Star Trek: The Next Generation
Starfleet Character Generation System
Version 1.11
June 26, 1998 by Daniel M. Stack

"Star Trek: The Next Generation" and all related items are trademarks of Paramount Pictures Corporation. Use of such terms in this article is not a challenge to this trademark.

Contents:

1 Introduction
2 New Races
3 Starfleet Academy
4 Branch School
5 Cadet Cruise
6 Advanced Training
7 Post-Academy Experience
8 Judging Character Generation

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1 Introduction

These rules are designed to cover the creation of Next Generation Starfleet officers for FASA's Star Trek: The Role Playing Game (Second Edition). For the most part, character creation is unchanged from the original RPG rules. This article highlights those differences between character generation in the Original Series and the Next Generation period. It is not a full character generation system: FASA's rules will still be needed.

Perhaps the biggest change between the two generations is that characters in the Next Generation period seem to be able to do anything. Geordi starts off a helmsman and becomes chief engineer. Worf has manned the Conn, Ops, and Tactical stations. Deanna Troi, a psychiatrist, has piloted the ship. Doctor Crusher has commanded the Enterprise. I have tried to make these rules reflect that. In the end, you will wind up with characters who have more skills than those of the Original Series, and will accordingly be more "powerful", for lack of a better term. Gamemasters should take note of this and be ppared to throw even greater challenges at their characters. These rules have been playtested in my campaigns, but you may want to customize them for your own special needs.

These rules would be most appropriate for characters from the Next Generation period. However, they could also be used for character generation for periods after the classic Star Trek movies.

FASA did come out with a Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook. While I do own that book, I for the most part ignored it, as it described a television show which was, at the time, only a year old. However, it does have generation rules for Betazoids and Ferengi, along with several races the Enterprise encountered in the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Everyone's view of the Star Trek universe is different so I am sure lots of people will disagree with many of the assumptions I have made. (I imagine the position of Operations Manager will draw the most complaints. I viewed that character as a special type of engineer.) That's fine: change what you don't like. Change it all. I promise you won't hurt my feelings. If this article makes you dust off your old Star Trek boxed set and make your own interptation, then I will feel like I've achieved something.

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2 New Races

A few new races have appeared on the Next Generation which are appropriate for Starfleet characters or make good NPCs. They are listed in the table below.

Note that while the Betazoids from FASA’s First Year Sourcebook are reprinted here, the Ferengi described above are quite different.

For special abilities, Betazoid telepathy can be handled using the same rules as Vulcan telepathy, with the exception that physical contact seems to have no effect on its effectiveness.

The stats for the Trill are indicative of a joined symbiont. Players should work with their GM to detail the past lives of the Trill character. Trills should still use standard character generation although the GM may allow them to use knowledge from their past lives. The caveat of this is that enemies from their past lives may also pop up to haunt them as well.

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3 Starfleet Academy

Essentially unchanged, with two new skills added.

Administration 10
Holodeck Operations 10

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4 Branch School

The following branch schools are available. Unlike as stated in the RPG, Branch School is assumed to take place during the character's four years at Starfleet Academy and therefore does not add any additional age to the character, unless otherwise noted.

4.1 Command
Characters from the Command branch are those that are placed early on the track for a command position. During their time in the junior officer's ranks, they typically serve as Flight Controllers and leaders of Away Teams. They receive the following skills.

Administration 20
Communications Systems Op. 10
Deflector Shield Operation 10
Deflector Shield Technology 10
Leadership 10
Negotiation/Diplomacy 10
Shuttlecraft Pilot 10
Starship Sensors 10
Space Science, Astrogation 40
two others 10 each
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 10
Starship Helm Operation 40
Starship Weaponry Operation 10
Starship Weaponry Technology 10
Warp Drive Technology 10
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230 skill points total

4.2 Counselor
Counselors are responsible for the mental health of the crew. In addition, they learn a great deal about other cultures and may be quite useful in first contact missions. They receive the following skills.

Communications Systems Op 20
Languages 60 points, divided any way
Medical Sciences,
General Medicine 20 points, divided any way
Psychology 80 points, divided any way
Social Sciences 60 points, divided any way
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240 skill points total

4.3 Engineering
Essentially unchanged from the RPG, with the following addition.

Holodeck Technology 10
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215 skill points total

4.4 Medical
Identical to Medical Officers in the original RPG. Note that this branch adds four additional years to the time spent at the academy.

