A character’s place within the crew of their ship (or station, or planetary outpost, or wherever you’re setting the game), represented as a character role, is an important consideration, but it’s a choice that should be left to the end of the character creation process if this method is used.
Main characters are usually the most important people on their ship or station—the group of personnel who make important decisions, such as the senior staff of a Starfleet vessel, who aid the captain as department heads, subject matter experts, and trusted advisors.
Main characters may fill any of the following roles. Not every post will have every role, and not every role must be filled by a main character. The senior staff members are chosen at the discretion of the commanding officer, so if there are roles not represented in the group, they may be filled by supporting characters, by NPCs, or left vacant. Some roles are specific to certain departments, which are noted with each entry.
Each role comes with a distinct benefit in-game—a role benefit—as well as defining what the character’s job is.
The following roles are found within Starfleet in all eras of play, unless otherwise noted. Non-Starfleet characters in similar organizations (e.g., the Klingon Defense Force or Romulan Imperial Navy) may select from this list of roles as well, gaining the same benefit.
COMMANDING OFFICER
Even if the commanding officer does not hold the rank of captain, they are usually referred to as captain by their subordinates aboard a starship. Aboard stations, commanding officers are referred to by their rank. Commanding officers are responsible for the ship or facility under their command as well as executing the orders and directives from their leadership.
ROLE BENEFIT: You may spend Determination to grant any other character you can communicate with 1 Determination; this does not have to be linked to using or challenging a value.
EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Second-in-command. The executive officer is the captain’s chief advisor and takes command in situations where the captain is unable to. If a ship does not have a dedicated executive officer, an officer in another role should be noted as second-in-command, but they will not gain the benefits of this role.
ROLE BENEFIT: When an allied character in communication with you spends Determination, you may spend 3 Momentum (Immediate) to enable that character to regain the spent point of Determination.
OPERATIONS MANAGER
The operations manager manages and oversees all technical operations aboard or involving the ship, normally from the operations station on the bridge, or in conjunction with the chief engineer (on smaller ships, one officer may fill both roles). This often entails taking on the duties of a science officer if there is no dedicated science officer among the senior staff.
ROLE BENEFIT: Whenever you create a trait representing a piece of equipment, or an alteration made to existing equipment, any character who benefits from that trait while you are present in the scene may re-roll a d20.
CHIEF ENGINEER
The chief engineer is responsible for ensuring the ship remains operational and functional, and commands the engineering department aboard the ship.
ROLE BENEFIT: You reduce the opportunity cost of engineering teams by 1, to a minimum of 0. Further, when you attempt a task to perform repairs to a starship or attempt to push the ship’s capabilities beyond its normal limits, you may spend 1 Momentum (Immediate) to re-roll a d20.
CHIEF OF SECURITY
The chief of security oversees the ship’s security department and is responsible for ensuring the safety of the ship and crew during missions, for the investigation of disciplinary and criminal matters, and for overseeing the protection of important persons aboard the ship.
ROLE BENEFIT: You reduce the opportunity cost of weapons and security teams by 1, to a minimum of 0. Further, when you succeed at an Attack against an enemy during personal combat, you may spend 1 Momentum to increase the Difficulty of that enemy’s next Attack by 1.
CHIEF TACTICAL OFFICER
A presence on 22nd and 23rd century Starfleet ships, and common in other organizations, this role is also known as an armory officer or weapons officer. The officer is responsible for the upkeep and use of the ship’s armaments and is typically an expert in ship-to-ship combat.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you succeed at an Attack with the ship’s weapons, you may increase the damage rating of that weapon system by spending 1 Momentum rather than 2.
FLIGHT CONTROLLER
Also known as a helmsman on 22nd and 23rd century Starfleet vessels. Not a typical senior staff role, though some captains, particularly those operating in uncharted space, choose the most senior helmsman or flight control officer to serve on the senior staff.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you attempt an engineering task related to flight or propulsion, you may use your Conn rating instead of Engineering. When you succeed at a Conn task to pilot a starship, you generate 1 bonus Momentum to be used on that task (bonus Momentum may not be saved).
NAVIGATOR
On vessels exploring the uncharted frontiers of space, a skilled navigator, astrometrics officer, or stellar cartographer plots courses, studies and updates astrometrics charts and data, and supports the helmsman or flight controller. Navigators are rarely called to serve on the senior staff.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you attempt a science task related to astrophysics or stellar navigation, you may use your Conn rating instead of Science. When you attempt or Assist a task to maneuver a starship through difficult or dangerous terrain, you may spend 1 Momentum to ignore a complication suffered (Repeatable).
SCIENCE OFFICER
The science officer (sometimes referred to as the chief science officer) is responsible for advising the commanding officer on all scientific matters, providing hypotheses concerning the unknown. The science officer is also responsible for all science personnel on the ship or station.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you succeed at a task assisted by the ship’s Sensors or Computers, or a task using a tricorder or other sensing device, you may ask one additional question as if you had spent Momentum on Obtain Information.
CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER
The chief medical officer is responsible for the health and well-being of the crew and other people aboard the ship and leads the ship’s medical department. A chief medical officer can order, and countermand the orders of, senior officers where matters of that officer’s health are concerned. In extreme situations, the chief medical officer can declare an officer unfit and remove them from active duty (including the commanding officer). A ship may have either a chief medical officer or a ship’s doctor.
ROLE BENEFIT: You reduce the opportunity cost of medical equipment and medical teams by 1, to a minimum of 0. Further, when you attempt a task using your Medicine rating, and you have assistance, you generate 1 bonus Momentum (bonus Momentum may not be saved).
