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Universal Exploits
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Joe C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 10/20/2021 03:26:29

If Girls Gone Rogue got you hot and bothered YouYou still got some fire in your gutts? Venger created another bunch of add ons Put em all this one. This. Is another A.B posotive Source book to get the juices flowing. Seriously stop reading reviews by the darn books already. This a new level in Space Operatics RPG. Childish Adults Only ... Hey kids? Pssst!!!. Just dont tell your Mom's& Dads This game is seriously guranteed to   ROCK!!!!!! Check out the. CORE!!! Get beamed aboard.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Universal Exploits
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 04/17/2017 06:50:26

An Endzeitgest.com review

This massive supplement clocks in at 110 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page blank inside of front cover, 2 pages of editorial, 2 pages of ToC, 1 page for notes, 1 page Kort'thalis glyph, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 101 pages of content, so let's take a look!

All right, first things first: This is a book for the Alpha Blue RPG - that means it's deliberately written as an homage to 70s' and 80s' scifi-porn spoofs. The eponymous Alpha Blue would be a space-station know for its decadence, sex and drugs. It is also that book that contains the base rules for the Alpha Blue system, a variant of Venger As'Nas Satanis' rules-lite VSd6-engine. If you are offended by drawn breasts, pornographic imagery or the like, you may want to skip this. That being said, Universal Exploits is slightly less explicit in its artworks than the first expansion for Alpha Blue, Girls Gone Rogue. Personally, I think it's pretty tame and that you can see more explicit material on youtube and in your average music video, but then again, I come from a European cultural background, so I do not profess to get the whole nakedness anxiety angle. Reader discretion is advised - if you need further guidance, feel free to read my reviews for the previous two books.

All right, that out of the way, I mentioned that I think Alpha Blue works best as a change of pace, as a beer-and-pretzels-style one-shot/mini-campaign. There's a reason for that and Girls Gone Rogue made that evident: The campaign setting aspect was very much one locale; we did not get the big picture, the overall context, which made Girld Gone Rogue feel a bit more haphazard and slightly like it was floating in space. Well, Universal Exploits would be the book that provides the context, that shows us the big picture. It is, in short the world- (or rather: Galaxy) book.

After a brief introductory story, we dive right in - namely into a variant expansion for ship to ship combat's table, which notoriously could prove extremely lethal...and not fun in any prolonged campaign. This would also be an indicator of the things to come - we begin with Venger's signature wealth of tables upon tables...and variant rules, like carrying over excess damage to other targets. There also would be a mechanic to get advantage on attributes...but those with two strong suits also suffer disadvantage on one, so choose wisely! Simple unarmed strike rules can also be found here, as can rules for domain management and clones - and yes, the latter touches upon the chance of psychotic clones, how to condition them, etc. - rules and flavor are entwined here and a massive table allows you to determine previous romantic/sexual relationships with given NPCs.

As you've noticed, there is some setting information in these flavor aspects; which brings me to a slight criticism: The rules-relevant unarmed strike, etc.-rules are mixed in between e.g. tables to roll xenophobia, hilarious and flavorful alien languages, where one's planet is in the context of the universe, travel time, cryosleep, rules for the GM to randomly determine a location for PCs or NPCs, tables to handle cockblocking, passenger-and agent-generators and the like. In short: I wish we got the rules first, the flavor later - the structure here can be a bit confusing if you need to look something up. Granted, with the system's simplicity, that won't happen often, but yeah.

Rules for career benefits, telepathy and drugs (including optional withdrawal) are generally concise - telepaths wear the signature gloves we know from many a science-fiction and generally will have either a faction allegiance...or the big guys will start looking for them. The multicultural cesspool Revan 111 features a massive table of rumors and secrets of 100 entries that can easily be used in other locations and alien cultural bias is similarly covered. 100 entries for the after-party range from the weird to the raunchy. Let me quote the book: "A corndog is being used as a dildo on an Orion slave girl in full view of the party's attendees. The one holding the corndog looks like a tall hairy beast with pointy ears and a small abdominal creature growing out of him. The walking shag-carpet is wearing an orange leisure suit."

