Star Trek at 60: Fine, I’ll Do My Own Crossover

I love Star Trek.

I say that without any irony at all, I love all Star Trek. 

This week marks the 60th Anniversary of Star Trek. The show premiered on September 8, 1966, and television, science fiction, and honestly, my own imagination have never really been the same since.

I have talked about Star Trek a lot here over the years. My various USS Protector, Mercy, and Challenger projects, my affection for old FASA Trek, my recent dive into Star Trek Adventures, and, of course, my love for the mythology and storytelling Star Trek has always given me. 

But. And let's be honest. Paramount has kind of dropped the ball on Trek over the last couple of years. There are no new Trek series in production right now, and the current series are wrapping up, ending prematurely. Not to mention, there is almost nothing on TV to celebrate 60 years of the show.

Sound familiar? 

Yeah, the exact same thing that was going on with Doctor Who. For two shows that have defined what science fiction television can be, both anniversaries felt like they should have been bigger. 

Now, maybe that is unfair. Maybe no celebration could have matched what these shows mean to me.

Or maybe, just maybe, the answer is obvious.

So, if I can't rely on the creators of my two favorite sci-fi shows to do things right, I'll do my own 60th Anniversary celebration and have that Star Trek and Doctor Who crossover I have been promised.

Crossovers

One of the very, very first zines I ever bought was a Doctor Who zine that was being sold as local sci-fi convention. It featured a Star Trek (TOS) and Doctor Who (Tom Baker) crossover. I honestly could not tell you what the story was about, except that it required Spock to mind-meld with the Doctor. But it stuck with me.  It must have stuck with others too, but later on in the Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who: Assimilation² comic featuring the 11th Doctor and the TNG crew, a previous encounter featuring Kirk, Spock, and the 4th Doctor was alluded to. Granted, that is a very obvious choice.  I also recall reading an actually rather good fan-fic on one of the Star Trek Usenet groups featuring the TNG crew and the 7th Doctor. Wesley and Ace even went on a date. I also recall the 8th Doctor tapping the replicator with his question-mark umbrella to order a sandwich. 

Crossovers are baked into the wider fandom of both shows, and the possibilities are nearly endless. So many Trek shows and stories. So many incarnations of the Doctor. 

The real question becomes, what mix do I want? AND what system to play it in.

If I were going to do Star Trek TOS with the Fourth Doctor then answer, to me, is obvious. I have to use FASA rules. Likely some brain-numbing combination of both the FASA Trek and FASA Doctor Who. Part of me wants to do that just for nostalgia's sake. And maybe one day I will. A one-shot would be great. Have the Doctor with Sarah Jane Smith. I loved Sarah Jane.

But if I am going to do this one properly, I want something longer. Something more episodic.

The Blue Box Directive

If I am going to do this, I want Trek and Who at its newest. I considered Strange New Worlds for about a minute or two. But it is still running, and they have come close on their own many times. A real crossover is not likely to happen now, but I suppose I have not given up hope. 

So, I am setting it after Season 5 of Star Trek: Discovery, in 3192-93 CE. The Doctor is the Fifteenth Doctor, played by Ncuti Gatwa, with Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. A temporal anomaly appears, Discovery investigates, and the TARDIS arrives.

I like this idea because both runs were cut short, and both pissed off some of the worst fans of the shows on the internet. So if I am doing a crossover to spite people, I am going all the way.  BUT, that is not 100% the reason either.

The Doctor and Ruby would LOVE Discovery. It is exactly the sort of humanity the Doctor loves. A Federation that survived disaster. A ship thrown impossibly far from home and still doing the right thing. Scientists, explorers, found family, and people who keep choosing hope even when hope is wildly inconvenient. I mean, that is the heart of both shows, really. 

Not all the details have been worked out. I know there is an anomaly (there always is), and after the Flux (Doctor Who) and the Burn (Discovery), there have to be weak points in the multiverse for things to go through. The Doctor and Ruby show up, materialize in the cargo bay. I would say that some crewman tells the bridge that a "Blue box just appeared out of nowhere" which would trigger an alert to Starfleet HQ, still several hours away on subspace.

Also, I DO want Tilly to be there, maybe with a group of cadets on a training exercise. Hell. If I plan it right, they could be Cadets from Starfleet Academy, and they could be the PCs. Have not worked it all out just yet. Why? Tilly would be the ultimate Doctor fan-girl. And I adore Tilly.

The adventure begins when another temporal signal is discovered. The Doctor comes to the bridge with Ruby, yes, he convinces Burnham that a civilian should be there. They track the signal and get there via conventional warp drive. There is a lot of <insert really cool technobabble here> interference. Burnham tells Bryce to clean it up and put it on audio. Burnham is about give her "we are here to help" speech when the audio breaks in.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!"

The Doctor pulls out his sonic screwdriver and activates the spore drive, sending the entire ship into panic.

Before Burnham can question the Doctor or Stamets can ask who is messing with his spore drive, Admiral Vance breaks in via hologram, ordering Burnham to invoke "the Blue Box directive."

Because, of course, Starfleet has protocols for dealing with the Doctor.  

The idea is to follow the Discovery premise of a chase across space. The bad guys are the Daleks since the 15th Doctor never got a chance to encounter them. AND I was thinking of using the New Paradigm Daleks, since we haven't seen them in a bit. The Daleks would be a natural enemy of the Federation. The Federation brings all these different species together to work together, celebrating their differences. This is an abomination to the central Dalek creed. These Daleks are here to destroy the Federation in a universe without their greatest enemy. And now they have set their sights on Discovery's spore drive.

