3 September, 2024
It’s just getting started, so there’s not a ton of the material that’s here just now, but I’m starting to port over the more popular stuff from this site to there. Come join us.
We’ve got the main page where everything new shows, but it’s also now broken into pages for games and geeky stuff, movies and entertainment (reviews and the like), firearms, and motor sports — this set up allows the fans of certain content and maybe not others to exclude those and get what you want.
29 July, 2026
In preparation for RPGaDay this year, I’ve been thinking about characters that fit one or more of the prompts. This naturally led to how we create characters in roleplaying games.
There are, broadly, two ways to do this: the stats/race/class come first, or the idea comes first. For a lot of the early RPGs, that first path was often more common. Example: in the bad ol’ days of Dungeons & Dragons and the d20 stuff that followed (Gamma World, Top Secret, etc…), a lot of players would maybe have a preferred class and race in D&D, or know they wanted to play a G-Man in Gangbusters, but often the stats came first — strength, constitution, what have you. My elven wizard has X in wisdom. From there, after minutes agonizing over a name, (I’ve always found this amusing…) you might start to throw together a basic picture of who the character was, or just let it form in play.
Nothing wrong with this. It’s fast and gets you into the game with a minimum of preparation, and way back when roleplaying was more of an extension of wargaming, players were much more interested in combat as the thing. Character was often secondary. There are fewer of these RPG systems, these days — Lex Arcana is a good example of this, but mostly you have to look back to older stuff still being played to see this focus on “roll playing”. It’s kept D&D in the public eye for decades, and it’s one of the reasons it’s still the most popular game system on the planet.
The second is to have an idea for a character up front. You have, at least, the bare bones of a persona you want to inhabit for a few hours at the gaming table. For instance: I want to play a private eye that is not hard-boiled, but surprisingly kind and empathetic — and this naiveté is he main weakness in a noir setting, where societal corruption is usually a theme in the background. I don’t have much else built in, yet, but it’s a great idea with good hooks — a character less likely to resort to violence, a guy that genuinely cares about the people he’s helping, and a glaring weakness that, for once, isn’t simply he’s a sucker for a dame. Why is he like this? Maybe he’s a war veteran and violence repulses him…but he’s good at it, and hates that part of him.
A change came in RPGs around the ‘90s. You started to see games more focus on this second style of play — “role playing” — immersing yourself in a character and a world. There were hints of it showing in the ‘80s. James Bond: 007 had the idea of “weaknesses”, something any English major will tell you is what makes a hero interesting. It was a central part of comic book RPGs like DC Heroes and Marvel Superheroes, if only because limitations to a character’s powers were part of the tropes of the genre.
When building your character, a few simple questions help get this started: who is this person — what is their defining trait? Why do they do what they do? What or who matters to them? What or who do they hate? Where are they from and how does that affect how they act? Right now, there are a few systems on store shelves that are really good at helping a player create a character, not just a set of numbers. The standouts for this approach to gaming, where the system helps you flesh out a character and the stats encourage playing the strengths and weaknesses are Legend in the Mist and the Avatar games, both based on and a refinement of, the Apocalypse World engine; and specifically two of the 2d20 systems from Modiphius: Star Trek Adventures and Dune: Adventures in the Imperium; and the very rules-lite Die: the Roleplaying Game, based on and developed in tandem with, a comic book of the same name.
Each of these systems revolve around the development of the character less from the level-up standpoint of roll-playing, and more from a how do they change as people. The best of the bunch for the theater kids out there is Die. You develop, together, not just your character in the world of Die, but the player playing that character; the other players also have input on who this person is. Then the players’ own desires and failings inform not just the character — an expression of their wish fulfillment — but the enemies, stories, even the settings that adventure in. It’s very meta. It’s also very cool.
As good in Legend in the Mist (and their City of Mist), where characters are not about their stats, at all. You have four themes — devotion, skill or trade, some physical characteristic, for example — and “tags” short descriptors that may or may not help you in an action, like Charming or Strong as an Ox. These each add a +1 to a simple 2d6 test. There are weakness tags per theme, as well, and these are essential to the improvement of the character. Your weaknesses and failures help you learn; not your successes…much like real life. You goal milestones level you up, in so much as allow you to change themes and tags as you grow.
