Alpha Dawn - Star Frontiersman

differently. It is your job to determine how each
character would react in a situation. Encourage the
players to talk to you as if you were the characters
they meet and answer them as each would.
For example, the player characters are trying to find
someone who might know something about a
missing PGC scientist. They want to question several
NPCs who were in the area when the scientist
disappeared. One is an old woman whose mind
wanders and who never quite answers the
questions. Another fellow has had too much to drink
and wants the players to drink with him. The third is
a bully who won't help anyone and wants to start a
fight. The last is a policeman who warns them that
strangers are not liked here; but he does remember
seeing the scientist with two people the night he
disappeared. You can make up an entire, interesting
dialogue as the NPCs talk to the player characters.
Be a Leader. Make sure everyone participates. Give
every player a chance to make decisions but don't
let everyone talk at once. You might ask the group
to choose one player to be its leader. When the
players reach decisions, the leader explains their
plans to you. This reduces the confusion that can
result when everyone talks at once. When
characters are acting independently, as in combat,
you can ask each player what his character is doing.
Make sure no one is forgotten.
How to Control the Adventure
As the referee, you must control many actions
during an adventure. You must start the game and
control the direction of the story; you must make
decisions on special actions, determine any
modifiers, decide on non-player character and
creature reactions, conduct combat and keep track
of time. Advice on handling each of these tasks is
given below.
You start a game by telling the players the
background of their mission, describing the setting
and discussing how much they will be paid if they
succeed. Be prepared to answer any questions and
give further descriptions as the players investigate.
Let the players make their own decisions and try not
to force choices on them. If they make a bad choice
or bypass an encounter, let them; they may return
to the encounter later. What you should try to do is
make sure players understand what effects their
decisions might have.
Make Decisions. During the adventure you must
decide what happens when characters try unusual
things, and how likely they are to succeed. This
might include deciding whether a building blows up,
or if a skimmer is damaged by driving across a
rocky field. You may have decided before the game
what will happen when certain things are done, or
you may have to make a decision during play. Your
decisions should be based on what you think would
happen in real life. A character who tries to leap
from one roof to another may make it, but if he fails
he probably will fall and get hurt.
If a character tries an unusual action, you probably
can link his chance to succeed to one of his ability
scores. Then you can have the player make an
ability check to see if the character succeeds in his
attempt. If an action can not be linked to an ability,
you should just assign a percentage chance from 1
to 100, based on how likely you think the action is
to work.
When players ask if they can do something, don't
answer them "yes" or ''no." Tell them to try and see
what happens. Letting players try anything will
make the game more unpredictable and full of
surprises for everyone.
Most important, you should make your decisions
quickly. It is more important to keep the adventure
moving and the players interested than to consider
every possibility.
Using Modifiers. As referee you will need to
determine how easy or difficult an action is and how
this will affect a character's chance to do something.
You must use modifiers to reflect the difficulty of an
action. If an action is easy you can let the player
add 5 to 30 points to his chance of success; if it is
difficult, you could tell him to subtract points.
To determine whether a character should get a
positive or negative modifier, you can compare the
action being attempted to the character's normal
limits. For example, a character can leap 5 meters
with a running start. If a character tries to leap 5
meters without a running start or with a heavy pack
on his back, his chance to succeed should be
reduced. If the character is jumping with a strong
wind at his back or from a higher to a lower surface,
his chance to succeed should be increased.
Your own judgment is very important when deciding
whether to assign a modifier, but you always should
have a reason for choosing the modifier you
assigned.
NPC Reactions. You will need to decide how nonplayers
characters and creatures react to player
characters when they are encountered. NPCs should
act intelligently and react according to their
personalities (are they friendly, suspicious or
hostile) and on the basis of what they know and
how the characters act. Creatures usually react
according to their instincts and the characters'
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