At 128 pages with no chapters on starships, missions or campaigns, this new supplament seems really small. Compared to the Discovery sourcebook at 224 pages and the Shackleton sourcebook at 310 pages, it’s really hard to justify the price point - and Strange New Worlds is my favorite series. I’ve been waiting and hoping for this sourcebook, but not like this. Looking through the table of contents, it even looks like a large portion of the book is repetitive period guides that we’ve seen in other books, such as DISCO and the FED/Klingon War book.
Am I wrong? I hope so. Somebody please prove me wrong.
I think this was a real missed opportunity. It’s the first STA release that I’m not getting.
No, I have not purchased it, hence the qualifier “seems”. If you have, how do you compare it to the other texts I mentioned? Still, I think that my observations regarding the lacking chapters is still valid. If its the SNW sourcebook, I’d have liked to see the new ships from S2 and 3 like the DISCO book had.
I was under the impression that they’re waiting for SNW to finish before making that. It does seem a little weird to have a 23rd-century book, that includes SNW and updated TOS characters*, if that’s actually the case.
*
If you pre-order; I assume they’ll be available as standalones later.
Well, fluff-wise there’s definetly a lot. Each “period” within the 23rd century gets a sound writeup with galactic tapestry of canon events that contain more than enough plot seeds for a gaming group’s lifetime of adventure. Same for Technology and Politics in general, the major and some minor factions in the Alpha/Beta Quadrant get some space to shine (and, again, provide plot seeds).
There’s also a well-structured GM section, laid out to help generate adventures “fitting” to the era and it’s periods/decades. The short sections on the tone, the themes and tropes, and different styles of game seem really handy when it comes to designing missions (the qualifier “seem” being used because I have not yet used the book to create a mission for my players).
Regarding crunch, however: A lot is indeed updated from DISCO and especially the FED/Klingon War book. The new rule-sets focus on creating a character of the 23rd century. One new possibility for character creation is that it’s now possible to set a specific world (such as Andoria, Earth, Qo’nos or Vulcan) as the “Environment” during character creation (rather than “homeworld”, “starbase” oder “other species’ world”). Which is a nice detail, yet nothing one would use too often. There’s also a set of new Career Events a character might choose during creation, depicting pivotal moments during the 23rd century such as the Logic Extremist Attacks (seen in ENT), the Tarsus IV Massacre, the Babel Conference or the Whale Probe Crisis. These are actually pretty cool to create characters that breathe the era (and I do actually hope to see this for the TNG/DS9/VOY era some day). But, again, character creation material. Most (other) optional rules presented seem to be FED/Kling War, updated to 2e.
In essence:
Is it anemic? Not necessarily, depending on what you expect from such a book. It’s definetly worth a read.
Is it expensive? Definetly, yes: It is expensive.
As mechanically significant as choosing “Starbase” or “Other Species’ World”. As always: each environment grants Value, Attribute and Department (1e: Discipline).
Oh, and I forgot: There’s also a new career path option. Instead of graduating at Starfleet Academy (etc.) you can also choose to be a Free Trader.
So it changes which ones you get bonuses to. That’s what I’d have thought it would do, just wasn’t sure if actually changed that or if it just changed the name. That’s a significant undertaking if they decide to do all the major planets.
They did Andoria, Betazed, Denobula, Earth, Qo’nos, Risa, Romulus, Tellar Prime, Trill, and Vulcan. 10 instead of 6 options (technically 16 as you could use the “classic” options as stand-ins for other worlds) indeed is nice.
I expect these environment writeups to appear in other upcoming material, just as (and alongside of) the occasional new species and/or ship.
