GURPS/ADB Prime Directive

[bilbosmaug]

Hi!

I didn't see a thread about this so I decided to create a venue to express thoughts on it.

Ta DA


The List of the soon to be released books-

Klingons

Romulans

Feline Empires

Federation

Orion Pirates

Tholians

Interstellar Concordium

Module Prime Alpha

Module Prime Omega


I'm definitely getting The Romulans book. I never liked what TNG and DS9 did with them.

I'm not sure about the Klingons book. I never liked what TOS did with them after Day of the Dove (tv episodes, novels, comic books).

The Federation book should be a cool read. As good as FASA's. What will they do with Starfleet Academy, The Early Years and the Andorians?

After the Uhura and cats novel Feline Empires is a must! ,)

Besides its been said that the artwork will be better than most GURPS books 8O

I'm curious to see the paralells between ADB and Decipher. Which company will I buy from when they both have a book out on the same topic? Should I get both?

Anyone noticed any differences/improvements over Task Force Games' version?

Share and Enjoy!

For more info please see
www.starfleetgames.com

[IceGiant]

I personally don't care for GURPS, but they make good supplements. So chances are I will pick up the race books at least to mine for my CODA games

[Cochrane]

I thought they already released Klingons and MPAlpha. I wish I had picked up the PD1 Federation book when I saw it. When GPD and Decipher have a book on the same topic, I would get both. I haven't read the GPD corebook all the way through yet, but I think GPD is better than PD1. Out of the books you listed, I'm most interested in the ISC and MPOmega.

[bilbosmaug]

What is that?

[toadmage]

ISC-Interstellar Consordium is very much the same idea as the Federation . Many races working together for the greater good . The ISC was formed by warp drive was widely use in their part of space .

The main different between the Federation and ISC-Interstellar Consordium is that the ICS watched as the Gorn and Romulan fight a war . The ICS was shocked to see two insane races waging war .

The ICs explored more of space to find the samething over and over again . The ICS built a huge fleet to put an end to the general state of war .

The races of the ICS are ineresting groups . I would suggesti looking in the used game selection of local gaming shop for Star Battle Fleet or GURPS Prime Directive .


I am basing this post on the games Star fleet battles , and the Prime Directive RPG from gurps .

I did a google search to find a few site about the ISC-Interstellar Consordium

[AslanC]

I loved the 1st Ed Prime Directive.

I can't stand GURPS PD, and I was a playtester on it (but listed as a proof-reader).

My biggest problem is the SFB universe, it doesn't feel mature or well thought out. I mean every race has a Prime Team equivalent (which is just silly) and the universe just feels designed to justify endless fleet actions.

That said the idea of the Prime Team salvaged my love to rping Trek. The biggest complaint of most players is that they have usually only 1 or 2 things to do in a session, while the Captain does everything else.

Depending on the session they could be right, but Prime Teams are really good for large groups, since everyone has the same basic training and can prove useful in the adventure as they are not just waiting around for the warp core to breech or the jamming to be cleared.

As to the PD1 Federation book. Not a bad read, but not great either. Suffers from subject material limitations.

As to their Klingons... meh. Give me the John M Ford Klingons any day.

Komerex Zha!

[Identity Crisis]

I picked up Module Prime Alpha at the weekend. From a general Trek RPG point of view the material that translates the most easily are the deck plans of the Burke class frigate (a small TOS Starfleet vessel).

The rest of the book is split between rules material (though the piece on inter-species medicine can provide some ideas for other systems) and background on the Hydrans. The Hydrans are a very alien race (three 'arms' - tentacles actually, three legs, live on smaller gas giants) and as they don't have a border with the Federation (the Klingons are in between) it wouldn't be too hard to place them in a conventional Trek campaign without screwing up continuity.

[knarf]

Got GURPS Prime Directive. I've even ran a couple of games. I like it, overall. GURPS, in my experience, has been the most popular system to adapt Star Trek to, and now it's even officially licensed.

The Prime Team concept is really a very good idea. It allows players to have a reasonable excuse for getting together to have adventures, even though they work in different specialties. It also solves that little problem with TOS: Why does the captain of the ship, the most important and irreplacable person on the ship, always go down to the planet? Highly trained, yet ultimately disposable, teams are clearly the way to go. I'm sure the logic of this is not lost on other species, so it is not unreasonable that they have Prime Teams as well.

[AslanC]

Originally posted by knarf
I'm sure the logic of this is not lost on other species, so it is not unreasonable that they have Prime Teams as well.

But it cheapens the Prime Team concept when there are Dagger Teams and this team and that team.

I always saw the Prime Team as one of those raelly good Starfleet ideas.

I don't mind the idea of other species using Away Teams, but jeez louise they just gave them the silliest names.

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!

Mostly, AslanC, but i liked the Orion "Crime Teams"! lol

[extrocomp]

I don't know much about this whole 'GURPS' thing and what it is. Is it part of the Star Trek universe or the Star Fleet universe? I know it has some elements from the Star Fleet universe but does it have the Star Trek title? And if it is a star trek product, is it consistent with star trek canon?

[Owen E Oulton]

Prime Directive is a role-playing game set in the Star Fleet Battles universe, and as such isn't consistent with Star Trek canon, especially post TOS. GURPS Prime Directive is a version of the game released under the GURPS rules system by Steve Jackson Games. It isn't a Paramount-licensed Star Trek product, but rather is licensed from the Amarillo Design Bureau, authors of Star Fleet Battles, which in turn gets its source material from a license from Franz Joseph Designs. It does not bear the Star Trek name, either.

[redwood973]

Am I correct in my assumption since these things are not licensed and do not use the Star Trek name they do not use any species seen on the shows?

[Owen E Oulton]

Well, there was a funky loophole in Franz Joseph Designs' licence that let them hand out subsidiary licenses, so anything that was in TOS and TAS is covered. There was a huge lawsuit between Task Force Games/ADB and Paramount in the early 1980's which wound up allowing Star Fleet Battles to use the ships, political entities, aliens and so forth, but not the characters and nothing post-TAS. I don't pretend to understand some of the reasoning behind much of it...

Of course, they've added bunches of new aliens and technology as well in the various Star Fleet Battles games, and most of this is carried on therough to Prime Directive.

[Mazza]

I think I am going to go and pick up the new Prime Directive, even though I'm a CODA player. It has been a while since I've played Star Fleet Battles, but I used to be pretty into it, and I'm interested in seeing the RPG treatment of the Star Fleet Universe.