After a busy busy month with the RPGaDAY entries, it is now time to attend the 2026 SaltCON End-of-Summer at the Davis Convention Center in Layton, Utah. The last I checked, there were still tickets available if you wanted to come roll some dice. I will also be packing my Convention Backpack that I have documented about in a previous blog post.
I’ve volunteered once again to help spread the RPG love. Basic Fantasy, Star Trek Adventures and my odd-ball game for this time around is Mutant Crawl Classics. And since you can reserve your spots in advance, I can say that the MCC game on Sunday is already full. As I mentioned in my USS Magnanimous Episode 2 Play Report, I’ll be running a Star Trek adventure that I used with my local gaming group.
The games that I’ve signed up for include Shadowrun Anarchy. I’ve created a character for this cyberpunk game, but I’ve never played it at the table. I’ll be participating in a play test as well with one of the designers at the con for a game called SCP. I’ll post more about it in the after-action report. I’ve got a slot signed up for a Dungeon Crawl Classics game titled Emirikol Was Framed. The next game is Through the Breach which is some sort of wild-west/magic mix game with cards. It will be interesting to try something new. The last game that I’ve signed up to play is called Starship Infernum. A space-horror-Survival setting. I think that DCC is the only game that I’ve played before and that makes me happy. One of the things I try to do at gaming conventions is to try out a system or two that I’ve never played before.
Considering how bad this year has been, I don’t think I’ll be spending a lot at the convention this weekend. But I am very much looking forward to seeing some old friends and meeting new ones. Once again I’d like to give a tip of the hat to the volunteers and coordinators for SaltCON. I hope you realize how much these events are helping me out this year. I’m looking forward to leaving the real world behind when I enter the convention center doors. I’ll see you there. If you are coming to the convention, please come up and say Hi. I’ve met a few readers of this blog face-to-face at this event.
What should I be on the look out for? Any recommendations for the games I’m going to be playing? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Star Trek Adventures- USS Magnanimous episode two play report
Wait, Carl, I don’t see the play report for episode one of the USS Magnanimous STA game that you ran. Did I miss it? Nope, you didn’t miss it. The reason I haven’t posted it yet is because it is the same adventure that I’ll be running at the upcoming SaltCON End-of-Summer event. I know some of the SaltCON attendees read my blog, so I’ll have to post that later.
Day 27 Prompt: Hunger Week 5 Prompt: Emotion Weekday Prompt: Far to Go
The prompt of “Hunger” is what we’ve been given for Day 27 of the RPGaDAY 2026 Challenge. And I had to wonder how I was going to connect a generic term to a positive post about roleplaying. Then it dawned on me, when you are hungry, you eat. And while eating is a natural biological function, it is also a social opportunity. Every year my Star Trek fan club host the Admiral’s Banquet to celebrate the club’s anniversary and to highlight the member achievements. It’s now a tradition to get together and break bread with members of our Star Trek family.
We’ve seen similar traditions in the show. So today I’d like to talk about some of the traditions seen on the show and how they can be implemented in your Star Trek Adventures campaign. Some of these are food related, some are not. This gives the gamemaster the options to introduce some role-playing opportunities at the table.
The first tradition that came to mind when I saw the prompt hunger is from The Next Generation second season episode “A Matter of Honor”. Commander Riker is transferring to the Klingon Defense Force vessel IKV Pagh as part of an exchange program. He will be serving as the vessel’s executive officer. He participates in the practice of the feast before the transfer to try some Klingon dishes.
If an officer is transferring to a planetary assignment, they could use this feast to learn about the local dishes. I could see an eager young ensign using this feast to learn about the traditional dishes from the home region of his new commanding officer. Confirming what those dishes are (or the favorite dishes) could lead into a B-plot similar to Ensign Sato being assigned to find out what Lt. Reed’s favorite food is in the Enterprise first season episode “Silent Enemy”.
We saw even more food-based rituals when we saw Cadet Uhura attending her first meal at the Captain’s Table in the first season Strange New Worlds episode “Children of the Comet”. Welcoming banquets have been seen in “Journey to Babel” (TOS season 2), “Sins of the Father” (TNG season 3) and more.
Now not all of these traditions require physical sustenance. In the first season Strange New Worlds episode “Spock Amok” we learn about Enterprise Bingo. A list of challenges that lower ranking crewmembers try to accomplish without their superiors catching them in the act. It is very possible that each Starfleet vessel has its own bingo traditions. While there is a list of the Enterprise entries in the link above, here are some possible suggestions for a bingo list.
