Humble Bundle - Star Trek Adventures RPG 1e from Modiphius

Here's a bundle that will likely be on the list of many to snag - Star Trek Adventures RPG 1e Bundle from Modiphius. Even if you simply snag it for the Star Trek lore (it even has a book on the classic Star Trek TOS Cartoon) you'll likely get your money's worth. Still not sure about the bundle? A single buck gets you the Star Trek Adventures Starter Set AND an adventure. 36 PDFs for $25!

Assemble your Starfleet crew for this Star Trek bundle of tabletop role-playing books from Modiphius! This TTRPG explorer’s kit contains new character templates, expansions, and campaign guides for the original series, The Next Generation, Discovery, and more. Get everything you need to embark on an epic space journey with your friends while supporting Girls Who Code. Get the bundle and take your Star Trek Adventures experience to the next level!

  The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Rumble or YouTube - Tenkar  

Humble Bundle - All I Need to Know I Learned From Star Trek

Space. The final frontier. 

I was asked yesterday if I was a Trekkie or a Star Wars fan, and I answered B5. But damn, if the original Star Trek isn't a very close second.

If you are a Trekkie, the All I Need to Know I Learned From Star Trek Bundle on Humble Bundle may just be up your alley.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. The Tavern DOES NOT do "Paid For" Articles and discloses personal connections to products and creators written about when applicable.

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar  

What Gaming Stuff Did You Get for Christmas?

This time of year I'm usually excited to get back to work/school so I can do a little gaming "show & tell" with my fellow nerds. Since I'm 51 and the only gamer in my family, the only "nerds" I know are of the sports type I work with. They don't know what a d20 is to save their life, but can tell you who was the coach for any given professional football team in 2005.

As an allegedly grown-ass man I don't get to give my family lists of the shit I want so I generally get money if I get any gifts at all. That isn't an *actual* complaint, mind you....I'm more than fine with not getting gifts at all and money is nothing to sneeze ever since I learned that people will exchange money for stuff I want!

Last year I gave my gaming group some Lulu-printed game books that cover much of our weekly game, albeit with a custom cover I tweaked from the Rick & Morty D&D comics. There were...issues with everyone getting the books and I think it was June or July before everyone got their stuff. This year I didn't do anything....yet. If it's going to be June before people get things then I might as well make it Christmas at NTRPG when I see almost everyone....at least that's the plan.

EDIT: I just found out now (1930 on January 1st, 2023) that two of the players got their 2021 gifts last weekend!

I do have something for one buddy, but since I haven't mailed it off yet, I'm not going to mention it here lest I spoil the surprise. I could wait until June for that one too, but I won't.

Now, that's kind of a lot on what didn't happen this Christmas season, so I'll try to focus on the one dumb thing I did actually do, well kind of two things I did, but one is just random that happened while out and about in December.

Now I've managed to go to NTRPG for the last five years (not quite, but close enough for this blog) and during the year I try to support the con where I can, predominately by hunting for booze to be featured at a future Whiskey Tasting (it's becoming a thing), but also by bidding in the various Facebook auctions the con has (North Texas RPG Con Auctions). I've probably paid too much for a few items, but it helps the cons and usually it's something I really want anyway, so availability is worth the premium. I will also admit that I'll bid on stuff if it hasn't gotten much action and I don't really figure out what items are allegedly worth to begin with......

I also, evidently, do not always remember what I bid on or purchase. This last summer (?) I won a bid of an item and when it arrived I just set the package aside and promptly forgot about it. I'm not even sure how many months passed by before I realized that this was now a mystery package. When I was wrapping up my Christmas gifts, I just threw it in the stack and gave it to myself to unwrap at the family Christmas. I thought it was funny, but my family thought it was a little weird.....but let's be honest, because I game they already think that.

What did I buy, forget, and then gift myself?

Just a cover artist signed copy of Dragon Magazine #206. I have have a cover artist signed #200 already (got it signed in person at an event), and I'm rather pleased with myself. I still do not remember buying this...at all, so it was really a surprise.

