31 Days / 31 Characters - CURIOUS MERP

Character: Merp

AKA: Ensign Merp, Curious Merp

Player: Adam Dickstein

System: Star Trek Adventures, 2nd Edition

 

Nature: Not yet applicable

Gamemaster: Not yet applicable

Circa: December 28th, 2024. Not yet used.

Origins: I fell in love with Star Trek: Lower Decks right from the very beginning. Now, with the series completing its run with Season 5 (at least at the time of this writing), I'm even more inspired to run and/or play a 'Lower Decks' style campaign of Star Trek Adventures. The Second Edition of the game is now available and while I wasn't particularly interested in giving it ago*, I did consider, 'Why not make a 2E character for the 31 Day Character Challenge?'.

About a year ago (roughly) I came up with some alternative Character Creation rules for making a Lower Decks PC that seems closer to the characters on the show. The write-up for Ensign 'Curious' Merp does not reflect this as my objective was to see how 2nd Edition was different from First. I didn't want to confuse things with my own houserules. I might redo him if I were going to use him in a full-on campaign. 

Why a...Merp?

Well, the Merp are an alien species introduced to the Star Trek universe in the inagural season of Lower Decks, though they remained unnamed for sometime. Eventually we learn that one individual member is named Merp. Later in the series we meet another nicknamed 'Big Merp'. The third member identified is a female called 'Sleepy Merp'. We still don't have an official name for these aliens but it would seem they're simple called the Merp. Each Merp is named Merp. This humorous concept spurred me on to create this PC. 

Merp, Big Merp, and Sleepy Merp.

Backstory: Merp, like so many Merp, was born on the Merp homeworld to a family of artists and creative philosophers. Merp grew up fascinated by the idea that a people's art could give you insights into their culture and even their biology. His parents were extremely supportive, as not only was Merp their only son but their worldview was all about 'following your heart, mind, and spirit wherever they lead you'. I imagine them being low-fi nerdy space hippies.

Once he was old enough, he applied to Starfleet Academy, deciding to Major in Anthropology and Cultural Studies. Combining his studies he focused on researching his idea of learning about sentient species through their art. Merp Minored in Xenobiology to round out his theories. This and his overall nature earned him the nickname 'Curious Merp' from his classmates.

Merp graduated to the rank of Ensign and was assigned to the Starfleet Support Service vessel USS Long Beach, a California Class starship specializing in Scientific Research and Survey Operations. 

Overview: I love the idea of a character who is intelligent, kind of nerdy, and accidentally brave. That is to say, he is so eager to learn, to understand and know his universe, that he is willing to put himself in mortal danger to do so. You'll notice his Attributes reflect this, giving him a decent Daring for a Junior Science Officer. 

The Highlights: None yet. 

Game Info:

Note that there are no official stats for the Merp species. I based them on the Aquans from the Star Trek: Animated Series, which are depicted in the Animated Series Campaign Guide. I made a few changes but not much. My reasoning is that in at least one episode we very clearly see Big Merp with his shirt off and he has gills on the sides of his ribs.

Full transparency, I used the absolutely amazing Star Trek Adventures Campaign Creator by BC Holmes, a fan who has gone above and beyond in the development of an indispensible set of tools for running a Star Trek campaign. If you plan to run Star Trek Adventures, do yourself a favor and check it out.

Notes:

The ship Curious Merp is assigned to is named for Long Beach, CA, known for Long Beach Comic Con and being the home of my paternal grandfather for decades. My grandpa and my dad were both born in Southern California. 

*I have nothing against Second Edition but I also don't feel the need to switch my current campaign from 1st. Why? After 10 years or so of running Star Trek Adventures and modifying the game to my liking - adding houserules, taking away unnecessary elements - I have the 'edition' of the game that works best for me. The 'Barking Alien' edition.

This is pretty common for me with games I've played again and again over a long stretch of time. 

