FASA Trek RPG Brought into 2018

[Tau Ceti III]

I'm not sure if this post would be more at home in the Art or Gaming forums, as it is equal parts about the old FASA Star Trek RPG, computer graphics, computer programming, 3D art, and even a little carpentry :-)

Many years ago I gamemastered the old FASA Trek RPG with friends in college, and recently my son had found the old books and manuals and wanted to play.

After a BUNCH of prep-work, we have started a campaign with a group of friends, but I couldn't resist bring the 1980's RPG into the 21st century with some computer aids :

First off, I ditched the old FASA galaxy maps with a marriage of Hipparcos real world star data with the "Star Trek Star Charts" and "Stellar Cartography" maps, regressed the maps to the 23rd century, and came up with this:

During gameplay, rather than moving cardboard ship counters on a starfield playing mat, I have a digital gamemap which takes care of the pesky details of ship ranges and firing charts automatically:

Another shot near a starbase:

And finally, the table I built for making this all come together during a game session: (forgive the mess, we had just had a game)

 

[Lord Other]

What software are you utilizing for the interface? Or is it homebrew? If you don't mind me asking.

 

[blssdwlf]

This is above and beyond for a RPG Nicely done.

 

[Tau Ceti III]

What software are you utilizing for the interface? Or is it homebrew? If you don't mind me asking.

It's homebrew, using OGRE for the 3D graphic parts

 

[Kor]

That's really cool.
I'm not familiar with the details of the game. I vaguely remember seeing it in hobby stores when I was a kid.
Is there any planet-side action?

Kor

 

[Tau Ceti III]

That's really cool.
I'm not familiar with the details of the game. I vaguely remember seeing it in hobby stores when I was a kid.
Is there any planet-side action?

Kor

Sure, while onboard ship or planetside it plays like other RPG's, each player character has a set of attributes and skills that determine their actions in combat, interacting with NPCs, encountering aliens etc.

Those character attributes are also used during starship combat for targeting weapons, repairing engines or shields, scanning opposing ships and so forth

 

[Psion]

This is awesome! Back in the 90s I helped with an effort to transition the FASA game system over to GURPS and wrote sections with updated rules for medicine, sensors, and tricorders. In 2001 through 2003, I ran my last GURPS Star Trek campaign and decided to put the campaign on hiatus while I revised the character creation system and made ship combat more intuitive. Around that time, I also started work on a new game table to support my game. The design process went through many iterations and culminated on something similar to this design:

Sadly, I never did more than purchase the MDF, some linear actuators, and a few other components for the table before life intervened and all these projects ground to a halt. My friends still joke with me about the next Star Trek game.

Clearly, part of my problem was over-engineering solutions. The map surface was going to use paper-covered with sheets of acrylic, but we also discussed using a top-down HD projector. In those days, those were big, clunky, and expensive, so I considered that a nice touch, but not a must-have.

Anyway, kudos for giving your players such a comfortable environment for your game! It seems to be mostly two-dimensional, do you make any allowance for three dimensional maneuvering?

 

[Tau Ceti III]

This is awesome! Back in the 90s I helped with an effort to transition the FASA game system over to GURPS and wrote sections with updated rules for medicine, sensors, and tricorders. In 2001 through 2003, I ran my last GURPS Star Trek campaign and decided to put the campaign on hiatus while I revised the character creation system and made ship combat more intuitive. Around that time, I also started work on a new game table to support my game. The design process went through many iterations and culminated on something similar to this design:

Sadly, I never did more than purchase the MDF, some linear actuators, and a few other components for the table before life intervened and all these projects ground to a halt. My friends still joke with me about the next Star Trek game.

Clearly, part of my problem was over-engineering solutions. The map surface was going to use paper-covered with sheets of acrylic, but we also discussed using a top-down HD projector. In those days, those were big, clunky, and expensive, so I considered that a nice touch, but not a must-have.

Anyway, kudos for giving your players such a comfortable environment for your game! It seems to be mostly two-dimensional, do you make any allowance for three dimensional maneuvering?

That's really cool !

Yes, my setup does allow for 3D combat, although you do have to tweak the FASA rules a bit as there are only six shields surrounding a ship in 2D.

In this pic, you can see a Miranda class ship diving down from above on a couple of Klingons:

 

[Kaiser]

I dont see any pics right now =/

 

[blssdwlf]

I see, you have a Z-axis level button. Is it still turn-based and did you keep the hex map or let it be free maneuvering?

That's really cool !

Yes, my setup does allow for 3D combat, although you do have to tweak the FASA rules a bit as there are only six shields surrounding a ship in 2D.

In this pic, you can see a Miranda class ship diving down from above on a couple of Klingons:

 

[Tau Ceti III]

I see, you have a Z-axis level button. Is it still turn-based and did you keep the hex map or let it be free maneuvering?

It is still turn based during ship combat, what I do is "freeze" time between movement phases. In between each phase the animations for movement, weapons fire and other special effects happen for 5 seconds before time freezes again. Attached is the entire Game Master's control panel to give you some idea of how this works:

The hexes are still there, sort of, as that is what defines shield arcs and distances, but making them visible was more distracting that what it was worth.

 

[blssdwlf]

It is still turn based during ship combat, what I do is "freeze" time between movement phases. In between each phase the animations for movement, weapons fire and other special effects happen for 5 seconds before time freezes again. Attached is the entire Game Master's control panel to give you some idea of how this works:

The hexes are still there, sort of, as that is what defines shield arcs and distances, but making them visible was more distracting that what it was worth.

Very cool Tau Ceti III. Seems very flexible and OMG - you can just blow them up with the red "Explode" button
I'm feeling pretty nostalgic now. Need to go pull out the old rulebooks and SSDs to play with my son.

 

[publiusr]

Now for some SFB vs FASA battles