Modiphius Announces Star Trek Adventures The Federation-Klingon War

Modiphius released details on Star Trek Adventures The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign, a new setting book taking place in 2256-2257 during Star Trek Discovery and before the events of the original series of Star Trek.

From the press release:

“WE COME IN PEACE.”
“We have forgotten the unforgettable. The last to unify our tribes: Kahless.” - T’Kuvma

The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign expands upon the core Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game experience by providing a campaign that parallels the Klingon War story arc depicted in the first season of Star Trek: Discovery. This tactical campaign enables you and your group to explore what was happening elsewhere in the Federation during this perilous time. With a plethora of additional rules variations to embrace the emotional toil of being thrust into a war, this campaign gives you the tools to build exciting narratives during the war.

Additionally, this book includes rules for an all new, procedurally generated campaign overlay that gives players the opportunity to take on the roles of admirals assigning assets to deal with Klingon threats across the Galaxy.

How will war take its toll on you and your allies? The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign features:

• An extensive discussion of the state of the Galaxy before and during the Federation-Klingon War in 2256 and 2257.
• An in-depth look at 12 wartime roles along with how typical Starfleet roles change during wartime.
• A new system that applies scars to characters, representing the toll war has had on them.
• Fifteen new talents focusing on both the tactical and diplomatic theaters of war.
• More than 25 named starships, Federation and Klingon, that were a part of the war effort.
• Six new playable species, including Aenar, Arcadian, Ariolo, Betelgeusian, Coridanite, and Megarite.
• Over 20 war-focused mission briefs including tactical, routine, exploration, and unknown mission options.
• A wealth of advice on gamemastering wartime campaigns and ensuring all players feel safe while playing in war campaigns.
• An optional campaign overlay that puts the players in the role of admirals while making decisions about the war effort.
• Optional rulesets that enhance the tactical side of roleplaying.

The 232-page hardcover will be eight chapters long covering new character options, a guide to gamemastering the campaign, the rules for the campaign, timelines and missions for the early, mid, and late war, new starships, and stats for new allies and adversaries. You can find the table of contents and more information on the Modiphius blog. The physical edition will begin to ship in April 2024 with pre-orders open now for a retail price of £40.00 or US$51.49 from the US webstore. All pre-orders will include the PDF, which will also be available for purchase separately on March 27, 2024.

 

[Corone]

While I don't speak for Modiphius I would add there are many reasons for price differentials between companies for apparently similar products.
The main one is that Fantasy Flight is pretty huge and can charge less due to economy of scale on things like dice sets. They will get a better unit cost and can afford to make less profit per item if they make five times as many as other companies. If the dice are generic for their own system, they are also not having to hand over royalties to a licensor. There may also be different overheads requiring different needs in a profit margin, where again, economy of scale may be a factor too. These overheads will mostly be staff wages by the way, gaming producers are not lighting cigars with $100 dollar bills.
Finally, two apparently identical products might also function in different ways in the marketplace. The Genesys system requires the dice, so FF needs to offer them as an essential for play and needs to undercut itself to make sure consumers can afford to add that to their first purchase. For 2D20 the dice are helpful and fun but not essential so Modiphius doesn't need to drop the price as you don't need to buy them.

I'd add that if you want a particular set of dice (and I can see a use for just challenge dice) drop the company a line. If enough people ask for something most companies will at least consider it as there is clearly a market.

 

[Staffan]

The custom dice aren't necessary. They're fun, but not required, and the ST: A book on page 74 has this table:

Sure, you can do that. But that seems like a headache in practice.

I don't mind purchasing custom dice for a game I enjoy, but I agree with @Staffan, if all of Modiphius' 2d20 games use the same dice, then just sell us the dice that work for all the games. Although, ALSO selling fancy customized Star Trek dice is totally OK, I love picking up stuff with the ST delta on them!

Most of the ones that use effect dice do: Star Trek Adventures, Fallout, Achtung Cthulhu, and so on. They were experimenting a bit more when the engine was new: Infinity has 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, and Effect, and apparently Mutant Chronicles has 1, 2, 0, 0, 0, 1+Effect. But all the games since has either done away with them entirely (e.g. Dune) or used the same as Star Trek Adventures: 1, 2, 0, 0, 1+E, 1+E.

Also made my own, though. A brick of black D6s, a black sharpie and a blue sharpie. Faces with blue are effects, 3s and 4s are blacked out, and ones and twos are... Well... Ones and twos.

I made an attempt recently, though I'm not sure how well it worked with a brick of blue d6es, and filling in the 3/4 with blue and 5/6 with gold. Not sure the gold is distinct enough to show.

I also got a whole bunch of dice intended for various Warhammer games, with an icon on the 6. I'll be using those for Infinity and see how that works.

While I don't speak for Modiphius I would add there are many reasons for price differentials between companies for apparently similar products.
The main one is that Fantasy Flight is pretty huge and can charge less due to economy of scale on things like dice sets. They will get a better unit cost and can afford to make less profit per item if they make five times as many as other companies. If the dice are generic for their own system, they are also not having to hand over royalties to a licensor.

The ones I was comparing them to are these. Yes, FFG is bigger, but I don't think the Star Wars license comes cheap. And regarding economies of scale, these dice are two each of five distinct dice, with one of a sixth. I figure that should balance out the economies of scale a little. And sure, doing different dice sets for not only different games but different factions within those games probably isn't doing wonders for said economies of scale, which is why I wish they wouldn't do that but instead make generic effect dice at a reasonable cost (and no need to include the d20s, as those are just regular d20s with a logo on the 1).

I mean, I don't have insight into the internal operations but if FFG can make a licensed set of 11 dice of six distinct kinds for $12, I don't think it would be that difficult for Modiphius to make a generic set of 12 dice (filling a "big dice" brick) of a single kind for, say, $15-20. Or if they do have to sell the distinct sets, at least have them include enough dice for a single player to play the game (5d20 and 8 or so effect dice) instead of just half of that.

 

[Staffan]

Come to think of it, it's not so much that I'm against Modiphius making a buck (or a quid as the case may be). It's more that with their dice sets being so overpriced, I'd be more likely to either go for a DIY solution which may or may not be satisfactory, or not play their games at all. Either way, they aren't really getting dice money from me. But if they had reasonably costed dice, with a neutral-looking layout that would work well for any of the games (except Infinity and Mutant Chronicles, seeing as they have 0 on the 5 result), that would be a more likely purchase.

 

[Von Ether]

Speaking of expensive accessories, I could totally get this book to go with my Tricorder Collectors Set.

(It's the whole game, accessories, and a mini-campaign in a cosplay worthy tricorder box. How cool is that!!)

 

[mykesfree]

Looking forward to getting this. 6 new connected wartime adventures. While for the Klingon-Federation War of 2256-2257, it can be modified for any era. Yeah this is going to be on my buy list.

 

[Randomthoughts]

Definitely interested in this. Now, I’m just waiting for an official Dominion War supplement.

 

[ChoomInCT]

Picked this up last night. First impression: solid book, gets into the impact that wartime has on the Federation and the characters. Mechanics for suppression of values, traumatic stress, and taking on a different role due to the war. Also, the tactical features remind me a bit of architect level play in Dune. (Its not, to be clear, its a unique and elegant system for STA, but the analogy helped me understand what they were going for, with Admirals and senior intelligence officers moving assets around the sector. The campaign looks to be about as long as Shackleton, so it should offer plenty of gaming time- especially if the tactical mode generates additional play opportunities. (What? My spy is compromised? We need a rescue!) I recommend this book.