Star Trek as reviewed by the family
Gaming in the Universe of Star Trek guest post by Uncle Bear: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3
Uncle Bear offered some very nice world-building tips and thoughts on how he’d run a game set in Roddenberry’s universe. These were helpful and I appreciate his efforts on my behalf. However it would be illogical for me to not offer my own thoughts on gaming in my favorite universe.
Star Trek has had a long history of association with RPGs. FASA published quite a number of books in the 1980s. From 2002 – 2007 Decipher picked up the license to produce the RPG. This was produced after their successful run of the Star Trek CCG. I found more Pbem Trek RPGS than I’d care to list. I also found Groknard’s Blog, which is very useful compilation of Star Trek blogs and associated RPG materials. My own personal favorite Trek related RPG is the Starships of the Third Fleet creative writing club.
I have been playing Lt. Stev off and on for the better part of two decades. Through Stev’s eyes, I’ve infiltrated the Romulan Empire to rescue Federation operatives. I’ve traveled through time to Earth’s past. I have encountered evil doppelgangers of Stev and his fellow crew mates. Stev and I have had a lot of adventures and that is one of the nice things about the Star Trek universe. It is fully realized and ready for you to play in. With over 40 years of world building development it is one of the better sandbox settings that has ever been developed.
Star Trek has a long history using other genres in the stories told; westerns (Fistful of Datas), gothic horror (Catspaw), war (Most of the later season of DS9), time travel (at least one from each series), gangsters (A Piece of the Action) and many more genres that have been adapted. If I factor in the stories (games) I’ve participated in Third Fleet, you can add High Fantasy, Murder Mystery, and Prison Break to that list. Star Trek is rife for just about any kind of game that you want to run.
How would I run a Star Trek game? One shot scenarios would be run off a starship. I’d plan a nice dungeon crawl, using the meta-dungeon of the entire planet’s surface. I’d run it with the Captain of the ship being played by the DM. The first officer would be the party leader and the players would be members of the away team. Something would interfere with the ability to just beam the PCs off the surface until they finished the dungeon crawl/mission.
For an ongoing campaign, I’d run either a Voyager based game or DS9 styled game. Just about any adventure module published for any other game could be adapted. TOS: Orcs=Klingons, Demons=Romulans, TNG: Orcs=Cardassians, Demons=Borg just for thumbnail conversions.
The ONLY problem I’ve ever had in wanting to run a Star trek game was in convincing players that they’d want to play in Star Trek game. PIT #1 has been the only one of my players that ever wanted to play Star Trek. That said should I ever get the chance to run a Star Trek game, I’d take my friend Nuke Havoc’s suggestion and use the Savage World’s Pirates of the Spanish Main setting for the rule set. Intrigued? he’s writing a guest post about how to do just that. I’m getting ready to use his idea. Stats for Kirk, Spock and certain Vulcan Lieutenant.
Name: James T. Kirk
Race: Human
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d6, Spirit d8, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d8, Driving d4, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Notice d6, Shooting d8, Survival d6, Throwing d10
Charisma: 5; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances: Quirk (cannot find a beautiful woman without attempting to bed her), Heroic, Loyal
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block, Command, Strong Willed, Attractive
Name: Spock
Race: Vulcan
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d8,
Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Knowledge (computers) d8, Knowledge (Logic) d12, Knowledge (science) d8, Notice d6, Shooting d8, Survival d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances: Quirk (strives to block his emotions), Quirk (seeks logic above all else)
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Block, Command, Vulcan Nerve Pinch
Name: Stev
Race: Vulcan
Attributes: Agility d8, Smarts d10, Spirit d6, Strength d8,
Vigor d6
Skills: Climbing d6, Driving d8, Fighting d8, Guts d8, Knowledge (espionage) d8, Knowledge (Terran Rock and Roll) d10, Knowledge (computers) d8, Knowledge (languages) d10, Notice d6, Piloting d8, Shooting d8, Stealth d8, Survival d6, Throwing d10
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6; Parry: 6; Toughness: 5;
Hindrances: Outsider amongst Vulcans, Curious, Quirk (translates ancient Terran poetry {Rock and Roll})
Edges: Combat Reflexes, Investigator, Scholar
Vulcan Stev's Database 