By Jim Johnson, Star Trek Adventures Project Manager
Art by Paolo Puggioni
What brings you to Star Trek Adventures? Perhaps you’re a new or casual Star Trek fan curious about the game. Maybe you’re a lifelong fan looking to bring the Star Trek experience to your game table. Perhaps you’re looking for a different game for your group to try out. Whatever the case, welcome to the final frontier! You’ll find there’s room for everyone in the Star Trek universe, no matter who you are and what kind of character you want to play.
Get into the Star Trek Spirit
First thing you’ll want to do, if you haven’t already, is to check out some Star Trek stories. Fortunately, the franchise is nearly 60 years old and there are countless stories to consume, from 11 broadcast series, 13 motion pictures, and thousands of comic books, novels, short stories, video games, roleplaying game products, and more.
If you feel overwhelmed, don’t worry! Cherry-pick a couple episodes here and there from series that catch your interest, watch a movie or two, or flip through a comic book or novel. You can even watch clips from various episodes for free online. Watching episodes and movies together with friends is a great option too, especially if they are part of your game group, or likely to be.
Assemble Your Crew
Watching episodes or reading up on Star Trek likely showed you the franchise presents a vibrant, exciting universe full of interesting, diverse characters engaging in discovery and adventure. Assemble a group of interested folks to play the game, either online or in person. Discuss what you like and don’t like about Star Trek and talk about what sort of game you’d want to play and who your characters could be. Gamers often call this collective pre-game discussion ‘Session 0’ and use the time to get to know each other and each other’s preferences and to see if the group meshes well enough to try playing a game together.
Download Player Advice and Safety Tools
Head over to the Star Trek Adventures downloads page to get copies of the player advice document and the safety tools checklist. The player advice document is full of ideas on finding a group, picking a gamemaster, and conducting an effective Session 0 with that group in order to figure out what kind of Star Trek game you want to play together. The safety tools checklist is handy for surveying your group to figure out what everyone is comfortable with in a game session, and is designed to help ensure a safe, fun game environment for everyone involved.
Use or adapt these documents as you and your group see fit so you can set any needed ground rules, before exploring the final frontier together.
Grab a Copy of the Game
Now that your group is assembled and excited about Star Trek, and you’ve shared ideas on what sort of game you want to play and who your characters might be, it’s time to get a copy of the game! If you’re not sure the group wants to commit to the full game, or you want to try it out before buying a core book, head over to the webstores and download the free quickstart adventure and play that for a couple sessions. If you enjoy it and want to make original characters, you’ll then want to pick up a copy of the core rulebook.
Use the core rulebook to create your crew of characters and your crew’s starship. Now you’re ready to boldly explore the great unknown!
I hope this article has whetted your appetite for all things Star Trek Adventures and has given you the confidence to check out some Star Trek stories, pull a group together, and prepare to boldly explore the unknown together. Next week we’ll focus on creating your group’s characters.
Order your print copy of the second edition Star Trek Adventures core rulebook now in standard format or one of three limited edition covers! And order a print copy of the second edition Game Toolkit as well, to expand your options for exploring the final frontier.
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Command):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Sciences):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Operations):
All print orders will also receive the digital versions right away.
Alternatively, you can order the digital editions by themselves of the standard core rulebook and the Game Toolkit.
2nd Edition Core Rulebook PDF:
Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about other upcoming Star Trek Adventures product releases. Live long and prosper!
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