Transcript
Speaker: with the coachman D20 Radio. at Your game is rolled.
Speaker: How will We Roll Gaming is dedicated to spreading enjoyment of great role-playing games. We hope to bring you insights into games you may not have played, tips to be a better game master and player, and share us stories of momentous events at our tables.
Speaker: Every game is a new story to tell. I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And here's Robert. And this is How We Roll.
Speaker: Welcome back to the How We Roll Gaming Podcast, everyone. It's Daryl here, and Nick is with me, but Robert is not with us. We are Robert-less.
Speaker: Oh, no. We are Robert-less, but we are not rudder-less.
Speaker: we we will Are we in search of Robert? No, no. we We know where Robert is. He's just not on the show this time around. I know. We'll miss him.
Speaker: We'll miss him. But he's here in spirit. he's He's here in spirit. um So big before we get into... That's that's what the spirit said that still in the in the dark void of his home told us.
Speaker: Yes. Yes, he's fallen into the dark void. Before we dive into into the topic and stuff this week, I i am perplexed. i I got a shipping notification from one of my Kickstarters today, but I don't know which one.
Speaker: there's like three There's like three or four of them outstanding that it could be, and I don't know which one it is. Well, that just makes it a mystery box. Yes, it will be a pleasant surprise when it shows up.
Speaker: Actually, I think I know which one it probably is because I know which update said that they're starting U.S. fulfillment. And it it's going to be fun.
Speaker: It's going to be fun. ah they are be where It's going to be where the fun begins? Could be, and I don't remember if you backed this one or not.
Speaker: um It's one that I saw promoted on one of Bob Worldbuilder's videos, and it's the magnetic dry erase hex shaped map tiles.
Speaker: i haven I haven't heard I remember backing that like a while ago I forget what what the states I put it at, but it's like I do remember backing that. Yeah, and the the last update that I saw, they said that they were about to start US fulfillment.
Speaker: So maybe that's what it is. It probably is it could be. like i have been I was expecting a package all day, but it's been windy outside. So but you know how sometimes Vivint doorbell cam is either like not working or overly sensitive to the wind?
Speaker: Yes, I do. And I still need to find for you the video of we to find for you the the video of the Vivint ad where the Vivint agent is doing installation or something and in the attic fights a Squirrel! I swear to you, it's a real ad.
Speaker: Anyway... Before we get started, you know as always, we want to let you know about one of the other great podcasts here on the D20 Radio Network. And this one, I think, is still running unchallenged for the longest title of any podcast on the D20 Radio Network.
Speaker: The Wondrous Atlas of Creation's Destiny, an exalted podcast. Wanderer's Atlas covers the lore and setting of the Exalted RPG.
Speaker: Each topic is split into two episodes. One to cover lore of a given subject, and the other discussing ways to use it in your game. Head to your favorite podcast outlet and check out the Wanderer's Atlas of Creation's Destiny.
Speaker: That is a mouthful. And of course, you link in the show notes. Obviously. Now, what we're going to be talking about today is something that we do occasionally in our group, which is we learn a new system.
Speaker: oh And this time around, the new system that we are learning, so far we have played twice. We've played a quick start and we have done a session zero of a new campaign, is Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition from Modiphius.
Speaker: Now everyone's going to leave because you're going to call us nerds. Yeah, nerds. And ah Star Trek is woke and Starfleet Academy is canceled. So why bother? Well, because it's a fun game.
Speaker: That's why I bother. It is a fun game. and And it's a fun setting to play in Wait, Star Trek's woke? When did that happen? 1966. 1966. nineteen sixty six
Speaker: who Wow. Literally. 1966, that's when it happened. It did not... ah know if i'm I'm not getting on that soapbox. That's a soapbox maybe for casual nerdity, but not for how we roll gaming.
Speaker: That would be it. That would be ah the soapbox. Are they still a thing? Do people just put out soapboxes for people to stand on still? Or is that or is that woke now? Yeah, now you now you just go online and and type behind a screen. But anyway, anyway ah whenever you're learning a new system, it's a growing process and a learning process for the GM and the players alike.
Speaker: It does help when there are similar systems, and due to the proliferation of many systems, there are some overlaps. Definitely, because...
Speaker: Star Trek Adventures plays in the Modiphius 2D20 system. And we already have one existing campaign in the 2D20 system, your Fallout campaign that you run.
Speaker: Yes. And there are significant similarities and differences, but they both reflect this being a second edition game. Yeah. That's exactly what I was about to say.
Speaker: And also being a different system and how they use their rules to reflect their different genres or franchises in this case.
Speaker: Yes, because one of the things that I definitely want to mention right off the bat is with Star Trek Adventures, Everything in the system is designed to push the narrative aspect over the crunch.
Speaker: Which I want to say, like, just it's something that the... As someone running the Fallout game, the crunch is kind of the fun that people like. Yeah, because...
Speaker: Combat and fighting things, part of it comes from the two properties' origins. Fallout comes from a video game where you run around and shoot stuff.
Speaker: So combat is a very heavy element of the Fallout RPG in the 2D20 system. Star Trek, yes, Star Trek has combat.
Speaker: Star Trek has action scenes in the various series and movies. But at its heart, as I saw in a, this is this may sound counterintuitive, but a pro Star Trek video that I was watching last night, Star Trek is often about people sitting around big tables and and talking their way to a resolution of a problem. This is true.
