Eddie The Maul's Legacy - - Session Four Report - Cepheus Engine & Stars Without Number Revised rpg Game

 

The party made a side trip to Cebu Three the Communication's planet where they ran smack into Eddie The Maul. Eddie's a drifter, spacer, & all around bum ie adventurer whose got a murky past & even more murky cybernetic implants. Here's the back story.  Right at the moment I've got two different Stars Without Numbers Revised & Cepheus Engine rpg campaigns happening. One of these was given to me by DM Steve whose friend DM Huby passed on recently & I've taken over the old Phaseworld rpg. The game campaign's bounty hunter and more then slightly shady slant didn't change only the rpg system did. And while did lose two PC's to the machinations of bullets & bad dice rolls things have been going well. Well until Eddie one of our regulars brought up the other campaign which you can read about here. And this is where things get tricky because the Slavers are still on the brothel planet. And the PC's managed to make contact though pirate connections in response to the Flint Corporation & its holdings. They still want to go after that end of the campaign. But there are other complications. 
The PC's have managed to squirrel away enough money to buy a starship but Eddie joining our regular group with his spacer PC started to tell em about ins & outs of 'saving' ie buying  that sentient drive from the slavers. Eddie's PC Harry The Maul knows a guy whose got a ancient use  RAX Type Protected Merchant for sale from the Million Suns Empire. 

Eddie comes with a few advantages including hyperspace charts to get to our Strange Stars sector hyperspace gates. But Eddie's got some secrets of his own including cybernetic brain parts & systems that he's not sure about. Eddie was a belter and miner who was captured by some rather nasty Greys who implanted him with these. Eddies can almost but not quite interface with  the drive box and several other Strange Stars weirdness. Eddie showed up because of his connection with Bobby Daystrom from last game with details here. In the past Bobby Daystrom has been digging into Eddie's rather murky past. If the party doesn't trust Eddie he's got passage back to where my other party is via a Bright Water Class Personal Yacht that a friend of his owns. Eddie of course is sticking around for the moment because he's done nothing to the player's PC's but they don't trust em.

The party didn't get the information they were looking for but they got Eddie instead. And he's been feeding the party information all during the game. So its worked out so far. The party wants to take Eddie to a cyber doc & have his implants dug into to findout what or who their dealing with. That's next week.. Oh did I forget to mention the three Flint corporate goon erm agents who contacted the party?!

Whom The Gods Destroy - Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omibus, Strange Stars, & Stars Without Number rpg

 For our anniversary my wife bought me a lovely copy of Jack Kirby's Fourth World Omibus. Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a huge Jack Kirby fan. And going back a long time to the early Eighties and this includes Jack Kirby's Fourth World DC material. Reading through the Fourth World books is like taking a trip down the road of early childhood for me. 

 Because these books were so entwined with my uncle's Dungeons & Dragons & Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. According to the Wiki entry on the Fourth World; " Though he wouldn't ever say it publicly, the New Gods books started right after the gods in Thor killed one another. The first page of Orion of the New Gods showed the same scenes from Thor—a planet torn in half and armored gods holding swords and dying on a fiery battleground.^{[8]
"The Fourth World" dealt with the battle between good and evil as represented by the worlds of New Genesis and Apokolips. Darkseid, the evil lord of Apokolips, seeks the Anti-Life Equation which will allow him to control the thoughts of all living beings. Opposing him is Orion, his son raised by Highfather and his enemies on New Genesis.[9] Other characters caught in the deadly battle included the Forever People, an extension of the kid gang concept from the 1940s with a group of adolescents adventuring without an adult supervisor;[10] Mister Miracle, a native of New Genesis raised on Apokolips who triumphed over a torturous childhood to become the world's greatest escape artist; and Lightray, the heroic warrior of New Genesis. Their adventures would take them to Earth where the war continued." So where is this all going?! There are several OSR Jack Kirby & Fourth World homages. One of the absolute best is Trey Causey's Strange Stars & the OSR book.  Please note though, 'The OSR rules supplement seems to be based on the original SWN,} not the Revised edition (which has switched from descending to ascending AC).' Note that Trey also has even more Strange Stars expanded commentary over on his 'From the Sorcerers Skull' blog here. So what Strange Stars allows me to do is to insert in several Kirby like adventure & campaign elements into our on going Stars Without Number Revised campaign. Elements such as the drive box and many others. The Kirby like aspect includes the fact that the gods in Advanced Dungeons & Dragons first edition's Dieties & Demigods have destroyed themselves. Or have they?!

