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Post by aramis on Apr 28, 2017 13:06:48 GMT -5
My current assessment... passable generic engine.
Not great as trek system, but not horrible, either.
Not old-school in any way.
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Post by aramis on May 15, 2017 17:24:42 GMT -5
My players said last night that it's not working for them, either.
The problem is reward cycles.
Specifically...
When bad rolls happen, the other side gets to make more bad happen.
When good rolls happen, that side gets points for more good rolls
No experience system in the Playtest
too broadly competent.
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Post by aramis on May 30, 2017 2:58:21 GMT -5
If anyone is familiar with any of their other 2d20 system games, they can let us in on what it’s like. Like most other new RPGs these days, I expect it to be shiny and full-color and packed with mechanics and very little imagination or fun. Plenty of imagination - the rules are very bland; they don't really thrust one into Trek, but they also don't pull one out. Massive sucess/failure snowballs, multiple metacurrencies. Successes generate more momentum, momentum buys more dice, more dice buys more success. Not a great system. |
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Post by aramis on Jul 9, 2017 23:24:26 GMT -5
The PDF is out. I grabbed the release PDF.
They can't even get the rank chart correct.... they put SCSp insignia as outranking Fleet Admiral, and labeled "Chief of Operations"...
The "experience" system is "Move a point in category" type, a lá Fate 2.0...
If you trigger a standard milestone (my players would have about 3/4 of the time), you can do one of to your PC or to an NPC who was used:
Rewrite a value that was challenged and crossed off
Move a point between attributes, with a 7–11 range limit for both.
Move a point between disciplines with a 1–4 range limit for both.
Swap a focus for a new one.
Save it for use as a callback to get a determination point once.
once every few sessions (They suggest 2-3), a "spotlight" is supposed to be made available. Players vote who gets it from those who earned it that session...
The spotlight can be used to swap a talent, or to mod the ship as if it were a PC. Plus they still get their standard for that session.
And, after 3 spotlights on the same PC, said PC gets to either add a new focus, gain a new talent, gain a new value, raise an attribute by 1 to max 12, raise a discipline by 1 to max 5, or do similar to the ship. To do it again requires 4 more spotlights; then 5 more, etc.
So, to actually get to improve, assuming everyone votes only for you, you're looking at 6-9 minimum, and likely more like 18-20 sessions.
Promotion is by Reputation... it's possible for a character to be promoted once they hit Reputation 15... it starts at 10, and can go up or down 1 point per session... but it doesn't seem to reset to 10 once promoted... once it's 15+, the CO can offer a promotion instead of an earned increase. Promotion does NOT reset it to 10...
Minor improvements to ship combat.
Lots of general fluff of use... but not any better than any of the other licensed games of the last 20 years.
Ship "Building" - pick a spaceframe - that sets attributes and provides 3 points of departments (Disciplines), plus a talent and the weaponry, and then a mission profile, which provides the rest of the skills (12 points worth), and one of a selected list of 4 talents to pick one from.
Spaceframes: Akira, Constellation, Constitution, Defiant, Excelsior, Galaxy, Intrepid, Miranda, Nova.
Missions: Strategic And Diplomatic Operations, Pathfinder And Reconnaissance Operations, Technical Test-Bed, Tactical Operations, Scientific And Survey Operations, Crisis And Emergency Response, Multirole Explorer
Refits give an extra attribute point per 10 years since introduction...
They eliminated foci for ships, but ships now always count as having a relevant focus.
Book is VERY pretty... but more style than substance. Very limited discussion of the tech, and almost no mechanics related to it.
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 19, 2017 10:52:00 GMT -5
I did some playtesting of the JOHN CARTER game, which also uses 2d20 and didn't like it much. Then I got to play a little CONAN, which also uses 2d20, and it didn't seem that bad. So I guess I'm totally torn about this.
1) Does 2d20 seem to "fit" Star Trek, particularly the TOS era?
2) No comments in this thread since July. Any further developments or insights?
