With a difficulty of 3, the odds approach zero (technically not zero because of some nuance, but you get the point). With a difficulty of 2, that becomes a 36% chance of success. For example, with a target number of 12 and a difficulty of 1, there is an 84% chance of success. Note that this makes changes in difficulty very significant. The player rolls two twenty-sided dice, and each die that’s equal or less than that summed target number is a success. Characters will have an applicable attribute and discipline (basically a skill) and when summed together these will range from about 7 to 17. Star Trek Adventures uses Modiphius’s 2d20 system (the details have been very heavily modified for this game so that anyone who has played another 2d20 game, such as Mutant Chronicles, should still read the rules carefully). The game does presume that the players are members of Starfleet, so you’ll have to wait for the Klingon and Romulan supplements to run that Klingons/Romulan espionage game you’ve been dreaming about (I’m kidding, of course – everyone will just use those supplements to work a single Klingon/Romulan into an otherwise Starfleet crew). But there are full rules for the earlier series as well, plus rules for determining how older and newer technology would compare (including rules to represent the upgrades a refitted old ship would receive if it was still in service decades later). There is a default time frame – right around the launch of Deep Space Nine (with Next Generation still running and Voyager not yet launched). The plethora of character miniatures being released by Modiphius might lead one to believe that the game is focused on tactical, squad-based combat, but it doesn’t shake out like that in the rulebook (the sample mission takes place mostly on the ground, but isn’t particularly focused on combat). And that’s pretty much all of it that has been shown on the small screen – exploration, cosmic anomalies, space battles, away teams, technobabble, and diplomacy – from the Original Series to the Next Generation to Deep Space Nine to Voyager to Enterprise (sorry, rebooted Star Trek Cinematic Universe). This is normally the part of the review where I would talk about the concept of a roleplaying game, but for a Star Trek game, that concept is pretty well know, so I’ll skip right along to what part of Star Trek is covered by Star Trek Adventures. With more than a decade since we last enjoyed an ongoing Star Trek roleplaying game, there are high hopes for Star Trek Adventures from Modiphius Entertainment. Star Trek Adventures follows in the footsteps of prior Star Trek roleplaying games from FASA (1980s), Last Unicorn (late 1990s), and Decipher (early 2000s). After a year-long shakedown cruise that began last year at Gen Con 2016, Star Trek Adventures is preparing for its official launch this summer and fall, with the core book PDF now available online, games scheduled at Gen Con 2017, and pre-orders currently under way for physical products, including the imposing (and pricey) limited edition Borg Cube extravaganza.
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