Tag: Star Trek

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

RPGaDAY2024 Day 27: Marvelous Miniature

Written by TardisCaptain

And here we are on Day 27 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and we’ve been asked to talk about Marvelous Miniatures. OK, confession time. I love playing around the table with a battle mat spread out a hand-drawn map and miniatures or standees representing our characters and the bad-guys we were thumping. However I’ve never been a big collector of the miniatures. I’ve got a few that I’ll show photos of in this blog post, but when it came to running a game for my daughter and her friends or GMing at SaltCON, I borrowed the collection of plastic miniatures that my DM friend has been slowly gathering for years. I’m very grateful that he’s been willing to let me use them on an odd-weekend. Another friend who participates in a few Star Trek Adventures games has a done the same thing with various Star Trek miniatures. I really need to get a better collection of my own if I’m going to GM more even if they are used for another genre than what they were created for. There were a few times that the stormtrooper minis stood in for the orcs we were fighting in our past D&D 3.5 campaign.

So for this blog entry I pulled out the two boxes of miniatures that I still had in my collection after many, many moves. I had realized when I was taking the pictures that I hadn’t opened up these boxes in years (and possibly even more than a decade). So it was interesting to look these over and handle the metal pieces again. I don’t think I painted these. I just don’t have the patience or the setup to even attempt painting. But I do admire a very well painted miniature when I see one.

Hmmm… I’m sensing a theme here with these two boxes. Both FASA and West End Games had a large number of miniatures for their respective games. The boxes are battered, but are still intact and not splitting in the corners.

Here are some of the minis that were inside the Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan boxed set. It primarily focused on the Regular 1 space station crew. It included both characters and computers. None of them were painted.

When I opened the Star Wars box, I found this miniature still in it’s package. The plastic is brittle and cracked along the top, but still connected to the backing. I believe that I was intending to use this to represent a character in a past Dungeons and Dragons game.

In the Star Wars Bounty Hunters boxed set was these miniatures. As I mentioned above, I don’t think I painted these minis with how shaded some of them are. The big guy with the spikes (in the middle) is obviously from another set and I think the guy in gold and green is also from another manufacturer. All of the figures are loose, but I have them wrapped up in some foamy paper.

If I expand my collection of miniatures to a usable set, I’ll be sure to post about it here. Are there miniatures that you remember from your gaming sessions? 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: August 26-September 1

Written by TardisCaptain
Kirk in another timeline?

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of August 26th through September 1st. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.

August 26
Happy Birthday to Chris Pine. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Chris_Pine #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“I would cite regulation, but I know you will simply ignore it.” Spock “See? We are getting to know each other!” Kirk- Star Trek (2009) #StarTrek #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 27
“You can’t let wishful thinking guide your decision, Counsellor. It’s time to leave.” Ro “We will separate the ship when I decide that it’s time and not before. Is that clear, Ensign?” Troi- Disaster, Stardate: 45156.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 28
“I dreamt about exploring the stars as a child and I wasn’t going to allow any… handicap-not a chair, not a Cardassian station-to stop me from chasing that dream.” Melora- Melora, Stardate: 47229.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 29
(Holding up a fancy sword) “A Claymore. You’re a beauty.” Scotty- Day of the Dove, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 30
“Mr. Data, what kind of cake is this?” Picard “It is a cellular peptide cake.” Data “With mint frosting.” Worf- Phantasms, Stardate: 47225.7 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 31
“I dread the day when everyone on this ship agrees with me.” Janeway- Random Thoughts, Stardate: 51367.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

September 1
“Our mission is to make contact with those whom humans consider new life and new civilizations.” T’Pol- The Andorian Incident, Date: June 19, 2151 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #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, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 21: Classic Campaign

Written by TardisCaptain

On Day 21 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and our subject is Classic Campaign. There are campaigns that I’ve played in as a player and run as a GM.

As a player I think the most classic campaign was the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that I’ve talked about before with Tovark the Sun Elf Wizard with Xon his toad familiar. I think one of the things that made it a classic campaign is how well the DM ran it. We were wondering between sessions on how we were going to handle our situation. I remember trying to make sure I had the excel character sheet up to date and added links to all of the different feats, spells so I could quickly look them up.

As a GM I think the most classic campaign was the Star Trek Roleplaying Game by Decipher. I still have players reminding me of what happened in the different sessions. I had assembled a schedule of self-made and published adventures from different sources leading to a final “bad guy” situation that the players would have to overcome. The only thing I wish is that we would have been able to complete the campaign to it’s conclusion (schedules and players moving away prevented this).

