Occasionally, I break from playing video games and go back to some traditional forms of entertainment, mainly tabletop role-playing experiences. The tabletop review revolved around the Blade Runner universe. That DnD game provided more context and depth to the Blade Runner lore than any of the movies with the same name. It certainly helped me to visualize the full scope of what that universe had to offer in terms of story and characters. When you add context and give details for a familiar universe, you only stand to hook and engage the interested player.
All that jibber-jabber brings me to this next tabletop game based in the Star Trek universe called Star Trek: Captain’s Log. While I have never been the Star Trek-loving person who followed all the movies, TV shows, and everything in between, I have occasionally dabbled in its entertainment, mainly doing a deep dive into Picard’s journey with Star Trek: The Next Generation. I think that series might have been the starting point for most Star Trek fans, and a good starting point it was too. My point with this Picard mention is that I’m a casual fan of the series. I come and go when my attention span calls for it. My biggest fear with reviewing Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log is that I had to know every single aspect of its universe. Thankfully, that is not a requirement for those who play the game. It was built for mega-fans and the casual passerby and was a welcoming change that might lead me back to learn more about its original universe.
So, tell Scotty we need more power, set your phasers to stun, and let’s talk about Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log.
How it started
The very first part of the Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log tabletop experience does a wonderful job of breaking down what to expect from the game you create. It lays it all out there, chapter by chapter, where you can jump to the information that is most pressing to you. For example, you can find how to build a character in chapter three, how to play solo in chapter five, or even how to be a casual gamer within the Star Trek gaming world in chapter two. I enjoyed the complete breakdown of where to immediately locate the information you were interested in. I didn’t experience this ease of use with Blade Runner – The Role-Playing Game, which I think was sorely needed. This section of the handbook made every aspect of the experience seem easily accessible and quick to get to when needed. When you’re making a tabletop game, this is how you should treat your guide’s structure. It makes sense and opens the door to every type of DnD player (expert to novice).
The book’s next chapter was an even easier breakdown of how the world of Star Trek works. It talks about each series in short detail and discusses the differences in the journey and how all the series relate to the Star Trek universe. For example, knowing that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was less about journeying away from one location and more about stories colliding and conforming into one space station was fascinating. I didn’t know that about DSN but getting that small bit of explanation and difference put the series in perspective on what type of story I could create and tell when putting together a tabletop journey if I considered a single station to exist within. I think it would be interesting to see how that story turned out because most DnD adventures revolve around faraway lands and not one prime location.
All the small series explanations were helpful, and they gave some much-needed context into the Star Trek universe. It also gave some well-defined boundaries on how far I should/could take the adventure before it went into unexplored and maybe unaccepted territory. You always want defined boundaries when creating new worlds, especially with specific IPs such as Star Trek.
It’s all in the details
Details are portions of Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log that have a strict set of boundaries but at the same time appropriate ones concerning Gene Roddenberry’s vision. The book goes into a considerable number of details to consider before you begin to put together your first character, adventure, or world. For example, it recommends taking into consideration during the character creation process that your character must have some consciousness of cultural religions, a well-rounded viewpoint that could include their own and is driven in the world of Star Trek by purpose rather than by salary. The latter part of that sentence also gives some explanation of Gene Roddenberry’s train of thought when he was piecing together how the world of Star Trek was going to work – where everyone is free to worship what they want or nothing at all, and that no one is doing anything for money. Well, almost no one.
This portion of the book also delves into the tech of the Star Trek world, which includes ships, how they function, how they get around, and what you should consider should your character be on one or fly one. It even breaks down weapons that the character might take with them, communicators they may use, and what is appropriate for what species and why. All this magnifies the possibilities you have when putting together your first character and how they would live, breathe, and travel through the universe.
Now, one fascinating part of this specific section also discusses the prime directive of the Starfleet world. If you’re not familiar with this, it is not introducing new technology or disrupting the flow of a species’ way of life. For example, you wouldn’t want to introduce technology that the culture hasn’t even touched before, such as time travel or warp drives. It’s a good reminder of what type of boundaries and intentions the world of Star Trek has carried with it throughout every media that holds its name.
Before we continue to character creation, I found the discussion of time travel intriguing. The book has a short explanation of time travel, but within that explanation, it brings with it a heavy amount of caution because of the complex nature of time travel. It talks about not taking time travel lightly when creating a story because you have so many sewn-up strands you have to consider when putting a set of characters through it. If any movie containing time travel has taught us, think Avengers: Endgame, you need to plan that story out before proceeding. The word of caution in the book is a well-placed one and it is also a fantastic reminder that it is possible to use time travel. Anyway, I’m glad the book featured it because Star Trek has been depending on that for the last decade to tell stories in their films. It might be overused but it’s certainly worth mentioning in a tabletop format, and it is good to know that it’s possible within the Star Trek realm.
Creating that character – even the red shirts
See? I’m not clueless about the Star Trek universe (credit goes to Galaxy Quest). When Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log finally gets to character creation, it dives deep into attribute consideration. It discusses species, the types of personalities that come within those species, and the traits that follow them. The guide gives a good explanation of what to expect and how to form a story around those species. For example, if you’re going to feature Ferengi in your journey, then you must know they are wealth-driven private businesspeople who were discovered by Starfleet in 2364. If you are familiar with Deep Space Nine, then you have seen them before thanks to a bartender named Quark (played by Armin Shimerman). Those traits are in the show, and they are well-explained in Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log.
Once you establish the species, the book also breaks down traits and attributes to consider when creating your character. Every species within the game has specific attributes attached to them, such is the case with the Ferengi, who start with control, insight, and presence. The book goes into detail about what each attribute means and does a nice job of relating the specific attribute back to the specific species. Staying with the Ferengi, having the attribute of control means they stay within their discipline and are precise with what they do on a day-to-day basis. To be a good businessperson and acquire massive wealth, requires control and discipline. How this is explained, broken down, and even dissected further into levels is easy to pick up on and read from this book.
