Space: The New Black in RPGs

I don't know if it's Gen Con, the peak of the Perseid meteor shower or the confluence of the two, but this sure seems to be a banner month for science fiction RPGs in general. The genre is still overshadowed by fantasy setting releases such as Paizo's Pathfinder and Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay Unaffordable Edition, but there does seem to be plenty of renewed interest in SFRPGs.

Here's a sample, starting off with the flood of Mongoose's Traveller releases (looks like I picked a good time to quit sniffing glue collecting them):

Golden Age Starships Compilation
Tripwire!
Supplement 5: Civilian Vehicles
Supplement 6: Military Vehicles
Book 6: Scoundrel
Alien Module 1: Aslan
Judge Dredd

Mongoose is also releasing the 25th Anniversary edition of the classic Paranoia with Paranoia: Troubleshooters. And Shadowrun celebrates its 20th anniversary with, um, Shadowrun 20th Anniversary Edition. Also just released is the transhuman sci-fi Eclipse Phase, the Cthulhutech supplement Damnation View, FFG's Warhammer 40k game Rogue Trader, and Adamant Entertainment's new hardcover release of MARS: Savage Worlds Edition.

Also at risk of being overshadowed are some SFRPG releases from smaller outfits, but books I can't wait to get my hands on nonetheless.

First up, Grey Area Games has released the OGL-based X-Plorers: the Role Playing Adventures of Galactic Troubleshooters (pictured above) by David "grubman" Bezio. If you've ever wondered what would have happened in 1974 if Gary & Dave had tried to make a science fiction game rather than a fantasy game (using that same Original system), X-Plorer's may have been the result. The printed version is available for $12 ($6 PDF) through Lulu, and I'm going to wait until I have it before I do a proper review elsewhere, but you can check it out right now, absolutely FREE, on the X-Plorer's Downloads page. The Free version omits the art and some of the enhancements of the Full version, but is absolutely everything you need to start playing. So try it, then buy it! I'm really anxious to see what comes of this game. David is already planning on Galactic Troubleshooters, a quarterly supplement to the game, and it will be interesting to see if it gains the same kind of traction that other recent "old school" games such as OSRIC, Swords & Wizardry and Spellcraft & Swordplay have garnered. And of course (on topic), I'm interested to see how easily the "United Corporate Nations (UCN)" might translate to the UFP!

From Original-based old school to FATE-based new school, the long-awaited hard science fiction RPG, Diaspora, is finally here from VSCA Publishing with a 6x9 hardback available for $35 through their store at Lulu. Here are some description excerpts from the Diaspora Wiki (where you can find preview PDFs and other tools):

Humans have been in space tens of thousands of years, and societies have risen and fallen so many times that no one remembers where we come from.

Colonies are grouped in clusters of a few systems connected by slipstreams - artifacts of the cosmos or perhaps a forgotten technology. Only the splipstreams allow travel faster than light. Apart from that, spacecrafts make do with reaction drives, dumping heat as best they can.

Diaspora is a self-contained role-playing game, with rules for starship-battles, individual combat, social interaction, and platoon-scale engagement, in an original science fiction setting that you help design.

This is your universe. How are you going to survive?.

Sounds stark, but fascinating. Very "anti-Traveller" in ways, and I think the market could use that right now. Looking forward to picking it up with the next paycheck.

Finally, from Rogue Games' comes the latest supplement for their grand space opera RPG, Thousand Suns, called Foundation Transmissions. It's available today for $7 as a PDF through RPGnow, with the $13 print edition available at Gen Con now and through Indie Press Revolution in a few weeks. The 130-page book is a collection of articles and new game mechanics for Thousand Suns by Rogues Richard Iorio II and James Maliszewski, Gabriel Brouillard, and some new guy named Robert Saint John. I saw it this morning and it's absolutely loaded with some great art, some of which didn't make it into the original core rules book. Articles include:

• Military Ranks in Thousand Suns (this is one of mine... note the section on ranks for "Navy/Combined (Starfleet)")
• The Ways of Scheming
• Custom Weapons
• Custom Protection
• Guide to the Core Worlds
• A Spacefarer's Introduction to Lingua Terra
• The Aurigan (new alien species)
• Robots

A preview of this and other Rogue Games and Thousand Suns material can always be found on their Scribd site.

So even if you (like me) couldn't make it to Gen Con, there's plenty of new SFRPG stuff out there this month to keep us occupied. 2009 has shaped up to be a great year for the genre, and it shows no signs of slowing down in 2010!

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

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.....

