By Jim Johnson, Star Trek Adventures Project Manager
Art by Justin Usher
In previous posts, we talked about what to expect in the second edition of Star Trek Adventures and discussed the 14 playable character species presented in the core rulebook and why each of them is an awesome choice for your player character. We’ll start a new series of blog posts next week digging into how to play the game, from the perspectives of both player and gamemaster. To help us move out of Spacedock and onto that mission, let’s take a close look at the game to set expectations for what lies ahead.
WHAT IS STAR TREK ADVENTURES?
Why would you want to play this game? What can your crew accomplish that hasn’t already been portrayed by the many characters in hundreds of filmed Star Trek stories and hundreds more in print? Consider the following topics and then determine what kind of character you want to create and what kind of game you want to play with your group.
Your Ship, Your Crew, Your Adventures
The Star Trek universe is really, really big. It spans more than a thousand years of in-setting content and touches on all four quadrants of our Galaxy (and sometimes beyond!). While the many characters we know and love have told amazing stories and lived notable fictional lives, there’s always more to discover. Your characters are unique, and the stories you tell are unique as well. By playing this game, you’ll be developing your series, set on your ship or station, in your own corner of the Star Trek universe.
Lifepath Character Creation
The primary way to create player characters is to work through a lifepath, building the character from childhood into their career. At each step, your character gains specific benefits and you are encouraged to build their backstory as you go. As you progress through the lifepath, you add more story elements to your character, along with additional mechanical benefits. Once you complete the lifepath, you have a fully realized character ready to take their place among the heroes of the franchise.
Unlike other roleplaying games, where characters start out with modest abilities and stand real chances of dying early and often, characters in Star Trek Adventures begin play as highly competent beings, ready to take on whatever challenges the universe throws at them.
Opportunity for Dramatic Events
Decade after decade, series after series, Star Trek serves up epic, expansive storylines packed with drama and high stakes. Star Trek Adventures delivers on this promise for high drama as well. The game’s story-driven mechanics in the form of Momentum and Threat allow the gamemaster and players to alter the circumstances of scenes and encounters to amplify dramatic gameplay.
In addition, Star Trek Adventures has an advantage over the stories seen on screen in that the game provides an infinite special effects budget, no limitation on alien species prosthetics, and the ability to tell stories as large as the universe itself. The television and movie screens may have a limit to the scale they can present, but that limitation dissolves in your gaming space, where your stories are limited only by your group’s collective imagination.
Rules as Light or as Complex as Needed
The 2d20 System features a straightforward task resolution system: the gamemaster presents you with a task to attempt as well as the task’s Difficulty, and then you determine your target number and roll 2d20 to attempt to score enough successes to beat the Difficulty. If you learn only that core concept and execute it consistently when attempting tasks and when in conflict, you’ll be armed with the single most essential tool to build many sessions of entertaining gameplay.
From there, you can add in the rules for managing Momentum and Threat; buying additional dice for task attempts; using values and Determination; generating task assists from characters and starships; and engaging in social conflict, personal combat, and starship combat. Add or remove mechanics as desired, adjusting the game system to the needs of your ongoing campaign and the group’s comfort level with ‘crunch’.
A Concern for the Greater Good
Star Trek characters usually have strong moral compasses and are devoted to concepts such as duty, honor, personal integrity, truth, and justice. Granted, there are some notable exceptions, though even the exceptions are often portrayed as individuals who try to make decisions benefitting someone other than themselves. Character perspectives and sensibilities are defined in the form of a character’s values, which serve as a barometer of their essential outlook on the universe, and which can be tested or challenged session after session. A character’s values change over time, reflecting the character’s growth—or regression—through their experiences.
Collaborative Problem-Solving
Star Trek characters, by and large, encounter and solve problems as a team. Each individual brings their unique blend of skills and abilities and applies those talents to whatever problem they face. All the series present crew members who have complementary skills, who combine those skills with those of other characters to devise creative and, often, effective solutions to the most seemingly insurmountable challenges.
Star Trek Adventures offers player characters those same opportunities to work problems together via assist mechanics—in which other characters and the starship herself can assist on task attempts—and through the use of a shared Momentum pool. In addition, the options for extended tasks provide characters with the means to collaborate to research, experiment, and solve challenges.
All this and more await you in Star Trek Adventures! Stay tuned for next week as we begin a deep dive into preparing, running, and playing the game.
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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