"Spirit of the 24th Century"

[RaconteurX]

As I mentioned elsewhere, I have toyed with the idea of building a Star Trek campaign around Evil Hat Productions' FATE 3.0 game engine, the same rules which power Spirit of the Century and are slated to bring Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files to life. Character creation in SotC is especially interesting: everyone has three phases in which they briefly outline their origins, what they did in the Great War, and their first grand adventure (their first 'novel'). The last two phases are their 'guest appearances' in the novels of two of the other characters.

Adapting this for Star Trek, the first phase remains tied to the characters' origins and the second could be what they did in Starfleet Academy. The third would be a notable tour of duty or mission, with the fourth and fifth phases being tours/missions in which they served alongside another character. Definitely room for some interesting character development, and the characters needn't be limited to five phases with two Aspects per phase as in SotC. A ten-phase character with one Aspect per phase would work as well, and give characters a little more breadth of detail.

Part of the utility of the FATE 3.0 rules is that they can easily take a page from the Serenity roleplaying game and stat out starships much like a character. The ship's Aspects could be tagged or compelled just like a character's, and its Skills could serve to modify those of the characters' during missions. Material from the assorted Trek rules sets could be mined for inspiration, providing plenty of Aspects, Skills and Stunts with a suitably Trek-ish flair.

[Evan van Eyk]

One of my top goals in roleplaying is telling a complelling, dramatic, tense story - it is always preferable if the system supports that ( although currently I am only using my own system anyway ).
The basics you describe sound very interesting however, I like shaping a character not by development points but by a real background - if I got you right - which then transforms into skill values? ( I am not familiar with the system, nor the background "Dresden Files" - have to change that ).
In terms of adapting I would also try to incorporate a concept of renown, I always found that to be a suitable way of evaluating character performance in views of others and their ability to stick to the role model of a Starfleet Officer, or the lack of it ( maybe something like that is already included anyway ).
No matter what this sounds like an interesting idea for me and I definitely will do some research on the system and game you talked about, although budget will probably prevent me from doing anything more.

BTW, its good to see you posting here again!

[RaconteurX]

I recommend checking out Evil Hat's Wiki, especially the Basics, Aspects and the Character Design Manifesto. There is also a fan-contributed adaptation of Lord of the Rings.

[Evan van Eyk]

Thank you very much, will take a close look there!

[RaconteurX]

As there has been some further discussion of this, I'll revive this thread with links to the Spirit of the Century system resource document and another fan adaptation.

[Slortar]

Sounds pretty cool. I really like Fate, particularly how the transparent the skills are--you can pretty much look at a character sheet and instantly tell what a character's about, which is a quality that I don't think is common enough in RPG's.

And it's not like there's only one true vision of what Star Trek should be--there's plenty of room out there for multiple takes.

As far as non-crunchy takes on tv shows goes, I've always been tempted to take a look at Prime Time Adventures--I have a feeling it'd do Trek really well. Just one of many things I keep forgetting to do.

[RaconteurX]

I haven't read the final, published edition of Prime Time Adventures, although I do have one of the prepublication drafts. It could definitely be mined for inspiration at least.

[Fermmoylle]

Greetings,

I've just joined this forum as a friend pointed this thread. It seems we are working on the same thing, as I've just started to post at FateRPG mail list some ideas regarding "Spirit of Star Trek". :-)

Maybe we could join forces?

Below is my take on some of the game mechanics, partially inspired by LugTrek.

Ok, here are some details (consider this a ever-changing WIP):

Phases:
-Early Life
-Starfleet Academy
-Cadet Cruise
-Tour of Duty [optional, repeat as wish]
Note: the number of Phases indicate the apex of your Skill Pyramid and
your number of Stunts.

