I am looking to get back into the game, so to speak, of running Star Trek Adventures as a PbP here on the boards. I had a couple of games a while back that were a lot of fun but that slowly died due to a lack of player engagement. I'm looking for 4-6 players who are interested in crewing a Federation starship. I'm open to different eras and plot options, just looking for a group of players who like Trek and are willing to post once a day.
The adventures available for the game tend to be fairly open and involve a lot of player agency and players setting the direction of their actions. It is the opposite of a railroad, and I think sometimes my previous players were paralyzed by looking for the "right" answer. Usually the right answer is just to move forward.
I'm happy to work with people who have never played the game, but players need to be willing to buy the core Star Trek Adventures book or own it already. Because of the way characters work in the game, I am inclined to find a group of players and then hammer out character details, so don't worry too much about character creation.
I guess this is sort of an interest check/player recruitment, not a character recruitment.
Old-time Trekker here, never played the game before, but would be interested to try. Would need to get the books.
The Core Book is 19.99 on drivethrurpg. I understand that is a steep price for a pdf, especially for a PbP game, which tend to fail.
I obviously can't promise that the game will be a success, but I can promise that I will work to make it so. Also, the game is, IMHO, a thing of beauty in itself. (By that I mean that the rules do a great job of modelling a Star Trek episode. The organization of the rules is a bit of a mess.)
MAN, Star Trek Adventures is such a great system! I've been running a crew through the beginner box and the free material set in the TNG era. I love how it encourages ongoing discussion between the characters rather than just rolling dice.
I'd be down to play- Especially if you decide to run in the TOS era. Not enough of that.
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I plan to let the players decide the era, ship type, etc.
I would like to play with you again.
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Absolutely, Insnare. You were a great player in the other campaign.
I would like to play again!
I would be cool to play in any era except maybe the Archer era.
Friends of DeSoto?
I don't get the reference.
Seems like there is interest. If the game goes on, I will buy the core rulebook. I downloaded the quick rules and seems an interesting system.
Seems like there is interest. If the game goes on, I will buy the core rulebook. I downloaded the quick rules and seems an interesting system.
Great! All I ask is that people have the rules and try to understand them.
It looks like we have enough folks to start talking about a campaign. Dr. Mono has expressed a preference for TOS era, and Insnare votes against Enterprise era, which I would second.
I'd like to run a game on a ship, not a space station. I'd like a fairly typical sort of Starfleet campaign. Not a Section 31 campaign, or all Klingons, or colonists, or some other niche.
I'd like for people to post most days. I understand that isn't always possible. It isn't always possible for me, but don't be the player who disappears for days without warning.
Make an effort to know the rules, and be flexible and forgiving. I know the rules fairly well, though I'm a bit rusty. I expect to give rules tutorials as we go, but if we get three months into this thing and you still don't understand how to attempt a Task, that will be frustrating.
Don't be too crazy about canon. I'm a canon freak, so I get it, but sometimes we have to make decisions that smooth out inconsistencies. I'm looking to play a game, not create a museum piece.
What do you guys want? Let's start with these prompts:
1st pick era to play in:
Era you just don't want to play in at all:
Level of serialization you are looking for on a scale of TOS-TNG-VOY-DS9-DIS (I'm not sure that is quite right, but it's close). By that I mean would you rather each mission be self contained, or have an ongoing story, or a mix.
Preferred roles you would want to play: Captain, XO, Medical, Ops, Conn, Security, etc.
Favorite episode and why:
I'm going to eventually ask everyone to create a primary character, and once we have those roles decided, a secondary character. I've found that sometimes players are left out of scenes because their primary character doesn't fit into the scene. I'm hoping integrating supporting characters right from the front will help with that.
1st pick era to play in: New Generation.
Era you just don't want to play in at all: None.
Level of serialization: Mix, mostly self-contained.
Preferred roles you would want to play: Operations.
Favorite episode and why: Little Green Men (DS9). I just love to see how far we currently are from the federation ideal. That line about "We will rule them, they buy poison" just kills me.
1st pick era to play in: TOS or Dominion War Era
Era you just don't want to play in at all: Enterprise
Level of serialization you are looking for on a scale of TOS-TNG-VOY-DS9-DIS (I'm not sure that is quite right, but it's close). By that I mean would you rather each mission be self contained, or have an ongoing story, or a mix.: Mix
Preferred roles you would want to play: Captain, XO, Medical, Ops, Conn, Security, etc.... I did like playing Conn but I think I would love to try my hand at... you know what... Captain
Favorite episode and why: Once More unto the Breach (DS9)... Kor going out like a Dahar Master should. Loved him in TOS and definitely in DS9. or Yesterday's Enterprise TNG... It was just a hoot.
