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.
Let me get this out of the way now. The excellent work done by the crew at Modiphius, from the writing to the art, has continued. Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition has been a vast improvement from the 1st edition and so far every new book I’ve wanted to buy (damn you lack of funds). Every new release of the 1.0 to 2.0 adaptions have been downloaded and reviewed instantly.
The cover of the STA2e Technical Manual.
For those of you who have been regular readers of my blog, I love the various Star Trek Technical Manuals that have come out. I’ve even been called a Treknologist. So when I heard in 2025 that Modiphius was releasing their own Technical Manual for the Star Trek Adventures 2e game, I cried. Not because I was happy, but because at the time I had no money to get it. Eventually I was able to free up some funds to order it from the Modiphius website. I’ve tried to get my local gaming stores to bring in the game, but for some reason they could only get limited items. They were finally able to get me a copy of the Technical Manual for which I was very grateful. If you are not aware, if you purchase a Modiphius product, you can contact them at the email Support@Modiphius.com with a photo of the book and they will send you the PDF. Even if you buy the book used. I was able to do this when I had picked up the John Carter of Mars RPG.
The Technical Manual is a hardbound book with 129 pages and has (thank you) a ribbon book mark for when I’m doing research. I’ve found that a simple thing like the ribbon book mark really improves the book itself. The 2nd edition books have been much, much easier to quickly find answers in, but the ribbon helps. The product number is MUH0142513 and the ISBN number is 9-781802-811933. The project manager is Jim Johnson, the writers are Michael Dismuke, Nathan Dowdell, Jim Johnson, Aaron M. Pollyea, Al Spader and Dayton Ward. Hey, I know that last guy. The cover artist is Rodrigo Gonzalez Toledo (OK, why does that sound like a name you’d see at the top of a character sheet?) with a bunch of artists for the interior art. All the art is in color and I’m still of the opinion that Modiphius should release an Art of Star Trek Adventures book for the 10th Anniversary of the game coming up in 2027.
Some of the equipment displayed on the inside front cover.
And some of the equipment on the inside back cover.
As you can see from the photos above, the inside front covers have a ton of graphical information that add to the book. As for what is on the inside, the book is broken down into eight chapters. Supplemental Game Mechanics, Standard Equipment, Diplomatic Assets, Scientific Equipment, Medical Technology, Engineering Technology, Weapons and Tactical Gear and finally Starship Technologies.
For the new submissions for the game mechanics, there are some new career events that are all technological in nature. Several new talents for the different departments and equipment styles (cybernetics, etc.). For the designers of Starships in STA2e there are several new service records and talents that you can apply to the different classes. There is also a new weapon type for mines (the exploding kind, not the digging a tunnel kind). Do you want different types of propulsion? Not only does this book have them from the different shows, but it appears that some are from Star Trek Online (I haven’t played that in years so I couldn’t confirm).
Your standard equipment covers holograms, PADDs, communicators, replicators, uniforms and 32nd century common items (programmable matter, tricom badges, etc.). Not only are these broken down by the major powers, but there are also complications that can affect these equipment items. I think is to make the players lives interesting if they keep depending upon one piece of equipment like The Doctor would always depend upon his sonic screwdriver. So the writers would take it away from him in order to move the story along or challenge the character.
In chapter three there is discussion with the diplomatic assets. Communicating between different languages and how universal translators may (or may not) help. Chapter four talks about the scientific equipment that may be used in the game. From the very common like chronometers to tricorders to sensors. What do the non-Federation scientists use? In our medical device chapter it not only talks about the equipment, but the treatments and enhancements that may be encountered in a Star Trek story. What are some ways a transporter, genetic engineering or cybernetics could be used to resolve medical issues? This book covers it.
It can’t be a technical manual without talking about engineering technology. What do the different diagnostic levels mean? What are the steps in the transporter operation? What are the different tools that can be found in an engineer’s toolkit? While engineering items can create, weapons can destroy which is what is found in chapter 7. The different melee weapons from different cultures. Different types of phasers, plasma pistols, distruptors, and tetryon rifles. I know that in Beta cannon, there were stun only weapons, but I didn’t see those here. I wonder if that ever came up on the show itself? It probably wouldn’t be that difficult to homebrew with this book.
Starship fans will love chapter 8. All of the different pieces of equipment found under (or on) the hull are listed here as well as possible complications (as found throughout the book).
Conclusion: As per usual, this book could have been bigger considering all of the equipment that we’ve seen in the show. I didn’t envy the editors tasks of making it all fit between the covers. I think the Technical Manual does a good job of giving us the basics, which will allow a good game master to homebrew what they need for their table. The use of Star Trek quotes was recognized and appreciated. There is an index in the back for quick lookup.
The back cover to the Technical Manual.
The second book that I’m including in this blog post is the 23rd Century Campaign Guide. I already used the 23CCG (as I had to start calling it) when I made a merchant trader STA2e character for the 2026 Character Creation Challenge. This book was a gift from one of my kids who ordered it from the Modiphius website and shipped directly to me. It was very well protected when it had arrived.
How the book was very well protected when it was shipped to me.
This is another hardbound book that was released in late 2025 by the same gang that I had listed above. However the cover to this book is very different as compared to the earlier STA2e products. Instead of being just a painting of the characters that talk to you in the different STA2e publications, it shows the characters that we’ve known and loved from the 23rd century. Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Pike, Burnham and Saru. I thought it was an interesting, and logical, change. Oh, and thank you again for the bookmark ribbon. It has been very handy.
