Star Trek Lives... at Origins 2009!

First off, if I'd had half a brain in my head these past few weeks, this should have been a post previewing the Origins Game Fair held last week (June 24-28) in my hometown of Columbus, OH at the Greater Columbus Convention Center. As it happens, it never occurred to me to even check the schedule until it was over, probably because I was bummed that I couldn't afford to go (and Gen Con still looks just as unlikely).

Post-con reports this week have been pretty much the same: attendance seemed slightly down compared to previous years, it didn't help that Wizards of the Coast, White Wolf and Games Workshop didn't exhibit, but overall it was a great show for gaming. As someone who deals with tradeshows in the tech field, I have to tell you that shows this past year have been down at least a third, and I hear Origins didn't have anywhere near that kind of drop. Congratulations to the Game Manufacturers Association for that.

It looks like Origins 2009 was packed with fun for Trek gamers. First off, a big round of applause to Steve Cole and the folks at Amarillo Design Bureau for a great presence at the show, and for running Star Fleet Universe new player demos for all 5 days. Best way to introduce new players to the hobby. In fact, it sounds like it was a full plate for SFU players throughout the show with Federation & Empire (the strategic game of the SFU) games run upstairs, Federation Commander and Star Fleet Battles games and tournaments, and seminars and "The Sing-A-Long" (the company briefing). Here is a picture album that Bill Stec has posted to Photobucket.

And here are some tidbits from friend, Groknard reader and fellow Cardinal (Class of '86), Lee Hanna (thanks Lee!):

• F&E was rocking... 23 bodies at 4 tables, the room was definitely full
• Played in the "Errant Wind" game (General War delayed, Romulans and Klingons gang up on Federation; 4 turns played)
• Attended the Company briefing (aka the Sing-A-Long) and the F&E Seminar. Came away impressed with the continued openness by ADB's officers. Missed the SFB Tactics and FC seminars. A number of seminars were podcasted, so you can hear for yourself with more to come
• Little coverage and no play of the Prime Directive RPGs during the con :(
• ADB's sales were higher YOY in May 2009 than May 2008 and June's sales were double, perhaps due to the new Star Trek film?

(side note: great blog entry yesterday at Troll in the Corner regarding memories of the old Star Fleet Battles)

Also popular at Origins this year was the other venerable Star Trek wargame, FASA's Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat Simulator. Chris Norton organized no less than four games of STSTCS in Hall D during the show based on Klingon vs IKS and Klingon vs Federation scenarios.

And here's one I wished I'd been in on: Ken Burnside's (Ad Astra Games) Squadron Strike with the scenario When Universes Collide - Babylon 5 vs Star Trek! I need to get me the SSDs for that and give the Star Trek universe a shot in a true 3D simulation game... In Valen's Name!

But it wasn't all miniatures and ConSims at Origins 2009. Prime Directive may have decided to skip the show (a shame, btw, considering that the new D20 Modern version rocks), but there was no lack (or variety!) of Star Trek role-playing games going on at the con. Tara Lydick of Blue Hen Gamers club, for instance, ran a LUG game called Which Came First? - "When the crew of the USS Blackhorse discover a new star system, can they successfully negotiate their way out of their strangest first?"

CODA games aplenty too! Patrick Goodman and I were talking on the phone the other day and he'd heard that his CODA Star Trek RPG Support Site came up in conversations during the show. Between the movie, a complete Trek game system for $35, and efforts like Patrick's, CODA has definitely proven itself to be the little Trek RPG that could. As for CODA games at Origins...

• Kevin Hake of Crimson Hand Gamers ran two games: Ports of Call, in which the USS Gryphon patrols the infamous Triangle, and Ports of Intrigue, where the crew goes undercover to investigate New Sahara... is it a black market or something more sinister?
• Kris Chester and Brandon Perdue also ran two CODA games: The Lost Colony, a TNG scenario, and The Treason Sharply, in which players could join the crew of a Klingon Bird-of-Prey and gain honor in the hunt for a traitor to the Empire.

Last but not least was a FUDGE homebrew sponsored by Grey Ghost Press and organized by Gordon Cooper called The Monument. In this TOS-based scenario, a science vessel investigating the ruins of a lost civilization has disappeared... and there are reports of Klingon activity in the sector.

Not too shabby a showing for Trek at all. I'm definitely going to try to make it to next year's Origins (June 23-27, 2010) and I may have a couple of my own games to run as well (more on that later). In the meantime, Gen Con Indy 2009 is just 40 days away, and I see a few Trek games on deck. Hmmm... what is "Directive 7731"?

