"Fluff" in the ACtA rulebook...so very WRONG

[phoenixhawk]

I was reading the rulebook and got to the fluff parts and well...it is all just WRONG. The dates are horribly inaccurate, the Klingon backstory is just...weird, and not at all remotely in the neighborhood of anything seen on screen, and the geography is all messed up. The Tholians are to the south and west of the Klingons, with Fed space in between and not close to Romulans, and the Gorn are south of the Klingons, nowhere remotely close to the Romulans either. Does no one there look at a Star Trek map? There's an entire book of them available that is invaluable with story telling in the ST universe. There are also clear and concise timelines establishing certain events that this stuff just doesn't even bother with. And what does the Y000 date mean since it seems like it was established BEFORE the founding of the Federation? That was never explained.

Is this stuff new material or reprinted old material or both? Why would they not at least try to make it jive with TOS-era ST in a tiny way? Good thing at my house the maps are accurate, the back stories consistent, and the dates can make sense.

 

[Rambler]

Welcome to the Star Fleet Universe. The map is based of the Franz Joseph Technical Manual which was treated as cannon for many years. The one big thing that that Star Fleet has going for it that the Franchise can not claim is once ADB hammered the Timeline out from various source avaliable prior to TMP they stuck with it. Where there was blanks at that time they filled them in and never redacted any of it.

If there is one thing that JJ taught us it is there is always more than one reality. So who can say what is and is not right. The Star Fleet is a very consistent universe which this game is set in. If you want to use another setting at your own game table there is nothing stopping you from doing so.do

 

[logical_proof]

If you are using "Star Trek" material Then your maps are highly inconsistent. Unless you pretend that TOS never happened and Enterprise is a prequel to TNG. which if you look at it that way Enterprise is a lot less bad.

 

[McKinstry]

As far as I can tell, the material is absolutely consistent with the Star Fleet Universe from ADB which is the governing material for this JV.

 

[Nerroth]

There's an explanation on ADB's site about the SFU here; plus there's a free pdf over on e23 and DriveThruRPG which tries to offer an explanation to the SFU; from an RPG perspective, but still applicable for the tabletop games based in this setting.

There is a range of SFU historical documents online, too.


Does the core rulebook not have a section which explains the nature of this license (specifically, why it's not the same as the Paramount/CBS Franchise)?

 

[Sgt_G]

If you are using "Star Trek" material Then your maps are highly inconsistent. Unless you pretend that TOS never happened and Enterprise is a prequel to TNG. which if you look at it that way Enterprise is a lot less bad.

LOL! That's exactly whart B&B did when they wrote ST:E --- they ignored ST:TOS!

 

[phoenixhawk]

Thanks Nerroth for that info. Basically answers the questions I had. Since this SFU stuff was dreamed up in 1979 I suppose it can exist in its own little world lol.

I've been a huge fan of Star Trek all my life and it was one of the things my dad and I shared together and it has always been important to me and I know WAY too much about it and then there's this stuff that comes in and walks all over what has been established is a bit much especially since it is based on the original series and the material created by Paramount so it should, in my mind, at least try to be somewhat consistent. I guess ADB felt otherwise. That's ok I guess, there can be an infinite number of alternate universes and this is just one.

As to people's axes to grind with ST:E, not here folks. I liked all the series, including ST:E and I don't think they ignored TOS at all, in fact I think they went out of their way near the end to make sure things fit together (up until that terrible finale episode that we won't speak of).

Chris

There's an explanation on ADB's site about the SFU here; plus there's a free pdf over on e23 and DriveThruRPG which tries to offer an explanation to the SFU; from an RPG perspective, but still applicable for the tabletop games based in this setting.

There is a range of SFU historical documents online, too.


Does the core rulebook not have a section which explains the nature of this license (specifically, why it's not the same as the Paramount/CBS Franchise)?

 

[billclo]

The SFU branched off of TOS, before any of the movies. Think of it as a parallel universe to the TV shows, that don't interact, but have the same starting point. Kinda like a parallel universe in quantum theory. If anything, the movies are not consistent with each other, let alone the TOS. And don't get me started on TNG/Voyager.

The SFU has the most internal consistency I've seen in any Trek type game.

 

[adm]

Phoenixhawk;

SFU is consistent with the Star Trek Universe as it was available in the 1970s. When the movies and later TV series came out the then established history and geography was replaced. Part of the disconnect is after NBC cancelled Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry went on to other projects Joesph Franz, who had done a lot of the design work for the first series, and retained copyrights to his work, offered it to the fan base to make some money. When G. Roddenberry started working on Star Trek again he fleshed out the background more than he had before, and his background differed from what J. Franz had done. Anything done off of J.Franz's work does not quite fall under Paramount's control, but is not current Trek, this is the basis of ADB's license, and now Mongoose's.

 

[Zamboni]

For giggles, if you rotate the SFU (SFB) map 90 degrees so the ISC is by the core, it sorta kinda lines up with many of the non-SFU Trek maps (if you squint). At least for the big three, that is - Klingons to southwest of the Feds, Romulans to the northwest - I haven't seen two maps yet that agree on where the Gorns or Tholians are.

 

[JRhoades]

The SFU branched off of TOS, before any of the movies. Think of it as a parallel universe to the TV shows...

The Star Trek background has been written -- and rewritten several times. Between the different series of novels, SFU and FASA, etc, you can definitely find an alternate universe that works for you.

I am glad you are checking out SFU: Steve Cole has one of the most internally consistent versions of the universe going. You may find it to be grittier, less idealistic, and more realistic than you are used to, but here's hoping you have a good time.