I am sure with the Star Trek movie coming out, some Trek RPGs are being started or getting resumed after a long hiatus. My question: What system(s) are people using for their Star Trek RPG games?
Decipher?
Last Unicorn Games?
FASA?
Other? (I used FUDGE for a Trek one-shot)
You planning on playing in the movie's "revised timeline"? Just curious. Be a nice way to avoid stepping on canon...for a while. :)
M
As much as I enjoy Star Trek, I never really felt the urge to use it as a setting. I am not sure why.
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You planning on playing in the movie's "revised timeline"? Just curious. Be a nice way to avoid stepping on canon...for a while. :)
M
I'm not planning on using the new timeline - my plan is to set the campaign five years after the end of TOS, and then diverge from the canonical timeline from that point.
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Hey, I just pulled out my Star Trek Roleplaying Game this week!
It was fun to look through the many books, and also the tactical ship battle system.
It was nice to see my captain PC still in that box... as though he is still out there somewhere on his vessel, the U.S.S. Asimov.
*smiles*
Good memories.
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For a while there I played a Star Trek character in a game using the Last Unicorn rules. The crew of the USS Ranger is on hiatus now, but the movie was cool enough that we might start playing again. It would be a nice contrast for the nights I'm not running my Savage Tide Campaign. And I'd like the chance to be a player again instead of a DM.
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.... Now, I never talk like this, but....
I need to go see the new Star Trek, and then run a Star Trek adventure.
When I played STRPG, some twenty years ago, I was ALWAYS a player.
Captain Timothy Hunter of the U.S.S. Asimov. I even have the ship schematic we drew up, and also the call letters... wow, we had a LOT of time on our hands, didn't we? Those were the days.
Anyhow, I'm with ya.
I think I might just bust into that 'ol RPG box and get a game goin' sometime soon. If I do, I'll be sure to stop back into this thread.
As rpgs go - that one was very well done. Its skill system really did capture the feel of Star Trek. Overall, I liked the way the game handled.
We welded together GURPS and Star Fleet Battles Commander's Edition.
It would be a nice contrast for the nights I'm not running my Savage Tide Campaign. And I'd like the chance to be a player again instead of a DM.
Always a good idea. Being "DM Only" can lead to either burn-out or "NPC centric" DMing (a.k.a., the most offensive kind of "Rail-Roading")
For a while there I played a Star Trek character in a game using the Last Unicorn rules. The crew of the USS Ranger is on hiatus now, but the movie was cool enough that we might start playing again.
Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.
If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem. :(
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Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem. :(
The way our campaign was set up, the military discipline and chain of command was in place, but we found ways to put our characters on equal footing.
Our characters where two Starfleet types, a diplomat, and an independant agent. The Captain was an NPC and rarely got directly involved in adventures.
The two Starfleet characters were the First Officer and the Chief Engineer, both positions of authority on a starship. They shared the same rank (Lieutenant Commander) and so "pulling rank" was almost never an issue.
The Trill diplomat had her own authority as the Federation liason onboard, and was sometimes even put in charge in certain situations.
Finally, the Klingon scout was a guide for the area of space the Ranger was exploring, and technically didn't answer to anyone.
So if players are willing to play ball when it comes to character creation, a Star Trek campaign can really be fun.
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Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.
If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem. :(
What, you mean it's not common to promote a cadet to first officer of a ship in the Navy?
The Last Unicorn rules propose fixing the problem of a hierarchy among players by making everyone start off as ensigns, that way they all take the same orders. I think part of the fun of a Star Trek game is getting to run the ship (plus having an NPC command crew that issues orders is arguably just as frustrating for the players as taking orders from one another).
In practice, when playing Star Trek RPGs in the past we've tried to work past this by putting the most mature player in charge, and encouraging him to accept opinions from the other players so that they don't feel like he's constantly telling them what to do. It might also help to encourage a lot of out of character conversation, so that decisions can be made democratically by the players, but the captain is the one who calls the shots in-game.
What, you mean it's not common to promote a cadet to first officer of a ship in the Navy?Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.
If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem. :(
No. More like, it's not common to promote a disgraced cadet to commanding officer of a ship in the Navy.
That would be quite a commendation for "original thinking."
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I am sure with the Star Trek movie coming out, some Trek RPGs are being started or getting resumed after a long hiatus. My question: What system(s) are people using for their Star Trek RPG games?
Decipher?
Last Unicorn Games?
FASA?
Other? (I used FUDGE for a Trek one-shot)
Back in the 80's, we used to play the FASA Star Trek - it was great! Boy, I'd love to get my hands on some of those old books, just for old time's sake.
I have to shout out to Last Unicorn Games though ... I used to work with them quite a bit, although it was more on the ARIA RPG and HERESY CCG ... before they got the Star Trek license.
Haven't talked to them in many years, but they were really good guys and it was really cool being involved with them!
We need to all E-Mail JJ Abrams to licence a new Star Trek RPG (based on his movie series).
Thank you for the feedback. I found some older FASA material via local gaming shops and eBay. Also, based on recommendations here and reviews elsewhere, I picked up Traveller RPG (MGP). I also reread the Decipher material I bought for my wife many years ago (she is a Trekkie, but not a gamer). I am happy with all the systems, each for different reasons.
I got to play one session of FASA Trek a couple of weeks ago, and I look forward to playing again.
I had FASA Trek and the Prime Directive RPG that came out in the 90's, but unfortunately I sold both years ago.
I recently bought a brand new, full set of Decipher Trek RPG books based on a post at this site:
(which incidentally is a great little blog on Star Trek RPG'ing in general). If you have the Decipher books, chances are you know about this site, which has some support for the system:
I've read that Decipher used some of the same developers that worked on the LUG/Icon version.
I haven't had a chance to dig into the system too much, but from a quick skimming of the rules, it looks decent. The only think I'll say is that the Player's Guide is not organized very well, as far as character generation is concerned, compared to say, the Star Wars Saga RPG. Other than that, I got 6 hardback books and a GM screen for a good price, so I'm not complaining.
I been toying around with the idea of a Star Trek game using Savage Worlds.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
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Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem.
I'd been struggling with that, myself, but a comment from another user on here cued me in on one reasonable solution: borrow from Traveller.
The party can be composed of newly-retired Fleet personnel (officers and NCO's) who notice something wrong within starfleet (perhaps they have dealings with someone from Section 51, or those neural slaver critters from the end of the first season of ST:TNG). They work together, and may fall into a comfortable military discipline, but they have no official chain of command.
The way our campaign was set up, the military discipline and chain of command was in place, but we found ways to put our characters on equal footing.Our characters where two Starfleet types, a diplomat, and an independant agent. The Captain was an NPC and rarely got directly involved in adventures.
That's a nice way to handle it, too.
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Thing is, Star Fleet has (or should have - ignoring a HUGE problem with the recent movie) a chain of command and military dicipline.
If players are willing to live by those rules, the setting can be awesome. If not, then it can be a problem.
I'd been struggling with that, myself, but a comment from another user on here cued me in on one reasonable solution: borrow from Traveller.
The party can be composed of newly-retired Fleet personnel (officers and NCO's) who notice something wrong within starfleet (perhaps they have dealings with someone from Section 51, or those neural slaver critters from the end of the first season of ST:TNG). They work together, and may fall into a comfortable military discipline, but they have no official chain of command.
You could just take a page from DS9 and have the PCs on a space station in a strategic star system with access to Runabouts, shuttles and even a starship. This would also allow most aliens to be involved, not just Federation ones. Not all the players need be Starfleet as Garak, Quark, Odo and others were running around on trips with Sisko and the rest all the time.