The cover to the 23rd Century Campaign Guide as done by Paolo Puggioni.
So we have seven chapters in the 23CCG. Supplemental Game Mechanics, Growth of the Federation (2200-2255), War and the Red Angel Crisis (2256-2258), Federation and Empire (2259-2269), Conspiracies and the Thaw (2270-2299), Playing in the 23rd Century and finally Gamemastering in the 23rd Century. I like how they broke down some of the details by different eras in the 23rd century.
The inside front cover of the 23CCG.
Of course, the front and back inside covers are filled with information. You can see the different uniforms presented in the photo above. I didn’t get a photo of the back inside cover, but it has different timelines within the 23rd century. Not just of the prime universe, but of the mirror and Kelvin timelines as well. I think this is the first time I’ve seen any Kelvin information in a STA2e book (or any come to think of it).
For the character creation additions to the game, there are new environment options. This gives a breakdown of some of the major homeworlds (Andoria, Denobula, etc.) and what benefits the character would receive from their time on that planet. This opens up the possibilities for homebrewers to write up different options for different locales. And on page 9 is a quick guideline for gamemasters to do such a thing. Then there is the new Free Trader career path option that I had used last month in the Character Creation Challenge. As I mentioned there, I think this write up for a merchant type character was better than the options listed in the core rulebook. But both could be used if needed. Then there are new Career Events based upon historical moments in the 23rd century like the Tarsus IV Massacre, or the Whale Probe Crisis. There are quick guidelines for homebrewing these as well which has lead to a bunch of fan submissions on the STA Continuing Missions website. Then there are some optional rules that are presented for the GM to consider. These appear to be updates to some of the conflict rules that was presented in the first edition Klingon-Federation War campaign guide.
The three chapters dealing with the different eras within the 23rd century are all broken down into three sub-sections. State of the Galaxy, Technology and Politics. These are all viewed with the eyes of the different powers at that time. There are some interesting side-bars that gamemasters could find interesting such as how to use Command Codes.
Playing in the 23rd Century is the sixth chapter in the book. It also breaks down information by the four eras mentioned above and provides some additional roles. There was a very good side note about “player knowledge vs character knowledge” that I appreciated and would probably bring up at the start of an STA campaign. I also had to giggle at the section about the USS Enterprise being the “only ship in the quadrant”. Primarily because it made sense (and is being adopted into my own personal headcannon). Another good side note is the examples we have in the show of multiple roles such as Spock being both XO and science officer.
Like chapter six, the gamemastering chapter is also broken down by the four eras. The book talks about themes, tones, styles of play and campaign structures. It gives different suggestions for each item and how gamemasters may be able to integrate them into their campaigns. And at the end is another index for quick searches and more Star Trek quotes scattered throughout the book.
The back cover to the 23CCG book.
Conclusion: I’m also happy to have this the 23rd Century Campaign Guide in my collection. I’m really hoping that this will lead to campaign guides for other eras. I can see the 24th century as a sure bet, but I really hope we see one for the 22nd century as well (possible lack of details may hinder this one). I don’t think we’d see a 32nd century guide until well after the TV series set in that era have ended. I’m still seeing some of the FASA Star Trek RPG influences in the book and I’m still pleasantly surprised that there was some Kelvin timeline information. Even if it was mostly a footnote.
One additional note before I wrap this up. There are two other Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition books that have been released, but not yet shipped yet. The Exploration Guide and the Species Sourcebook (which isn’t even available on DriveThruRPG yet but can be pre-ordered from the Modiphus website closest to you). When this second book was announced, I had just enough money to pick up one of them. While I really want to see the rules for creating sectors and planets in the Exploration Guide, I had to pull the trigger on the Species Sourcebook. It already came in handy in the Character Creation Challenge. Hopefully I’ll have both books physically when it’s time do write up some additional reviews.
Did you have any questions about the 23rd Century Campaign Guide or the Technical Manual 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.
Note: If you made it through 31 days of the challenge, read to the bottom of the post.
The 2026 #Character Creation Challenge has been completed. What a difference a year makes. 2025 sucked so bad that I didn’t complete my 31 characters until March. For 2026 I tried a different approach that was, somewhat, successful. I posted 31 characters in January and a bonus character on February 1st. Now I will admit, since I knew that I had some real-life responsibilities (a funeral and parental duties) in January, I did generate some characters in December. This gave me a little bit of a buffer at the start of the month. But in the latter half, I was making the character the day before it was scheduled to be posted. I think this helped my sanity (what little left there is) a lot.
Another thing I did differently this year was not scheduling out the whole month and printing up all the character sheets in advance. This gave me a little bit of flexibility, especially when one game I selected turned out to be a supplement and not a game. However by the middle of the month I had scheduled everything out. I’m not certain how I’m going to do this in the future. Another thing I did was combine some reviews with the character creation. This wasn’t too bad, but I think I’d like to keep these separate in the future.
I really didn’t have any games that disappointed me this year other than Rebel Scum. Sure there were some weird ones like Time Lord or slightly incomplete like the Trader Captain’s and Merchant Princes. But I think Rebel Scum was the disappointment of the 2026 challenge. It needed to really be more a rule book first.