Sneaking into a ceremony or banquet that they were not invited to.
Make it from Deck 1 to Engineering without using the turbolifts.
Swim in Cetacean Ops.
Find the oldest food recipe in the replicator.
Hide your signature in a space you don’t think anyone will find it.
Spend one minute alone on the bridge.
Change the ringtone on a crewmember’s combadge without them noticing.
There is a current naval tradition called “Crossing the Line.” Sailors who travel over the equator transform from Pollywogs to Shellbacks in a ceremony held on the ship. A Shellback is someone who has been accepted by King Neptune. Well, there isn’t really an equator in space, but there is the border between the Alpha and Beta quadrants. This could be called “Crossing the Divide” with an initiation process that marks the crewmembers as “Wayfarers.”
And sometimes new traditions starts on a lone vessel. This could spread to other vessels with transfers and interactions with fellow Starfleet ships. In the Deep Space Nine sixth season episode “Behind the Lines”, there was a crew practice held at the end of a successful mission with the used power cells from the phaser array. Rather than recycling them immediately, the spent power cells became visible reminders of what the crew had endured together.
In your Star Trek Adventures game, look for opportunities for the players to create their own traditions like this for their characters. After each successful cargo haul, the crew has to drink a certain brand of Saurian brandy. What happens if they are getting low on that brand? For each new first-contact, how would the crew want to mark the occasion? The options are endless.
So, are your players hungry for something that makes your sessions actual Star Trek episodes with an “A” plot and a “B” plot? See what traditions you can shuffle into the adventure.
What traditions would you have on your Starfleet vessel? Tell me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
So apparently I am insane enough that I’ve been busy working on my two new campaigns (and getting ready for SaltCON End-of-Summer) that I haven’t blogged about them yet. So this is a quick catch up on what has happened so far.
We held a session zero where the players made their characters for the Starfleet game. We are going to run a six-episode season and then re-evaluate from there (keep going, change eras, etc.). We will be playing in the “Lost Era” just after the end of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country and before the end of the 23rd century. We did have one more player drop out, but that left us with seven players in total with the following crew:
Captain Fae Hy-Lyra- Efrosian Commanding Officer
Commander Jean LaFluer- Human Executive Officer
Lt. Commander Gemini Jones- Human Chief Engineering Officer
Lieutenant Clay Frtizberg- Human Chief Communications Officer
As for the vessel they would be serving on, while I was scanning their hand-written character sheets, I pulled out my massive book of FASA Starships and dropped it on the table. It was so heavy that it made the table bounce in a loud thud. I advised against any dreadnoughts or massive battleships. This crew would be filling in the gaps while there was a massive shift of fleet resources to help out with the Klingon evacuations. They almost went with the Chandley Class Starship, but they didn’t want to deal with a Marine contingent. They voted for the Miranda Class Starship that was used quite a bit in the show. The name of the vessel came down to USS Magnanimous or USS Taylor (to be named after Roger Taylor) with the Magnanimous getting the larger number of votes. So I reached out to a friend who was a massive starship fan and he generated the registry number of NCC-31947 (note the 47 in the registry). Another friend who generates starship SFX for several Star Trek fan films was generous enough to make a graphic that I could use for the campaign (see the image above). Thank you Dennis and Ross.
We were able to have the first session, but we haven’t completed the episode yet. So I’ll have another blog post when the episode is completed. So far, the crew is reacting in typical Star Trek fashion.
We had a session zero for this campaign as well. There are two less players for this campaign so we have five in total. I’m hoping that the last player who had to bow out at the last minute can get his his schedules freed up to play. I have a place in the campaign where he could be slotted in.
This world is a new one of my “making”. I’ve set down some basic items, but I haven’t filled in every nook and cranny. The reason for this is that I’m allowing the players to contribute to this world since this is a shared storytelling experience. They get to make up the names of the villages and kingdoms their characters are from. If they follow a deity, they get to make that up as well. This means that I don’t have to work on minutia that may or may not be used in the campaign. Already some of the players have come up with some items from their backstories that I’m weaving into the campaign.
The magic users in this world received a special “Puzzle Scroll” that challenges them (those that pass get a free 0-level cantrip that allows them to easily create the Puzzle Scroll on a blank parchment). If the magic user solves the puzzle, then they have made it to the next level and a new puzzle appears. This is how the player knows that their character has received enough experience points to go up to the next level. It also allows them to test possible recruits into the Magic User’s Guild.
