Starfleet Voyages
Encyclopedia
Starfleet Voyages is a spacefaring science-fiction adventure role-playing game
of planetary exploration based on, but not limited to, the Star Trek
television series.
The game was written by Michael Scott, and published by Terra Games Co in 1982, after Heritage USA (who sold an earlier Star Trek RPG) ceased operations. The game was sold in a 1" thick box containing an 8" × 11" 74-page typewriter-set rulesbook (with errata sheets), character and spaceship data/record sheets, two 8" × 11" light cardstock template sheets for a starship combat game, and dice.
. Most player characters were assumed to be members of Star Fleet
, engaged in planetary exploration missions. They typically held senior posts on a starship bridge, and visited alien planets as part of landing parties.
For the most part, the game's rules were set in the original TV series era (a.d. 2260s) and Star Trek: The Animated Series
TV series. Starfleet Voyages was an effort to capitalize on the renewed interest in Star Trek adventure gaming that's followed Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
, while avoiding the high licensing fees associated with any "official" Star Trek game.
The rulesbook contained two rules sets; the adventures for individuals were covered in the adventure game rules called "The Landing Party," and the starship conflict rules were explained in the "Starflight" section.
"The Landing Party" contains rules for adventures by the starship crew who have left the spaceship to explore the surface of an unexplored and usually primitive planet. There were two phases to "The Landing Party," called the Basic and Advanced games.
When generating a character a player rolls 3D6 for Strength, Dexterity, Luck, Mentality, Charisma, and Constitution. Size equals a height of 175 cm modified by the roll of a D4 and a D10. Finally Movement was equal to 10m, modified up or down by Size, Strength, and the encumbrance of any equipment carried.
Individual combat in this game revolves around the modified roll of a six-sided die. In hand-to-hand fighting, each combatant rolls D6, adding or subtracting from the roll a number based on personal characteristics and combat skill to hit the enemy, who in turn rolls a similarly modified D6 in defense. Damage was equal to the remainder of the attack roll minus the defense roll, if it was positive. Ranged weapon combat was similar, with the attacker rolling a number based on dexterity to hit, and the defender rolling to dodge the shot.
Some non-human races and 1% of all humans and aliens have powers, which were treated in expanded detail. A given player-character, if psionic at all, might have one power, such as telepathy, recognition, or mind control.
The next section listed Familiar Lifeforms: composed of intelligent species with many of them dangerous and hostile. The list concluded with a set of randomly entered tables for the creation of new monsters with which to entertain the players.
Next the equipment listing contained variations on the devices already noted in the basic rules equipment section. There were lots of weapons, some protective devices, and a few gadgets such as belt lights, chronometers, and advanced tricorders.
Starfleet life was described mostly in terms of division and ranks. The fleet is divided into Command, Sciences, and Services divisions - a character is usually assigned to one of these when a character rolls to find the starting rank for a new character. This rank may be anywhere from Technician III to Captain. Characters may have specific skills in the operation of a starship - there were 21 skills, ranging from military weaponry to operation of naval technical equipment. In a campaign, characters may study to improve existing skills or gain more advanced ones.
Finally, "The Landing Party" concluded with a more complete combat system that included a large number of possible situational modifiers and an extensive weapons effects list. There was also a list of possible sources for further scenarios, and a bibliography of then existing Star Trek-related book titles.
Conflict occurred when the Federation's ships met those of a hostile non-human race. Each starfaring race may use only certain specific ship designs, and these were rated for power, speed capability, defensive screens, and weapons. The ship player must allocate the output of the ship's power source to those ship functions deemed most useful at the given moment. There is usually not enough power to move at top speed with full defensive screens while shooting every weapon on board. When warships shoot weapons, the players roll percentile dice and modify the results to determine damage. Damage varies with the type of weapon involved, and is assigned to specific systems on the target spaceships. There was no way for individual characters, no matter how well skilled (Sorry Scotty), to influence the performance of their starship in a space battle.
Starfleet Voyages brought back into print the original Heritage Star Trek RPG (Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier) rules. Nearly every piece of equipment, weapon, ship, race or creature from the regular and animated series is covered at least briefly, with updates in this edition from the movies (with the obvious exceptions of V'ger and the Genesis Device) - more than were covered in FASA's official Star Trek RPG. Another thing Starfleet Voyages had that the FASA set doesn't was a system for determining interstellar distances for the purpose of in-flight time.