Speaker: One of the changes that they made with this second edition for Star Trek Adventures, first edition was very much in the same 2D20 mold as Fallout and Dune and everything else that they run in 2D20, in that it used D6s with specialized symbols on them to indicate damage and things like that for weapons and combat.
Speaker: In second edition of Star Trek Adventures, those D6s are out the window. You only use the D20s. And i get a again, it fits, because the Fallout games are an RPG where, yes, you can talk and do all kinds of wacky fun stuff, but usually that also involves, if things go wrong, well, then that's when you have your gun for the so solution.
Speaker: Star Trek, it doesn't have that sort of, you don't have to fall back on a weapon to solve your solution. You can still solve the solution diplomatically, even if you mess up.
Speaker: And ideally, you want to talk you want to solve things diplomatically. yeah throughou Throughout the lore of the franchise, there is often a point made about All appearances to the contrary, Starfleet is not the military. Yeah, it depends on who you ask.
Speaker: ah It depends on who you ask, and it depends on the storyline. And how many lands are going on. ah And it it also really comes down to what they're saying when they say that is Starfleet's primary function is not a military.
Speaker: Exactly. It may have the trappings of like a Navy, but it's, it's a, it's an, it's an exploration operation. Most of the times it's exploration and diplomacy.
Speaker: And so the system is with second edition is built to push that. It's built to push the cooperation between the players in accomplishing a task as opposed to just punching something in the face to solve the problem.
Speaker: That doesn't mean that you we haven't encountered a situation with it, but I can see where, it since I've run the, yeah as you said, the sort of system before this, Fallout, I can see where if Puss comes to self, there's still fisticuffs could happen.
Speaker: Oh yeah, absolutely. there There are, naturally, combat rules for Star Trek Adventures. We just really haven't had an opportunity to use them in It's either a downside.
Speaker: No, it's not. One of the things that I will point out is that the quick start that we played had zero combat written into it. it Really?
Speaker: It's not that when we ran the quick start, all of you opted to avoid the combat. There is no combat written into that quick start.
Speaker: The closest that there is... You say that we didn't run into combat. It's like... We played it as... Honestly, this is one of the few games that we sort of play it straight.
Speaker: Yeah, and i I have no doubt... i what with little with With very little like sort of our usual synanigans... Which, as the GM, I'm not going to mind if shenanigans show up. Because despite what a certain segment of the fandom would tell you, Star Trek can be goofy as hell.
Speaker: Oh, it is. It is goofy as hell. Don't tell me Q isn't a goofy concept. He's cool.
Speaker: He's amazing. Great character. Goofy concept on... Just a goofy concept. Cue. The Tribbles.
Speaker: ah Star Trek Trouble on The Voyage Home. And... New Worlds did musical episode. strange new worlds did a musical episode Strange New Worlds did an episode where they all were turned into storybook characters.
Speaker: yeah ah Picard fought against Moriarty.
Speaker: the The crew of the Enterprise-D were turned into Robin Hood and his Merry Men. And Worf must protest he is not a Merry Man.
Speaker: a ah Voyager. yes Just Voyager. So I'm not going to mind if ah if at some point shenanigans break out. I'm fully expecting shenanigans from from Betsy when she joins the campaign.
Speaker: Oh yeah, but I will say that part of the fun has been like how serious we kind of got into it. you got in session In the prologue adventure in Session Zero, you were all taking it so seriously that you you worked't going up you realized there is danger in this derelict Starfleet ship that you found.
Speaker: And so the the captain, one of the PCs, our our wonderful friend Lauren, who was voted captain by all of the players after the quick start,
Speaker: and then says like they They played it. we I think they still doubt it, but captained the captain out of that.
Speaker: Lauren plays a great captain, said, I can't guarantee my crew's safety. We're not beaming over.
Speaker: And so that it took much longer to get you over to the ship than I had planned. So all of those logs that you all collected, you were going to collect on the ship.
Speaker: But I had to come up with a way for you to get those logs without going to the ship because it didn't look like you were going to go to the ship at all. But again, we honestly, like...
Speaker: And we were perfectly fine with that. We were investigating it from every angle. we were treating it... Even my character, which it was playing the security officer, normally I'd play it like gung-ho, let's go overboard. is like But your security officer is invested in the security of the crew. Yeah. And our and was basically doing the thing.
Speaker: And every time we did check, we looked over to our Captain PC. It was like, Captain. then it's like, the the fun was role-playing. The actual, like, being on the bridge and, like, doing that stuff. Yep.
Speaker: Yep. It's very novel, but it's it fits. if you if you If you get the vibe of a Star Trek series, it's like, yeah, that's kind of fun being like, Captain.
Speaker: gobbledygook. I do kind of wish that, you know, our Robert has has chosen to sit this campaign out because he's not familiar with Star Trek as a property. And so while while he played and enjoyed the quick start, he's just not invested in the game, which is totally fine.
Speaker: That's perfectly fair. It It's totally fine. I wish that he had decided to play because i had come up with a character hook that he was free to use or not use that would have allowed him to play into not being familiar with the franchise.
Speaker: And that hook was... i would had he decided to join, this prologue session would have involved some kind of major temporal distortion that Robert would have been plucked from 2026 and
Speaker: and plopped into the 24th century. Oh, that would have been cool. For reasons. There wouldn't have been a way to get him back home to where he belonged.
Speaker: And ah in fact, one one of the hooks that I had kind of come up with, one of the character bits is my wife Stephanie is playing a lanthanite species that's been introduced in Strange New Worlds and Star Trek Academy that are basically immortal.