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LUG 25600 - Federation Away Team Miniatures

Manufacturer: Last Unicorn Games

Set #: 25600

Scale: 28mm

Year: 1998

MSRP: $19.99

Contents: Boxed set (8" x 6" x 1.5") containing 7 pewter miniatures (detailed below) packed in foam; no inserts

Additional Notes: Although the Memory Alpha Wiki quotes the package as saying 25mm, that text is not on the box. The figures measure 28mm from top of base to eye level.

Each figure is marked on the bottom with some variation of copyrights for both Paramount and Last Unicorn (ex: © paramount, © 1998 paramount, © lug, etc.)

This was the only set of minatures released by Last Unicorn Games for the Star Trek Roleplaying Game. I can't find any indication that any other were announced in print. I've read that starship miniatures were said to be forthcoming, perhaps related to the announced (but also unreleased) ENGAGE! Starship Mission Simulator: Battle of Wolf 359 set (#65000, $35, due 9/99) listed in the back of some of the books.

Here are the miniatures, with my best guess as to who is who (as listed on the box), based on what they're carrying (click for larger images):

Security Chief; Security Personnel (1 of 2); Lt. Commander Worf; Science Specialist

Security Personnel (2 of 2); Medical Technician; Science Officer

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LUG Treks - The Lost and Untaken

Next to the FASA system, my favorite of the Trek RPG systems out there was that of Last Unicorn Games. Although its ICON system was a bit unusual, the rules were presented clearly and had a simplicity that the other games lacked, in my opinion. And it really feels like Star Trek. Some may disagree with their approach -- that is, releasing separate core books for TOS, TNG and DS9, leading to duplication and making it expensive to be a completist -- but when I compare it to Decipher's one-size-fits-all approach, I think LUG came out ahead.

Unfortunately, the strategy backfired when LUG was cut down in its prime in 2000 by its own finances, the Wizards of the Coast acquisition, and the subsequent granting of the Trek license to Decipher. As a result, a number of key parts of the Star Trek universe that were planned to be detailed by LUG never saw publication.

Thanks be to the Prophets for the Internet.

If you're a long-time LUG fan and player, you probably already know about the "lost" LUGTrek material. But if you're new to the hobby or just now picking up the books from eBay or online retailers, you'll want to check into these sites that have additional resources available for the game, and give you a glimpse of nearly half of the books that never saw the light of day*. Regardless of your favored system, these sites are well worth bookmarking and checking out.

Untaken Treks: The Unpublished LUGtrek Work of S. John Ross - SJR is one of the best writers and designers in the RPG industry. He's contributed to GURPS, WOTC and others, and for LUG wrote the fantastic Star Trek: The Original Series - Narrator's Toolkit and co-authored Among the Clans: The Andorians and others. Untaken Treks is the collection of his unpublished material for the LUGTrek RPG, and features draft excerpts from books such as Final Frontiers: The Star Trek Films, Sky Princes of Orion, The Klingon Empire: Blood and Honor, The Starfleet Exploration Handbook: To Boldly Go and more.

Steve Kenson's Star Trek: The Lost Episodes - Despite his insanely long CV, Steve is probably best known for Green Ronin Publishing's d20 superhero game Mutants and Masterminds and the True20 roleplaying system. As part of the LUG writers pool, he was a contributor to the DS9 Roleplaying Game, Planetary Adventures 1, and the box-sets The Way of D'era and Starfleet Academy. The Lost Episodes features his unpublished contributions to The Cardassian Union: Iron and Ash, The Klingon Empire: Blood and Honor, The Starfleet Security Handbook, and Through a Glass Darkly: The Mirror Universe and more.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't point out Owen Oulton's wonderful Memory Icon, part of his Adventure Gaming in the Star Trek Universe website. Here he hosts the Official Last Unicorn Games support materials, official errata, and many fan creations. Perhaps most notable is SpaceDock! by Steve Long (HERO Games), a collection of rules and resources based on what was planned to be part of the books The Starfleet Starship Construction and Ship Recognition Manuals. Despite the dissolution of LUG, Steve kept working on the texts, and the end result is an incredibly complete and professional set of PDFs -- hundreds of pages that cover nearly everything from TOS to the Dominion War, all for free.

For a "dead system" LUG's Star Trek Roleplaying Game has more life and depth to it than many living, breathing RPGs... all thanks to the talents and contributions of these generous individuals.