Similarly, Star Trek Adventures and Dune have your goals, values, and weaknesses built into the character at creation and they have mechanical impacts in play. In Dune, your Values (Power, Duty, etc…) and your Skill (in broad terms like Understand or Battle) add together to give you your target number for a test. If a test does not impact your Duty, say, but your Faith in leaders or a system, that alternate Value is used for your test. STA has Value statements that give you game currency that can help supercharge an action — for instance, resisting intimidation, or taking an action that might seem futile might play into a Value or Spite is a Powerful Ally. These help drive a player to have their character act in ways that might not always be in their interest. Addicted to Love is one character’s Value in our STA game. He falls in love easily — and gains game currency for taking the hit due to the value, like being a sucker for seduction or persuasion by women.
The matrix above shows character beats that are useful both for individual character, but also for a group’s character, or even overarching themes for a campaign. This is something starting groups sometimes miss: why they are working together. There are a few easy ways around this: you all got hired for a job and meet in the stereotypical tavern; if you’re in a military, police, or other service setting — you all got assigned there recently; or happenstance — our plane went down and now we’re all we’ve got. Building out why they are there and how they interact at the start is an extra step that slows getting right into the action…but it does help create interesting games.
Of the systems noted above, Son of Oak’s Mist games do this well. in Legend in the Mist, you build your “fellowship” along with your characters. You not only have tags for your players, but ones for the group as a whole. you decide what the relationship is to the other players and that can be used as a tag when interacting with each other. Die has the players build their player/characters together, define how they view themselves and their friends, as well as what kind of world they would be interested in playing.
So as we roll into RPGaDay, I’m hoping to use these prompts not just to showcase character ideas, but how these can be used for group dynamics and story ideas.
29 July, 2026
After 2000 rounds, I started experiencing the occasional light primer strike on my Daniel H9. I’ve had this happen from time to time on certain pistol designs, including the Glock 20, the Walther P99 and PPQ, and the Walther PPK. All of these designs have an open striker or firing pin channel.
In the case of the H9, to test it’s reliability after all the horror stories of the first generation from Daniel Defense, I ran a 500 round test with everything I could lay my hands on from high-end Underwood 90 grain +P Xtreme Penetrators through green & white box Remington 115 grain, Fiochhi, 124 grain (it likes this bullet weight best), Scorpion 124 grain, and the bargain basement 124 grain from Patriot. The latter had really hard primers that only the new Inglis Hi-Power from SDS could set off reliably; every other pistol I had experiences light primer strikes. And the Daniel only had them on this crap ammo…until about 14-1500 rounds in. I was getting a light primer striker every few boxes — usually in the first two mags. About a 1% fail rate.
So I tried an old trick I’ve used for getting into trigger mechanisms and dirty firing pins: blow out that firing pin channel. Squirt a bunch of cleaner into the channel, let it sit for a few minutes, then used compressed air or one of these new battery-powered “turbofans” you can get off Amazon, and blow the crap out. It’s going to come out of every nook and cranny it can, so doing this first is generally a good idea. Once I’m done with cleaning everything else, I’ll give it one more blast to make sure I’ve got everything.
No more light primer strikes.
28 July, 2026
After a year’s wait, the Legend in the Mist, Son of Oak’s “rustic fantasy” roleplaying game, physical product finally arrived. I had Kickstarted the full thing after looking through the Quickstart last year. Since then, my game group has been kicking the tires on Legend in the Mist, since the PDFs dropped last fall, but this past week the physical copies finally arrived. So were they worth the wait?
WordPress has been a bit quicky on multiple images in galleries, so to see the pictures, you might want to pop over to The Black Campbell Review over on Substack.
My box set arrived with the two core books (with optional dust covers), the Hearts of Ravensdale campaign and setting book, GM screen, a pack of maps and tokens, the Action Grimoire, the “river pebble” dice (d12s set up as d6s) and dry-erase theme cards for creating characters, as well as a dozen or so premade characters sheets for the campaign.
