Birthday of Gene Roddenberry
Jean Sexton writes:
Eighty-eight years ago today Gene Roddenberry was born. He lived through the Great Depression in the 1930s and flew combat missions in World War II. Then he created Star Trek, a franchise that survives to this day. The original series aired from 1965-1969 and the animated series ran from 1973-1974.
But in 1979, Star Trek was shown in re-runs only. Steve Cole, a college student, was playing a naval combat game while watching Star Trek re-runs between engineering school and supper time. He became inspired to produce Star Fleet Battles. The game was licensed via Franz Joseph Designs and Paramount. Amarillo Design Bureau created new history, new starships, new empires, and new technologies to fuel the expanding Star Fleet Universe. It wasn't until 1987 when The Next Generation started that the histories of the universes started to diverge. Of course, with the new movie, we know that divergent timelines are possible. However, our Star Fleet Universe has stayed true to our original timeline; no "rebooting" history for us!
Since 1979, we've expanded into strategic games (Federation & Empire), card games (Star Fleet Battle Force), and roleplaying games (Prime Directive). To accommodate today's more hectic schedules (that for some include a spouse, children, and even grandchildren!), we've created the faster playing Federation Commander. Starline 2400 has minis that support our tactical games. And now we are preparing to release Star Fleet Armada, a campaign version of Federation Commander.
With Romulans, Klingons, Hydrans, Vudar, Lyrans, the diversity of the Inter-Stellar Concordium, and so many more species and empires, we've created a universe as rich as one can imagine. Yet it all began with the idea from Gene Roddenberry that he would create a "Wagon Train to the Stars". Without that spark, no doubt the games that Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. has created and will create would look much different.
So, now we take a moment to remember the birthday of Gene Roddenberry.
Eighty-eight years ago today Gene Roddenberry was born. He lived through the Great Depression in the 1930s and flew combat missions in World War II. Then he created Star Trek, a franchise that survives to this day. The original series aired from 1965-1969 and the animated series ran from 1973-1974.
But in 1979, Star Trek was shown in re-runs only. Steve Cole, a college student, was playing a naval combat game while watching Star Trek re-runs between engineering school and supper time. He became inspired to produce Star Fleet Battles. The game was licensed via Franz Joseph Designs and Paramount. Amarillo Design Bureau created new history, new starships, new empires, and new technologies to fuel the expanding Star Fleet Universe. It wasn't until 1987 when The Next Generation started that the histories of the universes started to diverge. Of course, with the new movie, we know that divergent timelines are possible. However, our Star Fleet Universe has stayed true to our original timeline; no "rebooting" history for us!
Since 1979, we've expanded into strategic games (Federation & Empire), card games (Star Fleet Battle Force), and roleplaying games (Prime Directive). To accommodate today's more hectic schedules (that for some include a spouse, children, and even grandchildren!), we've created the faster playing Federation Commander. Starline 2400 has minis that support our tactical games. And now we are preparing to release Star Fleet Armada, a campaign version of Federation Commander.
With Romulans, Klingons, Hydrans, Vudar, Lyrans, the diversity of the Inter-Stellar Concordium, and so many more species and empires, we've created a universe as rich as one can imagine. Yet it all began with the idea from Gene Roddenberry that he would create a "Wagon Train to the Stars". Without that spark, no doubt the games that Amarillo Design Bureau, Inc. has created and will create would look much different.
So, now we take a moment to remember the birthday of Gene Roddenberry.
posted by Federation Commander at 8:10 PM
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