Like tabletop roleplaying games? GET ON GOOGLE PLUS!

 

There's really no other way to say it: if you're a pen-and-pencil gamer or used to be and can't find a group in your area? There's no more excuse for not gaming. Get on Google Plus if you're not already. If you've ever asked "Where can I find an online RPG game?" or "Where can I run an online roleplaying campaign?" You're answer is here!

Many of my readers have Google accounts--converting your account or signing up for G+ account is easy. There's so many Communities (big "C" as that's Google's name for groups with like-minded folks) out there for gamers of all stripes. 

Let this settle in for a bit: Just typing in "Dungeons and Dragons" is going to give you dozens if not hundreds of results for Communities to join.

Here now are many of the groups to which I belong on G+. If there was an official tagline for the group, I pulled it off their page. Some had nothing. I bolded at least one in each category that I think are good for getting you started. 

GENERAL RPG RESOURCES AND OLD SCHOOL GAMING 

• G+ RPG Hangouts Where people can go to game via hangout. 
• G+ Tabletop Roleplaying Games All Gamers Welcome 
• NEW: That's Gameable! Find and share inspiration --news stories, images, etc. -- you've stumbled across that can be used for roleplaying games, creative writing and more. All genres welcome!
• g+ Monster Manual Post or link to your D&D monsters here
• Game Master Tips Let's help each other improve our craft
• Gaming on the Cheap Can you spare a cup of dice? Saving yor table top gaming dollars. 
• The Library of Gaming Maps Gaming maps by Gamers, for Gamers 
• MEGADUNGEON Map, stock, share...
• Obsidian Portal Obsidian Portal is the award winning, free to use, online platform for running and organizing your table top role-playing games.
• Order of the D30 "One die to rule them all!"
• OSR Old School Roleplaying
• Pen & Paper RPG Bloggers For people who blog about pen & paper roleplaying games
• R20 Player Network Find Comrades for Roll20.net
• Roleplaying Games The G+ Role Playing Community
• RPG Session Prep All about getting your game prepped... 
• RPG Tables & Charts What it says on the can: Tables and Charts for Role-Playing Games 
• TableTop Fan Community Let's play more games! (Fans of the popular TableTop YouTube series
• Vintage Role Playing Games 

RPGs FOR KIDS

• DungeonDads Dads who play RPGs
• Gamer Parents It's not the end of gaming, just the end of gaming as you know it
• RPGs for Kids 

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS LATEST EDITION

• Arcady's Old School 5E D&D 5E for old school gamers 
• D&D Next  5e Discussions (Unofficial)
• O5R 5E D&D with old school muse

FANTASY & HORROR

• Adventure Fantasy Game 5MORE × the OSR Fun
• Barbarians of Lemuria A community for celebrating the Barbarians of Lemuria RPG and all things sword & sorcery
• B/X D&D Discussion of Basic and Expert Dungeons & Dragons
• Call of Cthulhu RPG 
• Castles and Crusades Society For players of the tabletop RPG "Castles and Crusades" published by Troll Lord Games
• Dungeons & Dragons (Unofficial) 
• Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition TSR's AD&D 2nd Edition Group
• DCCRPG Dungeon Crawl Classics RPG from Goodman Games
• Hackmaster 5th Edition The *best* roleplaying game ever made!
• Labyrinth Lord It's always 1981 here
• Original Dungeons & Dragons OD&D Fan Community
• Pathfinder An unofficial gathering of players and GMs. Administered by Loki
• RoleMaster RMFRP/RMS A community for fans and players of the RoleMaster versions known as RMFRP and RMSS. 
• Swords & Wizardry Discussion
• 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons 

SCIENCE FICTION

• Sci Fi OSR Gamma World, Stars Without Number, Terminal Space and MUCH MORE!
• High Space DEV SPHERE for Savage Worlds - Fast, Furious Fun...in the Far Future!
• Mindjammer Transhuman Adventures in the Second Age of Space
• Shadowrun Tabletop RPG For discussion and meeting new players out there
• Star Frontiers Now and Forever!
• Stars Without Number Discuss Sine Nomine RPGs/Stars Without Number! 
• Star Wars (see below)
• Traveller the RPG
• X-plorers Old-school science fiction gaming!

