As long as Paramount lets Amarillo Design Bureau do their thing with the Star Fleet (note the SPACE, it is NOT Starfleet, so please respect the license) Universe I will always support Star Trek. The goodwill Paramount has towards the wargame and RPG community by letting this alternate universe exist without harassment and thrive is a good thing to see. I reciprocate by my purchases of Paramount DVDs and streaming service subscriptions, which I would recommend to all.
The license for this game was done back in the 70's by Rodenberry and the game's creators, as I read it, and it lasts in perpetuity. I suppose there could be legal harassment from current owners of Trek, but I have not read of any - and honestly, I feel this is a good thing and good for everyone. The game is very well done and very respectful to the source material, and pulls in interest for the universe.
Star Fleet Battles have always been a cool alt-universe offshoot of the main Trek lore, it starts with the original TV series and stops in 1979. From there the licenses go two dramatically different ways.
Where the Paramount license went on with the awesome original Star Trek movies, Wrath of Khan, and TNG through to today, the Star Fleet universe went off in a different direction. They stayed firmly rooted in wargaming, sort of like a Battletech-style universe, and the games sent from Star Fleet Battles, to our favorite Federation & Empire, and to today's Federation Commander (a simplified and streamlined SFB).
Like Battletech, the Star Fleet Universe is at war constantly, and for the tabletop games, that is a great thing. You don't get a lot of the plots based on interpersonal conflicts and societal struggles like there is in the official timeline, but you do have a lot of reasons for these cool ships to blast away at each other like this was a massive Star Wars space battle. Personally, I think it is a good thing for the brand as a whole to have the wargame around since it has that cool "wargame" appeal for the brand like a Battletech or even a Star Wars-style wargame.
It keeps Trek compelling and cool on the tabletop. Speaking of which...
Yes, it would be remiss not to mention the 2d20 RPG here, officially licensed as well, but set in any of the official universes. Why not just play Star Trek Adventures?
You could, but I like the Star Fleet's strange wargame alternate universe. I also really like GURPS. Combining the two is pure awesome. Where the official timeline is the classic and cool conflicts we see on the TV or movies, the wargame universe is the pure madness of total war. It is way less subtle, it feels at times like Saving Private Ryan, and any sense of "oh we better not do this because we would cause a huge intergalactic incident" is thrown right out the airlock.
There is no hesitation here. The prime directive could just have one word on a piece of paper:
Survive
That is cool. In the official universe, if you had a mission that took you to a world controlled by the Klingon Empire, you would carefully fly in, perhaps using stealth, try to get the mission done with a minimum of violence, and negotiate if you are found.
In the Star Fleet Universe, you put together a small fleet of ships and roll in like this was a World War II battleship engagement - load the photon torpedoes and prepare to broadside! For people expecting the social commentary and logical reasoning of the TV show, you better be prepared for a shock. But then again, it is that D&D-style freedom where it is okay to go in attacking the bad guys and ask questions later. That gives this universe accessibility that time I feel is missing from official Trek.
Klingon ship in a Federation system? You can run combat and have fun with the ships and technology without that feeling, "Should we have talked first?" In that sense, the Star Fleet Universe is NOT really Trek, but more like the Battletech version.
Roleplaying in the Star Fleet Universe is a completely different thing, and the races as well took off in an entirely new and cool direction. You have tiger-people, raccoon people, dolphin people, insect aliens, and really all sorts of wild and cool alien races that give you that "big universe" feeling. It is also heavily wargame-influenced, so you have that same freedom of action in ground engagements. If an enemy faction beams down, you could talk it over, but you likely won't get punished if you just start firing phasers.
Every side sees the other as "the evil space orcs" and that is cool.
And in my experience, if you have a more war-focused universe, the roleplaying gets a lot better since players will be trying to figure out ways around using violence since that is the smart thing to do. But there will be times it is unavoidable, and that "battle readiness 10" button is going to be pressed, and it is hex-combat time again.
That said, I play both Star Trek Adventures and the Star Fleet games because more Trek is always better. I love the interpersonal and thinking-based adventures of the official RPG, and I love the Battletech-style tactical battles (and wargame universe) of Star Fleet.
No comments:
Post a Comment