The game suffered from very poor production. The rules were reproduced from typewritten copy, with a fair amount of typographical errors. The paper which the rules and character and ship data sheets were printed on appeared to be a high-grade newsprint. The ship silhouettes on the templates were crudely printed. The worst flaw in the Starfleet Voyages rules concerned a lack of explanation for the generation of a character's Hand-to-Hand class. A half-sentence insert on Hand-to-Hand class only served to confuse the issue further.
Finally, the adventures were not set in a broader civilized context; the players were part of the space navy facing an endless series of planetary exploration scenarios.
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
of planetary exploration based on, but not limited to, the Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
television series.
The game was written by Michael Scott, and published by Terra Games Co in 1982, after Heritage USA (who sold an earlier Star Trek RPG) ceased operations. The game was sold in a 1" thick box containing an 8" × 11" 74-page typewriter-set rulesbook (with errata sheets), character and spaceship data/record sheets, two 8" × 11" light cardstock template sheets for a starship combat game, and dice.
Setting
Starfleet Voyages was principally set on unexplored planets within the United Federation of PlanetsUnited Federation of Planets
The United Federation of Planets, also known as "The Federation" is a fictional interplanetary federal republic depicted in the Star Trek television series and motion pictures...
. Most player characters were assumed to be members of Star Fleet
Starfleet
In the fictional universe of Star Trek, Starfleet or the Federation Starfleet is the deep-space exploratory, peacekeeping and military service maintained by the United Federation of Planets . It is the principal means by which the Federation conducts its exploration, defense, diplomacy and research...
, engaged in planetary exploration missions. They typically held senior posts on a starship bridge, and visited alien planets as part of landing parties.
For the most part, the game's rules were set in the original TV series era (a.d. 2260s) and Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Animated Series
Star Trek: The Animated Series is an animated science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe following the events of Star Trek: The Original Series of the 1960s...
TV series. Starfleet Voyages was an effort to capitalize on the renewed interest in Star Trek adventure gaming that's followed Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures. The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T...
, while avoiding the high licensing fees associated with any "official" Star Trek game.
Core Rules
The core rules were a revised version of the earlier Heritage Star Trek RPG (Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier), with extra material on skills, Star Fleet organization, ranks and uniforms, plus updates from the two movies, but with specific character references omitted to produce a generic design that included terms like "Vulcan Science Officer", "Klingon Soldier", but left in Trek-specific terms like Phaser and Warp Drive (though the Klingon, Romulan and Kzinti sample characters retained their original names). The section on starflight seemed to be a modification of Gamescience's Star Fleet Battle Manual with some adaptations from Gamescience's Star Patrol for system and planetary data generation.The rulesbook contained two rules sets; the adventures for individuals were covered in the adventure game rules called "The Landing Party," and the starship conflict rules were explained in the "Starflight" section.
"The Landing Party" contains rules for adventures by the starship crew who have left the spaceship to explore the surface of an unexplored and usually primitive planet. There were two phases to "The Landing Party," called the Basic and Advanced games.
The Basic Game
The Basic Game covers the mechanics of individual player Character Generation, Learning which means coming to understand new phenomena as they were presented by the Mission Master (Starfleet Voyages terminology for the GM), Psionics, Saving Rolls, the Transporter, Combat Rules, Movement, Hand-to-Hand and Ranged combat, Recordkeeping, and a simplified characteristic system for generating NPC monster stats. The section concludes with a basic equipment list and a scenario intended to be used with a set of pre-generated characters. These include the captain of a starship, his fellow bridge officers, and other crew members who have crash-landed their shuttle on a mysterious planet. They must devise a means of repairing their ship to take off again and rejoin their spaceship.The Advanced Game
The Advanced Game began with another scenario which has the intrepid crew members and officers investigate an ancient base of the long-gone Slaver Empire. Unbeknownst to them the base is also being explored by a crew of hostile contemporary aliens. The scenario was followed by the supporting advanced rules, which begin with character generation rules for rolling up Federation Starfleet crew characters.When generating a character a player rolls 3D6 for Strength, Dexterity, Luck, Mentality, Charisma, and Constitution. Size equals a height of 175 cm modified by the roll of a D4 and a D10. Finally Movement was equal to 10m, modified up or down by Size, Strength, and the encumbrance of any equipment carried.
