Stardates!

[Cdre Bob Wesley]

This whole time, our group has gone with the Memory Alpha entry on stardates, and devising our own homebrew system:

First digit - episode #
Second digit - Gregorian month
Following digits - date
Decimal #- whatever (.5 loosely considered noon)

Thus, episode 4 of a game on Thursday February 11 would be stardate 4211.0

But episode 9 of a game on Friday October 15 would be stardate 91015.0

I was looking for something better.

So I happened to be watching this neat documentary. In it, Kellam DeForest talks about the origin of the stardate being taken from the Julian day astronomy measurement (see 7:37-9:27).

So I looked into it further and noticed that NASA just drops the first three digits.

It still has issues, but maybe your next campaign can find a way to utilize it. =)

[Aldaron]

For years I've used an Excel calculator - and I actually can't remember if I put it together based on something or if I downloaded it holus-bolus (i think I'm getting Alzheimer's!! ETA: I didn't create it - I don't know who did, but it doesn't have "my" style of coding in it )). It falls down prior to 2323 (IIRC - it's on my home laptop and I'm at work at present), but for dates after that, it's pretty spot-on with TNG, DS9 and VOY era stardates.

From memory, I think it even correctly pegs the Hindu Festival of Lights date from the episode Date's Day.

I love the principle of the Julian Date sans the first 3 digits, but it tends to collapse when it comes to the TNG dates (I think the precursor to 2364 dates works out to 87, from memory). I guess you could modify it easily enough (again, using an Excel sheet), but I haven't tried it yet.

[Owen E Oulton]

I once figured out the stardates for 2376, as a mental experiment. Here's the page I did on it, with commentary.

http://www.coldnorth.com/owen/game/s...e/stardate.htm

[K.G. Carlson]

I use a rather simple formula for my late 23rd century Trek campaign, that puts the stardate in the ballpark of the movie-era TOS that I'm digging.

The first two digits of the stardate are the last two digits of the year, and the last two digits and the decimal point are the percentage of the year that has passed.

Ex:

May 19 2279 becomes Stardate 7938.1
79 the year
May 19 is the 139th day of the year = 38.1%

It sounds Trekkian while also allowing me to track the actual passage of time. *shrug* There's my 2 cents. Hope you find it useful.

[jkp1187]

I use a rather simple formula for my late 23rd century Trek campaign, that puts the stardate in the ballpark of the movie-era TOS that I'm digging.

The first two digits of the stardate are the last two digits of the year, and the last two digits and the decimal point are the percentage of the year that has passed.

Ex:

May 19 2279 becomes Stardate 7938.1
79 the year
May 19 is the 139th day of the year = 38.1%

It sounds Trekkian while also allowing me to track the actual passage of time. *shrug* There's my 2 cents. Hope you find it useful.

I've been using this method for a while...but I'm going to drop it in favor of a more mundane "2279.05.19" kind of system because, frankly, I just don't have the time or inclination to do math on the fly anymore... Plus, the dates actually mean something to the players that way, too.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I thought the point of stardates was that the dates don't mean anything to the players...

[K.G. Carlson]

No, no, no TK: the purpose of stardates is to accurately track the passage of time while compensating for the relativistic effects of superluminal space travel.

Jeez, I'm gonna have to ask you to turn in your nerd card

[The Tatterdemalion King]

No, no, no TK: the purpose of stardates is to accurately track the passage of time while compensating for the relativistic effects of superluminal space travel.

Jeez, I'm gonna have to ask you to turn in your nerd card

PLAYER: "What time is it now?"
GM: "Make a Subspace Mechanics roll."

[K.G. Carlson]

Now thats what I call a web redemption!

[jkp1187]

I thought the point of stardates was that the dates don't mean anything to the players...

At one point, yes, but I guess I've gotten to the age where I value consistency over neat-sounding mathematical obfuscation!