Dark Star Adventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian breaks down the psychic class from Stars Without Number, using the firefight from "Boom! Biosionics!" as a case study. He covers all six psychic disciplines, the effort and torching system, the mortally wounded window, and system strain.

He covers:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:51) - The psychic class
• (02:35) - The six disciplines
• (04:21) - Effort and torching
• (05:39) - Healing
• (06:35) - Mortally wounded
• (08:31) - System strain
• (09:52) - Outro

SWN Rules Explained drops every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind Dark Star Adventurecast episodes.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

The crew reaches the basement of Exosite 34b, and finds something they weren't prepared for.

Two days from now, Brian drops his SWN Rules Explained on how psionic powers work, don't miss it!

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

This Star Master Log was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Jeff breaks down Episode 23, "Pick Up the Box": the moment Haleyy commands an unhallowed for the first time, what the gap between untethered and unhallowed actually means in lore, and what the crew paid for by taking their eye off Strake.

He covers:

• (00:26) - Introduction: "Pick Up the Box"
• (02:59) - Engine Room: Building lore in sweeping strokes, letting emergent OSR play surface the details, and why pivotal moments land harder when the vocabulary was already seeded
• (09:49) - Deep Dive: What unhallowed actually looks like up close: Froggy carrying boxes with tears on his face, and the capitalist logic of turning people into labor
• (13:57) - Fog of War: Strake came back more dangerous than ever, and the crew only has themselves to blame
• (17:55) - One Question: Who are these characters, 23 episodes in? A crew-by-crew rundown of who the players are and where they came from
• (21:40) - Star Master Spec: Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie: suppressed consciousness, bodies used as tools, and why Jeff couldn't stop thinking about it during the recording

New Star Master's Logs drop every other Tuesday, bridging the gap between our main adventure episodes.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian breaks down the warrior class from Stars Without Number, using Haleyy and Robert's infiltration of the exocyte in "Pick Up the Box" as a case study. He covers the class's attack bonus, hit point advantages, and guaranteed hit ability, then digs into how burst fire stacks with the gunslinger focus and why the unarmed combatant focus makes Haleyy's bare fists outpace a burst-fire combat rifle.

He covers:

• (00:00) Introduction
• (00:45) Episode overview: "Pick Up the Box"
• (01:28) The Warrior Class
• (03:20) The Warrior's Auto-Hit Ability
• (05:16) Burst Fire and the Gunslinger Focus
• (06:48) The Unarmed Combatant Focus
• (08:19) Shock Damage

SWN Rules Explained drops every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind Dark Star Adventurecast episodes.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

The crew hits the Sibylen exosite to rescue Froggy, Vera, and the other auction survivors from the Void Cultists. What they find inside is worse than expected.

Two days from now, Brian drops his SWN Rules Explained on the warrior class, don't miss it!

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

This Star Master Log was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Jeff breaks down Haleyy's two moments from the session, the same character from opposite ends, then gets into what a failed roll actually owes the players. He also opens up the Void Cult lore on Unhallowed vs. Untethered, and answers the ship scale question that's been quietly wrong for 22 episodes.

He covers:

• (00:00) Introduction: "Good Job, You Monster - Auction, Part 2"
• (01:30) Fog of War: Haleyy's 1Y/2Y split surfaces twice in one session, from opposite ends
• (05:45) Engine Room: When a failed roll just stops the story vs. when it moves things forward
• (10:59) Deep Dive: The difference between Unhallowed and Untethered, and what it means for Haleyy
• (16:18) One Question: How big is the Scapegoat, really?
• (25:30) Star Master Spec: Firefly, "Out of Gas"; a ship episode about what a ship means to the crew that built their lives around it

New Star Master's Logs drop every other Tuesday, bridging the gap between our main adventure episodes.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian breaks down starship combat in Stars Without Number, using a scene from Episode 22 as a case study.

In this episode:

• How starship combat rounds work in Stars Without Number -- and why they last 15 minutes instead of seconds
• The five crew departments (bridge, gunnery, comms, engineering, captain) and what each one does
• Command points: the core resource that drives the action economy and what happens when they run out
• Ship crises: how any player can declare one, what the GM rolls, and how to scale difficulty based on the plan
• A cargo hold breach from Episode 1 that became lasting ship canon -- still referenced 20+ episodes later

New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the Stars Without Number adventure.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This episode was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Locked inside their own ship by an Omnitek admin override, the crew has one option left: cut their way out. The ship-to-ship combat that follows happens on the ground, fifty meters apart, with no room to maneuver and nowhere to run.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

Meet the Crew:

• Jeff as Star Master
• Brian as Captain Thorne
• Stephanie as the warrior Haleyy
• Doja as the wildcard pilot Robert
• Scott as the transhuman hacker Felix

Special thanks to Brad and Holly, our Scapegoat Syndicate members!

They're keeping the lights on, and the airlocks sealed.

This Star Master Log was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Jeff breaks down "Welcome to Your Prison," the first episode of the auction arc, covering the table moment seven sessions in the making when Thorne cited corporate policy to get out of handcuffs, and why Strake's most effective weapon was never his soldiers.

He covers:

• (00:00) - Introduction: "Welcome to Your Prison - Auction, Part 1"
• (01:02) - The Crew Logs: Encrypted reports from the players
• (04:34) - Fog of War: How Brian set up Policy 872.3 Section C seven sessions ago and waited for exactly the right moment
• (08:50) - Engine Room: Why Strake's most dangerous tool is a Virodyne admin key, not a gun
• (13:50) - Deep Dive: The Auctioneers Guild, the sector-wide neutral body no corporation can destroy because they all need it too much
• (20:14) - Subspace Signals: How do you keep players invested in a long-running mystery over dozens of sessions?
• (25:14) - Star Master Spec: Leverage (2008-2012), a heist show built around a misfit crew where every plan falls apart
• (28:50) - Next Episode Preview

New Star Master's Logs drop every other Tuesday, bridging the gap between our main adventure episodes.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast

This rules breakdown was released two weeks early for patrons. To skip the wait on every episode, Star Master Log, and rules breakdown, join us at https://www.patreon.com/DarkStarAdventurecast

Brian (Thorne's player and assistant star master) breaks down the Expert class from Stars Without Number, using scenes from "Welcome to Your Prison" as a case study.

• Expert class vs. Warrior: how they're built differently and what the Specialist focus actually does
• Hacking / Program skill: how difficulty and time requirements work, and what line shunts are for
• NPC reaction rolls: when to roll them and how they can change a scene

New SWN Rules Explained episodes drop every other Thursday, breaking down the mechanics behind the adventure.

Buy us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/darkstaradventurecast