The guide has a number of flaws. Least annoying first, there are a number of canon errors, which is surprising considering how much trivia the Decipher staff know about Star Trek. It was enough to bother me a little, so some fellow Trek reviewers may be driven crazy by it. As has been mentioned in most reviews (such as on rpg.net) the chapter and section order is really bad. The sections on character mechanics and level advancement should have been consolidated and in front. Character Development should probably have been in front of Professions, since you would use them in that order, and the non-starship elite professions should have followed the basic professions. The worst flaws are outright errors in presenting the mechanics of the game. There are edges listed in training that were renamed or eliminated by the time the Traits chapter was written. There are errors in the examples supposed to clarify how the game works. The level advancement rules are sometimes unclear. The Starship Duty ability is, according to the FAQ on the web, importantly more limited than it reads in the Guide. This needed a much more thorough editing before printing.

These problems are irritating, but they are fortunately simple to resolve. The character generation system and the skill test system are solid and very simple to implement. The guide also explicitly states that the players can create their own skills and edges, and even rules for doing so, and that the Narrator can change the type of skill test as he sees fit, if necessary. Should I ever choose to play, I would be very happy to use this system. As a collector, the insight into the skills and abilities of the character types, especially the elite professions, was worth the price. Also, nearly a third of the guide is given to chapters on equipment, starships, the galaxy and the Federation. Those sections were really interesting and informative. As a player I would give this a four for the errors, but as a collector I give it five stars.


Make it So!   July 8, 2005
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is the first book of the Star Trek RPG series. In this volume, it gives you the basics of character creation and gameplay from the player's point of view. It's a pretty simple and flexible gameplay system. However, there are a few complaints about this book. First of all, I feel that it wasn't organized very well. There isn't a checklist for character creation (I had to get that from another GM), so at first it's a little confusing. You have to jump around to different chapters to get all the information you need on character creation. Even just adding a checklist would have helped a lot. A second complaint is that a lot of skills, especially racial skills and abilities, are not listed on the character sheet, so again, you'll have to use resourses created by other GMs or make your own.

Even though this book has weak points, they can be overcome with resources available on the internet. Just be warned, this book only presents the game from the standpoint of the player. While the book claims that the game is playable with only this book, it's very difficult because there are no adventure seeds, or even many races or creatures to play with. If you're planning on running a game, you'll definitely need to pick up the Narrator's Book as well.


The best roleplay game I ever had   November 5, 2004
 2 out of 4 found this review helpful

This is the best. I'am a narrator and I own all of those decipher manuals. This is the best rpg I ever played. Not just the best of trek rpg ,but the best of all I have played, and I have played almost all.
Perfect rules, Perfect manuals (that explain deep the ST universe and clear all on the rules for roleplaying and starship battles, spece astrogation or space hazards), perfect universe : what u are looking more? I have only a thing to say: buy it, and play.


Very leery- but pleasantly surprised grognard!   September 10, 2005
 0 out of 1 found this review helpful

I was very leery for a while to buy this product after the LUG debacle but was was very glad I did afterwards. Decipher put together a great psuedo-d20 d6 sytem RPG that is easy to play with tons of Star Trek backround in it that will please gamers and fans alike I think. In fact only a non-trekkie would be crippled when reading the many in rule Star Trek references from all the series except Enterprise. As other reviewers have stated, this book focuses on character creation and has little in the way of Narrator tools and it is best used with the Narrators guide. Fan books, maps, galaxy guides, technical manuals, creature guides etc. from Star Trek all are very useful one might say essential to this game as well. In short the pictures, backround, rules, and system are all excellent with this Star Trek license game and I give it my highest marks.