Example of Play: Star Trek: First Contact Spacewalk
By Nathan Dowdell, 2d20 System Developer
Art by Connor Magill
This post uses a scene from the Star Trek franchise as an example to explain the rules of Star Trek Adventures. If you’ve got a particular scene you’d like to see written up in this format, please let us know on our official Discord!
This example is a scene I’ve wanted to use as an illustration for a while: the battle from Star Trek: First Contact, on the outer hull of the Enterprise-E, between Picard, Worf, Hawk, and the Borg.
Participants
This scene takes place about 2/3rds of the way through Star Trek: First Contact, where Captain Picard, Lieutenant Commander Worf, and Lieutenant Hawk venture onto the outer hull of the Enterprise-E to prevent several Borg Drones from sending a signal to the Delta Quadrant.
Captain Picard’s stats are taken from the Star Trek: The Next Generation crew pack; Worf’s stats are taken from the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine crew pack (as he’s been on DS9 for a couple of years by this point). Both have been altered slightly to bring them into second edition, and both have Protection 1 due to wearing Environment Suits. Due to the events of the movie so far, Picard has 6 Stress remaining, while Worf has 8 Stress remaining.
Lieutenant Hawk is a Supporting Character created for this story; his statistics are below. Opposing them are six Borg Technical Drones, whose statistics are also below.
I Think It’s Time We Took A Little Stroll
The scene opens with Captain Picard, Commander Worf, and Lieutenant Hawk walking on the outer hull of the Enterprise, headed towards the main deflector. They have added 2 to Threat, and spent what of their Momentum was left over from the last scene on some Phaser Rifles, and they’ve equipped some environment suits, but the gamemaster has waived the cost of the environment suits, as they’re necessary for the scene.
As they approach the deflector dish, they observe the Borg working to build something onto the dish itself: an interplexing beacon that will allow them to broadcast a signal to the Borg Collective in the Delta Quadrant in this century.
The Borg have an extended task, which has a Progress Track of 15, Resistance 0, and a Difficulty of 2. The Technical Drones have an Impact of 3; 2 from their Engineering department of 2, and +1 at the gamemaster’s ruling from their inbuilt tools and the unifying presence of the hive mind. When the extended task is completed, the Borg will send their signal at the end of that round. All six Borg Drones have Assimilation Tubules.
As the scene is on the outside of the ship, the traits Zero-Gravity and Hard Vacuum apply here. Further, the deflector dish is fully charged with antiprotons, meaning that a phaser hit to it could cause an explosion that destroys half the Enterprise, so we add the trait Charged Deflector Dish. Simply blasting the Borg on full power with a wide beam is too risky here, and the gamemaster warns that any failed attack at the Borg in the central zone (the Deflector Dish itself) risks a disastrous outcome.
To stop the Borg, the player characters need to remove the deflector dish. There are three magnetic clamps around the dish assembly that need to be unlocked as quickly as possible. Each maglock is an extended task, with a Progress Track of 4, a Difficulty of 1, and Resistance 0. Once all three of these extended tasks are complete, the deflector dish will detach from the hull and float clear at the end of the round.
The goal is now clear, and the player characters begin their approach.
