Really old-school Trek (Pike-era)

[blackbat242]

So, having recently re-read Burning Dreams by Margaret Bonanno (the story of Capt. Pike during/after the events of "The Cage"), and The Children of Kings by David Stern (Pike's Enterprise vs Orions & Klingons), I have begun to contemplate what it would take to run Star Trek RPG sessions in that era, as opposed to TOS* - and which system would work best.

Starships & Spacemen or STAGFF seem like possibilities, but so does FASA-Trek.

The latter especially fits if you use some of the pre-TOS designs from this site (designed for compatibility with the FASA Star Trek rules): Vintage Starships I

Unfortunately, the "Vintage Starships II" site appears to be down - I downloaded a lot of ships from both of those sites years ago, though.


Or this site for more inspiration: The Starfleet Museum


For example, Enterprise NCC-1701 had a crew of 203, rather than the TOS-era 400-420. I postulate that this was because among the upgrades to the Constitution class between Pike's captaincy and Kirk's** was the development of matter replicators (an off-shoot of improved transporter technology), which greatly reduced the food/etc storage needs, as any surplus matter (including waste) could be dematerialized and reconstituted as food, uniforms, and other consumables.

So Pike's Enterprise would need to stop at Starbases/resupply depots/planets far more often for food, etc.


** further tech differences included traveling at an emergency max speed of Warp 6 (W5 normal max) [vs the W6/8 of early TOS and W7/9 of later TOS], and having "laser cannons" (or Mk I Phasers) and missiles as weaponry [vs the Mk II Phasers and Photon Torpedoes of TOS].

[Starbeard]

Not a bad idea. I like the rationale behind the change in crew size. I hadn't ever thought of reconciling both numbers before.

A Pike-era game could focus more on explicitly military adventures and, oddly enough, themes more often associated with TNG and DS9. The slower warp factors and frequent need to resupply would make exploration slow and difficult, and bring starbases and their roles into the foreground. The political management of Known Space would be the primary concern of the Federation.

[blackbat242]

Exactly - This would appeal to those who like military-based adventuring, as well as to those who want a "less-settled" "far-from-home exploration" based gaming.

You don't get the "we come in peace to an already-settled-by-humans system", or the "What is this system? Well the library program says it is the XYXZZY system, and is inhabited by the ZZX people who have an interesting culture - there are 35 pages of details available" trope that was so frequently present in TOS and even TNG.

You get true exploration of uncharted systems, and even when you are carrying diplomats they don't know anything more about the aliens you just met than the military types do, so you have to keep the guns manned just in case.

[finarvyn]

Not much to contribute but am enjoying reading your ideas. I have a couple of Pike-era novels, but can't recall offhand which ones and it's been years since I read them. I like the basic crew as we've seen it so far, the technology of the phaser cannon and the like, and the notion that the ship won't be as advanced as the Kirk-era ship.

I hadn't thought about the difference in crew size, either.

[blackbat242]

That lack of "techno-modification-of-the-week saves the day" disease that started in the later TOS episodes and reached epidemic levels in TNG appeals greatly to me.

TOS was supposed to be about the people, and how they reacted/interacted with the larger galaxy and its inhabitants, not about how the science geeks solved everything with a few modifications of existing equipment.

The Pike era was even more about the people - that is part of its attraction to me.

[c57d]

I love this idea and have actually written it up as a setting for the FASA game. Slower ships, less advanced tech (both shipboard and hand held) and a more hands on approach were my main changes.

The only thing that I didn't change (contrary to that canon line from The Cage) is the crew numbers. I think that Pikes ship was meant to be smaller than Kirks (and so not a Connie/Starship class).The double height Bridge dome gives that away as does an article that I read ages back (but can't now recall where -apologies) that the original ship design was intended to be far smaller - sorta half way between Kirks and the C57D.

[ufc465537]

I really like the Pike era, not that I prefer it over the Kirk era, but the lower level tech and the greater sense of isolation is something I find appealing.

Btw Steve moved his site:

vintagestarships.wordpress.com/

[blackbat242]

Thanks for the link... it will be very helpful!

