Showing posts with label Star Frontiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Frontiers. Show all posts

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Mail Call: Star Frontiers

I have always been a fan of Star Frontiers. Despite not having much success with Sci-Fi games, my brother and I picked up a copy as soon as it came out.  We had a fun time with it for a while, but often our games became more "D&D in Space".  While I would go on to other games, Star Frontiers always held a place in my heart.

I was quite pleased to see official copies come out on DriveThruRPG and RPGNow a bit back.  I was also pleased to see the new Print on Demand versions out too.  I wondered how they would simulate the boxed sets.  Well, now I know!

I picked up PoD copies of Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn and Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks.






The color covers are quite bright and there are some color pages inside as well.  But the vast majority of the interior is still black and white.



Can't punch these out though. They do give them to you as a PDF to print and cut out.




I am quite pleased with these.  I'd love to get a game going of this, even if if it is just for a single session.  Now I need some percentile dice!  Maybe blue and red to match the dice that came in my boxed set.

Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Star Frontiers is Back!

Back in the early 80s I flirted a lot with Sci-Fi RPGs.  I started out with Traveller, played some FASA Doctor Who and Star Trek and finally landed on TSR's Star Frontiers.
I never got to play it very much and much of the time I played it like "D&D in Space", but I still had fun and the game had a place in my heart, if not on my table very much.

Well, Star Frontiers is back in an official form Wizards of the Coast and One Book Shelf.

Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn pdf and pod
Star Frontiers: Knight Hawks
Star Frontiers: (SF AC-1) Official Character Record Sheets
Star Frontiers: (SF1) Volturnus, Planet of Mystery
Star Frontiers: (SF2) Starspawn of Volturnus

I know Star Frontiersman has always been around and they do some great work, I just never bought into their rather thin case to understoood their agreement print the rules.

EDITED: See note below about the legal agreement between Star Frontiersman and WotC.  I stand corrected.

I am really tempted to get that hardcover.  I mean really how cool would that be sitting next to my 1st Ed AD&D books?

If I wasn't so enamored with my current White Star game I would switch over.

If I get it I'll show it off when it comes in.


Thursday, December 17, 2015

Star Wars

I feel the need to make an obligatory Star Wars post today.
But yet I am not quite feeling the excitement.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Star Wars movies and had a blast with all of them.  I loved everything Star Wars growing up too.    I still have a couple of Boba Fetts (one I had to save proof of purchases for, one I bought) sitting on my desk.  I went from being a hard-core fan to a more relaxed one.  I did like the newer movies despite HUGE plot holes (the first movie was about a trade agreement?? really??) and my kids love them.  My adult tastes went more for Star Trek.

I really enjoyed the d20 Star Wars game.  I know "heresy"! How dare I say anything was better than the d6 West End Games version.  I have (or rather my son has) the Revised d20 version.  It is a bit like D&D 3 and so we have been adding it off and on to our regular D&D game.

To me, d20 and Star Wars seemed a perfect match.  I think back to the late 70's and early 80's and what my obsessions were; Star Wars and D&D.  Having played the game a bit I can see why some people don't like it and why some still prefer the WEG d6 version (I don't), but to me it just works. Stars Wars and D&D share history, they share a common place in the Gen X collective sub-conscious right there next to video games.  To me, D&D/d20 and Star Wars just belong together.

Not only was it out at the same time (more or less) I discovered D&D. It became so much a part of my experiences as a kid that is hard to tease out where one influence begins and the other ends.

This movie has: A boy who would be the hero, a swashbuckling rogue, a princess to rescue, a wise old man/wizard/jedi, an evil warrior, an impenetrable fortress, magic, fights, side-kicks, monsters, sword fights and epic battle.  Everything here IS D&D.  They even meet the rogue in a bar!

Yes this another retelling of the monomyth or The Hero with a 1,000 Faces.  That's why it works so well.

Also, I have a long history of dissatisfaction with Sci-Fi games.  It's odd really.  I love Sci-Fi, but the RPGs I have tried (Traveler, Star Frontiers, Alternity) have left me feeling flat.  Star Frontiers was my favorite.   So I guess to me then, the perfect Sci-Fi game would have elements of Star Wars, Star Frontiers and Alternity all powered by the d20 system.  That is also easy to do.  I am a touch surprised I have not tried that yet.

