The Last Dragon...Magazine

An unfortunate 'Sign of Our Times'...

It's the end of an era going back 37 years as Japan's Dragon Magazine - home of Dragon Half, Patlabor, Slayers, the Sword World RPG, and Weathering Continent among many others - has ceased publication this year. The final issue apparently came out in May of 2025. 

Haven't bought it or even seen in a long while but I was an avid collector from the late 80s to the mid 90s. Honestly I'm feeling a little heartbroken. This magazine was my first glimpse into the world of Japanese Tabletop RPGs and introduced me to many of my favorite games, as well as Replays, TRPG related Manga, and the idea of Light Novels.

Sayonara Dragon Magazine, Gokurousama.

(Goodbye, thank you for all your hard work)

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Barking Alien

RPGaDay 2024 - Barking Alien Edition - Day 15

'All the Universe is full of the life of perfect creatures.'

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Scientist. One of the 'fathers' of modern astronautics and rocketry. 

I love animals and I love Science Fiction, so it isn't surprising that one of my favorite aspects of the latter is alien critters. The field of exozoology would definitely be my calling if I lived in a distant future akin to Star Trek or Traveller. 

Art by Nicholas Ferrand

I love considering what kind of animals might live on the planets I create for my Science Fiction RPGs, even if they don't necessarily play a major part in the adventure I'm running. As mentioned previously in the post on WORLDS (Day 13), a creature that is both strange to the players but squarely fits its environment can add a sense of 'realism' to an otherwise largely fantastical local. 

Shy by Alexander Ostrowski

Dragon Magazine #123 (July 1987) had a Star Frontiers article in it titled, 'The Whole Earth Ecology' that discussed just this very subject. While the article was not an in depth bio-sciences analysis of life on other planets, it did what many great Dragon articles did back in the day; it made easily forgotten things into points to remember. It caused the often overlooked to stick out in your mind and as such, it inspired ideas. 

Art by nao70shark

Like a lot of articles from the old Dragon, I've read and re-read this one over and over, each time getting charged up by the very idea of populating distant worlds with new life forms. I couldn't wait to flex my creative muscles and create creatures that would challenge and interest my players and create a believable ecosystem for the world around them. 

The Sardu Reef by Alex Reis aka Abiogenesis

As you can see from the images accompanying this post, visuals play an important role in my use of creatures. I really like having or making pictures of the creatures I am referring to during a game. Sometimes the visual of the critter comes first and it inspires the biology and stats. Sometimes its the other way around; I envision an alien beast, write it up, and then I search for or illustrate what it looks like. Either way, a picture really enhances the introduction of a new extraterrestrial animal. 

Art by Ben Mauro

With that, I don't really have much else say. I just love me some cute and cuddly creatures like the fellow above. Heheh. I'm sure I'll have some inspired revelation tomorrow but that's the way it goes. 

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Barking Alien

BONUS FEATURE: Day 15 of the official RPGaDay 2024 Prompts:

Hmm. You know which characters have great gear? Starfleet characters and Ghostbusters. 

I might have mentioned this before but playing these two games, along with Star Wars, really shook up my outlook on how to run an RPG. Starting the characters off with some seriously awesome hardware not only feels right for the settings in question but also adds to the idea that gear is cool but not the goal.

The objective isn't obtaining more and/or better weapons when you start off with a Phaser or Particle Thrower. The Tricorder and PKE Meter are the right tools for the right job in their respective settings. You've already got the best toys. You're free to dig a little deeper and search for something more meaningful. 'Course you could still be in it for the money in Ghostbusters and Star Wars I guess. Oh well.

That Which Survives

There is an idea regarding starships and the starship as character that I want to address.

The October 1989 issue of Dragon Magazine (#150 to be precise) contains an article on running a campaign for the FASA Star Trek Role Playing Game called, "A Final Frontier of Your Own" by John J. Terra. I have mentioned before, very early in the life of this blog, that I read that article each time I prepare to GM Star Trek.

