Classic Star Trek

[Aragorn300]

With the new prequel movie by JJ.Abrams coming out, and Decipher dropping it, the Classic Star Trek setting would be excellent....
yes, I know every incarnation has it's adherents (I kind of like DS9 and Enterprise best) but the the classic has these things going for it;

* Familiarity=people who were never trekkies or trekkers know the old one. So races like vulcans are no problem, as is the weapons and tech.
* Action=The others all started out trying to be a bit more intellectual--but lets face it, gamer like action, even those of us who are more into the role.
* less complication=klingons honorable but bad guys, romulans tricky and smart but bad guys...cuts down on a lot of variables for a core book.
* Expands into later versions=starting with classic means you can have a smaller (and less expensive) core, with later versions as Settings. A good way to slowly expand it.
* Publicity=the new movie I mentioned is going to be BIG. But if Mongoose does do Trek, they should NOT have movie photos but standard RPG illustrations--people should know it is not a flash in the pan attempt to cash in on the movie, but the start of a new standard in gaming.

What do you think folks?

 

[Mr Evil]

as a fellow folk i have to say i dont like trek... sorry trek fans,, but it amazes me how jeryatric comanders have been capable of stoping entire human iradication for as long as they have...

and you would of thught with the replicator machines they would would send replicants of them selves down to planets... and why so few toilets on a huge starsip... you would think you would see in atleast one episode a que of dancing desperate shipmates !!!!! maybe they use the holo deck...

 

[Finarvyn]

Well, Mr Evil has some valid points about the toilets but otherwise I'm not sure I really "get" what he's saying. Unless he wants to see more screen shots of Kirk on the can..... :?

Pretty much every SciFi setting has its share of realistic and non-realistic technological advancements, and Star Trek is no exception. However, realistic or not I would say that Star Trek is very familiar to many gamers and I think that if an RPG were to be launched at roughly the same time as the movie (next May) it could boost the enthusiasm for both products.

I know I would be interested in one, anyway.

 

[DM]

klingons honorable but bad guys

Not in TOS they weren't. "honourable", that is - TNG inflicted a lot of PCness on the Klingon Empire

 

[klingsor]

With the film coming out on top of all the previous material this would quite possibly be the most expensive licence of all time – only Star Wars or maybe Lord of the Rings would come close. If Mongoose went for this they would be betting the farm on it and I do not think it is worth it. Someone else probably has it lined up but of hand only Wizards might have deep enough pockets to pull it off, which would be a pity. Still it could be worse, Weiss & Hickman might make a mess of it as well or worst of all – Palladium!

You could do the character bit with Traveller, weapons would need a little work and ships would be too different to do easily – but they are largely a background thing anyway.

 

[mechascorpio]

There seem to be some strong implications over at the Amarillo Design Bureau's Starfleet Games forums that they will be launching a Mongoose Traveller version of their Trek-ish "Prime Directive" RPG next year. They talk about introducing core books and expansions for "at least two new game systems" in 2009, and had previously referenced MGT, D6 and Savage Worlds adaptations.

With D6 on the ropes, it seems like it makes a MGT-based Trek RPG a reality. Having said that, I really don't know much if anything about previous version of Prime Directive (ADBs, D20 or GURPS). Anyone else have much exposure to PD?

 

[AKAramis]

There seem to be some strong implications over at the Amarillo Design Bureau's Starfleet Games forums that they will be launching a Mongoose Traveller version of their Trek-ish "Prime Directive" RPG next year. They talk about introducing core books and expansions for "at least two new game systems" in 2009, and had previously referenced MGT, D6 and Savage Worlds adaptations.

With D6 on the ropes, it seems like it makes a MGT-based Trek RPG a reality. Having said that, I really don't know much if anything about previous version of Prime Directive (ADBs, D20 or GURPS). Anyone else have much exposure to PD?

Don't get your hopes up. ADB (1) doesn't play nice with others and (2) has looked into a LOT of stuff.

If SPP and SVC don't get exactly the right answers to their questions, and find a developer willing to do the work exactly per their system, it won't happen.

And that's not a wide open field, either. They want someone to adapt mechanics but not add anything setting wise. The person needs to be published already, and generally familiar with the SFU.

They also need to be able to work with SPP and SVC... both noted for prickliness.

 

[klingsor]

Interesting. MGT would be a very good basis for a Star Trek RPG - in fact probably the best one possible.

In defence of ADB (which rather surprises me) their claim on the Star Trek licence is quite an 'interesting' one so if they mess up they could lose it - and thus the whole basis of the company. Hence such circumlocutions as 'legendary captains'.

It is a pity that because of the way licences work we see some hell made marriages published while some really good system and setting combinations are only fan produced, one step ahead of a 'cease and desist' letter. To some extent having a licence seems almost a predictor of a poor quality product - with some honourable exceptions of course, such as Mongoose's Babylon 5 RPG - though even there D20 would not have been my system of choice but at the time it was a logical, indeed the logical, choice.

 

[AKAramis]

Interesting. MGT would be a very good basis for a Star Trek RPG - in fact probably the best one possible.

Actually, I quite liked PD1. Far better than GURPS, in fact. It felt quite right, and I've used it for shipboard games as well as prime team games.

In defence of ADB (which rather surprises me) their claim on the Star Trek licence is quite an 'interesting' one so if they mess up they could lose it - and thus the whole basis of the company. Hence such circumlocutions as 'legendary captains'.