4.5 Operations
In terms of skills received, Operations officers should be treated as engineers. However, in place of the 100 bonus skill points allocated to an engineer, they receive the following skills instead.

Administration 20
Communications Systems Op 20
Computer Operation 20
Damage Control Procedures 20
Starship Sensors 20
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215 skill points total

4.6 Sciences
Identical to Science Officers in the original RPG.

4.7 Tactical
Tactical officers handle both internal and external security on board a starship. They receive the following skills.

Communications Systems Op 20
Communications Systems Tech 10
Damage Control Procedures 10
Deflector Shield Operation 20
Deflector Shield Technology 10
Federation Law 5
Marksmanship, Modern 20
Personal Combat, Unarmed 20
Personal Weapons Technology 5
Psychology, Native 10
Security Procedures 20
Small Unit Tactics 10
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 10
Starship Sensors 10
Starship Weaponry Operation 20
Starship Weaponry Technology 10
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210 skill points total

5 Cadet Cruise
The cadet cruise should be rolled as per the RPG rules. However, it is assumed to take place during the characters time at Starfleet Academy (i.e. does not add any additional years to the character's age). Additional cruises do take up additional time: six months per cadet cruise after the first. The character becomes a commissioned officer upon passing the cadet cruise. Unless the character passes with high honors, he or she is commissioned as an ensign. Those that pass with high honors will be commissioned as a lieutenant, junior grade.

6 Advanced Training
Department Head School as it existed in the original RPG has been removed. Instead, there are three (more can be added at the discretion of the gamemaster) advanced schools available. One is a 1 year Bridge Officer Training Course. All line officers (except Command Branch officers) must take this class to advance past the rank of Lieutenant, Junior Grade. Characters may advance beyond this rank without this class, but they will be considered staff officers. (Character who acquire these skills through other means may have the requirement waived provided they pass a special test -- see the Next Generation Episode "Thine Own Self" for a possible example of this).

Command Officers may instead take either a Starfleet Tactical Training Class or a Starfleet Engineering Class. (Neither of these are required for Command characters, though it does round out their skill sets).

This system explains characters like Worf and Geordi, who changed roles quite a bit in the show. By this system, Geordi could either have always been an engineer who took Bridge Officer Training or a Command Officer who took Engineering Training.

It is assumed that Starfleet Engineering, Starfleet Tactical, and Bridge Officer Training are all mutually exclusive (i.e. a character can take only one of these three classes).

Any character may attend Command School and it is recommended training for any character who is to become a Captain or First Officer, or a department head on a major ship or station.

6.1 Bridge Officer
Training This school is designed to insure that all bridge officers have a certain degree of cross-training and so, in an emergency, could man most stations on the bridge of a starship. The character is not expected to be an expert, but should be reasonable competent. (An example of this can be seen in "Generations", where Deanna Troi takes the helm of the Enterprise-D. Though she did crash the ship into a planet.)

Characters attending this school receive the following skills.

Administration 20
Communications Systems Op 10
Deflector Shield Operation 10
Leadership 10 Negotiation/Diplomacy 10
Shuttlecraft Pilot 10
Space Science, Astrogation 10
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 10
Starship Weaponry Operation 10
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100 skill points total

Characters also gain bonus skill points, just like characters in department head school used to receive. The character receives Int/10 (round down) d10 rolls to improve any skill the character already has.

Bridge Officer Training takes 1 year to complete. At the gamemasters option, a character could take this training part-time while on regular duty. Doing it this way will take 2-3 years and is only available to characters with access to advanced training facilities onboard their vessel. A character stationed on a Galaxy-Class vessel would have access to this, while a character on a tiny scout ship would not.

6.2 Starfleet Engineering
This school is offered to Command Branch characters to give them engineering training.

These characters receive all the normal branch skills engineering characters receive, except they do not receive the 100 bonus points available to true engineers. (Giving them a total of 115 skill points.)

Characters also gain bonus skill points, just like characters in department head school used to receive. The character receives Int/10 (round down) d10 rolls to improve any skill the character already has.

