Newbie Advice

[Kirowan]

Hello,

Let me start off by saying that I haven't seen a lot of Star Trek episodes or movies. I've seen a couple of movies when I was younger and a handful of episodes of Voyager and Next Generation.

With that said, I've recently developed interest in the new RPG by Decipher. While I've never be that into Trek, I feel that it can provide an unparalleled RPG experience. Interstellar exploration, crew dynamics, interactions with alien species: these are all elements that can serve to make a fabulous game.

So, I need help. I need some suggestions concerning what I should read and watch to get a good feel for Star Trek universe. Although I know the gamebooks will be packed with information, I would feel better if I had a better idea of what's going on before I GMed any games.

Before I go, I also have two basic Trek questions...

1. I know that the universal transcorder (is that right?) allows everyone to understand each other, but does it work with every species? If so, is there any plausible reason for this?

2. I know that a lot of the alien species look humanoid to the limited special fx budgets, but is there a rationalization in the Star Trek universe for this?

Thanks in advance for any help. I look forward to any responses.

[qerlin]

Question 1: almost... The universal translator allows for everyone to speak whatever language 'your series is shot in'. The tricorder is an all-pupose scanner thingee that's part computer, part scanner, part magic box that does whatever you rewire it for this episode...

Question 2: Yup. The reason -- an ancient race seeded their DNA into evolving species in the mists of the past and that's why there's a plethora of humanoid 'head of the week' races. But my series incredible CGI effects budget (called imagination... ;-) ) allows us a LOT of non-humanoid lifeforms. (Actually, they're doing a lot more in Enterprise with the CGI critters. Voyager has a couple of cool ones too.

Best thing is pick a period yu want to work with and stick to it. Find out which period your players prefer. I chose post DS9 because I could pretty much do what I wanted with the series and not contradict too much.

Stroudsburg, eh..? I grew up in Easton.

[Don Mappin]

Welcome!

First, your two questions:

1. The Universal Translator is really nothing more than a plot device so that the viewer can conveniently understand what is being said without annoying subtitles. As with most things Star Trek there is some general “technobabble” that tries to explain how these advanced devices of the 23rd and 24th centuries work. You’ll be happy to know there is a brief bit in the Decipher Star Trek Player’s Guide that talks how the translator works. It doesn’t necessarily work on every lifeform you encounter, but that’s more a case of GM fiat than any hard/fast rules. (An “Enterprise” episode actually shows an early version of the UT being used and programmed—you get to see it ‘magically’ make everyone understand one another.)

2. Yes. An ancient race called the “Preservers” (?) ‘seeded’ many of the current life forms across the galaxy a something like 4 billion years ago. The TNG episode “The Chase” deals solely with this event and its eventual discovery.

As for what to watch, I would say you should probably first read the Player’s Guide (available next week!) to get a feel for what types of Star Trek settings/stories interest you. Thankfully the Player’s Guide gives you a pretty good condensed history of Star Trek, explains the various series in some detail, and helps explain the types of stories one typically finds in them. At that point, after determining what interests you, you could probably make a more informed decision as to what kind of ‘research’ you’ll want to do.

Hope that helps!

[Dan Gurden]

Originally posted by Don Mappin
1. The Universal Translator is really nothing more than a plot device so that the viewer can conveniently understand what is being said without annoying subtitles. As with most things Star Trek there is some general “technobabble” that tries to explain how these advanced devices of the 23rd and 24th centuries work. You’ll be happy to know there is a brief bit in the Decipher Star Trek Player’s Guide that talks how the translator works. It doesn’t necessarily work on every lifeform you encounter, but that’s more a case of GM fiat than any hard/fast rules. (An “Enterprise” episode actually shows an early version of the UT being used and programmed—you get to see it ‘magically’ make everyone understand one another.)

Although to be fair.

DS9 did that first.

Also, not all linguistic groups are suitable for the Universal translators, for example the aliens that speak in metaphor, where the actual words were easily translated, but the meaning behind the phrases was unknown.

lastly UT's are recognisable, just as in Star Trek 6, as in enterprise and during TNG it has been mentioned that under certain diplomatic situations the translator cannot be used... At least not without causing offence.

[C5]

IIRC, an explanation of the way the UT works was given in the TOS episode with Zephram Cochrane. I think they said it uses brainwaves to see to wich concept a word correspond. You may discard it like some other TOS tech since the later series seem to suggest it rather analyses the language to determine its structure, but it's as good an explanation as another (and it fits if you decide to play in TOS era).

