First off; the book is beautifully styled, with TNG era LCARS elements adding visual flare to sidebars and headers. The STA Corebook also seems to be well laid out for the most part.
If you are familiar with the events of the Star Trek series and the ethics of Starfleet, you can skip ahead to chapter 04, which gets into the dice and basic game mechanics.
As a fan of Star Trek, i can say that the most entertaining stories in the setting are not simple binary moral quandries, the best bring the individual characters' ethics and values to the forefront to cause tension and conflict and drive the plot forward. STA represents this with the values and determination sub-system.
Character Creation was a unique experience for me, i thought more about WHO my character was and less about WHAT they can do. The Lifepath system has you add values at certain points of creation, long standing ideals that may be challenging to overcome. The creation system also asks you a number of questions throughout the process that make you think about WHO not WHAT your character is. In short...mechanical creation can be done in about 15 to 30 minutes, depending on how fast you write and how clear your concept is. Character creation however takes me about an hour and a half because for the first time...WHO i am in the game matters.
Character development in STA is less about statiscal boosts as it is about personal change and growth. For the most part you will be re-arranging your stats not boosting them, Arc milestones being the only 'level up' that allows you to add to your character without subtracting.
In closing, I feel as if the team at modiphius were more concentrated on the Trek Feel and less about selling a game system.
2D20 has been assimilated.
It's mechanical and statistical distinctiveness have been added to the Trek.
Resistance is Futile.
Rating: [5 of 5 Stars!] |