I've been putting together the various pieces needed to run a game of "Star Trek" for the past three weeks, and it sadly took me those entire three weeks to realize something. This has been the most fun I've ever had preparing a game.
Sure, I've been a fan of Lovecraft since high school, and therefore "Call of Cthulhu" was a blast to run. And, "Shadowrun" has been a favorite since I started putting dice to table. Creating a setting in the 'Run where you can just let the players go wild and come up with the craziest action set-pieces they're capable of is laudable, enjoyable, and most of all, one of the most bat-guano insane things you can do with an afternoon and Xd6.
Star Trek, though ... is Star Trek.
I grew up with it permeating the household, like a beloved family pet or the smell of lefse wafting through the air.
The whole process began when we (not the royal "we," but my fellow dice-chuckers) were trying to decide what magical land of intrigue to enter after finishing a leg of D&D 4e.
"Should we go back and start the next chapter in 'Call of Cthulhu?"' I appreciated the sentiment, as that was the game I was running, but I'm still not certain the conclusion of said saga is as satisfying as it could be.
"Perhaps we could just fast-forward to starting 'A Song of Fire and Ice."' A fantastic idea, as we all have bonded over our love of all things George R.R. Martin, but the person that would run had only recently had the chance to start absorbing the rules.
"'Paranoia?"' A good choice, and one of those RPGs you here tell of whilst sitting 'round the campfire with other, more experienced players. The sci-fi aspect was especially appealing, but it was once again newly gotten gains. There must be time to prepare the appropriate amount of death, mayhem and "live fast, die young and leave a beautiful set of six corpses."
We sat in silence for a few seconds until a thought occurred to me.
"Does anyone own that Decipher "Star Trek" system?"
Two books and three weeks of preparation later, I find myself on the verge running the game. If the playing turns out to be half as fun as the research and preparation, we'll be in for one crazy ride.
Stepping into the role of Narrator on this one opened up vistas of creative thought which hadn't come close to catching my attention before now.
Can't find a ship to match what you're looking for? Design one, inside and out, using the huge variety of resources to be found online. I've always admired the "Starfleet-style" designs within the Star Trek universe, but never before now had I considered trying my hand at creating one from scratch.
I've been what could, charitably, be called a Trek fan for the majority of my life, but in investigating details for my "season" (the game terms your campaign as a "series," with each leg being a "season" and each play session as an "episode" .. awesome) I not only discovered a wealth of things I'd never known before, but discovered questions I'd never thought to ask in the first place.
The stubbornly incomplete status of the second half of my first game had, it seems, infected my thought process on gamemastering in general. And all it took was one old love to bring back the spark; the spark of creativity and the spark necessary to invest players in the game.
Variety truly is the spice of gaming. Post-boldly going, we'll be hitting up some hard, historical fantasy followed by some comedically dystopian future. If and when we get back around to season 2, there will be little reason for worry on my part.
