Ashen Stars

Last updated
Ashen Stars, role-playing game.jpg

Ashen Stars is a gritty space opera role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2011.

Contents

Description

Ashen Stars uses the GUMSHOE rules system. The characters are freelance interplanetary law enforcement and general troubleshooters, working in the remote region known as the Bleed. [1]

Publication history

Robin Laws designed Ashen Stars (2011) for Pelgrane Press's GUMSHOE system. [2] :385

The Accretion Disk supplement was published in 2015. [3] [4]

Reception

Ashen Stars was a 2011 nominee for the Origins Award for best role-playing game. [5]

Ashen Stars won the 2012 Silver Ennie Award for "Best Setting". [6]

John ONeill of Black Gate comments: "Drawing heavily upon his successful GUMSHOE mystery system, author Robin D. Laws has created an extremely appealing game of space opera procedural mysteries. In the tradition of the best hard boiled detective fiction, players are constantly scrambling for money, equipment, and respect... all of which they'll need to succeed in a war-ravaged perimeter where trust is a precious commodity, and very little is truly what it seems." [7]

Related Research Articles

<i>Call of Cthulhu</i> (role-playing game) Tabletop horror role-playing game

Call of Cthulhu is a horror fiction role-playing game based on H. P. Lovecraft's story of the same name and the associated Cthulhu Mythos. The game, often abbreviated as CoC, is published by Chaosium; it was first released in 1981 and is in its seventh edition, with licensed foreign language editions available as well. Its game system is based on Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing (BRP) with additions for the horror genre. These include special rules for sanity and luck.

<i>Dungeon Masters Guide</i> Role-playing game rulebook

The Dungeon Master's Guide is a book of rules for the fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. The Dungeon Master's Guide contains rules concerning the arbitration and administration of a game, and is intended for use by the game's Dungeon Master.

<i>Delta Green</i> Tabletop horror role-playing game and game setting

Delta Green is a contemporary era setting for the Call of Cthulhu role-playing game created by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, and John Scott Tynes, a.k.a. the Delta Green Partnership, of the Seattle gaming house Pagan Publishing. The setting first appeared in a 1992 RPG scenario and revolves around a secretive organization tasked with protecting the United States from paranormal and alien threats. Delta Green combines the classic 1920s Cthulhu Mythos of H.P. Lovecraft with modern conspiracy fiction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Keith Baker (game designer)</span> American writer and game designer

Keith Baker is a game designer and fantasy novel author. In addition to working with Wizards of the Coast on the creation of Eberron, he has also contributed material for Goodman Games, Paizo Publishing and Green Ronin Publishing. In 2014, Baker and Jennifer Ellis co-founded the indie tabletop game company Twogether Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robin Laws</span> Canadian writer and game designer (born 1964)

Robin D. Laws is a Canadian writer and game designer who lives in Toronto, Canada. He is the author of a number of novels and role-playing games as well as an anthologist.

<i>The Black Company</i> (role-playing game)

The Black Company Campaign Setting is a d20 system Fantasy Role-playing game based on the Black Company book series by Glen Cook.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenneth Hite</span> American game designer

Kenneth Hite is a writer and role-playing game designer. Hite is the author of Trail of Cthulhu and Night's Black Agents role-playing games, and lead designer of the 5th edition of Vampire: the Masquerade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pelgrane Press</span> British publisher of roleplaying games

Pelgrane Press Ltd is a British role-playing game publishing company based in London and founded in 1999. It is co-owned by Simon J Rogers and Cat Tobin. It currently produces GUMSHOE System RPGs, 13th Age, the Diana Jones award-winning Hillfolk RPG, The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game, and other related products. It publishes fiction under the Stone Skin Press imprint.

<i>Gumshoe System</i> Tabletop role-playing game

The Gumshoe System is a role-playing game system created in 2007 by Robin Laws, designed for running investigative scenarios. The premise is that investigative games are not about finding clues, they are about interpreting the clues that are found. The Gumshoe System is used in various games published by Pelgrane Press. As a result of the Hillfolk kickstarter, the SRD for the Gumshoe System has been made available for use under two open licenses: the Open Game License (OGL) and Creative Commons Attribution.

<i>Trail of Cthulhu</i>

Trail of Cthulhu is an investigative horror role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2008 in which the players' characters investigate mysterious events related to the Cthulhu Mythos. The game is a licensed product based on the horror role playing game Call of Cthulhu published by Chaosium, which is itself based on the writings of H. P. Lovecraft.

<i>13th Age</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game

13th Age is a d20 fantasy role-playing game designed by Rob Heinsoo and Jonathan Tweet, and published by Pelgrane Press. 13th Age has been well supported with over 25 supplements published since its 2013 release, the most recent in 2022.

<i>Starblazer Adventures</i> Tabletop science fiction role-playing game

Starblazer Adventures is a role-playing game published by Cubicle 7 in 2008.

<i>The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game</i> Tabletop fantasy role-playing game by Robin Laws

The Dying Earth Roleplaying Game is a tabletop role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2001.

<i>The Esoterrorists</i> Tabletop horror role-playing game by Robin Laws

The Esoterrorists is a Contemporary Occult tabletop role-playing game, written by Robin D. Laws, and published by Pelgrane Press in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gareth Hanrahan</span> Irish game designer and novelist

Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan is an Irish game designer and novelist who has worked primarily on role-playing games.

<i>Firefly Role-Playing Game</i> Science fiction tabletop role-playing game

The Firefly Role-Playing Game is a science fiction role-playing game released in 2014, written by Monica Valentinelli and set in the universe of the Joss Whedon television show Firefly. It was produced by Margaret Weis Productions, Ltd, and uses the "Cortex Action" variant of Margaret Weis Production's proprietary Cortex Plus game system.

<i>Mindjammer - The Roleplaying Game</i>

Mindjammer - The Roleplaying Game is a space opera role-playing game (RPG) created by Sarah Newton, published by Mindjammer Press in 2014, and distributed by Modiphius Entertainment.

Cathriona "Cat" Tobin is a game designer and publisher based in West Cork, Ireland. She co-owns the London-based Pelgrane Press with Simon J Rogers and is a significant contributor to the roleplaying game industry in the UK.

<i>Eternal Lies</i> Role-playing game

Eternal Lies is a 2013 role-playing game adventure published by Pelgrane Press for Trail of Cthulhu.

Swords of the Serpentine is a role-playing game published by Pelgrane Press in 2020.

References

  1. Francis, Lowell (November 7, 2011). "Tabletop Review: Ashen Stars". Diehard GameFAN 2018. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  2. Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN   978-1-907702-58-7.
  3. https://rpggeek.com/rpgitem/181794/accretion-disk
  4. https://www.blackgate.com/2015/03/08/future-treasures-accretion-disk-for-the-ashen-stars-rpg/
  5. "Ashen Stars | RPG | RPGGeek".
  6. "2012 Noms and Winners | ENnie Awards". www.ennie-awards.com. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2022.
  7. "Black Gate » Articles » New Treasures: Ashen Stars by Robin D. Laws". www.blackgate.com. Retrieved 2016-09-03.