Friday, March 16, 2018

On the Radar: Jovian Chronicles in a Bundle of Holding

 And, as if in answer to my plan of ships in the same fleet having different tech levels, there's a Bundle of Holding for Jovian Chronicles!

The bundle covers the following books:
  • Silhouette CORE Deluxe Edition
  • Jovian Chronicles Player's Handbook 2E
  • Mechanical Catalogs 1-2
  • Spacer's Guide
  • Space Equipment Handbook
  • Earth Sourcebook
  • CISLunar Space
  • Jovian Chronicles Companion
  • Four Jovian Planet Sourcebooks
  • Ships of the Fleet 1-3
  • The Chaos Principle
  • Jovian Chronicles GM Handbook

This will give a comprehensive set of materials for the rules and the setting, one that's surprisingly hard SF, despite the presence of humanoid mecha used as fighters.


Also, since the human homeworld is lost to the rest of the world in Stars Without Number, it's not much of a problem to set up a different solar system with the same setting elements. And I would do that, because the setting building is so well done -- it feels like a very well thought out set of interlocking political, economic, and social factions, along with the aforementioned hard SF approach. It's nice to have a semi-stable "home base" for the campaign that characters can refer to in their backgrounds, or return to from the front lines.

Of particular interest to me are the different ship designs for the setting. I like the designs for the Jovian ships, and I'm always interested in the Tender-class ships of any given setting. They'll form the regular ships of the fleet, with the ability to use jumpgates. This is unlike the Star Trek-inspired starships that will have Warp capability.

Not sure where to start aside from trying to build an idea of how many fleets there are, and what ship composition each would have.

Thursday, March 1, 2018

Cubicle 7 and Call of Cthulhu part ways (Old News)




They say any news you haven't heard is new news. However, since the announcement came out in December of last year, and it's already March 2018, it still feels a bit old. But no less shocking.

Three Call of Cthulhu-powered settings from Cubicle 7 have lost the license to the system, and must now retool their material for a new (unnamed system). That's The Laundry (which I collected), World War Cthulhu, and Cthulhu Britannica. Official statement from the Forums of Cubicle 7:

Cubicle 7’s Call of Cthulhu license expires at the end of the year and by mutual agreement with Chaosium it is not going to be renewed. There are no hard feelings on either side, and we are still on great terms - these things happen. Call of Cthulhu is Chaosium’s baby and we wish them all the best. 
We’ve enjoyed working with Call of Cthulhu and Chaosium, but we’re also looking forward to the challenge of designing our own game systems for Cthulhu Britannica, World War Cthulhu and The Laundry. Putting together games that really showcase the themes of their setting is what we do best, after all! Keep an eye on the newsletter for more information in due course.