Hardboiled Space Detectives!

Here's a random adventure generator for any sci-fi RPG campaign that features interstellar space travel and hard-talking heroes for hire.

HARDBOILED SPACE DETECTIVES!
What's the latest case? (Roll 1d8 against the following tables to generate it.)

WHO'S THE CLIENT?
1. A grieving Martian Widow
2. A smarmy Venusian businessman
3. A mysterious person in a body- and face-concealing environmental suit.
4. A robot that has gained sentience.
5. An immigrant from the Alpha Centauri system.
6. A high-powered, multi-star system law firm.

7. A government official.

8. An exiled noble from 1. Asgaard, 2. Atlantis, 3. the Catian Dominion, 4. Mars, 5. Venus, 6. an obscure, nearly forgotten Earth colony, 7. an alternate universe, 8. "Does it matter? I'm in exile, but my money's good." (If it matters, roll again on the sub-table.)

WHAT'S THE JOB?
1. Find and ID a killer the police say doesn't exist.
2. Find a missing fortune in Tasari crystals.
3. Prove an accused murderer innocent.
4. Find the missing formula for a new radiation vaccine.
5. Get the client safely to the Alpha Centauri system.

6. Infiltrate a galactic megacorp and find proof of an executive's corruption.

7. Prove that the Ansaati Grays and not the Tugahri were behind a failed abduction.
6. Locate 1. a runaway bride/groom, 2. a runaway teenager, 3. the heir to controlling interest in an intersteallar business combine, 4. a corrupt cop that's gone into hiding, 5. a witness that's gone into hiding, 6. the client's loved one whom everyone believes is dead (except the client), 7-8. the famous Mecurian Deathbat.

WHAT EXOTIC LOCATION WILL THE CASE TAKE THE DETECTIVE TO?
1. The Slave Markets of Jupiter
2. The seedy undercity of New Osaka
3. Moon Colony Theta
4. The exclusive spas at the Martian Hot Springs
5. The Radium Mines of Mercury
6. The penal colony on Jupiter Station VII

7. The fortress of the Tugahri Monarch

8. The Royal Spaceyards of Atlantis

WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON?
1-3. The client is hiring the Hardboiled Space Detectives for exactly the reason stated.
4. The client is fronting for an old enemy of the Hardboiled Space Detectives, and it's all a frame-up!
5. The client intends to murder the Space Detective and eliminate the target once it is located.

6. The client is seeking a cache of treasure and weapons of mass destruction that have remained hidden since the last war between Asgaard and Atlantis.

7. The client is hoping to restore his or her reputation and gain revenge of those who ruined it.
8. The client is a criminal mastermind seeking to eliminate 1. a rival, 2. an ex-lover, 3. the one other person who knows all about the secret criminal empire, 4. the one person who can unravel the interstellar slave trade, 5. the child that's been hidden away by the other parent, 6. a government official who took a bribe but never delivered, 7. a retired law enforcement official, 8. Roll again on "WHO'S THE CLIENT?"

RPG Adventure Seeds--US Government Shutdown!

Use this table to randomly generate how the player characters will be impacted by the US Federal Government Shutdown! (Roll 1d10.)

1. Lax security at Area 51 allows 1d4+2 alien captives to escape, and they come to the PCs for help.
2. North Korean operatives bribe cash-hungry non-essential DoD employees for access to a secret base and take it over.
3. The true nature of the "11 Secret Herbs and Spices" will be revealed when a cash-hungry CIA contractor goes to sell it--unless the PCs stop him!
4. Nicholas Cage resumes his quest to discover secrets hidden within US historical landmarks... and he invites the PCs along to take advantage of the lax security.
5. Nancy Pelosi's true nature as a Reptilian space alien will be revealed... unless the PCs can get her to a special hospital where she can receive treatment for an illnes unique to her species. The medication shipments were delayed due to the postal service shutting down.
6. The Martians resume their stealth invasion.
7. The Secret Werewolf Army move to take over Yosimite National Park.
8. Donald Trump's hair (an alien symbiote) gets tired of the chaos, and it has him declare Martial Law. The campaign transitions into a "Cyberpunk 2020"-type setting.

9. The sonic waves that were keeping Godzilla, Mothra, and Monster dormant in various locations around the world cease when they are shut down due to lack of operators. The monsters begin rampaging!

