Needing to get to the restroom after a long drive.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of July 10th through July 16th.
July 10 “I accept there are things in the universe than can’t be scanned with a tricorder.” Chakotay- Barge of the Dead, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 11 “History cannot be changed.” Spock- Spectre of the Gun, Stardate: 4385.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 12 “I hope you’re not holding back because I’m a woman. If it makes things any easier, think of me as a man. I’ve been one several times.” Dax- The Way of the Warrior, Stardate: 49011.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“THERE…ARE…FOUR…LIGHTS!!!” Picard- Chain of Command Part II, Stardate: 46360.8 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 14 “Before we left, Admiral Forrest said we’d be making history with every light year, but we’re not going to do that sitting on our hands.” Archer- Fight or Flight, Date: May 6, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 15 “One day our minds became so powerful, we dared think of ourselves as gods.” Sargon- Return to Tomorrow, Stardate: 4768.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 16 “Is the love of a woman worth the destruction of an entire species?” Kevin Uxbridge- The Survivors, Stardate: 43152.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
So if PDFs of this game is free on the Basic Fantasy website, why did I purchase a physical book? Well, I wanted to support the community efforts into creating the 4th edition. After the OGL fiasco that Wizards of the Coast had created earlier this year the Basic Fantasy community elected to remove all System Reference Document (SRD) references in the game and place the system under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. At the time they were doing this, I was unable to jump in and help lightened the load. It took a lot of volunteers to help out in getting Basic Fantasy moved over. The primary concern was to remove all terminology that could be construed as SRD. These “limits” only fueled the creativity of the Basic Fantasy community that is now seen in the new 4th edition book. Some of these I’ll mention below.
As you can see from the photos above, the covers of the 3rd edition and 4th edition look very similar. The biggest change is the “castle border” now wraps around to the back of the book. Chris Gonnerman mentioned in one of his videos that this was a creative decision in order to give an “at a glance” look that differentiated the 3rd edition books from the 4th edition books. Plus he really likes the dragon art that was used on the cover that he had commissioned. (Side note: pay the artists for their work. Chris did for this cover and I thank him for that.) The 3rd edition book has 166 pages where as the 4th edition has 202 pages. The ISBN is 9798398957679 for the hardbound (I’m not certain if the softbound has a different ISBN number) and it ran me a little over $18 after taxes. Because I have an Amazon Prime membership, shipping was free. Not a bad price for a hardbound book considering some of the other prices I’ve seen lately.
The system itself is basically the same. With the SRD text, mostly, removed. As I was thumbing through the books side by side, I noticed that the 4th edition had page numbers when they referenced another section (i,e “See How to Attack on page 53…”). I could see this being very helpful when you are quickly flipping through the book trying to find a rule. It was also visible that some descriptions of various items (spells, races, classes, etc.) had been slightly altered.
The monster section has been greatly expanded from 183 entries in 3rd edition to 213 entries in the 4th edition book. Some of the new art can be found here. I think the art for the Rot Grub is going to give me nightmares. When the volunteers working on the update thought that they couldn’t use Kobolds any more (until WotC backed off of the OGL mess), they came up with their own variation that was still used in the book, The Barklings.
Did you just tell us to go fetch?
I think this shows some of the creativity that went into this update. Another change was with the Dragons. Instead of being just a red dragon or a white dragon, now they are based off of their environment. The red dragon is now a mountain dragon, white represents the ice dragon, etc. They list the old terminology next to each type so it is easily connected. However the cloud dragon is not listed with a color in my copy of the book. I also like that they listed the similar monsters together, such as all of the puddings are listed under pudding.
The back part of the book deals with magic items, various rules and optional rules that the gamemaster can use, stocking dungeons, setting up strongholds, etc. As with the other sections, there has been some polishing here and there, but it basically looked like it covered the same subjects as before. I will say it was a little different not seeing the OGL statements at the back of the book that I’ve been seeing for over twenty years. But I think that’s a good thing.
So my complements to the army of volunteers at the Basic Fantasy forums for coming together and getting this project done. I could easily have seen a lot of project creep work it’s way in which they were able to avoid. Players of the Basic Fantasy RPG will easily recognize the high quality that this line has been known for. If you are looking for an old school feel with some modern tweaks, I’d recommend picking up this book. At the least, it just costs you some download time to get the books and supplements. But if you are like me, a person who loves to feel the weight of a book in his hands, then I would strongly urge you to pick up a physical copy.
Have you played Basic Fantasy RPG? Do you enjoy the games that have that OSR feel? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of July 3rd through July 9th.