Speaker: Yeah. And she's she's been alive on Earth for many, many centuries. And I was going to write in that she knew him in the twenty first century on Earth.
Speaker: That would look cool. ah Part of the reasons that he couldn't go back home is, no, you disappeared one day in 2026 and never came back.
Speaker: Mystery was never solved. That would have broken the temporal prime directive. Yeah. So we can't take you back. So I had a hook all set for him, but you know he opted not to play, so totally fair.
Speaker: That's totally fair. ah but What was Betsy going to play? no ah she Last I heard, ah and she's still going to play, um she last I heard she had not decided on a species, but she is going to be the con officer.
Speaker: you're Basically the pilot of the ship. Oh, cool. An ensign fresh out of Starfleet Academy who has drunk the Starfleet Kool-Aid? You know that person who is fresh out of school and everything is by the book, this is how I learned to do it? And by golly, I am ready to boldly go where no one has gone before. And let's go, Starfleet.
Speaker: And so she she's going to be playing a gung-ho ensign. This their first assignment, fresh out of the Academy. Oh, I think my character might butt heads of hers.
Speaker: Quite possibly. Quite possibly. And the the last member of the crew that's going to be rounded out, um our our friend Dante, is going to be playing the first officer. Ooh.
Speaker: And I don't know that he has decided what species yet. He was he was tossing some ideas around the last time I talked to him. ah is one the one the It was one of the blue guys, wasn't it?
Speaker: No, I think he was he was considering either a Trill or a Bajoran. oh yeah, a Bajoran, that's what I was thinking. So I'm looking forward to having the whole crew together. But one thing that's really great about our group is that going with the topic of this episode, we're all learning the system together.
Speaker: As we said, we we're playing a similar system, the Fallout system, from the same 2D20 Modiphius. But ah that's equally as new as this one, and that's only like three sessions, and this is roughly about one and a half.
Speaker: Yeah, if we're counting the quick start as he ah another session, which, you know... it i it went out of That's why Considering the ah the ah the ah start the beginner game that we did when we first tested it out. Yeah. The other reason that i I'm kind of kind of sad that Robert didn't join the campaign is whenever Gamer Nation Con gets scheduled, since Star Trek is the theme, we're going to be running our traditional three-parter in Star Trek Adventures two e
Speaker: It's easy enough for him to pick up and run, and if i will I will help him out with writing any lore stuff that he needs to know. ah yeah like it's It's similar enough to, you like, we we get the Fallout system and we get this system pretty well. They're similar enough that and easy enough to get into, which is probably something we should get into the actual mechanics of it.
Speaker: Yep, which um the the mechanics of it, like all of the Modiphius 2D20 systems, is that you have six characteristics.
Speaker: And then with ah with Star Trek, rather than having different skills, you have departments that reflect the departments in Starfleet.
Speaker: And to what you do is when you when you go to complete a task that's going to require a role, you add the characteristic that applies with the department that applies, and that's your target number.
Speaker: So if, say, you were going to be trying to, um as the security chief, Yeah. You were going to be trying to intimidate a prisoner that you had taken on the ship into giving up information?
Speaker: Yeah. You would take your attribute, I've been calling them characteristics, their attribute of presence... And I would say that that would fall under... As the player, you could make a an argument for me either way for ah the command department, but I would probably say security.
Speaker: And I'd probably start up my suggesting security first, probably. So you would add your presence attribute and your security department score... So if your presence is 6 and your security is a 3, your target is 9.
Speaker: So you have to roll sick successes which are rolling 9 or below in this case. which And I just picked those numbers out of thin air. I know. And we start... It's called system because...
Speaker: ah tisler it's the it's called the two d twenty system because You start with two D20s. that's your That's your base roll.
Speaker: Now, you can add additional dice through equipment or through some talents that you have, or by using a a narrative currency that the game has, momentum or threat.
Speaker: But what about our friends on the bridge? Your friends on the bridge can assist, but assisting to to assist, let's let's say someone else was going to to assist you. You have, ah you know, the the counselor standing behind you.
Speaker: Although the the way Stephanie plans on playing the counselor, you she's a you take no shit counselor. So she could very easily intimidate that that suspect too.
Speaker: But let's say rather than doing that, she's usually using her ability as the ship's counselor to kind of read the subject's body language.
Speaker: So she's going to assist you with, say, insight and i would say probably medicine would count for for you her her skills as a therapist, as a counselor, as a psychologist.
Speaker: Yes. So shec at because she's assisting, she can roll 1d20 using her um insight and medicine.
Speaker: So let's say her insight is 5 and her medicine is... No, let's say her insight is 7 and her medicine is 4. If she rolls under an 11 or under on her 1d20, that counts as a success to your intimidation roll.
Speaker: Because narratively, she read the situation, she observed the the prisoner, and gave you a way to approach them that's going to be more effective.
Speaker: which Which makes sense. And it's something very much in in in fitting of the show. Now, other characters can also assist with a one d twenty roll,
Speaker: But each additional assist costs a point costs one point of momentum or gives the GM two threat to play with. Which is currency.
Speaker: Yes. And we'll go into details on those and in just a second. And each a additional assist, if a third person assists you, it costs...
Speaker: to momentum or provides for threat to the GM. So it costs more for more people to work on the same thing.
