Each player in a STAR FRONTIERS game plays a character, either a human or an alien living far in the future. In some ways characters are like the pieces used in other games, but players in a role-playing game do not simply roll dice and move pieces around on a board. Characters can do anything a real person could do if he was living in a STAR FRONTIERS world: shoot a laser, drive a hovercar, hunt down dangerous space pirates, operating an exploration ship that is seeking out strange new worlds, or anything else the player wants the character to do. Players are not limited to only a few actions by the rules. A player has complete control over his character, and makes all the decisions for him.

 In fact, you can think of your character as being you, placed in a science fiction world. Your character may not be like you at all -- it may even be an alien, unlike anything you've ever seen before -- but you make all the decisions, and act through your character. This is part of the fun of role playing, even if you are not a hero in real life, you can become one in a STAR FRONTIERS game.

 Unlike many other games, there is no clear winner or loser in a STAR FRONTIERS game. In most games, the players will have a goal, such as capturing a group of criminals who have kidnapped a high ranking government person or recovering a rare artifact that was lost when a starship crashed on an unchartered planet. If the players cooperate and reach their goal, everyone wins. A skillful player who uses the same character in several adventures will see that character rewarded, becoming richer, more powerful and able to handle more difficult missions.

Two dice are included in STAR FRONTIERS games. They are numbered from 0 to 9. They are called ten- sided dice (abbreviated d10).

 If the rules tell you to roll one ten-sided die (abbreviated 1d10), roll one die to get a number from 1 to 10. A zero is read as a 10.

 If the rules tell you to roll two ten-sided dice (abbreviated 2d10) roll both dice and add the results to get a number from 2 to 20. A zero is read as a 10. For example, if the rolls were 0 and 4, the result would be (10 + 4 =) 14. More dice can be rolled to give results of 3-30 (3d10), 4-40 (4d10), etc.

 If the rules tell you to roll percentile dice (abbreviated d100), roll both dice. Instead of adding the results, read the dark-colored die as the first (tens) digit and the light-colored die as the second (ones) digit. A zero is read as a zero. The following table shows several examples of rolls.