1st pick era to play in: TOS
Era you just don't want to play in at all: none
Level of serialization :Mix
Preferred roles you would want to play: First Officer, Captain, Chief Engineer, Conn
Favorite episode and why: This was a tough one, so I have 2 (well.. 3). TNG The Lower Decks- Something about seeing what goes on from the POV of junior officers... knowing you have a job to do but only getting part of the story. It was fantastic. and DS9 The Siege of AR-558/It's Only a Paper Moon- I loved that these episodes showed the gritty underbelly of war and the struggles that real warriors deal with even after they've left the battlefield.
I should amend my era.. my first pick is really the Movie Era (Wrath of Kahn through Undiscovered Country) with TOS right after.
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1st pick era to play in: Any except Enterprise
Era you just don't want to play in at all: Enterprise
Level of serialization: Mix, definitely.
Preferred roles you would want to play: Anything, really.
Favorite episode and why: Darmok. It demonstrates the complexities of meeting a new race and having a communications barrier. I believe that this is how our first meeting with an alien civilization would go.
Also, The Trouble with Tribbles and Trials and Tribble-ations. These were just light-hearted, fun episodes that were a break from the usual dramatic pacing of Trek.
I should add that I have a hard copy of the rulebook, as well as Alpha and Beta Quadrants in PDF form. I haven't actually played, but I do know the system.
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1st pick era to play in: TOS and NG both have their advantages. TOS is very wild-west, fly by the seat of the pants era, while NG is Star Trek's golden age.
Era you just don't want to play in at all: Enterprise or Post-Voyager. Enterprise is a little too early, and I don't know post-voyager well enough.
Level of serialization: I don't mind the loser TOS level of serialization. It makes it easier for new players to come in (or go out) without completely disrupting things.
Preferred roles you would want to play: I'm good for almost anything but captain. Engineering or Science would probably be favorites though.
Favorite episode and why:
I'd like to second the The Trouble with Tribbles and Trials and Tribble-ations, but my real favorite episode is The Ensigns of Command. It's a episode with a lot of stuff going on. It's a Data heavy episode, where he's more or less solo for most of the episode, it highlights how there might be issues that the Universal Translator doesn't solve, and the Picard scene at the end with the treaty is one of my favorites.
1st question: I like any of them except for Archer's era but my favorite series is Voyager.
2nd: I'd like to try maybe the co again or even a medic or a ship's counselor.
My favorite episode is the 2 parter of Voyager where Janeway got to cut loose and go after the Starfleet ship that was killing the aliens to draw their power to get homw.
Looks like we have a slight preference for TOS. I would second Dr. Mono in saying that I slightly prefer the red jacket movie era to the red yellow blue shirt original series era. One nice thing about that era is that you have all of the hooks dangling from TOS and there is lots of room to be something other than the aging Enterprise crew.
Is that ok with everyone?
If we are going with that era, I'd suggest that we not have a separate XO, but double that role with another, especially if we have a PC Captain, which I would prefer.
The bridge roles that the game wants you to have covered are:
Commanding Officer
Helm
Navigator
Sensor Operations
Internal Systems
Security Oversight
Tactical
Communications
Sickbay
I would nominate Insnare as the Captain. They have a solid history of posting regularly, which is especially important for the Captain. (I'm imagining a Captain who is involved in away missions in this era.)
Also worth talking about what kind of ship we want. The obvious answer in this era is a Constitution refit, but there are other options.
So loving this idea.
I could have a great time as a Helm officer that may be doubling as XO. But only if no one else has their heart set on XO. I always see the conn officers as stick jockeys that are a little too fly by the seat of their pants. So having someone in that mindset having to have actual responsibility... that's so good.
I like Security/Tactical personnel too, so I might go that route for a backup.
I love all ships in this era. Even the Grissom. My favorite ones are the Excelsior class (which is rather new and pretty), the Constitution refits (of course), and the Chandley class (from FASA). But while awesome, that last one isn't exactly canon.
I think I would lean towards the Excelsior Class although the Constitution Refit or of course the Miranda class... (I always loved the ship Kahn had.)
The red uniform era also included the Ambassador class but Excelsior class would be cool.
