lyle.spade
Adventurer
Star Trek Adventures RPG PDF
Product information... View for more details
Product information... View for more details
Star Trek Adventures
lyle.spade
Adventurer
5 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures RPG PDF
I purchased this game from DriveThruRPG on the day it was released there, read the rules over a few days, and then ran a one-off with some friends. Almost all of us had played the 2d20 system, for Conan, a handful of times, and I'd read the Modiphius playtest materials extensively, and so getting up to speed on the rules wasn't hard.
The book provides extensive amounts of background information - 50+ pages of it at the beginning, actually - and this is the sort that will help casual ST fans (those who've seen some of the movies and an episode here or there) get up to speed with the ideas, events, and overall feel of the universe. This background was also fun for me to read, as I picked up on a great many ersatz Easter eggs mentioned in various places that referred, often indirectly, to episodes or parts of movies. A great deal of this background section is written as if the reader is a Starfleet officer receiving a briefing, with the pages broken up with personal log entries, communications intercepts, and other 'primary documents' of Star Trek. The authors clearly did their homework into the canon and did a really fine job of spinning a meta-tale of Star Trek through these pages and the supposed documents in them.
The core mechanic is interesting, consisting of a Target Number determined by adding the Attribute and Discipline (broad skill area) relevant to the Task. If one has a relevant Focus, which is an area of specialized knowledge, that factors in, too. The player then rolls 2d20 and any numbers at or below the TN are successes. The Difficulty of a Task is set from 0-5, with that being the required number of successes to...succeed. The default Difficulty is 1. Thus, if Lt. Jones wants to make a relatively simple repair to a shuttlecraft, he'd likely add his Reason + Engineering, and take into account that he has 'Warp Technology' as a Focus. If his RE is 9 (slightly above average) and his ENG is 3 (pretty good), his TN is 12. He rolls two dice, and anything 12 or less is a success, with the added bonus that because he has a relevant Focus, if he rolls 3 or less (that is, his Engineering Discipline) on either die, each of those count as extra successes. There are ways to buy add'l d20s, which I won't go into, and there is a great system to account for extra success or possibly successful but challenging results. Thus, the system is in this is comparable to FFG's Star Wars, which not only enables for the determination of success, but also degree of, and throws in ways to creatively shape the scene with interesting narrative elements that can be tied to numeric mechanics. The system uses only d20s and d6s, the latter of which are used to determine damage and are used, occasionally, to roll of different tables.
Character generation offers a lifepath, going from race to homeworld, then to upbringing, then Starfleet Academy, followed by career events, or a free-form system. I prefer the lifepath, as it helps to shape the character into something that makes sense. Character generation takes about 10 minutes if you have a reasonably clear idea, with no number crunching beyond adding single-digit numbers. The only part of chargen that I found a little odd was at the end of it, where you determine whether your character is fresh out of the Academy, experienced, or a veteran. There is no mechanical difference between any of them - that is, the Vet doesn't have more skills or isn't quantifiably superior in any way. I found that odd, but I'm going to see how that works out in play before judging it.
I'm not going to go into detail about how combat, social challenges, research challenges, and other mechanical systems work - that'd take too much time and text. I'll sum it up this way: it has a lot of moving parts, but none of them are particularly complex and there is an overall consistency to how things are done and how they are shaped and modified. Players have a great deal of options, without them being overwhelming in number. My players had clear options from which to choose when deciding what to do - as in, a list of specific actions available in combat - and the system was flexible enough to easily put together rolls to figure out their attempts at things that weren't on that list. Again, I had four players, of whom two had played 2d20 once or twice, one had played it that much and run it twice, and one who'd had no experience with it at all, and we had no problems. The social combat system worked well in practice, and there is a research/scientific problem-solving system that marries the basic dice mechanic with the Scientific Method (no kidding) and, although we didn't use it, looks to work well, resulting in a narrative collaboration between GM and players as to what the problem is and how it can be solved.
