Gaslands: The PIT Crew - Where to buy

 

Welcome back to the PIT Crew!

Today, we're going to talk about how to get started with Gaslands. I know, you're wondering why I'm doing this now, after doing several other articles. Well, since Gaslands: Refueled is coming out soon, I thought now is actually the best time for it. Also, I was really excited with Gaslands and wanted to right to it.

Hopefully, you read my review of Gaslands and got the basics from that. And then read my other PIT Crew articles. Now, let's talk about how you get started with building up a Gaslands team.

The first thing you're going to need is the rule book. Of course, you probably want to wait until Refueled comes out, but there's no reason why you can't throw some money at them for a digital copy of the current version right now. Options are always good. After you finish that, you'll want to download the Time Extended expansions. And the errata. And probably the reference sheets.

Now, it's time for the big questions: What brands to look for and where to buy?

Brands -

Hot Wheels:

This one of the two major brands that makes toy cars and you probably have some laying around from when you were a kid. How Wheels does make a quality product (things I never thought I'd have to talk about...) and they make a wide variety of cars. Hot Wheels is great for finding some important vehicles, such as monster trucks and war rigs. They're also the only one that I've found (so far) that makes motorcycles and ATVs. They also have a wide variety of normal, regular cars you'd see on the street, as well as some more fantastical ones. They also have licenses for some interesting Intellectual Properties, including Marvel and DC characters. You could make an entire team with Justice League cars, if you wanted.

Price: $1-2 for regular cars and like sized vehicles, $4 for monster trucks and themed vehicles, and $6-8 for war rigs.

Matchbox:

This brand has a weird dichotomy. They make some really weird stuff and some realistic stuff. We're talking things like buses, vans, and the like. Really boring stuff. They also have the license for Jurassic Park and Jurassic World, so you can use those to make a team if you want. They're about the same price as Hot Wheels and usually stocked by the same stores. I used the Jurassic World golf carts for buggies and picked up a five pack of “city vehicles” that had a pair of buses in it.

Price: $1-2 for cars and like sized vehicles

Metal Machines:

This is fairly cheap brand I've seen around that doesn't seem to have a lot of variety. However, that price can be nice if you're just getting started. They also seem to be somewhat easy to find, usually stocked with the other brands above.

Price: $0.50-1 for cars and like sized vehicles

Fresh Metal:

I've only found collections of this brand but for very cheap. They're priced about the same as Hot Wheels and Matchbox, but that might only be because I found them for cheap. The collections they sell also have cheap buildings and mats. Two collections (police and fire departments) come with helicopters, each of which are different designs. I've found them easy to take apart without damaging them, which is a good thing if you want to do that sort of thing. Given the cheap price, even if you break some of them, you're not out a whole lot.

Price: $5 for collections of five vehicles, $7+ for collections that include cars and buildings

Where To Buy -

Target:

This is probably the most common places people will go for toy cars. The stores are fairly common across the country and carry several brands. The price point isn't always great, usually charging full retail price. However, around holidays, they'll drop to 30% to 50% off. Buying at that time won't make you look like a total creep if you don't have kids of your own (that's a joke, folks).

Ross:

This is the only place I've found Fresh Metal cars with any regularity. I have found some Hot Wheel and Matchbox stuff here, but it wasn't as cheap as Target when they were on sale there. However, I would at least check here while you're out and about. Just in case.

Dollar Tree/Dollar Store/Dollar General:

This is probably the best place to go if you want to pick up dirt cheap cars. They have a brand that comes in 3-packs, which are great for testing the game and learning how to modify them. They are, as you might imagine, made very cheaply and might fall apart or break. You get what you pay for. You can also find Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars here for $1, but the selection is poor.

Ebay:

While I haven't used this myself, a quick check reveals all sorts of cars from all sorts of companies at all sorts prices. I'm sure you know that “buyer beware” applies when using eBay.

