HOUSE RULES

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The following house rules will be applied to our game:

Rolling Double Ones: This optional rule makes it possible for even highly skilled heroes to fail at tasks due to bad luck. Whenever double ones are rolled on the dice for any test, you must roll 1d6 and subtract it from the test result. If this die rolls a 6, roll another 1d6 and subtract it, repeating this process until something other than 6 is rolled. These penalty rolls can reduce the test result to a negative number.

Pain Reduction: The Deltan species trait will require a TN test roll for each wound levels (same TNs as Medicine - 5, 10, 15, 20, 25) to determine success.

Special Traits: Any type of Trait that is "once per gaming session" is to be played as "once per game day".

Courage points: will return at 1 point per game day.

Stamina: A Character can perform any Extreme Activity for the number of rounds equal to his STAMINA times 2. After this point, the character will need to make a Weariness Test and the interval from that point forward will be equal to his or her STAMINA.

Dodge Edge: The Dodge edge may be improved one time - for 2 picks, you may take an additional +3 (total +6).

Knowledge and Language skills: The first stage is your characters background Knowledge and Language skills. To determine their Knowledge and Language skills, you multiply your Intellect skill times three to determine how many points you can spend. (Note: Again, this is different from the Player's Guide method, but instead inline with the upcoming Errata). Then you can allocate these points across the skills specific to your characters species, culture, language, and background.

For the purposes of this campaign we've changed the division of skills within the Knowledge skill group to make the skills more specific to the character's personal background. The possible skill options are listed here, along with a number of specialties for each skill. Where a criteria is listed in [], you must specify one area upon choosing that skill. For example, if you take "[Species] History ([Specific Skill])", you would write down something like "Human History (Science)" on your character sheet, giving you a knowledge of general human history, with a specialty in significant events relating to scientific advancements. This replaces the old system of choosing "History (Human)" which would imply that you somehow know everything that ever happened in history anywhere in the galaxy, though specializing somewhat in Human events.
Skills
[Species] Culture
Sample Specialties: Customs; Food; Traditions; Etiquette
[Species] History
Sample Specialties: [Specific Region]; [Specific Era]; [Specific Skill]
[Organization] Law
Sample Specialties: Criminal; Business; Family; Interplanetary; Constitutional
[Organization] Politics
Sample Specialties: Recent; History; Political; Leaders
[Specific] Religion
Sample Specialties: Prophets; Sacred Texts; Historical; Leaders
[Specific World]
Sample Specialties: [Specific Region];
Trivia
Sample Specialties: [Specific Hobby];

These skills are used to remember a particular mission log you read, remember some of the religious lore you were taught growing up, or remember specific facts about your home world.

Opposed Reaction: tests are free actions.

Size modifiers: only apply to the attack, they are not to be figured into any parry or dodge attempts. If they were, this has the effect of doubling the penalty against the target.

Extra Successes: A character who scores a superior success on any attack test inflicts +1d6 extra damage, and for every full increment of 5 above a superior success +1d6 is added.  A player-character or feature NPC may choose a special effect instead of extra damage.  Regular damage is still dealt with automatically gain initiative / crippling wound / attack bonus / defensive bonus (crippling wound / break equipment all require an extraordinary success).  Alternatively, on an extraordinary success the attacker may choose to disarm the opponent's weapon (or shield) instead of inflicting damage; if an unarmed attack disarms the opponent, then the attacker seizes the weapon (or shield).

Healing: This revision makes possible quicker recovery as well as damage from infection.  Successful Medicine heals damage equal to the recipient's base Health rating plus additional Health based on degree of success (3 extraordinary, 2 superior, 1 complete, 0 marginal).  Healing damage in the "Healthy" level is TN 5.  A character at "Near Death" loses 1 Health per hour until successfully treated (TN 30) or at least stabilized (TN 15).  At the end of every week a damaged character must make a Stamina test (TN 10, applying his injury penalty); this replaces Table 9.36 (p. 247).  If successful, the character heals his Vitality bonus (if any) plus additional Health based on degree of success (3 extraordinary, 2 superior, 1 complete, 0 marginal).  On a failure the character's wounds become infected, and he suffers 1d6 damage (2d6 on a complete failure, 3d6 on a disastrous failure).  There is no set time of day at which the Stamina test must be made, so a dying character's final moment can come at a dramatically appropriate time (or, if randomness is desired, 4d6 hours after midnight).  If under the care of a healer, the character gets to make a bonus Stamina test to heal extra damage (as above, no damage on a failure).  Advanced treatment in a haven (p. 248) provides a +5 bonus to all Healing skill tests and Stamina damage recovery tests.

