ASK STARFLEET COMMAND
Designers Comments on FASA STAR TREK
Last updated on 02/04/08
Here are some of the comments mentioned by some of the people who worked on FASA Star
Trek.
These are the Stardate/Stardrive Q&A Sections and some postings and emails from the
designers.
At the end of the page I have included links to some of the designers web pages they have
today.
IF you have Ask Starfleet, Closing the Gap or word from the designers please send it to
me.
INTRODUCTION
OTHER PUBLISHED WORK
EXPERIENCE POINTS
OPPORTUNITY ACTION
WIDE-ANGLE STUN SETTING
SENSOR LOCK
OTHER HYBRIDS
UHURA BIRTH PLACE
SHIP RECORDER
BEAMING
SHIELDS
PHASER OVERLOAD
THROWING WEAPONS
D-10 STATS
FALSE TRIBBLE
OFFICIAL SHIP STATS
EXCELSIOR PHOTON STATS
SHIP MINIATURES and CLASSES
KLINGON SCOUT CLASSES
SENSOR and ENGINE HITS
STARSHIP STAND HOLES
SHIP OFFICIAL COLORS
DECK PLANS
LOKNAR and DERF
Caitian and Claws
Skipping Ship Payments
Largest Ship Class
ABOUT Star Trek: The Role Playing Game
Brief History
Paramount Licensed Products
Money In The Federation
FASA Klingons
Human Enlightenment
Filling in Gaps
Sales
Tricorder Playing Aid
Doctor Who RPG System
Federation Rec Manual Notes from Designers
STARSHIP MINIs
SOME UNPUBLISHED WORK
MYSTERY SHIP
Jaynz Masterhead Ship Art
Orion Ruse and Game News
White Flame
Stardate Magazine N1- INTRODUCTION
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
This wilI be a regular feature of STARDATE, featuring rules questions about STAR TREK THE ROLE PLAYING GAME and related products. The system's designers and developers will address queries' on rules interpretation. Our replies can be considered ''official'' for the present; though we reserve the right to establish different rule clarifications in later expansions, if necessary. Even so, feel free to make whatever rules modifications you wish in your own games! (''infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations...'')
The appearance of this column does NOT mean we have given up our, efforts to personally answer all letters sent to us. Sometimes it takes a bit of time, but we WILL get back to you. (Letters DO go astray occasionally, however, so write again if you fear your letter might have been lost.) Meanwhile, you can help by sending rules questions in a separate envelope to ASK STARFLEET COMMAND at the address listed at the end of this article. (Be sure to put ASK STARFLEET COMMAND on the envelope...) General comments on ' the game, suggestions for future work, friendly words, and other communications are also welcomed by us at Fantasimulations, but send communications about the magazine's other features to STARDATE in separate letters.
Also, when a questions answers by one of the co-designers, the answer will be signed by him. This first column will address itself to some commonly-asked questions from the mail we've been receiving. On to the questions...
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Why does certain material in ST:RPG conflict with things stated in the STAR FLEET TECHNICAL MANUAL, the STAR TREK SPACEFLIGHT CHRONOLOGY, etc.?
A. There are several reasons for variances between ST:RPG and other licensed book material. For one thing, it is our feeling that much of the published material in these two works is not consistent with the Star Trek universe as established in the TV series and films. Also, Franz Joseph's approach (in the Tech Manual) to Star Fleet as a military unit (especially as evidenced by the Dreadnought design) is not in keeping with the design team's ideas on Star Fleet's role. If the individual player or Gamemaster wishes to adopt material from these works, or others, be our guest. We, as designers, have different philosophies and speculations about the history and technology of the STAR TREK universe, and we will stick with them. As player, adopt whatever you like best.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Why are there no rules in the basic game for accumulation of "experience points" (or a similar system) toward increases in rank for player characters?
A. For one thing, among top officers, an increase in rank would often require a transfer to another ship. Commander Spock, for instance, could not become a full Captain without being moved off the Enterprise. .(Or until Kirk was promoted out, which is indeed what happened...) This tends to break up campaign groups. (Of course, a person in this position could turn down the promotion, as Spock is rumored to have done on several occasions.)
Most important, however, is our feeling that promotions are too important to be left to an arbitrary experience system. Only a Gamemaster can look over a campaign and see where a character has performed in such an exemplary manner (and gained sufficient experience as an officer) to merit promotion. In this respect, the Gamemaster takes the ''role'' of Starfleet Command superiors, examining the reports filed by the candidate's fellow officers as well as the officer's service record before deciding to offer a promotion.
Gamemasters should not promote characters too quickly. It would be unusual in the extreme for a promotion to come along before the officer had spent at least a year at her/his current rank. If the character has a satisfactory performance record at a low-grade rank (Ensign or Lieutenant J.G.) for a year or so, good recommendations from superiors, and perhaps a 'commendation 'or two, then and only then will promotion likely be offered. For higher grades, promotions come more slowly and require more evidence of excellence. Generally, a promotion above full Lieutenant would not come for two years or more. Promotions above Lieutenant Commander are rarely made on Constitution class vessels except between 5-year tours of duty. (Spock promoted. from Lieutenant Commander to Commander during the voyage, was an exception.)
Very rarely, a character may be offered a promotion as a resulted a special instance of extreme heroism or demonstration of professional excellence under extreme conditions. Such efforts are more often rewarded by such honors as the Star Fleet Citation for Conspicuous Gallantry or Legion of Merit.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. If two players simultaneously declare that they wish to make opportunity actions, which goes first? How many actions may be taken in a row before the person whose turn is being worked out may continue?
A. If two players on the same ''side'' declare simultaneous actions, they may decide between themselves who acts first. lf opponents declare at the same time, the figure with the highest DEX attribute acts first (unless the Gamemaster rules that special conditions present would delay the action).
If an opportunity action is declared, it takes place as soon as the player currently acting (on his turn) completes the single action now in progress. Moving one hex is a single action, so an opportunity action can interrupt movement in the middle. The interrupting figure gets ONE action (one shot from a ready weapon, move one square, etc.); then the character whose turn is in progress may make another action before being interrupted again. If more than one character interrupts, each interrupting character gets ONE action before the character whose turn is in progress gets to continue. (Thus, a character running across a room full of enemies may be stopped in the middle and fired upon by all enemies present with ready weapons, but each can only fire ONCE before the character can continue. )
One exception can be made, as the Gamemaster desires. If a player is trying to dash across a short stretch of open area, avoiding gunfire to seek shelter, the Gamemaster may rule that he can be interrupted for fire combat only ONCE per opponent even though the character may move several squares. Use common sense in applying this rule. If the area to be crossed is large, the Gamemaster may want to allow two or three shots per opponent.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Why don't the phasers in ST:RPG have a wide-angle stun setting as was shown in several episodes?
A. The newest editions of the game will contain this rule, and it can also be found in the pullouts with the ST:RPG Gamemaster's screen.
Briefly, it works like this'. A wide-angle stun shot affects all targets in three CONNECTED squares (any pattern chosen by. the attacker). AII targets must be within the stated SHORT range of the weapon, and a clear line-of-sight must be drawn to EACH TARGET SQUARE. A wide- angle stun shot drains FOUR TIMES as much power as a standard stun shot.
A separate To Hit roll must be made for all affected targets. If the roll fails, the target is missed (or at least unaffected), even though targets on either side (or in the same square) may be hit. A 20 point bonus is applied, however, to all wide angle stun to Hit rolls.
Only phaser-type energy weapons (not disruptors, police stunners, blasters, etc.) have this setting, and it works only with the stun setting. (Wide angle heat is possible, but it does no damage to normal living targets...) Resetting a weapon for ' wide-angle stun requires performing a ''reset weapon'' settings action, as does returning the angle setting to normal. There is no ''wide angle heavy stun'' setting.
