You’ve got your part of the whole that you’re responsible for and you want to make sure that’s going smoothly. First of all, you have a role on the ship that you are expected to fulfill, whether that’s being the captain or the ship’s doctor or the chief engineer. It’s worth considering, though, what it means to be part of a starship crew instead of an adventuring party. You’re serving on a starship.Īgain, not much of a surprise considering you’re supposed to be playing in the Star Trek universe. Lastly, species are very quick to make (especially if you don’t want to have those optional bits) so you can make up your own alien species and define your own place in the universe! 4. There’s also the option of playing a character of one species raised in an alien culture, best handled by the GM adjudicating which of the aliens’ options you can make use of.
You can also easily make a hybrid character, playing a Human-Vulcan or a Bajoran-Bolian just by saying so. You get access to some special options as well but those are entirely optional. First of all, the mechanical impact of your species is relatively minor: just a few Attribute bonuses. This is a subtle distinction in terms of rhetoric (but one worth making!) though in terms of mechanics it means a few specific things. There’s also no races in Star Trek Adventures, just species. You’ll have to think about what your strong skills are but the system itself is freeform enough that you can have a few different strengths with ease.
They have their training but they can move between departments on the ship just like characters in Star Trek series do. In Star Trek Adventures, characters are usually built with a Lifepath system and at no point in that process do they lock themselves into a specific career. If you roll more successes than the Difficulty you can generate more Momentum and spend it on more dice or interesting options. Normally you roll 2d20 (hence then name of the system) but you can use a game resource called Momentum to purchase additional dice and better your chances. If you roll a 1, then you get two successes. If you have a Control of 9, for example, and an Engineering of 3 then you would need to roll a 12 or lower for a Control + Engineering Task. When you attempt a Task the GM will tell you which combination of Attribute and Discipline to use and you roll a number of d20s and try to get that sum or lower, and they’ll tell you the number of successes you need to do the thing (the Task’s Difficulty). Your character has six Attributes (Control, Daring, Fitness, Insight, Presence, and Reason) and six Disciplines (Command, Conn, Security, Engineering, Science, and Medicine). If you’re just starting, focus on these basics and you’ll be off to a strong start. Like many other RPG systems, the basics are fairly simple but the mechanics can expand to cover a variety of different situations and get rather involved at times.
The 2d20 system is Modiphius’s in-house system that gets used for many of their games. This game uses the 2d20 system from Modiphius. The militaristic Klingons, the isolationist Romulans, the autocratic Cardassians, and even the hyper-capitalist Ferengi are all aliens you can expect to interact with, as well as the expansionist Dominion and cybernetic Borg who hail from more distant parts of the galaxy. All around Federation space are many alien species who don’t share the same beliefs and values as Starfleet does, and you’ll be expected to deal with them and represent your culture well. Although it’s main mission is one of exploration, Starfleet also serves as the Federation’s military by necessity, a dichotomy which causes some concern and argument throughout the series. The Federation’s capitol is on Earth but it is much more than a human endeavor and includes species from all over the galaxy. In Star Trek Adventures, you play an officer of Starfleet which is an exploratory and scientific corps that serves the United Federation of Planets (UFP). For a more thorough crash course, check out the Star Trek 101 series on the Continuing Mission blog. If you don’t know it that well or you haven’t ever watched an episode of Star Trek, this is a very brief introduction to the setting. If you already know the Star Trek series well, read on to other points for more context. It shouldn’t surprise you that the inspiration for Star Trek Adventures is the Star Trek franchise. They’re short and sweet and today I want to give that treatment to Star Trek Adventures, a game that I’ve grown to love and appreciate. I see them as short lists you can send to a group to pitch them on a game you want to try or just prep them for a game you’ve already decided on. I’ve written other “ Ten Things to Know…” posts, and they’re always pretty fun.