An accounting of all the Star Trek Adventures I’m running nowadays

I just thought I’d post a captain’s log, as it were, detailing the two campaigns I’m running for Star Trek Adventures.

The dual campaigns – one with my home group and the other online via Google Hangouts – serve different purposes, and I’m trying hard to differentiate them in various ways to give me as wide of a perspective as possible about the strengths and weakness of the game system. Both campaigns help me learn the game in different ways and, with some luck, also will help me write more official scenarios as well.

I’ll start with my home group’s campaign, set aboard the Constellation-class USS Gemini.  My home group has trudged along with more or less the same personnel since the release of “The Lost Mine of Phandelver” kicked off the 5e era back in 2014. We started with D&D, then I ran a Last Unicorn Games Star Trek campaign set in the immediate aftermath of Star Trek Nemesis, then switched back to D&D for a while and now we’re playing Star Trek Adventures.

I set the Gemini campaign in the Shackleton Expanse so I can run any of the Modiphius Living Campaign scenarios, plus any of the standalone scenarios from “These Are The Voyages, Vol. 1.” My goal here is to sample as many of the officially released scenarios as possible to get a sense of what ingredients work well at the table. I also occasionally use my home group as guinea pigs to playtest ideas I might include in pitches to Modiphius for new official scenarios. The campaign feels much like the original series or The Next Generation so far, with episodic storytelling and not a lot of continuity from one scenario to the next (though that’s not always the case).

I’ve run six sessions with the Gemini group so far (with an seventh scheduled for this weekend), and the highlight of the campaign for me so far was running “Biological Clock.” Watching the players immediately dive into the Prime Directive ramifications surrounding Optera IV without any effort whatsoever on my part put a big smile on my face. It felt just like that scene in Captain Picard’s quarters during TNG’s ‘Pen Pals.’ During that scene, the crew debates the limits of the Prime Directive as they determine the fate of Sarjenka and her entire species. It was good drama and central to Star Trek’s philosophy.

The second campaign I’m running contrasts with my home group in some important ways. First off, it’s the first full-on campaign I’ve run over Google Hangouts. I’d run one-shots before, but scheduling always seemed too difficult to put together anything more. And, sure enough, there have been some drop-outs and some scheduling snafus. But, undaunted, we press on. I’ve now run three sessions with the online group, and you can watch them all on my YouTube Channel here, here and here.

The online game takes place aboard Starbase 23, near the Romulan Neutral Zone. For this campaign, I’m coming up with totally original scenarios and encounters each time. I don’t want to spoil anyone out there by running official adventures. I’m also taking a page out of Deep Space 9’s playbook by allowing each scenario to lead into the next and building long-form story arcs. The plot of the last two sessions, for instance, has centered around a pair of cloned humans genetically modified by the Tal Shiar to act as viral carriers.

The highlight of the online campaign took place during the second episode, titled “Plague Ship.” The Andorian engineer mounted a one-man rescue effort to save a child aboard a doomed freighter. The freighter’s engines were on the verge of a catastrophic breach. The engineer attempted repairs, but time ran out. An emergency beam out saved him, but the explosion left the Player Characters in dire straits.

Beyond that, I’ve also run the odd session of Star Trek Adventures at my local game store. I’d do that more often if I felt I had a good scenario to run that could be played in two hours or so for new players. “Signals” and the adventure included in the core book work alright for that purpose, but I can’t help but feel neither one gives first-time players the real sense that they’re taking part in an episode of Star Trek. I’ll elaborate on that later if the opportunity arises.

All told, I’ve run 10 sessions of Star Trek Adventures since the final core rules became available. I’m having a great time learning the ins and outs of the system, and it’s always a pleasure visiting the Final Frontier and telling brand-new stories.

Left in the cutting room: More reflections on adventure design

In late 2017, I wrote a couple articles for EN World discussing some lessons about adventure design I took from “How To Write Adventure Modules That Don’t Suck” from Goodman Games. You can find those two articles here and here. It’s a cool book containing a couple dozen essays on adventure design from a wide range of authors. And an original rpg encounter accompanies each entry in the book to illustrate the principles and tips discussed in each essay.