I have an idea for Discovery's crew to capture a Dalek and interrogate it to discover what their plan is. The Doctor thinks this is a terrible idea, and it is, because this isn't a repeat of the Ninth Doctor episode "Dalek"; it is more "Silence of the Lambs" with the Dalek in the Lecter role. The Dalek wants Discovery's crew not to trust the Doctor by talking about all the deaths that can be laid at the feet of "The Oncoming Storm."

Ultimately, the crew (aka the PCs) defeat the Daleks, and the Doctor and Ruby get back to their own universe. I just have not figured out how that all happens yet! But isn't that also part of the fun? 

The System

This is important because is tells me the tone of the game. If I use Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition, that means I am expecting Star Trek logic. If I choose Doctor Who 2nd Edition, that means I am expecting less fighting and more talking. 

I have considered going back and forth between the two. My players would not mind, but it would mean a lot of extra work for me. 

Given Mōdiphiüs' support for Trek, and the 32nd Century Trek in particular, I am likely to go with this game. Though, as an exercise, I might have everyone generate their characters in both systems. 

I am nothing if not a glutton for punishment.

If I am going to make my players do it, then I should as well. And there is an obvious choice for a test run. The person who likely wrote the Blue Box Directive in the first place. The immortal Valerie Beaumont.

Valerie would come aboard the Discovery as a Specialist because she knows the most about the Doctor. I have already set her up for Doctor Who Second Edition, so let's see how she fares as a Star Trek Character.

Agent Valerie Regina Beaumont

Species: Human (Immortal) 
Career Path: Starfleet (Intelligence)
Role: Intelligence Agent
Department: Security
Intelligence Grade: Commodore-equivalent
Assignment: Starfleet Intelligence, Special Operations
Era: 32nd Century

CONTROL 11
DARING 9
FITNESS 8
INSIGHT 9
PRESENCE 9
REASON 10

COMMAND 4
CONN 2
ENGINEERING 1
SECURITY 5
MEDICINE 1
SCIENCE 3

Stress 10
Reputation 5

Focuses: Blade Weapons, Espionage, Infiltration, Earth History, Survival, Anomalous Phenomena

Talents: Cautious (Security), Close Protection, Tough, Veteran

Species Ability: Faith of the Heart

Role Benefit: Intelligence Agent

Grade: Commodore-equivalent

Values

"I am immortal. Everyone else is not."
"History is memory, and memory carries obligations."
"Sometimes a secret saves more lives than the truth."
"The mission matters. People matter more."

Attacks

Unarmed Strike (Melee), Stun 2, Size 1H
Shadow-Steel Sword (Melee), Deadly 3, Size 1H
Phaser Type-2 (Ranged), Stun/Deadly 4, Size 1H, Charge

Gotta admit, she looks pretty good at 1,623 years old.

And because I can.

Specialist Larina Stephanie Nichols

Species: Human (Psychic)
Career Path: Civilian (Official)
Professional Trait: Civilian Specialist, Xenolinguistics & Behavioral Sciences
Role: Xenotranslator
Starfleet Status: Civilian specialist attached to Starfleet
Administrative Rate: Crewman First Class
Division: Sciences
Actual Function: Psychic intelligence, reconnaissance, and subterfuge
Era: 32nd Century

CONTROL 10
DARING 9
FITNESS 8
INSIGHT 11
PRESENCE 9
REASON 9

COMMAND 3
CONN 2
ENGINEERING 1
SECURITY 5
MEDICINE 1
SCIENCE 4

Stress 8
Reputation 4

Focuses: Linguistics, Psychology, Espionage, Infiltration, Survival, Martial Arts

Talents: Extrasensory Perception, Telepathy, Psychokinesis, Martial Artist

Species Ability: Faith of the Heart

Role Benefit: Translator

Grade: Crewman First Class

Values

"Every mind has a language."
"Never ignore the feeling that something is wrong."
"People matter more than procedure."
"Underestimating me makes my job easier."

Attacks

Unarmed Strike (Melee), Stun/Deadly 2, Size 1H
Psychokinetic Strike (Ranged), Stun/Deadly 3
Phaser Type-1(Ranged), Stun/Deadly 3, Size 1H, Charge, Hidden 1 (a gift from Valerie)

To be clear, this is not Larina from Jackson, IL. That girl had a nice long life and likely passed away sometime in the late-21st century. That is, if this is the same universe at all. This Larina could be a reincarnation of that Larina. 

This Larina grew up on Earth, and Valerie found her and noticed Larina's talents for both language and her psychic powers. She serves as an aide to Agent Beaumont, where her cover is that of a xenolinguist, but in truth she is an expert in psychic espionage. 

There is a Jackson connection here. Jackson Larina once saw this Larina in her mirror. She didn't know what she saw, and I described it as a "psychic storm wearing her face." 

I also opted to teach her martial arts, thinking she had something like a psychic punch. 

Maybe Valerie and Larina served aboard the USS Jackson. Exactly the sort of strangeness I expect to see in the multiverse. 

One thing is certain. I want to do a lot more with this game. I barely left the character generation chapter, and I REALLY wanted to build some starships.

Well. I have the Protector, the Mercy, the Challenger, and more to still build.

Happy Birthday, Star Trek! Here is to many, many more.

Happy Birthday to me!

 Yesterday (June 13) was my birthday! We went out to eat, I got some more parts for my various computer projects, including a new GPU for my main game computer. But I also got some other RPG-related gifts.

The new Star Trek Adventures Starter Set.

I am disappointed that Starfleet Academy was canceled and that Doctor Who is on an extended hiatus. So I am planning a Star Trek/Doctor Who crossover. And just to be "that guy" I want to set it during the Later Discovery/Starfleet Academy era after the Burn (32nd Century) and in the Ncuti Gatwa/Fifteenth Doctor era. I adore both Sylvia Tilly and Ruby Sunday.