Speaker: But can benefit more and this there's an incentive to spending the narrative currency. There is. There's always... That's one thing that I love about this game. you know And it's it's a habit that we have trouble breaking In Fallout, it's a habit we have trouble breaking with the destiny points, which are similar in Star Wars.
Speaker: Similar, but different in that I feel like it's a fun way of discussing discussing that. the net, I think that there's a benefit of discussing these narrative.
Speaker: Currencies in a future set, future. Uh, episode. Sure. so There's something very unique in how I see and how they work and how like the differences is how we've developed with them.
Speaker: Well, and, And the the first small aside here, the first system that I recall seeing with a narrative currency like this was Star Wars. We've spoken to, well, I don't know if you've heard heard them say this or not, but we've spoken to a friend of the show who has interviewed the designer of the 2D20 system from Odiphius.
Speaker: who told our friend that, and since this is coming, you know, third-hand information, that's why I'm not naming names, their marching orders from Modiphius were to create a system that has the same sort of narrative push and vibe as FFG's Star Wars system.
Speaker: Hence, Momentum and Threat, or whatever the other 2D20 systems call them. Which makes sense. it It did make a big splash. Splash in the...
Speaker: plant in the In the RPG space, the this the yeah Destiny pool. The back and forth of player and GM having a currency that they can spend to impact the game.
Speaker: Yeah, it it it did make it. like It may not seem like it on the outside, but it's like on like there's definitely talks between people. it's like people were like Oh, oh yeah I'm pretty sure there were several videos I remember on youtube on some D&D YouTube. like So you want to introduce something similar to the Destiny Pool to like your D&D game.
Speaker: but like a couple ah well For at least like the early for a year or two, like that was a big like thing. And Daggerheart has adopted the same kind of concept, too.
Speaker: Back to Star Trek. You also, just as a player on your own, you can spend that same narrative currency to purchase additional dice up to a maximum of five d20s to roll.
Speaker: Which we now know is a maximum of five. Which we now know is a maximum of five. we'll We'll talk about the momentum and threat pools here in a minute. But... you You can have a maximum of five dice in your roll.
Speaker: And the reason for that is because as the GM, the GM sets a difficulty of zero to five. And that's how many successes have to be rolled to succeed.
Speaker: And that's the, the, the successes are rolled on the D twenties. So right. And it it's meeting or below it's like golf.
Speaker: at or below your target number that you got by combining your attribute and your department. it's like golf It's like golf, but fun. Hey, don't let my dad hear you say that. My dad loves golf.
Speaker: And i mean you live on a golf course. ah It's also a golf course right now. This is true. This is a good time to segue into that narrative currency, though, because if you have...
Speaker: more successes than you need, those extra successes translate into momentum in your momentum pool. Now, momentum is a narrative currency that the players build, and spend.
Speaker: You get momentum primarily by additional successes, but the the core rulebook gives the GM latitude to award additional momentum for different things throughout the game.
Speaker: The momentum pool is a group pool. Yeah. Unless a particular point of momentum is declared otherwise...
Speaker: through the action, but it's a group pool. So all of the players can spend the momentum pool. That momentum pool caps at six. And there is an incentive, like we were saying,
Speaker: For the players to spend that momentum. Because at the end of a scene. If you will. And that's how.
Speaker: Star Trek Adventures breaks down. Different segments of the game. Just like on a TV show. There are scenes. Not every scene is a structured initiative.
Speaker: Moment. Yeah. But. You can't. at the end of a scene, if there's momentum left in the player's momentum pool, one of them goes away.
Speaker: So there's incentive to use it because while it doesn't all go away, there is a bit of use it or lose it to the momentum.
Speaker: And again, as it said, like if you get over your necessary successes, the the main point becomes, you can recover it a lot quicker than you expect.
Speaker: Yeah, you can recover it a lot quicker than you expect, but there's there's also incentive to spend it. You can spend it right then as you get that momentum for different narrative effects.
Speaker: Again, and there's a... I'm sorry, go ahead. there this There is a similar... and Because it's a lot easier too to recover... it's no longer even though it's a group pool it doesn't feel as dire as like guys we need to consider like every spendager together right because it can be because the potential to recover is like well if i spend it if i get an additional success then i've recovered what we lost
Speaker: Exactly. Little sidebar here, because of one of the things that you can spend momentum on, one of the things that you can suspend spend momentum on is maintaining initiative for the players.
Speaker: And what that means is the way initiative works in Star Trek, you don't roll for it. It is a straightforward back and forth. Players go first, then NPC, then player, then NPC, and then player, then NPC, but players can spend momentum to keep the the initiative. So if you are the tactical officer and you go first in the initiative and you get some extra successes that throw momentum in the pool, and you're like, no, no,
Speaker: We're going to press our advantage here. We have them pinned down, spend that momentum, and another player can go next. Oh, that's neat. it's a It's a nice, tight, efficient little little initiative system and incentive to spend momentum.
Speaker: Yeah. And again, if you spend momentum, you get the chance to recover momentum. And well, you can see how that can really create ineffective uses of this currency. The currency is spent more consistently.
Speaker: Absolutely. The flip side of momentum is threat. Threat is the GM's currency. Unlike the momentum pool, the game starts with threat in the pool.
Speaker: I want to say, and I'm not remembering this exactly off the top of my head ah with 100% confidence, but we are still learning the system.
Speaker: Wait, I thought you were the GM. That means you know everything and all the rules. So, as I recall, I know. As I recall, the GM starts off with one or two, I think it's two threat for every player.