As for the humanoid predominance, I tend to stick to it personally just because of the Trek feel it gives ("it happens that way it Trek" ). As for an alternate explanation, I consider it's the easiest way for a carbon-based life form to achieve sentience. Hey, it's my game

One "warning", though, Kirowan : these guys writing RPG are incredibly creative. You may read a four-pages description of a species or an avent in the books... and eventually discover that it is covered by 2 sentences in all the series (I know what I'm talking about, it happened to me ). So in that regard, books are more complete than the series , but don't be surprised if you watch the series afterward.

[Imagus]

Originally posted by Dan Gurden
Also, not all linguistic groups are suitable for the Universal translators, for example the aliens that speak in metaphor, where the actual words were easily translated, but the meaning behind the phrases was unknown.

Hmm, "Darmok." I never quite got my head around that one - the point seemed to be that their language was based on metaphors from old legends, so that the name of the legend would be used in place of the intended meaning.

So what language were the legends told in?

Hmm?

There's also the small matter that the UT would simply translate whole legend names as human phrases. A phrase literally translating as "Janeway fights the Borg" might be translated by the UT as "extremely unlikely victory" - thereby bypassing the whole problem...

ANYway...

Welcome to the boards, Kirowan.

What the others said is about right - pick a period and setting you and your players like. Watch a few episodes from the appropriate series if you can, read the game books, grab anything else that looks interesting. The boards here, and their parent website, have plenty of ideas you can play with.

Above all, remember it's your game, and you don't have to slavishly follow the TV shows if you don't want to! Apart from anything else, you'll wind up with worse continuity errors if you do, than if you don't!

[starkllr]

For both an alternate solution to the translator issue, and also one way to handle a variety of non-humanoid aliens as Starfleet crew, you might want to check out the Original Series novels by Diane Duane. Especially "The Wounded Sky" and "My Enemy, My Ally"

She does a great job of describing several very weird alien races, and how they function aboard starships.

[spyone]

Originally posted by Kirowan

So, I need help. I need some suggestions concerning what I should read and watch to get a good feel for Star Trek universe. Although I know the gamebooks will be packed with information, I would feel better if I had a better idea of what's going on before I GMed any games.

Well, the entire first season of TNG just came out on DVD. It's a steal at $125.

Seriously, I could put together a list of episodes that best feature the feel of the universe, but it would probably be quite long, as there were 3 shows that ran for 7 years each, plus one that ran for 3 and 9 movies (soon to be 10).

As for reading, I'd recommend picking up a copy of the Star Trek Encyclopedia if you get nothing else, and a few issues of Star Trek: The Magazine would likely be helpful. (www.stmagazine.com)


And, in answer to your questions:
1). No and no. The Universal Translator has failed to work on two occasions that I can recall. On one, the creatures were just too different from humans, they conceptualized their world differently, and so the translator found them beyond it's abilities. In the other, it actually worked, but the aliens spoke almost exclusively in references to events in their body of mythology, rendering their meaning obscure. "Shaka, when the walls fell," meant sadness, IIRC.

2). Surprisingly, yes. One episode of TNG dealt with a message left by an ancient race. They were basicly human in appearance. They explored much of the galaxy and found themselves very much alone, which made them sad. So, partly as a memorial and partly so that the next intelligent species to evolve would not be alone, they seeded their genetic material onto several worlds that were about to develop life.
The Klingons, Romulans, Humans, and Cardassians, at least, have some of the DNA they seeded.

[Kronok]

Welcome to the boards!!!

Posted by Kirowan
“So, I need help. I need some suggestions concerning what I should read and watch to get a good feel for Star Trek universe.”

If you live in the States and get the TV channel TNN, they are doing reruns twice nightly and you can check out a ton of TNG episodes. UPN is showing Voyager nightly. Also, go to www.startrek.com. It has a synopsis of every episode. It would be the best way to get an idea for each of the series without TV access.

Posted by Kirowan
”1. I know that the universal transcorder (is that right?) allows everyone to understand each other, but does it work with every species? If so, is there any plausible reason for this?”

I like to think of the UT as what the world is trying to do with SETI today. We hope that some alien will find it and understand it. In a future that we know aliens exists, it would seem only logical to create the technology to translate alien languages. I think that that all languages, even alien ones, have patterns and that the Star Trek universe is such that these patterns of language can be figured out using advanced technology. Reality- It’s a TV show.


Posted by qerlin
“Best thing is pick a period yu want to work with and stick to it. Find out which period your players prefer. I chose post DS9 because I could pretty much do what I wanted with the series and not contradict too much.”

This is great advice. Pick a theme and run with it. Also, if you find a series you think you would like to run, come here with your ideas and we would be glad to help out.

