Blog / Spaceships and Psychics

Spaceships and Psychics is a Review Blog, plus Youtube channel, manned by a single person who goes by Valen, dedicated to Science Fiction tabletop rpgs, which has two missions: One, share the sheer breadth of different tabletop games out there, from numbers-heavy crunchier fare to short and simple storytelling games, and two, help people who are new to the medium find the right game for them and start playing. To this end, S&P's work falls into several categories.

• System Showcase: Reviews self-contained sci fi RPG books, covering their in-game setting, mechanics, dice and other requirements, and whether any additional supplements for them exist.
• Genre Bending: Reviews supplement books for games that aren't normally science fiction that introduce sci fi elements, along with system-agnostic material with sci fi elements.
• Freebie Roundup: Gathers up a handful of gamebooks or supplements that are available on a free or pay-what-you-want basis, or have a free version. Books from a roundup later get full reviews.
• Creature Feature: Zooms in on a small aspect of a previously-reviewed book, such as an NPC creature, and dives into potential possibilities for their use for GMs.
• Casting Call: Pre-made PCs and NPCs for previously-reviewed books, for readers to freely take for use in their own games.
• Specials: More general articles that include things like tabletop tips for newcomers.

Valen has also started doing text-based Actual Play episodes, which alternate between explanations of the mechanics of their chosen game, cut with prose descriptions of the unfolding story.

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Gamebooks That Have Been Reviewed

• Ironsworn: Starforged
• Abducted
• Juggernauts
• Archives of the Sky

Gaming Supplements That Have Been Reviewed

• Arcana of the Ancients (for Dungeons & Dragons)
• 3 Generations After the End (System-Agnostic)

Games and Supplements Featured in Freebie Roundups

• Abducted
• 3 Generations After the End
• Juggernauts
• Archives of the Sky
• Cepheus Engine
• Bellbot
• Kapow!

Actual Play Campaigns

• Ironsworn: Starforged

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Spaceships and Psychics contains examples of:

• Alliterative Title: Spaceships and Psychics, in a clear mimicry of Dungeons and Dragons

• A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The in-setting belief in the Ironsworn: Starforged campaign, due to humanity having barely survived a war against hostile nanomachines. AI research is illegal galaxy-wide and defying that will have the local Knight Templars sent after you.

• Badass and Child Duo: Eren Finn and Anvil in the Ironsworn: Starforged campaign. Played with, as the child in question, Anvil, is an Artificial Intelligence inside of a Cute Machine, but that doesn't stop Eren from still being such a Mama Bear that she went rogue to protect them.

• Catchphrase: Valen starts every Youtube video with "Hello hello, everyone, I'm Valen of Spaceships and Psychics and (description of what the video is going to be)" and ends it with "I'm Valen of Spaceships and Psychics signing off."

• Enforced Plug: Parodied. During the first Freebie Roundup video, Valen pauses to plug the fictional Intergalactic Titles service.
  Disclaimer: Intergalactic Titles makes no promises about the habitability of the worlds on offer, nor do they guarantee that non-Imperial worlds will recognize the titles granted through this service. No refunds.
  
• Knight Templar: The Keepers in the Ironsworn: Starforged campaign, who uphold the Convenant, a set of laws laid down when humanity came to the Forge. Break these laws, and the Keepers will come to make you pay. Even before Eren defected, however, she was subversion: She had the ability to adapt and compromise enough to work within the corrupt power structures of the settlement of Rust, which means she has allies she can go to when she breaks with the Keepers.

• Knowledge Broker: Vuldar Kai, Eren's contact that she tracks down at the start of the Ironsworn: Starforged campaign for information on how to reach the Wretched Hive deep space settlement, Vega.

• Robot Buddy: Anvil, who acts as a helpful utility bot for Eren in the Ironsworn: Starforged campaign.

• Science Fantasy: Many of the books that Valen looks into fall into this genre, from the Arcana of the Ancients supplement for Dungeons and Dragons, the system-agonstic setting of 3 Generations After The End, and the ultra-modern world full of supernatural invaders of Juggernauts.

• Shout-Out: The Intergalactic Titles skit shows an ID card with the name Mxyzptlk

• Solo Tabletop Game: The actual play sessions are played entirely solo. Ironsworn: Starforged has built-in solo support, but Valen has mentioned using third-party supplements in the future to play other games solo.