Unreleased Draft from [2-12-18]: Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure (part 3)

[4/21/2020 After 4 sessions of Alpha Dawn and 2 Sessions of Expanded, this is where I stopped. Right after I entered into the ship and found the scorched pilot. I'm not sure why I stopped, but I definitely lost interest because I never did return to finish the spaceship exploration after finding it. I seem to recall that WotC released once again Star Frontiers maybe during this post or shortly after. When I had started the post, the game was available for free on a not-for profit basis, and I had to change the italic text below the picture. In fact, before publishing this post I am also changing the text. Or maybe I just mainly cared about finding the ship rather than about what actually happened. Anyway, here is where I stopped]

Star Frontiers series
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 1) Character Creation and rules summary
Star Frontiers Game Play: part 2: first adventure
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 3) The chase
Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Expanded character. 
Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure
Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure (part 2)

Star Frontiers is once available again.  Also there are Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer downloadable magazines.

This is from the expanded rule book on page 58, the Sample Adventure.

I've realized that the rules are much heavier than the basic rules. So I find the rules too cumbersome for solo gaming, I'll default to the basic rules for hopefully quicker resolution.

Continued

Ethest pushed and parted disturbed foliage—gripper vines, a few hook thorns, and even some purple berry bushes not yet blooming—finally revealing an open rear entry door. It was elevated in the air slightly.

At least it appears someone or something had escaped.

Ethest pulled himself up into the entryway.

Pulling on the lever, the inner hatch door remained locked.

He slid his ID card hoping for the best.

A warning horn erupted.

He swallowed with his now drying mouth the best he could the lessening saliva down his now narrowing throat.

Ethest tried pressing a few buttons and another horn signaled.

Soon a message began, "Only authorized Hepplewhite, Inc., employees are allowed past this point. Please enter your security code."

Security code?

He winced and began to rub his forehead and temple to try alleviating pain that the message had caused.

Ethest intensely stared at the alpha-numerical console a moment. The button symbols seemed to blur and fade. He gave an impatient sneer at the console. "Bloody hell!"

Removing one fragmentation grenade from his waist, he twisted a knob activating the electromagnetic function.  He attached the grenade to the locked inner hatch door. A twist of the timer gave him plenty of time to evacuate the blast that was soon to follow.

"BOOM!"

Glancing up at the door the door had fallen to the ground several feet (meters) away from where it had previously been attached.

He pulled himself back up, carefully avoiding the fallen door, hitting his fist against the security console, and entered into the ship.

Inside, a short ladder leads up towards the direction of the cockpit, the interior smelled of burnt Sulphur, possibly from the grenade.

He climbs the ladder, his laser pistol in hand, and the lights flickered occasionally. Behind the chair sat the scorched remains of a human pilot. The instrument panel was also scorched and in ruin.

S

Logic 

After

Swamp.

Almost

to be Continued

Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure (part 2)

Star Frontiers series
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 1) Character Creation and rules summary
Star Frontiers Game Play: part 2: first adventure
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 3) The chase
Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Expanded character. 
Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure

Star Frontiers is once available again.  Also there are Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer downloadable magazines.

This is from the expanded rule book on page 58, the Sample Adventure.

I've realized that the rules are much heavier than the basic rules. So I find the rules too cumbersome for solo gaming, I'll default to the basic rules for hopefully quicker resolution.

Continued

The river after an area of trees continued to curve up the gentle terrain.

A few hours later, the river turned into a swampy area. The swamp edged north and south as far as could be seen on both sides.  Ahead west however he could see patches of land and what looked like solid land on the other side. The river seemed to continue further on the other side.

Swamp

Ethest pulled out his pocket computer and checked the map. The swamp would severely add hours to his journey if he skirted the outside.

Ethest decides to try crossing the swamp directly instead of walking around. He also still has a time limit somewhat, and light wouldn't be around forever.

He could see several dry mounds scattered throughout the swamp. He could maybe speed up the travel time by moving from island to island. But who knows what was in the swamp.

He readied his laser pistol, secured his backpack, and headed towards the swamp.

Logic (60) check to see if he can find the best traveling path. +10 since the islands are viewable. 60 + 10 = 70. Roll = 59

After a few observations and some calculations, he manages to figure out a reasonable path. He could see a series of smaller islands off to the left, which seemed to travel in the direction of a few larger islands in a chain going towards the western side of the swamp.

Swamp travel. A little difficult (-5) with a Strength (55) of mediocre. 55- 5= 50. 97 fail.

Almost immediately he found himself stuck in mud. The frogs creaked, insects buzzed, and sounds of movement surrounded him as he realized his boots were stuck.

His heart beat louder in his ears.

He'd better try to get out again. Taking a deep breath of the stinky swamp air, he tried again.

