OT: I have entered BIZARRO WORLD

"It am an international crisis! Quick, Bizarro President! Go to sleep!"

In BIZARRO WORLD, California native Robert "Groknard" Saint John stays home during the weekend of July 23-26. His wife, Barbe, goes to the completely sold-out San Diego Comic-Con. It must be BIZARRO WORLD (or the Mirror Universe), because in our universe, Barbe hates comics, science fiction, movies, Star Trek, San Diego, gaming and crowds.

But she does love, LOVE, The Mighty Boosh. And apparently BBC Worldwide are bringing creator / stars Julian Barratt (Howard Moon) and Noel Fielding (Vince Noir) along with co-stars Michael Fielding (Naboo), Rich Fulcher (Bob Fossil) and Dave Brown (Bollo) to Comic-Con. She must be there. So, against all odds, we managed to score her a ticket this evening on eBay through SDCC's official last minute auction.

Oh sure, Russell T. Davies, David Tennant, Julie Gardner and Euros Lyn from Doctor Who are going to be there. John Barrowman and Eve Myles from Torchwood? There. Star Trek's J. J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman? Yep, but they're there for Fringe. Apparently Star Trek won't have an offcial presence at SDCC this year. Maybe.

But this is BIZARRO WORLD, and as such, I don't care. Really. Of course, now Barbe has to find a hotel room for under $1000 in San Diego County. HAH!

Come with me now on a journey through time and space...... To the world of The Mighty Boosh....



And from my absolute favorite episode, Nanageddon, with my favorite characters, Saboo and Tony Harrison of the Board of Shaman...

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 6/29/09

This week's auction is a nice collection of FASA books specifically related to the Star Trek Technical Combat Simulator. No counters, dice or maps, but would make a handy set of reference tools if you plan on playing STCS online with Rob Carignan's excellent VASSAL STCS module or the amazing ST:STCS Computer Version.

Included in the auction are:

- Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator (FASA 2003) - Rule book and Master Control Book
- Klingons Ship Recognition Manual, Second Edition (FASA 2301)
- Federation Ship Recognition Manual, Second Edition (FASA 2302)
- Romulan Ship Recognition Manual (FASA 2303)
- Star Trek III: Sourcebook Update (FASA 2214)
- The White Flame Starship Combat Scenario Pack (FASA 2225)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook (FASA 2227)

Looking Back 10 Years Ago

Just a quick entry here, because the meat is elsewhere. I ran across an entry from the SF Gaming column of RPGnet, a June 1999 interview that James Maliszewski (of Rogue Games and Grognardia fame) did with Ross A. Isaacs, author, designer and line editor of so much of the Last Unicorn Games and Decipher Star Trek role-playing games. I think Ross is at Eden Studios these days. I think. Actually, I'm not sure what's going on with Eden these days.

From the interview:

"Star Trek, as an RPG, must create new material to remain viable. The great thing is that Paramount understands this, and actually looks forward to seeing what we come up with."

*sigh*

"In the coming months, you'll learn about the Federation's Merchant Marines, Starfleet's organization, Starfleet Intelligence, Vulcan's dark past, where Mount Seleya is located, Risan history, Tellarite cities, and all about Romulan culture and space. Next year, we're going to tackle the Tholians, the Klingons and Cardassians. Will you see "original" material? Heck ya!"

*double sigh*

Anyway, check out the full Isaacs interview, a great blast from the past. And when you're done with that, check out James' inteview with author/developer Kenneth Hite from the same period.

A Miniature Crew of Your Own

It was about 2 1/2 years ago that I "re-discovered" The Hobby. Actually, I hadn't forgotten it, but I'd stopped following it on the Internets back in '99 because I felt they were sucking the fun out of it. Anyway, the reason I "came home" was due in big part to Star Trek and its long legacy of gaming, much of which I'd missed during my exile.

One of the first things I started looking for was the miniatures I'd had and those I missed. I've been lucky enough to have saved (or recovered) and expanded my collection quite a bit with the Heritage, Citadel, FASA, LUG and Ultimo Avamposto officially-licensed releases. Of course, those aren't the only options.

It was around that time (early 2007) that I was on The Miniatures Page and saw a post about a fellow named Matakishi who was planning on designing and casting his own 28mm Starship Crew. By early this year, I'd given up hope that he would finish the project, but lo and behold! He says he's still working on perfecting the sculpts, but apparently is willing to share the fruits of his labors in return for a donation. See his site for details.

