It has been over 40 years since the premier of the television series Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). While many Trekkies recall their enjoyment of the series, for me the event invokes different memories and reaffirms why I diverged from the core of Star Trek fandom many years ago. Instead, I enjoy reading books, playing roleplaying games, and wargaming in my own, personal, unique Star Trek canon universe.
I will be honest here; aside from a few episodes like “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (Season 3, Episode 15) The Next Generation did not capture my interest.
Indeed, of all the movies after Star Trek II – The Wrath of Khan (1982) and the Star Trek TV shows after the Original (1966-1969) and Animated (1973-1975) series, the only Star Trek story on the big or small screen that really captured my interest was Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (after the first season) that premiered in 1993.
My First Generation – The Star Fleet Universe
Perhaps The Next Generation did not capture my interests because I was a huge fan and player of the wargame Star Fleet Battles (1979+) and the FASA edition of Star Trek: The Role Playing Game (1983). My personal Star Trek universe was a combination of the Star Fleet Universe and the setting of FASA Star Trek.
The Star Fleet Universe
The Star Fleet Universe is the setting of games released by Amarillo Design Bureau and formerly, Task Force Games. It is drawn in part from the ship designs and other source material from the Star Fleet Technical Manual. (Memory Alpha)
In 1987 when The Next Generation premiered I was fully into the Commander’s Edition of Star Fleet Battles (1983) and would quickly move to the Captain’s Edition that would release in 1990. The Star Fleet Universe (SFU) has its own historical timeline within which the major event is the General War—perfect setting fodder for a wargame. At the same time, I was playing the FASA edition of Star Trek: The Role Playing Game which first released in 1983; come 1987 I was fully invested in the core rule book and expansions The Klingons (1984) and The Romulans (1984) and coming up to speed with the Star Trek III Sourcebook Update (1984). I also was a fan and player of the associated wargame Starship Tactical Combat Simulator (1986).
Looking back, when The Next Generation premiered I was in college which meant that my gaming budget was…limited. Given I was not really into the TV series and with a limited gaming budget, it is really not surprising to me—in retrospect—that I did not invest in Star Trek: The Next Generation Officer’s Manual (1988) for FASA Star Trek. I did try to stay current in Star Fleet Battles but that game series was not aligning with the popular on screen versions of Star Trek. Truth be told, it was the fiction in Captain’s Log, the official magazine of the Star Fleet Universe, that kept me going the most. To this day I am of the unshakable opinion that the 1993 short story “Behind the Glory of Heroes” reprinted from an earlier NEXUS gaming magazine edition in Captain’s Log #13 is still one of—if not the—best pieces of a wargame-related fiction written by a player.
Kelly was bored. As she sat before her scanner console chewing on her sandwich by rote, a small part of her mind drifted to thoughts of blue skies and soft, rolling hills. She had felt space service would be glamorous when she joined, and the constant warning of her instructors did little to dampen her youthful enthusiasm. But sitting in front of her console and eating her dry, tasteless sandwich, she realized how right her instructors had been.
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“Damn,” said Kelly under her breath.
Lieutenant Lau got on the Command and talked quietly with someone while Kelly called up data and told the computer to identify the devices. She jumped with shock as the General Quarters alarm sounded through the base, but her eyes never left the blinking note on the screen.
“ROMULAN”
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They quickly left the sick bay and went into the smokey hallway. Her blood-encrusted mask stank when she put it on again. They found a Lieutenant bellowing orders to scurrying marines while the base again vibrated with a hit. The Lieutenant saw Kelly and her companion and pointed down the hall with a violent gesture.
“Haul ass down there and get a phaser from Sergeant Becker. Move! We’ve got boarders!”
Boarders? As Kelly and the Arcturian ran down the hall, the word bounced around her head, and with it the little girl inside her shivered. Then the situation became comical to her as her thoughts drifted to the boardinghouse her mother had run when Kelly was a child. The thought of sitting down to tea with Romulans made her laugh aloud. Her companion looked at her queerly. She was jolted back to reality.
