System for a Star Trek Game?

[clehrich]

On a related note, I recommend the delegation approach.  If the person playing the captain does nothing but assign tasks they can still get as much spotlight time as the other players, without hogging it.  I'd skip on a comms officer in that case though - route communication directly to the captain.  He can stay on the ship, the away team can call and say, "I need a Such-and-Such", he can assign Ensign Melanoma to build a Such-and-Such.  With constant communication the captain still gets to interact with the characters and make decisions.  The player of the captain will just be playing at the strategic level, instead of the tactical (have I got those in the right order?).

I'd totally agree.  If you make the commo officer into an NPC (really a machine who opens com-links), the Captain has more than enough "screen time" without having to do almost anything else.  So if the Captain-player is willing to delegate, delegate, delegate, you're golden.  Note that the reverse side of the authority coin is the hog, the person who won't delegate, but that I figured was pretty obvious.  Definitely make commo an NPC!

Chris Lehrich

[erithromycin]

I'm amazed that nobody's made a 'My Life With Starfleet' suggestion.

If systems are still an issue, then I'd wonder if there was some sort of compromise between BESM and Unisystem (specifically Buffy) where the Captain was hugely powerful because the ship was part of his character sheet, but his senior crew were equally powerful because they controlled their departments as extensions (so to speak) of themselves, and also had more 'drama points'. These might include sacrificing red shirts, rerouting the doohickey through the thingamajig, or (for the captain), taking damage to a part of the ship or evacuating deck 19, or whatever.

Part of the problem with Star Trek is that, whenever I encounter it, I'm of the opinion that obligation (to self, system of belief, or starfleet) is continually being tested, and something that made that nest of obligations more concrete would, it seems to me, be useful. Of course, my next reaction is to try and move Sorcerer over, but that way lies wicked madness. However, Champions/HERO might do a better job of it - if you imagine the Captain as owning a really really big vehicle, and give the heads of departments stacks of followers, it might even add up.

Of course, this may just be showing my bias more than it shows utility, but I can but try.

[RaconteurX]

Honestly, I want to do a Star Trek-to-HeroQuest conversion. And/or Star Trek-to-InSpectres... :D