Star Trek Roleplaying Game (Last Unicorn Games)
Star Trek Role-playing Game is a line role-playing games set in the fictional Star Trek universe and published by Last Unicorn Games (LUG). Three games were released: Star Trek: The Next Generation Role-playing Game in 1998, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Role Playing Game and Star Trek Role Playing Game both in 1999.
| Designers | Christian Moore, Ross Isaacs, Kenneth Hite, Steven S. Long |
|---|---|
| Publishers | Last Unicorn Games |
| Publication | 1998 (Next Generation) 1999 (Deep Space Nine and Original Series) |
| Genres | Science fiction |
| Systems | Icon system |
Development
Due to licensing issues, LUG did not release the game as a single core rulebook and setting supplements for the various series but instead intended to release a corebook for every series.[1] The Star Trek license was lost to Decipher before a Star Trek: Voyager rulebook could be released.
Steven S. Long and Kenneth Hite joined in the developers working for Last Unicorn Games on the "Icon system" for their line of licensed Star Trek role-playing games; to get The Next Generation Role-playing Game ready for GenCon 31, they were flown out to Los Angeles for two weeks. After the design of Icon was done, Long was made the line developer for the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 role-playing game.[2]: 315
The Next Generation (TNG)
The Next Generation Role-playing Game was released in 1998. It is based on Star Trek: The Next Generation.[3][4]
Deep Space Nine (DS9)
The Deep Space Nine Role Playing Game was released in 1999. It is based on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
The Original Series (TOS)
The Star Trek Role Playing Game was released in 1999. It is based on Star Trek: The Original Series.
Publications
- 45000 - Star Trek: The Original Series Role-playing Game (hardcover)
- 45001 - TOS Narrator's Toolkit (book & screen)
- 45101 - Among the Clans: The Andorians
Other published materials
The Expanded Universe (Non-specific setting)
- 15002 - All Our Yesterdays: The Time Travel Sourcebook
Miniatures
- 25600 - Federation Away Team Miniatures (Boxed set containing 7 miniatures)
Web enhancements
Last Unicorn Games was one of the first roleplaying companies to use the concept of releasing additional pages for published books via the web. LUG dubbed these "Icon Links," in reference to their overall "Icon System" game mechanics (the term Web Enhancement hadn't been invented yet). Unlike current web enhancements, which are simply additions that can be added to the end of a book, LUG took a unique approach, by planning the enhancements ahead of time, and printing a small Icon symbol at various points in a given book, informing the reader that additional material on the subject-at-hand was available on the company's website to read or download and print. These enhancements are now being stored online, and can be downloaded from Memory Icon, under the Icon Links section.
Unpublished materials
Many additional books and supplements were planned, and quite a few had various chapters already written in varying degrees of completion when the product line was cancelled.[7] LUG's former pool of writers has been very supportive of the fan movement to expand and continue playing the game. In support of this, much of the unpublished material has been released on the internet.
S. John Ross has posted his unfinished manuscripts on the Untaken Treks pages of his website.
Steve Kenson has posted his unfinished manuscripts on the Star Trek: The Lost Episodes pages of his website.
Steven S. Long has been the most active amongst the fan movement. He took unfinished materials for the game and completed them on his own time. Additionally, he continued this work beyond the original envisioned volumes, completing seven entire new books. These new books were distributed online free of charge.
- The Fires of Armageddon: The Dominion War Sourcebook (For DS9)
And the Spacedock Series:
- The Advanced Starship And Construction Manual
- Ship Recognition Manual 1: The Ships of Starfleet
- Ship Recognition Manual 2: The Cardassian Union
- Ship Recognition Manual 3: The Klingon Empire
- Ship Recognition Manual 4: The Original Series Era
- Ship Recognition Manual 5: The Romulan Star Empire
They can be downloaded in PDF form from Memory Icon, under the Spacedock section, and are suitable for printing.
Reception
The Next Generation: Narrator's Toolkit was reviewed in the online second version of Pyramid which said "Within this tome are the most useful instructions on how to run a role playing game that I have ever seen set to paper. And it's also useful to anyone running a Star Trek: The Next Generation RPG session."[8]
References
- Sparborth, Christian Höhne (November 1999). "Kenneth Hite Interview". TrekNation.com. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- Shannon Appelcline (2011). Designers & Dragons. Mongoose Publishing. ISBN 978-1-907702-58-7.
- Maliszewski, James (October 1998). "Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game (Review)". RPGnet. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- Maliszewski, James. "Interview with Kenneth Hite". RPGnet. Retrieved 2007-10-02.
- Aylott, Chris (December 1999). "'Deep Space Nine' Game Lets You Explore the Federation Frontier". Space.com. Archived from the original on 2006-11-27. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- Aylott, Chris (February 2000). "Deep Space Nine Role-Playing Supplement Tries to Add Chaos to Starfleet's Ordered World". Space.com. Archived from the original on April 7, 2005. Retrieved 2007-11-04.
- "Untaken Treks: The Unpublished LUGtrek Work of S. John Ross". 27 April 2007. Archived from the original on 2007-04-27. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
- "Pyramid: Pyramid Pick: ST:TNG Narrator's Toolkit". www.sjgames.com.