We did not use any formal starship operations, but these function by the same rules as do interpersonal and planetary actions. They provide an interesting way to account for the interaction between a starship and, for example, its helmsman: the ship has stats that parallel those of a character and those stats are used to assist the PC when he makes rolls. Thus, much like when one character assists another character at some task, the ship is (mechanically) considered to "assist" the PC. Easy - no need to learn a new system at all. Although we did not use these rules I don't see them as any harder than the others - they're just slightly different applications of the same mechanics and score relationships. One part of the starship rules that I do think mentioning is the way that a play group's ship is customized. There are a number of (Federation) ships offered as possibilties for a typical campaign group, and along with those are a few steps in a lifepath-style sequene of choices that ends with a ship that's somewhat unique, specialized to the mission type most appropriate to the campaign, and thus a little different than other ships of the same class. This provides a mechanical expression of the oft-mentioned 'modular' nature of many ships and 'mission-specific customization' that Starfleet does on them. It's also a way for a group to put their own stamp on what will be their home and, in effect, a constant communally-controlled NPC.
One place where the system shines in an novel way - and a way that is particularly well-suited to Star Trek - is in the area of 'Supporting Characters.' For those of us who are primarily TOS fans, we remember the bridge crew solving every problem while Redshirts died in droves. TNG, DS9, and VOY had larger casts, and therefore spread the love around more when it came to who was involved in the action. And in any game there is the challenge of what to do with players when their characters are not present in a given scene. Star Trek Adventures addresses this with a stripped-down system for quickly creating a Supporting Character that any player can pick up to use in place of his/her main PC whenever necessary. Thus, if the scene is taking place on the bridge, but your main character is in Sick Bay, you can quickly put together the Helmsman or Ops Officer and stay in the action. That Supporting Character then becomes part of the backdrop of that ship or station, and can be used by any player in the future, as the situation dictates or makes possible. This would result, over time, in a ship's crew being fleshed out by the playing party, with side characters coming back now and again. It's a neat, elegant system that evokes the feel of the show.
The book also contains reference material on a number of alien races, critters, and ships, along with enough Federation races to set your game in the ENT, TOS, or TNG eras. Some griping has popped up online (and on ENWorld) about the supposedly short list of playable races, and the lack of detailed information on all eras of the universe. Admittedly, the book is TNG-heavy in art and ships, and the default start date for a campaign is 2371. Given, however, the vast amount of canon and apocrypha for Star Trek, there is no one book in which all of it would fit. At just under 400 pages this PDF lays out all the rules and systems needed to play, and provides enough reference material to jump immediately into a TNG, DS9, or VOY-era game, or a TOS or ENT-era story with a little extra time on the part of the GM to come up with some extra ships and creatures, if needed. I think there is more than enough material to use for extrapolatiing other ships, races, and creatures, and the Star Trek fan of a player or GM shouldn't have any trouble getting the job done.
Bottom line: if you're a Star Trek fan and a gamer, I think you'll really like this game. The book is beautiful, well-organized, and provides clear explanations of the rules, with many examples. There is enough reference material to play in any era, and Modiphius promises a robust release schedule over the next year and some - I am sure they will provide a lot more resources for all eras of play. The system flows well and quickly at the table, despite seeming more on the crunchy side during the first read of the rules - that was me with the playtest materials, big time. Once you see it all in action, it's quite easy. I played the old FASA version extensively, and owned almost everything printed for the short-lived LUG edition, although I never had much of a chance to play that one. This version is significantly better than either of those.
I purchased this game from DriveThruRPG on the day it was released there, read the rules over a few days, and then ran a one-off with some friends. Almost all of us had played the 2d20 system, for Conan, a handful of times, and I'd read the Modiphius playtest materials extensively, and so getting up to speed on the rules wasn't hard.
The book provides extensive amounts of background information - 50+ pages of it at the beginning, actually - and this is the sort that will help casual ST fans (those who've seen some of the movies and an episode here or there) get up to speed with the ideas, events, and overall feel of the universe. This background was also fun for me to read, as I picked up on a great many ersatz Easter eggs mentioned in various places that referred, often indirectly, to episodes or parts of movies. A great deal of this background section is written as if the reader is a Starfleet officer receiving a briefing, with the pages broken up with personal log entries, communications intercepts, and other 'primary documents' of Star Trek. The authors clearly did their homework into the canon and did a really fine job of spinning a meta-tale of Star Trek through these pages and the supposed documents in them.