I have read it dozens and dozens of times at this point. If you have never read it and you want to run a Star Trek campaign, do yourself and try to get a hold of that issue and article. While many of the elements of the article may seem obvious, please do not underestimate the power of seeing something in print and how it makes things you don't even think about that much harder to forget.

One particular part of the article that I want to talk about here is on the subject of the PCs' vessel. As part of his initial overview of campaigning in the Star Trek universe, Mr. Terra makes this reference to his own campaign...




What is interesting to me is how he notes at the end of the paragraph essentially the same point I was making in my previous post. However, notice that he mentions the PC ship getting an upgrade, the 'party' using a different ship for a while and finally being assigned a brand new ship.

How many of us actually do that? That is, how many of us who have played or run Star Trek or a Star Trek-oriented campaign have actually seen our ships grow and change and eventually give way to new and better ships?

I think it's a fascinating idea myself and I have used it on a few occasions. I've run a number of successful (meaning they were fun and people enjoyed them a lot) Star Trek campaigns but only a few long ones. Given the chance, I love the idea of starting the players off on a small vessel like a research ship/surveyor and then, after some major discovery or encounter, have Starfleet reward them with something more akin to a TOS (The Original Series) Era Miranda Class (The USS Reliant) or Constitution Class (The USS Enterprise).

Eventually, after a dozen or so adventures on their ship, having turned in some XP a couple of times to Starfleet Engineers (that is, the GM) for upgrades, it's time to overhaul the ol' girl and get all TMP (The Motion Picture) Era up in there. Ahem.

Continue to play awhile longer and yes, upgrading again or replacing the vessel with an entirely new class of ship would be awesome.

I recall one campaign where the PCs started with a TOS Miranda, went to a TMP Miranda and eventually some of the PCs were promoted and reassigned. We started a new campaign in which the previous Captain was now an Admiral and promoted our Helmsman to Captain (some 5 years later in the campaign timeline).

Our former Chief Engineer now worked at the Starfleet shipyards on Mars (Utopia Planitia) designing new classes of starships. The player of said Chief Engineer came up with an original design of his own making to serve as the starting ship for the new game. So, the player of the former Lt. Commander Helmsman is now Captain, the old Captain is an NPC Admiral and every one else made new characters. The ship had several neat features and improvements by was generally a bit smaller and less powerful then the TMP Miranda we ended the last campaign with.

Ships, like characters, grow and move forward, increasing in capabilities just like the crews that call them home. To avoid too much power creep too quickly, start the players off on a relatively low end or medium end vessel. Change them over to something medium-cool within the first dozen episodes or less (maybe around 6-8?). After another two dozen go for something very cool, although as noted, allowing for upgrades to the medium-cool ship in the interim.

What do you think? The exact when and how of ship upgrades and exchanges need not be so specific. This is more of an outline. Play it by ear (or antennea if you're Andorian).

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Barking Alien

Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto

Another thing that has me super excited over my Expanded Extended Mission campaign is that it finally allows me to fulfill a long time gaming goal, create a Robot Role Playing Game Campaign.

Even before discovering RPGs I was fascinated by robots in cartoons, movies, television show and books. In one of those peculiar twists of fate the year 1977 would not only cause my interest in robots to explode but I would also get my first take of gaming. The droids of Star Wars were amazing and I played my first game of D&D (Red Box I believe) a few months later. Now much to my dismay at the time we didn't know of any other RPGs as I'm sure I never would have played D&D if I knew science fiction games existed.

Fast forward to the future world of 1985, where with years of playing Star Trek, Traveller and other sci-fi games under my grav-belt I discovered an article in Dragon Magazine announcing a new game called Proton Fire. According to the article the game focused on players playing custom designed robots destined for exploration and adventure in a far off star system (or systems. The promos talked about the Matri system but also seemed to imply exploration of space beyond the system).

