Written and designed by Geoff Bottone and Bob Dunham, Boldly Go is a science fiction RPG that is also an Affectionate Parody of Star Trek, in particular Star Trek TOS and The Next Generation
Tropes associated with this tabletop game:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Ancient Sentient Computers are noted for often being a problem when found.
- The Alliance: The good guys' government, composed of several races.
- "Ass" in Ambassador: Following ST:TOS tradition, most Alliance ambassadors are more trouble than they're worth.
- Cat Folk: The Gattoans, an Alliance species.
- Clothing Damage: Actually a game mechanic in the rules, allowing a PC to trade off a hit of damage for a dramatically ripped uniform.
- Cyborg: The Vitizar, Boldly Go's equivalent to ST:TOS' Klingon's.
- Energy Being: A noted common hazard for exploration ships to encounter.
- Explosive Instrumentation: As per tradition, if a PC's ship becomes too damaged, this starts to happen.
- Game Master: Here, the Game Master is called the Fleet Admiral.
- The Heart: This is actually the role of the ship's Captain (assuming they aren't an NPC). They can give other PCs Drama Points to help them complete actions, and also attempt to give individuals temporary positive Traits though inspiring pep talks.
- Half-Human Hybrid: An optional PC species, though neither of the species the player chooses have to human.
- Humans Are Special: Mostly averted, though they do have the Human Spirit trait, giving them a chance to resist mental attacks.
- Lizard Folk: The Delshz, an Alliance species, and the Kelgarans, a group of space scavengers who lost their homeworld to an unexplained Earth-Shattering Kaboom.
- Mauve Shirt: When a player creates their PC, they also are permitted to create one named NPC crewmember who also serves aboard the party's ship. The player can level them up over time.
- Proud Warrior Race: Humans actually have Warrior Race as a racial trait. They're noted as being usually peaceful, but when pushed to go to war, they're really good at it.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The Jesicar, a form of intelligent parasitic fungus.
- Ridiculously Human Robots: The Synthoids, a species of androids illegally created on Jupiter's moon Europa as part of a substitution plot against the Terran government, who rebelled against their creators and joined the Alliance.