Trek and The Great RPG Debate

I had no intention whatsoever on weighing in on this week's Great RPG Industry Debate (short version: "The RPG Industry is Dying and the Enemy is Us" vs "No, You're Just Full of Shit") for two reasons. First, it seems like this comes up every year. Is it always right before Gen Con? Second, I'm annoyed that all of this seems to have sprung from a discussion about Poor Editing in RPGs, and the contention that we should all just suck it up and accept that because The RPG Industry is Dying has now been overshadowed.

Wait, don't go!!! This post isn't what you think. It is not my take on the whole thing. Rather, I just wanted to point to a related piece of wisdom that seems extremely relevant to Trek tabletop RPGs in particular. Over at Trollsmyth there is a post in response to The Debate entitled Supply, Demand, and the Teetering RPG Industry. Note this set of excerpts (emphasis mine):

Even if everything he says is true, it doesn't matter. Why? Because there is a huge number of kids out there reading, writing, and yes, even roleplaying right now...

...But you'll notice I mention nothing about games. Regular readers know what I'm talking about: fanfic and free-form roleplay. It's easy to laugh and dismiss this sort of thing (just as RPGs were laughed at and dismissed in my youth, when they weren't being blamed for suicide and devil worship), but here are a bunch of kids so desperate for roleplay that they have built websites and software and communities to facilitate their play. They've done it all on their own...

...The future is now, and these kids have already, on their own, created the roleplaying experience he's talking about. While they don't yet incorporate things like augmented reality, they take full advantage of cellphone texting and similar echnologies that are available today. That, ladies and gents, is all set to be the roleplaying of tomorrow, and it's got no interest in your rulebooks, dice, or character sheets, thank you very much.

Just last night I had written the following to a friend:

You know, it's not even the endless debates over The Movie that has me down. It's seeming disinterest from those who would rather ponder the effects of the 18 available hand-phaser settings or debate why System X sucks and System Y rules.

And then they wonder why the vast majority of Trek fans decided to forego dice completely and just "sim" on internet boards. Or did they even notice?

I've started a project and every day I just keep thinking of cooler stuff to add to it. It could become pretty big, but now I'm at the point of asking myself whether or not it's worth it. It may only be of interest to a dozen people. I don't really want to do another Enterprise-like project if there's no audience.

Anyway, back to writing and pondering on this. Go check out that link.

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

Artist David R. Deitrick Returns to Trek

If you stop by the comic book store tomorrow, you might catch a glimpse of something that looks familiar. Familiar, that is, if you were a big fan of FASA's Star Trek The Role Playing Game in the 80s.

On June 10th, IDW Publishing is releasing the first of its 3-part comic book adaptation of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan -- apparently one of the few films that didn't get the comic book treatment -- written by Andy Schmidt, with art by Chee Yang Ong and color by Moose Baumann. Of interest to FASA fans, though, will be the special "retailer incentive cover" version with artwork by none other than David R. Deitrick.

Dave Deitrick's distinctive style graced the covers of so many memorable science fiction games in the 80s, and he practically defined the look of FASA's Trek through most of its adventures and supplements. This cover is apparently the first of three "interlocking" covers and, I'm guessing, a completely new piece.

Mr. Deitrick's work first caught my eye in 1980, with Metagaming's The Fantasy Trip Microquest, Security Station. I was just getting into pen-and-ink drawing at the time, and there was something about the lines and color of that box art that made it look so different than anything else coming out in fantasy role-playing at the time. Despite my love of TFT, it turns out the game itself was a dog and didn't live anywhere near the coolness displayed on the cover. It wasn't Deitrick's fault, of course, but his work really illustrated his talent for making you want to buy.

When I look back at his art that came out over the next few years, I realize that he had this brilliant ability through unusual color combinations and lines to convey motion and the promise of an exciting adventure. I know I'm not the only one who digs Deitrick's contribution to the hobby. Super game blogger Jeff Rients not only posted a David Deitrick Mini-Shrine on his blog in 2005 , but managed to get the the artist to create Jeff's well-known "IG-666 Robot Warlock" illustration.

I miss buying games that had art like this. I loved going into the hobby store and being surprised by a new Trek module on the shelf with Deitrick's art on the cover. It seems that so much art in games these days is so dark, or so Photoshoppy/Painter, or so full of really, really bad 3D models. Deitrick's art was bright and clean and colorful, and hinted that your game could be the same. Plus, he had a rare talent among game artists to portray extremely cool women who appeared to somehow make their way in the universe without giant breasts and very little clothing. I know that there is a huge appreciation for the stark simplicity of Traveller's original LBBs, but I'll admit that nothing made me want to play Traveller more than the beautiful cover Deitrick composed for the Starter Edition (left) in 1983. It looked so... modern! Even though I already had the big black Deluxe Edition from two years earlier, I bought the SE just for the box, and still have it today.