Multiple Actions: Characters may only perform a number of Offensive actions, per round, equal to their standard Action Allowance (plus any bonus actions from the traits or abilities). They may perform as many Defensive actions as they need until, of course, it becomes futile. I.e. Grahm has 3 Actions per round - 2 standard and 1 more from his trait. He may attack no more than three times in the round, although he may make as many Parry and Dodges as he needs until the Action Allowance penalty reduces his rolls to low to be of any value.

Starship Damage: When ships take 5 points of Structure damage, they take a system hit and a system drops in reliability. This sounds good, but in practice it means that small ships should never bother to take a system better than Class 1, since the ship will be taken out before a system can go out. So, the 1 system damage per 5 Structure hit wil be changed to 1 system hit per SIZ in damage with a cap of 5. Ships of size 5 or greater will follow the game rules, but ships of SIZ 4 or less can be disabled without being taken out, and have a reason to consider better components.

That's gonna leave a mark!: Getting hit with your shields down is bad, m'kay. The degree of success determines the extra damage conferred right to the structure. Drydock, here we come!

Unshielded Hull damage modifier
complete success +2
superior success +4
extraordinary success +6

Expanded Spacecraft Operations: We will be using the supplemental rules by Killerwhale in our game from his download - see pages 45-48 of the ESO for primary rules that will apply.

Recognition and Promotion: (from Maelwys game -- for future campaigns)
Each character will earn Recognition points through their gaming career and may use these recognition points to grow their careers. The character will earn the points as listed below, and may then spend those points to increase their rank. Commissioned officer characters cannot increase more than one rank for any one advancement. Enlisted characters will automatically increase their rank as the recognition accumulates.

Ways to earn recognition:

• Write a strongly detailed background / personality for your character
• Completing an episode will automatically award 1 recognition point
• Be awarded "Best at Table" (at the end of every episode, all players will vote for who they thought was the strongest RP'er that session. The winning player will be awarded 1 recognition)
• Some especially notable scenes will award recognition to all characters who take part
• Narrator's discretion, I can arbitrarily award a point

Ways to spend recognition:

• If you're a commissioned officer, use it earn a promotion increase. You still need to purchase the Promotion trait when you level-up, as well as having the appropriate number of recognition certs.
• If you're a non-commissioned officer, use it to earn a promotion increase. IN this case you don't need to purchase the Promotion trait, you simply indicate that you'd like the higher rank. However, you also don't get to purchase the Command trait without special permission, since in general non-comm officers cannot be department heads, or ship's captain.

Recognition Req.	Promotion Req.	Commissioned Rank
0	0	Ensign
3	1	Lieutenant (j.g.)
8	2	Lieutenant
12	3	Lieutenant Commander
25	4	Cammander
40	5	Captain

   

Recognition Req.		Enlisted Rank
0		Crewman, 3rd class
2		Crewman, 2nd class
5		Crewman, 1st class
8		Petty Officer, 3rd class
15		Petty Officer, 2nd class
20		Petty Officer, 1st class
25		Chief Petty Officer
30		Senior Chief Petty Officer
40		Master Chief Petty Officer

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STARSHIP SENSORS

Starships all carry three types of sensor suites (listed below), and all suites benefit from the Sensor modifiers based on type and all are bound by the same reliability level. All sensor tests are based on three tables from the Narrator's Guide - table 7.2 Sensor test modifiers, 7.3 Extended sensor test TN's, and 7.7 Starship Range increments -  and also from the Starships manual - table 1.29 Long range sensor bonuses. Some of these tables have been enhanced for our game and our shown below.

The three classes of sensors are (details given are from the Player's Guide):

Navigational Sensors - this sensor suite links with the navigational computer and conn station to chart a starship's course through space. Optimized to detect navigational markers such as chronometric relays, navigation beacons, pulsars, quasars, and other objects programmed into the ship's computer, nav sensors make it easy for the Flight Control Officer to stay on course and monitor the ship's progress.

Sensor mechanics: these sensors offer basic information in regards to navigation; range and sensor modifiers may apply to some test performed by the helmsman in plotting a course.


Lateral Sensors: - are located along the sides of a ship in multiple "pallets". They detect objects in all directions around a vessel, but only up to a range of approximately 1 light year*. As such, they are of little use when traveling at warp velocities. At impulse speeds, lateral sensors facilitate scientific research; during combat situations, they allow the ship to locate and track enemy vessels. Lateral sensor pallets include EM scanners, subspace imagers, thermal sensors, and several other detectors.

Sensor mechanics: these sensors assist in combat, and scientific research when in close proximity to the study, and when the ship is not traveling at any warp speeds. Range and sensor modifiers will apply to any test performed by the science officer or tactical officer.

