Prime Directive is out.

Nice to see the creators showing up in person on this board! Welcome gentlemen!

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Originally posted by Atlirith
I bought GURPS:PD, just as I've bought nearly every version of TREK rpg since FASA, except Decipher as I'm waiting for the Limited Edition version.... I already had the 1st edition of PD and I really have to wonder why they took the direction of a "powered by GURPS" rather than just launch a series of worldbooks. GURPS lite is a free download, and nearly every gaming store I've every been to has it as a freebie......

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If they used GURPS stats without licensing the system, Steve Jackson would have been on them like a ton of bricks - this isn't d20 OGL! While the GURPS Lite download is a freebie, using the system for your own publications is not. It has to be licensed - hence the "Powered by GURPS".

It definitely sounds more promising than I thought - I'm looking at picking it up at my FLGS this weekend!

We included the relevant parts of GURPS Lite (and more stuff out of Basic Set and the two Compendia) so that the book would be truly stand alone. Yes, it makes for some redundant pages if you're a GURPS player, but it means you don't have to go and buy $70+ worth of books if you're not. If you are an existing GURPS palyer, there's still plenty of setting info and a few twists on exisiting mechanics (like a more detailed system for tracking proomotions and a simplified Fright Check mechanic). If not, the book is all you need, but all those GURPS books funtion as sourcebooks and advanced rulebooks.

Alex Chobot

OK, I said I wouldn't do it, but I relented and ordered a copy. Hopefully it'll arrive within the next couple of days.

I figure if I'm going to use any published adventures, I might as well buy the core book, even if I'm not a fan of the SFU. And like I said, I'm sure it'll be a good product, just not quite my cup of tea. :)

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Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
OK, I said I wouldn't do it, but I relented and ordered a copy. Hopefully it'll arrive within the next couple of days.

I figure if I'm going to use any published adventures, I might as well buy the core book, even if I'm not a fan of the SFU. And like I said, I'm sure it'll be a good product, just not quite my cup of tea. :)

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So steal the bits you want out of it! :) Races, background info, deckplans...

I will note that, based on market feedback, we probably won't be doing stand-alone adventure books. The Module Prime series may include mini-adventures, but most such material will be more along the line of adventure seeds and adventure settings (ranging from "Here's a building you can drop in" to "Here's a planet and a bunch of its key socio-political system detailed for use as an adventure setting.")

Alex Chobot

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Originally posted by WildWeasel


So steal the bits you want out of it! :) Races, background info, deckplans...

I will note that, based on market feedback, we probably won't be doing stand-alone adventure books. The Module Prime series may include mini-adventures, but most such material will be more along the line of adventure seeds and adventure settings (ranging from "Here's a building you can drop in" to "Here's a planet and a bunch of its key socio-political system detailed for use as an adventure setting.")

Alex Chobot

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Stealing bits is what I intend.

Sorry to hear there won't be any stand-alone adventures, I was really hoping for some. PD1's Uprising was a pretty good one, and I remember one that was on the release schedule that sounded good but never materialised.

Talking of which, any chance any unpublished adventures for PD1 might see the light of day?

I'll probably buy the Module Prime books. Especially if they are as spaced out as the Captain's Logs and include good adventure setting info.

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Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter


Stealing bits is what I intend.

Sorry to hear there won't be any stand-alone adventures, I was really hoping for some. PD1's Uprising was a pretty good one, and I remember one that was on the release schedule that sounded good but never materialised.

Talking of which, any chance any unpublished adventures for PD1 might see the light of day?

I'll probably buy the Module Prime books. Especially if they are as spaced out as the Captain's Logs and include good adventure setting info.

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There are going to be conversion notes for the PD1 books, most likely in MPA. Prob is stand-alones just don't look to be very profitable, and most everyone one we've talked to said they'd rather have places where they can have adventures (so if Uprising were to be done brand new under the new line, it would be more of a Debrock sourcebook, with lots of hooks and a section on ideas regarding skulldrugeous Romulans among other tings).

Hrm, I don't know about unpublished material. It would most leikely to be reworked in "setting playgrounds".

Module Prime is going to be the Captain's Log for the GPD line, so yo won't need to get CL or any other SFB product. The frequency of how often issues of it come out depend on sales and how quickly we can generate (and recieve) material for it.

Alex Chobot

I was thinking specifically of an adventure module that was on the PD1 release list, and I believe was actually playtested, but the game was axed so the adventure never saw the light of day. I can't for the life of me remember what this was called, but it sounded like a good adventure. I was disappointed when it was never released.

No specific adventures huh? Hmm, I was kinding hoping PD would fill that niche, since that will mean neither game will produce adventures. Pity.

Am I right in thinking there is an introductory adventure in the core book? Or is it just source material for a setting?

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Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
I was thinking specifically of an adventure module that was on the PD1 release list, and I believe was actually playtested, but the game was axed so the adventure never saw the light of day. I can't for the life of me remember what this was called, but it sounded like a good adventure. I was disappointed when it was never released.