What classic campaigns did you play or GM in? What made it a classic? 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: Role Playing Games, Star Trek, Star Wars

RPGaDAY2024 Day 19: Sensational Session

Written by TardisCaptain

Reaching Day 19 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and our topic is Sensational Session. This one is a little vague. Yesterday we had “Memorable moment of Play” which is just about the same thing. So I’m going to talk about what I think would make for a sensational session.

In my humble opinion, a sensational session is where everyone (GM included) has something to do that contributes to the game in a timely manner. I’ve played in a WEG Star Wars game that had so many players in it, my character could take his turn and then I could take a 15-20 minute nap before needing to do something again. I’ve played in a Cyberpunk game where the hacker had a mission to complete, so the rest of us left to get some food. These are not good sessions.

Now that I’ve been typing up this blog post, I think the RPG that has succeeded in giving everyone the opportunity to play no matter the scenario is Star Trek Adventures. They had the concept of a “Secondary Character” that you can create before hand or create on the fly. If you are playing the Conn officer on a Starfleet vessel and there is an away team going to the planet on a rescue mission, instead of the player being bored, they could create a secondary character that is a member of the security team.

Sure, there might be sessions that are geared more towards one or two players, but remember that there are other players at the table that have taken just as much time and effort to be present for the gaming session. With how limited our gaming time seems to be, lets make sure that everyone gets something sensational out of them.

Feedback from a reader: Phil Hatfield on MeWe responded to my Quick to Learn post noting that he thought MiniSix was an easy to use game systems. It looks like it is free on DriveThruRPG so I’m going to check it out. He also stated that the FATE system was very simple. This is one I keep hearing about, but never had a chance to try.

Do you have any thoughts on what makes for a sensational session? 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: August 19-25

Written by TardisCaptain
When you realize that it’s Monday.

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of August 19th through August 25th. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.

August 19
Happy Birthday to Diana Muldaur. http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Diana_Muldaur #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“We humans learn more often from a failure or a mistake than we do from an easy success.” Dr. Pulaski- Elementary, Dear Data, Stardate: 42286.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

Happy Birthday to Jonathan Frakes. @jonathansfrakes https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jonathan_Frakes #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #StarTrekFilm #StarTrekDS9 #StarTrekVOY #StarTrekENT #StarTrekPicard #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“You should know that I now prefer pacifism to actual combat. Energize.” Worf “We’re all gonna die.” Riker- The Bounty, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 20
Happy Birthday to John Noble. @thejohnnoble https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/John_Noble #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“I am coming for you, my progeny.” Ilthuran- Starstruck, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekProdigy #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 21
“Unhappiness is the state which occurs in the human when wants and desires are not fulfilled.” Spock- I Mudd, Stardate: 4513.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 22
“I never thought I’d meet a species that forges such intimate bonds with lesser creatures. It’s surprising the things you humans choose to invest your emotions in.” Dr. Phlox- Dear Doctor, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 23
“The fun in the program, Data was in the attempt to solve a mystery.” LaForge- Elementary, Dear Data, Stardate: 42286.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 24
Happy Birthday to Jennifer Lien. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jennifer_Lien #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“The next time someone has something nice to say about you, maybe you should just take them at their word and feel good about yourself.” Kes- Lifesigns, Stardate: 49504.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

Happy Birthday to Melissa Navia. @melissaCnavia https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Melissa_Navia #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“‘Gorn Protocols. To be distributed upon an encounter with the hostile species.’” La’an “Break in case of Gorn.” Ortegas- Hegemony, Stardate: 2344.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 25
“I’m supposed to be a doctor, I’m supposed to put my patient’s needs above my own.” Dr. Bashir “You didn’t want to be lonely anymore. Nobody does.” O’Brien- Chrysalis, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #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

RPGaDAY2024 Day 18: Memorable Moment of Play

Written by TardisCaptain

For Day 18 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge we have the subject of a Memorable Moment of Play. I’ve already talked about some of the previous moments on my blog. These include funny encounters in Star Wars, It Came From The Late Late Show or Star Trek.

There have been panels at past conventions where gamers were able to tell the “There I was…” stories from their gaming adventures. I think this is part of the reason we love roleplaying games so much. You never know what is going to happen when a bunch of geeks get together and roll some magical math rocks. The improvisational and quick thinking efforts of both the players and the GM can sometimes lead to stories that we want to talk about later on in life. I know that when I’ve bumped into old gaming friends, we usually bring up a session or two that stick out in our minds. To this day I giggle when I think about blowing out a candle, a Gorn captain saying “dude”, or insects disguised as gold coins.

