Is there something somewhere that’s like a cheat sheet?
Specifically, things like talents are spread out over several books (at least five for me, I have several more I haven’t read in depth yet and could have more), and the character generator only gives the name of the talents but the name doesn’t alway indicate what actually happens. So I was wondering if anyone has done any cheat sheets for things like that? I could do it myself, but just thought I’d ask first.
I made a list on airtable here: https://www.reddit.com/r/startrekadventures/comments/th65en/talents_list_spreadsheetdatabase/ (note that you can’t copy/paste or download it per Modiphius’ request).
The character creator at https://sta.bcholmes.org/ also has a list with descriptions, and if you use a 2-page character sheet template, the sheet itself willhave the full description of the talent.
Thank you! I hadn’t realised just how extensive the list of talents are. I think I’ll use the alternative character creator, which is actually quite useful (your table is great and comprehensive, but a tad unwieldy for referencing at the table during a scene). It’s unfortunate that it doesn’t give the extended details (it was the Liberated Borg implants that made me consider this problem, and it doesn’t give the details for the specific choices), but I was able to add them in the extra space provided. Appreciated!
In theory you should be able to sort or filter the table, or use the find feature for a specific talent… but yes, the intention was very much for use during character creation or general reference, not use in-play, which is why it’s unwieldy and doesn’t contain extra info (although that info is generally limited to specific cases, such as the Borg Implants you noted).
Is there a list somewhere of which supplements provide which races? I’ve noticed several races in both character creators (the one you provided as well as the one done by Modiphius) that I haven’t seen in my books specifically:
Barzan
Cybernetically Enhanced
Gorn
Jem’Hadar
Reman
Romulan
Vorta
Some of those, I’d have expected to have seen in the books, but things tend to be all over the place, so I was wondering if there was a list of where everything is from so I can decide what is worth getting? I’ve tried filtering but the filters don’t seem to work well - there are races left that I know should have been filtered out.
Discovery Campaign Guide, p. 91
Discovery Campaign Guide, p. 96
Beta Quadrant, p. 117 (not a “full” writeup, though, does not contain optional species talents)
Core Rulebook, p. 332 (without species talents)
Beta Quadrant, p. 106 (without species talents)
Core Rulebook, p. 321 (without species talents)
Picard Season 1 Crew Pack, p. 12 (with species talents)
Core Rulebook, p. 332 (without species talents)
Core Rulebooks and Setting Supplements (Quadrants, Eras (don’t miss the Year Five Tie In!, Shackleton) contain species. All species contained in Crew Packs (VOY, DIS, and PIC) are also in other supplements (with maybe(!) the exception of the talents of Romulans; would need to check that). Within said supplements, there are two places to look for, the “Lifepath Options” being the obvious. Make sure to also check the NPC sections, sometimes, shorter writeups are there in sidebars. These are the “not full writeups” I referenced above.
Thank you for your help and effort! It’s appreciated!
WRT character packs, you said they’re replicated elsewhere, where are Soong-Type Androids and Holograms? I have the packs, but I didn’t find those elsewhere.
Huh, good catch. Completely forgot those; only thought about Romulans (PIC Season 1 / Core Rules) and Liberated Borg (VOY Crew / Delta Quadrant). You’re right, these are limited to Crew Packs, thank you!
Gorn are in the lower decks book.
Apparently I made a view for that in airtable as well: https://airtable.com/app2LVInQwCmyRWzb/shrevx2C19EPOQnl3. This table is a function of the way the airtable talents database works, and was originally just a list of species to fill the ‘species’ field in the talents list, but is also useful this way.
Note that not all of the species you mentioned are there, since some are only NPCs in the offical books (so far). The Jem’Hadar have stats in both core books, and Remans and Vorta are in Quadrant books (as I recall; I think Remans may have some stats in the core books).
You may also note that Gorn is listed as being from the Iconic Villains character pack—I was going to also create a list of NPC Special Rules, which would have included species-specific Rules and pulled info from the species table. That didn’t seem worth the time to do, since there’s not as many of them and they’re often character-specific.
Cybernetically Enhanced also isn’t technically a “species”—the Disco Campaign Guide has guidance there.
Edit: It is worth noting that some species that @MisterX has listed as NPCs without species talents do have NPC Special Rules that can be used as species talents; e.g. the Jem’Hadar “Shroud” ability.
Nope, both standard and Tricorder core books only mention Remans once(!), both in a text on Tal Shiar Tactics and the mistakes of the Earth-Romulan-War we sadly never saw in ENT.
The Klingon core rulebook is a bit more verbose, mentioning the events around Shinzon. Yet, no NPCs that I could find with a quick search.
Correct. Thank you!
Edit: @Linklite Actually, Soong-Type-Androids are in the brand new Captain’s Log standalone solo roleplaying game. 
I’m going to be running the Shackleton Expanse as a hexcrawler type exploration. Does anyone know of a good map for it or where a good place to create one is? I’d like to keep track of what has been explored and also prepare stuff in advance…so it would be nice to have a good map with hexes on it, preferably something that I can use keys with etc.
