What was Alternity like?

[driver8]

Alternity and StarDrive were alot of fun. It was sort of d20 before there was d20. The steps and die resolution took a little time to get used to (I add what die?)

The only thing I didnt like were the wookie like rip off race in S*D, but overall Alternity was pretty cool. Sadly it just happened along at a weird point in gaming and TSR's history, and right before the advent of d20.

 

[Wild Gazebo]

A very elegant system. Though, I feel the players book was absolutely horribly written and formatted. There were a few issues with crippling whole blocks of skills with one low stat...and perhaps a few issues with types of damage versus types of armor. But, overall a great system. And Stardrive was a superb read...very well thought out...though, I wish they would have focused on the main systems rather than the Verge. But I suppose that makes sense for the adventurous type campaigns. I recomend the system...I would have liked 3rd edition more if they would have evolved more faithfully from Alternity rather than 2nd edition.

 

[CarlZog]

And Stardrive was a superb read...very well thought out...though, I wish they would have focused on the main systems rather than the Verge. But I suppose that makes sense for the adventurous type campaigns.

Although the Stellar Nations, as Star Drive's main systems are known, got little attention from TSR and WotC, they have continued to be developed by a dedicated group of fans. Unlike most fan projects, which tend to be well-meaning but amateur and disorganized, this one has generated astonshingly detailed and professional results.

Seriously, these guys should be in business! The project's dozen authors and team members are highly organized and subjected themselves to ruthless professional editing.

The project is called the Stellar Ring Netbook. The first volume, titled The Profit Confederation focuses on the Union of Sol, the StarMech Collective, Austrin-Ontis, and Rigunmor. It's a full-color, 166-page pdf that can be downloaded at either www.alternityrpg.net or www.tequilastarrise.net

The group is currently in the editing stages of the second volume.

Carl

 

[Monte At Home]

Wolfgang Baur and I think a couple of other authors tried to license DarkMatter so they could produce books for it (no idea what system they were intending to use), and it was priced prohibitively.

Hmm. I'd be interested to know who. (Just for curiosity's sake, I guess.)

I'm also guessing that unless there are special circumstances, from the POV of the rest of the industry, any WotC property is probably going to be priced "prohibitively."

 

[Wild Gazebo]

Wow. Thanks CarlZog. I might just have to dust off the old books. That looks great.

 

[arscott]

Alternity is an excellent system. Half of it's beauty was that it's a clean, open ended system that you could pick up in five minutes and play for five decades. The other half is that the books have enough imagination, character and originality that they're worth the cover price even if you don't play the game.

There is one caveat to this, however.

Whatever you do, don't get the StarCraft boxed set. Seriously.

 

[Henry]

Given my background and where I grew up, Austrin-Ontis sector was without doubt my favorite sector. I once ran an alternity game that had NOTHING to do with the verge, and in fact was set about 30 years before the Verge was "discovered," with PL8 stuff being more prevalent than PL9, and spawned an adventure that took the group across 3 quarters of the Ring. They still remember Bill Gates' AI adventure fondly, and shutting down his near-successful attempt to take over VoidCorp.

 

[Remus Lupin]

I just want to echo what others have said. I LOVED Alternity. I used to game with DMJeff in New Jersey and he was a great GM. We did Dark*Matter and Star*Drive. I loved it. I wish I could find Alternity players here in Chicago!

 

[DMH]

Whatever you do, don't get the StarCraft boxed set. Seriously.

What is sad about this is that the box was meant to be an intro to Alternity for SC players and has an extremely stripped down version of the rules (to the point of no weapon ranges). There was to be a book later that year with a much more indepth look at the SC universe.

Fortunately there is a fan created pdf that does fix a lot of the problem on A.net.

If anyone wants to see the rules, but not buy the PH and GMG, the Gamma World setting (the 5th ed.) has all the important rules (perks and flaws are the only thing missing) and even a few optional rules that aren't in the PH. And for GW fans, the animal rules from Dragon are on A.net, along with plant rules and a lot more.

The only book I don't recommend to anyone is Dataware. I bought it for the robot rules and am still dissapointed with it. The Grid rules are okay AFICT (I don't use the Grid and don't like cyberpunk).

One of the best "books" for S*D is Externals- the very first pdf WoTC had for sale (and is still on RPGnow). It is not for players in the least as it gives away tons of important secrets of the invasion of the Verge. I should't call it a pdf as there is more to it than just that- a travel time calculator, tidbits from other books and a die roller (plus some other stuff).

The best thing about Alternity is that there is little that it can't do. Typical fantasy (ala D&D) has already been converted by Red Dragon, many different sci-fi campaign types can be found written up in varying degrees on the messageboard at A.net and I post different types of different fantasy campaign hooks every now and again. And when I say I, I mean 95%+ of that thread is my work. Some of the coolest settings created so far have humans as either a minor player or gone completely (Those Who Follow by Uncle Jimbo and The Biomass by me are the ones that come to mind).

 

[Torm]

The only thing I didnt like were the wookie like rip off race in S*D, but overall Alternity was pretty cool.

I know a player from our Alternity campaign that would go berzerk if he saw you refer to the Weren that way. I think I'll tell him to look this thread over...

I've heard rumors of some of the Star*Drive stuff being updated for the upcoming D20 Future? Anyone know anything about this?