Alternate Histories

[dataweaver]

With the release of GURPS Prime Directive, a discussion started up on another board which I frequent concerning discrepencies between the Star Fleet Universe and Star Trek. The debate got me to thinking...

In essence, the Star Fleet Universe stays as true to the original series as the Next Generation and its spin-offs do, just in a different way; in essence, you've got two equally viable versions of Star Trek here, with the latter only having the edge in the sense that it's officially sanctioned by Paramount. (Actually, you've got three distinct settings, as the FASA version of Star Trek did a fair amount of background development of its own which turned out to be incompatable with both SFU and TNG.)

So I've been wondering: What do people see as the most significant differences between these three settings? What do you view as the relative merits and flaws of each? Which is your favorite, and are there any elements of the others that you'd like to incorporate into it?

[Eric R.]

I am pretty sure this topic will be moved before long to the narrators section but here goes.

Each of the universes reflects Trek Fandom as it had developed at that moment in time. Star Fleet Universe used the original Star Trek episodes including TOS, the Concordium and the Franz Josef material which in the late 70's which was all there turely was. When TMP and WOK came out there was a little more for FASA to build on such as the Spaceflight Chronology, Starfleet Medical Reference Manual and some deck plans and the occiasional novel. LUG was really the first to encounter any real limits as it was written when shows were being made and had to contend with the whole canon issue as layed out by TPTB as does CODA who has an even bigger headache because unlike any of the previous three games the background material has to be light at best.

[dataweaver]

Well, since the topic deals with the settings of the various RPGs, I think that it's an open question as to which board it belongs on. I'd prefer to keep it here, as I intend to get into some game mechanics issues later on; after I've got a feel for how people stand on the subject. (I've my own opinions, but I'll keep them to myself until others have had a chance to weigh in.)

You're right; every version of published Trek roleplaying has attempted, after its own fashion, to stay true to the original material. Note, BTW, that both SFU and FASA Trek made attempts to integrate material from the Animated series as well (thus the SFU Kzinti and the FASA Caitians and Edoans). As Paramount has declared the Animated Series to be non-canon, this is one of the sources for divergence amongst the series - and I sometimes wonder if ADB's license could withstand incorporating some of the clearly non-canon TAS material (probably not, but I still wonder).

But the point remains that three distinct Trek-related settings have emerged in the roleplaying community. Setting aside game mechanics issues for the moment, which do you prefer?

[AslanC]

Based soley on the idea of each games background (and ICON had some of it's own takes on things that have bled into CODA), I would say that the FASA one is my favorite.

Why? Earth was not the most important planet in the Federation, and it just seemed to flow smoothly ino the old show continuity and then new movies (at the time).

Once TNG came out all bets were off.

[Dukeroyal]

I also like the FASA background the best. When I run CODA I will use the FASA world information. I'll even base my TNG ea campaigns off of FASATrek.

[Capt. Chris]

It really depend on what setting you are using. For TOS , I think FASA wins hands down. Lug wins for TNG and DS9 for now we shall see how Coda fairs as it puts out its material (to new to tell).

Though I like Starfleet Battles and the game setting works well for its own particular wargame feel, I don't see it or those systems derived off its settings as the best ST ones on a whole.

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!

I prefer FASA with some SFU things thrown in...Klingon slave races, Ground Assault Shuttles, Marines, fighters, Kzinti (not the version from the Dragon article tho'), that sort of stuff. No General War in my FASA Trek. lol

I've also added some STNG stuff to my FASA...batleth's, some of the races.

Oh, and John Ford's klingons.

Tony

[Dan Gurden]

For myself I tend to use screen canon as the user history, simply because its the only thing we can all agree upon. Of course there are aspects that simply didn't happen (Trek V, some of the events of Threshold, and second half of Endgame)... But many situation will be raised at the time... And then worked around...

SFB - Never read it, but I am not a big fan of TOS nor do I like the concept of Starfleet as a standing military (as its primary function)...

FASA - played it way back when, and am aware of aspects of its history... It suits the movie era, but again, not really for me...

In both cases, I can guarantee that someone knows less than me... And I fell that I should run the game to be accessable for everyone, from the casual playre through to the Trek fan...

But for the whole, even the established canon history is subject to either change or 'clarification' if I can get a plot out of it...

[dataweaver]

John Ford's Klingons?

[Lord Kjeran]

Originally posted by dataweaver
John Ford's Klingons?

