Is the Forge STA Ruleset Still Being Updated?

[kronovan]

Is the freebie version of STA that was once upon a time available on Forge, still being updated? Or did that perhaps stop on Mar 18th, which is the date of the dat file in my \vault folder.

I plan to eventually buy the FG-STA ruleset, but not until I'm sure I actually have an audience of players to run some adventures for. I'm new to STA, but haven't even given the core rules a thorough read, let alone the quadrant PDF I also bought. To complicate things, the only group of players I could get to play online are die hard Voyager fans, but the Delta Quadrant isn't available as FGU DLC. In the meantime, I'm content to input some of my own content to get more familiar with the ruleset, but don't want to do that if I'm going to eventually hit a wall with scripts or XMLs that are incompatible with Core RPG updates. Hence my initial question.

[stephan_]

I have not used the Forge STA ruleset since the offical ruleset has been released but I'm not aware of any updates.

The Quadrant books are nice but I'd say it's not essential to have them on FG - while there are a few player options in them, creating them manually takes way less work than in other, crunchier systems and you will likely only need a few anyway.

I will also say that the layout of the Core Rulebook is not ideal to learn the rules.

Edit: Note that the STA Character Creation website can also export to FG xml files (though I have not tested it out recently).

[johnecc]

The forge states that it was last updated 221 days ago, around March 1, so you likely have the latest version.

I doubt it is being worked on as the official ruleset was released, and they couldn’t put out the sourcebooks anyway due to copyright issues.

[kronovan]

The Quadrant books are nice but I'd say it's not essential to have them on FG - while there are a few player options in them, creating them manually takes way less work than in other, crunchier systems and you will likely only need a few anyway.

I was most interested in the Delta Quadrant PDF's editional species, but I can see where the ships would good to have too. I've become quite savvy with inputting content via copy & paste, so I can imagine inputting those would be doable.

I will also say that the layout of the Core Rulebook is not ideal to learn the rules.

Yes I've noticed the organization is less than optimal. Especially during PC creation, I've found accessing Talents and Focuses to be a page browsing pain. I'm considering picking up the rules digest which a LGS in my city is selling for less than what I'd pay for the PDF. I'm aware it's flavored with TOC content, but that's the era I watched in my youth and which personally interests me the most. It's just that the group I have that'd play via VTT is big on Voyager; really like the Borg among other things. Not a big problem, as I've watched all of the 7 season and enjoyed it. I could imagine myself GMing a series of adventures in that quadrant and enjoying it; maybe even a campaign.

Edit: Note that the STA Character Creation website can also export to FG xml files (though I have not tested it out recently).

I tried it and was able to quickly build a PC - definintely a solid tool. The Exported XML failed to successfully import into a charactere sheet with the outdated version of the rules I have. Not too big a problem, as it was easy to copy & paste the missing content from the PDF I gen'd on the website.

[superteddy57]

You could give the official ruleset a look with a 30-day return policy if bought through our store. The ruleset does quite a bit more than the community created one, but the color changing of the frames from what I remember of the older community ruleset.

[stephan_]

Yes I've noticed the organization is less than optimal. Especially during PC creation, I've found accessing Talents and Focuses to be a page browsing pain. I'm considering picking up the rules digest which a LGS in my city is selling for less than what I'd pay for the PDF. I'm aware it's flavored with TOC content, but that's the era I watched in my youth and which personally interests me the most.

Note that while the rules digest has some clarifications and is a bit more focused, it's still essentially the same book and not a complete overhaul. For players I usually recommend they read the 10 pages of rules in the free quickstart.

The same is true for the Klingon CRB (it also has some alternative advancement rules).

I tried it and was able to quickly build a PC - definintely a solid tool. The Exported XML failed to successfully import into a charactere sheet with the outdated version of the rules I have. Not too big a problem, as it was easy to copy & paste the missing content from the PDF I gen'd on the website.

I was able to import a random test character using the official ruleset but I have not tested it in detail.

[kronovan]

Note that while the rules digest has some clarifications and is a bit more focused, it's still essentially the same book and not a complete overhaul. For players I usually recommend they read the 10 pages of rules in the free quickstart.

The same is true for the Klingon CRB (it also has some alternative advancement rules).

That's not really a problem, as my son who's away at college currently has my CRB hardcover - unlikely to get it back before Xmas. I'm trying to work with the CRB PDF and that digital white text on black eventually makes my eyes bleed. I also like to have a print copy to read on coffee and lunch breaks when I need a break from my tablet. I browsed the Rules Digest preview at drivethru and it also has the altenate advancement rules, so I'm thinking that cheap copy at my LGS would be a good purchase.

[kronovan]

You could give the official ruleset a look with a 30-day return policy if bought through our store. The ruleset does quite a bit more than the community created one, but the color changing of the frames from what I remember of the older community ruleset.

Just by playing around with the freebie Forge ruleset, I know I want this. The problem is the cost of the STA DLC in my country's currency; TBH I can buy the STA hardcover at LGSs for almost $10 less. And is almost always the case, it's cheaper for me if I buy it through the Steam store. I won't be starting a campaign for at least a few months if even that soon, so I'm going to wait for a sale and then pull the trigger.

[kronovan]

Well...STA went on sale - I BOUGHT IT !

Now to begin homebrewing up something for the Delta quadrant.