Well, that's all I've got to say about Gaslands for now. I'll be taking a break from this series until Gaslands: Refueled is released and I've had an chance to look it over. When I do, I'll be doing another Let's Review about the new version, and then resume with this series. Let me know what you think about what I've said here, and Gaslands in general, if you would.

Setting Showcase: SpellJammer

Name: SpellJammer

Produced By: TSR Inc (now part of Wizard of the Coast)

System: Dungeons and Dragons, 2^nd edition

Genre(s): Space Fantasy

Dungeons and Dragons... IN SPAAAAAAAAACE!

Of all the D&D settings, past and present, SpellJammer is quite possibly the most 'What The Fuck' of all of them. It's also one of my favorites.

SpellJammer takes all of the major races and puts them in space. Beholders, Illithids, Elves, Drow, Dragons, Gobliniods, and everything else is thrown in to a interstellar melting pot with new races like Neogi, Giff, and Arcane. These races travel around in 'space ships'. Yes, sailing ships moving between the planets. I'm not making that up. Of course, not every race uses sailing ships, but those are the most common ones you'll see. Or at least things that look an awful lot like a sailing ship.

This setting was developed for 2^nd edition AD&D and there doesn't seem to be any attempt to make an official update for any of the newer editions. I know that fans have made some attempts for 3/3.5, and a quick article in a Dungeon magazine, but I'm not sure if there's been anything beyond that. There are some bits and pieces of the setting spread around in the 3.5 source books (the inclusion of the Neogi in the Monster Manual 2, the Mercane in Manual of the Planes, and even the variant Beholders in the Lords of Madness source book. Oh, and a Neogi space ship, too). There's some mentions of things in SpellJammer in 4^th and 5^th editions, but that appears that's all we're going to get.

You have to love that old D&D art

In SpellJammer, every setting is in the same universe. Yes, the actual universe. You see, each major setting in D&D is inside a crystal sphere. Inside that sphere is the sun and planets of that setting. On the inside of the sphere, the constellations are glowing spots, not stars like in our world. Between the planets, there's vacuum like you might expect. When a SpellJammer (a ship that can travel between worlds) leaves a planet, it takes an amount of air with it. This air only lasts so long before it becomes fouled, so you have to be careful when heading out in to the void. Thankfully, the Pholgiston (which looks like a ProgRock album cover) between the spheres is breathable and you don't have to worry about bringing enough air for interstellar journeys. Of course, the Pholigson is very flammable. That's not a good thing for the setting, as almost every culture in the settings use candles for lighting. How's that for dangerous?

How do you fly a sailing ship through space, I hear you asking? That's a good question. You see, most species have these things called Helms (yeah, I know, just go with it). An arcane magic user powers the Helm which moves the ship through space. There's rating for Helms and a chart for character levels that are manning the Helm. It's as simple as that.

Of course, the next question is, what about divine casters? Well... They have a problem. If they're in a Sphere that their deity is worshiped, they're all good. But, when they leave that Sphere or enter one that doesn't worship their deity, they only have the spells they prayed for before leaving their home, and can't get any more no matter how hard they pray. Thankfully, there's a few fixes: you can spread the word of your deity (because why not?), you can worship the Duality, or you can pick some very popular deities. Otherwise, you are screwed. 

These are Illithid ships. If you see them, RUN!

 

While the line was canceled before too long (and replaced with Planscape as the multiversal hub), they did release a fair number of supplements. There's a book for all of their major settings like Greyhawk, Dragonlance, and Forgotten Realms. I own the “Realmspace” supplement and it's a hoot. Did you know that Elminster has a satellite? Because he does. With a portal to Ed Greenwood's house. There is some other stuff that's actually pretty cool. Like a castle in space. This is why you should be very careful with those wish spells, folks... Waterdeep is also the main hub of interstellar trade and that's one of my favorite things in the book.

