Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: October 6-12

Written by TardisCaptain
My thoughts on the idiots in Washington.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of October 6th through October 12th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

October 6

“He’s dead, Jim.” (first time this line was spoken) Dr. McCoy- The Enemy Within, Stardate: 1672.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

October 7

“The trouble with wolves is that sometimes the fight for dominance one of them ends up dead.” Troi- Chain of Command Part I, Stardate: 46357.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

October 8

“I guess we’re different kinds of terrorists.” Thomas Riker “No, you’re trying to be a hero. Terrorists don’t get to be heroes.” Kira- Defiant, Stardate: 48467.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

October 9

Happy Birthday to Scott Bakula. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Scott_Bakula #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

“You must think we’re barbaric. All the things Humanity’s accomplished – building ships like this, traveling to other worlds – and we’re still down there shooting each other.” Bethany “The progress on Earth, it didn’t happen overnight.” Archer- North Star, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

October 10

“They’re going to be all right, aren’t they?” Neelix “It’s heartburn, Neelix, not the Terrillian plague. What did you feed them, anyway?” Paris “Rodeo Red’s Red Hot Rootin’ Tootin’ Chili.” Neelix- Message in a Bottle, Stardate: 51462 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

October 11

“Our dilithium crystals represent awesome power. Wrongful use of that power, even to the extent of the taking of one life, would violate our history of total peace. To prevent that, we would die, Captain. As a race, if necessary.” Tharn- Mirror, Mirror, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

October 12

“You have taught us, there is nothing beyond our reach.” Nuria- Who Watches the Watchers, Stardate: 43173.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

Better Plus One Sword: Heltath’s Revenge

Written by TardisCaptain
Photo by Anis Rahman on Unsplash

Better Plus One Sword: Heltath’s Revenge

For my first official entry into the new Better Plus One Sword series, I’m writing up the backstory of Heltath’s Revenge. A collection of magic swords that come with a price. This write up is (mostly) system neutral for D20 based games. Feel free to adjust it for your own campaign.

Magic Item: “Heltath’s Revenge” Long Sword +1 plus special abilities

Special Abilities: For each charge used, add 1d4 damage to a successful strike in addition to the standard damage die (2 max charge increase). If a charge is used, damage vs any orcs are 1d6 in addition to the standard weapon damage. Charge activated by stating “For Westbarrow” with a successful strike. The sword will vibrate within 50 feet of orcs when held or sheathed. 

Special Notes: If fighting mixed opponents, the sword will guide the wielder to attack the closest orc-like target first if within 50 feet. The wielder must make a WILL save to attack other opponents of their choosing. Due to the sword’s reputation, orcs automatically distrust any wielder of this weapon if they can see it, even if sheathed. Sword bears the touchmark of the blacksmith Cardius the Giant.

Rarity: Common- found in some magic shops, by traveling merchants or other adventurers. May be found in some dungeon locations, but not in deep confines. (see Lore)

Starting Charges: 3d6 (Max 18)

Add Charge: One vial of orc blood covering the sword for one hour restores one charge. Cannot exceed maximum number of charges.

Identification/Lore Check: Low Success- Weapon is magical that assists the user in attacking and damage.  It may have other abilities.  Medium Success- Higher functions are activated by using a charge. Number of current charges revealed. Ability to detect orcs revealed. High Success- History and manufacturer revealed. Reputation and knowledge of animosity towards orcs revealed. Charge restoration revealed.

Additional: If the sword is found and not purchased, characters may find (GMs discretion) 1d4 vials of unknown (orc) blood with the magical sword on first discovery.

Lore:

Fifteen years ago, the ranger Heltath and her hunting party had returned to her village of Westbarrow after a successful expedition. Upon arrival they discovered that most of the population had been slaughtered by members of the Iron Tusk orc tribe. Enraged, Heltath and her party tracked the raiders down and slaughtered them in a surprise night raid. However, instead of her vengeance being quenched, she discovered that she loved killing orcs. 

Her hunting party had moved on trying to rebuild their village, but Heltath took it upon herself to continue hunting orcs of any tribe. This became an obsession for her over the years. She had joined up with other like-minded adventurers to track down orcs before they could raid any other settlements.