I’m tempted! But considering Utopia Planitia right now…
Soong-type androids are in the TNG crew pack PDF, and Holograms are in the Voyager crew pack PDF.
Both are great. Note that the Soong-Type-Android writeup in Captain’s Log is lacking species talents.
The random tables in Captain’s Log will be great for a hex crawl type game, providing loads of adventure seeds and even more exciting and different locations. Yet, Utopia Planitia will be great for a Standard Game. With the tables already in Shackleton and the Core Rules (maybe Science Division Supplement, if you happen to own it) will be enough to generate loads of adventures, so Captain’s Log could easily wait for a bit. I recommend both, of course. 
But I’m both a Star Trek and a 2d20 fan to my core, so your mileage may vary.
@Modiphius-Jim The point was that I (erroneously) thought that all species presented in Crew Packs were replicated elsewhere in major products of the line. These two are the exceptions as Linklite correctly pointed out.
You know the thread on hex-crawling the Shackleton Expanse in this forums already?
With regard to a map: Do you want to take three dimensionality into consideration or will a “flat” star chart be enough for you?
@Modiphius-Jim shall correct me, but: A definitive map of the Expanse was intentionally left out so Players are encouraged to come up with their own, fitting their needs. Yet, you’ll find rough outlines of a part of it on the backmatter of the Core Rulebook, the frontmatter of the Shackleton Expanse Campaign Setting and in the Beta Quadrant sourcebooks. Extrapolate from there; I’d say that’s about the third or, at most, half of the Expanse what’s in there. Maybe more, as you see fit.
I think Romulan in Picard S1, and Kwejian in Disco S3 are also not in other books (Kelpian from Disco is in the Disco Campaign Guide). (Romulans only get the NPC-style single paragraph write-up in the core book.)
Are there talents in the CL book at all? I think I read somewhere that the streamlined version of the rules leaves out d6s, so I’m wondering now how much else it leaves out (if that’s correct).
No talents, no challenge dice. Streamlined combat.
I decided to get UP (along with Klingon dice) in the end. I might grab CL later, but I felt the space frames etc were more needed and I don’t want to overdo it on Shackleton. I might grab CL later when there are fewer pulls on my wallet
So far, I’ve got CRB, KCRB, Shackleton, the three divisions and the four quadrants, plus the two mission compendiums. And UP, obviously.
Yup! I found it when Googling for the map and bookmarked it ready for when I find the map I want to use to create the Expanse map.
As much as the physicist in my
E demands 3D, I think a 2D map will be better. Even setting complexity aside, I’m a little nervous about creating enough adventures to meaningfully populate a 2D map, never mind 3D. I’m a lot better at running published adventures than I am at creating them.
Which leads me to a run-on question…did you give each star system an adventure? How “dense” were your adventures, if not in every system? How much time did the party spend just surveying things rather than getting into hijinks and shenanigans?
I think you’ll manage. Ignoring CRB and KCRB, you have 10 Missions in the Living Campagin, plus 17 in the two compendiums. These are 27 missions, or about half a year of gameplay, if you game on a weekly basis. I would dream of gaming on a weekly basis. After you feel confident enough with improvising (because this is what your players probably will force you to do, anyway 
) start throwing in Mission Briefs. You’ve got 12 with KCRB that might need a tweak or to to adapt to your campaign (assuming you play Starfleet), 10 with UP that will fit anywhere you want them, so both are maybe not counting to “populate” your map. But. 36 Briefs in Shackleton plus (until now) and no less than 100(!) Briefs you can download for free from Modiphius are at your fingertips.
If you count one star system per mission, you’ll have to roll up quite a lot of star systems until you run out of material you already have or can access for free.
Well, I always assumed that every star system contained at least something. They’re called “notable systems” in the generator in Shackleton for a reason. The sector creation tables in Shackleton already assume that you leave out all the “dead” system with only a sun and a few uninhabited planets devoid of any life and never touched by any spacefarers, leaving you with only the “interesting” systems. If your gaming group enjoys “time off” for talks and scenes between the player characters only, provide them with the occasional “empty” system and only the occasional extended task to measure when it’s cartographed completely. You might even ask them before an evening whether they want to have an adventure from you or whether they just want to have a stage to act on. If they want adventures, give them adventures. (That is: If you decide that some adventure will hapen in a certain system by a certain time, but this time has not yet come when they enter the system – just let them fly by and to the next. No need to hurry.)
Long story short: I think this highly depends on your gaming group. Maybe that is something for your Session Zero?
I’d assumed that the briefs were individual, just looked inside and they’re 10 each! I have enough (between those briefs and missions) to do almost 1 in 3 systems with its own “episode”, which has made me more comfortable.
This is my first time doing a homebrew campaign like this (usually it’s been a premade one). How long would you pad out the Tilikaal Saga? There are ten missions, would you alternate between Tilikaal and other one-off ones?