A previously undiscovered quirk of the laws of physics allows starships to jump to "The Void", a hyperspatial realm that greatly shortens the travel times between inhabited worlds, once they reach 1% of the speed of light.

Four races — Dralasite, Humans, Vrusk, and Yazirian — have independently discovered this way of travelling vast distances, and in "The Frontier Sector", they form the United Planetary Federation (UPF).

A large number of the star systems shown on the map of the Frontier sector in the basic rulebook are unexplored and undetailed, allowing the gamemaster to put whatever they wish there.

Players can take on any number of possible roles in the setting but usually act as hired agents of the Pan Galactic corporation in exploring the Frontier and fighting the aggressive incursions of the alien and mysterious worm-like race known as the Sathar.

Unlike TSR's better-known fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons, there is no character level advancement in Star Frontiers, although skills can be improved through experience.

Then in the early 1980s, David Cook and Lawrence Schick developed the rules for a TSR game they called Alien Worlds.

In 1983, Mike Gray, Allen Hammack, Harold Johnson, David C. Sutherland III, and Steve Winter revised and expanded the game; this was released as Star Frontiers: Alpha Dawn.

[7] TSR released several more adventures to take advantage of the expanded rules in Alpha Dawn, including SF-3: Sundown on Starmist (1983), SF-4: Mission to Alcazzar (1984), SF-5: Bugs in the System (1985) and SF-6: Dark Side of the Moon (1985).

Adventures using the Knight Hawks spaceship rules included SFKH-1: Dramune Run (1984)[8] and a trilogy set "Beyond the Frontier" in which the players learn more about the Sathar and foil their latest plot (SFKH-2: Mutiny on the Eleanor Moraes (1984),[9] SFKH-3: Face of the Enemy (1985), and SFKH-4: The War Machine (1985)[10]).

[16] In the February 1983 issue of The Space Gamer , William A. Barton commented, "Star Frontiers probably isn't going to lose TSR any money.

Since Dick and Herbert, SF is no longer necessarily a literary genre reserved for the simple-minded and the mentally ill. You can be passionate about space opera without being completely stupid."

"[21] Also writing for Imagine, Stephen Nutt reviewed Star Frontiers Character Record Sheets, and stated that "it makes up handsomely for the originals in the boxed set, which are rather pedestrian in comparison.

They announced plans to release tabletop games and operate the Dungeon Hobby Shop Museum, which is located in the first office building of the original TSR.

Wizards admits that it failed to file paperwork for the registration of TSR, Star Frontiers, and other related marks in a timely fashion as required under federal law.