Pre-TOS or Cage era?

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Originally posted by LtCdr Kagan
Watching The Journey to Babel on Saturday, I noticed in the background a purple woman with golden hair. Does anyone know what race this is?

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Nope...

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What about the monks in the yellowish-green robes?

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Nope... (I've never seen any details on either of these races in any novel, game publication or fan work.)

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And midget shriners in the fezes?

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Yes! There was an article in the old FASA magazine Stardate (No 11, April 1986) on these guys. Their called the Dayan. Their planet, Orodanga, which is Zaniah III (or Eta Virginis III in terran terms) is rich in minerals and the high metal content in the ecosystem accounts for the golden colour of their skin and for some peculiar dietary requirements. The article gives game stats for the homeworld but not for the race itself.

" I noticed in the background a purple woman with golden hair. Does anyone know what race this is?"

Avatars of the sun? If they come back from the future, they turn gold...

Badump-Bump!

Seriously, though, I've always leaned toward regarding them as being the matriarchal Cygnians, and yes, I do give them Trance's tail.

:D :D Owen...you did deserve a badump bump on that one.

Honestly, I hadn't even thought of Trance when I was watching JtB on Saturday. Thanks for reminding me that the GR universe held more than Star Trek.

Three questions to Owen (for his experience) and anyone else for that matter....

1) Are those the FASA Cygnans?
2) What do you do with aliens in sci-fi anthology other than Trek?
3) In a Cage-era setup, how would you introduce the Zakdorn seen in TNG's Peak Performance? They have a nine-millenia-reputation according to Data.

FYI, my "research" program entails watching every TOS and TAS VHS tape and every TNG-DS9-VOY DVD disk I own. I'm clipping off about six episodes a day and taking plenty notes. It's a hard job, but such is my sentence in life.:D :D

I don't recall that FASA ever did character stats for Cygnians (or Cygnans, if you prefer), but their writeup in The Federation doesn't fit the Trance-looking chicks. The FASA version has a horse-type tail and other equine characteristics while still being humanoid. I don't care much for that version.

The Cygnians never appeared on screen, but were mentioned in TOS. They were the species that refitted the Enterprise's computers and gave it a feminine personality. The 'puter was somewhat flirtatious and kept calling Kirk "Dear."

I'm relatively picky when it comes to adapting races for my Trek game. If rationalising the race as part of the Trek universe takes any amount of mangling the race (or the universe), I don't see much point. F'rinstance, I don't use the Kzinti because the two universes are fundamentally incompatible. Most of the races I've adapted have actually come from other RPG, like Traveller (Vargr, Aslan) or Star Frontiers (Dralasite, Vrusk, Yazirian).

As for using the Zakdorn in a Cage-era game, I'd simply have them already a member of the federation, and inflict them on the PCs as administrators of a Federation station or planet.

Go to Mile high comics and get thee some Star Trek Early voyages my friend. This mid-90's marval comic series was quite good, excellent infact with good story ideas and seems to actually pre date some of Enterprises stuff. The books made use of:

Renegade Vulcans capturing a Relient looking starship, the story is so good I began to half expect Spock to utter Deja vue in Star Trek II!

used the Klingons but in good storys

Tholians including a new servent race the Chaaka (Sp?) who were the ground warriors half humanoid/half horse.

Rigil, alot on Rigil including the complete background story to the Castle scene in The Cage.

Orions

and an interesting time traval arc in the middle of the series; which ran for 17 issues before being ended.

I have done some write ups for some races that are in FASA Trek
based on some guesses... i would like to share them.



BIZZIT KHAT (pronounced: BIZ-ZIT-KOT )
Species Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Vitality, +1 Perception
Species Abilities: Hive Mind: This is a method of silent, instantaneous communication among themselves.
see Star Trek IV movie sourcebook p.72-73


CYGNIAN
Species Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Intellect, +1 Vitality
Species Abilities: Skill Focus: Craftsman(computers/cybernetics)
+1 bonus
see The Federation Sourcebook p.16 (illo p.18,lower left)

XELATIAN (pronounced ZEL-LAY-SHAN)
Species Adjustments: +2 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Intellect, +1 Perception
Species Abilities: Extraordinary Sense (ultraviolet vision)
see The Star Trek IV movie sourcebook p.50-51


KAFERIAN
Species Adjustments: +1 Strength, +1 Agility, +1 Vitality
Species Abilities: Bonus Skill: Ambidextrous, Skill Focus:(Keen Smell) +2 to both Observe (spot), Investigate (inspect)
Armor(3)
see The Federation Sourcebook p.17 (illo p.18) or Star Trek Worlds of the Federation by Shane Johnson p.112-113

AURELIAN
Species Adjustments: +1 Agility, +1 Intellect, -1 Vitality
Species Abilities: Skill Focus(Keen Sight)
Flying
Flaw( Pacifist 1)
see Star Trek Worlds of the Federation by Shane Johnson p.56-57
Aurelia
'Aurelia is the second of three planets that orbit XI Herculis, a red giant star. Planet three is a ringed gas giant with 12 moons, two of which provide most of the mineral ore used by the native Aurelians. A vast asteroid belt lies beyond the orbit of the thrid planet. The belt revolves around the system's sun at an angle of 37 degrees from the planetary orbital plane.'

'Aurelians live on the second planet. They are graceful, bird-like creatures with an adult wingspan of approximately 3 meters. Roughly humanoid in configuration, these bipedal beings are known for their fascination with Federation history. They have amassed one of the largest and most comprehensive libraries of Federation history anywhere, providing a valuable record for Federation scholars.'
Aurelians make their homes in the high peaks of their world's mountain ranges, constructing them with in deep interconnecting caverns. The Aurelians are excellent stonecrafters, and the polished, flowing lines of their deep-rock architecture is a delight to vistitors.'
Taken from Star Trek Worlds of the Federation by Shane Johnson p.56-57
(no copyright infringement intended)

Thanks skree, I really needed those, too.