They also put out a whole bunch of adventures, including an introduction adventure to bring your merry band of adventurers out into space. Another one deals with a unique solar system that's been screwed with. There's a two-parter about preventing the Goblinoids and Orcs from building a war fleet and taking over the known Spheres. My favorite one involves a giant Beholder ship that has rooms based on their eye beams. Because Beholders are an important part of the setting, it makes sense.

Now, you're wondering how the setting got its name, there's a box set for that. It's The SpellJammer boxed set. That's right, THE SpellJammer. It's a giant manta ray ship with a city on it's back. Because there's a city there (a literal city) you have a fully fleshed out campaign all but ready to go. It doesn't really explain the history of the SpellJammer, who made it and so on, but does fill in some blanks. I actually like the set and what it gives you to use. You can easily run a campaign around chasing The SpellJammer from sphere to sphere, trying to study it and learn about it from a distance, and then culminate with the party landing on the thing. Or, you could have a campaign start on the SpellJammer, with the party having landed on the SpellJammer and are now living out their lives. You could deal with politics and intrigue, or with having to defend the city (and the ship) from outsiders trying to take it over. Lastly, there's rules in there for being the captain of the SpellJammer. Yeah. How's that for cool?

Undead Space Pirates! Oh.... Shit...

Now, I should probably talk more about why I like this setting so much. Aside from the cool factor, even if the setting seems absurd to you, there's some really good stuff in here. You get to see races you're used to in a whole different light. Beholders, as I've mentioned, are a major part of the setting. They even work together. If you've never seen in, the old D&D Monster Manuals, they said that Beholders were from “The darkness between the stars” and SpellJammer takes that and runs with it. They make the Illithids something even more scary as they can freely travel in ships and away from stars. The Neogi, and their Umber Hulk slaves, make for some truly terrifying enemies. The elves are something akin to the guardians of the stars in their ships, which look like castle towers with huge butterfly wings. But, the one everyone probably knows about are the Gnomes. Yes, Gnomes. In the SpellJammer setting, they're the inventors and tinkerers of the setting. Their ships are powered by giant hamsters. And that's where the joke about Boo in the Baldur's Gate game comes from. Get it? I had a good laugh when I learned about it, so screw you.

To me, the setting has done a great job of bringing together the best parts of fantasy (the magic, the power, etc) and combining them with the best parts of science fiction (the sense of exploration and adventure, etc). And it works. Sure, this is the “metal van art” type stuff, but come on, what's not to like? I admit it is hokey and old, but that's part of the charm.

In the end, SpellJammer is done and gone. Even before Wizard bought TSR, the game line was canceled. Aside from the little allusions here and there, it doesn't look like its coming back. Which is a shame. I don't see why Wizards can't dust the game off and put out one (just one, that's all I'm asking) source book for the setting. If they include a conversion guide for 2e, that would be great. It might not sell a whole lot, but I'm sure they could make more than enough from old fans and new fans alike. Maybe we'll get something for 5e. If so, I'll buy whatever I need to play. That's more sales, too.

Blast From The Past: Sailor Moon RPG

In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!

That's right, we're doing this...

A while back, I wrote about Big Eyes,Small Mouth. In that article, I mentioned the Sailor Moon RPG and Resource Book. Before you give me any crap, I'm a fan of the show. If you want to know why, it's not just the girls in school girl outfits and magic powers. Way back in the day, there wasn't a lot of anime on broadcast TV. Sailor Moon and Dragon Ball Z were your only options back in those days and they were on the same channel. While my fellow males were fans of DBZ, I never got into it. Instead, I started watching Sailor Moon. And I found it was better than I expected. So, when I found the Sailor Moon RPG and Resource Book, I bought it. For an old friend. I ended up buying my own copy a few years later.

The Sailor Moon RPG and Resource Book is one of the first licensed products released by Guardians of Order, the creators of Big Eyes, Small Mouth and the Tri-Stat system. As it was the first one, it was released using their original Tri-Stat rules, which means no skills and somewhat limited mechanics. However, I do think that it fits the setting and characters. Also, since this was put together between 1998 and 2000, it only includes information for the first two seasons of the Sailor Moon series, the only part released in North America at the time. If you know anything about the show, you know DIC did some butchering of that show. I might get into the whole “kissing cousins” thing later. Depends on my mood.

