Star Trek Adventures tabletop RPG: Momentum & Threat 🖖 (tutorial II)

[@chris-jn5zc]

I'm very impressed by these videos , I have been running various systems for 35 yrs ( Yikes ) and am enjoying immensely this golden age of RPG's it's an honor and pleasure to have such a diverse pool of exceptional people to learn and grow from as a GM . Thanks so much for this it's amazing .

[@antowright]

I have to admit the length of the videos on the list did scare me a little but once I started watching I realized on rich and detailed your videos are. You've answered questions I didn't even realize I had yet. Thanks.

[@The_CGA]

Thank you! When I set out to make these, I imagined I was creating a different medium’s version of the rulebook-a way of learning the game from a training session or seminar-so not just “how you do this” but also “what happens when you do this” and “say this happened…” I am warming up for a refresh of these videos with the knowledge and production skills I have now, so many years later. Any topic areas or questions you’d like to see covered?

[@Maxyshadow]

This was such an enjoyable video. I'll be looking for the rest of the series now.

[@whitecloud197]

Just bought this game. Thank you for creating these how to videos! Pretty confused so far. This is helping.

[@The_CGA]

Very nice! I hope you will find your way to the joy of it, once you get going it really does feel like a OldTrek show of your own and your friends’ devising at the tabletop. The presentation of the information in the book leaves...something to be desired, which is why I originally made these. I know they’re a bit dated as far as what’s expected on KZbin these days, I do plan on updating them to 2021 levels someday. In any case I’m glad it’s helping!

[@Gallasl666]

@@The_CGA Thanks for doing these helpful videos. Im getting ready to dive in and attempt to run the game so Im watching as many of these as I can. I've been a Trek fan from a young age. Abrams forward, not so much though. So this has reignited my interest in the Trek universe.

[@n.h.alicia3278]

Threat spends for complications are an interesting mechanic: They don't add an entirely new element, but assist the GM in running the world in a reactive capacity, and assigning tangible as opposed to subjective consequences for certain actions. Once again, genre emulation is relevant. This reminds me of a mechanic in The One Ring - specifically, Eye Awareness, which was added in the Rivendell supplement. No spends on part of the GM, though. Once Eye Awareness reaches a certain threshold, a negative event is triggered. This mechanic seems like it could be integrated into STA as a different way of representing escalation, specifically the "cold war" type.

[@n.h.alicia3278]

3:12 Immediate spends remind me of Force tokens in the FFG Star Wars RPG: Players spend a resource (light side tokens), which gives the GM a resource (dark side tokens), which returns to the players on spend.

[@ThatBillmanGuy]

That's exactly what I was thinking while watching this.

[@The_CGA]

The 2d20 system (its first imprint as Mutant Chronicles) and Star Wars FFG were both designed (the core mechanics) by The same Person, Jay Little. And both systems reach toward Genre authenticity in the feel of play, albeit in very different genres.

[@gregoryfloriolli9031]

I'm glad you're doing this series because Star Trek Adventures looks like a fantastic game but there are a lot of moving parts to remember and it's not the most intuitive system when you consider how different it is from other games.

[@joegrimes9232]

Threat is wonderful. It lets the gamemaster play the game too. You want to issue a D'deridex battle cruiser before the player's who've taken some unholy risk down on Uulaan IV before they make like thieves. But there's concequences to thier actions. Pulling off daring hacking and blagging thier way through a Romulan auction is all well and good. As GM. I'm saving threat. I'm spinning up. The players are gearing for the "oh S***" Moment. It arrives in a D'deridex cruiser decloaking as they try to leave the Canto Byte adventure. So whatever the crew have left as they spent thier momenum in previous scenes have to face this consequence. They got through ok. But it's adding the GM to the mix I love. If the threat pool wasn't in it. The heros leave. I CAN add a D'deridex, but it's earning it and RPG consequence I love. I kept banking threat. Eachtime the players re-Rolled I was like "ok I accept you call upon your past life as a thief, but it generates threat" they were ok cool. When you pull a battleship in any other game out your behind. Player's balk. In this it was facepalm time. They knew it was coming. In the short term, buying threat is a good deal. But adds to the "Boss" down the road. This "Boss" was a Romulan Commander in a ship 10X the player's combat powess. It took a lot of guile to pull off the "heist" but you have to earn it too. If the players were a little more subtle, I'd have no pool to draw from. So they'd get away. But there is consequences to thier actions. But also mine. Im a faciltator to making some fun, but I'm also there to ruin thier day. The threat pool adds a GM game mode you can use too. You aren't arbitarily adding a "Boss" The players actions did.

[@joegrimes9232]

I've said this sentiment before but heck- I'll say it again in context. If you sipped tea and called attack pattern Shinzon Alpha. I'd take the damage. Salute you.

[@ChancellorLott06]

You may cover it in a later video but can you talk about extended tasks?

[@The_CGA]

It is on the agenda. I shot something for them months ago, but it came out kinda boring as I hadn't figured out how to make the video itself exciting. The idea sells itself: that some tasks the characters undertake in Star Trek have a beginning, middle and end. I just couldn't figure out what would drive the video. I do now, and a fresh video devoted to extended tasks is coming soon.

