That 60's Flavour

[Squire]

Hi there
I'm new to Star Trek RPG games, and will soon be GM-ing a TOS game, circa 2269. The crew will be on an old Constitution class, exploring the galaxy, just like Kirk and co.

I want to completely avoid the techno-realism of modern series, and try to capture that special 60's flavour that came through from the Classic show, including fashion/politics/ideals/morals and their unique vision of the future.

Whilst I wouldn't want it to turn into a parody, I would like to at least touch base with all some of those kitsch things we associate with that series - aliens in go-go boots, ripped shirts and fisticuffs (cue Amok Time theme! ), giant "hands" in space etc!!

Can anyone give me any tips on how they've run episodic games based in this era, and how they tackled this? I would be grateful to hear from anyones experience and/or suggestions.

[Kirok]

well, I'm planning a game, too, and I'm working on how to incorporate exactly what your talking about into how my game will 'feel'. Here's some things I've come up with....

get as many of the original ST episode soundtracks on CD, and the classic ST sound effects CD. Have a cd player at your li'l GM station, one that holdsa feww CDs at a time and that scans to the track you want quickly. Play the appropriate music or sound when called for. Wee!

I am going to make use of all the ST game and trading cards in my possession, acrued from a life of geekdom as episode/plot idea cards, randomizers, and also as a portion of the PCs experience. I'm also making some cards, from ST images I've found online. I will use these to help me generate plots that feel like classic ST. Players will receive cards (sometimes randomly chosen, sometimes not, depending on my whim!) for doing 'cool' stuff that helps make the game more enjoyable and the 'mission' more successful, and as a portion of their experience. New cards will probably be created as the players develop cliches particular to their character or our 'series'. Players can use the cards to affect the game (obviously with me as the final arbiter), playing a card which they think suits the situation and which they think will produce a certain result. How I/we interpret the card will depend on the situation. Whether they get a replacement card depends on how and why they use the card. I'm working on some mechanics for this, to keep it from being too crazy.

does that help? I will be happy to provide the cards I make for other s to use if someone can suggest and explain a way to do this.

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Kirok
Players can use the cards to affect the game (obviously with me as the final arbiter), playing a card which they think suits the situation and which they think will produce a certain result. How I/we interpret the card will depend on the situation. Whether they get a replacement card depends on how and why they use the card. I'm working on some mechanics for this, to keep it from being too crazy.

Sounds like Storypath Cards from Three Guys Gaming, known in their Lion Rampant incarnation as Whimsy Cards. They can be great fun, leading to the sort of see-saw action and plot twists found in films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars: A New Hope. My Pendragon group, now defunct, used them to great effect in our six-year campaign.

The general rule was this: if you played a card to introduce a setback or plot complication for one or more of the characters, you received a replacement; if you played a card to remove an obstacle or aid one or more of the characters, a replacement would not be forthcoming unless you introduced an element which was particularly evocative of the setting.

Using Trek cards, especially those from the TOS-era game by Fleer (or was it Topps?), is very appropriate...

[RaconteurX]

Originally posted by Squire
Can anyone give me any tips on how they've run episodic games based in this era, and how they tackled this?

TOS frequently addressed real-world issues, and I look no farther than the wealth of newspapers and magazines available to us, both online and in print, for stories on which to base episodes. I ran my original Trek campaign during the Reagan-Bush Era, and there was no lack of socio-political commentary to be made. Today is no different. Take issues which are relevant to you and your players, which make you think and feel strongly, and adapt them to the 23rd Century.

You can also do a little research on the Cold War, and build episodes around what you discover. There is an immense amount of historical material which needs but only to be made relevant to modern-day sensibilities if it is not already.

[Lt.Khrys Antos]

Kirok has a good idea, using the sounds from TOS are perfect if your going for the feel.

Search through the web and you'll find many sites with old TOS sounds. The corny phaser shot, the sensor sound and the beginning intro music are perfect if you want to be extra retro. Burn those unto a CD, get your CD player and plug it into a set of speakers.

I've actually started to amass sounds and themes of Bond movies for my up coming Spy Trek campaign. I'll just be using my computer speakers, no turning on the computer or fumbling on a keyboard, just my CD player. Nothing is better than the right sound to put the players in the mood.

[Valen]

I would love to run a TOS game, especially because of the fun, swashbuckling, and psychodellic atmosphere makes it unlike many other rpgs.

