By: Mark Compton
Okay, I can hear it now. “But Mark, Mephit James already did a spaceframe for the Akyazi-class.” Well, you would be right. He did a lovely version of it. I think one of the joys of writing for Continuing Missions is that two different authors can look at a project from two different perspectives. I will be honest in saying that I did not look at James’ version of this class until after I was finished with mine. I’m glad to see there are some stark contrasts in our styles. Make no mistake, James’ version of this spaceframe is a solid build, this is just my take on it.
Back in the day, in the limbo between FASA and Last Unicorn games, a friend of mine created his own version of a Star Trek RPG. The game was very combat-heavy (something I think no Star Trek game should be centered around) but I wanted to play, so I wound up being the Commanding Officer of one of these lovely vessels. As Captain of the U.S.S. Bengal: NCC-1021, my crew and I patrolled the Triangle.
Of all the ships designed in the Motion Picture era style, the Akyazi-class has to be in my top five. I love the simplicity of it. Rugged, sleek, and still pretty powerful. Something always struck me about the fact that she carried no shuttles. These ships are, in my opinion, gorgeous. And I hope someone can take my version of them and run with it.
These ships would work best in a campaign somewhat like DS9. The ship is attached to an outpost somewhere along the Romulan or Klingon border, or near the Triangle. Most times they are hanging out at the outpost, but when duty calls, they board their Akyazi-class and go forth to defend the Federation.