In
the classic "space opera" style, Star*Drive is TSR's far-furure
campaign setting. In the 26th century humans have explored vast regions
of space, met other sentient races, colonized planets, and fought interstellar
wars. While each planet is not as detailed to the extent that earth
is in Dark Matter, Star*Drive is far
more vast in scope. Stellar nations are well-described, and the history
of the setting is quite detailed.
All-in-all, the designers probably provided too much detail and background for Star*Drive and realized that there were few new adventures to be had in "old space". As a result, the players will probably find themselves sent to a distant region of space called the Verge. This region is sort of a backwater, cut off from "old space" for over a century. With contact to the region recently restored, most of the Stellar Nations are eager to capture a foothold in the Verge.
One addition to the basic Alternity game from Star*Drive is a bonus for human characters depending on which Stellar Nation they come from. Each nation has various allies and enemies, and each has focused their populace in some way. While it is regretable that TSR has ended production of new Alternity material, Star*Drive is well-designed and complete enough to bring many years of role-playing enjoyment to any group.
Our group has fairly successfully run play-by-email an original Star*Drive campaign called Fates Converge. The "Player's Guide" for this campaign is included in the links below, as well as the Campaign Introduction and the Campaign Modules for Gamemasters interested in running this campaign themselves.
View a sample STAR*DRIVE "Player's Guide"
(HTML format)
Download the "Player's Guide" so you can print
or e-mail it (MS-Word95 document)
Download sample spaceships for use in STAR*DRIVE
(MS-Word95 document)
Download the Introduction to the STAR*DRIVE
campaign Fates Converge (MS-Word95 document)
Download the first Fates Converge
module "Dark Designs" (MS-Word95 document)
Download a scanned map of Grith for "Dark Designs"
(JPEG format)
Download the second Fates Converge
module "Black Magic" (MS-Word95 document)
Download a scanned map of Blackhaven for "Black
Magic" (JPEG format)
