I will not go quietly into the night!

Hey all, K.G. Carlson here. 2008 was a special year for my gaming life; its the 25th anniversary of my interest in the hobby. Also, as my third trip to Origins it had that "end of a trilogy" feel to it. So I thought that after all this time I should get behind the screen for the setting that brought me to the gaming table.

I like the Coda system best of all Trek RPGs various systems, so I settled in with the rule books and put together two adventures to run at the Origins Game Fair. It went fairly well, although I stumbled through a few things. Two great groups of players served up some very helpful advice and next year's event(s) should go even smoother.

I was a little worried when I tried recently to go to Starbase Coda and the Decipher message boards only to find the links dead. Fortunately the fine folks here at TrekRPGNet are keeping the flame alive.

I don't know how often I'll be able to check the forums here; as a full-time college student with two regular jobs and freelance projects for Green Ronin's Mutants & Masterminds I'm pretty busy. But I am determined to do two Coda Trek events at Origins '09 and after as long as I am able to attend, and hope to be able to call on the collective wisdom of these forums to make those events as good as possible.

If you had a chance to play this past year and have any further advice, or you have run at other conventions and have any helpful words of wisdom, let 'er rip. If I am too slow to respond to a post, please shoot me an email.

What I learned this year is that character adventures and starship combat do not always mix well; it may be more engaging for the non-tactical/helm/command crew in a regular campaign, but not so much in a convention setting. Next year will feature a regular, character driven adventure and a starship combat scenario with each player controlling their own starship. If you've attempted anything like the latter, please post your results and observations.

Well, thats all I have for now. I'll be seeing you around.

K.G. Carlson

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Originally Posted by K.G. Carlson

Hey all, K.G. Carlson here. 2008 was a special year for my gaming life; its the 25th anniversary of my interest in the hobby. Also, as my third trip to Origins it had that "end of a trilogy" feel to it. So I thought that after all this time I should get behind the screen for the setting that brought me to the gaming table.

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Keep the fire burning!! There's a link in my sig where you can find most of the stuff from Starbase Coda, if you're so inclined (and haven't found it already).

Thanks!

I did find the link in your sig yesterday as I eagerly awaited my registration for this forum. Lots of great items there; very useful!

Its been so long since I'd been to Starbase Coda I couldn't even recall what was there.

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Originally Posted by K.G. Carlson

Thanks!

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De nada.

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I did find the link in your sig yesterday as I eagerly awaited my registration for this forum. Lots of great items there; very useful!

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I'm pleased you find it so. I'll be doing an update in the not-too-distant future, gathering together some of the other little tidbits I've found (Karg's ship construction spreadsheet, things like that), along with another original piece of my own (a couple of species templates that I've long wanted to give a proper presentation). I want to get something up to keep interest going while I work on my Enterprise and The Animated Series books.

(And for those wondering, no, I've not forgotten my collection of development packages...they're just back-burnered for a while as I work on other projects that are closer to my heart at the moment...but I've got adult ADD, so it probably won't be long before I get around to that one again.)

Also been practicing my Photoshop skills. Sample 1 and Sample 2.

Obligatory plug for links in sig.

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Originally Posted by K.G. Carlson

What I learned this year is that character adventures and starship combat do not always mix well; it may be more engaging for the non-tactical/helm/command crew in a regular campaign, but not so much in a convention setting. Next year will feature a regular, character driven adventure and a starship combat scenario with each player controlling their own starship. If you've attempted anything like the latter, please post your results and observations.

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Well, if the other players aren't doing anything, then of course an extended combat's going to be kind of boring. But the CMO should be taking care of casualties, the ops and engineering officer fixing systems, and science officers thinking of crazy maneuvers to take advantage of the local environment.

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Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

Well, if the other players aren't doing anything, then of course an extended combat's going to be kind of boring. But the CMO should be taking care of casualties, the ops and engineering officer fixing systems, and science officers thinking of crazy maneuvers to take advantage of the local environment.

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Well, I didn't get into details, but one of the problems was that I had designed the Orion pirate ships a little too well, and I was rolling my usually abysmal so there was a lot of shields flaring and no real carnage happening (by adjusting the Orion crew stats up and their ships stats down a bit, the second scenario's starship combat DID go smoother).

When some damage to the crew's ship did finally occur, it gave the doctor and engineer something to leap into but by that point it felt like it was further delaying the combat. I didn't have an opportunity to playtest either episode, and it was the first time I'd ever run the Coda Trek system so I definitely needed to fine tune some things.

The science officer coped the best, making good use of his sensors during the combat. I feel that with the adjustments I've made to the episode, it will flow much better should I run it again (though probably not at a convention).

Another thing that I will correct for next year is a better selection of characters. I was experimenting with character creation, and so I whipped up the 8 most likely crew positions to appear in a classic Trek episode. Unfortunately I failed to take into account what would happen if someone got stuck being the communications officer in an action-intensive episode or the combat overlap if there was a tactical, navigator AND helmsman in play. Next time out the character centered adventure will include some security grunts for those who pretty to speak softly and carry a big phaser rifle.

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Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King

Obligatory plug for links in sig.

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Obligatory plug noted.

I will probably wait to submit the first scenario, because the actions of the players have inspired a sequel episode and I don't want to spoil the fun for any Origins '09 crew members.

I could hammer out the second scenario in a readable form for the webzine, hopefully by the end of summer. Do you prefer that adventures provide a specific ship and crew, or that it be written for insertion into an ongoing campaign? Although for this episode the story involves being reassigned to a new vessel, I guess I've answered one of my own questions...

The ship I designed for the first scenario on of the FASA ships for illustration, class and size stats but constructed using the Coda rules. What are the forum rules for "borrowing" images for BBTFF articles?

Any other helpful hints for webzine submissions welcome!

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Originally Posted by K.G. Carlson

I could hammer out the second scenario in a readable form for the webzine, hopefully by the end of summer. Do you prefer that adventures provide a specific ship and crew, or that it be written for insertion into an ongoing campaign?

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BTFF is geared towards providing material with the widest possible use for Narrators and groups (assuming, of course, that most groups will have a Starfleet-centred series). So unless there's a very specific plot point involving a specific ship or ship type, it's best to leave that open. The same thing applies for specific crewmembers; unless, say, a Vulcan is absolutely essential to the plot, it's best to leave avenues open for multiple player approaches.

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The ship I designed for the first scenario on of the FASA ships for illustration, class and size stats but constructed using the Coda rules. What are the forum rules for "borrowing" images for BTFF articles?

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Again, if it's a PC ship provided, the editor (*cough*) will probably leave that part out. If it's an NPC ship the resident artist (*cough*) usually opts to illustrate it themselves.

The next issue is slated for an early fall release, so the nominal deadline for final drafts is mid-August.