OPTIONAL RULES

What follows are optional rules found in the Star Frontiersman.

A Skilled Frontier

by Bill Logan

Note, this is a modified version of the original article, a new skill called "Vehicle weapons" was added.

Table of Contents

Character Generation
Spending Experience Points

Character Generation

All players must decide which PSA is primary to their character concept, and which two are secondary to it. List one PSA with a "P:" next to it. List two PSAs with an "S:" next to them. All other PSAs are tertiary to your character concept.

Your character will begin with three level 1 skills. One of which must be from your character's Primary PSA. The second can be from any Primary or Secondary PSA. The third can come from any PSA (even one tertiary to your character concept).

For example, your character's primary PSA is Military, and your secondary PSAs are Tech and Agent. You begin with three level 1 skills. One of which must come from your Military PSA, the other may come from any primary or secondary PSA (Military, Tech, or Agent). The third can come from any PSA you want. You select Beam Weapons level 1 from Military, Robotics level 1 from Tech, and Survival level 1 from Scout.

Skill Checks

1/2 Ability + 10% for each Level of skill.

For example, if your ability is 60 and you have a 4th level skill the skill check would be 60/2 = 30 + 40 = 70%

Unskilled Skill Checks

1/2 Ability

Skill Notes

Medic - a successful Medic skill roll will heal a number of d10 equal to the medic's skill level, but require a like number of hours of recovery (thus a 3rd level medic might roll 3d10 and get 15... meaning he heals 15 STA if the patient rests 15 hours afterwards). If the full period of rest isn't taken, the healing will be halved.
Tech - use the standard AD repair rule

Skill List

Note the ability next to each skill, if there are two listed you must choose one. This choice remains throughout the characters career. Make sure to record the ability next to the skill.

Ron chooses Persuasion for his dralasite character. The skill lists PER or LDR. Ron's LDR is higher, however he imagines his character uses PER more than LDR when trying to persuade others (and he plans on raising his PER score faster than LDR). He records PER next to this Persuasion skill and then calculates the score.

Agent

The Agent professional skill area governs those specialty skills associated with activities often outside

the law. They deal with deception, coercion, theft, and espionage. Skilled agents can slip into an area, carry out a mission, sense any traps you've prepared for him, and if caught convince you to let him go. The Agent PSA consists of the following skills:

Stealth [DEX] (rolls apply to prowling, hiding, shadowing, concealment, etc.)
Persuasion [PER or LDR] (rolls apply to con, charm, convince, intimidate, etc.)
Thievery [DEX] (rolls apply to lock picking, pocket picking, forgery, sleight of hand, etc.)
Detective [INT] (rolls apply to listening, spotting clues, gathering information, surveillance, searching for weapons, reading body language, etc.)

Artist

The artist professional skill area covers skills designed to create and interpret various forms of expression. Effective professional artists have a creative streak that permeates everything they do in life. Creative individuals have an easier time learning to play musical instruments, write elegant speeches or songs, sculpt things from various materials, and draw/paint their visions to canvas or paper. The Artist PSA consists of the following basic skills:

Visual Art [LOG or INT] (rolls cover creation or interpretation of drawings, paintings, photographs, holovideos, etc.)
Structural Art [LOG or DEX] (rolls cover creation or interpretation of sculptures, pottery, woodcraft, leatherwork, etc.)
Composition Art [LOG] (rolls cover creation or interpretation of poetry, stories, articles, music scores, songs, etc.)
Performance Art [DEX or RS] (rolls cover acting, singing, musical instruments, dancing, mime, or other forms of performance art)

Linguist

The linguist professional skill area is for those individuals determined to speak, read, and write every language in the Frontier. Although few player characters would select this as their Primary PSA,

many may wish to purchase individual skills. Purchasing languages is handled simply: level 1 allows for basic/halted/limited conversation, level 2 allows basic/limited reading and writing, level 3 means your character is fluent with a strong accent but can read/ write effectively, level 4 is completely fluent and completely literate, level 5 is able to pick up and simulate local dialects, and finally level 6 is a mastery normally reserved for those raised to speak to the language, indistinguishable from a native. If you want to get around in an area, building a language skill to level 2 is typically sufficient. Starting players are automatically considered level 6 in the languages of their native race and level 5 in Pan-Galactic. The Linguist PSA consists of the following basic skills, but more languages can be found throughout the Frontier:

Ability: LOG

Human Languages
Dralasite Languages
Yazirian Languages
Vrusk Languages
Pan-Galactic

Military

The military professional skill area represents the specialized form of destruction practiced by soldiers, mercenaries, and even private bodyguards. Military specialists are unfortunately common throughout the Frontier. Effective military specialists can take out their enemies with speed and precision. The Military PSA consists of the following skills:

Ability: Ranged use DEX, Melee use DEX or STR and Demolitions uses LOG

Beam weapons (roll defines chance to hit with beam weapons)
Gyrojet weapons (roll defines chance to hit with gyrojet weapons)
Projectile weapons (roll defines chance to hit with projectile weapons)
Archaic weapons (roll defines chance to hit with archaic ranged weapons)
Unarmed Combat (roll defines chance to hit while unarmed)
Melee weapons (roll defines chance to hit with hand-held weapons)
Thrown weapons (roll defines chance to hit with hurled weapons)
Demolitions (roll includes chance to set or deactivate an explosive charge)
Space Energy Weapons (roll defines chance to hit with energy-based starship weaponry)
Space Rocket Weapons (roll defines chance to hit with rocket-based starship weaponry)
Vehicle Energy Weapons (roll defines chance to hit with energy-based starship weaponry)
Vehicle Rocket Weapons (roll defines chance to hit with rocket-based starship weaponry)

Pilot

The Pilot professional skill area covers the operation of vehicles, military or otherwise, in stressful situations. A skilled pilot can maneuver his vehicle through tight confines, across dangerous terrain, and recover from losses of control. The following skills comprise the Pilot PSA:

Ability: DEX

Ground vehicles (roll for control of ground cycles, cars, and transports)
Hover vehicles (roll for control of hover cycles, cars, and transports)
Water vehicles (roll for control of boats, ships, and submarines)
Air vehicles (roll for control of rotor-wing, propeller-, or jet-based air vehicles)
System vehicles (roll for control of shuttles and fighters and short-range transports)
Space vehicles (roll for control of large spaceships capable of FTL speeds)

Scholar

The scholar professional skill area involves skills that are all about knowledge. Even if that knowledge isn't quite scholarly, it falls under this skill area. Effective scholars can draw parallels between literary and historical events and apply them to what is going on around them, giving them an insight that unscholarly people might lack. Note that all rolls for scholarly skills can be made twice: first to see if you know the fact, and second to research it if you don't know it. The Scholar PSA includes the following skills:

Literature [LOG] (rolls involve knowledge of authors and their writings)
History [LOG] (rolls involve knowledge of the past, or researching past events, people, or places)
Politics [LOG or INT] (rolls involve knowledge of the inner workings of politics and bureaucracies)
Economics [LOG] (rolls involve knowledge of the financial infrastructure of the Frontier)
Pop Culture [LOG or INT] (rolls involve knowledge of present people, places, and events)
Law [LOG] (rolls involve knowledge of and around the laws throughout the Frontier)
Philosophy/Theology [LOG or INT] (rolls involve knowledge of the religions and philosophies of the Frontier)

Scientist

The scientist professional skill area covers those skills that deal with the living, chemical, or physical laws of the universe. Scientists give names to the unknown, bringing them into the realm of the known. A skilled scientist develops ideas or diagnosis, plans experiments, and proves theories. Whether they're in it for the discovery or for the glory, scientists are part of what makes the Frontier an exciting place. The Scientist PSA is comprised of the following skills:

Medic [LOG] (rolls deal with the diagnosis and treatment of infections, disease, toxin, and injury)
Psycho-Social [PER or INT] (rolls deal with the study of the psyche, hypnosis, and the unconscious mind)
Environmental [LOG] (rolls deal with terrestrial land, water, and air sciences)
Space Science [LOG] (rolls deal with astrogation, spatial physics, and starship engineering)

Scout

The scout professional skill area includes those skills the outdoorsman would require. Effective scouts can live off the land and survive adversity off even complex environments if they have the right materials handy. The following skills comprise the Scout PSA:

Animal Handling [PER or INT] (rolls include influencing animal behavior, riding, husbandry, etc.)
Athletics [DEX] (rolls include climbing, running, jumping, etc.)
Survival [STR or INT](rolls include procuring shelter, hunting, tracking, building fire, etc.)
Navigation [LOG or INT] (rolls include finding way in wilderness, charting new courses).
Mariner [STR] (rolls include swimming, diving, operating terrestrial watercraft, etc.)