Some may look at the outrageous pinks, yellows and purples in some of his illustrations and think, "Oh, so that's what Limited Express looked like in 1984!" Maybe it's just nostalgia and my memories of all those adventures (some that never were), but I don't think they look dated at all. I still look at them and think, "Man, the future's so bright, I gotta wear shades."

Here's a collection of some of David R. Deitrick's other non-Trek covers (click for larger versions)...





...and, starting with my favorite, a selection of art from adventure modules and supplements for the Reigning King, FASA's Star Trek The Role Playing Game. Enjoy! And be sure to check out Dave's website. He's still a very active artist and has grown into other media including some incredible sculpture work.

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

The Wisdom of Uncle Bear (via Vulcan Stev)

Over at Vulcan Stev's Database, guest columnist Uncle Bear (Berin Kinsman, "Father figure of the RPG bloggers") has written a fine series of posts about Gaming in the Universe of Star Trek, a coolection of "generic, all-eras, any mechanics advice on what I think a good Trek game needs". Very highly recommended reading if you haven't stumbled upon it already.

Part 1 - How I’d Run a Star Trek Game covers the structure he suggests for a ship and a crew, and the way he’d organize adventures.

Part 2 - Starship Combat Made Easy covers how to make ship-to-ship combat involve all the players at the table without having to bust out battle mats and miniatures. (yep!)

Part 3 - Star Trek Worldbuilding discusses culture-building for alien races encountered by the Federation.

And Uncle Bear's favored choices for a system in which to run Star Trek?
1. Primetime Adventures
2. Traveller
3. Savage Worlds

Big thanks to Stev and Uncle bear for sharing!

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

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.....

Trek RPG Blog Roundup

Blog entries of note related to Star Trek gaming:

- Adam's Barking Alien moves forward with his Gaming the Final Frontier series, with "Strange New World" on how to structure a Trek campaign, and notes that he'll be running a new campaign soon.
- On Monsters and Manuals, Noism ponders the eternal question, "Why are we satisfied with substandard Trek role playing games, dammit?"
- Review of the new Continuum Edition Star Trek Monopoly by yours truly coming up on Star Trek Games in the next day or so, along with a contest to win it (the game, not the website)!

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

Homebrewed Star Trek RPG Adaptations (Part 2)

If there's anything more numerous than commercial adaptations of Star Trek as a role-playing game (Part 1 of this series), it's homebrewed versions and resources written by fans, doing it for themselves using their favorite system.

There's also a lot of them called Final Frontier (guilty as charged).

This is by no means a comprehensive list. In the last post, readers mentioned a homebrew based on R. Talsorian Games' Interlock system, I thought I'd read of one using Chaosium's Basic Role-Playing and I'm sure there are many that never got posted to the Internet at all. D6, Unisystem, Action!... after finding all of these, I suspect there have been nearly as many custom Star Trek games as there have been generic RPG systems.

If you're just interested in converting from a licensed system to one of your favorites, a good place to start is where Owen E. Oulton (of Memory Icon) created a System Conversion Table as part of his own Star Trek Universe campaign. It features guidelines on conversion between various game systems such as ICON (Last Unicorn Games' Trek RPG), FASA's Trek (2E), Traveller (various), GURPS, Star Wars (D6), GDW's "House Rules" system (as used in Twilight: 2000 and Traveller: The New Era) and Babylon 5 (Chameleon Eclectic's The Babylon Project RPG).

But if you're looking for complete conversions by a man who knows his stuff, then you should head directly to the site of the Original Final Frontiers, that of Bob Portnell, King of Star Trek Homebrews (my words, not his). Like me, Bob's love of adventure gaming goes back to The Fantasy Trip and, like me, is "one of the last of the Baby Boomers or the first of Gen X, depending on whose math you use" (his words, not mine). He has not only written extensively about RPGs, but went on to team up with Guy McLimore and Greg Poehlein (co-authors of FASA's Star Trek The Role Playing Game) to co-author the Simply Roleplaying! game as part of their MicroTactix Games endeavor in 1999.

And when it comes to writing Trek games, Bob's got 17 years under his belt so far. In addition to resources like Speed-Trek (notes for faster character creation in FASA's Trek RPG), Bob has written a number of Trek homebrews ("I've been writing Star Trek rules for so long, I can't stop!" he says). While he's working on finishing EZFudge Final Frontier, you can check out his PlainLabel Final Frontier for the Simply Roleplaying! system (core SR! rules free from DriveThruRPG).

