By Hunter Goetzman

I don't know if it is "cheating" if I use a character sheet I created in December, then tweaked and added to today. But given that I am a busy guy, I think I will say that "all's well that ends well". And then relish in the fact that this sheet that I am "cheating" with is actually a rogue. Torm help me if I try this stunt with a paladin.

This sheet is fun, because rogues are wonderfully simple to create. I left out the wood elf features, because the player I created it for knew what he was getting with a Wood Elf. He wanted a rogue, so I gave him a swashbuckler. It is a fun subclass that doesn't require too much metagaming to get the coveted sneak attack. And, because this was for a special one-shot, with some players I didn't know, I didn't want to box the player in if his companions didn't help him meet the conditions of sneak attack.

Originally, I left the personality blank, which I often do for my younger players. The main reason? They have the personality down! I mean, unless they don't, because that is simply outside their awareness or comfort zone. But for the most part, kids know who their character is before you even give them a sheet. So the sheet was really meant to give an idea of what the mechanics say he can do, not coach how to role play. But like Bobby Slay from earlier this week, you can see that I have given some little circles to track single-use features. And because this particular player read the full PHB before he ever even played a session, he and his (probably) eidetic memory could handle the RAW with my truncated versions of the mechanics. 

Now the last fun fact about this character is that the flaw is "I turn tail and run at the first sign of trouble." I didn't originally have that entered for his sheet, and in the end he didn't turn tail when his party was facing a major threat, but his friend totally did! No, I managed to keep this player and his sister in danger for far too long, because the mystery of what was killing them was far too interesting for them to simply walk away. If you want to know what they were facing, call us up and book a level 5 adventure on the Black Road ;)

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

I'm running out of time tonight, but I am just beating the deadline. I hosted our session 0 for the new Star Trek campaign, and of course had some bookkeeping to catch up on after chatting with my wife about life and everything. 

The session 0 went very well, and the group of players is a wonderful mix of familiar and new players, who also represent the entire gamut of familiarity with TTRPGs and Star Trek. We're ranging from new players who know the franchise very superficially, to folks with a middle range of both, to die-hard Trek fans who have been playing TTRPGs since before I even had seen a 20-sided die. The special thing about a group like this is that everyone is there because they want to be, for whatever their reasons. And in a universe like Star Trek's, where hope and possibility are cornerstones, I love to have a group that chooses to spend their time with me, even if there is so much new for them. I suppose they are true explorers.

Character creation for STA is both fun and challenging. The 2e book is better organized than 1e (that was their intent, I am not criticizing 1e) but it still requires quite a bit of page-flipping for character creation. For players new to the hobby, I could sense a little bit of stress by the whole process. But patience is both a Trait and a Value if you are a teacher, and a teaching GM. We ended up with SIX wonderfully crafted characters, filled with that same hope and possibility mentioned above.

Anyway, to my character sheet, I actually re-did my first-ever STA character sheet. Last time I used Cmdr. Valetti was in a mini-series, where we used an amalgam of 1e and 2e rules before the new book was released. As such, I had a few updates to make, but also I changed a little to keep him interesting in new ways. This character is actually a GM-PC. While I don't always like to have those, I know that it is a also a good storytelling device, so I will likely limit myself to stating status updates and providing a leadership structure on away missions, or when the captain is on away missions. So, despite the full character workup, this is technically another NPC. But characters are fun to build, and the challenge is to share character sheets, not stat blocks, amiright!? So, here he is, complete with a picture from the Lower Decks "Replicate Yourself" site: https://www.startrek.com/replicateyourself

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

Weekends are usually full for me, and as it happens, I focused on a shuttlecraft and a second Emergency Holographic crew member to keep things a bit more manageable for me. I prefer making full characters in STA, but with a session 0 happening tomorrow, I figure I will get to walk through that process with all of my players anyway.

But the holographic characters are still appealing for what they provide for me as the gamemaster. I've blogged before about how agendas make for compelling storytelling, and the STA's combo of Talents, Focuses, Values, and Pastimes (the whole life path and career path), really do a fine job of breathing life into the characters in a succinct way. Even the stats, flesh out the characters quite well. Now I realize I am talking about breathing, life, and flesh as it relates to a TTRPG character (who has none of those) who is actually a hologram (who again, has none of those even in-universe). Is that irony, or just sloppy use of dead metaphors?

But as it relates to character creation, the attributes and departments are an interesting element. Using them to create a character that specializes in a particular area is the goal, but because the variation in numbers, there isn't the same amount of "optimization" that you might see in other systems. The core rules prevent min-maxing, even, unless of course you want to play another way (which is always an option, folks!). But because the game is narrative-focused, and tasks can be adjusted and agreed upon by GM and player, it really turns into a way to see how a character solves problems. More than "just" a skill check, players in STA are invited to lean into this notion of "how would this character solve this problem?" rather than rolling a perception check or a dexterity saving throw. 

