Anyone familiar with Star Trek should have an idea of what a scene looks like: characters talk and act within a single location toward resolving the dramatic conflict present, switching to a new location or new characters when the group has resolved the conflict or decides to move on. The key is that scenes are the interesting parts of the story, and scene transitions often skip past the parts that aren’t interesting. Different groups may have different standards as to what is and isn’t interesting, so this concept is deliberately flexible.
Encounters
Encounters are more tightly structured scenes dealing with a conflict between two or more sides—such as combat—in which the situation is divided into rounds and turns. During each round, each character involved takes a single turn, handing the action back and forth between sides. Encounters are detailed in Chapter 8: Conflict.
Scene set-up
The gamemaster sets up the scenes players experience, and decides when scenes end. The players have free rein to do as they wish within that scene, and the gamemaster can react through the actions of NPCs and by spending Threat to trigger logical and consequential changes in the environment and situation. When things within that scene have concluded, and nothing else can be done in that place at that time, the gamemaster should end the scene and move on to the next one.
Traits
Locations, characters, and situations all come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and these differences are handled in-game as traits. Each trait is a single word or a short phrase which describes a single significant fact about whatever it is the trait belongs to.
A trait imposes a context upon the world around it, and upon anything that interacts with whatever possesses that trait. These are useful for the gamemaster in adjudicating what is and isn’t possible—as well as how difficult things are to attempt—and for the players in imagining the scene and figuring out how they can interact with it.
The following rough categories denote what a given trait applies to and if a character will be impacted by that trait applies to:
A situation trait applies to the current situation, but is inherently temporary, lasting no longer than the current scene. Any character in the scene is affected by these traits. Darkness is an example of a situation trait.
A location trait applies to the current location, and is permanent (or, at least as permanent as the location itself). Any character in that location is affected by location traits when they interact with some facet of that location. Derelict Romulan Starship, Crumbling Cavern, and Well-Stocked Sickbay are examples of location traits.
A character trait applies to a character or creature. Some of these may be permanent (or long-lasting), such as a character’s species or reputation, but others may be temporary, representing injuries, conditions, even strong emotions. A character or creature is naturally affected by its own character traits, and they may also affect the characters and creatures that interact with them.
An equipment trait describes a single piece of equipment. It’s permanent—so long as the item is functional—and can be passed freely among characters as needed. An equipment trait affects any character using that item. A tricorder is an example of an equipment trait.
Traits have no specific duration. They exist so long as they represent something that is true. As soon as what a trait represents stops being true, the trait vanishes (or changes to one that reflects a new situation, such as Darkness being replaced by Brightly-Lit). Similarly, to remove a trait from a situation, it needs to stop being true, typically through the actions of the characters.
When establishing a scene, the gamemaster assigns whatever traits they feel are relevant and appropriate, thinking of the environment and current circumstances.
The gamemaster should be open with this process and allow players to suggest traits at the start of the scene, and allow for traits to change as the scene unfolds.
THE EFFECT OF TRAITS
The presence of a trait marks something as important to a scene or situation: not only is it true, it is significant. It’s something likely to affect the decisions and actions characters make, and how the scene unfolds.
The effect traits have on play is to prompt the gamemaster to rule a specific way on the actions taken. If you're in a room with a Locked Door, then you can’t leave the room until you find a way to unlock the door. If it’s Utterly Dark, then you can’t see. If you’re a Vulcan in a desert, you’ll find it easier to survive the hazards and perils.
If a trait would be helpful to whatever it is you’re trying to do, then that trait may make your action easier in some way, or otherwise produce some kind of benefit. If a trait would be troublesome to whatever it is you’re trying to do, then the trait may make your action more difficult, or result in additional problems. In some cases, this may even mean that a trait allows you to attempt something you couldn’t normally do (such as a tricorder letting you scan for radiation) or may prevent you attempting something you could normally do (a collapsed tunnel prevents you from going down a specific route), at least until the trait is removed.
Each trait can be placed into a simple statement, such as one of those below, and if that statement makes sense, then it applies. If it doesn’t make sense, then it doesn’t apply.
Because I am [character trait], this activity is…
Because of [situation or location trait], this activity is…
Because I have [equipment trait], this activity is…
The end of each of those statements is going to be “easier,” “harder,” “possible,” “impossible,” or “unchanged.”
CHANGING TRAITS
During play, there are a few ways you can change traits. Essentially, any action that would change the situation could create, remove, or replace a trait, but in general, a character creating a trait is trying to create some advantage for themselves or their allies, remove a problem, or create a complication or problem for an enemy.
You may attempt a task (see opposite), typically with a Difficulty of 2, to create a trait. The nature of the trait created should naturally follow from the action taken. For example, if you want to make an area Well-Lit, you need to do something that will create light, while taking time to clear a collapsed tunnel removes the trait.
POTENT TRAITS
If a trait has a particularly potent or intense effect—a larger effect than those listed above—the gamemaster can make it a potent trait, a single trait that has the effect of many. This can be denoted simply by adding a number after the name of the trait—this is the trait’s potency, which is the number of identical traits it counts as. Technically, all normal traits count as having Potency 1, but you don’t need to note this. In a situation where Smoke may be a location trait, it may worsen and become Thick Smoke 2, which counts as two traits.
When you create a trait, you may instead increase or decrease the potency of a trait by one: attempting to block enemy communications, you might change a Signal Jamming trait to Signal Jamming 2.
See page 321 for additional guidance on traits.
Tracking Traits
Having any traits currently in play written down and visible to everyone is useful. The most persistent traits will be present on character sheets, but pretty much anything else will last only for a single scene.
Treknobabble
Episodes of Star Trek often include technobabble— complicated-sounding dialogue that describes fictional science or technology, often to explain a plot development, or a solution to a problem, or simply to add detail to a situation. The sheer bewildering variety of possible technobabble makes it difficult to cover extensively; however, conveniently enough, traits are useful for handling technobabble: a technical problem to overcome is a trait applied to a scene, and the complex-sounding solution (which almost always comes with some simple analogy) is a trait created by the players to deal with a problem.
For the sake of consistency, it’s often useful to keep note of traits that represent technobabble, so they can be referenced later.
An engineering/science Treknobabble table is on page 266, and a medical Treknobabble table is on page 267.