Griffins big book of questions!

Actually its not that big yet. Basically I've recently been GMing for the first time with the Star Trek RPG, and questions that I'm just not sure about come up. I tell myself I'll figure them out later, and never get to it.

So I'll probably come here to ask something that I'm a bit puzzled about and I don't have to actual book in my hand. One thing I was wondering about is recently my friend wanted to get Tier 2 abilities, he actually meets the requirments for one, but would he have to wait until he gets some 1000 XP to actually start advancing his character? Or can he do it pretty much anytime he wants as long as he meets the requirments?:confused:

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Originally Posted by Captain_Griffin

One thing I was wondering about is recently my friend wanted to get Tier 2 abilities, he actually meets the requirments for one, but would he have to wait until he gets some 1000 XP to actually start advancing his character? Or can he do it pretty much anytime he wants as long as he meets the requirments?:confused:

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He would have to wait for an advancement before he could purchase a new professional ability. Like most things (edges, skills, etc.), professional abilities cost advancement picks. If he has the prereqs, then on his next advancement, he can pay 3 picks and get the tier 2 ability he's after.

What if he meets the prereq when he's making his character? Can he then take a Tier 2?:confused:

Can you give me a few more specifics? If you're creating a character from scratch, then no, during the basic chargen process, you can't take another professional ability. You get the first Tier 1 ability entering the profession, but you can't take more without advancing.

If he's making an advanced character, then he can take some of the advancements given him by the Narrator and go to town.

No you answered it perfectly.:) All I wanted to know is if he could take the tier 2 abilities right when he's making his character. I have another question though that kinda started a huge argument in the game last night.:o

On page 80 in the players guide, under Perception. Near the top of the paragraph it says: Although it can affect you initial Psi score, if you have one; see the Psionic edge, page 136. I went to page 136 and it doesn't say a thing about Perception affecting your Psi score. What my question is, is what IS the Psi score? I mean is it the actual level of the Psi, or the attribute mod? In what way does Perception affect it? The players thought that you add your perception to your Psi, but I think the players guide would go in to more detail if that was the case.

Any help here?:confused:

Go to my support site (link's in my sig) and download the errata. It answers all those questions about Psi. Once you've read that over, if you still have questions, please feel free to drop back and ask more.

Short form, though: Perception has nothing to do with Psi. That was left over from an early development pass, when Psi was a Reaction.

Ah awesome, thanks man! Big help!

Another question is one of my players basically says that I should be giving him about 100 xp every "scene" they do. You see I lended him the Narrators guide, and he's been reading through it like crazy. I do remember reading that, but precisely what IS a scene? I mean is it every single batte or something I give them 100 xp?! Or is it at the end of the game if at all? What I was doing is if they didn't complete the primary or secondary objective I would simply give them scene xp. (about 100).

Should I be adding this xp on as well with the Primary and Secondary objective rewards?:confused:

I usually count each scene and give that xp at the end, it usually ends up being about 10-15 scenes per gaming session for our group for about four hours of play.

I usually count a new scene as any time the location of the current action taking place changes. So chasing down an intruder in the ship is one long scene, a briefing or other RP heavy encounter aboard ship might be a medium scene, selecting equipment and personnel for a landing party a short one.

I know that does sound like a lot of xp, but when you divide it up amongst your players it really does not make that big of an impact - given a group of 4-6 players. I did have a group of two that was racking up xp pretty fast, but we eventually gained a new player and dividing by three brought down the total significantly.

How much do you ussually give for a scene? (Long, Med, Short?)

I just give the standard 100 xp per scene, regardless of length. Since the players usually get 10-15 scenes per gaming session, that seems to be enough for me without getting bogged down in the hassles of evaluating scene length for xp conversion.

I also tend to give a couple hundred xp for a role-playing bonus to each character, so long as they were in fact playing in character. Usually I'll use this to round off to a nice even number. Lets say the xp per character works out to be 653 points, I'll award 147 for an even 800 pt award.

Ah I see,

another question. I'm not fully understanding what the specialties are. For example, lets say you want to hack a computer, but under computer use you don't specilize in hacking, does that mean you can't hack the computer? Also what if you don't specilize in anything under computer use, what would you ussually be able to do? When creating your character do you always have to pick a specialty for him for a certain skill that has them?:confused:

Thanks again!

The specialty is just something that the character excels in and thus gets a +2 bonus. If he doesn't have the specialty, it does not mean he can't hack a computer, it just means it is not his best talent with the skill.

Here is a quick shot of how skills would work in different situations:

Skill Groups
Some skills are called Skill Groups which means you can't use the skill ranks in a similar type of way - I will give you an example (but it is from Lord of the Rings because I find it easier to come up with one :rolleyes: ):

• A PC is skilled in armed combat with swords, particularly the longsword. So his character sheet would look like this: Armed Combat: Blades (Longswords) +9
• When the player goes to roll the dice they add up the following: Nimbleness Mod +2 Armed Combat +9 Longsword specialty +2 and +/- any mods based on situation/wounds/weariness = +13
• Now, because he is trained in Armed Combat: Blades, he has no skill with spears, axes or clubs and could not use them.

Specialties or no

• If a skill can have unique specializations a character may buy said specialization and gain the aforementioned +2 Specialty bonus.
• Some skills are just general and have no unique specialties (i.e. Climb, Run, etc.)

