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Blastoff! The STAR FRONTIERS™ game pro- The STAR FRONTIERS set includes: The work ject was ambitious from the start. The A 16-page Basic Game rule book problems that appear when designing A 64-page Expanded Game rule three complete and detailed alien cul- book tures, a huge frontier area, futuristic is done — A 32-page introductory module, equipment and weapons, and the game Crash on Volturnus rules that make all these elements work now comes 2 full-color maps, 23” x 35” together, were impossible to predict and 10¾" by 17" and not easy to overcome. But the dif- A sheet of 285 full-color counters the fun ficulties were resolved, and the result is a game that lets players enter a truly wide-open space society and explore, The races wander, fight, trade, or adventure A quartet of intelligent, starfaring by Steve Winter through it in the best science-fiction races inhabit the STAR FRONTIERS tradition. rules. New player characters can be D RAGON 7 members of any one of these groups: The adventure ple who had never played a wargame or a Humans (basically just like you With the frontier as its background, role-playing game before. In order to tap and me) the action in a STAR FRONTIERS game this huge market, TSR decided to re- Vrusk (insect-like creatures with focuses on exploring new worlds, dis- structure the STAR FRONTIERS game 10 limbs) covering alien secrets or unearthing an- so it would appeal to people who had Yazirians (ape-like humanoids cient cultures. The rule book includes never seen this type of game. able to glide short distances using detailed guidelines for creating adven- This decision meant most of the game lateral membranes) tures, alien planets and the plants, ani- needed to be rewritten and reorganized Dralasites (amorphous creatures mals, and intelligent creatures that live so persons with no gaming experience that can control and even alter the on them. could buy it, take it home and play it shape of their bodies) Something the game does not contain without learning a lot of rules. The num- Characters for the STAR FRONTIERS is rules for spaceship design or combat. ber and types of dice in the game were game are created by a system that gen- Traveling on commercial starlines is cov- changed, the maps and counters were erates two characteristics at a time. Sim- ered in detail, but no rules are given for added, and many realistic but complex ilar abilities are paired, so no character player-owned ships or spaceship wea- rules were sacrificed for playability.. In will ever have (for instance) a high dex- pons. This (admittedly) very important general, there was an overall softening terity score and a low reaction speed. In aspect of science fiction was left out be- of the game’s “hard core.” addition, characters can use experience cause there simply was not enough room Another addition was a separate, in- points they earn during adventures to in the rule book for it. We didn’t want to troductory-level game written especially raise their ability scores, to learn one of insert a weak set of starship rules, or for newcomers to role-playing games. 13 special skills, or to improve a skill they raise the price of the first set by increas- By de-emphasizing role playing, it al- already know. ing the size of the rule book. lows new gamers to start playing the Instead, the starship rules will be pub- sample adventures almost immediately, The frontier lished as a separate boxed game. This using simple character creation, move- After communicating via radio mes- will include rules for star ship design and ment and combat rules. sages for years, these four starfaring ra- construction, combat, character skills In order to meet the game’s scheduled ces meet in a region of space called the related to starships, starship deck plans, release date, this revision work was split Frontier Sector. This vast region, 1,500 rules for fleet combat and boarding ac- up among different members of TSR’s cubic light-years, contains 38 star sys- product development staff. The project tems. Only 17 of these systems have was completed in time for its scheduled been explored and colonized when the Defeated in space, the release at the GEN CON® XV game game starts. Sathar turned to terror- convention. Free enterprise is the law of the Fron- The STAR FRONTIERS game in its fi- tier, and corporations compete with each ism. deadly agents nal form retains the original concepts other and local governments to control now lurk on almost every developed during the first two years of the most profitable areas and to open playtesting, but many of the mechanics routes to unexplored systems. Player known planet, carrying of play and specific rules are consider- characters are placed in this unexplored out their orders and un- ably different from the original versions. territory. They can work as corporate or Although many TSR