In fact, I really like this idea. It also gives me a chance to do something that the Fifteenth Doctor never got the chance to do...fight some Daleks. 

And a REAL Trapper Keeper for all my Jackson, IL, notes and character sheets. 

So the birthday was good, and I still have Father's Day coming up.

Star Trek: The Continuing Voyages (or "Fine! I'll Do My Own Star Trek!")

 Well, I am not happy that Star Trek: Starfleet Academy was canceled. I am not surprised, given Paramount's recent merger, but still disappointed. Even William Shatner, James T. Kirk himself, expressed his disappointment.

So fine. I'll do my own Star Trek.

There are so many eras to play, and the new Star Trek RPG has support for all of them. From the Dawn of the Federation all the way to the 31st century. But I have a few that I am really interested in.

The Voyages of the USS Challenger...or Sagan

I have a few ships already figured out. Though I like the idea of maybe doing a generational series all focused on a line of ships. Originally, this was going to be "The Voyages of the USS Challenger" because I really was affected by the Challenger disaster and this would have been my small way of honoring that. I still might. But I am not the only one to think this.

The Star Trek Adventures RPG, 2nd Ed., has a Constitution-class Challenger. There is a 23rd-century Excelsior-class Challenger and a 24th-century Galaxy-class Challenger. I was going to do a Lost-era one as well, but not an Ambassador-class. My buddy Greg (and fellow Star Trek obsessive fan) suggested a Constellation-class. The role of the Challenger was/is going to be pure scientific research. I still might, but while talking to him, the USS Sagan seems a better fit for me. There is a 25th-century Sagan class. 

I don't know. I have a lot of emotional investment in the USS Challenger. 

The Lost-Era

There are a lot of "Lost Era" groups on Facebook, talking about ships and ideas from the time between The Original Series and movies and The Next Generation. Timeline-wise, this is early 2300 CE to 2360 CE. This is where my USS Mercy and USS Protector operate. In truth, my Excelsior-class ship could be here as well. Maybe as support for the Mercy.

The cool thing about this era it gives me a lot of room to experiment. AND there are a bunch of cool things others are doing. For example, I found these cool "Lost Era" tricorders and phasers online. Sorry. I don't know who made these.

Time Ship

Another one I am considering is the adventures of a 27th-century time ship during the temporal cold war. But that one is only in the "wouldn't this be cool" stage.

--

So yeah, Paramount may not have any new Trek in production, but I certainly do!

Mail Call Tuesday: Star Trek Adventures, 2nd Edition

 I have been watching so many of my friends, both online and in real life, go on about the new Star Trek Adventures, 2nd Edition game from Mōdiphiüs. Both Carl Stark's Character Creation Challenge and Adam Dickstein's RPG Campaign Tour Challenge, along with my friend Greg Littlejohn's Trek game, and new Trek on TV,  convinced me it was time to take the plunge. But the final and ultimate motivation was DriveThruRPG offering "retail" copies of their books, not print on demand, but retail version of their offset printed books.

Well, they came last weekend. Shipped to me faster than some print-on-demand books I had ordered a few days prior. 

Now, keep in mind I am fiercely loyal to my FLGS. But I really wanted to see how these products looked. I am very impressed. Mōdiphiüs shipped these out, and I got them really fast. 

The books are gorgeous, as expected. A nice mix of new art and some art from the shows. All eras and shows are represented here. If there is a Trek you love, you can do it. If there is one you hate (*blasphemer!*), then you can ignore it.

Two of my favorite ships!

I have not gotten deep into the rules yet, but they seem simpler than the First Edition.

My oldest and I are going tomake some characters and ships here soon. Last week was Valentine's Day, and today is Fat Tuesday, so it's the busiest time of year. But I am looking forward to working out the Mercy, the Protector, and my various Challengers.

In a Galaxy Where No One Has Gone Before...

 Ok, so lots of people have done this before.

Our weekly AD&D Forgotten Realms game was canceled again because we wanted to make starships!

My oldest is really into the Fantasy Flight Games/EDGE Star Wars RPG. I do admit it is rather fun. He was reading over his books while working on ships while I was busy working some Kneadatite "Green Stuff" into areas of my USS Mercy kitbash.

We were talking about starships and I put the Mercy down for a bit to dry. The next step is taking a Dremel to it to smooth out the green stuff and repaint. So we decided to build some Star Trek ships for Star Wars.

I am 100% sure people will have a lot of opinions here on what we got "wrong" and that is great! These are our interpretations, but if you have suggestions, post them below. Plus, when it comes to ships like the USS Mercy and USS Protector *I* am really the only authority here.

USS Mercy

I have talked about the USS Mercy NCC 3001, many times here. I am still trying to figure how big this ship should be. The in-universe idea was to upgrade the existing Oberth-class spaceframe with newer designed nacelles (Ambassador-class prototypes) and a larger Daedalus-class "saucer" section, called "the hospital" section here. There is some disagreement on how large an Oberth is, other than "small." 

Based on what I can figure out, I am going to say, for now, the USS Mercy and the other Asclepius-class Emergency Medical Response ships are 360 meters. About the same size as the Constitution-class Enterprise-A or roughly half the size of the Mystic-class USS Protector.

Name: USS Mercy NCC 3001
Make: Asclepius Class (Emergency Medical Response)
Hard Points: 3
Encumbrance: 500

Silhouette: 5
Speed: 3
Handling: 1

Armor: 5
Hull Trauma: 80
System Strain: 50

Defense
Fore: 5
Port: 5
Starboard: 5
Aft: 5

Weapons

Weapon	Firing Arc	Damage	Range	Crit	Special
Phaser Array (2)	FA	5	Long	2	Auto fire, Breach 1, Accurate 2
Torpedo Launcher	AF	10	Long	1	Accurate 1, Vicious 2, Breach 2
Tractor Beam	FA	-	Medium	-	Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: CMDR Scot Elders, MD
Crew: 80 officers and enlisted. 200 medical personnel
Passengers: 600 Patients, 900 emergency triage
Launched: February 4, 2295 

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.7 (Warp 9.0) Cruising speed of Warp 7

Sensor Range: Extreme

I figure that this is a tough ship. It has powerful shields, but also ablative armor and polarized hull plating. This allows it to fly into war zones, drop its shields, and then beam out all the injured. So what it lacks in firepower for a ship of its size in 2295 it makes up for in protective tech. 

