Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Far Trek
Far Trek
FAR TREK
APN
SYSTEM
Based on Where No Man Has Gone Before 2.0
by Mike Berkey ([email protected]),
Copyright 2009. For more Microlite20 awesomeness, head over to the
Microlite20 website at http://www.microlite20.net.
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This is a game about a five year mission, a world where special effects
never progressed beyond painted Styrofoam blocks and cheap double-
exposures. The 70's were still The Future and Klingons had smooth
foreheads. The idea of a Star Trek movie was a laughable proposition and
nobody thought twice about planets full of Nazis and space hippies.
The goal of this game is to create something relatively quick and dirty,
simple to set up and fast to run, using the Microlite20 system for accessibility
and to allow access to the vast amount of pregenerated d20 content.
Hopefully, it strikes a balance between camp and grit: while much of this
game is pretty silly, much of it isn't. This is, after all, a television show that
brought us both “The City On The Edge Of Forever” and “Spock's Brain.”
Thanks to a post by Gorillacus on Rpg.net for the idea that sparked this
conversion—until that point not only was I stuck on how to handle character
types in an intuitive way that remained true to the spirit of the show, I also
had no idea I even wanted to do a d20 conversion of this sort in the first
place. For sources, I've poured over Franz Josef's original Starfleet Technical
Manual, the Daystrom Institute of Technology (ditl.org), Okuda's Star Trek
Encyclopedia and Memory Alpha for information. I've even spent time mining
the Klingon Academy instruction manual for ship combat ideas.
In the end, though, this game is based largely on my mostly hazy (but fond)
memories of watching the show as a kid. If I can briefly, if only for a second,
catch the spirit of those thrilling Sunday afternoons, then this game will have
been a success. Special thanks goes out to Avram Grumer for giving me
much needed feedback and editing. I'm becoming convinced that errors,
typos and ambiguously worded entries are every bit as threatening as
those pesky Romulans.
Most importantly, remember that this game is your sandbox: there is no right
or wrong way to play it, only what's fun.
--Mike Berkey 2009
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Star Trek to me was always about “Boldly going where no man has gone
before!” At its heart its journey was one of exploration. Sure there was new
life and new civilizations, and finding those was a lot of fun. It was also
about exploring ourselves as humans. Despite all the scientific techno-
babble and green skinned slave women, it still boiled down to what does it
mean to be human exploring our own issues vices and problems and how
we carry those with us into the stars and beyond.
Now as I grow older, I think I am more of a Star Trek fan than I am Star Wars..
Star Wars is great, but it just feels different to me than Star Trek does. It has a
different story to tell and a different philosophy. Both are equally good, but
Star Trek just says something different and more relevant to me now that I am
(allegedly) grown up than Star Wars does. I too seek out meaning and want
to explore the world around me more than I want to toss laser beams around
destroying obstacles. In my own life, I have to think my way past struggles
as I have no laser sword or blaster to clear the way, but Christmas is coming.
I have acquired many past Star Trek Role Playing Games, yet never played
a single one. In their drive to get all the details correct and included, they left
out what is most important in any game-the fun! I appreciate they tried to
mechanically make the TV show work in a technical RPG, but they buried the
fun and adventure of the show under mechanical details. You will not find a
tech manual in these pages, but I sure hope you will find some fun.
In that spirit, I took Mike’s original, free published work, dusted it off,
wrenched a few bits to work with my own system, and fit it in a new
cinematic style of play. Far Trek is your vehicle to, “..explore strange new
worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations” to boldly go wherever
your imagination takes you.
Go Boldly!
C.R. Brandon 2011
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FAR TREK
Table OF Contents
1. Characters.................................................pg 9
2. Combat and Core Rules............................pg 31
3. Equipment.................................................pg 35
4. Starships & Combat.................................pg 40
5. Enemies and Allies...................................pg 60
6. Episode Creator........................................pg 78
This work is issued freely and no claims are made by the author to any art,
images, or anything related to Star Trek.
STAR TREK © 2011 CBS Studios Inc. All rights reserved. STAR TREK and
related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc.
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CREATING A CHARACTER
Attributes
Each character possesses four
attributes: Strength, Dexterity,
Intelligence, and Charisma.
Strength (ST): Strong characters
are better at melee combat,
i nflict, endure, and survive
more damage.
Dexterity (DX): Agile characters
hit distant enemies and dodge
blows with greater success.
Intelligence (IQ): Smart
characters are better able to apply intellect, solve problems, and notice
clues.
Charisma (CA) Charismatic characters are natural leaders and good at
social interaction
Fate Points
A character expends a Fate point to re-roll one set of dice or to negate all
damage, even if he was just "killed." Unspent Fate points do not carry over
to other adventures. Each character starts each adventure (aka Episodes)
with 1 Fate point.
Unlucky Characters
An unlucky character adds or subtracts one against all his tests and damage
rolls, worsening the result. He can lift the curse by expending three Fate
points. Curses are cumulative.
Creating New Characters
For new characters, roll 3d6 for each attribute and add the dice together.
Compare the result of your roll to the chart below. Write the resulting Attribute
Value next to the attribute you rolled for on your character sheet. Alternately
you can build a character with discretionary points. You get 3 points and
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divide however you like amongst the four attributes. Next choose a race for
your character. Each race may have modifiers to your attributes so apply
them once you choose the character's race.
Humans
The “default” species of Far Trek. They are known for their remarkable
flexibility and drive to explore strange new worlds.
Species Talents
• Lucky: One extra Fate Point per
episode.
• Flexibility: One bonus
Talent at first level.
Other Species
The Federation is made up of
many member species, but most
can be treated as variants of
human beings.
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Andorians
A tough-minded species of blue skinned
humanoids from a frigid planet. Their antennae
give them enhanced senses and their harsh
home world makes them tougher than the
norm.
Species Talents
• Cold Adapted: +2 bonus on all arctic survival
rolls. Their tolerance for cold also allows them
to handle temperatures up to 40 Centigrade
degrees colder than humans with relative
comfort.
• Durable: Andorians gain +1 Armor. AR(+1)
When attacked or staying conscious add +1
to the roll.
• Sharp Senses: Their range of hearing is far superior to humans, both low
and high frequencies are detectable. As such, they gain a +2 bonus to any
skill rolls affected by their keen hearing.
• Stern: Andorians tend to come across as rather proud and humorless to
other species they have difficulty when interacting with other species.
Tellarites
A porcine species of humanoids
renowned for irascibility and their prowess
with engineering.
Creating a Tellarite Character
ST+1 CA -1
Species Talents
• Argumentative: Tellarites have a grasp of
social etiquette that...differs...from that
widely held by other species. Tellarites
have difficulty interacting with other
species.
• Culture of Engineering: +2 bonus on all
skill rolls involving engineering (including
rolls not involving the actual Engineering
skill).
• Fur Coat/Thick Hide: AR (+1) A natural
armor. Add this to rolls when under attack or staying conscious.
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Vulcans
A species of pointy-eared humanoids who
pursue logic and reason as a means to
raise themselves
above their savage past.
Other Species
Oddly shaped ears or strange skin coloration notwithstanding, most other
alien species tend not to vary too far from the human norm. Most can be
treated as identical to human beings, with all the usual bonuses and
limitations. Quite a few of them vary enough, though, that it sometimes pays
off to make a new racial template. If there is a need to stat a new alien
species, use the following guidelines, which will produce a species of about
the same level of capability as the four “main”species:
Example:
One of the players really wants to play a Deltan similar to Ilia from Star Trek:
The Motion Picture. The referee and the other players are okay with that, so
the player creates a new species template. Deltans are a highly charismatic
species but slight of build, with innate psychic Talents and the Talent to
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influence others through the use of pheromones. In game terms, they gain
+1 CA, and the Psychically Endowed Talent (as Vulcans) to reflect the
Deltans' inherent telepathic powers. They also gain a new special Talent
called Pheromones, which will give the character the Talent to subliminally
influence other humanoid beings. Since these add up to 3 separate special
Talents, the player adds one penalty: Deltans take a -1 ST penalty to reflect
their slight build.
MOVEMENT ALLOWANCE
A character's movement is 50 feet every 5 second turn. For each
point of DX bonus you add 10 feet to that total. If playing on a
battle map, a character may move up to his MA/10 in Inches
(squares or hexes) before executing an action. Example William
(DX+1) has a MA of 60 feet a turn. On a battle map, this would be
a 6, so he can move up to six inches (or hexes or squares) and
then attack.
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Note, a referee who wants a less cinematic style is free to adjust damage
such as being hit with a spear has a TN starting at 11 or being shot with
bullets has a TN of 14. You are free to change and do as you like!
The Khan Corollary
The above rules do not apply to expendable crew members or enemies
whose death serves a cinematic or plot purpose. If you are going to kill an
extra or a minor character make sure you have reason for it in the plot: to
show level of danger in the situation, motivate characters into action, a plot
twist, a surprise ending, something other than just bad luck or to add to a
body count.
CHARACTER CLASSES
There are three character classes in Far Trek: Gold Shirts. Blue Shirts and Red
Shirts. Each character class wears a uniform shirt that matches his chosen
class. In rough summary, Gold Shirts are the command characters aboard a
starship. Blue Shirts are science and medical, red shirts are engineering,
communications, and security. Also in Trek Lore, Red shirts are danger
magnets and have a habit of becoming the noun in the sentence, “He’s
dead Jim.” Each player should now choose a class for their character, a little
more information on each class is provided on the next page.
B GOLD SHIRT
These are a varied lot. Their ranks include commanders, pilots, and
diplomats, therefore the most visible branch of Star Fleet. They tend to be fast
on their feet, mentally and physically capable officers. Examples: Kirk,
Chekov, and Sulu.
D BLUE SHIRT
These are the brains of Starfleet and are in the business of knowing things.