*1 light year is equal to 9.5 trillion km; light travels at 300,000 km/sec


Long Range Sensors: - function in two modes - standard and high resolution. In high resolution they can return data up to a maximum of 5 light years (LY) away; in standard resoltuion they can return data up to 20 LY away. The TN's to detect are listed in the table below based on range. These sensors cover a 45* to 90* arc in front of the ship and they can detect solid objects, gravimetric and energy phenomena, subspace emissions, thermal images, neutrino images, or variations/fluctuations within any occurence.

Sensor mechanics: these sensors are used by a ship when it is moving at warp speeds and is the farthest 'seeing' suite a ship will have. The details of what it can detect may take some time in determining, but a starship can get an idea of what is going on in the sector around it (i.e. it may detect the radiation of a passing starship, but not be able to give any detail as to whose ship it may be).


Ship Emissions
A starship is a very intricate piece of machinery and it is very rare that a vessel at any great speed will not be emitting some type of radiation. From navigation beacons, sector scans, radio communications, or deflectors, there are many detectable emissions coming from a ship. Even the ship's warp core will leave an evident trace of its passing.

To keep the ship and crew safe, many systems need to be running to make sure there are no collisions with some object in space or even another ship. Still, a captain in a tactical situation may wish to control the level of emissions that his ship is sending out into the void to gain an advantage over an enemy or to approach undetected – it is called Emission Control or EMCON. I have developed three levels of EMCON that a ship can travel under (based upon information taken from both the NG and the SOM. It is to be understood that the emission levels listed do not account for Cloaking Devices, which I believe have been represented very well in the core books.

EMCON 1: Under EMCON 1, basic systems are left operational – life support, navigational deflectors, and passive sensors. All of the following systems must also be shut down – communications, active sensors, warp drives, weapon systems, and even internal lights at times.

This emission level is called running silent (as in the NG). In this state, the ship can still attempt to detect other ships passively (a difficult task made easier or more difficult by the other ship's EMCON level) but its purpose is to primarily disappear electronically and perhaps sneak in on a target. Understand that no matter how many systems a ship can shutdown, it will not detriment another vessel that is running at EMCON level 3.

EMCON 2: Under EMCON 2, the ship primarily runs on long-range navigational sensors and a full array of passive sensor systems. Depending on the mission, the captain may order a full sensor sweep – including active sensors – in periodic intervals.

This emission level allows a captain to take quick looks about his ship to make tactical or strategic maneuvers as needed. It protects the ship from any possible obstructions in its path but does not blatantly give the ships presence away. Even if another ship should detect the EMCON 2 level ship's momentary active sensors scan, it may not confer enough information to allow a lock or to locate the target.

EMCON 3: Under EMCON 3, the ship is running at full active sensors and other radiations. Usually ships within known sectors of space will use this tactic to make sure nothing has slipped by; also ships on science missions will radiate in this manner.

A ship at EMCON 3 is rarely spoofed by another ship at a lower EMCON level but they do give their presence away much more easily by their radiation.

Passive versus Active
How does a captain manage their mission – does the ship need to travel stealthy or is it on a science mission of discovery? Anytime a ship radiates, it makes it easier for it to be detected, but at the same time for it to detect a target. Unfortunately for a radiating ship, it gives itself away more easily than the chance it gains by its active sensors in detecting a quiet ship. Think of it as two people in a pitch-dark room and one has a flashlight. The individual without the light can easily see the other (even at great distances) while still being hidden, but once the light is cast on them they will have a hard time from then on to evade.

So why use sensors at all – why not travel discreetly and rely on passive listening? This is a problem for one reason because ships do not get far on impulse travel. Warp speed allows much further and rapid rates of travel but the warp core leaves a detectable signature. To get anywhere it is necessary so cannot be avoided. Another problem with silent running is once the enemy has detected a quiet ship; the quiet ship is at a very big disadvantage, as they must now spend time bringing systems back online.

This is why EMCON is definitely a strategic and/or tactical decision that captains must choose.


