One of the first role-playing games that I started playing after Dungeons and Dragons was the Star Trek Role-Playing Game by FASA. Having been a Star Trek fan for several years, it was a natural that I would have been attracted to this game. The Game Master who ran my first campaign quickly discovered that my encyclopedic knowledge of Star Trek would keep him on his toes. Even some of the later Star Trek RPG sessions with other rulesets had the Game Master quickly pulling out his phone and checking Memory-Alpha (the Star Trek fan Wikipedia website) to confirm the details of what I had just laid out on the table.
This genre of games is probably the largest recipient of my game writing. My name is listed in the credits for two fan publications (two fan made starship recognition manuals, one for the Gorn and another for the Orions). Plus with the Starship Construction Manual by FASA, I had converted several starships found in different tech manuals and blueprints for use in the Star Trek Starship Combat Simulator by FASA. I have found the old book I had these stored in and I will be scanning them and posting them online soon. I still want to create home-brewed stats for the various races, planets, ships and equipment seen in the Star Trek expanded universe (novels, comics, video games, etc.) This site will be used to present these items as they become available.
–Star Trek The Role Playing Game–
There were two editions of this game by FASA. The first edition was accepted by Paramount after other proposals for a role-playing system focused too much on combat and not exploring. In a conversation I had with one of the original designers, he confirmed that some of the details that was used to flesh out the game came from fandom lore. There is also a connection between the FASA materials and the Klingon novel by John M. Ford called The Final Reflection. I thought this was appropriate as information from Star Trek The Role Play Game ended up in the show and other published materials. Details ended up in episodes from The Next Generation to Discovery. Even as late as 2020 ships from the FASA game made it into Star Trek comics by IDW. Several sourcebooks came out during the print run of the game covering several movies and other corners of the Star Trek universe. There were options for Starfleet Intelligence, Klingons, Orions, Romulans and a merchant based campaign. The game was still in publication when The Next Generation started. While this provided more details that could be used in gaming there were also licensing issues that had popped up and eventually FASA lost the license. There were several books that had been written, but never published. If I could obtain a copy of these books, I would be a very happy man. Fans of this game still continue to produce their own home-brewed material for this system. I still have memories of this game when we ended up in the Mirror Universe trying to find our way back.
–Star Trek Roleplaying Game–
It wasn’t until 1998 before another licensed game for the Trek universe was released. Last Unicorn Games (LUG) first published Star Trek: The Next Generation core game book. Quickly afterwards they released core books for The Original Series and Deep Space Nine. LUG was able to print a wide variety of source books for campaigns centered around Starfleet Academy, Romulans, Rogues, Starfleet Intelligence and even a holodeck guide. I was impressed with how many books the company came out with before they were purchased by Wizards of the Coast and lost the license. The sudden loss also meant that there were several unreleased books. Some of the unreleased material made it out onto the web to join a host of fan-made home-brewed sourcebooks which can still be found at Memory Icon.
–Star Trek Roleplaying Game–
After a successful run with the Star Trek Collectable Card Game, Decipher was the next company to pick up the RPG license and quickly did so after LUG was bought out. Some of the LUG employees moved over to help with this new game. The Players Guide covered everything from The Original Series to Voyager. As the new books came out, Star Trek: Enterprise was released so material from that series made it’s way into future books. There were only six hardbound books, a GM’s screen and two books released on PDF before the license was pulled. There were plans for other books that never saw the light of day. I had the opportunity to play in a one-shot game with one of the game designers at a convention. I also ran a campaign with members of my Star Trek fan club (Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet) as players. I’ll have to see if I can find the notes and polish them up for publication. The Seventh Fleet also put together a campaign guide thanks to several volunteers. There are several fan-made home-brewed sourcebooks and a long-running fanzine called Beyond the Final Frontier.
My page of Decipher material
–Star Trek Adventures–
The latest licensed Star Trek RPG is Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius (I still don’t know if I’m pronouncing that name correctly when I say it). This 2d20 system is a little bit different than past systems and I’m looking forward to trying it out. I’ve heard other players tell me that this system is the most compatible with the show that they have ever tried. In the three years since the game has been released there have been quite a few books published which has expanded the game including a new Klingon book which I’m hearing rave reviews for. As with the other systems, several fan sites have popped up giving more home-brewed material for players and game-masters to use. One of these is Continuing Mission.
My page of Modiphius material
–Other Star Trek Systems–
There have been other published RPGs that have been inspired by the Star Trek universe. Some were official, some were semi-official and some were Star Trek with the serial numbers filed off. I’ve been trying to locate and study as many of these games as possible. A few have been very elusive in trying to track down legal copies. I will be talking about them soon in another page and, if inspired, creating homebrews for them.