Tech

The Tech professional skill area includes those skills that deal with the repair, configuration, programming, and engineering of technology. Effective Techs can repair damaged goods in adverse conditions, operate technological devices to their fullest, and reprogram captured enemy or alien technology for their own use. The following skills comprise the Tech PSA:

Technician [LOG] (rolls include operation, accessing, and repairing vehicles and machines)
Computers [LOG] (rolls include programming, interfacing, hacking, and repairing computers)
Robotics [LOG] (rolls include programming, accessing, configuring, and repairing robots)
Spaceship Tech [LOG] (rolls include programming, accessing, configuring and repairing spaceship engines)

Spending Experience Points

Table: Experience Point costs

Level	1	2	3	4	5	6
Primary	3	6	9	12	15	18
Secondary	4	8	12	16	20	24
Tertiary	8	16	24	32	40	48

To raise a skill it costs a number of XP shown on the table. For instance, if you have a level 3 skill in your Primary skill area to raise it to level 4 it would cost 12 XP. If it were a Tertiary skill (not in your Primary or Secondary) it would cost 32 XP

Ability cost 1 for 1.

For instance, if you spend 3 XP you can raise one ability by 3.

Adventure Bots

by [[CJ Williams]]

Part One: Roleplaying Robots

Author's Note: In the article Star Questions by Penny Petticord and Ed Greenwood in the December 1984 issue of Dragon Magazine (Issue #92), it says “Robots and cybots cannot be player characters; they have personalities but have no free will. Freedom of choice puts excitement into the game. No one would want to run a character that could only do what someone else told him to do.”
Is this true? Are robots unplayable?

Special Thanks: Bill Logan for his invaluable input.

Can You Roleplay a Robot?

The above articles made a presumption that overlooks one thing: even entities with free will follow orders, so following orders and free will are two different things. Thus, two different robots with two different groups of programs and experience will do the same task two different ways.

A corporation could give commands and programs to a robot that will benefit a party of characters, but that robot will act within its orders by the corporation instead of the characters, and will act as a unit with free will in the company of those characters because it is under orders by an entity that is not in their presence.Even if one of the characters in the group owns the robot, the robot will still only be subject to that character, but will act with free will in regard to the other characters where such free will does not contradict orders from its master.

Also, when you consider the opportunities to raise havoc with a robot character, you see there can be lots of fun in roleplaying a robot. Just because your brain is made of microchips does not mean you can’t make decisions. Just because you have no emotions to call your own does not mean you can’t be responsive. Just because you serve a master does not mean you can’t express individuality. Such restrictions only affect how you express your robot’s uniqueness, but have no effect on whether you can express that uniqueness.

Finally, not all robots are designed for simple functions. Many robots, in fact, are designed with a limited interactive A.I. This A.I. allows them to interact with sentient beings and respond within certain set parameters through programmed personalities and simple reasoning, even learning to some degree. This allows them to demonstrate unique characteristics that may be roleplayed. While it does not make them sentient, it does make them more present and interactive.

This information not only helps with roleplaying robots, but it can also help the Referee with roleplaying computers, as computers may also have varying personalities and quirks, though such is not typically necessary, unless some kind of social interaction is appropriate to the computer’s purpose.

It’s a Robot’s Life

Robots are property, that’s unavoidable, but just as one might come to have affection for a pet or even a servant, one can come to have an affinity for their robot. Even still, most robots are incapable of reciprocating friendship beyond their programming. On the other hand, loyalty to its master, personal assistance, and useful advice often comes to be a comfort to a robot’s master in a similar way to friendship.

A robot performs tasks that are normally too laborious, tedious, or dangerous to sentients. Except for their upkeep, they make life easier and may even save lives. Their many and varied uses put them in high demand anywhere high technology can be found and even in many low tech environments. Robots are also a status symbol dependant on its program level.

What’s Different About Roleplaying Robots?

Robots have several advantages and disadvantages over normal player characters:

Need no sleep, but do need to recharge their parabatteries.
Do not develop any mentalist abilities and are immune to most mentalist effects, but can be equipped with things that simulate mentalist effects.
Can be reprogrammed and repurposed.
Can be disabled by EMP’s. (Note: Star Frontiers robots have moved beyond magnetic storage, using solely three dimensional laser storage, so their memory is not affected by the EMP pulse.)
Can have its memory easily wiped, making it a basic model of its type, causing it to lose all information and bonuses from programs and experience.
Are immune to all organic effects, such as disease, poison, radiation, and suffocation, but can suffer water damage, electrical damage, viruses and worms, rust, rot, disrepair and foreign particles such as dust and sand.
Feel no pain, but do experience the ill effects of hardware damage and program corruption.
Can’t improve their physical or mental abilities, but can be upgraded or altered with new parts.
Do not gain skill levels through training, but must be programmed with skill-equivalent programming, and their experiences may mildly improve their operations.
Must be carefully balanced against the party to prevent preferential desirability as characters.

In addition to these differences, robots actually need more detailed character information than normal characters for the specific ways of dealing with its environment. Developing and maintaining your robot character's distinct characteristics is an important part of robot character design and roleplaying.

