I really like Star Trek, and considered one of my favourite Star Trek sequence of latest years has been Decrease Decks. I’ll admit that when the sequence was first introduced, I used to be frightened about an excessive, over-the-top grownup comedy sequence that may ridicule me for my love of Star Trek. As a substitute, whereas there’s positively some bizarre gross-out humor occasionally, it truly is a loving comedic present that also manages to seize what many individuals love about Star Trek. It manages to rejoice Trek with out minimizing the influence it has made on many individuals.
Just lately, Modiphius introduced that their license for the Star Trek Adventures RPG has expanded to include Decrease Decks. Whereas there’s a Decrease Decks sourcebook on the best way, Modiphius has already launched the primary Decrease Decks-related merchandise, digital releases for the Star Trek Adventures Decrease Decks Season 1 Crew Pack, and a Star Trek Adventures Mission Profile that’s Decrease Decks themed, referred to as Lurkers. Right now we’re going to try Lurkers.
Disclaimer: I haven’t had the chance to play or run this journey, however I’m acquainted with Star Trek Adventures each as a GM and a participant. I used to be not supplied with a evaluate copy of this product, however bought it myself for this evaluate.
Star Trek Adventures Missions 023: Lurkers
2d20 System Designer Nathan Dowdell
Mission Supervisor Jim Johnson
Writing Christopher L. Bennett
Modifying Jim Johnson
Graphic Design Chris Webb & Stephanie Katz-Barnes
Artwork Course Ariel Orea & Jim Johnson
Inside Paintings CBS Studios, Inc.
Proofreading Keith Garrett
What’s On The Isolinear Chips?
This journey is 21 pages lengthy, together with a credit web page, a desk of contents, and two pages of advertisements for different Modiphius Star Trek Adventures merchandise. The formatting matches the pseudo-LCARS show that’s current within the Subsequent Era period releases. The pages are organized in a two-column structure. The paintings contains pictures from the TV sequence, together with members of the crew spacewalking, pictures of an area station, and a picture of a California class starship.
Mission Construction
You probably have by no means checked out Star Trek Adventures missions, most of them are arrange in the same method. The mission has an introduction, which additionally units up the place the PCs begin the journey. This contains the mission targets that the PCs can be striving to realize. There are a selection of acts, after which a piece on the conclusion of the journey. Typically, the mission will embrace a mission temporary with the same theme, probably one that may chain off the occasions of the mission.
Along with the mission directives, there’s virtually at all times a piece referred to as “Yesterday’s Enterprise,” which supplies recommendations on operating the journey in several eras, though there are occasions when this part will name out what might not work in a unique period in any respect. This specific journey additionally contains an “Adjusting the Tone of this Mission,” which is about making the journey much less comedic than initially assumed. Each of those sections are usually restricted to a single paragraph.
The Three-Act Story
In contrast to different Star Trek missions, the PCs are assumed to be “Decrease Decks” characters, which means that they don’t maintain roles just like the commanding officer or division leads. Which means that the PCs will typically be ordered to carry out a number of missions, and many of the resolution factors can be about how they execute the orders they’ve been given.
The journey begins with the PCs being despatched to restore a communication relay, which results in the invention that the relay has been by accident sending info to a planet inside three lightyears of the relay. This has led to cultural contamination, because the folks on the planet have now grow to be Star Trek . . . er . . . Starfleet mission log followers. The PCs are confronted with the choice of ending their repairs earlier than reporting this cultural contamination.
The participant characters can be despatched to the planet to do reconnaissance. This entails the PCs attending the equal of a Star Trek conference. It will give them the chance to work together with varied NPCs of significance on the planet who might assist or hinder their potential to erase the Starfleet information from the planet’s Library pc.
The Library pc is close to the placement of the “conference,” which supplies the PCs the chance to entry the info they should erase. For the reason that PCs may have the chance to work together with native NPCs, this provides the GM the chance to make the case to the locals for methods to accomplish their mission. For instance, some NPCs will argue that all the pieces they’ve already realized ought to be left alone, as a result of the contamination has already occurred, and the lack of the info could possibly be argued as outdoors interference harming the tradition that has already been contaminated. Different NPCs will advocate a radical excision of all information, as a result of they’ve adopted Starfleet’s respect for the Prime Directive, even to their very own detriment.
If the PCs determine to solely delete the categorized info that the planet hasn’t accessed but, they are going to get to make the argument to their superior officers how their actions are in line with the Prime Directive on this distinctive occasion.
Many of the motion within the journey will contain the work monitor to restore the knowledge relay originally, and cases of both sneaking previous or immediately taking over the guards for the library pc part. There may be one part of the journey the place the PCs would possibly take a shortcut and run right into a guard creature, however this isn’t the one approach to acquire entry to the placement. It will positively be attainable to finish this journey with out firing a single phaser.
Mission Temporary
The mission temporary construction is single web page, outlining some main beats, NPCs the PCs ought to encounter, and the conclusion to the mission. This can be a rather more free type define for an journey. On this case, it includes one other communications relay that the PCs might want to go to. The relay might look like “haunted,” as a result of native criminals have been utilizing the relay station as a base from which to deal in a substance that causes folks to maneuver at larger pace, out of section with common time.
The native legislation enforcement has a method of forcing folks into section, on the threat of doing bodily hurt to them, which means that the PCs might need to discuss them out of this answer, in search of a much less radical technique of coping with the compound, which is of course dangerous to natural beings.
Commendation
This seems like a really stable journey, even with out trying to evoke the humor of Decrease Decks. It touches on comparable themes because the Voyager episode Dwelling Witness, which confirmed how a society seen the tales of Voyager from 700 years sooner or later, or All The World’s A Stage from Star Trek Prodigy, which has the same theme of a planet creating popular culture across the mission logs left over from a shuttle from the primary NCC-1701 Enterprise. It’s a versatile construction that introduces attention-grabbing resolution factors, and NPCs with sufficient element to make them helpful to the GM.
Reprimand
The largest challenge I can see with this journey is that because it assumes the PCs aren’t the choice makers on the ship, they won’t search for alternate methods to resolve conditions. They could take the obvious path, even when offered with opposing viewpoints from NPCs, as a result of they aren’t on the prime of the command construction. There may be additionally a piece the place the choice to tell the ship of the cultural contamination earlier than or after the repairs are executed feels slightly bit like a false selection level to let the PCs get chewed out Decrease Decks-style in the event that they don’t do what the Captain has determined was the perfect plan of action.
Advisable–If the product suits in your broad space of gaming pursuits, you’re prone to be proud of this buy.
Very like Decrease Decks, this seems like a stable Star Trek mission that’s pushed just a bit bit towards the intense and barely ridiculous, however nonetheless attainable. It stays very simply usable for Star Trek Adventures video games that aren’t trying to emulate Decrease Decks, by making just a few tweaks. For instance, if the planetary authorities restricted entry to the info however allowed it to be offered in fictionalized type by media corporations. It’s a stable and versatile addition to the listing of missions accessible for Star Trek Adventures.