Prime Directive hand Phaser damage: canon vs book

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Tiger Maggot

According to the Captain's Edition of SFB (1990), they had an arrangement with Paramount back then.

Which is recent history, don't you think? The SFU was developed through the 70's and 80's. Besides, I think the current agreement only legitimizes the status quo, it doesn't let them adapt any new material.

[Tiger Maggot]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Which is recent history, don't you think? The SFU was developed through the 70's and 80's. Besides, I think the current agreement only legitimizes the status quo, it doesn't let them adapt any new material.

I don't consider something fifteen years ago to be very recent.

As for "new material," Phasers vaporized people back in the '60s.

[Tiger Maggot]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Only the Franz Joeseph Designs Technical Manual is relevant to the SFU.

Which is the black book I mentioned. I just found it on eBay.

It contains a disintegrate setting.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Tiger Maggot

I don't consider something fifteen years ago to be very recent.

As for "new material," Phasers vaporized people back in the '60s.

This is going in circles, but I'll try one more time. They never had the rights to use any material from any Star Trek series, unless it was included in the Technical Manual. Because of this, they developed the SFU without any slavish devotion to canon (especially canon derived from NBC censorship requirements), so if at some point in the last 35 years they decided that phasers don't work that way, then they don't work that way in the SFU.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Doktor Teufel

The only real way to simulate canon Star Trek is to assume that one shot kills everything (with disintegrators, anyway). I'm pretty sure I've seen phasers only wing certain characters (or maybe it was only Data) . . .

But yeah, in ST TOS, everyone who got hit pretty much disintegrated.

(Sorry, I don't really know the terminology).

Oddly enough the phasers and even weapons used by folks who didn't follow the Prime Directive were notably less lethal.

OTOH, no one ever set a phaser on overload to make a grenade out of it in the later shows. Maybe some safety feature forced a lower damage result.

As for the original question, it's easy enough to add affliction Disadvantage Fragile (Unnatural) {Formerly known as Unliving} to the phaser. Death occurs at -HP if the target fails his resistance to the Affliction. This removes arguments about guys who are likely to be alive in deep negatives.

Finally, add a Follow up corrosive (disintegration) only versus unliving matter that was affected by the Affliction. Area effect one hex but only the original target of the beam can be affected so nothing around the victim shows any sign of damage. Add Persistant (ok Persistant REQUIRES Area effect, otherwise I'd have gone straight to it) and for the next 10 seconds, the corpse takes disintegration damage each turn. This tends to dust the corpse. ;)

Naturally this is all Equipment not point based. :D

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

This is going in circles, but I'll try one more time. They never had the rights to use any material from any Star Trek series, unless it was included in the Technical Manual. Because of this, they developed the SFU without any slavish devotion to canon (especially canon derived from NBC censorship requirements), so if at some point in the last 35 years they decided that phasers don't work that way, then they don't work that way in the SFU.

Transporter bombs definitely weren't TOS canon. And I cannot imagine Spock being frustrated by Wild Weasel's annoying tendency to be diverted and STAY diverted from their targets by defensive counter measures.

[Tiger Maggot]

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

Oddly enough the phasers and even weapons used by folks who didn't follow the Prime Directive were notably less lethal.

TV series or movies? I remember a few Starfleet personnel being disintegrated, but I can't remember whether any were caused by hand weapons that weren't supposed to be of a godlike TL.

In the movies, disruptors were just as deadly as phasers (Kruge disintegrated the gunner who blew up the science ship).

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

OTOH, no one ever set a phaser on overload to make a grenade out of it in the later shows. Maybe some safety feature forced a lower damage result.

They did on TNG (or later) every now and then, but TNG isn't even remotely SFU canon.

Originally Posted by Captain-Captain

As for the original question, it's easy enough to add...

NICE solution.

Transporter bombs definitely weren't TOS canon.

Didn't the Romulans use one? I know they dropped a nuke out of their ship, but I can't remember whether it was beamed off or thrown overboard.

[AOTA]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Originally ADB licensed the Star Trek Technical Manual by Franz Joeseph. At that time (and until fairly recently) they did not have any kind of license agreement with either Desilu or Paramount. Most of the SFU was developed during this time, and only recently has anything changed. Furthermore, I believe that their current agreement with Paramount only allows them to basically continue as they have been, they are still not allowed to use any Trek material that's not in that Technical Manual. Bobzilla might know, perhaps he can comment.

ADB has a limited license with Paramount. Their main license is with Franz Joseph's heirs. Basically in 1975 Franz Joseph created a book with Paramount blessing, the Star Fleet Technical Manual, and he copyrighted his work. Paramount didn't care at the time they weren't doing anything with Star Trek and weren't planning to either. Later ADB licensed from Franz Joseph the information in the Star Fleet Technical Manual. After many years of SFB games Paramount wants to do something with Star Trek again, but since they were shorted sighted they didn't realize they had given away a lot of the Star Trek Universe to Franz. Which is one of the reasons a lot of the first movie looks very different from the old show. Anyway since they really couldn't stop ADB from using the stuff that they had let Franz copyright, they basically have given ADB a limited license to use the info in the Star Fleet Technical Manual and the look of TOS but not any of the characters and none of the new stuff. That is my impression of the license as it was explained to me, by some long time SFB fans.

[Tiger Maggot]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

This is going in circles, but I'll try one more time. They never had the rights to use any material from any Star Trek series, unless it was included in the Technical Manual. Because of this, they developed the SFU without any slavish devotion to canon (especially canon derived from NBC censorship requirements), so if at some point in the last 35 years they decided that phasers don't work that way, then they don't work that way in the SFU.

It's going in circles because you're completely disregarding their explicit mention of the series in their own FAQ, as well as a disintegrate setting in the Tech Manual you claim is the end-all, be-all of the SFU.

Again:

based on the original 1966-69 Star Trek television show and use that material under a special contract with Paramount Pictures Corporation. We are not authorized to use Next Generation, Voyager, or Deep Space Nine, and we cannot use names of characters.

I don't see anything in there stating it isn't Star Trek, the TV series is in no way canon, or that only the Technical Manual is acceptable, so they can disregard what was seen on screen in the original source material.

[AOTA]

Originally Posted by Tiger Maggot

Didn't the Romulans use one? I know they dropped a nuke out of their ship, but I can't remember whether it was beamed off or thrown overboard.

I believed they just pushed them out the airlock. A transporter would have been detected.