The other thing was something I discovered at Half-Price Books in early December. These days it isn't easy to find gaming materials at this chain since "everybody" knows about the place, but occasionally a surprise can be found. I've been looking for some rather obscure reference materials for a family member (so not gaming related) and if I have time I'll stop in to look at the "old" book section as that's where it'd be. I had time to kill before a flight and stopped in this one HPB that has never had much for me, but it was on my way to the airport. I was surprised to find a boxed copy of the FASA Star Trek RPG from 1982. It was marked as "missing pieces" and not that expensive.....BUT it also had a sticker on it indicating that the rulebook had been signed by James "Scotty" Doohan. From what I gather the signature alone goes for 4x what the asking price for the boxed set was!

I was allowed to open it up and while I didn't do a complete inventory, the cards were unpunched and it looked like only one d20 was missing! It appears that whoever got this set only used it for the dice, which is funny to me because I remember, around that time, buying multiple sets of Basic D&D at Waldenbooks on clearance because it was cheaper and easier to get the set for the dice than it was to acquire rpg dice on their own.

So I think I had a decent RPR haul this Christmas......how did you fare?

Humble Bundle - Boldly Go: A Star Trek Comics Collection

I'm finding a new love for comic books, as I can load them onto my iPad and zoom in to appreciate the art and better read the lettering. Yes, my eyes are getting old ;) It isn't only that though, it's the fact that at 55 I've run out of space for new stuff without getting rid of old stuff to make room. Digital comics take up no more space than my iPad does, for hundreds if not thousands of comics. I've been rereading The Sandman and spending countless hours in the worlds of 2000 AD/Judge Dredd recently, and it's been a blast. It looks like I'll be adding Star Trek to the list of comics I'll be reading.

18 bucks get you everything you see on this post, 54 titles in all from the Boldly Go: A Star Trek Comics Collection. You can spend less to receive less, and personally, I'm not all that excited to see Discovery titles in the batch, but maybe the included stories will make the TV series enjoyable, or at least tolerable. There look to be a number of gems in this collection, like The City on the Edge of Forever. What a classic!

Don't forget to subscribe to the Tenkar's Tavern Youtube Channel to ensure you don't miss an episode. https://www.youtube.com/c/TenkarsTavern

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. 

DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat cast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Humble Bundle - Star Trek Adventures - RPG from Modiphius

Star Trek recently returned to my must-watch franchises, with the Brave New Worlds series. Discovery and Picard didn't seem like Star Trek to me, but Brave New Worlds scratches that itch.

Star Trek in its current incarnation is an RPG that I've yet to pick up. I think that's about to change.

The Star Trek Adventures Humble Bundle has two sweet points in my opinion. For a buck, you can get the Starter Set. For 30 bucks you get 32 titles, including the core books. I think that's a decent return on my gaming dollars ;)

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat vidcast on YouTube - Tenkar 

Humble Bundle - the Star Trek Library

For those Trekkies out there, and/or those looking for some deeper lore for their Star Trek RPG Campaigns, Humble Bundle is offering The Star Trek Library.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on YouTube - Tenkar

Humble Bundle is Awash with Tabletop RPG Bundles Right Before Christmas

There are a number of Tabletop RPG Bundles available at Humble Bundle at the moment, and I will list them below. It should be noted that you can gift Humble Bundles (I was gifted a bundle a number of years ago) and said bundles can make for nice gifts for the gamemaster in your life (if you wish to steer them towards a new system - hint, hint) or inexpensive gifts (at the lower price points) for the players in your group.

It should be noted, that if you use any of the links below, they are affiliate links that will go to support The Tavern. If that makes you uncomfortable, you can always go directly to the Humble Bundle site and avoid the affiliate links completely. The choice is yours.

In no particular order, the Tabletop RPG Bundles are:

Cyberpunk by R. Talsorian - If you are looking for Cyberpunk 2020 you'll likely be well covered. You can even get the Cyberpunk Red Jumpstart Kit. 18 bucks get you 30 releases, and as always you can scale down to pay less.

