Star Trek Adventures RPG

Role-playing adventure campaigns and other writing I’ve done for Modiphius Entertainment’s Star Trek Adventures gaming system.

Contents:

November 2018:

STACallBackYesterdayStar Trek Adventures: Call Back Yesterday

Respond to a distress signal on Zeta Gruis VII

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 42802.3. We have diverted to the Zeta Gruis system in response to a distress call from its seventh planet. Previous surveys have shown the planet to be uninhabited, abandoned by its native civilization as its star swelled into a red giant. The distress call appears to come from a city in the southern polar regions, still cool enough to be habitable. We may be about to encounter the last remaining natives – or just some interstellar scavengers or archaeologists. The distress call gives no specifics about the nature of the threat.

However, Zeta Gruis is not far from the Romulan Neutral Zone, and it has been less than a year since the Romulans emerged from isolation and adopted a newly aggressive stance. They have not yet ventured this far into Federation space, but we’re keeping our guard up anyway.” 

This standalone 21 page PDF adventure by Christopher L. Bennett for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game has your Starfleet crew relive past memories, on a strange, abandoned planet.

Can you escape your delusions and uncover what’s really going on?

Available exclusively in PDF download from:

My role-playing game debut. What I like about Star Trek Adventures is that it’s driven more by story and character than by combat like many past Trek games. I was struck by the game’s mechanics for character development and backstory creation, and I wanted to devise a scenario that would allow players to incorporate those backstories into gameplay. I was able to draw on a concept from a TNG episode as the mechanism behind the phenomenon, though saying anything more specific would be a spoiler.

Zeta Gruis is a real star system (in the constellation Grus, the Crane) which Star Trek Star Charts places near the Romulan Neutral Zone, under the name “Cruses” for some reason. Since it’s a red giant, past the end of its Main Sequence lifetime, it made sense as the home for a dead planet with a lost civilization, though only under certain circumstances as discussed in the game’s Conclusion.

January 2019:

STA_The_Gravity_of_the_CrimeStar Trek Adventures: The Gravity of the Crime

Will you violate the Prime Directive?

Welcome commander…  Your orders are go undercover on the pre-contact planet of Kalmur to investigate the accidental death of a Federation observer.

When a Kalmuri experiment into artificial gravity goes wildly wrong, an experimental device explodes crushing everyone within the test lab, including a Starfleet scientist, Lieutenant Li, who had infiltrated the project as an observer.

Sent to investigate this apparently accidental death, your team is confronted by a Kalmuri detective, Lanox, who is convinced the deaths are the result of sabotage.

Can you solve this classic locked-room murder mystery without violating Starfleet’s Prime Directive?

Set during the TNG era, this adventure also contains advice for adaptation to other eras including The Original Series.

Available exclusively in PDF download from:

My working title for this was “The Prime Detective.” I changed it because it seemed too easy to misread and miss the pun, but I did use it as the title for Act 2, Scene 1. The premise is based on an unsold original SF murder mystery story I wrote many years ago, one of what I hoped would be a series about a recurring detective character, though it never worked out. The story turned out to be unviable anyway because I made a mistaken assumption about the physics behind the murder mechanism, but it could fit fine into Star Trek’s more flexible physics.

Another inspiration was that I’ve always wanted to do a Star Trek story that was like an inversion of all the movies and TV shows about advanced aliens using their technology to fight evil on present-day Earth — something where Starfleet technology was able to solve crimes that an indigenous culture at a mid-20th-century level or so lacked the means to solve. I was able to do something along those lines in Rise of the Federation: Uncertain Logic, though not with the specific crimefighting focus I imagined. This is also a bit off from that premise, since the Kalmuri are more advanced than what I imagined; also, it’s up to the players to decide whether to use their advanced techniques or try to solve the case using strictly Kalmuri methods.

October 2019:

STA Hard Rock CatastropheStar Trek Adventures: Hard Rock Catastrophe

Unlock the Mystery of the Rock Creatures!

“Captain’s Log, Stardate 8054.1. We have received a distress call from Rikyu, an independent Saurian colony beyond the Federation border. Planetary governor T’Rimushei is requesting assistance with a natural disaster endangering the planet’s cities, although she was vague on the specifics of the threat. The Saurians are famously self-reliant, so it could be that the governor was embarrassed to ask for help – but I got the impression that she didn’t think we would believe her if she told us more.”

This standalone 22-page PDF adventure by Christopher L. Bennett is for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game and is set during the Original Series era. This adventure also contains advice for adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.

Can your crew solve the mystery behind the apparent invasion of giant monsters and stop them before the colony is destroyed?

Available as a downloadable PDF from:

Yes, that’s right — I found a way to tell a kaiju story in Star Trek. You could say it was a… “Passion” project. After my first few pitches were approved, I actually tried to write this one first because I had so much fun with the idea; but the blockbuster-scale action and logistics proved too big and difficult for me to tackle first time out, so I needed to do a couple of other campaigns first to get the hang of the game mechanics.

