CHARACTER CREATION CHALLENGE 2023: Star Trek Adventures (5 of 6)
THE GAME: Star Trek Adventures (2017)
Star Trek Adventures Core Rulebook
As our pilot episode opens, the U.S.S. Robert W. Fletcher, NCC-1993, is under emergency repair following a brutal engagement with the Cardassian Union. The Cardassian War has been in progress for over a decade, it is 2260, four years before Jean-Luc Picard takes command of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D. Many of the crew were lost in this most recent fight, the vessel brought back to starbase from her auxiliary control as the bridge was breached during combat. The base commander has given the senior surviving officer, Lieutenant Commander Grizo, brevet command of the ship. His Executive Officer was the helmsman assigned to the Bridge Command Specialist program, Lieutenant (j.g.) Demetria Leucothea, whose half-pip is so new the black paint hasn’t dried. Across from her at ops is the equally green Lieutenant (j.g.) Kang Yo-Han, moved up from an Ensign in Sciences to Operations Officer. Their doctor, the Andorian Talas of Clan Azollarh, was decorated for her lifesaving actions during the most recent battle, and has moved up to Chief Medical Officer in the absence of their senior doctor, who has been transferred to the station. Who else are among our crew?
Character Creation Sequence
Step One: Choose Species
Step Two: Choose Environment
Step Three: Choose Upbringing
Step Four: Attend the Academy
Step Five: Career Thus Far
Step Six: Career Events
Step Seven: Finishing Touches
Step One: Choose Species
I’ve taken a look at some of the additional sourcebooks, so we’re going to choose from those extra Species as well.
Caitian! Like Lieutenant M’Ress on the Star Trek animated series! We get a +1 in Daring, Fitness, and Insight. We get the Caitian Trait, and we’ll go ahead and pick one of the Caitian Talents instead of randomizing one. We’ll take Prehensile Tail. Our Caitian’s name is H’Rauw, and he’s ready to proceed.
Step Two: Choose Environment
H’Rauw comes from a Frontier Colony, giving a bonus to either Control or Fitness, we roll Control. And he gets to bump Conn, Medicine, or Security, and we roll Conn. For a Value… “Precision is as important as speed.”
Step Three: Choose Upbringing
Our Caitian’s parents were Science and Technology folks. He rejected this upbringing, and gets +2 Insight and +1 Daring, as well as +1 Engineering. We take the other Caitian Talent, Disarming Nature. A focus in Power Systems is added.
Step Four: Attend the Academy
H’Rauw joins the academy, and we randomly roll Operations Track. The dice say he specialized in Security, with minors in Conn and Medicine. Focuses are Field Medicine, Evasive Maneuvering, and Sensor Systems. Reason, Control, and Insight go up. He gets the Talent I Know My Ship. The Value “All work and no play is no way to live.” is added.
Step Five: Career Thus Far
H’Ruaw is an experienced officer. He gets the value “Everything in its place” to reflect his preference for his work area being organized. He gets the In The Nick of Time (Engineering) Talent.
Step Six: Career Events
Mister H’Rauw learned a unique language, picking up +1 Insight, and +1 Science. The focus “Daa’Vit Language” - from Michael Jan Friedman’s novel Reunion, detailing that one of the Stargazer crew was a hereditary noble from the planet Daa’V.
The second career event is “Dealing With A Plague.” He picks up Insight +1 and Medicine +1. We get a Focus in Medical Isolation Systems.
Step Seven: Finishing Touches
We bump Reason up to 9, and are left with no points for Disciplines. We get one last Value. “Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down... tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home.”
Yeah, I sometimes mix my sci-fi.
We make our new Chief Engineer a full Lieutenant. Recently transferred over from the starbase staff, and absolutely enamored of older vessels. Lieutenant H’Rauw has worked on many in his long tenure at the base, but has never been Chief Engineer on a ship of his own. Because of his expertise in older vessels, we change his Focus in Power Systems to Vintage Starships. As he has helped the crew of the Fletcher put her back together, he has fallen in love with the old ship, and is absolutely overjoyed to be assigned to keep her in one piece.