My advice for "60s" style plots are to steal them from 60s TV shows and books from that era or previous. Old episodes of the Outer Limits, Twilight Zone, Lost in Space, and others are particularly ripe for use in a TOS game. The plots are from the same era, address many of the same issues, and some episodes even had the same actors! These plots are often old staples of science fiction, but were used to address social issues of the time. Some of the old episodes are obscure enough that players won't recognize the plots and others provide new complications when Star Trek elements are introduced, such as the prime directive. Have a crewman see a "gremlin" on the warp nacelle. What would the crew do when they find out "To Serve Andorians" is a cookbook? Perhaps a collection of aliens build a shelter to protect them from the Klingons and other races come and ask to use it. Maybe the crew encounters a world devastated by nuclear war and the only survivor, an avid reader, has lost his eyesight and seeks to enslave the crew to serve as his eyes. Some of the plots may border on parody, but chances are your players won't pick up on the absurdity of the plot and even if they do, it will still seem much more believable than "Spock's Brain"!

Of course, many of the plots from these shows were taken from older sci fi shows or adaptions of existing stories.

[Squire]

Thanks to everyone for the input! I especially like the idea of burning a themes/sfx CD, and the "gremlin on the warp nacelle" ideas!! Might be time to get retro, and watch some Outer Limits eps...

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!

There was a really good article ("A Final Frontier of Your Own") in Dragon #150 (October, 1989) that deals with how to set up a good ST campaign. The article is for FASA Trek, but there isn't any game stat info, just GM advice.

Note also that FASA Trek only dealt with TOS and movies up to IV before losing the license (they did have 2 STNG supplements, but the focus was always TOS). I've used that article since it came out...great read and excellent advice.

The advice about music is good too...that's a tactic I picked up from WEG's Star Wars GM Guide, advice that has filtered into most of the games I run these days.

A piece of advice that most don't use: when the Star Wars RPG firt came out, most of their early adventures had "scripts" for the player's to read at the beginning of the adventure. Some players hate it because they feel like the ref is running them over with the plot wagon. If you're a good writer, I would suggest trying it for the initial mission briefing...my players trust me and they like it better than me sitting there reading a description.

Even if scripting doesn't work, one thing I do with my ST games is to have the opening credits available on CD. When we sit down to play and everyone is settled in, I cue the music and one of the PCs (a different one each week) recites the "Space, the final frontier...." quote. It sets the mood perfectly and everyone knows that chit-chat is over...it's time for the game.

Hope this helps some,

Tony

[Squire]

Yep, like the idea of doing the "Space the final frontier..." bit. I have burned a cd with the opening theme, atmospheric and drama music, bridge sequence and other sfx - all onto one handy cd. I'll be using this to help set the mood.

Scripts sound like a good idea too, at least as a starting point for our adventures. Will keep that one in mind!

As this will be my first game of Trek rpg, I don't really plan on doing anything too complicated, and I want it to be a nod to Classic Trek, and the things we associate with it. A couple of players will be 1st time rpgers, so familiarity and simplicity is the key. We can build up to more as the episodes continue.

I'm trying to think of a story that involves some stereotypical Classic Trek encounters. Maybe some sort of powerful alien entity, judging humanity via the actions of the crew. I want to throw in a sword/fist fighting scene, maybe even a love interest a la Kirk's woman-of-the-week, all washed down with a lesson in morality.

Its proving hard to think of something, without it turning into a direct copy of "Arena" or "Squire of Gothos!"

[Lord Kjeran]

Chello!


Squire said:

"Its proving hard to think of something, without it turning into a direct copy of "Arena" or "Squire of Gothos!""

How about this for an idea: the all-powerful entity is a jokester who harasses the ship by occasionally putting them in outrageous situations that could turn deadly. think of Kirk's academy nemesis (Finnegan?) from "Shore Leave" mixed with teh Squire of Gothos.

[Antonsb214]

You could bring in a character like Mr. Mudd. He was always doing something not quite legal and always got out of it until he runs into the PC ship. Maybe he's running from some beings who want to really "Punish" him, and he let's himself get caught by the Starfleet ship so that they will protect him.

You could let the crew have shoreleave on a new world and get caught up in an honor duel to the death.

But some rules to follow.
1. Somebody in a red shirt is going to have a BAD day.
2. Somebody is going to loose a shirt, this is usually a guy, but hey, let's be equal, a lady could loose her dress and all of the guys have to turn around.... or hand out snacks and pull up chairs.
3. Someone has to say, "I'm a (PC's job), not a (whatever)!"

4. Even with phasers, swords, and pocket nukes, every fight degenerates into a barroom brawl.

[Capt.Hunter]

Someone has to overact ridiculously.