Posted by Don Mappin
“2. Yes. An ancient race called the “Preservers” (?) ‘seeded’ many of the current life forms across the galaxy a something like 4 billion years ago. The TNG episode “The Chase” deals solely with this event and its eventual discovery.”

That is the best answer. Reality- It’s a TV show and they just dress up people. However, with the advent of computer graphics, Trek has created species that are not people in outfits. Voyager created a “Borg-killing” species known as Species 8472.


Posted by C5
“IIRC, an explanation of the way the UT works was given in the TOS episode with Zephram Cochrane. I think they said it uses brainwaves to see to wich concept a word correspond. You may discard it like some other TOS tech since the later series seem to suggest it rather analyses the language to determine its structure, but it's as good an explanation as another (and it fits if you decide to play in TOS era).”

I never heard this. Where did you read/see that?

Posted by Imagus
“Hmm, "Darmok." I never quite got my head around that one - the point seemed to be that their language was based on metaphors from old legends, so that the name of the legend would be used in place of the intended meaning.
So what language were the legends told in?
Hmm? ”

If you go by what was written above, the UT goes on thought processes and not history. The UT would have to analyze a ton of a culture’s text before it could fully translate a language like that.

“As for reading, I'd recommend picking up a copy of the Star Trek Encyclopedia if you get nothing else, and a few issues of Star Trek: The Magazine would likely be helpful. (www.stmagazine.com)”

More great advice. The novels, although not technically canon, have some great game ideas too.

[Highway Hoss]

First of all, Kirowan, let me say welcome to our merry forums. We hope that you enjoy yourself here.
Since everyone else has already covered your questions, instead I'll recommend a couple of Trek websites for learning about thr World of Trek:[list=1][*]The Daystrom Institute of Technology is a good reference for the Trek universe. Covers everything from A to Z plus adds a dose of informed speculation.[*]Ex Astris Scientia is a really good fan site. It has a really good links list, articles addressing a variety of topics and ships designed by the webmaster, Bernd Schneider.[/list=1] I hope that you find these sites useful.

[Kirowan]

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions and answers to my questions. I'm pretty sure that the RPGs will cover all of the "technical" information I'll need. I was just wondering about some supporting material (flavor stuff), and you all gave me some great ideas.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be fine. I played and owned Marvel Superheroes as a kid, and I didn't even read comics that much. After going through all of that material, I had as much information as any average Marvel fan. I suspect it will be the same with the Trek game.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

Originally posted by Don Mappin

2. Yes. An ancient race called the “Preservers” (?) ‘seeded’ many of the current life forms across the galaxy a something like 4 billion years ago. The TNG episode “The Chase” deals solely with this event and its eventual discovery.

Actually the aliens from The Chase and the Preservers aren't the same guys

The Preservers transplanted humanoid (and other species) on other worlds (such as groups of native Americans). The Chase aliens transplanted their own genetic material into the forming ecosystems of primitive worlds, thus directing evolution towards a humanoid form.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Welcome to the Boards Kirowan.

Just to add unto the reason why so many species look human; a while back I read through an evolutionary biology book. The basic focus the author was trying to bring is that the humanoid shape we have now is a very efficient "design". Two legs, two hands with an index finger and the organ placement is efficient energy wise. That could explain in a non-trek manner why so many species have a "human" look to them. The name of the book eludes me at the moment, though .

Having one arm or being fish-like such as the Antedeans would just not achieve sentience. Firstly, the one armed species would die-off (notice that no such species exist on earth) and the Antedeans fish like bodies bar them from having large brains needed for sentience and thinking. Nearly all large fishes are mammals after all.

Hope this provides some help on a non-trek explanation for the humanoid look.

[Capt Daniel Hunter]

I don't know what your preference will be for setting, but I'd be inclined to recommend an Original Series (Kirk era) setting. It's probably the most immediately identifiable one, and there's a frontier tone to that period that none of the shows have ever managed to quite recreate. The Original Series is, IMHO, the most easily identifiable, and probably the most fun and less rigid (from a gaming point of view) setting. It also requires rather less knowledge of backhistory to play in it, since you can ignore the spin-off seris and all the movies. TOS is also (IMHO) the best place to start learning about the Trek universe. Start at the beginning, and work your way forward You can always set campaigns in the later eras once you're more familiar with the setting.

Anyway, no matter what you decide on, I hope you have fun

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
Actually the aliens from The Chase and the Preservers aren't the same guys

Good. I didn't think they were. Someone really needs to stick the Trek Encylopedia in a text format so I can carry it on my PDA.