Who Roleplays the Robot

As with pets, the Referee usually controls the robots. That is, the Referee dictates its actions. However, the Referee should also know how the robot responds to its master. The Referee may also choose to assign the robot to a willing player different than the player of the robot’s owner if the Referee does not feel comfortable roleplaying the robot or if another player expresses interest in doing so.

With the Referee’s approval, a player may create and roleplay a robot, but one of the other players must be its owner, though the Referee may choose to let the robot be the property of a corporation or other nonpresent entity. This will give the robot more freedom and autonomy within the adventure. Robot Personalities

A robot does not need a personality matrix to express unique traits that give it a distinction from other robots that have the semblance of personality. Being experienced with a variety of mechanical objects, you know that devices do not always act the way they are supposed to and even sometimes seem to act in a way as if it knows what we’re saying or thinking. That is why people tend to personify inanimate objects, especially old cars. This would become even more pronounced with an autonomous robot, especially when you throw in the quirks that can arise in a computer’s programming. The one playing the robot is in charge of how the robot’s personality is expressed in the quirks, sayings, directions, and predispositions.

Sayings

Try to come up with some lines and catch phrases that a robot of its type would likely use liberally. This will help distinguish the robot.

Robots of levels 2-3 will always react the same way to the same stimulus regardless of situation. (If your robot is programmed with emotive expressions, write down its pat reactions.) Level 4 robots will have a small library of responses to choose from at random to express each situation, but the library is still easily recognizable and not always the most appropriate, but simply what is available. Level 5 and 6 robots with emotive programming will be able to select responses most appropriate to the circumstances. See Example 1.

Do not be random. Have a distinguished time and circumstance at which the robot says its queue. This doesn’t mean you need to be predictable. On the contrary, if you queue from obscure, but specific reasons, your robot can respond in ways that fellow players might not expect.

What can make it further random is queuing not from a long-term command. This is done when the player playing the robot’s master gives the robot a specific command indicating that the robot will need to follow that command in all future instances until the command is rescinded. See Example 2.

Command Triggers

Command triggers are keywords and phrases that trigger the robot’s functions. These do not have to be spoken by the robot’s master to trigger the function. Think of some words or phrases that trigger the robot’s functions. The master should be familiar with these terms, and so should the one playing the robot, but they should not be shared with other players. These triggers can also lead to the occasional humorous confusion. See the example robot character at the end of this article.

The trigger must be programmed by a robotics technician for robots of levels 1-3; when first operated, the owner will be asked to speak the commands for voice recognition. But with robots levels 4-6, the command trigger can be inputted through a voice command by its owner. See Example 3.

Example 1

Carol creates a level 4 ERoL-9 Servebot with emotive expressions. She then writes down 6 pat expressions to reference:

Encouragement. “Very good, sir/ma’am.”
Unexpected result. “That is most curious.”
Interrupted. “How rude.”
Protecting master. “Ma’am, there is a ___% chance that you will [Most gruesome description possible]. Perhaps you should…”
Options present. “Ma’am, I have calculated several options that I think will be optimal for success…”
Reply to appreciation. You are very welcome sir/ma’am. Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Then, during the game, she uses those expressions liberally. During one such instance, when confronted by a sentinelbot, the robot says to its master, Varik: “Sir, there is a 23.4% chance that you will be torn limb from limb and pulverized into a fine sludge. Perhaps you should turn around now and find a new route to the city.”

Example 2

Xarin commands Exthree, saying: “If you or I are ever in danger, and I have not already acted violently to the situation, and we are outnumbered, make me sound impressive. It may be our only chance to get out alive”.

On one such occasion, as Xarin and Exthree are menaced by three pirates with various weapons in hand, Exthree recognizes that the situation is dire and its master has not acted violently in response. Thus Exthree speaks up, saying: “Sir, perhaps it is time for you to do that thing you do like where “Jagged – The Golorian’s” spleen ended up in a jar on the nightstand at your home and you shoved ‘Goro – The Vile’s” T-.48 Gyrojet in an unmentionable place on Goro’s person. And I just don’t know how to describe what you did to the mouthy one that was with them. Tsk. Poor chap. I calculate a 112% chance of repeating that circumstance within 14.8 seconds, if you are up to breaking your record, that is. Should you do that, we can get on with our task more expediently.” Exthree then steps aside (just far enough for it to jump in the way should a pirate attempt to attack his master) in order to appear as though it is giving its master enough room to do battle without its assistance.