New Genisis made a quick Easter Egg appearance as a possible lost hyperspace shunt location. But it was quickly by passed recently when the players were fooling with an A.I. drive system. My recent review of 'A Delicate Matter' By Joseph Mohr has me in the mind that the Slavers are on the brothel planet selling a drive box to the highest bidder.Now I'll be getting my SWN players involved in the events of 'A Delicate Matter' & then follow it up with the Slavers. The Slavers are masters of bio occult tech & have a deep han erm tendril in the brothel planet.

Review & Commentary on Trey Causey's 'Strange Stars' campaign setting & 'The Strange Stars OSR rule book'

 "It's the far future, Old Earth is lost and shrouded in legend, and the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars, branching into new forms and strange cultures. Adventure is measured in light-years!"

Today was another day I was strolling through my Drivethrurpg library & I came across Trey Causey's 'Strange Stars' campaign  setting & 'The Strange Stars OSR rule book'. So let's make that distinct right off according to the author 'You need the setting book to maximally utilize the OSR rulebook.'



Strange Stars is like a smoke ring from the 70's or 80's from the fevered mind of its author, and its a graphic as well as artistic slight of hand trick of a laser sword of retro science fantasy gaming goodness. The author presents a great overview of his space opera setting with great artwork and a wary eye towards the material being used in your games. This book is wall to wall system neutral artwork as good as your going to find. The races are really nicely designed and can fit into a wide variety of science fiction or fantasy settings. Strange Stars is a wily and some what lean beast, its part setting book, part alien races, and a whole lot of details designed around the fact that this beast wants to be your go to space opera campaign. The OSR rule book gives all of the back up rules for these taken as a whole it works & works very well. 

The Strange Stars Game Setting book really dives into the universe of Strange Stars. The galactic politics is there, the factions, alien races, and all of this with an eye towards the retro Seventies & Eighties that we all grew up in. 

There's a definite, 'This is not 'Star Wars' but it might be Seventies Space opera' feel to these books. The author takes this and ratchet's up several notches in the setting book;  

"STRANGE STARS is a setting for any game where modern transhuman science fiction meets classic 70s space opera. Join a salvage mission to steal ancient tech from the wreck of a deranged sophont warship. Become a skiptracer in the lawless orbital megapolis of Interzone. Plan an elaborate data-vault heist on a diamond planet. Cross ceramic blades with a Zao Pirate in hard vacuum. Score sweet dreams or nightmare fuel from the oneirochemists of Eidolon. It's all somewhere in the STRANGE STARS!" 

Everything from the beginning possible PC's races to full adventure hooks are right there at your fingers. You can think of this book as a candy sampler of retro science fiction goodness that never existed until now. This starts with the cover which pays a nice nod to the original Star Frontiers game to the layout and graphics which references everything from Marvel style sci fi comic series to things like Star Wars. This is a style choice and a very well done idea in what it does. 

Nine ninety nine might seem a bit steep for a simple but its not because this is wall to wall well done artwork. If you grew up thumbing through Barlowe's Guide To Extraterrestrials, reading Micronauts under the covers with a flash light your going to want this book. 

Because this setting book taps into the nostalgia buttons but there's more. This is a very workable space opera setting with all of the trimmings to get you started in the universe of Strange Stars. Trust me, this is a world where one week your adventurers will be battling PHARESMID SYNDICATE and then taking down the machinations of the THE VOKUN EMPIRE. Its all right there at your finger tips and best of all its system neutral. 

Use it with your favorite OSR sci fi retroclone or Traveller or Fate or whatever system you want. I see how and why the author has done what he's done. This is a solid impact of a book into the sci fi market. Very cool and I highly recommend this book.

Using The Strange Stars Campaign Setting 

Jason Sholtis homage artwork  to Marvel's Fin Fang Foom in Strange Stars remains one of my favorite pieces of his artwork. 

A lot of OSR retroclones, sci fi settings & more have come & gone from the marketplace since I wrote this review for the Strange Stars OSR rule & setting book. But the majority of my points still stand. There's a lot of science fantasy material here that could used with many of the OSR games on the market. The White Star Rpg comes to mind here but there's plenty more. And while the  Stars Without Number rpg has now gone into its second edition & I haven't had the time to truly investigate it. The Strange Stars books were perfectly suited for the SWN first edition game in spades. 

