Test Run - Star Trek Adventures - Starship Creation

Last week, I went through creating a starship for Scum and Villainy.  During the process, I mentioned how newer games are allowing players to create or customize their characters' ship before play begins.  One game that is doing this is Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures.  The idea is that a Starfleet vessel can be customized to reflect what the players think is important in the campaign, from type of mission to the extras on board.

To demonstrate, I'll use a concept that I've had in the back of my mind - a Starfleet crew after the Dominion War as seen on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  The core idea here is that some of the senior officers were on the front lines in the war and now have to try to return to Starfleet's traditional duty of exploration.  Some of the crew may be suffering from PTSD as a result of what they went through in the war.  The human element would be front and centre if this were a series.

Star Trek Adventures (Modiphius) - Starships

Continuing with Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures, I want to try a few ships.  Instead of being a set of stats, ships in the game are almost a character unto themselves.  Players and GMs can work out what exactly the ship can do, starting with a ship class.  Creation isn't as involved with characters, so I can try out a few ships.  The game doesn't have a large selection, possibly due to space.  There's nothing from Enterprise, a few from the moves, the rest from TNG.  The game has the USS Enterprise from TOS, plus -A, -B, and -D, but no Ambassador-class for -C.

Because the steps are simple enough, I'll create a ship for the TOS, movie, and TNG eras.  For TOS, the ship will be in service during the same time as Kirk commands the Enterprise.  The movie era is set around The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home.  The TNG ship will serve after the return of Voyager.  Years will become important, so I'll select 2268, during the run of TOS, 2284 for the movie era, and 2379 for TNG.

Star Trek Adventures (Modiphius) - The Vulcan Ship's Counselor

Back in February, I tried creating a character using Star Trek Adventures from Modiphius.  The character was fairly straightforward, a Vulcan engineer, something one would expect on a Starfleet vessel.  Standard types only scratch the surface, though.  To really test a game, I want to see if an odd combination is still possible.  Today, I present a Vulcan ship's counselor.

The concept is odd, I'll grant that.  Vulcans aren't known for being all warm and fuzzy.  They shun emotions.  Some go through the kolinahr rite to purge the last traces of emotion.  Yet, the various Star Trek series have shown Vulcans use an emotional logic of sorts.  They tend to rationalize the decision as being logical.  Still, the series have shown Sarek with Human wives and protecting his son.  Why not have a Vulcan character who wants to learn how other species deal with emotions?  If reunification with the Romulans does happen, Vulcan society will have to adjust to take into account that there will be newcomers who don't have the control culture expects.

The life path character creation system should help here.  The seven steps, eight if deciding on a concept, help flesh out the player character.  I have the concept worked out, and that determines the era as during Star Trek: TNG or later.  All the attributes start at 7; all the disciplines start at 1.  After the break, one Vulcan psychologist.

The Vulcan Engineer

When I created the Vulcan engineer using Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek Roleplaying Game, I wasn't expecting to compare the processes.  However, Modiphius' Star Trek Adventures became available in a local game store, albeit briefly due to brisk sales, so I'm rolling the notes for both into one post.

Star Trek RPGs use life path character creation; players go step-by-step through their characters' lives, working out what skills they received before starting play.  The first Star Trek RPG, from FASA, set the standard, so other designers kept to it.  LUG broke the process down by having players choose species, early life, life at Starfleet Academy, the cadet cruise, and one or more tours of duty.  Starting rank above Ensign has to be purchased.  Positions like department head and ship captain also have to be purchased, with larger ships requiring more points to get the advantages, thus requiring more tours of duty.  LUGTrek seems to encourage characters like those seen in the TNG episode, "Lower Decks".

ModTrek, though, takes a different approach.  The default appears to be senior officers of a starship, so there's no need to purchase any advantages to reflect rank or position.  In fact, it is possible to have players playing Captain Picard and Ensign Ro without too much of a skill difference.  The rookie officer fresh from the Academy can be played alongside the grizzled veteran explorer and both characters will still shine.

The Vulcan engineer worked out well with both systems.  The LUGTrek engineer isn't on the same level as Scotty, Geordi, B'Elanna, or O'Brien, but has the potential to get there.  The Vulcan is more specialized, but should improve with experience and experience point.  The ModTrek version, though, is close to the engineers seen on screen.  The Vulcan is still inexperienced, but will be able to keep the ship's engines going in a crisis.  Scotty may have "Miracle worker" as a value, giving him the edge.

ModTrek's chargen is faster.  There's not as much to track.  The skills are broad, based on department.  LUGTrek breaks things down far more, including different types of engineering and sciences.  Which works better?  That depends on style of game play.  ModTrek supports getting the players in command without bogging down in minutiae, but there are players who enjoy that level of detail.  Your mileage may vary.  I like both for different reasons.

Friday, Mecha Academy begins.
Also Friday, over at Psycho Drive-In, The Dresden Files.
Saturday, over at The Seventh Sanctum, The Pragmatic Adaptation.

Test Run - Star Trek Adventures (Modiphius)

Last week, I created a Vulcan engineer using Last Unicorn Games' Star Trek Roleplaying Game.  A new Star Trek RPG has been released, Star Trek Adventures from Modiphius.  For comparison, let's recreate the character.