10. The ectoplasmic containment unit hidden in a disused subway tunnel under Manhattan fails due to lack of maintainace. The thousands of ghosts and evil spirits that have been trapped their over the decades of the secret anti-ghost program are unleashed upon the unsuspecting city.

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It's our first release of 2018!

Nothing can throw a campaign off-kilter quicker than a TPK... and that's where the latest release from us here at NUELOW Games comes in!

Cover art by Dick Giordano

Hard to Kill: Feats and Talents for the d20 System provides character abilities and mechanics that will allow PCs to stare Death in the face and laugh. Even if Death shoves that laughter right back down their throats and causes them to explode in a fine mist of gore and bone shards, this booklet provides the means for the character with the right combination of feat to literally come back from the dead.

Hard to Kill contains five feats, four talent trees, and an add-on to the character generation system that gives a newly created character a random reason for why enemies shout, "Why won't you die?!" Although designed with d20 Modern in mind, this material is easily adapted to popular d20 System variants such as StarFinder, or any d20 System variant that uses feats and talents.

As an added bonus for those of you who have been following our comics/rpg hybrid products. Hard to Kill also expands further on the d20 Supers System that was introduced in Madden's Boys. (The material stands perfectly fine on its own, like the various game sections in the aforementioned comics/rpg hybrid books.)

Hard to Kill is available for download at RPGNow and DriveThruRPG.

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Speaking of our comics/rpg hybrid releases, in Ghost Woman... Also Featuring Spooks, we included d20 System rules for keeping a player character active and in the hands of its player even AFTER death. Such a character isn't just hard to kill... because how do you kill someone who's already dead? (The rules also include a way to give a "second life" to a major villain who falls at the hands of the player characters.

Who Killed Buck Robin?

Here's a randomly generated murder mystery adventure outline for your RPG campaigns set in the U.S., ranging from the 1950s to the present day!

WHO KILLED BUCK ROBIN?
Country music and rockabilly sensation Buck Robin has been found murdered in his mansion. Who did it and why? (Roll 1d20 against the tables below to find out which of the suspects did it!)

Who Did It?
1. His Alcoholic Twin Brother
2. His First Ex-Wife
3. His Second Ex-Wife
4. His Current Wife
5. His Lover
6. His Gay Lover
7. His Manager
8. His Manager's Secretary
9. His Lyricist
10. His Protege
11. The Personal Physician
12. The Butler
13. The Cook
14. The Groundskeeper
15. The Groundkeeper's Teenaged Daughter
16. The Crazed Music Critic
17. The Lawyer
18. The Guitar Manufacturer
19. Roll two more times on the table; they worked together on the murder.
20. Buck Robin isn't dead. Roll again on the table to see who he's framed for his murder. If 20 occurs again, roll two more times on the table. The first result is who was being framed, the second result is who took advantage and killed Buck Robin.

How Was He Killed?
1. Shot with a pistol
2. Shot with a rifle
3. Stabbed
4. Clubbed to death (with a weapon)
5. Beaten to death (with bare hands)
6. Pushed out a window
7. Pushed down the stairs
8. Struck with a claw hammer
9. Struck with a bass guitar
10. Struck with a mic stand
11. Garrotted with a guitar string
12. Shoved into a wood chipper
13. Drowned in the pool
14.Drowned in his bath tub
15. Car Crash
16. Burned in a fire
17. Overdose on booze and pills
18. Hanging
19. Poisoning
20. Car bomb

Why Was He Killed?
1. Jealousy
2. To prevent a political scandal
3. To prevent a sexual scandal
4. To protect a loved one
5. To avenge a loved one
6. To cover up embezzlement
7. To cover up theft of a song
8. Revenge for theft of a song
9. Revenge for broken promise
10. Sacrifice in a demonic ritual
11. The KKK wanted to make him pay
12. He discovered the killer's dark secret
13. To collect life insurance money
14. To inherit the estate
15. To stop the spread of evil magic through Buck's songs
16. For the greater good of music-loving humanity
17. Hatred
18. Self Defense
19. To cover up ANOTHER murder
20. Roll twice on the table, rerolling additional results of 20. Both reasons apply.

How is the Vacation in Mexico Going to be Ruined?

Here are adventure seeds for an RPG campaign in a modern setting.

