Hi Tom! I’m a huge Trekkie and first played RPGs when D&D still had paper pamphlets. Recently retired and I noticed STA in a game store a little over a year ago. I told myself that if I ever got back into RPGs, I’d go in this direction. Your review convinced me. Thanks! OMW
I missed out on the first edition of STA. I've had a recent hankering to try out a Star Trek tabletop RPG though, so I'm glad to hear that there's a new second edition of STA, and that it's worth owning. Thanks for the review Tom.
It's a definite improvement over 1st Edition, IMO. Not perfect, but 2E is probably 98% backwards compatible with 1E, so you can still use all the books. I caught the 1E catalogue on Humble Bundle for 25, and that prompted me to go ahead and upgrade to 2E and organize a new game. The big thing about STA is that it is rules light (in comparison to some), but it does a good job of "simulating" Star Trek.
The first edition by Modiphius was a bit cumbersome but my players [one of which was not Star Trek fan] thoroughly enjoyed the game. Another player did play the FASA version in the 80s and loved the ship combat we had--this game does feel more like tv series/movies
I hated the LCARS design of the original book. The font was also on the smaller end. My eyes got tired of reading it as well. Second edition massively fixed that. I adore the new book😊
Paizo usually has a Bag O Dice on their store. You get tons of different type of dice and styles. Very good. Bought two because our meetup group was a quite a few people. Didnt realize how much dice was in a Bag O Dice and wow it was alot. Had to buy a special huge casserole tupperware container to fit in all the dice. Never needed more dice since then. Highly recommend. If Paizo still sells those. Their customer support was 10/10 Edit: Nevermind, just checked and the product has been discontinued years ago, but they still have good assortment dice deals
Check out Wizdice. I prefer them for many reasons, but chief among them is the color selection and out of the mainstream dice makers, they seem to have the most balanced dice.
About the point of bouncing around, not that big of a thing since those pages are relatively close. You just would need to remember page 257 and then the rest of the stuff is right there within a couple of pages of it. So not that bad. Like, if the references were in the previous or next chapter, I would complain. Sure. But since they are all just a couple of pages of the main chart? I can live with that.
Thanks for your review. I was hesitant to buy the 2nd Ed. because I have basically every book of the 1st Ed. (and most of any other iteration of Star Trek RPGs) on the shelf. But this really sounds intriguing, so I guess can't resist anymore...
My test of this would be to shape a space adventure campaign around it without telling players that it was explicitly Star Trek and just see how flexible the systems felt. It'd probably do fine, I think. Played a bit of the FASA version a long time ago, production values have skyrocketed since
For reference, Coriolis, another Modiphius SFRPG, uses a similar system, and it worked okay, but could have used a bit more granularity, IMO. Star Trek doesn't need that level of detail to catch the feel of the show/movies, as SFA encourages RP over detailed game mechanics.
I'm curious if the PDF version has internal hyperlinks. That would make the necessary flipping around much smoother and quicker. I might still want the physical book--cause I'm a relic of a bygone era--but still, running the game would be way faster with a fully hyperlinked PDF.
Intriguing, I have been looking for 1 EPIC Sci-fi game for my collection for a few years but all the ones I have looked at are missing some je-ne-sais-quoi. I am looking for something that I can get into when I want to be challenged, or can read on a quiet evening, that has a lot of depth, yet has a familiarity and comfort. I love Star Trek and this just popped up on my long-range sensors. Q: Are there missions in it, or do I have to create my own, or buy them separately?
Excellent! There is a starter mission in the Quick Start Guide, which I think is still free on their website. And the Quick start guide is also well produced.
I'm sure the majority of people may well agree with you, but FWIW, I prefer the dark LCARS pages of the original edition; feels more distinctive. As for bouncing with references, I always take such links as being optional when I read. Think of it more like declaring a placeholder, which you can go look up if you're trying to find out more but for now you can just go "Oh, okay there's a thing called Assistance that I can ask for. I'll come back to that at the end if I still don't get what it does." In any complex system, you need to be able to introduce a concept before describing a concept sometimes, and this sort of (see more) structure has always been an acceptable way to do that IMHO. From a designer perspective, it's interesting that you approach it that way, though.
I agree with you on the LCARS presentation, at first, it really makes you feel like you're in the universe when the book looks like the Television show. It was only an issue after some time. Thanks for your thoughts!
Totally doing that! I just gotta figure out what's worth printing out. When a game company does a GM screen, there's always at least one chart that I never wind up using. I Gotta do some research!
After playing a couple of sessions, I would have preferred a d100 skill-based system, but there are some fun adventures/missions for the system, at least. I am not really a fan of the momentum and threat mechanics.
