Stardate 57

This was supposed to post yesterday (I know, 'Fake Fan!') but I was exhausted from a week of walking in New York's late summer heatwave. With that...

Happy Birthday Star Trek! 

First airing on September 8th, 1966, the venerable franchise is now 57 years young and still going strong. Sure, I don't love all the material they've made over the last...well...a long while, I absolutely adore Lower Decks and the Star Trek Adventures RPG. I am also happy to see Paramount paying attention to things long ignored or underappreciated like Star Trek: The Animated Series. 

Star Trek means a great deal to me. It remains one of my earliest obsessions; before I loved Red Dwarf, Ghostbusters, and even Star Wars, I was a fan of Star Trek. I watched the show in syndication on Saturday nights with my Father on one of the two evenings he didn't work. We would sit in front of the television with TV dinners, something we also only did Saturday nights. He had never watched it when it aired, being in the army, college classes, and getting ready to get married and have me (to be clear, my Mom did the hard part). 

In grade school we would play Star Trek the way other kids played Cops and Robbers or Cowboys. With plastic Phasers and Tricorders we explored the strange new world of a playground or set up our MEGO Action Figures to investigate the mysteries of a school yard. I drew pictures of the USS Enterprise and wrote stories about being in the Star Trek universe. 

Everything is better when you add Star Trek to it.

In 1982, at the age of 13, I discovered the gaming store one of my uncles had said was somewhere around the neighborhood of his office. Entering into this wonderland of tabletop and RPG awesomeness, I spotted the FASA Star Trek RPG boxed set and I knew I was home. I recount the experience in one of my oldest posts: Check it out.

I've mentioned before, recently even, that Star Trek is my favorite subject for running RPGs campaigns, with Star Trek Adventures being not only my preferred way of doing so but very likely my favorite game overall. I have run [easily] over a dozen long term games, several dozen short-to-medium length games, and so many one-shots I can't even venture to guess the number. I am currently in the 7th year of running an Original Series Era Star Trek campaign - Star Trek: Prosperity - and starting a separate one with a completely different group. 

Today (OK yesterday) I join all the world's fans in celebrating Star Trek in all its infinite diversity and infinite combinations!

Here's to you Star Trek! I am looking forward to the next 57 years (or at least as many as I get to enjoy). 

Live Long and Prosper,

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Barking Alien

Just noticed this is my 1701st post. Nice.