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Okay I've seen the new J.J. Abrams directed STAR TREK twice now. (Saturday & Sunday  just past)

I am actually getting half-jazzed to try and run a STAR TREK RPG session or two. Back in the mid-80s to early '90s I used to run the old FASA version practically every other weekend.

Right now the only currently in-print STAR TREK RPG or TREK-similiar RPG seems to be the Prime Directive variations (D20, GURPS, etc)
I have a copy of the GURPS 4th edition version of PRIME DIRECTIVE.

 Any of you folks have suggestions opn how to get that mood or vibe of the recent movie into an introductory RPG session or two?

 My first impulse is to push the action and chase elements of any adventure up to "Eeleven"  to get that movie feeling.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;301997Any of you folks have suggestions opn how to get that mood or vibe of the recent movie into an introductory RPG session or two?

Ed, I'm currently running a Trek game using Decipher. What do you think is the mood/vibe of the recent movie ?

Regards,
David R

What is the vibe of the new movie? "Raw recruits raise to the occasion and save the Universe".

The main focus of the movie was to present the new take on the original characters, different but still very faithful. It did that very well but it's no good at all for a roleplaying game unless you want the players to actually play Kirk, Spock and co.

If you take that element out, what remains is the the notion that these guy who are still green have so much natual talent that,  when the stakes are high, they need to take over from their senior officers.

So in game terms I'd say you need three things
(1) Player characters with very high skills and attributes but who for story reasons are still little more than cadets.
(2) Some sort excuse to suddenly remove the senior staff form the ship and give the party defacto command (food poisoning disables the senior officers or maybe they are ambushed)
(3) I really epic plot - not the typcial diplomatic incident on small isolated planet with prime directive complications, it should be something that threatens enitire systems and which must be dealt with immediately.

Quote from: Soylent Green;302100The main focus of the movie was to present the new take on the original characters, different but still very faithful.

And this is it. A sense that anything is possible. The possibility of great adventures, something Trek has been lacking in for some time now.

Regards,
David R

I liked the original Prime Directive game in part because of how it differed from 'official' Star Trek... the whole idea of the 'Prime Teams' made a lot of sense to me... why send the whole bridge crew into harm's way when you can have squads of mission ready specialists do it instead?

I haven't seen the movie yet though...
The whole bit with "these guy who are still green have so much natual talent that, when the stakes are high, they need to take over from their senior officers." sounds kind of annoying.

Quote from: Simlasa;302112The whole bit with "these guy who are still green have so much natual talent that, when the stakes are high, they need to take over from their senior officers." sounds kind of annoying.

To be fair, that's not actually what happens. Yes, some of the crew are fairly green, but several are already senior officers, and I don't think any take over because of natural talent. I would say more, but that would have to include spoilers, so I'll just say it's well worth the money to see on the big screen, IMO. I went in with some level of skepticism, and was pleasantly surprised.

To be clear I did not mean to imply the film wasn't good. It is well worth seeing. I was just abstacting the plot to its essentials for the purposes of this discussion (how to capture the feel of the new movie in a game - without using the orginal cast) which is a bit like decribing Casablanca in terms of "boy meets girl...".

Quote from: David R;302109And this is it. A sense that anything is possible. The possibility of great adventures, something Trek has been lacking in for some time now.

Regards,
David R

BINGO!!!

What a lot of TREK shows and RPGs have been lacking.

Its all NEW! again.

The Players can be the first the first ones to encounter the bliggledy tink-tonkers of the planet PhoozyDarTs VI

The players can negotiate treaties ...decide great battles - because the clutter of all that Trekkie nitpicking has been blasted to hell with a good movie.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Soylent Green;302186To be clear I did not mean to imply the film wasn't good. It is well worth seeing. I was just abstacting the plot to its essentials for the purposes of this discussion (how to capture the feel of the new movie in a game - without using the orginal cast) which is a bit like decribing Casablanca in terms of "boy meets girl...".

I know it's hard to do without adding spoilers. Just putting out there that I thought they did a surprisingly decent job of justifying why some of the characters were put in the position of taking over. I actually expected to not be as happy with the writing as i was. I can see where you're coming from about it's being adapted to rpging, but I think I'm with the other guys who say it seems better now. The universe is wide open again.