The format packs a one-two punch that often unearths valuable insight into adventure design, but it also yields some uneven results here and there. Not every encounter will prove useful to all game masters, but most are generic enough to fit easily into virtually any fantasy rpg system, and a few of the encounters work with science-fiction elements and settings. With a pdf version available for fairly cheap, I’m confident that most gamemasters would get some value out of the product.

But a discussion of “How To Write Adventure Modules That Don’t Suck” should highlight at least one of the encounters detailed in the book, and I originally intended to do so. However, that section of the article didn’t make the final cut due to an unexpected change in word count. So here, on my personal blog, I’m going to post what I originally planned to write about my favorite single encounter detailed in the book.

“Water’s Garden Shop” by Jean Rabe stood out for its delightful tone and creativity. The encounter assumes that the player characters have been asked to look after a quirky shop in the market district of a fantasy city while the owner is away. Events gradually take a turn toward the bizarre as escalating crises are unleashed on the party. The shop sells all manner of fantastical gardening supplies, plants and small pets, from carnivorous flowers to an intelligent frog who loves to discuss local politics and tasty insects.

The beautifully detailed encounter follows an essay by Rabe on the use of all five sense to immerse the players in the game, and “Water’s Garden Shop” packs plenty of sensory stimulation. The fish tanks bubble musically, the air feels tropically humid and the flowers dazzle in vivid color. Nearly everything in the shop features a magical twist, sometimes readily apparent but occasionally hidden for the player characters to discover. The encounter would serve nicely as a whimsical break for adventurers weary of grim dungeon crawls and marauding orcs.

So I salute you, Jean Rabe, for a lovely bit of adventure design. I hope I can find an excuse to get it on the table someday. I got a lot of mileage out of “How To Write Adventure Modules That Don’t Suck.” Pick it up if you’re like thinking about adventure design and could use some inspiration. 

Itching for a Fight

The Star Trek Adventures core rulebook emphasizes that violence should be used only as a last resort for Starfleet crews, and rightly so. Star Trek has always featured heroes that prefer to think their way out of fights rather than immediately firing phasers. But sometimes a good fight makes for an exciting story (and an opportunity for a scene or two of Captain Kirk with a torn shirt).

My home gaming group began “Signals,” the adventure included in the free Star Trek Adventures quickstart guide, during our last session, and the story left off just as the Player Characters crashed a shuttle on the surface of a planet after encountering an electromagnetic storm. The players quickly learned a crew of Romulans also had crashed on the planet, and a fire fight had just broken out between the Romulans and the Player Characters as we ended our session.

To prep for our next game, I reviewed the section in the core rulebook dealing with combat and put together some notes to make the fight as dynamic and engaging for my players as possible. Below, you’ll find my expanded guide for the encounter. Feel free to adapt it for your own campaign.

Setting the stage (Gamemasters may read or paraphrase the following text to start the scene): You regain consciousness unsure of how long you were out. It could have been mere moments or it could have been longer. As your vision clears, you take in the interior of the shuttlecraft, which clearly sustained major damage in the crash landing. The few computer consoles that appear functional flicker, and instruments lie scattered throughout the cabin. A quick check of the propulsion system shows the engines are completely offline. This shuttle isn’t going anywhere without repairs.

Once the Player Characters have gathered their wits and examined the interior of the shuttle, they’ll likely open the shuttle’s hatch to find out what’s going on outside. Once that happens, the Gamemaster should read or paraphrase the following:

The hatch opens onto a rocky, arid plain beneath a red sky swirling with bright discharges of electromagnetic energy. Jagged formations of rock dot the landscape, and the shuttle has left a trail of wreckage strewn around the crash site. Without warning, a sizzling bolt of disruptor energy blasts the ground immediately in front of you and a voice cries out, “That’s far enough, Starfleet! We’ve already claimed this planet in the name of the Romulan Star Empire. We hereby order you to drop your weapons and turn over your spacecraft.”

