Shane: No, ADB (Star Fleet Games is the name of the web site, the company is Amarillo Design Bureau) does not have the license to use any specific characters from any TV show or movie. They have rights to portions (most or all, I'm not exactly sure) of the ST:TOS background.

They have no license to any movies and beyond.

The good news is that the license they do have NEVER expires. Something no one else has or will ever get.

Further, a good deal of the core of the SFU (Star Fleet Universe) is based on the Franz Joseph Star Fleet Technical Manual.

However, the majority of the background to the SFU is original and owned by ADB, Inc.

More than you asked for but I hope this is helpful. I might add that you can make up anything you want for your own personal use.

By Shane Henry (Shane) on Sunday, July 23, 2006 - 12:30 pm: Edit

Thanks Loren. I hope to get the PD20 books sometime.

By F. Douglas Wall (Knarf) on Thursday, July 27, 2006 - 05:20 pm: Edit

I work at a restaurant called Arctic Circle and people misspell the name on their checks all the time. The most common, of course, being "Artic" Circle, but I've also seen "Article" Circle, and someone with a bad sense of humor even made thier check out to "Arsenic Cesspool."

I tell you, English is a dying language. It's being constantly murdered by those who claim to know it best: It's native speakers.

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Monday, August 28, 2006 - 02:13 am: Edit

Large market share potential: Mongoose is releasing a new Open Game Engine... and it's one that could be quite useful: RuneQuest (Chaosium/BRP Derivative.)

It is close enough to FASA Trek for the "Percentiles Or Else" crowd.

Being Open Gaming License, that's little to no negotiation needed.

I've got Mongoose's RQ core... A few differences, but very close rules to RQ 3rd ed...

And a VERY streamlined Character Generation system.

Just thought I'd toss a heads up...

By Richard Biggs (Richinq) on Tuesday, August 29, 2006 - 06:40 am: Edit

Hi,

I have just purchased the new Runequest by mongoose and would like a prime directive rpg based on this system.


Rich.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 05:37 pm: Edit

I saw the note in CL about a possible "almost finished" version of Hero Prime Directive.
THANK YOU!!! I think this will be nice as long as it follows the same format as GURPS PD in that the "basic rules" are included in the main PD Hero book. Although I realize that the d20 version of PD needs the DnD Players handbook to be used, I dislike the fact that you have to buy a fantasy oriented book to play in a sci fi setting. Just my personal prefs, not meaning to insult anyone.

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 06:20 pm: Edit

I suspect that it will be up to the owners of Hero whether you have to buy their core book or not. Last time I talked to them, they said they would want Hero PD done in a way that required players to buy their book. It's not a choice we have; it's what the require.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Thursday, December 07, 2006 - 07:15 pm: Edit

Darren. Requiring the PH or equivilent WOTC product is a requirement of the D20 OGL.

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Friday, December 08, 2006 - 12:52 am: Edit

I was under the impression one could use D20 modern as one's PD D20 core rule book so you could opt there for a non fantasy rule set.

Personnally I don't mind it. I think I remember Gene Roddenberry once being interveiwed and saying that pirate stories were cool because you could have brawls, fencing, pistol & musket fights and even cannon firing on ships; to create a much wider scope of conflict ( over say a Westerns which only have brawls and gun fights ). So opting for a little fantasy in your system should actually help as it gives you yet more options.

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Friday, December 08, 2006 - 07:59 am: Edit

MJC. "Requiring the PH or equivilent WOTC product..."

By F. Douglas Wall (Knarf) on Friday, December 08, 2006 - 10:30 pm: Edit

The Hero base book is HUGE! Their short version (Sidekick, I think) is 128 pages (compare to GURPS Lite's 32 pages.) Even if you were able to pare that down some more, it's still quite a chunk to reprint, likely reducing the amount of SFU data you could fit into a Hero PD book.

I'd say Hero PD should be a non-stand-alone book for that reason.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Tuesday, December 12, 2006 - 05:59 pm: Edit

But, most of the sidekick book is a lot about supers,
If you pair out the things that really don't pertain to the SFU, then it might be managable.
I think GPD appeals to many because you don't have to have other GURPS books, like the starter book, to actually play. I know the D20 by nature, requires you to have the PHB.
If PD Hero requires another book or books, hopefully it will be very specific: requires "The Hero 5th Edition, Rev." book, or "requires atleast "The Hero Sidekick" book to play. At least with the later, the SK book is only 14.95. With as large as the hero system is, it would be nice to know exactly what else you need to buy.

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 - 04:17 am: Edit

Truth be told, if S. Long approves it, one way or another it will be an excellent rules treatment of the subject matter. Mr. Long is notoriously fanatical about that.