Individual combat in this game revolves around the modified roll of a six-sided die. In hand-to-hand fighting, each combatant rolls D6, adding or subtracting from the roll a number based on personal characteristics and combat skill to hit the enemy, who in turn rolls a similarly modified D6 in defense. Damage was equal to the remainder of the attack roll minus the defense roll, if it was positive. Ranged weapon combat was similar, with the attacker rolling a number based on dexterity to hit, and the defender rolling to dodge the shot.
Some non-human races and 1% of all humans and aliens have powers, which were treated in expanded detail. A given player-character, if psionic at all, might have one power, such as telepathy, recognition, or mind control.
The next section listed Familiar Lifeforms: composed of intelligent species with many of them dangerous and hostile. The list concluded with a set of randomly entered tables for the creation of new monsters with which to entertain the players.
Next the equipment listing contained variations on the devices already noted in the basic rules equipment section. There were lots of weapons, some protective devices, and a few gadgets such as belt lights, chronometers, and advanced tricorders.
Starfleet life was described mostly in terms of division and ranks. The fleet is divided into Command, Sciences, and Services divisions - a character is usually assigned to one of these when a character rolls to find the starting rank for a new character. This rank may be anywhere from Technician III to Captain. Characters may have specific skills in the operation of a starship - there were 21 skills, ranging from military weaponry to operation of naval technical equipment. In a campaign, characters may study to improve existing skills or gain more advanced ones.
Finally, "The Landing Party" concluded with a more complete combat system that included a large number of possible situational modifiers and an extensive weapons effects list. There was also a list of possible sources for further scenarios, and a bibliography of then existing Star Trek-related book titles.
Star Ship Rules
"Starflight" was a simple game of starship conflict. Since the "Landing Party" characters must travel to strange planets to have adventures, and since travel (not to mention many of the adventures) involve contact with potentially hostile nonhuman groups, these rules were a necessary part of the campaign. The gamemaster was expected to generate a random star-map on graph paper, using three-dimensional coordinates. Given the map, the distances between all the different systems were calculated by the application of the Pythagorean Theorem, the type of star and number of planets and their type was rolled or assigned, and one star was assigned as an advanced base for the exploring Federation ships.Conflict occurred when the Federation's ships met those of a hostile non-human race. Each starfaring race may use only certain specific ship designs, and these were rated for power, speed capability, defensive screens, and weapons. The ship player must allocate the output of the ship's power source to those ship functions deemed most useful at the given moment. There is usually not enough power to move at top speed with full defensive screens while shooting every weapon on board. When warships shoot weapons, the players roll percentile dice and modify the results to determine damage. Damage varies with the type of weapon involved, and is assigned to specific systems on the target spaceships. There was no way for individual characters, no matter how well skilled (Sorry Scotty), to influence the performance of their starship in a space battle.
Limitations and Strengths
Starfleet Voyages was a simple adventure game mimicking the action of the classic TV space operas like Star Trek, and Battlestar Galactica. The rules adequately mimic the restricted plot elements found in the genre, and served as the framework for an introductory adventure gaming campaign, especially among science-fiction fans.Starfleet Voyages brought back into print the original Heritage Star Trek RPG (Star Trek: Adventure Gaming in the Final Frontier) rules. Nearly every piece of equipment, weapon, ship, race or creature from the regular and animated series is covered at least briefly, with updates in this edition from the movies (with the obvious exceptions of V'ger and the Genesis Device) - more than were covered in FASA's official Star Trek RPG. Another thing Starfleet Voyages had that the FASA set doesn't was a system for determining interstellar distances for the purpose of in-flight time.
The game suffered from very poor production. The rules were reproduced from typewritten copy, with a fair amount of typographical errors. The paper which the rules and character and ship data sheets were printed on appeared to be a high-grade newsprint. The ship silhouettes on the templates were crudely printed. The worst flaw in the Starfleet Voyages rules concerned a lack of explanation for the generation of a character's Hand-to-Hand class. A half-sentence insert on Hand-to-Hand class only served to confuse the issue further.
Finally, the adventures were not set in a broader civilized context; the players were part of the space navy facing an endless series of planetary exploration scenarios.
Also Known As
"The designer of Starfleet Voyages Michael Scott is a pseudonym of Michael Scott Kurtick, designer of the games StarFleet Battle Manual and Star Patrol" (Barton 34).External links
- An Encyclopedia of Role-playing Games
- Different Worlds Magazine of Adventure Role-Playing Games
- Ferengi Blue Room Community of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings Roleplayers
- The Courier: America’s foremost Miniature Wargaming Magazine Presents A Timeline of the Historical Miniatures Wargaming Hobby by Robert Beattie