Tabletop Tuesday — Captain’s Log (and Can*Con)

I’m going to semi-cheat today with my “talk nerdy gaming things on Tuesdays” because this week it’s Can*Con, Ottawa’s Sci-Fi, Fantasy, and Horror Literature Convention, and I’ll be there on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday moderating two panels, speaking on another, having anxiety during a signing slot, and enjoying being around creatives from multiple genres and seeing people I don’t get to see very often at all.

“Queer But No Romo” and “Advice to Aspiring Authors: Live Q&A” are the two panels I’m moderating with some fantastic authors and all-around creative types. These panels are going to be great, and I can’t wait for either. “Publishing Red Flags and Warnings for New Writers” is where I get to put on my author hat rather than my moderator hat, and while it’s not the most uplifting of topics, I’m hoping to be helpful. Or at the very least wave a red flag or two that new authors might not have had to learn about the hard way yet.

As for my signing slot—that’ll be in the Vendor’s Room, Saturday October 18th, from 12:00-12:30 pm; and I’ll be alongside Corinne Leigh Clark, Jason Krawczyk, and Avi Silver!

Oh, and alongside all that? I’m running a game.

Sort of.

Captain’s Log (and the Can*Con Scenario Experiment)

If you don’t know about Captain’s Log, it’s the solo RPG system adjacent to Star Trek Adventures from Modiphius (If you’re around here at all, you know I’ve got two ongoing STA campaigns I’ve been running for a couple of years now). When I first picked up Captain’s Log, I’d never played a solo RPG system designed to be a solo experience before, only modules specifically designed for TTRPGs that are crafted for one player—functionally, “Choose Your Own Adventures” with dice rolling.

You can get different series covers for Captain’s Log, but the contents are the same.

Captain’s Log starts with a dive into “What is Star Trek?” at the start of the book, which wasn’t super-useful for me as someone who has been a Trek fan for a very long time, but I appreciate that it’d be very helpful for those looking for a primer first, but if you’ve played Star Trek Adventures, you’re going to find the transition to Captain’s Log fairly smooth.

Character creation is, for the most part, a simplified version of Star Trek Adventures: you still use a lifepath to create your character’s Attributes (your character’s innate qualities) and Disciplines (your character’s training); you still choose Focuses (six broad-ish areas in which your character is even-more-trained, such as Transporters & Replicators, or Diplomacy); Talents are skipped (which makes sense for the simplified rolling we’ll talk about shorty), but you still create Values: think character-defining statements which guide your character and can be used in-story to succeed in the face of terrible odds, or create a pivotal moment. Example: “The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few (or the One).”

I feel like that Value statement maybe had an effect on some story or another.

Mechanics are also similar-and-simplified from Star Trek Adventures: to create a target number you’re trying to roll under with your d20s, you choose a combination of one Attribute and one Discipline—Doing First Aid? That’s Daring + Medicine; Scanning a nebula? That’s Reason + Science; Firing a phaser? That’s Control + Security—but you only ever roll two dice. You succeed if you get under the number with one dice fail if you don’t—and can score Complications on a natural roll of 20.

Momentum has been simplified down to a binary “you have it or don’t” rather than something you spend for extra dice on a sliding scale of points (since you only roll two dice, it allows a single-dice re-roll as one of the uses of Momentum), and you gain Momentum when you manage to succeed on a Task roll with both dice. Focuses don’t create extra successes (since now the two-dice roll is just “succeed or not”) but instead create instant Advantages—which, since you’re writing this as you go in a Solo RPG experience, you can just create, or hop over to the table of example Advantages and roll for one or select one. (Same with Disadvantages you earn with those natural 20s.)

Those random tables are a key factor in the game, too. Given this is basically a writing prompt tool that doubles as a Star Trek solo game, there are tables upon tables (Matrixes, rather) in the book to get you started (what kind of mission are you on, and what’s happening the moment we join your character?), to help you past any writing blocks (I’m stuck—let’s roll up an encounter and see what happens…) and even ways to decide a quick “Yes/No” with a d20 roll based on how likely something is. Do you feel there’s a reasonable chance this could succeed, but don’t want to just have it happen? Rolling the dice with a Yes/No where only a few numbers mean “No” gives that nice sense of realism—and is enjoyable when you roll up a “no” and have to pivot with a character that was sure that was going to work.

If I have any singular complaint—and it’s a stretch to call it a complaint, given it would only come up during a lot of play-throughs—it’s that some of the Matrixes feel a bit too specific, and won’t lend themselves to a second roll result. (What I mean by that is, as a random example, one entry result on a “Different Dimension” entry is “You are one year in the future, and everyone seems to have forgotten that your crew and ship ever existed…” which is great prompt the first time you roll it, but if you roll it a second time, it’s rather specific. But hey, I’d probably just re-roll, and it’s only one of twenty entries on that particular chart.)

The major point, though, is Captain’s Log is fun, and given I rarely get to be a player in many games, rather than being of the gamemaster, and this is very close to feeling like a player. It’s also one heck of a writing prompt engine, given the nature of how solo RPGs work, and honestly, I love me a good writing prompt, so really, this hits a sweet spot for me. (And, I should mention, multiple times when I’ve decided to take a break with Captain’s Log and have a quick adventures, I’ve pulled out my Story Engine Deck cards, too—they’re great as another tool to use alongside the Matrixes.)

You Said Something About Running a Game at Can*Con?

I did! I also said “sort of,” because what I’ve done for Can*Con is basically a directed version of Captain’s Log. It uses most—not all—of the mechanics (I didn’t bother with Complications or Values because it was already over 35k worth of words by that point, and this was intended to be fun, not homework) as a way to potentially introduce people to the mechanics and style of Captain’s Log (and to a degree, Star Trek Adventures, given they’re so similar).

I’m also going to have it go live here on the blog on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so if you want to play along from home, by all means download the character sheet and get ready for it. If you’re going to be at the convention, I’ll have some printed out, but you can still print your own (that’d be nifty, actually) and get a head-start. The game itself will take part across the three days, three parts a day, with the conclusion happening on Sunday as well. All the parts will be available at the registration desk as the time goes by, so you can stop by and catch up or play at your leisure.

That means it can be a totally Solo experience (Hi Introverts, I see you!), though I’m also going to be wandering around with some optional interactive bits for those who want to roll a few more dice in person (also there’s likely to be at least one other person doing so, but shh, these are surprises).

Can Con 2025 Character SheetDownload

And don’t be afraid of that 35k number up there. One of the things about branching narratives is how a great deal of it is stuff the player never sees in any given playthrough. The story is made up of nine scenes with two choices per scene that leads to Tasks (where you roll dice and either succeed, succeed and gain Momentum, or fail) and a Conclusion with three endings. So of that 35k, you’re likely going to get a short story’s worth of text to read, which I hope isn’t too much of an investment and fits firmly in the “fun” category.

Also there are a lot of Canadian references. I couldn’t help myself.