Printable View
The Prime Directive Core book and GURPS Klingons will be reprinted in January as 4th Edition books, and GURPS Romulans will follow in February as a 4th edition book.
Originally the plan was to have the 4th edition update info for the already published books simply printed in the next product, but since 3rd edition stuff simply isn't selling anymore, they are just going to reprint the existing ones with the revised info built in.
http://www.starfleetgames.com/prime/index.htm
...And speaking of which, they have the third edition books on their website catalogue for cheap if anyone wanted to give them a try for around 70% off...
http://www.starfleetstore.com/MERCHA...egory_Code=GPD
Core book for $7.50
Klingons for $7.50
Prime Alpha for $5.00
The new deckplan book is not marked down as that works as is under pretty much any system.
Apparently for a limited time onlyQuote:
Starfleetstore.com
are on sale for around 70% off retail until December 15, 2004.
Hmm. GURPS Klingons might be worth a shot as a general sourcebook whether you use the GURPS rules or not.
Are the Star Fleet Battles universe Klingons significantly different from Next Generation / Deep Space Nine -era Klingons ? Would it be worth picking up if you like the Klingons as written / aired-on-tv ?
For anything SFB and derivative, start with TOS, and run from there in solid war-frame direction. So, yeah, the Klingons would be the 'mogoloids' from TOS, and not the 'quasi-bushido-bumpy-forehead' versions from TMP onward.
The Klingons from PD are the unrepentant imperialist nod to the old Soviet Union that TOS portrayed. I've picked up the books and they are an interesting read to say the least. Of interest is that they see the Federation as competition, but not enemies as such. But if push come sto shove, they are quicker to pull the trigger than Feddys would be. I'd recommend the books. I'll be curious how they handle the Romulans
SFU Roms are a bit different from the newer series. They only really appeared in 2 or 3 of the original episodes, and they are based on that.
The old rom ship (warbird with the big plasma torpedo weapon) was said (in the episode) to be sublight only. This is odd to say the least (how did they get out among the stars with just sublight) and has colored a lot of the Rom ship designs in Star fleet battles/Star Fleet Universe. The older style ships (as seen in that episode Balance of Terror) are considered in SFU to have a primitive warp drive to enable them to travel between the stars, but it cannot be used under combat conditions (hence the sublight restriction from the tv episode). Later these ships were refitted with more modern warp engines to allow them to fight other races, but they are still generally slower then their opponents.
A later Rom episode (Enterprise Incident) showed them using Klingon ships (really it was because the Rom ship model was lost/destroyed so they had to use the Klingon ship model). In the Star Fleet Universe this is explained that during the General War, the Klingons gave the Roms ships to enable them to join the Klingons and to fight effectivley against the Feds. So the Roms also use more modern Klingon ships with cloaks and plasma instead of disruptors.
The Roms combined their own tech and Klingon tech and created a 3rd generation of ship (Firehawk, Sparrowhawk, Skyhawk series) which were the equal of other races late war ships.
The Romulans political system is composed of numerous "Great Houses", and many Lesser Houses. Sometimes the Houses fight with each other (one reason they came to modern warp power later than other races), and sometimes they are better at working together (the Rom empire does not always work as one, the praetor may send one house's ships on a mission, but if another house is threatened by this or doesn't find it in their interest they may secretly plan against this). This often depends on the strength and power of the individual praetor which has changed much over different time periods. Some ships are for the emperer or praetor, while many belong to specific houses.
Latest news: After nearly a month of delays, GURPS Klingons is ready to go, but the revised Core Book is still awaiting the proper approvals. It will be revised, not only for the ruleset but taking some of the lessons of the previous editions to heart. All new material was written for this update. Some material was taken out, mostly due to lack of support currently existing in the new GURPS line (No ultratech, vehicle, etc books out for GURPS 4 yet.)
It's definitely on my "to buy" list.
GURPS Prime Directive 4E is out and actually they add more information about the galaxy than they had in the third edition. As a teaser, GURPS Federation will be out in August.
Self contained system too. Worth the money
Mine copy should be in the mail along with GURPS4 Klingons, so hopefully I will get a look soon.
Gurps Romulans is next up (with lots of info about the split from Vulcan and the journey to the planets Romulas/Remus, Romulan great houses and how those interact with the Praetor and Emperor, lots more), then Gurps Feds is up for later this year as you say.
hmm... a new alternative to Icon's Tellus (and Diane Duane's S'Task)
GURPS ROMULANS will ship to distributors this coming Monday, so figure a week longer to get from them to the stores. And then GF in August, correct.
A whole bunch of new Fed races will be in GF, including the Fralli from the old original PD1 system, and three new races in GR.
Star Fleet games website. has products and BBS's for those that are interested