RPG Archive: Star*Drive for D&D and Traveller

Star*Drive is a science fiction setting from the end of the 90s that TSR put out at the end of its life. Despite the doom approaching TSR, the end of the 90s was filled with new ideas and RPG options in books and in Dragon Magazine. So much of this content is still usable whether you play Dungeons & Dragons, a sci-fi RPG like Traveller, or are looking for a retro sci-fi RPG to try like Alternity. And yes, the cover art for the Alternity Gamemaster Guide connects to the cover art of the Alternity Player’s Handbook!

Planet Alien Space - Free photo on Pixabay​

Alternity and Star*Drive​

Alternity is a set of rules using the Star*Drive setting as a ready example but also with other settings available. Star*Drive is a setting using the Alternity rules with some d20 rules also available in D20 Future and in Dragon Magazine using Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2E.

Star*Drive had a lot of support for PCs venturing out into frontier space in FTL ships to explore alien worlds, combat rogue killer warships, and try to earn money to keep flying. With so much content, this article will concentrate on a brief overview of the setting, two adventures also usable with Traveller, and AD&D and d20 conversions. Used copies of all these RPGs and magazines are easy to find and most are quite affordable with many at or under $30 each.

The main book covers starfaring Earth nations and corporations along with several alien species also found in the Alternity Player’s Handbook. Dragon Magazine (issues #250, #256, #261, and #263) would provide deeper dives into these aliens. Star*Drive - Alien Compendium I provides plenty of new aliens for PCs to interact with or play as a character.

Adventures Usable for Traveller, Mothership, Alternity and Other Sci-fi RPGs​

Star*Drive - The Lighthouse is a moving space station that visits system after system on diplomatic and trade missions. It houses a dark secret (no spoilers) but would be perfect for use with Mothership. If the engines are converted, The Lighthouse would work for Traveller or Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (AD&D 2E) although its secret would need to be altered. PCs could be citizens of the Rock of Bral and travel into Wildspace aboard The Lighthouse. Or play with the original Alternity rules and visit a new star system every game night.

Star*Drive - The Last Warhulk is sprawling space crawl of an adventure. It is epic in size and scope and not well known. I really enjoyed running this one for Star*Drive and would consider it well worth the effort to convert to another RPG.

There are also the Star Frontiers aliens. Converted in Annual #3 Dragon Magazine, one alien race, the dralasites (blob beings able to create a variable number of limbs), are one of my favorite PC alien options and well worth porting over to D&D or Traveller.

AD&D and D20 Future Conversions​

The aliens are converted to AD&D 2E in Dragon Magazine: #251 presents sesheyans (easily the most alien and with their nocturnal nature they would be juxtaposed nicely on The Lighthouse), #253 has the psionic fraal, and #257 covers the lightning fast reptilian t’sa. #244 also has a simple one page Alternity to AD&D idea. The reverse is also possible, with the Alternity Gamemaster Guide having rules to convert AD&D PCs to Alternity and Dragon Magazine #262 has information on converting AD&D monsters to Alternity.

D20 Future also has a short conversion of a small portion of Star*Drive that meshes better with D&D 3.5.

Star*Drive Forward​

Star*Drive has so much to offer: PC aliens, AD&D PC aliens, amazing adventures, awesome aliens, and many ideas that can transported to other RPGs or used with the original Alternity. And the prices for most of these items are less than current RPG prices so there isn’t much to lose to check out the various options.

Over twenty-five years later and I still recommend Star*Drive and Alternity. And Spelljammer: Adventures in Space (AD&D 2E) and the Rock of Bral of course!

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[VelvetViolet]

I took women's studies in college. I'm quite familiar with women in refrigerators and so on.

I think Dark•Matter/d20 Modern's illuminati conspiracies can be salvaged and don't need to be completely thrown out. It's impossible to avoiding someone somewhere, so I don't think it's productive to bubble wrap everything to try avoid offending anyone anywhere.

What I think should be pointed out is that the members of illuminati conspiracies are mostly humans. Humans are flawed, morally complex, etc. Very, very few people are saints or serial killers. What do they believe that leads them to form and join these illuminati conspiracies? The chapter takes an almost wholly antagonist view with almost all the illuminati presented and doesn't try to give any nuanced exploration of their beliefs or the people who compose the membership. It's very one-sided and very far right.

I think taking a more nuanced approach and trying to be fair to both sides of the political aisle is the most economical choice. Sure, the New World Order wants to take over the world, but that doesn't mean they're all cackling evil psychos. I'm sure they genuinely believe they're doing good and uplifting the working class, just like how the fanatical zealots of the Order of St. Gregory think they're doing God's work by executing innocent aliens and magicians.