Skills:
-Academical Knowledge
-Alertness
-Artistic Expression
-Athletics
-Bargain
-Command
-Computer
-Contacting
-Deceit
-Diplomacy
-Empathy
-Endurance
-Energy Weapon
-Engineering, Material
-Engineering, Propulsion
-Engineering, Systems
-Gaming
-Heavy Weapons
-Intimidation
-Life Sciences
-Might
-Mysteries
-Medical Sciences
-Personal Equipment
-Physical Sciences
-Planetary Sciences
-Planetary Tactics
-Planetside Survival
-Primitive Weaponry
-Projectile Weapon
-Psychology
-Rank
-Resolve
-Security
-Shipboard Systems
-Sleight of Hand
-Social Sciences
-Space Sciences
-Starship Tactics
-Stealth
-Unarmed Combat
-Vehicle Operation
Note: Rank skill indicates your Starfleet Rank, from 0 to 6, in order
-> Crewmember -> Ensign -> Lieutenant, junior grade -> Lieutenant ->
Lieutenant Commander -> Commander -> Captain
Note: For each skill (except Rank) you may select a Specialization
(indicated between parenthesis). Once per Scene you may invoke a Free
Tag of one of your Specializations.

Stunts:
Spirit of Far Future has done a great job in explaining how the basic
Stunt is created, so cheers to its writers! I'll use a similar
approach here:
-Stunts that allow Skill replacement
-Stunts that allow Skill to be tagged by others
-Stunts that break some rules - including non-human races (more on
this when I finish a good list)

If you like to work together please contact me ASAP. I know a few fellow FateRPG listers that would like to help as well.

[RaconteurX]

Hi Fermmoylle,

I was already reading the thread over on the FATE mailing list, been a member of that for years. I haven't done any work on my adaptation in a while, had other pursuits which kept me busy. I tried to keep my skills list roughly to the size of SOTC's, twenty-five should be more than enough.

Bargain and Diplomacy, for example, are both forms of negotiation and a single Negotiation skill could handle both. Differentiate with Stunts, and it tends to work fairly well. I would also tend to lump the two Tactics skills into one, again using Stunts to differentiate.

(The scene in Wrath of Khan where Spock tells Kirk that Khan's Tactics indictate "two-dimensional thinking" can, in my mind, be handled as an Assessment, Declaration or Maneuver... which Kirk and Co. shortly therafter tags to good effect).

Also take a look at this post for thoughts that I had leading up to this thread. As for collaboration, I'd prefer to do it away from a high-traffic mailing list. Could either do it via private email or here on the TrekRPGNet boards.

I must admit, lately Full Light, Full Steam has much of my interest as a vehicle for Star Trek. Solid system, just needs a few tweaks and it'll work brilliantly. Check out the character sheet and the PDF preview for a glimpse at the basics.

[Fermmoylle]

As soon as I've posted that long list someone pointed that and I just streamlined it a little... Ok, it has around 32 skills (I still see mechanical differences in Bargain and Diplomacy) but it's far shorter than the original one.

I agree a light-traffic medium is better to conduct this creation, so I'll follow this thread and any private emails you send me. Anyway, I'll keep some posts on FateRPG list as some useful thoughts may arise from there.

I believe you've worked on something already... Can you share what you've created for your Spirit of the 24th Century?

[Cpt. Lundgren]

Also take a look at this post for thoughts that I had leading up to this thread. As for collaboration, I'd prefer to do it away from a high-traffic mailing list. Could either do it via private email or here on the TrekRPGNet boards.

Sounds like something that might fit quite well into "User-Created Social Groups" that will be available either from Sunday, or the middle of next week, depending on when I will be able to do the upgrade of the forum software. Not sure exactly what options those groups will have. But that should not be that hard to figure out as soon as they are in place.

[RaconteurX]

Sounds like something that might fit quite well into "User-Created Social Groups" that will be available...

Indeed, might very well be a nice fit. Of course, doing it here on the main boards also allows guests to the forums to view the thread.

[bruder]

I've been working on LugTrek -> SotC/Fate3.0 conversion, too. I'd be intrerested in collaboration. So far I've tried to streamline a good skill list and a "pyramid" to fit, and done some thinking on ship combat.

[Cut]

Has a social group being created?

Is there any progress on this?

[RaconteurX]

Haven't picked up my copies of Spirit of the Century or Starblazer Adventures in recent months, nor done much Trek-related musing of any sort. Was tempted to reboot my online "Anasazi" game over on RPOL, but a rash of new Trek games popped up at the same time and I didn't feel the market could bear another.