It was also on his site and others that I came across pictures of some other "not Trek" miniatures that came out a few years ago, and are no longer available. Here are some from OOP Eureka Miniatures (that I have since managed to get off eBay):



...and here are 1st Corps' 28mm "Away Team", also long gone (that I have not managed to find):


There are at least two other options for a miniature crew of your own. I'm particulary fond of MegaMiniatures 25mm "SF Explorers", available through their eBay store:



They may look a little goofy, but they're very nicely cast, very affordable and easily modified with a little skill. Take a look at what Scott over at the Star Trek Miniatures Yahoo Group managed to do with one:



And I think Adam or I mentioned them before, but Victory Force Miniatures has their outstanding line of 28mm "Spacefarers" that are perfect for Next Generation era Trek, Galactica, Babylon 5 or even Galaxy Quest! Here's the "Space Crew Explore Pack #2":

Be sure to scroll down the whole page, and you'll find perfect sources for men, women, aliens... and even redshirts!

Star Trek: Big in Japan!

If you haven't noticed, I have a passion for many things Japanese, including Japanese things related to Star Trek (or, as the original series was called over there, 宇宙大作戦 (Space Operation)). Probably a result of the years I spent immersed in kaiju eiga and tokusatsu fandom... that's a fancy way of saying Godzilla, Gamera and Ultraman, heh.

Thanks to Eric, my wonderful online friend and Trek RPG buddy in Tokyo, I got a fantastic care package last week. I'd already managed to get ahold of a few chirashi (mini-posters) for the film, but Eric really completed my collection with the official movie program, a keychain with a very small new Enterprise, a command badge and a press/PR document (all pictured left, click any of these to embiggenize).

I still have and treasure my original 1979 theatrical program from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. It was probably one of the final programs of its type published. By the time TWOK came out in 1982, everything seemed to have switched to "Official Collector's Magazines". Just not the same.

But in Japan, a few very high-quality programs still manage to be released, and some theaters and movies have additional merchandise for sale at the concession stands. Some of the coolest and rarest Godzilla collectibles were "theater exclusives" that would only be available at the end of the year when what used to be the annual Godzilla film was being screened.

And so it was with the June premiere of JJ Abrams' Star Trek in Japanese theaters this month. Shochiku Goods has released Star Trek theater merchandise as part of its Froovie ("something from the movie") line of goods, which can be seen at the Froovie website. Unfortunately, most of it now appears to be sold out (and Eric told me the same), so it will be difficult for most Westerners to get ahold of it unless you know how to frequent outlets such as Yahoo Japan Auctions. In the meantime, here's some closeup images of what Eric managed to get to me.

I love the program, but I think this is my favorite: yet another new Enterprise keychain! This is much smaller than the US version I covered a few weeks ago, 1 3/4" (45mm). For starship miniature fans, that's about the same size as the small Romando Star Trek 1/7000 collection (my favored scale for gaming).

Here are some additional close-ups alongside a Galoob TOS 1701 Micro Machine, the US Basicfun keychain, and -- one of my favorite recent acquisitions -- a brilliant 1/7000 scale Klingon D7, erm, Sing-on Starship from Studio Bergstrom (do check out that website, his minis are better than the pictures and a GREAT VALUE!).

And here are some shots of the additional merchandise (click to enlarge):

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 6/25/09

I'm a little confused about what makes up this week's auction, so you may want to message the seller in advance for clarification. It's listed as DS9 RPG, the Next Gen RPG, The narrators guide, and the box set of The romulan Expansion, "the Path of D'ehra".

Based on the photos, I'm pretty sure it's Last Unicorn's 1999 releases of Star Trek Deep Space Nine Roleplaying Game, the DS9 Narrator's Toolkit by Christian Moore and The Way of D'Era: The Romulan Star Empire boxset by Ross Isaacs (I don't see the box in the pics, though). Also included seems to be Decipher's CODA system release of Star Trek Roleplaying Game Narrator's Guide from 2002.

The D'Era release alone is difficult and expensive to get, so if you can snatch this for $10 plus shipping, that's a great deal. But it's not a fraction as good as the material in the underrated DS9 books, so consider getting it for those!
--
EDIT 6/25/09: Also, check out this seller's $2 Buy It Now Star Trek FASA Modules!

