Tom Stephens's picture

Issue 36 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Issue 36 of the Frontier Explorer is now available.  While it wasn’t intended, this issue ended up with a Knight Hawks theme with details on a number of different ships and lots of rules related to starships.

Steven Parenteau gives us two different ships with deck plans along with an article about a small PSA inspired by thinking about life onboard those starships. Tom Verreault gives us an article about digger shuttles, some expanded starship repair rules, and a look at the hazards of prolonged exposure to zero gravity.  He also provides a review of the Dark Colony adventure, a hacker archetype, a look at scanners, and a creature. Rounding out the starship articles is a freighter design by Ricard Rose.

Jerry Boucher provides us with a second installment in his series on aircars, and Rod McDonough gives us the second part of his fiction piece started in last issue.

Finally, Oscar Rios gives us an article about dralasite reproduction and how they switch genders.

The full article list for this issue is:

  • Have Aircar, Will Travel … part 2
  • The Hacker Archetype
  • Domestic Services PSA
  • The Goliath Bucket Mouth Crab of Lossend
  • Review: Dark Colony
  • Infinite Shades of Grey
  • The Alpha to Zed of Frontier Scanners
  • Lion Class Frigate
  • Expanded Repair and Maintenance Rules for Knight Hawks Starships
  • The Ajax Class Freighter
  • Digging with Digger Shuttles
  • Akyna Class Freighter
  • Hazardous Environments: Zero G
  • The Invasion of Gran Quivera – part 2
  • Endings & Beginnings

 

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy.  And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Issue 35 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Welcome to the 40th anniversary year of Star Frontiers and issue 35 of the Frontier Explorer. This issue starts with a throwback to the early days of the game with an article by Richard Rose about one of the first ships he designed even before he had the Knight Hawks rules.  He also gives us a Knight Hawks adventure later in the issue.

Tom Verreault continues the starship theme with an article about starship computer systems,  He also gives us a couple of alternate rule systems for beginning character skills and backgrounds.

A second theme for this issue is cadres and organizations which we get across three articles by three different authors: Tom Verreault, Ken Wang, and Oscar Rios.

We also have an article from Oscar that was supposed to go in the last issue, but we missed due to a communication mix-up.  The issue ends with a planetary brief by Oscar and the first installment of a fiction piece by Rod McDonough.

The complete article list for this issue is:

  • Starling Class Light Transport
  • Demystifying Starship Computer Systems
  • Section 13
  • The Sisters of Charitable Retribution
  • Grub Across the Stars
  • Beginning Character Blues
  • Hidden Horrors of Star Frontiers
  • Space Battlefields: Interactive Quantum Radar Map Assets
  • The Heist
  • Raised by Wolves?
  • Planetary Brief – Circe
  • The Invasion of Gran Quivera

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy.  And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Frontier Explorer Issue 34 is now available!

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Issue 34 of the Frontier Explorer is now available.  You can get it here on the website or at DriveThruRPG.

As a nod to the Halloween season, this issue starts us off with a look at the Archetypes of Horror and how to use them in a Star Frontiers, an article my Tom Verreault.  We also welcome a new author, Ken Wang who details out a spacer organization, original designed for the Cepheus Engine, but that can be dropped into any sci-fi setting.

Richard “Shadow Shack” Rose gives us a pair of articles looking at what a fair ground-to-orbit or orbit-to-ground shuttle fare should be based on the economics of the Frontier as well as an article about making special concessions as a game master.  Laura Mumma and Tom Verreault take a look at the history of the Frontier from just the original rules, modules, and Dragon articles, while Oscar Rios and Tom Verreault teamed up to do a panel at a local convention where the discussed the real-world history of the game.  We have the transcript of that panel in this issue.

We round out the issue with a smattering of other articles by Tom Verreault including a look at some sample robots, a conversion of the robot in Expedition to the Barrier Peaks to Star Frontier, a review, some new equipment, and a crime adventure.  The issue closes with a short fiction piece by Tom Stephens that is the prologue to a longer novel set in the Frontier.  See if you can figure out the time period and events to come.

