So What Makes Star Drive So Cool?
- Thread starter Darrin Drader
- Start date
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I absolutely love the Star*Drive system. It's one of my all time favorites. However, the Alternity system mechanics ... meh. They aren't bad, and there are many people who swear by the Alternity mechanics (or at them
). But, if I can get a group interested in playing it again, I'd either run it with D20 Modern/Future (except I'd replace the Attribute based classes with Alternity style classes: Soldier, Techie, Diplomat, etc.) or I'd adapt Star Wars SAGA edition (which would probably be a very easy fit).
I won't go too much into specifics on trying to sell it to you, especially since there's already some good stuff covered on this thread. The selling point for me was the wonderfully well thought out Stellar Nations and their histories, and the sheer scope and versatility of the setting. It's very well done and thoroughly filled out, without being so limiting as to straight jacket the GM. Whatever type of Sci-Fi game you want or can imagine, it will very easily fit into the Star*Drive setting.
The best way to know if this is a setting you'd like, is to take a night or two and sit down with the Star*Drive Campaign setting book (the original Alternity one, not the stuff in the D20 Future book) and just read. If it's something you'll like, it will grab you. If it doesn't grab you, then there's really no amount of selling by anyone here that would, or should, change your mind.
If it does grab you, then I'd check out some of the novels that were written in the setting world. Some of them may be a little difficult to get but between Amazon and your local library you could probably find most of them. If you don't want to really get into the novels, then I'd at least recomend reading Starfall. It's a short story collection that really shows the versatility and scope of the setting (everything from Space Opera, to Star Trek like high tech, to Aliens-esque bug hunting, to Cthulu-esque space horror - Ylem!
).
TSR_Alternity_Archive (Just so you can compare and see how much of the Alternity line you really do have.
)
From the Wikipedia Star*Drive entry:
). But, if I can get a group interested in playing it again, I'd either run it with D20 Modern/Future (except I'd replace the Attribute based classes with Alternity style classes: Soldier, Techie, Diplomat, etc.) or I'd adapt Star Wars SAGA edition (which would probably be a very easy fit).I won't go too much into specifics on trying to sell it to you, especially since there's already some good stuff covered on this thread. The selling point for me was the wonderfully well thought out Stellar Nations and their histories, and the sheer scope and versatility of the setting. It's very well done and thoroughly filled out, without being so limiting as to straight jacket the GM. Whatever type of Sci-Fi game you want or can imagine, it will very easily fit into the Star*Drive setting.
The best way to know if this is a setting you'd like, is to take a night or two and sit down with the Star*Drive Campaign setting book (the original Alternity one, not the stuff in the D20 Future book) and just read. If it's something you'll like, it will grab you. If it doesn't grab you, then there's really no amount of selling by anyone here that would, or should, change your mind.
If it does grab you, then I'd check out some of the novels that were written in the setting world. Some of them may be a little difficult to get but between Amazon and your local library you could probably find most of them. If you don't want to really get into the novels, then I'd at least recomend reading Starfall. It's a short story collection that really shows the versatility and scope of the setting (everything from Space Opera, to Star Trek like high tech, to Aliens-esque bug hunting, to Cthulu-esque space horror - Ylem!
).TSR_Alternity_Archive (Just so you can compare and see how much of the Alternity line you really do have.
)From the Wikipedia Star*Drive entry:
- Starrise at Corrivale (Harbinger Trilogy: Book One), by Diane Duane
- Storm at Eldala (Harbinger Trilogy: Book Two), by Diane Duane
- Nightfall at Algemron (Harbinger Trilogy: Book Three), by Diane Duane (This trilogy was the flagship setting series, most closely following the "Externals" plot line).
- On the Verge, by Roland Green
- Starfall (short story collection), edited by Martin H. Greenberg (The best choice for a wide view of the setting)
- Zero Point, by Richard Baker
- Two of Minds, by William H. Keith
- Gridrunner, by Thomas M. Reid (a good Shadowrun-esgue novel about a Gridrunner - akin to a Decker.)
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