As aficionados of Star Trek roleplaying games would tell you, Leonard H. Kanterman's Starships & Spacemen, originally released by FGU, was an early attempt to produce an RPG based on Gene Roddenberry's future. Not literally, of course, as S&S used its own setting, but the influence of the 1960s TV show was obvious, from the logical Taurans -- and their evil twins the war-like Videni -- to the conquest-minded Zangids.
Today, Dan Proctor, creator of Labyrinth Lord, announced that Goblinoid Games had purchased Starships & Spacemen and would be making a PDF version of the original rules available for $4.95. This will be followed, in the near future, by a revised second edition of S&S that's compatible with Labyrinth Lord and Mutant Future, as well as supplements and adventure modules usable with either the revised or original rules system.
From my perspective, this is pretty amazing news. S&S is one of the oldest SF RPGs and one that I remember hearing about but never had the chance to see when I first entered the hobby. As a big fan of SF RPGs, Star Trek, and Goblinoid Games, this is terrific news and I can't wait to see what the future has in store.
Alas, another one I got my hands on back in the day thanks to being an Aero Hobbies hanger-on, but I ended up Ebaying it during my mid-2000's game and miniature purge.
ReplyDeleteI have zero memories of the system though. Another game I owned but had no time for, because I ran so much Call of Cthulhu, Champs, and AD&D to rule them all.
As someone in the market for an old school space exploration game that isn't Traveller, I find this news serendipitous.
ReplyDeleteAh yes, the science officer had to roll to "go online" to get anything out of the computer. Obviously S&S spaceships ran on late-90s AOL dial-up.
ReplyDeleteActually, the PDF was already available, it just was formerly $7.20 and now it’s $4.95. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks again for the link to Old School Trek!
Sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteSlightly annoying that the planned 2nd edition is going to be revised into yet another version of D&D.
I disagree. There are plenty of space games, and several star trek games. Having something that is D&D based will be useful to some in ways that those games are not.
ReplyDeleteThere are very few rules in the original version of S&S (especially when we are talking about rules for characters, there are some great rules in there for starships that I probably won't ant to meddle with too much), so making it more compatible with MF/LL will be easy.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I own Traveller and Star Frontiers, I really like the idea of owning a sci-fi game compatible with basic D&D and Mutant Future.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. It would be cool to see a comparison of revised version of S&S (once it's published) against Traveller, Star Frontiers and the new X-plorers rpg.
ReplyDeleteAny takers?
Although there was a PDF version of the game offered by FGU, this version Dan did is *much* nicer. The old one was just a scan, whereas the new GG version is cleaned up, OCR'd and therefore searchable, and includes the "Starships & Spacemen Expansion Kit" (the author's notes and game errata) that was published in Different Worlds #2 in 1979. It's a steal at $5.
ReplyDeleteGreat news! I very much look forward to it being compatible with LL and MF as I've been thinking of doing some adventures along the lines of Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and the Blackmoor series. Being able to add a space element to it will make for even more weird fun...
ReplyDeleteHmm...I'm definitely going to check this out though I doubt it'll see much use. I already have S&S and while very cool, it doesn't out-Trek the other Trek games I also have.
ReplyDeleteA Labyrinth Lord/MF version is likewise intriguing but D&D space games have usually been a let down for me.
I was pretty excited until I read about it being D&Dized.
ReplyDeleteWhat great news, only somewhat blunted by how it renders my own (occaisonal and half-assed) attempts at updating S&S superfluous. S&S is a really clever rpg, giving so many possibilities and a strong sense of what's supposed to happen in actual play with only a rough guideline of rules.
ReplyDeletefaserip: Slightly annoying that the planned 2nd edition is going to be revised into yet another version of D&D.
An odd complaint, given the original S&S is already a an obvious remix of OD&D.
FGU has a rep for periodically doing limited print runs of titles to keep hold of their games, so them selling s&S to Goblinoid Games is surprising.
ReplyDeleteFGU wouldn't sell Space Opera nor Bushido (not even license it out). That's why Sengoku was made, originally it was supposed to be a new edition of Bushido.
Well kudos I suppose for Goblinoid Games, a cheaper, cleaner, and expanded PDF of the original is a good thing (and no longer sold be FGU). Perhaps a note on the PDF entry that it is a new scan? (I see the mention of additional material)
(shrugs) Not really into D&D Trek but the 2nd edition might be plunderable for Mutant Future.
Sounds great, I'll definitely buy the LL/MF/D&D-compatible version, it's something I've been looking for for a long time. I got Bezio's X-Plorers and it's ok, but knowing how good LL & MF are, this should be great. :-)
ReplyDelete...okay, I'm gettin' this.
ReplyDeleteWORD VERIFICATION: gerhan
That's a great PC name.
An odd complaint, given the original S&S is already a an obvious remix of OD&D.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's very obviously modeled on D&D's rules. If ever there were a game that would benefit from being made more compatible with Labyrinth Lord, this is it.