Given that I prefer skills, they typically have several shortcomings: proliferation and overreliance. Too large a skill list encourages indecisiveness in character creation, and most such games have very large skill lists indeed. This results in character write-ups that are so long that one can have difficulty imagining the character as a whole entity. In play it can lead to delays in the action as players read through their lists of skills to determine what their options are. Skill proliferation, in other words, impairs that which it is intended to promote: a better role-playing experience. The second shortcoming shares this defect. Certain skills are a replacement for actual ingenuity on the player’s part, and many players and GMs will come to rely on skill rolls rather than utilizing the player’s own abilities. Many social skills deprive players of role-playing opportunities that truly enrich the game. How much more interesting is an actual dialogue between a merchant and an adventurer haggling over the price of some merchandise than a player just rolling his Bargain skill? How much more memorable is a soldier’s morale-boosting speech at a critical moment than a player just rolling his Oratory skill? Observational skills also lend themselves to abuse. If a character is actively searching for something and describes the methods used, why shouldn’t the effort and foresight bear fruit if the object of the search is actually there? What is accomplished by denying something to a creative player on the basis of a failed Spot Hidden roll? Why should a player be encouraged to limit his activity to merely declaring his use of a skill rather than describing what his character does? Skill overreliance stifles role-playing.

I prefer skills to classes, but I want skills that promote role-playing. What is the solution? In a way, I think the answer is a compromise, and I don’t mean classes crammed with skills and feats. Rather, I think skills should be thought of as occupations themselves. GURPS and Basic Role-Playing had occupations and professions that consisted of recommended sets of skills, but I think it might be better just to make the occupations the skills. Unlike a character class system, a character may have a varying number of occupations, some professional, some amateur, that represent how he has spent his life. Each occupation will encompass a variety of abilities that may be inferred. Anything else the character may attempt to do can be accomplished by attribute rolls, player description, or default skill rolls according to the GM’s judgement. This leaves a far greater degree of creative thought at the GM’s and player’s disposal. If, under special circumstances, a player character needs to resort to a roll for those abilities that would normally be role-played or otherwise described (in the case of equal odds, for instance), the GM could assign an appropriate attribute roll or occupation/skill roll.

I’ll try this method with some of my current Fudge projects, and if they work well enough I’ll also add it to Optimum Fudge. On the other hand, maybe I should revisit Plain Trait Fudge. The overlap bears closer scrutiny. At any rate, I think both methods preserve the style of role-playing I enjoy without overburdening the game with redundant options. Further testing, however, is in order.

In a previous article, I incorrectly referred to the Celestial Intervention Agency as an “invention” of FASA for their Doctor Who role-playing game. I had forgotten that it had previously been mentioned in the Fourth Doctor episode, “The Deadly Assassin.” Whilst they did not invent the Celestial Intervention Agency, they did alter its nature to make it a more useful role-playing tool. Far from being a renegade group that hijacks TARDIS units, the real C.I.A. of Gallifrey is a powerful government organization with the authority to conduct covert operations that may contradict the official non-interference policy. When the Doctor is given a mission by the Time Lords, it can reasonably be assumed that the orders were given to him by the Agency. The game designers probably deemed the Agency’s proximity to Gallifreyan politics too close to be palatable, and so it was recast as an organization more in line with the Doctor’s philosophy.

Upon reflection, I have decided that the game ought to allow for both traditional and nontraditional styles of adventures. I have decided, therefore, to provide the option of three modes of play (or excuses for adventure) in Classic Doctor Who: The Unofficial Role-Playing Game. Any can be chosen by the GM at any time.

Excuse #1: Random

The most common cause of the Doctor’s adventures is random materialization. Whether it is due to a faulty circuit, a temporal anomaly, or the Doctor’s absent-mindedness, the TARDIS will usually materialize in a time and place that is quite unexpected, but rich with possibilities. The Doctor’s TARDIS is a rather old model, which accounts for many of its mishaps, but even Time Lords with the most advanced TARDIS units may find that some of its experimental components are not as reliable or effective as advertised, and sometimes the prototype can be as much of a nuisance as the antique.

Excuse #2: The Celestial Intervention Agency

Sometimes the Doctor finds himself at specific time-space coördinates intentionally. Usually such pinpoint materializations are directed by the Celestial Intervention Agency for the purpose of thwarting a major threat to the timestream. The Agency neither trusts nor inspires trust, bound as it is to the politics of the Inner Council, and it rarely involves itself with the likes of the Doctor, but when it does, it is best not to refuse coöperation. Such missions can be characterized as a combination of temporary impressment and voluntary assistance.

Excuse #3: The Temporal Integrity Preservation Society

Time Lords may become involved in another world’s affairs as a result of the activities of the Temporal Integrity Preservation Society (q.v.), a benevolent and independent organization of Time Lords dedicated to preventing or repairing damage done to the timestream in a manner that is a bit more proactive than the C.I.A. This enables player characters to act with fewer political entanglements and greater freedom.

