tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post4570969116435706221..comments2024-03-29T07:58:31.156-04:00Comments on GROGNARDIA: Retrospective: Star FrontiersJames Maliszewskihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00341941102398271464noreply@blogger.comBlogger33125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-12883558328081816892023-07-13T04:21:54.110-04:002023-07-13T04:21:54.110-04:00Mongoose Traveller 2E is an odd beast. They still ...Mongoose Traveller 2E is an odd beast. They still have the formulas that have you travelling from A to B in-system by thrusting half way, flipping, thrusting to slow down for the other half... and yet in their space combat rules, no matter how fast you are flying, you can stop in one turn. Hmmmm... <br /><br />Traveller has always had two sides: The ones who wanted to play with psionics, with pulpy treasure hunts, somewhat scoundrel-ish criminal jobs, and who'd love all the fancy tech versus those who like the hard sci view - some with 3d space, some with vector movement, and a lot of lethality in fights so you were encouraged to think up other ways to deal with situations. <br /><br />There are now some other pulpy scifi games but there aren't too many (any?) hard scifi games than Traveller. <br /><br />Star Frontiers was good for getting younger folk into scifi and for letting you have the whole 'blasters and power swords' thing. It was fun and fast playing but it didn't tend to deep plot complexity or tough decisions. Lux Mentishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16188286486649909678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-87923301502598072362023-07-13T04:14:29.670-04:002023-07-13T04:14:29.670-04:00Not entirely correct. What you say is true until y...Not entirely correct. What you say is true until you hit somewhere around a third of the speed of light (a long, long pile of thrusting) at which points you start hitting the wall. As you push harder to get closer to the speed of light, the more you need to put in as energy to counter your change of mass. You hit the point where your engine won't be providing any meaningful further acceleration and that will probably be much short of light speed. <br /><br />But below that range of speed, you can push as long as your fuel and the parts involved can sustain the thrust. Of course, if you need to push really hard with no way to deal with what that does to the human body, that's another reason you can't thrust at high gees for too long. Lux Mentishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16188286486649909678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20813915879207526752023-07-13T04:08:07.836-04:002023-07-13T04:08:07.836-04:00Doug did a great job on the Dungeoneer's Guide...Doug did a great job on the Dungeoneer's Guide as well. A good designer who could produce something workable and interesting that got the job done pretty well. Lux Mentishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16188286486649909678noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-20256581689832297312011-09-22T08:13:20.477-04:002011-09-22T08:13:20.477-04:00http://starfrontiers.com/Home.aspx
And now it'...http://starfrontiers.com/Home.aspx<br /><br />And now it's free as in beer.<br /><br />AwesomeAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05896515629513305242noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-55239644181999692882010-03-01T14:48:28.612-05:002010-03-01T14:48:28.612-05:00I used the SF mechanics in several other genre gam...I used the SF mechanics in several other genre games I cooked up. They were pretty good, but blew up in high skill/high difficulty situations.<br /><br />Knight Hawks rocked as a space battle game. I loved the (relatively) good physics.jfruserhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01002178940479903025noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-9653034897714213662010-02-18T16:39:45.965-05:002010-02-18T16:39:45.965-05:00"You should definitely ping Steve Winter for ..."You should definitely ping Steve Winter for his stories about the making of Star Frontiers."<br /><br />If you're a fan of Star Frontiers, hearing those stories probably would be akin to watching sausage being made. I don't recommend it ...Stevehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11677895164302972957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-15151633873066418932010-01-04T23:20:51.798-05:002010-01-04T23:20:51.798-05:00A recent discussion on OSR brought up the question...A recent discussion on OSR brought up the question of, "Are games like Traveller or Star Frontiers covered under the blanket of OSR?".<br /><br />This struck me as interesting as most of the old school sci fi games were devoid of classes and had a skill-intensive system that seems contrary to the OSR definition.Eli Arndthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10445801567500822187noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-14849852771801383762009-12-30T09:41:46.612-05:002009-12-30T09:41:46.612-05:00Although, I can already hear the flame guns chargi...Although, I can already hear the flame guns charging...<br /><br />I think that Traveller could have learnt alot of Star Frontiers in its more easy going format. Nodding back to the pulps is not a bad thing and from what I see in Mongoose Traveller there is an attempt to do so. So while Traveller does need its Hard edge, it also have much in the way of pulp or classic space opera.