New Star Trek Movie Commercial Online

Uh, oh. Looks like San Francisco is in trouble! Time for me to move, I think.

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Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 2/1/09

Saw this listing on eBay and it gave me an idea for a new feature: the Star Trek RPG Auction of the Week. When I post, you'll have to click the link to see the pictures, no point in me posting them because they'll only disappear after awhile.

This week: Huge 1980's Lot of FASA STAR TREK RPG Game Books

This is an auction for a collection of 46 supplements -- some sealed and some used -- for FASA's Star Trek The Role Playing Game, including some rare ones like #2214 The Star Trek III Sourcebook (updating TOS for the Movie Era) and #2802 The Star Trek II Wrath of Khan Game Master's Screen. He's even got one of the strangest and most unique RPG supplements ever released, #2803 The Star Trek Tricorder/Starship Sensors Interactive Display.

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Heritage Star Trek #1605 - Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Nameplate

Manufacturer: Heritage Models, Inc.

Set #: 1604 - Spock, McCoy, Uhuru, Dioramic Nameplate

Scale: 25mm

Year: 1978

MSRP: $2.95

Additional Notes: Listed as "Uhuru" (sic). Each figure has "ⓒ1978 PPC" (Paramount Pictures Corporation) etched on the base, along with the set # followed by a letter (1604A, 1604B, 1604C, 1604D).

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Comparing Character Stats (Part 1)

Some of the folks over at TrekRPGNet were nice enough to admit reading this blog, and took some interest in my article on the Japanese Enterprise game I posted about earlier this week. Calastir over there has recently worked up some CODA character stats for the TOS Bridge Crew, and wanted to know how they compared to the classic character attributes in Enterprise.

Pretty cool idea! It can be interesting to compare the same character between different systems. It's especially interesting when one considers that not only was Enterprise the first Japanese TRPG, it was also arguably the first Star Trek RPG. Sure, Heritage had released STAGFF five years earlier, but it was more of a miniatures game with roleplay-like stats and features focused on combat, and some of the stats didn't have a material effect on the game. Enterprise, on the other hand, chose the traditional discussion-based roleplaying style to which we're more accustomed today -- and did so before FASA had released their Trek RPG!

Let's take a look at the stats for Captain James Tiberius Kirk for each of the five systems:

Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier (3D6 based, 3-18)

STR 13, DEX 14, LUC 15, Mentality 14, CHA 16, CON 13

Enterprise (3D6 based, 3-18)

STR 15, DEX 15, IQ 13, CHA 16, LUC 15

FASA (3D10+40, 1-100)

STR 68, END 77, INT 84, DEX 79, CHA 94, LUC 98, PSI 29

LUG (Point spend, 1-5)

FIT 3, VIT +1, COORD 4, INT 4, PRES 5, PSI 0

CODA (2D6 random dice pool; or pick and spend, 4-12)

AGL 10 (+2), INT 8 (+1), PER 9 (+1), PRS 12 (+3), STR 10 (+2), VIT 10 (+2)

Phew. For an old school guy like me, just looking at the stats makes me want to translate Enterprise as quickly as possible!

Calastir asked that I post the Enterprise stats for the following 4 characters so that he can compare them to his own CODA versions. In Part 2 of this article, I'll post the stats for the other 10 TOS characters, along with some close-up scans and translations of those slick character cards.

Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu

STR 13, DEX 13, IQ 12, CHA 10, LUC 10

Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott

STR 14, DEX 14, IQ 12, CHA 9, LUC 11

Ensign Pavel Chekov

STR 12, DEX 13, IQ 11, CHA 11, LUC 13

Lieutenant Uhura

STR 11, DEX 12, IQ 13, CHA 15, LUC 14

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New Star Trek Games... No RPG

TrekMovie.com today posted an article about the mass of licensed Trek junk merchandise about to be dumped upon the unsuspecting public in anticipation of JJ Abrams' Star Trek movie. Oh dear, it looks like The Phantom Menace all over again (hint: wait two years... folks on eBay won't be able to give it away!).

Not surprising is the sheer amount of licenses issued solely to Trek tabletop gaming: more Trek Monopoly, UNO, the Scene It DVD boardgame, a trivia game, Scrabble and -- of course -- Star Trek Magic 8 Ball (FTW?!?!). Okay, I guess that is surprising after all.

What else is surprising? No Star Trek Roleplaying Game, for either the classic series or the new movie universe. Decipher lost the license a little over a year ago and at the moment no one has the license. A little bird over on theRPGSite Forums says that inquiries have, in fact, recently been made but apparently CBS Consumer Products is not interested at this time.

Which is very sad, and makes Mr. Spock cry. It's no secret that Decipher and Last Unicorn Games faced two big problems when doing their respective versions of a Trek RPG. One, neither company was very good at running its business, regardless of the burdens of the Trek license. Two, both were releasing Trek RPGs at a time of "Trek Burnout". When even fans were turning their backs on the shows and films coming out of Paramount, it's hard to imagine the associated merchandise doing much better. Admittedly I've never seen the books of any of these companies, but I'd find it hard to imagine that FASA was able to do Trek for such a long time and with a wealth of material if they weren't doing so as a going concern.