Needing more tools to help her in her quest, she sought out the magical blacksmith known as Cardius the Giant who was known for quickly making magical weapons. He was willing to make a magical sword that would aid her if she could provide orc blood as a component in the creation of the sword. Heltath brought him so much blood, that he discovered he could make many swords with the same capability.  This only pleased Heltath more as she believed it could aid her in her quest to rid the world of orcs. She made plans to get these swords out into the lands where adventurers could obtain them. The total number of swords is unknown but believed to be more than 100.

This caused some riffs with her latest party as they believed her obsession didn’t line up with their long-term goals. These swords became so well known within the orc communities, that they could recognize them on sight. 

Adventure Hooks:

Heltath is still seeking help in hunting down orcs and obtaining more blood and funds for Cardius.  She hooks up with the party and tries to discreetly collect the blood after battles so that she won’t lose her latest adventuring group. She is travelling under an assumed identity. What will happen if the party discovers her true nature? Perhaps a local kingdom, wanting to make peace with the orcs, is trying to stop Heltath on her personal quest.

Some orc tribes are trying to counter the threat of these weapons. They believe that if they can find the magical anvil that was used by Cardius the Giant and destroy it, it may neutralize the blades. (true? false?)  The orcs may follow the party if they believe that they can lead them to Heltath or Cardius.  Or the party may be searching for Caridius’ services when the orcs attack his lair.

Brother Ramos, cleric of a lawful/good deity, was a party member that assisted Heltath in her initial quest against the orcs believing their cause to be just. The amount of slaughter performed by Heltath’s actions has caused this deity to punish Ramos for his overzealous participation. Brother Ramos, now stripped of is clerical powers, hires the party to assist him in his quest for redemption. Does his deity require him to make peace with the orcs? Find as many of these swords and destroy them? Stop Heltath from continuing her war against the orcs? Track down Cardius and try to convince him to stop making the swords?  Cardius doesn’t care, he just makes what his clients want, what happens with the items after he makes them is not his concern.

The son/daughter/relative of a nobleman/royal house is traveling through orc infested lands. Perhaps to make peace/trade agreements with the orc tribes. Unbeknownst to this individual, they were given one of these swords as a gift.  The nature of the gift was discovered by an ally.  This ally has hired the party to reach the sword bearer in time before they create an incident which may erupt into violence.

Author’s Notes: Talking about how many vials of blood a character could ‘harvest’ from a dead orc and how many ounces a potion vial holds became an interesting topic on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. Thanks to Chantel and MoonHunter for the insightful comments they provided. I had also recieved feedback on other gaming Discord servers, than you. Also a tip-of-the-hat to my long time D&D friend Jeff S for looking over my initial draft. The feedback helped polish the article up.

Not all entries in the Better Plus One Sword series will be about weapons. There will be other magical items of different varieties. However for the first entry, I had this weapon pop into my head one morning. By the end of the day I had most of the article drafted up.

Also on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server I had a few readers submit their own magic item ideas. These will be included as ‘reader entries’ on a future blog post. If you have any feedback or suggestions for BPOS entries, feel free to tell me about it. 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.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: September 29-October 5

Written by TardisCaptain
How was it meeting Doug Jones this past weekend?

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of September 29th through October 5th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

September 29
“I was in command. The decisions were mine, no one else’s.” Kirk- Court Martial, Stardate: 2947.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

September 30
“You wish to be taught?” Vulcan Master “I would question everything you say.” Tuvok “You would not be a worthy pupil otherwise. Let us begin. Sit down, Tuvok.” Vulcan Master- Gravity, Stardate: 52438.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

October 1
“Perhaps they’re all remembering that old saying. Power corrupts” Picard “And absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Riker- Hide and Q, Stardate: 41590.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

October 2
Happy Birthday to Avery Brooks. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Avery_Brooks #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9

“Is it justice you’re after or just some way to express your anger, your fear?” Sisko- A Man Alone, Stardate: 46384 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

October 3
“To be human is also to seek pleasure, to laugh, to dance.” Flint- Requiem for Methuselah, Stardate: 5843.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

October 4
“Part of being human is learning how to deal with the unexpected. To risk new experiences even when they don’t fit into your preconceptions.” LaForge- Inheritance, Stardate: 47410.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

October 5
“Your accomplishments have been noteworthy.” Kuvak “They don’t justify deception…” V’Las “Deception has never been a stranger to this room.” Soval- Awakening, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Collecting, Community Service, Conventions, Fan Club, Star Trek

FanX 2025 After Action Report

Written by TardisCaptain

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Stuff from the con.

