Well, this isn’t the blog post I thought I’d be writing when I woke up this morning. On my way to work this morning I was informed by friends that a longtime Star Trek and role playing friend, Roger Taylor, had been found dead in his apartment. He had been having heart issues lately and when he hadn’t responded to his ex-wife’s attempts to reach him, she went over to his place to find he had passed away.
I’ve mentioned Roger a couple of times in past blog posts, recently when we had worked together on homebrewing the Star Trek Adventures stats for an alien race called The Tarn. Roger had run several RPG sessions for various friends including a lot of Star Trek by Decipher. He had homebrewed several items for the Decipher Star Trek RPG, Star Trek Adventures, Serenity and several other games. I even discovered that one of his early adventures he wrote was ported over to the Far Trek system. When we were not joking around or talking about our Star Trek organization, we were talking about games.
I first met Roger when he was working at a security guard at an IT company I was working for around 2008. I could often sneak down to the security office while on a lunch break and talk with Roger about common interests. He loved the fleet of Star Trek, Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica ships that I had set up on my desk. I think we knew we were going to be friends when we realized how much we both had a warped sense of humor. When we were discussing the (then) proposal by Madonna to remake Casablanca with a modern twist, my not-so-innocent mind altered one of the famous lines from the black and white movie. “Of all the S&M bars in the world, she had to walk into mine.” Roger was laughing so hard that he practically forgot to breathe. He would bring up this line at random times just to get a chuckle out of me.
Roger joined Starfleet Command’s Seventh Fleet and with his Star Trek knowledge and organizational skills, quickly moved up the ranks. He started a chapter-in-training which eventually became the full chapter, USS Essex. As a US Navy vet, he had served on the real life USS Essex.
He also loved baking, a pet songbird called Charley, military history (another common interest), building models, playing video games and writing. A phrase I picked up from a common friend for a situation like this was “May his/her memory always be a blessing.” I will have many memories that I will look back on when thinking about Roger. I’ll roll some dice for you in your honor soon.
To Roger’s family, I’m deeply sorry at this time. Heidi, thank you for telling me that Roger cared for me and held a lot of respect for me. I choked up a little bit when I read that message. Roger’s family has set up a GoFundMe page to help with funeral expenses. If you can, please donate.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of December 19th through December 25th.
December 19 “Insufficient facts always invite danger.” Spock- Space Seed, Stardate: 3141.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“We’re not gods, or prophets… We’re people. We make mistakes.” Ezri Dax- Strange Bedfellows, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“How many?” Rios “Uh, 218 warbirds.” Raffi “Ah. 218. That’s not so bad.” Rios “True. You only have to worry about the first 109.” Raffi- Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 1, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekPicard #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 22 “Perhaps you are experiencing a paradoxical state-dependent associative phenomenon.” Tuvok “Déjà vu.” Janeway- Favorite Son, Stardate: 50732.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“When I picked you for this job, I was counting on you to give up.” Dr. T’Ana “Well maybe the old Tendi was a pushover, but a lot has changed since slightly earlier today!” Tendi- Mugato, Gumato, Stardate: 58036.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 24 “The most dangerous animal is a mother protecting her young.” Picard- The Dauphin, Stardate: 42568.8 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 25 “In the Nexus, it’s always Christmas.” Shax- We’ll Allways Have Tom Paris, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekLowerDecks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
With all of the holiday shopping going on, you may have missed the announcement for the discounted Star Trek eBooks from Pocket Books. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered with this blog post.
I think this is the first time I’ve seen a Kelvin Timeline book available on one of these sales. I’m looking forward to reading this novel and see how it compares to the movies.
All of these eBooks are available for 99 cents each. Amazon is also doing a special where you earn points for each book you buy. This can lead to free books.
When you realize you are out of the Whamageddon challenge.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes Twitter account and the @STrekQuotes Mastodon account for the week of December 12th through December 18th.
December 12 “Your brother can quote Rules of Acquisition, too. I believe his favorite is 211: Employees are the rungs on the ladder of success. Don’t hesitate to step on them.” Grimp- Bar Association, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Do you deny you were demoted for these charges, Captain? Don’t wait for the translation. Answer me now!” Chang- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Stardate: 9521.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Although you share the same genetic structure, the events of your life have created a unique individual.” Data- Star Trek Nemesis, Stardate: 56844.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 14 “You’re fortunate to be alive. A Klingon who betrays his captain would be immediately executed.” Marab- Affliction, Date: November 27, 2154 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“The Ferengi call it the five stages of acquisition: infatuation, justification, appropriation, obsession, and resale.” Kim- Alice, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 16 “To be honest I’m glad to see this kind of change in you, Will. State your opinion and stand by it.” Erik Pressman- The Pegasus, Stardate: 47457.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 17 “We’re all sorry for the other guy when he loses his job to a machine. When it comes to your job, that’s different. And it always will be different.” Dr. McCoy- The Ultimate Computer, Stardate: 4729.4 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 18 “Ugly giant bags of mostly water.” Crystal lifeform- Home Soil, Stardate: 41463.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
Two days ago (hey it’s been a busy week for me) my late birthday gift of the Utopia Planitia Starfleet Sourcebook for the Star Trek Adventures role-playing game finally arrived. While I quickly snapped a picture of the book and shot it out for my social media followers, I knew that I was going to have to write a blog post detailing my first look at this book.