After the session zero, I was able to get some one-on-one RPG sessions with individual players to find out why their characters are traveling to the Grand City of Roses. Think a medieval city with a cross between London and Venice where different races (even Goblinoids) have their own Petal (sector). Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get all of the one-on-one sessions done, so I ended up having a session 0.5 to get them all caught up. The players are under strict orders not to talk about what happened in their one-on-one with each other. I wonder how the married couple are getting along with this challenge? We will be having the session one very soon and I’ll blog about that separately as well.
So far the characters are:
Noturin Boshk- Half-Elf Rogue
Ellywick Cogsprite- Gnome Wizard
Victor Goldweller- Dwarf Bard
Lorelei Murphy- Human Cleric
Albert Shepherd- Human Ranger
I can’t wait to torture…. errr…. put the characters through the story that I’ve planned out.
Do you have any questions (that I can answer publicly) about the campaign? I’ve even set up special channels for the two campaigns on my Discord server. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
So just a heads up, while there might be some negative things in this after-action report, none of them are due to the many volunteers at SaltCON. The many volunteers and coordinators at the event were beholden to the same issues that affected the con as a whole, and they did an excellent job under the circumstances.
Bottom line up front (BLUF): Attendance was down at this particular event due to the economy.
When I talked with several coordinators, they mentioned that they had seen the same pattern previously over the past seventeen years. When money gets tight, the attendance drops as people try to trim the budget. How this affected me and some of the other volunteer gamemasters is that some scheduled events didn’t “fire”. This is the metric that the convention uses to state that the game started on time with players. All three of my scheduled games did not “fire” which disappointed me. With the lower attendance, the players flocked to the games that had other attendees signed up so that they could get a full experience (kind of hard to play in a game with only 1-2 players). At first I wondered if I had picked the wrong games or time-slots, but I saw that other GMs had the same issues that I had. So while talking with the RPG coordinators, they encouraged me to continue to volunteer as they appreciated my efforts. So yes, I’ll be signing up to run some games at SaltCON-End of Summer in September. Hopefully the economy will not be as skitterish as it is now (crosses-fingers).
There, now that the elephant in the room is out of the way, I can tell you what I enjoyed this weekend. First, the hugs. Thank you to those who provided or accepted them. I had a chance to see a few friends that I see regularly and a few that I hadn’t seen in a while. A convention is also a chance to network with other geeky people. I had a chance to meet the organizer for ICON, a gaming convention that happens in eastern Idaho three times a year (once in Pocatello and twice in Idaho Falls). I’m giving some thought to possibly volunteering to GM some RPG one-shots at this event in the future. But there is more logistics that will have to be put into place before I can commit to it.
The game swap room was moved to a larger location which was very nice. Usually it’s stuck in a narrow room where the attendees are shoulder-to-shoulder as they try to look over the selections. I liked the additional room much more and I hope that we can keep this at the new location. I’d like to thank those who brought in roleplaying books. I was able to pick up the Creature Codex and the Tome of Beasts at a decent price. From the photo above you can also see that the free boardgame was something called Tiffin (which I honestly picked up because it was the smallest game to grab). As my thank you gift for GMing at the con, I picked up a $20 gift certificate to The Queen’s Realm. The convention t-shirt is blue with a pirate crab and a pirate parrot playing cards with the caption “It’s all fun and games until someone loses an eye.” My geek wife liked mine so much that she asked me to pick her up one as well.
An interesting twist this year is that a collectable card event was happening in the same convention center on Saturday. I walked through it since it was free. But I didn’t pick up anything since it was mostly Pokemon and sports cards. A nice thing about having that part of the convention center open was the better food options were available within. I wonder if this event will happen again at the same time next summer?
Mini-posters the convention used to advertise my games.
As for the games that I played, Everyday Heroes was a time-travel adventure where we had to prevent Professor Moriarty from messing with time by preventing the Titanic from not being sunk. We were only able to get through one scenario since we had to create characters from scratch. But I was a pirate from the 1800’s which helped with the naval theme. Since one of my games didn’t ‘fire’, I ended up jumping into my first ever HeroQuest game, which was interesting. It was a cross between an RPG and a board game. The Savage Worlds one-shot was also fun. Apparently it was for a sci-fi setting that had just been released called the Han Cluster. It was ‘technology is magic’ based and was an interesting challenge. I had forgotten that I had already played Savage Worlds previously (and it was from the same GM). But it was good to be reminded about the system. Lorecraft 5e was very different. It was a homebrewed game that took Fifth Edition and added some additional items to it. Which explains why I wasn’t able to find anything for it online. But the GM/designer put a lot of work into it. The character sheet alone was a laminated folder with character and equipment card slots. You would write on any side with a dry-erase marker and included a booklet for additional abilities and equipment slots (see photos below since he let all players keep their characters for possible future gaming sessions). He had an interesting lazy-susan grid-playing field where he could put on our figures and terrain (all held with magnets). He could spin the playing field around to move characters or point things out. What I really appreciated with this GM was the way he handled two young RPGers (possibly 14 years old) at the table who attended all seven of his events that were all linked together. They were really getting into the system and their characters. When he cornered me after the session I played in he really wanted to ask me some feedback questions about his works. I let him know the encouraging things that I saw in the game. I didn’t really see any improvements he needed to make, but perhaps I could have noticed something if I had played in other sessions.