Legacy: I want to play this guy sooo badly. I've got ideas man. IDEAS! He has an outlook!  He's got goals! He loves to play Human party games like Charades and Pictionary so he can better understand how others think. Get to know him! He definitely wants to get to know you!

How far can I take him? Ensign to Chief Science Officer perhaps? I'd really like to try. 

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Barking Alien

Starfleet Support Services

I finally got the chance to read through Modiphius Entertainment's Star Trek: Lower Decks Campaign Guide for the Star Trek Adventures RPG and I'm very impressed.

Not only does the book capture the art and humor of the animated series, it expands the game overall with several elements that work with any and all eras and settings. For example, this book contains the first full-on alien creature design system. I'm not only amazed it took this long for the game to have such a thing but that it should first appear in the Lower Decks sourcebook is wild.

The book isn't perfect, although none of its minor short comings impact my overall love for this product. There are some editing errors and it doesn't include stats for two alien species that are nonetheless depicted and/or mentioned, specifically the Dooplers and Pandronians. Luckily the latter are given a full write-up in the Star Trek Animated Series Supplemental Guide (which is awesome in and of itself - check it out!). Finally, and this one gets me, each new Species is given sample names except the Exo-Comp. WHAT? You're not going to elaborate on the choice of PEANUT HAMPER? Perfect opportunity for humor casually tossed aside. For shame! 

The more I read, the more ideas I get for a Lower Decks campaign but there are some changes I would make to the 'core game' to add an additional level of emulation to the game and the part of the Star Trek universe it depicts and embraces.

Yeah, yeah, you know me. I can't help it. I just have to customize. 

Optional Lower Decks Character Creation

It bugs me a little that they didn't change or add much to the Character Creation process for Lower Decks characters. To me, there are some considerations that I feel could be a lot of fun if addressed. 

For instance, standard Character Creation involves having two Career Events: things like Conflict with a Hostile Culture, Ship Destroyed, and Transporter Accident. These events give the PC bonuses to an Attribute and a Discipline, as well as providing a prompt for some backstory. Cool right? But...Lower Decks characters haven't had a Career yet, let alone two character building Events. 

I would like to suggest a few alternative options for making a Lower Decks PC in Star Trek Adventures. Here goes nothing...

Environment and Lower Decks Upbringing

Environment and Upbringing seem to be a big deal for the characters in Lower Decks, especially Mariner and Tendi, though Boimler too to a lesser extent (I'd love to meet his parents in an episode). I think this should be evident in Character Creation, perhaps giving the PC something more meaty than Homeworld and Science and Technology. *Yawn*

I'm thinking you can probably keep Environment as is (haven't decided) but Upbringing should carry more weight. Maybe with Lower Decks Upbringing you get only one Attribute bonus, you pick a Discipline as usual, a Talent, a Focus, and then you have Issues.

Issues are drawbacks that can benefit your PC by operating at a cost or with a disadvantage for your PC now in exchange for a bonus later. Something like Rebels Against Authority for Mariner or Embarrassing Heritage for Tendi. Hmm, maybe you get to re-roll a D20 when interacting with your Issue ( say, when Mariner is disobeying an order from the First Officer or Tendi is trying to explain away how she knows where the secret compartments on a Smuggler's ship are located) but any Success also comes with a negative consequence (be it real or perceived). 

Career Events Academy Major and Academy Minor

Academy Major: Character receives a +1 to one particular Discipline and a Focus related to their career objective. Command Officers might take Diplomacy or Starfleet Protocols, Security Officers might take Energy Weapons or Small Unit Tactics, etc. You also get to come up with a story on how, this one time, you aced a test the rest of the class did poorly on or helped a classmate get past a mental block preventing them from grokking a subject. Gain a Contact! In the first example, the Instructor was so impressed she stayed in touch. In the second situation, you and the other Cadet remained friends even though they're stationed on another ship.

Academy Minor: The PC receives a +1 to one particular Attribute and must choose a Focus that will not come up that often. A very niche area of knowledge or a not generally applicable skill is their forte. Maybe they excelled at reasoning out Time Paradoxes in Temporal Mechanics Class. Perhaps they're extremely well-versed in early period Andorian Ice Sculptures.