Of the other entries that I read on various message boards, blogs and social media, I noticed a lot of Star Trek characters. One participant was making Star Trek characters with other RPG systems (like the D6 Star Wars game). There was also a participant who created the classic Masters of the Universe characters using the Advanced Fighting Fantasy system. I also loved the Alpha Squad (a 1930’s A-Team) using the Outgunned Adventure system. There were also a lot of other good themes and new system. I wish I had room to mention them all.
Past Character Creation Challenges After-Action Reports: 2025 2024 2023 2022 2021
And if you completed the 31 characters in 31 days, here is the badge that you can display on your blog posts or social media. I’ve already had this badge show up on Welcome to the Eyrie, Paratime, Three Kobolds with a Trench Gun and on BlueSky. If I missed any, please let me know. This graphic is in a large and small format. I commissioned it from AuroraStark.art if you are ever looking for some production art for a project. Additions:The Other Side, Flubs and Boons and Ravaged Renaissance. Let me know if there are more.
Also, if you purchased anything after clicking on the affiliate links to DriveThruRPG or Amazon, thank you. I’m not doing this blog to make money, but the kickback helps when making game purchases for future challenges.
Get ready for the 2027 #CharacterCreationChallenge coming up next January. And thank you everyone who had fun. Even if you only made a few characters, I still enjoyed reading them.
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.
Day 31 and the last day of the 2026 #CharacterCreationChallenge. For this character, we are going back to the beginning. On Day 1 of the challenge I made a merchant character for the FASA Star Trek RPG. Some of the feedback from that character encouraged me to follow one of the comments that I had made in that post. “I’m wondering how the Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition merchant character would roll up? Perhaps I’ll pick that for one of my later characters in this challenge.” Thank you for the encouragement. Another factor that pushed me in this direction was getting a Christmas gift in the mail that my daughter sent me. The STA2e 23rd Century Campaign Guide (review post is half-way complete and will be released soon) which contains some additional rules on creating the Free Trader as a career path option.
Frequent readers of my blog (thank you) will recall that I used the STA2e game as my first entry for the 2025 Character Creation Challenge where I made a Trill Starfleet officer named Keman Les. In that entry I go into detail on the attributes and steps needed to generate a character. So I’m not going to go into as much detail here other than switching books to the 23rd Century Campaign Guide. Also to note, this is a creation challenge and I’m comparing the creation process between the two games. So this isn’t a direct migration of the FASA character to STA2e. However I’ll be using the same name (Kraxx) and species (Edoan) and trying to mach up what I can.
Step One: Species- As mentioned above, Kraxx is an Edoan which isn’t listed in the core rulebook. But it is listed in the new STA2e Species Sourcebook that just went on sale from Modiphius. Since I have purchased it the publisher has already sent me the PDF and I will use it here. And yes, there will be a review when I have the physical book in my hands. I wrote down the attribute adjustments, traits and species ability.
Step Two: Environment- For the FASA merchant character, I had to roll what type of background the character had (disadvantaged, normal or privileged) but not what environment they were raised. I had rolled normal for that system so I looked at the environmental list and eliminated some of the colonies and being raised on the world of another race. I’m going to roll the d20 and if it comes up on one of the options that I crossed out, I’ll just re-roll. It came up as Frontier Colony. That would work as it could be disadvantaged, but would easily fit the normal background. I’m not hoping over to the 23rd Century Campaign Guide (23CCG is how I’m going to abbreviate that from now on) but there are additional options for this step listed on page 8. I added Kraxx’s first value and added to the attribute and department scores.
Step Three: Upbringing- Do I automatically pick Business or Trade and accept it, or one of the other options and then rebel against it? 30 some odd characters ago, I don’t recall what I was thinking when I originally made Kraxx. Since he had a normal upbringing in the FASA game, I’m going to accept the Business or Trade option. Had he been disadvantaged, I probably would have picked something he rebelled against. I added the character updates from this step to my notes.
Step Four: Career Path- Now this is when I’m moving over to the 23CCG book page 12 and selecting Free Trader. There is Civilian (Trader) option listed in the STA2e core rulebook. I compared the two of them together and I can see where some things are similar and some things were changed. I think I like the Free Trader more in the 23CCG book. I wrote down the adjustments and additions to my notes.
Step Five: Experience- Stepping back to the core rulebook I elected to pick this one. Since Kraxx was new to the trading universe, he is going to be a Novice. I added the Value and Talent for the Novice to my notes.
Step Six: Career Events- I would like to note that the 23CCG does have some new Career Events based upon the historical periods of the 23rd century that were quite interesting. There was also some guidelines for the GM to create their Career Events. However, I’ll be randomly rolling from the core book and adjusting them for a non-Starfleet character such as this one. With the FASA STRPG entry the character did start merchant academy, get kicked out and was later re-admitted. So I let the dice decide. (clacking sound on table) I ended up with “Dealt with a plague” and “Lauded by another culture”. I wrote down the adjustments as per these two entries.
Step Seven: Finishing Touches- These are the same as before since I’m still in the core rulebook. I used this time to see if I could match this Kraxx up with the FASA STRPG Kraxx. I did have to wonder about him carrying a phaser. He was trained to use one on the FASA side so I gave him a Type-1 cricket phaser. Since there wasn’t a sheet for merchants (hint, hint) I used the Federation sheet.
Afterthoughts:
In one big way, the STA2e creation system is simpler. Instead of adding 5% here and 8% there to the multitude of skills listed in FASA, they are quickly added to the departments and focuses. While I do like the FASA creation system, it does take a little bit longer to complete. The 23CCG adds some additional stuff for those wishing to play a merchant campaign in STA, I feel that there could (and probably will) be more details added soon. I don’t know if this will be by the fans or the publisher.