Bob's also done two versions of Final Frontier for 3E versions of Steve Jackson Games' GURPS: GURPS Final Frontier (160k zip file with HTML and TXT), and the more compact Final Frontier (2.1 zip with PDFs) based on GURPS Lite, which is included. His GURPS page includes some other resources as well.

I have to say that I really like FF for GURPS Lite (and I'm not at all fond of full-blown GURPS). It's very self contained, well-written and produced, and it's the one version out of all these games that I talk about -- pro or home -- that I would grab for a pick up session or to introduce someone new to RPGs through Trek. Bob's great strength in all of these is that he focuses on the elements that are most like Trek on the screen, and he presents it succinctly. The rules never get in the way, but his approach is not that of narrative games. The tools he provides give players the ability to quickly learn then play a game in the Trek universe that balances cinematic with (not against) realism. That's a hell of an achievement for free games, and similar to the model we've seen executed with the GURPS Dungeon Fantasy series. I'm planning on interviewing Bob here in the near future.

Curiously, there's a number of other homebrews that have been based on the GURPS system over the years:

GURPS Trek - The Unauthorized Sourcebook was a popular homebrew for GURPS 2E from 1996; "Mr. B's" original pages (text file format) can be found here and elsewhere.

GURPS Star Trek (for GURPS 3E?) features pages of races, starships, equipment and campaign notes (note, however, that the links to the Online Character Generator are broken).

GURPS Trek at the Traditional Games Wiki (GURPS 4E) provides a lot of stats, but is unfinished and hasn't been updated in 2 years.

If GURPS isn't your thing, there's Spirit of the Final Frontier, based on Evil Hat's pulp adventure RPG Spirit of the Century, which is not to be confused with Spirit of the 24th Century which ran at a few cons, but is also based on the FateRPG system, which itself is based on Fudge... feel free to stop me at any time. And check out the separate Evil Hat Productions Wiki entry on "Pulp Characters from Books, Movies, etc".

Star Trek for the D20 System is an active Yahoo Group focused on (what else?) adapting the series for D20-based systems such as d20, d20 Modern, PD, True20 and more. There's a number of resources here, though only one completed set of rules which can also be found at...
TrekRPG.info, which hasn't been updated in awhile, but features conversion notes for the d20 System, a downloadable draft of d20 Warp, and links to a Traveller: The New Era adaptation called STrav 3 TNE (thanks to Jerry for the pointer).

WOTC's Alternity still lives on the web, and Scott Metz posted his notes about adapting Trek to the system.

Star Trek: Savage Worlds (1.6MB zip file) adapts Trek for Pinnacle Entertainment Group's Savage Worlds RPG, and features a character sheet, edges, weapons and equipment (requires MS Excel). Groknard reader steveraceuk is in the process of taking it a step further at his Savage Star Trek wiki.

Epoch is a wholly original homebrew system by Jonathan Clarke that's closely based on Star Trek, and focuses less on technology and more on a cinematic feel. It uses a D6 dice-pool system, and even provides guidelines for starship combat.

COSMIQUEST! The Very Final Regurgitation is a Risus-based parody of Star Trek by Guy Hoyle with a small set of guidelines for charcater cliches, technology and adventure seeds. There was another Risus-based Trek parody by "Dr Rotwang" (of the blog I Waste The Buddha With My Crossbow), but it's long gone and he doesn't seem to mind, but has posted some new ideas (that still verge on parody).

Speaking of parodies, I should mention Twerps Twek based TWERPS, "The World's Easiest Role Playing System" by Jeff and 'Manda Dee. Twerps Twek (Campaign Module 7) was by Jon Hancock and Niels Erickson and published by Gamescience in the early 90s. To sum up, it came with "the complete stat" for classic NPCs such as Yeoman Randy Jan and Loquacious of the Bore. This was a commercial product (check eBay or Noble Knight Games) so perhaps doesn't belong here, but I was going to have to mention it in this blog sometime. Mission accomplished.

Another "commercial homebrew" has been announced, this time as "Trek with the serial-numbers-filed-off" for Mongoose's Traveller. Gareth-Michael Skarka of Adamant Entertainment has said that he's working on Final Frontier: The Unauthorized Sourcebook to the World's Most Popular SF TV Franchise, described as a "set of rules and guidelines that will allow you to play races such as the Logical Psions, face off against Swarthy Aggressors, enter careers which represent the various service devisions within the Fleet, and boldly go across the galaxy using space-warp FTL engines." This I'd like to see because I've yet to see a Trek adaptation for Classic Traveller, and CT and MGT are pretty close.