@@thetombottelsenshow Probably Pulp Cthulhu. I since played a third session but still am not a fan of the STA system, unfortunately. I like Traveller's system better than it too. I will give the STA ruleset one more try to give it a fair shake, but I think it's just not for me.
I own the Infinity RPG but haven't done more than thumb through it. My take from that is Star Trek is less crunchy rules-wise. It's no FATE but STA isn't bad at all. Still using 2d20 and things like good/bad token used by the players and GM respectively to influence rolls & scene elements. Brings in several ways that your beliefs and training can improve your roll.
@@nathanburg Awesome! If you want a ton of great resources, check out the Continuing Mission STA blog. I don't write for them, but enjoy their work. I hope you enjoy the game
@@nathanburg No worries! I hope you enjoy this one more. There's an excellent blog/resources site called Continuing Mission STA. I don't write for them - just a fan.
It is in many ways, but I think I prefer that to "ok, I'm going to slam my hand down on the bar and ask for a drink" and the GM says "you gotta roll to see if you hit the bar, you could miss." True story!
I'm inclined to agree with this, but to be fair you CAN completely ignore all the garbage modern Trek. There will sadly never be another 'pre-Abrams only' Trek RPG. Might as well make a book that includes it all, then individuals can toss out or ignore the nonsense parts.
@@geewunder1171 I am still a Huge Star Trek fan. I simply refuse to support Kurtzman Trek. As for the future of Trek that's going to depend a lot on what happens after Viacom gets broken up and sold. None of the Kurtzman shows have been financial successes, none have driven up subscriptions and they have been virtually no merchandising (at least compared to Original series/ TNG) The only reason it's kept going is because of the insane contract Les Moonves gave Secret Hideout. Moonves hated Trek and he knew he was about to get pushed out so he gave it to Kurtzman with a clause that requires them to either payout 200Mill to Kurtzman or finance any Star Trek show in development up to 200M. This didn't have a end date so as long as Kurtzman has a show in development he gets it funded. The studio figures it's better to keep financing him then buy him out for 200 Million. At least by financing him they get something for their money, even if it isn't great. But that will probably change after the sale since there are probably clauses that would allow the contract to end without such a big payout.
Whew. You aren't lying! Some of the lead writers behind it are : Tilly and Susan Bridges, Rachael Cruz, Alison Cybe.... Their twitters are like over the top parodies of what you're talking about. Wow, feel vindicated. I'll stick to my FASA books from the 80's and keep my money.
I knew that half shave hair cut on the cover was raising some red flags. Well i guess ”the modern audience” will be happy to ”tweet about it and really support it by pirating it”.
![[PLAY] Star Trek Dark Rifts eps 1](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3WFJgY-JsgA/mqdefault.jpg)
![[PLAY] Star Trek Dark Rifts eps 1](/img/tr.png)
![Star Trek Captain's Log: Example of Play [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/qbi2NUNI--8/mqdefault.jpg)
![[STAR TREK] How to play: Basic Rules](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hEuA4Q3JAHw/mqdefault.jpg)
its like watching Ron Swanson if he was a cool gamer!
Thanks my friend!
Getting that book is logical
Hi Tom!
I’m a huge Trekkie and first played RPGs when D&D still had paper pamphlets. Recently retired and I noticed STA in a game store a little over a year ago. I told myself that if I ever got back into RPGs, I’d go in this direction. Your review convinced me.
Thanks!
OMW
Man, I remember the old FASA version. I guess I need to get this.
Or just buy the old FASA version.
The two systems are very different. FASA's was more complex. I ran the FASA version when it came out, and I prefer the Modiphius edition.
I still have the FASA RPG
Short, sweet, and very well explained! Thanks for the review!
I missed out on the first edition of STA. I've had a recent hankering to try out a Star Trek tabletop RPG though, so I'm glad to hear that there's a new second edition of STA, and that it's worth owning. Thanks for the review Tom.
It's a definite improvement over 1st Edition, IMO. Not perfect, but 2E is probably 98% backwards compatible with 1E, so you can still use all the books. I caught the 1E catalogue on Humble Bundle for 25, and that prompted me to go ahead and upgrade to 2E and organize a new game. The big thing about STA is that it is rules light (in comparison to some), but it does a good job of "simulating" Star Trek.
