By Tilly & Susan Bridges, STA Contributing Writers
Artwork by Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo
We’re so excited we get to play in The Next Generation era a little bit, as we’ve been super fans since childhood – Star Trek is also how we met! We’ve also played a lot of Star Trek Adventures, and almost all of our missions were created from scratch just for our players. We have two concurrent games running in a shared universe with a large overarching plot that the respective crews are each uncovering little bits of as they go (we’re writers, we can’t help it, this is what we do).
But what do you do, as a gamemaster, when your players speed through a custom-created mission in half the time you thought it would take? Or they decide to ignore that little anomaly you carefully created to occupy them for at least an entire game session? Let’s face it, if there’s one thing players are good at, it’s blowing up their gamemaster’s most carefully laid plans.
Many times we’ve wished for quick, creative ideas that you can drop in almost anywhere. Need a reason for the ship to break to slow the players down? Need some more tough moral dilemmas? What about extra complications to really test the players’ creativity and teamwork capabilities?
When thinking about these mission briefs, we took a few concepts from our own game sessions, and some from planned upcoming sessions. Even more we just thought, “That would be fun!” We love Star Trek so very much, and wanted everyone to be able to participate in missions that feel like something right out of the shows.
When preparing to write these, one of the episodes that stood out to us was The Next Generation’s “Disaster.” After playing a lot of Star Trek Adventures, watching the shows becomes a little… different. We’re constantly turning to each other to say things like “Ro has a really high Conn score” or “Barclay should have put a few more points in Presence.”
Rewatching “Disaster” was almost like watching a Star Trek Adventures game session… problem after problem after problem, and the characters coming up with creative solutions to overcome their obstacles.
Of course that basically describes all of fiction writing, but what makes that episode feel so much like the game (or vice versa) is the teamwork. Characters of remarkably different backgrounds with varied skills finding creative ways to assist each other with their tasks in order to succeed.
So we drew on that, and on our love of Star Trek in all its forms, and are so delighted to bring you missions that run the gamut from tense ticking-clocks with lives on the line to light-hearted breathers that will let your players stretch out and explore what it means to be part of their crew.
Maybe you’ll find a way to tie them into your grand plans for your overall campaign, or maybe they’ll serve as standalones like some of the best episodes. Or maybe they’ll be jumping-off points into your own campaigns!
Working on this has been an absolute dream. Find us on Twitter and let us know how your sessions (boldly) go!
@tillybridges
@susanlbridges
Thanks for reading this article, and thank you for your interest and support of Star Trek Adventures! Keep hailing frequencies open for the release of additional mission brief packs and standalone adventures on a variety of topics and eras in the coming months. Live long and prosper!