Weekly 1E Roundup - 10 JUNE 2020

by Charlie Plaine, Director of First Edition

10th June 2020

Welcome to the Weekly 1E Roundup, a weekly column looking back at the past week in the world of First Edition as well as a preview of the week ahead. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for content, you can contact me at cplaine@gmail.com or on the forums via PM to MidnightLich. I'm happy to write about your tournaments, get togethers, or other 1E-related goings-on. But for now, let's get into the column and see what's been going on in the world of First Edition!

The Big News

On Sunday, the Department of First Edition the first International Demo Day. For twelve hours, volunteers from the community hosted a Zoom call where new and returning players alike were welcome to join and discuss the ins-and-outs of First Edition, Lackey, the Continuing Committee, and more. It was a long day, but a successful one, as we saw several new players join throughout the day, with more than a few coming back to the call after running errands for more time. We even streamed live on Twitch, thanks to Writing Team Manager Daniel Matteson (OKCoyote), and that part of the stream is available to watch on YouTube. Daniel plays Kris Sonsteby (LORE) in a demo game pitting Klingons against Ferengi. We have more content from the day, including a more advanced game, coming soon.

I want to thank everyone that came out to participate, including all the volunteers that donated big chunks of time to help new and returning players feel welcome. We all owe Paddy Tye (KazonPADD), Daniel, Kris, Johannes Klarhauser (Kaiser), Allen Gould (AllenGould), and James Heaney (BCSWowbagger) a big thank you and a round of applause. If you participated in demo day, I hope you'll reach out to us via the forums to share your experiences and help us make future sessions like this even more successful.

This Day in Trek

Today is the 59th birthday of writer, producer, and showrunner Manny Coto, best known in Star Trek circles for being the showrunner of the fourth season of Star Trek: Enterprise. The fifth series was a troubled and polarizing one, with many fans, critics, and staffers alike disliking the first three seasons of the show. Coto, who was brought on during the third season, wrote some of my favorite episodes that season, including "Similitude." He impressed enough people to be given the reigns of the show's fourth season, where some - including myself - feel the show hit its stride. Coto prioritized smaller serialized arcs that featured well-known races from Trek lore, like Tellarites, Romulans, and Andorians. He also went out of his way to address continuity issues that had plagued the earlier seasons. Unfortunately, the show was cancelled just as it found its footing. He did appear once on screen, as a vice admiral, in the series finale. Coto would go on to work on 24, which itself would feature a bevy of Trek actor. Happy birthday, Mr. Coto!

Tournament Reports

While some places are starting to re-open and allow gatherings, many are not - and thus play is still down. But if you're playing, getting together, I want to hear about it! Did you play online? Tell me about it! Play with family? Send me pictures! I'm happy to cover tournaments and casual games in this column - you just have to let me know. You can find my contact information at the bottom of every column, and you're welcome to email me, PM me, or just post on the forums. So if you're out there, playing 1E in any way, shape, or form, tell us about it!

Tournament Previews

If you are in a part of the world where gatherings are allow, and if you have upcoming events, virtual get togethers, or anything else scheduled that's 1E related, let me know. I'd love to feature you and your friends in this column. I typically only see them if they're scheduled in our tournament software, so if you're not using that, please let me know!

Short Treks (In Other News)

• The 2020 Continental and World Championships have been cancelled. Due to the uncertainty of the world due to COVID-19, and international travel, the Department of Organized Play made the decision to cancel the 2020 Continental and World Championships. All bids from this year will be respected next year, and a new series of tournaments - the Subspace Series - will replace these events. In addition, intrepid players are planning a virtual world championship to replace the big event, in spirit if not in name. We'll have more details for you on all of these tournaments very soon!


• Help out a new player that has questions about the game. Coloradog1 recently posted some questions about downloading and the seed phase, and has had several answers already. We love it when new and returning players join us with questions, and encourage everyone to watch for and respond to these threads when they pop up.


• Discussion continues about which episodes might inspire a good boutique expansion. A few weeks ago, my Friday question asked what episodes would make good inspiration for boutique sets. Even now, discussion is ongoing, with enabraintain and Tosk posting their ideas in a new discussion thread. I fully intend to take some ideas from your suggestions, so stay tuned for more discussion and perhaps a poll or two. And it's not too late to post other ideas!


• What do you find the biggest "barrier to entry" for 1E to be? With demo day on my mind last Friday, the question was about the game's biggest barriers to entry. People have had lots of different perspectives, from the number of cards, to the complexity of the rules, and the lack of good introductory resources. What do you think? What have you found to be the hardest hurdles to getting into 1E? Or, if you're teaching others, what have they struggled with?

The Time Capsule

Ten years ago this week, the Official Tournament Format - known as OTF - was born. Introduced in a two part article by then Rules Manager Nick Fancher (whitestar29), part 1 explained the problems that spawned the format and part 2 covered the format itself. Nick would follow up a week later with a part 3 that talked about the ban list.

The introduction of the format was controversial at the time, but has become the de facto way to play First Edition. Every rules changes comes with a cost, and it's only been done infrequently over the past ten (10) years. Developing OTF was a labor of love by the volunteers at the time, and I know those that are no longer part of the community would be happy to hear we're still using their framework a decade later. Happy birthday, OTF. I'll eat a cupcake in your honor.

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That's all for this week's roundup of First Edition news and events. For more news, you can follow The Continuing Committee on Facebook, Twitter, or bookmark our front page. News about upcoming First Edition projects can be found in the most recent Project Status Update from June 2020. If you've got an event coming up and you'd like to be featured in this column, or if you have comments about this column's content, feel free to contact me at cplaine@gmail.com or on the forums via PM to MidnightLich. Until next week, may you expand your power in the universe and live long and prosper.

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