Speaker: But the GM also has the leeway to, like, the Session Zero pro Prologue mini-session, mini-adventure, kicked off with The crew coming aboard the ship, the captain getting command and going off on a shakedown cruise. So the the way the core rule book words it is part of that starting momenta or starting threat can be adjusted up or down based on the direness of the situation that the crew and the ship find themselves in at the start of an adventure.
Speaker: at the start of n episode air quotes. And so what I did is I was like, you know what? No, there's, I have four players today, but the, now that I think about it, I think it is only one threat per player because I think I was going to be starting off with four threat, but I was like, this is a really low, low stakes start.
Speaker: So I only have two threat to start off. if you don't If the players don't have momentum to spend, they can still buy additional dice or things like that by giving the GM threat to play with.
Speaker: And then the GM can spend that narrative currency to complicate the situation, complicate the scene, or anything of that nature.
Speaker: So it's a great balancing act back and forth rather than flipping a set number of points back and forth, like with the destiny points, you have kind of a true ebb and flow where the player resource is capped.
Speaker: That narrative currency is capped. yeah there's a Whereas the threat isn't. it There's a similarity and a major difference in how they both want to function.
Speaker: And I feel like there's something to explore with other systems that use similar sort of narrative constraints, but that's another topic. But that's like, it's, yeah there's a, there's enough, there's um there's a lot more, now that we brought it up, there's a lot more nuance. And even between two of the 20 games, Fallout and this have very different ways of spending.
Speaker: d there Yeah, I was just about to ask you, since I've not run Fallout, and I don't have a copy of the core rulebook myself, does it have I know it has something similar to Momentum.
Speaker: it's very but It has both similar to Threat and Momentum called Action Points. That's what i was going to ask. That's what I was going to ask, if there was something similar to Threat. I started off a pool of Action Points, and there's a pool of Action Points that starts out that caps at a certain point.
Speaker: for the players as well as me. So again, we yeah we haven't done a whole lot of... Again, we're still trying... We're still learning the system, but you guys should be spending your action points a bit more similarly as you have been doing in this in Star Trek.
Speaker: And I think part of that too is as as players... As a player in the Fallout game, i can't definitively speak for anybody else, but...
Speaker: I always forget that they're there. and i work on a better way to represent them to you guys. I've been working on that with some ideas. hi I have thoughts. I'll talk to you offline.
Speaker: Okay. i think I think you'll like what I have in mind. I really like that give and take and how Modiphius built that in to both systems from the sound of it that there is a a give and take there that It's not just flipping back and forth. It's building both pools and depleting both pools as the name goes. It's incentivizing you to use it.
Speaker: Yeah. Right. Now, there's a benefit to both ideas, but again, it's that that requires a much more nuanced talk. Yep. And that that means that since Robert and I both have the core rulebook, we should sit down and actually...
Speaker: read through Daggerheart so we can throw its system into that episode. I might have to pick up that as well so I can so i can ah check that out for the system as well. As everything else goes along, it it's pretty straightforward RPG stuff.
Speaker: Oh yeah, you it's... it's don Again, a lot of the fun I felt that we had... Again, this might just because even though I'll bet on that I know...
Speaker: a lot more Trek than most, but it's not really my, it's not my major wheelhouse, but I understand the vibe. I understand the, the tropes, the, it's, it's easy for me to get into. And I feel like lot of the fun was just pretending to be on the bridge.
Speaker: Yeah. It's, it's one of those properties, kind of like star Wars that whether you're a a deeply ingrained fan or not, A lot of the elements of it, most people know through pop culture osmosis.
Speaker: We know Captain Kirk, we know the Starship Enterprise, we know Captain Picard. We know some of those tropes. They sit at their little computer desks and they're like, boop boop boop boop. And they're like, Mr. Captain.
Speaker: They sit at their consoles that if the ship accidentally hits a speed bump, explode in their faces. And they they're like, do-do-do-do, Captain!
Speaker: And Technobabble. I'm glad you mentioned Technobabble, because I hadn't thought to make a particular point about this, but I love this.
Speaker: i want i I brought it up for you just because I knew you wanted to talk about it. The core rulebook has a random to random table, Robert would love it,
Speaker: To come up with Technobabble. You roll a d20 on a five-column Trechnobabble table to come up with your Technobabble explanation. And they have a regular Technobabble one, and they have a medical Technobabble table.
Speaker: And I love that these exist. They got, like, scientist names in there. It's like... I love it. I love that it exists. It is so much fun.
Speaker: It is so much fun. It's just... It really does help with like the fact that, like yeah, you you just get in... you can yeah like The most fun for an RPG game is like just the... At least for me, is the role-playing part. so It was fun riffing off of the characters just sort of... like We were playing in ah in my den so that there's like we had a lot of chairs so we could all sort of like turn to each other and be like, Captain.
Speaker: oh yeah. So it's funny you should mention that. i i mentioned I've mentioned on a couple of episodes the ill-fated one session of an earlier star Trek RPG system that just went nowhere.
Speaker: we We played at my apartment at the time and It was by pure coincidence, but I loved that it worked out this way. The way that um that my apartment was set up, and we were on the same um same class of starship in that as we are in our new campaign. We were on the Intrepid class, know, the Voyager. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. And I was the tactical officer there. Oh, that's cool. and It's like poetry. It rhymes. Yeah. Because of the the ah seating available that I had, I was sitting at my computer desk that was in like you know the little dining room nook of my apartment.
