• Attacks immediately
• Hostile, will probably attack unless the situation changes
• Uncertain, guarded behavior, but willing to parley
• Not hostile, possibly friendly
• Peaceful, makes overtures of friendship in good faith

Daily Weather

• The worst possible type of extreme weather for the climate, season, and region, be it a typhoon, massive blizzard, sand storm, whatever!
• Bad weather, possibly dangerous depending on prevailing climate
• Typical weather conditions
• Favorable weather conditions
• Best possible weather conditions

Character Attempting An Action:

• Not only has the action failed, but the proverbial Fickle Middle Finger of Fate makes an appearance!
• The action fails, possibly resulting in further problems (alarm goes off, etc)
• The character succeeds, but only just
• Clear success, fortune smiles upon the character
• Outstanding! Not only does the character succeed, but gains an advantage or added benefit doing so

Success of A Project: (for example -  crafting a magic item)

• Dismal failure! Not only are all materials ruined and wasted, but research notes may have been compromised (accidentally set on fire, etc)
• Failure. Only the natural results of failing may occur as a result
• Success. The item is crafted and functional
• Well done. The item is well crafted as though by a master craftsman
• Eureka! The item is an exceptional specimen of its kind, possibly with an unforeseen benefit

Optional Rule - Rolling Doubles:

Rolling doubles results in hard preset results that supersede any modifiers that may have been applied to the dice roll. This is done to ensure nothing is guaranteed to be an automatic success or failure.

2d6	Outcome	Odds
1,1	The Jolly Roger!	1 in 36
2,2	Consequences	1 in 36
3,3	Automatic Failure	1 in 36
4,4	Automatic Success	1 in 36
5,5	Beneficial	1 in 36
6,6	Outstanding!	1 in 36

• The Jolly Roger! - Named after a particular set of dice I had that replaced the 1 with a skull and crossbones.
• Consequences - Unfavorable outcome, resulting in possible consequences (alarms, broken equipment, etc)
• Automatic Failure - Despite your best efforts, you just fall short. You may attempt a re-do
• Automatic Success - Yes! Well done
• Beneficial/Excellent - You make this $@#! look good
• Bonus! - You succeed beyond expectations, and may enjoy an additional unexpected bonus