No specific adventures huh? Hmm, I was kinding hoping PD would fill that niche, since that will mean neither game will produce adventures. Pity.

Am I right in thinking there is an introductory adventure in the core book? Or is it just source material for a setting?

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Yeah, the adventure material is getting turned into settings with background emat for adventure hooks.

The core book does have an intro adventure, Rescue on Roon. If enough people say they like it and want more stuff along those lines, we'd certainly listen and look into it.

Alex Chobot

OK, got my copy this morning. It's not a bad book, and seems to be a very good representation of the SFU. I can see how the SFB player who wants to roleplay will love this book.

Read the adventure, and it wasn't bad. I'd certainly be interested in seeing more adventures, though this one seemed a bit, well, rough/rushed.

Glad to hear the old PD stuff will get released in some format. BTW, the name of the unreleased adventure I remember was Hidden Agenda.

Interestingly, I'm not sure how PD and CODA Trek compare pricewise in the US, but I paid £20 for the CODA Trek PG and £16.99 for the PD corebook. Not a big difference, especially considering the PG is hardback, with nice colour photos and glossy paper, and GURPS: PD isn't. Of course, this probably balances out when you think that GURPS: PD is a conplete game in one book, and you really need to buy the CODA NG to get the complete game (which adds another £20 to the pot). So while CODA is certainly a much nicer, better presented book, GURPS: PD probably compares not unreasonably due to price and completeness.

Can't really comment on the system, since I'm not familiar with GURPS, and I haven't had a chance to do much more than skim the mechanics yet. Though they look solid enough from what I've skimmed. In fact I can see parallels already. But I guess that's always going to be the case with skill-based systems, and obviously GURPS has been around a lot longer than CODA.

Now this doesn't mean I'm going to convert to GURPS here. I really, really like CODA, and I much prefer the tone of the CODA Trekiverse. But I have to say, from what I've gleaned so far, GURPS: PD looks like a pretty good game.

Hasn't been decided what kind of adventures we will do. I have heard people ask for them and have heard people say they won't sell. Might try one and see.

Unpublished PD1 adventures. I know of two of these, one by Tim Olsen (Hidden Agenda) and one by Gary Plana (Secret Weapon). Gary says he's working on SW and Tim previously told me he wanted to finish HA. My guess is that we'd do a book of some kind with the deck plans and details (.... in the third compartment there is a bar offering various manners of libation. They also have a snack menu including ... stats for the Rigelian bartender include...) and the adventure in it. Then you can either run the adventure or you can just drop into the place and muck around.

Hidden Agenda is definately the adventure I had in mind. Hadn't heard of Secret Weapon but it sounds intriguing.

I'd certainly buy any adventure modules you produce. I enjoyed reading and running Uprising when I first got it, and the two adventures in the PD1 core book.

Producing these as settings, and including the adventure with it is a great idea, and a nice compromise if you're worried about adventure books not selling.

GPD is $25 US, the DeicpherTrek core books are $30 US each.

It's most likey a matter of economies of scale. Decipher, with the actual Trek liscense and the ability to use the current Trek material, is going to have a far larger potential customer bases amongst both gamers and non-gamers. This means they can print a heck of a lot more copies, getting a lower price-per-unit, which makes the hardcover glossy color book affordable and profitable. Whereas GPD has a smaller potential customer (though there is a fair amount of overlap, but we're gonna lose some people when the realize it's not True Trek), which means smaller print runsso a fancier product wouldn't be profitable.

Alex Chobot

I never doubted the use of the Gurps Lite, as I had bought the World War II game a few months back and loved what they did with that and knew ADB was doing just about the same thing. I am glad that the SFB univse is getting fleashed out with the RPG.

I am glad to see that the creators have come here to get some feedback I think you will find we are a pretty diverse & Independant lot. Don's original hope was that this would become THEY site for Trek Rpging and that has obviously come closer with your participation.

On Deckplans how detailed are you planning on getting? Franz Josef level (everything including the Kitchen sink) or fasa's "Decisions at Midnight" level (Deckplans by the box)?

Further will the Marines be explored in the Federation book or have a book of there own?

OK, so the Skoleans look suspiciously like the same race as the lizrd guy from teh animated episode, The Jihad. Is that the case, or is it just a happy coincidence?

Either way, I'll be adapting them as such for my game.

As far as the price versus the coda books is concerned, I'm convinced PD is still a pretty good buy all things considered.

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Originally posted by Eric R.
I am glad to see that the creators have come here to get some feedback I think you will find we are a pretty diverse & Independant lot. Don's original hope was that this would become THE site for Trek Rpging and that has obviously come closer with your participation.

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My experience, in the RPG industry and business in general, shows that people just want to play/talk about Star Trek RPGs. They don't much care (within reason) about the system behind it as long as it fits the genre.

So I'm not surprised that Icon/Coda players have at least some interest in PD.