Alternatively...

Academy Event

A Lower Decks Player Character receives a +1 to any one Attribute and a +1 to any one Discipline as well as two Focuses related to whatever the event was. It could be recommended [by the Narrator] that one of the Focuses be more serious and the other more trivial but it isn't necessary I suppose. I just think it's a fun idea.

On a related side note:

One of the things I loved about the FASA Star Trek RPG that other incarnations have kind of ignored is that it included skills like Gaming, Sports, and Trivia. I think we had a houserule that you could switch one of these for Hobby. Characters had interests and familiarity with things outside of beaming down to planets and scanning spatial anomalies. Lower Decks is all over this, so it seems only fitting to include it in the Character Creation section for a game in this setting. 

Values Goals

A lot of Star Trek Adventures players I know have difficulty understanding the Values feature and the rules around it, myself included. Part of the problem is I've been gaming for so long without needing or using role-playing mechanics (that is, a rules sub-system governing aspects of role play) that it takes me a while to wrap my head around rules that adjudicate my acting. Another issue, one I come across very often, is that they don't know their character's values at Character Creation. Sure they have some ideas but a lot of them develop their PC's outlook and beliefs as they play. Making Values before playing the Character is counter-intuitive to many of my friends, let alone ones that will aid them in a mechanical way.

In our [now 7 year long] Prosperity campaign, we just don't bother with Values at all. Determination is spent when it seems dramatically appropriate to what is going on in session. In other games I've run I let people leave them undefined at Character Creation to be written in later as they get to know their PC. 

For Lower Decks, I'm thinking of replacing Values with Goals. Instead of identifying the attitudes and convictions of a young Starfleet Officer who may not have figured those out for themselves, we go for the more straightforward objectives of a newly minted Ensign. Some possible Goals inspired by the show include:

• Find a Bridge Buddy
• Get noticed by the Captain
• Join a Clique/Club (For example: The Bear Pack, The Redshirts)
• Get a promotion
• Get transferred to a cooler ship

Like Values, you can act counter to your Goal but I recommend doing this near the end of an adventure/arch. If it fits what's going on, talk with your Narrator about making it a 'B Plot' for your character while participating in the latest 'episode'. Perhaps your Goal is to get transferred to a cooler ship in the standard fleet. Finally you're awarded exactly that after you work with your friends to save your current ship, a California Class vessel. Sure you get what you wanted but you turn it down to remain with your Cali-Class starship and crew. In the recently finished adventure you gained a new found appreciation for your ship and your crewmates. You might then swap that Goal out for a different one moving forward. 

I have more thoughts on this, including working out some new Talents, as well as Academy Majors, Minors, and Events to use with the idea above. I'll leave things here for now, as tomorrow starts a whole other focus for the blog.

Hint: It's Spooky.

Don't worry Star Trek fans, we'll talk again soon.

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Barking Alien

Lower Decks and Behold

Looking back over my blog I feel like I have been woefully negligent. I haven't given nearly enough attention to the glory that is...

Star Trek: Lower Decks is, simply put, my favorite incarnation of anything Star Trek to have come out since 2005 (the end of Star Trek: Enterprise). 

Like The Orville, Lower Decks is simultaneously irreverently funny and absolutely in line with the finest elements that make Star Trek Star Trek. The show has a powerful sense of adventure, a wealth of science fiction ideas, and surprisingly well developed characters. In my opinion, this series approaches the range between serious Sci-Fi Action/Adventure to goofball Sci-Fi Comedy by leaning more heavily on the humorous side just as The Orville has progressively leaned in the other direction.

I personally find that awesome! It is a refreshing take on the Star Trek universe, which can sometimes take itself too seriously. Additionally, there have been numerous Sci-Fi Comedies, Sci-Fi Dramas, and Sci-Fi Dramedies but when it comes to the latter, it is very difficult to land successfully right down the middle. To make a quality entertainment media product, it's best to figure out which way you want go - more funny, more pathos, by what degree, and in what way?

