Article: Remembering FASA's Star Trek RPG

[Frylock]

You can view the page at http://loremaster.org/content.php/240-Remembering-FASA-s-Star-Trek-RPG

[Matt James]

Interestingly enough, I played this game a couple times in the mid-90s. One of my buddies found it in the school's library and we dove right in. I don't think it was supposed to be there, but it was likely an oversight on the part of the 900 year-old Lich-Lady that operated the place. Great post, Rob. I may have to run a one-shot soon. You stirred up some major nostaglia. Here's a quick Wikipedia link for those not familar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_role-playing_game_(FASA)

[Frylock]

I have the 1st and 2nd edition rules. I prefer 2nd edition, though the differences aren't that big a deal. They're simply better organized. I also have a ton of adventures I've never run or played and some accessories. We'd certainly have the material. A friend from my monthly Sunday game is very interested in having the chance to play the game again. One thing I've learned from all of my experiments with new game systems is that it makes no sense to try to teach character generation to people at the table. Pre-gens would be a must.

[gaming tonic]

I played this back in the early 90's and was fortunate enough to have a group that was really into it. We made several characters each. One character was the main character that we played, the Security Chief, the Chief Science Officer, our main character if you will. We then at random made three or four other characters on the ship for those odd moments when it would happen to come up. One character I made was the Chief Supply Officer who was a Earth circa 1950's freak that shot pool like nobody's business. It was a nice quick touch and the secondary characters didn't even need to use the character generation unless you felt like taking the time to do it. It flushed out the ship and allowed us to play during some scenes our main characters may not have been involved in.On a side note, none of us played the captain. Lots of problems solved and the GM could really control the direction of the game. Since we were all Starfleet officers who obeyed orders almost always.

[Frylock]

Having the captain played by the DM works very well. Much like the GM, the captain sets the parameters of the mission, so there's a lot of synergy in those roles. However, if you have a heavy role-player at the table, they'll likely enjoy that role and shine in it. The GM can privately give that player a nudge to make sure the game goes along as planned, yet still leave most of the captain's decisions up to the captain. In the online game I played, I was a half-human, half-caitian who was a firearms buff. The GM gave me a little push to get the story going, but my decisions were my own.

[Frylock]

I ran a self-written adventure of FASA Star Trek RPG this weekend at TerpCon. Overall, the system is exactly as I remember it: a brilliant gaming system with layers of crap piled on top. That is, its core system was fantastic, but it was plagued by the same mistakes the other early RPG designers made. (No offense intended. They were breaking new ground, so it was tough.) I'd really love to play it again sometime. Just thought I'd share. Hopefully, everyone else will get a chance to play some of their favorite old-school games sometimes.

[D'karr]

I ran a self-written adventure of FASA Star Trek RPG this weekend at TerpCon. Overall, the system is exactly as I remember it: a brilliant gaming system with layers of crap piled on top.

You like it because it uses a percentile roll LOW mechanic. Those of us that have seen you roll, for ANY game, know that is the only reason you think it's brilliant.

BTW that seemed like a fun adventure. I'm sorry I couldn't stick around to play it.

[Frylock]

You like it because it uses a percentile roll LOW mechanic. Those of us that have seen you roll, for ANY game, know that is the only reason you think it's brilliant.

No comment.


BTW that seemed like a fun adventure. I'm sorry I couldn't stick around to play it.

I made an interesting observation with that game. In, for example, D&D, your power is constrained by your character's level, and your character's resources are constrained by your character's gold and items. In FASA Star Trek RPG, there are no such constraints. That is, your characters have seemingly unlimited power and resources. The Chandley ship had phasers, photon torpedoes, a crew of 300 supplemented by over 200 marines, enough transporters to move over 100 people per round, and sensors that can easily penetrate disguises and even cosmetic surgery. How does a small group of spies accomplish anything? The constraint on PC power and resources becomes their inability to use them due to various Federation laws, rules, and regulations. Unless you want every single adventure I throw at you involving a Q or 100% combat against similarly-powered cultures (e.g., Klingons with a battlecruiser), you need to respect those limitations. Put in D&D terms, everyone's lawful good, and not playing your alignment at all times absolutely ruins the game.

Perhaps this is another reason I enjoy the system: I get to constantly write laws, rules, and regulations on the fly. It gives the term "rules lawyer" new meaning, huh? :-)

---------- Post added at 07:13 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:58 PM ----------

BTW, assuming I had the time, I'd love to take on the project of streamlining the game's rules, but many others have done so. Without a license from CBS, my ruleset wouldn't have any more credibility than any other's, so there'd be little point in going to the trouble and then publishing them.