This really makes me want to stat it up for other systems like I did for the Protector below. 

USS Protector

The Protector is the first kitbash starship I have shared here, but certainly not my first.

Name: USS Protector, NX 3120
Make: Mystic Class (Heavy Cruiser, Experimental)
Hard Points: 4
Encumbrance: 1,000

Silhouette: 6
Speed: 5
Handling: 2

Armor: 6
Hull Trauma: 80
System Strain: 40

Defense
Fore: 5
Port: 5
Starboard: 5
Aft: 4

Weapons

Weapon	Firing Arc	Damage	Range	Crit	Special
Phaser Array	All (FPSA)	10	Long	3	Auto fire, Breach 2, Accurate 2
Torpedo Launcher	AF	15	Long	1	Accurate 1, Vicious 4, Breach 4
Phase Cannon	F	12	Medium	2	Breach 5
Tractor Beam	FA	-	Medium	-	Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: ????
XO: ????
Crew: 120
Passengers: 600
Launched: June 13, 2352 600 (SD 31165.86)

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.5 (Warp 9.1) Experimental Omega Drive (Warp 13)

Sensor Range: Extreme

I don't have a new Captain for the Protector, really. It had been my friend Greg's character Valerie Beaumont during a shake down cruise, but she now commands the USS Mystic. 

Though I think I might have something now after working on this.

USS Challenger-C

I built this model over Christmas break, but I still need to add the final decals and paint it. But I knew it was going to be the Challenger-C. Like the Protector, I had not yet chosen a captain. But it became apparent I had to pay respects to one of my favorite Star Trek series and one of my favorite In Search Of topics. The Captain of the Challenger-C is Bradward Boimler and this means his first officer HAS to be Beckett Mariner, because there is no way she would want to be Captain. I can actually hear her saying "No. Shut up. Being captain is lame. First officers get all the away missions." 

I am not the only one who thought this was a good idea, bluenoser18 on Reddit did mock-ups of Capt. Boimler and Cmdr. Mariner. Both are older, more mature, and ready to lead into the 25th century.

My son did the Enterprise-D, but the Challenger-C would have similar stats.

Name: USS Challenger-C, NCC 71099
Make: Galaxy Class (Heavy Cruiser), updated
Hard Points: 5
Encumbrance: 1,500

Silhouette: 7
Speed: 5
Handling: 2

Armor: 8
Hull Trauma: 100
System Strain: 50

Defense
Fore: 10
Port: 10
Starboard: 10
Aft: 10

Weapons

Weapon	Firing Arc	Damage	Range	Crit	Special
Phaser Array	All	12	Extreme	3	Breach 4, Accurate 3
Torpedo Launcher	AAF	20	Long	1	Vicious 5, Breach 5
Tractor Beam	All	-	Medium	-	Tractor 7

Personnel

Captain: Bradward Boimler (2402, SD 76906.23)
XO: Beckett Mariner
Crew: 150
Passengers: 1,000

Consumables: 5 years

Hyperdrive: ~ 0.5 (Warp 9.98)

Sensor Range: Extreme

--

So yeah, the Star Trek ships can run circles around the Star Wars ones until the Star Wars ship hits hyperspeed, and then they have the advantage. 

Also Trek ships have better shields. We are going to try this out with the FFG/EDGE Star Wars RPG and see how they work. 

These Are The Voyages of the Starship Mercy

 Quick one today, and fairly off topic for the week. But I spent some time this week on my newest kitbash, the Starship Mercy.

The parts are left overs from all sorts of different franchises, Star Trek, Star Wars, Galaxy Quest. I might even work in some Battlestar Galactica when I am done. 

I have to 3D print some items to smooth it out and I am going to use hot air gun (used to peel dry paint) to melt some of the pieces so they fit better. Writing this before I do that, in case I burn my fingers again. Sucker gets hot.
ETA: Worked a little too well, and I melted part of the lower hull. But I think I can fix it.

In the end it will look like a late 23rd-century (2295) predecessor to the Olympic Class medical ship. I am calling it an Asclepius Class Emergency Medical ship. I'd LOVE to have an EMH, but this is way too early for that. 

Tested the LEDs today; the wires are a bit short, so I'll have to adjust that. I want the lights to stay on even when the sphere section is detached. I am thinking of installing a removable battery assembly. I'll need to look up the voltage requirements. I have them from when I did the Protector. ETA: Found it, 12v.

The idea is that it can be left on a planet to act as an emergency hospital. I'll get it all stated up.

But I need to finish the thing first.

Orcs and Drow, Klingons and Romulans

Today is the release day of the new D&D 5.5 Monster Manual. It does not have "monster stats" for orcs or drow (nor elves, dwarves, halflings, gnomes, and other playable species). In general, I am okay with this. I can add my own if I want. But the treatment of orcs, in general, seems to have some people bothered. My post on Nouveau Orcs has been constantly in my weekly top five posts since I posted it back in July. It also seems the most noise is coming from a section of gamers who have also bragged about how they have not played any D&D published in the last 10 or 25 years.

Frankly, we are still on the same road that Gygax put us on.

