 October 5, 2013 - 4:42am | It seems we are facing a hiccup with the ship rule as presented in Knight Hawks. They present some cool ships with that realistic deck arrangement and momentum-based thrust, but they seem to be ether distracting us form how unrealistic the system is, or setting-up a false (or unnecessary) senses of realism in an otherwise cinematic-styled game. Star Frontiers is not one harmonious game, but a set of games that maintain some core elements (the races, Pan-Galactic, the UPF, etc.), but seem to go into a tangent with most things. Alien Worlds was noted for striving for realism, but its not possible to know without more info. Alpha Dawn was setup to be cinematic, with the way characters take hits - taking HP damage instead of injuries - and the spaceships have a typical Hollywood deck arrangement. Originally, the game was not going to have ship-battle rules for the sake of character-based actions, but people really wanted to blow-up spaceships. Knight Hawks did try to add some degree of realism - to the point of retroactively changing the way ship are presented - but as noted, it fell short. And Zebulon's Guide... well... Despite the fact that it was a mess to begin with, it was in noways striving for any kind of realism. Although they wanted to avoid anything that felt too "magical", a playtest group totally lost their collective balls and insisted on there being an instant escape in case they get marooned on some deserted planet - thus the teleporter. What I'm getting at is, are we playing a cinematic game were physics take a backseat for the sake of outrageous adventure, or do we play a gritty game that tries to ground itself in what is possible, but with enough sci-fi phlebotinum to make the unrealistic stuff possible, or something in-between? I can picture a Star Frontiers that plays out like a '70s space adventure akin to Star Wars, Buck Rogers and Battlestar Galactica, were characters get shot at, but seldom get hit or take any real damage, as well as space fighters flying through space like actual jet fighter. On the other hand, I can also picture a Star Frontiers that is grounded in hard science, were space travel is a way more complicated and time-consuming, and even the toughest characters can die outright from a single shot to the head. Think 2001: A Space Odyssey and Alien. Yes, they may not be what you find in the rulebooks or setting info, but not everyone plays by the book. So going beyond the constrains of published canons and rules, what would you guys find the most idealistic way of playing Star Frontiers? |
 October 17, 2013 - 11:27am | Thanks, Jedion. I suspected it was from the books somewhere. |
 October 25, 2013 - 6:01am | "4) I like your angle that vrusk corporations that could not get out from under the Giga-corps of the home world were the ones who immigrated to the frontier not individuals that scraped together the funds and rag tagged it to the frontier. " -iggy I like the idea that the Vrusk are from the Frontier. Someone has to have their homeworld near the Frontier. "RE: dralasites- perhaps they have an internal clock that is rather slow in phasing them through the various sexes. Since its an internal biological rythem there is no real fear of overpopulation and with the drugs mentioned in AD they have a measure of control to regulate their sexual state" -Jed I like this idea. "Rattraveller just wrote a neat double article on the sathar and the megacorps...Like a vrusk cadre that is vrusk agents sent by the corporate facists of the vrusk homeworld who are starting to realize they may have made a mistake by writing off the Frontier. " -Jed I really like Ratt's article. This is very useful. As for the Vrusk cadre, I believe the Vrusk are from the Frontier BUT, if this is not the timeline you use - this is an EXCELLENT idea for another antagonist! "I also had the Vrusk & Dralasites meet each other first. Is that in the books somewhere? I have no idea where I got that from. Humans met them both shortly afterwards, and then Yazirians showed up later." -Boss I think this is the general stream of things. "nd Zebulon's Guide... well... Despite the fact that it was a mess to begin with, it was in noways striving for any kind of realism...What I'm getting at is, are we playing a cinematic game were physics take a backseat for the sake of outrageous adventure, or do we play a gritty game that tries to ground itself in what is possible, but with enough sci-fi phlebotinum to make the unrealistic stuff possible, or something in-between?" -Mal I did NOT like the new rules of ZG but, loved the information, such as the Rim, races, etc; as well as equipment and the intro of psionics. I am kicking the idea of a type of Psi-Corps, like Babylon 5. Mal, I like the something in-between. Some people want realism. I understand that but, the point of gaming is to tell a story, have an adventure and have FUN. If you are wrapped up in physics and rules and everyone's character dies easy, people will not want to play. A GM has to learn to bend the rules.... Ok, the player's loose their frieghter BUT, they were all on the bridge together <for whatever reason> and the bridge blew off from the ship...it fused the causeway shut and sealed it. It had enough air for a couple of hours. The Sathar destroyer had left and miraceously, the Anola Gay had appeared, a Dralasite freighter. |
