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My first question.
Language.
Is Federation Standard English? And if it is, do all Humans speak it as their native tongue?
And why do Humans have to study their native language at SFA to a higher degree than non-Humans?
Why do the Vulcan & Andorian overlays include Federation Standard?
Wouldn't it make more sense that the Human template have "Language, Native 2"?
Well, we've never seen Cyrillic on any starship hulls...Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
The French seem to.Quote:
And if it is, do all Humans speak it as their native tongue?
To make them appreciate why the other students hate their language.Quote:
And why do Humans have to study their native language at SFA to a higher degree than non-Humans?
Same reason English is the "third most known" language in the world?Quote:
Why do the Vulcan & Andorian overlays include Federation Standard?
If you want.Quote:
Wouldn't it make more sense that the Human template have "Language, Native 2"?
About Federation Standard being English... with the universal communicator, it's rather hard to know what it actually is. I don't think it has ever been stated on screen that Fed Standard was the same language as 21st century English, and we can also assume that we see and hear English while the characters are speaking a different language.
English might still exist as a local language in some areas of Earth, like French, Russian or Swahili, and maybe the characters of British or American origins use some English words here and there when speaking (but since they are already talking in English, we can't hear them ;)).
In short: I don't think it is canonically stated somewhere that Federation Standard is English, so that makes you free to rule what you want about it ;)
And if local languages still exist, you can indeed add Human-Native as a species language (and it would be the language from the region in Earth they are born in).
Maybe human colonies only speak Federation Standard, on the opposite ?
In fact, there's nothing in Trek that implies there is a 'Federation standard language.' The FS in the game is just the same as Common in D&D; a convenient way to establish that the members of the group can talk to each other.Quote:
Originally Posted by C5
I like to think of Federation Standard being something a kin to Esperanto, Humans in my old game spoke regional Terran languages just like everyone else spoke their own native tongue. Older colonies had their language based of what ever world/culture had started them. More recent integrated colonies spoke Federation Standard as the norm. Around the time of TOS Federation Standard was universally taught to all cadets and trainees to facilitate communication amongst the crew of ships. By the time of TNG and universal translator technology shrinkage and reliability, personnel are just as likely to learn Klingon or Vulcan rather than Fed-Std.
One of the things I did House Rule in my game was languages, I made them into specializations rather than a full on skills, referencing the HERO System scale of proficiency 1=Basic Communication through 5=Fully Fluent/ imitate dialects. This allowed for characters to remain balanced point wise.
I beleive there are a few vaue hints in some TOS episodes that Starfleet/The Enterprise is using some type of English, down to the signs, lables and text we see on computer screens. We certainly didn't see Kirk or Spock carrying around a UT during "city on the Edge of Forever".
Still, with the Universal Translator it might be assumed that everyone is speaking thier native tongue and we are "hearing" (and reading) the translation. As with most bits of Treknology, the application of the UT isn't entirely consistent. In most instances, it appears to be unnoticable-so much as to have enough in perfect lip sync! Occasionally (when the writers don't want the UT to solve something for the characters), the UT can't be used because it would be a dead giveaway. Likewise the UT doesn't seem to translate curse words.
I think the "truth" of the situation is that The UT and having everybody speaking English is simply a convince so the audience can follow the story, and doesn't hold up well to close scrutiny.
Worf's parents spoke with Russian accents, as did Chekov. That suggests to me that English/Fed Standard wasn't their first language.
Okay, new question.
When using the RPG rules to create characters for the "Enterprise" era (2150's), what do you do with Language, Federation Standard & History (Federation) skills? Since there's no Federation neither skill should exist!
Do you drop the two skills (making the Overlay worth only 50 points), or do you replace the two skills with something else?
Also, how would you write up MACOs?
There are some ENT era Overlays around here some place. Try using the search function. As for the history part of your question replace the word "Federation" with "Earth" (or Terran, Human, etc.). Languages, I use house rules as I mentioned above.
This creates a similar problem as before. Why would Starfleet teach world history to people who already learned it in high school?
I can't find the Overlays, I'm probally not looking hard enough.
How about LUG write-ups for ENT era ships?
Oops, I gave you bad information... I thought Evan had posted his information here on the boards.
The link to his site is http://mitglied.lycos.de/EmperorsArm/st/trek1.html
He has the Enterprise Sourcebook pdf and the Enterprise Season II-III Update pdf.
Anyway, sorry about that. Hope this makes up for it.