If that wasn’t enough detail, then here is more from Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log. The book also introduces disciplines, and each character comes with six of these. Disciplines are essentially points of expertise with characters and what they focus on in their careers. This particular category provides more depth to what career track your character might be on during the adventure and gives enough suggestions to help support attributes and character types. Unlike other tabletop experiences that I have had over the years, this was an easy-to-understand part of the character creation guide. It was perfectly ordered with species type, traits, and attributes. It always stresses me out when trying to fully form a character and being satisfied when it is done. A lot of DnD guides that break down character types don’t do it well or don’t do it in order of operation sometimes. This portion of the character creation process felt right. It felt like they had thought it through and wanted to make sense of how you should put your character together and in what order of details you need to follow through.
To wrap up the character creation process, the game also mentions lifepaths, or journeys from starting in one area and ending up in another, just like in real life. One aspect of the lifepath, even before you get into the species and such, is the era location of your character. Certain species belong to certain Star Trek eras, which means some species may not exist within a given timeline. Knowing that and accepting it means you create boundaries when you’re creating a set of characters. For example, the Ferengi didn’t come into play until 2364 which means that they wouldn’t exist before the Next Generation era (2300-2401). Having that defined set of eras and keeping within the boundaries they set makes for a more accurate Star Trek adventure and makes creating the lifepath much easier. It also can relate to any major jumps in technology, which, again, sets a boundary and shapes the type of story you might be trying to tell.
Once you figure out the era, lifepaths become a flowchart of what you could be versus what you eventually become. I love the tightly knit explanation and order of operation this portion of the guide gives you. When you’re creating a world and populating it, it’s best to be aware of what should and should not be possible with your character and be aware of what characters can do in the timeline they live within.
After you cast your die with value matrixes and create your character from the ground up in a specific timeline with a well-driven path that defines them fully, thanks to an accurate guide, then it’s off to put them somewhere to start the adventure.
What’s your station?
I know, I know. You were expecting an opinion about the actual adventure creation process in the book, well, not yet. The Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log talks about the character you created living on a vessel or a space station. It goes into a large amount of depth with ships and stations and which route you may want to consider. The book breaks down ship classes, giving a small explanation of what to expect from the class of ships that the Star Trek universe has to offer. For me, it wasn’t enough of an explanation, but it was just enough to get the gist. For example, I didn’t know much about the Intrepid Class (not a Star Trek fan, just a filthy casual). I learned through the book that this class of ship was small, less resource intensive, and was fantastic during the Earth-Romulan War (had to research that too). The explanation went further with a breakdown of systems and departments on the ship and even placed this class of ship in a specific era. The latter makes sense considering the era breakdown for characters.
Honestly, I had no idea there were so many ships in Star Trek. But that’s what you get from a filthy casual. Humor aside, I like the breakdown of each ship, but again wish there was just a bit more detail. Now, having said that I must commend the era organizational understanding that the book divides each ship into. Knowing which ships appeared in which era made for an easy-to-read way to understand them better. For a person like me, I need easy-to-read things. Pop-ups help.
To wrap up this section, much like characters, ships come with traits and talents that help bolster character success. For example, a ship might come with cloaked mines or might feature advanced medical wards/sickbays. Every ship that lives within a certain era has various options for containing traits and talents. Again, living within its boundaries, you’re given a certain number of options, depending on vessel type as well, which can help create the environment that your character lives within. I love the amount of detail that went into ships in this game and the book breaks it all down in wonderful detail to make it easy to understand and implement. You can make some sticky situations for players with ships if you start in an early era. There’s a lot to consider and thanks to Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log, it’s all easily appliable.
Stories
Once the fine details are laid out, a character is created, a starting point is established, be it a ship or station, and rules are understood about what you can and can’t do, then you’re off to playing the game. Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log offers suggestions on how to form a story, and properly begins this section by discussing how a three-act narrative is created. With any good adventure, be it movies, television, or tabletop, there must always be a three-act narrative structure to create a competent story. I’m so happy that Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log spends time discussing this, as most DMs that I know (not you Zach) don’t consider this whatsoever when creating a story. If you don’t know what a proper narrative structure is, then you can have a messy time as a DM.
After it does a good job of explaining the narrative structure, the book then delves into the bits and pieces you may consider when creating the adventure. It discusses storytelling devices, such as flashbacks, which is a concept I never considered when creating a tabletop journey, and other things like placing complications in the right spot at the right time. It also discusses scene transitions, such as what to do after you conclude a fight and how to slide into the next plot point in the story. It provides a considerable number of flexible suggestions to consider making a journey complete, and it does so in an easy-to-understand manner, which is a common theme in this book. It also spends a heavy amount of time on how teamwork should be the focus of any Star Trek adventure. I found that fascinating, as most tabletop journeys that I have been on were always consumed with some sort of internal turmoil and conflict among journeying characters.
The best part of this portion of the book is that it wasn’t trying to tell you what to do, rather it was suggesting it all. This is akin to learning tools but telling the builder to build what you want. I like that and found that across all the defined boundaries of Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log, and needed ones, this part was flexible enough to let the player’s imagination just wander off and create. It was a beautiful way to end the substantial amount of information, and just a relaxing way to cap off the amount of details it threw out.
On that note, let’s wrap this review up.
Conclusion
Star Trek Adventures: Captain’s Log from Modiphius Entertainment is a book that welcomes all types of tabletop wannabes. It’s built for new, casual, and expert fans of the Star Trek universe. It provides a wonderful start to what could be a fantastic Star Trek journey. Who knows? I might become a Star Trek fan thanks to this book.