Whether it's the intricacies of star formation in a globular cluster or the inner
workings of the human heart, they are the best at what they do. There are
two primary branches: Medical and Science. Examples: Spock, McCoy.
G RED SHIRT
These the heart of a Federation vessel—they are the engineers that keep the
ship running and the security guards that keep peace on board ship. They
are stalwart and dependable when needed, the backbone of Starfleet. Red
Shirt has two separate career paths, treated as completely different
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Trained Skills
Each point spent on a skill gives you +1 to an attempt to use that skill. If
you do not have a skill you can still try to do it, but you get no bonuses in
the attempt. There are two sets of skills in Far Trek. First is a list of twelve
general skills. These are available to any class of character. A starting
character gets 8 points to spend picking skills, none can be above +2 to
start.
General SkillsDEFINITION
Armed Melee Skilled use of hand to hand weapons in combat
Arts painting, singing, writing, acting, instruments, etc.
Expert at a sport and can be used to influence physical
Athletics
challenges
Driving wheeled, tracked, or hover vehicles.
Specific expertise like: literature, history, a plants geography,
Knowledge
an alien race
Language speaking a language other than your own
Marksmanship using ranged weapons in combat
Piloting shuttles, planes, etc.
surviving in an urban environment, knowing where to get
Streetwise
things
Subterfuge using stealth, sticky fingers, and guile to get what you want
Survival staying alive in harsh environments
Unarmed Melee hand to hand fighting without weapons
Next is a list of skills only available to a specific class. Find your character's
class below, then spend 3 points in your class's skills, none can be above
+2.
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Tests
If an action’s success is in doubt, a roll of three six sided dice is used. This is
notated in shorthand as 3d6. There are two types of skill tests: Static and
Active. Static tests are rolled versus a Target Number (TN) given by the
referee. You must roll equal to or higher than a Target Number (TN) to be
successful. Active tests are opposed rolls between the player and an
opponent who is also rolling dice. The winner of an Active test is the person
with the highest total.
Then total the sum of the dice rolled with all modifiers to get your total.
In a STATIC TEST you are attempting to have a total equal to or better than a
target number given by the referee.
In an ACTIVE TEST you are attempting to have a total higher than a total
rolled by an opponent. Highest total wins!
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STATIC TESTS
A static test is against an object,
person, or problem that IS NOT
ACTIVELY resisting. In this type of
test a TARGET NUMBER is given
by the referee. If the total of the
summed dice + the attribute
modifier + the skills is equal to or
more than the TARGET NUMBER
(TN) given by the referee, the
attempt is a success. If not, the
attempt fails. Static Tests are
frequently used for tracking,
climbing, swimming, spotting
hidden objects, figuring out
problems, and fixing broken
things.
GOAL: Roll equal to or higher than the given Target Number (TN) to succeed.
A Target Number is chosen by the referee to represent the difficulty of a skill
roll. It ranges from 8 on the low end (easy) to 20 on the high end (nearly
impossible). An average would be around 11. Below is a simple chart to
reference when determining Target Numbers.
Target # Difficulty
8 Easy
11 Average
14 Hard
17 Heroic
20 Legendary
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Note that there are no “saving throws” in this game; use 3d+ Athletics+ ST or
DX for Fortitude and Reflex saves. Will saves are usually 3d+IQ+Knowledge
or Subterfuge
Active Tests
An active test occurs when two or more objects, people, or problems are
ACTIVELY resisting or challenging one another. The player and opponent
must announce what they are trying to do and EACH rolls 3d6. The player or
side with the highest total is successful in their action.
The referee will decide what (if any) Attribute or skill should be added to the
attempt. The total of each player’s 3d6 roll + the attribute modifier + skill is
compared to one another. The person or side with the highest total wins the
contest and results are applied as necessary. In the event of a tie score,
nothing happens and the contest continues next turn. Active Tests are
frequently used for most combat, evading pursuers, out maneuvering
vehicles, influencing people, and making bargains.
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Talents
You get 2 Talents to start.
Some Talents may be taken more than once—in that case, the effects stack. If
they can be stacked, it will say so in the description. General Talents can be
taken by any class. Each class also has access to its own Talent list.
General Talents
•Catch Phrase
•Cool Under Pressure
•Enlightened
•Heroic
•Life of Riley
•Mind Meld
•Psychic
•Psychic Talent
•Ripped Shirt
•Specialist
•Vulcan Nerve Pinch
Catch Phrase
The character has one catch phrase (“Dammit, Jim. I'm an doctor, not a party
planner!”) that he can utter once an episode. Doing so will allow the
character to gain one Fate Point, so long as the catch phrase can
reasonably be used in context and refers to the situation in which it was
said. A character can't have more than one catch phrase except with referee
permission. Optionally, the referee can allow a character to change his catch
phrase throughout the season (campaign), although care should be taken to
not allow catch phrases to be changed often. After all, a catch phrase that is
changed every episode (adventure) is not a catch phrase—it's dialogue.
Enlightened
You have outgrown one limitation of your species, if your species has any.
Perhaps you're the Vulcan that has become in touch with his emotions, or
the Tellarite that has learned diplomacy (and thus lost the Charisma penalty).
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Heroic.
You start each adventure with 1 more Fate Point than usual. Each time you
take this Talent, you gain another Fate Point.
Life of Riley.
You live a charmed life. Once per episode, if you fail a roll by rolling an 3,
you can instead treat that roll as a natural 18. In addition to this, you gain a
+1 on all rolls that may be influenced by blind luck—this is up to the
Referee’s discretion, but should be used somewhat sparingly. Taking this
Talent multiple times allows more than one use per day—the +1 luck bonus
never increases.
Mind Meld.
This requires the Psychic Talent to use and is usually restricted to Vulcans.
Given a minute of uninterrupted time with a willing target and a successful Int
+ Know check vs TN 11, you can perform a Mind Meld, reading surface
thoughts and conveying your own thoughts to the subject. During
consecutive minutes, you can perform additional actions with a skill check
vs TN 14. Each minute that passes beyond that—due to failed rolls or multiple
actions—adds +1 to the TN. Possible actions include reading deep thoughts
(either subconscious or repressed memories), implanting or editing a
memory, transferring your katra to a friendly target, or other actions as
considered appropriate by the Referee.
If the target is fighting the mind meld, the TN is increased by the target's
Intelligence bonus and any
bonuses from the Psychic Talent. Drastically failed skill rolls can potentially
harm the target or the character performing the mind meld.
Psychic.
The character can open himself to psychic impressions. In practice, this
amounts to the referee informing the character of psychic impressions from
the environment or as part of a plot point. It also gives the character a +1
bonus to resist psionic attack and psychic manipulation. This bonus
increases by +1 for every time it is taken by the character.
Psychic Talent.
This requires the Psychic be taken first. Each time you take this , your
character gains one Psychic Talent. The effect of such an Talent must be pre-
approved by the referee and have an appropriately Star Trek feel to it. The
referee might make adjustments to fit the feel of the show.
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For example, Fireball would never be appropriate, but a Cure Wounds Talent
would, particularly if the character took a TN test for every person healed. A
3d6+IQ should be required for successful use; the TN would depend on
how powerful and dramatic the effect the player is attempting.
Ripped Shirt.
Once per fight, and no more than once per episode, the character can either
deliberately rip a revealing article of clothing or take advantage of a
revealing rip in an article of their clothing and gain +1 to hit. The to hit
bonuses increase by +1 for every time it’s taken.
Specialist.
Describe one task that you're especially good at. From now on, you get a
+2 on all tests dealing with that task. Examples: Sneaky, Languages,
Starship Piloting, Dirty Fighting, Force Field Technology. Specialties should
be fairly narrow. Taking this Talent multiple times gives you different
specialties—the effects never stack.
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Bedside Manner.
Your bedside manner has earned you a deserved reputation for good
advice. Once per Episode (adventure), if you have a few moments to speak
alone with someone you may grant them a bonus to an upcoming action of
their choice equal to your IQ bonus or +1, whichever is greater. If they do not
use this bonus by the end of the Episode, it is lost.
Behavioral Analysis.
This requires the Empathy Talent. Your keen insight into psychology allows
you to make an 3d6+IQ roll to predict the likely future behavior or delve into
the personality traits of any given individual. The target number will be 11+
the target's IQ bonus. The referee may modify this number up or down
depending on circumstances. For example, if the target is behaving
unusually erratically due to outside influence, the referee might assess an
additional +2 to the TN. Succeeding on this roll will allow you to ask the
referee one question for every 1 points you succeeded by. The answer will
only be given in a yes/no/undecided format.
Breakthrough.
You receive credit for a scientific breakthrough that earns you the recognition
of your peers. It can be in any field of study that fits the background of your
character. When dealing with others with a reasonable amount of familiarity
with that field, you gain a +2 bonus on Charisma (CA) based tests due to
your reputation.
When dealing with any situation pertaining to that field of knowledge, you
may spend a Fate Point to give a +3 skill bonus to anyone who is capable
of listening to and following your advice, including yourself. This bonus
disappears once used and is in addition to any Fate Points spent by other
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players (or yourself) to boost their own skill rolls. This talent may be chosen
more than once, each time
applying to a different field or sub-field.
Example: S'Vek has made a life study of Warp Field Theory, a subfield of
Physical Sciences. When at a convention of Star Fleet sciences personnel,
it's likely that anyone with any knowledge of Physical Sciences will seek
him out for discussion. Later on in the campaign, the U.S.S. Bridger is caught
in a field of destabilized space. The ship's warp drive itself is causing the
fabric of reality to unravel. S'Vek and the ship's engineer are in the Jeffries'
tube attempting a last ditch effort to recalibrate the warp coils to let them
escape. S'Vek, a noted expert in Warp Field theory, spends 1 Fate Point to
activate Breakthrough. He gives the +3 bonus to the engineer for the repair
roll. “Commander Tavek, if you integrate the space-time curvature of this
region with the energy signature of the warp baffles, I believe...”