Can you tell what season this outfit is from? Because I can...

Let's take some time to discuss the rules and creating characters. While there are stats for the Inner Senshi and Tuxedo Mask, they give you the option to design your own. Which, you know, is the point of role playing games. Players can create Senshi or Knights. Senshi are, of course, female and Knights are male. There's not too much of a difference between them mechanically; they can both transform, do magical attacks, and so on. The only real difference between the two is that Senshi get Elemental Control (water, air, fire, wood, and metal as seen in the series) and Knights get Emotional Control (reflecting Tuxedo Mask's ability to inspire hope in Sailor Moon and the others). While basic, there are enough rules and abilities to cover most everything seen in the series.

While not intend for use for players, there are rules for making “Servants of the Negaverse” like Queen Beryl and so on. These powers are similar to the ones that Senshi and Knights get, but some have a bit of darker twist. As a brief aside, writing this has given me an idea for having players be a group of Negaverse servants fighting the Senshi... I might have to flesh that out...

Anyway. One of the last things is the rules for creating Youma/Yoma, the monsters of the week and servants of the Big Bad Evil Guys of the season. They do have some of them in the core book, as well as compendiums of them they released later, but unless you just want to play through the series, you'd want to create your own.

Best Senshi reporting in. I will fight you if you disagree.

Now, let's talk about what you could do with this thing. As I mentioned above, you can create your own Senshi and Knights for other celestial bodies. Such as the moons of the various planets, comets, and even asteroids. Of course, you could just let people play their favorite Senshi and do some “lost episodes,” an alternate universe, or even a continuation of the series. Personally, I prefer the first option. I'd rather have people have their own stories and their own chances to be heroes. Plus, I find people are more attached to characters they've created on their own. But, it's up to you. Both options are explored in the book and offer suggestions.

Of course, if you really wanted to, you could have the players be normal people in the Sailor Moon universe, but it might not be as fun. To each their own, I suppose.

Second best Senshi right here

Since this is a “resource book,” it includes that list of episodes. It's not just a list, it's a summary of each episode, even the ones DIC skipped. It also have brief description of the Outer Senshi, who hadn't yet been featured in the episodes aired in North America. Mostly because of Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune, who were quite clearly lesbians. When DIC (finally) translated and localized the next season, they were included. As very close cousins. This makes me laugh. There's also the Sailor Stars, who are male Sailor Scouts. That means that they're men in their normal form and women in their Senshi forms. While I had known about this beforehand, I'm sure that surprised some fans. Sadly, they didn't include stats for any of these, but at least you have the information you'd need to make them. I'm honestly curious about why they didn't include stats for them. Maybe they were worried about taking away page space from something that was seen as more important for their target audience?

For those of you who are fans of the series, I'd suggest picking this up. In addition to the little facts (such as the blood type, birthdays, and favorite foods) about the characters, there's wonderful full color magazine glossy pages with images from the series, as well as a wealth of other black and white pictures. From the copies I've had a chance to handle, the books are very well put together. There's also some expansions, mostly the Youma/Yoma books, but also little “character diaries” you could use to record your character's stats and blank pages to record what your character has been going through. These were popular for a lot of games back in those days. I don't know if they still are today, as they're basically selling you a blank notebook, but they are fun.

Did you know that her element is wood? No, I'm not kidding!

As a brief note, I'm thinking about doing some exploration of some the games I've reviewed. I'd be looking at the source books I own, experiences I've had, and just more about how the game works. If you're interested, leave a comment below letting me what you think of the idea, and if you're in favor of it, what games you'd like to see me take an in-depth look at.

Cousins. Right. Uh huh. Sure. We believe you...