By the way, since we just mentioned the Gamemaster's screen, let me also point out that the weapons tables in the screen and pullouts contain data for old-style laser weapons, police stunners, and stunclubs, all of which were mentioned in TRADER CAPTAINS AND MERCHANT PRINCES. We also included weapons statistics for the Mark II Phaser weapons, as used in the STAR TREK movies. Using this data you can get a head start on our upcoming movie supplement.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Must a ship have a ''sensor lock'' on an opposing vessel to fire on it? Can several ships be ''sensor locked'' at once? Can a ship whose sensors are temporarily inoperative fire weapons?
A. A sensor lock is not necessary to fire at a visible target, under normal conditions. Thus, more than one ship can be targeted in a given turn. A sensor' lock must be present, however, to monitor the results of fire. Thus, if no sensor lock is present, a firing vessel cannot determine whether or not a shot did . any damage, or what type of damage is done, and such information should then be determined secretly by the Gamemaster and not told to the firing vessel's crew. Only one ship can be ''sensor locked'' at a time.
Even so, a ship with its sensors temporarily inoperative (due to battle' damaged) cannot bring weapons to bear at all! This is because sensor systems are used to aim weapons, even though a '' lock'' is not required.
In the case of a ship that is not visible (such as a cloaked Romulan vessel), a sensor lock is necessary for direct fire. If the ship was visible (or sensor locked) last turn, a try can be made for a sensor lock for the subsequent turn. If the lock is successful, the ship is sensor locked and' can be fired upon until it moves.
Once an invisible ship has moved, a saving roll on Ship's Sensors skill by the Science Officer is necessary to maintain the lock for firing purposes. If the roll succeeds, you continue to track the ship and may continue firing. If the lock is lost, it cannot be regained unless the ship scans blindly.
A blind scan can be made for an invisible vessel at the beginning of any turn. Blind scans are made in a general direction conforming to one firing arc of the ship (either forward, aft, starboard, or port). The saving roll is made at a 40 point penalty. lf the roll is successful, the hex where the invisible ship is located is identified, and a sensor lock may be attempted.This scan method will reveal only one invisible vessel (the closest), even if two or more are present in that sensor arc.
Remember that cloaked vessels cannot be in cloak the same turn that they fire weapons. The can return to ! the cloak at the beginning of the next turn. Remember also that a sensor lock or blind scan cannot be made if the sensors are inoperative or the Science Officer (or other officer delegated to operate sensors on your ship) is temporarily unable to perform.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. In STRPG. you mentioned alien hybrids such as Vulcan/Human. Is it possible to have a Vulcan/Romulan or Human/Romulan crossbreed? This example was set by Lt. Saavik in STAR TREK II.
A. Yes, Vulcan/Romulan hybrids are quite possible, as Lt. Saavik's existence makes clear'. Vulcans and Romulans are physically quite simiIar, and such crosses require no special genetic restructuring. Human/Romulan hybrids are theoretically possible but would require very special laboratory help and genetic tailoring as was used by Ambassador Sarek and Amende Grayson to produce Spock, a Vulcan/Human hybrid. There are no recorded instances of persons within the Federation who are of mixed Romulan/Human heritage.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Was Lt, Uhura born in the United States of America or Africa? On page 20 it says she was born in the "United States of Africa ". (A misprint. I believe...)
A. The United States of Africa is Lt. Uhura's correct birthplace. This nation evolved by STAR TREK'S time from a coalition of smaller independent African nations and includes much of Central and Western Africa. The United States of Africa has Swahili as its official language, and it is an economically strong country by STAR TREK's time. The Africans learned that they could make better use of their rich natural resources by pooling their efforts.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. ls there a recorder or computer on board a ship that records everything automatically all the time? Players in my campaign wanted to use recorded evidence to support their report on a combat vs. the Klingons, but l would not allow it because they didn't specify at the time that they were recording the incident. They claim that everything is automatically recorded. Who is right?
A. Yes, most routine ship's actions and all combat actions are automatically recorded by the ship's flight recorder. This recording can be dumped into the memory storage area of a ship's recorder buoy and released if the ship is in danger of being destroyed, or It can be transmitted to Starfleet Command's nearest outpost.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Can you beam someone to or from an enemy (or friendly ship as long as there is one unshielded side on both ships, even if the unshielded sides do not face each other?
A. All beaming by transporter is line-of-sight. Thus, there must be a clear, straight, unshielded line between two ships before beaming can take place.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Dave Tepool. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Are there any shields on the under-side of the Constitution class ships or D-7 battle cruisers?
A. All shields extend around top and bottom of their respective sides. Think of the shields as being sections out of a large ball and you'll get the idea.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. When you set a phaser to overload, is it immediately audible, or is there a delay of, say, 1 combat turn or so?
A. Setting a phaser to overload is immediately audible. There is no delay.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Dave Tepool / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. The weapons list on page 54 of the STRPG rulebook does not allow for weapons such as pole weapons, axes. and maces to be thrown. Some of these weapons can be thrown. What are the throwing ranges for them? Also how are ''power points'' determined for weapons like the bow and the MG?
A. Some, but not all pole weapons, axes, clubs, and maces can be thrown. (For instance, a glaive, broadax, spiked club, or z-handed mace cannot be thrown with any reasonable accuracy for any distance...) lf a weapon is of a throwable variety, it must be stated when the weapon is first described. If so, they have the following range requirements:
CLUB/MACE/AXE: S 1-3, M 4-7, L 8-11, EX 12-15
POLE WEAPON: S 1-5, M 6-10, L 11-1 5, EX 1 6-20
Weapons in these classifications vary greatly. These are average ranges, and you are free to modify them for specific types of weapon, if you desire. The "power points'' for ranged weapons like bow, MG, etc. are the average number of rounds carried in typical weapons of the type noted. In other words that's how many shots can be fired before you must reload (or, in the case of a bow, refill your quiver). Again, this can be adjusted for the specific situation you have in mind. Some types of pistols carry more rounds than others, etc.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Dave Tepool / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. In THE KLINGONS, the D-10 heavy cruiser has one set of range and damage information for the forward KD-9 disruptors, while the SHIP CONSTRUCTION MANUAL has different data. Which is correct?
A. The D-1O statistics in the SHIP CONSTRUCTION MANUAL are correct. The ones in the Klingon book are in error.
From: Stardate Mag N1 1984
Author: by Guy W. McLimore, Jr. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. ls there a saving roll to detect a false tribble in the adventure "Again,Troublesome Tribbles''?
A. There is no saving roll the first time a false tribble is encountered by a person. After a person has had a chance to (carefully, we hope) examine a false tribble, he or she should get a basic saving roll on the INT attribute to recognize one again if it is examined closely before being picked up.
Finally, we would like to reply briefly to all those who have written to make mention of concepts, rules, ship designs, and historical notes from Task Force Games Star Fleet Battles and related publications. The Task Force game has no connection with ST:RPG or STAR TREK in any manner, and the Star Fleet Battles universe is NOT the STAR TREK universe, despite marked similarities. Nothing published for their game system has any official connection with what we do and we take no responsibility for remaining consistent with their system. Despite similarity of names, ship designs, etc., Star Fleet Battles is not licensed by authority of Paramount Pictures, who hold copyright on all STAR TREK material.
Once again, if you as a player or Gamemaster wish to adapt outside material for your games, be our guest.
But neither we nor STARDATE can pubIish such material, and please do not expect us to take such material into consideration in our speculations and expansions on the official STAR TREK universe.
