Dark Stars is a 19 page pdf guide to running sci-fi horror games in the style of Aliens, Event Horizon, and H.P. Lovecraft. It includes four archetypal Alien Threats, a trio of Outer Gods, and a ready-to-run scenario called "Project Carcosa."

Also featured is a game mechanic that encourages players to inflict terrible suffering on their own characters in order to buy off failed rolls. It's meant to be added onto low-success games like Call of Cthulhu or Unknown Armies, but you can also run it as a stand-alone system. That's what I did for my playtest game.

The system dispenses with Hit Points and lets players determine their own injuries in order to pay for their successes. The same thing works for stress checks and insanity. We kept track on a white board and, by the end, we had some frighteningly long lists! We had characters end up blind, crippled, and batshit crazy.

The scenario has the players escorting the CEO of Sign Corp to a remote research station on the edge of the solar system. By the time they get there, the place is infested with monstrous aliens and homicidal lunatics. It ran five hours, start to finish, and ended with all the PCs turning on each other in a desperate bid for escape. A great time was had by all.

The players were split on one thing, though. In the stand-alone version of the system, every success costs at least one Sacrifice. This means that you can never have a "clean" success. However, some players enjoyed the fact that you knew things were always going to get worse. (If you add the mechanic onto another system, this won't be an issue.)

On the matter of rules, the game mechanic allows players to buy off failed rolls by making Sacrifices. These can be anything from injuries to psychotic episodes to weapon malfunctions. They can add successes, reduce target numbers, or provide whatever other kind of bonuses work in your system.

The Alien Threats are your Hollywood and TV type monsters...

- Hunters are your feral, nomadic, cyborg types. They track dangerous game across the universe, cloak themselves from mortal sight, and make blood sacrifices to Yog-Sothoth.

- Gatherers are liquid shape-shifters who harvest human organs as spare parts. (There's a preview on the website.)

- Breeders are your typical alien parasites. They gestate inside human hosts, consume their organs, then tear their way out to impregnate new victims!

- Tormentors, as seen on many Star Trek episodes, are those "superior" species who toy with human subjects out of curiosity, to prepare for invasion, or to see if we're worthy.

The Lovecraftian section covers...

- The Mi-Go, from brain cylinders to their city on Pluto.

- Azathoth as Idiot God, origin of the universe, and secret to zero-point energy.

- Yog-Sothoth as the Key to the Gate; he demands blood sacrifices from anyone who wishes to travel faster than light.

- Shub-Niggurath as the principle of self-organization that gives rise to galaxies, planets, and DNA.

As with all Bayn.org products, there's no interior art and very little in the way of layout. That's why I'm giving myself a 2 for style.

I had a blast running the scenario, really enjoyed the new system, and keep thinking of other adventures I could run with the various Aliens and Outer Gods. That's why I'm giving it a 4 for substance.

http://www.Bayn.org/games/dark-stars.html

[Edited to add author's follow-up comments]

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