I was talking about this with my wife last night in fact. We are not going to see Star Wars right away, but we are much more excited for the new Star Trek movie to be honest.   She also suggested I pick up the hardcover of White Star and play with that for a while, or even stick with Starships & Spacemen.  Though it is more "Trek" to White Star's "Wars".

Maybe what I need is a solid hook first for some good Sci/Star Wars/Star Trek gaming.

Wednesday, May 13, 2015

Review: Strange Stars

Every so often you come across a product that is so different than the rest it is hard to know what to do with it.  +trey causey's Strange Stars is not exactly that.  Strange Stars is a product so different it is hard to know what I can't do with it.

The book is a joy to look at.  Yes it is only 32 pages with cover, but each page is so rich with art and color it must have cost a lot to make.  Since art is important to how this book can be used it is a better investment than say page after page of text.
Let's start with that cover.  There are homages to late 70s, early 80s sci-fi shows and movies.  I can feel the influences of Star Wars and even Jason of Star Command here. Not to mention the obvious, but loving, nod to the classic Star Frontiers.   Really, I should be able to buy that as an art print for my game room.  I put that cover up there with some of the best RPG covers ever.  Plus the overt homage to Star Frontiers is a huge plus.

Strange Stars is not a game itself, but a setting book for other sci-fi games. Not just the OSR-flavored ones of my last few reviews, but any sci-fi game.  As a mental exercise I kept asking "can I use this in Traveller? Star Frontiers? Alternity?" most times I was saying yes.

The book starts out with a historical overview of the setting.  The "Ancient times" in this case is humanity leaving "Old Earth".  So already this is a setting far flung into the future.

Various forms of life are introduced, or Sophonts.  This can be your garden variety human or other life form that is mostly biological, self-aware robots, or AIs.  Or, most likely some combination of the above.

Really a couple of the great features of this book are not chapter by chapter but concept by concept.
Free of system Causey's mind rushes down dark un-explored pathways, strange lands and truly alien worlds.  BUT, and this is very important, this not so far removed from our experiences to be really out there.  There are roots here. Roots with names like "Star Crash" and "Buck Rodgers" (the TV series on NBC, not the serials) and "Logan's Run".  Jenny Agutter's "Jessica 6" practically jumps off of page 12.
Speaking of which, the characters here BEG to be stated up for your favorite system.  Siana Elizond, the previously mentioned Jessica 6 clone, is more interesting in a picture and paragraph than some characters with pages and pages of back story.  Plus I can't help but think that Elphaba Mandrake was made as a personal challenge to me!

So yes. The page count is small, but it is chock full of great ideas, eye catching art and more than enough to get you going on a campaign set out among the stars.

In truth everything you need to know about what this game-supplement is about can be summed up in this one picture.


The best of what the late 70s / early 80s had to offer.


You can find Trey at http://sorcerersskull.blogspot.com/

Monday, September 27, 2010

Why can't I find a good Sci-Fi game?

A post over at Grognardia, http://grognardia.blogspot.com/2010/09/sci-fi-goulash.html, has prompted a reoccurring thought in my head.

Why can't I find a good Sci-Fi game?

I have mentioned before that I have had a hit and miss, mostly miss, luck with Sci-Fi games. Every so often I am convinced I have the One, only to be ultimately disappointed in them.
I after I posted a reply to James' post I went back to the Star Frontiers book I have and online at http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remastered. I also went through all the Star Trek books I still have left.

In terms of Sci-Fi I like Trek the best, loved Star Wars as a kid, but got into Dune or the hard sci-fi of Asimov. I did like Heinlein and Arthur C. Clark a lot though. I loved Farescape when it was on and I even enjoyed LEXX.  Never watched Space Above and Beyond, could not get into Babylon 5 or the new Galatica (though that is not really a reflection on them) and I thought Firefly was stupid.

For games I started out with Traveler, moved to Star Frontiers, Doctor Who (FASA), Star Trek (FASA), Alternity, Star Wars d20, d20 Future and others that I have forgotten.  More recently I have used Unisystem (All Tomorrow's Zombies) and Doctor Who (Cubicle 7).  Yet nothing seems to fit just right.  I looked over Star Blazer Adventures, Rogue Trader and others and didn't really care for them.  I don't like GURPS enough to honestly consider it, same for FUDGE and FATE.

