Games PC STAR TREK User Manual

GAMEMASTER'S INTRODUCTION

The gamemaster has three tasks in STAR TREK: The

Role Playing Game. He must design the encounters, present

them to players, and judge the resulting action. This book
contains information to help him with these tasks.

Included here is a chapter giving information for design­ing encounters. In this chapter are systems allowing the
gamemaster to design encounters in "space... the final fron­tier." The gamemaster will be able to design "strange new
worlds" for the players to explore and "new life and new
civilizations" for them to seek out. Included is a section giving
new gamemasters hints to help them with their own designs.

There is a chapter giving hints on presenting scenarios,
on the art, if you will, of being a gamemaster. This includes
how to create descriptions that will excite players and how
to use all types of game aids, including maps.

In the chapters giving information on judging the action,
the gamemaster will learn how to interpret and judge the
rules. Some of this information will be repeated from the
player book so that the gamemaster does not have to flip
back and forth, but much of it will be new. In this section are
given the tables and specific rules on how to judge tactical
movement and combat, injury and recovery, creation and
use of attributes and skills, and use of equipment. The infor­mation in these chapters is presented in the same order as
in the player book, for easy cross-reference.

STAR TREK: THE ROLE PLAYING GAME

SECOND EDITION

Concept

First Edition Game Design And Writing

Second Edition Game Design And Development

Jordan K. Weisman

Fantasimulations Associates

Guy W. McLimore, Jr.
Greg K. Poehlein
David F. Tepool

FASA Product Design Staff

Wm. John Wheeler
Jordan K. Weisman
Michael P. Bledsoe
Forest Brown
L Boss Babcock, III

Fantasimulations Associates

Copyright© 1966,1983 Paramount Pictures Corporation
All Rights Reserved

Printed in the United States of America
STAR TREK® is a trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation

No part of this book or the contents of the basic game may be reproduced
in any form, or by any means without permission in writing from the
publisher.
STAR TREK®: The Role Playing Game is manufactured by FASA Corpora­tion under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the
trademark owner.

Second Edition Writing

Wm. John Wheeler

with Fantasimulation Associates

Production

Graphics And Layout

Dana Knutson
Jordan Weisman

Typesetting

Karen Vander Mey

Proofreading

The Companions, Inc.

Cover Art:

Rowena

1

GAME OPERATIONS MANUAL

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DESIGNING ADVENTURES ......................................................................

Encounters, Scenarios, And Campaigns .................................................

Encounters

................................................................

Encounter Types ...................................................

Adventure

Scenarios

.........................................................

Linear

Scenarios
Free-Form

The Best Of Both .................................................

Campaigns ................................................................

Steps In Adventure Scenario Design .......................:............................

Adapting Published Adventures ..............................................

..................................................

Scenarios

..............................................

Planetside Adventuring ...............................................................

Strange New Worlds .................................................................

World Log .................................................................

Designing

Class M Planets

Number
Position
Number
Planetary
Planetary

Land

Planetary
Atmospheric

General

New

Life

New

Civilizations

Designing

PRESENTING

SCENARIOS

Seeing

The

Creating Vibrant Descriptions .........................................................

Using Game Aids ....................................................................

Stretching

Mineral

............................................................................

Alien

Creature

Designing

Alien

Dominant
Alien
Attribute
Attribute

MENT

Modifiers
Tactical

Fleshing

Attribute

Scores

....................................................................

Life

And

Civilization

The

Technological

Technological

Creating

Creating

Creating

Creating

Creating

Creating

The

Sociopolitical

Social

Creating

Cultural

Creating

NPCs

......................................................................

Detailed

Officer

Detailed

Enlisted

Quick

NPC

Design

Star

Klingons

Romulans

Orions

Corn

Tholians .........................................................

......................................................................

Picture

...................................................................

Making

The

Setting

Routes

Toward

The

Five

Senses

Doing

Your

Homework

A Thrill A Minute ...........................................................

Maps

And

Movement

Tactical

Map

Area

Map

Scale

Large Area Map Scale .......................................................

Region Map Scale ..........................................................

Mapping Space .............................................................

Other

Two-Dimensional

Miniature

Game

Props

And

Play-Acting

Warning:

Condition

The

Design

..................................:..........:..................

...................................................

Of

Class M Worlds

In

System

Of

Satellites
Gravity
Size

Area

.......................................................

Rotation

Density

Climate

Content

Record

.......................................................

Creatures

Life

Attributes

Scores
Scores

Scores

For

For

Movement

Out The

For

Individual

Log

Index

The

Space

The

Physical

The

Engineering

The

Planetary

The

Life/Medical

The

Psionics

Index

..............................:......................

Science

The

Social

Attitude

The

Cultural

Design

......................................................

Man

Design

..........................................................

Fleet

Personnel

.:.......................................................

........................................................

..........................................................

............................................................

Real

More

Appeal

In

Gaming

......................................................

.......................................................

Scale

..........................................................

...............................................

Game

Aids

........................

......................................................

Red

Present

................................................

..............................................

.................................................

....................................................

................................................

..............................................

..................................................

......................................

.....................................

Form

...............................................

...................................................

For

SIR, END,
For

INT, LUC,

Alien

Feeding

And

Numbers

Aliens

.........................................

.....................................................

Index

Classifications

Science

Index

Classifications

Science

Index

..........................

.................................

.......

.......

And

DEX

...............................

And PSI
Animals
Habits

Science

Index

Classifications

Attitude

................................

.....................................

.......................................

Combat

Statistics

.........................................

.........................................

Index

Science

Science

............................

..................................

Index

...................................

Index

.................................

.....................................

Index

................................

Index

..............................

........................................

..................................

Index

...................................

................................

Index

.................................

...

....................

...........

...............................................

.....................................................

.................................................

..................................................

. .

............

Aids

..........................................

.........

...........................................

.-.'.

.........:..................

OD-ing On Technique .................................................................

JUDGING

PLAYER

CHARACTER

CREATION

Assigned

Ship,

Rank,
Choosing A Ship
Choosing

Choosing
Choosing A Race
Creating

Creating

Character Aging .....................................................................

Notes

Pre-Academy
Star

Branch

.....................................................................

Attribute

Attribute
Attribute
Creating

Endurance

On

Skills

......................................................................

Skill

Rating

Skill

Descriptions

Master

Skill

Skill

Fleet

Academy

Outside
Advanced

School

Skill
Branch
Outside
Advanced

........................................................

And

Position

.....................................................

...........................................................

Player

Character

Rank

Player

Character

Scores

............................................... . ...........

Scores

............................................................

Descriptions
Attribute

Scores

Initial

Dice

Racial

Modifiers

Bonus

Points

Statistics

Definitions
Unskilled
Semiskilled
Qualified
Professionals

...........................................................

List

............................................................

List

................................................................

Skills

.................................

Electives

...........................................................

Study

............................................................

Lists

..............................................................

School

Curriculum

Electives

...........................................................

Training

..............................................

Positions

..........

. . ...

..... ....

...

...............

.......................................................

....................................................

Roll

...................................................

..................................................

.....................................................

..........................................................

......................................................

........................................................

......................................................

........................................................

And

Experts

...........'...............................

. .

.........................

Skills

..............................................

..........................................................

Cadet Cruise Assignment .............................................................

Department

Head

School

Skill

List

3

3
3

3
3
3
3
3
4

4
5

5
5

5
6

6
6
6
6
6
6
7

7
7
7
8

8

8
8
9

9
10
10
10
10
11
11

12
12
12
13
12
12
13

13
13
14
14
14
14
15
15

15

5

5

6

6

6

7

7

7

7

8

8

8

8

8

8

9

9

9

9

9

0

20

20
20
20

20
20

20

JUDGING GROUND ACTION ....................................................................

Department

Advanced Training ..........................................................

Command

School

Skill
Command
Advanced

Post-Academy

Character

Experience
Determining

Determining Tour Assignments ...............................................

Determining
Skill

Advancement

Age

.......................................................................

Increasing Skill Ratings Through Play ...................................................

Using Attributes .....................................................................

Requesting Saving Rolls .....................................................

Saving Roll Targets For Specific Attributes .....................................

Skill Ratings And Automatic Success ..........................................

Requesting Skill Rolls .......................................................

Skill Roll Targets For Specific Skills ...........................................

Secret Rolls And Hidden Success .......................................................

Secret Rolls ................................................................

Hidden

Judging Tactical Movement ...........................................................

Judging Large-Scale Movement ........................................................

Judging Combat .....................................................................

Success

Estimating AP Cost For Unusual actions ........................................

Using

AP

Judging

Specific

Position Change ..........................................................

Movement ................................................................

Equipment And Weapon Use ................................................

Combat

And

Action Point Modifiers For Terrain Type ........................................

Vehicle Movement ..........................................................

Movement

To-Hit

Sequence

Determining

Determining

Calculating

Determining Successful Attacks ...............................................

Determining Damage .......................................................

Special Vulcan Attacks ......................................................

Judging Injury, Medical Aid, And Death .................................................

Taking Damage ............................................................

Inaction ...................................................................

Unconsciousness ...........................................................

Rest And Healing ...........................................................

Emergency First Aid ........................................................

Death .....................................................................

Vulcan

Judging Equipment Use ..............................................................

Pain

Personal Equipment ........................................................

21

21
22
22

22
22

22

Medical Equipment .........................................................

22
23

23

23
23

23
23
23

24
24

24
24
24
24
24
24
24
25

25

25
25

25
25

25
25
25

25

JUDGING STARSHIP COMBAT .......................................................

Sidearms ..................................................................

Shipboard Systems .........................................................

Using

The

STAR

Enemy

Your

TREK

Contact:

Imagination
Using

Skills

Simple

Gamemastering

Using
Using

Shielding

....................••••••••••

Head

School

Curriculum

Skills

.....................................

List

...............................•••........••••••.•••••••••••

School

Curriculum

Skills

Training

...........................................................

.............................................................

Number

Of

First

Tour

Assignment
Determining

Other Tour Assignments ...........................................

Special

Final

Tour

Length

..........................................................

...........................................

Tours

Served

.........................................

...................................

Officer

Efficiency

Reports

...............................

Tour

Posting

..........................................

....................................................

Randomly Determining If A Roll Is Needed ...........................

............................................................

..................................................................

Actions

....................................................

Emergency

Evasion

.............................................

Through

Space

...................................................

............................................................

Base

To-Hit

Numbers

Base

To-Hit

Modifiers

Range

Modifiers

Size

Modifiers

Position Modifiers .................................................

Concealment
Modifiers

Modifiers

Adjusted

Damage

From

Damage

From

Armor ...........................................................

Parrying

Attacks

Psionics .........................................................

Nerve Pinch ......................................................

............................................

Numbers

For

Thrown

Weapons

Or

Objects

......................................................

..................................................

....................................................

Modifiers

............................................

For

Target's

Movement

...................................

For

Attacker's

Movement

To-Hit

Number

Armed
Unarmed

..................................

...........................................

Combat

......................................

Combat

....................................

................

..................................................

Duration .........................................................

Regaining Temporary Damage ......................................

Regaining Damage While Unconscious ...............................

Regaining Wound Damage .........................................

Reduction

......................................................

Environmental Suit ................................................

Life Support Belt ..................................................

Psychotricorder ...................................................

Subcutaneous Transponder ........................................

Tricorder ........................................................

Universal Translator ...............................................

Biocomputer .....................................................

Cardiostimulator ..................................................

Diagonstic Table And Panel ........................................

Drugs ...........................................................

Warning About Sedatives And Stimulants ....................

Heartbeat Reader .................................................

Hypo ............................................................

Med Pouch ......................................................

Protoplaser ......................................................

Spray Dressing ...................................................

Agonizer .........................................................

Wide Angle Stun ..................................................

Phaser Overload ..................................................

Sensors

Shuttlecraft ......................................................

Transporters .....................................................

Turbolifts ........................................................

III:

Starship

Combat

Game

Bridge

Alert

...........................••••••••••••••••'•••'•••••

.....................................•••••••••••••••••'•'•'••••

.....................................-••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Captain

........................••••••••••••••••••••'•'''•'•••••••

Chief

Engineer

Science

Officer

Helmsman

.............

Navigator

.............-••••••••••••••••••••••••""•'•"•••••••••

Communications
Medical

Officer

Systems

To-Hit

...........••••••••••••••••••••••••••"•"••••••••••••••...

Damage

Location

.............,•••••••••••••'•'""'

......................

.................••••••••••••••••••'•''''''''•••••••

.............•••••••••••••••••••"'''''''''•'••••••

.......••••••••••••••••'•••••••••••••••••

Officer

.........•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••-....

............••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••...

.........••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••......

...........••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••........

° '' °

'"'""

° " °

"""•••••••...

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DESIGNING ADVENTURES

ENCAOUNTERS, SCENARIOS

AND CAMPAIGNS

BY WM. JOHN WHEELER

The fun of the game comes from its interesting adven­tures. These adventures may be short, lasting only one game
session, or they may be much longer, sometimes lasting

many months. An adventure can be compared to a television

show. Some adventures, like one-shot TV shows or movies,

are played with characters created just for the adventure;

after the adventure is done, the characters never are used
again. Other adventures, like the episodes in a television

series, are played with the same characters; each new adven­ture builds on the previous ones, and the characters develop

personalities and histories.

ENCOUNTERS

The basis of all adventures are the encounters that the

player characters have. An encounter occurs wherever the

player characters interact with their environment.

These encounters may be between the player characters
and the physical world at long range, such as when the bridge
crew attempts to gather information about a new Class M
world from a standard orbit, or at close hand, such as when
a landing party beams down onto the planet's surface for
the first time. These encounters may be between the player
characters and new life forms, such as when the landing

party observes, inspects, and interacts with the plant and
animal life on the planet. These encounters may be between
the player characters and new civilizations, such as when

the landing party discovers that the plants are intelligent,

resentful of intrusion, and deadly! The encounters can be

between player characters and non-player characters, such

as the meeting between the Captain and the Council Of Ani-

mal Control, the plants who determine whether or not animal

life is harmless or a pest needing extermination.

Encounter Types

There are two types of encounters in most adventures,

planned encounters designed as part of the adventure and

random encounters that occur because of pure chance. Many

random encounters occur as the result of a random die roll.

How often an encounter occurs and the type of encounter
will

depend

scale being used. It is not reasonable to expect to encounter

on the

area

where

the

characters

are and the

all kinds of beasties in the middle of a fully-operational Star

Fleet outpost even in a dozen turns at the area scale, but

there may be a random encounter every turn in the region
scale, for example. Encounter charts and directions for using
them usually will be given in the individual scenarios and

adventures. These frequently list the possible kinds of en-

counters and give the chance of a random encounter occur-

ring.

ADVENTURE SCENARIOS

An adventure scenario is a story, linking together en-

counters. Some scenarios will have a well-established plot,

moving predictably from one encounter to another. Others
will have general story lines, but how the story progresses
from one encounter to the next is completely open and un­predictable. Scenarios with well-established, predictable
plots are linear in nature, with all of the encounters strung
out in a line, as though they were on a path. Scenarios with

open and unpredictable story lines are free-form in nature,
with the encounters like apples on a tree, any one of which

may be picked next.

Linear Scenarios

Linear scenarios have some strong advantages and
some strong disadvantages. Among their advantages, they
provide a real sense of story, with a beginning, a climax, and
an aftermath. Some players will be quick to sense the plot,
and they will be able to use this knowledge to their advan­tage. Such scenarios can build suspense or tension, because
each encounter can build on the ones before. They are easy

to design, because the encounters can be begun in certain,
predictable ways, and ended in the same ways. They give
few surprises to the prepared gamemaster, and they require

little preparation, because the environment and the NPCs

that the player characters will meet is known before the

game.

On the other hand, linear scenarios give the players the

least freedom. Because they are structured to play out a
certain way, frequently the players' creative solutions do not
work well. Players feel pressured into behaving in certain

ways, and, unless the gamemaster is very careful, they can
feel that nothing they do makes any difference.

Free-Form Scenarios

Open, unpredictable scenarios also have some strong

advantages and disadvantages. Among their advantages,
they allow the players complete freedom, moving in
whichever direction suits them at the moment. At their best,
they depend completely on what the player characters do,
the actions in one encounter possibly having an effect on all
of the other encounters, like ripples from a stone thrown into
a pond. They make the players feel as though their actions
completely control the game.

On the other hand, free-form scenarios are very demand­ing on the gamemaster. The near-legendary ability of players
to surprise the gamemaster is given free rein here, and un­prepared or inflexible gamemasters will become lost quickly.
Unless the gamemaster is very careful, these scenarios can
make the players feel lost, wondering where to go next and
what to do when they get there. They require frequent
signposts, guiding the players or alerting them to pos­sibilities for action. They require extensive preparation, not
only in terms of design, but also just before play; the
gamemaster must know a great deal about his environment
and the NPCs that people it.

The Best Of Both

The best published scenarios combine the two types,
using some linear encounters and some free-form encoun­ters. Linear encounters are used to introduce the scenario,
drawing the players and their characters into the action, giv­ing them a reason to enter the scenario environment and
meet the scenario NPCs. After the 'hook/ as the introductory
encounter is sometimes called, the linear encounters lead
the player characters into a situation which gives them free
choice about where they will proceed. The actions in each
of the free-form encounters affect the players in the short
term. In the long term, another set of linear encounters lead
the players into yet another area of free choice, perhaps the
climax of the scenario. Linear encounters often are used to
wrap up the scenario, bringing it to a satisfactory conclusion.

Using encounters of both types is like building a structure

with tinker toys, with the sticks being linear encounters and

3

the knobs being the free-form encounters. The linear encoun­ters give some structure to the free-form encounters. The
combination allows the scenario to have a well-defined story

line, not as well-defined as purely linear scenarios, but much

more defined than those that are purely free-form. The com-

bination also allows the players freedom to choose their

action, not as much as in purely free-form scenarios, but far

more than in those that are purely linear.

In general, use linear encounters to introduce the

scenario and to set the story line. This would be like sending

orders to the player characters to pick up a passenger from

a certain space station, then having them meet the Orion

NPC and his lovely slave girl, and then have the ship attacked
by Orion freebooters who want the slave girl back.

Use free-form encounters to develop the scenario. This

would be like allowing the crew to flee from the pirates, to

defend themselves, to turn and attack the pirates, orto pursue

the pirates; alternate choices would be to declare a tempo-

rary truce to discover the problem, or even to turn over the

slave girl and her master at once. How the scenario progres-

ses depends on the choices the players make.

Then use a new set of linear encounters to move the
story along. This would be like having the ship receive an
incomplete message of distress. No matter what choice they
made in the earlier confrontation with the pirates, they would
receive the message. Chances are great that the ship will
respond, though there is still the chance that they will not.
If it is important to the story for the ship to respond, the
message can be repeated, the ship in distress could be in

the path of the player character's ship, and so on. In well-con-

structed linear encounters, the players may feel like they
have a choice, and that they really have none is well-hidden.

Use more free-form encounters to further develop the
scenario. This would be like having the distress call come
from an Orion privateer vessel, possibly even the same one.
The players have a new set of choices to make, and how the
scenario will progress depends on what they do.

Finally, have another set of linear encounters lead into
the climax of the scenario, the high-point of the story.

Most often, the climax is not the end of the story, but
some point near the end. The climax is best as a free-form
encounter; therefore, how the story actually ends depends
on what the players choose to do.

The aftermath of the climax, the story's wrap-up ("And
they lived happily ever after/'), easily can be a set of linear
encounters that lead into the 'hook' for the next scenario.

CAMPAIGNS

A campaign is a series of adventure scenarios, held to­gether in one of three ways. One way is that the player charac­ters all are the same, even though the scenarios do not have

much to do with one another; this is the way a campaign

would be run if it were like the STAR TREKJV show. Another

way is that the scenarios all have to do with the same topic,

perhaps approaching it from different angles, possibly with

different characters; this is the way a campaign would be

run that dealt with the beginning of the Second Klingon War,

for example, where no one group of characters could possi-

bly be involved in every aspect. A third way, possibly the
most exciting, is to combine the two; this would be a cam-

paign in which the same characters follow the same plot
from adventure to adventure, solving puzzles along the way
and discovering more and more information about the plot

as the adventure scenarios progress.

Campaigns of the first type are the easiest to design and

run. They require only the dedication of the gamemaster and
the players to design player characters that will be interesting
to play week after week. All the adventures must come to a

climax brought about by the player characters' actions. As

characters die, they are replaced. The important thing is that
the characters' ship survives from game session to game
session, for this is what holds the player characters together.

The adventures may be designed by the gamemaster, even

on the spot! They also may be purchased, for most commer-

cial adventures are written for campaigns of this type.

Campaigns of the second type are not quite as easy to

design. They require a master plot, one that allows for many

adventures. The only restriction is that all scenarios deal with
the master plot in some way, because in campaigns of this
type, the master plot holds things together. The job is not
as difficult as it might seem, because the plot can be vast in
scope, and it will not come to a climax in one adventure,

and it need not come to a climax at all. Several adventures

may be run with the same starship and crew, but the scope

of the master plot allows the ship to be destroyed or lost
and another created to replace it. As the campaign progres­ses, the master plot unfolds, giving all the adventures added
realism and depth. It will be necessary for the gamemaster
to spend some time designing the master plot, which really
is his campaign universe. He will have to create the major
controversies and conflicts, the history and background for
them, and the areas in which the player characters are likely
to make a difference. Although some of the adventures for
this campaign type can be purchased, they will have to be
modified to tie them into the master plot.

Campaigns of the third type are the most difficult to
design, for they require the gamemaster to design one or
more master plots that can involve the small group of player
characters and can be brought to a climax by the characters'
actions. Each adventure builds on the one before it, adding
details to the master plot(s) as the players (and their charac­ters) discover more about the campaign universe. In this type
of campaign, it is possible to develop NPC opponents that
the player characters meet again and again, much like the
archvillains found in superhero comic books. Again, the im-

portant thing is survival, for the campaign centers around
the player characters. As characters die, others are promoted
or transferred in to take their place. This campaign is the

most work for the gamemaster (but possibly the most re­warding), for nearly every adventure must be tailor-made.

Most will need to be designed by the gamemaster, for few
companies produce adventures oriented to this type of cam-

paign.

STEPS IN ADVENTURE

SCENARIO DESIGN

BY WM. JOHN WHEELER

In designing an adventure scenario, the gamemaster's
first job is to decide on a plot for the scenario, the story that
the game will play out. Ideas for these stories can come from

almost anywhere: television shows or movies, comic books,
novels, even real history. Some of the best stories come from
answering the question, "I wonder what would happen if..."

Second, the gamemaster must design an environment
that fits his story. If this means creating a "strange new
world... new life and new civilizations," then he must do this
job. Systems are given later in this chapter that will help do
this. Sometimes, this job is done first, for many times creation

of a new life form or civilization will suggest a story.

Third, the gamemaster must define for himself the goals
for his players. He must decide on what he expects the player
characters to accomplish, and what steps they can take to
achieve their goal. Not only this, but he must make the same
decisions for the NPC opponents and allies. This usually will

include the background story that will be told to the players.

4

The background must be complete enough that it is clear to

the players why they are where they are and what they are

expected to accomplish.

Fourth, the gamemaster must decide upon the first en-

counter, the hook leading into the scenario. This 'hook'

should give the players a strong reason to enter the scenario,
to become involved. The 'hook' can play on the players' good

nature, their sense of fairness or justice, their pride and ego,
their desire for fame or fortune, or even their need for re­venge. Whatever the reason, it must be strong, with a sense

of urgency, giving the players the feeling that they must

become involved NOW, and waiting until later will not be

desirable. If all else fails, the old standby, a message from

Star Fleet Headquarters, can point the players in the right

direction.

After this, the process depends on the story chosen. It

will be necessary to design each of the encounters that the

players WILL have. These are all of the linear encounters and
the climax. Then, it is a good idea to design the encounters
that the players are LIKELY to have and at least sketch out

those that they MAY have. The setting for each encounter

must be designed, at least in general; furthermore, notes

need to be made about the NPCs, the other life forms, and

the objects, so that when they are encountered they can be

described for players.

In preparing these encounters, rough notes, maps, and
sketches usually are enough to meet most needs. It is helpful
to draw maps of key areas, and to make notes on the map

itself, perhaps using a color-coded system. Sometimes, more

detail should be provided giving the exact information avail-

able from critical sensors or tricorder scans, of critical en­counter areas, or of important NPCs met. As a gamemaster
gains experience, he will find it easier to know just when
rough notes are not enough and detail is needed.

A very important fact to remember concerns the kinds

of encounters that make the game interesting and fun. Variety
is the key word. Some encounters should be friendly, some
should be hostile, and some should be neither. Few should
result in combat. A phaser is a potent weapon, and Star Fleet
personnel do not use them indiscriminately. Combat, on the
ground or in space, is an important part of the feel of STAR

TREK, but if the game degenerates into merely killing Kling-

ons, then it will lose much of its enjoyment.

ADAPTING PUBLISHED ADVENTURES

Published scenarios and adventures are a good way to
get started or to play with a minimum of design work. Many
of these are well written, providing a good mix of encounter
types and an interesting and enjoyable story line. Even the

best of these, however, requires some design effort before
it can be used in any particular campaign or with any particu-

lar group.

Only you, as the gamemaster, are familiar with your
campaign and your players. Only you can tell when an en­counter from the scenario is likely to be interesting to your

players or when it will bore them to tears. Only you can tell
how it must be altered to fit your players' characters, their
ship, or the situation in which they find themselves. There-

fore, YOU must be the oneto alterthe design tofityour needs.

Don't worry about this job. Most of the time, the changes

will be obvious after you have read the adventure the first
time. Make notes about the changes in general, and then
flesh out the notes as you go along. Remember this: the
more you can make the published adventure seem to be a

natural part of your game, the betteryour players will like it.

It is a rare person who can be successful with a published

adventure after only one reading, and few can remember

enough of the adventure to use it after only two. One of the

hidden advantages of designing your own scenarios is that

you know them thoroughly!

PLANETSIDE ADVENTURING

Much of the action and adventure in STAR TREK takes
place on Class M planets, such as those investigated by the
USS Enterprise on it's five-year mission. Gamemasters will

want to create a steady stream of these strange new worlds

to explore, as well as new life and new civilizations to popu-

late them. Space, and its variety, is infinite; STAR TREK: The

Role-Playing Game should be a celebration of this variety.

These new worlds, new life-forms, and new civilizations
largely will be created by the gamemaster. Like the writers
who shaped the STAR TREK universe in the first place, he

will create planets, animals, and sentient races to suit his

campaign and to delight the players involved.

The first step is to determine the physical parameters of

the new world that is to be explored. The specifics about the

planet's position in the system, its gravity and size, its cli-

mate, and its mineral wealth all may be determined using

the Class M planet design system.

Next, the gamemaster must determine what type of life
exists. Class M planets are all capable of supporting life, and
the least hospitable Class M world will bear at least microor­ganisms. Gamemasters are encouraged to come up with
imaginative, sensible and playable life forms on their own.

The alien creature design system may be used to help a

gamemaster decide what the highest form of life on a new
planet is like, and if it is intelligent enough to qualify as a

thinking (sentient) being, and not an animal.

Finally, if the dominant creature is intelligent, it is neces­sary to determine the specifics of its civilization.

Even the most creative gamemaster needs a push in the
right direction and some guidance occasionally, and the cap­acity for players to surprise even the most prepared
gamemaster is legendary. For these times, simple systems
have been provided so that gamemasters can generate
quickly some of the important data about a yet-to-be­explored Class M planet and the life forms that might be
found there. The gamemaster can then take this basic data
and expand on it to flesh out the adventure.

STRANGE NEW WORLDS

Only Class M planets are covered by this system, be-

cause those are the planets that Star Fleet's exploration ships

are assigned to explore. Class M planets have a silicate and

water surface like that of Earth, an oxidizing atmosphere like

air, and geologic activity. They are planets capable of

sustaining most Federation species (carbonbased oxygen-

breathers) without major life-support equipment. Occasion­ally, ships call at other than Class M worlds, and some
successful colonies have even been established on these

worlds; but such worlds are selected for their strategic

location. Class M planets come in a wide variety, and they
all are not as hospital as Terra (Earth).

This system uses dice rolls to generate the planetary
data, but these dice rolls should be used only to spark a
gamemaster's imagination or to give a push in one direction

or another. The planets generated using this system, which
is purely random, may not conform to accepted scientific

principles. Gamemasters should feel free to pick and choose
data for planets, keeping in mind that the system provides

a guideline to the relative chances for each planetary attribute

and does not guarantee overall acceptability.

WORLD LOG

The World Log shown in the illustration should be used

to record the information about each world as it is created.
Permission is granted for players and gamemasters to photo-

copy this form for their personal use. The world design sys-

tem follows this log, with each step adding new information

5

to it. An example of this log has been provided, with all of
the information filled in for the world Spartal IV. After each
step in the process is explained in the text, the appropriate
information will be generated for this example; this informa-

tion is shown shaded in the text.

DESIGNING CLASS M PLANETS

Follow this procedure step-by-step, filling out the World

Log as each piece of information is generated.'

Number Of Class M Worlds Present

Roll percentile dice and consult the table below to deter­mine if there are 1, 2, or 3 Class M planets in the system.
Four or more Class M worlds in one system would be ex­tremely rare, but possible if the gamemaster chooses.

