Rocket Age RPG for 5e

Interview with Ken Spencer on Gaming with Gage!
almost 5 years ago – Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 08:08:11 PM

Ken Spencer talks Rocket Age (5e), Weird Races, and our plans for the Kickstarter on Gaming with Gage!

Rocket Age (Classic) fans you have cause to rejoice! When we hit our stretch goals we will make them available in both 5e and Classic, print and pdf. Backers get the 5e pdf of all stretch goals. The Classic versions will be available as add-ons. Both versions will be available as add-ons in pdf or print and pdf! However, because of our tight schedule stretch goals added as print and pdf will ship separately from the corebook.

Our plan for stretch goals is to send them out to backers over the next several months, roughly one a month starting this fall. You will be getting the pdf as it is finished and proofed, print to follow. We have more stretch goals planned than the ones announced, we will reveal them as stretch goals fall.

First though, we have to finish off this last $500 to fund Rocket Age (5e). If you haven't spread the news that Rocket Age (5e) is here, go forth and tell the Solar System!

Jovians Appear out of the Clouds of Jupiter!
almost 5 years ago – Fri, Jun 07, 2019 at 11:03:47 PM

At the time of writing this we are about $1,000 from our funding goal. If you haven't already shared our projector social media please do so, if you have been, thanks for the help and let's get past $5,000 and on to the stretch goals!

Let's take a look at the Jovians, one of the 17 playable species in Rocket Age (5e). Our species are presented in the book on two-page spreads, except the Ioites and Robomen, more about them in a later update. Suffice it to say that they have, shall we say, unique character creation rules that necessitate more pages.

Jovians are one of the odder species in Rocket Age. Hailing from the gas giant Jupiter, the Jovians have largely stayed out of the growing contacts between the planets and the species of the Solar System. Centuries ago they lost a war with the Europans and retreated deep into the depths of their homeworld's clouds. The arrival of Earthling rocket ships has caused the Jovians to reveal themselves and now they are joining their fellow sophonts in exploring the Solar System, but they bring some ancient grudges with them.

Each species spread gives more than just  ability score bonuses and traits. This is sci-fi after all, and you need to know their preferred environmental conditions, dietary requirements, and the particulars of a species' physiology and psychology. We also include the common view of that species towards their fellow sophonts, some of these are more than a little wrong or slanted. For example, most Jovians misunderstand the role that the Martian Julandri Courtesan caste play in Martian culture; ignoring the Julandri's role as artists and philosophers as well as advisors to their Silthuri masters.

This highlights something that makes Rocket Age (5e) different than how most games approach aliens. The 17 playable species are written coming from the perspective of a trained archaeologist with years of field experience (which the author is, by the way). They are not just people in funny costumes, they have cultures, desires, and needs that set them apart from Earthlings. We think this gives a deeper and richer play experience.

It is a complex Solar System out there, and we would like to invite you to come explore it with us.

Now with Add-ons!
almost 5 years ago – Fri, Jun 07, 2019 at 11:22:03 AM

We have included four Add-Ons to the Rocket Age (5e) project:

Tales from the Rocket Age includes four short stories set in the Solar System of the Rocket Age! Andrew Peregrine brings us a tale of romance and adventure, evil Nazi plots and plucky British heroes, in Spies, Lies, and Allies. James Spencer takes us to Mars with Casey Chester- Rocket Corps on Mars. Creator of Rocket Age, Ken Spencer, looks at the seedy side of Mars in Emancipation Knights. Ed Greenwood introduces us to the Ghost Aces, an elite team of operative, in Three Aces for the Dancer.

We are also offering our non-Rocket Age (5e) products from our Weird Races (5e) line. 

Caturday (5e) is our sourcebook offering a new race for 5e games. The Caturday are anthropomorphic cat folk with a detailed history, religion, culture, and plot line to get your character going and into the game. Inside you will find full stats for the Caturday, new domains for clerics of the Caturday pantheon, a host of Caturday focused backgrounds, new equipment, and a Caturday themed trinket table. If you roll well enough you too can have the parchment with a single red dot in the middle, proof of your victory over the hated foe. 

Surial Bear Folk of the North (5e) is the second in our Weird Races series and looks at the mighty bear folk of the North. Created by the spirits of the northern wilderness to tend to and defend the mountains, forests, and ice floes, the Surial are both fearsome warriors and famed healers. In addition to the rules needed to create a character from all three Surial clans, Surial Bear Folk of the North (5e) contains an extensive description of their history, culture, and religion, as well as seven spirit magic based feats suitable for any wilderness focused character.

Little Grey Aliens (5e) brings a little sci-fi to any 5e game. These strange visitors from beyond the spheres can serve several roles in your campaign. A lone Grey might be just a lost member of a survey team trying to make what life they can on a primitive word of swords and elves. You can also play as an entire survey team exploring strange new worlds. In addition to the Greys as a playable race, you will find sci-fi backgrounds, alien tech, and of course a trinket table.

All power to the engines and a look at Player Characters in Rocket Age (5e)
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Jun 06, 2019 at 02:30:46 PM

We are getting close to funding! Thanks for the support and keep broadcasting this station in the clear!

This is the character sheet for Alyssa Hart, as used in our convention events.

Who is Alyssa Hart? A rocket race champion? A daring pilot without fear? A disgraced Rocket Ranger who still carries on the good fight, but in her own way? She is all of these and more!

Taking a closer look at the character sheet, you should see that we have stuck close to the core rules of 5e while at the same time creating new ways to play. Alyssa Hart is an Earthling, which gives her several species traits such as Pioneer, Curious, Friends, and Technologically Adept. She could have chosen Conqueror instead of Pioneer, yielding a different benefit.

Her background is as a Rocket Ranger, but that doesn't mean she still is one of those stalwart heroes. Hart's antics, devil may care attitude, and resistance to authority has caused her to be kicked out of the Rangers. Instead she serves as an unofficial deputy, someone who supports, even leads, the Rangers in their activities but remains outside of their chain of command. This gives her the Rocket Rangers, Away background feature. Backgrounds in Rocket Age (5e) give features with a little more oomph, and this allows her to once an episode grant temporary hit points to her allies.

Which brings us to one of the few changes we made as to how 5e works, we added the episode as a means of measuring time. Rocket Age is meant to feel like a serialized movie adventure so some features and traits have a limited use per episode. An episode is loosely defined as one adventure.

Looking at her equipment, she has a RAY pistol (Radiation Accelerating Weaponry) and a pain baton. The latter is a piece of Europan equipment, and since they have seven fingers and two thumbs, Europan gear has the Extra Fingers property. Anyone short on digits has disadvantage using Europan tech. We hesitated to add any new damage types, but decided the setting called for Radiation as a damage type, which is the (R) on her RAY pistol. She has a RADIO suit, a space worthy outfit with built in life support and communications, an explorer's pack (all the things an explorer might need), rocket wear clothing for social functions, and trophies. Those are from rocket races across the Solar System, including the Solar Cup!

Tomorrow we will take a look at the Jovians, one of the alien species of Rocket Age. Spoiler alert: they are from Jupiter.

Interview with Ken Spencer on Migardia RPG's Cool Crowdfunding!
almost 5 years ago – Thu, Jun 06, 2019 at 02:28:30 PM

I had the chance to sit down and talk to Migardia RPG about Rocket Age (5e), how I got started in tabletop games, and all things Rocket Age!