The date is sometime in the far future. The place is somewhere in the galaxy. Welcome to my world. Here you can become anyone. Say, a wizard battling cyber-zombies in the corridors of a starship, en route to a colony reliant on dieselpunk tech. Or a space marine gunning down vampires for the glory of the Star Party and its beloved leader. How about a minotaur trying to escape a high-tech Labyrinth governed by a mad AI? All that and more can happen in The Tales of Space and Magic.

How is that possible? Use your imagination. Briefly put, this is a roleplaying game -- essentially, make-pretend for adults. Friends gathering around a table on a hot summer evening to tell a story together. Exactly how to play is outside the scope of this book, though I'll give some pointers towards the end. For the most part, my goal is to immerse you in the setting and all its wonders.

The Tales of Space and Magic exist mainly as short stories, published for free or a low, low price in various places online. This book simply collects all there is to know about the setting in one place, along with some exclusive background information. My goal is to show you the main options and how they fit into a whole, so you can do your own thing on this playground while remaining internally consistent.

Besides, some people enjoy simply reading about fantastic worlds and universes. Hopefully you'll find mine entertaining.