New Gear for the Old Frontier

I try not to add too much new equipment to my Star Frontiers® campaigns, because I don’t want to drown the game in superscience or arms races. Most of the gear on this page is very specialized, and was created to fit specific adventures.

Some of this equipment was made for use with the Alpha Dawn rules, but I think I’ve successfully converted everything to Zebulon’s Guide compatibility.

TABLE SF-E: New Equipment Table

Type	Cost	Mass
Firecell	3	—
Fossil-CAS	300	2
Laser Sight	200	—
Memorol (1 dose)	30	—
Psi-Warn Progit	5000	—
Ziriol (1 dose)	50	—

Note: The table lists items alphabetically, but the following descriptions are in an order closer to the one used in SFAC3: Zebulon’s Guide to Frontier Space.

Weapon Attachments

Laser Sight: This is a small laser attached to the barrel of a pistol or rifle to improve the user’s aim. Like a telescopic sight, it improves a weapon to the next range group, but can be used in dim lighting where telescopic sights are useless. Laser sights on the Frontier are disposable — the non-removable microbattery powering the sight lasts one year.

[In an Alpha Dawn campaign, the laser sight reduces a weapons range modifier by one class (just as a telescopic sight does) but also works at Short range. It also reduces the (soft cover) penalty for Darkness to -5%.]

Adding a laser sight to a weapon prevents the use of a flash muzzle, grenade launcher, knife mount or power light. A weapon can have a laser sight and a telescopic sight, but the sights cannot be used together. Laser sights are ineffective against characters using albedo screens; the screen absorbs the weak beam so completely that it can’t be seen.

Computer Equipment

Unlike some referees, I feel no compelling need to rewrite the Star Frontiers computer rules, so this section is strictly a matter of add-ons.

Computerized Analysis Scanners (CASs)

A referee could go on and on creating increasingly-specialized CASs for a campaign, but I decided to show unusual restraint and add just one that explorers might need.

Fossil-CAS: Also known as a paleoscanner, the fossil-CAS is used by paleontologists and archaeologists to survey research sites before digging begins. Incorporating elements of the geological-CAS, fauna-CAS, and medic-CAS, a paleoscanner displays a 3-meter deep map of the site, including rough measurements and composition of any fossils, burials, and artifacts present in the area. Maps produced by a fossil-CAS can be downloaded into other computers, including Map-Calc and Diz-Map progits.

If the fossil-CAS reveals a fossil/burial of a known species, characters with the appropriate skill (Archaeology or Forensic Medicine for sentient species, Zoology for others) can use the displayed details to deduce the deceased creature’s sex, age (at death), and probable cause of death (if it was violent enough to mark the remains).

[Yes, I know Archaeology is traditionally considered the study of artifacts, not bones, but trust me: Most professional archaeologists can do at least a basic examination of skeletons. They see a lot of them in their line of work.]

Similarly, characters with the Archaeology skill can identify basic artifacts (weapons, tools, pottery, etc) and their composition (the type of metal or stone used to make an artifact, for example), but detailed analysis (including reading any writing on an artifact) still requires the artifact’s removal from the earth.

(In a strictly Alpha Dawn campaign, all uses of a paleoscanner require the Environmentalist subskill Analyze Samples. Those Alpha Dawn characters were smarter than Doc Savage.)

Although the fossil-CAS does duplicate some medic-CAS subroutines, it’s not an acceptable substitute — at most, it could provide enough information to set a broken bone.

Bodycomp Progits

An aside: Zebulon’s Guide wasn’t lying — excessive progit use really can unbalance a campaign, especially if they’re too available. If you’re having trouble with characters trading progits, or stealing them from NPCs (shoot & loot players just never stop), here’s a suggestion: rule that the `brain & body’ progits are species-specific. In addition to making those progits less exchangeable, such a restriction can increase the price if PCs have to buy a `minority’ progit (such as a Dralisite PC buying progits on a predominantly Yazirian planet).

The category of brain & body progits should include (at the very least): Bio-Center, Body-Scan, Brain-Scan, Brain-Link, Enviro-Scan, and the new Psi-Warn progit below. If you’re feeling extreme, the category can also include other progits that depend on Brain-Link (Ani-Link, Comp-Link, Mind-Drive).

Psi-Warn: (Must be used with Brain-Scan.) This Type D progit monitors the wearer for changes in brain waves caused by mentalist attacks. The progit sounds an audio alarm whenever a mentalist uses (even unsuccessfully) the following disciplines on the progit’s user: Beam, Confusion, Empathy (if used to broadcast emotions, not read them), Fear, Illusion, Infatuation, Paralyze, Suggestion, and Telepathy. The progit may be deactivated when alarms are unwanted.

