The Klingons are a recurring foe throughout early Star Trek TV and the movies. Later, in Star Trek Next Generation, the Klingon Empire became a quasi-ally to the Federation. But that lay in the future when FASA Corporation released The Klingons RPG box set in 1983. At this point, the status quo was a Cold War in Star Trek.
This set is a tie-in with the excellent Star Trek novel The Final Reflection, by John M. Ford. He developed a Klingon language that was used in the early ST fiction.
Ford himself was the lead writer on FASA’s Klingons set. Beyond language, the Klingons were developed beyond the simple depictions in TV and cinema: “[C]omplete technological, cultural and physiological background of Klingons and their society” as noted on the box bottom. Star Trek RPG players now had the tools for the always-difficult task of RPing an alien.
Klingonaase was the Klingon language in the continuity of the TOS novel The Final Reflection and the FASA RPG, and in later novels and works from the 1980s which drew from those sources. It was generally superseded by tlhIngan Hol developed by Marc Okrand for movies and television series after 1984, but recent novels by Keith R. A. DeCandido have worked some words and concepts from TFR into the now-canonized Klingon culture.
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The Klingons (1st Edition) [BOX SET]
1983 … John M. Ford & Guy McLimore & Greg Peohlein & David Tepool … FASA 2002 … ISBN 0425069540
See FASA Star Trek detailed at my RPG Reference Site
Book (64 pages)
Credits: In addition to the designers noted above, Mitch O’Connell is credited with the cover art and interior art. Dana Knutson is also credited with interior art and graphic design.
Naked Stars: Klingons believe the naked stars witness their courage.
Fusion Race: Star Trek producers created a pickle for continuity when the first Star Trek movie released. Klingons went from vaguely-Mongolian nomad in appearance in TV to having bald heads with a prominent bony crest. The Klingons set explains this discrepancy with Klingon Fusion hybrids bred for interaction (espionage) among the humans.
The Klingons here come across as militaristic, organized, and focused on efficiency. I like this interpretation. I always wondered how the barbaric Klingons as seen in the movies could have reached orbit, much less created a star empire.
Natural Order (16 pages)
Intrusion (4 pages)
Book of Forms: Four 11″x17″ sheets
Counters
In 1987, FASA released The Klingons 2nd edition. It was a 2-book set: Star Fleet Intelligence & Game Operation Manual. See FASA Star Trek detailed at my RPG Reference Site
See Also:
This is easily the BEST Star Trek supplement ever printed. Coming at a time before the “canon wars,” FASA Klingons was more than just character generation, but a completely believable setting. Personally, I never forgave Paramount for turning away from these “Ford Klingons.”