employees were government agents, or can strike out on dermining the efforts of sad to say goodbye to the original hard- their own as free-lance adventurers. local authorities to build core version, others predict the revised Despite their apparent differences, the STAR FRONTIERS game will be very four races share one thing: a common up their worlds. well received. enemy that came upon them some time Because of the space that would have ago. Without warning, a fleet of warships tions, and a complete starship board- been needed, a complete list of credits attacked Frontier outposts and isolated game that can be played with or without was not published with the game. For colonies, destroying whatever they found the original STAR FRONTIERS set. those who are interested in the game’s wherever they went, fighting to the death long and fascinating history, the credits or destroying themselves to avoid being The long journey are listed below. captured. Only after several battles was Design work on the game started in Concepts and original design: Dave it learned that the marauders were the the summer of 1979. Dave Cook and Cook, Lawrence Schick Sathar, an evil race of worm-like aliens Lawrence Schick, full-time designers for Revision: Mike Gray, Allen Hammack, from outside the frontier. TSR Hobbies, were assigned to the pro- Harold Johnson, David C. Sutherland III, In the face of this onslaught, the four ject. Their goal was to create a wide- Steve Winter player races formed a loose military al- open science fiction role-playing game Crash on Volturnus: Mark Acres, Tom liance to protect their colonies: the Uni- with a solid scientific base. TSR wanted Moldvay, Doug Niles ted Planetary Federation. The second a game that would satisfy fans of hard- Art: Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Jim Hol- wave of Sathar attacks was met by UPF core science fiction, and still be easy to loway, Harry Quinn, Stephen D. Sullivan warships. The invaders were slowly play. Dave and Lawrence started by de- Editing: Steve Winter, Troy Denning beaten back, system by system, until signing a character-generation system Playtesters: Mark Acres, Dave Bullis, they withdrew completely, leaving no and simple rules for movement and Brad Cihla, Dave Cook, Helen Cook, Jeff clues that would lead the victors back to combat. Then they started playtesting, Dee, Don Dexter, Mike Gray, E. Gary their home world. adding and revising. Gygax, Luke Gygax, Allen Hammack, Defeated in space, the Sathar turned The game grew and changed for two Kevin Hendryx, Jeff Herndon, Chris to terrorism. Humans, Dralasites, Vrusk, years, until it was finally submitted for Holmes, John Eric Holmes, Josie Irvine, and Yazirians were recruited to sabotage review in the summer of 1981. During Harold Johnson, Dave S. LaForce, Frank frontier bases and destroy the morale of those two years, TSR Hobbies grew tre- Mentzer, Tom Moldvay, Will Niebling, the colonists. These deadly agents now mendously. The company had discover- Doug Niles, Erol Otus, Jon Pickens, Mi- lurk on almost every known planet, car- ed that its games appealed to a much chael Price, Paul Reiche III, Bill Renter, rying out their master’s orders and un- broader audience than wargamers and Evan Robinson, Lawrence Schick, Don- dermining the efforts of local authorities fantasy fans alone. D&D® and AD&D™ ald Snow, Stephen D. Sullivan, Phil Ta- to build up their worlds. games, for instance, were selling to peo- terczynski, Jim Ward, Bill Willingham. 8 SEPTEMBER 1982 The SF universe An in-depth examination of the STAR FRONTIERS game: Rules and systems The game world Components and more by Tony Watson The entry of the STAR FRONTIERS The reasons for this popularity, and some United States after a holocaust. MA takes game into the science-fiction RPG field is thoughts on why the games popularity place on a gigantic colony starship in a lot like mans entry into interstellar isnt as high as it might he, are outlined which the technical and social order has travel: Maybe man wasnt the first race to in the text that follows. broken down. go into space, but now that hes there, he While they are certainly interesting, intends to make his presence felt. Background and undoubtedly SF in nature, neither of Likewise, the STAR FRONTIERS TSR had previously published SF- these games fully realizes the potential of game certainly wasnt the first science- oriented role-playing games, most nota- a science-fiction setting. A star-spanning fiction role-playing game on the market, bly the GAMMA WORLD® game and the civilization, interstellar spacecraft, but in its first year of existence it has METAMORPHOSIS ALPHA game, but strange aliens, and adventures on a moved into a position of popularity these two games are post-apocalyptic myriad of bizarre and challenging new alongside some of the older front-runners.

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