Missing Bridge Crew?

[Eric R.]

(Well i have been in one of my cutt and paste thread moods of late and came up with these which I though were oddly missing from the original LUG TOS book.)

Life Support Officer
Life Support Officers are in charge of monitoring and seeing to the proper functioning of the various systems which provide life support to a starships crew such as water and air filtration, internal temperature and gravity systems. They also man the bridge Life support station when necessary and serve on Emergency Medical and Damage control teams.

Administration (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Athletics (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Computer (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapon (Laser or Phaser) 1(2)
History (Federation) 1(2)
First Aid (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Language
Federation Standard 1
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1(2)
Life Science (Choose Specialization) 2(3)
Personal Equipment (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Planetside Survival (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Shipboard Systems (Life Support) 2(3)
Systems Engineering (life Support) 1(2)
Unarmed Combat (Starfleet Martial Arts) 1(2)
Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 1(2)

Life Support Specialist
While Life Support officers are in charge of “monitoring” the life support systems of a starship, the Life Support Specialist is in charge of MAKING SURE they work and keep working. They also man the bridge Life support station when necessary and serve on Emergency Medical and Damage control teams.

Computer (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapon (Laser or Phaser) 1(2)
Language
Federation Standard 1
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1(2)
Personal Equipment (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Systems Engineering (Life Support) 1(3)
Shipboard Systems (Life Support) 1(2)

[Eric R.]

Weapons Officer
Weapon Officers, or WEO’s as they are often called, mainly man the Phaser control rooms and Torpedo bay rooms of Starships and Starbases. However most Starship bridges and Auxiliary Control rooms have dedicated weapon stations which are manned only in certain conditions. Many weapons officers later go on to be Navigators and Helmsmen aboard starships.

Administration (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Athletics (choose Specialization) 1(2)
Computer (choose Specialization) 1(2)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapon (Phaser or Laser) 1(2)
History (Federation) 1(2)
Language
Federation Standard 1
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1(2)
Personal Equipment (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Planetside Survival (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Shipboard Systems (Weapons) 2(3)
Starship Tactics (Federation) 2(3)
Systems Engineering (Phaser or Torpedo/.Probe Systems) 1(2)
Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) 2(3)
Unarmed Combat (Starfleet Martial Arts) 1(2)

Weapons Specialist
Weapon Specialist do the hard jobs, cleaning the phaser coils, lubricating the torpedo casings and hoisting them on to the firing platforms. It is hard work and many later gain added strength and fitness even though the amount of automation is high in the Starfleet of the 23rd century.

Computer (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapon (Laser or Phaser) 1(2)
Systems Engineering (Missile, Phaser or Torpedo/Probe Systems) 1(3)
Language
Federation Standard 1
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1(2)
Personal Equipment (Choose Specialization) 1(2)
Shipboard Systems (Weapons) 1

[Eric R.]

Please if you Cutt and Paste say Hi, thanks, it sucks or whatever. I need some positive feedback.

[SIR SIG]

Please if you Cutt and Paste say Hi, thanks, it sucks or whatever. I need some positive feedback.

Oh you mean if I cut and paste


Looks good Eric, esp the Life Support Officer. I mean if there is a dedicated station then there should be a dedicated officer.

[Phantom]

They are very good templates, but are they necessary? I mean both Life Support and Weapons are covered under Operations. All an LS Officer and Weps are are Ops officers with System Engineering (Life Support) and (weapons system) respectfully.

As it is your "world" I say more power to you. IMO they don't really add anything, however.

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Phantom
IMO they don't really add anything, however.

True. But exactly the same thing can be said about the Conn officer Template I wrote for TNG... Or any specialist in sciences, as they can all be derived from the basic template...

I am a firm believer in choice, and can see where these templates fit in, even though I dont play TOS... Say a player wants a weapons officer? Then they could choose between this template or the Ops tempate, each would leave the character with a slightly different skill base than the other...

And in this case it matches the character concept.

Just my opinion, and I like the style of these templates even though I am unlikely to use them (for the aforementioned no use for TOS)

[Anarchy Bob]

Well, there is a dedicated Environmental Controls station on the Enterprise-D according to the Tech Manual. So i guess you could use the other templates for a game set in the Big 3-Eras

[Eric R.]

Originally posted by Phantom
They are very good templates, but are they necessary? I mean both Life Support and Weapons are covered under Operations. All an LS Officer and Weps are are Ops officers with System Engineering (Life Support) and (weapons system) respectfully.

