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!

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

More Homebrew Updates and Tidbits

So many updates and tidbits to share, so little time to put it into a cohesive format. But I don't want to delay and today is a holiday, so I'll get them out here.

First, this (left) should put to rest the question "How big is the new Enterprise??". It's really the best photo reference yet in which we can compare scales. The new Enterprise is 23 meters long and 5 meters tall. Let that be the end of it.

The new movie has certainly kicked up interest in Trek role-playing, big time. Google Trends indicates searches have nearly tripled over the past few months (as has my own traffic here), activity related to Trek old and new has really increased over at TrekRPG.net, there seem to be at least 3 new threads a week at RPGnet about Trek, and bidding has been somewhat fierce over on eBay for a number of Trek games and supplements, especially FASA (I curse whoever it was that outbid me on the Romulan Ship Recognition Manual last night, lol). It's a shame that there's no new game to take advantage of it, but it seems to me that it just doesn't matter right now. Interest seems to be evenly split between FASA, CODA and homebrews, which is really wonderful.

Speaking of homebrews, that series of posts seems to have been one of the most popular here at Groknard. As it happens, there are some updates worth mentioning (in no particular order):

- Mike Berkey's brilliant Microlite20 Where No Man Has Gone Before has been updated a few times. It's in Version 2.0, but he continues to update it occasionally (including today!), so bets to bookmark it.

- Jerry Cornelius of the Triplanetary and Jetan blogs has a compelling Trek TAS adaptation for R. Talsorian's Mekton Zeta.

- I don't even remember how I found this (right), but I dig it! DT Butchino's To Boldly Go... A True Trek Sourcebook for Star Trek TOS (PDF via Sendspace) for Green Ronin's True20 system. Great layout, tons of fluff and crunch.

- Bob Portnell has put out a call to those who would eventually like to playtest his EZFudge adaptation of Final Frontier. Drop him a line at nvdaydreamer (at) gmail (dot) com. Details at his blog.

- Speaking of EZ, fans of Atomic Sock Monkey Press' PDQ (Prose Descriptive Qualities) System should check out a series of blog posts in which a group uses it for their Trek adventure. The posts cover character creation, character descriptions, and the three gameplay recaps. RPGNow offers the updated PDQ# (PDQ Sharp), the basis of ASM's Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies RPG, for free.

- Although Adamant Entertainment has cancelled plans for their Mongoose Traveller sourcebook, Final Frontier, an effort to do a Trek homebrew for MgT has kicked up over at TrekRPGnet. Please jump in if you'd like to assist in this effort.

- Also at TrekRPGnet, CODA stats for the crew of the new Star Trek film and a call for submissions for a CODA Klingon Sourcebook is underway.

- At RPGnet, an effort to map out Trek for Troll Lord Games' StarSIEGE: Event Horizon, itself adapted from their Castles & Crusades d20-like re-imagining of OD&D.

- Again at RPGnet, running a Star Trek game using Cubicle 7's FATE-based Starblazer Adventures.

- GURPS and GURPS PD fans take note: Steve Jackson Games recently released the latest PDF from David Pulver's excellent GURPS Spaceship series, GURPS Spaceships 3: Warships and Space Pirate, which includes the "Intrepid Class Frontier Cruiser" which seems an awful lot like the Enterprise, and the stealthy "Eclipse-Class Battle Cruiser" which could possibly pass for a Klingon D-7 K'tinga class cruiser. Just sayin'...

- Speaking of GURPS Prime Directive, two threads over at the SJG forums about adapting the new Trek film to GURPS PD.

- Not necessarily Trek related, but Jason of Elf Lair Games has mentioned on his new blog that he's planning a science fantasy/space opera game (a "settingless toolkit") called Twelve Parsecs™. I absolutely love Elf Lair's Spellcraft & Swordplay, and you know what I'll be thinking about doing with this when it's released. It's still some time away, but I wish ELG best of luck as they get started on all these great endeavors. An Old-School Renaissance Space Opera game... yippee!

- Again, how did I find this? Bridge Crew by James Mullen over at the 1KM1KT collection of free rpg games, which is described as "a simple, narrativist style RPG of cheesy space opera, very much in the mode of a certain well known, heavily franchised TV show". I usually run from anything that says "narrativist", but there are a few interesting ideas worth mining here.

