Regarding Groknard's Auction of the Week

So I just realized that something may have gotten lost or misunderstood over the course of time regarding my "Auction of the Week". I'm a bit embarrassed now that I've realized it.

AotW is not something I've won. Ghod knows, I don't need much more of anything!

AotW is for you, the readers. It's a current running auction (when I post it) and I try only to list things that have at least 4 days left. It's also not an auction where I'm the Seller (maybe someday, but I'll be clear about that), not sponsored by eBay or the Seller in any way, and I generally only list things that look like they're a good value. I will never bid against you on anything I post for AotW. If there's nothing good that week, I'll skip it or maybe post something later in the week.

Sorry for any misunderstanding. It wasn't until tonight that I realized that some readers may have thought this was "This is what I won this week on eBay!" No no no no. The wife would kill me.

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 7/15/09

This week we've got a FASA Star Trek The Role Playing Game 2nd Edition lot, most from around 1987, that looks like the perfect way to jump whole-hog into the system. Starts off with the 2E box set (2001D) that includes the three core rulebooks and the Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator (rules, master control book, map and counters). Looks like it's got everything except the dice (two 20-sided, numbered 0-9 twice; you can just use D10 with 0-9). Also included:

- (2002) The Klingons (Second Edition)
- (2301) Klingons Ship Recognition Manual (Second Edition)
- (2302) Federation Ship Recognition Manual(Second Edition)
- (2303) Romulan Ship Recognition Manual
- (2204) Ship Construction Manual (Second Edition)
- (2225) The White Flame Starship Combat Scenario Pack from 1988
- (2227) Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook from 1989

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

This Bud's for Them - 6 Months

Today marks the 6-month anniversary of Groknard, and according to my stats I'm about to hit Unique Visitor #10,000. 25% of you come back again and again, and average visits per day have gone from about 20 in January to 100 last month. I expected it to take a dip after the premiere of the film in May, but that hasn't happened yet.

The most popular pages have been about turning a keychain into new Enterprise starship gaming miniature, the Heritage Star Trek Miniatures Masterlist, and -- the most popular by far -- the rundown of many of the great fan created ("homebrewed") Trek RPG adaptions done over the years.

Other than "star trek rpg" or "groknard", the most popular search terms are "star trek miniatures", "prime directive rpg", and some variation of searches like "icon coda conversion" or "fasa coda conversion". That's self-selecting, though, as people are only going to follow the link if they think they're going to find what they were looking for here. Strangley, the least searched term was "close-up vince noir badges". Probably my wife, the Boosh fan.

And where do you all come from? Here's a selection over a period of a few days:


Trek roleplaying in Kazakhstan? Not so big. I'll do what I can to change that. But I'm always impressed to see from where almost all over the world readers are coming.

In my first post on Groknard, I wrote:

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? ... 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.

Although it's true that I have a great collection of Trek games and miniatures, the sad fact is that I haven't actually been able to play the games all that much, especially recently. I certainly enjoy the collecting, the reading, the daydreaming, the blogging and the occasional related creative endeavor. But games are meant to be played and I wish I got to do more of that. When the FASA game came out, my old group (in Columbus, Ohio) had mostly gone its way, and attempts to put together a new regular group in the 80s never came together for me. I only got to play a few FASA RPG sessions, though I had a bit more luck with the Tactical Combat Simulator game. By the time the LUG and Decipher games came out, I was new to California and very preoccupied with work. Although I liked the games and longed to play them, there was something about the RPG community on the internets in a number of places that rubbed me the wrong way. As a result, I wasn't "there" while some of the best fan work was taking place.

Over the past few weeks, I've really wanted to take a moment to give credit where credit is really due, because I'm standing on the shoulders of a lot of giants. This blog simply wouldn't exist without the fine work of so many who have come before me, pointed me in the right direction, helped fill in the blanks, and fought the good fight whenever it seems that gaming in the universe of Star Trek is a lost proposition.

I'll never be able to know or remember everyone, and there are dozens and dozens of gaming professionals who have done so much over the decades. But "this Bud" is for the fans and those who weren't necessarily full-time professionals who have documented and/or created so much more in Trek gaming than ever showed up at the FLGS. My apologies in advance for any ommissions, misunderstandings or misattributions, which I'll be happy to correct or see posted in the comments:

• Mark of Xon Gaming for The FASA Star Trek Starship Combat and RPG Support site, the best single site documenting the Trek games of FASA, and probably the best of its kind.
• Lee "Fasafan" Wood for his contributions to that site, as well as the Morena Shipyards Yahoo Group and his invaluable, in-depth Star Trek RPG Magazine Article Compilation.
• Joe "UFC465537" Homoki of the Guardian of Forever site and its Yahoo Group, who has kept an archive of FASA campaigns and written some exception rules extensions such as Boarding Actions II and Starship Combat II.
• SF RPG writer extraordinaire Jonathan M. Thompson of Battlefield Press who, despite being a pro (and the author of the excellent Prime Directive d20 Modern) spends a good amount of time composing fan gaming material for Trek and more, and (IMO) doing more than its publisher to promote the PD system both in general and as a legit alternative for Trek gaming.
• Crimson... you know who you are, you know what you did, and.... THANKS!
• Owen Oulton whose Memory ICON site has been such an invaluable resource for the Last Unicorn Games system for so long.
• Brad "Sub-Odeon" Torgersen who built and maintains the fantastic (deep breath) Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator On-Line Database & Archive and its associated forum. It's hard to believe that STSTCS (one of my favorite tabletop games ever) still holds up so well after all these years, and Sub-Odeon has kept it a living, breathing game. Thanks!
• Speaking of STSTCS, Jason Robinson the genius behind the Windows PC game version of STSTCS, which I find so entertaining and an astounding feat for one person.
• Bill "Graylingnator" for his STSTCS contributions, including his Tactical Combat Simulator site and the wonderful Battlehawks Scenario Pack.
• Bob Portnell, the oft-mentioned (here) "King of Star Trek Homebrews"
• A big tip of the hat to Michael "Scotty" Scott, the Grandfather of Trek RPGs, period! Not only did he create Heritage's STAGFF, but he still actively games in the Trek universe today.
• Magnus Lundgren, current proprietor of The Star Trek Role-Playing Network, or TrekRPGNet, originally created in 1998 by Don Mappin as "an independent repository of information for the then-recently-released Star Trek: The Next Generation RPG by Last Unicorn Games". Thanks to Don for creating that haven and keeping it going through all of the transitions and more, and thanks to Magnus for keeping it alive for all Trek RPGs today.
• Vance, whose Jaynz Ships of the Fleet image gallery and toolkits have allowed and inspired so many folks to create the starship of their dreams for their games.
• Patrick Goodman, whose invaluable CODA Star Trek RPG Support Page for the Decipher game acts as a collective resource for nearly everything related to it, with more great things to come. "Tilting at Windmills" , indeed!
• Matthew "GandalfOfBorg" Kearns' successful and extensive webzine Beyond The Final Frontier: The Unofficial Star Trek RPG Magazine, also hosted at Patrick's site.
• To all of those unsung heroes who have tirelessly documented over 30 years of Star Trek tabletop gaming on Wikipedia and Memory Alpha, and are correct more often than not ;)
• Finally, props to James Maliszewski (Grognardia) and Jeff Rients (Gameblog) who obviously set the standard for RPG blogging and served as my inspiration for creating Groknard in the first place.

To all of them and to you, my readers, my respect and thanks. I love this subejct, and I love sharing it with you. As the title indicates, "This Bud's for them". And you.

And now, I'm going to go drink it!

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 7/8/09

This could be a killer deal for someone. 10 of Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek The Roleplaying Game books, currently at $5.50 (plus lots of shipping!).

- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Core Game Book (LUG 25000, 1998)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Narrator's Toolkit (LUG 25001, 1998)
- Star Trek: The Next Generation - Player's Guide (LUG 25002, 1999)
- The Price of Freedom - The United Federation of Planets Sourcebook (LUG 25100, 1999)
- The First Line - Starfleet Intelligence Handbook (LUG 25101, 1998)
- The Way of Kolinahr - The Vulcans (LUG 25103, 1998)
- Planetary Adventures - Federation Space Volume 1 (LUG 25301, 1999)
- The Way of D'era - The Romulan Star Empire Boxed Set (LUG 25500, 1999)
- Star Trek: The Original Series - Core Game Book (LUG 45000, 1999)
- All Our Yesterdays - The Time Travel Sourcebook (LUG 15002, 1999)

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

New Enterprise MSD - Almost Done

...getting there. Its been a productive holiday weekend!

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

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...

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

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)

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

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!

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

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.

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

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!

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 6/2/09

Ugh, I knew I forgot something this week! Fortunately there are still a few days left and as of this moment, no bids!

Here's an auction for the 1981 Gamescience box set of Star Patrol, another iteration of Michael Scott Kurtick's Space Patrol system and very similar to Star Trek Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier, and the predecessor to Terra Games' 1982 Starfleet Voyages.

The listing says "1977", but the game wasn't released until 1981. The box looks to be in very good condition (better than mine!), and it says it's complete. That should mean a bag of Gamescience precision dice, 67 page rulebook with tables and maps, a big foldout deckplan of a Pioneer-class starship, a hexmap, color standup cardboard characters and vehicle counters.