STAR WARS

• Game Mastering - Star Wars: Edge of the Empire 
• FFG Star Wars RPGs The new Star Wars RPGs from Fantasy Flight Games 
• Star Wars D6 Star Wars RPG from West End Games (WEG)
• Wildspace Magazine Star Wars D6 magazine

POST-APOCALYPSE AND SCIENCE FANTASY

• Gamma Crawl Classics
• Gamma World Rules 
• Metamorphosis Alpha Predecessor to Gamma World
• Mutant Future Science-Fantasy Condensed 
• Numenera
• Spelljammer A gathering place for Spelljammer players and GMs, no matter what system they use!
• The Strange
• Warriors of the Red Planet Sword & Planet Adventures on the World of Mars, and Beyond

SUPERHEROES

• Heroes Unlimited  
• Mutants & Masterminds Superhero Roleplaying
• TSR's Marvel Super Heroes The Community for the FASERIP Marvel Super Heroes RPG, along with other FASERIP-based systems!
• Villains & Vigilantes The Classic Superhero RPG 

ALL-AROUND SYSTEMS

• Fate Accelerated (FAE) (FAE)
• Fate Core All things about the Fate RPG
• GURPS

GAME CREATION & PUBLISHING

• Gamecraft Tabletop roleplaying, board, miniatures, and card game creation and refinements.
• Indie RPG Publishers 
• Map-Making in Games 
• One Page Dungeon A yearly contest of one page role-playing adventures. 
• RPG ZINES diy micro-press rpg publishing
• RPG Artists Group for game illustrators (as well as finding some to work on your game)
• RPG Design Network 
• Pocketmod Games 8 tiny pages of gaming goodness
• World Building Creating Fictional Worlds
• 25 Quick and Dirty Map Tutorials Guide Create stunning maps using any graphics software

I'm sure some of my "plusser" pals out there in Internet-landia can help fill in the comments with any that I've missed. (Note: please do comment from your computer, as posting from mobile devices gives a different address or some cases, doesn't work at all.)

Once you've joined Google Plus you should:

1. Fill out your profile and make it obvious that you're a gamer. Read THIS POST by Adam Muszkiewicz immediately.
2. Join some gamer Communities. Some may need to approve you to join, so make sure your profile is filled out first.
3. Turn OFF your 1+ notices and turn ON notifications for the Communities you've joined.
4. Take some time exploring posts, Get caught up on what the community is talking about--but also what ground they've covered. Post questions if you're in need of help.
5. Games are done via Google Hangout, so you'll need a good set of headphones and a webcam (most are built right into laptops nowadays).
6. See that "Recommended for you" link at the top of your Google Plus feed? CLICK IT. There's more Communities to join!

Join G+ and get gaming!

No longer do you need to scour the web looking for a game here or there. Now you can join Google Plus--and if there's not one already you can make one yourself!

Updated: November 4, 2015

Rad Astra, where are you?

It's been a while since I've done a proper Rad Astra update. And for good reason--I've stalled. I've made good headway on what started as a setting book for X-plorers--but that really can be easily adapted to any scifi game. Here's what's completed (though not all of these are published on the site):

• Five classes, plus a "bonus" multi-class option
• Alternate rules for earning XP, building skills, and a few other options for PCs
• About 30 or so creatures (monsters and aliens)
• Four playable alien classes
• Equipment and gear options
• Rules for space magic
• Optional rules for building robots
• Three adventure modules
• About a dozen artifacts/treasures
• Various adventure hooks and "news from around the galaxy" bits
• Plus a few other surprises

But, I've run into several barriers this year, including:

100% increase in babies

We had a kid! She's awesome. Like the best, most awesomest thing ever. She's my new hobby. I don't really talk about her on the blog, but I expect as I work to introduce her to the geek lifestyle, that will change. The outcome? My time/energy was diverted. A recent conversation with my wife was very encouraging in respect to reclaiming those resources so I could "work on nerd things" like Rad Astra.

At least I've got my health

Or not. This one nearly leveled me, and I never, ever mention it because I'm a fairly private individual. Also, who gives a shit? Really, everyone has their day-to-day struggles. On this blog, it would get old fast. The details aren't important, but after 5 months and a lot of visits to the doc, things are finally back on track. But it sucked up a lot of previously mentioned time/energy.