That entry is basically the tone in a nutshell. 100 religious practices for the often problematic space gods, 100 lesser (i.e. not sex) desires, 100 aspects of an alien world - there are a ton of details to be found within these pages.

After this massive section, we move on to some advice regarding the running of adventures and how to make them yourself before we take a look at one of the central antagonists of the setting: The Federation. Corrupt, bloated and mired in bureaucracy, it enriches the rich and ruthlessly exploits the masses...for spacers are belonging to the very much dwindled middle class that is on the verge of extinction; they are basically the wild-card in the class struggle. Universal Exploits, the eponymous organization, would be basically an organization that hands spacers assignments - think of it as somewhat like Cowboy Bebop's headhunter news, only that it doesn't broadcast assignments widely and instead provides them to spacers. There are some pros and cons for joining UX, but if you want steady employment, they are the place to go in the final frontier. Thus, we begin the module-section of this book with a massive read-aloud box and the PCs signing up.

And here begins the adventure component of the book. Potential players should jump to the conclusion - SPOILERS abound!

...

..

.

All right, only Space DMs around? Great! So, the first thing you need to know is that you won't get an encounter-by-encounter write-up, no read-aloud texts or the like - the adventure presented is pretty much a skeletal structure, that the SDM has to flesh out. If you want go-play modules, you won't find them here. If, however, you're looking for interesting story-lines to flesh out, then this book delivers. It should be noted that the structure is a bit strange - e.g. the "Rebels without a Cause"-sequence has the same header as an adventure and they flow into one another. So, what are the storylines about? The first module centers around shipments of the Purple Prizm, a cult drink that acts as aphrodisiac and has religious significance for some alien cultures. Shipments have been recently intercepted and the trail leads towards the Vertuda triangle, where the PCs can meet Aleister Franken; meet a reptilian Zedi and battle mad metal militia - yep, stats included. But the PCs will sooner or later catch up with sunbelt distribution and there find a hostile starship and the true masterminds behind the brewing conflict between the species reliant on Purple Prizm.

The second adventure, "Origins of the Mauve Council", also features Purple Prizm - the Kyntari generate a distilled, more potent version...which can make the Mauve Council change the very rules of the universe. The Kyntari have determined that New Earth needs to be wiped, but the PCs should save the one worthy being...but alas, the PCs will be caught and need to break free. "The PCs will have to use their imaginations in order to free themselves." That's the guidance you'll get. I'm not complaining, mind you - but I think it's important to know how the material is presented to avoid disappointment. On the plus-side: Have I mentioned fighting space ninjas?

The next of the scenarios deals with a planned supermerger of World Space Burgers and Star Cola: Taste the Next Generation! - both companies having addictive flavor profiles. The federation has its own nasty division, intergalactic comestibles has its own nasty research that is threatening to really wreck citizens and the companies - millions of tax-payer bucks make for a huge advantage. The PCs are tasked to wipe this secret division from the face of the universe - and to do so, they'll have to go through a vessel and find the base. Neither vessel or base are depicted or elaborated upon.

Pussy-Chasers: The legend of Oral deals with a strange sex-poor universe and the task of finding Malachite's gate - in the sex-rich universe beyond, there is the mythic blade called Kort'thalis, a ridiculously powerful weapon that may well change the very universe.

Beyond these adventure sketches, the pdf also contains set-pieces - these include a red-hologram district and Grabba the Butt's pleasure palace. Beyond these a quick chart for determining NPC possessions and land rush tables complement the content section of the pdf.

We also receive a nice two-page Alpha Blue character-sheet, once in color and once in b/w. in the tradition with the books in this series, we get amazing player-friendly blue-print-style maps of space ships, penned by Glynn Seal: Exploit class, milkshake class, feral class and huntsman class...and Grabba's massive pleasure palace also gets an amazing, detailed map, ending the book on a high note.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are very good, I noticed no grievous glitches in either criteria. The rules-language is much more precise than in Girls Gone Rogue. Kudos! Layout adheres to the cool and distinct style in 2-column b/w we know from the Alpha Blue books. The b/w-artworks are diverse and well-made, covering various distinct styles, ranging from massive 1-page b/w-spoofs on scifi material or three-breasted, tentacle-armed strippers. The electronic version comes fully bookmarked with nested bookmarks. The electronic version comes with a massive 600 dpi high-res jpeg for the Grabba pleasure palace, milkshake and exploit ship, but strange, not the other two - which is a bit odd to me. Two of the artworks inside have color highlights and the maps similarly have a gorgeous, used look in color, though the softcover print version is b/w. It should be noted that the pdf clocks in at a massive 100 MBs, so if you're using electronic devices with a very limited HD, that's something to bear in mind.

