Tabletop Star Trek: Let's see what's out there

For the first time in about a decade, I'm really excited by the prospect of running a tabletop rpg set in the world of Star Trek.  And I have a recent viewing of Star Trek Nemesis to thank.

Look, I’m not sure I’d recommend that anyone go back and watch Nemesis, but one of the few things the movie has going for it is that its ending sets up a new status quo in the Alpha Quadrant that can go a lot of different ways. The thalaron weapon destroyed nearly the entire Romulan Senate, leaving a power vacuum absolutely begging to be filled with all manner of shadowy power plays and Federation heroics.

Just thinking about it conjures images of cunning Tal Shiar spies, privileged senators from storied families, dutiful admirals in command of birds of prey and the underground reunification movement that wants to forge a new era of peace between Romulus and Vulcan. Caught in the middle are the Remans, former slaves of the empire who yearn for their own planet and the autonomy that goes with it.

And poor Captain Riker -- along with the crew of the newly commissioned USS Titan -- sets out to monitor this political maelstrom and, whenever possible, advance Federation interests (as established at the end of Nemesis).

Will the Romulan Star Empire fall into chaos and civil war, thus destabilizing the entire region? Or will the powers of the Alpha Quadrant establish a stronger alliance than ever and usher the Romulan people into a new era of freedom and political openness?

A bunch of Star Trek novels have addressed those very questions, and I’ve read and enjoyed a handful of them.  But, with news of a brand-new Star Trek series hitting the net this week, I’m itching to dust off my old Last Unicorn Games rpg materials and have my regular gaming group answer those questions for themselves.

I haven’t played in the Star Trek universe since I graduated from high school over a decade ago. My skills as a game master (or narrator, as the GM is called in the LUG system) have grown considerably in that time. And the gaming group I’ve fallen in with loves Trek and role plays exceedingly well.  Long story short, the pieces are there for a truly remarkable experience in the Final Frontier, and I’m chuffed to bits to begin the campaign and see what’s out there.

I intend to document that experience on this blog.  I’ll recap our sessions, which will begin on Nov. 16. I’ll also discuss some of my techniques as a narrator and the unique challenges presented by a tabletop rpg attempting to negotiate the Star Trek Universe. Finally, I plan to provide some mini reviews of the individual LUG Star Trek products, from the core books to the optional supplements to the adventure modules.

So, without further ado, let’s make it so…