Speaker: And thinking back on it, the way that I had my living room and that little nook set up, it was we were all kind of sitting in the layout of our stations on the bridge.
Speaker: ah And if it was, now that i think about it that was kind of cool. It is pretty cool. So that, that's your, that's your next, uh, project, Nick, when you redo, uh, the game room upstairs, uh,
Speaker: lay it out like a Starfleet starship bridge. All right. But unfortunately, every time, every time there's a gust of wind, everything's, everyone's going to have to like teetle over and everything's at all. The computers are going to blow up.
Speaker: Yes. That is fair. That's fair trade-off immersion and realism. Now, speaking of immersion, kind of a clunky segue. The, the one last thing about the system that I wanted to bring up that I like is Character creation and advancement is not about points, and it's not about levels.
Speaker: and and though It is very unique. Even though there's a you know rank hierarchy in Starfleet, it's not about rank. It's not about promotions. The character creation... It honestly was what I was expecting but when i when I first heard about it. Oh, it must be like a like a rank or merit type thing.
Speaker: Well, character creation is based upon setting up and documenting kind of a life path that the character took getting to the point of the adventure starting, of the campaign starting.
Speaker: So you... pick where they're from. you know where Are they from a home world? are they from a Were they raised on a space station? Were they raised on a colony somewhere? Where you where were they raised? Were they raised on a starship?
Speaker: And as you go and build out the life path, you are given the option to add additional talents that have to do with that life path, which give you bonuses and things like that.
Speaker: And it it's a really nice way of building out the character that's not just all about, well, this character can drive really well, so I'm giving them a two ranks of piloting planetary.
Speaker: it It does allow a lot more of like the character part of the character building to come through. And then advancement, the GM does not give you one lick of XP.
Speaker: not not Not a crumb. What happens is each player is given a a character personal log sheet. And in each after each session,
Speaker: they just do a quick summary of what they did in that session and how it reflects the values that they, that the character has traits that the character has that they selected during character creation.
Speaker: Those values and traits can also change over time. Like there's there's a character creation video that um I ran for us all while everyone was going through character creation. And the example that the example that that person was using was their PC that they were creating was a Bajoran.
Speaker: And the the Bajoran's homeworld was occupied and they were effectively enslaved by the Cardassians.
Speaker: So that Bajoran PC had a trait or a value of hates Cardassians. And we can even we can kind of even see a character arc like this happen if we use Chief O'Brien from Star Trek The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine as an example.
Speaker: So O'Brien, we know that he took part in the war that that the Federation fought with the Cardassians. So O'Brien started off with hates Cardassians.
Speaker: So as he in interacts, you know, Bajor is this PC that was made in the video. As Bajor is freed, you know that might lighten up to distrust Cardassians.
Speaker: And The same sort of thing happened with Chief O'Brien when he moved to Deep Space Nine. It went from hate to, you know, distrust. And then, say, through an adventure, as the GM throws a cardass a sympathetic Cardassian NPC into the mix, and that PC interacts with them,
Speaker: Well, that may change their opinion of Cardassians and that that trait might become realizes that not all Cardassians are the same. And it allows the character to go through a journey. And what happens with this personal log is you record all of those events like that that happen to the character as it ah as it reflects their values, as it reflects their traits, as they call upon things that they did and learned in previous sessions.
Speaker: And then when they hit a milestone, that's when they can get a new focus or a new talent or something like that. And so it it is very, very heavily reliant upon the player not only advancing their character in terms of the numbers that are on the page, but in terms of how they're playing the character and how the values and and focuses and traits and everything that they selected are impacting the decisions that they're making for the character. And it's a really, really unique system of advancement. And I can't wait to see how it actually works in applications.
Speaker: And I look forward to it too. that's It's also different than Fallout, which has follow what has a bit more traditional XP, or I've gone with the sort of sort of a seven to to how are we're doing our D&D campaign with Milestone or sort sort of like achievement-based.
Speaker: Yeah, and that's kind of what Star Trek does. Star Trek uses those milestones. But it's it's entirely putting it on the on the impetus of the players is unique to that, which is very interesting.
Speaker: It's very unique to that, but it's also very on-brand for Star Trek. It's very on-brand because yeah we we look at Star Trek and it's very...
Speaker: especially as it's gone on for 60 years, it's very rooted in the characters. It's very rooted in what the characters do, how they grow and change.
Speaker: Because it's one it's really one of, with with a few exceptions, there are some elements of Star Trek that absolutely hit the reset button at the end of every episode.
Speaker: And the status quo is maintained through hell or high water. Looking at you, Voyager. What do you mean? What do you mean? that they' told They're totally going to revisit the the time that Janeway turned into a lizard and created a bunch of spawn.
Speaker: Harry Kim remained an ensign for seven years. Harry Kim was an ensign for seven years. Janeway gave battlefield commissions and promotions to the Maquis, terrorists who were fighting, who were rebelling against the Federation and the Cardassians.
Speaker: She gave them battlefield commissions and promotions. Harry stayed in ensign for seven years.
Speaker: But that's okay. Harry also died and was replaced by the Harry from another timeline, and it was never mentioned again. And didn't turn into a lizard.
Speaker: Harry didn't turn into a lizard. It was Tom Paris and Janeway. So yeah so he he got lucky. Well, mean one one could say that Tom Paris got lucky, too, because you mentioned the lizard spawned.