Different times, of course, and there are some who question whether or not Star Trek is even suitable for tabletop roleplaying in this day and age. That seems to be a debate that comes up every once in awhile over on RPGnet and other places. My opinion: given the right timing, the right business approach and a well-developed game, there's no reason that a Star Trek RPG couldn't be a critical and popular success all over again.

In the meantime, we can always continue with what's already out there, and even "roll our own" for our favorite RPG system (see my 2MB preview version of Final Frontier, the Trek adaptation for the Thousand Suns RPG that I've been working on lately). I have to admit, though, that there would be nothing like strolling into my FLGS and finding a brand spanking new official "Star Trek RPG Core Rules" game on the shelf and a rack of minis right next to it.

There's always hope. And until then, there's Star Trek Magic 8 Ball.

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Heritage Star Trek #1604 - Kirk, Rand, Scotty and Sulu

Manufacturer: Heritage Models, Inc.

Set #: 1604 - Kirk, His Yoeman, Scotty, Sulu

Scale: 25mm

Year: 1978

MSRP: $2.95

Additional Notes: Listed as "His Yoeman" (sic), but presumably Yeoman Janice Rand. And to be completely honest, the sculpts are such that she's the only one I can identify for certain. Due to her boots. Each figure has "ⓒ1978 PPC" (Paramount Pictures Corporation) etched on the base, along with the set # followed by a letter (1604A, 1604B, 1604C,1604D). The figures below, from left-to-right, are 1604B, 1604C, 1604D and 1604A. That likely means that they are respectively Rand, Scotty, Sulu and Kirk (whose pose indicates that he's about to fall forward onto his face).

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Enterprise, the 1983 Japanese Star Trek RPG

ENTERPRISE - ROLE PLAY GAME IN STAR TREK (Japanese)

Manufacturer: Tsukuda Hobby
Designer: Tama Yutaka (多摩豊)
Set #: HG-014-R
Format: Boxed Set
Year: 1983
MSRP: ¥3,000

Enterprise - Role Play Game in Star Trek was a Japanese roleplaying game that, despite an impressive history of firsts, is not widely known in the western world. It was the first Japanese domestic RPG (note: RPGs in Japan are generally known as Table-Talk RPGs, or simply TRPG, to distinguish them from computer-based RPGs). It was Tsukuda Hobby's first entry into tabletop roleplaying games, alongside the wargames that they were already publishing. And as Enterprise was based on an official license from Paramount/Tohokushinsha for Star Trek, it was the first Japanese RPG based on a licensed property.

Background

ConSim (conflict simulation) wargames were already popular in Japan in the early 80s, published by Tsukuda, Bandai and other hobby publishers. Tsukuda had their "Hobby Simulation Game SF Series" which included 1982's Star Trek: The Invasion of Klingon Empire (HG-009), a strategic wargame similar to Task Force Games' Federation Space; two Star Wars games, Death Star (HG-005) and Hoth (HG-010); and various titles based on the Gundam and Xabungle anime universes. Enterprise would be the first of the series to be designated as a "role play game".

Although Enterprise was the first domestic RPG released in this format, it was technically preceded by Donkey Commando, a tactical level science fiction minigame featuring character stats, published in the Japanese Tactics magazine in 1982. At the time, western RPG titles such as Dungeons & Dragons and Traveller were known by many Japanese gamers, but it wouldn't be until 1984 that these games would actually be imported by companies such as Hobby Japan, and later be localized for Japanese hobbyists. In the meantime, computer-based RPGs were already beginning to gain interest, and Japanese designers were starting to create their own tabletop RPGs.

The first original TRPG came after Enterprise, and was another science fiction title called Star Quest (Tsukuda HG-032-R). Interestingly, it was written by Ed Lipsett, an American expert on Japan and author of the wonderful 1979 Spacefarers' Guide series from Phoenix Games, which served as a starting point for Star Quest. The first Japanese translations of Traveller were starting to appear and gain popularity, and Tsukuda was eager to have their own competing product in place. Star Quest was similar in concept to Traveller, but utilized a d1000 mechanic (roll 3 d10: designate one as the 100 value, one as the 10 value, and the last as the 1 value, to get a result from 001 to 1000). Around the same time, Tsukuda released the first domestic fantasy TRPG, Roads to Load (HG-030-R). All of these games set the stage for TRPGs in Japan -- imported and domestic, licensed and original -- which would become increasingly popular well into the early 90s.

It's impossible for me to know how much of an impact Enterprise made at the time (I suspect that it wasn't very much), but it is nevertheless interesting to note that it was a Star Trek RPG that started the ball rolling in Japan. I should also note that the game was written by Tama Yutaka, a pioneer in the early Japanese gaming industry. He was a founding member of the Keio University HQ Simulation Game Club, graduated in 1984 (he designed Enterprise while in school), co-edited (with Hitoshi Yasuda, translator/author of the Hobby Japan Traveller) the Japanese version of the UK publication Warlock - The Fighting Fantasy Magazine, was author and translator of numerous gaming texts and articles, and is even credited with some early PC adventure games. Sadly, Mr. Yutaka passed away in 1997 at the age of 35.

