By Jim Johnson, STA Project Manager
Astute fans of Star Trek Adventures might note that, over the last few years, the STA development team and I have been working to partner with other Star Trek licensees producing content for Star Trek. We’ve built relationships with Hero Collector/Eaglemoss, Cryptic Studios (Star Trek Online), and the folks developing Star Trek Timelines (first Disruptor Beam, now Wicked Realm Games and Tilting Point). Now, I’m proud to announce that we’ve built a relationship with IDW Publishing as well, with the release of our new digital product, a tie-in supplement based on the outstanding Star Trek Year Five comic series.
This 26-page digital release is available now on Modiphius UK and US and on DrivethruRPG. The content within is pulled directly from the pages of the Year Five series, adapted for use in Star Trek Adventures, and ready to be added to your ongoing missions and campaigns. You’ll find information on two new factions, three new player character lifepath options (including the Tholians and I’Qosa), twelve non-player characters (including Harry Mudd and Gary Seven), and five starships to use as allies or adversaries.
I hope our Year Five release is just the first of many Star Trek comic tie-ins we develop. Most especially, I hope you enjoy the content contained in this release. If you get a chance, let me know if you enjoyed it and if you want to see more products like it. My inbox is always open (jim.johnson at modiphius.com).
By Fred Love, STA Contributing Writer
Modiphius’s Year Five Tie-In digital release offers unique content and fills a new niche for Star Trek Adventures
I’ve been an avid consumer of Star Trek tie-in fiction for decades. I’ve got shelves full of Star Trek novels and long boxes full of Star Trek comics. I’ve got Trek board games that I bought as a kid but could never find enough people to play. I’ve got Trek video games that date all the way back to the 16-bit generation.
I’ve drawn on all that material at various times to inspire sessions of Star Trek Adventures, and I’ve often wondered what it would be like to create an official Star Trek Adventures product based on the huge body of tie-in material. When the opportunity came my way to write a supplement based on IDW Publishing’s excellent Year Five comic series, I jumped at the opportunity. Turns out, writing this supplement was unlike anything I’ve ever done in the roleplaying game realm.
It was pretty much a dream gig to read a couple dozen Star Trek comic books and then pull out the best parts to adapt into playable RPG elements. But it required some serious thought and effort to make sure I rendered those elements in a way that was faithful both to the comics and to the original series, while staying within the mechanical framework of Star Trek Adventures. In many cases, it was a delicate balance to strike, much different than coming up with my own brand-new ideas and designing them any way I wanted to.
The Year Five comic book series goes beyond the canon established in the Star Trek television series and films with some imaginative new story elements as well as putting new spins on some classic species and characters.
The Year Five series tells the story of the final year of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s five-year mission under the command of Captain James T. Kirk. All the classic characters are in a state of transition. They know the end of an era is approaching and are making plans for what they’ll do after the conclusion of the mission. The series includes classic elements like the Tholians, Gary Seven, and Harry Mudd, but it mixes things up with imaginative original concepts and a compelling look into Federation politics as well.
This new Star Trek Adventures supplement rips elements right from the pages of the comic series and assigns them game statistics and mechanics so they fit seamlessly into your Star Trek Adventures campaign. Modiphius’s Year Five tie-in product includes new factions, lifepath options (have you ever wanted to play a Tholian?), NPCs, and starships, all pulled straight from the pages of the Year Five series.
Importantly, you don’t need to have read the comics series to make use of the new supplement. The product showcases many of the central tenets of Star Trek storytelling: diversity, exploration of the human condition, and relevant social commentary. If your game leans on any of those themes, then you should be able to find something useful in the Year Five supplement. It’s my hope that this is the first of many Star Trek Adventures products to mine the wealth of tie-in material available in the final frontier.
Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about additional STA products in the coming months. Live long and prosper!