The cardboard on the box is high quality and made of good stock, and of course, covered in the excellent artwork from the books. Binding on the books is excellent, and paper and print quality is likewise. The core books and Ravensdale are hard cover, while the Action Grimoire is softcover — however the adhesive quality on the binding is superb. Even the cover sheets on the material are gorgeous and printed on premium stock. The character sheets and theme cards, and the “status/tag leaves” are coated for dry erase use — a handy thing with the system’s creating and “burning” of tags and statuses. We used them this Thursday, and they do the job as they are supposed to. The theme cards I suspect would be more useful for short campaigns or games where the players will be changing their tags and the like frequently.
Most likely, players will wan to create their own characters, but the character pack comes with pre-generated roles. Like the rest of the game materials, SoO really went all out: instead of single sheet character profiles, they are two-page, folding profiles with full artwork, and coated for dry erase use. They include a short “how to play” and example actions for the characters.
The resin “water pebble” dice are in nice pastel colors with a figure are the 6. I have the acorn dice coming next week — did I need them? No, but so far the production quality on this game has been so good, I feel like rewarding the Son of Oak for their efforts. (I bought a set of their acorn d6s, and they are adorable and really lean into the “rustic” flavor.)
The GM screen is on heavy stock and the material is highly useful. With a bit of imagination and creativity, you could probably run the game without any referring to the books, as they give a slew of examples of how to use their tag system for consequences on failure.
If you want a first impression review of the system, you can find it here. So far, our paytests have showed LitM to be quick and easy to play, and it encourages more storytelling and role-playing beats than other fantasy systems. That said, the use of tags and statuses can be a bit of a learning curve, and this ties into character creation. Nearly all of the players leaned heavily on having a lot of tags in their core competencies — this system’s equivalent of min-maxing — and they would frequently find themselves left short on other important skills.
The Heats of Ravensdale setting is well realized, with plenty of places to adventure, more theme kits and challenges that can be used for adventures outside of the setting. (I’ve running a 800s Viking campaign, right now; we’re pulling from it for material.) I haven’t really gone through the book, yet; but from a physical production side — it’s a (rustically?) fantastic product.
So, is Legend in the Mist worth it? Unreservedly, yes. In this case, the whole Ravensdale Bundle runs about $200. Compared to the core books for Dungeons & Dragons, it’s a steal for everything you get.
28 July, 2026
I’ve been remiss in doing the RPGaDay for several years, now. The day job required a lot of attention in August, and the last few years saw the school year start in July, so I rarely had time to do more than a few posts. This is the first year without a schedule in the way, so let’s see if we can do a post a day this month.
Here’s the prompt for this year:
The prompt calls for character creation, and I doubt I’m going to do 31 characters — but posts on how to integrate some of these themes in character creation, creating motivations, and challenges feels like the right way to go.
As always during RPGaDay, readers are encouraged to comment with their own ideas and approaches to gaming. This is about enjoying our hobby. So, August 1, RPGaDay starts
24 April, 2026
I’ve shot a few of the old Hi-Powers over the years, but never owned one until the Springfield Armory SA-35 came out. Overall, I always found them accurate and pleasant to shoot, though a few were finicky. My experience with the SA-35 was very much a love-hate thing: it was accurate and easy to point, but I was one of the many in the early run that had incessant issues with failures to extract that seemed tied to an issue with the the breech spacing, rather than the extractor. It went back to Springfield (good customer service, to be fair!) and came back with an extractor…and new barrel. After that, it’s been reliable.
I really liked the look of the new Inglis P-35 with the case hardened finish that dropped a year or two ago, and when Palmetto State Armory had a 50% off deal a few weeks ago, I jumped on it. $480 later, I got the pistol and hit the range today to get an idea of what $800 MSRP would buy you, and how it compares to the SA-35.