Quote from: Koltar;302219BINGO!!!

What a lot of TREK shows and RPGs have been lacking.

Its all NEW! again.

The Players can be the first the first ones to encounter the bliggledy tink-tonkers of the planet PhoozyDarTs VI

The players can negotiate treaties ...decide great battles - because the clutter of all that Trekkie nitpicking has been blasted to hel with a good movie.


- Ed C.

Dear Ed:

      I want to play this game.  Like, totally.

Quote from: Koltar;302219BINGO!!!

What a lot of TREK shows and RPGs have been lacking.

Its all NEW! again.

The Players can be the first the first ones to encounter the bliggledy tink-tonkers of the planet PhoozyDarTs VI

The players can negotiate treaties ...decide great battles - because the clutter of all that Trekkie nitpicking has been blasted to hell with a good movie.


- Ed C.

The same feeling that existed when FASA's Star Trek the Roleplaying Game came out. At the time all there was the Original Series, ST:The Motion Picture, and Wrath of Khan. I never had the same feeling of excitement around the Decipher and Last Unicorn versions.

OKAAY....

I've now gone and done it.

I volunteerred to run an RPG session at another game store locally. When that store's manager asked me what game I was going to run I said "I'm goiung to run a STAR TREK RPG!"

So now I have to pre-generate at least 6 characters for use at that game session on Saturday June 20th.

As for the scenario?

 Thinking hard about updating and adapting "In The Presence of My Enemies" from the old FASA intro adventure book.


- Ed C.

And?

Quote from: Werekoala;307809And?

And??

 ...any one got more suggestions?

 NPCs to adapt or post?

Anyone want to be fictionalized as an NPC for this scenario?

Can we imagine a Roddenberry/Abrams universe version of either Pundit or Dr. Rotwang as a Federaton Ambassador or special envoy that confuses the PCs or gets on their nerves?


- Ed C.

An alien species that doesn't get 'ally/enemy'. Instead, their concepts are along the lines of 'helpful/dangerous'.

It can be a subtle distinction, but also a critical one - Which means a diplomatic mission can seriously go haywire if it's missed.

Or you could go with 'Alien who's really human with bumpy noses and monoculture'. :p

An Andorian named Blandak. His preferred weapon is the Starship, but a polearm will do in a pinch (and he always has his "staff" with him).

He HATES Ferengi. And Klingons. Not real fond of humans, but his current Captain is one.

Oh, and he has a secret. He betrayed his people to the Romulans. Might even still be doing so. You, of all people can appreciate what that really means.

As an example of what kind of person you're dealing with - he once insulted a Klingon at a bar, and got into a lengthy bit of litigation involving honor and whatnot. The culmination of the legal proceedings was a meeting in a conference room with the offended Klingon and his aides, and a Vulcan arbitrator. No weapons allowed of course.

In the course of the negotiation, the progressively infuriated Klingon eventually agreed to a duel - any duel - and even allowed the Andorian to chose the weapon and time of the fight. Yes, I riled him up that bad (oh, did I mention this was a PC of mine?)

As soon as the Klingon announced the terms, the Andorian named Blandak grabbed a chair, shouted "Conference chair, now!" and beat the Klingon to a pulp. Win.

To this day, gleeful shouts of "conference chair!" resound around the gaming table from time to time.

Any questions?

Quote from: Koltar;307812And??

 ...any one got more suggestions?

- Ed C.

Which ruleset?

I picked up LUG's Star Trek TOS RPG book from a online used game shop. I also picked up the original Prime Directive. (I like Gurps, but I'm wanting something simpler,) I was hoping for Prime Directive D6 to come out but it looks like the game will be a long while before its out.  

I decided inspired by the movie to do Star Trek: The Anime Series. Basically an adult aimed cartoon version of the universe whose only canon, I'm beholden too is there was an Enterprise and its nominal crew. Yet the exact truth of those characters will be left a mystery. I'm doing my own show, taking place after their 5 year mission, and leading to new challenges.

