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Welcome to Rocket Age

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Welcome to Rocket Age, the retro-future sci-fi past. It's an age of exploration and scientific, technological wonders unlike any the Solar System has ever seen. It's a past that never was, but could have been, a Solar System that isn't, but should be. Ride that radium rocket to the edge of yesterday and blast off into tomorrow.

Rocket Age is our award winning role-playing game of radium punk sci-fi action and adventure. Set across a Solar System as seen through a retro sci-fi lens, the world of Rocket Age is filled with alien species, strange technologies, terrible foes, and heroic allies. Powered by the Vortex System, Rocket Age Classic is a fast game that blends traditional and narrative styles of play.
Rocket Age Classic uses the Vortex system,
​a traditional RPG welded to a narrative style system.
2D6 + attribute + skill
​Blast off from here into the radium punk retro future sci-fi pulpy goodness that is Rocket Age! The core book contains everything you need to get started, setting, rules, adventure hooks, and more. Grab some friends, strap on some Mark III rocket packs, and leap into adventure! Rocket Age 5e and Classic are available in PDF and POD from DriveThru RPG as well as from your favorite brick and mortar or online TTRPG vendor.

Rocket Age 5e

ROCKET AGE CLASSIC
​ Core Book

Buy Rocket Age classic
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ROCKET AGE 5e
Core Book

Buy Rocket Age 5e
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Blood Red Mars 5e and Classic 
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by Ken Spencer


Mars is a planet in turmoil. The Death of Eris wrecked the gleaming civilization of the Ancient Martians, leaving behind a shattered ecosystem and few survivors. In the millennia since, the Martians have rebuilt as best they could, building nations and struggling to survive in their post-apocalyptic homeland. Then the Earthlings came, and again war ravages the face of the Red Planet. Blood Red Mars covers the entire planet from the Communist lead revolts in the G'Hascar Triangle, through the US, British, and French holdings of the Kalond Canal Valley, and on to the fascist occupied Nazi and Italian domains. In addition to a gazetteer of the Red Planet, Blood Red Mars contains new character options, details on the governmental and non-governmental organizations on Mars, information about Martian culture and history, and a full-length episode, The Stolen Artifact.
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Blood Red Mars 5e
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Blood Red Mars Classic

Bold Brigands of the Belt 5e and Classic
by Ed Greenwood


Ed Greenwood’s Bold Brigands of the Belt for both Rocket Age Classic and 5e is a 40+ page adventure that takes you deep into the heart of the Asteroid Belt chasing after ship stealing pirates in a radium powered hex crawl! Face the terror of the void lurkers! Explore the tumbling twin potatoids! Discover the hidden base of the Bold Brigands and thwart their master plan that threatens more than just interplanetary shipping, but the entire Solar System itself!
Bold Brigands of the Belt is available in Classic and 5e in PDF and POD.
​Choose your preferred version on DTRPG.com.
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Bold Brigands

Rocket Rangers Handbook 5e and Classic
by Ken Spencer


Heads up Rangers! Don't leave Earth without this book to guide! Many of you don't look past the Oath, but pay attention to the operational schedule for a listing of all current Ranger stations and missions. Your gear might the best, but the Solar System is a dangerous place and the troubleshooting guide in Ranger Equipment and Functions is an invaluable resource. Rocket Rangers Handbook details the United States Rocket Rangers with mission profiles, campaign seeds, equipment, character options and more. Rocket Rangers, Away! 
Rocket Rangers Handbook is available in Classic and 5e in PDF and POD.
​Choose your preferred version on DTRPG.com.
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Rocket Rangers Handbook
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Tales from the Rocket Age

Tales from the Rocket Age
by Andrew Peregrine, Jim Spencer, Ken Spencer,
​and featuring Ed Greenwood


Spies, Lies and Allies by Andrew Peregrine 
Join inventor Marian Carlyle as she field tests her home built rocket ship in a race to stop a Nazi plot that threatens the peace of Earth and the Solar System as well! 

Casey Chester - Rocket Corps on Mars by James Spencer 
While in pursuit of a lost medallion, Lieutenant Casey Chester of the US Rocket Corps stumbles upon a Nazi secret, battles a fierce storm on the Great Silt Sea, and comes up against his deadliest foe yet. 

Emancipation Knights by Ken Spencer 
Ed and Frank Knight, brothers with obviously different mothers, are on the case as the pair of P.I.s hunt down a stolen Deutsche Marserkorps war walker, murderers, and Emancipation's crime boss, Slate Mac. 