Fit & Finish: There’s no contest. The Inglis is beautiful. Even the standard blue model has real bluing (or looks it) — making it a much more faithful copy than the chintzy Parkerized finish of the Springfield. The case hardened finish is perfect, and runs through the interior of the slide (though it is not polished in the mag well. Smooth Turkish Walnut grips look good, but the Springfield’s were checkered — a win for the Springfield. I might slap some nice checkered wood on the Inglis, though I like the function of the ugly Mark III grips on the SA-35, right now.
The markings, as with the Springfield are minimal and add to the aesthetic. Finish definitely goes to the Inglis, Fit is slightly tighter than the SA-35 — though in fairness the Springfield has had a few thousand rounds through it — let’s say it’s even.
Ergonomics: It’s a Hi-Power. It points exactly where you are aiming. Groups can be serviceable to excellent, depending on how fast you are shooting. The walnut grips are a bit fatter than I like, but I had no issues with the pistol squirreling around under faster strings of fire. Where it wins, hands down over the SA-35: ambidextrous safety, which was standardon a Hi-Power! (Get with it Springfield!) The safety sniks on with a little resistance and is barely audible. The magazines fall easily and the magazine release works smoothly. (No magazine safety!) The SA-35 has slight beveling at the mag well; the Inglis does not. I didn’t find either was especially easier to load.
This pistol is sprung tight! The hammer spring feels like it’s an old stock Browning weight. The recoil spring is shorter than the SA-35, but feels a bit heavier. Shells were falling about 6-7 feet; so that’s inside proper tolerances for the Hi-Power. Weaker hands might have trouble with it. Drawing and cocking the thing with the stock hammer set-up is not happening; run it cocked and locked.
The trigger was a bit rough until I cleaned it prior to the range. a bit on the trigger internals and where the sear meets the trigger and it smoothed out. After the first range run, it was breaking the Lyman gauge the guy next to me had at 5.5 lbs. It’s not a competition trigger but is still pretty good. Reset is sharp and audible, unlike the mush of the SA-35. There’s more take-up, however, before hitting the wall. The reset is also long, compared to a 1911 or 2011, or something like the Daniel H9 or Walther PPQ. I found this slowed my strings quite a bit. You could run it moderately fast and very rhythmically, but amag dump occasionally led to me missing the reset. While I think the reset is better on the Inglis, the SA-35 wins for trigger pull.
Accuracy: It’s a Hi-Power — if you learn the pistol, you might not be competition accurate, but you will be able to get that first shot off in an engagement very quickly and spot on. It just points naturally. On the P-35, the front sight has a brass inlayed dot, the rear is a U-notch — same set-up as the SA-35, minus the brass. I had no issues picking up the brass in the dimmer light of an indoor range. Here, both pistols were fairly evenly matched. I only measured out the first 15 from each pistol, but got better groups on the Inglis the longer I shot it, with my tightest being 2” on the longest axis of a group. For the first magazine, my largest axis on a group was 5” on the SA-35, and 4” on the Inglis at 10 yards and a moderate shooting speed.
It didn’t have any effect on the accuracy that I saw, but should aid with wear on the barrel: the Inglis is slightly crowned, compared to the stock barrel of the Springfield.
Reliability: As mentioned above, the Springfield was initially a Jam-o-matic, but after a trip back to the factory has been fairly reliable, with a stoppage once every few trips — usually if it hasn’t been oiled prior to shooting. The Inglis went through 250 rounds, without a hiccup. I used SVT Scorpio 124 grain FMJs, which I’ve had good luck with save for this last lot. We’ve had a lot of hard primers — about a 10-12% rate for the last eight boxes — that have been an issue for everything from the ultra-reliable CZ-85 and Springfield Prodigy, to the Daniel H9 and Kimber CDS. The Inglis ate ‘em up with no malfunctions. Remington Green & White 115 grain: no issues. Underwood 124 grain XTPs: no problem. This one’s a tie (so far.)
One thing I’d seen with a few online videos was trouble with the slide locking back mid-magazine. The shooters (and I would have suggested this) is modern shooting techniques. This pistol was designed when most folks shot one-handed, with the thumb down to lock the pistol into your hand. The recoil means occasionally, you might bump the slide stop. Shooting with you thumbs locked one over the other (revolver style), might mitigate that, if you run into this. I’m a lefty, no issues…with either hand.