One of the reasons I want to use Star Trek (I'm not a huge fan of anything but TOS) is because I want a reliable  community for the heroes to interact with, yet at the same time be able to present challenges that have them wonder vast distances. So a large enough starship and crew to make interactivity reliable and interesting with character's whose foibles they'll get used to  as well as adventure and action as they wander the stars. Most of my players are huge ST fans, but this  direction allows me to utilize my own ideas, without getting handcuffed to history of the universe as they know it.

One of the things I'm working on is exactly as suggested--aliens as not "good/evil" but "helpful/harmful", and it seems odd for entire races to be an enemy of a multi community group in some ways. Since that assumes a bit too "good/evil" (i.e Space Opera white hat and black hat) mode of the universe.

My suggestion was not on morality, but modes of thought. If you help said aliens, you will be treated as helpful - But not as an 'Ally', because that's a foreign mental concept. 'Consistantly helpful' would be as close as they could come.
The moral concept of 'helping your enemies' could still exist; the 'mental language' describing it would just be different, for instance.

Of course, trying to describe an alien mentality with a human vocabulary has certain problems... ;)

I always dug the adventure (from GDW's Challenge mag way back in the day, I think) where the PCs were copies of a crew and ship encountered by this entity/machine/handwavery thing a few years prior to the date of this adventure.

Seems that, at some point, the copies got loose and began to faithfully continue their mission of exploration, but the arrival of a Federation starship and crew who seemed to be ten-fifteen years behind in terms of equipment, clothing, hair styles, etc. was a bit odd for the people and places they encountered.

The PCs' point was to figure out what they were, where they were in the scheme of things and so on.

Nifty idea, and maybe good for a one-shot.

The cutesy, sarcastic ideas might be amusing - but I'm looking for honest and useful help and suggestions here.

The key is the title of the thread.

Fpor many of us who had gotten burned out on Star Trek and had soured on it - the new J.J. Abrams actually got me to LIKE it and enjoy it again.
 The campy parody versions of the old style is not what I''m looking for.

 This game session and any future STAR TREK games I run I want toi try to get that good mood of the movie into it. The idea of "getting It Right Finally!" .

Or in other words: TREK done with the fun and right attitude of daredevil cheerfulness-defeat-any-obstacle gung-ho stuff that the new movie had. These players are going to be playing characters that are part of that Starfleet that we saw in the movie.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;307902Fpor many of us who had gotten burned out on Star Trek and had soured on it - the new J.J. Abrams actually got me to LIKE it and enjoy it again.
 The campy parody versions of the old style is not what I''m looking for.
.

I am with you here.

Are you planning to use the Mission Class Courier as the ship? With that info I can give you some concrete suggestions.

Rob

Quote from: Koltar;307902The cutesy, sarcastic ideas might be amusing - but I'm looking for honest and useful help and suggestions here.

The key is the title of the thread.

Fpor many of us who had gotten burned out on Star Trek and had soured on it - the new J.J. Abrams actually got me to LIKE it and enjoy it again.
 The campy parody versions of the old style is not what I''m looking for.

 This game session and any future STAR TREK games I run I want toi try to get that good mood of the movie into it. The idea of "getting It Right Finally!" .

Or in other words: TREK done with the fun and right attitude of daredevil cheerfulness-defeat-any-obstacle gung-ho stuff that the new movie had. These players are going to be playing characters that are part of that Starfleet that we saw in the movie.


- Ed C.

I just thought that this needed to be said again. Yes, yes, and yes!

-clash

Quote from: Koltar;307902The cutesy, sarcastic ideas might be amusing - but I'm looking for honest and useful help and suggestions here.

The key is the title of the thread.

Fpor many of us who had gotten burned out on Star Trek and had soured on it - the new J.J. Abrams actually got me to LIKE it and enjoy it again.
 The campy parody versions of the old style is not what I''m looking for.

 This game session and any future STAR TREK games I run I want toi try to get that good mood of the movie into it. The idea of "getting It Right Finally!" .

