Star Patrol


Star Patrol is a role-playing game published by Gamescience in 1977.

Description

Star Patrol is a science-fiction space-adventure system. In the initial release, Space Patrol, the brief rules cover character creation and abilities, psionics, alien creatures, gravity, and combat with superscientific weapons. In the re-release, Star Patrol, the rules cover character creation, 25 skills, psionics, monsters, robots, 32 alien races, starships, starship combat, and more. Professions include soldier, engineer, scientist, astronaut, trader, rogue/thief, and spy/diplomat. Star Patrol also includes five introductory miniscenarios.

Publication history

Space Patrol was designed by Michael Scott Kurtick and Rockland Russo, and published by Gamescience in 1977 as a 32-page book. The game was revised and re-released as Star Patrol in 1980 as a boxed set containing a 68-page book, a large deck plan sheet, a large hex sheet, cardstock miniatures, and dice. A second edition of Star Patrol was published in 1982, which included a "Mission Master" accessory.

Reception

reviewed Star Patrol in Ares Magazine #11 and commented that "Star Patrol is a failure as a game, largely because of its incompleteness. The designers display flashes of brilliance and a talent for elegant development, but much too infrequently to make this a useable game. It is an excellent collection of ideas for sf role-playing, and I would recommend it highly to someone interested in an accessory for Traveller, Space Opera, or Universe."
William A. Barton reviewed Star Patrol, Second Edition in The Space Gamer No. 47. Barton commented that "Overall, Star Patrol is a valid alternative to Traveller. Relatively complete – and playable."

Reviews