The big surprise for me was that my accuracy improved, though speed of fire dropped, firing one-handed. Take from that what you will.
Who makes Inglis? No, it’s not Canadian, anymore, but Turkish made — but the company is US-owned, a subsidiary of SDS Imports in Tennessee. (Probably one of the best customer service experiences I had was with these guys.) The barrel has the manufacturer stamp on it: Ozerbas. Ozerbas Machining does military weaponry for the Turks, as well as machining for other gun makers, and based off of what I saw, they give Tisas — for me the gold standard in Turkish made pistols — a run for their money.
So…is it worth it? Do you want an old-school, gorgeous dress-up gun for your next Texas barbecue? At $800, it’s worth it. Get it for what I did and that’s an absolute yes. Concealed carry? It’s lighter than most 1911s, the muzzle of the gun is thin, light, and it holsters well in the pants. It is fully parts compatible with the Mark III Hi-Power, so that gives you customization options, should you want to do work on the trigger, but for a self-defense situation — this thing is more than capable. If you like the Hi-Power platform and don’t want to beat up your old classic, then yes (and you can get it in nickel or bluing) — this would be an excellent practice pistol.
Is it better than the similarly priced SA-35? Yes — at least from this example. Fit is as good, finish is much better, the ambi safety and better trigger reset, and the crowned barrel make me think it’s a better polished version of the Hi-Power. From a performance standpoint, they’re pretty neck and neck, with a 15 round capacity (but can use old Browning or FN 13 round mags), and similar shooting characteristics.
27 February, 2026
The first H9 pistol was from a short-lived company called Hudson. Tiwas a cool, space-age looking pistol — like something out of Blade Runner. The company died off from money issues, but Daniel Defense, known for the AR platforms, quietly picked up the IP and reengineered the pistol to get it to work better. Except, apparently, for a small number of the guns, it really didn’t work better.
Complaints of failure to go into battery, keyholing from the polygonal barreling, uncomfortable spots in the grip — there was a litany of complaints that hit the internet. And for a pistol coming in at $1300 MSRP, that’s not good. Worse, the initial response had that “You’re holding your iPhone the wrong way quality”. That said — they made good on their lifetime warranty and repaired/replaced the damaged units, then went back to testing and reworked the barrel, recoil spring, grip, and while the changes are subtle, they are there. I’d handled the original and the newer generation (?), and I liked it. But not $1300 liked it.
Then they did the smart thing a few months back: they lowered the price to $999.
We had some gun grabbing stupid happening here in my state, so I decided to jump on one of these before they tried to turn us into East California. I got mine ordered in by the excellent folks at Workhorse Armory here in Albuquerque, New Mexico. $980 with tax and shipping.
When I got it in, I decided to do a combination of function test and accuracy comparison with my current favorite carry, the Alpha Foxtrot 1911-S15, and my old reliable, the CZ-85 (an ambi CZ-75.) They are all roughly the same size, with the CZ-85 being the longest by half an inch on the H9, a quarter inch taller, and a touch wider and six ounces heavier. The S15 is a touch shorter in length and grip and an ounce lighter than the H9’s 29.6 oz. empty.
The H9 has an 7075 aluminum frame and G-10 grips, a stainless steel slide with DLC coating, and a cold hammer forged barrel with a 1:10 twist in standard lands/grooves. It’s optics ready, has a short pic-rail on the dust cover, ambi slide releases and an external extractor. Workmanship is top notch. I’m not much on the anodized finish on the receiver, but it does seem to hold up well. The DLC coating on the slide is robust — as it is on the Alpha Foxtrot. After 500 rounds, there was no appreciable wear on the slide surfaces, and the barrel was perfect. A bit of wear on the finish was seen on the ramp where the barrel meets the frame, but well within what you see with most modern handguns. You actually get three magazines with it, so kudos to DD for that — they are 15 rounds if you’re not in a crap state.
I had time to test it out that weekend, so the daughter and I went and put it through its paces. It’s a metal gun — clean it and lube it properly before you hit the range.