The back of the Lorecraft 5e character folder.
The front facing the other players and GM.
Again, if you are looking for a good gaming convention, please check out SaltCON. There are a ton of board games, card games, roleplaying games and more. The next two conventions at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah are September 4-6 and March 11-14. I thinking of making a homebrew game for the Spring 2027 event.
Do you have any questions about the convention weekend? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Some of the games that I’ll be running at SaltCON-Summer 2026.
Holy cow. It has been so busy for me that summer sneaked up on me. In a few days it will be time to geek out with my fellow RPGers at SaltCON-Summer at the Davis Conference Center.
I volunteered to run three different games this round. I signed up for three games so far, but I’m keeping this year pretty flexible and I may sign up for some games on the spot. I will also be packing my Convention Backpack that I have documented about in a previous blog post.
I’m really excited about my Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition one-shot since I’m running something special. I can’t really talk about it until certain things have passed. But the players in my upcoming STA2e campaign will also get to experience it as well. I will be running Basic Fantasy 4th Edition on Friday and on Saturday I’ll get a chance to run a game that I got as part of a Secret Satan gift exchange a long time ago. Mutant Crawl Classics. This last game is my ‘unusual’ entry that I always try to come up with. It makes the conventions unique by allowing others to participate in a game that they might not normally get a chance to play.
As mentioned above, I’ve signed up for three games. The first being Everyday Heroes that a friend is running. Yes, I ran it at the 2026 Spring SaltCON, but I want to actually play to see how it looks from the other side of the GMs screen. I’m going to get a chance to play a sci-fi Savage Worlds one-shot. The third game is something called LoreCraft 5E. From the description, it sounds like a sci-fi/fantasy combo that may or may not be like Spelljammer. I haven’t been able to find out anything from it from an online search so I’ll have to report back later.
Once again I’d like to give a tip of the hat to the volunteers and coordinators for SaltCON. I hope you realize how much these events are helping me out this year. I’m looking forward to leaving the real world behind when I enter the convention center doors. I’ll see you there. If you are coming to the convention, please come up and say Hi. I’ve met a few readers of this blog face-to-face at this event.
What should I be on the look out for? Any recommendations for the games I’m going to be playing? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
When I realized that I would have both books in my physical possession about the same time, I elected to review both in one blog post. As mentioned previously, if you buy a physical book from Modiphius on their website, they send you the PDF immediately. If you buy a deadtree version from another source, you can still send them a photo to Support@Modiphius.com and they will send you the PDF as soon as they have processed the ticket. This is usually done in a couple of business days and is very much appreciated.
The cover to the STA2e Exploration Guide.
As mentioned above, the Exploration Guide was released by Modiphius in 2025. This hardbound book has 144 pages and includes a two sided poster map for the 23rd and 24th century (see photo below). These same maps are on the front and back interior covers. The ISBN number is 9-781802-812749 and the product number is MUH0142514. Inside on the credits you’ll find names such as Nathan Dowdell (system designer), Jim Johnson (Many hats including Project Manager). I’ve noticed that there are more writers and artists in the credits for these books than there was for the STA2e Technical Manual. These writers include Eric Campbell, Marieke Cross, Michael Dismuke, Nathan Dowdell, AJ Fox, Jim Johnson, Aaron M. Pollyea and Al Spader. The cover artist was Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo (who also did the cover for the Technical Manual) with interior art by Erin Arik, Marc Bell, Carlos Cabrera, Andrew Clark, Elena Conte, Albert Cordero, Enoch Driscoll, Aurea Freniere, Toma Fiezo Gas (kewl name BTW), Andrew Jarvis, Vincent Laik, David Metlesits, Wayne Miller, Berenice Buniz, Dat Phan, Paolo Puggoioni, Armin Rangani, Vadim Sadovsky, Nicola Sivani, John Teska, Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo, Angelos Vadeiros and CBS Studios. Someday I hope to see my kid with the art degree from the University of Utah in one of these credits.
