October appears to be Spocktober for Pocket Books. There are a large number of Spock-centric ebooks that are for sale 99 cents each. This is a good way to build up a reading library without taking up a ton of shelf space. I’ve been using these sales to do that exactly. Links to the sales are listed below.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of October 17th through October 23rd.
October 17 “You’re in command now. The crew’s looking to you for guidance.” Troi- Gambit, Part I, Stardate: 47135.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 18 “We can admit that we’re killers, but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes.” Kirk- A Taste of Armageddon, Stardate 3192.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 19 “The point is it’s not up to me or you to decide. It’s her life and her decision.” Sisko- Equilibrium, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 20 “You’re re-examining your core beliefs. Something most people never do.” Dr. Phlox- Daedalus, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 21 “I’m a civilized abductor, Captain Picard. Civilized… but still dangerous.” Moriarty- Elementary, Dear Data, Stardate: 42286.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Qapla'” (the first use of the Klingon word for success) Kruge- Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Stardate: 8210.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 23 “There’s an ancient Chinese curse, Captain—“May you live in interesting times.” Mealtime is always interesting now that Neelix is in the kitchen.” Kim- The Cloud, Stardate: 48546.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
Why no new posts last week? I was in training having this done.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of October 10th through October 16th.
October 10 “Remember the course in ancient history at Starfleet Academy? About the time when men still believed the Earth was flat?” Riker “Mm, and that the sun revolved around it.” Picard- Where Silence has Lease, Stardate: 42193.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 11 “I hope I’m not disturbing you, Doctor.” Spock “Interrupting another autopsy report is no disturbance, Mister Spock. It’s a relief.” Dr. McCoy- Obession, Stardate: 3619.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 12 “Where are you running to?! This is Bajor. We are Bajorans. We fought a war to regain our homeland. How can you abandon it like frightened Cardassian vole?” Li Nalas- The Siege, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 13 “Let me guess… no ghost stories on Vulcan?” Tucker- Strange New World, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 14 “There may be a correlation between humor and sex. The need for more research is clearly indicated.” Data- Data’s Day, Stardate: 44390.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend.” Romulan Commander- Balance of Terror, Stardate: 1709.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 16 “No, Captain. When I say tomorrow, I mean tomorrow. I don’t exaggerate. Tomorrow is the best I can do.” Torres- State of Flux, Stardate: 48658.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
When I realize what time my alarm will go off in the morning.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of October 3rd through October 9th.
October 3 “What ever argument you have between yourselves is your business. My business is running this ship. And as long as I command, there will be order.” Kirk- Journey to Babel, Stardate: 3842.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 4 “I wouldn’t be very much of a friend if I let you give up on a lifelong dream.” LaForge- Descent, Part II, Stardate: 47025.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 5 (re: Kirk and company) “I have to admit– I wold have loved to ride shotgun at least once with a group of officers like that.” Janeway- Flashback, Stardate: 50126.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 6 “I make order where I can. For one thing I have a daily routine which I follow unwaveringly. The shopkeepers on the Promenade joke that they can set their clocks by me.” Odo, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 7 “Sam Cogley asked me to give you something special. It’s not a first edition or anything, just a book. Sam says that makes it special, though.” Areel Shaw- Court Martial, Stardate: 2947.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 8 “Even after a tragedy like this there are still duties to perform and life continues.” Brand- The First Duty, Stardate: 45703.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Maybe we’re out here to prove that humanity is ready to join a much larger community” Archer- Cease Fire, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
Art by Rebecca Wu and shamelessly lifted from https://twitter.com/wuzidan. It was just too kewl not to use to represent the Tarn race.
So one of the things that I’ve been wanting to do with this blog is produce fan-made roleplaying game material for various systems. While the publisher of a game based off an intellectual property may be locked into the confines of the contract, fans can homebrew from any source. Sometimes even pulling elements from different sources to create a final product.