So the latest FanX: The Salt Lake Comic Convention is in the books and it was a good one. It continues to be one of the largest attended comic conventions in North America. I know that I was meeting people from Chicago, Oregon, St. Louis, Texas and beyond.

This year my Star Trek fan club, Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet, continued our community service focus by supporting an anti-bullying organization called R.E.A.C.H. (Raising Education Through Arts Characters and Heroes). I was really impressed with the level of work they had done. Our booth wasn’t on the vendor floor. Instead we were in the main hallway just outside of the Starship Frontier Artemis Bridge Simulator room. We were combined to help save space on the vendor floor as changes are being made to the Salt Palace (more on that later). I also got to dress up as a Borg intruder and assimilate the Captain of the crew before they could stop me. I don’t have any pictures of that but I may be getting a video soon.

We had a chance to meet a lot of people. I’m hopeful that some will join us as members of our Star Trek family. I also had a chance to network with a couple of club leaders for future endeavors.

As for loot, well I didn’t pick up a lot this year. A friend printed up a photo of actor Jerry O’Connell with his Commander Ransom character from Star Trek: Lower Decks. It was my intention to pick up his autograph at FanX, but his flight was delayed and I wasn’t able to make it over to his booth afterwards.

I was able to meet up with actor Doug Jones who played Saru on Star Trek: Discovery and obtain his autograph. Talk about someone who made you feel special. Everyone who he met at his booth got as much time as they needed with him. So we didn’t mind taking longer in the line because we all knew we were going to get the same amount of attention. If you got a selfie with him, he did three poses with you. And when he was done he gave you a big hug. I told him about my encounter getting Jason Isaacs’ autograph on the same photo. And when I gave Doug my favorite quote that Saru had given, he finished it just as I started it. It amazed me that he recalled it after all these years.

“Before we can care for others, we must care for ourselves.” Saru- New Eden, Stardate: 1027.32

I was gifted a convention t-shirt from a friend who discovered that I never had a FanX shirt before. However, just after taking this photo, I offered it to my geek wife who quickly snatched it up since it had her two favorite colors on it.

I did bump into a gentleman advertising his game galled Delve in Your Pocket by Otherwise, Games. It was a solo RPG that you could keep in your pocket and pull out when needed. It had a dice system that was contained within the text. I’ll have to see if I can complete it. There were a lot of RPG shirts and fans there. I did talk with a few GM groups about coming up to SaltCON. Hopefully we will see some of them there.

I really tried to find other things to buy at the con. At past FanX events, I had found several RPG items to pick up. But for some reason this year was lacking. I will say that the staff was wonderful as well as the added security the event had. I took the time to shake the hand of one Salt Lake police officer who was patrolling the building and thanked him for being there. There were also a lot of police dogs as well.

I am sad about one thing, I had a great time staying at the Plaza Hotel that was right across the street. The convention rate was amazing compared to the other hotels. However this is the last year the hotel will be in operations as it is getting torn down to make way for a parking garage. There is a lot of construction going on downtown for the new entertainment district and the upcoming winter olympics in 2034. This also led to a lot of people wondering about the future of FanX since the Salt Palace will be going under some massive changes over the next few years. At the end of the con, the organizers did announce that the 2026 dates will be September 24-26. So we know there will be a FanX next year. So next year the Seventh Fleet will be returning (and I think we will be back on the vendor floor) with another charity booth. Many thanks to Dan Farr, the staff and the army of volunteers who helped out with this convention.

Did you go to FanX or another nearby convention? Tell me about it. 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.

