With so many excellent old school crowdfunding campaigns under way these days, it's easy to miss some of the smaller ones, such as John Berry's
Hulks & Horrors, which he describes as
a classic dungeon crawl experience with a
mashup of gonzo sci-fi and space opera tropes from the golden ages of
the genre, with a touch of good humor, shocking horror, and good old
fashioned fun
The basic premise of the game is described at some length
on the game's webpage, but I thought the following section might be useful in sparking the interest of regular readers of this blog. Berry writes:
Set in a galaxy left almost stripped of sentient life by an ancient and
horrific plague, in Hulks and Horrors players take on the role of
troubleshooters and private explorers called "surveyors," contracted to
explore distant worlds, and given full license to kill and loot whatever
they find there. Players in H&H will encounter a host of dangerous
foes, from plague horrors, to indigenous beasts, to rogue surveyor
crews.
Hulks and Horrors takes its inspiration from the classic science
fiction and fantasy roleplaying games of the 70s and 80s, particularly
the works of Gygax, Moldvay, and Ward, as well as the pulp science
fiction of comics, TV and film, and artistic works from the likes of
Rodney Matthews and Roger Dean, and magazines like Heavy Metal and
2000AD.
If that sounds at all intriguing to you, hop on over to the campaign's Indiegogo page and consider making a pledge.
Already chipped in. Love the concept.
ReplyDeleteHulks as in "Space Hulk" I suppose? Looks like Rogue Trader.
ReplyDeleteThe term is most certainly inspired by Space Hulk, but the actual gameplay focus I think is closer to the private Scouts from the Star Wars RPG. Small crews of mercenary explorers out in the wastes of space picking at the scraps of dead civilizations.
ReplyDeleteHow does a plague spread beyond a planet?
ReplyDelete"Magic." ;)
ReplyDeleteSeriously, though, this is discussed briefly, but it was partly through the way plagues spread in our own world beyond their origins, through the transportation networks.
But also there is a brief mention that at some point, the plague, whatever its nature, somehow evolved the ability to drift through space and even subspace. The plague seems to have been no ordinary bacterium or virus, and the only thing that stopped it was simple starvation as far as anyone can tell.