“Time is patient, so we must be patient with it.” Annorax- Year of Hell, Stardate: 51268.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 4 (music plays) “It is ‘Stars and Stripes Forever’. sir, by John Phillip Sousa, a popular American composer of band music in the early twentieth century.” Data- Evolution, Stardate: 43125.8 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 5 “And Uhura, whose name means freedom. She walks in beauty, like the night.” Spock “That’s not Spock.” Dr. McCoy “Are you surprised to find that I’ve read Byron, Doctor?” Spock “That’s Spock!” Dr. McCoy- Is There In Truth No Beauty?, Stardate: 5630.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
July 6 “But it’s all based on a lie.” Li Nalas “No. It’s based on a legend. And legends are as powerful as any truth. Bajor still needs that legend. It needs you.” Sisko- The Homecoming, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You are a sham! My words were dust upon the ground…your blood has no fire, you are weak, like them! I don’t care what you look like, YOU ARE NO KLINGON!” Korris- Heart of Glory, Stardate: 41503.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Are you sure you want your boy to become a monk?” Georgiou “It’s what L’Rell wants.” Tyler “And you?” Georgiou “To know where I belong, and to whom, and who belongs to me.” Tyler- Point of Light, Stardate: 1029.46 #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I’m a comm officer. If there is one thing I know how to do, it’s disseminate information.” Sato- Affliction, Date: November 27, 2154 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
So 2023 marks the 10th Anniversary of the RPGaDay Challenge. Starting on August 1st there will be 31 days of RPG posts based upon various suggestions as seen in the image above. The suggestions this year sound really interesting. When I saw them, it got the creative juices flowing. Something that I need for this blog. I’ve participated in this challenge in 2021 (daily) and 2023 (via catch up posts due to circumstances). I plan to attempt a daily challenge for the entire month of August.
While I will be posting my entries here on this blog, I will be posting links on social media with the hashtag #RPGaDay2023. I also plan to post entries on the RPG.net message boards. I’m looking forward to seeing what I type up.
Do you have any interest in participating in this challenge? Does the list inspire you? Let’s have some fun.
This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of June 26th through July 2nd.
June 26 “I am programmed in multiple techniques– a broad variety of pleasuring…” Data- The Naked Now, Stardate: 41209.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 27 “In android form, a Human being can have practical immortality. Can you see what I’m offering mankind?” Korby “Programming – different word, but the same old promises made by Genghis Khan, Julius Caesar, Hitler…” Kirk- What Are Little Girls Made Of?, Stardate: 2712.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Not feeling talkative? (injects assimilation nanobots) You and I don’t need words to understand each other.” Borg Queen- Endgame, Stardate: 54973.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 29 “Our concern is the present, the possible threat.” K’ehleyr “And to contend with that threat we need information.” Worf- The Emissary, Stardate: 42901.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 30 “I could let him beat me at tongo.” Quark “Not good enough. Unless he has to carve his way through a hundred Jem’Hadar to get to the table.” O’Brien “Why does everything with Klingons have to involve bloodshed?” Quark- Image in the Sand, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“If there’s one chance in a thousand… that they saw our impulse drive explode, that they increased their speed, I’ll take that chance… … I’m not about to accept that it was all for nothing.” Reed- Shuttlepod One, Date: November 9, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“To offer the Klingons a safe haven within Federation space is suicide. Klingons would become the alien trash of the galaxy.” Cartwright- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Stardate: 9521.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of June 19th through June 25th.
“Why should I care about a Human killing Humans?” Klingon “Because you care about honor. And this man has none.” Uhura- Star Trek Into Darkness, Stardate: 2259.55 #StarTrek #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 20 “For a ship and crew to function well it always starts with the captain. You set the tone.” Minuet- 11001001, Stardate: 41365.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 21 “We don’t always agree. We have some damn good fights, in fact but we always come away from them with a little better understanding and appreciation of each other.” Sisko- In the Hands of the Prophets, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“We do not stand alone.” Tuvok- Mortal Coil, Stardate: 51449.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 23 “After a time, you may find that having is not so pleasing a thing, after all, as wanting. It is not logical, but it is often true.” Spock- Amok Time, Stardate: 3372.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 24 “A Betazoid woman when she goes through this phase… quadruples her sex drive.” Riker “Or more.” Troi “Or more? You never told me that.” Riker “I didn’t want to frighten you.” Troi- Manhunt, Stardate: 42859.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 25 “You’re once again ignoring the consequences of your actions.” T’Pol- A Night in Sickbay, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
The complete Star Trek Deep Space Nine worlds set and the Star Trek Destiny set highlight the June 2023 eBooks that are available for 99 cents. There is also one TOS novel, one Stargazer novel, an additional DS9 novel and one for both Enterprise and Discovery.