A photo of the map with the Exploration Guide.
The contents of the book include an introduction and five chapters. These includes Supplemental Game Mechanics, Sector Generation, Star and System Generation, Planet Creation and Planetary Biomes. In the back of the book there is both an Index and a List of Tables. There are a lot of tables in this book which makes me happy. We also have flowcharts (with page numbers) that are similar to those in the STA2e Core Rulebook which made it soooooo much easier to read as compared to 1st edition. Proof that Modiphus listens to the fans of the game that provided them with feedback.
A partial sample of one of a flowchart found in the book.
The Independent Archeologist and Outpost Scientist (both of which we see a lot in Trek) are two new career paths that are available for characters. I had to giggle at one of the value suggestions for the archeologist that sounds like it could have been said by a man with a fedora and whip. There are also several possible career events and an interesting sidebar on the Officer Exchange program. A handful of new talents are also listed for players to use that fit the theme of this book. But one very interesting addition to the character creation is the Secret. This could be a secret value, trait or talent and would need to be coordinated between GM and player. New awards and honors are also provided for use by the GM. Now exploring is about observing and becoming aware of unknown things. There is an entire sub-chapter about how the different player attributes and departments can be used in spotting or revealing items during play. This is good as I’ve wondered about this in some of my past one-shots. The use of Challenges and Extended Tasks in exploration is also presented.
As noted in past reviews, I love how Star Trek quotes were utilized to give the book some flavor. Well this book also includes quotes from notable scientists. This made me smile. When talking about the various biomes that are present on the different worlds, the writers elected to provide a list of Star Trek episodes that matched those biomes. I will say that I was confused by The City on the Edge of Forever being recommended for the Forest biome or The Crossing for the Water biome. Various story seeds are also provided for each biome which may assist some GMs in planning out their adventures. I wonder what the pilot of the runabout was thinking in that image on page 119?
The back cover to the Exploration Guide.
The cover to the Species Sourcebook.
Currently the latest publication for STA2e is the Species Sourcebook. While the Exploration guide was a book primarily for GMs to create those strange new worlds, this book is the new life and new civilizations that can be used as possible player characters. Sixty new alien templates are made available in this book with entries from The Original Series all the way to Section 31. There are some species that may not be considered to the “good guys” available in this book, but that would help if a player wants a character that may be an exile or a cross-breed.
The ISBN number for this hardback book is 9-781802-812183 with a product number of MUH0142601. Inside there are 133 pages. The introduction is found at the start and the index at the end. And while there is only one chapter, there are a LOT of sidebars for different chapters species and talents (such as shapeshifting, breathing apparatus requirements or something from the IDW Star Trek comics). After all of these are presented, there is a section for GMs on how to create an original species. I can see myself using this for homebrewing from other Trek sources.
The cover for this book was provided by Paolo Puggioni. Some of the additional art credits include the Star Trek Online MMORPG. The talented wordsmiths mentioned above are all present in this publication. When I showed this book to my daughter with the art degree, she pointed out how much she loved the artwork for the Deltan (how the dress flowed over the character) and the Risian (the shading in the clothing that covered the figure and how it made the character stand out without the use of heavy lines.) She spent some time talking with me about the different styles in the book and what worked for her and what didn’t. I really wish I had been smart enough to write it all down or record it.
Don’t take the lack of photos or description on the Species Sourcebook to mean that I loved it any less than the Exploration Guide. Both books filled different niches within the Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition RPG system and were very well thought out. Recently I was able to convince another GM into running 2nd edition as compared to 1st by my past reviews. If anyone is considering running or playing STA2e, I can’t recommend these enough.
I’m already trying to save my Quatloos for the next book. Jim Johnson has been giving hints about it on the Modiphius discord server. So far, my money is on a book based on the medical aspects we’ve seen in the different Star Trek shows. Is my guess the right one? I hope we will find out soon.
And one last thing before I wrap this up. Modiphius has a system set up to report typos in the various books. I found one in the STA2e core rulebook that I submitted to them. And they recently released the latest errata that contained my corrections. I was tickled to see that.
