By Jim Johnson, Star Trek™ Adventures Project Manager
Art by Marc Bell
Perhaps you are a gamemaster about to plan a Star Trek Adventures campaign. Let’s assume you and your group spent time at Session 0 talking about what kind of campaign you want to play and creating characters and a ship for that campaign. Let’s also assume your group has committed to a campaign consisting of three “seasons,” with each season having 10 episodes, similar to the structures of Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds.
Where do you get started? Read on for some ideas.
Session 0
Coming out of Session 0, you should have a lot of data available for planning purposes. You should know all your main characters and their values, focuses, and talents. Depending on how engaged your group is, you may also have histories or backstory information for each main character (or possibly just the selections they made at each point of the lifepath), along with notes for a few non-player characters for each main character. Your group may have also discussed some connection points among their main characters, creating some instant material to work with, such as how Riker and Troi knew each other at the start of “Encounter at Farpoint” or Sisko and Dax having a history prior to the events of “The Emissary.”
You probably also talked with your players about what kind of campaign they want to play and what themes, tropes, and episode topics they have interest in exploring together. You likely also talked about any safety tools relevant to your group.
As gamemaster, you likely also have your own thoughts on specific tones, topics, or story ideas you want to explore in a Star Trek campaign. This is your opportunity to fold in what you want and what your players want to plan an amazing campaign, or, at least the starting point for the campaign, knowing it will likely evolve once you start playing.
It’s All About the Characters
One way to get started is to use pen and paper or your favorite writing software or application and list out each player character and the key details you know about each one. Having this information on one page or in one handy table will help you visualize your key crew at a glance and should help you see potential connection points and plot hooks you can pull into your episode planning.
For example, here’s a summary of the main characters for Star Trek: Tycho, an original campaign set in 2280 on the U.S.S. Tycho Brahe, a new Oberth-class science vessel assigned to explore the Beta Quadrant.
|
Main Character |
Role |
Species |
Key Values |
Key Focuses |
|
Captain Sekor |
Commanding Officer |
Vulcan |
|
Astrophysics, Sensor Operations, Spaceframe Design |
|
Commander Detto sev Dir |
First Officer and Chief of Security |
Tellarite |
|
Away Team Procedures, Immoral Discipline, Small Group Tactics |
|
Lt. Commander Talau Rova-Telei |
Science Officer |
Efrosian |
|
Alternative Medicine, Biochemistry, Xeno-botany |
|
Lt. Commander Chemm |
Chief Engineer |
Xahean |
|
Starship Power Systems, Theoretical Physics, Unorthodox FTL Drives |
The group noted they want to explore new sectors and spatial phenomena, and want to be involved in a lot of ‘boots on the ground’ away teams on new planets and environments. Rova-Telei and Chemm graduated from Starfleet Academy at the same time and have an ongoing zero-g croquet rivalry. Detto is hungry for her first command but has a terminal medical condition that will likely deny her the center seat. Sekor was on the development team for the Oberth class, and is determined to push the ship hard to prove the spaceframe’s value.
Original Content or Pre-written?
As you’re building your character grid or compiling notes about your campaign’s main characters, you’ll also want to think about what format of stories you want to tell—original adventures or pre-published material (either adapted or right out of the box). After nine years, Star Trek Adventures has hundreds of standalone adventures, mission briefs, short campaigns, and longer campaigns you can pull from for plot hooks, story ideas, outlines, and full adventures as needed. Why not take advantage of that wealth of material?
You may prefer to create your own adventures and stories, or you may choose to mix it up and run a few original adventures followed by a pre-written mission or two. You may even choose to focus on mostly-original stories and sprinkle in some plot elements from the Shackleton Expanse or any of the other mini-campaigns published over the years. The choice is yours!
Putting It All Together
At this point, we have a list of main characters and some juicy character elements to pull on, and we have some idea of what resources we’re likely to draw on for the first few episodes. Now it’s time to pull together a season one outline, roughing out a few episodes and ideas.
Star Trek: Tycho Season One
- Pilot episode, spotlight moment for each main character; intro 2-3 key crew NPCs, provide opportunity for ship systems to be tested. Away team on a new planet, minor scientific discovery. Ensure one scene highlights Detto’s terminal disease.
- Pull from mission briefs “Disasters,” put the ship through its paces and test Sekor’s value. Mix up the crew and give the main characters scenes with NPCs not in their department. Opportunity for Detto to use their discipline focus and challenge value? Include one scene where the bridge crew detects a strange power surge at long range, foreshadowing the introduction of the Zheer Unity later this season. Chemm should be intrigued by the sensor data from the power surge.
- New planet exploration, another away team, opportunity to introduce some more crew NPCs and original native species and creatures. Rova-Telei finds some interesting bio-tech elements on the planet that initial testing suggests possess a variety of medicinal properties and uses.
- While studying a spatial anomaly, the crew discover it is artificially generated. As they puzzle it out, they are engaged by a Zheer Unity corvette. The corvette doesn’t respond to hails, scans their ship, and then exits the area via a new form of FTL. After the corvette leaves, the crew discovers that one of their shuttles is missing, apparently transported right out of their shuttlebay. Subplot: Zero-g croquet competition for crew, esp. Rova-Telei and Chemm. Chemm should be intrigued by the FTL used by the corvette, matching it up with power surge noticed in the pilot episode.
- The crew has an opportunity to track the corvette via extended tasks and challenges. As they work, it becomes evident the corvette left a breadcrumb trail for them to follow. They follow the trail to its end, a Class-L moon around a large gas giant. The moon has a deserted observation station on it, and their stolen shuttlecraft, completely disassembled, spread out neatly on a grid in a large hangar. Subplot: Create an opportunity for Rova-Telei and a science or medical NPC to tinker with the episode 3 biotech discovery and connect to Detto’s disease. Could it somehow generate a cure? Trigger a long-term extended task if the players express interest.
- New planet exploration, indigenous locals stumble upon the away team and capture some of them, creating a Prime Directive issue as the locals are not yet at warp capability. During the episode, they prove they are close to warp breakthrough, and offer a variety of means to convince or force the crew to give them the last pieces to the puzzle.
- Fill in as needed depending on progress of season and player interests.
- Fill in as needed depending on progress of season and player interests.
- Fill in as needed depending on progress of season and player interests.
- Season finale; the crew track down the Zheer Unity corvette to another Class-L moon orbiting a different gas giant. The corvette continues to ignore hails, and in an ensuing game of cat-and-mouse with the Tycho, dives into the upper atmosphere of the planet, tempting Sekor to push the ship’s capabilities. Hijinks ensue.
You should try to provide each main character with a major character arc as well as some ideas on minor arcs and subplots. It’s very important to note that your initial campaign structure is not set in stone. Once the players get into the game and start building the episodes and overall story together, even better ideas and plot hooks will surface, all of which can be used to further enhance the campaign.
How much of the campaign outline you choose to share with your players is up to you. Some players prefer to be surprised and just want to see the campaign unfold organically without a preconceived notion of what’s to come. Other players like to be more involved, and may want to help shape the direction of the campaign, especially if they have ideas on how they want to see their character arcs progress or on how other main characters might interact with the development of their character. The possibilities are endless.
These are just a few ideas on planning the beginning of a Star Trek Adventures campaign. How do you develop your campaigns? What tools do you use to help you plan? Share your ideas and insights with your fellow fans at the official Modiphius Discord!
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Command):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Sciences):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Operations):
All physical 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 Starter Set.
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!
TM & © 2025 CBS Studios Inc. © 2025 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.