The core mechanic is interesting, consisting of a Target Number determined by adding the Attribute and Discipline (broad skill area) relevant to the Task. If one has a relevant Focus, which is an area of specialized knowledge, that factors in, too. The player then rolls 2d20 and any numbers at or below the TN are successes. The Difficulty of a Task is set from 0-5, with that being the required number of successes to...succeed. The default Difficulty is 1. Thus, if Lt. Jones wants to make a relatively simple repair to a shuttlecraft, he'd likely add his Reason + Engineering, and take into account that he has 'Warp Technology' as a Focus. If his RE is 9 (slightly above average) and his ENG is 3 (pretty good), his TN is 12. He rolls two dice, and anything 12 or less is a success, with the added bonus that because he has a relevant Focus, if he rolls 3 or less (that is, his Engineering Discipline) on either die, each of those count as extra successes. There are ways to buy add'l d20s, which I won't go into, and there is a great system to account for extra success or possibly successful but challenging results. Thus, the system is in this is comparable to FFG's Star Wars, which not only enables for the determination of success, but also degree of, and throws in ways to creatively shape the scene with interesting narrative elements that can be tied to numeric mechanics. The system uses only d20s and d6s, the latter of which are used to determine damage and are used, occasionally, to roll of different tables.
Character generation offers a lifepath, going from race to homeworld, then to upbringing, then Starfleet Academy, followed by career events, or a free-form system. I prefer the lifepath, as it helps to shape the character into something that makes sense. Character generation takes about 10 minutes if you have a reasonably clear idea, with no number crunching beyond adding single-digit numbers. The only part of chargen that I found a little odd was at the end of it, where you determine whether your character is fresh out of the Academy, experienced, or a veteran. There is no mechanical difference between any of them - that is, the Vet doesn't have more skills or isn't quantifiably superior in any way. I found that odd, but I'm going to see how that works out in play before judging it.
I'm not going to go into detail about how combat, social challenges, research challenges, and other mechanical systems work - that'd take too much time and text. I'll sum it up this way: it has a lot of moving parts, but none of them are particularly complex and there is an overall consistency to how things are done and how they are shaped and modified. Players have a great deal of options, without them being overwhelming in number. My players had clear options from which to choose when deciding what to do - as in, a list of specific actions available in combat - and the system was flexible enough to easily put together rolls to figure out their attempts at things that weren't on that list. Again, I had four players, of whom two had played 2d20 once or twice, one had played it that much and run it twice, and one who'd had no experience with it at all, and we had no problems. The social combat system worked well in practice, and there is a research/scientific problem-solving system that marries the basic dice mechanic with the Scientific Method (no kidding) and, although we didn't use it, looks to work well, resulting in a narrative collaboration between GM and players as to what the problem is and how it can be solved.
We did not use any formal starship operations, but these function by the same rules as do interpersonal and planetary actions. They provide an interesting way to account for the interaction between a starship and, for example, its helmsman: the ship has stats that parallel those of a character and those stats are used to assist the PC when he makes rolls. Thus, much like when one character assists another character at some task, the ship is (mechanically) considered to "assist" the PC. Easy - no need to learn a new system at all. Although we did not use these rules I don't see them as any harder than the others - they're just slightly different applications of the same mechanics and score relationships. One part of the starship rules that I do think mentioning is the way that a play group's ship is customized. There are a number of (Federation) ships offered as possibilties for a typical campaign group, and along with those are a few steps in a lifepath-style sequene of choices that ends with a ship that's somewhat unique, specialized to the mission type most appropriate to the campaign, and thus a little different than other ships of the same class. This provides a mechanical expression of the oft-mentioned 'modular' nature of many ships and 'mission-specific customization' that Starfleet does on them. It's also a way for a group to put their own stamp on what will be their home and, in effect, a constant communally-controlled NPC.