So our engineer ended up liking engineering for the puzzles, likes TTRPGs, and struggles to understand people because they aren't predictable. This character will be one I am sure many TTRPG players will relate to, and I am getting the vibe of a real savant-style genius, partnered with perhaps other things we might see on the neurodivergent spectrum. And with a system like this, players like mine, and my own experiences, I know this will feel like a true-to-life person, rather than a caricature. And what an amazing way to explore our own humanity. We play, we learn, we gain understanding.

We also need to log off for the night. But what a great way to fight off the "Sunday Scaries". I'm returning to the daily mara-sprint-athlon of teaching elementary school tomorrow.

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

Admittedly, this project is a big challenge for me, mostly due to the time it takes to craft a character sheet. Part of that is my interest in making the sheets both usable AND attractive. The other part of that is because I am actively learning about the games I am preparing many of these sheets for. We have another spaceframe from Star Trek Adventures 2e; this particular ship is a humble shuttlecraft.

Obviously, a small craft like this one doesn't need a whole sheet like the U.S.S. Heracles, since some of the sheet's portions are not applicable. Then again, the small-form shuttle stats from the core rule book and supplementary materials are:

1. Varied enough that I would have to choose which one to provide my players, and

2. Don't have enough room to explain the talents and additional details.

Because my players are learning the system as well, I thought this level of detail would be good for us all. After all, if a player can read the rule text without opening the book, then I can ask them to read it to me so I don't have to open the book. Even better: they can eventually simply read and understand, and I can simply trust that they know their character sheets.

I customized this shuttlecraft to be a bit more tactical; the second shuttlecraft will have more focus on science. My favorite part, which I am reserving for my players is choosing a name for the shuttlecraft. I love how the series always named them after explorers, astronomers, engineers, astro/cosmonauts, pilots, etc. I wonder what my players will choose?

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

The majority of the sessions we run at Mercury Adventure Club are D&D 5e. This is for the simple reason that the system is the most in-demand among our players. I personally haven't found the time to read the 2024 rulebooks yet (I know, I know...) so I am still using the familiar 2014 rules. I've been running 5e since it was published, and have made many characters, but as a forever GM, I don't get to make characters for higher levels too often.

There are a couple things that make this sheet special. For starters, it uses a character sheet created by folks known as Inuyasharuls and Axelle123 on Reddit. You can download color and black & white versions here. Now, the font is Comic Sans, which gets a lot of flack, but it is very legible and has been noted by people with dyslexia to be more intelligible. But I like the layout for its use of empty space and the images, especially as a teaching tool.

The second thing that makes this special is that I have been able to add annotations to help my player keep track of some of the features and rules. I espcially like to use circles in ink, which can be checked off and erased easily, as seen in the Lay on Hands, for example. As an elementary school teacher, and a GM who has taught dozens of new players, I have a priority to be "teaching" GM, and an interest in making the game more understandable and accessible.

Now, Marie is no longer a new player, but as a way to scaffold, the annotations allow her to act in the game more independently. She updates her own character sheet when she levels her character, but I went ahead and digitized it to get a clean version as we get closer to our level 10 target. Marie herself is a wonderful player and human, and also takes wonderful notes (every GMs favorite player trait!). 

Bobby Slay was even initially based on a pregenerated character from the early days of 5e. He uses Find Steed to summon a brown bear, and he is accompanied by a mastiff. Marie makes this paladin fun to have at the table, and the party is often the highlight of my week!

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

One of my favorite Star Trek characters is the Doctor on Voyager, largely because his presence introduced nuance to the "outsider" role and fascinating philosophical questions about the definitions of "sentience" and "life". Robert Picardo was also hilarious in the role, never mind the number of HIPAA violations and instances of doctor-patient confidentiality he broke thoughout the series. 

This character will be one of 6 emergency holographic support characters on the U.S.S. Heracles. My hope is to add them as supporting characters in sessions, but eventually even let my players have a session featuring them, when the crew is perhaps incapacitated. Supporting characters in STA 2e do get things like Focuses and Talents, and there is a fun mechanic about advancing them as they are introduced. 

My wife suggested the Pasttime of gambling, which I think actually fits a doctor character trope quite well. Where this doctor would never do risky procedures without patient consent, I imagine a character looking for the thrill of risking everything for something just out of reach. And ultimately, a risk-obsessed minor character could get the crew out of (or into) some interesting conflicts, which could lead to amazing story beats!

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!

By Hunter Goetzman

For my first character sheet, I have chosen a spaceframe from Star Trek Adventures 2e. Like any Star Trek series, the ship (or space station) is a vitally important part of the story. 

While a ship isn't a character, the STA system uses sheets that are nearly identical to character sheets, with their own talents and stats. Another interesting mechanic during creation is that older ships have fewer stat points than newer ships.

In any case, here is an Intrepid-Class Starship, a later model of the U.S.S. Voyager. It has a few upgrades that would have originated in the Delta Quadrant, giving it a slight edge over the ships made a decade earlier.

Get the full pdf at our Drive here!