Strange Stars has its points for independent intergalactic role playing in spades this makes it perfect fodder for Venger Satanis's Cha'alt series especially Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise campaign book which fits the politic of Strange Stars as both setting & rule book! In point of fact it could be used easily with Castles & Crusades Siege Engine books. 

There's plenty of setting & brightness within the Trey Causey's 'Strange Stars' campaign  setting & 'The Strange Stars OSR rule book' to allow a DM to set up a campaign via a simple space dungeon & keep things going for years! The material is very well done & fits its OSR aesthetic very nicely. 

Review & Commentary Strange Stars OSR Rule Book By Trey Causey From Hydra Cooperative For Use With Stars Without Number & Other OSR Rules Systems

Sometimes you get to see an artifact from another alternative time period, a strange 'what if' book that ports itself into your hands. Unfortunately this sort of thing isn't real but Trey Causey has finally released his Strange Stars OSR Rule Book and its aimed straight at the heart of the Stars Without Numbers rpg system rule book as an alternative setting. 

"It’s the far future, Old Earth is lost and shrouded in legend, and the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars, branching into new forms and strange cultures. Adventure is measured in light-years!"
This is a zipped down, stripped down, Stars Without Number setting book spun through the blender of Trey Causey's warped imagination. This book reads like a combination of a late 70's classic era Marvel space opera comic book setting with a completely different take down of the Stars Without Number setting on its own terms. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, in many respects its a good thing, this book has actual playable OSR alien races that make you want to play them. There is a an entire boat load of worlds, materials,and adventure hooks sewing through out the setting book. This book is an exercise in compactness and interstellar utility. The layout is smooth, easy to read, & gives not only a gist of the interstellar setting but an entire setting straight out of the box. Here's a sample of the type of quality material that your going to get.


Is it a complete setting? Yes and no, yes its perfectly suitable for running adventures in the Strange Stars universe mixed along side the Stars Without Number universe & system. But is it worth it if you already own the Strange Stars setting & resource book? Well that's going to depend if you want to convert the whole setting, plus races, material, etc. into Stars Without Number or into your favorite space OSR clone such as Hulks & Horrors, White Star, etc. This book covers all of the bases but making the buyer go for another purchase all over again is a bit of a pain in the ass for the consumer. So it loses points for that.
But I get the reason why multiple versions of Strange Stars have been done. Trey is trying to get his hands into the gaming public's hands for sheer love of his setting & in a word its worth it. Especially for the Stars Without Number game universe because in many ways Strange Stars fulfills the retro gaming promise of SWN without all of that OSR  system's setting baggage.
I've DMed lots & lots of Stars Without Numbers over the years & in some respects there's way too many books, settings, etc. for SWN. In thirty seven pages you get factions, alien races,NPC's, adventure hooks, etc. ready too go for that group of player's that coming in fifteen minutes. This is a great setting book for Stars without Number because its ideal suited to take the PC's to the stars and beyond for months or years of old school play.


Much of the Strange Stars setting echoes both SWN and its own internal 70's space opera groove. Could this work with other OSR gaming systems? Yes, in fact it would be an excellent fit with Venger Satanis's sleazy Alpha Blue rpg system. But without the adult sex & sleaze bits. Instead you get some very fine quality material that can literally generate months of 70's space opera play at the usual author's quality and output. There's some really fine pieces of artwork in here as well.


Could Strange Stars OSR be used with other OSR retroclone systems such as White Star or Swords & Wizardry? In a word quite easily, not only the author's other work setting  Weird Adventures the crunch is done in such a way to make porting over into your favorite game system quite easy & somewhat painless.  This piece by Jason Sholtis, is especially evocative of the Seventies comic space opera. There is idea after idea here with homages to classic 70's films such as Logan's Run, Star Wars, Star Crash, etc. But Trey has free reign to let his imagination run wild. It does indeed lead into some weird & dark corners of his universe but that's half the fun here.


What about using Strange Stars OSR with say the  White Star rpg? Well after doing a bit of looking I found that Trey pointed me in the right direct it seems that friend already has done exactly this; " Mike aka Wrathofzombie has run some sessions of Strange Stars in White Star with some adaptation of the setting book of his on devising. Here are some races/classes


Looking at what he did there, I don't think it would be very hard to convert over, as White Star looks even "rules lighter" than SWN, but with a similar OSR chassis. "
This begs the question could Strange Stars be used with OD&D or say Swords & Wizardry? Well judging by the research I've done with it. I'd say definitely & because, "the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars" it would not be hard to take your favorite campaign setting or old school fantasy world & make it a back water planet in the Strange Stars universe.
 There are also lots of PC racial options from Atozan librarians to armored thrax warriors which can add new dimensions to character racial development.This is  especially true for retroclones such as Swords & Wizardry or for other favorite OSR system.