Digital Dungeon Maps, Tokens, & Assets featuring Alyssa Faden - a true smorgasbord of gaming resources. Alyssa's attention to detail in her maps is second to none.

Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner's Bundle - one of the best values in tabletop RPGs was the Pathfinder First Edition Beginner Box. It was a version of Pathfinder I would be willing to play, but the value of the included pogs/tokens is second to none. The PF2 Beginner Box ALSO has the pogs/tokens (I own it - my only PF2 purchase - can't speak for the rules but the contents give value for money). This bundle gives the option of receiving a physical Pathfinder Second Edition Beginner's Box. There is also a Fantasy Grounds Pathfinder First Edition Ultimate GM Kit Bundle available. (edit - I initially mislabeled this for 2e)

Star Trek Adventures by Modiphius - I should pick this bundle up just to see Gareth Skarka's pen name in print ;)

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern. 

You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube, or wherever you listen to your podcast collection. - Tenkar 

Humble Bundle - Star Trek Adventures RPG

Currently, on Humble Bundle, the Star Trek Adventures RPG is available for as little as a buck. Buy-in at the 8 buck level and you can snag a physical copy of the Star Wars Adventures core rulebook at half price.

Purchases made via the Humble Bunde link linked on this page add a small portion of the purchase price to your bartender's coffers. I thank you in advance.

Bundle of Holding - Star Trek Adventures

Interestingly enough, I actually ordered the new Star Trek Adventures rulebook on Amazon just the other week. Now I need to put some time aside to read it ;)

Link to the Star Trek Adventures Bundle of Holding

Star Trek Adventures is a faithful and fascinating tribute to all the TV shows from The Original Series through Voyager and Enterprise, as well as all the original and Next Generation films. In Star Trek Adventures the ability to solve problems, deal with moral dilemmas, unearth ancient mysteries, and conduct diplomacy is just as important as being able to command a ship in action or lead an Away Team under fire. 

This all-new offer lets you beam most of the STA line into your personal loading bay for an unbeatable bargain price. For just US$19.95 you get all seven titles in our Player Collection (retail value $80) as DRM-free .PDF ebooks, including the complete 374-page Star Trek Adventures core rulebook, three Starfleet division books (Command Division, Operations Division, and Sciences Division), and three sets of ready-to-play characters drawn from the TV shows: The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Deep Space 9. 

And if you pay more than the threshold price of $40.58, you'll level up and also get our entire Gamemaster Collection with seven more supplements and missions worth an additional $75, including the Beta Quadrant Sourcebook, the mission collection These Are the Voyages Volume 1, the introductory campaign A Star Beyond the Stars, several shorter adventures, and the Gamemaster Screen & Player References.

Yep, that is an affiliate link above.

Star Trek ™ Adventures Living Playtest Launches - and I'm not in it :(

Yesterday Modiphius announced the kick off of the Star Trek Adventures playtest, with 5k players in the initial pool. That's actually a pretty impressive number of playtesters. Just as impressive is the pool of writers they have working on this game - many of whom are mentioned in the press release (I know of at least one that isn't listed.)

There are still playtest openings available for those interested.

Press release follows:

Hi guys we have some fantastic news today of the awesome writing team putting together Star Trek Adventures™

STAR TREK ™ ADVENTURES LIVING PLAYTEST LAUNCHES WITH THOUSANDS OF GAMERS WORLDWIDE AND STELLAR WRITING LINE-UP LED BY NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLING AUTHOR DAYTON WARD

Written and Developed By Famed Star Trek Novelists and Game Designers, Players Will Make Star Trek History as the Course is Plotted for Exploration and Adventure

LONDON, ENGLAND (December 1, 2016): Modiphius Entertainment, publisher of the Achtung! Cthulhu, Mutant Chronicles, Conan, Infinity and John Carter of Mars roleplaying games, announces the missions for the Star Trek Adventures™ living campaign playtest, to develop the first official Star Trek RPG in more than a decade, are now live with more than 5,000 players and counting. To join the campaign, visit www.modiphius.com/star-trek.