From: Stardate Mag N2 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Are the stats ie. length, width, height, weight, speeds, phasers, photon torpedoes, crew, shuttlecraft and transporters originated at FASA or by Paramount?
A. The stats come from both sources.The dimensions of the ships that appear in any of the STAR TREK fiIms come from Paramount. FASA receives photos of the ship models and then makes all the appropriate measurements to come up with the proper dimensions. Only the speeds, weaponry and other data listed for the Enterprise, Constitution, Klingon D-7A, D-7M, and Romulan Bird of Prey came from Paramount. AlI others were created at FASA. It is interesting to note that Paramount never generated the weaponry for either the Excelsior or the Klingon Scout in STAR TREK III. All of the information published by FASA has been approved by Paramount and is therefore what should be used.
From: Stardate Mag N2 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. About the photon torpedoes on the USS Excelsior. On the' back of your miniatures card (#2517), the torpedoes are listed as FP-6, however, in your STAR TREK III Sourcebook Update (#2214) they are listed as FP-4. Which is correct?
A. The correct torpedo is the FP-4.
From: Stardate Mag N2 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. My first question deals with miniatures; After seeing some of the ships in the Federation Ship Recognition Manual, I noticed that most of vour ships are pretty neat. Since the Enterprise, ReIiant. Chandley, and Loknar have been made into miniatures will any of the other ships be made into miniatures? l think I would like to see the Brenton cruiser and the Baker destroyer and one of the freighter made into miniatures.
Secondly, I seem somewhat perplexed about some of your terminology. l noticed that the Chandley is called a ''frigate'' but it has more weaponry than your Enterprise class heavy cruiser, and at 175,000mt. not to mention it carries 250 Marines! Surely this Baker class destroyer according to your book, weighs 122,000mt. isn't this a little big for a destroyer? I Would really appreciate it if you could explain your terminology to me.
Thirdly I was shocked to see your stats on the Enterprise class cruiser. l compared them with the ST-TMP bIueprints; which showed this ship with 18 phasers not 6 and a weight of 19,000mt. and with an emergency warp capability of 12. Why such a difference?
A. First of all the Baker and a freighter will be released for sure. The tramp freighter featured in the first issue of STARDATE will be released soon and the Kobayashi Maru will be released sometime in 1985. Plans are being made to make more ships, but what ships those will be has not been decided. FASA would like to hear from everyone about their interests.
Second, in the time of STAR TREK, the Federation classifies ships similar to the Terran classifications of the late 18th century. A Frigate is a large ship designed solely noncombat where as the heavy cruiser doubles as a warship and research vessel, Around 1800 A.D., Terran dating, the frigate was the largest ship on the seas. It was replaced by the Ship-of-the-Line, which was later called a cruiser. This is where the terminology comes from. It is a bit confusing when compared to Terran navies of the late 1900's where frigates were very small ships. The Baker is a Class IV destroyer. This is not considered heavy by Federation standards. Once again, I refer to the mission or tasks of the ship type. It is possible for a destroyer to weigh twice as much, but is unlikely.
About your third question I must admit that we gave the Enterprise less phasers than on the blueprints. The En-terprise is the most powerful ship in our game (excluding the Excelsior and that is with only 6 phasers. It is possible to destroy one in combat with a little cunning and good tactics. lf the ship were given any more weaponsit would be nextto impossible to destroy and there- fore lessen the play value (fun) of the game. If you would like to upgun your Enterprise class, feel free to do so, but I deceive you will find that it is too powerful. As for the weight and warp capability, we did not look at the plans when we published our stats and this causes the difference. We will not change the models we have but are considering an unrated Enterprise MK III that will reflect the increased weight and higher warp capability.
From: Stardate Mag N2 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. I have just purchased your model of the Klingon Ship in STAR TREK III and must say l am impressed. The package calls the model a Frigate and shows it to have more crew and Weapons than the one in the movie. Would you please explain the difference? Also, are you going to make the Space Dock?
A. When FASA was first given the plans and photos of the new Klingon ship, the information supplied did not match the pictures. There are several pictures that show the ship to be different sizes. When we asked Paramount about this discrepancy, they were not sure what was true. Finally, they told us to go with the picture that appears on the STAR TREK III Starship Combat Game. This is the photo most used in promotion that shows the Bird of Prev sitting in front ''of the Enterprise. It is from this' photo that we made our model. And, as you will see, our miniature is as large as the Enterprise. We, therefore, named it a frigate and gave it the L-42 classification. Later, approximately April, 1984, Paramount supplied us with information that the ship was a scout and only carried 12 crewmembers. Of course we asked how a ship that large would only have 12 people on board and be able to destroy the Enterprise. The answer relieved was several more pictures from the movie, one of which, showed the ship sitting on the planet Vulcan with crowds of people around. This only led to more confusion for now we had two photos from the movie that showed this vessel to be two different sizes. At this time, we decided to cover both bases and created the stats for the K-22 scout. More pictures arrived from Paramount showing still another size to this ship. Thus, we created the D-32 light cruiser. And, as our luck seemed to be running high, when the movie came out, this marvelous ship was seen to be not three different sizes but five. Hollywood never considers the facts but is concerned with visual impact. When viewing the movie, look at the size of the ship when it appears over the tramp freighter when it attacks the Grissom. when it first attacks the Enterprise, when the Klingons realize that the Enterprise is about to blow up and turn their ship away, and, finally, when it lands on Vulcan. In all these cases you will find the ship is a different size. At this time it is not feasible for FASA to make this model in any other scale and so you have the L-42 frigate. Stats for the K-22 and D-32 are found in other FASA products, so that you may play them all .
As for the Space Dock, FASA decided not to produce the miniature of this when it was determined that no more than one or two could be sold. The model in scale would be 3' wide and 4' tall and would only weigh 700Ibs. The retail price would be somewhere in the neighborhood of $20,000. It was felt that the item would not be marketable. The truth is we could not agree on the packaging.
From: Stardate Mag N3/4 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Admiral, I have two questions about your starship game. The first is when a ship recieves more than one sensors hit in a turn are the accumulative?
A. You roll the die for the first hit then add one turn for each aditisional hit. You may wish to have sensors permanently damaged after five hits. This would reflect the damage to the unit itself and the time required to repair it.
Q. What happens to the damage points on an engine hit when the engine has been reduced to zero power?
A. Any hits recieved in the engine area are counted as superstructure hits with no casualty modifier.
l have been playing your game since Origins this summer and am extremely pleased. Thank you for your time.
From: Stardate Mag N3/4 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Star Fleet Command I have recently purchased another of your fine starship models the USS Excelsior and find that it does not fit on the stand properly. The mounting hole in the ship is larger than the small post of the stand. When I place the ship on the stand it tips and tilts. What can I do to correct this?
A. On this model and several others we have enlarged the hole to correct an earlier problem of the smallpost on the stand breaking off To make your Excelsior fit better. Carefully snap off the small post of the stand by pressing it against a hard surface until it breaks off or bv cutting it with a hobby knife. The hobby knife is the better method. I would also recommend that you super-glue the stand into the ship permanentlv. This will prevent the opening in the ship from enlarging with use and therefore making the fit loose.
From: Stardate Mag N3/4 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. I would also like to know what the official colors for the various ships are.
A. The following is a list of the official hull colors by race. Federation: Off-white or a very right blue-gray (Equine Gray) Klingon: Silver-grey or light steel Romulan: Platinum or light gray-gold Gorn : Light metallic green Orion: Take your pick. Any colors will be correct.
AIl of these colors are available from the fine lines of paints by ''The Armory'' or ''Genesis Gaming Products ''. A painting guide will be forth- coming in a future issue of STARDATE. Finally, I must say you have produced an 'excellent game in STAR trek. Please keep up the good work.