It took three seasons for The Orville to realize where it wanted to be, partially because of Fox Studios and partially due to the usual growing pains most TV show go through early in their run. Star Trek: Lower Decks' creator, Mike McMahan, apparently had a very clear idea of where he wanted to and Paramount was willing to run with it. 

Even so, Star Trek: Lower Decks keeps getting better with every season. We keep learning more about the crew, their mission, the ship, new characters, new worlds, and old favorites from the previous series and films. What happened to the Betans after Kirk's Enterprise left? How did the Ornarans and Brekkians fare following Picard's visit? Easter Eggs to pretty much all of Star Trek abound in every episode and every single example is a loving homage to the show's in-universe history. Combine this with the bang-on comedy and you've got, dare I say it, 'The Best of Both Worlds'. A truly funny, truly good Star Trek.

I fell in love with Lower Decks so much my first thought was, of course, 'how do I game this'! I wanted to run a Star Trek: Lower Decks game so badly that...well...I did. I ran them badly. A few times now. Each time it kind of worked. They were nearly great. None were awful but...yeah.

In each attempt I focused on the 'Second Contact' idea from the show that I mentioned in this post. What I didn't do was center the games on low ranking officers, a key component of the Lower Decks series. I've never run a game where the PCs weren't the Command Crew and I find it hard to do so. For the most part I find it difficult to come up with a way to make that dynamic interesting. Not only have all the previous shows been about the Captain and other high ranking officers but I am against taking agency away from the players. The decisions as to what a Starship and its Crew do should be made by the players in my mind, not forced onto them by NPCs in command of your PCs. 

Riker's Beard! I wish there was an official, Modiphius sourcebook for Star Trek Adventures that could help me figure out how best to pull this and other aspects of the show off properly. Wait...What's this now?

Yes, my dream has come true! Pre-Orders for the Star Trek: Lower Decks Campaign Guide will be live very soon, with a PDF of the book immediately available with your Pre-Order. The physical book should be out for GenCon 2023. I am seriously excited about this and will very likely do a few posts on my thoughts on the book when it comes out. 

What other Lower Decks book could hope to be as cool as this? Huh? No way...

Holy Horta its raining AWESOME! Titan Books is putting out the Star Trek: Lower Decks USS Cerritos Crew Handbook in October of 2023! A book of advice from Mariner, Boimler, and their crewmates giving helpful inside info to new personnel assigned to the California Class USS Cerritos. 

I really hope it gives a more boots-on-the-ground description of what Support Fleet Ensigns do on the day-to-day. I think this kind of book could add a lot to a Lower Decks campaign, almost functioning as a companion text. 

The mix of Star Trek and humor is something perfectly up my Jefferies Tube (phrasing!). I've run sessions of The Orville and a Galaxy Quest campaign. I just need a little assistance with this one to get past my deeply dyed-in-the-wool views on how to run Star Trek. 

Season 4 of Star Trek: Lower Decks should be released in the late third or early fourth quarter of 2023. Season 5 has already been greenlit. There will also be a live-action crossover between two of the Lower Decks characters with Captain Pike and the Enterprise crew as depicted in Strange New Worlds. Wow. That's just wild.

What are your feelings on the series? Are you interested in the Star Trek Adventures sourcebook? Do you put comedic elements in your Star Trek missions? Let me know. 

Live Long and All That.

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Barking Alien

Juggling Ideas

I've been thinking a lot about what games I want to run next year. 

Yes, next year.

This year I am already running three campaigns and playing in one. With real life getting in the way and the end of 2021 coming up before you know it, I've no time, desire, or need to start a new game right now. 

Next year is kind of special. It will mark 45 years for me in the tabletop gaming hobby. Forty-Five Years. That's some serious mileage. To that end, I am juggling a number of different campaign concepts that I'd really like to pull off for the big Four Five.