Speaker: This is true. ah In fact, Paris has two baby mamas because he had a he had a baby with Bellana Torres, too. Oh, that's true.
Speaker: So far, it's a fun system. And i appreciate i appreciate all of you as my players allowing me to learn alongside you because there's often not an easy way for a group as a whole to start playing in a brand new system for them you know we i guess i kind of helped by running running a similar system not exactly right genre but definitely similar system
Speaker: Right, and I had played a game of first edition several years ago at Gamer Nation Con. And you we we did, when we were taught talking about Gamer Nation Con coming up, we wanted to do due to the beginning game to try it out and see how we vibe with it.
Speaker: Right, they yeah do we vibe with it, or do we want to do our Star Trek game for Gamer Nation Con with a port over to Genesis? Right. And so I'd say that we had we had some plenty, plenty of good.
Speaker: if and again, our group's pretty good with trying out new stuff. I have some some new games that I'd like to try out for you guys sometimes later in the year. Oh, me too. I have a few that I want to try. But of this one, this was a pretty easy one for us to all get into because we were already starting out with a 2D20. We were looking at a 2D20 system already.
Speaker: And where most of us have at least a passing knowledge. And well, everyone has a passing knowledge of the Star Trek from parody to outside of that.
Speaker: And wanted to try it anyways because we wanted to look at that for for our future game. and So yeah, it all worked out pretty well. Let me just say too that behind the scenes, I have been having a blast coming up with stuff.
Speaker: Just even just little world building stuff. Yeah. Star Trek, there's 60 years worth of world building for me to draw on, but I've been having such a blast that coming up with this campaign's little corner of the world and building that up.
Speaker: you know I have been having fun making NPCs and everything. That's something else that I want to mention now that I think of it too. I forgot to make a note that I wanted to to do this.
Speaker: Star Trek Adventures system has a a unique set of NPC types that you can use. Yes, there there are standard NPCs.
Speaker: They're your adversaries. They're your standard NPCs that you run into. But I love the terminology because they're they're looking at this as a yeah On the meta level, they're looking at Star Trek is a TV and movie property.
Speaker: So you have your player characters. Great. that We all know what those are in RPGs. But they also have... a type of NPC that they call a supporting character.
Speaker: And a supporting character is an NPC, but they're built with a little more depth. They're the kind of character who can help out in a crisis if need be that that as an npc they can provide assistance for the pcs so like stephanie is the counselor if she needs something help with a a character pc or npc who is also facing kind of a medical issue
Speaker: None of our PCs are a medical officer. So i' so i have statted out the chief medical officer as a supporting character.
Speaker: So the supporting character can provide assistance to her. But one of the other beautiful things that I love about the supporting characters, since they are more fleshed out, let's say ah yeah the captain sends an away team down.
Speaker: To a planet. Well if the captain stays on the ship. Any of the PCs that stay on the ship. That aren't assigned to the away team. You can put. Supporting characters. On the away team. And give.
Speaker: The players of the characters. Who are staying on the ship. Those supporting characters to play. So the captain stays on the ship. But it makes sense for the chief medical officer. To go down.
Speaker: I can give Lauren the CMO. To play tactical officer. makes perfect sense for you to go down. yeah But if Betsy's the con officer, she's told to stay back aboard the ship to, you know, maintain the ship being in orbit.
Speaker: So, uh, it makes sense. yeah You're taking another security officer with you. Give Betsy has a supporting character security officer to play.
Speaker: And though those supporting characters can slightly advance as well. So it's a great system for keeping everyone engaged, even when the nature of the property frequently calls to split the party.
Speaker: it's just It's a masterpiece of of a of an NPC system. Yeah. That's a ah nice little touch that I like there too. And that's one of the things I was starting, what made me think of that is I have been having fun coming up with those supporting characters.
Speaker: and Because see how it looks with the exception of Betsy and Dante, you I don't know exactly what they're doing yet, but I know what positions they're going to fill.
Speaker: So I am having fun building out quite a few supporting characters among the crew, along with regular just you know minor NPCs to fill out the ranks, but that will allow for gaps in the PC's areas of expertise to be filled.
Speaker: Like we don't have anybody, we we have a player who is playing a junior engineer, but as a junior engineer, they're not the chief engineer. So there's a supporting character who is the chief engineer.
Speaker: And so if there's a huge problem that calls for help from engineering, that supporting character can assist the junior engineer who's the PC.
Speaker: Yep. It's a very well-balanced ecosystem, I guess is the best word for it. But yeah, I've been having a blast building out the little corner ah of the Star Trek universe that all of you are going to be playing in. And because it's natural to do so, kind of like I am with Walking Dead, I'm thinking in terms of seasons for the campaign and you know how long is a season i it's abstract for Walking Dead i have it set for Star Trek I have probably my my story hooks for about half of the season already figured out not necessarily the first half but peppering throughout hi I have a really really fun idea coming up for about the midpoint
Speaker: Oh, really? Yes. Yes, I do. I'm excited. That hook, that idea, that really fun idea, came from i was just sitting around but thinking, hey, you know what?
Speaker: This could make for a fun campaign. Well, I don't want to run another campaign, but I can sure use this idea in a session. That's always its fun. It's always good to figure that out.
Speaker: And maybe i will... flesh it out to be a one-shot to run on my own at Gamer Nation Con. Ooh. Actually, since you know, since since I might do that, let me just tell you, Nick, I'm going to let you in on the secret here.