Farewell Startrek-games.com and Post Rescue

As you may have seen or read elsewhere, IGN has decided to shut down a number of sites it hosted, including Chessmess' wonderful, long-lived Star Trek Games site. Although the focus over the past decade had primarily been Trek-themed PC and videogames, Chess was just beginning to expand into other areas such as tabletop gaming and online sims. I had made a few contributions recently and was planning on making it a regular gig to cover non-RPG tabletop games I don't cover here.

With STG gone, I'll probably occasionally include coverage of these games -- such as the Star Fleet Universe, rare Tsukuda Japanese Trek wargames and the old Star Fleet Battle Manual -- here at Groknard as as well. I do want to thank Chess for the opportunity to contribute to STG and for all the work he's done in Trek gaming over the years, and wish him the best.

There was one post I did in March that I liked a lot, so I'm going to republish it here for the sake of posterity.
______________________________________________________________

Updates from the Star Fleet Universe
Originally posted on Star Trek Games, March 16, 2009

Are you familiar with the Star Fleet Universe games from Amarillo Design Bureau? You should be!

Since this column on tabletop Trek games is still relatively new, I thought I should introduce the Star Fleet Universe (SFU) before getting to news about its latest products. You have probably heard about their signature game, Star Fleet Battles (SFB), if for no other reason than it having been the basis of Interplay’s 1999 videogame, Starfleet Command and its sequels Starfleet Command II: Empires at War and Starfleet Command: Orion Pirates.

SFB is a tabletop wargame of the “hex-and-counter” flavor, designed in the mid-70s by Stephen V. Cole. It was initially released in 1979 by Task Force Games and under Cole’s guidance (and subsequently through his company ADB), SFB has thrived through various versions over the decades. In fact, the entire product line has grown to include pewter starship gaming miniatures, a faster and simpler SFB-like line of games called Federation Commander, the RPG Prime Directive, and the action card game Star Fleet Battle Force and more, all set in the Star Fleet Universe.

Although based on elements of Star Trek, the Star Fleet Universe adheres to an alternate canon. It was originally built upon the legacy of TOS, the Animated Series and the 1975 book The Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph, on which its licensing is based (SFU products are — contrary to myth — licensed through Paramount as well). But the SFU is a different reality, as if Star Trek had taken a different path before the events that started with Star Trek The Motion Picture.

In the SFU, you’ll find the Federation, Klingons, and Romulans. You’ll also find the Kzinti, Orions and many elements unique to the SFU’s history. You won’t find Cardassians, the Borg or the Dominion. For licensing reasons, you also won’t find Kirk, Spock or even the words “Star Trek”. But the world in which the SFU games takes place will definitely look and feel familiar to anyone raised on TOS.

The best way to see if the Star Fleet Universe and its games are for you is to jump in and play… for free! ADB has made available a downloadable starter version from its Federation Commander game system called First Missions. It’s a 34 page PDF manual that includes rules, counters, a map, full color ship cards and scenarios. Just add some 6-sided dice and a friend, and you’ll be ready to take command of a Federation Heavy Crusier or a Klingon D7 Battlecruiser.

If you like it, there are plenty of options available to go further with Federation Commander. There’s a full version Klingon Border game, but if you prefer the Vulcan’s cousins, there’s Romulan Border. If you’re low on funds, consider Academy because you can always move on to Graduation later. The games are very modular and available in such a way that you can easily mix and match and never spend money on what you don’t need. For complete information, check out ADB’s website for Federation Commander and more.

ADB has made some new product announcements across most of its game lines:

Star Fleet Battles Master Annex File - Master Ship Chart, Master Fighter Chart, Master Gunboat Chart, complete Sequence of Play, and all of the other annexes and data tables for SFB, updated to include the past four years of products. Now available.

Star Fleet Battles Galactic Conquest Rulebook (4th Ed) - A printed manual intended for use with the “Galactic Conquest” campaign engine for Star Fleet Battles.

Prime Directive: Federation - Supplement for the Prime Directive RPG, detailing the extensive history of the Federation, the history and culture a dozen member races, military organizations, medals, starships, politics, intelligence agencies, and so on. The D20 Modern version will be available on April 20, and the GURPS version is scheduled for May 18. (NOTE: obviously, this is out of date. Neither has been released, and no specific date is yet available)

Orion Dreadnought (1/3788 scale miniature) - One of the latest editions to the Starline 2400 series of pewter miniatures, the Orion DN is the biggest pirate ship of all time, and has more guns, more power, and more sheer terror than any other pirate ship.

