Welcome to part 3 of my review of TTRPGs that I played at Fan Expo Toronto 2025.
You can find part 1 here, where I played Call of Cthulhu, and you can find part 2 here, where I played Daggerheart.
In this blog post, I'll be playing Star Trek Adventures 2E for the first time. I was introduced to science fiction based TTRPGs this year, so I was intrigued by the opportunity to play different ones.
Star Trek Adventures 2E TTRPG is obviously based on the famous science fiction television show and movie series. The system can describe the majority of eras in Star Trek, from the original series to Discovery, or at least that's what I was told by the Game Master.
Star Trek Adventures 2E: The Celestial Algorithm - Game 3 #
For this adventure:
- 1 x Game Master
- 5 x Starfleet Crew Members
In the beginning, similar to other sessions, our Game Master (GM) attempted to explain the rules. Star Trek Adventures 2E is primarily a D20-based system, but you're going to use multiple D20s to perform skill checks.
When playing Star Trek, you will notice on the character sheet that there are the concepts of Attributes, Departments, Attacks, and Abilities & Talents.
For any action that I wanted to make, I would combine an attribute and a department most suited to the action. To roll a success it would need to be under that combined value. For example, if I needed to pilot the ship with evasive maneuvers, I would probably use the "control" attribute and the "con" department. Those combined to my character sheet were 14, so I would need to roll under 14.
do stuff - source: giphy.com
Gaining momentum #
The system also uses the concept of momentum. You can gain momentum and use momentum in order to roll extra D20s to help with successes or remove a particular status in a situation (I can't recall an example at this time). Momentum is a group item, so any players from the group can use momentum.
Moar rules - source: knightsociety.net
If I needed more dice to help me with a success action, I would then trade in momentum to get more D20s. For example, to get one extra D20, I would trade in one momentum.
Don't threaten me with a good time - source: giphy.com
While Players have the concept of momentum to assist in situations, GM's have the concept of threat. GM's can use threat
to worsen situations or increase difficulty. Players could also attain additional D20's by giving threat to the GM.
Our GM mentioned that Star Trek Adventures has a lot of rules, but for this one-shot adventure decided to just simplify them. For the second edition he also mentioned that they had reduced even more rules down into the system. This game can be as complex as the Star Trek universe itself.
Fun time! - source: giphy.com
Boldly going...fast & furiously! #
After explaining the rules, the GM handed out several character sheets and asked us to choose a pre-generated character, but somebody did have to choose the Captain. I luckily got to be a hot-headed pilot named Lieutenant JG Rashid Kemal.
I am playing a "fast and furious" Starfleet pilot that grew up piloting spacecrafts and always wanted to pilot the most advanced starships in the Federation. I had several values:
- the need for speed
- fly with style
- dress with style,
- a little mischief can get you noticed
- I live life at warp speed.
These values helped me get into character! Speaking of character, our ship was also a character in this adventure that we could reference to assist us with different checks and abilities, such as the tractor beam or other starship capabilities.
Hot shot starfleet pilot - source: knightsociety.net
In this adventure, we worked as the crew of the USS Challenger. We encountered a machine that was on a planetary scale (remind you of anything - hint: Star Trek: The Motion Picture). We ended up going through the machine and having to address different challenges as a crew.
Boldly going... - source: giphy.com
There was a lot of discussion and debate, which is what you expect as a crew in the Star Trek universe. We had team members discussing problems and solutions, and we needed to understand the strengths and weaknesses of our characters to calculate the best possible solutions and outcomes for the scenarios. This really did make me feel like I was participating in a Star Trek episode.
Overall I had a good time playing this game. Thanks to the GM for simplifying the rules and mechanics. I'm just not sure if Star Trek Adventures 2E is right for me.
Self destruct - source: giphy.com
Self Destruct in 3...2.. #
I think I'll want to boldly explore other science fiction TTRPGs. That being said, if you are a Star Trek fan, this RPG is probably right up your alley. As I stated earlier, it can be tailored to any specific Star Trek era so that you can find the one that you want to play in the most.
As usual I want to say thank you to all the Fan Expo volunteers and Unite the Factions for all the hard work in preparing these games and setting them up and donating all the proceeds to Sick Kids Hospital Toronto.
Thank you to our GM who put in the effort to teach us the game, and coincidentally it was also his first time GM'ing (which he did a fantastic job of doing). It was still a really fun adventure, even though long-term, Star Trek Adventures 2E is not for me.
Published