Also six months ago was the last time I touched Captains. Many of the mechanics designed here are finally getting testing.

I can't believe this was only six months ago. My head cycles through things waaay too fast.

TrekCaptains. Might be the only bout of desk time I get today... finished up the three non-prototype ships.

TrekCaptains. Gotta put a pin in it, but here's the new starship dashboard. Gotta run!

TrekCaptains. At the desk, trying to make the most of the time that I'm here. I'm dropping the square sectors, too much investment in the hexSectors. But I am taking energy on refitting ship cards. How do we feel about this, chat?

We are now live! If you want to grab a copy of the new printings, now's your best chance. www.kickstarter.com/projects/col... This is also a bit of a strange campaign for us. To be honest, I don't even think I've ever been as nervous about a launch. I suppose that needs some explaining 🧵

TrekCaptains. In the explosion of trying to do things at my desk when I had a moment, a comparison of models. Top excelsior model is by @thatrobhuman.com. Bottom is mine, made from the FASA plans. Enterprise beneath is to scale. I did print both, his is nicer on the table :\

TrekCaptains. Snuck off to the desk. Only effective thing I've done here is redesign the sectors. None of these three have a klingon border region though, so either I'll need that or I'll need to think up another sector. Originally this starter kit had 5 sectors anyway...

TrekCaptains. Printed out three square sector mocks and decided to try them on their sides, looks like I can get an even 3 sector match. This is all an ergonomics issue though. Here's some comparison photos.

I love that this is taking off. Trek Captains is my love letter to the 1980s fandom of Star Trek I never got to join. The FASA years, Trek 2, 3, and 4 in theaters, the comics were giving us a faux TV series of the period and fans were wearing monster maroons. This game is set in that time.

TrekCaptains. Thinking about some of Diane Duane's characters... I think I may bring the rest of them to life in the Romulan box. Seeps appropriate to honor her work that way in this project.

Decided to mute Trek artist Chris Cushman instead of argue over details of the constitution. Not helpful to anyone, that. I dunno... I like some of the quirks set out by the Franz Joseph plans. They don't make immediate sense, but neither does putting the island on the right side of the carrier.

TrekCaptains. Had to cut desktime short again, but something else I did while I was here was noodle with a square map format again. Looks less awkward and no bottle neck between two sectors if necessary.

TrekCaptains. Objective at the desk today is finish up missions for Sector B- an alien sector with the Zeelus Empire to make it available for playtesting. That, and also work on the main rulebook.

TrekCaptains. I'm wrestling with the idea this morning if making ship identities a separate card from the rest of the ship card. On one hand it means I can make far, far more ships represented and make ship identities further randomized. On the other is the ergonomics. It's easier on one sheet.

TrekCaptains. Thought I'd take a quick snapshot from my files of all the Fed ships I've modeled for this game. Representing a rash of craft from the canon to the popular (FASA, 14' east), to the fanon (Jackill's, etc), to the obscure (Oddball weird shapes from the comics) to some of my own.

I haven't sorted my Star wars CCG cards yet, but half the time I look at them I think of the box of magic cards I sold long ago for like $60 that I had been holding on to as a kid. As I look at alpha magic card sets, I'm pretty sure some of those were in there. I kick myself every time.

Up before the family again. Sneaking out the turbolift before they notice. Bringing an old friend with me too, one which has been there since the beginning.

Trek Thoughts, Re Wrath of Khan. Scotty says of his nephew, "He stayed at his post... When the trainees ran..." But I always heard, "...when the train needs a ram..." A more grim reading of the line which I thought underpinned Scotty's dismay of the carnage.

Other than fretting over getting Patron launched, working on TrekCaptains still. Objective is to still get that ready for a playtest package.

Welp, here it goes... my Patreon is up! Right now it doesn't have much on it as I figure things out, but if you wanted a look at WZ Shogun it's up in the paid area for alpha access. I'm not offering anything special for the different tiers, just base access. www.patreon.com/cw/PilotIllu...

Welp, I did it. Ordered myself a box of knight minis from Wargames Atlantic. Greathelm actual incoming!

TrekCaptains. Desk time, now working on modern Encounter cards! It's a bit slow going but this was one of the outdated components in my physical proto. Needed updating to new iconography. Practice in waking is based on a Phase II episode outline!

TrekCaptains. Because I thought of it, a detail of this game is that while you will be able to fly a lot of TMP era designs from across fandom (inc. FASA and Taldren ships), I won't be giving you pure warships like the Andor class Not because I object to warships, it's just not in the scope.