Example 3

Similarly to Example 2, Xarin commands Exthree, saying “When I make a ‘psst’ sound, you take up position behind me. If I also hold up a finger and shake it back and forth, you must also bring your audio receptor near to my head in order to receive a statement.” Some time later, when they are in Colvera’s study, Exthree is pooring tea and Colvera and Xarin are seated. Xarin is frustrated at a mistake that Colvera has just made him aware of. Xarin goes “psst!” And Exthree looks to see that it is his master, and then walks over and takes up a position behind his master. Xarin then shakes a requesting finger backward and forward at Exthree who bends down to Xarin to listen to his next statement. Xarin then slaps Exthree on his cranial plate, and Exthree stumbles back slightly. Xarin says, “Tthat’s all”.

Military Ship Design

by Adam Moffett

Author’s Note: This write-up is by Adam Moffett, incorporating ideas worked on collaboratively by Adam Moffett, Sean Moffett, Darren Moffett, and Eric Moffett in our parents’ basement around 1993(?) or so.

INTRODUCTION

First off, I don’t know if TSR’s writers really had a system in mind when they came up with stats for the UPF and Sathar ships in Knight Hawks. I do know however, that players or referees who want to make a new type of warship will find it helpful to have something to go on. What my brothers and I did some years ago was look at how weapons are applied to civilian ships (using the minimum hull size, “MHS” number of the weapon), and extrapolate a similar system for military ships.

In Knight Hawks, each weapon and defense system has a minimum hull size or MHS value. That value represents a cost associated with installing that weapon, where the ship builder gets 1 unit per hull size of the ship. For example, a torpedo launcher has an MHS of 5 so a hull size 10 ship can install 2 of them. Spending over your limit causes severe penalties to ADF, MR, and cargo capacity.

If you add up the number of points spent on UPF/Sathar ships which are described in the book, you’ll find that they spend way over their MHS limits without any penalty at all. This is attributed to more advanced technology which is only available to the military.

ASSUMPTIONS MADE TO CREATE THIS SYSTEM

Ammo and Other Costs - The book provides no cost for ammunition (other than monetary). Why then, do the gigantic battleships only carry 8 torpedoes? Why not carry 200 and not have to worry about running out? I have assigned MHS values for ammo to account for this. I have also assigned values for upgrades which provide extra Hull Points and changes to ADF/MR.
Atmospheric Flight Penalties: The Assault Scout Problem - When plotting the number of points spent on weapons and ammo versus the hull size of the ships, it was obvious that the assault scout was out of line with the rest of the universe. On the chart below you’ll see that the assault scout does not fit on the curve with the rest of the ships. Then it occurred to me that the assault scout is also the only military starship made for atmospheric flight, and that perhaps that is the source of its penalty.

To fly in an atmosphere, a ship needs to be balanced and streamlined and it needs control surfaces. It may also need reinforcing to survive a high speed lift off and heat shielding to survive the initial descent through the atmosphere. My position is that all of these additional things limit the amount of mass and volume that can be devoted to weapons. So for ships hull sizes 2-5 I have provided a heavy penalty for making the ship capable of atmospheric flight. Hull size 1 gets it for free…..that’s one advantage to being so little.
Hull Points, ADF, & MR - Some ships don’t fit the normal amount of Hull Points, ADF, or MR for their size, so methods of trading MHS for any of these values were created. I also added methods to trade them for each other in some cases.
Is MHS truly “minimum hull size”? - The Warriors of White Light introduced a pirate corvette, which was a hull size 4 ship equipped with a laser cannon (MHS 5). So apparently some minimums are more minimal than others. If the referee wants to allow a larger weapon on a smaller ship that wouldn’t be allowed using civilian rules, then I say go for it.
Technology differences: The Heavy Cruiser Problem - Like the assault scout, the heavy cruiser does not fit on the curve with the rest of the UPF ships. I attribute this to their age. The book states that heavy cruisers were battleships which were reclassified as heavy cruisers when the new and larger battleships were built. Therefore I say that all heavy cruisers are old ships and have weaker capabilities due to inferior technology. Referees should feel free to apply penalties to MR/ADF/MHS/HP or whatever else makes sense to ships which are very old, or also to account for technology differences among factions. You may also notice that UPF frigates and destroyers come out just slightly better than what you could build with these rules (they have 4 or 5 extra MHS points), so referees should also feel free to grant bonuses to very new and/or high tech ships.

AVAILABLE MHS POINTS

This table gives the number of MHS points that ships of various hull sizes receive toward armament and defenses.

Ship's Hull Size	Number of MSH Points
1-10	Hull Size * 8
11	82
12-20	Hull Size * 7

BASE HULL POINTS

Base hull points are the same as civilian ships:

Hull Size * 5

DCR

DCR is calculated the same way as for civilian ships, but then doubled.

