Friday, January 4, 2013

Star Trek RPGs, Part II

I feel the need to make this "Wrath of Something" or "Into Dorkness" jokes.

Anyway, last year (snerk) I was talking about Star Trek RPGs.  Well fellow blogger, sci-fi fan, all around good guy (with a GREAT name) Tim over at Hero Press posted these gems today.
http://www.heropress.net/2013/01/fleamarket-friday-gaming-where-no-die.html

First we have the Pre-Order for the Traveller based Prime Directive.
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/rpgs/traveller/core-rulebooks-accessories/traveller-prime-directive.html
I am not sure what you all know about Prime Directive, but it is almost a thing onto itslef.  It is based on the TOS era Star Trek, but it goes in a different direction all together.  Now the purist in me used to reject this.  Especially when the later movies and TNG began to air.  But these days I find it much more appealing.  Plus, like I said, Prime Directive is now almost a thing into itself with a rich history, while not quite as equal to Trek, it is still fun.



As many of you know from my White Dwarf Wednesday I have a history with Traveller, something I want to rectify someday.  Could Prime Directive be the game for me?  At the current exchange rate that would be $50 or so.  So I might wait to see after it out in PDF.

Another game that gets mentioned to me is Where No Man Has Gone Before.
http://www.abillionmonkeys.com/trek

I don't know much about it at all save that most people seem to like it.

Maybe this is the year I find my Sci-Fi RPG.


9 comments:

Trey said...

I have the GURPS version of this, but I might as well check out the Traveller version, too.

I've looked at Where No Man Has Gone Before. It seems to play a little bit more tongue in cheek than most Trek games (as written): it seems more "aware" it's a TV show and not "a world that was presented in a TV show." That's not necessarily bad by any means, I just wonder if they would effect play any.

Joshua Macy said...

Folks who are looking for an SF RPG to run Star Trek style (particularly Original Series)adventures should check out my free game Zap!, available at http://www.rpgnow.com/product/99579/Zap%21

Some of the sample characters (Ace Astra, Starship Captain; Tok, Menton Science officer; Spotty, uplifted dog/ship's engineer) demonstrate how easy it is to create a character that would be at home in TOS.

John said...

I've been watching the Mongoose one, it's been in preorder for a while and seems to be vaporware - maybe it gets little press because the 3rd party is doing it. Traveller and Trek is like the peanut butter and chocolate, though - makes sense to me.

Timothy S. Brannan said...

@Joshua THANKS!! I am going to read Zap on my lunch break.

@Trey Sounds like it would be perfect then for that Galaxy Quest game I have wanted to play. ;)

@Beedo. I agree, it is Peanut Butter and Chocolate. I just just hope it doesn't end up like Peanut Butter and Vaseline.

Brett Slocum said...

Another Trek game that is seeing use is Starships and Spacemen, 2nd Ed. from Goblinoid Games. OD&D-style mechanics with the Star Trek serial numbers filed off.

Rhonin84 said...

Right, ok having played Starships and Spacemen recently and Where No Man Has Gone Before...I still have to side with the latter for my Star Trek game.

I am very familiar with Traveller and I'm afraid that their conversion from ADB is taking forever...I hope it is not the Duke Nuke 'Em of the rpg world...

I am using the damage rules from this version of the microlite rules though...

http://fartrekrpg.blogspot.com/

Tim Knight said...

Back in the day I used to have similar feelings about the Star Fleet Battles Universe - I wanted the most up-to-date Trek or nothing at all.

Now I've mellowed with age and TOS has become my favourite iteration of Trek, so it makes sense that I desire a game which emulates that style.

Trey's point about WNMHGB is correct, but the more tongue-in-cheek elements, such as the "TV ratings results", are optional and not integral to the game. I'm sure it can be played as straight-laced as a group wants.

Anonymous said...

Where No Man Has Gone Before is at http://www2.abillionmonkeys.com:3389/trek/

Alex Osias said...

Thanks for all the links! I've been trying to collect these. Here are two old posts on the Trek RPGs I knew about:

http://armchairgamer.blogspot.com/2010/04/roleplaying-in-worlds-of-star-trek-part.html

http://armchairgamer.blogspot.com/2010/11/roleplaying-in-worlds-of-star-trek-part.html

There was a free, unofficial Star Trek sourcebook out for HERO sometime back as well.