It is important to note - at least I feel it's important for me to point out - that all the ideas below are ones I've been working on in my spare time. Can't believe I said 'spare time' with a straight face. 

I want whichever one of these that I choose to do to be a big production. An Art Film and a Blockbuster all at once. I want it in-person and not online. I want a good number of players and a regular schedule. It's possible I won't be able to get everything just the way I like it but I am going to try.

Some of these concepts have been in the works for weeks or months. One has been under development for many years. All have been waiting for something; some outside requirement or idea to click into place before I can fully and properly execute them. A couple of these are still waiting for this but I now have a better idea about when the needed ingredient is coming. 

Here's what I have...

Ghostbusters

I've been really interested - really, really interested - in running a full-on Ghostbusters campaign again. 

I had an absolute blast running my last one and the two specials I ran over the Pandemic were both fantastic. Those who've played in these games seem to have enjoyed them immensely; I won't lie, that is the kind of thing I live for. 

My particular approach to Ghostbusters is a little less humorous and a little more spooky/serious. Not that it lacks for comedy but the balance between humor and horror weighs a bit more to the latter than the original film. 

The missing piece for this one is [of course] the new film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife. I feel like I need to see it before I can run a new campaign.  

Star Trek: Lower Decks

It's no surprise to any reader familiar with myself or this blog that I am a huge fan of Star Trek and gaming in the Star Trek universe is my favorite thing to do. That said, aside from my ongoing, bi-weekly TOS Era campaign (now in its 6th year of real time), I've been unable to come up with a different approach that has the same sustainability. 

Part of the reason for this is that I've run a lot of Star Trek at this point and even for a fan like me, keeping it fresh can be tricky. This hasn't been helped by modern Trek, which hasn't added a lot of interesting material nor generated [in me] feelings of excitement or inspiration. 

That has changed with Star Trek: Lower Decks...

I have totally fallen in love with this series and with the Season 2 Finale I am more jazzed than ever to run a Lower Decks inspired game. The thing is, I already ran such a campaign, although it didn't quite hit the notes I'd intended. Instead, it was just a very good Star Trek game. It wasn't specifically 'Lower Decks'. 

Now that I've seen all of the second season, I feel I might have a better grip on how to pull off what I have in mind. 

Obviously completing the second season was the missing piece. 

Star Wars: Visions

Like Star Trek, I am pretty much always in the mood to run Star Wars. That doesn't mean I always have a good idea for a campaign. 

Following multiple views of the episodes in this series, I find myself very much intrigued to run something in a Star Wars universe we only think we know. A game with all the tropes and trimmings of that familiar galaxy Long Ago and Far, Far Away but one in which there is a high degree of unknown elements and unusual takes on classic concepts. 

Exactly how I want to go about this is something I am honestly still working on. I was writing posts in this regard (see this one in particular) but stopped because I am unsure of where to take the idea next. 

It is possible that the missing piece for this is still missing. 

The Dark Crystal

For almost 40 years I've wanted to run a Dark Crystal themed and inspired RPG campaign. Periodically throughout that time I made notes on the subject and generated possible plot and adventure ideas.

With the release of The Dark Crystal young adult novels and especially the (Absolutely Amazing) Age of Resistance Netflix series, the desire to run a Dark Crystal game became stronger than ever. Previous concepts and narratives I'd considered became clearer (one could say they 'crystalized'. Heh.), while a number of newer ones came forth. 

What I needed -what I'd always needed - was the right system. Over the 40 year span I have played with various rules but nothing clicked perfectly. A number of years back I got very close as I was asked to be part of a design team working on a proposed official RPG. Unfortunately that project fell through. It did inspire thoughts on hope to continue with my own homebrew, one which is very close to completion.

The possible missing piece here (aside from a hope of more Dark Crystal series or film content) is River Horse's official The Dark Crystal Adventure Game, due out in the first quarter of 2022. If the system for that game is better than my homebrew I will use it to run my campaign. If not I will either use my homebrewed system or see if the two and be incorporated into each other in some way. 