Drow and Romulans

I have mentioned that my wife and I are rewatching all the episodes of every series of Star Trek. Right now (tonight even) we are going to rewatch the classic "The Balance of Terror."  The first time since we rewatched it's alternate-timeline counterpart, "A Quality of Mercy."

The Balance of Terror changed Star Trek forever. We see its effects in the "Reunification" trilogy of episodes, its effects on Star Trek The Next Generation, Star Trek Picard, and Dungeons & Dragons.

I have mentioned it many times here before, but the introduction of the Drow as "Evil (with a capital E) Elves" was a parallel to the Romulans as Evil Vulcans in Trek. It was obvious to me back in the early 1980s when I first played through it, but sadly, that plot point was spoiled for me. I don't know the effect either the D-Series adventures or The Balance of Terror had on those unaware.  Since then, Drow and Romulans have followed a similar development path. 

Both of our pointy-eared races have begun to be more like their good-aligned cousins since their mutual rediscoveries. Relations with the Romulans were beginning to get better even in the time of the Next Generation and practically friendly in Picard to allies in the later seasons of Discovery. Same is largely true for the Drow, save we have not hit the friendly part yet.

I would add that the same relationship and development cycle has become true for Orcs and Klingons.

Orcs and Klingons

When the Next Generation was in the idea stages, creator Gene Roddenberry originally did not want any Klingons in it. The rumor is that the fall of the Soviet Union, the "Evil Empire" of so many decades, prompted him to change his mind and see Klingons as becoming part of the Federation. Good thing too. Klingon episodes were always some of the most interesting ones in the franchise. 

Orcs are taking a similar role to Klingons. Granted, while there are individual good, even heroic, orcs, none have stood out yet like Worf Son of Mogh or Drizzt Do'Urden. But this is the early days of orcs now being a part of our Dungeons & Dragons "Federation."

Personally, I have stopped using orcs as pure antagonists for a long time. I almost always got for undead, demons, or evil cultists of any humanoid sort. Does this mean orcs are off the menu? No more than Klingons were. It is amazing for allies how many battles between the Federation and Klingons we saw not just in The Next Generation, but also Deep Space Nine and Voyager. Discovery even began with a fight with the Klingons that started the Federation-Klingon war.

So really. Maybe it is time to shift away from orcs as always evil. They can still be warlike and brutal, but giving them a little more credit can only make them more interesting. Take Orkworld, for example. John Wick was doing what D&D is trying to do now, 25 years ago. 

Games should evolve. Otherwise, you are just doing the same old thing all the time. And if I choose to say have orcs and drow and whatever as antagonists again? Well. I can still do that.

But maybe, just maybe it is time to see what orcs can add to the game as a culture.

Star Trek: Stardate 1000000.0

 I had a post ready to go for today but I am moving it in favor of this dream I had last night.

My wife and I are HUGE Star Trek fans. One of the very first things we did as "just friends" was to watch the premier of the first episode of Star Trek the Next Generation together. When the episode "All Good Things" aired, we were taking our first vacation together as a couple. When Voyager began we were dating. When it ended we were married, had a house and a kid. Throughout our relationship Trek has been there.

Right now, we are in the process of re-watching all the Trek series. We didn't go in order, but we have watched Enterprise, Voyager, Discovery, and now we are on Strange New Worlds. Likely to hit The Original series next.

Where am I going with this? Well Trek has been on my mind lately. I was chatting with Steve over at Vulcan Stev's Database (a great place for Trek information) about his Beckett Mariner post that inspired my own. I have been doing TARDIS Captain's Character Challenge and one of my popular posts was about my USS Challenger and Capt. John Adnerg. AND I have been talking a bit in the FASA Star Trek Facebook groups about printing more FASA-era Starships on my 3D-Printer.  So yeah. The fact that I am dreaming about Star Trek is no shock or surprise; save for what I was dreaming about.

Stardate 1000000.0

One idea I keep coming back to is extra-galactic travel in Trek. During the Next-Gen eras travel was still confined with the Alpha and Beta quadrants of our galaxy. The Gamma (Deep Space Nine) and Delta (Voyager) quadrants had been stepped into, but only a little bit. Even in the post-Burn, post-reformation of Starfleet and the Federation of the 32nd Century (Discovery, 3190) have not ventured outside the Galactic Barrier. 

I must have had the DC Comics "DC One Million" on my mind as well. This takes place in a future where DC comics, from their then current numbering system would hit issue 1,000,000 of Action Comics. That would be  853rd Century CE.

For my Stardate 1000000.0 I figured it would be 200 or so years after the end of Discovery. Trekguide.com tells me that Stardate 1000000.0 is Thu Jul 23 3407 08:33:20 GMT-0500 (Central Daylight Time). So, the start of the 35th Century CE. Memory Alpha has nothing for this time period.

So what is this all about?

The mission for this Trek game (and I have NO idea what system yet) is a newly constructed ship made mostly of programable matter and holotech, leaving our galaxy to explore the Andromeda Galaxy. This obviously goes way beyond warp drive. It is 2.5 million light-years from Earth.

Extra-galactic travel is not really a thing in Star Trek. Though there have been some run-ins with refugees from the Andromeda Galaxy in Trek (some androids, the Iconians) there has been enough to explore in our own Galaxy. Extra-galactic travel is a thing in many other franchises like Dune and Doctor Who, and very recently Star Wars. 

I don't know what system to use yet (13 Parsecs maybe), nor what the general adventure hooks are save for "explore strange new worlds." I am not planning on a huge horror element, but given that this is me talking horror is going to be there somewhere. I don't even know what sort of drive will get them there or even what ship. At Warp 9.0 it would take 2000 years to get there and I have no idea how fast the new (3191) Pathway Drive is. 

In any case, this is not something I am going to take on soon. But I'll keep thinking about it and see where I end up.