STA uses a life path character creation method like LUG/Trek/ and really, like FASA's original Star Trek: The Roleplaying Game.  There are differences, but I'll try to keep the process the same as much as possible.  The Vulcan engineer will, once again, be the chief engineer of a small scout ship being used to prepare a group of young officers for bigger and better.  STA has seven steps in its character generation, from background to final touches.  Attributes start at 7, Disciplines at 1.  Since this does get long, more after the break.

Test Run - Star Trek (Last Unicorn Games)

I've been asked to create a few characters for a friend for CanGames this year.  One of the games he wants to run is the out-of-print Star Trek Role Playing Game from Last Unicorn Games.  The game uses a lifepath to create a character, starting from a core template based on species then shipboard position, then adding on through childhood, Star Fleet Academy, and tours of duty.  The first game in the series, the Star Trek: The Next Generation RPG, allowed for players who weren't the senior officers.  For the game I'm preparing for, though, the characters aren't just the senior officers, they're the full crew compliment of a small scout ship during the time of Captain Kirk's command of the USS Enterprise.

Delving Into a New Style - the Commentary

Wasn't expecting to do this, but I have a few final thoughts on the process and what I wrote.

First, the script was written without much planning on where I was going.  I admit it, I'm a pantser.  But, something on this scale does need planning.  Adapting Unruly won't have the issues of planning; I'm converting existing storylines into a new format.  Mechanically, the biggest challenge is making sure that there's the correct background effects and having the action conveyed through dialogue and sounds.  Still, getting the experience of writing a script like this does help, even if I don't have the format correct.  The change in format required me to think about the scenes in a different way.

Second, there's background information missing from the script.  Most of it would be brought over by either off-hand remarks or by the actors themselves.  Lieutenant Lev is a Tellarite, but there's no mention of it in the script.  That'd be a director's note.  The ships' presence will only be from sound effects, so each one should have a different sound, reflecting their size, age, and location.  Likewise, the station will needs its own sounds, though some effects should be standard, like comm badge chirping.  Each set should be recognizable by its background effects; the Main Drag should sound different from Central Ops.

Third, I have started the second episode.  I managed to introduce a plot element that will recur.  That needs a bit more planning on my part; where did the element come from, where is it going, and how would the physics work, all questions to be answered.  How does one trace a moving spatial anomaly when it gets affected by the gravitational pull of a planet or star?  The math isn't pretty at this point.  At the same time, the characters should have the knowledge and expertise to run the math.

Finally, the things I mentioned to watch out for.  The Reboot character is Cecil, the maitre'd of the Taproom, with his name pronounced the same way.  The Nebula-class starship is the USS Mutara, named after the nebula in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.  Captain Sistonen of the USS Dauntless was named after Cory O'Kelly's character Urho Sistonen, from a local CBC series long gone.  Captain Belinda Nogura, Administrator Hans Baris, and the transport vessel Mudd share names with characters from Trek past.  Admiral Nogura gets mentioned in Star Trek: The Motion Picture while Administrator Baris is named after Nilz Baris of the episode "The Trouble With Tribbles".  The Mudd is named after Harcourt Fenton Mudd, from the epsiodes "Mudd's Women" and "I, Mudd".

I'm still playing with the idea of an audio play, be it stand alone or a series.  No casting call yet, but once the idea has finally worked itself out, who knows?

Delving Into a New Style

Over the past few weeks, I've been listening to fan-made Star Trek audio plays, specifically Starship Excelsior and Star Trek: Outpost.  I will right now recommend Starship Excelsior's episode, "Tomorrow's Excelsior", the series' celebration of Star Trek's 50th anniversary.  Listening to the episodes had me wondering if I could write a script.  I've been toying with the idea for some time; my writing tends to be dialogue heavy as it is, so an audio play is the next step.

I wound up spending a few days writing an episode and a bit of a possible Trek series.  While I should do something original, using an existing setting allows me to bypass most of the world building to get to the mechanics of writing.  The result, a beginning of understanding and an idea of what I need to find out.  I do need to figure out how to estimate running time of a script.  But that's just the first bit.  A script is just the start of an audio play.  There's also casting, editing, directing, scoring, and engineering.  I know I don't know how to edit, nor do I have software to create an audio file that sounds half-decent.  But, the audio plays I've been listening to have been team efforts.

With the script, I indulged myself a few times.  There are obscure references, character ideas for RPGs that were never played, and some general fumbling about.  And lots of ship names, which gets interesting when trying to keep things moving.  So, a few things to keep an eye out for - a character named after one from Reboot, a Nebula-class starship with what I hope is an obvious name once pointed out, an obscure reference to a character created by Cory O'Kelly, and names from Star Trek past including a few that were originally unintentional.  The next part, currently unfinished, let me add a pair of characters named from minor ones in the original Battlestar Galactica.  Like I said, I indulged myself.  The script follows after the break, in a raw format.  No infringement on trademarks owned by Paramount or CBS is intended and this is not a commercial work.