The Road Less Traveled/TOS

[Cessna]

This is my first post, so please bear with me.

I am going to start a TOS based campaign soon, and am looking for some ideas. I already have plans for the setting, tone, and background, but I am always open to suggestions. What I’d really like is some input from people who have more knowledge of Star Trek than I do.

Specifically, I am interested in hearing (reading) ideas that will challenge my players’ assumptions. They’ve all seen the usual background material, and I’d like to use this “assumed knowledge” to catch them off-guard. Allow me to explain.

The “Star Trek” Universe of TOS was very different from the background presented in TNG/DS9/Voyager. For example, the Klingons of the TOS era were very different, and not just in appearance. They were devious and treacherous. In fact, the book “Making of Star Trek” specifically states, “Honor is not a favorable trait among Klingons.”

This is very different from the way Klingons were presented in TNG, but I believe it is a perfectly valid way to show them in a TOS based game- and doing this will certainly surprise the players.

Can anyone else think of ways in which TNG/DS9/Voyager superseded Old Trek? What are some “questions” that TOS asked that TNG/DS9/Voyager answered – that could be answered differently?

I anxiously await responses…!

[Dan Stack]

I like the way you think...

One thing TNG and DS9 delved into a lot is politics. In TOS, we know very little about how the Klingon and Romulan Empires are run. In TNG we get to see a lot of both. The Romulans look very much like a Soviet-style government while the Klingons become WARRIORS!!!.

Why not change those things. Have the players go to the Klingon Homeworld and find no high council, instead a powerful emperor. If you have access to some of the "Star Trek: Phase II" story ideas (the aborted late-70's Trek revival), the story "Kitumba" has some possibilities, where the Enterprise meets the future leader of the Empire. John Ford's vision of Klingons (the Final Reflection) is one possible way to go.

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[SIR SIG]

Like Dan said, politics would be a biggy.

Just the overall interaction and location of empires that exist in both TOS and TNG.

Eg Tholians and Gorns, they seemed impressive in TOS (what you saw of them) but become misc aliens in DS9.

Don't retire the Constitutions! Upgrade them as the main battleship of the battlehardened Federation. And lots of them.

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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[Aedh Rua]

One could argue that the TOS and the TNG/DS9 world were in fact two very different alternate Star Trek universes. I am, of course, fond of alternate universes.

I think the John Ford Klingons are really the best TOS Klingons out there. They are consistant with what is known of the Klingons in TOS writings and shows, as well as being a fascinating, if repellant, culture in their own right.

BTW, this applies only to the John Ford Klingons contained in his two books, and in the 1st edition FASA supplement, though the latter is rather badly written. The 2nd edition FASA supplement includes some "details" of Klingon history which are just too implausible for my tastes.

For Romulans, I (naturally) rather like my own Vatakhsu (see the Romulans thread in the Star Trek chat), though to make them more TOS, one should probably eliminate the Tal Shiar entirely and make their behavior more honorable and less devious than is common in TNG.

The result is three very different political systems: brutal exploitation (the Klingons), rather racist paternalism (the Romulans), and pseudo-democratic socialism (the Federation). If that last sounds harsh to the Feds, consider how different the TOS Federation was from that of TNG/DS9. How often did starship captains and starbase commanders have power of arbitrary arrest and confiscation of property?

If nothing else, this shows how our own society has evolved.

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Slan agat!

[Paul]

The biggest advantage you have with running a TOS series is that it is less sterile than TNG, and brighter than DS9.

In TOS, politics is a big part with most things, but you are less likely to be hamstrung by politics as you would be in TNG. The Klingons were dirtier, the Romulans were sneakier, the Gorn were aggressive, the Tholians were highly territorial...you have Trelane (to replace Q) ... and Starfleet was more gung-ho than in later series.

On the downside, their are the technology advancements you won't have: replicators (the biggest loss), Holodecks, PADDs, Comm badges; Tricorders won't be as efficient as you see them in TNG; Medical facilities will not be able to cope with as much as they do in TNG; and more.

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How do I set a Laser Printer to stun?

[qerlin]

Actually, I think the lack of tech makes the TOS series more challenging and character oriented.

[SIR SIG]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by qerlin:
Actually, I think the lack of tech makes the TOS series more challenging and character oriented.</font>

I agree whole-hardedly <sp>.

Less tech, more room to do stuff, makes playing in TOS a challenge to the PC's.

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'...The Borg have stopped at deck 10...'
'...Deflector Control, no vital systems...'

Not a vital system! What the heck do you think stops the ship going 'poof' every time it goes to warp?

- ST:First Contact; Lt Hawk

[StyroFoam Man]

This message has been removed on request by the
poster

[CaptainGonzalez]

One of the things I like best as a player in a TOS setting was that our GM made it really feel like we were in S P A C E. We couldn't contact homebase and talk to an admiral for assistance or even more information. We were out there in the vastness of space. If we ran into problems there were no reinforcements coming to help us out. This was also the case with the places we visited. Sometimes we were the first visitors a colony would see in years. And like in the original series the experts would take advantage of the situation by creating their own little kingdoms.