One place where the system shines in an novel way - and a way that is particularly well-suited to Star Trek - is in the area of 'Supporting Characters.' For those of us who are primarily TOS fans, we remember the bridge crew solving every problem while Redshirts died in droves. TNG, DS9, and VOY had larger casts, and therefore spread the love around more when it came to who was involved in the action. And in any game there is the challenge of what to do with players when their characters are not present in a given scene. Star Trek Adventures addresses this with a stripped-down system for quickly creating a Supporting Character that any player can pick up to use in place of his/her main PC whenever necessary. Thus, if the scene is taking place on the bridge, but your main character is in Sick Bay, you can quickly put together the Helmsman or Ops Officer and stay in the action. That Supporting Character then becomes part of the backdrop of that ship or station, and can be used by any player in the future, as the situation dictates or makes possible. This would result, over time, in a ship's crew being fleshed out by the playing party, with side characters coming back now and again. It's a neat, elegant system that evokes the feel of the show.
The book also contains reference material on a number of alien races, critters, and ships, along with enough Federation races to set your game in the ENT, TOS, or TNG eras. Some griping has popped up online (and on ENWorld) about the supposedly short list of playable races, and the lack of detailed information on all eras of the universe. Admittedly, the book is TNG-heavy in art and ships, and the default start date for a campaign is 2371. Given, however, the vast amount of canon and apocrypha for Star Trek, there is no one book in which all of it would fit. At just under 400 pages this PDF lays out all the rules and systems needed to play, and provides enough reference material to jump immediately into a TNG, DS9, or VOY-era game, or a TOS or ENT-era story with a little extra time on the part of the GM to come up with some extra ships and creatures, if needed. I think there is more than enough material to use for extrapolatiing other ships, races, and creatures, and the Star Trek fan of a player or GM shouldn't have any trouble getting the job done.
Bottom line: if you're a Star Trek fan and a gamer, I think you'll really like this game. The book is beautiful, well-organized, and provides clear explanations of the rules, with many examples. There is enough reference material to play in any era, and Modiphius promises a robust release schedule over the next year and some - I am sure they will provide a lot more resources for all eras of play. The system flows well and quickly at the table, despite seeming more on the crunchy side during the first read of the rules - that was me with the playtest materials, big time. Once you see it all in action, it's quite easy. I played the old FASA version extensively, and owned almost everything printed for the short-lived LUG edition, although I never had much of a chance to play that one. This version is significantly better than either of those.
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Kettlebriar
Original Old School Gamer
5 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures RPG PDF
Well, i was originally going to go into a full in-depth review, but the last post seems to do that more than adequate. I love how Modiphius brought together many of the folks that worked on previous editions of the games. I read the FASA stuff back in the day and I own all of the Last Unicorn Games version. I never got into the short-lived Decipher edition. I really like what they've done with this edition of the game. They have offered some awesome PDF bundles that contain many upcoming products. My favorite thing that they are doing with this edition is releasing hardback multi-module adventure books. I wish other game companies would start doing this more often. Release a book with multiple adventures instead of just one.
The quality of the product is top notch with the artwork and the layout as well.
I did want to see the stats for a Nebula-class cruiser, but i'm sure there will be future supplements and I can fill in the blanks myself.
Well, i was originally going to go into a full in-depth review, but the last post seems to do that more than adequate. I love how Modiphius brought together many of the folks that worked on previous editions of the games. I read the FASA stuff back in the day and I own all of the Last Unicorn Games version. I never got into the short-lived Decipher edition. I really like what they've done with this edition of the game. They have offered some awesome PDF bundles that contain many upcoming products. My favorite thing that they are doing with this edition is releasing hardback multi-module adventure books. I wish other game companies would start doing this more often. Release a book with multiple adventures instead of just one.
The quality of the product is top notch with the artwork and the layout as well.
I did want to see the stats for a Nebula-class cruiser, but i'm sure there will be future supplements and I can fill in the blanks myself.
Jester David
Hero
3 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures RPG PDF
I love me some Star Trek, and after Beyond and with Discovery coming in the fall my interest has been renewed. I can’t help but think it’d be cool to do a short Trek mini-campaign between D&D campaigns, or even between “seasons” of an ongoing campaign. With that thought in mind I was excited by the idea Star Trek Adventures.