Could Strange Stars be used with Traveler, Star Frontiers ( the loving homage of the cover is a dead giveaway), or even Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, or Star Ships & Space Men Second Edition? In a word, yes. But where I think that Strange Stars OSR loses some points is in the fact that if you bought the first Strange Stars book; this is a companion piece in some respects. While I totally understand the reasons why this was done as a setting book. Its not a full game but a supplement to Stars Without Number (available here in a free version) or similar retro science fiction games. Its  also  companion to  STRANGE STARS .But if you download the Stars Without Numbers rule book its an easy fit as a great setting for that game as a stand alone book.
Now the reason why this pdf costs five dollars & fifty five cents is because its full of some really nice artwork, a solid layout,editing, & more all of this costs time, money, & high quality costs.
Even though the page count is only thirty seven pages, this pdf is so chalk full of great OSR retro sci fi ideas that its well worth your time & money. The fact that its geared for Stars Without Numbers only adds to the value. My recommendation is to grab this one and start playing among Strange Stars. Five out of five in my book for solid OSR space opera for your old school campaign settings.

Review & Commentary Strange Stars OSR Rule Book By Trey Causey From Hydra Cooperative For Use With Stars Without Number & Other OSR Rules Systems

Sometimes you get to see an artifact from another alternative time period, a strange 'what if' book that ports itself into your hands. Unfortunately this sort of thing isn't real but Trey Causey has finally released his Strange Stars OSR Rule Book and its aimed straight at the heart of the Stars Without Numbers rpg system rule book as an alternative setting. 

"It’s the far future, Old Earth is lost and shrouded in legend, and the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars, branching into new forms and strange cultures. Adventure is measured in light-years!"
This is a zipped down, stripped down, Stars Without Number setting book spun through the blender of Trey Causey's warped imagination. This book reads like a combination of a late 70's classic era Marvel space opera comic book setting with a completely different take down of the Stars Without Number setting on its own terms. So is this a good thing or a bad thing? Well, in many respects its a good thing, this book has actual playable OSR alien races that make you want to play them. There is a an entire boat load of worlds, materials,and adventure hooks sewing through out the setting book. This book is an exercise in compactness and interstellar utility. The layout is smooth, easy to read, & gives not only a gist of the interstellar setting but an entire setting straight out of the box. Here's a sample of the type of quality material that your going to get.


Is it a complete setting? Yes and no, yes its perfectly suitable for running adventures in the Strange Stars universe mixed along side the Stars Without Number universe & system. But is it worth it if you already own the Strange Stars setting & resource book? Well that's going to depend if you want to convert the whole setting, plus races, material, etc. into Stars Without Number or into your favorite space OSR clone such as Hulks & Horrors, White Star, etc. This book covers all of the bases but making the buyer go for another purchase all over again is a bit of a pain in the ass for the consumer. So it loses points for that.
But I get the reason why multiple versions of Strange Stars have been done. Trey is trying to get his hands into the gaming public's hands for sheer love of his setting & in a word its worth it. Especially for the Stars Without Number game universe because in many ways Strange Stars fulfills the retro gaming promise of SWN without all of that OSR  system's setting baggage.
I've DMed lots & lots of Stars Without Numbers over the years & in some respects there's way too many books, settings, etc. for SWN. In thirty seven pages you get factions, alien races,NPC's, adventure hooks, etc. ready too go for that group of player's that coming in fifteen minutes. This is a great setting book for Stars without Number because its ideal suited to take the PC's to the stars and beyond for months or years of old school play.


Much of the Strange Stars setting echoes both SWN and its own internal 70's space opera groove. Could this work with other OSR gaming systems? Yes, in fact it would be an excellent fit with Venger Satanis's sleazy Alpha Blue rpg system. But without the adult sex & sleaze bits. Instead you get some very fine quality material that can literally generate months of 70's space opera play at the usual author's quality and output. There's some really fine pieces of artwork in here as well.


Could Strange Stars OSR be used with other OSR retroclone systems such as White Star or Swords & Wizardry? In a word quite easily, not only the author's other work setting  Weird Adventures the crunch is done in such a way to make porting over into your favorite game system quite easy & somewhat painless.  This piece by Jason Sholtis, is especially evocative of the Seventies comic space opera. There is idea after idea here with homages to classic 70's films such as Logan's Run, Star Wars, Star Crash, etc. But Trey has free reign to let his imagination run wild. It does indeed lead into some weird & dark corners of his universe but that's half the fun here.