NUMBER OF CLASS M PLANETS IN SYSTEM

Dice
Roll

01-90
91-97
98-00

Number Of

Worlds

1
2

3

The percentile-dice roll for the number of worlds in the
Spartal star system is 55. This indicates that there is only 1
Class M planet in the Spartal system.

Position In System

Roll 1D10 to determine the number of the planet in the

system. It is usual to use Roman numerals to number the
planets outward from the star. If the system has more than
one Class M planet, roll the die the appropriate number of
times, re-rolling ties.

POSITION IN SYSTEM =1010

The 1D10 roll was 4, and so the planet will be Spartal

IV, the fourth planet in the system.

Number Of Satellites

Roll 1D10 to determine the number of natural satellites,
from 1 to 4. Roll percentile dice to see if the satellite is a
Class M itself. If the roll is 01, then this is the case; generate

its data just like a separate planet.

NUMBER

Die

Roll

1-3
4-6

7-8

9

10

OF SATELLITES

Number Of

Satellites

0

1

2
3

4

Planetary Gravity

Roll 1D10 to determine planetary gravity for the Class
M world. The gravity is determined by adding 5 to the die
roll and dividing the total by 10, without rounding the result.

This gives a resultant gravity of anywhere from 0.6 G to 1.5
G. (1G = Earth gravity.) Planets with greater or lesser gravity
than this do not qualify as Class M worlds.

When characters land on high-gravity worlds, those who

are not used to the added gravity should make fatigue END
rolls more often than normal because of the extra stress.

Skill Rolls likely would be required for delicate work by such

characters if they failed a Saving Roll against the average of

DEX and STR. When characters land on low-gravity worlds,

most

will

need

to

make

DEX

normal, but they may not become fatigued as quickly. In

Saving

either case, the longer a character is on the world, the less

Rolls

more

often

than

the gravity difference will affect him.

PLANETARY GRAVITY = (5+1D10) / 10

The gravity roll for Sparta! IV was 7, and so the gravity

is 1.2 G. (7 +

5=12;

12 / 10=

1.2).

Planetary Size

Planetary size is not often a factor in play, and so no
system for approximating size is provided. Assume that the
planet has a density identical to that of Earth, and so its
gravity would indicate its size relative to that of Earth. To do

this, multiply Earth's planetary size, given below, by the grav-

ity factor just rolled to get the size of the new Class M world.

EARTH PLANETARY SIZE

(approximate)

Diameter: 13,000 km (8,000 miles)
Equatorial Circumference: 40,000 km (25,000 miles)

Total Surface Area: 510,000,000 sq. km

1196,940,000 sq. miles)

The diameter of Spartal IV is 15,600 km

(13,000 x 1.2= 15,600), the circumference at the equator is

48,000 km (40,000 x 1.2 = 48,000), and the total surface area

i$ 612,000,000 sq. km (510,000,000 x 1.2 = 612,000,000).

Land Area

To determine the percent of the surface which is land,

as opposed to water, roll percentile dice. The roll indicates

the percent of surface land. A result of 01 means there is 1%
land surface, probably in the form of small islands. A result
of 00 means 100% land, probably as desert with almost no
free-standing water. To find the amount of land in square
kilometers, multiply the total surface area by the dice roll
and divide by 100.

PERCENT LAND AREA = 0100

The percentile dice roll gives 56. Thus, Spartal IV has
56% land and 44% water. The land area is about 343,000,000

sq. km (612,000,000 x56 / 100 = 343,000,000).

The 1D10 roll for the number of satellites is 4, which tells

us that Spartal IV has one natural satellite. A roll of 74 on

percentile dice indicates that the moon is uninhabitable.

6

Planetary Rotation

Planetary rotation time, in hours, is determined by rolling

2D10. Add the rolls together and add 14 to the sum. This

generates a time between 16 and 35 hours as the length of
one local day.

This tells nothing about the number of daylight hours,
merely the approximate number of hours between midnight
(or any other time) one day and the same time on the follow­ing day. To find out how many daylight hours, assume the
world is like earth. About half of the hours will be spent in
daylight, and half spent in night. Use the current season on
Earth as the season on the world; in winter, the night will
be longer and in summer it will be shorter than half the total
day. The length of the local day (or the number of hours of
daylight) could be important in some planetary scenarios.

LENGTH OF DAY - 14 + 2D10 HOURS

The 2D10 roll for Sparta I IV's planetary rotation period

is 7 and 5, for a total of 12. Adding 14, brings the total to 26

hours, the length of a local 'day' on Spartal IV.

Atmospheric Density

Both thin and thick atmospheres are breathable, but they

may cause fatigue over longer periods of time. If no special
measures are taken, such as Tri-Ox injections for thin atmos­pheres or breathing masks for thick atmospheres, all charac­ters except Vulcans and Tellarites must make END Saving

Rolls every two hours. These Saving Rolls, and any others

necessary (such as for fatigue) will be made with a modifier
of -20 to the MAX OP END. Vulcans and Tellarites are used to
thin atmospheres and require no extra or modified saving

throws for thin or normal atmospheres.

To determine the atmospheric density of the planet,

whether it is normal (like that of Earth), thick, or thin, roll

1D10 and consult the following table.

ATMOSPHERIC DENSITY

Die

Roll

1-2

3-8
9-10

Atmospheric

Density

Thin

Terrestrial

Thick

The die roll for atmospheric density is a 10, which means

that Spartal IV has a thick atmosphere.

General Climate

To determine the planet's general climate, whether it is
temperate, tropical, desert, or arctic, roll percentile dice and
consult the following table. The climate is only a general
description. An arctic planet will have cool temperate zones,
and a tropical planet may have warm temperate areas.

Though Earth falls in the cool temperate range, it has climates

in all the classes on the table.

The gamemaster should not be bound to the die rolls in
this section, and random rolls here must be tempered with
common sense. For example, a planet with less than 5% land
area would be unlikely to qualify as a desert planet. The
gamemaster is strongly urged to use this table only as a
guideline that indicates a general direction. Feel free to sub­stitute imagination for dice rolls at any time!

GENERAL CLIMATE

Die Roll

01-15

16-35

36-60
61-85

86-00

Climate

Desert

Tropical

Warm Temperate

Cool Temperate

Arctic

A percentile roll of 62 means that Spartal IV has a cool

temperate climate.

Mineral Content

The following optional system is used to determine the
mineral content of the planet. To eliminate the trouble of
mapping each individual vein of ore, percentile dice are used

to determine the percentage chance of finding a certain min-

eral in a given area.

Mineral content is divided into five categories: normal
metals (iron, copper, aluminum, etc.), special minerals
(pergium, topaline, ryetalyn and other STAR TREK inven-

tions), radioactives (uranium, plutonium, etc.), gemstones

(diamonds, rubies, flame gems, etc.), and industrial crystals
(dilithium, special silicates, etc.). For each category (or each

mineral, if the gamemaster needs that detail) roll percentile
dice, divide by two, round up, and subtract the modifier, if
any. This will give the likelihood of finding it in any given

area on the planet.

The modifiers show that some minerals are quite rare

(industrial crystals, special minerals), and some less so. If,
after subtracting the modifier, the number is zero or less, the

planet will not have the mineral type in question. Only one
type of special mineral or industrial crystal will be found on
any planet. The modifiers may be changed at the gamemas­ter's discretion, particularly if he wants to 'load' a particular
area with one or more minerals.

The general percentages generated in this way can be
determined by a ship's sensor scan from orbit. Such a survey
takes about 5 hours times the planetary gravity factor, which

modifies the roll to account for a small or large planetary

surface area. Round off the result to the nearest hour.

CHANCE FOR MINERALS = D100-2 FOR EACH TYPE

Mineral Type

Normal Metals

Radioactives

Gemstones

Industrial Crystals

Special Minerals

Modifier

0

-20

-30

-35

-40

The percentile dice roll for normal metals was 57; thui
Spartal IV has 29% chance for normal metals. The roll fo>
radioactives was 82, and the chance for radioactives is 21°/<

(82 -T- 2 = 41; 41 - 20 = 21). The roll for gemstones was 86
and the chance for gemstones is 13% (86 -r 2 = 43,

43 - 30= 13). The roll for industrial crystals is 95, and thi

chance for industrial crystals (dilithium in this case) is 13°A

(95 -s- 2 = 47.5, rounded up to 48; 48 - 35 = 13). The roll fo>

special minerals was 03%, and so there are none on tht

planet (3-5-2=1.5, rounded up to 2; 2 - 40 = - 38, or 0). Thh

scan takes 6 hours (5x 1.2 = 6) after the ship begins standarc

orbit.

Once the general percentage chance is determined, <

landing

party

with a professional-level

geologist

of at least 40 in Geology) may make closer scans with «

sciences tricorder. The gamemaster then makes a secret per

centile'dice roll against the generated percentage to see i

the area being surveyed actually contains the desired miner

als. If the roll is equal to or less than the base chance fo

that mineral, a deposit is present in the survey area. It i

possible, but not likely, that more than one mineral type wi
be abundant in a specific survey area.

It takes 10 hours for a landing party to check a squar
kilometer for mineral deposits. More than one party can b
used, proportionally reducing the time. (Two parties can d<
it in 5 hours, three in 31/3 hours and so forth.) Each part
must have at least one geologist with a sciences tricordei

7

(Skill

Ratine

Also, the parties must separate to be effective, which means

the groups likely will be too far away to help one another if

there is trouble.

At the end of the scan in an area, the geologist gains

the information he seeks. If no professional-level geologist

is present, the gamemaster must make a determination if

the characters in the landing party have the skill to notice
the mineral deposit. The gamemaster must also determine

how accessible the material will be.

NEW LIFE

The system presented here will help determine new life-

forms on the world being designed, whether or not they are

intelligent enough to be called thinking beings, what they

look like, and what their abilities are. Mammals predominate

to reflect the STAR TREK universe as seen in the TV series;

most dominant species on worlds visited by the USS Enter-
prise were mammals. As information is developed, it should
be recorded in two places: on the Alien Creature Record and
on the Life And Civilization Log, described below.

ALIEN CREATURE RECORD

The Alien Creature Record provided at the end of this
book should be used to record the information generated
when creating alien creatures, whether they are animals or
thinking beings. The alien creature design system follows
the record form, with each step adding new information to
it. This record is shown in the illustration. Permission is
granted for players and gamemasters to photocopy this form

for reasonable personal use.

Dominant Life-Form

The major life forms of a new planet may be designed

using the procedure below, but only one is likely to dominate

the planet, just as Man dominates Earth. It will be the most

highly developed life form on the world. Representatives of
all groups will be in evidence on the planet as well, but none
of the groups above the dominant group will have much
importance. Thus, if the dominant form on a planet is an
amphibian, it is certain that there will be fish, insects and
mollusks, plants, and microorganisms on the planet; but any
reptiles, birds, or mammals native to that world are likely to
be relatively unimportant members of the food web.

The table below gives the chances for each group of
being the dominant life form; the term 'Special' includes
creatures made of pure energy, gas, crystalline material, or
anything else the gamemaster chooses.

The table also indicates if the dominant life form is a

thinking (sentient) creature, another alien race. If the domin-

ant life form is determined to be intelligent, it is possible
(though not likely, competition between species being what

it is) for another form on the planet to be intelligent as well,

just as dolphins may be intelligent on Earth. If the dominant

life form is merely an animal, likely with a well-developed
animal intelligence, there is little chance that another, more
intelligent (or thinking) race also inhabits the world.

To determine the type of life form that dominates the
world, roll percentile dice and consult the table below. The
'Percent Sentient' column indicates the chance for the domin­ant life form to be a thinking creature. After the life form type

has been determined, roll percentile dice again and compare

the roll to the table to see if the life form is an intelligent

race. If the roll is less than or equal to the Percent Sentient,

then the dominant life form is a race of thinking beings.

If the dominant species is determined to be intelligent,
make both rolls again to determine if the world has a second
intelligent form. First roll to find the life form type, and then
roll again to see if it is intelligent. If the second Percent Sen-

tient roll indicates intelligence, reroll. If the new Percent

Sentient roll indicates intelligence as well, there are two in-

telligent races on the world.

An example of this form has been provided, with all of
the information filled in for the F'lanari, the dominant form
for Spartal IV. After each step in the process is explained in
the text, the appropriate information will be generated for
this example. This information is shown shaded in the text

that follows.

DESIGNING ALIEN CREATURES

Follow this procedure step-by-step, filling out the Alien

Creature Record as each piece of information is generated.

This system does not use 'one from column A, one from
column B.' The table will develop a basic idea of what the
creature is like and its attributes. The rest is up to the

gamemaster to decide as he fleshes out the details. Create

all alien creatures, intelligent or not, by using the following

rules. If they are determined to be intelligent, build them into
an alien race using the information in the New Civilizations

section.

The dice rolls are meant as guidelines. Because they are

random, improbable creatures may result. Feel free to pick
and choose instead of rolling dice, particularly if you have

something specific in mind!

DETERMINING DOMINANT LIFE FORM

form

Dice
Roll

01-04

05-07
08-14
15-20
21-35
36-50

51-96
96-00

The

percentile

is 83,

indicating

Dominant

Life Form

Plants

Lower Animals

Insects/Arthropods

Birds/

Mammals

roll

that

Fish

Avians

Special

for

it is a

Spartal

mammal.A

Amphibians/Reptiles

dice

IV's

second

dominant

dice roll of 39 indicates that it is not sentient This should be

recordep on the Alien Creature Log.

Suppose that the dominant life form on Spartal IV had
been sentient, the dice would have been rolled again to see
if another race also existed, The roll of 48 indicates that the

second most important race is a bird or avian creature. The

Percent

Sentient

roll

is 05,

indicating

that

it

might

gent, but the confirming roll is 72, and so it is not.

8

Percent

Sentient

1%

0%
3%
5%

7%
7%

10%

90%

life

percentile

be

intelli-

Alien Attributes

Intelligent (sentient) alien creatures have 7 attributes just
like other player character or NPC races. If they are not sen­tient, however, alien creatures use only 3 standard attributes
(STR, END and DEX) and one special attribute indicating its
level of animal intelligence, or mentation; this special attri­bute is called the mentation rating (MENT), as described
below. Non-intelligent alien creatures normally have no CHA,
LUC, or PSI scores, though this may not hold for special cases.
A race may have a PSI rating, and an individual pet might
even be said to have a CHA score, if it is intelligent enough
to be persuasive in some manner.

Attribute Scores For STR, END, and DEX

For alien creatures of all types, STR, END, and initial DEX
scores are determined by the table below, as well as the
damage they do in unarmed combat or any natural armor
protection they may have. These scores are determined by
the creature's size and its type. For plants and special crea­tures, the gamemaster is on his own.

It is recommended that the gamemaster design most
sentient races to be small, medium, or large in size. As with
the other creation systems, the information designed here
may be used or not as the gamemaster sees fit.

To use the table for the dominant race, find the creature
type in the left-hand column and its size in the top row. To

use the table for other animals, roll percentile dice two times.

The first roll tells which type the creature is, and the second

roll tells what its size is. Cross-index the creature type in the
left hand column and the size in the right-hand column; the
numbers in the box indicate the dice rolls necessary to find

the attributes for the race.

The top number tells what dice to roll to find the average

STR for the race; this dice roll should be made now. It gives
a number that represents the STR of an average, healthy
individual; any one of the creatures may have a higher or
lower STR score, just as player character scores are higher
or lower than average.

The second number tells what dice to roll to find the
average END score for the race; this dice roll should be made
now. Like the STR score, the roll gives a number that repre­sents the END of an average, healthy individual.

The third number tells what dice to roll to find the initial
DEX for the race; this dice roll should be made now. It, too,
gives a number that represents the initial DEX of an average,
healthy individual. This initial DEX will be modified later for

the creature's feeding habits.

The fourth number tells what dice to roll every time the
creature does damage in unarmed combat. This roll is made
only in combat after a successful hit, and is not made at this

time. This roll will be modified by the creature's Skill Rating

in Unarmed Personal Combat, which is determined below.

The fifth number, if any, gives the dice roll to find the

value of the creature's natural armor protection. This roll

should be made at this time.

After the dice rolls are determined, roll the dice as indi­cated, and record the STR score, the END score, the initial DEX
score, and the armor score on the Alien Creation Record.

AMORPHOUS

01-05

INSECT

0&-20

FISH

21-35

AMPHIBIAN

36-50

REPTILE

51-65

BIRD

66-75

MAMMAL

76-95

STR

Roll

END

Roll

OEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll
END Roll
DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll

END

Roll
DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll
END

Roll
DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll

END

Roll

DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll
END Roll

DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

STR

Roll

END

Roll

DEXRoll

Armor Roll

Damage Roll

ALIEN ATTRIBUTE GENERATION TABLE

SIZE (ROLL DIOO)

TINY SMALL SMALL MEIDUM LARGE

01-03

D10

2D10

D100

—

D10-3

2D10

2D10

4D10

+ 65

—

D10-3

D10

2D10

4D10+40

—

D10-3

D10
D10

D100

+ 60
D10-8
D10-3

D104-2

D10

3D10

+ 35

—

D10-3

D10

D10-2

+ 40

3D10

—

D10-3

D10
D10

3D10+10

—

D10-3

VERY

04-15

D10

+ 8

4D10+1Q

D100

D10-5
D10-3

4D10

+ 10

4D10

+ 10

4D10

+ 60

D10-5

D10

2D10

+ 5

3D10

+ 15

3D10

+ 40
D10-5
D10-3

2D10

+ 5

2D10

+ 5

D100

+ 40
D10-7
D10-3

3D10

2D10

+ 5

3D10+30

—

D10-3

D10

+ 8

2D10

+ 35

3D10

—

D10-3

2D10+5
2D10

+ 5

3D10+20

—

D10-3

16-36

3D10

+ 5

4D10

+ 40

D100

D10
D10

4D10

+ 40

4D10

+ 40

4D10

+ 55

D10

D10 + 3

3D10+10
3D10

+ 40

3D10+35

D10
D10

3D10+10
3D10

+ 10

D100

+ 30

D10-6

D10

3D10+15
3D10

+ 10

3D10

+ 30

D10-5

D10

3D10

+ 5

2D10

+ 5

3D10

+ 35

—

D10

3D10

+ 10

3D10

+ 10

3D10

+ 25

—

D10

37-64

3D10

+ 20

4D104-80

D100

D100-4

D10

4D10

+ 80

4D10

+ 80

4D10

+ 50

D10 + 5

2D10

3D10+30
3D10+70
3D10

+ 30

D10 + 5
D10

+ 3

3D10

+ 30

3D10

+ 30

4D10

+ 30
D10-5
D10

+ 3

3D10

+ 40

3D10

+ 30

3010+30

B.10

D10 + 3

3D10

+ 20

2D10

+ 15

3D10

+ 35

—

D10

3D10-f30
3D10

+ 30

3D10+30

D10-5
D10

+ 3

65-85

3D10+45
4D10 + 125

D100

D100-4

D10 + 3

4D10

+ 125

4D10

+ 125

4D10

+ 35

D10-f15

3D10

3D10

+

60

3D10 + 115

3D10 + 25

D10+10

2D10

3D10

+ 60

3D10

+ 60

4D10

+ 20

D10-4

2D10

4D10

+ 70

3D10

+ 60

3D10+20

D10 + 5

2D10

3D10

+ 45

2D10

+ 35

3D10

+ 30

—

D10 + 3

3D10

+ 60

3D10

+ 60

3D10

+ 20

D10

2D10

VERY

LARGE

86-97

3D10

+ 70

4D10+170

D100

D100-2

2D10

4D10+170
4D10-M70
3D10

+ 30

D10 + 25

4D10

3D10+90
4D10+160

3D10+20

D10 + 15

2D10

+ 3

3D10

+ 90

3D10

+ 90

4D10+15

D10-3

D10 + 15

4D10+100 ­3D10+90
3D10

+ 5

D10 + 10

2D10

+ 3

3D10

+ 70

3D10

+ 50

3D10

+ 25

D10-9

2D10

3D10

+ 90

3D10

+ 90
D10 + 5
D10+5

2D10

+ 3

HUGE

98-00

D100

+ 80

D100

+ 225

D100

D100-2

3D10

D100

+ 225
D100 + 225
3D10+15

D10 + 35

5D10

D100+100
D100+175
3D10+15

D10 + 20

3D10

D100+100
D100+100
4D10

+ 5

D10-2

3D10

D100+140
D100

+ 100
3D10-5

D10 + 15

4D10

D100

+ 80

D100

+ 60

3D10

+ 20

D10

3D10

D100+100
D100+100
3D10-5

D10-I-10

3D10

9

For the F'lanari, the dominant race on Spartal IV, the
creature type is mammal and its size is large. Cross-indexing
for a large mammal gives the following rolls: 3D10 + 60 for

STR, 3D10 + 60 for END, 3D10 + 20 for DEX, 2D10 for damage,
and D10 for armor.

The STR roll of 3, 5, and 7 give a total of 15; adding 60

gives an average STR of 75. The END rolls of 7, 5, and 10 give
a total of 22; adding 60 gives and average END of 82. The

initial DEX rolls of 9, 6, and 9 give a total of 23; adding 20

gives a score of 44, which will be modified by its feeding
habits. The base damage that the creature does is 2D10; this

will be modified by the creature's feeding habits. The D10

roll for the creature's natural armor is 5, and so the animal's

tough hide gives it some protection.

Attribute Scores For INT, LUC, And PSI

These traits are created only for sentient alien races.
Those new aliens that are not thinking creatures will have a
MENT score instead. These attributes should probably center
around a percentile die roll, just as humans and other known

sentient races do in STAR TREK: The Role Playing Game.

Die modifiers similar to those used for the known player and
non-player races should be developed for each new race as
well. Gamemasters are left to their own discretion here, but

care should be taken to maintain game balance. Gamemas-

ters should be EXTREMELY reluctant to create a race that is

more lucky than Humans or more psionically gifted than
Vulcans, without handicapping them in some compensating

way. Make the appropriate dice rolls for INT, LUC, and PSI and

record them on the Alien Creation Record.

INT, LUC, PSI Scores: D100 + Modifier

MENT Scores For Alien Animals

A non-intelligent alien creature still has some animal

intelligence. At the lowest level, the animal reacts to its en-

vironment, but little more; such creatures have a Mentation

level of Reactant. One step up the scale are creatures of Low

Animal Intelligence; these creatures react to their basic needs
for food, shelter, and perhaps defense, but do little else. One

more step up the scale are creatures of Medium Animal In-

telligence; these creatures have basic animal cunning and

are capable of being trained. The fourth step includes crea-

tures of High Animal Intelligence; these creatures have the
ability to solve rudimentary problems, may have a moder-

ately complex social order, are capable of loyalty, learn from

their past mistakes, and can be trained with ease. At the top
of the scale are creatures with Very High Animal Intelligence,

perhaps bordering on true intellect; these creatures have the

ability to solve more-complex problems, can learn, and are
capable of basic communication with man.

The table below gives these various mentation levels

and

examples

form, roll 1D10, consult the table, and record the information
on the Alien Creation Record.

Die Roll

1

2-3

4-6

7-9

10

for

each.

To

find

the

initial

MENT

for a new

MENTATION LEVELS FOR ALIEN ANIMALS

Mentation

Reactant

Low Animal Intelligence

Medium Animal Intelligence

High Animal Intelligence

Very High Animal Intelligence

Level

(MENT)

Examples From Earth

Mosquito, earthworm,

clamjellyfish

Rabbit, chicken, snake,

goldfish,

Rat, hawk, crocodile,

bass

Wolf, whale
Chimpanzee, gorilla,

perhaps dolphin

ant

life

The F'lanari of Spartal IV are not intelligent, and so they

must have a MENT score. The 1D10 roll was 9, and so their
initial

MENT

rating

is

'High

Animal

Intelligence/

modified by the feeding habits, as described below.

Modifiers For Feeding Habits

The creature's form and size determines its basic DEX,

but this is modified by the type of food it eats. Animals that

eat meat (carnivores) are assumed to be more agile, on the
whole, than animals that eat only plants (herbivores), though
this clearly is not always the case. Animals that eat both
meat and plants (omnivores) are assumed to be somewhere
in the middle. Therefore the creature's initial DEX score, deter­mined earlier, is modified by its feeding habits.

Furthermore, carnivores are assumed to be more intelli­gent than herbivores, and omnivores are assumed to be more
intelligent
creatures must be modified as indicated below.

each new life form, the gamemaster should determine its

feeding habits, either by choosing it or by rolling 1D10 and
consulting the left-hand column. Then the gamemaster must

than

carnivores.

The table below shows the three types of creatures. For

Thus,

the

MENT

scores

read across, consult the table below, and apply the modifiers
to the creature's initial DEX and MENT scores. Then the mod­ified

DEX

and

MENT

scores

Creation Record.

MODIFIERS FOR

Die

Roll

1-4

5-6
7-10

should

Feeding

Habits

Carnivore
Omnivore

Herbivore

be

recorded

FEEDING HABITS

DEX

Modifier

+ 20
+ 10

0

A 1D10 roll of 3 indicates that the F'lanari of Sparta IV

are to be carnivores, and so the DEX modifier is + 20. Adding

this modifier to the initial DEX score of 44 gives a modified
average

DEX

of 64. The

initial

MENT

value

of 9 is

+1, making It a 10; thus, the creature's MENT is raised to

Very High Animal Intelligence.'

Tactical Movement And Combat Statistics

The creature's action points (AP) are determined as fol-

lows. Divide the modified DEX by 10 and round down. Roll

1D10, divide by 2, and round down again; add this to the

first number to give the initial AP. To compensate for the

greater agility of meat-eaters, herbivores are assumed to
move more quickly (over short distances) than carnivores or
omnivores in order to escape from being eaten; their AP

score is modified by +2 to reflect this.

Carnivores, because they must kill their prey before they
eat it, are assumed to have a higher Skill Rating in Unarmed
Combat and to give more damage than omnivores. Herbi-

vores, because they eat relatively defenseless plants, are
assumed to have a lower Skill Rating in unarmed combat

and to give less damage than omnivores. The table below
gives the rolls necessary for establishing the creature's Skill

Rating and the modifiers to the damage that they give. To
find the Skill Rating, roll percentile dice, divide by 2, and
round down; this gives base Skill Ratings between 1 and 50.
The feeding habits modify this roll, so that carnivores have
ratings between 41 and 90 and omnivores have ratings be-

tween 21 and 70.

The average To-Hit Number for unarmed combat is de-

termined by adding the creature's average modified DEX to

its Skill Rating in Unarmed Combat. Divide this total by 2 to
give the average To-Hit Number for the race. This number,
which should be calculated now, represents the ability of an
average, healthy individual; any given individual may have
a greater To-Hit Number or a lesser To-Hit Number, at the

gamemaster's option.

10

This

for

on the

MENT

Modifier

+ 1

+ 2

modified

will

these

Alien

be

by

The base damage is determined by the Alien Attribute

Table. This is modified by the creature's Skill Rating in Un-

armed Personal Combat. To find the modifier, divide the Skill

Rating by 10, round down, and add any modifiers because
of feeding habits from the table below. This gives modifiers
between 5 and 10 for carnivores, between 2 and 7 for omni­vores, and between 0 and 4 for herbivores. This means that
every time the creature scores a successful hit in unarmed
combat, the damage given is the dice roll from the Alien
Attribute Table plus the modifier determined from the table
below.

Once the AP score, Skill Rating in unarmed combat, To-Hit

Number, and damage are determined, record them on the

Alien Creation Record.

TACTICAL MOVEMENT AND COMBAT STATISTICS

Feeding

Habits

Carnivore

Omnivore

Herbivore

AP

Score

DEX-^ 10+D10-H2

DEX-^ 10 + D10 + 2

DEXH-

10 +

010-^2

+ 2

Combat

Skill Rating

40 + D100-2

20 + 0100-^-2

D100-2

Damage

Modifier

Skill Rating -MO + 1

Skill Rating -MO

Skill Rating + 10-1

The F'lanari have a modified DEX of 64; .dividing this by

10 gives 6.4, rounded down gives 6. The 1D10 roll for their

AP score is 9; dividing this by 2 gives 4.5, rounded down
gives 4. They are carnivores, and so there is no modifier,

and so their AP score is 6+4, or 10.

The percentile roll for their Skill Rating in Unarmed Com-

bat is 89; dividing this by 2 gives 44.5, rounded down is 44.

After adding the modifier of +40 because they are carni-

vores, their Skill Rating is 84.

The F'lanari have an average DEX of 64 and a combat

Skill Rating of 84. Adding these together gives 148; dividing

by 2 gives 74. This means that their average To-Hit Number

is 74, and they hit 74% of the time in unarmed combat.

The F'lanari give a base damage of 2D10 in unarmed

combat because of their high sr/?. This is modified for their

skill in unarmed combat To find this modifier, divide their

Skill Rating of 84 by 10, giving 8.4; round down to give 8.
Because they are carnivores, there is an additional modifier
of +1, bringing the total Damage Modifier to 9, Adding this
to the creature's base damage makes the damage 2D10 + 9.

Fleshing Out The Numbers

The Alien Character Record shows all of the numbers
that define a new life form. Just as a Character Sheet only
gives the skeleton of a player character, the Alien Character
Record only gives the skeleton of the race just created. The
gamemaster must look at the numbers and turn them into
a flesh-and-blood (in most cases) creature. There are no real
guidelines for this, but there are a number of questions that
the gamemaster can answerfor himself to help this process.

1. Where does the creature live? In trees, in the air, in

water, on the ground?

