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'.