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.

Finally (probably not!), there's my own totally non-commercial please-don't-sue-me venture, Thousand Suns: Final Frontier (35 pages, 1.7MB zipped PDF). It's only a preview version from December '08, but I've come a long way since "The Universe Trip" edition of 1981. Still, I'm not sure where I'm going to go with this. Since starting this blog, I'm asking myself, "Does the community really need another RPG based on Star Trek? Especially a homebrew focused on TOS? Especially called Final Frontier??"

Probably not. But I can't help but think that when the new film comes out, some people are going to turn their eyes back to Star Trek and think, "Hell, yeah, I want to play that!" And I love the idea of a Trek game based on Thousand Suns, one that takes place in a period not so constrained by the dreaded "Trek canon", where the future is wide open.

Perhaps, I'm thinking, I should be looking forward as much as I'm looking back...

- - - - - - - -

ADDENDUM #1: I completely forgot one that's the most current of all -- Federal Space (link to wiki). Federal Space is a unique group project started by some folks on RPG.net, and is described as "a decidedly non-canonical spin on the familiar Star Trek universe, refracted through a lens of harder science and (hopefully) more consistent worldbuilding... it's Star Trek: Stand Alone Complex, or Star Trek run at GURPS TL10 (hard science path) instead of TL12 (with superscience), or a pacifistic version of Star Fleet Battles, or simply 'Star Trek with hats.'"

Not my cup of tea, but still, it belongs here more than TWERPS Twek.

ADDENDUM #2: Jerry (below) mentions the FASA Trek Sourcebook for Hero System (5th ed.), at the Star Hero Fandom website, which also includes TNG Hero for the TNG/DS9 era. Very extensive work and templates for Hero Designer software.

ADDENDUM #3: Probably my last update (4/8/09) as this could go on forever, far longer than anyone will actually look at this post! Mike Berkey has composed some rulesets called Where No Man Has Gone Before based on the TOS setting. This is an exceptionally cool document and full of great ideas and random tables (examples: "First Beam In Location", "
Random Interior Set Generator") useful to anyone interested in Trek RPGs, regardless of system. Version 2.0 is the most recent, and based on the Microlite20 system. Version 1.0 is more heavily drawn from d20Modern. Seriously, check it out now, it's a really fun read.

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

Homebrewed Star Trek RPG Adaptations (Part 1)

One of the more interesting aspects about Star Trek as a role-playing game is how many times it's been "homebrewed" -- adapted for another existing system by players -- despite the fact that there have been nearly a dozen versions of Trek RPGs (for the purposes of this post, I'm including the "not Treks"). To illustrate, here's a list:

• Space Patrol (Gamescience, 1977)
• Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier (Heritage, 1978)
• Starships & Spacemen (FGU, 1978)
• Star Patrol (Gamescience, 1981)
• Starfleet Voyages (Terra Games Company, 1982)
• Star Trek: The Role Playing Game (FASA, 1982)
• Enterprise - Role Play Game in Star Trek (Tsukuda Hobby, 1983)
• Prime Directive (1) (Task Force Games, 1993)
• Star Trek Role Playing Game(s) (Last Unicorn Games (1998, 1999)
• Star Trek Roleplaying Game (Decipher, 2002)
• Prime Directive (various systems) (Amarillo Design Bureau, 2004 - present)

Yes, one can argue about whether or not my list includes games that are "really" Star Trek, but that's not my point. For over 30 years, at almost any point during that time, one could go out and buy an RPG that was (or obviously tried to emulate) Star Trek, and it probably gave you stats for Klingons.

Nevertheless, there are few other settings that seem to inspire so many homebrews. In fact, I started this blog as a side-effect of re-reading through my own collection as research for my own homebrew, an adaptation of the early TOS years (around Stardate 1500, 2266 AD) for Rogue Games' Thousand Suns. Sometime during that research, I came across a poll that asked Trek RPGers, "Which System Do You Use?" I think it was TrekRPG Forums, but heck if I can find it now! Fortunately, I copied and pasted the results:

CODA.....25...39.1%
ICON......24...37.5%
GURPS.....2.....3.1%
D20..........3.....4.7%
Home......10...15.6%

It's a bit hard to take a poll that didn't include FASA too seriously (and, yes, it's still played and even updated by folks such as Rob Bocchino, as evidenced by his site and other sites still dedicated to it). But, again, not my point. Regardless of the fact that there are already systems out there, over 15% still prefer to roll their own. Why is that? Speaking for myself:

• I like the challenge;
• I like my system of choice (TS's 12° system has a killer way of resolving Tests, especially its use of Resolve for non-combat confrontations);
• I find the other systems to be either too complex for such a cinematic, brains-over-brawn setting like Star Trek, or too dated to support some of the enhancements found in games today;
• I feel that most of the other systems spent way too much time on combat, technology and minutiae such as starship construction. Sure, these aspects can be ignored to some extent, but those decisions end up creeping into other portions of the game (skills, starship combat, task resolution) at the expense of things I feel are more important to Star Trek (exploration, moral conundrums, action rather than combat).

In the end, I might end up with a game that only I want to play. Then again, I'm one of those heathens that actually thinks it's okay to want to roleplay Kirk, Spock and McCoy. And that's one of the wonderful things about Star Trek as a setting: it's many things to many people. Some are very much into the starship combat aspect. There are those that want to play Starfleet Marines, Section 31 or Prime Teams for a more action oriented game. Others want to be free traders or Klingons in the Trek universe. Some want to struggle with a conflict between the Prime Directive and a First Contact situation. There are lots of SF RPGs that claim to be this broad, but I feel that only Star Trek has truly developed support (in both the games and the canon itself) for all of these approaches. Whether or not that's a good thing is a topic for another day.

I did my first Trek homebrew in the summer of 1981. I had a distinct talent at the time for falling in love with games that were doomed to obscurity *. Neither Dungeons & Dragons or Traveller inspired me much after the first few years. For fantasy I gravitated toward Metgaming's The Fantasy Trip system (Melee, Wizard, In the Labyrinth), Steve Jackson's precursor to GURPS. In 1981, Universe was released as SPI's answer to science fiction role-playing games. TFT gave me the crunch, some articles from Space Gamer and Interplay magazines gave me sci-fi technology, and Universe provided inspiration for skills, exploration and aliens. With a pen and a legal pad I set forth creating my first homebrew, which I think had FEDERATION scrawled at the top.

* to be fair, I fell hard for Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu, too, so it's not like I have a curse or anything

By the end of that summer, my friends and I sat down to play my adventure. It had something to do with the Enterprise finding itself trapped in a void, a castle, robot guardians and probably had more than a passing resemblance to the Doctor Who story "Warriors' Gate". I don't recall the specifics, but I don't think it went well. Sadly, the legal pad is long gone, its pages stored in the Universe box which went in one of many yard sales I've had over the years. I've since recovered Universe, but if you happen to come across those yellow pages, please contact me.

Coming up in Part 2: a look at various Trek homebrews from over the years with links to those that are available

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

New Trek, RPGs - What's Hip and What's Geek

Just a random thought here.

Over the past few days, I've read a few articles about events and merchandise that seem to indicate that Paramount is putting some serious focus into "hipstering" up Star Trek (classic and new) as part of its marketing campaign for the upcoming film. TrekMovie had articles this week about NYC and LA "Star Trek Dance Parties" (click the Orion to the left for an LA Weekly Slideshow) and the "new pseudo retro" t-shirts from Junk Food. Harry over at Ain't It Cool News has a somewhat bizarre piece this morning about what's hip, what's geek, and what's geek that can be made hip.

This isn't anything new, of course, and it's all about money. Don't think for one second that the guiding principals of Star Trek are actually anything Paramount gives a crap about. There is not one tiny thought that governs their actions about doing this new Trek movie "for the fans". There is some distinction, I think, between Paramount and JJ Abrams & Co., as I've seen and read enough from the latter to feel some certainty that they have enough respect for both Trek and its fans. So I have some confidence that the movie will not only be good, but very good and satisfying as well.

So what does any of this have to do with role-playing games? Some have remarked that they can't believe that such a big franchise with a history of RPGs associated with it doesn't have an RPG right now, of all times. How could they possibly leave money on the table, it's argued.

If there's any truth to the rumor that parties recently inquired with CBS Consumer Products and Paramount about licensing Trek for a new RPG and were rebuffed, perhaps this (in part) explains why. To those guys, Trek is all about The Brand. And now they're trying to "hip up" The Brand to make sure as many of Teh Kidz see Star Trek and buy the t-shirts before heading to Teh Klubz because that's where the cheddar is. Yo.

And in order to control perception of a brand with so many associations, it's necessary to limit those licenses and marketing efforts. Cool fragrances? Hip. Spock ears? Geek. Hot Orion chicks at a dance party? Hip.

