An Acceptable Loss | Star Master Log: Season One Wrap (w/ The Whole Cast!)

This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast This episode of SWN Rules Explained looks at how alien species work in Stars Without Number, from the alien design chapter starting on page 202 of the revised rulebook. Brian walks through the book's split between recognizable aliens and the stranger, harder-to-parse kind, then covers the lens tables on page 204 that shape a species' psychology and the social structure table on page 207. From there he gets into building a playable alien character, picking perks from page 209 to construct an origin focus from scratch. It's the final SWN Rules Explained of Season 1, timed with the crew's time-loop escape from Prometheon Station in Episode 33, "An Acceptable Loss." New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure. Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast The gyroscope is eating Prometheon Station one ring at a time, and there's no next loop to fix what goes wrong this time. Thorne gets locked in an office with the one enemy he can't decide whether to trust. Felix runs a hack under a ten-second gas countdown with three lives riding on it. Haleyy finds out exactly how many members of an Unhallowed horde one very angry woman can throw. And somewhere in the wreckage, the crew has to decide what an acceptable loss actually looks like. Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast Meet the Crew: Jeff as Star Master Brian as Captain Thorne Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members! They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

This Star Master Log was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast Brian joins Jeff to talk about episode 32, Twenty-One Loops, the one where the rest of the crew starts treating death as a formality and Thorne is the only one still keeping score. They get into why he's sitting on two separate secrets from Felix right now, and Brian makes his case for Thorne as the reluctant Malcolm Reynolds of the Scapegoat. Then Brian tries to sell Jeff on competitive Pokemon, and it does not go well. New Star Master's Logs drop every other Tuesday, bridging the gap between our main adventure episodes. Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast This episode of SWN Rules Explained looks at how NPCs work in Stars Without Number, from the Xeno Bestiary chapter of the revised rulebook. Brian walks through the general NPC table on page 195 and how to read hit dice, armor class, attack bonuses, and morale scores, plus when the Star Master should actually call for a morale check. From there he covers robots and virtual intelligences, including the rules for playing a VI as a character, and wraps up with beasts and how to run a swarm of them as a single NPC. He frames it against the crew getting looped back in time right as they arrive at Prometheon Station in Episode 32, "Twenty-One Loops," racing to get inside and save the Doctor before the loop resets again. New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure. Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast The crew wakes back up on the bridge with no idea how they got there, except that they remember dying. Prometheon Station resolves out of the dark exactly like it did the first time, gyroscope still sparking. Behind one locked office door: a dead man's switch, and a data chip stuffed with files, and a photograph shows a face Thorne wasn't expecting to see. Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast Meet the Crew: Jeff as Star Master Brian as Captain Thorne Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members! They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.