Lord Irish's Science Fiction RPG Site

The Campaign

Star Frontiers is a great a game (note the use of present tense) and an even better campaign setting. In Our opinion, it gave just enough background to fire a GM's imagination while leaving more than enough room to tailor the setting to the wants and needs of individual gaming groups.

Star Frontiers: Earth Dawn is Our tailored SF setting. The Humans in this campaign are from Earth, and the Frontier has been relocated to our corner of the Galaxy. There are still Dralasites, Vrusk, and Yzirians, but you'll find no Xagyg Nebula or other monuments to the "good ole' boys" who used to run TSR.

Enjoy!

Where We Are and How We Got Here

Nearly two centuries ago Humanity made its historic first contact with the Vrusk on August 17, 2050 in the Kapteyn's Star system. The Vrusk introduced Humanity to their long-standing allies the Dralasites shortly thereafter. Five years later the Yazirians were encountered when one of their long-range scouts entered the Alpha Centauri system. After almost a century of peaceful coexistence and flourishing trade, the four races were poorly prepared for the coming of the Sathar, a mysterious race of sentient, genocidal worms. The Sathar overran all but the largest colonies and the home systems of the four races, and pillaged everything else in their path. For eight long years the four races fought bravely and finally, in AD 2149, drove their enemy back into the depths of space. This conflict is known as the First Sathar War, and gave the four races a reason to band together. The United Planetary Federation came into existence the following year, marking the centennial of mankind's first contact with sentient beings from outer space.

We've taken a lot of liberties with the SF setting, and a few with its game mechanics. Star Frontiers: Earth Dawn is based around the skill-based gaming engine presented in Zebulon's Guide to the Frontier, supplemented by numerous "canon" and quasi-canon materials from Dragon Magazine, GURPS Space,and the Web pages of other Star Frontiers enthusiasts.

- Lord Irish

One hundred and twenty-one years later, the United Planetary Federation is larger and stronger than ever, and has also formed an alliance with an association of worlds smaller than itself, but sharing many of the same principles and values. These worlds, and the sentient races that inhabit them, refer to themselves collectively as the Rim Coalition (RC). They battled alongside the UPF during the Second Sathar War, which was fought almost entirely in Rim Coalition' territory. When the last Sathar fleet was driven back into space in FY 119, the two powers entered into a series of trade and mutual defense pacts. While the two keep separate fleets and armies, both accept Star Law as their sole police power.

Despite the progress that has occurred since the end of the Second Sathar War, there is still plenty of adventure to be had in the galaxy. The United Planetary Federation is still an alliance of semi-independent worlds, all jealous of their limited sovereignty. Scheming mega-corps, terrorist groups and isolationist movements among the various races, and the ever-present Sathar threat may yet undo all that's been accomplished by the Federation over the past 121 years. The Federation's relationship with the Rim Coalition is also tenuous, as the member worlds of the RC are even more autonomous than those of the UPF, and many sentients throughout the RC feel they lost the Second Sathar War to the Federation. Star Law's directive to carry out its mission throughout the Frontier without forcing the laws of the Federation onto its new allies is somewhat contradictory and difficult for the agency to achieve. Corporate warfare between RC and UPF mega-corps hearken back to the Federation's infancy, with private fleets of heavily armed privateers - holdovers from the Second Sathar War - utilizing state-of-the-art military hardware on one another.

All in all, the Frontier is one hell of an exciting place to be!

			This page last updated on 04/09/2000. All original content © .