[On the off chance you’re using the Alpha Dawn-era rules from Jon Mattson’s article "Frontiers of the Mind" (Ares Magazine Special Edition #2), the Psi-Warn progit detects the skills Mind Contact (when used for Telepathy), Illusion Creation, and Mind Control.]

Mentalists (and enlightened characters) cannot use the Psi-Warn progit — their unusual brain waves set the alarm off constantly.

[Design Note: The Zebulon’s Guide rules actually make it tricky to create mentalist-related equipment, because they’re vague about how `scientific’ mentalist disciplines are. Do disciplines use some unique `psychic energy’ that can be detected/blocked by technology, do they manipulate more mundane forms of energy, or do they are they completely mysterious? The Psi-Warn progit represents a very conservative approach to the dilemma: even if a referee considers mentalism `mysterious’, the disciplines that affect characters minds should have some metabolic effect.

I usually go with the `mysterious’ approach, myself, because it makes the player characters a little paranoid. If, for example, they can’t find any rational cause for an explosion, they start wondering if somebody nearby is using the Disruption discipline. If I had chosen to make `mental energy’ distinct and detectable, there would have been a mentalist-CAS on this equipment list.

On the other hand, I probably should have some sort of `mentalist sedative’ in the Pharmaceuticals section, or the criminal justice system will have a tough time keeping mentalists in line during in prison and during trials, but I’ve never gotten around to detailing it.]

Survival Gear

Firecell: A firecell is pocket-sized, unbreakable plastiglass prism used to focus sunlight into a fire-starting beam. The special prism can be used any time the sun is not completely obscured. It takes 1d10 turns to start a fire with a firecell.

(I can’t take real credit for the firecell — it appeared in the Endless Quest® book Villains of Volturnus. I just fleshed out the details, because I was young and liked closure.)

Pharmaceuticals

The medical drugs in this section are significantly more complicated, specialized, and dangerous than the pharmaceuticals included in a standard medkit. While all the drugs have a valid therapeutic use in the Frontier (and are available for purchase to qualified PCs), they require `deliberate misuse’ to be useful in normal game play. On many worlds, characters may face legal sanctions if caught `abusing’ these drugs in such a manner. (The prices listed for each drug are for the ‘misuse dose’ not the traditional medical dosage.)

Memerol: A chemical relative of telol, this drug was originally developed to improve eyewitness testimony in criminal cases. Its deleterious side-effects led to its ban in criminal investigations, but the drug remains available to physicians who use small doses as a treatment for some brain disorders.

When used in its original (higher) dosage, memerol enhances a subject’s memory by overstimulating neural connections, allowing the character an INT or LOG check (player’s choice) to remember a specific event in great detail. If successful, the character enters a trance-like state where s/he can do nothing but describe the memory to others. (Beings in a memerol trance seem distant and emotionally uninvolved; characters with the Empathic Understanding or Psycho-Pathology skills can automatically identify a character in such a trance.) Characters in a memerol trance cannot lie.

While even successful uses of memerol produce minor side-effects (users report vivid nightmares and irritability), extreme failure and extreme success result in serious side-effects:

On a roll of 96-00, not only does the memerol fail, but the character’s long-term memory is impaired for 1d10 days, during which time all the character’s non-weapons skills are reduced one skill level.

On a roll of 01-05, the character retrieves the memory, but the memerol trance is followed by a seizure (lasting 1d10 minutes), and 1d10 days of minor hallucinations and serious insomnia. During those 1d10 days, the character’s movement rate and DEX/RS scores are halved (c.f. the "Endurance" section, AD:19), unless the character is sedated by a physician every night.

[Design Note: For the sake of rules consistency, referees in ZG campaigns should probably change those percentages to 98-00 and 01-02, respectively.]

Ziriol: Originally developed for treating clinically-depressed Yazirians, an overdose of this stimulant induces an artificial (and inferior) form of battle rage in Yazirians. Its effects on other races range from non-existent to mild (no stronger than caffeine).

The `ziriol rage’ begins one minute after taking the drug, and isn’t as powerful as a natural rage (the character only receives a +10%/+1CS to hit) and more random in duration (it lasts 1d10 turns, regardless of when combat ends). Afterwards, the Yazirian suffers 6d10 minutes of shakiness, during which s/he suffers a -10%/-1CS penalty to all skills requiring good hand-eye coordination (including, but not limited to, all ranged weapon skills and most repair skills).

Furthermore, ziriol rage does not pre-empt normal battle rage instincts. If a character goes into a natural battle rage while under the influence of ziriol, the effects are cumulative (+30%/+1CS to hit) for the ziriol’s duration, but the character takes 1d10 points of damage per turn from cardiac stress, and passes out (for 6d10 minutes) after the ziriol wears off.

Ziriol abuse is considered a serious matter on Yazirians worlds. Characters discovered by authorities to have large amounts of ziriol face increased scrutiny, if not harassment or arrest.