Good Star Trek RPG for the kind of player/GM I am.

[ourchair]

I'm a big Star Trek fan, the level-headed kind that is totally okay with The Original Series, the new Abrams reboot and Enterprise and I keep hearing a lot on the podcast, Fear the Boot about their games of Star Trek.

I'm curious if there're any good RPGs based on the franchise out there, or at the very least organized and well documented homebrew versions.

Almost all my experience as a GM has been with D&D4e, though I've played about 18 levels worth of Star Wars SAGA, dabbled in the Storyteller rules through NWOD, played lots of Shadowrun 4E and some Aberrant (Trinity Universe).

I'm trying to broaden my GM skills, though I'll be honest and say I loathe too much prep work and rely more on abstract puzzle reasoning and highly tactical combat than I ought to.

I'm currently trying to develop a story-based character-driven Star Wars SAGA campaign (though i feel hobbled by its 3e-style monster/npc blocks) and I've done a bit of reading on the Cortex System for a Serenity game that never pushed through.

But enough blather, any suggestions?

 

[Stormonu]

Last Unicorn/Decipher did an "official" version of the game a few years back, but as they are no longer producing (a most excellent version) the game, your best bet would be to get it off e-bay or certain RPG retailers like NobleKnight or Troll&Toad.

There was also a FASA version of Star Trek, it too is long out of print, but I never cared for it myself, beyond their starship combat simulator (micro machines made for the best miniature ship models, though there was an official line put out for the FASA version, and there is a set of japanese miniature ships that look awesome).

Then there is always Star Fleet Battles, by Amarillo Design Bureau - still in print, I think. Star Fleet Battles is a serious, deep simulation of Star Trek space combat - a little too deep for me to ever get involved with other than the computer version that was put out. I beleive they also put out a RPG called Prime Directive - from the look of their web site, it may still be in print.

 

[ourchair]

Last Unicorn/Decipher did an "official" version of the game a few years back, but as they are no longer producing (a most excellent version) the game, your best bet would be to get it off e-bay or certain RPG retailers like NobleKnight or Troll&Toad.

There was also a FASA version of Star Trek, it too is long out of print, but I never cared for it myself, beyond their starship combat simulator (micro machines made for the best miniature ship models, though there was an official line put out for the FASA version, and there is a set of japanese miniature ships that look awesome).

Then there is always Star Fleet Battles, by Amarillo Design Bureau - still in print, I think. Star Fleet Battles is a serious, deep simulation of Star Trek space combat - a little too deep for me to ever get involved with other than the computer version that was put out. I beleive they also put out a RPG called Prime Directive - from the look of their web site, it may still be in print.

Heard of those, but the quirks of each system are so frequently discussed that I was hoping a Star Trek fan who is currently using a more modern system or a experienced with player with hands-on knowledge of those games would help me distinguish which one suits my needs.

Off the cuff, my goals campaign-design-wise are:
*Remove the Captain position from the party, perhaps making the play group an Away Team (or even a Hazard Team, a la Voyager: Elite Force)

*Allow some exciting starship combat as an infrequent distraction, but not reduce it to an overly tactical Das Boot simulation.

*Permit some mechanical advancement where the players grow incrementally (ala Shadowrun) rather than develop according to a level-based progression to godhood.

Cortex seems the most interesting option, but I wouldn't know. I just played the Tri-Stat system, so if either of those games (Unicorn/Decipher or FASA) are less crunch-heavy but not completely minimalist to the point of being OSR, then I'd definitely give them a look.

 

[jaerdaph]

You might want to check out Where No Man Has Gone Before (version 2.0) - it's Microlite20 Star Trek: TOS, rules light, and best of all, it's free. The earlier version of this game (version 1.0) was based on d20 Modern.

The only official Star Trek RPGs I've played are Last Unicorn Games (LUG) Icon system and Decipher's CODA system. I loved all the LUG books and the Icon system, but if I were going to play a Star Trek game today, I'd go with Decipher and CODA (mainly because it appeals to my d20 System sensibilities even though it uses 2d6 instead of d20) instead, even though the Decipher books are somewhat dry and dull compared to writing in the LUG books.