When writing things down on the character sheet, I always seem to run out of room in some areas and have too much in others. I noticed that when looking at last year’s entry as well.
Something to note for STA players. The Multi-Tasking talent listed on page 158 of the STA2e core rulebook is different from the Mult-Tasking Edosian species talent in the new Species Sorucebook. When writing down the information on your character sheet, you may want to include the description or source to confirm what your talent abilities are.
Additional Notes:
So this completes my 31 characters in 31 days. For those of you who joined me in reaching this milestone, please email me at Carl (at) TardisCaptain dot com, on the Discord server or by your preferred method and I’ll see that you get the award graphic. Thank you for taking this journey with me and congratulations for making it this far. Even if you only got a few characters in before real life got in the way, you should still be proud of yourself. I hope you all had fun with this challenge.
I do have one more bonus character coming up before I write up my after-action report. If you liked this entry, you’ll love the next one as well.
Coming Up Next:
Special Bonus Character
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.
On day 9 of the 2026 #Character Creation Challenge I’m going to use a Star Trek RPG that I haven’t looked at yet. Star Trek Adventures- Captain’s Log by Modiphius. This is a solo RPG book from the makers of Star Trek Adventures. This is actually my first time looking through the PDF, I can see why another STA fan I know liked it. Lots of random charts that could be used in different ways.
Since this book came out before STA2e, is it more like Star Trek Adventures 1st Edition? From what I’ve heard, it’s more slimmed down than STA1e. So let’s take a look at the character creation process that starts on page 91. I’m going to use the Lifepath method for this character.
So the same attributes and disciplines are present in Captain’s Log as they are in STA1e. Control, Daring, Fitness, Insight, Presence and Reason (I explain these a little bit more (using D&D terms) in my STA2e character creation) for the attributes. Command, Conn, Security, Engineering, Science and Medicine for the character’s disciplines. I’ve always liked these in the STA style games because we’ve seen Starfleet officers perform duties outside of their department when the needs arise. I get a starting score of 7 for each attribute and 1 for each discipline. Step one is to select the species for this character. There are die rolls to create a random character which I’m going to use. First, is the era, which came up TNG. Scrolling down to the TNG list, I rolled a Kazon. Wow, I wasn’t expecting that, but let’s roll with it and added the attribute adjustments for the character.
Next step is the Environment, or where the character was raised. I rolled an Isolated Colony. Perhaps this Kazon isn’t like the others? This gave the character his first value which I picked “If I need it, I can do it.” I also picked the attribute and discipline increase from the suggestions for the setting. Also part of this step is the condition which ranged from utopian to total war. Another random roll resulted in Asceticism and Introspection or a simple life not by lack but by choice. What type of Kazon colony was this? Probably one of the factions that fled instead of trying to fight the stronger ones. They must have found a place overlooked by the other factions and tried to keep things simple as to not attract attention to themselves. This also resulted in another value for the character “Keep is simple”, another attribute and discipline increase.
Now we are onto Step Three, the early outlook of the character. How they were raised and educated before they became the person on the character sheet. The random roll for Upbringing resulted in Diplomacy and Politics. Perhaps this character’s parents were the leaders of the faction that founded the isolated colony. Did he accept it or rebel against it? Odds = yes, evens = no. Yes, it is with the roll of a 7. I added the increase to the character’s attributes and disciplines to my notes and selected his first Focus (specialty skill). I picked one that I thought a Kazon might need in a cutthroat political environment. Aspirations is the next sub-step in Step Three. What drives the character. Wait, I read this wrong. I pick one of three options, so I don’t use aspirations since I already used Upbringing (that’s what I get for thinking this was just an off-shoot of STA1e). I’ve already rolled so I’m not going back to change anything. Just to make sure I didn’t screw up, I went back and looked again at Step Two. After the re-read it looks like I did that right. Gah, I’ve got to make sure I’m clear on the steps before proceeding.
Step Four is the Education of the character. Checking to see if I have one path or multiple paths here. There are multiple paths here but there is a random table on which I rolled Diplomatic Training (this is a weird Kazon) which only has two tracks. Diplomatic Corps or Honorary Status, of which I rolled the later. It says that the character had an illustrious career (in doing what?) and was named a diplomat. The parents ran the colony administration as a family business of which the character participated in. When they passed on, the oldest sibling took over the colony, but didn’t want the character around for one reason or another (perhaps this is a plot point for something in the future) so he was sent off to be a representative to another colony. Yea, that’s the ticket. I added the Value of “I’ll take on the burden so my colony doesn’t.” I also added the Attributes, Disciplines and Focuses.
The Career Length is Step Five. There is another random table that I’ll stick with since the randomness has been interesting so far. Is this character a Novice, Experienced or a Veteran, and the d20 says Experienced. Several years in the political game apparently. This results in a Value of which I picked “Planning can help you with the unexpected.”
Step Six gives us two Career Events that has happened to the character. These pivotal moments will give us some additional stats for the sheet. The first randomly rolled event was Lauded by Another Culture. He earned some praise from a non-allied culture and are now considered a friend to them. Talaxians, the are Talaxians in the same neighborhood of space as the Kazon, so he did something that impressed them? What was it? Heck if I know. I think I’ll leave that for a possible flashback scenario. But he now knows some Talaxian traders very well who will help him out. I added the increase to the Attribute and Discipline and gained the focus of Talaxian Culture (as per the book). The second random event was Special Commendation. Again, weird for a Kazon. Sticking with the aliens of the region, a Trabe attack on a Kazon Maje from another sect resulted in the ship being severely damaged and the Character’s survival skills helped save the Maje’s life. However the Trabe despise the Character now. Added again to the three items listed above with the focus being more generic.
