By Jim Johnson, Project Manager
Art by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo

 

All across Star Trek’s 60 years of storytelling, both on- and off-screen, we witness characters experiencing a variety of trauma, both physical and psychological. In Star Trek Adventures, roleplaying complex characters means this may play out at the table too. In this blog, we’ll discuss how this may be experienced.

 

If your group is interested in including similar elements in your games and campaigns, consider using or adapting the guidance on psychological trauma included in The 24th Century Campaign Guide. Be sure to discuss it with your players at Session 0 and at regular game check-ins, to ensure everyone is comfortable adding such elements to your game.

 

The Character Experience in Star Trek

 

Whether it’s the trauma of losing loved ones or colleagues to any number of spatial anomalies, malicious flora or fauna found on countless worlds, brutal warfare, or the horrific assimilation by the Borg, there seems to be no shortage of characters in the Star Trek universe who suffer trauma of all forms, and have to live with that experience mission after mission, episode after episode.

 

While an episodic television series can generally get away with presenting a character with significant trauma in one episode, and then have the next episodes not reference it, a roleplaying game campaign is generally structured more serially. What impacts your character in one episode may not be fully resolved by the next episode. Those emotional scars may remain for several episodes, if not several seasons.

 

Such things can rarely be easily ignored or hand-waved for the story’s convenience, and it’s important to acknowledge that players may wish to explore these themes.

 

Star Trek’s Character Complexity

 

If a character has a traumatic experience in their backstory, that character may have sat with that trauma for years or even decades, left unresolved until the player and gamemaster choose to explore it within a game setting.

 

This is mirrored in Star Trek. For example, it’s not until the second season Star Trek: Strange New Worlds episode “Under the Cloak of War” that we discover Doctor Joseph M’Benga has been carrying around the trauma of his experiences during the Federation-Klingon War. The arrival of Ambassador Dak’Rah onboard the Enterprise triggers M’Benga’s trauma and leads to a dramatic and tragic turn of events.

 

Captain Jean-Luc Picard suffers terrible trauma, both physical and mental, after being assimilated by the Borg and turned into Locutus. While he is rescued and physically healed within a couple episodes, the trauma of that event lingers within him for several decades, right up to the last time we see him on screen in the final episode of Star Trek: Picard.

 

Advice for Incorporating into Star Trek Adventures

 

For your characters, you may choose to blend the advice contained in The 24th Century Campaign Guide with the optional mechanical rules for scars and trauma included in The 23rd Century Campaign Guide, to provide a deeper, more comprehensive roleplaying experience.

 

Again, it’s important to consult your players to ensure everyone is comfortable adding these elements to the game. Not every player may want to travel down more mature, potentially darker, storytelling avenues.

 

You can also find player advice, including finding player consensus, handling discomfort, and ensuring your players feel safe at the table on our Star Trek Adventures downloads page.

 

As before, utilise safety tools and conduct regular check-ins to ensure all players at the table are comfortable with any themes that may arise. 

How are you planning to use The 24th Century Campaign Guide? In what ways might you incorporate challenging character history into your missions and campaigns? Share your ideas and insights with your fellow fans at the official Modiphius Discord!

 

Preorder the print edition now and receive the final digital edition as soon as it is available.

 

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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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