Star Trek:
The Role Playing Game

Deluxe Limited Edition

Reviewed by Daniel Greenberg

By Jordan K, Weisman, Wm. John Wheeler, Michael P Bledsoe, Forest Brown, L. Ross Babcock III, Guy W. McLimore Jr., Greg K Poehleim, David E. Tepool, and Fantasimulations Associates.
FASA Corp., PO Box 6930, Chicago, IL 60680
Catalog Number: 2001
Price: $25.00
Release Date: November, 1984
Complexity: Beginner
Solitaire Suitability: None
Rating: ***1/2

Star Trek: The Role Playing Game is a faithful translation of the Star Trek phenomenon to role-playing game format. The rules make up a complete system, which provides a simple set of game mechanics and a reasonably comprehensive guide to the Star Trek universe. There are rules for playing both the crew of the Enterprise and creating new Star Fleet Officers for adventure in the "final frontier"

This boxed, limited edition contains a rewritten version of the first edition rules, the Star Trek III Starship Combat Game, USS Enterprise and Klingon Battlecruiser Deckplans, a book of adventures, other supplementary materials, and two dice. The game nicely features a Star Trek cover painting by Rowena, and contains many photos from the television show along with high quality original art.

There are three booklets in the role-playing game: the Star Fleet Officers Manual which contains the character generation system, the skills system, and most of the game mechanics; the Cadet Sourcebook, a reference work detailing Star Trek races, equipment, and terminology; and a Game Operations Manual which provides the Gamemaster with rules for planetary design and exploration, It also gives helpful advice on creating exciting scenarios and large-scale campaigns.

The Starship Combat Game contains five booklets: a simple, ready-to-use scenario; the basic game; advanced rules; a Starship Data Book; and a star-field hex grid with hill color counters. The deckplans are fifteen sheets of meticulously drafted ship interiors. The Adventure Book contains three medium-length scenarios and two ship recognition manuals: Constitution Class Heavy Cruiser and Klingon D-7 Class Heavy Cruiser

The game is well-written and organized, and captures the flavor of the original Star Trek adventures. Its extensive glossaries, multiple indexes, and copious cross-references make it one of the clearest games on the market. The setup is so simple that a beginner can play without much confusion. Also, the game has a sufficiently different approach from other science fiction games to guarantee interest by experienced gamers. It focuses on combat, while providing rules for exploration and discovery. This is the heart of the Star Trek television series, and the designers of the role playing game have made the seeking out of "new life and new civilizations" a major aspect of the game. While the starship combat is fun, it is the exploration that proved the most satisfying, and makes the game worth replaying.

The game begins with an introduction to roleplaying games. It is not a comprehensive treatment of the subject, but does a good job of explaining some of the trickier concepts. Apparently, the designers hope to appeal to non-gamers who are interested in Star Trek. The next section involves designing a character, and can be skipped entirely by a player intent on running an established member of the Enterprise. The character creation section is very simple to use primarily because all information is sequentially explained in the order in which the player will use it.

This may not sound like an important concern, but too many games have been made frustrating or unplayable by the lack of a competent organization system. Copies of the character sheet, with the relevant portion highlighted, are provided for clarity And just to make sure it all makes sense, a seven-page story about a Star Fleet officer illustrates the entire process, and helps beginners make the connection between printed rules and the operation of a character.

The mechanics in this section of the officers manual are a statistics and skill system, and a combat and movement system. The statistics system is a serviceable reworking of Strength, Endurance, Intellect, Dexterity, Charisma, Luck and Psionic Potential. The skill system is comprehensive, but not elaborate. Examples of possible applications are given in each skill description.

Unlike many roleplaying games, characters in Star Trek begin with a large number of skills. They even get the chance to be a recognized authority in a particular field. This, however, raises the problem of the player with no knowledge of diplomacy or tactics trying to run a character who is highly skilled in both. Details on skills, besides those related to combat, are not well documented. For instance, some skills are provided for equipment repair, but no real rules are given on the time required for repairs.

The combat system is not too complex, but can handle a lot of specialized and independent actions. One problem with the tactical movement system is that it requires a large, blank grid map with half-inch squares, but no such map is included.

The information given on the Star Trek universe is not exhaustive enough for large-scale campaigns, but is enough for scenarios. Hopefully, information packs from FASA will remedy this problem.

The Gamemaster information book is the heart of the game. it contains a flexible alien world and character generation system, complete with sociopolitical and cultural attitude indexes. The system is quite simple and can generate fairly complex worlds. This section also gives invaluable advice on effective gamemastering techniques such as detail, building excitement, and creating campaigns.

Unfortunately, these sections are extremely short. Fully half the Game Operations book is taken up with charts from the other books, and a slightly altered version of character generation. While a good idea to have the same information provided from the Gamemasters perspective, it should not be there at the expense of more valuable information. The best thing a Star Trek Gamemaster can do is watch for the supplements released by FASA.

Trekkers who get the game will appreciate the game for its open-endedness. Hard-core wargamers may not like its scarcity of rules, but they will like the efficiency of the ones that are there. Role-players will find the potential for unique characters appealing. However, the skill system needs more detailed information on non-combat skills. The tactical movement system requires a grid map not provided. Finally, some important GM information on technique and the Star Trek universe is inadequate.

Although the game is, overall, faithful to the spirit of the television shows, it does have some problems.

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© Copyright 1999 by Dana Lombardy.
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