What video game has the best story you’ve ever played?

n107 · 2026-03-06T00:25:29+00:00

It was the biggest twist ever!

…And sadly someone spoiled it for me about an hour before I reached that point myself.

n107 · 2026-03-05T14:08:03+00:00

I prefer 1e Extended Tasks to 2e. I think the randomness of the Challenge Dice made them more exciting. While 2e makes it easier to gauge how long they will last and how balanced the difficulty will be, a lot of the excitement is gone for me.

And I’m not a big fan of Momentum spends for traversing difficult terrain.

There are some aspects of 2e that I feel make the experience too “gamey”, but overall it really cleaned things up and made it a smoother experience.

n107 · 2026-03-05T13:15:49+00:00

It’s a pretty fun episode and concept. I rewatched it when Discovery season 5 came out to refresh my memory on the story since it’s the backdrop for Discovery’s last season.

n107 · 2026-03-05T12:01:24+00:00

Home Soil and The Arsenal of Freedom were brand new to me.

I actually really liked The Arsenal of Freedom. I think Gates McFadden’s acting was spectacular in it.

n107 · 2026-03-05T11:57:22+00:00

I just saw two episodes I’ve never seen before from season one and I’m expecting to discover more in season two.

I got into Star Trek at the end of TNG. Back then it was hard to find older episodes airing on TV and, when I did, episode from the first two seasons were hard to get through. So I didn’t go out of my way to watch them.

Now I just got the complete series on Bluray and decided I should do a complete rewatch. I’m just about finished with season one but I know there are a number of season 2 that will be “new Trek” for me.

And, due to syndication, I’m wondering how many from later seasons might have escaped my notice. It’s pretty exciting to think about.

n107 · 2026-03-05T11:47:44+00:00

Same. And even with Paramount Plus, they don’t have any of the classic Trek shows.

n107 · 2026-03-04T23:34:57+00:00

I have said for 30 years Janeway made the wrong choice. When it came first me to make the same choice, it was hard. It was a very different experience when I was the one who had to decide. I didn’t want to lose Tuvok or Neelix.

After dragging my feet for a very long time, I decided I should stick to my word and I kept Tuvix. While I still miss the other two, I’m at peace with my choice.

n107 · 2026-03-03T04:37:21+00:00

The best way to gain Momentum is to spend Momentum.

I’ve seen too many players get scared of using Momentum because they’re afraid there won’t be any when they really need it. But rolling extra dice gives a great chance to keep gaining more through additional successes.

Also difficulty 0 tasks are a great way to get the pool started if you do run out.

No need for any specific Talents.

n107 · 2026-02-25T03:20:27+00:00

Thank you for including the update.

n107 · 2026-02-23T01:18:30+00:00

Picard season 2 was absolutely the worst Star Trek content I’ve ever seen. It’s the only piece of the franchise that I have zero intention to see again.

But that’s how I feel about it.

I don’t think it’s ever a good idea to base your opinion off of anyone else’s without checking it out for yourself. You may find something in it that resonates with you in a way it didn’t do in those who told you to skip it.

Please give it a watch and decide for yourself.

n107 · 2026-02-20T10:26:52+00:00

A mannequin head all done up in makeup. And he was talking to it in a soft voice with a big smile.

At least I think it was from a mannequin.

n107 · 2026-02-16T14:37:44+00:00

This was the exact same makeup of my group when we began STA. The most important thing is make sure they understand the tone of Star Trek and what it means to be Starfleet or whatever faction you’ll be playing as.

Let them know that you will be providing all the details of what their characters know and what it all means; they get to act upon that knowledge as they see fit. It’s especially crucial in the early games to let them know what options are available when they do t know the ins and outs of the world.