2. How does the creature move? The answer to this ques­tion depends on its DEX score, its AP score, and on where
it lives. For example, if the creature lives on the ground,
does it walk on 2 legs, 3 legs, 4 legs, or more, or slither
on its belly?

3. What does it eat? The answer to this depends on its
feeding habits and its skill in unarmed combat, which can

be used as a measure of its hunting ability.

4. How does it get its food? The answer to this depends

on its STR, INT or MENT, its DEX, its feeding habits, and its

skill in unarmed combat. The answer to this, coupled with
the creature's type, size, and END may give a hint about
the shape of its body.

5. What does its skin look like? The answer to this can

be used to explain its armor protection.

6. How does it do its damage? With teeth, claws, tail,
arms, or sting? The answer to this depends on what type
of creature it is. It also can be used to explain how much
damage the creature does.

When these questions (and others that the gamemaster
surely will think of) are answered, write the information about
the creature on the Alien Creation Record as shown in the
illustration.

Now we can flesh out the F'lanari's description a bit.
Obviously, we are dealing with a very dangerous animal here

- both strong and fast. We picture it as an animal that stands

upright on 2 legs, one that is not quite a thinking animal, but

at least as intelligent as one of the great apes of Earth.

The F'lanari stand about 8 feet tall, with a well-muscled
but sleek body, with golden brown fur. It resembles the Earth
legends ofBigfoot or the Abominable Snowman, but is much

more slim and agile. It probably has the DEX and AP to be a

natural climber, and so it probably lives in mountainous ter-

rain. It scrambles up and down sheer cliffs deftly, attacking

any prey it can find.

We will say that the F'lanari are highly territorial and

mate for life, forming no group larger than an individual
family. Young are run out by the jealous parents as soon as
they can fend for themselves. These things have a nasty

temper!

Given another million years or so, these creatures might
develop enough intelligence to be called truly intelligent. For

now, they are merely dangerous, violent beasts.

The completed Alien Creation Record for this creature

is shown to give you the idea on how to write one up.

Combining this information with the World Log for Spar­tal IV, we come up with the following background. TheAndo­rian military survey party that discovered Sparta/ IV and the

creatures named them 'F'lanari.' In the Andorian language,
this means 'golden death-bringers,'referring to an old Ando­rian legend about berserk warriors created from gold by a

mad magician.

The F'lanari now are protected by the Federatioh until
ecologists settle on a way to get at the valuable deposits in

the mountains without being forced to exterminate the fierce

F'lanarilor lose miners to their deadly attacks.

ATTRIBUTE SCORES FOR INDIVIDUAL ALIENS

When generating values from the Alien Attribute Crea­tion Table, a single number results, representing an average,
healthy individual of the race. For the sake of play balance,
individual members of the race should not vary by more
than 25 points to either side of the number generated by the
animal creation system.

For any individual's attribute, first determine if the attri-

bute is greater than average or less than average. Roll !D10;

Ion a roll of 1 - 5, the attribute score will be less than average,

and on a roll of 6 - 10 the attribute score will be greater
than average.

11

Then determine if how much difference there is between
the individual's attribute score and the average. For average
attribute scores of 50 or lower, roll 1D10; for attribute scores
of 51 or more, roll percentile dice and divide by 2. Add the

number determined in this way to the average score if the
individual's attribute score is to be greater than average.
Subtract the number from the average attribute score if the

individual's score is to be less than average.

NEW CIVILIZATIONS

The basic technological achievement of an intelligent

race can be described by an overall assessment of the race's

development in engineering and the hard sciences. Similarly,

the social, economic, and political achievement of a civiliza-

tion can be described by stating its development in social

sciences and its basic attitude toward cooperation between
individuals that shapes its specific government forms. In this
game, these assessments are numerical indices called the
technological index and the sociopolitical index, respectively.

In the system following, a 1D10 roll is used, with mod­ifiers, to generate the six numbers that make up the
Technological Index and the two numbers that make up the
Sociopolitical Index. If the die rolls are too high, roll several
times for each roll required, using the lowest number rolled.
To parallel the system for generating attributes, a system is
given below that will generate indices based on Human civili­zation in STAR TREK's time, except the index for psionics,
which is based on Vulcan civilization.

This system uses dice rolls to generate the data and no

system of random generation is even a fraction as good as
the intelligent use of the human imagination. These dice rolls
should be used only to spark a gamemaster's imagination

or to give a push in one direction or another. The planets

generated using this system, which is purely random, may

not end up as being reasonable. Gamemasters should keep

in mind that the system provides a guideline to the relative

chances for each civilization attribute and does not guarantee

overall acceptability.

Gamemasters should not be bound by this dice rolling
procedure, but should feel free to throw out any results that
make no sense given the physical type of the alien race or

the campaign situation desired. Gamemasters should be re-

luctant to introduce many races that exceed the Federation's
capability and extremely reluctant to introduce a race that
exceeds the Federation's capability in more than one area.

LIFE AND CIVILIZATION LOG

The Life And Civilization Log is used to record the impor-

tant information about a world where there is some civiliza-

tion. Usually, it will not be used for worlds without intelligent,

thinking, dominant life forms. The log has two parts. One of
these summarizes the important aspects about the world's

dominant life form. The other gives the important informa-

tion about the life form's civilization. In the illustration, the

shaded portion is filled in from the Alien Creation Record for

the dominant life form.

The civilization creation system follows the unshaded
part of this log, with each step adding new information to
the it. An example of this log has been provided, with all of

the information filled in for the civilization of Phoebus III.

After each step in the process is explained in the text, the
appropriate information will be generated forthis example.

THE TECHNOLOGICAL INDEX

The technological index is composed of 6 numbers that

range from 0 to 9, one for each area. Zero indicates no notice-

able development and 9 indicates the highest level of de-

velopment known at the time the Federation adopted the
system; intermediate levels have proportional development.

If a civilization has gone beyond the Federation in some

respect, it is given a letter value instead of a number, begin-

ning with A, which would correspond to a value of 10, and

so on. Alphabetic designations are defined by the Federation
Science Council as they are needed; a recent addition, they
are rare and have been used only for psionically advanced

races such as the Metrons and the Organians.

Technological Index Classifications

The classifications in the technological index, then, is a
six-place series of numbers and letters, with the places rep­resented in the following order: space sciences, physical sci­ences, engineering, planetary sciences, life/medical sciences,
and psionics. For each area, the various numbers (or letters)
represent breakthroughs that have a major effect on a cul-

ture's development. These breakthroughs do not proceed

equally in all areas of achievement. Thus, where a race may

be highly advanced in life sciences, it may still know very
little about physics or engineering.

For example, the designation for Terra (Earth) in STAR

TREK's time is 999994. In STAR TREK's time, Terra is on the

verge of gaining a rating of "A" in life sciences, due to wide­spread experimentation in large-scale organ regeneration. A
major breakthrough would make Earth the most advanced

Federation member-planet in this regard.

The accompanying table gives brief descriptions for the
divisions in the technological index for each classification,
along with some representative accomplishments at each

level.

Creating The Space Science Index

Generate the space science index by rolling 1D10. Sub-

tract 4, making all negative results 0. This will give space

science indices of 0 to 6. Space science indices above 6 are
possible only if the gamemaster chooses that a culture will
be capable of interstellar travel.

No interstellar-capable race should be generated as the
result of random rolls. The addition of another spacefaring
race to the STAR TREK universe should be considered care­fully by a gamemaster, keeping in mind its effects on his
campaign and on the players in it. Such a step should never
occur because of a series of die rolls.

After it has been created, record the space science index

on the Life And Civilization LOQ in the space provided.

The 1D10 roll for the space science index of Phoebus III
is 9. Subtracting 4 gives 5, indicating that the people of
Phoebus III are constructing space craft for'unmanned space
probes and artificial satellites, and that they are gathering

data from the far reaches of the galaxy with their radio tele-

scopes.

12

Rating

0
1

2
3
4
5

6

7

8
9

Rating

0

1

2
3

4

5

6

7

8
9

Space Sciences Index

No accomplishment
Star recognition; constellations; basic astronomy
and navigation
Recognition of other planetary bodies
Solarsystem mechanics; planetary motion
Relativity; celestial mechanics; stellar evolution
Basic astronautics; unmanned space probes;

radio astronomy

Manned spaceflight; interplanetary piloting;

environment suits

Manned interstellar probes
Impulse drive; sublight-speed vehicles

Warp drive; faster-than-light vehicles;

advanced astrogation

No accomplishment
Control of fire; recognition of solid, liquid,

gaseous states

Complex optics; rudimentary chemistry

Laws of motion; classification of compounds

Basic electricity; discovery of chemical elements
Radio communication; x-ray theory; atomic

theory; organic chemistry
Atomic fission; microwave theory;

electron microscopy

Controlled fusion; laser technology;
heavy element chemistry
Subspace radio theory; advanced catalyst
chemistry
Transporter theory; phaser technology;

transmutation of elements

Accomplishment

Physical Sciences Index

Accomplishment

TECHNOLOGICAL INDEX CLASSIFICATIONS

Engineering Index

Rating

0

No accomplishment

1

Rudimentary toolmaking; shelter building

2

Basic metallurgy; pulleys; complex levers;
windmills and water wheels
Basic mechanics; steam power; flood control

3

and hydroelectric power

4

Reciprocating engines

Heating and cooling systems; heavy machinery

5

Transistors and basic electronics,

6

including computers

7

Advanced microcircuits and computertechnology
Micromolecularcircuitry

8

Atomic-level circuitry; gravity control technology

9

Rating

. 0

No accomplishment

1

Recognition of weather cycles and seasons

2

Empirical weather prediction; mineral
and ore recognition
Classification of basic minerals and fossils;

3

basic geologic history

4

Basic scientific meteorology; hydrologic cycle;
water wave motion

5

Basic earthquake prediction and weather

modification
Harnessed geothermal energy;

6

Gravity control; ecological control and enforced

7

ecological balance

8

Planetary weather and climate control;

crustal stress relief

9

Terraforming

Accomplishment

Planetary Sciences Index

Accomplishment

Life/Medical Sciences Index

Rating

0

No accomplishment

1

Basic herbal medicine; cultivation of plants

2

Basic anatomy; animal husbandry;
basic microscopy; cell theory
Basic physiology; detailed anatomy;

3

blood and tissue typing

4

Basic genetics; microbiology; nitrogen cycle;

routine surgery

Bacteriology and immunology; hybridization;

5

basic hydroponics

Basic DNA and gene research; basic artificial

6

limbs and organs

Gene surgery; advanced bionics and organ

7

transplants; food synthesis

8

Portable medical scanners; cloning
Propoplaser surgery; major nerve regeneration

9

Rating

No accomplishment

0
1

Psi activity largely unrecognized or unknown
Psi activity recognized, but only rare cases;

2

no understanding
Psi activity documented in selected individuals;

3

no understanding
Psi activity widely recognized; rudimentary

4

understanding of use
Psionics measured in many; basic psionic

5

theory understood

Psionics seen as conservable resource; wide-

6

spread psionic research

7

Rudimentary training provided to psionically-

gifted individuals

Psionics cultivated in all; widespread basic

8

training provided

9

Widespread acceptance and use; extensive

psionictraining provided

Accomplishment

Psionics Index

Accomplishment

Creating The Physical Science Index

Generate the physical science index by rolling 1D10. Sub-

tract 2, making any negative numbers 0. This gives physical

science indices between 0 and 8. Spacefaring races probably
have physical science indices of 9 or more. After it has been
created, record the physical science index on the Life And

Civilization Log in the space provided.

The 1D10 roll for the physical science index of Phoebus
III is 8. Subtracting 2 gives 6r indicating that the people of
Phoebus III routinely use x-rays, radio theory, the atomic

theory, and organic chemistry. Furthermore, they understand

and use microwaves, electron microscopes, and rudimentary

atomic fusion.

Creating The Engineering Index

Generate the engineering index by rolling 1D10. Modify

this base number according to the physical science index,

choosing the modifier from the table below. After it has been

created, record the engineering index on the Life And Civili-

zation Log in the space provided.

ENGINEERING INDEX MODIFIERS

Physical Science Engineering Index

Index Modifier

0or1

-2

2or3 -1
4or5 0
6or7 +1
8or9 +2

Aormore +3

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's engineering index is 6.

The table shows that there is a +1 modifier for its physical

science index of 6. This brings the engineering index of 7,

which means that the people on Phoebus III routinely use

microctrcuitry and computers.

13

Creating The Planetary Science Index

Generate the planetary science index by rolling 1D10.
Apply a modifier from the table below, based on the physical
science index. After it has been created, record the planetary
science index on the Life And Civilization Log in the space
provided.

PLANETARY SCIENCE INDEX MODIFIERS

Ph ysical Science Planetary Science

Index Index Modifier

0or1

-2

2or3 -1
4or5 0
6or7 +1
8or9 +2

Aormore +3

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's planetary science

index is 4. The table gives a modifier of + 1 for its phys­ical science index of 6. This brings the planetary science

index to 5, which means that the people on Phoebus III

routinely predict earthquakes and the weather, and are

beginning to modify the weather to suit themselves.

Creating The Life/Medical Science Index

Generate the life/medical science index by rolling 1D10.
Apply a modifier from the table below, based on the en­gineering index. After it has been created, record the life/

medical science index on the Life And Civilization Log in the

space provided.

Apply a modifier from the table below, based on the en­gineering index. After it has been created, record the life/

medical science index on the Life And Civilization Log in the

space provided.

LIFE/MEDICAL SCIENCE INDEX MODIFIERS

Engineering Life Science Index

Index Modifier

0or1

-2

2or3 -1

4or5 0

6or7 +1
8or9 +2

A or more +3

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's life/medical science index

is 5. The table shows that there is a modifier of + 1 for its
engineering index of 5. This,makes the life/medical science
Index 6 which means that the people of Phoebus III are,
constructing artificial limbs and organs, and they are initiat-

ing gene and DNA research.

Creating The Psionics Index

Generate the psionics index by rolling 1D10 and subtract­ing 3. Apply a modifier from the table below, based on the
life sciences index. Make all negative numbers 0. After it has
been created, record the psionics index on the Life And Civili-

zation Log in the space provided.

PSIONICS INDEX MODIFIERS

Life Sciences

Psionics

Index Modifier

0or1 -2

2or3 -1

4or5 0
6or7 +1
8or9 +2

Aormore +3

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's psionics index is 2, The

table gives a modifier of +1 fonts life/medical sciences index

of 6. This makes the psionics index 3, which means that
although psi activity has been documented in the people of
Phoebus ///, no real understanding of the phenomenon exists.

THE SOCIOPOLITICAL INDEX

The Sociopolitical Index is a two-digit indexthat contains
values from 0 to 9. The first digit in this index is a measure
of the culture's achievement in social science. The second
digit is an indication of the culture's attitude toward cooper­ation.

When listed along with the Technological Index, the
Sociopolitical Index follows it, with the two separated by a
hyphen.

Social Science Index Classifications

The social science index, like the hard sciences indices
within the technological index, is a linear progression in
which 0 indicates no achievement and 9 indicatesthe greatest
achievement known to the Federation at the time the index
was determined. The table below gives the divisions of the
index and examples for each division.

SOCIAL SCIENCE INDEX CLASSIFICATIONS

Rating

No accomplishment

0

1

Recognition of formal leadership

2

Development of religion;

Accomplishment

specialization in professions

3

Development of social classes; symbolic economics

4

Basic socioeconomic theory

Basic psychology of own race

5

Psychoanalysis; behavior modification

6

7

Large-scale social planning

8

Elimination of racial, cultural, or sexual prejudice
Psychological theories and principles

9

about alien races

Creating The Social Science Index

To create the social science index, roll 1D10 and subtract

3. Apply a modifier from the table below, based on the space
science index, making all negative numbers 0. This will give
a social science index between 0 and 7 for non-spacefaring

races, and higher indices for races who probably have had

contact with other spacefaring races. After it has been
created, record the social science index on the Life And Civili-
zation Log in the space provided.

SOCIAL SCIENCE INDEX MODIFIERS

Space Science Social Science

Index Index Modifier

0 through 4 0

5or6 +1
7or8 +2

9 or above +3

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's social science index is 6.

The table indicates a modifier of +1 for the space science
index of 5. This makes the social science index 7, which
means that although the people of Phoebus III have elimi­nated prejudice to some extent, racial, cultural, and sexual
prejudice still exists. The governments of Phoebus III are
engaged in widespread social planning.

14

Cultural Attitude Index Classifications

The cultural attitude index is more circular than linear,
with no one division of the index considered inherently
superior. The progression from 9 continues back to 0. Thus,
0 does not indicate no accomplishment as in the other indi­ces. This is not to say that cultures need necessarily move
along the chart in one direction or another. Federation mem-

bers and associated cultures display a wide variety of index
ratings, from anarchy to monarchy to unity and back again.
Many of these societies have developed from one classifica-

tion to another, as indicated by the table, but a number of

others have not. Terra (Earth) in the 20th century and in STAR

TREK's tlme has a cultural attitude index of 7. Vulcan has an

8, but just barely.

The table belowshows each division, and the paragraphs
following the table give explanation of the divisions.

CULTURAL ATTITUDE INDEX CLASSIFICATIONS

Rating Cultural Attitude

0 Anarchy

1 Pre-Tribal
2 Early Tribal
3 Advanced Tribal
4 Feudal

5 Monarchy

6 Controlled Monarchy
7 Representative Structu re

8 Participatory Structu re

9 Unity

0 Anarchy

... and so on

Anarchy: This attitude has no form of enforced or codified

cooperation between individuals. This can be a very primitive
development as shown by cultures that have not learned to
cooperate. It can also be a very advanced development, as
shown by societies that have developed beyond the need to
enforce or to specify the forms of individual cooperation.

Thus, this classification both begins and ends the table, mak-

ing it circular.
Pre-Tribal: This classification includes cooperation only by

very small family groups or by larger groups on a temporary
or some-time basis, such as temporary hunting alliances.
Early Tribal: This designation includes semi-permanent
groups beyond the members of a family, as for hunting or
mutual protection. Strong individual leaderships, rituals and
customs are not present to any significant degree. Vulcan
and Andor possessed early tribal structures of great stability.

Advanced Tribal: This designates societies with more stable

groups, centered in a single area, that maintain a strong
cultural identity, tribal customs, strong leadership, and iden­tifiable legends, traditions, and history. The designation 'tri-

bal/ held by some early sociologists to be inferior, has been
proved on many planets to be a viable and very stable ap­proach to cooperative effort. Modern Federation sociologists
point to Earth's own American Indian cultures as being an
excellent example of a very healthy form of advanced tribal
structure.
Feudal: Societies in this classification are more widespread

than tribal societies. They have developed an interdepen-

dence between the leaders and the followers, both groups
having duties and obligations toward one another that bind

them together, much as in an extended family. Choosing

leaders is more ritualistic and less immediately practical.

Monarchy: Cultures in this classification have developed
extremely strong leader/follower divisions, with selection of
leaders almost exclusively ritualistic. Power is exercised by
a few over the many, with fewer obligations on the part of
the leadership.

Controlled Monarchy: In these societies, strong leadership

of a ritualized nature is combined with a set of checks and

balances to insure the well-being and cooperation of the
populace.

Representative Structure: In this classification, leaders are

chosen and decisions are made by representatives selected
from among smaller interest-groups, whether they be reg­ional, professional, or with some other base. Strong checks
and balances protect the populace.
Participatory Structure: In these societies, individuals par­ticipate directly in major decision-making. For practical con­siderations, most of these cultures either are composed o1
a smaller number of individuals, or occur in technologically
advanced societies.

Unity: Societies in this classification have no need for indi­vidual difference of opinion, such as in highly telepathic
groups, hive cultures, or colony organisms.

Creating The Cultural Attitude Index

To create the cultural attitude index, roll 1D10, reading

0 as 0 and not 10. Modify this roll as needed, such as for

large populations which are not technologically advanced,
so that unlikely cultural attitudes are avoided. Record this

index on the Life And Civilization Log in the space provided.

The 1D10 roll for Phoebus Ill's cultural attitude index is

7, indicating that representative government of some kind

is standard on the planet

Some readers will have recognized Phoebus III as Earth

of the 20th century. Its Technological Index is 567563, and

its Sociopolitical Index is 77, In star atlases and in the library

computer, the world would be listed as Terra (c.1984), So

III,567563-77.

DESIGNING NPCS

For most NPCs, it only is necessary to provide the barest
information. For others, a detailed character sheet should be
created, much like that for a player character. Which tc
choose is determined by how the NPC will be used. For major
antagonists of the player characters, or for crew members
who are likely to be called on for help often, a detailed charac­ter sheet almost is required. The method for creating these

major NPCs is similar to that for creating player characters

and is described below.

For NPCs who appear briefly and then disappear, only
the bare bones need to be created. Sometimes, statistics and
skills for unimportant NPCs need not be created at all, unless
the player characters will engage them in combat. For these
characters, and for general use, tables have been provided

in the sections below.

DETAILED OFFICER DESIGN

Detailed NPC officers are designed just like player
characters, which will create the characters' attributes, skills

and combat statistics. In addition to this information, it usu­ally is necessary at least to make notes on each important
NPC's distinguishing physical characteristics, brief personal
history, and a personality sketch, including his goals/motives
and the way he will behave toward the player characters. A

the end of this book, a form has been provided that you may

photocopy to use for these detailed NPCs.

DETAILED ENLISTED MAN DESIGN

Occasionally, the need may arise to create a detailed

non-player character who is an enlisted man. Such persons
would be encountered frequently by players on shore leave
or at Federation installations.

Although all personnel aboard Constitution-class star-

ships are of Ensign grade and above, this is not true of other

15

Star Fleet vessels, where enlisted men and non-commis-

sioned officers often greatly outnumber the officers. If a cam-

paign is set on such a vessel, many important non-player
characters may be non-coms or enlisted men.

Attribute Scores

To create such a character, roll % dice for ALL seven of

the character's Attribute Scores. For any attribute except LUC

and PSI, throw out any result of under 30 and roll that attribute
again. Apply racial modifiers. Racial modifiers may raise
these characters above 99 in an attribute. If a score for any
attribute except LUC or PSI drops below 30 because of racial
modifiers, it remains at 30; LUC and PSI scores may drop to
1, but no lower. Enlisted NPCs get no bonus attribute points
to distribute.

Skill Ratings

Make a roll 1D10 for the Skill Ratings in 3 pre-enlistment
background skills. Make two 1D10 rolls for the Skill Ratings
in Computer Operation, Modern Marksmanship, and Un-
armed Personal Combat Then make 10 rolls for the ratings
in the character's Branch School skills. Usually, enlisted per­sonnel will concentrate these rolls in one or two special skills
that reflect their jobs.

For non-commissioned officers, make 2 additional rolls

of 1D10 each in Leadership and Administration.

The skill lists developed by this method are the signifi­cant skills for that NPC non-com or enlisted man.

QUICK NPC DESIGN

Most of the time only an NPC's name, rank/title, race,
gender, key attributes, key skills, and key equipment or
knowledge is needed. The method for unimportant NPCs,
particularly opponents, can be abbreviated by the tables
given below.

For typical Star Fleet personnel and for typical oppo­nents, these tables give the ranges for attributes and for the
Skill Ratings of important skills. When a character is needed,
simply make the required dice rolls. Much of the time this
may be done on the spot, for it will be impossible to predict
every NPC that the players will meet. For combat, however,
it is a good idea to have the player characters' opponents
detailed ahead of time, because the game would be slowed
down considerably to roll all the required Attribute Scores,
Skill Ratings, and To-Hit Numbers at the time they are
needed.

QUICK NPC CREATION TABLES

Star Fleet Personnel

Typical Star Base Headquarters Commodore/Admiral

Attributes:

STR35 + 3D10 END30 + 4D10 INT55 + 3D10

DEX35 + 3D10 CHA55 + 3D10 LUC D100

PSI D1 00 -30

Significant Skills:

Administration 55 + 4D10

Leadership 55 + 4D10

Negotiation/Diplomacy 55 + 4D10

Typical Captain, Constitution-c/ass Starship

Attributes:

STR50 + 2D10 END50 + 2D10 INT60 + 2D10

DEX50 + 2D10 CHA50 + 4D10 LUC D100

PSI D100-30

Significant Skills

Leadership 50 + 4D10

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 3D10
Negotiation/Diplomacy 50 + 4D1 0

Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 50 + 4D1 0

Unarmed Personal Combat 40 + 3D10

Typical Captain, Smaller Starship

Attributes:

STR45 + 2D10 END45 + 2D10 INT50 + 2D10

DEX45 + 2D10 CHA50 + 1D10 LUC D100

PSI D100-30

Significant Skills

Leadership 40 + 4D10
Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 2D1 0
Negotiation/Diplomacy 40 + 3D1 0
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 40 + 3D1 0
Unarmed Personal Combat 40 + 2D1 0

Typical Security Guard

Attributes:

STR60 + 2D10 END60 + 2D10 I NT 50

DEX60 + 2D10 CHA40 + 1D10 LUC D100

PSI D100-30

Significant Skills:

Marksmanship, Modern 40 + 3D10

Security Procedures 25 + 3D10

Unarmed Personal Combat 40 + 3D10

Typical Engineering Officer

Attributes:

STR60 END 55 INT55 + 3D10
DEX60 CHA50 + 2D10 LUC D100

PSI D1 00 -30

Significant Skills:

Astronautics (Space Sci.) 50 + 4D10

Warp Drive Technology 50 + 4D1 0
Any 2 technical specialties 50 + 4D10

Typical Science Officer

Attributes:

STR55 END 55 INT55 + 3D10
DEX60 CHA50 + 2D10 LUC D100

PSI D100-30

Significant Skills:

Computer Operation 40 + 2D1 0

Starship Sensors 40 + 2D1 0
Any 2 Science Specialties 55 + 4D10

Klingons

Landing parties carry hand disrupters and Klingon com­municator/'corders. Security personnel carry disrupter rifles
and sometimes wear armored vests ( - 2 damage points from
all hits). Command personnel (Captain, First Officer, Security
Officer, Medical Officer) carry agonizers.

Typical Captain, Battlecruiser Or Major Warship

Attributes:

STR60 + 2D10 END55 + 2D10 INT50 + 2D10
DEX50 + 2D10 CHA30 + 2D10 LUC10 + 2D10
PSI 2D10

Significant skills:

Interrogation (questioning) 60 + 2D10

Leadership 50 + 2D10
Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 2D10
Negotiation/Diplomacy 20 + 2D10

Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 40 + 2D10
Unarmed Personal Combat 40 + 2D10

16

Typical Soldier/Guard

Attributes:

STR65 + 2D10 END60 + 2D10 INT30 + 2D10

DEX60 + 2D10 CHA20 + 2D10 LUC5 + 2D10

PSI 2D10

Significant skills:

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 2D10

Security Procedures 20 + 2D10

Small Unit Tactics 20 + 2D10

Unarmed Personal Combat 45 + 2D10

Romulans

Landing parties carry hand disrupters and com­municators similar to Federation communicators. Security
personnel carry disruptor rifles and wear armored vests and
helmets (-2 damage points per hit).

Typical Sub-Commander

Attributes:

STR60 + 2D10 END60 + 2D10 INT50 + 2D10
DEX55 + 2D10 CHA50 + 2D10 LUC40 + 2D10
PSI 30 +

2D10

Significant skills:

Administration 40 + 2D10
Leadership 60 + 2D10

Negotiation/Diplomacy 40 + 2D10

Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 50 + 2D10

Typical Centurion

Attributes:

STR70 + 2D10 END70 + 2D10 INT40 + 2D10

DEX65 + 2D10 CHA35 + 2D10 LUC30 + 2D10
PSI 10 +

2D10

Significant skills:

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 60 + 2D10

Security Procedures 40 + 2D10

Unarmed Personal Combat 60 + 2D10

Orions

All smuggler crew members carry sidearms, usually dis­ruptors similar to Klingon disrupters, but occasionally Feder-

ation phasers.

Slave women employed in public entertainment often

carry small, concealed knives, some of which may be

poisoned or drugged. Their claw-like fingernails are usable
in hand-to-hand combat (adding 2 damage points per attack).

Typical Smuggler Captain

Attributes:

STR60 + 2D10 END50 + 2D10 INT 50 + 2D10

DEX50 + 2D10 CHA50 + 4D10 LUC25 + 2D10
PSI20 + 2D10

Significant skills:

Leadership 60 + 2D10
Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 2D10

Negotiations/Diplomacy 65 + 2D10
Unarmed Personal Combat 30 + 2D10
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 65 + 2D10
Streetwise (including bribes) 60 + 2D10

Typical Slave Woman

Attributes:

STR40 + 2D10 END40 + 2D10 INT20 + 2D10
DEX80 + 2D10 CHA90 + 2D10 LUC40 + 2D10
PSI 30 +

Significant skills:

2D10

Carousing (incl. seduction) 70 + 2D10

Dance 70 + 2D10

Music 40 + 2D10

Streetwise 60 + 2D10
Unarmed Personal Combat 30 + 2D10

Gorn

Landing parties carry Gorn blasters and communicators

similar to Federation communicators.