I’m not sure how well this system works for me in that regard. There’s a lot to remember in the system, such as knowing the action options for both your character and their bridge station, or the choices for spending Momentum, all of which need to be quickly processed and have the potential for option paralysis.
The system seems better suited to dedicated play, but at that point the purposely limited options become a factor (and uneven character progression). Buying more books is always an option, but given how the last three Trek RPGs have ended with unfinished products - the last two being unable to completing the products planned at launch - banking on still theoretical future books feels like a gamble.
At the end of the day there’s the Big Question: How does it work as Star Trek roleplaying game?
Well, it sure as heck looks like a Trek game. And you can be part of the crew of a starship. And the rules equally accommodate fighting Klingon warbirds as they do researching stellar phenomena, rescuing colonists, or beaming down to make first contact. But neither does the franchise seem to trump the game system. The game doesn’t contort itself to exactly replicate events that happen on the screen. And the system itself is interesting, even removed from the Trek branding. There’s a strategic game element during and after Tasks, but you’re regularly encouraged to roleplay. It’s certainly not a clunky unplayable game buoyed by a popular licence.
I like a lot about the system, but really want to see it in play, to watch how it actually handles in action. There’s a lot of small details and factors that I worry could bog down play but might work just fine at the table. The Dragon Age/ Fantasy Age system shows that a set list of stunts can give people fun choices at play, while not slowing down things too much. Realistically, just making a few cheat sheets for players might help dramatically. After all, GMs have screens for that very same reason. As for the content gaps, the system is simple enough that making your own content will likely be pretty easy, and I imagine the Trek fan community will quickly step up and make some of the missing content.But… if I do run a Trek game, I’ll probably end up buying some cheap dollar store dice and taking some paint to them for the Challenge Dice. Or putting some stickers on Fudge dice.
read my full review here: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/4278
I love me some Star Trek, and after Beyond and with Discovery coming in the fall my interest has been renewed. I can’t help but think it’d be cool to do a short Trek mini-campaign between D&D campaigns, or even between “seasons” of an ongoing campaign. With that thought in mind I was excited by the idea Star Trek Adventures.
I’m not sure how well this system works for me in that regard. There’s a lot to remember in the system, such as knowing the action options for both your character and their bridge station, or the choices for spending Momentum, all of which need to be quickly processed and have the potential for option paralysis.
The system seems better suited to dedicated play, but at that point the purposely limited options become a factor (and uneven character progression). Buying more books is always an option, but given how the last three Trek RPGs have ended with unfinished products - the last two being unable to completing the products planned at launch - banking on still theoretical future books feels like a gamble.
At the end of the day there’s the Big Question: How does it work as Star Trek roleplaying game?
Well, it sure as heck looks like a Trek game. And you can be part of the crew of a starship. And the rules equally accommodate fighting Klingon warbirds as they do researching stellar phenomena, rescuing colonists, or beaming down to make first contact. But neither does the franchise seem to trump the game system. The game doesn’t contort itself to exactly replicate events that happen on the screen. And the system itself is interesting, even removed from the Trek branding. There’s a strategic game element during and after Tasks, but you’re regularly encouraged to roleplay. It’s certainly not a clunky unplayable game buoyed by a popular licence.
I like a lot about the system, but really want to see it in play, to watch how it actually handles in action. There’s a lot of small details and factors that I worry could bog down play but might work just fine at the table. The Dragon Age/ Fantasy Age system shows that a set list of stunts can give people fun choices at play, while not slowing down things too much. Realistically, just making a few cheat sheets for players might help dramatically. After all, GMs have screens for that very same reason. As for the content gaps, the system is simple enough that making your own content will likely be pretty easy, and I imagine the Trek fan community will quickly step up and make some of the missing content.But… if I do run a Trek game, I’ll probably end up buying some cheap dollar store dice and taking some paint to them for the Challenge Dice. Or putting some stickers on Fudge dice.
read my full review here: http://www.5mwd.com/archives/4278
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Lwaxy
Cute but dangerous
3 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures
There were already many issues in the playtest, and most haven't been resolved.