Starfleet Engineering Training takes 1 year to complete. From the television shows, it would seem Captain Sisko of Deep Space Nine took this class.

6.3 Starfleet Tactical Command
Officers may instead opt to take an advanced tactical class instead. Command branch officers choosing to do so receive the following skills.

Deflector Shield Operation 10
Marksmanship, Modern 10
Personal Combat, Armed 10
Unarmed 5
Personal Weapons Technology 5
Psychology, Native 10
Security Procedures 20
Shuttlecraft Pilot 10
Small Unit Tactics 10
Starship Weaponry Operation 10
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100 skill points total

Characters also gain bonus skill points, just like characters in department head school used to receive. The character receives Int/10 (round down) d10 rolls to improve any skill the character already has.

Starfleet Tactical Training takes 1 year to complete.

From the television shows, Ro Laren would be an example of a character who took this class, as seen in the Next Generation episode "pemptive Strike".

6.4 Command School
Identical to Command School in the original RPG.

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7 Post-Academy Experience

This is handled identically to the rules given in the RPG. To better reflect the setting, the entry for Constitution-Class Starship should be replaced with whatever the best class of ship from the time period is. Some examples from different periods include:

* Late 23rd Century/Early 24th Century: Excelsior-Class Starship * Mid 24th Century: Ambassador-Class or Nebula-Class Starship * Late 24th Century: Galaxy-Class or Sovereign-Class Starship

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8 Judging Character Generation

8.1 Choosing a Ship
As in the original rules, the gamemaster must decide what kind of ship is appropriate for his or her characters. Note that the characters don’t even have to be assigned to a ship. Deep Space Nine is an example of a ship-less campaign.

A Galaxy-class ship can be an excellent vessel for a campaign, especially for players who are familiar with the television series but not with role-playing. It has been detailed in seven seasons of television, deckplans, technical manuals, CD-ROMs, etc. But be warned: the Galaxy-class vessel is a big ship! Some gamemasters (myself among them) might find themselves a bit uncomfortable running a campaign on a ship so large.

If you feel more comfortable with smaller ships, the Miranda and Intrepid classes make good choices, and have been seen quite frequently on television.

One possible campaign unexplored in Star Trek (though touched on in Deep Space Nine) would be giving the characters a stationary base in unexplored space (perhaps on a Space Station. FASA’s Regula One Deckplans would come in handy for this) and have them assigned to runabouts charged with scouting the space around the base. This would give the campaign a frontier style flavor, and would give the characters control over every character on a ship. (The Mission-class courier, included with the First Edition of FASA’s RPG is also good for this and there’s nothing special about it that pvents its use in the Next Generation timeframe.)

8.2 Choosing Player Character Rank
All that applies from the original game is still appropriate here. As a side note, the ranks given in Star Trek: The Next Generation were probably a little bit low; the chief of security of a ship the size of the Enterprise, for example, would probably have a higher rank than lieutenant.

8.3 Choosing Player Character Positions
There have been some changes in this section since the original television series. The most obvious of these is that Starfleet does not look favorably on Captains who beam down to dangerous planets and participate in Away Teams.

FASA’s Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook made the suggestion that the Captain be a NPC and I believe that for some campaigns this is a good suggestion. It also captures the flavor of The Next Generation, in which Captain Picard was rather distant from his crew. However, this works best for campaigns in which the focus of the campaign is off the ship (i.e. survey/exploration missions). If you want to run games in which much of the action takes place onboard ship, the Captain should be a PC. One policy I have used successfully in the past is having each player make two characters, a main character and a back-up one. If one character is on an Away Team, the other can remain on board ship, allowing the player to participate more in split groups.

One idea for a campaign would be centered around a special team assigned specially for Away Team duty. Such a team would probably consist of its leader (perhaps the First Officer), a Counselor, a Science Officer, a Medical Officer, an Engineer, and a Security Officer.

Bibliography: Paramount Pictures, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Voyager Television Series. Pardo, Blaine, Star Trek: The Next Generation First Year Sourcebook, FASA Corporation, 1989, p. 51. (Betazoid Stats) Wheeler, Wm. John with Fantasimulation Associates, Star Trek: The Role Playing Game Second Edition, FASA Corporation, 1983.