I’ve had a chance to scan in a few more homebrewed stats from different tech resources. These are starships for FASA’s Star Trek Starship Combat Simulator. We are now in the Frigates used by Starfleet and start with the transports.
One of the favorites of Tech Fandom. This Coventry class was pulled from the black covered Ships of The Starfleet Volume One (published in 1987). I thought that this design would have seen action during the Four Years War.
This ships also came from the Ships of The Starfleet Volume One. I believe I also saw vessels of this class make an appearance in the second run of Star Trek Comics by DC Comics.
I don’t recall the source for this ship and stats. I want to go back and double check it again against the source material however. While I was scanning it, I was wondering if the 5000 passenger number was correct.
While the Knox Class was in the Ships of The Starfleet Volume One, I pulled the image and stats from a different source (probably the same as the Hippocrates Class listed above). I wonder if the stats would have been vastly different if I had pulled the info from SoSv1?
Another starship from the Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual. I created the back story about the Four Years War and the namesake. This was another case of not knowing who Ptolemy was and not having the modern google tools that I can use now.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of July 5th through the 11th.
July 5 “But Bajor doesn’t need a man. It needs a symbol and that’s what you are.” Sisko- The Homecoming, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #WeAreStarfleet
July 6 “I’m willing to explore my humanity. Take off your clothes.” Seven “Uh… Seven…” Kim “Don’t be alarmed. I won’t hurt you.” Seven- Revulsion, Stardate: 51186.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #WeAreStarfleet
“For nearly a century, we’ve waded ankle-deep in the ocean of space. Now it’s finally time to swim.” Forrest- Broken Bow, Date: Apr 15, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #WeAreStarfleet
“Klingons stand together, and strong. It is only with our own Houses in order that we can begin to invite others in.” Voq (mirror)- The Wolf Inside, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #WeAreStarfleet
“You are speaking with Empress Sato. Prepare to receive instructions.” Mirror Hoshi Sato- In a Mirror Darkly Pt II, Date: January 18, 2155 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #WeAreStarfleet
July 10 “It’s something we eat after the main course. It’s usually very sweet. It’s usually very bad for you. We eat it for purely for pleasure. If you ask me it’s the best part of any meal.” Troi- Liaisons, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
July 11 “There came a time when our weapons grew faster than our wisdom, and we almost destroyed ourselves.” Kirk- A Private Little War, Stardate: 4211.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #WeAreStarfleet
Most of my readers recall the Character Creation Challenge that I put together in January. I had been considering a personal challenge to do in August (and started assembling items for it) when I had heard about RPGaDAY 2021. Apparently this is the eighth year that this challenge has been running. It has me a little intrigued and a little confused. As you can see from the graphic above, there is a different theme (or alternate themes) to use for inspiration. Some of these get, others… don’t draw any inspiration at all. Stream? Think? Mention?
I’ve set up a spreadsheet with all of the inspiration words on each date. A few I was able to fill in ideas immediately. I’m still going through the cobwebs of my mind to see if I could actually fill out a 31 day schedule for the others. So I thought I’d toss it out to you guys. Is there anything inspired by the words above that you’d love to see me talk about? I’m still fighting with the registration system in wordpress (I’m trying to keep out the spammers) so if you want to pass on an idea, feel free to email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com and I’ll consider it.
I like the idea of participating in an RPG inspired challenge. I had a blast interacting with other gamers when we did the #CharacterCreationChallenge. I’d really like to do the #RPGaDAY2021 challenge. I just need to make sure that I’ll be able to complete the challenge if I start it.
“I am the beginning and the end. I bring order into chaos.” The Borg Queen- Star Trek: First Contact, Stardate: 50893.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
June 29 “There’s an old saying. Blood is thicker than water. It means that the ties of family run deeper than any other kind of relationship. We’ll often do things for members of our family we’d never dream of doing for anyone else.” Janeway- Survival Instinct, #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #WeAreStarfleet
June 30 “A person’s strongest dreams are about what he can’t do.” Vina- The Menagerie Pt II, Stardate: 3013.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #WeAreStarfleet
“General Sun Tzu said that the greatest victories are those won without fighting.” Reed- Divergence, Date: December 2154 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #WeAreStarfleet
“Life is full of choices. You make them and hope for the best. Sometimes you’re right, and sometimes you’re not. I made a mistake.” Joseph Sisko- Image in the Sand, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #WeAreStarfleet
July 3 “The infection resembles one developed by Earth during their bacteriological warfare experiments in the 1990s. Hard to believe we were once foolish enough to play around with that.” Dr. McCoy- The Omega Glory, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #WeAreStarfleet
July 4 “It’s beautiful. Like watching fireworks when I was a little girl.” Jenna D’Sora- In Theory, Stardate: 44932.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
So I’m continuing to go through old boxes trying to get stuff sorted. This will allow me to decide what I want to keep and what I want to get rid of. In one box I found an old three-ringed binder full of various character sheets from different role-playing games. Several of them were in plastic sleeves while others were just loose. Some of these I fondly remember. Others I was quite surprised to see. I don’t recall playing Pendragon or Star Ace, but here are the character sheets with my hand writing on them.