Amazing layout, all in Star Trek design - albeit hard to read because the text was on black background. There is some historical info about the different eras. Unfortunately, the way it is presented is weird and on some things, there is too much or too little focus. Real trekkers do not need any of that, there are so many sources online or in other books. To me it was a waste of space.
There are special dice again - this is a disease among RPG creators lately. It is not even necessary in this case and feels just like grabbing for more money.
Characters have values which feel similar to aspects (FATE). This is cool for the GM to trigger when they come up, but it takes time to remember them, for both GMs and players, if they haven't played FATE before.
Using a progress dynamic to resolve tasks which take longer is nice, and ship mechanics work a lot better than many others because the ship is helping you out rather than you depending on its stats.
Determination, Momentum and Threats were never balance in our games, with the GM often lacking a way to make it more challenging for the players due to lack of Threat, and the players often competing for Momentum up to arguments at the table.
You'll need to look up tables a lot which slowed everything down too much.
This is the first game I saw which encourages players to make extra support characters, the lower decks, so to say, but then, I always did that for Star Trek. Not so nice is rules for how many you can include in a scene - this should be totally up to the story and the GM.
Area is divided in zones, and then only for combat. Zones aren't based on how far something is away but on terrain features. But this isn't Catan, and not really knowing how far something is away, with or without combat, is really not practical, especially when running around with tricorders and extra especially when you use maps. But distance is just grouped into 4 categories and when "long" means 2 zones over, it can be much closer than "medium" which would be the adjacent zone, simply because the adjacent zone is much larger. To quote any Vulcan "It's illogical."
I'm not going into combat, takes too far, but suffice to say what looks like a rules lite is actually really rules heavy.
And now my main peeve - too few species (and ship types), not even Klingons or Romulans are included. It might be that they will be in future books - it will generate more money this way maybe. But then maybe not, because who wants to be in a game when those 2 races aren't even an option, not to talk of Ferengi or Cardassians, which are also missing. Not everyone wants to play Federation, Star Trek has so many possibilities.
There were already many issues in the playtest, and most haven't been resolved.
Amazing layout, all in Star Trek design - albeit hard to read because the text was on black background. There is some historical info about the different eras. Unfortunately, the way it is presented is weird and on some things, there is too much or too little focus. Real trekkers do not need any of that, there are so many sources online or in other books. To me it was a waste of space.
There are special dice again - this is a disease among RPG creators lately. It is not even necessary in this case and feels just like grabbing for more money.
Characters have values which feel similar to aspects (FATE). This is cool for the GM to trigger when they come up, but it takes time to remember them, for both GMs and players, if they haven't played FATE before.
Using a progress dynamic to resolve tasks which take longer is nice, and ship mechanics work a lot better than many others because the ship is helping you out rather than you depending on its stats.
Determination, Momentum and Threats were never balance in our games, with the GM often lacking a way to make it more challenging for the players due to lack of Threat, and the players often competing for Momentum up to arguments at the table.
You'll need to look up tables a lot which slowed everything down too much.
This is the first game I saw which encourages players to make extra support characters, the lower decks, so to say, but then, I always did that for Star Trek. Not so nice is rules for how many you can include in a scene - this should be totally up to the story and the GM.
Area is divided in zones, and then only for combat. Zones aren't based on how far something is away but on terrain features. But this isn't Catan, and not really knowing how far something is away, with or without combat, is really not practical, especially when running around with tricorders and extra especially when you use maps. But distance is just grouped into 4 categories and when "long" means 2 zones over, it can be much closer than "medium" which would be the adjacent zone, simply because the adjacent zone is much larger. To quote any Vulcan "It's illogical."
I'm not going into combat, takes too far, but suffice to say what looks like a rules lite is actually really rules heavy.
And now my main peeve - too few species (and ship types), not even Klingons or Romulans are included. It might be that they will be in future books - it will generate more money this way maybe. But then maybe not, because who wants to be in a game when those 2 races aren't even an option, not to talk of Ferengi or Cardassians, which are also missing. Not everyone wants to play Federation, Star Trek has so many possibilities.