The sights are a green fiber optic front and U-notch rear, which I like. At the usual seven yard mark, the H9 drilled a single inch-ish big ragged hole for me — full magazine — with about a two inch drop. That drop would go away, once I got used to the grip angle about two mags in. My daughter did a group of about the same size with a few flyers, but still inside two inches in the nine ring. By comparison, the S15 and CZ-85, both of which I have loads of trigger time on, both shot slightly larger groups, with the CZ pulling to the support hand about a half inch.
It is supposedly zeroed for 25 yards, and with 124 grain ball, it was printing just a hair under point of aim at that range. At that range, taking her time, my teenage girl was able to get a 2” group, free-standing. (I did not do as well…)
Taking my time, I got ridiculously good groups out to 15 yards. Going fast — and it does like to run fast — I could still keep it all in the ten-ring. There’s complaints about the “upside down” Glock-style trigger safety. Once you’re shooting, you don’t notice it, at all. It has a bit of take-up, breaks clean, and resets with a very short travel. It feels like a standard quality 1911 trigger. It was about on par with the S15, and much better than the old CZ. Weirdly, after about six rounds, I felt like I slowed down when trying a mag dump — not the gun, me.
Recoil impulse is as good as advertised. Both the daughter and I noted the strongest muzzle flip with the CZ-85, not the S15 (which was what I thought would pop most). Recoil impulse is straight back, then up. The barrel does sit closer to the hand than the S15, and maybe just a touch lower than the CZ. This is supposedly due to the geometry of the bore axis and spring set-up, but I suspect it’s just as much that the weight of the pistol is slighter toward the nose. Double taps were fast, and strings up to six or seven rounds, as well…then that weird slow down for me, not much, but noticeable. Pretty certain I’m compensating for a change in the weight balance or how the grip is sitting in the hand. She did not notice this at all.
We shot 300 rounds of STV’s Scorpion 124 grain ball (solidly good practice ammo), 100 rounds of STV’s Patriot 2A 124 grain ball (cheap…and hard primers mean the occasional failure to fire), 50 rounds of decent Remington 115 gr,, and 50 rounds of Underwood 125 gr. XTP. Zero issues with extraction, accuracy, no keyholing, no failures to feed or go into battery. The only issue was with the Patriot ammo, but that also had a failure to fire on the first strike with the S15, but also the CZ…and that thing has never malfunctioned on me. So I’m discounting the three no fires on those rounds.
So, is it worth it? At $1300? Maybe, maybe not. At $999 or a touch lower? Absolutely! The grip is comfortable and points naturally, like an old Browning Hi-Power. Recoil is reduced from other 9mm pistols in the size range. It bloody shoots! Fast, accurate, light enough to carry concealed (and if I can find a damned lefty holster for it, I just might…) 500 rounds, starting with +P hollow points, and working down to the 115 Remington — no problems, and at clean up we found the Patriot left the pistol absolutely filthy, but still…it had run flawlessly.
They fixed it, and it is an excellent choice for self-defense and probably would kick ass for competition. If there’s one place I might expect failure after high round counts, it’s going to be the ledge for the recoil assembly, but honestly — I think this thing will go for some time.
27 January, 2026
So, this dropped on my email list yesterday (Thursday) morning — Modiphius has hit us with another sourcebook for 2nd Edition Star Trek Adventures. This time, it’s the Species Sourcebook — the one I actually was hoping they would do. The PDF was already available with the physical book on pre-order and most likely due in about two to three months. This has been the production tempo thus over the last year for the line.
The artwork is consistent with the rest of the sourcebooks, with Paolo Puggioni — who gave us the excellent cover for the 23rd Century sourcebook — replacing Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo on cover duties. The interior of the cover on this one is the first to not have some form of useful material — a map, uniform guide, or timeline, but the art is still quite nice. Unlike prior sourcebooks, we do see a fair amount of recycled artwork: the Barzan and Betelgeusans from The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Guide, Caitains, Efrosians, and Bolians from first edition works, just to name a few. Most of the pieces are good and yes, why spend for more art when you’ve got stuff right there?
So what do we get in the book?