From: Stardate Mag N3/4 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q. Star Fleet Command, I would Iike to know if you are going to make deck plans of the new Enterprise, Reliant, Regula l and any of the new ships from the third movie.
A. Plans for making these deck plans are beginning. They may appear late in 1985.
From: Stardate Mag N3/4 1984
Author: by Forest Brown. / Fantasimulations Associates
Q.Sirs, My question has to do with the Ship Recognition Manual: The Federation There is a discrepancy between the Derf class frigate and the Loknar class survey vessel. The color three-view of the Derf matches the black and white print of the descriptive page for the Loknar. The opposite is true also. The FASA metal miniature of the Loknar looks like the Derf. What is correct and what is not?
A. What is correct is that the Loknar is the frigate and the Derf is the Survev ship. The black and white page for each of the ships are correct. The only errors on the color pages are the actual names of the ships and their placement in the book is reversed. This question has been asked by almost everyone who has purchased the book and finally l can answer this for all those who were afraid to ask.
From: Stardate Mag V3N3 1987
Author: by Bob Gray
Q. What is the damage bonus for a Caitian using its claws incombat?
A. Caitians abhor violence, but when forced to, they will use their claws as a last
resort. They do 1D10/3 (round down) points damage. On a roll of 10 they rip their claw out
and besides the damage to the victim they do 1D10/2 (round down) points damage to
themselves and cannot use that claw again until healed.
From: Stardate Mag V3N6 1987
Author: by Bob Gray
Q.In the Star Trek RPG what happens when players skip out on payments on their ships?
A. Well,nobody is very happy and a bounty is put out on the ship making it fair game for anyone to grab for the bounty. That ought to make the players' lives interesting!
From: Stardate Mag V3N6 1987
Author: by Bob Gray
Q.What is the largest starship class that any race can build?
A. They are limited by the engine tables per race in the Ship Construction Manual. The numbers are: for the Federation, Class XX; Romulans, Class XIX; Klingons, Class XVIII; Gorns, Class XVII, and Orions, Class X
ABOUT Star Trek: The Role Playing Game
From: --- evansville.net/ ~guymc
Copyright 1996 Guy W. McLimore
Guy McLimore, Greg Poehlein, and Dave Tepool were privileged to add their small part to the Star Trek legend as the authors of Star Trek: The Role Playing Game for FASA Corporation. As long time Trekfans, the trio is still very proud of the work they did on this project in its early days.
Guy, Greg, and Dave, operating at that time as Fantasimulations Associates, were assigned the Star Trek project by FASA after five other design teams had failed to turn in a manuscript that both FASA and Paramount Pictures would approve. FASA's license option was about to run out, and they needed to get a product into print almost immediately.
"We had only a few weeks to create character creation, character combat, and starship combat systems," remembers Guy. "When we made that deadline, FASA assigned us the entire project." It was to absorb almost all of their design efforts for the next several years. Guy, Greg, and Dave created the first edition of the basic ST:RPG rules, which debuted at a Trek convention in Omaha, Nebraska. The game was an immediate success, and soon became the second best selling RPG in history at the time (although well behind #1 - Advanced Dungeons and Dragons).
The first boxed set included both the role playing rules and a role playing style starship combat system that remains unique among game systems. Instead of a tactical board game, the role playing combat system offered players the chance to sit at "consoles" for the various bridge stations and perform their duties by allocating power to various systems, setting course, activating the shields, and firing weapons.
A series of expansion volumes soon followed, all written by Guy, Greg, and Dave, including The Klingons, The Romulans, and Trader Captains and Merchant Princes, which introduced non-military personnel as player characters for the first time. Most of the early adventure supplements were also written by one or more members of the trio. David created and later revised the Star Trek Tactical Ship Combat Simulator, which was eventually boxed as a separate component of the system and probably outsold even the role playing game because of its fast play mechanic and authenticity.
The main books of the system, including the Basic Game and the Klingons, Romulans, and Trader Captains supplements, entered a second edition, using the Fantasimulations Associates systems and text that was rewritten and edited by John Wheeler. The second editions proved even more popular than the first.
FASA was already pursuing another success story in the form of Battletech. Future warfare was very popular, and FASA was in the forefront of the new gaming craze.
FASA's desire to stress the combat aspects of Star Trek led to disputes between them and the Fantasimulations Associates designers, who wanted to maintain the less-violent focus of the Star Trek TV series. This led to ST:RPG projects being assigned to other designers, and eventually to a payment dispute which ended the three Fantasimulations Associates designers' association with FASA and the Star Trek property.
The later ST:RPG works became very controversial in fandom because of their focus on military themes. Gene Roddenberry returned to active interest in licensing (during the initial planning of Star Trek: The Next Generation) and was reportedly unhappy with the change of approach to the game materials. A number of proposed FASA projects were turned down when submitted to Paramount for approval. One short-lived sourcebook was actually sent to press and distributed before Paramount had ruled on it. When it was turned down, Paramount insisted that FASA withdraw the book from publication.
Eventually FASA did not renew the license to produce Star Trek materials, and the game went out of print. Paramount has never again allowed a role playing game license to be sold for any Star Trek property, despite the interest of companies such as TSR, Mayfair Games, and Steve Jackson Games.
There are still a lot of fans of the FASA game, and on this page in the future will appear some of our notes for projects that never saw print, including the Star Trek adventures produced by Guy and Greg as RPGA tournaments. We're also very interested in Star Trek material for our upcoming fanzine for out-of-print games, The Orphan Games Gazette. We'd especially like to see ST:RPG character stats for characters from the movies, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager, along with ship designs for the Star Trek Starship Combat Game, adventures, updated weaponry and gadgets, etc.
Brief History
From: David Schneiders fasatrek site
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 2003
In the early 1980s, the game company Fantasimulations was granted a license to develop the first role-playing game based on Star Trek. The first boxed set included both the role playing rules and a role playing style starship combat system that remains unique among game systems. Instead of a tactical board game, the role playing combat system offered players the chance to sit at "consoles" for the various bridge stations and perform their duties by allocating power to various systems, setting course, activating the shields, and firing weapons.
The game system uses percentile dice for randomization. Characters were created by rolling up some basic attributes and assigning points to various skills through a training process, which was nicely expanded in the second edition's "Star Fleet Officer's Manual." Close combat could be played out using a counter (or miniature) based "Tactical Movement" system featuring lots of possible weapons and actions.
The basic first edition included:
* core rulebook
* Adventure book (with three adventures)
* Enterprise deckplans
* Klingon cruiser deckplans
* 22" x 33" starfield hexgrid map
* 2 die, counters
* and FASA catalog
* Am I fogetting something?
The Star Trek Role Playing Game Deluxe Edition contained the following:
* Star Fleet Officer's Manual (a guide for players)
* Game Operations Manual (a game master's book)
* Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook (overview of the Star Trek universe)
* tarship Combat Role Playing Game, 64-page rulebook
* 78 full-color counters
* 22" x 33" starfield hexgrid map
* record keeping sheets
* 2 die
The second edition boxed set contained three books:
* Star Fleet Officer's Manual (a guide for players)
* Game Operations Manual (a game master's book)
* Cadet's Orientation Sourcebook (overview of the Star Trek universe)
In the second edition, starship combat wasn't covered in much depth; for detailed rules, players had to purchase the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game.
Before going out of print, FASA's Star Trek RPG attained great success and spawned an impressive number of supplements. It did eventually come to an end, however, and the torch was passed on to Last Unicorn Games (a great game, and hats off to everyone involved: Ross Isaacs, S. John Ross, Charles Ryan, Don Mappin, Dan Moppin, etc... ). On January 1, 2000, the license expired, and Paramount bestowed the honor upon yet another company, Decipher.