* According to Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki, Last Unicorn had planned the following books:

• Final Frontiers: The Star Trek Films
• The Star Trek Guide to Parallel Planets: Hodgkin's Law
• The Klingon Empire: Blood and Honor
• Operation Stormbird: The Neutral Zone Campaign Vol. 2
• The Starfleet Exploration Handbook: To Boldly Go
• The Starfleet Security Handbook
• Call of the Prophets: The Bajorans
• Dominion War: The Fires of Armageddon
• Merchants & Traders: The Latinum Main
• The Cardassian Union: Iron and Ash
• Through a Glass Darkly: The Mirror Universe
• The Starfleet Starship Construction Manual Vol. 1: Spacedock
• The Starfleet Starship Recognition Manual Vol. 1: The Ships of Starfleet
• The Borg
• Deep Space Nine Player's Guide
• The Orion Syndicate
• The Rigel System
• The Dominion Companion
• Star Trek: Voyager Core Game Book
• Sky Princes of Orion

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Trek Miniatures, Scale and Alternate Options

I took a huge new batch of photos of my miniatures today for future posts, and thought this would be a good opportunity to address the issue of scale between the different lines. It'll also be the first glimpse of some rarely seen miniatures other than those of Heritage, FASA and Citadel and I'll be showing more of these in the future.

And in honor of Bill's birthday (Happy 78th, Mr. Shatner!... not that he's a regular reader of Groknard) I'll kick it off with this, to the left. Here are 6 officially licensed Star Trek miniatures of Captain James T. Kirk (click for a larger closeup). In back is Heritage Models' 1978 75mm Collector Figure of Kirk (Heritage #1600). In the front, from left to right, is Heritage's 25mm Kirk (1604A), Citadel's 1980 25mm Captain Kirk Pose 1 (ST1), FASA's 1983 25mm Admiral Kirk from the Wrath of Khan Collector Series box (3001), USAopoly's pewter Kirk token from the 2000 boardgame Star Trek Limited Edition Monopoly, and the very rare Kirk token from the 1999 Italian boardgame by Ultimo Avamposto, Star Trek Adventure: Serie Classica.

Here's a close-up without Mega-Kirk (click for larger):

The Star Trek Limited Edition Monopoly tokens are really nice sculpts and I'll be posting all 8 from that game, as well as the Star Trek: The Next Generation version of the game soon. The nice thing is that they're somewhat easier to find than the miniatures from the 70s and 80s. As you can see (below), they're out of scale with 25mm figures, but pretty close to 28mm/30mm heroic scale. If you get these, then you can throw in monsters and Orion slave girls from other miniature lines. Although I had seen pics of the Monopoly Trek tokens, I couldn't find a single reference to measurements or comparative scale anywhere. Now I'll save you the trouble. Good for RPGs? I think so.


If you're looking for some 25mm miniatures for your Trek games, but you don't want to spend an arm and a leg, check out the MegaMiniatures "Bridge Crew" lead-free pewter line (PDF Catalog) of Trek-like figures and accessories. Very affordable and great sculpts that are easily modified and painted to look very close to either TOS or TNG eras. Here's one, on the far right. I think it's also a good illustration of the fact that "25mm" doesn't really tell you whether or not miniatures from different lines and manufacturers are really going to mesh well together. From foot-to-eye, MegaMinis are 28mm. Heritage and FASA minis are 25mm from foot-to-eye. Citadel Trek figures are more like 25mm from foot-to-top of head, and look stockier.

Transporters are always breaking down, so be sure your games have a shuttle available. Here's Monopoly Spock and Heritage Spock flanked by 3.5" long Galileo shuttles that aren't in perfect scale for the figures, but close enough and suitable for the game table. The shuttle on the left was one of Playmate's Innerspace series of micro ships, and the one on the right is the more easily obtained Johnny Lightning version. Don't get the Japanese Furuta import, it's barely 2 1/4" inches long.

One last one for today, for fans of TNG who probably feel somewhat left out on my blog, but shouldn't. I love the newer shows (Voyager not so much), and just haven't gotten to the LUG and Decipher eras yet. Here's Worf, one from LUG's one and only box set of miniatures for Star Trek The Next Generation Roleplaying Game, the 1998 Federation Away Team Miniatures (# 25600), along with the Worf token from Parker Brother's 1998 Star Trek: The Next Generation Collector's Edition Monopoly. More from that set later (does Wil Wheaton know he has his own mini???).

I hope this has helped some of you looking to start collecting and adding miniatures to your Star Trek RPG sessions. Look for more photos and details from all these lines over the next few months. In the meantime, coming up next, a look at years of homebrewed Star Trek RPGs adaptations for systems such as GURPS, Simply Roleplaying! and more.

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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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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!

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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!

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