From the auction listing:

Star Patrol is an early D&D-like science fiction role playing game. Character traits are generated with 3D6. Traits are Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma, Luck and Mentality. The game had other standard D&D features like psionics and savings throws. Instead of fighter, magic user, cleric character classes, Star Patrol has character professions like soldier, engineer, scientist, astronaut, trader, rogue, and spy/diplomat. Characters can be one of 32 alien races. You can also generate your own weird alien race by rolling against random tables, generating a "general type" (mammal, avian, or even a plant or crystalline derivative), a "general shape" (2, 4, 8, or more legs), size, and even your race's home planet's gravity (low, earth-like, or heavy).

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 5/27/09

This (link to eBay) -- a box set of Last Unicorn's Star Trek Away Team Miniatures -- was going to be auction of the week... until it went to $70 in less than a day in a bidding war between two bidders, with over 4 days left. Crazy! Two months ago, they'd be lucky to get $20 for it. Oh well... (EDIT 5/28: WTH?!?! Nevermind, back down to $10).

That's okay. Get a load of this lot (left)! Nine books from Last Unicorn Games' Trek RPGs:

• STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION CORE GAME BOOK
• PLAYER'S GUIDE
• THE PRICE OF FREEDOM - THE UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS SOURCEBOOK
• PLANETARY ADVENTURES: Vol. 1 FEDERATION SPACE
• THE WAY OF KOLINAHR - THE VULCANS
• HOLODECK ADVENTURES
• DEEP SPACE NINE CORE GAME BOOK
• RAIDERS, RENEGADES, AND ROGUES
• ALL OUR YESTERDAYS: THE EXPANDED UNIVERSE TIME TRAVEL SOURCEBOOK

That's enough to keep you busy for years!

Still, you should pick this up while your at it: LUG's Star Trek Roleplaying Game TOS Core Series Book. Now we're talkin'.

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

Gone But Not Forgetting

I hope everyone will forgive what is probably my most extended absence yet. Besides real life work and distractions, I've dived into a new Trek RPG-related project over the past week, and here's the first glimpse.

Right now the plan is to do schematics for 4 or 5 starships that showed up in the Star Trek film, as well as the shuttles and Starbase One. These are just low-res thumbnails for now, but the pieces I'm working on are fairly large and should be suitable for printing.

The idea is to give Trek GMs some collateral to fire the imagination and help them run games in the new "alternate reality" should they so wish. I'll be using them for some of my projects, and I'll make the final versions available and generic enough that they can be adapted for most any system. I've already told new dad Patrick Goodman that he can have them for his CODA Star Trek RPG Support site, so maybe he'll turn them into an AU Fleet Technical Manual game reference once he wraps up his first one.

Anyway, I'll try to get back into the swing of things with new entries while chipping away at this project. As always, there's still so many games, supplements and miniatures to cover, and some interesting things are going on in the Land of Homebrews, so stay tuned!

Top: USS Enterprise with MSD
Left: USS Kelvin
Below: USS Hood

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 5/6/09 and more

I haven't done auction of the week for the past few weeks because there really wasn't much that was all that compelling. This is a nice resource, though. A great homebase for characters or a place for encounters, the Regula-I Orbital Station Deckplans (#2226A). It originally came as part of the adventure supplement, The Strider Incident (#2226), that takes place on one of these outposts.

Although they're called "deckplans", they are not at all like the blueprint-style USS Enterprise or Klingon Battle Crusier deckplans released years before by FASA. It's simply a 44-page softcover book with technical details on this kind of station, a registry, area, level and room-by-room descriptions, and a 16-page pull out section that shows the plans in a scale of 3 meters per grid square. The book also includes a number of variations of the R-1 type station for defense, surveillance, penal, recreation and so on. There's not much that's FASA-specific about it at all, so GM's of any Trek system would likely find it useful and easily customizable for a number of structures in an adventure.

Here are some close-ups of actual pages (click for larger pop-ups, including the cover):



On a separate note, I got an e-mail from Noble Knight Games today, and they're having a big sale this week. There are some great prices mint and new copies of GURPS Prime Directive, Klingons and Romulans. Do a search on "Prime Directive" and scroll down (you may have to search for Romulans separately).

Not to spoil my upcoming reviews of the various PD systems and books, but if I were to choose any of the variations, the GURPS version would be the one. First, it's self-contained (that is, it is based on and includes an integrated version of the GURPS-lite rules; you don't have to buy the GURPS core books to use them, unlike the D20 variations). Second (and this is petty), they're more attractive. Third, I think they're actually pretty great resources for running games in the TOS era. Just keep in mind that it's the Star Fleet Universe (Memory Alpha), not the Star Trek universe. Nevertheless, I think they make a good platform to build on, depending on the type of Trek game you want to run. And if you can get them for 20-35% off, all the better!

T-Minus 1 Day and counting! 24 hours from now, I'll have secured my place in line. As Nero would say, "The wait is over." Next time (most likely), my review and hopefully yours in the comments!

