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Post by Falconer on Jan 18, 2010 19:59:54 GMT -5
What do you guys know about the Prime Directive RPG? It is produced by the same company that does Star Fleet Battles so it uses that same universe—i.e., it is based on TOS and TAS and the SFTM. One thing that’s interesting about this line is that they produce it for multiple RPGs: right now GURPS 4e and d20 Modern, but they are interested in doing also Fudge, D6, Savage Worlds, HERO... Pretty much anything any RPG someone wants to adapt their Prime Directive core book into, they are willing to publish.
Since this is: a) The closest thing to an active Star Trek RPG license currently in existence, and: b) Being based on “TOS only” is fine with us; c) would it be worthwhile for there to be a... call it what you will... “Swords & Wizardry” or “Microlite20” or whatever... version of Prime Directive? I mean, it would be nice to have a shiny, illustrated, in-print book, wouldn’t it? On the other hand, who wants to do the work to lovingly craft a RPG, only to have it subordinated to the needs of some company and copyrighted by them?
Just kind of a random thought. Anyone who has actually seen their game books would probably have some better insight into this question.
Have you thought about this, slortar?
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Post by Ronin84 on Jan 18, 2010 20:09:09 GMT -5
What do you guys know about the Prime Directive RPG? It is produced by the same company that does Star Fleet Battles so it uses that same universe—i.e., it is based on TOS and TAS and the SFTM. One thing that’s interesting about this line is that they produce it for multiple RPGs: right now GURPS 4e and d20 Modern, but they are interested in doing also Fudge, D6, Savage Worlds, HERO... Pretty much anything any RPG someone wants to adapt their Prime Directive core book into, they are willing to publish. Since this is: a) The closest thing to an active Star Trek RPG license currently in existence, and: b) Being based on “TOS only” is fine with us; c) would it be worthwhile for there to be a... call it what you will... “Swords & Wizardry” or “Microlite20” or whatever... version of Prime Directive? I mean, it would be nice to have a shiny, illustrated, in-print book, wouldn’t it? On the other hand, who wants to do the work to lovingly craft a RPG, only to have it subordinated to the needs of some company and copyrighted by them? Just kind of a random thought. Anyone who has actually seen their game books would probably have some better insight into this question. Have you thought about this, slortar? I have on my shelf the original Prime Directive, the Gurps version the d20 version before D20 Modern and the D20 Modern version. Now there are some ideas in there worth looking at, the history, some of the races the idea of the "specialized" team to handle missions. I have used some of the D20 modern stuff in games using True20 and thought about transplanting some of the race stuff here for the Micro20 rules. I have been waiting for more supplements to come out but no such luck and I never really got into Starfleet Battles so space combat is very very abstract. Overall...two out of five starts in the Ronin book of review.
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Post by finarvyn on Jan 18, 2010 20:20:10 GMT -5
I've seen it in the game store, but never thought enough of it to actually buy a copy.
I guess between the FASA and Decipher versions I have enough RPG books to hold me over. (Also, I've jsut discovered Robert Saint John's TOS rules for Thousand Suns and find that far more interesting than most of the other Trek RPGs out there.)
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Post by Ronin84 on Jan 18, 2010 20:31:17 GMT -5
I've seen it in the game store, but never thought enough of it to actually buy a copy. I guess between the FASA and Decipher versions I have enough RPG books to hold me over. (Also, I've jsut discovered Robert Saint John's TOS rules for Thousand Suns and find that far more interesting than most of the other Trek RPGs out there.) Could someone point me in the right direction for those rules for Thousand Suns?
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Post by Falconer on Jan 18, 2010 20:38:30 GMT -5
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Post by Ronin84 on Jan 18, 2010 20:42:15 GMT -5
Hmm...ok I am assuming we are talking about the foundation stuff?
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Post by Falconer on Jan 18, 2010 20:54:09 GMT -5
Sorry, I had posted the wrong link before. Try it now.
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Post by Ronin84 on Jan 18, 2010 21:03:11 GMT -5
Got it, I might have to look at the main rules...never have!
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Post by slortar on Jan 18, 2010 21:57:58 GMT -5
Cool, I'd nearly forgotten about Robert's Final Frontier. I really like Thousand Suns--the premise behind it embraces my favorite period of science fiction. As for Final Frontier, you have to love a game that uses a Playmate for one of the sample characters. Prime Directive is...odd. I have the GURPS rules and...I'd say it's 50% hit and 50% miss for me. I love the TOS orientation and about half the races. The setting is extremely well fleshed out and a fun read, but...the militaristic bent kinda loses me and the other half of the races range from "bleh" to downright awful. If I were to run it, I'd a) have a hell of a lot of fun and b) have to do an awful lot of trimming things out. The other downside is that...the universe feels so heavily lived-in that it doesn't feel like there's much to explore in it and exploration is the most appealing thing to me in a Trek setting. I mostly use it as Ronin does--a great place to mine ideas from, if I'm selective.
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Post by rsaintjohn on Jan 18, 2010 22:29:07 GMT -5
I'm running late for dinner, but I have to echo what Ronin84 said. I also have PD1, GURPS4E and D20M versions of the game and their supplements. I also have been frustrated and turned off by the release schedule, and I suspect those other systems will never show up (some of those have been talked about for years). As for an S&W or Microlite version, all that ADB would allow anyone is to take the same books and fluff in print and change the mechanics. They are extremely strict about the SFU and its canon for a number of reasons, and there is little or no opportunity to expand it or make it more like Star Trek itself. Even then, it would probably be ages until a printed copy actually materialized.
I do think that picking up something like PD1 or one of the more recent core books for the purpose of idea mining would be worth it. The game feels very old school Trek, though the deeper you get into the SFU, the less it feels that way. It's a gigantic universe unto itself with a very rich history, but a history that conflicts with pretty much anything before or after TOS canon history.
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Post by Falconer on Jan 18, 2010 23:31:51 GMT -5
I presume PD1 is skill-based? It’s really hard to find any info whatsoever about it as a game. If anything, I would kind of like to pick up one or the other of the d20 versions, just because, you know, I like classes, and I’d like to see how they handled them. On the other hand, I heard that PD1 had more info that was taken out of the later versions—probably not anything I need, but at $5 it’s a good deal.
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Post by rsaintjohn on Jan 19, 2010 1:17:32 GMT -5
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.
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Post by Falconer on Jan 19, 2010 2:09:27 GMT -5
Ah, thanks for all the info!
(Yikes, they sound complex!)
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Post by putraack on Jan 19, 2010 15:31:06 GMT -5
The other downside is that...the universe feels so heavily lived-in that it doesn't feel like there's much to explore in it and exploration is the most appealing thing to me in a Trek setting. You have to look for it, but the designers included some unexplored/undefined space for each of their empires. I agree, it is a rather settled universe. My own not-plan is to set up a game in the pre-TOS era, when borders hadn't hardened yet.
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Post by Ronin84 on Jan 19, 2010 16:01:55 GMT -5
The other downside is that...the universe feels so heavily lived-in that it doesn't feel like there's much to explore in it and exploration is the most appealing thing to me in a Trek setting. You have to look for it, but the designers included some unexplored/undefined space for each of their empires. I agree, it is a rather settled universe. My own not-plan is to set up a game in the pre-TOS era, when borders hadn't hardened yet. Interesting so your talking between 2160 and 2264 then?
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