Finally, ADB and Majestic Twelve Games have announced an agreement to develop Klingon Armada, a Starmada supplement set in the SFU tentatively scheduled for release in the summer of 2009.

Starmada is another extremely popular miniatures boardgame of starship combat, and Klingon Armada will contain all of the rules options, additions, and starship designs necessary to allow players to pit forces of the Klingon Empire against their perpetual enemies, the United Federation of Planets.

I’ll bring you more information on this as it becomes available.

I'm Not Dead Yet

Apologies for the extreme slow-down in posts. I've taken on some extra work in real life and we just brought in a new chihuahua puppy to foster. Last week was a sleepless mess, but everything's slowly getting back into some kind of rhythm. Should be back to normal posting by the end of the week.

In the meantime, I have been working on some Trek stuff, specifically the schematics that I mentioned last month and some work for Patrick's Starships of the Star Fleet Technical Manual project. Here's a tiny glimpse (left, click for another view) of how that deckplan of the new Enterprise is coming (yes, I totally re-started it from scratch). Should be done by end of the month. Takes a loonnnggg time to draw all those pipes in engineering.

The "Key" to New Starship Miniatures!

Fans of Star Trek and starship miniature gaming, rejoice!

As I hinted in my blog earlier this week, a new alternative for starship miniatures has come onto the market in an unlikely fashion: the new line of Star Trek Keychains from Basic Fun, Inc. The company has released a set of 5 new keychains, 4 from older Star Trek series and 1 from the new film. Based on the pictures, I decided to take a chance to see if these would be suitable for Trek miniature gaming, and similar to the Star Trek Micro Machines I already have in terms of quality and scale. The answer is: close enough!

The new line of keychains are made of the same soft plastic (PVC?) that most of Galoob's Micro Machines were made of. They are each about 3 inches (8cm) long, and consist of the following ships:

- TOS USS Enterprise NCC-1701
- TOS Klingon D-7 Battle Cruiser
- TNG USS Enterprise NCC-1701-D

These are in identical "Original Trek" packaging (see right) with images of each on the back, including a TOS Communicator keychain, not covered in this post. Regardless of contents, the packages are all labeled with the same SKU and "Item# 1354".

The fourth starship is the new Enterprise from this year's film. It is in its own unique packaging, listed as Item# 1355, and makes no reference on the back to any of the other keychains.

As you can see to the left (you can click most pictures in this post to get the bigger versions), the ships are all the same length. Both of these Enterprise ships are nearl the exact same length as the Galoob Micro Machine USS Enterprise, as pictured at the very top of this post. At first glance one might even think that the two TOS Enterprises are from the same mold, but the quality and detail of the new "keychain" version exceeds the older one in subtle ways, such as the thickness of the saucer section.

The paint jobs and lettering on all of the new ships is excellent, and none of the ships I received were at all warped as MMs could be at times. I will certainly be clipping the chains from these ships and using a Dremel to drill small holes in the bottom for flight stands.

One really important thing to note for both the TOS and the new Enterprise is how the keychain itself is connected. Despite the images used on the packaging and in promotional photos for them, the connecting loop is more invasive than depicted. To the right, for instance, is a closeup of one of those images, definitely a prototype. Down below, however, you will see that the loop actually goes through two small holes on the rear of the saucer, and one through the neck. They're not sloppy holes and I can see why they chose to do that considering the material and their actual function as something to pull out of your pocket. But I'm sure there are some fans who would prefer to know this before they purchase them. This method is not used on the 1701D or the D-7.

It's not a deal killer for me, and I don't think I'm going to bother trying to fill the gaps. Although it would be easy enough to do with green stuff (epoxy modeling putty), it would probably be a pain (for me) to match the original paint. I'm sure others with be able to do it in such a way as to not even be noticeable!>



I only wish Basic Fun had released a Kelvin as well! I would have bought a boatload of those to kitbash and create the two other Federation starships (the "Quad" and the "Trike" as some call them). But even with just the 1701, there are some great custom kitbashing possibilities, like those found at the awesome Shipyard site of 3D artist MadMan.

Here are some more images of the other "Ships of the Line". First, the 1701-D and the D-7, side-by-side with their Micro Machine counterparts. As you can see, they're a good half-inch longer.



Next, some closeups of the beautiful detail found on the new 1701. Yes, that is actually an aztec pattern on the bottom of the saucer! Manufacturing has come a long way.





