Learn all about Star Trek Adventures with our brief guide designed to help new players navigate the world of tabletop gaming.
Learn all about Star Trek Adventures and how to play!
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Star Trek is such a beloved franchise, so there has to be a lot of games based on it, right? Indeed, you’ve probably seen video games and board games centered around crewing a ship and exploring planets. But did you know that there’s a Star Trek tabletop roleplaying game (TTRPG)? One that puts you in charge of your own ship on a mission to explore the final frontier? There’s several, in fact, but the newest is Star Trek Adventures.
Before you can boldly go, you need to decide who you boldly go as. Star Trek Adventures lets you pick from several different species seen over the course of the series. You can also select talents and attributes that help you specialize in various tasks. Whether you want to be a ship engineer or planetary explorer, you can craft your dream character using talents and attributes. Once you and the other players have formed your crew, the game can begin.Â
The Game Master comes up with the story and sets a challenge in front of the players. Perhaps there’s problems with your ship or a hostile force appears. The players decide how they want to tackle the challenge. If the players’ actions lead to an uncertain outcome, the dice must be rolled to decide. Star Trek Adventures uses a 2d20 system, which means you roll two twenty sided dice and hope they are low numbers. Each number lower than whatever limit the Game Master sets counts as a success. Players can spend points called Momentum to buy extra dice, but the GM has their own resource called Threat that they can spend to raise the stakes. This back-and-forth continues as the mission leads towards its exciting conclusion!
It’s fun to get a group together at someone’s house and play TTRPGs with snacks and laughs all around. But it’s hard to get a group of adults to align their schedules, and many friend groups live in different parts of the world. Fortunately, video chat programs like Zoom and Discord let you play TTRPGs from home at any time. A popular way to play is “theater of the mind” where everything takes place in your imagination. The GM moves the story along purely with narration, and all the players need are characters and dice, both of which can be done on websites.Â
If you want more visual pizazz, you can use a virtual tabletop (VTT). A VTT is a software or website that everyone in your group can connect to. It can host your characters, give you 3D digital dice, and the GM can use it to show art and maps. Popular VTTs like Roll20 and Foundry have adaptations of the official Star Trek Adventures rules. This allows you to set up automatic dice rolls that take your abilities into account as well as many other convenient functions.Â
Try visiting your local game store to find new TTRPG groups. They may have a board where GMs post ads looking for players, or the shop itself might host a weekly “Learn to Play'' night. You might also check with Star Trek fan groups. In fact, there’s a whole Reddit community dedicated to Star Trek Adventures. Here at StartPlaying, we have a powerful, intuitive search tool for browsing open games that fit your schedule and experience level! Finally, if you have a group of friends who love Star Trek, you can always have everyone pitch in for the rulebook and learn to play together. In this case, one of you will need to step up and be the Game Master.
The role of Game Master takes a lot: they need to know the rules, make up an engaging story, and make the whole experience fun for the players above all else. If you’re genuinely excited to do all of that, awesome! Welcome to a club of awesome people! But many people already have a lot on their plate and just want game night to be a relaxing, fun time. That’s where a professional GM comes in!
A professional GM has years of experience telling stories and designing exciting challenges around game rules. When it comes to Star Trek Adventures, a professional GM is probably also a superfan. They know the different eras of Star Trek and what parts of the series would be most interesting to play a game in. Many will also use cinematic music to set the perfect tone, one that makes you feel like you’re the main character of the next big Star Trek show. If you’re looking for a one-of-a-kind Star Trek experience, hire a professional GM.Â
StartPlaying allows you to easily find and book sessions with professional Dungeon Masters and Game Masters that work for your schedule. You can focus on enjoying the game without worrying about the logistics of organizing sessions. Playing online provides flexibility, as you can join games from anywhere with an internet connection.
Player reviews on StartPlaying make it easy to find a Dungeon Master whose style aligns with your preferences. With reviews from other players, you can gauge whether a DM is the right fit for how you want to play, whether it’s combat, role-playing, storytelling, or a specific genre.
Professional Dungeon Masters on StartPlaying are committed to running the best game ever. When a Dungeon Master is focused on running the best game every and are doing so professionally, games are less likely to get cancelled. Players who play in professionally run games are also incredibly invested, and not likely to flake on sessions.
Actual Play (or AP) podcasts and streams are a common entry point for thousands of new players. They offer an entertaining way to watch or listen to the way games like Star Trek Adventures work—and the stories and shenanigans that result! Check out this playlist for a few shining examples of Actual Play.
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You don’t need a Holodeck to have an adventure, just search for a GM on StartPlaying.Games! The easy-to-use search tool shows you GMs who run games in different styles and in different time zones. GM profiles and reviews give more details about each GM, so you can find the right captain for your crew. Come find an open game today!
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