RPG Spotlight: Boldly Go on Some ‘Star Trek Adventures’
We’re joining Starfleet, exploring the farthest reaches of space, and maybe even meeting some green ladies with Star Trek Adventures.
If I’m being very honest, I haven’t been what you’d call a ‘Star Trek person’ for very long. My parents have always been huge trekkies, which made it a non-starter for me through my entire youth. I had a working knowledge of the basics, but never want to delve in even a little. And it wasn’t until Lower Decks—a show I absolutely have seen all of because it’s a delight—spent an entire episode talking about how bonkers Voyager is that I thought, ‘I like bonkers.
Maybe I should check more of this out.’ And y’all, I am into this. It’ll be a long road to catching up on everything, but we’re doing it and I absolutely get it now. And of course that means checking out whatever tabletop RPGs are out there. So whether you’re a newer fan of the Trek universe with me, or have gotten it since the beginning, let’s join Starfleet together with Star Trek adventures.
Star Trek Adventures
Some games out there are easy, approachable, and playable for new and veteran players of tabletop RPGs alike. Other games are crunchy, detailed, and governed entirely by fate and the dice. Somehow, Star Trek Adventures manages to be both of those games.
This is a somewhat crunchier game than those Powered by the Apocalypse that have been extra popular lately. But this is also a system that wants you to have fun, explore space, and have fun. Failure isn’t meant to happen a whole lot in Star Trek Adventures– not big failures at least. Small ones, sure, we all trip up or botch a roll. But at the end of the day we should be winning the day, possibly in the goofiest way pseudo-science will allow and walking away from the table feeling good about it.
Gameplay & Character Creation
When I say that this system is somewhat crunchy, I don’t mean it in an intimidating way. This isn’t an intimidating game. But it is a game where you get the opportunity to build your own Starfleet officer from the ground up. And that character is multifaceted, and likely has specialized in some specific skills and abilities.
PbtA character creation is great, but you’re relying a lot on role-playing to show who your character is. This is Star Trek, though, and your character spent a lot of time becoming the foremost expert in whatever mumble science they went to the academy for, and that expertise is going to show on their sheet.
This also means that sometimes character can get very specific and very specialized. Luckily, situations where that specialization may come up does and will.
At its core, this is a 2d20 system. Roll 2d20 and any result that’s equal or lower than the target number is a success. Most tasks want one or two successes. Something more difficult may require more than that. Characters have their specialties in Starfleet (Command, Engineering, Science, Security, Medicine, and Crew), as well as personal attributes (Control, Fitness, Presence, Daring, Insight, and Reason). The target number for most rolls is found by combining the relevant Discipline and Attribute.
Boldly Go
This may sound like a lot, especially if you’re newer to tabletop RPGs than to Trek and thought this would be a fun entry point. But I promise, it’s not bad once you get going. This system reminds me a lot of the Edge of the Empire (Star Wars) system and even a little of the Alien RPG. Though, the tone is a lot more inviting and less brutal than Alien.
This is a cinematic game with very playable rules and mechanics designed to let you explore. You can fail but still have something good happen, and as we said earlier, you’re meant to be successful by the end. We’re not looking for a lot of downers and brutal lessons, we’re looking to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and civilization. And maybe play in the holodeck from time to time, too.
If you’d like to check out Star Wars Adventures for yourself, you can find more information at Modipuius.
Have you played Star Trek Adventures? Which Star Trek series is your favorite? What would your department / uniform color be? Let us know in the comments!
Happy adventuring!