So I’ve spent some time scanning the character sheets so I can post them here. If I can recall the stories behind the characters or some of the adventures they participated in, I’ll post them with the images. Some of the sheets had hand written notes on the back or on other scraps of paper that brought back memories.
The character I’m going to post today is from the DC Heroes RPG. I was playing a character called Sonic. He had the ability to focus and bend sound waves. This was the perfect game to play in the gaming area at Comics Utah. One of the players, and a friend, was a graphic designer so he spent the time and effort to draw up our characters and place them on special character sheets for us. I thought he did a very good job with mine.
“We often fear what we don’t understand. Our best defense is knowledge.” Tuvok- Innocence, Stardate: 49578.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #WeAreStarfleet
June 23 “The horga’hn’ is the Risian symbol of sexuality. To own one is to call forth its powers. To display it is to announce you are seeking jamaharon.” Joval- Captain’s Holiday, Stardate: 43745.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
June 24 “Well, Mister Spock, do you have any ideas?” Kirk “We could always throw tribbles at them.” Spock “I thought Vulcans didn’t have a sense of humour.” Kirk- More Tribbles, More Troubles, Stardate: 5392.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTAS #WeAreStarfleet
June 25 “Pinocchio is broken. Its strings have been cut.” Riker- The Measure of a Man, Stardate: 42523.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
June 26 “My bairns, my poor bairns.” Scotty- The Paradise Syndrome, Stardate: 4842.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #WeAreStarfleet
June 27 “The point is, you’ve got to live your own life.” O’Brien- Paradise, Stardate: 47573.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #WeAreStarfleet
So I’ve been talking with several friends about my blog posts and my goals for the site. One of them told me that he was downsizing his collection of role-playing game books and offered them to me. Here is the lot which was larger than I expected.
As you can see, there are several cyberpunk games, some fantasy titles and a couple of sci-fi RPGs. My daughter already wants to look through one of them. I’m also certain that a few of these will be used in my 2022 Character Creation Challenge next January. Some of these may even inspire me to write up a review after I’ve read them.
Another friend heard about my goal of collecting the Star Trek Universe info cards that were published in the late 90s-early 00s. He let me go through his extras and I was able to find some that I didn’t have. I believe that I now own 98% of the cards published. I’d love to actually complete the set. Here are the photos of the cards.
Thank you to both friends for providing these to me. I’ll try to pay it forward when I can. These are the type of geek things that I look forward to.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of June 13th through the 20th.
June 14 “It is an ancient Klingon tradition to commemorate an important event with a poem.” Worf- One Little Ship, Stardate: 51474.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #WeAreStarfleet
June 15 “As a Starfleet Captain, I can’t allow myself the luxury of yielding to personal feelings.” Picard- A Matter of Perspective, Stardate: 43610.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
“If you test me, you will fail.” Sulu- Star Trek Into Darkness, Stardate: 2259.55 #StarTrek #WeAreStarfleet
June 17 “Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for Mr. Paris. He calls it ‘Comfort food.’ Isn’t that charming?” Neelix-Faces, Stardate: 48784.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #WeAreStarfleet
June 18 “To cherry flavored snow cones. What I wouldn’t give for one right about now.” Tucker- Desert Crossing, Date: February 12, 2152 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #WeAreStarfleet
“I’m impressed. For a moment there, I thought you were just a dumb hick who only had sex with farm animals.” Uhura- Star Trek (2009) #StarTrek #WeAreStarfleet
June 20 “We live in a universe of magic which, evidently, you cannot see.” Ardra- Devil’s Due, Stardate: 44474.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
I was thinking about this subject the other day and realized that it would make for a good blog post. I’ve been collecting autographs ever since I first met several members of the Utah Jazz at a mall in downtown Salt Lake City in the 80’s. The team was trying to drum up interest in fans and they had several of the players at a table signing autographs for anyone who happened to be there. I was able to get four of the five players who were present (the fifth had just run out of photos to sign). I still have memories of going through the mall to that chance encounter. It was one of the many of my teenage times when I would just go wandering off on my own not knowing what I would find while exploring.
