Ah! So you tried out the first Teaser I posted and now you’re addicted. No problem. There’s plenty more where that came from. Of course, after this adventure, you might regret your addiction.

This story is referred to as a “teaser”. A teaser is a short introductory story that does not necessarily play into the main campaign. It is usually used to “humanize” characters, giving readers deeper insight into their personalities or everyday activities.

Thus, the Star Trek Adventures Teaser Compendium. This is another very short story; never more than a page, never more than two or three dice rolls (if even that). Hopefully, they spice up your campaigns and create some memorable moments.

Use the information below or download the PDF here.

Introduction

“Ackworm” is a teaser adventure for Star Trek Adventures. This adventure is mean to be played by a Gamemaster (gamemaster) and 1-3 players. It is best used to start a current campaign. It may be inserted during a lull in the action, if appropriate.

To run this adventure, the gamemaster needs to be familiar with the adventure itself and the Star Trek Adventures rules.

Synopsis

After ensuring no security concerns, the captain approved shore leave on the jungle world of Per’Tak, an out of the way tropical world colonized by alien biologists that doubles as a pleasure port for weary travelers.

The ship left Per’Tak three days ago. Now, one of the player characters finds themselves in sickbay during this opening scene. They stare at a wriggling biomass with disgust and revulsion. After all, it was just extracted from their stomach.

Now, the doctor (possibly a player character) has to reassure the once-inflicted crew member that everything will be all right.

The gamemaster begins this adventure with two points of Threat for every player character in the group. Keep in mind, this mission is added to whatever main campaign the gamemaster has chosen, so the Threat is only collected once.

Scene: Ackworm

When the players are ready to begin, pick a player to direct the attention on. Let them know that they can roleplay their reaction however they deem fit. Read the following:

“I assure you,” the doctor says as they do yet another scan with the medical tricorder, “any foreign masses have been completely removed from your body.”

You stare inside the liquid-filled jar and see it. But you still can’t believe it was inside of your digestive tract. It all started on Per’Tak. After ensuring no security concerns, the captain had approved shore leave on the jungle world of Per’Tak, an out of the way tropical world colonized by alien biologists that doubles as a pleasure port for weary travelers.

The ship left Per’Tak three days ago. But, soon you started to have irritation in your stomach accompanied by a strange, wet, crunching noise. You immediately went to sickbay and learned that you had acquired a fast-growing parasite in something you drank on the planet. Now, you glare at the wriggling biomass with disgust and revulsion. It grew at an exponential rate. It currently was twenty centimeters long, having gorged on the food in your digestive tract.

“I contacted the biologists on Per’Tak,” the doctor continues. “They assure me that the ackworm is harmless. You must have ingested it from one of those colorful drinks of which you partook. You would have excreted it out in another month once it fully matured to its full length of one meter. Apparently, it is quite the delicacy on their world and, according to them, a privilege to be a carrier host.”

Allow the inflicted player character to role-play their reaction.

If other player characters are in sickbay this might allow for some good-natured ribbing.

Either way, the afflicted character should make a Reason/Daring + Science/Medicine task with a difficulty of 3. Failure means that the character will suffer from a Nauseous complication for the rest of the campaign or until it is removed by spending Momentum. (Of course, it would be way funnier if they were sick the entire campaign and couldn’t touch any food.)

Gamemasters Guidance: Try to find a piece of really disgusting concept art that represents the Ackworm to show your players. The grosser, the better.