Round 1:
Momentum: 0 Threat: 10
Turn 1, player characters. Picard Moves quickly to the nearest console and begins on the first Extended Task. The gamemaster rules that this is a Control + Conn task, and Picard can use his Composure focus to remain calm and focus on the task at hand. 2 Successes means he marks off two Progress (3/4), and scores 1 Momentum, which he saves for later: this situation’s going to need it.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 2, gamemaster. The first Borg Drone works on the beacon. Control + Engineering, Difficulty 2. Only one success. The gamemaster rules this as Success at Cost: the Borg continue to make progress, but less, reducing their Impact by 1 this time. 2/15 Progress made.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 3, player characters. Hawk moves around one flank to the next console and starts work on his own extended task. Control + Conn again, but Hawk has no specific focus here. One success, but a complication, which the gamemaster uses to reduce Hawk’s Impact by 1 this time. His Conn of 4 would have completed the progress track in one go, but now he only scores 3 out of the 4 progress needed, meaning he’ll still need one more turn to finish it.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 4, gamemaster. The second Drone uses its turn to assist the next Drone to work.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 5, player characters. Worf moves around the other flank to the next console and starts on his own extended task. Control + Conn once more, and Worf has no specific focus either. However, a critical success and a success bring 3 successes, allowing Worf to succeed and generate some much-needed Momentum. He spends 2 Momentum for +1 Impact, meaning he completes his extended task.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 6, gamemaster. The third Drone works on their extended task, scoring 2 successes and bringing the Borg to 5/15 Progress. All 3 player characters have acted, so the Borg continue to act freely.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 6, gamemaster. The fourth Drone breaks off from the group, heading towards Hawk. It’s outside the central zone now.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 7, gamemaster. The fifth Drone moves towards Picard. It too is out of the central zone.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Turn 8, gamemaster. The sixth Drone moves towards Worf. It is also out of the central zone.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 10
Round 2:
Turn 1, player characters. Hawk, briefly distracted from his work by the approaching Drone 4, aims and opens fire, set to kill: Borg can’t be taken out with Stun attacks. This adds 1 Threat. With a reroll from aiming, Hawk scores three successes overall and hits the Borg easily. It drops to the hull. The gamemaster secretly rolls a d20 for the Borg’s Adaptive Shielding rule, and rolls a 2… the Borg have adapted to these Phasers.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 11
Turn 2, gamemaster. The first drone assists the second on the extended task.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 11
Turn 3, gamemaster. Worf, having finished his task promptly, opens fire at the approaching sixth Borg drone, shooting to kill. Worf’s successful attack is ignored by the Borg drone, and he announces that they’ve adapted. He reaches for his mek’leth, which the Borg cannot adapt to.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 12
Turn 4, gamemaster. The Borg continue on their extended task. Four successes allow the Borg to mark more progress, and they spend their 2 Momentum from this to increase the Impact by +1. 9/15 Progress.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 12
Turn 5, player characters. Picard works on his extended task, scoring 2 successes, which means making progress, plus 1 Momentum. He completes his extended task, then spends 2 Momentum to make a Swift Action. He opens fire, not at the approaching Borg Drone 5, but at the hull beneath the drone, to create a trait: Detached from Hull. This is Difficulty 3 with the Swift Action penalty, but Jean-Luc spends 1 Determination with his Haunted by the Borg Value (which is getting a lot of use today) for one die to be an automatic critical success. The other die is a success, so he scores 3 successes overall, and the Borg Drone is blasted off the hull by the sudden burst of energy and the puff of coolant gases from beneath the breached hull plate… and because of Zero-Gravity, it floats into space, helpless. Picard rolls 1d20 with his Veteran talent, and rolls a 6, under his Control: he gets his Determination back. As he has Faith of the Heart (the Human Species Ability), spending Determination also adds 1 Momentum to the group pool.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 12
Turn 6, gamemaster. The sixth Borg Drone moves up to Worf and attacks the Son of Mogh. Worf rolls first to set the stakes: he buys an extra die by adding Threat, and rolls Daring + Security, scoring four successes easily, but also a complication. The Borg Drone buys an extra die by spending Threat, and rolls… scoring 2 successes, and a complication of its own, which the gamemaster rules as allowing Worf to counterattack for free: the Drone’s attack was so clumsy that Worf can basically dissect it with his blade. However, Worf’s environment suit is torn in the fighting (Worf’s complication). With the Momentum he scored, however, Worf has enough for a Swift Action of his own, to try and negate that complication. He buys a d20 with Momentum, and then rolls Control + Engineering to jury-rig a quick solution, which succeeds, and he ties off the torn section with a piece of Borg tubing, attached to the dismembered limb of the Drone he’s just slain.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 13