DonEsteban
First Post
4 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures
Rating: 4/5 after reading the book and playing a couple of one-shots
The Good: Modiphius has had a few iterations to work on their 2d20 system (Mutant, Conan, Infinity, ...) and it shows. The system is very playable and craftily mixes a classic Attribute/Skill system with aspects (pun not intended), which are heavily borrowed from FATE & Co. I like the eceonomics of "Momentum" (saved successes that go into a player pool) and "Threat" (something like the dark side (pun intended) of momentum offering options to the GM). It is flanked by the concepts of "complications" and "effects", which are results of die rolls that add an extra dimension beyond success and failure. They resemble FFG's Star Wars, but without the need to buy your own dice pharmacy. Regular d20s and d6s will do just fine.
I think the world of Star Trek and the feel of the show are well-captured and reflected in the rules. There is as a very nice introductory adventure that serves to introduce most aspects of the rules system one by one.
The Bad: Although it works well, the system is a bit an the complex side. On the other hand, character options might be a little bit limited. For example, there are about 40 "talents" in the book, which sounds like a lot, but as every character starts with 4 there are bound to be overlaps. Characters will have change only slowly over the course of a camapign and almost don't increase in power.
But this reflects the genre pretty well. Kirk isn't superman either at the end of his career. Moreover "values" (which work much like Fate aspects) provide a means to have your character change and grow during play. Just not in a tactical-mechanical way.
As an response to other reviews: Yes, Klingons are not in the main book for no apparent reason, but adding a race is a really simple task in this game. And remembering that fiction always trumps rules mitigates most of the mechanical problems that might come up in play.
Conclusion: Although I have no long-term experience with the system, it appears very promising and I'm astonished that it doesn't get more attention. I would deserve it!
Rating: 4/5 after reading the book and playing a couple of one-shots
The Good: Modiphius has had a few iterations to work on their 2d20 system (Mutant, Conan, Infinity, ...) and it shows. The system is very playable and craftily mixes a classic Attribute/Skill system with aspects (pun not intended), which are heavily borrowed from FATE & Co. I like the eceonomics of "Momentum" (saved successes that go into a player pool) and "Threat" (something like the dark side (pun intended) of momentum offering options to the GM). It is flanked by the concepts of "complications" and "effects", which are results of die rolls that add an extra dimension beyond success and failure. They resemble FFG's Star Wars, but without the need to buy your own dice pharmacy. Regular d20s and d6s will do just fine.
I think the world of Star Trek and the feel of the show are well-captured and reflected in the rules. There is as a very nice introductory adventure that serves to introduce most aspects of the rules system one by one.
The Bad: Although it works well, the system is a bit an the complex side. On the other hand, character options might be a little bit limited. For example, there are about 40 "talents" in the book, which sounds like a lot, but as every character starts with 4 there are bound to be overlaps. Characters will have change only slowly over the course of a camapign and almost don't increase in power.
But this reflects the genre pretty well. Kirk isn't superman either at the end of his career. Moreover "values" (which work much like Fate aspects) provide a means to have your character change and grow during play. Just not in a tactical-mechanical way.
As an response to other reviews: Yes, Klingons are not in the main book for no apparent reason, but adding a race is a really simple task in this game. And remembering that fiction always trumps rules mitigates most of the mechanical problems that might come up in play.
Conclusion: Although I have no long-term experience with the system, it appears very promising and I'm astonished that it doesn't get more attention. I would deserve it!
Phototoxin
Explorer
3 out of 5 rating for Star Trek Adventures
This badly wants to be FATE but has the mophidius system stapled onto its face.
I must admit that I was slightly offput by the Mophidius affiliation. I used to play Infinity a lot, and saw their alpha/kickstarter preliminary release for that as an RPG. Frankly I thought it sucked. Clunky and generic, it didn't inspire me to even give it an attempt at playing so I didn't bother with the kickstarter.
I was also afraid at the rate of which they seemed to be acquiring licences to various IPs and churning out RPGs based on them using their '2d20 system'. It's not that I have anything against them as a company, I just wonder how focused a small company can be when they're producing new games at a rate of knots! However despite my apprehension the system looked interesting. It seemed to draw on mechanics from FATE and used a d20 pool based system which in itself is a bit novel.