Table 7.2: Standard Sensor Test TN's [Modified]

Scan for:		TN Modifier*
General Information/Detect a ship at EMCON 3		TN 5
Locate abundant specific elements; specific life-forms/Detect a ship at EMCON 2		TN 10
Uncommon specific elements		TN 15
Rare or difficult to detect elements		TN 20
Specific elements beyond sensor capability/Detect a ship at EMCON 1		TN 25
Unkonwn elements beyond sensor capability		TN 30

*If a ship is scanning in Passive mode, increase the TN by +10


Table 7.3: Extended Sensor Test TN'S

Area	Aggregate TN
Planet	TN x 10
Continent	TN x 8
City	TN x 6
City block / Large Ship	TN x 4
Building / Small Ship	TN x 2
Room	TN

Sensor Range Increments and Bonuses

Range Increment	TN Modifier	Distance* (Lateral sensors)	Distance Hi Res* (Long Range/ Navigation sensors)	Distance Std Res* (Long Range/ Navigation sensors)
Point Blank	-2	1,000 km	less than 1 LY	3 LY
Short	+0	10,000 km	2 LY	5 LY
Medium	+2	50,000 km	3 LY	10 LY
Long	+4	100,000 km	4 LY	15 LY
Extended	+6	200,000 km	5 LY	20 LY
Extended +1	+2 per band	+100,000 km	not applicable	not applicable

*Although lateral sensors will reach up to 1 LY, the distance increments increase in +100,000 km, to the maximum of +20 to the TN; High resolution scans gain full sensor bonuses; Standard resolution scans gain only 1/2 of the ship's sensor bonuses by range increment

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Starship Combat

Range modifier in Starship combat - All Tactical maneuvers will be affected by range; the following penalties are incurred based on range:
Point Blank = +1
Short = ±0
Medium = -1
Long = -3
Extended = -5
Extended +1 = is irrelevant due to no damage effects beyond Extended

Size modifier in Starship combat - Ship size will affect Tactical maneuvers in combat; the following penalties or bonuses apply based on the size of the target ship in comparison to the attacking ship. An attacking ship gains or suffers a +2 / -2 modifier for each size difference of its target. Example: a Medium ship attacks a Huge ship and gains a +4 bonus to all Tactical Maneuvers; the same ship attacking a Tiny shuttlecraft would suffer a -4.

Ship Size		Size scale
Tiny		1
Small		2-3
Medium		4-6
Large		7-9
Huge		10-12
Gigantic		13-16
Titanic		17-20

Rate of Fire - a ship may make one Fire Maneuver per weapon system per round - so, a ship could Fire twice, but it would be phasers and then photons. The Tier 2 maneuver, Multiweapon, reduces the action count to 1 to fire multiple weapon systems at once.

Weapon Recharge time - after firing a weapon system, it needs time to re-charge; see the table below

-Phasers may be fired each round
-Photon Torpedoes require one round to re-charge after the round that they were fired
-Plasma Torpedoes require two rounds to re-charge after the round that they were fired

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The following links are various resource sites that may aid in gameplay or for other Star Trek information:

CODA Star Trek Resources
Ex Astris Scientia
Memory Alpha
Star Trek Blueprints database

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Katyon Cluster rules:

Location: within the Kalandra Sector.
Known info: The Katyon cluster (pronounced ku-tie-on) is made up of 10 bright, young stars that are clustered within an area of the sector only 2 light years by 2 light years. Their close proximity to one another causes radical fluctuations of gravity, radiation, and gravimetric shear. The radiation within the cluster is so high that there are issues with transporters and tractor beams. One of the stars, KC-9, is a bit larger then it's close neighbor, KC-8, and its gravitational pull is drawing some of the gas from KC-8. This is having the effect of causing KC-9 to be more active, rotating much more rapidly, and the result is a massive jet of gas out of the cluster at super-luminal speeds. Finally, due to the number of stars and gravity, space debris and dust has created a huge halo orbit around the cluster and planetary accretion has begun. Though no planet is habitable, those that exist are rich with minerals and heavy metals. Needless to say, trying to get in close to the cluster requires a lot of skill due to the massive number of asteroids that tumble about in space.

Unless I give a different TN for a particular test, it can be assumed that a Helm, Tactical, or Sensor test (don't forget to check the ship sheet to see what bonus comes from the ship itself) is TN10. Helm/Navigation tests will increase to TN 20 within the asteroid/planetoid field.

The TN will also fluctuate based on the proximity of the ship to the cluster per the following chart:

	Helm /				Shield
Distance	Navigation	Sensors	Deflectors	Damage	Strength
Extended	+0 TN	+0 TN	+0 TN	0	-0
Long	+3 TN	+2 TN	+3 TN	0	-0
Medium	+5 TN	+4 TN	+6 TN	1	-1
Short	+7 TN	+6 TN	+9 TN	3	-2
Point Blank	+9 TN	+8 TN	+12 TN	5	-3

Narrator will determine when a new proximity band is entered.

The cluster is rife with high-levels of radiation and gravity can fluctuate at different levels based on proximity to each star. Finally, there is a large quantity of dust and asteroids/planetoids and planets that halo the cluster. This natural screen of particles make transiting within the cluster very dangerous.