ENTERPRISE - Contents

Like most Japanese publications and boxed games, the quality of the components of Enterprise was exceptional. It came packed in a brilliantly colored hard cardboard box (8.5" x 11.5" x 1.5") featuring Kirk, Spock and McCoy on the front; and a black and white rear cover with a description of the game, pictures of some of the character cards and their stats, and a list of the game components, as follows:

• A 20-page Rulebook, almost entirely text with few illustrations and no other Star Trek photos


• A 13-page Adventure book, including 4 pages of maps with a "blueprint" look to them


• 15 double-sided Character Cards, coated for use with erasable markers or crayon; the front featured a photo of the player character, and the back listed their statistics and provided space for tracking hits, making notes and so on; cards were provided for Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, Chekov, Chapel, Rand, Commander Kang the Klingon, Stonn the Vulcan, Subcommander Tal the Romulan and three blank cards, presumably for NPCs


• Two twenty-sided D10 dice (red and white, numbered 0-9)


• One 9mm D6


• Mail-in return survey card


• 4-page 1983 Tsukuda Simulation Game catalog detailing the SF Series, HG-001 through HG-016

ENTERPRISE - Game Mechanics

At this point, there's not a great deal I can say about the game itself as I've yet to translate it. I've done this kind of work before (see my translation of Bandai's 1982 Mothra vs Godzilla wargame), but I'm by no means a Japanese expert, and translating games is a time-consuming process. I do plan to do so (2 months?), so keep checking back!

Having said that, here's what I can tell from a glance. It appears that the mechanic is roll 2d10 under attribute for many task resolutions, as well as some percentile rolls. Each character has five basic attributes: Strength (1-18, which also acts as HP), Dexterity (3-18), IQ (10-18), Charisma (10-18) and Luck (3-18). Rules are provided for a PSY (Psionic) characteristic, but it's not listed on any of the cards. Characters are also provided a space for Special Abilities, and assigned an Alignment (Lawful Good, Lawful Bad, Neutral, Erratic Bad, Erratic Good) that is cross-referenced with an opposing character's alignment to determine CH and IQ modifiers to opposed tasks.

Hand-to-Hand combat appears to simply be ST-ST to cross-reference and determine the % required to roll under. There are only about 10 small tables, so the game doesn't appear to be at all complex. There do not seem to be any rules for class, skills, XP and possibly not even for character creation. I don't see anything for starships or starship combat, and the adventure itself appears to be completely landing party based.

For now, Enterprise appears to be mostly a curiosity, especially to those accustomed to more sophisticated (and English!) RPG systems. Nevertheless, I thought it was important to at least get it documented.

And, if nothing else, the next time someone tries to trick you when asking "How many licensed Star Trek RPGs were there?" (expecting you to forget Heritage, and answer "3"), you can turn the table on them and say "5!"

References and additonal resources (Japanese):

TRPG Chronology
Wikipedia Japan entry on Tama Yutaka
TRPG Library

Very special thanks to EL

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Trek Heritage Miniatures Masterlist

Heritage Models, Inc. was one of the largest wargames models manufacturers in the US in the 1970s. In 1978, Heritage Models acquired the first official license from Paramount Pictures to produce a line of Star Trek miniatures ("Star Trek Adventure Gaming Miniatures") and a roleplaying game. Heritage President Duke Seifried had a strategy at the time to license properties and produce a game book that would support and boost sales of Heritage's primary product. In the case of Star Trek, the book was the RPG Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier by Michael Scott. Other properties that Heritage licensed around this time included Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter, Warlord of Mars, Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian and miniatures based on Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

First in the Star Trek line were two 3-inch "Collector Figurines" of Kirk and Mr. Spock:

• 1600 Capt. Kirk (75mm, MSRP $10.95)
  
• 1601 Cmdr. Spock (75mm, MSRP $10.95)

At the same time, Heritage released the Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier book and the first set of miniatures intended for use with the game. These "Gaming Diorama Sets" (as they were described in the book) were 25mm scale and, unless otherwise noted, had an MSRP of $2.95. As you can see from the assortment below, they consisted of figures from both the original series as well as the animated series (also detailed in STAGFF), which aired in reruns through 1975.

