Star Trek Adventures: Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide out now!

If you’re into Star Trek and roleplaying games and you haven’t yet sampled the Star Trek Adventures roleplaying game, we need to have a chat about that because I think you’re missing out on some kickass gaming potential.

Those of you who follow my ramblings are (hopefully) aware that I make occasional contributions to the game. My association with Modiphius Entertainment began waaaaaaay back in 2016 when friend, fellow word pusher, and STA’s project manager, Jim Johnson, invited me to work with him and Scott Pearson on some early story development. This resulted in the “Living Campaign,” something of a juiced up testbed where players took the then-new game’s rules out for a spin and offered feedback to the developers while (hopefully having a good time).

Working with direction from Jim and the rest of the game’s core team of developers, Scott and I created “the Shackleton Expanse,” a region of space ripe for exploration within the game’s setting, as well as the “Tilikaal,” a mysterious alien race which along with the Expanse itself was to be the main driver for the living playtest. We laid down some basic info on the area and the aliens, provided some story springboards as to how a proper campaign might evolve over time with additional adventure scenarios thrown into the mix – those offered by Modiphius as well as anything a gamemaster might devise for their group of players – sat back, and watched what happened.

Wow. Did stuff happen.

First, STA’s development team led by Chris Birch, Sam Webb, Nathan Dowdell, Dave Chapman, the aforementioned Jim Johnson, and so many others have some serious game (if you’ll pardon the expression). Fans and players wasted no time time diving into the game and playtesting the hell out of it. Based on the info I received, responses were positive across the board, and new material – not just the core rulebooks and other supplements one expects from a major RPG undertaking like this, but also new scenarios and add-ons just for the Living Campaign – was in high demand.

The crew at Modiphius answered that call in fine fashion, continuing to support the playtest arena while at the same time bringing to store shelves an impressive array of rulebooks, guidebooks, and other accessories designed to scratch the Star Trek Adventures itch. Heck, if you decided being a Starfleet officer wasn’t your bag, they even went so far as to create an entire complimentary game system with its own rules just so you could play the game entirely from a Klingon point of view. How about dem apples?

“But, wait,” I can hear someone asking. “Dayton, what about that Shackleton thing?”

Which of course brings you to the reason for today’s blog post. Rather than force you to read even more of my own blatherings on this newest release, I’m going to let the Modipius gang tell you all about it:

The Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game presents a thrilling, all-new area of the Beta Quadrant to explore: the Shackleton Expanse.

Countless wonders and mysteries await within, including strange spatial phenomena that confuse sentient life-forms as well as starship sensors, ancient alien technologies powerful enough to move or obliterate entire star systems, dangerous new species to encounter, and so much more!

EXPLORE STRANGE NEW WORLDS! A detailed sandbox setting centered on the Shackleton Expanse and Starbase 364, the only jointly-run Federation-Klingon starbase.

SEEK OUT NEW LIFE AND NEW CIVILIZATIONS! Five new playable alien species, including the Orions and four species unique to the Shackleton Expanse.

BOLDLY GO WHERE NO ONE HAS GONE BEFORE! An epic 10-part campaign spanning the Original Series and The Next Generation eras, featuring the mysterious Tilikaal.

This new guidebook collects and greatly expands upon all of the early material describing the Shackleton Expanse, Starbase 364 and the starships assigned to it, the nature of the Federation-Klingon cooperative effort in this area of space, and the Tilikaal. It also collects for the first time those adventure scenarios used to drive the Living Campaign as well as a new set of scenarios and mission briefings that push forward the story of the Tilikaal and Starfleet’s efforts across more than a century and two iconic eras of Star Trek history to understand this mysterious alien race.

I had a tremendous amount of fun contributing to this new addition to the game, working alongside Jim and Scott as well as fellow writers Kelli Fitzpatrick and Derek Tyler Attico. There’s also the STA core development team to thank, not just for their support but also in creating such a kick-ass game in the first place, and for inviting me along for the ride. So, this is me doing that very thing right now.

The Shackleton Expanse Campaign Guide is available right now in digital-first PDF format. Meanwhile, pre-orders for the massive hardcover print edition are also being taken, with shipments expected to begin in October.

What are you waiting for? Adventures await, you know.