Today I began to watch the one Star Trek series that I have, as yet, never really got my head around: Voyager.
Whilst viewing the spurious antics of Janeway's crew in the pilot twin-episode, Caretaker, I was once again reminded of the one-off idea we had a while ago for gaming Trek-style.
Dark Trek was born after the most recent Star Trek movie. The key inspiration was the idea that the Star Trek universe could contain multiple alternate realities... of which the latest movie is but one. From this humble idea sprang the one-off game played in 2009 within our own alternate Trek universe... and since then the idea has stuck.
Inspiration
Certainly we are fans of J.J. Abrams' Trek vision. We are also fans of the original three series (TOS, ST:TNG, ST: DS9) and admirers of the
Starfleet Universe created by ADB Inc., which inspired Starfleet Battles.
Dark Trek blends ideas from all our favourite Star Trek inspirations into one much darker reality. Imagine the logical consistency of ADB's universe, the raw energy of classic Star Trek, and the cool stuff from the later series. For our first delve into the setting we invited the Borg.
Darkly Dreaming
Borg interest me. Ever since Picard was abducted and transformed, I have imagined the terror of being locked within such a suppressive and cold society. In the first adventure we ran I imagined a single Borg scout party encountering a classic-era Federation Heavy Cruiser (Constellation-class).
The encounter was fun. We created heroes from Federation crew and they encountered the Borg... ultimately choosing to destroy their vessel rather than be assimilated. But the gloves were off... if the Borg had infiltrated the early Federation, then what might the future begin to look like?
Ever the lover of Klingons, I moved to posit that the Federation and Klingon Empire would need to face this new threat in some way. Initially, given all the mistrust between such powers, I could only conclude that the destabilising effect of a small Borg incursion would lead to war.
And thus was born Dark Trek. The Federation entrenched and defensive, the Klingons aggressive, the Romulans taking advantage of the instability, and the Orions trying to stave off assimilation.
To be honest, I have no idea where such dreaming might lead... but I can't help but be excited by the possibilities.
GURPing
And then ABD released the Federation supplement for
GURPS Prime Directive. It reminded me that GURPS has already adapted the Starfleet Universe for gaming, giving me Phasers and Warp Drives. All I need to do now is to add the stuff I like from the various Star Trek RPGs I own, adapt the setting to taste, and find some players. With incredible ease, GURPS provides the vehicle for the reincarnation of Dark Trek.
I'm not sure that we'll find time to make it breathe in the short term... but the dream is alive, and the idea is waiting to be played.
Game on!
Labels: GURPS, SF, Trek