Today’s entry was a join effort between myself and longtime friend, Roger Taylor. We’ve both been fans of Star Trek and various roleplaying games. We have played campaigns using the Decipher Star Trek RPG rules. Several months ago Roger was sending me some of his hombrewed material for Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius for review. I mentioned that I was really interested in an enemy race that GMs could throw at their players called The Tarn. This reptilian race came from William R Forstchen’s 1999 Star Trek: The Next Generation novel, The Forgotten War. While the plot to the novel was simple, it did introduce the Tarn Empire. The way they were described in the book really enthralled me with their concepts of honor and social interaction. So Roger found his copy of the novel and dived back into it to see what interested me. He did most of the heavy lifting with the RPG numbers. I sent him all of the Memory-Beta (the fan Wiki for licensed Star Trek products) entries I had put together on the Tarn, which Roger then polished up for the PDF file listed below. I pulled various quotes from the book that was used for the suggested Tarn values.
Prior to all of this, I had spent quite some time looking for images of a science-fiction reptilian warriors that was not the Gorn. There were a ton of fantasy reptilian warrior images, but very little from the sci-fi side of the coin that spoke to me. Finally, the Starfinder RPG was released by Paizo that introduced the Vesk. Eventually several fan produced images were produced and the one above by Rebecca Wu fitted my mental image of the Tarn race. If gamemasters pulled any Vesk image from the internet, it could be used to visually represent the race to players.
Besides Star Trek Adventures, I’d like to generate RPG stats for the other systems that are out there (FASA, LUG, Decipher and more). Also while talking with fellow Treknologists on the Star Trek Starship Tactical Combat System Online Database and Archive forums, an artist took the descriptions of a Tarn starship from the novel and generated an artistic representation of the vessel. I plan to generate game statistics for this vessel as well. Watch for future blog posts.
Many thanks to Roger for pushing through the novel (it could have used another pass by an editor) and had a few continuity holes that could have been caught) and for dealing with my excitement for this project. And thank you to Rebecca Wu for the wonderful image I pilfered off of the interwebs. I’m amazed by artists who bring these visions to life.
Gamemasters, let me know if you end up springing the Tarn on your players. How did the sessions go?
“If you’re going to try to embrace new worlds… you must try to embrace new ideas.” Dr. Phlox- Broken Bow, Date: April 16, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 27 “For nowhere am I so desperately needed than as among a shipload of illogical humans.” Spock- I Mudd, Stardate: 4513.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You treat her like a lady, and she’ll always bring you home.” Dr. McCoy- Encounter at Farpoint, Stardate: 41153.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 29 “I am a diagnostic tool, not an engineer.” Dr. Zimmerman (hologram)- The Swarm, Stardate: 50252.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 30 “Another technical journal, Scotty?” Kirk “Aye.” Scotty “Don’t you ever relax?” Kirk “I am relaxing.” Scotty- The Trouble with Tribbles, Stardate: 4523.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
October 1 “You’ll just have to read my books. What I am is pretty much there.” Samuel Clemens- Time’s Arrow, Part II, Stardate: 46001.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Running may help, for a little while but sooner or later the pain catches up with you and the only way to get rid of it is to stand your ground and face it.” Sisko- The Way of the Warrior, Stardate: 49011.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
So another FanX: The Salt Lake Comic Convention is in the books. With how hectic my summer has been, I didn’t know if i was going to be able to make it. Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet was going to have a charity booth at the convention again to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Thankfully our Star Trek fan club is set up so that when real life gets in the way others can step forward. The crew of the USS Pulsar led the various volunteers for the booth. They put together a brand new photo op for convention attendees to use which was the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds transporter pad. After talking with Captain Joe Coleflesh, he stated to just come do what I could and they would handle everything else. So on Wednesday (the day before the con opened) I arrived and got the booth registered. I’m in a walking boot now, but I still had to stay off of my foot as often as I could. Luckily a friend of mine had let me borrow a knee scooter. This allowed me to move about the very large Salt Palace with some ease. It was still a toll on my body so every day of the convention was a “game time decision” on if I was going to make it.
On Thursday I rode down with a friend and was able to check out the vendors floor before the con opened (an advantage of being an exhibitor). I saw a few things that I wanted to pick up when everything was opened. I spent most of the day at the Seventh Fleet booth meeting up with new recruits and old friends who stopped by to say hello. Despite being sore, I made the trek back down on Friday and took my youngest to Kid-Con. Unfortunately, that may have been too much so I wasn’t able to come down on Saturday. If I missed meeting up with you, I hope to catch you at a future event. I will be adding some new photos to my online photo album that were taken at the con.