All-powerful entity can be defeated by some hokey means like confusing it with logic, getting it over-emotional or finding out it's really just a lonely kid.

Oh yeah, or proving to it the galaxy no longer needs it.

[Valen]

In addition to the Outer Limits, the Twilight Zone, and other space shows of that era (lets not forget Lost in Space), another good source of inspiration are comic books. Star Trek comics are of course easy to transpose to a Star Trek game, but there are plenty of other comics out there. For the most part the plots are usually fairly simple, though with a twist, like some of the more memorable (and less memorable) episodes of the series. The tone is generally light hearted. Stick with "scientific" comics, like Iron Man or Batman, for your technical stories and use issues of Dr. Fate or Dr. Strange for your "all powerful entity must be tricked" stories. Comic book magic and Star Trek science don't differ that much. Comic books from the 60s era (and even the 70s) are of course the best sources for stealing for a 60s flavor because they not only give you those wonderfully silly/fun plots but also give you some idea of what the styles were (or better what people think the styles were or would be in the "future"). More modern comics are usually too heavy for plot stealing. Lots of the old 60s stuff is available in softcover reprint volumes at most book stores.

Another great source for that era is the Star Trek: The Lost Phase, put out by pocket books some time back. It has all of the background about Star Trek II, the series that would have starred the original crew, but was shelved and turned into The Motion Picture. Now, the 70s flavor is definitely palpable in the series, the designs, the plots (plot summaries for many of the episodes that were never made are in the book, including a look at the Klingon homeworld that never was). This book is a great source for 60s or early movie era stories.

Many of the stories from that book were adapted for the first two seasons of TNG (which themselves are great sources for wacky sci-fi).

Hope these help.

[Kirok]

...from the similar work I'm doing to make things feel Trekky in my game. Most will be familiar, some might need some explaining, but it'll be more fun if you interpretthem yourselves...

Redshirt
Torn shirt
Taunt into a fight
Omnipotent child
Omnipotent computer
Inspiring speech
Talk the computer to death
Thinly-veiled metaphor
Old flame
Bug-eyed monster
Gas/cloud
Ion storm
Time-travel
Parallel-earth
Strangely earth-like
Conveniently Earth-like
Inner self exposed
Uninhibited behavior
Planet-wide Cultural mimicry
Prime Directive, Schmime Directive!
Klingons!
Romulans!
assinine ambassador
incomplete without you
I’m taking command
Meaningful conversation
Blood brothers
Oath
Old-fashioned
20th century Earth
19th century Earth
gettin’ drunk
not with my ship, you don’t!
rivalry
when I was at the Academy
I remember when
alien culture sticky wicket
transporter malfunction
its working again
malfunction
overload
dangerous astronomical phenomena
like nothing we’ve ever encountered before
relic
android/robot
doppleganger
off the charts
unnaturally high warp
trapped!
ambush!
super-intellect
I have five times your strength!
Assassin!
Spy
Clone
get off my bridge!
Tribal culture
Loving the alien
Disappearance
Zombie-like
Possessed!
In disguise
Red Alert!
Theft
Distress signal
Death
Pain!
Misunderstood
Local custom
Hot alien
Libidinous alien
Fascinated by humans/Earth
unusual weapon
culture-specific weapon
that's a touchin' good story
human nature
the human spirit
lie
obsessed
young lovers
shipboard romance
crewman affected
energy barrier
space-born lifeform
display of power
drunk with power
advise you don’t want to hear
mental power
beam down to a matte painting
self-destruct!
Impervious

[Squire]

All good stuff, may I say thanks to everyone for the 60s style adventure ideas. Please keep them coming for as long as you are willing - they are all very interesting!

The protecting the mischevious (to be proved!) character from powerful aliens sounds like a good idea - may provide some opportunities for trial by combat - and some of the other ideas in this thread could be applied... hmmm. This might be the way to go for my first game!

Picking up on ideas from the Lug TOS rpg book, I was thinking of how I could introduce a scenario where the ship and crew are duplicated and pitched against one another in the ultimate "fair" trial! How would the crew fair against a stand off? How can you win against yourself? What morals could you learn from this?

And to Kirok - that list is fantastic! In fact, it might make a good adventure generator, say by picking 5 cliches at random, and moulding an episode from them!!

I hope someone produces an official supplement or netbook guide for RPGing in the TOS universe, with sample adventure ideas and atmospheric tips. Maybe once I get used to the system and I find my feet, I might give it a go myself!

Again, thanks for the help. I'm getting ideas now for subsequent missions, and I'm sure this information will benefit others! Long live TOS!