Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome game system! Could be more crunchy though.
Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2023
There used to be a Star Trek TTRPG system by a company called Last Unicorn Games. That was the best TTRPG for this setting in my opinion. The second best is this one by Modiphius. I will say that it is focused on short-term episode of action and not on long-term character growth. Almost every ability in this book is geared towards hostile encounters, not player interactive roleplaying. The cool thing about LUGTrek was that non-combat skills were very much built into the system. You could literally take skill in painting or dancing or writing or any instrument you could think of. In Modiphius Trek You will find that you have a simplified version of all the necessary tools to have tense and satisfying conflicts, and in a narrative sense you can definitely grow your character through a type of character trait called Values. My problem with values is that they are disconnected from any mechanical aspect of the game. Perhaps this is a good thing in some ways, but I would like the game to break down skills into finer distinctions, with players being able to take non-conflict related extracurricular skills like the ones I mentioned earlier.
Still, even with those mild complaints, the system itself is very fun and action-packed, and I highly recommend it to Star Trek fans or fans of tabletop role-playing games in general.
If there is an aspect of the setting that a GM would like to highlight, they can always do that. I just believe that game systems need to help support a GM in the quest to do things like that, and you will find that this game does not support non-conflict related role-playing, and in that fashion I believe it kind of misses the point of Star Trek.
Conflict occurs in Star Trek, but it is really just a paintbrush used to tell a story. Honestly, as much as I absolutely love the current line of Star Trek television shows, they haven't done much to explore out of conflict traits of the characters the way previous Star Treks have. Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek DS9, and Star Trek TNG all did a phenomenal job at giving us a strong impression of character traits, likes and dislikes, and out of conflict skills.
Even if you are like me, I believe you'll still enjoy this system, but you may have a strong desire to make house rules and long for the extracurricular skills that don't exist in this game.