<br /><br />So, I hope that Traveller of the future can be more reflective of this fine game whilst remaining true to some of its more basic values. One can indeed have it both ways.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-78549037290496996342009-12-22T11:59:28.313-05:002009-12-22T11:59:28.313-05:00Star Frontiers was my very first RPG and so I thin...Star Frontiers was my very first RPG and so I think of it fondly. <br /><br />Note that the original SF rules, modules, counters, etc. are available as scans at http://www.starfrontiers.com/, the guy somehow got permission from TSR back in the day to post them! (This is in addition to the remastered rules.) http://www.starfrontiers.org/ and http://starfrontiers.info/ are other good fan sites.<br /><br />They've had a thriving "OSR" going on for a long time with Star Frontiers, check it out!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-83574220240866446522009-12-20T22:16:52.190-05:002009-12-20T22:16:52.190-05:00I'm sure some here reading this watch Stargate...I'm sure some here reading this watch Stargate: Universe ... during the recent mid-season "finale," when the crew found the crashed alien ship on the lip of an canyon, my very first thought was -- "whoa, someone on the production staff played Star Frontiers growing up! If that isn't an homage to Elmore cover, I don't know what is."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11716481170537403262009-12-18T06:47:26.015-05:002009-12-18T06:47:26.015-05:00The person who puts out the Star Frontiersman maga...The person who puts out the Star Frontiersman magazine has also remastered the Star Frontiers rules and modules and released them all in pdf for free. So Star Frontiers is back, better then ever, and, best of all, FREE, at the below Web site.<br /><br />http://www.starfrontiersman.com/downloads/remasteredgoeticgeekhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02806200047269447375noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-72766548339607712852009-12-17T22:55:22.902-05:002009-12-17T22:55:22.902-05:00I have loved this game for years, even with its fl...I have loved this game for years, even with its flaws ("I have to max out my laser pistol skill before I can even learn to use a laser cannon on a starship? How does that make any sense?"). I always thought the game played best when you treated it as "cowboys and indians" in space. Oh, the dralasites are my favorite alien species of all time, hands down.Aaron W. Thornehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09265357352225836802noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-2092696044076914342009-12-17T16:24:16.628-05:002009-12-17T16:24:16.628-05:00@Delta, that reminds me, the History Channel's...@Delta, that reminds me, the History Channel's "The Universe" did an episode on how physics would influence space weaponry design and combat. I believe you can still view it on their website and download it from iTunes.<br /><br />/Man I love that show!Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997164906328234122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-86420734216549643232009-12-17T14:59:08.482-05:002009-12-17T14:59:08.482-05:00Some stuff colliding together on me. Here's an...Some stuff colliding together on me. Here's an essay at gizmodo.com from yesterday -- PHD in physics with a discussion of what space battles would be like:<br /><br />"Here's where computer games get space combat all wrong: the mass of a huge space cruiser would not place an upper limit on the speed of a vehicle, but it would reduce the acceleration a given engine could produce compared to the same engine on a less massive vehicle."<br /><br />And I'll point out that's exactly how Doug Niles' Star Frontiers Knight Hawks did it (the correct way, written in 1982). I can still remember opening the first page of the tactical book and having that "oh, right!" realization, made a huge impact on me.<br /><br />http://gizmodo.com/5426453/the-physics-of-space-battlesDeltahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00705402326320853684noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-29679109548399847822009-12-17T14:37:16.805-05:002009-12-17T14:37:16.805-05:00The one thing missing for me from both systems, St...The one thing missing for me from both systems, Star Frontiers and Traveller, was a solid method for creating your own player character alien species, which is kinda what appeals to me in a space operatic style game. I thought Star Frontiers was pretty darn cool at the time. (Heck I can still remember the day I bought it, at a toy store at Station Square in Pittsburgh) but I always wanted to develop my own universe with my own playable creatures. <br /><br />(Savage Worlds has a decent guide for that sort of thing as far as their system goes, so I guess if pressed I'd use that.)<br /><br />I might give X-Plorers a look.BigFellahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03052419088140204154noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26571237872000248732009-12-17T14:14:03.643-05:002009-12-17T14:14:03.643-05:00I've always been a much bigger Sci-Fi than a F...I've always been a much bigger Sci-Fi than a Fantasy one and not long after playing my first game of FASA's Star Trek I found myself touching D&D less and less.