Remembering STAR TREK Roleplaying Games

With the passing of Leonard Nimoy, thoughts of Star Trek roleplaying games sprang to mind. Over the years, there have been several - FASA's version in the 1980s, Last Unicorn Games' version, plus Prime Directive (which also had GURPS and d20 versions), and Decipher's Star Trek RPG (not to mention various tabletop starship combat games, board games, and card games). My own personal history with Star Trek roleplaying games lies back in the 80s with FASA's game and dozens of supplements and adventures, and I still have a soft spot for that game, and it's what inspired me to write my own sci-fi RPG, N.E.W.

I revisited FASA's game a couple of years ago in a short-lived campaign which didn't go too well. The system, sadly, had not aged well. It did give me chance to poke that nostalgic part of my brain which had be scouring eBay in a - successful - attempt to repurchase all the old material I'd lost over the years.

What are your memories of Star Trek RPGs? Or, indeed, portrayals of Star Trek using other systems?

 

[Venthrac]

I have it archived in a binder, but not online.

 

[Gronin]

I played the FASA game a long time ago and enjoyed it. I picked up pretty much everything put out by Last Unicorn Games but only played a few times. It's been a long time but it was a lot of fun.

As someone said the toughest thing about the Star Trek universe is putting together a group of people who are willing to play "Star Trek".

As far as Star Fleet Battles is concerned -- I loved that game -- we used to play it all the time. My race of choice was the Kzinti - pseudo-fighters and drones for the win!!

 

[rgard]

I played the FASA game a long time ago and enjoyed it. I picked up pretty much everything put out by Last Unicorn Games but only played a few times. It's been a long time but it was a lot of fun.

As someone said the toughest thing about the Star Trek universe is putting together a group of people who are willing to play "Star Trek".

As far as Star Fleet Battles is concerned -- I loved that game -- we used to play it all the time. My race of choice was the Kzinti - pseudo-fighters and drones for the win!!

Sabre dance with my D7?

 

[CarlZog]

Running ST within the story conceits of the series' or movies is exceptionally difficult, due to the system of ranks and the fact that ST has a certain feel that is unique within scifi worlds. My players over the years have all disliked even the notion of one having command authority over the others, even if it's not run that way. Sure, they could all be the same rank, still the idea of being in uniform and working closely within a rank-based hierarchy just hasn't interested my players. The other issue - that of the feel - is the bigger one, I believe. ST is different from all other scifi properties, and if that vibe isn't promoted, it's not ST...and therefore not satisfying as an attempt to play in that world.

The issue of command authority is, I think, the main reason that there are so few military RPGs in general. It definitely takes a set of players willing to buy into a certain group dynamic. If your PCs tend toward the chaotic, you may have a tough time with any kind of defined group structure. But in my experience it also takes players with a reasonably well-honed sense of real world leadership to successfully lead a PC group - and be led -- in that kind of setting.

As for the ST vibe, I think the reason it's so hard to recreate is that so much of it is built on the shows' incredibly strong lead characters. Generally speaking, the plots could largely be dropped into any RPG with little difficulty, but it's how those iconic characters responded that makes it ST. I've seen a lot of successful ST one-shots that solve the problem by just making the PCs be the show characters, but it's easy for those to slip quickly in satirical parody -- even when that may not have been the session's intent.

I think the answer is a developing a really strong PC group with interesting relationships. Forge them into the same kind of tight-knit crew that was featured in all the ST properties.

 

[Morrus]

We came up with a weird little mechanic for the command authority issue. Essentially, the captain was a group NPC. Anything a player decided to do, it can be assumed that the captain ordered him to do so, or that he had authority to do so on his own. So the lpayers essentially jointly made the comamnd decisions just by acting. It kinda retrofits the orders.

 

[fjw70]

We came up with a weird little mechanic for the command authority issue. Essentially, the captain was a group NPC. Anything a player decided to do, it can be assumed that the captain ordered him to do so, or that he had authority to do so on his own. So the lpayers essentially jointly made the comamnd decisions just by acting. It kinda retrofits the orders.

If I ever did a ST RPG that is the way I would do it. It would be a great way for the GM to nudge the PCs in a certain direction by asking the PCs the right questions.

 

[lyle.spade]

We came up with a weird little mechanic for the command authority issue. Essentially, the captain was a group NPC. Anything a player decided to do, it can be assumed that the captain ordered him to do so, or that he had authority to do so on his own. So the lpayers essentially jointly made the comamnd decisions just by acting. It kinda retrofits the orders.

That is a fine idea. Perhaps I will steal it for the con game I might run.

On that topic, tell me what you think of this idea, which was an early attempt to get around the command issue. I'd even started making pregens for this before I ran out of time before the con and shelved it. Anyway, the idea is that all the PCs are captains, or of comparable rank and position, and they're at a distant station or outpost - not a full starbase, I think - as part of a wargame or strategic planning meeting when the place is attacked by a team of operatives or attacked by a fleet - I never could decide which. Anyway, it'd put experienced equals in the position of having to work together to defeat the assailants - which would give them a lot of away team-style action - and defeat the greater threat (the attack that would probably come on the heals of the assassination attempts). Yeah, something like that. I thought it'd be neat to give each PC something of a pool of contacts and resources, in the form of aides or subordinate officers that'd accompaned them, to rove around the station and take care of side jobs that might need to be done in order for the PCs to play through the story and do so in a manner befitting their rank and experience.

Thoughts?

 

[Morrus]

That is a fine idea. Perhaps I will steal it for the con game I might run.

On that topic, tell me what you think of this idea, which was an early attempt to get around the command issue. I'd even started making pregens for this before I ran out of time before the con and shelved it. Anyway, the idea is that all the PCs are captains, or of comparable rank and position, and they're at a distant station or outpost - not a full starbase, I think - as part of a wargame or strategic planning meeting when the place is attacked by a team of operatives or attacked by a fleet - I never could decide which. Anyway, it'd put experienced equals in the position of having to work together to defeat the assailants - which would give them a lot of away team-style action - and defeat the greater threat (the attack that would probably come on the heals of the assassination attempts). Yeah, something like that. I thought it'd be neat to give each PC something of a pool of contacts and resources, in the form of aides or subordinate officers that'd accompaned them, to rove around the station and take care of side jobs that might need to be done in order for the PCs to play through the story and do so in a manner befitting their rank and experience.

Thoughts?

That's great for one adventure, but not really something you can repeat.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Like several others, I had the FASA stuff, but didn't get to play with it very often. But one of my fondest memories of that time was a short lived Klingon game we played. The assassination of the captain, who had contingency plans in place, caused the campaign to crash and burn - but it was one of the best game enders ever!

 

[Koloth]

Was introduced to SFB when it was still a 5x7 pocket game. Our group got fairly good at it and started running SFB games at local conventions. We liked to do "Limited Intelligence" scenarios were each side received a sealed envelope that described their ships, bases and victory conditions. Neither side knew at the start what the other side's units or objectives were. One of the best complements we got was in the heat of battle when one of the participants looked up at us and said "I hate you guys, you're making me Think!" It was rather interesting how many people that would happily charge across the map at speed 31 in a open scenario would in a limited intel game decide that speed 4 was much better. One of our members designed the Lord Bishop. Still have the game but we don't get much chance to play anymore.