Thousands of players around the world will adventure through the Star Trek universe like never before in an epic storyline written by New York Times Bestselling Star Trek author Dayton Ward and Scott Pearson (Star Trek novellas: The More Things Change, Among the Clouds, Terra Tonight), developed by Nathan Dowdell (Black Crusade, Mutant Chronicles 3rd Edition, Corvus Belli's Infinity: The Roleplaying Game and Robert E Howard's Conan: Adventures in an Age Undreamed Of) and lead writer David F Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time and Space Roleplaying Game, Conspiracy X 2.0, Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG). Joining them are an interstellar line-up including writers from all previous editions of the Star Trek roleplaying game, as well as big names from across the tabletop gaming industry including:

Shawn Merwin (Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition: War of Everlasting Darkness, Halls of Undermountain, Dungeon Delve), Jim Johnson (Lord of the Rings RPG, Mage: The Awakening, Shadowrun Augmentation), Jacob Ross (Legend of the Five Rings, Mongoose Traveller, Kaigaku), Patrick Goodman (Shadowrun: Fifth Edition, Shadowrun: Street Legends, Shadowrun: Storm Front), Ross Isaacs (Line Developer Star Trek RPG (Decipher) and Star Trek: The Next Generation Roleplaying Game (Last Unicorn Games), Ian Lemke (Changeling: The Dreaming, White Wolf Publishing, Earth Down), John Snead (Mindjammer: Traveller, Eclipse Phase, Star Trek Next Generation RPG Last Unicorn Games.), Dan Taylor (IDW Publishing's Star Trek comics), Bill Maxwell (Fading Suns, Star Trek Roleplaying Game, Mage: The Awakening), Tim Beach (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (Red Steel, Maztica Campaign Set, Hail the Heroes, Dungeons of Mastery, City of Delights) and Andrew Peregrine (Doctor Who, 7th Sea, Victoriana).

As well as Aaron Pollyea (Battletech), Oz Mills (Fantasy AGE Bestiary, Dragon Age: Faces of Thedas), Ade Smith (Mutants and Masterminds: Atlas of Earth Prime - Northern Europe, Rogue Gallery. Fainting Goat Games: Extreme Earth), Chris Huff (Mutants & Masterminds Freedom's Most Wanted, DC Adventures RPG Heroes & Villains Volume 1, DC Adventures RPG Heroes & Villains Volume 2), John Kennedy (Ninja Crusade 2E, Infinity Tabletop Roleplaying Game, Myth Board Game), Kevin Mickelson (Mask of Death, A Learning Time, A Frightful Time, A Miraculous Time), Ryan Schoon (Fragged Empire, Edara: The Steampunk Renaissance, Baby Bestiary) and Chris Huff (DC Adventures, Mutants & Masterminds, Pathfinder).

The playtest gives fans of the legendary television series and films the opportunity to contribute to the development of the game; to sit in the captain's chair, seek out new life and new civilizations, give all they've got to a warp core breach, or explore their own adventures in the Star Trek universe.

The living campaign begins with playtest missions and will continue with the release of the core rulebook in the summer of 2017. The living campaign takes place in the Shackleton Expanse, an area of space vastly unexplored by both the Federation and the Klingons. Starbase 364, Narendra Station, named after the battle of Narendra III where the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-C was destroyed, serves as the keep on the borderlands for excursions out into the frontier of space.

As the crews of the U.S.S. Venture, U.S.S. Bellerophon, U.S.S. Thunderchild, explore strange anomalies and discover new life while uncovering an ancient civilization and mysterious technologies, those aboard the U.S.S. Lexington will shape historical events for those very ships.

