Star Trek Adventures - Gamma Quadrant Sourcebook

Fair disclosure

1. This review is based on a pdf review copy kindly supplied by Modiphius

2. I am not a Trekkie. Sure, I remember the re-runs (I am not that old) of Kirk, Spock and the crew of the original series as a child. I was always a Star Wars kid so whilst enjoying the Star Trek movies, some more so than others, I only caught bits and pieces of the follow up series, Babylon 5 had caught my eye and I considered Deep Space 9 a rip off of it. So what do I think of this book? I will give an outline of the book first and then finish with my thoughts.

Visually the book continues the layout format the Star Trek Adventures have, typically two columns of text per page. There is also inserts from various characters, diary entries or communications between characters for flavour. Here is a sample two page spread

Chapter 1 is a very brief introduction to the rest of the book with write-ups of the structure of the book and it's usage in a campaign. Here you find they have advanced the timeline from the default for Star Trek adventures from 2371 to 2374 which is the height of the Dominion War. It should be clear by this point this is a book really for the Gamesmaster, there is lots of spoilers in this book if you are not familiar with Deep Space 9, so if a player, you shouldn't read this review further unless you have watched all of the show.

Chapter 2 is the chunkiest chapter of the book being about half of the page count of the book. Starting with a diary entry from Quark, it is then straight into a description of The Dominion with the history of how it came about, starting with the Founders aka Changelings fleeing persecution eventually merged into a collective consciousness - the Great Link. Thousands of year pass and they then send out scouts to find suitable worlds and in the process found friendly species, two of which were the Drai and Vorta. From here we learn of their expansion and conquest of races encountered and the creation of the Jem'Hadar who are the guys Federation will be seeing most of and fighting a lot. We learn the Dominion is a fascist theocracy and it has a hierarchy with the Vorta at the top followed by the Jem'hadar. There is then descriptions of the different races under the umbrella of the Dominion. Those that resist the Dominion are crushed. Often they use subterfuge to weaken and cause division.

An A to Z of planets follow with titbits for each of them. They often reinforce the fact of the Dominion's iron will in it's objectives and indeed the lengths they will go to achieve them. Examples are the Blight which has infected the Teplan genome, forcing the Yederens to test the star killer bomb they were creating for the Dominion, on their own star systems because of initial failure.

The next sub-chapter describes the allies of the Dominion; the Cardassians, Breen, Son'a, Orions, The Kzin Patriarchy, Pakleds and Miradorn. it is described in what way they assist the Dominion eg the Pakleds are not used for combat purposes, they smuggle Changelings into Alpha and Beta Quadrants.

Next up are the potential allies for the Dominion. You get a description of them, the Dominion's attitude towards them and their are notes for introducing them as surprise allies of the Dominion, probably advisable if the players are familiar with Deep Space 9. In the case of the Gorn, both sides in the war are trying to get them to join their side.

Things then get juicy with the next sub-chapter - The Dominion War. We get a background to the conflict, then the cold war that preceded the open conflict. The Jem'Hadar and Vorta are revealed to the Federation at the start of the Cold War. As typical with cold wars, there is espionage and skulduggery. Deep Space 9 gets upgraded defensive capabilities and the USS Defiant is redeployed to the region. With the mining of the wormhole, open war begins and there is detailed description of the war's development. Re the series, this is Spoiler city so I am glossing over it.

The next sub-chapter is the aftermath of the war and describes the state of play with the various races and this closes out chapter 2.

Chapter 3 Species of the Gamma Quadrant. New lifepaths for Star Trek Adventures are detailed, including the eras of play that they are eligible in. There is a dozen in total with plenty of variety. Some of them are within the Dominion races so I would say it would be done to the Gamesmaster and the campaign they want to run as to whether they are allowed.

Chapter 4 Starships of the Gamma Quadrant

The spotlight is first shown on the Dominion ships. There is no surprise it starts with a Jem'Hadar Battleship but we also get warships for the Karemma, Vorta and the Son'a, who have two entries. One is a battleship and the other their flagship. The last ship for the Dominion is their dispatch vessel. As it is a modification of a Jem'Hadar warship, it still has teeth.

Then things move on to the Federation, Klingon and Romulan starships that featured in the Dominion War.They are introduced as notable ships. The Klingons and Romulans have one ship apiece detailed. The Federation has U.S.S. Galaxy (Galaxy Class), U.S.S. Prometheus (Prometheus Class) [which can split into three ships with the saucer detaching for example for a multi vector assault mode], U.S.S. Sutherland (Nebula Class), U.S.S. Lakota (Excelsior Class), U.S.S. Valiant (Defiant Class), U.S.S. Majestic (Miranda Class) and the Frankenstein Fleet. All the ships above, including the Dominion ships have description followed by a stat block, following the format on the corebook, with the exception of the Frankenstein Fleet which is rules for Federation Starships cobbled together from parts of different ships, which gives an idea of the attrition of the Dominion War.

Chapter 5 is Encounters and Adversaries

First we get a description of the Bajoran Wormhole including the Prophets and their Orbs. What follows is a series of encounter seeds in the Gamma Quadrant. These of course would need to be fleshed out by the GM. Following on from this are seven NPC's who are classified as Minor, Major or Notable. Clonemasters, Scientists, Diplomats and Assassins are four of them.

The next sub chapter is The Front Line, seventeen pages on how to run a game during the war. There are choices of the type of campaign e.g. the Stellar Campaign is a military based campaign. Another option is Intrigue and Conspiracies. If the players would prefer a diplomatic type of campaign, it can focus on politics or if they want a hard attritional game where to quote "the night gets darkest before the dawn", that is an option as well.

The sub chapter is rounded out with first "The Glory of the Dominion Fleet" which describes the fleet, it's weaknesses and some potential encounters the players can have it. Secondly we have information about several Major NPC's and then the index and a couple of pages advertising other Modiphius games close out the book.

My Thoughts

Overall the book is excellent. Layout is clear. Art is strong, one or two pieces I didn't like but art is very subjective anyway. As for the writing... It has achieved two things for me personally. It has made me want to watch Deep Space 9. I am currently thirteen episodes into series 1. The other thing is that I now want to play Star Trek Adventures. Luckily a member of the Plymouth Branch of Roleplay Haven plans to run a game. I have put my name forward. Now it will be Next generation Era, that's fine with me. In an ideal world, I think it would be best for the Gamesmaster to run a standard game and as time moves on the Dominion War kicks off. There is then a change in dynamic, more desperate times.

All in all a worthwhile addition to any Star Trek Adventures Games Master, there is plenty of useful information in this book. It is not a book for the players, I would say the new lifepaths would have to be agreed by the Games Master. I'd also say watch Deep Space 9 first, if you ever intend to, as I've said there are major spoilers in this book.