Grendelwulf
Lt. Commander
Second star on the...no... To Infinity and..no.. Ah-ha! Never give up, Never surrender! THAT'S it!
Posts: 147
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Post by Grendelwulf on Jan 7, 2010 15:06:38 GMT -5
Presumably, this also includes such prequels as ENTERPRISE.
Not that I have anything against pre-Federation stories, but I always considered this an alternate universe due to the fact from day one (rather, episode 1) their history was being affected by aliens from the future. If they hadn't come along, things should have gone along a little differently. But that's another topic for another board...
I am all for an environment of TOS/TAS only.
I think this era is so compelling because it was brief. So much could be done within its confines. So many interesting novels & comics came about and the rule of canonocity wasn't so darned heavy.
Now if you play in TOS-era, you will have diehard Trek-lawyers pulling canon from other eras...."no, the Andorians had done this first...that's not how Klingons got their head ridges"...etc. Actually, I originally liked FASA's useage of Klingon-fusion types. It created a rather menacing use of an advanced society that wasn't afraid to use genetics in gaining an advantage over its enemies.
But, I begin to ramble. Keep it old school. Keep it true. Keep it TOS!
Ciao! Grendelwulf
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Post by aslanc on Jan 7, 2010 15:06:44 GMT -5
So only TOS (TV) and TAS? Or do Star Treks 1 - 6 count to? More specifically 2, 3 & 4
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Grendelwulf
Lt. Commander
Second star on the...no... To Infinity and..no.. Ah-ha! Never give up, Never surrender! THAT'S it!
Posts: 147
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Post by Grendelwulf on Jan 7, 2010 15:09:04 GMT -5
Falconer said:
Those are okay. There may have been a ST:TMP, but there was never NEVER EVER a ST:V!!! There wasn't, okay? There shouldn't...couldn't have been...argh, brain hurts...no five, no five, no five...
Ciao! Grendelwulf
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Post by thedungeondelver on Jan 7, 2010 15:17:15 GMT -5
Thanks! I added a board dedicated to ship-to-ship combat. That is, for discussing both wargames and space battles within the context of a RPG. It seemed logical to group these popular topics together. Enjoy! No love for TOS based movies? Okay, yeah, Five was terrible, as was that crossover with that other ST show, but man...Wrath of Khan ranks right up there! And I thought The Undiscovered Country was a great send-off, I thought. But of course, I won't make a thing out of it if they're totally off limits. I’ve been struggling with how to answer this. I have stated earlier in this thread that NOTHING is “totally off limits”. However, as moderator it falls to me to set the tone for this board, even if I am hesitant to make “hard rules” to enforce it. So I guess I had better get over myself and tell you what I really think. I dislike Star Trek: The Motion Picture with a passion, and I consider it the official end of Old School Trek. (TAS, while not THE Trek the way TOS is, more or less continues in the TOS tradition without really changing much, which is why it is admitted.) Anyone may agree or disagree, but for the purposes of this forum, that is not the Trek that this forum is about. I am considerably more lenient towards The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country, which I consider a nice miniseries that bookends the story just fine. (I even included Saavik on my Enterprise NCC-1701 Personnel thread.) They are good stories. That said, TOS is the “era” and the format under consideration. I hope that doesn’t alienate anyone. I just feel if everyone knows and accepts the limits right from the get-go, there is a lot less chance of hurt feelings down the road, and the forum will run a lot more smoothly. Regards. Thanks for the heads-up, Falconer. Its good to know what the limits are. I'd hate to see someone step in and start talking about Borg Cubes and Temporal Wars and face your wrath! I agree vis-a-vis the "mini series" feel of 2-6; I will try to keep my references to everyone's favorite Eurasian genetic superman and his post 21st century exploits to a minimum!
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Post by Falconer on Jan 7, 2010 16:06:19 GMT -5
Let me put it this way: I plan to start a thread (or you can) about the roleplaying potential of Khan and his supermen from Space Seed as a continuing threat à la The Wrath of Khan, but I’m not (personally) interested in discussing the ships or uniforms or Klingon foreheads of the movie era.
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Post by finarvyn on Jan 7, 2010 16:20:30 GMT -5
I have stated arlier in this thread that NOTHING is “totally off limits”. However, as moderator it falls to me to set the tone for this board, even if I am hesitant to make “hard rules” to enforce it. So I guess I had better get over myself and tell you what I really think. I dislike Star Trek: The Motion Picture with a passion, and I consider it the official end of Old School Trek. (TAS, while not THE Trek the way TOS is, more or less continues in the TOS tradition without really changing much, which is why it is admitted.) . This is perfectly reasonable. As mod of the OD&D board I constantly have to watch for folks who want to discuss AD&D or 3E or whatever and, while they are perfectly fine games, those discussions are outside of the focus of my board. My solution was to create an "other editions" section, and you might consider this for "other Trek" shows. That way all of the non-TOS/TAS talk would at least be contained to one spot.... On the other hand, since TOS is by far my favorite Star Trek, I certainly wouldn't complain about any limitations you want to set. This is a great board!
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Post by aslanc on Jan 7, 2010 18:27:24 GMT -5
I would be super happy to see a Star Trek TOS: Movie Gen subforum, that would just be the bee's knees!
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Post by Falconer on Jan 7, 2010 18:34:00 GMT -5
Maybe sometime down the road, okay?
