How does the Star Trek Adventures System work?
As a base every character can make:
1 Task (anything that does require a dice roll) OR 1 Assist another’s Task
AS WELL AS
1 Minor Action (anything that does not need a dice roll; e.g. move one zone, aim with a weapon, set your hand phaser to X, open an unlocked door …)
For Tasks:
You roll at least 2d20
Then you add one Attribute (Control, Daring, Fitness, Insight, Presence, Reason) to one Discipline (Command, Conn, Security, Engineering, Science, Medicine) to get your Target Number
- every d20 that rolls ≤ than your Target Number = 1 success
- every d20 that rolls a 20 = generates a Complication
- every d20 that rolls a 1 = 2 successes
- if you have a Focus (e.g. Astrophysics) that would fit
→ every d20 that rolls ≤ than your Discipline would be 2 successes as well
… than you add your successes and compare that to the successes needed for the Task
if you have less, you will fail … unless the GM had offered you to succeed at “cost” 
if you have equal or more, you will succeed and the excess successes generate MOMENTUM
(e.g. 3 extra successes would create +3 MOMENTUM)
notes:
under no circumstances you would be allowed roll more than 5d20 on a Task
this limit does include “1s” gained from spending Determination
this limit does not include the 1d20 gained from Assist (see below)
For Assist:
Instead of making a Task you could narrate that you will directly aid the upcoming Task of another character.
Should you do so, you may roll only 1d20 on that character’s turn, and add the success(es) to the roll of the other character.
Under no circumstances you would be allowed to roll more than 1d20 in Assist-ing another’s Task
notes:
this is usually worse than making a routine Task to generate MOMENTUM, but could be helpful should the crew need to beat a crazy high difficulty
you do not immediatly roll your 1d20, you will do that on the character’s turn, that you have Assist-ed … so technically you “delay” as well
Momentum & Threat
every excess success generates 1 MOMENTUM
- can be immediatly spend for extra stuff (getting more information, creating advantages, extra actions/task, …)
- those can be stored in a pool for every character to use (max. 6; drops by 1 at the end of every scene)
the GM has their own pool called THREAT
notes:
bonus MOMENTUM gained from other sources such as Talents cannot be stored
some actions automatically generate extra THREAT
(e.g. firing torpedoes, making lethal attacks, …)
How to roll more than 2d20?
as mentioned, when making a Task, you roll at least 2d20
- some Talents might give you an extra d20 (e.g. Captain Riley’s Defuse the Tension)
- you can spend Determination if it fits one of your Values or your mission’s Directive
to add an extra die, which will automatically be set at “1” = it will generate 2 successes
- you may spend MOMENTUM
→ the 3rd dice costs 1, the 4th costs 2, the 5th costs 3
- you may give the GM THREAT (that’s basically the MOMENTUM pool of the GM)
→ the 3rd dice adds 1, the 4th adds 2, the 5th adds 3
notes:
extra dice from Talents and Determination come first
you can mix MOMENTUM spends & THREAT increases
(e.g. spend 2 MOMENTUM and add 1 THREAT to get +2d20 for total of 4d20)
notes (again)
under no circumstances you would be allowed roll more than 5d20 on a Task
this limit does include “1s” gained from spending Determination
this limit does not include the 1d20 gained from Assist-ing another’s Task (see above)
How do gain/spend Determination?
note: Determination spends/gains must be linked thematically to one of your Values or your mission’s Directive (exception is the Captain’s ability)
for spending:
- before rolling your dice add another d20, set on a “1”
so it will generate 2 successes
- after rolling the dice, you may re-roll as many d20 as you want
- without rolling you can add an “Advantage” to the scene
- while dying/being unconscious to get back into the fray
for gaining:
- the GM might offer you Determination to create a disadvantage (such as a “Complication”) for your character, that woud be related to one of your Values or your mission’s Directives
- you can narrate, that your character suffers a personal crisis, since 2 of your Values/Directives are in conflict with each other, and delete one of your Value permanently
- you can narrate, that your character suffers a personal crisis, since 2 of your Values/Directives are in conflict with each other, and delete one Directive till the end of the mission from every character
→ note that deleting a Directive will have story consequences
note:
you could spend and/or gain more than 1 Determination in one round, but every one must be linked to a different Value or Directive
Advantages, Complications & Traits
should one of those apply storywise …
-
Advantages either make something possible, or reduce the “successes needed” / “add a success” to something that already was possible. They can be never a disadvantage.
-
Complications either make something impossible, or increase the “successes needed” on tasks. They can be never an advantage.
-
Traits can be good or bad and depending on the circumstances could work as an Advantage or Complication
Combat Damage, Ship Damage & Extended Tasks
→ I will explain that in-game in more detail, if/when it comes up
in short
the A used are custom d6 (1 = 1, 2 = 2, 3 = 0, 4 = 0, 5 = 1+FX, 6 = 1+FX)
every special Effect (if there are any) triggers once for every FX rolled
Resistance reduces the result
if the final result is ≥ 5, you have +1 Injury / Breach / Breakthrough
if there is no Stress / Shields / Work left afterwards, you have +1 Injury / Breach / Breakthrough … (unless you do no Damage / Work at all)
the last two do stack for a potential +2 Injuries / Breaches / Breakthroughs