XXVc Miniatures!

I was browsing the goods on Shapeways.com and ran across some minis that look suspiciously exactly like some of the ships in the Buck Rogers XXVc rpg.

For example, here's the F-66 Starfire

...here's Admiral Duck Sauce's F-44 Buck

I'm pretty sure this is the actual product...

...and here's his F-69 Starfang

...but this is just a CG model

There are a number of other familiar designs available, in addition to ones that appear to be based, I believe, on Space Cruiser Yamato and they're for sale at Admiral Duck Sauce's shop, so go check 'em out. He also has some sci-fi rpg minis available in different scales, but none that are based on XXVc designs (none that I can tell, anyway.)

There are a bunch of other shops that are of interest to the Ol' Eyeball, but I'll get to them another time.

Buck Rogers High Adventure Cliffhangers

Recently I grabbed a cherry copy of the Buck Rogers Adventure Game (or High Adventure, not sure which) on Amazon for what seemed like a reasonable $25.

TSR seems to have produced a number of really innovative games that for the most part went underappreciated, unnoticed or simply disliked back in the 90's and this is, I think, one of them. Although it's understandable why there is no love for this game (the Williams Taint again) and it came off to most gamers of the day, myself included, as pretty bizarre considering the failure of the previous Buck Rogers game.

XXVc- In 1995, they called it "Smart Clothes"

Been there.

XXVc Notebook- Saving the Earth

As anyone who has read the XXVc World Book and/or Earth in the 25th Century knows, Mother Earth is in dire straits is 2456 AD. Pollution, disease, warfare (including conventional, nuclear, biological, chemical, etc), a depleted ozone layer... the list is a long one and each has taken a heavy toll. Add to that a drastically depleted human, animal and plant population and you have to start to wonder how it could ever be possible for Earth to recover.

From where I'm sitting, Earth couldn't, especially not with RAM's continued efforts to annihilate the planet's inhabitants. As far as I know (and I'd love it if someone showed me different) no solution is given in the published material beyond the efforts of certain groups such as NEO to throw off RAM's oppression. After that? Who knows. The obvious answer, to me, is the same process that made Mars a more or less livable planet and that is terraforming. Conditions are so bad on Earth that it would take the same colossal effort that made the other planets inhabitable to revive the near-fatally damaged ecosystem.

Failing that, who knows? Say your campaign goes as planned and eventually Mars is defeated or at the very least made to look elsewhere for plunder. Then what? How does NEO even begin the effort? Personally, I never got past the idea of  terraforming, so I have no other answer to give, but I'd like to know what plan the two of you that read this blog would have NEO and friends set into motion. Maybe there is something obvious I'm overlooking. Maybe something not so obvious and I'm just a dumbshit.

Thus I put it to you, dear and loyal readers. How would you handle the situation in your game?

Big Jim, Two-Fisted Tales Style

Back in the 70′s, Mattel turned Big Jim, a lackluster Olympic athlete-themed action figure, into a badass man of adventure by making him the leader of...

XXVc- A New Rocketship

This isn't complete, but really, who gives a shit, right?


Battle Sphere - Deep Space Destroyer (from the Buck Rogers comic strip)
Names: numbered 01-20
Tons: 60, Lng: 60 ft, Wd: 60 ft, Crg: 10 tons
 HP = ( H: 240, S/C: 60, C: 60, LS: 120, F: 180, E: 180 )
 AC: 4(x), Crew: x, Speed: 3, RB: 0, DB: 0
 Weapons(8): 20 tons of cargo converted to weapon space (+2 slots.)

Destroyers are a new class of rocketship that takes a spherical configuration. It differs from other classes primarily by being constructed for use only in space, ideally outside the gravity well of planetary bodies. Martian Battle Spheres are reliant on fleet tenders (q.v.) for refueling and resupply which takes four hours to complete plus any repair time.

There are currently 20 Battle Spheres in service, operating between the orbits of Mars and Venus. One Martian Battler is currently being retrofitted to accommodate destroyers, pending their initial shakedown period.

Typically, Battle Spheres are fitted with Light Cyclorators, but plans are on the table to fit at least one ship with a Light Graser.

XXVc Tech Forecast

I've been thinking a lot lately about how Xbox One's "big brother box," Google Glass, and the current advancements in thought-controlled technology and how they might all combine in the future. To keep it simple, I've decided to apply all this to just personal transportation (i.e. a car) and see where that takes me.

Well, let's see... if we combine those things with the advancements that have already been made with cars today, you might end up with a car that you'd never have to operate manually. Everything would be handled by thought command or computer prediction (sensing what you intend to do. simply approaching the car may cause it to open the door for you, assuming you match the operator's profile), or, if for some reason those options are unavailable, by voice command.

The fanciest version would be available on Luna, Highland Venus, and Mars, with the majority of manual and voice operated vehicles available on Earth and the rest of the inhabited planets and the Belt.

Conceivably, you wouldn't even need to steer the vehicle. I could see something like the cars in the movie Demolition Man, where you simply tell the car where you want to go (or, in this case, think it) and if you want to take the wheel (which would probably be considered "roughing it") simply give the command and it will relinquish control.

I would limit the thought control aspect, though, to only one-word or very short commands. In other words, asking the car's computer via thought interface to recommend the best restaurant in the area might be overdoing it. That kind of thing is something I'll cover later when I return to the Inner Worlds supplement.

Hacking these systems is another matter entirely and is something I'll probably get around to examining at a later date.

I'll probably come back to this topic later and apply it to other items like weapons and smart suits, but I just wanted to establish the idea of it as a pervasive technology with this post. I also just realized I never got around to the "Google Glass" part of this, but it'll have to wait till then.