Posted in: Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

Kudos to Modiphius for Star Trek Adventures

Written by TardisCaptain

When a company screws up, I complain about it. I want other people to know how badly that company handled a situation. Because I don’t want to be someone who complains all the time, I also want to point out when a company excels at what they do. And my latest good example of this is the team behind the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game by Modiphius.

Like any successful roleplaying game, as time progresses the designers get feedback from players. They also make changes when the same RPG system is used in other games adding and removing portions of the game. Look at the latest version of Dungeons and Dragons. While it still has the D20 aspect, there are a lot of changes to the game if you compare it to Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5 or the older BECMI that I started out with. There are differences that are good and bad. After the publisher had released the first edition of Star Trek Adventures, they took the feedback to heart and made some changes that were reflected in the Klingon Core Rulebook and the STA Rules Digest. Later, they took more feedback (and aspects from other 2D20 games) and released the much superior 2nd edition.

An advantage for the publisher, besides making the game better, is the sales of new books. This also caused some difficulties as well. If a new version of a game is released, then their loyal customers wondered why they invested in the previous books. Most games were not very backwards compatible. This was particularly bad when it came to the Warhammer tactical games with the official miniatures. The older miniatures were not allowed in the new official tournaments to drive up sales. I remember a friend telling me after the latest edition change that he was done with Warhammer because of this. It had gone through it twice and was not going to follow a third time even with how much he had loved the game.

When the second edition of Star Trek Adventures was released, I recall a few players wondering if their books were no longer compatible. I even saw one collection going up for sale online as the seller thought they were no longer needed. The team behind STA2e kept telling us that the older books could still be used. Well, they have started doing something beyond talk. They are releasing free PDF updates to all the older books that makes them “second edition”. Usually, it’s a minor correction to a character stat, or the wording on a certain rule. These ‘revisions’ have been released for the division books covering Command, Operations and Sciences.

As someone who wants to homebrew for this 2D20 game, it’s been fascinating to read some of these revisions and comparing them to the original releases. It helps me get an ‘under the hood’ look in the system.

So, I’m going to grab one Starfleet officer from Star Trek Adventures: The Next Generation Player Characters and compare the 1st edition book to the 2nd edition revision that was released for free. That being our earl grey drinking captain, Jean Luc Picard.

Now the “story line” presented in the 1st edition publication is not present in the revision. I don’t believe that ‘revision’ meant ‘reprint with 2e stats’. The revision just presented the stats. So it’s still worth picking up the 1st edition publications for all of the lore presented within the books. With STA2e relying more on traits, our enterprising commanding officer has some of his traits reworded. For example ‘Former Borg’ is now ‘Liberated Borg’ which makes more sense. His position of ‘Captain of the Enterprise’ is also listed as a trait. In the STA2e stats, the new past time focus of ‘Ancient Earth Literature’ was added. I love the idea of a past time focus as it tells us that the character is more than just a bunch of stats on a piece of paper. For Picard’s talents, Spirit of Discovery is slightly re-worded (as it was between the two books) and the Veteran talent has a change since STA2e dropped the challenge dice (again, seen in the new core rulebook). This is the same reason Captain Picard’s attack stats are slightly different, no challenge dice means he uses the damage listed in the new core book. Besides the past time trait, the only other noticeable change was the ‘special rules’ listed for the character. These contain the Species Ability which gives the character the advantages of being Human. And the role benefit of Commanding Officer. These role benefits have been very interesting to read. Other than that, the character’s values, attributes, departments (called disciplines in the first edition), stress, focuses, protection and equipment are all the same.

So, as you can see, Jim Johnson and his team of writers have been true to their word. You can still use your STA first edition publications with the second edition with just some minor tweaks. And they are helping you along by taking the time to provide some of these tweaks themselves (at the same time that they are working on new STA2e content).

Besides being impressed with these ‘revisions’, I recently used a 1st edition adventure in a one-shot at SaltCON. I GMed a game using the scenario from the Klingon Empire Quickstart using the second edition rules. Other than a few minor strokes of the pen on the pre-generated characters and a few NPCs, I had no problems running it with the Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition rules.

