Welcome aboard and first things first. This may be a Star Trek game, but things that may be considered canon are being played pretty fast and loose. This is mostly to make things interesting in the game so that we don't feel constrained by a very well developed setting and timeline.
A few things you need to know and need to get right to make it on board the USS Phoenix:
- Blackbox mechanics. This means the GM does calculations, dice rolls and action resolution stuff behind the scenes.
- No secret, I’m using a simplified minimal rolls rule set based on Powered by the Apocalypse (PbtA) mechanics in the Strange New Worlds hack (
https://critical-hits.com/ch-p...d-by-the-apocalypse/).
- To avoid bogging down game play, PCs give me their actions and likely reactions in a given situation, then I roll dice and let you know how things have turned out. This should keep things pretty simple and avoid a slog through slow dice heavy mechanics.
- Fiction comes first, this should lead to better story telling with some dice rolling tossed in for randomness and to add to the excitement. PCs should feel comfortable embellishing the environment and adding details wherever they want.
- Setting is the Alpha Quadrant. The year is 2367 shortly after the events of ST:TNG "The Wounded" where Captain Benjamin Maxwell and the crew off the USS Phoenix go rouge in an attempt to reignite hostilities with the Cardassians.
- After refit and crew rotations, the USS Phoenix (
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/USS_Phoenix) is put back into service patrolling along the edges of Federation-Cardassian space. Your ship and crew are hated by the Cardassians and watched warily by Starfleet.