Star Trek Modiphius 2nd Ed Quickstarter

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James Gillen said:
They need to have a Pakled ability called "Brain, Brain, What is Brain?"

JG
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There could be a whole section of talents named after silly Trek lines.

Get This Cheese to Sickbay.
There's Coffee in That Nebula
A Particularly Erotic Chapter In My Grandmother's Journal

MAKE THIS HAPPEN, MODIPHIUS.
 
The only other big thing that has jumped out at me as having changed from 1e is the Disciplines have been renamed to Departments.

Probably a good change, as it's slightly more intuitive given the source material. At least for me it makes more sense to ask the question "what Department does this relate to?" rather than "what Discipline does this relate to?" even though they're the exact same question. It also matches how Starships are.

As for the challenge dice for weapon damage, it looks like the general rule is the new damage Severity is equal to the old damage in base Challenge Dice + 1. And the Security Discipline/Department no longer adds in.

Starship torpedo weapons seem to follow the same rule. They use the old base damage rating + 1 without the Security Dicipline/Department added in.

Energy weapons are probably the same general rule and are calculated as Scale + 1. The Challenger has phasers that do 6, which matches. (Scale 4 + 1 + an additional 1 for the phasers being banked = 6)

As for Extended Tasks' reliance on Challenge Dice, the quickstart doesn't seem to provide any equivalent, but I'd imagine the new rules simply eliminate the challenge dice aspect and have a stress tracker represent number of turns with modification based on threat and complication. It would likely look very much like a single participant version of the Extended Conflict rules in Captain's Log.
 
Thematically, I can see some merit in naming the Talents and Traits like that. But there does come a point where it all becomes too needlessly self referential and even jargony when it doesn't need to. You shouldn't have to decipher a Tamarian-like language just to understand what the Talents and Traits are.

Incidentally, the Faith of the Heart seems to be a nerfed version of the old Trait Spirit of Discovery which allowed the Human to spend a Determination to add 3 Momentum Points to the group pool. This new version only adds 1 Momentum to the pool.
 
Gabriel said:
Thematically, I can see some merit in naming the Talents and Traits like that. But there does come a point where it all becomes too needlessly self referential and even jargony when it doesn't need to. You shouldn't have to decipher a Tamarian-like language just to understand what the Talents and Traits are.

Incidentally, the Faith of the Heart seems to be a nerfed version of the old Trait Spirit of Discovery which allowed the Human to spend a Determination to add 3 Momentum Points to the group pool. This new version only adds 1 Momentum to the pool.
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Agree strongly. I'll add this is my problem as well with any of the Fantasy Flight specialty dice rpgs, PbtA rpgs, Cypher based rpgs to an lesser extent and others which make you have to do this in order to play their rpgs.
 
Gabriel said:
The only other big thing that has jumped out at me as having changed from 1e is the Disciplines have been renamed to Departments.

Probably a good change, as it's slightly more intuitive given the source material. At least for me it makes more sense to ask the question "what Department does this relate to?" rather than "what Discipline does this relate to?" even though they're the exact same question. It also matches how Starships are.
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I get that, but not every game is about a Starfleet crew. "Departments" might seem a bit bland for a crew of Klingons or Orion Pirates.

It's only a small thing anyway.
 
Gabriel said:
Thematically, I can see some merit in naming the Talents and Traits like that. But there does come a point where it all becomes too needlessly self referential and even jargony when it doesn't need to. You shouldn't have to decipher a Tamarian-like language just to understand what the Talents and Traits are.
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Gygax and Arneson, at Gen Con.

T.S.R., when the walls fell.
 
Does anyone already have that Klingon War book?

If so, does it need the Discovery book to be usable?

I recently broke down and finally started trying to watch Discovery. I'm two episodes in right now. It's kind of just meh. Not bad. Not good. Just sort of there. The acting is pretty bad. Then again all the Klingon actors are forced to read everything in Klingon and the lead of the show is supposed to be Vulcan schooled, so I try to cut it some slack for that. But it's still pretty bad.