The last step includes the Finishing Touches. We get to add one more Value of which I picked “Never trust the Trabe.” I also get to increase two Attributes and two Disciplines by 1. Checking to make sure I had everything the book instructs me to make sure my Attributes all added together come up to 56. And somehow I had one extra, so I’ll just knock one down. Added together all of the Disciplines should total 16, and again I had one extra (where did I screw up at?) so I knocked one down. I was correct on the four Values, but I was short by two focuses (again I don’t know where I screwed up at) so I went back and added the missing two at random. Next came the Assignment and it listed a bunch of Starfleet positions. I don’t know if the civilian positions were overlooked or what, so I just put down Diplomat/Spy. There is no rank for civilians.
I think I’m also supposed to put together the stats for a starship. But considering the lack of time I have right now, I’ll skip this part and come back to it. Especially since he’s not on a Starfleet ship. I dubbed this character Valltex of the Kazon-Pikaar and transferred my notes to the character sheet. While I was adding things, I noticed there was a spot for equipment, so I just jotted down some simple items.
Afterthoughts:
I had actually picked up the PDF on DriveThruRPG with the credits that I had earned there so I could use it in a challenge, but I’ve always had another ST game to use. Well this year I decided that I wasn’t going to wait and for the first time I’ve looked at this book. Why? Well I’m not big on solo roleplaying. Table top gaming has always been a social activity for me. Getting together with friends, eating bad food and telling jokes as we threw the dice. Eventually I’m going to get the dead-tree version of this book, and I was thinking that I was going to use it then. But something told me to make one now, and perhaps it’s because I need to buckle up and try a few different solo games. If I do for Captain’s Log, I’ll make a real Starfleet character.
With my Star Trek RPG focus being on STA2e, I don’t know if I’d do any homebrewing for Captain’s Log. Perhaps I’ll change my mind after I’ve had a chance to go through a solo session or two. I did see how there were some differences from STA1e and building blocks to STA2e.
Additional Notes:
By following the hashtag #CharacterCreationChallenge on Mastodon, I was able to find another blog participating in the challenge. I’ve added Esoteric Renaissance to the list. If I’m missing anyone, please send me the URL.
Coming Up Next:
Tales from the Loop
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.
When a company screws up, I complain about it. I want other people to know how badly that company handled a situation. Because I don’t want to be someone who complains all the time, I also want to point out when a company excels at what they do. And my latest good example of this is the team behind the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game by Modiphius.
Like any successful roleplaying game, as time progresses the designers get feedback from players. They also make changes when the same RPG system is used in other games adding and removing portions of the game. Look at the latest version of Dungeons and Dragons. While it still has the D20 aspect, there are a lot of changes to the game if you compare it to Dungeons and Dragons version 3.5 or the older BECMI that I started out with. There are differences that are good and bad. After the publisher had released the first edition of Star Trek Adventures, they took the feedback to heart and made some changes that were reflected in the Klingon Core Rulebook and the STA Rules Digest. Later, they took more feedback (and aspects from other 2D20 games) and released the much superior 2nd edition.
An advantage for the publisher, besides making the game better, is the sales of new books. This also caused some difficulties as well. If a new version of a game is released, then their loyal customers wondered why they invested in the previous books. Most games were not very backwards compatible. This was particularly bad when it came to the Warhammer tactical games with the official miniatures. The older miniatures were not allowed in the new official tournaments to drive up sales. I remember a friend telling me after the latest edition change that he was done with Warhammer because of this. It had gone through it twice and was not going to follow a third time even with how much he had loved the game.
When the second edition of Star Trek Adventures was released, I recall a few players wondering if their books were no longer compatible. I even saw one collection going up for sale online as the seller thought they were no longer needed. The team behind STA2e kept telling us that the older books could still be used. Well, they have started doing something beyond talk. They are releasing free PDF updates to all the older books that makes them “second edition”. Usually, it’s a minor correction to a character stat, or the wording on a certain rule. These ‘revisions’ have been released for the division books covering Command, Operations and Sciences.
As someone who wants to homebrew for this 2D20 game, it’s been fascinating to read some of these revisions and comparing them to the original releases. It helps me get an ‘under the hood’ look in the system.
Now the “story line” presented in the 1st edition publication is not present in the revision. I don’t believe that ‘revision’ meant ‘reprint with 2e stats’. The revision just presented the stats. So it’s still worth picking up the 1st edition publications for all of the lore presented within the books. With STA2e relying more on traits, our enterprising commanding officer has some of his traits reworded. For example ‘Former Borg’ is now ‘Liberated Borg’ which makes more sense. His position of ‘Captain of the Enterprise’ is also listed as a trait. In the STA2e stats, the new past time focus of ‘Ancient Earth Literature’ was added. I love the idea of a past time focus as it tells us that the character is more than just a bunch of stats on a piece of paper. For Picard’s talents, Spirit of Discovery is slightly re-worded (as it was between the two books) and the Veteran talent has a change since STA2e dropped the challenge dice (again, seen in the new core rulebook). This is the same reason Captain Picard’s attack stats are slightly different, no challenge dice means he uses the damage listed in the new core book. Besides the past time trait, the only other noticeable change was the ‘special rules’ listed for the character. These contain the Species Ability which gives the character the advantages of being Human. And the role benefit of Commanding Officer. These role benefits have been very interesting to read. Other than that, the character’s values, attributes, departments (called disciplines in the first edition), stress, focuses, protection and equipment are all the same.