Roll 26. success.

He heard a suction slush as he forced his boot out of the mud at a different angle. Finding a less muddy area, he freed his other foot as well.

After a brief pause, he looked ahead, found his path, and continued on.

This time, the mud was less deep and he made his way from one small island to the next.

As he was approaching one of the islands it began to move.

That wasn't an island.

His heart returned to a rapid pace. He froze on instinct as the rapid movement of two things that he had mistaken for reeds began to flutter.

Soon the head of a Slither turned towards him. He better not move.

The Slither's head moved side to side looking for whatever was moving.

Ethest tried not to move, not a single movement, not even a breath.

Suddenly a sound splashed from over his right in the distance.

The slither sprang quickly, all of its legs and body pushing and slithering towards that sound.

Ethest didn't move a muscle.

He heard a loud chirping sound, a sound of the rushing Slither, and a splash.

Slowly he turned his head. The Slither had caught something.

While it was distracted, he slowly continued on, hoping to create some distance between himself and the creature.

Roll 19, success.

He easily made his way across several of the islands.

At the larger island, he thankfully pulled himself on the the larger of the islands. He drank from his water container, took a brief breather, and then continued on.

Roll 05, success (critical success)

Not only was the  rest of the swamp easily traveled, he also found some edible berries which helped him replenish some of his strength without slowing down his travel and time. He ate enough to fill his stomach enough.

Despite the troubles and surprises earlier in the swamp, he ended up at least cutting his travel time in half compared to travelling around the swamp.

The stream or river continued gently up the valley, more oil streaming down the flow from upstream.

Several hours later, nearing sunset, he spotted something large and metalic sticking out from foliage ahead.

Nearing the object, he could smell the scent of oil, fuel, and something burnt.

It was the engines, buried into a hillside.

First he better report.

He pulled out his computer and found his location. Transferring the map location to his communicator, he recorded the information into his communicator. He checked it a few times, but no one was in range. Having this recorded into the emergency information communicator beacon would be helpful in case something went bad for him, although not as strong as the larger ship beacons, his communicator could signal several kilometers.

Ethest then turned his attention back to the wreckage of the ship

to be Continued

Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure

Star Frontiers series
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 1) Character Creation and rules summary
Star Frontiers Game Play: part 2: first adventure
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 3) The chase
Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Expanded character. 
Star Frontiers: Expanded - sample adventure

Star Frontiers is is once available again. Also there are Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer downloadable magazines.

This is from the expanded rule book on page 58, the Sample Adventure.

I've realized that the rules are much heavier than the basic rules. So I find the rules too cumbersome for solo gaming, I'll default to the basic rules for hopefully quicker resolution.

Synopsis

A ship has been missing a few days and is believed to have crash landed on the plane. Ethest must locate the ship, rescue any survivors, and find out why the ship crashed.

Begin

An aerial search spotted a barren grove of trees possibly burned by the ship engine. The ship could not be seen from the air. He was dropped in the barren trees, given a homing device. The aircar will return in 20 hours.

Barren Trees

The trees are bare and burned, however smaller foliage is not burned. The homing device detects a signal coming from the southeast. I see something that looks like a billowy cloud in that direction.

Ethest easily walks across the barren area and enters the forest. As he walks towards the forest he makes note of the sun location in the sky.

Rolling an INT/LOG (60) check modified +15 due to the cloud help and tree shadows, though in the denser forest, to help maintain the correct direction to the cloud compared to the signal. 60 +15 = 75. Roll = 63.

Although the traveling is slowed by the density of the deciduous forest and the cloud direction is soon confusing and mostly blocked, thankfully an occasional glance at the smoke cloud and shadows helps confirmed that the signal and smoke are in the same direction. Ethest walks 4 hours through the green forest.

Soon the signal is really close.

He began to look around the area and saw the signal beacon snagged in a tree hanging around 10 meters above ground. As he approached closer, he can see a parachute tangled in a branch above.

He strains to make out any indicator of what happened when a form floats onto the tree, several vine-like tentacles lowering quickly towards him. It's a strangler chute!

Reaction Speed (70) check. Roll of 91 = fail.

Ethest was too slow to move away from the tentacles. A current of electricity tingles through Ethest's body stunning him for a few seconds.

When he regains his senses, he tries to escape once again.

RS (70) check. Roll of 55 = success.

Having regained his sense, he awkwardly rolls out from under the tree avoiding several tentacles.

Once out, he winced in pain, noticing the red burn mark along shoulder where the strangler chutes tentacle touched.
 
"Damn, you cursed creature," he said to the jelly sack-like creature that floats upon air currents. The wind had just happened to carry it to this tree at this moment.