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Post by aramis on Nov 19, 2017 20:59:25 GMT -5
No new data. It didn't feel like a good fit. There isn't much support for pre TNE.
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 25, 2017 7:55:36 GMT -5
A bummer. I've never really found a Trek RPG that "felt" right to me, and every time I hear of a new one I have hope.
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Post by aramis on Nov 27, 2017 18:17:08 GMT -5
A bummer. I've never really found a Trek RPG that "felt" right to me, and every time I hear of a new one I have hope. The one that does TOS for me best is to "pendragonize" FASA-trek. (divide all levels gained by 5; replace d10 gains with +1. Use 1d20 for standards checks, 1d3 for routine) The one I enjoy running the most is PD 1st ed - but the SFU isn't quite trek, and the game is self-admittedly cinematic. Plus, it lacks ship rules. |
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Post by aramis on Apr 24, 2019 14:16:42 GMT -5
Have run a couple 1-shots of the released. Plays well.
Core mechanic same as above noted.
Release makes clearer that the scope of increased complication range is scene, not adventure, and should be conditional even then. This addresses the snowball issue I had in playtest.
The "threat spends" are fewer, but more common to use.
The listed foci are each provided a paragraph explanation.
Is it Old School? Not really. But it can be made more old-school easily enough.
I'll note also that I've seen Finarvyn over on the Modiphius boards...
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Post by finarvyn on Apr 27, 2019 18:13:37 GMT -5
Well, I sort of took the plunge. I found the 2d20 starter set for Star Trek at my local game store. Part of what sold me is that they had the special dice in three colors -- yellow, blue, and red -- and I just had to have those. It would have been dumb to buy the dice without the boxed set, right?  I find that I don't like reading the rulebook. White print on a black background. Ugh. If only I could find a "printer friendly" version or the rules ported over into Word... |
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Post by finarvyn on Apr 27, 2019 18:14:50 GMT -5
I'll note also that I've seen Finarvyn over on the Modiphius boards... Back atcha. We do seem to hang out in similar places!  |
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Post by aramis on May 1, 2019 2:46:27 GMT -5
I find that I don't like reading the rulebook. White print on a black background. Ugh. If only I could find a "printer friendly" version or the rules ported over into Word... The digital versions all have black on white versions... except the tilesets. Only the starter doesn't have a white on black version... |
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Post by finarvyn on Nov 28, 2019 21:49:24 GMT -5
(1) I bought the PDFs for the starter set, and there is a version which is much easier to read. (2) I still haven't played the game; I'm sort of hoping that someone near me will run the thing so that I can play a few games before I try to run one. Pretty much anything 2d20 would be a nice start … Trek, John Carter, Conan … anything to give me a better feel for the mechanics in actual play. (3) Falconer has put in an appearance on the Modiphius boards, so there are at least three of us there.  |
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Post by Falconer on Nov 29, 2019 23:33:39 GMT -5
Yeah, man, I am huge into Star Trek at the moment, and I was curious to see what kind of discussion I could get there.
So I’m thinking of making a player’s book on my own, and it would be either based on Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier or Modiphius’s Star Trek Adventures (TOS-icized). I like a lot of the stuff in “Beyond the Final Frontier” and I am interested in the stuff in The Lucanii Drift. But as for STAGFF vs STA as base, well, I don’t know, I would like to use STA because of all the adventures it has, but I get a thrill from STAGFF because of all the pure TOS/TAS basis. I suppose I could prepare a hybrid which is STA but with all the flavor of STAGFF. (Or STAGFF with the numbers adjusted to STA standards.)
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Post by finarvyn on Dec 1, 2019 12:14:22 GMT -5
I'm in a huge Trek mood at the moment as well. Started watching ENTERPRISE the other day, since the family was off doing Christmas shopping and I was at home by myself.
If you throw a player's book together, I'd like to see it.
I still can't decide how much I like 2d20, but I love the look of their products and their 7-episode TOS living campaign looks pretty neat.
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