 January 28, 2013 - 6:54am |  Issue 3 of the Frontier Explorer is now available. We were really excited and honored to get permission from Ali Ries
to use one of her images as the cover and couldn't pass up the
opportunity to center the issue on the topic of her picture.
Accordingly this issue has a strong robotics theme with articles on new
robots and robotics skills and a robot component to the included
adventure.
This issue contains the final installment of the Mooks Without Numbers adventure and also a new creature file entry by explorer Jurak Hangna. In addition we have a number of other articles containing useful background information for game masters, more locations, a pair of starships and a short story. The issue is packed full of great articles. This issues contents (article titles) are:
Grab your copy and keep exploring new frontiers. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 January 28, 2013 - 10:14am | I just wanted to comment that Ali Res is a proffessional paid artist with TV, movie, games, credits to her name from franchises you would recognize like BSG. She graciously allowed us to use her art for free and has been a huge encouragement to me as an artist. Please drop by her deviantart.com gallery and thank her for her contribution. The impact of that is not just her but other artist using DA as their virtual art gallery will see that and be possitively inclined toward allowing their art to grace the pages of fan magazines like ours. We endeavor to bring you a quality, timely product and part of that is having access to appropriate cover art and you can help with that by commenting on our artists' gallery pages. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 28, 2013 - 10:30am | More great content. Love the belt and cloud piece too. I like to include as much hard science as I can. |
January 28, 2013 - 10:45am | Thanks. We're planing on making the Astronomy 101 topics a semi regular feature so if you have requests for topics let me know. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 28, 2013 - 12:27pm | I think Iggy knocked one out of the park with Lucco's Honor but then I am a bit of a yazirian-o-phile. I too really liked the astronomy article. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 28, 2013 - 8:52pm | First, thanks for all the robots. Love 'em. Identification isn't about determining that a robot has a big stick. It is strictly about determining its "type and level". Most robots have custom components, some of which will be strictly programming and others internal mechanics. But that is not what the skill is about. The skill is about verifying its type and level. But you are right, that it is the surprise factor that makes the skill important. But unless the skill is used for varifcation, you can't know that there is anything peculiar about the robot or different than what the GM tells the player what their character thinks it is. The Programming Robots for Dummies and Dralasites article is uncredited. In that article, under "Protocols and New Programs", New Programs suggests new programs of "Personal Grooming, Domestic Service, Cooking, Mining, etc." Two of those are not programs. Those are functions. Personal Grooming and Cooking are functions belonging to a service robot with a "domestic service" program that covers those. The thing is that "programs" cover a whole range of tasks defined within its functions. The more levels the robot has, the more functions it can have. One low level robot may have a domestic service program that only covers cooking and certain functions within that task, while a higher level robot can cook, clean, groom, etc. because it has the function space, but it still has the one domestic service program. Look at all that is covered in the maintenance program. It says, "The Maintenance program handles standard janitorial functions such as cleaning, painting and basic repair. It can also coordinate services such as garbage collection, fire inspection and sewage removal." That's a large amount of work that can be covered by the one program. Many of the functions you give examples of are essentially what you call "protocols", which you ignore in the remainder of the article. Functions should be broad and maliable, covering a whole range of actions affecting a specific type of task covered by its program and lending itself to accomplishing its mission. 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 28, 2013 - 9:04pm | The Programming Robots for Dummies and Dralasites article is uncredited. mea culpa.  Tom Verreault (jedion357) wrote that one. I had several of the by-lines vanish randomly at one point. I though I had fixed it but I must have missed that one. That's what comes from staring at the file for too long. You start missing things like that.  Otherwise, those are some good points. And I'm glad you liked the robots. I had fun writing them up. Especially the two that have pictures. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
January 29, 2013 - 6:48am | @ ascent- I would interpret the word type in the identification subskill as telling the roboticist the type and level of a robot as meaning combat vs security vs domestic servant robot. Some things are obvious though- a robot armed and equipped with lots of weapons is going to stand out and people will or should be justifiably nervous around it. A group of players may take the robot's description at face value and just opt to blow it away with laser rifles set on 20 because they've seen similar bots in this present adventure. However if a combat robot looks like a butler robot then the subskill starts to become important even crucial. Instead of being able to blow away all the obviously dangerous robots they are presented with a situation where there are too many robots to blow away for the ammount of ammo they have and just to conserve ammo they need to figure out which ones are truly dangerous. I simply suggested a change in how referees might portray robots, especially if they have characters with robotics skills in their campaign. My point about adding robotics programs is that if you need a robot to do something like cut hair or apply make up for which there is a lot of details to learn then just whip up a program for it as you don't want to bog down explaining hair styles, scalp conditions, methods of cutting and etc in the functions. You simply hand wave that the program has all those details. I know that as a player if my character had robotics skill I would want to play with that skill in game and my goal was to encourage referees to use what I've perceived to be a neglected area of the game. BTW I was thinking of Shadow shack when I drew the R2D2-ish bot in charcoal due to his propensity of including star wars quotes in his games. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
 January 29, 2013 - 7:51pm | Mrs. Claus got me the first two issues of Frontier Explorer for Christmas. I really was impressed with the quality of the paper, the printing, the binding, and the cover stock. The magazine was very well made and will last a lot longer than my Dragon magazines.  I asked for the complete list of Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer issues where something I have submitted has appeared. I'll just have to repeate the list for father's day and my birthday. -iggy |
February 13, 2013 - 12:31pm | WOW! we just got a review! https://www.rpgnow.com/product_reviews.php?products_id=110675& Frontier Explorer combines the old school fun of a gazeteer with a more modern and analytical view of sci-fi games and their rules. This issue (Issue 3) features articles and advice specific to robots and A.I.s of various types and how they can fit into a campaign; along with ship designs, and much more. Frontier Explorer is well written and contains a lot of good source material and advice for any sci-fi fan and/or gamer. That it's available for FREE is pretty damned amazing. My personal test for any publication is this: Is the content quality such that I'd pay for a subscription to it? Answer: For Frontier Explorer, absolutely yes.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
February 17, 2013 - 2:25pm | Just a heads up for those interested. The print version of issue 3 is now available for download. You can get it from DriveThruRPG on in the Issue 3 product page. Ad Astra Per Ardua! My blog - Expanding Frontier Webmaster - The Star Frontiers Network & this site Founding Editor - The Frontier Explorer Magazine Managing Editor - The Star Frontiersman Magazine |
 February 18, 2013 - 10:53am | Just got a chance to read issue 3. Loved it. Fantastic job to all involved. |
February 22, 2013 - 1:04pm | WAHT A DAY! Everything went wrong at work from impatient drivers trying to run you over in a cross walk rather than let you cross the street, selfish coworkers making your job harder, and a cranky supervisor ragging on you without a real just cause. So I buy a sub and a bottle of beer at the corner store determined to enjoy them and "turn a new page" in the day and what would you know shows up on my door step? The print version of FE #3! I use the phrase "turn a new page" figuratively and I get to do just that literally. A tasty sub, a cold Sam Adams and a good read, suddenly, it just doesn't seem so bad today. Kudos ot AZ_gamer on another Grym's guide- some how I missed that one in the editing process and run up to publication- I had been wondering when the girl would make an appearance. Kudos to Tom S for his excellent work with the layout too. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
