• Welcome to the new COTI server. We've moved the Citizens to a new server. Please let us know in the COTI Website issue forum if you find any problems.
  • We, the systems administration staff, apologize for this unexpected outage of the boards. We have resolved the root cause of the problem and there should be no further disruptions.

Star Trek ideas and races in Td20

PARKER

SOC-5
Hey everybody, Merry Xmas
I was toying with the idea of bringing Caudassians/Klingons etc. as maybe a new enemy for the Empire. There's plenty of info on both, and Star Trek isn't out yet for D20. What are your opinions on this? Have any of you tried it? Some of my players are Trekkies/I am a little bit. Thanks for any feedback.
Parker "ASH IS A G'DAMN ROBOT"
 
Originally posted by PARKER:
Hey everybody, Merry Xmas
I was toying with the idea of bringing Caudassians/Klingons etc. as maybe a new enemy for the Empire. There's plenty of info on both, and Star Trek isn't out yet for D20. What are your opinions on this? Have any of you tried it? Some of my players are Trekkies/I am a little bit. Thanks for any feedback.
Parker </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />
"ASH IS A G'DAMN ROBOT"</font>[/QUOTE]One thing to consider, since so many of the Star Trek races are humanoid, I'd suspect that they would all end up classified as minor human races (Or Major if you're doing your own universe, and decide that one or more invented their version of a Jump Drive). I wouldn't overdo it, remember there are 40 or more minor human races in Traveller, and a fair amount of non human minor races too. Plus, most of the Trek races seem to be "Major" by Traveller standards (they invented their own warp drive), and have their own empire, you may have to look at for instance how the Klingons would change if they were a minor race/Imperial citizens in Traveller, and not a race with their own empire. (Of course, if you do a Federation race, this might be easier, since they have been part of a larger interstellar government, and not a one race empire, and thus may have a similar culture if dropped into traveller)

Hope my rambling makes sense, I'm functioning on a bit of Christmas cheer (hic).
 
I see your point, integrate them into the imperium, but don't make them a major race. That makes sense.
Parker
 
Originally posted by PARKER:
I see your point, integrate them into the imperium, but don't make them a major race. That makes sense.
Parker
Another idea though, if you don't mind doing a major change in Traveller would be to yank one of the Major races out, and drop in a Trek Race/Empire. Imagine how things would be if the Solomani bordered the Klingons, not the Aslan for instance, or if one had the Ferengi, not the Vargr coreward of the Imperium. (Or for a real twist, make it the Federation in the middle, but with Traveller technology and the rest of the Traveller empires intact). A lot of work to do any of these versions of "Traveller Trek", but I could see having fun with this if you don't mind merging the two universes.

(Another idea...keep everything else the same, but have the Borg invade, with Traveller TL 17 technology instead of their own...again quite non-canon...and makes me wonder if someone would intentionally unleash something like the TNE Virus chips on them in hopes they break down...and thus cause the TNE scenario for completly different reasons...)
 
But making them a minor race within the Imperium would likely affect their racial "personality". They would probably not be able to get away with being so warlike and aggressive as a race.

Probably better to make them minor races outside the Imperium (but not too far outside) with their own small empires. Kind of like the Darrians or Sword Worlders in the Spinward Marches:- small empires just outside Imperial rule so they can get away with being a bit touchy about their borders, etc, but aren't powerful enough to have a serious effect on galactic politics.
Mind you, I can see the Aslan wanting to hire Klingon mercs. Klingons have a warrior-ethic and code of honour too... I reckon the Fteirle would really like Klingons.


Even if they were used as minor human races that shouldn't be a problem. Not all of them have been documented (in canon) as yet, and some of the ones that have are at the spinward end of the Hierate, so they are fairly widespread.
 
As far as the mechanics of converting characters is concerned, I'm preparing to run a Star Trek campaign using Deciper's CODA Star Trek rules and I'm discovering that in concept, CODA is very similar to d20. One exception is that rolls are made with 2d6 instead of 1d20, but otherwise very similar. If you have access to the CODA books, converting characters or races to d20 shouldn't be that big of a deal. I ought to emphasize the word 'shouldn't' because I've not actually done this myself.
 
By the way, Star Trek is never going to be out in D20 form unless Decipher Games loses the license (2005... not very likely esp with Star Wars being a D20 property as Viacom/Paramount pulled Star Trek from Hasbro/WOTC because of it) or goes under (not likely esp with its successful CCGs being the most popular after Magic).

Decpiher's CODA system works well, it is similar to D20 in terms of dice mechanics... but when one thinks about most games, aren't they all similar at some level (and not D20).

