Alpha Dawn - Star Frontiersman

1. The Rules........................................................ 1
History............................................................. 1
Today’s Frontier................................................. 2
Picture Story..................................................... 2
The Basics ........................................................ 3
Abilities............................................................ 4
Skills ............................................................... 6
Race Abilities..................................................... 7
Movement ........................................................ 7
Combat .......................................................... 11
Damage ......................................................... 19
Vehicles ......................................................... 21
2. Characters.................................................. 29
Character Generation........................................ 34
Races............................................................. 32
Skills ............................................................. 42
Improving Characters ....................................... 56
Equipment ...................................................... 57
3. The Frontier ................................................ 77
Space Travel ................................................... 78
Time in the Frontier.......................................... 79
Languages of the Frontier.................................. 79
The Frontier Worlds.......................................... 80
Map of the Frontier Sector................................. 81
4. Referee ......................................................... 83
How To Prepare for Play.................................... 83
How To Be a Referee ........................................ 84
How To Control the Adventure............................ 85
The Referee’s Golden Rule................................. 86
Example of Play............................................... 86
How To Reward Characters................................ 87
How To Be a Good Referee ................................ 88
How To Referee Creatures ................................. 88
How To Referee NPCs ......................................101
The Sathar.....................................................106
How To Referee Adventures..............................108
5. Crash on Volturnus.................................119
6. Optional Rules ..........................................155
1. Prioritizing Ability Scores ..............................155
2. Fixed Ability Total........................................155
3. Variable Skill Levels.....................................155
4. Variable Starting Wealth...............................156
5. Edges & Flaws ............................................156
6. Skill Specialization.......................................157
7. Fleshing Out a Character ..............................157
8. Cinematic Martial Arts ..................................160
9. Mentalist PSA .............................................164
10. Starting Gear............................................168
11. Simplified Skill Resolution ...........................169
12. Increased Punching Score ...........................169
13. Lethal Combat...........................................169
14. Experience Point Checklist...........................170
15. Optional Equipment....................................171
Table of Contents
Exciting Adventure on Alien Worlds
Star Frontiers was my first game purchase. I shelled out ten
bucks and had no idea exactly what I had bought. I knew it
was a game, I knew it looked cool, but I had never played a
role-playing game before and wasn’t entirely certain what to
expect.
I opened the box when I got home and found two plastic oddshaped
dice, a white crayon (to fill in the engraved numbers
on the plastic dice then wipe off the excess), a couple of
books (one called “Basic” and one called “Expanded” rules),
and a bunch of tactical maps and punch-out chits.
My first game was a lot of fun, though I did just about
everything wrong that I think is possible. The character’s
stats were all inflated, I kept increasing IM with each roll,
adding over and over... You name it I did it wrong. But it was
an amazing experience.
After a few years, I had a lot of experience with role-playing.
Friends got me into playing D&D and some others, and I
learned the value of good story-telling.
During all this time, I kept playing Star Frontiers. My human
military specialist turned spy became very tough, able to
handle just about any situation. He had enemies and friends
all over the frontier, had an island on a remote world with a
private military base and a small army to defend it. I played
other characters, but Gavin Rove was always my favorite.
The most amazing thing about all this... I never purchased
another supplement. I played and played, never running out
of ideas, imagination, adventures, enemies, and fun. One
box is all I needed. Games just don’t sell that way anymore.
Any company that did that would be shooting itself in the foot
financially.
So that is why I have assembled all these rules here. You
won’t find too much modification to the original, I tried to
keep it all true. Anything I added is shown as optional, and
derived from some published TSR source or another (Dragon
Magazine, adventure modules, etc.) I didn’t add much in the
way of house rules in order to remain true to the original
game. All in all, I’m hoping someone else gets their hands on
this book and has years of fun and adventure, just like I did.
Enjoy,
Bill Logan
Bill_Logan@MyWay.com
www.StarFrontiers.com
Last Revision: 5.10.2007
STAR FRONTIERS, WIZARDS OF THE COAST, and the WIZARDS OF
THE COAST logo are trademarks belonging to Wizards of the Coast, Inc.,
a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc. The free distribution of this revised edition of
the out-of-print game system and additional material provided through
submissions by fans like me is not intended to detract income from Wizards
of the Coast and is done here with limited permission.