Nobody is immune to propaganda. People who think they're good people can be convinced to do the most heinous things if they think it serves the greater good. They can be convinced to dehumanize their political opposition and think it's okay to imprison people for their political beliefs or murder them on the spot. People are especially vulnerable to this if they're afraid. There is a lot of fear to go around.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

There was never a real plan for a starship supplement for PD1... SVC told people asking to "Use SFB."

For not having a plan they talk about it quite a bit in the supplement! And other "planned" books that also never saw the light of day.

 

[Charles Dunwoody]

Alternity was a great system that came out at a bad time. If TSR had released it earlier, it might have found a wider audience. Though it did get a lot of support material, and there were some good articles in the Dragon/Ares magazine. My favorite ones were how to use Alternity in the Traveller setting and using Dark*Matter for Top Secret.

At least it had a better response than Amazing Engine. Despite having eight setting books, I own Bughunters and Kromosone, it disappeared like a fart in the wind. I remember trying to find any info on the internet and there was hardly anything. The only thing I found was a guy running Bughunters using the CORPS system.

Bughunters was great. What a deadly system.

 

[VelvetViolet]

Bughunters was great. What a deadly system.

I love the premise for Bughunters. I think it’s better than the official Aliens RPG.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

I love the premise for Bughunters. I think it’s better than the official Aliens RPG.

I tend to agree. It was definitely one of the good AE settings by any reasonable standard, and easily adaptable to other systems. Kromosome still feels years instead of its time, and I admit to high degree of faux nostalgia for Metamorphosis Alpha To Omega, having never owned the original despite being a big Gamma World fan. Not a huge fan of any of the rest, although most of them had glimmers of potential.

Not Tabloid, though. Atlas' Pandemonium was the ultimate tabloid news reporter RPG and needed no imitators.

Although redoing Dark*Matter as a Kolchak/gonzo reporter game might be good replacement for X-Files mode and connections to real-world conspiracies.

 

[aramis erak]

For not having a plan they talk about it quite a bit in the supplement! And other "planned" books that also never saw the light of day.

Keep in mind: They guys writing PD 1e were not working for ADB, but for TFG. They were pushing the limits a good bit, and then TFG imploded, and ADB shut PD1 down in favor of GPD and PD20... with an intent that it not be active duty campaigns. I once accidentally triggered an SVC rant about that... It's almost like he'd never watched any Star Trek...

 

[dbolack]

Alternity was a great system that came out at a bad time. If TSR had released it earlier, it might have found a wider audience. Though it did get a lot of support material, and there were some good articles in the Dragon/Ares magazine. My favorite ones were how to use Alternity in the Traveller setting and using Dark*Matter for Top Secret.

At least it had a better response than Amazing Engine. Despite having eight setting books, I own Bughunters and Kromosone, it disappeared like a fart in the wind. I remember trying to find any info on the internet and there was hardly anything. The only thing I found was a guy running Bughunters using the CORPS system.

For Faerie, Queen, and Country and Galactos barrier were interesting.

 

[CandyLaser]

For Faerie, Queen, and Country and Galactos barrier were interesting.

I wouldn't say it's good, exactly, but Once and Future King inspired a long-running desire to do a sci-fi take on the Arthur story. I've thought about doing it in a Battletech-ish setting, with possession of a mech being the rough equivalent to the arms and armor a knight would have possessed in feudal Europe/Britain. Once and Future King is more space opera-y, and also a bit too on the nose for my tastes, but I do like it nonetheless.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Of course we can add conspirancies style Lovecraftian cults, James Bond's villain gallery or evil faction from superheroe comics. In the 80s cartoon there was something like a reptilian alien conspirancy, the "Cobra-la" from G.I.Joe cartoon movie.

Cobra-La

Other point is lots of players would rather enemy factions not linked to groups from the real life. And if an urban fantasy franchise has got lots of supernatural factions then to explain the reason because ordinary people know nothing is more difficult.

Have you imagine a d20 future setting with a "raypunk" or "cassete futurism" look? with some touch of magitek.

I was thinking about a sci-fi pulp IP and to my memory returns Dust Warfare, a miniature wargame by Fantasy Flight Games, and the now forgotten franchise "Reich Busters" (style Castle of Wolfestein), a board game style "Wolfestein" videogames.

 

[Staffan]

I wouldn't say it's good, exactly, but Once and Future King inspired a long-running desire to do a sci-fi take on the Arthur story. I've thought about doing it in a Battletech-ish setting, with possession of a mech being the rough equivalent to the arms and armor a knight would have possessed in feudal Europe/Britain. Once and Future King is more space opera-y, and also a bit too on the nose for my tastes, but I do like it nonetheless.

You might want to check out Camelot 3000, a comic by Mike W. Barr and Brian Bolland. It has a severely troubled Earth under attack by aliens and ruled by corrupt autocrats when Arthur returns and the Knights of the Round Table get reincarnated in contemporary people (including sir Tristan as a woman). It's pretty awesome.