Charles
 
So, what would the Klingon/Romulan Tech level be? Plus the only reason I want to incorperate ST is because I don't have the vast knowledge some of you have concerning Traveller.
Parker
 
How about this set up?

The Federation (inc Terrans and Vulcans with Vulcan taking the position of Vland)occupies the area of the 3I and Solomani Confederation. =TL15
Romulans occupy the area of the Hivers. =TL 14/15
Klingons could be placed where the Aslan are. =TL 14
Cardassians have the territory of the Vargr. = TL13
Feringi occupy the area of the Julian Protectorate. = TL 14/15
Gorns take the place of the K'Kree. = TL14 or TL13
Tholians rule Zhodani space. = TL 14/15

This gives one eight major races and seven major interstellar governments.
 
Originally posted by RandyT0001:
How about this set up?

The Federation (inc Terrans and Vulcans with Vulcan taking the position of Vland)occupies the area of the 3I and Solomani Confederation. =TL15
Romulans occupy the area of the Hivers. =TL 14/15
Klingons could be placed where the Aslan are. =TL 14
Cardassians have the territory of the Vargr. = TL13
Feringi occupy the area of the Julian Protectorate. = TL 14/15
Gorns take the place of the K'Kree. = TL14 or TL13
Tholians rule Zhodani space. = TL 14/15

This gives one eight major races and seven major interstellar governments.
I'm assuming you're basing this on Next Generation and later? Because if not, if one is using Classic Trek Romulans (ala Kirk and his crew) I do see the Romulans being TL 13 at best, and although major emperor sized technically a minor race since (I think I remember this right), they gained warp drive (and thus jump drive in Traveller Tech) due to a technology exchange with the Klingons.

(Perhaps make them high tech in sensor technology, with an emphesis on jamming, lower then even 13 with jump drive? Otherwise, TL 15 with sensors, perhaps even built at half cost and/or size, but TL 13 with everything else except for jump drive, which is TL 12 since they are using outdated Klingon designs.

Again, this is moot if you mean and want TNG or later Romulans.
 
Originally posted by Cleon the Mad:

(Perhaps make them high tech in sensor technology, with an emphesis on jamming, lower then even 13 with jump drive? Otherwise, TL 15 with sensors, perhaps even built at half cost and/or size, but TL 13 with everything else except for jump drive, which is TL 12 since they are using outdated Klingon designs.

Again, this is moot if you mean and want TNG or later Romulans.
There would also be the idea that the Ancients (who would replace the Preservers) left behind black globes exclusively in the area inhabited by the Romulans, who somehow discovered the secrets and were able to duplicate them.

Tech levels do not mean that a particular device has been invented, it only means the technology is there if someone comes up with the idea and persues it. Sometimes some tech develops ahead of the tech level anyhow. They aren't hard and fast rules.
 
Originally posted by MichaelL65:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Cleon the Mad:

(Perhaps make them high tech in sensor technology, with an emphesis on jamming, lower then even 13 with jump drive? Otherwise, TL 15 with sensors, perhaps even built at half cost and/or size, but TL 13 with everything else except for jump drive, which is TL 12 since they are using outdated Klingon designs.

Again, this is moot if you mean and want TNG or later Romulans.
There would also be the idea that the Ancients (who would replace the Preservers) left behind black globes exclusively in the area inhabited by the Romulans, who somehow discovered the secrets and were able to duplicate them.

Tech levels do not mean that a particular device has been invented, it only means the technology is there if someone comes up with the idea and persues it. Sometimes some tech develops ahead of the tech level anyhow. They aren't hard and fast rules.
</font>[/QUOTE]Maybe we're saying the same thing in a different way, but I always thought of TL as what one can produce locally. For instance, a TL 6 world can only produce about WWII level equipment, or at best equipment from about circa 1960 or 1970, but could very well have their armed forces and even individual citizens of said planet equiped to a higher standard if they can afford to import such.

(As an aside, I've always thought of Darrian as a special case...until perhaps somewhere between year 1120 and 1200 Imperial, they couldn't design a new design at TL 16, they had lost too much in the Maghitz (sp?), but they probably had some automated factories left making consumer devices...all one had to do is either dump in an old broken device of similar design, or perhaps even some raw materials, and this "black box" factory would puke out something. Might even have some limited customization controls, but the knowledge to do much more then preventive maintenance on said factory, let alone engineer a new factory or redesign said factory to put out a different type of device, has been lost until about now, given that apparently the BarekDolden (sp?) class Patrol Cruiser as given in TNE and mentioned in GT is the first brand new TL 16 ship class from them in many a year, not an old relic that has survived)

Me
 
Back
Top