Three Aces for the Dancer by Ed Greenwood
The Ghost Aces, an elite team of operatives, must lose a rocket ship, but not lose it too easily, in order to stop a Martian prince and his diabolical plot. 

MORE ROCKET AGE CLASSIC

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Imperial Jupiter
Heroes of the Solar System
Lure of Venus
Trail of the Scorpion
Imperial Jupiter
Inside this supplement for Rocket Age, you will find information, NPCs, and story hooks for not just the gas giant, but six of its moons. See the ice fields of Callisto! Travel through the Great Forest of Ganymede! Fight mutants on the blasted moon of Io! Discover the secrets of Almathea! Learn the secrets of the Europans! Visit Metis and meet the new client species of the Europans! 

Imperial Jupiter offers more than just an expansion of the Solar System of Rocket Age. Three new species, the Yeti of Callisto, the Thebans, and the Anankians are added to the family of sophonts. New equipment options include Erisian artifacts, personal rocket packs, and more! Your characters can join or fight against new organizations such as the Royal Marine Rocket Brigades or Interplanetary Shipping and Transport. 
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Heroes of the Solar System
It takes more than a RAY gun and a rocket pack to make a hero. 
Heroes of the Solar System offers up detailed descriptions of the sapient species of the Solar System with notes on physiology, psychology, technology, and sexuality. In addition to the thirteen species form the corebook, Heroes of the Solar System introduces four new species, the bizarre Jovians, the secretive Lizard Monkeys, the Europan’s client species the warlike Metisians, and the living artifacts the Robomen. Take new character traits, such as boon companion, cloistered, or throttle up. Join Solar System wide organizations such as the Interplanetary Comintern, Rocket News Service or the Wolfgang and Long Detective Agency.

The Lure of Venus
Venus, the Jungle World, the Emerald Planet, home to the Venusians and Lizard Monkeys. Lure of Venus 
offers Rocket Age fans an entire planet to explore, from the Ishtar Highlands to the Artemis Chasma, and beyond to the Lada, Thethis, and even more distant ranges. Once you have learned to survive the jungles and savannas of these mountain ranges, delve into the mists, and discover the secrets behind Venusian psychic crystals and the molten surface of the planet. Venus is more than just the land, and Lure of Venus details the peoples, the various Venusian cultures, many very different from the well-known Venusians of the Western Highlands. Nazis, the Imperial Japanese, rapacious mining corporations, explorers, wildcatters, and even a refugee Martian principality have been drawn to Venus. In addition to new character options and equipment, Lure of Venus gives you a complete episode, The Downey Creek War.

Trail of the Scorpion
An epic series of episodes that take your heroes from the jungles of Venus to the final battle above the Saturnian moon Tethys. The Red Scorpion Crime Syndicate has been causing terror and committing crimes across the Solar System, and our heroes are caught up in its machinations. Only the bravest can follow the Trail of the Scorpion 
and bring the mysterious Red Scorpion him, her, or itself to justice. Featuring episodes written by Ken Spencer, James M. Spahn, Matthew Haines and Anne Toole.
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The Episode Series
Each episode offers a three-reel adventure suited for nearly any group of heroes. Run time varies from six to ten hours, depending on how our heroes approach the challenges. In addition to exciting adventure, each episode contains a little something to enhance the rules, strange alien creatures, mysterious technologies, and even the occasional character trait.
Slaves of the Earthlings

Non-Stop to Jupiter (Classic)
In this exciting sequel to Rocket Racers, our heroes join the Rocket Racing Circuit and compete in the running of the grand Solar Cup finals! Modify your stock rocket ship, jostle with rivals, and launch off on an endurance race from the Indianapolis Rocket Port to the orbit of Jupiter. Along the way you will need to stop and pick up RADIO beacon checkpoints, dodge the hazards of space travel, and fight off attacks. It promises to be a thrilling race this year, especially as the Ghost Racer has been defeated.

Non-Stop to Jupiter is available for purchase in PDF and POD from  DriveThru RPG as well as from your favorite brick and mortar or online TTRPG vendor.

