So now you can play the game with Max Von Sydow in his native tongue.

Someone please play the game with Max Von Sydow.

Stop me if you heard this, an astrobraqueur, raumräuber, and astroräuber walk into a bank . . .

After only two weeks of existing, What is a Roleplaying Game? has already been translated into French, German and German! And from what I hear, there’s a Portuguese version on its merry way.

And while we’re on the topic, there seems to be something of a Hungarian translation or explanation of “The City of Fire & Coin” out there. Or at least that’s what I’ve been able to suss out using Google Translate.

Every day there are less and less excuses for you not to get your game on with that great aunt of yours!

Interstellar Delivery

Good news for non-Americans looking to get a hold of Vast & Starlit!

The entire Vast & Starlit library is light enough that I can ship it anywhere in the world for a little over a dollar. So forget the search for International Reply Coupons. Here’s the new plan:

If you want Vast & Starlit shipped anywhere outside of the United States of America, you can simply send a self-addressed envelope and one extra dollar instead of the postage.

• You still need to include a dollar (or equivalent) for each book;
• You still need to include a drawing for each book;
• And this is for international customers only. If it’s shipping to the U.S. you still have to provide your own postage.*

* The whole library is less than an ounce and fits in a regular-sized envelope.

And it is free for you to use and distribute.*

Here it is in an illustrated PDF format that, when printed, should fit in your pocket, making it a game you can carry anywhere. Whip it out at a family reunion when your great aunt wants to know what those silly games you’re still playing are all about. Take it to a job interview so you can show your future employer what that “Other Interests” section of your resume is dominated with. If folded properly, it’ll even fit under the tongue, in case of capture or incarceration. Personally, I’m going to have it printed on the inside of a folded business card so I can hand it out to folks I meet who wonder what the hell it is I do.

* The Creative Common license on it says that you must attribute me when you do so and you are not allowed to sell the game, but let me tell you how you can ignore even these two little restrictions.

You cannot sell the game as is. Even if you completely redo the layout, graphic design and illustrations, you may not sell the game. You may distribute it for free, but you cannot make money off of it.

However, you may include the game as part of a larger work that you have for sale, including, but not limited to: anthologies, magazines, zines, CD-ROMs accompanying game books sold in DVD cases, in the introduction of your own roleplaying game, that sort of thing. In all these cases, you still must attribute the game to me, but you can make money off the larger work.

If you make a non-superficial change to the text—such as changing the initial situation to a bunch of friends stuck in traffic and one of them is about to give birth or change it so people are called out for doing Sneaky and Lazy things—including non-superficial changes to the answers to the question “what is a role-playing game”—such as saying it’s a game that requires dice or a GM—then you must change the attribution and may therefore distribute the game however you please, including selling it, since it is now something of your own creation.

Superficial changes, like calling the characters astrothieves instead of astrorobbers or having someone called out for doing something Difficult instead of Hard, do not qualify for this clause. You’re allowed to reword the game in this way to make it fit whatever format you choose to distribute it in. If you have a question about whether such a rewording qualifies as a non-superficial change, feel free to send me your text and I’ll let you know.

Now here’s the most important part. If you disagree with me about any of my answers to the question posed in the title, or if you have any sort of quibble with the game design itself, you must express this by making non-superficial changes to the game and text until it satisfies your concerns and then distribute that new game under your name. All other forms of criticism will, at best, be ignored.

Wonder no longer. The Vast & Starlit Tumblr is here. Creatures, spaceships, landscapes, technologies and other oddities from all over the universe delivered directly to your computer/phone/space screen! What a wonderful future we live in!

I will be at PAX East this weekend. Which means Vast & Starlit will be there as well. If you’re looking for me or the game, you will find us at the Indie Bazaar booth which historically has been with the tabletop retailers just outside the Exhibit Hall in the Tabletop Room. You’ll definitely be able to get the game at the booth, whether I’m there or not.  And there will be plenty of other fine products there looking for your remaining dollars.

If you want to guarantee meeting me, I’m also a panelist! And you’ll be able to find me at these panels: Sex and (Non)violence and An Inside Look at Indie RPGs, both of which are on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

A nano-game of interstellar crime & rebellion by Epidiah Ravachol

Vast & Starlit: The core rulebook. A universe of adventure that fits in your pocket. Just under 445 words long, and jam packed with all you need to play:

• Character creation rules;
• Rules for creating your rogue vessel;
• Aggressive GM-full, drama-forward, scene now, story framing mechanics;
• Complete rules for creating alien species, cultures and environments;
• And bold diceless resolution mechanics.

