Prime Directive RPG Series - Introduction

Over the past few months, I've been perusing various publications from the Prime Directive series of role-playing games. For those who don't know, PD is part of the Star Fleet Universe (SFU), derived from Star Trek and the background of tabletop and computer games such as Star Fleet Battles, Federation Commander, Starfleet Command and more. For licensing reasons, the SFU is based on elements of The Original Series, The Animated Series, and The Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, but mostly its own mythology built over decades. In terms of this blog (despite its license with Paramount), Prime Directive may be "not Trek", but it undeniably is a way to role-play Star Trek.

Some fans would disagree. Since the SFU canon diverges so far from Trek canon, PD is often ignored by fans and gamers. Others feel that the SFU is simply too militaristic for "true" Trek gaming. Although I sympathize with both contentions, I think that both arguments are a bit disingenuous. People still love FASA's Trek (the RPG and the Tactical Combat Simulator), but it diverged from canon, built its own mythology, and completely disconnected shortly after the premiere of The Next Generation. And with the exception of some great homebrews, most Trek RPGs over-emphasize combat and can be just as obsessed with martial aspects and details (when compared to the show itself). As gamers and fans, many of us are attracted towards phaser battles, starship design minutiae, combat against an armada of D-7s and so on. I don't think we're as high-minded as we say we are.

That does not mean the SFU and PD are beyond reproach and a critical examination. I will state up front that I'm no great or long-time fan of the SFU or Amarillo Design Bureau (ADB). They have a passionate fanbase, but I've never been a part of it. I find the quality and value of ADB's products hit or miss, their website is a mess, and their inability to hit a release schedule aggravating. Also annoying is a decidedly conservative flavor of politics which -- for some unfathomable reason -- they feel is important to broadcast (though perhaps they feel it is reflective of and appealing to their primary customer base).

So I do bring some prejudices to this table (my blog), but now they're out in the open, in advance. As a gamer, my opinion is that they have great potential, but make themselves and their products somewhat unapproachable to the gaming community at large. Nevertheless, although there are a few reasons that PD and the SFU are not for everyone as a Trek game setting, I'm not convinced that some of the criticism leveled at it over the years is necessarily "fair and balanced" (heh). As a result of the resurgence of interest in Trek RPGs and as PD is currently the closest thing to an active Trek RPG license, I decided it could not and should not be ignored on this blog.

I was originally going to dive right in to one of the most recent versions of the game, the "Powered by GURPS" version known as GURPS Prime Directive. This was for a few reasons. One, after a few hours of research, it became obvious that it was the only self-contained, economical version of the game. PD D6 does not exist and probably won't exist for some time. PD D20 is confusingly broken up into some products being based on D20 (bad), and others D20 Modern (better), but requiring an expensive out-of-print WOTC book (unacceptable). If I wanted to dive in and get PD and the two supplements Klingons and Romulans, the GURPS version seemed to be the way to go.

GURPS also had the much nicer cover art.

So I bought those, but I also got the D20 Modern version so that I could compare the two on Groknard (I didn't yet know how difficult it was going to be to grab the D20 Modern Core book for a reasonable price). I could always resell both later, I thought. Then I just got silly. I decided I had to get the original 1993 Task Force Games version (pictured above right), and maybe some of those supplements. I ended up getting them all (but at a really reasonable price here and there, probably $25 bucks for all 6 books).

Side note: I've never been the completist collector type, but I'm probably approaching a hundred books and supplements of one sort or another for all six Trek RPG systems, including PD, not including miniatures products. All that's left is one LUG book and a few FASA modules. That's insane. Anyway.

So, as it turns out, I am going to start with a review of TFG's PD1 after all. I actually found it to be pretty cool, if not limited. I wish I'd given it a chance back in the day. That'll be the next part of the series. I'll eventually get around to ADB's GURPS and PD20M versions, but I've got some rarer FASA material I'd also like to get in here soon as well. Maybe by the time I finish it all, PD for D6 (and HERO, and Savage Worlds) will be out. Maybe even some version, any version, of PD Federation.

But as sort of a quickie review, I wanted to share some stuff that came up in a post of RPGnet this week. If you're starting to get bored, you can leave. I won't mind...

A reader there asked about Prime Directive D6: I've been waiting for this for ages. Is anyone around here "in the know" with regards to when we might see this? Or, should I just go ahead and pick up the D20 version (cringe) and get to converting (thus decreasing the already narrow chance I'll get to play it)? He went on to say later that he really had no huge objection to getting a D20 version and converting it to D6. He just didn't want to do it and have the D6 version come out the next day (ha). Also, he asked, had anyone reviewed one of the D20 versions?

A Groknard reader (hi Lee!) turned on the Grok Signal, and this (in part) was my reply:

"...I can go ahead and share my initial thoughts. Just keep in mind that I've read them, not played them.

Initially (as you might suspect from my purchase), I thought the GURPS version was going to be the better purchase. It's "Powered by GURPS", so it's completely self-contained (unlike PD D20M which required me to haunt eBay until I could get D20M). That is an advantage, but not a decisive one. The fact is that the "fluff" of the SFU and additional material -- the included adventure, the art, descriptions of the SFU and species, the deckplans for the trader vessel -- are nearly identical between the two books. GURPS has a few more pages (and smaller type), but it uses them to detail combat, movement, etc based on GURPS lite. I would argue that there is "more game" in PD D20M only because you have to have D20M to fill in the blanks. Of course, you'll spend more unless you already have D20M Core, which is the point.

Obviously, the biggest difference is really in character creation, class-based (D20M) vs point buy (GURPS). IMO, PD D20M has the potential for richer characters ("Rigellian Dedicated Hero Federation Marshall Security Specialist") than the GURPS approach of Advantage - Disadvantage - Skill, and I suspect PD D20M would probably port more easily to D6's template style, but I could be wrong.

It also appears that the D20M version is a little more extensive with details and tables on equipment, and it feels a little better organized. Jonathan (ed: Jonathan Thompson, Battlefield Press), if you're reading this, I think you did a fine job.

Do I regret my GURPS purchases? No, not at all, because I generally don't care for D20, and I like the self-contained lite approach of the GURPS books. I also really wanted the Klingon and Romulan books, which were written for D20 but not D20M (though now I wonder if there is much of a difference in crunch), so I leaned towards GURPS.

But, in retrospect, I am genuinely impressed with how well the SFU (and, I'm going to say it!!! STAR TREK! hahaha, sue me Steve Cole! j/k) mapped onto D20 Modern. There's even a few ideas I want to snatch from one system to the other, so I'm happy with all of them (though I wouldn't encourage anyone to buy all I did... it was for my blog).

If you have and like D20 Modern, get PD D20M. If you prefer D20 and/or classes in general, get PD D20M. If money is no object and you accept you'll have to buy D20 Modern for a full game, get PD D20M. It wins by a nose (except for the cover art, sorry!).

I'd say in all other circumstances, you probably want to get PD GURPS. There simply isn't a huge difference in the content to get hung up about it."

I said a bit more and got snarky with the biggest weakness of PD: the lack of rules for starship combat of all things. ADB expects you to run over to another table and start playing Federation Commander or SFB if you run into a D7. That led to an interesting revelation from Jonathan... that I will save for another time! I want to dig into it with TPTB first.

If you're still reading, I hope you enjoyed what was supposed to be my two-paragraph Friday night post. I just remembered there is still laundry in the dryer, the cats are screaming to be fed, and I have to get some rest for Maker Faire tomorrow! Have a good weekend!