Empathy.
You have an uncanny Talent to see into the hearts of others. This Talent
provides a +2 bonus on checks involving any interaction skills (such as
diplomacy), provided you spend at least 1 minute observing your target prior
to making the skill check.
Exploit Weakness.
Your intellect and eye for detail allows you to identify key weaknesses in a
specific opponent, provided you take a round to study it first. Make a
Test+Int (TN 14). If the check succeeds, for the rest of the combat you can
use your Int bonus instead of your ST or DX bonuses on attack rolls as you
try to out-think your opponent. You can only use your Int bonus for one or
the other, never both at the same time.
Field Medic.
You can now use your Fate Points to heal other characters in emergency
situations, given a reasonable amount of equipment and a few undisturbed
minutes. The amount healed is equal to half the character's lost hit points.
Pure Logic.
Choose an area of study. Whenever the referee would allow you to take a
skill check in that area of study, lower the Target number by one rank. So a
hard task would become average. You can take this talent multiple times
each gives you additional area of knowledge specialties.
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Plan.
If you have time to prepare a plan prior to a dramatic situation, you can grant
a bonus equal to your IQ bonus on all skill checks and attack rolls made by
you and your allies. Bonus drops by 1 point after each round until it
reaches zero.
Brawler
Your successful unarmed attacks give your opponent a +1 increase in TN to
stay in the fight. If your opponent would normally need to roll 11 or higher to
stay in the fight, they would need to roll a12.
Breakthrough
As per Blue Shirt.
Durable
You are a hardy soul, you add +1 t any roll you make to stay in the fight
Flurry
Choose one type of attack: melee or ranged. With those types of attack, you
can perform a flurry. A flurry allows you to gain an additional attack per
round in exchange for a -2 to hit on all attacks per round. Taking this Talent
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again lets you perform a flurry with the other type of attack (melee vs
ranged).
Intuition
You have an innate Talent to sense trouble in the air. Once per adventure per
level, you can make a 3d+IQ roll vs TN 14. If successful, you get a hunch
that everything is all right, or you get a bad feeling about a specific situation,
based on the referees best guess relating to the circumstances. In addition,
all initiative rolls for the character will be at +1.
Judo.
If you successfully grab an opponent, you can perform your next grapple
action immediately instead of waiting for the next round.
Jury Rig
A Red Shirt with this Talent gains a +2 bonus on skill checks made to
attempt temporary or jury-rigged repairs.
Miracle Worker.
Spend a Fate Point and a repair takes half the time it normally would. Take
this Talent twice, and you can spend 2 Fate Points to take a quarter of the
time. If this reduction in repair time would reduce repair time to less than 1
round, then the Red Shirt can repair the damage in a single action.
Power Attack
You can take a penalty to your attack roll and add the same amount to your
damage roll, assuming you hit. Up to one-half your total attack bonus can be
transferred this way. This Talent represents a predilection for risky maneuvers
in combat and covers such things as drop kicks, dirty tricks, hay makers, trick
shots and so on.
These benefits are lost after a few weeks if you leave. This benefit is also
temporarily lost if the ship is seriously damaged. Every time this Talent is
selected again, choose another benefit. These benefits can all be active at
the same time.
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Red Shirt
If your character is killed by alien monsters or heroic sacrifice, he will be
replaced in the next appropriate scene by a character with exactly the same
stats, skills, talents, equipment and experience but with different physical
features and name. Essentially, if your character is eaten by that Mugato,
you can pencil out his name and description on your character sheet and
continue on in the next scene that a replacement could reasonably be
beamed or shipped in as if nothing happened. For accounting purposes
(e.g. accumulated experience for a session), both PC's can be considered to
be the same character. If you run out of ideas for your next Red Shirt, consult
the Random Red Shirt creation table.
Fleet Commendation
Your acts of bravery under fire have earned you recognition and you serve
as an example to others. Choose an event in which you demonstrated your
skill—it need not be something that actually occurred in the season
(campaign). You can “recount” events that occurred before the Series began.
Describe the event briefly for future reference. You now have a +1 bonus to
any skill rolls that may benefit from having a heroic reputation or a
reputation for the type of skill you demonstrated. During any situation
resembling the events that earned you your commendation—the referee will
be the final judge as to what qualifies. This Talent may be taken more than
once, but each additional event must be notably different than any previous
Commendations.
Worried Engineer
You can spend 1 Fate Point and re-
roll any damage roll to your ship,
including weapons damage taken,
critical hits, system damage, pushing
the ship's systems beyond spec and
shield damage. You must, however,
accept the second roll.
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Agile
You are excellent at dodging attacks. +1 to your defense in combat tests
when under attack. This can be taken multiple times.
Bluff
You have a knack for fighting dirty. If you can communicate with an
opponent, you can attempt a
CA roll vs the opponent's roll. If successful, you can use your Charisma
bonus as either a bonus to hit, damage or defense for one attack. How this
looks can vary from cheap shots all the way up to out and out trickery.
Brawler
As per Red Shirt, your unarmed attacks get +1 damage.
Command
Once per day, you can give an order to someone. Should they choose to
follow your command, they get a +1 bonus to achieve that action. Every
time this is taken a bonus +1 and an additional order per day can be given.
Defensive Roll
This requires the Agile Talent. If you are in a position to dodge out of the
way of an attack but it hits you anyway, you can spend 1 Fate Point and
completely avoid damage.
Flurry.
As per Red Shirt.
Inspirational Speech
Once per Episode, you can make an Inspirational Speech about a single
topic (“The line must drawn HERE! This far and further!”, etc).
The speech takes at least a couple of minutes and those affected must be
within earshot. Any nearby allies gain a +2 bonus on one skill check, attack
roll or defense roll of their choice. If not used by the end of the Episode, this
bonus will be lost. For each additional time it is taken he number of times
this bonus may be used per audience member increases by +1 additional
use.
Judo
As per Red Shirt.
Measure of a Man.
You are an accurate judge of character. Once per Episode (adventure), you
may study one individual. This process takes several minutes. After that
point, at any time during that Episode (adventure) that you must make a skill
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or attack roll versus that individual, you gain a +2 bonus. You may also
make an 3d+IQ roll once per scene to read their intentions and general
capabilities. The target TN will be 14 + the target's IQ bonus. The referee may
modify this number up or down depending on circumstances. For example, if
the target is behaving unusually erratically due to outside influence, the
referee might assess an additional +2 to the TN. Succeeding on this roll will
allow you to ask the referee one question for every point you succeeded
by. The answer will only be given in a yes/no/undecided format.
Space Jockey.
This gives you the Talent—once per Episode—to roll one Starship Navigation
skill check twice, taking the better of the two rolls. Taking this Talent multiple
times gives you additional uses of this Talent.
Unorthodox Maneuver.
The things you do in ship to ship combat situations tend to become named
after you and taught in Starfleet Academy. Assuming you have time to
prepare an unorthodox plan of action, you may spend a Fate Point and
make an 3d+IQ + Starship Navigation skill vs skill roll against your
opponent. If
successful, you automatically gain a surprise round on your enemy. For
every additional 3 points you beat your opponent's roll by, you gain an
additional +1 bonus on your first action against that opponent.
Example: Jefferson Gomez, captain of the U.S.S. Abu Bekr, has been harried
by the Romulans for the last two days. Cornered in a dense asteroid field,
he devises a desperate plan: he modifies the warp signature of a photon
torpedo to resemble that of his ship. His plan is to fire the torpedo out of the
asteroid field in such a way that it resembles his ship fleeing to safety.
When the Romulan vessel attempts to ambush the “ship”, Gomez will turn
the tables, blindsiding them. He gains referee approval and spends 1 Fate
Point. His 3d6+IQ+Ship Navigation roll comes up 17. The Romulan rolls 16.
Now when combat begins, the Abu Bekr will swoop in, seemingly from
nowhere, and gain a surprise round on the Romulans.
This may only be used once per Episode and the trick used will usually
only work once, ever, against a given opponent. This is not to say that that
unorthodox plans require this Talent to work—it's just that characters with this
Talent have a knack for unconventional strategy. The referee has final say in
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COMBAT
Combat occurs as either a melee (hand to hand) attack or a ranged attack.
Your ST attribute is used to resolve all melee attacks and your DX is the
attribute used to help resolve all ranged attacks.
To make any combat roll the attacker and defender each roll:
3d6 + add skill rank + add whatever Attribute bonus is most applicable +
any situation modifiers
Armor Protection
While armor is generally not worn or used in FAR TREK, its effect is simply to
lessen the chances of damage taken. Add your armor bonus to any die roll
test to stay in the fight.
Some characters that wear armor, or are naturally hardier may have a bonus
to their roll to remain conscious. For example Gorn have a natural armor of
+2 so a Gorn would roll 3d6+ST+ 2 for their armor to remain conscious
whenever they take damage. If at any point the roll is failed, the character
immediately falls unconscious and is out of the fight. Whether a character is
hit with a spear, a knife, or a bullet or a fist the same tests are made.
Ranged Combat.
Shooting a ranged weapon into a crowded melee is not a good idea—if you
do, toll 2d6 instead of 3d6 in the attempt. All other modifiers for skill,
attribute, etc. apply normally.
Ranged Penalties.
If your target is relatively close, there is no penalty to hit for range. If it's mid-
range for the weapon you're using (judgment call), take a -2. If it's farther out
than that, the referee will assign a -4 to -8 penalty to hit, depending on his
judgment of how far away the target is.
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Maneuvers
Maneuvers are things you can do in combat in lieu of a normal attack.
Aim.
Taking a full round to aim with a ranged weapon will add +2 to hit, but you
are at -2 in defense rolls
Dodge.
You can forgo your next attack at any time and instead dodge out of the
way. Roll 3d6+DX. The total is your opponent’s effective TN to hit you until
your next attack comes up. The referee may modify your check by +2 or -2
(or more) to reflect the amount of cover in the area and how the local terrain
affects your mobility.
Grab.
Make an Active Test against your target. . If the attacker wins, the target is
grappled, loses his DX bonus and is physically restrained by the attacker. If
the target wins, the grapple fails. Every time the target's action comes up he
can make another Active Test to either throw off the grapple or reverse the
grapple.
Every time the attacker's action comes up, he can do something, such as
inflict unarmed damage, strip an item from them, or move or throw the target
somewhere (potentially also doing unarmed damage). It's the referees
judgment call if an action is reasonable or not.
Sneak attack.
If you successfully sneak up on someone, or otherwise catch them
unawares you automatically hit them, the first hit has your opponent make a
TN 17 to stay conscious.
Take Cover.
If you duck behind an object, you can gain +1 to +6 to your armor defense
depending on the extent of the cover (light cover = +1 all the way to nearly
complete = +6).
Throw an explosive.
These weapons (usually grenades) require the attacker to make a Ranged
Attack (no penalty) targeting a particular 5 foot by 5 foot area, which is a TN
14 roll. Anyone caught within the blast radius can must pass a static test to
stay in the fight. Referee can make the TN 14 or 17 depending upon
strength of explosive.
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Two weapons.
You can wield two light weapons and attack with both in a round if you take
a -2 penalty on both attack rolls. It's up to the referee what counts as a light
weapon.
Fate Points
Characters begin each session with 1 Fate Point (more if they have the
Heroic Talent or are Human).
Each Fate Point can be used in several ways:
• Add +3 to any roll, but only before the referee declares the results of the
roll.
• Add +3 to defense rolls for one round.
• Recover from being knocked out instantly. You spend your current action
catching your breath.
• Bring your character back from the dead...in the next adventure.
For example, allowing an enemy the first strike in starship combat to fully
ascertain their intentions, following the Prime Directive even though it would
be a lot easier to circumvent it, refraining from taking life needlessly, even if it
is an enemy. The referee decides when to award Moral High Ground, but it
should be a situation where taking the high road causes the group a great
deal of inconvenience.
Other Hazards
Falling: 3d+DX+Athletics vs TN decided by referee. Damage can be broken
leg, twisted ankle or worse if the referee decides.
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Lava:
Player is burned and scarred. Damage continues until lava is removed or
quenched.
Poison:
3d+ST vs Poison TN save to avoid going unconscious and slipping into a
coma. Effect varies with poison type.
Radiation:
TN increases and a save must be made each round to stay conscious.
Damage is potentially much higher in very hard radiation. A radiation suit
reduces TN by 2 points for each test.
4 XP can be spent to
•Learn a new Talent
•add+1 to a current Talent (which allows it)
It's a good idea to keep the Player's at the same experience level. If one
player wants to be the captain, while the rest are bridge crew, simply assign
the captain the higher rank regardless of his or her experience.
Promotions.
Generally speaking, if you advance to a new level and have a good
performance record, and you desire the promotion, you will earn the next
higher rank. Starfleet can and will occasionally railroad high-level
characters up to a higher rank, simply on seniority or as a political move. It is
also not uncommon in Starfleet for an officer to turn down promotion to
remain on a particular ship.
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EQUIPMENT
For the most part, Trek isn't about gadgets. It pays to know at least the basic
details of any technology used in an Episode, but when it comes down to it,
it isn't terribly important whether a tricorder can sense life at 30 meters or at
31.5 meters. What is important is that you know that a tricorder has
interesting knobs and dials, a readout, makes a sound when used and the
sorts of information it gives. Read up on the devices that characters will be
using but hand wave the details. As long as you get the general idea
correct it's okay. In the end, it's the story that counts. Here follows a very brief
list of devices common to the series and notes on how to handle them:
Communicators
A true marvel of future technology. A small hand-held device that allows one
to communicate with an orbiting space ship or one's fellow shipmates. It can
be easily jammed or confiscated. Most races in Far Trek have
communicators.
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Disruptors
Disruptors are primarily used by
villainous alien types such as
Klingons or Romulans. They mostly
work exactly like Phaser mark II's,
except they look more sinister. While
they do have stun settings, they
generally aren't set for stun.
Disruptors hold around 100 charges
and weigh around 3 lbs. They look
like a long barreled pistol.
Medical Devices
Federation doctors have a wide array of medical gadgets such as
hyposprays, anabolic protoplasers, hand-held medical scanners and a
variety of laser scalpels and miracle drugs.
For the most part, you can assume that a doctor will have the appropriate
tools with them when they are performing their duties, even in the field. If
they aren't, then they won't be able to use the full range of their Talents, or
will, at the least, take a skill penalty. With a fully stocked medical bay, most
characters can be fully healed between episodes—in a matter of days, or at
most a week for all but the most serious injuries.
Phasers.
Phasers have two primary settings. They can be set to stun or to kill.
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For the most part, it's safe to ignore ammo capacity on phasers, unless you
really enjoy exercises in accounting. When that sort of thing comes into play,
it's more useful to just think of it as a plot device. For example, you're
stranded on a deserted planet with only 10 shots in your phaser left and
must survive until the ion storm ends and your ship can return...
Side note: Ship phasers can also be set on stun. A salvo from a ship can
render an entire city block unconscious almost instantly.
Phaser, Mark I.
Mark I phasers hold around 50 charges and weigh only 1 lb. They are
small, palm-sized devices strongly reminiscent of electric shavers.
Phaser Rifles.
Phaser rifles hold around 150 charges and weigh roughly 12 lbs. They have
a better range than Mark I or II phasers
Phaser Cannon.
A less-powerful and mobile version of the ship's phaser banks. No damage
or statistics are listed—this is primarily a siege weapon and usually only has
one of two effects: it either makes a hole in
something that you're trying to enter or has no effect at all, in order to show
how superior alien technology is. If one somehow comes into play during
ship-to-ship combat, treat it as a phaser bank with a very short
range and only WR 1 damage.
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Transporter Beams.
Allows one to move up to six characters and cargo from one place to
another nearly instantly. It requires one round to dematerialize at the source
and re-materialize at the destination end. A Federation transporter has a
maximum range of 25,000 kilometers or so, can not be used at warp speed
and is easily blocked by force fields. Certain other environmental
characteristics can also seriously reduce a transporter's effectiveness at the
referee's option, extending the time of the transport over several rounds and
several skill rolls.
Tricorders.
Allows the user to perform sensor scans at a local level. It can also store a
massive amount of information, whether from a scan or uploaded from the
ship's computer banks.
There are several different varieties of tricorders, each optimized for its
specific field of study: medical, psychology and science. If a tricorder could
reasonably be useful to the task it's applied to, then give a +2 to the skill
roll. Some tasks might actually be impossible without an appropriate tricorder.
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Universal Translators.
A shiny metal baton only hauled out when questions arise of just how,
exactly, one is managing to communicate with an alien species. At the
referee's option, certain languages may be difficult to translate accurately, or
at all. The full Universal Translator does not require it to be per-programmed, it
can adapt to any form of new language using Star Fleet's vast experience
with alien civilizations. A limited form of Universal Translator, which can be
programmed to translate only a handful of languages at a time, can also be
implanted subcutaneously. Or better yet, you can simply hand wave any
questions of language as unimportant to the plot.
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Crews on other ships are abstracted since they are usually “off screen”. You
can often get by with just rolling initiative for the enemy's helmsman if it's not
an important fight. For major fights, you may wish to stat out an entire enemy
bridge crew.
A note on range
Ranges are abstractly defined in this game. Rather than note down exact
distances in kilometers, imagine how the enemy ship would appear on the
view screen. Does it fill the entire screen? Then it's at point blank or short
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range. Is it a mere dot in the center of the ship's screen? Then we're talking
long range.
Moving between ranges takes only an action or two on the part of the
helmsman. If the other ship's helmsman doesn't want this to happen, then
make a Active test (skill vs skill roll) between the two helmsmen.
Ranges provide base Target Numbers (TN) for actions like combat, scanning,
transporting boarding parties, downloading or taking over their ship systems,
or identifying accurately an unknown anomaly.
Target # Difficulty
8 Point Blank
11 Close
14 Medium
17 Long
20 Far
Typical Actions
Actions are usually played out as orders given by the captain and carried
out by the member of the bridge crew controlling the appropriate station. For
example, the U.S.S. Bridger is fired upon by Romulans. The captain yells
“Evasive maneuvers!”, but it's the helmsman who has to make the pilot
check to avoid the incoming plasma torpedo.
A typical transporter bay has 6 pads and it requires one round to send a
party through it. If more than 6 people need to be sent, it will take
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consecutive rounds to send them all; should the ship's shields go back up
during that time, only a partial boarding party will be sent. Beyond that point,
the boarding party will either be handled “off-screen” as considered
appropriate by the referee, or will be handled as a typical adventure
location.
“Evasive maneuvers!”
This is an active test between the helmsman of each ship. Each rolls 3d6,
adds their DX bonus, their own ship navigation skill, and their ship's
maneuver rating . If the defender's total is higher, the ship avoids damage.
“Fire phasers!”
Firing phasers is a skill roll performed by the helmsman vs TN 8-20,
depending on the target ship's range. The target number is modified upward
by the enemy ships shield bonus and the helmsman's Ship Navigation skill
rating.
The referee may also decide that ships at long range or far range can't be hit
by phasers—in that case, you can either attempt to close distance or use
photon torpedoes. Phasers can not be used at warp speeds—to attack
during warp flight, use photon torpedoes.
“Go to warp!”
Going to warp is an action to take your ship from impulse power to Warp
Speeds dropping out of warp doesn't take any appreciable amount of time.
“Raise shields!”
A ship's shields are usually down unless the ship is on Red or Yellow Alert.
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Both sides make skill checks each round. Usually these skill checks will be
versus one another, representing maneuvers each is trying to execute to
shake or stay on the tail of the other.
The highest successful skill check total wins the lead, either towards the
hunter's or the prey's advantage.
If they tie in a test roll, the lead remains unchanged and additional
unpleasant effects may ensue as expected for a failed skill roll (crashing into
an asteroid, damaging the ship's engines, whatever).
Applicable Bonuses:
A speed advantage (e.g. .75c capable Impulse vs .5c) gives a +1 bonus to
pilot rolls.
A significant speed advantage (.75c capable Impulse vs . 25c, for example),
gives a +3 bonus.
A warp-capable ship racing against a sublight-only vessel will always have
a significant speed advantage.
The ship being pursued has to gain a lead to evade the pursuers. Every
round the pursued ship is running at a warp faster than its pursuers adds 1
distance range to their lead. Every round where the pursuers are faster
reduces the distance between ships by 1. If the lead drops to 0, the
pursuers are within weapons range (short distance) and may fire. If the lead
becomes a far distance, the pursued starship may escape.
If a ship stays at maximum warp, there is a 1 in 6 chance per round that the
ship's warp engines take damage. Every .2 increment past maximum warp
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increases the odds by 1. So, if a ship capable of Warp 8 is holding 8.2, then
there is a 2 in 6 chance per round that the engines take damage and drop
the ship out of warp. 1 in 6 for maximum warp, plus an extra 1 for the .2 over
maximum warp makes it a 2 in 6 chance..
Other actions
For the most part, just give a +2 or -2 to an appropriate roll if a plan sounds
good. Resolve other situations with common sense. It's more important to
keep the action going.
When a ship takes damage, subtract the defending ships current Shield
Rating (SR) from the attacker's Weapon Rating (WR) of the weapon that hit.
Roll 3d6 and modify the total rolled up or down based of the difference
between the attacker's weapon rating (WR) and the defender's shield rating
(SR).
Shield Effects
•3-9 No effect, Shield absorbs damage, lower shields by 1d6x5 percent. For
every 25%, drop SR by 1
•10-14 Graze; shields penetrated for level 1 Damage to a section
•15-17 Direct Hit! Shields penetrated, for level 2 Damage to a section
•18 Critical hit, “Cap'n she's gonna blow!” shields penetrated for level 3
damage to a section
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•Possible radiation leak. This chance is 1in 6 for a level 2 hit and 3 in 6 for
a level 3 hit. Characters in the vicinity take radiation damage as noted under
“Other Hazards” at the end of Chapter 2.
SYSTEM DAMAGE
Each system has a damage level attached to it. The first time it's hit, it goes to
level 1 damage. The second time it's hit before being repaired, it goes to
level 2. The final time, it goes to level 3 and is completely destroyed. Think
of it as a 3 strikes policy. If a system comes up two or more times on a
section damage roll, go immediately to a higher level of damage without
stopping at lower damage levels.
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required to avoid these effects. The system itself is rendered mostly useless
until repaired or jury-rigged.
It's up to the referee as to what effects a partially damaged system will have.
Weapon systems might be at half damage or fail to activate half the time.
Shields might operate at half SR or only give coverage to parts of the ship.
Damaged life support might vent noxious gases into the living areas.
Damaged transporters might fail to operate 50% of the time or scramble the
patterns of anything beamed through them. Just go with whatever sounds
fun or interesting.
Massive damage.
After a certain point—and there is no hard and fast rule for this—a ship can be
considered completely disabled. Usually this happens after it's no longer
capable of firing weapons, defending itself or moving. If the ship continues
taking damage beyond that point, roll a couple of dice and rule that it
explodes
or crumbles into debris after that many minutes. Fights in the the original Star
Trek series only rarely get
to this point—ship combat usually only goes until negotiation becomes a
viable option, either because one
side surrenders or shields drop, allowing boarding parties to beam over.
Repairs
Any system at damage level 1 can be fixed in one of two ways:
Jury-rigging:
With an Engineering roll at TN 17, it can be jury-rigged in 1d6 combat rounds.
The jury-rigging will last until the end of the scene and then it must be fixed
fully at the normal time rate. Any jury-rigged system that is hit again will
immediately move to damage level 3 instead of 2. There is a 50% chance
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Full Repair
A system at damage level 1 can be repaired fully in 3d6 minutes, at TN 14.
For a full repair, access to the bridge station and the area of the ship
housing the system is required. Systems at damage level 2 can also be
fixed by Jury-rigging or Full Repair.
Jury-rigging
Jury-Rigging a damage level 2 system will restore the system to half
functionality until the end of the scene, after which it will require full repair. A
damage level 2 Jury-rigged system that is hit again will immediately go to
damage level 3 and then cause another 2 damage rolls on the table above.
Jury-rigging a damage level 2 system requires an Engineering roll vs TN 17
and 4d6 combat rounds once the affected system is reached. Jury-rigging a
damage level 2 system will always require going to the source of
the damage and may involve navigating some serious obstacles, such as
radiation-flooded Jefferies Tubes or crossing the exposed hull of the
ship...oftentimes during pitched combat. This maneuver at this level is not for
the faint of heart.
Full Repair
A damage level 2 system requires a TN 20 Engineering roll and 2d6 hours
of time to restore it
to damage level 1. At the referee's option, even then it might not be possible
to repair it to full functionality without a trip to a star dock or for supplies.
A damage level 3 system cannot be jury-rigged and even full repair might
be impossible—the system is
simply obliterated. The more vital ship functions such as Life Support can be
repaired in 3d6 hours. Other
functions such as warp might only be repairable at a suitably-equipped star
dock. Ships and Ship Technology
Cloaking Devices.
Engaging or disengaging a cloaking device takes two rounds and
immediately disables the ship's shields and weapon systems.
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Only one plasma torpedo may be launched at a time and it is not effective at
long ranges. Once launched, it behaves like a photon torpedo in terms of
travel speed, and targeting capability. However, the attack roll will always be
at +3 to hit due to its Talent to lock on to its target. The Helmsman of the
targeted vessel may attempt evasive maneuvers.
Tholian Web.
The amount of time required to weave a Tholian web depends on the
number of Tholian ships. For every Tholian ship working on the web, add 1
to a running total at the end every round. The web is completely woven
when this total reaches 18. If the target ship attempts to leave before the
web is woven, roll 3d6. If the result is less than or equal to the points
accumulated, the ship takes level 1 damage to 1d6 sections, but is free. If
the web is fully woven, this number increases to level 2 damage in 1d6
sections.
At the referee's option, a small ship can attempt to leave the web by flying
between its strands. This would take a maneuvering TN of 20, with damage
resulting as above if the roll is failed. Once the web is woven, the ship is
completely immobilized and can be towed wherever the Tholians desire at
any speed the Tholian ship is capable of. At the Tholians' option, the web
can also be contracted doing damage as above every round until the ship
is destroyed.
The web itself can be considered to have an SR of 10. When the shields are
reduced below 0%, the web
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Tractor Beams.
Tractor beams are primarily used to haul inert objects of up to, say, double
the mass of your ship from point to point at impulse speeds. These can only
be used when a vessel's shields are down.
S
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Constitution Class
•Size: 600 kilotons, 289m
long, 127.1m wide, 72.6m
high, 21 decks.
•Typical Crew: 430 total, 9th
level Yellow Shirt Captain,
bridge crew 6-8th level,
bulk of crew 3-5th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 6
•Emergency Warp: Warp 8
•Impulse: .5c maximum impulse (900,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR +3
•Armament: 6x Type VI phaser banks WR +3, 2 Photon Torpedo Banks (WR
+2 per torpedo)
•Note: The Constitution class ship has a reputation for durability.
Dreadnought Class
•Size: 900 kilotons, 320m long,
140m wide, 87m high, 16 decks.
•
•Typical Crew: 500 total, 10th
level Yellow Shirt Captain, bridge
crew
•6-9th level, bulk of crew 4-5th
level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 8
•Emergency Warp: Warp 10
•Impulse: .5c maximum impulse
(900,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+4
•Armament: 10x Type VII phaser
banks WR+4, 4 Photon Torpedo
Banks (WR +2 per torpedo)
•Note: Like the Constitution
class, Federation class
dreadnoughts also have a reputation for extreme durability.
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Gorn
•Gorn Destroyer
•Size: 350 kilotons, 168m long,
102m wide, 54m high, 6 decks.
•
•Typical Crew: 75 total, Seasoned
Gorn Commander, bridge crew 6-
8th level, bulk of crew 3-5th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 6
•Emergency Warp: Warp 8
•Impulse: .60c maximum impulse
(1,080,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+2
•Armament: 8x Type VI phaser
banks (WR+3). May have 2
banks of photon torpedoes
(WR+2 per torpedo) or the
equivalent of a Heavy Plasma Torpedo (WR+6).
•Note: Gorn ships are highly durable and heavily armored, if a bit ungainly
when maneuvering.
Klingon
D7 Class Cruiser
•Size: 307 kilotons,
228m long, 160m
wide, 60m high, 18
decks.
•Typical Crew: 430
total, Seasoned Klingon
Commander, bridge
crew 6-8th level, bulk of crew 3-5th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 6
•Emergency Warp: Warp 8
•Impulse: .50c maximum impulse (900,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+3
•Armament: 10x Mark 7 disruptor cannons (WR+5), 2 Photon Torpedo Banks
(WR+2 per torpedo).
•Note: May have cloaking device, depending on how early in the series it
appears.
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Orion
Scout Ship
•Size: 280 kilotons, 178m long, 112m wide, 112m high, 6 decks.
•Typical Crew: Unknown total, Seasoned Orion Commander, bridge crew 6-
8th level, bulk of crew 3-5th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 6
•Emergency Warp: Warp 10
•Impulse: .65c maximum impulse (1.17m km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+3
•Armament: 4x Type VI phaser banks (WR+2).
•Note: Unique spinning propulsion systems gives this ship great speed and
maneuverability. Hull is composed of high density tri-tritanium, making it
nearly impossible to penetrate with sensors (add +4 to any TN's involving
scanning the ship).
Romulan
•“Bird of Prey” Class Cruiser
•Size: 200 kilotons, 192m
long, 180m wide, 51m high,
5 decks.
•
•Typical Crew: 75 total,
Seasoned Romulan
Commander, bridge crew 5-
8th level, bulk of crew 3-
5th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 3.6
•Emergency Warp: Warp 4
•Impulse: .50c maximum
impulse (900,000
km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+2
•Armament: No beam
weapons, 1 heavy plasma torpedo launcher (WR+6.)
•Note: Has cloaking device. Highly maneuverable. The improvised nuke
used in the episode “Balance of Terror” would be roughly ATK+2. Real
nuclear bombs do a lot more damage (roughly ATK+4 or higher for a
“typical” one and ATK+20 for the biggest hydrogen bombs).
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Tholian
Tholian Ship
•Size: 25 kilotons, 42m long, 16m wide,
12m high, 1 deck.
•Typical Crew: 3 total, Unexceptional
Tholian Commander, remaining crew 6-8th
level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 5
•Emergency Warp: Warp 7
•Impulse: .40c maximum impulse
(720,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+2
•Armament: 6x Type V Tholian phasers
(WR+3), Tholian Web.
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Other
Generic Civilian Ship
•Size: 74 kilotons, 80m long, 22m wide, 39m high, 7 decks.
•Typical Crew: 25 total, Unexceptional Commander, bridge crew 4- 5th level,
bulk of crew 2-4th level.
•Cruise Speed: Warp 4
•Emergency Warp: Warp 5
•Impulse: .40c maximum impulse (720,000 km/round)
•Shield Rating: SR+1
•Armament: Usually none. Depending on function of ship may have a bank
of outdated phasers (WR+1) or other such weapons.
•Notes: Tend to be rather fragile and in dubious mechanical condition.
Federation Space Station (K-7)
•Size: 451 kilotons, 815m diameter, 200m high, 50 decks.
•Typical Crew: 800-1000, Commanding officer is a Captain rank
•Yellow Shirt, commanding crew 5-8th level, bulk of crew 3-5th level.
•Shield Rating: SR+2
•Armament: 4x Type VI phaser banks (WR+2)
•Note: This is a small, relatively lightly armed outpost. Other stations can be
quite heavily armed and armored. Space stations do not move, but tend to
be rather durable.
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Ship Quirks
Sometimes you need to find something unique about a crew or ship your
players will come in contact with. Below is a simple chart to generate ideas.
Roll 1d6 for each column.
Roll 1d6 for each column Ship Reputation, Features, Crew Culture
Cursed
This ship has had a remarkably unlucky past. The few veteran crew
members who remain on board have some rather hair-raising stories about
the number of disasters the ship has (barely) survived, ranging from freak
energy storms, surprise plasma breeches, plagues, rifts in the time-space
continuum and what have you. Whether undeserved or not, the universe
seems to hate this vessel.
Haunted.
Something about the ship is oddly disconcerting. The lights are a bit darker
and flicker at odd moments. The engine noise has a bit of a wail to it in the
wee hours of the morning. Whether or not it's an unintended design feature
or actual ghosts is up to the referee.
Infamous
Under previous commands, the ship has been engaged in either some
spectacular failure(s) or
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breaches of Fleet protocol. Whatever the cause, the ship and sometimes the
crew who has served on it has a black mark in the public eye.
Innovative
The crew has a reputation for creative solutions, but probably is not as
disciplined as other ships.
Notorious
This is a famous ship and its previous captain (or captains) was a
commander of some note.
Prototype System.
The ship has one upgraded system. Roll on the Section Damage Table for
specifics. Give all rolls dealing with that system a +2, 10% or whatever other
minor upgrade may be appropriate.
Sketchy
The crew has a large percentage of surprisingly dodgy characters, probably
including a thriving black market. For lateral thinking and sheer
inventiveness however, this crew is unrivaled.
Steadfast.
The ship has developed a well-deserved reputation for durability over the
years. All repair rolls involving the ship are at +2.
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Augments
Survivors of the Eugenics War, these are genetically modified humans, bred
to be the ultimate warriors—stronger, faster, smarter, tougher than even the
best humanity has to offer. A flaw in their DNA makes them naturally
aggressive and violent. For these reasons, genetic engineering has been
banned for several centuries.
• Stat Adjustments: +2 ST, +2 DX, +2 IQ.
• Acute Senses: +2 to most sensory rolls due to keen senses of smell,
hearing and sight.
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Gorn
Gorns are a reptilian species of humanoids.
Not much is known about them other than
that they are strongly territorial and have
technology on par with the Federation.
• Stat Adjustments: +4 ST, -2 DX, -2 CA.
• Alien Strength 2: The Gorn physiology is
substantially stronger than most other
humanoids —skill rolls involving strength are
increased and the character can lift five
times as much as a normal character—
enough to easily toss a rock the size of a
refrigerator twenty or thirty feet.
• Armor: Gorns have thick hide and are
harder to injury and stun than human like
species, armor +2
• Slow: Gorns move at roughly half the speed as most other humanoids.
Highly-Evolved
This isn't any specific species—it instead represents any number of frail,
usually egg-headed, aliens of advanced intellect and technology.
• Stat Adjustments: -4 ST +6 IQ.
• Bonus Talents: Psychic, plus one additional Psychic Talent.
• Frail: Not only do they take a +3 TN test penalty when injured HE's also
can never have armed as a trained skill.
• Superior Technology: HE's usually have access to technology far in
advance of the Fleet. In addition to this superior technology they also have
a +2 bonus on all science and technology-related rolls.
• Complete inability to fathom humanity's motives.
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Orion
Once a great civilization with advanced technology, the Orions have fallen
into decadence. Orions are widely known for three things: piracy, slavery
and the savage charms of their women. Orions have green or blue skin, with
dark hair. The men are bald and tend to be rather large and burly. The
women are beautiful, great dancers and masters of seduction.
Orion, Female
• Stat Adjustments: -2 ST, +1 DX, +2 CA.
• Pheromones: Makes men of most species (but not Vulcans) susceptible to
suggestion and more aggressive. Gives a +2 to any skill check an Orion
female may make to persuade men to do something, within reason. It may
take multiple rolls and suggestions to “nudge” the target into action. Since
they must be inhaled, the effect takes some time to kick in. Gives women of
most other species a roaring headache.
Orion, Male
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Klingon
The classic villain species of science fiction. Aggressive, unprincipled and
dangerous—these are the Human like villains from the original series and not
the odd cranial plate warrior-philosophers of the later Star Trek series. If you
want to use the later iteration, see the notes at the end of this entry. These
later Klingons will be referred to as Imperial Klingons
• Stat Adjustments:
None.
• Aggressive:
Klingons have +2 to
all initiative rolls.
• Durable: +1 to stay
in the fight
• Skill Penalty: -1
Knowledge. Klingon
culture doesn't
encourage non-
martial pursuits.
• Violent Culture: Bonus Talent—either Brawler or Specialty with melee
weapons.
• Note: These are the human like TOS Klingons. If you insist on having TNG-
era or later Imperial Klingons show up, then add +1 ST and -2 CA to the stat
adjustments and replace the Aggressive special Talent with Brak'lul (Vital
Organ Redundancy). A character with Brak'lul is considered to have an extra
+1 Armor bonus when testing to stay in the fight
Prehistoric
This template devolves the species in question into a caveman state. They
get bigger, bumpier and more ill tempered.
• Stat Adjustments: +2 ST, -2 IQ, -2 CA.
• Alien Strength: Skill rolls involving strength are increased by +2 and the
character can lift twice as much as a normal character.
• Choose one:
Claws/Fangs which give a natural +1 attack (plus ST bonus), or
Gregarious (once per encounter, a group of these can call in an additional
2d6 tribe members—these tribe members will not have the Gregarious Talent
available for that encounter).
• Skill Bonuses: +2 Bonus on climbing, jumping
and survival rolls.
• Tough Hide: +2 resistance to damage and stunning.
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Romulan
A mysterious off-shoot of
the Vulcan species, from
the savage times before
the Vulcans devoted
themselves to the pursuit
of logic.
• Stat Adjustments: None.
• Desert Adapted:
Romulans gain a +2
bonus on desert survival-
type rolls and a general
immunity to the effects of
blinding light.
• Duplicitous: +2 on skill checks where a natural proclivity towards deceit
and trickery could come into play, such as most subterfuge rolls.
• Hierarchical Society: Romulan society is highly stratified—any Romulan
gains a +2 to all rolls when attempting to give an order to a Romulan of
lower standing. In addition, any use of the Command or Inspirational Speech
Talents on a Romulan will be at +1.
• Xenophobic: Due to their xenophobic nature, Romulans take a -2 penalty
on most social rolls with other species and most social rolls dealing with
Romulans will be at -2. This penalty does not necessarily apply to all
situations—for example, some social situations such as intimidation or
bluffing might not be affected by xenophobia.
Tholian
Tholians are medium sized humanoids,
but possessing a truly alien physique—
they are based on a mineral
composition, existing at very high
temperatures (177 Celsius or 350
Fahrenheit). If exposed to low
temperatures for too long, they take
damage and their carapace cracks.
Exposure to temperatures around the
boiling point of water or below has the
same effects as freezing temperatures
on humans. Tholians have six legs and
communicate through radiation
emissions instead of vocal chords. Their Talent to communicate through
these methods allow them to communicate over long distances as if via
communicators.
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Supporting Cast
The following NPC's are designed to be as generic as possible, in order to
speed game preparation. Need a Klingon Thug? Take the Low Rent Goon,
apply the Klingon racial template and off you go. You've wandered into
Andorian space and need an Andorian starship captain? Take the
Commander and apply Andorian stats. Attacked by a bunch of 1950's style
claw-fingered metal robots? Take a Run-of-the-Mill Goon, apply the Android
and Prehistoric templates and off you go.
Another good source of aliens would be the various Monster Manuals. Just
because the original Star Trek didn't have the budget to have a fifty foot long
plasma breathing lizard doesn't mean your game can't have one. And if you
change enough surface details your players will never know. Sure, you
know the Kalendian Vaprak is a displacer beast, but your players never will,
seeing that it's a seven foot long amoeba with spider legs and a single eye
on the end of a tentacle...
Ordinaries are important enough to have stats, but not important enough to
have any significant screen time. They do NOT usually gain Talents or Fate
Points. If you're in a rush, use average stats except for whichever stat the
Ordinary uses most, which will get a +1 In some cases, it may be
appropriate to give Talents to Ordinaries, but don't go overboard with it.
Ordinaries have as many Trained skills as necessary to perform their tasks.
Some sample Ordinaries are given in the Face in the Crowd, Generic Crew
Member or Goon sections. Heroic NPC's are built almost exactly the same
way as player characters. They get Talents and may or may not get an Fate
Point or two, depending on how important they are to the plot. Heroics will
have one Trained skill at +3, Talents may be chosen from any of the Talent
lists, regardless of class as long as it's appropriate to the character.
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Commander
He's the commander of his vessel, a leader of men (or aliens), a diplomat
and a warrior. Unless noted otherwise, like other minor NPC's, Commanders
are Ordinaries. There are two basic varieties of commanders: “aggressive”
and “talker”. An aggressive commander is usually action-oriented. Talkers are
more diplomatic. The purpose of a vessel has a great influence on what sort
of commander is in charge. The captain of a ship dedicated to medical
research is going to have a very different knowledge base than the captain
of a Klingon battle cruiser, even if both are “aggressive” commanders.
Commander, Unexceptional
These are the most commonly encountered commanders—they fulfill the
qualifications of commanding a ship, no more, no less.
ST(+0) IQ(+1) DX(+0) CA(+1) TALENT: Command
Commander, Seasoned
Seasoned commanders typically have years of experience, perhaps even
seen some serious action. They are highly competent at what they do.
ST(+1) IQ(+1) DX(+0) CA(+2) TALENTS: Command, Measure of a Man,
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Commander, Grizzled
Grizzled commanders are quite rare—they are as competent as you can get
without moving into the Heroic category. Typically, they have had decades
of experience.
ST(+1) IQ(+2) DX(+0) CA(+2) TALENTS: Command, Measure of a Man, Plan,
Unorthodox Maneuver
Goons
Security guards, Klingon muscle, mafia thugs, goose-stepping Nazis, hired
alien mercenaries or barbarian
warriors—a Goon is all these things and more. When you need muscle, and
you need it now, and you need a lot of it, the Goon's your man.
Faces will typically have all attributes at +0. If you don't have any set
occupation in mind, roll on the table on the next page. Otherwise, just
choose whatever Skills will be necessary for that character to perform their
job at a +1
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3 Nothing
4 Creates a force field
5 Allows time travel
6 It's an alien computer, probably quite intelligent
7 Transmogrification (changes things into other things): Roll 1d6: It
transmogrifies...1-2 People, 3-4 Objects, 5-6 Energy. Roll 1d6 again: 1-3
Just one type of transformation (and back), 4-6 Many types.
8 It's a beacon
9 Weapon system designed to hunt down intruding life forms
10 Controls the aging process
11 Can send or retrieve people from the Mirror Universe
12 It melts (Roll 1d6: 1-3 itself, 4-6 other things)
13 Can upgrade or repair machinery
14 Creates androids
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Sample item:
The various rolls determine it's (3) Size of a Microwave, (2) spherical, (1)
hovering, (6) has powers of transmogrification, (5) can transform energy (5)
into many different types of energy. Good thing or bad thing? (3) Good
thing.
Second example:
The various rolls produce... Size of a
loaf of bread, cube shaped, and
plays random images. Can send or
retrieve people from the Mirror
Universe. Good thing? Nope, not
good.
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Cloud Monster
“Cloud Monster” is short hand for any number of mysterious aliens that tend
to show up in a Star Trek episodes. It doesn't represent just the traditional
semi-intelligent cloud of energy (such as the “Companion” from
“Metamorphosis”). It can also represent mysterious alien devices such as
Nomad, tribble-like creatures, giant alien probes with a hump-back whale
obsession or whatever you like. Cloud Monsters tend to be used more as
plot devices than anything else. For the most part, assume that standard
attacks do nothing to them. They're either immune to normal weapons (such
as your typical Star Trek cloud monster) or killing them won't make a
difference to the plot (e.g. Tribbles breed too fast). They'll have one or more
additional powers related to their nature and an Achilles' heel which must be
discovered and exploited if they're ever to be stopped.
A properly designed Cloud Monster, however, does more than just menace—
it points out human foibles. Whether it allows the plot to address Melville-
esque obsession, explore the folly of prejudice and hatred or perhaps
questions the role of humanity in the universe, a Cloud Monster is more than
just a block of numbers to overcome during the course of an adventure. Of
course, you could always just roll one up randomly instead. Note To
determine powers you must roll a d6 first. If the number rolled is even (2,4
or 6), roll on the powers-even chart. If the number rolled is odd (1,3 or 5), roll
again on the powers-odd chart.
Example: The referee needs a mysterious alien creature for the next episode.
Running through the dice rolls on the table on the following page, we get 2
(Naïve/Native Creature), 2 (Man-sized), 6 (Devours All Before It), 3 (Human
level intelligence). 5 (Can Summon Help)
The result of “Can Summon Help” reminds the referee of ants or bees—
perhaps the creature is part of a hive. The referee names it an “Altaran Hive
Worker.” Running with the Hunger and Indigenous Creature results, he
decides it's an insect-like animal roughly the size of a man that can
metabolize anything—it eats, everything it finds and excretes either a web-
like substance that hardens into hive material if inorganic or a honey-like
substance if it eats something organic. It is now only one of many insectoids
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that have run amok on the Altaran colonies of Denebius VII. As a collective,
the hive workers have a human level intellect and are motivated by species
survival. To stop them, the players will either have to destroy the entire hive
at once or negotiate with it—destroying any individual worker will have no
real effect on the situation.
die
roll What is it? How big? Why is it?
1 Robot/ Computer Tiny Feeds on emotions
Naive or Native
2 Alien Man Sized Protecting itself or others
Invasion force Obeying last command is
3 scout Giant sized sued
Searching for mate/
4 Strange visitor Monster sized someone/ something
Space/Time an
5 omaly Starship sized Revenge
Soul of ancient
6 being Planet sized Devours all before it
die
roll Is it Intelligent? Powers (even) Powers (odd)
Emotion control OR
1 Insect manipulation Shape Change
2 Animal Assimilation Cause Illusion
Creates evil clones of
3 Human others Possession
4 Human Hits things hard Death Ray
5 Alien Can summon help Control/modify machinery
6 Godlike Telekinesis Drains energy
Gods
Any alien entity sufficiently advanced can be indistinguishable from a god.
Some have followers, some are merely enigmatic beings roaming the galaxy
seeking knowledge. For the most part, Gods can be built in two steps:
Determine what the God appears as and stat that out, then layer on
additional powers and Talents as appropriate from the “Godly Powers” table.
For example, a child with the Talent to wish anything away may be statted
up as a typical 1st level child with attributes of -1or 0 all the way across.
Appropriate powers might be Innocuous, Alter Set and Mind Control.
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Alter Object
As a standard action, the God can transmute an object into something else.
A phaser becomes a poisonous viper a Starfleet uniform becomes a lovely
silk gown, you name it.
Cunning
The God is a trickster. Add +10 points to the God's IQ or CH in any
combination desired.
Followers
The God has followers: for the most part, they amount to 2d6x10 Faces and
Goons (roll randomly for occupations, if necessary).
Grow
The God can enlarge itself. Every standard action increases the God's size
by another multiple—x2, x3, x4, x5, etc. For every increase in size, add +4 to
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the god's ST and +2 to any rolls to intimidate or awe others. Only the
referee's sense of drama limits the God's Talent to grow.
Drones
Basically, the same as normal followers, except they can't be reasoned with,
are completely mindless and have some sort of gimmick. For example,
robots, demons, clones, brainwashed followers, zombies, whatever.
Invulnerable
Whether it's due to a force field surrounding the God, armored skin,
insubstantial or something even stranger, this God cannot be killed except
by plot considerations. Nuking this guy from orbit will only make him laugh—
the PC's will have to be subtle.
Impressive Soliloquy
The god can fascinate audiences with their incredible speechifying skills.
This is an active test. Take 3d6+IQ of the god versus rolls by players
listening. Failing a roll means the characters can't do anything but listen for a
few minutes while the god continues to speak at which point they may
attempt another roll.
Innocuous
For some reason, nobody considers this god a physical threat—perhaps the
God is a child, a beautiful woman, or a harmless old man. Whenever
someone attempts to attack the God in physical combat, they must overcome
a TN 20 (3d+IQ) check or they can't bring themselves to do it.
Mighty
The god is truly a titan. Strength is increased by +10 points and the god has
an additional +5 to any roll any defense roll.
Mind Control
The god can dominate or control minds as appropriate to the plot. He is also
usually (but not necessarily) fully telepathic, being able to read and send
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Parlor Tricks
Miscellaneous Talents, usually duplicating spells as needed. They can be
true magic, Talents granted by super-science or psionic in nature as
appropriate.
Shape change
The god can be anything or anyone it wants, changing itself as a standard
action. Its defenses and vulnerabilities remain unchanged, but it gains new
Talents as appropriate to the form it is in. Depending on the nature of the
God and the necessity of the plot, a detailed sensor scan may or may not
detect the transformation.
Zap
If it can be seen, it can be smitten with furious anger. 25 TN damage, ranged
attack. Range is line of sight. If the target is a ship, then count it as a phaser
attack with an appropriately huge WR (say, WR 40 for a Constitution-class
vessel, WR 30 versus a Hermes-class scout, etc). The special effects can be
pretty much anything: a giant hand shaking the ship, a lightning bolt, a
death ray, whatever.
Mighty gods
Typically appears as a giant megalo-maniacal floating head. As long as it
stays in that form, stat it out as a starship with better stats than the PC's ship.
If it manifests in human form or interacts with the player.
V
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Irritant gods
Metal gods
For some reason, alien civilizations often build their own gods. Invariably,
when their civilizations collapse, their metal gods remain behind to guide
and control. They usually appear as a stationary physical construct with 20
or more Hit Dice and a notable lack of insight into the human motivations.
Powers may include Cunning, Followers, Drones, I Know Things Beyond
Mortal Ken and Zap, with the occasional display of Mind Control or
Invulnerability.
Petty gods
The classic god,, a loud-mouthed, wears togas and demands worship.
Usually Heroic with impressive physical statistics and high charisma. Powers
usually include Grow, Mighty, Impressive Soliloquy, Parlor Tricks, Teleport Self
or Others and Zap.
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Nemesis
This is the Khan to your Kirk, an opponent worthy of your crew. He's always
a little (or a lot) better than you
but has an Achilles' heel that will prove to be his downfall.
• Fatal Flaw
Choose a fatal flaw for this
character. arrogance, two-dimensional thinking, greed, whatever. Whenever a
Static or Active Test comes up related to this flaw, treat the dice roll as the
worst possible result. This will only work 1d6 times during an episode, so
don't take it for granted.
• Attribute Scores
Each of the Nemesis' Talent scores will be equal to the highest score
possessed by any of the PC's. One score is linked to the Nemesis' Fatal
Flaw—that score will be equal to the lowest of the Player's scores. So, if there
are 4 Player's, the Nemesis has a Fatal Flaw of “arrogance” (linked to
Charisma) and the PC's have the following attributes:
• ST(-1) IQ(+2) DX(+0) CA(+0)
• ST(+0) IQ(+0) (DX(+0) CA(-1)
• ST(+0), IQ(-1)DX(+2) 11 CA(+0)
• ST(+2) (IQ+1) DX(+1) CA(+1)
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Technobabble
If a technological device or solution is needed to resolve an issue, then any
reasonably technologically-skilled character can Spout Technobabble and
gain a bonus to their next relevant skill check. Every significant detail of their
description will give a +1 to bonus to the roll, up to +3.
Example: “Captain, if we realign the photon matrix (+1) then we might just
conceivably slow the anomaly's rate of decay (+2) long enough to open a
recursive time-space loop (+3) and escape!” Three major details, +3 bonus
to skill check.
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* Roll d6: 1-2 Transporter malfunction switches brains, 3-4 Mirror universe
selves, 5-6 Androids.
** Roll d6: 1 Ship trapped, 2 Transports the ship into the past, 3 Across the
galaxy, 4 Alternate universe, 5
Alien artifact, 6 Warps reality in strange and surprising ways.
*** Purpose: Roll d6: 1-2 Negotiate peace treaty, 3 Attending a conference,
4 Transporting to new post, 5-6
Protection. Roll on “By Who” table to find out what this important individual
is, rerolling insane results.
Roll again on table above to see what happens while transporting the
important individual.
**** Roll d6: 1-2 Rapid aging, 3-4 Drunken, evil behavior, 5-6
Hallucinations.
BDG
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die roll 1 2 3 4 5 6
Space Military Space
1 Vulcan Starfleet Tellarite
Amazons Ldr. Nazis
Cloud Space Adv. Ancient Religious
2 Andorains
Monster Vikings Species Race Ldr.
3 Robots Relative Romulans Gorn Refugees Klingons
Space Space
4 Merchant Computer god(s) Exiles
Commies Romans
Noted Space Space Cloud
5 Tholians Orions
Scientist Terrorists Royals Monster
Space Bounty Space
6 Cultists Diplomat Old Friend
Pirates Hunter Hippies
Actor Motivations
You can skip this if you already have an idea why an actor is in an episode
or if the reason they are there is fairly obvious (or unnecessary to the plot).
Seeking revenge*
Seeking payment*
Seeking information*
Protecting something*
Protecting someone* and ** to determine who.
Irrational motivations
Fulfilling a mission
Meeting someone**
Hiding from someone or something*
Seeking treasure, loot or other resource
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* Roll d6: 1-2 From the PC's, 3 From another existing actor, 4-5 From a new
group of actors, 6 From a set of actors from a previous episode/or
acquaintance of the PC's.
** Roll d6: 1-3 Similar to the actor themselves (i.e if Klingons, then protecting
a Klingon), 4-6 another actor
(roll above).
Example: The referee looks on the Plot Seed table: transporting an important
individual somewhere. A subsequent roll of d6 comes up 6, indicating that
the ship's crew is protecting that individual from something. A second pick
on the Plot Seed table shows that the ship is attacked while transporting this
individual to its destination. Two rolls are then made on the “By Who” table,
one for the important individual and one for the enemies of the episode. The
ship is attacked by Romulans. In this case, a “space roman” would most
likely be a snobbish, arrogant diplomat from a toga wearing civilization with
a penchant for classical architecture and gladiatorial fights. A roll on the Plot
Twist table comes up 2, the good guys are bad. In this case, the “Roman”,
who we've been led to believe is a distinguished diplomat, has a hidden
record of war atrocities which will come to light during the episode. That's
enough to go on.
Another Example: Stuck for Episode ideas the referee looks on the Plot Seed
table. He chooses: the crew discovers a new civilization. He could stop here,
but continues to see if something interesting comes up. The next roll, on the
“By Who” table comes up 21...huh. Cloud Monster. He flips back to the
Enemies and Allies section and generates a random Cloud Monster. It's
apparently the vanguard of an invasion force, with a size beyond
description, protecting something. For powers, it can shift targets into an out
of phase state and uses death rays. It has human level intelligence. The
Cloud Monster is there, protecting...something ...which is important to an
invading alien species. Running with the phase power, the referee decides
the invading alien force is from another dimension. The cloud, which he now
arbitrarily names Vor-Shak, is protecting the interdimensional gateway they
will arrive through. The alien civilization on the planet is now caught
between the invading alien force and whatever the Federation starship must
do to protect the sector. Will destroying the portal destroy the planet, as well
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as its millions of inhabitants? At this point, the referee decides the plot is
complex enough and doesn't require a roll on the Plot Twist table.
D6 Interesting Things
1 Nothing
2 A nebula
3 1d2 other habitable worlds
4 1d2 asteroid belts
5 Space anomalies
6 Roll twice
Roll again for color, 1d6 for each star: 1-2 Red, 3-4 Yellow, 5 Blue, 6 White.
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• Roll 1d6 for the size of each moon: 1 Speck, 2 Tiny, 3 Small, 4
Moderate, 5 Large (Earth's moon), 6 Huge
Step 3. Terrain
Roll 1d6 for the total number of different types of terrain on the planet. Then
Roll on the following Terrain table for each one, keeping duplicates:
What time is it? Roll 1d6: 1-2 Day, 3-4 Dawn/Dusk, 5-6 Night.
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sure to include the moons, clouds and rings, if any were rolled. Obviously,
full cloud cover will obscure any rings or moons the planet may have.
What's the weather like? Roll 1d6: 1-4 Fine, 5 Windy, 6 Wind storm. If it's
cloudy, then assume a 50% chance of rain in more temperate terrains, snow
or sand storms in others.
Water: Roll 1d6: 1 water spout, 2 storm, 3-4 tropical island(s), 5-6 cloud-
wrapped mountain in the distance.
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Frozen: Roll 1d6 1 glacier, 2 icy mountain in the far distance, 3 boulders
dotting the frozen landscape to the horizon, 4 strange and enigmatic ice
formations. 5 Frozen ruins, 6 snow covered forests
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For the next step, we determine what the sun looks like, it's a double system.
The two suns are a red giant and a smaller Sol-type red star. We then roll the
planet's details: red atmosphere, about half the size of Earth, only 1 moon,
no rings, and thin cloud cover.
Next is the terrain. We roll and get 6 types: desert, water, desert, volcanic,
desert and volcanic again. In other words, desert, water and volcanic. On the
next roll, we get that one type is dominant. Rolling, we get 75% desert, with
the remaining land mass an even mix of water and volcanic terrain.
Moving on, we fill in the ground's details...The dominant terrain type for our
planet is desert. We roll d6 for the other two types, volcanic and water, to see
if they're present in the background and get a 4 and a 2. Water isn't, but
volcanic terrain is present. In Step 7, we check for weather—the roll comes up
3, so there's no wind.
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Referencing the Terrain Feature footnote, we look under “desert” and roll. The
landscape is cracked in oddly geometric patterns by the unrelenting heat of
the suns. For the volcanic terrain, we get one roll on the background detail
table and it comes up a building. We stick with the Faux-Roman and decide
it's a large statue. Finally, we get a 2—the characters are just outside an
important building. Since we rolled Faux-Roman before, we'll stick with it.
Should we step inside said building...we roll under the random building
generator and get the building's interior is large, about the size of a football
stadium, still Faux-Greek/Roman and there are no windows.
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