“It sounds like you two need each other. I mean, think about it. Flotter, your water helps his trees grow, and Trevis, your branches shade his pond from the sun. It’s a well-known fact that the sun makes water evaporate.” Naomi- Once Upon A Time #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC
November 29 “On Earth, miners used to take canaries into the tunnels with them. If the canary didn’t die, the miners knew the air would be safe to breathe, and they could proceed.” Archer- Harbinger, Date: December 27, 2153 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 30 “I’m sure there is an answer. It simply has not yet been discovered.” Spock- The Devil in the Dark, Stardate: 3196.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 1 “Coward! Like all Starfleet! You talk and you talk, but you have no guramba.” Nausicaan “What did you say?” Picard “I said, you are a coward!” Nausicaan “That’s what I thought you said.” (hits him) Picard- Tapestry, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 2 “I monitor my gross income hourly. My hourly figures become my indicators. My indicators become my projections.” Quark- Sanctuary, Stardate: 47391.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 3 “Because without us to hate, there’d be nothing to hold them together. So the Party has built us into a threat.” Isak- Patterns of Force, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“This is Captain Kurn of the Hegh’ta. We come to defend the Empire and to follow the banner of Gowron.” Kurn- Redemption, Stardate: 44995.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“If push comes to shove, if something disastrous happens to the Federation, if we are frightened enough or desperate enough how would we react?” Dr. Bashir- Past Tense, Part I, Stardate: 48481.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Someone once said…’Don’t try to be a great man…just be a man. And let history make its own judgments.’” Riker- Star Trek: First Contact, Stardate: 50893.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 23 “Sometimes it’s a good idea to get away from being a Captain for awhile.” Janeway- Cathexis, Stardate: 48734.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Young children are sometimes frightened of the world. That doesn’t mean that their parents should let them stay in their cribs.” Barclay- The Nth Degree, Stardate: 44704.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I think you should know that there is no physical training anywhere that matches Starfleet, especially its security people.” Yar- Code of Honor, Stardate: 41235.25 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.” Khan- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Stardate: 8130.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You either live life – bruises, skinned knees and all – or you turn your back on it and start dying.” Pike- The Cage, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Do you trust me?” Gillian “Implicitly.” Kirk “Good. Large mushroom, pepperoni with extra onions and a Michelob, please.” Gillian- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Stardate: 8390.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
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Can you feel the crackle of energy in the air. A new Character Creation Challenge will soon arrive in January 2023. Swords are already being sharpened, blasters charged up and battle plans drawn. Soon the dice will roll and 31 new characters will be born.
For those of you learning about this for the first time, the Character Creation Challenge is for fans of various role playing games. You may have looked into a game or collected the books with the intention to play but never have. Or perhaps you have a favorite system that you always turn to for RPG sessions. Well the Character Creation Challenge is an event to create a new RPG character for each day in January (running parallel to the “new year, new you” theme) from what ever system(s) you choose. Once you have the character ready to play, post it on a website, blog, social media (use the hashtag #CharacterCreationChallenge) or online message boards. The forums at RPG.net was a popular forum where a lot of participants had posted their completed characters. You can find the official RPG.net forum for the 2023 challenge here.
I’ve been collecting a few new games to use in the next Character Creation Challenge. Besides picking up a few physical books at various sales and PDFs online, I also had some trades. On the RPG.net forums there is a trade board and one fan wanted my Judge Dread D20 books. He sent me several core books that I’ll be using for the next challenge. Also the creator of Bare Bones Fantasy sent me a PDF of the core book. I told him that I would be using it in this challenge as well.
I also updated the Character Creation Challenge page itself. In the past I would post links to the various blogs and sites that were participating in the challenge. I will do the same this year, but in order to keep the page itself from getting to unwieldy, I moved the links for the 2021 and 2022 challenges over to their own pages.
There was also a special graphic that was made for those who completed all 31 days in 2022. A badge of honor (bragging?) that participants could display. It was designed by my daughter who is going to college for graphic design and production art. I may bribe her again to make a graphic for the 2023 challenge winners.
If you would like to participate, email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or find me on social media/message boards and let me know where you will be posting your challenge characters at. If you are posting them on a website, I’ll add the link to my Character Creation Challenge page.
One of my most favorite books is available in the November sale of Star Trek eBooks. I’ve always enjoyed re-reading How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford. Now that I have it in eBook format, I’m going to have to re-read it again. Why is it a favorite? Just how odd the book is. I really can’t describe it, I can only recommend reading it and finding out for yourself.
Also, the two books on The Eugenics Wars by Greg Cox should really be turned into a series on Paramount+. It would be a Star Trek show without having to pay for large amounts of SFX since they are set in the 1960s to the 1990s.
All of these eBooks are available for 99 cents each. Amazon is also doing a special where you earn points for each book you buy. This can lead to free books.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of November 14th through November 20th.
