Review: Pulp Cthulhu

Disclosure: The PDF copy of Pulp Cthulhu that I’m reviewing today is a review copy that I was able to receive from the fine people of Chaosium Inc.

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Now here’s a game that a lot of people have wanted for quite some time now. Pulp Cthulhu is a more heroic take on the classic Call of Cthulhu game, with Heroes possessed of more advantages and abilities that make them better than the normal Investigator, and yet still vulnerable when facing the horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos.

Along with it are a host of Pulp tropes common to the genre: Weird Science, Mesmerism and Daring Deeds… all of which add that delightfully weird pulp twist to the classic horror angle. Of course, the game is not without it’s terrifying antagonists, against the Heroes are villainous cults, alien horrors and outlandish monsters.

Pulp Cthulhu also pushes the setting towards the 1930’s and all the changes that go with it. As with any Call of Cthulhu Product, the research on this and the details they’re able to provide the Keeper with are remarkable and I can run a game with full confidence in the 30’s knowing that I have access to all that information. It’s a splendid reference for the era that can serve as a sturdy reference for any game set in the age.

The Pulps

The book opens up with a thorough discussion of the Pulps as literature. Its roots in the 1930’s and the various genres that were prominent in the era were highlighted. Of course, the chapter then zooms in to focus on the horror genre, which definitely left quite the impression as evidenced by the enduring love for the Lovecraftian horror to this day.

Creating Pulp Heroes

Pulp Cthulhu adds several new mechanics atop the standard Investigator character creation system to produce Heroes. Among them is choosing a Pulp Archetype, which bestows a Core Attribute that the character specializes in, additional Skill Points to distribute to skills that belong to the Archetype, and access to special Talents.

These Pulp Talents provide small mechanical advantages to a Hero beyond that of just simple increases to Attributes and Skills. These aren’t “super-powers” by any stretch of the imagination as much as edges that the Hero possesses. An example would be Night Vision, which reduces the difficulty of Spot Hidden rolls in the dark, and deducts a Penalty Die when firing a weapon in the dark.

Heroes also differ from Investigators in that they’re much hardier, with their Hit Points being double the number of Hit Points of a standard Investigator!

The character creation section also features a hearty selection of Pulp-themed Occupations that you can use including Gangster and Big Game Hunter.

Pulp Organizations

This caught me quite by surprise. While it was a Pulp staple, the idea of having organizations in a Cthulhu game was a surprise to me. This is because of how I’ve associated Call of Cthulhu as a game of isolation and lack of resources. Helplessness was the order of the day.

Adding organizations that give a structure and backup for the Heroes do fit very well, and I believe I felt a little tingle in my World of Darkness heart at the thought of being part of a *cough* conspiracy that knows the truth.

Sample Heroic and villainous organizations are introduced in Pulp Cthulhu, and they’re very well written. Each one has a ton of plot hooks and can very well support a campaign on their own (something, I believe that is done with The Two-Headed Serpent campaign for Pulp Cthulhu.)

Game Systems

This is the meat and potatoes of Pulp Cthulhu. Included here are new ways to spend Luck in order to buy Pulp-style harm avoidance, or resisting Sanity Loss. In line with this, they also introduce rules that allow for Heroes to survive near impossible odds. Rules such as the Major Wound from Call of Cthulhu are ignored, resulting in characters capable of much more in combat.

Mook rules are also introduced, and are average statted thugs that go down when they take damage equal to half their hit points. Rounding this chapter off is a selection of Optional Rules such as dual wielding weapons (like twin pistols, just like the Pulps!) and other combat-related tweaks.

Pulp Sanity is also covered in it’s own chapter, and it looks like the Heroes are still vulnerable to being driven insane. The most interesting aspect introduced would be the optional Insane Talents, which become available once a character suffers sanity loss. These are high-risk, high-reward talents that are added to the hero after it is first revealed. It’s a neat mechanic, and I’m eager to see it in play.

Pulp Magic, Psychic Powers and Weird Science!

Among the chapters of the game this was perhaps the one I wanted to check out the most. In many ways, this was perhaps the part that would pretty much push Call of Cthulhu towards strange new vectors given what Heroes could do that Investigators could not.

I won’t go into too much detail here as to not spoil anything but the team did a great job in presenting tweaks to the magic system, and introducing psychic powers and gadgets that played up the mood of the Pulps without turning it into something like Deadlands.