Turn 7, gamemaster. The third Borg Drone moves from the central zone, and attacks Hawk, spending 1 Threat for a lethal attack. Hawk rolls to defend first, but scores only one success. The Drone spends 1 Threat for an extra d20, scoring 2 successes. Hawk is hit, and as a Supporting Character with no Values of his own, he has no Stress to avoid the Injury. Hawk is Defeated by the Deadly attack… and as he was Injured by the Assimilation Tubules, he will be assimilated.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 11
Round 3:
The gamemaster spends 1 Threat to have the NPCs interrupt the action order and take the first turn this round.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 10
Turn 1, gamemaster. One of the remaining Drones begins to move towards Picard, but Picard is just out of reach to attack right now.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 10
Turn 2, player characters. Picard, knowing that the remaining drones are getting close to finishing their work, reasons that he needs to get to Hawk’s last terminal to finish the last extended task. He asks the gamemaster if he could try and boost off the side of the deflector dish and float over to the other side, given that there’s Zero-Gravity. The gamemaster allows it as an elaborate Sprint action that’ll travel further, but Picard will still need a Difficulty 1 Fitness + Conn task to get where he needs to go. Failure may mean he’s off-target or caught by the Borg. Picard adds 1 Threat to buy an extra die, just in case, and scores 3 successes, but also scores a complication. The gamemaster banks that complication for 2 more Threat, but Picard lands soundly where he wanted to be, and saves 2 Momentum. Not having a moment to lose, he spends 2 on a Swift Action: working on Hawk’s extended task. 2 successes is enough, even with the Swift Action penalty, and the final extended task is finished.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 11
Turn 3, gamemaster. The second Borg Drone continues on the extended task, buying 2 extra dice by spending 3 Threat, scoring 2 Successes, and moving the Progress Track to 12/15. The gamemaster spends 2 Threat to Keep the Initiative.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 7
Turn 4, gamemaster. The gamemaster spends 4 Threat on a Reveal: Hawk returns right now! And he’s been assimilated! He uses his own stats for now, plus the Immune to Fear and Immune to Pain rules: he’s not been assimilated long enough to have all the implants yet. Hawk attacks Picard; Picard rolls to defend first, scoring a success. Hawk attacks back, spending 1 Threat for an extra die, scoring 3 successes. Picard is Injured, and Hawk spends his Momentum to increase the Severity of the Injury from 2 to 3. Picard suffers 3 Stress to avoid the Injury.
Momentum: 0 Threat: 2
Turn 5, player characters. Worf to the rescue! Worf shoots to kill (+1 Threat), buys an extra die by adding to Threat, and aims to be sure, scoring three successes. Hawk is slain, and Worf banks 1 Momentum.
Momentum: 1 Threat: 4
The last remaining Borg Drone is too far from the fighting to be a meaningful part of the fight, especially now that the extended tasks are complete and assimilated Hawk is slain. The gamemaster feels that that’s climactic enough, and ends the scene.
As the deflector dish floats into space, the last of the Borg Drones on it finishes the extended task, and begins sending their signal. Picard blasts through the conduit linking the dish to the ship with his rifle, and moments later, once it’s at a safe distance, Worf fires at the dish, destroying it entirely.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the ship, the Borg Queen is deeply unhappy…
After-Action Report
This scene is one I’ve wanted to write up for a while, because I think it illustrates a general good practice in action scenes: framing the scene around an objective or a dramatic goal, rather than focusing on the fighting itself. Fighting the Borg isn’t the goal: preventing them from sending their message is. To this end, it’s also a good showcase for extended tasks as objective trackers: completing the extended tasks is what signals the end of the scene, one way or another. Even very short, very simple extended tasks take some degree of effort and attention, as seen here.
There are some elements where I’ve folded events from the movie into different actions to fit the game turns—working on the maglocks takes a little longer, and Worf’s fate with his suit breach takes longer to resolve (and is resolved off-screen for drama), but it isn’t always easy to map real-time choreographed action onto turn-based combat.
It also constrains the combat to maintain the tension: shooting the Borg isn’t really an option to begin with, and only a handful of shots are fired. While they’re clustered on the deflector dish, it’s risky to fire at them, and once they spread out, they quickly become immune to phaser fire. At the same time, the Zero-Gravity trait actually acted more as permission than limitation, allowing a couple of unorthodox stunts that the gamemaster had to rule on, which only worked because of that circumstance. Littering your action scenes with unusual circumstances can change up the dynamics of an action scene considerably.
The pacing here is also reflective: the scene exists in three acts, like a story in microcosm, and this is reflected in the three rounds of the combat:
- First, the Borg are just working on their task, and the player characters work on theirs. The scene is set, but the action is building.
- Second, the combat begins in earnest, and a couple of Borg are defeated, but the pressure is on, and both sides are split between fighting and working on their tasks. Things seem bad when Hawk is taken out.
- The third round is climactic: Picard has a big stunt and succeeds at the objective, the now-assimilated Hawk attacks Picard, and Worf gets his own hero moment.
The entire thing is brief, has building and falling tension, and never outstays its welcome.
What are your thoughts on this example of play? How would you and your crew handle this differently? What other key scenes from the Star Trek franchise would you like to see written up? Share your ideas and insights with your fellow fans at the official Modiphius Discord!
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