[@fairytalejediftj7041]

I appreciate these videos a lot. It doesn't sound like STA is a game for me. I like group improv, shared narration, that kind of thing. But I don't like when it becomes a game within a game. It sounds like STA crosses the line into Marvel Heroic territory, where the game within a game can overshadow the actual game itself.

[@The_CGA]

+fairytalejedi FTJ well, there's a lot to say to respond to that, but mostly I would say that pretty much all momentum is all about the immediate reach of the character and what their task just accomplished. Create advantage takes a task, and it's supposed to be something immediately close to the task. The GMs word is pretty singular and final about what is and isn't a task--so it's not like someone says "I'll go over here and do this trivial nonsense to help you have momentum" My experience is that it is not a "writer's room" RPG like FATE, and an immersive "character's eye view" way of playing is supported. I will try and address some of your concerns in the next video. It does lend itself to a very railroadey way of playing, but the players bend the track a bit. However, this is By doing--not by changing the world around them. In some ways this comes down to traits, a key part of the scene economy and something that's the GM's to control.

[@fairytalejediftj7041]

+Complex Games Apologist I see. I will continue to tune in. Thanks again. :)

[@snate56]

@@fairytalejediftj7041 I know this is an old post but for anyone else on the fence, there is a "Star Trek Adventures Quickstart" mini adventure and rules with pre-gen characters , offered for free on RPGNow and Modiphius' web site.

[@fairytalejediftj7041]

@@snate56 Thanks for that! 😎

[@JosephKeenanisme]

"Not the Star Fleet way", helps to go in it looking at it the same way as a comic book supers game. The killing is a bad thing and rarely happens, the bad guys get away, go to jail, ect.... If you're not wanting to go for the Star Trek feel of things than why are y'all playing a Star Trek RPG? :) I'm not even sure the mechanics would end up being suited to play a campaign in the Mirror Universe because of the way things would clash. An adventure here and there set there with SF PCs but not as PCs from the Mirror Universe.

[@FellVoice]

You seem very well versed in the 2d20 system so maybe you can help me out with my Conan conundrum here. Ok, under the Sorcery Talent there's the Sorcerer Talent pg 84, it says that you gain one spell and reduce Resolve by 2d. Ok then I go over to Sorcery Talent in the magic section and there's a Talent called Barter Your Soul pg 167 It says Gain one Spell and Reduce your resolve permanently by X+2d, where X is the total number of spell you will know once you gain an additional spell from this bargain. Barter your Soul can be taken multiple times, representing multiple deals to supernatural entities, selling your soul piecemeal or selling fealty in the afterlife in terms of millennia of servitude. a. My take away from this is that for taking the Sorcerer Talent and the Barter Your Soul Talent would cost you 4d+2 Permanent Resolve, the +2 being the number of spells you would have at that point. Is that correct? b. I haven't read anything that says that you have to take Barter Your Soul to learn new spells so what is the point of losing the extra resolve for taking this talent. c. Does it seem wrong that losing the same resolve that is used to power spells thereby making a sorcerer less able in the casting and maintaining department not to mention making them more susceptible to Threaten attacks. Thoth Amon never really felt as if he could be easily intimidated in the novels. Alright, any help with this would be excellent.

[@bluhfer1445]

I'm waiting for it to come out on miniature market website. :/ Hopefully I don't have to wait too long. :(

[@The_CGA]

Bluhfer it's my understanding that retailers and distributors will be getting it something like early October, they are still finishing out the pre-orders. The PDF on drive thru rpg is pretty affordable but for something like this that has some bits to learn I know having a real page can really help, especially at the table. Not much longer though!

[@john-lenin]

ˈZHänrə not Jonra

[@cuatican]

I don't think splitting the frame with you on one side and text, which is often useful information, on the other works very well. You should instead say whatever would be in the text, and then supplement your words with tighter, more succinct text no more than four or five words. This is the 4th Star Trek Adventures video of yours I've watched, and in every one of them I have to skip back to read the text while trying to ignore your voice. I basically have to watch the video twice, once for your speech and once for the text.

[@The_CGA]

It’s information density. If you want both, use pause or watch it twice. The vast majority of people prefer a 17 minute video to a 40 minute video; thank you for your opinion

[@cuatican]

That's not what information density is. Information density is brevity, succinctness, and efficiency with words. It is not overlaying dense sentences with still more dense text. That is the exact opposite of information density. If you wanted your videos to be information dense, you should say less, but with sharper focus.

[@SlinkyTWF]

Or, the GM can do all this without adding in a complicated game mechanic. That's the GM's job.

[@The_CGA]

I have other videos addressing this critique. Different RPGs use different Mechanics to distribute outcome and situation authority among the players. “It is the GMs Job” (to do this without any framework and purely based on nebulous “judgment calls”) *in the RPGs you are familiar with*. It needn’t be that way in every game, and doing it other ways opens up other opportunities and efficiencies. You can open your mind up to the idea that diverse approaches are a good thing, or you can boss people around From the safety of your keyboard. Have a nice day!