Finally there is one last concept I have that I am not yet willing to completely reveal...

The Mystery Game

A Medieval Fantasy campaign inspired by Anime and Manga that I've been considering for a little while now, this game idea is one that is waiting for a missing piece in the form of a Japanese TRPG that is due to be released sometime early next year. 

More information will be posted as thoughts on it develop. 

That's it for now my friends. If any of these ideas are interesting to you please share your thoughts on them down below in the comments. Which of these would you want to play in?

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Barking Alien

What Has My Attention

I am quite behind on my RPGaDay 2021 posts, largely (but not completely) because I've been absolutely exhausted lately.

It has been an August of ups and downs business wise. A lot of my clients are away on vacation, while others often find themselves in need of last minute schedule changes or additions. As my job mainly takes place outside, the heat and humidity this Summer has really been rough and I've been feeling pretty drained. Today I slept a good three hours in the middle of the day. I am told this is called a 'nap'. Curious.

In addition, I've been distracted lately with a lot of other things that interest me; specifically things that interest me more than the RPGaDay Challenge has. Yeah, sorry to say this but I'm starting to agree with the comment by Lord Blacksteel that the prompts feel a little generic and just aren't generating much excitement for me. I've started writing a few posts that I have yet to publish and in each case I've gotten bored part way through and moved on to some other activity. My hope is to revisit these, punch them up so they're a little more interesting, and maybe, just maybe, get to the end of of the RPGaDay project this year. 

All that aside, here is what has my attention right now...

Picaresque Roman - A Requiem for Rogues

An Indie Tabletop RPG from Japan, this game covers the genre of Romanticized Crime Drama very popular in both American and Japanese culture. This sort of game could be used to cover things like the John Wick films, Anime such as Baccano and Great Teacher Onizuka, and RPGs like Blades in the Dark (kind of) in the U.S.A. and SATASUPE in Japan.  

I am very excited for this game, as this genre isn't quite as well represented in TRPGs here in the West to the degree it is in the East. In addition, its more Japanese RPGS - and an indie one at that - being translated into English and that is definitely something I've been advocating for. Let's see, what else - Aha! It uses only D6s (as most TRPGs in Japan do), which only makes me smile that much more. 

The Kickstarter for this game goes live on August 24th. Please give a look if you're interested. 

Man, oh man. If only someone would translate...Wait! What's this?

Goblin Slayer Tabletop Role Playing Game

Be still my heart! The game I ran for some friends in Japan back in April is coming to the US in February of next year. Next February! For my birthday! WOO-HOO! 

Goblin Slayer, which began as a Light Novel series and was later adapted into an Anime, is a love letter to old school Medieval Fantasy Tabletop RPGs while at the same time depicting a setting with a its own unique character. Gritty, grim, but also fun and full of hope, I highly recommend Goblin Slayer if that's how you like your Fantasy. 

Very excited about this and what it means for the future of Japanese TRPGs in the West. Yen Press is a small, independent but rapidly growing company publishing numerous Light Novel and Manga series from Japan in English here in the US. They have seriously doubled or even tripled how many titles they publish in just the past six months! 

Among the many titles they publish are my absolute favorite Manga Delicious in Dungeon (aka Dungeon Meshi) and of course, the Goblin Slayer Light Novel series. Of special interest to me is that Yen Press is now getting into TRPGs, with a Konosuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World! TRPG announced a little while ago and coming out in December of this year. Goblin Slayer will be their second such release.

Where will they go from there?

What if...

Speaking of What If...?

First, it's AWESOME! Do you love Captain Carter? 'Cause I LOVE Captain Carter!

Second, remember that there is an official Marvel TRPG coming and it is specifically called, 'Marvel Multiverse Role-Playing Game'. The Playtest Rulebook for this game is due in March of next year. That means I have roughly six months to ride the high I am getting from the aforementioned animated series on Disney+ to develop a Marvel Comics Superhero campaign based on an alternate history.