November 14 “It’s called gagh. It’s a Klingon delicacy, but only when they’re alive.” T’Pol “They look like worms.” Sato “They are worms.” T’Pol- Sleeping Dogs, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 15 “I’m immortal again! Omnipotent again!” Q “Swell.” Riker- Deja Q, Stardate: 43539.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 16 “Doctor, you are a sensualist.” Spock “You bet your pointed ears I am.” Dr. McCoy- Arena, Stardate: 3045.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 17 “I’ve been working with sample specimens from a species native to Iota Geminorium IV, tribleustes ventricosus. People call them “Tribbles” for short.” Edward Larkin- The Trouble with Edward, Stardate: 1421.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekShortTreks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I am happy to see Spot, and yet I am crying. Perhaps the chip is malfunctioning.” Data “I think it’s working perfectly.” Troi- Star Trek Generations, Stardate: 48650.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“It doesn’t matter what you’re made of. What matters is who you are.” Chakotay- Projections, Stardate: 48892.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“It is not a crime to believe in yourself.” Jadzia Dax- The Quickening, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 20 “I think we’re somewhat alike, captain. Each of us cares less about our own safety than for the lives of our command. We feel pain when others suffer for our mistakes.” Rojan- By Any Other Name, Stardate: 4657.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“But in this fight, we have lost our way. A new leader is needed to fulfill my lord’s vision. I am that leader.” L’Rell- Will You Take My Hand?, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 8 “Living is making choices.” Picard- A Matter of Time, Stardate: 45349.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Courage doesn’t mean that you don’t have fear. It means that you’ve learned to overcome it.” Paris- Faces, Stardate: 48784.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 10 “There is no such thing as the unknown. Only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood.” Kirk- The Corbomite Maneuver, Stardate: 1512.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 11 “I’ve been told that people are calling us heroes. When it comes to my crew, you won’t get any argument from me.” Archer- Home, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“What about Rule of Acquisition 203? New customers are like razor-toothed gree worms. They can be succulent, but sometimes they bite back.” Rom- Little Green Men, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
One of the proud geek-dad moments that I have is knowing that my oldest daughter has been playing 5th Edition Dungeons and Dragons with her friends for many years now. Even when all of the friends went to different colleges, they found a way to continue the campaign online (when schedules allow). My daughter mentioned that they wanted to get together over winter break and try to have a game. I mentioned that, if they were interested, I’d be willing to run a one-shot game introducing them to one of the old school rules. To my surprise, they accepted.
Oh boy, now what?
The first question I have to tackle is, which rule-set should I use? The only stipulation from the group was “we don’t want to play fourth edition“. I quickly explained that the OSR style are usually something before Dungeons and Dragons 3.0 or 3.5. So I started looking at all of the original and clone books (and PDFs) that I have available to choose from.
Dungeons and Dragons Holmes Basic– One of the earliest games that I’ve got in my library. But I don’t know if the players could find a copy of the rules. I have many memories of looking through this book.
Dungeons and Dragons B/X- This is the game that I cut my teeth on. The rules are available on DriveThruRPG if the players wanted. It is one of the most popular old-school rules.
Dungeons and Dragons Rules Cyclopedia- BECMI was the first set that I owned. Both the Basic red book and the Rules Cyclopedia are available on DTRPG. I would love to introduce this edition to my daughter’s group.
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons- The first edition of the AD&D rules. As I’ve mentioned previously in my blog, my early gaming group would rotate between B/X, BECMI and AD&D depending upon who is running. AD&D does give more options for players and this is an experienced group. But would it be good for a one-shot?
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition- I still have the original player’s handbook for this game from 1989. It is available on DTRPG. It is slightly different from first edition. I’d have to think about this one.
Basic Fantasy Roleplaying Game- A big advantage for this retro-clone is that the rules are available for free on their website. It combines some old-school feel with some modernization in the rules that have impressed me. I also like the modular setup so if I wanted to add some additional rules (classes, races, special rules, etc.) I just announce which add-ons the players should look at. This option is very tempting.
White Box: Fantasy Medieval Adventure Game- This is a clone of the original Dungeons and Dragons white box. I picked up a POD copy of this game earlier this year. But it is also available on DTRPG for free. This would be a learning experience for both of us if this game is selected.
Castles and Crusades- I had a chance to make a character for this system in the Character Creation Challenge and it impressed me. I’m not certain about a one shot, but I’d love to play this game in a campaign.
There are also quite a few other retro-clones that I haven’t mentioned. I didn’t want to go through my entire collection, but there are a several other options as well.
The next question I need to decide is: do I want to have the players experience the character creation of the selected OSR? We are playing in person and will only have 4-7 hours of gaming time. I could easily create several characters for them to choose from. But I remember rolling up characters all of the time in my early years. If I have the players create their own characters, I want to be available to answer questions. I may set up an online session zero to create the characters so we can spend most of the in-person time actually playing.
And finally, what scenario should I select? With this being a one-shot I could easily run one of the many modules that are out there. I have memories of The Keep on the Borderland, but could I fit it into the time allotted? I modified the adventure, The Jade Hare, when my nephew wanted an introduction session to Dungeons and Dragons. I’m really leaning towards a published module. If this was an actual campaign, I might consider more of a homebewed world.
So what system and one-shot module would you use to introduce some experienced 5E players to OSR? Pre-make the characters or have the players experience OSR character creation styles? While I’m leaning in the direction of a few options, I’m still open to suggestions. Feel free to shoot me ideas to Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com.
Yes, there will be several follow up posts on this event. I would like to keep you informed. Stay tuned.