The first release of miniatures was as follows:

• 1604 Kirk, His Yoeman (sic), Scotty, Sulu


• 1605 Spock, McCoy, Uhuru (sic), Dioramic Nameplate


• 1606 Chekov, Chapel, Lt. Arex, Lt. M'ress *


• 1612 Federation Crew (6)


• 1613 Romulan Crew (6) **


• 1614 Klingon Crew (6) **


• 1615 Gorn Soldiers (6)


• 1616 Aquans of Argo * (6)


• 1618 Phylosians "Plant Men" (4)


• 1619 The Andorians "Blue Tentacled Humanoids" (6)


• 1620 The Skorr "Winged Eagle Men" (4)


• 1621 Talosians "Large Craniumed Humanoids - Zoo Keepers" (6)


• 1622 The Kzin "8-Foot Cat Men" (4)


• 1623 Mugato (Neuralese Great Ape), Cappellans Powercat, a Vedalan *


• 1626 Pirates of Orion * (6)


• 1628 Tellerites (sic) "Stocky Pig-Gaces Humanoids" (sic) (6)


• 1629 Rock Creature and Horta "Silicon Creatures" *


• 1630 Federation Special Defence Force (6)


• 1631 Klingon Stormtroopers (6)


• 1632 Romulan Assault Unit (6)

* These sets may be rare, as I've been unable to locate the figures or find images. But I have confirmed or read anecdotal evidence of their existence, either in whole or in part. If nothing else, these were probably low manufacturing runs compared to others in the initial line.
** Although the catalog list "6 pieces" for 1613 and 1614, both of mine came with 7 each. These also happen to be the ones I bought from "Uncle Duke" Seifried himself, so they may be exceptions.

Each of the packs above were listed on page 37 of STAGFF as "Available for Shipment". Other sets were listed, apparently planned for later release:

• 1607 Balok, Flint, Asmodeus, Lucien


• 1608 Harry Mudd, Cyrano Jones, Tribbles & Glommer, Theela of Taurus II


• 1609 Elysian Council (11, MSRP $7.95)


• 1610 EM3 Green, Sord, Prince Tohar, Lana


• 1611 Sarek, T'Pau, Ayelborne of Organia, Kahn the Klingon


• 1617 The Dramians "Giant Androids"


• 1624 Cappellans


• 1625 Orion Colonials


• 1627 The Vians

Although molds exist for some of these, they were likely never released (one collector, however, did manage to obtain Kahn the Klingon from 1611 a few years ago, so it's possible that some others were cast and released). Any additional information or corrections would be welcome!

Over the next weeks, I'll be posting additional images for each of the packs and figures available. Eventually I'll come back and update this page with links to those posts. In the meantime, use the tags below or to the side to find additional posts on the Heritage Star Trek Miniatures.

References and additional resources:

STAGFF listing at Wikipedia
Heritage Models at Memory Alpha
Star Trek Miniatures Yahoo Group
Disciples of Heritage Yahoo Group
The Stuff of Legends

Pictured today: the 75mm Collector Figurines of #1600 Capt. Kirk and #1601 Cmdr. Spock

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Introduction: Star Trek Gaming Miniatures

Tomorrow I'm beginning a new series in the blog that will look at the various lines of Star Trek gaming miniatures released over the years by Heritage, Citadel, FASA and Last Unicorn Games. I have a fairly extensive -- but not nearly complete -- collection from each of the manufacturers, dating back to 1978. The series will almost exclusively focus on figures, not the starships miniatures. I've never been a big collector of the latter (nor played many of the various starship combat wargames), and there are much better resources out on the web documenting those.

25mm - 28mm Star Trek figure miniatures, however, don't get a lot of coverage. Because most of the lines were tied specifically to Trek roleplaying games, this series will be a chance to remedy that. Every few days I'll post a picture (when available) of the figures in their original packaging, along with closeups of them out of the packaging, and list additional known details about the various lines. Finally, I'm going to finally start painting these darn things, and if the results aren't too embarrassing (it's been many years since I painted minis!), I'll post pictures of the finished versions as well.

I want to thank in advance a few individuals in particular who have either helped me build my collection and/or helped me with photos and background: Dave Berton of Chicago, who had a killer collection and took great closeup photos of the Heritage packages, many which you'll see over the coming weeks; Duke "Uncle Duke" Seifried, director of Heritage USA back in the 70s and the man responsible for the first line of Star Trek miniatures and the RPG, from whom I obtained my extra special Klingons and Romulans; and Michael Thomas, who keeps the Heritage Models flame burning and well-documented through his sites Disciples of Heritage and Classic Miniatures.

Starting tomorrow: details of the Heritage Models line of Star Trek figurines

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OT: Playmates Star Trek Movie Toys Revealed

At TrekMovie.com, the first big look at Playmates' figures, toys and playsets for the upcoming Star Trek film. Very cool, if only for the best glimpse yet of the uniforms, the bridge, the communicator and so on.

After all, that picture up there is mini-me getting his Mego Star Trek Bridge Playset, circa 1975. Don't think I'll be collecting any of it this time around, though. Okay, maybe the ship.

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Star Trek RPGs - Other Voices

Ah, the joy that is The Google. I don't hit those "Similar Pages" links enough, but when I do it often seems to lead somewhere interesting I wouldn't have found on my own.

I'm certainly not the first or only person to ponder on the topics of "What is the history of Star Trek in tabletop roleplaying?" and, more to the point, "Does Star Trek really lend itself to RPGs?" Here are some other wise souls discussing the same questions:

From September 2006, Adam and Nate of the Roll 2d6 podcast discuss the early years of Trek RPGs, Trek vs the Star Fleet Universe and more. Hmm, they seem to be from the Bay Area. Why don't I know these guys?