Do you have a memorable moment of play from a past RPG session? 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: Character Creation Challenge, Conventions, Fan Club, Friends, Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 17: An engaging RPG community

Written by TardisCaptain

Hmmm… an interesting topic for Day 17 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge. An engaging RPG community. As humans, we are social creatures. We need to bond together with others that share similar interests. This is why we gather together in clubs, such as Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet for Star Trek fans, or organizations. I remember being in a RPG club back in the 80’s that was being run through a local gaming store. Later I remember there being the Gaming Clubhouse that was next to Comics Utah in Sugarhouse.

In our current days of the internet, I think that meeting up with gamers at local comic stores and conventions is still the best way to meet fellow RPG enthusiasts. Something about the face-to-face brings about a bond that isn’t quite there with online interactions. However I’m not an old-man yelling at a cloud and I have enjoyed meeting people online as well. Participating in challenges such as the RPGaDAY and the Character Creation Challenge has helped me find quite a few good blogs, message boards and social media connections.

If you are looking on social media, do a search for the hashtags that are associated with the gaming community such as: #TTRPG, #RolePlaying, #RPG, #RPGaDAY or #CharacterCreationChallenge. By following these on BlueSky and Mastodon I’ve been able to interact with quite a few other RPGers. On Facebook I always submit my entries to I’d Rather Be Killing Monsters, RPG Blog Hub and others. Sometimes there are groups for specific titles. Sorry I don’t have links for these, I don’t really access Facebook on my computer. Reddit has also become a goldmine for RPG connectivity. Like Facebook, there are also specialized communities for different RPG titles on there. And I’ve become very involved in the RPG scene on Discord. I love being able to follow Discord servers of RPG publishers and Bloggers/Youtubers. Yes, there are also a lot of good Youtube videos as well.

Some of the message boards that I’ve interacted with include the RPG.net Forums and RPG PUB. There are others that pop up during the Character Creation Challenge that I’ve linked to in January. There have also been some Star Trek RPG message boards that I wish were more active like Old School Trek.

Connecting with fellow bloggers has also helped. Some of these are (and not limited to) Barking Alien, Gaming with the Gnomies, The Other Side and more. If you search around there are a ton of blogs about a wide variety of subjects. If you are looking for a good one specifically about Star Trek Adventures, I’d recommend Continuing Mission.

So there is opportunity to find an engaging community both in real life and cyberspace. Do you have a community that you would like to recommend? 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: Role Playing Games, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 12: RPG with well supported campaigns

Written by TardisCaptain

For Day 12 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge and the subject is an RPG with a well supported campaign. This makes sense since yesterday’s topic was RPG one-shots.

Now I haven’t ran any published campaigns. I’ve created a few for Star Trek and other RPGs. However I’ve been tempted to run a few. At the last SaltCON I picked up two boxed sets that were different campaigns. But the answer that I’m going to post today is the Shackleton Expanse that Modiphius released for the Star Trek Adventures RPG. The game designers set this up so it could be run as a Federation campaign, or a Klingon campaign or a mixture of both. I thought that was an excellent idea since they had both the standard core rulebook and the Klingon core rulebook available.

Additional feedback received from readers: From the MeWe social media site I had readers talk about some of my posts. Phil Hatfield mentioned that the RPG he had played the most could have been FASA Star Trek, Twilight 2000 or WEG Star Wars. He had also listed Twilight 2000, the Hollow Earth Expedition and Star Trek Adventures as a game with really good artwork. Phil Hatfield responded to the Easiest To Play entry with the FATE System and Star Wars WEG. Phil also mentioned that for One-Shots the he had run some good ones for Star Wars and Chill. I think I got all of them from MeWe comments. If I missed one, sorry about that. But thank you for reading my blog.

Can you recommend a good campaign guide for an RPG? 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: August 12-18

Written by TardisCaptain
Is there any way to stop Monday from coming?

Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of August 12th through August 18th. Coming soon to Bluesky once we can find a scheduler option.