A trio of Romulan soldiers has trained disruptors on the Player Characters from long range. Two of the Romulans lie prone behind a crag while the third stands nearby, but still remains within reach of the crag and benefits from the cover it provides. It’s the standing Romulan who shouted for the Player Characters to surrender. These Romulans were part of a crew of scoutship crew who crashed on the planet while investigating a powerful alien energy source they’re interested in harnessing as a weapon. They do not intend to allow Starfleet to claim the energy source and will not negotiate with the Player Characters, making combat likely.

The crags behind which the three Romulans take cover grant 2 [CD] resistance. Targeting the lone standing Romulan for a ranged attack requires a successful Difficulty 2 Control + Security Task. However, successfully making a ranged attack against the two prone Romulans from medium range or further requires a successful Difficulty 3 Task. Additionally, the two prone Romulans may re-roll any number of their Cover dice. However, successful attacks against prone Characters from close range generate two bonus Momentum. The Romulans will stay close to the crag and take advantage of the cover, popping up on their turns to fire disruptor blasts at the Starfleet crew.

A chunk of wreckage from the shuttlecraft came to a rest not far from the rear hatch of the shuttle, and Player Characters can easily take cover behind the debris, granting 2 [CD] resistance. The wreckage lies in the zone adjacent to the shuttlecraft’s hatch, meaning it’s a medium-range distance from Player Characters inside the shuttlecraft. If Player Characters take two of the three Romulans out of the fight, the third will retreat on foot back to the Romulan crash site, where several more of his comrades await.

Currently stranded on the planet, the Romulans intend to steal the Player Characters’ shuttlecraft to get back to Romulan space. They also recognize the value of Starfleet hostages and will attempt to capture the Player Characters rather than kill them. If they succeed in subduing the Player Characters, or if the Player Characters surrender, they may try to contact Starfleet to negotiate a way off the planet.

Gamemasters may consider spending Threat in the following ways during this confrontation:

1.    Reinforcements. Gamemasters may summon more Romulan soldiers to arrive on the battlefield by spending 1 Threat for each additional Romulan agent.

2.    Environmental effect. Gamemasters may spend 2 Threat to trigger a power surge that overloads several of the computer consoles inside the shuttlecraft. Any Characters remaining in the shuttlecraft when the overload occurs take 2 [CD] stress damage due to exploding equipment.

3.    Complication. Gamemasters may spend 2 Threat to create a highly localized electromagnetic discharge that causes all electronic equipment – including phasers, tricorders and communicators – in the affected zone to cease to function. This discharge appears like a bolt of lightning that strikes the ground and creates intensely localized electromagnetic interference for several seconds. Characters may repair affected equipment with a successful Difficulty 2 Control or Daring + Engineering Task.

Resolution
If the Player Characters manage to take any of the Romulans captive, they must complete a Difficulty 4 Persuasion Task to gain any useful information. These Romulans have received training in how to withstand interrogation. However, if the Player Characters succeed in convincing the Romulans to talk, they may learn the following information:

1.    The Romulans came to the planet three days ago to secure the powerful alien energy source and evaluate its usefulness as a weapon.

2.    The Romulan scoutship crashed after encountering intense electromagnetic interference in the upper atmosphere of the planet.

3.    There is a settlement near the energy source that is protected by some sort of energy-reflecting technology, making it difficult for sensors to penetrate the area. The Romulans have made several preliminary incursions to test the settlement’s defenses but have not yet settled on a strategy for a full-on assault.

If the Romulans won the encounter, they take the Player Characters captive and march them back to a camp near the Romulan scoutship’s crash site. The Romulans then pump the Player Characters for information regarding the strange alien power signature and the Shackleton Expanse. The Player Characters will have to come up with a plan to escape from the Romulans. If they’re slow to attempt an escape, the Nelbinar miners, who live in the nearby settlement, may provide an opening by staging a sneak attack on the Romulan camp.