Saturday 6 August 2016

[Review] Alpha Blue + Girls Gone Rogue

Get it from RPGNow, both PDF and POD!
ALPHA BLUE is a sleazy science fiction roleplaying game cheering 70's weird scifi and exploitation entertainment. In Alpha Blue interalienracial sex, drug abuse and killing stuff is perfectly normal - and acceptable. Because Alpha Blue is a space bordel!

But what can you do in this space station of sin except have dirty adventures? Quite a lot, in fact!

Even though Alpha Blue is about sex, it is a real game. And a good game too. You might get best of the setting if you keep the sex, drugs and sleaze, but don't make it the focus of the game. You can play space action adventures with sleaze vibes. That's how you can make Alpha Blue a blast! Remember the sleaze, but don't make this game full of it making it a dirty joke. Make it awesome!

If you are already familiar with +Venger Satanis' writing style, you know what to expect. It's like Venger is telling you all these cool ideas, maybe not organized, but clear. His enthusiasm comes across the text. It is friendly, but guiding. There are no dull moments reading Kort'thalis Publishing's products.

I mentioned that it might be not organized that well. It's because there is so much material in the product. Mostly fluff and random tables. And oh boy there are many random tables making this book quite useful even outside of Alpha Blue station! You get all kinds of fun things for character creation like how he dresses and what his signature weapon is. And naturally if you're an alien, what kind of an alien you are from appearance to customs. Other tables are really useful for running adventures.

Alpha Blue is mainly a setting, and easily compatible with any system you want to run it with. But there are light rules included, which are quite fun. Characters have no stats and all difficulties of rolls are determined by who the character is (not what his numeric stats are) and what the overall situation is like. More important is what kind of sex your character likes than how hard he can hit an opponent!

Extras are two character sheets, other darker version and a map of a single floor of Alpha Blue station spread on four pages. It would have been cool if it was pre-numbered so you could fill it easier yourself, as there are locations in the book, but they are not marked on the map. Alpha Blue is supposed to have several floors, but one pre-made floor would have been fun so you could get the gaming on straight ahead. Now you have to map the place before playing the game. Small wrinkle, nothing huge!

Illustration... ehm, I don't like it. Overall it's not quite good. Half of the images are decent and give an idea what Alpha Blue is like, but some pictures are lame; example a person who looks like Doctor Who with two women. Needless to say, there is lots of nudity, partial and full. One other complaint is that men and women are not sexualized equally - there are more naked women than men. Kort'thalis' overall sexual imaginary is quite masculine. It would be cooler if there were more stronger women in illustration and fiction. I am a heterosexual guy who does enjoy strong women too, not always those slaves in golden bikini...

Also there could have been more adventure examples and seeds on what happens at Alpha Blue space station bordel. Now there are only few, and most of those happen outside of the station. Oh why...

Overall Alpha Blue is a great rpg product, if you are not too sensitive for sleazy adult themes. You get lots of random tables to use, a detailed location and light rules. If tentacle sex and drugs you are okay with, you should check Alpha Blue out! If you want to know how people have ran Alpha Blue, here is a Google search done for you: ZAP!

Get it from RPGNow, both PDF and POD!
GIRLS GONE ROGUE is an expansion for Alpha Blue. You don't necessarily need it, but it sure makes the game 1000% better! The pdf is 80 pages of everything! Character creation and options are expanded. There are more little rules like dueling and ship to ship combat. There are more random tables, all kinds of them for so many different situations. You also get quite a few adventures. And tables to create planets. And now the illustration is from the same to better to great!

Girls Gone Rogue makes Alpha Blue better in so many ways expanding it to a full throttle to run campaigns. There is so much material combined in these books, that you will never run out of adventuring ideas and random tables.

Mark my word, even without sex Alpha Blue (and Girls Gone Rogue) is/are a great game full of fun and useful material. If you don't like sleazy themes, just drop them and enjoy space adventures! Illustration... well, you just have to deal with it :)





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