While some of the Psychic Powers can certainly cut investigations short, the fact that you’re exposing your mind to potentially terrifying trauma is a very expensive trade-off.

Running Pulp Games, The 1930’s and Villains

Never one to let the Keepers run unprepared, Chaosium continues their excellent support for new Keepers with three chapters aimed solely to address their needs. As a non-US citizen and having never been to the US, this is a godsend, as it helps flesh out details that I wouldn’t have gleaned through watching period movies.

Scenarios

Finally the book wraps up with four solid scenarios that cleave to the Pulps that inspired them while still having that familiar weird horror sting of the Cthulhu Mythos. Each one is splendidly detailed (perhaps intimidatingly so) but with careful study, Keepers should be able to pull off some very memorable pulp games.

Review and Conclusion

Pulp Cthulhu is one of those products that could very easily have been done wrong. It’s a genre full of easy cop-outs and shortcuts, but Chaosium stuck to their guns and delivered on all fronts.

Players get to play Heroes rather than “ordinary” investigators, and there’s a boatload of optional rules to make the game interesting. But it never loses sight of the fact that you’re still up against the Cthulhu Mythos.

You might be able to confront the creatures of the mythos to some extent, but Pulp Cthulhu only promises that you can go down swinging rather than screaming and that’s not a bad thing.

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You can order a hardcover copy of Pulp Cthulhu over at Chaosium for $44.95 (plus shipping)

DrivethruRPG also sells the PDF for $22.50

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[Let’s Study: Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition] Part 6: Playing the Game, GM Chapters and Review

Finally we’ve reached the half of the book dedicated to Keepers. At this point, I’ll be switching gears and going over a quick blurb of what to expect on each of the following chapters, rather than going deep into detail as most of it is refinement and advice specific to running the game.

Given that we’re 7 editions into Call of Cthulhu, it’s gotten quite expansive, and there’s a lot of good advice to go around, especially when running for this particular take on the horror genre.

Playing the Game

I happen to like the approach the Call of Cthulhu takes in this chapter, working with the assumption that there will be newbie Keepers trying to run this for the first time. There’s good, common-sense advice included here, from putting a group together, to dealing with unsavory historical elements and setting the mood for a proper horror game.

In addition there’s more specific advice for running Call of Cthulhu, imparting insight to how the system is used, how you can take advantage of Pushing a roll to build tension, and some great stuff on interpreting success and failure in a given skill roll.

The chapter then goes into the details and advice on how to handle Action and Magic, and how to make sure that you build that air of horror into your custom scenarios.

Tomes of Eldritch Lore

This chapter goes into the listing and details involved in the Mythos Tomes. There’s some snappy advice on how to describe Mythos Tomes and the experience of dabbling in their contents, followed by a list of Mythos books, and their attributes, such as the Sanity Loss incurred when studying them, and other details.

Grimoire

As a logical follow up, this chapter lists the various spells for Call of Cthulhu that can be learned through the Mythos Tomes. The spells are all very colorful and quite… disturbing, and you can easily see what kind of insane cultist would consider using (or learning) such powers.

Artifacts and Alien Devices

Being the Cthulhu Mythos, there’s room for both arcane artifacts and strange alien devices used by the various species outside of man. This chapter is full of interesting and flavorful entries of the various items that Investigators might stumble upon on their investigations, or be subject to if they’re ever so unfortunate.

Monsters, Beasts and Alien Gods

Perhaps the favorite chapter of any Keeper, this is the bestiary that gives the stats of all the Mythos beasties from the Mi-Go all the way to The Great Cthulhu himself. It’s also lovingly illustrated (definitely a plus!)

At a certain point the numbers on the various Deities of the Cthulhu Mythos are somewhat overwhelming as some stats hit 3(!) digits when it comes to their values. Needless to say when an Investigator comes up against The Great Cthulhu himself, you might as well give up on any hope of a direct confrontation.

Scenarios

The book ends with two scenarios that the Keeper can run right out of the box. A part of me laments the fact that The Haunting is no longer here (It’s now part of the Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition Quickstart) but it does introduce two new scenarios to try. Both of these are fairly extensive, and are set in the default 1920’s era.

Each is complete with the kind of thorough scenario data that CoC is famous for, from NPCs to maps and timelines, all of which help the investigators put the clues together.

