FRONTIER SOCIETIES

THE FRONTIER WORLDS

STAR FRONTIERS adventures take place in an area of space called the Frontier Sector, or simply the Frontier. The Frontier contains 17 inhabited star systems, with a total of 23 colonized planets. Some of these planets have been claimed and settled by only one of the four races, while others were set up in cooperation and have mixed populations.

Besides these settled areas, the sector contains 21 unexplored star systems that could have habitable (or inhabited) planets. No one has explored the routes to these stars for navigational hazards, so no one knows whether these stars even have planets. Even the settled systems are not fully explored. There are many moons, asteroid belts and uninhabited planets that are largely ignored in the day-to-day business of earning a living in the Frontier. These areas could hold lost alien treasures or rich deposits of precious metals and gems. Because they are isolated, these spots quickly become hiding places for outlaws and space pirates.

Many of the settled planets themselves are not fully explored. Most have been mapped by spaceships and satellites that take pictures from orbit. Very few have been explored on the ground. When adventurers travel more than a few hundred kilometers from a settlement, they are entering an area where very few people have ever been. They could be the first people ever to cross that land, or they could be walking in the footprints of a race that built a civilization and then collapsed, leaving its relics to be discovered centuries later.

The Frontier Map

A map of the Frontier Sector is provided for the referee and the players. The map shows the location of all the settled systems, unexplored systems, neutron and binary stars and dust clouds. Each square is 1 light-year across.

Each inhabited planet is described below. Six characteristics are given for each planet: Colonizers (Col.), Population and Trade (Pop.), Gravity (Grav.), Moons and Length of Day.

Colonizers indicates which of the four races settled the planet. This race will be the most common on the planet, and will control the government. Abbreviations are used to indicate which race colonized the planet: D = Dralasites, H = Humans, V = Vrusk, Y = Yazirians, * = a mixture of several races.

Population and Trade indicates how many intelligent beings live on the planet and what their major trade is. This information is given in a two- or three-letter code. The first letter describes the population, and the second and third describe the major trade. The abbreviations are:

H --- Heavy population. The planet has many large cities that are very crowded, and hundreds of smaller cities. Individual cities may cover hundreds of square kilometers.

M --- Moderate population. The planet has several large cities and numerous smaller cities, but they are not overcrowded.

L --- Light population. The planet has only a few cities, and most would be considered small on a planet with a Heavy population.

O --- Outpost. The planet is a small outpost or new colony. It has only one city, but there may be small settlements scattered nearby.

I --- Industry. Most of the planet's economy is based on manufacturing. Cities are built around factories and processing plants, and most of the inhabitants work in these factories. Raw materials may be mined on the planet or shipped in from other planets.

R --- Resource Mining. The planet is rich in natural resources like metals, fossil fuels, gems, crystals or radioactive materials. Most of these raw materials are shipped to Industrial planets because there are not enough factories to process them where they are mined.

A --- Agriculture. The planet's economy is based on farming. Any renewable resource can be farmed: grad n, I umber, livestock, fish, fruit, textiles, etc.

Some planets have more than one major trade item. The trade item that is listed first is most important.

EXAMPLE: Pale, the first inhabited planet at Truane's Star, has a Pop. code of MRI. This means the planet has a moderate population, and its major trade is mining natural resources. The planet also has some industry, but not enough to process all the materials that are mined.

Gravity is simply the strength of gravity on the planet. It is measured in multiples of 1 9, which is considered normal gravity. The effects of gravity are described in the section on Movement.

Moons indicate the number of moons orbiting the planet. Many planets have small moons that have never been fully explored. Some large planets have moons that are big enough to have atmospheres. Planets can also have rings.

Length of Day is the number of hours the planet takes to complete one rotation, or the number of hours from sunrise to sunrise.

The color of the star that the planet orbits also is listed. This has no effect on the game, but the referee can use it to add to his descriptions.

Some planets have additional notes following the table. These describe unusual cultures or planetary features. The referee can make up any other information he needs about the planets when he designs adventures to place on them.

SPACE TRAVEL

Starships can travel between star systems at speeds many times faster than the speed of light. A trip that would have taken hundreds of years in a spaceship could be made in only a few days in a faster-thanlight ( FTL ) starship. Because of their cost, however, most starships in the Frontier are owned by large corporations, planetary governments or starship travel companies.

The established travel routes are marked on the Frontier map. These are the only explored routes that have been mapped and certified as safe for starships to use. When adventurers travel, they are limited to scheduled or chartered trips following these routes.

Travel Time

The length of each route in light-years is printed on each route. Because FTL ships travel one light-year per day, this number also is the number of days needed to travel this route. This time includes take-off and landing, maneuvering in orbit, passenger loading and all other normal procedures. For example, the route from Prenglar to Cassidine is 7 light-years. A starship traveling from Prenglar to Cassidine, or from Cassidine to Prenglar, would take 7 days (140 hours) to reach its destination.

