FASA

The FASA Corporation (commonly referred to as FASA) was a company that produced role-playing, text, board, and video games and was founded around 1980 by Jordan Weisman and L. Ross Babcock III. The "FASA" acronym stood for " Air and Space Administration". Some of FASA's most popular and extensive early lines included the Shadowrun, MechWarrior, and BattleTech games.

In the early 1980s, FASA was licensed by Paramount Pictures to produce a role-playing game (RPG) based on Paramount's Star Trek movies and the original series and was released as Star Trek: The Role Playing Game. Star Trek: The Animated Series was also influential to the game's content and was covered by FASA's licensing, and the game also included some content from non-canon Star Trek novels and comics.

Conversely, information and designs from the FASA game have been influential in subsequent Star Trek novels, comics, and games. Despite the non-canonical nature of the game, content created by FASA designers has even influenced canon Next Generation-era filmed Star Trek productions.

FASA also produced four Star Trek "Micro-Adventure" games that incorporated some of the RPG's elements into smaller, less complex games. FASA eventually produced a TNG Season 1 sourcebook which was published in 1988 but the company's contract with Paramount ended shortly thereafter due to licensing difficulties.

FASA closed its doors around 2001 after twenty years in operation, but the creators continue to license new games based on earlier FASA releases. Meanwhile, Star Trek gaming has continued to evolve and been licensed to other companies including Last Unicorn Games, Decipher, Task Force Games, and WizKids.

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FASA