You Ever Have This Problem?

[Megamanfan]

One of my players doesn't want to play Star Trek (or Star Wars, for that matter) because he says he'd feel like he was trying to live up to the established characters in Trek. I don't know what this is all about or how to convince him otherwise.

[pathstrider]

I think, if it's similar to what I've experienced, it's one of two things.

either:

1) The heroism thing. Obviously, it's a lot easier for Picard and Co to look heroic every week when they are working of a set script. In a rpg, it takes a good deal of skill and timing, on the part of the player, to pull it all off while making your characters look good.

The good news with this is that, as GM, you can engineer these situations with a bit of planning.

or (more likely):

2) The Ethical thing. When you get right down to it, the mindset of the average Star Trek human is so different to us as to render them almost alien. The Federation has a very strong moral code, which often doesn't make sense to us (The Prime Direcrtive, for example). Now, this leads to one of two reactions in players. The first sort ignore it, and play their characters like modern people: getting drunk, interested in money, etc and generally don't care about the roleplaying context. The second are those that want to act their best to the ideals of Star Trek, but worry that varying circumstances mean they fall short - and thus they feel like they are 'failing' trek.

Of course, the main problem with the latter is that it's almost impossible to act correctly due to the various on-screen contradictions and mistakes. In addition to this, is the apparent 'edgy' , and therefore coolness, of disobeying orders for very 20th Century reasons. Hence (IMO, and I don't want to start an arguement here) the rise of more 'realistic' (and often militaristic) Trek settings - DS9 being the nearest offical thing.

This one's a lot harder to solve. As a GM, I try to do it by rewarding 'Federation' thinking by making such solutions work, even when my 21st Century common sense is screming that something won't work.

Did that help?

Mark.

[Ineti]

Originally posted by Megamanfan
One of my players doesn't want to play Star Trek (or Star Wars, for that matter) because he says he'd feel like he was trying to live up to the established characters in Trek. I don't know what this is all about or how to convince him otherwise.

I've run into it. I feel like it's the same thing when people complain about not being able to run Star Wars or LOTR or the like. They're afraid they won't be able to live up to the setting.

Trek players don't need to live up to the established characters. Different crews did different things. Good luck.

[Tobian]

if you have someone who doesn't feel like he/she can live up to the ethical standards of a 24th century (or earlier) then allow them to play someone who doesn't conform to those ethics: that way they'll get allot more out of it.

Examples of such characters would be.

A klingon exchange officer - same stats as a Starfleet officer (they need OPS skills - Soldier won't cut it) but relabel everything Klingon Officer - they have a simpler ethical / moral background and can be very fun to play because you can go allong way with a handful of monosylabic phrases

A Kes / Neelix / Guinan / Quark / Rom Character.. - Why does he have to be a participating member of the crew in the same sense. It can be hard to think of ways to bring them into a story whenever you need them, because they aren't Starfleet officers - but always remember - don't let the tail wag the dog - don't let rules get in the way of involving everyone in the story.. You'll just have to be creative - they may bring skills or mind sets that make them useful in allot of situations - E.g. Contacts, local knowledge, shortfall neccessity (there aren't enough regular crew for story reasons), subterfuge and illegegal skills (Your crew might be investigating the Orion Syndicate allot and he's there Mole - Starfleet oficers are too shiny to do unethical things!), Diplomat, Bartender

Etc...

One of the nice things about the Startrek setting, which sometimes they de-emphasise using plot-drive instead of warp-drive - is that the universe is vast and ships aren't THAT fast, so any remote location can lead people to employ whatever means are at their disposal. As long as you can make up a convincing back story its all good.

This allows them to be what they want rather than a steryotype - so long as you make sure they realise that they still have to live by the rules of that society - or just be DAMN good at hiding their tracks (Remember - Security officers have TRICORDERS!) - they can be whatever ethical or moral mindse they want - including 'modern' if they have limited imagination

[qerlin]

Can't live up to the setting or the heroism of X..?

Isn't that what roleplaying is about?