What about using Strange Stars OSR with say the  White Star rpg? Well after doing a bit of looking I found that Trey pointed me in the right direct it seems that friend already has done exactly this; " Mike aka Wrathofzombie has run some sessions of Strange Stars in White Star with some adaptation of the setting book of his on devising. Here are some races/classes: https://wrathofzombie.wordpress.com/2015/05/17/playable-alien-races-from-strange-stars-for-white-star/

Looking at what he did there, I don't think it would be very hard to convert over, as White Star looks even "rules lighter" than SWN, but with a similar OSR chassis. "
This begs the question could Strange Stars be used with OD&D or say Swords & Wizardry? Well judging by the research I've done with it. I'd say definitely & because, "the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars" it would not be hard to take your favorite campaign setting or old school fantasy world & make it a back water planet in the Strange Stars universe.
 There are also lots of PC racial options from Atozan librarians to armored thrax warriors which can add new dimensions to character racial development.This is  especially true for retroclones such as Swords & Wizardry or for other favorite OSR system.


Could Strange Stars be used with Traveler, Star Frontiers ( the loving homage of the cover is a dead giveaway), or even Labyrinth Lord, Mutant Future, or Star Ships & Space Men Second Edition? In a word, yes. But where I think that Strange Stars OSR loses some points is in the fact that if you bought the first Strange Stars book; this is a companion piece in some respects. While I totally understand the reasons why this was done as a setting book. Its not a full game but a supplement to Stars Without Number (available here in a free version) or similar retro science fiction games. Its  also  companion to  STRANGE STARS .But if you download the Stars Without Numbers rule book its an easy fit as a great setting for that game as a stand alone book.
Now the reason why this pdf costs five dollars & fifty five cents is because its full of some really nice artwork, a solid layout,editing, & more all of this costs time, money, & high quality costs.
Even though the page count is only thirty seven pages, this pdf is so chalk full of great OSR retro sci fi ideas that its well worth your time & money. The fact that its geared for Stars Without Numbers only adds to the value. My recommendation is to grab this one and start playing among Strange Stars. Five out of five in my book for solid OSR space opera for your old school campaign settings.

Pilfering & Pillaging Armchair Planet's Strange Stars Game Setting Book For Neiferious Rpg Campaign Purposes

Pilfering & Pillaging The 
Setting 

I'm on G+ and for the past couple of weeks, I've been reading about various campaign happenings  and what have you going on but secretly I've been yearning to work on my own little twisted world which I've quietly hatched the other day right over HERE
But I'm going to need some alien races and right quick but not simply run of the mill background folks. No I'm going to need a seedy low down bunch of thieves,bandits, slavers, grifters, and some really nasty pieces of work. 
Fortunately I know just the place to get some! Armchair Planet's Strange Stars has just the folks for some nasty business already.
For the past two weeks I've been watching review and activity on the Strange Stars setting. There's been some very interesting opinions. Courtney Campell's review really got the gears turning in my head. Right over HERE
Factions, monsters, races, NPC's and the rest are all perfectly laid out for some prime deviltry of interstellar proportions.
Most of the hard work of going over the awesome material of the From The Sorcerer's Skull blog would take quite awhile to sift through. Well all of the hard work has been already done for me with this handy dandy index. HERE

If you haven't grab this pdf? Go right over
HERE
There is a ton of material in this thirty page little setting that is far too useful to let go waste. There are ton of neat ideas lurking in the pages of Strange Stars. Some of the more useful bits include the Space Haulers, the Orichalcosans Skins of gold and avarice to match.,Zao Space pirates, and many more. But which ones will be making an appearance? 
Now which bits of awesomeness are  going to be making a guest appearances in the next couple of weeks in Atlantandria Port City Of Accursed Atlantis? Only time will tell because I've got players who read this blog from time to time.
So I'm keeping my cards close to my chest for now. 

Strange Stars From Armchair Planet For Your Old School Space Opera Campaigns

Strange Stars is like a smoke ring from the 70's or 80's from the fevered mind of its author, and its a graphic as well as artistic slight of hand trick of a laser sword of retro science fantasy gaming goodness. The author presents a great overview of his space opera setting with great artwork and a wary eye towards the material being used in your games. This book is wall to wall system neutral artwork as good as your going to find. The races are really nicely designed and can fit into a wide variety of science fiction or fantasy settings. 