Redundancy

Interest in space opera, thanks to juggernauts like Guardians of the Galaxy, has surged. We're living in a new golden age of wahoo, gonzo scifi. There's been an uptick in homebrewed scfi settings and games. I've agonized for 6 months on this: do we need another one?

This all seemed like a good idea back in the fall of 2012. I proposed this idea of doing a pastiche setting that ripped off the best and worst of comics, movies, and TV. It's by no means an original idea--and one that can be done many different ways. Currently there are several projects that are creatively knocking it out of the cosmos. Let's say that I'm able to get Rad Astra out a year from now--it would be pretty late to the party. Plus, I'd like to think that I could measure up to those, but the next barrier has a lot to do with quality...

Insufficient funds 

Money.Yep, it makes the world go round. At one point, I had a small sum saved for paying artists for much needed game art and maps. That's long gone. I'd switched to thinking I would do a gazetter (essentially a zine) and compile it into an almanac at the end of the year. But still, these things aren't cheap. Incidentally, I've considered doing Rad Astra sans art, but really, the theme demands it. And so do I.

I've got no game

In January of this year I attended Con of the North, our local game con here in the Twin Cities. I only had time to show up and run a single game of X-plorers (in the Rad Astra setting). I was woefully under-prepared. It was a complete disaster. I was overtired and the experience (from my perspective) was so bad that I didn't even want to blog about it. The adventure itself was pretty cool, but I just couldn't pull it off. The players said they had fun, but the end result was me going home and feeling like I'd let them down.

The longer-term result was a real lull in my RPGing. I'd even lost interest in it for a while. When I'd finally stopped feeling sorry for myself and my interest was renewed, I found it really tough to get a group together to play. Not to mention, I had all these things I'd written for Rad Astra that I'd been desperate to run--and no one to try them out on. The drought continues to this day.

So what now?

I don't know. I'm all over the map on this. I've thought of doing one of the following:

1. Kill this little darling. It's dead weight. Cut the cord and be done with it. Short term pain for long term gain.
2. Kickstarter! Beg strangers on the interwebs for money. I hate this option.
3. Partner with a publisher. I really only know of one who might take it. I'd have less control but it has a better chance of seeing publication. 
4. Take a million years to finish it and publish it anyway. (Not really an option, because I'll resort to #1 if I can't get it done without a clear finish date, e.g., end of the year.)

"What now?" indeed--besides the catharsis of writing this post. Do I double down? Are there more options I'm not seeing? The pity party is over, it's time to decide. Feel free to offer sideline analysis in the comments.

Blogger contest: 30 posts to create a campaign setting in 60 days!

So I was reading up on the 24 RPG project which seems like a really cool endeavor that I totally don't have time for.* I do hope to someday write one of my own, but realistically that's a ways off. But what I can do is whip up a blog (as I'm wont to do with side projects from time to time) and basically come up with a campaign setting or my own version of how I'd play an established game with house rules, etc.

Put on your thinking cap, kids!

Throw in there the idea that the OSR loves light rules. Bloggers love to talk about how the early games gave you a pencil, a piece of paper and some funny dice and away you went. It seems there's something to be said for brevity and starting with just bare bones inspiration.

Then it got me thinking... (I know, dangerous!) What if there was a similar festival/contest/whatever for game bloggers? 24 hours seems nearly impossible for a decently rounded out campaign blog, but what about limiting the posts? Keep the paramenters centered on worldbuilding and gameplay of something you'd actually kinda' want to play.

Got me thinking about all settings I've started, but never finished......

SO HERE'S AN IDEA...

