How did the Star Trek Adventures Cry From the Void module rate?
For more on the Revised Tribble Rating System 2021, click here.
The crew of the USS Pioneer (my player group’s Intrepid-class starship) finished playing Cry from the Void, a story created by Ian Lemke with Spring Netto for the Star Trek Adventures Roleplaying Game. It can be found in Star Trek Adventures: Strange New Worlds, Missions Compendium.
This is the game for you if you want a module that will take your characters into new and strange environments, have them confront an excitingly dynamic new lifeform, and test out their problem-solving skills!
SYNOPSIS (spoiler alert)
In “Cry from the Void” Player Characters discover a living world – an entity that shifts from oceanic to crystalline over the course of its lifecycle. While cataloging systems at the edge of the Alpha Quadrant, the Players’ ship is struck and damaged by a wave of tetryon particles. At the same moment, they receive a strange communication, seemingly embedded within the particle wave. Initial analysis shows that the wave originated from the Abassa system.
THE REVIEW
- Comprehensibility – 4 Tribbles. It took me a bit to wrap my head around the entity that was the Abassan sea. I had to figure out the mechanics of the cosmozoan lifeform sending out a subspace distress signal. I suggest that GMs read the writer’s descriptions thoroughly and make a decision on how it will act and react to the player characters’ actions.
The easist part was figuring out the motivation of the main NPCs. I pretty much played them like Ferengis. (Admittedly, the Main NPC is a Ferengi in the module. My campaign takes place in a different galaxy, so I had to swap out the Ferengi for an alien species. I just kept the personality.)
- Originality – 4 Tribbles. Though the idea of a species draining the life of another alien entity to survive is totally TNG episode 1, I found the undersea adventure portion of the mission original. My players loved it.
Retrofitting a submersible. Getting in modifed EV suits. Testing out their diving skills. (Our tubby Tellarite made for some humorous moments.) I added in some giant, alien crawfish when things got a little slow.
I also like that there is an option for a brief space battle to add a little action if the GM needs it. - Sci-Fi Concepts – 2 Tribbles. Most of the concepts have been done in other modules or shows. The 2 Tribble rating recognizes the Abassan Sea. As quoted from the module, “The Abassan sea might appear to be a normal, if somewhat mineral rich, ocean, but it is a living entity. In fact, the sea and the crystalline formations that form the land masses on Abassa are all alive, though perhaps not in a manner understood by most people.”
This entity gave my PCs a chance to have an unusual First Contact scenario and a memorable adventure. - Social Conflict Potential – 4 Tribbles. Between negoatong with an ocean-sized entity to managing a standoff with fighter ships to negotiating with greed-mongering business people this adventure presents a lot of opportunities to solve problems that don’t involve firing a phaser. I cna’t say exactly how your crew will solve the problem, but my crew had to make some hard decisions, including one that would leave the mining facility bankrupt in roughly one hundred years. They chose the entity at risk of making some enemies. (Several episodes later they learned that the the main NPC sicced some enemies on their crew as part of a revenge plot.)
- Adaptability – 5 Tribbles. This is a super-easy module to adapt to any era I feel. The story is not depenant on any particular area in space, species, or era of technology. This is a must-play if you pick up the Strange New World compendium.
FINAL SCORE: 3.8
This is a must-play adventure you want a module that is an easy to adapt, underwater mission with a lot of potential for social conflict, quick skimishes, and a scientific mystery for player characters to unravel. I especially like the fact that it can create a new arch-enemy for the players that could come back to haunt them later.
(To see our entire play report, see Star Trek Pioneer, Season 3, Episode 7: Cry From The Void.)