Or in other words: TREK done with the fun and right attitude of daredevil cheerfulness-defeat-any-obstacle gung-ho stuff that the new movie had. These players are going to be playing characters that are part of that Starfleet that we saw in the movie.


- Ed C.

And that's what you're getting. Helpful suggestions.

Quote from: estar;307904I am with you here.

Are you planning to use the Mission Class Courier as the ship? With that info I can give you some concrete suggestions.

Rob

I was thinking about it , yes.

If I had the photoshop skills  I would chage the warp engines into looking more like the stryle seen in the movie...and also somehow put a hexagon overlay on it instead of squares.

The other thing is that particular scenario assumes things are taking place after the Organian Peace Treaty. The movie and this game session takes place before the Organians were ever met. (well at least before the real versions of them are known). So, the background framing politics and parameters will be much different.


- Ed C.

I reread the adventure. The main problem it is esstentially a dungeon crawl through a Klingon D7. But I think it still be that but punched up the way you want.

The first thing to do is add a twist to the escape. Yeah the ambassador is the main point but one of the things the movie did is throw a couple of related things together to produce the frantic action. Not only you got Nero wanting revenge, Spock lost his mother, and Kirk needs to find his best and first destiny.

So the first I would is make the Klingon ship a test bed for a Klingon Superweapon. Let's go with Star Fleet Battle's Mauler. However the weapon is not very useful at the moment because Klingon power technology isn't up to the task. However with the Lorelei's (sp?) new crystals they can make the Mauler work. For those who are listening SFB's Mauler is essentialy a D7 built around a giant beam weapons. Similar to Traveller's Spinal Mounts.

The Klingon are desparate to get this working quickly so they have the prototype stationed just outside the Lorelei system waiting on the successful neogations. As luck as it a last minute Ion Storm diverts the Courier so it approaches the Lorelei system at a unexpected heading running across the mauler. None the less the Mauler has conventional disurptors that can be set to stun and so the players and the ambassasdor are captured. The Lorelei system fleet sees the Mauler who have to pretend they are part of the diplomatic corp.


Sense you are doing pregen I would have the following included

- Two character needs to have a personal issues with each other over a failed mission involving ... klingons. They each blame the other. The idea is that if they can overcome their differences and work to succeed at this mission they will be redeemed. Make them the Captain and the Enginneer perhaps.

- One character needs to mildly telepathics. She (or he) has the ability to sense surface thoughts and planting mild suggestions. She doesn't like doing this as she feel it would be a gross violation of ethics. Science Officer

- A Vulcan who just returned Star Fleet. The recent loss of Vulcan caused him to lose his emotional balence and he had to be confined for several weeks until the surviving Vulcan doctors could help restabilized. Although technically fit for duty he is deeply embarrassed over the incident and suffer from doubts over his ability to control himself in violent situations. Helmsmen

- "Cupcakes" the Security Officer from the Movie. After Kirk became captain he was uncomfortable remaining on the Enterprise and got the first transfer out he could. He is bit of a hot head and now has a driving need to do something to prove that he better than Kirk. Security.

- A medical officer, nominally sent to gather data on the people of Lorelei she has been discreetly tasked with keeping an eye on the Vulcan in case he "loses" it again. Medical.


I am going to go with no Organians on this one and say that the Lorelei have defenses against immediate Klingon takeover.


The plot

-Teaser
The character are summoned to the Admiral's office where they are introduced to the Ambassador and given the Mission. Of course the Ambassador should have a distinctive personality.

-Act One
The players encounter the Ion Storm. Make it a problem solving excercise involving something that you place on the table and the players have to look at and dechiper. For example use a bunch of blocks to make a maze that the players have to navitage through except you move the blocks to open and close pathways.

They are now heading into the Lorelei system and encounter the Mauler, make sure you let them scan the ship and note the unusual weaponary before bagging them.


-Act Two
The player wake up in the cells. The telepath can get them out by creative use of her skill but she will find it very distasteful. At some point if the players gain computer access let them find out the Mauler make the information dire enough so that they will want to disable it as well as escape.