[ufc465537]

Hes adding quite a bit of new material, so its worth a look. I only wish the ships had more detail- I mean I cant do better and I think hes done a tremendous job but im a bit spoiled lol

[c57d]

Been away from here for a while(too many Real World tm problems!!)but I am back and working on a very "old School" setting for the FASA game. I am assuming that the Earth and UESPA emphasis seen in TOS "Cage" & S1 was because the UFP was, at that time, still a loose federation of individual "star nations", and so we are only really seeing the United Earth side of that (with only the occasional Vulcan, Andorian etc).
Ships are (ageing)Mann and (current)Baton Rouge class cruisers/capital ships, Portsmith class destroyers/patrol ships and Sawyer class scout/explorers - all armed with lasers and particle accelerators. Dilithium MAM is quite new and Transporters are just ten years old and very mistrusted in any but perfect conditions.
Crew Equipment is lasers, SR Commu's that need to be linked to a miniature warp radio/backpack booster, no tricorders, but a hand computer that can link up to the orbiting ships sensors and remotely use the SR sensors. And toolkits for all technical/scientific disciplines.
I am adapting the FASA skill acquisition rules to reflect a more "hands on" time. Less science and more Planetary Survival and Weapons and Environment Suit/ZeroG etc. I am also designing my own character sheet on Excel and am streamlining the skills list somewhat.
Ship will be the UES Fawcett (motto: "You need have no fear of any failure")Sawyer class scout. Crew of 30, landing capable (with jeep-type ground vehicles)scout/surveyor. Conducting a detailed survey of a sector only cursorily skimmed through previously. So some information is available, but with little detail. And much of what we do have is briefly examined, and so mostly erroneous, conclusions.

Early days but I'd be interested to hear any ideas you have.

[cheimison]

Ships aside, I recall that they had lasers in "The Cage" rather than phasers. Something I always wondered is whether the old doctor from "The Man Trap" was supposed to be using an old StarFleet laser pistol (since it's the prop of the laser from "The Cage").

[blackbat242]

That seems likely - so Starfleet carried on the USA tradition of selling off surplus obsolete personal weaponry (see the recent release of more stockpiled M1911 .45ACP pistols and M-1 Garands to the thecmp.org/*.

Either that, or he was a former Starfleet doctor, and kept his old service weapon upon discharge (since it was then obsolete and due to be declared surplus/deactivated).



* Civilian Marksmanship Program

[cheimison]

Apr 17, 2018 18:30:39 GMT -5 blackbat242 said:

That seems likely - so Starfleet carried on the USA tradition of selling off surplus obsolete personal weaponry (see the recent release of more stockpiled M1911 .45ACP pistols and M-1 Garands to the thecmp.org/*.

Either that, or he was a former Starfleet doctor, and kept his old service weapon upon discharge (since it was then obsolete and due to be declared surplus/deactivated).



* Civilian Marksmanship Program

In the GURPS Trek game I've been working on (late 2267) I ended up making the standard GURPS 'rainbow laser' into that, a decomissioned StarFleet weapon which has been totally abandoned since transtator technology was able to bring a new and more versatile particle beam weapon into the field (the phaser, obviously).
In Prime Directive Federation civilians have a '2nd Amendment', so I figured that a lot of civvies and colonists who are armed will be armed with oldschool laser pistols, which are a lot simpler and cheaper than a phaser. Of course you don't have ten different settings, a knockout button and all the other weird stuff, but most civilians don't need to have a super multi-purpose tool like StarFleet men in the field, just something to blast the occasional marauding Klingon or dissolute hood with.

[finarvyn]

I'm just re-watching "The Cage" in its updated form (from the newish disk set where they cleaned up the footage) and it got me thinking about this concept again. Pike is a fun captain and we have a decent amount of info about the crew, or at least several officers to work with. We can assume that the weapons aren't quite as cool or deadly. Transporters are probably less reliable. Starships spend more time exploring new space, even more so than in the Kirk era.

[Starbeard]

There's a fun book from the 80s by Dorothy Fontana set during the Pike years, called Vulcan's Glory. It's about Spock's first assignment aboard the Enterprise. I don't really recall it going into too much detail about the distinct technological differences between Pike's and Kirk's tours, but it does focus quite heavily on a more hands-on approach to the Prime Directive. Pike spends much of his time in the book embedding himself into primitive societies in disguise, almost as a sort of Gandalf figure, and gathering information for his reports that way.