From November 2007, Andy at The Lost Level contemplates Roleplaying in the final frontier: random thoughts on Star Trek and RPGs in this blog entry (after listening to the podcast above), and wonders why he never games in the Trek universe.

Good stuff. And now I have a podcast to listen to on the train this morning!

But wait! There's more.....

Space Patrol (Gamescience, 1977)

"It is up to the judgement of the Game Master to decide the suitability of a character to a particular scenario. For instance, a Klingon is unlikely to be a member of a Federation landing party." - SPACE PATROL, "Creating Characters", page 2.

As detailed previously, Gamescience's August 1977 release of Space Patrol by Michael Scott Kurtick and Rockland Russo was the granddaddy of Star Trek roleplaying games. Although not officially licensed, it made some tongue-in-cheek use of the terminology and setting of Trek, referencing Kirk, phasers, Klingons, landing parties and so on. At the same time, its ambitions went beyond Trek-with-serial-numbers-filed and also included references to Niven's Kzinti (who themselves had made a guest appearance in the animated Star Trek series), Asimov's Foundation, Heinlein's Starship Troopers, Flash Gordon, Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legion and -- in a last minute addenda -- the new kid on the block, Star Wars.

In other words, Space Patrol was striving to be a definitive adaption of the space opera genre for RPGs. That was pretty ambitious for a 38 page rulebook, especially when you consider that only 14 pages of that are actual rules text (without tables and illustrations), albeit in three columns of 8pt type. Space Patrol wasn't the first or only attempt at that time to create a "sci-fi D&D". 1976 had already seen the releases of TSR's Metamorphosis: Alpha and Flying Buffalo's Starfaring, and Tyr's Space Quest, FGU's Flash Gordon and GDW's definitive science fiction RPG Traveller would follow in 1977, around the same time as Space Patrol itself.

(aside: for a great look back at Classic Traveller, see today's post over at Grognardia)

And, as mentioned in previous posts, Space Patrol would evolve over a number of years as the basis for Heritage's Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier (1978), Gamescience's Star Patrol (1981), and Terra Games' Starfleet Voyages. I think it's worth re-iterating this upfront because the playability of the game started off rather rocky, but improved to become a more fleshed-out system by the time it was released as Starfleet Voyages.

Despite (and perhaps in part due to) its ambitious intentions, Space Patrol is a prime example of how rules can get in the way of having a good time. In fact, the most fun probably comes from reading the rulebook itself, which is peppered throughout with amusing jabs at the genre that it's supposed to be emulating. Although this -- that it never takes itself too seriously -- is part of its charm, the system itself gets bogged down in unnecessary complexity, rules exceptions, and a necessity to refer too often to poorly implemented tables. The problems with Space Patrol can be summed up as follows: its wargame approach, its presentation and its organization.

First, Space Patrol is very much a miniatures-based and combat-oriented game, and can likely only be played using figures or counters on a grid (not included). The first sections detail character creation by rolling 3D6 to determine the basic attributes: Strength, Dexterity, Luck, Constitution, Charisma and Mentality. The values of these stats generally determine a value or modifier for task resolution. If the attribute is from 9 to 12, there is no modifier. For each point under 9, the player will subtract 1. For each point over 12, the player will add 1. Sometimes the resulting value will require consulting a success probability table, requiring another role on percentile dice. Sometimes it will be compared to an opposed value, such as the defender in combat. Sometimes it will become a factor in further calculations, such as the use of the telekinesis psionic power. The "less than 9, more than 12" system is very consistent, but what happens next is not, depending on the specific task.

Further, Charisma and Mentality really don't figure into the rules much further, and Constitution is almost exclusively a hit point metric. The game presents no economic scheme, no real career, skill or experience systems, and no starship rules at all. As a result, Space Patrol feels like little more than a man-to-man combat system for landing parties than a true roleplaying game.

Second, even for the time, the presentation of the rulebook leaves a lot to be desired. Mediocre artwork unrelated to the text, typos and primitive layout were not at all uncommon in games at the time (I would argue that it can be part of the old school gaming charm). But in this case, the production values and choices really get in the way of simply absorbing the rules. The type is extremely small, the three column layout does not suit the complexity of the text, a great deal of space is wasted (many tables are repeated three times!), and the 25+ tables (so necessary to the game) are at times indecipherable due to use of shorthand. Again this is not uncommon in older games, but more often than not there is enough explanation within the body text to understand the authors' intentions. In the case of Space Patrol there were times when I just had to give up and refer to the 1982 Starfleet Voyages book to decipher some passages.

Third, the rules are very poorly organized. "Creating Characters" is followed by "Creature Creation", "Psionics", "Gravity", "Movement", "Equipment", "Learning" and so on in that order. Important concepts are introduced, described in part, dropped, and picked up later or not at all. The seeds for a really good game are there, but there are few games from the period that could have benefited more from a good editor and (I suspect) the word processing revolution.

