Prime Directive RPG

[putraack]

@ ronin84: Yeah, something like that. Probably in the middle of those two points. Using the SFU timeline, I'm thinking the Y120-Y140 era, which they translate to 2220-2240, or 15-35 years before TOS; or maybe even 20 years before that.

In the SFU, the Federation declared a sphere (radius ~ the distance from Sol to the Romulan Neutral Zone) as their permanent border. That gives a lot of space to explore. Or defend, depending on your style of game.

[Falconer]

So, I snagged a $5 copy of Prime Directive 1st Edition. I’m not going to thoroughly review it. It is handy as an overview of the SFU. However, I will say this: I never really believed that the SFU was really all that different from Star Trek as I imagine it, but now I am convinced that it is different. I love Star Trek; the SFU is really not my cup of tea. I feel that OSFB and possibly Federation Space are as far as I am interested in going down that road.

As a rules set it is also way too dense for my taste. I am also not a fan of the Prime Teams concept. Basically, I’m not sorry I bought this book for the price, but will it ever be my game of choice for an RPG? No. Regards.

[aramis]

I love PD 1E... but you finally see the vast gulf that the SFU has. GPD makes it worse, not better, BTW, because it defines so much more of the universe.

As for the rules, they are not bad in play. It's really a strong engine with excellent tactical play. I like it far better than GURPS or ICON; I'm not certain with Decipher, not having run enough of DTrek.

It's certainly not any more complex than GURPS... but the vie around here seems to average "FASA-Trek is too complex"...

[Falconer]

Heheh, it’s true! At least, for me. I grok OD&D. I have a hard time sitting down and reading through a RPG unless the rules are reminiscent of OD&D and about as simple, about as terse, and about as bubbling with excitement and ideas. It’s not even a question of preference, let alone snobbery. It’s just how my brain works, I guess. I physically feel ill at the thought of cracking open a 200-page rulebook. :/

[aramis]

Meanwhile, I cringe at OD&D's lack of focus, poor organization, cryptic wordings (which I can decipher, but ony because I've played later editions), and lack of system.

S&S is as light a ruleset as I've EVER enjoyed. It's right on par with T&T. But I have to have the right players for those to work.

That said, the base mechanic for PD1 is simple: roll your dice; keep the best one. 6= 5+Roll over. Beat a TN.
The tricodes do add a layer of complexity, but... in play, the allow shaping the difficulties quite a bit. The base 4/6/8 means best die is a 2, you barely avoided disaster; 4, you made it but not easily, and just barely - expect complications; 6, you acomplished the task, but not without snags; 8, you accomplished the tak no snags; 16, you accomplished the task, and then some.
Adding a +1/2/3 is a pretty typical "Kinda hard" (it takes the base to 5/8/11) making marginal just a bit harder, and complete a lot harder, and critical success WAY harder.
A +2/2/2 (or +2 flat) preserves the same ratios of success, but simply makes all of them harder.

The initiative/Level of action rules are convoluted... best die determines level, but each die counts for initiative... it's pretty realistic, tho. And it also provides for situations where officers freeze in combat. (A certain young officer failing to fire quickly, for example...)

The federation of the SFU is more militant than the TOS federation seems, but not as far gone as the Mirror Universe. The armed shuttles are a key divergence. We don't get to see actual fighters in canon until DS9... and runabouts are 2x SFB Interceptors. (The Bounty, she's probably a Klingon PF...)

[finarvyn]

I suspect the SFU is more militant because the products they sell for it are (1) starship combat games, and (2) action-based RPGs. This would tend to focus on adventures that include action and fighting. The TOS universe was from a TV show was more exploration and story telling, which would come off as being more passive in RPG format.

This is always a problem with Star Trek RPGs, in my opinion, and one reason why no one has really ever gotten it "right." TOS phasers make people glowey and vanish, and as soon as you put damage dice to them you change the entire dynamic of the game because TOS phasers don't really enourage long drawn-out shootouts. The shift to damage dice for phasers makes the RPG mechanics run more smoothly, but then you get these long battle sequences and change the feel of the whole adventure.

Just my two galactocredits.

[aramis]

Just coming back to this thread...

I had a "drawn out shootout" in play under PD1 this evening. Dodges are common (illogically possible), and I put a robot shooting on lethal against a team of 2 PC's and two NPC marine privates. Sure, the Sgt Major froze up, staring at a neotholian boarding robot...(blew his action rolls), but he still dodged. Well, except the one hit. But he did voluntarily make a target of himself. (Hero Rep time!)

Mind you, at the timeframe I've set them in, the Neotholians are NOT in the main area... They did a little dimension bending at the site of the loss of the Defiant.

[finarvyn]

Feb 26, 2010 0:39:19 GMT -5 Falconer said:

I have a hard time sitting down and reading through a RPG unless the rules are reminiscent of OD&D and about as simple, about as terse, and about as bubbling with excitement and ideas.