Typical Captain

Attributes:

STR80 + 2D10 END75 + 2D10 INT50 + 2D10

DEX30 + 2D10 CHA30 + 2D10 LUC30 + 2D10
PSI 10 +

2D10

Personal Combat Damage: +4, from claws and teeth
Natural Armor: -5 damage points/attack, for reptilian skin

Significant skills:

Leadership 40 + 2D10
Negotiation/Diplomacy 20 + 2D10

Unarmed Personal Combat 50 + 2D10

Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 40 + 2D10

Typical Soldier

Attributes:

STR90 + 2D10 END85 + 2D10 INT30 + 2D10
DEX25 + 2D10 CHA10 + 2D10 LUC20 + 2D10
PSI 10 +

2D10

Personal Combat Damage: +4, from claws and teeth
Natural Armor: -5 damage points/attack, for reptilian skin

Significant skills:

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon 40 + 2D10
Small Unit Tactics 40 + 2D10
Unarmed Personal Combat 65 + 2D10

Tholians

The Tholians are designed to be the 'mystery beings' in
the STAR TREK universe. No face-to-face contact should be
allowed by gamemasters, and the exact nature of the mem-

bers of this race should not be revealed to players. For the

gamemaster's information, the information below gives the
required Attribute Scores and Skill Ratings. No information

should be provided to players about Tholian personal

weapons or equipment.

Typical Captain

Attributes:

END40 + 2D10 INT60 + 2D10

CHA30 + 2D10 LUC 30 + 2D10

Significant skills:

Leadership 50 + 2D10
Negotiation/Diplomacy 20 + 2D10
Starship Combat Strat/Tactics 60 + 2D10

17

PRESENTING SCENARIOS

BY WM. JOHN WHEELER

It is not enough to have a good design, because an ad-

venture design is not the game. It is only the skeleton around

which the game will be built. The game itself is the presen­tation of the adventure and the judging of the action that

results.

When presenting an adventure scenario, the gamemas-

ter has two main jobs. His first job is to describe the setting,

so that the players have an idea of where their characters
are; he must be the characters' eyes, telling the players what
their characters are seeing. His second job is to bring to life

every NPC and creature that the player characters contact,
including each crew member not controlled by a player, each
incidental NPC, and, particularly, each important NPC; his
speech and descriptions will allow the players to react to

these NPCs as though they were real.

Part of the game's enjoyment comes from being able to

suspend disbelief and actually feel like you are aboard a

starship like the Enterprise. The more real he makes his set-

ting seem, the more easily the players will assume their roles

and the smoother the game will flow.

This chapter contains hints on how a gamemaster can
make his presentations exciting, so that players become
more involved in the game and enjoy it more. The first section
below deals with describing the setting, and the second with
describing and role playing NPCs.

SEEING THE PICTURE

Role play games are highly visual, even though they

may be played only with pencil and paper. They are visual
even though the most important part of the game is talk ­talk between players or between players and gamemaster.

Role play games excite the imagination like no other
gaming activity. Although solving problems is an important
part of the game, and although how all the players work
together certainly determines the gaming atmosphere, role
play is the hook that brings the players back and the mental
pictures created in a game are what make the hook.

We all come to role play with a well-developed enjoy-

ment of fantasy in some form or other - we're interested

in heros, villains, and situations larger than life, whether the
settings of our fantasies are the lands of castles and legen-

dary beasts, the gladiatorial arenas of Rome, the sage-

brushed bluffs and scrub of the wild west, the opulence of

a 1920's saloon, the rain-soaked battlefields of WWII, the

post-holocaust rubble of New York, or the splendor of the
starship Enterprise. Whatever the setting, we enjoy our
flights of imagination (fantasies, in other words), because
they allow us to become something we are not. The more

real the role play seems, the more intense our enjoyment.

MAKING THE SETTING REAL

We create the 'reality' we experience in our games by
drawing on our stored mental pictures. Whether we obtained
our stored visual images from movies, television shows, car­toons, novels, comic books, history books, or even real life
experiences, we use them constantly - they allow us to 'see'
the action and the setting. The following description should

give the idea:

As the shuttlecraft doors hiss open, the planet's greeting

is like a blow to the head. The heavy, wet stench, enough to
turn the strongest stomach, is matched only by the ugliness
and desolation of the ruined landscape, seen through sheets

of warm rain. Metal, twisted and burned, sticks out of rubble
piles like skeletal fingers, pointing toward the yellowish
clouds that hover overhead. Only the howling wind may be

heard above the splash of the rain.

The words that we use to describe the game setting or
its action trigger our memory, which selects from the wealth
of mental pictures stored there and delivers them to our
imagination. Our imagination alters these images and sends
our consciousness a picture of what we know 'it must look

like.

ROUTES TOWARD MORE APPEAL

There are two ways that gamemasters can increase the
appeal of their presentations, one more important than the

other. Gamemasters can make their descriptions more excit-

ing by carefully choosing the words they use. Because the
game depends on verbal descriptions, this is the more impor­tant way of increasing the appeal of any presentation.
Gamemasters also can use a wide variety of game aids to
focus the players' attention and increase involvement.

CREATING VIBRANT

DESCRIPTIONS

As every fireside storyteller knows, the greater the visual
appeal, the more thoroughly the listeners become involved
in the story, 'seeing' the spooks that the storyteller describes.
Role play games are much like stories, and gamemasters are
storytellers, after a fashion. Thus, we, too, will be more effec-

tive if we increase the visual appeal of our stories. But this

is only part of the answer.

Returning to the example above, we can see that visual

appeal is only one of the things that calls up images. All of

the senses - sound, smell, touch - must be included for the

picture to be more complete. It seems that we must increase
the sensory appeal of our games, by providing details that
draw in the senses of our players. When we do this, we will
help them to suspend the reality of the game room, and join

the landing party on the newly discovered planet.

The most basic way to increase sensory appeal is to add
detail to the descriptions of setting, action, props, and cast
of characters. Dull descriptions make for dull games, spiced
only by moments of action. Replace these with other descrip-

tions that appeal to the players' senses, giving details that

would be felt by the players if they were their characters.

These descriptions need not be written out in advance,
but they need to be thought about before play. Few people
have the story-telling knack so well perfected that they can

wing it. Details need to be desianed along with the other

parts of a good scenario. If the adventure scenario is pur-

chased, adding description is particularly important, for com-

plete descriptions usually are not provided.

THE FIVE SENSES IN GAMING

There are 5 senses that are important to players, 4 regular
senses and one special one. These senses include sight,

sound, touch, and smell, but not usually taste, for few charac­ters will go around with their tongues out. The fifth sense is

perhaps the most important - how it feels to the characters,
their gut response. For each area, NPC, object, event that
you wish to describe, use the list of these senses, checking
each off when you have thought about what details you will

use to describe it.

18

DOING YOUR HOMEWORK

The presentation of an adventure begins before the

game itself. It will be hard to make the game interesting

unless you have thought about it beforehand. At some time

before each game session, take some time to assess the
things that are likely to take place. Then, prepare for each
likely encounter as detailed below.

Imagine you are in the encounter area yourself; look
around with your mind's eye and list the important things
that can be seen; often these will already be described in
the design notes. Then, pick one or two words to describe
each thing on your list, not only what each looks like, but

also what it feels like and smells like, if these are appropriate.
Note these descriptive words can be noted on the scenario

key along with the other information there.

Second, imagine yourself again in the encounter area.

Are there any sounds that stand out? Is there a prevalent

smell? Is there any other sense data that the player characters
are bound to notice? If the answer to any of these questions
is yes, then jot a brief note describing the sensation. Although
they usually are not as important to the players as the objects
in the area, the added description will make the encounter
area seem more real.

Third, try to describe what the players would feel about
the area. Is it awe at a particularly beautiful sight? Is it oppres­sed by the lowering clouds and the gutted ruins? Whatever
the sensation, if there is one, describe it in one or two words.
After all, if the players were there they would feel it, and so

it is up to you to describe it. Care must be taken with this

description, for it is ineffective to say "You feel awe." or

"You are afraid." Instead, try to choose words that give the

impression you are trying for. It may be a grey box, but if
you describe it as "a sullen, gray box, lurking in the
shadows," your players will get the idea.

Fourth, do the same thing with each NPC involved in the
encounter. Some of these will be unimportant, mere window
dressing. Spend little time on them except to create an overall

view. Spend your time instead on the important NPCs. For

each, try to give a description, touching particularly on the

things that might distinguish this NPC from the next. Use
this recognition handle to fix the NPC in your players' minds.
The recognition handle can be visual, perhaps a physical

characteristic (hair style, eye color, a deformity, or body
shape), a peculiarity of dress (a uniform, medals, or a filmy
gown), or a mannerism (a limp, a fake smile, or wringing the
hands). It also might be audible (a wheeze, a whine, an accent,
or a way of speaking, like John Wayne's "Waaal, Pilgrum.").
It even might be smelled (beery breath, incredible BO, cheap

perfume). The point is to give the players some handle to

remember the character by.

Last, imagine yourself witnessing the encounter. Are

there any hints that a perceptive or lucky character might

notice that would aid him? Can these hints be described? If
so, note them down. Use only a short-hand code, for usually
thinking about the hint will be enough to spark your memory
when the encounter is played.

Sure, this process is time-consuming. It is not necessary

for all encounters, particularly those that will occupy only a
fleeting moment in the game. It should be done, however,
for each encounter that will take significant game time.

A THRILL A MINUTE

Much of role play's appeal comes from the thrill players
get when they flirt at the edge of disaster. It seems that the
more dangerous the encounter (to a point), the more players

enjoy having lived through it. Details in a description momen-

tarily raise the amount of danger that the players feel during

an encounter. For example, a landing party happens upon a
patch of strange flowers, barring further progress; the ac-

tions they take are likely to be different if the flowers are

described as fleshy and blood red, smelling faintly of dead

meat. The details about the flowers, followed by the

gamemaster asking if the player characters continue forward,

leads to a series of decisions that stem from the possibility

that the flowers are dangerous.

Gamemasters should be aware that if they provide de-

tailed descriptions only in situations dangerous to the player
characters, then their descriptions are like neon signs that

read "BEWARE." Some of the detailed descriptions a
gamemaster gives should be in dangerous situations, but
some also should be for things helpful to the player charac­ters, and some should just be window dressing. In this way,
the gamemaster can keep the players guessing, never sure
which clue will save or sever their necks.

USING GAME AIDS

The second route a gamemaster can take in adding ex­citement to his presentation is to use game aids. Game aids
fall into three general groups: flat, 2-dimensional aids such

as maps, floor plans, drawings, sketches, photographs, ship

consoles, counters, and so on; 3-dimensional game aids

scaled down in size, such as miniature scale-model starships,
miniature figurines, and scale terrain; and full-size artifacts,

such as a copy of a coded message, a simulated hand phaser,

or a uniform. Any of these may be used in a game session,
and the groups may be combined for greater flexibility.

MAPS AND MOVEMENT

A map can be a powerful descriptive tool, sparking the

imaginations of both gamemaster and players. Detailed
maps allow the gamemaster to describe what is shown in
great detail, because he does not need to describe things

that the map shows at a glance, such as size or relative

position/The players can use the map to make wider, more
creative choices of action, for their character's environment
becomes more real. Every detail on the map has the potential
for use, and games that use detailed maps usually have
highly creative play.

Maps define not only space, but also time. Because they
show how far apart things are, players with accurate senses
of how fast something occurs (such as how far a man can
move in one turn) can use the maps to predict movement.
Therefore, it is difficult to discuss maps and mapping without
also considering movement rates.

Tactical Map Scale

This game's tactical map scale is 1 inch = 3 meters
(1:120; 1" = 10'), or about the scale of 15mm figures. It is
used for buildings and starship deck layouts, most often
using a grid of half-inch squares; at this scale, one square
is 11/2 meters across. This scale is very convenient for show­ing tactical combat. Four characters can fit in a square. At
this scale, maps show detailed building interiors, individual
trees, and other obstacles to movement and sight. Control

panels and consoles, furniture, doors, and other furnishings

can be shown in a size that is easy to see and use.

All combat and player interaction must be carried out in
the tactical scale. When needed maps are not provided, the
gamemaster should sketch them on blank graph paper or
on a plastic grid board or mat. Many times interaction can

be carried out in this way. Other times, a large tactical map
and counters are unnecessary to resolve actions, and merely
talking them out will be sufficient. Action points are used

normally in this scale, regardless of whether the characters
are on board ship or are planetside.

A cautionary note about detailed maps is in order. Many

times players find unforeseeably creative ways to use the

detail on the maps to discover new choices for their charac­ters' actions. A gamemaster who uses detailed maps must

19

reward this creativity or the details might as well not be
there. If a table is drawn on the map, allow the player charac­ters to pick it up and knock over the three bozos coming in
the door; after all, actions like that are the reason we play
the games.

There are many times when a landing party will beam

down to a planet's surface and want to see what the sur-

rounding area looks like. They may want to see cities, bases,

oceans, or any of a thousand places on the planet. The tactical

movement scale would be impractical here, because to show

an area the size of a small town would require hundreds of
sheets of paper. Furthermore, to move characters at a rate

of 12 or 15 meters in 10 second turns across the town would

be a waste of time and energy. Therefore, the map scales

and the turn length must be adjusted for larger areas. The

easiest way to do this is by using a telescoping system,

multiplying all factors involved by 10.

Area Map Scale

The next scale larger is the area scale of 1 inch equals
30 meters (1:1200; 1" = 100'). In this scale, the side of a
half-inch square is 15 meters across and a turn is 1.5 minutes
long. Maps will show small villages, bases, and similar size
areas, giving the relative size of buildings, terrain in the area,
and elevations in 5-meter steps.

Large Area Map Scale

The third scale is the large area scale of 1 inch = 300
meters (1:12,000; 1" equals about 1000'). A half-inch square
is 150 meters across and a turn is 15 minutes long. This scale
is used to show areas where greater detail is not important,
but terrain and the relationship of surrounding areas is im­portant. Elevation changes are shown in 10-meter steps.

Region Map Scale

The fourth scale is the region scale of 1 inch = 3000 me­ters (1:120,000; 1" equals a bit less than 2 miles). In it, a
half-inch square is 1500 meters (1.5 kilometers, or roughly

1 mile) across. A turn is 150 minutes, or 2.5 hours long. This

scale is used when large regions, many kilometers wide,
must be crossed. In this scale, individual buildings cannot
be seen, and only towns, rivers, rough areas, larger hills,
mountains, and the like can be shown. Elevations are shown

in 50-meter steps.

Mapping Space

Gamemasters can keep telescoping this scale upward.

By doing so, whole planets, solar systems, and even the
known universe can be mapped. When expanded 16 times,
a parsec (about as far as a ship can travel in 1 day going
warp 10) is about 1 inch long.

Mapping areas of space is often unnecessary in this
game. It is usually enough for players to be told at the begin­ning of an adventure simply how long it will take them to
travel to the nearest starbase or to the source of a distress
call. Using the scale-expansion system, however, it is possi-

ble to draw maps for any area, including the known STAR

TREK universe!

OTHER TWO-DIMENSIONAL GAME AIDS

Other two-dimensional game aids, such as floor tiles,
large-area terrain maps, drawings, and photos also can be
used; magazines, travel brochures, photo/art books, and sci-

ence fiction art prints are invaluable resources. Many of these

have been published for the STAR TREK universe.

FASA produces Ship Recognition Manuals that may be

used to simulate the library computer readout for Federation
and Klingon vessels, with more to come. These books give
what appear to be computer-generated top, side, and front
views of each vessel, and a three-quarter view, all illustrated

in a panel-like background. The STAR TREKTricorder/^Star-

ship Sensors Interactive Display from FASA is a calculator
wheel that is meant for players to use whenever they desire
tricorder or sensors data during the game. FASA also pro-

duces 15mm Deck Plans for the USS Enterprise and for a

Klingon D-7Class Battle Cruiser. The STAR TREK III: Starship

Combat Game from FASA includes colorful counters show-

ing the top view of 66 starships, 3 moons, 3 mines, 2 asteroid

clusters, 2 large planets, and 2 space stations; in addition,
the game provides a starfield mapsheet, and command

panels for each major bridge position. Such graphic aids can

really give the feeling of being aboard a starship!

MINIATURE GAME AIDS

Gamemasters also may use three-dimensional, minia-

ture game aids, such as lead figurines, starship models, or

scale terrain to add to the excitement of his game. Miniature

officers, crew, and opponents may be used in conjunction
with maps of the same scale to bring life to any adventure.

They also may be used with the tactical movement system
to turn any encounter into a scale or semi-scale miniatures

battle/ballet, in which player actions are often more reason-

able than the same encounter played without the miniatures.

Scale model interiors or wilderness terrain provide a

banquet of sensory data. Interiors may be constructed from

card or artboard stock and a razor knife. Wilderness terrain

may be constructed from plaster and paper towels or from

styrofoam using model railroading techniques. Plastic mod-

els of STAR TREK stars hips are available, and other models

of space vehicles may be used as well. The more detail in-

cluded in any model, the more choices the players can make.
These game aids need only be representational, because the

mind's eye fills in missing detail. Thus, gamemasters need

only provide a minor amount of extra detail, concentrating

largely on describing the action.

FASA produces a line of starship miniatures at 1/3900
scale. These can be used representationally, showing the
relative position and attitude of two or more ships engaged

in starship combat. They are fully compatible with the STAR

TREK III Starship Combat Game, so that miniatures battles

of starship combat may be shown. FASA also produces a

line of 25mm miniature figures, including the bridge crew of

the Enterprise, the crew of a Klingon D-7 Class Battlecruiser,
Kahn and the crew of the Reliant, the scientists of the Regula

I space station, the bridge crew of the Enterprise from STAR
TREK III, and the Klingons from STAR TREK III.

PROPS AND PLAY-ACTING

The final type of play aid use involves life-size props and

having players act out the things their characters do. In terms
of player interest, nothing is more powerful, but nothing is

as potentially destructive to the game.

Props require only time and a modest amount of dexter­ity and artistic skill - or money. Weapon replicas, uniforms,

videotapes... the list is endless. FASA's STAR TREKTrlcor-

der/Starship Sensors Interactive Display can be considered
a prop, because it simulates the hands-on activity of a science

or medical officer using his equipmentto gain information.

Gamemasters may desire to have their players act out

crucial moments. Caution is urged here to keep this within

reasonable bounds. It is.probably wise not to allow players
to reenacting the more violent parts of the drama, keeping

in mind the bad publicity that could come from accidents.

WARNING: CONDITION RED

Although game aids add detail, they also decrease the

attention given to the game's verbal description. In particular,
gamemasters can be lulled into the trap of giving dull descrip­tions, thinking that their dullness is made up for by well­painted miniatures, well-drawn maps, or beautiful props.

20

Gamemasters cannot use the props to replace the verbal

task of describing the setting, action, objects, and characters.

On the other side of the table, the more real the visual
aid seems, the less the players use it to represent reality,
and the more they use it as what is real. If miniatures are
provided, players seem to feel that pushing the miniature
around on the table is an acceptable substitute for describing
their actions to the gamemaster. Furthermore, players can
fall into the trap of 'what you see is what you get/ allowing
their eyes to turn off their ears. Game aids frequently cause

players to stop listening to the gamemaster.

Both gamemaster and players must remind themselves
constantly that, even though game aids are wonderful addi­tions to the game, the most important interactions are still
verbal. The game depends on the words spoken by the

gamemaster and the players.

STRETCHING THE DESIGN

Detailed descriptions stretch the amount of time that it

takes to play through any design. For example, a rough map

of the adventure area commands only momentary interest.
Drawn to scale, it becomes a rudimentary planning tool, and
players will pay more attention to it. Added detail, such as
scale furniture or furnishings, will cause players to spend

time just examining and savoring it. If the scale is enlarged,

miniature figurines added, and such detail as can be shown
at the tactical scale is provided, the gamemaster can ask the
question "Just where are you looking now?" and watch his

players jump.

It is not unusual for two or three encounters with detailed
descriptions or game aids to occupy a whole evening's play.
This has the advantage of stretching a single design,
scenario, or plot without sacrificing the players' interest. If
a full-scale replica is made of even one artifact in the design,
such as a brown and crumbling, crude map fragment with
cryptic (but translatable) runes, the players are set for an
additional half hour without using one bit of design.

The great science-fiction author Ray Bradbury has said
that if you take the time to savor its details, life will seem
twice as long. This can be restated to read, if your players
take the time to savor its details, your design will last twice

as long.

These presentation techniques change the quality of a
game, and not the quantity of gaming. In games where
amount is important - the amount of damage that can be
withstood, the number of damage points delivered, the

number of Klingons slain - adding these presentation
techniques takes too much time to be of value. In games
where the gamemaster and the players want fewer, more
intense experiences, these techniques will be well worth the
effort. The choice is up to you and your players.

O.D.-ING ON TECHNIQUE

The gamemaster must not overwork any presentation
technique. Like candy at Halloween, too much of any one
thing makes people tired of it. How much detail to give in
description, how often to use detailed maps, how many mini-

atures battles, how many props or reenactments all depend

on the combined desires of the gamemasters and players.

Like any other trick of the master storyteller, these techniques

must be chosen carefully to bring about the desired effect.

Furthermore, they must be applied only often enough so that
they do not become overworked and thus less effective. Prop­erly used, they may be starting points for more creative play,
and moments when excitement flows like fire through all.

JUDGING CHARACTER GENERATION

ASSIGNED SHIP. RANK,

AND POSITION

CHOOSING A SHIP

Before the players can create their own characters, the
gamemaster must make some decisions about his campaign
or his adventure. The type of ship that the the player charac­ters will be using must be chosen. Any ship of Star Fleet is
available, from a small scout to the large Enterprise-type
ships themselves. The gamemaster must tailor this decision
to his adventure or his campaign. Probably the first choice
is to decide in which command the ship will fall.

Ships in the Galaxy Exploration Command will allow the

players the most freedom to encounter new beings and plan-

ets for the first, but detailed surveys are not done here;
though they certainly may become involved (just as the En-
terprise did with weekly regularity), it is not the primary job

of Exploration vessels to become involved, merely to dis­cover and make an initial report.

Ships in the Military Operations Command probably

have the most narrow scope for activities. Aside from star­ship combat, which these ships certainly can expect, the

adventures probably will deal with restoring order to planets
where the natural military balance has been disturbed by the

Klingons or the Romulans, possibly providing technology to
one tribe or group for their own ends.

Ships in the Colonial Operations Command are those
which make the detailed surveys of a planet thought to be
suitable for colonization. These vessels are the ones which
encounter new civilizations and meet new natives. On worlds
which have no civilizations, the Science Officers see much

action.

Ships in the Merchant Marine Command deal with

smuggling, Orion pirates, all types of rescues, and under-

cover missions similar to the 20th-century Coast Guard.

The size of the ship is of little consequence, though in
a single adventure, it is best to choose a ship suitable for
the job. It would not be a good choice to have the Enterprise

tend shipping lane buoys, and it would not be a good idea

to have a small scout vessel transfer an important ambas­sador to a high-level conference. Most adventures are plan­etside, and the size of the ship is not important; the ship

merely arrives at the planet, parks in a standard orbit, and
the landing party beams down. Once planetside, unless the
players make too frequent use of the ship's enormous re­sources and not enough use of their own resources, the ship
stays there until someone requests it to move. If the players

abuse the ship's power, an ion storm or some other urgent

need removes the ship from the area, leaving them to fend

for themselves.

CHOOSING PLAYER CHARACTER RANK

Most often, the player characters should be the com-

mand personnel aboard the vessel chosen. Their ranks

should reflect the size of the ship that they will serve aboard.

On small ships, landing parties may be made up of junior

officers, possibly with a Lieutenant, jg, commanding. On

larger ships like the Enterprise, however, most characters
should be responsible, middle-level officers, senior officers,

or department heads. In Star Fleet, department heads often

go on landing parties in charge of junior officers.

In a game where rank has its privileges, the gamemaster

must take care that the characters have approximately the
same rank, so that some players do not take advantage of

their character's rank to take over another's character by

ordering him about. This is a particularly important point
when choosing the vessel's Captain, the highest-ranking of-

ficer aboard. The best way to avoid trouble is to make the

player character with the highest rank the player who enjoys
teamwork more than personal glory. If there is a novice in

a group of veterans, make the novice the highest ranking

officer, or if there is a shy player in a group of more boisterous
players, make him the highest ranking officer so that he is
forced into the decision-making role.

CHOOSING PLAYER CHARACTER POSITIONS

Next, the gamemaster must decide what positions on

this ship the player characters will hold. Most often, this
choice will be made together with the players, though the
choices of Captain and First Officer should be made by the
gamemaster. The Captain should be a player character for
all shipboard adventures. In planetside adventures, he may
be an NPC if the gamemaster (as most often is the case)
decides to divorce the landing party from the enormous re­sources that the ship provides.

A character's position may be anything from a lowly

Security Ensign to the Captain of the vessel itself. Department

head positions available include Chief Engineer, Chief Com­munications Officer, Chief Navigator, Chief Helmsman, Chief
Medical Officer, Science Officer, and Security Chief. The
gamemaster must take care in this decision. Obviously, it
would be no fun to play a junior research chemist stuck in

the lab while everyone else gets landing party duty!

In planetside adventures, the more important officers

seem to be, in order of importance, the Captain, the Science

Officer, the Medical Officer, the Security Chief, and then the
Engineer. In shipboard adventures, the more important offi­cers seem to be the Captain, the Chief Engineer, the
Helmsman, the Science Officer, the Navigator, and the Com-

munications Officer.

The gamemaster should encourage the players to be
somewhat more realistic about landing party composition
than the TV episodes were. Gamemasters should definitely
nor allow the Captain and all bridge personnel to beam down
for every landing party, armed to the teeth and ready for
anything. If they do this too often, after all, there's always
the chance something important could happen on board
while everyone was planetside! Keep player-characters in­volved in the action, but every player character doesn't have
to beam down for every landing party. Set up game situations
cleverly, so everyone has a chance to do something, but not

necessarily so everyone has to beam down.

CHOOSING A RACE

It is up to the gamemaster to decide whether or not to

allow a player to have a non-Human character, and, if so,

what type of non-Humans are available. In most ships, the
crew is mostly made up of one race, with a sprinkling of

other races.

If the gamemaster decides to allow non-Human charac­ters (not advised for beginning gamemasters, beginning
players, or beginning campaigns), then he must inform the
players about the racial modifiers to attribute scores, so that
they may make intelligent choices about their race.

Once a non-Human has been chosen, the gamemaster

must be very strict about the way the player behaves. A
non-Human does not behave in the same way as a Human.

22

A Vulcan cannot be emotional, and a Tellarite should not be

overly friendly. The Sourcebook gives information about
each race, and it is important the the player do his best to
role play that information.

CREATING ATTRIBUTE SCORES

ATTRIBUTE SCORES

Attributes and Saving Rolls are the means by which the
gamemaster has the player interact with his environment.
They measure the character's potential with respect to the

game setting. Once they have been determined, attribute
scores normally do not change during the game by normal
means. They may be modified by the gamemaster as a result

of accident or other event during the adventure or campaign.

For Average Human

ATTRIBUTE SCORES DATA

Minimum Score

Average Score

Maximum Score

01

40

100

For Human Player Character

(except LUC and PSI)

Minimum Score

Average Score

Maximum Score

43

57

100

For Human Player Character LUC And PSI

Minimum

Maximum

Maximum PSI Score

LUC

LUC

And

Score

PSI

Score

01

100

70

ATTRIBUTE DESCRIPTIONS

Strength

Ibs. at length without tiring, lift about 150 Ibs. without strain,
and drag a 200 Ib. weight for a short time without exhausting
himself. STR scores may be reduced at gamemaster's option
as the result of an injury or illness that limits the character's
potential, but it does not normally decrease as a result of

combat injury.

(STR)

A character with an STR score of 50 can carry about 50

Endurance (END)

Endurance itself is rarely used in the game; MAX OP END
and

CURR

MAX OP END and

OP END are

CURR

used

OP END

instead.

scores

Although a character's

may go

down

and

then
up again several times in the course of a game because of
temporary and wound damage and subsequent healing, they

may never go above the original END score. Permanent dam-

age may reduce the END score permanently, but this will not

happen often.

Intellect (INT)

Characters with high INT scores will be able to gain more
skills and create higher Skill Ratings than characters with
lower INT scores. Characters with high INT scores also will
find training at the Star Fleet Academy easier.

Dexterity

(DEX)

Characters with high DEX scores move faster, have more

actions, and are more accurate than others.

Charisma

(CHA)

CHA scores are averaged with Skill Ratings in Negotiation/

Diplomacy and Leadership to influence NPCs. Charisma is

NOT necessarily physical attractiveness. The exact interpre-

tation of any character's CHA attribute score should be dis­cussed between the player and the gamemaster.

Luck (LUC)

Characters with a high LUC score may be able to succeed

even when they might normally have failed, simply because
of their LUC.

Psionic Potential (PSI)

A character with a high PSI score will not necessarily

have psionic abilities because these depend largely on cul-

tural background.

CREATING ATTRIBUTE SCORES

Initial Dice Roll

The table below gives the initial rolls for each of the

seven attributes.

INITIAL DICE ROLLS

Attribute Roll

STR 40 +

END 40 +

INT 40 +

DEX 40 +
CHA 40 +
LUC

D100

PSI

D100

3D10

3D10

3D10

3D10
3D10

Every so often, a player will make a set of initial attribute

rolls that will make it difficult or impossible for him to play

the character he has chosen to be or to play effectively in a

particular adventure. In these cases, the gamemaster has the

option to allow the player to reroll his attribute scores or to

adjust them in some other way.