Now destroying the Mauler will be problematic. However luckily the Mauler prototype is fincky enough that that well design charge can wreck the main weapon tube. setting the Klingons back for years. A charge that the enginneer is capable of designing. Make sure you give the captain some tech skill that the enginneer needs in order to do this so the two have to work together.


-Act Three
The Escape

A) The players get off by Transporter. For security reasons the conference site is protected by a shield that require parties to beam down several miles away. A Klingon Shore party will beam down after the party when a chase ensues. Either the party can defeat the Klingons or reach the conference site in which case the pursuit will be broken off.


B) THe players get off by Klingon Shuttle or using their ship. Similair to A except several Klingon Attack Shuttle pursue and a space combat ensues. The players will need to defeat the Klingons before reaching the conference site.


-Act Four
The Confrontation

If the players reach the conference site,  and Lorelei will highly upset. The Klingon Diplomatic Corp loses it and takes several important Lorelei hostage. The Character will have to work with Lorelei security to rescue the hostage.

If the players succeed up to this point they will get Lorelei to join the Federation and gain the power crystal. Plus the secret of the Mauler has been discovered.

Quote from: Koltar;307916I was thinking about it , yes.
The other thing is that particular scenario assumes things are taking place after the Organian Peace Treaty. The movie and this game session takes place before the Organians were ever met. (well at least before the real versions of them are known). So, the background framing politics and parameters will be much different.

Just say the Lorelei defend themselves enough so that the Klingons can't just take them over without a major fleet attack. So they are negotiating.

the offers can remain the same. The Klingon offering the Lorelei a mini empire of their own. And the Federation whatever that special deal the Ambassador has cooked up.

Estar assume I don't own STAR FLEET BATTLES (because I don't) back in the day I tried to use the FASA Tactical Combat Simulator for that kind of stuff. Laugh if you want to - back even back then I was weirdly ethical about copyright and I felt that FASA was more 'legal' and a tad more authentic than the Task Force Games stuff.

I was young and overly into ethics - okay?

MASSIVE EDIT: Just re-read the scenario, the Lorelyn system is mentioned in the original book. Over the deecades when IO rtan it - I normally used a different star system name. Think the reason was we had a Lorrie or Laura that played in our group or was an aquantance of everyone and we didn't want things too confusing at the table.

The basics of what you suggest is a good start.
Its only a 4 hour game block that I've got to work with - so I didn't want to go into ship combat at all. Over on the SJG forums I've asked for GURPS 4/e equivalents of the type of phasers and Communicators that we saw in the movie.
The tech details would be nice to have - but I want my focus to more on the role playing on derring do stuff.

Does anyone remember if they said Cupcake's real name in dialogue?

I have the vague memory that Uhura might have during the bar fight scene.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;307930The basics of what you suggest is a good start.
Its only a 4 hour game block that I've got to work with - so I didn't want to go into ship combat at all. Over on the SJG forums I've asked for GURPS 4/e equivalents of the type of phasers and Communicators that we saw in the movie.

Sure I understand. But I got a solution for you. Don't worry about the various ST simulators. Just treat it as GURPS Combat written larger. Except instead of the players controlling themselves they have to work together to control one combatant.

So just have DR (for shields) and a Damage Dice (for Phasers) Make a simple chart to trade off power between the two. Say 10 points of power. 1 pt of power make hex of movement, or 1 DR, or 1/2 D 6 of damage. Then run it like GURPS combat.

Or

You can say that the Courier's weapons have been disabled when the Klingon took it on board and have the players make a couple of dodge rolls. The more they make the closer they get to land to the city. And the less time the Klingon Shore Party riding along the attack shuttle have to pursue the players.

Quote from: Koltar;307930Does anyone remember if they said Cupcake's real name in dialogue?

Looks like they deliberately did not give Cupcake a name unless it was in the credits.

http://www.startrekmovie.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7902

Damn they credited him as Burly Cadet #1

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0808843/

You could name Jason Smith after the actor who played him.

Eh, just thought the idea of "clones finding their way in the scheme of things," might be an option, that's all.  Sorry if you took it the wrong way.  Thought it fit a bit with the reboot and all.

BTW, I dig where you are coming from, and I'd say ditch anything past TOS (or the current movie; whatever your reference point).  