Aside from D20s the game uses special 6 sided effect dice that are marked 1/2/-/-/*/* You can get a set of 4 of these and 3 d20s for about £18 retail which is about twice what a sensible price point should have been. I made my own using blank dice and a handheld engraving tool. I get that it's got the Star Trek licence, but at the same time it's not an excuse to gouge prices, also you will need more than 4
Additionally despite the sexy LCARS computer style of the layout and design, the game lacks Klingons which is clearly being held for a future splatbook. Considering they are a protagonist race I was surprised. I understand that they're not in the federation but again they must have realised that players would want to play a Klingon - although it would probably require a lot of exceptions and become the 'drow' of the system!
Anyway onto the system - the core mechanic - an attribute + a skill to determine the target number which you have to roll equal to or under is fine. It's all of the other stuff stapled on - there's values, momentum, determination, talents and traits. All of these are basically FATE aspects and fatepoints with a different name and made much more confusing. Momentum is something you get by achieving more successes than you need and can be used to buy extra dice or re-roll damage and other effects. Basically FATE points. But they are applied in a very metagaming heavy method.
Case in point are the skill challenges - some of them are literally unachievable unless you have maxed out stats and the corresponding focus and pump a lot of momentum into it. They get easier as you succeed but the odds of succeeding initially are extremely low. Add to that a time factor and if you screw up the first roll you might as well be toast!
Ship to ship combat is a nightmare too. We have been playing pre-written adventures so it's not a case of a bad GM.
That being said, I really like the setting and it tries to incorporate a lot of Star-Trek like themes. However, we've decided to axe the system and use FATE instead because ultimately that is what the system obviously was based on before it got '2d20' stapled to it's face.
This badly wants to be FATE but has the mophidius system stapled onto its face.
I must admit that I was slightly offput by the Mophidius affiliation. I used to play Infinity a lot, and saw their alpha/kickstarter preliminary release for that as an RPG. Frankly I thought it sucked. Clunky and generic, it didn't inspire me to even give it an attempt at playing so I didn't bother with the kickstarter.
I was also afraid at the rate of which they seemed to be acquiring licences to various IPs and churning out RPGs based on them using their '2d20 system'. It's not that I have anything against them as a company, I just wonder how focused a small company can be when they're producing new games at a rate of knots! However despite my apprehension the system looked interesting. It seemed to draw on mechanics from FATE and used a d20 pool based system which in itself is a bit novel.
Aside from D20s the game uses special 6 sided effect dice that are marked 1/2/-/-/*/* You can get a set of 4 of these and 3 d20s for about £18 retail which is about twice what a sensible price point should have been. I made my own using blank dice and a handheld engraving tool. I get that it's got the Star Trek licence, but at the same time it's not an excuse to gouge prices, also you will need more than 4
Additionally despite the sexy LCARS computer style of the layout and design, the game lacks Klingons which is clearly being held for a future splatbook. Considering they are a protagonist race I was surprised. I understand that they're not in the federation but again they must have realised that players would want to play a Klingon - although it would probably require a lot of exceptions and become the 'drow' of the system!
Anyway onto the system - the core mechanic - an attribute + a skill to determine the target number which you have to roll equal to or under is fine. It's all of the other stuff stapled on - there's values, momentum, determination, talents and traits. All of these are basically FATE aspects and fatepoints with a different name and made much more confusing. Momentum is something you get by achieving more successes than you need and can be used to buy extra dice or re-roll damage and other effects. Basically FATE points. But they are applied in a very metagaming heavy method.
Case in point are the skill challenges - some of them are literally unachievable unless you have maxed out stats and the corresponding focus and pump a lot of momentum into it. They get easier as you succeed but the odds of succeeding initially are extremely low. Add to that a time factor and if you screw up the first roll you might as well be toast!
Ship to ship combat is a nightmare too. We have been playing pre-written adventures so it's not a case of a bad GM.
That being said, I really like the setting and it tries to incorporate a lot of Star-Trek like themes. However, we've decided to axe the system and use FATE instead because ultimately that is what the system obviously was based on before it got '2d20' stapled to it's face.
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