I'm not attached to any particular class of ship. The kind of ship you choose for a campaign says a lot about the feel you want, though. Do you want a sturdy and scrappy Constitution class, a huge and elegant Excelsior class (top of the line), or a less generalized ship.
I'm imagining a start around 2285, the same year that Wrath of Khan and Search for Spock take place.
Other ship options include (but aren't limited to, I just looked around a bit)
Centaur. You could actually play the USS Centaur, the first of its kind. It is like an Excelsior saucer with those elongated nacelles but no engineering hull. Very fast ship.
Oberth. A weird little science vessel.
Constellation. These 4 nacelled ships were first put into service in this era.
And a note on canon: I will consider Memory Alpha the definitive guide to canon, and make use of Memory Beta to fill in additional useful details. I'm not opposed to using information from other games. I have lots of FASA and Decipher stuff that I might use if it comes in handy.
I love the Excelsior class.
What, no engineering?
I wouldn't mind any operations job.
On the TOS bridge, Scotty would have handled Internal Systems as defined by the game. There are engineering specific options in the rules that can be dealt with from the bridge or from engineering.
What branch would the helm officer be from?
I do love the jacket un8form.
The big difference in uniforms is in the epallettes and the stripes down the trousers.
and the color of the undershirt
Internal systems it is then!
Uniforms are a little confusing. Sources suggest there are only colors for Ops, Command, and Cadets. But an image of the crew clearly shows that Chekov and Uhura and maybe Bones are wearing blueish turtlenecks and straps while Sulu and Scotty are wearing mustard turtlenecs.
Maybe that is confusing. Page 258 of the core book breaks down how those usually get divided up:
24th century
2 Command Stations
Conn: combines helm and navigation
Operations: combines sensor operations and internal systems
Tactical: combines communications, security oversight, and tactical
23rd century
1 Command Station
Helm: Helm and security oversight or tactical
Navigation: navigator and either security oversight or tactical
Science: Sensor Operations
Communications: Communications and maybe internal systems
Main Engineering: internal systems
But you can divide them up however you want.
Commanding Officer
Helm
Navigator
Sensor Operations
Internal Systems
Security Oversight
Tactical
Communications
Sickbay
Don't consider yourselves limited to those ships. You can choose whatever space frame you like.(appropriate to the period, obviously. 2285.
I also love the variants for Miranda that are canon like the soyuz. That frame is so versatile like the nebula in the 24th century.
Hi, a quick question, what is the lifespan of an Andorian?
130 years, on average.
Would helm be the command class?
If you mean the command track for the academy, yes. For Conn you are going to be rolling mostly Daring+Conn and Control+Conn, so if you want to be a crackerjack pilot, you want to be good at those.
Let's all try to avoid min maxing the game though.
I think we should build a list of what we're working on so we don't overlap. looks like Jok'kem and I were going the same direction. I was building a Helmsman that doubles as XO, but I can think up a different concept if you are married to the helm position Jok'kem.
Not really married to the concept, I was just thinking of something that would be useful.
Totally cool either way. I've run this game for about a year so I can be flexible.
Regardless, here's what the crew seems to look like (unless GM is picking players to form their playgroup like normal for this board)
Let me know if I missed something
Captain- possibly andorian (Commanding officer)- Insnare
Chief Engineer (Internal Systems)- Johnnyblack
Chief Medical Officer (Sickbay)- WhtKnt
Chief Science Officer (Sensor Operations) - Trscroggs
So that leaves these for us- and a lot of it can be put together (Chekov was Navigator, Tactical, and Security, though maybe not all at once)
Helm
Navigator
Security Oversight
Tactical
Communications
If I build a first officer, Helm, Navigation, and Sciences really work best. I always feel that other roles that are usually off the bridge, have limited responsibility (communications), or are too broad with regards to command (Tac/Security) feel wrong. If you go helm, I'll build Tac/Security. But someone else should be XO in that case. It's not that they couldn't be in that role (after all, Scotty was second officer) but does anyone really want the ship's cop to be left in charge whenever the captain isn't there?
If I build my XO/Helm Officer, I'll probably make a redshirt (or black collar as this era used) as my secondary character because I can always have an excuse for away missions then.
For the people that know the system... what goes well with Chief Engineer (Internal Systems)?
For the people that know the system... what goes well with Chief Engineer (Internal Systems)?
Do you mean as far as a secondary role or species, attribute, etc?
Secondary role