There’s a nice spread across the various shows and movies, and a few of these were originally included in the first edition, but didn’t make the cut for the core book in the latest iteration. A few are variations on a theme, but we do get Terrans for you Mirror Universe fans. There’s a heavy representation from the animated series — both TAS and Lower Decks, as well as Prodigy: Edosian, Aurelians, and Caitians, but I was especially amused by the Blue Orion (Or-ee-ons!) and Kzinti. There are some obvious choices: Deltans, Augments, Xindi, Klepians, Vorta and Jem’Hadar… The chameloid was an interesting addition, but the lack of Ariolo, Arcadians, and Coridanites from the same sourcebook as the Betelgeusan was curious. I did like the “human” Klingons from the original show being included.
I actually used the Medusans that very evening at Nerd Night™, and the Terrans will be useful very soon.
So, is it worth it? At 133 pages, it’s right in the ballpark for the current run of splatbooks for STA2, and while $60 is a touch much, in my opinion, for this particular book — it’s definitely worth it. I’m already seeing this one as a high use resource for the game.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
25 January, 2026
The third release for Star Trek Adventures is The 23rd Century Campaign Guide. This one (as with the new Species Sourcebook) kinda crept up on me. One thing Modiphius is doing well — and that Free League has been seriously falling down on with it’s Blade Runner and Alen lines — is dropping pre-orders once their material is ready to go…not making you wait a year for them to get it cleared by their licensors. Kudos to Jim Johnson for managing this line extremely well.
The guide provides a nice overview of the entire century — not just the events of Discovery through the old show movies. The chapters give a political and technological overview of the pre-Disco era (starting from the end of the Enterprise era), and they also focus a few pages on how each of the major polities are affected — the Federation, the Klingon and Romulan empires, the Cardassian Union, and the Orion Syndicate. The chapters are broken into the pre-Discovery period, the Disco/Strange New Worlds period, the Old Series, and the movie period. For those who have only a passing knowledge of the setting (especially the pre-Discovery and the original movies), this a fast entry into the 23rd Century. There is also a latter chapter on creating characters specific to the era, including suggested focuses, traits, and values. For those GMs with players who are unfamiliar with these period settings, this can help create characters consistent to the goings-on around them. It also ties neatly with the first chapter, which provides new lifepath options for having grown up on a species homeworld different from your own, a new civilian profession (free trader), and specific high-impact events from the various shows and movies. Was your character present for the V’Ger incident, or at the Khitomer Accords? Now you can have that as a specific event in character creation. The first chapter also has updated rules on scars, fatigue, and trauma borrowed from The Federation-Klingon War sourcebook for first edition. A final chapter gives tips for plotting adventures during the various series’ settings.
Artwork remains solidly good to very good, and Paolo Puggioni’s cover deserves a special shout-out. There’s a frontpiece on the inside over with the various uniforms of the period — much of it cribbed from other earlies books in the first and second editions, and the backpiece has a timeline for the “Prime” and “Terran” (read Mirror) Universes, as well as the execrable J.J. Abrams “Kelvan” timeline.
So, is it worth it? At 129 pages, $60 might be a bit hefty if you’re a confirmed Trekkie or just hit up the Memory Alpha site for information. I’m not certain how much use I’ll get out of this, but it is a good-looking book and well made, with plenty of useable game mechanics and ideas to launch off of. If cost is a problem and you don’t mind using the cheaper PDFs for reference — that’s definitely worth it.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
23 January, 2026
Modiphius has been on a roll with their Star Trek Adventures line since brining out the 2nd Edition rules set. Over the last year, there’s been four sourcebooks that have dropped. We already looked at the Technical Manual released in April 2025, which was followed by the Exploration Guide in October, then the 23rd Century Sourcebook around Christmas time, and the PDF for the Species Sourcebook just dropped yesterday.