As described in his novels The Final Reflection and How Much for Just the Planet?.

Tony

[AslanC]

I have always wanted to and will someday, run a campaign based on my own timeline, taking what I like and mixing and matching.

Techwise it would be late movie gen, just verging on inbetween gen. IE, Excelsiors and Excelsior refits are the cutting edge tech and the tests are just beginingg on this new Ambassador class

But one thing I insist on doing is remembering that my players want to play int he look and the feel of Star Trek, but not in the same characters (Well one does, but she usually just wants to bed them LGTs, what are you going to do?)

So as such I take the original Enterprise's missions and split them up over the Captains of the Consitution class starships. That sends a message to the players that they too can have a profound affect on the universe, not just the crew of a ship called Enterprise.

May not work for everybody, but I think it may work for me.

Now if I can find a way to hybridize the Ford and Okuda Klingons, I am set.

[dataweaver]

Originally posted by Lord Kjeran

"John Ford's Klingons?"

As described in his novels The Final Reflection and How Much for Just the Planet?.

Tony

I'm not familiar with those novels. In what way are they different from the SFU, FASA, and TNG Klingons, respectively?

[AslanC]

Originally posted by dataweaver


I'm not familiar with those novels. In what way are they different from the SFU, FASA, and TNG Klingons, respectively?

Hmmmm

Well the SFU Klingons are not well known to me.

FASA Klingons ARE the John M. Ford Klingons, as they used his novel as the source material.

The difference between them and the TNG Klingons is night and day.

TNG Klingons come off a bit more barbaric and almost holy warrior like from time to time, whereas the Ford Klingons are more like the TNG Romulans. Sneaky, spying on themselves and constantly playing an elaborate game of chess called Klinzhai. Klinzhai is represented in all aspects of their life, leading to the idea of the Komerx Klinzhai (the living game).

Every move is considered or planned, leverage gained and lsot, assassinations carried out, etc.

All in all I prefer the Ford/FASA Klingons, but there are some aspects of the Okuda/TNG Klingons I can groove with as well.

I am sure someone else can explain it better than I, but I hope this helped.

[Owen E Oulton]

"FASA Klingons ARE the John M. Ford Klingons, as they used his novel as the source material."

Actually, it gets even weirder than that. Ford was a roomie of one of the FASA writers, and the manuscripts for The Final Reflection and the Klingon book (1st edition) were written at the same time. The novel and game-book cross-pollinated to a great degree.

There were many things in the Fordian version of Klingons that never really sat well with me. The whole Fusion thing, while an intriguing concept, never felt right. The Komerex Zha is a nifty concept. The "tai"/"zantai"/"epetai" ranking system within Houses reminded me way to much of the Barsoomian social system from Burroughs' John Carter of Mars novels.

I'm not one of the Klingon language types (the only phrases I know by heart are nuH neH (What do you want? - a friendly Klingon greeting) and nuq daq yuch daPol (Where do you keep the chocolate?), and I probably spelled them wrong. I can, however, tell the difference between Fordian and Okudan Klingon. Both are based on the few words heard in STTMP, but Ford went more with a hissing sibilance to his vocabulary, while Okuda went with the "cat hacking up a hairball" gutteral sound. I have room for both in my game - after all, we have more than one language on Earth...

As for the Klingon ritual stuff, I was in on the project in this position from the beginning - I'd originally written a ritual bit for the Klingon Gencon/Origins adventure, so the idea predated the sourcebook effort by at least 6 months - it wasn't a case of the project going off in all directions. The idea wasn't to create a whole bunch of background stuff to straightjacket GMs (Narrators) and players into a particular style of play, but to provide a bit of "chrome" to set the mood. There would have been far less than in a typical Runequest cult writeup.

[dataweaver]

Meanwhile, I recently loaned my copy of GURPS Prime Directive to a friend of mine, and he quickly made the point that the "slave race" model works quite nicely for explaining the TV vs. movies discrepency (which, IIRC, was what FASA's Klingon Fusions were created to address): just say that the TV-era Klingons had a bone-ridged subject race which overthrew them in the time between the series and the movies. "Klingon" would mean "denizen of the Empire" rather than denoting a specific species.

More subtle is the difference between FASA Romulans and TNG-Era Romulans: the FASA Romulans had the whole "code of honor" thing going that we see in the TNG-style Klingons, for one thing.