1. Pick a game--any old rules will do. Stick to one set though.
2. Dream up a campaign setting--it can't be anything you've previously posted, published, or talked about before. It doesn't have to be "new" per se, just new to the rest of us.
3. Create a new blog--yes a new URL and everything, but use your current account so we can tell it's still yours. Name if after your campaign settting.
4. Write 30 posts in 60 days. (C'mon, that's less than 1 a day!) You have just that long to outline the major key elements (setting, monsters, rule modifications, classes, races, etc.). This is straight-up worldbuilding using elements you'd normally talk about on your home blog. But here, you've got economize and decide what the most important elements are. Here's some general guidelines:

30 POSTS TOTAL

• 13 on monsters or villains, one type or one specific individual per post (so "hobgoblins" is one, a "kaiju" is another, "Vader's granny" another, etc.)
• 4 on special treasure, a lost artifact, weapons, vehicles, etc., however you choose to parse. 
• 3 on setting, this is all aesthetic so you'll want to focus on places, maps, NPCs, the way magic works, how the local ruling space authority, uh...rules the galaxy, etc.
• 3 on classes with each dedicated to a separate player class.
• 2 on house rules, specifically how your campaign either strays, modifies, or embellishes on your chosen rule set (posts can be as detailed as you like); carousing rules, etc. all apply here
• 3 on any topics you like, these help you round out the rough edges and could be additional classes, races, setting, etc.
• 1 intro post to set up your premise for your campaign (e.g., , declare your ruleset and acknowlege participation in the contest
• 1 report of actual play, which should include at least one picture, be it from the campaign or actual play; you can make this your final post with a big sign off or you can use it as a playtest, but you gotta play it at least once and record it for posterity

That's it! That's all you get!

Why be so limiting?

Well, limits help push you to problem solve, be creative and force you to make decisions. Why 30? Well seems like you need at least 20 or so to establish the world and make it feel like there's enough of it to explore. 10 more to round it out. "But we should do 40 or 50 or..." Yeah,  we could. But we're NOT. It's gotta feel like a doable, participatory event with a clear finish line.

What happens after the contest/thingy?

Well, you abandon the blog. At least, you no longer post to that blog address. It's done. Finito. You can/should link to it on your regular blog and you're totally able to take it further on there. But on the newly created blog--you only get 30 posts.

Then, hopefully, we all get a chance to maybe play our games? Talk about sharpened skills and broken pencils, etc. Enjoy some laughs and return to our civilian lives, changed but better human beings.

...or not. But at least you'd have a cool contest entry and maybe that would spark some ideas.

So is there a winner?

Dunno yet. Maybe I could come up with some prizes and/or get others to pitch in. But I'm not comfortable being the only judge. So maybe we all vote? Maybe there's a jury that recuses themselves from the contest? Maybe it's just a cool thing we attempt like those Lego builder "contests" and NaNoMiRoWhatever. But one thing is for sure YOU ONLY GET 30 POSTS!

So, is anyone interested in something like this?

I tried to parse out the blog post requirements along the lines of something I generally see on home blogs. Maybe that needs to be modified. But then again, I don't think anyone wants to read 20 posts on house rules, 10 on play testing, and only 10 for worldbuilding. Of course, I could have missed something major so be sure to let me know.

If enough people are interested. When should we start? After the one-page dungeon contest? Gives you a few weeks to read up on rules or daydream at work about your new setting. What's the contest called?

30 FOR 60

RPG World-Building Blogging Challenge!

(If I could do art, this is where that cool custom logo would go.)

Okay, questions? Suggestions? Let's hear 'em!



*I'd also nitpick the thing to death after the fact and I just know I'd never be satisfied with the outcome.

Community Setting Project: FROM THE ZONES!

Click image to learn how to participate! 

Exonauts pal and Radstronaut John Till over at FateSF is leading the charge for new cross-blog extravaganza called FROM THE ZONE. This is an OSR community project to create material for a post-apocalyptic setting inspired in part by the Andrei Tarkovsky film Stalker (1979). 

If you've never heard of the film, he's written a great primer and set up some participation guidelines. This is open to anyone and you don't need a blog to participate. It looks to be a blast so put on your thinking caps and get writing! 

