Monday, March 31, 2014

Trove of retro scifi illustrations!


Looking for some gonzo space art to inspire your players at your next game? Those crafty devils over at Dark Roasted Blend have posted a space cruiser-worth of incredible covers of 50s British pulp adventure stories! This is just a sample:




If you're Pintrested, I've posted them on the Exonauts Retro SciFi board for easy sharing.

Enjoy!

Thursday, March 27, 2014

VIDEO: Story hints abound in latest Jupiter Ascending trailer



This follow-up to the first trailer aims to make up some ground in giving us some hints about plots and characters. Honestly, this should have been the first one. I think space opera is a genre that needs more story introduction than most. (I'd lump John Carter in there as well--the marketing for that film did it no favors.)

The new JA trailer is lush with incredible visuals--like a sleek version of Star Wars or a space-trippy version of Shadowrun. The Wachowskis are never ones ones to disappoint when it comes to eye candy. But I'm also looking forward to learning more about the story, including the (apparently) massive spacefaring civilization that exists around the planet Jupiter. And what's this "industry" that Earth is a part of? (Please, please don't let it be growing humans as batteries!!)

And was that Sean Bean? Space Ned Stark might be worth the price of admission alone!

I will say that I'm totally unimpressed with the posters though. I have zero photoshop skills and these look like they were rushed:



Here's hoping that the movie outshines its (up until now) awkward marketing sprint. Still, lots of well-rendered high-tech gadgets, fantastic art direction, and beautifully conceived space scenes are helping to give it some legs!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

First Ringed Asteroid Discovered!



NASA announced today an intrasolar oddity--a Centaur astroid called Charilko looks to be the first ever ringed asteroid system. The rings are likely made up of ice drummed up from another object impacting the asteroid, which sits between Saturn and Uranus.

From Wired:
At 155 miles across, or about the length of Massachusetts, Chariklo is the largest known asteroid in its neighborhood. Looking to get a better idea of its exact size and shape, astronomers trained their telescopes on the giant space rock as it passed in front on a distant star in June 2013. As Chariklo performed its eclipse, researchers noticed something odd: The star’s light flickered just a bit immediately before and after Chariklo’s pass.

The reason for this darkening was the asteroid’s two dense rings, which had briefly blocked the starlight. The thicker inner ring is about four miles wide, while the thinner outer ring is a little less than two miles. Spectroscopic analysis of the starlight also revealed that the rings are composed partially of water ice.
Pretty sweet discovery--and it doesn't sound like astronomers had expected it!

Click to enlarge:


Arist conception by artist Lucie Maquet

More coverage:

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

VIDEO: Superman straps on a GoPro camera!



The guys who made this are geniuses. Clearly, they had a lot of fun!



Here's a behind-the-scenes look at how they made it:


Sunday, March 9, 2014

COSMOS premieres TONIGHT!



With Neil DeGrasse Tyson! At 8:00 p.m. Central! That's in, like, A MINUTE!


Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Get X-plorers RPG for a STEAL during GM's Day sale!


RPGNow is having their annual GM's Day sale right now and you can pick up X-plorers full game booklet at a super reasonable price: $12.96 for the softcover and PDF.

You can also pick up several supplements, including one on robots, the Cleopatra Station adventure module, and the super helpful players guide in digest form. And character sheets are free! There's also a free no-art version.

If you've been procrastinating on picking up X-plorers, now is a great time to get it cheap!