SHIP’S DOCTOR
You care for the crew of your ship, or the station you serve on (in which case, rename the role to Station’s Doctor), but unlike a chief medical officer, you do not have an extensive medical department to manage or to aid you. This is common in smaller crews which do not require a large sickbay or infirmary and tends to mean these smaller postings favor generalists who can adapt to a variety of circumstances. A ship may have either a chief medical officer or a ship’s doctor.
ROLE BENEFIT: You have two additional focuses, which must relate to medicine fields of study. However, your ship cannot use Crew Support to introduce supporting characters who are medical personnel.
SHIP’S (OR STATION’S) COUNSELOR
On larger ships and starbases, it’s common (especially in the 24th century and beyond) to have personnel dedicated to the mental well-being of the crew. Some captains regard them as valuable advisors, as their training covers both culture and psychology, making them exceptionally good at reading the moods and intentions of others.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you Assist a character suffering from a trait representing a negative emotional state, you may re-roll your assist die. Additionally, once per mission, you may spend a scene counseling a character who has challenged one of their values during the current mission. At the end of the scene, the character may rewrite their crossed-out value immediately, rather than waiting until the end of the mission. If they do this, they immediately gain 1 Determination as well.
COMMUNICATIONS OFFICER
More common in the earlier days of Starfleet, dedicated communications officers are typically skilled in linguistics and cryptography, and aided with advanced translation and decryption technologies, and are valuable during encounters with new cultures, hostile or otherwise.
ROLE BENEFIT: When you attempt a task assisted by the ship’s Computers or Communications systems, do not roll the ship’s assist die: instead, count the ship’s die as if it had rolled a 1.
Not all characters serve in Starfleet or in other civilization’s space exploration organizations. Review the list of additional roles below and select one as desired.
BODYGUARD
You specialize in personal security, protecting an individual, whether a paying client, or someone you were assigned to. Militaries tend not to employ specific bodyguards in this sense, but they may have specialists trained in protecting important personnel—ambassadors, admirals, political figures, and similar—as needed.
ROLE BENEFIT: Choose a single character—another player character or an NPC—who you are assigned to protect. When you are in the same zone as that character, you may spend 1 Momentum (Immediate) when that character is attacked to have the Attack target you instead. If you do this, the attack’s Difficulty is increased by 1.
EXPERT
You are an expert in a particular field, working alongside the crew to consult upon a matter related to your expertise. You are highly specialized and extremely capable in your chosen field, but this may lead you to ignore or overlook things that fall outside your knowledge or result in an obsession that causes you to prioritize your work over other concerns.
ROLE BENEFIT: You gain one additional value, which must reflect the importance of your work to you. In addition, select one of your focuses—this is the field you are an expert in. When you use this focus on a task and succeed, you generate 1 bonus Momentum (bonus Momentum may not be saved).
INTELLIGENCE AGENT
You are not a traditional part of the fleet. Instead, you are an operative of the intelligence services of your civilization. You are charged with gathering information from places and people that don’t want their information gathered, and you achieve this through a combination of your own skills and the network of informants and contacts you have cultivated.
ROLE BENEFIT: Once per adventure, you may create a trait without requiring a task or spending any Momentum, Threat, or Determination. This trait must reflect information, physical resources, or access to a location (such as access codes or identification data) provided to you by a contact or by your agency.
MERCHANT
You’re a merchant or trader, exchanging valuable goods for latinum or other goods. Even in the Federation, merchants are necessary for ensuring resources can easily move from place to place. The Federation and its members maintain reserves of latinum and other precious commodities to allow them to trade with other civilizations. In a practical sense, merchants are well-connected and often have access to unusual items or specialized resources not usually available.
ROLE BENEFIT: Once per adventure, you can ignore the opportunity costs on up to three items of equipment being acquired by other player characters. You may even allow other player characters to obtain items not normally available to them (such as disruptors to a Starfleet crew, or items which are restricted or illegal), though you add 1 Threat for each such item provided.
POLITICAL LIAISON
You serve as a representative of a government, representing their needs and interests during the operations of the crew, and providing the crew with a means of communicating with that government in turn. This is often the case where multiple groups are required to coexist, such as a Starfleet facility operating close to an allied non-Federation world, or as part of a joint operation between Starfleet and Klingon Defense Force personnel.
ROLE BENEFIT: You represent the official government your organization belongs to—i.e., if you are a member of the Bajoran Militia, you represent the current Bajoran government. You gain an additional Directive, which only applies to you, which reflects the political stance of the government you represent. Your gamemaster will work with you to determine the wording of this Directive. It serves to provide you with a source of complications and potential restrictions when acting against the interests of your government, and benefits when you are acting with the full support of your superiors.
TRANSLATOR
You are an expert in language and communication. While the development of the universal translator has reduced the need for translators during daily life in the 23rd and 24th centuries, there are still situations which call for experts in linguistics. Encounters with new cultures often require support from xenolinguistics experts to smooth over any problems that the universal translator has, particularly if a culture has an unusual style or method of communication. Similarly, archaeological research often requires piecing together extinct languages from evidence in ways that can’t easily be automated.
ROLE BENEFIT: When attempting to read, understand, or speak a language unfamiliar to you, you may spend 2 Momentum (Immediate) to piece together a basic understanding of that language immediately, enough to convey simple ideas. This allows social tasks to be attempted in this language, but the complication range of these tasks is increased to 18–20. Deeper study, at the gamemaster’s discretion, allows you to remove this penalty and discuss more complex ideas.