The full article list for this issue is:

  • Archetypes of Horror
  • The Sextant Association
  • A Fistful of Companion Robots
  • The Gaxian Robot Conversion
  • Fair Shuttle Fare
  • If We Could Put Timelines in a Bottle …
  • Special Concessions
  • A Lost Frontier – A History of Star Frontiers
  • The Escape Pod
  • Aliens & Asteroids: Fate of the Solar Chaser
  • The Infrared Strobe Marker
  • A First and Fateful Encounter

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy.  And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Frontier Explorer - Issue 33 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

issue 33 of the Frontier Explorer is now available.

This issue begins with another blast from the past with an old web article by Andrew Campbell on the use of solar sails on ships in the Frontier.  Oscar Rios gives us a vrusk name generator as well as a system brief on the Solar Minor system.  We finish off the Radiation in the Frontier series by Joseph Cabadas and Jerry Boucher details the battlesuit.

Tom Verreault gives us a review of two RPG products which inspired him to create a new creature, the genetically engineered cat, adapted to life in zero gravity.  He also writes up a Psychic PSA, details some mysteries around the Frontier, and discovers some various water containers in the Minzii Marketplace.  We finish off the article with a ship for the Traveller game as a reskin of the opening section of Crash on Volturnus for Traveller.

Jurak Hangna is still on extended sabbatical for this issue.

The full article list is:

  • Solar Sails in Star Froniters
  • Vrusk Name Generator
  • First Contact Team RPG & Sci-fi Facility Generator Review
  • Genetically Engineered Cat
  • Radiation Hazards in the Frontier – Part 2
  • The Psychic PSA
  • Solar Minor System Brrief
  • Mysteries of the Frontier
  • The Battlesuit
  • Dying for a Drink
  • The Dawn Class Exploration/Transport
  • Escaping the SS Serena Dawn

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Frontier Explorer - Issue 32 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Issue 32 of the Frontier Explorer is now available for download. We start off with a “Blast from the Past” and a play report of an old Star Frontiers game from decades ago.  The “Blast from the Past” series presents articles found on dead Star Frontiers websites or other places from before the magazine started and the early days of the game.  This issue has three such articles, the a-ready mentioned play report, a system for resolving investigation of alien technology (or any complex task, really), and an in-setting card game you can bring to your table.

We have two articles on aircars and new flying vehicles by Jerry Boucher and Oscar Rios. Oscar also gives us a look at the life of a typical, non-adventuring vrusk.

The big article this issue is the first of a two-part series that looks at using radiation effects in the game by Joe Cabadas.  The second half will be in issue 33.

Tom Verreault gives us a bevy of articles including reviews of a sci-fi map designer and Star Frontiers compatible miniatures, another character archetype, several bits of equipment, and finally, a detailed look at the published material on the Scree Fron system and its implications/extrapolations.

We round out the issue with our usual comics by Scott Mulder.  Unfortunately, due to some unexpected events, Jurak Hangna was unable to transmit an article for this issue, but we should expect one from him next time.  Which reminds me, I should check in with Alex Stone to see if he has any new adventures to report.

The full article list is:

  • Playing the Bad Guys
  • Frag Maps Review
  • Have Aircar, Will Travel …
  • Zoomers
  • The Vrusk Hustler
  • Radiation Hazards in the Frontier – part 1
  • Titan Rising: 2299  - episode 25
  • Alien Technology Flowcharts
  • An Industrious Life
  • IR Masking Skeinsuit and Military Toxyrad Gauge
  • The Expanded Medkit
  • Starbuckaroos
  • Soaring to New Heights on Hakosoar
  • Reaping New Star Frontiers Miniatures from Reaper
  • The Escape Plan #10

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Frontier Explorer - Issue 31 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Welcome to issue 31 of the Frontier Explorer!  The latest issues is now available here on the website or on DriveThruRPG.  This issue introduces a new author, Michal Lausier, who provides us a Traveller short story, Bones and Mortar.  Oscar Rios provides us with ten standard sathar NPCs you can drop into your campaign.  We also have another needler article following the one last issue, this time, converted to the “Alternate Frontier” setting that Richard Farris is developing.

