- This article is about FASA RPG roleplay module. You may be looking for the Defiant comic omnibus Another Piece of the Action.
Another Piece of the Action was a roleplay module for FASA's Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game. It was the last of eleven licensed adventures published in FASA magazines, this one in StarDrive #1. In this sequel to TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: A Piece of the Action, Starfleet establishes an embassy on Sigma Iotia II to study the Iotians.
Description[]
- This an adventure for six to eight players for Star Trek: The Role-Playing Game. The characters are Star Fleet officers of the Enterprise or other suitable vessel, dispatched on a diplomatic mission to that most curious of worlds, Iotia, there to assess the continuing cultural damage, study the way the natives have adapted to at least one inadvertent bit of contamination, and to determine, with the aid of a Federation emissary, whether or not more permanent relations can be initiated. Of course, it won't be that simple.
Summary[]
A Federation starship transports Ambassador Robert Spencer to Sigma Iotia II. The ship's captain passes along orders that Spencer should reacquire a communicator accidentally left on the surface during a previous visit by the USS Enterprise.
Spencer and a landing party beam down to the capital city and meet with Boss Bela Oxmyx, who offers them a building for their embassy, then provides them with local staff and telephones. Over the course of a few months, the team interviews natives and conducts research to determine the planet's technological/sociopolitical index and planetary trade profile.
Ten years earlier, the New Paris yacht Amadeus Mozart crashed on Iotia, with only seven-year-old Manfred de Voop surviving. Natives adopt him, keeping his identity and the wreck secret to prevent gangs from going to war and plundering their village. de Voop longs to return home, taking solace in stories from his old collection of Earth comic books. By the time he hears about a starship in orbit that could take him home, the USS Enterprise has already departed. Sympathetic to the boy's wishes, the Iotians in his village adapt technology in the wreck to build him an antigrav-powered exoskeleton. The elders agree that de Voop can use the super-suit so long as he keeps his identity secret.
In 2271, when de Voop thwarts a robbery by Leelax Mongo's gang at First Security Bank and Trust, WAXY radio broadcasts a news report that may be picked up by an orbiting starship. As de Voop is defying the rules of the planet's gangster culture, Oxmyx hires a hit man to track down the anonymous hero and "rub him out".
- Subsequent actions depend on game play.
References[]
Characters[]
- Blackie • Jojo Krako • Leelax Mongo • Bela Oxmyx • Rilke • Robert Spencer • Manfred de Voop
- Referenced only
- Bobo • Hulk • Stuart Mann • Slyx • Superman • Hans de Voop • Kristina de Voop
Starships and vehicles[]
- aircraft
- Referenced only
- Amadeus Mozart (yacht) • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • explorer • groundcar (Lincoln) • ECS Horizon or USS Horizon (Daedalus-class) or USS Horizon (Horizon-class) • Klingon privateer
Locations[]
- the galaxy • Iotia (Chicago • Federation embassy)
- Referenced only
- Earth (Chicago) • New Paris • Northside Coalition • Sigma Iotia sector • Southside Territory
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Exwhil's Jewelry Emporium • Federation (Federation High Council) • First Security Bank and Trust • Star Fleet (Star Fleet Command • Starfleet Galaxy Exploration Command) • WAXY
Science and classification[]
- antigrav lifter • astronautics • astronomy • balloon • bullet • bulletproof vest • calculator • circuitry • communicator • computer • computer tape • electricity • engineering • environmental suit • exoskeleton • nuclear fission • force field • geology • gravitics • hydroponics • life support • machinery • medicine • navigation • nuclear fusion • planetary trade profile • power cable • power cell • power station • radio • Richter Scale of Culture • rocket • satellite • scanner • science • shields • slingshot • subspace communication • subspace radio • technical manual • technological/sociopolitical index • technology • tectonics • telephone • television • transistor • transtator • tricorder • voicewriter • warp drive