Lest I give a false impression, there is far more to Federation spacefaring than the ships of Star Fleet. The more densely populated areas of Federation Space and the more active trade routes are busy with the traffic of a multitude of starships of various designs manufactured by the competing shipbuilding companies of a multitude of worlds. There are ore freighters, cargo freighters, mining ships, passenger liners, yachts, survey vessels, research vessels, and more. Some are privately owned by individuals or corporations; others are owned by planetary governments. The Federation has a thriving economy amongst its member planets and via trade outside the Federation, and Star Fleet is there to protect the trade routes as well as the planets themselves. There have, at times, been conflicting views on the nature of the Federation’s economy, but there is substantial evidence within Star Trek: The Original Series that there is trade, private enterprise, and a monetary system even if there is also a more enlightened view of society’s responsibilities to the welfare of its citizens. Thus, Star Fleet is powerful, but not as numerous as the civilian shipping it protects.

In the episode “A Taste of Armageddon,” an ambassador of the United Federation of Planets refers to “Federation Central.” We already know there is a Space Central, which I have deduced is short for Federation Space Central (q.v.), so it stands to reason that Federation Central is likewise short for the same. Rather than trying to retrofit the Classic Star Trek Universe with a makeshift organizational hierarchy incorporating all the terms ever used or pretending that certain terms were a slip of the tongue, I think it is useful to role-players and probably more in the spirit of the original screenwriters’ intentions to interpret these terms in the original context in which they were used. In both cases, Space Central and Federation Central were mentioned in reference to a governmental authority, which we may assume is the United Federation of Planets. For the purposes of the episodes in which they were mentioned, they are effectively interchangeable whether by accident or design (and I tend to think the former). Therefore, Space Central and Federation Central are synonymous with Federation Space Central, the government of the Federation, and each Federation world of a certain population size has its own planetary Space Central, e.g. Earth Space Central, Vulcan Space Central, etc. (q.v.). The U.F.P. is, after all, a federation, so each member world capable of self-governing within the bounds of Federation law would have its sovereignty respected and protected.

Star Fleet is, of course, the combined service of the Federation, and Star Fleet Command is Star Fleet’s central authority and headquarters, answerable to the civilian government of the Federation, Federation Space Central (its governing body being the Federation Council — as first mentioned in the episode “Amok Time” — and whose members represent and are elected by the member worlds).

Thus:

United Federation of Planets

• Federation Council (governing body)
  • Federation Space Central (civilian government)
    • Star Fleet Command (combined service authority)
      • Star Fleet (combined service)

It’s all nice and simple. Alas, what are we to make of “Space Command,” “Star Fleet Control,” and the “United Earth Space Probe Agency”?

Space Command, mentioned in the episode “Court Martial,” was probably meant to be Star Fleet Command, and since I don’t recall it being used subsequently, I’ll assume the terms are synonymous.

Curiously, Star Fleet Control and United Earth Space Probe Agency were both mentioned in the episode “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” although the latter was first mentioned in “Charlie X.” Star Fleet Control is almost certainly an alternate term for Star Fleet Command, but where then does that place the UESPA in the scheme of things? We know that certain starships, possibly most, in Star Fleet had single species crews. The Intrepid was notable for being crewed entirely by Vulcans, whereas the Enterprise was depicted as being crewed by humans with the exception of a single crewman of mixed Vulcan/human parentage. Is it possible that the Federation member worlds had their own service divisions within Star Fleet, each perhaps descended from the planetary space administrations from the time of their admission to the Federation? Earth, Vulcan, and every other member world would each have its own Star Fleet division. Or perhaps the designations are a formality that have no basis in anything but tradition. This bears further consideration.

In Star Trek Observations Part 1, I erroneously referred to “Space Control” being an organization mentioned in the Star Trek episode “Miri.” What Kirk actually said was “Space Central.” Investigation revealed that there was also a Vulcan Space Central in the episode “Amok Time.” The topic, in light of this information, deserves further consideration.

If there is a Vulcan Space Central, it stands to reason that there is an Earth Space Central and probably a Space Central for every other home world. Kirk didn’t say Earth Space Central, which gives us two possibilities. Either there is also a Federation Space Central, or he meant Earth Space Central and merely abbreviated it since everyone would know that he was referring to a situation of interest to Earth since they had discovered a planet that was Earth’s identical twin several hundred light years away.

Since the Enterprise is a vessel answerable to Star Fleet, a combined service of the Federation, I would assume the Space Central to which Kirk referred was the Federation Space Central. Space Central, then, is probably the headquarters and central authority of the United Federation of Planets, which would be the body that would assign such tasks as sending “teachers and advisers” to a planet in need via one of its subordinate agencies in charge of delivering emergency aid or assisting in rebuilding efforts or integration into the Federation.

I think it all fits rather nicely and without disposing of a useful term.