Aliens & Asteroids: Sci-fi Horror Roleplaying Kickstarter

Today, I’m going to be talking about a Kickstarter called “Aliens & Asteroids“. I have known Brian “Fitz” Fitzpatrick, who is the main person in charge of this Kickstarter for a few years now.  One of his previous works , Mazes & Perils (an OSR game), did quite well for sales and has reached Silver status on DrivethruRPG. Fitz is, in his own words – “…the main force behind Moebius Adventures, carrying on a legacy born when the company began in the 1990s. He’s been keeping ideas alive, exploring the use of random tables, and enjoying creating adventures and extras for Mazes & Perils in the last couple of years. Now he’s taking on the galaxy with Aliens & Asteroids!”

A short disclaimer – I’m involved with one of the stretch goals for this project. Can’t tell you what it is just yet, but if you know me and my work, you’ll probably already have an idea of what it might be.

Now, onto what I CAN tell you about “Aliens and Asteroids”. I will paraphrase what is on the Kickstarter page, but the main selling points for it are as follows:

• The content is done – There is no waiting around for writing to be completed (with maybe the exception of a few stretch goals), then waiting even longer for editing, layout etc
• Two tiers – There are two only backing tiers, a pdf one and a dead-tree version which will ship anywhere in the world (shipping costs will be additional of course). The pdf one is at $10 and the physical is $25 + shipping
• It uses a system for the resolution of dice rolls called “Inverse20” – Roll a d20 to get a number equal to or less than a Target Number (TN) which is determined by your stat. Roll a 1 or the TN, that’s a Critical Success (even on impossible tasks). If you roll a 20, that’s a Critical Fail and has various consequences.
• Character creation is done in 5 easy steps – Origin, attributes, Childhood, Career and Finishing touches
• The Dread System: Each adventure has a Dread rating. The higher the dread rating, the more “Dread” points the GM has and the more “Glory” points the player has. The referee and  players can use these points to change the situation when it needs it – In other words, plot twists and ways to heighten tensions or drama
• The players are “members of the Dominion Space Forces (DSF). The “suits” who run the Dominion call you soldiers but you know you’re really expendable space marines, sent out to protect their assets across the universe.  ” So there is an inbuilt plot or reason for going out into the void and doing what you are doing.

If you like the sound of this, give the Kickstarter a look and/or share with others who might like it.