Did you have any questions about the Exploration Guide or the Species Sourcebook for Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition? Ask me about it. This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
So, apparently I have to ask myself. Am I insane? And clearly the answer is yes. I’ve been wanting to get a group of friends together and run a role-playing campaign. But the question was, which one? I’m a big fan of Star Trek (duh) and I’ve been really enjoying running Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition at SaltCON. I also want to homebrew some items for STA2e to carry on the memory of my friend Roger Taylor. But, I’ve also been wanting to run a fantasy RPG. I had several ideas rolling around my head plus I had a ton of modules in both PDF and dead-tree formats. I didn’t know which campaign I wanted to run, Trek or Fantasy. So… why not both?
I sent out a bunch of emails to different players I knew in the area that had played games and seemed interested. I inquired to their interest, availability and which game they wanted to play. I started with a large list because I knew real life would get in the way. And from that initial list, I received a number of hits. So, I arranged for a meet-and-greet (think session -1) which most of the interested participants was able to attend.
I wanted to do a meet-and-greet for two reasons. One, to show them where we would be playing (at my house) and I wanted the players to know each other. Too many times I had been invited to a campaign and was just dropped in like I knew everyone. Especially with some of the online games that I attempted to get involved in. Some of the players were just voices over Discord. I didn’t know them from Adam. Some of the friends I had invited to my campaigns I had known for decades. Some I had met recently at SaltCON. But most of them didn’t know each other. I wanted to see who could be comfortable with their fellow players and if the allotted time would work. I have a cat at home and I wanted to make sure that the players were comfortable around him. He can be a little energetic when a new person shows up in his house.
Well, the meet and greet was a day before I made this blog post and I think it went well. Some of the players were STA only, others just fantasy. But a lot of them were interested in playing both. We got to go over some ground rules and safety guidelines. There was a request for a not-overly description on zombie gore which made sense. I also described how the gaming sessions would be an opportunity to get away from the real world and de-stress for a while. We talked about methods of communication that would be used to keep the players in touch. I also warned them that I’d be blogging about some of the games and the fun we had with this group storytelling adventure.
For the fantasy game, I gave the players three choices that I was willing to run. Basic Fantasy, Castles and Crusades and Dungeon Crawl Classics. After discussing the systems, availability and support for the three choices, the vote came down to a tie between Basic Fantasy and C&C. To break the tie, my youngest as asked to choose and they pointed at Castles and Crusades because there was a woman on the cover. It seemed silly, but it worked. As for the type of campaign the players deemed interested in a classic dungeon crawl. So I’m going to look through the adventures I own and I’ll pick one to convert.
As for Star Trek Adventures, we will be playing in a six-episode season to start off. The players will be the bridge crew of a starship they get to help pick in our session zero. This will be set during the “lost era” of Star Trek between the TOS movies and the 24th century. Once this pilot season is done, the players will decide if they want to continue, or try one of the other formats that I had proposed (mixed crew like DS9, or a Hazard Team presented in the Star Trek: Elite Force video game) or other possibilities. Since I run a lot of STA games at SaltCON, I warned them that they might be beta testers for the one-shots that I was putting together.
Each game will only be played once a month on a Friday that we had set the month before. Since the holidays are a horrible time to schedule around, we’d just skip that month. There is a break between the two games so I’ve got a little bit of a breather between the two.
I’m looking forward to sitting around the table, eating a few snacks and rolling some dice with friends. I’m still setting up the communication preferences agreed with at the meet and greet, but I also set up a couple of channels on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server.
Where will these stories take us? I won’t even know until we sit down and game.
This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com or click on my social media links with any comments.
And another wonderful SaltCON is in the bag. Let me take this opportunity to thank the gaming coordinators, the volunteers and the people I met for helping to make this an enjoyable weekend. I had some disappointments, but they were far and few between. I also had a roleplayer come up to me to say “Hey you want to see my convention backpack?” after he had read about the backpack that I use at conventions. It was interesting to compare the two of them. Last year, I really needed the emotional support after some real-life events. This year I was providing the emotional support to others (and I was glad to give out the hugs when needed). It reminded me of the quote from Saru on Star Trek: Discovery.
“Before we can care for others, we must care for ourselves.” Saru- New Eden, Stardate: 1027.32
I was able to pick up a lot this year. The convention theme for 2026 is pirates (last year was a cyberpunk theme) and there were several articles of clothing that combined gaming and pirates together. My zip-up Star Trek hoodie (that looked like a uniform) was starting to get a little threadbare, so I decided to replace it with a black SaltCON pirate hoodie that says “Dead men play no games.” I also picked up the regular con shirt for spring which was a pirate riding a fish guiding it with a D20. The SaltCON GameMaster’s Guild shirt that I got for free said “Release the Kraken” And speaking of free shirts, Evil Genius Games provided me with an Evil Gamemaster shirt for running one of their games. On the sleeve is a bonus rule that allows the GM to make a player re-roll a D20 two times during a game. I didn’t use this at the con, but a friend who also got the same shirt did.
