Star*Drive - Contents

Contents

The book is hardbound with 256 pages illustrated in color. It is divided into chapters covering the history of the setting; a description of the conditions, economy, and technology of the 26th century; descriptions of the various stellar nations within a range of over 1,000 light years; a more detailed look at a mysterious distant region known as the Verge, and finally game-specific details covering the player species, careers, employment, skills, equipment, and special game options available for players.

The game world includes a variety of standard fare science fiction features. These include psionics, cybernetics, robots, spacecraft, mutants, and advanced medicine. The level of technology is at "Progress Level" 7 (Progress Levels are used in Alternity to describe the technology of a civilization, with present day Earth described as Progress Level 5, and the Industrial Age described as Progress Level 4). Characters are typically employed and have an allegiance to a company or government. They may also follow one of the future religions described in this book.

In addition to humans, players can run a character from one of the handful of alien space-faring races that lie within the known space.

The Verge is described, in many cases, planet by planet. The more prominent planet descriptions give a broad overview of the world, the government, and sites of interest. Maps of the main worlds are also show at a high scale.

The cover was among artist rk post's first work for TSR: "The first painting I did at TSR was the cover for the Star*Drive book. Because the book didn't come out right away, I got to re-do the painting a few times, so my first painting was also my fourth or fifth painting by the time it was done."