Venger As'Nas Satanis Universal Exploits is the book for Alpha Blue that makes it work as more than just a brief sojourn. Now, the weakest part of the book would be the adventure sketches - while stronger than in GGR, they still could all use more details and require some serious improvisation and work by the SDM to run. Don't get me wrong: Idea-wise, they all are winners, brimming with imagination. At the same time, I wished that the book had taken the time to completely structure at least one of the sketches presented. This structure-issue also hounds the lack of distinction between dressing and crunch.

That being said, Universal Exploits should still be considered to be a resounding success. Why? It contextualizes Alpha Blue in a concise and interesting meta-setting and actually manages to make that setting feel compelling and interesting. Though setting does not really properly describe it. You see, this book does not describe: "This is how the federation works, planets X, Y and Z can be found there, here are religions 1, 2 and 3." Instead, it establishes the basic concepts, the leitmotifs, the theme of this massive universe. Basically, you get all the tools to make this universe your own and emphasize/de-emphasize the components that intrigue you and your group.

In short, the book allows you to run campaigns in the universe; not one-shots, not one-week-end campaigns, but proper campaigns. While GGR is an optional "more of the same"-expansion, Universal Exploits should be considered to be a must-have expansion for Alpha Blue. From the better ship combat tables to the added details, this makes the system and setting just work better in every conceivable way.

Now, this does not change that this is a winking parody of space, a celebration of 70s/80s scifi-porn spoofs. It's still somewhat puerile, it's highly referential in its humor and it's not a system that will make you play highly tactical, strategic space battles. It's a beer-and-pretzels rules-lite game and Universal Exploits does not change that.

However, it does allow those groups that WANT to play a longer campaign with the system, that love the tone, play longer, more involved stories. This book generates the tools for the SDM to make the universe make sense.

How to rate this, then? Well, if you're not interested by Alpha Blue, then this book will not change that. If you liked Alpha Blue and wanted to see the bigger picture, if you wanted the toolkit for the overall picture, the campaign setting toolkit, if you will, then this is the must-have expansion. Design-wise, it is more precise than GGR, but still inherits some minor weaknesses in the structure of the presentation of the material. My final verdict will hence clock in at 4.5 stars, rounded up due to in dubio pro reo.

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Universal Exploits
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Timothy B. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/13/2016 14:43:32

Universal Exploits is a 110 page book for Alpha Blue. UE tackles the universe beyond the space station Alpha Blue. Like Girls Gone Rogue it is an expansion, but it also setting material. The universe is a big and dangerous place. Well, dangerous in the same universe that has a space brothel/space station orgy happening. Or maybe that is just a result of some the horrors going on around them. There are also some short adventures/scenarios you can use. Again, these are presented system-neutral/system-lite so they can be used for just about anything.
In truth this reads a bit like a collection of Traveller articles, that is if Traveller went really gonzo. Or, chances are, like many used to run Traveller anyway. The real treat comes in the form of the special Alpha Blue Character sheets. Honestly every game should have great looking Character sheets and these are among my favorites.

So. Who should buy these books? Well it's pretty simple. If you have Alpha Blue or like playing it then these are "must buys". If you play some other Sci-Fi game and want to add a little "Sleaze" to your "Scum and Villainy" then these are must buys only behind Alpha Blue itself. If you like lots of pop-culture references, especially ones that are more R or even NC rated, then this is also for you. But if that is the case you already know this.

Who should avoid this? Well normally when reviewing a product I stay away from these sorts of discussions. But in this case, I will say those who are easily offended should not bother. More to the point with me though is don't go into these books expecting to find a lot of material you can use for other, non-sci-fi, games. Can I use it with say a Modern game? Sure, but there are a lot of conversions I'd have to do. Not game mechanics, but style.