The first edition by Modiphius was a bit cumbersome but my players [one of which was not Star Trek fan] thoroughly enjoyed the game. Another player did play the FASA version in the 80s and loved the ship combat we had--this game does feel more like tv series/movies
I hated the LCARS design of the original book. The font was also on the smaller end. My eyes got tired of reading it as well. Second edition massively fixed that. I adore the new book😊
Paizo usually has a Bag O Dice on their store. You get tons of different type of dice and styles. Very good. Bought two because our meetup group was a quite a few people. Didnt realize how much dice was in a Bag O Dice and wow it was alot. Had to buy a special huge casserole tupperware container to fit in all the dice. Never needed more dice since then. Highly recommend. If Paizo still sells those. Their customer support was 10/10
Edit: Nevermind, just checked and the product has been discontinued years ago, but they still have good assortment dice deals
Check out Wizdice. I prefer them for many reasons, but chief among them is the color selection and out of the mainstream dice makers, they seem to have the most balanced dice.
About the point of bouncing around, not that big of a thing since those pages are relatively close. You just would need to remember page 257 and then the rest of the stuff is right there within a couple of pages of it. So not that bad. Like, if the references were in the previous or next chapter, I would complain. Sure. But since they are all just a couple of pages of the main chart? I can live with that.
I applaud your enthusiasm for this book. I was getting it anyway but now I'm more excited about it. I will be getting the GM screen stuff too. :)
Thanks my friend. Let me know how the GM screen Looks? I haven't talked to anyone who's purchased it.
I am doing a session zero (as a player) for STA 2.0 tomorrow. Great Vid Tom. Your enthusiasm has me ready for duty!
I just ran my 2e S-0 last night. I'm looking forward to a long-campaign.
Thank you! I can't wait to hear how it's going! Keep us updated?
Great review.
Glad you enjoyed it
Thanks for your review. I was hesitant to buy the 2nd Ed. because I have basically every book of the 1st Ed. (and most of any other iteration of Star Trek RPGs) on the shelf. But this really sounds intriguing, so I guess can't resist anymore...
resistance is futile.
My test of this would be to shape a space adventure campaign around it without telling players that it was explicitly Star Trek and just see how flexible the systems felt. It'd probably do fine, I think. Played a bit of the FASA version a long time ago, production values have skyrocketed since
For reference, Coriolis, another Modiphius SFRPG, uses a similar system, and it worked okay, but could have used a bit more granularity, IMO. Star Trek doesn't need that level of detail to catch the feel of the show/movies, as SFA encourages RP over detailed game mechanics.
Great video, gets me pumped to play. But you gotta pump those dice numbers up my guy!
Noted my friend. I could be buried in shiny dice and pass away a happy man. lol
I'm curious if the PDF version has internal hyperlinks. That would make the necessary flipping around much smoother and quicker. I might still want the physical book--cause I'm a relic of a bygone era--but still, running the game would be way faster with a fully hyperlinked PDF.
I love that Idea! But, sadly, no, the pdf doesn't have hyperlinks. That's a great idea though.
Intriguing, I have been looking for 1 EPIC Sci-fi game for my collection for a few years but all the ones I have looked at are missing some je-ne-sais-quoi. I am looking for something that I can get into when I want to be challenged, or can read on a quiet evening, that has a lot of depth, yet has a familiarity and comfort. I love Star Trek and this just popped up on my long-range sensors.
Q: Are there missions in it, or do I have to create my own, or buy them separately?
Excellent! There is a starter mission in the Quick Start Guide, which I think is still free on their website. And the Quick start guide is also well produced.
I'm sure the majority of people may well agree with you, but FWIW, I prefer the dark LCARS pages of the original edition; feels more distinctive.
As for bouncing with references, I always take such links as being optional when I read. Think of it more like declaring a placeholder, which you can go look up if you're trying to find out more but for now you can just go "Oh, okay there's a thing called Assistance that I can ask for. I'll come back to that at the end if I still don't get what it does." In any complex system, you need to be able to introduce a concept before describing a concept sometimes, and this sort of (see more) structure has always been an acceptable way to do that IMHO. From a designer perspective, it's interesting that you approach it that way, though.
I agree with you on the LCARS presentation, at first, it really makes you feel like you're in the universe when the book looks like the Television show. It was only an issue after some time. Thanks for your thoughts!
keep these coming, i want to switch to star trek :)
I am loving this system; and of course I love that its in my #1 fandom!
I have to admit, it's certainly a handsome book.
I just for mine on Friday and need to start digging into it. Our campaign will start transitioning to 2e soon.
Lower Decks! Lower Decks!
@@ocularpatdown lower decks! Finally got the California class in there!!!!
The 2e manual is a HUGE improvement, and the Lower Decks book is absolutely fantastic!
I played first edition when it came out. It was pretty fun! I'll have to let the group know 2nd edition is out!
We played 1E 4 years ago, and 2E is, IMO, improved (mechanical simplifications and better rulebook organization).
I would think to avoid book flipping just print out the charts
Totally doing that! I just gotta figure out what's worth printing out. When a game company does a GM screen, there's always at least one chart that I never wind up using. I Gotta do some research!