Speaker: Not NCIS, but SCIS, the Starfleet Criminal Investigative Service. oh Oh. Ooh.
Speaker: Oh, that sounds that... that's That intrigues me. that's That's... And as far as can recall... There are some ideas you could go with that.
Speaker: As far as I know, star Trek has never done anything like that. They've done the Department of Capital Investigations. They've done Black Ops with Section 31.
Speaker: They've had the Judge Advocate General's office, but they've never had any kind of NCIS equivalent. And NCIS and Star Trek have the same parent company.
Speaker: Yeah. That's a hook that's coming up at some point. nat Now I have you intrigued. I'm intrigued. But, yeah, it's... go circling everything back, learning a new system can seem overwhelming.
Speaker: um I, I, Personally, i try not to let it show, but behind the scenes, I was slightly panicked running that Session Zero prologue adventure because I'm like, I don't know this system like the back of my hand, and I know that I'm probably screwing stuff up, but hopefully everyone's having a good time. And it seems like we're having a good time.
Speaker: And that was the important part. That was the important part. So it can seem overwhelming to learn a new system. And as long as you have a good group with you, and I'm going be really effusive with praise here, I think we have an incredible group of players. Aw, thank you.
Speaker: i mean if you you don't have a good group, you can always just get rid of them. That's true, and the golf course behind your house is dug up all right now. It is, yeah. They'll never know.
Speaker: you You're going to kill us all this weekend, aren't you, Nick? I'm not running any games this weekend. if Be careful about Robert. ah Well, I mean, all all the better for your alibi, Nick.
Speaker: All the better for your alibi. so Why would I have killed them, officer? I didn't run anything. They didn't make me mad. I certainly didn't. Finish him! Yeah. no no Whoa, those those big trains. No, no, no. That's just construction on the golf course. Pay no attention to that.
Speaker: You're going to kill us. It's an amazing system. It can be a bit nerve-wracking, but it's always fun. But, you know, i I know that... Oh, no.
Speaker: but there Me either. Me either. And I paused it and it said it failed to pause, but it was still showing paused. So I just started it up again. ah But okay if it didn't pause, that's just a little more editing to do.
Speaker: But I was just saying, you're going to kill us. No, no, it's Robert's game this weekend. Yeah, but, you know, you that's that's your alibi.
Speaker: Why would I do that, officer? I didn't run a game. They didn't make me mad. Pay no attention to those trenches out there on the golf course. They're just doing construction on the golf course. You're going to kill us.
Speaker: Well, we'll find out. We'll see if we have a new co-host next week. Yeah, but of the three of us, you're the only one that has host duties for how we roll.
Speaker: You don't know how to run it yet. This is true. This is very true. If this is the last episode, dear listeners, please send the authorities to Nick's house and tell them to dig up the golf course.
Speaker: Because he's killed us all. He's finally snapped. I've ah stabbed for Echo then Pop a long time ago.
Speaker: Well, all the more reason for us to be scared. do Do you have any closing thoughts on learning a new game like Star Trek, Nick?
Speaker: Honestly, it's, as a player, it can be just as nerve-wracking as learning to run one, but again, with a good, with uh, group with you as well as a GM is also learning as well, it can make it feel a lot easier.
Speaker: It's definitely like it's stepping into something new, but when you're stepping it it you know together, it's like getting into a cold pool. It's like you just got to dip your feet in there and Yep. Get used to it.
Speaker: I know I'm not, I was giving all of you praise as ah as a good group. I know I'm not the only one who thinks that because our friend Steve over on me and Steve talk RPGs.
Speaker: I won't say quite frequently, but more than once I've heard him mention how much fun he has running games for us over on their show. That's true. So in fact, ah definitely check them out and you can, ah I think we're in our closing. Yep, you can check out our website at howwerollgaming.com. And on our website, you'll find information about our current campaigns, a podcast archive, and links to our merch store and all of our social media. And on that merch store, those of you watching on YouTube, you can also get the same How We Roll Gaming coffee mug that I've been drinking out of.
Speaker: It is a wonderful coffee mug. Nice. but you can also directly support the show through Patreon. Just go to patreon.com slash how we roll gaming, and you'll see our different membership tiers starting at just $2 a month with special recognition on our discord server and higher tiers, giving you on air credit and discounts in said merch store.
Speaker: Now, Currently on that merch store, our highlighted seasonal item is our Nat One Crying is a Free Action t-shirt. It will be up it'll be up through April and May, and in June, our Roll with Pride 2026 line will launch, and that Nat1 shirt will go away.
Speaker: And associated items from a donated by various players will be there after I pry them off their corpses. That's not going to happen.
Speaker: Finally, if you have any questions you'd like us to answer, topics you'd like us to cover, or even submit your own RPG Glory Stories, here's an email at podcast at howwerollgaming.com. Yes, and we we need to do another RPG Glory Stories episode soon.
Speaker: oh we do. It has been too long. I know which one to do next, but again, we will talk offline. But until then, have a great... have a great rest of the day that you're having right now. A great couple of weeks until our next episode. We hope to see you back next time. Until then, have a wonderful time and play some wonderful games.
Speaker: Indeed. And as always, I'm Daryl. I'm Nick. And this is how we roll.
Speaker: This episode of the How We Roll Gaming podcast is copyright 2026, How We Roll Gaming, LLC. All games and associated intellectual properties are copyrighted their respective owners, and How We Roll Gaming makes no claim of ownership by discussing them here.
