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Alternity RPG
Star Drive Campaign Setting
Welcome to the future's edge with this first campaign setting for the Alternity science fiction roleplaying game. This full-color volume hurls players into the 26th century with a galaxy of nonstop action, epic adventure, and astounding far-future technology. Faster-than-light travel, strange alien species, exotic planets on the far reaches of explored space, and other elements of classic space opera dominate this setting.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 13, 1998
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December 31, 2021Star*Drive is the space opera setting for Alternity, and it’s pretty classic for a general space opera game (i.e., not a game centered around mech combat, space wizards like Jedi, etc): humanity reached the stars, met and befriended aliens, had some wars, lost contact with some colonies, and now faces an invasion of unknowable aliens.
Now, I am sure that the 200+ page campaign book has some gems of ideas here, but in general, this is straight down the middle for this genre, and my skim-reading method isn’t going to uncover those gems. But as a first entry out of the gate to show off what Alternity can do — mutants, psychics, cyber tech, spaceships — I really think they were going for something generic here, and so: good on them, but maybe not for me.
(Which really raises the personal question: if I had to play this game, what would make it interesting? Because a game like this mentions different tones/frames — military, intrigue, trade — which may spark some interest but also puts some work on the players/GM. On some level, a sandbox like this always asks you what you want to build. And right now, coming on 2022, I feel like the most exciting space opera for me is something like Becky Chambers’s books, where we ask questions about family, community, refuge; or maybe something like Saga, where we have interstellar war, but the PCs just want to be left alone to live small, non-historical lives.)
Sourcebooks:
Campaign Setting
The Lighthouse - a city guide but for a space station
The Alien Compendium 1 & 2 (monsters and new species, mostly around “will this try to kill us?”, which is a frame for monster manuals that seems so narrow; and again, of course this includes riffs on a lot of typical and famous sf monsters, everything from dinosaurs to predators)
Arms & Equipment
Threats from Beyond - not a monster book, but a collection of adventure hooks and news
Outbound - a bunch of star systems and adventures in them
Star Compendium
System Guide to Aegis
The Externals (pdf)
Adventures:
Black Starfall & Red Starrise - two short intro adventures
The Last Warhulk - destroy the warship with the AI (feels very generic)
Planet of Darkness - a promising name, but it seems mostly to be about getting this one particular metal
Klick Clack - clear out a monster dungeon… ahem, asteroid
Now, I am sure that the 200+ page campaign book has some gems of ideas here, but in general, this is straight down the middle for this genre, and my skim-reading method isn’t going to uncover those gems. But as a first entry out of the gate to show off what Alternity can do — mutants, psychics, cyber tech, spaceships — I really think they were going for something generic here, and so: good on them, but maybe not for me.
(Which really raises the personal question: if I had to play this game, what would make it interesting? Because a game like this mentions different tones/frames — military, intrigue, trade — which may spark some interest but also puts some work on the players/GM. On some level, a sandbox like this always asks you what you want to build. And right now, coming on 2022, I feel like the most exciting space opera for me is something like Becky Chambers’s books, where we ask questions about family, community, refuge; or maybe something like Saga, where we have interstellar war, but the PCs just want to be left alone to live small, non-historical lives.)
Sourcebooks:
Campaign Setting
The Lighthouse - a city guide but for a space station
The Alien Compendium 1 & 2 (monsters and new species, mostly around “will this try to kill us?”, which is a frame for monster manuals that seems so narrow; and again, of course this includes riffs on a lot of typical and famous sf monsters, everything from dinosaurs to predators)
Arms & Equipment
Threats from Beyond - not a monster book, but a collection of adventure hooks and news
Outbound - a bunch of star systems and adventures in them
Star Compendium
System Guide to Aegis
The Externals (pdf)
Adventures:
Black Starfall & Red Starrise - two short intro adventures
The Last Warhulk - destroy the warship with the AI (feels very generic)
Planet of Darkness - a promising name, but it seems mostly to be about getting this one particular metal
Klick Clack - clear out a monster dungeon… ahem, asteroid
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