Role-playing game? Geek. And completely un-hippable. "Like Dungeons & Dragons... but with phasers!" probably doesn't fit the mission profile right now.

Like I said, though, it's all about money. Once they've pocketed their first $500 million by the end of summer, they'll be looking to keep that money rolling in for 2010. And by that time, your money and mine will be as green as an Orion slave girl at an LA dance party.

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.....

Get an Entire Trek RPG for $35

Well, sure, you can pick up one of the original FASA boxes on eBay for about $10 these days, but that really only gives you enough to run and play Trek games in the TOS timeline (not that there's anything wrong with it). What if Voyager is the way you roll? What if you want to compare, say, the Mugato! to the Malgorian of Bajor? What are the stats for Species 8472? Then Decipher's Star Trek Roleplaying Game based on their CODA system may be for you. And there's probably never a better time to pick it up -- all of it!

6 hardcover books and a Narrator Screen were released from 2002 - 2003, and apparently they've entered the mysterious void known as remaindered stock. Probably the best deal on teh Interwebs is that to be found at Hill's Wholesale Gaming, where they're offering the entire lot for $35 plus shipping. Just need one or two? $6 each. Considering the MSRP for the books was about $25 each when they came out... well, you do the math. My brain is tired today.

Here's what's available:

• Star Trek Roleplaying Game Player's Guide (2002) DCR 900


• Star Trek Roleplaying Game Narrator's Guide (2002) DCR 901


• Star Trek Narrator's Screen (2003) DCR 103339


• Starfleet Operations Manual (2003) DCR 103525


• Starships (2003) DCR 103527


• Aliens (2003) DCR 103604


• Creatures (2003) DCR 103607

By the way, when creating the image above, I inadvertently included included Worlds which, along with Mirror Universe: Through a Glass Darkly, was not published, but only released as a PDF in 2005, and now long gone. Don't expect to get it with your order!

To be clear, I'm really not fond of the mechanics of the CODA system, which is really similar to the d20 approach but using 2D6 for resolution. I also prefer the "era specific" approach of other games as I feel that different eras are going to be played differently. Finally, the errata was out of control to the point where I'd say it was nearly unplayable out of the box (see below). But at this price they're certainly worth it just as an awesome resource, especially if you're building your own Trek campaign for your favorite system. The fluff is excellent, the advice for gamemasters is considered and well-written and it's a helluva lot less expensive than tracking down an equivalent amount of the LUG releases. And they look reelly purty, too.

Also, I'm not pimpin' for Hill's Wholesale Gaming. In fact, I had a bit of difficulty with them on eBay when they had a very difficult time just filling an order correctly. Twice. It all worked out in the end, and you can look at their eBay profile to see that they're generally fine to deal with; but be aware that they're high volume and possibly a little prone to error or slowness at times (the books, once I got them, were immaculate). Great place to go right now for Decipher's Lord of the Rings RPG and Mongoose's Babylon 5 RPG, Conan RPG, the Starship Troopers Miniatures Game and the Starship Troopers RPG. They, too, have gone beyond the Rim...

If you do decide to hop on board the CODA express, get yourself right over to Patrick Goodman's CODA Support Site where you'll find a wealth of great resources for CODA Trek including an ICON to CODA conversion guide, extensive errata for a number of the books, character generation aids, 10 issues of the Beyond the Final Frontier netzine, and more. Patrick's done the Trek RPG community a real service by keeping this stuff available, plus he's been adding a great deal of new material over the past few months, with more to come (including one eBook that's going to be fantastic!). Bookmark it.

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

Trek RPGs - Different Expectations

Great post yesterday from Victor Raymond at his Sandbox of Doom blog about the difficulties inherent in running a game in the Trek universe and trying to keep everyone happy. I, too, have seen how concerns about the dreaded "canon" limit your options in what should be a wide open setting. Check it out.

ADDENDUM 4:15pm: Must be the weekend for great Trek RPG blog entries (too bad I don't have one!). Barking Alien posted a completely different type of entry that really takes me back to my own, similar experience at Graceland Hobbyland in Columbus, Ohio. It would have been 1983, I was 17, and there one day -- surrounded by a magic halo -- was FASA's Star Trek RPG. His story is happier though. I didn't buy it that day, I had to hold out a few weeks until I could afford the Deluxe version. Then when I got home and called my gaming friends, nobody cared. *sigh* Today I live vicariously through Adam, lol.

