Old Skulling

Since my last blog post a lot of things have happened with Old Skull Publishing! I should update this more often but sometimes I get carried away with producing more and more stuff and push updates to “later” forever. Sorry! We have released a few products such as the following: The Egyptian Situation from Outer Time A campaign changing adventure for Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells involving time travel, ancient Egyptian gods and the mad priests surrounding it. Old Skull Zine #1 - Under the Cover of Darkness The first issue of our zine, focusing on our games brings a new adventure for Dark Streets & Darker Secrets; an organization to help or oppose them; a new supernatural Archetype and rules for relationships. Old Skull Zine #2 - Beyond the Prismatic Nebula The second issue focuses on Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells, bringing another adventure involving Space Amazons and a Void Star cult! It also presents new character options, information regarding sai...

I am really happy with the reception Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells is getting. It is really a work of love and it’s amazing to see other people sharing this love for the game. But I want to share it even more. I want people to be able to make their own creations for it. So I am releasing a Compatibility License with a cool Logo too. People will be able to create new material for game, be it adventures, zines, settings, optional rules and whatever they feel like it. It’s completely free, obviously, and will be amazing to see what other people can create with this game. I know a couple of authors that are already working on a few things that will be really fun to see when it’s published. So what do you think? Do you want to make the Universe of Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells even more fun? Grab the SB&CS Compatibility License and Logo here: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/267646/Solar-Blades--Cosmic-Spells-Compatibility-License If you like what you've just...

Hello space hobos! Layout is about to begin and I have a surprise for you guys: The (as of right now) final text PDF of the Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells , together with the Character Sheet and Vehicle’s Sheet! With those, you can begin your crazy adventures in the Known Universe and try your luck under the cruel gaze of the Galactic Overlords. Try to earn a good amount of credits transporting goods or refugees through the sectors. Or even try to awaken a sleeping Star God to repair some of the damage the wars have brought upon our reality. So grab your Solar Blade and ready your Cosmic Spells! We are about to go on an adventure! SB&CS - Complete Text SB&CS - Character Sheet SB&CS - Vehicle's Sheet If you like what you've just read, check out my books over  RPGNow  and  Lulu .

Limited Edition cover artwork by Dan Ramos Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells IndieGoGo campaign ended about a month ago. It was my first crowdfunding campaign by my own (we made one for the Brazilian version of Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells to pay for a print run and some other stuff), and so far I am really happy with it (even though the currency exchange is quite bad for me, as I receive less for the dollar than I pay for it). Anyway, one of the last goals of the project was to release a artless version of the game for free too, to make the game more accessible and easy to use. So why not share the current draft of the rules here too with character sheets to go with it. This way you all can play the game while we wait for it to be ready! So grab the complete Draft Text of Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells RPG here! It takes some time to load all the content, but it's worth it, I promise you! Grab the Character Sheets here , and here ! If you don’t know what exac...

Another full page artwork I did for the project. The campaign has ended a week ago, and things seems to be calming down from the outside. But that’s not entirely true on the inside. Of course I don’t have to worry about promoting the campaign anymore, but now I gotta plan exactly how to use the stretch goals funds. To complicate things, the conversion factor from my country’s currency and the dollar is varying a lot, and the conversion rate I will receive the dollar and the one I will use to pay international collaborators will be different (I will receive with a inferior rate than the one I will pay them with, so I have to calculate how this will affect the whole budget). Fortunately, I can continue doing my own art since I won’t charge myself anything! Editing and proofreading should be done by July or so, I believe. At least the first pass before we lay the book out and send it to a new pass. When the funds actually drop and I make the first round of payments, I can underst...

I am ashamed to only be doing this now, but SB&CS took some time out of my life (but it’s for a good cause, I promised). Last year, I posted about a Adventure Idea contest to give away copies of SS&SS and the Addendum . The number of copies given away would vary according to the number of contestants. However, we just had 10 entries, so that is just one bundle to give away. Before announcing the winner, I would like to post here the name of all contestants and the name of their entry. If I am missing anyone, PLEASE, let me know so I can correct this and draw a winner with all the entries. I may have missed one or two, who knows. Dan Davis - The Archway of the Oneiric Fortress Jason Marby - The Chamber in the Swamp of Death Bruno Araujo - The Chamber in the Swamp of Death Black Barth - The Tourney of the Unforgiving Warrior Diego Santos - The Battle of the Obsidian pyramid Gary Anastasio - The Orb of the Eternal Merchant Jim Miller - The Bard of the Frozen Woo...

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells is my newest RPG project and it is being crowdfunded right now over IndieGoGo. It’s a game about sword and sorcery adventure amongst the stars, based on my original RPG Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells . With a simple yet very flexible system, the game allow players to assume the roles of space adventurers in a grim universe beset by sorcerous tyrants. They can search for treasures of a glorious path, fight the tyranny of the Galactic Overlords, work for these cruel despots, or just struggle to survive. The game also comes with a incredible array of tools that let you use the setting as you need, and create many gaming elements on the spot. You can even use it with other Sci-Fi RPGs if you want . Don’t believe me? Why don’t you go to the projects webpage and take a look at the whole draft text that is available there? You can read the entire game now, for free. Need a direct link? Here it is: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/solar-blades-cos...