Excelsior! 

The newer trailer for Star Wars: Visions has me even more excited about that series - a series I was already INCREDIBLY excite about. I sense a disturbance in the Force...could it possibly be new Star Wars RPG campaign ideas? 

As mentioned earlier in the month, Ghostbusters: Afterlife is still very much on my mind and I've worked out some alternative Panic/Stress effects (based on the ALIEN RPG) to incorporate into my hybrid Ghostbusters/InSpectres rules. I'll likely reveal more of my ideas and work on the blog after seeing the upcoming film.  

Did I mention Star Trek: Lower Decks is back? No? Well it is! Season 2 of that series started two weeks ago (as of this post) and it has been fantastic. Good enough to renew my desire to run a 'Second Contact' themed Star Trek Adventures campaign? Duh. Of course!

Add to all of this my secret, Post-ALIEN FRONTIER project - similarly nearly 30 years in the making - and honestly, the RPGaDay Challenge just isn't holding my interest. 

That said...I feel like I should at least try to complete it. 

Why? I really hate how I feel when I start a project with the intention of completely it and don't. On that alone, I need to at least give it another go...

Let's see what happens...

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Barking Alien

Star Trek Adventures Are GO!

Stepping away from Horror for a moment, I'd like to discuss something near and dear to my heart that, it turns out, is near and dear to Japanese fandom as well, albeit to a smaller extent. 

While researching how big the Call of Cthulhu game is in the Japanese Tabletop RPG hobby market I wondered, and not for the first time, what other American made TRPGs are popular in Japan. That got me thinking about one game in particular...

I was curious how one of my favorite subjects for an RPG fared in the Japanese market - Star Trek and the current Star Trek Adventures TRPG by Modiphius. Do the Japanese play Star Trek Adventures? How popular is it or isn't it and why?

TOS Movie Era Cadets

Artist Unknown

This simple question lead me down a Wormhole of mixed opinions, contrary information, and some wonderful discoveries. I'll break in down like a Transporter doing an Emergency Beam-Out!

Art by Life Form 2602

I started my research by asking if anyone in either of the Star Trek Adventures or general Star Trek RPG Facebook Groups were aware of whether or not the game had sold in Japan, how well it had done/was doing, and if any member of these groups was running or playing it in Japan.

Initially I received very little response. Few people knew the answers to these questions and didn't want to speak on a subject they weren't familiar with, which is admirable in and of itself. There were a handful of members in one group, the Star Trek Adventures group, who did have some insight. 

One fellow, who is currently living in Japan, said that Star Trek is not a major franchise of interest to the Japanese at this time. Star Trek Adventures and Star Trek roleplaying is, and I quote, "A niche within a niche of a niche". Another confirmed this to some extent by noting that he lived in Japan and played the game with four other players, all of whom were Americans. 

A key reason for this - and a logical one at that (no pun intended) - is the lack of Replays for Star Trek Adventures. As noted in previous posts, Replays are the entry way into the TRPG hobby for most Japanese people. 

Searching the internet for more information, I found few references to Star Trek on Japanese entertainment sites and of course even fewer mentions of the Star Trek Adventures game. What a different this was to my memories of Star Trek in Japan between 1988 and 1991. That's when I was starting college, working at the uptown Forbidden Planet in Manhattan, and Star Trek seemed like it was everywhere. 

We had movies, a new TV show, models, toys, books, magazines,  and of course the FASA RPG. According to some people I knew and the ads I saw in Japanese magazines, Japan had all that as well.

Art by TOM

Around this time I had a few Japanese friends, all of whom were Star Trek fans. One of them was a girl named Rina whom I dated for a short while. She would spend her Summers in New York City taking classes at NYU and in the Fall and Winter she would return to her home in Kyoto. On a few occasions she would show me Star Trek Doujinshi she had picked up in Japan. Some were parodies, some fan fiction of the TOS characters, and one was a kind of Light Novel/Manga combo featuring original characters on an original starship set in the Wrath of Khan to Undiscovered Country period. She was a huge Trekkie and so apparently was her father.  