Appendices

The book wraps up with helpful appendices from items and weapons lists, a glossary and even rules summaries of the key mechanics for the entire game. Finally there are two sets of character sheets one for the 1920’s and one for modern Call of Cthulhu scenarios.

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Review

While my experience with Call of Cthulhu was initially as a player with the 6th Edition (and the amazing Masks of Nyarlathotep Campaign), the new 7th Edition was the one that I really bought into as a Keeper.

As I understand it, a lot of older Keepers might prefer the older version, but I find 7th Edition to be a great entry level product for a new Keeper. The book takes the time to walk you through each of their design choices and provides a lot of great advice on how to use each of the mechanics provided to deliver a genuine horror experience.

The art and layout of the book is flavorful, and easy enough to read. The full page and two-page spread color artwork is fantastic, and I deliberately avoided posting those here as to not spoil the surprise.

Call of Cthulhu is a veritable cultural institution in the hobby. While D&D might dominate the Fantasy RPG space, you would be doing yourself a disservice by not getting into Call of Cthulhu.

When done right, the payoff for well run Call of Cthulhu scenario is priceless.

You can pick up a PDF copy of the Call of Cthulhu Keeper’s Rulebook from DriveThruRPG for only $27.95

[Let’s Study: Infinity RPG] Part 8: Running Infinity and Review

Running Infinity

As expected, this section opens with a Game Mastering 101 section to help new GMs ease into the role. It’s a good entry, but a part of me worries that after having to go through all the other dense rules in the game, I hope that new GMs learn to flip to this chapter first and get their expectations set properly before they get a chance to be scared off by how thick the book is.

It covers a quick summary of the usual good to know bits of GMing, before finally giving a structure to the game. The tips on agenda, filling out the frame with details and cutting a scene are genuinely helpful, and are worth reading even if this isn’t your first rodeo as a GM. I know I have problems with ending up with empty scenes that don’t push an agenda, so seeing this addressed is great.

The book then goes into how to use the rules properly, from setting difficulties to managing Momentum and of course, running Action Scenes. Finally, it finishes with a few new rules on how to create scenarios incorporating the Wilderness of Mirrors.

Adversaries

The adversaries chapter contains all the rules that are necessary to manage the opponents that the players will be mowing down. Adversaries are categorized as Troopers, Elites and Nemeses, with each category representing a degree of capability and danger to the player characters.

Troopers are your regular mob that only roll 1d20 on tests and have their stress values halved. Also they go down after suffering one Wound or Metanoia before being eliminated, or one Breach before their systems fail.

Elites are much tougher, and suffer two Wounds or Metanoia before being eliminated and two Breaches before their network is shut down.

A Nemesis is a very dangerous opponent who has the full range of skills and abilities that calculate stress and harm as players do.

There’s also some rules on generating Fireteams, as most of the enemies you’ll run into will be operating in an organized fashion as opposed to being just a single guy with a gun (though in those moments, it might be best to pray it’s not a Nemesis)

The chapter finishes with a large selection of adversaries ranging from criminals to aliens, so you’ll not run out of things to throw at your players anytime soon. Kickstarter backers also get in here as special NPCs with full writeups. I especially fond the combat medic in a purple dinosaur lhost body to be incredibly inspired and will likely feature that character in my own Infinity campaigns.

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Review

Reading the corebook for Infinity is a bit of a challenge, but like most challenges the payoff is worth it. I dove into the RPG with the slimmest of ideas of what it was. That it was based off a tabletop miniatures skirmish game, and that it featured anime-ish aesthetics. The Philippines was mentioned as being part of the dominant Hyperpower in the setting.  That was it.

But like in my experience in reading through the Star Trek Adventures RPG  by Modiphius, Infinity is one of those worlds that really pay off to sit down and read. The Setting is a lot to chew through, but the scope of the game expands the game from being merely one where you have paramilitary forces shooting guns at each other to other conflicts and battlegrounds beyond that of Warfare. The Psyops and Inforwar sections in particular were a favorite of mine.

The layout and artwork is great, with probably the only design piece that made me questioning it a bit being that one girl in a miniskirt rappelling down a rope while firing a pistol in the cover. Aside from that, everything is pretty much awesome.

The writing can be a bit dense, but the design sensibilities behind it are rock solid. I wish there was a better way to get ideas across without the use of terms like “intransigience” but I suppose that was deliberate to convey the high-tech nature of the setting.