Thanks for reminding me how much I hate the new 40k logo art.
Sorry my friend. Luckily, we'll only have to wait a year or so to get a new one. lol
After playing a couple of sessions, I would have preferred a d100 skill-based system, but there are some fun adventures/missions for the system, at least. I am not really a fan of the momentum and threat mechanics.
The only D1OO system I know of is Call of Cthulhu. What's your favorite D100 system?
@@thetombottelsenshow Probably Pulp Cthulhu. I since played a third session but still am not a fan of the STA system, unfortunately. I like Traveller's system better than it too. I will give the STA ruleset one more try to give it a fair shake, but I think it's just not for me.
I hated modiphius' treatment of the infinity rpg. Is this the same system or is it better?
I own the Infinity RPG but haven't done more than thumb through it. My take from that is Star Trek is less crunchy rules-wise. It's no FATE but STA isn't bad at all. Still using 2d20 and things like good/bad token used by the players and GM respectively to influence rolls & scene elements. Brings in several ways that your beliefs and training can improve your roll.
@@TravDadGamerawesome thanks for the reply. I bought the PDFs off your recommendation and can’t wait to try it.
@@nathanburg Awesome! If you want a ton of great resources, check out the Continuing Mission STA blog. I don't write for them, but enjoy their work.
I hope you enjoy the game
@@nathanburg No worries! I hope you enjoy this one more. There's an excellent blog/resources site called Continuing Mission STA. I don't write for them - just a fan.
You know, I prefer d12s
@@EmmadieJ I got love for the D12!
Love this! And I mean it.
Fasa Vulcan luck -40%
Ugh...I know they say "don't judge a book by its cover" but I really don't care for the cover of this book.
assuming its still one of those crappy rules light so called "narrative' systems?
It is in many ways, but I think I prefer that to "ok, I'm going to slam my hand down on the bar and ask for a drink" and the GM says "you gotta roll to see if you hit the bar, you could miss." True story!
@@thetombottelsenshow unless the bar was a Mimic and decided to avoid the hit, that is a bit extreme.
@@Psuedo-Nim haha!!!! Well played!!!
I love how all your Star Trek knickknacks look like you just bought them online. And that’s how we know you’re a poser.
The system is garbage.
How many women are on that cover? lol
Modern Modiphius is obsessed with... certain things. The quality of system and production is great, but expect the usual 'modern audience' stuff.
Half. Just like the population.
I'm not keen on those sorts of games books. I do like those Choose Your Own Adventure books.
Nope. Anything that includes Abrams/Kurtzman garbage doesn't get my money.
I'm inclined to agree with this, but to be fair you CAN completely ignore all the garbage modern Trek. There will sadly never be another 'pre-Abrams only' Trek RPG. Might as well make a book that includes it all, then individuals can toss out or ignore the nonsense parts.
@@geewunder1171 I am still a Huge Star Trek fan. I simply refuse to support Kurtzman Trek. As for the future of Trek that's going to depend a lot on what happens after Viacom gets broken up and sold. None of the Kurtzman shows have been financial successes, none have driven up subscriptions and they have been virtually no merchandising (at least compared to Original series/ TNG) The only reason it's kept going is because of the insane contract Les Moonves gave Secret Hideout. Moonves hated Trek and he knew he was about to get pushed out so he gave it to Kurtzman with a clause that requires them to either payout 200Mill to Kurtzman or finance any Star Trek show in development up to 200M. This didn't have a end date so as long as Kurtzman has a show in development he gets it funded. The studio figures it's better to keep financing him then buy him out for 200 Million. At least by financing him they get something for their money, even if it isn't great. But that will probably change after the sale since there are probably clauses that would allow the contract to end without such a big payout.
Nah. There is not enough women on that cover. More I say!
Are you counting the ship?
Yes we need more womyns with bad masculine haircuts!
How dare you assume the ship's gender you bigot!
It's literally exactly half of the people. Almost like you took a random sampling of the population.
Women may seem scary to you now, but youre gonna get over it when you grow up 😊
It's woke crap. Hard pass.
Keep trying to tear us apart, but Star Trek fans understand it's better to embrace and encourage our differences than to fight over them.
@@TravDadGamerwell said!
Whew. You aren't lying!
Some of the lead writers behind it are : Tilly and Susan Bridges, Rachael Cruz, Alison Cybe....
Their twitters are like over the top parodies of what you're talking about. Wow, feel vindicated.
I'll stick to my FASA books from the 80's and keep my money.
@@jimjam51075 You weren't lying! I checked the twitters and feel like I just got back from the circus.
I knew that half shave hair cut on the cover was raising some red flags.
Well i guess ”the modern audience” will be happy to ”tweet about it and really support it by pirating it”.