Newsgroups: Games * Design * Art * Culture - Origins2004
Author: by Gred Costikyan (West
End former Employee)
Date: ?
Almost word for word from a former West End employee
"...West End had a bit of a pissing match with FASA over the Star
Trek rights. (Essentially: Paramount licensed FASA the "roleplaying
boardgame" rights, and they published a highly successful Trek RPG
Trek Starship Mini-Game of Weissman's design; Paramount turned around and sold West End
the "adventure gaming boardgame" rights, which was a problem, because
both groups published Trek boardgames, and both claimed the exclusive rights to do so. In
retrospect, it was Paramount's fault..."
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek
Author: by Richard Arnold (Star
Trek Consulant)
Date: 9-10-1991
A Quote from an Interview, this portion focuses on the FASA situation.:
...Star Trek has never been about violence--in fact, it's the antithesis of that. And, in
order to...I'm trying to remember the way he put it...for _image_ reasons, he thinks that
no version of Star Trek should be excessively violent. And that's why he's never really
allowed the phasers to be sold as...as weapons, as guns, for kids to play with--'cause he
doesn't like the idea of kids running around shooting each other with phasers when they're
_only_ a defensive weapon--they're not an offensive weapon. And that's why he got
particularly upset with FASA, because they were looking to build more and more and more
battle scenarios into the role-playing game...they were looking for_enemies_...they were
doing whole supplements strictly to build in another enemy to fight with, and that was
_not_ what he wanted. And when he got a fight from them on it, when--and, of course, at
the same time the studio was fighting back against Gene as well--that was when he just
drew the line, that he would not have Star Trek sold as a war game any longer. Even though
there are people that claim that when they play the game, they never "war" it,
we've all seen examples at conventions, of people who maneuver it into battle scenarios,
and on Star Trek, you lose if you fight, you don't win. I mean, when you resort to that,
you've lost. You've lost the philosophy, you've lost the point. So, violence is not story
on Star Trek, and conflict does not have
to resort to violence in order to tell a Star Trek story. Again, anybody on the show can
tell you that it's rarely necessary.
[phone break]
Yeah, I know at times we've said one thing, and at other times we seem to be saying
another, but when somebody drags somebody in, a race for instance--this is a specific
charge--when somebody drags a race in strictly to use them as an enemy, we say, you know,
"don't drag in people that we've used in the past just for these purposes, be more
creative!" And then at other times, we say, "We've never heard of this race
before, you're trying to turn them into a new major villain, we do not want new major
villains, use someone established like the Klingons or Romulans. So I know it sounds
contradictory, but it's really not....
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
Paramount isn't known for being particularly stable in their policies. FASA's view of ST seems to have been completely out of synch with Paramount's by the time STNG aired. Rodenberry would say things like: "There's no lusting for a superior's job in ST." and FASA would publish a scenario about a mutiny on a Federation Starship. Or the Klingon "pre-X-Files 'everyone is out to get me'" adventures.
Paramount now takes much closer looks at licensed products than they did in the early days. The original objections to the later FASA products came when Gene Roddenberry himself saw a sea change in the way FASA was pursuing the license and called on Paramount to call a halt. My last info was that Paramount had decided NEVER to issue such a license again because it took too much time and trouble to police it.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
Just a bit of my take on this, as an early participant...
From my viewpoint, support for FASA's Star Trek products started to wane when they began
focussing on combat and war and drifting from the philosophies that made Star Trek popular
in the first place. Battketech was beginning to do well, and FASA seemd to have the idea
that Star Trek should be more of a wargame, too. It was certainly at this time that FASA
and Paramount began to have trouble.
In the early days, right up through the second editions of the basic game and the
Klingons, Romulans and Trader Captains supplements, ST:RPG was the second-best-selling RPG
on the market, right behind AD&D. It dropped off when FASA's products started to drift
from the Star Trek formula, which was why Paramount became disenchanted with FASA.
I was an outside observer by that time, as FASA and I had already parted company over a
payment dispute, but I was still a game retailer at that time and still interested
(intellectually but not financially) in how ST:RPG developed. I saw the drop off in sales
coinciding with the change in direction.
There is a fundamental difference between the Battletech player and the Star Trek player.
BT people tend to be from the wargaming mold (as most of FASA's originators were). ST:RPG
players were role players who had graduated from the hack-and-slash stage into the
"heroic adventure" and "playing inside someone else's head" stage.
FASA's designers during that time period proved better at serving one breed of cat than
the other.
And, indeed, FASA has made more in the long run from Battletech (whose rights they control
and can license out to others) than they did from Star Trek (a license they had to pay --
and pay well -- for).
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.advocacy
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/11/25
Paramount knows just how hot the Star Trek license is and wants 1 million a year for the
right to use it. That is what they charged FASA all those years ago for the very few Next
Generation books they put out and that is what they still want.
Yes, Paramount charged a lot of money for the Next Generation license, but there is no
way FASA ever paid one million dollars a year for it. Paramount in those days (and I
believe still today) licenses every Star Trek property separately. Thus, if you publish
something based on the original series, you do NOT have the rights to use material from
the movies, ST:TNG, Deep Space Nine, etc. unless you license each of THOSE individually,
too. That adds up very quickly. It is why some of FASA's Trek projects carried an original
series logo, some carried a logo for one of the movies, etc. And it's why things got so
expensive as time went on.
I was not involved as a designer with the FASA Next Generation projects, but my
understanding is that failure to get them through the entire Paramount approval process
before sending them to press was the major issue between the two companies that led to
FASA's Star Trek license being withdrawn by Paramount. Paramount originally licensed
ST:RPG for a very reasonable fee, as I understand it, but as the franchise became popular
again they upping the ante, making the later projects less profitable for FASA. So it is
possible the line would have come to an end anyway.
But a million dollars -- that may be a figure you were given now, but I'm sure FASA never
paid that. In fact, it was Paramount policy as recently as a year ago that no RPG license
would ever be granted again. If you were offered a license, I'd be interested in hearing
about it, as it signals a recent change in their desires in regards to RPGs.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.industry
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1999/01/14
I was once informed that it was the excessive meddling by a Paramount liscensing
functionary which caused FASA to abandon their popular Star Trek rpg in the eighties.
Here's hoping history doesn't repeat in this situation.
That is not strictly true. FASA had little problem with the Paramount approval process
at the time my partners and I were designing the bulk of the FASA Star Trek products. In
fact, on no occasion was any rewrite required on any product, to my knowledge, nor was any
objection to them by Paramount ever made known to me or to my partners.
Later, I understand things did get more adversarial, with Paramount objecting to what they
perceived as a more combat-oriented stance in the games. But in the end it is my
understanding that it was Paramount who pulled (or perhaps failed to renew) FASA's
license, allegedly because of FASA's failure to properly submit certain items for
approval. It may well be, however, that FASA didn't fight too hard to keep it, as
Paramount was asking significantly more and more for each successive renewal, and FASA was
doing very well with Battletech by that time and not as dependent on the Star Trek
property.
There's a whole new crew in charge at Paramount these days, and LUG seems to have a good
relationship with them from all I've heard from folks I know there. I lament their lack of
a decent "official" web presence, too, but they've made a fine start on the game
side, which is certainly more important.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 2001-02-06 14:30:27 PST
Paramout took away the license from Fasa, apparently because they thought that FASA was
taking too many liberties with the ST universe. More specifically I seem to recall that
FASA was planning a planet-side forces sourcebook (Federal Marines, or something like
that) and Paramount decided that the feel of the game was heading towards a more wargamish
mood, and this would be in contrast with the generally "violence as the last
resort" ideal expressed in the TV series and movies.