The Act titles are taken from kaiju movies. Monster Planet is an alternate translation of Godzilla: Planet of the Monsters. War of the Gargantuas is the English title for the second film in Toho’s Frankenstein duology. Final Wars was the last film in the Godzilla Millennium Series, and the Act 3 Scene 3 title Giant Monsters All-Out Attack was the subtitle for the third Millennium film called GMK for short.

I also drew on the worldbuilding I’ve done for the Saurians in my Rise of the Federation novels. While STA is not in the same continuity as the Pocket novels, it is free to draw on ideas from the novels, and some gaming groups may wish to play their campaigns as compatible with the novel continuity. So I approached the Saurians here in a way compatible with how I’ve portrayed their history and culture in the novels.

October 2019:

STA Strange New WorldsStar Trek Adventures: The Whole of the Law (Strange New Worlds: Mission Compendium Vol. 2, Chapter 06)

Strange New Worlds: Mission Compendium Volume 2 presents nine ready-to-play missions for Star Trek Adventures. Within this book Gamemasters will find the means to test their Starfleet officers while encountering a variety of strange new worlds and the lifeforms they contain.

Chapter 06: The Whole of the Law: Visit a strange disk made of hyperdense matter and attempt to survive the wholesome and lethal diversions it offers.

From the Introduction: The Players come upon an exotic object in space: a large, flat disk of hyperdense matter generating its own gravitational field. The structure resists scans, but the ship receives a friendly hail inviting it to dock. The disk habitat is called Thelema, and its builders belong to a race of enlightened anarchists. The habitat is subdivided into a Light Face for relatively wholesome indulgences and a Dark Face for more extreme entertainment – with the strict provision that everyone who enters does so voluntarily.

Available from:

This is another concept that started as an idea from my original fiction, specifically a bit of worldbuilding left over from early drafts of my original duology Arachne’s Crime/Arachne’s Exile. I conceived of the idea of an anarchic recreational space station with Light and Dark sides as described in the above summary, with environments and gravity levels to suit all species, although I imagined more of a double-helix conch-shell structure rotating around its axis. I ended up using that physical structure for a station in Arachne’s Exile but not the Light/Dark duality, so I had to come up with a different megastructure design that would fit the concept. I could’ve gone for some Trekkish artificial gravity system, but it was more interesting to go with a plausible physical model, since I really wanted to live up to the brief of “Strange New Worlds” and come up with a game where the world itself was intriguingly new and different.

I made two cutaway graphics of Thelema for the game, the first of which is surprisingly accurately reproduced in the book, but I guess they didn’t have room for the second one, which showed a closer cross-section of the terraces of Thelema (although there is some orphaned text at the start of Act 2 referring to the “illustration” that isn’t there). So I’m including Figure 2 here for players to use if they wish.

Thelema terraces
STA: The Whole of the Law: Thelema terraces (click to enlarge)

One thing I learned from reading the other games in the SNW book is that I’m still lacking in understanding of some of the game mechanics, particularly the spending of Momentum and Threat points. I hope that omission hasn’t made my games hard for anyone to play.

November 2019:

STA Stolen Liberty coverStar Trek Adventures: Stolen Liberty

Will Your Crew Dare to Break the Prime Directive?

“This is Interlunar Probe Twelve. We are in immediate distress. We are caught in Zafrel’s gravity well. Our orbit is decaying into its outer atmosphere and we are unable to generate sufficient thruster power to break free. We are in full eclipse from Jinidar and unable to contact Master Control. If any other listener is somehow able to receive this message, please respond and advise! Repeat, this is Interlunar Probe Twelve…”

When the crew responds to a call for help, they soon find themselves faced with an ethical dilemma. Does the crew hold to the Federation principles of non-interference, or break regulations to provide assistance?

This standalone 19-page PDF adventure by Christopher L. Bennett is for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game and is set during The Next Generation era. This adventure also contains advice for adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.

Available as a downloadable PDF at the following links:

The tagline is pretty similar to the one they used for The Gravity of the Crime, but rest assured this is a very different Prime Directive story, more global in its stakes. It’s also a story I’ve had in mind for a long, long time, a concept I initially developed for my original fiction decades ago, and then reworked into a Star Trek: Voyager pitch back when I took a couple of stabs at trying to write for that show. (It may have been a TNG pitch before then, but I don’t quite recall.) I’m glad I finally got the chance to dust it off and do something with it.

This was a tricky premise to rework into a game, since it required one or more crew members to take some rather radical actions, and there was no guarantee that any of the players would want their characters to go there. Fortunately, the game mechanics allow for creating Supporting Characters, “guest star” roles that players can take over in situations where their regular characters don’t fit the bill. This was a nice chance to learn how to use a new kind of game mechanic.

February 2021:

Star Trek Adventures: Another Roll of the Dice

Experience time travel and engage Tzenkethi raiders!

“Captain’s Log: We have been ordered to suspend our routine patrol of the Tzenkethi border and proceed to the nearby Federation colony Natsumi’s World, where we will take aboard two agents of the Federation Department of Temporal Investigations. As usual, the DTI has provided no details, stating merely that we are to place ourselves at the disposal of the agents and follow their instructions. Thus, I have no idea whether to prepare my crew to face some unimaginable existential threat or, far more likely with the DTI, days of tedious routine and bureaucratic obstruction.”