[Don Mappin]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by qerlin:
Actually, I think the lack of tech makes the TOS series more challenging and character oriented.</font>

You are so right!

I just started a TOS Movie Era game and I’m coming up with adventure and plot ideas that I would have never gotten away with in the TNG/DS9 era. It is a whole different mindset.

Mind you, I enjoy both, but I was surprised that the differences that I noticed. I want to get back to that “Horatio Hornblower” mentality of the films and reliance upon adventure and characters.

A great observation, qerlin.


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Don
trekrpg@trekrpg.net

[Aedh Rua]

It is interesting how there is still so much so appealing about the whole TOS setting. It offers more challenge than the TNG world, and just a more adventurous atmosphere.

I think in some ways the change from TOS to TNG/DS9 reflects the evolution of Western society in general since the 1960s. By the time of TNG, the wonder and idealism are far less, and yet the certainties are gone. Today's enemies may be tomorrow's allies and vice versa.

The world is more prosperous, yet far more constrained, and EVERYTHING depends upon internal politics, on who you know, to the point that there are conspiracies within conspiracies even in Starfleet Command.

TOS is cruder, more primitive, and generally a lot more likable. It feels more sincerely, and behaves more naively, often to the point of looking silly. In general, all of the series after TOS have been living on the vision started then, getting farther and farther away with each successive series.

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Slan agat!

[AslanC]

And remember despite the Prime Directive the Federation negotiated trade deals and starbase deals with races that had now warp drive, heck some of them didn't even have energy weapons. The Cappelans anyone?

TOS is the truest form of Star Trek, even in the Movie Era. It is SPACE...as said it takes days if not weeks for messages to reach ships etc, vessels go missing all the time without trace. The Romulans are mysterious and almost nothing is known of them. The Klingons are sneaky and constantly in comeptition with the Federation for planets and resources.

Aliens are odd and have really sterotypical behaviour patersn, instead of just being a set of face makeup and no culture.

And never forget the vaule of Hodgkin's Law!

Gwads, now I wanna run a TOS campaign

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Aslan Collas
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Star Trek:Strange New Worlds;
http://www.geocities.com/aslan_collas/
=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ferengi Rule Of Acquisition #76: Every once in a while, declare peace. It confuses the hell out of your enemies.

[Aedh Rua]

Or earlier.

I still like the idea of a campaign set ca 2146. UESPA is exploring space. The Andorians are new and myterious. The Tellarites are obnoxious and possibly a little villainous. The Vulcans and Centaurians are close allies, but also almost unknown.

Orions are every bit the treacherous enemies that the Klingons will later become, in competition for lots of worlds. Mysterious neutral races include the Gideonites, the Deltans, the Kaferians, the Saurians, and others.

There are races like the Haliians, whose first contact dates are completely unknown. They could be included in such a campaign.

The possibilities are endless!

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Slan agat!

[Dan Stack]

While I agree with the virtues of TOS posted thus far, I'm rather curious with the premise behind the original post. Suppose you had just TOS to work with, no TNG or DS9, etc. And you were in the mood to throw the players for a little loop... What would you do?

Tweaking the Kligons is the most obvious idea. But what else?

One other idea I thought of is the fragile nature (in my opinion) of the Federation of the 23rd century. I've always viewed it as a pre-Civil War United States - a much looser central authority than the 24th century. Perhaps that can be played with as well - the TOS core rules mention the Axanar Rebellion. Perhaps there are other disputes that can threaten the entire Federation - a dispute over the admission of a world which had once been at war with a member world, Vulcan threatening to leave the Federation, a skirmish between two members threatening to break out into war, etc.

[Aedh Rua]

Or, one could just throw out the whole idea of the TNG timeline, and let it evolve on its own. I always thought it would interesting to see what would happen to John Ford's Komerex Klingon when it couldn't grow anymore.

Instead of the Federation-Klingon alliance, I had thought, back in my FASA, pre-TNG days, that the Klingons were likely to collapse as lack of expansion room forced a buildup of internal tensions, and resulting civil war. Then, the Romulans and Feds get involved in backing a variety of minor factions in the mess that the Klingon Empire has become, producing lots of interesting gaming possibilities.

My speculations only got about that far, so I don't know if a new Romulan War would result.

My guess is no. The stakes would be too low for either side, given that neither is really strong enough to absorb the whole Komerex Klingon. More likely, each power would absorb the parts of the former Komerex on their borders, and the rest would be claimed by some sort of revivalist Komerex which rejected both the Feds and the Romulans.

Who knows? This might lead to a Federation-Romulan alliance, which always seemed more likely than a Federation-Klingon alliance to me in those days.

And, of course, if history is completely re-written from the TOS era onward, then the Feds and Romulans might meet any type of new aliens, and not the ones they did in canon.

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Slan agat!