So, don’t sell your first edition books, and if you happen to see any dead-tree versions, snatch them up as they are no longer being printed. Or you can pick up the PDFs on DriveThruRPG. You can use them in a second edition game with minimal effort. Truly something to tip the hat to the writers of this game. Like I said in the title of this blog, Kudos to Modiphius.

ADDITIONAL: It was pointed out to me that I didn’t include a link to the free downloads on the Modiphius website. They can be found here: Star Trek Adventures Downloads.

Have you encountered smooth transitions between editions of your favorite roleplaying game systems? Tell me about it. 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.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: September 22-28

Written by TardisCaptain
Me at the Seventh Fleet booth at FanX next weekend.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of September 22nd through September 28th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

September 22
“Components must be weighed. Our danger to ourselves as well as our duties to other life forms, friendly or not. There’s a third course.” Spock- The Galileo Seven, Stardate: 2822.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

September 23
Happy Birthday to Rosalind Chao. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Rosalind_Chao #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

“I’m not teaching any philosophy. What I’m trying to teach is pure science.” Keiko- In the Hands of the Prophets, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

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 #Quote

“You do understand that being afraid of everything means you learn nothing. There’s no opportunity to discover, to explore.” Burnham- The Vulcan Hello, Stardate: 1207.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #Quote

September 25
“Don’t throw away a lifetime of faith because of one anomalous incident.” Chakotay- Mortal Coil, Stardate: 51449.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

September 26
Star Trek: Enterprise premiered on this date in 2001 with the episode Broken Bow. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_Enterprise #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

“All work and no play. Everyone should get out for a little fun now and then.” Broken Bow, Date: April 15, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

September 27
“Zeus, Hermes, Hera, Aphrodite. You were right. Athena, you were right. The time has passed. There is no room for gods.” Apollo- Who Mourns for Adonais? Stardate: 3196.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

September 28
Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered on this date in 1987 with the episode Encounter at Farpoint. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

“The same old story is the one we’re meeting now– self-righteous life-forms who are eager not to learn, but to prosecute to judge anything they don’t understand or can’t tolerate.” Picard- Encounter at Farpoint, Stardate: 41153.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Dungeons and Dragons, Role Playing Games

Better Plus One Sword- The Introduction

Written by TardisCaptain

So, what’s better than a magical +1 sword? The answer isn’t a sword with a +2 attack and damage bonus. Let me explain.

I have fond memories of reading the early Dungeons and Dragons books when I was first introduced to the game. One of the areas that I particularly enjoyed was the magic items that a DM could place in various dungeons. Especially when reading some of the published modules by several companies. I would go through the text and create a list for the module showing how much treasure and magic items were found within the adventure. Usually, it was a shield +1, a spear +2 or a ring that stored extra spells for a magic user. There was some sort of protection item, or something that added to the offensive power of the character, but they usually had no personality. At the time, I was enthralled with what I read in those older gaming tomes. Now, I’m thinking that I’d want something more for the magic items that I place in my adventures. A sword +1, heh, how original. Nothing memorable, nothing to spark the imagination of the player as they discover what the magic item does, and how their character can use it in the adventure world they find themselves in.

How can we as game masters present magical items to our players that will present more roleplaying and gaming opportunities beyond adding a mathematical bonus to a game mechanic?

How did the players acquire the item?- Sometimes the way they come into possession of the magic item may mean more than the benefits it provides. That sword may only give a +1 bonus, but it was a family heirloom that was given to the character when they first went out into the world. I can’t replace this; it came from my grand-uncle who used it at the Battle of Brodon’s Bridge. It could be proof of family membership or increase the notoriety of the holder. The item could be on a temporary loan from a member of the royal family or a famous adventurer as a sign that they have authorized the character’s mission.