Overall, Infinity is a win.It hits all the major buttons for a sci-fi universe, and the system is robust enough to run pretty much anything you’d want. GMs can zoom in or out, having players participate in grandiose schemes that decide the fate of entire worlds, or focus on the everyday struggles of a pack of criminals trying to make do. It’s all possible, and no matter what you’d like to try, there’s likely a solid backbone of hypertech material to make it work.

If you liked Infinity, you can grab the PDF from DriveThruRPG for only $24.99!

[Let’s Study: Star Trek Adventures] Part 10: GMing, NPCs and Review

For games like Star Trek Adventures that are based on very well-established, and well-loved settings, it’s important to be able to have a solid GMing chapter that can guide even the uninitiated Game Master into being able to run it in a way that feels authentic. As one of those GMs who only know Star Trek at a casual level, I fully understand how intimidating it is to try and take on a setting that has so much love (and some would say, fanaticism to it).

Fortunately, Star Trek Adventures has a hefty GMing chapter that knows how to guide someone to confidence.

Rather than dip into each of the sections and echo each of the advice provided, here’s a quick glance at the main sections of the chapter:

• Running Star Trek Adventures
• Character Creation
• Managing the Rules
• Player Characters
• NPCs
• Experience and Promotion
• Creating Encounters
• Creating Missions, NPCs, and locations.

Along the way the chapter goes into providing ideas on Styles of Play, and possible themes to center a Star Trek Adventures campaign around, from the classic “These are the voyages…” type of stories to something centered on a starbase like Deep Space 9.

Each of the mechanics are given an examination as to why they’re there and how to best use them. I found the section detailing challenges and how (and why!) they’re structured that way to be very useful.

My favorite section of the entire chapter is a quick look at Star Trek Adventures and what makes it different from other RPGs. I’ll add the quick quote of the two paragraphs here as it sums everything up beautifully:

Star Trek Adventures and indeed Star Trek can be a
markedly different experience from other examples of
both the roleplay gaming and science fiction genres.
Where most science fiction stories focus on conflict,
wars, aggressive aliens, and Humanity as heroes, Star
Trek can be seen, on the whole, to subvert those tropes,
leaning more towards a future in which understanding,
cooperation, exploration, and discovery is the focus and
driving force of the its stories. The opening sequence of
the original Star Trek series begins with Kirk explaining the
five-year mission of the Enterprise “to explore strange new
worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations,” not for
war but for knowledge.

In that sense, Star Trek Adventures is not your usual
brand of roleplaying game, in which most time spent at
the table is engaged in armed conflict with monsters or
antagonistic races. Star Trek Adventures’ missions and
campaigns focus on exploration and discovery, with each
Player Character having a key role in supporting that
effort. This section will tell you, as the Gamemaster, how to
highlight those individual roles in a game on the frontier of
the Star Trek galaxy.

It pretty much summarizes what impressed me about Star Trek Adventures. All the sub-systems revolving around discovery, engineering, diplomacy are there because there was a deliberate design intent to craft a game around stuff in addition to combat.

No longer will non-combat tasks be simplified to just a single roll, players who take on the duties of a Scientist will actually be able to sink their teeth into something, and for all the complexity of the book, this is what made Star Trek Adventures impressive for me.

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Aliens and Adversaries

This section is the “Bestiary” section of the game and details a whole host of NPCs that a Starfleet crew can interact with. These feature about 3 different types of npcs: Minor, Notable and Major. The level of detail for each entry varies, with Minor being barely detailed beyond combat stats, to Major characters having full backstories and Values.

Here we see examples from:

• United Federation of Planets
• Klingon Empire
• The Romulan Space Empire
• Borg Collective
• Ferengi Alliance
• Cardassian Union
• The Dominion
• Alien Artefacts
• Beasts of the Galaxy

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Summary Review

*Sips iced tea*

Where do I even start? I knew of Star Trek before from some of the movies and a few of the original series and TNG episodes I’ve watched before, but I wasn’t really a fan. So when I got the preview pdf offer from Modiphius, I wasn’t certain I would understand the appeal of the game. But since I was sold on the 2d20 system from my experiences with Conan, I figured it can’t be that bad, right?

Fast forward to now and I’m practically gushing about the game mechanics to my long-suffering wife, who even now nods patiently in understanding while I type this out and she reads it over my shoulder.