Strange Stars is a wily and so what lean beast, its part setting book, part alien races, and a whole lot of details designed around the fact that this beast wants to be your go to space opera campaign.

Grab It Right Over
HERE

So what's the book about? Well according to the Rpgnow blurb: 

It's the far future, Old Earth is lost and shrouded in legend, and the children of paleo-humanity have long ago populated the stars, branching into new forms and strange cultures. Adventure is measured in light-years!

STRANGE STARS is a setting for any game where modern transhuman science fiction meets classic 70s space opera. Join a salvage mission to steal ancient tech from the wreck of a deranged sophont warship. Become a skiptracer in the lawless orbital megapolis of Interzone. Plan an elaborate data-vault heist on a diamond planet. Cross ceramic blades with a Zao Pirate in hard vacuum. Score sweet dreams or nightmare fuel from the oneirochemists of Eidolon. It's all somewhere in the STRANGE STARS!

Everything from the beginning possible PC's races to full adventure hooks are right there at your fingers. You can think of this book as a candy sampler of retro science fiction goodness that never existed until now. This starts with the cover which pays a nice nod to the original Star Frontiers game to the layout and graphics which references everything from Marvel style sci fi comic series to things like Star Wars. This is a style choice and a very well done idea in what it does. 

Nine ninety nine might seem a bit steep for a simple but its not because this is wall to wall well done artwork. If you grew up thumbing through Barlowe's Guide To Extraterrestrials, reading Micronauts under the covers with a flash light your going to want this book. 

Because this setting book taps into the nostalgia buttons but there's more. This is a very workable space opera setting with all of the trimmings to get you started in the universe of Strange Stars. Trust me, this is a world where one week your adventurers will be battling PHARESMID SYNDICATE and then taking down the machinations of the THE VOKUN EMPIRE. Its all right there at your finger tips and best of all its system neutral. 

Use it with your favorite OSR sci fi retroclone or Traveller or Fate or whatever system you want. I see how and why the author has done what he's done. This is a solid impact of a book into the sci fi market. Very cool and I highly recommend this book.

Using The Strange Stars Campaign Setting 

So there are a couple of important points to remember about this setting, one its very open in its old school science fictional goodness. Two this is a labor of love for the author and that comes through. There is a ton of back drop and setting material that you can pull from within this book.

Strange Stars is the perfect sci fi set up and go adventuring system. If you've got players due in on Saturday night and you've got a system that you've been itching to try then this is a great sci fi background that you've been looking for. But that's only the tip of the ice berg here. With a bit of work. This is a game setting book with a very rich and diverse sci fi history in place with back drop adventure hooks to allow plenty of sci fi cross over action if you choose to. Take your Stars Without Number party even your X plorers party into the Strange Stars universe for even more utility with a setting that allows you to experience even more action and adventure under the banners of your favorite game.
For the  X plorers rpg Strange Stars has a ready made universe to port right in and plenty of perfect locations and races to pepper your games with. For Stars Without Number the setting of the Strange Stars universe is a nice setting just waiting to take on your party.
When it comes to Star Frontiers, this is a perfect setting to jack up your technology index add in brand new material and get right into the back waters of a universe with brand new aliens.
Trey's done a fantastic job of laying the foundation of his universe and he's inviting us to play under Strange Stars. This is a really well done book with lots and lots of utility and potential in my book.
 I'm not done with this universe by a long chalk, and if you want my advice grab the book, some friends, and let Strange Stars become a regular campaign setting for your sci fi games. I have a feeling you won't be sorry. 

Strange Stars By Trey Causey For Your Old School Space Opera Campaigns

Strange Stars is a brand new Seventies style interstellar sci fi/science fantasy setting book cram jam packed with new space faring cultures, monsters, peoples, NPC's, technology,etc.
According to the author's blog:
The full-color, premium paper soft cover is coming soon--hopefully in the next couple of weeks. The system books for Fate and old school style gaming (Stars Without Number compatible) will be out later this year. More information right over HERE

Grab It Right
HERE

So I've been watching and waiting for this title for months and been watching the evolution as well as creative process on Trey's blog for months. This is some pretty damn exciting stuff for the sci fi/sci fantasy fan here. I can't wait to see this product in the flesh as it were. The Pdf is available right now at Drivethrurpg. Personally I'd grab a copy and get into Strange Stars.