One last note, more a curiosity than a criticism. The writing itself is very casual, but I think the authors' antagonistic attitude toward players shows through in a few places. For example:

"We have seen other games with loosely structured formats which, because of local optional rules, became almost unrecognizable from one group to another. We have seen players travelling from one city to another feeling ripped off when trying to play in a new environment until they learn the local options. Thus we ask that you not mess with the rules but rather tell us about your ideas. The rules and corrections that we like will be included in a supplement or sister editions as practical. Thus, hopefully, no one will snivel when playing with new people because of surprise rules."

Which would be fine (well, not really) if the game didn't require house rules to be playable. Then there's this classic from "Creating Characters":

"We recommend that the Mission Master allow only characters personally known to him to be played. This is because we have seen much to offend the honest player in other role-playing games. We have seen other players use characters which some time in the past have been purely fabricated with unusual abilities, or a super character who has been done away with in other 9ames but not left-to-lie in peace. We have also known people who are fond of sitting down and generating some 20 or 30 characters and then throw out all but those who are unusually good. They then claim that all the characters in their stable were in fact, randomly generated."

Sheesh! Seriously, this game would be nearly twice as good if they'd simply used that space to explain "RADIUS or RANGE OF EFFECT/DICE". I'm not sure I've seen so much editorializing in such a small game.

Having said all that, there is good in this game, I feel it. As I mentioned, it really doesn't reach its full potential until Starfleet Voyages, but it does get much better (especially in terms of presentation and organization) as soon as Heritage's Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier. It still doesn't feel like Star Trek, but I think that very concept was still being defined in the mid-70s. Amongst the real gems in the rulebook for old school science fiction gaming:

• Weapons and Shielding - there are some great choices and stats in the book for equipment you've read about in the works of Niven, Asimov, Pournelle, Haldeman and more. Need a Tingler or a Neuronic Whip? Get it here.


• Scenario Generator - use a percentile dice to randomly whip up the weird and the wonderful, from where your party lands, what it looks like, what creatures you encounter, how many legs they have, how many in your party they attack with some of those limbs, and what artifacts they may be holding in the others.


• (The Unfortunately Named) Character and Alien and Creature Generation Tables - Yes, not only might you encounter a small crystalline hexapod hermaphroditic soldier from another dimension... you might be one!

Space Patrol is worth tracking down and picking up (at a very reasonable price) if you enjoy odd RPG curios from days-gone-by. But don't expect to be able to play it, and don't expect it to be a good match for a Star Trek game, even of the old school variety. For that, look to the later versions of the game, which I'll be covering in this blog shortly.

But wait! There's more.....

Context

Following last night's rather snarky post about Starfleet Voyages, it occurred to me that I should make a post regarding the games I'm discussing, and context.

First, the context of time. Most of what I'm discussing here are products from 1977 - 1982. The quality of games and their design, components, layout, and artwork varied wildly during this period. The desktop publishing revolution had barely started and few companies at the time had the resources to publish product anything close to what we see today. Frankly, I find that part of the charm of all of these games. They feel more personal, blemishes and all. Typos and outright rules issues were inevitable, and there was no internet community to provide and share real-time feedback. And errata? Pfft. If it existed, you had to hope it would get published in a magazine you happened to read, or send a SASE off in the hopes of getting one. And game mechanics at the time could be, in comparison to today, fairly primitive and/or complex. Games seem much more elegant these days in some respects, but the beauty of many of these old games is how much freedom there was for players to fill in the blanks. Heck, the very nature of RPGs and what made good roleplaying was still being defined and emerging from its wargame roots.

Second, the context of Star Trek itself. We had only syndication and a fading memory of the animated series. The Motion Picture didn't come out until December 1979. For awhile, we weren't even sure there would be another movie. The Bantam original novels were still few and far between. There was no Next Generation. There was no canon. And Star Wars was kind of overshadowing Trek anyway, and in the process redefining licensing, merchandising and the concept of franchise. Again, there was a lot of freedom, and designers and publishers were taking advantage of it in ways they couldn't today.

Finally, the context of my sense of humor. If I come off as sarcastic about these games at times, it's only through the eyes of a smartass 43 year old. When I was 13 I wasn't nearly as critical, at least not about games. My friends and I just took whatever we were given, ran with it and had fun. Although I pretty much knew something was seriously wrong about THAC0. The truth is that I pretty much love every one of them, no matter how rough they might be. Otherwise I wouldn't be doing this blog.

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled program... Space Patrol!

But wait! There's more.....

Not-Trek

STARFLEET VOYAGES

The Final Frontier holds Danger and Adventure for those who volunteer for STARFLEET VOYAGES!

A complete roleplaying system for interstellar adventure including a separate starship combat game, color counters, and special Gamescience HIGH IMPACT™ dice!

Publisher Terra Games Company

Designer Michael Scott

Released 1982

I'd like to emphasize that this is not Star Trek. You can tell because one of the officers has green hair. You don't remember any green-haired officers in Star Trek, do you?