August 12
Remembering Jane Wyatt who was born on this date in 1910. https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Jane_Wyatt #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #StarTrekFilm #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“Nothing is as important as your father’s life.” Amanda- Journey to Babel, Stardate: 3842.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 13
Happy Birthday to Dawnn Lewis. @dawnn_lewis https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Dawnn_Lewis #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

“My crew deals with just as much bleep as Picard’s or any other. We might be California-class, but we are the best at what we do. I’m Captain Carol Freeman, this is my crew, and you are letting us into that party!” Freeman- An Embarrassment of Dooplers, Stardate: 58053.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 14
“We have emotions. We simply keep them suppressed, under control.” T’Pol- Impulse, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 15
“The sperm whale on Earth devours millions of cuttlefish as it roams the oceans. It is not evil. It is feeding.” Picard- Silicon Avatar, Stardate: 45122.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 16
“I don’t respond well to threats.” Janeway- Year of Hell, Stardate: 51268.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 17
“Nobody said life was fair.” Dr. Bashir- Equilibrium, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #Quote

August 18
“Theft, Captain?” Spock “Well, we’ll steal from the rich and give back to the poor later.” Kirk- The City on the Edge of Forever, Stardate: 3134.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet #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, Star Trek

RPGaDAY2024 Day 7: RPG with Good Form

Written by TardisCaptain

First some feedback from my Day 5 post about RPG Writing. LexTenebris on Mastodon responded to me stating that I may be off-base in my line of thinking and that people would buy RPG books purely for the reference on the source material. He referenced some of the GURPS supplements based on licensed products. He also made an interesting comment of “There are a ton of properties that I think are interesting and would like to see someone else’s approach to translating them into a world book. Sometimes it’s purely interest, sometimes it’s because I want to see how someone else deals with a setting in the context of mechanics or a particular issue within that setting.” It spawned an entire conversation with several RPGers on Mastodon,

On my entry for Day 6 on RPGs that are easy to use, Creative Wronging on BlueSky mentioned that the Cypher System is rather easy to use once you understand their stats system. Then he recommended some OSR systems like Mausritter, Cairn or the Odd-Likes. I’ll have to check these out.

Thank you to all of my readers and a big thank you for the feedback/response. It tells me that someone is listening to my scream into the internet void. And now on with the show.

The topic for Day 7 of the RPGaDAY 2024 Challenge is “RPG with Good Form”. OK, so I had to actually look up what Good Form meant. Especially since the first thing that an online search brought up was some song that I had never heard of by an artist I never follow. So a Good Form is a “proper way of behaving.” I wonder if Mr. Chapman was wondering what systems are good? Or perhaps what RPG books flowed when reading them or looking up information? Ya know what, I’m going to go with that last one. And instead of pointing out a particular game, I’m going to stick with general items that have stood out to me when reading various RPG books.

First, I love a properly set up PDF book. If it is searchable, has links, etc. Then it can help quite a bit when quickly looking up information for a game. As I’ve mentioned before, when learning a new game I love using the dead tree version. But when homebrewing, planning a campaign, writing an article, etc., I really appreciate how the PDF options help out a lot.

A book that didn’t have good form was the first edition of the Star Trek Adventures core rulebook. I had mentioned previously how early attempts at reading the book made me want to re-write it. Well the team covering Star Trek Adventures took this to heart when releasing the second edition core rulebook and they have made a massive improvement to the form of the book and made it easier to read and use. They even included step-by-step charts for various portions of the game that have helped a lot. Here is an example, but I’m saving most of my comments about the second edition core book when I get the physical copy to review.

Let me just say “Thank you” for a chart like this.

Good charts and giving us details on how a process should work within a system is something I very much appreciate. Having created a lot of characters using the rules-as-written for the Character Creation Challenge, I’ve noticed a few times that I was wondering if had made it to the end of the creation process. Even something as simple as “Step one: do this, Step two: do this…” Referencing page numbers allows for the reader to quickly find the additional details as needed.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve purchased core books just because the publisher knew to put the basic system for the RPG in a quick easy-to-understand section early in the book. Quick to find, quick to show to friends, quick to help get them excited to try it out.

For core rulebooks (and I’m shocked that I have to say this) please don’t forget to include a character sheet. The bigger publishers remember this, but for some reasons the smaller publishers have overlooked this. If it’s not in your book, at least include it on your website with some other freebies to get me excited about buying the game.

The last thing that I’ll mention before I wrap up this blog post is something that I’m shocked a lot more publishers don’t do. Please include an index at the back of the book. Again when we are at the table or trying to find something for research, it’s gratifying to just open up the index and say “Oh, what I want is on page xx.”

When I sat down I didn’t think I was going to have a lot to say about today’s topic. But when I started typing, the creativity started flowing. I’ve been seeing this as well reading other entries on blog posts and social media under the hashtag #RPGaDAY2024.

Have you experienced an RPG with Good Form? 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.

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