 

[Steel_Wind]

There are three: FASA, LUG Trek (Icon) and Decipher's CODA.

I thought none of them were particularly excellent, though if I had to pick one, I'd choose LUG Trek. (Please note. LUG and Decipher's are very different game systems).

I have all of LUG Trek with all the accessories to boot. It certainly had its moments. It's a shame that Paramounbt pulled the license after WotC bought LUG. Still, I'm not as much of a fan of a dice pool system as I am D20 or SW:SE.

The problem with SW:SE for Star Trek use is that the flavor of the classes, the tech/gear in the books, and the overall mechanics of Force Points seems far better suited to Star Wars than Star Trek. While Star Trek's science is sometimes questionable, at least it is trying to be a science fiction setting and has that verisimilitude in mind as it is written; whereas Star Wars is just a Space Fantasy -- it's D&D in space, more or less. One is Science Fiction, while the other is not.

Don't get me wrong, I love SW:SE. I just don't think that approach works for a setting like Star Trek, that's all.

 

[Wik]

Star Fleet Battles is an awesome game. The learning curve is STEEP, though - there is a lot that you can do in this game. I actually grew up playing it, as my dad is a HUGE SFB fan - and at times, I was the only person he could play with. It's a super heavy, detailed, and complex game.

But there's a lot you can do to make the game incredibly fun - overcharging your shields as a Lyran and then ramming the enemy (taking heavy damage by doing so), sending out suicide shuttles, or the famous "klingon hook" maneuver that is surprisingly hard to master for a turn-based game.

However, it isn't an RPG. It could be used very effectively as your starship battles simulator for whatever RPG you choose to use, though. It is set up in such a way that there are introductory modules, called "flight academy" or something, that slowly introduce you to all of the elements of the game.

 

[Azgulor]

My recommendation would be to adapt True20 or Mutants & Masterminds. The games are similar enough that sci-fi expansions can be used in either game.

True20
Level-based. 3 Main archetypes/class (Warrior, Expert, Adept) but you can effectively build custom classes by mixing the 3. The Revised core rulebook addresses sci-fi gaming and there are several 3PP supplements (such as the excellent Reign of Discordia) that provide additional sci-fi goodies to utilize.

Mutants & Masterminds
This is the one I'd recommend, as I believe it allows for greater flexibility & customization. Yes, it's core genre is comic-book style heroes, but guess what? There's a lot of sci-fi in comics these days. Not really level based, M&M allows you to set the power level (or range of power levels) available in the game. As characters advance they gain capabilities both within their power level and can advance into higher power levels over time. So you can easily establish something like:
Regular human NPC: Power level 1-3
Standard Starfleet NPC: Power level 4
PCs/Bridge Crew: Power level 6-9, etc.

Powers/abilities are largely defined by their in-game effect and can be re-skinned or assigned whatever Trek-appropriate fluff is warranted.

By establishing the power level caps for PCs, you can have very versatile and 3-dimensional characters but still avoid situations where the PC's are god-like in power/ability due to their level.

Further, over at the Atomic Think Tank forum, you can find tons of fan-generated characters, including Star Trek iconics like Kirk, Spock, etc. You'll also be able to find character write-ups for everything from Indiana Jones to Star Wars to Terminator, all of which speak to how well the game can handle multiple genres and widely-ranging power levels of characters.

 

[grizzo]

Gurps has a Starfleet universe book.

 

[rgard]

I'd recommend FASA's Star Trek RPG or Traveller T20 as those are the only two I've played that could work.

For FASA's game, you can pick up all the rules really cheap on Ebay. The system works and your players as bridge crew will all have something to do during ship to ship combat.

For Traveller T20, it's the D20 version of the original Traveller RPG. It's good with the prior service system. You can get your bridge crew assembled, just have the folks pick their skills based on the job they'll have.

Thanks.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I'm trying to broaden my GM skills, though I'll be honest and say I loathe too much prep work and rely more on abstract puzzle reasoning and highly tactical combat than I ought to.

Before [MENTION=99]Rel[/MENTION] gets here to say it, I'll recommend looking into Savage Worlds.

While they don't have anything specific to Star Trek, they do have a few books dedicated to roleplaying in space.