By Jim Johnson, Star Trek™ Adventures Project Manager
Art by Andrew Clark
With the Star Trek™ Adventures second edition Starter Set now available for purchase with immediate shipping, perhaps you’ve gotten a copy in print or digital, and are ready to give it a go, but aren’t sure where to start. Fear not and read on; let’s talk about it!
The very first thing you should do is gather a group of people together to play with, whether it’s one or two persons or up to seven; whatever you feel comfortable playing with. There are seven pre-generated characters in the box, so, at most, you could have eight people in total: one person as the gamemaster and the other seven each playing one of the characters. You can absolutely play the Starter Set campaign with fewer than seven; as the challenges in the campaign can be scaled to match the number of people playing the game.
You could even play the game solo if you pair it up with the Captain’s Log solo RPG, but we’ll save that discussion for a future blog post.
Once you have a group together, give everyone an opportunity to pick a character to play and determine who’s going to be the gamemaster. The gamemaster should take the campaign booklet and the rules booklet, while the players take their character sheets, the ship sheet, and the reference cards.
Share the included dice with the group if you’re playing with the physical set. If you have some spare 20-sided dice, add those to the mix. Second edition Star Trek Adventures does not use proprietary symbol dice, so any d20 will serve the purpose.
Once everybody has characters, reference cards, dice, writing material, and their favorite snacks and drinks, you’re ready to get started. The gamemaster should open the campaign booklet to page 4 and review the overall structure of the campaign. Also review the Starting Play section on page 5, and then jump to page 6 to get started. Share the Directives with the group, and explain how they’re used in the game. Then turn to page 8 and start the group with Act 1, Scene 1.
Ideally the gamemaster will have had a chance to review the campaign before gathering the group to play, but it’s not absolutely required. It is helpful to read ahead if only because that’ll give you an opportunity to be prepared for what’s to come and can help you guide the players through the first part of the adventure. However, if your group is willing to have a little bit of a slower game experience, you could just start reading and playing right out of the box.
The campaign presents scenes, scenarios, and situations your players will need to navigate, and often includes suggestions on how the players might tackle challenges as they arise. If any of your players get stuck or are unsure of what to do next, as gamemaster, you are there to help facilitate a great game experience. You are not an adversary trying to defeat the players or their player characters; you’re there to help make sure everybody has fun, including you.
One useful way to help players ease into the game is to start the first game session with an introduction. Go around the table, whether it’s physical or virtual, and give everybody an opportunity to introduce themselves and their characters. Each character in the Starter Set has a short bio, so let the players introduce themselves in character if they want to role-play, or just by reading off the information on their sheet. This will help break the ice and get everybody comfortable, and then you can jump into the first scenario.
Part One opens up with an action sequence to help get everyone familiar with the core mechanics rules and rolling some dice early on so be willing to go with the flow and get into it. The most important thing to remember is to have fun, and the rules are ultimately tools to help enable you to have fun. So, do not be worried about getting the rules wrong. The rules references in the campaign guide are there to help you, so review the rules as you go in and don’t sweat the small stuff. You can always go back and review the rules again to see what you may have missed and then course-correct when you go into the next session.
Depending on your group and their willingness to role-play and get into character, and to try different things, you can reasonably expect to get 4 to 6 hours of gaming out of each part of the campaign, maybe more if you start adding your own embellishments. Also, there are three mission briefs included in the back of the campaign booklet, each of which can be used to develop and run another mission either interspersed among the three parts of the campaign, or following the three-part campaign, or as standalone missions. In total, including the campaign and the three mission briefs, you should be able to net 15 to 20 hours of Star Trek gaming.
As you play through the first part and into the rest of the campaign, remember to note down any questions or areas where your group stumbles over the rules, and review the rules booklet for help and then visit the official Modiphius Discord server to interact with the game developers and fellow fans. The Star Trek Adventures community is eight years strong now and there are many people who are able and willing to help players get the most out of their game sessions.
Ultimately, remember that even though you’re playing through a pre-written campaign, the choices you and your players make will reshape the campaign as designed. You are creating your own Star Trek story with your group of friends at the table, and there is no way to do that wrong. Have fun, be bold, and create an amazing Star Trek Adventures story together!
Order the print edition of the second edition Starter Set now and receive the digital versions right away. Or order the digital edition by itself!
You may also choose to order your print copy of the second edition Star Trek Adventures core rulebook now in standard format or one of three limited edition covers! And order a print copy of the second edition Game Toolkit as well, to expand your options for exploring the final frontier.
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Command):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Sciences):
2nd Edition Core Rulebook (Operations):
All physical orders will also receive the digital versions right away.
Alternatively, you can order the digital editions by themselves of the standard core rulebook and the Game Toolkit.
2nd Edition Core Rulebook PDF:
Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep frequencies open for news about other upcoming Star Trek Adventures product releases. Live long and prosper!
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