Most starships never land on a planet. Passengers board shuttles on the ground that take them into orbit, where they board the starship. When the starship reaches its destination, shuttles again take the passengers either to the planet's surface or to an orbiting space station where they can wait for another flight.

Starship Tickets and Costs

Travelers can buy three types of starship tickets: First Class, Journey Class and Storage.

First Class. First Class tickets are the most expensive, but First Class passengers get the best food, the biggest cabins and on-board entertainment. A First Class passenger can bring along up to 1 metric ton of cargo at no extra charge. The First Class section also is closest to the starship's lifeboats and emergency spacesuits, so First Class passengers have the best chance to survive a catastrophe. A First Class ticket costs 200 Credits per light-year traveled. For example, a First Class ticket from Prenglar to Cassidine costs 1,400 Credits.

Journey Class. Travelers with Journey Class tickets get smaller cabins, poorer-quality food and no entertainment. A journey Class passenger can bring along up to .5 metric ton of cargo at no extra charge. In addition, they are farther from the lifeboats than First Class passengers. A Journey Class ticket costs 100 Credits per light-year traveled.

Storage. Passengers traveling Storage Class ship themselves as cargo. The passenger is frozen and stored in a special berth. The frozen passengers are revived at their destination. A Storage Class ticket costs 30 Credits per light-year traveled, and includes up to 100 kg of cargo.

Starship flights are not always scheduled at convenient times for the adventurers. If the referee does not have a specific flight in mind for the characters, he can roll 3d10 and subtract 3. The result is the number of days the adventurers must wait before the next scheduled flight leaves for their destination. If the result is 0, a starship is leaving that day.

If characters must travel through several star systems to reach their destination, they probably will make layovers at each star system along the way. Unless the starship they are traveling on is continuing along the same route, the characters must stop and wait for another scheduled flight totheir next destination. If the characters are working for a company that is flying them to their destination, their ship probably will not stop over in a system for more than one or two days: just long enough to pick up supplies, fuel and news.

EXAMPLE: Justin Balinar and Sh'Kree Kir must travel from Cassidine to Athor. Their ship takes seven days to reach Prenglar. When they arrive, the referee rolls 3d 10 and subtracts three days to see when the next ship leaves.The result is an 8, so Justin and Sh'Kree must spend eight days on Prenglar before leaving for Athor. They can look for a temporary job, see the local sights, or perhaps get involved in a short, surprise adventure that the referee has prepared for them.

Customs, Duties and Taxes

The referee may want to add local baggage inspections and special visitors' taxes on some planets. These are not standard, and are left to the referee's judgment. However, they can lead to interesting adventures if the characters are trying to smuggle goods onto a planet or hide from the law. Local duties and taxes also are a good way to relieve rich characters of some of their extra cash. If players ask, the referee should tell them what sorts of inspections and charges they can expect at their destination.