“Behind the Glory of Heroes,” Captain’s Log #13, pp. 3-6
In 1994, Star Fleet Battles finally “caught up” to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan with the release of Star Fleet Battles: Module X1 – The X-Ships which introduced “advanced technology” designs that still pre-dated The Next Generation.
The SFU did not just cover tactical starship combat wargames. Strategic-level games such as Federation Space (1981) and its next-generation cousin, Federation & Empire (1986) also entered my collection. There was also a SFU roleplaying game: Prime Directive: The Star Fleet Universe Roleplaying Game released in 1993.
Indeed, in the years between the late 1990’s and today, I basically stayed in my own SFU. Oh, granted, some of the games changed; I brought in the “streamlined” version of Star Fleet Battles known as Federation Commander (2005). After discovering the Philip José Farmer’s Wold Newton Universe in 2005 I tried my hand at building a massive Star Fleet Universe/Star Trek combined timeline that took lots of handjamming on an old desktop but that now lives in the formless aether of computer files long since lost. I even tried my hand at Star Trek themed boardgames with Star Trek: Expeditions (2011) but the cooperative play—even from the great Reiner Knizia—fell flat in my gaming family. I also tried—unsuccessfully—to incorporate the first edition of Star Trek Adventures (2017) roleplaying from Modiphius Entertainment.
Second Generation – Enter Vanguard
While the games hardly changed, the “personal canon” for my SFU expanded using other media. In 2005 I picked up the book Harbinger: Star Trek Vanguard #1 by David Mack and immediately incorporated those stories into my personal canon. The stories were so much better than other Star Trek dredge at the time (since?) in great part because the characters were often flawed (i.e. great plot hooks for roleplaying games). Warning – spoilers for Harbinger follow!
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In the year 2263, while exploring the Taurus Reach, Matthew Decker and the USS Constellation discover a mysterious meta-genome on Ravanar IV, an unexplored planet. Realizing the genetic structure is too complex to study with a starship‘s resources, the data is submitted to Starfleet Command for a more thorough analysis.
Two years later, after the confrontation with Gary Mitchell on Delta Vega, James T. Kirk is looking for a port to obtain repairs for the Enterprise. The most accessible location found is Starbase 47, also known as Vanguard, a Watchtower-class space station recently completed in the Taurus Reach. Kirk and Spock discuss how strange it is that this giant starbase was built in a remote location so quickly and seems to have facilities beyond what would be useful in the sector due to the Federation‘s limited interest in the frontier between Tholian and Klingon territories.
Meanwhile on Ravanar IV, Cervantes Quinn, a middle aged alcoholic courier is seeking to steal a sensor screen generator from a mining camp there for his debtor, an Orion merchant-prince named Ganz. He is discovered by the miners and escapes, damaging the generator in the process. The mining colony turns out to be a front for a Starfleet base doing covert research on the planet.
On Vanguard, journalist Timothy Pennington is having an affair with Starfleet officer Oriana D’Amato, helmsman for the Miranda-class USS Bombay. Pennington’s wife is arriving at the station soon, as is D’Amato’s husband who is an officer aboard the Enterprise. The Bombay is soon called away to deliver a replacement sensor screen generator to Ravanar IV, leaving Pennington and Oriana’s husband mourning her earlier departure. When the Bombay arrives, it is attacked and disabled by several Tholian vessels who then begin bombarding the base below. Realizing the supply run has become a suicide mission, the Bombay attacks to defend the base, destroying a few Tholian vessels before self destructing to destroy another ship. To protect the secrecy of the base, Commodore Diego Reyes of Vanguard covers up that it was destroyed by Tholian vessels.
Grieving, yet trying to cover up his affair, Pennington gathers everything of D’Amato’s in his quarters and goes to the base’s storage facility to remove anything of his from D’Amato’s storage unit. While there, he overhears intelligence officer T’Prynn confront Quinn for destroying the sensor screen generator and causing the destruction of the base and the Bombay. Wanting the truth of his lover’s death to be known, Pennington leaks the information to the Federation News Service and the story goes viral.
