Star Fleet Marines

[Typhonis 1]

Will there ever be a sourcebook for Star Ttrek ground combat? with info on tanks and apcs and such for combat campaigns?

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

I'm not very official, but I would say no since they aren't too popular amongst the public here, but that is another story. If you want one your best bet is to write one.

Get a team together and start brainstorming from canon and then expand and extrapolate into assumptions. Snowball it and then release it for the General Public to use.

My two cents....

[Greg Smith]

There are rules for vehicle in Steve Long's excellent Dominion War sourcebook, available in the computer core of the main site. These are Icon rules, but should port easily enough into Coda.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

Now I really feel stupid. I am working on Vehicle Construction Rules for CODA that allow you to make tanks, apcs, and atvs. I guess it was too late last night or something.

[Space_Cadet]

Originally posted by Typhonis 1
Will there ever be a sourcebook for Star Ttrek ground combat? with info on tanks and apcs and such for combat campaigns?

Try looking at some of the FASA supplements.. i remember that one of the Next Generation supplements (not the First Year sourcebook) had info on ground equipment, like canons. I believe its called "Officers Manual". If you're good at converting FASA stuff to Icon then maybe you can try this as a start.

[Modem]

You're not 'too late'; see:
The soucebook in question was written (IIRC) under either LUG or Spacedock rules, so your CODA ones would still very much apply/be wanted, dare I say needed.

[Dan Stack]

FASA never came out with a supplement on Starfleet Marines, though they had intended to.


The adventures Where Has All the Glory Gone? and A Doomsday Like Any Other has some details about FASA's version of Starfleet marines.

[Jesse Heinig]

We may eventually do an <i>Away Teams and Landing Parties</i> sourcebook, though nothing is on the schedule yet. Probably won't have anything like "marines" in it though, given that Starfleet is not really a military-centric organization.

[Eric R.]

I don't want to seem touchy Jesse you being an editor and all but,

1.) Word of warning, as TrekRPG (i.e. membership) has not settled on the existence of marines or any other military ground force for that matter we here to consider the M issue as part of YSYR phillisophy i.e. "Your Series, Your rules" law of game management. Your simple statement could invite a devastating repsonse from M and Ground force supporters

2.) The existence of Starfleet based/associated/attached Ground forces is canon as several episodes of DS9 refer to them. As did the approved version of the Dominion War source book so I would say that they do have a place in any official RPG line to what degree there place and fucntion is could be debated at length and has been.

[Eric R.]

Now as to my opinion on the subject at large. I have tried a long time ago to get a sourcebook started but it fell apart. I have a lot of bits and pieces laying around my computer core on the subject of ground forces (history, profesion, organization, abilities etc..) for both Icon and CODA. I have been waiting on the Ops manual, Starship and Equipment books to get going on new stuff for the GF.

BTW a search on my user name will brining up several thread I started on the subject and items related to it as well.

[Jesse Heinig]

Actually, I'm not an editor -- I'm the line developer. Means that I handle creative direction, which is a bit more glorified than editing. ;-)

The "hoo-rah" marine stereotype doesn't mesh cleanly with <i>Star Trek</i>. While Starfleet certainly has officers and enlisted personnel involved in various combat roles, the idea of a main-combat specialty branch designed with the philosophy of "God loves us because we fill His Heaven with souls" doesn't sit well with the ideology of <i>Star Trek</i>. Starfleet is first and foremost an exploratory organization and its military capabilities stem from its need to protect Earth (and later the entire Federation) against aggressor species -- which doesn't typically involve invading their planets and killing them.

If you want to have ground forces specialists in your games you can certainly build a security officer in that direction. The Special Forces elite profession can help in this regard as well. I probably won't be using the word "marine" in any sourcebook, though. (The RRTs and Hazard Teams will most likely remain pseudo-canonical.)

J. H.

Originally posted by Eric R.
I don't want to seem touchy Jesse you being an editor and all but,

1.) Word of warning, as TrekRPG (i.e. membership) has not settled on the existence of marines or any other military ground force for that matter we here to consider the M issue as part of YSYR phillisophy i.e. "Your Series, Your rules" law of game management. Your simple statement could invite a devastating repsonse from M and Ground force supporters

2.) The existence of Starfleet based/associated/attached Ground forces is canon as several episodes of DS9 refer to them. As did the approved version of the Dominion War source book so I would say that they do have a place in any official RPG line to what degree there place and fucntion is could be debated at length and has been.

[Don Mappin]

Originally posted by Eric R.
Your simple statement could invite a devastating repsonse from M and Ground force supporters

To use your own terminology for a moment: "His game line, his books."

The original question was would there be a sourcebook for ground (marine) combat? I think Jesse is the only person who can answer that (and he has).

2.) The existence of Starfleet based/associated/attached Ground forces is canon as several episodes of DS9 refer to them. As did the approved version of the Dominion War source book so I would say that they do have a place in any official RPG line to what degree there place and fucntion is could be debated at length and has been.

With all apologies to Steve Long, the DWS never went through the development or approval processes at VCP to my knowledge. That is to say, it is not an official product; there's no telling what VCP would have kept or deleted. In any event my point is that you can't point to the DWS and state that marines are part of Starfleet canon now...

Also, to restate the position of VCP as it has been explained to me and I'm sure Jesse, "marines do not exist in Star Trek." It's their playground and their ball; we just use them when allowed.

[buck rogers]

I have created a modified version of the basic starship combat rules modified for ground vehicles and have now incorperated the SOM's Operate Vehicle skill into it and I created maneuvers using other rpgs (like d20 Star Wars) for example. I would love to see Lt. Cmdr. Matt's rules, hint hint ell tee. That covered the vehicle aspect like the AOV in nemesis. As for ground forces I used the material from the sourcebooks which work well for this. I have even borrowed from Deciphers other fine rpg LotR. which has pretty good rules covering small unit tactic and large scale ground battles.

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

Originally posted by buck rogers
I would love to see Lt. Cmdr. Matt's rules, hint hint ell tee. That covered the vehicle aspect like the AOV in nemesis.

I think I got the hint there. As I have stated, no one sees the rules until I have Starships and the SOM. I have the SOM so now I need Starships

[Hadley]

Jessie, I have to agree with your aassessment that the 'Marine' (by which, I assume, the US Marine Corp) stereotype does not really fit into Gene Roddenbury's idea if the Star Trek universe. Dont forget that Gene always believed that by the 23rd/24th Centuries, man would have 'evolved' beyond the need to settle matters through war and conflict - something at the heart of many of the very best Star Trek episodes.

Saying this, who says that there has to be a dedicated Ground Force arm within Starfleet? In the episode Chain Of Command, Georgi complained to Riker that Captain Jellico had reassigned a large number of his Engineering staff to Security. Maybe Starfleet Enlisted Personnel are multi-tasked trained to fill ground force roles in such instances (O'Brien originally was a Tatical Officer on the USS Rutlidge before becoming an Engineer). Certainly I recall that when I was in the Territorials (Britain's equivilent to the National Guard) it was always drilled into us that we were riflemen first and specialists seconds (I was a signaller in an artillery unit).

However, I do like the idea of a dedicated Awat Team and Landing Party sourcebook given the emphasis that such bodies are given in both the RPG and the relevant TV Series/Movies. Is this a definite Decipher project or one that is likely to appear as a Netbook?