Slaves of the Earthlings
Slaves of the Earthlings (Classic)
The Lincoln Brigade has been battling slavery on Mars, but a new evil has emerged. Where before the Brigade's elite Tubman agents have focused on freeing slaves and leading revolts, now they must battle those who would force freed slaves back into bondage. Will our heroes join this resistance to liberate the…Slaves of the Earthlings.
This Rocket Age episode sees our heroes racing against brutal slavers to stop the kidnappings of Julandri Courtesans, exploring the abandoned sections of the Martian city-state of Kostrast, and finally confronting the Red Scorpion backed slaving ring aboard a rocket ship bound for Earth.


Slaves of the Earthlings is available for purchase in PDF and POD from  DriveThru RPG as well as from your favorite brick and mortar or online TTRPG vendor.

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Bring 'em Back Alive (Classic)
Lead the 1938 Anglo-French Expedition to Venus deep into the jungles. Encounter interesting native life and take samples, especially of their tooth and saliva filled jaws. Discover interesting Venusian customs and strange religions, possibly even getting the opportunity to be the guest of honor at a feast. Explore the mysteries of the Grand Crater and participate in hands on archeological work, including interactions with long lost weapons system.

Bring 'em Back Alive is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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Rocket Racers (Classic)
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Take off from the Indianapolis Rocket Port as part of the 1938 Solar Cup, the Solar System's premier rocket powered race. Someone has been threatening to disrupt this year's race, a terrorist who goes by the name of the Ghost Racer. Your heroes must join the race and put on a good show to maintain their cover while they hunt for the Ghost Racer and attempt to foil its foul plot.

Rocket Racers is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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The Lost City of the Ancients (Classic)
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Race against Nazi archaeologists, French academics, and American freebooters to be the first to explore a recently opened Ancient Martian ruins. Face the rigors of the Martian desert and highlands, negotiate with local Chanari tribes, and try not to be dinner for the devil vultures. If you get there first, you still have to contend with the ruin itself, and the dangers that have lain dormant for millennia.

The Lost City of the Ancients is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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Warlord of the Gravitic Portal (Classic)
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A Martian princess, her insane bodyguard, and an Ancient Martian teleportation system combine in Warlord of the Gravitic Portal with pulse pounding action. Pursue rogue warlord Yathlax across the sands and deep into the Empty Desert. There your heroes must battle the warlord and his fanatical followers as he attempts to activate a device that might destroy Mars, and possibly the Earth as well! Written by Rocket Age contributor James M. Spahn.

Warlord of the Gravitic Portal is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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Mind Dunes of the Moon (Classic)
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An invasion put off by centuries, a madness gripping some of the Rocket Ranger's finest, and a mysterious threat from the Moon. Your heroes must discover what is driving people mad, confront this psychic threat, and eliminate it or the entire Earth will be doomed, and perhaps the rest of the Solar System! Written by Rocket Age contributor Matthew Haines.

Mind Dunes of the Moon is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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​A Prince's Ransom (Classic)
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When Earthling mercantile interests play Martian power games the only winner is death. Rocket Age contributor Anne Toole leads your heroes into the deadly political machinations of the Martina principality of Avat. It all begins with a kidnapping, but there is more here than what might first appear.

A Prince's Ransom is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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No Good Deed (Classic)
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What do you get when you mix avaricious Earthlings, a crashed ship, a Venusian tribe, and one of Saturn's Moons? You get the exciting Rocket Age episode by Tony Kenealy, No Good Deed. Your heroes lose control of their ship and crash while exploring the most distant outposts of the Solar System, the moons of Saturn. What they find should enrage anyone's sense of justice and drive them to greater heroics as they attempt to set right what has been made wrong.

No Good Deed is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

The Booster Series
Our main book series covers the Solar System in broad terms, focusing here and there on interesting and important people and places. However, the Solar System is a big place, and some areas, organizations, technologies, and species deserve more attention. For them we have our Booster Series, short books aimed to fill in some of the blanks on the map.
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The Asteroid Belt (Classic)
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Spinning rocks in space, the remains of Doomed Eris, the Asteroid Belt is a sourcebook covering the people, places, and strange creatures that call this ring of debris home. Pirates, Nazis, evil corporations, and more struggle to survive, exploit, and dominate the Asteroid Belt. Written by Rocket Age contributor Gabriel Garcia.

The Asteroid Belt is available for purchase in PDF from  DriveThru RPG.

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  • Home
  • Rocket Age
  • Play Weird
  • Weird Planets
  • System 84
  • Meet Why Not Games
    • Design Philosophy
    • Playtesters