B/X Cosmonaut

Finally feeling almost normal again after accidentally (and stupidly) poisoning myself with an overdose of mineral iron yesterday. This is what happens when a person who doesn't normally eat more than his usual, regular allowance spends the day eating dried apricots and almonds by the handful and then mistakenly takes one of his wife's prenatal multivitamins: stomach cramps, the shakes, and loss of circulation/feeling in Ye Old Extremities. It doesn't help that my liver is already in fairly rough shape.

Ugh...that kept me from posting more (or doing much of anything) last night. But I'm better today, and I wanted to post about ANOTHER sci-fi game based on an old D&D chassis: Michael Gibbons's B/X Cosmonaut.

Weird enough for ya'?

Gibbons is an artist (you can check out his weird and wooly web-comic, Cosmic Tales, here) who also writes the blog Metal Earth. B/X Cosmonaut is a free, illustrated, 6-page PDF that introduces a character and campaign concept for use in the B/X game. No, it's not a complete game...it's a game kernel, and one that holds a lot of potential for a full-on campaign (either long-term or short-run). The idea of the Xlathar and their hive ships (quite possibly populated by all sorts of genetic monstrosities and artificial perils...i.e. "monsters" and "traps") provides a very workable way of doing "D&D in space." It just needs to be fleshed out a bit more.

The super-soldier "cosmonaut" idea isn't a bad one at all...I'd just like to see some ways to distinguish the characters other than equipment selection (which would appear to be the only method of differentiation). A selection of specializations or some type of talent/trait/feat development over time (like every couple levels) would go a long way towards adding variety to a party of cosmonauts.

Though I suppose a cosmonaut that crashes down on some sort of "primitive world of magic" could partner up with normal elves and clerics and whatnot. Such a game might be reminiscent of SnarfQuest.

Anyway, it's short and worth checking out. It's a nice, original piece of work with pretty drawings and the kind of thing that spurs the imagination. Well, my imagination anyway.

: )

Oh, yeah...the link for the download (on the blog) is here; the actual MediaFire file is here.