Next, some close-ups of the D-7 (or, as I'll call it when I pit it against the new Enterprise, the big "D-9 Klingon War Birds", even though the Klingon War Birds in the new film do have some stylistic differences). In the third pic, you can almost imagine that I know how to focus a camera in such a way that you can see the individual windows painted on.



Here's the 1701-D, and it's just beautiful. Very smooth, and windows and other detail are fantastic. The keychain connector simply unscrews, leaving a small knob that should come off with a sharp hobby knife.



Finally, the "NCC 1701. No bloody A, B, C, or D."



So, there you have it. At about $6 a pop, definitely a less expensive alternative for the new Enterprise than what's available through the secondary market right now, and some almost perfect alternatives to what came out through Micro Machines. You should be able to find these on eBay or the official Star Trek Store (beware obscenely priced and slow shipping and handling!), and I would think that they'll be showing up in all sorts of brick and mortar retail outlets as well.

Let the kitbashing and tabletop gaming begin!

Still More Trek Gaming Tidbits!

Just a few quick, fun finds of note tonight before dinner:

When it comes to miniatures, a good Klingon is hard to find. Or is it? Check out the new "Rim Alien" (left), and if you're interested in this and more, head over to Gary Mitchell's Shop. They're not the Big K's, of course, but they look close enough for gaming purposes. They'll be coming soon.

If you're like me, you dig schematics and deckplans. Need a good ship? Perhaps a station to visit? How about a nicely detailed Ground Base to infiltrate? Well, thanks to IceGiant in a thread over at TrekRPGNet, a site thought to be lost had turned back up: Publius' (John D. Lees?) Trek Role-Playing site, which includes maps of the Damaris Sector, some CODA house rules, and deckplans for the Nova-class, the USS Rhode Island variant, the Java-class, the Regula Station and more! Grab 'em while you can before a black hole opens up.

Owen Oulton has pointed out Samuel Kowal's lovely deckplans for the USS Raven on his deviantARt page. Samuel also has some cool original schematics (1701-F, G, H and I?) in his gallery. And Owen's added some new material to his Rising Sun campaign.

Designer John Eaves. Poor guy. His blog is about to get bombarded with Teh Angerz as he opens up the can of worms known as "How Big is the New Enterprise?"

I should have a picture this week of something that may be a perfect mini of the nuEnterprise! Though you can always bid against me on this (eBay). Hopefully this other option works. It'll be much more affordable!

Speaking of eBay, I'm too lazy, erm, busy to do Auction of the Week... so here's a bunch! Something for everyone!

• Set of LUG TNG and DS9 Core RPG books and Tech Manuals to go with them - $5!
• LUG TNG The Way of D'era Romulan Boxed Set - $40! (reduced to $32?!)
• Task Force Games Prime Directive (1) RPG Lot (and these are the 3 really good books, IMO) - $15!
• FASA Star Trek Miniature Starship Collection MIP (all but one) - $627 or Buy It Now for $1000! (if you can afford this, please adopt me)
• Heritage Tellerites... the Stocky Pig-Gaces Humanoids! - $4!
• Complete Decipher CODA Trek RPG Collection - $30!

Yah, I can't afford to be shopping either. I did just get (finally!) FASA module "Old Soldiers Never Die" and its very cool "The Romulan War" companion. "w00t!" as the kids say.


Like your Trek gaming Fast Furious and Fun? I'm pretty sure I mentioned Renny's Savage Worlds conversion in the big "homebrew" post months ago (still the most popular post, btw), and Bretbo has another underway. The Savage Worlds Conversion page has a newish entry from Mike Callahan called "Red Alert!" (a Word doc) that's a nice approach to ship-to-ship combat in SW. I have Pinnacle's Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition. I have a deck of cards. I have Star Trek minis out my butt. And there's a Savage Worlds Online for Fantasy Grounds, a virtual tabletop I've been wanting to try for a long time. I should really make time (HA!) to dig into SW further.

Look's like VulcanStev may have another guest post coming on that very subject. In the meantime, as promised, he has posted his own thoughts on Gaming in the Universe of Star Trek.

So, Savage Worlds: any readers play it and can tell me "yay" or "nay"?

Better yet, don't! I have to finish those nuTrek schematics, playtest EZFudge Final Frontier (and you can too!), finish the PD1 article, check out Ad Astra's cool 3D starship combat game, Squadron Strike!, send an e-mail reply to the very gracious Grandfather of Star Trek RPGs, etc., etc..

But first: DINNER!