What do I want?
That is a very question and one I don't have a good answer for.  There are bits and pieces that I like from all the above games.  I like the sandboxy feel of Star Frontiers and Traveler. I love the tech in Trek, the scope in Star Wars.  I could get better buy-in from my Kids with Star Wars, even if my youngest says "I am not into Star Wars" and lightsabers are cool.   I like some of the features of Alternity.  I liked some of what I read in Dune.

And I don't want to spend a bunch of time figuring out a new system.
I suppose this points to two things.  Unisystem and d20 3.x.

Why?
Well I have a bunch of d20 materials laying around including Star Wars, d20 Traveler (T20), Dragon Star,  and d20 Future (which has material from Star Frontiers and Alternity).  I like the idea of using the d20 Mod/Future classes. I am not thrilled with the idea of levels though, but multi-classing looks like it could be fun.  Plus I have a metric ton of d20 material.  Bring back mind flayers as an alien race.  Baator?  Now a planet; literary Planet Hell.

Unisystem is more flexible and I can do it better than d20, but despite how good All Tomorrow's Zombies is, I want something more.   I am not big into mixing magic and SciFi.  Psionics is ok (in fact I also don't like Psionics in fantasy games), weird I know. I think in the end, d20 might be the way for me to go, or this could be a thinly veiled attempt to do "D&D in Spaaaace!"

Star Wars, like I said, has a great scope and is full of aliens. Adding a Trek-like Federation to battle an Evil Empire is also very cool and a great backdrop.  I'd make it more of a cold war, with hotter areas on the edges.  Lots of room then for black markets and ops.  Maybe even steal a page from Battlestar and make the evil Empire one of artificially intelligent machines.  T20 has a lot of cool stuff too and the Imperium is neat and again lots of cool races.

What is lacking in all of this is unified narrative.  Maybe I don't need one.  D&D doesn't have one, never did.  A lot of what I don't like about the various systems out there is I find their "fluff" to be restrictive.  I don't want all the baggage that go with Jedi, or the Imperium, or Aslans, or Fraal.    I guess say here is Oerth, here is Yavin, over there is Krynn and Vulcan and just let the universe take care of itself.

I guess until I find that perfect mix, I keep searching.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Star Wars d20

Hey all.  I know I promised more Anime stuff today, but I work has got me buried.  I did want to talk about something though really quick and that is the loss of the Star Wars RPG from Wizards.

I have not been a huge fan of Star Wars lately.  I loved the movies as a kid, have tons of action figures and toys.  I still have a couple of Boba Fetts (one I had to save proof of purchases for, one I bought) sitting on my desk.  I went from being a hard core fan to a more relaxed one.  I did like the newer movies despite HUGE plot holes (the first movie was about a trade agreement?? really??) and my kids love them.  My adult tastes went more for Star Trek.

All the same I was disheartened to hear that Wizard's was pulling the plug on d20 Star Wars.  I have (or rather my son has) the Revised d20 version.  It is a bit like D&D 3 and so we have been adding it off and on to our regular D&D game (the previously mentioned Dragon Slayers game).

To me d20 and Star Wars seemed a perfect match.  I think back to the late 70's and early 80's and what my obsessions were; Star Wars and D&D.  Having played the game a bit I can see why some people don't like it and why some still prefer the WEG d6 version (I don't), but to me it just works. Stars Wars and D&D share history, they share a common place in the Gen X collective sub-conscious right there next to video games.  To me D&D/d20 and Star Wars just belong together.

Plus, I have a long history of dissatisfaction with Sci-Fi games.  It's odd really.  I love Sci-Fi, but the RPGs I have tried (Traveler, Star Frontiers, Alternity) have left me feeling flat.  Star Frontiers was my favorite.   So I guess to me then, the perfect Sci-Fi game would have elements of Star Wars, Star Frontiers and Alternity all powered by the d20 system.  That is also easy to do.  I am a touch surprised I have not tried that yet.

Now I am fairly sure I will not use anything from the Saga Edition Star Wars, even if it has some improvements on the game.  I like the Vitality/Wound system from the Revised system better and if I plan on adding in anything from d20 Future (to get my Star Frontiers and Alternity fix).  Maybe this would even let me do my Greyhawk 2000, er Greyhawk 2500 game.  I think the Star Wars universe is big enough for that and flexible enough too.  Can't do that so much with Star Trek, despite how much I love it.

I am not sure who will be picking up the Star Wars game next, I am pretty sure I will check it out but not so sure I will buy it.  In the mean time I think I am going to go to my FLGS and see what they still have for Star Wars.