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).

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 4/13/09

Sorry for the prolonged absence, busy with real life and moving my office. Should be able to get back on track this week.

We'll start it off with Auction of the Week. Ask most Trek gamers over the age of 30 which system is their favorite, and they'll say something like, "I like the ____ system best, but the FASA one always holds a special place in my heart," or they'll just outright say that FASA's Star Trek The Role Playing Game is still their favorite.

This week's auction is for the 1985 Basic Game, Second Edition version (FASA #2004). This was the more affordable version with new and expanded rules, including the Star Fleet Officer's Manual (40 pages), the Game Operations Manual (48 pages), the Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook (80 pages), and two 20-sided dice (numbered 0-9, as real mens' dice were in those days) in a slimmer box with cover art by Rowena Morrill. Unlike the Deluxe versions, no separate starship combat system nor sheets and counters were included.

Also up for auction this week, more FASA goodness: the 1983 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Collector's Series Number Two: USS Reliant and Khan's Crew miniatures box set (FASA #3002), with USS Reliant (1/3900 scale) and these 25mm figures: Khan Noonian Singh (Ceti Alpha V), Joachim (Ceti Alpha V), Khan Noonian Singh (normal), Joachim, 2 male followers, 3 female followers.

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

Hiding a Tree in a Forest

The only thing worse than an April Fools' joke is the one that no one catches. Hmmph. From yesterday's entry on homebrewed Trek games:

Perhaps the most recent and disturbing homebrew is based on WOTC's D&D4E. Although I can see the appeal of a cross-genre "phasers vs. magic" style adventure, the conversion only provides stats for four characters: Kirk (Leader), Spock (Controller), McCoy (Defender) and Sulu (Striker). Furthermore, the powers are all combat oriented (i.e., the At-Will "Vulcan Nerve Pinch"), making Dungeons & Dragons: Final Frontier not very Trekish at all, and a rather foolish endeavor.

Well, that's the last time I try to have fun with you guys. In fact, I'm tempted to write it just to spite you all.

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

Trek RPG Auction of the Week - 3/29/09

I didn't come across anything particulary thrilling this weekend and was about to skip Auction of the Week altogether, then it occurred to me that there was something no Trek RPG GM should be without:

Star Trek: Sound Effects from the Original TV Soundtrack
Performers: Jack Finlay, Douglas Grindstaff and Joseph Sorokin
Label: GNP Crescendo Records
Catalog #: GNPD 8010
Running Time: 39:47
Release Date: 1988
# of Tracks: 69

Now, no one likes a GM who spends all there time playing with the laptop ("Wait, you're going through the door? Hold on, I've got a sound effect for that..."), but there are some nice long loops on here such as "Enterprise Bridge Sequence" and "Alien Planet Surface" that should be irresistable (and low maintenance) for a session. Toss in a "Red Alert" and a "Transporter Energize", and you're all set. I've linked to one going for $6.99 with free shipping that expires on Tuesday, but there are a number of them up for auction at any given time, and no reason that you'd ever have to pay much more than $10 for it used. Energize!

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

Hey you, don't watch this! Watch that!

Phew! What a week. I'm going to slow down just a bit because I've got some more stuff coming, and need to do a little more reading than writing. I'm going to begin a new series of articles here on Groknard on the subject of homebrewed Trek RPGs, need to kick back and work on my Prime Directive RPG reviews, and it's about time to get my piece on the Star Fleet Battle Manual together for Star Trek Games. Actually, now that I read that, I need to do more reading and writing than posting. But there's a few things already queued up, so you may not even notice.

In the meantime, Adam at the East Coast branch of GroknardoCorp is starting a new series which I'm really looking forward to. He's taking on the subject of advice for running Trek RPGs -- The Undiscovered Country - Gaming The Final Frontier -- over at his Barking Alien blog. His timing is perfect as I'm getting ready to get all philosophical on the subject myself, so I foresee some back and forth between our blogs in the near future (in a good way!).

So while I'm sitting back with a chihuahua and some books in my lap, get over there, read it and bookmark it!

EDIT: First part of the series is up, a really great start (he says as he digs around for that old issue of Dragon that has an article he didn't know about....)

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

OT: Goodbye San Francisco

Apparently the destruction of San Francisco is a good way to market the upcoming Star Trek film. At least Spain thinks so. Sheesh! First they take away the Starfleet Construction Yards, and now this. And what did we ever do to Spain?

Anyway, here is one (left, click for larger) of the many European posters now showing up online for the new movie. TrekMovie.com has four or five very different versions up today, really gorgeous stuff.

It just occured to me that I think this is the 3rd or 4th time the Golden Gate Bridge has been used in a Star Trek movie poster. No wonder I ended up here!

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