Art and Layout

Fans of the aesthetic of Star Trek will find plenty to love here, with the layout mimicking the user interfaces of the ships. However, I have to admit that adjusting to reading white text on dark background on screen was a little difficult at times, and I found myself wishing for a black and white version for readability.

There are a few typos in my preview copy, but hopefully those will be dealt with by the time the final product rolls out in stores.

The artwork is pretty evocative, and I didn’t really cringe at any of them. The Starships are probably the highlight of it all, and I did find myself wondering why there weren’t any more images of Starfleet in more relaxed situations. There’s a lot of Starfleet guys running / shooting / dodging explosions, but you’d be surprised at how hard it was to find an image to go with the Social Conflict article.

Mechanics

This is a mechanics-heavy game that will take repeated exposure, careful reading and more than a few goofs to internalize. While the basic mechanics are easy enough to grasp, there’s a ton of subsystems to cater for different styles of play. GMs will have to spend a bit of time really studying the system to get the most of it. Hopefully this series of Let’s Study articles can help future GMs learn faster!

I found the ship combat to be pretty heavy, and I’ve yet to try it out to see how things turn out. It promises a lot of explosions and show-appropriate destruction, so I’m looking forward to it.

Review & Conclusions

Buy it.

If you can afford the collector’s edition, get that.

If you can afford the Borg Box, then by all means, get THAT.

Star Trek Adventures has made a fan out of me out of the sheer amount of love and care put into creating a game that delivers on the promise of playing through and experience that is true to the series. This isn’t D&D in space in Starfleet uniforms. Modiphius knows what it’s doing whenever it works with a licensed setting.

Every rule exists to enforce the physics and ethics of the setting. There’s not a sign of lazy game design anywhere here, with each rule and subsystem carefully considered before it was added to the final product.

My only concern, if any, would be the fact that it’s a big read with a fair amount of complexity. But if you’re willing to put in the time to go through it and understand the systems, you’ll see the elegance behind it.

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At this point, I’m wrapping up my Let’s Study series on Star Trek Adventures. I hope that the entries have been helpful, and informative, and if you’d like to show me a bit of love, then please consider supporting me on Patreon.

If you’re interested in buying it on PDF, you can purchase a copy of Star Trek Adventures over at DriveThruRPG for only $15.56!

Thanks for reading everyone! See you all in the next series!

[Let’s Study: Star Trek Adventures] Part 9c: Starship Creation & Alien Vessels

Welcome to the third entry for Chapter 9, and we’ll be talking about Starship Creation in Star Trek Adventures

Starship Creation has the following steps:

1. Service
2. Spaceframe
3. Mission Profile
4. Refits

Service

This is the era in which the game is played, and is decided upon by the GM and players.

For the purposes of our example, we’ll choose Service year 2368

Spaceframe

A vessel’s spaceframe is its basic superstructure, core systems, operational infrastructure and all other elements that are common to every vessel of the same class.

The Players choose a single class for their starship, this will provide a collection of abilities that will serve as the baseline stats of the Starship: the ship’s base scores for Systems and Scale, three points towards Departments and what weapons are on board.

Some classes may even have Talents that represent upgrades universally applied to ships of that class.

We’ll be going for an Akira Class Spaceframe for this example. This grants us the following:

Systems: Comms 9, Computers 9, Engines 10, Sensors 9, Structure 11, Weapons 11
Departments: Security +2, Medicine +1

Scale: 5

Weaponry:
Phaser Arrays, Photon Torpedoes, Quantum Torpedoes, Tractor Beam (Strength 4)

Talents:
Ablative Armor, Extensive Shuttle Bays, Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher

Mission Profile

A ship’s Mission Profile distinguishes it from her other sister ships. It determines how the ship will be equipped, what facilities and personnel will be assigned to it, and what kind of operations it will be expected to perform.

For our Akira Class Starship, let’s go with Pathfinder and Reconnaissance Operations

This will give us the following Departments: Command 2, Conn 2, Security 2, Engineering 2, Science 2, Medicine 1

We also get to select a Talent, for which we’ll go with: Improved Warp Drive

Refits

Starships normally receive periodic refits and upgrades throughout their service. For every full ten years between the year the ship went into service and the current year of the game, the ship receives one Refit.

Given that for this example we’re going with the same year as the year the Akira Class went in service I guess this means I don’t get any Refits.