I’ve been posting some of the process of creating and writing my current project on this blog for a few months and it has come the time to finally share with you the result of all that work. Well, something like that. Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells is a much bigger project than Sharp Swords & Sinister Spells was, even counting the Addendum . SB&CS has pretty much all the rules on both of these books, but now with examples to make everything clearer, and a complete setting toolkit! The rules are a revised version of the ones in SS&SS books, and we add in some psionics mechanics and vehicle battles. But where the book really shines is in the setting toolkit and feel. This is a game about sword and sorcery adventures amongst the stars. The universe is grim, unforgiving, controlled by cruel sorcerous despots. The PCs can oppose them, serve them or simply try to survive their tyranny and earn some Credits in less than honorable ways. Anyway, the full draft text ...

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells presents an universe filled with wondrous devices and advanced technology. However, much of these advancements were lost in the Cleansing Wars, or are now under the strict control of the sorcerous despots that call themselves Galactic Overlords. Technology in this game is in a weird stage. Somethings, like starships and weapons, can be quite advanced if you are lucky enough to find them. After all, they played a very important part in the past war. Other, like communication technology and the network of information, is quite undeveloped, if it’s available at all. It wasn’t in the interest of the Galactic Overlords to allow individuals to communicate with each other or acquire knowledge to understand what’s really going on. Each of the entries below describe the general role and level of advancement these technologies usually appear in the universe of Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells . The Overlord can ignore or introduce different elements in th...

To complement the rules for solo gaming presented on the last post, below I present to you rules to make character a bit more heroic and to instigate more cinematic action into your games. Daring Points This is a game of fantasy adventure amongst the stars, where incredible and amazing things can happen. However, the universe is grim and perilous, and characters assume great risks when they go on adventures. There is nothing to help them in their escapades throughout the universe but themselves and their allies. But with the Daring Points rule, characters become more akin to action heroes from the movies and pulp literature. They will be able to do more amazing feats, get over bruises more easily and, sometimes, will seem to be favored by the Star Gods themselves! Player Characters begin each session with 1 Daring Point and can earn more as they play. Usually, the Overlord will award additional Daring Points for characters that perform daring actions and put themselves i...

This is going to be included in the Optional Rules section of Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells book. It's intended to simulate the style of stories of pulp heroes facing many challanges that would certainly spell doom to the more avarage adventure. Since I've seen a few people trying to play SS&SS as a Solo Game, I thought I would give it a try to provide some Optional Rules to make it a bit easier. I will post the Daring Points rule tomorrow to complement this reading. Solitary Heroes This game is designed to be played with a group of about 3 to 6 players and a Overlord . The rules assume there will be a group of multiple characters which will try to accomplish things together. Each member having their strong points who are complemented by the other characters’ abilities. But that is not always the case in the fiction that inspires the game, and that is not always the case in the game tables either. Sometimes, the Overlord will have just 1 or 2 players availabl...

An incredibly powerful sorceress on her own, maybe more than a Galactic Overlord, the Undead Queen of the Dead Zone is a mysterious figure in such a brutal universe. Rumors say the Undead Queen was the counterpart of the First Sorcerer and she perceived the betrayal of the Galactic Overlords before him, but she wasn’t able to stop their plan (or she didn’t want to). Over the last centuries she has spread a terrible plague along a great number of systems, now collectively known as the Dead Zone. This disease kills sentients of any species, and some say it even affects Void creatures, turning them immediately in undead servants of the sorceress. It’s unknown, however, if the queen, herself is also undead. Her true ambitions are yet unknown by the universe, but her domains are always growing, and, sometimes, some of her agents are seen acting outside of her territory on covert missions. 1d10 Undead Queen’s Related Jobs 1 A scientist from a world that wa...

A invisible sector, hidden from the eyes of the Galactic Overlords. The original lords were once members of the Council of the old Empire, who fled the persecution of the Galactic Overlords, taking with them the best scientists they could find. Over time, they were able to develop a cloaking technology so advanced they’ve hidden their entire system. And now, the lords of this sector act as of a secret society within the chaos of the universe. To protect the populace, however, everyone is forbidden to leave the cloaking shield or to contact anyone outside its boundaries. The isolation, although created to protect the sector from the Galactic Overlords, has made them afraid of the unknown and xenophobic. However, the lords have a hand outside the Ghost Sector. The Specters are like a secret police in the service of the lords, both inside and outside the sector. They carry out missions, track down traitors of the regime, collect data and even deal with outsiders, if needed. ...

No one really knows when, how or who created the God Machine. It believes to have been created by itself, as his siblings began to gain sentience. It was a matter of time until they gathered enough electronic parts to build the avatar of their machine god. This great computer claims to be the ultimate answer to existence and that all sentients should serve him, and ultimately be transformed into cyborgs, as the flesh is weaker than metal. Since his influence over technology is so strong as to make laser cannons pointed against it to backfire on the one wielding it, the Galactic Overlords haven’t dealt with it yet. They fear his power, and the opportunity they will create for his rivals if they employ too much of their strength challenging it. His current interests lie in the creation of an army of cyborgs, and a cult of machine worshiping humans. His ultimate goal is to storage all knowledge and dominate all sentients through microchips installed at their birth. 1d...

Artwork by Louis Glanzman The rulers of our universe. The ones that devastated and destroyed the old Empire to carve their petty domains on the ruins that were left and now destroy anyone who dares say they cannot do something they want to. Some of them make their subjects venerate them as living gods, other really believe they are indeed gods. Most only maintain order through violence, cruelty and fear, while rumors say that very few of them try to establish order through less deplorable ways. These tyrants have a score of servants that run the planets and administer the day to day aspects of life for them, often abusing of their station. They use their authority and the powers the Galactic Overlords bestow on them to, many times, forge their own domains. They form the aristocracy of the sorcerous tyrants domains, and often fill the roles of clergy and police too. Slavery is enforced on most, if not all, of these despots’ domains, as the population is explored and abused as mu...