It seems we are facing a hiccup with the ship rule as presented in <i>Knight Hawks</i>. They present some cool ships with that realistic deck arrangement and momentum-based thrust, but they seem to be ether distracting us form how unrealistic the system is, or setting-up a false (or unnecessary) senses of realism in an otherwise cinematic-styled game.<br /><br />Star Frontiers is not one harmonious game, but a set of games that maintain some core elements (the races, Pan-Galactic, the UPF, etc.), but seem to go into a tangent with most things. <i>Alien Worlds</i> was noted for striving for realism, but its not possible to know without more info. <i>Alpha Dawn</i> was setup to be cinematic, with the way characters take hits - taking HP damage instead of injuries - and the spaceships have a typical Hollywood deck arrangement. Originally, the game was not going to have ship-battle rules for the sake of character-based actions, but people really wanted to blow-up spaceships. <i>Knight Hawks</i> did try to add some degree of realism - to the point of retroactively changing the way ship are presented - but as noted, it fell short. And <i>Zebulon's Guide</i>... well... Despite the fact that it was a mess to begin with, it was in noways striving for any kind of realism. Although they wanted to avoid anything that felt too "magical", a playtest group totally lost their collective balls and insisted on there being an instant escape in case they get marooned on some deserted planet - thus the teleporter.<br /><br />What I'm getting at is, are we playing a cinematic game were physics take a backseat for the sake of outrageous adventure, or do we play a gritty game that tries to ground itself in what is possible, but with enough sci-fi phlebotinum to make the unrealistic stuff possible, or something in-between? I can picture a Star Frontiers that plays out like a '70s space adventure akin to <i>Star Wars</i>, <i>Buck Rogers</i> and <i>Battlestar Galactica</i>, were characters get shot at, but seldom get hit or take any real damage, as well as space fighters flying through space like actual jet fighter. On the other hand, I can also picture a Star Frontiers that is grounded in hard science, were space travel is a way more complicated and time-consuming, and even the toughest characters can die outright from a single shot to the head. Think <i>2001: A Space Odyssey</i> and <i>Alien</i>. Yes, they may not be what you find in the rulebooks or setting info, but not everyone plays by the book.<br /><br />So going beyond the constrains of published canons and rules, what would you guys find the most idealistic way of playing Star Frontiers?
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