Well, I studied history at high school, but when I went to university there were electives I had to take (elective as in I could choose which ones, but I had to take four units). One of those electives was history, another was sociology, another was ethics, and another was maths.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
Starfleet is about producing well-rounded academics, not just engineers or security officers. Just as the idea behind university is to produce well-rounded professionals, Starfleet wants its graduates to be "Renaissance Men" (and Women), not just soldiers.
In the episode where Data is damaged and loses his memory on a semi-primitive planet, he did identify the writing on his sample box a English.
I don't make Humans take English as their native language. If they do, the "1" skill they get at Academy can be any other language. If they take French, or German, or Chinese as their native tongue, then they have to take English at the Academy like everyone else.
I guess that fair.
Does anyone know of any write-ups for the new Luna and Vesta class explorers?
Cood catch Owen! :)
I tend to think Federation standard is English, as more or less English is the main language of Earth, and I can't honestly say that's going to change any time soon. While I know it's something like 3rd or 4th on the [most spoken] language, I have never seen a definitive list of second languages spoken: English is a VERY common second language in a lot of places, largely due to colonialism (British empire) and then latterly TV and Film, of which the hub is America. The language of the internet is, lets face it, English too! I would suspect that English might not be the most common language, but it's likelly one of the most known!
All that said, obviously people speak their native languages, and I can't see regional dialects going away any time soon either! :D (plenty of comedy Scottish, Irish and Russian accents there! :D)
As to in-game mechanics - call it English or 'federation standard' or whatever you like, but yes officers really should have a skill in it, as translators do breakdown! :D
Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
Possibly so that Starfleet personnel all have a similar interpretation on historical events. Otherwise people from place A might look at things different that people from place B,
That's okay, it happens to us all from time to time.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
I notice that he's removed Language and History from the ENT Overlays, though Language seems to make a return for the MACOs. Hmmm.
Did we ever see any security personel in ENT? I don't remember any.
Lt. Reed.
Because the amount of other things you need to know to actually understand history, and think about it analytically, is rarely complete in high school. They also, probably, have electives available that cover whichever worlds (Federation or otherwise) and elements of society (economy, conceptions of justice, science, philosophy) which the student is interested in the history of.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
The specific history of Starfleet and the Federation as a body (instead of the bodies that make up the Federation) and how they interact would be the key thing they would need to teach the students. Starfleet Officers require perspectives on how Starfleet actions have shaped history in the past (and depending on what era you're playing in, the future : P)
And anyone who worked for him.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
Actually, Reed is never listed or mentioned as a security officer, only as an ordanance & tactical officer. In game terms that makes him a operations officer.Quote:
Originally Posted by Phoenix
The ships in ENT seem to be very deficient in the security department until the MACos come abord.
You do know the statement you are answering concerns the pre-Federation Starfleet of the 2150s. There is no Federation to have a history of, and Starfleet is only a few decades old.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
Reed is the equivelent to the modern day weapons officer.
Okay, maybe it's time for something more interesting.
Who's played a non-Starfleet campaign, and what went down?
Does a pre-fleet campaign count? (It ended with, well Star Fleet).
The only other campaign my group had along those lines was a Star Fleet mixed with non-Federation personel. (that one took on a BSG like feel as the ships were trapped behind Cardassian space during the Dominion War).
We did have plans on doing a Romulan campaign at one time, never happened though.
Economy and Social Issues of United Earth, and the History of Xenorelational Politics, then.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
So you would just swap out the skill for two similar ones, okay that seems fair.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Tatterdemalion King
Pretty much, yeah. The basic point is that Starfleet Academy, before and after 2161, would have a specific focus to the subjects they're trying to teach cadets.Quote:
Originally Posted by ZeroArmour
Starfleet Academy is above and beyond all other things, an Institute of Higher Learning - a University. All these subjects are taught at a University undergrad level or higher. Even if you have a high score in something, after Academy you come out with a deeper and broader understanding, not to mention a higher Skill Level.
What's the craziest idea you've had for a game session?
While I never actually planned any of it, some of the PC's ended up waging a prank war. It ended shortly after the enlisted engineer's (holographic) clothing vanished with the closing of the turbolift doors, by the way this was right in front of the Head of Security.
Another event was when the same engineer organized an “Enlisted Skip Day” while the ship was visiting a pirate port hidden in an asteroid field. The actual goal of the mission was to re-supply the ship and try and gather some decoy equipment for a dart across Cardassian/Dominion controlled space. As punishment, she was field promoted to Yeoman never again having the time to plan mayhem under the watchful eyes of the bridge crew.
I think I've asked this before, but has anyone seen any stats for Riker's ship, Titan?