The Master Systems Display

In almost every iteration of Star Trek, a version of the MSD, or Master Systems Display, is visible somewhere. It is a staple of the shows, showing a cutaway of the vessel, revealing critical rooms, systems, and of course, the massive scope of each ship. 

Fans have made incredible projects over the years, designing custom MSDs for various ships. 

But none of these maps are printer-friendly, and all of them require lots of time and commitment to create. 

After designing a printer friendly galactic chart, I decided this needed to be my next project. I wanted to create an MSD you could design and print all on your own.

 

Your ship, your style

What type of missions are your crew running? Are you a search and rescue vessel? Defense? An embassy ship for the Federation? Or maybe a floating hospital? 

The MSD builder has dozens of every type, including: 

• Maternity Wards, ICUs, physical therapy suites, gyms, dance studios
• Banquet halls, waiting rooms, intelligence offices, security command centers
• Escape pods, unique items from Star Trek Online, cargo of many types
• Holodecks, bars, music halls, lecture halls, 
• And a whole lot more

I designed this so you weren't stuck picking everything, but you could really spec into roles. A hospital ship feels different from a war ship, and has plenty of options to dial in.

Realistic Concerns

If you're designing a war ship, should you add more weapons? If you do, then you should probably have some backup antimatter reactors. That would likely require additional antimatter storage. 

If you want to go this deep into ship design, it's all here.  My goal was to provide the tools so that you really feel like a Starfleet Engineer. You get to dig deep into systems and determine what goes where. I've tried to surface talents included in the core rulebook, so those talents manifest as more than just text.

Sized Right

Each type of room typically has more than one variation, in order to pick the right fit for your vessel. For instance, an Intrepid class on science missions may have a smaller sickbay than a Galaxy class, which could have a larger sickbay, or even a sickbay, reception, and multiple patient/ICU rooms. 

 These sizes are the same across ships. This means that each ship is properly scaled against other ships. 

Using high-res screenshots from Star Trek Online, I've designed space frames to be consistent. I'm currently starting with only the Excalibur Class, as it allows me to fine tune all the various rooms. 

The Excalibur class prints across two 8.5x11" pages, making it easy to play on your table.

Coming Soon

I'm very close to releasing this project. It will either release as a PSD or EPS, so that the vector imagery, room names, and layers are all respected. If you've followed my other projects, then you know I try to make these for people who have the lowest technical skills possible, however, this is just too complex to do otherwise. 

Rooms are as easy as copy/paste, and by retaining the layer structure and naming, you are able to easily grab components and make your own custom rooms.

Want a custom version of your own bar, sculpted into the front of your ship? Just grab some tables, create a new room outline, and toss 'em in. There are guides here for how to create your own custom items, too, including line widths, colors, and aesthetics.