Bad Guys by Albin Johnson (Fairhand)

As told by Albin Johnson

I remember the LAST official game of Star Frontiers ever played by my old group back home. It was a riot, because we'd all been to college for a year and SF was a thing fading fast in our interests as 'grown-ups'. James McCameron had a nice, normal scenario for us to play. Jim was so bitter at having spent all those years as a 'medic' character to my 'military' character (remember when military guys were the only ones who mattered? we were such doofuses!) that he re-wrote his entire character to be even more of a killer than my legendary Yalua the Yazirian.

Anyways, halfway into the intro of the game, everyone rebels and says: "hey, let's do something fun like take over the ship, be pirates, or just raid Port Loren!!!!" Well, James was put off at the idea of his game plot being ditched, and protested that he didn't have the stats rolled up if they wanted to go 'robbing banks' in Port Loren. So I just snickered and said 'aw, it's easy, James, just come up with some rough stats that make sense....here, let me do it and you control Yalua. Mind his backpack, though, he's got a full sack of TD-19!"

Well, the boys were happy. I plopped them down in the middle of Port Loren where they proceeded to that little cluster of buildings in the middle (see map that comes with game) and began heisting the jewelry store at gunpoint. Joe's Dralasite and Ola's Vrusk didn't like the idea and got nervous about Starlaw so they leave. Jim, Dave, and Don relish in the idea and start shooting everything. It was great! James just sulked in the corner, mad that his game had been hijacked (I was such a jerk! :)

Anyways, the law arrives in no time and in force - vehicles ring the entire block, closing it off from escape. Jim, Dave, and James bolt out the store, firing at everything in sight, blowing away pedestrians, shooting at the cars, etc. Joe's dralasite makes use of the panic and climbs one of the buildings and accesses a pedestrian walkway to cross into non-surrounded territory. Ola is smart, too, and as a Vrusk tech. runs over to one of the elevators to descend into the parking garage below. Don the human sees Ola's retreat and figures his is a better plan than sticking around and follows. Jim and Dave scurry about, Yazirian and Osakar, laughing like Beavis & Butthead and enjoying the whole 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' affair. At one point, Jim sees James (controlling Yalua) standing off to one side looking for police to come storming in. Jim mutters something to me, the GM: "Heh heh - well, so much for your legendary Yalua, Al!!!" So he fires his laser pistol at the backpack at 10 SEU setting - the TD-19 explodes in a bright burst of flame and all that's left of Yalua is a greasy spot on the sidewalk! I was crushed! Jim and Dave high-fived.

Meanwhile, Joe makes like Lee Harvey Oswald. His Dralasite clears the street, pursued by law enforcement that see him on the elevated walkway. He runs into a darkened holotheater, where he somehow loses them. Ola and Don, at the same time, enter the underground garage, Ola successfully opens and hotwires a car, and the two of them somehow manage to bust through the roadblock above. A fast car-chase follows, and out of the hail of gunfire their car is hit and the steering goes out. They crash outside Port Loren and escape on foot.

The rest isn't pretty, but it's the stuff of stories. Jim and Dave are the only living members still caught in the blockade, and there's NO escape. They dive into store after store, shooting customers and dodging gunfire from the police that sit outside each shop's window. They take hit after hit, but somehow keep going. Finally Jim and Dave grin at each other, look out on of the windows and say "I'll take the human over there" "Okay, I want to go down with that Vrusk over there". The two go crashing out a picture window, guns blazing, and after a hundred dice rolls simulating the police gunfire, the two are history.... What a rush.

What a nice game to end the legacy on....

Forward from the first Star Frontiersman

My gaming group sat down at the big conference table in the basement of the local public library and pulled out soda and potato chips. So far we had played board games: Chess, checkers, even more complex games like Shadow Lords (anyone remember that game?), Axis & Allies to name a couple. Yes, I guess we were dorks. We had never played a RPG before.

I pulled out the Star Frontiers box. It already had a dented corner from it being in my backpack. I pulled out the hastily made character sheets and handed them all out. We had one pair of dice that we had to share, and we made our characters.

One of our players at the time wanted to have a spaceship. I told him that this particular game didn’t work that way – that characters purchased passage on passenger liners and mining ships to get from point A to point B (Knight Hawks accessory hadn’t come out yet). He whined and complained, until I promised to give him one as long as he accepted the hardships that would come along with it. He readily agreed.

So we started our adventure as freight haulers. We were all excriminals who couldn’t get jobs because nobody wanted to hire you when you had a record. We were loading crates onto a banged-up piece of junk boxy scout ship.

As we did, we were annoyed by the customs inspector arguing with the ship’s captain (whose name escapes me – I made it up on the spot so it was probably dumb). During that argument, one of our characters dropped a crate (random Strength checks until someone dropped it). Out poured a bunch of contraband drugs... we all stared astonished as the ship’s captain pulled out a blaster and shot the inspector dead!

He forced us into his service because his own men were out carousing, and he needed an impromptu crew. We had many adventures under the command of that smuggler, and eventually we tired of being his reluctant crew and had it out with him. He died at our hands, and we were piloting around the Frontier in a stolen ship wanted for many crimes, always looking over our shoulder for Star Law and the several criminal bosses our excaptain had pissed off.

That’s why I keep coming back to Star Frontiers. So many memories of such amazing sci-fi fun. I plan to try to give this old game new legs through these gazetteers, the first of which you hold in your hands (or are reading on your computer!). If you have material you’d like to see presented, please contact me and I’ll add it. Of course, I may take license to make modifications or clarifications to what you provide. Hey – it’s my project!! Haha...

Enjoy,

Bill Logan

Roll Initiative!

This excerpt came from an article by Bill Logan on Creative Refereeing in Star Frontiersman #8. For me it was an awesome moment gaming Star Frontiers and I can almost imagine that special moment in his son's eyes.

My son was playing a Yazirian, and the rest of the player’s characters had been shot down or stunned by members of the Redhawks, a notorious band of thugs and killers they were sent to disburse. He started getting really into the situation, I could see it in his eyes. He was worried for his character and was wondering if he or any of the others were going to survive this adventure.

He rolled for battlerage… and even with the pitiful chance of success, he succeeded. Even though the odds were against him, and even though battlerage wouldn’t be enough to save him, I knew I had to let him have his moment. I could see it in his face: the memorable moment of the adventure was here.

“Time slows for you… everyone else feels a single heartbeat but you feel like that heartbeat stretches out for many seconds. The storm strengthens, the rain coming down in the alley with great power – as if providing a soundtrack to the impending burst of rage you’re about to unleash. The remaining Redhawk’s eyes widen when they sense your building surge of raw animal power – but it’s too late… you unleash it!

“Roll initiative…”