When the player characters receive an assignment from the DTI to deliver a powerful alien artifact to DTI facilities, they are soon set upon by Tzenkethi raiders. The ensuing skirmish destabilizes the artifact’s energy field, and the characters discover that they have somehow changed into alternate timeline versions of themselves! Can the characters deal with the sudden changes in themselves and the rest of the crew, and also figure out how to get back to their own time, all the while battling the Tzenkethi?

This standalone 20-page PDF adventure by Christopher L. Bennett is for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game and is set during The Next Generation era. This adventure also contains advice for adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras. Download includes a regular version and a printer-friendly version.

Available as a downloadable PDF at the following links:

Yes, it’s the triumphant return of Agents Lucsly & Dulmur! And it’s consistent with my DTI novels and novellas, while still standing alone as a game scenario.

Normally I’d talk more about the story and my creative process behind it, but I’ve already done that for the STA blog — see below.

August 2022:

Star Trek Adventures: Better Days

Complications suffered while traveling through the Bajoran Wormhole lead to a historically significant mission to Bajor itself.

Starfleet has directed your vessel to carry out a survey mission to the Gamma Quadrant. It should be a relatively simple exploratory mission but, having left Deep Space 9 behind, your passage through the Bajoran Wormhole causes some damage to the ship which forces you to return to the Alpha Quadrant. Further complications mean that you cannot seek help from Deep Space 9, so you must head to Bajor. But it is a very different Bajor than the one you were expecting to find.

The away team must locate the means to repair their ship, while delicately navigating the unexpected cultural situation on the planet. Difficult decisions need to be made regarding Starfleet directives and the future of the Bajor you find yourself upon. Will the crew be able to successfully infiltrate Bajoran society and find their way home without impacting the timeline?

Although this is a standalone adventure, a one-page mission brief provides inspiration for continuing the mission.

This 22-page PDF adventure for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game is written by Christopher L. Bennett, and is set during The Next Generation era with the player characters being the crew of a Starfleet vessel. This adventure also contains advice on adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.

Available as a downloadable PDF at the following links:

The summary is a bit circumspect about what’s going on in the game, but you can probably guess. I talk about it more openly in the behind-the-scenes blog article I wrote for Modiphius, linked below.

October 2022:

Star Trek Adventures: Native Soil

Assisting an archeological team on the planet Avalon leads to a shocking discovery and entangles the crew in a momentous cultural dilemma.

Your orders are to assist an archaeological team being led by an old friend of one of the ship’s command personnel. The planet’s original civilization was wiped out thousands of years ago by a radiation burst. Thankfully, the planet is no longer in danger and a new civilization has since flourished there.

The away team provides support at the digsite and are present when survivors of the original civilization are unearthed, held in stasis. This discovery will help answer a great archaeological puzzle, but poses an even greater challenge when the revived ancients make claims to the planet now inhabited by a new civilization.  

Avalon is an independent colony and the Federation cannot dictate a solution, but the crew are invited to mediate in an attempt to relieve the impasse of ideals and demands. The away team’s advocates face difficult choices and protests from both sides–can they calm the situation and find a solution agreeable to all parties?

Although this is a standalone adventure, a one-page mission brief provides inspiration for continuing the mission.

This 22-page PDF adventure for the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game is written by Christopher L. Bennett, and is set during The Next Generation era with the player characters being the crew of a Starfleet vessel. This adventure also contains advice on adaptation for use in campaigns based in other Star Trek eras.

Available as a downloadable PDF at:

As usual, I discuss it on the Modiphius blog, linked below.

January 2023:

Star Trek Adventures Mission Briefs: Ancient Civilizations

The Galaxy is ancient beyond easy comprehension – on the order of a million times older than Human civilization. Uncounted civilizations have risen and fallen before the dawn of recorded history of any Federation world. While most of their remains have long since vanished, many have left ruins or artifacts that endure to the present. Other ancient societies live on, wielding technologies or mental abilities vastly beyond our own, though not always in a form recognizable to us. The discovery of these ancient civilizations, or their remains, offers immense potential for advancing Federation knowledge, but comes with great peril as well.

This packet presents ten detailed mission briefs you can modify for use as adventures in your Star Trek Adventures campaigns set during the original series or any other era of play with minor modifications. Each mission brief is designed to stand alone, though several are presented with a loose connecting story arc that may be used or disregarded at the gamemaster’s discretion. They may be added to an existing campaign with minor modifications.

Download for free at:

Other STA writing:

October 24, 2019: “Tech Support” column: A short piece I wrote for the Modiphius blog about writing for SNW.

July 2020: The Klingon Empire Core Rulebook: Includes several non-player character bios I wrote (Worf, Kurn, Alexander, K’Ehleyr, Grilka).

February 2, 2021: STA Blog: Another Roll of the Dice: Background and discussion of the game campaign.

August 24, 2022: STA Blog: Better Days: Background and discussion of the game campaign.

October 19, 2022: STA Blog: Native Soil: Ditto.

January 19, 2022: STA Blog: Ancient Civilizations: You know the drill.

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