Tom Verreault gives us four articles, a new archetype, a look at the setting details to be gleaned from the Endless Quest book “Captive Planet,” a kit-bashed dralasite miniature, and new weapon.  Joseph Cabadas continues his Things that go Boom! series, this time looking at artillery, and also revisits the old Dragon article “Jetboots Don’t Fail Me Now” looking at an alternate movement system.

We round out the article with the Jurak Hangna article “Osaka Soul Plant” by Eric Winsor and the comics by Scott Mulder.

The full article list is:

  • Archetypes: The Dralasite Strong Being
  • Ten Standard Sathar
  • The Canon According to Captive Planet
  • Things That Go Boom! #9 – The King of Battle, Using Artillery in Star Frontiers
  • Frontier in Miniature: Conversion & Review of Bad Squiddo Games’ Baggy Character
  • Titan Rising: 2299  - episode 24
  • Osaka Soul Plant
  • Gauss Weapons – “Needlers”
  • In the Minzii Marketplace: The Shotgun Holdout Pistol
  • Jetboots Redux: An Alternate Movement System for Star Frontiers
  • Bones and Mortar (fiction)
  • The Escape Plan #9

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

 

 

 

 

Tom Stephens's picture

Saddle-stitched printing going away

Printer-friendly version

Just wanted to give everyone a heads up.

I learned last night that Lightning Source, the company DriveThruRPG uses to do its print on demand printing, is discontinuing their offering of saddle stitch binding begining March 1, 2021.  They have decided that it is not economically viable for them to continue to provide this option.  This is the binding format we've been using for the Frontier Explorer since we started that gives us the old-school staples in the middle look and allows us to occasionally put pages in the middle you can pull out of the printed magazine.

So what does this mean?

First, if you just get the magazine digitally, there will be zero impact.

Second, going forward, all print versions of new issues of the Frontier Explorer will be perfect bound (like a paperback novel/hardback book).  That's the only option we will have.  Starting with issue 31 (coming out next week) we will be building the magazine for that format.  The truth is we haven't taken advantage of the saddle stitched binding for several years; we very rarely have anything that requires a two page spread.  So while this will impact my production of each issue slightly, it won't really affect your use of the printed version if you get them other than it might be a bit harder to get them to lay flat.  For those few back issues that did have a center spread, it will unfortuantely no longer be usable as we had originally intended.

Third, I'm going to try to get the print files updated for all of the back issues to the new format.  The existing files won't work.  If you try to order them, Lightning Source will supposedly reject the order.  It's not clear yet exactly how that will work.  And to be fair, it's actually just the cover files that I need to update, the interior files are fine.  Luckily, the issues are almost all the same size so it should be a fairly straightforward process (and fairly quick) to make the new files.  The trick will be if DTRPG makes me buy new print proofs for every back issue.  With 30 back issues plus the two technical manuals, that will cost a small chunk of change (~$200-250) and take some time.  I'm going to try to get this all done before March 1st, but if I don't, some back issues of the magazine will not be available with a POD option for a while.

Fourth, I may revisit the magazine size.  We have always kept it at 48 pages maximum since going any large pushed us out of saddle-stitched and into perfect bound.  Since we are going there anyway, we no longer have that size limit.  I don't think I'll raise the page count, as that means more editing work for each issue, but it also means that I don't have quite the hard cap and if I go a bit over, it's not the end of the world.  We'll see where this takes us over the course of the coming issues.

The bottom line is that if you want print copies in the saddle-stitched binding, you have until Feb 28th to get your order in.  And I'd recommend getting it in a bit earilier than that as I don't know how they will handle the transition.  I assume they'll accept orders up to that date and fulfill them into March (it takes up to 2 weeks after you place the order for it to get printed and ship), but who knows. In any case, the winds of change are blowing and there isn't anything we can do about it, we just need to roll with it and move forward.

Tom Stephens's picture

Frontier Explorer - Issue 30 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Welcome to issue 30 of the Frontier Explorer!  You can get it here on the website or over at DriveThruRPG. This issue introduces two new authors RJ McDonough and Oscar Rios.  RJ talks about the “Art of the Crossover” and bringing outside resources into your game while Oscar gives us a couple of new equipment articles, one on needler weapons and a second on restraints.