Some gamemasters have developed alternate ways to

create the initial attribute rolls, such as rolling the 4D10 six

times and choosing the best five. This is acceptable, but care

must be taken not to unbalance the game by having charac-

ters with extremely high initial dice rolls. In no case should

LUC or PSI scores be rerolled.

Racial Modifiers

For each race, apply the modifiers to the character's at-

tributes after the die rolls but before the player uses the

bonus points. If a character wants to be of mixed race, such
as the Human/Vulcan Mr. Spock, use all the modifiers for the
dominant side. In all cases, any score that finishes as less
than zero is raised to 01, but any score going above 99 should

be allowed to do so.

RACIAL MODIFIERS TO

END

PLAYER CHARACTER RACES

Human
Andorian

Caitian^
Edoan
Tellarite
Vulcan

NON-PLAYER CHARACTER RACES

Klingon

Romulan

Orion

Dominant

Slave fern.

Gorn;
Tholian

STR

-

+ 10

-

-5
+ 5

+ 20

+ 10
+ 10

+ 10

-

+ 30

N/A

-

+ 5

-5

-

+ 5

+ 10

+ 5

+ 5

-

-

+ 25

-10

ATTRIBUTES

INT

-

-

-

-

-

+ 10

-

-

.

-30

-

+ 10

DEX

-

-

+ 20
+ 15

-

-

-

+ 5

-

+

30

-20

N/A

CHA

­.

+ 5

-

-10

-

-20

-

-10
+

30

-20

-20

Bonus Points

To find the number of bonus points, roll D100, divide by

2, and round up. These points may be divided between any

attribute but PSI. No more than 30 points may be added to

any one attribute, and no attribute score may be raised to

more than 99 by adding bonus points.

Initially, it is a good idea to have characters with close
to even scores in all attributes, because these characters are
the easiest to play. Nevertheless, there are some places

where adding the bonus points changes the character in

23

LUC

-20

-10

-15

-20

-40

-40

-10

-25

-10

-20

-20

PSI

-

-30

-20

-30

-35

-40

-

-50

-20

-30

-10

-40

N/A

great ways, and the gamemaster should be aware of these

trends, perhaps communicating them to players. These

placements are detailed below, in order of importance.

Adding To INT The most important use of bonus points is

in INT, for characters gain many bonus skills and other train-

ing benefits with an INT score of at least 60, but preferably

70. Probably the first place a character should add his bonus

is to the INT roll to bring it to 70.

Adding To LUC: The same may be true of the LUC roll, but

this may be harder to bring to 70 and may not be worth the

points that it takes.

Adding To END: Adding to the END score allows the player

to live longer and to keep from fall ing unconscious so easily.

Adding To DEX: Adding to the DEX score is good for players

who want action, for it increases the number of Action Points

and adds to the To-Hit Numbers for all combat.

Adding To STR: Adding to STR adds to the damage done in

unarmed combat, but little more. This will normally be the

next to last place added.

Adding To CHA: Adding to CHA adds only to the character's

persuasive

ability

with

NPCs.

It

likely

will

be the

last

place

a

character will add his bonus points.

Adding To PSI: No bonus points may be added to PSI.

CREATING ENDURANCE STATISTICS

The table on the character creation short form gives the

END statistics for a character at any moment. This subject

is fully described in the section on Judging Injury, Medical

Aid, And Death.

ENDURANCE STATISTICS TABLE

MAX OP END = END score - wound damage
CURB

OP

END = MAX

WOUND

HEAL

FATIGUE

HEAL

IN ACT SAVE = 20

UNC THRESH = 5

OP

RATE = END

RATE

= END / 20,

END

score - temporary

/ 10,

round

round

minutes

down,

down,

damage

(points

(points

per

day)

per 30

CHARACTER AGING

The rules on character aging are included for those who

want to use them. If a gamemaster wishes, they may be

ignored.

As a result of the character generation system, for each
10 full years the character has lived beyond the critical age,
roll 1D10 for each physical attribute (STR, DEX, and END). Re­duce the attribute score by the amount rolled.

Once a campaign has begun, a Saving Roll against the
character's LUC is made each game-year. If the roll succeeds,

the character suffers no effects of the aging. If, however, the

roll fails, STR, DEX, and END decrease one point.

CRITICAL AGES

Race

Human

Andorian

Caitian

Edoan
Tellarite
Vulcan

FOR ALL RACES

Critical Age

50

85
45

75
50

110

NOTES ON SKILLS

SKILL RATING DEFINITIONS

Skill Ratings have a range of 1 to 99 points. A Skill Rating

of 100 is an ideal that cannot be reached.

PROFICIENCY LEVELS IN ANY SKILL

Skill Ra ting Proficiency In Field

0 Unskilled
1 - 9 Semiskilled

10 Minimum proficiency

10-39 Qualified

40 - 79 Professional

80 - 95 Expert

96+ Acknowledged leader

Unskilled

Characters have only their LUC score to use if they at-

tempt to perform in an area where their Skill Rating is 0.

Such use should be limited to very critical circumstances.

After all, not every character should be able to do everything.

Semiskilled

Characters who attempt to perform in an area where
their Skill Rating is 1 - 9 may make a 1D10 Skill Roll to
determine success or failure of any routine use of the skill.
They have little to no chance, save through their LUC score,
to perform in this skill under critical circumstances.

Qualified

Characters who have a Skill Rating of at least ,10 and not
more than 39 are said to be qualified in a skill. This means
that they may use their skill with modest success in most

non-critical circumstances. Their success will not be total,

for they are not professionals, nor will it border failure, for

they are, after all, proficient. In rising their skill, room is left
for the close call, even in non-critical situations. The closer
to 40, the less chance for close call. One way to simulate this

is to subtract the Skill Rating from 40, and this gives the

percentage chance for a close call.

Physical Skills: Characters with a Skill Rating of 10 or more

in a physical skill may use that skill successfully to perform

any normal action in non-critical, leisurely situations. The
Skill Rating indicates the quality of the action produced and
the time taken to achieve the success. Thus a Skill Rating of
30 indicates that the character can use his skill in non-critical
situations and perform with that skill three times as well as
someone with a Skill Rating of 10. It also indicates that a

person with a Skill Rating of 30 will take only one-third the

timeto do the same job as a person with a Skill Rating of 10.

Mental Skills: Characters with a Skill Rating of 10 or more

in a mental skill will know the most common facts in the

area and can use the skill successfully to solve problems in

non-critical, leisurely situations. The Skill Rating is an indica-

tion of the quality of the solution, the difficulty of the prob-

lems that may be solved easily, and the time needed to come

up with the solution.

Professionals And Experts

Characters with a Skill Rating of 40 can use their skill
with creditable success in every non-critical situation; this

means that in normal use, these characters will not fail at

using the skill. Characters with a Skill Rating of 80 or more

are experts who can use their skill with creditable success

even in many critical situations. In critical situations, how-

ever, even the expert character may fail a Skill Roll.

SKILL DESCRIPTIONS

Skills that require separate Skill Ratings are preceded by
a star (*). The list of skill areas certainly can be expanded,
and gamemasters are encouraged to devise additional skill

areas to fit their own campaigns and own tastes. If a new

skill is developed, it may be necessary to assign a certain

24

level in this skill to some player (or non-player) characters if
it is reasonable that they would have some knowledge in the

new skill. (Send any good ideas you come up with to FASA

- we may be able to use them in later supplementary material.
All material we use will be acknowledged in print!)

MASTER SKILL LIST

Administration

* Artistic Expression

Carousing
Communication Systems Operation
Communications Systems Technology

Computer Operation

Computer Technology

Damage Control Procedures

Deflector Shield Operation
Deflector Shield Technology

Electronics Technology
Environmental Suit Operation

*Gaming

Instruction

* Language

Leadership

* Life Sciences

Life Support Systems Technology

* Marksmanship, Archaic Weapon

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon

Mechanical Engineering

* Medical Sciences

Negotiation/Diplomacy

* Personal Combat, Armed

Personal Combat, Unarmed

Personal Weapons Technology

* Physical Sciences
* Planetary Sciences
* Planetary Survival

Security Procedures
Shuttlecraft Pilot

Shuttlecraft Systems Technology
Small Equipment Systems Operation

Small Equipment Systems Technology

Small Unit Tactics

* Social Sciences
* Space Sciences

* Sports

Starship Combat Strategy/Tactics
Starship Helm Operation

Starship Sensors

Starship Weaponry Operation
Starship Weaponry Technology
Streetwise

Transporter Operational Procedures

Transporter Systems Technology

* Trivia
* Vehicle Operation

Warp Drive Technology

Zero-G Operations

STAR FLEET ACADEMY SKILL LISTS

All player characters will attend Star Fleet Academy, and

each will have the skills given in the Academy Curriculum

Skills Table with Skill Ratings as indicated. Any skill pre­ceeded by a solid star (*) involves choosing the specific type
of skill.

OUTSIDE ELECTIVES

Choose 5 electives from the list in the Academy Elective

Skills Table. The Skill Rating for each skill chosen is 10 point,

No individual skill area may be selected twice. Choices here

may add to the Skill Rating of pre-Academy background
skills.

ADVANCED STUDY

The number of skills that may be improved is found by

dividing the INT score by 10, rounding up, and adding 5. Only

skills that already have Skill Ratings may be improved; the

amount of improvement is 1D10.

BRANCH SCHOOL SKILL LISTS

BRANCH SCOOL CURRICULUM SKILLS

All characters will attend Branch School. Each character

will have the skills listed in the Branch School Curriculum

Table for the particular school he chooses.

OUTSIDE ELECTIVES

Two new skills may be added, or two skills may be im­proved. The Skill Rating in the new skill or the improvement
in the old rating is 1D10 points.

ADVANCED TRAINING

The character may make 5 rolls to improve skills he al-

ready has in any area. The improvement is 1D10 points.

The number of Branch School skills a character improves
depends on his intellect. To find this number, subtract 50
from the character's INT, divide by 10, and round down. Each
skill chosen must be one the character learned or improved

in Branch School; the Skill Rating for each is increased by
1D10 points.

CADET CRUISE ASSIGNMENT

DETERMINING CRUISE ASSIGNMENT

Roll percentile dice and consult the Cadet Cruise Assign­ment Table. Apply modifiers as required for INT, LUC, and

previous cruises

CRUISE RESULTS

To find out the results of a character's Cadet Cruise, roll

percentile dice and consult the Cadet Cruise Results Table,
Apply modifiers for cruise assignment, INT, LUC, and previous
cruises. Science and Medical Officers are automatically pro-

moted to Lieutenant, jg, after they successfully complete their
Cadet Cruise.

DEPARTMENT HEAD

SCHOOL SKILL LIST

PRE-ACADEMY SKILL LIST

The total number of pre-Academy skills is the character's
INT score, divided by 10 and rounded down. Half of these
skills will be chosen from the Educational Background Skills,
and half from the Personal Development Skills sections of

the Pre-Academy Skills Table. A skill may be chosen more
than once, but no skill may be chosen more than twice.

The Skill Rating for each choice is determined by rolling

1D10.

Characters who are destined to become Department
Heads are required to attend a one-year Department Head
School before assuming that position; the school is attended
only once in an officer's career. Characters who complete it
are promoted one rank.

DEPARTMENT HEAD SCHOOL CURRICULUM
SKILLS

All characters who attend Department Head School get
the skills listed in the Department Head School Skills Table.

25

ADVANCED TRAINING

The total number of skills that may be advanced is deter-

mined by dividing the character's INT by 10 and rounding

down. Skills must have been acquired previously, and they
may be chosen more than once. The Skill Rating in each skill
chosen is increased 1D10 points.

SKILL ADVANCEMENT

Consult the Skill Advancement Table For Post-Academy

Experience to determine the total number of skills that may

be advanced. These skills must have been acquired previ­ously, and they may be chosen more than once. For each
skill chosen, the Skill Rating is increased 1D10 points.

COMMAND SCHOOL SKILL LIST

Top command personnel aboard a starship, normally
the Captain and the First Officer, must attend a one-year
Command School; it is attended only once in an officer's
career. Officers automatically are raised one rank after its

completion.

COMMAND SCHOOL CURRICULUM SKILLS

All characters that attend Command School get ratings

in the skills listed in the Command School Skills Table.

ADVANCED TRAINING

The number of skills that may be advanced is determined
by dividing the character's INT by 10 and rounding down.
Skills must have been acquired previously, and they may be
chosen more than once. The Skill Rating in each skill chosen

is increased by 1D10 points.

POST-ACADEMY EXPERIENCE

DETERMINING NUMBER OF TOURS SERVED

To find out how many tours the character served in all,
roll 1D10, divide the result by 2, and round down. If the result
is 0, make it 1. Consult the Table Of Modifiers For Tours
Served to modify the result for INT and LUC and for destined

rank and position.

DETERMINING TOUR ASSIGNMENTS

First Tour

Roll D100 and consult the First Tour Assignment

Table to determine the location of each tour's posting,

adding or subtracting modifiers for INT, LUC, and Cadet

Cruise results.

Determining Officer Efficiency Reports

An officer efficiency report (OER) must be created for

each tour served. This will help determine the posting for all
tours of duty after the first. To do this, roll D100 and consult
the Officer Efficiency Report Results Table. Apply any mod-

ifiers required for high INT or LUC.

Determining Other Tour Assignments

To determine the postings for all tours after the first,
consult the Tour Assignments Tableto determine the approp­riate modifiers for LUC and OER for the last cruise. The total
of these modifiers will determine which column of the table

to use. Then roll D100 to determine the assignment.

Special Final Tour Posting

The last tour served is figured differently for a character

about to serve aboard a Constitution-class vessel. To find
out the special final posting for a character destined to serve
aboard a Constitution-class vessel, roll 1D10. On a roll of 5
or less, the character served aboard a smaller exploration

vessel. On a roll of 6 or more, his final posting is to a military

vessel.

DETERMINING TOUR LENGTH

To find the tour length, roll 1D10, divide by 2, and round

down. A minimum of 1 year must pass before the character

is transferred elsewhere.

CHARACTER AGE

All players should calculate the age of their characters

based on the table of Age For The Training Process.

INCREASING SKILL

RATINGS THROUGH PLAY

There are two ways a gamemaster can allow characters

to increase their Skill Ratings. The first allows a player to

increase some of his character's Skill Ratings by 1 point after
every game session, and the second allows him to increase

those ratings by 1D10 points after every adventure or mission

in a campaign. In either case, only the characters who saw

action should have this chance, and only the skills that were

used frequently should be considered.

In the first method, the player should keep track of all

skills specifically used. For each skill used more than twice,

the player should make a Skill Roll. In this case, the rating

is increased by 1 point only if the roll is greater than the
current Skill Rating. If the roll is equal to or less than the
rating, the skill is not improved.

In the second method, the player may improve three (or

more, at the gamemaster's option) skills the character used

frequently during the course of the adventure. The player

makes a Saving Roll against his character's INT score. If the
roll is successful, the player may roll 1D10 and add the result­ing number of points to his Skill Rating in that skill.

Gamemasters may award bonus points to characters

who push a skill to its limit by frequent successful use or by

passing a very difficult Skill Roll. They may also award an
extra point to characters who had the opportunity to make
close observations of someone with a greater Skill Rating
engaging in more-than-routine use of the skill. This is a teach­ing situation, covered under the rules pertaining to the skill
of Instruction.

Gamemasters also should provide the player characters
with the opportunity to gain new Skill Ratings. Between ad­ventures, a player should have a chance to make a Saving

Roll against his character's INT score to gain a brand new
skill. This roll should only be made when the player specifi­cally asks to devote time to learning something new, and it
should be made with a modifier of 20 subtracted from the
INT, making success a bit harder to get. The time required
should depend on the character's INT score and on the simi­larity of the skill to others he already knows; the minimum
should be about 4 weeks.

Gamemasters should not allow Skill Rating increases to
be too easy, or allow Skill Ratings to rise too quickly and too
cheaply. Remember that Skill Ratings above 40 or 50 are (or
should be) hard to attain —the result of intensive study and
experience. It should be almost unheard of for player charac-

ters using the character generation system to ever gain Skill

Ratings that rival those of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the like.

After all, the heroes of STAR TREKare semi-legendary figures
— the best of the best. If players in a campaign are rivaling
the top-echelon Enterprise personnel, either the campaign

has been going on a very long time, or increases are given
out much too freely. Feel free to bend the rules (even the
rules on when to give rating increases) when necessary to

26

maintain play balance and game integrity.

JUDGING GROUND ACTION

Once the players are involved in their roles, the main
function of the gamemaster will be to judge the effect of
their actions on themselves, the setting, and the various

NPCs.

In doing this, he must try to convey to the players that
he is on their side — that the contest is not between them
and him, but between them and the opponents he has
created. He should be very fair in using his knowledge of
their plans and the state of their ship so that he doesn't cause
the players' opponents to act on information they would not
have. He must be sure that the NPCs he controls behave
according to the goals that he has set out for them at the
beginning of the scenario.

He acts as final judge in any disputes, not only because
he must know the rules well to take on the job, but also
because it is his scenario. He should help the players do
what they want to do by interpreting the rules for them,
giving them suggestions about information their characters
should know but they may not, and so on.

The most important thing that separates a good
gamemaster from a mediocre one is that the good gamemas­ter controls his game. The dice suggest things to him, but
they do not control his actions. There are times when he will
want to give the players less damage than the dice would
suggest, and he should feel free to allow this. After all, as
the gamemaster it is up to him to see that everyone has a
good time, and so he must be careful to be neither too hard
nor too easy on the players. Although it is certainly fair that
the players should not win every battle, they had better win
their fair share or they will no longer want to play.

USING ATTRIBUTES

REQUESTING SAVING ROLLS

Saving Rolls are the way the gamemaster judges how
player characters interact with the environment in general.
It is the gamemaster who decides when a Saving Roll is
called for, which attribute score is used as a base target,
what modifiers there are to the target, and what effects
passed and failed rolls will have on the action.

Saving Rolls generally are requested by a gamemaster
is he not clear that a player character can do something.
They also may be requested when one of the character's
attributes would allow him to do something that the player
has not thought about. If a player character's skill would
come into play, the roll generally is called a Skill Roll, which
is described below.

After the gamemaster has decided that a Saving Roll is
necessary/ he determines which attribute is the base target,
what the modifiers are to the target, and he asks the player

to make a Saving Roll, usually telling the player which attri-

bute is the base target and usually, but not always, telling

the player what the modifiers are. Then the player rolls per-

centile dice. If the roll is less than or equal to the modified

target, then the roll is successful; if it is more, than the roll

is not successful.

SAVING ROLL TARGETS

FOR SPECIFIC ATTRIBUTES

Depending on the task, the base target may be the score
in one attribute or another. If the action requires the use of
more than one attribute, then the target could be the average
of two or more attribute scores.

Targets may be modified by the gamemaster if the action

is particularly easy or hard. In the case of an easy task, the

gamemaster may specify a modifier which subtracts from
the Saving Roll, making it smaller and hence making it easier

to score under the attribute being tested. On the other hand
for particularly hard tasks, the gamemaster may wish to add
to the die roll, making it harder to roll low. The modificatior

may or may not be specified ahead of time by the gamemas­ter, although it usually will be if the results are something
that the player would realize immediately.

Saves Against Strength

A Saving Roll against a character's STR score might be
made when something heavy must be moved, or when a
character must force open a door or perform other physica

feats of power. If the door were made of steel and locked
tight, the modifier might be quite high. If it were made of

rotten wood, it might be a large negative number.

Saves Against Endurance

Saving Rolls against MAX OP END will be made quite often

as indicated in Injury, Medical Aid, And Recovery and in

Tactical Movement And Combat. Most often, these rolls will

concern strenuous activity, and other situations such as when
a character desires to hold his breath underwater for a long
period, or undergoes torture at the hands of the Klingons.

Saves Against Intellect

A Saving Roll against a character's INT score may be
made whenever the character needs to reason out a problem
or gather and process new knowledge that does not fit into
an area of training. If the character has skills that would be
of help in such an effort, the INT score could be only part of
the target.

Saves Against Dexterity

A Saving Roll against a character's DEX score might be

made for the character to perform an act requiring physical
coordination, like walking over a slippery rope bridge. It also
might be required for tasks needing quick physical reaction
and reflexes, such as playing a game of zero-gravity handball
one of Kirk's favorites!

Saves Against Charisma

A Saving Roll against a character's CHA score might be

required to catch the eye and attention of a member of the
opposite sex, such as Captain Kirk was often doing, some
times as a requirement of his duty to protect his ship an
crew, but more often because he has little resistance to
charming woman! A character's CHA score, perhaps average
with his Skill Rating in Negotiation/Diplomacy might be the
target for a Saving Roll when he attempts to influence ind­viduals, particularly if the benefit is great. Averaged with the

character's Skill Rating in Leadership, his CHA score might

be used to create a target for Saving Rolls when he attempt
to lead or influence an unfamiliar or hostile group.

Saves Against Luck

Saving Rolls against a character's LUC score are used in

this game in situations that may be affected by pure chance

and coincidence and also in situations that are particularly
sticky for a character. The gamemaster's object is to keep

player characters alive if at all reasonable, and a LUC Saving

Roll attempt might give a player a chance to bail himself out

particularly if the character could be killed. One important

use of the LUC Saving Roll is to limit damage from energy

weapons. Thus, a fatal shot could be reduced to a grazing.

Sure, the LUC Saving Roll hampers realism, but STAR TREK
adventures should reflect television realism, not the real
world. On the other hand, 'the breaks' go both ways, and
things could go badly if critical LUC Saving Rolls are failed.

Saves Against Psionic Potential

Vulcan player characters may realize their psionic poten­tial to a greater extent, using PSI Saving Rolls to judge success
in applying Vulcan psionic techniques. Humans and most
other races will apply PSI Saving Rolls only as resistance to
unwanted telepathic prying into their minds, and as modifiers
to other types of psionic activity and attack.

USING SKILLS

SKILL RATINGS AND AUTOMATIC SUCCESS

Skill Ratings are the way the gamemaster determines if
the character can use his skill to perform a desired action. If
the rating is low, the chance of the action being allowed is
also low, and if the rating is high, the chance of the action

being allowed is high.

When a character uses a skill, the first thing the

gamemaster must decide is whether or not the character has

a Skill Rating great enough that he can perform the action
without requiring a Skill Roll. If this is the case, then the
action is automatically successful, and the gamemaster can

judge the action accordingly. The rating descriptions below

will help the gamemaster to determine if a skill is automat­ically successful; if it still is not clear, then a Skill Roll must
be made as described in the following section.

Unskilled - Rating 0

Characters have only their LUC score to use if they at-

tempt to perform in an area where their Skill Rating is 0.
Such use should be limited to very critical circumstances.

After all, not every character should be able to do everything.

Semiskilled - Rating 1 - 9

Characters who attempt to perform in an area where

their Skill Rating is 1 - 9 may make a 1D10 Skill Roll to

determine success or failure of any routine use of the skill.

They have little to no chance, save through their LUC score,

to perform in this skill under critical circumstances.

Qualified - Rating 10-39

Characters who have a Skill Rating of at least 10 and not

more than 39 are said to be qualified in a skill. This means

that they may use their skill with success in most non-critical

(normal, routine, leisurely, non-stressful, every-day) cir-

cumstances. Their success will not be total, for they are not

professionals, nor will it border failure, for they are, after all,

proficient. In using their skill, room is left for the close call,
even in non-critical situations. The closer to 40, the less
chance for close call. One way to simulate this is to subtract
the Skill Rating from 40, and this gives the percentage chance

for a close call.

Physical Skills: Characters with a Skill Rating of 10 or more
in a physical skill may use that skill successfully to perform
any normal action in noncritical, leisurely situations. The Skill

Rating indicates the quality of the action produced and the
time taken to achieve the success. Thus a Skill Rating of 30

indicates that the character can use his skill in non-critical

situations and perform with that skill three times as well as

someone with a Skill Rating of 10 in the same amount of
time. It also indicates that a person with a Skill Rating of 30

will take much less time to do the same job as a person with

a Skill Rating of 10.

Mental Skills: Characters with a Skill Rating of 10 or more

in a mental skill will know the most common facts in the
area and can use the skill successfully to solve problems in

non-critical, leisurely situations. The Skill Rating is an indica-

tion of the quality of the solution, the difficulty of the prob-

lems that may be solved easily, and the time needed to come

up with the solution.

Professionals And Experts - Ratings 40 +

Characters with a Skill Rating of 40 can use their skill
with creditable success in every non-critical situation; this
means that in normal use, these characters will not fail at
using the skill. Characters with a Skill Rating of 80 or more
are experts who can use their skill with creditable success
even in many critical situations. In critical situations, how­ever, even the expert character may fail a Skill Roll.

REQUESTING SKILL ROLLS

When a player character uses a skill in such a way that

the gamemaster is not sure if the action will be successful,

then a Skill Roll probably will be required. Just like Saving

Rolls, the gamemaster chooses when a roll is necessary,

what Skill Rating will be used as the base target, and what

the modifiers will be.

After he has made these decisions, which sometimes
are quite clear because of the rules and at other times are
purely a matter of choice, he will ask the player to make a
Skill Roll, specifying what Skill Rating will be used as the
base target and frequently, but not always, telling the player

what the modifiers are. Then the player rolls percentile dice.

If the roll is less than or equal to the modified Skill Rating,

then the action was a success; if the roll is more than the

modified Skill Rating, then the action was a failure. This al­lows the gamemaster to judge the action.

Randomly Determining If A Roll Is Needed

Most times, it will be clear whether or not a roll is neces­sary. If it is not clear whether or not a particular skill use
needs a Skill Roll, then the following system may be used.
Subtract the Skill Rating from 100 to give the chance that a
roll is necessary. Roll percentile dice, and if the number is
equal to or less than the chance that a roll is required, ask

the player to make the roll.

SKILL ROLL TARGETS FOR SPECIFIC SKILLS

Sometimes the target will be the Skill Rating itself, with

no modifiers. At other times, the task really involves more

than one skill, and so the target is the average of the ratings
from the skills involved. Sometimes, such as with To-Hit

Rolls (which are a special Skill Roll), the target will be the
average of a Skill Rating and an attribute score. If a gamemas-

ter feels that circumstances make the roll easier or harder to

make, then he may add or subtract modifiers to the target.

The following skill descriptions should allow the

gamemasterto judge howthe skills will be used in the game.

Administration

This skill is taught in Department Head School. In trying

to bypass normal Star Fleet channels, the Skill Rating should

be averaged with the character's CHA score, simulating the
character's effect on the clerks who could speed his request

along.

Artistic Expression

A separate Skill Rating must be developed for each dif-

ferent type of art form; the specific form chosen must be

specified. For performing arts, the effect of a performance

would be determined by a Skill Roll based on the average

of the Skill Rating and the character's CHA score.

Atmosphere Craft Pilot

This skill from the first edition rules is now covered under

Vehicle Operation.

28

Carousing

This skill is used to determine success at gambling, at
blending into the crowd at a bar, and so on. It may be aver­aged with the rating in Streetwise to gain information by
trying to drink an informant under the table. It is also aver­aged with MAX OP END to determine how well a character can

hold his Saurian Brandy and with CHA to determine how

successful he is with the opposite sex.

Communication Systems Operation

This skill will be used in any starship-based or planetside

adventures where a character experiences difficulty in com-

municating either with Star Base, with the landing party, or

with the ship in orbit. Half the rating should be used for

characters attempting to communicate with unfamiliar ar-

chaic or alien communications equipment, but a Skill Rating

of 10 in the appropriate Trivia skill will allow even this equip­ment to be used at the full rating.

Communication Systems Technology

This skill is used whenever a character attempts to repair
communications equipment. When attempting to repair un­familiar archaic or alien equipment, the Skill Rating should
be half normal, but a Skill Rating of 10 in the appropriate

Trivia skill will allow the full rating to be used. This skill is

used during starship combat if a bridge hit knocks out the

Communications Panel.

Comparative Archaeology

This first-edition skill is now a Social Sciences skill spec-

ialty.

Computer Operation

All Star Fleet personnel have a Skill Rating of at least
20, and Medical Officers, Communications Officers, and Sci­ence Officers usually have a rating of at least 40 in this skill.
Any Star Fleet officer can gatherthe data, even though inter-

preting this data may require a specialist (Science Officer or
Medical Officer).

Computer Technology

Engineering Officers, Science Officers, and Communica-

tions Officers have a Skill Rating of at least 10 in this skill so
that they can do routine maintenance on even the sophisti­cated computers aboard starships. After a bridge hit in star­ship combat, it is used, with a Skill Roll and averaged with
the Skill Rating in Starship Helm Operation or Starship Sen-

sors, to repair the helm console or the sensors panel.

Damage Control Procedures

This skill is used mainly in starship combat by the Com­munications/Damage Control Officer, who has a rating of at
least 40. Its use always requires a Skill Roll. In combat, the

officer uses the skill to reduce damage from incoming fire

and also to repair superstructure damage already sustained.

In other situations, it may be used to reduce damage from
an unavoidable collision or the like.

Deflector Shield Operation

This skill is used mainly in starship combat by the
Navigator, who has a rating of at least 40. Most often use of
this skill requires a Skill Roll. The Navigator, for example,

may need to make a Skill Roll to determine if he can raise a
shield quickly in an emergency.

In non-critical situations, the skill may be used to manipu-

late the tractor/pressor beams without a Skill Roll, or with a

roll for non-routine matters, or to perform difficult maneuvers

with the object being manipulated by the beams.