Give the item a name and history- So the DM tells your character that they have found a Sword +5 Sword of Sharpness that can be wielded by a lawful character. Sounds like a lot, but that doesn’t inspire the character. Now tell the player that the historian that accompanied them on their latest quest has told Sir Richards that he has found the sword Excalibur in the tomb of King Arthur Pendragon (as detailed in the AD&D 1e Deities & Demigods book). If the player has any medieval fantasy knowledge, they suddenly see a different sword that is now in the hands of their character. Now, I’m not saying give every fighter this legendary sword, but name the sword. Give it some markings that an expert can look at (for a price) and research its history. Perhaps the researcher needs some items to help identify the item or is willing to identify the item in exchange for a favor (which could send the players on another quest). Perhaps the item was once owned by a hero, adventurer, villain, demi-god, etc. What happens if an heir or a cult wants the item after it’s been discovered in the lost caverns it was hidden in? Perhaps they hid it there.

Let the players help create it- Another option is that the character had a hand in creating the item. The mage and the blacksmith helped create the physical and mystical portion of the item, but they need some additional components that the characters need to acquire. The weapon gives a bonus when used against a certain opponent. Perhaps it’s some blood, or scales or another item from the target creature. The larger the quantity, the more damage it does when the magic weapon hits. A weapon made in such a way would not be looked upon kindly by those it was meant to slay. Think of the reaction that the goblins had when they saw Orcist in the hands of Thorn Oakenshield in The Hobbit. It probably wouldn’t help with any negotiations.

Give the item a limited number of charges- This would be more mechanical than historical within the game. A sword only gives a +1 to hit for each charge used up to a maximum advantage. Need to make sure you hit, spend four charges to give +4 to the attack roll. Give the item one or more special abilities and this ability needs a charge to activate. This makes the player wonder if they use the charge now, or save it for a more dangerous foe?

Allow the player to discover the advantages during roleplay- Imagine the player’s surprise when they realize their item gives the character an ability they didn’t have before. It’s suddenly easier to hit certain targets. Or that the item talks only to them. Just being in possession of the item may be enough to give these benefits, or boons. Which leads us to…

Give the item a bane to go along with the boon- So there are a couple of good advantages the item gives. Perhaps it gives a warning or translates a language. Then give it some bad advantages as well. That sword that is +2 more vs dragons, entices the character to attack any dragon he sees. The translation given is correct, but may take a while to translate. Make it interesting without being too much of a curse.

What magic items can you think of that would be better than just a scroll or a shield +1? I’m planning to write up several magic items to post about in future blog posts. Feel free to share some with me to be included in those articles. 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.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: September 15-21

Written by TardisCaptain
How I’m preparing for Monday.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of September 15th through September 21st. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

September 15
Happy Birthday to Tom Hardy. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Hardy #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #Quote

“I would be interested to know what we’re talking about.” Picard “Unity, Captain! Tearing down the walls between us to recognize that we are one. …I’m talking of the thing that makes us the same. Peace. We want peace.” Shinzon- Star Trek Nemesis, Stardate: 56844.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #Quote

September 16
Happy Birthday to Jayne Brook. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jayne_Brook #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #Quote

“Sometimes in war, the terrible choice is the only choice.” Cornwell- Project Daedalus, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDiscovery #IDIC #Quote

September 17
Happy Birthday to Ella Purnell. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Ella_Purnell #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #Quote

“You learned who your true friends are. The ones willing to go along with you no matter how foolish it seems. Never take that for granted.” Gwyndala- First Con-tact, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #Quote

September 18
Happy Birthday to Christina Chong. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Christina_Chong #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #Quote

“Seems to be New York City. Mid-21st century.” Kirk “What?” Noonien-Singh “What?” Kirk “It’s Toronto. The biggest city in what used to be called Canada? You know, maple leaves, politeness, poutine.” Noonien-Singh- Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Stardate: 1581.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #Quote

Happy Birthday to Babs Olusanmokun. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Babs_Olusanmokun #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #Quote

“Biobed 2 is working again. At least for now. But I know it’s only a matter of time before it shuts down again. Some things break in a way that can never be repaired. Only managed.” Dr. M’Benga- Under the Cloak of War, Stardate: 1875.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #Quote

September 19
“Before you can be loyal to another, you must be loyal to yourself.” Dr. Bashir- Profit and Loss, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

September 20
“You are experiencing difficult emotions.” Tuvok “Guilt, shame, remorse.” Seven “Then you haven’t lost your Humanity. You have reaffirmed it.” Tuvok- Tsunkatse, Stardate: 53447.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

September 21
“Doubt is the basis of all scientific progress.” T’Pol- Chosen Realm, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

Posted in: Role Playing Games

What is on your own character sheet?

