Star Explorer (1982)

A game of exploration and encounter in deep space, Star Explorer puts each player in the role of a star ship captain. After modifying ships and optimizing their crew complement, captains set out to explore a set of planets near their common Starbase. Each planet presents a series of exploration missions (mostly unknown at game start) ranging from geological surveys to encounters with sentient aliens at various tech levels. Random events both planet-side (like ice storms, disease outbreaks, and earthquakes) and space-borne (like enemy starship encounters or uncharted gravity wells) keep things unpredictable and drain precious fuel. It takes luck combined with prudent decisions and careful resource management to come home with honors rather than be reassigned to a garbage scow. Components include: 16 page rulebook 17"x22" map 266 die cut counters A pad of ship and planetary log sheets 2 six-sided and one 20-sided die (Note that the original 20-sided is "80s style" and thus numbered 1-10, allowing it to be used as either a 10-sided or 20-sided during the game.)