The look of things outside the Klingon stuff is pretty good. I mean, even the Klingons would be OK if it was made clear that this was some offshoot possibly neanderthal-like group with their own ship designs.

But I'm getting off track... Is the Discovery book any good? What does it cover? I recall it was released pretty early on in Discovery's run, so I'm not expecting it to cover much other than maybe up to the second season?

I did manage to get into Lower Decks. I managed to turn my brain off to just enjoy the in-jokes, and I genuinely started to like the characters. Of course, right as that happened I read that the next season will be the last. But so far I've watched up through Season 4.

I've seen people saying the Lower Decks book is pretty good. What particularly does it cover? I wouldn't want to use it for Lower Decks themed comedic adventures, but I can potentially see it having cool stuff in it. Even if I know it was released too early to contain stats for the dreaded Moopsy.
 
Gabriel said:
Does anyone already have that Klingon War book?

If so, does it need the Discovery book to be usable?

I recently broke down and finally started trying to watch Discovery. I'm two episodes in right now. It's kind of just meh. Not bad. Not good. Just sort of there. The acting is pretty bad. Then again all the Klingon actors are forced to read everything in Klingon and the lead of the show is supposed to be Vulcan schooled, so I try to cut it some slack for that. But it's still pretty bad.

The look of things outside the Klingon stuff is pretty good. I mean, even the Klingons would be OK if it was made clear that this was some offshoot possibly neanderthal-like group with their own ship designs.

But I'm getting off track... Is the Discovery book any good? What does it cover? I recall it was released pretty early on in Discovery's run, so I'm not expecting it to cover much other than maybe up to the second season?

I did manage to get into Lower Decks. I managed to turn my brain off to just enjoy the in-jokes, and I genuinely started to like the characters. Of course, right as that happened I read that the next season will be the last. But so far I've watched up through Season 4.

I've seen people saying the Lower Decks book is pretty good. What particularly does it cover? I wouldn't want to use it for Lower Decks themed comedic adventures, but I can potentially see it having cool stuff in it. Even if I know it was released too early to contain stats for the dreaded Moopsy.
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Both the Klingon War book and the Lower Decks campaign guide are very useful for other campaigns. They contain information that add to the general databank of useful information that can be used anywhere. I did reviews on both books on my blog.

The Federation-Klingon War Tactical Campaign First Look – TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding

tardiscaptain.com tardiscaptain.com

Lower Decks Campaign Guide First Look – TardisCaptain's Blog of Holding

tardiscaptain.com tardiscaptain.com

And Modiphius provided the stats for the dreaded Moopsy on their blog: https://www.modiphius.net/blogs/news/moopsy

I see the series Lower Decks as a love letter to all of Star Trek. After I get done watching a new episode, I'd go to YouTube on my TV and pull up several review shows such as TrekCulture and others that talk about the episode and note all of the easter eggs. Some episodes had a TON of connections. I did a re-watch of Discovery just before the new season started. The first season is a bit rough (as all Star Trek series are) but IMHO it has improved with each season and added to the Trek lore. The second season is very good at introducing the new Pike, Spock and Number One that later show up in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (which has also knocked it out of the park).
 
I just noticed the limited edition versions of the upcoming 2e rulebook. There are three, one for each of the classic division colors.

In the past I would have bought the regular edition and all three limiteds. Some things have changed. Even still, I might still buy the sciences blue version liimited edition.

The art on the screen for second edition looks great. It's description says that it's 8.5x11 and four panel, which I like. I dislike the modern short screens that seem popular nowadays, so I'm happy with them going big. I do wish they had done a new one like the original screen which was the size of a record album.
 
Y’know, thinking about it, how often does the same company get to do two editions of the same licensed property? This is kinda weird, yeah?

The only other one I can think of is WotC with Star Wars. Well and WEG with the same.
 