While your arguments are perfect for the TNG era the structure of the TOS core book is divided between a separate overlay for Communications and Helm/Navigation, I just rounded out these with the remaining two stations. However both do differ from the operations overlay in that the Weapons Officer has a Starship Tactics skill and LS officer has a life science skill both dedicated and strong (2(3)) with the LS having a reduced Vehicle operations skill level. Also too notice the inclusion of laser for energy weapon choice to reflect the era only makes sense I believe (I even toyed with the Idea of Missile Systems as a choice for Systems Engineering Specialization).

The NCO overlays, Which I don't really like anyways, also have a switched preference for Systems engineering over Shipboard systems from the overlays fround in the TNG players guide. I have never liked the 25 DP packages for NCO's and plan to expand these to the 36 DP professional packages from the DS9 core book.

As to chocie I have always felt that an Overlay should be as exacting as it could be after all they are design to represent a character who has completed a predetermined course of study (Starfleet Academy) and should therefore have been limited in choice to a degree, example you want to be a LS officer then you have to take a Life Science course for you Science core requirement plus one Life Science elective (specialization).

By the way the term Life Support Officer originates with Franz Josefs Deck plans and became quite common in subsequant plan booklets.

[calguard66]

As others have said, whatever fits your game. However, paramilitary organizations don't train their members several different ways to do the same job. They train them all the same way.

There are many reasons for this... you need to ensure that everyone has the same basic skill set, it is redundant/ wastes resources to have more than one method to train personnel in a particular field, in a crisis situation everybody needs to be on the same sheet of music (trained to the same standard, with the same docterine, so everybody knows what/ how everybody else is reacting).

In Starfleet there does seem to be more cross-pollenation between branches than a traditional military organization (mostly for story purposes), but even they must have a standardized career progression and standardized qualification courses/ tests.

In my series "Life Support Specialist" is too restricted for an officer billet... the Life Support Specialists would be enlisted members under the Hull Systems CPO and Deputy Engineering Officer (Hull Systems). Engineering officers need to know a bit about every system on a ship, so they will understand what their (enlisted and warrant) specialists are telling them... they make decisions about what to fix and how to fix it based on the input from their experts. They don't usually turn wrenches themselves. A new Engineering Ensign might start out as the Assistant Hull Systems Engineering officer... then become the Tactical Systems Engineering officer... then become the Engineering Deck officer (2nd Watch)... then become the Engineering Watch officer (1st Watch), etc. Their highest asperation aboard ship is to become Chief Operations officer... a post which both Security and Engineering officers compete.

Similarly, the Weapons Officer or Tactical officer has 3 Assistant Tactical Officers (Phaser, Torpedo, Shields) each with their sub-department and CPO. This is a "Line" position... this officer will also hold positions as Astrogator, Adjutant, and Intelligence officer and will go one to be the XO and CO of starships. They are leaders learning how to command starships (including the admin and paperwork). They are not mere gunners.

Again, do what fits your series...

[Thierry]

Good stuff, This is the kind of things I look for when I come to this site.

[Thierry]

No one else is adding to this, I think there should be a new section for Overlays and skills for people to add to.

[Kronok]

I like the fact that we have more choices. Your suggestions are a great way to make sure that all "OPS (or whatever overlay)" are not the same and can choose a different route of study.

Keep up the good work.

[Thierry]

Eric don't leave us hanging do you have anymore overlays or ideas.

[Eric R.]

Well yes in deed Theirry I do have more coming, alot more, can you say 'start a TOS era Supplement', why sure I can . The idea I have is that it will slowly be done as I get done with parts I will release them in a numbered format so you can print them off and keep them in a loose leaf binder, as parts are release you simply put them in in numbered order where they belong. (Can you say SFB & ASL inspiration for the format boys and girls )

The first part and really the cornor stone of the whole project will be an enhanced Chracter generation systems that does not rely on pregernerated Overlays for professions. Now if you want to play a frustrated Security Officer with a degree in Science, you can . It has taken most of last weekend and all of this week so far to put together (hence for my disappearence) and to finish it up will take till Sunday by all accounts. In general the system may be quite involving and a tad bit more complex then the orignal but in use it is actually very simple to grasp as it is still the basic idea of Icon Character generation, i.e. pick a package and build. Its a bit of FASA, LUG including the TNG players Guide and of course my own Ideas. You will be able to generate youthful characters now that arn't shallow in depth when compared to the normal SF grad and lack the ability to contribute as well as Non Starfleet Academy Officers as while as enlisted.

[Thierry]

I can hardly wait, your stuff is great.