Some of the gaming loot that I picked up at the con.
As is usually the case with SaltCON, they give you free games when you pick up your registration badge. The free games this year included an interesting card game called Tacta and a humorous looking game called Riot at the Round Table. I’ll have to subject the family to these and see how they play. At the Saturday morning swap meet someone brought in the Star Trek Super-Skill Pinball that was still sealed and was a low price. So I snagged it. I really wish that more people brought their RPG books to this Saturday morning event. At the regular game swap (which is 99% board games) I did find an unusual looking RPG called Arzium which appears to be a fantasy game. And one of my thank you gifts for running quite a few RPG sessions was the Werewolf The Apocalypse Core Rulebook. Both of these I’ll be using in the 2027 Character Creation Challenge.
Smaller loot from the con.
There were a couple more giveaways that I had received at the convention. The first was the SaltCON RPG pin which showed a kraken wrapping itself around a pirate ship. There was also a pin I got for running the Evil Genius game for Nacho Haus that came from the Origins Game Fair. I don’t know what that represents. I reached out to my contacts at EGG and I’ll report back what I find out. Another free gift was a small 3D printed dice tower that fit nicely inside my leather dice tray. Usually dice towers are too unwieldy or big, but this one worked just right. This was given to a GMs at the con and was provided by Scorehaven which appears to be some sort of gaming meet up group. A local young artists had a booth at the con and from her I purchased a set of dice that glow under a ultraviolet light (I’ll blog more about that later) and a special coffin box for the Geek Wife who loved it. Plus we wanted to support those who created with their hands and not tried to use AI.
For the four games that I ran at SaltCON Spring 2026 I think I must have picked a bad time-slot for Basic Fantasy. Only one person had preregistered for the game and they backed out the morning of the con. But this only gives me a chance to polish up this self-written adventure for a future event. The next day I ran Everyday Heroes: Escape from New York (for the prizes seen above). This game had a full complement (five pre-gen characters) and we had fun. However I may have disappointed a player who was playing an RPG for the first time. She chose a character that was a manipulator instead of a fighter. However the first part of the game (that was all we could do in the four hour slot) didn’t get to the point where she could use her talents. I let them name their own characters at the table, so Lady Lockbreaker, if you are reading this, I should have let you manipulate the guards you were trying to approach. I had thought about it later and I realized then what you were trying to do. I hope your future RPG sessions go a little better. For any GMs running some of the Cinematic Adventures from Evil Genius Games, be prepared to shorten the material to get it into a convention gaming slot. Friday I ran Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition with the Thursday’s Child game written by Roger Taylor. This ran very well and challenged the characters in a Star Trek way. There were lots of compliments at the end of the session (that ran longer than we were expecting, but it was the last game at that table for the day). On Sunday I ran the Star Wars D6 RPG from West End Games. While there were a couple of first time players who wanted to see what the fuss was all about, there were also several players who loved the original game. They loved the theater of the mind and how I used an opening script to get them all into character. Thank you to my players who showed up and had fun.
I was really looking forward to the two Cowboy Bebop games, but they didn’t happen. One was with Lasers and Feelings and the other was the official RPG that I had backed on Kickstarter. The GM fell ill and wasn’t able to return for the two games. I know another player who had signed up for both who was disappointed as well. Another player volunteered to run Lasers and Feelings for us and we pushed our way through it as an improv game. Thanks to that player for stepping up and showing how the community supports each other. To the GM that was running the early Sunday morning Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition game, I apologize for pulling out the night before. With how late my STA game ran, I didn’t think I was going to get there on time for the early morning session. I hope you found a replacement player and I thank you for bringing one of the classics to the con. I have a bit of a conundrum on the Tunnels and Trolls game. It wasn’t actually Tunnels and Trolls, it was a retro-clone called the Leopard Empress or something. Another player who also wanted to really try T&T had even brought his books from home. I think we got an idea how the system works with the clone, but I was also wondering if I would have signed up had it been advertised under the actual game name. I don’t know, am I thinking about this too hard? If I had advertised my Basic Fantasy game as BECMI and someone showed up expecting to play that, would they be giving me the side eye? The other game that I was able to play is called DC20, which turned out to be a beta version of the game that was backed by Kickstarter years ago. It made sense, but I could see where some of the betaness of the game came into play as the players had a few questions about things. We had fun. But the IT side of my brain kept saying “Beta version, wait for full release.” The most fun I had was with the Paranoia game. Because there was a long line to get into the con (and I had to stop to help a friend at the ER beforehand) I was a little late getting there. The GM was actually having the players create their own characters. Since I had missed the first of this process, I asked if I could just use the character I had recently created in the Character Creation Challenge, and the GM agreed. So bonus points for me to use a character that I had created manually. I want to say that the Paranoia game lives up to its reputation if you have a GM and players with the right mindset (and warped sense of humor). Good job. Overall I had fun in the games that I actually played and thanks again to the GMs for their efforts.