Weapons[]
- ammunition • atomic bomb • grenade • knife • phaser • pistol • rifle • sonic stunner • Thompson submachine gun
Occupations and titles[]
- administrator • ambassador • boss • captain • carpenter • civilian • clerk • clown • communications officer • criminal • deputy • engineer • gangster • hit man • lawyer • policeman • political scientist • scientist • special ambassador • superhero • teacher • yeoman
Other references[]
- 1920s • 20th century • 23rd century • airport • architecture • astrology • atmosphere • bacteria • band • bank • beam • belt • big band • blood • book • Buster and the Bankrobbers • cape • capital city • Chicago Mobs of the Twenties • city • civilization • clay • coal • coin • comic book • contact team • crime • crystal • culture • desert • diplomacy • distress signal • dollar • Earth-Romulan War • earthquake • embassy • emotion • factory • farm • fire • foods and beverages • furniture • gang • gem • glasses • government • history • hospital • hour • hydrogen • ice • jazz • Kleenzo • landing party • Lazy Ix and the Slowpokes • library • metal • meteor • meter • month • moon • Morris chair • movie • museum • music • news • newspaper • oil • orbit • ox • oxygen • pastrami • peace • pine tree • plane • planet • politics • Prime Directive • prison • psionics • religion • rubber • school • security • shuttlecraft • silver • snow • solar system • song • space • starship • stun • suit • Superman • tax • telepathy • trade • tree • university • war • weapon • weather • wood • X-Men • year
Chronology[]
- 22nd century
- Horizon visits Sigma Iotia II. (a century ago)
- 2261
- Amadeus Mozart crashes on Sigma Iotia II, leaving one survivor. (10 years ago)
- 2268
- USS Enterprise visits Sigma Iotia II. (three years ago)
- 2271
- Ambassador Robert Spencer establishes a Federation embassy on Sigma Iotia II.
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode, novelization & comic adaptation: The City on the Edge of Forever – A quote echoed Leonard McCoy's observation from the episode that "they used to cut and stitch people together like garments".
- TOS comic: "Spore of the Devil" – A young alien crash-landed on feudal Jodarr, grew up and used technology to assume the role of a wizard.
- Iotians also appeared in:
- TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: A Piece of the Action
- TOS comic: "... Let's Kill All the Lawyers!"
- TOS - Strange New Worlds V short story: "Legal Action"
- TOS - Year Five - Communication Breakdown comics: "Issue 3", "Issue 4"
Background[]
- A history and cultural overview of the Iotians effectively summarized TOS episode & Star Trek 4 novelization: A Piece of the Action.
- A sidebar reprinted Iotia planetary data as seen in FASA RPG module: The Federation.
- In "A Piece of the Action", Leonard McCoy accidentally left a communicator on Sigma Iotia II. The technology behind the communicator was yet to be unraveled during the events of the roleplay module, and most sources agreed that the planet's gangster culture remained intact well into the 2280s. However, an alternate account showed that Iotian civilization had completely changed by 2269, in TOS - Year Five - Communication Breakdown comics: "Issue 3", "Issue 4".
- First Security Bank and Trust's address in Iotia's Chicago, 303 West Madison Ave., is a real-world address in Chicago, the site of a 26-floor office building in the west Loop.
- Iotia's WAXY radio station is a real-world AM radio station, though it currently broadcasts out of south Florida.
- Among Manfred de Voop's Superman and X-Men comic books were copies of Cyberhawks and Megaton, real-world titles drawn by module artist Gary Thomas Washington. Another title, mostly covered, appeared to be The Shadow.
- Although the story was set three years after 2268's "A Piece of the Action", Starfleet personnel were drawn wearing a later era of Starfleet uniform (2278-2350s).
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Operation Starling |
FASA RPG modules Magazines |
Next story: last module |
| Previous story: The Orions: Book of Deep Knowledge |
Stories by: Peter R. Rogan |
Next story: latest story |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Shadows of the Indignant Mere Anarchy |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Federation Part Four: Chapter 3 |