Alas, the Proton Fire game came to naught. Never released, at least in its entirety, the game became little more then vaporware remembered only by those who, like me, who were clamouring for its premise.

The game is believed to have survived, in whole and in parts, by being reprinted as articles in White Wolf magazine as a game called Nuts & Volts and as a supplement for Gamma World called Epsilon Cyborgs.

While Mekton served me well for my mecha anime needs (and always will I'd wager), I never found the game or the idea that let me really go crazy with the "Sentient Machine as PC" space adventure game I was longing for.

Happily, Extended Mission is that game. A very simplified version of the robot construction rules from Nuts & Volts is used to make the PC robots. Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto.

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Barking Alien

The Prime Directive

Gaming the Final Frontier Part I - General Order One - Know Star Trek

Before undertaking the project of running a Star Trek RPG campaign, there are a few things to consider first. Some of what I am about to say may seem obvious but it is always good to keep the important things fresh in your mind. In issue #150 of Dragon Magazine (October, 1989) there is an article by John J. Terra about running a Star Trek campaign using the FASA rules system. I read that article every time I am about to run a Star Trek campaign, which means I've probably read it about 50 times already, minimum. Not only does the article contain some excellent information and creative ideas but it reminds me to focus on what is important when playing this particular RPG.

OK, so the first thing to do when preparing to run a Star Trek game is get to know Star Trek. Now, this may be one of those 'duh' moments but hear me out. Don't just watch the show you like, your favorite film or re-read that one awesome Star Trek novel with that alien you really want to use in the game. Watch lots of different episodes from all the different series (yes, even Voyager*). Read a couple of novels set in different eras. Get the Star Trek Encyclopedia and start reading it like a book and not like you're looking up something specific.

One of the biggest complaints I hear is, "I like The Original Series but my players all grew up on The Next Generation" or "I want to run a classic Star Trek game so I'm focusing on Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn".

Star Trek is not one thing. It is not The Original Series or the Dominion War or the Vanguard novels or the films. It's a pop culture phenomenon over 40+ years old and still growing. It's produced 5 live-action TV series, 1 animated TV series, soon to be 11 movies, countless novels, comic books, video and computer games, action figures, a seemingly infinite number of fansites and now cologne. Cologne! To effectively run a Star Trek campaign you need to understand this, appreciate it and have a general knowledge of all facets of this modern mythological masterpiece.

Now I'm not asking you to know anything and everything in the Star Trek universe with pin-point accuracy. What I'm saying is that if you become an expert on one element, you're not going to be able to adapt when your players have no interest in that element. When two or three of the players really want to play species from Enterprise are you going to say, "Sorry, where playing in The Next Generation". The players will quickly point out that Enterprise is chronologically before TNG in the time line and just because Denobulans didn't appear on the TNG TV series doesn't mean they are not in Starfleet so many years later.

Another reason for this approach is that Star Trek is not all things to all people. I'll never forget suggesting to one group that we ran Star Trek and that I'd like to go for that classic feel. At that point one potential players said, "Awesome! I love the Next Generation!" Instead of beaming this individual into a bulkhead, I decided to say, "Great! Is that where you'd all like to set the game?" The vote eventually went to playing around the time of Star Trek: First Contact, with the Dominion War not far away. I ran the game with a distinctly TOS feel however, mixed with some TNG and DS9 moments. The players loved it because it was a good game and no matter how you sliced it, it was definitely Star Trek.

Star Trek campaigns should showcase elements of the best Star Trek has to offer, regardless of incarnation. Star Trek adventures and campaigns should be about action, intrigue, honor, romance, heroism, scientific speculation and an exploration of what makes us Human. This is true of any Star Trek game and any Star Trek series or product.

*You may, on occasion, notice I have a general dislike for Voyager. Well...this is true, however, it is still Star Trek. You don't have to love it, you can even think it stink,s but you have to except it as part of the family.

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Barking Alien