To the best of my knowledge (as per what I was told by then-FASA employees and by
Majel Barrett Roddenberry herself years after the
fact), this is essentially correct. My understanding is that the last straw was the
publication of at least one supplement without final Paramount approval. I have no
first-hand knowledge, as my partners and I were no longer freelancing for FASA by that
time. But I have heard this story confirmed by enough people who were involved at the time
that I believe it to be true.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
"There's no money in the Federation." And FASA would publish adventures about merchants and give the pay scales for Federation crew members.
There was never an objection to money voiced by anyone at Paramount that I'm aware of. There certainly IS money in the Federation, but abopard ship you rarely dealt with it (as you would rarely deal with it directly aboard a modern submarine on deep duty). Remember "The Trouble with Tribbles" established the "Federation credit" as the unit of exchange in the Federation. The same episode established Cyrano Jones as an independent trader, the model for our characters in "Trader Captains and Merchant Princes".
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
John M Ford's version of Klingons seems to differ greatly from Rodenberry's.
Not at the time. In fact, we adopted John M. Ford's Klingons as canonical because Paramount asked for his notes and back story information from the novel, intending to make it official. It was only after ST:TNG writers started playing with things that Paramount shifted gears. There were NO Paramount objections to the first or second edition of "The Klingons". And I have it on excellent authority that Mr. Roddenberry was quite taken with Ford's novel. And the recent "sequel" to "Tribbles" aired on Deep Space Nine has a line by Worf that makes it clear that no one outside the Klingon Empire itself is STILL exactly sure why the Klingons changed appearance. Ford's explanations are still as good as any.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
"Humans are a much more enlightened race in the 24th century." And they weren't in FASA's version. (See the afforementioned mutiny scenario, as well as the Sherman's Planet adventure,the Triangle stuff, the Merchant stuff, etc.)
More enlightened as a group, but still capable of villainy and stupidity as individuals. Again, I am unaware of any Paramount objections to The Triangle material.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
Granted, FASA was doing what game companies do. They were taking previously viewed material and trying to make it into a coherant whole. They were also trying to make it interesting for people to adventure in, and utopian soceties generally aren't good places for adventure. So FASA created it's own material from things that they saw on the series. With licensed material, sometimes this works. But with FASA and Paramount, it didn't work.
Granted, we had to fill in gaps where no canonical material existed. But no one (certainly not Gene Roddenberry) has ever claimed the Federation is a perfect utopia (except, perhaps, compared with 20th century Earth). Certainly ST:TNG and ST:DS9 episodes have made clear that the Federation has it's share of fools, poltroons, power-mad sadists, etc. -- even in Star Fleet itself. But the good people, with courage, caring, and a high regard for the spirit of Life, eventually come out on top. That's the way my partners (Greg Poehlein and Dave Tepool) and I tried to write our Star Trek material -- in the traditions of the original series concepts. My feeling (and it's just my opinion) is that later editorial decisions and designers tried to make Star Trek into a wargame-oriented battleground. Certainly, it was this change in direction that hacked off Roddenberry and Paramount. I think it cost FASA their audience well before it cost them their license.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1998/08/17
FASA fell into the trap of making up stuff about Star Trek. Remember "The Klingons" sourcebook? All true Trek fans get a laugh out of reading it now, as it was WAY off the mark! To be fair: The Klingon Sourcebook was written well before TNG was a twinkle in any eyes but Rodenberry's, was based on (a very good) bit of Trek fiction and was presumably approved by Paramount, both when John M. Ford was writing 'The Final Reflection' and the source book. Certainly these days Paramount are very picky about what gets written, I expect things were laxer in those days, but I doubt it was radically different.
Sure Paramount chose to go down some different paths, but what's there is pretty much
entirely consistent with all the Klingon stories that had been given airplay before 1984.
There's really very little in the dishonourable barbarian classic Trek Klingons that rings
true with TNG's neo-Samuarii Klingons.
As one of the original designers of FASA's Star Trek: The Role Playing Game and The
Klingons sourcebook, I can speak to this question, I think. In point of fact, Paramount
was pleased enough with Ford's "The Final Reflection" to ask to have his
unpublished notes submitted so that future authors could work from them. (They were also
used in the creation of the RPG supplement.) Paramount accepted "The Final
Reflection" as canon (something done with very, very few other novels) and indeed
encouraged us in our decision to base our view of the Klingon Empire on it as well as the
series episodes.
This was changed when, for the purposes of ST:TNG (particularly because of the popularity
of the Worf character) Paramount decided to rework a lot of the thinking about the
Klingons. I certainly don't apologize for being unable to borrow the Enterprise, take a
slingshot orbit around the sun, and travel forward in time to anticipate what he Klingons
would become in later seasons of ST:TNG.
If any "true Trek fans" were laughing at The Klingons then, it didn't show in
the sales figures, apparently. Nor has anyone laughed since. It was based solidly on
accepted canon and Paramount's plans AT THAT TIME.
In the case of The Romulans, we had no such clear direction. The original TV series
episodes give us only a very thin look at their culture, and the novels out at the time
had wildly contradictory views, none of which was accepted as canon by Paramount. So we
made it up. Lots of it. We had to. If someone else's view was different, they were
certainly free to play it that way. But we had to have some unified vision, and ours was
approved 100% by Paramount.
In point of fact, during the time the Fantasimulations Associates team (myself, Greg
Poehlein and David Tepool) worked on ST:RPG I do not recall EVER reciving a single request
from Paramount for a change based on noncanonicity. Quite the reverse, in fact. Paramount
often referred to details from the RPG during the early days of planning on ST:TNG, and if
you look closely you will occasionally see data pages directly from the FASA books appear
in the background as data screens on the Enterprise control and data displays in Next
Generation episodes.
There is no harder task in RPG creation than converting a well-known and detailed
fictional universe into a game universe. The level and type of detail required by
gamemasters and players is much different than that required for episodic dramas. RPG
authors are often forced to "fill in the cracks". In that respect, the designers
of the new LUG systems have an even tougher task than we had. The STAR TREK universe is
far more detailed today than it was in our day, but the fact that it continues to grow
makes it a dead certainty that their materials will end up contradicting
SOMETHING that comes along from some screenplay writer's mind in the future. That should
hardly spoil the fun for a "true Trek fan" playing the game, however.
Want a laugh? Sit down right now and write game materials based on, for example, the
universe portrayed in Babylon 5 and try and anticipate the details about it that will be
revealed in the potential five-year run of the upcoming Crusade series. Keep that document
and read it after the final episode of Crusade airs in half a decade.
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.misc
Author: by Guy McLimore
Date: 1997/01/22
As for the sales totals, saying that Star Trek was being outsold by Battletech is in direct contradiction of what I've been told by various sources.
As I've said elsewhere, my information is that as of the time of the major second edition Star Trek RPG releases (The second edition rules, and the second editions of The Klingons and Trader Captains and Merchant Princes), ST:RPG was the #2 best selling RPG in the world, right behind D&D/AD&D.
I missed much of the beginnings of this exchange.
Author: David R. Deitrick (www.david3deitrick.com)
Date: ?
As an author, I actually wrote something - a playing aid, tricorder/sensor display for
the Star Trek role playing game by FASA. The sales were disappointing.
Also did the Federation Cover and many other drawnings and covers.
Author: Guy McLimore (---.evansville.net)
Date: 06-30-2000 17:15
...the Doctor Who RPG system is NOT the same system that was used in Star Trek: the
Role Playing Game. It uses several of the same assumptions, but fact, FASA seemed to me
(at the time and now, in reflection) to be deliberately trying to alter the system AWAY
from looking too much like ST:RPG's, even if it meant making the system much clunkier to
do so.