He put a little bit of water onto a cupped hand and sprinkled some onto the throbbing shoulder.  The water wet his jumpsuit soaking the area which help to lessen the pain of the burn.

He swigged a few times to quench his now dry throat. Each drink seemed to go from his throat pouring out to his skin, sweat gathered on his brow.

I better be cautious, he thought, now he looked once again upward.

He then figured that the strangler chute had drifted with the wind blowing from the southwest. Maybe the beacon drifted from that direction as well.

Getting up from the ground, he dusted off dirt, old leaves, and twigs from rolling on the ground. Following the direction the creature had drifted in from, he adjusted his backpack on his shoulders and walked on.

It wasn't long before the forest began to thin and soon he was walking down hill through some grassy field.

Grassy Field

He followed the treeline down, now traveling much swifter, glad that he could now see everything around him.

Other strangler chutes drifted in the wind. Wing rippers glided in formation across the fields. One dove to the ground. When it appeared in the air again, something was in its mouth.

Off in the distance, a river or stream in the distance.


He walked down the gentle slope towards the stream.

Stream

Once at the stream, he readied to fill up his water container if it was clean. Most of the water seemed clean enough. He lowered the water container and started the filtration unit.


As it hummed, he looked across the 10 meter wide flowing water.


Then something caught his eyes.
I
Narrow ribbons of something glistening floated down from the stream from the west.

Oil!

"The ship is upstream!" he said, now happy for more help on his mission to find the ship.

To be continued

Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Expanded character.

Star Frontiers series
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 1) Character Creation and rules summary
Star Frontiers Game Play: part 2: first adventure
Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn Gameplay (Part 3) The chase 

Star Frontiers is once available again. Also there are Star Frontiersman and Frontier Explorer downloadable magazines.





In Star Frontiers Alpha Dawn Basic, I had my character Ethest do the beginning adventure where he was attacked by raiders that turned out to be satharian agents. I now want to upgrade to the original expanded version of the game called Star Frontiers Expanded Game Rules.

After that, I plan on soloing the sample adventure on page 58 later this week.

Changes in the Expanded Version

I see that in Expanded, humans get +5 to any one ability. I choose Dexterity since it is used for 'to hit'.

Credits
My character also gets 95 (1d100) + 250 = 345 more credits.

Skills
I have to choose a PSA, a Primary Skill Area. Ethest chooses Military of course.
I receive 2 skills at level one rank. I pick beam and thrown of course. My accuracy is going to go down with the expanded version because it uses 1/2 Dex + 10% per rank instead of the full Dex bonus.

I'll probably spend 3 Exp on martial arts as well, in case my weapon ammo runs out. It also gives me nerve punch and falling damage reduction, combat throwing damage, and damage. I improve my Dex by 3 exp.

Weapons and Armor
I buy a military skeinsuit for more defense protection. I buy another energy clip, 3 doze grenades, and 4 frag grenades. I don't have a lot of damage with my laser, so the frag grenades will help out dish more bang.

I also see that I can walk 5 km per hour.

B. Character Sheet

Character Name: Ethest

Race: Human

Handedness: Right

Sex: Male

Walk: 2

Run: 6

Hourly: 5 km

Physical Data

STR/STA: 55 / 55

DEX/RS: 78 / 70

INT/LOG: 60 / 60

PER/LEAD: 55 / 55

IM: 7

Medical Records

Current STA: 55

Weapons

Weapon             Damage    Basic to Hit #    PB S-10  M-20   L-40   E-80     Ammo

Laser Pistol        1d10                   49              1     4       10     20       40        28

Doze Grenade     sleep                  49            0-5  6-10 11-15 15-25 26-60      3
Frag Grenade     8d10                  49            0-5  6-10 11-15 15-25 26-60       4
Martial Punch      3+1          38 or 49

Defenses

Suit: Military Skeinsuit

Screen:

Energy Record

Suit up to 50 ballistic/melee

Personal File

Racial Abilities:

Experience: 0 Exp

Credits: 15 credits

Pay/Day:

Skills

Primary Skill Area: Military PSA

PSA Skill                     Level

Beam                              1
Gyrojet
Projectile
Thrown                          1
Martial Arts                   1
Tumbling              -1 fall dam
Defensive throw          1 dam
Nerve combat       1- 6, 10
Melee                             1
Demolitions

Secondary Skill          Level

Subskills

Equipment

Item                                                        Mass

Chronograph/ communicator

Coveralls

First Aid Pack

Stimdose 1 dose

Staydose 1 dose

Id Card

Pocket Tool

Survival Rations 5 days

Robots

Type                         Move      Level             Mission              Program

Vehicle

Type                         AC/DC/TN/SP/CR     Pass        Cargo

Computers

Level        EN Pts     Mass     Program