Save For Half episode # 28: "Space Patrol by Gamescience"

[sieg]

Save For Half episode # 28: "Space Patrol by Gamescience"

Space, the final frontier Ñ or the first, as far as RPG space gaming went. Gamescience's Space Patrol beat Traveller to the punch in 1977, but was lost in the shuffle of its better known rival's little black books. But this little game has some good points to consider, even for today's jaded gamer. Listen in as we cover aliens, planets, a startling lack of starships...and equipment with no cost?


No Kzinti were harmed in the making of this podcast, not even by Blush Gordon!

It's all here at: saveforhalf.com/

Links mentioned in this show:

Space Patrol on RPG Geek
rpggeek.com/rpg/2547/space-patrol

Star Patrol (Space Patrol) on Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Patrol


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[Deleted]

Still love your podcast, Sieg! Keep up the great work!

[sieg]

Thanks! We'll try to keep the quality shows coming, even if every game isn't necessarily a winner!

For Patreon fans: Liz just uploaded the CharGen session of Space Patrol where we rolled up some....pretty weird PCs!

Mike

[Falconer]

Cool, sieg ! In my group (and on my podcast) we use the Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier rules by Michael Scott, which is the Space Patrol rules + a Star Trek license. It’s not much different, though, as you might expect, some Star Trek content was added and some non-Trek stuff was removed. Among the removed rules which we have gone back to Space Patrol for are cyborgs/cybernetics. Not something you normally see in Star Trek, but one of our crew was hacked up and “improved” by an Orion mad scientist!

STAGFF doesn’t have a price list, either, but there is a must-have expansion in Different Worlds #18 which does provide prices (as well as more substantial character creation and advancement info). This has come in handy in many ways; even though the main PCs are in Star Fleet and get their equipment issued to them, they can’t create things out of thin air, so I give them an allowance and make them “buy” what they need.

Finally, we resorted to Starships & Spacemen for (excellent!) space travel and space combat rules, since STAGFF still doesn’t have these.

There are also later rulesets by Michael Scott of the Space Patrol lineage—Star Patrol and Starfleet Voyages. Each edition adds substantial detail to the rules—I believe the two later versions add space travel and space combat rules. They are both super-obscure, though. However, Michael Scott is working on getting Starfleet Voyages on DriveThru, so, I am looking forward to that!

FYI, we review the two Michael Scott scenarios (published in STAGFF) in the first two episodes of our podcast, and in a couple of weeks we have a review with Michael Scott coming out which is fascinating!

[scottenkainen]

That's a system I've never seen! I'll have to give it a listen.

[sieg]

Thanks for the data Falconer, we'll try and pimp your show on the next recording! Won't be 'till Jan though. Scott, I hadn't heard anything about SP other than the name until DM Corbett suggested it for the show. Which I'm glad I did, because I gotta say I had fun with the CharGen.

Mike

[scottenkainen]

This is still the only podcast I ever listen to. Unlike most that ramble, you four are good at staying on topic.

[sieg]

Thanks...I try to keep things on track as much as possible. Its a running joke on the show that when Mike starts getting terse with his answers and tone, its because we're running out of time. LOL

Mike

[pulpherb]

Nov 21, 2020 10:47:48 GMT -6 Falconer said:

There are also later rulesets by Michael Scott of the Space Patrol lineage—Star Patrol and Starfleet Voyages. Each edition adds substantial detail to the rules—I believe the two later versions add space travel and space combat rules. They are both super-obscure, though. However, Michael Scott is working on getting Starfleet Voyages on DriveThru, so, I am looking forward to that!

FYI, we review the two Michael Scott scenarios (published in STAGFF) in the first two episodes of our podcast, and in a couple of weeks we have a review with Michael Scott coming out which is fascinating!

First, I'm heading from here to your podcast for that info.

Second, if you're in contact with Michael, why is he working on getting Starfleet Voyages up but not Star Patrol?  Does he not have rights to the latter? After listening to the Halflings, I went looking on eBay and was sorely tempted by a $200 copy of Space Patrol, but rolled my save.  

[Falconer]

I’ll ask him, but my hunch is:

Starfleet Voyages was his last iteration and thus probably the one he’s most proud of.

He thinks the more Star Trekkie version will sell better than the generic one.

IIRC he has a co-author on Star Patrol but is sole author on Starfleet Voyages, making it more uncomplicated rights-wise.

If he gets one product up, it will be easier to get more products up.


BTW our interview with him turned out GREAT! Listen to that first!