What Ruins the Mexican Vacation?
The player characters are hoping for a nice relaxing vacation in sunny Mexico... but, being that they're player characters, things aren't going to be so relaxing. What harshes their mellow this time? (Roll a d12 against the list below.)

   1. A drug cartel decides to force them into being "mules" and won't take no for an answer.
   2. An old enemy hiding South of the Border recognizes a party member and thinks they're after him or her.
   3. An old enemy who's been hiding South of the Border recognizes the party and approaches them with a request for help against 1-3)slavers posing as 'coyotes', 4-6) a drug cartel that's trying to force him to help them by kidnapping someone he loves, 7-9) the corrupt officials that have been shielding him, but who are now involved in things so horrible he wants no part of it, 10-12)discover what is going on at a secret base in the desert and why the Native Americans living nearby are vanishing.
   4. Space aliens are using the resort the characters are staying at a front for their unholy experiments on humans.
   5. A waiter familiar with the PCs (possibly through an old enemy) approaches them asks them to rescue his sister from a nearby cult compound. The cult is being run by 1-3) rogue CIA operatives conducting mind-control experiments, 4-6) an ancient Olmec vampire, recently awakened and working on restablishing his vampiric powerbase, 7-9) space aliens, who are replacing humans with duplicates in preparation for an invasion, 10-12) a druglord who is testing a new product that has the unfortunate side effect of turning users into werewolves.

   6. Mole People begin their invasion of the surface world at the resort the PCs are saying at (use kobold stats). Naturally, they are led by a sexy human queen (or hunky human king) who takes a fancy to a party member.
   7. Cultists in nearby Mayan ruins are performing a ritual that will summon mighty demons to cleanse Central American of everyone without pure Native American blood.
   8. A friend of the party is abducted and held for ransom by 1-2) a cartel boss, 3-4) an old enemy of the party, 5-6) renegade CIA agents, 7-8) 'coyotes', 9-10) a mad scientist, 11-12) Cultists.
   9. A mad scientist is attempting to create President Trump's border wall with 1-3) strange chemicals in the water supply, 4-6) mind control rays, 7-9) a stolen alien spaceship and its energy shield techology, 10-12) summoning and enslaving the ancient Oltec gods.
   10. Renegade CIA agents want to force the party into taking down 1-3)a terrorist ring, 4-6)a drug cartel, 7-9)corrupt officials coordinating cross-border crime, 10-12)a cult that is infiltrating CIA stations throughout Central and South America.
   11. A local priest approaches the party and asks them to recover a relic that has been stolen from his church by a local drug boss.
   12. Roll two more times, re-rolling duplicate results. Both indicated things ruin the party's vacation.

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A NUELOW Christmas: Magical Mistletoe

It's the time of year when the Spirits of Christmas move across the land, randomly bestowing icons of the holidays with supernatural blessings.

IS THE MISTLETOE MAGICAL?
Roll 1d6 to determine the nature of the mistletoe hung in the doorway.

1. Not magical, but still pretty (and a pretty good excuse for smooching).
2. Vampires may not cross through the doorway in which the mistletoe hangs, they cannot touch it, and anyone on the other side is immune to their mind-effecting powers.
3-4. Unfaithful lovers feel compelled to confess their betrayal while under the mistletoe (Will save DC24 to resist).
5-6. Faithful lovers gain a +4 bonus to all saving skill checks, saving throws, and attack rolls made when fighting together or defending each other for 24 hours after kissing beneath the mistletoe.

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The text in this post is presented under the Open Game License and may be reproduced in accordance with its terms. Copyright Steve 2017. (If you found this material useful and/or entertaining, please support our efforts by buying one of our products at RPGNow or DriveThruRPG.)

A NUELOW Christmas: Day FiveRobert E Howard--A True Christmas Visionary!

Short story writer and poet Robert E. Howard is best known for creating Conan and Solomon Kane and thus laying the foundation for the Sword & Sorcery genre, but his creative vision was of a far greater scope!

In 1927, in a letter to his friend Clyde Tevis, Robert E. Howard created the Elf on the Shelf, something that would go onto becoming a pop culture Christmas sensation some 70 decades after his premature death!


THE WICKED OLD ELF (By Robert E. Howard)
There once was a wicked old elf
Who sat a girl up on a shelf,
In spite of her aunties,
He took down her panties—
But finish this rhyme for yourself.

For more poetry by Robert E. Howard (mostly of the serious variety), check out this collection from NUELOW Games.