Star Trek has recently flourished thanks to the popularity of two streaming series. Strange New Worlds is a throwback to the timeline of the original series and the episodic nature of classi TV. Lower Decks is an animated comedy that offers plenty of deep cut jokes while still keeping the core of adventure that makes Star Trek unique.
Star Trek Adventures, the official role-playing game published by Modiphius, has also been going strong since 2017. They released two game expansions at Gen Con for it and the folks at Gale Force Nine also released a new miniatures board game as well. These companies sent review copies to me, so lets take a look at all three.
Star Trek Away Missions
The Battle of Wolf 359 is one of the pivotal moments in the canon of Star Trek. Starfleet sent the bulk of its ships to confront the incoming Borg and suffered horrible losses on its way to a humiliating defeat. It remains a dark day in Federation history and every show that’s taken place after the event has made time to deal with the fallout in storylines.
This starship graveyard makes for an excellent background in Star Trek Away Missions. Each player fields a team beaning board one of these wrecks to complete an objective such as recovering technology or rescuing a salvage team. The core box provides Federation and Borg teams with expansions bringing Klingons and Romulans into play.
What I enjoyed most about the game are the ablity to build the conflict zone as well as how interactive the space became. Star Trek battles are rarely slugfests, instead won by a clever plan or unexpected use of technology. I loved how players could use transporters to move troops, raise shields and do all the things with Trek tech that other games might do with magic.
Star Trek Adventures Lower Decks
Lower Decks focuses on the adventures of low-level Starfleet officers on a ship that keeps the bureaucratic aspects of Starfleet humming. Everybody knows about the adventures of the Enterprise but there are dozens of other ships that have to follow up after first contact and make sure someone’s following all the rules and regulations the flagship breaks. These officers are just as dedicated to the ideals of Starfleet even if they sometimes run up against the same problems that anyone in an office environment might face.
While Star Trek Adventures focuses on playing the bridge crew of a Starfleet vessel, Lower Decks Campaign Guide focuses on the bit players like the ones on the show. It discusses how comedy is one of Star Trek’s secret weapons and how to bring that to the forefront in a campaign without losing the feel of the setting. It even includes a short storyline and several one page adventures to help Game Masters find their footing.
The designers have done an excellent job in making Star Trek books useful beyond their focus. This book is a great resource for fleshing out the background characters on any starship, which is one of the coolest part of this RPG. These characters can eventually grow into important parts of any game, just like how Chief O’Brien started as a nameless transporter operator on The Next Generation and eventually became a main character on Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek Adventures Captain’s Log
One of the big challenges for people wanting to play role playings games is finding someone willing to step into the role of Game Master. It’s a rewarding experience but one that can be daunting to anyone that’s never tried it before. Recently, several RPGs have come out allowing players to play without a human Game Master, instead rolling on dozens of charts to inspire and twist their story.
Captain’s Log brings this idea to the world of Star Trek. It uses a modified Star Trek Adventures engine to let players create characters and tell their stories. There’s a lot of options packed into the book including dozens of aliens species ships and even a way to tell stories inside the Klingon Empire.
The book is also an excellent resource for Star Trek Adventures groups. The charts can be used to generate stories and the game can even be played with friends if the GM is away at a warp field conference that week. The book offers ways to convert characters from its system to Star Trek Advenures and vice versa.
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