Yes, I’m retired, and game publishing is simply a part of my 40-year gaming hobby. But it’s always encouraging to see a design get some attention. To feel I’m yet part of the worldwide community of gamers.
Bookmark the Stars! is an homage to classic space-faring sci-fi, from E. E. “Doc” Smith’s Lensman series to Asimov, Heinlein, Herbert, Niven, and others. It’s nice to see this “sourcebookmark” reach a new best-seller rank on DriveThruRPG.
The setting is designed for playing truly alien life forms from truly different environments—at conventions I’ve had players create characters ranging from highly evolved flying apes to sentient balls of stellar ejecta. I designed my own favorite character as a sort of cloudy manta-shaped creature from the upper atmosphere of a gas giant (after having read about the surprisingly diverse planetary environments that might sustain life).
Designing a spacecraft is equally as free form, with each player contributing a specialized game Trait. The aforementioned group of aliens traveled in a craft shaped something like a caltrop, with a ball at each extremity to house them. My quarters, for example, contained an atmosphere of sulfuric acid compounds, and also held the ship’s gravity lens engine (my Trait contribution).
At conventions, I’ve been running a co-op first contact scenario, using the GameMaster’s Apprentice Sci Fi deck as an oracle. At home I often use the Cut Up Solo: Triplanetary Lensman based on the first two of “Doc” Smith’s novels. (I highly recommend his entire series.)
For an RPG designed as a weekend thought experiment, the Bookmark No HP RPG is doing surprisingly well! Every setting is a labor of love, and it’s wonderful to see them get some love in return.