But, and I digress, DS9 will always be a favorite of mine, so I like my stuff with the whole "shades of gray," vibe going on.

Remember:  Unisex jumpsuits are for the weak.  

Game on!

Apparently the script just referred to him as Burly Cadet #1. From IMDB Quote section:

QuoteBurly Cadet #1: This townie isn't bothering you right?
Lt. Nyota Uhura: Oh, beyond belief. But it's nothing I can't handle.
Kirk: You could handle me if that's an invitation.
Burly Cadet #1: Hey, you better mind your manners.
Kirk: Oh relax, cupcake, it was a joke.
Burly Cadet #1: Hey farmboy. Maybe you can't count. But there are four of us and one of you.
Kirk: So get some more guys and then it'll be an even fight.

I might just use the last name of the actor that played him.
Here is him:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0808843/

 Its amusing that he held that minor grudge and fight in his memory for three years.


- Ed C.

Quote from: Koltar;307944Apparently the script just referred to him as Burly Cadet #1. From IMDB Quote section:



I might just use the last name of the actor that played him.
Here is him:
http://us.imdb.com/name/nm0808843/

 Its amusing that he held that minor grudge and fight in his memory for three years.


- Ed C.

I still won't game with the guy who changed his GURPS character from what I had approved as GM 16 years ago. I still don't trust the guy who slammed my hand in a locker in 9th grade, 25 years ago.

I have forgiven them, but I still know better than to trust them... Holding a grudge that long is natural for some people.

Heck, one friend of mine has to be careful going to family reunions for something that happened during the US Civil war... and to her dying day, my grandmother held strong grudges against several people, some she carried for 80 years. My grandfather's family wouldn't speak to her after he died. Wouldn't communicate with me or my mother, either.

Old grudges make excellent quirks, too... think of them as potential 5- activation hatreds...

I'm still trying to figure out which suggestions were cutsey or sarcastic. Seems like a lot of solid stuff so far.

Have you tried the TrekRPGnet (http://forum.trek-rpg.net/index.php) forums for advice?

I strongly suggest picking up the Star Trek Narrators Guide (from LUG's Star Trek: TOS) it has some pretty solid advice on structuring the game and designing adventures for play.

One thing to remember is you have an unlimited budget with the imagination. You can have huge fleet battles, you can have aliens that are truly alien, as well as human's in funny suits if you so choose. The Spaceships of aliens can be broader and different than the series has shown. Not just remastered Gorn ships seen at a distance, but things that wow and amaze the sense of your players with size, scale, design.

Star Trek as it began as a TV series is extremely visual, the color coded uniforms are a big part of this--make the game visual. Describe in detail sufficient enough to be a picture for your players.

I don't know how you GM, so a lot of advice is going to be things you do, without some ideas from having sat with you at the table. So pardon any treading on common ground.

Also, in an RPG, you aren't limited to the visual or auditory effects, you can engage their sense of smell, and taste. Alien foods, that bewilder the taste buds, the smell of sweat and blood in a ship that has suffered from a battle, the singed smell of wiring struck by missed phaser beams, the smell of ozone from the passing of said beam.

Remember to describe things and occasionally hit those other senses, from the distant thrum of dilithium powered deflectors, to the steady beeps of the consoles reporting data, to the whirlwhirl of the tricorder. Hit them with sensory information!

Creating challenges in a spaceship/travelling game is also interesting--make plenty of plans to make things a challenge without dropping them in heavy fire power. Sure two fisted action from TOS and the new movie. Add to that some cerebral challenges, ways of dealing with Klingon/Romulon/whatever agents in cognito, fomenting change for their side without violating the humans pesky Prime Directive, and their grandfather clause rules. Espionage on primitive worlds, espionage on high tech worlds, dealing with strange godlike beings, to plain ordinary mundane alien-ness.

Make use of the Uniform lists in your preferred format at either my page ( http://aramis.hostman.us/trek/ug/unif.html ) or Spikes' page ( http://www.st-spike.org/pages/uniforms/uniforms.htm ) (depending on just what you like for a uniforms list.) Store a local copy and print out the one's you want in use. Neither of us have done ST 2009 uniforms, however. For the detail level of my thumbnail images, it wouldn't show up well.