Written by TardisCaptain
Which character sheet from the last Character Creation Challenge should I use?

I want to thank the participants of the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server for keeping me on track and thinking about future blog posts. Thanks MoonHunter for the virtual donuts (at least those don’t add to my daily calories, even when I want a real one). He was talking about how continuing to write and work on a project is beneficial. I especially liked his comment of “And remember, you can always edit crap. You can not edit a blank page.” How true.

So I started thinking about what was something I could put together. Sometimes when I place my fingers on the keyboard, the ideas start flowing through them from my brain to the page. I’ve got a few ideas that I need to prep for, or would take longer than a single sitting to put together.

But then an idea hit me. Arsenic_Angel on my Discord server has been talking about crocheting home-made dice bags for an upcoming booth at SaltCON. I had commented back to her that she was doing a good job and had increased the skill level of her character.

So for this blog post I’m going to talk about our own character sheet. The one that represents us. I’m going to throw out a rough idea for “Real Life- The RPG”, but that’s for the purpose of getting the message across for this blog post. So don’t think of it as a finished system but a lump of clay ready to be molded. Sort of like all of us.

When we sit down with a blank piece of paper, or unfilled character sheet, there is a level of excitement. Perhaps we have an idea on what we want to do with the character. Another layer of fun could be finding out about the character as we develop and play them. I think that is why there is a segment of the gaming community that likes using point buys to create their character and another that like random dice rolls. While the bulk of the characters we make are at the starting levels, our own personal character sheet doesn’t have to be that way. You may already have some experience in several areas, but as long as you are still learning, you are still living. That is part of the reason I try to learn something new every day.

So at the top of our sheet is our name. Perhaps some nicknames as well. Don’t worry if you need to change the name later. Your name was a gift and gifts are not meant to be used forever. Think about what went into that name, why it was selected and what it means to you.

In roleplaying games we use attributes to represent the natural abilities of our character. So for us we all have three distinct things. Body, Mind and Spirit. Our health, physical resilience, strength, coordination, balance and more are part of our Body score. The intelligence, recall, perception, insight and more make up our Mind score. And finally our drive, creativity, mental resilience, happiness and more make up our Spirit. Instead of a single rating for these attributes, we would have two. An average rating, and a peak rating. If we keep up with certain daily activities, we can keep our average rating. If we don’t get enough sleep, eat healthy and mentally take care of ourselves, then we may fall below that average rating. But if we push one of our ratings (sometimes at the cost of the other two) then we can use the peak rating on certain tasks. An example of this could be professional and Olympic athletes who train constantly for long periods of time to reach that peak needed for a certain competition.

Now there isn’t going to be class and levels in “Real Life- The RPG” because we are more than just our occupation. Instead we are going to have talents, skills and traits which could help us in a variety of different jobs. A talent is something that comes naturally that helps with certain ability rolls. These could be athletic, musical, artistic, creative, charming, dedicated, problem solving, etc. Skills are specializations that we develop or need for certain tasks. I mentioned Arsenic_Angel increasing their crocheting skill. There are two writers on my discord with the handles of Chantel and MoonHunter who are constantly giving us updates on their word count and projects. So I can see the Writing skill number going up. If you do something that is trained, then that should be a skill that increases. Some may even get high enough to become a professional skill (aka you get paid for it) while others may just be more a long the lines of hobbies and interests. For myself I’d have a professional skill level in cybersecurity, a hobby skill level in roleplaying games and an interest skill in World War I and II trivia. While I don’t make money off of it, since I’ve been interviewed for Newspapers, TV, Radio and Magazines, my Star Trek knowledge skill is at a professional level. And finally traits are things that affect your character both good and bad. Some may be temporary, such as “exhausted” or some may be semi-permanent such as my myopia (aka nearsightedness) or permanent, like if I was missing an arm (which I am not thankfully).