All of these eBooks are 99 cents and available to read on your Amazon Kindle. Amazon is also doing a special where you earn points for each book you buy. This can lead to free books.
When you hear that there will be new episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds this week.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of June 12th through June 18th.
June 12 “There’s nothing like facing the wilderness to bring people closer.” Quark- The Jem’Hadar, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“It’s like a predator; it’s stalking you. Oh, you can try and outrun it with doctors, medicines, new technologies but in the end, time is going to hunt you down… and make the kill.” Dr. Soran- Star Trek Generations, Stardate: 48650.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet #IDIC
“You think I had time for anything other than resisting?! Fighting fascism is a full-time job!” Shaxs- wej Duj, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #WeAreStarfleet #IDIC
June 14 “One of the nice things about being captain is that you can keep some things to yourself.” Janeway- Parallax, Stardate: 48439.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Mr. Sulu. You can… you know… fly this thing, right?” Kirk “You kidding me, sir?” Sulu- Star Trek Beyond, Stardate: 2263.2 #StarTrek #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 17 (treating Riker’s injury) “I wasn’t playing parrises squares.” Riker “Worf’s calisthenic program?” Dr. Crusher “No.” Riker “I give up, what was it?” Dr. Crusher “I was trying to feed Spot!” Riker- Timescape, Stardate: 46944.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 18 “I didn’t realize how late it was until my stomach reminded me it was time to eat.” Dr. Phlox- Future Tense, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
So this past weekend was a very busy one. I had not one, not two, but three events. SaltCON-Summer, a smaller event from the same people who put on the March SaltCON. Then there was the Duran Duran concert on Saturday and a concert put on by The Cure on Sunday.
For my SaltCON after action report, I have to say that I had a lot of fun at the event. I had a chance to catch up with several people that I had met at the previous convention. I also made some new contacts as well. This is one of the things that I enjoy about the role-playing community, meeting new people and discovering what interests that you may have in common.
This convention only used half of the convention center. So the primary gaming room was where the dealers room was in March. The bulk of it being the board games. The various RPGs were located in a section of the main gaming room or in a side room dedicated to role-playing. Sometimes a table would be moved to another room without a notification so on one occasion I had to go hunting. But I was able to find where I needed to be. The dealers were placed in the large hallways. This made it convenient to quickly see what was available. Because of the limited space there were fewer dealers. But a dealer that I had been seeing only at cons was there and I picked up a physical copy of the Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide for Star Trek Adventures. I was really hoping that he would have had a physical copy of The Discovery Campaign Guide, but the physical book may not have reached vendors yet. There was a game swap room where I was able to find a copy of The Dark Eye. This is a fantasy RPG that has been very popular in Europe. For some reason, it’s been popping up on my radar a lot recently. So since I could get a physical copy at a reasonable price, I picked it up. While I may never have a chance to actually play the game, I will be using it in the 2024 Character Creation Challenge. Since I could also see myself attending future SaltCONs (as long as it remains at the location it is held at now) I picked up a SaltCON badge holder.
So the first game that I signed up to play as Dune: Adventures in the Imperium. I have to say that the GM was very well prepared. He had several fan made reference sheets prepared to help new players (see photo above). The one that helped the most was the Skills and Drives (the main attributes that most characters have). I need to see if there is a Star Trek Adventures version of these reference sheets. Like STA, Dune is using the 2D20 system with slight alterations. From what I’ve discussed in my John Carter of Mars Character Creation entry, Modiphius has done with with all of their 2D20 entries. While we played Dune, I could see some similarities to STA, but I could also see where somethings were different. Both games are cinematic roleplaying instead of tactical. But this helped because the players were planning and working together. I played the spymaster and I had a chance to put some of my skills to use. If I could get into a group for Dune, I could see myself playing in a campaign setting.
As for Weird Frontiers, I had a lot of fun as well. I think that the players at the table got into the spirit of the game. I played a gambler (think of a thief in D&D terms) who had a magical deck of cards (as well as a long range rifle so I was doing a lot of sniping). It was a little weird having to draw a card from a standard deck of playing cards after each shot (the value of the card could benefit or hinder the attack). Sometimes the Aces or Eights (a bad hand to have in western tropes) would come up at the wrong time. I’d really like to read more of the world the writers have put together for this game. Apparently there was a demonic incursion into the 1800’s which was partially driven back by some heroes. Leaving a world scared by demonic creatures that the players had to go hunt. I also enjoyed that I was able to use my special Dungeon Crawl Classics dice that was prepared for the CC-style systems.