So, as you can see, Jim Johnson and his team of writers have been true to their word. You can still use your STA first edition publications with the second edition with just some minor tweaks. And they are helping you along by taking the time to provide some of these tweaks themselves (at the same time that they are working on new STA2e content).
Besides being impressed with these ‘revisions’, I recently used a 1st edition adventure in a one-shot at SaltCON. I GMed a game using the scenario from the Klingon Empire Quickstart using the second edition rules. Other than a few minor strokes of the pen on the pre-generated characters and a few NPCs, I had no problems running it with the Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition rules.
So, don’t sell your first edition books, and if you happen to see any dead-tree versions, snatch them up as they are no longer being printed. Or you can pick up the PDFs on DriveThruRPG. You can use them in a second edition game with minimal effort. Truly something to tip the hat to the writers of this game. Like I said in the title of this blog, Kudos to Modiphius.
ADDITIONAL: It was pointed out to me that I didn’t include a link to the free downloads on the Modiphius website. They can be found here: Star Trek Adventures Downloads.
Have you encountered smooth transitions between editions of your favorite roleplaying game systems? 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 with any comments.
When I was thinking about my after-action reports, I almost combined this one with my RPGaDAY 2025 after-action report. However, I realized that they should remain separate as they were both unique events.
SaltCON End-of-Summer 2025 has completed thanks to the many efforts of the volunteers and staff. Having run conventions in the past, I must tip my hat to them. I was talking with one of the volunteers on Sunday and I could tell they were exhausted. They were happy with how the event went, but very tired. I myself had a blast and I had a lot of opportunities to talk with different gaming friends and throw some dice. I also had the opportunity to use the First Aid Kit that I keep in my Convention Backpack. Nothing serious, but I was glad that I was prepared.
I played the following games:
MechWarrior: Destiny was a lot of fun. It was a rules light system and the scenario was pretty straight forward. Get in my mech, go shoot some pirates that had taken over a corporate base (we were hired because we were the closest). I was pretty impressed with how easy this ran. The tactical combat with the mechs was built more for roleplay, but still utilized a hex map. From what I understood, there are more crunchier versions if you just want to beat up other giant mechs. I had a chance to look at the rule-book while we were sitting at the table and if I can find it for a good price, I’ll be very tempted to pick it up.
Dungeon Crawl Classics was a little different from the last time I played it. Instead of being a funnel, we had established level-3 characters. This was being run by a first-time-at-a-convention GM and we all gave him some positive feedback when the session was over. While I didn’t play a magic-user in this one-shot, I did get to see the magic system in action and it looks funky. The randomness and danger from messing around with magic can be appealing for some gamers, but may push others off. When the adventure was over, my fighter character ended up with the MacGuffin we were after known as ‘The Balance Blade.’
I had some fun with Daggerheart and I was able to get my feet wet with it. I liked some things. The hope and fear dice mechanic was interesting and didn’t really turn me off like I thought it would. We had plenty of roleplaying opportunities in the system. The only thing I really didn’t like was the initiative system. If you succeeded with hope, then your side could keep the initiative, but there was no order to go in so someone could go several times (or pass off between the two). It was only when you succeeded (or failed) with fear did imitative move to the opposing side. Like Mechawarrior above, I was able to look through the rule-book at the table. I’ll pick this up if I can get it on a sale, but I don’t think I’ll go out of my way to get it. I also wouldn’t turn down an invite to a game if presented. There is a metric-butt load of fantasy RPGs out there and so I’m not in a rush to play or homebrew for most of them.
My Sunday morning game of Monty Python’s Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Prpogramme lived up to the hype. The GM was running it for the first time after picking up the book and our marry troupe was sent by God to spank the Pope because he had been a naughty boy. Now that I’ve had a chance to see the system at the table, I can also say this works for the source material. I could see this system being used for Blackadder as well. One interesting note, the GM didn’t provide pre-generated characters so we had to roll up some before starting the game. Instead of making a new one, he let me play Sir Richard Hammond that I had created in a past Character Creation Challenge. Because I had the unusual dice from the Kickstarter Reward, I had lots of request to use them. But only I used the Coconut Dice Rollers.
I had players for all three of the games that I ran over the weekend:
Basic Fantasy went off better than I expected since this was a home-made adventure. The characters were able to find the missing Guildmaster and complete his quest. I want to polish up the adventure and run it one more time before I submit it to the Basic Fantasy community for possible publication.
This was the most unusual time that I’ve ever run Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition (or any STA game). Because it was a Klingon based scenario where the squad was sent to infiltrate a Dominion outpost during the Dominion War, there was a lot of combat. I GMed more combat in this one-shot more than any of my other STA one-shots combined. I will need to go back and re-read some of the combat rules and probably ask a few questions on the Modiphius discord server. But the characters survived and completed the objective.