From FateSF:

FROM THE ZONE is a cross-blog project about the Zones. Here are the details:

1. Write something about the Zones for the system of your choice. Describe a specific Zone, or an artifact, or a location within the Zone, a strange threat or phenomenon found in the Zone, a Zone scenario, a table of encounters, a Stalker character class, or something else.
2. This project is cross-system. Write for a system you love. I'll be writing for Fate Core/FAE, but you may want to write for a different system, such as Labyrinth Lord/Mutant Future, X-plorers, Diaspora, Stars Without Numbers, WaRP, Open D6,  or something else. System-neutral is also fine!
3. Post your content to your own blog. You own whatever you write and post to your own blog.
4. If you don't have a blog you can write a document in Google docs. 
5. Download the Hereticwerks Zones logo; use it in your blog post or Google doc! We will post the link to download the logo HERE as soon as it is up and ready.
6. Leave a comment in the comments section of this post (see below) with a link to your blog post or Google doc. 
7. We will create a table with all the links and a brief/title description of each item here at FATE SF. 

We'll start the table collecting the links as Thursday's FATE SF post. This will be an ongoing project, so share a link to your blog post or Google doc whenever it is ready.

TONIGHT: Talking ELYSIUM on HuffPost Live

What up nerds?! I'll be a guest blogger on HuffPost Live tonight, 7pm central with Nancy Redd, talking to actress Alice Braga about her role in the new sci-fi film Elysium (maybe you've heard of it?).

Here's the link to watch! Come see me make an absolute fool of myself on live webstream!!

UPDATE: The interview is now archived here.

Why I won't be "pruning" inactive blogs

Over the last week, I've seen several posts by bloggers (OSR and others) talking about Google's plans to shut down Google Reader. (Note: I'd blogged about this earlier too.) I'm at a loss though to understand why some blogs are scrubbing "dormant" or deleted blogs from their feeds. What counts as dormant exactly? No new posts for a few weeks? A month? A year? I have some that I only post to every few months--but they're still online.

First, let's not get off on the wrong foot--I get that there's the need for housekeeping. I have a few blogs that were reclaimed by spammers, and I've deleted those. I've also let go of some that I just didn't find my cup of tea.

Many blogs have only intermittent activity (a few times a year) but they still might have great ideas and inspiration. I'll never fully understand why people delete their blogs either. I'm sure there might be issues they contend with (e.g., if they find themselves in trouble for posting something). But deleting is even worse than jumping ship from a rarely-active blog. I recall one fantastic blogger that did a great job with converting between systems and incorporating pop culture material. He was great with stats! (Something I envy, since I suck at it.) One day it was just gone--the entire blog, erased.

Secondly: Grognardia.

James Maliszewski may no longer be blogging (his site's been silent since December of last year) but certainly there is a rich cache of posts on the history of the hobby, creative output, and other worthwhile information about RPGs. Seriously though, deleting Grognardia from your rolls? Seems a bit drastic.

Yes, I realize that Grognardia probably ranks among the few blogs that people won't forget about, but there may be other authors that return some time in the future. It's still worth preserving links to important sites that propelled or inspired the rest of us. Maybe making a page for dormant blogs--off the main list?  

I'm not saying my own blogs are anything special. While it's tough to maintain a steady output, I still have plans for them. I'm certain time to write and read will be even harder to come by once the kiddo arrives (hell, I hardly have time now as it is!). But I don't plan on abandoning them. Some may take different forms, but I prefer to at least keep them "on". 

I suppose it doesn't matter really, to each her or his own when it comes to publishing blogs and organizing their reading. But I'll be transferring everything--and that's hundreds of blogs--and (thankfully) they don't all post every day or even every week.

I've gotten good and skimming for posts that pique my interests...and finding the gems.

Exonauts on Pintrest!

I've been pinning for a while now, but I keep forgetting to mention it. Pintrest is probablly my favorite image/video blogging service at the moment. I'm still bloggin on Tumblr for Exonauts and Gamma World War, but finding a cool image and adding it to one (or more than one) of several curated boards is SUPER fast and easy. Even more so on my Droid.

It's really cool for creating boards for different campaigns or just visual styles. I started with a "Scifi Stream" board that's catch-all but have slowly been spinning off other boards with different categories or aesthetics. This all goes back to my earlier post on visual sourcebooks--hopefully that catches on!

 

Check out Exonauts on Pintrest!

Rad Astra resources for players

So I've been working on some ideas to help players in my Rad Astra campaign. Namely, a companion blog that they can safely navigate without getting spoilers while I continue to use this one to develop ideas.