Why? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that my partners (Greg Poehlein and
David Tepool) and I, who created ST:RPG, had a contract which gave us royalties on any
product that made use of the ST:RPG systems. So it was necessary for Dr. Who NOT to use
those systems. We did end up working on the Dr. Who RPG (and we wrote the DALEKS
sourcebook), but our involvement came after the systems were pretty much set by other
designers. Our job was to add more Dr. Who flavor to it and work out some problem areas
such as TARDIS operation, etc.
At any rate, judging ST:RPG by Dr. Who is like judging D&D 3rd Edition by SenZar
because SenZar is sort of a level-based system like original D&D was. Read ST:RPG for
yourself (if you can get hold of copies of either edition -- they're hard to come by and
demand high prices on eBay and such) and decide if you like it or not.
I think that, given the prevailing taste for more complex systems at the time, ST:RPG
simulated its subject matter well. I won't claim that for Dr. Who, which I feel took
itself far too seriously, system-wise, when the subject matter called for something much
breezier. Though hindsight is always 20-20, it certainly is not how I would approach the
matter today.
The CIA concept was a tool by which we could justify allowing players to play other Time
Lords than the Doctor. We knew it was a tenuous connection at best, but it offered play
possibilities that would otherwise be denied, and allowed gamemasters and players much
more room to create their own sagas instead of just playing untold stories of the
television series characters. (The serial nature of Doctor Who's episodes makes fitting in
"untold" stories between the ones in the series a bit difficult anyway, unless
you simply shrug and assume that with a TARDIS, anything is possible. Which is certainly a
valid assumption in this case, I suppose,)
Of all the stuff we did for Dr. Who, my favorite part was the example character story
featuring Stan, the slightly dotty Time Lord, and Tabby, his companion. This was not
actually CREATED for the game originally, and certainly not in the location and way it was
used. It was requested by FASA for a separate pre-release brochure they were putting out
which was supposed to show the flavor of how the game was played as a teaser for the
release of the full system. Instead, that publication was dumped and the material was used
in the game rules to illustrate various parts of game play and the rules. Despite the fact
that it wasn't what had originally been intended, I still love that section and happily
claim it as my own.
Overall, I felt the review was a fair assessment of the game from the viewpoint of a
player today. The game systems were closer to what was the prevailing taste at the time
than the reviewer gives them credit for, but they don't hold up as well today as I feel
ST:RPG does. Nonetheless, I'm proud of our contributions to Dr. Who, and I'm really happy
we got the chance to be a small part of TWO pieces of TV SF history, both of which are
very close to my heart.
Federation Rec Manual Notes from Designers
From: http://www.sub-odeon.com/stsstcsmua/articles/interviews.html
Author: Robert Oswald, starship illustrator & playtester
Date: Jul 29 2002
My work appeared in the second edition of the Federation Ship Recognition Manual. Dana Knutson was the only other Illustrator and I believe Forest Brown wrote most of the technical data and designed the game stats for the ships. Forest gave me most of my direction. Scale and timeframe was very important to the consistency of the stats vs. the illustration. The Kiev was my favorite ship. I like the weapons pod at the top.
I actually traced some of the components from my set of Enterprise blueprints published by Del Rey back in 1980. The drawings were larger than Forest and Dana needed but they were able to reduce them to the size needed for paste-up.
The reason that I like the FASA products over any other, is that they pour a lot into the game mechanic and even more in the fiction. All of the worlds they create are very rich with detail indeed. The only change I would add is the Quick Draw rule to all of the Battletech, Renegade Legion and Star Trek products. Quick draw rules is from "Crimson Skies" and is basically stating that if your unit has a higher quick draw value than your opponent, you get to fire first and damage is immediate. Exchange or fire is NOT simultaneous!
STARSHIP MINIs
From: http://www.star-ranger.com/forum/
Author: Chris lynch (Ravenstar Studios)
Date: Jun 6 2005
The Ranger class was a small gun boat type of ship that operated in groups. The Ranger is from the long ooP Fasa's StarShip Tactical Combat Simulator and was, to the best of my rememberance, never produced as a mini. FASA's Recognition manual lists the Ranger as 57m by 87 m. Future Legends (FL) lists their fig as 1.8 ins by 1.4 ins. If my math is correct that gives a scale of somewhere around 1/1900 to 1/1600. Don't know how consistent that is with the rest of FL's range.Proportions (assuming both FASA and FL are measuring the same points) are slightly diferent with FASA at 0.66 and Fl at 0.78.
Well Fasa At one time did have one in the works , I know because I sculpted it(The Ranger) and two others, the Brenton and Baker, only one made it , the Baker Class. The Ranger was Lost along with another ship I did(Brenton) by UPS back in the early 80's , man That was a long time ago. yup. they were my very first mini sculpts besides the Baker. Broke my heart and I backed off doing minis for a while (years really) .If a Ranger was sculpted to scale it would be tiny, about a 1/4 of a inch . there is a great top view of all the Fed ships in scale done in Black from the oringinal SRMs. If you can find one of these you can see the true scale to say the enterprise A.
From: http://groups.msn.com/CreativeWorks/
and other places on the net.
Author: Ab Mobasher
Date: 9/19/2001 and October 2005
The first 22 Master Miniatures Sculpted by Ab Mobasher.
Winner of H. G. Wells Award. Scale;1/3950. 22 Brass masters sculptured by Ab Mobasher in early 80's. Licensed and manufactured by Fasa Corp. of Chicago under licensing agreement with Paramount Picture. Fasa no longer manufactures these miniatures."
USS Enterprise & Klingon D-7 were the first 2 of the 22 Star Trek Miniatures
machined by Ab Mobasher in 1981-85 under a licensing agreement with Fasa & Paramount
Pictures.
Fasa provided blue prints of USS Enterprise and a plastic model with 12” diameter
dish for comparison. The final brass master (approx. 3” long) was actually more
detailed than the much larger, injection molded plastic model. The original master (brass
pattern) was meticulously machined out of 12 brass pieces. 2-Dimentional industrial
engraving machine (Kohlmann Gm II), magnifier and microscope were used to machine the 3-D
master. Machining started with larger cobalt & carbide end mills and cutters. Single
flute cobalt cutters with tip diameter of .002” (size of human hair) were used to add
final lines, geometrical patterns and created the microscopic details. The brass
masterpieces were grouped in sub-assembly sections and were reproduced in 40/60 tin-lead
alloys in vulcanized rubber molds and by spin-casting process.
Fasa Corporation of Chicago received the famed H. G. Wells Science Fiction Award because
of the extreme details of these miniatures created by Mr. Mobasher.
"I understand that there is about 4% shrinkage after each casting. Wish I knew
that before making the miniatures because many of the thin sections had difficulty flowing
in the spin casting molds. In that process, they make a set of second generation originals
and from that, they make casting, therefore more shrinkage."
Made of Lead. "They usually use Tin-Lead alloy in the ratio of 40%-60% for best
flow rate and details."
"These miniatures were so detailed that you need to use microscope and magnifier to really appreciate the workmanship or even find my signature!."
Note: Ab is almost blind when he made these miniatures
From: E-mail
Author: Guy McLimore
Date: December 31 2005
On your old website (MC+ site of 1996), you mentioned that, "There are still a lot
of fans of the FASA game, and in the future will appear some of our notes for projects
that never saw print, including the Star Trek adventures produced by Guy and Greg as RPGA
tournaments." Is there
any way these could be made available?