Battlestations is a combination board game and role-playing game that the GM had used in a Star Trek setting instead of the in-game universe. The first half of the game was set in the board game scenario, and I kinda just held on for the ride. The board game pieces that were assembled to create the two starships were interesting, but having the odd movement and equipment overheating (limiting what I could do) was a little frustrating. Once we had moved past the board game portion and actually got into the roleplaying, then I really started enjoying myself. I quizzed the GM after the game and he showed me in the book where you could create your own character, so yes there was an RPG element in the game. While I was glad that I had a chance to try a new game, I don’t see myself making a return to this system.
The only game I played on Saturday was Twilight 2000. While it was neat to return to World War III ravaged Poland, I really wish I could remember how the original version of this game played. We primarily went through a hex crawl avoiding ambushes, attacking enemy troops and dealing with villages just trying to survive. This latest edition had to use special dice which was a little clunky. I found the system a little crunchy at times. I looked at the GMs copy of the players manual and enjoyed reading some of the background stuff, but wondered if I could use another system for this setting.
Sunday morning I arrived for my Old School Essentials game and started up a good conversation with a RPGer that lives in the same area that I do. As we were talking, the RPG coordinator came and informed us that the GM had come down with con-crud and wouldn’t be able to make it. While I was glad that the GM was responsible enough not to spread anything around (I’m still a little cautious after the past few years) I was disappointment not to get a chance to try OSE. The RPG coordinator then offered to run a quick pick up game for us. Originally we were going to play Scum and Villainy, but it turns out he didn’t have it in his car, so he brought in Monster of the Week. The coordinator ran us in a western scenario (lots of cowboys this weekend) and I quickly created a character loosely based off of Indiana Jones. The system was very light and practically prefect for a quick scenario. We had fun playing this game.
The last game for the con was the Star Trek homebrew that I had been looking forward to. The creator had a basic combat system for the times when physical combat took place. But there was also a social combat system where you could react in different ways and use different types of voices (are you being truthful? bluffing? forceful? bluffing? etc.) and depending upon various rolls, you could weaken your opponents social standing. The creator was observing us playing the game being ran by a friend of his from out-of-state, so there were a couple of times that we turned to get a rule clarification. But the creator is looking at creating an IP-free version of the game in the near future. I may have a chance to look over the rules and provide feedback. I had fun playing this game as well.
Character sheets I got to take home.
Yes I will be going to SaltCON-End of Summer. My wife purchased a ticket for me as an early Father’s Day gift. So I will let you all know about my schedule when it becomes available. According to the website, it’s larger than the summer event, but not as large as the spring event. It will be interesting to see how it compares to the other two.
Duran Duran on stage.
As for the two concerts, the first was Duran Duran. The opening acts were Bastille and Neil Rogers and CHIC. It was an interesting combination of 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and current. I’ve been wanting to see Duran Duran for a LOOONGG time. When they were having their residency in Las Vegas a few years ago, I explored the option to go and discovered that the tickets were well beyond the price range that I wanted to pay. So I am very grateful that they have returned for a standard tour. I was really hoping that they would have played something from the Big Thing album (one of the first that I purchased from them), but with how many songs they had to choose from, it didn’t make the playlist. Seeing the entire arena sing Rio along with the band was a blast.
The Cure on stage
I had much better seats for The Cure on Sunday. If you get a chance to see this show, go do it. No only was the admission prices much more reasonable, but the merch prices were reasonable as well. I picked up a t-shirt to wear later. The band itself played for over three-hours. It was very late by the time I got home, but it was very much worth it.
Have you seen these two bands in concert? If so, what were your thoughts? Have you been to any gaming conventions lately? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of June 5th through June 11th.
June 5 “You probably don’t know this, but… regret is one of the strongest emotions. And… one of the saddest.” Tucker- Fusion, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Universal law is for lackeys. Context is for kings.” Lorca- Context is for Kings, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You gave your girlfriend radioactive jewellery?” Dr. McCoy “The emission is harmless, Doctor, but its unique signature makes it very easy to identify.” Spock “You gave your girlfriend a tracking device?” Dr. McCoy- Star Trek Beyond #StarTrek #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Look, pally, you want to win the girl, we’ve got to thaw you out a little… It’s time to have some fun!” Fontaine- His Way, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I know this ship like I know the back of my hand.” Scotty- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Stardate: 8454.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 10 “Human bonding rituals often involve a great deal of talking and dancing and crying.” Worf- Data’s Day, Stardate: 44390.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
June 11 “Don’t push yourself. That goes for everyone. Perspiring wastes water.” Chakotay- Basics Part II, Stardate: 50032.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