I expect there will be a lot of duplication, but Blogger makes that easy enough with copy/paste. Then it's just up to me to delete any spoiler-like info. I'd started one a while back, but haven't gotten around to updating it yet.

They'd get any info on tech, vehicles with stats, but not for aliens, monsters, NPCs (though still descriptive info for those). Plus some character sheets and ship blueprints. Maybe a few hints now and then on gameplay, but nothing too revealing.

Anyone have anything like this? Advice? Ideas?

Running out of spacetime!

John Lennon said, "Life is what happens to you, while you're busy making other plans." And life is definately happening around here. Frankly, I'm a frustrated with myself right now. I've not been able to finish a few RPG projects I've been working on and now time is of the essence!

Realistically, it could happen any day, but my wife is due in mid-July so I'm scrambling to get stuff together for Rad Astra. I've already choked on a deadline for Petty Gods. (Short version: I'm an idiot, so you can totally blame me when Detriax, Minor Goddess of Space Junk or the artifact I've been working on doesn't appear in that volume.)

Anyway, time has been fleeting for the last few months as it is, so the pressure's on to get something done on my own. I hate blogging about real-life crap (honestly, who cares?) but it's not my intention to keep saying "In progress" with little result. At least if I could get the writing part done, I'd feel better. So it's time to focus! Rad Astra, or bust!

Face it, your blog is toast...

So this is maddening. Google Reader (which I use to follow the bajillion blogs I read) is being shut down in a few months--July 1, 2013. Word has been circulating since last fall that Blogger may not be long for this world either.

As I think about it, it seems like Reader would be the natural, first-strike takedown before Blogger gets the axe. I was worried about losing the blog as early as 2011 so I took steps to purchase the domain for Exonauts (which has been live since last summer). I'm thinking it might be time to work on full site with a blog (a task which I've actually little time for, especially come this summer).

In any case, you fellas ought to look out for your blogs. And readers, now is the time to start looking at other reader apps. I use NewsRob on my Android phone, which works great. I'm a bigger fan of Google Reader for organizing though since it lets me categorize and tag blogs with ease. If you're looking for a place to start your quest, Boing Boing has a post/thread going on other services (some paid, some not).

More info:

• ABC News - Google shuts down Reader
• USA Today - Suggested replacements
• Google instructions for downloading Reader data

Update: This guy knows exactly what I'm talking 'bout.

What's RIGHT with this picture?

Click to enlarge viewscreen. Via this awesome blog.

One word: KICKSTARTER.

More Enterprise images on the Exonauts Tumblr page.

Life and stuff...

Gah, so I missed Thark Thursday--my bad--but I have an excuse! We're in the process of moving to our new (and first!) home. We close at the end of the month and we're extremely excited. For the last 8 years we've been living in a charming but often too-small apartment. In the new place I'll finally get all my books, games, and geek swag into one area. Plus, there's a workbench (!) in the basement which will end up as a mad science lab for all sorts of geeky experiments!

Anywho, with the move just weeks away we've been packing like crazy to get things ready and so blogging and other nerdly pursuits have been moved to the back burner. But never fear space cadets--things will be up and in full swing by middle of May. Until then, blogging will likely be sparse, but I'll try and pop in when time allows.

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend!

New Exonauts Image Tumblr!

I love happening upon cool sci-fi images and a great many on this site are responsible for inspiring posts, be they full galleries, or just a quick pic of something cool.

But time being what it is, I don't always have a spare moment to write up something pithy--so I started an Exonauts Tumblr for cool stuff. I'll still do art posts on this site, but if you're hankerin' for some space-y-inspired images, updated regularly (semi-daily) then check out:
exonauts.tumblr.com


I also did one for my post-apocalyptic blog Gamma World War.
gammaworldwar.tumblr.com

NEW! Featured Gallery: Syd Mead

I've added a new feature to Exonauts by way of a "featured gallery" button on the top nav. I can't think of a better way to kick off the gallery than with a few pieces by or inspired by the legendary Syd Mead.

*other artists who seem to be basing their art off Syd Mead's style.

UPDATE: These were previously shown in the Featured Gallery and are now archived in this post. Check out all the art posts on Exonauts!

