marie@nmtvax.UUCP (07/30/84)
INVITATION AND INTRODUCTION TO THE STAR TREK ROLE PLAYING PLAY BY
MAIL GAME
We are starting to organize a Star Trek Role Playing Play By
Mail Game here at Tech. An introduction to the game follows. If
you are interested please respond to this account.
STAR TREK: The Role-Playing Game is not a standard family
board game; it doesn't feature a board around which players move
playing pieces, with dice rolls determining movement and random
events. This game uses a board (at times), dice, and playing
pieces, but these are used differently than in standard board
games.
Those familiar with the popular pastime of role-playing
games (RPG for short) need not continue reading this section,
which describes the procedures for this type of game. Experi-
enced players may wish to review the mini-glossary at the end of
this section before continuing or can move on to the system over-
view. Those unfamiliar with how role-playing games are organized
and played should read on.
Role-playing games (RPG's) differ in a number of ways from
boardgames or card games. In an RPG the rules define situations
and conditions in a fictional world of the players' choosing.
Many RPG's derive from the fictional worlds of myth, such as
Camelot of the LEGENDS OF THE KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE; or from
the universes of heroic fantasy such as Professor J. R. R.
Tolkien's Middle Earth from his LORD OF THE RINGS series of
books. Other fictional settings include the swashbuckling era of
the Three Musketeers, the ingenious combat of World War II, comic
book worlds populated by superheroes, and many others.
The object of role-playing games is to follow the rules in
establishing a character who might have lived in the fictional
world being used and to play that character during the game, much
as an actor plays a role on stage or in the movies. To succeed
in the game, one must think like the character would think and
react to situations just as that character would, inhabiting that
fictional world. Unlike most plays or movies, however, there are
no set lines and characters don't know what will happen until it
occurs. RPG's are like improvisational theater in this regard.
The situations characters will encounter are set up in advance by
a referee, known as a gamemaster, who uses the rules to structure
the adventure situations. The gamemaster does not play a specif-
ic character himself, but sets up the adventure and plays any
people or animals met by the characters in the fictional world.
There are no set winners or losers in a role-playing game.
Instead of competing with each other, players cooperate toward
common goals. As they meet challenges set by the gamemaster and
overcome them, they learn new skills and become better at what
they do. The gamemaster's job is therefore not to constantly
block the player's progress, but rather to set up challenging si-
tuations. Within the framework of the rules, the gamemaster must
provide enough challenge to make the game interesting, but not
boring and frustrating.
In this game you will play characters who are officers and
crew of a spacecraft of the United Federation of Planets. The
setting is the rich fictional universe of STAR TREK, television's
most popular science fiction series.
During three seasons on the air, the STAR TREK television
series created a fascinating universe of science fiction adven-
ture that captured the imagination of its viewers in a way no
television series before or since can rival. Despite the fact
that it has not appeared on network television since 1969 (except
for an all-too-brief revival as an animated cartoon series in
1973-74), STAR TREK is more alive in the hearts, minds and imagi-
nation of its fans than ever before. The series has spawned two
feature motion pictures, several series of popular novels, toys,
collectibles, and the most well-organized and devoted fan organi-
zation in the history of creative endeavor.
In this game, players are able to take the role of Captain
James Kirk, Science Officer Spock, Lt. Uhura, and any of the oth-
er familiar characters from the series. If you prefer, you may
create new characters to play aboard the famous USS ENTERPRISE,
or on any other Star Fleet vessel.
The basic game rules provide for all characters to be Star
Fleet officers. In later expansions to these rules, material
will be provided for creating other types of player-controlled
characters, including Klingons and Romulans -- STAR TREK vil-
lains! For now, such Bad Guys and other non-starfleet individu-
als will be played by the gamemaster as non-player characters
(NPCs).
Star Fleet officers s player characters may be human beings
like Kirk and Dr. McCoy, Vulcans like those of Spock's home
world, or members of ny of four other major United Federation of
Planets cultures. Humans tend to be more numerous in Star Fleet
and have some advantages in play because they are familiar.
Playing an alien character can be extremely rewarding, however,
because it encourages players to develop a whole new way of
thinking and acting within the game.
Game characters have various strengths and weaknesses de-
fined by the rules, the gamemaster and the players themselves.
Within personal limitations they try to accomplish tasks set
forth by the gamemaster as part of Star Fleet's mission to "ex-
plore strange new worlds...seek out new life and new
civilizations...and to boldly go where no man has gone before!"
When combat between players and non-player characters is
called for, it is done on Star Ship deck plans, in buildings or
on the surfaces of alien worlds, as drawn up by the Gamemaster on
a grid of squares. The characters are represented by cardboard
markers (or metal miniature figures, if players have them) which
are moved about the board according to the rules to simulate com-
bat. A character can be injured (or rarely, killed outright) in
such combat. (Fortunately, in a game, such a calamity only
results in developing a new character for the player!)
Combat between Star Ships is simulated in this game as well,
using a unique system of Starship control consoles. Unlike many
science fiction games, this Starship combat system involves all
the players in the action, recalling the exciting scenes on board
the bridge of the Enterprise in episodes of the STAR TREK TV
Series!
Players during a game will try to take on the personality of
their favorite STAR TREK character, or develop a new character's
personality in interesting ways. The adventure possibilities are
as unlimited as the Universe itself with STAR TREK: The Role-
Playing Game.
Dave Spicer
nmtvax!marie