Can You Save The Kobayashi Maru?

The Kobayashi Maru -- the 'no-win" scenario that every Starfleet cadet must go through while somehow not knowing it's a no-win scenario, first appeared in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. And now you can take the test yourself for free in Star Trek Adventures!

Test Your Mettle Against the Classic No-Win Scenario!

Attention, cadets! Now is your chance to step up and attempt the most important test of your Academy career. When a disabled freighter near the Klingon Neutral Zone sends out a distress signal, you and your crew must respond. How will you fare during the Kobayashi Maru scenario?

This standalone 15-page PDF adventure by Jo Kreil is for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game and is set during The Original Series era. This adventure also contains advice for adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.

 

[Morrus]

Do players get an option to cheat?

Well.... that would be a spoiler. You can download the adventure for free. The concept of cheating does feature in the adventure.

 

[MGibster]

Oh, man. I haven't seen Wrath in years and it's weird watching that opening scene where everyone is younger, thinner, and alive. :-(

 

[Eltab]

There is a Star Trek novel where Jim Kirk's nephew joins Starfleet and (near the end of the book) also takes the Kobiyashi Maru test ... and beats it.
No, not because it's all in the genes.

But the fact that he is going into the Diplomatic Corps helps.

 

[LabyrinthLord718]

I really like STA, it's much cleaner than the Conan rules, for sure! I have the core rules and These Are The Adventures and have run a few sessions of it. This looks like a great one-shot idea!

 

[lyle.spade]

I really like STA, it's much cleaner than the Conan rules, for sure! I have the core rules and These Are The Adventures and have run a few sessions of it. This looks like a great one-shot idea!

Agreed, however, I think Conan's crunch and detail works for that setting, with the high incidence of raging, bloody melee combat. The 2d20 system core is amazingly flexible, as these two games demonstrate. And yeah, STA is so perfect for one-shots, given the episodic foundation of the property. If you're interested in some planetary adventures, I recommend the other adventure compendium they've put out: Strange New Worlds. Again, it has stories for all eras, and they all feel (from reading them) very much like Star Trek episodes in tone and pacing. I have already run one and it went off really well.

 

[MarkB]

There is a Star Trek novel where Jim Kirk's nephew joins Starfleet and (near the end of the book) also takes the Kobiyashi Maru test ... and beats it.
No, not because it's all in the genes.

But the fact that he is going into the Diplomatic Corps helps.

That sounds like it misses the point of the test, which is that nothing you try really works. If a cadet is somehow on the verge of working out a diplomatic solution, that's when the Universal Translator shorts out and starts translating everything he says into Klingon insults.

 

[Aaron L]

I just adore that they made this.

 

[wingsandsword]

That sounds like it misses the point of the test, which is that nothing you try really works. If a cadet is somehow on the verge of working out a diplomatic solution, that's when the Universal Translator shorts out and starts translating everything he says into Klingon insults.

The novel is Sarek by A. C. Crispin .

The curveball there is that Peter Kirk is substantially more experienced than a typical Cadet, and has a lot more detailed knowledge of Romulan culture than any normal cadet (or officer) would, and manages to throw a curveball into the simulation to the point that the instructors cancel the simulation in progress when he confuses them to the point they don't know what he's doing. . .then he explains what he was doing and they realize he was strictly speaking, meeting the victory conditions for the scenario.

In one sense, he doesn't "win", he works out a solution that would cost him his life, but ONLY his life, but in exchange the Kobayashi Maru and his ship would win. In that sense, he fulffills the spirit of the test, there was no way out with him living, but the rules of the test didn't specify he had to survive, just his ship and the crew of the Kobayashi Maru, so the Academy calls that beating the scenario.

Spoiler: How Peter Kirk beat the Kobayashi Maru Test

The main plot of the novel features Romulans and Vulcans heavily, and Peter Kirk learns a LOT about their culture, including some very archaic Romulan laws dating back to before the schism with Vulcan.

That's what he uses to win. In this version of the Kobayashi Maru test, the ship is being guarded by several Romulan warbirds. Peter Kirk hails them, and issues, in proper Romulan, a formal challenge to an honor duel to the Commander of the lead warbird. He orders Engineering to fabricate appropriate ancient Vulcan/Romulan weapons, and orders the transporter room to stand by to beam him to the Romulan warbird (while wondering how they were going to simulate THAT, would they make him fight someone?) At that point, the instructors pulled the plug on the whole thing and asked what the heck was going on.

He explained that it's an archaic, but valid, Romulan law allowing for a duel of honor, and while the duel was proceeding, neither side could attack the other. All he'd have to do is last long enough for his ship to get close enough to the Kobayashi Maru to beam out the crew, then warp out of there. He acknowledged that he'd probably lose to a Romulan Commander in a duel and die. . .but he'd save both ships at the cost of his own life.

The instructors decided to call that a win, since that was the established victory condition. Nothing in the rules said HE had to personally live through it, just his ship.

 

[Eltab]

That sounds like it misses the point of the test, which is that nothing you try really works. If a cadet is somehow on the verge of working out a diplomatic solution, that's when the Universal Translator shorts out and starts translating everything he says into Klingon insults.

Besides the spoiler above, Peter does not rush in via the shortest route. He goes around the nebula but sends a probe via the shortest route. Peter almost runs over a cloaked Romulan ship that is tracking the probe. The Romulan is placed to ambush anything charging in on the shortest route but when Peter "comes around the corner" of the nebula and arrives on the scene he is behind the Romulan.

 

[MarkB]

Besides the spoiler above, Peter does not rush in via the shortest route. He goes around the nebula but sends a probe via the shortest route. Peter almost runs over a cloaked Romulan ship that is tracking the probe. The Romulan is placed to ambush anything charging in on the shortest route but when Peter "comes around the corner" of the nebula and arrives on the scene he is behind the Romulan.

Yeah, I still feel like that's missing the point. The scenario isn't just a fixed problem that's very hard to beat, it's an adaptive scenario that effectively 'cheats' to make whatever tactic the participants attempt turn out to be the wrong move. Unless someone reprograms it.