Despite references to Klingons, the Romulan Star Empire, Gorn, Vulcans, disruptors, and the transporter... this is not Star Trek.

Starfleet Voyages includes rules for the Basic Game with a scenario called "The Shuttlecraft Crash", and an Advanced Game with a scenario called "The Slaver Ruins".

Despite the inclusion of these familiar scenarios, Starfleet Voyages is not Heritage's Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier. For one thing, they've got the maps in the right order this time. And it's in a box that doesn't say "ⓒ Copyright Paramount Pictures Corporation" anywhere on it.

You get the idea. More at a much later time.

But wait! There's more.....

Heritage Trek RPG - 2nd Edition Cover

I meant to include this with yesterday's post. At some point after the initial 1978 release of Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, Heritage released a 2nd edition with a revised cover. I've seen it mentioned in a Heritage miniatures collector group, and this image can be found on the Star Trek wiki, Memory Alpha.

I'm don't know what year this was released, but I suspect it was as late as 1981. The January 1982 issue of Different Worlds magazine featured an article entitled "Star Trek: Beyond the Final Frontier" about STAGFF, which would be strange if the game hadn't been re-released fairly recently. I don't have this version myself but if any readers do, or simply know when this version came out, feel free to chime in below!

But wait! There's more.....

Heritage Models' Star Trek RPG - First Impressions

Welcome back. I'll start off with the first officially licensed Star Trek roleplaying game, Heritage Models' 1978 release of Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier (STAGFF) by Michael Scott. Michael Scott is actually Michael Scott Kurtick, who co-authored Gamescience's 1977 releases Star Fleet Battle Manual wargame with Lou Zocchi and the Space Patrol RPG with Rockland Russo. Despite the use of the pen-name, the STAGFF rulebook does state that its rules are based on Space Patrol, and that the games can be used together. Kurtick would continue to revise and polish these rules over the years culminating with the 1982 Terra Games release of Starfleet Voyages. With the exception of STAGFF none of these were official Trek games per se, but its influence is obvious throughout, as we'll see throught the course of this blog.

In his 1982 Designer Notes (Space Gamer Issue#51) for the third iteration, Gamescience's Star Patrol, Kurtick talked about how Lou Zocchi had approached him in 1975 to create a "Star Trek D&D", and the potential pitfalls associated with it. In the end he and Russo decided to go broader, and Space Patrol was the result. But that was only the beginning, as he wrote:

"Soon after the publication of Space Patrol, I did get the chance to do a Star Trek role-playing game for Heritage, who had managed to acquire a license to do both games and figures. Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier was essentially a clone of Space Patrol, concentrating on the elements of the Star Trek universe. The figures were poorly sculpted and the advertising campaign promised by Heritage never materialized. Paramount withdrew its license."

I'll return to the details of these other games in future updates, but that sets the stage of how STAGFF came to be published in 1978. There may be some truth to Kurtick's contention about publicity for the game. Looking back, I vaguely recall Heritage's 25mm Trek miniatures on the well-stocked shelves of my local game store at the time (Hobbyland North in Columbus, Ohio), but I never saw the rulebook (pictured above) there or at any other store, or at any of the science fiction conventions I attended at the time. I also can't find any advertisements in gaming magazines from the period, though I haven't combed through them extensively. Fortunately, someone invented a time-travel device called the internet, and I was able to obtain the game through the wonderful folks at Noble Knight Games.

Once I had STAGFF, I was almost afraid to open it. Some has been written about the game -- virtually none of it flattering -- on RPGnet and other gaming forums, and it even has an extensive entry in Wikipedia. I was prepared for the worst, especially in light of the primitive layout and typography typical of so many games at the time. The cardstock cover is certainly not very inspiring, though no worse than many Trek fanzines and game supplements of the period.

Imagine my surprise (go ahead, I'll wait) to find that the STAGFF rulebook is rather attractive, easy to read and at first glance appears to be fairly well-organized (although the "Index" at the back is really a Table of Contents, which should have been my first clue of trouble ahead). In fact, the layout reminds me very much of one of my favorite RPGs, Metagaming's 1980 The Fantasy Trip releases. It was certainly an improvement over the layout of Space Patrol.


The rules are divided into two sections: an 11 page Basic Game (4 pages of which are mostly tables and pre-defined character stats), and over 20 pages of Advanced Game rules and tables. There are virtually no graphics with the exception of two maps, confusingly listed as "Basic Game Scenario Map" and "Advanced Game Scenario Map". Confusing because the layout of the two maps is swapped and, further, the Advanced Game Scenario itself is placed back to back with the Basic Game Scenario before the Advanced Rules have even been detailed. Mr. Spock does not find the layout of the rules at all logical. He does, however, appreciate the inclusion of the blank 1/4" hex paper at the back, because I suspect we'll be wanting to create more interesting missions than those provided.