 October 25, 2013 - 11:32am | RE: Psionics There are already two cadres dedicated to the mentalist information. The Clear Thinkers: a militant anti mentalist group : http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/4556 The Free Thinkers: a response to the militant kill the mentalist group about: http://www.starfrontiers.us/node/4560 I think if psionics were wide spread that there would be a Psi-corp division to Star Law as well as many a mega corp research project into it. Also there Fo1 may just be interested in having "thought police" You would need to introduce telepathy jammers and other kinds of drugs and tech that would be inevitable in a setting rife with psionics. Also militia crews like the Royal Marines might just find a place for a Danna Troy like character though less touchy feely than she was- not that there would have been anything wrong with being touchy feely with Deanna Troy ;) I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 25, 2013 - 11:34pm | I adopted both the Clear Thinkers and the Free Thinkers into my campaign, along with the other organizations from our Zebulon's Guide volume 2. |
October 26, 2013 - 10:09am | I adopted both the Clear Thinkers and the Free Thinkers into my campaign, along with the other organizations from our Zebulon's Guide volume 2. Volume 2? I thought Zebs guide was Volume 1, are you referencing something else? I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
October 27, 2013 - 9:37am | The Clear Thinkers and The Free Thinkers are groups, guilds, etc. What I was talking about was a branch of Star Law or something like that. You could go so far as to make it a requirement for all mentalists to register - like the Coalition States (Rifts) or the USA (X-Men). That would be some plots. If you did not want to rock the boat - make it a planet...like Hentz! |
October 28, 2013 - 7:25am | In a psionics oriented setting star law would certainly recruit mentalist. Fo1 as well. I'd even do a Star Wars rip off and have a Knights of Zebulon founded by members of the core four who took part in the mystical Ul-mor ceremony and gained psionic powers. Cue a star wars quote about a crazy old hermit/wizard. I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers! |
November 19, 2013 - 8:15pm | I'm referencing the one here in the site, which is called Zebulon's Guide volume 2. You know, under Zebulon's Guide Expanded. |
 April 28, 2015 - 10:06pm | I lean towards deviating from Alpha Dawn canon by having the humans originate from Earth, not an unnamed world near the center of a great spiral galaxy. But Earth is a long way from the Frontier. I'm tempted to say the main body of humans descend from 'the Coreward Expeditions, a multinational series of exploratory missions that began after the Vrusk sent ftl drive tech to humans via subspace pi-tachyon comms. This preserves some of the ideas found in the AD 'history of the Frontier.' As far as hardness of science and tech goes, I'm inclined towards medium-hard. I'm not sure about using inertial screens. I like that ships rely on spin and thrust simulated gravity. Magentic boots are cool. And if not magnetic--- switchable adhesive using a variant of gloop grenade tech) |
April 28, 2015 - 10:11pm | CONTINUED: I think Alpha Dawn plus Knight Hawks works well as 'medium-hard' sci fi, although it can be run and played in any of several styles or modes. It's harder/more realistic than Gamma World. Zeb's Guide shifts it towards soft sci fi, with stuff like the bap bin (or was it only a joke?) and psionics/mind magic (Mentalism). I'm inclined towards AD +KH. gravity= I'm not 100% sure I'll use all of KH, but I do really like the spin and thrust stuff a lot more than miraculous gravitic tech. horizontal versus vertical decks, and ship size/function= I don't see a conflict if horizontal decks are mostly used on small shuttles, spaceplanes, landers, and other transatmospheric vessels. Big spacegoing vessels with loads of thurst, not designed to normally land on planets, can have "skyscraper" decks. Inertial screens: They are cool, but I'm not certain I'll use them, as their existence tends to raise more questions about physics than it might be worth. Still, as a reason to get in close and use melee weapons, I do like them. Frontier= The Frontier Sector described in Alpha Dawn contains both settled and poorly explored worlds, with uncharted regions along the edges. It's a "frontier" in both senses: a border zone between nations (or in this case, species-civilizations: Vrusk, Humans, Yazirians, Dralasites, and Sathar), and a region touching the edge of the known world. |