Character Creation Challenge: Voyages of the USS Challenger

 I have mentioned a few times this Character Creation Challenge that there are a few characters in Grenda's stack here that are homages to or inspired by my own characters. That was a two-way street. I already talked about how I used his Yoln as the Big Bad in my Buffy games. Today, I wanted to talk about a character that wasn't lifted but was certainly inspired. That would be John Adnerg, Captain of the USS Challenger. 

I figured then that today, the anniversary of the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger, would make for a good time to talk about it. And of course a nod to the Character Creation Challenge's founder, Carl Stark the TARDIS Captain himself. 

My original USS Challenger was a Galaxy-class starship for FASA's Star Trek game using the Next Generation Officer's Manual. I gave it the registry NCC-62901, placing it a couple of years after the launch of the USS Galaxy and USS Enterprise-D.  The registry comes from the zip code of the city where I went to university.

In these games, John Adnerg had been promoted from Captain to Admiral and was handing the ship over to his former first officer, Johan Werner. That is until disaster struck and sent the ship to the Andromeda Galaxy (2.5 mly away). Yeah, a little like Voyager, but I had this idea in 1989.  Of these games, I only ran "The Ship on the Edge of Forever" and "Ghost Ship." These games obviously informed me of what I wanted out of Thirteen Parsecs. 

I don't know if the USS Challenger ever got home. I might need to revisit that someday. 

Adm. John "The Wizard" Adnerg

Class: Diplomat
Level: 14
Species: Human
Alignment: Light Good
Background: Scholar 

Abilities
Strength: 14 (+1) 
Agility: 15 (+1) N
Toughness: 16 (+2) 
Intelligence: 14 (+1) N
Wits: 15 (+0)
Persona: 17 (+2) A

Fate Points: 1d
Defense Value: 1
Vitality: 7
Degeneracy: 0
Corruption: 0

Check Bonus (A/N/D): +4/+2/+1
Melee Bonus: +4 (base) 
Ranged Bonus: +4 (base)
Saves: +9 to Mental (Diplomat and Scholar background)

Diplomat Abilities
Contacts, Languages, Lore, Mesmerize Others, Suggestion, Slicer Skills (Sneak, Open Locks, Bypass Traps, Sleight of Hand, Fast Talk, Disguise), Read Languages.

John Adnerg was the Captain of the Galaxy Class Starship Challenger until he was promoted to Admiral. Nick named "The Wizard" for his ability to find ways out of nearly impossible situations and come out on top.

Yeah. I like this version of him.

This is not the only USS Challenger I have in my collection. I also finished building an NX refit from the 2150s that I am calling NX-03 Challenger. Though when the Federation formed in 2161, the NX-refit was renamed the Explorer Class, and the Challenger became NCC-099, the retroactive "first" of the class of Explorer class scientific research ships with the USS Beagle NCC-100, USS Endurance NCC-101, USS Roebuck NCC-102, and the USS Victoria NCC 103, all named for ships of exploration in Earth's past. 

My other Challenger, NCC 2032, is an Excelsior-class ship I am working on. That one was in service from 2278 on.

You can get the Thirteen Parsecs RPG, the  Wasted Lands RPG and the NIGHT SHIFT RPG at Elf Lair Games.

In Search Of...Beckett Mariner

 Normally, I do these for a topic related to Dungeons & Dragons or some other concept. But May is my Sci-Fi month, and I LOVE Star Trek. So, let's take a deep dive and explore the strange past of Star Trek Lower Deck's own Beckett Mariner!

Tawny Newsome as Beckett Mariner

Mariner's On-Screen Dates

We know that she had the following postings. I am putting my best guesses at her age in parentheses. 

• 2349-50: Likely birth year(s).
• 2368: First Year at Starfleet Academy (16-17)
• 2372-2375: Served aboard Deep Space 9 (20-21 to 23-24)
• 2370s: Served aboard the USS Atlantis (24+)
• 2379 (or thereabouts): Served on the USS Quinto (30s)
• 2380: Served on the USS Cerritos (30s)

Those are all established (more or less) dates, ages are only a guess. Yes, she is a 30 year old Ensign on the Cerritos.

What about other evidence of her existence? The first big one comes from the Star Trek: Next Generation episode "The First Duty" in the 5th Season of TNG. We know from both TNG and Lower Decks this was Stardate 45703.9 or 2368.

Nitpickers Guild and Vulcan Stev Blog

So, obviously, that background actress was not supposed to be Beckett Mariner. But it is really, really convenient. 

Captain Mom Carol Freeman

What else do we know about Beckett? Well, her mom, Carol Freeman, is a Starfleet Captain. Capt. Will Riker described himself as "Carol's Mentor," which she said, "I wouldn't go that far." We know that in 2381 she is the Captain of the U.S.S. Cerritos so when exactly was Riker her "mentor?"

I am going to suggest she served aboard the Enterprise sometime between 2363 and 2371 (SD 48212.4 – 48975.1). She was friends with Sonya Gomez, who was also a Captain at the same time and was an Ensign on the Enterprise in 2364-2365. And, and this is the big one, Carol piloted the Enterprise out of spacedock. At some point she served on the Enterprise, was mentored by Riker, met and became friends with Sonya Gomez.

It is not a stretch then that Beckett was also on the Enterprise during this time. Is there evidence for this? Of course! Or...well, there is some flimsy circumstantial evidence. 

Beckett on the Enterprise-D

The Star Trek: TNG episode When the Bough Breaks takes place in 2364. It features a bunch of kids, including one young girl who could be a young Beckett Mariner.  You can see the scene here:

If Beckett is 18 in 2368, she would be 14 in 2364. The girl in the video looks younger than 14. If we assume she was particularly gifted and joined Starfleet at 16-17, then we could say she was 12-13 here.