Instead of having equipment, we would have resources, because not everything is physical. Sure, owning a car is a resource (that comes with a cost), but having friends is also a resource. Internet access, a full-time job, a safe neighborhood to live in, the love of a family, a pet, food storage, and more would make up the resources our character can use. These resources can help with a trait (like my glasses help with my vision), or with the upkeep needed for my attributes (like visiting with friends to lift my spirits). Each resource could have multiple traits as well just like the character. A low-stress job, an older car that isn’t as reliable, etc. These would also be listed on my character sheet.

So, when we make a character, we plan for that character to change and grow as we play the game. We might get access to additional resources, increase an ability, learn a new skill. As I was thinking about this blog post this morning a thought ran through my head. “This Count Chocula cereal may not help my body attribute score, but it sure helps my spirit attribute.” Think of things that we can do to improve our characters for “Real Life- The RPG” and take them. Even if it’s just the daily activities to keep our average attribute score, that is still helping. Don’t forget to use your resources such as your friends and family. We are all playing this game together and there are no NPCs.

OK readers, give me topic and subject ideas (RPG or anything geeky) that you’d like to see me blog about. I have some ideas of my own, but I’d love to hear some short prompts that you might be interested in. This helps encourage me to get off of my duff and write. And that increases my writing skill on my personal character sheet. 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.

Posted in: Quotes, Star Trek

Daily Star Trek Quotes: September 8-14

Written by TardisCaptain
When someone chooses to be good person to someone they don’t know.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account and the @STrekQuotes Bluesky account for the week of September 8th through September 14th. Note: Because Twitter/X will use posts to train AI, we will no longer be posting on that platform. This is out of respect for the owners of Star Trek.

September 8
Star Trek premiered on this date in 1966 with the episode The Man Trap. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Original_Series #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

“Shall we pick some flowers, Doctor? When a man visits an old girlfriend she usually expects something like that.” Kirk “Is that how you get girls to like you, by bribing them?” Dr. McCoy- The Man Trap, Stardate: 1513.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

Star Trek: The Animated Series premiered on this date in 1973 with the episode Beyond the Farthest Star. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series #StarTrek #IDIC #Quote

“The wands are accumulators, receptors to attract energy, motion, sound, light, heat, every kind of energy around them.” Spock “The structure of the ship, those huge arches, thrusting up. The whole ship is designed to receive and store energy.” Scotty- Beyond the Farthest Star, Stardate: 5221.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTAS #IDIC #Quote

September 9
Happy Birthday to Jeffrey Combs. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jeffrey_Combs #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekENT #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #Quote

“The Founders are gods because that’s what they want you to believe? That they built that into your genetic code?” Odo “Of course they did. That’s what gods do. After all, why be a god if there’s no one to worship you?” Weyoun- Treachery, Faith and the Great River, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #Quote

September 10
Happy Birthday to Harry Treadaway. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Harry_Treadaway #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

“I need to see how it works.” Narek “In your new capacity as…?” Soji “Can you keep a secret?” Narek “Yes.” Soji “Good. So can I.” Narek- Maps and Legends, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

September 11
Happy Birthday to Roxann Dawson. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Roxann_Dawson #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

“She saw something in me that I didn’t see. She saw a worthwhile person where I saw a lost and hostile misfit. And because she had faith in me, I began to have faith in myself.” Torres- Coda, Stardate: 50518.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #Quote

September 12
“You know, Number One, you missed something not playing with model ships. They were the source of imaginary voyages, each holding a treasure of adventures.” Picard- Booby Trap, Stardate: 43205.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #Quote

September 13
“A farm?” Archer “It’s remote and sparsely populated. If you’re exposed, there’s a reduced risk of cultural contamination.” T’Pol “This must be why aliens are always landing in corn fields.” Archer- Civilization, Date: July 31, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #Quote

September 14
Happy Birthday to Walter Koenig. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Walter_Koenig #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #Quote

“It makes me homesick. Just like Russia.” Chekov “More like the Garden of Eden, Ensign.” Dr. McCoy “Of course, Doctor. The Garden of Eden was just outside Moscow.” Chekov- The Apple, Stardate: 3715.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #Quote

What are your favorite daily Star Trek quotes selected for this week? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.

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