Star Trek Adventures: Now that the full rules are out, what do you think?

lyle.spade · Jul 26, 2017

Okay, everyone - here's what to do. Make sure your speakers are on and open this link in another tab. Go ahead. It's nothing creepy and it's safe for work. Once you've got that going - do it! - come back here.

Cool. You're back. Now imagine the scene, folks: oneshot and aramis erak on Cestus III, squaring off against one another as the Metrons look on...or, in this case, as the rest of us watch them spar over dice mechanics. I'll bring the pink and green space marshmallows (ala' the buffet in Journey to Babel) and we'll see who wins the dice mechanic stats championship grudge match.

oneshot · Jul 26, 2017

lyle.spade said:
Okay, everyone - here's what to do. Make sure your speakers are on and open this link in another tab. Go ahead. It's nothing creepy and it's safe for work. Once you've got that going - do it! - come back here.

Cool. You're back. Now imagine the scene, folks: oneshot and aramis erak on Cestus III, squaring off against one another as the Metrons look on...or, in this case, as the rest of us watch them spar over dice mechanics. I'll bring the pink and green space marshmallows (ala' the buffet in Journey to Babel) and we'll see who wins the dice mechanic stats championship grudge match.

Heh, I like it, but I have no idea what the recipe for virtual gunpowder would be.

Also, does that make [MENTION=1]Morrus[/MENTION] a Metron?

lyle.spade · Jul 26, 2017

oneshot said:
Heh, I like it, but I have no idea what the recipe for virtual gunpowder would be.

Also, does that make @Morrus a Metron?

@Morrus is an Organian, for sure.

As for virtual gunpowder, you might want to try remodulating the transmogrifiers that govern the recplicator database. Or remove the field dampers on an EMH emitter and beam the stuff out of the holodeck. Both of those have worked for me in the past.

Staffan · Aug 1, 2017

I've scanned through the PDF (I got inspired to pick it up by Shield of Tomorrow), and it looks very Trek-y. I haven't played it yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

The biggest flaw I see, so far, is that you don't overcome really difficult challenges by being good at what you do. Without spending resources, you're rolling 2d20 to do stuff, and that gives you a very small chance of more than 2 successes, and none of 5 or more. You overcome them by trying hard - that is, by getting assists, or spending Momentum/Threat to roll extra dice. I'm not sure I like that.

Even if you're maxed out (Attribute 12, Discipline 5, applicable focus), you only have an 80% chance of a difficulty 2 task, or a 36% chance of a difficulty 3 task. And that kind of maxed out is where you have Worf punching someone, Geordi realigning warp coils, or Bashir trying to figure out a pathogen.

Morrus · Aug 1, 2017

Man, those typos!

Sent from my iPhone using EN World

Jester David · Aug 3, 2017

Staffan said:
I've scanned through the PDF (I got inspired to pick it up by Shield of Tomorrow), and it looks very Trek-y. I haven't played it yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

The biggest flaw I see, so far, is that you don't overcome really difficult challenges by being good at what you do. Without spending resources, you're rolling 2d20 to do stuff, and that gives you a very small chance of more than 2 successes, and none of 5 or more. You overcome them by trying hard - that is, by getting assists, or spending Momentum/Threat to roll extra dice. I'm not sure I like that.

Even if you're maxed out (Attribute 12, Discipline 5, applicable focus), you only have an 80% chance of a difficulty 2 task, or a 36% chance of a difficulty 3 task. And that kind of maxed out is where you have Worf punching someone, Geordi realigning warp coils, or Bashir trying to figure out a pathogen.

It's not impossible to get four successes with 2d20. And if it's your speciality you also get rerolls from talents, and others could conceivably assist you.
Really, you are expected to bank and spend Momentum on a regular basis. That's a big aspect of the game. It's there to be spent, and if you don't use it, it goes away at the end of scenes.

Jester David · Aug 3, 2017

Morrus said:
Man, those typos!

Sent from my iPhone using EN World

It is super disappointing from an otherwise professional looking product.

I really wish they'd have released it a couple weeks early so the community could have caught them before it went to print. The fancy physical books are going to be riddled with typos. It really discourages people from pre-ordering and buying the first print run.

Staffan · Aug 3, 2017

Jester David said:
It's not impossible to get four successes with 2d20.

Never said it was - I said it was impossible to get 5+ successes. When maxed out, you have about a 6% chance of getting 4 successes.

And if it's your speciality you also get rerolls from talents, and others could conceivably assist you.
Really, you are expected to bank and spend Momentum on a regular basis. That's a big aspect of the game. It's there to be spent, and if you don't use it, it goes away at the end of scenes.

Sure, and that's the part I'm not sure I like. I mean, I like the concept of momentum, but my potential issue is that difficult things are primarily handled by more effort, not more skill.

Jester David · Aug 4, 2017

Staffan said:
Sure, and that's the part I'm not sure I like. I mean, I like the concept of momentum, but my potential issue is that difficult things are primarily handled by more effort, not more skill.

Yes and no.
Yes, a character spending the group's momentum isn't working on skill alone. But in the actual narrative of the world they're doing it alone. No one is helping them. It's Scotty doing the impossible or Doctor Crusher working diligently to single-handled cure a disease. The challenge seems beyond them, but they manage to succeed.

aramis erak · Aug 12, 2017

Staffan said:
I've scanned through the PDF (I got inspired to pick it up by Shield of Tomorrow), and it looks very Trek-y. I haven't played it yet, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

The biggest flaw I see, so far, is that you don't overcome really difficult challenges by being good at what you do. Without spending resources, you're rolling 2d20 to do stuff, and that gives you a very small chance of more than 2 successes, and none of 5 or more. You overcome them by trying hard - that is, by getting assists, or spending Momentum/Threat to roll extra dice. I'm not sure I like that.

Even if you're maxed out (Attribute 12, Discipline 5, applicable focus), you only have an 80% chance of a difficulty 2 task, or a 36% chance of a difficulty 3 task. And that kind of maxed out is where you have Worf punching someone, Geordi realigning warp coils, or Bashir trying to figure out a pathogen.

Your math is (very?) slightly off...
Since it's unclear if you're talking With or Without Focus
Given a 12 attribute, 5 skill outside of field:
chance of 4S = 1/400 = 0.25%
Chance of 3S = 2 *1/20 * 12/20 = 2* 12/400 =24/400 = 6%
Chance of 2S from 1d w/fail on other: 2 * 1/20 * 3/20 = =6/400 =1.5%
Chance of 2S w/out 1's: 16/20 * 16/20 = 256/400= 64%
Total 71.75%

In field (within a focus):
chance of 4S = 5/20*5/20 = 25/400 = 6.25%
Chance of 3S = 2 *5/20 * 12/20 = 2* 60/400 =120/400 = 30%
Chance of 2S from 1d w/fail on other: 2 * 5/20 * 3/20 = =30/400 =7.5%
Chance of 2S w/out 1's: 12/20 * 12/20 = 144/400= 36%
Total 79.75%

Before applying talent rerolls... if you have a reroll talent, success rate on Diff 2 exceeds 80%
Too lazy to do the all math for talent reroll effects and to code it..
but... it's vloser to 95%