On this episode of the Lair of Secrets, we talk about the concluding season (and book) of The Expanse, geek out about Kobold Press's Tome of Beasts 3 monster compilation, conclude John Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire trilogy, and explore the new xenobiology update for Astroneer.

For our main topic, we talk about the session zero for our Scum and Villainy campaign, in which we figure out the setting, tone, characters, and potential inspiration.

The Fortress of Mental SolitudeKen dropped his daughter off at college in Vermont, then spent a few days on hisown in the Poconos. Ok, well, Hank (the yellow lab/golden retriever mix) was there too.Worked remotely for a few days, then spent a two-days reading comic books and novels and watching movies.Oh, and Ken built a snowman (Hank helped).The Concluding ExpanseKen finished all of The ExpanseSeason 6 of the streaming series, The Expanse (sadly, it’s the final season)The Expanse - season 6 finale (The final season? What?!) -- DavidLeviathan Falls (Book 9 of the novel series)Ken love mashup of hard SF (realistic spacecraft physics, political drama) with space opera (weird alien tech, reality-bending threats, and extrasolar portals).So it’s time for Ken to restart The Expanse...The Monster PenTome of Beasts III Kickstarter by Kobold Press400 new monsters.Also:16 or more monster minis,four VTT editions for digital playan exclusive engraved 7-dice seta ready-to-play Tome of Beasts III Lairs hardcoverYeah. Ken has a creature feature problem. This is known.AstronavigationAstroneer - Xenobiology updateWho doesn’t love cute alien snails?

The Collapsing Library (redux)Back to the Interdependency series by John ScalziDavid finished The Consuming Fire and The Last EmperoxThe Game RoomWe did a session zero-ish of Scum and Villainy!

Main Topic: Scum and Villainy, Session Zero

Setting: Star Wars universe vs. Scum & Villainy settingWe decided on Scum & Villainy to avoid the weight of canon.Tone: Light-hearted vs. grim dark.We decided on light-hearted.It will likely get silly at some points given when we are going to playPossible inspiration:Guardians of the GalaxyStar Wars: SoloSpider-man: Into the Spider-verseIce Pirates (ok, maybe not Ice Pirates)Ship: Smugglers vs. Freedom Fighters vs. Bounty HuntersWe settled on smugglers.We’re runners, not fighters.CharactersChris - StitchKen - PilotJosh - MechanicKris - MuscleErin - ScoundrelThe CrewWe’re strange … and we like strange things.We have a stolen land rover. And the people we stole it from aren’t happy about it.We’ve also got a med lab.Next stepsa one shot game with pregen characters to get used to the rules and taking narrative control

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Cover art for the Scum & Villainy role-playing game. Credit: Evil Hat.