As a Treknologist and a big fan of the FASA entry into the Star Trek RPG market (especially using the Starship Construction Manual to homebrew several starships for the game) I was really looking forward to this book. I’ve seen several starship adaptations and homebrews on the Continuing Mission fan website for the Modiphus game and I was interested in trying my hand as well.
Now confession time, when the book was ordered a few months ago, Modiphius sent me a PDF copy of the book. Knowing that I wanted to blog about the book combined with the fact that I love the feel of a physical dead-tree version in my hands, I waited to read this book. Even when a fellow player was asking me questions from items he read on the PDF. Oh the temptation was seriously there for me to start reading previously.
So the book from Modiphius came shrink wrapped. Let’s rip this protective plastic off and dive into the book. There are 253 pages in this hardbound book. The ISBN number (for those of you looking for the dead-tree version) is 978-1-80281-032-5. The project manager was Jim Johnson, writing by Michael Dismuke, Jim Johnson, John Kennedy, Thomas Marrone, Aaron M. Pollyea and Al Spader. The book was edited by Jim Johnson (boy he must have been busy) and Keith Garrett.
Oohhhh
OK, so the first opening shows this wonderful two page spread showing the top views of several classes of Starfleet vessels. Some of these are from Star Trek Online and they are all very beautiful in color. I was very pleased to see this.
There are five chapters, an introduction and an index. The chapters cover Starfleet’s Legacy (chapter 1), Starfleet Operations (chapter 2), Design Bureau (chapter 3), Federation Spaceframes (chapter 4) and Gamemastering (chapter 5). I’m glad that the text is black on white paper (with blue highlights). I was one of many people who found the odd colored text on black in the Core Rulebook very disjointing. Also as a fan of Star Trek quotes, I love how they utilized several quotes throughout the book. The motif used in the book gives it a LCARS feel from the original series movies. That was an excellent choice.
The first chapter covers the history of Starfleet from the pre-Federation days to the 25th century. The little ‘pop-up’ stories were also scaled back and not as numerous that I’ve seen in other Modiphius books. While these are good for adding some background and history, I have found that too many are very distracting. Especially when I’m trying to do a quick search for a rule.
The second chapter is an interesting concept in a role-playing resource book. It covers life on a starship while serving in Starfleet. What are your day-to-day events? Key locations of a starship are detailed. How would the characters interact with the computer? What do characters do during downtime? What happens during an evacuation? There are even sections on replication and salvages.
The Design Bureau in Chapter three is probably where I’m going to spend a lot of time in the future. There are sections for starships, small craft, space stations and more. This includes various starships talents that are used in the game. I liked seeing a guide to the different types of beam weapons (what is a Free Electron Laser vs an Antiproton Beam?) and torpedoes (example: photon vs photonic). There is even information on the Mark I Emergency Medical Hologram.
Chapter four brings us 70 Federation Spaceframes for starships, stations and small craft. This covers designs from the 22nd to 25th century. Just as I poured through the Federation, Klingon and Romulan Ship Recognition Manuals from FASA and the Starships book by Decipher, I could see myself returning to this chapter many times in the future. I knew that I couldn’t spend too much time in this chapter (I was on a time deadline to complete this blog post) but I loved the graphical and data setup (especially with the logo used for the various eras). I’ll try to model my homebrews similar to this setup (without exactly copying it). I was a little shocked to see the Hermes-class scout as seen in the Star Fleet Technical Manual. Possibly because it was mentioned in the background radio traffic in Star Trek: The Motion Picture and seen as “Okudagrams” in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Wait, they also gave us the stats for the NASA Space Shuttle that was used from 1981 to 2011? OK that deserves a chef’s kiss. (fingers to lips) *smack*
I couldn’t get my flash to work on this image, but the pages are very beautiful.
And finally chapter seven brings us to some additional game master rules which are optional. This includes a jury rig role and building specialty shuttles while out on missions (it’s got to have the fins and dials). There are also several starship centric mission briefs that GMs can use.
More ships on the back inside cover.
So am I happy with this book? Oh yea. I think it will go a long way in helping me homebrew various starships for the game. As a Treknologist, I am very impressed with the graphics and level of detail so far. There are not rows and rows of equipment charts as there were in the FASA construction manual, but it’s also a different game. There are plenty of samples of starships from a wide variety of eras so if I needed some inspiration for something, I’m sure that I could find it. I think that both players and GMs will find a lot of valuable information between these covers.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of December 5th through December 11th.