Since the setting text will likely be boilerplate from GPD, we already know the quality of that (Like it or not; I Like it).

There really is no good way to "stand-alone" a hero system product... Back in the days of Champions 3rd, the "stand-alones" were mostly rules.

But now I face a purchase conundrum.... d6 or Hero... probably d6.

By Dwight Lillibridge (Nostromo) on Monday, January 29, 2007 - 09:15 pm: Edit

any chance Prime Directive would ever be turned into a Fuzion product?

By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - 08:33 am: Edit

DL: Get the publisher of fuzion to find us a reliable writer/converter and give us a reasonable contract. Seriously. Do that and we'll print it.

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Friday, February 02, 2007 - 10:43 pm: Edit

Fuzion is controlled by R.Talsorian Games...

And is the hybrid of Interlock (CP/CP2020/Mekton) and Hero anyway. Everything I've seen for Fuzion looks rather "Heroesque" but I've only looked at about 4 titles, and only bought one (Sengokyu).

The license for commercial Fuzion products, last I checked the RTG site for it, was a few hundred dollars.

Person to talk to is probably Lisa Pondsmith...

By Terry_OCarroll (Terryoc) on Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 12:27 am: Edit

Two totally off-the-wall suggestions...

Romulan: The Cloaking live action role playing game. Players are members of Romulan Great Houses, intriguing with and against each other to increase the influence of their Great House (...and their particular faction within that house... and themselves personally). Obviously inspired by White Wolf's Vampire: The Masquerade game, could probably use a similar engine.

Paranoid Directive Based on the Paranoia game. Prime directive with a blackly humorous twist. In the Mirror Universe, Prime Teams aren't the elite of the elite. Instead, they are the poor blighters who get stuck with the worst, most boring, dirty and plain suicidal missions. Nobody trusts anyone else, and everyone has a hidden agenda, just like Paranoia.

By michael john campbell (Michaelcampbell) on Saturday, February 03, 2007 - 04:50 am: Edit

T. O'C.:

What you been smokin'?

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Sunday, February 04, 2007 - 03:23 am: Edit

Smokin'? Heck, I am now curious what color the sky is in his world!

T O'C: those are bent... badly bent...

And Paranoid Directive could be fun...

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, February 15, 2007 - 04:05 pm: Edit

Any ideas if we might see a TRUE20 version of PD??

Are there any other systems that are perhaps closer to achieving some action??

By Andy Palmer (Andypalmer) on Thursday, February 15, 2007 - 06:36 pm: Edit

Darren. Um, isn't TRUE20 a derivative of D20?

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, February 15, 2007 - 10:38 pm: Edit

Yes, but I thought there was enough changes to the basic d20 system (things that T20 does differently to focus more on role-playing than hack and slash) to maybe be something different than just straight 3.5 D&D derived (like PD20).
I didn't mean for the question to sound as stupid as it did, smile. I don't know if the T20 book has rules to convert from basic D&D 3.5 characters.

By Darren Kehrer (Kehrer1701) on Thursday, February 15, 2007 - 10:39 pm: Edit

Yes, but I thought there was enough changes to the basic d20 system (things that T20 does differently to focus more on role-playing than hack and slash) to maybe be something different than just straight 3.5 D&D derived (like PD20).
I didn't mean for the question to sound as stupid as it did, smile.

By William F. Hostman (Aramis) on Wednesday, February 21, 2007 - 12:45 am: Edit

I don't know about True20, but I do know that many D20 flavors are as incompatible with each other as say, Red-Cover Basic D&D and AD&D2, or BSD and Red Hat... you can make it work, but only with patches and tweaks.

BTW, a minor nitpick: T20 is QLI's Trademark for Traveller20, the d20 version of traveller. It's likely just as incompatible.

By Scott Alan Woodard (Ogma) on Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 11:28 am: Edit

I keep seeing notes about d6, Fudge and Hero versions of Prime Directive and I'm surprised there's no mention of a Savage Worlds version! From my perspective, the d6 system is essentially dead, Fudge (while clever) is seldom used and Hero is a juggernaut that, while it must have a solid support base, doesn't really seem to be embracing other licenses.

Savage Worlds, on the other hand, continues to grow, receive awards and get loads of critical acclaim (I adore it). On top of that, it seems that they are open to licenses (they've released Pirates of the Spanish Main (essentially the RPG version of the WizKids collectible miniatures game) and working with other companies (a relatively small publisher, Talisman Studios, has just released a new Savage Worlds-based setting called Shaintar, for example).

I want to see "PRIME DIRECTIVE - THE SAVAGE EDITION"!!! :-)