They won their cases. So long as they don't touch the movies or later, they have full access to all of TOS and TAS except the characters, since that is what FJD had.

But the don't hve access to anything else.

It is a pity that because of the way licences work we see some hell made marriages published while some really good system and setting combinations are only fan produced, one step ahead of a 'cease and desist' letter. To some extent having a licence seems almost a predictor of a poor quality product - with some honourable exceptions of course, such as Mongoose's Babylon 5 RPG - though even there D20 would not have been my system of choice but at the time it was a logical, indeed the logical, choice.

I've been pleasantly surprised over the years. FASA Trek was excellent, 007 was great, LUG Trek was solid, BTVS and Angel are awesome, Burning Empires is a great game (but I don't know the source material, which is itsef inspired by Traveller), WFRP1 was well handled by HHP, and T20 was quite well done; ICE and Decipher MERP both are decent, and the GURPS: Vampire and GURPS: Commonwealth both really did quite well considering the system issues; GURPS: Bunnies and Burrows is a BETTER game than the original. WWG's Streetfighter is very playable, and does the setting well.

If anything, the biggest Licensed game disappointments for me have been Red Dwarf (my players didn't like the system), GURPS Traveller (Loren changed too much and allowed the line to add way too much detail), MRQ (Poor Rules Editing, no update to the PDF), and MGT (Same issue as MRQ).

I've not run Serenity (tho it looks awesome), nor BSG (and won't since it is nBSG), and have yet to see Mekton-Gundam. I've not run Army of Darkness, but it is the same basic tone and the same rules as BTVS and Angel, and is quite beautiful. The Dune RPG was incredibly well written, but sadly, when LUG lost LUG-Trek, they also lost Dune.

Palladiums Robotech line was playable, and did sell well... I'd rather not use Class and Level in sci-fi, but many people loved it. 12+ books worth of loved it.

So licenses vary in quality, but in general, the ones I've seen have done decent jobs or better.

 

[Greg Smith]

I've been pleasantly surprised over the years. FASA Trek was excellent, 007 was great, LUG Trek was solid, BTVS and Angel are awesome, Burning Empires is a great game (but I don't know the source material, which is itsef inspired by Traveller), WFRP1 was well handled by HHP, and T20 was quite well done; ICE and Decipher MERP both are decent, and the GURPS: Vampire and GURPS: Commonwealth both really did quite well considering the system issues; GURPS: Bunnies and Burrows is a BETTER game than the original. WWG's Streetfighter is very playable, and does the setting well.

I have to agree with that. (Can't really comment on the GURPS stuff).

WEG's Star Wars was the pinacle of licences done well. Great rules that really brought the feel of the of the films to the game, great supplements, excellent scenarios, miniatures and board games too.

 

[Nerroth]

It's a shame people focus so much on what ADB can't do, instead of what they can.

I'm quite happy with the chance to explore the Inter-Stellar Concordium, the Lyrans and Hydrans, the Omega Octant and the Magellanic Cloud - and I don't miss the Borg or Breen overly much either.


Also, the RPG side of things has been given a shot in the arm, mainly thanks to the efforts of Jean Sexton in both getting PD20M up to speed, and in getting heavily involved with the development of PD as a whole. (I just wish GURPS Federation was gonna be out at the same time as the D20 version, but I can wait - and it's due to having to run it past SJG first, which can't be helped.)


Can't wait for PD Tholians to finally get released, either.

 

[Supplement Four]

WEG's Star Wars was the pinacle of licences done well. Great rules that really brought the feel of the of the films to the game, great supplements, excellent scenarios, miniatures and board games too.

Yessir. I agree completely. That rpg line was AMAZING. It was exactly what fans of the original trilogy were looking for (d20 SW feels like the prequels to me). The "atmosphere" was "there", in spades.

It was truly a job well done--over and over again. Consistently.

I would say the WEG D6 Star Wars line was probably the best licenced rpg I've ever played (or seen).

 

[TrippyHippy]

With the Babylon 5 licence ending in the next year, I'd say that there is scope for a Star Trek licence, using the Traveller rules.

I don't know about the various licence costs, but as a game/setting combination, and in terms of it simply being a major title in the rpg hobby that would cause a splash, it ought to be considered at least.

 

[klingsor]

Well said – I am surprised the list of decent licences is so long! The GURPS World of Darkness books were much more readable than the original ones.

Serenity is very pretty, mostly movie stills with a little bit of mediocre art and some beautiful deckplans – of some quite bad ship designs (and the Serenity herself). The system is OK and works well enough until you get into combat at which point it ceases to function or even make sense. They might have fixed this and a legion of other bugs, some major, in a more recent edition but I doubt it as they went on to do the Battlestar Galactica game with the same rules set so it might have some workable combat rules. Bitter moi?

 

[Monteblanco]

I recall the old FASA Star Trek roleplaying game included a career based character generation system. It shouldn't be hard to adapt it to Traveller, which was probably the inspiration source. Anybody else remember it?

 

[AKAramis]

I recall the old FASA Star Trek roleplaying game included a career based character generation system. It shouldn't be hard to adapt it to Traveller, which was probably the inspiration source. Anybody else remember it?

Yes, and I even know right where my copies of FASA-Trek 1 & 2 are...

Keep in mind, at the time they secured the Trek License, they were producing Traveller supplements under license. Good ones, too.

FASA-Trek is a very different beast, tho', from Traveller, in both how it works skills and how skills are gained. There is clear influence, but as much comes out of RQ and CoC as Traveller.