STAR FRONTIERS adventures take place in an area of space called the Frontier Sector, or simply the Frontier. The Frontier contains 17 inhabited star systems, with a total of 23 colonized planets. Some of these planets have been claimed and settled by only one of the four races, while others were set up in cooperation and have mixed populations.
Besides these settled areas, the sector contains 21 unexplored star systems that could have habitable (or inhabited) planets. No one has explored the routes to these stars for navigational hazards, so no one knows whether these stars even have planets. Even the settled systems are not fully explored. There are many moons, asteroid belts and uninhabited planets that are largely ignored in the day-to-day business of earning a living in the Frontier. These areas could hold lost alien treasures or rich deposits of precious metals and gems. Because they are isolated, these spots quickly become hiding places for outlaws and space pirates.
Many of the settled planets themselves are not fully explored. Most have been mapped by spaceships and satellites that take pictures from orbit. Very few have been explored on the ground. When adventurers travel more than a few hundred kilometers from a settlement, they are entering an area where very few people have ever been. They could be the first people ever to cross that land, or they could be walking in the footprints of a race that built a civilization and then collapsed, leaving its relics to be discovered centuries later.
THE FRONTIER WORLDS
Space Travel
Languages
Frontier life
UPF Fleet
Star Law
The Frontier Map
A map of the Frontier Sector is provided for the referee and the players. The map shows the location of all the settled systems, unexplored systems, neutron and binary stars and dust clouds. Each square is 1 light-year across.
Each inhabited planet is described below. Six characteristics are given for each planet: Colonizers (Col.), Population and Trade (Pop.), Gravity (Grav.), Moons and Length of Day.
Colonizers indicates which of the four races settled the planet. This race will be the most common on the planet, and will control the government. Abbreviations are used to indicate which race colonized the planet: D = Dralasites, H = Humans, V = Vrusk, Y = Yazirians, * = a mixture of several races.
Population and Trade indicates how many intelligent beings live on the planet and what their major trade is. This information is given in a two- or three-letter code. The first letter describes the population, and the second and third describe the major trade. The abbreviations are:
H - Heavy population. The planet has many large cities that are very crowded, and hundreds of smaller cities. Individual cities may cover hundreds of square kilometers.
M - Moderate population. The planet has several large cities and numerous smaller cities, but they are not overcrowded.
L - Light population. The planet has only a few cities, and most would be considered small on a planet with a Heavy population.
O - Outpost. The planet is a small outpost or new colony. It has only one city, but there may be small settlements scattered nearby.
I - Industry. Most of the planet's economy is based on manufacturing. Cities are built around factories and processing plants, and most of the inhabitants work in these factories. Raw materials may be mined on the planet or shipped in from other planets.
R - Resource Mining. The planet is rich in natural resources like metals, fossil fuels, gems, crystals or radioactive materials. Most of these raw materials are shipped to Industrial planets because there are not enough factories to process them where they are mined.
A - Agriculture. The planet's economy is based on farming. Any renewable resource can be farmed: grad n, I umber, livestock, fish, fruit, textiles, etc.
Some planets have more than one major trade item. The trade item that is listed first is most important.
EXAMPLE: Pale, the first inhabited planet at Truane's Star, has a Pop. code of MRI. This means the planet has a moderate population, and its major trade is mining natural resources. The planet also has some industry, but not enough to process all the materials that are mined.
Gravity is simply the strength of gravity on the planet. It is measured in multiples of 1 9, which is considered normal gravity. The effects of gravity are described in the section on Movement.
Moons indicate the number of moons orbiting the planet. Many planets have small moons that have never been fully explored. Some large planets have moons that are big enough to have atmospheres. Planets can also have rings.
Length of Day is the number of hours the planet takes to complete one rotation, or the number of hours from sunrise to sunrise.
The color of the star that the planet orbits also is listed. This has no effect on the game, but the referee can use it to add to his descriptions.
Some planets have additional notes following the table. These describe unusual cultures or planetary features. The referee can make up any other information he needs about the planets when he designs adventures to place on them.