I'm not that clear on the details, but apparently the Stellar Nursery edition of Ashen Stars is the same as the Pre-pre-order edition. In any case you can check out the details here. But what is Ashen Stars? Well, it's an RPG (system: Gumshoe) of a Science Fiction bent that's been mentioned by others as inspired by Babylon 5, Firefly, and Farscape.

For an RPG that breaks the traditional scope of play in terms of timeline, and allows zooming into the microstories and back out into the macro -- look no further than Microscope.

I do crack open other RPG books on occasion and do a quick skim to satisfy my gamer ADD.

Stars Without Number caught my attention this time, for several reasons. Aside from being free, it's also got an old school vibe to it, a sense of modern starship-based science fiction, and there are a number of (not free) books that have come out for it -- one of which details a stellar navy-based campaign.
 

We kick off this column's return to life with a guest article by Katrina Ricamora on Play-by-Email RPGs!