So, maybe not her, but it certainly *could* be. 

For other potential Becket Mariner sightings, I will have to go through TNG Seasons 1 to 5 and Deep Space Nice Seasons 4 to 7. You'd think I could just, you know, remember with all the times I have watched these. 

I am looking forward to finding more evidence!  In the meantime, on to my next "In Search Of" topic.

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

 A couple of weeks back, I took a bit of a break to talk about some SciFi ideas I had.  Well, it must have nestled into my brain and laid eggs that hatched because I now have a bunch more ideas. Or maybe because Doctor Who has been on my mind a lot lately since yesterday was the 60th Anniversary of the show and tomorrow is the premier of the 60th Anniversary special.  One of those ideas was something I was calling "The Lost Children of Time."  The idea was half-baked, at best, but that ended today.

Doctor Who RPG: The Lost Children of Time

Now to be fair this doesn't have to be used with the Doctor Who RPG. But I think the feel of the 2nd Edition game might fit this the best. Plus I think I would run this as a one-shot.  So who are the characters? The eponymous Lost Children of Time?  Well, they are the reason I put this together to start with so let us see who they are.

• Jonas Kahnwald (Dark) - Age 20, he ceases to exist when his world timeline is destroyed.
• Martha Nielsen (Dark) - Age 20, from a parallel world/timeline. Her timeline is also destroyed when Jonas' is to make room for a third (or original) timeline where they do not exist.
• Cal Stone (Manifest) - Age 22. The older version of the Cal Stone that was temporarily displaced on Flight 828. When the time was reset Cal was returned as age 11. This is 22-year-old Cal.
• DC Iris Maplewood (Bodies) - Age ??. From an alternate future (2053) where England is under near fascist rule. She is sent back in time to 1890, 1941, and 2023.  For reasons unknown, her 2023 counterpart survives the collapse of her timeline.

The characters all bring something to the table. Jonas is our everyday guy. Martha is already used to fighting and dealing with strange things. Cal has a sixth sense and visions (Callings), and Iris is a cop. All have time-travel experience. 

But who is it they are after? Well, that came to me today.

They are fighting a time and space displaced Jack the Ripper.

How is that possible? Easy. Let's take another time travel movie, Time After Time from 1979. It features Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells and David Warner as Jack the Ripper. Both who have solid sci-fi credits to their name including parts in various Star Trek movies and series.   In this movie H.G. Wells builds a working time machine, but it is stolen by his friend Stevenson, aka Jack the Ripper. He travels to 1979 where he picks up his killings anew. Wells follows him when his time machine returns.  While in 1979 Jack attempts to escape but Wells removes the "vaporizing equalizer" from the machine. This causes the time machine to remain, but send Jack to "oblivion" according to Wells. We assume he is dead.

But if he wasn't?

Que the Second Season Star Trek episode "Wolf in the Fold."  In this episode (note: it really doesn't hold up well despite being a good horror episode written by Robert Bloch) we meet Redjac, a non-corporeal entity that murders women to feed on their fear. Spock's reasoning aside I am going to go back on to my tried true explanation of psychic ability is a sex-linked trait on the X chromosome. People with XX chromosomes are more likely to have psychic abilities than people with XY. This is what Redjac feeds on. Everyone feels fear, but people with greater psychic potential are a better meal to it.

Redjac in the episode is believed to have been the cause of Jack the Ripper. But what if it was the other way around? What if H.G. Wells sending Stevenson/Jack to "oblivion" only freed it from its corporeal form and sent out into Time and Space to hunt anew?

I would need to figure out how this group comes together. How they find the clues and then how they solve the mystery of the Ripper-like murders of women in 2023.

Easiest of course would be to have Jonas and Martha in London where they get into Iris' cab/Uber. Cal is easy, he has a vision and goes there.  There is my plot twist too. Redjac normally only murders women because of their greater psychic potential, but Cal with his callings is a much tastier target. 

How do they defeat the Ripper/Redjac? 

No idea yet. But it will involve some time travel to be sure. 

The key here was David Warner. He was amazing as Stevenson/Jack the Ripper in "Time After Time." He has played no less than three separate characters in Star Trek and a character in Doctor Who. He was also in an Outer Limits episode about Jack the Ripper that uses a similar idea. 

Also is Redjac/Jack content to travel in time or does he have a greater purpose? 

It sounds like a lot of fun and I can't wait to try it out.

Friday Sci-Fi interlude

 I interrupt this non-stop talk of Gods and Monsters to look towards some sci-fi ideas I have been playing around with.

The FASA Star Trek Facebook Group has been a huge source of ideas lately.  

Poster Greg Price had some uniform ideas that would be perfect for my Trek games set between the TOS movie area and the Next Generation. This would cover my Star Trek: Mercy (2295) and Star Trek: BlackStar (2352).

They work rather great to be honest.

Kevin McCaig in the same group, also shared his HeroForge Klingons.  They look like tweaks to the Klingon design floating around the HeroForge groups a bit back. They look great.

Mercy

Speaking of Star Trek: Mercy. I just learned, or re-learned, that there was a short-lived TV series called "Mercy Point."  IT was on the UPN back in 1998 to 1999. I am sure I saw it advertised, but never watched it. My wife and I were expecting our first born at that time and we were a little distracted by all the work we needed to do before he was born.

But anyway the show takes place on a hospital space station ("Mercy Point"), it was a medical drama in space, in the future. Or pretty much everything I am thinking of doing with my own ST: Mercy. It even takes place in 2249, so a few years before my games.

I'd like to watch it, but it doesn't seem to be streaming anywhere I could find.

Doctor Who: The Lost Children of Time

The 60th Anniversary of Doctor Who is less than two weeks away now. I am quite excited.  