Deflector Shield Technology

Engineering Officers and Navigators have a rating of at

least 10 in this skill so that they may make emergency repairs

to the equipment, even during starship combat. In combat,

the Navigator may use this skill with a Skill Roll to repair

damage to the deflector shield panel after a bridge hit. With­out a roll, it could be used if a character desired to construct
or repair a tractor/pressor beam or shield generator while

on an adventure.

Electronics Technology

Science and Engineering Officers have a rating of at least

10 in this general skill.

Environmental Suit Operation

All Star Fleet personnel have a rating in this skill of at
least 10, Security Officers at least 20, and Science Officers
at least 30. Any unusual use will require a Skill Roll. Failure
indicates that the character could not do what was attempted.
A DEX roll would then determine if the character fell or put
himself into a potentially dangerous situation.

Federation History and Law

This first-edition skill is now covered under Social Sci-

ences.

Gaming

This skill does not include figuring odds and gambling,
which are part of Carousing, though some card games and
games with dice are included here, as long as skill, and not

luck, controls the win. Gaming does not include physically

strenuous games, which are part of Sports. The game must

be specified.

Instruction

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of at least 10 in this

skill. A Skill Roll will be required for a character to actually
teach another a skill. The process takes time, based on the
INT of the student and the Skill Rating of the teacher; the
gamemaster must judge this, but the time required should

be no less than 4 weeks. The teacher must have a rating in

the skill being taught that is at least 20 points more than the

student's rating in the same skill. If the Skill Roll is successful,

the student gains 1D10/2 skill points.

Language

All characters are considered to have a rating of 40 in

speaking their native tongue and a rating of 20 in writing it;
in addition, all Star Fleet personnel are considered to have
a rating of 40 in speaking Galacta and a rating of 20 in writing
it. Each Star Fleet officer has a rating of at least 15 in speaking

and writing one other language because of his Academy

training. Communications Officers are given extra training,

and Science Officers and Medical Officers become very pro­ficient in another language. Characters who desire to in­crease their Skill Ratings in writing their native tongues and

Galacta should use the Trivia skill. Translators have ratings

of 40 or more in the languages they will translate.

Each language must be studied separately, so that a
character, particularly a Communications Officer, will have
a Skill Rating for each language he knows.

Leadership

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of at least 10 in this
skill, and those who pass through Command School have a

rating of at least 40. This skill is used when a character tries

to influence groups, averaged with his CHA score. Skill Rolls

will not be required for most orders given to an officer's

subordinates, who are used to taking orders from him. Skill
Rolls may be required when convincing subordinates to fol­low an unusual or highly dangerous order, depending on

the circumstances. A Skill Roll would be required when at-

tempting to sway a crowd or lead a group of people the
character is not used to commanding. For influencing an
individual or a small group of professionals, skill in Negoti-

ation/Diplomacy is used instead.

29

Life Sciences

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of at least 10 in one

of these sciences. Science and Medical Officers most often

have ratings in several skills, or a rating of more than 40 in

at least one of these skills. Separate Skill Ratings must be
developed for each type of life science. The Skill Rating in

the life science may be averaged with the rating in Starship

Sensors to gain specific data, or it may be averaged with

Computer Operation to gain information from a tricorder.

Life Support Systems Technology

Medical and Engineering Officers have ratings of at least

10 in this skill. In starship combat, this skill may be used,

with a Skill Roll, to repair the ship's life support systems

during starship combat. It also is used to repair a damaged

environmental suit or life support belt.

Marksmanship, Archaic Weapon

This skill encompasses the use of all ancient (in STAR

TREK terms) projectile weapons, from slings through cross-

bows to 20th-century firearms. It is averaged with the charac­ter's DEX score to determine the To-Hit Number for the
weapon. Characters with a rating of at least 40 can construct
or reload their own projectiles and make field repairs to a
damaged weapon. Though separate Skill Ratings must be

developed for each weapon type, gamemasters may allow

half or more of a Skill Rating in one weapon to apply to the
use of a similar weapon; the more similar the weapon, the

greater part of the Skill Rating should be allowed.

Marksmanship, Modern Weapon

All Star Fleet personnel have a rating of at least 20 in
this skill, and Security Officers have a rating of at least 40.
This rating is averaged with the character's DEX to determine
the base To-Hit Number for the weapon. Skill in one modern
weapon gives skill in all that are familiar to the character;

familiarity is gained rather quickly.

Mechanical Engineering

Engineering Officers have a rating of at least 10 in this

skill, though most will want to make it higher by making this

skill one of their 3 specialties from Branch School.

Medical Sciences

All Star Fleet personnel are qualified in personal first aid

on themselves and members of their own race; this means
that they have a rating of at least 10 in General Medicine for

their own race. Medical Officers have a rating of at least 40

in their own race, and probably in several other races. Sec-

urity Officers have a rating of 10 in Psychology for their own

race; Medical Officers have ratings of at least 40 in Psychol-

ogy for their own race, and probably in several others.

Separate Skill Ratings must be gained for each separate

race in General Medicine and Psychology. These skills are

pre-requisites to all other medical skills, and no other medical

skill may be learned until a character has a rating of 40 in
them. The character's skill in General Medicine is used with
a Skill Roll for all emergency first aid attempts.

Skill Ratings may be gained in the other medical sci­ences, if a character desires. These ratings are used unmod­ified only for the character's own race. For other races, the
character averages his rating in the skill with his rating in
the General Medicine for the other race.

Negotiation/Diplomacy

All top Star Fleet command personnel have a rating of
at least 10 in this skill. The rating in this skill is averaged with
the character's CHA score as a base target for Skill Rolls to

influence individuals, like an ambassador, or small groups

of intelligent, informed people, such as a planetary council.

This skill may be used in any verbal interaction between

player characters and non-player characters. One way to find

out if a Skill Roll is necessary is to subtract the rating from

100, giving the chance that a roll is needed. If a roll is not
needed, then the character's verbal interaction proceeds in
his favor. If a roll is needed and is successful, the same result

occurs. If a roll is needed and is unsuccessful, then he fails.

The more the roll was more than the target, the worse the

reaction to the character. For example, if the character fails
a roll by only 10 points, his attempt is met with a polite,
regretful negative. If he fails by 30 points, the refusal to coop­erate is forceful. If he fails by 50 or more, the refusal may

be accompanied by physical force.

Personal Combat, Armed

This skill involves the use of ancient and modern hand
weapons in personal combat, such as the sword, the club or
mace, the spear, and the knife or dagger. The rating is aver­aged with the character's DEX score to determine the base
To-Hit Number for the weapon. A separate Skill Rating must

be developed for each class of weapon, but half or more of

the rating may be applied to similar weapons; the more

similarthe weapon, the greaterthe part of the rating allowed.

Personal Combat, Unarmed

This skill includes all combat types; no separate rating
is needed. It is used to determine the proficiency of animals
in combat as well; in general, meat-eaters are more proficient

than vegetarians. The rating is averaged with the character's

DEX to determine the base To-Hit Number for unarmed com­bat. For every 10 points in this skill, the damage in unarmed
combat is raised 1 point.

Personal Weapons Technology

All Star Fleet personnel have a rating of 5 or more in
this skill. Engineering and Security Officers have a rating of
10 or more. This skill would be used by a character attempting
to make modifications to a phaser or disruptor or to repair
one in the field. It might be used in adapting a phaser to
power sources other than those intended, such as a 20th-cen­tury wall plug.

Physical Sciences

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of 10 or more in at
least one of these skills. All Science and Medical Officers
have a rating of 40 or more in at least one, if not several.
Separate Skill Ratings must be developed in each science.
The rating may be averaged with the rating in Starship Sen-
sors or Computer Operation to obtain specific information
from shipboard or from a tricorder.

Planetary Sciences

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of 10 or more in at
least one of these skills. Science Officers may have ratings
of at least 10 in several of these, or perhaps a rating of 40
or more in at least one. Separate Skill Ratings must be de­veloped in each science. The rating may be averaged with
the rating in Starship Sensors or Computer Operation to
obtain specific information from shipboard or from a tricor­der.

Planetary Survival

Separate Skill Ratings must be developed in each of the
separate planetary types, including arctic, cool temperate,
warm temperate, tropical, and desert planets. Star Fleet per-

sonnel on a pre-planned landing party expedition will have
ratings of at least 1D10 in this skill for the type of planet

being investigated; at least one member of the landing party

will have a rating of 10 or more, and likely of 40 or more.

No training will be given the landing party members for

unplanned landings.

Security Procedures

All Security Officers have ratings of at least 40 in this skill.

30

Shuttlecraft Pilot

This skill deals with the operation of the standard
shuttlecraft used by Star Fleet and carried on many larger
ships. All Helmsmen have ratings of at least 10 and Security
Officers of at least 20 in this skill. A character may fly the
craft under normal conditions with a rating of at least 10,
but he must have a Skill Rating of at least 20, or more com­monly 40, to be assigned as a shuttlecraft pilot.

Shuttlecraft Systems Technology

All Engineering Officers have a rating of 10 or more in

this skill.

Small Equipment Systems Operation

All Star Fleet personnel have a rating of 10 or more in
this skill, and thus are able to use most Star Fleet equipment,
including standard medical equipment, under normal cir­cumstances.

Small Equipment Systems Technology

All Engineering Officers have a rating of at least 10 in

this skill.

Small Unit Tactics

Security Officers have a rating of 20 or more in this skill.

Social Sciences

Every Star Fleet officer has a rating of at least 15 in the
culture/history and the laws of the Federation. Security Offi­cers have a rating of 20 in Federation Law. Those officers
who complete Command School have ratings of 25 in Feder-

ation Law and of 20 in Federation History/Culture. Communi-

cations Officers usually have ratings in the hi story/culture of

several races. Separate Skill Ratings must be developed for
each separate race and for each different field. The Skill Rat­ings in these fields may be averaged with the rating in Star-
ship Sensors to be able to find out specific information about

a planet's culture.

Space Sciences:

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of 10 in Astronomy

and in at least one other of these sciences. Furthermore,
Navigators have a rating of at least 40 and Helmsmen of at

least 10 in Astrogation (formerly called Starship Navigation);

Engineering Officers have a rating of 10 or more in Astronau-

tics (formerly called General Starship Engineering); and Sci­ence Officers frequently have ratings of 20 or more in several
of these fields. Separate Skill Ratings must be developed for
each different science. The Skill Rating in these fields may

be averaged with the rating in Starship Sensors to find out
specific information about space phenomena. In Starship
combat after a hit to the engine room, the Chief Engineer

may be required to make a Skill Roll against his rating in
Astronautics to successfully restore power to the ship's

power grid.

Sports

Separate Skill Ratings must be developed for each sport

desired. A Skill Rating of 10 in Swimming allows a character
to swim for recreation without fear of drowning under normal
circumstances, though a Skill Roll would be required to save

another character's life or to swim for long distances. Vulcans

and Caitians may not choose Swimming as part of their back­ground. Characters desiring to use SCUBA gear should

choose it as the subject of the Trivia skill.

Starship Combat Strategy/Tactics

Characters who attend Command School have ratings
of 40 or more in this skill. Captains use this skill in Starship
combat to determine if they have the tactical advantage and
can predict what their opponent will do before they commit

themselves.

Starship Communications Procedures

This first-edition skill is now called Communication Sys-

tems Operation.

Starship Engineering

This first-edition skill is now the space science skill of

Astronautics.

Starship Helm Operation

All Helmsmen have ratings of 40 or more in this skill. In

Starship combat, the Helmsman uses this skill, with a Skill

Roll, to make emergency or evasive maneuvers. After a
bridge hit, the skill is used, with a Skill Roll and averaged

with the rating in Computer Technology, to repair a damaged

helm console.

Starship Navigation

This first-edition skill is now the space science skill of

Astrogation.

Starship Sensors

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of 10 or more in this

skill. Helmsmen have ratings of 30 or more and Science Of-

ficers of 40 or more. When averaged with the skills in various

sciences, this skill is used to interpret data about a wide
variety of subjects. In Starship combat, the skill is used, with

a Skill Roll, to gain a sensors lock on the opponent and to
obtain vital data about his preparedness and his intentions.

After a bridge hit in Starship cpmbat, the skill is used, with

a Ski 11 Roll and averaged with the rating in Computer Technol-
ogy, to make emergency repairs to the sensors panel.

Starship Weaponry Operation

All Helmsmen have ratings of at least 40 in this'skill. It
is always used with a Skill Roll or a To-Hit Roll in starsfcijp
combat to determine the effectiveness of weapon fire.

Starship Weaponry Technology

All Helmsmen and Engineering Officers have ratings of
10 or more in this skill so that they may make minor to
moderate emergency repairs of damaged or malfunctioning

equipment. After a bridge hit in Starship combat, this skill

may be used, with a Skill Roll, to repair a damaged weapons

console.

Streetwise

This skill is the urban counterpart of Planetary Survival.

Transporter Operational Procedures

All Star Fleet officers have a rating of 10 in this skill. This
skill is used, with a Skill Roll and modifications, to determine
the success of non-routine transporter operation.

Transporter Systems Technology

All Engineering Officers have a rating of 10 or more in

this skill.

Trivia

This catch-all skill category covers any specialized knowl­edge not covered by other skills; it is intended for players
to be able to individualize their characters, giving them depth

by establishing their hobbies and interests. Categories cho­sen for trivia must be well-defined and not too general, and

a Skill Rating must be developed for each separate skill.

Vehicle Operation

Separate Skill Ratings must be developed for the opera­tion of atmospheric craft, ground vehicles, and water vehi­cles. Skill ratings of 10 or more allow the character to operate

most small, personal vehicles. Ratings of 40 or more allow
the operation of most vehicles in the class. This skill fre­quently is chosen as a background skill as it is not a part of

Star Fleet training.

Characters with this skill may apply half or more of the

rating to the operation of archaic vehicles, such as biplanes

31

or helicopters, 20th-century automobiles, or sailing vessels.
The closer to 'modern' vehicles in operation, the greater the

rating allowed. A rating of 10 or more in the appropriate
Trivia skill allows the entire rating to be used.

Warp Drive Technology

All Engineering Officers have a rating of at least 10 in
this skill, and most have ratings of 40 or more. In starship
combat, this skill is used to coax extra power from the en­gines and to make emergency warp speed changes.

Zero-G Operations

All Star Fleet officers have ratings of 10 or more in this
skill. Any unusual use of the skill will require a Skill Roll. To
determine if a roll is necessary, subtract the rating from 100

to give the chance that a roll will be needed. If no roll is

needed, the use will be successful without a roll. If a roll is

needed and is successful, the same result occurs. If the roll

is" unsuccessful, the attempt fails, with the potential for harm­ful effects if a Saving Roll against DEX is not successful. When
a character attempts to use other skills under such conditions,
the Skill Rating is averaged with the other skill before a Skill

Roll is made.

SECRET ROLLS AND

HIDDEN SUCCESS

SECRET ROLLS

Sometimes, a gamemaster will want to keep it secret
from the players that a Saving Roll or Skill Roll is needed
from a particular player character. Several systems can be

used to do this, as detailed below.

System I: Ask the players to make several percentile dice

rolls at the beginning of the game, and record the rolls.
Whenever you want to make a secret roll, consult the list
which gives the roll. As rolls are used, cross them off. Make

a new list at the beginning of the next game session, or

continue with the old list.

System II: When a secret roll is required from one player

character, request ALL players to make a 'utility roll/ Go

around the table asking what the roll was from ALL players.

Seem to pay attention to all responses, but it is only neces-

sary to deal with the player who needed to make the roll.
This is a good technique for raising the suspense, the Danger

Quotient, in a game session, for the players will not know
what you were using the roll for. You might ask for a roll

every so often, even if you do not need one, just to do this,

but do not overwork the technique or it will be come stale.

HIDDEN SUCCESS

Sometimes a gamemaster must judge a Saving Roll or
Skill Roll when the player character would not know the
effects of the roll, whether he passed or failed. In this case,
use one of the systems given below.

System III: Keep a record of all the attributes, To-Hit Num-

bers, and important Skill ratings for all players. When such

a roll is necessary, have the player roll the dice without know­ing why. Then you consult the record to determine if the roll

was successful.

System IV: This system, called the floating base system,

allows players to make all dice rolls and does not require

that the gamemaster keep any records. When a roll is neces-

sary/ the player AND the gamemaster roll percentile dice.

The player reports the results of his roll AND the appropriate

target to the gamemaster, such as, "I rolled a 49 and I have

an INT (or Skill Rating) of 37." The gamemaster looks at his
roll,

which

is the

base

(the

lowest

then adds the appropriate target to give the highest chance

chance

for success. In this case, if the gamemaster's roll were 26,

for

success),

and

the sum would be 26 + 37 (the attribute score/Skill Rating),

or 63. If the player's dice roll is between the base (the
gamemaster's roll of 26) and the sum (63), then the roll is
successful, as in this example (49 is between 26 and 63); if

it is not, the roll fails (rolls less than 26 and more than 64
fail). When the sum is greater than 100, subtract 100. There­fore if the base (the gamemaster's roll) is 89, and the chance

of success (the target attribute score or Skill Rating) is 40,
then the sum is 129; any roll between the base of 89 and 00

is successful, as is any roll between 01 and 29, the sum minus

100.

JUDGING TACTICAL MOVEMENT

ESTIMATING AP COST FOR UNUSUAL ACTIONS

In situations where a character desires to perform an

action not listed in the action table, the gamemaster should

inform the player of the action's AP cost before the character

completes his turn. This cost should be based on the table.
When estimating the cost of actions, recall that the turn is

only 10 seconds long and that a character with a high DEX

may expend 10 to 15 AP per turn.

USING

points (AP) available to him during one 10-second turn in
tactical movement or combat. This number is determined by

dividing the DEX score by 10, rounding down, and adding 4.
The AP Cost Table gives the cost for the various actions av-

ailableto players when using tactical movement and combat.

AP

Each character must determine the number of action

JUDGING SPECIFIC ACTIONS

Position Change

Players must state when their characters are in a position
other than erect, unless it is clear that they are prone. No
movement is possible when a character is sitting or kneeling;
a position change must be made first. Characters who wish

to go from prone to standing must make 2 position changes
— prone to kneeling, and kneeling to standing.

Movement

Move: If a character uses half or more of his AP in one turn

to move across difficult terrain, such as steep hills, sand,
snow, rubble, or the like, he may take temporary damage
from fatigue. The player must make a Saving Roll against

the character's MAX OP END. If the roll is successful, there is

no temporary damage. If the roll is unsuccessful, then the

character takes 5 points of temporary damage.

Evade: If a character uses all AP to evade for a full turn, he

may take temporary damage. The player must make a Saving
Roll against the character's MAX OP END with a -20 modifier.
If the roll is successful, there is no temporary damage. If the

roll is unsuccessful, then the character takes 5 points of tem-

porary damage.

Run: It is possible to make other actions before running, but
running is the last action possible in a turn because it uses

up all the remaining AP. Once he decides to run, the running
character may double his normal movement when figuring

the number of squares he may run. If a character runs in two

or more successive turns, he may take temporary damage;
the player makes a Saving Roll against his character's MAX
OP END. If the roll is successful, there is no temporary damage

from the action. If the roll is unsuccessful, then the character
takes 5 points of temporary damage.

Climb: Saving Rolls against DEX must be made if a character

attempts any other action in the midst of climbing a ladder,
rope, wall, cliff, or the like where both hands must be used

to succeed.

Swim: If a character uses the full turn to swim, he may take

temporary damage from fatigue. The player makes a Saving

32

Roll against the character's MAX OP END. If the roll is success-

ful, there is no temporary damage. If the roll is unsuccessful,
the character takes 5 points of temporary damage.

Equipment And Weapon Use

Short Communication: During combat, the gamemaster

should limit conversations between players to prevent long,
unrealistic exchanges of information and discussion of tac-

tics. The gamemaster should use discretion here, and if long

communications are made, they should cost an appropriate
number of AP. The use of this action does not include taking

out and readying a communicator.

Operate Familiar Device: Operating unfamiliar devices

should cost more AP, and the gamemaster should use his
discretion on judging this. He should not tell a player how
many AP operating unfamiliar devices will cost until the

player has committed his character to the action.

Aim And Fire Weapons: These actions are resolved with the

combat rules.

Throw Ready Weapon: This action usually is resolved with

the combat rules given in the section on Thrown Weapons

Or Objects.

Reload Weapon: Phasers and other modern sidearms usu-

ally cannot be recharged in the field. The cost is applied to

each grouping for the weapon. If it uses single shots, the
cost is per round; if it uses a clip, the cost is for the clip.

Combat And Emergency Evasion

Attack: After any armed or unarmed personal combat, after

contact with the enemy is broken, the character may take

temporary damage from fatigue. The player must make a
Saving Roll against the character's MAX OP END. If the roll is
successful, no temporary damage is taken. If the roll is unsuc­cessful, the character takes 5 points of temporary damage.

Parry/defend: Once the parry/defend action has been de-

clared, it is effective for the rest of the turn against any direct
attack from the front. If, for instance, Lee Sterling is attacked

by a Klingon and chooses the parry/defend action, he may

defend against any other Klingon who approaches and at-

tacks later that same turn.

If a character successfully parries, the enemy's attack

does no damage. In addition, he may declare a special oppor-

tunity action at the beginning of the following turn. This

action costs the same as an attack, using up all the AP for
the turn, but it comes before any other actions in the new

turn. During this special opportunity action, the character

may make a personal combat attack against one attacker
whose attack he successfully parried in the previous turn.
The attack must be made with any weapon already in the

hands; no other weapon may be drawn or otherwise readied

for this attack.

For example, Lt. Sterling is attacked by two Klingons.

All characters involved in the fight have picked up metal

bars, used as clubs, to fight with. When the first Klingon

swings, Sterling will parry, using up all of his remaining AP

and so he can make no other actions this turn. The first

Klingon swings, but Sterling successfully parries and takes

no damage. The second Klingon also swings, but Sterling is

still defending automatically, because the parry/defend ac­tion lasts for the rest of the turn. Sterling's attempt to parry
fails, and he takes full normal damage.

At the beginning of the next turn, Sterling may choose

to make a special opportunity action - an attack on the first

Klingon with the metal bar. He may not attack the second

Klingon because he failed to defend against him, nor may

he use a different weapon to make this special attack. If

Sterling chooses to make this attack, it counts as a normal

personal combat attack, and uses up his AP for the turn. If

Sterling waits for the normal action sequence, he can attack

anyone he wants, of course.

Dodge: Use of this action, which requires a minimum of 3

AP, does not guarantee success in dodging an attack. The

action must be declared by a defender before the attacker
rolls to hit, and it uses up the character's remaining AP. The

defender makes a Saving Roll against his DEX. If the roll is

successful, the defender may move into any adjacent square

and the attack misses automatically. If the roll is unsuccess-

ful, the character remains where he is, though use of this

action makes him more difficult to hit. The attack proceeds
as usual, but it is made with a evasion modifier of +15 to

the To-Hit Number.

Duck Thrown Weapon/Object: Use of this action does not

guarantee success in ducking a thrown object. The character
doing the ducking must make a Saving Roll against his DEX.

His remaining AP are used up regardless of whether or not

the duck attempt is successful. The gamemaster may allow

modifiers to the DEX Saving Roll according to the object

thrown.

If the roll is successful, the character has dodged what-

ever was thrown. The thrown object will continue on for

1D10 squares, and anyone or anything else in this path may

be hit if they do not duck. The gamemaster may adjust the

die roll for the object thrown; for example, a chair will not

travel as far as a knife. If the roll was not successful, the

object thrown hits the intended victim.

Hide: The attempt to hide does not guarantee success.

Gamemasters should judge this as seems reasonable for the

situation, considering the size of the character, the amount
of available cover, the activity of the potential observer, and
so on.

For characters to spot hidden non-player characters, re-

quire a Saving Roll against INT, modifying for concealment

as above.

Dive Roll: The character must make a Saving Roll against

his DEX to complete this evasive maneuver successfully. If

the Saving Roll is successful, the counter is moved 2 squares

in the desired direction and the player announces whether

the character is coming out of the roll kneeling or prone. If

the Saving Roll is not successful, the counter is moved only
one square, and the character is prone. Dive rolls can only

be made straight forward, to the rear, or to either side;

diagonal dive rolls cannot be made.

After a successful dive roll, a character may use a weapon

if he has AP left to do so.

Flying Tackle: This action is resolved using the combat rules.

The AP cost of moving the 3 squares is figured into the action's

AP

cost.

JUDGING LARGE-SCALE MOVEMENT

The larger scales exist to move players quickly from one

encounter to another. In the larger scales movement is car-

ried out a bit differently. Actions from the Action Point Table
take so little time that they are not important when dealing
with turns of 15 minutes or 2.5 hours long; the time needed

to work a communicator or ready a weapon, for example, is

minimal in the larger scales. Players and the gamemaster
are urged to use their common sense when working with
the large scales. Think about how long an action would take

and translate it into these scales. If combat occurs, the tactical
scale is used immediately.

In the larger scales, action points are used only to regu-

late movement, most often to see how long it takes a charac-

ter to travel a certain distance or to see how far a character
can travel in a certain time. AP are spent as in the tactical

movement system, but only the movement actions apply.
Each movement straight (at a walk) costs 1 AP per square,
and each movement diagonally costs 1.5 AP per square. Evad-

ing costs 2 AP and 3 AP per square. Swimming and running

cost as in the tactical movement system, but gamemasters

33

should be aware of fatigue. A character cannot move into a
square if he does not have all the AP it would cost to cross.
AP not used in a turn are lost; they cannot be saved for a

later turn.

ACTION POINT MODIFIERS FOR TERRAIN TYPE

Each type of terrain crossed has a variable AP cost, de­pending on the type of terrain that occupies most (over 1/2)
of that square. Climbing in elevation costs extra. The table

below lists three basic terrain types used in this game pack-

age. Future expansions and adventures may list new types

of terrain or special types particular to a region or planet.

Gamemasters should feel free to add to or alter AP costs

because some adventures may require more specification

due to the situation.

Characters crossing rough terrain may incur temporary

damage from fatigue. A Saving Roll against MAX OP END

should be made at the end of any turn during which more
than half a character's AP were used to cross rough or rocky
terrain, swamp, sand, or snow. In the larger scales, these

rolls should be made even for normal movement after the

second turn.

For example, Lt. Sterling has 10 AP per turn. In the larger

scales, he could move through 2 hilly terrain squares straight
forward, using 4 AP (2 squares x TAP each x 2 because of
the hills = 4 AP). Then he could evade 2 clear squares diagon-

ally, using another 6 AP (2 squares x 3 AP each x 1 because

of the clear terrain = 6 AP). This would use up his 10 AP for

the turn. If the area scale were used, he would have travelled

about 75 meters in 1.5 minutes. If the large area scale were
being used, he would have travelled about 750 meters in
about 15 minutes. If the region scale were being used, he
would have travelled about 7500 meters (about 4.7 miles) in

2,5 hours.

VEHICLE MOVEMENT

The map scales and the turn lengths were chosen for

movement on foot. Vehicles move at high speeds compared
to the speed of a person on foot. The number of squares
they move in one turn is so big that even slow vehicles can

move across a map in 2 or 3 turns. Vehicle movement can

be shown only if the turn length is shortened and the larger

scales are used. A vehicle from the 1980s, travelling at about

100 kph (about 60 mph), passes through one square at the

region scale (1.5 km) in about 1 minute; it passes through

one square at the large area scale (150 m) in about 6 seconds.

This movement can be shown on a map, but only if the

4-hour turn length at the region scale and the 25 minute turn

length at the large area scale is ignored.

In the tactical movement scale, vehicle movement most
often will be shown as an arrival or departure, and the place­ment of stationary vehicles will be more important.

Vehicle movement rates are provided in kilometers per

hour (kph). To convert kph to squares per turn, multiply the

number of kph by 2.78. Thus, if a vehicle is moving at 15

kph, it is moving at about 42 squares per turn at any scale

(15 kph x 2.78 = 41.7 squares per turn).

MOVEMENT THROUGH SPACE

The general maps of the Federation show some of the

important star systems. These maps are in enormous scales

to get them all on one piece of paper. On one, one-fourth

inch is about 10 parsecs; one parsec is 3.26 light-yeaqrs or

over 9 million kilometers. You can see that the numbers are

too big to work with, and so it is better to translate these

distances into travel times. Maps of smaller areas of space,
such as solar systems, may be made by reducing the scale.

Another useful scale is one-fourth inch equals 1 days' travel

at Warp 3, or about 25.9 billion kilometers. (By the way,

subspace radio travels about 10 billion kilometers in a second

travelling at Warp 15, and it's still too slow for some things.

Space is BIG!)

It takes about 28 hours to travel 1 parsec at Warp 10,
and thus the map of the Federation has a scale of one-fourth
inch equals about 11% days travel at Warp 10. To find the

travel time at Warp 10 between any two star systems, meas-

ure the distance with a ruler and multiply the result by 11%

days per 1A inch.

JUDGING COMBAT

TO-HIT SEQUENCE

1. Determine normal To-Hit Number.

2. Determine range by counting squares from attacker to
target along shortest route. Count target's square but not

attacker's. If target is out of range, there is no shot.

3. Determine if LOS is blocked by drawing straight line be­tween center of attacker's counter and center of target's
counter. If it is, there is no shot.

