 February 18, 2008 - 1:23pm | This is something that has been giving me headaches ever since starting my d20 conversion of SF. The d20 system pretty much requires character classes to oeperate; in classic SF:AD there are no classes, and in Zeb's Guide there are the four professions (enforcer, explorer, techex and scispec). What I have been trying to decide is whether to use the d20 Modern classes, the Star Wars d20 classes, the T20 (Traveller d20) classes, or write my own based on the Zeb's Guide. I find the d20 Modern classes are just too basic, the Star Wars classes too focused and the T20 classes to boring, but it would make things easier to use one of these systems rather write something new. The short-lived Alternity game is close to the d20 system, and the classes there are very similar to the Zeb's Guide, so that is a template for possible conversion. Has anyone else worked on this, or have any opinions? Long live the Frontier! |
 February 18, 2008 - 3:21pm | The Zeb's Guide skills system was designed for total flexibility, but at a premium. It costs less experience to buy a single skill than it does to by a whole skill set, but it costs a whole heck of a lot more to complete the skill set using the Zeb's system. That's why I provided an option for melding the two systems in AER for the greatest flexibility. That said, just remember that the only thing that identifies the four professions in Zeb's are the automatic skill "abilities" they acquire at the beginning of the game: Endurance, Agility, Intelligence, and Charisma. These will guide how your character interacts in the world around them. So if you have a class in mind, think about the primary ability (of the six main d20 abilities) needed for that class. This should be your starting profession. Prerequisites are then used to guide skill choice. This is where your classes really come in. Group the prerequisite skills into groups. You will find patterns in among them. Those are essentially your classes. Design your character based on those prerequisite skill groupings. I would do it, (and I should have done it back when I saw the patterns) but I don't have the time. |
 February 23, 2008 - 11:57am | Gods, if this were only Green Ronin's True 20, which has only three classes(least in the core rules), Expert, Warrior and Adept, which pretty much cover every character type. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
May 17, 2009 - 8:50am | In case anyone is curious, I've finally decided on creating new classes baed on the Zeb's Guide professions and the Alternity classes. There are four classes - Advisor, Enforcer, Expert and Explorer - and their abilities are drawn from d20 Modern and Star Wars d20, with some 3rd party additions and modifications. If folks are interested, I'll post them up here in the documents section. Long live the Frontier! |
May 17, 2009 - 9:40am | Awesome, Gargoyle. Feel free to post it as a project document. Good to see some life in this old project. Will be adding the MSRD zip archive to the downloads section soon. "You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so." —Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation |
January 4, 2011 - 8:34am | Stars Without Number has three classes. Expert, Psychic, or Warrior. I believe it's based on basic D&D. Categorical classes might not be as fun as making a lot of different slants on classical classes. In my opinion, classes are much like archetypes. You could also use A Skilled Frontier PSA system.
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 January 4, 2011 - 10:35am | I know that this might be a little different then what you guys are talking about, but When I originally started my D20 conversion I had originally taken the D20 modern classes which were each based on an Attribute (Ei. strong hero (STR), Smart hero (INT) etc. and used the Star Frontiers archtypes in their place, as follows: Strong hero (Str) = Enforcer Smart hero(Int) = Sci spec Agile hero (dex):= Tech-ex, and Rogue Tough hero (Con)= Explorer Intuitive hero (Int)= Spacer charismatic hero (Chr)= Bio social Of course later on I started working on a concept that eliminated classes all together and used a core heroic template, and skills and feats to define a character but that's another story. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
January 6, 2011 - 7:08am | Still working on this. In summer 2011, I am going to start running a game in which I'll be using my d20 classes. They've altered a bit into 6 classes: the Consular (a social interaction class), Enforcer (combat class), Explorer (a scout type), Scoundrel (a rogue and con artist), Spacer (a pilot and space traveler), and Technician (an engineer and tinker). The skills and feats are largely unchanged from d20 Modern/Future, and all the d20 Future races, along with less than half a dozen new races. The first campaign: an expanded version of the Volturnus trilogy. Long live the Frontier! |
 January 8, 2011 - 2:36pm | Sounds great, Gargoyle. View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write. "It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi "That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild) |
January 8, 2011 - 3:03pm | I think I missed the boat, because when I used to Referee Star Frontiers I never used the modules, because at the time I was very much into doing it my way and hated feeling that my creativity was being hampered by following a module, Now I envy anyone who has actually run those modules because there is some really good stuff there. Of course I gotta also admit that I miss actually running a game (It has been almost 8 years since I ran a game) so Gargoyle roll a few dice for me when you get your game going. "Hey guys I wonder what this does"-Famous last words "Hey guys, I think it's friendly." -Famous last words "You go on ahead, I'll catch up." -Famous last words "Did you here that?" -Famous last words |
February 22, 2011 - 10:00pm | I'm working on converting Star Frontiers to 4e. So far I have;
w00t's Professions List Enforcer Tough guy, good in a fight, militant Explorer Survivalist, outdoorsman, scout, planetary navigator TechEx Slicer, roboticsist, spaceship tech, general tech SciSpec Scientist, astrogator, medic, geologist, forestry Spacer Pilot, interaction skills with races, history buff Agent Smuggler, bounty hunter, scoundrel, theif, conman Scholar Academicly inclined, artist, linguist I'm still have to categorize the feat list (I hate loooooooong lists of feats) but their part of 4e. I also have to work out how to do the powers and finally introduce mentalism which is magic-like so it shouldn't be a problem. I believe Gamma World has a sytem already worked out. |