Another question in planning my seasons is the introduction of FASA's The Four Years War. It is rather detailed for a timeline which makes for good reference since by the date that I've chosen for starting this campaign is about 10 months chronologically before the war. The PCs may become involved in some military action even though they're in unclaimed territory beyond the last border outposts between the two superpowers.

1. How would you keep the threat in the background without having Klingons in every episode?

2. How would you play Andorians (since they make up part of the crew) fighting Klingons?

3. How would guide your PCs toward a fun, universe-wide, war-winning role without being the flagship in the middle of every battle?

Just looking for some ideas on how to deal with this. Because a war with the Klingons before the days of TOS would be just as exciting as role-playing in the Dominion War of DS9 or the Borg Incursion of Wolf 359.

1. How would you keep the threat in the background without having Klingons in every episode?

The 4YW was a huge endeavour at one point Federation commercial traffic was being raided constantly in areas far removed from the war zone. There is a section in the book that states it was suspected that the Orions and possibly even the Romulans were involved in this. In addition intrique in the Triangle can cause the crews/player to become caught up in a laybrith of byzentine politics. There is still plenty of time for the ordinary exploration/discovery mission and phantom threat. Then there are those R&R missions

2. How would you play Andorians (since they make up part of the crew) fighting Klingons?

Very carefully, chaka's and batliths flying everywhere :)

3. How would guide your PCs toward a fun, universe-wide, war-winning role without being the flagship in the middle of every battle?

There were a lot of battles that got only a brief mention and could form the bases of your players involvement.

2. How would you play Andorians (since they make up part of the crew) fighting Klingons?

Andorians are an emotional people with a fierce warrior ethic....Klingons are an emotional people with a fierce warrior ethic......hmmmmm....my guess would be ALOT of hand to hand!

Cheers

Tas

Another Cage-era question...

How would incorporate spacefaring races from Star Trek Enterprise?

Although there were several...and please mention them to refresh our memories..., I can only think of few off the top of my head: Denobulans, Xindi, and Xyrillians.

Well, Denobulans and Xindi are Federation members.

Axanari? Well there's this war featuring a certain Fleet Captain from Izar...

Coridanians - not yet a Federation member, and the centre of a long-standing conflict over planetary resources.

Any that have not been mentiones in TOS or the TNG era are pretty much up for grabs. You can get away with a lot without violating continuity.

One race you should not use in a Cage-era game are the Romulans, unless you ave them disguised as Vulcans and make sure the players either do not find out or have reasons not to report them.

Ahhh, devious minds think alike...about the Romulans that is. I already have a "Vulcan" lost colony episode in the works...especially since there are no Vulcans among the crew. I figure that the universal translator is going to lock into what they are saying eventually anyway. The colony was begun after a ship entered a one-way irregular wormhole in what is now the RNZ, lost power, and crashed on an uninhabited planet nearly a half a quadrant. Now they are discovered by our heroes almost 90 years later. I guess it is good that Enterprise Vulcans are so erratic that the PCs will probably never catch on. The old ship has been dismantled by the survivors and colonists and retooled into buildings, aquaducts, generators, etc.

My idea about the Xyrillians follows the pattern of their apparent cultural behavior in
ST: Enterprise's first season. They seem to be technologically advanced in some areas (cloaking device, holographic chambers) but lacking in others (warp engine problems). They also seem to be very naive about inter-cultural relationships (ie. Trip's pregnancy, Klingon violent reaction). So, I figure that they haven't joined the Federation because TOS Starfleet doesn't have cloaking, and apparently not holographic rooms until TAS. By 2245, they are still plying the spacelanes in their partially running ships, but they are beginning to realize that the Federation people are the most trustworthy.


Further Romulan question, how would you describe the level of technology for a colony after a century without the industrial centers of the Empire or any industries on the planet?

Chello!

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Originally posted by LtCdr Kagan
2. How would you play Andorians (since they make up part of the crew) fighting Klingons?

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Used to love to play andorians back in the Day! In fact, I rolled up an andorian comm officer and I ended up being Captain, because no one else wanted to be! Strange path to Command there....

Anyway, I see Andorians as fairly logical beings...like Vulcans except for the fact that they do not reject the use or value of emotion. Note that in JtB, the andorian ambassador is having a very rational discussion with Spock. I've always had the impression that Spock related to him better than his human crewmates!

Note also that in JtB, the Andorians are wearing what appears to be chainmail...definitely a warrior culture. It can be specualted that they have maintained a "duelling tradition' like the Klingons.

As to a fight between the two....brutal. Especially if one uses true-TOS Klingons. I never realled liked the change in TNG Klingons (and I'm not talking about looks here). The TOS Klingons were more fascist-like, more technologically astuste...more like the society in Orwells 1984. Think Kor.

Tony

As far as the cloaking, it could be that advances in sensor technology have left the Xyrillians technique behind. Remember that in Yesterday's Enterprise, the ship's shields were sufficient to hide it from radar (once they were raised).

Another set of questions...

I started STRPG with FASA back in the 80s, so I'm rummaging through that stuff today and found...

The adventure Orion Ruse which could easily be converted to my 2245 era. In there is a set of modifiers for the seduction rolls of a green Orion slave girl (page 18 for those of you who have this manual). Suggestions are even given for a reverse seduction, "a la Kirk". (as the manual says)


HOWEVER, I've got some problems, in ICON and CODA, how would I account for the various racial resistance modifiers? What would be the modifiers for Humans? Andorians? and even Orion males?