Target Modifiers:

4. Determine range modifier and apply to To-Hit Number.

5. Determine size modifier and apply to To-Hit Number.

6. Determine position modifier and apply to To-Hit Number.

7. Determine concealment modifier and apply to To-Hit
Number.

8. Determine movement modifier and apply to To-Hit
Number

Attacker Modifiers:

9. Determine aiming modifier and apply to To-Hit Number.

10. Determine movement modifier and apply to To-Hit
Number.

11. Roll percentile dice. If roll is less than or equal to the
modified To-Hit Number, the target is hit and damage is
applied. If roll is greater than the modified To-Hit Number,

the attack was a miss.

DETERMINING BASE TO-HIT NUMBER

The base To-Hit Number is the average of a character's
DEX and his Skill Rating with the attack form he is using. Skill
in Modern Marksmanship covers all phasers and similar
energy weapons. Skill in Archaic Marksmanship applies only
to the specific projectile weapon type mastered, such as bow,

20th-century pistol, rifle, and so on; when a character uses

weapons that are close to the type mastered, the gamemaster
may allow this Skill Rating to be used with a modifier. Skill

in Unarmed Personal Combat applies to all forms of hand-to­hand combat, regardless of type.

Of course, if a player character does not know how to
operate or point a weapon, such as an alien device not de-

signed for humanoids, he cannot fire it at all without luck.

In situations like this, the player should be allowed to make

a Saving Roll against the character's LUC. If the roll is success-

ful, he can determine howthe weapon is fired and may use it.

Base To-Hit Number For Thrown Weapons Or Objects

The base To-Hit Number for throwing small objects is

half a character's DEX. That for throwing large objects should

be a combination of DEX and STR, depending on the cir-

cumstance. If a character has Armed Personal Combat skill

with a knife or other throwing weapon, the base To-Hit
Number is calculated as usual: DEX + Skill Rating divided
by 2.

34

DETERMINING MODIFIERS

Range Modifiers

For each diagonal square counted when determining the

range, add 1.5 squares to the total. If the total range is not

a whole number, round up to the nearest whole number.

The gamemaster can adjust the range for elevation as

seems reasonable; for most combats, this will not be a factor.

In some cases, however, where the bulk of the distance be-

tween the attacker and the target is due to a difference in

height above the ground, it could make a considerable dis-

tance. For each 1.5 meters above the ground, add 1 to the

range, and for every square away from the target add 1.5 to

the range.

In determining the proper range modifier, consult the

Weapons Table, which lists the various ranges for the
weapon being used. Then, for point-blank attacks or shots,
those that occur in the same square or an adjacent square,

use a +15 range modifier. There is no range modifier for

short-range attacks or shots. Shots or attacks from medium

range have a -15 range modifier. Those from long range

have a -30 range modifier, and those from extreme range

have a -45 range modifier.

Unarmed Personal Combat: All hand-to-hand attacks in un-

armed personal combat get the +15 point-blank range mod-

ifier.

Armed Personal Combat: Armed personal combat and hand­to-hand combat attacks always receive the +15 point-blank

range modifier. Some weapons in the tables do not have

ranges listed. These weapons may only be used in armed

personal combat, with the opponents in the same or adjacent

squares. The knife/dagger is the only listed weapon that may

be used in either ranged or non-ranged combat, but other

weapons (like the spear) may be added to the list.

Size Modifiers

Small targets have a size modifier of -15, large targets
have a size modifier of +15, and man-sized targets have no
size modifier. When a character aims at a specific part of the
target, use a -15 size modifier.

Position Modifiers

Position modifiers are given, taking no account of possi­ble concealment modifiers. Apply a -5 position modifier to
kneeling, crouching, sitting targets. Apply a -10 position
modifier to stationary prone targets or crawling targets.

Concealment Modifiers

The exact concealment modifier should be determined

by the gamemaster before the die roll, using common sense,
discretion, and the following guidelines. If one-third or less
of the target is concealed, no modifier should be added to
the To-Hit Number. If between one-third and two-thirds of
the target is concealed, a -10 modifier should be made to
the To-Hit Number. If more than two-thirds of the target is
concealed, the To-Hit Number should be modified by a

minimum of -30. The Human peering from a gun slit might

have a -50 concealment modifier.

The diagram below will help in determining LOS and

concealment. In the diagram below, A is attacking B, C, and D.

When A and B exchange fire, no intervening obstacles

are present. Clear LOS exists no matter what positions A or
B take. The shots are made with no concealment modifier.

When A and C exchange fire, the console is between
them. If C is standing, he is partly concealed from A by the
console, though he has a clear LOS at A. Thus, A can fire,
but he has a -10 modifier for the Va to % concealment; C
has no concealment modifier. If C is kneeling behind the
console, however, he is more than % concealed from A
though he still has a clear LOS to A. Thus, A can fire, but he
has a - 30 modifier for the more-than-2/3 concealment; C has
no concealment modifier. If C is prone behind the console,
neither can see or hit the other.

When A and D exchange fire, the LOS is blocked by two
things, both of which must be considered — D's concealment

because B is in the way, and D's concealment because of
the wall. If B is standing, the LOS is blocked in both directions,
and neither A nor D may exchange fire regardless of D's

concealment by the wall; if B is in any other position, the

LOS is not blocked. If D is completely hidden behind the wall,

LOS is blocked; neither A nor D can see one another and
thus they may not exchange fire. Assuming that B does not

block the LOS, if D is peeking around the wall's edge to shoot

at A, both may fire. A has a -40 modifier because D is more
than 2/s concealed, but D has no concealment modifier

(though he may have a -20 aiming modifier if he is right-

handed).

Modifiers For Target's Movement

The combat system was geared to targets moving at
combat speed, and thus they have no movement modifier.
Stationary targets are easier to hit, and they have a +15
modifier to hit. Running targets have a -5 modifier to hit,
and evading targets have a -15 to hit.

Aiming Modifiers

For aimed shots, adjust the To-Hit Number by a +25
aiming modifier. For quick-draw shots, adjust the To-Hit

Number by -25.

Gamemasters should not let more than one character
out of 20 be ambidextrous. For off-hand attacks, apply a - 20
aiming modifier.

For simultaneous attacks, apply a -10 aiming modifier
to both attacks. Unless the character is ambidextrous, also
apply the -20 aiming modifier to attacks with the off-hand
weapon. Gamemasters should be cautious about allowing

simultaneous attacks.

Modifiers For Attacker's Movement

When determining which modifier to use for the at­tacker's movement, determine what the action was just prior
to the attack, even if it was in a previous turn. When a charac­ter makes an attack or fires after turning, changing position,

drawing a weapon, aiming, firing, or any other action not
involving movement, running, or evasion, apply no move­ment modifier. When a character uses AP to move and then

to attack or fire, without a non-movement action in between,

apply a -5 movement modifier. When the character is run­ning just prior to attacking or firing, apply a -15 movement
modifier. When the character is evading just priorto an attack
of any kind, apply a -30 movement modifier.

CALCULATING ADJUSTED TO-HIT NUMBER

After all the target modifiers and attacker modifiers have
been determined, adjust the base To-Hit Number by adding
them to it or subtracting them from it. The modifiers are
cumulative, and so the base To-Hit Number may be signific­antly changed from one instance to the next. Once all mod­ifiers are figured in, the result is the adjusted To-Hit Number.

35

DETERMINING SUCCESSFUL ATTACKS

Rolls that are less than or equal to the adjusted To-Hit

Number are successful attacks. Rolls that are greater than

the adjusted To-Hit Number miss.

Any roll of 100 (00 on percentile dice) misses and any
roll of 01 hits, no matter what modifiers have been added to
or subtracted from the base To-Hit Number. This means that,
as long as a target is within range and an LOS exists, there
is always a chance to hit and there is always a chance to
miss, no matter how small.

DETERMINING DAMAGE

Damage From Armed Combat

The Weapons Table gives the damage from armed com-

bat. Any armor protection is subtracted from this damage
before it is given to the target.

Damage From Unarmed Personal Combat

Damage done in unarmed combat is largely dependent

on SIR, as shown in the table on page 46. The Skill Rating

in Unarmed Personal Combat modifies this damage by +1

point for every 10 points of skill. Natural weapons, such as

fangs, claws, or the like, may add to the damage.

Armor

Armor may be natural, as on some creatures, or it may

be artificial. In either case, if the target has any armor protec-

tion, subtract the armor rating from the damage given. If the

result is 0 or less, no damage is taken at all. Armor is effective
against hand-held weapons, against damage in unarmed
combat, and against archaic projectile weapons or thrown
weapons. It is ineffective against modern sidearms.

For heavy armor, adjust DEX as seems reasonable.

Parrying Attacks

Parrying requires a Saving Roll against DEX. If the roll is
successful, no damage is taken. If the roll is unsuccessful,
damage is given as usual. Attacks by an unarmed opponent

or one who has no ready weapon may be parried or blocked

without having any weapon or object to parry with. Attacks

with a chair, sword, club, or the like, require that the defender

have a parrying weapon or some other maneuverable object
(like another chair) with which to intercept the attack, or no
parry is possible. Ranged attacks (arrows, phaser fire, thrown
daggers, etc.) cannot be parried, of course, nor can any attack

from behind the defender.

Once the parry/defend action has been declared, it is

effective for the rest of the turn against any direct attack from

the front. If, for instance, Lee Sterling is attacked by a Klingon

and chooses the parry/defend action, he may defend against
any other Klingon who approaches and attacks later that
same turn.

SPECIAL VULCAN ATTACKS

Psionics

Vulcan mental techniques are a useful part of the game,

but they can be misused easily if Vulcan characters are al­lowed to use them too often. These rules permit their use
where appropriate, but allowthegamemasterto restrict them
for the sake of play balance. Gamemasters mast keep Vulcan
telepaths on a 'short leash' and not allow psionics to domi­nate the game.

The table below gives the modifiers used in judging suc-

cess of the Saving Roll. The base chance of success is the

character's PSl score; this is modified by a modifier for the

type of contact being attempted and by a modifier for the
conditions under which the attempt is being made. The table
is not complete, and gamemasters are encouraged to apply
other modifiers as needed for special situations or to alter

the modifiers if the situation warrants.

There is NO WAY that a mind touch or other psionic

discipline can be attempted in combat.

PSIONIC ATTEMPT MODIFIERS

Contact Type

Mind touch, one-way

Basic concept or feeling
Short message, complex concept

Mind touch, two-way

Telepathic conversation

Sharing of thoughts and feelings

Total thought exchange

Modification of subject's memory
Mindfusion
Mind meld, per additional person

Subject

Intelligence

Intelligent Humanoid

Intelligent non-Humanoid

Semi-intelligent creature

Unintelligent creature or animal

Unknown creature type
State of mind

Willing telepath

Willing non-telepath

Unresisting or unaware

Aware and consciously resisting

Friendly or mentally sympathetic

Previously mind-touched

Conditions

Surroundings

Total quiet, no one else present

Comfortable, familiar location

Touching subject

Subject in sight, nottouched

Subject distant

Because of the complexity of these rules, let's look at an
example of Vulcan mind touch at work. Suppose a landing
party from the Enterprise, commanded by Mr. Spock, is cap-

tured by hostile natives and locked in a cell. The jailer is right

outside the locked steel door, dozing in a chair. The use of

Vulcan mental abilities might get our heroes out of the spot
they are in!

Spock can see the jailer through a small window in the

door. He calls for silence and begins to concentrate...

The player running the character of Mr. Spock must now
determine his chances of placing a suggestion In the mind
of the jailer. He tells the gamemaster that Spock is trying to

communicate to the jailer the feeling that the prisoners are

escaping, hoping in his half-waking state he will get up and

open the door to see.

Spock has a base PSI score of 97, and so he has a good
chance that it will work. Looking at the chart of modifiers,

the gamemaster sees that Spock is trying for a one-way mind

touch for a short message or complex concept; the modifier
is -10, adjusting the PSI target to 87.

The subject is an Intelligent humanoid ( + 10), unaware
( + 10), and in sight and near ( + 0). The adjusted PSI target is

now 107, and Spock can hardly fail. Furthermore, because
the jailer is half-asleep, he probably would be easier to con­fuse, and so the gamemaster decides to give Spock an addi­tional + 5 bonus, bringing the adjusted PSI target to 112.

The roll is made, but it's not a good one — 99! Fortu­nately, the modifiers have helped, and Spock would have
needed to roll 00 to fail. In fact, he would have been successful
if his PSI score had only been 84!

The jailer jumps up, startled, and dazedly unlocks the

door to look for the prisoners. The other members of the

landing party jump the jailer and knock him unconscious,

and the party is freed!

k

36

0

-10

-20

-30

-40

-20

-50

1.5x modifier

+ 10

0

-10

-25

-20

+ half PSl of

less skilled

+ 25
+ 10

- half PSl

of subject

+ 10
+ 10

+ 15
+ 10

+ 20

0

-10 or more

Nerve Pinch

The Vulcan nerve pinch is judged like any other attack.
The base To-Hit Number is that for unarmed personal com­bat. Modifiers to the To-Hit Number are made for surprise,
as shown in the table below; these are added to or subtracted
from the To-Hit Number.

The dice roll is compared to the adjusted To-Hit Number.

If the roll is successful, the victim is reduced to unconscious-

ness

immediately,

lasts

2D10

OP END upon regaining consciousness.

Victim totally unaware -30
Victim surprised or distracted -20
Victim on guard in general +20
Victim aware of nerve pinch technique + 40

+ 10

TO-HIT MODIFIERS FOR NERVE PINCH

regardless

minutes,

Condition Modifier

and

of his

there

CURB

is no

OP

END.

residual

The

loss

effect

of

CURR

JUDGING INJURY, MEDICAL AID,

AND DEATH

TAKING DAMAGE

As wound damage is taken, it should be subtracted from

the

character's

temporary damage is taken, it should be subtracted from the

character's

when

the

MAX OP END and

CURR

OP

character

END.

may

from

The MAX OP END

die,

and the

CURR

the

OP

CURR

score

END

OP

END.

As

determines

score

deter-

mines when he will fall unconscious, as described below.

Instead of erasing the old OP END score during combat,
it is a good thing to have players cross it out and write the
new score beneath it in pencil. That way, if there is any
question about the exact damage that is taken, the record is

there showing each time that damage is removed. At the

end of a game session, this list may be erased and the new

score written.

INACTION

Whenever a character's

below

the

wounded (ill) or too fatigued to perform ANY action normally.

INACTION

Any action after this condition has been reached must be

accompained by an END Saving Roll against the character's
MAX OP END. If the roll is successful, then the character may
perform the action; if it is not, he is either too hurt or too
exhausted to do it, and collapses from the effort, taking 5
more points of temporary damage. A second END Saving Roll
is necessary to see if the character falls unconscious.

Occasionally, a player will have his wounded character

attempt an action that could make his injuries worse. In this

case, the 5 points is additional wound damage, removed

from

both

is required to avoid unconsciousness from the pain.

MAX OP END and

SAVE

MAX OP END or

of 20, the

CURR

OP

END.

CURR

character

OP END

is

Passing a second

either

fall

too

roll

UNCONSCIOUSNESS

When a character's

the

INACT

SAVE

MAX OP END is required. If the character fails this roll, then he

passes out. After any attempt at subsequent actions, more
Saving Rolls will be required, not only to see if the character

can perform the action, but also to see if he passes out from
the strain orthe pain. Failing the unconsciousness roll causes

the character to pass out.

of 20, an

Duration

Once a character is unconscious, he will remain that way

for 2D10 + 10 minutes after which he will again be able to

function

the UNC THRESH, the unconsciousness period of 2D10 + 10

minutes

normally.

does

not

OP END above the UNC THRESH of 5.

MAX OP END or

END

If the

character's

begin

until

Saving

his

healing

Roll

CURR

CURR

against

OP

rate

OP END

the

END

brings

fall

below

charater's

was

below

his

CURR

Temporary damage does not accumulate beyond the

UNC

THRESH,

after

the

cannot stun an unconscious individual and expect uncon­sciousness to last longer; he must wait for the individual to

wake up and stun him again.

and any

UNCTHRESH

temporary

has

been

damage a character

reached

is

ignored. A character

REST AND HEALING

Regaining Temporary Damage

When a character rests for 30 minutes, he regains some

of the

points lost

damage.

is determined by dividing his END by 20 and rounding down.
Rest means that no violent or prolonged action is possible.
Gamemasters are advised to be strict about this, for players
tend to push this point.

CURR
healing effects of extended rest.

The

No matter how long the rest, a player may not raise his

OP END

from

number

higher than

of

his

CURR

points

is his

his MAX OP

OP END due to

FATIGUE

END.

HEAL

See

Regaining Damage While Unconscious

A

character

at the normal healing rate for temporary damage during the

time he is unconscious. If, however, unconsciousness were

due to phaser stun, a Vulcan nerve pinch, or most drugs, the

character

of attacks as soon as he regains consciousness.

will

will

regain

regain

all

CURR

CURR

OP

OP END

END

lost

lost

due to

Regaining Wound Damage

When a character rests for one full day, he regains some

of the points lost from his MAX OP END due to wound damage.
The

number

which is determined by dividing his END by 10 and rounding

down. The rest must be for a full 24 hours; see the note

above for definition of rest.

of

points

he

regains

is his

WOUND

EMERGENCY FIRST AID

When MAX OP END is reduced to zero or below by injury,

emergency first aid (use of the skill General Medicine) is the

only way the the victim can live, for normal healing will not

begin while the MAX OP END is zero or lower.

When someone is mortally injured, record the damage
taken below 0 MAX OP END and begin to record the time until
first aid is applied. When a character attempts to give a victim

emergency first aid, the player makes a Skill Roll against his

character's rating in General Medicine for the race of the

victim. If the medic does not have the skill for the appropriate

race, such as having only skill for Humans and the victim is
a Vulcan, only half the Skill Rating is used as the target for

the Skill Roll.

The target may be modified by a number of factors.

These modifiers, shown in the table below, are added to or
subtracted from the die roll before it is compared to the

target.

EMERGENCY FIRST AID SKILL ROLL MODIFIERS

Condition Present

No medical equipment available

Using medical field kit/first aid kit only
Using med pouch (Star Fleeter Klingon issue)
Using non-Star Fleet hospital or

sick bay facilities

Using Star Fleet hospital or

sick bay facilities

Prior attempt(s) at first aid, successful or not
Per

minute

since

zero

MAX

OP

END

was

reached

Per

damage

Additional personnel assisting

to 1 and begin the normal healing process. If the roll fails,
continue to record the time; the MAX OP END remains at the

37

current level, but the next first aid attempt will have modifiers

for the time elapsed.

point

below

zero

MAXOPEND

If the Skill Roll succeeds, raise the victim's MAX OP END

temporary

RATE,

below

due to

these

HEAL

Modifier

no modifier

- 1to-20

- 5 total

no modifier

takes

which

for the

fatigue

types

RATE,

- 5

-15

-25
+ 1

+ 1

DEATH

If at any time the modifiers are enough to drop the Skill

Roll needed for successful first aid to zero or less, the patient

is irretrievably dead. The player should generate a new
character.

VULCAN PAIN REDUCTION

It is impossible to provide a full set of rules for this action,
and so gamemasters should judge it according to whatever
seems reasonable. It is important to note that the technique
reduces only pain and has no effect on the injury itself; thus
its use might make the injury worse, because, after all, pain
is one of the ways the body signals that it is in danger. This
technique might be employed to prevent a character from

having to make a Saving Roll against his MAX OP END when

he has

taken

END has

temporary

fallen below

the

or

wound

INACT

damage

SAVE

of 20.

and his

CURR

OP

JUDGING EQUIPMENT USE

PERSONAL EQUIPMENT

Environmental Suit

Most unusual actions will require Skill Rolls against the

character's rating in Environmental Suit Operation. Failure
indicates that the action cannot be completed at that time in

that way.

Life Support Belt

A 10-damage-point hit will render the belt useless.

Psychotricorder

The technician must have Skill Ratings of 40 in the ap-

propriate Psychology skill and of 50 in Computer Operation.

Skill Rolls required to establish a scan are made against the

ratings in both skills, at a modifier of -20.

Subcutaneous Transponder

A 10-damage-point hit to the area of insertion will render

the transponder useless.

Tricorder

The tricorder operator must first state what type of scan
is being made. If the scan is common, then no roll is neces­sary for operators with a rating of 10 in Computer Operation.
If the scan is unusual, then the operator must make a Skill
Roll against the rating in Computer Operation. If the roll is
made successfully, the gamemaster gives the information
revealed by the scan; if not, the readings are fuzzy and the

operator may try again.

If a character carrying a tricorder falls down, is shot by
anything other than a stun weapon, or is attacked physically
and knocked to the ground, he must roll 1D10. On a roll of
1, the tricorder is damaged and becomes inoperative. An
inoperative tricorder can be repaired in the field 50% of the
time by a person with skill in Small Equipment Systems

Technology, assuming that he makes a successful Skill Roll
and is carrying basic tools. Otherwise, it must be returned
to the ship for repairs. If return to the ship is necessary, there
is a 50% chance that the tricorder is so badly damaged that

data it was carrying is lost.

The Shipboard Systems section of this book gives some

hints on how to use sensors. These can be applied to the

use of tricorders.

Universal Translator

When a new language is encountered, there is a 30%
chance that it will be translated immediately. This chance
increases 10% for each half-hour of conversation the device

records or is fed in advance. A -10 penalty modifies the

chance if the language is spoken by a non-Humanoid species.

MEDICAL EQUIPMENT

Biocomputer

A Skill Rating of at least 20 in General Medicine is re-

quired for use.

Cardiostimulator

A character reduced to zero MAX OP END or less through
some kind of heart failure or shock (like electric shock) may
require a successful application of this unit to be revived, at

the gamemaster's option. Because its use is always in an

emergency, a successful Skill Roll is required to use this
device, and a Skill Rating of at least 20 in General Medicine

is required for use at all.

Diagnostic Table And Panel

Anyone with a rating of 10 in General Medicine can take
the readings from the panel's scales, but only someone with
a Skill Rating of 20 or more in will be able to tell very much

from them.

Drugs

Antitoxins: To determine if an antitoxin is effective, have

the medical officer roll percentile dice. If the first roll is 50

or less, the antitoxin will cure 4D10 damage points; otherwise
roll again. If the second roll is 50 or less, the antitoxin will
cure 2D10 damage points; otherwise roll again. If the third

roll is 50 or less, the antitoxin will cure 1D10 points. If none

of the three is 50 or less, the antitoxins are totally ineffective.
The 50% chance may be adjusted depending on the cir­cumstances.

Coradrenaline: This drug neutralizes 2D10 points of damage

from cold-based sources, and cuts further damage suffered

by 1/2 for the next 3 hours.

Neural Paralyzer: The coma begins 1D10 + 5 minutes after

the injection. If an injection of a light stimulant is not adminis­tered within a number of minutes equal to the character's
END score, death will result.

Sedatives:

OP END, which is treated much like fatigue. A light sedative

reduces

sedative

heavy

20, the character must make an END Saving Roll to avoid

unconsciousness.

of 5, loss of consciousness is automatic. When the sedative
wears

ing in any normal healing done while unconscious.

END below zero, calculate the number of points below zero
the

CURR

CURR

reduces

sedative

If a

sedative

off,

If a

sedative's

OP

Sedatives

OP END by

reduces

drops

the

CURR

END

would

produce a temporary

OP END by

CURR

CURR

score

OP

END

effect

go. The

2D10+

OP

OP END

returns

would

END

drops

CURR

If the

reduction

10 for 2

to

drop a character's

character

hours. A medium

2D10

+ 25 for 4

by

2D10

+ 40 for 6

below

the

below

the UNC

it's

previous

must

mediate Saving Roll against his MAX OP END, minus the

number of points below zero caused by the sedative effect.
If the roll is unsuccessful, the character has been overdosed

and MAX OP END drops to the level below zero that was calcu-

lated. The character is in mortal danger and will die without

medical attention and successful emergency first aid.

Stimulants: Stimulants

OP

END. A light

number of minutes equal to the character's END score. A
medium stimulant adds 2D10, and lasts twice as long. A
heavy stimulant adds 3D10 and lasts three times as long.

If giving a stimulant to an unconscious person brings

CURR

OP END

regained for as long as the stimulant's effects last. Then the

CURR

OP
light stimulant will awaken a person who passed out before
reaching

character,

is

38

END

the UNC

dropped below

that

stimulant

above

score

person

provide a temporary boost

adds

1D10

the UNC

returns

THRESH;

will

the

UNC

THRESH

of 5,

to the

original

unlike a more

stay

conscious

THRESH

by

further

to

CURR

consciousness

depressed

seriously

unless

injury.

in

CURR

hours.

A

hours.

INACT

SAVE

of

THRESH

level,

count-

CURR

OP

make

an im-

in

CURR

OP END for a

is

state.

A

injured

CURR

OP

END

When stimulants wear off, a Saving Roll against MAX OP
END must be attempted. For a light stimulant, the roll is made
without modifiers. For a medium stimulant, there is a -10
modifier to the MAX OP END, and for a heavy stimulant, there
is a -25 modifier. If the roll succeeds, there is no adverse
effect on the system when the drug wears off. If the roll fails,

however, the shock to the system caused by the stimulant

damages the character's system. A light stimulant does

1D10-5 damage points, a medium stimulant does 1D10-3

damage points, and a heavy stimulant does 1D10 damage

points. A final result of zero or less means no damage was

taken after all.

Warning About Sedatives And Stimulants

The use of stimulants and sedatives must be carefully
controlled by the gamemaster (much as the real drugs must

be controlled) to avoid unbalancing the game. They can be
highly useful as a plot device or last-minute aid, but their
use should be severely restricted.

Their use is tricky and only a doctor or someone with a

Skill Rating of at least 40 in General Medicine should be
allowed to administer them. Gamemasters are encouraged

to keep a close eye on their use and find ways to discourage

players if they misuse them to unbalance the game.

Stimulants and sedatives can be given unusual or annoy­ing side effects. A light stimulant such as Formazine can
cause irritability. A heavy stimulant like Cordrazine can cause
severe mental imbalance and a feeling of acute paranoia,
the effects lasting for anywhere from a few hours to a week,
at gamemaster's option, depending on the size of the dosage
and the END score of the character. A light sedative like

Melanex can cause a vivid yellowing of the skin while the

victim is under its influence.

Heartbeat Reader

A Skill Rating of at least 20 in General Medicine is re­quired for use.

Hypo

Anyone with a Skill Rating of 10 or more in General

Medicine

to handle it can give an injection under normal cir-

cumstances.

can

fill

one,

and

anyone

who is

shown

briefly

how

Med Pouch

Unless otherwise stated BEFORE leaving the ship, how-

ever, no items but those listed in the Star Fleet Officer's

Manual are contained in the Med Pouch.

Protoplaser

With a 5-minute application, these devices will heal 1/2

the

MAX

OPEND

loss

from

any

wound

of

points. Anyone with a Skill Rating of 10 or more in General

fewerthan

Medicine can use one for this purpose.

They also are used for more involved healing and
surgery, but such use already has been figured into the med­ical rules. A Skill Rating of at least 20 in General Medicine
is required for use on normal wounds, but major blood ves­sels, nerve tissue and delicate work requires a Skill Rating
of at least 40.

10

damage

Spray Dressing

Anyone with a Skill Rating of 10 or more in General
Medicine can apply spray dressings.

SIDEARMS

Most sidearm effects are described in the section on

Judging Combat. The information here is in addition to the
information presented there.

Agonizer

On a high setting, a character must make a successful
Saving Roll against END to take any action at all. A modifier
of -50 is applied to this roll.

Wide Angle Stun

All phaser weapons can be set for wide angle stun effect.
A wide angle stun shot affects all targets in three connected
squares (any pattern chosen by the attacker), with full dam­age, graze damage, and power drain as noted in the weapons
charts. A clear line of sight must be drawn to EACH target
square, and all target squares must be within the weapon's
SHORT range area, as shown in the weapons charts.

A separate To-Hit Roll must be made for all affected

targets. If the To-Hit Roll fails, the target is unaffected, even

if targets on either side or even in the same square are af-

fected. Because of the wide-angle effect, a +20 modifier is

added to the To-Hit Number, making a miss unlikely.

Resetting a weapon for wide angle stun requires per­forming a Reset Weapon Settings action, as does returning
the setting to normal. No other type of phaser fire (heat,

disrupt, etc.) is effective against any type of targets at the

wide angle setting.

There is no 'wide angle heavy stun' setting. Only phaser­type energy weapons (not disruptors, police stunners, blas­ters, etc.) have the wide-angle setting.

Phaser Overload

A phaser set to overload makes a characteristic whine,
rising in pitch as time runs out. This noisemaker effect, inher­ent in the circuitry and not able to be bypassed for safety
reasons, can be heard over a wider area than the blast radius.

Thus, a phaser does not make a good booby trap or grenade.
The only real use for this setting seems to be as a time bomb.

The blast radius for the phasers depends on the size of

the powerpack. For a Phaser I, it is 30 squares; for a Phaser

II, it is 100 squares; and for a Phaser Rifle, it is 125 squares.

SHIPBOARD SYSTEMS

Sensors

In non-critical situations, where time is not important, a
Skill Rating of 10 in Starship Sensors is sufficient to operate
the sensors and to interpret most standard results. Similarly,
a Skill Rating of 40 or more will yield accurate information
in a timely fashion. The Skill Rating is an indication of the
amount of information that may be acquired from the sensors
and of the time needed for the data to be interpreted. Sensors

may be used to determine the following types of information:

1) Presence, location, and general type of unusual energy

sources in space or on planet surface. Example: You detect

an unusual source of energy on the planet's surface, near
the capital city. It seems to be a crude type of matter/antimat­ter power.