Also, if you're running in the ST 2009 setting, don't let the players read the info in GPD; GPD is a separate universe with a bunch of differences intentionally put there by SVC. the 2009 ST is closer to it than TOS was... but not much, and has a very different mode of promotion.

Ed, I'll give you the same advice Ian and you gave me before I began prepping my Trek game - go to memoryalpha....there's lots of stuff to steal.

Regards,
David R

Quote from: aramis;308087Also, if you're running in the ST 2009 setting, don't let the players read the info in GPD; GPD is a separate universe with a bunch of differences intentionally put there by SVC. the 2009 ST is closer to it than TOS was... but not much, and has a very different mode of promotion.

Aramis,

 Read one of my earlier posts thread - I already know about the many issues involved with the Task Force Games/ SFB/ Prime Directive universe.

GURPS is a usable mechanics system mainly becuase some of the Star Trek stuff has been tackled already via the GURPS: PRIME DIRECTIVE book.  Also I am most comfortable with the GURPS game mechanics amnd stats in general.

The Abrams version of Roddenberry's universe is what I'm arimingf for in mood and vibe. To connect another thread on here - I'm also going for the optimism as much as possible.


- Ed C.


P.S.: for some who may not know me from other forums, I have a history of being connected to Klingon STAR TREK fandom. Take a look, take-A-Lookers:

http://kag.org/ms/ms51.htm

http://tatooine.fortunecity.com/kirk/54/kharton.html

http://www.kag.org/events/doh1.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQszAVm87gk

Remember for that TOS/Abrams feel

(http://home.earthlink.net/~wilderlands/stsheets.jpg)

Color Coded sheets are a must!

Enjoy
Rob

Koltar, write up a list of 10 concepts you feel defines "Abrams-Trek" and use those to guide your players and your GMing.  AKA, what makes "Abrams-Trek" different from TOS or NG or TOS movies, etc.   Share those with your players so everyone is on the same page.

Also, the beauty of GURPS is how the system can be modified to be more or less nitpicky regarding many areas of simulation.  Have a clear sense what needs to be modified to make your game mechanically support your 10 concepts.   AKA, if you presuppose that highly advanced education is a key feature of Star Fleet, then make INT cheaper to buy and maybe make a list of Star Fleet core classes and those skills become cheaper.   If you want more H2H combat and beam weapons to be secondary, increase the price of shooting skills and decrease the H2H costs.  

Make the system emulate your setting.   Don't allow the system to dictate your setting.  AKA, somebody is gonna be somebody's bitch, either you or the system.   Make the system your bitch.  It likes being the bitch.  Really, it does!  Just ask Kirk.  He's 2000 points of pimp slapping mofo.

Quote from: Silverlion;308063One thing to remember is you have an unlimited budget with the imagination.

Best GM advice ever!!!

Okay....several things here...and a slight time crunch is involved.....

Character sheets: I am just going to make more of the standard GURPS sheet or print out the pre-generated or suggested charactes that I do onb the GCA (GURPS Character Assistant)

CHARACTERS: Speaking of those - Do ANY of you guys have GURPS: Prime Directive charactes that you've used before that you could post here - or possibly e-mail to me? The more pre-generateds I have the better.

Deckplans: I still have a copy of the old D 7 deckplans made by FASA back then....however I also have high quality fan made Klingon ship made deckplans that I could use. I could scan it on my scanner/printer all-in-one - what I need to know is : what percentage do I enlarge it by to get it at the right scale for use miniatures???

 Or should I just re-draw it all by hand beforehand or as I run the adventure?

Miniatures: I re-discovered around here 80s era 25mm miniatures made by I'm guessing FASA. A friend gave me these over 10 years ago. Only hitch is they are dressed and painted up in the Wrath Of Khan-style uniforms.
THEN I saw that paper miniature creater generator linked in another thread . IF I had the time and ptractice with it I would have loved to have made Starfleet officer figures with those by grabbing images off the web - or drawing my own. As it is , I don't have a lot of time.