December 5 “Two people aren’t even enough for a Denobulan marriage… a proper one, anyway.” Dr. Phlox- Doctor’s Orders, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Why am I here? What was I meant to be? V’ger hopes to touch its creator to find its answers.” Spock “Is this all that I am? Is there nothing more?” Kirk- Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Stardate: 7410.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 8 “Irony is often a source of humour.” Tuvok- Workforce, Stardate: 54584.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Our Gods are dead. Ancient Klingon warriors slew them a millennia ago. They were more trouble than they were worth.” Worf- Homefront, Stardate: 49170.65 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Many of the young people want to know more about the offland. They’re attracted to stories of a faster pace of life.” Anij “Most of my people who live that faster life would sell their souls to slow it down.” Picard- Star Trek: Insurrection #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC
“It sounds like you two need each other. I mean, think about it. Flotter, your water helps his trees grow, and Trevis, your branches shade his pond from the sun. It’s a well-known fact that the sun makes water evaporate.” Naomi- Once Upon A Time #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC
November 29 “On Earth, miners used to take canaries into the tunnels with them. If the canary didn’t die, the miners knew the air would be safe to breathe, and they could proceed.” Archer- Harbinger, Date: December 27, 2153 #StarTrek #StarTrekENT #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 30 “I’m sure there is an answer. It simply has not yet been discovered.” Spock- The Devil in the Dark, Stardate: 3196.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 1 “Coward! Like all Starfleet! You talk and you talk, but you have no guramba.” Nausicaan “What did you say?” Picard “I said, you are a coward!” Nausicaan “That’s what I thought you said.” (hits him) Picard- Tapestry, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 2 “I monitor my gross income hourly. My hourly figures become my indicators. My indicators become my projections.” Quark- Sanctuary, Stardate: 47391.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
December 3 “Because without us to hate, there’d be nothing to hold them together. So the Party has built us into a threat.” Isak- Patterns of Force, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“This is Captain Kurn of the Hegh’ta. We come to defend the Empire and to follow the banner of Gowron.” Kurn- Redemption, Stardate: 44995.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“If push comes to shove, if something disastrous happens to the Federation, if we are frightened enough or desperate enough how would we react?” Dr. Bashir- Past Tense, Part I, Stardate: 48481.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Someone once said…’Don’t try to be a great man…just be a man. And let history make its own judgments.’” Riker- Star Trek: First Contact, Stardate: 50893.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 23 “Sometimes it’s a good idea to get away from being a Captain for awhile.” Janeway- Cathexis, Stardate: 48734.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Young children are sometimes frightened of the world. That doesn’t mean that their parents should let them stay in their cribs.” Barclay- The Nth Degree, Stardate: 44704.2 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I think you should know that there is no physical training anywhere that matches Starfleet, especially its security people.” Yar- Code of Honor, Stardate: 41235.25 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I’ll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round the Antares maelstrom and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.” Khan- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Stardate: 8130.3 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“You either live life – bruises, skinned knees and all – or you turn your back on it and start dying.” Pike- The Cage, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“Do you trust me?” Gillian “Implicitly.” Kirk “Good. Large mushroom, pepperoni with extra onions and a Michelob, please.” Gillian- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Stardate: 8390.0 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
One of my most favorite books is available in the November sale of Star Trek eBooks. I’ve always enjoyed re-reading How Much for Just the Planet? by John M. Ford. Now that I have it in eBook format, I’m going to have to re-read it again. Why is it a favorite? Just how odd the book is. I really can’t describe it, I can only recommend reading it and finding out for yourself.
Also, the two books on The Eugenics Wars by Greg Cox should really be turned into a series on Paramount+. It would be a Star Trek show without having to pay for large amounts of SFX since they are set in the 1960s to the 1990s.
All of these eBooks are available for 99 cents each. Amazon is also doing a special where you earn points for each book you buy. This can lead to free books.
Here are the Daily Star Trek Quotes that will appear on the @STrekQuotes twitter account for the week of November 14th through November 20th.
November 14 “It’s called gagh. It’s a Klingon delicacy, but only when they’re alive.” T’Pol “They look like worms.” Sato “They are worms.” T’Pol- Sleeping Dogs, Date: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 15 “I’m immortal again! Omnipotent again!” Q “Swell.” Riker- Deja Q, Stardate: 43539.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 16 “Doctor, you are a sensualist.” Spock “You bet your pointed ears I am.” Dr. McCoy- Arena, Stardate: 3045.6 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 17 “I’ve been working with sample specimens from a species native to Iota Geminorium IV, tribleustes ventricosus. People call them “Tribbles” for short.” Edward Larkin- The Trouble with Edward, Stardate: 1421.9 #StarTrek #StarTrekShortTreks #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“I am happy to see Spot, and yet I am crying. Perhaps the chip is malfunctioning.” Data “I think it’s working perfectly.” Troi- Star Trek Generations, Stardate: 48650.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekTNG #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“It doesn’t matter what you’re made of. What matters is who you are.” Chakotay- Projections, Stardate: 48892.1 #StarTrek #StarTrekVOY #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
“It is not a crime to believe in yourself.” Jadzia Dax- The Quickening, Stardate: Unknown #StarTrek #StarTrekDS9 #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
November 20 “I think we’re somewhat alike, captain. Each of us cares less about our own safety than for the lives of our command. We feel pain when others suffer for our mistakes.” Rojan- By Any Other Name, Stardate: 4657.5 #StarTrek #StarTrekTOS #IDIC #WeAreStarfleet