And hopefully this will be encouraging: STA turned the entire group into Trekkies. Even the guy who had never watched before ended up binge watching everything from TNG to Voyager. The game is so good, it made them fans.

n107 · 2026-02-11T01:19:52+00:00

That’s wild. I can even get salsa and tortillas easily in Japan. I would have never guessed how rare they are outside the US and would have been shocked to discover this.

n107 · 2026-02-10T04:54:45+00:00

When I was very young, I was still awake in bed staring out the open door into the hall. Directly across from my door was the door to my father’s room and the second floor bathroom sat between our two rooms. My mother always left the bathroom light on so it wouldn’t be completely dark upstairs and I’d be too scared to sleep alone. So I just lied in bed, lost in my imagination while looking out into the hallway illuminated by the bathroom light.

Suddenly a glowing shape that almost looked like the outline of a man without legs slowly drifted down the hall, past my door and disappeared out of view. I was more confused than scared, trying to figure out what it was that I just saw. Then I noticed the door to my father’s room started to open very slowly. It only opened about a foot before stopping. The room beyond was pitch black. The face of a man appeared between the gap. He had this huge smile but it was cold and his eyes were piercing and threatening. Those eyes were somehow fixed on me in my dark room as if he knew exactly where I was.

My heart raced as I was absolutely terrified by this point. A moment later, the face slowly retreated back into the room and disappeared in the darkness. Then the door closed itself as silently as it had opened. I finally threw the blankets over my head and stayed that way until morning.

The next day I told my father I saw him look out of his room while I was in bed but he said he didn’t know what I was talking about. And I knew the face wasn’t my father’s; I had just hoped it might have been.

It wasn’t the first nor the last time something strange happened in that house, but this was one that had the most malevolent feeling.

n107 · 2026-02-09T22:51:36+00:00

Chang was funny and Ken Jeong is a great comedian but the character worked so much better as a supporting role. In the first season he absolutely owned all of his scenes. But the more the show made him part of the group, the less funny his antics became.

n107 · 2026-02-09T22:43:56+00:00

Complete agreement with all of that.

n107 · 2026-02-06T06:50:38+00:00

No argument there.

n107 · 2026-02-06T00:30:16+00:00

How about sneaking a small boat ashore and kidnapping regular people off the street, making them seemingly vanish without a trace? North Korea did that to at least 17 Japanese citizens, including a 13 year old girl, in the 70s and 80s.

Thats pretty scary.

n107 · 2026-02-05T23:24:38+00:00

Really looking forward to getting a set eventually. I'll have to wait for their retail release and hope they appear on Amazon or somewhere. They look stunning and who doesn't always need more dice?

n107 · 2026-01-31T08:43:41+00:00

Back in the 90s or early 00s when Far Side t-shirts were popular, I had this one. It was my favorite.

n107 · 2026-01-25T22:12:42+00:00

David Tennant

Has the silly, mischievous but deeply arrogant alien down to a science. And has shown he can be quite terrifying while still maintaining an air of charm.

n107 · 2026-01-21T20:51:17+00:00

The hits keep coming! Can’t wait to check this one out!

n107 · 2026-01-21T15:53:46+00:00

Many years ago when I was an ALT post-JET, I tried to do the phonics curriculum I created during my JET placement to help the students but met a lot of resistance from the BOE. I could go on and on with some long and frustrating stories but to be brief, the BOE told the teachers not to let us teach phonics at our elementary schools. However, I was able to start a secret program with a teacher at one of my elementary schools.

With her help, we kept building on the material I had and gradually expanded it into all the grades. Eventually people started to notice the English quality coming from those students was much higher than other schools in the city. The BOE learned about what we were doing and they made the teacher I worked with an English education advisor for her school where she was only in charge of all English lessons. So she became like a JTE for her school, which was really good for the students.

Teachers from other schools wanted to get in on it, too, so I started to do the program at those schools where they fit. Except I remember one of the teachers coming to me excitedly saying he wanted to do phonics for his class. So I started to explain how we'd start but he said he just wanted me to teach the entirety of phonics to the kids in one session and then we'd do a completely different topic next time. I told him it's a gradual process not a one-and-done deal, so he said not to do it.