As I started going to Star Trek conventions I had the opportunity to meet several different actors. Some I’ve been able to get photos with that I’ve added to my Star Trek Actor’s Photo Gallery. From these conventions I’ve been able to get autographs from several of the actors that I’ve seen on television and movies. To get an autograph, especially when you can see them sign it yourself, is to have something that they have interacted with. I will never forget meeting with James Doohan. Especially since he was staying in the hotel I was working in at the time. I was able to interact with him on the phone after the convention.
Not all encounters were pleasant ones. Sometimes you have to plan to attend conventions out-of-state, make arrangements to get something to sign, think about what you are going to say to the celebrity since you only get a few seconds with them (if you are lucky it could be a few minutes). At a convention in Los Angels I had the opportunity to get an autograph from Dwight Schultz. While he is famous for his role as Howling Mad Man Murdock in the 1980’s television series, The A-Team. I wanted to get a signed photo of Lt. Barclay from Star Trek: The Next Generation. I went by his table before he arrived and noticed all of the A-Team photos, but there were no Trek photos. I enjoyed watching the A-Team. But I knew what I wanted. In the dealers room I found a vendor who had a stack of Lt. Barclay photos for sale and snatched one up. I remember being in the first dozen people in line at the appropriate time for autograph signings. Several people had commented that they liked my Barclay picture. When you get to the table, you hand the assistant your money along with the photo. My photo was the first Star Trek picture of the day for Mr. Schultz to sign and he said “oh” and reached down with his pen to sign the photo. Suddenly from behind him, a hand reached out and yanked the picture away from him. Shocked I looked up to see some woman shaking the picture at me and screaming “Where did you get this picture? This is an illegal picture!” As I started arguing with the woman that I had already paid my money and that I was owed an autograph on the item I selected, Mr. Schultz’s face went back and forth between me and the woman as we yelled at each other. I think she was his agent or something and she wouldn’t budge. I wouldn’t budge either as I had already paid for my product and stated so. Suddenly she whirled around and grabbed one of his photos, slapped it down in front of him and yelled “Sign it!” The poor actor quickly made it out to me an not wanting to fight any more, I thanked him for the autograph. Then the woman grabbed me and stated “You’re going to show me where you got this in the dealers room.” As I was being dragged past the line, I noticed how many other fans with the same photo I had quickly hiding them. I knew that while she was away, they would be trying to get them signed as quickly as possible. Not wanting to get the dealer mad at me, the moment we got into the room, I waived my hand in the general direction and said “he’s down that way.” and I walked in the opposite direction. I couldn’t have been more than a minute later before I heard the harpy scream of this person yelling at the vendor. Every time I see the photo below, I think about that encounter. To this day, I wonder what Mr Schultz thought of what happened. I don’t blame him for it, but I could tell that he was embarrassed by it.
I wish I could say that I’ve met everyone that I’ve got an autograph from. I’ve had several friends, knowing of my hobby to collect and of my interests, provide me with autographs that they have come across on their own. I’ve enjoyed several “Weird Al” Yankovick concerts, but I’ve never had a chance to meet the artist in person. Two different friends procured an autograph for me at different meet-and-greets that they participated in. I am very thankful to these friends. And yes, someday I’ll get a chance to meet Weird Al in person. Until then I’ll continue to enjoy his music and his sense of humor.
I’ve got a quite a few autographs. Not just photos in an album but on artwork, books, action figures, hats, comics, games and other collectibles. And while some have gone up in value, especially with the celebrity passing on from this life, I’ve never thought about selling these items. These are memories for me. Memories of efforts to collect the autograph. Memories from meeting these human beings who have done extraordinary things. Memories of friends who have gone out of their way to help me with my collection. I’m sad that large scale events and online auctions have pushed autograph prices higher and higher. But I am also grateful for the opportunities to meet these people. I still get a smile on my face when I look over my autographed items.
“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, but at least you’re in the game.” Vic Fontaine- It’s Only a Paper Moon, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #WeAreStarfleet
“Excuse me. I’d just like to ask a question. What does God need with a starship?” Kirk- Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Stardate: 8454.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #WeAreStarfleet
June 10 “Ritual provides structure in society—good rituals and bad rituals alike.” Deanna Troi- Half a Life, Stardate: 44805.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
June 11 “I wish it were as easy to stop hating…as it was to start…” Chakotay- Nemesis, Stardate: 51082.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #WeAreStarfleet
June 12 “Part of the fun of a mystery is trying to solve it before it ends… using logic.” Tucker- Impulse, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #WeAreStarfleet
“They say time is a fire in which we burn; right now I’m running out of time.” Dr. Soran- Star Trek Generations, Stardate: 48650.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #WeAreStarfleet
“My heart is in engineering. I’d like permission to leave the bear pack.” Rutherford “Rutherford, that is… outstanding! Got to be true to yourself! Am I right, bears?” Shaxs- Envoys, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #WeAreStarfleet