Both books are a lot of fun and I am certain I can still find a lot to use here even in my PG and PG-13 rated games.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Universal Exploits
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Eric F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/17/2016 08:08:02

Well let's start at the top, Universal Exploits was clocked in at sixty pages on Venger Satanis's Kickstarter. Supposedly the Universal Exploits was going to be sixty pages;" So, what's going to be in the book? Around 60 pages (8.5" x 11") of new adventure scenarios, technology, weapons, drugs, NPCs, adversaries, monsters, galactic factions, Federation sub-committees, a section on taxes, tariffs, and free trade, time travel, random tables galore, alternatives to temporary Health after sexual encounters, alien cities, and even more fleshy envelope-pushing artwork!" Well what we've gotten is a one hundred and nine page book with lots of random PC tables, fully fleshed out adventures, wall to wall NPC's, a great Alpha Blue character sheet, & fully detailed star ship plans by Monkey Blood Designs. Oh and about that fleshy envelop pushing artwork its there. This book is possibly going to be one of those essential books & tool kits for the Alpha Blue rpg system. Universal Exploits takes the Venger Satanis random tables as optional PC generation tool & turns it up eleven. Right at the beginning of the book we get alternative ship to ship combat rules, optional damage rules, the some tables on cyro sleep suspension effects,xenophobia table for when PC's and PC's meet, optional unarmed combat charts, optional PC stacking for abilities, instant background tables, optional campaign set up for harder or softer space opera campaign setting tables, reasons for joining the revolution for PC background, prior PC/NPC relationships tables, alien language table, PC planet origin table, random traveling times, the blue effect ( Alpha Blue style warping of the mind), random horror in space table element table, and then things start to get busy. We get a brand new PC type in the form of clones. Yes that's right clones because back in the 1970's cloning was all of the rage & it gives players another option to bring back or resurrect dead or destroyed biological characters. This is one of those science fiction tropes with lots of implications for Alpha Blue campaign play. And then tucked right into the middle of lots of T&A artwork is a set of serious interstellar domain management rules that actually seem to work along with sources of power. Then there's a straight up piece of porn artwork on the same page that has to remind us that this is an over top sleazy Seventies porn parody rpg. We get random leadership tables followed by rules for cock blocking; yes I said rules for cock blocking. Given the 'over the top' sex parody nature of Alpha Blue these are not a surprising addition to the game. Then random detention block NPC tables, along with what Federation officer is looking for tables, and all of this is rounded out by random cargoes & side jobs for your spacers. We get random 'job benefits and perks' tables of course these include sexual encounters cue Eighties porno music here. Telepathic rules which adds that bit of extra to the Alpha Blue game ( illustration of a girl wanking here). Then we get into some solid drug and a random over dose table which for an Seventies & Eighties porn parody sci fi game is a must. There's some artwork which breaks up the sections in Universal Exploits & its not a bad way of handling the various sections of the book. Just in case I haven't mentioned it, Universal Exploits actually has a fully laid out index that cross references everything in the book and this is one busy book as we shall see. We get an adventure/NPC location that we can drop right into the middle of an Alpha Blue game & its a place that's needed;"Revan 111 is a space station devoted to peace in the Ustrata galaxy, though it occasionally wanders outside Ustrata into neighboring galaxies. Hanging at the central corridor between a wild assortment of alien factions on a thousand different worlds, Revan 111 is a sanctuary, safe haven, and last refuge for the dispossessed, disenfranchised, revolutionaries, activists, libertarians, ordinary space scum, and all those beings with a reason to hide." You see Revan 111 is a place with secrets, NPC's with hidden agendas, and a space station swimming with all kinds of trouble waiting to grab your PC's by the throat and haul them into a side adventure they never wanted. A few random tables breath life into Revan 111 & its a solid adventure location to drag & drop into a game of Alpha Blue. We get two tables that work really well for Alpha Blue for NPC's one is the cultural bias table and the after party table. The after party table is perfect for PC's who stumble into a party they shouldn't have. Then we get into random tables for generating religious orders