Putting It All Together

At this point we have our newly minted Akira Class Starship

Traits: Federation Vessel

Systems: Comms 9, Computers 9, Engines 10, Sensors 9, Structure 11, Weapons 11
Departments: Command 2, Conn 2, Security 4, Engineering 2, Science 2, Medicine 2

Scale: 5

Weaponry:
Phaser Arrays, Photon Torpedoes, Quantum Torpedoes, Tractor Beam (Strength 4)

Talents:
Ablative Armor, Extensive Shuttle Bays, Rapid-Fire Torpedo Launcher, Improved Warp Drive, Rugged Design

Resistance: 5
Shields: 15
Power: 10
Crew Support: 5

Shipboard Weaponry

Shipboard weapons come in 2 broad categories: Energy Weapons, and Torpedoes.

Energy Weapons

Energy Weapons project bolts or beams of focused energy or energized particles at a target. These weapons are fairly commonplace, with most cultures having some form or other of these as a typical armament of Spacecraft.

Making an attack with an energy weapon has a Difficulty of 2, and a Power Requirement of 1. An attacker may spend up to 2 additional Power to bolster an energy weapon’s attack, adding +1 [CD] to the damage of the attack for each Power spent.

The base damage rating of energy weapons is the Ship’s Scale plus Security.

Types

Each type of energy weapon differs by granting a single damage effect or quality to the weapon. Federation Starships always use phasers, but NPC ships can be armed with other kinds.

• Phasers grant the Versatile 2 quality
• Disruptors have the Vicious 1 quality
• Phased Polaron Beam have the Piercing 2 Quality

Delivery Method

The delivery method of an energy weapon describes how the emitters are arranged, and how the weapon is set-up to fire. Each delivery method defines the Range category and provides some additional benefit.

• Cannons have a Range category of Close, and increase the weapon’s damage by +2[CD]
• Banks have a Range category of Medium and increase the weapon’s damage by +1[CD]
• Arrays have a Range category of Medium and the attacking character may choose to grant Area or Spread effects to the attack.

Torpedoes

Self-propelled projectiles containing large volatile, energetic or explosive payloads, torpedoes are less precise but are extremely potent when used correctly. Making an attack with a Torpedo has a Difficulty of 3, but do not have a Power requirement.

Torpedoes are also potent enough to escalate conflicts, declaring an attack with a torpedo adds +1 to Threat.

Torpedoes may be fired in a salvo, which adds +3 to Threat but increases the attack’s damage by +1[CD] and grants the Spread effect to the attack.

Torpedoes have a base damage rating and adds [CD] equal to the the ship’s Security. All Torpedoes have a Range of Long.

• Photon torpedoes have a base damage of 3[CD] with the High Yield Quality
• Quantum torpedoes have a base damage of 4[CD] Vicious 1, with the Calibration and High Yield Qualities.
• Plasma have a base damage of 3[CD] Persistent, with the Calibration Quality

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Alien Vessels

This section has the detailed statistics and special rules for the various Alien Vessels that your Starship are likely to run into. It’s an extensive collection of ships, and I’m glad they took the time to describe each vessel in terms of how it’s used by the particular race.

The special rules are a great way to showcase that these aren’t just another collection of stats. Already, I can sense the panic in my player characters at the thought of running into a Borg Cube.

For those curious, the ships featured in this section are:

 

Klingon Empire
– D7 Battle Cruiser
– K’vort Class Bird-of-Prey
– D’rel Class Bird-of-Prey
– Vor’cha Attack Cruiser

Romulan Star Empire
– Bird-of-Prey
– D’deridex Class Warbird

Cardassian Union
– Galor Class Cruiser

Dominion
– Jem’hadar Attack Ship
– Jem’hadar Battle Cruiser

Borg Collective
– Borg Sphere
– Borg Cube

Ferengi Alliance
– D’kora Class Marauder

The Maquis
– Maquis Raider
– Maquis Fighter

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Okay, this chapter was a lot to chew through. Ship creation is easier than it looks, and I’m grateful for it. I’ve not had a chance to test out ship-to-ship combat, but it certainly looks exciting, and particularly deadly to poor members of the crew who might get caught in all the fires and explosions.

That said, you can’t fault Star Trek Adventures for being as thorough as possible with the Starship rules. It’s such an integral part of the Star Trek experience that it would have been harshly criticized if it didn’t dedicate so much effort into it.

Finally, our next post will be a look at the GMing chapter, with a peek at the NPCs, and the Sample adventure before we wrap up with a summary review of Star Trek Adventures!