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Post by brunomac on Jan 7, 2010 18:46:51 GMT -5
Great board! Falconer, we have very similar D&D history and love for the older Trek including toon (Haven't seen it in a while, but I bet the Spock's Teddy Bear pet death from the cartoon still makes me cry).
As a kid I actually got to run a bit of the original Star Trek game around 1978 or '79. It was very basic, and it's simple nature and adventure examples really helped us capture original Trek.
All through the 80's I wanted to do more campaigns as I got older, but truth to tell Next Generation kind of killed it for me.
I kinda liked Enterprise as a guilty pleasure, but it didn't quite hit the nail, did it?
Thanks for starting a board based on the best Trek!
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Post by rsaintjohn on Jan 7, 2010 21:23:59 GMT -5
Hello Falconer and all! I'm not sure if this is really a greetings thread, so I'll just get the greetings out of the way quick-like: I'm Robert Saint John, the guy behind the Groknard History of Trek RPGs blog and the translation of the Japanese "Enterprise" game. Falconer dropped me a note at the turn of the year and I hadn't had a moment until to come by. I'm a huge (but scrawny!) Trek fan and collect -- and try to play -- pretty much everything related to Trek tabletop gaming. I also love OD&D and S&W, so the idea of a board dedicated to applying old school gaming approaches to TOS/TAS (and just that era) is heaven to me. I was even working on my own project dedicated to a very narrow period, what I call “the golden age of Star Trek”, the first season and the previous year that make up the first two years of the “five year mission”, when shirts looked different and effin' canon was wide open (it was all downhill after "Where No Man Has Gone Before" hahaha!). But, hey, I'll broaden my horizons to the next few years as well
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Post by robertfisher on Jan 7, 2010 22:40:12 GMT -5
I am a fan of roleplaying. My primary background is in Gary Gygax’s Original Dungeons & Dragons and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, First Edition. I have had enough experience with skill-based games to know that I don’t much care for them. I am a fan of Star Trek. My primary background is in Star Trek: The Original Series and Star Trek: The Animated Series. I have enough experience with the movies and the other shows to know that I don’t much care for them. An irresistible charter. I don’t know if I’ll find the time to participate much, but I love the concept.
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Post by drcheckmate on Jan 7, 2010 22:47:51 GMT -5
Ushered here by Grognardia...
I think the choice to focus on TOS and TAS is a good one. I'm not familiar with TAS does it hold up over time? Some cartoons from my youth... well, they don't you know?
If a game is created that emulates TOS and TAS, then if folks want to use it to run a different era or alternate time line (I am immediately thinking Mirror, Mirror or the latest movie or both), this should be more than possible.
Hi. I can't wait to look around. This is an absolutely brilliant idea and I can't wait to see where the voyage takes us!
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Post by Falconer on Jan 7, 2010 23:41:50 GMT -5
I think the choice to focus on TOS and TAS is a good one. I'm not familiar with TAS does it hold up over time? Some cartoons from my youth... well, they don't you know? I’m not going to oversell TAS as I’d rather you were pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. Just the fact of it being animated, and episodes being only half-hour in length instead of an hour, significantly limits its quality, so it’s no TOS. Within those limits, you have better and worse episodes, much like TOS Season 3. The good news is that it’s got the original actors’ voices as fine as ever, it firmly retains the look-and-feel and story style of TOS, and some episodes are even sequels to famous TOS episodes. If a game is created that emulates TOS and TAS, then if folks want to use it to run a different era or alternate time line (I am immediately thinking Mirror, Mirror or the latest movie or both), this should be more than possible. That’s the idea. Emulating only TOS makes it actually very inclusive, since emulating TOS is something the entire Star Trek franchise has in common! I imagine a TOS-based RPG would also satisfy the needs of a TNG-based gaming group, for example. Hi. I can't wait to look around. This is an absolutely brilliant idea and I can't wait to see where the voyage takes us! Welcome!
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Post by rsaintjohn on Jan 7, 2010 23:57:35 GMT -5
I’m not going to oversell TAS as I’d rather you were pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed. Just the fact of it being animated, and episodes being only half-hour in length instead of an hour, significantly limits its quality, so it’s no TOS. Within those limits, you have better and worse episodes, much like TOS Season 3. The good news is that it’s got the original actors’ voices as fine as ever, it firmly retains the look-and-feel and story style of TOS, and some episodes are even sequels to famous TOS episodes. One thing that's notable about TAS is that it was IMO significantly more "mature" than any other Saturday morning fare at the time. I was 8 or 9 at the time, and it really seemed like Star Trek without the constraints of budget. The aliens and alien worlds are truly alien, and it benefited from writers like DC Fontana, Sam Peeples, David Gerrold and Larry Niven. It was approached seriously and, looking back, it could have been a disaster. Probably a reason why it wasn't popular with the kids demographic.
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Post by Falconer on Jan 8, 2010 0:41:33 GMT -5
Hey, welcome to all who have posted to say “hello”! But I want to especially welcome Robert Saint John. Check out his top-notch blog, Groknard. It looks like he stopped updating it due to lack of interest, but there IS interest, isn’t there lads? I hope he resumes it, or redirects those energies into posting on this board, or both! His work has laid a lot of the groundwork for this forum. Thanks, Robert, and welcome aboard!
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