2) Material composition of an object, if the materials are

familiar. The status of the object (solid, liquid, gaseous,

plasma, fluctuating, etc.) will be known as well. Materials
not known to Federation science should be noted just as
'unknown,' though their status should be given. Example:

You detect a large deposit of dilithium crystals beneath an

unknown liquid.

3) Size, speed, and vector of any object. If the object is

known to the Federation, its type, nationality, and description

should be available if requested. Example: The vessel ap-

proaching is a Corn shuttlecraft. It will intercept your orbit

in 10 minutes.

4) Presence and number of life forms, and the general
type if familiar to the Federation. A shielded ship cannot be
scanned for life form number or type, though the presence

of life can be detected through shields. Example: There are

three unknown life forms on the asteroid's surface; two are
reptilian and the third is completely unknown.

In critical situations, or where time is an important factor,
Skill Rolls are a good way of determining the amount of
accurate information that may be gained through the sen-

sors. The Skill Rolls may be made against the average of the

39

Skill Rating of the appropriate science or technology and the

Skill Rating in Starship Sensors and modified for the cir­cumstances. Success will give additional information in a
short time, though it is possible to determine much of the

same information without the roll if enough time is spent.

Examples of such additional information are given below:

1) Exact strength and nature of an energy source already

detected; a second or even third Skill Roll may be required

for any detailed information. Example A: The power source

you have detected is strong, but not controlled well by your

standards. Example B, second Skill Roll required with a mod-

ifier of - 10: It seems to be a power plant, similar to your

own warp engines, but about half as powerful.

2) The general use of the energy. Example: The power
seems to be used in a large structure, where it is being trans­formed into light.

3) Presence of standard deflector screening. Example A:

The alien ship has shields up. Example B, after a second roll:
The alien ship's screens are quite strong, except to aft, where
they seem to be underpowered.

4) Presence of any standard weapon systems and their
armed status. Example A: The asteroid base has armed dis-

ruptors. Example B, with the roll made against the average

of Starship Sensors and Starship Weaponry Technology at

a -20 penalty: The mechanism seems to be a type of laser

cannon, with about as much destructive power as a medium-

strength phaser but twice the range.

5) Basic information about a previously detected un-

known substance. Example, with the roll made against the

average of Starship Sensors and Physical Chemistry at a

-25 penalty: The alien ship's hull seems to be made of a
previously unknown material similar to plastic, but stronger
than any known metal.

6) Basic information about a previously detected un-

known life-form. Example, with the roll made against the

average of Starship Sensors and Exobiology: The life-form
has a crystalline structure, much like diamond, but it can
grow appendages in a process that is similar to crystal

growth.

7) Basic information about an unknown culture. Example
A, with the roll made against the average of Starship Sensors,
Ecology, and Exobiology: The vegetation seems to be culti-

vated, and the alien's digestive system could use the roots

as food, but the leaves probably are mildly toxic. Example

B, with the roll made against the average of Starship Sensors,
Comparative Edoan Archaeology, and Edoan History/Cul­ture: The people have been visited by the Edoans at some
time in the distant past. The ruins show heavy Edoan influ­ences, and the current dress could have been adapted from
Edoan dress of 3 centuries ago.

8) Unusual use of sensors. Example A, with a modifier

of - 15 and up to -30 if many life forms are present: Sensor
lock for transporter pickup from a nearby ship or planet's
surface, using a sensor scan only (no communicator homing
device). Example B, with a modifier of —25: Scan to twice
normal sensor range.

Shuttlecraft

A Skill Rating of 10 in Shuttlecraft Pilot is sufficient to

operate one of these vessels in normal circumstances, but

regular shuttle pilots usually have a rating of 40 or more. A

Skill Rating of 10 in Water Vehicle Operation also is required

to operate an aquashuttle.

'Floater' Shuttlecraft are notorious for their poor states
of repair. If one is used for a major flight, such as interplanet­ary transport or where harsh landing conditions prevail, it
could break down. Roll percentile dice, with breakdown oc­curring on a roll of 05 or less. Repairs will take 1D10 hours,
after which a successful Skill Roll must be made to determine

if more time must be spent. A successful roll concludes the

repairs, and an unsuccessful roll may be repeated hourly,

with a 5% modifier subtracted from the Skill Rating for each
failed try; 5 unsuccessful attempts indicate that repairs are

not possible and a distress signal must be sent.

Transporters

There are three types of transporters. Personnel trans­porters require no Skill Roll for normal use; they hold 6
people or man-sized objects. Emergency transporters require

a Skill Roll as described below; they hold 22 people. Cargo
transporters require a Skill Roll as described below; they

have 96 segments and are used only for bulky, non-living

things.

Although someone is on duty at all times in the transpor-

ter room, a call for a quick beam-up will take 20 seconds (2
combat turns) to process unless communication is estab-

lished, sensors are locked on the target to be beamed up,

and the transporter panel is ready. If this is the case, de-

materialization will take place at the beginning of the next

combat turn.

No Skill Roll is required for routine ship-to-planet, planet-

to-planet, or ship-to-ship beaming by anyone with a rating

of at least 10 in Transporter Operation Procedures. For other

situations, Skill Rolls must be made with the modifiers to

the Skill Rating as listed below. Everything transported at

one time in a transporter suffers the same fate, and only one
Skill Roll is made.

A successful Skill Roll indicates that beaming is ac­complished without incident. An unsuccessful Skill Roll indi­cates that beaming cannot be accomplished and everything
stays where it is. A second try can be made, but failure of

the second Skill Roll indicates that a transporter accident

occurs. Usually, the accident should result in loss of the ob-

ject or person beamed, or in death through improper assem-

bly at the target point or beaming into solid matter. Unless
this risk is acceptable, no further attempt to beam should be
made until one or more of the restricting conditions changes.

TRANSPORTER USE SKILL ROLL MODIFIERS

Beaming Type Abbreviations

S>P = Ship-to-Planet P>S = Planet-to-Ship

S>S = Ship-to-Ship In-S = Within same ship

Type Conditions Modifier

S>P, P>S Unstable atmospheric conditions -20

S>P, P>S Local interference - 20
S>P, P>S Transporter at each end + 40

P>S, S>S Lock in with sensors only -15

S>S Transporter at only one end +10

In-S Any beaming within same ship -40

Any Location used in past 24 hours +20

Any Ship's power reserve less than half -25

Personnel In Emergency Or Cargo Transporters: If cargo or

emergency transporters are used for personnel, Skill Rolls

are required in even normal circumstances. Because cargo

transporters are much more coarsely tuned and have less
fine control, all modifiers for adverse conditions are doubled

before adjusting the Skill Rating. Emergency transporters
have controls as fine as the normal personnel transporters,
and thus normal modifiers apply to them.

Objects Held In Transit: Skill Rolls must be made for objects

held in transit. For each 5 minutes an object is held, the

transporter operator must make a Skill Roll. If the roll fails,
the lock is lost unless a successful Saving Roll is made against
the operator's LUC score. A second, immediate attempt may

be made to regain the lock with a modifier of -40. If it, too,

fails, the objects or personnel being transported are lost

forever.

Turbolifts

Going from one lift station to another, despite the dis-

tance between them, takes about 10 seconds (one turn).

40

JUDGING STARSHIP COMBAT

The second edition rules give all the information needed

to create, present, and judge planetside adventures. In most
games,

the

player
starship, but will use it as a vehicle to get to the arena of
action, the planet. There, they will use the starship sensors
and other facilities to inform and equip themselves, and then
they will travel to the planet. This is the way most of the
STAR TREK episodes worked; combat between starships was

very rare in the TV series.

In some adventures, however, starship combat will play

an important role in the action. For these adventures, the

gamemaster has three choices. He may purchase the STAR

TREK III: Starship Combat Game, which gives all of the rules

data necessary to play out even complex starship engage-

ments using counters or miniature ships on a starfield map-

sheet. He may purchase Enemy Contact: Bridge Alert, a role-

play supplement designed to accompany this game and
simulate starship combat. Or, he may wing it. The sections
that follow detail each of these alternatives.

USING

characters

THE

will

not

STAR

adventure

TREK

aboard

III.

their

STARSHIP COMBAT GAME

This product, designed as a companion to these rules,

contains the rules for 4 games of starship combat. This prod-

uct contains rules, counters, dice, data tables, combat charts,

and display panels for starship combat. Three of the games

are boardgames; the fourth, called COMMAND & CONTROL,
is an expanded version of the starship combat presented in

the first edition rulebook.

In this game, the players are the bridge crew during

combat, giving information for playing the Captain, the

Helmsman, and the Chief Engineer in particular, with notes
on playing the Navigator, the Science Officer, and the Com-

munications Officer. The game has the feeling of bridge ac­tion, as players decide how much power they should devote
to maneuver, how to move, how many weapons to arm,
when to fire, how much shield strength to create, and what

happens when they take damage. Its main advantage is that,

like boardgames or miniatures games, the action is there for

all to see; its slight drawback is that it requires a table on
which to lay out the mapsheet and the panels. The game

does require the players to be familiar with the rules before-

hand, but these are easy and fun to learn.

The players use counters on large Command Control

Panels to record how the power from the engines is used
for maneuver, for weapons, and for deflector shields. They

also use a colorful, 1-inch counter that shows the top view

of their starship, and they move it about on a starfield map-

sheet to show the position and heading of their vessel.

The gamemaster uses a Master Control Panel to record

the power use for each ship that he controls. He, too, uses

colorful counters that show top views of his ships, as well

as 3-inch-diameter counters for planets and 1-inch counters

for moons, asteroids, mines, and space stations.

USING ENEMY CONTACT:

BRIDGE ALERT

This role-play supplement was designed to accompany

these rules, giving a full system for role-playing starship
combat. It takes a completely different approach to starship

combat than the Starship Combat Game described above.

Like other role-play situations, this system does not use coun-

ters, mapboard, or panels; instead, it helps the gamemaster

describe the starship combat, concentrating on the charac­ters' skills and telling a story.

In this system, the player characters behave as they did

in the TV show. They maneuver the ship, arm and fire the

weapons, raise and lower the shields, use sensors and com-

munications, and react just as they would do on the bridge

of the Enterprise. They choose the maneuvers that will allow
them to close with the enemy or hold him at bay, evade his
fire, or even flank him. They decide how to power the ship,

and they choose the weapons to arm and fire, the shields to

power, and the sensors information they want to get from
the enemy. To help them, the players have simulated com-

puter displays giving starship data, and graphic representa­tions of the sensors displays that show the relative positions

of each ship.

The game system helps the gamemaster judge the ef-

fects of the players' maneuver choices, and it gives a detailed

system for determining weapon hits, damage location, and

damage effects. The gamemaster then presents these effects
to the players as though they were sensors data. Full infor-

mation is provided on how the various bridge officers use
their skills, with the effects of each Skill Roll detailed.

This supplement allows starship combat to be played
like the other parts of a role-play session - with words. The
action takes place in the players' imaginations. It's main ad­vantages are that it is very quick to learn, and it does not

take long to play. Like all role-play combat, the action can

be fast and furious, the excitement great.

USING YOUR IMAGINATION

You can play very satisfying starship combat without
owning any more rules. All it takes is a little imagination and
a simple system like that below. With these tools, starship
combat, just like other encounters, can take place in the imag­inations of the players. Nothing more is necessary beyond
a little common sense.

As with other encounters, the gamemaster must define
the objectives for the players and for the opposing ships.
Then, he can use his imagination to describe how the NPC
ships engage the player characters' ship, how the NPC ships
maneuver, and the effects of the weapon fire. The excitement
depends on how vividly he describes the shots that "hit the
engine nacelle, with a vivid blue splash as they impact the
shields" and the shots that "obviously penetrate the shields,
because the splash of white-hot metal glows brightly against

the glitter of distant stars."

41

USING SKILLS

In this type of combat, everything depends on the story.
The players use Skill Rolls to see if they can determine any­thing from a sensors lock, to see if the Captain's skill gives

him any advantage, to see if the helmsman can evade the

disrupter blast. The sections below give the skills that may

be used by the various bridge officers.

Captain

He may use his skill in Starship Com bat Strategy/Tactics
to anticipate the enemy's maneuver. If the Skill Roll is suc-

cessful, the gamemaster should tell him what the enemy is

going to do, and he can use his imagination to decide what
maneuver to make to take advantage of this. The gamemaster
should be careful that the Captain does not do all the jobs

for all the player characters.

Chief Engineer

He may use his skill in Warp Drive Technologyto squeeze

a little more power out of the engines. ("Mr. Scott! Can you

get us more power to the shields?" "I dinna know, Cap'n,
but I'll gie herrr a trrry.") He can use this skill to make
emergency repairs to the warp engines as well (to regain

lost power), or to make emergency changes in warp speed.
He can use Astronautics to restore power to the ship's power
grid after an engine room hit; when the ship has taken a hit
in the engine room, it loses all power, and it will not be able
to move, arm and fire weapons, or raise shields until power

is restored. He may use Astronautics to make emergency

repairs to the superstructure; when a ship takes enough
superstructure damage, it can no longer maneuver or fire

weapons, and may possibly explode!

Science Officer

He can use his skill in Starship Sensors to get a sensors

lock on the enemy ship, to gain information on the ship's

damage, which shields are up, which weapons are powered,

and so on. He can use it to scan for cloaked Romulan vessels

in the area, or even for mines in a minefield. He can use it
to determine the effects of any successful shots made by the

Helmsman. He also can use it to track a fleeing ship that

warps out. He can use the average of Starship Sensors and

Computer Technologyto repair the sensors console after a

bridge hit; no weapons may be targeted without such repair,

and the position of the enemy will be unknown until such

repair is made.

Helmsman

He can use his skill in Starship Helm Operation to make
unusually difficult maneuvers, to evade incoming fire, to
make emergency heading changes. He can use Starship

Weaponry Operation to determine if a shot was a hit. He can
use the average between Starship Helm Operation and Com-
puter Technologyto repair the helm console damaged in a
bridge hit; no maneuver is possible without such repair. He
may use Starship Weaponry Technology to repair the
weapons console; no weapons may be fired without such
repair.

Navigator

He can use Astrogation to predict the course of an ap-

proaching sensors target. He can use Deflector Shield Oper-

ation to feed power to the correct shield, absorbing an enemy
hit, or to use the tractor/pressor beams successfully in com­bat. (They are not weapons.) He can use Deflector Shield

Technology to repair the shield console after a damaging

bridge hit; no shields can be raised without such repair.

Communications Officer

He can use Communication Systems Operation to pen-

etrate jammed communications. He can use Damage Control

Procedures to reduce damage effects from incoming fire, or

to repair minor damage to the superstructure. He can use

Communication Systems Technologyto repair the communi­cations console after a bridge hit; no damage control or

communication is possible without such repair.

Medical Officer

He can use General Medicine to restore casualties to
active duty; if a ship takes enough casualties, its efficiencey
decreases. He can use Life Support Technology to repair a
damaged life support system.

SIMPLE GAMEMASTERING SYSTEMS
To-Hit

Use the Helmsman's Skill Roll against his rating in Star­ship Weaponry Operation. Modify this for range, adding for

short range and subtracting for long range. Modify it for

fancy maneuvering, subtracting if either vessel evaded.

Damage Location

Use this system or one like it if you want. Otherwise,

make it up as you go along. The main thing is to have fun.
Roll 1D10 and consult the table.

QUICK DAMAGE LOCATION

Die Roll

1 -5
6-7
8

9

10

Damage Location

Superstructure

Engine (choose which)

Weapon (choose which)

Shield generator or Sensors
Special (bridge hit, engine room hit)

Shielding

Use this system or one like it if you want; otherwise,

make it up just like you did when you were a little kid. Roll

1D10 and consult the table. For incoming fire, only roll if the

Navigator fails his Skill Roll against Deflector Shield Opera-

tion.

QUICK SHIELD EFFECTS

Die Roll

1 -5

6-7

8-9

10

Shield absorbs damage

Graze; shields penetrated;

slight damage

Direct hit; shields penetrated;

moderate damage

Heavy damage. "She's gonna blow! "

Effect

USING ATTRIBUTES

Whenever the bridge takes a hit, each character should

make a Saving Roll against his DEX score. If the roll is success­ful, the character was merely shaken, having gripped the
console tightly enough to remain virtually in place. If the roll

is not successful, the character may not function at his duties

in the next turn, for he has been thrown about and needs to

recover. He should then make a Saving Roll against his MAX

OP END score to determine if he takes any temporary damage.

If this roll fails, then the character takes 5 points of temporary

damage from the fall; if the roll is 96 to 00, he takes 5 points
of wound damage from the bashing his head took as it hit
the console edge (or something - be creative!).

42

Permission granted to photocopy this page for personal useonly.

STAR TREK is a trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation.
STAR TREK: The Role Playing Game is published by FASA Corporation under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the trademark owner.

Permission granted to photocopy this page for personal use only.

44

ACTION POINTS TABLE

Position Change

* Turn in place 1

Stand to sit or sit to stand 1

* Standto kneel or kneel to stand 1
* Kneel to prone or kneel to prone 1

Movement

Move 1 square sideways or up/down 1
Move 1 square diagonally 1.5
Evade 1 square sideways or up/down 2

Evade 1 squarediagonally 3

Crawl 1 square sideways or up/down 2
Crawl one square diagonally 3

Run for full turn

1

Climbstairsorladder 2xAP

Climb rope 3xAP

Swim 2xAP

Equipment And Weapon Use

* Short communication 1

Draw and ready device 2

* Operatefamiliardevice 2

Drawand ready weapon 2

Aim weapon . 2

* Quick-draw and fire 3

* Fire ready weapon 1
* Throw ready weapon 1

Adjust weapon settings 2

Reload weapon 2

•

Combat And Emergency Evasion

* Attack minimum of 3

* Parry/defend minimum of 2
* Dodge • minimum of 3

* Duck thrown weapon/object 2
* Hide in same square 1
* Hide in adjacent square 4

* Roll sideways • 2
* Drop suddenly 1
* Dive to prone 2

* Dive roll 4

Flying tackle minimum of 4

/2AP

TABLE OF TO-HIT MODIFIERS

Target Modifiers

Range

Point Blank

Short
Medium
Long

Extreme

Size

Small

Man-Sized
Large

Specific Location

Position

Erect
Crouched
Prone

Concealment

Less Than Va

1

More Than 2/3

Movement

Stationary
Moving
Running
Evading

Attacker Modifiers

Aiming '

Aimed Shot

Snapshot

Quick-Draw/Shoot

Wrong Hand

Simultaneous Attacks

Movement

Stationary

Moving
Running
Evading

/3t02/3

+ 15

0

-15

-30

-45

-15
0

+ 15

-15

0

-5

-10

0

-10

-30to-50

+ 15

0

-5

-15

4-9R

i

£.*J

0

-25

-20

-10 each
0

-5

-15

-30

STAR TREK is a trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation.
STAR TREK: The Role Playing Game is published by FASA Corporation under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the trademark owner.

DAMAGE GIVEN IN UNARMED PERSONAL COMBAT

SIR Damage

01—25 1D10-3

26—50 1D10

51—75 1D10 + 3

76—100 2D10

101 — 125

2D10

+ 3

126—150 3D10

151 — 175

3D10

+ 3

... And so on for higher STR scores.

+ 1 for each 10 rull points of skill rating in Unarmed

Personal Combat.

WEAPON TYPE

Range Modifier

CLUB, other similar
MACE/FLAIL/AXE

DAGGER/KNIFE

SWORD

POLE WEAPON

BOW (w. normal quiver)

CROSSBOW (w. quarrels)

PISTOL

CARBINE

RIFLE
SHOTGUN

SMG (submachine gun)

MG (machine gun)

PHASER I-A

stun

wide angle stun

heavy stun

heat

disrupt
disintegrate

PHASER II-A

stun

wide angle stun

heavy stun

heat

disrupt

disintegrate

PHASER RIFLE-A

stun
wide angle stun

heavy stun

heat

disrupt
disintegrate

PHASER I-B

stun

wide angle stun

heavy stun

heat
disrupt
disintegrate

PHASER II-B

stun

wide angle stun

heavy stun

heat
disrupt
disintegrate

HANDDISRUPTOR-A

DISRUPTOR RIFLE-A

HANDDISRUPTOR-B

standard shot

high-power shot

HANDDISRUPTOR-C

standard shot

high-power shot

DISRUPTOR RIFLE-C

standard shot

high-power shot

HAND LASER (old-style)

LASER RIFLE (old-style)

POLICE STUNNER

STUNCLUB

GORN BLASTER

*Non-permanent damage Phaser I, II and rifle stun effects last 2D10 + 10 minutes.

PARRY

some

{

P
P

P
P
P
P

_
P

P
P
P

-

-

­P

DAMAGE

2D10

4D10+10

2D10
4D10

4D10

+ 5

4D10

4D10

+ 10

4D10
4D10+10
4D10

+ 5

4D10

+ 10

4D10

+ 20

4D10

+ 30

75*
75*

120*

40

150

DESTROYED

75*
75*

120*

40

150

DESTROYED

75*

75*

120*

40

150

DESTROYED

80*

80*

130*

40

160

DESTROYED

80*

80*

130*

40

160

DESTROYED

75
75

BLANK

+ 15

___

_

1

—
_

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

1
1

SHORT

+ 0

___

_

2-5

—
_

2-20
2-12
2-10 v
2-15
2-30
2-10
2-15
2-50
2-5

(2-5)

2-10

2-10

2-15

(2-15)

2-6
(2-6)

2-12

(2-15)

2-4
2-10

-

1

75

DESTROYED

2-4

1

2-4

-

75

DESTROYED

1

2-5

1

2-5

P

—

1

2-10

1

2-10

1

2-6

1

2-15

1

2-5

—

1

2-4

-

-

­P

-

75

DESTROYED

80

80
75*
40*

50

Heavy stun effects last 3D10 + 20 minutes.

MEDIUM

-15

_
_

6-10

—
—

21-60

13-35
11-25
16-50
31-100
11-25
16-45
51-150

6-12

11-24

16-35

7-15

13-30

5-10

11-25

5-10
5-10

6-15
6-15

11-20
11-20

7-15

16-40

6-12

—

5-8

LONG

-30

_
_

11-15

—
—

61-130
36-60
26-40

51-100

101-200

26-50
46-80

151-300

13-30

25-60

36-90

16-30

31-60

11-20

26-40

11-25
11-25

16-35
16-35

21-60
21-60

16-30

41-100

13-30

—

9-20

POINT

EXTREME

-45

_
___

16-20

—
—

131-190

61-90

41-75
101-170
201-300

51-100

81-120
301-500

31-50

61-100

91-150

31-60

61-100

21-35

41-100

26-45

NONE

36-50

NONE

61-90

NONE

31-60
101-200

31-50

—

21-40

AMMO/

POWER

_
—
—
—
—

20
20

6
5

30

2

32

50

20

35

50

20

40

20
50
20

25

65

20

40

20

—

25

GRAZE

_
—
—
—
___
—
—
___
—
...
—
—
___

25*

25*
40*
20
50
50

25*
25*
40*
20
50
50

25*
25*
40*

20*
50
50

{

30*
30*
50*

20
60
60

30*

30*
50*
20
60
60

25

25

25
50

25
50

25
50
20
20
25*

—
20

DRAIN

_
—

—
—
—

—
...
—
—
—

1

4
2
1

2
4

1
4
2
1

2

4

1

4

2
1

2

4

1

4
2
1
2
4

1

4
2
1
2
4
2
2

2
6

2
6

2
8
1
1
1

—

1

OVERLOA

RADIUS

30 square

100 square

125 square

30 square

110 square

STAR TREK is a trademark of Paramount Pictures Corporation.

STAR TREK: The Role Playing Game is published by FASA Corporation under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures Corporation, the trademark owner.

47

MENTATION LEVELS FOR ALIEN ANIMALS

Die Roll

1

Mentation

Reactant

Level

(MENT)

Examples From Earth

Mosquito, earthworm,

clam, jellyfish

2-3

Low Animal Intelligence

Rabbit, chicken, snake,

goldfish, ant

4-6

7-9

DESIGNERS' NOTES

When you are working with a fictional universe as rich as that of STAR TREK, some decisions have to be made. The entire STAR TREK universe won't fit in one box and it was up to the first edition design team to capture its essence, if not its every detail.

The limitations we set were necessary and appropriate. Player characters were limited to the six primary UFP races; playing Klingons, Romulans, non-Star Fleet characters, and people from the STAR TREK movies was left to expansions and supplements. The tactical movement
and combat system was deliberately kept simple, but the actions were thoroughly researched by co-designer Dave Tepool, who reports that dive rolls leave interesting bruises. The medical aid and alien life-form rules benefitted from the biological expertise of Greg Poehlein, while
STAR TREK authenticity was largely the responsibility of Guy McLimore. Even so, it was a team effort, with all co-designers contributing to and re-writing each other's work.

Overall, our aim was to create a game that reflected STAR TREK's philosophy as well as its hardware. Lessons about tolerance, friendship, and peace are very much a part of what makes STAR TREK popular. Any game that leaves them out would not be STAR TREK. The kind
letters we have received about the first edition lead us to believe that we succeeded in this regard, and the second edition continues to reflect this philosophy.

Any ambitious project has its design holes, and this one is/was no exception. It was my aim to plug most of the holes and revise most of the glitches that came to light in my rewrite of the first edition. I have added to the fine work done by Guy, Greg, and Dave, hoping to make

this edition easy to read, easy to understand, and easy to use by the younger gamer, who enjoys games like this with an intensity not often matched by we older folk.

Although my hand is felt in almost every system of ST:RPG to some extent, my major contribution is conceptual. What causes STAR TREK to stand apart from not only other games but also other science fiction universes is its depth of detail. To me that's what makes role-playing
live - a detailed, believable universe in which to adventure. It has been my job to oversee the correlation of facts from the TV series, the movies, and fan wisdom. I have attempted to insure that any new facts created about the STAR TREK universe were done so with great care: I felt
a sense of responsibility about making them meld with what already exists.

Working on a project like ST:RPG can be a jolt to your ego. When a game is created that deals with a familiar subject, you have to take the good with the bad. In some cases, ideals must be sacrificed for the greater good of the game.

I felt that the character generation system from the first edition needed changes. Some characters, like the Medical Officers, did not get the full benefit of their years of training. This was changed to be more fair, and the new training system reflects the way people choose their
subjects in most learning institutions.

Developing a game such as ST:RPG is no easy task. After 18 years of media exposure, STAR TREK >s a well-known future history and the game therefore must capture its flavor. My input to this product was based on years of military service as a pilot and on my experiences with

the military structure. I hope that I have helped capture the 'feel' of being a Star Fleet officer in ways that make ST:RPG playable and, most of all, fun.

Although my part in the development of this edition was not as great as I would have liked, I was able to add new (or at least different) ideas to discussions that seemed stalemated. My comments over the top of our office partitions have become a source of amusement, if not
always a source, of helpful criticism. My longest, successful rules fight involved the changes in the injury, damage, and unconsciousness rules; in the END, most of what I wanted is part of this edition.

DEDICATIONS

For our part in this product, we would like to restate the dedications from the first edition. Our work is dedicated to Guy's mother, Lula, who passed away during the first-edition production; to Dave's son Jason, whose future is our fiction; and to Greg's mother, Carolyn, for support

and understanding. Final thanks to Jordan Weisman and Ross Babcock, two men who started with a small company and a big dream, for giving us the chance to be a part of STAR TREK.

My work in this product is dedicated in thanks to Ellen, for being there when I needed her, and to my Mother, Nora, who defended me, even when she thought I had made the wrong decision. Thanks go to Gene Roddenberry, D. C. Fontana, the late Gene L. Coon, Harve Bonnet,
and all the others who brought a universe to life. Thanks also to FASA, for allowing me to help perpetuate something I love.

The unsung heroes of this and other FASA products are the production staff members, Karen Vander May and Dana Knutsen. It is due to their efforts that these products look so sharp, and it is to them that I would like to give a nod of thanks.

Medium Animal Intelligence

High Animal Intelligence
Very High Animal Intelligence

10

Rat, hawk, crocodile,

bass

Wolf, whale

Chimpanzee, gorilla,

perhaps dolphin

TACTICAL MOVEMENT AND COMBAT STATISTICS

Feeding

Habits

Carnivore
Omnivore
Herbivore

MODIFIERS FOR

Die

Roll

1-4
5-6

7-10

AP

DEX-MO + D10-2
DEX4-1Q + D10-2

DEX -MO + 010-^- 2 + 2

Feeding

Habits

Carnivore
Omnivore

Herbivore

Score

FEEDING HABITS

DEX

Modifier

+ 20
+ 10

0

Combat

Skill Rating

40 +

D100

+ 2

20 + 0100-2

0100^2

Skill Rating -MO + 1

Skill Rating -MO

Skill Rating -MO -1

MENT

Modifier

+ 1

+ 2

- 1

Damage

Modifier

Fantasimulations Associates, Inc.

Guy W. McLimore, Jr.
Greg K. Poehlein
David F. Tepool

Wm. John Wheeler

Jordan K. Weisman

Michael P. Bledsoe

Forest Brown

L Ross Babcock, III

G.W.M., Jr.
G.K.P.
D.F.T.

M.P.B.

48