- You already know about the supremely cool Star Trek Miniature Maker, don't you?

- Remember my translation for Tsukuda Hobby's Enterprise Star Trek RPG from 1983? I was told awhile back that it ended up online. No biggie, glad to know it's out there and I can't be held responsible for distributing it! Anyway, I ran across it over at Scribd. Thank you, Vina, whoever you are. It even got a comment in Japanese: "This is a good translation. Thank you." Phew! I even found a copy of my Mothra vs Godzilla boardgame translation at Scribd. What next? My grade school book reports?

- And speaking of my projects, I have actually decided to postpone my TOS adaptation for Thousand Suns. Instead I will be doing one based on the new film. Why? Two reasons. One, as these posts make clear, there are already tons of options for playing TOS. I'll get to it, but there's just no rush. Second, I want to play in this new sandbox, both as a writer and as a player. "I like this ship! It's exciting!" There's a lot of freedom there, whether it be in deck plans for the new Enterprise, the backstory of events leading up to and following the Kelvin incident, and mapping out what could happen next. Thousand Suns is still the perfect choice to do so, so that won't change.

- Following that, there will be two, possibly three projects. One (or two) is a Trek game based on a wholly original system I've been working on, one that takes an approach similar to my beloved The Fantasy Trip games like Melee (1977) and combines that with elements similar to the RPG portions of starship combat of the FASA system and the exploration themes in boardgames such as FGU's Star Explorer (1982) and West End Games' Star Trek The Adventure Game (1985). I've already started writing it, though I'm hashing out some high-level details about how many books and how to break it down. I think it's going to be pretty different from much of what's out there, and I wouldn't categorize it strictly as an RPG. It's much more of an "adventure game" that will either have broad appeal... or no appeal at all! Nevertheless, I'm pretty excited about it. I think it's going to be the Star Trek game I've always wanted. I'll keep readers updated and, as I said, I also plan on returning to TSFF. All of these projects will benefit from each other.

That's all for now!

EDIT 5/27: Adam reminds me below that Owen Oulton of Memory Icon has been busy posting updates to his Rising Sun Campaign for LUG's Star Trek RPG. Of special note are new additions such as a full-color map of the infamous Triangle boardering Federation, Romulan and Klingon space, and Starbase T-1. Be sure to check out the extensive deckplans for the SS Rising Sun itself!

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

New Prime Directive RPG Releases from ADB

Looks like the folks over at Amarillo Design Bureau have been super busy lately, and there are a few upcoming releases of interest. I said early on that I probably wouldn't cover the Star Fleet Universe or its Prime Directive RPG much here, but I've changed my mind for a number of reasons.

Primarily, Stephen Cole and ADB have kept the flame burning for Trek tabletop gaming for a long time, 30 frakkin' years! That deserves nothing but respect. Some of the themes and tone of the SFU may differ from Star Trek, but it's properly licensed and the rest is technicality. If my blog is truly "A Retrospective of Star Trek RPGs", then it's incomplete without coverage of these efforts.

I'll also be covering SFU over on my new Tabletop Games column at Star Trek Games, as games such as Star Fleet Battles and Federation Commander have probably had a bigger impact in terms of Trek-themed tabletop gaming than anyone else.

Anyway, news!

Scheduled for 4/20/09: Prime Directive: Federation (d20 Modern), SKU 8702, $24.95 - This manual covers everything you could want to know about those do-gooders of the galaxy, the Federation. Extensive history of the Federation, history and culture a dozen member races, military organizations, medals, starships, politics, intelligence agencies, etc. This release is specifically for the d20 Modern rule system, and PD20M core rules and supplements for the Klingons and Romulans are already available. UPDATE: Thanks to Stephen Cole at ADB for sending me the cover images above and below!

Scheduled for 5/18/09: The long-anticipated GURPS Prime Directive: Federation, (GURPS 4E), SKU 8402, $24.95 - Similar to the above, but adapted to the Generic Universal Role Playing System by Steve Jackson Games. The Core PDGURPS book (200 pages, and includes a complete rules set for GURPS including character creation) and supplements for Klingons and Romulans have been available for awhile. Other supplements such as Tholians and Starships have been mentioned in the past, so hopefully the release of Federation is a sign that things are picking up steam.

Keep an eye out here for more on the past, present and future of Prime Directive.

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