Jetstream said:
Y’know, thinking about it, how often does the same company get to do two editions of the same licensed property? This is kinda weird, yeah?

The only other one I can think of is WotC with Star Wars. Well and WEG with the same.
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TSR got to do two versions of Marvel. The first version could be seen as having a single edition or 2 or 3 depending on how someone would like to count. They also did two versions of Buck Rogers.

Palladium did two editions of Robotech.

Cubicle 7 has done two main editions of the Vortex Doctor Who game. The first edition was divided into 4 different minor revisions. The second is ongoing, AND they're doing a separate 5e compatible version.

FASA did did two editions of their version of Star Trek.

I think there were multiple editions of MERP.

There were three editions of DC Heroes by Mayfair. More if you consider the Batman RPG a separate edition of the game.

So, it's not all that uncommon.
 
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Gabriel said:
Does anyone already have that Klingon War book?

If so, does it need the Discovery book to be usable?
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No. You'll need to change a few names if you want it to cover something else - like a different era or adversary - but it's not so Discovery-specific that's it's unusable outside of that context. You could easily use it elsewhere.

Gabriel said:
I recently broke down and finally started trying to watch Discovery. I'm two episodes in right now. It's kind of just meh. Not bad. Not good. Just sort of there. The acting is pretty bad. Then again all the Klingon actors are forced to read everything in Klingon and the lead of the show is supposed to be Vulcan schooled, so I try to cut it some slack for that. But it's still pretty bad.
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Don't worry, it gets worse.

Much, much worse.

Don't get me wrong, there were a few good ideas in there. I liked
the Lorca episodes, for example,
but overall it is not my favorite Star Trek.

Gabriel said:
The look of things outside the Klingon stuff is pretty good. I mean, even the Klingons would be OK if it was made clear that this was some offshoot possibly neanderthal-like group with their own ship designs.
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The Discovery book has an explanation for this; it is better than the explanation the series provides, which is
no explanation at all.

Gabriel said:
But I'm getting off track... Is the Discovery book any good? What does it cover? I recall it was released pretty early on in Discovery's run, so I'm not expecting it to cover much other than maybe up to the second season?
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Believe it or not, yes, it's excellent. Yes, it's all about Discovery, but it's comprehensive and broad enough so that you don't have to limit it to Discovery at all. In fact, it's best if you look at it as a book that covers the events just prior to TOS - it is very good for this. If you've watched any Strange New Worlds - which is outstanding - well, the book came out before they could cover that series specifically, but it covers that era very well nonetheless.

Gabriel said:
I did manage to get into Lower Decks. I managed to turn my brain off to just enjoy the in-jokes, and I genuinely started to like the characters. Of course, right as that happened I read that the next season will be the last. But so far I've watched up through Season 4.

I've seen people saying the Lower Decks book is pretty good. What particularly does it cover? I wouldn't want to use it for Lower Decks themed comedic adventures, but I can potentially see it having cool stuff in it. Even if I know it was released too early to contain stats for the dreaded Moopsy.
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Sadly, it doesn't have Moopsie stats. And yes, it has some comedic-adventure stuff, but mercifully that's combined to sidebars and a few bits of flavor text. For the most part it's a regular sourcebook which covers the years immediately post-TNG. Even if that's not your thing it's still a very good book with a lot of info that's era-agnostic. It's well worth getting.
 
Is 2e going to be compatible with the 1e sourcebooks? I thought I read that it would be.
 
Hornblower said:
Is 2e going to be compatible with the 1e sourcebooks? I thought I read that it would be.
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I recall reading that somewhere too. I don't recall where.

The quickstart doesn't have anything super incompatible or anything. It seems at least one species Talent has been tweaked and renamed. There may be more like that.

But saying "You can totally use your old books and not buy a bunch of new ones" is relatively common. I expect that they'll eventually reshuffle the deck and divide things out differently rather than just recycling the old books with slight modifications and slapping "revised" on the covers.
 
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