Badger Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Our Running Joke is something along the lines of "Phasers! The Worlds Slowest Energy Beam...." Most likely why the MACO's showed up with a different energy gun in the Enterprise series, heh. You have enough time to go make a cup of coffee, drink it while reading the paper, and possibly starting a good breakfast while waiting for the average Next Generation Phaser beam to cross a room. TOS though, they had episodes where an over loaded phaser could blow up and take the Enterprise with it, so, one could say they are pretty powerful. Basically All or Nothing. Main Characters get grazed in the Arm, Red Shirt's and anyone Kirk shoots at gets Vaporized, anyone Janeway or Sisko talks to Vaporizes themselves to maintain sanity, Anyone dealing with Archer shoots themself with the Retcon setting, and most folks are Self Stunning if they listen to PIcard tell them to surrender or get Phasered. ~Rex Now you know why my Star Trek taste are TOS or nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted March 8, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? So, it is completely safe to assume the "real" reason why, unless needed as part of the story, phasers don't chew up the scenery...is due to TV show budget constraints? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Escafarc Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? So' date=' it is completely safe to assume the "real" reason why, unless needed as part of the story, phasers don't chew up the scenery...is due to TV show budget constraints?[/quote'] You're right, there are a number of interviews with the creators where that was brought up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? So' date=' it is completely safe to assume the "real" reason why, unless needed as part of the story, phasers don't chew up the scenery...is due to TV show budget constraints?[/quote']Chewing Scenery is William Shatner's job Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roy_The_Ruthles Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Which Star Trek are you modeling? They are different “ages” TOS: Golden Age TNG: Silver Age DS9: Iron Age Voyager: Iron Age And obviously they blend into other ages and have some mixup, none of them is pure “one thing” but if I was modeling a TNG phaser it would be different from a DS9 phaser, as well as the campaign caps are different (in TNG, everyone has a 3 OCV, no CSLs and spreads their phasor, in DS9 people actually have training and skill). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Yes and no to the comic age parallel. I think it's more like: TOS: We are Soldiers in a warship doing exploration TNG: We are Civilians and Scientists in a fortress ship doing exploration DS9: We got our Civvie tails kicked by the Borg and need to be soldiers again (also our commander is an bad ass) Voyager: We are Civilians that got mixed together with a bunch of dirty rebel soldiers, and need to all become solders again Ent: We are Civilians, but we carry some ass kicking marines when we need firepower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
薔薇語 Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Ent: We are Civilians' date=' but we carry some ass kicking marines when we need firepower.[/quote'] That is perhaps the greatest description I've ever heard! And don't get me wrong, I loved the show, but I don't think it ever achieved that lvl of awesome. : ) La Rose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RexMundi Posted March 8, 2011 Report Share Posted March 8, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Heh, I always divided my Star Trek up by the following.... TOS: Captain Kirk gets the women, Set Phasers to Stun SHOOT TO KILL! Spock saves the day..... TNG: The Picard Maneuver *Tugs jacket/shirt/jumpsuit down after standing up*, worlds worse French Accent, Wesley saves the day...... DS9: Wait we get A Man called Hawk as a Commander? In the Federation? Really? Really?!....Odo sleeps in a bucket....... Voyager: Surrender you sneaky Kaisons and Borg otherwise we'll allow Janeway to screech at you in the worlds most nagging god awful nasal voice! Enterprise: Commence Continuity Ignorance! Oh, and the Archer Maneuver (Takes more Kidney Punches then any Human EVER, aka, the Andorian Hand Shake) ~Rex.....wishes you could take elements of them all and string them together but then you just end up with Peter David's New Frontier stuff....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? That is perhaps the greatest description I've ever heard! And don't get me wrong, I loved the show, but I don't think it ever achieved that lvl of awesome. : ) La Rose. There were a couple of episodes where they used the ship's marines well. I still contend that Enterprise took place in an alternate universe from the Other shows. Perhaps it was the first point of divergence before the JJ Abram's Star Trek. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
薔薇語 Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? There were a couple of episodes where they used the ship's marines well. I still contend that Enterprise took place in an alternate universe from the Other shows. Perhaps it was the first point of divergence before the JJ Abram's Star Trek. I still contend that most every episode of every series takes places in a slightly different universe than the others. ^^ La Rose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? I still contend that most every episode of every series takes places in a slightly different universe than the others. ^^ La Rose. Well some of that is the danger of running a highly episodic series that has little to no continuity, but the base continuity. So If Worf is changed into a Romulan in one episode, the next episode will probably ignore the previous one, and even if the next episode does deal with this major change. It will never be part of the core writer's canon bible. Which is one reason that the Trek series were annoying esp when compared to something like Babylon 5 which had very good continuity and a meta plot that ran through all the seasons, and extended to the spinoffs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badger Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Heh, I always divided my Star Trek up by the following.... TOS: Captain Kirk gets the women, Set Phasers to Stun SHOOT TO KILL! Spock saves the day..... TNG: The Picard Maneuver *Tugs jacket/shirt/jumpsuit down after standing up*, worlds worse French Accent, Wesley saves the day...... DS9: Wait we get A Man called Hawk as a Commander? In the Federation? Really? Really?!....Odo sleeps in a bucket....... Voyager: Surrender you sneaky Kaisons and Borg otherwise we'll allow Janeway to screech at you in the worlds most nagging god awful nasal voice! Enterprise: Commence Continuity Ignorance! Oh, and the Archer Maneuver (Takes more Kidney Punches then any Human EVER, aka, the Andorian Hand Shake) ~Rex.....wishes you could take elements of them all and string them together but then you just end up with Peter David's New Frontier stuff....... Wait....Picard had a French accent? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
