Last week, we examined the Star Trek RPG as presented by Decipher Inc. I spoke at great length about how that game came to be, and hopefully, you remember that for this week. If you don’t, it’s cool. You can just get a refresher here. Did you get all that? Sweet! Now let’s take a look at the predecessor to that game, the Star Trek RPG made by Last Unicorn Games, heretofore called LUG.
As I mentioned, LUG got the Star Trek license around 1997, and produced books from 98 to about 2000. They made 16 books during that span, and I gotta say, their offering is pretty sweet. But before we jump into all of that mess, let’s look at the core mechanics briefly. Much like the Coda System that Decipher used, the LUG system uses 2d6 to resolve action rolls during game play. Unlike the Coda System, the LUG system does not rely heavily on such rolls during you character creation. In fact, the LUG system is a ton simpler than the Coda system. See, unlike Coda, where story was a focus, but structure was maybe a little too rigid, LUG decided to take a more esoteric approach to their system. So instead of a rule for everything, there were looser guidelines, and instead of rolling everything out using dice, they took the approach of using templates to create, overlays, and various advancement options in order to build and customized characters. Decipher did this up to a point, but somehow managed to make things more difficult in the process. Another distinct and crucial way in which these two systems differ is in how material was organized as it was being published. Decipher took a more austere approach as they just made very general rules books that could work with whatever setting a group wanted to play. LUG’s approach was… more complicated, but definitely in a good way.
You may notice a bit of theme trending with the books shown. This is the number one difference between LUG’s system and Decipher’s. LUG broke their system down by show. And these aren’t paltry books. They run about 250+ pages a book. Also, the ones pictured above are just the core books. There were also convenient Player’s Guides that expanded character creation rules, and options; offered players new to the universe some background on the settings as they applied to each show; and new rules for Game Masters to pull from should they want to shake up the gameplay a bit. Also, there were Narrator’s Toolkits, which provided insights on how to structure campaigns, and capture the feel of each show. There were three of these three book sets for Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and The Original Series. A set for Voyager was schedules, but Paramount pulled the license just before the books went to print. Now you might be thinking that printing the core rules in multiple books would be redundant, and to an extent, you’re really not wrong. Now that we live in a truly digital age where one can find such things easily, cheaply, and quickly, it’s not as necessary. But, imagine walking into your local game store and seeing a line up of Star Trek gaming books. You find the one from the show that you like the best, and decide to take a chance on this new product. You’d be pretty bummed if you realized after the fact that you then had to go pick up another book just so you could start playing this new game. So it wasn’t as unnecessary back in the day. Also, each core book and its accompanying Player’s Guide came packed to the rafters with new character templates, overlays, and advancement options that further allowed players to customize their avatar. What I’m saying is, these books managed to be really useful whether you were new to the game, or had been playing for a while.
Remember I mentioned that there were 16 books printed for this system in just 18 months. Yeah… Let’s talk about that a little bit. So there were only ever the three core books published, which is a bit of a bummer because I would have loved to see what LUG was going to bless us with upon releasing the Voyager material. But beyond the core books, there were what felt like a wealth of supplements available for this system. I don’t quite own them all, but I do own a fair bit of them, and they. Are. AWESOME! One thing I typically like to complain about when it come to modern RPGs is the lack of box sets. There was a golden era when one could go their local game store, browse a vast selection of RPGs from all different source, and pick up box sets for their favorite systems. Typically, these box sets were reserved for setting material. The box set model allowed companies to print thorough, but segregated material for their new sandboxes. Usually, there was a book for the GM. This book had really in depth information on the layout of the setting, the major locations, the major political players, as well as new rules that may be needed to properly run a game within that setting. Then there was a book for the rest of the players that covered quite a bit of this information, but usually in less depth. These books also tended to include new species, and class information from which players could pull so that they could more fully immerse themselves in these unique settings. Beyond that, there were usually maps! If I’m being totally honest with everyone, I’m a bit of a map whore. I love maps of settings. The first thing I look at when I get a new setting anything is the map. I just get a thrill from the cartography of fictional locations.
LUG was only able to do a couple of box sets while they held the Trek license, but these two are amazing! We’ll start with the one that lives up to expectation, and that’s the Starfleet Academy box set. This is more or less a setting box set, and a darn good one at that. The thing that’s especially fun about this box set is very little is ever mentioned in the canon about the Academy. We get a few insights from time-to-time through Wesley “I’m-a-Mary-Sue” Crusher, and “I-Made-Higher-Rank-than-Harry-Kim” Nog, but these glimpses are fleeting, and brief. They leave you wanting for more, but due to the nature of the shows, they’re not really able to deliver. This Academy box set fills in a bunch of gaps for anyone wanting to explore this setting in their games. The information is pretty extensive too. There’s a history of the Academy, a layout of San Francisco that highlights some of the more popular dives, and breakdown of the Academy curriculum. There are also maps of the Academy grounds, as well as the Sol system. There are illustrations of uniforms by era, and my favorite, there’s an Academy diploma! I’ve played a handful of campaigns using this box set, and I’ve been impressed by it each time.
Don’t let the big “Setting” on the front of that box fool you. This box set was a slightly different animal than a mere ‘setting’. Yes, it provides information about the Romulan Empire setting, but saying that is like saying that Wrath of Khan provides information about the death of Spock. That description doesn’t really do the thing a lot of service. Once again, LUG was delving into an area of Trek lore that hadn’t been explored very extensively during the shows, despite Romulans showing up in every show to that point. We learned a bit more about the Romulan Empire in Nemesis, sure, but that film came out three years after this box set. And this set does so much to flesh out the Romulans as both a political institution, and a culture. I’ve read through this one quite a bit as I just find the information fascinating. LUG does a great job integrating what has been established about the Romulans, and then building around all of that in a way that feels organic, and fresh. There are the requisite maps of the Empire, and the Romulan system in particular. There’s a history of the Romulan people, and there’s a pretty thorough breakdown of the Romulan political structure. I know it’s not canon, but I can see this supplement providing direction for those working on the shows back in the day because it fits so well with the established mythology.
The rest of the supplemental books do not cease to deliver the same kind of thorough quality that one finds in those boxed sets, and there are some really interesting tid bits of universe building materials available. There’s one book that adds time travel and alternate universe game play to the mix. There’s another that covers espionage and covert operations. Yet another gives an extensive breakdown of the Andorians. Another that gives the Vulcans the RPG treatment. There’s also a supplement for playing traders, and rogues in the Star Trek universe. There’s a book that gives information on ships, and also how to make your own ships. There’s even a book on how to incorporate holodeck adventures into your campaign. Once again, for as little time as LUG had to develop their property, they did an admirable job.
In all, this system offered a lot, and potentially demanded very little. It was simple enough for players of any experience level to pick up and play. It offered a ton of setting fluff to really bring games to life for the players, and it did it in such a way that nothing ever seemed particularly prohibitive. Everything about this system is a treat to experience, especially since in offered such in depth storytelling options for narrators and players alike. It’s relatively cheap to purchase from various sources these days, and I can’t recommend it enough! If you’ve got a gaming itch that you need scratched, this system could totally do the job. Stick around because next week, we’ll be looking at where Star Trek roleplaying games started! Stay tuned!
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