---
title: Star Freight Handbook
description: Operating manual for captains, contributors, and the curious.
sidebar:
  order: 0
---

Star Freight is a text-first tactics merchant RPG about hauling freight through a politically fractured star system.

You are a disgraced military pilot rebuilding as a space merchant captain across five civilizations. Every run produces a different captain life — not because you picked a class, but because your crew, routes, risks, and standing shaped you into someone.

## Four system truths

These are the load-bearing walls. They cannot be changed without invalidating the game's identity.

1. **Crew is binding law** — crew members are capabilities, access gates, and obligations simultaneously
2. **Combat is a campaign event** — every outcome writes to campaign state permanently
3. **Culture is decision grammar** — each civilization has social logic that shapes trade, access, and conflict
4. **Plot emerges from life** — investigation threads surface through ordinary work, not quest markers

## What this handbook covers

- [Getting Started](/star-freight/handbook/getting-started/) — install, first run, controls
- [The World](/star-freight/handbook/the-world/) — civilizations, stations, lanes, goods
- [Captain Paths](/star-freight/handbook/captain-paths/) — Relief, Gray, Honor — how they diverge
- [Systems Reference](/star-freight/handbook/reference/) — crew, combat, culture, investigation, campaign state
