Until recently I'd always presumed that the best roleplaying system to emulate the adventure of Captain Kirk and co from The Original Series of Star Trek was Mike Berkey's Where No Man Has Gone Before.
But then on New Year's Day - stumbling around the dark recesses of the Internet - I happened upon the pre-order site for Traveller: Prime Directive.
Part of me - having been burned by Mongoose several times in the past (books with shoddy editing, miniatures lines launched with great fanfare and then hastily dropped etc) - is slightly reluctant to herald this upcoming Traveller supplement.
Although there is no indication of when it will see print (it is listed as being at the "writing" stage of development), it has two factors in its favour - it uses the Mongoose Traveller system, which I rate as the best roleplaying game they have put out, and it is being produced in partnership with Amarillo Design Bureau, which has been producing the Star Fleet Battles game for donkey's years.
ADB has already produced versions of its Prime Directive roleplaying game using the GURPS, d20 and d20 Modern engines and its website proudly boasts: "We are here to stay. Our license never expires and we will not be shut down in two years like other RPGs of this genre. Yes, we have a contract with Paramount and all of this is 100% legal."
It would seem to me that Traveller with its profession-orientated character generation system (which could easily be mapped to the various branches of Star Fleet) would be a perfect fit for the Star Trek Universe (I guess the Social Standing characteristic would have to be replaced with something like Charisma), but let's wait and see...
I've got the GURPS version of Prime Directive. It's good, but doesn't feel exactly standard Trekian as it's a bit more militaristic.
ReplyDeleteFASA has a profession oriented character generation, too.
Militaristic, you say? perhaps better suited to a Mirror Universe campaign, then?
DeleteI always admired the FASA Trek, but found it too fiddly for my liking. As a player I grokked the elegant simplicity of Traveller, which is why I'm so enthusiastic about this blending of Trek & Traveller.
Since the Star Fleet Universe grew out of wargaming, I think it sort of shows its roots in the world building. You could fairly easily pair it down to the TOS essence, I think. I use the Prime Directive supplements are inspiration (I have 3 of the GURPS ones and one non-GURPS).
DeleteI guess Prime Directive is technically the RPG of the Star Fleet Battles Universe rather than a true Trek game.
DeleteI hadn't realised there were so many Prime Directive supplements... off a-huntin' I shall go then ;-)
AGGGHHHGFGHFFDSAFDSAGDSA!!!!!
ReplyDeleteNot like I already had enough problems with finding a good Trek game. Now you taunt me with this great looking Traveller based one WHILE I am reliving my Traveller angst of the early 80s thanks to rereading all my White Dwarf mags.
Curse you Perry the Platypus..er Tim Knight!!
Makes a change for me to be doing the taunting ;-)
DeleteI think the ultimate key to a good Trek game is having a table of players who want to play Trek. With all that technology at their disposal - and a D&D mentality - it would be very easy to stumble in anarchy and mass-murder...
Makes for a good update to my search for Trek-based RPGs.
Deletehttp://timbrannan.blogspot.com/2013/01/star-trek-rpgs-part-ii.html
Thanks for the kind words, Tim!
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