Player’s and Gamemaster’s Guides, Revisited
Apinya RamakomudBy Jim Johnson, Project Manager
Art by Nicola Silvani
In 2021, four years after the release of the first edition of Star Trek™ Adventures, Modiphius Entertainment released two digest-sized hardcover books that expanded the scope of options available to both players and gamemasters of the game: the Player’s Guide and the Gamemaster’s Guide.
Cover art by: Stephanie Toro Gurumendi
These two books served a variety of purposes, with content meant to introduce new players and fans to Star Trek and to Star Trek Adventures, and to give current players and gamemasters more tools for their respective toolkits. The contents of these two books remain useful, no matter which edition of the game you may be playing or choose to play. If you don’t yet own a copy of the Player’s Guide or Gamemaster’s Guide, let’s briefly review the contents of each book.
Chapter 1 of each guide provides a definition of Star Trek and Star Trek Adventures, and provides a short list of episodes to watch to get a feel for the Star Trek universe. It’s a very handy way to introduce new fans to both the franchise and to the game.
Chapter 2 of each guide explains the Star Trek universe in terms of how society operates, how technology operates, and some of the service protocols involved with Starfleet. There’s additional discussions about how the franchise handles religion and spirituality, money, stardates, and a wealth of material about the technology of the universe as differentiated from other science fiction properties.
Chapter 3 of each guide then goes on to describe the different eras and styles of play present in Star Trek. This helps gamemasters and players focus on what kind of stories they want to tell at the game table, and what era they want to play in.
Chapter 4 of the Player’s Guide goes into detail on how as a player you can approach preparing for a game, including a discussion about Session 0 and player advice on playing the game and how to be engaged during a game session, understanding how scenes work, appreciating your fellow players, and being a good player and supporting your fellow players. There’s also discussion about how as a player you can support your gamemaster and help them facilitate a more engaging and effective game session and campaign.
Chapter 5 of the Player’s Guide discusses existing character roles and how to get the most out of them and then Chapter 6 presents a wealth of new character creation options, including new character types, new character roles, and alternative lifepaths to use during character generation. Chapter 7 closes out the guide with a variety of new options and advice involving the key game mechanics and components, such as traits, values, focuses, and a selection of talents, which, when the book first came out were new, but most of which have since been folded into second edition.
Chapter 4 of the Gamemaster’s Guide goes into detail on building a group and preparing a campaign from a gamemaster’s perspective. Chapter 5 details Star Trek stories and how they’re constructed, and provides advice on what Star Trek storytelling is like, why characters are important, scales to consider for your game or campaign, and advice on integrating game mechanics into your story. The advice contained in this chapter is relevant no matter what edition you’re playing and should be useful anytime you’re sitting down to prepare a game session or run game session.
Chapter 6 of the Gamemaster’s Guide goes into extensive discussion on the various game mechanics available to you such as tasks, extended tasks, Momentum, Threat, and so on. Because these game concepts and mechanics are largely unchanged from first edition to second edition, you should have no problem using the advice contained in the guide for your second edition games.
Chapter 7 rounds out the book with additional rules and tools to use for your game, including extended consequences, advanced traits, Stress and injuries variants, and optional rules for morale and healing, and a selection of advanced combat rules, some of which found their way into second edition, and the remainder of which appear in the conversion document. The guide concludes with a selection of sample encounters and sample extended tasks that you can use or adapt for your adventures and campaigns.
Now, with the release of the game’s second edition, we’re taking the opportunity to update Star Trek Adventures first edition material we weren’t able to include in the second edition core rulebook or supplements. Nathan Dowdell, the 2d20 Systems Developer, revised the game components of these guides that have not made it into a second edition supplement and compiled that information into a document for each guide. We now provide those documents, for free!
I hope this updated information proves useful to you and your crew, and helps enhance your Star Trek Adventures missions and campaigns. What material from the Player’s Guide and/or the Gamemaster’s Guide do you plan to use in your games? What ideas or suggestions do you have for your fellow players and gamemasters? Share your insights with your fellow fans at the official Modiphius Discord!
And if you haven’t bought the guides yet, there are still a few print copies to purchase as well as the digital editions. The second edition revision document will be added to the download package for the guides as well as the Star Trek Adventures download page. If you’ve bought them, you should receive the free download right away. If not, reach out to support@modiphius.com and they will help you out.
Star Trek Adventures Gamemaster's Guide:
Star Trek Adventures Gamemaster's Guide PDF:
Star Trek Adventures Player's Guide:
Star Trek Adventures Player's Guide PDF:
And as a special bonus to the week, Modiphius continues to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Star Trek by releasing a special mission briefs pack themed around Star Trek: The Motion Picture! Check out the free download on the Star Trek Adventures download page and enjoy.
Cover art by: Bob Peak
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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