The Index details how the rules are broken down, and what is covered:

• Introduction
• Preparation
• The Basic Game
• Star Trek Personalities
• Basic Game Combat Rules
• Movement
• Hand-to-Hand Combat
• Range Combat
• Record Keeping
• Creatures in Combat
• Basic Game Equipment Rules
• Playing a Scenario
• Basic Game Scenario One - The Shuttlecraft Crash
• Basic Game Scenario Map
• Advanced Game Scenario - The Slaver Ruins
• Advanced Game Scenario Map
• Character Creating
• Advanced Game Psionics
• Familiar Star Trek Life Forms
• Creating Alien Creatures
• Advanced Game Equipment Table
• Selected List of Equipment and Weapons
• Advanced Game Combat Rules
• Creating Your Own Scenarios
• Notes to the Mission Master
• Star Trek Collector Figurines List

The first things that jump out are what is missing: Space Exploration. Starship Combat. The Enterprise itself. Even the UFP and the Prime Directive are only mentioned in passing ("You may have realized that the players of a scenario do not have to be Star Fleet crewmembers... Think how nice it would be sometime to be able to solve a problem technologically and not be hampered by the Prime Directive restricting your every action." ugh!).

The starship omissions struck me as the most unusual, and I wondered if it were perhaps due to some type of licensing limitation. I believe Lou Zocchi had already released his Star Fleet Battle Manual and miniatures at that point, but those appear to fall under that grey area of "under license from Franz Joseph Designs" and the Star Fleet Technical Manual. In addition STAGFF's parent, Space Patrol, suffered from the same weakness.

In the end it was likely considered unnecessary because (as the final section of the rulebook reminds us) the game's real purpose was to help sell Heritage's line of 25mm Star Trek miniatures, which I'll discuss soon. Before that, however, we'll go back a year and examine Space Patrol, its mechanics and Trek references in it that helped form Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier. I'll return to STAGFF for a closer look at its rules and a playtest in the near future.

But wait! There's more.....

Welcome!

"Explain yourself, Mr. Scott!"

So, what's this all about?

About two months ago, I started work on a conversion of the original Star Trek series for my favorite game of 2008, Rogue Games' Thousand Suns by James Maliszewski. When it comes to RPGs, Star Trek seems to be the place Where Everyone Has Gone Before, yet here we are in 2009 with no official licensed version. I began to wonder about all of the Trek RPGs I'd missed or skipped over the years, and started to do research. What worked? What didn't? What was really good and could be adopted into my project?

As I dug deeper into boxes in the closet and searches on the web, I started finding all sorts of things I'd never known before on the subject. I made one tremendous find earlier this week that, to my surprise, didn't seem to be documented virtually anywhere. At that point I realized that I needed to start writing this stuff down.

And what better way to do that than to create a blog around it? Sure, I could wiki it (and still might), but I'd rather have a discussion about it with readers... if any! I'll admit this blog is strongly inspired by James' Grognardia, which I've found to be a great way to reminisce about "the good old days" through adult eyes. My hope is that I'll learn even more about this subject through that discussion.

What to look forward to? Right now, my intention is to focus primarily on Star Trek RPGs -- both licensed and those with the serial numbers filed off -- from the 70s and early 80s. We'll start off with Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier (Heritage, 1978) and its later expansion in Chaosium's Different Worlds magazine. There's a lot of interesting material that came out between that and Star Trek The Roleplaying Game (FASA, 1982). I haven't decided yet if I'll really go much beyond the 1st Edition of FASA's STRPG. By the time 2nd Edition came out, the game was a certified hit which changed both the industry and Trek itself. Its history, as well as that of the game material of Last Unicorn Games (1998) and Decipher (2002) is fairly well documented and still easily available, so chances are I'll only discuss them in passing or in the context of the older games.

Other material I'll be reviewing are the not-Treks, Space Patrol (Gamescience, 1977), Starships & Spacemen (FGU, 1978) and Starfleet Voyages (Terra Games, 1982). These were the systems that friends and I used back in the day to roleplay Trek, or at least to try.

Every once in awhile, I may take a break from purely RPG-related matters to talk about other types of games or related material such as one of the main inspirations to the genre, Franz Joseph's Star Fleet Technical Manual, the first Trek-ish wargame Star Fleet Battle Manual (Gamescience/Lou Zocchi, 1977), magazines from the period, generic supplements such as the Spacefarers Guide to Planets Sector One (Phoenix Enterprises, 1979), the mini-game Star Explorer (FGU, 1982) and even a look at a little known Japanese SF consim, Star Trek: The Invasion of Klingon Empire (Tsukuda Hobby, 1982). I probably won't be talking much about the Star Fleet Universe of Task Force and ADB, again because they're so well-documented elsewhere.

And to spice things up, I'll occasionally drop in images and the occasional topic related to the Star Trek 25mm figure miniatures of Heritage, Citadel and FASA, as they were often tied to the games themselves.

So I hope you'll find this entertaining, and hope you'll come back. Oh, and speaking of pictures, here's a peek at that "tremendous find" I mentioned earlier, from 1983... more to come!

But wait! There's more.....