This issue brings back our “Frontier in Miniature” series looking at miniatures for use in your game.  This time, Tom Verreault kit-bashes some computers and transmitter arrays as terrain pieces.  We already have a couple more miniature articles in the queue so you can expect to see more of these in the future.  We are also continuing the “An Alternate Frontier” series by Richard Farris with a look at gyrojet weapons.

I thought we would be wrapping up the “Things That Go Boom!” series by Joseph Cabadas in this issue but while I was doing the editing,  he submitted another that you can look for in the next issue.

Rounding out the issue we have a pair of spaceship articles by Richard “Shadow Shack” Rose, a short adventure, some new species, and a look at food trucks in the Frontier by Tom Verreault, and a look at handling random creature encounters and an article on protective gear by Joseph Cabadas.  Finally, we have our regular Jurak Hangna article by Eric Winsor and the comics by Scott Mulder.

The full article list is:

  • Scouting Yacht
  • Surplus Assault Scout Hull
  • A Death in Port
  • To Boldy Expand the Frontier
  • The Art of The Crossover
  • Handling Random Creature
  • Encounters
  • Emitter Arrays & Comm Dishes
  • Anakalypto
  • Titan Rising: 2299 #23
  • Disarming Things That Go Boom!
  • Gyrojet Weapons – “Hissers”
  • Pimp My Needler
  • New Protective Equipment
  • Personal Restraints
  • Food Trucks in The Frontier
  • Escape Run Comic #8

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

 

Tom Stephens's picture

Issue 29 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Welcome to issue 29 of the Frontier Explorer. You can grab it here on the

website or at DriveThruRPG. We kick off the issue with a new ship by a new author, Shawn Starky, detailing a small hull size 4 freighter. We are also introducing a new series, “An Alternate Frontier,” by another new author, Richard “GreyMyst” Farris. The first article, Electrochemical Slugthrowers, looks basic projectile weap-ons and provides a variety of new models.  Future articles will look at other weapons and develop his version of an alternate Frontier.

We again have two more installments of the “Things that go Boom!” series, which should wrap up with a final article next issue.  This time we’re looking at dropped ordinance – bombs.

We round out the issue with our usual comics, another article from Jurak Hangna, a look at the Battle of Zebulon, a book review, and a new bit of equipment from the Minzi Marketplace.

 The full article list is:

  • Pah’Thas – Hull Size 4 Freighter
  • Things that go Boom 7 – Looking at Dropped Weapons
  • Knight Hawk Scenarios: Battle of Zebulon
  • Percival's Legacy!
  • Titian Rising: 2299
  • In the Minzii Marketplace: Inertia Umbrella
  • Electrochemical Slugthrowers – Sluggers
  • Book Review: Ultimate RPG Character Backstory Guide
  • Things that go Boom 8 – More Bombs, Targeting, and Aerial Drop Systems

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

Tom Stephens's picture

Issue 28 Now Available

Printer-friendly version

Hello Explorers!

Issue 28 of the Frontier Explorer is now available. You can grab it here on the magazine website or at DriveThruRPG. In this issue we have a grab back of articles including more installments of the Things That Go Boom! series, this time on landmines, a new, optional ruleset for combat and actions, a look back at an old Star Frontiers Choose Your Own Adventure book, and a review of a White Star module.

A fun item is this issue is our Create a Character Codex by Aaron O’Brian. This table lets you roll a few dice and get a quick random character concept. Aaron and Brian Phongluangtham went to town drawing a bunch of characters generated from the codex when Aaron first posted. Several of their images are featured with the codex in this issue.

We round out the issue with a look at whips, our regular Jurak Hangna article, and our comics. The full article list is:

  • New Combat Rules and Action Economy
  • Things That Go Boom! 5: Don’t Step on Landmines
  • Evaluating Villains of Volturnus for Canonicity
  • Create a Character Codex
  • Titan Rising: 2299 – Episode 21
  • Peril at the Pod Auction
  • Two Seconds With a Slurker
  • Things That Go Boom! 6: More on Landmines
  • Whip it Good!
  • Escape Plan #6

Grab your copy, sit back, and enjoy. And as always, keep exploring!

 

Pages

Subscribe to Front page feed