What is StarQuest? StarQuest is an Open Source (i.e. free) roleplaying
game system created by a group of gamers on the
Dragonsfoot.org
StarQuest Forum. StarQuest has its own "default" campaign universe, called
the Near Stars Campaign. The original materials were released August 9th, 2004.
StarQuest is free, and always will be. The designers are all old-school gamers,
and the system is "lite" and simple. It's not d20.
A few words about canon: Canon means "by the book," and is one of the things
which I (Chris Gonnerman) believe is the main limitation of most science-fiction
roleplaying games. Almost all sci-fi roleplaying games are based on one or
another fictional universe explored by movies, television, or books. While this
gives such games a rich base of material to work with, it also means that there
will always be fictional characters who overshadow the players. For instance,
in the old TSR Buck Rogers XXVc game, the players are really not allowed
to be Buck, or Wilma Dearing, or any of the "canon" characters. The players'
activities were always overshadowed by these mighty heros.
StarQuest has no "canon" heroic characters. This isn't to say that there are no
powerful NPC's, but rather that the story isn't about them.
In fantasy games, "canon" often refers to the vendor's published world materials.
Gamers are often attacked (in online forums) if their campaigns aren't
strictly canon. We don't want that either. So far as possible, the StarQuest
Near Stars Campaign materials will tell about how it is now (in the year 2139)
and not try to predict your future. If one campaign tells of how the Polarans took
over the Near Stars, and the players have to fight to defeat them, while another
campaign ignores them entirely, hey, it's all good. If you don't like something,
change it.
Contributions are welcome! Email your comments to:
chris.gonnerman@newcenturycomputers.net
Contributed rules or other materials will be credited to you even if we make changes to them.
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