I physically feel ill at the thought of cracking open a 200-page rulebook. :/

I was re-reading this thread and thought I'd reply to this. I thought it was just me! I get to where I'll pick up a giganto rulebook, gently skim through a few pages, then decide it's not for me. I just hate reading anything that reminds me of a textbook!

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!

I'll say this much. I love the (GURPS) Klingons supplement. The Klingons in the SFU seem more like the totalitarian empire that Kor hinted at in "Errand of Mercy" than the bumpy-headed, Kiss-outfit-wearing, space viking-samurai in STNG were. Especially the page on "10 Myths about the Klingons."

[aramis]

I'm a big fan of PD 1E.

There are ship-crew generation templates buried on ADB's website.

I like the dice pool system it uses; many GM's don't. I've met one player from any of my 30 I've run it for who couldn't handle it in play. Initiative is not quite so easy, but with a mat, it works just fine. We fill in the mat with the numbers for the individual character as armored, and then with the 3 damage levels that don't result in total incapacity.

It's one of the few fixed-damage-rating games that works well, and for the exact same reasons Burning Wheel does: the damage is one of 3 steps based upon the three success levels, rather than a singular fixed number.

PD1 doesn't have a whole lot of background data - just enough to play - nor does it cover ships in any useful manner.

GPD is a wholly different beastie - it completely drops the idea of in-service play. It's a generic SFU game, not a TOS-style crew game. SVC has stated he can't fathom playing the heads of a ship's crew; he feels that that's the role of SFB or FC. The GPD adventures I've seen are very un-TOS in flavor... mercs boarding an abandoned freighter being the most recent FreeRPG Day offering. Yes, ex-starfleet mercenaries.

GPD has a lot more background information than PD1, but really, if you aren't a GURPS fan, half the corebook and 1/4 of every supplement will be an utter waste. The GPD core book includes GURPS Light adapted to the SFU. Again, ships are not presented in a useful manner, but if you have GURPS Traveller, the system data is present to use them.

I've not bothered with PD20.

Note that all dates for the SFU are given in "Years after the founding of the Federation" as Y###.
Years before are Y-###

[aramis]

I'll now mention that I am running PD-1E again. And posting AP reports over on board game geek. If y'all want, I can post them again here.

[Falconer]

Hell yeah!

[michaeltaylor]

Jan 18, 2010 19:59:54 GMT -5 Falconer said:

Pretty much anything any RPG someone wants to adapt their Prime Directive core book into, they are willing to publish.

Actually I just had a discussion with them about doing a version for Far Trek and they made it pretty clear that they


a) don't own the license, Paramount does with all that this implies and

b) they wouldn't just "let you do it and we'll publish it". They'd have to dedicate staff to it, so they would only consider it if they thought it had a real potential to be profitable. 

So no, they are definitely not willing to publish "pretty much any RPG that someone wants to adapt". 

[aramis]

Jan 19, 2010 1:17:32 GMT -5 rsaintjohn said:

PD1 is almost exclusively focused on PCs being members of a Federation Prime Team (military special forces), so it's very limited. It's pretty much a variation of class-based. Here's a brief rundown on character creation:

1 - Choose Race, Determine Initial Characteristics based on that
2 - Record starting "Star Fleet Personnel" Skills
3 - Select Service Division (Command, Engineering, Marine, Sicense, Medical, Psionic; and Naval or Marine branch), and Service Specialization
4 - Record Skills listed for Service Division and Specialization
5 - Determine Rank, Seniority, Professional Reputation, and Heroic Reputation (most of these are dice rolls)
6 - Determine Background Rating
7 - Determine Number of Initial Character Improvement Points
8 - Allocate Initial Character Improvement Points (point spend)
9 - Calculate Stun and Lethal Damage Capacities
10 - Select Personal Interest Skills (point spend)
11 - Perform Skill Level Calculations

The D20M version is actually broader than PD1 because of all the advanced classes it introduces (but keep in mind that it requires D20 Modern to be a full game). First choose a race. Then, in addition to the basic D20M Hero classes, it adds Marine, Orion Pirate, Pilot, Rogue, Security Specialist, Engineering Specialist, Science Specialist, Bridge Ops Specialist, Galactic Intelligence Agent, Medical Specialist, Ambassador, Merchant, and Prestige Classes.

There is an expansion article with ship crew add-ons. It's available as a PDF from ADB.

[michaeltaylor]

For what it's worth, I accidentally bought an extra copy of "Prime Directive d20" (the green cover) www.starfleetgames.com/prime/pd-20.shtml because someone listed it with a different cover.

So it's up for trade if anyone wants it.
rpggeek.com/collection/user/cauldronofevil?trade=1&subtype=rpgitem&ff=1

(Oh, and I second it - the system is laid out to look rather boring but it's pretty fun to read and the system isn't a complicated as it looks! Too much for me these days, but I did play it and had fun!)