From a Utah vendor I was able to pick up a dice tray and a pin with a graphic of a D20 that stated “This is how I roll”. I purchased the 2022 anthology “Parliament of Wizards“. With several of the local authors in attendance, I was able to get several of them to autograph the book. My last long Dungeons and Dragons campaign allowed me to play a wizard, so I thought I might gain some inspiration from this book for future gaming sessions. Speaking of getting books signed, I also picked up The Complete Elfquest Volume One and meet the creators Wendy and Richard Pini. I’ve been a fan of this series ever since I read the first trade paperback back in the mid-80’s and I was unaware that they were even coming. While there are a lot of geeky things for sale at the con, I hardly see any role-playing books. So when I discovered that Andrew E.C. Gaska, the author of the Alien Roleplaying Game published by Free League was also present, I had to pick up the core book for him to autograph. When I told him that Aliens was my favorite movie of all time, he wrote a special message with his signature. Yes, I will be using this system in my Character Creation Challenge in 2023. And thanks to my friend Tina, I was able to pick up the autograph of Steven Weber who played Colonel Day on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. I would have picked up more autographs but I wasn’t informed about the prices before the con so I couldn’t budget before hand.
Despite missing Saturday and being sore, I did enjoy getting out and seeing the creativity that our local geek community comes up with. Also a big thank you to the members of the Seventh Fleet for running a successful charity booth and to all of the fans who helped donate to the American Cancer Society. To Dan Farr and the many, many volunteers at the con, thank you for all that you do. FanX 2023 has already set the dates of September 21-23 for the next event. I can’t wait to see what amazing things we will see then. Hopefully I’ll be well enough to cosplay.
With the FanX: The Salt Lake Comic Convention taking up most of my time this month, I almost forgot to post the discount Star Trek eBooks offered by Pocket Books. They are all 99 cents and cover a wide variety of Star Trek series.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of September 19th through September 25th.
September 19 “I despise devious people. Don’t you?” Deela “I believe in honest relationships myself.” Kirk- Wink of an Eye, Stardate: 5710.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 20 “My name. You pronounced it ‘Datt-uh.'” Data “What’s the difference?” Dr. Pulaski “One is my name. The other is not.” Data- The Child, Stardate: 42073.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 21 “We don’t know what to do about Humans. Of all the species we’ve made contact with, yours is the only one we can’t define.” Soval- The Forge, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 22 “There seem to be countless rituals and cultural beliefs designed to alleviate the fear of a simple biological truth: all organisms eventually perish.” Seven- Mortal Coil, Stardate: 51449.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I’ve never actually been a teacher, Commander, but it’s something I’ve always thought about doing.” Keiko O’Brien- A Man Alone, Stardate: 46384 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 24 Star Trek: Discovery premiered on this date in 2017 with the episodes The Vulcan Hello and Battle at the Binary Stars. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Discovery #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“From my youth on Vulcan, I was raised to believe that service was my purpose. And I carried that conviction to Starfleet.” Burnham- Battle at the Binary Stars, Stardate: 1207.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 25 “This is the flagship. We should be better than everybody else.” LaForge- Force of Nature, Stardate: 47310.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of September 12th through September 18th.
September 12 “In the Federation, we have learned from experience, to view the Romulans with distrust. We can either choose to live with that enmity or seek a way to change it.” Spock- Unification II, Stardate: 45245.8 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 13 “It’s in their nature. They were engineered to be this way. Superior ability breeds superior ambition. One of their creators wrote that. He was murdered by an Augment.” Archer- The Augments, Date: May 27, 2154 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“There’s an old, old saying on Earth, Mister Sulu. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Scotty “I know this saying. It was invented in Russia.” Chekov- Friday’s Child, Stardate: 3497.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I’m a mirror for you as well.” Picard “Not for long, Captain. I’m afraid you won’t survive to witness the victory of the echo over the voice.” Shinzon- Star Trek Nemesis, Stardate: 56844.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Come on, fellas. Cut the manlier-than-thou bullshit.” Cornwell- Saints of Imperfection, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 17 “Home is where the heart is, but the stars are made of latinum.” (75th Rule of Acquisition) Quark- Civil Defense, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
September 18 “My father had a saying, captain. “Home is wherever you happen to be”.” Chakotay- Deadlock, Stardate: 49548.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