Bodies in the Dark: The sex and warfare supplement. Romance among the stars! Orbital bombardments of the moon! The longest book in the library, clocking in at just over 460 words long in two full-color pages, this tome includes:

• Rules for commanding troops and seducing lovers;
• Tension mechanics for turning up the heat on a firefight or romance;
• Add-ons to make sexier or more warlike alien species, cultures and environments;
• Mechanics for handling long military campaigns and drawn out love affairs;
• And forbidden taboos!

Stellar Atlas: A full-color map of the entire galaxy rendered in loving detail over a gorgeous two-page spread. Also included:

• Mechanics to govern interstellar travel and pursuit;
• Add-ons to customize alien species, cultures and environments to their origin in the galaxy;
• And a complete account of the Seven Wonders of the Galaxy.

Renegade’s Technical Manual: This is the one for all you savvyheads out there. Gear, gear, gear. Almost 450 words of technical know-how, this full-color manual includes:

• Rules for creating new and alien technology;
• Calibration mechanics to make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to the wacky, weird and powerful;
• Guidelines for customizing technologies to the cultures that created them;
• Customization rules for the player character’s personal gear;
• And rules for building, repairing, inventing, constructing, jury rigging, and demolition on a deadline or at the sort of leisurely pace only interstellar travel can allow.

Awesome! How do I buy this?

Well, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.

The Easy Way

You find me, at a convention or meet-up or in a coffee shop (I’m rather partial to the Brass Buckle in Greenfield, MA) and you hand me one lousy American dollar and I had you the book of your choice. We can continue handing dollars and books back and forth until you’ve had your fill or one of us runs out of dollars or books.

The Hard Way

If you don’t want to meet me face-to-face, that’s fine. I totally understand. I wouldn’t if I were you. I can still get the game to you. Here are the hoops I’m going to make you jump through:

Mail me one dollar, or whatever currently exchanges for a dollar in your country’s currency; along with a self-addressed, stamped* envelope; and a drawing for each book you wish to purchase. You may use the same self-addressed, stamped envelope for up to four books, but you need spend one dollar and one drawing per book.

The subject of your drawing will depend on which book you’re getting.

• Vast & Starlit: Send me a drawing of a spacecraft of your invention.
  
• Bodies in the Dark: Send me a drawing of two aliens fighting or making out.
• Stellar Atlas: Send me a drawing of an alien sunrise, sunset, moonrise, moonset, or any other view of the sky from an alien planet.
• Renegade’s Technical Manual: Send me a drawing of some alien piece of technology.

You don’t have to do the drawings yourself, though I wish you would. However, you must have the rights to grant me the non-exclusive rights to use the drawings to promote Vast & Starlit and use them in future Vast & Starlit related materials. Because that’s what you’re going to be doing.

Warning: I am not responsible for the condition the game reaches you in if we do this the hard way. I’m sure the post office will be as gentle as possible, but I can’t guarantee anything.

Fine, let’s do this the hard way. What’s your address?

Epidiah Ravachol
21 Forest Ave
1st Floor
Greenfield, MA 01301
USA

* International orders can ignore the stamped requirement and just send an additional dollar. More details here.

Escaped from Mercy-Class Stellar Prison V-917x aboard a craft of unknown origin, fleeing from world to world, seeking a place to hide, a place of peace, a place to call home . . .

Clocking in at just under 450 words, this full-color massive tome contains all you need to play out your space fugitive fantasies on a grand scale. Including:

• Character creation rules;
• Rules for creating your rogue vessel;
• Aggressive GM-full, drama-forward, scene now, story framing mechanics;
• Complete rules for creating alien species, cultures and environments;
• And bold diceless resolution mechanics.

An endless universe of adventure that fits in your pocket. And the price, oh the price! All you have to do is put one fat American dollar in my wallet and I’ll put one of these puppies in yours. The only catch is that you literally have to do that. The game is not available any other way.

For the most part, I try to use this blog for official announcements and the like. Occasionally I’ll chat a little about this game or that here, if it is specifically pertinent to one of my games. But on the whole, I try not to gum up the signal here with too much noise.

That, of course, is of no help to those of you who, in fact, yearn for all that delectable noise. For you proud few, I present this Quick Guide to Chatting with Eppy:

• Over on Google+ I shoot my mouth off about all sorts of random game stuff. If you do swing by there, be sure to let me know you’re interested in hearing about games, so I can put you in the proper circle. Otherwise you might just get an eyeful of lazy vegan cooking tips.
• While you’re over on Google+, check out the Design Matters community, which is not only frequented by myself, but a number of other great designers. It’s a great place to go if you a question about a specific game of mine.
• I’m not as active on Twitter as I used to be, but if you watch my feed there very closely, you’ll get the occasional pithy nugget or poop joke.
• Finally, if you ever find yourself in the Western Massachusetts area, drop me an email. Who knows, we might be able to meet up for some coffee and game talk.

Read all about it on the official Epimas website.