So I’ve been working on a Star Trek hack of Blades and have even started playtesting it with one of my regular groups. It has been working pretty well so far with the barebone rules I have. I have a decent amount done for it, but I’m only going to post the Action list until I get things more organized. I’m super nervous about this, since its my first hacking I’ve ever brought outside of my close friends, but I want to share this with others and see what they do with it.
One major difference I want to point out is that the plans are secretly voted on at the end of each session, and then the GM chooses from among the highest voted plans to build episodic missions. I took a little of that mission building style from Monster of the Week. Now without further rambling, here are the Actions:
Awareness
-Fight: You engage in combat with an enemy.
-Strategize: You asses situations in order to gain a tactical advantage.
-Operate: You run systems, vessels, or programs.
-Treat: You heal another’s wounds, ailments, or sickness.
Intellect
-Study: You make a precise and detailed investigation (more scientific).
-Survey: You observe a situation or location and make inferences (more intuition).
-Fix: You repair or maintain and existing device, system, or structure.
-Build: You construct a new device, system, or structure.
Charisma
-Command: You order rapid obedience.
-Negotiate: You parley, broker, or mediate an agreement between parties.
-Fraternize: You socially engage with collegues, friends, or adversaries.
-Play: You engage in play, games, or activities with yourself, friends, or adversaries.
I hope you enjoy, and feel free to leave constructive feedback!!
#bladestrek
I don’t know much about Star Trek, but the language looks good. I like Fraternize.
Is there enough Fixing and Building going on for them to be separate actions?
Survey also seems more Awareness than Intellect. Would it make sense to swap it with Strategize or Treat?
That’s a good idea, Survey and Treat would swap pretty well.
As to the Build and Fix actions. I wouldn’t have any big compunctions in combining them, but I’m not sure what I’d add in as replacement. Also, I’m not completely sure what I’d use as the name for the combined skill. I had thought of Engineer, but I’m trying to avoid doubling up on playbook and action names.
Thanks for the feedback, though. I really appreciate it.
Man I know that ‘unsure about a replacement’ feeling.
Would it be Trek-appropriate to have an Intellect action that covers digital ground, and Fix/Build could be more about physical machinery? Could Operate focus more on piloting, and operating programs could go under Intellect?
I don’t know. The two are pretty intertwined in ST. And those who work on the machines are the ones who work on the programs, and vice versa. Often at the same time.
Additionally, I feel like separating the two would get a bit too much of a cyberpunk feel. If that makes sense.
Actions are tough. They are one of the great strengths of the Blades system, but you have to nail them.
Love Star Trek
Some of those are good. Several issues I noticed however..
* Do not recommend doing away with the physical trait. Less overlap in the three categories is important to maintain the GMs authority. resistance traits are correlated to a mutually exlcusive type of consequence, not the players description; so they should probably be named in such a way as to give each type of consequence (mental, physical, and social) exactly one trait to roll.
* Recommend eliminating Strategize: Keep in mind strategy is a plan, and is handled very well with gather info, planning, all leading to a more favorable engagement roll. When they are outsmarted, they are allowed to resist with their mental stat (rolling Awareness in this case).
* you are going to need actions for physical tasks that aren’t fighting. Sneaking? Climbing?
* Play action does not differ enough from Fraternize, and sounds like an action for a game about roleplaying as a pro gamer, not a member of star fleet (consider as well that Consort handles leisure activity with others well, and rolling an action to play games with yourself is just a bit odd
I see other small issues. I would rethink the whole list into something closer to vanilla, but then tip it into Star Trek territory with some of your ideas. My take on the actions would be thus..
———————————-
Awareness
-Notice: You search for visible clues and make inferences (more intuition).
-Operate: You run systems, vessels, or programs.
-Study: You make a precise and detailed investigation (more scientific).
-Treat: You heal another’s wounds, ailments, or sickness.
Prowess
-Fight: You engage in combat with an enemy.
-Sneak: move stealthily, remain hidden, conceal or palm small items
-Traverse: You navigate physical obstacles, especially difficult terrain, narrow ledges, steep slopes
-Work: You build, maintain, or break things with physically demanding labor.
Resolve
-Command: You order rapid obedience.
-Engineer: You repair, maintain, or sabotage devices with technical knowledge
-Fraternize: You socially engage with collegues, friends, or adversaries.
-Negotiate: You parley, broker, or mediate an agreement between parties.
Thanks for the feedback! I totally agree on Strategize. The theme I want for play fits within the game, as the crew of the Enterprise frequently plays in one form or another, but the name isn’t terribly good, so I’ve changed it to Cavort. For physical tasks I’ve made one kind of catch-all action called Strive, since physical action isn’t a huge part of the Star Trek world. For my next round of playtesting I’ve got the following list together:
Prowess
– Fight: You engage in combat with an enemy.
– Operate: You run systems, vessels, or programs.
– Survey: You observe a situation or location and make inferences (more intuition).
– Strive: You physically push yourself to overcome an obstacle.
Intellect
– Study: You make a precise and detailed investigation (more scientific).
– Treat: You heal another’s wounds, ailments, or sickness.
– Fix: You repair or maintain and existing device, system, or structure.
– Build: You construct a new device, system, or structure.
Charisma
– -Command: You order rapid obedience.
– Negotiate: You parley, broker, or mediate an agreement between parties.
– Fraternize: You socially engage with collegues, friends, or adversaries.
– Cavort: You engage in play, games, or activities with yourself, friends, or adversaries
Excellent. And hey, even if you remain unconvinced to remove the skill for playing, it is good to see I nudged a thing or two 🙂
Will be looking forward to actual play reports