"Some of this stuff no longer exists -- some may be on old Apple II 5.25"
floppy disks somewhere. Greg may indeed have one of his old RPGA tournament advantures...
I seem to recall he mentioned it once. I'll ask him this weekend and see if he knows where
the files are.
We could never sell any such material, as we don't own the rights to the Star Trek
material. The rights to all our design material returned to us under contract two years
after it went out of print, but that doesn't help much when we don't have permission to
use the Star Trek trademarks and names. Still, releasing an adventure that was never
published as a free download would probably be OK under Fair Use -- of Greg or I finds
anything, perhaps we'll do that. With our workload right now, though, it's unlikely to be
soon..."
From: E-mail
Author: Guy McLimore
Date: December 31 2005
A "mystery ship" from the back of the Star Trek II: Ship Construction Manual. "We" have no idea what it was to be; it doesn't seem to match any Fed, Klingon, Romulan or Orion ship design. It has been speculated that it is a Gorn ship, but it is "color coded" as being a Federation ship on the folder version of the Star Trek II: Ship Construction Manual. Can you help?
"Hmm... Wish I knew. I don't specifically remember the design. I'll pass that along to David Tepool when I see him next and see if he remembers. He and Jordan Weisman sketched out some of the roughs on the ships originally. Others were done by FASA artists and adapted by David when he did the Ship Construction Manual. It's possible one of those slipped inton the cover that was never actually intended for use. It isn't likely to be Gorn, as we were never working on those. It may have been a Federation colony ship design -- but most of the Federation ships used outboard nacelles. The design looks vaguely Klingon to me, somehow..."
From: E-mail
Author: Dave Tepool
Date: December 31 2005
"The Art of the Jaynz column was stock art & not of a particular ship, if I remember correctly."
From: E-mail
Author: Pat Larkin
Date: December 31 2005
Did you write "The Korellian Caper", published in "Game News 2"?
"Yes, that short piece was one of mine. IIRC, it was just about a page or so long as published in the magazine. (Game News wanted to print one or two very short RPG mini-adventures in each issue.)"
"Aside from "The Korellian Caper," I think my only other Star Trek RPG work was a FASA-published adventure -- "The Orion Ruse." It was about 40,000 words long and it was set on an Orion-settled world outside the Federation. It was designed for use with the Trader Captains & Merchant Princes supplement, and player characters could be either merchants or Federation officers operating covertly."
From: Fasa Trek Universe Group
Author: Karl Hiesterman
Date: September 17 2006
First of all, thank you for all your kind words. It's always nice to hear when your
work rings true with the audience.
Regarding Boarding parties: If I remember rightly, I only used Boarding for the three-way
pirate scenario, two pirate players both trying to beat up the convoy but winning
separately. For that scenario I specifically set the boarding numbers to be what was
appropriate for the scenario. I needed the Convoy player to have more marines than one
pirate, but both pirates combined to have more than the Convoy. I certainly think a D-10
would have a much larger marine contingent than a Destroyer, but for the scenario I made
them fairly equal, so the Convoy player had some more options. I think I explained away
the difference in the scenario vignettes by saying marines had been removed from the
Cruiser... (I have to back and read my own book?) I would think we could easily just base
Marines off of a percentage of the number of crew as a general rule, with a few exceptions
(I've always expected Klingons to have more marines than Feds, and the Chandley class was
a Marine transport, if I remember rightly...
Regarding Victory points and such: Remember, VPs and victory conditions often vary
according to the scenario. They are the tool the designer uses to affect the behavior of
the players to fit the supposed behaviors and conditions of the situations they are
"simulating". Thus it's possible for both sides to claim victory in some of my
scenarios, or for a victory to be Pyrrhic at best (on some of the linked scenarios, for
example. Win scenario 1 but be so beat up you lose #2?). If I remember correctly, when I
had just points for ships destroyed or whatever, those values were based on the Combat
Efficiency numbers somehow, but for the life of me I can't remember how. You can probably
see a pattern by looking at the CE numbers and my VP charts...
One campaign I ran a long time ago was based on the White Flame scenarios, I made up a set
of about 6 basic scenarios: Convoy attack, Base assault, Patrol, Fleet Engagement, etc.
And we rolled randomly for each player as to what scenario he played this turn. And a
ranking system that just gave you points worth of ships, so the scenario auto-balanced for
you. If you were a new player in a Convoy game, the other player had fewer points, if you
were and experienced player, you had a bigger fleet, but so did your opponent.
Unfortunately, those rules are lost to time...
Did I ever consider doing more Trek work: Oh, I would have loved to do more, but there
wasn't much call for it, I'm afraid. FASA was about to lose the Trek license (they didn't
know that at the time?) and Battletech was going strong, so most of the attention was
there. I think the only reason White Flame was done was because Jordan and Ross loved the
game and wanted to do at least one scenario book for it. They knew I loved the game to and
just came up to me and said "we want to do a Scenario book for the Combat Simulator,
and we want you to write it. Do whatever you want". So, loving Klingons like I do, I
did a Klingon squadron. The natural reaction would probably have been to do a Fed book,
but everything is so Fed focused in Star Trek, I wanted the bad guys to have their day? I
tried to make sure the opponents were varied, so it wasn't just Fed vs Kingon, and so I
had them serve on both fronts near the Triangle, so they could fight Fed, Romulan,
Pirates, and other Klingons.
An interesting side note, the character artwork in that book was done by a then newcomer
to the gaming world, Doug Shuler. He was a friend of mine, and a young and really talented
artist, but it was really hard for an artist to break into that field. Artists are
notoriously flaky in the publishing industry, missing deadlines, etc., so publishers don't
like risk trying new artists (better the devil you know?). I had just gotten Doug his
first work, illustrating a piece of design work I had just completed, the Battletech
combat books for Nova. I asked FASA if they would consider Doug for the White Flame, and
they said no thanks. So what I had Doug do was go ahead and do the Character illustrations
anyway, made sure I finished the Character stuff first so he could work on the art as soon
as possible. Then I sent both the manuscript and the art together thinking they couldn't
turn down suitable art exactly to their needs? I was right, they loved them and included
them in the book, and Doug got his start in the Gaming Industry. He's a fairly well-known
gaming artist now, did a ton of work Magic-the Gathering and loads of other stuff...
...As for White Flame, well I was greatly helped by the fact that John M. Ford had
already written his fantastic Klingon suppliment, which
really brought them to life. Particularly the whole Komerex zha concept, which gave
Klingons a whole new level of struggle.
I started with trying to make sure the scenarios themselves were interesting. I made the
assumption that the readers had probably already done lots of standard, equal-point
fights, and so resolved to have victory conditions more varied than just fight to the
death, and force balances that were different. I designed well balanced scenarios, and
playtested them, before I wrote a word of the background (although a lot of it was in my
head...). It sounds kinda backwards, but it worked. It made sure that the primary purpose
was served (that is, interesting scenarios for the Combat Simulator) and still was cool
and interesting, made you care about what happened in the scenario, not just a dry combat.
Guy McLimore (guymc @ http://www.microtactix.com)
Formerly of Fantasimulations Associates, Co-designer - Star Trek: The Role
Playing Game
Forest Brown (-)
--------------------------------
Robert Oswald (-)
Starship Illustrator & Playtester
Chris Lynch (Ravenstar Studios)
Starship Sculptor
http://www.ravenstarstudios.com/
Ab Mobasher (Creative Works)
Starship Sculptor
Creative Works
Dave Tepool ()
----
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Pat Larkin ()
Wrote Star Trek Adventures and Orion Ruse
Home Site
David R. Deitrick ()
Cover Artist and Made the Tricorder/Sensor Display
Home Site
END