By Jim Johnson, Star Trek™ Adventures Project Manager
Art by Grzegorz Pedrycz
Perhaps you are a veteran gamemaster looking for a new game to play with your group. Perhaps you have a veteran gaming group looking for something different to play besides the other games you normally play. Perhaps you are a new gamemaster or a new group of players and you want to make Star Trek Adventures your first-ever role-playing game.
Whatever the case, you want to give Star Trek Adventures a try, but maybe some of your players aren’t too sure they want to play it or don’t know anything about Star Trek and you need to find a way to help them get into the franchise. What can you do to draw interest in Star Trek Adventures and get your group excited to try it out?
Ideally, you would have a group passionate about Star Trek who love the franchise and the various series and can come to some sort of consensus early on about what era they want to play in. What kind of ship, whether it’s Starfleet, or another civilization, etc. However, you might have a group that is curious and really don’t know much about Star Trek. The best thing you can do in that case is to sit everybody down together, in the same room or virtually, and host a watch party for a handful of episodes or a couple movies together and see what kind of common interests the group may have. There are close to 1,000 hours of Star Trek you can watch and enjoy. There is no shortage of best-of episode lists online to mine for details, and many Star Trek Adventures products include a short list of recommended viewing that you can enjoy. In fact, a recent blog post offered just such a list.
As you and your group consume Star Trek and watch different series and episodes, also take some time to share or read this blog post, which summarizes Star Trek Adventures.
Once your players understand what Star Trek Adventures is and why it makes for an amazing game setting and environment, download a copy of the Star Trek Adventures second edition Quickstart Guide. Have everybody pick a character and play through the scenario. If you want more of a robust game experience, get a copy of the new second edition Starter Set in print or digital format, have the players pick characters and start playing through that.
The Quickstart Guide should give you 3 to 5 hours of gaming, while the Starter Set campaign was designed to give you roughly 15 to 20 hours of gaming, using just the contents in the box. Neither the Quickstart Guide nor the Starter Set require you to own or reference the core rulebook, so the cost to try out the game is quite low (or free if you decide to use the Quickstart Guide).
Note that the adventures in both the Quickstart Guide and the Starter Set are oriented toward Starfleet characters and Starfleet games. If your group is determined to play a game that is not Starfleet, you’ll need to make some adjustments to the characters and the storyline. Alternatively, you could download the free first edition Klingon Quickstart Guide and run that with a group of Klingon warrior characters.
There are other ways to get your group excited to play the game, and that would require you to put a little bit of thought into your players and their tendencies. Some players like to roll dice and get into combat while others like to be more thoughtful. Some players like to solve puzzles and problems, while others are content to sit back and play a support role. Any type of player can fit in Star Trek Adventures, though very passive players might need to be encouraged to be a little more proactive.
By and large, characters in the Star Trek setting, whether they are Starfleet, Klingon, or another civilization, are both active and proactive. They do things. Star Trek at its core was based on a television show, and Star Trek Adventures brings that feel to the game table and assumes that player characters are going to take risks and try things, rather than sit back and potentially delve into analysis paralysis and not do anything other than wait for something to happen. Star Trek characters make things happen by experimenting and daring to push the envelope of what’s possible, and even try to make the impossible possible.
Other ways to get your group excited about Star Trek aside from watching episodes or movies would be to play some other Star Trek games or read Star Trek media. There are countless comic books, novels, short stories, computer games, board games, and card games you can play together to get familiar with the universe and get excited about playing in it. Ultimately, though, to get excited about playing the roleplaying game, it’s a good idea to watch some episodes, because you’ll learn how characters interact and work together.
Once you have your group excited to play the game, you can then get started with Star Trek Adventures! Have fun, and live long and prosper.
Order the print edition of the second edition Starter Set now and receive the digital version right away. Or order the digital file 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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