RPGs, Wargames, and Everything In-Between
These are the voyages of the starship Excalibur.
Her ongoing mission:
To explore strange new worlds;
To seek out new life and new civilizations;
To boldly go where no man has gone before.
Reciting that is like like reciting the Green Lantern Oath.
Amazing what a GOOD episode of Star Trek can inspire me to do.
Don’t touch that dial!
My biggest issue with trying to play a solo RPG in the Enterprise-era is that I’m simply too unfamiliar with that background.
And while I toyed with the idea of doing my own Star Trek Discovery with a female captain but in the TOS era, I’ve decided to go with what I know best.
The Movie-era USS Excalibur NCC-1788
This was the ship my character commanded in the old FASA Star Trek RPG. My plan is to use the ship and the captain (my namesake) with the following changes:
I’m even paining up a new 3D printed miniature of my doppelganger.
Speaking of crew:
This command crew is considerably more alien (read: non-human) that the FASA crew.
If I feel up to it, I may start this campaign this weekend.
Stand By!
So I came up with a campaign idea for Five Parsecs From Home.
Mando’s Mission.
With just a crew (clan) of 2, I’ll have the Mandalorian go after Imperial warlords in the Outer Rim.
Though technically I can have Zeb along for missions.
Colonel Ward and the New Republic will be his patron, giving him missions. I’m hoping Skullforge Studios will create some new character minis from the movie.
And of course I’ll use my Star Wars Legion miniatures, though I did just print up another Zeb, I’ll paint him like he is in the movie.
Stand by!
As I printed up a squad of Security Troops from “Maul: Shadow Lord” (or ‘Maul Cops’ as I call them), I thought about what it would cost to dive back into Star Wars Legion, now in it’s 2.0 format.
I’ve been very reluctant to do this since I have a smaller area to play in my apartment, along with the cost of a new army or armies.
After reviewing a couple of videos on YouTube, I discovered that it wouldn’t cost me anything except color printer ink.
I was afraid that I’d have to grab a new Starter Box, but since I have all of my Legion miniatures (Rebellion and Empire) in a few boxes/cases, the only things missing were the unit/command cards and the measuring/movement tools and dice.
Past me must have anticipated this, because I found that I had downloaded all the updated print and play unit cards from the Atomic Mass Games site, even for units I don’t have (but could 3D print proxies for, like Daimyo Boba Fett).
I also found that I there are ‘Recon’ rules for play in a smaller area, 3ft x 3ft instead of 6ft x 3ft. And I do have a double sided 3ft x 3ft play mat.
I’ll need to grab some stuff out of storage soon, specifically the 3D terrain I had printed, and the core box with the measuring/movement tools and dice.
Stand by!
Another reason I don’t go back into Star Wars Legion?
Required play area is 6 feet x 3 feet. I don’t have that kind of room anymore, as an apartment dweller.
… Nothing but Star Wars, Give me those Star Wars, Dont let them end. Oh Star Wars, If they should bar wars, Please let these Star Wars Stay.
I gotta say, I am a sucker for most Star Wars tabletop games.
I got into X-Wing, Armada and Imperial Assault, al of which have been discontinued.
And now I hear that Star Wars Shatterpoint is the next in line to go that way.
To be fair, I did like the look of the Shatterpoint miniatures more than Star Wars Legion, and I believe I only bought a couple of expansions (Clone Wars Era) before shelving that game in storage.
For Legion, on the other hand, I bought more than a few extra squad boxes for both the Rebellion and the Empire. And then the main game went into storage, while the miniatures found their way to my apartment.
I have a couple of miniature agnostic games that allow me to use them, A Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes Edition and Five Parsecs from Home.
It does make me wonder if I should get a new Starter Set for Legion, since it appears that they pivoted toward Shatterpoint for a while and left Legion to flounder and then shifting back to Legion, but looking at the contents of the Rebellion Starter Set, I have pretty much all the miniatures it includes except for the Wookiees.
Now if they came out with a Scum and Villainy Starter set…
Star Trek Adventures has a new sourcebook, The 23rd Century Campaign Guide, and per usual, they included a new career path option:
NOW I can recreate my original FASA Trek trader captain, Mackenzie Decker, if I so choose.
I’m actually thinking of having Decker as an NPC, and maybe pull a nuBSG and do a gender swap on Mackenzie Decker?
I’ve met this cosplayer, Abby Darkstar, and her partner, Keith Zen, both are really nice people.
Anyways.
Decisions, decisions.
About 4+ years ago I had an idea for a Star Trek RPG campaign with an espionage twist.
With STA Captain’s Log I think I can run this one as a solo campaign, which a few changes.
It’s still called Outpost Delta Tioga, in reference to my old house located in San Francisco.
It’s still based out of Science Station D-5 on the Romulan Border.
It’s still an unofficial Starfleet listening post, officially listed as a science station.
Originally I was going to run this during the Lower Decks-era With the California-class U.S.S. Colma. I may switch to late the TOS-era with a modified Archer-class scout ship, since I already created a Captain’s Log crew for a ‘spy themed’ campaign.
AND a 3D printed ship as well.
We’ll see if I can flesh this one out a bit more over time.
Don’t touch that dial!
One reason I’m excited about this Space: 1999 RPG is that it’s produced by Modiphius Entertainment, the same company who produces the Star Trek Adventures RPG.
And they both use the 2D20 game engine.
Which means I’m gonna try to run both solo, with a Star Trek: Excalibur adventure as a pilot for whatever I end up doing for Space: 1999.
I also found a channel on YouTube of opening titles for RPGs, and they made one specifically for the Space: 1999 game.
Don’t touch that dial!