TREK McGuffin? : anyone else have any more good ideas on a McGuffin or plot hook that would link this with the Abrams movie tenuously? I still like the ideas Estar and others posted. Just want more brainstorming - and the Vicodin I'm on after yesteday's visit to an endodontist isn't helping much.


- Ed C.

There is a deleted scene where Nero is busted out of a Klingon Prison (Rura Pethe (sp?)). That whole affair starting with the capture of NERO, allowed the Klingons to captured a few micrograms of Red Matter. It is the controlled release of a couple of thousand atoms of Red Matter that make Mauler possible. However they still need the crystal to control that power to make a usable weapon.

Back in late 2008 or beginning of this year some publicity stills were released related to the movie.. There was a pic of two Klingon Guards holding Nero while it looked he was fighting them

That picture is saved to my computer.

Abrams went with bumpy-headed style Klingon. These two partiucular guards were wearing helmets that were shaped to accomodate for their foreheads. That was very noticeable.


- Ed C.

I think I found that picture. I will say they have bumpy head helmets so there still room to have TOS style Klingons.

So, willing to tell how your Abramesque Trek game is going to go down and what you did to flavor it like you wanted?

Curious, as I'm devouring all the old FASA Trek stuff (okay to good ideas, horrible interior artwork) that I can download.

Quote from: Danger;309152So, willing to tell how your Abramesque Trek game is going to go down and what you did to flavor it like you wanted?

Curious, as I'm devouring all the old FASA Trek stuff (okay to good ideas, horrible interior artwork) that I can download.

I don't run this until 7pm Saturday - thats why I'm still asking for suggestion, advice, and help for the adapting and modifying.


- Ed C.

Campaign Idea:

Starfleet (and by extension the Federation), horrified by the possibility that the Klingons will eradicate the entire Tribble population of Known Space out of malice (because all true Klingons hate the little fuckers), has ordered the Enterprise to engage in a 5-year mission of stopping the Klingons at every Tribble-killing mission they engage in without causing an all-out war between the Klingons and the Federation in the process.

That ought to keep them busy for awhile.

Estar & Danger (others too),

What I'm doing is taking the old FASA-made adventure "In The Presence of My Enemies" and adapting it for Movie's setting and style.

That also means trying to keep the gist of it  - running around /trying to escape while onboard an enemy ship - while gutting and cutting stuff that no longer makes sense or might be too 'fannish'.

Minor things I'm already editing about it  - every reference to a D-7 Battlecruiser I'm changing to Warbird in keeping with the simulator terminology they used in the movie.  Simce the shuip shown in the movie was a D-7 style ship, I am going with the idea that 'warbird' is Starfleet nickname or slang for that class of Klingon vessel - as most Starfleet officers and personnel had trouble pronouuncing the actual Klingon name for the vessel.

Little stuff like that.

 Also I got sick of the Ambassador in the scenario having the name Rivera, so I kept him as hispanic but changed his name to Ramos.  (In honor of a Klingon fandom friend that lives in southern California)


- Ed C.

Just discovered this VERY useful website for STar Trek Deckplans and I found the FASA deckplans on there that were meant to be used flor the old scenario:

http://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/klingon-d7-class-battle-cruiser-fasa-15mm-deck-plans.php

Thats a much cleaner scan than my machine did. It will be much easier to refer to in a hidden binder during the game. (I don't jave a laptop - or that might have been used that way)

Looking for alien suggestions now.

The Lorealyns as portrayed in the original adventure  - looking to male them much more ALIEN! because the Abrams movie showed a few alienms here and there at the bar and Starfleet Academy.

If its a race that has already been statted up for GUIRPS - then that is much better choice.


- Ed C.

The Fralli are fun.. GPD. Or a colony of any klingon subject race.

Ran it earlier today as part of "FREE RPG DAY" at a game store ('nother one locally - NOT the one I work at)

Frakking Kahless I'm exhausted!!

It was because I went for the Fast-Pace action of The Abrams movie. Holy Shrock on a stivk thats tiring - but fun.


I'll start another thread about the actual play.



- Ed C.