Completely unrelated to that my wife and I just COVID binge-watched Bodies on Netflix. It was a fun little time travel show that reminded us both a little of Dark.

I won't spoil the ending for you, but suffice to say there is a character at the end who is someplace she should not be, time-wise.  This reminded me again of Dark where there two characters disappear due the paradox falling in on itself.  

This got me thinking about a Doctor Who adventure.  Something I am calling, The Lost Children of Time.  In it these various people find themselves together despite the fact that they should not even exist at all. I figure I'll find a few others, maybe even grab one of the characters from Manifest! (my wife and I like to mock that show, but we watched every damn episode.)

Might make for a silly-fun Convention game with the right people. 

Back to Gods and Monsters here in a bit.

BlackStar: It's Been A Long Time...

Recently my wife and I have rewatched Star Trek: Enterprise. We have been and are huge Trek fans, but we didn't watch it much when it first came out because, at the time, we had small children, and I had just started a new career track after leaving academia.  So free time was not something we had a lot of.

Much to our delight, we discovered it was not only good Trek, but it was great Trek.  I had not considered making it a part of my "BlackStar Universe" until recently. And by that, I mean last week.

We had some returns from Christmas still lingering, so with a gift card in hand I picked up another model.  Yeah my arthritis is going to make this a little more difficult (thankfully this is a "kids" model) I am still going to have some fun!

I am going to opt for the refit design, something we didn't get to see on TV.  I just have to figure out if the ship is supposed to be white or stay gunmetal gray.

My oldest has been running a Trek game in addition to his D&D games and he has been setting it in my BlackStar Universe.  So my motivation for this is also pretty high.

The scale on the box says this is 1/1000th scale and my Protector is 1/1400 scale, but holding them up side by side they look about right.

The Protector is over 650 meters (if I remember right) and the NX-01 is 225 meters. 

Of course this won't be the NX-01 Enterprise. This is a later Starship that came out of space dock with the refit in place. So it could be longer. 

Following the history of the Space Shuttle the first NX Warp 5 ships were Enterprise (NX-01), Columbia (NX-02), Challenger (NX-03), Discovery (NX-04), Atlantis (NX-05), and Endeavour (NX-06).  We later see the USS Franklin (NX-326) with similar weapons and defenses. 

The NX-01 was launched in 2153, NX-02 in 2154.  The Franklin was actually an earlier ship, launched between 2141 and 2151, and was capable of Warp 4.  

This gives me some room to play around.  

I had originally thought to set Star Trek: Mercy as a Post-Enterprise (2151) and Pre-TOS (2265) era game. But instead, Mercy ended up in the equally fertile time period between the last of the TOS movies and the start of TNG.  I do like it better at that time since it gives me a little more flexibility.

This new NX ship can then be set anytime after 2161, likely after the foundation of the United Federation of Planets.  I might even work in some ideas with UESPA. Given the events in Star Trek: Enterprise I will likely say this is a Warp 6 or Warp 7 ship. But in truth, I know nothing about this little ship yet! It could even become my Ghost Ship at some point.

One thing I do know, it gives me an excuse to use Fleet Admiral Lucille Ball, Commander of Starfleet Operations.

How Lucille Ball Helped Star Trek Become a Cultural Icon

Will my new NX ship be connected to Mercy? Will it be connected to the Protector?  I like the Protector connection, but the big deal with the Protector is that it is it's Warp-13 engines that bring the Cthulhu horrors into our universe. Mercy is largely a peacetime mission.

Here is my working timeline with select items from the cannon:

2123: The SS Mariposa (NAR-7678) leaves Earth (DY 500 class)
2139: NAR-7539 SS Inspiration leaves Earth (DY 500 class)
2151-2161: Enterprise
2156-2160: Federation-Romulan War
2161-xxxx: My New Ship
2164: USS Franklin reported lost
2167: The USS Archon and USS Essex both reported lost (unrelated)
2168: USS Horizon lost

2247-2250: First Klingon War
2256-2258: Discovery
2256-2257: Second Klingon War
2259-2264: Strange New Worlds
2265-2295: Star Trek: TOS & Movies
2295-xxx: Star Trek: Mercy, USS Mercy NCC-3001

2351-xxxx: Star Trek: BlackStar, USS Protector NX-3120
2352: Protector is sent to the Inverness system
2363-2378: Star Trek: TNG, DS9, Voy
2380-xxxx: Star Trek: Lower Decks
2384: USS Protostar (NX-76884) lost
2399-2401: Star Trek: Picard

I can't help but notice that there is a large number of ships lost in the 2160s. The Archon, Essex, and Horizon were all Daedalus class ships. Franklin was a Freedom class.  What was going on then?  So my refit is part of the NX-Class. But let's nod to the FASA Star Trek RPG and The Wrath of Khan, and say they were renamed the Enterprise class. Certainly, the refit could be an Enterprise-class, though a solid argument could be made to call it the Archer-class.

Personally, I like the idea of the refits as the Archer-class. I can see Jonathan Archer NOT wanting it but Starfleet Comand saying it would be to honor him and his father. I can see the Andorians being more forthcoming; if you want our weapons systems, you will name the class after a member of the Andorian Imperial Guard. The Vulcans would see it as the logical choice.  I can also see Archer conceding if one of the ships is named "The Beagle" after the ship that Darwin made famous, but mostly because of his favorite dog bread.  I could call it the NX-31 or even the NCC 831; for 1831 the year Darwin set out on the HMS Beagle.  I'll need to see what numbers I have in decals.

Maybe that is my ship! The NX-31/NCC 831 USS Beagle.  An exploratory vessel launched at the end of the Romulan War to return to Starfleet's first mission. To explore strange new worlds. 

I can do far worse, to be honest.