Moon Base Adventures: Cutaways and Illustrations

Here's a few illustrations of moon and star bases that would make for some great adventure art and maps!

EXPISCOR ETERNUS!

On my way to Gamma Terra!

Got my dice and my rulebook, ready to go! The Gamma World Mega Event starts today over at Source Comics and Games with a character generation kick-off. I'm REALLY looking forward to playing this summer. I've had exactly one chance at playing Gamma World so far so it will be great to get in some regular gaming. I'll post a recap here on Exonauts and on Gamma World War. If I get to play in an ongoing campaign, I'll post regular updates over at GWW.

In other news, I did some tidying of the pages and resources on this blog so it should be much easier to find stuff. A quick rundown:

• X-Plorers - this was up already, but in case you hadn't looked there for a while, all the X-Plorers related stuff I'll be working on can be found quickly through here. Plus links to outside resources.
• Exoplanets - here's some links mixed in with a long list of stuff that now has it's own page. Plus links to any related posts here an on Threads of Adventure.
• Comics - another one that had it's own page for a while, but now more links and resources are listed, plus a general re-sorting.
• Other RPG Worlds - these great campaign-specific blogs (all homebrew!) have been on Exonauts for a while, usually on the sidebar. Previously listed as "Tameless Worlds". If you've got a suggestion for more, let me know. I prefer to list them according the name of the planet/world. :)
• Other Sci-Fi Resources - as you might imagine this is everything else, though I took some time to re-sort.

Many of these are pages aren't yet alpha-sorted, but I hope to get to that eventually.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend in their corner of the blogosphere.

Expiscor Eternus!

Exonauts no more--now it's ENDOnauts!

I've grown weary of the outer-space genre. This blog will now focus inward--that is, on the microscopic and nano-metric.

Here's what's in mind:

Just try enlarging this minuscule image!

Check out the Corpus Science Museum in the Netherlands where you get to tour and learn about the human body as if you were a teeny, tiny visitor. Pretend you're an invading germ and scoping out your host's anatomy for a cushy place to crash! From Spot Cool Stuff's travel blog:

Your Fantastic Voyage through the museum starts with an escalator ride into an open sore on your giant victim’s leg and ends among the pulsing neurons in his brain. Between those two points, you will watch cheese being digested in the intestines and explore the ventricles of the heart. Your kids can bounce up and down on the rubber tongue (they’ll love the background burping noises) while you take in various scents wafting through the giant nose. Perhaps the most unusual display is the hologram of sperm fertilizing an egg, viewed via 3D glasses.

Sounds like the makings of a great game don't it? I can see the box set promo copy now:

Take a fantastic journey through a living labyrinth, kill cancer cells--and take their stuff!

I suppose spaceships are still okay, but they must be TINY. Watch out for Zoidbergs.

Get started with some Microsurgeon skill training for your PCs:



Mix in some source material to flesh out your MINI-campaign:

• Fantastic Voyage (book and film--FYI, they're making a new on for 2013)
• Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (film, TV show, Rick Moranis FTW!)
• Innerspace (film)
• Grays Anatomy (the reference, not the soap)
• The Atom (Comics; Ray Palmer fits the bill, Henry Pym and Janet van Dyne aren't quite small enough)
• Micronauts (comic book and toys)
• Osmosis Jones (buddy-cop, animated film starring a white blood cell and a Tylenol gel-cap!)
• Giant-sized microbes (plush germs!)

Let's kick off the new blog with a little theme music!




Archived April 1

A slight interruption

So, at the beginning of the month I was all psyched about getting back to the blogosphere after some reoccurring computer virus nastiness. Well fate intervened and took one look at my eagerness and promptly blasted it into atoms by snapping the hinge on my laptop, thus rendering it a flop-top.

While the computer itself still works, the monitor is shot. Factor in the holiday, an uptick in real-life work, and a new RPG side project, and it's no wonder the lot of blogs lain fallow for a few weeks. This past weekend I remedied the situation by picking up a new little netbook to get me by and I'm quite pleased with it. I finally finished transferring my project files to it last night, so blogging will resume shortly. Thanks for hangin' in there.

As a consolation, I offer this sweet collection of retro-space art. Enjoy!