I really wish that I had a physical copy of the Space: 1999 Quickstart Rules as I was running the scenario from it. I didn’t want to print out too much from the book as it was graphic heavy (and would have eaten up a lot of the ink in my printer). So I was using the PDF on my tablet which meant a lot of scrolling. Most of the players were familiar with Star Trek Adventures, so I was able to read off some of the slight differences in the rules out loud. And they made sense. Two of the things that I really liked in the rules I plan to adapt to my STA games. When I reported on the Modiphius discord server the results of one of the characters using a photo of his family to calm down a panicked crew member, the writer of the game gave me a thumbs up. The team had lots of fun and one participant played the Space: 1999 opening and closing themes at the appropriate moments in the game. I even got an email from one of the players a few days later telling me how much fun he had at the table.
While I was running Space: 1999, I had someone come up to the table and ask if I’d be willing to run games as a paid GM. I signed up for more information, but I’m kinda-sorta hesitant about making a hobby into a paid thing. I’m sure I’d have fun, but I’d hate to take something fun and turn it into work. I may have to investigate this more.
One of the big reasons to attend a gaming convention is to make connections. Talking with one GM he mentioned that he only ran games that were in print for purchase. He was worried that a player would want a copy of a game after his session. I understood this as I overheard two of my STA players at the Summer SaltCON say they wanted to pick up the 2nd edition core rule-book after playing. Both myself and another player encouraged him to run any game that he wanted to play. Part of the reason to play at a con is to play those games you don’t get a chance to play elsewhere. At past SaltCONs I’ve had a chance to play older out-of-print games like James Bond, Ghostbusters and Red Dwarf. I didn’t get a chance to play, but I passed a table where they were playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 2nd Edition.
A merchant that sells roleplaying books would be smart to find out what games are being ran at SaltCON and sell them at a vendor’s table. I know there has been a few times that I was tempted to pick up a game right after finishing a game. Had Mechawarrior: Destiny been within reach, I would have been seriously tempted to buy it.
Speaking of loot from the con. You can see what I picked up at the convention in the photo above. The Fallout Starter Set was in the game swap (still sealed and a very good price). The convention usually gives away a freebie game to attendees and this time around it was a card game called Flip 7. The family looked interested in trying it out. As a thank you gift for GMing, I was gifted the core rule-book for a game I didn’t know existed. It was called Rivers of London by Chaosium and was based off of a series of novels called, you guessed it, Rivers of London. It reminded me of The Dresden Files but with police officers investigating wizards and magic crimes. And the convention t-shirt had a robot playing a game on a red background.
Overall I had a ton of fun. I can see where the organizers are putting their heart and soul into a gaming convention like this one. The next SaltCON is the big one in the spring and will be held at the same Davis Convention Center on March 12-14. I’ve been trying to recruit some friends to come and GM at the convention because I think they would have fun as well.
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.
It’s time to link up for Day 29 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge and our topic is ‘connect’. Roleplaying games are social events. Sure, there are solo games, and video games. But when it comes down to it, sitting around a table and seeing the faces of the other players, hearing the inflection in their voices, making memories, it’s infectious. It is one of the main reasons we play our different games. We get to geek out with someone that has a common bond. We get to yell at little pieces of plastic when they don’t roll the right number. We get to wear robes and chant from ancient texts… wait, did I give away too much? (No, that doesn’t happen. Bad Carl for making a joke again.)
So, how do you connect with other gamers. Well in this day and age, it’s a lot easier than it was previously. Here are a few suggestions to connect with fellow dice throwers.
Go to your local game store. Most game stores worth their salt will have events where you can meet up. The more people play the game, the more games that they can sell. Sure, a lot of their gaming events are of the collectible card variety. But most will allow you to schedule an RPG session or two there. Meeting in a public place may get you some additional players for your campaigns as people may be more comfortable than going to someone’s home that they don’t know. I’ve also noticed a trend that more smaller game stores are setting up discord servers as a way to connect members of the gaming community together. Some may have Facebook pages, but there’s been a bit of a push back on using that social media platform with the weird algorithms that they keep pushing.
If there is a gaming convention near you, check it out. My time at SaltCON has lead to exchanging information with a lot of local gamers. It also included a one-shot invitation to a D6 Star Wars RPG by WEG and writers sending me their games to get my feedback. And, as I’ve recently said, I really needed the community at SaltCON during this troubling year.
I mentioned discord earlier. There are a lot of discord servers that are put out for the gaming community. I even have one for my blog that is gaining some traction (thanks guys). Several publishers have their own discord servers. I’ve received some feedback from publishers to my reviews and Character Creation Challenge entries via discord. I know that Basic Fantasy still uses a message board. Two good message boards with lots of activity is the one on RPG.net and RPGPub. And yes, even with the pitfalls that Facebook has, there are a lot of gaming sites on it. I’m on some of the MeWe gaming groups, but that hasn’t caught as much attention. And I’ve been very impressed with the gaming community on BlueSky. All of these have options to find players in your area. When I posted on the Modiphius discord server that I was running a Star Trek Adventures 2e one-shot, a gentleman from two counties distant drove up to play. If I had access to these resources in the 90’s (the closest we came were local BBSes) I would have loved it.
And probably the best way to get someone to game with you is talk with your friends. Pick an RPG system that you can explain the rules in under two minutes and show your excitement for the game. If the rules are too complex to explain, they might not jump on board as fast. But try to emphasize the fun that can be had around the table.
Are there other methods that you’d recommend for connecting with fellow RPG gamers? 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 with any comments.
