One of the ways I’m able to play more DnD is to be a part of the “Dungeons & Dragons Minnesota” Facebook group. This allows me to connect with fellow Minnesota RPG players in my area. Last month I drove to the Source Comics & Games to partake in a small campaign utilizing the Star Frontiers rule book. Having never played Star Frontiers before, I would recommend it for any one shot campaign as I had a blast.

Star Frontiers Character Sheet. My Dralasite is carrying a huge assault rifle. My character is named Sloogatha Muda. This is my own personal image. 

Combine 80’s sci-fi action films with DnD and that’s how I would describe Star Frontiers. The rule book was originally published in 1982 which was in the height of film releases such as Flash Gordon or Robo Cop. Star Frontiers is set in the center of a spiral galaxy very much like our own Milky Way. In this setting, ships can jump to the “Void” which allows ships to travel to various planets. The basic game takes place in the “Frontier Sector” where four races have come together to form the United Plantary Federation which is very similar to Star Trek’s United Federation of Planets. After acknowledging the background of the Star Frontier, this is where the role playing session begins.

Dralasites. Don’t they look like adipose… kinda? Image from the Star Frontiers Wiki. 

The four races to pick from were Humans, Dralasites, Vrusk and Yazirian. I picked a Dralasite which reminds me of the adipose in David Tennant’s run of Doctor Who. The Dralasites have a voice box, so in the actual DnD session, I used my “alien” voice. It helped to make the character sound more real. The Dralasites can have as many limbs equal to it’s dexterity divided by 10, rounded up. I didn’t roll high on my dexterity, so I only had four limbs, but it would have been cool if I had so many limbs that I looked like a squishy octopus.

Our campaign started in a bar where we saved a fellow Yazarian from some bounty hunters. Our team decided to help this Yazarian locate treasure in this pyramid statue. One of my favorite parts of our session was when we were fighting these poisonous spiders. Once we defeated them, I decided to touch the poison on the wall. The DM was advising me not to do that, but I did anyway. I rolled a critical success and became “immune” to the poison and I created a vaccine I could use for the other players. The DM was shocked.

Our one shot session lasted about four hours. The time completely flew by as I became immersed in the 80’s space nostalgia of Star Frontiers. If you’re looking for a completely new system to DM, I personally would recommend this one because who doesn’t love 80’s sci fi films?