History TableTopGame / StarFrontiers

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* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: ''Crash on Volturnus'' features a race of land-dwelling, intelligent, telepathic, purple octopuses (technically they have nine tentacles, but still). For extra awesomeness they ride DINOSAURS!

* SiliconBasedLife: Adventure [=SF1=] ''Volturnus, Planet of Mystery''. The Eorna created silicon-based life in the form of large crystals. Their attempts to make the crystals intelligent failed as whenever they reached semi-intelligence they TurnedAgainstTheirMasters.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: ''Crash on Volturnus,'' the adventure included with ''Alpha Dawn'' includes a spaceship deck map that can't work with the skyscraper-stacked ship designs shown in ''Knight Hawks.''

* StarfishAliens: Most of the races are basically PettingZooPeople, but the Dralasites are an ''awesome'' example - they're sapient human-scale ''amoeba''. And {{Sex Shifter}}s. With BizarreAlienSenses. On top of all that, they're the ProudScholarRace of the setting - with odd senses of humor, such as a race-wide love for puns. Think [[Creator/HPLovecraft Shoggoths]] PlayedForLaughs.

* StealthSequel: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] four years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''TabletopGame/BuckRogersXXVC'' RPG.

* NoCampaignForTheWicked: PlayerCharacters are forbidden to be Sathar, the murderous and vicious alien race that is a threat to all civilized races of the Frontier. Sathar can only be NonPlayerCharacters.

* RuleOfThree: The third science-fiction RPG by Creator/{{TSR}} after ''TabletopRPG/MetamorphosisAlpha'' (1976) and ''TabletopRPG/GammaWorld'' (1978). Followed by two Buck Rogers [=RPGs=] (''TabletopGame/BuckRogersXXVC'' in 1988 and ''High Adventure Cliffhangers Buck Rogers Adventure Game'' in 1993) and ''Alternity'' in 1998 (the year after TSR was purchased by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). At a production lifetime of six years (1980-85) it was the longest-lived of TSR's science-fiction [=RPGs=].

Creator/{{TSR}}'s third entry into Sci-Fi [[TabletopRPG RPGs]] (after ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' and ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld''), first published in 1982.

* RuleOfThree: The third science-fiction RPG by Creator/{{TSR}} after ''TabletopRPG/MetamorphosisAlpha'' (1976) and ''TabletopRPG/GammaWorld'' (1978). Followed by two Buck Rogers [=RPGs=] (''Buck Rogers [=XXVc=]'' in 1988 and ''High Adventure Cliffhangers Buck Rogers Adventure Game'' in 1993) and ''Alternity'' in 1998 (the year after TSR was purchased by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). At a production lifetime of six years (1980-85) it was the longest-lived of TSR's science-fiction [=RPGs=].

* StealthSequel: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] four years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''[[ComicStrip/BuckRogers Buck Rogers XXVC]]'' RPG.

* RuleOfThree: The third science-fiction RPG by Creator/{{TSR}} after ''TabletopRPG/MetamorphosisAlpha'' (1976) and ''TabletopRPG/GammaWorld'' (1978). Followed by two Buck Rogers [=RPGs=] (''Buck Rogers [=XXVc=]'' in 1988 and ''High Adventure Cliffhangers Buck Rogers Adventure Game'' in 1993) and ''Alternity'' in 1998 (the year after TSR was purchased by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). At a production lifetime of six years (1980-85) it was the longest-lived of TSR's science-fiction RPGs.

* RuleOfThree: The third science-fiction RPG by Creator/{{TSR}} after ''TabletopRPG/MetamorphosisAlpha'' (1976) and ''TabletopRPG/GammaWorld'' (1978). Followed by two Buck Rogers RPGs (''Buck Rogers [=XXVc=]'' in 1988 and ''High Adventure Cliffhangers Buck Rogers Adventure Game'' in 1993) and ''Alternity'' in 1998 (the year after TSR was purchased by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast). At a production lifetime of six years (1980-85) it was the longest-lived of TSR's science-fiction RPGs.

* RuleOfThree: The third science-fiction RPG by Creator/{{TSR}} after ''TabletopRPG/MetamorphosisAlpha'' (1976) and ''TabletopRPG/GammaWorld'' (1978). Followed by ''Buck Rogers XXVc'' in 1988 and ''Alternity'' in 1998 (the year before TSR was purchased by Creator/WizardsOfTheCoast).

* StealthSequel: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] two years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''[[ComicStrip/BuckRogers Buck Rogers XXVC]]'' RPG.

* MegaCorp: The Pan Galactic Corporation and several others — all relatively benevolent, though there have been corporate wars and the module [=SF4=] ''Mission to Alcazzar'' puts the characters between the secretive Cassidine Development Corporation and the aggressive Streel Corporation.

* StealthSequel: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] two years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''[[ComicBook/BuckRogers Buck Rogers XXVC]]'' RPG.

* StealthSequel: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] two years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''[[BuckRogers Buck Rogers XXVC]] RPG.

* StealthReboot: The 1985 supplement ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'' revamped the skill system with a [[MarvelSuperHeroes FASERIP-style]] results table. This amounted to a "soft" second-edition launch, presaging the second edition of [[TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] two years later. The reboot was, however, lost when the line was canceled in the wake of the Dille Trust's purchase of TSR later that year, ending the line in favor of the release of the ''[[BuckRogers Buck Rogers XXVC]] RPG.

!!Provides examples of:

TSR's third entry into Sci-Fi [[TabletopRPG RPGs]] (after ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' and ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld''), first published in 1982.

A late addition to the game was ''Zebulon's Guide to Frontier Space'', which introduced several new races and an entirely different basic rule system. It was, however, the last book produced for the line by TSR.

* TheMetricSystemIsHereToStay: ''Star Frontiers'' is one of the few TSR games that used metric units.

* ThemedStockBoardGame: TSR released adaptations of both ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' and ''Film/TwoThousandTenTheYearWeMakeContact'' as modules using the ''Star Frontiers'' system.

TSR's third entry into Sci-Fi {{RPG}}s (after ''Metamorphosis Alpha'' and ''TabletopGame/GammaWorld''), first published in 1982.

The basic rules set was called ''Alpha Dawn''. It was released as a boxed set that included a fold-out poster map of a futuristic city on one side and various sections of alien terrain on the other, a bunch of die-cut counters, the introductory module [=SF0=] ''Crash on Volturnis'', and a pair of 10-sided dice[[note]]And a white crayon to color in the numbers on the dice. This was before dice were commonly manufactured with pre-painted numbers.[[/note]].

* DyingRace: The Eorna of Volturnis are dying out. At least until the end of [=SF2=] ''Starspawn of Volturnis''.

* EverythingsSquishierWithCephalopods: ''Crash on Volturnis'' features a race of land-dwelling, intelligent, telepathic, purple octopuses (technically they have nine tentacles, but still). For extra awesomeness they ride DINOSAURS!

* FirstContact: Happens all the time. Much of the Frontier is unexplored, and sentient races seem to be all over. The planet Volturnis from the intro module has ''five'' sentient races living on it [[spoiler:though that is due to one race having genetically modified the others]].

** The Mechanons of SF2 and ''Zebulon's Guide'' evolved from earlier self-programming robots and believe that mechanical life is superior to biological life and must eventually replace it.
** The "Puppetmaster" of the freighter ''Marionette'' in SFKH0 is a cybernetic robot that is convinced it is the master of the universe.
** SFAD5 features a self-aware cybernetic robot who turns homicidal after being infected by the titular bugs in the system.