Hull Size * 3 + 20 * 2

Example: HS 3 ship has 3*3+20*2=58

MHS COSTS

This section lists the cost in MHS points for the various parts of the ships:

Original KH Items

These are unchanged from the original rules.

Defense or Weapon	MHS Point Cost
Reflective Hull	1
Masking Screen	4
Electron Screen	10
Proton Screen	12
Stasis Screen	10
ICM Launcher	5
Laser Cannon	5
Laser Battery	3
Proton Battery	10
Electron Battery	6
Disrupter Cannon	12
Assault Rocket Launcher	1
Rocket Battery	5
Torpedo Launcher	5
Mine Spreader	7
Seeker Missile Rack	7
Grapples	5

Ammo

Ammo Type	MHS Point Cost
Extra water for Masking Screen	1
Batch of 4 ICMs	1
One unit of ammo for any weapon	1

Reinforced hull

Add up to 60% more hull points using the following cost scale; this is a much better buy for smaller ships, though it is also worthwhile for battleships because their base hp is so high.

Hull Size	HMS Point Cost
1-6	1 per each 10% increment
7-14	3 per each 10% increment
15-20	10 per each 10% increment

* Each 10% boost will provide at least 1 HP

Example: UPF Frigates have a base of 25 hull points. A 10% boost is 2.5 extra hp. After buying the extra hit points the maximum number of 6 times, the UPF Frigate now has 40hp (25 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5 + 2.5)

Armor

Sacrifice MR or ADF for extra hull points. This is only worthwhile for ships whose speed is less important than their durability, such as minelayers and assault carriers.

Hull Size	HP Gained	Remaining MHS Points
1-10	5 HP	1 MR or ADF lost
11-20	10 HP	1 MR or ADF lost

* Round down ADF/MR

Trans-atmospheric Penalty

This is the cost in MHS points to streamline the ship for atmospheric flight. This is not possible for ships larger than Hull Size 5.

Hull Size	MHS Penalty	Remaining MHS Points
1	No penalty	8
2	4/8 penalty	8
3	5/8 penalty	9
4	6/8 penalty	8
5	7/8 penalty	5

Fighter Bays

The cost of a fighter or shuttle bay is 8 MHS points. I think the difference would only be in how the bay was equipped. Ships can of course carry shuttles or fighters docked to the outside, but then any repairs or maintenance require extra vehicular activity which we can assume is more time consuming.

Extra MHS

If you still need more room for weapons and equipment you can trade off maneuverability or hull points for a little extra space using the following two rules:

Overloaded: Trade 1 MR or 1 ADF for a 10% MHS bonus. This does very little for small ships, but big ships have less MR and ADF to spare, so it’s tough to justify using this option. This rule was made to make the Assault Carrier fit the rest of my model.
Light Hull: Trade 10% of ship’s original hull points for a 10% MHS bonus. Also a hard trade to justify. None of the UPF ships do this. Can’t be used with reinforced hull, and unlike reinforced hull this option can only be taken once.

CREW

I think it is unclear how the number of crew members on a SpaceFleet ship is arrived at. I think a bare minimum crew would consist of the following:

2 pilots (so someone can be at the wheel day and night)
1 gunner per weapon
1 operator per defense system (except reflective hull)
1 technician per engine
1 commanding officer 1 navigator

On small ships like assault scouts, jobs can overlap, so the captain could also be a pilot, an engineer can double as a gunner, etc. I would probably double everything for any ship of frigate size or larger. People will need downtime so they don’t burn out.

As the ship gets larger, you’ll need to add more techs for everyday maintenance, a handful of marines for security, and probably at least one medic. Once you have more enlisted people you’ll need more officers too. Referees should try to use common sense as to the number of people required to crew any ships designed by them or by players.

MONETARY COSTS

You may notice that I did not assign credit costs to any of the new ship features. Since military ships are built by governments, the exact cost of its armor and weapons will not usually be relevant to player characters.

DOES THIS ALL MAKE SENSE?

Maybe. Changes in MHS versus hull size are almost linear, where changes in the ships’ volume and surface area are exponential. So if it’s a matter of physically stuffing the weapons into the available area, then everything is way off. A destroyer should be exponentially mightier than a frigate in that case.

On the other hand, mass should also increase exponentially with hull size, and the fact that large ships get less ADF and MR means that thrust does not increase to match. My explanation for the difference then is that it’s really a matter of how much extra mass we can attach to the hull without impairing its speed more than its own size already does.

But then again it’s also more about having fun and keeping the game balanced. If the player characters’ frigate is exponentially weaker than their enemy’s destroyer then there is very little difference that heroic characters can make in the battle. So a linear progression of strength is more appropriate for gaming.

WHY DID WE DO THIS?

