New Starship Guide Book for Astral Empires

Along with the new fleet book we just published for Battleshift, and the upcoming Astral Empires RPG I'm also working on completing our second Starship Guide Book.  This one is inspired by a piece of visual media that many of you will be familiar with, and I hope this book will be a marked improvement from the first guide I did when I was just starting out on this whole new adventure.
Here is the cover:

And here are a couple of sample pieces:

Three New Fleets Books in the Works for AE: Battleshift

This weekend we should be completing work on the two fleet books for Battleshift, one for the human powers mentioned in the game and one for the xeno, or alien powers.  In addition, once those are completed we will be finishing up a fleet book for the core 10,000 AD era in honor of the launch of the Astral Empires RPG which is based in that era.  Here are the cover workups for each of the three books:

Open D6 "How the Game Works" pamphlet

I posted over at the WEGFan forums that I had worked up this two-page guide to Open D6 from an earlier WEG resource.  It's obviously geared towards sci-fi play like our Astral Empires game but should still be helpful for people new to the system or who want to understand Open D6 better.  I plan to include it with each of our games and sourcebooks.  (PLEASE NOTE: This is not a final version but just a sample workup I did that will be reworked with the OGL in mind.  However, I wanted to see what the visual look would be...)

Astral Empires Open D6 Edition Complete

I'll be finishing up the final editorial touches and graphics work this weekend, depending in part on what I hear back from a couple of freelance artists, but I'm excited to say that the Open D6 Edition of Astral Empires is complete!  The basic set will include the Core Rules, a Galaxy Master's (GM) Guide, and a Technology book totaling about 420-450 pages.  These are all based on the D6 Space rules along with additional material added in to describe the setting, add numerous character and species templates, and attempt to tie the "feel" of the game back to the old Star Wars RPG of yesteryear.  The hope is to soon after this comes out publish the first sourcebook (The Great Galactic Wars-10,000 AD) and a sourcebook for the Lightspeed RPG (which formerly used the Fuzion rules).  I'll be posting here when each of these products are available through RPGNow and Drivethroughrpg.

The initial three-book .PDF set:

The first sourcebook:

And if all goes well, the second sourcebook will be the classic Lightspeed RPG (formerly of the Fuzion system) brought to the Open D6 system*:

(*Note: This may not be the final cover design for Lightspeed D6)

Also for Astral Empires RPG-Retro 6!

Recently I posted about the (now complete and ready for publication) Astral Empires: The Roleplaying Game.  Based upon the Open D6 System it is a compilation of numerous Open D6 Space materials built around the Astral Empires 10,000 AD setting with numerous new character types and species templates.
Another project that goes right along with AE: The RPG is a settings book that strives for a classic "throwback" game feel.  Astral Empires: Drifters and Derelicts is based upon the Retro 6 ruleset we've created for some of our Open D6 settings.  It hearkens back to the games of the 1980s and early 1990s and uses an adaption of Open D6 that more closely parallels the old Star Wars RPG from West End Games of that era.  The idea is if you liked the ol' SW:RPG game back in the day this is an attempt to capture that same feel.
Set in the Long Interregnum of the 07000 AD era of the Astral Empires universe, Drifters and Derelicts describes a time period between major galactic empires when independent transports and freighters plied the great deep searching the thousands of abandoned vessels left over from earlier interstellar conflicts for loot and plunder...  and just plain survival*.  It was a hard time to be alive in the galaxy in many ways, but with an adventure around every corner who could really complain?

Coming soon from Port Nova Media!  

(NOTE: *It is probably also obvious that this is an attempt to transpose classic gaming dungeon crawls into deep space with some fun new twists). 

Current cover of AE: Drifters and Derelicts

Also along the same lines is our first sourcebook for Astral Empires, the 10,000 AD Great Galactic Wars.  Here is that cover (using the Retro-6 system as well):

 

 

Coming Very Soon-Astral Empires the RPG Open D6 Edition

As much as I like Traveller my favorite sci-fi rpg has always been D6, mostly because of the pop culture variants of the rules that were around during my middle school and high school years.  Many an afternoon was spent at the local comic book/game store pouring over those books (which I could usually not afford to buy until years later).  Now, thanks to the graciousness of Eric Gibson (the owner of WEG) in releasing the Open D6 system under the Open Gaming License I'm joining other publishers in getting my chance to put out material for my favorite system.

So keep an eye out for Astral Empires-The Roleplaying Game Open D6 Edition!   Created as something of an homage to the sci-fi games of the 70s, 80s and 90s and powered by the new Open D6 system the Astral Empires RPG is turning out to be something rather cool (if I may say so) and the best exploration of the AE universe I could imagine.  I'll let you know when it's available at RPGNow.com, Drivethroughrpg.com, etc.  :)

Current front cover of AE: The RPG Open D6 Edition

Rear Cover of AE: The RPG Open D6 Edition

Just Released: Astral Empires: Battleshift!

Big space battles are one of the coolest sights in science fiction movies and television, but there aren't many rules systems that really do it right. Most top out at running ten or so ships effectively, a few make it to twenty, but none of the other available rule sets really let you drop a couple hundred on the table and decide the fate of the galaxy!

Battleshift does....

Battleshift was born in a thread on The Miniatures Page. People were looking for a fast, enjoyable space game that would let them field real fleets. Not just a dozen ships, but scores or hundreds of ships.

That's what Battleshift is....

"Battleshift" refers to ships shifting into and out of battle through hyperspace. It allows units of ships to disappear from the table, and then re-enter the battlespace a few turns later making maneuver important, as fleet commanders can't just focus on what's on the table.

Battleshift also features a suppression system, which causes squadrons to lose accuracy as they take fire. Suppression has traditionally been critical in battle. In naval gun engagements, near misses on enemy ships were still useful as they made crews flinch, rocked the ship to spoil aim and obscured targeting. Few starship miniature games have even looked at suppression's effect on a battlefield.

Battleshift does...

Included are:

* 50 page core Battleshift rule book
* 32 page book of Battleshift appendices including scenarios, setting background, additional ship counters

It is available at DriveThruRpg.com: http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_i ... s_id=88213

Solar Ecliptic Ships

I just finished a "ship book" for the ASTRAL EMPIRES: Solar Ecliptic 02100 AD era.  It contains about 140 counters for ships from different fleets.  Here are a few samples:

There's also some new artwork: