Wherein we'll catch.......

[C57D]

For over thirty years I have enjoyed writing and running roleplaying games, across a variety of genres. And my favourite genre is TOS. In this players take on the the roles of Star Fleet officers encountering the mysteries, dangers and wonders of deep space.
Normally I play with TOS fans, but these days they are getting a little thin on the ground!
So, I wondered which TOS episodes best epitomise the TOS spirit and atmosphere and so can act as a primer for new players. Whether those who are ST fans but new to TOS, or even those just totally new to ST altogether.
The themes of exploration curiosity, wide open wild frontier, hands on, can do, seat of your pants, courage, humanity improved but still with faults.
Which TOS episodes would you suggest?

 

[johnnybear]

Balance of Terror, Errand of Mercy and any other Klingon/Romulan story where you could use the Playmates Trek spaceships!
JB

 

[Timo]

"Man Trap" and "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" are both great for the basic premise:

- Our heroes are not wild adventurers, but somber and seasoned space workers who just routinely check on expeditions at the edge of the unknown - and still can't help getting caught in fantastic events.
- Exotic environments offer dangers of their own, but this is nothing compared to the real, hidden danger.
- Ancient cultures have left behind stuff too hot to handle.
- The heroes need both their wits and their classic best technology (stun guns, sensors, communications gear, transporters) in order to prevail.

They just feature precious little actual space action, even though an underlying threat here is that the planetside evil might escape on the hero starship to spread terror to the galaxy. Perhaps the gameplay should allow for the evil to do exactly that, for the extra action? That is, to get that one step further in their dastardly plans, not just boarding the hero ship but actually either taking control or clandestinely getting a free ride to another location where the action can continue?

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C57D]

Balance of Terror, Errand of Mercy and any other Klingon/Romulan story where you could use the Playmates Trek spaceships!
JB

Sounds like fun!
But my favourites are my full deckplans (to one" to ten' miniature scale) of the Connie/Starship class and Klingon D7.
The Starship class saucer is some 48" in diameter!

 

[Timo]

Indoors adventures with the help of those? Well, "The Enterprise Incident" is fun for navigating the minefield that is the Klingon/Romulan ship interior! And you need to catch the saboteur/assassin in "Elaan of Troyius" or "Journey to Babel". Indeed, while our heroes seldom give outsiders free roam of their precious starship, impostors and infiltrators are the bread and butter of TOS bottle shows.

But to combine the two...? Well, if infiltrating a Romulan ship worked once, no reason it couldn't be a plot element a second time, with a different set of heroes and villains. Too bad the blueprints (if I understood you correctly) are only half the size required for using LEGO minifigures.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[C57D]

Timo I love your ideas, thank you. Apologies for being imprecise, but my deckplans are at the scale of one inch on the plans equals ten feet on the "real" ship. Humans are around 15-18mm high. Published by FASA in the 80's for their STTRPG. I believe that they are adaptations of some earlier smaller scale plans. For figures there are plenty of commercial figures out there that can be adapted to TOS-alikes.

 

[C57D]

I an toying with a totally unexplored sector between UFP and Romulans, set at one of the ends of the old NZ. And since being outside the NZ, the two sides can confront each other without NZ ramifications.
Our heroes start to explore and survey and come across similar species on widely seperated worlds. Even a very similar sentient race on worlds light years apart. Then find the wreckage from an ancient interstellar war. Find an advanced species destroyed themselves in civil war. But before, they seeded certain totem hunt animals on preserves all over their empire. One of which just happens to be sentient! So natives already know of visitors from the stars but with a VERY negative opinion of them!

 

[2takesfrakes]

"The Corbomite Maneuver"

It deals with The Human Condition ... our own Human weaknesses, and the drive that compels us to overcome them.

 

[Marsden]

The Devil In The Dark. The monster turns out to be us, put in very simplistic terms.

 

[Vger23]

Second for Corbomite Maneuver.

 

[johnnybear]

Arena tells us we can't plant our flag wherever we want! We have to check that it isn't already taken first!
JB

 

[Pauln6]

Operation Annihilate is a good one. Alien threat vs innocent life.

 

[C57D]

Some fantastic suggestions all.
Many thanks.
I particularly like the two Corbomite Maneuver suggestions. Exploration, negotation, mystery, threat, overcoming our fears, danger, quick thinking and a little humour. And things not appearing to be what they seem.
Great themes from TOS to illustrate what TOS RPG gameplay expectations should be!