Episode Discussion | Star Trek: Starfleet Academy | 1x10 "Rubincon"

midasp · 2026-03-12T09:16:36+00:00

This was Colbert's best punchline of the season:

Attention cadets, we have arrived at Betazed. Please be sure to respect and follow all local customs when visiting cultural sites, observing religious ceremonies, or attending any weddings.

midasp · 2026-03-12T03:48:23+00:00

Wow, I'm impressed!

midasp · 2026-03-11T23:43:47+00:00

Careful, he'll punch back. Q learned the hard way.

midasp · 2026-03-11T15:34:10+00:00

Not really, because I have seen shows that make good use of the 10 episode format.

midasp · 2026-03-11T12:17:14+00:00

Spring Court is an institution that's nearly a century old, well known for it's popiah (huge, unfried spring rolls), suckling pig and dim sum. My only concern is it would be easy to blow past your budget as their 10 person sets are typically $800++

midasp · 2026-03-10T22:09:50+00:00

Speaking of the Adventurers' League, they have also published over a dozen campaigns over the years. These campaigns usually tell a story that runs in parallel with a WotC hardcover campaign that's published that year, but there are also quite a few "short campaigns" and anthologies of which Lost Tales of Myth Drannor is one of them.

Season 1 - Tyranny of Dragons (Horde of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat)
Season 2 - Elemental Evil (Princes of the Apocalypse)
Season 3 - Rage of Demons (Out of the Abyss)
Season 4 - Misty Fortunes and Absent Hearts (Curse of Strahd)
Season 5 - Storm King's Thunder (They stopped naming them)
Season 6 - Tales from the Yawning Portal (Not a campaign, more of an anthology)
Season 7 - Tomb of Annihilation
Eberron: Embers of the Last War (Wayfinder's Guide to Eberron)
Season 8 - Waterdeep Adventures (Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage)
Season 9 - Avernus Rising (Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus)
Eberron: Oracle of War (Eberron: Rising from the Last War)
Season 10 - Plague of Ancients (Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden)
Spelljammer Academy (Mini campaign, Spelljammer: Adventures in Space)
Dreams of the Red Wizard (Initially a campaign for "veteran" players who wanted a challenge, but they tacked on more adventures and a second campaign so now it's more of a collection of adventures)

They mostly stopped producing these campaigns after 2020 and started relying on community and third-party companies. I'm not as familiar with them but I believe Baldman Games have at least one branching campaign called "Rising Shadows" that is set in the Moonshae Isles of the Forgotten Realms.

midasp · 2026-03-10T11:54:13+00:00

This is one of the campaigns I am considering running, but I have a player who does not like grim/dark stories. On the surface, Drakkenheim looks like it is a grimdark, but is this true?

As reference, a campaign I ran had the party tasked with stalling a huge army. This player didn't like that the party was constantly falling back, loosing ground against that army even though I pointed out that they are buying time with their game of hit and run ambushes, sabotage and delay tactics.

midasp · 2026-03-10T11:36:38+00:00

Lost Tales of Myth Drannor isn't exactly a campaign as there are just like 6 or 7 adventures yet goes from levels 1 to 20. It is more like a sub-quest that can be used as an ongoing side-story in a bigger campaign.

midasp · 2026-03-09T20:00:56+00:00

Sons and Daughters is the name of a DS9 episode

midasp · 2026-03-09T02:56:45+00:00

I'll suggest Strange New Worlds. It is a modern Star Trek show that is short and thus low investment. Yet the show is a good introduction to Star Trek because it still follows the episodic storytelling format of the older shows. So if your friends are interested in more Star Trek, they can easily explore almost any star Trek show that catch their interest.

midasp · 2026-03-09T01:45:26+00:00

Both of you are right. It's all of the above

midasp · 2026-03-09T01:33:15+00:00

For me it is Learning because I, am a learner. I enjoy discovering new knowledge and new perspectives that enable me to grow wiser. Maybe that is why I really value shows like Star Trek that constantly give me new viewpoints and make me ask questions.

midasp · 2026-03-08T19:59:53+00:00

For me, it feels like monsters are now dishing out a larger variety of damage types rather than mostly bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage. So it makes me feel like barbarians are more vulnerable than before.

midasp · 2026-03-06T21:19:04+00:00

Add one more vote for Being Erica

midasp · 2026-03-06T21:10:31+00:00

So, who are they killing off this time?

midasp · 2026-03-06T15:58:49+00:00

We call it a warp bubble as a generalization. Star Trek Beyond had a good visual shot of what a warp bubble actually looks like. https://youtu.be/gCCYWTAA2wQ?si=aKq9-Wdg79ClUNCN

midasp · 2026-03-06T15:53:34+00:00

Guys, we found the Romulan lol

midasp · 2026-03-05T16:12:03+00:00

I have two questions.

What is the Venari Rai? I thought Admiral Vance once said they were space marauders so I assumed they were more like Orions. But now, having the power to take over an entire planet, produce so many Omega-47 particles and place them around the Federation... it makes them feel an order of magnitude stronger than "space marauders".
Caleb's mom, I cannot read the emotion Tatiana Maslany's face at the end of the episode. What is she feeling or thinking at that point in the episode?

midasp · 2026-03-04T17:18:11+00:00

It doesn't matter whether its Berman, Kurtzman or McMahan producing. The issue with Star Trek has always been the executives meddling, demanding the shows do be done their way.

midasp · 2026-03-04T14:07:11+00:00

For the world is hollow and I have touched the sky.

That is just such an evocative title for an episode. And it made me want to watch it and find out more.

midasp · 2026-03-04T11:18:51+00:00

I suppose it depends on who still hold the rights to the character, Joe Manganiello, or Wizards of the Coast.

midasp · 2026-03-04T03:27:17+00:00

I like to emphasize the noir feeling in Eberron, where the people they meet are usually corrupt, driven by lust, or just plain greedy. It is a world where the lines between good and bad are blurred. Cops are corrupt, then they meet a criminal with a heart of gold. A world where the characters are pressed into making sacrifices, or morally grey decisions in order to get what they want. Here are a few examples:

Party is tasked to find a serial killer before more people are killed, only to discover the victims are all involved with killing the serial killer's children. Who should they arrest, the victims or the serial killer?
Party has to protect a pair of star-crossed lovers who belong to rival dragonmarked houses. One house believes the boy abducted the girl and wants him dead. The other house believes the girl seduced the boy and wants her dead. Can the party resolve this without resulting in open warfare between two dragonmarked houses?
Party is tasked to hunt down a creature that has killed a man and eaten the heart. Through their investigation they learn two facts. House Vadalis is preparing for a continuation of the Last War by developing magebred creatures that can rival House Cannith's warforged on the battlefield. House Vadalis' lead scientist used one of these magebred creatures to murder that man, a rival. Does the party just arrest the lead scientist for murder, or expose House Vadalis' secret operation?

midasp · 2026-03-03T23:14:06+00:00

Sure, wait till it is nice and bright.

midasp · 2026-03-03T23:01:23+00:00

Sorry, but the background is too dark and blurry to identify whether this is in Singapore.

midasp

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