My brothers and I added extra factions to the game outside of the Frontier Sector, having a system to design ships allowed us to differentiate factions without just making stuff up. Equally cool is that the players were able to design the ship that their characters were assigned to. It was fun and gave them more of a stake in their ship’s survival.

Spacer Skills Revisited

Download Issue #10

By [[Menoitios]]

Modified Prerequisites for Knight Hawks

It has been pointed out that the prerequisites for spacer skills are burdensome and such levels are rarely met by players in normal game-play. I have heard of many people that have modified the prerequisites for Knight Hawks’s skills, so I present my system with a fair amount of humility. It enables new characters to go to the stars more quickly and lowers the levels of NPCs who the characters encounter; do you really want to have a brand new PC fight a pirate with a 6 Beam weapons skill?

Recall the original requirements for first level in spacer skills:

Spacer Skill Prerequisites

Pilot

Technician 6
Computer 6

Engineer

Technician 4
Robotics 2

Astrogation

Computer 6

Energy Weapons

Beam Weapons 6

Rocket Weapons

Projectile Weapons 4

Gyrojet Weapons 2

If a NPC with a Tech skill of 6 is at the highest possible level of intelligent species technical ability, might not employment other than pilot of a pirate ship be found for such a being? Not to get too realistic, in a game that does not aim for excessive realism, but being a pirate is rather desperate work for rather desperate people.

In addition I find that the high levels required for most KHs adventures require overly powerful player characters and NPCs, and imbalanced interaction with low level PCs.

Indeed often the requirement that players have spacer skills means that new players have to use a pre-rolled character rather than start their own from scratch and get the enjoyment of earning and spending those precious XP points.

Instead of requiring a high level of skill in the prerequisites before achieving even a low level spaceship skill, I propose a different system that allows you to get your beginning level of spacer skills with only a low level prerequisite skill. However, in order to increase your spacer skill, you must also increase you level in the foundation skills as well.

The following table lists the required prerequisite skill level in the foundations skills needed before acquiring the specified level of the spacer skill:

		Skill Level
Knight Hawks	Alpha Dawn	1	2	3	4	5	6
Pilot	Technician	2	2	3	4	5	6
	Computer	1	2	2	3	3	4
Engineer	Technician	2	2	3	3	4	4
	Robotics	1	1	1	2	2	2
Astrogation	Computers	2	2	3	4	5	6
Energy Weapons	Beam	2	2	3	4	5	6
Rocket Weapons	Projectile	2	2	3	3	4	4
	Gyrojet	1	1	1	2	2	2

For example, a PC could get his first level pilot skill after only achieving a level 2 Technician skill and a level 1 Computer Skill. However, in order to get a level 2 Pilot skill, he must first advance his Computer skill to level 2. Then he will have the prerequisites needed for a level 2 Pilot.

With these skill levels prerequisites, players can level up in a few adventures and take to the stars with ease, or referees can give players spacer skills at character creation without worry of unbalancing the game too much.

This creates a more "space opera" feel to the game allowing dirt farmers on back worlds to have the pilot and weapon skills necessary to destroy the enemy battle station, with a well placed shot, at the apex of their first adventure.

If a more restrained and slightly more realistic game world is desired, where only highly trained people have spacer skills, one can use the original system or some compromise between the above system and the original.

The Frontiers of Design

A new shipbuilding system for the STAR FRONTIERS® game.

by Mike Lane

Dragon #74 April 1988

Many STAR FRONTIERS® game players have problems when it comes to designing nonstandard military ships for use with the Knight Hawks board game and, as I can testify, it becomes rather nerve-wracking to be constantly asked “How many laser batteries can I put on this minelayer? Well, then, how many rocket battery salvos can it carry? Well, then. . ." and so on. Over many hours and some calculator thumping, a system that pleased everyone in my gaming group was generated. This system creates starships compatible with (if a little tougher than) those given in the board-game rules. The new ships also have a great variability in weaponry, which can make even a simple assault-scout duel quite interesting. The following sections deal with the shipbuilding formulas and overall system in depth. Tables 1-6 give details on the items discussed below.

Hull points and DCR

A civilian ship’s Hull Points and DCR (Damage Control Rating) are determined as per the Knight Hawks rule book — i.e.,

Civilian
Hull Points = Hull Size x 5
DCR = (Hull Size x 3) + 20

Milistary and Star Law
Hull Points = Hull Size x 10
DCR = (Hull Size x 9) + 20

Military and Star Law ships multiply hull size by 10 to determine hull points and by 9 to determine DCR. The greater values generated show the toughness and technical superiority of the secret military hardware over the civilian/ militia equipment, and result in fewer attacking ships being vaporized in the “Defensive Fire” phase of combat.

