Geekdo - The Way of the (RPG) Geek

During the wife's tradeshow, I kept myself amused on her "insanely great" iPhone 3Gs. I'm not even a Mac or iAnything head, and I couldn't stop being amazed by what I could do with it. I may have to give in and trade in my current phone (left).

One place I spent a lot of quality time at is the new Geekdō RPG Geek site, from the folks who brought us the wonderful BoardGameGeek. Geekdō is now the "brandname" and parent site for both BGG and its new (and looonnnnggg overdue) RPG sibling. If you're not familiar with BGG, it's basically a HUGE community-driven database of every boardgame and its variations known to humankind. Once you've registered, you can find the games you have (past and present), add them to your collection, rate and comment on them, and discuss them with others. Have a game that's not listed? Add it! See a game that's listed, but has no pictures or description? Expand the entry! Have a favorite game and want to find similar games? BGG is the place to do it.

It's been an invaluable resource for me, especially for old microgames from the 70s and 80s I love so much. And if it weren't for BGG, I never would have been able to track down some really obscure foreign games for Star Trek, Godzilla and Ultraman (and greatly expand some of those entries as well). The interface for BGG is really overwhelming, but eventually you learn to customize it and/or learn to live with its quirks.

One thing BGG has never had, though, is roleplaying games. Some slip through the cracks if they're hybrid boardgames (for example, Battlestations or some of The Fantasy Trip games like Melee and Wizard), but much of what I cover here could not be found on BGG. With Geekdō and its new RPG sub-domain, that's all changing very fast.

It's been in the works for awhile, and there are still some kinks to work out. RPGs and the variety of formats, supplements and connections between games make them very different than the boardgame industry, but I think they've done a pretty great job so far. Over the past week, RPGs that fall under the Star Trek "family" has made enormous progress, and new listings and expansions are being added nearly every day... even by a guy stuck at a tradeshow with his wife's iPhone.

There's a long way to go, though, especially with the FASA Star Trek releases, and I'm pretty sure there's more than 12 people who own the CODA Star Trek Roleplaying Game. So hop over, check it out and build and rate your collection (here's mine, under construction)! Once you're comfortable, you won't be able to resist making a contribution... or two... or three... and soon you'll wonder where your afternoon went!

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

New Trek Monopoly Review/Contest at STG

Feel like taking a break from RPGs for an evening? Check out my review of the new MONOPOLY: STAR TREK CONTINUUM COLLECTOR’S EDITION over at Star Trek Games. We're also running a contest to give away one free copy of the game (deadline for entries is Wednesday April 22nd at midnight PST).

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Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 4/6/09

A bit of a depature for this week's Auction of the Week. Not a straightforward RPG or supplement, but rather a boardgame that has elements similar to that of a role-playing game: West End Game's 1985 Star Trek: The Adventure Game (link to eBay search).

STTAG was designed by adventure gaming luminary Greg Costikyan (SPI's The Creature That Ate Sheboygan and WEG's Paranoia and Star Wars Roleplaying Game) and is an obvious labor of love from a classic Star Trek fan. Like WEG's Tales of the Arabian Nights or the Choose Your Own Adventure series of books, STTAG is a paragraph-system boardgame: players refer to a book with 800+ numbered paragraphs, each which describes a situation that ends with options that lead the players to a new paragraph with the results. 120 different adventures are possible, and 2 players compete as either the UFP or Klingon Empire (solo games are also possible).

As I said, it's a boardgame and not an RPG. But I think most Trek roleplayers would find it a lot of fun for a change of pace, and see some familiar elements. For instance, characters have varying skills such as Command, Science, Navigation, Seduction, Charisma and so on, making some characters a better choice to resolve a conflict than other.

The game includes a short rulebook, the paragraph book, a mounted map depicting the space between Earth and the Klingon homeworld, counters for characters, starships, planets and other markers and dice, all inside a very nice game box with a lovely cover by Boris Vallejo (originally a painting for the Trek novel "Black Fire" by Sonni Cooper). Despite the TMP style of the box, the contents and the game itself are decidedly TOS. You can find more information on the game along with pictures at its BoardGameGeek entry.

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