I overlooked the Romulans, which are also PvP, but they're both direct and indirect. While the Klingons play to force the Federation to lose (imperial mission accomplishments or Marauder attacks), the romulans are trying to attain specific secret conditions

TrekCaptains. It also occurred to me while I got back into the design space for this, each of the expansions has different niches. Starfleet Academy enhances single player (more character progression, awards, characters to help in absence of other players)

Hairbrained game ideas this morning: Greathelm, but social combat Only other details is overhearing gossip gives you momentum before approaching your target to rebuke them.

Managed to get a little desk time in. Editing on the secret project (it'll be ready at Christmas at this rate- a year after I originally wanted it), and making cards for Captains. If Captains is gonna be a kit, I gotta push component updates. This and building a PDF rulebook are the tasks to do

Up before everyone again. That means Warp speed. TrekCaptains.

TrekCaptains. Slow going... but it's going.

TrekCaptains. On the plus side, I got to the desk today and managed to start making a kit.

TrekCaptains. I've been trapped in the prototype and testing phase for so long it's been a while since I looked at the finished art versions of the components I made ages ago when I had time. The game, once it's "done", is supposed to look sorta like this.

For the Glatisant Kickstarter we kept things simple, with only 3 tiers. You can get just the Book for $25 or you can get everything by choosing the Quest Tier, which gets you the book, the sticker sheet, the pins, and is currently the only way to get the lino print, all for $65 tinyurl.com/bd949nbv

TrekCaptains. Moonlighting as a starship captain again, stealing half of Jim Kirk's crew before I take off...

TrekCaptains. It's occurred to me as I'm starting to fill out the Starfleet box- and how its planned additions are good to support a group of players- that I don't have much planned to support solo. Might need to add more to Starfleet academy for awards and better campaign progression.

TrekCaptains. The whole reason I was thinking of this expansion was whether to fold first officers into the base game or not. However, I see it as an opportunity to take one mechanic out of the base game to thematically have it in another. The Starfleet Academy box is really an officer boost

TrekCaptains. Was going back and forth on whether to integrate a planned-for-expansion into the base game, but decided to keep it an expansion. I think it's a wiser move to keep the base game focused on essential core mechanics and avoid overloading players with too many things.

TrekCaptains. Didn't get up in time to have a productive morning, sadly. I did finish these, placeholder tokens for player ships when I can't bring out the gorgeous (and fragile to kids) miniature fleet I made for this game.

TrekCaptains. Another thought out of this revised model is how *few* missions are being pulled. It's not strictly a bad thing either, and I think it helps cognitive load because I can remember feeling exhausted after test games running three fully crewed ships in the past.

TrekCaptains. Using the chance early morning to take my ship out for a spin, brb.

TrekCaptains. The final key update (you can see why this needs a new version, so many changes) is the Transporter rating on ships. Sone have higher than others. This dictates how many officers you can use trying to resolve missions and challenges. Mission ships have higher than patrol ships.

TrekCaptains. A third key update is finally settling on a personal combat model, allowing officers to participate in personal conflicts. The last time I attempted this it was a complicated model where officers chose targets to attack, but this model is much simpler: compare total attributes.

TrekCaptains. A second longstanding issue was solved with the creation of -contacts-. Seoerate h the win/loss of sector stability from missions, but giving them to contacts, does things for the design.

TrekCaptains. The latest version of the engine, and the one I want to finally push public, finally solves one longstanding issue I've had in the game of making science vessels distinct. That's with labs.

Probably the jankiest game of Greathelm ever played

Food for thought! I struggle with some of these as well. I'm considering Trek Captains, I'm trying to beat some of these. boardgamegeek.com/blog/12040/b...

TrekCaptains. After some thought it occurred to me to share this with Tranquility press, the group supporting @eomproject.bsky.social and @wolf359project.bsky.social. maybe I found a place to get the support to realize this.... Finally.

Randomly found someone's ultrasound photo in a book I got from half-price books. I'd like to return it to them but I don't know where to begin 😦

With a free moment do I choose to bash together a PnP test kit for Great helm, or work on Trek Captains? Hmmm....

Check this out- 6v6 knights on 8.5x11. 30m easy rule fights. Great for quick RPG battles too. @masterfwiffo.bsky.social, take a look! GREATHELM by Malev Da Shinobi on @kickstarter.com www.kickstarter.com/projects/167...