and NPC figures. Followed by more random motives for NPC spacers. A brief outline and structure rules for running & constructing adventures in Alpha Blue is next which slides into the Universal Exploits adventure set up and the big bad 'the Federation' According to Universal Exploits;"In this book, Universal Exploits, one enemy takes center stage - the Federation! It's an oppressive, corrupt regime, ever growing and always grasping for more and more power. The Federation is a foreboding oligarchy consisting of the ultra-wealthy, bureaucrats, noble houses, assassination guilds, telepaths, zedis, and the military industrial complex. The Federation crushes resistance wherever it sees it… and the Federation believes the seeds of revolution are everywhere" A basic take off on 'Star Wars Empire' with shades of other space opera governments. The whole adventure centers around :"a shipment of Purple Prizm 36 hour ago, but it never arrived. That wouldn't be so bad, but the previous shipment also never made it to the Q'tha homeworld. Neither of them is sure who was supposed to deliver the refreshing and hallucinogenic grape drink, except for the company's name - Sun Belt Distribution." Scattered through out the Universal Exploits book are advertisements for Purple Prizm with really pornographic European style artwork. Its a similar style to many of the West End Star Wars rpg adverts from way back in the 90's but much raunchier. I don't want to give the whole thing away but Universal Exploits parodies the Cola Wars from the Eighties, lots of sci fi show references and in jokes, and generally doesn't take itself seriously for an instant. This isn't a bad thing because of the very nature of the Alpha Blue Game. Then finally we get another adventure in the form of Pussy Chasers The Legend of Oral along with some other adventure locations. Even as part of the Universal Exploits adventure we get another adventure setting location in the form of the 'Red Hologram District'; "a red hologram district (or RHD) can expect an eyeful of prostitutes, pimps, drug pushers, thugs, gangsters, dope fiends, tattoo artists, strippers, contraband merchants, and slimy run-down theaters with sticky floors that play exploitation and grindhouse favorites such as Vanessa Swallows the Star Beast Whole, Space Dogs from Reservoir Gore, and Anal Blasters come for Princess Sex Candy part 5!" And yes there is another table for what happens in the red hologram district'. There are several parodies elements mixed into this adventure referencing Star Trek, Star Wars, Flash Gordon, the Buck Rogers television show along with Grabba the Butt's Pleasure Palace. This is an adventure location unto itself with random motives tables for Grabba & random NPC generation tables. Finally there are a series of Land Rush tables, these are actually really useful. According to Venger; "This is a bit of an afterthought, but I wanted to include a series of random tables for determining the nature of certain territories - planets, planetoids, moons, asteroids, space islands, and even entire systems." Well here's the thing these land rush tables slide right into the domain rules for Alpha Blue. They add a nice little bit of useful DM material to Alpha Blue and another dimension to the game. Finally we get maps and diagrams by Glynn Seal of Monkey Blood Designs of the UX Star Bird, The Milk Shake class star ship( great PC ship btw), and Grabba's Palace. Universal Exploits is an essential book about as essential to the Alpha Blue rpg system as the Girls Gone Rogue book perhaps more so. This is a very busy rpg book that crams lots and lots options into itself. This book is part rules option book for Alpha Blue, adventure resource book, random table book, finally adventure book with several optional adventure locations, and the added resource of domain level play. The fact is that a professional editor could have paired this book in places & took a far more steady hand with it. Universal Exploits is perhaps one of the best books I've seen the Alpha Blue but it could have been even more fantastic. The problem is that the book is too busy & it tries to cover far too much material in the Alpha Blue Rpg system. Even with that said I'd say I think that Venger Satanis gives his buyers, audience & backers their money's worth! Universal Exploits has tons of material to work with for adventure construction for Alpha Blue and actual on the table play. There's enough material in 'Universal Exploits' that could easily be ported over into any OSR style science fiction game for even more sci fi fantasy awesomeness. Four out of five stars for the Universal Exploits book! Grab this one when it comes out!

Eric Fabiaschi Swords & Stitchery Blog Want to see more reviews & support for this as well as other OSR products? Subscribe to http://swordsandstitchery.blogspot.com



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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