薔薇語 Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Wait....Picard had a French accent? ^^. No, he didn't. I don't think Patric Stewart ever claimed to have one, either. But people just like to get on his case because it was an Englishman playing a Frenchman. La Rose. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? ^^. No, he didn't. I don't think Patric Stewart ever claimed to have one, either. But people just like to get on his case because it was an Englishman playing a Frenchman. La Rose. Yeah. How dare an actor act! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Wait....Picard had a French accent? "You don't frighten us, Klingon pig-dogs! I fart in your general direction! Now go away before I am forced to taunt you a second time!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrosshairCollie Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Which Star Trek are you modeling? They are different “ages” TOS: Golden Age TNG: Silver Age DS9: Iron Age Voyager: Iron Age You forgot Enterprise: Dork Age Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragitsu Posted March 9, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? What do you call an unborn Nog? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Phasers are as dangerous as you the GM need them to be. Remember, the more powerful you make them the easier time players will have in combat. Like most iconic SciFi weapons their lethality depended on the Author of the script and the needs of the story. IMHO as GM of an RPG you should have weapons that are balanced around the genre's rather low mortality rate for the Primaries in the story. I say to remember that you are translating a TV show/Movie into an RPG format. If you convert to what you think you are seeing you will have lots of player death and combats that end up being about who gets the first accurate shots off first. Tasha Must spread rep, etc. This was my impression of phasers -- they did whatever the story required, whether it was consistent with last week's episode or not. RPG's are generally more consistent than TV shows, so a decision needs to be made: you can make the phasers 'balanced' with respect to the game mechanics and not so powerful, or make them consistent with their actual tech level and let the players beware. One way to make this decision is asking where the campaign will fall on the scale of "cinematic" vs. "realistic." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted March 9, 2011 Report Share Posted March 9, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Must spread rep' date=' etc. This was my impression of phasers -- they did whatever the story required, whether it was consistent with last week's episode or not. RPG's are generally more consistent than TV shows, so a decision needs to be made: you can make the phasers 'balanced' with respect to the game mechanics and not so powerful, or make them consistent with their actual tech level and let the players beware. One way to make this decision is asking where the campaign will fall on the scale of "cinematic" vs. "realistic."[/quote'] Exactly. First season TNG, it was established in an episode that the phasers (dustbuster/electric shaver models) had controls that allowed modulating the frequency of the beam. That ability was lost by the time that the Borg were encountered, and had to be "redesigned" into the phasers in a limited fashion to try to defeat Borg personal shields. Phasers function as plot requires. JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xavier Onassiss Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Exactly. First season TNG, it was established in an episode that the phasers (dustbuster/electric shaver models) had controls that allowed modulating the frequency of the beam. That ability was lost by the time that the Borg were encountered, and had to be "redesigned" into the phasers in a limited fashion to try to defeat Borg personal shields. Phasers function as plot requires. JoeG Very true. They'll do pretty much anything the author needs to rationalize. Set phasers to... Stun: target falls over unconscious. Disintegrate: target vanishes. Bar-B-Cue: target is ready to serve with a side of baked beans. Macarena: target compulsively breaks into horrible song and dance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tasha Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Very true. They'll do pretty much anything the author needs to rationalize. Set phasers to... Stun: target falls over unconscious. Disintegrate: target vanishes. Bar-B-Cue: target is ready to serve with a side of baked beans. Macarena: target compulsively breaks into horrible song and dance. Don't forget that Star Trek Universe also has Anabolic Protoplasers which are Anti-phasers. The things heal tissue instead of damaging it. Also if worse comes to worse they can use the setting's ultimate Deus ex Machina, The Transporter, to fix everyone. Hell there's really no reason for anyone in a Trek universe to age, they can just set up a Transporter session and lose that unwelcome aging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ternaugh Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? Don't forget that Star Trek Universe also has Anabolic Protoplasers which are Anti-phasers. The things heal tissue instead of damaging it. Also if worse comes to worse they can use the setting's ultimate Deus ex Machina' date=' The Transporter, to fix everyone. Hell there's really no reason for anyone in a Trek universe to age, they can just set up a Transporter session and lose that unwelcome aging.[/quote'] I tend to associate Transporter tech with the story/Outer Limits episode, "Think Like a Dinosaur", perhaps, so did McCoy and Pulaski. JoeG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? "Sensors detect a caffeine based life form. Set phasers to: Decaffeinate." Lucius Alexander The palindromedary remembers that Lucius was literally rolling on the floor laughing at that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? "Set phasers to: Decaffeinate." That's a clear violation of the Geneva conventions, international law, and just plain common decency. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Naanomi Posted March 10, 2011 Report Share Posted March 10, 2011 Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? That Phaser MP needs the 1d6 RKA with 3X Penetrating for the (admittedly few) times they show them slowly 'cutting' through really hard stuff with phasers. And a Self-Destruct Mode Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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