THE FRONTIER WORLDS
System / Planet Col. Pop. Grav. Moons Day Star

Araks Yellow

Hentz Y HI .7 0 25

Athor Orange

Yast Y MA 1.0 2 15

Cassidine Orange-Yellow

Rupert's Hole H MIA .9 0 20

Triad * HI 1.1 1 30

Dixon's Star Green-Yellow

Laco H O 1.4 1 60

Dramune Orange-Yellow

Inner Reach D MAI .8 1 20

Outer Reach * MIR 1.0 5 35

Fromeltar Yellow

Groth D LA 1.2 0 45

Terledrom D / V HI 1.0 3 60

Gruna Goru Yellow

Hargut Y HR 1.1 1 20

K'aken-Kar Red-Orange

Ken'zah Kit V MA .9 0 25

Kizk'-Kar Yellow

Zik-kit V MIR 1.0 0 65

Madderly's Star Yellow-Green

Kdikit H MIA 1.0 5 30

Prenglar Yellow

Gran Quivera * HI 1.0 0 15

Morgaine's World H O 1.5 4 40

Scree Fron Orange-Red

Histran Y O .6 7 25

Hakosoar Y LAI .9 5 50

Theseus Yellow-Orange

Minotaur H HI 1.2 0 15

Timeon Green-Yellow

Lossend H LFI .7 0 70

Truane's Star Orange-Yellow

Pale * MIR .9 3 55

New Pale H LA 1.4 0 20

White Light Red-Orange

Gollywog H HR 1.0 0 50

Notes
Hentz (Araks) is ruled by a religious clan, the Family of One. Everyone who lives there wears a uniform showing his job and position.
Triad (Cassidine) is a major industrial planet where very high technology items are manufactured and sold.
Inner Reach (Dramune) has an unusual local custom. The Dralasites that live there dye their skin various colors to show their mood for the day. The dyes wash off easily.
Outer Reach (Dramune) is a gathering place for criminals and outlaws of all types. People there do not ask strangers how they earn their livings.
Terledrom (Fromeltar) is ruled by a council of Vrusk companies and elected Dralasites. The companies control all trade with other planets, and consider smuggling a serious crime. The planet has rings that are visible from the ground during the day.
Zik-kit (Kizk'-Kar) has very rich mining deposits. These are exported mainly to Terledrom for manufacturing. Zik-kit is controlled as a colony by the Terledrom government.
Gran Quivera (Prenglar) is the hub of the Frontier Sector. The Star Law Rangers, Pan Galactic Corporation, and United Planetary Federation all have headquarters at Port Loren, the major city.
Morgaine's World (Prenglar) is a UPF and Star Law base. The planet has rings.
Pale (Truane's Star) is the starting point of the only possible starship route through the Xagyg dust clouds. The route to Zebulon was just recently opened.

TIME

Galactic Standard Time (GST) is the most popular time system in the Frontier. The GST system uses hours, minutes and seconds. An hour is 60 minutes long, a minute is 60 seconds long. A second is defined as the length of time needed for a beam of light to travel 300,000 km through a vacuum.

One year in Galactic Standard Time is 8,000 hours long. A standard year is divided into 400 20-hour days. Each day is divided into a 1 0-hour work period and a 1 0-hour rest period. These standardized days and years are used mainly for record-keeping.

Besides Galactic Standard Time, many planets have their own local time system. These local systems use GST seconds, minutes and hours, but the length of the day and year varies from planet to planet. The length of a local day is the time it takes for the planet to rotate through one complete day/night cycle. A local day usually is divided into equal periods of light and darkness, although these can vary if the planet's axis is tilted in relation to its orbit. A local year is the length of time the planet takes to make one complete revolution around its star.

Game Turns. A STAR FRONTIERS game turn is six seconds long. There are 10 turns in one minute. The referee should not break the game down into individual turns until the characters get into a fight, a chase or some other situation where a difference of a few meters or a few seconds can be important. When the characters are not under pressure, the referee should ignore game turns. He can either run the game in real time or use his own judgment to decide how much time the characters spend doing something.

Pan Galactic. All intelligent races in the known galaxy have a native language. In order to simplify interstellar trade, the Pan-Galactic Corporation created Pan Galactic, a language of sounds and gestures that can be spoken by almost any intelligent, speaking creature. It does not sound quite the same when spoken by members of different races, but anyone who speaks Pan Galactic can understand a creature speaking Pan Galactic. Because of its usefulness, Pan Galactic is spoken on almost every world that has contact with the Pan-Galactic Corporation or one of the four major races.

Alien Languages. The referee can decide that the natives of some planets do not speak any language but their own. Aliens that have never met adventurers or Pan-Galactic traders certainly will not know how to speak Pan Galactic. This will create problems for adventurers when they must find a way to communicate with the aliens.

Learning New Languages. At the start of the game, all player characters speak their native language and Pan Galactic. Learning a new language is like learning a new skill. Each level costs 3 experience points. At level 1, a character will understand about half of what anyone says in that language, and has a 50% chance to make someone else understand what he says. This increases 10% at each level above 1.

Polyvoxes. A polyvox is a small, computerized device that translates what it hears in one language and repeats it in another language. Polyvoxes and language tapes for all known languages can be bought wherever general computer equipment is sold. A polyvox also can learn a new language if it can be programmed with key phrases, and then hear the spoken language for d100 hours. More information on polyvoxes is given in the section on EQUIPMENT.

Other Barriers. Knowing an alien language or having a polyvox does not guarantee that a character can talk to an alien without having problems. Characters who are speaking an alien language can be confused by words that sound alike but have different meanings, and can have difficulty forming strange sounds. They can easily offend an alien creature by violating one of its traditions, customs or systems of etiquette. The referee should feel free to use language barriers as obstacles for players and to add excitement or even humor to the game.

THE COST OF LIVING

Instead of keeping track of many small expenses, the referee should assume that characters spend one-half of all the money they earn on food, clothes, rent and other miscellaneous items. This is the same on everyplanet.Unlessthereareunusualcircumstances,playersalways will have enough money to pay for these and other mundane items not included on the Equipment List.

The referee can adjust the cost of living to fit the circumstances in the game. For example, if the referee thinks the player characters have too much money, he can raise taxes, raise the price of traveling between planets, declare that a drought is increasing food prices, etc. If the characters are having trouble saving enough money to buy equipment they need, the referee can declare a special tax refund to celebrate a prince's wedding or some similar event.