<br /><br />My first exposure to Traveller was less then stellar (pun intended) and Star Frontiers served the niche of Sci-Fi/Action-Adventure game quite well. <br /><br />While it is easy to peg SF as Star Wars-like, I tended to think of it as more inspired by the things that inspired Lucas. Star Frontiers is more akin to E. E. Smith's Lensman, Keith Laumer's Retief and Harry Harrison's Star Smasher's of the Galaxy Ranger. Its very Tom Corbet with a dash of Space Cruiser Yamato (all of which pre-date Star Wars).<br /><br />Definitely a fun game but also definitely not as polished or hard-science based as Traveller.Adam Dicksteinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04840144928096089178noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-28753233196314959742009-12-17T12:47:39.008-05:002009-12-17T12:47:39.008-05:00I remember hearing rumors in the late 80s that Sta...I remember hearing rumors in the late 80s that Star Frontiers was shelved because TSR had acquired the license for Buck Rogers in the XXVC Century and wanted to put their focus on that gameline. Not sure if there's any truth to that.<br /><br />SF is one of my favorite rpgs and the second rpg I played after Moldvay's Basic D&D. The game was just a blast to play - over the top, pulpy - it really had a dramatic impact on me in my early gaming years. <br /><br />I'm still very fond of many of SF's modules. The Volturnus series had a great focus on survival in an alien environment. My favorite module, however, was Mutiny on the Eleanor Moraes. I've used this module countless times with different systems (once with MegaTraveller). A very well designed adventure in my opinion.KPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18374233546533225028noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-66598595749967844562009-12-17T10:47:36.965-05:002009-12-17T10:47:36.965-05:00Bravo on the post. Star Frontiers is one of my all...Bravo on the post. Star Frontiers is one of my all time favorites games and I will be teaching my kids how to play someday. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03078137184651956189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-81566559737746508812009-12-17T10:45:56.427-05:002009-12-17T10:45:56.427-05:00As a side note, and since you mention it, one of t...As a side note, and since you mention it, one of the few licensed titles for Star Frontiers was 2001: A Space Odyssey and 2010: An Odyssey Two. Quite possibly two of the oddest products from TSR.pookiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09521454715536568847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-51733084818115407232009-12-17T10:12:21.072-05:002009-12-17T10:12:21.072-05:00I've never played SF, but it seems I definitel...I've never played SF, but it seems I definitely missed out! Thanks to Herb and Mal for the links, I think I'm going to look into this....Jayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07997164906328234122noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-11535494813480737152009-12-17T06:51:05.716-05:002009-12-17T06:51:05.716-05:00Star Frontiers is one of my three favorite games o...Star Frontiers is one of my three favorite games of all times.Thoth Amonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00172210835575382770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-85042078196368856802009-12-17T02:56:27.601-05:002009-12-17T02:56:27.601-05:00We had hours of fun at primary school playing this...We had hours of fun at primary school playing this. The Voltrunus campaign was a monster.<br /><br />I eventually bought the Knight Hawks game but I think we had all moved on by then. I'd still love to play it again.<br /><br />I recently re-read the <i>Mission to Alcazzar</i> module which I also have never played. Not one of TSR's greatest moments, I must say: more like a rolling battle/skirmish module than anything else.<br /><br />And yes that Elmore cover is a classic.Chris Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11064988977152302364noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-46236968691615907412009-12-17T00:06:58.081-05:002009-12-17T00:06:58.081-05:00Thanks for writing this one up. Reading about Star...Thanks for writing this one up. Reading about Star Frontiers brought back a lot of great memories. You've hit the point spot on: it aint Traveller, but it was a heckuva game all the same!spielmeisterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09247265293145424283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-37557188442592172712009-12-16T23:39:26.412-05:002009-12-16T23:39:26.412-05:00"And how could anyone resist that excellent E..."And how could anyone resist that excellent Elmore cover?"<br /><br />I was going to post the same thing! Definitely one of my all-time favorite Elmore pieces.David Larkinshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04133630988557116729noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7487871339000666216.post-26490508396580375622009-12-16T22:02:37.010-05:002009-12-16T22:02:37.010-05:00And how could anyone resist that excellent Elmore ...And how could anyone resist that excellent Elmore cover? That's the mental image I see when I think of sci-fi RPG's. (Heck, it's even been the wallpaper on my Blackberry for the last three months...)Christopher Bhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17368794259249607299noreply@blogger.com