Assignments are still open for Captains and Officers to take their place aboard the bridge and make Star Trek gaming history. Further, local game shops organizing an in-store playtest group will receive starbase status with pre-order promotions for the game's retail release. Fans attending Dragonmeet in London on Saturday will have the final chance to receive a free Captain Kirk or Captain Picard figure when they sign up for the Star Trek Adventures playtest.

To register yourself or your group online, visit www.modiphius.com/star-trek.

To register as a retailer, visit http://www.modiphius.com/retail-support.html

Under license by CBS Consumer Products, Star Trek Adventures is slated for a Summer 2017 release and the playtest crews will be listed in the Star Trek Adventures book manifest.

™ & ©2016 CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Podcast - Old School Blues - Episode 5 - Star Trek RPGs

To tell you how under the weather I've been for the last two weeks or so, the latest episode of the Old School Blues Podcast released over a week ago and I've only thought of sharing it out now. Yeah, it's been that kind of a month so far.

Episode Five of OSB we talk about Star Trek RPGs. There have been so many different versions of Star Trek RPGs from different publishers, I really should do a post about it.

Anyhow, listen to +Vincent Florio , Colin (from Dead Games Society) and myself talk about Star Trek :)

Star Trek Adventures coming in Summer of 2017 - Star Trek RPG from Modiphius Entertainment

Color me giddy :)

Star Trek WAS my scifi when i was a kid and later as a young adult. Star Wars was something I had to wait years to see, as my parents were on a tight budget, but Star Trek reruns were on the TV all the time.

Modiphius Entertainment has had some very nice releases and I have high hopes for their Conan RPG which I backed on Kickstarter. Strangely enough, Star Trek Adventures WON'T be Kickstarted, but it will be available as a preorder.

What does Star Trek Adventures cover?

Star Trek Adventures will cover Star Trek the Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise as well as all of the Original and Next Generation films. It does not include the new reimagined films by JJ Abrams. 

Hot damn! There is simply so much material to mine for adventures.

Something else that I think is important to note:

Will there be Living Campaigns once the game comes out?  

There will be Star Trek Adventure Living Campaigns running each year with organized play events in stores and special events at major conventions. 

Pretty damn cool even if I currently don't participate in organized play. It should mean a good amount of support. Now, if only they can do better than Margaret Weis Publishing when it comes to retaining licenses...

Games From the Basement - Star Trek: The Adventure Game

Yes, Star Trek: The Adventure Game.  This gem was put out by West End Games.  The best art was the cover, but it uses Star Trek: The Movie (or one of the movies) for the uniforms.  The back cover shows a shot from Star Trek: The Original Series (with Kirk wearing a green shirt, which wasn't that common.  or was it?)

Anyhow, I picked this up for a few reasons back in the day.

First, this sucker was Star Trek.  Star Trek rocked, and was always more my kind of Sci-Fi than Star Wars ever was (not saying Star Wars was bad - it was pretty awesome, but Star Trek is the Sci-Fi I wanted to live).

Second, although it says it's for 2 players, it also prominently stats on the back of the box that it's suitable for solo play.  As a role-player, I never had trouble getting a group together, but getting together for 1 on 1 play was rare to non existent.  What few war games I had I rarely had someone to play with.  A game that billed itself playable by one player sounded awesome.

Alas, few things work out as well as planned, and this was one of them.  The rules were fairly intricate - this was not a sit down and play game, but a sit down, grab a drink and start studying these damn rules.  Fairly heavy rules for something that had a whole book of solo adventure type paragraphs.  Study I did.  Look at the box.  Look at the counters.  Everything was punched out.  I tried, I really tried.  But a s a solo game this sucked.  It was boring.  It was hard to get invested in it.  The counters were less exciting to look at than those of the war games I wasn't playing.

I still think of this game from time to time.  Wondering if it was me.  Was I somehow defective and not the game?  Would it have played better as a two player game (probably, but than again, probably not enough better to justify the experience)?

Ah well, this one is definitely destined to go to storage.  Interesting more as a curiosity to me and little more.  It's a shame, really.

But hey, here's Spock for your Hobbit enjoyment ;)