 July 17, 2016 - 11:15am | I would argue that the "Dark Side of the Moon" module is one of the best Star Frontiers adventures out there, at least from the aspect of playing up the tensions of the UPF society without needing to resort to Sathar hiding under every rock. It really brings out he potential and real conflicts that can happen between Humans and Vrusk... and you would think there would have been early trouble between the Humans and the warrior Yazarians before the First Sathar War or at least before the Pan Galactic Corporation helped smooth over relations between the Core Four races. One neat sci fi thing about the Dark Side module is the High Peaks Sanitarium, which is a resort/hospital. I think an analogy -- for those who would want to look into it -- was the Battle Creek (MI) Sanitorium that was run in the late 19th to mid-20th centuries by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg. That would be the brother of W.K. Kellogg of Kellogg's fame -- such as Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger, Rice Krispies and Snap! Crackle! and Pop!, Raisin Bran and Sunny... but I digress. The one problem I have is why on Krataar is the High Peaks Sanitarium located where it is? Granted it has a kind of James Bond-like character. The super villian hangout at the extreme edge of civilization. But, I have some doubts about why it would have been located where it's at in the adventure. If you look at the map provided in the module, the HPS is located some six hexes away from the city of Qu'azzt on the planet Kraatar. Each hex is 300 kilometers. So, with all the twists and turns of the road, that's at least 1,800 kilometers away, well beyond the range of normal vehicles and up in the mountains where the air is way to thin to breath. Can we assume that there are mining camps along the way where the characters can get a recharge? It's not mentioned in the module. Do the characters have to get an extra special long-range explorer with several extra parabatteries to make sure they can get there and back? Again, not mentioned in the module. Why is this facility built so far away from a city? Do the Vrusk like star gazing without the twinkling effect of an atmosphere? Did David Dever and Jack Lagrange build it or is it based on an old mining colony or did someone else build it an the Kraatar Liberation Corps coopted it? Anyone have any thoughts? Joe Cabadas |
August 1, 2016 - 8:30pm | 2,000km, this is like New York to Miami or Seattle to Los Angeles, about a 3 hour flight by current airlines. So, I would think that SF air cars should be able to make a comparable journey. True, though they are only supposed to have a 1,000 km range and they need an atmosphere to operate in. The big thing about Kraatar is it's super thin atmosphere in the mountains. So, they probably need a space plane, or a modified aircar with extended range. Joe Cabadas |