The end of August is almost upon us and that means that SaltCON End-of-Summer is just around the corner running during from August 29-31st at the Davis Conference Center in Layton. There are still tickets available if you want to stop check it out. Use the code SUMMEREND for a discount price (not valid after August 28th)
I volunteered to run three different games this year. I’m also signed up to play in three games that I’ve never played before and I’ll be re-visiting a game that I’d love to play in a campaign. I will also be packing my Convention Backpack that I have documented about in a previous blog post.
Games that I’ve volunteered for include Basic Fantasy 4th Edition (The Guildmaster’s Quest) and Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition (a new Klingon scenario, which was wildly popular last time I ran one of this style). The new game that I’m going to be running at this con is the new Space: 1999 roleplaying game by Modiphius. The amazing thing that shocked me is, the Space: 1999 session is already sold out and it’s my Sunday game. Usually that is the one that doesn’t sell out. At the time I was typing this blog post up, my other two games only had two seats left each.
For the games that I’ve signed up for, my only repeat system is Dungeon Crawl Classics that I will be playing on Friday. I like that this is a D20 clone (with some twists) and has a zero-level funnel. This DCC one-shot will be level three characters.
Of the three other games that I’ve signed up for, they are all new to me. I made sure to give myself breaks between games so that I can get a lunch (I did that wrong one year, wow won’t make that mistake again). The first of the new games is MechWarrior: Destiny. This is in the BattleTech universe. While I was aware of it in the 90’s because it was also published by FASA, I steered clear of it as I could have seen myself making a collection of different Mech stats in a three-ringed binder like I did with the FASA Star Trek starships.
If you’ve been watching a lot of the RPG video podcasts you’ve probably been hearing about a new game called Daggerheart from Critical Role Productions. Well I signed up for a demo to check this out and see what the hype is about.
And finally I backed the Kickstarter for the Monty Python Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme. Well now I’m going to have a chance to play it at the table. When I wrote my review linked above, I on-purpose did not read any of the scenarios within the book just in case one of them was used at the con. I can’t wait to see this game in action and to use the special coconut dice-rollers that came with my reward.
I’m looking forward to geeking out and forgetting about how bad this year has been so far. 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.
So, what do we have here for Day 28 of the RPGaDAY 2025 Challenge? A topic of ‘suspense’. According to Dictionary.com the definition of suspense is “a state or condition of mental uncertainty or excitement, as in awaiting a decision or outcome, usually accompanied by a degree of apprehension or anxiety. It can also be a state of mental indecision or the state of being suspended.
I’d like to invite you to my future blog post about suspense that will be published later.
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No, I guess that joke won’t fly as well will it. I seriously considered making that the blog post.
Trying to come up with the text for this post that doesn’t automatically reach for the “how do you have suspense in your game” was something I struggled with. I’m not big on the suspense expected in horror games. How can you experience the emotion of horror when you are comfortably sitting around the gaming table with your friends in a safe and relaxing location?
Perhaps I should run with the last part of the definition that is posted above. The state of being suspended. In my post about ‘tactics’ I mentioned how a poorly executed plot conclusion from a GM ended the FASA Star Trek game that I was in. That was a bad way to suspend a campaign. Occasionally, there is a human-interest story that talks about a D&D campaign that has lasted for 20 or 30 years. I think the reason these are interesting is due to our real-world experiences with RPG campaigns. The Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 campaign that lasted a few years was highly enjoyable. I was able to get a character from the lower levels to a higher one through the experience point process. It was kewl to see the character getting increasingly powerful. But suddenly the DM stated that the campaign was ending soon (this was 2019) and that we would pick it up again later after we had taken a break. We were looking forward to getting back together again and added it to the curses we give the year 2020.
Should a GM plan for an end to the campaign? If yes, should the GM announce it at the beginning of the game that there would be an endpoint to reach? How is the best way to do this?
I think it depends upon the game that is being played. Dungeons and Dragons, or most fantasy systems, could go on for quite some time (as demonstrated in the articles mentioned above). But once the characters have made a certain level, perhaps it’s time to retire them. Make them NPCs that the new characters hear about, work for, use as patrons, fight against, etc. This could make the game world continue to grow and expand.
Sticking with D&D, there are some published modules that are a campaign unto itself. B# The Lost City is one that I’d love to run. Basic Fantasy released a campaign called “Morgansfort: The Western Lands Campaign”. At a past SaltCON I picked up two boxed sets by Goodman Games called “The Heroes Arise” and “Saga of the Dragon Cult” which contained several individual modules that took the characters from first level to tenth by the end of the campaign.
Another game that has a different thought process is Star Trek Adventures 2nd Edition. This is an episode simulator, not a tactical simulator like D&D. The adventure is broken down into 3-4 scenes just like an episode is. Because it is episodic, the GM could plan a season of 10+ episodes with a possible season ending story arc. Then, just like in the TV series, there could be a ‘summer break’ with some changes made to the ‘show’ when it returns for another season. I recall in one fan-made Star Trek RPG called Where No One Has Gone Before, they had a ratings system for the ‘episodes’ and if they were not high enough, there were charts with changes from the studio owners to try to boost the ratings. It looked silly, but I don’t know if I’d ever try to implement it at the table. I wonder if the ratings were low enough, then the series could be canceled? And if so, perhaps there could be a game where a letter-writing campaign by fans could bring the ‘show’ back?
Have you experienced a good or bad suspension to a campaign? Have you planned for a campaign suspension? 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 with any comments.