No ranks in skill

• There are some skills that a PC can use although they have no skill rank, but being unskilled gives a -2 penalty.
• Like Armed combat above, some skills (and skill groups) may only be used if the PC has at least 1 rank in said skill.

There... I think I have given an example of situations of skill usage (with ranks, without, etc.) but you will now have to apply it to Star Trek. Sorry. :D

Ah I see. Thanks!

Another question here. The "level" column on the character sheet. I've never really fully understood what that is... I ussually just put the +(any) that the profesional/personal dev packages give me, or something of that sort, but what DO I precisely put in that column?:confused:

Thanks!

Not sure which character sheet you are using, but if it looks like the one that is in the Player's Guide, Levels is merely the number of Ranks a PC has in said skill.

So if you see a PC with a Sys Ops +4, that is just his/her number of ranks. To that score, you would also need to add the attribute modifier and miscellaneous modifiers (if any) for the total dice roll modifier.

Well its pretty much on all of the character sheets. Its where it lists the skills, its one of the columns where you basically total everything up, right next to misc, levels.

Yea, Levels is the number of skill points ONLY. No mods are included.

Your Total column would be the combination of:

Attribute Mods + Levels/Ranks + Misc Mods (i.e. Specialty, Untrained Penalty) = TOTAL

Now when you say rank, do you mean like actual Starfleet ranks (or whatever your in), like Lt, Commander, Captain, Admiral, etc?

No, I use the word rank as the term for number of skill points a PC has in a particular skill.

Lol wait wha??:confused:
I thought thats total? I don't get it.:( How do you know what your level is in a particular skill?? What do you mean skill points? Bare with me here-.-

Okay, there's... a lot of different terminology being thrown around here.

'Skill Level,' on the character sheet, means the raw, basic number you add to a die roll with that particular skill. That'd be equivalent to your Skill Rank in D&D 3e. Most other games just call them 'skill points' or 'skill rating.' Everything else, from attributes, equipment, situations, species abilities, whatever, modifies this number either up or down, hence they are called 'modifiers.'

When you generate your character, the numbers each package lists after the name of the skills are added to your skill level for that skill. So, if you pick a package in Childhood Development that says, say, 'Athletics +2' you write '2' in the Athletics skill level box. If you get a package in Professional Development that says 'Athletics +3' you add 3 to the 2, for a total of 5 in the Athletics skill level box.

When you spend experience points to increase your skill, you're buying more skill levels.

Does that help?

Ahh, I get it. Ok so I had it right the first time. Well that clears things up.

Thanks!:D

Another question. If you want to be a Starship officer, basically you have to pick the Tier 1 professional ability Starship Duty, if you want to start out with an Elite Profession, if a player DOES NOT pick that, and picks the tier 1 ability Rounded instead, what do they start out as if they want to be in Starfleet? Whats there job?:confused:

Thanks again!:)

New Starfleet officers have to pick Starship Duty first so that they receive their Elite profession/position.

The Starship Duty profession ability awards them another profession ability which they may then choose from Starship Officer (i.e. the Rounded ability), or from their new Elite position.

Ahh I see, alright thanks.
Another question. Lets say someone picks the command elite profession. What rank would they usually start out as? I mean I don't think they can be the Captains first officer or anything of that sort if there an Ensign right? Lol.:D

They start out as ensigns. After initial chargen, you can give X number of advancements to take them to their desired rank and station.

Doug Burke worked out a version of FASA's lifepath feature (it can be found in Beyond the Final Frontier #2, I believe), and in my copious unstructured free time, I'm working on something similar that's a little more comprehensive and covers all the basic professions. Don't hold your breath, however; I've got a lot of irons in the fire.

I see, thanks!

Another question. I was reading through a pre made adventure a little while ago, and through out it, it says things like 'if the players takes a successful [insert skill here] roll with a TN of [insert number here], he [does something]' What I'm wondering as a narrator is do you tell them to take that certain roll? Or do the players have to declare that they want to take that roll themselves?:confused:

As Narrator, you may ask them to perform a skill, reaction, or attribute test when you need them to. You may also make those particular rolls for them in private if it is something that you do not want to announce, if that is your game style.

An example where a Narrator makes the rolls might be if there is a trap, maybe gas being filtered into a room, and you do not want to give it away. If the PC is successful, things go as normal, if not they may start taking penalties but not know why. This kind of mystery can really add to the game.

Players may also ask to make a roll if the situation they are in demands it.

For example, the PC's walk into an old dusty warehouse and one of the players announces they wish to make a Search test to see if there are any crates with a specific name.

As Narrator, make your players be specific as to what they are doing. Don't just let them say they want to make a Search, and if successful, you give them anything and everything.

Ooh, I get it. Thanks again!

One of my players is wondering if there are any other psionic abilities that you can get? (Perhaps any unofficial one's that have been added by fans, or anything of that sort?)

Also I'm still a bit confused about the Command elite profession. It says command can also be "section heads".
I assume Chief Engineer, Chief Medical Officer, etc. Does that mean if they pick the command profession they can be a Chief Engineer or whatever without even having any of there skills?? Or maybe if a medical officer becomes Chief medical officer (or whatever profession) becomes Chief they can take on the command profession? Also when a player starts out how do you know if there a Chief of whatever elite profession they are in or not? Is that up to you and the player?

Sorry for all of the questions guys! I'm finally starting to come to an understanding of it all! Thanks for being so considerate!