Again, if you are looking for a good gaming convention, I can’t recommend SaltCON enough. There are a ton of board games, card games, roleplaying games and the Artemis Bridge Simulator ran by Starship Frontier was always full. The next two conventions at the Davis Conference Center in Layton, Utah are June 5-7 and September 4-6. I already have an idea for my next Star Trek Adventures game that I want to try out.
So was I putting to much thought into the Tunnels and Trolls concern? Did I do the new player in Escape from New York wrong by not letting her play to her character strengths? Do you have any questions about the convention weekend? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
Some of the games that I’ll be running at SaltCON Spring 2026.
Wow, 2026 is flying by already. In less than a week I’ll be at SaltCON Spring at the Davis Convention Center in Layton to throw some dice and see some friends. This will run from March 12-15 and is the largest of the three SaltCON conventions held at this location.
I volunteered to run four different games this year. I’m also signed up to play in four games that I’ve never played before and I’ll be re-visiting a game that I haven’t played since my early days of gaming. I will also be packing my Convention Backpack that I have documented about in a previous blog post.
Once again, my Sunday game has filled up first. But this shouldn’t surprise me because it’s the classic Star Wars D6 RPG by West End Games. I’m certain that all of the players probably remember (or heard about) how well this game ran. I’ve also followed up with some games that I’m getting known for, Basic Fantasy 4th Edition (The Guildmaster’s Quest Part II) and Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition where I’ll be running a scenario written by my late friend, Roger Taylor that I converted over to 2e. I think that Roger would have loved 2nd edition. Another first for me is running the Everyday Heroes cinematic adventure, Escape from New York. What is especially interesting about this last game is that it will be a sanctioned play recognized by the publisher. I’ll get some swag for running the game and the players can get some points as well if they sign up online. The publisher had one of their convention coordinators reach out to me and ran me through a quick online session about a month ago.
I’ve signed up to play in six games. The one that I’ve played before is Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1st Edition (role play like it’s 1979). In 2025 I did see a couple of pick up 2nd edition games start. If I hadn’t already been booked for another session, I might have joined them. The remaining games are all new to me. I am really appreciative of the opportunity to try new games. There are 5th Edition/Pathfinder games at all of the local gaming stores, I want to try other things. The first game is the new Paranoia All New Shiny Edition (aka “Perfect Edition”). I recently had the opportunity to make a character for this in the 2026 Character Creation Challenge. I’ve really wanted to try this game ever since I first heard about it back in the 90s. I’m not certain what version it is, but another game that I’ve signed up for is Tunnels and Trolls. Yea, speak about old-school. This was another game that I saw advertised over the gaming publications at the time. I’ll have more to report about this later. There is a sci-fi game out there called Lasers and Feelings which looks like it was inspired by Star Trek. This game has had several hacks published for it to cover other genres and this one will cover the Cowboy Bebop anime. And speaking of Cowboy Bebop, someone will be running the official RPG at the con and I’ve signed up for it. After backing the Kickstarter for this and being very disappointed (see my review) I’ll get a chance to play it at the table. Will this opportunity change my mind? We’ll see. My final game that I signed up for is called DC20, which is a 5e variant. I had seen it scheduled at SaltCON in the past, but the schedules never lined up for me to try it. So I’m taking another plunge to see what it’s like. This game will actually have the players make their character at the start of the game instead of using pre-generated characters.
I’m looking forward to geeking out and forgetting about how bad this year has been so far (again). If you are going, feel free to come up and say Hi. Seeing friends is exactly what I need right now. And a way to help myself is to help others. So let me know if you need a hug as well.
What should I be on the look out for? Any recommendations for the games I’m going to be playing? This article is open for discussion on the TardisCaptain dot Com Discord server. You can also email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain.com with any comments.