The Exploration Guide feels like it was peeled off from the Technical Manual, and feels like these could have been a single book. As it is, as 144 pages it’s a nice size to peruse or do a quick reference. The production values are good, and have been consistent across the 2nd Edition line, so far. It comes with a smallish folding map with Alpha and Beta Quadrants, c. 2259 on one side, and a 2401 version on the reverse. They are the same maps as seen in the frontpiece and backpiece the inner cover of the book. The maps are nice enough, but a bit small, compared to the old setting map that 1st Edition had from the old Geoffrey Mandel Star Charts book, and isn’t as easy to reference. The 25th Century map is especially mutes and hard to reference at the table.
The layout is consistent with the new look of 2nd Edition: bright, clean, and easy to read. Like the Technical Manual, the artwork is all new — I didn’t notice a reuse of prior artwork from first Edition or even the new core book. The cover is by the same artist as the prior book, and the artists used look to be the same. It gives a consistent flavor from the core book, to these two sourcebooks.
There’s new lifepaths, the Independent Archeologist and the Outpost Researcher, and about a dozen new career events, new talents, and the addition of civilian awards you can buy with advancement. It’s a new civilian focus that cuts throughout the book. The other chapters cover sector design, star and system design, and planetary design for your setting. I banged out a couple of worlds and systems — and it works well. Prior to this, I had been using the system creation rules from the Alien RPG’s Building Better Worlds sourcebook, with tweaks. The last chapter deals with specific biomes — ocean, jungle, etc. — and how to design specific features, plant and animal life. There’s also encounter tables for those that was random encounters.
So, is it worth it? The guide is pretty useful for putting together material for your game — especially if you are planning a campaign in a particular region (hence the sector design), and is a good follow-up to the Technical Manual. At 144 pages, it feels a bit thin for the $60ish bucks for the hardcover book, but if you are like me and prefer to work out of a physical resource, then yes — it’s worth it…maybe more so than the Technical Manual. If you’re good with PDF, the price point is certainly more forgiving.
The copyright for 2d20 system is Modiphius, 2019. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios inc. All Rights Reserved and no infringement is intended.
28 December, 2025
I saw the pre-order for this pop up a few months back and thought “Neat!” but Master Replica was still a bit hard for me to trust after the implosion of Eaglemoss, and their stepping in to handle some of the properties. Still — I threw it on my wish list for Christmas and forgot about it.
The wife did not. And yesterday, my Insight Editions “Deckard’s Police Spinner Car” from Blade Runner 2049 (Yeah, I know, but it was in the movie for a few seconds before it got blown to hell.)
So, is it any good? In a word, yes. It’s a hefty die cast, and the detailing is excellent. I pulled up a few screencaps just to compare and other than a few niggling points Master Replicas did an outstanding job with this one. I had thought the forward wheel tracks were a touch small until I pulled the screen caps — they’re about right.
The undercarriage detailing is equally good, with police lights in the right places. The only niggle for the underside (that they did get right in the small model from the Blade Runner Collection box set a decade or so ago) is the undercarriage windows are reflective here.
A minor gripe for me is the cockpit windows are a bit dark, so unless you are under excellent light, it’s difficult to see the interior detail — but it’s there. The vidphon screen in the center console, the control screen has red lettering and graphics in the dashboard. There’s also detailing between the seats. Those two panels in from of the police gumballs on the roof are also, I believe, supposed to be windows.
The packaging is very nice: heavy cardboard with satin finish, and inside heavy foam protects the model quite well. The car graphic and the Blade Runner titles are all raised. The box is decorated with subtle cityscapes all around the side panels. The lid is magnetically closed and the interior flap houses a very nice graphic, as well…
I’m a huge fan of the movies. The original became my favorite movie sitting in the theater opening night, and only cemented that position with the release of The Director’s Cut (although The Final Cut — or more appropriately directed at the producers’ meddling, The F*ck You Cut is my favorite version.) I was skeptical about Villeneue’s sequel until I saw it. In many ways, I found it more engaging than the original despite the run time.
So, is it worth the $150? Depends. Are you a massive fan that will have it sitting next to the 3D printed blasters from the movies? (Just put it there after taking the pictures.) Then yes. If you are a passing fan, the price might be a bit of a lift — but supposedly this is a limited run. The value should start climbing in three…two…one…
The Black Campbell 