Your newly christened starship undocks from the Utopia Planetia Fleet Yards, peacefully orbiting above Mars. The Warp Core shudders to life, the pulsating hum heard throughout the decks. Bridge officers stand ready at their stations, the pilot’s hands hover eagerly over the helm controls. In Star Trek: Adventures (STA), the vast and exciting galaxy is out there, waiting to be explored, but if you’re embarking on this journey online, you’ll need the right virtual tabletop (VTT) for the mission. 

The STA TTRPG allows players to embody characters in the Star Trek universe and interact with the setting like never before. As viewers, we imagine what it’s like to venture on Away Missions, negotiate alien peace treaties, and navigate strange stellar phenomena.

This TTRPG can provide a system to do that and more, if facilitated by the right VTT; otherwise, what should be a fun and engaging game to play with your fellow Trekkies devolves into struggling with complicated UI, losing track of important resources, or failing to be immersed in the Star Trek galaxy we know and love. Therefore, the best VTT for Star Trek: Adventures should be able to accommodate the STA 2d20 system, record key currencies of the game (Momentum, Threat, and Determination), and accurately reproduce iconic Star Trek settings and aesthetics to keep the universe consistent. 

Engineering, Confirm Systems Calibration

In STA’s 2d20 system, you’ll only need a total of five 20-sided dice. The number of dice rolled on a given task or check is determined by the amount of Momentum and Threat used to influence the difficulty of a given attempt. The number you’ll have to beat is determined by your attribute and department scores, alongside your focus and any other traits currently present. The economy of Threat, Momentum, Determination, and Traits is ever-changing from scene to scene, advantage swinging back and forth between the player and their opposition.

This fluid nature of the system is critical to the gameplay, it creates stakes, nail-biting rolls, and resounding successes. These stats need to be easily accessible and manipulable throughout the session to run the game efficiently. A VTT that is capable of not only depicting these values but also being able to adapt to their frequent fluctuation would be the best choice for your next STA party.

Bring That Up On The Viewscreen

It just wouldn’t be Star Trek without the Enterprise, without Tricorders, or those bold red, yellow, and blue uniforms. Fans of the franchise can recognize the silhouettes of iconic starships, the standard-issue phaser pistols, and even the hallway designs of Starfleet. If your crew is under attack by Klingons, and they look outside the window to see anything other than a Bird of Prey, it will be hard for them to believe that Klingons are involved. Therefore, the VTT you choose should be able to utilize the iconography from the Star Trek universe, or risk players feeling they’re not actually exploring the setting they’re passionate about.

From downloadable official asset packs to fan-made content, there are a variety of ways you can customize your VTT to fit the Star Trek aesthetic and immerse your players. Although, if a VTT doesn’t allow you to upload your own files and lacks existing Star Trek content, a STA game hosted on that platform would fail to recreate the feeling of being a part of the Star Trek world. 

Something's Coming Up On Scanners, Captain!

If the VTT we’re scanning for is one that can handle the highly dynamic 2d20 economy system, as well as accurately depict the critical and memorable symbols of Star Trek, then sensors would indicate Foundry VTT is the best choice for your next Star Trek: Adventures game.

Foundry VTT’s modules enable the community to thoroughly customize the VTT and create macros to be tailored to specific game systems. While technically unofficial, the publishers of STA have approved and supported several modules that overhaul Foundry VTT to best support running STA. Complete with the ability to easily track the 2d20 action economy, personalizable character sheets for crewmates and starships, and a variety of Star Trek assets pre-installed for quick map making. It also supports uploading any assets you create or find on the web. 

Helm, Set Course, Prepare To Engage

With systems purposefully designed to create the most accessible and convenient experience for online Star Trek: Adventures players, Foundry VTT stands apart as the ideal VTT for running STA. Other VTTs like Roll20 and Fantasy Grounds can certainly work for STA, but they require considerable time and effort to be modified for STA’s needs; Foundry provides an easy solution with just a few clicks. Now that you’ve found the home for your crew’s next journey, it’s time to enter the wild and fantastic Star Trek galaxy. The helmsman’s hands race across his console, the nacelles are charged, and you’re ready for the final frontier. 

See Foundry in action with a StartPlaying pro GM today! 

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Finn Halpern is a Chicago-based writer, passionate about TTRPGs, nerd culture, and the art of storytelling.