Weaponry and defenses

All weapons and defenses on a ship are placed according to the amount of space they occupy in cubic meters, as per the statistics on page 61 of the Knight Hawks game rules, rather than using the MHS (Minimum Hull Size) method. The MHS is still used as a measure of how many weapons of one type may be mounted on a certain hull.

The maximum number of each type of weapon on a ship may not exceed the hullsize rating divided by the MHS of that weapon system. However, any ship with the necessary space may mount any one weapon despite its MHS. (Yes, you can have an assault scout with a laser canon!)

Defenses are also bought by the cubic meter, though no ship of less than hull size 5 can mount a powered defense screen because of the screen’s heavy energy demands, which require the larger “B” engines.

The cubic meters of space for each hull size is determined by a decreasing percentage scale, with figures rounded to the nearest useful amount. This effectively reduces the free space on a battleship to about 1.6%, as compared to a fighter’s 97%, which reflects the squeeze on space as life-support systems, crew quarters, storage areas, and so forth expand with ship size and potential patrol duration.

Table 1 Space Available by Hull Size

Hull Size	Military Ships	Civilian Ships
1	30	20
2	50	30
3	75	40
4	100	50
5	175	90
6	250	125
7	300	150
8	350	175
9	400	200
10	450	225
11	500	250
12	550	275
13	600	300
14	700	350
15	800	400
16	900	450
17	1000	500
18	1100	550
19	1200	600
20	1300	650

* All spaces given in cubic meters.

Table 2 - Weapon and Space Needed

Weapon	Cubic Meters	MHS
Laser cannon	40	5
Laser battery	25	3
Proton-beam battery	30	10
Electron-beam battery	30	6
Disruptor cannon	60	12
Assault-rocket launcher	10	1
Assault rocket*	10	—
Rocket-battery array	40	5
Rocket-battery salvo	10	—
Torpedo launcher	75	5
Torpedo	20	—
Mine spreader	60	7
Mines (5 fields)	20	—
Seeker-missile rack	40	7
Seeker missile	40	—
Grapples	60	5

* Assault rockets for rearming fighters kept aboard an assault carrier are kept in cargo space. Up to 15 per cargo unit can be carried.

It should be noted that noncombat ships such as freighters, research vessels, liners, and the like have only 40% of the space listed, since their primary functions demand nearly all available space. This is not to say that there could not be smallcapacity, heavily armed liners used to move VIPs; this simply means that such ships would not be self-sufficient and would thus be very rare.

Weapon magazines

Rather than saying that a certain number of rounds can be kept in a launcher, the cubic-meters system is used to determine the number of rounds carried. Thus, ammunition for assault rockets, rocketbattery arrays, torpedo launchers, mine spreaders, seeker-missile racks, maskingscreen launchers, and ICM launchers are figured on a cubic-meters-per-shot basis, though one round (or one array, or 20 meters of mines) may be kept at no space cost in any launcher except a maskingscreen launcher. This is because a masking-screen charge is larger than the launcher itself.

Space stations

Space stations come in four main categories: fortresses, fortified stations, armed stations, and unarmed stations. The last title is something of a misnomer, as even the smallest freight station is likely to have a laser battery to discourage piracy.

Military stations fall in the fortress and fortified-station categories, while megacorporations have only a few fortified stations and many armed ones. ?Free? stations not belonging to any one group or cartel are usually armed, though a few fortified and unarmed stations can be found. Small freight stations, scientific stations, and automated stations are usually unarmed.

Space-station weaponry and defenses are mounted in exactly the same way as they are on starships, with two differences: No forward firing weaponry may be mounted, and MHS restrictions are ignored with respect to the maximum number of one weapon type mountable. The statistics given on Table 6 refer to a single space-station hull of a given size. It should be remembered that more than one hull may be joined to create megastations, as per page 8 of the Knight Hawks rule book, though such huge stations are prohibitively expensive for all but the military and megacorporations of the largest size.

Miscellaneous items

Players and GMs will undoubtedly find new things to put on ships. By carefully determining an item?s size, it can easily be integrated into this system. Remember, though, that addition of any item beyond the listed maximums reduces the ADF or MR of the ship by one.

Willpower checks

The STAR FRONTIERS rules do not include a specific an ability for "willpower". This optional rule allows a Refreree to decide what better represents the willpower of an NPC (or character).

Using LOG is based on reasoning and logic, meaning the character's willpower is based on rational thought.

Using LDR draws on the link between natural leadership and force of will.

Whichever you choose the choice should be consistent throughout the campaign.

LOG - Logic

LDR - Leadership

WIL - Choose LOG or LDR