Tanto Class Corvette

My attempt at re-creating the

Star Trek Doujinshin vessel design

The popularity of Star Trek in Japan would apparently continue as another friend years later - the brother of another young lady I was dating - was eager to trade Manga, models, and other Anime related paraphernalia for anything TNG or DS9 related. I got the impression that Star Trek had a smaller but even more die hard following over there at the time. 

Warping back to the present, I was about to give up and write the experience off as a good try that just hadn't panned out. That's when, low and behold, I found something. By searching for 'スタートレックアドベンチャー TRPG' instead of 'Star Trek Adventures RPG Japan' or 'Star Trek Adventures in Japanese', I came across one Japanese fan's blog and then, somehow, the floodgates opened to yet another hidden world of gaming. 

Art by Yasaka

I am reminded of my earliest days in the Anime/Manga hobby, seeking out Japanese language magazines that comic book stores had ordered by accident, checking for TV shows and characters no one I knew had ever seen or heard of but which fascinated me to no end. Gaming was the same in the mid-to-late 70s and early 80s, when you'd mention a new RPG to dumbfounded stares of those who thought that D&D was the only game that existed. 

Where was I? Oh yes, thanks to Yumesai Haruka, a female TRPG blogger with an interest in Star Wars, Star Trek, Call of Cthulhu, and other games, I managed to find how-to videos, reviews, a Reddit thread, and much more. All of it was dedicated to or at least promoting in some way, Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius. It would seem that the fellows in my Facebook Group were not a perfect picture of the games popularity in the land of sakura trees and everything-available-through-a-vending-machine. 

Of course, the true test of popularity of anything in Japan is how much fan art it receives. On the online art community pixiv, the Japanese equivalent of deviantart, I found over 30 pages, 1,837 entries, under the tag 'Star Trek'. A sure sign that the Japanese youth to middle adults of today do have a love for the Final Frontier.

A good portion of the [possibly renewed] enthusiasm for Star Trek in Japan at this time appears to come from the newer productions. While Japan received many of the prior TV series after they originally aired in the USA (though TNG and DS9 didn't air too far behind America), movies and modern shows like Discovery and even Lower Decks are coming out nearly simultaneously.

USS Cerritos from Star Trek: Lower Decks

Art by 'NCC-80602'

Lower Decks in particular seems more popular than I would have expected, since the art style is very us and a lot of the humor requires some knowledge of past continuity. The fact that the Japanese seem to enjoy Lower Decks tells me they do indeed have a general familiarity and appreciation for Star Trek. 

As for the game itself, from what I can tell, the Japanese play Star Trek much the way everyone else does with perhaps two slight differences. There seems to be a greater focus on the interpersonal relationships of the characters - personal drama, romance, etc. - and a bit more humor (which again might explain the popularity of Lower Decks). A Star Trek Anime Rom-Com? Sign me up!

Art by Yukikaze

I also imagine that the characters skew a tad younger as that is common in Japanese pop culture but I can not confirm that at this time. 

Well, that's all I have for the moment. Looking to get more information and maybe even run or play in a game through one of my Japanese friends who doesn't play STA himself but knows some people who do. 

Until then, Nagaku ikiru to han'ei...I mean...Live Long and Prosper!

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Barking Alien

PS: One point of interest I have not yet focused on is that Japan seems to have a fairly large percentage of female TRPG fans. While the demographics have improved in the US steadily over the years, it seems Japan might be way ahead in that regard. Likely the entry into gaming, Replay manga, is a big reason why. TRPGs are marketed differently than their Western counterparts. 

A quick final thought: I have mentioned the Japanese Edition of Traveller before, which came to Japan in 1984. It was very popular and remains popular to this day in a way that I think American fans might find curious. I may do a Traveller Japan deep dive in the near future. Let me know if you'd be interested.