The Lighthouse

Ah, science fiction gaming!  I’ve always loved it.  Star Frontiers was my first RPG and SF novels my first love, so always in the back of my mind I feel like I’m slumming a bit with the fantasy stuff.  Paul, our erstwhile GM from Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne, took a straw poll for our next campaign and has decided on Alternity Star*Drive, set aboard the Galactic Concord space station The Lighthouse.

Session Summaries

Read the exciting tale of every session!  Our faithful scribe transcribes every detail of the game for your review.  PDF and frequently NSFW.

Characters

Each player is playing two characters.  One is part of the official Galactic Concord staff of the space station – captain, engineer, security chief, doctor, etc.  The other is one of the other notables – especially ambassadors from the other stellar nations.  This is pretty cool in that we get two experiences in one – I think of the first group as the more “Star Trek” cast and the second as more the “Babylon 5” cast. Check them all out in depth!

Setting

Alternity is a science fiction RPG that TSR/Wizards put out briefly from 1998 to 2000.  They managed to crank out a large number of products in that short time.  Blessedly, unlike the later d20 Future, it’s not “D&D mechanics with the serial numbers filed off.”  It has a solid system well suited to the skill-heavy approach of a SF game.

Star*Drive is the main far future/spacefaring setting for Alternity.  Humanity has spread to the stars, fragmented, and had some major galactic wars.  A distant frontier called “The Verge” is where most of the action happens.  The campaign will be set during the “External War” which is basically when hostile aliens show up to rumble.

The Lighthouse is a mobile space station that will serve as the base for the campaign.  It’s like Babylon 5 or Deep Space Nine, but it’s mobile!

Rules

We’re using the standard Alternity rules with some skill point tweaks – the ones knowledgeable Alternity fans know well as Optional Rules 2A, 2B, and 2C.  These are popular enough that things like the Alternity Character Manager have them as checkboxes.