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WonderCon Day 1 Report

Back from Day One at WonderCon here in San Francisco. The streets surrounding the Moscone Center have Star Trek movie posters (like these, left) hanging from the street lights! Really impressive crowd for the first day, too.

Paramount was giving away the 4 posters pictured here, so I grabbed one of each. That was about it for my Star Trek haul. Didn't see any merchandise associated with the new film other than issues of the prequel comic series Star Trek: Countdown. I'm holding off on that until the compilation is released in April or May. Classic toys seemed all the rage in the Dealers' Room, though. Trek is definitely generating some excitement again.

A number of TV and movie personalities were there doing autographs. I was surprised when I saw Gary Lockwood (Gary Mitchell) at one of the booths! Then in the west of the Dealers' Room were a number of other personalities, many who'd appeared in Trek including Pamelyn Ferdin (child star of the 60s and 70s who was Mary in "And the Children Shall Lead"), Michelle Scarabelli (TNG "In Theory"), Bobby Clark (the Gorn!), super yummy (and still super yummy!) BarBara Luna (TOS "Mirror, Mirror"), Chase Masterson (DS9's Leeta), Malachi Throne and Sean Kenney (both in TOS "The Cage"), and more. I'm not an autograph person, but...

I did pick up the lush hardback of the Mouse Guard RPG and artist David Petersen not only autographed it, but sketched me a little mouse inside as well! I'm not at all familiar with Luke Crane's Burning Wheel rules system, but I've heard nothing but good things about the game, the price was right and the autograph was a plus.

Went to the The Once & Future Trek panel, and although only Daren Dochterman and TrekMovie's Tony Pascale were able to make it, there was a good turnout for the panel. Didn't learn anything new but it's always nice to attach a face to a name. Both were very funny and well-informed, and the crowd was mostly positive about the future of Trek (and not just the movie). People definitely still care, no matter what Voyager did (hahahaha). The guys showed some fun Trek clips including Star Trek Knights of the Round Table, a commercial for UK's National Power/Powergen featuring Shatner and Doohan in character, and what looked to be an anti-drugs PSA from the 70s built as a mashup of clips from Trek The Animated Series. At least I think it was for real, but I can't find it online, nor any reference to it... maybe it was just a fan mashup.

Anyway, that's my Day 1. I'll report back on Day 2 tomorrow with impressions following the big Paramount panel in the Main Hall!

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

New Star Trek Games... No RPG

TrekMovie.com today posted an article about the mass of licensed Trek junk merchandise about to be dumped upon the unsuspecting public in anticipation of JJ Abrams' Star Trek movie. Oh dear, it looks like The Phantom Menace all over again (hint: wait two years... folks on eBay won't be able to give it away!).

Not surprising is the sheer amount of licenses issued solely to Trek tabletop gaming: more Trek Monopoly, UNO, the Scene It DVD boardgame, a trivia game, Scrabble and -- of course -- Star Trek Magic 8 Ball (FTW?!?!). Okay, I guess that is surprising after all.

What else is surprising? No Star Trek Roleplaying Game, for either the classic series or the new movie universe. Decipher lost the license a little over a year ago and at the moment no one has the license. A little bird over on theRPGSite Forums says that inquiries have, in fact, recently been made but apparently CBS Consumer Products is not interested at this time.

Which is very sad, and makes Mr. Spock cry. It's no secret that Decipher and Last Unicorn Games faced two big problems when doing their respective versions of a Trek RPG. One, neither company was very good at running its business, regardless of the burdens of the Trek license. Two, both were releasing Trek RPGs at a time of "Trek Burnout". When even fans were turning their backs on the shows and films coming out of Paramount, it's hard to imagine the associated merchandise doing much better. Admittedly I've never seen the books of any of these companies, but I'd find it hard to imagine that FASA was able to do Trek for such a long time and with a wealth of material if they weren't doing so as a going concern.

Different times, of course, and there are some who question whether or not Star Trek is even suitable for tabletop roleplaying in this day and age. That seems to be a debate that comes up every once in awhile over on RPGnet and other places. My opinion: given the right timing, the right business approach and a well-developed game, there's no reason that a Star Trek RPG couldn't be a critical and popular success all over again.

In the meantime, we can always continue with what's already out there, and even "roll our own" for our favorite RPG system (see my 2MB preview version of Final Frontier, the Trek adaptation for the Thousand Suns RPG that I've been working on lately). I have to admit, though, that there would be nothing like strolling into my FLGS and finding a brand spanking new official "Star Trek RPG Core Rules" game on the shelf and a rack of minis right next to it.

There's always hope. And until then, there's Star Trek Magic 8 Ball.

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