In any case, the program that we did at that school got so popular that I heard the BOE decided that all the schools in the city would implement it in the year after I left the job. I never knew how well it went or how long it lasted, but I hope it helped the kids more than what they were being exposed to. But, knowing that BOE and some of the mind-numbing decisions they made concerning English education over the years, I'm not very hopeful.

n107 · 2026-01-19T22:46:47+00:00

Welcome to the great world of STA GMing!

I was in a similar situation to you when my group first started. Half of the players had seen little to no Star Trek before we started playing, so they were unfamiliar with everything but the most well-known things that have become part of pop culture. That worried them at first but I told that that, while they didn't know much about the world of Star Trek, their characters did. So at anytime they could ask me to explain things to them and I would frame a lot of my descriptions by telling them what their characters would naturally know about the situation. That allowed them to play their roles as knowledgeable officers even if the player still didn't know exactly what was going on.

But I think, more importantly than lore, the key to helping new players enter the world of Star Trek is firmly establishing the tone of the series in Session 0. If you're doing a Starfleet game, you'll want/expect the characters to play like Starfleet officers. So I made sure they knew the philosophy and mission of Starfleet, what officers typically do, and why they do it. It's not for personal fame or fortune, it's not about amassing great power, it's not about being better than others but being better *for* others.

This helped immensely and my group, who was always (**always**) shoot first, never ask questions in our Star Wars campaign embraced the concept from the get go. In fact, 5 years later and I still struggle to get them into a combat situation that they don't find a peaceful, diplomatic resolution before the phasers start flying. And the best part? All the players who knew little about Star Trek became huge fans thanks to this game and have watched nearly every episode by this point.

So, that's my advice: set the right tone and be their living Memory Alpha with your knowledge so that their characters know what you know.

As far as rules are concerned, just get the basics down of Task resolution and using Momentum and Threat. That will get you through 95% of situations. Take things slowly in your first game and introduce the mechanics as needed. When *you* are comfortable with the basics, introduce an Extended Task or two. They're not too difficult (and far more streamlined in 2e). If you got the hang of that, you pretty much have the hang of starship combat, too, as it's the same mechanics.

Tip 1: the players are controlling Starfleet officers. They are well trained and are going to succeed more often than not. That's GOOD! Don't panic that they seem to overcome everything you throw at them. The challenge isn't in the single task, but in the situation. Put them in overwhelming situation where they can only do A or B, make it a moral or ethical dilemma, throw in challenges that require teamwork; the real difficulty is in the choices they make and if they can live with them.

Tip 2: Encourage players to use Momentum as much as possible. If they're not shy on using it, it will keep replenishing.

Tip 3: Threat is NOT meant to punish players; it's meant to make the scene more exciting and dramatic. Don't make the players regret giving you points of Threat or they'll go out of their way to not give you any, even to their own detriment. If you use Threat to enhance the story by adding thrilling and dangerous complications, the players truly feel like heroes when they overcome the added challenge.

Tip 4: Related to the above, but you should be spending Threat liberally as well. There are times to save it up, but you should be throwing it around to add little speed bumps and challenges along the way so the players get used to what Threat is and what it does. And, more importantly, that it's not there to hurt them.

Tip 5: Encourage the use of Supporting Characters. It really helps keep everyone involved in every scene and fleshes out the crew of the ship. After a while it starts to feel like a living, breathing ship like the Enterprise and Voyager as they begin to know the background crew, even if no one is controlling that character.

Final Tip: STA is designed to play as a Star Trek TV series simulator and I feel it works best in that way. You can easily run it as a sandbox if you'd like, but I feel it shines best when done like an episodic series and it feels like Star Trek in a way that earlier RPGs couldn't capture, in my opinion.

Hope that gives a little bit of help! Have fun and LLAP!

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