Design Log: Stardate 07.31.2002

Familiar Faces – or Are They?

Well, my lobbying for a new Major Rakal card was unsuccessful – for now, at least. But I did establish one thing: the existence of Romulans in 2nd edition! In fact, I just got a peek at the demo decks that you'll get to see if you go to Gen Con in Milwaukee in a couple of weeks, and the two decks are Next Generation Feds and – ta da! – Romulans! (I swear I had nothing to do with it!)

Yes, our favorite green-blooded nemeses are one of the six affiliations selected for the premiere set for Star Trek CCG 2nd edition. For those who have been wondering who would make the first cut, designer Evan Lorentz tells me I can spill the beans; in addition to the "original" triumvirate of Federation (Next Gen and DS9 for now), Klingons, and Romulans, we'll also see Bajorans, Cardassians, and Non-Aligned cards. If your affiliation of choice isn't on that list, don't panic – we've been promised that others will be added in later expansion sets, and it won't take nearly as long as it did in 1st edition!

Even if you don't make it to Gen Con, the demo decks will most likely be posted on the web after the con is over, but in the meantime, here's a few tidbits that I twisted Evan's arm to let me tell you. (With the usual disclaimer that nothing is set in stone; what actually turns up at Gen Con or later in the game itself may differ from anything I tell you here.)

The cards look strangely familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. Leafing through the Federation deck, I saw some new faces like Rixx and Daniel Kwan mixed with the expected staples, such as Jean-Luc Picard and Data. But this Data has CUNNING and STRENGTH of 10 instead of 12, and his Astrophysics and Computer Skill seem to have turned into something called Astrometrics and Programming. And in the Romulan deck, here's Tomalak, but his skills are different, his INTEGRITY is down to 4, and he has a clear statement that he's a matching commander of a particular ship! What's more, he no longer has a classification (the word "Romulan" and a "2" icon that looks somewhat like a countdown icon appear in that space) – oh, wait, his skills box also includes Officer. And there's a bullet in front of his name, while Takket and Palteth are missing the universal symbol... What's going on here?

What's going on are some changes designed to remedy a variety of problems that had become increasingly apparent in 1st edition, from inappropriate skill sets and incongruous attributes to confusion over the differences betwen classifications, skills, and "personnel types" to the lack of any difference in cost between playing Picard vs. Darian Wallace.

For example, explains Evan, "There was no set scale for attributes in 1st edition, and integrity didn't correlate as you would expect with Treachery and Honor." So we have The Pendari Champion who is apparently 25% stronger than a Soong-type android, and personnel with Treachery plus INTEGRITY of 7 at the same time as others with Honor and INTEGRITY of 5 (and even a few conflicted souls with both Honor and Treachery at the same time!). "All attributes now will be on a preset scale from 1 to 10, with the average for any attribute being 5, which will make it easier to write cards that change attributes. Also, the presence of Honor or Treachery as a skill will be keyed directly to certain levels of INTEGRITY." And those attributes, adds Brad DeFruiter, will not include any "zeroes or Qs or Xs."

As for those missing classifications, well, considering the number of times both Evan and I have been asked whether you could solve a mission or pass a dilemma using "a classification in the skills box," or if ENGINEER classification plus ENGINEER skill was the same as ENGINEER x2, I don't think any of us will miss the confusion (or the fairly large chunk of glossary entries) engendered by having MEDICAL or ENGINEER appearing in more than one place on a personnel card. "Having V.I.P. or CIVILIAN as a classification (or a skill) didn't make much sense, either," says Evan. Especially since, in the current game, some admirals are OFFICERs and others are V.I.P.s, while most V.I.P.s should probably be considered civilians as well. The upshot is that V.I.P. and CIVILIAN simply won't be relevant designations for a personnel any longer, while an Officer or Engineer or Medical personnel with have that identifier as a skill.

Addition of a "cost" for playing cards (that pseudo-countdown icon noted on Tomalak) is definitely something new for Star Trek CCG. Since it currently costs you exactly the same (your card play) to play the excellent Senator Vreenak as it does to play a piece of cannon fodder like Thei, why would you bother with the cannon fodder? Well, in 2nd edition, Vreenak will cost you three times as much as Thei to play. Instead of one card play and one card draw, each turn you will have 5 points to spend on card plays (according to printed costs) and/or card draws (1 point per draw). If you're hunting for a specific card, you might prefer to play Thei (cost=1) and draw four cards rather than blow three points on Vreenak and only be able to draw two.

What about the switch from universal symbol to "unique dots"? That's a system that has worked well in both Star Wars CCG and The Lord of the Rings TCG; it eliminates the need for the confusing and partially redundant terms "unique" and "not duplicatable," as well as resolving all the persona questions – in 2nd edition, two "versions of the same persona" will have the same card title (they'll be distinguished by a subtitle), and a bullet in front of the card title means you can have one card with that title in play at a time. There goes another big chunk of the glossary. ;-)

Next time I can tell you a little more about how both the cards and the gameplay are morphing. Oh, and be sure to catch one of those demos at Gen Con – you'll even get a chance to win a $250 shopping spree at the Decipher convention store. An advance look at new gameplay and a chance to win something: what more could you want?

Kathy McCracken
Major Rakal
Star Trek Intelligence Officer

July 31, 2002

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