Following the destruction of the Bombay, Reyes dispatches the Enterprise to Ravanar IV with Ming Xiong to recover anything left of the base. All that is left of the site is a crater but Xiong and the Enterprise crew are able to uncover some information that helps them begin unlocking the secrets of the Taurus Reach meta-genome.
Pennington’s story is soon publicly debunked due to false evidence T’Prynn had Quinn plant to undermine Pennington’s credibility. Due to the scandal, FNS fires Pennington. Next, his wife discovers his infidelity and leaves him. Feeling guilty for his role in destroying Pennington’s life, Quinn offers the journalist a job working on his small freighter.
T’Prynn reveals that many years earlier while engaged in kal-if-fee with her psychotic fiancé, he implanted his katra into her mind while he was dying. Since then, he continually tries to cripple her psyche with mental attacks and cries of “Submit!”. Meanwhile, when T’Prynn is in search of relief, she visits her lover Anna Sandesjo, an attaché in the station’s diplomatic office who is actually a Klingon agent named Lurqal. (Memory Beta)
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The Axanar Generation
In 2015, a fan film, Prelude to Axanar entered my personal Star Trek canon. It was followed by a short film Axanar – ‘Peace in Our Time’ (2020). Coming years after The Next Generation, the Axanar fan film series drew upon a grittier Federation setting more like that seen in Star Trek: Deep Space 9. A year later (2021) a less compelling, but nonetheless worthy, follow-on film, Interlude: An Axanar Film, released. The series recovered somewhat with Axanar – Ares on Patrol from 2023.
Retro – The Four Years War
The Axanar fan film series caused me to resurrect two other FASA Star Trek supplements released in 1986: Return to Axanar and The Four Years War. Though divergent from the Axanar fan films, there was still plenty of good gaming source ideas to mine for scenarios or adventures.
These supplements are both used for another great fan production showcasing the stories within (Warning – Spoilers!).
Another Next Generation – The Edge of Midnight
Which brings me to today and the latest addition to my personal Star Trek canon. I have been taken in by The Edge of Midnight written by Seamus Devenish. The Edge of Midnight is the story of the Federation-Klingon Cold War of 2258-2293. Devenish draws from “in universe” Starfleet Archives, diaries, personal accounts and interviews to tell the story of this Cold War. Out of universe, Devenish cites inspiration as coming from Star Trek movies and books, as well as the FASA Star Trek roleplaying game and the Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual that is the basis for the Star Fleet Universe within which Star Fleet Battles is set.
What Is Edge of Midnight?
What is The Edge of Midnight? It is best described as a History of the Federation Cold War, written from the perspective of a 24th-century historian. It is an attempt to weave together 55+ years of Star Trek Canon, Fanon, RPG guide content and personal ramblings into a coherent narrative. The Federation-Klingon Cold War forms the backdrop to the events of Star Trek, from The Original Series to Strange New Worlds, with all six original movies and dozens of other events referenced across Trek tying into it. It has, however, not been discussed or speculated on in much detail. Edge of Midnight is a fan project that aims to change that. (edgeofmidnight.webbly.com)
Book One of The Edge of Midnight – The Business of Risk is available as a FREE download which makes incorporating it into my personal canon that much easier.
Next generation of Adventures
This whole discussion is actually a round-about way for me to think about my investing in the new second edition of the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game from Modiphius Entertainment. I am already on the record as stating that I am not the biggest fan of the 2d20 game system but, with the upcoming release of the Space: 1999 – The Roleplaying Game from Modiphius Entertainment I wonder if I should look at the new second edition Adventures again.
While the Star Trek Adventures – Second Edition Quickstart is free, looking over the Modiphius Entertainment web site I see Star Trek Adventures – Rules Digest is presently available at about half off. This looks to be a compendium of the rules with light setting material; perhaps exactly what I need given I have my own personal “setting” preferences. This should allow me to experiment playing my own setting using the Star Trek Adventures game system with a reasonable starting cost.
The real point is that I really do want to keep gaming in the Star Trek Universe, but on my own terms. Perhaps I actually have more in common with Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991) than I imagine.
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